A newborn child of the stars frolicked with softly glowing footprints between the starlight, relishing life and freedom and the sweet revenge he’d have.


    The laws of space didn’t seem to matter for the newborn as it flickered randomly with leaps that began in one point and ended wherever the starlight shone.


    His skin was rosy and fresh with a physique of a beast’s. His hair was wild and dark like the night sky and his eyes shined like stars. Davie had walked the ancient steps of people long forgotten and been blessed by their stars, earning the right to be reborn under starlight to walk the celestial path. His foundation was remade and his strength was no longer bound by human conventions.


    Ten stars streaked down from the heavens, leaving their former positions empty forever.


    Davie stopped in his tracks when he felt an intimate connection. Ten stars fell towards Davie as ten small balls of brilliant light.


    He didn’t move. He wasn’t afraid.


    Each fell and merged throughout his body, and he felt a completeness. These were the stars that bonded with his steps, and thus claimed as guardian, as was the way of the children of the stars.


    It was hard for lil Davie to find the words to express his current state. He felt fullness, a sense of power that seemed natural, confident his second cleansed state could take on any third cleansed hunter, and it was that confidence that startled him. It had completely replaced a deeply buried yearning to prove himself even he was unaware of until it was gone. Why did he need to prove anything? He knew he was amazing, and that was a fact.


    A small gate formed in front of him.


    Davie was still processing the recent phenomena when a set of clothes flew through and hit him in the face. His good brother was waiting for him. He had to go thank him.


    With a manic smile, Davie quickly dressed and confidently stepped through. His fists felt very lonely.


    —


    Davie was the first to complete his metamorphosis, taking only twenty days. Three days later, Nicole finished her integration. Two days later, Juan was released from his torture, his physique tempered like demon steel. Mary and Tiana took another twenty-five days for a total of fifty days to reach enlightenment.


    It was Lily that had Jun climbing the walls with anxiety.


    Over a hundred days had passed since she went to tame the void.


    Lady Cynth had already explained the time dilation of the void, where time flowed with random momentums, and reassured, success of failure, Lily had plenty of safeguards to return safely.


    With nothing to do but trust and wait, Jun spent his early days experimenting with his origin rune control with noticeable improvements. A lot of interesting things were discovered in that time. Mainly that his mastery of Origin runes fueled his Spirit Fire like oil.


    From the small diameter of a few feet, the flames now radiated out almost twenty feet in all directions like a bleached inferno.


    Jun stood dazed in the center of his domain of flames, awed by his own achievement.


    In his world, S-Rankers were always looking for vain opportunities to show off their superhuman capabilities. From Guild recruitment videos to public demonstrations at hunter events, no one was able to be ignorant of the legendary peaks of humanity and their signature Spirit Fires.


    It was the new dick measuring contest for the strong, prestige correlating with who had the bigger Spirit Fire Domain - the radius of control where the holder of the flame gained unique advantages.


    Rookie S-Rankers usually started off with thin flames wrapping their bodies. Geniuses gained a radius of a few feet of growth in the first year, and the most famous of the active veterans boasted fifty to sixty feet Domains. None of the first generation Hunters were publicly active anymore, but records of their battles estimated Domains that covered entire battlefields.


    Jun never doubted that he’d awaken his Spirit Fire one day and that it would be a strong flame since he was super awesome, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect such rapid growth.


    It made sense when he thought about it. His soul was already semi-divine with a direct relationship with the Origin. The faster he mastered them, the sooner he’d meet his new potential.


    The Origin runes were the language of primordial creation, ranked higher than World Runes, the laws that governed his entire universe. It wasn’t something mortals were meant to contemplate. Jun could do it with his low strength because he was given permission, and since he could, he did, with incredible results.


    Silently thanking the World Tree in his heart for the thousandth time, Jun smiled, white flames caressing the night sky, and gained a new confidence in facing his enemies.


    He’d gained so much in the moment he thought he’d lost everything and he was determined to make good use of all of it.


    A sudden disturbance instantly caught Jun’s full attention.


    Finally, after almost a hundred and fifty days, she was finished.


    In a few quick steps, he crossed the vast distance he was keeping, to stand before a floating sphere of darkness that trapped all light. This damned thing was finally showing signs of activity.


    A few flickers and it was gone like a switch was flipped. In its place stood his little sister, eyes blinking at the sudden influx of light. It was fortunate that they’d done this in the relative darkness of a starry sky.


    Jun breathed a sigh of relief, a great burden lifting from his shoulders as he welcomed his disoriented little sister with a bear hug.


    Lily squealed with surprised laughter as her big brother spun her around in circles, still a little dazed after returning from the void, but happy and secure in her brother’s affections.


    Setting down the little girl, still giggling and almost tipping over with dizziness, Jun supported her by the shoulders and had a good look at her, anxiously checking for any signs of injuries or changes.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    If he wasn’t the one who waited for almost half a year for this silly girl to return, he’d have been sure she’d yet to go cultivate, because she looked exactly the same as the last moment he’d seen her. Her figure, aura, loose casual clothes, and even hair length were all unchanged, looking like a happy, carefree college girl with no signs of having been trapped in a space of nothingness for months.


    Jun might have been fooled if not for the giggles.


    The sounds of her laughter weren’t coming from the girl standing before him.


    “Alright, you gotta stop that. It’s making me ticklish.” Jun complained, rubbing the goosebumps on his arms.


    “Heeee~hee~heeeee~.’


    “Ha~ ha~ ha.”


    “Sorry sorry sorry.”


    “I’m~ I’m~ I’m~.’


    “Oh, this is weird~.”


    “Working on it~ on it~ on it~.”


    “This is weird~.”


    “Ha ~ ha ~ ha ~.”


    “I think I got it~.”


    The hundreds of voice fragments coming at him from every direction finally settled as Lily opened her mouth for the first time and tested her hoarse voice.


    “Ahh~ ah ah. Ahem!”


    “Here, drink some water.”


    “Thank you,” Lily said with a voice that seemed to have forgotten how to and took a refreshing swig of the water bottle Jun had taken out for her. Taking a large breath of air, she exhaled and looked around curiously. With a voice that sounded markedly more natural, she asked, “Am I the first to finish?”


    Jun looked blankly at his little sister with her big innocent eyes and said, “you’re last.”


    Seeing her give a cute pout, he just shook his head and snapped his fingers.


    A portal opened.


    “Come on, I had everyone step out of the array when they finished so that you can all finish together.”


    Lily tilted her head in confusion but stepped through together without asking. It didn’t feel like it’d been a long time, but she still missed her family and was excited to share her experiences, briefly wondering how long they must have waited for her.


    Passing through the glowing portal, they didn’t arrive into the Nature Room like Lily expected, but in the center of the Hanger. What startled her was that there were five other portals with her family and the two friends stepping through at the same exact moment.


    Everyone else instinctively believed they must have been the last to finish, having stepped through their portals moments after completing their transformations.


    After Lily, who looked completely unchanged, there were two others who didn’t have any drastic physical transformation.


    Mary and Tiana were both strong and confident women and had always carried themselves to reflect that - Mary as an accomplished professional and single mother and Tiana as a superior intellectual from an aristocratic family. But much of that was part of their societal masks, polished from years of experience rather than who they were. Now, they strode with new purpose, with an assurance that was natural and firm, and an aura that intimidated others without boasting. Even more beautiful than when they left, they couldn’t completely hide their new lethality.


    Things got a little interesting when it came to the last three.


    Nicole finally got her inches having grown at least a foot with her once short blond hair tumbling wildly past her feet. Her physique was already lean and powerful but now carried a sense of danger even when relaxed, like a predator with a full stomach - deadly was her existence. Her bright smile completed the picture of a feral warrior princess with her new fangs that made everyone feel like potential prey.


    Juan, newly groomed and decked out in a new suit courtesy of Tailor Sophie, his old everything having been burnt to cinders, also showed off his increased stature, powerful muscles rippling with a dull metallic sheen. Mary’s busy hands observed how hard and dense he felt while still being soft and warm, when a sudden gust of heat jolted her from her thoughtless admiration. Looking up, she saw her ‘friend’ looking down from a higher vantage than she was used to seeing with eyes that glowed with a molten metal red, his breath coming out with clouds of steam, and an expression of deep hunger. Mary shivered, a tingle traveling the length of her spine, and felt the heat wasn’t only coming from him. Something was burning inside her as well.


    Lil Davie, looking like a male model a teenage girl prompted up, was still thinking about the ‘conversation’ he’d have with his good brother, when a blurry mass of giggling girl came flying, arms outstretched, right towards his face. Heart in his throat, he hurriedly caught the girl whose memory helped him the most in overcoming those hellish days. Looking at the girl who looked exactly like the image in his heart, he couldn’t help but well with emotions so intense, he failed to notice her hands sneakily exploring his new body.


    Nicole and Tiana walked over to Jun, meeting his smug smile with their own baffled gazes.


    “Did you just chuck Lily at Davie?”


    “I needed a distraction to buy me time.” Jun admitted.


    “Time for what?”


    “Saving my ass,” Jun answered while he got busy.


    The girls, still thinking about the scene they witnessed, watched a new scene of their friend waving about, silently reorganizing the various contents of the Hanger - thousands of titanic machines and magical treasures moving with dizzying speeds, ordering themselves by the will of their owner. Soon, most things were moved far away, leaving two distinct groups remaining by their sides.


    Totally immersed in their emotional reunions, neither couples even bothered to be aware of the massive shifts around them, leaving Jun plenty of time to make the emergency preparations he’d planned when he saw what his dad and lil brother experienced. It was so many times worse than he thought it’d be. While the girls also experienced immense challenges, the boys were just straight up tortured. There was no way they were gonna walk out of that and not think about giving someone a good beating.


    Having had some time while he was waiting for Lily, Jun thought a lot about his anger mitigation plan.


    Two large portals appeared, and the gathered stock were rapidly sucked in. The light of giant portals finally gained the couples’ attention, who were now looking around, confused. His parents watched as rune cars, ships, and planes were slurped into the portal by their side like noodles, while his siblings watched every giant mecha disappear into the portal by them.


    Jun cleared his throat and gathered everyone’s attention.


    “Congrats! I know it was hard, but you’ve now all changed your fates to super badasses. Yay!” He said, cheering theatrically with both arms in the air. The girls chuckled good-naturedly, but the boys had murder in their eyes. Time for operation: I’ve Got Cool Shit.


    “Especially dad and lil bro. What you’ve accomplished is… wow, just pure inspiration. I want you guys to know that I’m so proud of you.” Jun waxed. The girls looked at the boys with questions in their eyes while the eyes of the boys were narrowing.


    “And that kind of accomplishment deserves rewards!” he hurriedly continued, gesturing towards the portals.


    “Dad!” Jun nearly shouted. “Since most of these rune vehicles can’t really be used back home yet, I’ve created a new room with all kinds of land, air, and water test tracks, so you can really let loose. Take your time and try them all out. Pick your favorites and I’ll get them converted for use on earth!”


    “Lil Davie! My awesome lil brother!” Jun struck while the iron was hot, giving no one a chance to react. “I made a room with all kinds of terrains and firing simulations for you to go freakin wild with whatever mecha you want! Same deal man. Pick your favorites and I’ll see about getting a mobile mecha garage you can carry around with you!”


    Juan and lil Davie could both tell how desperate Jun was to appease them and, although they were still angry, they maturely decided to forgive him. So after only a thirty-minute beating, they crossed their respective thresholds with a childlike glee.


    The women folk watched all that transpired without any context, but with the few clues came to the correct conclusion. Mary and Lily, now concerned for the mental health of their men, looked at the battered lump that was Jun. If they didn’t know that Jun could take those hits and more, and that he obviously deserved it, they would have been more sympathetic. Instead, four girls looked down with blazing eyes, collectively asking without words: What about us?


    A bruised hand sluggishly rose from the heap and tiredly waved them off. “Same deal.”


    Resentfully watching them scamper off to explore and catch up, Jun sighed with relief. It could have gone a lot worse.


    Closing his eyes and intending to rest for a moment, he was stopped with a whoomf. A red meteor had heavily landed on his stomach and knocked some air out of his lungs.


    Teary eyes met little red ones and Jun asked, “OOph, what’s up Sophie? I missed you.”


    “Jun! Jun! Jun! You’ve gotten so strong! Did you already step into the 5th rank?”


    "Huh?"