by William Bill
"You referred to that god as a 'he'. Are you sure it's a male?"
"Who cares if it's a he or she. I just assumed that God is a 'he' for now. Who knows, he might have got lustful and schemed against me due to my ethereal beauty after getting rejected by me."
'Whew...even a god gets lustful? Well, she is even this beautiful with a childish face. I am sure even gods would have gone crazy seeing her adult version. Even I can't imagine how much more beautiful she would have been. But isn't this imp a bit full of herself?'
"But what I still don't get is, why would this god even bother with me? Why would he manipulate my life and ruin it? Did he do it because he was bored and wanted some fun? No, even that's absurd. Logically, why would a god even deal with mortals? Or do gods really play with our lives for fun? You tell me." Damien asked as his voice turned taut.
The girl could feel his turbulent emotions in his soul through her soul connection. Her voice turned a bit soft as she said, "To tell you the truth, I have no memories of any other gods. And I have never interfered with any affairs of mortals before as I only remember creating some planets and life forms. I was alone and existed by myself for who knows how many years. After that, everything is blank. I can't recall what happened after that nor how I lost against that god. So, I don't know."
'Wait...why am I feeling pity for a mortal like him...maybe it's because of my soul connection to him...I should recover as fast as possible. Otherwise, this would be bothersome.'
"What the...you can really create planets and life forms??" Damien's mouth was agape as he got shocked at this fact.
"You dumbo, you still underestimate this goddess?"
"Hey! No more calling names. Unless you want me to…"
"Want you to what? What are you going to do to this goddess?"
"Unless you want me to call you a pig face." Damien said with a roguish smirk on his face.
"How disrespectful! How dare a mortal like you insult this goddess. What makes you think I won't send you off to the deepest void in the cosmos for your offense? " She ranted as her face flushed red with anger.
'Hehe...it seems like beauty is always a weak spot for women, goddess or not.' Damien snickered inwardly.
"Pfft, goddess? You are currently too weak that you had to attach yourself to my soul like a parasite. So how could you even dare to hurt me?" Damien smiled smugly.
"You big—" She interrupted herself before she involuntarily called him names as she herself didn't want to be called a pig face.
'Just you wait...once I recover my powers, we will see who has the last laugh.' She harrumphed inwardly.
It was true that she really needed him as a host to house her soul because if her link was cut off, her consciousness would dissipate, and there is no saying whether she can find another person with a soul at least as strong and special as Damien among other mortals and whether it would even link without any complications.
Binding a soul even if it's a fragment as powerful as hers to a mortal's should be impossible practically. It's like trying to place a very hot object in a paper box. It would simply burn the box away, which is why she was interested in finding out why his soul was special.
'Heh...seems like this little goddess can be disciplined. But I wonder where she even learned these words phew.'
"Fine, this goddess would not lower herself to your level and will call you by your name, Damien." She reluctantly agreed.
"You should be grateful that this goddess is willing to address you by your name." She added.
'Oh please, you love yourself too much.' Damien rolled his eyes.
"By the way, why did I reincarnate in a dead body instead of as a baby?"
Chapter 12: Shard Of Essence
Damien had this question at the back of his mind. Isn't reincarnation supposed to mean that one will be born as a baby, die as an old man and repeat that cycle?
But he had woken up in a 15-year-old body, which made him doubt whether he entered after the previous owner died or replaced his soul.
"Who said you were reincarnated in a dead body?" The girl countered.
"What do you mean?" Damien had a puzzled expression on his face.
"Well, you should thank me because, without me, you would have really died as your soul was already present the day you were born in this world. There were no traces of any other soul in your body. Sure, you find it hard to believe because you thought you woke up after being poisoned. Actually, the fact is that your soul knew you were going to die, and it triggered your subconscious memories as a self-preservation mechanism.
"But that doesn't mean you saved yourself from death. I awakened from my sleep just a moment before you were going to die. I was surprised to find myself attached to your soul and had a lot of questions myself. But when I realized you were this close to dying, I quickly dispelled the poison from your body. I wanted to appear before you and talk with you. But, sensing that your mind was in a chaotic state probably due to you realizing that you had undergone transmigration, I decided to talk with you later after you had calmed down."
Damien had an incredulous expression on his face. He never expected this kind of possibility.
'In the end, I am Damien Ward? If I was asleep for 15 years in my own body, then doesn't that mean I died at least 15 years ago. No wonder Damien Ward was too similar to my old self. Naive, kind, generous, and most of all foolish.'
Damien rubbed the sides of his head as he felt like he had a headache thinking about it.
"But then how can my memories just awaken like that? I thought one would be born as a clean slate. So wouldn't that include the soul as well?" Damien asked, wondering whether his understanding of reincarnation was wrong.
"Well, you are not entirely wrong. Usually, reincarnation would mean one would be born as a clean slate, including your soul. But since that god interfered with your reincarnation, you weren't part of the normal cycle, and your soul wasn't cleansed properly. It might be because of his sloppy use of destiny laws. I don't think he expected you to awaken your memories. Otherwise, he wouldn't have even bothered to cleanse your soul and would have let you be born with your memories intact."
The girl's words seemed to make sense, but when he thought about the possibility of never awakening his memories, it made his blood boil.
If he didn't awaken his memories, he would have died without even knowing.
No, even if he had awakened, if not for her help, he would have still died a miserable death a second time, unable to fulfill any of his objectives.
Even thinking about such a possibility sent a shiver down his spine.
'I guess I really owe this little goddess my life.' Damien, for the first time in a long time, felt gratitude towards another person.
Even though she was annoying and haughty, he didn't mind it much since he felt like he was dealing with a kid and not some exalted goddess.
"Thank you." Damien met her gaze as he said in a grateful tone.
How long has it been since he said words of gratitude to someone else?
He couldn't help but feel a little strange as he said these words.
The girl's eyes widened a little as she was surprised at Damien's sudden words of gratitude since she didn't expect him to say it.
"Of course, now you know how awesome I am." said the girl, her face pink with pride.
"But remember that I did it to save myself. I just didn't want to waste my precious essence searching for another host by letting you die.".
'Seems like she doesn't want me to misunderstand.' Damien smiled, hearing her words.
He knew she saved him so that she won't have to find another soul to link herself. But he wouldn't even have the luxury to think about these things if it were not for her. And he would have to kiss goodbye to his revenge.
That was why Damien sincerely felt grateful to her.
"So why didn't you wake up earlier before I was even poisoned?"
"I was sleeping to replenish my soul essence. My soul fragment is
already in a depleted state, and it isn't easy to replenish it in this world with such a weak and turbid ethereal aura." She said with a frown.
"Weak and turbid? But I heard cultivators use this same energy to make themselves stronger to the point where they can do impressive things. My adoptive father told me that the most powerful cultivators in this continent could split the mountains and even cause the seas to tremble. But he said this was only a myth since he never met any powerhouses."
Damien obviously felt the air was different in this world than earth as even he, as a cripple, could feel some kind of richness in the air.
'If she already labels this world as a weak one, how strong should a world be in her standards?' Damien wondered.
"Hmph, these lowly mortals cultivating in such a weak world won't take them to greater heights. In my eyes, they would forever be a mortal without any of their cultivation even touching the false divine way as long as they cultivate in this world. Splitting mountains and all is nothing but child's play when even with a millionth of my true strength, I can do the same thing with just a thought."
Damien's eyes twitched, hearing her shrug off the ability to split mountains as a child's play.
Even in his previous life, it wasn't that easy for him to cleave mountains, especially Mt.Everest, using his old powers. Well, he stopped before it could cause a huge commotion, but he found out doing it in one stroke wasn't possible.
'Well, for someone who can create planets and lifeforms, cutting mountains amounts to nothing.'
Damien's eyes suddenly lit up when he thought of something.
"By the way, since you are a very powerful goddess, you surely must have a way to fix my ethereal core, right?" Damien asked while suppressing the trembling in his voice.
He was hopeful that even if she was weakened, she was still a goddess nevertheless. Thinking about how she dispelled the poison easily just before he died, he thought she would also have the ability to restore his ethereal points.
The girl scoffed as she said, "Fix your core? Of course, even making you an overlord of this world would just take a single thought if I was at my peak. But now my soul is split into four fragments or shards."
She pointed at the pyramidal-shaped crystal floating in mid-air near Damien's chest. "This is one of my soul shards, [Shard Of Essence], out of the four. Other than my soul essence, it is the only shard that contains my consciousness, that is, my soul plane. My powers were split into the four shards, and so each shard has certain abilities derived from my true power. And this shard gives me the ability to manipulate essence, be it any substance or matter.
"Of course, because of my injured soul plane and depleted soul essence, my power to manipulate essence is not even 1% of my true ability. Only if I merge with all my soul shards would I recover my true powers and generate as much soul essence and soul energy as I want. It was not much to dispel that poison from your body, but I still had to utilize some of my soul essences for it, no matter how little. If I keep on using my soul essence like that, my consciousness will dissipate away, and that's the last thing I want. Besides, my restoration abilities are almost nonexistent right now. If I merged with my [Shard Of Restoration], I would be able to restore your core as easily as breathing. But now, my other soul shards are separated so far that I don't have a chance of even finding them now. So you can forget it if you think I can restore your ethereal core points."
Damien pressed his lips together as his hopes were dashed. He didn't fully understand what she said about her abilities and her soul's situation, but one thing he understood was that she was too weak to help him.
"And besides, why would I even waste my precious energy helping you? Even if you die, I will just find some other host." The girl said as her tone became indifferent.
"..." Damien was left speechless.
The speed at which the carefree expression on her face turned to an indifferent expression was legit indeed.
But Damien felt that something was off.
He curled up his lips as he said, "You can't possibly expect me to believe that the only reason you saved me was that you were too lazy to search for another host. Otherwise, why would you save a cripple that has no chance of helping you recover your power? Unless...you want to sleep for who knows how long to recover your soul essence, and I would have already died due to old age by then. And I don't believe you are magnanimous enough to waste your precious essence for a nobody like me."
The girl: "..."
'Tsk...how can a crippled kid like him be so stupidly smart?'
"Hmph, seems like your brain is not crippled, unlike your body." she scowled.
"So, tell me what other factor made me precious enough for you to save me?" Damien ignored her jab and asked with a curious expression on his face.
Chapter 13: The Origin Seed
The girl stared into his eyes as if she was scrutinizing him. She shook her head and sighed as she said, "Your ethereal core has something that should only belong to a god!"
Damien had an expression of disbelief on his face. His ethereal core had something which belonged to a god? How could he not know about such a mind-blowing thing if it's inside his own body?
Damien was speechless for a moment. He took in a deep breath as he asked, "What is it?"
"You have an Origin Seed!"
"An origin seed??" Damien's brows raised and curved with surprise.
"Ugh...how do I even explain this to you?" She shook her head in
frustration.
"It's a very profound and unfathomable concept that it's no use if I explain it to you now. For now, in simple words, I can say that an origin seed is like the power-source of your ethereal core. Like, if you consider the ethereal core as a whole body, what do you think would be at its root or its heart?" She asked rhetorically.
"The origin seed?" Damien answered as if realizing something.
He continued, "So, it's like the core of the ethereal core?"
"Yes, you can say it like that too. But actually, the ethereal core would have another name as soon as you reach a certain cultivation stage. Then you might find it less confusing, and things would start making sense slowly. But for now, you can think of it like that."
"But if it's the power source of the ethereal core, then how do cultivators in this world or mortals be able to use ethereal energy without the origin seed; in other words, the power source?"
"Haa...I told you origin seed is something that only gods could have. Mortals don't function the same way as gods. Like their ethereal core is too simple to even need a power-source like the origin seed. The origin seed is the embodiment of all the origin laws a god has comprehended. An origin seed won't even start to form in an entity unless they have at least comprehended Pseudo-Origin laws which are laws comparable to Origin Laws but still not powerful as them."
"I see…" Damien muttered as he narrowed his brows and continued, "But then, what I don't get is how do I have this origin seed? Which god gave it to me and why?"
The girl raised both her hands, showing a clueless expression as she said, "That's what I would like to know. Because it should be impossible for you or anyone to house someone else's origin seed even if you were a god. If someone tries to forcibly house another god's origin seed in their ethereal core, it would just lead to the collapse of their ethereal core itself. In other words, certain death.
"An origin seed is the unique identity of a god. It cannot even be passed down to anyone else as a legacy either. If it's taken out of them, they would die eventually or lose their godhood. This is why no god would even try to take another god's origin seed because even if they take it for some other purpose, all they would get is a dead origin seed which has absolutely no use; since the seed contains one's understanding of the origin laws which cannot be comprehended by another god.
"It's like trying to read something written in a language you don't know. That is why your situation seems too strange and confounding to me. So, I don't think any god gave it to yo
u since that would be the same as suicide, and I am hundred percent sure that you were not born with it either. As except the origin seed and a strong soul, everything about you is mortal. So that means that your parents are not gods either. But you did house that origin seed after you were born."
The girl had a pondering expression, "But I wonder where you were born, though."
Damien shook his head as he said, "I have no idea about my biological family. My father said I was adopted and entrusted to him by some mysterious woman."
He moved his hand towards his neck and held the black amulet hanging around his neck as he silently stared at it.
'Seems like I should find out about my real family if I want to get the answers to all my questions.''
"But is this why that god targeted and manipulated me?" Damien asked as his expression turned hardened.
The girl pinched her chin while thinking about what Damien said. "No, that doesn't make sense. As I said, he possibly has no use for the origin seed even if he took it from you. And besides, why go as far as manipulating a mortal like you? It's just too unnecessarily convoluted unless he had some other plans for you. But I don't think that's the case since you are not being manipulated now."
Damien frowned, hearing this as he couldn't make out the motive behind that god's actions. Why manipulate him for so long, only to let go of him?
'No, there's no use in thinking about this now. Not when I am crippled like this.'
Damien raised his eyebrows as he asked the girl, "By the way, if I have such a godly thing as the Origin seed inside me, then why am I still crippled?"
"Ha, it's because of that you were crippled." She scoffed.
"What??" Her words were like a clap of thunder to him, who thought that because of this godly seed, he would have some hopes of recovering.
But when he heard that it was the very thing which caused him to be crippled, his expression became downcast.