《The Legend of Axiom》 Prologue - Hourglass If you asked his friends, most people would say that he was a bit ''mysterious''. On the surface, he lived a rather mediocre life. He graduated from high school and joined the workforce rather young. It wasn''t his hobbies or interest that made people think he hid a secret. It was his temperament. He gave off the impression that he wasn''t normal. It was as if he was pretending in all his social interactions. There was a ''mask'' over his real self. This was just the impression he gave people. The truth was... He wasn''t normal at all! It happened a decade ago. He was getting ready for bed and all of a sudden his soul entangled itself with an alternate version of himself. This ''other self'' was a scientist that had gone mad from peeking into the realm of gods. They had spent years creating a device they called the ''singularity''. They called the assimilation of all reality as the pinnacle of humanity and the birth of enlightenment. "If you do this. You will destroy all of reality..." "They don''t care about mere ants. Those monsters just want to consume ALL!" His other self activated the gateway to the other side. As various eldritch entities attempted to invade his world and reality. Their mere presence caused spatial turbulence. This is when something happened that would forever change Anon. A dark energy explosion went off and his ''other self'' died. But a imprint followed the connection between his entangled soul and the deceased and affected his body in another universe. His universe! He began to bleed from every orifice on his face. He lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness he found he was without form and was in some sort of void. Inside of this space was a spiritual world that had no connection with reality. It turns out the collapse of the reality he created the singularity in broke the bond between soul and body for every existence within. But this made him wonder... Why was he lucid? Did it have to do with his entangled state or some deeper secret? Was this his afterlife? He was completely surrounded in soul fragments. His soul was broken and was lost among the infinity of this space. He named this spiritual space his domain. Here. He was the ''ruler'' as he controlled the rules. He slowly and methodically started to consume other soul fragments. With every passing moment. He was gaining random memories of those from his universe. This included alien races. But things were too fragmented and unorganized that he didn''t gain anything remotely close to useful. After spending centuries in this space. He had consumed millions of soul fragments. After thousands of years... Billions. But it was like a drop in the ocean. But within this mere drop of information. He pieced together the fragments of his alternate self and understood more and more about the other side. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. He realized that his current state was the ''pinnacle'' of enlightenment that his alternate self sacrificed everything to create. In other words, he had made a wedding dress for himself. Despite putting in none of the work. He had gained all the perks and benefits that should''ve belonged to his alternate self. But now he had lived for thousands of years in this space alone with nothing but foreign memories. He was growing tired and he felt his spirit was reaching a limit. He looked through his theories and realized that the gateway to the other side had fused with his consciousness. It was deeply hidden in his mind. But with enough digging. He unearthed a colorful hourglass. This was like the ''key'' that gave him control over this space. Once he realized this. He started a special plan. "Operation Revival." He found that since he controlled the rules of this space. He could ''craft'' his soul once more using the knowledge he had amassed. Make no mistake. He was no longer ordinary. The centuries spent in isolation had caused him to go through cycles of sanity and clarity. He had long grown bored with such madness. "I must understand the connection between body and soul. The connection between real and fake. Transforming the false into true. If I can do this. I can perform supernatural actions effortlessly." "Immortality..." "Teleportation..." "Invulnerability..." "Telekinesis..." "Super speed..." Anon felt the possibilities were endless. But he encountered a problem right away. As he crafted his soul and the mechanics of his powers. He didn''t revive! The soul became unstable and shattered like glass. "I knew it couldn''t have been so easy!" This setback ignited the competitive side of Anon. Decades went by and failure after failure. Anon felt himself becoming more dull. Slower... "I''m running out of time..." While he lacked a body and relied on his fusion with the artifact to retain consciousness. His spirit was becoming ''dusty''. It was like stagnant water. He would become a fool if he delayed too much longer. "The main issue is that my universe cannot support these supernatural powers, even if they come from the soul." "So instead of using soul power. I have to do something else..." "I need to create something with infinite growth potential. If my reality can''t support the supernatural power. I must BECOME the system!" Anon knew nothing about reality. He had a great understanding of his space. But that was all. It was unrealistic to warp all of reality as he knew it. But then he had an idea. "It''ll be like slowly raising the temperature and boiling a frog to death. I''ll add the supernatural slowly over time. I''ll create a world where people have no choice but to accept the system!" "But what if I die? What I am doing will take thousands of years..." "I need immortality. But even my current state isn''t immortal. How do I become an everlasting being?" Anon thought about the webnovels and books he had read. "A cheat..." "I need an unfair advantage. This space is external. If I want to come back to life. I will have to abandon it." "Once I leave. There is no coming back. I will have to discard my domain and become ''locked in'' with the changes I have made." "How about instead of a super power. I make a conceptual rule that''ll be attached not to my soul. But to the state of my being..." "But what sort of ''rule'' should I create?" Anon looked at the hourglass in his sea of consciousness. "I can take this with me... but without my domain. It''ll lose most functionality..." Anon hadn''t discovered every secret regarding his artifact. But he knew that it allowed his consciousness to think and control this space. "If I make a declaration and attach it to this artifact. I''ll carry the power into reality!" "What should I declare?" "I am immortal!" The ocean of soul fragments started to invade his consciousness as he felt himself becoming assimilated. He had to cut off the declaration. Immortality as it turned out was too demanding in terms of laws. "I am timeless!" The ocean of fragments invaded his consciousness. He could just barely maintain his mind as he felt an anchor appear. His artifact resonated in ''joy''. "It is done! But I feel I have room for improvement..." Anon realized if he made another declaration. It would overwrite his previous one. But he felt that the hourglass was special. This artifact seemed to have some innate ability. But it was deeply hidden within. He couldn''t see what it was. But he could faintly feel it had something to do with time. "Now I just need to make my soul and leave this place!" "I can''t do powerful supernatural abilities. But for my plan. I need to create a system origin." Anon planned on making his soul the processor of the system he would bring into reality. Chapter 1: Seals "I can''t do powerful supernatural abilities. But for my plan. I need to create a system origin." Anon planned on making his soul the processor of the system he would bring into reality. He hadn''t just been mindlessly absorbing soul fragments during these thousands of years. He had been studying his consciousness. He didn''t understand much about the universe. But in matters regarding soul and spirituality. He was three steps ahead. He realized that he couldn''t just brute force his way to his revival. He had been sharpening the axe. But it was now time to cut down the tree. Anon felt as if he was presented with a beautful stone block. He had all the tools necessary to carve a legendary statue. But this was more then an art piece. It would affect his life for all of eternity. "I must create a perfect soul!" Anon continued to will a perfectly normal soul into existence. He watched again, again, and again as this foreign soul shattered. He searched the memories he had accumulated for thousands of years in this space. He then came up with a ingenious use of soul. He developed what he called a ''seal'' system. Basically, instead of the soul having any supernatural powers in itself. He would have different stratums that he would need to unlock. Essentially, the soul would function just like a normal one. He would be entirely normal at the start. But as he unlocked his ''potential''. He would unlock abilities. He designed ten different seals. Seal 9: Concentration Seal 8: True Vision Seal 7: Extraordinary Sense Seal 6: Deification Seal 5: Divine Sense Seal 4: Materializer Seal 3: Virus Seal 2: False/True Seal 1: System Integration Seal 0: Administrator These seals were like hidden files. They would only show themselves when agitated by Anon. So how exactly does he ''open'' a seal? He would need to unlock the potential of his soul. Anon had no idea how hard this would be. Because he lacked a body at the moment. His perspective and personality was twisted. The seals weren''t static either. Their power would improve exponentially when unlocking more of them. So ''Concentration'' would be an entirely different experience when ''True Vision'' was unlocked versus ''System Integration''. Anon then saw something that made him theorize endless possibilities. The soul didn''t shatter! But Anon was nowhere near close to done. He had spent centuries gaining wisdom from the deceased souls of that alternate universe. He had learned a few tricks that he wanted to apply. One of the main ones was the artifact that carried his consciousness. A colorful hourglass was floating in his sea of consciousness. But Anon felt something weird. This foreign soul he created wasn''t himself. He felt a desire coming from it. It was attracted to his artifact. It wanted to merge with it. This made Anon cautious. If all souls felt an attraction to his artifact. He would need to be careful. What if he was like a beacon that attracted the supernatural to his universe? What if those gods that collapsed that alternate world found him? He needed to be prepared. But despite wracking his mind. He couldn''t see how he could protect himself. "This artifact was created from the collapse of a universe. It is the culmination of every soul in that universe. Yet, I have attached a simple declaration of ''timelessness'' to it." "What a waste of a heavenly treasure!" Anon wanted more treasures. Perhaps his hourglass sensed this. Anon could feel that this hourglass was very special. But when he probed and tried to observe it. It hid itself in his subconscious. It was ''alive''. He knew this from the joy it felt when he made his declaration. "I should really name you." "How about ''Captured Eternity''?" The hourglass stopped hiding in his subconscious and appeared in full glory at the surface of his thoughts. It seemed slightly angry! It didn''t seem very intelligent. Perhaps a spark of consciousness had been born from the explosion and its birth. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. "You... don''t like the name?" Anon came up with some random names, but each one was rejected by the hourglass. "Alright then, why not tell me what you should be called?" The hourglass froze and Anon felt a deep pain in his spirit. Anon then found himself experiencing something unusual. He was EVERY person in existence in the alternate universe. He witnessed the aftermath of the dark energy explosion and the collapse from the invasion of ''gods''. He saw the infinite resources creating a supreme artifact. But the artifact was alone in a abyss. It was like an abandoned child. It was quite pitiful. The artifact lacked an owner. Not only that, but it felt a danger approaching. Some entity was going to consume it! At this time. The artifact wasn''t in the shape of an hourglass. It was a colorful sphere of potential. Like a virus. It tracked down the lone observer that Anon was in those moments, it wanted to save itself from getting consumed. It fused with his consciousness! It had lacked a database of experience. But when it fused with him. It started to gain innate abilities and became the hourglass it now was. You could say that it and the domain he was in now was shaped by his subconscious desires. Anon found himself no longer experiencing that weird state. He was no longer in pain and felt some random fragments of information at the top of his consciousness. He even learned how to leave this space by exploiting the mechanic that trapped him here in the first place. If he never interacted with his hourglass and had this ''conversation''. He would have had to take more detours and risk. Leaving might''ve even been impossible! "Perception of Time." "Sovereign''s Timekeeper." The hourglass resonated in ''joy'' once more. It then dipped into his subconscious hiding itself. Anon had experience unearthing this artifact, so he could force it out if he really needed to. But he had no reason to at the moment. "What a lame name..." "It doesn''t even tell time!" Anon felt he should''ve done this far sooner. Who knew merely naming ''it'' could have such benefits? Anon had a lot of experience in absorbing memories. So when he absorbed the birth process of his artifact. He learned how to create an artifact himself! This was huge! He looked at his foreign soul. It had unknowningly been a few years that he had been ''sculpting'' this soul. Within the soul wasn''t just his ten seals. But a seperate sea of consciousness. This consciousness felt a hunger for his artifact. Fortunately, Anon knew his journey required a fusion. "I don''t know what is out there. What if someone can steal, or destroy my artifact?" "I need to have countermeasures..." Now that Anon knew how to create an artifact. He would try to ''hide'' the real artifact with a fake. "I need to make a ''fake'' artifact." Anon realized that ''Sovereign''s Timekeeper'' had not only his ''timeless'' declaration attached to it. But it also had some sort of innate ability that hadn''t yet been triggered. The artifact that Anon would create would lack an innate ability. But just like how his hourglass could have a declaration. He would be able to attach a rule to it. Anon wasn''t sure how these rules would function outside of his domain. It was entirely possible that he may need to activate them somehow. Anon thought this could prove to be a problem. His entire domain started to boil. Before, he had barely consumed a drop in the ocean despite his centuries trapped here. But now, just to create a single artifact nearly drained all his resources. The seemingly infinite domain of souls dried up. The domain was almost completely empty. There was only his soul and the fake artifact he had created. This was his imitation of the process of his heavenly treasure. But because it was that. A ''imitation''. It lacked a spark of consciousness like his hourglass. It also lacked any innate abilities. It did absolutely nothing at all! But it was useful in hiding the ''aura'' of his hourglass. It was like having another equipment slot in a game. That equipment being his declaration. If he made two declarations. The newest would overwrite his previous one. But now that he had two artifacts. The soul stopped craving his real artifact and the waves of spiritual energy reached a sort of balance. Making both of them hidden. He could attach a rule to this useless fake treasure. "Well... I get to name you." There was no response from this ball of potential. It was emotionless. Right when Anon was about to make a declaration. He thought of something a bit interesting. He also realized it was impossible to create another declaration in his current state. "Once I leave my domain. Everything will likely be ''locked'' into the configuration I made. It will be almost impossible to make changes then." "This means even if I want to overwrite my declaration on the hourglass. It will be useless!" "But I used all the remaining soul fragments to make this sphere of potential..." "Even if I make a declaration now. There isn''t enough resources and power to make it a reality. So why not have a blank? A nameless artifact that does nothing but balance out the beacon. But has infinite potential in the future!" "I''ll make a declaration later!" Anon remembered that when he tried to make himself ''immortal'' through the declaration. He was almost assimilated by the soul fragments due to it requiring too many rules. But what if he made the same declaration in reality when he was stronger? He could then use the energy from the real world and his stronger foundation to pull it off! "It''s a shame there is no innate ability to this fake..." Anon fused the foreign soul with the fake artifact very carefully. He was now ''locked in''. He had used every resource available in this space. There was nothing left but a single soul. If he had a body. He would be sighing in relief. This was his ultimate creation! "Now for the dangerous part. It is time to leave!" Anon had learned a thing or two from his artifact about ''tracking''. He felt there was some sort of connection between his spiritual body that was nearly omnipotent in this space and his real body. He fused with his perfect creation and traced the new connection he felt. He then woke up. Chapter 2: Weakness When Anon regained consciousness. He was hit with a tsunami of information. It was like that feeling you have when your leg has become numb and you feel pins and needles as you walk on it. Except, he felt this over his entire body! "Whasod!" Anon tried to talk to himself. But to his surprise. He had lost all control over the muscles in his body. He couldn''t even talk properly! The only thing that remained stable was his thoughts. But even that was falling apart! Why? His body and soul had become estranged. He felt paralyzed. He thought to himself: "Thousands of years in reality were only mere moments. But the coordination with my body has reached an all time low. If I go to a doctor, they may find something abnormal about my condition..." "How do I resolve this?" Anon used his endless willpower to forcefully control his body like a puppet. But even willpower has limits. He was sweating and feeling sick from merely lifting his arm. He grabbed his phone and clicked the emergency call button. Anon felt that even breathing was becoming hard. It was like his body went into shock from the experience of thousands of years in an instant. His brain activity was comparable to a person in their final moments. He was dying! As the dispatch asked him what the situation was. He murmured some incomprehensible gibberish. But thankfully, the person on the line was a professional and they tracked down his location. 10 minutes later. He was rushed into an ambulance and was on the way to the hospital. The paramedics tried to ask him questions and refused to let him go to sleep. Anon felt so tired. The fatigue accumulated for thousands of years beckoned him. He wanted to drift off into nothingness. NO! He ignored such intrusive thoughts. He couldn''t stop now. He had just ''revived''! How could he die so soon? But his spirit was so old and could hardly handle the wear and tear of reality. An average person might have a 60% control rate between body and soul. But right now, Anon had less then 1%! This was due to the tricks he used to track his body from his domain. It was as if his body was deeply sick. It was fighting this foreign soul! This invader! But it wasn''t some outside force. It was Anon! But his body wasn''t used to such a soul or the experience of so many memories. His brain was overloaded! The paramedics shined light in his eyes. But his pupils didn''t even constrict. He stopped breathing and started to lose consciousness as his heartbeat became irregular. He was pulled out of the ambulance and taken to the emergency room right before he blacked out.
"He has stopped breathing..." "But there is still a pulse!" The doctor had Anon on life support. He did various test. But... "He is braindead..." Anon''s face was also covered in blood. His eyes bloodshot. It was as if he had some sort of internal trauma that attacked the brain. "The body is alive. But it is an empty shell... There is no chance of recovery!" The doctor sighed. Such a thing happened to a young man for seemingly no reason. He needed to contact the family and- This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The doctor had merely glanced at the open eyes of this young man. But for a second. He felt as if he was standing in front of an apex predator. He lost his train of thought and his heart raced. "You!" Anon''s eyebrows twitched and he blinked. "You- You died!" Anon''s face spasmed from his lack of control. He then said some nonsense. But the meaning was clear to the doctor. These were weak whispers of a dying man. But for some reason. It was so loud that everything else was drowned out. "I died? Who decided that?" "You? You don''t have the authority!" The doctor then saw that the man''s eyes closed. He realized something in this instant. "Too many all-nighters. I need more rest. I''m starting to hallucinate!" The doctor assumed he imagined that magical scene. Because a braindead patient telling the doctor he didn''t have the authority was ridiculous! Not to mention that weird look that was as if he was standing in front of some primordial being... But then he thought about the spark in that man''s bloodshot eyes. Even the hallucination. He hesitated and decided to do more test. There was a response! The body was basically paralyzed. But the eyes were reacting to light. It seemed the person was sleeping?
Anon had lost consciousness and felt as if he was heading towards oblivion. He found himself in some sort of dreamscape. He was in a labyrinth. He couldn''t remember what he was doing before. He had forgotten about everything. The realm was shaking and started to dissolve. He felt incredibly comfortable. The abyss called him. He was about to welcome it~ But then he felt a deep fear! He would not have even had the chance to experience this fear if not for the medical equipment keeping him alive. "NO! If I stop now... I''ll be wiped out!" All of his memories resurfaced. His body that was in human form transformed into how he truly saw himself. An omnipotent sovereign! He became the maze itself and saw that in the center was his soul. Everything was falling apart. The hourglass hidden in his subconscious was about to spring into action. But he laughed! "Hahahaha! My dear TImekeeper... I have got this!" At that moment. Anon''s life flashed before his eyes. He saw centuries of memories flashing in his mind. He sneered at his weakness. "Do you think your master is so weak?" Anon calmed down his restless artifact. "It''s just a matter of life and death... why so serious?" "It is a small issue." In an instant. Anon condensed his will and attacked his soul itself! "Break!" "Break!" "Break!" Anon felt the connection between soul and body became even more illusory. The attacks were having an opposite effect then what he wanted. But he knew he couldn''t afford to stop now. "BREAK!" Anon focused on ''Seal 9'' Concentration. His will was cracked and his spirit was about to dissipate. But in the next instant. He felt a cool feeling running down his spine in reality. It was like his brain was on fire. But now it was covered in ice. This comfortable feeling had spread all over his body. "Recovery in both spirit and mind!" The dreamscape dissolved and Anon entered a dreamless sleep. But right before this happened. He heard a faint voice... "The body is alive. But it is an empty shell... There is no chance of recovery!" He opened his eyes and faced the doctor. "You- You died!" Anon responded. Despite barely being able to control his vocal cords. It was as if he pierced the mans mind with his meaning. "I died? Who decided that?" "You? You don''t have the authority!" Anon then closed his eyes. Anon had successfully opened the first seal. But he was still in a vulnerable and weak state. Luckily, the hospital was a perfect place to recuperate. He could even have an excuse for work. A medical emergency! He slept for 36 hours straight. When he regained consciousness. He found he was in a hospital bed and there was a television that was off. He was no longer hooked up to life support. He was breathing on his own! His face had been cleaned. Anon knew he couldn''t walk in his current state. But ''Concentration'' was working its magic! He felt the connection between body and soul was now at 2% versus its abysmally low rate before. He had reached an important stasis. A day passed. 5% Another... 10% Another... 15% He could now stand on both feet and retain his balance. He could even awkwardly walk. 20% He could walk normally. 40% The hospital had him do physical therapy and were shocked by his progress. But when they looked at the various test he took beforehand. They couldn''t find the source of his muscle weakness. So this mysterious illness recovering mysteriously felt just right. 60% Anon''s control was now at the level of a normal person. But it continued to improve as he was discharged from the hospital. He had spent two weeks recovering in the hospital. But he had never felt better. 70% 80% 90% 99% He had ''perfect'' control over his body now. But this didn''t mean he was like a martial artist. His body hadn''t been developed and was still ordinary. His physique was normal and his muscles were average. His flexibility wasn''t amazing. But he could use the full potential of his body. He could use all the explosive force of his muscles despite the damage. His strength had improved in its control. But it wasn''t anything supernatural. It was just his nervous system becoming more efficient and less restrictive. His body was no longer rejecting his soul. He started to think of ways to activate the rule of his artifact. He had spent a month out of work. It was time to go back. Chapter 3: Fired! He had spent a month out of work. It was time to go back. Anon had a rather simple job. That job being a transcriptionist. He worked about 50 hours a week typing transcripts for video and audio. The pay wasn''t amazing, but it was a job almost anyone could do. He made a little more then three times the minimum wage. He was paid hourly and the overtime helped a lot. The first thing Anon noticed upon going into work was his effiency. It had increased. Before, he had to listen to the videos at half speed and typed at 90 WPM. But now, he could play the videos at normal speed and was passing 180 WPM! "The soul is in perfect harmony with the body now..." Anon felt it was a shame. He could make for a pretty good surgeon or some other job that required good hand dexterity. But he knew proving his skills was impossible and would lead to prying. Anon''s memory and accuracy had improved massively. But he noticed something weird. His co-workers were acting a bit weird. They were avoiding him for some reason. Anon had thought he was acting normal. But for some reason, he was scaring his coworkers!
Melissa''s POV: "I need you to fire Anon!" "Why?" "He is scaring the other workers..." The boss thought back to the video that one of the employees had recorded. It showed Anon''s bizarre speed. He was keeping up with the video and making no mistakes. They had software on the computers that kept track of speed and accuracy. "100% accuracy!" "195 WPM... It is still rising..." What was scary was that Anon kept this speed while not really focusing and seemed quite casual. He even was stopping with the program still recording. His true speed was probably much higher. He was constantly breaking his limits. Melissa didn''t hear the thoughts of the boss. But she wondered and asked, why fire someone who is working so efficiently? "You don''t understand. Being good isn''t always a good thing. Remember the contract we had them sign?" "Contract?" "He agreed to work hourly pay versus a small pay per file." "Now that his speed and accuracy has reached inhuman levels... do you think he will accept this contract!?" "Is it really that bad? He hasn''t even asked for higher pay?" "You don''t get it! That''s the problem!" "Why has his skill changed so dramatically since his break? He was apparently paralyzed in a hospital for weeks... If anything. His skill and accuracy should''ve decreased!" "But instead. He is working like a precise machine! Don''t you find it weird?" "Now that you mention it... that is a little weird. But not a valid reason to fire someone!" "I hadn''t planned on firing him before this. But if he keeps this up. He will make the others lack a job. Here. Look at this." Melissa looked at the bosses computer and saw a database of files. Nearly half of them had Anon''s name attached. "His working speed is comparable to half our staff combined! If we keep him. We will run out of files to transcribe. I can''t pay everyone to be idle all day. So that leaves me with two choices. Fire the others and let him run the show. But then, that might be his plan! He can then ask for a ridiculous raise!" "Or... I fire him and replace him with an average worker!" "I choose the latter!" If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Anon didn''t pay attention to the weird stares of the others. He was casually testing his limits. You would think he would hide his abilties. But he considered ''typing fast'' to be within the realm of a normal human. He knew his speed was increasing considerably. His typing ''technique'' drew a lot of attention. Then the assistant of the manger tapped him on the shoulder. "Anon. I am sor-" The assistant became dazed. Anon had been experiencing the joy of flow from his job. So he became a little annoyed when someone interrupted his perfection. He hadn''t meant to show any malice. But his look frightened Melissa! Her heart began to race as she started to shake. She then said: "I''m- So sorry!" She then ran away. Anon figured it was useless instructions and got back to work. But then another person interrupted him again. "The boss wants to see you!" "Alright..." Anon got up and stretched. He had been working for about 4 hours straight without any meaningful breaks. But he didn''t feel tired at all. Compared to not sleeping for centuries. This level of fatigue was nonexistent. Anon entered his bosses office. "You little shit! You scared my assistant!" Anon was confused. He wasn''t aware of what he had did to make his boss so mad. Maybe it was from him taking leave for a month? "Are you even listening to me!? Look me in the eyes when I am talking to you!" Anon had been in a daze trying to search his memories for any mistakes or improper manners. But he couldn''t find where he had made a mistake. But when he realized him not looking the boss in the eyes was seen as disrespectful. He looked up and glanced at his boss. The boss started to visibly sweat. He tensed up and froze. Anon spoke: "I apologize for scaring your assistant. But I merely looked at her? How can someone get scared from a glance?" "You-! You''re fired!" "Fired?" Anon didn''t become emotional. He didn''t waste another word and went back to his cubicle to grab his things, log off, clock out and head back home. His boss sighed in relief when he left.
Anon was sitting at his computer at home in a daze. He was looking at his bills. He was also looking for another job. Anon didn''t realize it. But there were certain social cues and subtle hints that people subconsciously made. Because Anon was a foreign soul and had long lost his humanity. He didn''t pick up these social cues or hints anymore. This made him stick out like a sore thumb. He also gave off the impression of a serial killer. He had consumed countless soul fragments. This was the equivalent of taking billions of lives. Because whenever he ate them. He felt the resistance and saw their memories like a zombie eating brains. This made him give off the aura of a monster. He was trying to act normal. But the acting itself was low quality! "I need money!" Anon felt that most problems could be solved with money. His mind itself was like a treasure trove. All sorts of technology had been absorbed from his domain. Even though most of it was obsufucated. He knew how to construct some heaven defying devices. But he found as he researched the parts online that making advanced technology was no easy feat. Imagine if someone took a modern touchscreen phone. They memorized the process of making it. But they were then sent back in time by thousands of years. All the infrastructure and assembly lines needed to make the extremely precise parts. All the programming for the operating system that is millions of lines of code. It needs to be done by a single person. Even if the person was a genius and knew exactly what to do. How long would it take them to them to make a mere protoype? Years? Decades? Centuries? The thing was... Anon wasn''t sent back thousands of years ago. He had access to the certain quality of modern technology. What he lacked was a source of income. If he wanted to create his own assembly line, rent out a factory and warehouse. He needed money! "Time is money..." "Infinite time... Infinite money!" Anon''s perspective of time was thoroughly fucked. He knew from working those four hours at this job that it felt like only a second had gone by. Even when he was recovering in the hospital. Two weeks went by in a flash. "What I need isn''t necessarily money. What I need is time!" "Timeless..." Anon thought about the rule attached to his hourglass. "The government and the very wealthy have all tried to make themselves not age by messing with their cells, dna, diet, and exercise." "I have a rule that makes it so I won''t age. It just hasn''t been activated yet due to the limits of the universe. I need something to stimulate it." "Just like how I unlocked a seal!" "But that was a rare opportunity. I need something explosive. I need something with power!" Anon thought back to the singularity. "Opening a connection with the other side..." Anon then got a crazy idea. He looked into his sea of consciousness. "The hourglass is like a beacon that attracts those foreign entities. It is a temptation rather criticial." "I created an artifact that I planned on making a declaration with. But the main function of it is to balance out my timekeeper. It has the effect of hiding both artifacts." "If I didn''t have my fake artifact. This universe migh''ve already been doomed by now. But what if I disable the fake artifact for a fraction of a second? Then calculate where the hole in reality will appear? I can then attract those weird entities like a fish to bait." Anon first needed to create the equipment that would predict the weak spots in reality. Luckily, this wasn''t as hard as making any of the high technology he had in his memory. "I have no money. But I have relatively good credit." Anon opened three credit cards in his name and maxxed them out completely. He rented out a factory for three days using the money. He also ''borrowed'' the tools through ''persuasion''. He knew this was nowhere near the time needed to invent a detecting device. So he used his phone as the base and programmed an app. The memories he had consumed came in clutch. He then made a module that could detect universal stability. He added this module to his phone, which made it look quite bulky and hard to store. He then went on a journey to find a weak point in reality! Chapter 4: "I am Axiom!" Anon walked all throughout his entire town. 100% 100% 100% He had spent all night looking for a weak point. But he then realized that it could be literally anywhere in the universe. Whether it is deep in space or atop the tallest mountains. His device failed to provide meaningful help. He had wanted to make a tracker instead of a detector. But the difference in resources was what stopped him. He would need servers and instruments located all around the earth to pull it off. Right now. The best he was able to come up with was something that could detect universal stability. After failing to find a weak point in reality. He went back home. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. He was surprised! He had laid his phone down on his bed. But it seemed to trigger his program. "I guess it makes sense. I tracked this area from my domain. My consciousness was also was pulled from reality into that space." Anon never would''ve known that the stability of his apartment was out of whack with the rest of the world. 30% 27% 42% It was fluctuating quite a bit. "I wonder if stability acts like radiation. Could it damage my body in some way? Maybe cause some weird phenomenon?" Anon put these thoughts aside and looked at the ball of potential in his sea of consciousness. He had his hourglass hidden by the balancing spiritual energy between both objects. But now he put more weight on the hourglass and allowed it to float to the top of his mind. His hourglass seemed anxious and urged him to hide it! It could feel ''something'' approaching. Anon laughed. "Only I would dare use a heavenly treasure to fish! Now. Let us see if they will take the bai-" A perfect black sphere appeared in front of him. He felt an endless pressure from it. "What is th-?" Anon felt a sense of danger as his apartment exploded. He was sent flying through multiple walls as he fell from multiple stories. The entire complex was in ruins. Anon re-balanced his artifacts so the entity lost its target. But a massive blackhole appeared where his apartment originally was. It wasn''t a real blackhole as that would''ve destroyed the world. It was some weird entity in a weird form. Anon tried to stand up. But ended up coughing up blood. The black sphere slowly floated towards him. The black sphere started to boil as it transformed into the form of a person. But this shocked Anon. Because it looked like him! But the hair was white instead of black and the eyes were completely white as well. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "*(*&^*&^%^&%!?" He heard incomprehensible murmurs in his mind. He then felt a deep pain in his soul as both artifacts started to become agitated. Anon laughed as more blood leaked from every orifice on his face. Anon''s heart was racing. But he wasn''t scared. He was excited! "This feeling. It is just like when I was in the domain. Your presence in this universe is limited just like me! You can only use a fraction of your power in your current state. You think you can beat me?" The hourglass in his sea of consciousness was shaking in fear. But Anon rebuked it for being a coward. It lacked too much experience and wasn''t too intelligent yet. All it felt was an endless threat in front of it that wanted to consume it! Anon slowly stood up as his ''other self'' that cursed entity walked towards him expressionlessly. "Concentration doesn''t just resolve the problem between body and soul. It also has a recovery power!" "Normally, it would take me weeks to months to heal from this physical trauma. But your messing with reality has made this space completely distorted." Anon''s wounds started to heal in real time! "It seems I was right. If you want to enter this world. You will be weakened just like me! But there is one thing that sets me apart from you!" "I have a REAL BODY!" "You are a FAKE!" Anon started sprinting towards the entity. It also picked up the pace and ran at him while shrieking. But the imagined outcome didn''t appear as it did in Anon''s mind. The entity grabbed his wrist and crushed his bones. Anon felt a great pain. Only a few seconds had passed in this battle. But people were approaching the scene to help and save those trapped under the rubble. Anon was grabbed by the throat and was held up in the sky as the entity looked at him with a hint of mockery. Anon smiled and used his declaration! "The energy radiating from him is spiritual in nature." "I am Timeless!" Anon felt some form of energy get stolen from the entity as it cried out in pain. He felt the rule attached to his artifact get activated! His cells were frozen in time and started to become a perpetual motion machine! He wasn''t immortal in the fact that he could still die. But he was immortal in the fact that he would no longer age, nor need to eat or drink to live. He still needed to breathe however. Besides, that you could trap him in a cell for decades and he would remain the same. The clothes might become rags though. Anon then felt something was really wrong! He felt he was tricked into absorbing the energy. Because his body started to merge with the entity. He felt his consciousness blur. "Who am I?" He was losing himself. But he allowed the ball of potential to rise from his subconscious. He had already activated the declaration on his hourglass. He felt a boundless energy in this entity that was trying to erase everything that was him. "I am..." Anon knew now wasn''t the time to hide is trump cards. He was going to get wiped out! So his declaraiton was: "I am Axiom!" What did this mean? Within this simple sentence was everything he had. It was his plan and his memories. It was truth! The rule was instantly activated and the entity cried out in horror as it lost control of its body. Now something insane happened. Anon had two states now. He had his human form. But he also had his eldritch form. In one form he had white hair and white eyes. While his other form was a normal human. But there were some powers that he innately had as a ''eldritch entity''. He was like a phantom. He could fly and phase through matter. This ability wasn''t free however. It seemed to have some connection to the other side. It also drained the energy of his fake artifact. In other words. He called this transformed state ''Axiom''. Anon turned invisible as he flew to a public bathroom and transformed back into his normal state. "I had originally intended to make an immortal declaration. But my ''fishing'' trip rushed me into a live or die situation. Now I know that it is too dangerous to ''fish'' these existences. I barely opened the connection for a few seconds and something powerful enough to destroy me came through..." "If I didn''t have a weird use of declarations. I would''ve been screwed..." Anon was happy. Both of his declarations were working in this world without supernatural power. But the entire apartment complex had been destroyed. Many people had died. Some were trapped under the rubble. Anon walked towards the spot where the chaos happened and he felt spiritual energy all around still. "My phone was destroyed..." "I am now homeless..." Anon sneakily absorbed the spiritual energy. His fake artifact was recharged. But what he didn''t realize was that the supernatural had been brought to this universe thanks to his recklessness. It might take years. But things would soon forever change... Chapter 5: Axiom State Anon had lost his apartment. He had medical bills to pay. He was in debt. But he saw all of these things as small issues. Now that he had real supernatural power. He could easily make money. But first he had to familiarize himself with his powers. Anon decided to explore his axiom state. He had no cash on him. His computer was destroyed and he didn''t even have his phone anymore. When he rented that warehouse he had maxed out his credit cards. He only had enough resources to construct a single module for his phone. Now that phone was destroyed in the fight between him and that weird entity. "I still have my health..." Anon walked for hours and eventually reached an un-busy area. He continued to walk alongside the highway and went into the woods where he was sure no one could see him. His skin started to become pale. His eyes were glowing white. His hair transformed from black to white. But more interestingly. His clothes which had been shredded were good as new. "It seems like an inventory. I wonder...." Anon took off his clothes and was naked. He then transformed back into his base form. He was wearing his dirty clothes! He then transformed back into his axiom state. He was naked! More importantly. The clothes he had sat on the ground didn''t vanish. So he couldn''t generate endless clothes from his transformation. But it seems that it functions like a different person. Whatever he is wearing won''t affect his normal state. This gave him a few interesting ideas. If he wore a mask for example. He could hide his identity from the masses and do whatever he wanted in his axiom state. Or he could become a sort of hero. He also noticed that the fake artifact was going in further harmony with his soul. He put back on his clothes and entered his base state. He wanted to do more test. But he felt tired from the transformation and noticed some the spiritual energy had been consumed. But he theorized it was due to his lack of skill. If he could master this form. Perhaps, he would be able to maintain it for longer and with a lesser cost. "I could rob a bank secretly..." Anon dismissed this thought. He didn''t care for mortal laws. But he couldn''t maintain that form for long. If they connected it to him. He would be in some deep shit. But then he thought about it. Prison might not be so bad! But who knew what secrets the government had. What if they had some sort of material that could restrict him? He wouldn''t risk it. Anon slowly walked along the highway back into town. "I need money. If I am to develop a iconic mask and outfit. I will need to invest." Anon though about buying a cheap toy mask. But that would make him look a bit ridiculous and he probably wouldn''t be taken as seriously. He needed something that could take a punch. He needed something that could hide his face. Although his axiom state was like a ghost. He could even turn invisible. His face looked pretty much the same besides his eyes and hair. Anon could feel that in his axiom state. It was like he lacked a body. This was why he could fly, phase through matter, and even become invisible. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. He felt there were more abilities that he hadn''t learned yet. He would need to master this state. As he walked back. He picked up a rock and tried to transform his hand only. His hand turned pale for a second. But then it returned back to his normal state. He felt a headache. It was too complex an operation. When he transformed. It felt as if he was dying. It was like getting plunged underneath the artic. It was like a switch flipping in his mind. Applying for a single spot to transform versus his whole body was an entirely different level of control. Anon also needed to test his timelessness. He knew it was working. But he wanted to understand how it had changed him. Unfortunately, he was completely broke. A few days passed as Anon wondered around his town. He had a cardboard sign asking for money. Someone saw him and asked him what happened. It was a coworker from his last job. "I lost my job and my apartment was demolished." His previous coworker gave him a quarter and told him ''good luck!''. Anon was speechless. He looked in his jar and he had only made $10 today! "It is not easy being poor..." Yesterday. Someone had offered to buy him a meal. Anon agreed and went to the restaurant with them. But when he ate the food. It tasted absolutely horrible! It was like his digestive system was rejecting anything he ate at all. It was then that Anon truly realized why he hadn''t felt hunger. He threw it all up later. He didn''t need food! He didn''t even need water! It was like he was a perpetual motion machine. He wondered if he even needed to breathe. But as he held his breathe. He found that that familiar uncomfortable feeling come. So he knew he still had a normal respiratory system. But when he tried in his axiom state. He could hold his breathe for as long as he wanted! It seemed that state lacked organs. He was learning something new about it often. Once he realized he had essentially infinite energy and his state would remain the same. He embraced being homeless. His clothes became rags. But after 3 months of being homeless. He had collected enough money to put down a deposit on a new apartment. He even could afford first months rent. As well as utilities, and internet! He even bought a extremely cheap laptop. But it wasn''t mere charity that allowed him to get out of his situation. Anon had gotten an ingenious idea from his axiom state. He had figured out how to use it to make a storage space in his soul. The space was quite small. Currently it was only about one cubic meter. But this was enough space to store the money he had collected over these months. It was a slow process. But after months he had pulled himself up by the bootstraps. But besides his storage space that relied on manipulating his axiom state. He also had to majorly thank his timelessness! A normal homeless person still needed to find a food source and water source. They would also need a place to freshen up, otherwise they wouldn''t be allowed in buildings. They would also have to worry about getting robbed of any money they earned. Anon could store his earnings in his storage space. He didn''t need to eat or drink or even use the bathroom. He did look quite dirty however. He hadn''t showered the entire time. Normally, this would make things even harder for someone homeless. Because if your body odor is so bad. You can''t even escape the heat and stay in a public building during the day. But Anon had no interest in escaping the heat. He also learned something new about his timelessness. When paired with his ''Concentration''. He didn''t even need to sleep! When someone sleeps is often when they are most vulnerable. But Anon didn''t even need to rest. This meant it was impossible to target him in a vulnerable state. In combination with knowing he could transform into his axiom state at any time. He felt extremely safe even without a roof over his head. That didn''t mean he didn''t encounter any danger. A group of people tried to attack him. He had no idea what their motives were. But he ran into an alley. When they tried to follow him. It was a dead end. But he had seemingly vanished! Anon was unrecognizable as his face was covered in dirt and his clothes were not in a good state. Although his skin was covered in a layer of dirt. When he transformed. His clothes were clean as well as his skin. It was like being two different people. The first thing Anon did upon ''moving'' into his new apartment was take an extremely long shower. He spent almost an entire hour scrubbing himself. He even transformed into his axiom state and took another shower. He threw away his old clothes, but kept the clothes from his axiom state. He had improved the control over his axiom state these past few months. His apartment was very empty. There was just a desk with his laptop, and a router nearby. He didn''t have any other furniture. He didn''t even have a bed. But why have a bed when you don''t need sleep? When he was homeless. Someone had recommended he buy a gym membership and use their facilities to shower. That way he could go into the library and look for a job. But Anon felt that advice didn''t matter too much to him. He didn''t have any expenses and was always gaining a profit even when homeless. He had a luxury many others didn''t. Now that he was no longer homeless. Anon figured it was time to make a special outfit for his axiom state. He needed a high-quality mask that could handle his activities. He also needed to design the rest of the outfit. Chapter 6: Custom Clothes Anon thought about it clearly. He needed to make a costume for his axiom state. But he couldn''t exactly comission one from someone else. He needed something of high-quality and it needed to be done discreetly. Luckily, within his mind was a a fraction of a fraction of the knowledge of a universe. He had centuries of experience of extreme techology. Just like how he made the module for his phone to be able to detect universal stability in a given area. He also had random skills gained from his years of digesting soul fragments. You could say that he was a jack of trades, but a master of none. This was due to the language barrier between civilizations. There were already so many different languages on his planet. These evolved with different cultures. Now imagine the weirdness of an entirely alien world. Anon could barely understand the knowledge despite living it through soul consumption. But thanks to his 99% soul and body harmony. He had precise control over his body. While his body lacked the training of a professional. His overall dexterity in his hands and muscles were far above that of a normal human. This in combination with his memories made things far more feasible. For example. He had the memories of cosplayers and film costume designers imprinted in his mind. When he was in his domain. He didn''t think of being in this situation. He had just worried about reviving and creating his perfect soul. So he didn''t remember much of the knowledge regarding costume design. Anon though about the materials he would use. He wanted it to be durable and light. Although he could fly. If he carried too much weight. It would increase his energy consumption. While his base form was had essentially limitless energy. His axiom state lacked the foundation of his real body. It ran off of energy generated from his fake artifact mixed with the spiritual energy he had consumed from the weak point in reality. Anon thought about the material he would use to build his clothes. There were three options he considered. Polyester Ballistic nylon Kevlar Polyester was a synthetic fiber. It was highly durable and resistant to wrinkles. While it wasn''t really water-proof. It could be said to be slightly water resistant. If you applied waterproof coating to it. It could become so. It would trap heat and probably be a little uncomfortable however. The thing he liked about this material was the price. He could buy a square meter online for a mere $8. This wasn''t enough to make his entire suit however. He also didn''t know if he would be making his mask out of fibers or metal. Ballistic nylon was a much harder material to work with. He would need to rent out a factory again and it would need to be one with a special laser. But the protection provided could prove to be crucial. The price was a bit higher however. It was about $30 for a square meter. The thinkness was only about half a millimeter though. So he would likely need to buy a lot... because it was a single layer fabric. This was also the case with polyester. But the thickness of polyester was about one millimeter. But polyester came in over ten different sizes. So he could just buy a thicker one. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Then there was Kevlar... A square meter would cost him almost $80... The thickness also varied. But if you layered them. This type of material could absorb the force of an attack and stop projectiles. All of these materials could do the same if layered and weaved the correct way. Anon then realized an issue as he looked at the online shop. If he bought these materials to make his suit. He would be using his real banking information. Then when he showed up in public. Despite having a disguise. They might be able to recognize the material and discover his purchase history in a investigation. Do not underestimate the investigation ability of a modern society. Anon''s behavior of maxing out his credit cards and renting a factory while weird. He hadn''t shown supernatural power yet in reality. So there was nobody currently looking into his background. But Anon''s visit and recovery in the hospital. His bizarre speed at work. Getting fired. Becoming homeless. His apartment complex exploding. These couldn''t all be coincidences, If someone were to look into his background. They might discover his ''date''. The day he returned from his domain. They might be able to piece together that he was Axiom! Anon didn''t want to see this happen. He couldn''t maintain that form for too long and he was vulnerable in his human state. He didn''t want to become a lab rat or a prisoner just so humanity could study his power. Anon transformed into his axiom state and turned invisible. He then walked through the walls of his apartment into another person''s. The person was playing a popular game on their gaming computer. Anon looked at their tag name and then leaned near there ear and said: "#SlayerKing78!" The person stopped typing on the computer and looked around in a panic. "Who''s there!" "It is I... remember that time. You were playing a round? Then you told me to kill myself?" "No... It couldn''t be!?" Anon had to stop himself from laughing. He had really just made a guess. It was not uncommon for players of this game to be quite toxic. "I followed your advice! Now I will haunt you for all of eternity and bring you down to the depths of hell when you die!" The person stood up and bowed with tears in their eyes. "I promise to never do it again! I swear!" "It is too late. What is done cannot be undone." "It is time for me to drag you to the afterlife!" "Nooooo!" "But... I''ll give you a chance!" "...Really?" Anon then told him the materials he needed. Since it wasn''t his money either way. He had a lot of layers of Kevlar and Ballistic nylon ordered. The person was really confused. Why would a ghost be interested in this? The person also wondered how a ghost would even take such things with him to the afterlife. But he was too scared to care. He felt a coldness. He knew this ghost was in the same room with him. But he couldn''t see them! They were clearly the real deal. He ordered everything this ''ghost'' asked for and then asked how he would give it to him. Anon obviously had a storage space. He could just directly take the items into it. Anon then thought that he wouldn''t need to rent out facilities to make his clothing. He could just sneak into them using his axiom state. He was feeling more and more that his ''declaration'' on his fake artfifact: "I am Axiom!" He felt it was quite worth it Now that he had the materials in his storage space. He just needed the tools. Luckily, he could just research the manufacturing locations for clothes and use their resources to make his outfit. He was a little excited to be able to wear his own custom designed clothes. Because of the high quality of materials. He decided to make two outfits. He could just keep a spare in his storage space. There wasn''t too much room and it would be stupid to have proof in reality that he was Axiom. He wasn''t some rich superhero that could have a secret hideout underneath his mansion. He lived in an apartment and even lacked the various necessities. "Now I just need to think about the design of the helmet or mask..." Anon also thought that he was sort of hiding in plain sight. Since nobody would suspect him to leave traces to himself in the same apartment complex. If people researched where the materials came from. They would find that it was from the person he tricked. If they interrogated him. They would only find out that he was a puppet in ordering those resources. All traces towards Anon were cut off. The only thing he didn''t worry about was if they would suspect others in the same building. It would have been safer to travel a few kilometers and trick someone else. But he felt it was unnecessary. Chapter 7: Folding Space Anon had stored all the necessary materials in his storage space. He now just needed to find someone that owned a CO2 laser. He wasn''t trying to do skin resurfacing or use it for any weird purposes. He just wanted to create almost a bullet proof fiber using it to cut his materials. You might wonder why he didn''t just do what he did before? Trick someone into purchasing it by ''haunting'' them. Hell, he could even target the same person again... Except. This wouldn''t work. A CO2 laser system could cost anywhere from $20,000 to $!00,000. This was considered cheap! Even if Anon spent decades homeless with no expenses. He could hardly raise so much money. It may be possible, but he was unwilling to do so. Anon wasn''t sure how well his axiom state could handle damage. It seemed to lack organs, so he wasn''t sure how durable it was. This is why he wanted a bulletproof material. Most importantly, it was flame resistant! It wouldn''t melt, or support combustion. While Anon was searching online for any traces of this laser system so he could ''borrow'' it. He also needed to design the helmet. "Should I go with a helmet, or a mask?" The main concern he had was that his facial structure was nearly identical to his base form. The only difference was his white hair and eyes. The kevlar he had was black. Anon needed to decide the theme of his outfit and mask. He called his transformed state his ''axiom'' state. But what exactly was axiom? It had a lot to do with how Anon saw himself. Before Anon had gained supernatural power. He had lived a normal life. He never pushed himself, because he didn''t consider anything attainable interesting. He had three conditions he set for himself that he often called the ''protagonist halo''. He had made these conditions for himself at quite a young age. The first condition was that it had to be something only he could do. Axiom itself came from the greek word ''ax¨ª¨­ma''. This meant ''to require'' or ''to deem worthy''. It was only when Anon was worthy that he would act. Now he had met this condition! The second condition was that it had to be mechanically interesting. The greek word ''axi¨­s'' could be said to describe two things of equal weight or value. In other words... balance! Just like how ''Sovereign''s Timekeeper'' and the fake artifact complemented each other. They struck a balance that allowed both of them to remain hidden from all sorts of weird existences. Both of these things gave him a unique power that was interesting to him. He had met this condition! The third condition was it couldn''t be temporary power! What is the point of having interesting powers or being the strongest when you will just die a few years later? "I am Timeless!" When Anon triggered this rule from his declaration in his hourglass. He no longer was experiencing temporary power. Even now as he mastered his axiom state. He was slowly drifting away from the requirements of spiritual energy. He had met this condition! So what did this mean? It meant he met EVERY condition he had as a child to give it his all! There were no more excuses. If before, he could say he didn''t try due to his values being different from the rest of society. While some aspire to become rich or acquire power. He knew it was pointless and fickle. But now he wasn''t simply Anon. Stolen novel; please report. He had been transformed into ''Axiom''. This was the start of his legend. Truth. Balance. Being ''worthy''. He was Axiom! But now wasn''t the time for a debut. He still didn''t know what he was capable of. He felt there were so many secrets hidden within. He wanted to understand himself before taking the world by storm. Anon sat down at his computer desk. The only furniture he had in his apartment. He then looked in his sea of consciousness. "It is just a ball of potential. I had been saving a declaration for when I was stronger. But now I already have locked one in. But it is fundamentally different from my timekeeper." "It is time to name it!" This was an important moment for Anon. Not because it would determine his power. But because it was time to take this ''potential'' and sculpt it! Anon used to use his hourglass in his domain to do similar things. Shaping potential in his consciousness was a trivial matter for him. But for anyone else, it could be extremely dangerous! After 10 hours of shaping the ball of potential. It looked like a neutral mask. It was simply a face that was neither happy or sad. This artifact wasn''t alive like the hourglass. So it had no resistance to changes. He couldn''t transform the hourglass even if he wanted to. Anon had the idea of manifesting the mask into reality to not have to craft his own. But he was unable to do so at the moment. He then needed to name it. A mask is often used to hide the truth. So having a ''mask of truth'' Anon felt was quite interesting. "I shall name you ''mask of truth''!" Anon now had two complete artifacts: Sovereign''s Timekeeper and Mask of Truth "Am I truly worthy of these powers? It was my alternate self that gave me this opportunity..." But then Anon thought about his close call with death and his luck. He had always called his conditions the ''protagonist halo'' because it was a ridiculous excuse to not give it his all. He refused to play the game that was life. Not because it was hard. But because he found the rules were too boring! Anon then realized something as he was still researching the laser system. "What if I use space to cut the materials?" Anon had learned how to use his mask of truth and axiom state to open a space in his soul. This space was not infinite and was only a cubic meter in size. He wasn''t sure if it could grow. But what if it could shrink? What if he manipulated it in such a way that the boundaries did a sort of ''reality slash'' on the materials. The cuts would be impossibly perfect then? Right? Anon realized he wasn''t a normal person. Why manufacture things in a normal fashion? He started to train his storage space into a weird state. Just like that 5 years passed... Seal 9: Concentration Seal 8: True Vision Seal 7: Extraordinary Sense Seal 6: Deification Seal 5: Divine Sense Seal 4: Materializer Seal 3: Virus Seal 2: False/True Seal 1: System Integration Seal 0: Administrator He still hadn''t unlocked any of the other nine seals... After his apartment was destroyed and he became homeless. He had lost contact with most of his past coworkers. He also noticed that nobody wanted to associate with him anymore. But these past years he had gotten a job in sales at a car dealership. He was paid not hourly, but based on each sale. He used his ''aura'' to his advantage and ''persuaded'' people into buying cars. He made quite a decent salary and had a lot of free time. In combination with not needing to sleep. He always had time to train his axiom state. During these years. He had essentially become what he called a ''spacesmith''. He could fold space in his soul and transform materials into shapes. They had no extraordinary functions. But it was quite easy to make his own clothes. He could even shape metal. He made what looked like a mask of comedy as the mask he wore in his axiom state. Since years had passed. He had long stopped worrying about the source of his clothing for his axiom state. There were a few things Anon was trying to figure out how to do. But nobody had powers in his world. So he had to make the path himself. For example, he had tried to split himself into two entities. What would happen if he separated his axiom state from his normal state? But he had failed to pull it off. He had wanted to do this primarily to be able to be in two places at once. During these five years, Anon had made new friends and was living a rather normal life. But people were a little suspicious of him. He gave off the impression that he wasn''t normal. But his friends couldn''t put it into words. Something about him was ''off''. Anon had realized he had ''scary'' eyes. So he often wore sunglasses to avoid stunning people. He even wore them when inside. But this made people even more suspicious. Anon hadn''t yet made his ''debut'' as Axiom yet. He felt the time wasn''t right. Anon realized an issue. It had only been a few years since he recovered from losing it all. But his appearance was stuck at his prime. He was timeless! People probably wouldn''t notice anything weird for another decade. But after that... Things could become problematic! But the world was about to usher in a change... Chapter 8: Training Anon had saved quite a lot of money and decided a better use of his time. He didn''t quit. But he talked with his boss and decided to take a three month vacation. What would he doing these three months? Training! Anon had a goal he thought was impossible. Ever since being given this opportunity and meeting his ''protagonist halo'' conditions. He had promised himself he would push himself to the limit. How was he doing so living a normal life? No! He had to ''debut''. He was going to become a hero. Or a villain. Or a anti-hero. He didn''t care. He just knew he had to do something. Five years... While it wasn''t a lot of time. It was enough time for him to understand the limits of his axiom state. He found something a little interesting. He could innately feel his spiritual energy reserves and increase his skill. During these years he had transformed many times. But now his spiritual energy was almost completely exhausted. Imagine his capacity being at 100% when he defeated that weird creature by absorbing it through his declaration. Every time he transformed. It used 1%! But he payed quite a bit of attention to a very bizarre detail. Even when he was already in his axiom state. Transforming back into his normal self still used 1%! What did this mean? It meant that he could get ''stuck'' in his axiom state! Theoretically. Right now his spiritual energy was at 7%. He hadn''t had any supernatural encounter or found weak points in reality. He had wanted to abuse his destroyed apartment. But when he went to check it out. The military had put security check-points everywhere. They told the public some sort of contaminant was in the area. Anon thought this was a little weird and wanted to check using his axiom state. But then he thought messing with the government without a plan was a stupid action. Anon was able to use a fraction of a percentage when transforming if he stressed his mind to the limit. But the amount of times he could transform were limited without ''spiritual energy''. He assumed they had some tech that let them know something was up. Anon''s three month vacation started and he transformed into his axiom state and flew out of the city. He found a forest and landed on the ground. He casually walked through the trees and foliage as if it wasn''t there. He was like a phantom. 6% He continued to stretch and mess around in his axiom state. 5% He experimented with trying to shoot energy from his hands. But he wasn''t able to condense it properly. But it did burn through his spiritual energy quite quickly. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Ten minutes later... 1% Anon felt a emptiness within. 0%! Anon tried to transform back into his base form. But he couldn''t! "Interesting!" He took to the skies- Well, he tried to. He fell on his face. "It seems that the abilities require spiritual energy..." He started to walk as he thought. But he tripped on a branch and fell into a tree. "Even being able to phase through matter doesn''t work. But I am unable to transform back into my regular self." Anon sat on the ground and focused on his sea of consciousness. His hourglass was still hidden. But that wasn''t what he was paying attention to. He checked his Mask of Truth and found it was dim. Even the space in his soul was inaccessible. Anon thought about his hourglass and his timeless declaration. "A perpetual motion machine. If I can understand the principle behind how it works. Perhaps I can create a spiritual energy generator!" Anon meditated for five days... The five years he had lived a stable life. He had failed to unlock another seal. But now being away from society with nothing but his thoughts and the relaxation of meditating. Another seal broke! ''True Vision'' Anon opened his eyes and within them was a new form of clarity. Everything looked different. More vibrant. More crisp and clear. He felt as if his whole life he had been playing a video on 360 resolution. But now he was seeing things in 4k! But this ability wasn''t simply at all. Anon had meticulously designed his seals and the supernatural powers to complement themselves. Basically, unlocking one benefited the others. This ability mainly affected comprehension. It was as if his IQ was multiplied in an instant. Anon then realized he had done a foolish action. "I''m an idiot!" "Why focus so hard on understanding my timeless declaration? I have ''Concentration''!" In an instant. It was as if a bomb exploded in his soul and he felt it! His concentration was able to recover his mind, body, and spirit. Now he was passively generating spiritual energy. Even if he figured this out beforehand. The ''Concentration'' rate of recovery probably wasn''t enough to sustain his axiom state. But now. It had been upgraded by consequence of his other seal being opened. But Anon controlled his ''Concentration'' and didn''t allow it to recover his spiritual energy at all. He kept his capacity at 0%! Why? He felt that the more he understood this state. The stronger he would become. He also felt that mediating in it was far more time efficient! But in that brief instance where he recovered a bit of spiritual energy. His body started to glitch and he started to switch between base and axiom many times in an instant. It was like a flickering light. In his base form. He was covered in sweat. It seems that staying in this form for days through an exploit was actually quite taxing on his real body. But he thought that they were both separate states? How could they bleed into one another like this? Anon then thought about his declaration and his timeless state. He was gasping for air even in his axiom state. He had to mentally fight his instinct of ''Concentration''. It was trying to recover his spirit. He wouldn''t allow himself to transform back into his normal state! Why? He had a training plan! Remain in his axiom state for... 3 months! He felt as if he was going to die from merely the backlash of five days. But Anon knew that since he had walked down this path. He needed to give it his all. Soon the pain passed and the flickering light seemingly went out. But he knew he was still in his axiom state thanks to his clothing and mask. "It is a good thing I am training in this way. If I didn''t go on this ''vacation''. I might have remained confused and thought that I needed weak points in reality to ''recharge'' my spiritual energy." "Now not only do I become more efficient in this state. But I can power myself!" This aligned with the goals of Anon. He didn''t want temporary power. He wanted permanent power! Chapter 9: The Commander Meanwhile... In eagle country. The country where Anon lived. The president was sitting in a meeting with the real ''controller''. This man was known as the ''commander''. His identity was shrouded in mystery. All that was known about him was that he survived the ''white room experiment''. This was an effort by the government to produce super soldiers and secret agents. The fatality rate wasn''t simply high. Every single participant and vatgrown child. Except one... Were slaughtered in the test and experiments. But it wasn''t what you would expect. This ''program'' was highly competitive. The children were not raised like normal humans. A single one of them could handle fighting ten full grown man at once. This might not be supernatural. But the government had learned the ''limit'' of humans. This experiment was funded with one purpose. It was suppose to create a ''perfect'' human. Humans naturally have six senses. taste, smell, vision, hearing, touch, and proprioception. Proprioception simply allowed one awareness of their parts in space. The experiements main goal wasn''t to give birth to a ''commander'' at all. The government was schemed at by their own creation and through a battle of wit. The ''commander'' became the real ruler of this land. The ''winner'' of this cold experiment wasn''t simply skilled in combat. They were an expert in strategy and broke the human limit. There was a theory given by the scientist and researchers about this ''commander''. They believed he had the ''seventh sense''. This was a perception of danger. The commander could dodge bullets with his eyes closed. It was basically impossible to approach him with ill-intent. His location wasn''t known by anybody. It was an impossible feat to assasinate him. He was like the eternal ruler of the land. All they could hope for was a natural death. This ''seventh sense''. This is why he survived the white room experiment and climbed to the top of life. Despite being a labrat that could only follow orders. He became the one giving out orders. Once he stepped out of the lab into the real world. It was like giving a tiger wings. He became unstoppable. The public thought that everything was still a democracy. There were still elections. But once the president was given the nuke codes. They would get the ''privledge'' to meet the commander. His name was originally just a number. One of many. Nobody knew what to call him as he had ordered every scientist that worked on that project to death row. They were all executed. After he became the commander. He destroyed all data and information regarding the white room experiment. It was a myth among the higher-ups. Even the tycoons only knew the commander as a being that was like legend. Nobody knew what he spent all his time doing. He didn''t need to notify security to enter the premises where the president lived. By himself and seemingly without any help. He was able to sneak into government buildings for ''meetings''. Even the most secured rooms in the world seemed normal to him. This caused some suspicioun and curiosity towards him. But it was nearly impossible to gain a meeting. This was only his second meeting with this president. He normally was very hands off. So the president was a bit nervous. The commander threw a tablet onto the table. He then said a few words: "It isn''t connected to any network. Read." The president was confused. But turned on the tablet and looked through the reports. "15 people killed. 73 people injured." "Over a hundred became homeless..." The president didn''t know why the commander was interested in this? It seemed to just be a destroyed apartment complex. So he asked with a bit of hesitation. "You don''t have a high enough authority." "I want this plot of land put under level 5 restrictions. Capture any person or thing you see ''alive''. Feel free to use ''that''." "I am also taking over the rest of the military temporarily for now. Something has caught my interest." The president realized something HUGE! What could gain the attention of this mysterious perfect human? He immediately planned to secretly research into this incident. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. What caused it? Every single person that lived in that complex. He needed a file on his desk in the next ten minutes! The government couldn''t ignore ''orders'' from the commander. If they did, they would not live long and everything would go into chaos. He didn''t simply control the nukes. But he knew about experiments so inhumane that he could release a ground shaking secret every day for a year. The president blinked and the commander was gone! The commander squinted his eyes. He had his own people and it was not needed to bring this attention to the government. But he couldn''t do things so quietly this time. He was a genius and trapping those dumber then himself was easy. He had already taken into account that his attention would trigger an extensive investigation. But that was part of his plan. He sighed as he thought what he had felt. The truth was. The commander really did ''unlock'' the seventh sense. But he hadn''t stopped there. He had also unlocked the eigth and ninth sense. He hadn''t felt threatened in many years. But all of a sudden he felt some force that could threaten him. He prepared countermeasures and was planning to go all out to destroy this enemy. But someone beat him to it. The ''feeling'' of danger disappeared. But he remembered the general location. He had the area investigated and found that it was previously a apartment complex. But some sort of explosion. Not one like a bomb. Something different. It had destroyed the surrounding area. He knew right away this must have been the threat he felt. But who could''ve solved this? Was there another ''perfect'' human hidden among the populace? What were the odds? He had control of the eagle country. But his control didn''t extend to the projects in the panda or dragon country. He had heard rumours that they were STILL doing the white room experiment. But he didn''t care. He felt he was one of a kind. He had secretly grown clones of himself using his DNA. But they were unable to even unlock the seventh sense. He was clearly unqiue! One of a kind... So who was strong enough to handle a threat? He came to two conclusions based on the data. The first theory he had was that it was someone like him. Some damaged person who survived a genocidal experiment. But that didn''t make sense. He had scanned through all foreign imports and migration. Everything was as clean as it could be. An illegal alien? Why would someone with his ability need to hide themselves? This thinking made him realize something a little scary. "A person that has awakened some form of ability." The commander then just needed to think about the source of this ability and acquire it for himself. That was if there was no unfortunate symptoms or illnesses in a package with it. He could always test it using the resources of the government. The government worked fast. Soon the entire area had been blocked off and prevented entry to nearly everyone. The commander walked unnoticed by the military. This wasn''t invisibility. It was an application of his eighth sense. He could make others not notice his presence. It was like an extreme version of holding your breathe. He did this by controlling and manipulating his pheremones. It wasn''t a supernatural power. The control over his body was on a completely different level. He then noticed something wrong right away. "My ninth sense is tingling..." "Something is wrong with this space. Something is here..." "But what is it?" The commanders mind worked at lightning speed and he instantly pieced together what happened. "The subject is a normal person. Due to an abnormal state in space. They were awakened somehow. The mechanism may be hidden among this rubble." The commander left the place as soon as possible. He felt a tiny bit of danger from the weirdness of this space. He wasn''t one to take risk. He then received a call. He didn''t use an ordinary phone and it was almost impossible to contact him. The only reason he recieved this call was due to the research team. "A ''gateway'' opened up in the panda country?" "Interesting..." The commander thought about it. "It may be that this is a type of revival. Maybe the stability of our world is finally weakening. Allowing more supernatural things to happen. But there is still too much unknown. The first person that awakened. What did they experience? What powers did they unlock?" "Can it be replicated?" The commander felt this individual was something he hadn''t dealt with in a long time. He was used to treating every human as a precise chess piece. They had emotions and were easy to manipulate. Because they all lacked somethng important. Power! But this person had some mysterious power. Not only did the commander not know what he was capable of. But he needed to refresh his position in the world. If a ''aura'' revival or collision of worlds was to really to happen. Things would become too chaotic. But the commander smiled. "It is beginning..." "This is going to be fun!" The commander didn''t plan on going to panda country. Even with his nine senses honed. It was too dangerous. He had made too many enemies. "In this battle between world''s or the race to super powers." "I alone will become the winner..." The commander thought back to when he was a toddler. That was when he had killed his first man. It was a special force soldier. This was an action that would forever change his fate. He gained many resources from such a feat and paved the way to the top of the experiment. But he became like a shining sun in space. The planets orbiting around him all knew of his greatness. But those that went too close got burned. Those too far away were just cold rocks. When it came to relationships. The commander was a manipulator behind the scenes. He soon got some information sent to his phone. "There were 88 people at the scene. But no eye-witnesses?" "There are no recordings either." "This is a bit abnormal." "Despite my preparations. I never expected such a development." The commander wasn''t talking about what you might think. He was worried about the emergence of super powers in the world. But he couldn''t remember the last time he felt such emotions. ''Worried'' ''Axiety'' ''Anticipation'' His heart throbbed and he felt as if he wasn''t the killing machine he had become. He felt like a kid on their birthday. He wondered what such a development would provide him. Perhaps he could truly become eternal and invulnerable. Immortal and unkillable... Soon the commander was scrolling through the history of those who rented in that complex. "Anon..." Chapter 10: Insanity and Death Seal 9: Concentration Seal 8: True Vision Seal 7: Extraordinary Sense Seal 6: Deification Seal 5: Divine Sense Seal 4: Materializer Seal 3: Virus Seal 2: False/True Seal 1: System Integration Seal 0: Administrator Anon looked inside of his sea of consciousness with a new level of detail. Ever since unlocking his ''true vision''. He felt as if he could see the secrets of reality. It was as if his entire life. He had been a blind man. But now he had finally opened up his eyes. This new type of ''true vision'' gave him new insights. After finding the ''exploit'' behind his axiom state. Basically figuring out how to remain in it for infinity. He was feeling more confident in abusing his powers. "If I truly spend three months in my axiom state. What will happen to me when I transform back? I felt like I was nearly dying before. That was only after a few days..." Anon''s sea of consciousness started to shake and his hourglass floated up from the depths. It seemed scared for some reason. Was some threat approaching? It felt uneasy. But the threat wasn''t external. This was an entirely internal battle! "I said I would give it my all. I have met all my requirements for the protagonist halo. It would be foolish to waste this opportunity. Great risk. Great reward." Anon thought back to when he awakened from his domain. Back then he nearly was wiped out. But he felt excited just thinking about ''losing''. Anon never feared losing. Anon feared himself. He feared wasting his potential. It was a bit paradoxical. It would be safer to keep the status quo and slowly and safely explore his powers. But Anon thought about something critical. Him figuring out how to make his own spiritual energy. That required the foundation he created for himself before ''reviving''. Anon had made an outline for himself by developing a ''perfect soul'' with ten seals. He felt that quietly living for centuries being mediocre was a waste. How was he supposed to become a legend if he was a coward who ran away at the slightest bit of danger? His sea of consciousness was like a raging sea. But in an instant it started to boil and the mist formed an outline of himself. Within it. He floated towards his Mask of Truth and put it on. He then looked at his hourglass playfully. Anon then spoke to ''Sovereign''s Timekeeper''. "Back then you told me you were a timekeeper. But you don''t even tell time! You are useless!" Anon started to insult his artifact much to its confusion. He was looking to get a negative reaction. But this thing was truly confused. Was something wrong with its master? After five minutes of random insults that didn''t make much sense. Anon waved his hands and used his comprehension of space folding to perform a sort of reality slash. He used his true vision to attack the weak points of his hourglass. The hourglass released a ominous pressure in a instant. It had become a ruler of time. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Anon felt choked by this pressure and his Mask of Truth cracked down the middle. "Good! Good! Good!" In reality. Anon started to bleed from his eyes. "Do you think I haven''t noticed?" Anon laughed. His face underneath the mask looked quite creepy. Sadly there was nobody to watch this interaction. All of a sudden, it was as if Anon became immune to the hourglass''s pressure. Anon started to wave his hands back and forth as if he was controlling a thousand puppets. Each finger was a string and each one was deadly. He couldn''t do this in real life. But in his sea of consciousness. He was the ruler! Space was getting cut in his consciousness as the hourglass swayed. But it wasn''t flexible and it lacked limbs. It could move back and forth. But it ended up taking a lot of hits. The hourglass started to crack. His mask shattered. "I''ve always wondered what would happen to my axiom state without an artifact." "Let''s us see..." "Destroying a heavenly treasure is absolutely insane. Who would be so dumb to waste such a gift?" Anon spirit body was cracked all over. Blood was leaking out of his axiom state like sweat. His white eyes seemed bloodshot. His body had once again entered a state of superposition. The hourglass was so confused. It had no idea what was going on. Why did its master attack it? It had latched onto this person to save itself. But its savior seemed suicidal! In reality as this battle was happening. Anon was glitching between base and axiom state like a character glitching through a wall in a game. Anon started to laugh like a demon from hell. "It''s so beautiful!" "Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!" The hourglass watched Anon slowly approach. It felt true fear. It was cracked all over and Anon was near death. His body was having a seizure, but he didn''t let that disturb him. His spirit body in his sea of consciousness now lacked a mask. His face just looked demonic. But then his face relaxed and his eyes focused on the hourglass. "They say that a fool and his money are soon parted..." "Do you take me for a fool?" "..." The hourglass couldn''t even respond properly. Anon sighed. "True vision has truly opened up my eyes. I might have missed such a critical detail..." Anon shattered the hourglass... "It''s so beautiful!" "Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!" "They say that a fool and his money are soon parted..." "Do you take me for a fool?" The hourglass felt despair. Again. Again. Again. It went as far back in time as it could to escape its fate. But every time it heard something chilling... Anon''s excited voice: "It''s so beautiful!" "Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!" The same scenario played out millions of times. The hourglass felt its will shatter along with its body. It was made up of the stuff of legends. But it was suffering a fate worse then death. Doomed to repeat this moment for eternity. Slowly over the years. It became insane. Angry. It wanted Anon to feel the pain he had inflicted upon itself. So it did something insane. What it didn''t know was that Anon was reaching his limit. He had perfectly done the same action millions of times. He had acted as if he was in some sort of time loop and didn''t retain his memories. But the truth was. The hourglass was tied to his consciousness. When it activated its emergency mechanism. It pulled Anon back with it. Anon was ''acting''. In truth. He felt despair. He didn''t know if what he was doing was right. He felt as if he had put himself in a dead-end. The pain he felt was unimaginable. The mere pressure of needing to perform and react the exact same way millions of times without stopping for a break had crushed his spirit. His mind was on auto-pilot as it became engraved in his muscle memory. But he promised himself to go all out! If he was right... This could change everything! The hourglass was the tool Anon had used to manipulate his domain. It was what he used to create his perfect creation. But Anon always advocated for permanent power. He didn''t want to have to rely on a temperamental object with a ''will''. The hourglass had once showed Anon the memories of its birth. When it was but a colorful ball of potential and was shaped by Anon''s subconscious desires and the universes death. This time. The hourglass hit Anon with everything it had. All its rules and tricks. Its entire being. It put everything it had into this ''mental attack''. It had no idea this was a theory of being Anon had developed after looking at it with his ''true vision''. It didn''t care about being destroyed anymore. It didn''t care about evading getting consumed. It just wanted Anon to feel its pain! So it showed him ''everything''! Anon normally should''ve become a fool from grasping infinity. But that didn''t happen. His soul, mind, and even body and spirit had been tempered by his ''acting''. The mere exercise of doing the same action millions of times for years had made him unshakable. But that alone couldn''t make him able to absorb all this information. It was his ''true vision'' innate boost to his comprehension that allowed him to understand ''Sovereign''s Timekeeper''. The hourglass shattered for the last time. Anon died. Chapter 11: Grasping Infinity Anon died. His body in reality collapsed to the ground completely. His spirt and sea of consciousness had been destroyed. He had made a gamble and he had lost. Or so you would think. When the ball of potential that became his colorful hourglass was created. It had been crafted from the potential of an entire universe. It was only because it interacted with Anon that he learned how to mimic it. That was how he made his Mask of Truth. But now both artifacts were destroyed! But just like when his mind was injected with the memories from the hourglass when deciding its name. Anon had experienced something similar here. He was dead. But when does a person truly die? When their heart stops? When they stop breathing? When their brain activity stops? By all these measures. Anon was truly dead. But this is where the magic happens. Anon had thought it was truly bizarre that his axiom state was much like the ghost of legends. Able to walk through walls. Turn invisible. Fly. Was it a coincidence? It lacked organs and was almost like a phantom. When he first experienced the backlash from the conflict of his ''Concentration'' refilling his spiritual energy. He became curious about this superposition. In combination with his true vision that changed his entire outlook. His thinking was not normal. You could even consider him a little ''trigger'' happy. His body was lifeless and no longer glitching. A cold corpse lay on the ground. Half of the hair was white. The other half black. It was as if he was half human, half ghost. His eyes were closed. But if you could see them. You would notice that one eye was white. The other was normal. In Anon''s final moments. He grasped ''infinity'' by abusing his ''true vision''. He completely digested the mental attack of his distraught hourglass. It wanted Anon to feel its pain. Despite his consciousness getting scattered. Despite his body being a corpse and unresponsive to commands. Axiom ''laughed''. It wasn''t his body. It wasn''t his soul. It wasn''t his spirit. It wasn''t even his consciousness. Anon was dead. But Axiom was just getting started! "The key isn''t the artifacts themselves. While powerful and supernatural. They are made from the souls of a dead universe." "Why is it that the culmination of souls can allow one to do things that go against the logic of the world. It doesn''t make sense." "Unless..." "It isn''t the souls at all!" Axiom was blasted with information. But he didn''t become confused. The information was far more weird then when he spent centuries absorbing soul fragments. "That''s it!" "If I truly want permanent power. I must understand it completely. I must understand EVERYTHING!" Unfortunately. When the Mask of Truth was destroyed. The balance had been broken between both artifacts. This meant that it was like a flashlight on at night. It was like a beacon attracting other entities. Cracks started to open all around the world. Breaches in reality. Axiom didn''t and couldn''t care. He felt like he was on the edge of grasping infinity. He didn''t care about his body. He didn''t care about surviving. He cleared all thoughts from his mind and focused completely on understanding ''everything''. His physical body that was dead was sucked into a crack in reality as eldritch entities invaded and destroyed his world. He had caused the apocalypse of a world. But he didn''t care. All of this felt oddly familiar for some reason. Axiom started to organize all of infinity. His luck was a bit insane however. Not from what he was doing. It was a ''coincidence'' perhaps. Thanks to his ''timeless'' declaration warping his physical body. Then having it pulled into a crack in reality. It was basically preserved for eternity. But this wouldn''t really matter.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Thousands of years passed. Axiom was face to face with infinity. It felt as if he was suffocating from the information. But he didn''t stop. If infinity were alive. In a staring contest between the two. Axiom wouldn''t be the first to blink! Hundreds of thousands of years... Axiom had long forgotten about himself. "I understand now. My current existence. I am the stimulated response from the timekeepers mental attack." "It wanted me to suffer forever..." "But this..." "It is quite fun!" Millions of years passed... "There is no end to infinity. I haven''t made any meaningful progress." Axiom didn''t despair though. He had long learned to love the process. He loved learning. Billions of years later... "So that''s it! Who knew that one could ignore time completely?" Trillions of years later... "How dull. The requirements for heavenly treasures are so low?" Quadrillions of years later... "Hahahahaha!" "My current state is probably the depths of hell for anyone other then me..." "Trapped forever with my thoughts..." Quintillions of years later... Axiom never gave up. Every single second. He was expanding his thinking and probing this special ''state'' he had found himself in. The hourglass had essentially trapped him for an eternity as ''revenge''. But who knew that Anon was a monster? Who could remain sane for such a long time? This was ridiculous! Sextillions of years later... "What is the possibility of creating a time machine using my ''mind'' alone?" Septillions of years later... "I see." "An overflow... huh?" Octillions of years later... "Memorizing the universe..." "Is it possible?" Nonillions of years later... Decillions... Undecillion...Duodecillion... Tredecillion...Quattuordecillion... Quindecillion...Sexdecillion...Septendecillion... Octodecillion...Novemdecillion... Vigintillion... A centillion years later... "six octillion one hundred three septillion seven hundred and seventy-two sextillion three hundred and thirty-one quintillion four hundred and forty-eight quadrillion nine hundred and fifty-five trillion three hundred and forty-two billion one hundred thirteen million eight hundred and fifty-three thousand two hundred and... damn. I lost track for a millisecond." Axiom looked at a mechanism he had built that was made from six octillion different parts. It was a giant mechanism he was building to condense his consciousness. He made a single value error out of six octillion parts. But he wasn''t satisfied. He had been working on this mechanism for about a centillion years. But one mistake and he scrapped it. He wanted perfection. "One..." "Two..." "Three..." A centillion years later... "six octillion one hundred three septillion seven hundred and seventy-two sextillion three hundred and thirty-one quintillion four hundred and forty-eight quadrillion nine hundred and fifty-five trillion three hundred and forty-two billion one hundred thirteen million eight hundred and fifty-three thousand two hundred and... Fuck it. I don''t like how the front looks. Start over!" A centillion years later... A centillion years later... A centillion years later... A centillion years later... A centillion years later... A centillion years later... A centillion years later... A centillion years later... "six octillion one hundred three septillion seven hundred and seventy-two sextillion three hundred and thirty-one quintillion four hundred and forty-eight quadrillion nine hundred and fifty-five trillion three hundred and forty-two billion one hundred thirteen million eight hundred and fifty-three thousand two hundred and eleven... what!?" Axiom realized something that scared him. "No..." "That''s impossible!" Axiom''s ''will'' had become like a blackhole. The universe literally couldn''t support his mind anymore. Just like when the universe collapsed when invaded by other entities before. His thinking alone was destroying all of reality. He had memorized infinity. He was suffering from success! The mental attack of the hourglass. Despite being EVERYTHING it had. It was like a grain of sand getting thrown into a ocean and even that was being generous towards the current Axiom. If a powerful eldritch entity looked within Axiom''s ''mind''. They would go insane instead. The carrier of Axiom''s consciousness finally shattered. But he hadn''t been idle these ''years'' he had spent learning infinity. In an instant he connected to every version of himself. He then noticed something interesting. He saw a familiar scene. "If you do this. You will destroy all of reality..." "They don''t care about mere ants. Those monsters just want to consume ALL!" Anon opened up a gateway to the other side. Axiom then realized something. He wasn''t human at all anymore... He WAS the entity that invaded reality! He had caused the collapse of the universe that initially set him down this path. He started to laugh. "Ignoring time..." "Creating heavenly treasures..." "I didn''t make a wedding dress for myself..." "I''m the whole damn wedding!" Axiom simply observed various realities. But his mere ''look'' destroyed countless worlds. He then felt as if he was being watched. He then realized. It was himself! "Anon...?" Axiom looked at his past self and watched as ''Anon'' started to bleed from every orifice on his face just from this ''look'' that was quite ''gentle''. Anon then collapsed. Axiom felt a ball of potential created from the collapse of a universe fuse with Anon. "Time is quite... interesting!" Axiom put a fragment of himself in the ball of potential and shaped its innate abilities from the subconscious desires of Anon. He watched everything play out as it should. Axiom guided himself down the familiar path. Even the battle that gave him his axiom state was orchestrated... He had allowed a small portion of himself to enter as the ''bait''. "I have a REAL BODY!" "You are a FAKE!" Axiom was quite amused by his actions. Things had a different perspective when watching them now... He then found the moment he was looking for! He started to merge with Anon. "Who am I?" "I am..." "I am Axiom!" Axiom then said mentally: "Checkmate! Self!" He continued to watch history in the making. He got to a very important point. "I''ve always wondered what would happen to my axiom state without an artifact." "Let''s us see..." "Destroying a heavenly treasure is absolutely insane. Who would be so dumb to waste such a gift?" Axiom watched the hourglass helplessly get destroyed countless times. Despite seeing this scene millions of times. Axiom''s perspective on numbers was a bit abnormal. A million was an incredibly small number to him. But he felt the despair of the hourglass. Soon the hourglass did something insane. "It''s so beautiful!" "Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!" It hit Anon with everything it had. The ''mental attack'' that made Axiom a anomaly. But Axiom was ''smiling''. "What happens if I stack ''infinity''?" It turned out the reason the artifact could show Anon infinity was because of Axiom! Axiom was a reality warping entity it seemed. But only by understanding infinity could he truly become Axiom. But Anon had died from his gamble. He had lost... right? His corpse was cold. Half the hair was white. The other half black. One eye white. The other normal. His eyes were closed. But he was frowning? Axiom then opened his eyes! Chapter 12: Fighting Concepts Axiom then opened his eyes! All he saw was a darkness so black that it was like staring into the abyss. But Anon wasn''t surprised. He had been very ''gentle'' with the reality he was born from. Despite this. Breaches in reality had still appeared. He realized just how dangerous he was. But that was when he was existing without form. The universe literally could not comprehend his mind anymore. Just like when he awoke from his ''domain'' and nearly died from the information overload. Something similiar was happening here. Or it should''ve. But it didn''t! Axiom had learned an infinite assortment of tricks from his time ''memorzing the universe''. His brain was no longer the carrier of his consciousness. He wasn''t limited by concepts like mind, body, soul, or spirit anymore. Just like when the universe collapsed and filled his domain with trillions of souls. He located a specific soul fragment. This was a very important fragment! It was Anon''s soul fragment! "Everything is happening as it should be..." "The universe is like a shard of glass. It will never be able to support me." "But what if I created an avatar?" Axiom''s ''avatar'' was Anon! Anon had thought that he came up with the idea of Axiom. But he was mistaken! Axiom had seemingly always existed. He was a being that broke the laws of the universe. His mere existence itself ruined countless realities! "I seem to be in a node of space." Axiom had taken over Anon''s dead body. He reached out his hand and slashed a tear into reality. He then stepped back into his original world. The entire world was falling apart. "It is easier to destroy then create." He was floating in the sky surrounded by tears in reality. Axiom wasn''t the only eldritch horror attracted by the heavenly treasure. This world would soon be exposed to horrors beyond comprehension. He squinted his eyes and his body was covered with a white aura of light. "This is MY WORLD!" "Who gave you the authority to enter?" In an instant. These hidden existences breached reality and all manners of forms appeared. Some were clouds of eyes, masses of flesh, beast made of mouths, fleshy tentacles. But the universe hadn''t collapsed! Axiom was supporting the universes stability through sheer force of will! Axiom was surrounded and he felt the desire of the others. They wanted to consume him! While he had destroyed the artifacts. They had left a trace of power in his body. It was like when you were surrounded by a certain scent for a long time. This scent followed you. The rules of the universe had basically been completely distorted. Axiom was attacked. His head spinned 180 degrees and his limbs twisted in weird directions. He was then bombarded with all sorts of curses. A green flame ignited his body and he felt pain beyond imagination. His mask was destroyed. But he laughed. "So this is what is it is like to be alive? What a novel feeling!" His limbs twisted slightly and he twisted his head back into place. "My turn!" Axiom pulled all of his enemies into his mind. A foolish action! But when they saw the endless fractals. When they saw his condensed consciousness that he had created after MANY years. These existences went insane! Most of them exploded in an instant into a bloody mist. But one of them remained unaffected! Or they had barely resisted the insanity. This shocked Axiom. A series of incomprehensible gibberish appeared in Axiom''s mind. But he was no longer what he used to be. He understood it in an instant. "A primordial concept?" "You aren''t like the others..." "You make up the foundation of reality?" Axiom started to laugh. He then started to stretch. "Fighting Time itself..." Axiom had felt ever since he overflowed reality that he was the strongest being in existence. This had made him arrogant. Since he hadn''t met a worthy foe across the countless realities he observed. But he made one mistake. There was always someone stronger. There was always peaks beyond the highest peaks. This entity claimed to be ''time'' itself. Not a god. Not a hidden existence. A concept! Axiom waved his fingers and produced thousands of cuts in a instant. But they all froze before reaching Time. This entity was yellow and was ineffable in appearance. Axiom barely dodged a yellow beam of light. Some of his hair had been hit and was cut off. His mind was used to working many times beyond the limit of humans. So within a few milliseconds he had absorbed all details regarding this attack. He noticed that the strand of hair that was hit had been white originally. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. But when it was hit. It became black. It then shrunk into nonexistence! Axiom took a breathe and became serious. "Dangerous!" He was blasted from every direction. But somehow managed to dodge. He knew he mustn''t allow himself to get hit. But then ''Time'' started to shrink. It formed the outline of a person and became human in appearance. It then spoke: "You are good." In an instant. Axiom''s felt a shiver down his spine and he ducked. He felt the air shift as a leg sweeped where he had originally been. "Why is his normal attack so dangerous?" Axiom felt like something was happening to him however. His strength was exponentially growing every second! His small surprised reaction was taken advantage of. Time grabbed Axiom by his head and slammed him into space. Reality shattered as he was dragged through the stream of time. Axiom snorted and grabbed the hand that had grasped his head, he had tried to absorb it. But Time cut off his own arm in an instant. Axiom looked around him and realized he wasn''t in a regular universe anymore. "You pulled me into a time stream? You fucking chea-" Time had recovered completely. He attacked millions of times in an instant. Axiom phased through reality and dodged most of the attacks. During this short confrontation with this concept. Axiom had completely reconstructed Anon''s soul. He had unlocked another seal ''Extraordinary Sense''. This was special danger perception. Axiom while he broke the logic of the universe. That was only when he was in a universe! He had been pulled into a time stream. His manipulation of reality was useless here! He had to use everything he had to survive. But what he didn''t suspect was that Time was frightened by his potential. Soon another concept appeared. Now it wasn''t simply ''Time''. There was also ''Infinity''. The real battle was just beginning! Axiom felt his mind get invaded by Infinity. But infinity screamed and looked at him in horror. Axiom was getting pushed into a corner. His powers were weakening. But he had learned too much in his time ''memorizing the universe''. He cloned his body and thousands of himself appeared. These were all fakes. But then Axiom was launched into a current of time by another concept that joined in. This one was called ''Death''. In an instant Axiom died! All three concepts looked at the current stream he was pushed into. But something insane started to happen. The current reversed. "Impossible!" Death was literally the concept of death! Nothing had ever survived his attack... Nothing... except for other concepts! Had this mortal become a concept!? Axiom was lying in the current on his back with his hands spread out. But he started to rise to his feet. He then smirked. "Did you really think dying would kill me?" "..." All three concepts surrounded him and started attacking. Their attacks were impossible to dodge and they were using their laws to restrict him. He became as weak as a normal human. But he entered a weird state of concentration. It was a state of effortlessness. He had closed his eyes and caught both Time and Infinity in each hand. He then held them in place as thousands of himself piled on. But in the next moment. Each clone was destroyed! "Four against one... you guys are really weak!" Axiom laughed. Time Infinity Death Destruction He was now facing four concepts at once! Their attacks were weird. Axiom felt a threat of death. His ''extraordinary sense'' was basically worthless in this battle now. These were beings that surpassed logic. They had no idea how he was still even existing! Time had purposefully disconnected him from reality and brought him into a space even hidden existences find hard to navigate. Infinity had showed him infinity, but it was cracked in an instant. Death had instantly killed him with one of his signature attacks. But he ignored death. Who were the concepts here!? Then he managed to catch TIme and Infinity in an attack. But luckily, Destruction arrived in time and their attack managed to destroy his rather weak clones. But they felt something amazing from Axiom. There seemed to be an infinite potential within him. It was attracting them more then a heavenly treasure. They felt they would become the STRONGEST if they could consume him! But... Despite him by all logic being a normal human. He was doing things that made eldritch entities look like children. Axiom himself outwardly was putting up a brave display. But inside. He was not as calm as on the surface. This entire battle, he had been dancing on the edge of being wiped out completely. He had made trillions of calculations every few milliseconds to create a neutralizing attack against every one of their moves. He made it look easy. But him surviving to this point was like winning the lottery a million times in a row. His existence itself was ridiculous! But this was scaring the concepts. No mortal had ever done what he was doing! He was like a glitch in the system. Who knew how strong he could become!? The attacks stopped for a second to Axiom''s confusion. Then Infinity said in horror... "You... are you that trapped consciousness!?" "Trapped consciousness?" Infinity had faintly remembered some entity gaze upon itself a long time ago. But it didn''t pay attention to them. But now it recognized that this person seemed to be possessing the body of a mortal. "Who are you?!" Time said. "Me?" "I am Axiom!" Destruction spoke: "How did you acquire such power?" "Power? I am just a human with too much free time." Axiom vanished. "Did he ru-?" Destruction was wiped from existence! The other concepts felt a danger like never before and dispersed. Axiom frowned. "So you can die!" "But..." Axiom was feeling tired. In his long time alive. He had never felt so tired. Time then spoke: "Concepts can never die. Reality will revive them..." Axiom sneered. "Then why did you run away?" Axiom didn''t know his own limits anymore. He felt like he was omnipotent. But he also felt like he was on the edge of death. This paradoxical feeling was making him feel sick. He needed to end this! But something really unfair happened. EVERY concept was summoned into the time stream. He was essentially jumped by beings beyond comprehension. Before he had felt like he had a chance. But now the other concepts were relaxed as his attacks were nullified. They were even commentating over the battle. "His fighting feels oddly familiar..." "Are you sure he isn''t a concept?" His body was scarred and his clothes were tattered. The glow over his body had vanished. Both of his eyes rolled back into his head as he fell. Time caught his body in its real form and was about to eat him. But he was attacked. All of the concepts wanted a piece of Axiom! They started to fight amongst themselves. After some time. Axiom regained consciousness. But he felt different. It was as if he had gotten a good night of sleep. He felt like a sovereign. While the concepts were distracted fighting amongst themselves. Axiom did something genius. He completely copied the form of Time by emulating the energy he felt from them. He then created a fake version of himself and controlled it like a puppet. He had the fake rush towards a current of time and jump into it. "He''s getting away!" The other concepts rushed and transported themselves into the universe his fake had escaped to. But Time found that they were paralyzed! They were staring at themselves!? Axiom started to laugh. "Not so strong without your support eh?" A yellow beam of light covered Axiom''s body and just like the strand of hair. His body was reversed through time. Time itself was shocked. "You allowed my attack to connect!? You are insane!" Axiom shrugged. He just wanted to see how strong this ''attack'' was. Axiom resisted the time manipulation and waved his hands. Time itself was broken into thousands of pieces. "You won''t get away with this! We will hunt you down across EVERY reality!" Axiom sneered. "I will transform you into a heavenly treasure. I do need a new timekeeper..." Axiom began to shape this entity. It screamed at him and tried to contact the other concepts. But they thought he was just trying to distract them from consuming Axiom. Time then did something that Axiom didn''t calculate. "You''ve pushed me too far!" Time undid all of creation! He went back to the very beginning. Time was the first thing that came into existence. Just like how Anon''s hourglass had a safety mechanism that could go back in time. Time had one so overpowered, he could travel back to the very beginning of the cradle. This wasn''t simply the beginning of reality. This was the beginning of the timeline for concepts! Time felt a bit of regret at fighting that mortal. There was nothing ''mortal'' about them! But then he saw something impossible. Axiom was looking around. "How interesting..." Chapter 13: Soul Relics Axiom was looking around. "How interesting..." Axiom felt that this space was rather unique. He felt a pressure like never before. No mortal had ever been able to survive in the cradle, let alone enter it before. Time was silent. It started to teleport away at a speed quite incredible. But every time it ran into Axiom. "Going somewhere?" Axiom was growing more comfortable with his state. While his power seemed illusory and lacked a true foundation. He felt omnipotent. Axiom''s state started to glitch and he started to look like a monster. He grasped the concept that was Time and watched it deperately struggle. "You wanted to consume me right? How about I consume you!" Time was consumed and Axiom felt as if he was going to explode. But after a long time. He felt that mysterious rule and energy he gained vanished! Time revived in the cradle. "You can not destroy concepts!" Axiom transformed into the form of a human. Time started to enlarge. It looked as if Axiom was fighting a planet. But Axiom was starting to get interested. "I have always wanted to truly study time..." Axiom waved his hands and Time was transformed into millions of parts. Time felt something was wrong. There should be a limit to a mortals power. Why was this mortal like a ruler of everything? It was as if Axiom had no limits! Even the restrictions of concepts had no effect on him. He was even able to follow Time back through time to the cradle and the beginning of all. This man was dangerous! Time was frozen in a paralyzed state as Axiom looked through their memories. "I see. So that is why you cannot truly die..." "Becoming a concept... that would be quite boring." Axiom felt that this space he was in. The so called ''cradle'' where the true bodies of concepts are born. He felt it could actually support his mind! It was a lot stronger then his base reality. This gave him some inspiration. Axiom erased all traces of himself from the concepts mind and then vanished. He had already studied ''infinity''. Now he wished to study every concept. Axiom felt as if he had infinite potential. But he was still limited. If you asked him to create a universe. He wouldn''t be able to do it. Despite being able to ignore both time and death and the curses of concepts. He still felt he wasn''t at the peak. This made him interested in investing in an ''avatar'' such as Anon. Axiom remembered when he fought every concept at once. He became put into a passive position and was beaten to the point of losing consciousness. Despite being stronger then a concept. He still lost! If it weren''t for the infighting of the concepts. He probably would''ve been consumed! Axiom looked at his hands. "I am not going to become a concept." Axiom observed the cradle for an unfathomably long time. He watched the process of the concepts being born. Just like how when he observed his hourglass getting born. He learned how to make concepts! He would create relics so powerful that nothing could destroy them. He wasn''t idle during these long years. Time for concepts was a lot different then time for humans. But the cognition and perspective of Axiom was a bit stretched. He didn''t consider a trillion years much time. So he didn''t experience any fluctuations or boredom in his time observing these entities. "The main issue I face now is the universe not being able to withstand my mind." "This ''cradle'' is inherently special and can support my mind. It seems my mind has reached the level of a concept." "What if I create my own cradle?" Axiom started to get some interesting ideas. "Now that I understand time. I also have a basic understanding of the concepts and their place." Axiom left the cradle and entered a space full of spatial turblence. "It is time that I''ve created my own dimension..." Axiom looked within Anon''s reconstructed soul. There was a storage space within. This was something Anon had taught himself to make from his axiom state. "If I stay in a universe for too long. It is doomed to be destroyed. I am like a cancer or a virus. It is inherently unhealthy for the universe to keep my presence." Axiom held out his hand and Anon''s soul appeared within his palm. It was about to get shattered from the spatial pressure of this void Axiom was in.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Axiom easily shielded it. "...''I'' have always had three conditions to go all out." "This is something only I can do." "The mechanics will be interesting..." "It can''t be temporary power..." Axiom knew that his soul could easily shatter. So he made Anon''s soul indestructible. This feat was easy as he had observed the concepts grow up. He had also personally experienced their attacks himself. So creating something that could even withstand the stress of concepts wasn''t that hard for the current him. Soon the soul was completely indestructible. It could no longer get shattered. The ten seals were still a part of the soul. But the axiom state was partially broken from the Mask of Truth getting destroyed. Axiom created his own dimension that wasn''t connected to anything. He also gave the soul an innate storage ability. He had left his previous multiverse and the cradle. He was now in a space where he was the ''ruler''. Just like when he used to use his hourglass to manipulate soul fragments. But his level of control now was on a completely different level. "Now that the soul is indestructible." "It is time to replace the heavenly treasures destroyed. But why limit ''myself'' to two?" "The main problem with the previous treasures was that they attracted other entities to the universe." "Resolving this problem isn''t too hard. I''ll simply make them undetectable." Axiom planned on making seven heavenly treasures! But these wouldn''t be heavenly treasures. Instead. They would be called ''soul relics''. They would be completely bound to Anon''s soul. In combination with his soul being indestructible. This was no longer going to be temporary power. The first relic Axiom created had one main function. Axiom had even created his own form of supernatural energy called ''animaxiom''. The first relic was called ''anima reservoir''. It had one main function. That was the storage of animaxiom. But what sort of form was this energy in? Was it a liquid? A solid? Where was it stored? It was a type of soul energy. It was stored inside the soul. Due to the size of the soul. The capacity was limited. But you could look at it like points. Anon''s soul could hold 1,000 points of animaxiom at full capacity. The second relic he created was called ''anima generator''. It had one main function. That was the generation of animaxiom. The rate at which Anon could recover animaxiom was dependent on the rules of the universe. The weaker a reality and the more supernatural. The faster it could generate itself. It had no true source besides being part of the foundation of the soul. So it was almost creating energy from nothing. Anon had created a timeless declaration before even becoming Axiom. So a perpeptual motion machine wasn''t too hard to create. The third relic he created was called ''anima manipulator''. This had many functions. It allowed Anon to essentially manipulate the energy in his anima reservoir. It could be condensed into a form of attack or defense. It was highly flexible and there were many ways to use this relic. The fourth relic he created was called ''anima ward''. This had one main function. That was a defense mechanism over the soul. While the soul of indestructible. This prevented other existences from being able to hijack or take over the soul. Imagine being immortal. But someone steals your body! The fifth relic he created was called ''anima leap''. This one was quite complicated. It was a sort of like a time leap. But for the soul. Just like the hourglass''s mechanism to go back in time. The function of this relic was similiar. It could allow the soul to go back in time. But it wasn''t unlimited. The sixth relic he created was called ''anima transmit''. It could allow Anon to displace physical matter. It was essentially a form of teleportation. The seventh relic he created was called ''anima revive''. This could allow Anon to revive from the dead. There were a few restrictions however. There needed to be a trace of him left. If he needed to revive from a single drop of blood. The cost of animaxiom would be in the millions. While his starting capacity is only at a thousand. 1.) anima reservoir (storage) 2.) anima generator (generator) 3.) anima manipulator (aux) 4.) anima ward (soul guard) 5.) anima leap (time leap) 6.) anima transmit (teleport) 7.) anima revive (rise) The animaxiom system was not tied to the seals at all. So ''concentration'' while it could recover the body, spirit, and soul. It couldn''t generate animaxiom. Since it was Axiom that designed this power system. This meant that Anon wouldn''t understand its full potential. It was sort of like giving a person four more arms. You can hardly write in the same quality with any hand that isn''t dominant. These powers weren''t behind a lock in reality. Anon would need to learn how to ''walk''. In other words, he would need to figure out how to activate these powers himself. Axiom wasn''t done designing the soul yet. He had been inspired by Mask of Truth. He liked the concept of a transformation that is seperate from the original body. He didn''t make a soul relic for this transformation. He created a duel state soul. Basically, the souls could ''swap'' position and this would also produce a physical change in reality. It basically meant that Anon would have two souls. His original soul was white. His new soul black. The new soul lacked the seals. But it also had the soul relics as the original. They sort of bled into each other. So even without the new soul having the seals. The benefits could be partially retained. Axiom naturally also had the ''timeless'' declaration. But it wasn''t as limited and inflexible as the previous one. Just like with the declaration ''I am Axiom!''. This transformation was almost identical to Anon''s ''axiom state''. The first three seals out of ten had been unlocked already. Axiom threw the soul outside of his dimension and watched it rush towards a direction. It had become unstoppable and indestructible. It was operating off instinct. It couldn''t even detect Axiom. Axiom manipulated a wormhole of time and had it go to a specific point.
Anon started to wave his hands back and forth as if he was controlling a thousand puppets. Each finger was a string and each one was deadly. He couldn''t do this in real life. But in his sea of consciousness. He was the ruler! Space was getting cut in his consciousness as the hourglass swayed. But it wasn''t flexible and it lacked limbs. It could move back and forth. But it ended up taking a lot of hits. The hourglass started to crack. Anon''s mask was also shattered. "I''ve always wondered what would happen to my axiom state without an artifact." "Let''s us see..." "Destroying a heavenly treasure is absolutely insane. Who would be so dumb to waste such a gift?" Anon was glitching between base and axiom state like a character glitching through a wall in a game. Anon started to laugh like a demon from hell. "It''s so beautiful!" "Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!" "They say that a fool and his money are soon parted..." "Do you take me for a fool?" Anon was ''acting''. In truth. He felt despair. He didn''t know if what he was doing was right. He felt as if he had put himself in a dead end. The pain he felt was unimaginable. The hourglass hit Anon with everything it had. The hourglass shattered for the last time. Anon died. His body in reality collapsed to the ground completely. His spirt and sea of consciousness had been destroyed. He had made a gamble and he had lost. Or so you would think. Time seemed to stop as a wormhole appeared above his corpse. A soul came out of it and merged with his body. His hair turned black and his clothes changed. Shortly afterwards... Anon opened his eyes! Chapter 14: Arrested Anon opened his eyes! He felt amazing. It was as if he had the best night of sleep EVER! But this confused him. The last thing he remembered was taking a gamble and destroying his hourglass. He knew his consciousness was tied to the hourglass. So how was he alive? It made no sense! He looked at his hands and realized something instantly. "No way... I unlocked another seal? How?" Anon now had ''concentration'', ''true vision'' and ''extraordinary sense''. He looked within his sea of consciousness and was even more surprised. "Both the timekeeper and truth are gone..." But this wasn''t the only thing that surprised him. His sea of consciousness was completely empty! "Have I become a completely normal human? No." Anon tried to activate his axiom state. But it was as if there was a disconnect between his body and mind. "I''ve experienced this before. The control rate of my body has decreased. If before it was at 99%. Now it is at 10%." Anon was searching every memory he had to try to understand his situation. "I see... when I destroyed the artifact. The potential of an entire universe baptized my consciousness. Instead of being wiped out. I gained the hidden potential of the artifact." Anon had no idea the sort of insane feats he had pulled off. Anon sighed. "Without the Mask of Truth... I suppose I no longer have my axiom state. A pity." Anon held out his hand. "Wait... I can still feel ''it''. Why is it so different?" Anon didn''t know anything about the animaxiom system of soul relics he had acquired. It was sort of like playing a game and not realizing you have the cheat codes. Anon didn''t have the innate ability to see or interact with soul. He could look within his sea of consciousness. But this was different from soul. What he was feeling now was his storage space that was about a cubic meter. "My storage space is fine." "If the potential of the artifacts baptized my consciousness. I believe I can still transform!" Anon had become a ''spacesmith'' in the past. He had great control over his storage space and could even use it to perform precise cuts. But he noticed something wrong right away. "This..." "I can''t control it like before at all!" Anon had no idea his soul had become indestructible. This had a few side-effects. It wasn''t as easy to manipulate his inner storage space and shrink it like before. Expanding it would also be harder then before.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He would need to expand his ''anima reservoir''. This was no easy feat. Anon didn''t even know about his anima abilities. "Being baptized by the artifacts likely had some negative effects as well. You cannot gain an advantage for free." Anon tried to transform into his axiom state. "Why is it that I feel that I''m forgetting something? I need to raise the control rate over my body..." Luckily, he was on vacation for three months. "Without my hourglass. My timeless declaration is destroyed." "But..." "The next seal is ''deification''. That should deify and merge every cell in my body. No deoxyribonucleic acid. No organelles. No membranes. It is like getting rid of the mortal body!" Anon wasn''t too confident he would be able to unlock this seal. But now he unlocked another seal quite ''easily''. He was feeling pretty confident. "There is a way to test my timeless declaration..." "All I have to do is nothing!" Anon sat down underneathe a tree. A few days passed as he practiced manipulating his sea of consciousness. He also visualized himself moving and stretching to improve the control rate of his body. A week later... "I didn''t die from organ failure or dehydration. Nor did I become hungry." "Somehow I retained my timeless declaration. I''m quite lucky it would seem!" Anon''s control rate between body and soul rapidly increased. This was mainly due to ''true vision''. This supernatural power boosted his comprehension beyond the limit of mortals. Soon he reached 99% but hit a wall and was unable to reach 100%. Anon felt that beyond this wall was his axiom state! But this was just a theory. "Why does it feel as if I am generating some type of energy?" "This has a different taste then spiritual energy!" Anon tried to focus on this feeling. But it was quite elusive. He soon stopped. "I sort of miss my hourglass..." "I had planned to remain in my axiom state for three months. But now I can''t even transform into it. I hope I didn''t break something..." Anon was quite far away as he had planned on flying in an invisble state back to his apartment. Now... he had to do the walk of shame. He didn''t plan on wasting his vacation in the wilderness when he couldn''t even try to test the limits of his powers. He was happy his seals were still around though. He wasn''t a completely normal human! "Fuck this. I''ll call a cab..." Anon looked within his storage space and found that his phone was missing. "Fuck." "Did shattering my mask corrupt some of the data?" Anon inwardly laughed at his situation. "Luckily. I have infinite stamina..." Anon did the walk of shame and eventually reached his apartment complex. He had spent some days outside exposed to the elements. The rain and winds made him quite dirty. The police had closed off the area. "What happened?" Anon approached. "There is an ongoing investigation. Please step aside!" Anon saw people carrying things out of the building. "Hey! That''s my computer!" The officers froze. "You... are Mr. Amos?" "Yes." Anon felt something was off. He then ducked his head as a tranquilizer narrowly missed him, he was able to do this thanks to his extraordinary sense. The two officers pulled out their tasers and fired. Anon had three seals unlocked. But none of these gave him the ability to resist convulsing from getting shocked. But he wasn''t a normal person. His control over his body had reached 99%! He also had a storage space. He stepped to the side as everything looked like slow motion due to his true vision. He then reached his hand out and grabbed the copper wires. Before it made any contact with his skin. He had already stored the tasers in his storage space. The officers became confused. But unfortunately, they had body cams on. Anon knew this. But he felt that their intentions weren''t good and he would rather resist then get arrested. He was still worried about becoming a experiment subject. But his actions didn''t match his plans. He couldn''t help but react to the best of his abilities. Everything had happened so fast. Anon hadn''t operated off of pure logic here. His body did all of this like an instinct, revealing his abnormalities. While the officers were distracted he tackled one to the ground and destroyed their body camera. The other took out their gun and fired! Anon felt a strong sense of danger and shifted his body to the left. He pulled the officer on the ground with him and narrowly avoided both of them getting shot. Anon held the cop in front of him as the officer pointed their gun at him. He then took out the hand-cuffs and cuffed the cop as he pushed them forward. This put the other officer in a dilemma. If this cop fell face first at this momentum without anything to brace his fall. He could suffer a major concussion or even die! The cop caught his falling comrade. While he did this. Anon grabbed his body cam and pulled it off his body. He destroyed it. Unfortunately, the recordings were automatically loaded to a server. Anon''s actions were pointless. But he didn''t know this. Soon more police arrived and Anon was surrounded. "Fuck..." Chapter 15: Immunity "Fuck..." Anon was completely surrounded by police. They had their guns pointed at him and he was forced to raise his hands. He had an intrusive thought at this moment. ''Do these fools know who they are dealing with?'' He saw two routes he could go down. He could resist like before or he could stop resisting. It didn''t matter how fast he was. He would likely become littered with gunshot wounds. Resistance leads to death. "Why did I reveal my ability so easily?" Anon thought something was wrong with him. His intention was to hide his abilities. But his actions were oddly contradictory. "Why am I so emotional?" Anon had no idea that a hint of the cockiness was imprinted into his soul from when Axiom reconstructed it. A little bit of every concept had become part of his subconscious. To fight concepts is to go against the rules. So he subconsciously rejected submitting to authority. He knew deep down that the smartest move was to allow himself to get knocked out from the sedative and then pretend he was just a normal person. This was the best course of action. Even if he resisted. He would still end up detained, the difference between these two actions was one left traces of the supernatural, the other didn''t. When he made their tasers vanish. That revealed he had supernatural powers! This was a dumb move. Soon Anon was shoved to the ground and handcuffed. He was put into a patrol car and driven to the station. He was put in a special interrogation room. This was just a room with two chairs, a table, and a camera in the corner. There was no one way glass that you might expect. A detective came in and asked him some simple questions. Anon closed his eyes and relaxed. The detective left and came back with a cup of water. "Are you thirsty? Hungry?" Anon sneered. They probably just wanted to collect his fingerprints and dna... Anon was used to wearing sunglasses to avoid scaring people from his eyes. But now he didn''t have them on. So as the detective talked to him. He had his eyes closed. "I am not." "Take this. You might be later..." Anon didn''t take the cup and the detective put it down on the table beside him. He had a folder with him this time. He sorted through the papers and pulled out a document with a few pictures of his apartment in disarray. "Where were you the night of the explosion?" Anon remained silent. "You don''t remember an event that made you become homeless?" Anon didn''t answer. The detective left and came back. "You assaulted an officer. You are looking at five to ten years at minimum. If you cooperate. We will put a good word in..."If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Anon then said: "I will not answer anymore questions without my lawyer present..." The detective laughed. "You think you still have rights? You are a dangerous terrorist." The detective flipped the script in an instant. "...Fuck." The detectives phone started to ring. He answered, and listened for awhile. His face then lost its color. "I see. Yes sir." "No! No! That won''t be necessary..." The detective looked at Anon with a weird look. "You... are free to go..." "What?" "We didn''t know you were one of ''his'' men! I will drive you personally back to your apartment. The evidence will shortly be given back to you. I''m sorry, there was no cross-over and the higher-ups didn''t alert us about your special status." Anon was completely confused. Was he some sort of secret agent!? Why didn''t he know? "I see..." The detective was so confused. He didn''t even have time to pull up the videos of him making the tasers vanish! The videos had mysteriously been corrupted. They had nothing but he said she said nonsense and the higher-ups gave ''Anon'' immunity. The detective watched Anon leave as his back was covered in sweat. He didn''t dare remind him. "It''s a good thing he doesn''t seem to have a bad personality..."
Anon left the police station and looked around. He then realized he still didn''t have a phone or a ride back to his apartment. So he walked back into the station and nobody seemed to notice him. It was as if they were ignoring his existence. "Have I entered my axiom state?" Anon wondered. What he didn''t know was that everyone was told that Anon was a part of ''his'' team. The living legend who is the true ruler of this country. Anon found the detective that had questioned him and nearly gave him a heart attack. "I''ll take that ride home..." "...Oh."
The commander was sitting in a medicinal bath when he got a message from his information network. "Anon has been arrested. Well th-!?" "Anon has been arrested!? What are those idiots doing?" The commander waved his hands and the holographic machine installed in his base showed a video of Anon fighting a police officer. He saw two of the perspectives. "Erase all this evidence." The artificial intelligence had full permission over almost any server. There were even built-in backdoors that had been placed illegally in private systems. Soon. Only he had the original files. "Interesting. It seems he unlocked a type of spatial ability. Perhaps he has the power to displace matter? Wouldn''t this mean he can instantly grasp peoples hearts or dislocate their heads? Instant killing!" "Maybe he can even teleport?" "Maybe he can create a spatial shield, making him immune to most forms of attack..." The commander started to think of countermeasures. He watched Anon dodge a bullet and was a little surprised. "Has he also unlocked the seventh sense? This feels the same." The commander noted most of his attention to him dodging at all. "The fact that he showed his ability is..." "Well... maybe his IQ isn''t very high." "But why did he dodge those attacks? Wouldn''t they have been useless?" The commander realized something from these videos. "He hasn''t mastered his powers yet! He is in his most vulnerable state." The commander gave immunity to Anon the next second. Soon, his subordinates and the justice system had already dismissed his case. The commander stood up from his bath and got dressed. He was contemplating ''meeting'' this awakened person. He had so many questions! He had felt it was too dangerous at first. He had thought this was someone who was good at scheming. Somebody with real power that wouldn''t settle for being a chess piece. But this person stupidly reacted in a completely irrational way. They revealed their cards so easily. "Wait..." "That''s just what he wants me to think!" The commander felt a chill down his spine. He looked at things from his perspective. "He is testing the waters. He probably even expected I would give him immunity! He also knew I wouldn''t let any of the videos be viewed by others..." "Him dodging the bullets was just to silence the surrounding officers. He is trying to make me underestimate him!" "I almost fell into his trap..." "A genius! No. Maybe he anticipated me seeing through his tricks. He knew it would drive me into a corner of inaction. This entire event was a warning. He is telling me blatantly that he holds the initiative..." The commander sneered. He had been in control for decades. He easily saw through all of Anon''s ''tricks''. "What a goddamn monster!"
Anon sneezed for some reason. Anon was quite confused and had no idea his actions had left a shocking impression on the ''legend''. If the commander could see the thought process of Anon. He probably would''ve had a seizure. Anon didn''t plan for any of that at all! He was thousands of years old mentally. But he had spent so little of that time interacting with others. Scheming? He had little practice. He solved his problems through brute force! The most scheming thing he did was tricking his hourglass into a ''time loop''. That acting itself almost broke him. You could even say Anon''s thought process was a little weird. He was one to gamble and be reckless. He had only been rewarded for such behavior so far. Chapter 16: Aerialists Meanwhile... in panda country. "Did ''he'' act?" "No movements have been seen." "He doesn''t dare show his face in our country!" The chairman of the government for the panda country spoke without reserve. He looked at a few holograms showing potential bases where the ''commander'' could be located. The chairman had long been offended by the commander. He was hoping that that they could solve the commander once and for all. He saw the supernatural hole in reality as a weapon with more potential then nukes! The chairman had already sent fifty death row prisoners into the gateway. Each one with equipped with state of the art cameras, and survival equipment. But none had returned alive! They had tried many things. In one experiment. They tied a rope to the person and pulled them out. But the rope was cut as if by friction. Using a higher quality material allowed them to pull someone out after a few seconds. The rope was still intact! But the person had aged by decades. It was as if they had aged 30 years in a few seconds. They had died from organ failure. This baffled panda countries top scientist. "Just what is on the other side of these gates?" The chairman then received a report. A spy in eagle country informed him of something quite important. "Someone awakened super powers?" "Why wasn''t this person born in our country?" Soon the chairman was looking through the entire history of Anon.
Anon was still on vacation! His apartment was bugged. There were hidden cameras and microphones. He was being monitored 24/7 by the government. But he didn''t realize it. Anon wasn''t one to become paranoid. There was ALWAYS someone watching him secretly. But what they saw just confused them. They saw Anon lying in weird positions. He didn''t have a bed or any real furniture. They would see him just stand facing a corner for hours on end. They felt as if he was simply wasting their time! What nonsense was he doing? In truth. Anon didn''t need to sleep. But he still dedicated hours everyday to meditating. He tried various postures just to try to break through the bottleneck he was at. His control rate was at 99%! His intuition told him that if he could surpass this limit. He would be able to tap into his axiom state!You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. As weeks went by. The government became a little confused. "Are you sure this is accurate? Were there blind spots?" "He hasn''t used the bathroom... ever..." "He hasn''t eaten or drunken anything at all!" The commander wasn''t so bored to monitor Anon himself. He allowed the government to handle this monster. But he received their conclusions.
"He doesn''t need to eat, sleep, or drink?" "We already know the ability he awakened is spatial. That''s it!" "He is displacing matter in his intestines! Any waste he generates can be teleported away. Instead of needing to consume food. He can directly supply his body from a hidden stash. In theory, as long as he has a location in mind with food and water. How does he avoid needing to sleep though?" "This ability is more scary then imagined..."
After a few weeks. Anon felt that he was wasting his vacation. Anon''s perception of time was a bit different then a normal human. So him meditating in various positions. Although he only spent a few weeks doing it. It wasn''t considered much time. That was just a little test. "The next seal is deification. While I have nearly perfect control using my muscles full potential. I can hardly act like a martial artist..." Anon thought that his body was too weak. Originally, his timeless declaration had kept him from changing his body. But he no longer had the hourglass. He wanted to test his limits! There were indeed some gyms that taught martial arts in eagle country. But Anon didn''t plan to learn martial arts. He took out his phone and watched videos of people doing handstands, cartwheels, backflips. He saw three different routes he could take: Tumbling Contortion Aerial Arts Anon wanted to do it all! The connection between his soul and body was 99%. The only thing he lacked was actual practice and developed muscles. His current flexibility was quite bad. He had never exercised growing up. He hadn''t had much interest in it. He looked online and talked with a professional. Looking at his budget. They recommended that he look into getting an apprenticeship with aerialists who performed at carnivals and such. It had been a long time since Anon had designed the seals. He wanted to unlock them to their full potential. When he deified his body. It would become truly eternal. He didn''t like his current self. In combination with his true vision and extraordinary sense. He always felt he couldn''t move his body as fast as he could his mind. He struggled now to do a backflip. His body coordination was horrible! Unfortunately, there wasn''t really any aerialists in his town. Well, not any he could easily contact. He looked on various forums all day and night. He eventually met someone who''s username was ''MuscleGod''. They were part of a traveling carnival that went around the country. Sadly, they weren''t coming to his town. This ''MuscleGod'' wasn''t a aerialists at all. They were a body-builder that performed lifting feats as one of the shows. But apparently they were friends with a person from the team of aerialists that performed. The carnival was having a money problem the last few years. People would rather play games on their consoles then go out to a carnival nowadays. It was a dying business... ''MuscleGod'' said that they would likely be disbanding if they didn''t make enough within a few more years. It just wasn''t a profitable business anymore. Anon lamented at the fact that he was too poor to help. "Wait a second..." "My debut!" Anon started to laugh like a mad man. He then started to talk more thoroughly with MuscleGod. Anon planned on appearing as ''Axiom''. A mysterious magician. He had a storage space! This was an ultimate trick that nobody could unravel! While other magicians used sleight of hand and tricks to fool people. Anon could do the real thing! He had already revealed his abnormality to the government and nothing seemed to have happened! He could completely use this ability in front of others under the guise of ''magic''. A magician never reveals his secrets! He could then also receive training from the aerialists as co-workers! "It looks like I''ll be changing jobs!" Anon didn''t call his boss to quit. He was on vacation either way. Chapter 17: "Im actually not blind..." Anon easily found the traveling circus''s location. ''MuscleGod'' hadn''t been made aware of his real identity. Anon felt a layer of mystery surrounding a magician was appropriate. Anon booked tickets to the carnival and took a public bus. He still didn''t have a car. This was one way he saved money, despite selling cars. He felt they ate money up. He ended up needing to take several buses and a train to reach the town that was relatively remote. Anon looked into his storage space. What surprised him after waking up from destroying his hourglass. The inside of his storage space was different then how he remembered. He had lost his phone and various random items. It was as if someone else had re-arranged it. He still had three sets of his special clothing he had made. He didn''t even have his original mask. He instead had a rag made from the same material as his special clothing. Anon figured that such a blindfold was more convenient to wear. But there was a problem. He couldn''t see through the material! He had tried it on. But it made everything go black. But his ''true vision'' in combination with his ''extraordinary sense'' allowed him to create a perfect map of the world through sound and vibrations alone. Anon still avoided using his abilities in the daylight. He kept his phone in his pocket for example, despite being able to instead keep it in his storage space. He found some problems with his storage space. Time within it seemed to be frozen. This caused sync issues with his phone. So he instead just carried it like a regular person. But his special outfits and blindfold was kept in his storage space. He had also bought some props with him to show his ''magic''. He bought some BB guns. It was a little harder to acquire the real things. He also bought some colorful cloth and cards. He was pretending to be a magician after all! He kept all this stuff in his storage space. Soon he arrived at the carnival. He was still in his regular clothes... He attended the events just like a regular person. He saw a puppet show and there were kids all around. Despite it not being full. It was still quite lively. Popcorn. Cotton candy. Corn dogs. Churros. Funnel cake. The smell was quite pleasant.There were all sorts of games. But even using his skills, they seemed to be rigged! Anon relaxed and slowly walked towards the main event. It wouldn''t be starting for a few hours. But a few hours to him was essentially no time at all. The ringmaster was preparing and the performers were getting their acts together with some last minute preparations. Anon saw a body builder doing some poses. Soon the hours flew by and the show started. Anon saw a lot of weird things. Clowns doing tricks and fitting in a very small car. He saw MuscleGod lifting the car that held the absurd amount of clowns. Anon looked at everything with true vision and saw the underlying mechanisms. He was surprised by how much work went into all of this. There were even mechanisms built into the ground to transfer people. The audience wasn''t really vibing however. The kids were too young to truly appreciate what they were seeing and the adults were on their phones hardly paying attention to the feats at all. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Soon the aerialists were up. This was what Anon was most interested in. He figured the control rate with his body wouldn''t be unlocked through brute force. He needed to truly master his body through techniques and skills. Anon was captivated by the movements of these professionals. Even with his 99% control rate. He couldn''t perform those moves. This wasn''t simply a talent issue. It was blood, sweat, and tears that he hadn''t put in. These people had grinded their skills. Some from a very young age to get where they were. In the middle of the performance. Anon left and changed into his axiom clothing. He even put on the blindfold and then entered the audience once more. After around an hour. All the acts were complete and people started to leave to go eat food or play the various games available to try to win prizes. Anon walked up to the body builder who had been lifting the toy car with the clowns in it. "MuscleGod?" The man froze. He then slowly turned around. "How do you know that name?" "We have talked online. I was that random user." ''MuscleGod'' blushed and told him his name: "Don''t call me that. I''ve had the account for a long time. I was young when I chose that name. You can just call me Marcel!" Anon shook hands with Marcel and introduced himself. "You can just call me Axiom..." "I actually wish to join this traveling circus! I remember you were talking about money problems, right?" Marcel instantly became far more enthusiastic! "You want to invest!? How much? We are really cutting it close this yea-" Anon cut him off. "I''m sorry to disappoint. I am broke!" "..." "But I wish to join your act!" Marcel instantly started to think and then said: "Talk with the ringmaster. I am not HR..." Anon laughed. "I think you are mistaken about something. I am not looking for a job. I would like to volunteer!" "Is that even legal?" "Why not? In exchange. I want you to introduce me to some aerialists!" "Are you looking for a partner? While they are all quite flexible... they are all focused on their careers! This is a sinking ship. Plea-" "... I think you are misunderstanding me. I have no interest in the opposite sex." Anon wasn''t lying. He had experienced thousands of years. It would just be weird to get into a relationship. But Marcel misunderstood him. "Could it be... you want me!?" "...I have no interest in men either..." Marcel sighed in relief. He then sized up Anon. "You don''t look strong. What can you do?" Anon smiled. He took off his blindfold and opened his eyes. Marcel felt a pressure unlike anything he had ever felt before. It was as if some primordial being was in front of him. He felt like he was face to face with death! His heart roared as his adrenaline soared. "Y-You!? How did you do that?" Anon said: "Magic..." Marcel frowned. "That was too scary. We can''t have you scaring away our patrons..." Anon laughed. "That isn''t all I can do. Try this on." Marcel grabbed the blindfold and complemented the material. It felt nice in his hand. He then put it on. "How do you see wearing this!?" Anon shrugged. "That''s the thing. You don''t." Marcel took off the blindfold and handed it back to Anon. Anon put it back on. "Hit me." "Are you sure? You are blind and I can hit hard." "Try me." Anon had his back facing Marcel. Marcel through a punch aiming for his head. Anon swayed to the side and dodged it. "Lucky shot! Again!" Anon was blindfolded and not even facing the direction of the attack. Marcel stopped playing around and actually tried his best at attacking. But after a dozen attempts. Anon mysteriously dodged them all. "How?!" "The sound of the wind. The vibration of the ground. Your breathing and heartbeat. There is also your intent." Anon was making up nonsense. If it wasn''t for his extraordinary sense and true vision. He would truly be blind. But even without his eyes. The world was so detailed. Marcel''s eyes were wide open. "You are a legendary martial artist! Can I become your disciple?" Marcel thought that if he could dodge things with his eyes closed. He could brag to everyone! Anon was put into a good mood from the positive response. But he wasn''t done. "I haven''t shown you what I''m truly capable of." Anon held out his hand. "Pay attention!" Anon clapped his hands and a BB gun appeared in his hand. "Whaaaaa-!? How?" Anon coughed and said: "It''s all sleight of hand..." Anon handed Marcel the gun and walked a few meters away. "Shoot me." "...are you a fucking superhero!? Bullet proof?" "Just try it." Anon was about ten meters away. Marcel aimed and pulled the trigger. But Anon didn''t even move. The shot missed. "Don''t hold back. I won''t be injured." Marcel started to pull the trigger multiple times. Each time, Anon did some seemingly random movement and dodged them! "Dude. How?!" "Could it be... When you lost your sight. All your other senses became godlike!?" Anon had a weird look on his face... "I''m actually not blind..." "...You are trolling me right? Why wear a blindfold?" "It is a form of training." "You are a fucking cartoon character!" Marcel couldn''t help but comment this. Chapter 18: Animaxiom "...You are trolling me right? Why wear a blindfold?" "It is a form of training." "You are a fucking cartoon character!" Marcel couldn''t help but comment this. Anon simply smiled in response. He then asked about the aerialists. Marcel gave him a ''knowing'' look and told him about snake. This girl had been playing with the trapeze and doing poses in the air since she was nine. Her grandfather had her trained by the best professionals at a very young age. She was only 28. But she had been in this art for nearly 19 years. She was called ''snake'' due to her contortion skills. She not only excelled in contortion. She had mastered most of the tricks of an aerialists. "How long are you guys going to stay in this town?" Marcel stopped talking about ''snake''. He then frowned and told Anon they would be staying for 3 more months. Anon was quite surprised. He didn''t expect them to be around so long. Marcel pointed at the nets and complicated trapeze set-up. "This in combination with the mechanisms for the show are a pain in the ass to move. We only hit up around four towns a year. We used to do nearly twelve. But we can''t afford the construction fees anymore." Marcel leaned in and whispered in Anon''s ear. "I personally used to make 40$ an hour. Now I make minimum wage. If this wasn''t my calling... I would''ve quit long ago. Luckily, we are provided a place to live for free!" Marcel started talking about all the perks and benefits. He had covered dental, medical, and vision! Anon didn''t really care for this... but he was polite. "So... when can I meet ''snake''?" "Don''t let her hear you call her that. She hates that name." "So you introduced someone to me using a nickname they didn''t like. I think I''ll start calling you ''MuscleBrain''." "... That name is a bit fire." Marcel flexed his muscles and said: "Even my brain is at the peak!" "..." Anon was speechless. An old lady pinched Anon''s arms and muttered to herself. "What a waste." "Waste?" Anon was confused. "Your body is imbalanced. If you are truly interested in becoming an aerialists. I suggest you reconsider. Your body is full of imbalances. Your posture is poor and your muscles are weak." "This..." The old lady paused and then said: "This! This isn''t right!" She pinched his biceps and then squated down to the ground and poked his calfs. "Why is it so contradictory!?" The old lady pulled out a tablet with a keyboard and started typing away. "What is her deal?" Anon asked Marcel. "She used to be a legend decades ago. Her body is too old to perform now. But make no mistake. She knows what she is talking about! She has been doing this for over 40 years and is our on-site chiropractor." "She has even helped me fix some of my injuries..." Anon paused for a second. He then walked to the old lady and bowed. He held out his hand. "I am Axiom. A humble magician. Can you fix these ''imbalances''?" The old lady seemed to be pulled out of an illusion. She shouted and spit on Anon in excitement. "I didn''t think I would ever see it! You have CIPA, right?" "CIPA?"This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. "Congenital insensitivity to pain. I had theorized years ago..." "There is a limit to the human body''s conscious control. Humans can only use a fraction of the explosive power of their muscles. This is because the brain is trying to protect them." "CIPA isn''t a great thing to have. But in your case, it has given you an incredible gift along with its curse!" "You have nearly perfect control of your muscles! You seem to be an anomaly. Usually, someone with such weak muscles, this type of physique. They wouldn''t react to my test at all. But your muscles seemed to be hyperactive!" "Your voluntary control of your muscles is quite high!" "So I have potential?" "Yes! But you have wasted years... If only I had found you a couple decades ago. I could''ve made you a living legend. Axiom it was? I am Ayil. It is a pleasure to meet you! I have no doubts that CIPA has shaped your entire personality." Ayil grabbed Anon''s hands and felt his palms. She looked at his fingernails. "They appear normal. How interesting!" "I don''t actually have CIPA..." Ayil gasped and looked at Anon from every angle. She then grabbed Anon and dragged him into her office. There was a mat on the floor. "You want me to fix these imbalances right?" "Yes." "Take off your clothes..." Anon stripped down to his underwear and Ayil inspected his body. "Lay down." Ayil took out some acupuncture needles. "You are going to feel some tingling. Please relax your body." Anon did as he was told. Soon he was covered in needles while lying on his back. She took out the needles after a few minutes. She kept touching his wrist and chest. "Your breathing and heart rate and muscle reactions are abnormal. This type of reaction." "I have only seen it in skydivers and people who have trauma from near-death experiences. Your body is hiding hidden trauma." Anon was surprised. He didn''t know anything about this. "I have indeed come close to death before..." Ayil pulled Anon''s head and a popping sound was heard. She then flicked various points on his body. "I once studied in the dragon country. It was there I learned some traditional dragon medicine. Turn over." Anon rolled over and Ayil started to massage his back. She then punched at his spine. Anon felt a sense of danger from his extraordinary sense. He grabbed her hand from behind. His shoulder then popped out of place. She dislocated his arms. She clicked near his traps and started to punch across all around his body. "You-!?" "Relax. I am unlocking the hidden potential of your body!" "This style of medicine was only taught to the family members of royalty in the dragon country. I studied it for eight years in my time there." "The strikes to the spine can cause paralysis and unrecoverable injuries if done wrong. But if the person stimulates it properly. It can temporarily disrupt the blood brain barrier." "This isn''t a good thing. You seem to have sensed my malice from this strike." "How weird. I dislocated your limbs and hit the proper points along your meridians. You should''ve entered a state of sleep. Your body is just full of treasures, isn''t it?" Anon laughed. He couldn''t move at all. He was completely at the mercy of this person. He tried to move. But he found he was completely paralyzed. Anon spoke: "I don''t really sleep." Ayil was confused. "I see. Emotional instability. You don''t react normally." "In truth. I am not hostile to you. This process is incredibly painful and it is a relief to be put into a state of unconsciousness first. Do you want to continue?" Ayil was surprised by the abnormal reaction of Anon. He should''ve passed out. It was like somebody retaining consciousness despite the flow of blood being cut off to their brain. It was an impossibilitiy! "Sure." Ayil was surprised at Anon''s calmness. Ayil took out a golden acupuncture needle and pierced the kidney meridian. She then flicked the needle and did something to Anon''s neck. She took out three more needles in an instant. She then spoke: "The meridians are in pairs. Every single organ is important. But your body is out of balance..." "It seems that the yang meridians such as your stomach and intestines are inactive. This has thrown off the entire system." Anon spoke: "I don''t eat food..." "...What?" Anon chuckled and then said seriously: "I am actually thousands of years old..." "I once destroyed the creation of a collapsed universe. I-" Ayil rolled her eyes and ignored Anon''s ''nonsense''. "It would seem you have quite the sense of humour!" Anon was telling the truth! But she didn''t believe him at all. "The stomach and spleen..." "Hmm..." Ayil popped Anon''s limbs back into place. He was still paralyzed. She held his wrist and counted down: "3..." "2..." "1..." She pinched his wrist and Anon felt a hot sensation cover his entire body! As he felt this. Ayil arranged his body into the melting heart pose. "This is a secret technique called ''return to the dragon''. Legends say that it can stimulate Qi in the body and re-balance it." Anon asked: "Is Qi real?" "Ha! Everything has some basis in reality. But it isn''t as magical as you might think. I once saw a master leap a couple meters in the air using it. But that was a long time ago. If you want to find such ancient secrets. You should explore dragon country." The original pleasant stimulation increased in intensity. It felt as if Anon was on fire! He started to gasp. It wasn''t exactly the painful feeling that shocked him. It was like the pin and needles you feel when you try to walk on your leg after it has fallen asleep. It was incredibly uncomfortable! Anon then felt something abnormal. HUNGER! But... how? He leaped up from the ground and realized he was no longer paralyzed. But the hunger was increasing! His body was a perpetual motion machine! Why did he feel hunger!? "Your willpower is quite high. Normally, someone in this state will feel an impossibly strong hunger and will become overwhelmed with the feeling. They will turn into a fool that only knows to consume." Ayil took out a orb. "This is a special pill. It can relieve the hu-" "Not needed!" Anon could ''feel'' it now clearly! When he awoke after destroying his hourglass. He felt there was some new type of energy being generated not necessarily in his body. But it was connected to it somehow. Almost within soul where he couldn''t observe. But now he felt a energy circulating throughout his body! The hunger disappeared as if it was an illusion. "What is this?" A wave of information appeared in his mind. "Animaxiom!" "Anima? A ''soul relic''?" Chapter 19: Training "Animaxiom!" "Anima? A ''soul relic''?" Anon could faintly feel a relic. But it was a very weird feeling. He couldn''t see an object like he could with the hourglass. But it was like gaining control over another limb. Just like how the brain named itself. This new ''organ'' named itself too. Anima Manipulator Merely unlocking this relic didn''t simply unlock itself. Three relics were noticed in sync. Anima Reservoir Anima Generator Anima Manipulator Ayil''s hands were shaking. "It can''t be... I never thought I would see the day!" Anon was surprised himself. He didn''t know anything about these relics or where they came from. He had only created the ten seals. He naturally thought this phenomenon had to do with Ayil! She had somehow unlocked the hidden potential of his body. Anon asked: "Do you know what is happening to me?" "Yes! You have manifested external Qi!" "But how? A person that ''returns to dragon'' should at most stimulate their internal Qi..." Ayil looked at Anon with her eyes shining. "External Qi is the stuff of legends. I require skin to skin contact just to release an infinitesimal amount of it. It took me decades to gain a single strand of manipulatable Qi. I went through countless pain and suffering and never reached your level!" "You are a monster! It is as if your body has unlocked all the hidden potential within. I already considered your talent extraordinary. But this..." "This is supernatural power!" Ayil waited for Anon''s response. But he didn''t seem surprised at all. "You? Aren''t you excited!? This could allow you to become a cultivator! This is a profession of legend. It is complete fiction!" Anon smiled and spoke: "A cultivator eh? That could be interesting. But how do I do it?" Ayil sneered and frowned. "It is just fiction. How would I know?" "I''ll cancel all my apointments. I need to study this! If what you have is what I think it is. You can use the Qi to stimulate my meridians! I have long aged past my prime. Even with my skills and knowledge, age is wearing on me." "Your ability may be able to extend my lifespan if used correctly!" "But first. Let''s do some test." Ayil left for about ten minutes and then returned. She had a few boards and some bricks. She stacked the bricks next to one another and then put the wooden planks across them. "You know nothing about Qi control. We will start from the basics and improve the difficulty." "So I am going to need to break this?" Anon thought this would be quite easy. He could stimulate all the power of his muscles. As long as he didn''t hit it with his wrist or make a mistake. He would be fine. "Not exactly. I want you to break it without touching it!" Anon felt the energy circulating throughout his body. He walked towards the plank and focused on the ''feeling'' of animaxiom flowing through his body. He gathered some of the energy and covered his hands. "HA!" He slashed down and stopped a few centimeters away from the board. Nothing had happened...The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "..." Ayil observed carefully. "You have indeed coated your hand in Qi. But it is soft like cotton. Even if you smash cotton on wood with a lot of force. It will just disipate. You need to sharpen your control." "Follow me..." Anon followed Ayil for a few minutes. She took out her phone and called a cab. "Where are we going?" "There is a rumour that it is possible to unlock the ''seventh'' sense. I saw you dodging those pellets from that fake gun earlier. The fact that you aren''t blind from shielding your vision. Your other senses are indeed beyond the human limit." "We can use this! But I have a different method." Soon the cab arrived and Anon and Ayil got in. They drove for around 30 minutes. They soon arrived at a highschool. Anon wondered what her purpose was. Ayil and Anon walked to the office and she talked with the receptionist for awhile. "We have permission to use the gymnasium." Ayil took Anon to the gym. There were kids running laps and some playing basketball. The gym teacher noticed Ayil and Anon and walked towards them. "You are?" "We are this years safety committee attendants." Ayil pointed at Anon. "He is a potential olympian we are training to represent the country!" Anon was a little confused. The coach looked at Anon. "Why is he wearing a blindfold?" Ayil waved her hands and told him about Anon''s special training. "What!? He can see with that thing on!? Is he an anime character?" The coach reached out his hand and introduced himself: "I am Jack." "I am Axiom." Ayil looked around at the students. "If we may. Can we borrow the students here?" "Borrow?" "For an exercise. Axiom here is rather special. He..." Ayil leaned in and whispered something into Jack''s ear. "What!? Are you for real?" "I don''t play around with it comes to training. I am a past olympian as well and he is my student. I want him to show the world our countries greatness!" Jack blew a whistle and gathered all the students around him. "This is Axiom. He is a very skilled person. You guys are going to play dodgeball with him." A student asked to join his team. Ayil cut him off and said: "It will be him versus all of you." "What!?" "He also won''t be allowed to move!" It was Anon''s time to be surprised. A kid took out there phone and was talked about wanting to record this. Ayil spoke to Jack and told him this was ''secret training''. The coach confiscated the kids phone and told him he''d get it back at the end of the class. Another student came up to Anon and asked about his blindfold. "I am training my senses..." His answer shocked the students. One even laughed and said: "How will he even play if he can''t even move?" Ayil smiled. "Just watch..." Soon the coach went to storage and carried a sack containing a dozen balls. He handed one to half the students and came to the halfway point in the gym. Anon was standing by himself with his hands crossed. Anon asked Ayil: "What exactly am I doing here?" Ayil laughed. "I want you to redirect the balls from hitting you using your external Qi alone!" "I see..." Anon closed his eyes as he felt the energy circulating through his body. But right as the coach was about to start it. Ayil yelled. "Those balls are too soft!" "What?" "Mix them with baseballs. Every student should at the minimum have a ball of their choice." The coach returned to storage and came back with a tube of baseballs. Soon every student either had a soft ball or a baseball. "Begin!" Anon ignored his instinct to dodge and was hit in the head. "..." The students were speechless. They expected to see something amazing. But he was out in an instant! It made sense. How could he win if he couldn''t even move? Not to mention. He was blindfolded... Ayil yelled: "1-0. Again!" This time all the students threw their balls at once. Anon was hit in the balls himself. He kept trying to cover his body in animaxiom. He was slightly embarrased that he lost so easily. One student collected all the balls and handed them out. "2-0. Again!" "3-0. Again!" "4-0. Again!" "5-0. Again!" "6-0. Again!" The students were starting to get bored. But then something that defied all logic happened. They saw a baseball about to hit Anon in the head where his eye was. But it swayed and curved around him! Unfortunately, the next ball got him out. "Did you see that?! How did he do it?" The student that threw the ball shrugged and said he might''ve thrown a curveball. "7-0. Again!" "8-0. Again!" "9-0. Again!" Then something impossible happened! All the students threw all the balls at once. But they eached stopped about 7 centimeters away from Anon! Some curved and missed him. Some were still floating in front of him as if he had some sort of invisible shield surrounding him. Ayil nodded her head. "9-1. Again!" "9-2. Again!" "9-3. Again!" Anon had ''true vision'' which helped his comprehension. He quickly started to master his ''anima manipulator''. While his control wasn''t strong enough to stop a bullet. Stopping the attack of a teen throwing a ball at him wasn''t so hard. Unfortunately. It was time for the students next class. One pulled on Anon''s arm. "Will you be here tommorow?" Ayil shook her head. She had pulled a trick at the reception desk. The nonsense about him being a potential olympian was just a fabrication she had made. If they overstayed their welcome. They could probably get into some trouble. Soon the next class arrived. But Anon and Ayil had already left. "How far can you extend the Qi outside your body?" "Maybe about 20 centimeters?" They took a cab back to the carnival. Ayil took him into the office and had him attempt to cut the board in half without touching it. She then demonstrated her doing it with a light touch. Anon saw the underlying mechanism from his true vision. He could see the strand of Qi impact the board at a critical point. But she still needed to touch it to achieve this effect. She wanted Anon to do the same thing. But extend it beyond his body without touching it at all! She took a piece of paper and put it about 10 centimeters away from Anon''s face. "Try to cut this paper without moving..." So began Anon''s training. Chapter 20: Mastery "Try to cut this paper without moving..." So began Anon''s training. He focused on the energy circulating in his body and couldn''t help but wonder. Where did this energy come from? He didn''t eat food. While he did have ''concentration''. He could clearly feel that the two weren''t connected. This made him think that the ''hidden potential'' was awakened from a combination of him gaining the potential of the timekeeper and it being bound to his body. This was then awakened by Ayil! This was his current thoughts. He stood in place with his blindfold on and his eyes closed. He covered his skin in a layer of animaxiom. He slowly extended it from his body. It felt like having controllable hairs. He could feel the energy touching the paper. He tried his best to cut the paper. But it was simply pushed. An hour passed and Ayil had stopped holding it in place. Anon was able to keep the paper floating through sheer manipulation alone. But he wasn''t close at all to cutting it without moving. Eight hours passed and Anon wasn''t making much progress. He was a bit surprised. His true vision boosted his comprehension. But his manipulator seemed to be an entirely separate thing. It was much harder to master. Ayil told him to take a break and walk with her. She soon went to a tent where Clytia the ''snake'' was sleeping. Anon was introduced to snake and found that she was a bit introverted. She hardly spoke at all. "I need to make a training program for you. She will help you develop your muscles." Anon nodded and Snake took them to the ring where there were nets and mats around. She asked him to show her what he could do. Anon didn''t bother to show his ''magic''. He climbed a rope ladder and jumped around in the air. It looked a bit awkward. There was no majesty of a professional. Thanks to his 99% control rate. Despite his muscles being quite weak. He was able to use their full potential and support his weight on the ropes. "Have you really done no training?" Snake was slightly surprised by his performance. It was indeed unskilled and didn''t look great. But the fact that he was still able to support himself without a foundation in the arts. It showed that he could have some latent talent. Snake taught Anon carefully for two hours and then told him they would continue tomorrow. Anon was given his own tent, but he didn''t need to sleep. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He spent a few hours familiarizing himself with ''forward rolling'' and ''backward rolling''. He fist squatted. Extended his legs. Crunched them. Lay on his back. Back to his feet. Repeat. He did this for twelve hours. At first it wasn''t smooth. But after doing it hundreds of times. He looked like a pro. Unlike with his anima system. True vision itself seemed to help him. Soon Snake found him. She demonstrated ''bridging''. She also showed him how to do a handstand. Anon was capable of doing the latter but not the former. "Keep your fingers spread out!" "Tighten your abs!" "Straighten your legs..." Snake taught Anon everything she knew. At first she was careful. It would take months for someone to slowly ease themselves into these feats of flexibility and strength. But she noticed that Anon didn''t seem to get injured as easily as others. He wasn''t inherently flexible. But he learned things after only seeing them once. She felt there was some sort of disconnect between his mind and body. She wanted to help him resolve this disconnect. A few months went by... Anon''s vacation was over. But he didn''t plan on going back to be a salesman. He much preferred his lifestyle at the circus. His physique had completely transformed. The amount of progress had shocked both Ayil and Snake. His physique was nearly perfect. He could easily support his entire body by balancing on one hand. He effortlessly did back-flips and somersaults. He could even balance himself on a rope and walk with steady steps. He could use his legs to support himself alone above the nets! Anon had indeed trained himself alone in the past for weeks to increase the control rate of his body. But that was without the help of a professional. He noticed the difference between having a teacher and self-learning right away. He had made incredible progress. In the past, he had felt that his body couldn''t keep up with his thoughts and that his body was weak. But now he felt strength all throughout his body! During these months he had finally managed to cut a piece of paper without touching it! He had even managed to break the wooden plank as well. All without even coming into contact with them. He could extend animaxiom about a meter from his body now. He had even tried to use it to make himself fly. But there simply wasn''t enough leverage. It was a feat that required more precise control. Anon also had his own act now where he did some ''magic tricks''. Some of these had him dodging getting hit by a bats. He also showed off his acrobatics. Anon felt the bottleneck of his control rate. The difference between 99% and 100%. He felt as if there was just a thin layer over it. With the slightest gust of wind. He could break it! Unfortunately, the carnival was closing down. They were about to go to another town. Ayil asked if Anon wanted to come with them. Anon unfortunately declined. "It is time to unlock my axiom state!" Anon had traveled to one of the most populated cities in the eagle country. He snuck past security and climbed the stairs for quite awhile to reach the top. This was one of the tallest buildings in the world. Anon looked down at the ground. Everything appeared so small. "I either die a mediocre waste. Or I ascend to the pinnacle..." Anon jumped. Chapter 21: Time Loop "I either die a mediocre waste. Or I ascend to the pinnacle..." Anon jumped. Anon had long since met the conditions of what he called the ''protagonist halo''. If destroying the very artifact that maintained his consciousness didn''t wipe him out. What else could? He was curious. Just how far could he ''push'' this seemingly broken ''plot armor'' he felt he had acquired. Anon thought about it clearly. Ever since he returned from his domain. He had stepped into a different world. A world that noone else could see. But he felt he had forgotten something crucial. He thought about Ayil and how she awakened his hidden potential. They say that if you smell shit everywhere you go. You should check your shoes. Anon felt that his life experience itself was abnormal. It was as if he was the main character! While he knew where his seals came from. He couldn''t explain how he even survived the destruction of Sovereign''s Timekeeper. He had chalked it up to his body absorbing the potential of a alternate universe. But was that really what happened? How did he even connect to an alternate self in the first place? What faciliated this? He thought all about this as he fell. "I can feel it! My ax-" SPLAT!!!! Anon was turned into a bloody paste. He didn''t break the barrier of the control rate of his body. Instead, like an idiot, he jumped to his death. He fell for less then 12 seconds. He lost consciousness completely. He died...
"Axiom state!?" Anon shouted randomly and found himself on a bus. Others gave him a weird look, but he ignored them. He was heading towards his destination. One of the tallest buildings in the world. He planned to risk it all! He planned to breakthrough... "Wait a second..." Anon noticed something wrong right away. His animaxiom! His ''anima reservoir'' was completely empty! He had but a fraction of anima circulating through his body that wasn''t stored in it. He slowly felt the energy regenerating. "I died?" "But how am I still alive?" Anon got off the bus and looked at the building he planned to ''risk it all''. "I feel as though I''ve done this before..." Anon remembered the feeling of falling and then an abrupt ending. A nothingness. Oblivion. But it was as if he traveled through time back to before he even snuck into the building. Anon wasn''t a complete idiot. He recognized the only anomaly was his ''anima reservoir''. Anon had discovered three soul relics. Anima Reservoir Anima Generator Anima Manipulator The animaxiom was stored in his ''reservoir''. It didn''t have a physical location. It was stored in the soul! But he had learned from Ayil''s meddling. He had learned how to inject this energy into his body by using the ''control'' of a soul relic. His ''anima manipulator''. He noticed rigtht away that the small amount he had injected outside of his soul hadn''t been affected. But the real storage of it. His soul... It was completely drained! Anon looked up at the sky. "I can control time!" He laughed in madness as people avoided him. Anon then abruptly stopped and thought clearly. "It burns through my animaxiom..." "It seems to be triggered on death..." "Well... There is only one thing to do!" Now that Anon knew about his ability. He wanted to master it. He stood idle on the streets like a homeless person as he waited for his animaxiom to refill. Once it was full. He snuck past security and reached the top of the building. "I either die a mediocre waste. Or I ascend to the pinnacle..." He even said the same statement as a form of ceremony! This made him feel a little nostalgic. He remembered when he tricked his hourglass into mentally attacking him by pretending to not be aware of the time loop he was in. Anon then jumped. As he fell towards the ground. He smiled and shouted.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "I WILL NEVER DI-" He splattered into a bloody paste. Anon died.
"DIE!!!!!" Anon found himself standing on a sidewalk. Everyone was looking at him weirdly. He coughed and ignored the weird stares. Anon wasn''t wearing a blindfold at the moment. He had stored that in his storage space. He instead had some sunglasses on to avoid scaring people. "It seems I was right! I can go back in time upon death. But it isn''t unlimited. It seems to require my animaxiom!" Anon couldn''t help but praise Ayil! Without her help. He probably wouldn''t know about his soul relics for years... "But the question is..." "How far can I go back?" "If I increase the capacity of my reservoir... can I go even further back?" Anon decided to do various test. "I was at 100% capacity. I am now at 0%." Anon checked his phone. "I went back exactly 24 hours..." "But it takes me about 96 hours to go from 0% to 100%..." It was slightly more then 10 units of animaxiom an hour. His current capacity was 1,000. "Is there a way to increase the rate I regenerate animaxiom?" Anon realized that the animaxiom circulating his body seemed to be unaffected. "It seems only my soul goes back in time. It isn''t a physical time travel. This means that if I store the energy in my body beforehand. I can retain it. But there are limits to this." Anon simply lacked strong control of his ''manipulator'' to abuse this properly. "Is there any way to control the mechanism?" "Looks like I will need to die again..." Two days later... Anon was standing on the top of the building. He smiled and said: "I either die a mediocre waste. Or I ascend to the pinnacle..." Anon jumped! SPLAT! Anon died.
"Phew. That was risky!" Anon hadn''t waited until 100% capacity. He had tried it at 50%! He checked his phone. "12 hours..." Anon was at 0% again. He waited two hours and was at 2%. "If the math is consistent. Then when I die this time. I should go back roughly 28 minutes..." "I either die a mediocre waste. Or I ascend to the pinnacle..." Anon jumped. SPLAT!
Anon regained consciousness. He was standing on top of the building. "Alright. I''m starting to get used to this." Anon had an intrusive thought. What would happen if he jumped with 0%? A true death? He fought back the urge to test this. But he really wanted to! He checked his phone. "Hmm... this is wrong. I only went back 20 minutes..." Anon walked to the edge. He looked down at the busy street. He waited an hour. 1% "I either die a mediocre waste. Or I ascend to the pinnacle..." He jumped! As he fell. He focused on the ''feeling'' of his manipulator. He tried to trace back where this weird power came from. Right before he crashed into the ground. "Found it!" SPLAT!!! Anon died.
Anon regained consciousness on top of the building. "I went back 5 minutes this time. It should''ve been 14 minutes... It seems to become less consistent the less energy I have. But I should do more test." At the border of life and death. Although it took some attempts. Anon discovered another soul relic! Anima Leap Anon was like a child on their birthday. He felt as if he had been gifted a truly interesting gift. He tried to ''rewind'' without dying. But his overall control simply wasn''t there. Anon decided to ''thoroughly'' test himself. He spent a year living homeless in this city. While this was a year to everyone else. It was actually not so for Anon. He had died over a hundred times. Sometimes he waited until he reached full capacity. Sometimes he tried it when low on energy. Eventually. He made a breakthrough! "I either die a mediocre waste. Or I ascend to the pinnacle..." Anon jumped! Right as he hit the ground and was splattered into a bloody paste. Time froze! Anon felt the pain extend into infinity. He had abused the control of ''anima leap'' and discovered yet another soul relic! Anima Ward If Axiom was watching Anon''s growth. ''It'' might''ve even been shocked! Anima Ward was designed to prevent certain scenarios. Basically, it had a single main function. A defense mechanism over the soul! This prevented other existences from hijacking or taking over Anon''s indestructible soul. Because Axiom had designed his soul to be completely broken and overpowered. He didn''t want to make a wedding dress for others. Being his avatar. To be worthy. You had to meet certain requirements and only Anon was crazy enough to truly use his soul relics in an unexpected way. Anon through a use of his ''anima manipulator'', ''anima leap'' and ''anima ward''. Managed to attach his consciousness to a strand of animaxiom that was in his physical body. He essentially then pushed his ''leap'' into a stasis. This allowed him to freeze time on death! This wasn''t even a part of the power Axiom had planned for him. Anon wasn''t playing by the rules. So... what was the point of freezing time on death? It was incredible! He could ''think'' in frozen time. If before, when he died. He was automatically using his anima leap to go back in time. Now he could ''savor'' the feeling of death. Anon spent decades in frozen time. The entire time. He felt all the pain of his body in its frozen state. He couldn''t move his body and the universe had come to a grinding halt. But this ''power'' made Anon drunk. The feeling of infinite time. He felt he would soon become the most powerful being in reality. But something unfortunate happened! The frozen time shattered! "Ahhhhhh!" Anon yelled in pain as his body started to reconstruct itself. It wasn''t that the pain was too much. He was sad that his infinity plan wasn''t going to work. There were people who saw him falling from the building. They saw him die and become a bloody paste. But they then saw something impossible! Just like how he reversed time and went back in time on death. Time seemed to reverse for his physical body. His injuries healed and he stood there in tattered clothes. A crowd of people had stopped to watch the ''show''. But nobody had been recording at the time. Except for the government that had been secretly keeping an eye on Anon''s every move! Anon whispered to himself: "I see... I wasn''t paying attention to my reservoir. To maintain my consciousness in frozen time. It isn''t free or infinite either!" "But what the hell was that? Not only can I go back in time on death. I can ressurect!? This is bullshit!" Anon yelled to the heavens at the unfairness of life. He didn''t think anything would actually happen from abusing his powers. But now he showed a MAJOR supernatural feat on one of the busiest streets in the world. His secret identity! His debut! It was in shambles... Unless... "I need to go back!" Anon then realized. His energy was completely empty. Not just the stuff in his soul. "It used up the energy I had stored in my body!?" "I see... going back in time requires the soul. When I froze time. I spent years observing my state. My energy slowly bottomed out. Then I couldn''t sustain the frozen time. So time resumed. But I then died." "I died at 0%! What I just did was quite careless..." "But another soul relic was activated and sucked in the accumulated energy I had stored in my body. Reviving me..." The most embarassing thing was that despite spending years experiencing the moment of his death. He still hadn''t unlocked his axiom state! Anon used his tattered shirt to cover his face. He didn''t need to see anyway. He then ran away from the crowd of people gathered around him. "What the hell is animaxiom? Where did my soul relics come from?" "Why is it so hard for me to die?" "What the hell am I?!" Chapter 22: Parents "Why is it so hard for me to die?" "What the hell am I?!" Anon felt this was all completely ridiculous! He had lived for thousands of years. But his cognition was getting broken by the feats he pulled off. Firstly. He had his own mysterious energy with unknown origins that came from his soul itself. Second. He could even inject his body with this energy directly from his soul! Third. He could freeze time for the universe and maybe even all of reality upon death. He could leap back through time or use his energy to ressurect. While there were limits to the soul relics. These limits mainly had to do with consumption. This wasn''t even all of his cards: Seal 9: Concentration Seal 8: True Vision Seal 7: Extraordinary Sense Seal 6: Deification Seal 5: Divine Sense Seal 4: Materializer Seal 3: Virus Seal 2: False/True Seal 1: System Integration Seal 0: Administrator He had designed a seal system for his soul and had already unlocked the first three seals. ''Concentration'', ''True Vision'', and ''Extraordinary Sense''. Concentration allowed him to recover in both body, spirit, and soul. It didn''t seem to affect the rate he recovered animaxiom from what he could tell. True Vision boosted his comprehension and allowed him to see things from a different perspective. Extraordinary Sense allowed him sense danger. In combination with his true vision. He could react to the environment while blinded and be completely unaffected. He even felt that cutting off his sight helped his focus! He then had the soul relics he had discovered: Anima Reservoir Anima Generator Anima Manipulator Anima Ward Anima Leap Anima Revive By combining the abilities of the relics ''anima ward'', ''anima leap'' and ''anima manipulator''. He could attach his consciousness to anima and think in frozen time. He could do this for years although it drained his animaxiom. He had learned the hard way that his ''anima revive'' could use the animaxiom circulating throughout his body. Anon felt his only real weakness was the small capacity of animaxiom in his soul... If only there were some way to increase it! Although Anon found his abilities completely ridiculous. He was secretly filled with ectasy! For others, immortality may bring a pressure and a fate quite horrible. Who wants to be around when the sun dies? Who wants to watch their loved ones grow old as they remain the same? But Anon was different. Ever since he was trapped in his ''domain''. He knew that he was on a clock. While he didn''t have to worry about his physical body in that space. His consciousness wasn''t everlasting. It was growing old over the centuries. It was becoming stagnant and dull. That is why he made the timeless declaration in the first place. Anon was wandering the streets in escape from the scene of him reviving in front of a crowd of people. HIs face was covered in his tattered shirt and his body was visible for all to see. He used his parkour skills to scale a old fire escape to an apartment building and eventually got to an isolated place. Anon breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself: "I still haven''t unlocked my axiom state..." "But now..." Anon was finally ready to build a true foundation! What did this mean? It meant he was going to become filthy rich! He knew just how to abuse his abilities. Being a magician at a circus? Anon had his fun. But he planned on winning the lottery directly. Anon left the city he had spent over a year dying repeatedly in. He went back to his hometown. Thanks to him not needing to sleep or eat. He didn''t even worry about finding a place to stay. He became homeless again for a few weeks. During this time. He paid attention to the winners of certain lotteries. He then found one with five million jackpot if you got five out of seven numbers. If you got all seven numbers. It was a fifty million jackpot! "14-18-19-20-20-7-7" Anon memorized these winning numbers. He then raised his hand and placed it on his throat. He directly tore out his entire throat and started to choke as blood sprayed. Anon could use animaxiom to kill himself in less painful ways. But his brain was a bit weird in how he handled things. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He returned 24 hours to the past. His animaxiom was completely drained! He went to a gas station and filled out a form and bought a ticket with the winning numbers. Anon''s old phone had been destroyed when he jumped to his death. He had bought a new one. History remained unchanged. Anon got all seven numbers! "I''m rich!" Anon took a few buses to the town where the lottery headquarters was located. If it was a small sum. You would be able to claim things online. But Anon had won fifty million! He had to show up in person. Soon he showed up. His clothes were in tatters and his hair was a mess. His body had a bad smell. Anon looked nothing like the handsome young man he used to be. He was covered in dirt from the elements. Due to ''concentration''. He never had to rest or recuperate. His perspective on time was also disturbed. When he was spending time at the traveling circus. Ayil made sure he was organized and clean. Anon had spent the last year dying repeatedly. He didn''t care about his appearance at all. He didn''t need to eat or worry about what others thought about him. It wasn''t that he was lazy. He was forgetting what it meant to be human. He was living like a animal. But even an animal needed certain things to survive. There was a disconnect happening to Anon. Time for him just passed so quickly. The ceremony that most mortals did became burdens and annoyances to him. Thanks to the problem of his dull spirituality vanishing. He had nothing to stimulate him anymore. If before, he wanted to become everlasting to take advantage of the changes he had made in his domain. He wanted to bring supernatural power to this world and become the system over time. But now... He didn''t know what he wanted to do. He needed to do things one step at a time. He was essentially immortal as long as he didn''t make stupid decisions. But boy was Anon good at making horrible decisions. But if he didn''t have such a ''gambling'' spirit. He never would''ve became what he became. He was itching at the thought of a true death. It wasn''t that he wanted to die. But as a entity that had lived for thousands of years. He did yearn for the ''feeling''. This is why he loved to savor the frozen time of his death for so many years. Basically. Anon was batshit insane. His thoughts were in no way rational. It wasn''t some form of madness from seeing supernatural beings. It was a madness cultivated from a lack of consequence. Things just always seemed to work out for him. It was like the universe was focused on him and him alone. He wanted to test this. Imagine if one day you find that you are immortal. You experience car crashes, explosions, suffocation, electrocution and get stabbed. You die in many different ways. You lived for centuries. You then find a man that comes up to you. He then tells you: "I can kill you." Despite it being death... aren''t you curious? Maybe a rational person would be cautious. But Anon wasn''t rational at all. He would bet on it even if he knew it was a guarantee! But at the same time. Anon didn''t want to die. He just wanted to understand... Why was he so special? Why did he gain the enlightenment meant for an alternate version of himself? Why was he trapped in isolation for thousands of years? Why was he left alone with nothing but his thoughts and the memories of countless soul fragments? Anon felt that he was hiding some big secret. But it was something he couldn''t grasp. There was a reason for Anon''s personality. It wasn''t entirely due to him just being insane. He had gone through cycles of sane thought and delusion alone by himself. This wasn''t madness that originated from him. You must remember. Anon consumed a fraction of a universes souls. He had consumed billions of soul fragments during the thousands of years he was in his domain. All these personalities and memories subconsciously made his goals contradictory! This is why he often contradicted himself and reacted as he did. Anon arrived at the lottery headquarters. He walked up to the front desk and showed his ticket. "We need your original social security card. We also need to see your license or a valid form of I.D." Anon frowned. "Fuck." Anon channeled animaxiom through his body and caused it to go haywire. He then blew up. He appeared back in his hometown. He had learned how to gage his animaxiom. He could precisely control the amount on death to use. So he could almost select how far to go back in time. But with his capacity. He was still limited. Anon did have parents. But they were a bit ''estranged''. When Anon was a child. His parents were very religious and thought that he was the spawn of satan. Anon had always been an abnormal child. When he was born. The sky went black. He had various problems because he refused to cry. The first time he made eye contact with his mother. She felt as if she was gazing into an abyss. But this wasn''t a positive thing at all. He was simply too brilliant! You might think the ''ancient'' temperament came from him being trapped for thousands of years in his domain. But in reality. He wasn''t normal at all! While his abilities seemed average and he was no different from a normal human... In the timelines where he applied himself. He became a world changing inventor and gazed into the other side becoming insane. He was the creator of the ''singularity'' and the cause of the collapse of a universe. From Anon''s perspective. Everyone always treated him as if he was hiding a big secret. Anon felt as if the whole world was in on a joke. But he couldn''t get it. He never allowed himself to get close to others. Because he couldn''t relate to others. His parents didn''t raise him. He raised himself. This led to him living a mediocre life. He wasn''t simply lazy. He just felt all things that could be accomplished with effort were too boring! He could train all his life to be a professional athlete. But he would barely be performing outside human limits. It was simply a waste! But everything changed... A dark energy explosion went off. Anon glimpsed through his connection something he shouldn''t have. Something. A imprint followed the connection through his entangled soul. He became trapped in some sort of void. He spent a long time in this state. But he felt the aging of his spirit. He learned from his timekeeper how to construct his own artifact. He learned how to trace the connection with his body and ''revive''. He returned to the land of the living. Everything changed the moment he destroyed his heavenly treasure. That was the true start of his legend. But now Anon needed to do something he wasn''t looking forward to. His parents had kept all his official documents such as his social security card and various other items. If he wanted to claim the lottery. He would need to talk with them. He didn''t even know if they were still alive. His relationship with them had long deteriorated. Chapter 23: Power Anon was not looking forward to contacting his birth parents. Despite their estrangment. Anon at the very least knew the retirement home his mother stayed at. He went there but found something abnormal. "There is no record of such a person in our system." That wasn''t all. Anon was caught by surprise at this development. He then tried to contact other family members. But it was all the same. Everyone had mysteriously disappeared! He then went to a department of the government to acquire a new I.D to claim his winnings. He figured he could probably get a new social security card there as well. But they told him something similar. "There are no records of a ''Anon Amos'' in our system." Anon left the building more confused. He checked his bank accounts and found that they were still working. But for some reason, all traces of himself had seemingly vanished. Anon''s identity had completely vanished! "We didn''t know you were one of ''his'' men!" Anon remembered when he was arrested. The man had said this and let him go. Their attitude went through a complete shift. Anon walked towards the police station and talked about what he had experienced. The person handling matters wasn''t really sure how to respond. But they then recieved a call. Anon was escorted to a room with a screen mounted on the wall. A camera and microphone right below. He could see a video of himself on the bottom right corner of the screen. The screen was loading. But then a man appeared. "Hello Anon..." "It is nice to finally meet you." Anon spoke: "Who are you?" "Who I am isn''t important. You can just call me the ''commander''. I have been watching you for a very long time. I have a lot of questions. I am sure you have answers." "Why should I answer your questions? Who do you think you are?" "Cut the act. I know you know we''ve been monitoring you. I gave you the initiative. Now you have taken it. So you clearly have something you want."The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "I know you a monstrous genius. A man who is inscrutable. Your actions have sent shockwaves of surprise to all that have handled your case." Anon had no idea what this guy was talking about. All his feats had been documented by the government and the ''commander''. They saw him stand in place for over a year outside in both summer and winter. They saw him leap off a building to his death only for him to resurrect! They saw him not eat or drink the entire time! They saw that he never sleeped! The Commander saw him react as if he had the seventh sense! The Commander had initially given Anon ''immunity''. But after seeing a video of him resurrecting. He continued a plan they had long started to implement. The Commander wanted ''control'' of Anon. He knew too well that everyone has a weakness. So he had long detained most of Anon''s family. He thought that Anon had gone through a ''awakening''. Unlocking a ''spatial'' ability. This could explain most of everything. Why doesn''t he eat? He directly teleports food into his digestive system from a hidden stash. Why doesn''t he use the bathroom? He directly teleports the waste to a hidden location. Why doesn''t he sleep? He directly manipulate and replicates the sleeping process by displacing the chemicals in his brain. Why can he resurrect? He displaces the matter back to the appropriate locations. Why does he have a form of telekinesis? He stretches infinity by teleporting things at a incredibly small scale. Everything could be explained by Anon mastering a ''spatial'' ability. The Commander had seen Anon make a taser disappear without even coming into contact with it. This is what made him sure of his hypothesis! He also had secret agents in the crowd back when Anon was performing at the circus. His feats and skill were further documented. Now the ''commander'' planned on testing Anon''s ability. "I wish to test the extent of your teleportation." "Everyone related to you. Everyone you love and care about. They have all been trapped in different escape rooms across the world." "These rooms are completely sealed off from the rest of the world. They are powered by artificial intelligence and an internal life support system. They have been trapped for over three months now." "The life support system of each node can support them for up to three years." A prompt appeared on the screen. A lot of coordinates flashed by. Anon memorized these with his ''true vision''. "What you just saw was the location coordinates for each family member. The clock is ticking. I am interested in seeing directly your ability!" Anon laughed. "Everyone I love and care about? It has been thousands of years since I''ve met any of them. I came to you not because of this. But to discuss my lost identity!" The Commander''s eye twitched. "As expected of you. You are quite amazing." "It seems I was wrong about your abilities extent. You probably have a spatial awareness that lets you see the area where you will teleport. This makes sense..." "So you were able to see where it truly would take you!" Anon was speechless. But he went with the flow: "Such tricks to me are trivial..." The Commander had calculated the coordinates for the bottom of the ocean. He was testing Anon''s awareness. But it seemed Anon had seen through his deception! "But mixed among those traps are some real locations of the sealed escape rooms... You should be able to see the real versus the fake. You can still save your family!" "I''m good." "... What?" "I said. I''m good." The Commander had put so much effort into this test. But Anon refused to play along at all! He felt as if he had wasted his time. He did get some interesting information in interrogation from Anon''s parents and family. But he wanted more. Anon stood up and was about to leave. But The Commander asked a question. "Tell me... how did you gain such power?" Anon smiled. "Do you really want to know?" Chapter 24: Secret Forum Anon smiled. "Do you really want to know?" The Commander paused for a second. They tried to find the secret meaning in his question. Of course they wanted to know! "Yes." The Commander spoke. Anon rubbed his fingers. "Money. Resources. Manpower. My answer isn''t free." The Commander instantly felt confident. His fear was that he wouldn''t have anything Anon needed. Now that he found out he had such basic desires. It would be easy to meet his requirements! The Commander was the secret ''master'' of this country after all! He could print money if so desired. He perked up his ears and listened carefully. Anon then asked: "How high is your authority?" The Commander sneered. "There is nobody above me..." Anon started to grin. "Infinite." Anon said. "Infinite?" The Commander had no idea what he was talking about. "I want infinite money!" "...That isn''t possible!" "Why not? You can make my identity disappear. Making a bank account without limit should be no problem, right?" "Is that all you want?" "I also want my own country." "You!?" The Commander thought he was getting messed with. "I''m not done yet. I want the best lab that the government can provide." Anon remembered the merged memories from his time in the domain. He had consumed a lot of foreign soul fragments. The memories were fuzzy. But his alternate self was a world renowned inventor. He was a scientist that created the ''singularity''. The Commander''s face was twitching. But he agreed. "Fine! I will meet all your-" "Did I say I was done yet?" "I want access to all research results and experiments done. But in private and public." "I also want a information network of the highest level."Stolen novel; please report. "..." The Commander felt this guy was a bit ''greedy''. "If you wish to learn about the white room experiment. I am sorry. But all data regarding that has been destroyed!" Anon had no idea about a ''white room experiment''. "Hmm... okay." "Is that all?" The Commander immediately regretted asking this question. "It is not. I want my identity restored." "That won''t be a problem." "But your roots in the system have been erased. We will have to make a fake backstory." The Commander waved his hands and the holograms around him started to shift. Within five minutes. Anon had a new identity! "Alright. It is done!" Anon was in quite a good mood. He got an alert on his phone. He looked at his balance and found that it had the infinity symbol. "Good stuff!" "Now. I have honored my end of-" "I want your position!" The Commander laughed. "It is my skill and wit that made me the ''commander''. You can''t grasp my position even if I wanted to give it to you!" Anon continued to rattle off conditions for a few hours. "ALRIGHT! All your conditions have been met. Now it is-" "What about my country?" The Commander sighed and held his hand to his face. "Which third world country do you want?" Anon laughed. "I''m just fucking with you." The animaxiom in his body started to go haywire. To The Commander''s surprise. Anon went through a transformation as his eyes became bloodshot. His body started to bloat and then he exploded as if he had eaten a grenade. Blood was splattered everywhere. "..."
Time froze as Anon enjoyed the feeling of death. He then used ''anima leap'' to send his soul back in time! He only went back 10 hours. So he had over half of his animaxiom left. He checked his bank accounts and found that they were still working. But for some reason, all traces of himself had seemingly vanished. Anon''s identity had completely vanished! "We didn''t know you were one of ''his'' men!" Anon remembered when he was arrested- Anon''s thoughts were interrupted! He remembered his conversation with ''The Commander''. "Let''s give him a surprise!" Anon walked to the police station and said: "I am here to speak with the ''commander''." The person didn''t know he was talking about. But within a few minutes. A person rushed up to Anon and bowed! "Right this way sir!" Soon Anon was put into a room just like before. "Hello Anon..." "It is nice to finally meet you." Anon smiled and said: "Hello ''commander''." The Commander''s face remained expressionless. "I-" Anon interrupted him. "You wish to know about the origin of my powers right?" "Yes. But I have your fa-" "You have put my family in escape rooms across the world. You want to test out my teleportation ability... right?" "Yo-" "I''m not interested in your games. You gave me the initiative." "As expected. You are just as I imagined! An inscrutable man that can see through the meaning behind my actions... a monstrous genius. A..." Anon listened to the ''commander'' praise him for a few minutes. He surprisingly didn''t interrupt his praise. Anon had a weird personality. "I know. I know. Some of the coordinates are traps..." "You wanted to send me to the bottom of the ocean." Anon then became serious. "I will give you everything you want. The secret behind my powers and how I gained them! In return I want you but to answer one question." "What is the question?" "What is your phone number?" "Phone number?" The Commander was confused. Why did he ask this? "I don''t use a normal phone strictly. But there is a number that connects to the server at this base..." "Just give me a way to contact you..." The Commander showed Anon how to access a secret forum. "What is this?" "Part of my information network." This ''forum'' required a encrypted key to browse. Anon easily remembered the 80 digit key and then said: "Alright. That is all I wanted." "I am actually a ancient consciousness that has lived for thousands of years. My power origins are partially known and created by me!" "If you want to get them. You''ll need a lot of luck!" Anon kept his side of the deal. But he knew anything he said would soon be forgotten. He planned on restarting either way. The animaxiom in his body went haywire as he exploded. This time he was completely drained of his animaxiom. Chapter 25: Deification The Commander had many means of gathering information. He had prepared various countermeasures because he had been betrayed in the past. One of those measures was a special hidden website on the dark web. Anyone could go to this website with the proper address. There was even a user system. Most of the team assigned to organizing information in The Commander''s information network were required to submit all the data to this website. But the way it worked for them wasn''t like a forum. They could submit threads, but they couldn''t read them. This led to asymmetry in regards to information. The Commander thought that information was power after all! And now... Anon had acquired the 80 digit ''key'' needed to browse this forum! He also knew the address. But The Commander had no idea he had given Anon a piece of his information network. He didn''t remember this at all. Because it never happened as Anon went back in time. Anon browsed the forum for a few minutes and got to see information all around the world. "Gateways have opened up in panda and dragon country?" This was Anon''s first time learning about these gateways. But he soon saw something that made him excited. "Death by organ failure and old age?" Anon started to laugh like a madman. He had read the reports of sending people into the gateways. They all died and their bodies aged at an insane rate. But was Anon afraid of death? Was he afraid of aging? He was timeless! "I don''t have a passport. So going to dragon country isn''t possible." "Unless I unlock my axiom state and fly there!" "I have died countless times and trained my body to the human limit. I have mastered acrobatics and the aerialists profession. But for some reason..." "I just can''t cross that barrier..." Anon still needed to resolve the problem of his missing identity. "The Commander can give me infinite money and vast resources. He can also restore my identity and give me a passport!" Anon shook his head. He didn''t want to really contact them again. His animaxiom was empty and he needed to recover it. It wouldn''t be hard to meet his requirements either way. But he decided to do something else. "If gateways opened up there. They will likely open up all around the world. The thing I lack least is time. I can just wait until they appear nearby." "The main issue I have is a lack of money and identity..." Anon went to a restaurant for the first time in a long time. He went to the public bathroom and looked in the mirror. His clothing was in tatters and his hair was a mess. He hadn''t showered in over a year. Dirt covered his skin and he was quite dirty. Anon remembered when he was homeless in the past. He definitely looked the part right now. He stood on a corner of a busy street with a cardboard sign. He asked for money. Some people offered food directly. But Anon wasn''t too interested. Anon had one advantage that others in this ''profession'' didn''t. He never needed rest! He never needed to sleep! He never needed to eat! He spent a few weeks in a row gathering money. He could store it in his storage space. He made around a thousand dollars over the course of three weeks. He walked to a mall and bought some new clothes and a couple pairs of shoes and socks. He went to a local superstore and bought hygiene products like soap, deodorant and such. He bought new sunglasses. He then went to a gym and bought a membership.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. He took a shower for an entire hour. He felt like a new person when he walked out of it. He then put on a fresh pair of clothes. He threw away his old clothes. He wore his sunglasses and walked out of the gym. He went to a barber and got a haircut. "It is almost time..." Anon had changed his mind on ''waiting''. He had a more crazy idea. Anon planned on running to dragon country! While a normal human can''t run for long periods of time in a full sprint. So they average running maybe 10 kilometers an hour. Anon was different. He could infuse his muscles with animaxiom to enhance his body. He also had ''concentration'' which was boosted since he unlocked the first three seals. The main issue with this plan was that they were on different continents! He would need to cross the ocean to reach his destination! Anon decided to go all out. He first created a technique using what Ayil had trained him to do. He figured out how to cover his entire body in animaxiom. This meant even his clothes wouldn''t get dirty from the elements. "I have to perfectly balance my consumption of animaxiom!" Anon went to a local lake. "Walking on water can''t be that hard right?" Animaxiom covered the soles of his shoes as he ran across the lake. Anon started to mentally take notes. Anon frowned. While he succeeded on his first try. It used too much animaxiom. He burned through all of his reserves in a few minutes. "This isn''t good..." A week went by. Anon was doing backflips and somersaults. Every time his hand or feet touched the water. He redistributed the animaxiom circulating through his body to that area. He was doing all of this on top of water! "I think I''ve improved the efficiency enough." Anon could stand on water at the mere cost of 1% an hour. He recovered at a rate that was just barely enough to sustain himself. But there was a major problem. Once you factor in enhancing his muscles and covering his entire body. The consumption became a bit insane. "Luckily, I can store animaxiom in my body versus the soul..." Anon went into the wilderness and found a cave so he wouldn''t be exposed to the elements. He stripped naked and put his clothes in his storage space. He then entered a state of meditation as he started to inject his body with animaxiom. 1% 2% 3%... 100%! After a hundred hours. His body had enough animaxiom that it matched his soul. In the past, Anon definitely wouldn''t have been able to do this. But his control had improved over time. 100% 101% 103%... 200%! After another hundred hours... His body now contained double then what his soul contained. 87,600 hours later... 87800%! Anon then felt an intense pain all over his body! His muscles started to squirm as if there were maggots underneath his skin. He started to feel cramps all over his body. The pores on his skin seemed to open as a black tar like substance was expelled from his body. His organs started to do the reverse of cell division. They started to merge together. His skin started to crack and blood started to flow from these cracks. But this blood started to turn golden as a light halo appeared over Anon''s body. Anon''s body had originally been human. But now his entire body was going through ''deification''. He was unlocking the fourth seal! The cell membranes merged together. His body almost completely became a single entity! His organs had fused together. The brain was even enhanced. The heart pulsed with the vitality of a god! There was enough energy stored in his body to go back in time 878 days! Unfortunately, it did take a decade to gather this much energy. Things also didn''t work out so well. He could inject his body with animaxiom from his soul. But using his anima leap required animaxiom in his soul. Not his body. It wasn''t that it was impossible to do. He just hadn''t mastered this aspect yet. The process was like breaking an egg. It is easy to break one. But harder to put it back into its original state! The stimulation of having so much animaxiom in his body allowed him to break through his fourth seal. His body was no longer human at all despite its appearance. A golden glow cleansed his body faster and better then any shower or bath ever could. His physique had become perfect. Anon had been naked the entire time. He took out his clothes from his storage space and put them on. He put on his sunglasses and left the cave. Before spending this decade in isolation. Anon already was capable of sustaining walking on water. The problem was shielding his body and enhancing his muscles at the same time. A capacity of 100% was simply not enough. While his capacity of 1,000 points hadn''t improved over the decade. The amount he had stored in his body had reached the absolute limit. Eight hundred and Seventy Eight times his normal capacity! 87800%... 878,000 points! His body had almost exploded from the energy against his will. If he didn''t go through ''deification''. He would''ve died from storing so much energy! Anon left the cave and covered his entire body in animaxiom. He loved the feeling of having so much power. His leg muscles were enhanced with the energy and he started to run. 150 kilometers an hour! Within two hours. He had reached the beach. "I''ll probably get lost if I run directly on the ocean. There are no landmarks..." "Luckily, my phone has GPS..." "But it has long died..." Anon bought a new phone as his was quite outdated. He also checked out the forum to see if any gateways had opened up nearby. But unfortunately they hadn''t. But the culture had shifted in the dragon country. The emergence of so called ''immortals''. Anon bought some portable battery chargers and stored them in his storage space. He then started to run on water. Chapter 26: Dragon Country Anon then started to run on water. He went full sprint as he held his phone in front of his face using his animaxiom to hold it in place and protect it from the wind and water. 150 kilometers an hour! That was his speed. Anon ran for an entire 80 hours before reaching dragon country. He had reinforced his body the entire time. This massively drained his animaxiom reserves stored in his body. He had enhanced his body and pushed it to the limit. In combination with ''deification'' making his body no longer human and ''concentration''. He was like a perpetual motion machine. Unfortunately, the decade of energy reserves he had saved up was partially used up. Originally, before training. He could burn through 100% or 1,000 points in a few minutes. After practicing for some time. He could sustain his expenditure. But that was without him factoring in protecting his phone and performing precise actions in the middle of running. He had to charge his phone a few times throughout the process. He never stopped however. With covering his entire body and more in animaxiom. He was burning about 100 points every minute! That was roughly 6000 points an hour... He had accumulated 878,000 points in his isolation. It had dropped by 479,875 points! His current soul capacity was only 1000 points... His body had a physical location and was able to store many times this amount thanks to his deification. But now his animaxiom in his body had dropped to 398,125 points. He had lost more then half within 80 hours! This was a decade of ''cultivation'' lost in a few days! Anon didn''t care though. The animaxiom stored in his body was only useful for reviving his body after death. It wasn''t as flexible as the stuff stored in his soul. Anon arrived at a fishing port in dragon country. As he saw it in the distance. He finally stopped and stood on the water. He reached his hand out and a blindfold appeared in it. His sunglasses disappeared. He wrapped his eyes with the blindfold. He then took off his clothes and they vanished into his storage space. He took out his axiom outfit and put it on. He then walked towards a small fishing boat and leaped onto the deck. "!?" An old man shouted at him in the dragon language. Anon frowned. He was used to the language of the eagle country. Anon then got an excellent idea! His body bloated as he exploded from the balance of animaxiom in his body entering disarray. But he didn''t allow himself to ''anima leap''. Time froze. "With my small capacity. I can only maintain this frozen time for a few years." "1 year should be enough..." Anon focused on his sea of consciousness. Ever since he had destroyed his hourglass. It had been completely empty! He started to use ''true vision''. His comprehension to dig deep into his consciousness. "Found it!" Anon found the fragments of memories. Anon''s consciousness wasn''t consistent. He had consumed many soul fragments in his years in his domain. Those memories were obfuscated. Anon had only understood a small portion of this information due to the language barriers. This was the same for alien races and advanced technology. But there are always those who have put in the work. For example, the souls of those who spoke both the main language of the eagle and dragon country.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Anon soon found fragments from professional translators. He spent an entire year in frozen time deciphering this language. Soon he could completely understand the dragon language! The frozen time shattered and Anon perfectly used a sliver of animaxiom in his soul to stimulate ''anima leap''. He went back to right before he jumped on the boat. He redid this action! "What the fuck!?" Anon smiled. He understood them perfectly. There was a problem however. There were many different versions of the dragon language. During the year in frozen time. Anon used his overpowered comprehension to study the soul fragments from multiple translators. "Hello! I am Axiom!" The old man looked at his bottle. "I''ve been drinking too much..." He poured the rest of his wine into the ocean. "What a shame..." He sighed and felt he was simply too drunk. "Goddamn. Anime character!!!" The old man shattered the glass. Stood up and walked into his room. He lived on his boat. Anon stood there a bit speechless. Anon sat down in a meditative posture to recover his animaxiom in his body. But it was a slow process. Only a little over 1% could be recovered an hour. About 10-11 points. He soon stopped injecting his body with animaxiom however. Because his soul had lost around 7% from his year spent in frozen time. He needed to recover this first. 10 hours later... The old man walked out from his room and looked at Anon. He rubbed his eyes. "Fuck! A goddamn weeaboo..." The old man looked at Anon''s clothes with disdain. He then acted as if he wasn''t there and went back to work. Anon''s phone was behaving weirdly. His GPS wasn''t working at all and it had no signal. He had to improvise and find a guide. He picked this old fisherman. The fisherman ignored him and took out some nets. He started to hum a song as he started to fish. An entire day passed as the old man didn''t catch a single thing. Anon watched all of this emotionlessly. Soon the old man turned the boat around and headed back to the port. Anon tapped the old man on the shoulder and asked various questions about the situation in the country. He couldn''t access the secret forum without a signal. "You aren''t worthy of knowing my great name..." "..." Anon seemed to have run into a weird character. Anon snapped his fingers and the boat froze in place despite the wind! The old man''s pupils constricted. "Hmph! Simple tricks!" The old man waved his hands and Anon felt a resistance form around the boat. But the energy was weaker then animaxiom. It was like throwing a egg at a stone. Only the egg would shatter. The old man became even more shocked. "You!? Who is your teacher?" "Ayil-" "Ayil!? She is still alive? Interesting. Has she started cultivating?" The old man took out a gourd of wine and took a sip. He then handed it to Anon. "I don''t drink." "Tch!" "Cultivating?" Anon was curious. Anon had access to the secret forum. But he had spent a decade in seclusion. He was ignorant of the world. You could say he saw top level information. But the common sense of the world was lost on him. Things that were obvious obviously weren''t reported to the forum. "You don''t even know such common knowledge? The gateways have appeared all over the country. They leak the energy of heaven and earth. Cultivators use this energy to refine the spirit. Those who have this talent are cultivators..." "What was your name again?" "Axiom." "Axiom huh? You!" The old man started to pinch Anon''s muscles. "Your body... you aren''t human, are you?" He circled all around Anon. Anon laughed. He pointed his hands up towards the sky. "I stand above all races! A human? Maybe. Maybe not." The old man cracked his shoulders. "It is fated that we''ve met!" "Ayil has profound attainments in the arts of royalty. But she is quite old. Without coming back to dragon country where the aura of heaven and earth has revived. She has likely turned to dust due to time..." Anon spoke: "I used external energy with her guidance. Her lifespan has been extended!" "That''s great... You must be a genius! Your Qi has a different flavor then those young masters. It is almost as if it isn''t Qi at all, but some other type of energy..." Anon then asked something crucial. "Aren''t the gateways deathtraps? Has anyone come out of them alive?" The old man''s expression froze: "You want to go in there!? You... You...You... are worthy!" "My name is Wanmei Tian." Anon smiled. "I need a guide! Take me to the nearest gateway!" "I warn you. Those gateways sap the lifeforce out of anyone who enters. You will age at an insane rate. The country has done many test and even sent in cultivation masters in the last few years." "Not a single person has returned alive!" Anon laughed: "It''s just death. A small issue!" The old man slapped his own thigh. "It''s good to be young! How old are you?" Anon took out his phone and checked the date: April 1st, 2078 "I''m 42." "...Are you serious?" The old man thought Anon was lying. He looked half this age. "Well... mentally. I''m a couple thousands years old!" Anon then frowned. "Well... if you trapped someone in a prison for thousands of years..." "You are older then I thought..." "Well I guess cultivators of this new era will look young!" "I''m no cultivator..." Anon then slapped his head. "I guess if you count frozen time. I''m probably around 60 or 70? My identity is nonexistent. So my birthdate doesn''t really matter..." "Frozen time...?" "If it makes it easier. Just think of me as being a few millennia old. That is far more accurate!" The old man started to mutter to himself. "Damn anime characters..." Chapter 27: Trapped The old man started to mutter to himself. "Damn anime characters..." "..." After awhile... they arrived at the port. Tian walked with his hands behind his back. He leapt off his ship and Anon followed suit. "Despite your suicidal goal. It isn''t trivial to find a gateway. Luckily, you met me!" "But I warn you. These ''gateways'' aren''t permanent." "It is likely to be a one way trip. Are you prepared?" Anon spoke: "I have no attachments to this world..." Anon looked into his storage space and thought it might be a good idea to prepare supplies. But he didn''t feel like getting a job for a few years to collect resources. If he did indeed enter a new world from this. He would just work there for resources. That made more sense to him! Anon then asked how exactly Tian planned on finding a gateway... "Oh, that?" "It is an ancient method of divining the heavens!" Tian took out his phone and pulled up an app. "There is one sighted about 100 kilometers away from our location..." "...This is your method?" "The times have changed!" Tian coughed and showed Anon the location. "This area is pretty rural. You''ll probably have to go on foot." Anon shrugged. He took out his phone and still found that he didn''t have any signal! "How do you have a signal here?" Tian laughed. "Ancient secrets! Ancient secrets!" "... Ok." Anon grabbed Tian by the neck as if he was a child. He supported their entire body with animaxiom. He then started to run in the correct direction as he focused on their phone. The old man was shocked stupid! Why was he being handled like a small animal? You can''t just grab the elderly by the neck and how was he even maintaining his running form while doing this? It looked ridiculous! After about 45 minutes of running. Anon arrived at the gateway. "You... don''t plan on taking me with you. Right?" Anon dropped Tian and walked towards the gateway! The old man shook his head. It looked like Anon wasn''t joking at all! Anon entered the gateway...
Anon knew that walking into the gateway might be deadly. He was unsure how his ''timeless'' body would react to having his life force siphoned off. Even without his ''timelessness''. He had already unlocked his fourth seal ''deification''. His body wasn''t even composed of cells anymore. It was like the body of a demigod. Most of his organs had merged together. Besides the brain, his blood, and heart. He was nothing like a human at all.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. His blood had even become golden! Thanks to ''deification''. Anon didn''t even have lungs anymore. Or what humans would consider lungs. He could breathe in the void! His eyes could see without light! It was a completely unscientific body! As Anon stepped into the gateway. He soon felt something weird. His ''concentration'' was going into hyperdrive! "I see..." "It not only ages those quicker. But the inside saps away stamina and energy..." Anon smiled. "If I wasn''t ''me''. No one would even be able to survive in this environment for long." Anon couldn''t tell how fast he was aging. But his body was quickly becoming decades older every few minutes. But unfortunately, or fortunately. He looked exactly the same! Even when his body had aged centuries. It was completely timeless! He continued to walk endlessly into the aurora of colors. But after 20 hours of walking. He stopped. "There have been no changes in the environment this entire time. If I stay here for a few more hours. Even going back in time won''t be able to allow me to escape." "Do I stop here?" Anon thought about the worst case scenario. "Fuck it! If I get trapped for a few years..." "I''ll be fine!" Anon would soon come to regret this decision. He walked nonstop for a few months. A few years... Decades... There was eventually a change in the environment. The vibrant colors had long vanished. He was just standing in a black void. The ground below his feet had disappeared and was a thin layer of liquid. He had actually fallen through this liquid. But even his deified body was unable to maintain itself. It was much stronger and weirder then acid. Luckily, he had long learned how to sustain walking on water. He didn''t bother shielding his body. 397,999 points. That was the amount of energy he had stored in his body beforehand. Anon had long passed the point of return. Even if he used ''anima leap''. He would still be trapped. And so the years continued to go on... Thanks to recovering animaxiom at the rate he was using it. The reserves in his body stayed at the same level. Anon had been conscious for thousands of years in his domain. A few decades in this space isolated from everything couldn''t shake him. He was actually enjoying this process. But then something unexpected happened. The area he reached in the gateway collapsed! Anon went back in time a few minutes and tried to walk in a different direction. DEATH! He tried another way... DEATH! All paths forward led to death. "You really want to push me?" Anon laughed. He then covered his entire body in animaxiom! He charged forward through the collapse in space. His entire body was torn one second and then he used ''anima revive'' in the next second. Completely recovering! He died dozens of times in the span of a few seconds. The delicate balance of animaxiom he had sustained was thrown out of whack. His reserves in his body were being tapped into. 396125 395999 395777 395665... Anon continued to charge forward. He felt the pressure on his body only increase the further he got. He had already died a few times in his test. His animaxiom in his soul was only at 70% and was not recovering! It was a real ''do'' or ''die'' situation... A few hours of constantly dying was experienced. But he saw a light in the distance finally! It was as if he was swimming in tar. His every step was painful and slow. He was no longer running. He was crawling forward. His entire body reinforced with an insane amount of animaxiom. 96,545 points! He leapt out of the exit right as the gateway closed. "Phew!" Anon felt a little dizzy. That had required quite a bit of effort. But things weren''t good! His body had been tampered with by spatial fluctuations for too long. Everything seemed normal and he found himself in wilderness. But as he walked towards a tree to relax for awhile. He walked right through it! "I haven''t escaped the gateway..." "My physical body has entered a sort of superposition state!" Anon was in ecstasy! "My axiom state!" Anon hadn''t unlocked his axiom state. But he felt incomparably close to it from existing in this state. A few days went by and he couldn''t figure how to enter this world. He was like a ghost. Trapped on the other side. Anon found that he could phase through the ground and all matter. He couldn''t interact with anything. He was like a phantom. He floated in the sky and tried to escape this phantom state.
A silver aura started to cover Anon''s body. Cracks started to appear all around his environment. Then it was like glass shattering as his hair turned white for a few milliseconds. His eyes had turned white. His blindfold vanished... But this state only lasted for a instant. Anima Transmit Anon tapped into a power quite incredible deep within. He directly crossed the barrier over reality and entered this new world. He started to fall from the sky and landed on the ground. "I''m finally free!" Anon laughed like a madman. Chapter 28: Seer Bliss Kendrick was a woman born during strife and unbalance in the world. She grew up in a time where having enough to eat was a rarity. It was as if she lived in a seperate world from the nobles. Her parents were poor and were mere essentially slaves to the vassals of the land. But this world was not a typical medieval world. There were creatures all throughout. These were entities born from the void. But that didn''t mean they were limited to the void. Most of them could reproduce in sickening ways. Goblins, kobolds, ents, There were classifications to these demonic beast. You had ''plant'' types. These were things like carniphillas, spitters, living vines and such. You had ''demihuman'' types. These were things like trolls, ogres, elves, and lizardman. You had ''astral'' types. These were things like elementals, devils, demons, and such. You had ''undead'' types. These were things like ghouls, mummies, zombies, ghost, and skeletons. You had ''fey'' types. These were things like pookas, pixies, nymphs, faun, and such. You had ''construct'' types. These were things like golems, crystal spiders, pillars. You had ''dragon'' types. These were things like wyverns, hydras, and dragons. You had ''aquatic'' types. Things like sea serpents, giant lantern fish, and such. You had ''monster'' types. Things like minotaurs, werewolves, slimes, and such. You had ''legend'' types. Things like doppelgangers, sphinxes, liches, and other mysterious creatures. But make no mistake. These creatures varied massively in terms of threat and scale. For example a ancient slime could prove to be stronger then a newborn lich. If you took a plant type that had consumed enough magical resources. It could overpower legends. There were different levels assigned to specific creatures. From ''S'' level to ''F'' level. Legend types were typically the result of forbidden experiments. A human seeking to become immortal might transform themselves into a lich for example. There were many magical means in this world that allowed humans to become these creatures. But these techniques and schools of thought were forbidden by the king! Bliss lived on a continent called ''Ignis''. It was completely sealed off from the rest of the world. There were however islands surrounding this continent. Each one having a volcanoe occupying it. But these volcanoes were active and often dangerous to get near. The reason the continent was sealed off from the rest of the world was due to a legendary archmage a hundred years ago. Back in ancient times. The void opened up a connection with this world allowing the once normal world to become filled with fantastical creatures. But despite this overturning the lives of the people. People had also studied and awakened power from the void. People that could tap into this power were called ''potentia born''. This had happened thousands of years ago. These people then divided this power into classes based on the characteristics that they had mastered. Before you can understand the classes. You must first understand the ''potentia born'' and the pioneers of an era. Just like how humans could become creatures of evil. They could also become ''gods''. The potentia born of ancient times came to form a ''council'' of gods.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. They established the class system through the power of faith. There were twelve main ''gods''. Merlin Eadda - The Goddess of Magic Graeme Natura - The Goddess of Nature Posy Cantare - The Goddess of Song Edrea Foedus - The Goddess of Pacts Lona Vita - The Goddess of Life Cynebald Artis - The God of Crafting Wulfsige Pugna - The God of War Hale Deus - The God of the Holy Spirit Wystan Mort - The God of Death Wulfsige Ventus - God of the Elements Solis Apo - God of the Day Nox Luna - Goddess of the Night The original names of the gods had been lost to time. But you would find in the collections of books of nobility. Those educated often knew of the first names of the gods. But the gods of time, space, and other powerful concepts seemingly were vacant. Or completely lost to time with little believers. There was a reason they were called ''gods''. It had to do with ''potentia stone''. During the awakening process of unlocking your powers. You would get judged by all of the gods and assigned a class. This was an important moment in ones life. But only royalty and nobility carried out these rituals. Vassals and farmers or slaves never would even get the chance to see this special stone. Let alone use it! There were a few main classes and many hidden classes. If you used the potentia stone to awaken. You would only be able to awaken a class from the judgement of the gods. If you however managed to awaken on your own. The sky was the limit! You could unlock a rare or a completely unique class! This is what had happened to Bliss Kendrick. She had awakened the class of a ''seer''. The main classes were: Wizard (Merlin) Druid (Graeme) Bard (Posy) Warlock (Edrea) Cleric (Lona) Artificer (Cynebald) Fighter (Wulfsige) Paladin (Hale) Necromancer (Wystan) Sorcerer (Wulfsige) There were also many hidden classes that were usually completely unique. These could be awakened from more obscure gods. But how did these people become gods in the first place? It had to do with the potentia stones. You had to be ''destined''. All of these people had legendary deaths. That''s right! They were all dead. Having a legendary death was but one requirement to become a ''god''. The other requirement was faith. But many didn''t know this at all. Each ''god'' was a living legend in their time alive. Back in ancient times. There were no classes. There was potentia stone. But nobody knew its function. It was essentially just a pretty rock. But thousands of years later. It was worth more in its weight then gold! The thing that made it precious was that it couldn''t be used to infinitely awaken people. A stone the size of a pebble could only be used a few dozen times. So not everyone with royal blood in their veins was given a chance. The truly powerful however looked down on these stones. Because it was a guarantee to get a specific class. Those powerful strong man often called it the ''waste stone''. This was because if you awakened by yourself. You could get a class that broke all logic. Or you could get a completely useless class. It was a gamble. But awakening yourself was the sign of a genius. The king and his family NEVER used the stone. It was forbidden. It was often the abilities that the princes awakened that would determine who the throne was passed on to. The gods had all awakened by themselves. If you wanted to reach the peak. You were essentially throwing away your potential by using this method. Despite what you might think. There were no ''levels'' to these classes. There were however ''grades''. The more abilities you unlocked related to your class. The higher your grade. Bliss Kendrick had unlocked the ''seer'' class. With it, she had unlocked ''precognition'', ''prediction'', and ''fortune telling''. This meant she was merely a ''grade 3'' seer. But this was an extreme rarity! She went from being poor and at the bottom of society to being in the prime of her life. But how do you know someones class if they awakened by themselves? The potentia stone had a secondary function. If you used it on someone who awakened by themselves. It obviously couldn''t re-awaken them. So it instead would tell you and the person operating the stone the name of your class. The classes were permanent and ''soul'' bound. Bliss Kendrick was currently 65 years old. She started to cough up blood as her eyes turned red. Her guard soon called in the best cleric money could buy! She was healed. But she was rocking back and forth. She kept muttering a single word. Her mind seemingly broken. "Axiom..." Chapter 29: Gravediggers "I''m finally free!" Anon laughed like a madman. What did Anon decide to do with his freedom? He first decided to learn about the ''feeling'' he had when he broke past the superposition state in the void. "It seems to be another soul relic..." Anon looked deep within himself. He felt a feeling similar to his storage space. But it was on a completely different scale. It was as if he could teleport! Anon soon tried to use this power. But within an instant. All of the animaxiom stored in his soul was gone! It was already mostly used up from breaking past the barrier. "I know nothing about this world. Whether that be language, culture, or if there are even other people in this world." "The first thing I need to do is-" Anon noticed something in an instant! "My animaxiom! It is recovering at a faster speed..." Before it recovered at a rate of 1% an hour. Now it was recovering at twice that speed! Anon had planned to meditate in isolation to inject more animaxiom into his body to be prepared against all threats. "This time. I''ll construct a base to live in..." Anon originally chose a cave in his last ''session'' of accumulating animaxiom in his body. This time, since he was in wilderness and didn''t even know the existence of other entities. He planned on building himself a house. His control over his ''anima manipulator'' was far stronger then the past. He looked at the trees all around. Not to mention, he could even cut through stone using his energy! Despite his animaxiom recovering twice as fast. His capacity hadn''t increased at all. Anon walked through the wilderness for a few days. He eventually found a mountain with a great view. He then used his energy to cut down trees into logs. It was almost as if he had telekinesis. His storage space was still one cubic meter. So he couldn''t store much in it. He couldn''t control animaxiom too far from his body. So he had to still do some of the heavy lifting. But Anon''s body was a bit bizarre and strong ever since going through ''deification''. If he hadn''t been trained by Ayil and learned acrobatics. Perhaps his body would''ve been stuck in a mediocre state. But now his body had an impossibly perfect physique. No worse then a martial artist from legends. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Anon dug up the foundation of his house. He created bricks by cutting stone into cubes. He soon constructed himself a home that didn''t actually look that bad. It wasn''t very amazing. It also wasn''t too big. It consisted of a single meditation room and that was it. The main function it had and the reason he made it in the first place was just so he wouldn''t be bothered by the elements as he meditated. His meditating sessions would last for years. It was annoying to go through the cycles of the seasons. Anon then had a rather weird idea. His thinking was a bit abnormal after all. "I''ll bury myself alive!" Anon had long confirmed that he didn''t need to even breathe after going through deification. In combination with not needing to eat or sleep. Why not bury himself alive? Not only would he be hidden. But he could ignore the outside world completely. Soon Anon had carved a tombstone. ''Here lies a legend...'' He had put the tombstone in the yard of his home. Anon laughed at himself and then got in the coffin he had made. He then used animaxiom to collapse the ground burying him alive. "Not to spacious..." Anon then began the process of injecting animaxiom into his body. With double the recovery speed. It was a much faster process. Within a hundred hours. He had gained 2,000 points! Within a decade... He had surpassed his previous limits! He noticed something weird. The capacity of his body seemed to have increased! The maximum was originally 878,000 points. Now it had stopped at exactly a million points! Maybe this was due to him reviving so much? Anon didn''t leave his coffin however. He kept trying to break his limits! After 25 more years of trying to increase his limits and still remaining at a million points. Anon didn''t take the initiative to leave. But he could hear a noise. Someone was digging! Anon''s senses were extraordinary and he could even faintly here them talking. "htaed ni hcir si ''dnegel'' siht yllufepoH!" "...daed eht morf bor ot aedi dab a si tI" "!ybab a eb t''noD" Anon''s eyes were still covered with his blindfold. After a few more minutes. His coffin was opened up. "!devreserp yltcefrep si esproc ehT !lleh eht tahW" The person reached for Anon''s blindfold. Anon grabbed their hand. "For ten thousand years... I lay dormant!" Anon stood up from the coffin and muttered a few words. "Thank you!" The person tried to break away from Anon''s grasp. He couldn''t understand a single word Anon said! "!og em teL" The man screamed. Anon''s eyes twitched. "So there are real people in this world. A couple of grave diggers eh?" The person then shouted: "!dnecseD ssenkraD" Anon was then surprised. He lost all his senses. He couldn''t see or hear or feel anything. It felt even more incredible then being in the phantom zone of the gateway. "How interesting!" Anon unfortunately had ''true vision'' and ''extraordinary sense''. Even when blinded and unable to see the world. He wasn''t truly blind. But the surprise had made him release the mans arm. They tried to run away. But Anon was simply too fast. He appeared behind the man that had blinded him and slapped him on the neck. He had learned this move from Ayil. He perfectly injected animaxiom at just the right areas to paralyze them temporarily. The other man saw this and ran even faster. But Anon could run at 150 kilometers an hour. There was no escaping him! Soon both of them were paralyzed on the ground. Their eyes reflected their horror. "How do I learn the language?" Anon had used a few tricks to learn the dragon language. But this was a completely different beast. It was an entirely new world! He looked deep within his consciousness for consumed soul fragments. His senses soon returned to him. "It seems that effect isn''t permanent. Good." "If only I had a way to read minds..." "Wait!" "The fifth seal! ''Divine Sense'' allows one to project their consciousness outside of their body. If I can unlock it. I can read their minds and learn the language of this world!" But Anon had spent over 35 years in this world and hardly accomplished anything at all in that time. A majority was spent buried underground! "I guess. I''ll have to get them to teach me!" "But how do I go about this?" Anon then thought about his ''anima ward''. Chapter 30: Human Translator Anon then thought about his ''anima ward''. "I don''t know much about the mystery surrounding these soul relics..." "But I am still able to control my animaxiom." "What if I try to scan the brain using animaxiom directly?" Anon walked towards the collapsed person that had blinded him earlier. He then put his hand on the back of their head as he covered their entire body in animaxiom. He then surrounded their brain in animaxiom! "Come on! Work!" Anon could see within his mind a brain. But it was like trying to read someone''s mind based on the state of their brain. He could ''feel'' the neurons and the firing of the synapses. But the information collected was completely useless! It was like trying to understand a computer without a interface with only having access to the one and off state. It was impossible for the current Anon! "Failure..." Anon gasped. When had he ever failed before? He was thoroughly shocked... The person he had attempted to scan was foaming at the mouth. They were completely damaged mentally. Anon allowed the animaxiom in his body to go haywire as he exploded. He then went back in time before destroying their brain. He wanted to try a few other methods. "The main problem I have is a lack of of being able to interact with soul..." Anon tried to use anima ward externally. But there was no response. "Who designed these soul relics! I clearly am lacking a..." "Wait..." "My ''true vision''!" Anon had thought that he would need to unlock his fifth seal ''divine sense''. But he remembered his comprehension was completely boosted from his true vision. "Making sense of the neurons..." "Even with ''true vision''. It is a bit too complex..." "But what if I stimulate their brains with animaxiom?" Anon had a plan. He would target the visual and language centers of the brain. He would also target his brain at the same time. This theoretically could work! Basically, he would think about concepts and monitor the changes in his brain using animaxiom. He would at the same time trigger these same areas of the brain for the two paralyzed people. Anon arranged the paralyzed grave robbers in a meditative posture. They sat in a triangle, holding hands. A aura of energy started to cover all three of them. In the center of this ''triangle'' was a layered dust mechanism. Anon had used animaxiom to arrange a database using dirt. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It was like a layered crystal and could hold a ton of information! Anon then focused on a word: "Tree." Soon the paralyzed grave robbers subconsciously said the word ''tree''. "It works!" While Anon couldn''t directly look into their minds. By stimulating all three brains in the same area and saying a word, then injecting their minds with a image and concept related to that word. He could get an ''ouput'' from his ''input''. He had essentially created a human translator! But he lacked a written system from this method. Anon started to systematically go through all the words he knew. But he found that the language they spoke wasn''t very complicated and they didn''t have words for certain concepts. After spending a few hours and going through thousands of words. Anon could roughly understand them! But he wasn''t satisfied. A few days passed and they had died! Anon had been learning nonstop by comparing his experiences with theirs. But Anon had forgotten that humans need rest, sleep, water, and food. The endless stimulation killed them! "Deoxyribonucleic..." There was no response. "Deoxyribonucleic!?" It was then that Anon realized... They were dead! "Oops..." Anon thought about taking their clothes to better integrate into society. But he didn''t feel like wearing such low quality clothing. Anon grabbed both of their bodies and looked at his grave. He stuffed both of them in the coffin and buried them. He then bowed towards the grave. "Thanks for the lesson!" Anon decided to explore the world now that he knew the language. There were still many things he didn''t know about this world. But he looked forward to exploring it. "Now that I think about it. That guy that took away my senses temporarily seemed to have super powers! This world is already more interesting then that last one..." "I should fit right in!" Anon wandered the wilderness for a few days. Soon he found a village. His clothes were impeccable! He had formed the habit of keeping an extremely thin layer of animaxiom over his body at all times. This kept his skin and clothing clean. He didn''t need to shower as any external dirt or dust wouldn''t accumulate on him. Also all internal filth had been expelled. He didn''t sweat or have a body odor due to his ''deification'' process. He could use it as he generated it. So it hardly used any of the reserves in his body. Not to mention he had a million points stored in his body now. This expense was trivial. Anon saw some words on the sign at the entrance of the village. It was walled off, but there were no guards at the entrance. Anon had learned how to speak the language. But he had no idea how to read it. He also had a bit of a ''accent'' due to the weird nature in which he taught himself. "The smart thing to do would be remain low-key..." Anon looked in his storage space and realized he was both poor and homeless! But that wasn''t what was important. He looked rich! It was a rarity to bathe and be as ''clean'' as he was. He looked like a noble! As Anon walked the streets. Children pointed at him and the housewives whispered to themselves thinking some bigshot had decided to visit their small village. Anon decided to put on a show. He had indeed gotten good at showmanship. His few months training and performing at the circus as a magician made him quite good at entertaining people. He hadn''t brought any props with him this time. But he started to act like a mime. He then took a step on the air and formed a step made of animaxiom. This energy was normally invisible. He started to walk on air as a crowd gathered around him. These people didn''t have other means of entertainment. They were also unfamiliar with the concept of ''tipping'' a performer. Anon wasn''t trying to attract these people. He was keeping an eye out for those who looked like they had wealth. Anon slammed the ground and used his methods he had used to build his home. It was like he was some sort of earth bender as cubes were dug in the ground and then floated up. He kicked these and sent them flying! "Woooaaahh!" The children were awed. Anon then heard something interesting. "Is he a potentia born?" "Potentia?" Anon had learned thousands of words from his experiment. But this was the first time he had heard the word ''potentia''. Anon bowed and said: "That is all for the day. Thanks everyone!" The crowd didn''t disperse. They wanted to see more! "Alright. Alright. I''ll show you one more trick." Anon vanished! He didn''t turn invisible... He had teleported! It was only a few meters... But this shocked the crowd completely. Anon then appeared right beside the person he heard mention ''potentia''. He put his hands on their shoulders. "Hello. I am Anon." Chapter 31: Demigod!? "Hello. I am Anon." Anon had his hands on their shoulder. They were shocked from seeing him vanish and appear near them in an instant. "I am Arah of the Vasallus family!" "Oh? Is your family royalty?" Anon probed. Arah laughed. "No. My family and my ancestors are all merchants. I am traveling around this region. I have an important task! I actually could use someone with your class. A wizard that has unlocked ''blink'' and has the physique of a knight could handle any void creatures!" Arah hit Anon with his elbows. "I''ll pay you a silver coin if you join my guards!" Anon held his hand up to his chin. "A silver coin eh? What exactly is it you are transporting?" Arah leaned in to Anon''s ear and whispered. "It is a gift to a scion of the king. To be specific, his offspring from his mistress." Anon frowned. "You are all the way out her just to send a gift to a kid?" Arah laughed and asked Anon to go with him to his caravan. They soon boarded a carriage. He was inside with a few guards. "My father is actually testing me. He wants me to form a positive relationship with the royalty. He also wants me to find talents such as yourself. I also have many other goods to sell..." "So how about it?" Anon paused for a moment then asked: "What exactly is this ''gift''?" Arah whispered once again. "A potentia stone!" Arah didn''t bother to hide this piece of information from Anon. He mistakenly thought that Anon had already awakened! So he either used a stone already or was a genius and somehow awakened by himself. It was more likely that Anon was judged by Merlin to become a wizard. He then learned a few tricks in a wizard academy. Nobles often sired knights. Arah had already formed Anon''s life path in his mind. A unknown grade wizard that was both strong and had unlocked ''blink''. This might not even be all of his abilities! If he had such a person with him. He could feel more secure! Anon knew that asking this question would destroy his vest and make his identity suspicious. But he could ''rewind'' through death. He planned on asking some obvious questions and then killing himself to go back in time. "What exactly is a potentia stone?" "..." "It is how one awakens their class...you!? Don''t tell me... You are a natural potentia born!?"Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "What is your class!?" Anon shook his head. He didn''t know. "Ahh, that''s right. You couldn''t possibly know without using the stone." Arah left for a few minutes and returned with a box covered in locks. "I shouldn''t be doing this. But I am curious what type of class you unlocked. It could be a completely unique one! I can''t believe my father was right. He told me I would encounter something extraordinary on this trip!" Soon a stone with the color of a rainbow was presented to Anon. "This is my first time operating this... It is quite exciting!" Anon soon placed his hand on the stone and felt his consciousness get sucked into it! For a second it seemed as if he was standing before a council of gods! He saw a starry sky and a fantastical meeting. He felt his soul getting engraved with something. Well these ''gods'' tried to engrave his soul. But it was too solid! "!?!" The gods were shocked! The way the class system worked was by engraving the class on the soul. It was like sculpting clay. But Anon''s soul was already like a steel cube. They couldn''t even scratch it! The illusion shattered! The potentia stone exploded! Arah was bleeding out of the orifices on his face. He was about to die from the backlash. He looked at Anon as if he was looking at a monster. "Impossible!? What are...-" Anon shook his head. It looked like he couldn''t use these potentia stones...He started to allow the animaxiom in his body to go haywire as usual. He then exploded, sending golden blood everywhere. Anon went back in time a few minutes. "What is your class!?" "Demigod..." "!!? Are you serious? I''ve never heard of this class! What abilities do you have you don''t mind me asking? I know it is a bit taboo to ask this. But I should know the capabilities of my guards!" "Do you have a knife?" "Of course! I have all sorts of tools in my caravan!" Soon Anon was given a knife. He allowed briefly the thin layer of animaxiom to disperse on his wrist. He then cut one of them and allowed his blood to flow. "Golden blood!? You really are a demigod!" "But... my father told me that you could only become a god when you died. So there should be no gods on this plane." Anon smiled. "It is just my class that I awakened! I''m not actually a real demigod..." "As for my abilities?" "I am immortal!" "!!!" Arah was shocked. He had always known that those who awakened unique classes were on another level of power. But he had never heard of the ability ''immortality'' before. The demigod class. One of the abilities being ''immortality''. Was he himself even worthy of having such a guard!? "Does that mean you can''t die?" "Yes." "Bullshit! He is trying to deceive you." One of the guards couldn''t sit quiet anymore. Anon looked at the guard. "Oh? Who are you?" "I am an orphan raised by the Vasallus family. I have no name!" "But I am one of the most trusted knights assigned to the young master. I won''t allow him to be tricked! You have bad intentions... Demigod? Immortal? What nonsense!" Anon laughed. "How about we battle, then?" The Knight sneered. "I admit, you have some skill. But I do not raise my sword unless I am going for the kill..." Anon raised his finger. "Your sword against my finger." The knight was surprised. He had clearly seen the low quality dagger cut through Anon''s wrist. Now he wanted to battle him with his finger alone? He was surely bluffing! The knight unsheathed his sword and asked Anon to follow him. "Hurry up! The strongest knight under Arah is about to fight a newcomer!" "We can''t miss this!" "Another one is going to die... what a pity. Kids these days and their pride." Soon Anon and the knight were surrounded by Arah''s other guards. None of the villagers knew about this fight. The knight swung his sword in an instant as everything seemed to slow down. His adrenaline pumped and he saw that Anon simply held out his finger. "First I''ll chop off your limbs!!!" DING! "What!?" The knight''s sword bounced off Anon''s finger! It was as if it had clashed with another sword. "That''s impossible!? Isn''t he just a wizard pretending to be a demigod!?" Anon vanished! He appeared behind the knight and tapped his shoulder. The knight got angry and turned around and attacked dozens of times in a few seconds. But each attack looked like slow motion to Anon. Anon parried each one using a finger. "How is this possible?" Anon spoke: "You seem to have mistaken something..." "I don''t operate on the logic of this world." Anon put away his finger. He then spread out his hands and said: "I am a demigod! Attack me with everything you have. I will not defend..." The knights eyes turned serious and he charged at Anon and sliced at his neck. "What a ignorant foo- No!?" His sword shattered on Anon''s neck! Anon looked disappointed. "I was hoping you would kill me so I could show off my ability..." "But you are simply too weak!" Chapter 32: Pure Heart As an orphan abandoned at birth. He didn''t even have a name! The orphanage was funded by the Vasallus family! If it weren''t for their patronage. He would''ve died from starvation long ago. It was found that he was special! He was told by adults that he had ''knight'' talent. That if he dedicated his life to the covenant and worked for the family. He would never lack food or clothing anymore! He would even get a few coppers a month. It was as if his life turned to heaven from hell. But the training he had to undergo was inhuman. His body and spirit were broken and reshaped. He was never given a name despite his service. His entire identity and purpose became to protect and serve. He spent all of his life training to protect Arah! He was his loyal guard from childhood to adulthood. So he couldn''t stand the sight of Arah getting tricked by some fake wizard. While the nameless lacked a class due to not being able to come into contact with a potentia stone. He had something called a ''life seed''. In a battle of life and death when he was surrounded by demihuman type creatures. The caravan had gone into the territory of a newly established troll nest. It was then that the nameless unlocked a energy deep within! He ignited the lifeseed and soon surpassed the limits of ordinary people. He became the top knight guarding Arah! "What is your class!?" "Demigod..." "As for my abilities?" "I am immortal!" The nameless knight couldn''t stand the nonsense coming of the mouth of this person. So he needed to stand-up and prevent the young master from getting scammed! "Bullshit! He is trying to deceive you." The nameless spoke in front of everyone. "Oh? Who are you?" "I am an orphan raised by the Vasallus family. I have no name!" The nameless took pride in being associated deeply with the Vasallus family. "But I am one of the most trusted knights assigned to the young master. I won''t allow him to be tricked! You have bad intentions... Demigod? Immortal? What nonsense!" He started to pay attention to Anon''s clothing. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. His clothes felt as if they came from another dimension. He was even wearing a blindfold... Anon laughed. "How about we battle, then?" "I admit, you have some skill. But I do not raise my sword unless I am going for the kill..." The nameless held back his anger and planned on not resolving this with violence. But then he heard something ridiculous! "Your sword against my finger." "!?!" The nameless felt as if he was getting looked down upon. He unsheathed his sword and took Anon outside to battle him. His life seed pulsed as his adrenaline soared! "First I''ll chop off your limbs!!!" DING! "What!?" "That''s impossible!? Isn''t he just a wizard pretending to be a demigod!?" Anon vanished from his sight. He felt a tap on his shoulders. The nameless had refined his techniques over his entire life. He attacked dozens of times over the span of a few seconds. Each attack aiming for a vital point. But each one was parried with a simple finger! "How is this possible?" Anon spoke: "You seem to have mistaken something..." "I don''t operate on the logic of this world." Anon spread out his hands. "I am a demigod! Attack me with everything you have. I will not defend..." The nameless used a forbidden technique to greatly enhance his strength. This move consumed a considerable amount of stamina. He then sliced at his neck. But the sword shattered on Anon''s neck! He looked at the nameless person with disappointment. "I was hoping you would kill me so I could show off my ability..." "But you are simply too weak!" The nameless slammed his fist on the ground and admitted defeat. The other guards were surprised he had lost. He was undefeated until today.
Arah clapped his hands. "How did you do that? We saw earlier you were able to be harmed by blades. But now you seem invulnerable. Can you explain?" Anon made up some nonsense. "I have a pure heart." "Pure heart?" Arah had no idea what Anon was talking about. "I am able to harm myself because I have a pure heart. It is a passive skill of my demigod class. I am impervious to damage from those who lack a pure heart!" Anon heard people whispering among themselves. Wasn''t this ability completely broken!? Not only immortality. But invulnerability as well? Was this man favored by multiple gods? Arah made up his mind. "One silver isn''t enough. But funds are tight. I want you to meet my father. Someone of your skill. It is a bit of a waste to be my guard." Anon smiled. "I am satisfied with the payment. No need to raise the price." Arah said: "We will continue to stay at this village for a few more days. Then we will head for the capital to find the abandoned son of the king. We will make some more stops at other villages along the way too." One of the guards came up to Anon. "Hello. I am Nave. You seem to have some real skill!" "Did you also want to fight? Anon spoke. "Oh most certainly not! I was just thinking. With your skill. We can take a shortcut through Fog Forest." Everyone became silent and some even called Nave crazy! Even Arah was shaken up. "That is too dangerous! That place is like a birthing ground for A-Class undead..." Nave shook his head. "He is immortal and invulnerable. How could those creatures have pure hearts? Even if they did. He could just heal like we saw with the cuts on his wrist." Arah sighed. "He can protect himself. But who can guarantee he can protect the entire caravan? It''ll only save a few days of travel time. I think this is a bad idea..." Anon then spoke up: "I think we should take that route." Anon was interested in these ''A'' class creatures. He hadn''t run into any dangerous creatures in his time here. Chapter 33: Fog Forest "I think we should take that route." Nave had mainly wanted to see Anon''s fear. But Anon reacted as if he didn''t know the horrors of that undead forest! Arah gulped and asked if Anon could keep them all safe. "I can''t make any promises..." "But as a demigod. I am also blessed with the passive skill ''heavens luck''." "Whooaaa!" "What grade are you?" Anon had no idea what they were talking about. He just made up some nonsense. "Grade. What is that?" "...I forgot you are a natural potentia born!" "Your grade is the amount of unique abilities you have unlocked." Anon thought about his ''concentration'', ''true vision'', ''extraordinary sense'', ''deification'', ''anima manipulator'', ''anima ward'', ''anima leap'', ''anima transmit'', and ''anima revive''. "I should be grade nine..." "...That''s..." There was a silence as everyone focused on Anon. "Wasn''t the legendary archmage who sealed off the rest of the world only a grade nine? Classes themselves are rare enough. But you are a grade nine! Are you some sort of legend!?" Anon then mentioned: "Most of my abilities are passive!" "Passive skills themselves are a rarity!" Arah''s eyes were blazing. He had found a gem! One of the guards started counting on one hand. "Immortal." "Impervious to damage from those that lack a pure heart." "Heavens luck..." The guard then said: "Normally, abilities have a cost to them. A drawback or penalty for abusing them. You must have some weakness!" Anon sighed. "You are correct." "I am immortal. But only if I am killed by natural disasters or those unworthy." Arah''s eyes then widened in shock! "That means you can still become a god! You just have to die a worthy death!" Nave asked what constituted making someone ''worthy''. Anon then said: "It is similar. The person must have a noble spirit and a pure heart." "...Is that even a weakness! What sort of bullshit requirements is that!?" Anon sneered. "Let''s head through fog forest." Anon spoke. A few days later. Anon had traveled with the caravan to a few nearby villages. At this point, most of the stock had been traded or sold off. Arah had made quite the haul. Soon they arrived at the border of the ''fog forest''. It was covered in a fog that seemed to be sealed off from the rest of the world. Nave spoke: "It is said that a ancient lich. A legend type creature lives within..." "Those that enter are killed and transformed into his undead to do their bidding." Anon was intrigued. "A lich eh? Was it once a human? Or did it come from somewhere else?" "Our continent is still sealed off from the outside and the void. So unless it is centuries old. It has to be a human transformed from forbidden magic." Soon the caravan entered the forest. The fog was so thick that you couldn''t see a few meters in front of you. But Anon had ''true vision'' and ''extraordinary sense''. He was used to always being blinded. Such a fog made no difference to him. "Stop." Soon the caravan came to a halt. "There is some type of creature about ten meters in front of us. There are also some creatures beginning to surround the caravan."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The guards surrounded Arah in a circle formation. "How did you detect them?" Anon pointed at his blindfold. "When I lost my sight. My other senses became inhuman..." "You''re blind!?" "Why else would I wear a blindfold?" Anon lied as easily as he breathed. Nave threw a rock in front of them and confirmed that Anon was correct. "Amazing!" "Ahhhh!" A tentacle grabbed one of the knights and they were pulled into the fog. Everyone felt fear. This was a mistake. They shouldn''t have entered this forest! "Everyone hold hands..." "I''ll shield you all. This is-" More screaming as everyone was getting picked off one by one. The carriages had disappeared and Anon found himself alone in the fog filled forest. "Their fear is delicious..." "Your smell. You have no fear? Your comrades have all been consumed." Anon laughed. "My comrades consumed? Who decided that?" "Show yourself!" Soon the fog dispersed. But that wasn''t what Anon was talking about. Standing in front of him was someone that looked like himself! "What a stupid trick." Anon muttered. "Oh? You wish to see my true form?" The muscles and skin started to roll as the skin was torn like paper. A amalgamation of flesh and tentacles was squirming underneath the disguise. "I am Luv''iodrru! The second general of the Demon King." "You have entered my domain! Prepare to-" Anon exploded. "...What?"
Nave threw a rock in front of them and confirmed that Anon was correct. "Amazing!" Anon looked at the first knight that had been abducted. He flicked his fingers and launched a strand of animaxiom at where the tentacle would appear. Anon couldn''t control animaxiom too far from his body. It was sort of like how one could hold a bullet and load a gun. But once they fired the shot. They couldn''t adjust it anymore. Anon could still ''launch'' animaxiom away from him. He just couldn''t control it after a certain range. A tentacle appeared in a split second and was cut off! More tentacles appeared. But Anon had cut off each one before it could capture the guards. Due to the fog. The guards had no idea they had come close to death. Anon imbued his voice with animaxiom and shouted. "Luv''iodrru! Show yourself!" The fog surrounding them dispersed. They then saw someone that looked like Arah. But their face twisted and distorted making it look Anon. Then Nave. It was switching back and forth from being members of their party. "How did you know my name?" Anon spoke simply: "You told me it!" "No human has ever seen me and lived to tell the tale..." "I had planned to torment you by picking off your comrades one by one. But your reaction... You aren''t human are you? No human could react so quickly. It was as if you knew the exact position I would appear!" The fog started to cover everyone again. Everyone became essentially blinded. Anon held out his hands and formed a small bubble of animaxiom. He then expanded this bubble by pouring in massive amounts of animaxiom. A shield expanded dispersing all the fog within sight! Everyone, including Luv''iodrru were shocked! "How did you do that?" Anon decided to have some fun with his replies. "I don''t know. I just looked deep within and felt a new ability awaken!" "Bullshit!" The nameless guard couldn''t help but comment. "I heard you are the second general of the demon king. Take me to him and I will allow you to live." Anon spoke. Luv''iodrru laughed madly. A human, threatening it? This human simply got lucky. It was a ''legend'' type creature. A doppelganger! If it wasn''t trapped in this forest due to the orders of its king. It would have long brought chaos to the world already. "You aren''t worthy of seeing my liege!" Anon walked towards it alone. The guards were frozen in place. "A general of the demon king? Even if he is immortal. It''s too risky!" Arah couldn''t help but comment. Luv''iodrru was shocked. "You..." "How is there no fear in your heart?" Anon laughed. "Fear? I feel only pity." "Pity?... Alright. You have succeeded at pissing me off." Luv''iodrru started to shake and then divide like a slime. Another Luv''iodrru appeared. Both of them looked like Anon. He then split again. There were now four. Again! Eight. "I can copy any lifeform and mimic them! You''ll have to fight eight of yourself! You have no chance." "I must admit. You have one of the strongest and weirdest physiques I have ever seen. It feels so good!" "This power! This-?" "Ahhhhhh!" Luv''iodrru screamed. One of his clones blew up. "You!? What did you do?" Anon was a bit confused. But he saw the situation from his true vision. Anon started to laugh. Another one of the clones blew up. Luv''iodrru eyes were filled with horror. How was he doing this...? He was killing him in seemingly an instant. Anon saw what was really going on. His body was filled with animaxiom. It had also undergone deification. When it was copied. The fake couldn''t copy all of his animaxiom reserves. It also didn''t have the thousands of years experience controlling his body. If Anon relaxed his animaxiom. He could allow it to go haywire. This is his preferred method of death nowadays. But this ''instinct'' of killing himself was also copied! Luv''iodrru literally accidentally triggered this mechanism. It was sort of like Anon assigning a part of his mind to a task. Imagine if you blinking too fast could kill you. This is what happened to Luv''iodrru! "I wouldn''t use my body if I were you..." All the clones blew up and Luv''iodrru''s main body started to bloat. He quickly realized what was wrong. "What sort of body is that? Why is it so easy to self detonate? How are you even alive with such a mechanism!?" Luv''iodrru transformed into its true form. Not daring to gamble with its life. Anon slowly walked towards it. "My offer still stands..." "Take me to your king. Or die!" Anon was attacked by twelve tentacles. They cracked like whips. But with each attack. He didn''t even move. The guards watching commented in shock. "This ''Luv''iodrru'' lacks a pure heart!" Luv''iodrru shouted: "Pure heart? What?" Arah then started to commentate over the battle. "You aren''t dealing with the average class here. This man is a demigod!" "Demigod?" "Yes! He is also invulnerable to all attacks by those without a pure heart!" Luv''iodrru screamed: "Bullshit!" It continued to attack as Anon slowly walked towards it. Just like how he grabbed Tian by the neck when he traveled to the gateway. He wrapped Luv''iodrru in animaxiom, freezing them in place. Luv''iodrru couldn''t move! "You!? How is it possible?" Anon spoke: "Arah said it clearly. I am a demigod!" "A unique class? How could I be so unlucky..." Luv''iodrru was crying. It felt its luck was really ridiculously unlucky to meet such a monster. It had fought grandmaster knights and the trick of copying the physique was a move that put them into a deadlock. Nobody could beat fighting their equal multiple times in a jump. But when it tried this strategy on this human. It blew up! This made no sense! What sort of training had this human undergone? Chapter 34: "I am..." "A unique class? How could I be so unlucky..." A guard then whispered. "Heavens luck!" Anon ignored them and had a thorough talk with Luv''iodrru. "I see... The demon king isn''t nearby?" "His base is outside the seal! I am willing to dedicate everything to you! I can help you navigate this forest. Nobody knows it better then me." Anon then said: "I heard there was a lich in this forest. Transforming those who wander in into their servants? I would like to meet ''it''!" "You!? They are the true ruler of this domain..." Anon started to squeeze his animaxiom, putting pressure on the body of Luv''iodrru. "Fine! Fine! I yield..." "I will take you to him!" Luv''iodrru sneered inwardly. They only saw death for this human. He may be invulnerable to those who lack a pure heart. But the lich had many magical means. Could he resist the craving of power? Could he resist corpse conversion? He was walking into the cave of a apex predator! The Lich in this forest was a quasi S-Class existence! Soon Luv''iodrru took the group towards the base of the lich. "I can''t go any further..." "This place is guarded by a variety of undead." "Can I go free no-?!" Luv''iodrru exploded! The group looked at Anon speechlessly. Anon shrugged. "I never said I would let them live..." "I did say they would die if they didn''t follow my instructions... but they would also die regardless!" "What is this?" Anon saw a colorful stone on the ground. "It is a core of the creature!" Arah said. "This can be used to enchant gear. It is a hard currency!" "The blood of a doppelganger can also be used to make a variety of potions! These materials are all worth collecting..." Soon those skilled in butchering and collection started to store the parts of Luv''iodrru in various jars and containers. After around twenty minutes of cleaning. They were ready! "You guys wait here. I''ll go alone!" Arah nodded. "We will wait here!" Anon slowly walked towards the base of the lich. He saw demonic skeletons with red bones guarding the entrance of the base. He also saw an army of undead. Ghouls, skeletons, and zombies! Anon was walking quite casually. He was soon swarmed by these undead. The zombies tried to bite him. The ghouls tried to tear off his limbs. The skeletons tried to melee him to death. But the thickness of his animaxiom was so dense that it was as if he was invulnerable! "Having such power is a little boring..." Anon sighed in disappointment. "What a disapp-" Anon''s ''extraordinary sense'' warned him of danger! He jumped on one hand and dodged a giant sword strike. "What? I felt like that attack could harm me?" It was a death knight! A high quality undead! It was on a completely different level then these weak undead. It charged at Anon at a speed quite insane. Anon started to do backflips as he dodged each of its attacks.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! "I don''t believe you can cut through my defense if I go all out!" A aura of animaxiom shot into the sky from Anon. This was a fatal attraction. Anon''s animaxiom was normally invisible. But it looked silver in this instance. The death knight wasn''t intimidated at all! It soon chopped down. But Anon caught the blade with his hand! "Is this all you amount to?" Anon''s animaxiom barrier then vanished! "What the fuck..." It hadn''t shattered or been destroyed. It was as if the energy was absorbed itself! Anon then noticed that he hadn''t felt the presence of someone behind him. A skeleton in black robes was holding its hand on Anon''s body. Anon felt the animaxiom being sucked from his body! "I wouldn''t do that if I were you..." The skeleton started to shake. It then blew up! The death knight froze. It had distracted Anon to give an opening to one of the stealthed skeletons. Why did absorbing the life force of this human cause the skeleton to explode? But the gap in animaxiom on Anon''s body still left an opening. His hand was split in two as the death knight slammed its sword deeper. His entire arm was split down the middle. Anon vanished and appeared a few meters away. He looked at his hand. "Who knew that you had a pure heart!" The death knight had no idea what he was talking about. Anon started to use his ''anima revive''. The wound closed in real time as it completely regenerated. The layer of animaxiom over his body thickened again. "That trick won''t work on me a second time!" All sorts of undead surrounded Anon completely. Some with weapons, others not. Anon didn''t allow any to touch him to avoid them absorbing his animaxiom. While it was deadly to them. It felt like a waste of energy. Anon started to dodge and basically break dance on the ground as he avoided all attacks. He then went on the offensive. He slowly destroyed the entire undead army. The battle lasted for nearly 24 hours! Anon sighed as he looked at the corpses of the undead surrounding him. He then slowly walked among the mountain of corpses.
"Master! A human has invaded your domain!" "What is Luv''iodrru doing? I don''t need more undead..." "Master... they are dead!" "Dead? Has some hero come to challenge me?" "I can feel them. Their energy... it is delicious!" "Send the army to surround them..." "Such a quality body could make for another death knight!" A few hours later... "How are they able to kill those who absorb their energy? Why can they regenerate so quickly? A pure heart? Hmm..." "Keep surrounding them with our legion. They will run out of stamina soon." Twenty hours later... The Lich was pissed! His army he had collected over the last century was reduced to nothing! Xaervist stood up from his throne. His servant looked at him in shock. "You intend to fight that mortal yourself!? He isn''t worthy!" "There is nobody left... I will show them what true despair is..."
Anon walked through the mountain of corpses he had created. He then felt his extraordinary sense going off. Xaervist! The Lich was standing off in the distance at the entrance of their base. It spoke quietly. But the voice was like thunder in Anon''s ears. "I will roast your soul in hellfire for a thousand years!" Anon replied back. His voice imbued with animaxiom. "Only a thousand years? That is hardly any time at all!" Xaervist laughed. "Your arrogance will be you undoing!" Xaervist held out his hands and bones started to shoot from out of the ground. Anon was like an acrobat as he dodged each individual spike. Xaervist had fought knights in his early days. They were normally restricted due to their armor. He had never seen someone with such graceful moves. No wonder this human didn''t wear armor! Anon teleported in front of Xaervist and attacked. A bone wall rose from the ground and wrapped around Anon. "Before I became a lich. I was a grade 7 necromancer! You stand no chance!" Anon was intrigued. "You keep your class after transforming?" Xaervist laughed. "You don''t even know this? A class upgrade! I went from a necromancer to a lich! This is the most perfect existence. I can help you become an undead!" Anon laughed as well... "I''m not interested." "No? Then die!" The lich grasped Anon''s heart and crushed it. Anon coughed up golden blood. Xaervist spoke with pride. "An instant kill ability... you should''ve taken my offer. I''ll m-" The hole in Anon''s chest closed and he smiled. "You!? What are you!?" Anon didn''t answer them. He went on the offensive. Bones started to attack him from every direction. "Rise up!" Xaervist slammed their foot on the ground and the corpses started to regenerate as they stood up to fight again. He even attacked Anon''s soul! But it was all useless. "I refuse to believe you have infinite stamina! I''ll wear you down repeatedly. My mana reserves are nearly limitless!" A few hours later... "This!? This isn''t possible!" "What are you!?" Anon laughed once more. "I am a man that stands at the pinnacle. A natural potentia born with the demigod class! Perhaps I''ll upgrade my class to ''god'' in the future!" "Alright enough playing around..." Anon held out his hands and a beam of light shot into the sky from his position. His hair started to rise as rubble started to float up into the sky from his transformation. "It took awhile. But fighting you has given me some insights." "You attacked my soul. That was your worst sin..." Xaervist felt fear. It had a grasp over souls from trapping people in their undead husk. It saw that Anon''s soul that was white turned black. It was like a blackhole! "What are you doing!?" Anon laughed like a madman. "Ascension!" "You asked what I am?" "I am..." "Axiom!" In this moment an explosion went off from Anon''s location. A giant pit was left where the battlefield was. Xaervist had a shield covering his body. But it had shattered and cracks were covering his bones. Anon was floating in the sky. He felt a state of bliss. "What did you do!?" Anon smiled as he floated on his back. Not even facing his enemy. The giant pit almost extended out to the caravan. The destruction had stopped right before meeting them. But all the fog in the entire forest had been dispelled. "You aren''t a human at all! You are a specter!" Anon ignored everything. He was quite happy. Chapter 35: Axiom Transformation "You aren''t a human at all! You are a specter!" Anon was floating in the sky. His blindfold had disappeared and his eyes were closed. His eyebrows had turned white. His hair was half white, half black. He muttered to himself... "How interesting. I can feel that my soul has changed." Anon couldn''t see his soul. But he felt ALL the seals vanish! His ''concentration'', ''true vision'', ''extraordinary sense'', and ''deification'' were gone! "It seems like I have two different souls..." Anon noticed something incredible from this however. "My anima reservoir is at 100%!?" Anon had used some animaxiom during his battle and was close to 50%. It was mainly used when teleporting. There were a few restrictions to using the animaxiom in his body. He could really only use his ''anima manipulator'' and ''anima revive'' with the energy stored in his body. But now Anon felt like he had clearly grasped multiple applications of it. Things he couldn''t do before... He could now do! He felt that he could use the animaxiom stored in his body to directly teleport now! Such an action would''ve been hard in the past. But he had grasped it now! With the million capacity of animaxiom in his base form. He could actually teleport quite a distance now. But he still hadn''t figured out how to use it with his ''anima leap''. Anon noticed another problem right away. His body had essentially swapped out with his soul. His current body had ZERO animaxiom stored within. But this body was even more weird then his deified body. It lacked both a brain and any organs. There wasn''t even any blood. So he couldn''t store animaxiom in his body in this state. He also noticed that his animaxiom was slowly draining from being in this state! "Hopefully it can recover when I am in my base state..." Xaervist shouted at Anon. "You DARE IGNORE ME!!!" Bone spikes shot at Anon in the sky. But they passed through him as if he didn''t exist. Anon continued to ignore them as he focused on his abilities. "Flight..." "A state of superposition..." "I wonder..." Anon pointed a finger and started to charge up a ball of animaxiom. "I would''ve struggled to do this type of range attack in my base form. It seems that my control over my body has increased from 99% to 100%! I have broken past that previous barrier." In the past. Anon had sent out slices of his animaxiom. But this was on a different level then creating a stable ball of energy! It was as if he had created a small sun in his hand. There was a clear difference between his axiom state in the past and now. While he felt his animaxiom draining. He could feel that he was using it quite efficiently! A level of efficiency so far removed from the past. But Anon felt he still hadn''t mastered this form and was just beginning to learn some of its secrets. He held out both of his hands on the miniature sun in his hand. He then directed the plasma at Xaervist. He sent out a beam attack and the lich was completely overwhelmed. It''s last words were: "You will never kill me! I am immortal!!!" Xaervist had a phylactery stored in a secret location. He could revive with time! But his foundation would be destroyed. He would need to build everything up again... The Lich was vaporized! Anon slowly floated to the edge of the pit and sighed. The transformation dispersed and he felt his powerful body again full of animaxiom. He could feel another sense added to his soul. He could feel his ''axiom state'' anima reservoir recovering!Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. "It is interesting that I have essentially 14 soul relics. But the fact that my axiom state lacks my seals is a bit of a problem..." Anon could feel his seals had returned with the switch from his soul. His blindfold had also reappeared! His hair was black again. He walked to the caravan. They had seen the explosion. Arah couldn''t help but ask what all that was. "When dancing on the edge of life and death. I awakened another ability!" "..." They hadn''t seen the entire battle due to the fog. But the explosion dispersed all the fog in the entire forest. They saw the pit from the explosion. "How many abilities do you have!?" Anon laughed. "Who knows? Not even I do!" Soon the caravan traveled through the fog forest quite easily. They didn''t encounter any creatures. This surprised the entire caravan. "Is this your passive ability ''heavens luck''?" "Indeed." Anon lied again. He had wiped out the entire undead legion. Who would dare appear? This forest would no longer be a gathering or base for that undead lich. All the stock besides the legend type creature remains had been sold off. So they didn''t stop at any other villages besides trading for food every now and then. Eventually. They arrived at the capital. This city had a tall wall surrounding it completely. There were multiple entrances and people and carriages were lined up. "Who are you and what business do you have?" "I am Arah Vasallus! I am here under orders of the king and the Vasallus family. I am to present a gift for the Aldways birthday ball." "I see..." The caravan was checked for forbidden magic objects. The guard then found something weird. "Are these creature products from a legend type creature?" "Indeed. We got a bit unlucky and encountered a doppleganger..." "You survived? Who beat it?" Arah looked at Anon and watched him nod. "One of my guards!" The guard rubbed his fingers asking indirectly for money to keep this ''secret''. Arah was used to such things happening and gave him a bag of copper coins. "Everything seems to be in order." "Remember the rules. No wandering at night." "No fighting within the city walls, outside of the arena..." "You would usually need a permit to bring such a large caravan. But since you are a merchant family. I''ll allow you to pass. Make sure to go to the registration office to get passes." "Otherwise. You will get kicked out!" Soon the caravan passed through this checkpoint. "Let''s go register!" Arah spoke. Anon followed Arah. He was unfamiliar with the layout of the city either way. Soon they reached the registration office. "What is your name?" "Anon." Anon had learned from his conversations with Arah. That most people lacked a family name. Unless you were from a wealthy family. Arah had told him he had never heard of the ''Amos'' family. So in order to blend in. Anon didn''t use his full name. Some people even lacked names entirely! Though, those were mostly orphans and their nicknames became their real names. "What level of pass do you want to buy?" "Level of pass?" "You have weekly, monthly, or yearly." "50 coppers for a weekly pass." "2 silver for a monthly pass." "24 silver for a yearly pass." Anon had no money on him besides the silver coin Arah had given him. He had put that in his storage space. Arah then shouted: "Wait! He is a potentia born! According to the laws. He can get a unlimited pass!" Arah wasn''t rich enough to buy a monthly pass for all his guards and workers. So he planned to only buy a few passes for core guards and have the rest of the caravan set up stalls outside. But everything changed with a potentia born! They were above the rules in some cases. Potentia born could even bring in their subordinates for free! This would save Arah a lot of money. The clerk at the registration desk opened her eyes wide in shock. Those with classes were actually fairly rare. Unless you were from a wealthy family or at an academy. It was a rarity to run into them. "I am sorry for the inconvenience sir! What is your class?" "Demigod." "...A unique class!?" The woman''s breathing slowed down. "Sir. If you are lying. You will be sent to prison..." "Are you really a ''demigod''?" Anon''s face lacked a expression. Arah then told them to test him. "A potentia stone is worth more then gold! We can''t just test people who could be lying!" Anon then interjected. "Why not just show my ability for proof?" The woman nodded. This made more sense then wasting a precious resource. Anon took a knife from one of the guards and cut his wrist again. Golden blood flowed out. But then it healed in a instant. "I assume this is enough proof?" The women nodded and opened up a drawer with a key. "Here is your unlimited pass!" She looked at the group of people besides him and told them that as long as they were his ''subordinates''. They could stay at his home. One of the benefits of being a ''potentia born'' was the ability to rent a house! This was the capital of The Ignis Empire. This is where the king and his kin stayed at. It was also the location of one of the mage academies. The city was massive and had people from wall walks of life. But those born in this city didn''t have to pay anything to stay! Despite this. It was quite crowded, which is why you had to have passes if you were a foreigner. This development meant you didn''t see beggars and homeless. If you did see them, they wouldn''t be there for long. Arah then told Anon that they arrived earlier then expected from taking that shortcut. They had about a week until Aldway''s birthday. They spent a few hours and a bit of coin to rent a home. Thanks to Anon being a potentia born. Things were resolved quite quickly. You might wonder why Arah didn''t have a class... despite having access to the stone? It was because his father forbid him from using it! He wanted the best for his son and using the stone could cut off infinite potential. Although the chances of awakening without a potentia stone were quite low. Soon. Anon was sitting in his own courtyard. "It has been a long time since I''ve had a place to call my own." Anon had stored his ''unlimited'' pass inside of his storage space. He then meditated for five days straight! His entire body was covered in invisible animaxiom. Arah had been observing and checking in on him every now and then. He was surprised that he didn''t get dirty or need to eat. He assumed that Anon was sleeping in a meditative posture! But Anon wasn''t sleeping at all. Soon Arah tapped Anon''s shoulder. Chapter 36: Phantom Class "Yes?" "It is time for the ball. Are you going?" Anon thought about it. It couldn''t really be a mistake to meet one of the princes, right? Arah was planning on attending alone. But he was allowed to bring a single guard. He felt that Anon was the strongest person he had ever met. He thought about the legend of the fog forest and the fact that they safely ''escaped'' it! There had been no casualties at all! "Sure." Anon agreed to go. Anon was a bit weird. He escaped a dimensional trap and one of his first thoughts after materializing was to bury himself underground! His thinking was beyond the scope of an ordinary person. Anon was enjoying the antics of having other people around him. He had spent a LOT of time alone with nothing but his thoughts. Now. He was enjoying the perks of civilization despite not needing them at all. Soon. They arrived at the banquet. There was a long line to get in. Those who brought mediocre gifts were sent away. Sometimes even if they lost the gifts! Soon it was Arah''s turn. "I present thee a potentia stone!" Those behind him exclaimed in shock. "A potentia stone!? Which young master is that!" The butler nodded in satisfaction and opened up the box revealing the rainbow colored stone. "You may enter!" Soon Anon and Arah went through a few hallways before arriving at the banquet. Everyone was dressed fancily and there were people performing music. Some were dancing. Others eating. Some socializing. Anon stood out even in this group due to his clothes. They were completely black. But the quality of the material... it was as if it came from another world! Some women came up to Anon asking if he would like to dance with them. He turned them down. He was tempted to show off. But today wasn''t about him and he didn''t want to steal the show. In combination with his training from Ayil and his 100% control over his body. Then if he sorted and went through the memories of the soul fragments. He could become a dancing legend! But he found this a bit ridiculous. Soon a squire announced the arrival of the prince. "We welcome Aldway Regius!" Everyone clapped as Aldway appeared. "Thank you! Thank you!" "I have seen all the lovely gifts you have brought me." This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon."Please enjoy yourselves..." Soon the prince walked up to Arah. "I especially like your gift. But I am torn whether to use it. My father has forbidden his descendents from using such a means. But he specifically told me it didn''t matter..." "He thinks I won''t amount to anything..." Aldway was attracted to Anon''s blindfold. "Why is he wearing a blindfold?" Arah sighed and told him that he was blind. "A blind guard? This is the first I''ve seen." He waved his hands in front of Anon. Anon stretched out his hand for a handshake. This surprised everyone! Shaking hands with a prince? Blasphemy! Aldway grabbed on of his fingers and waved it up and down. "..." "I have heard..." Aldway leaned into Arah''s ears and whispered. "That you have a potentia born among your guards?" "You are correct!" Arah pointed at Anon. Aldway''s eyes widened! Why could the son of a merchant family afford such a guard that he as royalty lacked! Among his guards. The strongest was just a grandmaster knight. None of them were potentia born! He had quite the good impression of Arah. Using that stone, even if not used on himself. It could allow his guards to potentially awaken a class. While potentia stones were considered waste to the truly strong. The gods could still reject you. Meaning even using the stone wouldn''t give you a class! But this was quite rare and unlucky. It was usually a gurantee of getting a wizard, druid, bard, warlock, cleric, artificer, fighter, paladin, necromancer, or sorcerer class. Whether or not you could upgrade your class to something of a higher quality. It was really luck dependent and almost a legend within itself. Aldway then asked something a bit crazy. "Can you sell me your potentia born guard?" "..." Arah frowned. "It is just a waste of their talent to be following a mere merchant." "I will one day take on the throne. I will reward you quite handsomely for him!" Arah''s eyebrows were twitching. "He is a free man. Not a slave. I can''t sell him to you. I had wanted to rope him into my family and have him meet my father. But now it looks like he will get snatched up by you..." Aldway smiled. "So I take that as a yes? You will sell him to me?" Anon started to laugh. "Are you worthy?" The prince started to frown. "What do you mean?" Anon pointed his finger up to the sky. "I stand at the pinnacle of all!" A silver and black aura started to rise over his feet and covering his entire body. His blindfold vanished and his eyes were closed. The food at the banquet and the tables started to shake. Debris started to float up in the air. Anon opened his eyes and they were a glowing white! He looked at the prince. But then something happened that surprised everyone! Anon''s hair turned half white and he started to float. The prince then was covered in a similar film. "You!? What have you done!" The guards surrounded Anon. But the prince was smiling in ecstasy! He bowed towards Anon. "Thank you lord for awakening me!" Anon then felt in his sea of consciousness. There was a brand. Anon cancelled his transformation and his blindfold appeared on himself again. He slowly fell to the ground as everything returned to normal. But the prince had awakened a unique class! "Hurry! Bring me the potentia stone! I must know what class I have unlocked!" Soon the guards were running crazily as they brought the potentia stone. One of them used it on Aldway. "Phantom!" "He awakened a unique class!" Anon was confused. From what he had heard. Only the gods, both minor and major. Had the power to give classes. Anon then explored the brand in his mind and a torrent of information flooded his consciousness. He saw the entire life of the prince up til this point. "Interesting..." "So this is the mechanism that makes this world unique!" In order to become a ''god'' you must die a legendary death. Thanks to Anon''s ''anima revive'' and ''anima leap''. He had died countless times. What more legendary death is there then dying in a gateway between worlds? The other requirement was faith. Normally. A ''god'' is just a legend. But Anon was a living legend! Despite still being alive. The world gave him the same respect as a god! The prince walked through the walls and returned. They then started to fly. "I''m a grade 3 phantom!" Everyone cheered! Aldway was just the offspring of the king and one of his mistresses. He was never expected to actually become a natural born potentia. Even the head of the Vasallus family expected he would need to use the stone! But who could''ve thought that the guard of Arah had the ability to give other people classes? Anon could feel the power of faith pouring in from Aldway. "Things are getting interesting!" Chapter 37: King Anon felt that this development was quite interesting. The fact that he could give others the ''phantom'' class intrigued him. He also felt that he had control over the life and death of the prince! But everyone was looking at Anon fanatically. Anon looked at he prince. "I''m sorry. But this will never happen!" The prince was confused. What will never happen? Anon then exploded!
Anon returned to the moment he said: "I stand at the pinnacle of all!" Everyone looked at Anon waiting for something to happen. He lowered his hand and said: "I''m just kidding! I am only a temporary guard of Arah." "It''s not like I am loyal to a specific person." "I prefer not to be bound to any organization!" Anon felt that his ''looking'' at someone in the eye could trigger a class change. This was a bit broken. He also wondered what would happen to the brand when he went back in time. But the brand vanished! Anon thought to himself that maybe he could create an army of ''phantom'' classes. He could then use the power of faith to empower himself. He could become a real god! What if he could then use this power to tap into the realm of the gods? But this all banked on him being able to replicate this process. It may have been fate and the tipping of balance and shock from looking at Anon in the eyes. Anon remembered in his previous world. People would just feel endless fear and be shocked. But in this world. It had somehow stimulated them into awakening a class! Anon figured this was just the difference between worlds. "Well... I might as well experiment more!" Anon felt that his soul still had 100% animaxiom. It was his axiom state that had been used to go back in time. This showed that the soul he used to leap back in time would pull from his ''equiped'' soul. Anon then repeated himself. "I stand at the pinnacle of all races!" Everyone looked at him as if he was a clown. But a black and silver aura rose from his feet covering him. It rose into the air like smoke covering the ceiling. The table and food started to rise and his blindfold vanished. Anon then spoke a word as half his hair turned white! "Look me in the eyes!" Everyone focused on his eyes! Anon then opened them. They were completely white and glowing. Everyone felt as if they were gazing into the void itself. It was as if an ancient creature was sizing them up for consumption. Anon infused animaxiom in his eyes to further boost this effect. He heard screams and saw most faint. But a silver aura covered their bodies and he felt ten seals appear in his sea of consciousness. "This!? I''ve awakene-... what happened?" "It is gone?" Anon had seen the person awaken. He then wiped out the brand and they lost their power! He felt he could even restrict their abilities. There were nine seals left in his sea of consciousness. The same mechanism that allowed Anon to inject his body with animaxiom from his soul. He felt he could do the same to those with his brand. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. "These aren''t brands... These are their souls!" "I have complete control over the souls with my ''brand'' on them..." Anon then realized his mistake. "Oh shit! I almost became a slave to the gods. It''s a good thing potentia stones don''t work on me..." "I could''ve been in deep shit!" Anon had seen the mystery behind this world. Classes were a complete trap! It was like signing away your soul to the devil. These ''gods'' didn''t have any good intentions! While they did give humanity the power needed to fight off creatures. It was a complete scam! Anon wiped all the brands from his sea of consciousness and watched everyone lose their powers in real time. "It seems the only class I can give is ''phantom''. But power that doesn''t originate from yourself can be taken away at the whim of the originator." "Since I am the origin of this power. It is as if I am an admistrator of it." Seal 9: Concentration Seal 8: True Vision Seal 7: Extraordinary Sense Seal 6: Deification Seal 5: Divine Sense Seal 4: Materializer Seal 3: Virus Seal 2: False/True Seal 1: System Integration Seal 0: Administrator Anima reservoir, generator, manipulator, ward, leap, transmit, and revive had also been discovered. Anon had planned on bringing the system to his previous world. But he was too tempted by the gateways and what they represented. His trip into the gateway ended up being one way. He became trapped for years and eventually arrived at this world. Anon exploded and went into frozen time this time. He just wanted to spend a few months organizing his thoughts and planning. "Now that I know the secret of this world. I can appear as Axiom and tell everyone the truth. I can then prove myself by giving everyone classes." "The gods don''t have the best intentions..." "I should be low-key and try to unlock the other seals in my soul." "I still have ''divine sense'', ''materializer'', ''virus'', ''false/true'', ''system integration'' and ''admistrator'' to unlock..." Anon soon had a plan. But he knew such a plan would cause chaos. Thanks to seeing the entire life of the prince when he looked at his brand in the past. He knew where the king was at! Time resumed and Anon died. He used ''anima leap'' to go back in time a few hours.
Arah had been observing and checking in on him every now and then. He was surprised that he didn''t get dirty or need to eat. He assumed that Anon was sleeping in a meditative posture! But Anon wasn''t sleeping at all. Anon couldn''t remember the last time he had ''slept''. It had been a LONG time. He had spent his first few years in this world buried underground. If it weren''t for those gravediggers. He probably would still be wasting time underground in isolation. Soon Arah tapped Anon''s shoulder. "Yes?" "It is time for the ball. Are you going?" "I have something to do..." Anon transformed into his axiom state and vanished! "!?! What?!" Arah thought he had used his teleport. But Anon was still sitting in front of him! He had just turned invisible. This was one of his abilities! He then flew into the sky. He continued to fly up. But then he hit his head on something invisible! "I see... the wizards have set up a seal around the city. Luckily, I got in as a normal person. I''ve bypassed most of the security." Soon Anon found the castle where the king stayed at. He tried to fly through the walls. But they were made of enchanted stone. So Anon had a different plan. He would use the entrance! Anon went back to where the banquet was being held. He found Aldway and possessed his body. Another ability of his axiom state. He then told his guards he had something crucial to do and needed to inform the king of something critical! Soon Aldway rushed to the castle and got an audience with the king. "I have told you already yo-" "Father. I am not who I used to be!" "I am Axiom!"
"Father. I am not who I used to be!" "I am Axiom!" The king remembered his memories as a child. His father had told him the tale of a person with the ''seer'' class. The king felt shock. His father had told him about a seer named Bliss Kendrick who went insane MANY years ago and was no longer alive. She had seen something in the future. All she muttered after that was the single word ''axiom''. "You! You aren''t my son at all!"
"You are correct!" Aldway''s body collapsed to the ground and Anon stepped outside of their body. "You demon!" Anon sneered. "What a waste of animaxiom!" The two guards standing beside the king rushed at Anon and attacked him. His body was actually cut despite his superposition state. He still had his soul relics, so he still quickly recovered. "Enchanted weapons?" "These are holy weapons! Perfect for killing evil!" "Begone demon!" Anon didn''t have his true vision or extraordinary sense in his axiom state. He could do things like turn invisible, fly, and phase through matter. He could even posesses other peoples bodies! But it wasn''t too good at combat like his base state. Anon returned back to his base state and caught the enchanted blades with his hands. His animaxiom reserves in his body were still at a million points. The king could see the change in Anon''s soul. It confused him greatly! Anon then grabbed both knights by their throats. He teleported to the barrier in the sky and let them drop to the ground. He then reappeared in the castle. "You!? Have you forgotten. I am the king! I have a unique class!" "Oh? Show me what you can do!" "I am a soulmancer! I can directly manipulate the souls of my enemies. You don''t stand a chance!" The king waved his hands and then was in shock. "Your soul! Why is it so dense!? This isn''t the soul of a mortal..." Anon laughed. "You are correct." "It is the soul of a god!" The king then sneered as Anon charged at him. All sorts of traps were triggered and he was encased in an impenetrable reinforced magic barrier! Anon had ''anima ward''. He wasn''t scared at attacks on the soul level at all. Not to mention, he could endlessly revive if he was killed. He could even go back in time! There was no chance of the king winning this! Chapter 38: Banished! "Your soul! Why is it so dense!? This isn''t the soul of a mortal..." Anon laughed. "You are correct." "It is the soul of a god!" The king then sneered as Anon charged at him. All sorts of traps were triggered and he was encased in an impenetrable reinforced magic barrier! Anon had ''anima ward''. He wasn''t scared at attacks on the soul level at all. Not to mention, he could endlessly revive if he was killed. He could even go back in time! There was no chance of the king winning this! But the king smiled. "I alone am a soulmancer. But you have severely underestimated royalty!" "Do you dare take on the might of the gods?" "Oh?" Anon smiled. He looked at the king as if he was looking at an interesting toy. He wanted to see what sort of tricks he could pull out of his ass. "NOW!!!" The king shouted and magic circles appeared on the ground beneath Anon. "Interesting..." Anon felt his ''anima transmit'' start to go off against his will! The magic circles rose up like a phantom phasing through Anon. Anon then saw four people appear out of nowhere! Surrounding him. Anon frowned. "Is this all?" Animaxiom covered Anon and started to rise into the ceiling. But it was like smoke getting trapped in a sphere. Anon tried to use anima transmit to appear next to the king. He had a plan. He would use his ability to give people classes to prove to the people that the gods were malicious! Anon could easily escape this trap by killing himself and avoiding it. But his thoughts transcended the scope of a mortal. That was a bit of a lie. In all honesty. He was bored. He deeply wished that he could be beaten here. But he doubted it. He would give them a chance! A chance to entertain him! The magic circles started to compress and it looked as if arcane threads woven in reality covered Anon. The four people surrounding Anon started to bleed from all the orifices on their face. The king looked at Anon as if he was looking at a monster. The magic circles shattered and those people collapsed to the ground. Anon stood in place with a flash of disappointment in his eyes. "You lose..." The king rubbed the ring on his finger. "As the king of Ignis. I activate the artifact of the gods!" "As for the price..." "I sacrifice half of the kingdom!" In that moment. A young man was chopping wood when he felt a deep fear penetrate his being. He looked at his hands as he started to turn transparent. He soon vanished! All around the Ignis Empire. A similar scene appeared. People were vanishing into nothingness! The king started to bleed from his nose as his skin started to shrivel. The king then started to laugh like a madman. His eyes completely red. "You have killed millions!" The king had a smile on his face despite his statement. "It had to be done..." "You pushed me too far!" "I..." "I implore the Goddess of Magic! Merlin Eadda!" A beam of light shot down from the sky as if the gods had become angry. The castle was destroyed and as the dust cleared. Anon was standing unharmed. He had shielded himself in animaxiom!Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The king''s throne was the only thing remaining in place. Everywhere else had become a crater. The king looked like skin and bones. It was obvious he had overdrawn himself from whatever thing he was trying to do. But his next words made Anon excited. "I implore the Goddess of Nature! Graeme Natura!" A green aura rose from the crater as plants started to rapidly grow. Transforming the area into a mini-jungle biome. The vitality of the king started to increase in real time. Soon his face was blushed as if he was drunk and he looked as if he had aged in reverse. He was becoming young again! Anon had a bad feeling. But he felt things were getting interesting. He tried to get closer to the king. But he couldn''t move his body for some reason! "Interesting..." He murmured. "I implore the Goddess of Pacts! Edrea Foedus..." A chain appeared on the neck of the king and extended towards Anon. A chain wrapped around both of their necks. It looked as if it were made of pure light. "I implore the Goddess of Song! Posy Cantare..." A beautiful melody started to play in the background disrupting Anon''s concentration. He felt as if he was a drop of water falling into an ocean. It was as if he was becoming one with the universe. It was a feeling of bliss! Anon shook his head and focused. Thanks to his anima ward. He was able to resist! "I implore the Goddess of Life! Lona Vita..." Clouds started to gather above both the king and Anon. Anon could hear people praying in the background. But he had no idea where these people were. Then light shined as the clouds opened up. A angel made of spheres of eyes, holding a scepter manifested from the light. It looked at the king and Anon as if it was looking at a lower lifeform. With the wave of its ''hands''. White chains started to rise from the ground. Now Anon didn''t simply have a single chain on his neck made from light. But he had holy chains that seemed to touch his soul! "I implore the God of Crafting! Cynebald Artis!" The world started to shake as a lock appeared over the chains and a pillar rose underneathe Anon''s feet bringing him high into the sky. The foundation became golden as the lock closed. "I implore the God of War! Wulfsige Pugna..." Anon heard in the distance a battle horn. Knights in armor atop horses appeared in the distance seemingly manifested from nowhere. They surrounded the pillar that Anon was on. Anon couldn''t even blink. He felt a deep suppresion on his entire being! "I might''ve fucked up..." Anon tried to detonate himself by manipulating his animaxiom and allowing it to go haywire. His preferred suicide method. But the ''lock'' from the god of crafting seemed to have some resonance with his animaxiom! This shocked Anon greatly... "I implore the God of the Holy Spirit! Hale Deus!" A giant white hourglass appeared above Anon. Anon felt his soul relic ''anima leap'' go haywire as time started to become weird. It was as if he was in some sort of temporeal fugue. "I implore the God of Death! Wystan Mort!" Anon could barely feel his body at all. It was as if he was paralyzed. He saw a third eye open up on the forehead of the king. Anon''s body had been transformed by the seal ''deification''. So his heart was abnormal. His blood was golden. His organs were different then a normal persons. Anon found himself constantly switching between his axiom state and his normal form against his will! He couldn''t even control his relics! He was in deep shit and the king wasn''t even finished with his ''attack'' yet. "I implore the God of the Elements! Wulfsige Ventus!" It was as if Anon was thrown into the deepest levels of hell. His body was burned in lava. Crushed by rubble and rocks. Drowned and shocked. Set on fire and poisoned. He was cut thousands of times by strong winds! But Anon was no ordinary person. His body instinctively regenerated despite his lack of conscious control over his body and soul. But he was burning through massive amounts of animaxiom! "I implore the God of the Day! Soils Apo!" The white hourglass above his head flipped as time started to move forward at an insane rate. Anon felt as if he was in a time machine and everything outside of his sphere of influence was in a timelapse. "I implore the Goddess of the Night! Nox Luna!" Then all of a sudden. Everything stopped. It all vanished as if everything that just happened was an illusion. "Edrea Foedus. I offer my soul in exchange. Seal this abomination!" A white sphere left the kings body. Attached to it was a chain. Anon felt the familiar chain appear on his neck as a ton of other chains trapped him. Anon found himself confused. He then realized that the entire reserves of his animaxiom stored in his body had been used! He had bottomed out both in body and soul. He was about to get wiped out! But the relentless attacks had stopped... The kings eyes were lifeless. Ten potentia born entered the area and looked at Anon. Anon started to laugh like a madman! "Interesting! Interesting! I learned a lot today..." A man walked to the comatose king and took the ring off his finger. But it turned to dust. They looked at Anon with hatred. "What exactly did you learn?" Anon started to talk as his entire being started to become transparent. He was vanishing from this world. "I learned..." "I really should be more low-key..." "I also have weaknesses it would seem. How wonderful!" The person looked at Anon and couldn''t understand him. Why was he happy to lose? What did he have to rely on? The man felt a bad feeling. The illusion seemed to vanish and Anon found himself on the pillar wrapped in chains. His body even more transparent. Hundreds of portals opened up in the sky and they formed a weird mysterious formation. Anon didn''t seem scared. He spoke out loud as if he was completely unbothered. "My soul relics require energy. That is my biggest weakness." "Having a body and a soul is also a weakness. No matter how strong it is..." Anon''s eyes filled with joy as he was banished from this dimension. "I lack a proper foundation..." Anon completely disappeared! Chapter 39: Trapped "I lack a proper foundation..." Anon completely disappeared! He never lost consciousness. He found himself surrounded in darkness. The only thing he could see was the glowing light from the chains that covered him. It seemed that he was cursed by the gods of that world. He couldn''t move. He could only think. "How do I escape this?" Anon had been banished from that universe entirely! It wasn''t simple banishment either. He was constantly getting attacked by the curse of the gods. It was as if he was sent to his own version of hell. Every bit of animaxiom generated from his anima generator was being burned. He had reached a balance. He had bottomed out completely. Anon had a duel soul that meant he stored animaxiom in both of his souls. But even that was useless. He couldn''t transform! He was stuck in his base state. His soul relics were extremely powerful. He had always wondered how he attained them. But he lacked existence consistency. He continued to get attacked by the curse of multiple gods. Anon didn''t sleep or rest. He had long forgotten how to do so. The pain he felt was controllable due to his deification. Thanks to the transformation of his body. Even in an environment that was essentially a vacuum and lacked most information. He could still survive! Had this been any ordinary human. They would''ve been destroyed in an instant. Their body destroyed by the various curses. The environment wasn''t suitable for life. But this wasn''t Anon''s first time being trapped in a space like this. When he came to that world. He had barely escaped from a similar situation. But now he had to deal with the curses draining his energy. "Maybe I can wait out the curses? My soul relics require a special energy. Surely the gods don''t have infinite energy to spend? Especially now..." Anon remained trapped for years. He had the memories of being trapped for thousands of years in his domain in the past. So he wasn''t mentally shaken from this experience. His body also wasn''t physically shaken either. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The curses didn''t seem to weaken over time however. "It seems I need to be more proactive!" Anon tried to forcefully transform into his axiom state. But nothing happened. He tried to struggle free for centuries. But he made no progress. "Getting sealed sucks. I can''t even die..." "Die..." "Die..." "That''s it!" Anon got a moment of enlightenment! "My requirements for the protagonist halo. I have met all of them. This is just the beginning of my journey!" "I don''t understand the source of my soul relics. So I can''t rely on them in this case. Especially since they are in a delicate balance forced upon myself..." "But my seals! I built those myself!" "My body is timeless..." "I have infinite time!" Anon realized that being trapped might actually be a hidden blessing! Nobody could stop him now! Seal 9: Concentration Seal 8: True Vision Seal 7: Extraordinary Sense Seal 6: Deification Seal 5: Divine Sense Seal 4: Materializer Seal 3: Virus Seal 2: False/True Seal 1: System Integration Seal 0: Administrator Anon''s original soul had unlocked ''concentration'', ''true vision'', ''extraordinary sense'', and ''deification''. "Time to unlock the fifth seal!" "Divine sense!" Anon was essentially trapped in his body. The divine sense was allowing the mind''s eye to wonder away from the body. It was like a mental projection. He hadn''t unlocked it yet. Anon looked into his sea of consciousness. "You may have trapped me in this oblivion. But this isn''t the end of my story! This is just the start!" "Mental constructs. I had originally planned to bring the system into my original universe. But that plan didn''t adapt to the times. Back when I was trapped in my domain. I failed to build myself a soul that could handle supernatural power. So I had to create this seal system." "But thanks to my ''anima ward''. Even while I am trapped. My soul is indestructible." "I also don''t even know where I am. If this place even exist at all..." "But the fact remains. A physical body is weak to seals and manipulation. My ''anima ward'' makes it so my soul can''t be controlled by others. But if I can find myself in this situation again. What is the point of all that power?" "I can''t rely on animaxiom to escape this..." "But what if I abandon my body entirely?" "Unfortunately... I don''t know how to do this." "I should first develop my divine sense and work from there." Anon got to work in his sea of consciousness. He created himself a spiritual avatar and an environment for cultivation. He then began to contemplate his seals. "When I left my domain. I had ''locked'' everything into place. But clearly some other force messed with my soul. How else did I acquire my soul relics?" "I need to look at the engine of my soul. I need to see the logic of it!" So began Anon''s journey to unlocking all his seals. Despite his body being in an insanely uncomfortable state. He really wasn''t bothered. Anon spent every moment training his mind. Thousands of years trapped in this place. His progress was meager. Unlocking the seals required not only time and grinding away at them. It required opportunity! "What sort of blessings can I run into trapped here? There is nothing!" Anon didn''t give up! "Fundamentally, what is reality?" "I have blindly accepted my soul relics of unknown origin. Perhaps the existence that granted me such power is hostile to me..." "I must first be able to interact with soul!" Chapter 40: System "Right now. I can''t even move. Let alone perform any precise actions..." "All I have are my innate seals and my mind." "But what is soul either way? To mortals. It is seen as something mystical. Humanity hasn''t even proved the existence of it. Something so intangible is out of my reach here." "The soul is the reflection of the mind. Or the mind is the reflection of the soul!" "My nearly empty sea of consciousness. My subconscious and conscious thoughts. They are all a part of ''soul''." Anon struggled to close his eyes to avoid seeing the light of the glowing chains. Even moving his eyes proved to be an exercise of willpower. "The strength of the curses seem to be infinite. They have been in a stasis this entire time. It is a complete trap!" Anon searched his memories carefully. He looked at every moment of his life. He then noticed a potential clue. ''I implore the Goddess of Magic! Merlin Eadda!'' ''I implore the Goddess of Nature! Graeme Natura!'' ''I implore the Goddess of Pacts! Edrea Foedus...'' ''I implore the Goddess of Song! Posy Cantare...'' ''I implore the Goddess of Life! Lona Vita...'' ''I implore the God of Crafting! Cynebald Artis!'' ''I implore the God of War! Wulfsige Pugna...'' ''I implore the God of the Holy Spirit! Hale Deus!'' ''I implore the God of Death! Wystan Mort!'' ''I implore the God of the Elements! Wulfsige Ventus!'' ''I implore the God of the Day! Soils Apo!'' ''I implore the Goddess of the Night! Nox Luna!'' "I''m not up against a single god. I am fighting the combined might of twelve of them! Despite my soul being indestructible and having great flexibility because of my animaxiom. I have grown too arrogant. I could''ve avoided this had I been more careful..." "I have learned the hard way. Having a body is a curse! The flesh is weak and others can easily make it a trap!" "The curses power have likely exponentially grown in power through the fusion of the gods. A power that surpasses gods..." "If you want to fight the gods. You must do so with divinity or a power of a higher tier. My animaxiom should be such a power. But it is getting used as I generate it. I''ll need something else." "But I learned from that world. That those who died a legendary death can become ''gods'' of that world." "Shouldn''t I already meet the requirements for being a god?" Anon focused on the memory of the king sealing him. ''Edrea Foedus. I offer my soul in exchange. Seal this abomination!'' "Being sealed provides its own set of challenges. But I''m growing bored of this ''game''." "If only higher beings can fight gods. Then I simply must become a higher being!" "I must become a god!" Anon had experience making himself blow-up by allowing the animaxiom in his body go haywire. But the problem right now was that his body had no animaxiom flowing through it. "Blessings and incense. Prayers and rituals. What is a god? It is but an idea in the minds of people." Anon started to pray. He prayed to himself! Or to be more specific... ''Axiom'' But it was just like thinking. It was just like clouds of thoughts passing by in the sky. Nothing happened. But it wasn''t like Anon had anything better to do. A century later. He had a weird feeling deep in his subconscious mind. But he wasn''t sure what exactly it was.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "This random idea. There may be some merit to it..." "I need followers!" Anon was still sealed. But he was the master of his sea of consciousness. He controlled his spiritual body and looked at the limits of his mind. "What if I transform my sea of consciousness into a universe?" Anon condensed his sea of consciousness into a single point. Golden blood started to float out of his closed eyes. He felt as if he had a concussion. From this ''point mass''. It blew up and Anon felt the balance of the curses was disrupted. No. This wasn''t in his favor. If before, there was a balance. Now the curses were getting stronger! It was like he was walking on a sidewalk before. But now it was like a tightrope. A single mistake could send him falling to his death. Wasn''t death what he wanted either way? Anon never feared it. But the soul relic ''anima ward'' seemed to reinforce his soul. Normally, a person that truly destroyed their sea of consciousness would have also damaged their soul. But his soul was indestructible! Unfortunately, his plan to make a universe out of his sea of consciousness failed. His mind broke into fragments and he became extremely confused. Millions of years passed... Anon''s mind was completely blank. His thinking had stopped. He was an alive corpse. There was no consciousness in his mind seemingly. The curses had also only grown stronger over these years. But for some reason. He didn''t die... He couldn''t. Anon wasn''t even aware of the passage of time anymore. He really screwed himself by detonating his sea of consciousness. While anima ward was powerful. It was like being put in an impenetrable room. But what Anon did was the equivalent of detonating a bomb inside this room. The walls were fine. But the delicate things that made him ''him'' were damaged. But Anon felt something in the back of his mind. ''He'' heard prayers of himself. Anon mindlessly repeated these words: He was like a robot with a single task. ''Axiom'' ''Axiom'' ''Axiom'' ''Axiom''... He repeated these words in his mind for many millennia. The fragments of his mind started to fix themselves after an unfathomable time. "Where am I?" Anon tried to move his head. But the chains tightened. "Who am I?" Anon then did something impossible. He started to laugh! This... He used to struggle to simply move his eyes. How was he laughing in this oblivion? There wasn''t even sound waves. The concepts here were nonexistent. "Hahaha! Ridiculous!" Anon detonated his sea of consciousness again! He became an idiot again. Billions of years later. "Where am I?" The chains crackled as Anon looked around his environment. "Who?-" "Hahaha! Ridiculous!" Anon could hear a repeating word in his mind. Deep in his subconscious. He heard the murmurs ''Axiom'' repeatedly playing in his mind. He felt as if his mind was damaged. "FUCK THIS!" Anon detonated his sea of consciousness again! Billions of years later. He repaired his mind automatically through the passage of time. Anon flexed his muscles and felt the illusion of strength. But he couldn''t observe his soul. What he didn''t know was that a infinitely small crack had appeared on his soul. This should''ve been impossible! But due to the curses draining all his animaxiom. The ''anima ward'' couldn''t fix itself. In no other situation would Anon be able to hurt his inner world as so. "I am..." Anon was still trapped. But he could now speak out loud to himself. It was as if his spirit was getting tempered through destruction. Anon detonated his sea of consciousness! He recovered. Again, again, again. Cracks started to form on his soul. "Where am I?" With each attempt. The rate at which he generated axiom seemed to be speeding up to counteract and repair the damage. But the curses were also struggling to grow as well. "Hahaha!" Anon looked at the chains binding him. "This is actually..." "Fun!" Anon detonated his sea of consciousness. His soul shattered completely. But something amazing happened. He had experienced being essentially lobotomized in spirit so many times that he managed to keep his awareness even with just broken fragments of his mind. It was like adapting to having a grenade go off inside of you. A normal person would die from going through it once! But Anon was no normal person... Anon''s opened eyes lost their intelligence as he felt his mind step outside of his body. "This! I''ve done it!" "Divine sense!" But this wasn''t normal divine sense. His body was leaking his soul. Anon saw the seals surround him like an aura. He saw seven relics appear surrounding his body. He could instinctively feel the powers of these relics. "The craftmanship of these abilities..." "They feel as if they were made by... me?" Anon looked at his empty ''anima reservoir''. He looked at his ''anima generator''. It was now successfully generating animaxiom! Because it was no longer bound to the curse. The curses then completely consumed his body. They then consumed themselves. Anon had lost his body and shattered his soul! The broken fragments of his soul were floating around his divine sense. Anon could no longer be considered ''Anon''. He was essentially just a conscious ''seal''. The fifth seal had gained sentience! He could see talismans of the other seals floating in the oblivion. The unlocked seals that affected the body were consumed by the curses with the original body. But the ones that weren''t integrated with the body were floating among the spiritual remains. Materializer Virus False/True System Integration Administrator The ''divine sense'' gathered the seals and the soul relics. "Having a body is a curse..." Anon started to transform himself into a [System]. Chapter 41: Axiom...Again "Having a body is a curse..." Anon started to transform himself into a [System]. Anon had learned his lesson. A body can be paralyzed. What does it matter if you are immortal if you spend infinity in isolation? Anon had experienced destroying his ''ego'' and mind repeatedly over billions of years. If you took a watch and smashed it into thousands of pieces. If you then took that watch and jingled it in a bag. How long would it take for it to through sheer coincidence. Fix itself? That scenario had essentially happened to Anon''s consciousness! "Wait a second..." "It isn''t the body that is a curse. It is the self-awareness. The act of living itself is cruel." "Regretting the past. Worrying about the future. Forgetting to live in the present." "Associating things with data." Anon had five additional seals and soul relics floating around his awareness. An imprint of his consciousness had formed on the seal ''divine sense''. This was observing this space. "There is no light particles here. The concept of space, time, and matter don''t exist here." "If it weren''t for the foundation of soul fragments I used to construct the seals. I wouldn''t even be able to ''see'' these relics and seals." Anon was in a state of observation. The soul relics had a golden glow and looked to be made of white text. The seals were glowing white and looked like talismans. Anon expanded his divine sense and layered the seals atop one another. They then started to merge. All sorts of information and ideas that he had when he was trapped in his domain surfaced in his thoughts. "I had planned to become the system. But what exactly is a system?" "In the stories I have read. They exist to make the MC unique and have a cheat. This gives the MC advantages that allow them to stand out." "I have no desire for such games..." "But dying has proved to be quite difficult." In the past. Anon had to worry about the aging of his spirit. He was on a clock. But now, it seemed he didn''t have such issues. "I am eternal..." "For better or worse." "I will recreate all of reality. I''ll get my own version of revenge." Seal 4: Materializer Seal 3: Virus Seal 2: False/True Seal 1: System Integration Seal 0: Administrator Anon fused all the seals and named the output seal ''Seal of Axiom''. [Seal of Axiom]: Mind over matter. Anon then became the controller of this seal. He was a talisman floating in nothingness surrounded by the seven soul relics. "As for you all..."If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Anon looked at the soul relics. Anon looked at the cracked text of ''anima ward''. "I don''t need a soul at all!" He shattered it! He then manipulated the data and formed a weapon. It was a sword made from data. "Anima reservoir, generator, manipulator, leap, transmit, revive..." Anon decided to attack the other soul relics! He used the broken fragments of anima ward to do damage. This process took centuries. But to him, it seemed to pass in an instant. Soon all the soul relics had been destroyed. There were only fragments left. "If I understand correctly from the theories of my original world. There exist parallel universes. In some theories, these are nearly identical to one another. But have slightly different outcomes..." "Outside of the observable universe. There could be an infinite assortment of universes. Some with completely different rules. Just like how I traveled to the world with potentia versus my original reality with no supernatural power." "I need to make a ''golden finger'' that I can tap into no matter what reality I find myself in." Anon didn''t plan to enter a new universe at the moment. That was out of his reach. He planned on creating his own multiverse. He would use the seals power to do so. Anon could still hear in the background of his mind the word ''axiom'' repeating endlessly. "A ritual..." "That is how I will ''unlock'' my golden finger." "But I must be wary of others like me. Who knows what sort of weird gods there are in other universes? I was trapped so miserably by a mere 12 in that other world..." Anon looked at the fragments of ''anima revive''. He then looked at the fragments of ''anima generator''. "It breaks the laws of conservation of energy. Where is it getting its energy from? I lack a soul." "I can use these fragments of the relics to construct an artifact. Just like my seal. But more powerful. Their origin is weird. No. I mustn''t do this. I should study the fragments and learn the mechanism behind how they work." Anon thought that if he understood the principles behind the soul relics. He could ''copy'' their effects. "I have infinite time to study them..." Anon expanded the ''anima generator'' fragments. He was surprised by the amount of data held within. It was a single string of random symbols. These seemed to not be from any language he had ever seen. But he felt a sense of familiarity from these symbols. So began his journey to memorize them. A decade. A century. A millennia. Time didn''t matter here. There were ''6,103,772,331,448,955,342,113,853,209'' symbols that made up ''anima generator''. This number greatly shocked Anon. He mindlessly memorized all these symbols over an unfathomable amount of time. His mind was evolving from this process. "I think I''m beginning to understand..." Anon reversed the relics function. "Infinite energy!" Anon no longer needed to wait to accumulate animaxiom. He now had infinite animaxiom! But he had destroyed the relics and lost his original body. He had money, but nowhere to spend it! What a fate... Anon''s comprehension of the trillions of years had evolved to a shocking level. If such a thing were possible and he was in the right environment. He would''ve comprehended laws! He would''ve been able to break the very rules of the world. But there were no rules to break here. There was simply nothing! But with infinite energy. Anon was able to do something he previously couldn''t. There was previously a limit to the storage capabilities before. But now. His storage was essentially ''infinite''. He could afford to waste energy to boost his thinking speed. He could essentially create an infinite assortment of threads to think for him. By using the infinite energy. Within a few milliseconds. He had decoded all of the logic of the remaining soul relic fragments. "These were definitely designed by me." Anon learned something shocking from deducing these relics. "I have already done this before? I have grasped infinity?" Anon mentally chuckled. "Spending centillions of years ''dead'' and transforming into some sort of eldritch entity." "Then giving myself the keys to do it all again!" In an instant. The space of nothingness flashed with blinding light. Trillions of specks of metallic dust were swept in a vortex as they formed towers. What did these towers represent? They were ''servers''. An infinite display of towers and a world made of metal. A concrete jungle one could say. A metropolis for a single person. It was constructed in an instant. "Who am I?" The entire reality was shaking. Anon could hear in the background of his mind. "I am..." The reality surrounding him condensed into a single point. Infinite processing power contained in something so small a mortal wouldn''t even be able to see it. Anon had sufficient practice attempting to create a universe with his sea of consciousness. "Axiom!" The speck expanded! A void was born! A world millions of times larger then earth was created. A sky covered in blackness. Many stars were constructed. That world was like a grain of sand as many more worlds were born. But all of this was contained in a sphere. This sphere then split like a cell dividing. It then multiplied until there were an infinite assortment of them! These then overlapped in space. Entangled and existing all at once! It was a world constantly slipping between realities... "I think it is time to start..." Chapter 42: Animaxiom Particles "I think it is time to start..." Axiom looked within his mind. It had become infinitely complex due to him studying the core mechanics behind his animaxiom energy type. He had mastered ''infinite'' energy. He had also created his own multiverse. But this multiverse lacked something crucial. What did it lack? It lacked life! The conditions in his realities were subpar. Axiom had experienced being trapped by gods in the past. He didn''t wish for something like that to happen again. Axiom looked at the entangled multiverse. The infinite assortment of universes that overlapped one another. This rapid expansion of reality made him realize something crucial. "Becoming the [System]? What bullshit!" "I could never return to being simply human." Axiom couldn''t even imagine himself being in a human body again. He had transcended such limitations. "My power once lacked a foundation. Back then, I didn''t understand how my soul relics worked. While I did know the origin of my seals. Whether that be concentration, true vision, extraordinary sense, deification..." "Tsk." "I have lost both body and soul..." "In my multiverse. I am omnipotent." "But..." "What am I?" "My consciousness lacks an anchor. In a sense, it has truly become independent. But shouldn''t I be able to leave my multiverse? Perhaps I have simply traded one prison for another..." Axiom pulled up his seal. [Seal of Axiom] "This seal was made from the combined powers of my other seals..." "Mind over matter..." Axiom thought clearly about his multiverse. "Without entities with consciousness capable of making decisions. Each universe is nearly identical. The inherent randomness isn''t enough..." "Nothing is random!" Axiom realized he would need to interfere. Axiom was like a phantom that couldn''t interact with the physical world. So why did he consider himself omnipotent in his multiverse? It was due to his seal and memories. It was as if he had memorized the cheatcodes of reality. Axiom tried to focus on the massive world he had constructed. His universes weren''t very familiar or similar to his previous world. They were massive in scale. The ''world'' was many times larger then the largest worlds in his original world. It had been so long that he had been alone that those memories had become unreal. The memories of him being a normal human were so distant and long ago that he almost considered them fairy tales. Axiom tried to make small changes to his reality. If he was in his previous reality. If he was in an ordinary universe. He would''ve ascended through sheer willpower. He would instantly have comprehended laws and become an immortal. But now. He didn''t even consider such an outcome. Nor did he long for it. Immortal? Laws? What is the use of such power? Axiom failed to make the changes he wanted. He was unable to make his world suitable for life. It wasn''t that he wasn''t capable. He was simply too ''strong''. It was like trying to draw a circle on a piece of paper using a chainsaw. It was basically impossible. His actions itself destroyed the multiverse he had created. "I... failed?" Axiom had completely destroyed his reality on accident. Axiom thought clearly about his multiverse. He wasn''t too sad about his failure. He had essentially infinite attempts now that he had learned how to generate infinite energy. Axiom created his multiverse again. He then failed again, and again, and again. He was unable to create a stable reality. After a few years. He felt enlightened! "That''s the problem! I am creating the universe through brute force. I am then trying to do the same thing and change the rules." What Axiom was doing was akin to trying to sculpt a statue out of a block of glass. It is definitely possible. But it is much easier to ''shape'' the glass when it is still ''hot''. Once it has cooled down. It is easy to accidentally shatter it when trying to make changes. "This problem is just like the issue I had when trying to make myself a soul with supernatural power. I got around this by making seals and slowly unlocking them." "I simply need to clearly establish the rules at the exact moment the universe is born."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Axiom purposefully destroyed all of reality. He was alone in nothingness. "My original universe had fundamental laws. Things were made up of atoms. Those atoms were made up of subatomic particles like protons, neutrons, and electrons. Those are made up of quarks..." "You have creatures made up of cells. Those cells are made up of many parts." "Now that I think about it. A cell itself is almost in parallel with the human anatomy. While the human body has organs, skin, and various systems. Cells have a membrane and organelles and cytoplasm..." "A human in my original world is actually made up of a lot of different systems." "The earth that they lived on is also incredibly complex. Whether that be the food chain or the plant life. Not to mention the perfect positioning in the solar system." "The atmosphere itself that allowed humanity to thrive..." "The sun." "If any of these systems was balanced in the wrong way. Everything would unravel. No wonder my attempts at trying to create a suitable and stable reality have failed." "Stars... planets, astroids..." Axiom didn''t want to copy his original universe. "The first thing I must design is the building blocks of the universe. The smallest ''particles''." Axiom began to work. He created what he called the ''animaxiom particle''. This didn''t look like a traditional particle. It was made of six sub-particles. The center of the animaxiom particle was called the ''anima zone''. This ''zone'' was a dimension in itself. Inside of this dimension was a massive amount of information. It basically was the processor and identifier for the entire animaxiom particle. This zone looked like yin and yang from the outside. You then had five sub-particles that circled around in a pentagram around the anima zone. These were called ''elements''. You had ''wood'', ''fire'', ''earth'', ''metal'', and ''water''. These sub-particles were very special because they had either a positive or negative charge. For example, if you took a animaxiom particle made from AZ:+{wood:+,fire:-,earth:-,metal:-,water:-}. The structure would be a building block for wood. But that wasn''t all. The anima zone could be positive, negative or even neutral! If the anima zone was neutral. It wouldn''t react with anything. It would essentially be a form of spiritual energy. But this doesn''t stop it from pushing and bouncing with itself. It would create something similiar to ''air''. A atmosphere! If the anima zone was positive. It would be extremely ''solid''. If the anima zone was negative. It would be able to ''phase''. Axiom designed it in such a way that there would be essentially ''spiritual'' objects. But also ''physical'' and ''ghost'' type materials. This was the foundation of his universe. Animaxiom Particles were the basic building the blocks of his reality. But now you need to understand how he designed the anima zone. Axiom had studied his own consciousness and figured out a few secrets about consciousness itself. The secret of consciousness in his reality was heavily tied to the anima zone. Well... It more so had to do with ''electrical signals''. If the animaxiom particles were layered and were powered by energy. They would act together as processors. So a in theory, with enough of these particles, consciousness would be born. Whether it be actual power or energy. It didn''t really matter. These animaxiom particles could have formed a similar system to his original reality. But Axiom felt that would be unstable. Axiom wasn''t building a scientific world. It would be a reality with supernatural power. A world he had always wanted to create. The life in his universe likely wouldn''t understand anything about the animaxiom particle as they would lack the technology. With the different rules of his reality. Even the way light behaved would make making the equipment needed to observe such phenomena impossible to produce. There was no cells. There was no DNA or RNA. The world he created would be in a tug of war between virtual and real. Think of a video game character. On the outside, they can look like a human. But they are truly hollow. The game designers didn''t bother to animate or render their hearts and brain. The game characters lack the various systems they should have. But don''t things still work? Once Axiom had finished designing the animaxiom particle. He began to play with the various compositions and configurations. A rock appeared out of nothing. The laws of his reality were much different compared to an ordinary world. Luckily, he had studied the core mechanics behind his soul relics. He had learned the secrets behind infinite energy and therefore could create infinite matter. [Seal of Axiom] The seal became the core of the world for now. A massive amount of animaxiom particles were generated and flowing from the seal. These animaxiom particles were extremely small. Despite producing billions every second. There was no visual indicators or any changes one could see. This was on purpose. Axiom made all of these animaxiom particles anima zone neutral. "While I have created matter. I lack the rules for a energy source..." Axiom knew how to make infinite energy. But the problem he faced was his energy was chaotic and too powerful. He didn''t want to destroy his reality again. "It seems the first thing a world should have is a... sun!" "In my original world. Two nuclei would merge to form a single nucleus. The mass would become less then the two originally. This would transform into energy." "Fusion!" "My animaxiom particles also have a ''mass'' depending on the anima zone." "If I allow the animaxiom particles to collide and merge. The resulting fusion can also produce a natural source of energy..." Axiom continued to produce animaxiom particles for many years. He then took many trillions of the particles and condensed them and purposefully controlled their fusion. Soon a sun was born. But despite what you might think. There was no ''light''. Tiny packets of energy were released from the reaction in the sun. But this was pretty much just castrated animaxiom particles. You ''see'' due to the light photons and your eyes. There are no eyes or photons in his reality. "While I have designed the source of consciousness in future intelligent life. I haven''t resolved the sensory issues." "Luckily, I can easily program the anima zone to account for this..." "The main issue I have now is designing gravity..." The animaxiom particles naturally interacted with themselves. This made it so they weren''t all bunched up in the same space. But Axiom had a lot of issues recreating gravity. Everything was ''floating''. The problem was the size of his sun being relatively small compared to the world he envisioned. The more mass an object has the more gravity it has, but this gravity gets weaker with distance. But due to his animaxiom particles being programmed to have mass. He could ''code'' behavior into the anima zone. The sun in his original universe produced photons. This was a tiny packet of energy. This particle lacked mass. So this meant that his animaxiom particles were getting castrated from the process. A almost neutral anima zone without the other five sub-particles was shooting in all directions. Axiom then designed spacetime like a blanket. Axiom lacked ''eyes'' and his thinking had evolved over the years he had spent deciphering his soul relics. This ''blanket'' of spacetime acted in conjunction with the rules he had designed! His universe now had space, time, mass, matter and energy! Axiom had did it! He had established the core rules of his universe as he formed reality. Now he just needed to design the human body and soul. There wouldn''t be ''evolution'' exactly. Think of it like a game world. Axiom needed to design the ''map'' and ''players'' himself. Otherwise nothing would really happen. There was no world. He had left rules in the anima zones. This was a ''backdoor'' he had left for himself. This wasn''t exactly the multiverse... yet. "This is just the beginning..." Chapter 43: True Death "This is just the beginning..." Axiom was a formless. He lacked a body. But this didn''t bother him. He felt he had gotten rid of the weakness of the flesh. Now that he had designed the animaxiom particles and created the foundation of his universe. He needed to do something essential to his world. "It is time to establish the dimensions!" Axiom didn''t go with the usual ''heaven'' and ''hell''. He instead built what he called the ''No Return''. Axiom had already established space, time, matter, and energy. But one also needed a more ''spiritual'' touch. Axiom attempted to design his ''No Return''. [Seal of Axiom] Axiom understood the core mechanics behind his animaxiom particles. He was able to directly manifest matter. So there was no issues at all with designing this ''No Return'' space. Axiom was in a space of nothingness. Well, he was initially. But now a sun existed and was sending packets of data out in every direction. These were mostly just the anima zone sub-particles. With a single thought. This sun was wiped out. Axiom by controlling his intent directly split reality. He created various ''pocket dimensions''. "I''m free!" Axiom entered one of the pocket dimensions. It was without form and was void. But Axiom lacked a body. He required neither energy or feedback to exist. "This is far too small." The pocket dimension was about 10,000 cubic meters. It was extremely small on a universal scale. "I wish to touch upon infinite potential. So my dimensions themselves must also be infinite!" Axiom felt his mind doing an ''infinite'' assortment of calculations as he directly expanded this pocket dimension. Soon there was no boundary and it was in a constant state of expansion. "I''ve done it. I''ve created the base reality of my universe." "What should I call this dimension?" Axiom first recalled his ''seal of axiom'' from the nothingness he had found himself in. This was pretty much his tool he used to manipulate reality. He wasn''t useless without it. But it proved useful by lessening the burden. It was also the only thing that proved his existence. "I shall call this the ''Mortal Realm''." Axiom transported his seal into this realm and then did something a little unexpected. He directly tore reality into fragments again. It became endless fractals. He directly sealed off the dimension. He then constructed an underworld. He called that dimension ''No Return''. The rules were stable and the dimension was to serve as an afterlife for souls. There was one problem however. There were no souls! There was no life! Axiom manifested a sun in the mortal realm. He then constructed a planet many times larger then the earth. "Perhaps I can learn a thing or two from evolution..." If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The mortal realm was filled with animaxiom particles. But the world was like a hell. It was barren and lacked any signs of life. Axiom hadn''t designed the schematics for insects, plant life, or humanity yet. Axiom once had an ability called ''anima leap''. This had to do with a time leap. Axiom had long unraveled his soul relics and studied the mechanics. "Water is essential for life..." With but a thought. Half the world was submerged in water. It was easy to create water, he just had to make the animaxiom sub-particle of water be positive. He then just needed the anima zone to also be positive. "The main issue I have to deal with is the complete lack of organic material. There is no deoxyribonucleic acid molecules or genetic information to be passed down. Therefore, there will be no evolution." Axiom wanted to be sure. So he observed the world for a few centuries. The only change he noticed was the concentration of animaxiom particles increasing in the dimension. Well. It wasn''t that it increased, but that it covered a larger area of the dimension that was constantly expanding. "This isn''t working. Nothing is happening..." Axiom then started to get a rather suicidal idea. "What if..." "I sacrifice my consciousness to transform this universe?" Axiom looked at this [Seal of Axiom]. "I''ve created a stable reality after many attempts. But the world needs chaos. I will become the primordial ancestor. The origin of life in this universe." Axiom could observe every corner of both the ''mortal realm'' and ''no return''. "The question is... how do I do it?" Axiom''s consciousness lacked a true anchor. It was independent. Destroying it wouldn''t be easy. "What if I don''t destroy it..." "What if I make myself the ''world will'' of this universe?" Axiom started to unravel his [Seal of Axiom]. But it was too solid! Even with his control over reality. He couldn''t destroy it. It was the conundrum of omnipotence. If someone was omnipotent. Could they create something they couldn''t control? His seal was on another level. He spent thousands of years trying to destroy it. "This isn''t working..." Axiom wracked his mind for a solution. He wanted to sacrifice himself to make the rules of his universe more perfect. But it was as difficult as performing brain surgery on yourself. He couldn''t find the source of his consciousness anymore. Let alone tamper with it. "I have become too powerful..." Axiom was feeling despair. "What exactly is consciousness? I''ve spent too long studying the rules of my soul relics. I''ve memorized the code of the universe. Perhaps I have touched upon a taboo I shouldn''t have." Axiom felt a moment of enlightenment. "That''s it!" The nothingness outside of his two dimensions started to shake. There were trillions of animaxiom particles filling his dimensions. Each anima zone was a dimension in itself. The constantly expanding dimension stopped expanding and started to contract. "Who am I?" Axiom started to mentally laugh at himself. He had figured it all out. His consciousness didn''t unravel. He simply didn''t know how to pull it off. But he instead performed an overload by thinking of every memory he had at once. He burned the spiritual circuits of his mind. This caused an explosion of information at a specific point in the nothingness he had escaped. This didn''t kill him. No. It did something more terrifying. It revealed his address! "My consciousness lacking an anchor? Who decided that!?" "My seal being indestructible? Who decided that!?" Axioms seal tore through spacetime and arrived at the explosion of information in an instant. "FOUND YOU!" Axiom was blown back by the information overload. His consciousness which originally couldn''t even interact with the physical world. It was touched! He savored this feeling. "I had initially rejected becoming human again." "I am quite the cheater. I am too powerful." A body started to form from the animaxiom particles. The body was hollow. It was getting vaporized as it tried to withstand the powerful explosion of data. "But..." Axiom screamed. He overloaded his mind again and another wave of explosions happened at the spot. "Wouldn''t it be wonderful to reach the apex?" His body was regenerating at a rapid pace as he approached the ball of energy in the center of the explosion. It was rapidly blinking in and out of reality. Each second. It vanished from reality. But every other second. Axiom was overloading his mind, revealing its location. What was this? It was pure consciousness! It was the source of Axiom''s consciousness! It didn''t have a set space or time, it was incredibly complex. Each time he performed an overload. It popped back into existence for a brief moment. Each time, it was in a random location. But distance no longer meant anything to Axiom. He chased it across space and time for millions of years. Axiom grew more tired with each explosion. He used this to weaken his consciousness and push it to the limit. One day, he did the impossible. He caught his consciousness! He teleported to his dimension and pulled his consciousness apart. An explosion of information unlike anything he had ever experienced happened. He felt extremely tired. He realized this was it. "Death!" "True death!" Axiom was wiped out. All of his memories baptized the universe he had created. If it weren''t for his animaxiom particles and the stability he had created beforehand. This death would''ve been in vain. The concepts he had experienced throughout life shaped his universe. This was on an entirely different level then when he created things personally. A complex world was born. Anon then opened his eyes. "FUCK!" Chapter 44: I cant die? "FUCK!" Anon felt a stinging pain in the center of his head. His entire body was sore. His vision was spinning and he was bleeding from the orifices on his face. He opened his eyes slowly as the world looked red and blurry from the blood. Anon was in a state of confusion. But thanks to him living for an unfathomable amount of time. He was able to enter a state of absolute rationality. The confusion only lasted the time it would take for a spark to fly from flint and steel. Anon surveyed his surroundings and found that he was surrounded by five corpses. The ground was carved with runes and he was in the center of a pentagram. A flurry of thoughts assaulted his mind. He soon was bombarded with information from the original owner of the body. The information was in fragments and he didn''t even grasp the name of the body. Anon''s sense of self was beginning to get assimilated by the soul of the owner. But his ''ego'' was too monstrous! The soul instead was completely integrated with Anon. "Apocalypse... the turned..." "Blessed...cursed..." Anon mumbled to himself as his mind stabilized. He found out that this world has been through an apocalyptic event. The sun had turned blue for some reason and the animals and humanity had seemingly been forcefully transformed. A sizeable portion had become demonic beast. "This isn''t possible! I experienced a true death!" "How am I still alive?" The answer soon surfaced in his mind. He looked at the corpses around him in disappointment. "You fools!" "The avatar resurrection ritual..." Anon realized that he was revived by a cult that believed the apocalypse was a blessing. In the previous history before the cataclysm. There was a large cult that studied the supernatural. But everything was an illusion. Their ''magic'' was simply tricks and sleight of hand. That was until the cataclysm. When the sun turned blue. All manners of supernatural power became possible. This cult believed in a god called ''Mundais'' The cult worshipped this god devoutly. But the higher-ups knew it was a lie. But they had a plan that spanned centuries to make it a real god. Through incense and prayer and targeting it. The spiritual fetus of a god should have been born based on their theories. The way supernatural power now worked was a complete mystery. Unfortunately, the good days were long gone for this cult. The moment they were about to succeed. A righteous group of awakened blessed wiped out almost their entire sect. The patriarch managed to allow his core disciples to escape with the ritual. This escaping group was made up of 50 of the elites. They carried with them the results of over a hundred years of testing and experiments. But they were rapidly hunted. The five corpses surrounding Anon were the last of this sect. Despite the countless failures in the past. They knew that there was no way out. Rather then commit suicide. They decided to risk it all and ''resurrect'' their god! The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. When Axiom had experienced a true death by unraveling his consciousness. Many things happened. His memories and imprint were clearly etched into the universe. His subconscious shaped reality in a way even he couldn''t do. It created a complete world! Axiom in death had been reborn unknowingly. He had become the governing rules of reality. In that state and for billions of years. He was like a simple machine. Performing calculations and safeguarding his reality from foreign entities. The century of offerings and prayers had not created a new god like that extinct sect had expected. It had instead touched upon the dormant shards of consciousness of Axiom. Axiom had experienced a true death. He was like a simulator for reality. But now a wisp of his consciousness had reformed. This was due to the supernatural nature of the world and the sacrificial ritual of this group. If it weren''t for this particular set of circumstances. He would have been in a state of limbo for all of eternity. His consciousness never would''ve been able to put itself back together. "FUCK!" Anon was pissed. He had spent millions of years tracking his consciousness origin to finally embrace the sweet release of death. But all of it had been ruined. Anon had lived for so long and had experienced so much repetition and suffering. He wasn''t mad from his experience. He was just fed up with it. He had suffered greatly to end it all. But then these fools resurrected him by mistake! Anon wiped the blood from his face and walked towards one of the corpses. He picked up the sacrificial knife and without hesitation stabbed himself in the heart. His consciousness slowly started to slip away. He didn''t even notice the pain. Everything went black. But then to his horror. [Seal of Axiom] You see. When Axiom was building the prototype of his reality. He created two realms. These later evolved without his input into the myriad of realms. One of these realms was ''no return''. An afterlife for the dead. Anon''s soul had fused with the target. So despite suffering a physical death. He was alive spiritually! Just like what happened to anyone that died in his reality. He was sent to the afterlife! "You have got to be kidding me..." Before he could even properly react. His vision blurred and he felt something pull him from the afterlife. No, it wasn''t simply pulling him from the afterlife. It was as if time itself was being rewound! He found his vision once again blurred from blood. He was lying in a pentagram. There were five corpses surrounding him. It was as if everything had been reset! "This..." Anon felt a shiver down his spine when he thought of the implications of what was happening to him. Anon thought about his soul relics. He thought about his experience creating seals. But the more he tried to interact with these long destroyed things. The more he realized. "They don''t exist!" Anon could only feel a faint connection with his ''Seal of Axiom''. Anon realized. He couldn''t control this ''time loop'' at all! He didn''t know what was causing it or its source. He had some theories. But when he experienced true death. He had no idea what happened afterwards. He wasn''t even sure how such a complete world had been created. It was beyond his ability! Axiom got up and wiped the blood from his eyes. He walked to a corpse and picked up the knife. He stabbed himself directly in the heart again and gritted his teeth as he sat down in meditation and slowly drifted off into oblivion. He focused intently on his seal. He had failed to destroy this thing even when he was ''omnipotent''. He knew there was no chance at destroying it in his current state. This time. He didn''t even appear in the afterlife. He also didn''t feel something grasp him and pull him back. The moment he lost consciousness. It was as simple as blinking. He was back! Right at the moment of the rituals ''success''. There are many constants to the universe. Anon didn''t know that he had become one of them. But unlike him, other constants were simply rules. The speed of the rotation of animaxiom particles. The collision of them. These were constants. Anon had essentially become essential for the functioning of the universe. He had unknowingly become the ''world will'' of his reality. When he dies. The world dies with him. Just like how when he experienced ''true death''. The shards of his consciousness became the processor of reality. They performed the job perfectly. What Anon didn''t know was that each death was ''corrupting'' not him, but the ''space'' outside of his reality. This ''time loop'' he had been locked in was multiversal! Not only multiversal... It was expanding its influence! It would soon affect all realities... Anon killed himself a few more times. But each attempt ended in failure. "I can''t die?" "It would seem... I am cursed..." "I am... Immortal." Anon kicked one of the corpses. Anon couldn''t even remember the name of this body. But he didn''t care. "From this moment. Your body belongs to me!" "The one most favored by Axiom!" "Anon Amos!" Chapter 45: Complex Ritual "From this moment. Your body belongs to me!" "The one most favored by Axiom!" "Anon Amos!" Besides the ritual circle in the ground and the five corpses. There wasn''t many other things. Anon could hardly see his current surroundings. His eyes were still red and partially obstructed from the blood. The body used as the sacrifice and target for the avatar. It had been a devout believer of ''that'' god! In other words... Anon was a member of an extinct sect. Well. His body was at least. His soul on the other hand... Anon had been through the ropes countless times in the past. He was proficient at manipulating his consciousness. His existence was so broken from the countless years he had experienced. The human brain simply couldn''t store all his memories. Everything felt unreal. It felt like a long dream. Despite not having a body and rejecting such an opportunity deep within. He started to feel a glimmer of excitement. He had a feeling. It was almost something innate. It was as if he was blessed by the world. Anon remembered when he designed his seals in the past. Trying to construct a soul and slowly bleed the supernatural into reality. But in the past. The world was too brittle. It broke too easily. But this ''opportunity'' that had been forced on him. He could feel it in the very rules of reality itself. "This world seems stable..." Anon smirked. If someone was observing him right now. They would be horrified as his facial muscles twitched. He had gotten used to having an independent consciousness. His precise control over his body now was only possible due to experience. As his emotions started to seemingly revive themselves. He lost control over his body. One second. Perfect control. The next. He had the finesse of a toddler. "The world is stable. But I lack consistency." "The first thing I must learn is balance!" Anon performed a mental burst, allowing his emotions to run wild. He felt an increasingly large distance of familiarity form between his mind and body. "Oh? What treats have you left me?" Anon tried to touch upon his seal. He looked into his sea of consciousness and was surprised at what he found. There was a red bead floating in the center of it. A red ocean surrounding it. "A curse?" "I see..." Anon realized that there was an imprint hidden in his sea of consciousness. The evil thing about this imprint was that he put it there himself! Well... the original owner of the body. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. It was a visualization technique that all those of his sect practiced. Anon had once tracked the origin of his consciousness across millions of years. It was simply too easy to manipulate this rudimentary technique that these waste practiced. The red bead started to spin and unravel as Anon observed. "They are tracking me? I see. It is because I was a part of ''that'' sect." "They won''t stop until it is completely wiped out." Anon had to make a choice. Destroy this tracker or leave it be? Anon first decided to experiment. He needed to understand the mechanics of his revival clearly. Knowing ones self is essential for planning the future. "What exactly is going back in time upon my death?" "Is it the soul? If so. What happens if that is destroyed?" Anon started to laugh. "Only someone suicidal would test this..." Anon used his experience of counting for centillions of years to conjure a mental object in his sea of consciousness. This was just a visualization. But the amount of information hidden in it was so large and unfathomable. That his brain exploded. His soul shattered. His consciousness froze. But then he found himself in the center of the ritual. He was still surrounded by five corpses. "Interesting..." Anon wasn''t simply interested in soul immortality. He found that his sea of consciousness had been reset! "Not only does my body return to a fixed point in time." "But my consciousness does as well..." "Where are my memories stored? If the brain is fixed and even the soul is reset. How am I able to remember?" Anon left the bead in his sea of consciousness alone. He was rather interested in meeting the ''enemy'' of his sect. "Since you have given me your body. I shall avenge your grievances..." Anon looked around at the corpses and felt it a bit funny. "Haven''t we done this enough times?" "Making my soul the processor for the system." "A whole new world to explore!" Anon then looked for the exit. He was in a cave and it didn''t take long to find it. But it opened up into a massive underground chamber. The walls were covered in glowing stones. Anon ignored this and continued to explore. The chamber was a few kilometers wide. There were tunnels extending in every direction. There were so many paths to take that any normal person without a map would get lost and die a slow death. Anon walked until his already worn shoes fell apart. He continued as his feet became bloody. Over time. He became dizzy and felt thirsty. There was no way to figure out the passage of time in this cavern. He started to feel a bit fatigued. "100 hours..." "Dead end." A trail of bloody footprints led to his current position. Despite there not being a day or night cycle underground. Anon just counted the entire time. A normal human might struggle to multi-task. But Anon was capable of insane feats of calculation. He created a seperate thread of consciousness that ran in the background. He didn''t stop there. He had created a mini-map in his mind. He would never forget a path he had already taken. This was just simple visualization. His consciousness was exceedingly powerful. But the human body he was in limited him. If he went too far. He would burn the potential of it and find himself dead. But he liked this aspect of things. He hated seals more then anything else. If those gods hadn''t sealed him, he would have become a living legend and changed that world. The feeling of controlling his life and death was something he enjoyed. What was there to fear? If someone trapped him. He could just return back to the rituals completion. But he also felt the frustration of being trapped. He could feel his heart palpitating... "115 hours..." "Dead end." These tunnels weren''t simply a maze. It was too massive in scale and he was trapped. Anon spent hundreds of attempts memorizing everything. If those mortals could get so deep. Then he could find the way out. He had infinite time after all. But unfortunately. Despite searching endlessly. He never found a way out. "Thousands of paths... each leading nowhere." Anon looked at his mental map and noticed something a little weird. "I''ve seen this before..." Anon''s head exploded. He then found himself in the ritual cave. "Perhaps the key has been in plain sight this entire time." The mental map of the paths he created looked quite similar to a rune. One of the runes he had seen as part of the ritual circle. It was as if they weren''t tunnels at all. But... Carvings... A layered three dimensional design. "This ritual is more complicated then I imagined..." Chapter 46: Failure "This ritual is more complicated then I imagined..." Anon had restarted in this room countless times before. Every time he died, he would return to this point in time. He had thoroughly explored the huge chamber and the endless tunnels that led to dead ends. Now he realized that the key might not be outside. Anon walked to one of the corpses. This time he did something different. These cultist were wearing black robes that hid most of the features of their face. Each one of the corpses had a single item on them. That item was just a sacrificial knife. "Based on the starting conditions. They took their own lives for the ritual." Anon couldn''t see too clearly in this area. But the chamber outside this cave was illuminated by glowing stones. Anon ripped a part of cloth from the robes of a corpse and used it to wrap up the five knives. He then left the cave and returned to the chamber that was quite big. Anon unwrapped the cloth and put the knives next to one of the glowing stones on the ground. "Each knife has a different rune." "Why does it resemble the way I envisioned the animaxiom particles?" Anon held up one knife and clearly inspected it. "Wood." "Fire." "Earth." "Metal." "Water." "This is the most stable world I have ever encountered. A normal reality would''ve collapsed from me simply recalling my past memories." "But not this world. At most I can trigger my mind and cause my brain to explode!" Anon had a detailed map of everything he had explored in his mind. It looked like a rune. But the question was...What was its purpose? "The avatar resurrection ritual..." "This place clearly isn''t naturally formed. The god they wanted to revive..." "I haven''t found food or other objects besides the items in the ritual room." "There are no traces of the mining team or exits..." "I wonder if there is more layers that I have missed?" "It just doesn''t make sense. If they planned to revive a god, why wouldn''t they have resources? A proper base should have been constructed for them." "The ritual ''failed''. I suppose a ''god'' wouldn''t need the resources of mortals." Anon had mostly died from dehydration. But he had also killed himself while trying to grasp his ''seal of axiom''. "I had wondered why I retain my memories despite the world resetting. If even my consciousness is reset. Despite having an independent consciousness. That should''ve also been affected." "Perhaps I have become some sort of being of laws." Anon visualized an object made up of centillions of years of data. His brain exploded and blood flowed from the orifices on his face as he collapsed to the ground. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He then regained consciousness in the ritual room. This time he picked up one of the corpses on the ground. "I''m so weak..." Anon struggled to hold the corpse. But he then smirked as his muscles started to spasm. Anon had learned how to use the full potential of the human body. Even in his weak state. He could explode with incredible force! The only downside was this injured the body. But why would injury matter? He was time bound! Anon seemed to effortlessly carry two of the corpses at the same time as he brought them to the main chamber. A trail of black blood seemed to follow him. He threw the corpses to the ground and made another trip. After one more trip. All five corpses had been transported to the main chamber. Anon could tell he was quite deep underground. The cavern was a few kilometers wide. The height of the ceiling also would''ve appeared as an abyss if not for the glowing stones. Anon then noticed something weird. "What did they use to carve the runes in the ground? Besides these knifes. They have nothing else on them but the clothes on their back." "This ritual was placed here in advance..." Anon returned to the empty ritual room and looked at the blood covering the ground. He traced his fingers on the carvings in the ground. He thought it looked quite simple. Too simple! "Perhaps I can reverse engineer this ritual?" "The ritual requires the lives of five people and a target to serve as the body for the god..." "I alone am one person..." Anon quickly parsed through the information he had gained when he first arrived in this body. He then started to laugh. "A mortal body? A stable reality?" "A powerless vessel trapped in a time loop?" Anon spat on the ground. "What bullshit!" He then walked towards the center of the ritual and sat down in a meditative posture. He closed his eyes and his thoughts flew at shocking speeds. But it was just below the level of causing his brain to explode. "No soul relics..." "No seals..." "No... axio- WAIT!!!" Anon opened his eyes. He too wore a black robe that covered most of his features. His hair and pupils were black. The whites of his eyes had a hint of madness. This was because of their redness and the busted capillaries. "My axiom state!" Anon hadn''t thought about it since he wasn''t used to having a body. But a long time ago, perhaps a stroke of fate and the hidden mechanism left by a higher self. He had aquired a special supernatural power. One that worked even in a world without such things! "There were three main powers that came with the ''axiom state''." The ability to fly. The storage space. "The ability to phase through matter!" It was like transforming into a ghost. You could enter a state of non-interaction with the world. But there was one main problem and barrier stopping Anon. "I''ve lost the ''feeling'' of transformation..." "I also lack spiritual energy!" It was sort of like someone who learned how to ride a car. You then take the car away from them and tell them to run at a speed equal to that past state. In the past. Anon''s ''axiom state'' relied on a few things. It''s first iteration might of relied on a artifact and used spiritual energy. But later versions were more evolved. He needed animaxiom and it wasn''t a simple transformation. It was like a change in life level. It was like a ''swap'' between souls. "If only I had animaxiom..." Anon took a deep breath. "Animaxiom...animaxiom....anima-!" "The animaxiom particle!" "The real question is..." "Is this my universe?" Anon held out his hand and pinched his fingers. "The animaxiom particles are made of up of five sub-particles." "But what is most crucial is the ''anima zone'' that these particles orbit around..." Anon flicked his fingers as blood flowed. Nothing supernatural happened. Some blood was flicked onto the ground as Anon started to motion draw runes into the air. "Each anima zone is like a dimension in itself..." "There is an unfathomable amount of these particles around. It is no exageration to say they make up EVERYTHING!" Anon noticed nothing was happening. So he increased the pressure of his mind as he visualized a single animaxiom particle in his mind. It looked quite bizarre as it was like yin and yang as the sun as the five elements rotated around it. "If it is neutral... it won''t react with anything." "If it is positive... It will be able to react." "If it is negative..." "Phase!" Anon multiplied the amount of simulated particles in his mind. While this reality had been further transformed from his true death. He was the one that attempted to create a foundation after all. But these were essentially just thoughts. Anon felt as if he was approaching the barrier between reality and imagination. He just couldn''t cross this barrier... No matter how hard he tried! He couldn''t puncture this barrier! He started to cough up blood from his efforts. He looked down at his hands as he became dizzy. What Anon was attempting to do was essentially as hard as taking a normal human and telling them to control every cell in their body. It was completely impossible! Anon died. But fate was cruel. He was back in the ritual spot and surrounded by five corpses. "FUCK!" Chapter 47: Revenge Anon''s brain exploded and he lost consciousness. He opened his bloodred eyes and observed his situation. A moment later. Anon''s brain exploded once again. Again. Again. Again. Anon knew this wouldn''t accomplish anything. He was simply venting the rage that had started to build up. Perhaps in the past. He had wanted what he called the ''protagonist halo''. He had experienced a time loop in the past. But the main difference between then and now was that he was the creator of that time loop and it relied on energy. This time loop seemed to be far more consistent. It not only didn''t use energy. But it seemed he truly had infinite attempts. He was trapped. Both physically and mentally! He was trapped in a mortal body. What was the difference between this and his sealed state? Anon considered himself a little ''crazy''. But he felt he had never felt so much anger. The target for resurrection wasn''t even him! Why was he bound to this body! Why couldn''t he escape! After a few hours of dying repeatedly. He calmed down. He sighed and used all his wit. All his determination. His thinking was flexible. But there was a limit to his brain. He went through all possible scenarios. "I lack the tools to dig." "I would likely just end up buried underground." Anon took a deep breath and hit one of the walls in the ritual room. His wrist broke as his arm turned into a paste. He used all the potential of the human body in his attempt to cause a ruckus. But all that left him with was a disfigured arm that was barely attached. He focused on the pain to clear his thoughts. His brain exploded as he went back to the start. "Any progress I make is almost meaningless. I will just reset." "I need to take a different approach..." Anon thought this was like a bottleneck. A literal barrier trapping his state. What does one need to do when they encounter any sort of bottleneck? "Enlightenment!" "The harder I try to escape. The more I allow my emotions to run wild. The less likely I am to escape. Think about it clearly... I have infinite time..." "Infinite possibilities!" Maybe Anon was just hyping himself up. But from this moment on. He no longer tried to escape. He embraced his short lives of living in darkness underground. Anon spent years wandering the same tunnels he had memorized. He was looking for a sign. Even just a slight change would be welcome! But it never happened. He wasn''t discouraged however. He continued to live life to the fullest. He tried to find the joy in the small things. He tried being a cannibal and even managed to extend the time before death. By consuming the corpses of the five sacrifices. He lived longer. Decades passed. But Anon wasn''t new to waiting long periods of time. Centuries passed. Anon grew numb. He entered a special ''state''. When he appeared back in the ritual spot. He would collapse to the ground in a instant and arrange himself into the most ''comfortable'' state. He lay on the ground in the center of the ritual. At first. He would go through his past memories. Looking for hints and clues that could help him. He wasn''t trying to escape anymore. He was just bored. Anon had memories of idleness of centillions of years. But the cycle of life and death was sort of like trying to enter a state of flow, but right when you are about to do so. Someone stabs you in the eye. It was unbelievably obnoxious and annoying. Anon eventually developed a set of excercises that did nothing at all. He had run out of ideas and was tired of living in the past or looking forward to the future.
A thousand years later... In a cave underground. In the center of a ritual. A man with eyes closed remained in a perfect position. The remnants of a cult had attempted a resurrection ritual for their god. They sacrificed themselves as the body in the center shook. But this body seemed to be ''dead''. It reacted like a corpse. Retaining its position perfectly. Stolen novel; please report. 4 days later. This seemingly ''dead'' body actually died. Anon restarted as usual. But he smiled. Anon had tried grasping his hand in the process of dying. Anon realized that what he was experiencing was a dead end unless he got creative. He developed tens of thousands of theories and plans that he tested throughout this millenium. But everything had failed. Anon thought he had something called the ''protagonist halo''. How could he fail? What was the point of his struggle!? With each death. He didn''t simply grow numb. It was like he was sharpening his axe before chopping the tree. His personality and values were becoming more and more consistent. He was developing a plan In the last century. He decided to ''log'' each loop. The logs were incredibly simple as he no longer explored the underground chamber. The secrets of its rune shape were never uncovered. Anon spoke to himself. "Loop #9125..." "In loop #9124. I survived for 93 hours." Anon started to think to himself. The root of all suffering is being a mortal. Being trapped! Liberation was ''removing'' this weakness. Anon''s thinking slowly started to become mechanical. He spent all his time counting. Just like he had once done for centillions of years. Now, he was just doing so with a mortal body. He planned to do so for eternity. He had only decided to take this route in the last century. He had truthfully experienced many times more loops then his current iteration. But a century ago. He started with ''Loop #1''. So why did he smile? Anon had noticed something crazy. Something that any normal person might''ve missed. But in this century he spent counting. He didn''t move his body at all! Yet. When he restarted. He noticed the position of his body had changed! It looked as if nothing changed. But he noticed that his finger when regaining consciousness had moved a centimeter! Anon felt a burst of dormant emotions almost surface in his mind. But he kept his calm and the smile on his face disappeared. 200 years later... "Loop #27381..." Anon noticed that his pinky pinger had moved a few centimeters. His mind started to calculate. What was the cause of this change? Anon didn''t focus on this change at all. He instead focused on the quality of his meditation. He focused on counting. He had finally done it. He had entered a perfect state of ''flow''. But this was on another level then what a normal human would experience. In this state. He was no longer ''interrupted'' in death. Anon felt as if he had grasped enlightenment. The years passed in seconds from his perspective. Up until this point. His perception of time was still within the realm of the ordinary. While time passed relatively fast thanks to the amount of time he had lived. The mortal brain he had had refreshed in a sense his perspective of time. But now... He had truly returned! He was still trapped. But something amazing was happening. 5000 years later... "456250..." Anon had even stopped counting seconds. He stopped even mentioning the loop. He took a shortcut and only counted each new life. "1368750..." Anon stopped thinking in hours or days. He even stopped measuring time in years. He instead focused on the change in each new life. It was like fast forwarding in a movie. "27375111..." It was like he was a living timelapse. His body would snap back into its position. But every thousand years. His body would ''move'' a few centimeters. He controlled his impulse. "91255444..." Anon''s current reality was the result of his ''true death'' and his existence was etched on it. Each time he died. The multiverse seemingly died with him. "456259111..." His eyes started to glow. But this wasn''t from anything he ''did''. It was the glow from the ritual. Anon had fast-forwarded through his life at an insane pace. It was something impossible to notice in just a few thousand deaths. But once it reached millions. He noticed. He was going back further in time! That was why the position of his finger changed. It was just such a small change "821251111..." His perspective of time become like that of a supreme being. No. It surpassed it! He looked at the river of time like a something that could be controlled. Eons passed. Anon watched emotionlessly as the ritual was done in reverse. He then felt his consciousness leave the body. This was the moment he stopped counting. Anon had done it! He had gone far enough back in time to before the ritual even took place. Although eons had passed. Billions of years. He had only gone back in time a few minutes. But something crazy happened. His consciousness was floating above the body he had grown all so familiar with. He observed as the cultist started the ritual. Anon was familiar with his current state. "My axiom state!" It very much reminded him of this state. He was like a ghost. He looked down at his hands and they matched that of the body he had been forced into. Anon frowned. "It seems my experiences have shaped my spiritual body..." "But I am free!" Anon laughed to himself. The people around him didn''t react at all. It was clear they couldn''t see him. Anon enjoyed this brief moment of freedom. But he then did something that made no sense. He possessed the body of the target. He fought for control over the body. His will had been tempered in a mortal body for billions of years. Taking control and integrating this body was seamless. Anon then looked at the five people around him. They raised the knifes in their hands about to start the ritual. But Anon charged at one of them and tackled them. Everyone became confused. Anon started to laugh madly as he punched the person on the ground repeatedly. Their head exploded like a watermelon. "My revenge!" Anon had thought he had transcended such emotions. But his constant deaths and being trapped in that loop had sharpened his inner self. So he had an uncontrollable desire for revenge. "Aeon! What are you doing!" The others screamed at him as they tried to pull him off the already dead cultist. But he was like a mountain. His seemingly weak body contained impossible power. Anon burned the potential of his body as he resisted subconsciously. The next second. The two people holding him back held their throats. Anon had slashed them using one of the knifes. They gurgled blood as they looked at Anon in shock. He had always been so weak! He had no powers or abilities! Why did he suddenly go insane? "Two left..." Anon looked over his shoulder at the two remaining cultist. "Aeon! You have ruined the ritual! How will be bring Mundais into our world!?" "You traitor! You were secretly one of them..." Anon charged at the person speaking with a furry. But right as their neck was burst open from his knife. Their body faded and disappeared. Behind him. They held their neck in fear as they started to draw symbols into the air. Anon lost his sight. "A curse?" Anon smirked. Anon had once had a seal called ''true vision''. He had once covered his sight with a blindfold. He lacked the back-up of the seal at this moment. He no longer had ''true vision''. But he had memorized every inch of this underground cavern. His mind wasn''t as restricted as a normal human. He still had human limits. But he had become a genius. He created a simulation in his mind and a mental map. There was a huge difference between him in the past and his self now. In the past. He was bound to this body and trapped. Now... He had ''stolen'' the body in his axiom state. His old trick of visualizing massive mental objects would no longer work. His consciousness had regained a certain special property. He had done the impossible! As he charged at the person despite his blindness. He suddenly felt paralyzed. He was then blasted with some sort of attack. He couldn''t see it with his own eyes. But he knew it was powerful. His ordinary body couldn''t withstand it. Half of his body was destroyed in an instant. Anon coughed up blood. "Supernatural power..." He fell to the ground and murmured to himself. The last two remaining people looked at Anon with regret. Their sect had spent so many resources to construct this underground chamber. They were so close to completing the ritual. But the target of the ritual went insane at a critical moment. The intelligence in Anon''s eyes disappeared. But his spiritual body slowly floated above the corpse. "How interesting..."