Chapter 1 Althen

Chapter 1 Althen

 A new beginning? Sure, I hoped for one my entire life. A new start, a new life though it's too late for any of that. From the start the world has dealt me a dirty hand, not that I am the only one. If anything, my story has become quite common, from having it all to losing everything that mattered. 

The reason? A couple of politicians thought it would be nice taking over some piece of land to which they had some centuries old claim. 

In merely the first week I had lost my neighborhood friends including my best friend. Not even the grandma down the street who covered for us when we spent too long playing was spared. 

Within the same month both my father and elder brother were conscripted. My mother and I were instead instructed to move further inland. 

"For your safety" they said, too bad those attacking didn't get the memo. 

During the trip we were hit by something that sent our truck down a ravine. Hours after the incident I had finally regained consciousness only to find myself the only survivor. At that point I hoped I would just die but no, the world was still not done with me. 

I was taken in by the state, not out of pity or patriotism but rather in hopes of raising future solders that would blindly charge at the enemy. Too bad for them, I held both sides responsible for ruining my life. However, I still did as they instructed, I learned how to wield a knife, how to defend myself from others who will want to stab their own blade in me. I diligently learned how to shoot with every gun I was ever presented, apparently, I was some sort of prodigy, not that I cared. 

One day I was told that I was ready then I was shipped off to the frontline to prove myself and indeed I did. For three years I was unstoppable. That was until the day I was removed from the front lines and given a special mission, to assassinate the enemy leadership.

Like the good little solder I was, I accepted and within the week I was there, facing those responsible for taking so much from me. I wanted them to feal as much despair as I had so instead of following my orders, I took my time sniping each one of them. Slowly but surely, they all went down, one by one, and I relished in the feeling. Though I was still not done. 

After finishing my last mission, I disappeared off the face of the world for I still had one last personal task to take care of. I returned to my country of origin and during the victory celebration I did the same to my former leaders as I did to the enemy. 

I wanted to make sure that no one would thrive on the back of my misery. There was no one side responsible for what happened, but I still wanted to make sure that all involved paid for it all.

However, my second massacre did not last long, as soon as I took the lives of the leading figures advocating for continuing the war I was spotted and shot full of holes. 

During my last moments I did not feel much emotionally, what I did was not personal, it was simply a statement criticizing both sides, with a little pay back for ruining my life among many others. 

"If only I could start a new, *cough* who am I kidding it wouldn't change a thing. I am dying, well that's only fair, *cough*I have killed so many why would me dying be any different." 

Growing weaker as time goes by, I aired out my sins, spoke all regrets in my life and waited for the promised end. 

"I hope my death will not be meaningless *cough* As I see it, I have done my part in stopping the weal of pain and suffering. If only I could have another chance at living…"

Having grown too weak to speak I continued my thoughts silently. 

'What could my life have been like if there was never a war? Where would I be? What would my life be like? No matter, these are my last moments why not recreate my own hypothetical life?'

Confirmed. The extra skill Illusion has been successfully acquired.

'Let's see… mom and dad would likely be teasing me on my wedding day to Ariane. Mom always loved her and…' in no time at all a story that served to rewrite all that has happened since the war began unveiled in my mind.

Confirmed. The unique skill Storyteller has been successfully acquired.

Confirmed. The extra skill Illusion has evolved into the unique skill Master Illusionist.

Combining Storyteller and Master Illusionist, the skill progressed to The World of my Mind.

Confirmed. The extra skill Scholar has been successfully acquired. Attempting evolution… Successful, the extra skill Scholar has evolved into the unique skill Great Savant.

The pain turned unbearable, and I couldn't help but whimper. Did they have to fill me with holes? 

Confirmed. Resist Mele Attacks has been successfully acquired…

'Make it go away! My life was nothing but pain, couldn't I at least die in peace?' 

Confirmed. Pain Resistance has been successfully acquired…

'Huh, I think I heard something. It would be nice if someone was here with me…' Scoff.

'As if anyone would care about me, I have long known that humanity is rotten to the core. It would need a firm hand to keep it in check and even then, there would still be the occasional madman or worst a freedom loving hippy.'

Confirmed. The unique skill True Tyrant has been successfully acquired. Combining the unique skill Great Savant with True Tyrant… Attempting evolution… Failed, attempting evolution… Failed…

Race change requested, selecting suitable options… 17 options available… utilizing data from past incarnations…

Error, missing skill inheritance. The skill package "Legacy" has been returned. 

Redundant skills detected, merging the skills Legacy, Great Savant, and True Tyrant… Merger successful, the skill has evolved into Great Tyrant's Legacy.

"Integrating the unique skill "The World of my Mind" into "Great Tyrant's Legacy" …

...

....

Successful. The unique skill Great Tyrant's Legacy has evolved into the "Ultimate Skill Dominus Lord of Oblivion". 

Choices for race change have been reduced to three: Demon, Shadow Monarch, and Primal Umbra. 

'Select Primal Umbra.'

'Did I just say something?' 

Confirmed. Primal Umbra has been selected. Incorporating racial abilities… Racial skills acquired, Darkness Spirit Magic has been incorporated as racial specific magic. 

Last skills pending…

Then everything when black, I lost all my senses but instead of panicking, I embraced the feeling. I don't know how long I spent in the middle of no ware simply existing in a sea of nothingness. But like all good things it had to come to an end. 

From one moment to another I felt the world shift around me and finally spit me out. 

'What the fuck is going on!!!! My head is killing me make it stop, please!' I did not know but at this very moment I was a literal baby bawling his eyes out. 

'Understood discarding personal knowledge from legacy, for convenience your last incarnation will not be discarded.' 

And finally, with the pain gone, I could find peace. That was when I finally noticed that I was surrounded by giants with long ears. 

'Good God, what's happening? Am I being judged for my sins?'

'Correction, you have been reborn into the Cardenal world' The voice sounded from within my very being and it terrified me. 

'Who… who are you?'

'I am the legacy of your prior incarnations though I have been incorporated into your newly obtained ultimate skill Dominus Lord of Oblivion.'

'Was I a robot in a past life? I don't mean to be rude, but you don't sound human, like at all.'

'I am no more than a suppository of knowledge and a self-created holder of your former legacy; I have no real will of my own other than to serve you as best as I am able.'

'So, I was a cultivator or something like that in my past life?' for some reason I could feal like the other guy was exasperated, wait more importantly was it a guy or a girl, given how monotonous it's voice sounds I can't tell.

'That is not what I meant, your legacy is a skill that allows you a preserve the knowledge and power you mastered in your previous lives. You weren't given access to them due to the system being restricted in the last world you inhabited; this was likely due to the world's intervention. Though worry not, you have now acquired an ultimate skill of your own making it possible for you to simply ignore such restrictions in the future.'

'Um… Ok, could you tell me what this Ultimate skill I have can do?'

'The Ultimate Skill Dominus Lord of Oblivion is composed of the following abilities:

Thought Acceleration, Analyze and Assess, Parallel Operation, Cast Cancel, All of Creation, Ability Adjust, Spacetime Domination, Legacy, World of my Mind, Three Worlds, Tyrant, Legion, Oblivion.'

'Yeh sorry but I didn't understand much of it, could you clarify what those abilities are and what they can do?'

'Understood, I shall describe and explain each of your abilities: 

Thought Acceleration: Lets the user extend their thoughts by up to a million times.

Analyze and Assess: Allows you Analyze and Assess anything you see or preferably get your hands on.

Parallel Operation: Operates on any matter the user wishes to analyze, separating it from the regular thought process. Any process under Parallel Processing is affected by Mind Accelerate and therefore sped up by a million times.

Cast Cancel: Removes the need for a chant when using Magic.

All of Creation: Allows the user to fully comprehend any non-concealed phenomenon as long as you have a certain amount of knowledge beforehand or if the legacy has knowledge of it. 

Ability Adjust: Allows the user to modify or even evolve skills under the right circumstances, this will usually require sacrificing skills or massive amounts of magiculs. 

Spacetime Domination: If mastered it allows the user complete control over the Elements of Space and Time. This ability can also be used defensively instead of using a multitude of barriers to protect yourself. 

Legacy (Dominus): A management type skill that represents the remains of all your past lives.

Three Worlds: A skill that falls under the world type skills. This ability technically falls under your racial abilities as a Primal Umbra, however thanks to your Ultimate Skill it has been drastically upgraded and so it was forcefully incorporated it into The Ultimate Skill Dominus Lord of Oblivion. Its ability is to grant the Primal Umbra access and full control over the two worlds that naturally fall under its dominion. Do to one of its upgrades you can now segment a part or even the entire tertiary world you exist in at any given time. 

Tyrant: A skill that falls under the ruler system skills. It serves as an alternative to the Demon Lord's and Hero's Haki whilst granting a vast range of abilities. From mental domination to soul domination, Tyrant is a varied ability limited only by the user's intent. Be warned that once an individual has been broken by the tyrant then there will be no going back for them, they shall exist as no more than a shell of their former selves, a slave to your will. Soul Domination is useful in rituals requiring sacrifices and serves as the perfect storage for souls you do not wish to sentence to eternal torment within Oblivion, serving the tyrant is always preferable to eternal suffering.

Legion: Is also a racial ability born of one of the two worlds originally under your dominion. It has been enhanced further due to the ultimate skill. Legion is partially a life and death skill; it grants the user power over those he kills. This power is manifested in one of two ways. The first ability is the one that gives the sub-skill its name of Legion as it grants the user the ability to take in those who's death is related to you, no matter how, and forces them to serve you in their death. Those that join the legion loose much of their powers and the stronger they are the weaker of a servant they become as compared to their former selves. The second is the absorption of skill possessed by the dead individual, the rarer and more powerful the skill the fewer the skills that can be taken. The skills seized can then be given to members of your Legion, used by the user, or sacrificed through Ability Adjust to strengthen yourself or skills belonging to anyone of your choice including yourself and members of the Legion.

Oblivion: One of the two original worlds under your dominion though unlike all other worlds it is unique in that it is no more than a void of infinite nothingness where every moment spent is an actual eternity. This ability can allow you to imprison anyone in Oblivion where life turns into a curse. This world is also an unescapable prison where none, but you can leave. It is infinite in size and produces the most stable version of any power source the user desires. The last characteristic of Oblivion is its unidentified energy alien to all worlds. Oblivion is both an offensive and a defensive skill.'

"Owi woow!" in translation 'Ok wow!' I couldn't help but express the shock I felt verbally. I mean that skill is simply overpowered. Though there were a few things that caught my eye such as how it described my race and the thing about how my old world was sapient, but I simply did not have the energy to ask. 

'Holy shit I am like the most powerful baby ever!'

In the end I took a week to digest everything I was told and acclimate to my new circumstances. 

Though from time to time the voice from within me would tell me of some changes it made to my skills and resistances along with the state of the worlds I literally own. 

Apparently only Oblivion is complete as all it needed was for me to exist but the second one is making use of the things, he calls magiculs that I would naturally eject to grow it. Also, I apparently misunderstood things since the worlds the voice talked about don't simply exist somewhere out there but instead, they all exist within me. That blew my mind. 

However, at some point I grew num to it all, I mean what would you do if from one moment to the next you just became a god? I mean at this point that's exactly what I am. 

Then again there should be others with these Ultimate Skills…

'The likelihood of that is high.' 

If that's the case then I should be careful not to make them my enemies, I'd rather not have someone that can throw nukes willy nilly to find fault with me. I mean I am just a baby and only gained an Ultimate Skill after multiple lifetimes of which I can't remember much. I bet the others who also gain a similar power must have lived for centuries and mastered their abilities whilst I don't even dare use them. 

'That's likely the case.'

'Stop commenting! It doesn't make me feel better.'

This voice is supposed to be the amalgamation of all my past selves why not ask for its opinion on what I should do?

'Hey, you… first of all what should I call you?'

'You can call me either Legacy or Dominus after the Ultimate Skill.'

'Guess I will call you Dominus, so since you are supposed to be much wiser than me tell me what you think I should do.' 

'Nothing…'

'Nothing? You useless thing what do you mean by do nothing?!'

'There is nothing much you can do currently, nor is there anything you are required to do, I recommend you do nothing and grow up until the day you find a goal to strive for or something you desire enough to take action.'

'Huh… guess you're not wrong, you really are wise. I don't need to do anything. I have what I always wanted, a new beginning. From what I can see there is no war and I doubt I would simply stumble into someone that also has the same level of power as I currently do. And even if they do, I could simply retreat to one of my worlds.'

'Correct…'

Well then guess it's time for another nap, being a baby is the best!