In the library of all things stored in the world of Maripja, the Akashic Records create the brain, spinal cord, heart, and backbone.
The existence of humans is simpler than one might think.
It’s been said that humans could be summed up as a mass of 35 liters of water, 20 kilograms of carbon, 4 liters of ammonia, and 1.5 kilograms of lime, which could even be bought with an elementary school student’s allowance.
Yet, at the same time, humans are complex beings.
The human body contains at least 30 trillion gigabytes of information.
This is comparable to the total sum of all the data humanity produced until the advent of AlphaGo.
How can such a weak and insignificant life, born after a man and woman come together in love after 10 months, hold more meaning than the entire 5,000-year history of mankind?
One might pose a scientific and philosophical question within themselves.
“Still, I can’t get used to this magic…”
Through the transparent barrier, the grotesque process of the body being created is clearly visible.
I twisted the magic circle slightly and concentrated the red magical energy onto the round head.
Slowly, the eyes, ears, and mouth start to differentiate.
The limbs separate, and thin, delicate fingers emerge.
As the skin thickens gradually, the visible hints of red blood in the veins fade away.
Eyelashes lengthen, 100,000 hair strands like golden threads grow, and the chest and pelvis swell.
Suddenly, a strong sense of déjà vu hits my mind.
The body, curled up like a fetus, slowly spins within the dodecahedron magic circle.
“…!”
I feel my heart drop as I see the pale face of the woman.
“Sure enough, there was a past life…”
Yes, if the past life were false, this magic wouldn’t have worked.
[Unique Magic – Savior of the East]
Finally, the body of the Demon King, who bore the world’s hatred, became a mummy and descended into this world.
Facing what once was my past life, my feelings became all tangled up.
It is undoubtedly beautiful.
“Hey, that perfect body, why don’t you just keep it to yourself? Isn’t it about time to get tired of the kid cosplay?”
Suddenly, jealousy springs up wildly inside me.
Kachung!
I infused my fist with aura and punched my right cheek hard.
I hit it so hard that my cheek felt so hot that I could barely sense it.
“Crazy girl, just use your words!”
As my senses snapped back, the hallucinations of schadenfreude faded away.
I didn’t have time for leisure.
That body is still a creation of magic.
It would revert to nature in 3 minutes from the moment the magic circle is released.
I had to finish all the work of replacing Maripja with a subatomic particle and settling the Aura Heart within.
I picked up my wand again and replaced the mana stone with a new one.
Setting the output scale to maximum, the tip of the wand split open like a monster’s mouth.
With all my strength, I swung the large brush-like wand to break through the magical resistance and draw the magic circle.
Now it was time to bring Adella into reality.
[7th Circle High-Level Casting: Persona Physis]
—
Adella waited anxiously in the private room bedroom.
‘It must have been successful, right? What if anything went wrong… should I write a will or something?’
She distractedly hung a crooked picture frame straight.
The ticking of the second hand felt unbearably painful.
In the slowed time, she remained transfixed in front of the clock for quite a while.
“Adella! Adella!”
A frantic voice calling Adella echoed in the room.
Snapping back to reality, Adella quickly turned her head.
Na-me, with one cheek puffed up, grasped her sleeve.
“What’s going on, unnie? When did you get here? Wait, how did you…?”
Adella was in virtual reality.
In other words, for Na-me to meet her, she needed to connect to a capsule or swallow a pill and wear VR goggles.
There was clearly no time for that.
“Right now, this isn’t virtual reality. Or to be precise, it’s in a sort of intermediate state. Look at your hand, Adella.”
Adella’s gaze fell below.
Her body was slowly becoming transparent.
“Hah! What’s happened to my body! Why is this happening?”
“Your mental body, which spread like clouds in the virtual reality, is transitioning into the Aura Heart. I’ll tell you what you need to do from now on. There’s no time for a second explanation, so pay attention.”
“Is it important? You could have told me earlier…!”
“If I’d told you earlier, you would have forgotten anyway. There’s no helping it.”
Could something serious have happened? Adella chided her in anxiety.
Na-me continued casually.
“From now on, think very strongly about what kind of person you are. That way, information will gather much faster.”
“Strongly? How do I think strongly? I don’t understand what you’re saying at all!”
Na-me sighed softly and grasped her hands.
“Then, just answer me right away without thinking too much. What’s your name?”
“My name…? Adella. According to my ID, it’s Asaneko Adella!”
“Height and weight.”
“164 centimeters and 49 kilograms… Wait, what is this for?”
“Try to recall your three sizes, hair, and eye color, anything that comes to mind.”
“I haven’t measured my sizes! How would I know! My chest is about a full C, maybe not quite a D… silver hair and turquoise eyes…”
Adella hurriedly spilled out her responses, forgetting to breathe in her frustration.
Shouldn’t she have some clue about why they were doing this?
“What else is there besides your physical information? Three things you like.”
“Things I like? Erm… uh…”
“Quickly, I don’t have time!”
“Salmon, electric heating pad… and uh, can I say you, Na-me unni?”
Na-me’s eyes narrowed at the random answer.
“It doesn’t matter. Keep thinking about what you said relentlessly. When you first gain your body, your whole body will itch like crazy. You must not scratch your skin or act out at all. Always keep your ears wide open, understand?”
“Don’t scratch, don’t act out, keep my ears open…”
“Keep your eyes wide open and don’t lose consciousness. And don’t even think about biting your tongue and committing suicide.”
“Kee—keeping my eyes open, staying conscious, not biting my tongue…? W-what?”
“If it hurts too much, open your mouth and bite my finger. Got it? Didn’t you know that?”
“I mean, I get it…”
“Good. We’re almost there, so hang in there, Adella.”
At that moment, the space between Na-me and Adella rapidly expanded.
“Unnie!”
Adella reflexively reached out to grab her, but unfortunately, her hand passed through her arm.
I can’t grab her…!
Before she knew it, Na-me had disappeared without a trace, and the space where Adella stood became engulfed in darkness.
A bizarre sensation surged, as if someone were looking at her from afar.
Instinctively, Adella quickly chased the white lights racing past.
Boom!
“Ugh!”
Extreme fatigue overwhelmed her.
As her field of view expanded infinitely, Adella bid farewell to her body.
Black sky, sparkling dust, blazing bulbs, and a blue orb filled her sight.
“This isn’t Earth? Where is this…?”
Confronted by the unknown, Adella trembled.
“I’m asking where I am… Can’t anyone hear me…?”
Fear surged in a tidal wave, and tears welled up in her eyes.
The silence made everything even more horrifying.
“Why am I here…?”
Memories felt like they were shrouded in darkness.
She stared blankly at the planet spinning around its axis.
From her stiff mouth emerged a familiar name.
“Adella.”
At that moment, a gigantic path piercing the planet was revealed.
Adella’s eyes widened in shock as she repeated her name like a chant.
“Adella, Adella, Adella, Adella, Adella.”
She scratched the darkened canvas with a needle to glimpse fragments of memory.
“164… I’m under 50 kilograms… hot!”
Thunder clapped in her mind, and before she knew it, Earth was right before her eyes.
Beneath the hazy clouds, vast deserts and prairies unfolded.
“I can wash my hair really well. How well silver hair goes with turquoise eyes.”
Thoughts that once surfaced when having conversations with someone came rushing back.
Who was that again?
“I want to eat salmon sashimi on a warm electric blanket…”
Adella bit her lips tightly.
If she thought a little more, it seemed she could remember!
But it felt like a sneeze that got interrupted, leaving a weird discomfort in her heart.
Swish—!
“Ahhhh!”
Adella’s body was blown away by the fierce wind pressure.
When she regained her senses, she was free-falling toward the blue sea.
“What is this! I don’t want to die!”
She wished it were a nightmare.
As absurd events unfolded one after another, Adella reached the point of denying reality.
“I really hate you, Na-me unni, for not telling me anything!”
Boom!
Did a parachute open up?
Or had her body become light as a dandelion?
Her body was swept by a gentle breeze, drawn like a magnet somewhere.
In that moment, she suddenly realized the words she had uttered.
“That’s right, Na-me unni! No Na-me…! No Name!”
How could she forget that name?
Losing memories was a sufficient experience from games.
Desperately, Adella repeated Na-me’s name.
‘I’ll never forget… never!’
Tears streamed down her pale face endlessly.
Even her sobs were drenched in moisture.
—
[Cast: Pain Synchronization]
“I shouldn’t let things get too noisy, so how about some soundproof magic—”
As Na-me cast a 1st Circle spell, the half-dead woman twitched her fingers.
“Ugh… huff… heh…!”
Breath burst forth chaotically, as if she had wandered through death.
Na-me hurriedly grabbed the woman by her nape and lifted her up.
First to secure the airway, and second, to check consciousness through pupil response.
“Adella. Take deep breaths! Can you hear me?”
“Huff… ugh…! Ahhhh!”
Adella’s nails climbed up her own arm.
Though her blunt nails did not pierce, they were enough to leave red marks.
A bright red line was scrawled across her pale skin.
As Na-me grasped her hand, she scratched her head with her other hand.
“My head… ugh… it itches… it itches like I’m going crazy. Ughh…!”
“Just hang in there. It’s because your Aura Heart and central nervous system are rejecting you right now.”
Adella’s especially heightened pain was where her cat ears used to be.
In the virtual reality, voices struck her mind directly.
But even if she mistakenly thought she was listening with her fluffy ears, her spiritual body adjusted accordingly.
“Breathe through your nose and mouth at the same time, Adella.”
“Hah… hah hah hah…”
“Good job. Adella, it’s going to sting a little, no, a lot. If it hurts, raise your hand.”
“Faster… ahhhh, it hurts too much… it stings so much, I really feel like I’m going to die…”
Adella felt itchiness mixed with the pain of being pricked by needles.
She was unable to even recognize the words coming out of her own mouth.
Na-me placed the pitiful girl’s head on her lap and activated the final magic circle.
As the third mana stone broke halfway, she immediately replaced it with the last one.
An immense amount of mana swirled, causing the wand to heat up to red.
Mana was being lost in the form of heat energy.
“This part isn’t accounted for.”
Na-me’s hands moved faster than ever.
Her horns shimmered gold as they aided in the triple casting.
The magic that integrates the body and spirit.
Originally developed to bless the longevity of hatchlings just out into the world.
She named the runes she usually would never utter and invoked the final spell.
“El, Arhen, Lumiere, Hyprit, Landancheskah, Reshaikbar, Serenitya Nascentia.”
Seven gears interlocked, greedily sucking up all the mana.
Smoke rose from Na-me’s hand gripping the wand.
The smell of burning flesh, the tent turned into a chaotic mess.
Only sheer willpower would lead them onward.
[7th Circle High-Level Casting: Dragonia Nascentia]
Swish—!
A red beam penetrated Adella’s abdomen, sending a strong shockwave sweeping past.
“Adella! Just hold on for 30 seconds, neither more nor less!”
Na-me pressed Adella’s head tight to her chest and shouted in her ear.
In that moment,
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Adella, clenching her fists to bear the itch, let out a scream.
Compared to before, the pain was indescribably worse.
Every single cell screamed for its life.
This time, it was a pain she simply couldn’t endure.
“Hahhhh! Hhh… Aaaaah… uh…”
Adella struggled to even catch her breath, coughing out metallic wheezes.
Bones broke and healed repeatedly, muscle strands tearing apart.
Adella reluctantly raised her hands.
Not as a will, but purely out of instinct.
With red-rimmed eyes, she desperately looked at Na-me, who was maintaining the magic circle.
“I raised my… hands… I’d… I’d rather die… ughhh…”
Adella stuck out her tongue.
Before her sharp teeth could snap shut, Na-me shoved her finger in to silence her.
“Urrghh…!”
“Adella, stay conscious! We’re almost there! Just a little more to endure!”
“I can’t… can’t hold on anymore… ahhh! Please… just kill me… this isn’t right.”
Adella shook her head vigorously in desperation.
“Anesthesia…”
“Never during the spell!”
“I regret it… just end it… this is enough…”
Her whimpering cries gradually weakened, on the brink of losing consciousness.
“You’ll spend your life…”
Seeing Adella’s suffering, Na-me finally resorted to extreme measures.
“On me.”
—
“Thank you.”
—
The moment the light beam struck, an unbearable scalding pain ignited Adella’s head.
The thought of obtaining a body changed in an instant.
If she could just end the pain that burnt her head, severed her limbs, and tore apart her insides, Adella would do anything.
Regretting every moment she asked for a body was pointless.
No matter how intensifying the pain grew, her mind became clearer, driving her to insanity.
In that moment, the pain suddenly subsided.
Only then did Adella recall Na-me’s advice, opening her eyes and taking deep breaths while counting the seconds.
How much time has passed?
Losing her sense of time, 10 seconds felt like an hour.
“Ughh! Hah hah… hah…”
Finally, she started counting the seconds.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds…
Ten seconds.
The pain gradually lessened, but it still wasn’t over.
Adella thought something must have gone wrong after counting over 20 seconds of pain.
Just as she was about to call for Na-me…
“Ughh…”
Adella saw Na-me, drenched in cold sweat.
“U—unnie! What’s wrong! Unnie!”
Confusion swept across her face.
Adella, who had been lying down comfortably, hurriedly sat up and grabbed Na-me’s shoulders.
Na-me’s expression twisted sharply.
“Stay down. It’s not over yet…”
“What’s wrong! Why are you in pain too! You didn’t say anything about that!”
“Speaking means… I’m okay?”
Beside the 7th Circle spell, a small magic circle began to rotate.
Adella’s eyes shook violently.
“Don’t tell me you activated Pain Synchronization? What on earth were you thinking! How do we turn this off?”
“Let it be. It’s too late.”
While Adella had no profound knowledge of magic, she could comprehend how long the magic circle had been active.
The Dragonia Nascentia had nearly reached its 1-minute mark.
And the Pain Synchronization spell had easily crossed over 40 seconds.
Even that ratio was set unfavorably for Na-me.
Ssssssss—
The spell ended.
The small magic circle vanished, and Na-me’s horns crumbled to dust.
Adella found herself at a loss for words, anguish filling her heart.
Na-me could have certainly bound herself to stop her self-harm.
Adella, dripping tears, hugged Na-me tightly with all her might.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault… I’m sorry…”
Adella wept uncontrollably, her tears soaking through her shirt twice.
“Hah. All done?”
Na-me slowly and gently rubbed Adella’s back.
“Why are you crying? It ended without a problem.”
“Why is there no problem! There are so many problems! So many!”
It seemed challenging to stop Adella, whose voice cracked as she lamented her mistakes.
She could hardly endure this minor ordeal yet caused Na-me immense pain.
Guilt stabbed at her heart, making it hard to lift her face.
“Shall we take a look at our Della’s face?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Let’s check if your eyes, nose, and mouth are all attached properly.”
Na-me scrutinized Adella with thorough attention.
At a glance, she looked just like Adella in the virtual reality.
Her attractive silver hair and luminous green eyes shone brightly under the dim light.
However, since the transformation was based on her past life, there was no trace of her cat ears, and the tail on her backside was likewise absent.
‘Maybe she looks a bit younger? It’s hard to tell up close.’
Her height and weight might be the same, but her face seemed two or three years younger.
Amidst this, seeing Adella, who was covered in tears and snot, Na-me burst into laughter.
“You look super ugly right now.”
“Ugh… really?”
“No, you’re really beautiful.”
“Ahhh! Unnie!”
Adella leaped into Na-me’s arms.
Her slightly heavier chest squished Na-me.
“Ew, snot is splattering! But before that, can you at least put some clothes on?”
“I don’t care! We’re family now, after all!”
“Aren’t you cold? If you do that in the real world, you’ll catch a cold.”
“Your body is warm, unnie. So that’s fine.”
Na-me wrapped herself up in Adella’s embrace.
Sweet, soft skin brushed against Na-me’s ear as gentle words whispered past.
“Thank you, Na-me unnie…”
Amidst the calm yet heartfelt resonance, Na-me quietly smiled.
It was a night in March.
