Red Panda Quantum Beasts

After describing the interstellar universe, some core memories, and basic societal information to Aster, Ellery dropped a bomb that made his reincarnation/transmigration not as shocking.

It turned out, Ellery's soul went back in time. Ellery died five years from now because of a sentinel who wanted to have two guides to himself. The other guide was jealous of him, always fighting and trying to pit him to death.

The sentinel was named Leonard Vales and he had a lion quantum beast. The guide was named Darian and he had a koala quantum beast.

In the end, Leonard and Darian teamed up and killed him, taking his one-year-old child from him.

[My biggest regret was falling for Leonard, that bastard. I thought we could make it work because we had a high match rate, but he still went with Darian whose match rate wasn't as high and his rank was lower than mine. That's when I realized that these match rates only meant compatibility spiritually, not emotionally or even physically.]

Aster let Ellery continue his rant because it seemed like Ellery really needed someone to listen to him.

[Thankfully, I was able to go back to the time when I hadn't fallen in love with that bastard and only knew about the match rate. Unfortunately, my soul cannot control my body right now and I don't know if I will ever be able to in the future. But I have you here, and you can help me with some regrets I have. Maybe, once I feel satisfied, I can finally move on… Well, that's how ghosts are, right? I feel like I am one now.]

Ellery was laughing to himself, but Aster didn't think this was something to laugh about! He took over Ellery's body like a demon and Ellery was sticking around like a ghost! How did this even happen?

'Is there any way to help you move on or better yet, give you back your body?'

[I don't know about giving back my body, but I do know how you can help me with my regrets! I just need to find a sentinel who not only has a higher match rate, but is stronger, more good-looking, and richer than that bastard is! Then, when we have a child, we should name him after my future son that I had with Leonard. He probably won't look the same but it's better than having the face of that shithead.]

Aster concluded that Ellery's personality was definitely different than his.

'Okay, that all makes sense… Since we don't know how to get you your body back, I can at least help you with your regrets. I don't know about wanting a kid. I didn't even consider having one in my past life nonetheless now.'

[That's fine, take your time. I will be here in the meantime. I'm not in a rush to leave. We still haven't found the perfect partner for us!]

Honestly, Aster was a bit of an introvert in comparison to Ellery who seemed more extroverted. Plus, he's loud and has no filter. Aster had always been a soft-spoken person, always tired, and moved at a snail's pace. He loved fluffy animals, relaxing at home, reading a good book, and looking at beautiful crystals and gems. Ellery seemed like the type to have a lot of friends and was always on the move.

Were they going to be okay?

[Don't worry about it. Just think of it as me adopting you and showing you the ropes. Ah, before I forget, I will show you how to use your spiritual powers. First, I want you to meet, Sol, my quantum beast.]

As he said that, a red panda emerged from who knows where and on to Aster's lap.

[Sol, say hello to Aster. He's going to be living in my body from now on.]

Sol, who was sitting on him, waved his little paw to say hi to him.

'Hello, Sol, my name is Aster. I don't know how this happened, but please take care of me.' Aster gave a little bow as a greeting to Sol. 'Oh… Do I have a quantum beast too?'

[Hm… Well... I'm not sure actually. Do you want to try it out and see?]

'Sure! I hope I can have a quantum beast as cute as Sol.'

Aster's weakness was cute animals. And to him, all animals were cute, even the so-called ugly ones.

[Okay, this is what they teach everyone who awakens as a guide. First, you need to feel your spiritual energy. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and you will eventually feel this warm and comfortable energy move throughout your body. It's something you can control, so try to focus it all in your fingertips first before slowly moving it throughout your body.]

Aster did what he was told and he quickly felt the spiritual energy he didn't feel earlier. He felt his senses heightening like he could hear what was going on down the hall. He could even smell the flowers from outside the open window even though he was on the 3rd floor.

Ellery could feel Aster moving his spiritual energy around his body, so he knew that he quickly learned it. Maybe it was because it was once his own body that Aster was able to understand what to do.

[Now, I want you to call into your soul for your quantum beast. Ask them to materialize themselves in front of you. An image in your head should pop up the moment you think of calling your quantum beast. Afterward, you will have to use your spiritual energy to materialize the quantum beast in front of you. Take your time. Well, since you are in my body, you should be quick.]

Aster's quantum beast was also a red panda, but his red panda had a lighter orange-brown fur on its face, while Sol's face fur was a darker orange-brown. They seemed to be two different species of red panda.

He felt a bit more weight on his lap, so he knew it was a success. He opened his eyes to see the two red pandas sitting next to each other, looking at him with curiosity.

[You were able to call upon your quantum beast so fast! Now, you should give them a name.]

Aster looked at the red panda and felt like he was looking at the moon in the night sky, so he unconsciously mumbled the name, Lune.

[Lune? I think that's a wonderful name. Look, Lune looks happy with the name too.]

Lune walked up to his neck and hugged him, rubbing his and Aster's cheeks together. He was happy to have a name and to meet Aster.

'It's nice to meet you too, Lune!' He couldn't help but hug Lune back. He was warm and fluffy, different from how he imagined him. He thought that he wouldn't be able to feel the warmth because he was a spiritual being, but it seemed he still had a lot more to learn about quantum beasts.

Sol felt a bit left out, so he also wanted to join in on the hug.

Aster wholeheartedly accepted Sol into their hug and he felt like he made it to fluff heaven.

'So fluffy, so soft…'

Red pandas were his favorite animals so he could ascend right now and feel content with his life.

[I have to put Sol away, someone is coming!]

Sol disappeared from Aster's arm, leaving only Lune in his place. Aster also put Lune away because he panicked.

A man and a woman walked into the room. The woman was wearing a school uniform and the man was wearing the standard military outfit.

From Ellery's explanation, the man was his advisor, another A-ranked guide whose husband was a higher-up in the military. His name was Yun Chan-yeol. Mr. Yun had slightly wavy, short, dark brown hair. His eyes were also dark brown. He was on the taller side but he was a bit lanky. All in all, he seemed to be a very beautiful man.

This made Aster confused. Why was everyone he met beautiful so far? Well, everyone so far was conventionally beautiful by the standards of his past life!

The young woman next to Mr. Yun was a classmate and former best friend named Airi Sasaki. She looked like she was someone of Japanese descent with a small stature, round eyes, and black thin bobbed hair. According to Ellery, she was not a guide or a sentinel, just a normal person who was in one of the non-sentinel/guide programs. There were many normal people in the military, so this was common.

"Ellery! I rushed over the moment I heard you woke up. It's good to see that you are awake." Her voice was soft and kind of high-pitched, but not enough to destroy his eardrums.

Airi was the cutesy type of rich girl. As for how Ellery knew her, they were in the same club at the Academy.

[Pretend you don't know her. I really hate this bitch. Backstabbing, lying, two-faced bitch.] Ellery mumbled some more profanities which showed how much Ellery loathed her.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who you two are." He gave an awkward smile. "I have amnesia and I haven't remembered anything. May I ask for your names?"

This was the first time they both heard that Ellery had amnesia. It was also the first time they had seen Ellery speaking in a soft, polite tone. He didn't even use any profanities!

Ellery's body was still on the shorter side, and he was a little skinnier from being in a coma, but he still looked the same as how Airi and Mr. Yun remembered. Usually, he was a lot more energetic and happy. It matched how he looked. He had fluffy red-brown hair and goldish-brown eyes. He was cute, lovable, and seemed to light up the surroundings with just his laugh. Though he did have a profanity problem from time to time. Now, even though he still looked adorable, he was a lot calmer. It made him seem well-behaved and shy.

Airi didn't know what to say so she looked at Mr. Yun with her puppy dog eyes that looked like they had tears coming out.

Mr. Yun sat down on a chair next to the bed.

"Mr. Aster, my name is Yun Chan-yeol, but you can call me Instructor Yun or Mr. Yun. I am your adviser who was assigned to you this year to make sure you have everything you need to graduate from the Imperial Military Academy. The academy has sent me over to make sure you are okay and to let you know that they are investigating the incident. It doesn't seem like an accident, so they are taking this very seriously and you will be hearing answers from the academy soon."

"I understand… Hmm… what exactly happened to me?"

Mr. Yun couldn't help but think that this amnesia was bad-bad. Like really bad if he forgot so many things.

"Usually, student guides are on standby at the base campsite with the professors. For some odd reason, a large amount of level 3 and 4 Ineks attacked the campsite. While the instructors were keeping the Ineks at bay, some slipped past those defenses. Eyewitnesses have stated that they saw someone pushing you down, using you as bait. But because of everything that happened, they can't remember the person who pushed you. Luckily, before you could have been eaten, a sentinel guest instructor saved you, but you had already passed out by then."

Ineks were interstellar reptilian beasts with no signs of higher-being intellect. They did, however, like to eat higher intellectual beings for their spiritual energy. They dropped cores that were an important source of energy in the interstellar era. It powered almost everything from mechas to at-home appliances.

Aster felt like Ellery's life was too exciting for his normal, slow-paced self…

"I see. If you could, please thank the person that saved me. I would do it myself but I can't leave the hospital right now and I don't know who it was."

"That's fine. I will let Marshal Edros Caecius know. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you couldn't thank him in person. He knows that you are still recovering."

[Hehhh the cold, heartless, Marshal Caecius actually came to save my life. I didn't ask who saved me before because I didn't lose my memories the last time around. I thought it was irrelevant and just had someone else thank the other person, but to think it was the famous Marshal. The more you know.]

"Thank you for doing that for me. When I recover, I will be sure to give my thanks in person."

"No need to be polite." Even Mr. Yun felt it was a bit awkward to have Ellery be so formal. "I will take my leave now that I finished everything I needed to tell you. I wish you a speedy recovery, Mr. Aster."

With that, Mr. Yun left the hospital room leaving Aster with Airi. In Aster's head, he could hear Ellery cursing at Airi, telling her to leave with Mr. Yun because he didn't want to see her "green tea bitch of a face."

Aster decided to stay silent until Airi decided to talk or leave the room. This was what he usually did when he didn't want to talk to someone. He didn't even look at her.

"Ellery… Did you really forget me? Your best friend?"

Tears were already falling down her face as she sniffled, grabbing a tissue from the bed stand. It was conveniently placed at arm's distance from her.