[5] One with the Celestial Sapiens

Chapter 5: One with the Celestial Sapiens

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Miyako was showering me with compliments the entire ride back. It was already a good thing that both Ai and I were acting in the same movie, earning money for ourselves and the Agency, but who would have thought I'd deliver such a spectacular performance?

Sadly, for whatever plans she was cooking in that wicked head of hers, it'd all be for naught as I don't plan to become an actor. There is no point in that.

The entire ride back home, Ruby stared at me with dagger-like eyes, her frown deep in suspicion. She had a million questions, but she couldn't ask any because of Miyako's presence.

Half an hour later, we reached our home. Our house was a typical modern Japanese house, if a bit more luxurious than normal. This place was bought by Ai with debt, but thanks to the last two years as Ai regained all of her previous fame and went beyond, the debt has been paid.

Ai had been impatiently waiting for us to return from the rehearsals and hugged us both when we entered. I don't… like leaving her alone in the house; butterfly effects are real, so what if the plot proceeds faster and the killer visits us earlier than expected?

"Whoah! Is it true, Miyako-chan?! Are you not exaggerating?"

"No, really, I couldn't even move when Aqua was acting. Oh, but, I did have my phone recording, so I actually have the clip! Do you want to see it?"

"Nice, show me!"

I was in Ai's embrace as she watched the video from Miyako's phone. I heard people felt embarrassed seeing their own recording, but I didn't. Being as great as I am, it's natural that people will want to record me and share.

Seeing the massive smile on Ai's face, with a massive blush along with it, I couldn't help but sigh towards the world. Ahh, have I once again snatched a maiden's heart with my outstanding display? Unfortunately, she is my mother.

"Kyaah~ my cutest Aqua, you really pulled off the creepy kid act!" Ai suddenly lifted me up in the air and grinned at me. "Will you marry mommy when you grow up?"

"…I will think about it," I said dryly, as both Ai and Miyako burst out laughing. Only Ruby stayed silent, glaring at me.

* * *

Only when it was nighttime did Ruby find the chance and courage to come to confront me. Ai wanted to sleep with me and Ruby tonight, but the toddler girl insisted we sleep in the casket, which allowed us some privacy when she stood up and looked at me.

Our casket was placed side-by-side, and she could see me lying down silently when she stood up. I was cultivating with my eyes closed; it was slightly less effective than when one sits cross-legged, but it works even if I am lying down.

I opened my eyes when I felt her gaze, a spark of electricity splashing outwards that she must think was her hallucination.

"You," she said in a voice much less emotional than usual. "Are you a reincarnator?"

The elephant in the room, she went right at it. In the cannon-timeline, the exchange of our reincarnation status happened quite early, so she was open to the concept. However, from her current nervous expression, she wasn't sure how to feel if the answer was 'yes'. She would rather believe my acting was just a result of my genetics.

Now, here is the thing. I can't tell her I am Gorou Amamiya. That'd make her too clingy to me, and that Gorou part of me really wants to tell her and hug her – maybe shed a tear or two seeing her alive again. However, Gorou Amamiya wasn't my only identity.

I am the Monarch of the Brightest Night, also the Last Hero of Mankind. Those old and cold parts of me were just happy seeing her alive, they didn't want to disclose the identity of my 10th life if it'd make her so clingy.

Besides, she wasn't asking who he was, she didn't need to know his identity, she really just wanted to confirm if he was a reincarnator or not.

"Yes," I said, looking into her eyes. "I am just like you, indeed. Though forgive me for having hidden that information until now, I didn't see much reason to reveal it."

Ruby stayed silent. She just stared at me for a long moment.

Contrary to my expectations, even though I wasn't explicitly expecting anything, the girl took in a shuddering breath as tears swelled up in her eyes.

Oh.

Ruby sniffled and wiped her face, causing snot to rub all over and her lips quivered. She was crying. Why?

"I- I thought this was just a dream," Ruby's voice was filled with relief. "That I died… and in my last moments, my brain created a fantasy that can never be real. I read some theories about this before, where they say people hallucinate before death. I… some parts of me thought that may be what was happening."

So that dilemma. "Is this real? Is anything real?" That was something that I used to think about a lot in my past reincarnations. After all, it didn't make sense, me being some immortal soul was too good to be true. Why me amongst all the billions, trillions, and infinite people living in this reality?

Suddenly, I felt the crying girl in front of me a lot more relatable than I ever thought was possible. It was like seeing a junior… no, a younger sibling, going through that painful stage of life that you have passed through already once.

I stood up and reached out a hand. I don't know why, but I decided to help her out with this. She probably already believed this was real after hearing me out, but I decided to help her clear any remaining doubt of her existence.

It was a Magic Spell. I hadn't created a Mana Core for myself, but this particular technique worked with Qi too thankfully.

Ruby didn't shy away as my finger reached closer to her forehead, and then my index pressed into the middle of her forehead.

[Sorcerer Spell: Transcending Mind from the Metaphysical Consciousness.]

Ruby's body paused in time, and I felt the edge of what she was going through. Her mind had leaped out of her body, and her consciousness was flying around the earth at the speed of light, yet her mind was able to comprehend all the scenes.

After spinning around the earth, she was thrown into a higher dimension, the realm that only those who tested Ayahuasca had seen before. A realm of geometrical mess, with eldritch beings unbothered by her trespassing.

She came across the Pyramid Eye in that realm, and when her eyes met with it, both of her lives flashed past her as if she had just lived through them again. From the time inside her mothers' bellies, to the day she learned how to walk, and to now.

Ruby returned to her body and fell to her butt. She sweated buckets, the A.C. was not helping her, and she stared at the floor for a long moment. Then, she looked up at me.

"W-what are you? Are you Kam-"

"Shh."

I put a finger over her lips. It would be troublesome if her words attracted the gaze of some Shinto God.

"I am not a deity, rest assured."

"Ah…"

"Go to sleep, it will be easier to come to terms with everything."

I told her and laid back down. Her mind must be busy, but her body was begging to sleep, so I heard her snoring before I myself fell prey to exhaustion. That spell took a lot out of me.

….

When I woke up the next day, I thought over whether it was fine to have revealed the existence of magic to that girl. I didn't know what had taken over me last night to act like that.

Not that I regretted it. One of my rules was to never regret anything.

Turns out, there was no bad outcome from this. Ruby was happier than ever, and she was very welcoming of my revealed secret. She stopped trying to act like an older sister too, because she knew even if I am not God, I must be someone beyond whatever she was.

So, to conclude this stage, the mission was successful. I won't be bothered by her in the future.

* * *

I am finally three years old.

Life for the past year has been surprisingly more fun than the two years prior. Ruby was enjoyable company as a fellow toddler; I'm a bit surprised to admit that since my initial impression of her loud and annoying personality wasn't very good.

It made sense why I had this change, of course. Knowing her story from the anime and even from the perspective of Gorou was one thing, but seeing her life with my own senses was another. The spell I used on her that day allowed me to see the edge of what she went through. It wasn't very clear, but it was better than what I had before. She was so pitiful in her first life, that it rendered even an old soul like mine happy when I saw her enjoying life now.

She had cancer, and her parents abandoned her. She died alone in the hospital, with only the sound of Ai's concert and the hand of Gorou clutching her own with her till the end.

Back to myself. Today, I'm going to hit the [Iron] rank. It will be a bit more dramatic than my Copper advancement, however.

The Fountain stage makes one's body and spirit ready for the latter ranks. The Copper stage improves your spirit power, granting a great increase in Qi. The Iron stage, on the other hand, heavily improves your body.

Currently, at the age of three, I am at peak human condition. Meaning physically I am still within the boundaries of humans. With Iron rank, however, I will be able to surpass my human limits and step into the category of superhumans.

Before you step into [Iron] rank, however, you'd have to choose a [Iron Body] type. There are a lot of options, and optimally it's suggested you choose a body that supports your Path. This is your foundation, and you can never change this again.

The Path of the Endless Sword for one, is the best with the Blade Forged Iron Body. Likewise, my Path of the Raging Sky also has a dedicated Iron Body for itself, called the Storm Forged Body.

The problem is, there isn't any reason for me to choose that since my Paths will vary in the future. It would be troublesome if my body was only good at water, wind, cloud, and lightning affinity. I needed more so that I could switch as I pleased.

In my past life, luckily I wasn't born in the world where this Path power system worked because if I was, then I would have most likely been stuck with an Iron Body I didn't like. Iron Bodies would actually be changed despite what I said, but you'll lose a lot of your cultivation by doing that. So it was truly lucky that I was born in a more usual cultivation world with a usual cultivation power system, even if the highs there are low.

However, if you have a choice to choose the best Iron Body possible, this path power system is the best for anybody. Thankfully, I have thought that over in my last life and created a body concept for myself, for when I would inevitably die someday and use that Iron Body.

The Grandmist Forged Body, or Grandmist Body for short, would allow me many perks when I'd reach the higher ranks. I know this name exists somewhere, but the effects are entirely different.

At my current stage, until I reach the 10th rank of this power system, this Iron Body will mostly provide me with passive effects only. One such is the ability to switch to other paths in the near future, along with a state of mental buzz for anyone who might try to read my mind. It's simply the best, I made it with many perks in mind, to cover for any weaknesses I might encounter in the future.

However, there is one slight problem.

One will have to go through a bit of trouble to achieve this Iron Body.

For example, if I wanted to gain the Storm Forged Iron Body, I'd have to sit in an open field when it's raining and hope that I'll be struck by lightning. Or I can make it faster by poking a finger in an electric socket while soaking in the rain. It would hurt, but I will gain what I want.

For this, however, it's a bit harder. I need a peculiar situation and place. Thankfully, I've just found it.

Once more, I had to thank Ruby. Without her, I couldn't have run away from home for a night. My mum will be worried, and so will the director and Miyako, but this couldn't be helped.

I was in a graveyard, and it was an eerie stormy night. The sky was raging with rain and lightning, yet the moon was red; somehow under the rain, fireflies roamed around the area and corpses seemed to rattle underground. Today was a Lunar Eclipse, where the sun's Yang aura was overlapping with the moon's Yin aura, causing a thick Creation aura to wash over the planet like never before.

The corpses in the graveyard also provided a negative aura, while all the flowers and trees in the graveyard provided a positive aura. This truly was a unique situation, hard to come by, which was perfect for my plan. If I didn't encounter this rainy Lunar Night today, I would have to wait for the next one with rain. It could have taken years. As for why?

The energy of Grandmist was infinity. Infinity gave birth to the primal chaos, and the primal chaos transformed into yin and yang. First, there was grandmist, then there was primal chaos, after primal chaos was the division of yin and yang, and finally, there was the formation of the five elements. Meaning, Grandmist was the source of Mana, Qi, and whatever else energy present in the universe.

By obtaining the Grandmist Body, I don't need to establish a Mana Core in my heart. I can use my Qi as a replacement for Mana, effectively making me twice as effective as my old self right away. The potential of this life of mine is endless, to say the least.

I had a few hours in my hand, absorbing the opposing energies like a sponge. My skin was blackening, and while getting cured seconds later, I was losing my eyesight while gaining better eyes a moment later. My skin tore apart, replaced by new, and my bones turned into ashes, before forming new and stronger.

It was a painful process, but I let out no scream. Lightning hit the tree under which I was sitting, and it began to burn. Fire aura lit up in the area, and suddenly I had access to fire, along with the water, lightning, and earth that had already been present. The process grew faster thanks to the fire, but it meant the pain grew as well.

The next day, the clouds cleared and the sun peeked out. The graveyard was flourishing with flowers and trees, in places that they didn't even exist before, and the tree that had burned due to a lightning strike last night was three times larger now.

I slowly stood up from under the tree, my mortal sight clearer than ever before, as were my five senses. My cold gaze pierced the sky and saw the airplanes beside the clouds; I could smell the river in the far, and hear the sound of children playing in the park far from here.

I have advanced to the [Iron Rank].

I have stepped towards becoming a Celestial Sapien.

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