[3] Wait, Devils…? Goddamn.
Chapter 3: Wait, Devils…? Goddamn.
I already knew the Path I’d choose, even if all the choices were juicy and attractive. Still, I couldn’t help but go through their perks and drawbacks one more time.
Path of the Celestial Radiance is strong and unique; it is especially useful against people who rely on external energy attacks. If the opponent is a physical brute, however, this falls short pretty quickly. As an example, Might Guy from Naruto would be able to wash the floor with me unless I reach the 9th cultivation rank. At the same time, I should be able to erase techniques like [Hakai] with a flick of my finger even without reaching the highest of ranks. Also, its [Gold Sign] the Nine-Colored Eyes allows quite a variety of optic powers, such as seeing the best lottery to choose, if a person is lying or not, etcetera. It has its pros and cons.
Path of the Black Flame is interesting, but this is more focused on the destruction aspect than anything. I can burn a city with ease, sure, but I won’t be able to duel with people in fear of accidentally killing them – and more. Some might argue that is the best, but I have always liked to be more versatile. Also, the [Gold Sign] of partial Dragonification is annoying; a long tail and useless horns in my head aren’t very useful.
Path of the Raging Sky is… interesting. Let’s come back to this later.
Path of the Darkest Sun is strong, and it has versatility too. It’s similar to black flames, as the affinities are pretty close, but the destruction is more controlled than the mindless destruction of a fire. I can release a straight beam of stellar Qi toward my target, lowering the intensity enough that it would just give them a slight burn instead of piercing through. I can also just vaporize them too, making this strong. The Eyes of the Sun and Moon allow one to perceive the pure and evil aura around everything, which is useful.
Path of the Hungry Deep is ludicrously attractive. Which fantasy reader doesn’t love the idea of killing and devouring their enemies’ abilities? On its base, this only provides physical boosts, though more than the other Paths, along with the ability to use blood Qi. Sadly, the blood Qi’s usage doesn’t stretch far enough to let you control others’ blood, but it’s still good. One can turn their Qi into a shield of blood to block attacks, a blade of blood to severe enemies, and so on. Plus, when you devour an enemy, you’d be able to gain their abilities as well. By far, this is the Path that screams “Hax!” the most. However, it has the worst drawback.
Its [Gold Sign] is very annoying. I don’t mind blackened forearms for great power, even if I’d have to hide it for this sensitive society, but what I do mind is the urge to feed. To begin with, devouring only works on beasts, as in magical beasts. They don’t seem very common in this world, so I don’t know how often I will get to devour any beasts. Yet, the urge to devour will always exist even if I don’t find any ‘food’. It’s very annoying and mentally straining, so this is my least favorite.
Now, here is the thing. I will be able to choose other Paths in the future, after gaining a level of proficiency on my primary Path. However, I won’t gain any [Gold Signs] from them, as I’d have one from my first Path anyway. That’s not a bug, that’s a feature.
Damn, I am beginning to learn modern talks again. Whoa.
Anyhow, this means that, if I choose a Path with a very good [Gold Sign], it’s the best for me. Since I can always just choose the other, more useful Paths later, without their annoying [Gold Sign] like the Hungry Deep. That means I am here to choose the one that has the best [Gold Sign], not power. I can always manage that later.
So, the smartest pick would be Path of the Raging Sky. Not only is it one of the stronger Paths of the five I talked about, allowing me authority over water, wind lightning, and cloud, but the [Gold Sign] is very juicy. I’d gain access to a passive aura of electricity around me, that’d send slight shivers of relaxation by default, meaning anyone I spend time with will like spending time with me. They’ll be relaxed and have fun. At the same time, this aura is intelligent like a program, it can turn offensive if it senses any sudden attack or attacker, which it can burn into ashes or pulverize. Since the aura is electricity, the speed at which it reacts would be faster than me for a long time, meaning I will be safe against bullets and such without ever worrying.
This is easily the best Path for me. Did I forget to mention that I can even heal wounds on a physical and spiritual level? Something that’d I’d only gain after Gold rank if I don’t pick this. I already said I like versatility, and this is by far the most versatile Path of the five.
Some might say- why such hesitation if this is so good? Well, the speed at which I will be able to cycle the storm aura is slower compared to the other classes. Because while wind is present everywhere, lightning and clouds aren’t. The most optimal way to Cycle in this path is to do so while flying over clouds, but sadly that’s not possible since I can’t fly yet. So cultivating in this Path before I learn how to fly will be slower than the other paths that have an easier accessible aura to help.
Whatever the case, I have already decided.
Taking a deep calming breath, I began to Cycle my Qi. I said it’s best if I was flying within the clouds for this, but it’s coincidentally raining right now in this part of the city, so I can gather the storm aura with ease.
My body was still from an outside perspective, while my spirit was busy condensing the Qi into a ball, to create my Core. It was located in my lower abdomen, swirling with energy as I gathered Qi into a ball. When I knew I have gathered enough Qi, my breathing paused for the entire session, I let out a breath and then quickly took a sharp one in.
Then, I began to breathe Qi in the pattern of the mythical Cycling Technique titled the [Heaven and Earth Swirling Wheel]. In a matter of seconds, an invisible aura burst out of me, and I felt a shiver of pleasure run down my body. My eyes snapped open to find a world of nostalgic colors.
I have reached [Copper] rank.
I also gained my [Copper Sight] that is filling my optic receptors with unlimited colors from the world. Ambient energy, also called Natural Aura, is everywhere in the room, and storm aura is particularly thick right now. I missed this. It’s just been a few months, but not having this made me feel as if I was blind, I am relieved.
I stood up, far more easily than ever, and leaped at the window. I could jump better than ever, as I grabbed the window and opened it. The sky roared, and rain splattered across my face. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, my lips widened and my eyes reopened.
“Beautiful.”
Thus began my journey of walking the Path of the Raging Sky.
* * *
Ruby's presence in the concert turned out to be profitable. Ai noticed her swinging a light stick in the middle of her singing and made an expression so dazzling that Japan became a fan.
Ruby herself became a famous baby, in all of Tiktok and Instagram reels, and she seemed to like the baby fame a lot.
It's been a year since I entered the Copper Rank. It will take me a bit more to reach Iron, but I am going there. One thing that's good is that, now that I'm two years old, I can walk and run around without anyone suspecting anything. I still had to stay very conscious of staying at baby speed while people were looking.
Now that we can talk, my sister has really started going at this big time.
"Mama! Mama! Gimme a pat!"
The little girl hung from Ai's neck. She has fully evolved into a pathetically spoiled fan of this idol, whom she loves to call Mama. Ai just giggled and patted her daughter with a lovely smile, she had come far from being the useless mother she once was.
Then again, she still couldn't be considered a mother if one nitpicked, but she sure was trying to fulfill her role. It was touching.
I was playing with a toy motorbike, just to keep appearance – nothing more, definitely – and watched the two girls interact.
Frankly, I have missed this sort of innocent interaction a lot after my long life in my 9th incarnation. Sure, I had the memories of my 10th life, the one where I was Gorou the doctor, but it still didn't feel like my own since I didn't have my memories.
"Haah~ the blissful pure land of amitabha." Ruby nurtured with her eyes closed as Ai patted her head, causing the older woman to pause.
"The blissful pure land of amitabha? Huh, where did you learn such a difficult term?" She looked weirded out at such complex words coming from a baby, causing Ruby to flinch as realized her mistake.
In the end, Ai just grinned. "That's a whole new level of genius! Must be the genetics, hehe." She hugged her daughter.
I laughed, and perhaps a bit too much as the two girls turned to me. Seeing this, Ai's grin widened as she pulled me into a hug as well.
"Look, Aqua is laughing~ Aww, he rarely laughs. He should laugh more, right, Ruby? My little cuties."
The 18-year-old hugged us both, her cheeks rubbing with mine and Ruby's, as the little toddler girl gave me a jealous glare before she sighed and hugged me too.
No, that's not good. It won't be good if she began to lose her jealousy. Since she thinks I'm a normal baby and she's mentally older, she might start acting like an older sister. I was born 2 minutes and 33 three seconds before her, plus my mental age of hundreds of years makes me older than her. My pride wouldn't let me stay silent if this little girl began to act like an older sister.
It was hard on its own to endure a little girl like Ai treating me like a child, but I'm used to having younger mothers. However, this new problem won't be endured.
Perhaps it's time I put some hierarchy into perspective.
* * *
First of all, I had to make sure that I wasn't overthinking. I had to be sure that she truly wasn't jealous anymore, and in the next few days that turned out to be true.
But it felt a little awkward to just bust the bubble. After so long, she would annoy me why I didn't tell her before. Plus, a lot more other questions. So sadly, I had to wait until I was presented with an opportunity.
Back to the present, I was a bit excited. Ai has a lot of jobs nowadays. Like Modeling, Radio Assistant, and Voice Acting. Today she was going to attend a job that seemed to be a mix of all those.
"Mama is finally going to act in a drama!"
"It's just a small role, Ruby."
Ruby and I were accompanying Ai. The three of us were inside a car, riding in the passenger's seat while the director's wife, Miyako was driving. Ruby and Ai were talking as usual, while I stayed silent and read a book on the Japanese language. I had yet to master it, even if I understood it very well.
Suddenly, Miyako warned us once again that we – namely Ruby – shouldn't refer to Ai as "mama" while in the filming location. She also warned me, gently, because she thought I was a dumb toddler.
Soon afterward, we reached the location. It was an open grassy place surrounded by trees and had a building in one corner. We were led to that building, and upon entering it we found ourselves face-to-face with the director.
It was a man in his mid-30s, looking like a homeless person with his long brown hair and black jacket.
He frowned when he saw us enter. He stood up from his chair and walked over, crossing his arms and looking at Ai's face.
Ai fumbled. "Um, is there anything wrong, director?"
"These your kids?" He suddenly turned to me and Ruby, who was standing behind Miyako.
Ai maintained her composure as Miyako smiled hesitantly. "They are mine, sir. Don't worry, they won't be a bother."
"Hmm, a manager bringing her kids?" The director narrowed his eyes, and Miyako sweated. "Fine, whatever. I am just a bit annoy- surprised how there are so many kids here today."
Did he say annoyed? He did, I'm sure he said annoyed. It was somewhat rude, but I understood why one wouldn't want kids in his workplace. I could relate to this hobo man.
Though, how many kids must be there for him to complain? I turned my head around to give the area a glance and instantly found myself pausing.
Destruction Mana.
My [Copper Sight] was filled with a red hue of pure destruction as I looked at the red-headed little girl playing with some other kids. They were in one corner of the room, and it was only the long red-haired girl who had any mana at all.
That's not a normal girl… no, she wasn't even human. I sensed a sort of dark energy that Demonic Cultivators released. What was she?
"That's the daughter of a higher up, though I don't even know his name." Abruptly, the director spoke, as if a toddler could understand his complex words. "I am talking to all four of you. She seems to be from some big-shot family, so maybe keep your kids away from her, in case they fight or something."
While Ruby looked a little nervous, I just frowned. I couldn't remember her from the Oshi No Ko anime, but her figure looked strangely familiar nonetheless. Curious.
Based on the demonic aura, along with the much more prominent destruction aura, and her appearance, plus the conspiracy theory in modern worlds that the secret higher-ups of all the entertainment industry are related to the devil, I could take a guess.
"Rias Gremory?"
"Huh, how do you know her name?"
The director's statement all but confirmed my guess.
This was a shared world of High School DxD. Devils existed here.
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