《Strength From Sacrifice (dropped)》


 Prologue - Cute god slayer?

    Every action we take will have a cost to it. It''s only natural that action creates reactions, after all. Talking to our friends, falling in love, bullying, murder, betrayal and every other small and large thing will have a cost to it. But that cost isn''t always ours to pay. As a mortal, you could easily start a rumour about another. In some cases, you will feel guilt or fail and be ostracised for your lies so the cost is yours but in others, what if the only thing it costed you was a brief moment of speech, something we naturally do anyway? In that case, the person you made the rumour of would pay the cost.


    But in the end these sorts of things can''t really be considered a cost. We don''t lose anything permanently like emotions or sight from such simple things and we don''t have any obvious side-effects from them either. No, the things that can actually be considered a ''cost'' aren''t so simple. But a cost like that can still be taken from another, making something monumental become easy. Take me for example. Somewhere around the hundred thousand year old range (lost exact count long ago), immortal, all-powerful, beautiful, smart and a god. I worked my ass off to become the most powerful person in my universe and I had achieved that goal after the first two thousand years due to my talent, abilities and luck. I became a god, then the strongest god, and then... nothing.


    I hit a limit. I stagnated, stronger than everyone, immortal and bored. I knew that there was a stage above god, a realm I couldn''t access but that''s the thing: I couldn''t access it. Somehow, there was some unknown condition I needed to fulfil in order to surpass my current strength that was annoyingly slippery to grasp. For about half the time after I found that limit I tried to improve myself to the limit. Sure, my power was already there but if I couldn''t improve that, what about my skills? The methods use to do everything i do?


    Naturally, it had a massive difference. I learnt how to make my skills cheaper, faster, stronger and better. I purified my mana to the utmost limit, improved my magic and fighting to the furthest they could reach and fixed every minor imperfection in my body while even fighting to perfect my instincts. In the end though, I still reached a limit that I couldn''t surpass and it irked me to no end. So for a while, I changed my focus. Crafting, enchanting, empowerment, strengthening and blessings. I turned to physical weapons and items to improve myself yet again. Of course, I reached a limit in that too. Materials, mainly. Once I reached a certain stage, I had enough skill to keep improving but the materials needed to do so weren¡¯t in this realm.


    So again I changed my focus to something else. My main reason was boredom, really. I was immortal, perfect, all-powerful and skilled. What was I supposed to do with my time? As a result of that, I spent a around ten thousand years on perfecting absolutely everything about myself I could think of. Subjects I used to consider useless like science and technology suddenly became a skill I improved to the limit. Things like speed-reading, separating my thoughts into multiple layers, photographic memory and instant processing became skills I actually bothered to invest time into. I did absolutely everything I could think of to perfect myself, even to the extent of using magic to mutate my body. Sure, I remained humanoid but I was just my perfect version of it, not an actual human.


    Ironically, that''s how I discovered a way to change realms. By changing my race into something new, I felt the impossible to cross barrier weaken. While it didn''t out-right break, it had atleast faded enough to allow me some insight into how to break it completely. It was simple really. I was created by the ''heavens'', an unconscious will of the mass of energy named mana. In other words, since this universe formed me, I couldn''t escape this universe. To escape, I had to form my own body instead, my own completely unique race. In the process of mutating and perfecting my body, it weakened my connection to my universe but at the same time, I was still as a whole created by it regardless. To escape, I needed to manipulate reincarnation in a way that I made my body instead of the ''heavens'' making it.


    Simply put, I was screwed. How the hell was I supposed to manage that? But the answer came to me rather quickly. Sacrifice. I had to sacrifice my strength to create a new ''base''. You see, I realised something. One of the requirements was that I was unique. That didn''t necessarily mean i couldn''t use this universes mana and substance to create the body, it just meant it could not be made by the heavens unconscious will. I had to be remade by my own will, sacrificing my strength to create a new race for myself with me as its founder. Under that theory, it means that originally all the races began like this. Someone tried to escape by creating a new race that the heavens adopted into their system. Whether they succeeded and surpassed this realm or died before they could birth children, the result was still the same. A new race was created and it was added to the heavens.


    But after I had spent the majority of my painfully long life trying to be perfect, I naturally wanted to be the best I possibly could be. My bet is that most of the gods who had tried this before simply used their own strength as the base and rarely, maybe used a handful of other gods as a sacrifice. The way I could determine this was simple. The difference between a dragon and a human. Naturally, the dragon has a massive amount of cultivation talent, strength, speed, intelligence and potential as compared to the pitifully average race of humanity so logically, a dragon was the result of multiple gods having their power sacrificed with one being the centre of the ritual while the human was just a single god. But me? As I said, I want to be perfect. So, I went hunting gods.


    Well that''s a little overkill. More like I went overpowering them with ease, even only breaking a small sweat to defeat and capture an army of two hundred gods single handily. With all my training, research and insight that went into making myself perfect, the average gods who where just concentrating on playing games with mortals and living in luxury where child¡¯s play. And better yet, I even managed to acquire a lot of legacy skills, lost knowledge and interesting techniques in the midst of my raids. Every time I captured and sealed a god into sleep, I grew in power and knowledge from the loot I collected, the memories I read and the items I gained. I was even surprised to find that there was an entire new branch of magic I hadn''t discovered yet, bloodline abilities. Sure, I had seen racial abilities before but bloodlines? Never. Maybe it''s just that I was so focused on my self that I stayed in my own section of the universe but this was an eye opener that made me want to look for other powers I didn¡¯t know of as well.


    While I had collected a lot of gods for my ritual and sealed them, I had still yet to understand the mysteries of this universe. If I didn''t finish analysing them before my ritual who knows how much power I will miss out on. Bloodlines and racial abilities I now know can be created through a mixture of science and magic but what about affinities? Luck? Growth speed? I was collecting all these gods for exactly this purpose but yet I was looking at things on a too small of a scale. I was just trying to jam a crap ton of power into me and become an ultimate race like dragons, phoenix''s and unicorns. But even they start with a pre-determined amount of strength, simply having more potential. So I changed my thinking. Instead, I need to be able to store as much potential as possible in a human-sized body. Being a dragon just means I¡¯m a bigger target but if I can be a humanoid that''s a thousand times more talented, isn''t that better?


    Thankfully, my new goals went hand in hand with hunting gods. I would hunt down maybe one or two hundred at a time before stopping to research all my new discoveries thoroughly and continuing. Gods are pretty common anyway, honestly. While I personally was a cultivator, there where many ways to become a god in this universe, even in mortal worlds. I also learnt a lot about culture. One of the most interesting discoveries I made though was when I found out that the majority of fantasy books, movies and stories created by humans where in reality made by the ones who got glimpses into other worlds in the form of ideas. It was an amazing discovery to make, the idea that everything a lowly human wrote might just be the tales of some of the strongest people in the universe. In fact, because of that I am sure that somewhere my story is being written about as well.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    All in all, I collected a lot of knowledge, power and gods over the course of my 100+thousand year life. I even learnt that my natural intelligence was translated into several other powers passively affecting my soul like achievements, titles, perks and traits. So many interesting things... I was in heaven.Through all this though, I found one planet that I began to watch over and build a nation on with me as their god. There was an all-female bloodline which altered the holders of the bloodline and any they have sex with (female only obviously) to be able to have kids with each other. Personally, I know that both genders can be bad but I still prefer females so when I found them by chance I led them into becoming one of the top nations on the world throughout around ten thousand years worth of time. It was quite fun and I had decided that this was where I¡¯d be reincarnating in the future.


    Eventually though, I began to reach a limit. Gods grew worry as rumours spread of a god-hunter and they went into hiding. My progress slowed, discoveries dwindled and inspiration lessened. What really pushed me over the edge though was when I realised I hadn''t made any backup plans for my safety once the ritual was done and I was reincarnated. Sure, I made a nation for myself but obviously I couldn¡¯t tell them I was their god and then kill myself to reincarnate as a baby. I¡¯d probably be killed by assassins and wars trying to get rid of me. So, I brainwashed two hundred of the gods and deleted memories while binding their souls to oaths. I made them my slaves before bringing their strength up to the limit. They would be my safety net and they where the results of a thousand years I dedicated to planning my safety, future powers and story. With them, I could reincarnate while they still think I am alive as there are still an army of gods watching over them.


    But that is secondary. Over time, I learnt that ultimately some powers just simply didn''t mix. Cultivating, rituals, time-based improvement, game systems and dozen of lesser methods existed but couldn''t work together. In the end I decided that cultivation has the biggest potential with how open it was to gathering different powers all at once and since it was familiar. I mean, so many things can be crammed into a cultivation-build. I could even use ki, life-force, spiritual energy or physical energy as my base for cultivation. I decided mana was still the best though since it has purity levels that can improve strength drastically and the widest range of magic¡¯s to access across the universe, so it was logical to choose it. I was so powerful after all since I was able to purify my mana, meaning I regenerated it faster, it was stronger and it was cheaper to use. Obviously it''s amazing, especially since so many different magic¡¯s and powers can be adapted by it. In other words, it is very versatile as compared to other forms of cultivation.


    My body was a tough choice to make. I like being pretty. I''ve always been pretty and that only got better and better as I cultivated. But one thing I never liked was my enormous boobs. It was stupidly annoying on a body that should otherwise be considered at a size and looks standard that could be considered both beautiful and cute. I wasn¡¯t tall, I had a cute but beautiful face and even my personality is cute to a certain extent. And no, I¡¯m not being vain. There are several powers that prove I am and that is why I can so confidently refer to myself as such. But yeah, the tits where ridiculous. So I went with my current body as no one alive other than my slave gods recognise it and minimised the size of my boobs. Now, it''s around a low C cup instead of the previously MM cup monstrosities I had. A growth trait was on them within my soul so the more I cultivated, the bigger they got. Originally, they where barely a B...


    My point is though that I left my body largely unchanged save from that feature. I didn''t even bother picking my hair and eye colour yet since all the powers I¡¯m layering onto myself will make it change when I¡¯m born but I did make sure to keep my skin a slightly pale shade. I don''t like freckles, birth marks, tans or excessive body hair so I simply manipulated things so I¡¯d stay perfect even without my cultivation. I did adjust the insides of my body though. Obviously, I know the limits I can go to with the body manipulation. In reality, I had a lot of miniaturised organs that where bigger on the inside instead and widened my mana channels to the limit while applying a natural filter into them. It will make purifying mana faster and easier and it takes up the majority of my body. Where the ''heart'' would be I instead had almost all my organs as well as the heart. I also had two of these organ clumps with my next one being on the other side of my chest. They where encased in a very hard shell of strengthened bone so they are fairly safe.


    I had to make the reproduction organs the same size due to my desire to stay humanoid and the possible desire to have children or sex in the future but the majority of my body was just optimising the space to the utmost limit to install complex systems that make basically everything better. Even the bones where strengthened, though they too where impossible to miniaturise. I was trying to make myself perfect and since I had confirmed it all and then keyed it into my soul, it won''t even be hard to regenerate as long as I still have energy left. And by nature, the body is just the ''filter'' while the soul is the ''container'' so I should be able to remake my body from total cellular destruction as long as my soul isn''t damaged and I have the energy. Even then, I can just make the essentials if I¡¯m low, opting to run away and then repair myself.


    Yeah, I¡¯m kind of the most OP life form there is. But having a bigger body would be pointless anyway since there is a limit to how small I can make everything. If I have a bigger body my organs need to be bigger so instead, staying at my current size is the best choice. Finally finished messing with my body now though, I could mess with my soul. I added all sorts of properties onto the thing. Heavenly level affinities in everything I could think of, heavenly level talent, potential and cultivating as well as the highest boosts I could put on all sorts of other stuff. Theoretically, there isn''t a limit to how much my soul can hold. As long as there is enough power sacrificed with me at the centre, I can build it up massively. Even now with the countless systems, traits, achievements, titles, perks and rules i put into my soul along with every power which could work together, I still have a lot, and I mean a lot, of left-over power which all went into passive boosts like luck, soul-strength and intelligence.


    I had even found that there is a noticeable difference to being a natural at something as compared to acquiring mastery. Two master swordsmen with exactly the same bodies but one is a natural and one is an acquired. The natural would win due to the ease and flow of their movements and skills. So, I made myself things like being a natural genius, a natural prot¨¦g¨¦, naturally beautiful (don''t judge), naturally cute (already there), naturally adorable (maybe I put it in?), natural magician, swordsmen, healer, fighter etc. etc. With the small amount of power I had saved after all that, namely the power of my own body as the centre, I poured all my power into my last choice and I died.


    What my own power did for me was that every one of my talents will grow with time, training or items of the right specifications. Individual powers can be improved. I... made myself a monster that can surpass the highest limits even while being in this universe, meaning things like my heavenly affinities will grow with time and training. Overall, I had no reason to let myself be weak and every reason to make myself strong. I... was going to be the OP protagonist I had always dreamed of being, even if it kills me (Which it did. I literally just killed myself, lol).


    Of course, none of this was anywhere near how easy as it sounded. Overall, I wasted the power of around five thousandgods just to keep all the other power in place so I could finish the ritual. If not, it would have dispersed and everything would have failed. Not to mention the other fifty thousand gods I used to make everything about my new form as powerful as possible. I mean, this can only be done before the body is created so it literally means that it is impossible to do under any other circumstances. I even put around ten thousand gods worth just into strengthening my soul. Right now, no one in this universe could shatter it even if they wanted to. Although I¡¯m not going to test it, theoretically even if I die again my soul is powerful enough to not be affected by death at all. Sure, I¡¯d lose my body but with my souls strength I would still easily be able to become a god again and restart the process, even having the chance to strengthen it more. I did everything, and I mean everything, I could to make sure I will survive, thrive and improve as fast, cheaply, easily and comfortably as possible.


    No one was going to stop me from achieving my goals. I was going to become the most powerful being in existence, no matter how much I sacrificed to achieve it...(Yeah no, I¡¯m not sacrificing things like my emotions. I''ll just sacrifice other people¡¯s power.)


    Besides, I¡¯m sure those gods I used are fine without souls. I''ll just assume they have ''true souls'' instead and if not, well, bad luck for them.

 Chapter 1 - Scarlet Primrose

    It was weird. After the pain I kind of just... blacked out? It seemed really anti-climactic. Sure, pain makes sense since it''s literally absorbing my essence and merging it with another fifty thousand gods worth but why is there nothing after death? One minute I¡¯m in excruciating pain and the next I¡¯m a crying mass of bloody liquid with a baby some place underneath. There was no in-between. I felt the pain of dying and then I was already out of the stomach, like nothing even happened. And yes, I¡¯m crying and I¡¯m willing to admit it. It''s fucking cold. Going from an extremely warm tummy into an arctic ice cap... ok, I know I¡¯m over-reacting but seriously, after that feverish warmth, I¡¯m suddenly thrust into the middle of winter, undressed and soaking wet. I may not have been ''conscious'' until now but I still feel the previous warmth suddenly drastically change. The contrast between it is horrible. And, for whatever crazy reasons, these people think it''s a good time to hold me up in the air and carefully examine me. Like, hello! Is this how to torturea baby 101? My immune system should be crap at the moment and they are holding me up into the elements? My lips are turning blue!


    Ugh, whatever. Their lucky I remembered to give myself a massive immunity boost in order to resist poisons. Seriously though, I¡¯m not a masochist. No unnecessary discomforts, please. If I need to get hurt to increase my strength, sure! But if I¡¯m getting hurt for no reason like now... yeah, no thanks.


    As quickly as I could manage, I started gathering and purifying mana inside of me. Since I installed ''filters'' it means the mana is naturally cleansed before it gets to my magic core, the place that my soul resides, so I didn''t have to consciously spend much effort to take it the rest of the way and make it perfect but it still took a few seconds to condense enough into a liquid mana drop and break through to the first level. The separate levels are based on how big of a pool you have. Technically, I skipped the condensation stage that people usually go through due to how fast I absorbed and filtered it before turning it into liquid mana but it''s not really important. It''s easy to break through to that level. Even with terrible talentit''d take only a few months at most.


    Of course, there are some special things about cultivating though. Every cultivator (mana atleast) will have a ''colour'' to his or her mana core. Basically, the purity of the mana inside of it. The reason this is so important is that once you break through, the purity of your first mana drop will determine the colour but once you have the colour, it will automatically refine it to that level based on you''re level of talent and not how long it should take. In other words, someone with the worse quality mana and another with the best quality mana would refine at the same speed if their talents where the same so this is the most important stage to cultivation. Unfortunately, most of the times a child will screw it up or they are born in a weak enough world not to realise. If that''s the case, it is harder and harder to increase in strength and you can''t begin to purify your core until you¡¯re about half way to god level or a god helps you. Even then, it''s takes a long time and most die from age in the process. Originally, I was quite lucky that I couldn''t cultivate until the age of ten due to the meddling of an old lady so when I could, I made sure to make it as pure as possible. It wasn''t perfect but it was the best I could do and it is largely that decision which carrier me to becoming a god. Once I was there, I finished purifying it as well. Not many mana cultivators succeed in becoming a god due to the requirements on both talent and purity but if they can, they have fairly decent potential unless they are a genius like me and thrive from it.


    Now though, I was able to make my core perfect from the beginning. So from now on, I¡¯ll cultivate this stronger, cheaper, faster and more versatile mana at massive speeds easily. Doing just that, I successfully broke through four stages in ten seconds, bringing me to the fifth stage in the first realm. The second realm is when I have a puddle sized pool so another five stages. Every realm has ten stages and there are forty realms. So, four+ hundred breakthroughs. The realm gaps are bottlenecks though so they are supposed to be harder. Right now, I just did this so I¡¯d stop freezing to death. Rotating my mana, I began to warm up again and I let out a sigh of relief. The impurities that came out doing the breakthrough (there are always impurities, regardless of how amazing the body is. It creates them to improve the base form more) where swiftly burned away with my mana without hurting the idiot freezing me and I opened my eyes to theirstunned looks. They only have around ten realms in this world before they have to leave for more cultivation resources and even then, only the royal family tends to get further then the twentieth realm.


    The room was simple but at the same time, extremely beautiful. There were not any over the top decorations like jewels in the roof of gold laced curtains but every wall was carved with small patterns that seem to merge together into a greater whole and come to life. Obviously a master carver had made this room their life¡¯s work and even I had to appreciate its looks. While three sides of the room were pure stone except for where the door was, the forth was a massive glass panel that overlooked the kingdom below. Blood red carpet that looked insanely soft lined every inch of the floor and a bed the size of a small house was directly opposite the window. I could also feel the wards that where covering every millimetre of the room. There was no wards used for spying surprisingly and all of them where focused on defence, comfort and privacy. Unfortunately... It seems like these people already have a high enough resistance that the cold does not affect them at all so they don''t even realise that they are freezing me. To be fair, I used to always prefer to be cold than hot if I couldn''t have my perfect temperature so I can understand but that doesn¡¯t make it any less uncomfortable.


    The people in the room where conversing among themselves. As for the topic, it was obviously me. Since ahead of time I found this bloodline and helped them found the nation I was able to send a message to them saying that this baby (me) was special. Besides, I really do like the bloodline due to some grudges I had against males and while it¡¯s not to the point of raising it specifically because I want to destroy them all, it is to the point where I can appreciate being born into this all-female nation. Since even a normal female who is fucked by a bloodline holder is changed to only breed with females and they too can do that to others, the nation is quite big.


    So I¡¯ve been helping them out in the background. Honestly, it''s still new as a civilisation as when i found it men where hunting down the ''heretic'' bloodline so it''s only been a nation for around ten thousand years but yet, it''s one of the top nations on this planet and also one that is almost impossible to topple. Why? Because there are two hundred gods making sure it doesn¡¯t and even if new gods come here, two hundred gods at the strength limit against one normal god? Yeah, they''d be screwed. So with all that and the curses and buffs I set around the nation to stop people attacking them, it is naturally a strong nation.


    My goal for it is to soon be a female-only world. Within another few thousand years it probably will be. In the grand scheme of things one world makes no difference so I want to give them a chance by having a base-world. As long as there are laws that they don''t go fucking woman and changing them randomly from other worlds without permission, they can easily flourish and a lot of the woman who dislike men will move here, giving them a higher base strength.


    Most bloodlines will have a few home worlds but this one will create a lot of controversy among the more disgusting men. My interference gives them a chance. Getting back to the point though, I have been helping this nation for a while now so obviously I understand a fair amount about it. I was just reborn as the two queens third child. Ahead of time, I sent them a message saying a load of crap about me being a reward to help the power of their nation and I made it clear to them to treat me as a beloved daughter, not a weapon. Of course, I didn''t tell them that i was a reborn god but I did spin it like I granted this child awareness from birth and a lot of talent and power.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Technically it''s true, I did. It''s just that this ''child'' happens to be the ruling god of their other two hundred gods that protect them. Of course, they don''t know that and in fact, no one out of this room even knows the gift story but yeah, I was confident no one would try and kill me formy massive talent and awareness.


    The reason I was thinking about this though is because it seems they are under the belief that I can''t understand them. Usually, it''d make sense. I said awareness, not language comprehension. But seriously, there''s no way I¡¯d be cruel enough to give a baby awareness without language. Do you know how much harder it is to learn a language when having awareness makes whatever way your thoughts are wired hinder the process? Learning a language without awareness as a baby is much easier than learning it with it. Once your thoughts are aligned in a certain way it''s hard to change that, atleast when you¡¯re still young. So no, even if I could do it I wouldn''t be that mean. It''s like all those reincarnation story where they can''t work out the language till they are like four.


    Anyway, in the room they¡¯re where five people other than me. Two moms, two older siblings and what I¡¯m assuming is my grandma. About the one that was trying to freeze me, I think she''s a bit of a natural ditz but I¡¯m not sure. She could just be an idiot. Or a very, very emotional person. Or maybe she''s sceptic about me being a gift? I don''t know. Problem is, cultivators don''t tend to age very fast so while I have identified one of my mothers due to seeing her on the bed before she was flash-healed, i can''t tell if the other woman is my mum or if the one whotried to freeze me is.


    It''s rather embarrassing but I never really payed attention to what they looked like when I chose to be their child... Sure, I know I should respect my family regardless of my birth circumstances but I wasn''t exactly thinking about stuff like this before now so I didn''t look further than them being good people, royalty and in my personally built nation. It also just so happened that they had finally created a stable system where even the commoners can go to school so it was the perfect premise to reward them on. While here and now I am thinking on it, before I did nothing more than look into the logical point of having a family, not the emotional one. It''s kind of hard to have a desire to be emotional when you are about to destroy fifty five thousand souls, just over half of those being innocents who just got caught by me since I needed their power. Yeah, emotions weren''t a very respectful thing to have while I was waiting for that moment, so logic it was. Until now.


    Now, I¡¯m absently listening to the conversation while trying to work out who my mother is while being slightly panicked on what impression I made on them. Sure, I can get powerful easily now with this body but that doesn¡¯t mean I will automatically flee this world as soon as I can and forget my family. No, to me family is something important after I lost my first one at the age of four and had any family I made for myself stolen from me. I know that I¡¯m the sort of person who would do anything to protect family and even if I got to choose where I was reborn, that doesn¡¯t automatically mean I will dismiss them. No, it''s the opposite. Iwanta family. All my life, I had everyone I loved brutally murdered while I couldn''t do anything to stop it.


    Eventually, I just got fed up and decided to get powerful instead so I could make my own family but then I hit that damnable power limit. While sure, I was powerful just for that but I knew that a mistake could still get me killed, let alone protecting a family. So, I grew cold. I desperately reached for strength and ignored my emotions in my pursuit for perfection.


    So even if I just used this family as a means to an end, I still acknowledged and accepted them as my family. To say i didn''t care would be wrong. In fact, I probably care more than most people do. But to say I was confident would be ridiculous. I know what I did. I know I used them to give birth to me, that I purposefully chose them for their resources and personality and because they are in the nation I built. I used them, plain and simple. There is nothing nice or elegant about that, my intentions where to get powerful and they where just the people who brought me into the world. I know all that but I care a lot more about it than I should logically and honestly... it''s the first time I¡¯ve been scared since I shut off my emotions. I know how awkward i am now. For the last hundred thousand years, my social interactions have been limited to recently giving orders to my mind-wiped slaves and occasionally talking to myself. In that time, I purposefully limited my emotions and became cold and ruthless. I did anything I could do to reach for power, including hurting innocents.


    Even before that, I only had awkward interactions with the sadist lady who started my training, a few girls I fell in love with, a single store clerk, two friends and my monologue for why I was torturing the guys who took them all away from me. Seriously, for all my knowledge and power, I am probably one of the most inexperienced at talking there is. While a child can talk innocently, a hundred thousand year old god... I can just imagine how much I¡¯d cringe at a character like me. I mean I would cringe at book characters with awkwardness but in the end, I¡¯m just someone that hides behind a mask while having absolutely no self-esteem about my social presence. ''Hey, bob. The highlight of my life? Hmm, I guess it would have to be shattering fifty five thousand souls simultaneously and using it as sustenance to my own soul. Bob, why are you trying to kill me now? Heretic? I''m not a heretic! Bob! Bob, snap out of it!''


    Uh-huh. Yeah, I think I¡¯d try to kill someone if I heard that as well.


    I''ll still try though. I know my self so eventually, I¡¯ll probably cave in and tell them anyway but for now I guess I¡¯ll be keeping secrets for a while. So far, they have been discussing my cuteness, sudden breakthrough and the fact that I¡¯m a ''gift from god.'' Ah, and a completely off-topic conversation about butterfly¡¯s which lasted around three minutes somehow. It seemed that my oldest sibling wanted to name me scarlet while the younger one wanted to name me butterfly... Yeah, somehow I agree with my mum''s (finally identified her) choice to go for scarlet. Though it did create a tantrum, of course.


    They look to be 3 and 5 years old respectively. The oldest was Amber and the middle child was Emerald while i was Scarlet. We all shared the last name of Primrose which was the royal families name. Personally, Scarlet Primrose sounds pretty cool and noble in my opinion. Much better than the alternative, Butterfly Primrose. Wow, I could totally be a species of actual primrose with that name...


    Anyway, it was indeed my grandma in the room. She was the one freezing me and from the conversation so far, she seems to be an airhead. I mean, she suggested that I should bathe in holy water everyday... do they even realise how valuable the stuff is now with all the gods in hiding? There¡¯s been massive increases in undead activity because of me and the more vile variants that holy water used to hold back are having the best time of their lives. But here, on a world with two hundred gods, they want to bathe a princess in holy water everyday. And considering we''re royalty, that means the massive hot-tub two times a day will be used. So much holy water... I bet kings would cry blood if they found out about it.


    ''Holy water is valuable right now. Stock up on it for when you do interstellar trading.''


    Everyone was quite for a while at they stared at the box I made in the air.


    "You can understand us?" The airhead asked excitedly.


    ''Yes. Thank you for not naming mebutterfly.''Amber burst out laughing as soon as she read my box.


    "What''s wrong with butterfly?" Emerald protested grumpily.


    ''You wanted to name me after a bug that has an extremely short lifespan and is one of the weakest creatures even after cultivating? In all the known history, abutterfly has never became a god due to their small lifespans even after cultivating and their tendency to fly into bright objects like suns''


    "So there''s no butterfly god?" She asked with teary eyes.


    ''The gods are in hiding. This ''known history'' is just what your god has observed after 100,000 years as a god, not an absolute truth. There still might be a butterfly god or even whole tribes of them in places yet to beexplored.'' Judging by my birth mothers expression, I realised it must have been a children¡¯s tale I had overlooked so I quickly comforted Emerald.


    "Why are gods in hiding and holy water valuable?" Mum two asked.


    ''The gods where being hunted with around 55,000 killed. Holy water cannot be created unless a god is within the boundaries of faith''I answered easily.


    "Should we be concerned?" Mum asked seriously.


    ''In a way. It was you''re god that hunted them so if it is leaked, others might come to fight. Still, she hunted that many gods by herself and she has another 200 gods at the strength limit watching over the planet.''I reassured.


    "Gods dying so easily... maybe they didn''t bathe in holy water enough" Grandma interrupted. For a second, i thought she was actually taking this seriously. Then that second shattered.


    ''''Whata ridiculous person...''And I passed out before I could finish writing the box.

 Chapter 2 - Trophies, plot reveals and... admin abuse?

    Two Hours. Two freaking hours I slept and I wake up with one of my mum''s missing. I felt like my dreams just shattered and I¡¯m extremely depressed. Damn, I didn''t think it would be this serious. When you cultivate, the higher realm of cultivation you achieve, the better control of emotions you attain. It''s not like they disappear or anything, it''s just a passive benefit. It makes the extremes of emotions that could influence you seem slightly distant. With the strength of the soul though, that distance is enough to suppress you''re emotions temporarily and make smart decisions. If you act impulsively in the cultivation world, you die. With so many emotions that I¡¯ve been ignoring for so long, and without my cultivation, I¡¯m hit pretty hard by this. Although even to me it doesn¡¯t seem like much of a reason I made plans to bask in familiar love and have a true life again. So when I wake up and one of my mothers was gone... i just felt like it all shattered.


    If I could move my under-developed body I would have noticed that she was just getting up to change clothes but of course, I can only move my head and she''s behind me. After I realised what happened, I felt really embarrassed and refused to explain what happened.


    After a few more hours I fell asleep again. I didn''t talk, I didn''t try to find out about political situations in the capital or any family situations in order to secure my safety like I planned before I was reborn and I didn¡¯t try and tell them anything about me. I just wanted to be there. I wanted the warmth that I was missing for so long. Speaking honestly I didn''t have much of a reason to live. My goals for strengthwhere the result of the countless tragedies in my life that eventually turned into an obsession. When I passed out, it was the result of using all my pitifully small amount of power to use mana projection and write words as i was unable to talk. I can''t give up this obsession, I already know that. It''s become my base reason to live after so long. But, I do still want to have a family now so this ''warmth'' I feel from them affects me a lot as well. Overall, I feel like I¡¯ll just become powerful but stay in this world. Technically it''s a better option anyway as any items that increase cultivation will attract small amounts of impurities which are a pain to get rid of so cultivating based purely on mana isn''t a bad idea. It will also stop me from running into any troublesome enemies dead set on making me a ''concubine'' or ''wife''. There are a lot of men who simply use their power to force woman into submission in the cultivation world. I won''t let them do that to me.


    As such, I turned my focus inward. While I¡¯d like to talk with my parents, I simply don''t have the mana levels to have long conversations with them yet so instead I will be focusing temporarily on cultivation. The inside of my body is filled with channels to help my cultivation speed. Technically, I still have ''meridians'' but at the same time, I don''t. It''s more like I made my own set of meridians, improving it. In reality, it is more like they are ''doorways''. Meridians can be used to damage you just as much as they help you if used by someone experienced. My doorways however are more like literal doors that suck in mana like crazy once they are opened, they don¡¯t link to nerve clusters that can disable me. For each realm, I have one doorway with ten ''windows'' in it. It was kind of a requirement that I couldn''t work a way past to have physical barriers that I need to unlock for cultivation but I still made sure that they aren¡¯t something hard to unlock. There''s a lot of ways to explain it but instead, think of it like the difference between a rock wall and a clay one should I be comparing myself to an ordinary person. Life''s not fair, get over it.


    Anyway, right now I was absorbing mana. I was purposefully doing it slowly so I could observe the reaction it has with my body just in case there where side-effects but there was nothing that stood out. Making a body is one thing in theory but no matter how much research I had done, there was still a possibility of something going wrong in my new body so I was glad when nothing did. So, I sped up my absorbing speed to its max and mana started to gather around me in a visible vortex. Usually someone stocks up on mana before sending it towards the wall. What I¡¯m trying to do though is something different. I am using the mana to weaken the wall to the next realm (already finished unlocking all ten windows) until it''s on the edge of breaking before stocking up as much mana as I can.


    Once that was finished and I was at my capacity limit, I broke the wall with a small push of mana. My reason? If I fill myself to the limit before expanding my limit, of course the newly gained size will be bigger as compared with doing a normal breakthrough. My control, speed and natural superiority means I have a mana pool probably around three times the size as any other second realm cultivators. The more I do this, the larger the gap will widen. Still I wasn''t ready to stop yet so I began to repeat the process. By the end of the day, I was a fifth realm cultivator which was my target, a mid-levelled strength in this world, well atleast not counting the ones who left and then came back. My mana pool is probably around a ninth realm cultivator though.


    The reasons the realms are seen as such big gaps is because for every ''door'' you unblock it becomes easier to use your mana, meaning it is faster, stronger and more versatile. So even if my mana is the size of a ninth realm cultivator, I still don''t meet their standards yet. Honestly I will have to do a lot of training to get used to my reduced control in this body, as seen when I passed out earlier. I couldn''t even feel my mana pool emptying since it was so small, it was ridiculous.


    Still, today was good progress. I have a few theories I wanted to test and that is why I focused solely on cultivation all day but for now, this realm will prove wether they are worth pursuing or not but I need to give my body time to catch up with my strength.My mana levels still need to strengthen my physical body before I can do too much. Right now, using my mana pool would probably damage my body so for now, I will be sleeping instead. That should make my body easier to influence as when someone is aware, mana''s strengthening, manipulation and destruction influence is drastically lower on the body. A sleeping victim who isn''t unconsciously protecting themselves are much better targets. It works the same way for sudden strength increases as well. The more you sleep, the better you''re body can handle the strengthening. I left a quick message saying that I can''t talk anymore until my physical body can before I drifted off to sleep.


    -----


    [POV Change]


    Six months ago, I gave birth to my third child.Before I even knew I was pregnant with her, I received message from our god saying that this new child would be special. Honestly, I was disappointed when I heard that. For a child of mine to stand out even more than they already do as a princess... it sounds like a lonely life. While Kara, my wife, grew up in a noble household and as such, doesn¡¯t know as much about the burden of standing out like I did, the only heir to the throne, she did still understand my worry to a certain extent. I know how lonely it is. Everyone see''s you as a tool, true ''friendship'' isn''t even possible and they all either have ulterior motives or the feeling like they are below you,making it impossible to make friends. If everyone you meet is trying to use you or tiptoeing around as if they are walking on glass, relationships become rather fragile and loneliness is guaranteed. But even with that, there was always a chance for me to talk to some nobles without them shrinking away from me. Scarlet though, from the moment I found out I was pregnant with her, was already destined to stand out even more than me.


    So, when I heard about it I felt sad. In the past there are all sorts of cases where nobles or kings end up with warped personalities due to their loneliness. It''s not something I would have wished upon a newborn child, to stand out above all her piers and have status above everyone else. I was wrong though. It seems that ''awareness'' was a lot more knowledgeable than I could have expected. I mean, just her knowing the language was amazing, let alone when she projected mana into writing when she was only half way through the first realm. To know a heap of random details on top of that? Yeah, I underestimated what our god classified as aware. I don''t even know a fraction of the random things she knows.


    But that was reassuring to me. I knew she would be lonely as even with awareness she would still be growing emotionally but with this amount of knowledge, it''s closer to reincarnation than being granted awareness. The only thing convincing me that it wasn''t so would have to be how immature she seemed to be emotionally and socially. So, with what she knows, I have hope that she won''t be warped by her isolation. If nothing else, she has two older siblings as compared to me who was an only child.


    I think what surprised me most though was when she broke through to the tenth realm after only three months. From what I can tell as well, she only cultivated for about two days of that time. Personally, I am in the ninth stage of the twenty seventh realm as I was born with massive talent before adventuring the stars and coming back with Kara to start a family but honestly, for someone to break through the tenth realm in a max of three days worth of cultivating, no cultivation resources or even an enchanted training space is monstrous. Passed that, she hasn''t even tried cultivating for the last three months and she broke through to the eleventh realm. Sleeping, eating and occasionally talking is all she has done but yet she advanced past a stage that some people can never pass.


    I''ll admit, I was jealous. But more than that, I was proud. Proud that my daughter was such an accomplished cultivator. Still, she really slept a lot. Like, twenty hours a day, sometimes more. But no matter how much it would seem like she doesn¡¯t care to spend time with us, I¡¯m not that naive. I can tell from her actions and the daily conversations we all have that she genuinely cares but she doesn¡¯t know how to express it. I think that''s the main reason I¡¯m content with it. Instead of simply being the birth mother for a future god like I half expected, just waiting to be cast aside as if my daughter didn''t care about me, instead I was given a kind and caring daughter who tries her utmost to make us happy. Even if she sleeps a lot, she still manages to make me feel happy.


    I can tell how awkward she is with words though. I know for a fact that she can talk now but instead, she still sends the little written messages for us to read. Occasionally she will try to hold a conversation with words but it''s as if she has to have a while to build up her confidence to talk first. Honestly, it''s as if she''s both extremely shy and not shy at all with her two communication methods. It''s weird though. To me, it doesn¡¯t seem like she is unsure of herself or that she has any embarrasement for a situation, it''s more just an awkward nature with talking. The feeling i get from it is as if she couldtalk perfectly naturally normally but instead, she over analyses her words too much and as a result, avoids them.


    That''s not really important though. Recently, she''s been slowly staying awake for longer and longer and now we are up to six hours a day. Of course, her siblings are ecstatic about this as they felt ignored when she was sleeping instead of playing with them but she seems to be the happiest. It''s not weird for babies of the royal family to be able to walk at six months due to their natural superiority from birth but she''s been walking since four months old and I¡¯m fairly certain she could have from a few days old, it was just too much of a hassle for her. To be fair, I think I¡¯d like to let my muscles and nerves develop for a while first before stumbling around like an idiot as well so I can''t exactly blame her for it. Being mentally mature in a baby¡¯s body would be massively stifling.


    Occasionally though she does weird things that I can''t explain. A few days ago, it was Amber''s six birthday, meaning she is allowed to cultivate starting from now based on our laws. But surprisingly, Scarlet spoke up with her real voice and told her not to. She said that if she waited a few more days instead she could make her mana more powerful. How she will do that, I had no idea until this morning. It scared the hell out of me when I saw it and it still does but that¡¯s of little consequence. I saw her forcefully starting Amber¡¯s cultivation for her by using her own mana. Due to how mana interacts with other people¡¯s bodies, this should be impossible and usually results in permanently crippling the target but yet she somehow managed to do it perfectly.


    When I tested Amber just to make sure, I was surprised to find that her mana had absolutely zero impurities. I know due to my strength how important mana purity is and I also know that no matter how much concentration a child puts in they have a limit for how pure they can make it due to their mental immaturity but yet, Scarlet was able to forcefully make her mana perfectly pure, something believed to be utterly impossible to every common sense I have ever known. Because of this I checked Scarlets mana and found that not only is hers perfectly pure as well, she even has a monstrous amount of it as compared with what an eleventh stage cultivator should have. Once I got over my shock I asked her to do it for Emerald as well and she was happy to comply. I''m not sure what she needed time for to be able to do it for Amber but for Emerald, she could do it immediately. Amber was quite upset though since she had to wait so long to cultivate while both her younger siblings where able to do it at a younger age, one from the moment of her birth. Still, if she understood how amazing this was she''d probably be crying tears of joy and pledging eternal service. From what I know, as long as her talent is decent she can carry herself to the god realm now just based on purity alone.


    The knowledge that all three of my daughters can become gods with enough time and a little luck was a bit overwhelming. At the same time though, I was thankful. This will give them a massive advantage. Still, when she told them to come to her before any breakthroughs and that she would help them it felt like I was overloaded from hearing so many impossible things in a short time. There are only so many miracles someone can take a day.


    But for as amazing as she was, I never saw her as a tool like a lot of other mothers in my situation would. I know that with that talent she can forcefully bring our empire up to a high level power just from the amount of wealth she can get for it alone but why would I sacrifice her happiness and mine for such a crude goal? If she wants to, she can. But if not, I¡¯d prefer to live the one life I have to it''s fullest. For me, strength was always a secondary objective and family, friendships, adventuring and love where my goals. From the moment we are born, the knowledge that unless we become a god and live as a hermit for eternity we are bound to die meant that living the life I had to the fullest was always more important. Sure, I can screw a friend over and become more powerful but what about my own happiness? Power never brought me happiness before so pursuing it now at the cost of my own happiness would be foolish. Death doesn¡¯t scare me but dying after living a pointless life does. Dying with regret is much worse than dying without regret in my opinion.


    As such, the gods¡¯ threat that if we treated her like a tool our world would be destroyed was unnecessary. My third daughter may be a gift from the gods, but all my daughters are gifts from the heavens to me. What does a little extra talent do to change that? I still love her and I wouldn''t sacrifice her for the sake or advancement even if I didn''t have the threat from the gods.


    In the last six months, her body has slowly started to grow into something amazing. Originally, her hair wasn''t visible due to the fact that she hadn''t grown enough of it to show the colours. Sometimes, a baby¡¯s hair colour will be clear from the moment they are born. But scarlet? She wasn''t like that. Due to the cultivation, her hair is actually about two metres long right now and as I was watching it grow longer and longer, the depth to it just got more and more amazing. Almost every colour imaginable in a tone of almost-black but still identifiable. Every two inches, it would change into a new one. The longer her hair got, the more colour¡¯s there where. Once her body catches up to her hair... well, it will be an amazing sight to behold. So far, even the brighter colours by nature maintain that almost-black feature so it all melds into each other naturally while being noticeably beautiful and glossy as well. I''ve never seen hair like it in my 900 year life.


    And her eyes? They where also unique. Where someone would usually have a single colour with varying shades, she instead has an icy dark purple colour. Throughout the entirety of the colour, it was like there where miniature cracks in her eyes, like it''s ice or glass. Of course, they aren''t really cracks but different shades of that purple in varying degrees of darkness suddenly over each over but it was amazing to look at, like a sculpture made out of thousands of glass shards, perfectly fitted together. I''ve never seen eyes like it before and they are, quite honestly, the most amazing eyes I have ever seen. If not for the god¡¯s assurance, I¡¯d really wonder if this perfect being was actually my child. I''m still not sure. She grew in me so she technically is but can it still be said when a god created her and she looks ridiculously perfect, at a stage of perfection I¡¯ve only seen on a single cultivator of stage thirty being a match for? Even then no one else¡¯s eye''s and hair match up with hers. Once she reaches stagethirty... I think a normal mortal would die of shock. And right now, she''s still a baby. Once her body completes it''s natural growth period as well as the beauty she gets from cultivating, it will be absolutely universe shaking. If not for her reassurance that we had two hundred gods watching over us I¡¯d go into hiding with her until she is at the top of the god realm. Can you imagine the amount of marriage propositions there will be? I''d be surprised if she didn''t get a hundred a day at least. I always heard guys joking in my travels about how much a beautiful woman could topple nations but it was only when I saw my daughter and that stage thirty cultivator that comes close that I really saw the reality of that statement. From what I¡¯ve seen in statues, only the gods can match up to her in beauty and that''s because they literally get a massive boost from becoming immortal and being at stage forty. It is scary to think how beautiful she will become. I am considered a once in a generation beauty. Scarlet? I think it''d be closer to a once in existence beauty. There''s not even a comparison once she grows up and becomes a god (something I have no doubt she can do easily).


    Overall, she is probably better than the god who gave her to us. Our god killed fifty five thousand other gods, so what does that mean for this little ball of perfection when she becomes a god? Will it easily turn into 550,000 instead? I just feel like she is something greater than anything or anyone else. It''s an aura she''s had from the moment she was born and an instinct that screams that she is naturally superior to any other. But yet, this amazing being is my daughter and I only feel love for her instead of devotion and fear like I would for anyone others with the aura. I know that she will change this world forever simply by existing. Who wouldn''t feel proud of a daughter like this? But the real answer that makes me a mother is that I do but I still care for all my children equally, just as they care for me. Family means everything to me, and I am sure it will to my daughters as well.


    Maybe one day I¡¯ll even attend their weddings. Like, a very distant day. At least a thousand years away, hopefully. Maybe two thousand¡­. Or ten.


    ----


    [Normal POV]


    I felt guilty about it but I had to try. On my sister¡¯s birthday, I told her not to cultivate for a few days. At first, the few days was just to make sure they would believe in me which they did easily. Because they trusted me, I gave Amber perfect mana cultivation. In truth, I¡¯m probably one of the only god''s who''s bothered about researching how to do this for a mortal. Because of that, although I know it''s difficult I can still do it fairly easily with my current eleventh realm cultivation. But the reason I feel guilty was that I didn''t believe in them. I wanted to, oh I definitely did. I wanted them to trust me and to treat me the same even after I showed them something which nations would kill each other to acquire but as much as I wanted to believe in them, in the end I still doubted them. So, I used the chance to give my sister a perfect core and reassure myself that my family won''t treat me like a tool. I may feel guilty about it but the doubt I had... it was there. I knew there was a possibility that I read my family wrong and that they would try to manipulate me into using my power for their gain while not angering the god''s threat. There are always boundaries to a threat or promise. Most people in this situation would push them and I had to reassure myself that they wouldn''t.


    Of course, the result I got was even better than I expected. After being at first freaked out, thinking I would cripple amber, it just went to being stunned and then being happy. There was nothing to indicate that any of them even considered using my talents for their own gain. That was the last string making me hold back with my family. With that last doubt gone, it got much easier to talk and interact with them and my worries disappeared. I might feel guilty for doubting them but the result... even if I feel guilt, the love I felt from it far outweighed it and my life got a lot happier rapidly.


    In the past eight months, I¡¯ve been withdrawing into my soul-scape most of the time. This is one of the powers I picked up and added to my soul. As far as I can tell it is extremely rare but since it is a soul-based power, the possibility that anyone can be born with it exists. It is basically a small world inside your soul that you can enter at will or when you go to sleep, you enter it as well. If you truly want to sleep, you can sleep inside of the soul-scape but otherwise, you''re body will still be asleep meaning mana can still influence it but your mind will not be. One of the major benefits of it is that you can see yourself on a screen while your sleeping. Because of that, it''s basically impossible for anyone to mess with your body while you are defenceless. The best thing though? Your mind can''t be manipulated or controlled. Since your mind itself is always ''conscious'' instead of the unconscious state that is necessary to mess with memories, thoughts, desires and instincts it means you are always safe from tampering.


    They are all the side benefitsof this place though. In here you can run any simulation you want, create any situation you want and buildanything you want. Obviously it can''t transfer out of the space but so what? This is a way to make overwhelmingly dangerous combat situations seem perfectly realistic and safe. It''s obvious that combat helps to improve skills, instincts and reflexes. With a space where you can create any simulation with complete realism and no threat of death? It''s a heaven for cultivators. In here I can even bring my power up above the god realm and slow down time. I could sleep for a day and have a week in here. While I can''t physically increase my power I can definitely increase everything else. I have an impossibly hard potion to make with extremely rare items? Fine, make it in here a few thousand times first and I¡¯m set to go. The potential of this room is crazy. And if I train in any mind and soul arts, I have the perfect conditions to actually grow those powers.


    So, for most of the time I was sleeping, I was in here. Obviously death did affect some of my skills. In reality, even with my memories being attached to my soul my brain was still something I spent a long time training, wether it be reflexes or processing skills. With a new brain, while I haven''t lost my massive amount of skill I have it has certainly regressed by a fair amount. In here I can train them back up easily. I have the perfect condition to do so, after all. Still, there are obviously limits. I can''t just create something out of nothing. It''s not like I can ask for a book about how to destroy the universe and get it. If I haven''t seen it, I don''t have it, it¡¯s as simple as that. But I can write new books and stuff like that in here. I can use the realism in order to manually create things I haven''t seen. To some people, this place would only be decently useful since they haven''t seen enough but to me, it is amazingly useful. I even have a theory that I can bring other people in here with the right mind-arts. I could teach someone about everything I¡¯ve learned while we''re sleeping and no one would even be able to tell.


    It''s things like this that I did so much research for. Something that normally you wouldn''t even be able to see revealed from research and memory reading. If not for the fact that I found a god that I couldn''t mind read even after they where asleep, I never would have found this power. At the time, I was stumped how they managed to block it so I tried and examined everything. In the end though, I made it look like I¡¯d given up. That''s the thing though. I didn''t. I had come to the theory that something resembling this room existed and I waited a few tens of thousands of years before trying again, hoping it had either worn off or they got bored and turned it off. And, with that, I was able to access their memories as they went to sleep and find out how I could replicate it. While time can go faster inside, it couldn''t go slower. I knew boredom would win out eventually so I staked them out for a damn long time. The results from my patience where amazing. Never let it be said that patience is pointless. While it''s difficult, it is also very rewarding, as seen by the fact that my patience got me a heap of knowledge, power and potential. I''m actually tempted to become a god again and hunt a few hundred thousand more gods to repeat this process.


    Make a minor change to my body to change the race, ask mum to give birth to me again and then store a heap more power into my soul. It''s already strengthened to the level where no one in this universe can shatter it and i will likely keep my memories after death. The power doesn¡¯t get wiped from souls from death (I did tests) so even if I never leave this universe I¡¯m destined to become a god easily from now and into eternity. But in the end, I¡¯m not completely sure about the memories part yet. So if I channel a few hundred thousand gods into purely my soul strength, my power will be massive. There''s also the fact that to pass to the next realm, most don''t even strengthen themselves like I did. If I strengthen my soul to such a massive extent, my chances for survival increase drastically. I know I won''t be able to hunt people in the next realm due to my power being lower but even if I could, I can''t trust anyone to give birth to me there. For all I know there are techniques reverse mind wiping and control so it would be like having a time-bomb, assuming it''s even possible there anymore. Seriously, there are so many unknowns that it''s better to improve before ascending. Whether I will have the patience to or not though, I have no idea. I know I¡¯m still massively above most of the people who went up (if they succeeded) but how much of a difference will that make in the long run? I''m not sure.


    Anyway, back on the outside I¡¯ve slowed down my cultivation. I want to spend more time with my family and once I got to the tenth stage, my body started to hurt. After a few days pause, it was fine but I know that if I improve too rapidly it will break. Sure, I can heal but who knows what side effects that''d have on my body. I might just heal directly into a weakened body that breaks again. I have to leave time for my body to be strengthened. Right now, it''s like the overwhelming mana pressure my body is taking is crushing it like there''s too much gravity. If I don''t get used to the gravity, I can''t turn it higher. Well, that''s a bit of an over-reaction since it only takes a week at most but still, it''s better not to directly increase my realm too fast. But, from today I¡¯m going to try and keep it on the edge. With the mana pressure, my body will be strengthened from it but also I will get a certain amount of strengthening simply from my breakthroughs and mana levels. If I add this to the base, it might be like the mana pool trick I found. Stretch it to its limits to add more body strength onto what I¡¯d get passively.


    I have a few actual body strengthening techniques I¡¯ve been using as well but I want to test this out to see if it''s more efficient. I''m hoping the pressure will strengthen my meridians and mana channels instead of just my body as a whole. The stronger they are, the faster the mana can flow without damaging my body. There are a few methods to strengthen them but the price is mana impurities so instead I¡¯m trying to find an alternative, atleast until I¡¯m back in the god realm and I have enough mana that it''s not so hard to clear the impurities. So, for the next four months I will be experimenting with this.There''s a good chance I can get to the thirties with four months of dedicated cultivating. Still that¡¯s under the assumption that once I get to the edge keeping it there will slow my progress, like when you have a sore muscle and your training slows for a while to let it heal. If I keep it sore but don''t extend the injury, I might need to only do light cultivating to keep it as it is. I''m not sure though since I¡¯ve never dealt with it before. I guess I¡¯ll find out in the future.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "So? What did you want to tell us?"


    I had gathered everyone together to tell them that I¡¯d be actively cultivating now.


    "I-I''m planning on cultivating for the next few months..." Damn, my voice. I still can''t talk my mind properly.


    "Won''t it be dangerous? You told us already about what you''re mana-level increases can do to your body."


    Yeah, i did tell them that. Mummy is asking right now. I decided to call my birth mother Mummy and my second mother just that, Mother. I brought it up and they had a massive public battle in a coliseum over who gets which name. It raised money, publicity and reputation while they duked it out for the mommy name so it was a win-win to them. Well, win-lose for Mother but that''s not the point.


    "I... I want to test something... it''s not dangerous" I denied.


    Unless there''s an unexpected side effect but even breathing might have an unexpected side-effect, it''s perfectly safe.


    "Uh-huh. I''ve heard that one before." Mother levelled a doubtful look at me.


    "Hey! That was an accident!" I shouted in reply, blushing.


    "Guh! Idiot, you made her pout." Mummy said as she covered her eyes. She really has no resistance to me pouting so when she''s trying to be serious she just refuses to look at me instead. Mother though...


    "Aww, but it''s so cute~" She sung to herself. She''s really a masochist. There''s no doubt that I¡¯d pout and she has no resistance to it either but yet, she looks every time. I can understand why cause it is cute but... really? She tries to make me pout just so she can be tortured by it.


    "Please, Mother. I know it''s not dangerous, okay? I just really want to try it"


    Judging by her face, she was about to agree easily with the puppy-eyes and pout combination but Mummy put her in a headlock so nothing got out.


    "Tell me why you want to do it first or no deal." ... ugh.


    "I want to see if the mana-pressure can strengthen my meridians and mana channels. As long as I keep it at a certain level, which will be easy, i should be able to test that and even if it doesn¡¯t strengthen them, it''s better to get my cultivation out of the way when I¡¯m young so my natural growth can build off of it to strengthen my body a lot more than others. It''s perfectly safe, I promise,¡± I explained. Mummy looked a little pained.


    "Does that mean you want to leave this world?" She asked with a hurt voice.


    To think that''s what she was worried about... I feel horrible.


    "No! It''s the opposite, I swear! I want to do all my cultivating here and even after that, I¡¯ll stay here for a long time! I don''t need the cultivation resources from other worlds due to my talent and I already have a heap of information about everything outside of this world. I have no reason to leave at all and if I¡¯m stronger, I can test a lot of things and protect you better." I said hurriedly.


    "So you don''t want to go adventuring at all?" She asked hopefully.


    "No, not at all, I promise. At most I¡¯d go collect materials and then come back but I doubt I¡¯d even need to with my soul-scape"


    Her face lit up visibly and suddenly she was super happy. Actually, the turn around makes me think she played me...


    "What''s you''re soul-scape?" Grandma asked suddenly, startling me. I forgot she was there...


    "Sigh, grandma! I told you last month! Have you already forgotten? It''s the ''space where youcan go boom-boom without destoying stuff'' as you put it." I whined.


    "Ah, now I remember" She said with a clap. "I have one of those too! My wife used to always knock me out when I got angry and make me stay in there, such a barbarian. Why couldn''t I kill the mean politicians?" She asked me with teary eyes.


    "Wait wait wait. You have a soul-scape? Do you even realise how rare that is?" I asked in disbelief.


    "Huh? But, I¡¯ve always had it so I just thought everyone had one. Cindy used to come in with me as well. She had one, so did her sister..." She said hesitantly while I just gaped.


    "Grandma, out of a trillion people only one would have a soul-scape. You''re telling me that you, you''re wife and you''re wife''s sister had one?" I asked with an awed voice.


    "Y...Y-yeah?" She look panicked.


    "Where you supposed to keep that a secret?" I asked blankly.


    "M-maybe... just, ah, just in case don''t tell Cindy, okay?" She pleaded while I was stunned with the revelation that Cindy was still alive.


    "Cindy is alive? Why isn''t she here then?" I voiced my question bluntly.


    "Ah, a dragon is holding her captive since he likes her cooking" She said without a care in the world.


    "Umm... what? Why don''t you sound worried about that?"


    It seems it was my parents first time hearing of it as well judging by their facial expressions.


    "W-well, Cindy makes me follow all those annoying rules and stuff so I just, umm, y-yeah, so it''s just a vacation" Grandma said with a awkward laugh.


    "Mum!! You told me that she went into secluded meditation!" Mummy screeched at her.


    "She did. Just at the dragons place." She said with a nod while I just face palmed.


    "You left her there for three hundred years!!" She yelled again while glaring daggers.


    "A-ah, really? Well, that''s not that long so it should be fine, right? Why are you getting angry?" She was totally failing at hiding the guilty look she had.


    "Full name, location and the dragons name, now" I saidsternly to grandma.


    "Cinder Primrose, used to be Cinder Treilin. At the, umm... i think it was the big lava world about twenty cultivation planets to the right? And the dragon, well he called himself "RAWRR! YOU WILL COOK ME GIANT CUPCAKES FROM NOW ON!" before he slapped me away." She said with a finger on her chin and tilting her head. The voice she said that in though... this time, my face palm left red mark and a really loud slapping sound.


    Closing my eyes, I mentally commanded towards ten of the links in my mind. ''Temporary objective override: Find Cindy Primrose, also known as Cindy Treilin and free her from captivity. Keep her safe and ask what she wants done to her captor before following her command and once it is fulfilled, return her to my location and resume normal duty. She should be in a nearby world and her captor was last known to be a dragon. Most likely residence is in any cultivation world within 30 worlds with lava as it''s domain.''


    ''Yes.'' Ten voices echoed back with a dull, almost mechanical voice.


    "Mummy, it''s fine. I told the god, she''ll find her." I interrupted as mummy was yelling at grandma and getting up to go fight the dragon.


    I also decided to ignore the frantic shaking of grandma''s head trying to tell me to take it back. Mummy knocked her out when she saw it.


    "Sigh, why is my mother such an idiot? I really can''t let her do anything alone, can i?" Mummy said while rubbing her temples. Mother got up to comfort her while stroking her hair. I totally know that''s an excuse though. She has some weird hair obsession and she uses any excuse she can to touch peoples hair. She was also patting the KO''d grandma''s hair at the same time. I knew about the obsession because I can see it with my Soul-Scape. When we''ve all gone to sleep, she get''s up and starts stroking our hair. I''m pretty sure that''s why she always has small bags under her eyes and not because she''s a dedicated queen. After sleeping like two hours a day every day even her cultivation can''t keep up with it. Honestly, it''s weird but it feels nice so I don''t mind. I can still feel my body in the Soul-Scape thought so it''s really distracting to feel the sensations on two bodies but I guess that''s a form of training as well.


    A few minutes after that, Grandma woke up looking really depressed and was forced to sit in the corner until my other grandma returned. I''ve already decided to call this one grandma airhead instead. Cindy gets to be grandma.


    After another half hour, ten gods appeared with the grandma I¡¯ve never met before and then disappeared. Grandma Airhead jumped onto her legs crying about how mean her daughters where before grandma just looked at her blankly and stepped on her back with high-heels. It was really disturbing when I realised they have a Sadist-Masochist relationship based off of the small signs of them both enjoying it.


    "Mummy! I''m sorry, we only just found out you weren''t in cultivation!" Mummy said while rushing Grandma into a hug. I mean I didn''t even know she was alive so they still have a one up on me.


    "She was sneaky, huh? I guess I¡¯ll have to punish her later. Since I¡¯m weaker, when Diago hit her away she pretended to be hurt and ran. What an idiot. I saw through her easily. Dumb dragon, he didn''t even question it, the haughty son of a bitch. Now, care to explain to me what I¡¯ve missed?" She asked as she casually took a massive dragon head out of her spatial ring and mounted it on the wall. Then she attached it''s dick to it''s head though and wrote ''Here lies Diago, a haughty son of a bitch who died and became a dickhead.'' Pfft, what the hell. It''s in the main dining room as well...


    "Mummy, I told you to leave you''re dickhead collection in the trophy hall! It''s already bad enough without you putting it in the DINING hall!" She squealed at her while grandma just made a bored expression and looked the other way.


    "Yeah yeah, i''ll do it later. So, you''re fucking my daughter, aye? Tell me, has she become good at it yet? She never talks to me. Sigh, kids these days" She said really casually with a bored voice and expression while Mother just went completely red and stuttered.


    "Ah you''re the innocent type. So, corruption sex then? Or humiliation?" She asked with a lopsided grin.


    "Mummy... ugh, maybe I should have just asked for you to be left there. There''s children here and you come to greet my wife with how our sex life is." Mummy lectured with a scowl. You could totally tell she was happy though.


    "Idiot, you really thought I wouldn''t come to my daughters wedding? You should have noticed as soon as this airhead told you I couldn''t come." She scolded right back in return while Mother looked flustered.


    "You''re face totally gives it away. You were busy too busy fucking each other to realise, weren''t you?" I asked with a dead expression and voice as I accused them both, Mothers blush confirming it for me.


    "Bahaha what the hell? Seeing a practically newborn child with such long hair talk like that... pfft" That was the first time I saw her composure crack so far and even covering her mouth didn''t stop it.


    "Sigh, mummy this is Kara Primrose, my wife and this is Scarlet Primrose, born eight months and four days ago. There are two older children but they aren''t here at the moment at they are socialising with the other nobles in the common room. Kara, Scarlet, this is Cinder Primrose, my mum." Mummy introduced for us.


    "Wow, so it really was corruption, not even using protection in your sex. Nice to meet you and all that." She said with a wave as she started drinking some of Airhead Grandma''s wine and pouring gravy on her.


    "It''s nice to meet you as well" Mother said while fighting to hold her blush back.


    "You''re amusing." Was my comment.


    "And you''re way too perfect to come out of my daughters vagina. Who are you really?" She asked me sceptically.


    "Mum, seriously, language! And for you''re information, she did come out of me! Our god told me she''d be special, don''t just assume she''s not my daughter" Mum scolded before finishing with a cold voice at the end.


    "Eh, you''re so uptight. Relax, no one''s gonna explode just because you talk loudly" She said with an overly-dramatic performance of covering her ears painfully.


    "Anyway, you''re special, aye? Yeah, you have a soul space. Call me Cindy or grandma, whichever''s fine. I''m the chick that''s fucking this stupid airhead masochistic useless pig bastard down here and the one that popped your mum out of my vagina. You can come to me for any kind of sex advice if you want. Anyway, I haven''t done anything but masturbate for the last three hundred years so I¡¯m going to make use of this useless slab of meat for a while. We''ll be back in a week, k?" And then she was gone, with one disturbingly pleasure-filled scream that echoed out in the room and a crater appearing in the wall in the shape of a human.She could sense that I had a soul scape? The airhead didn¡¯t notice it till I told her (wouldn¡¯t surprise me if she did though and forgot what it was. Or if she completely forgot how to sense it.) so I wasn¡¯t expecting her to notice immediately.


    Mummy scolded me because I couldn''t stop laughing and then she went to go get someone to fix the wall and move the dickhead wall mount into the trophy room. I suddenly had an interest in this never-before-seen part of the castle and I was determined to sneak away with Amber and Emerald to see it later. First, I abused my authority as a slave master with two hundred gods to get them to send me a mental image of a full 3-D map of the castle with notes marking each room. It was rather disturbing when I found there was a twenty-kilometre big sex dungeon in the castle that was split by a wall and door. On the other side was a torture chamber. I have a feeling I know exactly who had that built, especially as it was under grandmas'' room. Overall though, the castle was absolutely massive, just like I knew it was but the space enchants made it even bigger than I realised. I did find a lot of interesting things as well. Originally I didn''t care about the map because it had no importance to me and I could get it anytime but now that I have it, there are a lot of fun things to investigate.


    For example, an ''abandoned secret lab'' which was perfect for scaring the crap out of noble kids in the castle and my siblings. I''ll have grandma check it out first since I¡¯m not sure that it''s safe and since she''s cool enough to not ban me from going in. Noble kids... I¡¯d prefer not to accidently get any of them killed or release a bio-weapon on accident. The next point of interest was the mausoleum. It was a secret room made by one of the creepier past queens that has a skeleton of everything they''ve ever killed inside covering the walls, hanging from the roof and set up in ways to look as if they are desperately trying to escape the chains holding them in the ground. Even I was a little creeped out by that, let alone those kids.


    There where a few things I didn''t appreciate though. For example, in one noble¡¯s house there was a secret rape/torture chamber where she had around a hundred current prisoners in varying degrees of health. By the looks of it, she literally breeds them down there. The next was a few different tunnels used for spying on their competitors and, if necessary, smuggling tunnels for kidnapping and assassination. I''d be sure to provide a full list of them to Mother, as well as a list of some of the more questionable ones as well to be put on observation. Of course I wouldn''t tell everyone the majority of escape tunnels as if it get''s leaked, we wouldn''t have access to them and assassins could get in easily. Plus, I wanted to explore them. The others though? While having a private sex dungeon to use on your partner like grandma does isn''t bad(maybe a little disturbing), having a slave dungeon where you rape and kill commoners is not tolerable at all. And since they''ve been bred down there like livestock for who knows how long, no one even had a clue as there weren''t even rumours about disappearances liike there usually would be. It''s disgusting and I will make sure she suffers for it.


    But while all that has varying degrees of interest to me, what would have to be the biggest point of interest would be a massive underground cave about twenty kilometres below the castle. There is a single tunnel doing down to it through the use of piano keys and down there was an underground stream. What was the most interesting though was that it was literally set up to be a copy-cat of the batman cave, it even had the same equipment down there. The only difference was that it took longer to get down to by elevator and that when you go through the underground waterfall, there is an underground tunnel stretching twenty thousand km''s before coming out behind another waterfall. Seriously, who the fuck made that? Reincarnated batman, a batman fan or a really bored cultivator? Shit, I so wish I had friends who knew what batman was to show it to. Maybe I should make a program in schools so that reincarnated people can get special rights and then befriend someone from that version of Earth? Meh, whatever.


    ----


    [POV Change]


    Recently, the queen (one of them) ordered me to create a new program for reincarnated citizens. Should they come out about having memories of a past life and pass the lie test, they will be entered into a special program where they get some good benefits from it. Naturally, at first I was completely confused. Reincarnation? Does that really exist? But I implemented the program into the education systems with the benefits I was told to: Scholarship access to a private school which supplies cultivation resources and free lodging for direct family members and possible job offers after schooling has finished. Not surprisingly, there where many people who applied, hoping to cheat the lie test. So, after seeing a few thousand notes on people lying, I had given up hope for the project and assumed it was just a crazy rich persons idea of a joke.


    But then the unthinkable happened. We began to get positive results! Out of every few thousand false applications, there would occasionally be a true one. Overall, it wasn''t much but with a few days, it built up and we had two hundred reincarnated children attending the private school. Naturally, I was stunned and so too where many of the higher ups in the nation as well as the commoners. But I¡¯m no idiot. Different worlds have different cultures and different training methods. If we can capitalise on these children¡¯s knowledge, all sorts of possibilities open up to us! Due to the success of this operation, we began offering the same thing for adults as well. Of course, it was fairly different compared with the system for children. They can live freely in apartments but if they want free cultivation resources or money, they have to attend a one-hour session each time to give information of their past lives to government workers. Any valuable information will be rewarded with extra resources and if someone is talented enough, they can even be offered a job with well-paying benefits.


    Of course this also had a lot of false applications but in a world of cultivation, there were obviously a lot more adults still living who where reincarnated as compared with children. Girls of all ages flocked into these new programs and over time, the education system was updated and cities started developing. With another few years, we will have skyscrapers and flying vehicles, public transportation, sewer systems, new sports and even an entertainment industry. All of a sudden, our nation that has only been focused on cultivation had departments in science, biology, technology, enchanting, medicine and magic research. Information was released to the schools that the purer your mana is, the easier it is to cultivate. Everything changed within a few months, all due to whichever genius decided to use the knowledge of those with memories from other worlds. For the first time, we even have public holidays and celebrations. Best of all though? There where programs being implemented to help the poor and sick, to feed the hungry and teach every child. Instead of purely focusing on realm levels, we where now focusing on everyone, using weapons to be able to enter the military and separating them between long-distance bombardment squads and cultivators.


    So much changed in such a short time but our economy? Instead of taking a hit, it began to boom! Multi-levelled buildings like apartments meant we had more houses for everyone without going to war for land. The farming techniques advanced massively and now we have twenty story silo-farms with enchantments helping growth. Twenty kilometre large buildings where made with multiple levels filled with mana-gathering formations for public cultivation, increasing our military strength as a whole and getting large amounts of money for the twenty copper a day entry fee where spread throughout towns and cities. Sports fields, fighting arenas, orphanages, official general markets as well as multi-levelled shopping malls. Over a few months, massive amounts of jobs where created and money was added to the nation from both the influx of production, tourism (female only, unless political) and public events. So much happened practically over-night that people who went into seclusion for a few months came out thinking a thousand years passed.


    When it was leaked that it was the third princess who had asked for a division for reincarnated citizens, she was hailed as a hero from billions of people. How it got leaked? No body knows. But what we do know is that from now on, this princess will go down in the history of this nation as the founding mother of our culture and the reason why the world became a brighter place. Overnight, we became the biggest nation in the world with an almighty military strength, an amazing cultural development and two hundred gods to back us up. Religion was founded and it was made public knowledge that there was one ''leading'' god and two hundred ''underling'' gods. The biggest change though would be the massive formations the nation was layering down throughout every city to passively increase mana-density. With this and the public cultivation rooms, the nations strength would increase massively once again.


    What had the other nations pissed though was there was nothing they could do. Even with spies to collect information, there was so much of it that nothing was being achieved. Due to the influence they let the nobles have, the kingdoms couldn''t make major changes over-night and worse yet, they where losing mass amounts of woman to immigration. Opposite to what they expected about how the majority of woman wouldn''t leave due to how ''disgusting'' it was to be in an all-female nation and relationships, there where hundreds of thousands of deserters within a few months. Due to how horribly men treated their wives, how fearful a common woman was everyday with the risk of rape, kidnapping and torture and how they starved, bled and suffered endlessly, woman just up and left, and there was nothing they could do about it! The kings knew it was over. They could never go to war with a nation that has gods on its side and with how stubborn the councils are, they could never catch up to the all-female nation''s progress. They are already destined to either die out or mass-migrate to another world.


    For the rest of the world, even men began envying the nation they once considered preposterous. There was no way the other five nations would be able to catch up to our level. Unless they hit a jackpot and found another world with our level of culture, they where doomed to continue living in poverty and inequality. Rubbing salt in the wound though was when word got out of the gods laying a massive formation array below the nation to increase health, beauty, strength and mana-levels. With all that and the arrays below cities and towns, as well as the public cultivation, the mana in the air was suddenly ten times richer just by being in a normal field. With health and beauty increased, peoples lives where more comfortable and disease was rare.


    Overall, due to this one decision the world changed forever and even the gods showed their support of the nations advancement. Scarlet Primrose had become a legend, one that would never be extinguished for as long as the gods protected the world. And¡­ I almost died from exhaustion when the mana I was using to forcibly keep me going ran out without me realising and I collapsed into a two week coma. I was thankful for the changes but please... I want to sleep as well! Why, oh why, was overtime introduced! It''s so addicting, getting more money like this!


    -----


    [Normal POV]


    Yeah, my random idea got totally out of hand. Who would have guessed that the nation I¡¯ve been raising for so long had such a life-hack to it''s development? I was even able to order an array down once I had an excuse like rewarding them for the progress. Somehow though, both my lives have gained the same level of importance in the citizen¡¯s hearts. It''s weird. I know that I am both people but yet no one else does. Even then, I have such a large amount of influence. I mean, there''s literally a religion about me being the queen of the gods. It''s true but it''s kind of a weird feeling. Well, atleast this nation will have some fun stuff by the time I enrol in school. I was rather dreading that future event without any places to go and hang out at like the mall, movie cinemas, theme parks, photo-booths and all those other fun school activities. With the rate of development as well, it''s definitely going to be ready by then. Even the public execution of the noble who was raping commoners was completely overlooked for the most part, to the relief of the family of said noble. There was a kid down there with really good natural talent who I broke through with pure mana as well. Right now, she is only four years old but she naturally feels indebted to me. I''ve been visitingher regularly to help with her mental recovery and cultivation.


    Ah, I¡¯m two now. My birthday was yesterday. The results of my experiment where good, as i was hoping. My mana channels and meridians (doors) where strengthened by it and now I¡¯m at the thirty seventh realm, officially making me the strongest in the nation. Gods don''t count. But on that note, it also gave me an idea for a new formation I¡¯ve been working on. Since Mummy and Mother, as well as the S & M pair has been rather busy since I made the cultural boom accidently, I¡¯ve had a lot of time to work on it. Basically, I want to make it an easily accessible formation that can be installed in places that paid enough money. But i also want to make it so that no one below a god can decipher it and the installers/ pre-builders of it are bound to secrecy oaths. Why? Because I¡¯m 90% certain no one else has it in the universe so far. The concept is simple. Increase the mana density to extreme levels. But the why is different. It''s not for cultivation, it''s just for straining you''re mana channels and meridians. If it works out right, this nation can become a super power just based on this alones influence. Pretty neat right? My guess is that since they are usually used for cultivation it was just never discovered or those who did horded it. It is a little more complicated since you need to make it target your meridians as if it''s your own mana but it''s still doable. Of course though, there are side-effects. Not many, but still some. If you want to alter your body in the future, it''s harder. If someone damages their meridians from crossing the limit, it''s harder to fix and if someone with damaged meridians uses it, they are harder to repair. It''s not something major but it is still a disadvantage so it needs to be used carefully.


    What I¡¯m stuck on though is how to generalise this formation. I don''t have to go to school until I am six but I¡¯m hoping to generalise it by the time I¡¯m four so that I have a chance to use it at school. Honestly, schools a bit of a waste of time for me but I¡¯ve never experienced it before so I want to give it a try. I have nothing to lose from it and I want a normal life to a certain extent even if I am strong. Right now I¡¯ve managed to make most of the formation design but I am stuck on the cost of it. You see, unlike a lot of formations it can''t be made simply by inscribing it onto a surface and keying it in to collect the natural mana in the air. To target the users channels and meridians, it has to be keyed into their mana. What this means is I need to have a way to set multiple owners onto a formation as temporary ownerships. It''s hard but doable, as everything is. But the problem is with the materials needed to do it. So far, every combination I try uses very rare materials for that process. For the rest, it is s simply as engraving it in but for a ''keystone'' sort of effect, I need an Unorthodox Blood Stone. Out of all the bloodstones which are rare by themselves, about one in a million is an unorthodox one, basically a mutated one that only has temporary blood-binding. Obviously, this isn''t good enough for me as I want both time limits to the binding and ''owners''. Basically i want to have a computer control it with a system admin and temporary uses, the higher the time and concentration the higher the cost. The stone is simply too inefficient and costly for what I want done.


    Because of that, I¡¯m working on combining computers and enchanting together. Mana-imprinting as opposed to a blood imprinting is temporary with varying lengths of time based on the mana''s strength. So, I¡¯m trying to make an automatic enchanting process where the user pays and then puts their mana into the machine for the time they are booking it. It will write a temporary ''ownership'' over it and they can use the formation inside. It''s a lot harder than I expected though. Yes, I can make it pretty easily. No, I cannot make it so easily as to give access to the public yet. I naturally want the temporary ownership computer style thing to be widespread. Private cultivation formations for the different things you are cultivating are a must. Fire mana, water mana, normal mana and even spiritual energy formations... if they are easily customizable, wide-spread and cheap, the nation will boom.


    So overall I am still having trouble with my project, but that''s because of the nature of it lead me to my computer problem. Still, I have high hopes for the future for now. Maybe eventually this world will even become a hub for cultural, technological and strength improvement. Most cultivators don''t bother researching these things which is stupid since arrays and formations improve cultivation speed, recovery and strength. To not research it simply because you want to gain strength instead is something idiotic. It is literally a fast track to strength. I mean, just by the gods laying a formation over the nation, general strength, health and happiness increased massively. Sometimes I really don''t understand the idiots who don''t strive for perfection when perfection is what leads to true strength. Cultivators are idiots. Don''t they know that concentrating for so long on cultivating can actually be bad for their cultivation? Relaxing in a hot-tub, getting a massage, watching movies and playing games are something basic but effective. Over time, we wear down our mental strength and it causes actual physical problems for us but yet, they think taking a stupid pill will fix it. No, you idiot! The pill is making your cultivation harder and you''re injury more frequent!


    Ugh, whatever. They can do what they want. I''ll atleast be improving my nation instead. The good thing about a technologically advanced society of cultivators is that everyone can atleast reach a certain base strength through casual cultivation. Go to work, cultivate in the evening, sleep and relax with friends and after a hundred years, you''re a stage ten even if you have terrible talent. With that if they dislike the society they can just go off-world and kill minor beasts, go on adventures and make money through trading items. Ah, I just realised I forget to mention something. Yes, the slave gods are all female. Wouldn''t it be insulting to a female-only nation if the gods where male? But I am thinking of creating a tourist city once the world is ours that allows males in. For political and economical reasons, having a major city sectioned off from the rest of the world where males can visit for trading, cultivation and tourism would be useful. Eventually, it will change into a world as we get stronger but for now, this is fine. Big ideas, small world... well no, the world is actually like ten times the size of earth. Not the point.


    Overall, I¡¯m satisfied. Due to my accidental life-hack for the nation it has improved drastically and became something worthwhile. Before I only cared about my family on this world but I guess that this is the first time I¡¯ve really felt the world was my home as well. After everything I¡¯ve discovered and explored in my last life, technology and cultivation are both important to me. So a world that is one or the other like most of the ones I¡¯ve visited so far isn''t really something I like. But now that my nation is merging into a mix between it, I¡¯m rather satisfied.


    My family is still what is most important to me though. But now... now the world and the people in it have some worth to me as well. I wonder where that will take me in the future and how i will change because of it. After all, having a family has already changed me majorly so what will having a home do?

 Chapter 3 - Bonding

    ¡°So, what are you doing today, Little sis?¡±


    My oldest sister, Amber, asked. It¡¯s become rather like a routine for us lately while we are having breakfast. So, this time I figured I¡¯d make that routine a little more interesting.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m planning on scaring the crap out of some noble children. I¡¯ve been waiting three years till I was old enough to go out without Mum¡¯s permission so I¡¯m going to make the best of it¡± I replied with an evil grin.


    A few days ago, I had my fourth birthday but due to some circumstances I couldn¡¯t yet leave the confines of my room unattended. The great me, a child who reached the god realm at the age of four with only casual cultivation, was grounded. Yeah, it was embarrassing for me. Having two of the most respected identities in the kingdom but yet I was grounded for making a sex joke with Grandma. Oh, and ¡®mums¡¯ is like a plural for me to refer to both parents. It get¡¯s annoying after a while so those things end up sticking.


    ¡°You do realise you are just going to get grounded again once she finds out, right?¡± The drastically more mature little girl who wanted to name me Butterfly asked.


    ¡°Eh, it¡¯s so worth it. To see all those stuck up noble twats pissing themselves and running for mummy will be amazing. Want to tag along? As long as the other nobles don¡¯t dob you in, I¡¯ll be blamed for it all and they won¡¯t even know.¡± I offered coaxingly.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine with it. Tomorrow is a school day anyway so even with being grounded I¡¯ll still see my friends.¡± Amber answered dismissingly. She¡¯s picked up a bit of grandma¡¯s ¡®whatever¡¯ personality, which I appreciate quite a bit. It is certainly useful for situations like this.


    ¡°Hmm, okay fine. But only if Jasmine is there. I¡¯m still annoyed with the rumour she started recently.¡± Emerald agreed with the purpose of revenge.


    Two weeks ago the noble child in question started a rumour about whether I really existed or not. No one has seen me save from the rare glimpses of servants and my family so she believed it funny to question my existence. Unfortunately for her, she miscalculated the relationship my siblings have with me and has earned their ire, not a good position to be in with two princesses of the kingdom. It will pass over fairly quickly so long as she does nothing stupid but I rather question that outcome with someone dumb enough to question the existence of a princess.


    ¡°It should be easy enough to arrange. With my first appearance the noble children will naturally try to gain a favourable impression with me and as a result, I doubt any of them will be willing to disregard my suggestion of activity. As long as she is in the common room, you¡¯re revenge will be sated whether she follows or not.¡± I promised easily. I¡¯ve been planning this for a long time, naturally I am confident in my planning.


    ¡°What do you mean by getting revenge even if she doesn¡¯t come?¡± Emerald asked in confusion.


    ¡°If she chooses to disregard the princess and abandon the crowd, she will be ostracised by the other nobles. If she stays behind or if she follows, as long as she is there the results are the same.¡± Amber answered for me.


    ¡°If she actually does stay behind I would begin to pity her. After starting a rumour about my non-existence and then avoiding my event she would just bring misfortune onto herself by refusing to attend. If she attends, it will just be getting even but if she does not her life will be hard for the foreseeable future.¡± I added in as an after thought.


    ¡°My grudge is not to the level of ruining the childhood of a young girl. If it does happen, I will find a way to mitigate the damage it does.¡± Amber replied with a sigh.


    ¡°Hoh? How irresponsible of you, Scarlet. Scheming in plain sight, you might just be overheard.¡± Grandma said casually as she scared the hell out of my sisters.


    ¡°You know grandma, if I didn¡¯t have the confidence to scheme like this in plain sight I would be doubting you¡¯re abilities. You did promise me no outside interference would appear today after all.¡± I said with a smile.


    ¡°Ah, the cute little girl who could barely talk full sentences without panicking has become a political snake. How disappointing.¡± She said with a fake regrettable tone.


    ¡°As an outsider I feel rather offended that the one who taught her that was the one who said it¡¯s regrettable.¡± Amber cut in with a glare.


    ¡°Hardly, I only helped her get the words out in the open. They where always there in the beginning anyway, she just needed help expressing them. If anything that queen god of ours is the one who taught her to be a skilled politician.¡± Grandma said, totally shifting the blame unknowingly onto myself. I can¡¯t really deny it though. I always analyse everything I do, say and think before accepting it. Being a genius comes with the disadvantage of an unusually active mind.


    ¡°Should we not get going? A venue will be chosen before we can manipulate it if we are too late¡± Emerald reminded us.


    Yeah, that would be bad. If they have already decided to go someplace else, even my presence won¡¯t have enough influence to change that. Cutting off the conversation, we left towards the common room. In reality, it was just a massive ball room that was used for nobles and important officials to gather and socialise while they weren¡¯t doing anything else. There was always food there along with several games, an indoor stream that looked utterly beautiful and a few other decorations. The theme of the ball room was like a cross between a grand and lavish, well, ball room before it merged into an indoor garden. Naturally, it¡¯s quite popular for parties due to that feature as well. The noble children had a spot that was acknowledged as their own by the other nobles.


    Once inside with grandma stalking from the shadows (no, she just mixed in with nobles. She¡¯s not an assassin) we didn¡¯t attract much attention at first. Seeing the two princesses come in with another noble or several isn¡¯t very uncommon and since our area had a route far enough away from the distance where they would politely greet us on our journey, it was obvious we didn¡¯t attract attention at first.


    But soon, one or two caught sight of my appearance and began to whisper. Within a few seconds, I had the full attention of all the adults in the hall. Naturally, grandma said that I was the third princess and everyone knew within seconds but they where still stunned with my appearance. It is expected for a princess to be beautiful with out bloodline and status of being cultivators but I was obviously at another level. I was a god after all, one that if full-grown would have had an appearance beating a god when I was still a normal mortal. With my cultivation? Even as a four year old I am impressive. There¡¯s not really a way to describe being flawlessly perfect. In the end, now the only thing which will increase my beauty is age and my personality. If I have a crappy one, naturally it is not as good as an elegant one.


    There are forty realms to reach god. Once you do, there are ten realms until you reach the strength cap. I¡¯m a third realm god currently. In reality I am unnaturally perfect due to both the cultivation and the base form along with my unique features, pale skin and rich lips. Even if I get hurt, perfection is so far engrained into me now that my actions would naturally be as such. Cultivation doesn¡¯t just increase beauty and strength. It also increases the natural grace, something which I already had a lot of. I could be chopping a body up with an axe and a savage grin while still seeming graceful.


    So naturally, I was the centre of attention. The only sound I heard from the nobles was when some more information was passed among themselves but otherwise, they where barely even breathing loudly. Well, other than my Grandma. She really couldn¡¯t care less about their reactions to me. Even on our first meeting, a glance was all she spared me before talking with my parents so why would she do more now? She judges people based on personalities, not looks. Though I¡¯m not really sure how she ended up with Grandma Airhead in that case. Maybe she just genuinely likes that sort of person or even she doesn¡¯t understand?


    Either way, I ignored the looks. Regardless of their curiosity I knew acknowledging them would mean I would be required to approach them and to suddenly reverse my current path in the favour of attention would be unfitting and as such, we made our way to the corner the noble children had reserved for themselves without even sparing the crowd a glance.


    Originally, this corner itself was created to be a place for the children to socialise during balls so although it is tucked away behind a massive tree with tables around it, there is still a side-door that food is constantly being brought through for the young nobles. It is simple fact that children would be uncomfortable spending the whole event socialising with the adults of the hall so this place is considered a retreat for the children. While they are still expected to socialise with many of the adults and make regular appearances during such events, it is still a place for them to escape the ball. Of course, the adults have one as well, it¡¯s just a little more public.


    My point to that is the children had not noticed my scene yet and while I could see them, they could not see me. I decided to play with them a little. Signalling my sisters to go on ahead of me, I sat in a branch directly above them and waited to see how long it would take for me to be noticed. Cultivation alone wouldn¡¯t help against someone as superior to them as me so sight would be what they would need to rely on.


    ¡°Good morning princesses.¡± The first girl to notice my sisters greeted.


    ¡°Hello Trinity¡± Amber greeted in return. Everyone in the group of around thirty noble children had noticed them now.


    ¡°Ah, you are just in time. We where just discussing what we should do for the day. Do you have any suggestions?¡± Another girl directed at my sisters.


    ¡°Actually, my sister had one¡± Amber replied easily, prompting everyone to look at Emerald.


    ¡°Scarlet is with us today. She is the one who had something she wanted to do.¡± Emerald shrugged dismissingly. Some simply had a disbelieving look but a few chose to look around and naturally found me directly above them before freezing. They didn¡¯t say anything but naturally the others noticed the actions and followed their eyes before copying them. I had to admit that with the enchantments to make the tree blow softly in the wind, I would have been quite a sight to behold.


    But of course, I am much too dramatic of a person to let myself lose this golden opportunity. Suddenly, I vanished and reappeared about a foot off the ground, slowly falling with a small puff of my skirt so that my decent looked to be in normal speed but skipping everything in between, as if I really was only a foot off the ground the whole time. That was much more interesting than a slow fall all the way down.


    ¡°I know a few interesting places in the castle that you haven¡¯t been to before¡± I said with a soft but sweet voice. Ironically it was the shock of hearing my voice that snapped them out of it simply because of how nice it sounds.


    ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Scarlet. And where would these places be referring to, if I may ask?¡± The oldest among them asked. You gotta give her props for how quickly she composed herself.


    ¡°Hmm, well this castle is very old with a lot of different people creating secret rooms, passages and retreats. While these are interesting to explore though in and of themselves, there are two rooms in particular which would be quite amusing to explore. Consider it a test of courage, if you will.¡± I said vaguely.


    Saying a few more lines to convince them, I had the entire group following me, although with an obvious amount of hesitance and caution. For my first stop, I was taking them to the laboratory. The way to open the laboratory was quite interesting. A normal picture, just like any other, had to be destroyed on the wall in it¡¯s exact location. I¡¯m assuming they made it as such in order to guarantee that it wasn¡¯t accidently discovered as putting a picture up and then destroying it is a very deliberate action, especially as there weren¡¯t any nails to hold it meaning mana would have to be used. It works on a mechanism that if mana is put on that rectangle space and then violently dispersed, it would open the room. It is quite genius really. With this, anyone layering mana over the walls to trigger hidden mechanism¡¯s would not realise it by accident and with the control it takes to replicate without a picture it is almost impossible anyone would notice the laboratory. Whoever made it was quite impressive indeed.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Of course though, I explained to them how it works. If nothing else, it is an escape route for the nobles in the case of an attack and with two entrances, they would not have to fear being boxed in. Once I have finished using it to scare them though, I will be repurposing it into a secret hang-out spot instead while bringing many fun activities into it.


    ¡°How where you able to find such a place, sister?¡± Emerald asked me before we went in after I explained the mechanism.


    ¡°I had a lot of free time to read through old letters, documents and books once you had both gone to school and our parents where busy with administration issues.¡± Truthfully, I really did do that but it wasn¡¯t how I found this place.


    Before any more questions could be asked I activated the mechanism.


    ¡°From what I can tell, this used to be a secret laboratory. It seems the person here was originally trying to create potions to physically strengthen and improve their own body. Due to that desire, there where a lot of animal test subjects but thankfully she didn¡¯t do any tests on another human save herself. It can of course still be argued at the morality of such an act but strictly speaking there where and are no laws against her experiments other than it being a hidden practise. Due to how old the place is, it is unknown what her goals where or her true identity but seeing as the construction of this place would be picked up by other cultivators unless she was five realms above them, it is plausible to reason that she was either a very strong cultivator or a very well-connected one.¡± I explained to them as we filed in.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding when you said a courage test. This place is creepy, it even gives off a bad vibe¡± The oldest once again talked first. I was a little surprised she could sense that but it¡¯s not enough to be notable.


    ¡°Yes, it is. But all places have their worth. While this mechanism is the only entrance, it can be opened from the inside as well by pressing the button. On the opposite side of the room, there is a similar button that can be used to escape but unlike the entrance, it is only a one-way doorway. Naturally, a place with one entrance and two exits is a good one to lose pursuers or hide in the case of a disaster. I am planning on repurposing the room in the future but for now, you should all go and explore what it¡¯s like now. Not many chances to explore such a place come to us as the children of important families after all.¡± I explained to them. Earning a few nods, they split off into groups of two and three to look through the laboratory.


    Obviously, in such a castle this lab is quite big. Based on my observations there where even dragons used in here occasionally as live test subjects so the room itself is well-reinforced and sound-proofed, one of the reasons why I desire to repurpose it. The other is that in total it is close to fifty kilometres big on the inside and fifty metres from the out. Honestly, it is quite impressive that the owner could place down such a massive space manipulation array so I assume they where atleast in the 25-30 realm range.


    What was creepy about it though is most of the test subjects are still here, even if they are long dead. Intimidating equipment, dried blood, test tubes and glowing glasses with brains and organs. There¡¯s even a massive book in a middle with hundreds of thousands of names that have been crossed out from past animal subjects that where killed in the experiments. Occasionally, I would hear screams and see the nobles huddling close to each other in this creepy place but after around an hour, we all came back in to meet at the centre of the room, next to the book.


    ¡°Why would someone do all this?¡± One of the younger nobles asked.


    ¡°A lot of reasons, really. They might have been trying to strengthen their own cultivation and body, maybe it was to heal others or cure a disease and maybe they even where trying to create chemical weapons. It¡¯s obvious through the test subjects that it was something to do with manipulating the bodies physiology through chemical mutation but what they where trying to and maybe did achieve is unknown¡± The oldest once again answered. Her name is Crystal. Since I¡¯ve been referring to her as the oldest from now it was getting a little old.


    ¡°Can¡¯t we work it out from analysing the bodies?¡± Another girl asked. She was in the mid-range for age. This time I answered though.


    ¡°Unfortunately, no. They where very careful to not leave any notes behind and it has been too long to be able to determine the chemicals used in the experiments properly. From the results we would find it would be impossible to link it to a precise formula. The only reasons I know of the body strengthening research are from the bone density of the skeletons being higher then their mana naturally should have allowed.¡± I explained. Plus, I want to keep this place a secret so taking it in for testing would be stupid.


    ¡°How do you plan on repurposing this space, sister?¡± Amber asked me after a small silence.


    ¡°I have my ways. When it¡¯s ready, I will show you all again as a sort of before and after scene. Anyway, there is still the other room to check out. If you think this is bad the other one will make it look like a dream.¡± I foreshadowed with an innocent smile, making them shiver.


    Still, surprisingly no one backed out from my subtle challenge. I guess they are nobles. To believe them not to be up to a little courage test would probably be considered insulting. But seriously, the next room was insanely creepy and in a weird way, beautiful. I couldn¡¯t deny the allure of the place, even if it is morbid and twisted. But isn¡¯t grandma¡¯s dickhead collection the same? It is still funny though so why can¡¯t something morbid be beautiful?


    ¡°I suggest you close you¡¯re eyes once this is open. Seeing it from the inside will be much more dramatic¡± I cautioned them. Surprisingly the only ones who didn¡¯t follow my commands where my two older sisters. The others didn¡¯t even hesitate.


    Once I was inside I told them to open their eyes again. As soon as they did, they all visibly flinched and took a step backwards with a few even falling over. It¡¯s a rather simple entrance, really. A door in the middle of the wall behind us with smooth walls, floor and roof and a railing blocking off this little observation platform from the rest of the room. I naturally positioned them at the railing for when they opened their eyes so they saw the full scale of the room.


    Burning chains trying to drag the skeletons back down into the fiery pits of hell (at least that¡¯s how it looked), skeletons mouthed into painful expressions embedded in the walls trying to claw their way out and from the roof, spikes sticking through the skeletons limbs to position them at differing looks of fiery rage and pain. Throughout it all, there where different coloured hollow glows emitting from the eyes of every skeleton and at the end of the hall there was a throne with a unicorn skeleton on the right and a dragon skeleton on the left. Above, there was a phoenix with flames still burning on it¡¯s wings and in the throne itself was who I assumed to be the skeleton of a previous queen within her self-made crypt. It was both beautiful to look at and extremely morbid, with every single one having their own different expressions and looks expressed through their bones. She must have spent a lot of times studying bones to be able to make this place.


    The nobles where both horrified and unwilling to look away. The room stretched fifty kilometres wide and eighty long with this platform being about half way above the floor. With the fact that we are cultivators it is obviously possible to see it all in great detail. What I liked most about it was obviously the throne. In front of it, off of the platform there is a hydra skeleton that looks like I loyal dog, guarding it¡¯s master. I wonder, did she kill herself to make this or did someone else? Whether she made the room or not, I am not sure but either way it is beautiful in it¡¯s own right.


    In total, we stayed there for around half an hour before we all went out to go shopping in one of the new malls made specifically for wealthy spenders. Marble pillars, statues, indoor water fountains and potted plants as well as crystal chandeliers where all through the market. In total, it was around three stories high with escalators and stairs throughout the whole thing. The shops where all spacious and open with varying styles based on the owners who built them and there where occasionally bands playing classical music throughout the place. The food court¡­ well, let¡¯s just say imagine the most luxurious food and looks of the place as you can and then add a bit more. There was even an indoor theme park in one section of the place.


    But, of course, since we are cultivators the clothes are a mix between the prettiest they could make and the most practical. Practically all of the clothes where made from rare materials with some even stretching up to realm thirty beast skins and furs that merchants bought in auctions. There where casual, formal, battle, defensive and unique clothes in the various shops in the place. Personally, it is my first time being here and I have to say I am impressed. I¡¯ve never really got into clothe crafting before so mine where just based on use and not looks. It makes me consider learning some techniques for clothe making. Of course, I have my favourite outfit that I like wearing as well that I will be sure to find somewhere in this huge shopping centre since I haven¡¯t been able to get it so far in this life.


    Personally, my favourite clothes to wear would be a black hooded fluffy jumper, zip up. I like leaving it unzipped so my shirt can be seen underneath and with the hood, it snuggles up to my neck which I¡¯ve always really liked. For the pants it would be a blue-black sort of colour pair of jeans and the shirt is usually a light white and slightly loose shirt. In general, this outfit really brings out my hair and face and I really like wearing jumpers. Showing skin doesn¡¯t scare me but I just don¡¯t feel comfortable if I¡¯m not in long clothes. Since I can control my temperature, it¡¯s not like I need to wear something else and to me, it¡¯s just my favourite set of clothes. I¡¯m sure everyone has that one look that just goes really well together and for me, that¡¯s my look. But don¡¯t be mistaken. I can easily pull off a lot of other looks as well, I just prefer that one. I¡¯m really picky when it comes to the details on my favourite looks like the exact shade, fluffiness and colours but even then, I should be able to find an outfit here that suits my tastes and then make it my normal clothes. I¡¯m a princess, not a doll. I¡¯ll dress up how I want.


    Seriously, wearing dresses all the time is seriously inconvenient to cultivators so it¡¯s not a weird thing that most don¡¯t wear them. The more of you¡¯re body your clothes cover, the less you get damaged from attacks and the less you have to worry about someone perving on you. It¡¯s easy to look good in stuff other than dresses and business clothes so unless I have to, this is going to be my main outfit, maybe with small changes to it every once in a while like a different shirt or pair of jeans.


    Anyway, I got side-tracked. Obviously I bought like ten different variations of my outfit but I also bought a lot of other clothes I liked. Shoes¡­ they are a bit of a sore topic for me so I¡¯m not even going to mention them. Handbags are just a hindrance with spatial rings. In the end, it is just used for fashion and honestly, it doesn¡¯t suit my outfit anyway and attaching a string to yourself when cultivators might attack is a bad idea. I killed a god by accident because my hand got caught on her handbag as I was jumping away from them after unleashing an attack. It pulled her into it and shredded everything above the waist instead of dodging like I was expecting.


    Maybe if I was wearing a different outfit and I didn¡¯t mind looking like a fashion idiot for wearing a handbag when I have storage rings I¡¯d give it a go but it is an unnecessary accessory for me and practically every other cultivator so it¡¯s not very popular other than special circumstances. I do where jewellery though. My main dimensional storage ring is made out of mana crystals (super rare, slave gods had to give it back to me, not me buying it) and it is linked with my life essence. Basically, if I get a certain distance from it, it will teleport back to me, it¡¯s owner and no one but me can access it. Destroying it is practically impossible as long as there is mana in the mana crystals and it also looks good. The reason mana crystals are so rare is because they have to form from massive amounts of mana and then have no access to mana again. If it has mana before you try crafting it into another form it is almost impossible.


    So, with the fact that it can store absolutely ridiculous amounts of mana that can be used at will it is very unlikely it will ever break. A first realm cultivator could put their mana pool in it and it would take a god to break. So when I god puts mana into it? Well, they are super rare for a reason. But in the end, they still aren¡¯t perfect. What¡¯s perfect is the inventory-like power I have in my soul since even if I die I still have it and it¡¯s content but I don¡¯t use it for anything other than my mass book and magic notes collection. If I die and lose my memories at least I have this as a backup and a note written to myself.


    The other jewellery I have isn¡¯t as special in a practicality value. It is to a certain extent but not to the level of my old equipment that I haven¡¯t reclaimed yet. I have a single necklace that Mummy and Mother gave me on my fourth birthday and an armband. Both are made out of varyingly spectacular crystal constructs with the armband being a gift for my first birthday. My second and third birthday where a lot of other things but it¡¯s not really something to go into considering that throughout all my birthdays I got hundreds of gifts. The jewellery though was the one¡¯s my parent¡¯s personally gave to me so it¡¯s special.


    I think something I really like though was a gift my sisters bought me on my fourth birthday. It¡¯s a hair clip of a primrose, one of the darker variants (I don¡¯t really like bright vibrant colours, darker looks better) that sit¡¯s on the left side of my head. It is really beautiful honestly and even if it¡¯s small, maybe around five centimetres, it is still something that stands out as amazing to me. I genuinely do love it since it goes so well with my hair and every time I look in the mirror, I remember how excited they where for me to open my gift. All four pieces of my jewellery are important to me, one for practicality and three for personal reasons, but I admit that one¡¯s my favourite.


    Overall, the shopping was quite fun for me. I actually ended up getting changed into my favourite clothes around half way through the day when the shopping was finished. Our escorts sent it home while we wandered into a massive gaming complex. There where roller coasters above and below was an arcade. There where game¡¯s everywhere and we spent the rest of the day in the place messing around on them and roller coaster, multi-player games and little fun things like a wheel of fortune and a claw teddy bear machine. The claw was kind of rigged though. It was traveling around really fast and there where gaps between the teddies so you had to hit the button when you thought you could get it. I could get them due to my reflexes, cultivation and processing speeds but only one of the other nobles got one without my help and that was by luck. Still, I guess they wouldn¡¯t make money otherwise. It¡¯s reasonable to do an abnormal claw grabber game when you have enhanced minds, reflexed and skills.


    Eventually though, we had to go back home. For one, most of the other nobles had school in the morning and two, staying out past dark is dangerous for a regular kid, let alone us high-profile¡¯s. All three princess¡¯s and thirty one nobles wandering around together at night? Yeah, even if I¡¯m a god I¡¯m still sceptical about that. Maybe if everyone knew I was a god It would be okay but I feel like even that wouldn¡¯t stop parents from wanting their children home for dinner and I agree.


    Once we got home, the story about everything we¡¯ve done today was told to our family (except the lab. Labs a secret) with varying levels of enthusiasm and we had a good dinner laughing together and telling stories. It feels really warm to have a family and I know that I appreciate the feeling a lot more than most people do as I know what its like to lose them. I know I¡¯ll never get over my obsession for strength but atleast now I have a reason to want strength and I have my own desires. I may still want it but that doesn¡¯t mean I will discard what I have now for it. This is the best I have ever felt, with the love of having a family again and being close to my sisters. I may be a god but even a god deserves a family.


    Friends though¡­ I still feel like the only candidate for friendship in the group is Crystal and even then she seems a little stiff around me. Plus, I¡¯m four and she¡¯s sixteen by body. It won¡¯t be so easy to develop a friendship with her unless I am atleast grown up mostly. Since she won¡¯t age physically in such a short amount of time due to her cultivation once I finish my growth, it will become a lot easier for her to talk to me. The way I¡¯ll look when I¡¯m old enough might make her avoid me though. I like being perfect with undefinable beauty but it¡¯s also a fact that the more beautiful you are, the harder it is to make friends as they either look at you in awe or jealousy. Occasionally though, you will meet someone beautiful as well that connects with you and becomes your friend or someone who just genuinely doesn¡¯t care. Most likely, my friends will be the second option, as far as I know.


    I know it sounds vain when I put it like that but I also know that people have trouble getting along with both the strong and the beautiful due to feeling as if they are in their shadows. I¡¯m not going to give up either of those traits so in the end, it means I won¡¯t have many true friends but I don¡¯t mind that. I¡¯d rather one or two friends I can treat like family then ten or twenty who are nothing more than a weak and fragile friendship.


    Over the last four years, the nobles are the first children other than my sisters that I have talked to and honestly, probably the only children which I even have a chance of being friends with. I don¡¯t have confidence that I can make friends with someone without status or power in school. In the end I will just be a figurehead everyone looks up to but is to scared to talk to. Maybe I¡¯ll meet someone who I can talk to but even if I do, what will the other students do to them? The school I will go to will be the top school in our nation. That means there will be rich and powerful students everywhere. If they get in with power alone, they will be supressed by the rich kids. If they get in by money alone, they will be supressed by those more powerful than them.

 Chapter 4 - Everything has consequences

    ¡°I¡¯m heading out now, sweetie!¡± Mummy called to me with a piece of toast muffling her voice.


    ¡°Okay mummy, by- Ah, she¡¯s already gone¡­ how awkward¡­ and I¡¯m still talking to my self¡­ but I¡¯m not stopping¡­ why aren¡¯t I stopping¡­ yeah, I really need to stop now¡± I said to myself while forcing my mouth closed with a sigh.


    Yesterday, I went out with the nobles for the first time after being isolated for four years. I did have fun which surprised me since I have definitely done those things before without others and the nobles even had a little more confidence and composure then I gave them credit for. I think that because none of the Nobles actually got hurt or embarrassed themselves I escaped the punishment I thought I¡¯d be getting but I¡¯m not complaining. Even if I missed seeing them utterly terrified and peeing themselves it¡¯s not exactly a loss to me. I mainly wanted to see that out of boredom but if I really did see it, there would have been pretty annoying consequences.


    Unfortunately for me, I can¡¯t go out to the common room to meet up with the nobles again in order to relieve my boredom as I did yesterday. All the nobles at the age of six and over are at school while the younger one¡¯s will be getting personal tutoring all day. Due to my knowledge being above the tutors I managed to get out of it but normal children won¡¯t escape as easily as I did without special circumstances like being reincarnated. Since that¡¯s the case I am trying to decide what I¡¯m going to do today. My family is busy and after that teasingly fun activity yesterday, everything else has become dull and boring.


    Yesterday wasn¡¯t just fun though I guess. It allowed me to confirm how fast the nation is developing and that my computer system cultivation rooms have been introduced as I had hoped. My original estimate of this nation needing a few thousand years to be the owner of the entire world has shrunk down to a few hundred instead. While I am still wary of any major disasters happening that I couldn¡¯t predict or prevent right now things are going fine and the nation is developing at a massive rate.


    I¡¯ve been purposefully manipulating the situation in some places in order to make things both more fun for me and better to the civilisation as a whole. Obviously with the political tension that would appear from cultivators on this world going out to fuck random woman and convert them I¡¯ve made sure to introduce laws against it unless they know before hand what it means and they agree. If they break the law, they are considered to have lost their citizenship and any and all political repercussions fall on them alone instead of this nation. I¡¯ve already had to kill around a hundred other civilisations seeking to invade when someone fucked their daughters and changed their bodies. It¡¯s both annoying and a time bomb so from now on it is banned. Of course, they can apply for citizenship again but only if there where no repercussions against them or if the grudge has already been resolved.


    With a few more random laws I introduced occasionally in order to prevent the more out-there repercussions I began to move on to the economy. Actually, that¡¯s why mummy had to rush out so early today with the other adults already gone. I found a massive amount of money which was being channelled into social studies, a department well known for their lack of money. In other words, for the last two hundred years someone has been getting rich by taking the nation¡¯s funding. Right now my family is trying to work out who has been syphoning the money for so long and once that¡¯s done, they will be able to confiscate it all. It was a ridiculous amount around a million gold every year so while it didn¡¯t affect the budget majorly (taking a small dent annually) if we can get it all back, that¡¯s two hundred million gold conveniently added on to the nations funding while we are still in the cultural boom.


    So right now my parents and grandparents are looking into leads on who it is without alerting the thief. Due to how serious the crime is once we catch them we have full rights to take any extra money and assets they have while publicly denouncing them. If they have less total worth than what they stole though they will either be executed or put into a slave-contract until they can pay off their dept. Slavery isn¡¯t the prettiest thing even to me who has two hundred of them but in reality, it¡¯s more like a servant contract who has a lot of dept that they have to work off in this case. My slaves are basically puppets. Any trace of the old gods have been erased and their minds and bodies are completely different. It¡¯s still not morally right and in my personal prospective it makes me uncomfortable but I cannot deny their use. The gods I captured died the day they where caught.


    But regardless of all that crap, I¡¯m still bored. Usually there is atleast one person other than me here as well so this is the first time I¡¯ve actually been alone since I was born. Sure, sometimes we will be separated by a wall but¡­ well, they are still always in the house (actually a tower the royalty lives in) with me so it¡¯s kind of a surreal feeling. There are of course things I should do like refitting the secret laboratory into a secret hang out spot or abuse my power as a god to create a few dungeons around the nation but I don¡¯t really want to. I know I should but¡­ well it¡¯s just a feeling like I could but I won¡¯t.


    Ah actually, I just realised something fun I can do with the dungeons. While I¡¯ll still only be creating one for now, why don¡¯t I turn the whole world into a dungeon? In dungeons the mana is naturally richer so if I get a dungeon to a thousand floors and it becomes a dungeon world, the mana levels as a whole will rise and the formation over our nation will get a lot stronger. The formation itself is effective based on how much mana is naturally there. If I add in the dungeon world¡¯s mana, even if it will help the other nations to a certain extent as well, it will just make the already existing formation over our nation get a heap more effective.


    Deciding on that, I popped over to my bunker. Basically, it¡¯s just a really well-enchanted and defended fortress floating in the stars. Only gods will be able to see through it¡¯s enchantments so I don¡¯t have to worry about annoying visitors. This is where I¡¯ve been keeping my gods hidden as well as a heap of my equipment and items. I even have a heap of different storage rooms full of rare materials I have harvested or grown myself and taken from the gods I have defeated. One of those materials just so happens to be a mana soul. It¡¯s basically what happens when a soul is partly destroyed and then left alone for a million years or so. It gets recycled into something new, at first as a mana soul and then as a new dungeon core. To get one you have to catch it and freeze it in stasis at the time between becoming a mana sou and a dungeon soul but once you have one it¡¯s basically like a seed you can plant to become a dungeon. Of course, there are other ways to make dungeon cores and artificial mana souls as well but this is the fastest for now.


    Popping back onto the planet, I chose a secluded location to let the spirit out. After a few minutes it condensed into a small gem and then burrowed into the earth. I could feel the mana subtly shift and the gem seed begin to grow at a rapid rate before half an hour later the first floor of the dungeon popped up suddenly above ground. The rest would be below the ground but even this is easily visible. Due to the mana supporting it, even I can¡¯t forcefully enter the floor any way other than the entrance but while that makes the core relatively safe, it also boxes it in.


    ¡°I can turn you into a dungeon world as long as you pledge loyalty¡± I said to the core once I was inside.


    ¡®I pledge loyalty to my master and mother, Scarlet Primrose, by the ancient contract. Once the conditions have been fulfilled, I am yours to command from now and into eternity.¡¯ Awkward but it is true this one was artificially made by me about thirty thousand years ago, though to it only a few hours would have passed.


    Still, I felt the oath sink in to my soul and I started channelling my mana into the core as fast as it could handle it. Even if I am a god, it is not so I had to start slow. After a few hours though, it had caught up to my regeneration speed and I was slowly losing mana now. Deciding to exhaust myself and do it in one big push, I emptied four fifths of my mana pool before the dungeon core reached it¡¯s one thousandth floor and burrowed into the earths core.


    The change was instantaneous. By becoming a world dungeon the dungeon core has had a mana-spring opened up inside of it. Basically it¡¯s a connections to the ¡®heavens¡¯, in other words pure mana. Since it has this connection, I could feel with my senses the shift in the world around me. I didn¡¯t have time for that now though, I needed to make an announcement to the entire world before they fall into panic.


    ¡°Don¡¯t spawn any monsters yet¡± I commanded.


    ¡°As you wish¡±


    ¡°Hello, everyone. I am the ruling god of this world. Today I have evolved a dungeon into a world dungeon meaning this world will now expand massively and the mana will rise exponentially. It is under my control so unlike the usual process where the world get¡¯s ten times bigger and drags cities apart all the current nations where worked around. While yes, all the nations are further apart there is no difference within the actual owned territories themselves. Outside however has changed. For those of you celebrating the rise in mana levels let me make it clear that this was for the gain of the nation I am protecting. While yes, it does passively affect the rest of the world, with the formation already over my subject¡¯s territory the base mana will be multiplied by twenty instead of the previous ten. Since the base mana has increased as well, this advancement will only make the other civilisations lag behind further.


    I¡¯d advise you to either leave the world or immigrate if you are a female as monsters will be spawned from the dungeon and my nation will be the only safe zone. They will not be spawned inside the territories but they can wander in. There is a one month safe period where the monsters will not attack unless provoked but once that time is up that limitation will only remain for my people. Do be warned though that natural monsters are not under the dungeons control and can still wander into any territories freely. Have fun either fighting off monsters of moving to new lands, mortals.¡± I finished off my speech.


    ¡°Master, do you wish me to spawn the monster¡¯s now?¡± The dungeon asked me.


    ¡°Yes. You already know the conditions so I won¡¯t specify them but now, we should give you a name. What would you like to be called?¡±


    It will obviously be a female name as it knows the intentions I have for this world (couple hours of boring conversations does a lot) but I am curious what ¡®she¡¯ will desire to be called.


    ¡°Master I am unaware of which names would suit me but if at all possible, I would like a name derived from a colour such as you have.¡± She answered.


    ¡°Okay. How does Azure sound to you then?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Azure is good. I am Azure.¡± She replied happily.


    ¡°Okay. It is a pleasure to meet you, Azure. Now, choose yourself a last name and adopt a physical form of the same age as me. Make you¡¯re core as the heart in you¡¯re body. As a world dungeon you are currently a first stage god so no one on this planet other than me can damage you. I intend you to attend school with me as my attendant once I am enrolled but until then you will be staying with me. I want to know about any of those situations we discussed earlier as soon as they happen. Please keep my dual identities a secret though, Azure. Currently no one knows I am the god who has been watching over this world for ten thousand years and I want to live my life with my current identity now.¡± I explained to Azure.


    ¡°Yes, master. Is Azure Firefox okay?¡± She asked as she materialised in front of me.


    ¡°That name is fine. I am curious what made you choose it though?¡± I inquired.


    ¡°The first memory I have is of a flaming blue fox. I am not sure as to it¡¯s species or identity but it seemed like a good aspect to take my name from.¡± She explained to me.


    ¡°Okay. Azure Firefox, you will be enrolled into the school I attend at the same time as me. Until then, let¡¯s be friends, okay?¡± I coaxed with a smile.


    ¡°Of course, master.¡±


    Well even if she won¡¯t stop calling me master due to the oath I¡¯m sure I can still be friends with her. I imagine it will be quite hard though as she considers me her master and creator. World dungeons have quite a few limits though which is why I didn¡¯t just create an army of them and instead have my current god army. For one, while the evolution to a world dungeon does make them a god, from there it is very slow progress. With the fact that they already have a connection with mana it means that no longer cuts it to improve them. Instead, they need life energy. Basically it¡¯s either have a crap ton of strong people living on them and absorbing the life energy they lose in every day activities or kill beings on the world not made from the dungeons will.


    They take way too long to grow in power and the biggest world dungeon I have seen in my massive amounts of exploration was a stage four god who had been alive for tens of billions of years. With the fact that they can only leave a certain distance from their planet and that their vast reserves of mana are spread throughout the world until they only have the realm stage¡¯s worth of mana they basically have no advantages to me as an army. As a world improvement though they are massively useful.


    Spawning rare items and resources, creating rare monsters and any mining done will be regenerated with time. The world is literally alive and considering the possibilities this gives to both a civilisation and a god focused on crafting they are one of the best possible races in the right situation. World dungeons aren¡¯t fighters themselves but they certainly are the best support class available. And besides, even with all that Azure is still a stage one god in strength which means that unless a stronger opponent appears she can take care of anyone below her realm.


    I made sure she made the world interesting as well for any adventurers. A floating continent in the clouds, underwater palaces, upside down cities, lava ocean, a meteorite with a city on it flying randomly up in the sky and even a massive underground labyrinth. Adventuring is fun so I made sure the world had lots of unique features to it.


    Eventually though we went back to the castle. It was getting late, already at around five in the afternoon and I wanted to introduce Azure to my family. She will be living with us for the foreseeable future after all so it¡¯s only fitting to introduce her to everyone. I had to hide her from everyone for another hour though once I got home as Mummy was still out and I wanted to introduce her to everyone at once. Once they got home, I gathered them in the lounge room in front of the fireplace. It¡¯s big so there is actually a few sections to it like game, music, movies, socialising and relaxing areas.


    ¡°Are you going to tell us whatever has you excited or what?¡± Amber asked suddenly, startling me.


    ¡°Ah, sorry. I sort of zoned out¡± I replied sheepishly.


    ¡°Anyway, today I went with Aileen to make the world dungeon. She had me make it by using my mana to expand it to a thousand floors so it took most of the day for me but as a result the dungeon is under my command. I wanted you to meet her.¡± I said as I signalled Azure to come out.


    ¡°Hello, it is a pleasure to meet master¡¯s family. My name is Azure Firefox and I am the world dungeon master was talking about.¡± She introduced herself politely while bowing.


    ¡°Can you make me a bunny?¡± Emerald asked, completely shocking them out of the daze they where in.


    Fortunately she looked towards me for permission first and I was able to tell her to make it a bunny teddy instead. She still made it really big though, taller than Emerald was atleast.


    ¡°Kyaaa~ Look at this, it¡¯s so big and fluffy!!!¡± She screamed at the top of her lungs.


    Emerald was officially out of the conversation as she was tackling her new teddy into a hug and rolling around squealing. We just ignored it and continued the conversation.


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing you will be going to school with Scarlet then?¡± Mummy asked Azure.


    ¡°Yes. Master had me adopt this form so as to be able to attend school with her, that is correct.¡± She¡¯s way too polite.


    ¡°Is it possible for normal dungeons to exist on you when you are a world dungeon?¡± Grandma asked curiously.


    ¡°With my permission dungeons are allowed to form but as they are seen as one of my ¡®creations¡¯ they are under my control. Although they still have free will I am able to order them. Unlike normal dungeons though, I can destroy them with a thought or spawn them at a certain size but any dungeons I create will not be able to have more that 999 floors.¡±


    I¡¯ve never bothered looking in to that before so I guess I do learn new things occasionally.


    ¡°Why did the mana here improve so much?¡± Airhead asked. Seriously, I explained it already, ugh.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°The base mana is improved substantially once a world evolves into a dungeon world. The formation placed over this nation is one that uses the base mana value to gather and manipulate the natural mana in it¡¯s zone. Basically, it tricks the world into thinking the mana is being used up and is therefor regenerated because of that. Even then though there is the obvious limit of the worlds regeneration speed but with the worlds evolution, the base mana has improved dramatically and the regeneration speed has been amped up by a lot, meaning the formation that draws on that base will obviously create a much richer zone for mana as compared to before.¡±


    Wether the airhead understands that or not is her problem but I don¡¯t mind explaining since I didn¡¯t cover it in depth during my alter ego¡¯s speech anyway. Twenty times the base mana with the base being atleast five times higher now with a dungeon world involved. So, the mana here is a hundred times richer than it was before the formation was laid and the world evolved. The difference is massive and if not for some of the mana being channelled towards health, beauty and nature it would be twenty five times higher instead, meaning 125 times higher than the old base. It really is quite ridiculous. For every realm the dungeon improves, their base mana doubles. If one could reach the tenth god realm¡­ how ridiculous would that be? I want to know.


    ¡°From the speech, our nation is safe from the monsters but what about trading? If we where to try and travel between two cities would we be attacked? And what is considered provoking the monsters. I know to some species just entering the fringes of their territory is a provocation.¡± Grandma asked while choking the airhead.


    ¡°While the monsters created by a dungeon do mimic the races they are trying to copy they are in the end still nothing more than monsters I spawned out of mana. While it is true that some monsters are like that the rules will not apply in such a drastic way. Some monsters consider humanity existing a provocation and as such they obviously will not be able to attack on such grounds. If they have a genuine reason though like getting revenge on the one¡¯s who killed their family and friends or reacting to a threat, they will attack. As long as you are not perceived as a threat attacks will not happen. I cannot guarantee whether traders would be attacked or not as it depends on many factors but they would atleast not be targeted.¡± Azure explained.


    ¡°While not taking weapons and dressing in regular clothes might help, numbers can also be perceived as a threat to monsters and if they have newborn cubs, any large amount of being stepping into their territories will be attacked. It¡¯s probably better to send a few strong cultivators with storage rings rather than a merchant caravan. Honestly though the other civilisations will collapse because of this within the next few years and only remnants who stubbornly hold on will be left, not something worth trading with. We should be looking at other planets for trading and slowly start claiming more and more land. The monsters will fight back but once it is seen as ours they won¡¯t enter unless provoked.¡± I added in afterwards.


    ¡°Is that really necessary though? Why do we need monsters if you can control it?¡± Amber asked Azure.


    ¡°Within a few hundred years, this world would have been ours anyway due to the progress our civilisation is making. Because of that though we would be seen as a threat and gain a bad reputation from forcing out so many people. If it is considered the gods will to exile them there won¡¯t be such repercussions. With monsters spawning, our civilisation won¡¯t lose the will to gain strength and we have a constant supply of rare materials for both crafting and trading. Overall the monsters will help our growth massively in the long run.¡± Mother brought herself into the lime-light while Azure just nodded in reply.


    ¡°Anyway, this conversation has gone off topic. I¡¯m glad to have you to look after my daughter, Azure. I hope we all get along in the future¡±


    Mummy said pleasantly. I was getting a little annoyed as well that she was getting the third degree for doing what she was told and I think mummy noticed which is why she steered the conversation away.


    ¡°Thank you, I will do my best.¡± She replied politely.


    ¡°Can you make me a kitten?¡± Emerald interjected again, making me face palm.


    ¡°Go ahead, as long as it¡¯s a teddy this time as well¡± I sighed as I replied to Azure¡¯s look for permission.


    This time, it spawned on top of her so the ¡®kyaa~¡¯ scream was muffled by the kitten teddy but we all still heard it. I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Both at my sister¡¯s cute reaction and Azure¡¯s small act. Seeing her be comfortable enough to do that means I am atleast making progress so far.


    ¡°Kitten!!¡± The airhead yelled as she made a comical dive for it before grandma plucked her out of the air and kneed her in the stomach.


    ¡°Don¡¯t crush my granddaughter you fat slob. She is a million times more valuable than you.¡± She said cruelly.


    ¡°You know, even if Azure has a lot of emotional and logical awareness, she is still less than a day old. Stop setting a bad example for her¡± I scolded both of them. Grandma looked uncomfortable to be on the receiving end for once but she quickly got over it but I didn¡¯t miss the airheads concerned glance. Is there a backstory to this? I won¡¯t press for now.


    ¡°Do not worry over me master. As a dungeon I was granted a lot of knowledge about many race¡¯s interactions with each other so I will not be influenced by such actions.¡±


    That¡¯s not reassuring at all. It just proves how much she doesn¡¯t know.


    ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand enough about it yet. If you did, while you would still call me master and follow my commands due to the contract you would not be so stiff and formal after I told you I intend to make you my friend. The contract may make you obey me, Azure, but it doesn¡¯t mean you have to act like my servant. If you really did understand interactions you would have realised this already.¡± I said for her flatly.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry, master. I will be sure to study more on emotional relations between one or more individuals.¡± She said while bowing, not coming back up from it.


    ¡°Sigh, Azure you are going to be hard. You won¡¯t get the results you seek from observing and researching, you need to experience it first hand. Let¡¯s talk more in the morning. I¡¯m still tired from using so much of my mana and since I wasn¡¯t fighting there¡¯s no adrenaline to keep me going. Goodnight, Mummy and mother, Amber, Emerald, Airhead and grandma¡± I bowed before going around to hug them all (had to pick the airhead up off the floor from under grandma¡¯s foot to do so) one by one.


    Azure bowed to every one before following me to my room.


    ¡°Master, where do you wish me to sleep? If necessary, I can leave this form and avoid sleeping until you wake up again.¡± She asked me.


    ¡°You¡¯re sleeping with me.¡± I replied absently.


    ¡°Wha- Master, I am not worthy to sleep with you. I will break down my form to let you sleep pea-cyaa!¡± She yelled as I pulled her into the bed.


    ¡°M-master, I¡¯m not-¡° I interrupted.


    ¡°There¡¯s no reason you cannot sleep with me. So shush and be my teddy bear for the night¡± I commanded as I cuddled up to hr. She fidgeted for a while before accepting it and calming down. Eventually, she fell asleep and I smiled before doing so myself. It¡¯s lonely sleeping in such a big bed alone. Seriously, it¡¯s the size of a small house and I¡¯m four. Wayyy too big.


    ----


    When I woke up the next morning, I was rather disappointed to find that my new cuddle toy was missing. Sighed when I found her at the foot of my bed on her knees with a tray of food in front of her. Seriously, she really tries too hard. Besides I like eating with my family in the morning so it¡¯s rather pointless. I don¡¯t want to hurt her feelings though¡­ in the end, I decided to eat it for her. Today I missed out eating with my family but I guess this is fun in a way as well.


    ¡°Thank you for the meal, Azure. Next time though, let¡¯s eat together with everyone else, okay? They are busy during the day so we can only see them at breakfast and dinner during the week days. You need to eat as well, Azure¡± I reminded.


    ¡°But due to this body and my race, I do not need to consume food.¡± She defended.


    ¡°Neither do I. As a god I can live off of my own energy but eating is still better than not eating. You get to try a lot of new tastes and socialise with your family and friends while doing it. So you have to eat with us as well, okay?¡± I smiled as I petted her head.


    ¡°Okay, master.¡±


    Once she agreed, I made off towards the lab with her in tow. Yesterday, although I didn¡¯t make dungeons specifically for schools and towns like I wanted to in order to help with training, I did still make Azure so I was rather satisfied with my impulsive decision. She can create dungeons now so I don¡¯t have to put in the effort. Instead I want to focus on the secret hang out spot I¡¯ve been meaning to customise. I have an idea of what I want to do but ultimately I want to change, well, everything about the place, even the lock. The only thing that will be the same is the size, location and there being two exits and one entrance. Well, atleast known ones. I will make a secret escape route just in case there is a traitor who leads enemies to both doors.


    But I really wasn¡¯t kidding when I said I wanted to repurpose the place. My goal is to literally make it a fortress-cross-socialising location that only we can get in to. Who doesn¡¯t want a secret base? For the door, I was using my mana computers. Put some mana onto the wall and if the person who puts it there has permission, the wall will open for them. Pretty simple. What¡¯s not simply is that it¡¯s more like the door fades away to reveal a marble arch that leads into the room. I can¡¯t even be bothered explaining the heap of enchantments that took to sort out. Even just not breaking the computer while moving it was a small impossibility I had to overcome.


    Once inside, it will close behind you and the barrier means no one can follow through. Due to how reinforced the wall is, even if someone tries to break through with force it would atleast take several hours as a 30+ cultivator. I didn¡¯t want to give away that I¡¯m a god so it was a little weak. Moving on, the room itself! Once you come through the arch, there are two staircases made our of, again, marble that curve up and around to reach two massive tree houses. I mean literally, I got two massive trees and attached them to the walls before hollowing it out and polishing the wood. It¡¯s like a massive room (single story) on a beautiful polished wood that is near the top of the room. So yeah, you can look down on everything.


    There is a rope bridge going across to each other but the actual insides are special. At the back there is a massive kitchen with a bar stand to it. In the place itself there are seats that go around small fire pits and tables to eat at while overlooking the view. Basically, it¡¯s just a really big, overdramatised and prettied up eating area. The one on the opposite side of the room was almost the same except it didn¡¯t have the kitchen and instead had a few pool table¡¯s, chess boards and other bit¡¯s and pieces, basically a relaxation socialising area again like the last one, made pretty, big and dramatic.


    Continueing the theme, in the middle the rope bridge splits off into a t section with the new bride going towards the centre of the room. Once there, we reach a massive crystal outcrop coming down from the roof that has a hollowed area as well. This area is meant to be a group study/library. Obviously since we are supposed to be going to school it is to be expected that we would study in our own time as well. While it multi-purposes as a centre point to look at the whole rooms view, it is also a place for us to study and socialise.


    Using the same layout as the first two rooms so that it is four ¡®trees¡¯ on the outside and one ¡®crystal¡¯ in the middle, we next have an all-purpose arcade in one of them and in the other, a massive theatre set up. Honestly it¡¯s all pretty cool for just that alone but we still haven¡¯t even mentioned the ground. Below all of this where gardens, lakes, waterfalls and trees.


    To describe all of that would take too long but there where also picnic areas down there and it all looked really pretty. Of course, I installed fun little Easter eggs to find and mess with here and there but overall, that was it for the main layout. Naturally though the walls and roof where different since stone bricks are boring so now it¡¯s something close to a Polychrome Jasper Aura stone that has been polished. It¡¯s not exactly like it but close enough. Since that¡¯s covering the walls, all the different colours swirling together and apart look amazing, especially on such a massive scale.


    Overall I was quite happy with the retreat I made. It naturally looks quite nice since I tried to make everything go for a sort of natural look and it really came together better than I was expecting. The island below the library in the middle of the lake, the artificial sunlight, the small artificial constructs among the natural looking constructs and little details I added in to the place blends together really well, creating a really nice retreat. Since I am the computers ¡®owner¡¯ I can let anyone in and Azure is a ¡®moderator¡¯ to the place so she can as well. I will in the future add my sisters to the list as well but for now, I¡¯ve finished my goal of making a nice hideout for all of us. Why, I¡¯m not sure.


    It¡¯s not like we really need this place or that I had some grand reason for building it, I just felt like I should do something interesting with it on a whim. It looks rather good but I¡¯m still questioning just why I bothered making such a place. Ah, I almost forgot. I added a few sparring rings in here as well. It seemed like a fun idea that we might spar occasionally so I had no reason not to. Well, other than the fact that it is completely useless for me to spar against such weak opponents¡­ ugh, suddenly the enthusiasm I had for this place is disappearing.


    ¡°Master are you okay?¡± Azure interrupted my musing.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Azure. I just lost some of the enthusiasm I had for making this place, that¡¯s all.¡±


    She seemed reassured by that but still a little hesitant to accept the answer so I pat her on the head.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s take you shopping. I need to see what clothes suit you and you have never experienced it before.¡± I said softly.


    ¡°Okay, master.¡±


    ----


    When we got home there was a collection of bags and a little Azure in new clothes. Before she was just wearing a simple white dress that she made after comparing the clothes between different nobles and finding one that would blend in the best. While it¡¯s beautiful in it¡¯s own rights I felt like she wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy the clothes properly if they where made and worn for such a reason. I also didn¡¯t want to give perverts a chance to see my friends underwear but that¡¯s beside the point.


    The point is that after hours of shopping we found a style that suites her best in both looks and her opinion of the clothes. I like my outfit mainly because it¡¯s fluffy and looks good on me while covering my entire body. For combat, this is the best choice and seeing as I like fighting and that my clothes reflected that and the desire to look good, they suited my tastes perfectly. Azure however is not me. She has her own personality and desired. While she has been suppressing them as much as possible because of the contract, I managed to successfully coax her into choosing clothing she likes by using careful wording but she still has a long way to go.


    Upon reflection I realise that this is my fault. Instead of bringing her directly up to a world dungeon I should have spent a few weeks to let her develop her own personality more instead. Due to our contract being one of the first things she experienced it is ingrained into her personality to serve me like a master as that was all she knew. Right now that is as base to her as my desire to gain power was and still is to me. I may be able to lessen it and make her more comfortable around me but since I overlooked that detail yesterday I have permanently engrained that into her being. It was a rather obvious mistake that I would have usually taken counter measures against but instead I overlooked it in my excitement.


    Now the only question is how much I can lessen that trait of hers and how close and comfortable I can make her with me. Anyway, for her main clothing she had a dark blue velvet dress. It wasn¡¯t all poofy like medieval types but it was definitely beautiful and smooth. It is a strapless and sleeveless dress though so her shoulders and arms are uncovered but everything else is fine. Because of that she is wearing a dark blue pair of silk gloves that reach up the majority of her arms. While it doesn¡¯t completely cover her since her shoulder, neck and head are still in the open it is enough. The design of the dress itself attaches one of the inner layers to her legs so even if it is blown up in combat she is safe from perverts. Otherwise though it looks really good, especially on her since she has black hair with dark blue streaks in it. I do feel a little outclassed when she¡¯s in front of me wearing that while I¡¯m wearing jeans and a fluffy jumper as the princess but I don¡¯t mind that.


    As much as she tries to hide it though I can see she is happy with her new clothing. It will take her a while to warm up to the other aspects of living but I¡¯m confident she will do fine. At dinner, I told everyone about our shopping spree and grandma told some stories from when she was a child as well. At one stage she attempted to smuggle in a kitten to the castle and she thought she was hiding it well but then she found out they noticed from the first day. It sounds like something I would do, honestly.


    I decided to make her sleep with me again tonight as well. If I don¡¯t she will unconsciously distance herself from me so I need to do things she considers inappropriate for the master-servant relationship she is trying to pursue. While I do feel a little guilty for trying to manipulate her personality away from her, it was also my mistake that gave her this personality and if I don¡¯t try to lessen it¡¯s influence as much as possible happiness will be a rarity to her. Even now with the dress, she was trying to suppress the emotion since she didn¡¯t consider it appropriate. If she lives like that for eternity because of a stupid mistake on my part¡­ it hurts knowing I¡¯m the reason she can¡¯t have happiness. While I have had a lot of bad things happen to me and done a lot of bad things to others in order to achieve my goals, the difference between doing it for a reason I believe in and doing it because of an accident is massive, especially when it is one of this magnitude. I found out from the day I was reborn that even if my base personality was to strive for power I still can supress that with happiness. While I still do aim for it, I am no longer consumed by that desire and I can slow down to be with my family but Azure won¡¯t be able to experience that unless I force her to. Suppressing happiness¡­ can someone really stop suppressing their positive emotions if the negative emotions are the only ones left? She is shutting herself into a hole without a key and I am the reason. So, I am trying to break into that hole, crack by crack and day by day until she learns that it is not something she should suppress. The problem is since it is an unconscious act I can¡¯t just tell her to stop as it won¡¯t work. That¡¯s like telling a human who can¡¯t feel pain to stop putting their hand in fire with the reasoning of it being painful.


    So instead, I need to fix that she can¡¯t feel it before I can get her to stop. Her personality itself isn¡¯t that much of a problem. She can still have fun, fall in love and live an amazing life with that mindset but the problem is that she is unknowingly rejecting that aspect of herself. While I want to stop that I am not going to try and den her entire personality. As long as she learns that her own happiness is important as well I don¡¯t mind but without my influence, she won¡¯t even be able to recognise that emotion. I have a lot of work to do and in my opinion this is the fastest way to do it. Forcefully break the barriers between us and make her acknowledge that I care.


    This is the problem with emotions. Sometimes all they do is hinder us. I understand my desire for power as one day it just clicked in but I can physically feel that it is not something I can change, only manipulate. Before I was reborn that click has never been a problem but afterwards I realised that if I reach the strength limit I might simply disappear or worse, my old universe might. For all I know when I leave it is a one way trip and it could even destroy everything I care about in the process. Assuming no one made it past some sort of trial to leave the realm so far then it is a possibility that if someone did, everything left behind would be erased.


    The possibility is slim but it still exists and to me that is a very real threat that has made me only cultivate passively instead of actively reaching for the strength limit. And even then, my time is running out. Soon I will reach that limit whether I like it or not. Sure, it will be atleast a thousand years away at the minimum assuming I don¡¯t cultivate but what is that to me? A thousand years is more than a hundred times less than I¡¯ve lived already. I know that all that time can pass by me easily and that the strength I desire so much could be the downfall to everything I care about.


    Of course there is a ton of other possibilities as well but my point is that I can¡¯t change the fact that I desire to pass the limit but it¡¯s also true that I am scared of it now that the possibility of losing everything once again exists. So while strength is my base, happiness and family can manipulate that base into something being used to protect them. For Azure her base is to serve me. It¡¯s a pretty weird base and usually unless someone has extreme devotion it would be impossible to have. Since her circumstances are special however she has managed to be born with that base. Right now it is controlling her just like my desire for strength controlled her so I need to give her the power to manipulate that base. And although my explanation is long, this is the solution I came up with.


    About the future, I am unsure. There are an infinite number of variables that could effect myself and others at any given moment and the results of these variables also varies. Whether I succeed or fail with Azure Firefox is an unknown and while it is more likely that I would succeed, it is possible that something can make her withdraw from my influence and put up shields to stop my progress. If she does I won¡¯t be able to help her anymore and I can only hope that she finds someone who can get through those shields and finish what I started. If she tries to reject what I¡¯m doing¡­ I will lose any chance I had of helping her as she is defending specifically against me.


    That is why I am making her sleep with me. This can just be understood as an innocent act to get closer to her so as long as I don¡¯t massively screw up, she won¡¯t even realise what my intentions are. The fastest way would be to make her fall in love but that¡¯s pretty much impossible when she made her body as a four year old and it is something I¡¯d prefer not to manipulate regardless of it¡¯s effectiveness.


    ----


    ¡°It¡¯s happening already?¡± I asked Azure tiredly as I woke up.


    ¡°Yes, Master. The cultivators¡­ have already begun the culling.¡± She said with an obvious distaste to the news.


    ¡°Well we knew it would happen. The weak who cannot escape the world or defend themselves from the monsters will just get the powerful killed when they are forced to protect them. The fact that some ¡®rouge¡¯ cultivators are killing the weak is no surprise. It is still disgusting though. I know for a fact that the kings and nobles have the means to mass immigrate to other worlds but instead they choose to kill their own people¡­ It looks as if I was too lenient on those pigs.¡±


    Sending out the elites and claiming them to be rouges in order to kill their own people¡­ humanity, what a disgusting race.


    ¡°What would you like me to do, Master?¡± Azure asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine Azure. I will handle this. It strikes a nerve when I remember that my original family was killed in similar circumstances to this.¡± I told her with a voice that clearly betrayed my anger.


    I stopped everyone apart from those in my nation. It¡¯s not hard, I just have to spread my mana throughout the world to overpower them. Any who where hurt, I healed and any who where trying to kill the weak I crushed. I left the kings and queens that ordered such a situation alive though. I needed them there to sort out the details even if I wanted them dead.


    ¡°You have all disappointed me.¡± I said in a dangerous voice to everyone outside of my nation.


    ¡°To think, the nobles and royalties would so easily try to kill the citizens of their nations. You have failed my test and as a result the terms for your survival have changed.¡± My voice continued to get colder as I talked.


    ¡°From today, you have a month before I slaughter you all. Children will be spared and Women may immigrate but if I find that you abandon them because of that, you will die. If you do ANYTHING I don¡¯t like, you will die. Abandon your people again¡­ I dare you. It has been a while since I heard the sound of souls shattering.¡±


    I finished off my threat and face planted back into the bed with a groan.


    ¡°Master, are you alright?¡± Azure asked in worry.


    ¡°No. Why am I always right about the disgusting nature of intelligent beings? It sucks. Just for once, I¡¯d like to misjudge them and find that they are good people but instead I am faced with this ugly truth. They didn¡¯t even last a few days before deciding to kill their citizens! I had to wake up from my first true sleep in two years because of dickheads like this. Azure, why are intelligent beings so disgusting? I just want to see the light in people but no matter what I try, they only show me darkness.¡± I asked her in a rare moment that I lost my composure.


    ¡°You see the light in your family though don¡¯t you, Master? Isn¡¯t that enough? Even if the darkness is everywhere¡­ you¡¯re family is to you a light that can illuminate it all.¡± She said as she began to stroke my hair in an attempt to comfort me.


    ¡°You¡¯re my family now too, Azure. So make sure to shine very brightly for me as the darkness is suffocating¡­¡±


    As I said that, I began to drift off to sleep as I hugged her and she stroked my hair. I went back to sleep- true sleep- as soon as my bed in the soul-scape came into view. I didn¡¯t miss the small smile I saw on Azures face before I lost the last trace of reasoning I had left though. And I knew¡­ that I was smiling as well.


    Maybe those assholes did have some use to me after all. I was still going to kill them in the future but maybe I¡¯ll spare their souls now.

 Chapter 5 - A bomb sends me to hell

    ¡°And¡­ I¡¯m here because?¡± I asked Crystal suspiciously.


    Seriously when a noble is asking you to meet her in the middle of the night without letting anyone else know¡­ is my suspicion really unwarranted? Even if it is in the secret base I made it is still questionable.


    ¡°You¡¯re here because I¡¯m in deep shit right now and I need a bail.¡± She huffed.


    ¡°Yeah, because asking a five year old princess for help totally makes a lot of sense¡± I replied blandly.


    ¡°Oh please. At the very least you know a stage thirty cultivator or are one yourself not to mention the fact that, as you just mentioned, you are a princess.¡± Scoffed this time? Really? Why do I get the feeling that she is looking down on me while asking for help?


    ¡°Hoh? I¡¯m rather interested how you came to that conclusion.¡± I probed.


    ¡°As you told us when we first came here, for this place to have been made without anyone else knowing, it would either have to be from someone with a lot of connections or someone with a lot of strength. My great great grandma was here at the time you had this place remodelled and she is a twenty fourth-realm cultivator that has very strong sensing skills. She didn¡¯t show any signs of noticing in between the time when you showed us the lab and refitted it so the natural conclusion is that someone powerful built it.¡± She explained to me arrogantly.


    ¡°While I will admit I underestimated you slightly, what¡¯s with the superior attitude you have while asking for help? It doesn¡¯t suit you at all and based off of your body language even you don¡¯t like adopting such an act.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but point out.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll get to the point then. You will help me whether you like it or not or I will let it slip that the world dungeon is living with the royal family.¡± She threatened.


    ¡°Hmm? And why would I do that. Even if anyone would accept such a rumour what makes you think they¡¯d dare to disagree anyway? The dungeon was made by our god after all.¡± I asked her sceptically. This really didn¡¯t seem well thought out on her part.


    ¡°B-because she refers to you as Master.¡± She seemed unsure at first but quickly regained confidence.


    ¡°Crystal, are you an idiot? You are trying to threaten me by saying that a god calls me master? That¡¯s unimaginably stupid of you. Still, for the sake of my curiosity I will humour you. What exactly is it that you would be willing to threaten me for? And why do you think Azure is the world dungeon?¡± I asked, almost feeling bored with how pitiful the threat was.


    In her defence though it was impressive how fast she hid the despair and composed herself again.


    ¡°My grandma has been helping me enhance my senses since I started cultivating so I was able to overhear it by accident when we where in here. I guess you didn¡¯t think anyone else in the hideout would be strong enough to hear it so you didn¡¯t try and hide the conversation. As for what I want¡­ they have my sister¡±


    She was crying. I was a little impressed that she managed to overhear us but it isn¡¯t of consequence. Having her sister though¡­ I didn¡¯t even know she had a sister. Reaching up, I pat her head until she looked up at me again (yes, she was looking so far down that even my small body was above her sight). When she did though, she just started crying more. Guilt? So she didn¡¯t want to threaten me atleast.


    ¡°Why are you trying to comfort me? I just tried to threaten you!¡± She yelled at me in-between tears.


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I try to comfort you? When I came here it was with the assumption that you where either going to attempt an assassination or blackmail me. Since there is nothing you can threaten me with anyway and I am stronger than you both are of little consequence. In my opinion this outcome was better than the one I had expected so comforting you holds no disadvantages. Plus you¡¯re cute when you cry so I couldn¡¯t resist petting you.¡± I answered honestly. She flinched when I told her my expectations.


    ¡°Why do you just assume I¡¯d do that? I mean I know I did but why did you expect me to?¡± She asked mopingly.


    ¡°I¡¯ve known you for a year, Crystal. Even if you told me a secret it would only be in either a secluded location or with a barrier up so no one could overhear at most and in any case it would be during the day. Night is not something you would use to tell me anything so all that is left is to assume whatever you called me out for was an action that is deemed morally wrong. Whether you where being threatened or are desperate, assassination and blackmail where the only logical conclusions to this meeting.¡± I answered easily.


    She winced when I told her how easy to read she was but before she could protest, I continued.


    ¡°Idiot. You¡¯re such an idiot. You should have just asked me for help in the first place, idiot. How much of an idiot do you have to be that you can be so idiotic? Generally you ask first and then resort to blackmail if they don¡¯t agree, not the opposite way around. So tell me why you even have a sister that I¡¯ve never heard of before and what got you willing to resort to blackmail.¡± I commanded her as she looked embarrassed.


    ¡°My sister¡­ no, she¡¯s more like my other half. We where born twins but we could always feel each other. But from the moment we where born, they¡¯ve had her. I can feel it, her pain and fear and it hurts so much. And I know¡­ I know that I only feel half of it. The only reason she is still alive is because she is living through me, even with all that pain and it¡¯s horrible. I can feel how scared she is and I know that it hurts so much but I can¡¯t do anything to help her. I just want my other half to be safe and happy but yet I can¡¯t get to her, even when I know where she is. Please, help me¡± She broke down crying.


    ¡°Crystal¡­ is she¡­ was she taken by the shadows¡­?¡± I asked slowly.


    She just nodded, not even able to form words through her breakdown.


    ¡°When is her sixteenth birthday¡± I asked urgently.


    ¡°I-it¡¯s in a few hours, same time as mine¡± She choked out.


    ¡°Well fuck.¡±


    ----


    [POV Change]


    ¡°Well fuck¡± I looked up in surprise as she swore. While I have heard her do it before¡­ well, she¡¯s never been this serious and even then it is extremely rare. But right now, the look on her face¡­ she looked stressed, something I haven¡¯t seen her show since the day we met but a face I recognised instantly from all the times I¡¯ve seen it in the mirror.


    ¡°Crystal, you are going to listen to me very carefully and do exactly as I tell you or you¡¯re sister will die and this world will explode with enough force to shred several other nearby worlds as well¡± She said seriously. The atmosphere she suddenly started emitting stopped me from talking and I just nodded instead.


    ¡°Several trillion years ago a child was born in the centre of a black hole. It did not have a gender or a race as its form was constantly being shredded to the point where it was impossible to form one. Usually, this child would have died but its mother bound its life force to the black hole itself in a twisted experiment. When the results where lacklustre in the mothers opinion she destroyed the black hole. What she did not expect however was that all the energy had been absorbed by the child. When she tried to kill it, the form shredded before reforming again and again, impossible to destroy.


    But nothing is invulnerable. Once it was separated from the black hole it began to age by the minutes as if they where years. After ninety minutes, the child died. But that wasn¡¯t the end. Desperate, the child reached out towards the only thing it understood, the shadows that ripped him apart endlessly while he was in the black hole. Its soul was destroyed and the shards merged into the shadows, creating an abomination that only seeks to destroy. From that moment on it has stolen children and used the power aligned with darkness to forcefully overload the soul with mana until it becomes a living super bomb.


    A few billion years after that moment it had successfully destroyed trillions of worlds and stars by kidnapping children and spending eight years to overload their souls. It was a threat to every god as to find the bombs within the shadows are almost impossible so they banded together and waited at the last known place of a child¡¯s disappearance. When the shadows came out to deposit the bomb back into the light, they used all their mana simultaneously to try and separate the shadow from the shadows. They failed. Instead, now the shadows are half inside the shadows and half outside of them.


    Because of this failure, the shadow was weakened massively but it still lives. Right now, it can only take half a soul into the shadows with it while leaving the other half outside. The chance to do so only comes every few million years as for one soul to be stably divided into two bodies is extremely rare but it isn¡¯t impossible. If the shadow really took your sister your link with her means that you are most likely sharing a soul with her and you where the half left behind. Even with it¡¯s weakened state it only takes sixteen years to form a bomb.¡±


    I was stunned. There¡¯s no other way to put it. Idly I wondered why she knew so much and why her atmosphere changed in the back of my mind but my main thoughts where on my sister. I know she¡¯s right about are soul. Once I heard it, it was as if it just clicked in my head and my connection with her became complete but that also made the pain multiply by two. I couldn¡¯t help but scream but I refused to give in to it. She said she can help, right? I heard that didn¡¯t I? She told me to do as she says or we would explode so she must know how to help me-no, us. She has to know. As if reading my thoughts she began to talk again.


    ¡°Show me. Use you¡¯re soul link to feel exactly where it is and create a mana trail to it. I¡¯ll make sure you don¡¯t run out of mana.¡± I complied as soon as she said it, not even questioning the how.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t go through so much crap to become strong just for a fucking shadow to destroy it all.¡±


    ----


    [Normal POV]


    I didn¡¯t even think. I completely lost myself in my anger and said something that compromises my situation out loud without hesitation. I don¡¯t regret it since she will see what will happen once we get there anyway but I still feel like an idiot for slipping so easily.


    But was that really unwarranted? I spent so bloody long without happiness and without a reason to live other than strength. I dedicated my entire being to gaining strength. But yet, as soon as it¡¯s finally within my grasp and as soon as I finally have a chance to be happy I find out that the abomination had somehow taken a child from my world when I wasn¡¯t paying attention. Grandma and grandma airhead, mummy and mother, Amber, Emerald and Azure and even the world I¡¯ve come to like, all in the range of fire to a super bomb that I didn¡¯t even notice. The sheer amount of coincidences that led to discovering it where ridiculous and if not for even one of them I would have lost everything. Why did that disgusting creature have to appear here? It has barely been fifty years since the last magic bomb but yet another one appeared so fast.


    For all the knowledge I have I couldn¡¯t even prevent this from happening. And crystal¡­ the amount of pain she would have been feeling through that link is massive. I¡¯m surprised she hasn¡¯t tried to kill herself to escape from it. But then again she seems to love her other half instead of hating it like most others do in this situation. I guess that is also the reason why another bomb came so quickly, because another person who can love their other half even with the endless pain exists, something that few can manage.


    ¡®Direct command override: Funnel all your mana into me once the shadow has come out from hiding. When the shadow is destroyed recover your mana and go back to normal activities.¡¯


    ¡®Yes¡¯


    I got a reply from 190 of the gods I have on standby.


    ¡®Direct command override: Work together to prevent any damage upon the surroundings or life forms. Once the shadow is destroyed, stop and recover your mana before going back to normal duties.¡¯


    ¡®Yes¡¯


    And then I had the other ten ready as well.


    ¡®Azure. I need your help. I know you heard everything so I¡¯ll make this short. Use your mana to connect Crystal and her sister¡¯s soul together directly tapping into the overloaded darkness power. It will separate the power over both half¡¯s and they will no longer be a bomb. I¡¯ll explain to you what I know you want to ask later. We have work to do.¡¯ I sent to her through my mind.


    ¡®Okay Master. Be careful though. I know what happened to the last gods who tried to go against it.¡¯


    ¡®I know. But people say things like third time lucky, right? With my goals I am not going to let a stupid shadow kill me. Besides all the other gods who tried where morons. Just banding together with a few thousand gods won¡¯t do shit and I bet the first out of the two groups only got lucky. I¡¯m me though so I¡¯ll be fine, don¡¯t worry about it, okay?¡¯


    ¡®Okay Master. You better not get hurt or I¡¯ll be mad¡¯ She said in a worried voice before cutting off the conversation.


    ¡°Crystal¡­ are you sure this is exactly where you sense her?¡± I asked her seriously.


    ¡°Yes¡­ yes, I¡¯m sure. I¡¯ve always known she was somewhere in this room but then it clicked and I can feel where she is exactly.¡± She sounded dazed at first before her resolve strengthened.


    I began to make my preparations. I don¡¯t really have much of a choice to do anything but accept what she told me as truth so I started setting up a very special set of runes, enchantments, items and formations that I made specifically to target the shadow after I heard of it¡¯s recent explosion. It was something to do while waiting for a chance to be born in the royal family to come up and I never thought I¡¯d be in this universe long enough to test it but I guess now I have a chance.


    First I isolated this as a separate dimension. That is a lot harder than it sounds because I literally had to take this room out as a chunk and put it somewhere else while patching up the hole over where it used to be and creating an anchor from this one to that one. The reason I had to do it is that the shadow can¡¯t move once it starts working on a bomb so Crystals sister and the shadow are still in this room. After I did that the other two hundred and one gods joined me even if it was at a distance and Azure took Crystal a few hundred metres away. She still needed to be close to focus on the task I gave her.


    The rest though¡­ ugh, even I feel a little bitter at how much of my rare and precious resources this will take from me but I managed to set up a lot of traps for the shadow as well as channelling an unnatural amount of the light element through the formations to weaken it. It won¡¯t have a massive effect but it will atleast weaken it and stop some of the more damaging attacks it has access to. My greatest enemy in this fight will be myself though.


    Once I set up the rest of my trap I waited. I can already see the half of the shadow that is in the light but it has no power other than being an extra set of eyes to the main body. I could destroy it but there¡¯s no real reason to and honestly it would probably just make the main body stronger if it were gone. So I waited and counted down the seconds instead.


    Soon the other half of the shadows head appeared and attached to it¡¯s powerless half, making something mimicking a human body made out of pure darkness and pure light, it¡¯s form constantly fazing into itself. I couldn¡¯t even tell how this half connected with the other before but now I can see it is literally a straight cut down the middle that connects the two forms into a copy of the child that died long ago. And with it came a soul. By now the body had been long erased and all that was left was a glowing ball of darkness to those with the ability to see souls.


    Due to the nature of it only being half a soul I could see that it had already grown to be about three fourths the size of a full soul just like Crystals has over that time. Activating my traps as soon as they both appeared, the shadow was wrapped by pure mana and light and bound into place. I could feel the magic funnelling into me already, forcefully being converted into my own as my body burned.


    It snarled, if you can call that a facial expression, and tried to escape. I knew it would hold for now but it wouldn¡¯t last long. Waiting until the last possible second, when my body was already ashes and the weapon soul was already out of range, I channelled all my mana in one massive burst directly in to the heart of the shadow with my light element as the focus. And then¡­ time froze.


    ----


    ¡®How long?¡¯ I asked In my mind.


    ¡®Master! Are you awake!? Master, please tell me you¡¯re awake!¡¯


    ¡®How long?¡¯ I repeated, slightly more aggressively this time.


    ¡®T-two months¡­¡¯ Ah, I scared her.


    ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Azure. I know I shouldn¡¯t take my anger out on you. These¡­ ¡®two months¡¯ have been a little¡­ uncomfortable. I¡¯m sorry for leaving you for so long. What happened to Crystal and her sister?¡¯ I asked tiredly. I can still feel the lingering migraine that has plagued me for so long now.


    ¡®I did what you told me and merged them together but then they started rejecting each other so I froze them in the ring you gave me like you told me to if it happened. Crystals body is currently being kept alive by machines without her soul and the other nobles think that you tried an experiment that went wrong. I¡¯ve explained what happened to you¡¯re family and her¡¯s though and now everyone is waiting for you to wake up. Master¡­ what happened?¡¯


    I couldn¡¯t help but wince at that. What happened to my family because of this decision? I know I had no choice since moving the entire world so far away isn¡¯t something I can do on short notice but¡­ but I don¡¯t want to see their worried faces. I don¡¯t want to deal with the aftermath of my decision from this event. I¡¯m scared to see the blame in their eyes for making them go through that.


    ¡®I died.¡¯ I said simply.


    After a small pause where she was shocked into silence I continued.


    ¡®My body is programmed into my soul meaning as long as I have mana, I can reform it. So long as I don¡¯t run out I will never die with my soul being impossible to shatter but once I do I will die. I have a last resort though. Something I hoped never to use due to what the user experiences in return. A name¡­ if I had to give it one I¡¯d say it is ¡®Hell Sentence.¡¯ What it does is instantly restore your body to optimal condition including the mana used but in return it freezes the user in time for atleast ten times what it would usually take to do so naturally. It is a side-effect ability that I created by accident when I poured so much power into my soul. You could say that I am unique, being the only one in existence to have this ability.


    Once my body is destroyed and my mana has fallen below levels where I could be considered ¡®alive¡¯ it will restore me at the price of sending my spirit to hell for however long I am frozen. While the original hell most people know of is just physical torture, they where made by gods who sought to punish or indulge in their sadistic pleasures. The actual place I went to, the word hell is the only one I can use to describe it. Physical and mental torture by being bathed in the mana pits. It can be considered the law of equivalent exchange. It forcefully restored me from the absolute brink of death and in return I was forced to wish I really did die. I lost track of time after the first hour there. I¡­ if I didn¡¯t wish to live, I would have never activated that last resort¡­ Azure, I can¡¯t even describe what that place is like. The closest description would be all of the negative mana in existence gathered together in a small space that I was locked inside of.


    Azure¡­ if I ever do that again and my body is frozen after using that last resort¡­ please just kill me. It will eject me from that place if my body dies while it¡¯s ¡®frozen¡¯ so please just kill me. I don¡¯t care if I have to forget everything just do not let me stay in that place again¡­ please¡­¡¯


    I broke down into hysteric sobbing and crying after that. It lasted so long that I didn¡¯t even realise I had other people around me until I was in my soul scape after crying myself to sleep. Even in there, I just kept crying. I could have went to sleep but I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop when I woke up as well so instead I made use of the week I had to cry myself into alertness again. Then and only then did I go to sleep.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ----


    [POV Change]


    ¡°Master¡­ just what happened to you that even your family is something you are willing to forget in return for never going back there¡­¡± I said softly in the empty room that only my masters shivering body and I where in.


    I know better than most the effects of mana due to my nature of having a connection with it inside of me but I never knew there was a place like that. There is a reason the mass amounts of mana are called the ¡®heavens¡¯ even though they have no conscious will. It¡¯s called that because being inside of it is supposed to be heavenly, feeling every single strand of happiness, pleasure, comfort and love through every positive strand of mana in existence. It¡¯s supposed to be so overwhelming that coming back here almost seems like a hell. But yet, my master went to the opposite¡­


    I can¡¯t imagine what it feels like. I can barely even imagine what the heavens feel like and I have a link to them but if a hell exists¡­ heavens opposite¡­ no, I never will be able to comprehend that but I can tell that it would be overwhelmingly horrible. There is so much more pain than happiness throughout existence after all. To say that someone would rather die than go there is understandable. Even I would prefer that and I never even knew they existed.


    But it¡¯s hard to see my master as someone who would let it affect her. She desires strength so much and her family means everything to her but yet, even if I know how horrible it is supposed to be in theory¡­ it just seems surreal to see my master be so effected by it. She always seems so strong that seeing her so weak just feels out of place, like it is something foreign. It¡¯s selfish of me I know but I can¡¯t help but think¡­ is this really the same person? I know it is but¡­ I guess I spent so long looking up to her as some ultimate being that I forgot she is a person just like everyone else.


    ----


    [Normal POV]


    ¡°Everything has it¡¯s advantages, huh? Ah shit I¡¯m crying again now¡­¡±


    After two months I thought I had finally gotten myself under control but just now I decided to start cultivating to take my focus off of that place. Instead I found that my mana pool had expanded massively though and when I realised why, it made me start crying again.


    Even if it was only for two months I still had a temporary mana portal connected with hell opened up in my body, mimicking the affects of a dungeon. Since I am not one however it all went into expanding my own reserves instead, meaning that right now I have around ten times the mana I would have as a tenth realm if I had kept cultivating in this life. To put that into perspective if I cultivated the same way as I had been I would already have been at around ten times the size in my last life by the time I entered the tenth realm. For that base to be so much bigger is already monstrous so when the new base gets ten times bigger again¡­ it¡¯s ridiculous.


    But for as much as I desire power, I wish I didn¡¯t have it. What I went through to get it¡­ I¡¯ve always been bad at dealing with pain and this was so, so much worse than simple pain. What makes it worse is that I know if I had just one more realm added on to my strength I wouldn¡¯t have had to activate that last resort at all. My meridians would have burned at a slower rate and I wouldn¡¯t have lost as much mana to repair them to the point that I¡¯d just keep myself alive instead of relying on that shitty place.


    That is another reason I wanted to cultivate. I need to get stronger. Even if my family is out of my reach, I refuse to let that happen to me again. I¡¯d much rather find a way back here than go to that place. So I¡¯m going to cultivate up to the tenth realm and hope that I have a choice to leave after I reach the strength limit. If I do I can stay but if not¡­ I might lose my family. But after that place, even they won¡¯t make me avoid my desire for strength anymore. I just can¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t even leave the possibility that it could happen again existing. Once I get to the tenth realm my body will be strong enough that nothing can even hurt me with the size of my mana pool, even when I don¡¯t use it. So as long as I remain in this plane of existence afterwards¡­ then no one could make me go through that again. If that happens, I don¡¯t know how long it will take me to be ready to leave this plane if I have the choice but¡­ well, let¡¯s just say it will take a long time.


    ----


    ¡°Are you sure, Master?¡± Azure asked me before my breakthrough to the tenth realm.


    ¡°I can¡¯t leave the possibility for that ever happening to me again existing, no matter how slight it is¡± I replied to her guiltily.


    After my mana pool got so much bigger, it actually took longer than I thought to get to this point. When I was five years and four months old I started my cultivation and even in a time-diluted chamber it took me another seven months normal time. Totally it was around one year a month. If not for the enchants that make sure aging is in normal time¡­ I¡¯d already be thirteen by now. And right now, I have weakened the wall to the limit and expanded my mana to the limit. Now I was just talking to Azure in case I couldn¡¯t stay. My family¡­ they already knew what was happening today but they where in denial. They refused to say goodbye in case that meant I wouldn¡¯t come back.


    ¡°But Master¡­ what if you don¡¯t stay? I don¡¯t want to lose you, master. We both know that no matter how much protection I have I¡¯ll never reach the strength limit so if you can¡¯t come back if you don¡¯t have a choice about leaving, I¡¯ll never see you again. I don¡¯t want to lose Master.¡± She cried as she clung on to my clothes.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡± I said as I hugged her and pushed through the last block in my cultivation. I was now a tenth realm god, at the strength limit that used to plague me and the one I went through so much effort to surpass. At first, nothing happened. But then I violently flung Azure away as something ripped around me and I found myself in a small, blank white room.


    [Hello. I won¡¯t explain anything to you but know that you have two choices right now]


    [1) You continue.]


    [2) You go back to prepare.]


    [If you choose the first option you will fight the current ruler of existence. If you choose the second option you will be stuck in the lower Realm for 1,000,000 years as payment. Even if you reform your body again, you will be stuck until that time.]


    [Choose]


    ¡°Two¡± I said without hesitation.


    [Ah, no hesitation. How interesting. You are the first challenger that chose option 2 so easily]


    [Sigh, am I getting kind in my old age? Oh well. I guess I will reward you for that. I do have a like for games after all so it¡¯s only fitting that you get rewarded for being the first. I don¡¯t like the other guy though as well so I guess it¡¯s a mix of both? Anyway, it¡¯s good for you. Have fun, I¡¯ll see you again in a million years.]


    And with that, I was being tossed back out to who knows where. After what seemed like years but was probably only hours, I stopped falling and found myself in another blank room with a single book in here. Naturally I was wary but I picked it up all the same. As soon as I touched it though it burst into golden particles and imprinted directly into my head. This book¡­ this book was a method to convert souls into power without death being used to help. This was the fucking strongest skill that I could ever see existing and the reason I chose two without hesitation.


    Sure, I want to stay there to be with my family but the main reason I wanted to stay was because I wanted to repeat the ritual I did to put more power into my soul. This book however¡­ with this I can directly channel it into me. That book was like finding a fucking fresh water sea in an infinite desert. And that was a gift that thing gave out to me on a whim? How¡­ how ridiculous.


    Ah crap. I just remembered I forgot to help crystal and her sister¡­


    Oops.


    Anyway, while crystals sister was overloaded to the point of explosion that was only because it was actual darkness and not darkness mana which was shoved into her soul. Technically it was mana which shoved it in there but it is still putting something completely incompatible into a soul in mass quantities. If it was channelled into her affinity it would have been fine but it wasn¡¯t, it was channelled into the soul as a whole which wasn¡¯t made to handle it. Since her soul strength is no where near a gods, let alone my ridiculous amount of soul strength, obviously it would eventually explode. If it was not used like that however it wouldn¡¯t have happened.


    Honestly I¡¯ve known about that method for a long time but it¡¯s simply not worth it due to the excess elemental power that spreads through the rest of the soul. The reason I made Azure merge them together was because it would be like a cup that is overflowing suddenly gets bigger. Right now, if I separated them again they would both be have their souls filled with half of their maximum capacity. It¡¯s not dangerous for either of them but it¡¯s still not a very good situation. I obviously can¡¯t leave them together since they are two people and their souls are each only a quarter away from being a full souls so they aren¡¯t compatible anymore like they would be at birth but that doesn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t benefit from the temporary merge.


    Once I separate them I plan on channelling all the darkness into their affinity sections. Before I couldn¡¯t do it but with this book¡­ to make things simpler, with all the darkness in their souls it would slowly drain into their elemental affinities anyway in the next million years but I could do nothing about that before. Now, I can drain it all at once into their affinities now because of the book.


    Hell, I can even do it for myself now. Before I wouldn¡¯t have because I planned to mess with my soul again and putting actual elements into it would just make that harder but now, I can put them into my soul and funnel it directly into growing my affinities without making anything else harder in the process. I can also strengthen my soul and talents directly without having to do it in bursts. Oh, this is so fucking cool!!!


    ----


    [Quick POV Change]


    [Haha, take that you annoying bastard. I¡¯ve been watching her for a while now and she is the perfect one to take you down. Daring to limit my domain to this single room¡­ I will make you regret it. And the best thing is that you will never even know she exists until the moment she kills you and devours your soul. Ah, I can imagine it already. The sound of your soul shattering, the sweet flow of power being poured into her to never be seen again and my domain once again stretching out across all of existence. And to think¡­ all that is only a million years away. Hahaha you fucking idiot, I told you you¡¯d regret putting me in here.]


    ----


    [Normal POV]


    Now, how do I get out of this room? Ah crap, I¡¯m kind of stuck here¡­ how distasteful. Wait, I¡¯m not going to be stuck in here for a million years am I? In this room with nothing else in it¡­ no¡­ I can¡¯t stay her- oh, there¡¯s a letter where the book used to be. Awkward.


    Yo,


    Have fun with this shit. I certainly will :P


    Umm¡­ okay? That¡¯s kind of foreboding but okay¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Nothings happening. I¡¯m still stuck in the room.


    ¡°Umm¡­ can I get out?¡± I asked the air awkwardly after a few minutes.


    Suddenly the rip opened back up and I was back where I was before, seeing Azure still flying through the air from the throw I sent her way hours ago. I went and caught her and she looked surprised and terrified but mostly happy. I think the terrified part was because of the rip that devoured me. Now that I had a chance to look at it, there was a literal tongue and teeth that came out to eat me and spit me back out. I wonder if it had a chewing effect before spitting me out in distaste? I feel like that thing in the room is way too bored to do all that. But the fact that time froze for several hours¡­ how terrifying.


    ¡°I¡¯m back. Did you miss me, Azure?¡± I teased even though it has only been a few seconds to her.


    ¡°Yes! You big idiot Master!¡± She screamed at me while crying.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know I selfishly ran away from everyone I cared about because I was scared and I¡¯m sorry.¡± I said to her softly but seriously as I hugged her.


    Truth is¡­ she¡¯s not the only one who was terrified. My family¡­ as much as I wanted to never feel that pain again, I also didn¡¯t want to lose them so this outcome¡­ this outcome is amazing. Although I feel like the trauma that ¡®hell¡¯ gave me will never disappear, now it¡¯s as if it will stop making my life bad even after I escaped. I think I never let go of that place and made myself suffer instead because of it but now that I know that I can have strength without losing my happiness it¡¯s like all the weight has disappeared. I know that in this plane of existence, even if I am stuck here for another million years¡­ I will never feel that pain again and I can be happy with my family.


    With the sheer amount of mana I have my body is practically invulnerable and even if it was destroyed I could heal it easily. So right now the only thing I am scared of is losing the people I care about. Being all-powerful has it¡¯s perks though like extreme power, confidence, skill, knowledge, power, power and more power. Yeah my families pretty safe unless something unpredictable happens again like the shadow. Even then I think I have a good chance of protecting them providing they are not all far apart.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get to cry, idiot. Why do you get to cry when I am the one who thought I lost you forever¡± She said as she was banging my chest childishly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know! You where crying and then I felt like crying because you where and now I can¡¯t stop because you keep crying! Stop crying and I will stop!¡± I replied childishly in return. The childish part of my voice was an act but I really was crying because she was.


    ¡°Master!! Don¡¯t ever leave me again or I won¡¯t forgive you!¡± She yelled irrationally.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the toilet then¡± I replied as I began to carry her towards the closest toilet.


    ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I meant! Idiot master!¡± She said as she hit me harder and tried to struggle out of my arms.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ you don¡¯t really know this since I got a lot better at it before I created you but I¡¯m not very good at talking. Whenever something is bothering me I can¡¯t find ways to say it and because of that I tell people hardly anything about myself and get caught up in all my own problems constantly. I was just avoiding the topic, I know that, but yet I still couldn¡¯t resist saying that even when I knew that. I¡¯m sorry for worrying you, Azure.¡± I said seriously.


    Half way through I sat down and buried my head into her chest instead so she couldn¡¯t see my face. I knew that was still running away but I couldn¡¯t say that and show my face at the same time, it was too much.


    ¡°Seriously¡­ you are such an idiot master¡­ how can you be so smart but yet so dumb¡­¡± She mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.


    ¡°Ah, the hard life of being a super genius that makes everyone else look dumber than rocks¡± I sighed playfully.


    ¡°Hmph, if rocks are what it takes to be able to connect with people you should become a rock, idiot master¡± She said arrogantly. It¡¯s obvious she was being playful as well though.


    ¡°You know Azure¡­ while I was gone I remembered that we haven¡¯t fixed Crystal and her sister yet. How did I forget to do that when I wasn¡¯t even sure if I could come back? It seems so stupid now. I was so caught up in myself that I forgot something so obvious.¡± I said sadly. I feel guilty for that and I should have remembered it, especially since I thought of that event so much but yet I didn¡¯t even think of it with seven years of cultivation. Even if it was in a space like that¡­ not once? I didn¡¯t even consider that I still had to finish helping them.


    ¡°I¡­ I was so focused on master that I forgot to remind master¡­ idiot. I¡¯m an idiot as well¡± She whispered to herself in a voice like it was the end of the world. She went really pale as well.


    ¡°Hey, why did you dramatize the idiot part so much?! I¡¯m not an idiot and neither are you!¡± I defended heatedly.


    ¡°Master denial is bad for your mental health. I accept that we are both idiots even if you are the bigger one so you need to accept it as well or we will never make any progress¡± She scolded seriously.


    ¡°Okay fine, I¡¯ll admit that you are an idiot. Happy? Good, let¡¯s go fix this mistake.¡± I teased in a mock serious voice before I came back into the castle. I had the ring with the soul/souls in a draw here still so I had to come back for it.


    ¡°Can you bring Crystals body here? I need to focus for a bit¡± I said as she nodded and left. Barely a few seconds later she was back and I had the two/one soul in front of me (using mana to freeze their time. Costs a lot).


    The first part was easy. The merge was unstable anyway so separating them again wasn¡¯t even a problem. Next though¡­ well, they still had a lot of darkness in them and I was new to my new power so it was a little hard to funnel the darkness that was spread evenly between the two souls into their affinities. While I succeeded, it was only afterwards that I considered that Crystals sister already has a lot in the affinity from the sheer time it was in her soul. Since she passively absorbs it her affinity for darkness was a lot higher than Crystals so now she is ahead in it. To be fair she went through a lot of pain for that boost but it still feels a little wrong.


    Regardless I was able to do that after a little bit of tampering as well. No, what was hard was using my mana to grow both souls into two separate full souls from the previous three quarters full. Once they where grown it was obvious they became dual-souls. I guess it would be what most would consider following through reincarnation with each other. Since they are linked on such a basic level they are destined to always have a strong bond and follow each other through life and death. If one dies, they know and a week later they too will die in order to follow their other half. I guess it makes sense since they where originally one soul but since the shadow destroyed the links between half souls by turning one into a bomb I never had a chance to study how dual-souls where born.


    The half souls I understand though. Someone loves someone massively but that person had his or her soul shattered. In their grief, the soul shards attach to the one who they loved that still had a soul and that person will die and have their soul split in the unconscious desire to do anything to repair their souls. So basically, all the half soul twins that are born are from people who loved and trusted each other so much that they where willing to die to repair the broken soul. Emotions are amazing as they can always break the limits we aren¡¯t even aware of. It never happens to most people though since it is rare for someone to have their reason for life based on a single person and even then they will likely pursue revenge instead of dying without the one they loved.


    It¡¯s quite romantic I guess but it¡¯s kind of useless when they lose the memories that made them love each other so much in the first place. Most of the time their instinct is to love them but when you are linked with someone who causes you so much pain constantly or the other way around, you having pain while they don¡¯t¡­ well, jealousy breaks instinct. Because of that shadow many of those once romantic stories ended up tragedies instead where they both hated each other. I imagine some weren¡¯t romantic relations but instead friendships or family but for the ones who where, even if the shadow didn¡¯t exist they would likely end up as tragedy stories since they are born as siblings constantly.


    The shadow is destroyed now though and hopefully it will not reappear ever again. Since it was originally made from a genius who kept the black hole stable and gave birth to a child in the centre of it while bonding it¡¯s soul to the thing it¡¯s unlikely there will be a redo of the experiment that created it. For as twisted as the lady was, to be able to use soul magic to such an extent makes her a genius on my level, at least in that field. But even if the experiment was recreated (unlikely) the chances of it¡¯s emotions once again breaking common sense and merging with the shadows are miniscule and it only gets smaller as you consider that it might not be a mass-murdering kidnapper terrorist combo. There are so many variations to the possibilities but overall I doubt there will be another bomb shadow in the future.


    ¡®You know who I am, right?¡¯ I asked Emeralds sister.


    ¡®Scarlet Primrose. My sister met you and I¡¯ve known you through her.¡¯ She said simply.


    ¡®Good. I can make you a body but I¡¯ll give you a choice of what you want. Be warned though that you will have two forms, one animal and one human. It¡¯s easier to explain you as someone who was in a coma from birth while a unique ability manifested itself rather than announcing that you where a super bomb since those coma¡¯s really do happen to people even if it is rare and it won¡¯t create much suspicion. I¡¯m planning on explaining You, Crystal and my situations by making it a story of ¡®two kids trying to wake up the sleeping child but ended up putting themselves in a coma as well.¡¯ Right now, you have been missing from the day you where born and both your sister and I have been missing for the past several months.¡¯ I summarised for her.


    ¡®Kitten¡¯ she didn¡¯t even hesitate.


    I was hoping she¡¯d choose kitten! I mean there¡¯s only like one cat girl I have seen in this nation in the last five, almost six, years and she was a fricken granny. It¡¯s a crime, why¡¯s the cutest race not amazingly popular? Tch, no wonder I didn¡¯t pay enough attention to notice that damn shadow.


    Anyway I started forming her body. By nature it can shape shift between two forms, a kitten and a cat girl. But past that I made it like my body with it¡¯s innards. Since I can now bond it directly into her soul without killing her (technically she is alive since I am holding her away from the cycle of reincarnation) with the new power I have, she literally has a perfect body, just like me. While her raw talent won¡¯t match my body she will still cultivate faster because of her body.


    Next I edited how her humanoid body looks like. Cute kitty ears and tail, freely able to transform her hands into cute kitty paws and kitty eyes. Naturally, she also looks fricken cute~ as well! I still have work to do though! Hair. Naturally it will be mostly black, a really deep, dark and glossy black, but I can still make things interesting. While if I make her hair into a certain colour it will change back within a few days due to the nature of her soul, I can edit what the affinities do as a base now that I can mess with souls without dying.


    So since she has fire as her second largest affinity I made the base into that black with dark red streaks in her hair occasionally. Since it aligns with her affinity it won¡¯t disappear. And¡­ well, it looks cool. We can use magic, of course I wouldn¡¯t leave her with plain black hair. But now, my makeover was finished! And she was a cute cat girl that could change into a kitten at will. I¡¯m so happy!


    Still I had things to do. Firstly I broke her through with pure mana since she hadn¡¯t cultivated till now. Then I spent the next two hours breaking her through to the tenth realm as well as bringing her sister up to the same and purifying her mana. It¡¯s harder to bring up other peoples cultivation as compared to my own since my talent doesn¡¯t affect them but it¡¯s doable. I had already altered Crystals insides to be like her sisters (minus the cat) and the only major physical difference (again minus the cat) was that Crystal was more aligned with beauty than cuteness and her hair was black with blonde streaks instead since she is aligned with the light element as her secondary. Now they look quite similar (again minus the cat) to each other so people will easily be able to tell they are twins.


    After that things got annoying. Naturally I had to make up a lot of bullshit stories for myself and them to keep the truth hidden from everyone else and I even had to tell my family and the sisters that I am this nations god reincarnated since the facts didn¡¯t line up and they questioned me. It was bound to happen eventually and although my family was pretty cool about it I still think it was annoying. The amount of stuff I used my alter ego as an excuse for¡­ it all came back to bite me and I had to explain everything. I even got grounded for keeping secrets¡­ I mean, who finds out that you are some all-powerful god in this plane and then grounds you? So embarrassing.


    The story the public knew though was that Crystal asked for my help to wake up her sister where we proceeded to knock ourselves into a coma for several months before all waking up at the same time. The sisters hair changed so it lent credit to the story but for around a week everyone was wondering why my hair didn¡¯t change before deciding that I was already too perfect for it to affect me. Seriously, how did they even reach such a stupid conclusion? Shouldn¡¯t they just realise it¡¯s because they where twins and I¡¯m not related?


    Well I pulled them both into the time manipulation chamber for around a year of compacted studying and combat training during the next few months. One sister missed a heap of school and the other had only been through her sister so I needed to catch them up a lot. Thankfully atleast the twins families didn¡¯t find out that I was the head god but they do know a slightly edited version of the story so they still know I am a god. There¡¯s so many legends about that shadow that I couldn¡¯t simply bluff my way out of telling them what I am (sorta).


    My birthday was on the second of November so I turned six about two months before school was supposed to start. I guess I can be considered one of the youngest since even if a kid turns six in February they have to wait until the next year to attend which is kind of ironic when I¡¯m probably older than most of them will live.


    For my birthday I got a new ring with the royal families emblem on it as my main present since we only get it when we officially start cultivating. Basically it¡¯s a ring to tell people that I¡¯m not someone to piss off. The royalties have a ring as well and even the rich merchants have one, though it obviously signifies the ranks clearly. The rich rings are literally bought with money but I guess it still has it¡¯s use to be able to tell people not to mess with you. It¡¯s also like a free pass into the castle with the varying ranks signifying the amount of privileges you have inside. Guest is the lowest rank and is only temporary for when there are parties and balls but the ones above it are usually found socialising in the common room. It can be very useful to make connections after all.


    As for how things are going for all of us is a little complicated but good as well. Sapphire, the cat-girl sister of Crystal, has made a habit of staying in kitten form while I carry her around. Since she is exempt from school as well due to her unique circumstances, she will be coming with me in kitten form since I am the best tutor for her and as the princess she can observe the social situations safely. I don¡¯t mind since it was my suggestion and she is adorable but Crystal¡­ she¡¯s jealous. I mean, her sister is an adorable kitten, of course she is jealous when she is always in my arms. What can I say, I am always the perfect temperature¡­ convenient, right?


    But Sapphire herself is rather¡­ odd. I guess that being a cat will have a mental effect just as being trapped in the dark for sixteen years of pain and fear would as well so it¡¯s not odd that she¡¯s odd but some of the things she does is just completely random. For some reason she loves rolling around in syrup but hates getting dirty for anything else. Her cultivation means she can rid her fur of it easily but¡­ why does she even want to roll in it in the first place? I really can¡¯t work that out. But what¡¯s weirder is that she loves laying on her back on top of my head and playing with her paws so it looks like she¡¯s swimming. She finds it hilarious and everyone else finds it adorable but why is she swimming of all things? She never get¡¯s bored of it either¡­


    Overall there is just a lot of little things like that which show in her daily actions and even if it¡¯s adorable since she is a kitten in her second form it is also completely random. I think I¡¯d do the swimming thing as well but eventually I¡¯d get bored of it in comparison to how she does it everyday for atleast an hour or two. To be unique after a life like that isn¡¯t unexpected but I¡¯m still confused why it¡¯s those things.


    The sisters have been sleeping together. To make sure it isn¡¯t weird I¡¯ve been told that Sapphire uses her kitten form (not that I¡¯d judge if she didn¡¯t) but it comforts both of them to be with each other. I think they still fear waking up with one of them having disappeared so it¡¯s understandable. Hopefully it never happens but making a guarantee would be stupid, instead it is just extremely unlikely. Things have been messed with so that when I go to school next year I will be living in a bigger room with Sapphire, Crystal, Azure and me instead of the usual one roommate setup since sapphire and crystal want to be close to each other but I want to be roommates with Azure. Since Sapphire needs to come to class with me we where all pre-decided to be shoved in together instead.


    Besides since I messed with their bodies having them away from me could be a security risk. It¡¯s not likely to happen but considering they are still nobles it¡¯s possible someone will sneak in to their room while they are asleep. I¡¯d rather not explain why they are unique after it get¡¯s leaked, even if it is unlikely. On that note, I finally got around to purifying the rest of my families mana and I changed their bodies as well. While the raw talent and affinities are still the same they can now cultivate faster and use their mana better so it¡¯s naturally an advantage, especially since it is purified now. In a few hundred years we will be a family of gods.


    As for the other nobles things sort of stagnated. It¡¯s obvious that my family and the twins are close now so even in our hangout we have a group involving my siblings and I, Azure and the twins so no one else has really been talking to us. I can¡¯t really do much about that, nor am I willing to try. I know I can trust my current friends so why would I bother befriending others in half-assed relationships? It doesn¡¯t seem worth it.


    The biggest change is Azure. While I had certainly made a lot of progress with her actually achieving what I wanted (breaking down the barriers) was a lot harder and I was lost for some time. But after she saw me go through my¡­ breakdown, for lack of better words and then almost lost me forever it shattered by itself and I was finally able to get her to lessen the whole maid personality. I am still the master she loves and respects but now she¡¯s not so stiff and boring, instead having fun genuinely treating me like a friend.


    My family didn¡¯t take it very well when I told them I wanted to stay at school instead of coming home everyday. I mean it isn¡¯t really necessary and my reasoning for staying was that dorms seem fun but come on, it¡¯s literally a swords and magic word boarding school for the elite¡­ if I didn¡¯t attend it as a boarding school I would be offending every decent fantasy book mortals have written about such a setting. It just seems so¡­ right, you know? I can¡¯t not make this first time experience for me as interesting as possible, that¡¯d just be preposterous.


    When my siblings heard my explanation and decided to do the same next year as well¡­ it got messy. I didn¡¯t expect that to happen but for the past month Mummy has been moping and Mother has been trying to get us to change our minds. I was determined though and she had no luck. I¡¯m still not sure if my sisters will manage to resist her but it doesn¡¯t really matter. Even without them it will be a perfect fantast setting but I guess it would be fun if they stayed at school as well.


    But my take on everything that has happened so far would be¡­ I¡¯m tired. Although it¡¯s fun it is undeniably tired to do so much all the time. Especially after my visit to hell and my little breakdown afterwards it is undeniable that I am tired. I know that if I put it off it will affect my health so I will probably be actually sleeping most nights from now on but I am satisfied as well. I¡¯m at the strength cap and I still have my family and I even have a lot more power than I used to. I¡¯ve locked myself down here for a million years but even that doesn¡¯t have much influence on me. That isn¡¯t a punishment, it¡¯s just time to grow. By being locked down here I have a million years to improve myself before I go fight this mysterious ruler of existence. And most of all¡­ I have a million years to try and work out how to form a connection with the heavens and increase my mana pool like I did with hell.


    No way am I forming another connection with that place unless I absolutely have to. But since I was able to form a temporary connection with it at all means that the same thing is possible with the heavens and if I succeed, my mana pool will expand infinitely and I won¡¯t even have any negatives like hell would give me. I feel that there will still be a limit eventually but that limit will be a lot higher than what my current mana pool is at so it is worth looking into. Somehow I get the feeling that the ruler is an idiot since whatever that being in that room was, it was definitely trying to help me when it knew I was attempting to kill it¡¯s master.


    Seriously, who the hell would let such a being hate them? That¡¯s like asking to have a knife stuck in your back. I may not have talked to it for long but it clearly disliked the current ruler and even helped me get strong enough to beat them. I¡¯m not stupid enough to deny this opportunity. And the heavens are the mother of all opportunities- literally and figuratively- so naturally I will take advantage of them. Wow, somehow thinking of ways to take advantage of the heavens is weird¡­


    Whatever. I¡¯m going to sleep, screw the over-thinking crap. I¡¯m tired.

 Chapter 6 - Dorms of freedom!

    ¡°So, are you excited? We¡¯ll be there any minute now!¡± Mummy squealed to me.


    ¡°Mummy, this is like the hundredth time you¡¯ve asked! Yes, I am excited but you are way more excited than me!¡± I protested heatedly.


    ¡°Just ignore her. She was like this for both of us as well.¡± Amber said with a sigh.


    ¡°And I still am! Even if you are leaving me alone, this is the first time you get to stay away from home! Of course I¡¯m excited that my three little cuties are growing up!¡± She said as she practically jumped in her seat.


    ¡°Why did we even have to come to school by carriage? I mean, there are so many ways that could let us get there instantly already but seriously? Horse and carriage? We¡¯ve already been in here for a hour¡± I protested as I pushed the wet lips away from my face for the thousandth time.


    ¡°Aww but it¡¯s such a special day, of course I have to make more time to embarrass you as much as possible!¡± She said as she again tried to dive in to slobber all over my face.


    ¡°Personally I am rather enjoying it when it¡¯s happening to you instead of me, sis.¡± Emerald snickered.


    ¡°Ahhh! That wasn¡¯t an invitation smother me to death!¡± She yelled out in panic as Mummy¡¯s target temporarily changed to her instead.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, it is funny to see it happen to you¡­ pfft your makeups running!¡± I cracked up laughing. I didn¡¯t even put on makeup since I knew that would happen, not like I would need it anyway. Being smothered in kisses and hugs all morning has the tendency to ruin cosmetics.


    ¡°Master your family is scary¡± Azure whispered to me seriously.


    ¡°I know but they are your family as well, azure.¡± I said it just loud enough for mum to hear and change targets to her.


    ¡°M-master, help! I¡¯m drowning!¡± She protested as she held Mummy away with a foot in her stomach and both hands pushing her face away.


    ¡°Huh? Could have sworn that I heard something¡­ must have been my imagination¡± I said innocently.


    ¡°Master! Don¡¯t abandon me! Master!!!¡± She cried desperately as Mummy got past her hands and layered slobbery kisses on her face.


    ¡°Pfft Azure, you¡¯re totally not getting help from any of us¡± Amber laughed mockingly.


    ¡°Ah~ But she is, isn¡¯t she?~ After all¡­ you¡¯re my next target, eldest cutie!¡± Mummy said as she lunged at Amber.


    ¡°Bad wife. Amber is giving the opening speech so your not allowed to mess up her makeup¡± Mother said as she plucked Mummy out of the air.


    ¡°B-but¡­ it¡¯s such a big day¡± She said with teary eyes and a pout as she looked at Mother.


    ¡°fuu fuu fuu, be jealous of my immunity¡± Amber said with an arrogant voice while fanning her face dramatically.


    Mother narrowed her eyes slightly. ¡°Fine, just one hug¡± She agreed while Amber showed a brief horrified look before she was over-run and smothered.


    ¡°M-ff-other! Yo-hff-u trai-f-tor!¡± A muffled voice came out from below, making all of us laugh.


    ¡°Okay, come on, that¡¯s enough. We¡¯re going to be there in a minute so give them a chance to freshen up. God knows they will need it¡± Mother said as she stared at the devastation around her. Messy hair, crinkled clothes, running makeup and lipstick marks covering our faces. Azure even had a little wet patch of slobber on her gloves from when she tried to defend against the assault. If our subjects could see us now¡­


    Taking the chance I used my mana to clear all the random lipstick and slobber marks on me while cleaning my clothes just in case I missed any. Fixing up my clothes, un-devastating my hair, re-posturising myself and checking over my siblings and Azure, I was back in perfect condition within a few seconds, the previous disaster zone that was this carriage no where to be seen. I helped Azure with her gloves since her mana control is still lacking but other than that, everyone had managed to fix themselves and the carriage up within half a minute and we where back to our peak conditions.


    ¡°I-hic- I¡¯m so pro-hic-ud of my little girls, all hic growing up¡± Mother said while crying, making me revise my previous line of thought. No, most of us where back to peak condition. Mummy was a disaster zone, she only got worse with the time she had.


    ¡°W-I-F-E of mine, what do you think your doing? I hope your not planning to come out of the carriage like that, are you? If you even try it I will lock you in here for the WHOLE ceremony.¡± Mother said menacingly.


    ¡°N-no, o-of course not! See, I¡¯m co-completely fine, ha-haha-ha¡± Mummy said awkwardly as she forced her tears to stop and fixed up her appearance.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, for a second there I thought that you forgot how important appearances are as a QUEEN of this nation.¡± Mother said with heavy emphasis on the queen part.


    Mummy laughed awkwardly while the rest of us where trying not laugh at Mummy¡¯s pathetic state. It may be mean but it¡¯s rare to see her get walked over so much so it¡¯s quite amusing, especially since we know it¡¯s not all that serious.


    *knock knock*


    ¡°Ah, time to go.¡± Mummy said as she got serious, completely changing the atmosphere around her.


    ¡°Jeez, if I didn¡¯t know you so well I¡¯d think you had dual-personalities.¡± Mother muttered to herself as we left the carriage.


    The school itself was massive. I¡¯d say around a hundred kilometres in a square shape? Well usually that isn¡¯t so impressive to cultivators but considering it is in the middle of the capital, that is very impressive. Why? Because there weren¡¯t space enchantments on it that made the place so big, the natural base space it takes up is 100km¡¯s. To put that into perspective the nobles socialisation hideout is only fifty metres with a space enchant that makes it fifty kilometres. For this space to be so big as the base inside the capital, naturally the inside of the school is massive. The school itself only takes up around half the space with the other half being gardens, sports fields and lakes but it is still massive.


    The school was made out of pretty but modern materials and styles. Describing it is rather hard but there where a lot of glass and metals with sharp and precise corners but also a lot of art and styling in the building itself. Obviously the windows where weird to look through seeing as the inside is bigger than the out so in reality, it¡¯s like one-way glass that people can see from the inside towards the outside while people on the outside see an illusion. The main entrance itself was actually massive without space enchants so as to welcome all the students into the school in a show of wealth and power.


    The land was heavily enchanted by what looks to be a tier 30 cultivator or several and¡­ well, it really suited the ¡®school for the elite¡¯ vibe I had imagined. Naturally there was a school uniform that everyone wore but you could see the differences between social standing easily. I mean, as royals my sisters and I have a pure white uniform with the royal crest on it and the nobles have a dark blue uniform with their family crests. This school literally separates people by their social standings from day 1. In a way it¡¯s kind of horrible but there¡¯s not much I can do about it since the majority of Noble¡¯s would complain if they thought their children weren¡¯t getting the respect they deserved.


    In total there are around ten thousand noble students attending this school with close to thirty thousand scholarship powerhouses/geniuses and ten thousand rich kids. So around fifty thousand elites where in this school at any one time. Since a lot of the nobles and merchants lived in other parts of the nation I had only met around thirty noble kids until now since they where the ones who had parents working and living in the castle. There are certainly a lot more than that though.


    Azure is registered as a noble but it¡¯s a sub-branch of nobility that means she¡¯s been adopted by the royalty so her uniform is dark blue with a while crest on it with the royal families insignia. It¡¯s been quite a while since any students like her have came so not many will recognise it. After that were the factions. There where different pins that represented what faction they belonged to like, for example, the student council. So far I don¡¯t have a faction and even if I did, I¡¯d be the leader of it so I don¡¯t have a badge.


    ¡°Scarlet, what do you think? It¡¯s quite annoying to have around ten thousand people staring at any time, right? Sigh, we just got out of the carriage and you¡¯ve already frozen every person in sight with your looks¡± Amber explained to me with a tired voice.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Seeing as they are weaker than bugs to me it is rather easy to ignore them. Being stared at by ten thousand ants I could turn to dust at any time isn¡¯t all that intimidating.¡± I replied back offhandedly.


    ¡°Yes, I guess that¡¯s true. With you helping me cultivate I¡¯m already so far above them all that I can think of it similarly. Still, thinking of people as bugs won¡¯t make you any friends baby sis.¡± She teased me.


    ¡°I already have friends¡± I defended in a mock insulted tone.


    ¡°Okay, Emerald and I are both your sisters, Azure was made by you, Crystal and Sapphire where reunited and saved because of you and there¡¯s no way that any other of our relatives can count as friends, especially as you have only talked to our grandma¡¯s, parents and us out of them. What friends do you have that where made through normal means, sis?¡± Amber asked blankly.


    ¡°Umm, well one of my friends in my last life was made through normal means¡­¡± I defended embarrassedly.


    ¡°Sis, you¡¯re really not making this any better. We all know that when you say in your last life that you are referring to the part where you weren¡¯t a god, over a hundred thousand years ago. And even then, out of the two friends you had, only one was made that way¡­¡± Emerald said while looking at me with pity.


    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t give me that look!¡± I defended desperately.


    ¡°Sorry, we all agree, even Azure.¡± Mother said with a chuckle.


    Looking around, I saw everyone with the same pitying look and I started to feel really depressed. I don¡¯t even need friends when I have some already, why am I getting pitied for this!?


    ¡°Actually I don¡¯t. While I pity master for not having friends for so long, I don¡¯t think she should make them through normal means. The relationship will always be unstable if she does since there is nothing solid binding them together¡± Azure said, both saving and condemning me at the same time.


    ¡°While it is true that a friendship built on such things are a lot more stable compared to one where someone might have befriended you with ulterior motives it is also true that the type of friendship which binds people together can change based on the person. Don¡¯t simply believe one way is right over the other since they are both correct. Come on, let¡¯s go.¡± Mummy interrupted into the conversation and closed all chances for reply as she dragged us off towards the assembly hall.


    Inside there are around 120,000 people already seated with around thirty thousand being staff. So far there are still a few people outside so it will probably reach around 160,000 by the time the actual assembly starts but since Amber is going up to talk to them all first we needed to get here earlier. Like with an old fashioned opera house, we had special seating reserved for royalty in our own private booth. We where directly up the back above the other seats in our private balcony and booth to watch over it all. There where a few hundred noble seating areas on the walls as well but not many where occupied seeing as it costs money to use them. While royalty always has this reserved, the nobility booths are fought over and usually cost a lot because of that. Since the main time to use them was for plays and performances that the noble parents come to watch there¡¯s not many who waste the money to get a private booth when they are just attending the opening speech.


    ¡°Okay, I have to go back stage now. I¡¯ll come see you again after the speech.¡± Amber said to all of us.


    ¡°Aww but sis~ You said that you still had another five minutes till you needed to go¡± I complained.


    ¡°No I said I need to be on the stage in five minutes which means I need to leave now to get through the security checkpoints in time for the speech.¡± She said while ruffling my hair.


    ¡°Hmph, fine then. See if I care. Not like you could just teleport of anything, Meany sister.¡± I mumbled darkly.


    ¡°Ah? What was that, baby sister?¡± She said with an emphasis on the baby part.


    ¡°Just go already,¡± I said as I pushed her out the door and closed it.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked the chuckling family that was behind me defensively.


    ¡°Nothing, Master. It¡¯s nothing¡± Azure said innocently, completely failing at tricking me.


    ¡°Yeah, because that looks so believable right now¡± I said sarcastically.


    In another five minutes I saw my sister on the stage, right on time. By now everyone had already filed into the hall for the speech other than the occasional late student trying to hide themselves from everyone else as they came in. It must have been embarrassing for them, poor kids. Being late to an event with 160,000 high profile attendees¡­ the mental pressure would be horrible.


    ¡®Eight thousand years ago today this prestigious academy was having it¡¯s first batch of student in an assembly just like this one. Although a lot has changed over that time and just a few years ago it changed again massively, what hasn¡¯t changed is the dedication this academy has to educate and train the elite of our nation to the best of it¡¯s ability. As the first-born princess of this nation and a direct descendant of the founder of this academy I am proud to welcome everyone to the newest year that this historic academy once again opens it¡¯s doors to welcome students into it¡¯s midst.¡± My sister read out and everyone clapped.


    It annoys me but the idiots running the place just wanted to use her name, not let her actually give her own speech. They should have atleast been a little subtle about it but instead they just outright asked her to read this speech next year. Considering that she is on the student council she couldn¡¯t even object to it or they would kick her off. It looks like I have to re-educate some of these old ladies this year.


    ¡°Hello everyone. For the last two hundred years, I have been the principle of this prestigious academy. Recently there have been a lot of rapid changes and in the future there will still be more to come so I just wanted to reassure some doubts. With eight thousand years of history this school will continue to mold the future generations of our nations elite well in to the future. Although we all have to adapt to the new changes, I guarantee you that in the future this academy will continue to adapt and teach the students to the best of it¡¯s capabilities. The children here will be the foundation to our nations future and as such we are all dedicated to helping them reach that future. Please rest assured that your children are in good hands. For the new students and the one¡¯s returning from the holiday, welcome to the most prestigious academy in the world.¡±


    Dick, I gave you all this world but yet some idiot like you is using that now. Everyone clapping¡­ yeah, I¡¯m going to make your life hell miss bitch principle.


    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Amber said to me suddenly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t what?¡± I asked with a frown.


    ¡°Don¡¯t play with that lady. I¡¯ve known you for six years Scarlet, I can tell when you want to mess with someone. But that lady¡­ she is a real piece of work. While I am sure you can take her on without even being found if you want to, she has a tendency to take her anger out on the students. Don¡¯t make her angry because she will only hurt others who don¡¯t deserve to be hurt if you do.¡± Amber said to me with a sad voice.


    ¡°If she does that why is she even a principle here?¡± I asked in annoyance.


    ¡°She¡¯s not really a citizen of our nation, not fully atleast. Her father is a very influential merchant who has his own world as the centre of a trading hub spaning across more than three hundred worlds. Simply put, she is here because of him and we can¡¯t do anything to stop it. She will leave in fifty years so it¡¯s easier to simply let her do as she wants for now instead. They are just talent scouting and no one is bullied into accepting so it''s not worth fighting over.¡± Mother answered me with a strained smile.


    ¡°And if I use my status as a god they will be suspicious that I am someone in the school¡± I realised.


    ¡°Exactly. She¡¯s been here for two hundred years so our god randomly kicking her out after so long just after the newest batch of students arrived with one of them being on a beauty level that is unheard of even among gods¡­ well, you stand out. People are already suspicious about your identity as is. If we give them a solid reason to doubt you though¡­ I know you can handle yourself easily enough but this normal life you want will crumble if they find a reason to believe that you are our god.¡± Mummy explained to me.


    ¡°Sigh, so I have to leave her be, huh?¡± I asked out loud even though I already knew the answer.


    ¡°Master, you¡¯re forgetting something important. Her father has such a prestigious company¡­ I wonder how hard it would be to swallow it into our nation?¡± Azure said evilly.


    ¡°Yeah I could but I feel like it won¡¯t be very good for our long term economy if we do interstellar trading on such a large scale before the nation has even finished developing. Right now we take up about one fiftieth of the world. Until our nation is atleast forty times bigger we won¡¯t have the base strength to handle the company. If it was so easy to build up our power then I would have done it ten thousand years ago. Rushing into these sorts of things¡­ if you don¡¯t stabilise the nation the nation will collapse. For now it¡¯s better to wait until we have our own trading ring of atleast that size before we absorb any others.¡± I denied.


    ¡°Why did the nation develop so much recently without consequences then?¡± Emerald questioned.


    ¡°If a god comes down and gives you everything would you accept it as easily as compared to normal development? I didn¡¯t know there was a culture hack like using the reincarnated beings but it is also true that I could have developed the nation to this level if I personally intervened. If I did sure, they would develop but¡­ it wouldn¡¯t feel like it is their achievement. I would just be the oppressor who forcefully changes peoples life on a whim. If I do it, they will never develop past what I gave them and the nation will collapse from the inside. I can give the company to our nation easily with my power but as compared to building it themselves, giving it to them will just limit progress. Being a god that looks over a nation isn¡¯t hard. What¡¯s hard is being forced to let people suffer because the long term is more important. I can help people now but if I do it will just cause more people to suffer in the future.¡± I explained to her bitterly.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Master, happy day. Both of you are banned from talking about heavy topics for the next week.¡± Azure commanded.


    ¡°Haha, sorry. I got caught up in the flow and forgot the warning you gave me yesterday¡± I said warmly to Azure as I messed up her hair and she pouted at me. She didn¡¯t stop me from doing it since she likes it but I think she believes I don¡¯t know that. It¡¯s cute.


    ¡°Hmph, fine! I, the great and benevolent Emerald Primrose, will accept your conditions just this once, Hmph!¡± She said arrogantly.


    ¡°You accepted one of her conditions with that same line earlier today, sister¡± Amber replied with a dull coice asshe rubbed her temples tiredly.


    ¡°It¡¯s fun¡­¡± She defended quietly.


    ¡°It is fun¡± I added in helpfully.


    ¡°Why do you consider it fun?¡± Amber asked like she heard something shocking.


    ¡°Hmph, fine! I, the queen of the gods and the strongest in this plane of existence, will grace you with my answer just this once, mortal. Hmph!¡± I said arrogantly as a form of answer.


    ¡°Master¡­ you look surprisingly cute when you act arrogant and entitled.¡± Azure said innocently, completely killing my atmosphere.


    ¡°She always looks cute Azure¡± Mummy scolded. ¡°But yes, this time is definitely the cutest I¡¯ve seen so far.¡±


    ¡°Fu fu fu, bow at my majesty, mortals¡± I said with an arrogant laugh and a posture that suggested I was looking down on them as a superior being.


    ¡°Master¡­ please stop, I have a cuteness limit¡± Azure said with an embarrassed voice.


    ¡°Hmph, fine. Just since it is you I will stop this once but don¡¯t get cocky! I¡¯m not doing it because your special or anything, Hmph!¡±


    ¡°Master¡­ how cruel¡± She said with teary eyes and a pout.


    ¡°Seriously, stop it. Sigh, the assembly¡¯s over so let¡¯s just move on, okay? Mummy¡¯s in a complete daze because of you two and Mother¡¯s wiggling around with a really creepy blush. Please stop or I might actually get a serious trauma because of this.¡± Amber said in a slightly panicked voice.


    Mother is a total closet Masochist. I don¡¯t think anyone else notices since they are smart enough to look away to avoid the full brunt of the damage from cuteness assaults but since mother always watches it I¡¯ve noticed the signs. Well, either that or she has a really weird fetish involving cute children so I am rather hopeful that she is a masochist instead. Anyway, I can see how it¡¯d be traumatising for her children to see her with that creepy blush and wiggling her body weirdly while breathing heavily. Not something young children need or want to see, especially when it¡¯s their mother. Even I¡¯m a little disturbed.


    ¡°Why was it so short?¡± I asked in confusion.


    ¡°Most of the parents are high profile people, right? There¡¯s simply not enough time for most of them to stick around so they make the ceremony short. There will probably only be around ten thousand relatives and parents that stay with their family for the rest of the day. Most will simply leave.¡± Emerald answered for me as we where walking towards the exit.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be leaving as well. You¡¯re grandma¡¯s couldn¡¯t come here so that we could but we still need to get back.¡± Mother said while apologising.


    Recently there has been an influx of tourists so administration has gotten harder. We do have massive mana levels so it¡¯s not that odd but the powerful people that come visit don¡¯t generally like being told what to do by the weaker guards. Thankfully having two hundred and two gods protecting the nation means they don¡¯t make much trouble but it¡¯s still enough to be annoying.


    I¡¯ve also been told that Azure has sent monsters to kill several thousand illegal immigrants so far that have tried sneaking onto the world for resources and training. Those that genuinely didn¡¯t know what they did when they came to this world are given a chance but if they are bad people they get killed anyway. Obviously this is only outside of our territory as sending monsters in would scare everyone but for the ones that go into our territory, the guards will take care of it or if it is a troublesome case like someone is about to rape another before guards can arrive, the gods will. It¡¯s not a perfect system but it works, atleast until the nations strength goes up as a whole.


    Naturally female tourists and immigrants are allowed if they go through the proper channels but yeah, it¡¯s troublesome for administration and has been keeping my family busy most of the time. That¡¯s also a small part of the reason why I wanted to stay at school. If I¡¯m not there they have more time to sleep and focus better and I think that¡¯s why my sisters wanted to do it as well. Right now we can see them for a few hours each day if we don¡¯t stay at school but if we do, they have more time to sort out the issues and make a proper response team to all issues so that they don¡¯t have to do so much work. To me it seems better to not see them as much in the short term so I can spend more time with them in the long term, plus I really wanted to stay here cause it seems fun.


    ¡°You should go then. I imagine that the airhead is making a mess of your work as we speak. Grandma can only hold her off for so long so make sure to kick her out of the offices before she screws something up, if she hasn¡¯t already¡± I said lightly to my parents.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I think by now the damage will already be done and she¡¯ll be tied up in a corner someplace. Last time we didn¡¯t find her for a week.¡± Mummy said as she rubbed her temples.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. We don¡¯t need you here to baby us anyway so make sure you stop her from keeping you up for a week again¡± Amber said with a concerned voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I really want to stay as well but we really do need to leave¡± Mother said as she tried to comfort Mummy.


    ¡°I¡­ yeah, I know. I know¡­ just make sure to be good, okay? And if your not good make sure no one finds out. Also be careful. I know you can all look after yourselves but¡­ just be careful, okay?¡± Mummy said as her eyes started tearing up and she brought us all into a hug.


    ¡°Of course¡± ¡°Okay¡± & ¡°I¡¯ll look after them¡± Where how we all replied from oldest to youngest. Amber looked a little weird about my comment considering I¡¯m the baby sis but she let it slide.


    They left directly after that, probably since they didn¡¯t trust themselves not to keep putting it off if they kept talking and we where alone again¡­. Well, as alone as you can be in a group of four people.


    ¡°You two should go meet up with your friends and new roommates. We¡¯ll catch up with you over the next few days, okay?¡± I asked Amber and Emerald.


    ¡°Stop acting so mature, b-a-b-y sis. You¡¯re totally stealing my limelight as the oldest sister¡± Amber complained and made me start laughing.


    ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just so hard not to when I am so naturally awesome, you know? Sigh, the life of a-¡° I got interrupted.


    ¡°Ugh, stop. You overuse that line so much¡± Emerald complained.


    ¡°Master is master¡± Azure said as if that explained everything. Everyone just stared at her for a minute to make it clear that it didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Anyway, yeah I¡¯ll head off for now. Catch up with you later¡± Emerald said with a wave to break the awkward pause we made to stare at Azure.


    ¡°Same for me.¡± Big sis said after we waved goodbye to Emerald.


    ¡°Bye sis.¡±


    ¡°Master, I want to see our room!¡± Azure said enthusiastically after it was just us.


    ¡°So do I. It¡¯s kind of unfortunate that there¡¯s no hype to meet an unknown roommate since we already know but there¡¯s still the hype for seeing our new room. Besides we get to sleep with a kitten, that¡¯s so much better than some random girl¡± I replied seriously.


    ¡°Pfft, m-master please don¡¯t say something like that in such a serious voice.¡±


    She was totally mocking me because of how serious I was about sleeping with a kitten, how mean. Cute and fluffy, it¡¯s like the perfect cuddle buddy. Since it¡¯s alive as well and not a teddy, it will purr and be all warm with a cute little set of movements when it¡¯s lungs inflate and deflate it¡¯s just ahh! So cute, I¡¯m really excited about it.


    ¡°Hmph let¡¯s go¡± I said slightly bitterly as I turned to walk towards where our room is supposed to be.


    After a few minutes looking at everything on the way to our room, we arrived at a door. Ironically it¡¯s like the secret base I set up where it needs certain people¡¯s mana to open through a computer but this one also has a password just in case somehow someone can copy your mana. I can''t put that on the secret base since the computer is hidden but it''s not really a big deal anyway considering how high leveled that one is.


    Five minutes later as we went all the way back to administration to get the password I totally did not forget we needed and we where opening the door to our new (temp) home. Once we went past the ten metre grandish hallway, we came into a massive open space. Well no, technically it¡¯s quite small compared to what I would consider massive but it was still pretty big for what it was supposed to be, a dorm room for two people.


    Where the hallway ended, the right wall continued for another twenty metres before it met a massive glass wall/window. The room itself had fully carpeted floors and was about fifteen metres wide with a fireplace on the left wall and a lounge and some beanbags facing towards it. With the hallway simply being a separation between therest of the space, a ten by fifteen metre rectangle, there wasan open kitchen. While the kitchen and the hallway was only a single story tall the lounge room itself was two stories tall and open with an L shaped balcony lining the edges where it opens up with glass railings.


    The staircase was made out of glass and was in-between the kitchen and fireplace but once you reached the second floor there where two doors. They both led into a single bedroom each with two massive beds (still smaller than my old one) and their own ensuites. From what I was told everyone has this expensive modern styled apartment but usually they each have their own rooms but since we are four instead of two, we get to be proper roommates with each other. Of course, I¡¯m not going to accept that and the other two are totally sleeping in the same bed with Azure and I since I want to cuddle Sapphire but it was still a nice touch. With all the floors carpeted I can totally see myself just rolling wherever I need to be since it¡¯s so soft~


    ¡°There¡¯s no luggage or anything here so I guess we¡¯re the first in.¡± Azure commented.


    ¡°Yeah but with spatial rings that doesn¡¯t really mean much. We are probably the first in here though since Crystal and Sapphire¡¯s parents live close by so they¡¯ll probably spend the day with them.¡± I corrected.


    ¡°Master~ Can we restyle this place a bit?¡± She begged me with puppy dog eyes.


    ¡°I was going to anyway so sure but nothing major like making the space bigger or anything. We need to stick to stuff that won¡¯t be weird if the principle didn¡¯t notice the changes. We can¡¯t go broadcasting that we are five realms above the highest in the school after all¡±


    ¡°But master, she¡¯s only in the twenty first realm. We could just say you¡¯re parents did it¡± She complained to me.


    ¡°We don¡¯t even need a bigger space, why are you bothering with this?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ah, right. Sorry master I just didn¡¯t want to hold back because of her. Actually making this place bigger would probably just make it look weird¡­¡± She said awkwardly.


    ¡°Pfft, that¡¯s your reason. Aha anyway let¡¯s do it¡± I said to her with an amused voice.


    It¡¯s not like we did anything major. First of all we put all four beds into a spatial ring and placed one massive one in one of the rooms and hung up some pictures and stuff. In the other room we repurposed it into a game room with tv¡¯s, gaming consoles, beanbags, a table to play board games on or eat at and a few computers. There was also an awesome sound system installed and I made sure it¡¯s always cold in there so we can snuggle up in the blanket piles I put in. Seriously, blankets feel so soft and nice when it¡¯s cold so a lazy room obviously has to be cold. The fridge was a little overkill but hey, drinks are a necessity to any lazy room.


    In the kitchen I put up a heap of little framed pictures saying things like ¡®In times of crisis melted chocolate is a necessity¡¯ and ¡®in times of peace melted chocolate is a necessity.¡¯ There where others but the majority was about chocolate and the rest about lollies and deserts. The lounge room was fitted with a bunch of posters and the chairs where replaced for comfier ones while the window wall had a massive thick set of black curtains that could block out all the light should we close it. I was totally making this a gaming den, even if only one room was dedicated to gaming.


    I added another tv above the fireplace but this one was purely dedicated to music and had a few tens of thousands of songs on it along with another kick ass sound system. The reason it was a tv was so we could watch the music videos with it. All these songs where my private collection that I amassed in my last life with a combination of how good the songs where and how good the music videos where. If it only excelled in one category it was not worth adding to my stash. I have a lot of copies of these collections with a usb even being stored in my soul to make sure that even if I die I cannot lose them.


    In the bathrooms I just added a few more random posters and stuff and in the entrance way hallway I put a mat in front of the door which makes it look like you are falling down a really, really deep hole. It¡¯s cool and it clears any dirt that might get on the carpet. Other than that I just made sure all the other windows had the same curtains and I was done with the makeover. In that time Azure was setting up a heap of cute and fluffy teddy bears of various sizes across all the rooms and putting a few cute posters up while unpacking. We have officially awesomised this apartment. It¡¯s even better than my other room back at home since there are several rooms and I don¡¯t have any restrictions for what I can put up. They never let me put up the curtains¡­


    But now, I¡¯m free to convert this place into awesome incarnate! And I did! And I feel really, really happy right now!


    ¡°Azure, wanna play a shooting up game or adventuring game until the other roomies arrive?¡± I asked her once it was all done.


    ¡°Shooting, definitely shooting. Master, the games room really has to be christened by a shooting game¡± She said eagerly.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t have said it better myself¡± I said with an evil grin as we rushed into the centre of our lazy domain.


    After two hours ofgaming we heard the door click open downstairs.


    ¡°M-master¡­ I know we should go say hello but¡­ can we finish this map first¡± She begged me.


    ¡°Why did you even ask when you know the answer, Azure?¡± I said with a sigh as we paused the game.


    ¡°Because I was hoping you would change your mind¡± She whined as we put our controllers down and went out into the main lounge room.


    ¡°-is is certainly¡­ unique¡± A voice commented as we came out of the soundproof room. We had an enchant to let us hear the door but otherwise it was completely isolated so our gaming wouldn¡¯t be interrupted.


    ¡°Yo, old people¡± I said with a grin as I looked at them from the railing to the next floor.


    ¡°Hello princess.¡± The same voice said to me politely.


    ¡°Scarlet please tell me you didn¡¯t do what I think you did¡± Crystal asked tiredly, even though she already knew.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t do what you think I did. We did what you think I did.¡± I corrected innocently.


    ¡°Is it only you today, Miss Amethyst?¡± Azure asked politely.


    ¡°Yes. My wife is off world today for a trading deal unfortunately. She was quite upset about missing this day.¡±


    Crystal and Sapphires parents are managing quite a big trading business for our nation so it¡¯s not odd for one or both of them to go off-world regularly. They both have been rather attached to Sapphire since they literally watched her get snatched from their arms when she was born. Because of that they have always been doting on Crystal but now that they have Sapphire back they dote on both of them massively. Missing this day probably makes her wife really annoyed. I almost feel sorry for whichever retainers went with her for this deal.


    ¡°You should have seen her chuck a tantrum yesterday.¡± Sapphire said as she changed into her cat-girl form.


    ¡°How rare, you¡¯re joining the conversation today Sapphire?¡±


    She tends to stay in cat form usually.


    ¡°I¡¯m just unstocking my syrup collection¡± She said airily. Her sister face palmed.


    ¡°Well I have to go. I need to be there when my wife comes back with the delivery. Take care of my daughters, Scarlet¡± She said both politely and menacingly.


    ¡°Of course I will. One¡¯s a cute kitten and the other is a third player for the game room.¡± I defended in a mock-offended tone.


    ¡°Yes, I do believe that¡¯s why I saw the need to warn you¡± She said dryly.


    ¡°Bye mum¡± Crystal said as she gave her mum a one-handed hug while the other hand was picking up a syrup bottle her sister dropped. She got a little excited and took them out of the spatial ring before reaching the fridge, but wouldn¡¯t it be cold inside of the ring as well? Maybe she just didn¡¯t want someone finding her syrup collection if she happened to lose it?


    ¡°Bye baby. If Sapphire is naughty make sure to give her a syrup ban. Lately she¡¯s been having fun messing with people¡± She addressed that at all of us. I guess that¡¯s the real reason she put it in the fridge, because she¡¯s not allowed to keep it in her ring. What did she do that led to this?


    ¡°Now that she¡¯s gone spill.¡± I ordered as soon as I heard the door click shut.


    ¡°A few days ago she begged to go to a circus. Somehow she managed to trap twenty clowns on the side of a building with syrup and it took two days to get them all down. We¡¯re still getting complaints from the circus owner and a lot of people who came to see the acts in that time but when mum asked her why she did it her reasoning was ¡®because the owners daughter kicked a kitten last week and it told me about it¡¯. Somehow she¡¯s become a vigilante for kittens¡± She said while rubbing her temples.


    For about a minute we just stayed in a stunned silence.


    ¡°A vigilante for kittens? There¡¯s so many jokes you could have made and you made that one? What am I going to do with you sister.¡± Sapphire came back and broke the silence.


    ¡°Why does it seem like I¡¯m the one that¡¯s a lost cause when you are the one who stuck people to a wall with syrup?¡± She scoffed.


    ¡°Because sister, sticking them to the wall is merely a minor inconvenience but having a horrible sense of humour is something which will haunt you for the rest of your life.¡±


    Sapphire has a really airy sort of voice and personality so it is quite amusing to watch her lecture someone.


    ¡°Master can we finish the level now?¡± She begged.


    So far she was trying to keep a calm and composed mask but as soon as the twins mum left it was slowly cracking with impatience and she was starting to fidget more and more.


    ¡°No.¡± I denied while she looked betrayed. ¡°We still have to give them the tour, Azure.¡± She lit back up again.


    ¡°Okay you two have already seen this room so then there¡¯s the sleeping one¡± She said quickly as she literally dragged them into the bedroom, ¡°And then there¡¯s the game room. Done. Now master let¡¯s finish the map already!¡± She whined to me.


    ¡°Pfft, Azure. It seems that I have found your weakness.¡± I said in amusement as she just brushed me off and dragged me back to the tv.


    ¡°So you really did do it. Sigh, why did I even believe for a second that you would let us sleep alone?¡± Crystal said with a mix of tiredness and amusement.


    ¡°You¡¯re na?ve sister. I¡¯m cute, of course I will be forced to sleep with them and since you sleep with me it only makes sense.¡± Sapphire said before turning back into a kitten.


    ¡°I¡¯m not na?ve, I¡¯m just optimistic¡± She defended innocently.


    ¡°Yep, definitely na?ve¡± Azure an I said it in sync.


    For a few seconds her mask cracked before she recomposed herself.


    ¡°What are you even playing anyway?¡± She asked to distract us from the previous topic.


    ¡°It¡¯s a game master found in her last life called ¡®virtual god¡¯. Unlike normal gods it is closer to a world-builder type, much like what I am I guess. The aim of the game is to compete against each other to advance our kingdoms by doing basically everything you can think of but each map only has an hour to build up the territories. After that time the citizens of your world will wage war and there is ten minutes to direct your troops and kill your enemies. Master made us come greet you when there was only five minutes left until the war¡± Azure said with a pout.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that seem a little¡­ I don¡¯t know, boring?¡± Crystal asked weirdly.


    ¡°It¡¯s better than the shooter game we started with. Killing zombies get¡¯s boring after a few thousand and the game wasn¡¯t built for a god¡¯s processing speed. This game is designed specifically for gods and everything is exactly like what a real world could be like so we can fast-forward our civilisations with certain orders. The god who made it is one of the few I released after capturing simply because this game was awesome. They put million¡¯s of years into studying what all the different choices can do for a civilisation and it is at the level where it can actually adapt and create it¡¯s own systems like the culture hack that boosted our civilisation recently as long as it is deemed something that could happen in reality. Not only is it fun to play it is also great training for when you want to make a civilisation.¡± I answered easily.


    ¡°Okay I can see how that would be fun¡± She conceded.


    ¡°There is a downgraded version for mortals as well, it¡¯s just longer instead. Ten hours to make the civilisation and one hour in the war. If your sister can be bothered changing back you two can play it. Of course there is different modes to the game as well like building up a civilisation in an apocalypse or preparing for an alien swarm but you also have the choice to play any game mode without a time limit in multiplayer or single player. Sometimes just building up the civilisation and watching how it interacts with others can be fun as well.¡± I explained for both of them.


    After a minute of begging Sapphire conceded to play it with her on the condition that she get¡¯s to keep onesyrup bottle in her ring.


    ¡°You should probably play it without a time limit with both of you in the game and a few other nations. If you don¡¯t you won¡¯t get much sleep¡± Azure idly commented.


    Right now Azure and I where playing a technology nation against a science nation. She¡¯s been pushing for evolution and body strengthening through her science as well as bioweapons while I¡¯ve been going for mecha¡¯s and super weapons as well as automatic drones. It¡¯s pretty fair since her ¡®troops¡¯ are damn near impossible to kill while one of my troops commands thousands of machines so it even¡¯s out pretty well but I have a trump card to play.


    ¡°What!?! How the hell did you just blow up my base!?¡± She screamed out while I laughed evilly.


    ¡°I spent tens of years floating Nano bots one at a time through your borders to a traitor I placed earlier and he assembled them into a super bomb. You¡¯re defences where only focused on outside attacks Azure, not insiders.¡± I kept laughing evilly as I watched her entire army go into disarray when their families, homes and command structure disappeared.


    ¡°Fine then! If I¡¯m going out, you¡¯re coming with me!¡± She said menacingly as the sun disappeared and the world turned grey.


    ¡°Ah, a bio-weapon that sucks out all the life-force around it huh? While this place will be uninhabitable in the future, did you really think my spy network was so pitiful? I knew about that weapon two hundred years ago! You just doomed yourself!¡± I yelled excitedly as all my troops activated a localised energy field. They can¡¯t move with it on but since everyone else will die they just have to wait a few days until the bio-weapon loses it¡¯s power and then they can leave. Also¡­ while the living troops can¡¯t move, my machines can still attack freely since I gave them all a backup generator that runs on fossil fuels in case the electricity is stolen from them by the bio-weapon.


    ¡°Wha-this¡­ but I made sure to inspect all the scientists thoroughly! How!?¡± She screamed out in horror.


    ¡°One of my spies noticed their son acting strangely with a secret project. He slipped an organic micro machine into his kids food and no one was any the wiser as I had been saving them for spying only. Since you didn¡¯t even consider me using living tissue machines there was never even counter measures so I saved them as the perfect spies. While they are easy to destroy which is why you ruled out the possibility, they are also much harder to detect in a living body.¡± I answered her arrogantly.


    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ve lost¡± She said with a stunned voice as the controller fell out of her hands.


    ¡°If you go for that civilisation focus again I suggest that you get into cloning. If you can trick the body into believing that it is someplace else, the soul can be transferred through living wiring into a new body and the old one can be disposed of. It¡¯s a perfect way to ensure those sorts of spies get destroyed before they can escape the facility. Other than that I guess you could just outright kill the scientists but that might have political repercussions if their parents are important and even if not, killing some of the most talented scientists in your nation is a bad idea. Making a way to detect those spies is a bit iffy since there might be malfunctions, manipulations or it won¡¯t pick up some of them so it¡¯s better to destroy the entire body in order to stop them¡± I explained to Azure.


    ¡°How is this going easy on me?¡± She asked bitterly.


    ¡°You¡¯re cute when you are upset.¡± I teased. ¡°But I could have just captured around a hundred suns in massive domes and then shrunk them down to the size of hand grenades before flinging them through a black hole that I opened in the centre of your base with the force of an exploding star. Just the black hole alone could have wiped you out, let alone a hundred grenades with the power of suns. And if you where spread out, all I¡¯d have to do is split them up into single bombs before chucking a hundred suns through a hundred black holes and wiping out, if not every trace of your people, atleast enough that you won¡¯t be able to rebuild.¡± And that¡¯s just one of the ways to do it.


    ¡°Is it just me or does knowing I can be annihilated at any time by a crazy techno-nerd scare the hell out of you¡¯s as well?¡± Crystal jumped into the conversation.


    ¡°Magic is amazing, Crystal. Of course I have a lot of protections in place. If you go anywhere atleast fifty worlds away though it is possible to be wiped out by them and if someone is actively trying to destroy the defence they might be able to destroy around ten worlds in before either I stop them or my traps, god slaves and power exhaustion do but even then they¡¯d have to be stage ten gods in numbers to get that far. I¡¯ve had a lot of time to set up my defences. I¡¯m not the strongest known god in this plane of existence for nothing and that was in my last life. In this life I¡¯m probably ten times more powerful. There¡¯s nothing to worry about except for more things like that damn shadow and even then I can fight that easily now.¡± I reassured her.


    ¡°But if you can be so strong then someone else could be as well¡± Her sister pointed out.


    ¡°Yeah but I¡¯m almost a 100% certain no one else is powerful to my extent in this plane and even if they where my defences are pretty badass. They could kill me twice over before I was able to reach this world and hijacking them is impossible.¡± I denied easily.


    ¡°Master is right. When I became a world dungeon I became a god so I can see some of them and they are terrifying.¡± Key word is some.


    ¡°Plus, I have a few thousand improved sun grenades in my base if I really need to weaken anyone. It¡¯s as safe as we can be here compared to anywhere else. Even the guy who made this game and by extension knew about all the super-weapons people can make didn¡¯t have anywhere near such good defences.¡±


    It was still annoying capturing him because of them but that¡¯s not the point.


    ¡°You know, telling us all this sort of numbs us to the supposed power that gods have¡± Crystal said dryly.


    ¡°Oh any stage one god could kill everyone below the god stage without much effort since it is a qualitative change. If a mortal sent a magic attack at us it would literally avoid our bodies since we hold more sway over it unless we will it to hit us. It¡¯s just that there is a massive difference among gods just as there is among mortals. There are some mortals that can defeat those five stages above them. I was like that, a tenth stage god who could fight the higher powers easily but since there weren¡¯t any higher powers I became the highest. In this life I am a lot higher than back then so for someone of my level to appear is extremely unlikely.¡± Numbing them to a gods power would be bad to their growth.


    ¡°Scarlet can we make a new game? This time I want to play a magic world without the fighting.¡±


    Ehh, it sounds fun. I want to make some different rules though.


    ¡°Sure but there¡¯s some conditions. We both start on different worlds. We can develop into sciences and technology but our main studies have to be magic. There will be several other nations on our starting worlds and we will build up from a village with a race of our choosing and within five worlds distance there will be a massive empire that spans across three worlds. After that there will be five more worlds that control one world each that band together in an alliance to defend against the super power but there won¡¯t be any real progress in the war since they know that only one of them will come out with all the worlds and resources at the end if they get into a serious fight. We don¡¯t have to fight and can even merge empires if we want to in the future but it¡¯s optional and negotiable. The victory conditions is owning ten worlds but with two nations merged it counts as both our victories and the defeat condition is annihilation or someone else beating us to our goal. Deal?¡±


    It will keep us occupied for around five hours so it¡¯s a good game and it will give Azure more knowledge on sabotage so she can stop any tourists who are doing something sketchy. That¡¯s the main reason I did technology and science focused fighting before but since we where enemies from day one the political manoeuvring and sabotages where rare and as such she didn¡¯t get to experience them yet.


    ¡°Sure but I get to design my world in advance¡± She conceded easily.


    ¡°Okay but if you do I do as well¡± I agreed.


    After that we played for around six hours with the eventual outcome of both of us losing. I was playing with the fairy race who had low birth-rates but higher cultivation talent while Azure was using the imps, a race of fast breeding but individually weaker devils. Eventually I got to nine worlds with one of the computer competitors at nine as well as azure but when azure blew up one of my worlds and I went to retaliate, the third power took one of my weakened worlds. If the victory conditions where different I could have taken it back easily but technically they won so the game ended. I managed to take out one of Azure¡¯s world before that though to make it even so I¡¯m happy.


    The biggest mistake I made was that I let one of the fairies have too much power and it betrayed me mid game, taking half my forces with it. I recovered pretty soon but where I previously had a massive advantage due to my experience I had lost the majority of my troops and was weakened considerably by both enemy raids and the loss of numbers itself. Still, it was a fun game and Azure got a lot of experiences from it as well so I say it¡¯s a success. First day of school, gaming for hours with a world dungeon, a cat and a girl more than double my physical age. I knew school would be fun.

 Side Story 1 - Where Past And Future Meet

    ¡®Will you be my friend forever, Angel?¡¯ A soft voice asked me from behind.


    ¡®Of course I will, William¡¯ I replied with a sweet and innocent smile as I turned to face my best friend.


    ¡®Then one day I will come back for you and we can live happily ever after in the fairy tales we always used to dream of. Goodbye, my angel¡¯ Why? Why is he leaving me? No, no he told me we would always be together! No!


    ¡®William no! William! William come back! Please! I will do anything¡­ just please come back¡­¡¯ I trailed off as I broke down into tears.


    He was gone.


    ----


    ¡®Why? Why is this happening, Grandma?¡¯ I asked her as my heart was threatening to fail as it burst from my chest in both fear and grief.


    ¡®Shh, I don¡¯t know kitten. I don¡¯t know. But everything will be fine, okay? I promise¡¯


    ¡®But Grandma¡­ they¡¯re gone¡­ mummy and daddy and grandad¡­ they are all gone! None of this is alright!¡¯ I sobbed in her arms.


    ¡®Shh, shh, it¡¯s okay. Cry all you want for now. But tomorrow we both need to be strong again. Maybe one day¡­ we will find them again¡¯ She lied to me even though I saw it. My family raped by those animals, their souls shattered and bodies mutilated. That sound¡­ the sound of my family dying ringing through my skull¡­ how is that okay?


    ----


    ¡®No! Grandma, Grandma! No no no no no! You told me- you promised me that you wouldn¡¯t die! No! Why! Why are you dead as well! No! Who did this! Who¡­ who would dare to do the exact same thing to everyone I care about¡­¡¯ My tears wouldn¡¯t stop and I cried myself into a coma. How long it lasted¡­ I don¡¯t know. But when I woke up, grandma was gone and I was somewhere I had never been before.


    ¡®I don¡¯t care what reasons they had¡­ they will all die¡­ every last one of them.¡¯ I vowed to myself.


    ----


    ¡®Again and again, loss after loss. Why¡­ why even you¡­ why does everyone I care about get raped and tortured, brutally murdered and their souls shattered¡­ no¡­ no, I can¡¯t stand this. I would rather die¡¯ And I plunged the sword into my stomach.


    ¡®Ah, such a pretty young lady¡­ sigh, I guess I¡¯m getting kind in my old age. I will heal you but promise me something. Don¡¯t live waiting to die, live to gain the strength you need to be happy¡¯ A kind old voice echoed vaguely in my dimming senses.


    When I awoke, I was alone again. In a new place, without anyone to care for and still alive.


    ----


    ¡®So they got you as well, huh? Just when I thought I had a chance¡­ two friends, a wife and even an old man who doted on me so much everytime I came to the town¡­ but yet, they where all taken from me yet again, in exactly the same way. Even you didn¡¯t escape¡­ I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s my fault. I mistakenly believed I was strong enough to protect my happiness and you all paid the price for that mistake. This time I won¡¯t look back. Everything¡­ I will bet everything on gaining strength. Happiness is something that isn¡¯t even worth considering¡¯ Click. I felt it. My base, the only base I have, being permanently changed towardsa desire for strength.


    I¡­ am no longer someone who can be held back by pitiful reasons like happiness. Only strength can control me now.


    ----


    ¡®So it seems like the test worked. I am obviously under observation as the two girls I ¡®loved¡¯ this time have the same fate as everyone else. Too bad they don¡¯t know it was a lie. No, that¡¯s a lie. It was supposed to be a lie. But at some point my desperation for love made me love them genuinely. Dammit. I thought I was past feeling so much pain from these crappy emotions¡¯ I walked away while trying to restrain my tears. They just kept falling¡­


    Now, I just need to find who is watching me.


    ----


    ¡®I finally gave that bastard the slip. Jeez, who would have thought he was so strong. I¡¯m glad I prepared a little surprise in a way that no observers could see or he might of simply killed or taken me instead of watching. Still, I got his ring! Jackpot!¡¯ And with it I can finally get the strength to kill the bastard since my talent is enough to catch up with him easily.


    ----


    ¡®How troublesome. I really almost died that time. To think someone came to give him backup¡­ Sigh, look at all the treasures I wasted to kill these idiots. But I guess this proves that they where just lackey¡¯s. So, who is the one controlling them¡­¡¯


    ----


    ¡®Idiot! I should have known better than to fall in love again. If I stay in one place for too long, they find me. But no, I just had to fall in love a-fucking-gain! Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK! Fuck you! Why did you have to take someone away from me again! Why¡­ why her¡­ she was so innocent¡­ but yet the same way, rape and torture, mutilation and even¡­ shattering her soul. Dammit!¡¯ The tears where washing the blood off my hands. Only when they where clean again did I leave.


    But first¡­ I buried the body of the person I had fallen in love with and had taken from me just like all the other times.


    ¡®Time to disappear until I¡¯m stronger than everyone else¡­¡¯ I muttered to myself coldly. I would make them pay.


    ----


    ¡®That was close. Jeez, I didn¡¯t expect for even gods to be in on this. For three of them at the fourth stage to come and kidnap a single third stage¡­ if not for my scary strong talents I would have been helpless. But~ Instead, there¡¯s three pretty spacial rings for me to loot and some nice corpses to experiment on. Haha, thanks for the meal, ¡®young master¡¯. I will make sure to use it to help mekill you¡¯ I laughed madly to myself before once again disappearing.


    ----


    ¡®When are these bastards going to stop¡­ what¡¯s this now, around one hundred gods? Jeez, I know that a stage eight is a threat to them now but sending these cannon fodder at me¡­ don¡¯t they ever learn? Well, not that I¡¯m complaining. Free loot, yay! Now I¡¯m one hundred steps close to killing you, young master. Thankyou for the meal~¡¯


    ----


    ¡®Hello, my angel¡¯ I froze as I heard a voice call out to me from behind a curtain. Flicking the head off of my sword, I turned to see what I was hoping was a lie, a trick. Instead I saw reality.


    ¡®William¡­ you¡­ why did it have to be you?¡± I asked as I cried for the first time in a thousand years.


    ¡®Because I love you. I love you so much that every time I saw someone else you cared for, I just had to take them away. I wanted to be the only one, my angel. So I killed them. I had them raped to stop you getting close to anyone, I had them tortured as a punishment for taking the care that is mine and mine alone and their souls where shattered for the sin of accepting your love. Don¡¯t you see, my angel? You are mine¡­ you will always be mine and I refuse to let anyone else share the love that is mine and mine alone. I love you, little angel¡¯ He smiled twistedly. I could tell it was true¡­ he truly did believe it all¡­ which only made it hurt more.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡®You made a miscalculation, William. If you simply waited till I grew up, you could have married me and had so much more love. I loved you more than anyone¡­ but instead, you broke me. You used me like a toy and then broke what made me work. And now¡­ now you are left with this. Your own creation, your own personal monster. All because¡­ you couldn¡¯t bare the fraction of love I had for others. I love you. I always will. But¡­ I will love the William I used to know. You are not my William. Goodbye¡¯ I said while crying. Once I had finished talking, the rage and sorrow I was holding back burst.


    And then I saw red.


    ----


    Two years later William finally died. And two years later was also the day I finally stopped torturing him. I shattered his soul¡­ and then I pulverised it. Nothing of him remained other than this room which had absorbed the blood and tears that showed William that I was his nightmare, not his lover. It remembered, it sung about the pain he felt and it moaned in pleasure at the hatred it absorbed. This room has become my friend. If not a living friend, still a friend just the same. This room became the pain and relief of my entire life and knew me better than anyone.


    ¡®How is that, William? Did you enjoy my love? Was it worth the wait? Haha oh William, you where right. I am still in love with you. In love with the pain and blood I tasted.~ Ah, how beautiful¡¯ I laughed crazily to myself as I licked the last of his blood off of the long blade that became just like the room.


    ¡®Don¡¯t worry William. You did achieve your goal in the end, in a way. I will never find happiness and love with someone else until I am the strongest there is. Ah, but I really do regret it, y¡¯know? You¡¯re blood tastes so good, but now it¡¯s all gone. What am I to do now? Ah, even in death you manage to annoy me. Such a tragic story. Pfft, but oh well~¡¯ I sung to the room.


    In return, the chains rattled. I heard echoes of the screams and saw illusions of the pain.


    ¡®Haha, thank you~ Ah, such a good friend you are. Yes, I think I will name you Blood Haven. Ah, but I really must get going. Two years without cultivating is not good, you know? I¡¯m starting to get rusty. Look after these wonderful memories while I¡¯m gone, okay?¡¯ I asked it with a sadistic grin and it showed me a picture of William grovelling on the floor telling me he would do anything.


    ¡®Good room!¡¯ I patted it happily as I put the blade down in the centre.


    ¡®You two play nice, okay?¡¯ I asked happily as I skipped out of the room.


    ----


    ¡®Huh, I guess I can still feel sadness and loss. To think, some upstart god dared destroy my two precious friends. Phew, I guess it¡¯s time to go punish some naughty boys and girls. Ah¡­ I guess I should reforge their spirits into a weapon though¡­ let¡¯s see, if I add them both into a single weapon there should be enough left to give it a personality again¡­ haha, I guess you¡¯ll need a new name. How about Blood Feud?¡¯ I asked myself thoughtfully.


    ¡®Yes, blood feud is quite fitting. Welcome to the land of the living, blood feud¡¯ I laughed happily.


    ----


    ¡®Oh? Mister, what¡¯s this? It looks so fun!¡¯ I said as I skipped into the room.


    ¡®What the fuck!? Who are you, you fucking bitch! How did you get here!?!¡¯ He yelled out in panic.


    ¡®Aww, that¡¯s not very polite mister~ You¡¯re supposed to put your pants back on before talking, y¡¯know? Ah, rapists are so rude these days. Pfft, I guess I need to educate you for a while, huh~¡¯ I sung to myself with a dramatic tilt of my head and a finger positioned thoughtfully on my lips.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know who you are you crazy bitch but I am going to make you scream-¡® I cut his tongue out.


    ¡®Ah, you¡¯re right mister. I will scream~ Ahhh~ It¡¯s so good to torture people~ Hmm hmm, maybe I should torture this little lady as well? I bet that would feel even better~ Sigh, too bad she¡¯s an innocent. Now, let¡¯s continue, my little play toy~¡¯ I sung to the god choking on his own blood.


    ----


    ¡®Hmm, torture is getting a little boring now, don¡¯t you think, Blood Feud?¡¯ I asked my semi-conscious friend. Unfortunately it is only a shadow so it can never really be my friend as it¡¯s not alive but a girl can try. In response, it showed an image of me with blood spattered on my face and a crazy grin while I was shrugging.


    ¡®Hah, well I guess I¡¯ve had my fun. I¡¯ve got better things to do than torture these lowly gods after all. Ah~ I want William back! I miss Williams blood and screams of pain~ Why are all these gods so pitiful? Not one of them makes me feel as alive as William. But he had to die, right? Sigh¡­ but why did he have to take his blood with him? Bastard, even annoying me after being dead for six hundred years.¡¯ I sighed angrily as I kicked some poor innocent god who had been raped just hours ago, to death. Oops~ Didn¡¯t expect one kick to make her kick the bucket. Oh well~


    ¡®Hmm, but what to do now? I could play around like those other gods but that seems boring. Ah! I got it! Blood feud, I¡¯m going to become a perfect little princess like I used to dream of being as a kid~ I will be the strongest in the lands and beat up all the dragons that try to catch me, I will be the prettiest in existence and make ladies swoon, I will be the smartest out of everyone- ah wait, no I already am the smartest. Dammit. Anyway, I will become perfect! Muahahah! I am never going to laugh like that again cause it was so fricken embarrassing!¡¯ I announced to the world eagerly.


    ----


    ¡®Blood Feud, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s weird? Fifty thousand years and I still haven¡¯t found the happiness I promised myself when I became the strongest. But here I am, the strongest there is, and yet I still can¡¯t find happiness all because of that stupid strength limit. Sigh, but I want to be perfect so I can¡¯t just do things casually, I have to do it the best way possible. When will I be happy?¡¯ I asked my trusty weapon dramatically with a small twist in the middle where I fell down on top of the hill of bodies I just made for fun.


    In reply it showed me a picture where I was covered in blood from head to toe with thousands of bodies around me.


    ¡®Sigh, I know. I still have a long way to go till I reach my happiness, right? Hmm~ But it¡¯s so boring! I haven¡¯t had any real fun since William died~ Ah, his blood¡­ I¡¯m forgetting what it tasted like, y¡¯know? Maybe that¡¯s a good thing since I can¡¯t get anymore but it¡¯s weird. With my memory that should be impossible and I still remember the cake I ate with grandma on my sixth birthday but yet I¡¯m forgetting this. How annoying.¡¯ I complained to my weapon.


    In reply it showed me a picture I made for it of where I was wearing a white shirt with the words ¡®I¡¯m crazy but that¡¯s why life¡¯s so fun¡¯ written in blood and a massive in depth city I made out of blood on a painting behind me. Sigh, why did no one come visit me to try and buy my amazing artwork? Was it the crazy part? I¡¯m not sure~ Not that I¡¯d sell it of course!


    ¡®Thanks bud! I haven¡¯t seen that one for a while! Sigh, too bad you can only show me stuff with blood in it though. I personally really liked the picture I made out of the ashes of William but you can¡¯t show it to me. Ah well, your still cool!¡¯ I praised it happily while the blade warmed up in reply to the praise. Blushing?


    ----


    ¡®Blood Feud I think I¡¯m losing my mind! I¡¯m slowly becoming sane again, it¡¯s terrifying!¡¯ I cried to my weapon.


    ¡®Don¡¯t. Worry. Everything. Is. Alright.¡¯ It replied to me in several different images I wrote out in blood for it to talk to me.


    ¡®But I¡¯m scared! I don¡¯t wanna be in this world with sanity! Everything will hurt so much more again if I do!¡¯ I cried louder to it in reply.


    ¡®I¡¯m. Here. For. You. . . It¡¯s. Going. To. Be. Alright. . . If. It. Hurts. Just. Focus. On. Strength. And. Use. It. To. Find. Happiness. Again. . . You. Deserve. It.¡¯ My weapon wrote to me in several images.


    ¡®But blood feud¡­ I don¡¯t know if I can handle how much it hurts. I¡¯m scared. What if I lose everything again even after I gain strength? I¡¯m so scared, it hurts so much and I can feel it consuming me¡­¡¯ I screamed out in tears.


    ¡®Shh. Shh. It¡¯s. Okay. . . Everything. Is. Going. To. Be. Fine¡¯


    ----


    ¡®It hurts, blood feud. But I¡¯m close. I¡¯m close to my happiness now, I just need a few thousand more gods and I¡¯m done. Why was my warped personality able to repair itself? At least I could run from the pain before¡­ but now I¡¯m stuck with it. Will it ever truly go away? I feel like it will never let me go¡­¡¯ I whispered to my weapon in the corner.


    ¡®Nightmares. Again?.¡¯ It asked me with images.


    ¡®Yes¡­ they never leave me alone¡­¡¯ I said while holding the tears back.


    ¡®It¡¯s. Okay. To. Cry.¡¯ It replied to me. Like a dam wall had burst, I broke down into quite sobbing without being able to control myself.


    ----


    ¡®Blood Feud, we¡¯re so close now. Once a royalty with a good personality comes along I can finally be free again. I¡¯m so close to getting the strength I desire so much¡­ I¡¯m excited, Blood Feud.¡¯ I told my blade.


    ¡®Soon. You. Can. Finally. Be. Happy. . . I¡¯m. Proud. Of. You. Angel.¡¯ My blade told me with a hum to it.


    ----


    ¡®Blood Feud, today¡¯s the day! I¡¯m so close to getting enough strength to be happy, I just need a few years to grow and I can be happy again!¡¯ I gushed excitedly to my blade.


    ¡®Be. Happy. With. Your. New. Family.¡¯ It told me. My excitement left and I stroked my blade sadly.


    ¡®Can I really feel happiness with them though? To mortals I am just a freak, a twisted weirdo. I want happiness so much but¡­ with what I am about to do¡­ can they really give me happiness? I¡¯m scared. I know it¡¯s not long but if I really do love them, what if they are taken from me while I¡¯m still weak? Blood feud¡­ am I even something that can be loved anymore? I don¡¯t believe that such a thing can happen to someone like me¡­ I don¡¯t know where I will find happiness but I don¡¯t think they can give it to me. Not after everything I¡¯ve done.¡¯ I told my weapon sadly.


    ¡®They. Will. Love. You. I. Promise. . . You. Are. Perfect. . . Better. Than. Any. Angel. Could. Be. . . It. Is. An. Insult. For. Others. To. Carry. Your. Name.¡¯ I smiled at my weapon.


    ¡®Thanks, Blood Feud. Even if nothing goes well for me, atleast I have you.¡¯ I said as I hugged my blade.


    ----


    A dream¡­ it was a dream¡­ Ah, crap. I¡¯m crying aren¡¯t I. When I wake up, they are all going to be fussing over me and making a racket. ¡®Blood Feud, you where right. I found happiness with my family. I can be happy as well, even with everything that I¡¯ve done. Do you think I can ever fall in love again? While last time I didn¡¯t believe in others ability to accept me, this time I don¡¯t believe in my own ability. To open my heart up to someone after so long¡­ isn¡¯t that impossible?¡¯


    ¡®It. Is. Not. Impossible. . . One. Day. You. Will. Find. Them. And. Never. Let. Anyone. Take. Them. From. You. . . Until. That. Day. You. Have. Friends. And. Family. To. Look. After. You. . . Have. Fun.¡¯ I smiled as some more tears escaped.


    ¡®Thankyou Blood Feud. You¡¯re the best friend I could ever have. One day I will find a way to make you a body. Until then, I will have fun, just like you told me to. This time, I¡¯ll believe you. You know me best after all.¡¯ I said warmly to the blade that I put in my soul before I reincarnated.


    ----


    Opening my eyes, I was met with the face of Azure as she was crying above me.


    ¡°Master! Are you okay!? You where crying in your sleep and I tried to wake you up but I couldn¡¯t and I was so worried!! What¡¯s wrong, master? Did you have nightmares again??¡± Azure asked me desperately.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Azure. I just remembered that no matter what, I always have friends who look out for me. I¡¯m sorry for worrying you. Let¡¯s go to our first day of school, okay?¡± I told her warmly as I pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair. It was just as much for me as it was for her but she doesn¡¯t have to know that.


    ¡°Okay, Master.¡±

 Chapter 7 - First day of school

    ¡°Hello everyone. Yes, yes I know there¡¯s a princess in the room and I¡¯m just a boring teacher but please try to pay some attention, okay?¡± An energetic looking young lady told the class. I smiled softly at how she worded it.


    ¡°I apologise. I didn¡¯t mean to attract much attention but with the clothing that is rather difficult¡± I said politely to our new teacher.


    I heard almost everyone whisper in their own words how even without the white clothing I¡¯d stand out but I ignored it.


    ¡°As the class pointed out in their painfully obvious gossiping I am afraid you would stand out even without the clothes, miss primrose. Having a kitten on your head and such distinctive physical features tends to do that. While I¡¯m on the topic though I would like to tell everyone that yes, she is approved to have the kitten and that there is an important reason for it but that¡¯s on a need-to-know basis. Feel free to start up any wild rumours you want just try not to get yourself detained for insulting the crown in the process. Now, as introductions I will be your teacher from today onwards. Lillian Williams, pleasure to meet your acquaintance¡¯s, everyone¡± She said rather cheerfully.


    While considering the dream I had last night it seems suspicious that I¡¯d hear the name William again so soon but I know that he is completely, irreversibly dead so it really is just a coincidence.


    ¡°Sigh, not going to stop gossiping hey? Fine, I¡¯ll make you all a deal. As a new teacher I obviously have it within my rights to let everyone do a self-introduction so that means this princess your all excited about is included in that. I wasn¡¯t planning on doing this originally but if you can all agree not to gossip at least for the rest of the lesson, I will let you all do a self introduction¡± She totally is bribing them. This teacher is interesting.


    ¡°Yay! That wasn¡¯t so hard, right? As a reward why don¡¯t we have the princess herself start us off?¡± She coaxed. I didn¡¯t mind so I obediently went up to the stage.


    ¡°Hmm, how about saying name, hobbies, interests and a brief summary of ourselves?¡± I asked our teacher politely. I am trying to play the role of a princess after all, naturally I need to keep up my public image. What I do in my own time is my own decision but when I¡¯m in the public I have to act respectably. That¡¯s actually why I wasn¡¯t allowed out till I was four. It was simply usual procedure since most children learn to control themselves by then in our society.


    ¡°That¡¯s sounds fine.¡± She agreed easily.


    ¡°In that case it is a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Scarlet Primrose and although I am quite public due to my status as the third princess, I hope you will all treat me as you would any other. As for hobbies I guess they would include Art, music and photography while my interests lay in enchanting, science, magic theory, technology, formations and training. There are many other subjects I am knowledgeable on as well but they would not count as a hobby or interest. As for the summary of myself I like to socialise with friends and family the majority of the time but when I am not doing so, I usually spend my time studying and training. The mana-based computers where originally designed and introduced by me so if anyone needs help with projects or even just pointers feel free to ask any time.¡± I said as elegantly as I could manage (which is pretty damn elegant).


    ¡°Ah, and the kitten¡¯s name is Sapphire for any who are curious. Will that be all, Miss Williams?¡± I asked our teacher politely.


    ¡°Yes that is fine, princess¡± She said with a lopsided grin.


    After that, I returned to my seat where another five introductions where done before it was Azure¡¯s turn.


    ¡°Azure Firefox. Hobbies include training, playing with master and serving master while interest are all around master. You won¡¯t find any history about me before I was adopted into the royal family and if you do I can guarantee it is false but from two years ago I have been living with master.¡± She said in a really devoted tone.


    ¡°Azure, you where supposed to tell them about yourself not talk about me. You like chocolate and anything cute and you tend to enjoy talking to our friends and playing games with me while occasionally going exploring while you think no one¡¯s looking to add to your teddy collection.¡± I scolded softly but with obvious warmth.


    ¡°M-master, that¡¯s embarrassing¡± She said as her face went red.


    ¡°I have a kitten doing backstroke on my head right now.¡± I reminded her. When everyone started watching her do backstroke she got embarrassed and hid her head, making them all do an ¡®aww¡¯ or ¡®kyaa¡¯ sound.


    Naturally there will be a lot of tension around us from our positions so I¡¯m trying to dissolve it. Plus if I don¡¯t show that I care about Azure they will try to bully her for stupid reasons like ¡®clinging to the princess¡¯. Even if she is a god, they don¡¯t know that so we obviously can¡¯t use our power and in that situation they could actually hurt her with their bullying. Well, mentally atleast.


    After that event the rest of the class introduced themselves without interruption and then it was our teachers turn.


    ¡°As I¡¯ve already said, my name is Lillian Williams and I am your teacher. Hobbies involve star hopping with my friends, shopping and adventuring. For those of you who don¡¯t know what star hopping is it¡¯s basically just enhancing your muscles with mana and jumping from one planet or astral body to the next. It¡¯s quite fun and when you are all stronger you should try it sometime. Recently my interests lay is dating, teaching, researching and magical engineering and a summary of myself from what I¡¯ve been told by my friends is enthusiastic, thrill seeking, bright and charismatic. A summary of myself in my own opinion would be that I love teaching but while I am not teaching I go thrill seeking and adventuring. So if I ever disappear it¡¯s likely I¡¯m either dead, kidnapped or trapped in some random trap. The later two have both happened several times but so far I¡¯ve always made it back here.¡± She said enthusiastically. So cool teacher type?


    A student put their hand up and she told them to ask away.


    ¡°Have you ever met a man?¡± She asked. It seems even the enthusiastic teacher was thrown off for a second there before regaining her wits. I mean, a kid asking if you¡¯ve ever met a man is a little hard to answer.


    ¡°I¡¯ve met a few million men actually but yes, I have met a man. There where men on this world until just under two years ago, you know. Most of our nation has met men especially since a lot travel off world for adventuring, holidays, business deals and dates. Our nation is quite small in the grand scheme of things and while we are a female only nation most are male and female.¡± She answered once she thought about it for a sec. It even threw me off a bit when the kid asked that so it¡¯s no surprise she was a little stunned.


    ¡°My parents told me men where cruel and barbaric animals who resort to brute force whenever someone uses a word more complicated than their peanut sized brains can handle.¡± Another little girl interrupted much to my amusement.


    ¡°There are certainly men like that but I think you will find that most men don¡¯t fit those terms. While yes, there are bad men in any civilisation there are also a lot of good men who are kind, caring and helpful as well. Being a bad person isn¡¯t simply limited by gender miss parker as woman can be just as cruel and evil as men if the situation or circumstances call for it. It was largely overlooked due to the massive changes our nation went through recently but a few years ago a noble was executed for having around one hundred woman and children in a dungeon where she would rape and torture them regularly. It is certainly not a nice topic to discuss but being a bad person cannot be attributed to something as simple as gender.¡± She answered easily. I guess she would have heard a lot of questions like this over her life as a teacher so it would be easy to answer


    ¡°It is true that men smell more though¡± She added in afterwards, making the class laugh.


    After that she mainly just talked about what we¡¯d be doing for the rest of the year and what we¡¯d be learning before class time finished. Staying true to their word the class didn¡¯t gossip until class was over and it was lunchtime but then all their suppressed gossip went into overdrive and they where probably the loudest class out of them all.


    ¡°You¡¯re having fun, aren¡¯t you, Sapphire. Getting embarrassed when everyone looks at you¡­ I don¡¯t believe that for a second¡± I said to her once we where away from the others. She just gave a weird cat grin (yes it was totally a failure) in reply and went back to licking her paws.


    ¡°Master why didn¡¯t you tell me you knew about that¡­?¡± Azure pouted to me.


    ¡°Because it was cuter to watch you think you could hide it from me¡± I answered happily.


    ¡°Ugh¡­ then why did you tell everyone about it?¡± She asked in defeat.


    ¡°I thought they¡¯d bully my little cuddle buddy if I didn¡¯t. I was just making it clear that your mine¡± I teased her as I put my arms around her neck from behind and cuddled her, letting her walk me to wherever we where going.


    Sapphire reached down her paw and pulled my eyelid open, much to my annoyance. As punishment I shook my head, watching as she scrambled to hold on. I smirked victoriously before closing my eyes again.


    The games continued however as this time she leaned down and bit my nose softly and I flicked her forward so she was holding onto my chest with her claws but couldn¡¯t get out because we where moving and the gap was too small between Azure and me. I grinned at her and poked my tongue out as she did as close to a scowl as a kitten can do.


    With a well-timed leap, she landed on my shoulder and licked the inside of my ear. Honestly I didn¡¯t expect her to go so low so it surprised me just as much as it felt weird and disgusting. In retaliation I bumped my shoulder up really fast and when she was in the air I grabbed her with my lips like when an adult cat carries a kitten. If she goes low, I go low.


    For a while she uselessly tried to escape the awkward position until she resorted to pulling Azure¡¯s hair until I let her go and she growled at me before curling up to go to sleep on my head again. I totally won. Still, that wasted most of the walk time so I only got to sleep on Azure¡¯s back while cuddling her for around a minute more before we arrived at our destination.


    It was a pre-agreed garden area that belonged to Amber¡¯s group where we would all meet up. Of course there where some extras I¡¯ve never met before but that didn¡¯t really faze me. Sapphire did a daring leap towards her sister only to miss when she bent over to pick up a fallen pin and hit Emerald in the stomach instead. She growled at her sister and I totally knew she would get lectured later for not catching her.


    ¡°How¡¯s the first day so far, sis?¡± Emerald asked me once she stopped laughing at Sapphire.


    ¡°It¡¯s been fun. It seems we got an interesting teacher rather than some stuck up old lady so things are looking bright¡± I answered her lightly.


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky. I got stuck with miss Edwards in my first year. She was a real asshole and she had a grudge against nobles that only came second to her grudge against royalty. Of course she never did anything far enough that we could actually formally complain about her but she knew how to balance on the line very well. When news came around that she was retiring last year the whole cafeteria was cheering.¡± I never knew her first teacher was like that.


    ¡°So that¡¯s why you didn¡¯t want to go to school¡± I realised.


    ¡°No that was because she had a fight with one of her friends and knew it was her fault but didn¡¯t want to apologise¡± Amber intruded herself into the conversation.


    ¡°A four month fight?¡± I asked sceptically.


    ¡°I¡­ we where both avoiding each other. She wouldn¡¯t talk to me unless it was for me to apologise and I wouldn¡¯t apologise unless she talked to me. Eventually amber got sick of it and interrupted.¡± Emerald said awkwardly.


    ¡°Ah, there¡¯s the childish sister who wanted to name me butterfly.¡± I said like I found something I had lost ages ago.


    Amber cracked up laughing as soon as I said that.


    ¡°Why did my sister have to have super memory?¡± She asked exasperatedly.


    ¡°Even if I didn¡¯t have super memory a moment as important as that would have stuck regardless.¡± I corrected her with a grin.


    ¡°I feel like I just missed something important¡± Crystal said as she came to join in.


    ¡°You did¡± We all said in sync. Just to be evil sapphire even tried to meow out the words in sync with us as well.


    For the rest of the break time we just continued making small talk and messing around while Crystal kept trying to ask what she missed and we refused to tell her. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s a secret or anything but it is still more amusing to leave it to bother her all day instead.


    About half way through I began to use Azure as my cuddle toy again as I did the same thing as last time without the movement part since we where standing still. It¡¯s so much more comfortable to do this instead so naturally I would. Ember tried to convince Azure that she didn¡¯t have to let me do that but naturally she let me. I grinned evilly at her and poked my tongue out childishly before making a big show of cuddling up to my cuddle toy. She was just jealous.


    After that I mainly idly followed through the conversation while replying to the important stuff only but otherwise relaxing. The dream last night left me really tensed up and quite tired considering how much I was crying. It¡¯s not really physical fatigue since my vitality is too strong for that but my mind was still feeling the effects of reliving the main bad memories from my last life in one night. Atleast I didn¡¯t relive more of them. Sometimes I relive up to a month in one night, it¡¯s horrible, especially since I only have bad dreams.


    We agreed to only meet up there once a week on Fridays since everyone else has their own little social groups and our meetings where just to review the events and plan stuff for the weekend anyway but after that we went our own ways. Lunch was coming to an end anyway so we had to get indoor sports hall our teacher told us to come to before it did. On the way there I couldn¡¯t walk like I did last time unfortunately since there where people watching as compared to using a back path where we where alone but I made do by playing with sapphire.


    Azure being an all-knowing world dungeon means we can avoid people pretty easily usually since we know where they are but the path was quite public this time with no hidden escape routes so things weren¡¯t so simple.


    The indoor sports hall was one of the more mixed ones in the school with almost everything present but most of them are focused on certain aspects like training, sparring, racing, swimming etc. This one had a bit of everything inside it. The inside was around 100km with the space enchants so it¡¯s not as big as it could have been but it was still a considerable size.


    ¡°Master, we¡¯re early.¡± Azure commented.


    ¡°Yes by around five minutes, right?¡± I asked even though I knew the answer.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°How about we play a game then, Azure? We wouldn¡¯t want to disappoint the people after all.¡± I asked in amusement.


    ¡°What do you suggest, Master?¡±


    ¡°Sleeping. Let¡¯s see if any of them can bare to wake me up. I am the perfectly elegant and cute third princess after all¡± I told her playfully. She totally saw through it as a desire to rest but she conceded regardless.


    Laying down on a spot of grass I laid my head on her lap and let the artificial sun trickle through her hair onto my face.


    Just as I had hoped when other students started trickling in half a minute later they all stayed quite at the scene, not willing to disturb me, and it was only when our teacher came in two minutes late that I was disturbed. Even then she seemed hesitant to wake me but I suspect that was more because she liked the quite I brought rather than feeling the same as the students who weren¡¯t willing to disturb such a ¡®perfect¡¯ scene. Of course she still did.


    ¡°Wake up sleeping beauty, Azure. Class time.¡± She said dismissingly.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you know that story sensei¡± I replied. If she heard it I figured she had probably been to earth so the sensei part was just a test to confirm that.


    ¡°I¡¯m more surprised that you do, princess. Earths fairy tales aren¡¯t exactly popular among magic civilisations so the chances of you knowing them would be miniscule¡± She sounded a little suspicious.


    ¡°My grandmother like¡¯s Earth¡¯s culture quite a bit so it is only natural that I would pick up a few things. Since Earths entertainment industry largely influenced our own as well with things like internet, anime and social media it seemed like a good topic to look into at the time.¡± While it¡¯s true that the airhead does like anime since the ¡®characters are cute¡¯ I learnt so much about it from my last life. You would be surprised how many gods have visited the world through word of mouth or personal like¡¯s and experiences. I actually had to leave the gods alive on that world simply because I would have became public enemy number one if I didn¡¯t. While I can look after myself it would have been annoying if gods came and looted my territory while I was out. I was still able to trace a lot of their regulars though and hunt them down so it was a fair trade.


    She looked a bit curious at that but otherwise didn¡¯t comment and our private conversation came to an end as she addressed the rest of the class.


    ¡°The regular school days are fairly simple. 8 am to 10 am is class, 11 am to 2 pm is gym and 3pm to 5pm is class again. The one hour gaps in between are break periods where you can do whatever you want. On some days and events this schedule will be changed but in that case you will all be notified in advance. On Saturday you will be attending class as well but it only lasts from 8 am to 11 am so you still have time to do whatever brats like you do on a weekend. Today the day will end early with us staying here till 3 pm and then you are all free.


    Our purpose in these four hours are to identify everyone¡¯s strengths and weaknesses within the physical abilities department whether it includes strength, speed, reflexes, power and combat capabilities and based off of the results a training schedule will be designed for everyone. While as a nation of cultivators we do allow you to hold back in your tests and abilities, I would like to remind everyone that if you where to hold back in say strength, your training would naturally be lighter than your ability level and as such you won¡¯t gain anything from these schedules. If you go all-out from the start we can give you schedules that actually are improving your strengths rather than wasting time and being overtaken by everyone else.¡± She told everyone seriously. Is she a training nut? She hasn¡¯t been serious all morning and now as soon as we get to training it¡¯s like she¡¯s a completely different person.


    ¡°Miss Williams, I am still injured from a recent accident that tore out my left calf and while it only needs around another two weeks to heal fully is it possible to do this test again? I don¡¯t want to be stuck with a light training schedule all year because of this injury.¡± Ouch. It¡¯s been a long time but I remember how much that hurts while you are still a low levelled cultivator.


    ¡°We will be officially updating the training schedule every month after some more tests like this one but for special cases like this we can make exceptions. I will arrange for you to stay here with me for around an hour after school once you have fully recovered to update it faster but for today try to preform to the best of your capabilities without straining the injury. There are certain areas in the school with formations that speed up natural recovery so I suggest you spend most of your free time inside but since it was an injury that occurred while you weren¡¯t enrolled in the school I am afraid you aren¡¯t eligible for free treatments from anyone in the recovery ward.¡± She told her and everyone else by extension.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Thank you I didn¡¯t know there where any places like that¡± She replied genuinely. Since she is from the talented commoner group based on her uniform she probably couldn¡¯t afford to get proper treatment and had to instead rely on cheap recovery pills and her own mana which would hurt quite a lot. The formations themselves are usually used to mass-recover stamina and magic by digesting the food at rapid rates so she will have to eat a lot but since food also helps with recovery naturally it will be faster and less painful for her.


    The kid looked quite happy about that and her previous slightly depressed atmosphere totally reinvigorated itself until she was energetic and happy but I could already see some of the rich kids looking at her in contempt for not being able to afford proper treatments. Arrogant assholes.


    ¡°The first test is simple. Everyone will be running one kilometre without mana enhancement to test your body¡¯s speed and technique. Afterwards you will do the same distance again with mana enhancement to test your body enhancing skill and technique. I want you all to take in mind that while mana can augment your abilities it only improves the base and while breakthroughs improve that base that doesn¡¯t mean you can simply rely on breakthroughs alone to improve your power. Many cultivators are able to fight those in higher realms based off of high mana manipulation skills and lot¡¯s of physical training.¡± She told us in a business-like voice.


    The rest of the lesson was boring. Pretending to be at certain strength levels that are in reality so far below the both of us is rather troublesome and while we did obviously outperform everyone else since we had our positions to consider it was as a whole just a troublesome task. Since Azure publicly called me master as well I had to outperform her or even with such high results my reputation would be damaged for being weaker than my ¡®servant.¡¯ While we could easily trick the amateur¡¯s in the room into thinking we where prot¨¦g¨¦¡¯s I know the teacher saw through us easily as holding back due to her experience. It¡¯s not like it matters but it is still annoying.


    All the young girls are almost at the level of having sparkles in their eyes when they look at us or me especially and I¡¯ve been spending the entire lesson trying to work out ways to get out of our ¡®training¡¯ every day. It won¡¯t improve us at all so it¡¯s just a waste of time and even if school in general can be considered useless to us I¡¯d rather not spend three hours doing such weak training every day. In the end I opted for a private discussion to straight out ask her to let us off. Once I had decided on that I simply gave her an official-looking note that asked her to talk to us privately afterwards.


    ¡°Seeing as you made a show of handing over that letter I¡¯m guessing you want something from me that can be explained to the rest of the class as an order from your parents?¡± She asked flatly after it was just the three of us (sapphire doesn¡¯t count).


    ¡°Of course. Naturally I am able to get an official letter to you as well within the hour but I needed something to explain what will happen in the future to the rest of the class. I apologise if the theatrics inconvenience you in any way.¡± I told her clearly.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure they will but how much will depend on the contents of this so called letter.¡± She replied with a sigh. I can¡¯t blame her for that since the paper work would be annoying regardless and she doesn¡¯t seem like someone to enjoy that.


    ¡°Officially it will be us leaving the school grounds every day to do our own private training so I imagine this will have benefits to you as well since we are a distraction to the rest of the class but I know you could tell we where holding back so whatever schedule we are given based off of our results will be a waste of time for us. Since there are occasionally students who opt for this option anyway the official process shouldn¡¯t be too tedious for you.¡± I told her simply. Of course I¡¯m still being polite but it wasn¡¯t exactly a request.


    ¡°Okay. Although it is rather annoying to fill out the forms I can have them done by the time you come back with a real letter. As a price for that though you will be helping me create the training schedules since I was already pressed for time to begin with without an extra hour and a half of paper work and informing the principle and faculty. Actually make that two hours since I imagine sapphire will be going with you and by extension her sister. While I don¡¯t have to fill out anything for her sister sapphire is technically a member of the class even if it is a special case.¡± She told me rather simply.


    I smiled at her genuinely. I was right that this teacher was interesting. Usually a teacher would cave easily instead of roping a princess into paper work so I guess she is quite good. Well she is a stage twenty one cultivator at the age of 197 so her talent and influence must be quite high so it¡¯s not unexpected but even without that her personality would make her do the same thing.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine with that. I was watching them all anyway so it should be easy to write it into a schedule. As a free hint since you reacted so interesting I will tell you that Suzuka Lia has a massive natural aptitude for redirection type combat and if you start her off with some proper training she will naturally be very thankful to you in the future. You could even become a personal tutor to her as it is your area of specialty as well.¡± I told her with a hint of amusement while her eyes widened.


    ¡°How would you even be able to tell that after one lesson?¡± She asked curiously.


    ¡°Think back on her sparring and reaction speed tests. Combined with her dexterity and you get a clue, right? But I seriously doubt anyone taught her this as she is from common birth which means she picked it all up herself. Her actions and reactions may be amateur but it is obvious she has potential if you consider she was able to get so far without any help or conscious training on her part.¡±


    You can tell by her movements that she never tried to train them but yet they are still incorporated into her style unconsciously so her talent is considerable. Plus I scanned everyone¡¯s soul and she has abnormal amount of growth and talent for it. Of course she still needs training but it¡¯s to the level where she could easily catch up to our teacher and maybe even surpass her eventually. Being a stage twenty one so young is naturally impressive but they both have similar cultivation talent while Suzuka has slightly better aptitude for fighting than our teacher. If Suzuka can get support from a noble family like hers who is focused on that style and has a lot of wealth from their young prot¨¦g¨¦¡¯s progress than she can grow massively.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give her some private lessons and see how it goes then. Anyway is there anything else we need to do now before we go separate ways or will I see you in an hour?¡± She asked me.


    ¡°Is everyone doing a day of this length today or do I need to go pull Sapphire¡¯s sister out of class to tell her?¡± I asked while I was here.


    ¡°No everyone will be doing this today so we can get the training schedules up to date for all our students but it is possible that she could still be with a teacher should she have any business with them like a private lesson. You¡¯ll have to go and find out yourself.¡± She told me.


    ¡°Okay thanks. See ya sensei¡± I said as Azure and I left.


    ¡°Stop calling me sensei it makes me feel like an old man.¡± I looked at her weirdly at that.


    ¡°You know that sensei is teacher in general and not anything to do with old or men, right?¡± I asked her with a frown.


    ¡°The first anime I watched on that world had a really old and grumpy man being called sensei all the time so now I always think of him when I hear it.¡± She answered with a slight tinge of frustration.


    ¡°Okay sensei¡± I said on purpose as I closed the door behind me. I saw her falter for a second before the door finished closing and I felt rather proud of my brief mischief.


    ¡°That was mean master¡± Azure scolded me as soon as we got away.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it natural to do little things like that in order to rid ourselves of the distance¡¯s between us? Even if we are gods for as long as we play mortal making connections is a must and as far as connections go the heir to one of the top hundred noble families and a known prot¨¦g¨¦ is a fairly good one. In the future she will atleast make it to around the twenty eighth realm before she reaches 1000 years old providing she doesn¡¯t die or experience any crippling injury¡¯s. If she focuses on cultivating she might even reach around the thirty fifth realm eventually, making her a power house in this nation and someone with a lot of influence. Her purity is a bit low to reach god though.¡± I defended. In reality I just wanted to tease her a bit but it¡¯s true that I take into consideration who I bother to act like that around before hand.


    ¡°So you want to make friends with her?¡± She asked me with a confused tone.


    ¡°Not particularly. I guess it could be considered friendship by normal standards but I kind of set my standards for who I consider a friend pretty high. She¡¯d be more like an ally I guess.¡± To me friends mean a lot so casually being able to claim that I could be friends with anyone isn¡¯t right. While I could certainly form a connection with almost anyone with enough effort on my part the people I can call friends feel a lot deeper to me than that to me. Other than my family it is only the twins, Azure and my sword that can be considered as true friends and I don¡¯t even regularly talk to my sword. Everyone else doesn¡¯t know it exists.


    ¡°Where¡¯s crystal right now?¡± I asked. I could simply stretch my mana out to find her but it seems pointless when Azure always knows.


    ¡°She¡¯s alone on the far side of campus reading a book.¡± Azure would lead me there so I didn¡¯t need to know the specifics.


    ----


    [Quick POV Change]


    As I was reading I was startled by a small stone person appearing in front of me. Upon closer inspection I realised it was Azure projecting it to me since it was literally a small copy of her but when I realised I froze like a deer caught in the sight of a hungry wolf pack. I knew I couldn¡¯t run and that I was screwed but there was nothing I could do about it.


    ¡°The others know you are reading but I didn¡¯t tell them what so you have time to change the book before we get here. I don¡¯t think you should let your sister catch you reading an incest love story, crystal. By the looks of it there are also a lot of¡­ naughty scenes in it. Don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t tell them.¡± She sung to me. My face immediately heated up and I could do nothing to stop it as my blush spread.


    I even went so far out of my way to not be caught by anyone¡­ how did this happen? I was already embarrassed about it when I wasn¡¯t being stared at by a smirking goddess, now I feel like I might physically pass out from the intensity of my blush.


    ¡°I-it¡¯s not what it looks like¡± I tried to defend. Her small expression totally didn¡¯t believe me at all.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s not exactly unexpected considering the link you have between each other, it was only a matter of time until one of you got curious. You should wait for your sister to mature a little more first as she is still getting used to being physically alive but no one objects to it.¡± This is just going from bad to worse by the second. At this rate I really will pass out from embarrassment.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m not going to d-do that to my sister!¡± Crap that wasn¡¯t even what I was trying to say.


    The small Azure floated up to pat me on the head, making me open my tightly closed eyes again in surprise.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry crystal. I shouldn¡¯t have teased you about it but you looked so cute that I wanted to mess with you a bit. We all love you and whether you fall in love with your sister or not isn¡¯t something you need to be embarrassed about. Just make sure that if you do you don¡¯t ignore that because you are siblings, okay? If you do you¡¯ll only hurt yourself and I don¡¯t want to see you get hurt. I know that you haven¡¯t worked out how you feel yet but no matter what I am here for you and so is master and your sister. I can¡¯t tell you everything will be alright or easy in either case since there will always be variables but don¡¯t think that you have to be in love with her because of your link or that you are because of it. Don¡¯t suppress your feeling and make sure you are happy, okay? I know your scared about hurting yourself and others so I know you will overthink this a lot but no matter what happens we will always be with you¡±


    I started crying at some stage as she hugged my face and I felt like the pressure that has been bothering me ever since I got my sister back disappeared. I was always thinking about what would happen if I did and I was so scared of it that I¡¯m avoiding even confronting myself to find out if I really do love her or not and it was so heavy.


    ¡°Thankyou¡­¡± I whispered to her after a few minutes.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to burden yourself with so many worries, crystal. We¡¯ll always be here, I promise. Until you work out how you feel I can talk to you anytime. Master will be here in a minute so you need to focus, okay?¡± She asked me coaxingly as she rubbed my hair. It felt weird with how small her hand was but yet it was still such a big feeling of comfort and relief that I couldn¡¯t help but smile.


    ¡°Fine. But you have to stop worrying as well then.¡± I told her sternly as I cleaned up and put the book away.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± She asked with a confused voice.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been feeling conflicted with my feelings for months. Do you really think I wouldn¡¯t notice yours? Even if you are in the body of a six year old your emotions are still the same as an adult, right? I know you feel guilty because you love your master but she is in the body of a six year old and doesn¡¯t feel those emotions yet, atleast not romantically. If I have to talk with you about my problems and get embarrassed then so do you.¡± I told her as her little stone body somehow managed to blush.


    ¡°H-how?¡± She asked defensively.


    ¡°The look on your face when she pats your head or plays with you, the small blush when she hugs you, how happy you are whenever you see her, and last night when you where so worried about her when she was crying. Even if friendship can write off some of them there where obviously some things that couldn¡¯t be written off and I noticed them. I¡¯m sorry though, I selfishly didn¡¯t want to talk with you about it because I thought you¡¯d talk about my problems. But now you don¡¯t get to escape. I¡¯ll make you talk later.¡± I told her with as confident of a voice as I could muster.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t tell master, okay? I don¡¯t want her to force herself to fall in love with me once we are older because she knows I love her. I want master to be happy more than anything so she can¡¯t know and master would create a distance between us if she knew¡± She told me with both determination and sadness.


    ¡°Okay, then no telling my sister or scarlet anything either, okay?¡± I asked her as I put my finger forward.


    ¡°Deal¡± She shook my finger. Then her body disappeared and I saw her actual body appear a few hundred metres away with the others in tow.


    Even if It was embarrassing I¡¯m glad that happened. Whether I am in love¡­ I don¡¯t know. But regardless, now I will face that head on instead of running. Seriously, to think we suddenly formed a secret alliance¡­ maybe things weren¡¯t as hard as I thought they where.


    ----


    [Normal POV]


    I so saw them making some secret deal just then and although I don¡¯t know what it was I suddenly feel like I should be on guard. Who knows the amount of damage those two could cause if they put their minds to it. Maybe I should form an alliance with Sapphire to fight them off? Then again she¡¯d probably just help them with whatever evil plans they have instead¡­ luckily sapphire was asleep and they didn¡¯t know I caught the handshake so I¡¯m semi-safe for now. Still now I have to ask if Crystal wants to join us for training. I don¡¯t expect her to say no but it¡¯s still better to ask anyway.


    ¡°We¡¯ve arranged it so we can skip out on gym class to train together. You in?¡± I asked as we sat down with her under the tree.


    ¡°Will we actually be training or are we going to be messing around?¡± She asked cautiously.


    ¡°A bit of both I guess. Does it matter? With your sudden strength increase you haven¡¯t been able to get any benefits from gym anyway. Explaining how you¡¯re a nineteenth realm was already off the table so just like us their training will be useless to you.¡± I told her simply.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess. It is rather annoying to pretend to be weaker than I am. I imagine it¡¯s not to the extent of you two though. We must all be like snails to you¡± She said with a smirk.


    ¡°Actually if you put an enchant to slow the snail down by a few hundred times it¡¯d be more accurate¡± Azure commented.


    ¡°It¡¯s an expression, you don¡¯t need to get technical.¡± She replied flatly.


    ¡°Pfft, anyway, so your in then?¡± I asked her with clear amusement at Azure¡¯s faltering face. She obviously didn¡¯t expect her to say that and especially with such a dead voice so it was funny to watch her try to form a reply while failing miserably.


    ¡°Yeah I¡¯m in. Let me make a call to my parents about it but do you need permission notes from them for the school or can your family cover it all? They are both off-world right now so you¡¯d have to travel a bit if it¡¯s the former.¡±


    ¡°My parents can cover it fine. The royal family has a lot more influence in our nation than most do in others since our system is set up so that nobles don¡¯t hinder us as much. Since I am super popular as well with being a publicly named historic god-level being to them since I culture hacked our nation by mistake we can do practically anything we want. Anyway I¡¯m going to go ask my sister¡¯s if they are joining in then I¡¯ll go raid the palace for permission forms. You¡¯ll still have to take it to your teacher but otherwise things should be easy.¡± I told her casually. It¡¯s rather scary the amount of influence the royal family has over the nation considering that not all rulers are good people but the level I have over it is terrifying. I could kill fifty people in broad daylight for no reason and take a minor hit to my reputation, not that I would.


    ¡°Master do you want me to come with you?¡± Azure asked me.


    ¡°No it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll just teleport around since I¡¯ve got to go help miss Williams after this anyway so you guys can stay here.¡± I told her as I put Sapphire onto her sisters lap.


    ¡°Wake up, sis¡± Crystal said as she started poking her sister awake. When she woke up she just looked tiredly up at her sister in annoyance before closing her eyes again.


    After that I went to my sisters to tell them since they have been hiding their strength as well so it¡¯s useful to come with us and when I got approval I popped over to visit my parents a visit. It¡¯s only been one day but mummy was way too dramatic about it¡­ anyway I got all the notes before back over to hand them out to my sisters and Crystal and I took the rest with me to our teacher. Azure went with crystal (presumably to get out of work and finish scheming) while sapphire came with me since she likes my head best. With my strength and experience I walk without bumping all over the place so it¡¯s peaceful to sleep on me compared to the others. My hairs also really thick and silky so there¡¯s that too.


    On that note I¡¯ve been keeping my hair at around the back of my knees in height after I tripped over my hair a few months ago while walking and I figured that was a little extreme. Sapphire was annoyed because she used to use my hair like a slide since it dragged on the ground and with the palace floors being constantly polished and cleaned, she would slide a few metres on the ground before jumping back up to do it again. If not for how strong my hair was she probably would have ruined it by now from doing that with her claws.


    Mother has withdrawal symptoms from not patting my head. I tried to avoid it for a few weeks once and she got really upset. They made us promise to visit them atleast once a week and I¡¯m pretty sure mother¡¯s reason is because of how silky my hair is at 90% and because she wants to see us at 10%. Sure, she loves us a lot but hair really takes up most of her focus. I guess it¡¯s better than some weird habits like *cough* rolling in syrup *cough* but it¡¯s still weird.


    ¡°That was quick¡± Miss Williams commented as I came into her room. Since teacher¡¯s have two houses in the school, a private living quarters and one that is meant to be a temporary crash place should you have a lot of work the ¡®room¡¯ was just a study room that counts as her office. This place is literally just this room, a separate file storage room and bedroom along with a kitchen. It¡¯s nothing fancy compared to what her actual apartment would be like but it is a more public place anyway. Besides she¡¯s not meant to sleep here she just can if she wants to. Take a nap, make yourself a coffee or lunch and do work. Like I said, temporary crash place. From what I heard the teachers apartments are rather fancy since they are expected to stay in them longer than a student who changes year to year. Plus being a teacher needs some perks right?


    ¡°Well if I give you the stuff now I can start now, right? It¡¯s more time efficient.¡± I answered easily as I came to sit opposite her.


    ¡°Sure. Anyway write in this book and do a general opinion about the students strengths, weaknesses, recommended training and anything else you think to add. Usually I do this first so I can summarise it all into a training schedule and keep tabs on progress but this time you¡¯ll be doing this first part. Even if I¡¯m having you help me it wouldn¡¯t be very responsible as a teacher to let you write the actual schedule so this is your job. Any questions?¡± That sounds pretty straight forward.


    ¡°I guess the only one¡¯s would be the correct spellings to their names and mana purity levels but the later we can¡¯t check without a lot of permissions, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yep. I¡¯ll tell you the spelling for them as you get to them just ask. Let¡¯s start then¡± She told me.


    First of all I wrote about the little prot¨¦g¨¦ in the group since I knew how to spell her name but after that, I wrote down most of what I had observed about them during the training including who was holding back or over-exerting themselves in what areas and weaknesses in techniques. Perfect memory and my processing speeds meant I didn¡¯t even need to think about it and the only things I avoided where things I shouldn¡¯t have been able to observe.


    Overall I probably noticed a lot more than she did and judging by her expression when she read it all she knew that as well but I¡¯m an enigma with a heap of experience and monstrous processing speeds. It¡¯s only to be expected that I would notice more details than her. She was probably going to have a headache designing the schedule with so much information though.


    ¡°You probably just made this ten times harder instead of easier. Sigh, I guess I can¡¯t really complain if you¡¯re a freak of nature though since it helps the rest of the class¡± She said casually.


    ¡°You know, if I didn¡¯t agree I¡¯d probably be offended from that remark. Anyway I should be able to write it all into a schedule pretty easily if you want and you can review it afterwards. You won¡¯t be able to get it done by tomorrow otherwise.¡± I offered.


    ¡°Wow, I really feel like a hypocrite after just saying I shouldn¡¯t let you but sure.¡± She said with a sigh as she opened a really strong alcohol and sculled it. I guess a six year old being better at your job than you is pretty hard, huh?


    I spent the next hour compiling two lists of training schedules. One was for the students with them having a lot of notes to remember on them about how to improve themselves and one was for her so she could look over everything easier. If she has information about all of them for both herself and them it will help their improvement rate by a lot.


    ¡°I¡¯m finished. This stack is for you and this stack is for them. I assume you¡¯ll want it copied onto a computer as well but for now this should be enough to look over it. I can help you write these again for the next eleven months as well since it is pretty easy for me. I¡¯ve always been a genius to the point that my tutors are scared of me. I overtook them after a few months so it really is one of my best fields and I actually like doing it anyway. I¡¯ve been helping my family with a lot of the official documents as well as designing training schedules for them so I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll make any stupid mistakes.¡± I told her honestly. I¡¯m not trying to brag, more like I feel responsible. If I did this for the first month only and then the quality drops afterwards it will look bad for her. She realised that pretty easily based off of my tone and body language and smiled.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to help but if you want to go ahead. Even seeing your notes will improve my own skill to a certain extent due to how detailed they are so I can¡¯t really refuse a chance to train my students better. Can you come to watch Amy¡¯s redo though? I¡¯d feel bad if her schedule wasn¡¯t up to everyone else¡¯s standard because she was injured.¡± She told me honestly. I¡¯m surprised the alcohol didn¡¯t affect her at all considering how strong it was but it¡¯s not really noteworthy.


    ¡°Sure. Just tell me when she¡¯s healed and I¡¯ll tag along.¡± I told her.


    I¡¯m not really trying to stay in that annoying graceful mode but I¡¯m still atleast being polite while talking. It¡¯s just us so it¡¯s not like my reputation will take a hit because of it.


    After that we talked for a while longer as she went over the schedules and then I left since she said she¡¯d take care of the computer transfer part. By now it was around five thirty so I headed back to the apartment, figuring the others would have found their way back by now.


    ----


    [POV Change]


    As the door clicked close I slumped back in my chair. That kid is an absolute monster. My mum used to be totally anal about her note taking before she died so I always thought I had seen the pinnacle of what was possible but what I saw today completely crushed that opinion. She didn¡¯t hesitate for a second while writing in the notebook so I assumed it wouldn¡¯t be very good but when I read it, it was absolutely perfect. Even her handwriting was better than anything I had ever seen.


    To do something of that level¡­ if it was even possible for anyone other than her to do I¡¯m not sure I could believe it. To get such an in-depth report on my students I¡¯d probably need months of careful observation and reviewal but she did it at a glance. Is this the extent of natural talent? I¡¯ve always been called a monster with how fast I cultivated but her¡­ no, I admit my utter and total defeat. Based off of the fact that she was holding back at the tests she probably has cultivation talent rivalling mine or eclipsing it and her mental abilities are god-like.


    ¡°Not many people know this but I met a god when I went to Earth and we are actually semi-friendly. Overall I¡¯m pretty sure she just wanted to hit on me but I learnt quite a lot of things from that, including the fact that even the gods processing powers where below this child. Appearance, cultivation, talent, mental powers and experience¡­ is this kid a god? I¡¯m really starting to wonder.


    Still I kept my suspicions to myself. Naturally I¡¯m not going to go blabbing about how I¡¯m suspicious of my student being a god, I might get kicked out of the school for mental instability. Earlier I was suspicious about whether the she really noticed Suzuka Lia having such talent or not but now I don¡¯t doubt it at all. How can I when her deduction and observation skills are vastly superior to mine? Sigh, it feels really weird to be outmatched by a kid.


    ¡°Come in¡± A voice called out from inside as I knocked on the principles door.


    ¡°I came to deliver three permission slips from children¡¯s parents and the forms that go with them that ask for permission to skip out on gym class.¡± I told her simply. I don¡¯t really like her but I can¡¯t say I hate her either. I just really dislike how she treats people. Her personality if you ignore that point at least isn¡¯t annoying so she¡¯s tolerable.


    ¡°Three? That¡¯s a lot for one class. In total that brings it up to 51 students leaving for personal trainers instead or school training. Was the princess one of them?¡± She asked me.


    ¡°Yes. I assume her sisters have done the same if you where asking but Sapphire, the princess and the princess¡¯s servant won¡¯t be attending gym class. They all have permission from the royal family so we couldn¡¯t refuse if we wanted to.¡± I told her as I handed them over.


    ¡°And your personal opinion on this?¡± She asked.


    ¡°The princess and her servant eclipsed the rest of the class within the tests with ease and where obviously holding back as well. How far I am unsure but the training would be ineffective for them anyway in that case. As for sapphire since she isn¡¯t involved in the classes anyway and is more of a bystander for social interactions there is no problem with her missing gym since class is where most of those interactions happen anyway.¡± I told her easily.


    ¡°Hmm, how interesting. Is there anything else of note that you have noticed about them?¡± She asked me curiously.


    ¡°The princess keeps her public image up as expected but after handing me the official notes she stayed to help me with profiling the students from her observations in gym class. Since I was filling these out anyway there was no harm to letting her do it but it turns out she is an absolute monster. As you know my mother had a reputation for having the best note taking skills and observation skills before she died but this child completely eclipses all of her achievements by a large margin. She noticed more with a glance than I could ever hope to notice and she could recall it all perfectly.¡± I told her honestly. There¡¯s no reason not to since she will realise anyway sooner or later when she hears rumours.


    ¡°Can I see?¡± She asked with a half curious half disbelieving voice. Complying I took the notebook out of my ring and gave it to her to read. After five minutes she looked up with a pale face.


    ¡°I used to help my father regularly while looking through documents. With three hundred worlds and many more letters and reports coming in from other sources I have obviously seen a lot of notes. This¡­ I¡¯ve never seen anything like it. Usually, there¡¯s never really a difference between these sorts of things but this is just ridiculous¡± She told me with her voice obviously betraying her shock.


    ¡°I agree. I think many of our staff can benefit from studying her notes and while I believe we should keep who wrote it anonymous I¡¯d like permission to distribute copies to all the teachers. Of course I¡¯d have to ask her and her family first but the children¡¯s progress will improve across the entire school if we can learn from this.¡± I used to be acknowledged as one of the best at it in the school due to my mother but I am vastly lacking as compared to this.


    ¡°Ask them then. I agree that this will help our staff.¡± She agreed easily and I nodded and turned to leave after grabbing the notebook.


    ¡°Oh one last thing. There¡¯s a student she pointed out to me to have a lot of natural talent in my families techniques. As she is of common birth I am planning on taking her on as a personal apprentice. Is that okay with you?¡± I said as I remembered before leaving.


    ¡°Yes that¡¯s fine. It should promote moral in students anyway if someone with your reputation takes on a commoner apprentice.¡± She dismissed and I left.


    As I walked out I began to think about the conversation. Why would she care about moral? She is literally a child abuser and an asshole. My only guess is that she is either being cautious because she heard about how many gods there are or she¡¯s worried about the princess attracting a lot of attention. Both would be legitimate concerns and I have no doubt that it is a bit of both but there¡¯s also the possibility of there being something I don¡¯t know as well. I can¡¯t exactly do much about it either way but it was still worth considering.


    I debated not telling her about the princess¡¯s skills but I know that would backfire on me should she ever get a hold of one of the children¡¯s schedules or my notes so I couldn¡¯t do that. Distributing it among the teachers will be of benefit to everyone so it was just another reason to tell her but I still can¡¯t help but feel a bit guilty about informing the principle. It feels like I betrayed the kid even though I know I didn¡¯t. What an odd feeling.


    Walking down to one of my good friends office I found her working on schedules just like I should be doing if I didn¡¯t have help so I slumped into the chair opposite her with a sigh.


    ¡°What¡¯s up with you? It¡¯s unusual for you to skip work to come mope around here.¡± She commented absently.


    ¡°I met an absolute monster of a child who did it all for me better than I ever could and just got back from the principle. You where the only one I could think of moping to¡± I told her with a smile.


    ¡°Hmm, how interesting. Well you¡¯re pretty lucky since I just happen to be really horny right now so I¡¯ll comfort you for a while but you gotta help me with my work in return, deal?¡± She asked coyly.


    ¡°I¡¯m interested. But it¡¯s only a deal if you¡¯ll let me use the cat ears and tail, okay? I¡¯m feeling like a bad kitty tonight¡± I growled seductively at her.


    ¡°You read my mind, kitty.¡± She said as she pulled me into a kiss.


    Having a casual sex friend at work was the best choice I ever made.


    ----


    [POV Change]


    I suddenly got a shiver up my spine that was really unpleasant. Oh well, I was debating whether to go roll in syrup or not anyway so I guess this settles it. Syrup always feels nice so it will get rid of this creepy feeling for me.

 Chapter 8 - Evil brings light

    ¡°That was one of the weirder scenes I have seen in my long life¡± I commented to the kitten who was frozen in shock when she realised she had an observer.


    For a few minutes we just stared at each other. She was completely frozen that I saw that and I couldn¡¯t think of anything to say after seeing that. So, we just stayed like that, two frozen beings staring at each other in shock and confusion.


    Eventually she had a very late reaction and jumped almost two metres in the air with a hiss of surprise and her all her fur straightening out to make her two times bigger before she fell down directly on to her face on the syrup laden floors. For a few minutes she was just suspended with her but hanging in the air and her face planted on the floor before she slid down onto her stomach and transformed into her humanoid form.


    ¡°Owwww¡± She said in a slow groan.


    ¡°How do you react as if you where just caught five minutes after being caught, Sapphire? That¡¯s one of the latest reactions I¡¯ve seen. And did that really hurt? Considering your cultivation you should be fine¡± I asked her in bewilderment.


    ¡°Pride, it was my pride that hurt, not my face¡­ though that hurts too¡­ I¡¯m weaker in my kitten form. Wait no, why are you even in here!?¡± She yelled at me once she regained herself.


    ¡°Ironically it was because I was looking for you which led me to this scene. I¡¯m still not sure exactly what I just saw.¡± I told her dismissingly.


    ¡°Why? Why now of all the times you could have come in? This is the most embarrassing moment of my life¡± She groaned as she started banging her head on the floor.


    ¡°This will probably be the most embarrassing moment of the next few years of your life as well. On the bright side at least it was me who saw you and not your sister¡± I told her brightly. She just glared at me in response before resuming the head banging.


    ¡°Sorry. I felt awkward so teasing you was the only solution I could come up with¡± I told her as I pet her ears.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t help at all¡± She told me with a dead voice.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be a very good friend if I helped¡± I snorted.


    ¡°Something seems very wrong with that statement Scarlet.¡± She told me blankly after staring at me for a while.


    ¡°Why? I saw you embarrass the hell out of yourself, of course I have to tease you rather than comfort you. It would be an offense to our friendship if I did something so distant¡± I told her seriously.


    ¡°God¡¯s are weird. Why did I befriend gods? I¡¯m such an idiot¡± She told herself as she ignored me.


    ¡°Hey I¡¯m pretty sure a lot of mortals have the same opinion as me. Besides aren¡¯t mortals weirder? You are obsessed with rolling around in syrup in your kitten form but yet you hate getting dirty. How am I the one who doesn¡¯t make sense in this situation after what I just saw, Sapphire?¡± I asked her with a snort.


    ¡°Do you remember how I told you that I refused to tell anyone why I like to roll in syrup? I changed my mind. I¡¯ll tell you but in return you can never, ever tell anyoe about what you just saw. Deal?¡± She asked me dead seriously.


    ¡°No¡± I told her straight up making her falter.


    ¡°Why!?¡± She yelled at me desperately.


    ¡°I will not deny telling your kids this story once you have some. They deserve to know all the embarrassing things you¡¯ve done. Don¡¯t you see, I¡¯m doing this for you¡± I told her like it was obvious.


    ¡°You¡¯re evil, you know that? That¡¯s like telling me that if I ever start a family all my secrets are going to be announced to the world. Where do you even get such evil and twisted ideas?¡± She asked me desperately.


    ¡°Huh? But my parents are like this and we¡¯re really close because of it so naturally I will help my friend get close to their family. See, I¡¯m helping you. To think that I¡¯m just trying to make my friends life happier and you called me evil, how mean¡± I told her dramatically while wiping fake tears.


    ¡°Arghh fine! Be that way then! I¡¯m not telling you anymore!¡± She yelled at me childishly with watery eyes.


    ¡°Fine. Suit yourself. Since you committed the ultimate sin however of telling me you¡¯d reveal your secret but then changing your mind I¡¯m telling them immediately in retribution.¡± I told her spitefully as I turned around to leave.


    ¡°No wait! Fine! Come back!¡± She yelled after me desperately as she clung to my ankle.


    ¡°Fine. You have one more chance. I¡¯m still telling your kids though¡± I told her sternly.


    ¡°When I was taken by the shadow they hadn¡¯t cleaned the blood off of me yet so the only sensation I had ever felt before my body was destroyed was the sticky blood. I used it to stop myself from going crazy in there and now it calms me down to be sticky. Are you happy!?¡± She asked me while crying.


    ¡°Yes.¡± I said softly as I hugged her, ignoring the syrup on her body.


    A few minutes later she had stopped crying and continued her story.


    ¡°I-when I came out and had a body I wanted to feel sticky again since it was annoying me and ever since then it¡¯s been like an obsession to me to roll in syrup so I can feel that feeling again. I didn¡¯t want to tell anyone because I thought they¡¯d try and ¡®cure¡¯ my obsession but it means so much to me that I¡¯m scared of losing it¡± She told me as she started crying again and dug her face into my chest, muffling her voice.


    ¡°Sapphire, we all love you. Do you really think that if we knew that we¡¯d try to hurt you by taking that away from you? Jeez, you¡¯re such an idiot sometimes. I may have fun teasing you but that doesn¡¯t mean I ever want to hurt you, that¡¯s just because of how cute your reactions are. I never want to hurt the people I care about.¡± I told her softly as I stroked her hair.


    ¡°B-but everyone¡¯s always talking about how weird it is?¡± She cried to me.


    ¡°It is weird. Being obsessed with rolling in syrup is weird and we all know that. But sapphire, you big idiot, do you really think we¡¯d change something that is a part of who you are and that makes you so happy? It¡¯s weird but we all love that about you. We all have weird things we like doing. As long as your not hurting yourself or others why would I try and change you? Seriously, you¡¯re such an idiot. Would you try and change us? Your sister is obsessed with sleeping with you because she¡¯s scared of losing you again but will you try you change that? Azure is obsessed with cute things even though she tries to hide it and has secret collections of teddy bears. Will you try to change that? I¡¯m terrified of losing the people I care about so I cling to everyone I have and interrupt you all randomly to hug or hang off of you all. Are you going to try and change that? There¡¯s so many weird big and little things about us that make up who we are. To change even one of them about each other¡­ if it doesn¡¯t hurt ourselves or others, would you ever try to do that to us? Why should we do it to you then?¡± I scolded her as her eyes widened.


    She looked down in shame as she cried before whispering ¡®¡±thankyou¡­¡± to me.


    ¡°I love you. To me, you are part of my family. Even if you are a friend and aren¡¯t related by blood everyone I care about is part of my family to me. I love you all so much more than most people could grasp and I would do anything to protect you. I¡¯m clingy, selfish, jealous, defensive and stupid most of the time when it comes to them but more than anything, I don¡¯t want to hurt or let any of you get hurt. I know how annoying I can be when I act like I do and I¡¯m so terrified of losing you but yet, neither you or the rest of my family try to change me because you know that it is part of what makes me me. Thankyou, sapphire.¡± I told her warmly as I hugged her tightly.


    She let me stay like that for the next hour and probably would have let me stay like that for longer if nothing had happened. But it did. My mind felt fuzzy and my thoughts went out of control, I felt nauseous and I couldn¡¯t think straight.


    ¡°You¡¯re yummy¡± I said sillily after I licked syrup off of her cheek. She looked at me stunned.


    ¡°A-are you okay?¡± She asked worriedly.


    ¡°Of course I¡¯m okay, silly! I¡¯m the great me after all! Wait no, that doesn¡¯t seem right¡­ my minds fuzzy and I feel sick¡­ w-what¡¯s wrong with me?¡± I asked her desperately.


    Before she could answer I fell to the side and started vomiting as my head felt like it was trying to split in two. But why did it hurt more than the times my head actually splits in two!?


    ¡°W-what¡¯s happening to me? I¡¯m me, I can¡¯t get sick but yet I vomited¡­ am I pregnant? No, stupid! I¡¯m six and a virgin¡­ there¡¯s no way I¡¯m pregnant¡­ maybe i died and became a mortal without realising it? Or this is a dream? Or maybe-¡° I would have kept rambling but then it started. My body was in pain, so much pain. My thoughts totally blanked and all I felt was raw, primal agony.


    ¡°Fuuuucarggghhhhhhh!!!!¡± What was at first a curse degraded into screams. I have no idea how long it lasted before it stopped temporarily and when I tried to talk it just started again, ten times worse than before. Everything felt like it was being shredded, burned, twisted, stretched and destroyed all at once and it just kept getting worse, and worse, and worse and I could do nothing but scream.


    ----


    [POV Change]


    As I groggily opened my eyes and tried to work out what was happening, a scream shocked me back into my senses. It was horrible, the worse I had ever heard and the longer it went the worse it got. I saw Scarlet¡¯s form on the ground wriggling, convulsing and screaming in more pain than I had ever seen before. Freezing for a few seconds, I bolted to the door to wake up azure. She¡¯ll know what to do right? I mean, she¡¯s a god as well so of course she will.


    As soon as I opened it the sound enchantments stopping the sound entering the bedroom from the bathroom cut off and they where woken up by the screaming before I had the chance. I felt myself getting pushed and my shoulder cracking painfully on the wall before I once again regained myself and saw my sister standing at the door crying with a horrified look on her face and Azure desperately trying to work out what was wrong with her master.


    ¡°What happened to her!?¡± My sister asked me desperately as I came up beside her.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know! We where talking but then she got weird and fell over vomiting before she started screaming! I tried to help her but I got knocked out and I don¡¯t know how long but when I woke up it was even worse than before and I opened the door to wake azure up but this¡­ why¡­?¡± I told her as I realised I had started crying as well without realising it.


    I watched as she thrashed around for minutes before I saw an accidental blow rip Azure¡¯s entire shoulder out and shred it. She didn¡¯t even flinch and just used her mana to heal it as she desperately tried to work out what was happening. It hit me like a brick. Azure¡¯s a god and scarlet is so, so much stronger than her. Just how am I even alive after being flung into that wall!? I should be a bloodstain right now but instead I was only knocked unconscious by the glancing blow. Meanwhile I¡¯m watching a god being shredded with ease by accident when I, a mortal not even half way to the god realm, somehow managed to not get annihilated from just being within a few metres of her when it started.


    For hours I watched her screaming in pain and it just kept getting worse and worse. Every time I thought it was impossible for it to hurt her more it was surpassed by the screaming and her body. Azure¡¯s was being shredded so much that she had to leave her masters side to regenerate her mana within half an hour and even then, we had to scream at her to leave telling her that if her master got better and found that she killed her she would be devastated. She looked to be in almost as much pain as her master by not being able to help her and she was crying so much. Every time she got mana back she went directly to her masters side and created a cycle of being shredded, regenerating mana and being shredded again.


    It got to a stage where Scarlet was clenching her muscles so tightly in pain that her skin and veins where bursting and healing in her constantly growing agony and the pain¡­ her screams¡­ they had already reached such a primal level that I could barely comprehend it anymore. Crystal tried to make me look away from the sick cycle that just went on and on in front of me but I refused.


    After what felt like a year and was really only a day something finally changed. Two hundred gods appeared around us with their hands and eyes glowing. At first I thought it was them doing it but then they spoke simultaneously, a really fucking creepy feeling.


    ¡°Failsafe activated: Ruler¡¯s mana has fallen to critical levels and death is imminent: Activating healing and mana restoration.¡±


    ¡°Ruler has been healed but mana continues to drop from unknown attack: Activating diagnostic mode¡±


    ¡°Error: Diagnostic failed! Using secondary &#%*& Diagnostic¡± They all said different words for the diagnostic names to the point where it became unrecognisable.


    ¡°Secondary Diagnostic Failed: Switching to &#%*% diagnostic¡±


    ¡°Third Diagnostic Failed: Switching to &#%*% diagnostic¡±


    ¡°Fourth Diagnostic Failed: Switching to &#%*% diagnostic¡±


    ¡°Fifth Diagnostic Failed: Switching to &#%*% diagnostic¡±


    And it went on and on for hours as she continued to scream as they kept her mana up.


    ¡°6439<sup>th</sup> diagnostic has successfully diagnosed the problem: Foreign soul shard is using ruler¡¯s mana to torture and limit host¡¯s mental state: Activating purge¡±


    They all simultaneously started growing brighter and Scarlet¡¯s screaming lessened slightly before it came back even louder than before.


    ¡°Purge has failed: Activating last resort: Sealing foreign soul shard¡±


    ¡°Foreign soul shard has been successfully sealed: Strengthening seal¡±


    ¡°Seal has been strengthened to approximately two years of duration: Awaiting further orders¡±


    She finally stopped screaming and passed out immediately and the gods just stayed stationary, watching and waiting. What was that, 31 hours? Fuck¡­ that¡­ she was in so much pain for so long¡­ fuck.


    ----


    [Normal POV]


    ¡°-ster!¡± I heard a vague voice.


    ¡°Master! Master, can you hear me? Please wake up master¡± Azure. I heard her call out to me in a desperate voice before she eventually broke down into crying.


    ¡°Ow. Everything hurts¡± I said groggily as I opened my eyes.


    ¡°Master!!¡± She pounced me, making the nerves in my body feel like they where burning. I couldn¡¯t help but wince at the sudden spike of pain but it was really nothing compared to that¡­ thing earlier. Ah right, now it¡¯s coming back to me *shiver*


    ¡°Master it¡¯s okay now, it doesn¡¯t hurt anymore right?¡± Azure practically begged me. She was clearly trying to reassure herself just as much as me.


    ¡°Somehow I don¡¯t think when someone says everything hurts to tell them nothing hurts is the correct response, Azure. But yes¡­ ¡®that¡¯ is over atleast.¡± I smiled weakly.


    ¡°I was so scared¡± She broke down completely as she clung to me and cried loudly.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I told her simply as I started stroking her hair. The small pain is fading now that I¡¯ve woken up.


    After ten minutes of her clearly not showing any signs of stopping, I decided to interrupt.


    ¡°What happened?¡± She looked at me with teary eyes as she struggled to compose herself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll answer for her, let her cry for a while. I¡¯m assuming you remember meeting me in the bathroom but you started to act a bit strange before you fell over and vomited and started screaming in pain. I¡¯m not sure when or for how long but you hit me into a wall and knocked me out but when I woke up, your screaming was louder and I opened the door immediately. You woke the others up before I got the chance to and then for the next


    31 hours in total you where just getting worse and worse with your pain increasing by the second.


    I¡¯m not sure exactly when in that time but your gods came saying something about a failsafe and ran 700+ failed diagnostics before they identified a foreign soul shard inside of you that was using your own mana to torture you. They tried to purge it but failed and instead sealed it with a seal that will last two years by their estimate and ever since you¡¯ve been unconscious and your gods have been on standby. That was two days ago. We haven¡¯t left since then¡± Sapphire told me as she came to pat Azures head who burst into tears again.


    I frowned at that. A foreign soul shard? What the hell?


    ¡°I¡¯m such an idiot. I should have checked every inch of my soul after I got the power to manipulate it without limits¡­ but instead I didn¡¯t and let this bullshit happen.¡± I scolded myself angrily.


    Ignoring the others, I closed my eyes and decided to do that now instead.


    The soul has an ¡®inner¡¯ and ¡®outer¡¯ section. By nature the soul is hard to manipulate even if it is possible to shatter them and even with the ritual only the ¡®outer¡¯ soul can be manipulated at all while the ¡®inner¡¯ is impossible to even see. When I got the soul manipulation skill from the box as a gift, I only thought about the direct applications to it like being able to see all my outer soul and directly improve that without death. I completely forgot about my inner soul because I always saw it as impossible to even see, let alone manipulate.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    But that is wrong. This skill let¡¯s me manipulate souls, the entirety of the souls. Naturally that means I have access to the entire soul but since I was caught up in my old views I didn¡¯t even consider exploring it. But that was stupid. Once I got the ability to manipulate my soul I should have immediately explored my entire soul completely and because I didn¡¯t this happened.


    When a body is enhanced with mana, it is just enhancing it¡¯s base strength. Souls themselves are the same. The inner is the body and the outer is the mana that enhances the body, even if it is different once you explore the technical. But the inner soul is only able to be improved with time while the outer soul could be improved with the ritual and the gains you achieve throughout all your lives. Of course this skill will let me improve it directly which means it is even better than I gave it credit for but once I explored my inner soul in a quick but detailed search I found three threats.


    The first threat was a shard of Williams soul. Actually this one isn¡¯t really a threat at all since it had no power, consciousness or malicious intentions but just being part of William makes it a threat. The second one was a physical manifestation inside my soul of my connection with hell. That is a threat in case I accidently activate it again but overall it¡¯s not anything to worry about. In the future I¡¯ll play around with it to try and work out how to create a link with the heavens or absorb hell¡¯s mana without side-effects but that will only be after a lot of careful studying and tests on other souls so I don¡¯t screw anything up.


    The third threat is what did that to me. Another soul shard that has a consciousness, malicious intentions and a hell of a lot of power that it stole from me while I couldn¡¯t stop it since I was in hell. With the connection open the majority of it was put directly into it since I wasn¡¯t able to manipulate my body nor was I in any state to defend against it. The soul shard itself is at around the strength of two hundred full-souled gods right now which is ridiculous considering it is only the ¡®love¡¯ and ¡®hate¡¯ sections of the soul.


    The other soul shard was what really surprised me though. The one that wasn¡¯t a threat to me hit me harder than any brick ever could and it made a lot of the hate (even if I won¡¯t forgive) I had for William disappear. It was his ¡®innocence¡¯ and ¡®kindness¡¯. He had given it to me somehow when we where still kids and without kindness holding him back, his love warped him into a monster. Since it was never destroyed and as such couldn¡¯t grow back and was instead given to me, he never could have gotten it back.


    It really makes me pissed off that he managed to give this to me and made my life hell because of it but if he didn¡¯t, none of that would have happened. He lost the qualities that made him him and turned into a monster. And what¡¯s worse is that this monster was still alive. The soul shard that attacked me, ¡®love¡¯ and ¡®hate¡¯ was his. I know for a fact that I ground his soul into less than dust so how the fuck did that asshole end up in my inner soul!?


    Forming a mental link with him I decided to ask. He¡¯s a cocky bastard so I¡¯m sure he will answer.


    ¡°William. How the hell are you alive. I destroyed your soul to such a thorough extent that even if someone spent eternity finding the particles it would be impossible to reform you.¡± I said coldly to him.


    ¡°Ara ara? Is that how you greet a friend, angel? Where¡¯s the ¡®Omg I thought you where dead, I¡¯m so happy your alive~¡¯ I was expecting? Sigh, I even sent you a gift and everything and this is how you treat me? Such a shame. I¡¯m hurt, y¡¯know? What was that, ten times all the pain you made me feel compressed into a small time? I thought you¡¯d love it~¡± He sung in reply.


    ¡°Unlike you though, I didn¡¯t deserve all that pain dickhead. Sorry if I seem a little pissed off at the person who single handily ruined my entire life and then decides to torture me for such a shitty reason. How are you alive?¡±


    ¡°Ah, you really don¡¯t know anything angel. Your always remarking at how emotions have the power to break reality but yet you forget about them so easily? Although this is all that¡¯s left emotions brought me back from dust almost immediately, y¡¯know? I¡¯ve been in here for so long now, it¡¯s boring~ Atleast you where cute when you where obsessed over me but then you came and got this stupid family, I¡¯m jealous y¡¯know? When I saw you spouting all that crap about love I just had to use some of this new power to make you regret it a bit.¡± Bitch.


    ¡°Pfft, you know what. Screw you. You will die now that I know you¡¯re here. But guess what, William? I¡¯ve got a present for you! I bet you don¡¯t even know, right? But I have your kindness and innocence¡­ don¡¯t you think that I¡¯ll just love all the guilt your forced to feel with them back?¡± I sung to him excitedly.


    ¡°Pfft, those things? They where destroyed long ago, baka¡± He scorned me.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ oh I bet you¡¯ll wish they really where. But while I was confused as well when I saw it, I understand now you know? Emotion. You gave me your kindness and innocence all that time ago with the power of emotions. And now¡­ I¡¯ll give them back to you, fucktard.¡± I told him menacingly as I combined the ¡®hatred¡¯ ¡®love¡¯ ¡®kindness¡¯ and ¡®innocence¡¯ back together.


    For a few minutes, he said nothing. But then I felt it. His hatred was shattered and devoured by the other three aspects of his soul and he began talking again.


    ¡°Oh hoh? While I am certainly surprised and you are right, I do feel guilty, I hope your not expecting me to come back like your prince charming, right angel? Sorry but my innocence was destroyed long ago as well¡± He told me as his innocence shattered and got absorbed into love and kindness.


    ¡°Pfft, baka. I¡¯m still destroying your soul for good even if you where back to the exact state you where originally. Finding that shit inside my soul may have made me atleast stop hating you but I will still never forgive you. But I suppose this is a good thing, right? For the first time in more than a hundred thousand years you are whole again, back with the trait that made you who you where. Atleast you get to experience that before you die. But more than anything, I¡¯m rather thankful. I hated my last life quite a bit because of how much I hated you and I never liked living with hate. This will make my new life-without you- a lot better, so thanks.¡± I told him in amusement.


    ¡°Ah, my little scarlet angel is all grown up. You know, that was quite mean of you. I know I deserved it but the amount of guilt you just forced me to feel is massive, y¡¯know? But your right. It is nice to have this back since just like how you always say your ¡®base¡¯ is to gain power, my ¡®base¡¯ was love and kindness towards the one person I lived for so losing kindness warped me quite a lot, y¡¯know? Anyway, mind if I talk to you a bit before I go?¡± He asked with a sad voice.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be a very good person if I didn¡¯t let you talk right? I can¡¯t forgive you William. I will always hate you for what you did to me and the people I cared about but finding this part of you again today has helped me massively. Maybe now I can let myself be truly happy again like I was when I was a kid. I also realised a lot about myself after that hate was gone as well. So letting you talk can only be of benefit to me, right? Who knows, maybe it will help me be happier. So make it up to me by talking, William.¡± I told him.


    ¡°Yeah yeah, demanding as always princess. Jeez, you really do fit that title. When we where kids you where the biggest princess I ever met. But I really am sorry, angel. Even if you won¡¯t forgive me and nor do I want you to, I¡¯m sorry for everything. An I tell you my story? You never knew how I had all those gods right? I want to explain some stuff to you about how things became the way they did. Also¡­ I didn¡¯t shatter your fathers soul. I killed him but I let his soul go. Even if you¡¯ll never find him again since you don¡¯t recognise it telling you that should help you a bit.¡± He told me, stunning me.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you? That makes no sense considering your personality.¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s part of my story princess. So will you listen?¡± He asked me with an amused tinge to his voice.


    ¡°Idiot I already said I would. Don¡¯t keep this princess waiting, hmph!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re father is the reason I met you. Even without kindness the dept I owed to him made me spare him. Unfortunately since he had the closest personality to yours the rest of your family didn¡¯t get spared since I didn¡¯t think they had much influence on your creation so I didn¡¯t owe them a dept. Anyway I¡¯ll tell you the story from the start.


    My father was a tenth realm god who bound a few hundred lower realm gods with soul contracts in order to protect his family. My mother had terrible cultivation talent and strength so even after keeping her alive for hundreds of years with life-span extending tablets and giving her the best resources she was only in the sixth mortal realm. Our world was fathers domain so we often went down there for sight-seeing without any fear since he was always watching over us.


    On that day while we where on the world a group of fifty gods came too close for comfort and father went out to warn them. He never expected anyone to hurt us or even be able to since we always went to remote locations so he never considered the possibility of something terrible happening to us. While we where down on the world bandits came across us and overpowered, raped and tortured my mother and older sister in front of me while forcing me to watch. They let me go afterwards for their own sick amusement.


    Without them, I didn¡¯t want to live anymore and that¡¯s when I met your father. I was trying to kill myself from jumping off a cliff and he made a deal with me. Come live with him for a while and if I still wanted to kill myself after that then he wouldn¡¯t stop me. At first I agreed since it was just a few more days to me anyway and it meant nothing. I never thought he¡¯d convince me to live. I knew my father was watching but since it was my only chance at living he didn¡¯t interrupt.


    After a few days though I realised why your dad was so confident. You where the happiest, brightest, smartest and friendliest child I had ever seen and I couldn¡¯t help basing my entire life around your existence. For the next two years I lived with you under the excuse of losing my memories like your father and I agreed upon and it was the happiest I had ever been even when my family was alive. You became my sole reason for existence.


    But then my father sent me a message. He told me to come back so I could cultivate properly and protect you with my own power rather than risk losing you as well like I did with my mother and sister. Naturally I accepted but I was also heart broken so I wanted to give the entirety of myself to you so you would never forget me. That¡¯s when I lost my kindness and innocence.


    Afterwards father realised immediately that they where destroyed and although he was confused he thought they would regrow and I would be fine so he just focused on teaching me. They showed no signs of fixing themselves however and by the day the extreme amount of love I had for you was twisting me without kindness as a restraint and my father realised I had become ¡®evil¡¯.


    He couldn¡¯t kill me so instead he bound all his servants to me instead and preformed a ritual that sacrificed his life to massively increase my cultivation. After that I lost the last restraint holding me away from my evil thoughts and I took everything from you. I¡¯m not sure why I didn¡¯t just bring you to my home and instead watched you for so long but I think it was because I didn¡¯t want you to hate me which you would if you knew it was me.


    At one point, when you tried to kill yourself, I brought you to me for a year. At first you where extremely happy because I found you again and you still had someone left but when I was with you I could still feel my kindness and innocence and it made me feel guilty. After a while, you got suspicious with your too smart mind and you worked it out and grew to hate me. I couldn¡¯t stand it and I erased your memories and sent you back down to the world.


    The rest from there you already know and now we are here.¡± He told me in a resigned voice.


    ¡°Heh it seems just like him to do something like that. I was his pride and joy so he was probably laughing inside when he made that deal. You know, it pisses me off that my life was ruined for such a stupid reason. You wanted me to never forget you so you gave away the thing that makes you you. Couldn¡¯t you just make me promise to marry you or something instead? Your so stupid. We could have both lived happily ever after back then if you didn¡¯t lose them.


    But it dosen¡¯t matter now. I have a family again and I am happy, even if I have a lot of tragedy in the past. I wouldn¡¯t change things if I could. But William, you really are an idiot. A massive idiot. Now you don¡¯t have my love or even my friendship and instead I hate you and are going to erase the entirety of your soul. Emotions really screwed you over didn¡¯t they? The power to break reality but not always to your favour. They really are mysterious.¡± I scolded him. Overall though I was sad.


    ¡°Well I had to do something dramatic to make you remember me, right? With your mind I¡¯m sure you would have ended up with the same goals anyway. If I¡¯m the villain atleast you have someone to blame other than yourself. If we fell in love and got married before I eventually got killed I know you would have blamed your own weakness and even this happiness would be impossible. I can¡¯t say I really regret the outcome, even if I regret the situation.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ what?


    ¡°And why would you have died? Why would I have failed at protecting you no matter what. That makes no sense.¡± I told him blankly.


    ¡°The only reason you got so strong is because you had a will to get strong. While your mind gives you potential outmatching any other, without tragedy you wouldn¡¯t have become what you are today. I was never a strong person even after my father died. If we where together we would have both been weak with only my father for protection and he still might have killed himself once he was sure I was happy. Eventually, no matter what, we would have faced tragedy anyway and with your luck and brains you would have survived while I would have died. I prefer that you are happy now with unrivalled strength as compared to the other possibilities like being unrivalled but never happy. You might have even been raped and enslaved if things went differently. Tell me, don¡¯t you agree that as far as end results go this one is better?¡± He asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s still a speculation but I do admit that it is a very well founded one after everything I have seen. Anyway is there anything else you want to say before we part ways, William?¡± I asked him seriously.


    ¡°Fall in love. Not the false love like you¡¯ve been tricking yourself with until now when you tried to make yourself a family in your last life, truly fall in love. You already have made yourself a family, you don¡¯t have to keep lying to yourself about it anymore. I¡¯ve watched you for so long now¡­ but you never truly fell in love with any of those girls you thought you did back then. After all, you even kept yourself a virgin because of it. We both know angel that you have been lying to yourself so next time, find someone who you aren¡¯t tricking yourself for. I already have a vague idea of who you truly love and I feel that you do as well but until you work it out don¡¯t trick yourself.¡± He told me sincerely.


    ¡°I know who I love William. I knew from the moment I met them. But I didn¡¯t consciously know, right? Thanks. This time you really helped me a lot more than I could have expected by forcing me to think about it. Goodbye William.¡± I told him sincerely.


    ¡°Goodbye. My last wish¡­ tell her. If you know, tell her immediately. Please don¡¯t tell me though. That would just be plain cruel considering I still love you. Just destroy me now please.¡± He said with a laugh.


    ¡°Fine fine. That was three last wishes though idiot.¡± I told him as I erased his existence forever.


    I channelled the power across my inner soul as a whole to strengthen it. Considering how big it is and that I don¡¯t know anything about what each individual thing does yet I obviously wouldn¡¯t put two hundred gods worth of power into any one thing but if I spread it out evenly it still has a massive effect for me.


    In a human body there are things like heart, brain, muscles, organs and blood. If I strengthened one individual core component of the body without knowing how far I could push it I might accidently destroy it. If the lungs where so powerful that it ripped up the chest as I breathed naturally that would suck. So instead, if I strengthen the whole body as a whole then I don¡¯t have to worry even if I don¡¯t know what it all does yet. Well, that¡¯s the theory I was operating on anyway.


    I felt myself get a lot stronger at once since the base improved so the multiplier that is the outer layer is more effective but it wasn¡¯t quite describable. My mana pool got bigger but I feel like that was a side-effect of the process and not something that was supposed to be improved. It was more like my souls maximum capacity was massively increased and with it I got some more mana to access. Now when I siphon mana from the heavens I should be able to get even more than I could originally.


    If I where to give a comparison I would say that right now my soul is like a human wearing armour so strong that it makes me invincible with my inner being much weaker than my outer. But right now, I¡¯m at the level of super human. Once I improve them both a lot more it would be like a god wearing armour stronger than reality. And I have an idea for how I will do it but that¡¯ll come later. For now, I¡¯ve wasted too much time in here and I need to go comfort the others. I must of scared them a lot. What, four days I¡¯ve missed by now?


    Opening my eyes I found Azure asleep while hugging my waist while I was still sitting up as I had been when I came to explore my soul. Postponing my plans I spent the next few hours stroking her hair while she slept. I made the mistake of starting and then when I saw her smile in her sleep I couldn¡¯t stop myself. It was calming and it gave me a lot of time to think as well so there¡¯s not really a problem.


    She started to get up and look around groggily before she saw I was awake and froze mid yawn.


    ¡°Master¡­ you¡¯ve changed.¡± She said softly.


    ¡°My soul got a lot stronger¡± I replied easily.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not what I meant. I mean, I can feel that you got more powerful but what I meant was that you feel happy. Like something that was burdening you disappeared and¡­ well, I¡¯ve never seen master like this before. I couldn¡¯t tell while it was there but now that it¡¯s gone I can tell instantly¡± She denied surely. I was a little surprised that she could recognise that but when I think about it more it¡¯s not so surprising.


    ¡°I met William again and I found out a lot of things that let me stop hating my last life. I haven¡¯t forgiven him and now I have erased him permanently but he did atleast help me realise a lot of things about myself in the process. I¡¯m sorry for scaring you so much earlier Azure. Are you okay?¡± I told her honestly before asking with genuine concern. I know it affected her a lot more than it did the other two. Even if I had no control over myself at the time, I remember what happened in that time and I saw how she acted.


    ¡°As long as master is happy and fine then I am happy. Just¡­ just don¡¯t scare me so much again¡­¡± She told me confidently before letting her fear show through.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try not to, I promise. What happened earlier will never be able to happen again but whether I worry you again¡­ I can¡¯t guarantee that.¡± I reassured her as she laid her head in my lap. She obviously wanted to be doted on.


    ¡°I made him a promise¡± I told her after patting her head for a few minutes.


    ¡°Master what did you promise him? He doesn¡¯t deserve master¡¯s promises¡± She asked me concernedly.


    ¡°I won¡¯t forgive him Azure but I don¡¯t hate him anymore. As long as it¡¯s not unreasonable making him a promise is fine. Besides, he helped me realise something so he deserved a last request.¡± I told her softly.


    ¡°Do you have to go away?¡± She asked me in worry. She obviously didn¡¯t want me to leave and I guess the way I worded that sounded like I was doing something for him.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t have to leave so don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s nothing like that. He made me realise that I¡¯ve never truly been in love before. In the past I fell in love with girls only because I wanted a family and I was lying to myself because of that. He wanted me to be happy after everything he¡¯s done to me so he made me realise that so the person I fall in love with isn¡¯t a lie to myself but is instead someone I really care about¡± I reassured her warmly.


    ¡°So what was the promise then?¡± She asked me curiously but had calmed down.


    ¡°I promised him that I¡¯d tell the person I loved that I loved them as soon as I knew who it was. I always knew who I loved since I met them but it was something that I buried without realising. Because of the promise, I was forced to think about it so now I have to tell them¡± I explained to her.


    ¡°S-so you know who it is?¡± She asked me with a dejected look that she failed miserably at hiding.


    ¡°Of course. But Azure, how can I feel confident about this love of mine when I made the one I love? I feel selfish for making you yet daring to fall in love with you, Azure. It feels like I am trying to take advantage of you.¡± I told her bitterly but sincerely.


    ¡°M-master, you l-love me?¡± She asked stutteringly.


    ¡°More than anything.¡± I answered her confidently.


    ¡°Really? Really truly?¡± She asked cutely.


    ¡°Do you think I would joke about this?¡± I asked with a smile.


    ¡°No! I mean, I just can¡¯t believe that master loves me as well¡­¡± She said dazedly.


    ¡°You know, I really like that as well part. Can you say it again?¡± I asked her happily.


    ¡°T-that¡¯s¡­¡± She stuttered as her face went bright red.


    ¡°Answer me properly Azure. I may look calm right now on the surface but I can guarantee I am very nervous right now and it¡¯s making me uneasy.¡± I scolded her gently.


    ¡°A-ah! I¡¯m sorry, master!¡± She said as she got shocked from her daze.


    ¡°Are you apologising because you made me uneasy or are you apologising because you are rejecting me?¡± I asked her as my face faltered momentarily.


    ¡°I-I love master¡± She said as she buried her head in my chest. My previous worry turned into an overwhelmingly warm and fuzzy feeling instead and I couldn¡¯t resist squeezing her in a really tight hug with a goofy smile.


    ¡°Are you embarrassed?¡± I asked coaxingly.


    ¡°Mmh¡± She agreed.


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked as she still had her head hidden.


    ¡°B-because master doesn¡¯t have grown up feelings yet with her body but I still have them because of my race¡± She answered as her voice wavered and was muffled by my jumper.


    ¡°Your body can feel that?¡± I asked her in surprise.


    ¡°I-I was embarrassed to tell master about it once I understood what they where and I didn¡¯t want master to create a distance with me¡± She said in a really small and cute voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for not noticing Azure. I must have made you feel a lot of guilt, right? I¡¯m sorry. But you know, I¡¯m kind of jealous now. I have to wait years until my body loves you just as much as my mind does but you get to have that from the beginning. But I¡¯ll be able to pull through somehow. It¡¯ll just make my body love you even more once it grows up, right?¡± I told her honestly. I mean, if I kissed her, I won¡¯t get to feel what she feels, right? My body is six so I don¡¯t get to feel the full effects of love even if I can feel the warm fuzzy feeling but she get¡¯s to feel it anyway.


    ¡°M-master, that¡¯s even more embarrassing!¡± She shrieked to me as I laughed.


    ¡°Is it? Haha I¡¯m sorry. But right now, even though this hug feels really nice, it must feel ten times better for you, right? I really am jealous. Sigh, I don¡¯t have any magic that can remake the effects puberty brings to love but maybe that¡¯s a good thing. I¡¯d feel weird if I was getting turned on from kissing a child after all even if I do love you¡± I told her happily.


    ¡°Master if you keep talking like this I¡¯ll never stop blushing¡± She complained to me cutely while still hiding her face.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s a good thing then considering how cute you are when you blush¡± I told her as I made her show me her face. Holy **** it really is really cute to see her so flustered.


    ¡°Nooo!¡± She cried as she dove back into my chest and I laughed.


    ¡°Aww but it¡¯s so cute¡± I pouted.


    ¡°A-anyway, what do we do now master?¡± She changed the topic with a voice that clearly betrayed how flustered she was.


    ¡°Well I could easily sit here flirting with you for the rest of the day but I guess we have to make up an excuse for why we missed school and tell everyone we¡¯re engaged. So maybe I¡¯ll just flirt with you for a few hours instead so I can see that cute blush of yours? I still haven¡¯t decided, maybe I¡¯ll just skip out on school for the rest of the week as well to flirt with you before we go and do anything else. What do you think?¡± I teasingly asked her.


    ¡°I think master¡¯s trying to bully me¡± She said with an obvious pout showing through her voice.


    ¡°Hmph, of course!¡± I said proudly. ¡°My future wife looks so cute, of course I just want to bully her a little¡± I told her as she stuttered but couldn¡¯t form any words.


    ¡°I love you, Azure. From the moment I brought you into this world I loved you even if I didn¡¯t know it. I can¡¯t explain this with logic and I know for a fact that there¡¯s no reason within my soul that caused me to feel like this but I do and I don¡¯t need any explanation for the fact that I love you. But over these two years, my love has only gown as I¡¯ve watched you develop and learnt more about you. You are the most important person to me and I would sacrifice the rest of existence to be with you, even if I would be sad at losing my family. But to me, you just became everything and more and I can¡¯t lose you no matter the cost. This feeling is so much bigger than everything else and so much more important and it is all dedicated to you and you alone. We may both take a while to grow up physically and I won¡¯t be able to feel with my body what I feel with my soul until then but no matter I won¡¯t stop loving you. I¡¯m sorry if I embarrass you or seem clingy and selfish but I can¡¯t help it. I just want to smother you in this love forever and be smothered by yours as well. To me, it seems like everything. I love you¡± I promised her sincerely and told her exactly how I feel.


    ¡°I l-love master too. I-I don¡¯t mind if master is clingy or selfish¡­ I am as well so I want master to cling to me and to be selfish with me. I feel the same as master, even if I am embarrassed to say it and unconfident but I want master to love me and I want to love master as much as possible. Master is mine from now on so master has to dote on me and I have to dote on master and no one can take master from me anymore. I was so scared someone would take master from me¡­¡± She told me with resolve, even if her voice was muffled and embarrassed.


    ¡°Thankyou for loving me.¡± I told her sincerely as I snuggled up as close to her as I could get.


    For a few hours we just stayed like that, basking in the feeling. There was no need to say anything as we only wanted to enjoy the feeling and talking would just hinder that. Eventually though, I sighed and got up reluctantly. There¡¯s only so long I can put this off before things get annoying. Being a princess who is missing for the better part of four days¡­ even if I don¡¯t believe my parents will look for me because they can¡¯t do anything but trust me considering how strong I am, there will still be trouble if I keep putting things off. As much as I¡¯d like to stay here with Azure all day I¡¯m not going to keep worrying my family and friends anymore. It¡¯s time to leave.


    Opening the door with Azure following me I saw crystal look up with surprise before putting her finger to her lips in a gesture to be quite. Sapphire was sleeping on her shoulder and judging by her face, it¡¯s probably the first time she¡¯s slept since this started so none of us wanted to wake her up. I was surprised that she was in her humanoid form still when she likes her kitten form more but she probably has her own line of reasoning that is making her do that so I won¡¯t comment.


    Erecting a small barrier around her, I sat down opposite crystal while making sure that even when we started talking the barrier would stop us from disturbing Sapphire.


    ¡°Are you okay now, Scarlet?¡± She asked softly once she felt the barrier.


    ¡°Ironically I¡¯m feeling better than I ever have right now. Is Sapphire okay? Looking back I knocked her unconscious and Azure cracked her shoulder, not to mention how traumatised she is with anything pain related in the first place¡­ I imagine this must have been pretty rough on her.¡± I said with a weak smile.


    ¡°Her physical injuries are fine but considering how fearful she is of pain after spending her entire life in an abyss of it I think it will take her a while to recover mentally. Other than being a little clingy though I don¡¯t think there¡¯ll be any problems. She only fell asleep a few minutes ago so I want to give her some time¡± She told me as she rubbed her sisters hair comfortingly.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got to go sort things out with school and the castle anyway so she can sleep a little. I just wanted to check how you two where going before heading out so I¡¯ll come back once I get things sorted out and explain what happened to you both. Has anything else happened while I was out of it?¡±


    ¡°Someone came to nock on our door once but after that no one else has come nor has anyone tried to send us a message. I¡¯m not sure who it was since I figured it would be better not to say anything before you woke up but it was probably either your sisters or your teacher. So far no one out of this apartment knows what happened so it should be easy to clear things over.¡± She told me lightly.


    ¡°No, it won¡¯t go over so clearly this time. I intend to announce publically that I¡¯m engaged to Azure so things will be rather troublesome for a while¡± I told her casually as I got up.


    ¡°Wait, what? You two got engaged? Huh?¡± She asked me with a stupid expression.


    ¡°I did say I felt the best I ever had before, right? Of course something good must of happened¡± I told her simply.


    ¡°Later, okay? Master likes teasing people anyway so she won¡¯t tell you anything until everything else is already sorted out¡± Azure told her before she could ask the torrent of questions on the tip of her tongue. I was rather looking forward to the little play I had planned out in my head¡­ how disappointing.


    I pouted at Azure briefly as she tried to avoid eye contact before turning my attention back to Crystal.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be heading over to the castle for a while. Sorry but knowing my family it will probably be atleast several hours before we can get back here but until then you should get some sleep as well. I know you wouldn¡¯t have slept until your sister had so take this chance to rest a bit¡± I told her with a smile. I could visibly see the tiredness catch up to her as I reminded her about it and her eyes started to droop as she fought to keep them open. Not only would it have been emotionally exhausting for her, she¡¯s still only a nineteenth realm cultivator. Not sleeping for four days in a high stress condition will of course take a toll.


    Teleporting with azure, I went to do the thing I was dreading. Tell my extremely dramatic family that I¡¯m getting engaged to Azure. Just these four days and what happened during them would be enough to keep them active for hours, let alone this. Combined? It¡¯s like igniting the mana channels of a world. The last time I experimented with it I accidently made a new sun. Basically, it¡¯s just a really, really big bomb waiting to detonate and I¡¯m willingly walking into the centre of the explosion radius.


    ¡°Master will we really be okay?¡± Azure asked apprehensively as we stood in front of the door.


    ¡°No, no we will not.¡± I told her with a gulp as I pushed the doors open. Their eyes¡­ it¡¯s started already.