Decisions

-- Ren's POV --

'I don't think I want to reincarnate as a human baby and experience childhood all over again.' - Ren

Just thinking about it gives me the creeps. A grown man living as a baby... being taken care of by his parents... No, I don't want that. NEVER...

'You do realise that you will be reincarnated one way or another, right?' - Seltra

'Huh, what happens if you stay as a soul for too long?' - Ren

'Depends on what you do from here on. If you keep strengthening your spirit you will turn into a spiritual being. You can keep getting stronger and evolving as a spirit but these beings can't exactly lead a human life to be exact. In between if you want you can become an incarnation of nature to become a dryad or the sea to become a naiad or something else. You can even create your own body once you have enough power. But all these options could take a very long time.' - Seltra

'I want to have a human body. An adventurers life... that is what I now want. But I don't want to spend too much time as a baby, especially with the mind of an adult. A being of the spirit race was a good option but it takes too much time as you said. Then... I can't think of anything.' - Ren

'Looks like I was right. Then I have the perfect solution.' - Seltra

'Oh, I am all ears.' - Ren

'How about you become an Elven Half Spirit.' - Seltra

What kind of a race is that?

'You will increase your spiritual strength here until you are ready to become part of the Spirit race. A dryad. But instead of just becoming nature's incarnation you will along with nature, reincarnate into the body of the half elf there. This will save time as your body is already prepared. It will be difficult but I believe you can do it.' - Seltra

I became terrified. She is asking me to desecrate that grave and the child buried there. Is mother supposed to be....

Mother's face turns sad for a bit before turning serious.

'I know what you are thinking Ren. But that child was never alive. He was born with a rare condition which denied the soul. As a result the child's body couldn't house a spirit or a consciousness. There was never a soul in the child to begin with. The parents of the child mistakenly thought that it was due to them being of different races. They didn't try to have another child after that. They managed to get over it with time. But the father who was a human died later due to old age. The elven mother who had a longer lifespan was devastated. She had mourned for both of them. The child was buried here.' - Seltra

'What? Such a thing... Couldn't mother do something for the child? Surely you are more than powerful enough to heal the child.' - Ren

'I am not omnipotent nor omnipresent. There are limitations. Before I could do anything, the soul that was supposed to reincarnate as that child was reincarnated as one of the Spirit race. Not me nor the gods know how souls are born or what happens when they die.' - Seltra

So there are things that even gods are not capable of doing.

'Ren... if you reincarnate as an Elven half spirit, you will not desecrate anything... Instead it will be the kindest thing you can do for that parent.' - Seltra

'Mother.... how can I reject now.' - Ren

'Thank you child. I am sure you will become a splendid hero one day' - Seltra

Me.. a hero huh.. When I was a child I always wanted to be a hero who saves people and beat up criminals but later it changed as I saw the immense burden they carry and the true nature of us humans. My view about everything started to change after that. I thought it was impossible to be a real hero.

You can't save everyone. What about those who you cannot reach? What about evil doers who never change their ways? Do they deserve to be saved as well? I accepted the fact that things are not always simple. Even with power you will have limitations. There will always be someone stronger than you. You can never become the strongest. That is impossible. But you can become stronger. Stronger than you were yesterday.

That is what I will do. I will become stronger until... no there is no until. I will keep getting stronger and live my life how I like. I won't be able to save everyone but those close to me and within my reach... I will do my best to protect them.

If I can help mother and that parent, then I will try and be a hero for them.

'Alright, lets do it.' - Ren

'Well then, you better get started right now. I will come check upon you sometimes.' - Seltra

'Ok. Bye mother.' - Ren

'Bye son.' - Seltra

She disappeared in a flash of blue light. But did she just say what I think she said. No.. it must be my imagination.

It's night time. The stars look beautiful. Since I am a soul and don't have a body anymore sleep is no longer an issue.

I activated my spirit field and stretched it. I could feel everything. My own soul.. A big translucent blue sphere connected to an essence organ by a spiritual bridge. If I didn't have that would I have survived my trip here. After recalling everything that has happened to me I realised that I am too weak.

Although my spirit field is large I don't have perfect energy control inside it. When I focus on 1 side I find it difficult to control energy flow on the other side. So my training right now involves regulating energy or essence equally through all areas of my spirit field.

Since this world has mana. My freezing and fireball techniques are not efficient anymore. I have to figure out how to manipulate and control mana. Figure out it's true nature. I could ask mother but I want to do it myself. One day I would be able to generate mana myself.

Also my mental abilities are another problem. I noticed that whenever I spiritually strengthened myself my memory improves but I was only increasing the power behind it and not the technique. For example it was like upgrading the hardware and not updating the software of a computer. After looking at the disconnected memories and the spiritual link mother created I now know what I should do to improve myself.

Recently I was only simply absorbing essence to let my soul grow and didn't focus much on exercising my powers or creating new techniques. I have an idea of a new revised Soul Forge technique and other abilities, some of which will have to be postponed as they require me to have a body.

With determination that can last for an eternity, I work towards my future.

-- Seltra's POV --

It feels good to meet someone like him. For great spirits like me who lives for billions of years life becomes pretty boring. So we usually sleep for years.

With a flash of blue light I appeared inside a big white palace. I went and stood near the figure I wanted to meet. His voice greets me.

"Great World Spirit Seltra. It has been far too long since we last met." - ???

I looked at the man in the white shining armour before me. That long white flowing hair.. Yup it was definitely him.

'Yes. It has been too long Great God Dovah.' - Seltra