74. Tales of Reincarnation II
Gar-Wahgar Calendar 35123-03-18
I was given a name of Ya'ur by Buhr colony, a mid-sized Half Elven village northwest at the border of Natonin. I am four years old as of this writing and I was three when remembered my past life. I came from a highly advance technological civilization and I was a research type cultivator the area of my pursuit is Dao Studies.
I died on my eleventh body possession when I tried to integrate with a Heaven Class Essence Flame while breaking through to Ascension hoping to touch the realm of Grand Dao. I was what people call Spectral Cultivator. Unlike others who should have been discarded during their expiration, I was allowed by the military and for almost eight thousand years, I have possessed different bodies.
Contrary to a prevalent belief that possession is evil, I have possessed bodies of criminals on death row. There are two types of possession, complete and partial. Complete is what devil cultivators do and they would emit a baneful and beastly aura while partial is the product of millions years old scientific research.
Scientific communities do not allow complete possession and they would kill them on sight so I can only settle for partial type. The only problem is that you are not truly alive with partial possession. What I mean is that it is similar to driving a mech. Your basic senses diminishes on the third possession and if not because of implants, you won't even feel pain.
At first it was fun, then one day, death becomes a form of liberation. I died in pursuit of knowledge.
I cried the day I regained my memories. The taste of food, the breathing of fresh air and being able to control urination was a bliss I had longed for six thousand years. My family thought I was sick when they saw me enjoy pain when I hurt myself.
I do not know which backward world I was reincarnated into but I am sure it is a planet under the control of Ancient cultivators. The rain here is very unusual. I can tell there is no Spiritual Veins nearby but when it rains, the raindrops are infused with rich Spiritual Qi. I have observed the stars for two days for clues about nearby galaxies but it was letdown. Then I asked myself, "Do I really want to go back and become a cultivator again?"
I believed the reason for my rebirth is to experience life again. Having been deprived for thousands of years, I think this is a gift from the heavens I should enjoy. I have decided to live an ordinary life and I may regret it sooner but that is what life is. We die with many regrets.
While I was observing the village in my plans for a comfortable and hopefully a hedonistic life, I noticed how this board game called Chess is mandatory to our basic education. It was like a form of cult that even adults would go mad for. Even my mom would play with my older sister to train her for an upcoming competition this coming fifth red moon. The only person who is not interested is my very supportive father. He said that we should start learning about crops as it is our calling.
The board game is simple. Square shape, with its side being divided into eight parts, resulting in a total of sixty-four squares, and played by two persons with sixteen equal pieces each. There are five major pieces and eight pawns and each with unique movements. The only handicap is the intelligence of the players. I was advised that the competition focuses on children below six years old and I was relieved to learn that High Elvens have separate brackets. After all, their kind would gain intelligence comparable to that of an adult at the age starting at the age of three.
What really got my attention were the hefty rewards waiting for champions. Even Local Meets would have prices starting with two gold coins. I waited for the competition to start before I revealed my advantage.
After five months, I intentionally lost and came second during the Four Colonies Meet. I learned that only the first and second runner ups would be selected during Town Meet and I did not intend to stand out. I find it funny when my sister told me that my parents had a fight because they did not prepare my favorite food when we left the village that's why I came second.
During the Town Meet, this was when I felt there was something hidden about this competition. An entire continent vying for top ten for a few drops of Naga Elixir. For them to produce 10 drops every five years is an indication how vast the wealth of this planet is. If they are able to produce this elixir, it means that somewhere is a World Tree. The natives here call it True Greater Kay'u Tree, a treasure from the Upper World which means that this planet should be under the jurisdiction of Immortal level sect.
But what confused me was something else.
The place where the game was held was a spacious hall and anywhere you seat would be view of simple puzzles written on the walls and when I looked around, the first puzzle that got my attention had an answer of 3141. In my past life, there is a mathematical constant called "Ithe" and the value is 3.1416 going to infinity however it is commonly rounded to 3.14.
I ignored it at first but when I tasted my first loss, I realized that even with an intelligence of an adult, I could not make it to top ten. I started worrying about my placing but I can't help but sympathize for my rivals. Only five years olds and they probably have been trained to play chess since they got out from their mother's wombs.
There were around two hundred players and on the second day, I had another loss making me at top 50. I had no choice but to try figuring out the puzzles.
Later though, I could not find any continuation of the puzzles even when I asked the arbiters. I was probably over thinking it so I gave up.
Even as losers, we were given a special token and four gold coins we could use to purchase cultivation resources at discounted price at the second floor of this magnificent building. I walked upstairs and while I was looking at the display of herbs, pills and magic tools I could trade my allowance for, I noticed a violet token that costs 3 silvers and 141 coppers.
It was too much of a coincidence and why would it be written as such when logically, it should have been written at 4 silvers and 41 coppers. It was the only item at that price and when I asked the shop keeper, he told me it is a ticket to enter third floor. I exchanged it without hesitation.
I walked the stairs towards third floor and before I could reach the top, a guard stopped me and warned that once I entered the room, they can no longer offer a refund. He handed me a book containing list of items sold on the third floor. He told me to look carefully as it would be a waste of opportunity to buy items at discounted price.
When I opened the book, I confirmed the guard was not lying. Most of the items listed would only cost four gold coins maximum however the items on the second floor can be sold at most from silver to gold coins. The book only had five pages and when I turned to the third and fourth pages, there were cultivation techniques and foreign letters and characters, and the fifth page, I saw familiar math problems again.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The first question had an answer of 5, 9 on the second and 286 on the third. I had a hunch this was the continuation of the puzzle on the first floor so I insisted to proceed.
When I entered the store on the third floor, I noticed I was the only customer and the shopkeeper was and elderly Elven. I may not have awakened my meridians yet but I could feel that this old man is at Peak Core Formation.
There is not much to figure out. There were three images on the wall and one of them is a map of the town with number positioning like coordinates. By plotting 5 and 9, I was able to determine my next destination and as to who would be bringing me there, I just had to purchase a crest which was priced 2 silvers and 86 coppers. At that point, I was assured that solving these simple puzzles would lead me to something because the shopkeeper volunteered he will accompany me if I needed to go somewhere.
When I arrived at the place indicated on the map coordinates, I was greeted with an isolated mansion. I was asked to rest inside and after a few minutes, I sensed the arrival of powerful Nascent cultivator.
I promised to live an ordinary life yet here there I was, tangled with cultivators. I knew there is no turning back now.
I was brought to a room and the Nascent elder prepared tea for me. He was very polite and he even asked what tea do I prefer. He was acting like a maid and I felt like he would even prostrate if I asked him to. It was awkward being serviced by a respected master.
After I drank the first cup of tea, another Nascent Elder arrived. This time, a sword cultivator on the First Phase of Sword Dao. I was asked to answer twenty more questions and when I asked what would I get if I answer them right. The sword cultivator amicably smiled and did not answer and left.
There were thirty one papers each had its math question however the last paper only contains letters and characters of Ul Dialect. The questions involved simple math operations and the last five involved entry level algebra. I finished answering the twenty questions in less than five minutes however I did not immediately notify them I was done.
The separate paper provided to me where I have written down my answers were numbered 1 to 31 and I had answered 30 of them. I wanted to dismiss the idea that it was a typographical error but I felt like there was a thirty first question since there were 31 pages of questionnaires.
The problem however was that the last page did not contain a question and only contained the alphabet of the widespread dialect. I went over the questionnaires one by one to see if there were any hidden questions however after around twenty minutes of careful scrutiny, I had not found one.
I wondered if I was being timed. I stood up and walked around the table while thinking about the alphabets. No matter how I thought about it, I just could not formulate a question or a puzzle about the alphabet that is related to this test or maybe related to the number 31.
There is this joke about science that if there is no problem, then we do not have a problem. I sighed and decided to stop. That time, I may have really complicated it.
Just when I was arranging the papers, I noticed that all my answers were in numbers and page 31st are all letters and is arranged in sequence per Ul Dialect. I suddenly had an idea that the numbers on my answer sheet represents a letter in the alphabet. I sat down and tried decoding the numbers and when I was done, even I was amazed.
"laydemaymakailanannaiyanakakesh"
With proper spacing, it means, "would you like to see or meet a rebirther?" I wrote "yes” on number 31 and submitted my paper.
That afternoon, the test facilitator was kind enough to let me bid farewell to our village elders.
I was brought on an underwater temple near a water volcano and everything about this place is captivating. The Spiritual Qi was resonating in my un-awakened meridians indicating how concentrated and dense the surrounding Qi was. The security was tight and bellicose Nagas packs roamed the perimeters. For my final test, I used the same cryptography to open the door of the temple under the supervision of Naga cicerone.
I was expecting a live person who promulgated this game or at least a soul slave but what was waiting for me was a 3000 year old discursive notes and remnants of human who underwent beast transformation. It was there everything was revealed.
He called himself Clay and he reincarnated from the Mortal Plane and here to the Lower Plane and based on the description of the Array that caused the population of his previous world to have had gone extinct, the perpetrators had used a Formation signature of Immortal Emerald Soul Sect. They have a branch from a distant galaxy near FX35 Sector. I have drawn a rough sketch of the Lower Plane you can reference on with.
Based on his notes, he said that he built a game system that would filter reincarnates and help them live a comfortable life but the way I see it is that he built this to dedicate to anyone who might reincarnate from his old world. Nevertheless, his legacy has lived for more than 3000 years now.
Like me, he died in the name of science although I find it hard to believe he has successfully produced artificial Spiritual Veins. What I am saying is that, every civilization from Lower and Upper planes had been researching on this for millions of years and for him to create with his miracle eyes, is just unlikely.
Regardless where the Boulder Spiritual Veins came from, his ideals has lived three millennia now. I have left the most important aspect of my Dao research within this temple.
I had seen the map of this continent and based on the locations of the Teleportation Arrays built during the Great Invasion, I concluded that it was strategically positioned to follow the this planet's major moon's positions during Star Alignment. Base on my observation, it should happen at least every eight hundred years naturally waking up the Dao of a cultivator or two which will qualify them to become Overlords. I have drawn a full sketch to fill the missing points of the Array and notes regarding signs to look out for.
I have never heard about this Alb Ei Theory but it should be similar to Tam-ar Relativity. It states that the laws governing universes is based on the permutation of Spiritual Qi, Mana or Blue Qi as described, and the last one is Nether Qi. This theory has never made progress for eons now as one would, accordingly, need to travel other universes to collect massive samples of each primordial Qi to break the barrier of 4th Dimension.
The other problem is time movement difference.
As a highly respected scientist in my past life, some of the text here are fictitious and I do not know if they have been tampered or if they were indented to be written to amuse but certainly not to entertain gravitas. Being able to create Spiritual Veins, installing beast cores and attained godly powers, having the ability to see a person's soul, and to have the courage to say he wanted to help advance a perfect theory, I just find everything funny otherwise it would be a mockery of science should we treat it true.
Do not get me wrong but would you really believe this ridiculous claim?
Having given a second chance to life, I am burying my old self in this temple. If the reward is to become a wealthy cultivator and have access to everything that he has built, sadly I must decline. I would be lying if I say I was not attracted with such generous offer.
I had written everything that needed to be imparted be it my research, cultivation techniques, and a few tricks about spatial formations. If I tell them I could create a spatial ring with a space as wide as a mountain using the same materials they used, they would probably be tempted to search my soul.
When I stepped out of the cave, I was invited to see foreign alphabets they have retrieved on the shore line of Endless Sea a thousand years ago. The texts resembled the foreign characters from the test and they wanted my help to decode it as it is the language of their Kle In. I declined and told them it is not the Ancestor's will.
The truth is that I did not want to see anymore of Clay’s creation. This arcadia alone built around this water volcano alone was enough to mesmerize me and I may change my mind and pursue cultivation again if I stayed any longer. I vowed to keep everything secret.
I felt ashamed not getting a place during this Chess tournament, however I received the similar rewards a champion had received and enough to support a sybaritic life I initially planned.
Not everyone is given second chances. To whoever has chanced upon this biography, may you find meaning and contentment in this life.
- Ya’ur
Gar-Wahgar Calendar 38227-08-10
On an isolated hill near Mur Av'ic Village, a luxurious villa overlooks a peaceful mid-sized village. The building has maintained is grandeur despite the passage of time. Only the village leader can bypass the Tier IV Isolation and Defensive protecting the Arrays and when he enters, it is to cut down pesky tall grasses.
Inside the residence, a tiny palladium inserted at the edge of an elongated desk shinned emitting a blinding light and in the blink of an eye, a horned devil materialized.