Mimou
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Chapter 207 : One Body, Countless Paths
🕑 Added 2025-02-13 17:12:15 +0000 UTC« Chapter-206 | Index | Chapter-208 »
A presence. Two presences.
A familiar call echoed through his mind, urgent and insistent. The other was more timid, pulsing from time to time.
Hiyoko and Netsu were calling for him, urging him to summon them.
And then, in a flash of light, they appeared in their miniature forms.
"Master!"
"Sora!"
They shouted before jumping into his arms.
"What happened? Did we die?" Netsu asked.
"I told you we died... Didn't you see we're only level 89?" Hiyoko said.
Sora nodded, "We died..."
Hiyoko looked around before asking, "Where's Big sister Kara?"
Netsu who had remained on the battlefields for a second longer knew how dire their situation has been before his [Supernova] hit the enemies and looked worriedly at Sora upon hearing the question.
Sora exhaled slowly, steadying himself. Hiyoko's innocent question cut deeper than any blade, and he knew there was no easy way to answer it. Netsu to have guessed the truth, but Hiyoko… she still expected to see Kara again.
He crouched slightly, meeting Hiyoko’s bright, expectant eyes. He gently placed a hand on her small head, rubbing it like Kara always did.
“She’s… not here anymore,” he said, his voice calm but heavy.
Hiyoko blinked. “Not here? You mean—”
“She went back home,” Sora continued. “Back to the world where she came from.”
Hiyoko tilted her head, processing his words. “So… she’s waiting for us there?”
Sora hesitated for the briefest moment before nodding. “Yes. She’s waiting for us.”
'Because one day, I’ll find a way to bring you back to Earth with me.'
Hiyoko’s wings fluttered slightly, and she seemed to brighten. “Then we just have to get there, right?”
Sora forced a small smile and nodded. “Exactly. But we have some things to finish first.”
Netsu, who had been watching quietly, finally spoke. “And what about us? We can’t go there, can we?” His voice was low, guessing the truth Sora’s words were hiding.
Sora met Netsu’s gaze, knowing he understood. “No,” he admitted. “You two can’t follow her there for now.”
Hiyoko’s small frame tensed slightly, her excitement fading. “Then… then how will we see her again?”
Sora gently ruffled her feathers. “I'll figure something out. But for now, we have to keep moving forward.”
Netsu was depressed, thinking 'Master will never stop trying but we might never see Kara again...'
Hiyoko noticed her little brother's reaction and bit her lip. She nodded fiercely. “Yeah! She’d be mad if she saw us lazing around!”
Sora who had [Soul Links] linking him to them quickly understood their real states of mind and felt how hurt Hiyoko was, despite playing dumb and cheering him and Netsu up...
Sora held both of his familiars and sat them on his shoulders... Hiyoko didn't seem satisfied as she jumped on his head and sat comfortably.
"Sora, your new appearance is so strange! Why do you have smooth hair? I can't sit comfortably here..." Hiyoko complained.
Sora ignored her...
"Sora! I want a small sister! Netsu only likes training and fighting, and you have a free spot on your left shoulder..."
Sora smiled at her silliness and played along, "Oh, you want a little sister? What kind of sister?"
Hiyoko flapped her tiny wings excitedly, her eyes gleaming as she chirped, "I want a super fluffy sister! With big, big wings so she can hug me! Oh! And her feathers should be sparkly like the stars!"
She jumped up and down on Sora's head as she imagined it. "And she should have a super long tail! Like, longer than your sword! So she can wrap it around me when we sleep!"
Netsu rolled his eyes. "That sounds impractical."
"What do you know?" Hiyoko huffed. "Now hurry up and get me a little sister!"
Netsu and Sora shook their heads simultaneously.
Sora walked toward the Goblin village, his mind replaying the events of the recent battle. The fight had been intense, and he couldn’t help but analyze every detail.
‘The spirits that took part in the battle stayed at a distance, completely nullifying the effects of my [Psychic Hold]. I had to rely on my [White Dwarf] form to battle them...’
‘It was enough to bridge the gap between me and Abbott when he didn’t activate his bloodline... But for some unknown reason, Norj seemed to keep up with Abbott’s Demon King form.’
‘And the most interesting thing I’ve seen was Nate’s power despite his low level. He managed to fight back even though he’s a player from the previous version, like me.’
‘That means he would have beaten me if we’d met before the update. No wonder the Chinese Regions have lost all battles against the Demon Kingdom lately.’
Sora tried to piece together his knowledge of his opponents to find a direction for his own growth. The update had changed the rules of the game, and he needed to adapt quickly.
‘I had thought my abilities were already pushed beyond others, and that grinding levels would be enough to overpower everyone... But it seems that levels are becoming less meaningful with this update.’
As he walked, Sora began listing the abilities he could use to gain an edge over his opponents. He muttered out loud, organizing his thoughts.
“Supreme skill, [Eternal Body Craft]. Without the [Time-Space], the growth will be slower and slower... I need to find new ways to accelerate that.”
“Then, there’s my first Supreme Skill, [Mana Evolution]. It’s what allowed me to become so versatile, able to do pretty much anything I want to weaker targets. With it, I created the [White Dwarf] form. But I don’t have enough time or brain capacity to develop everything I want to explore.”
“My last Supreme Skill, [Peerless Mind Forging], is the one I’ve experimented with the least. I mostly use it to defend my mind, and that’s far from enough in combat... I’ve relied too much on [Mind Forge], using it to refine mental power over time. But maybe I should just steal my enemies’ mental power. And [Astral Form] has been life-changing during the update, so it might be something worth exploring.”
“I have no glaring weaknesses in these three aspects, but I also lack something truly unique that would allow me to overpower everyone else. However, my Soul Level is now massive, and it might be the key to becoming stronger, faster.”
“Aside from the four aspects of power, I’ve used [Blood Essence] to gain a massive power boost during the battle, despite my human bloodline being of low quality. Maybe I could focus on that? Raise it to a superior level, farm a few million, and keep them for each new update to hit the maximum level... There are countless uses for it.”
“I’m also getting results with swordsmanship. Maybe I should follow in Kara’s footsteps and master the sword.”
“I could also start experimenting with the countless basic skills I’ve bought in the [Ascension Shop].”
Netsu and Hiyoko, who had been listening closely, started feeling their heads hurt from his endless rambling. Netsu couldn’t help but interrupt.
“Master...”
“Netsu, you can call me Sora...”
“Master Sora, how do you plan to develop so many aspects of your power? Big sister Kara is no longer with us...”
Sora stopped in his tracks. Netsu’s words echoed in his mind, forcing him to acknowledge something he had been trying to ignore. Kara was gone.
Without her, everything would take longer. Much, much longer.
‘No more shortcuts… No more years of training compressed into days…’
'I’ll need to change how I grow.'
Sora took a slow breath, forcing himself to think rationally.
"Kara’s absence doesn’t mean we're stopping. It just means we need to be more efficient."
"And I'll start with something I've been avoiding for a while."
Pausing for a few seconds, he added, "My Innate skill effect [Alter Ego] can change everything."
Netsu and Hiyoko froze, their eyes widening as Sora's words sank in.
His [Alter Ego].
It was an ability they had never seen him fully embrace, something he had always hesitated to use to its full extent. The idea of absorbing his independent selves had never sat well with him. It was unnatural, unsettling. But now…
Hiyoko’s eyes sparkled like twin stars. She fluttered her wings in excitement, hopping in place atop his head. “Master is really going all out this time!”
Netsu clenched his small feathers, a fire burning in his eyes. “Then we can’t fall behind! If Master Sora is giving his all, we’ll give our all too! We won't hold him back”
The two familiars turned to each other, nodding in perfect sync.
“We’ll train until we surpass everyone!” Netsu declared.
Hiyoko puffed out her chest. “We’ll evolve faster than ever! And Master will be the strongest in the universe!”
Sora couldn’t help but chuckle at their enthusiasm. Their determination was infectious.
He said. “First, we conquer this dungeon. Then, we begin the next phase of our training.”
Sora started floating at high speed, ignoring all goblins in his way, heading towards a big hut in the center of the Goblin Village.
« Chapter-206 | Index | Chapter-208 »
Next chapter's title :
Countless Paths, Countless Bodies.
What do you think?
Comments
mimou
That's the spirit!
Chibrahim
If he clones himself with the mindset of merging later and by not letting his clones having personnal experience, it should be ok
