The very first thing that reached Adamu’s awareness was his surroundings.

His Sanctuary, the camp inside it, and the packed earth upon which he meditated.

Nonetheless, it was not what his surroundings were that stumped him but how he perceived said surroundings.

However, the instant he recognized that he was perceiving things entirely differently from before, a shiver-like feeling flashed through his awareness, producing a cowering-like reaction, thus nudging a separate sensation inside him.

A sensation that instantly understood its purpose and immediately contracted Adamu’s awareness of his surroundings until all that remained was just a small sliver of understanding, and, in this case, the sliver of knowledge was rooted around the perception of his body.

No… Not Body… Adamu realized. But a Physical vessel… A Physical vessel because I am no longer bound by the limits of pure biology.

This…

This? This state?

This is a Spirit Body… Wait… No. That is only half right. Adamu urgently corrected his understanding.

It's similar, but also it's completely different.

Struck by the somewhat unique mode of perception, Adamu unfolded himself before collapsing soon after.

His understanding developed further, urging him to repeat the process multiple times. As such, Adamu’s awareness switched from the all-around 720% perception within a radius of five meters, if he was correct, of his physical vessel to a radius where it seemed that he himself became an invisible skin-tight suit for his Physical Vessel.

Then, once he had enough, Adamu collapsed himself even further.

The instant he did, everything regained its proper balance, and Adamu finally felt at home, a home that was just perfect for him.

Opening his golden eyes, Adamu stared flabbergasted at his surroundings, the colors they produced and the fields of blending colors enriching everything around him.

From the ground to the skies, everything looked to be more beautiful. More mesmerizing. More in-depth, and not just physical depth but spiritual as well.

Raising his arms, Adamu stared at them and everything they displayed to him.

“This is…”

“Ha… Haha…. Hahahahahaahahaah… Haha... Ha.” The euphoria of success caused him to laugh uncontrollably for a while.

But like all events connected to Adamu, it only lasted for a while before a different part of his mind reminded him by flashing him memories right before he lost all awareness.

“That’s right… The Methodology?”

Having done it so many times, the Methodology he had constructed and embedded inside his subconscious and unconscious Mind rose to the forefront of his awareness.

Yet, just seeing it told him of the irregularities.

Not because they were there but because they were not.

“Yes… Yes… Yes… No… Wrong… This is wrong!” Adamu noted before correcting the mistake when another one came, and he fixed it as well, and then another and another.

In the end, guided by the faint echoes inside his memories and his current state, Adamu soon arrived at the proper solution, or at least an approximation, as the Methodology still felt a bit… clunky.

“No doubt about it. It shares the same original concept and a majority of the framework, but it's clearly far, very far, in fact, ahead of the one I made.” Adamu said, somewhat worried as one was not given something without expecting something in return, yet Adamu undoubtedly felt that such a case wouldn't occur this time.

Feeling that way, Adamu urgently recalled how everything went, only to suddenly realize that it was not just one moment where he lost awareness but two, only the first occurred right after the first strand of Pure Essence changed its state from passive to active.

Remembering that very moment, it came to him. “Yes… Yes, I remember now., Pure Essence manifested Pure Potential after transitioning. Soo… I did something during that tiny frame of Time, only I am not aware. Alright, I can deal with that.”

“However… That still leaves me with the problem of having the solution but not the theory behind it.”

Nodding, Adamu quickly sat down and went over the improved Methodology in his mind.

He went over all the noticeable changes by formulating the possible vectors of the why and the how. In the end, while he understood a majority of it after a bit of study, a few conclusions brought him down from the euphoria of success.

“Sigh… It's not a Transcendental State.” Adamu realized, causing a sad expression on his face. “Now that I am thinking soberly, it does make sense. It would have been far too good to be true. I mean, there is a reason it's so hard to become Divine.”

Sighing to release the depression from inside him, he continued studying the yet-to-be-perfect Methodology and what it entailed to his current state.

After having a relative understanding, Adamu stood up and unfolded himself once more. This time, however, his golden eyes remained open, so he instantly noticed the difference.

The colors, the mesmerizing fields of blending colors from the ground to the skies, vanished from his eyes. Instead, the Aural awareness transferred over to the spherical perception, thus, Adamu recognized the said blending of colors being emitted from his won Body because the spherical perception provided an outside view of his Physical vessel.

At first, it was a bit disorienting, but eventually, he got used to it, as it was not that dissimilar to Spirit Body perception at higher ranks, however, the blending of colors was definitely a new thing to get used to.

Then, Adamu collapsed the said field of perception, slowly, of course, and observed himself as it closed on him, moment by moment, before eventually collapsing inside him, causing his eyes to once more capture the mesmerizing world before him.

“Soo… I am not changing states as expected.” Adamu noted. “Mmm… Closer to flexing a part of me?… Huh, almost like a flower unfolding its petals, I think?… Strange, where did that analogy come from?” Frowning and shaking his head, as the analogy was quite perfect in this case, Adamu focused on himself because if there was one petal, then there had to be others. And in his case, four more awaited his attention.

Only, it was not as easy as first expected. “Must be because I am much more familiar with Spirit Resonance than the other parts. Hmm…” Quickly recalling the improved Methodology and parsing through it, Adamu understood the way forward.

As such, Adamu unfolded himself again, only this time it was not outward but inward. At least that was the idea, as it still took a few tries to get the sensations down.

When he did, the sensation of being at home perfectly went away before more esoteric ones replaced said feelings. However, it was only for a moment before the unfamiliarity kicked in and kicked him back to the home ground.

“Hmph…”

Not one to give up that easily, Adamu repeated the exercise only for the same to occur. So he simply changed the game by changing the order of the unfolding process.

At first, he had tried to sense his Body, as that one should have been the most easily sensible one, all while revealing a mystery he noticed as he had observed himself from the outside. Namely, his size had not changed, and neither had his body structure changed, which led him to believe that a problem existed with the Bloodline.

It was expected since it was a Bloodline that did not run on Essence, but something about the Methodology irked him. Something he was missing right this very moment, so Adamu had tried to sense his body first.

Only, as it turned out, it was not possible for some reason.

Either way, it was not like there were that many options on how to unfold himself, as his existence was indeed only made of five parts through a harmoniously conjoined Methodology.

As such, when Body, Essence, and Aura failed, all that was left was Mind.

That was when it clicked, and Adamu instantly unfolded twice.

When he did, a black space manifested in Adamu's perception.

A void-like space that did not contain anything at first glance, anything but him, that is.

Still, being who he was, he had an idea.

Mind Sea

Mind Sea

Mind Sea

Ignoring the echo of his own thought reverberating inside this void-like space, Adamu centered his thoughts as he had not expected to acquire access to his Mind Sea right on Awakening.

Thankfully, now that Adamu had a rough feeling about the order he needed for the unfolding to occur correctly, it was effortless to move forward.

As such, the next one to unfold became his Aura.

The instant it did, the void-like space transformed into a kaleidoscope environment that displayed no beginning and no end, as if everything was blended into one, Adamu included.

Getting used to it, a hunch reached Adamu’s awareness, and he sucked the blend of colors inside himself, causing him to feel more at home without being at home in the now void-like space again.

Once accomplished, Adamu realized that he had acquired a humanoid-like form inside his Mind Sea, though one made of merging colors.

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Feeling himself nod, the fourth unfolding occurred, causing a flood of energy to pour into the Mind Sea. This energy had no color, but it was easy for him to distinguish it from the void-like environment. Either way, once it was there, it too was sucked up inside Adamu’s mental representation of himself, causing his form to attain even more human-like qualities, with all of his bodily organs taking an ethereal form with blended colors inside them.

What each color determined, Adamu ignored, for the moment, because, at the same time, the sensations caused him to remember how a Spirit Body felt. Yet, unlike how it had felt during the Illusion when he did manage to overcome the stupefaction, this time, it perfectly suited him like a sleeve meant just for him.

With only one last unfolding left, Adamu concentrated, and… nothing occurred.

Frowning for a second, Adamu focused on his current self before desiring to return to his actual Body while being unfolded four times already. That was when the last petal of his existence spread, making Adamu rediscover the feeling of being at home again, only differently.

More constrained and yet more present as well.

Setting aside the difference, Adamu opened his golden eyes to note the blending colors of his surroundings, while still there, were much more diminished.

On the other hand, the physical depth had increased.

Ignoring said fact, Adamu stared at his hands only to realize they were bigger, rougher, tougher, and more flexible.

The same stayed true for the rest of his body.

However, that only caused him to frown even further because, while he was glad that he'd gained some benefits from the Bloodline, this was not what he had intended at all.

Examining himself further, he realized that his teenage form still remained a teenage form, if somewhat bigger and meaner on the eyes.

“Mmm…”

Not closing his eyes, Adamu released the unfolding and tracked how his transformation rescinded its presence to reveal the normal teenager.

Once he was perfectly feeling at home again, Adamu frowned.

“Let me try again.”

Saying that, he unfolded again.

Only this time, he did not absorb the blending of Aural colors upon manifestation or the ethereal color of Essence. Instead, he observed how those two interacted with his Mind Sea and how they established something like an order between them.

However, everything still appeared chaotic to his awareness.

Only after that order established itself had Adamu called on the Body again. However, just as the last part of him began opening, Adamu clamped on the unfolding sensation.

What in the Heavens was that?

What in the Heavens was that?

What in the Heavens was that?

Somewhat startled by something, Adamu waited for the echoes to cease before observing the blending colors representing his Aura and the transparent energy representing Essence, blur, mix, dance, surge, and clash as Chaos between them reigned supreme again.

During said Chaos, a thought emerged, causing Adamu to clamp in his rampaging emotions and instead begin meditating to calm down everything. It worked like a charm as things soon returned to normality, at least the normality he had seen occur on its own.

However, after the meditative trance, Adamu noticed that the blue color dominated the landscape of the Mind Sea.

Of course!

Of course!

Of course!

Ignoring the echoes, Adamu finally understood by what principle his current Mind Sea operated, namely, none, because there was no order, such that every tiny emotion triggered a cascading avalanche of reactions.

As such, Adamu reinstated his meditative trance and observed how the blue color dominated the landscape with a firm hand.

Then, and only then, Adamu lightly called on the final petal of his existence to unfold, and even then, he did it with extreme prejudice of what he had felt the very first time. As such, he only unfolded a tiny bit, but even that caused him to shiver mentally and probably physically as well.

Thus, he clamped down again before refocusing himself and repeating the process as many times as it took to get used to all the potential lying bare at his fingertips. Yet, all it would take was a tiny bit of inattention from him, and all of it would be sent reeling this or the other way to do who knew what.

Thus, after many rapid exposures and many experiences, Adamu finally achieved a strong enough placid mental state solid enough that it no longer caused him any reactions to exhibit in this mental plane.

Hence, when the final petal of his existence unfolded, Adamu observed Pure Potential flooding his Mind Sea, only to find no purchase on which to hang on, so to speak.

It had even tried to push and prod Adamu for anything, even a tiny bit of something in which to pour itself in. Adamu, however, held firm to his placid mindset that everything was as it should be, and nothing could be improved or added.

In the end, not realizing anything, the Pure Potential began to wane back to where it had come from before automatically closing the petal representing the Body.

Regardless of its intentions, during the said retreat, Adamu noticed something.

It was tiny when compared to the Sea that was Pure Potential, but the way it seemed to radiate and swallow light produced a tiny chink in his mental armor, causing a reaction from the Sea of Pure Potential.

Like a shark having smelled its prey in some distant waters away, it rushed toward Adamu’s mental representation, which was nothing in this case, as he had not dared to make one in fear of his imperfect creation causing a similar reaction.

After realizing the sudden reversal of the Sea of Pure Potential, Adamu clamped down on his firm will and endured another battering.

Luckily, this one lasted much less before the Sea of Pure Potential lost its appetite and retreated before closing the door to itself. Yet, Adamu knew it would wait gladly because it knew without a doubt that Adamu would come to seek it again.

When?

It did not matter.

The moment would come, as it always had.

Refolding himself, one by one, Adamu reached his default state, the one where he felt at home very much.

Nonetheless, the instant he did, he began to hyperventilate and sweat from shock and confusion.

Urgently wiping the sweat on his forehead, Adamu tried to control his breathing rhythm and calmed down physically, at least.

“How did I not realize it sooner?” Adamu suddenly cried out. “No… Fuck the Orb of Rebirth. It does not matter how it came there, to begin with. Where the Heavens did all that Sea of Pure Potential come from.” Ceasing his thoughts there, he remembered what he had just undergone. “No… Impossible. There was no way that much Potential got released by the Awakening.”

“No, something else happened.”

Urgently reaching for his memories and the improved Methodology, Adamu poured his full mind into its secrets. He went over every line, every diagram, every function, and every possibility before an answer reached him.

The realization hit him so hard he might as well have punched himself in the face.

“It is gone… Everything is gone… All the Perks… All the Skills… All the Feats… All those guidelines… All that knowledge… All that defined a First of Men as a First of Men… All of it is GONE…”

GULP

“All of it is gone and traded away for a Sea of Pure Potential.” With said realization, Adamu once again began to hyperventilate.

Hiii Haa Hii Haa Hii

“Breath Adam!… Breathe Adam!… Breath!… Adam!… Breath!... Adam?… Adam?” Then, as if he had caught onto something very consequential, Adamu sidelined the shock of a lifetime and the said cause for his extreme reaction to exchange it for another milder one attacking his sense of self.

“Adam?... I can remember the name now?... Why?”

“Wait…” Realizing something, Adamu quickly unfolded himself and once again arrived at the Mind Sea with its void-like environment. There, with all his willpower, Adamu called for all the memories containing the name Adam.

What came, however, was pitiful if one could call it as such.

Still, what came was much appreciated as it detailed the one thing he had been missing ever since his new birth, especially as the memories ceased when his old body fell down from the heavens as a meteor in the middle of the Night.

Still, Adamu was a bit uncertain about what he was expecting while staring at his old self.

The way he had spoken the Last Oath.

The way his giant body vanished.

The way the Orb of Rebirth got placed inside the cave he emerged from later.

Then, a new memory came.

A memory that should not have even been there.

A memory that shared a sense of pity at what he was but also hope for what he could be.

A memory specifically retained just for this moment to unfold from his unconscious and tell him the Truth.

The Truth of who he was.

He was not Adamu.

Adamu was long dead, and what had entered the Orb of Rebirth was but a facsimile of him, only even that facsimile was not meant to be there, and neither was Adam.

Yet, the facsimile of Adamu did land inside the Realm of Ina’Ani, and Adam the Spiritless did reach the giant body because a certain higher existence, and somebody extremely familiar with the process of the Birth of the First of Men, desired it to be so.

However, it was what came after that truly revealed to Adamu…

NO…

It was what came after that revealed to Adam the Truth.

Adam was still Adam and will always be Adam till the moment he died.

Regardless.

Since Adam had no actual Spirit to center his sense of self, a new one was made for him while his existence experienced a localized reincarnation through the Orb of Rebirth. Nonetheless, that alone was not enough for Adam to survive as a First of Men. Not when he had the mental capabilities of a goldfish if a somewhat impressionable goldfish.

No, Adam also got embedded with the memories and personality matrix of the previous holder of the Bloodline of the First of Men that would help him orient all his mental processes instantaneously as they occurred.

However, to prevent a total override of the entity known as Adam and thus resurrect Adamu in some way, as it would defeat the purpose of said higher existence, two contingencies were created in place.

The first was a contingency dependent on a Timeline.

A Timeline where the contingencies would last long enough for Adam to truly develop a sense of self to such a degree that it would trigger the second contingency, namely a strong sense of self that could handle the Truth, and all it contained without collapsing in on itself.

And now, Adam had done that indeed, and in a spectacular way as well.

Though, maybe, a bit too spectacular.

Done reviewing the Truth, Adam felt huge stone blocks falling from his metaphorical mental shoulders.

Mostly due to many Truths being shared within that very brief memory blip.

One of them was that Adam was not fully at fault for destroying the long-standing history of the Bloodline of the First of Men.

Though, he would be the one to live with its consequences.

The other one was that it was not Causality that had arranged everything.

The third one was that said higher existence knew how the Orb of Rebirth functioned and could intervene with its functions any time it wanted, which, as far as Adam knew, none of the previous holders of the Orb had managed to, not to such a degree.

Thus, there was only one possible existence that could do so, and that was its maker, the First of the First of Men.

The one who Discovered and figured out The Heavenly Father’s plot for Humanity.

The one who Rebelled against The Heavenly Father for Humanity.

The one who had Slayed Divinites while still Mortal for Humanity, only to pay the ultimate price for said Humanity.

Though, now that Adam realized this, a contradiction reached him immediately.

Every First of Men had thought that his Death was already certain, hence, the Bloodline propagation through the Orb of Rebirth.

“If he is not dead? Then where is he? And what has he been doing all this time?” Adam asked himself before shrugging his shoulders and collapsing his Mind and Spirit back into the harmony that he desperately needed

Opening his golden eyes, Adam stared at the sky.

“Adam… Adam is my name…” He iterated multiple times. “Yet… I am also Adamu. There is no doubt about it. Mmm… If I am not mistaken, Awakening had fused the personality matrix and memories fully with me without overriding me, not that there was much to override anyway.”

“Wait… If that is the case?” Adam suddenly realized. “Does that mean? I will no longer have a problem entering the Illusion during the Midnight Summoning?”

“Guess I will find out soon enough.”