Everything felt warm. The entire world was warm. Strangely fleshy, comfy, warm.

Like a lone candlelight flickering in the darkness, Braun groggily stretched out his leg, colliding with something soft, like tissue or flesh. As he tried to breathe by pure habit, the man felt no lungs breathe. Only the sound of his heartbeat, and a second, louder heartbeat, echoed in the chamber he found himself trapped in.

It didn’t take long for Braun to piece things together, as the lack of light, the comfortable warmth of flesh and blood, became one precise image in his mind.

He was a baby in someone’s womb. Perhaps a human baby. Maybe some other mammal. Heck, he might even be an alien not found on Earth. Wait, was he even on Earth in the first place?

Although getting reincarnated and surviving his initial death relieved the boy a great deal of his worries, there remained many problems left unfinished in his past life, problems that he was dying to solve.

Of course, his current situation also posed many issues. For starters, did he reincarnate on Earth? Another universe? A whole new reality with different sets of rules?

Second, what species was he? Human? Alien? Dog? Cat?

Even though he felt his body function much like a human baby would, well, a human baby in a womb, he still couldn’t confirm things with the lack of vision. How was he even thinking if he was still just a developing baby? Did he rely on his brain to think? Or was the existence of his soul serving as his conscience, allowing the undeveloped baby to think of complex thoughts with no issues?

Braun kept his cool, but a part of him slowly panicked. This was the first time he had felt the very emotion of panicking in months, which caught him by slight surprise, but he cooled down his thoughts and went back to old habits.

In times where his mind isn’t clear, he would take a deep ‘breath,’ or this time, listen to the echoing heartbeat in his fleshy chamber, and clear his thoughts-

A green flame burst into existence in his mind as his very being was stripped of its control. He was pulled deep into a familiar void of infinite expanse, with his consciousness mere inches away from the dim candlewick.

“You…” Braun touched the flame with his hands. “You’re here…”

“I was almost afraid that you had left me,” Braun murmured. A grin slowly formed on his ghastly face, as the candlewick flickered into a greater fire. “But I suppose that despite the abnormalities of everything, you’re still my power.”

His flame. His zenithral power.

Even though everything felt daunting and full of mystery, with a future covered by an overbearing layer of uncertainty, the existence of this fire provided him with a warmth unlike any other.

As long as he had this power to himself, anything is a possibility that he could achieve.

For better or for worse, even with a destined future or an anomalous past, this power is mine; this power is mine in this paradoxical present.

…

Time quickly passed and Braun had gotten used to life inside the womb. Using his budding zenithral flame, one that was infinitely weaker than the flame he wielded in his prime as a Level 8 True God, he rid his body of any impurities, perfected his genes, and essentially became the best version of himself that his genes could have provided—which was a lot.

Abnormal muscle development, bone density, brain, etc. His very body was pushing the boundaries of what it meant to be human, or what he thought was human, and something beyond it.

The perfect homo sapien, as what the boy thought.

Mutations upon mutations piled upon his DNA, altering his genetic structure.

Just like always, he adapted, evolved, and transcended.

During this period of time that he assumed were months, the boy had also noticed strange things in the outside world. A faint energy resided in the world, an energy that he started to sense the more his body developed, along with his soul.

Perhaps. The boy felt giddy inside. It’s magic?

He made many attempts to try and control that strange energy from outside, but with his underdeveloped body and stabilizing soul, the boy couldn’t do much and only continued to sense it. He let time take its course, not in a hurry for anything.

Oh. Braun finally realized something, his thoughts clearing up as the walls around him constricted.

He really could take his time. Time…

The concept of taking his time almost eluded the boy, for that concept has left his grasp during his time on Earth. Those four months were just too crazy, with every second he spent used to dedicating his growth.

He couldn’t rest, or relax, with action after action sucking at his soul.

In a way, this new life that he received, if things don’t go wrong and everything goes as expected, would be one that is free from the thing known as time constraints—meaning, he could do whatever he want, with the sky being the limit!

His thoughts spurred on, the tiny budding flame he developed burning brighter than before, influenced by his mental growth.

Perfecting his cooking, learning all kinds of instruments, amassing a shit ton of wealth through dubious means, running his own drug cartel, becoming a celebrity—every single dream he had thought of achieving back on Earth, back when he was still just a brat with foolish dreams, could finally be realized.

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The walls around him closed in, the sound of voices speaking outside the fleshy womb peering through the walls that bound him. A tiny point of light shone from above, and a pained cry could be heard from below.

He was finally being born.

…

Childbirth was as weird and as uneventful as Braun expected. Things were bloody, forceful, and kind of claustrophobic with his ginormous head having to pass through the poor woman’s vagina, but overall, it was a pretty tame experience.

Of course, when he cried his lungs out and opened his eyes, seeing the outside world for the first time, something normally impossible since babies don’t develop vision till later, he heard a strange word uttered by one of the nurses in the room, with a warm green light shining out of their hands.

Magic… The boy stared at the strange light, his heart constricting with newfound excitement. His eyes immediately darted to the rest of the room, and even if the room appeared a bit modern, there still remained hints of medieval architecture and fantasy elements.

Braun was reborn…

I GOT ISEKAID!

This was new. This was unexpected. This was fan-fucking-tastic.

Braun was eager to see more of the strange magical phenomena but was quickly interrupted when the doctor, after finding the baby and the mother healed, gave the newborn child back to its womb-bearer.

Readjusting his perfect vision, he glanced at the woman who held him.

Beautiful was one word to describe her. She had flowing brown hair, olive green eyes, and a fair skin complexion; it probably meant he wasn’t born to a poor family luckily enough, and perhaps more like a middle-class family.

Of course, he didn’t worry much if he was born poor as shit, an orphan on the street, a cripple with no arms or legs, or even just a living head with no torso; as long as he had his zenithral flame, he could adapt, evolve, and transcend the limitations that obstructed him, attaining the levels of the divine once more.

The young child then observed his own appearance through the reflection in his mother’s eyes.

Black hair, green eyes, and fair skin. A bit chubby, wrinkly, and big. Like, damn, he was one big boy. Not in a tall way, but in a rotund way.

At least he was cute.

Braun, having already mastered the art of acting and scumminess, stretched out his cute pudgy hands and reached for his mother.

The woman, oblivious to the boy’s fucked up personality, felt a wave of warmth burst from her heart. Her maternal instincts caused the woman to melt and felt the urge to protect the baby from any harm in the world.

She grinned, hugging the wrinkly bastard. “You’re finally born, my precious son.”

The door then slammed open, with a grown man and a young girl rushing in.

The grown man, the woman’s wife, had black hair and blue eyes. He had an athletic build and wore a simple beige linen shirt and dark brown pants. For the most part, he could be considered handsome with a mature, scholarly charm.

On the other hand, the young girl appeared more brutish than her scholarly father. She had short brown hair tied into a ponytail, and her bright blue eyes shone like jewels. Her calloused hands, a result of constant smithing, hurriedly tried to snatch the baby away from its mother.

“No, no, no.” The woman wisely kept the baby away from the young girl’s grasp. “You might hurt him, Mina.”

Mina pouted and pleaded with her dad to take her side. “Papa!”

“Now, now, dear.” The man chuckled and sat beside the exhausted woman. He carefully grabbed the boy, much to the young girl’s envy, and stared deep into the boy’s green eyes.

“My son…” He felt an inexplicable emotion swell deep in his heart, the same feeling when he held his newborn daughter in his arms. “My dearest son, Braun.”

Upon hearing his name, the young child couldn’t help but inwardly shake his hand over the name. It’s Braun again, ugh. Couldn’t it have been something else like Caesar? Or Dolian? Or Mammon? Or-

[Name registered: Braun Dolus]

Huh?

[Processing… Unique skills acquired]

[Unique Skill: Adapt]

[Unique Skill: Evolve]

[Unique Skill: Transcend]

[Error… Error… Unique skill unable to be processed… Error… Unique skill acquired]

[Unique Skill: ???]

A barrage of information greeted the young child, as a strange power bonded with him upon his full conception into the unknown world. The mysterious power was strangely familiar, a certain feeling that the boy was too intimate with.

It was the power of all things progress—Zenith.

A series of questions popped into his mind.

There’s a system? It’s made out of Zenithral Power? How do I see my status? Unique skills? Why can’t I choose my name? Can I change my name later? What if nobody gave me a name? Can I hack the system since I have control over the same source of power? I’m hungry. Does this world have toilets? Can I evolve my way out of the limits of shitting? Can I use magic to just teleport the crap out of my intestines?

And then, the boy blinked his eyes, a feeling of drowsiness overtaking his mind.

Fuck that, I’ll deal with all of this later.

…

“He’s so cute!” Mina cautiously grabbed the sleeping baby’s hand, squishing it gently, afraid that her developed strength would harm the boy.

“Delmore, is everything taken care of?” The woman asked from her bed, having already put on new clothes. With the assistance of magic, her exhausted body was revitalized to tip-top shape, and the family could already go home, leaving space for other patients who needed the room.

Delmore, the woman’s husband, walked into the room with a grin. “Yep, we can go home now, Erna.”

“Finally!” Young Mina raised her hand to the sky, excited to get out of this monotonous white room. She was already itching to grab her hammer back home and make toys for her younger brother, which she would give to her father to enchant it with magic.

She still had her most prized possession, the ‘living’ doll in her room that she played around with from time to time, a magical object her father created for her third birthday.

Her shout, however, seemed to have disturbed the sleeping boy as his brows furrowed. After a few hours, the boy had overcome his wrinkly flesh, becoming smooth and cute. In fact, the boy was a bit too cute, with Mina even suspecting if they were siblings of the same flesh and blood.

Erna stood from her bed, with Mina following her from behind. The family of four walked out of the hospital, bidding farewell to the nurses and doctors who operated on her along the way, before arriving at the horse carriage Delmore had paid for beforehand.

Giving their home address to the driver, the four got into the carriage and watched as the horse-driven construct moved forward, with the horse galloping with loud steps.

“Today is the 11th Month, 25th Day, and 1021st year…” Erna whispered to the sleeping boy’s ear. “That’s your birthday, Braun.”

“Hehehe, another birthday to celebrate each year!” Mina mumbled with a grin. “That means more food to enjoy!”

“Speaking about food.” Delmore rubbed the young girl’s head teasingly. “Our order should arrive already tonight!”

“Really?!” Mina widened her eyes. “All those wyvern meat, slime pudding, vanilla chocolate ice cream, and, and…”

“Yes, all of them.” Delmore flaunted his wealth to the child. “Your dad has been hitting it off lately with his business, and we would even be able to upgrade the shop in a year or two! We’re getting bigger, Mina! Big!”

“And I need you, my budding blacksmith, to produce me the highest quality of weapons you could make so we could squeeze their wallets dry!” Delmore shook the young girl’s shoulder.

“Yes, papa!” she nodded her head, showing enthusiasm.

“Sigh, you two.” Erna sighed, rocking the baby back and forth to help it sleep.

You fucking noisy bastards and all of your… I guess food if I’m right. Lucky you, I would have eaten everything if I wasn’t a newborn babe. Braun grumbled, half-asleep. Just you three wait, once I’m not a bum-ass babe anymore… I’ll… I’ll…

The boy fell asleep amidst his half-threats, as the swaying by his mother was too comfortable to be resisted.

Well, who cared about some petty revenge? Braun was above the point of vengeance. In fact, the biggest revenge of all is apathy—he’ll be the real winner if he just ignores them entirely and continues sleeping.

Yeah, sleeping is winning.