I felt my very being coming back together, as my soul contracted across time and space. I even managed to briefly see that hellish claymation world Cosmo called purgatory. It was still covered in blood and gore.

Lucky for me I only saw it in passing, as the blue void showed itself to me once more. This was far different from when I was first transferred across time and space. No longer was my soul bombarded by violent cosmic noise.

With my third eye, the multiverse opened up to me in a whole new way, revealing parts of itself I didn’t even know were possible. It was enormous.

I was even able to see the edges of reality. Passed the spider web of universes. Passed the primordial energy. At the farthest reaches of reality was nothing but a void. Not a black or blue void, but straight up just nothingness.

Actually, I wasn’t sure, but I swear I could see some kind of movement out there. I didn't want to get the attention of whatever that was, so I focused more on reality.

The entirety of the blue void looked kind of like a donut. At its center was total darkness. It almost looked like a black fabric of some kind. It glowed and moved like it was alive. I didn't get to make it out completely as my range of vision began shrinking.

The universe grew small, as I took a breath and started coughing Uncontrollably. My sight was blurry, but I was very familiar with that shade of red. This had to be the new world. I made it back.

Just as the world began to render I was met with a wave of pain only serving to ground myself deeper in reality. I couldn't move my body. It was too painful. This was worse than when the bear crushed me.

I almost screamed, but stopped myself when I remembered the monsters outside. I need to fix myself. Don't pass out, focus.

Reaching with what little mental bandwidth I had. I found my greatly reduced dantian. It was smaller and my spark was hardly visible. I pulled drawing out that thick soup of null Qi.

Weaving the lose stands into a braid, I cycled them threw my meridians in a pretzel-like star pattern. With zero corruption in my lay lines, the power flowed perfectly. Blue flames flared to life around me, as the resonance of my Qi and body produced an energy field across the surface of my skin.

There was enough Qi flowing through me for a level one aura, but the foundation wasn't refined enough to work as anything, but a slight physical enhancement. It was much like the aura I created when fighting Zubu when we first met—like a weak flame in the wind.

I began gathering the life aspects from the growing puddle of blood. Then fed them into my erratic behaving shell. Immediately, I felt my body begin to mend itself. It hurt so much, as my bones realigned themselves. Each individual part grinding together, until they were back in the right place.

My vision started to clear as my blood loss situation was fixed. I kept drawing in the life aspects. Eventually switching to a chicken soup aura, once I was able to focus again.

It took far longer than I was hoping for, but my body was finally whole. The chicken soup aura cleaned me and even parts of the room, as the golden energy leaked out my broken aura—like a deflating bouncy house.

That was when I noticed my clothes were different. “Hold on. That’s odd. Where did these bloomers come from?” I asked no one as I lifted my dress to get a better look.

I didn’t hate them. They were almost like boxers but frilly. I bet Centa had something to do with it. It wasn’t a bad choice. At least now I can jump around and not worry about flashing people.

I pulled myself to my feet. My body felt… different. Solid was a good word for it. No it wasn't my body that was different. It was more like the world was different. Before I felt like I was apart of the world, but now, it was like the world was made of paper, like I was in a dream. There was way more momentum to my movements.

I swung my fists a few times while bobbing and weaving intermittently, as if shadow boxing. I through in a back flip and a few cartwheels for good measure. It felt good.

My body felt much sturdier, as if my bones were replaced with combustion powered metal pistons giving me the mass and inertia of an old 2000 Toyota Camry.

I hopped a few times around the room. Then frowned when I realized my shoes no longer lit up. All I had now were these boring blue Marry Jane’s. “Lame.” I whined.

Now to check and see if the menu works. As soon as I had the thought, a pink screen popped into my view. It looked like a menu, but not any I’d ever seen before.

The design was a bit too childish. Almost like one of those parental apps that turn your phone or tablet into a kid friendly brain rot machine. It was a bit embarrassing and I knew this was something I’d only bring out in privacy.

I was so upset that I pouted and began muttering, “Stupid goddess.” I stomped my foot “I’m not a little girl.” I let out a “humpf” as I crossed my arms and brought up my status.

Character name: [Aku] (NPC)

Type: [Princess]

Sex: [F]

Age: [5] (child)

Personality traits: [Curious, Sympathetic, empathetic, spiteful, apathy, cute, cruel, kind, quirky, intelligent, social anxiety, anxiety in general, ADHD, broken mind, over thinker, pervert, *schizophrenia, *slight incontinence, madness, persistent, autistic, overactive imagination, Peter pan syndrome, trauma, PTSD, paranoia, observant, DID]

Primary personality trait: [Fussy baby]

I couldn't even get to my actual stats before I started to throw a tantrum. “What?” I said aloud. I was so offended! “What do you mean five! I’m 9 and a half at least! Stupid goddess… I mean 39.” I shook my head, “Why does it say I’m a fussy baby! I am not!” I fussed.

This was so dumb! “How is ‘slight incontinence’ a personality trait! It’s not even true you dumb bimbo! I have a small bladder! It takes time to adjust! Anyway, I don’t even have that issue anymore!” I yelled angrily. I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

It made me so self conscious that I suddenly felt like peeing, except I was 100% sure I didn't actually have to go, Last time I got stressed out about it, I had a similar feeling, only to go to the bathroom and push nothing out.

It was only the stress and embarrassment that made me feel this way. Stupid body making up problems I don't actually have, or was it my mind playing tricks on me? Like when I don't have to go at all and then five minutes later I’m about to burst.

Just in case it wasn't all in my head, I went into the back of the building where the restroom was and tried to go, only for nothing to come out. I knew it was a trick! I'm not a piss baby like Zubu says!

Actually, there have been a few close calls, but that was because I was busy preparing to save the world! I even made sure to drink less water so I wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom every hour.

To be honest, it was actually a very concerning problem I’ve been ignoring out of embarrassment. I really didn’t want to admit it, or even ask someone for help. I’d totally die of embarrassment if I did that.

That was also why I refused to drink water before bed. Especially after what happened that one morning with Shadow. The whole thing stressed me out. Which only added fuel to the fire.

I felt tears in the corners of my eyes as I realized ‘Fussy Baby’ was set as my primary trait. Meaning when people looked at my stats it’ll only show that trait. Why was I a princess type NPC? Cosmo better not turn me into an escort quest.

“I swear she did it on purpose.” I cried.

I sat on the floor and hugged my knees as my body began to sniffle and whimper uncontrollably. The tears in my eyes were so thick that I was momentarily blind. I cried like a baby… I mean like a grown man. Then began to whine and mutter between sobs.

“I don’t have Peter pan syndrome. That’s just Aku.” *sob* “Why was everyone so mean to me?” *sob* “What’s with all the mental illnesses.” *Sniffle* “schizophrenia And slight incontinence had an asterisk. Did that mean she wasn’t sure?”

I’ve already admitted to being crazy, but I couldn’t be schizo crazy right? Now that I think about it my psychiatrist never told me what she thought was wrong with me. Even Alice wouldn’t talk about it. I bet it was to spare my feelings.

To be honest I’ve never really wanted to know. I would just pretend everything was fine. I really didn’t want the stress. For me stress was stressful, so it only made sense Alice would hide it from me.

Was I really the best person for the job? Yeah right, I was the only person available. Who was I kidding, even Alice thought I was weak. I’ve only been pretending to be strong.

The question I had now… was I pretending to be an adult pretending to be a kid, or was I an adult pretending to be a kid? I didn't know. I wasn’t even sure if these were my emotions or Aku’s.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Closing my salty wet eyes I focused on myself. On my soul. That tiny little castle shaped hat attached to a hollow world. Getting a glimpse of the truth made me recoil in trauma. I didn't want to believe it, so I threw that knowledge into the hole.

I shook my head back and forth before slamming it into the floor board’s. “Be normal! Be normal! Cos Dammit! I haven't fixed anything!” I panicked.

In the end Squirmy had only fed off my misery. The memories that created that pain were still there. Still bleeding. I cant do it. I cant be an adult right now. I need to step behind the screen.

The world nearly turned dark again. That was until I pulled myself away and allowed the child like persona I’d cultivated for so long to play the part of the hero. Another coping mechanism, there’s so many now. It was necessary if I was going to save the world.

Mind at ease, I took another look at my stats. I needed to see what these new stats and numbers meant. It was just a video game. Ignoring the traits I went right into the juicy stuff.

Level: [1/1] (Max)

HP: [11.00/11.00] Re-gen: [0.01] (M)

Qi: [97.30%] Re-gen: [0.30%] (M)

Class: [Cultivator]

Profession: [N/A]

Affinity: [Null]

Strength level: [1] Base: [1.2]

Vitality level: [1] Base: [10+1]

Dexterity level: [1] Base: [6]

Perception level: [1] Base: [8]

Essence control: [6]

Dantian: [3]

Spark: [1]

Resistances: [N/A]

I knew all my stat points would be gone, but I wasn’t expecting a new stat system. I guess wisdom and intelligence were replaced by essence control, dantian, and spark. Resistance? What was that about. Was that like defense? What about attack power? DPS?

Now that I thought about it, I guess it made sense. I really couldn’t level up anymore. My stats were only there to give a rough estimate of my growth. My stat ratios were kind of insane though.

My vitality was higher than what it was before ascension. It was actually at a normal amount for once. Still, with only one level to vitality, I was basically left with my base HP, which just so happened to be less than what I had before ascending. Back then my base vitality was at 1.

What was the +1 though? “Oh, yeah! I forgot about the ring.” I looked at the silver metal band on my ring finger. It was the ring of vitality given to me by one of the NPCs in town. It only increased my base vitality by 1, but was pretty OP when I only had a Base of one. Now it was less needed, but still welcomed.

It looked like all my stat ratios had been multiplied by 10. That checked out with what Zubu said. Every time I ascend I’ll get 10 times stronger. It was like going from a one star character to a two star character.

This also meant each level in vitality with my new ratios would net me 2 hit points instead of the messed up one hit point every 5 levels.

As for my strength. A normal human usually had it at a 0.4 or 0.3. I was around 2 times stronger than the average human adult. Which was insane when you realized how small I was. If I was an adult I couldn’t imagine how strong I’d be. Maybe a 4 or 3?

If I could still level my strength, it would go up by… – I counted my fingers - 0.24 for each stat point I gained. That meant my 1.2 would turn into a 1.44. That’s pretty good. My brain seemed to salivate at the thought.

(Authors note: originally 1 level in stats would double the base stat. Turning her 1.2 into a 2.4, but for power scaling reasons, that felt like too much of a power boost for one level. Now it only goes up by 20% which is 0.24 turning her 1.2 into a 1.44.

There’s a few things I need to change from Episode 7 and 3, but it’s basically along the same lines. I ended up doing a lot of math and wanted to make sure I got it right. Making a stat system has taken up a lot more time than I expected.

I believe in episode 3 it was stated that Isaac’s vitality went up by one for ever level in vitality. That needs to change to a 0.20 meaning one HP for every 5 levels.)

I shouldn’t think like that. I wasn’t a player anymore. The player stat levels were just their auras being regulated by the system. Which means… which means… I should be able to increase my stat levels simply by adjusting my aura!

While keeping the stat windows open, I quickly recreated my null aura, but this time I built it in layers. It came somewhat easy to me.

I remembered when it was actually a lot harder to do this. Back then I didn't know what the hell I was doing and without the whole picture it was like a blind man trying to find a bathroom in an empty mall.

I did my best to add layers on top like I normally did and found my limit at 15. That wasn’t bad considering I had to start over. With the aura in place I glanced at my stat sheet and saw an improvement.

Instead of my strength level being 1 it shot up to 75. My mouth fell open. “That’s insane!” I heard the sound of something scratching at the walls. I held my mouth shut hoping those monsters hadn’t heard me.

Nothing happened, so I relaxed. Then immediately started to ramble in my mind. 75! That's like…. 18 in strength! What the Claymation! Off of only 15 layers? That's like… 5 levels per layer!

Was I this strong this whole time? No, Cosmo said I’d be physically stronger in this body. It’s hard to tell by how much, but something tells me my stat ratio on Chikū was way less than what it is now.

Was that why Zubu could overpower me so easily with physical strength? With her size and rank she would probably be around 2, or a little over that in her base strength. I just thought it was because she was bigger, but the difference between us was a good amount. I guess it made sense.

Dexterity and vitality had similar numbers allocated to them. Actually, the levels kept fluctuating. It was most likely due to my messy aura. That’s odd, perception didn’t go up at all. Yeah, that’s probably because I haven’t improved my eye sight yet. I’ll try that in a bit, but first. I wonder…

Using intent my aura shifted becoming more lean, as I tried to focus on boosting my speed. I watched my status as my strength and vitality, dropped by 25 points each, while my dexterity went up to 125. Interesting.

I thought about defense and felt my aura become a bit denser. The numbers on the pink screen shifted over to my vitality. Boosting my health from 165 to 275.

I did the same with strength and the same thing happened. That would turn that 18 into…. 30! This was all before creating a level one aura. What would happen if I added in aspects? Would my stats go up, or would it mark it down as some sort of buff?

For that matter where did resistance come from? Maybe I needed gear for that. Oh, yeah, didn’t that kimono have resistance enchants. I bet that’s what it is, or perhaps its that thing Lorie said about mages gaining elemental resistances from using mage auras?

I shut my aura down to keep myself from burning through my Qi. With a small stable aura it only burned 1.2% of my Qi in the short time I had it active. As much as I wanted to run out there and start killing stuff. I first needed to figure out my abilities. I tried cycling Qi to my eyes and managed to see the hidden world once more.

My perception had gone up to level 20. That was disappointing. I guess I wasn’t very good at it. Now that I think about it. I was never able to see very far with that ability. I’m pretty sure Zubu could see almost a mile away. She rarely used it, but she was always able to find me before bed time. Even when I did my best to hide from her.

Glancing around, I was surprised to find that the world wasn’t as vibrant as what I saw on Chikū. There actually seemed to be a dark mist over everything, making it hard to see very far.

Actually, now that I really looked at it. There was some kind of dark cloak on top of me. It was weighing me down. It Must have been some kind of de-buff. I hadn’t noticed it because I was in an unfamiliar body and thought that feeling was natural.

I tried activating my aura and watched as the cloud was pushed away slightly. It acted just like Mr. Brutus’s gravitational aura. Except it had way more Ill intent. Mr. Brutus’s aura felt like being under the pressure of a giants boot. Meanwhile this stuff was more like being covered in a heavy poisonous gas.

I attempted to peer through the miasma. It was a bit hard, but with some effort and a bit more Qi, I managed to see a few things. There was hundreds of those monsters around. I was pretty much surrounded, but they hadn’t noticed me yet.

I drew in a few heat aspects, along with wind and momentum. It took me twice as long, but I managed it. It was almost like they wanted to scatter. Holding onto them took focus and strong willpower.

Forming the spell circle for a fireball I created a small nova. At least I could still cast. Just not as fast as before. Let’s see. “Inventory” I thought, causing a pink screen to show itself before me.

“Wait… where’s my stuff?” I tried refreshing the page to no avail. That’s when I remembered what Centa told me. “Oh, that’s right!” I whisper yelled.

That stupid Centa sold all my stuff! This sucks so much! What is this stuff, plushies? No, summons. “What the hell, even if I had my old character sheet I’ve never leveled summoner once.”

I scrolled through the item list hopping to find something useful. Why is all this stuff just straight up garbage. There’s nothing useful here. “Oh! How could I forget! Please be here!” I scanned the items one after the other hopping to find her.

Surely enough, there she was. With a tap of the screen, Snowball manifested into my arms. “Hey, Snowball. Sorry for the wait.” I said.

“About time!” She complained. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be stuck in a place with no time, no heat, no cold! Zero sensation at all! It’s absolute torture! Imagine not existing, but existing at the same time while needing to poo and not having a litterbox around!”

“I’m s-“ I didn't get to finish my apology, as I felt something warm on my arm. Giving it a look I saw a dark brown mush smeared on my forearm . “Ew!” I cried.

Snowball laughed as I shook my arm only for the stuff to disappear a moment later. “ha! Got you!” laughed Snowball.

“Snowball don't do that!” I cried, before remembering the situation we were in. I shushed her. “You need to be quiet or they’ll hear us.”

“Oh, my bad.” She apologized.

I gave her a few pets and hugs to make myself feel better. It worked a little, but there was still so much to do.

I continued to look through my inventory and found something I wasn’t expecting. I hit manifest and watched as an evil looking teddy bear flashed into existence. “Grothug? Cool. This is actually pretty rare. To bad I can’t use it, or even resell it since all these summons are soul bound.”

I looked over it’s stats and was caught off guard by the note tab. The note tab was a place where you could attach information to an item. Most players used it as a way to write down a fun memory associated with the item. Sometimes players would put there signatures in and gift the item to fellow players.

This note however was different.

Note: This bear belongs to Centa. His name is Kuma. If found please return him to Centa.

I was met with the final memories of my sister. She was right there, but I couldn’t do a thing and here I was complaining about her selling my stuff. I’d give it all up again if I could go back and save her.

Looking Kuma over he looked a bit sad. “It’s okay Mr. Kuma. I'm gonna save her.” Snowball and I gave him a hug. I think he appreciated it.

I put Mr. Kuma back in my inventory and kept looking for more stuff. Farther down I found the sword Cindy had given me. It also had a note attached. One I hadn’t seen before.

Note: To the empress of Entropy. Take this sword and keep the country safe. We’re all counting on you, lady Aku.

-Cindy

P.S if you sell this sword after I graciously gifted it to you, know that I’ll hunt you down and use you as an anvil.

“Keep everyone safe.” I muttered. Had I really done that? I put everyone in danger. I’ll just have to make up for it. I guess.

I dropped it back in my inventory, knowing I could easily recall it if needed. I was almost at the bottom of the list. There was no way there’d be any other useful items, but I might as well check.

I scrolled down and like I thought there wasn’t anything else I could use, but there was something. At the very bottom of the list was a picture. One I thought was apart of a dream.

One flash of light later and I was met with a picture of me and Alice smiling. I was hugging her mid section. I remember this day. It wasn’t that long ago. How Cosmo got a picture I had no idea. It was a lovely day at the park.

“Alice…” I put the picture back as a tear rolled down my cheek.

My aura flared to life as I headed towards the door. My sword flashed into my hand as heat, wind, and momentum aspects began to gather into spell circles. I knew there were monsters on the other side, but I didn’t care. I wanted them to hear me. I wanted them to come.

I kicked the door open and yelled, “Fight me!”