A Different Start
Darkness.
I felt like I was sinking in a large abyss when I saw a humungous eye open in front of me.
"Aurélion, is that you?" I said in a surprised tone.
Indeed, the entity in front of me looked like a dragon made of cosmic dust. The resemblance was strong enough to make me remember something as insignificant as a character from my first life.
"You're a weird one, boy. You died in my world, but your soul didn't merge with my will but tried to escape somewhere else. It's truly puzzling." Aurélion said in a grand voice.
I didn't really understand what he was talking about nor did I understand the process of me being reborn either but saying that would just end the conversation directly.
That was the first time I met something that could possibly believe me if I told them I was basically immortal.
Before I could talk, however, Aurélion's figure began fading away.
His majestic voice sounded one last time.
"It seems even I can't go against the power that's dragging your soul away but fret not. I'm quite a lonely Dragon, you see? I'll give you my blessing. You just have to use it to chat with me sometimes. PLEA-"
I couldn't even hear the end of his phrase before the familiar sensation of taking over a foreign body emerged once again.
The memory I expected to appear in my brain was completely blank.
I took my first breath in this world. Both figuratively and literally.
One would ask how it felt to become a baby after living for millenniums, becoming a lich, and just meeting a dragon.
The answer was evident.
"What the f*ck?!" Is what I wanted to say but only a disgustingly shrill "Wa" sound came out.
My body felt sticky, and the clamors around me sounded like armageddon to my ears.
My senses were still sharp because of the two aspects of Hedonism that were engraved into my soul, so I could still somewhat see what my surrounding looked like.
Two children were looking at me curiously, while a man was holding them from their shoulders with an excited expression.
I continued looking around and saw a woman, half-naked, and with her legs spread. I turned my head away with haste.
'Cover yourself, woman!'
Was this how birth looked like? If that was so, then I was damn happy I forgot all of my memories concerning these episodes!
After calming down a little, I remembered the ring and hurriedly used my ability as a Silence to hide it from the senses of my surrounding.
Their "words" made no sense to me me, so I was pretty lost. The person lifting me turned me toward them and smiled at me.
"npjerr mkagzhr Sirius, netmlkae!" She said in a satisfied voice before smacking my butt.
I didn't understand anything about what she said, but what I did know for sure was that my name was now Sirius.
And that the smack hurts goddammit!
I stopped battling against my body's needs and began crying.
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I was two years old, and could finally begin talking and learn a little more about this world.
Don't misunderstand me. A genius such as myself didn't take this long to master such a crude language!
It's just that it would be weird to see a barely one-year-old child talking, instead of making weird sounds.
These two years were horrible, to say the least.
I defecate without wanting to, and I'm just a small cute pet.
That aside, it seemed that Aurélion's blessing would be more useful than I thought.
My ring acquired a fourth form, the third being a special item from my time as a lich.
It was a scroll that showed everything about me. Once bound to me, it recorded the number of lives, my powers, skills, and other parameters.
|Name: Sirius (Current)
|Previous Names: Zack, Gabriel, Claude Ad Esterm, Malek, Erebus, Jacob.
|Race: High Human (Current)
|Lives: Eight
|Current Titles: None
|Past Titles: Mad Demon, Bastion's Lucky Charm, Bringer of Doom, Hell Lord, Forbidden Ruler.
|Equipment: Ring of Never-Ending Legacy (Four Forms: Diary of an Immortal, MindWhale Sword, Stone of Fate, Scroll of Azan).
|Abilities: Melee Adept (Proficient with the use of a multitude of melee weapons), Great Archmage (Can cast a multitude of spells ranging from the first circle to the ninth), Profound Meditation, Mirror Travelling, Solitude, Coax, Endless Hunger, Alcoholization, Mental Liquor, Magical Engineer (Can create golems and carve various enchantments), Expert Hunter (Proficient in tracking prey and placing traps), Forbidden Ritualist (Can cast a number of tenth circle spells by using human sacrifice).
|Aspiration: Hédonism (Gourmet, Alcoholism.)
|Blessing: Dragon of Knowledge Azan.
|Special Bodily Conditions: Sharp Senses, Fast Digestion, Exceedingly High Alcohol Tolerance.
With this scroll's help, I was finally able to put a name on most of my skills and remember the various abilities I had.
Anyone could forget that they were able to do some things until they had an immediate need for the ability in question, but with this scroll, I would remember everything even if I didn't want to.
My three last titles sounded pretty cool, but they weren't pleasing to the ear when you knew the story behind them.
The story of a man that committed mass murder for his own selfish reasons that no one knew about.
I wiped the melancholic expression off my face when I thought about how grotesque the image of a baby making such an expression would be, then got back to my children's books. Trying to deepen my understanding of the language of this world was better than playing with "parents" that were younger than me.
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Two more years passed by at the speed of light, and I was finally 4 years old, the age where one would officially graduate from being a baby.
After four years of living in this household, I got used to my family.
I had a sister that was three years older than me called Vega, and a brother five years older than me named Zuriel.
My dad's name was Florin and my mom's Sonia.
It was just the five of us living in the house, surrounded by my dad's farms.
After annoying my parents to death to have them tell me stories about this world, I wasn't as much in the dark as two years ago.
In 8 years, I would have to go and receive something called a god blessing. It was something that defined your future path and your future happiness.
I didn't think much of it because I already have quite a bit of power, but it was never bad to get some more abilities. Maybe it'll even give me a new form for my mysterious ring.
I'll never have enough of those.
After having used my small brain more than necessary, I walked toward the kitchen to grab something to eat but was stopped by my brother.
"It's still not time to eat, Sirius! Wait for all of us to gather." He said while patting my head gently.
I felt the urge to bite his hands off, but he was a nice guy so I just made a pitiful expression and stared at him until he gave me a cookie before chasing me from the kitchen.
Heh, how dare a mortal challenge my cute smoll and chubby form...
Preposterous!
I nibbled my war trophy with a smug smile while trying to find a way to get myself another cookie, but all of my dreams were shattered when Zuriel locked the door.
Not willing to use magic for something so insignificant I got back to thinking about my future.
My first priority should be to train my body a little. This weak, inflexible body was still pretty hard to control, and I had to change that soon.
I thought about it for a bit then decided that I could call Aurélion and ask him for guidance.
I visualized the infinity sign and choose to make the scroll appear in my hand, I then bit my finger and dripped a drop of blood on the scroll.
I felt a pull and the world changed in front of my eyes. It was a weird experience but it wasn't painful or uncomfortable, it felt like I had a second body while the first body and its surroundings were frozen in time.
After approximately two minutes I finally saw the familiar gold-colored eye in front of me.
"Yo Aurélion!" I said happily
"It's you. My name isn't Aurélion by the way, it's Azan." After the dragon said that he began shrinking and took a human form to talk with me.
He was a tall man with long purple hair and a sharp and angular face. His golden eyes looked as if every truth was laid bare before them, containing boundless wisdom.
I studied him for a while before asking him to teach me some methods to get stronger quickly. He was the dragon of knowledge, after all.
"Just laze around." Aurélion paused for a while and looked at me "Since your scroll is a blessing from me, I can see its content too. Your aspiration is hédonism, and you can unlock the Laziness aspect if you do nothing but sleep and eat for a while."
His words made sense. I didn't really care about the fact that he had sensitive information about me, however.
He couldn't threaten my safety because I can't die anyway.
"Any other way, Aurélion? The mana from this world is different than the one where I was a lich, so it's pretty hard to grow my vessel. Any solution?"
Azan sighed because I didn't give up the nickname but still answered me earnestly.
"You'll have to wait for the blessing from a godhood or the legacy of a mystic. In a nutshell, the world you're in contains multiple 'concepts', and some of them crystallized into something called a 'godhood'. They have no consciousness and are only an amalgamation of information and secrets. By slowly tapping into the godhood, a blessed can gain access to certain powers and knowledge." Azan looked at me, and after making sure that I was following along he continued.
"Mystics are differents. They're literal gods, at the same level as me, and maybe even stronger. Getting a legacy instead of a blessing is just a matter of luck, or maybe misfortune. In your world aside from one or two people that progressed deeply into the legacy of a Mystic, no one knows about this. Don't worry, by the way. Mystics can't get involved in the matters of anyone that's not a Mystic or a God themselves." Azan took a breath and conjured a golden book out of thin air.
The book's pages began flipping by themselves before stopping at a certain page. Azan grabbed the page and made it flow into the scroll form of the ring.
"There's information about some Mystics in the second page of your scroll. You just have to visualize the number of the page you want to see while holding the scroll to make it appear." Azan said calmly.
He then proceeded to make two chairs, a table, and a tea set appear and invited me to sit.
"Now... I'm quite old and lonely you see? Let's have a nice chat." Azan's words sounded normal but something in his eyes made me afraid of what was coming.
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"Are you alright, Sirius?" a mellow voice sounded in my ears.
I looked at my sister Vega with a blank expression before hugging her tightly.
"Aurélion's scary..."
"Aur- what?" She looked at me while tilting her head sideways, looking adorable.
Interacting with my sister brought a smile back to my face, and I skipped away without answering her question leaving a confused Vega behind me.
I still shivered when recalling the "chat" with Azan. My peerless social-genius-self had to talk with someone for LITERALLY 53 HOURS.
I didn't want to do anything related to that dragon but I had to read the second page of the scroll to get more information, so I made my ring transform unwillingly.
|Clairvoyance -Mystics-
|Note: My own danger level is A+ because I'm fundamentally not a warrior, and at your prime your danger level was C-.
|Note 2: Those are not the only Mystics that exist, don't let your guard down.
|Cryptid Hunter: Those creatures that hide in the darkness are nothing but filth, and the meaning of my existence is to be the one to clean the garbage. Danger level: A-
|Drifting Lord: Lords and kings are restrained by their lands, unable to move someplace else. True rulers shan't know of these shackles, because the world is their land. Danger level: B+
|Faceless Performer: Identity is nothing but a prison. Life is nothing but a performance. I shall give my best, and play all of these roles. Can you discern the truth? Danger level: SS+
|Luminous Wisdom: Countless lessons, miracles, and secrets exist around us, only waiting to be uncovered. I flash my light on the mystery and learn from the world. Danger level: S-
|Amorphous Lust: Lust and desire births life, and is there a greater purpose than to populate this world with countless beings? Danger level: A+
|Thoughts Bender: The final sanctuary of living beings is their own mind. If one can intrude into the sanctuary of all beings, wouldn't that mean that everyone's life is theirs? Danger level: SSS
After reading the second page of the scroll I felt weirdly unsettled. The faceless performer's description was pretty similar to my own situation in a way, and the thoughts bender's powers were the things that scared me the most.
I made the scroll disappear with a frown, then went to sleep.
I definitely had to get more powerful, and the legacy of these beings sounded like a good way to do so.