&?@+)?

All I knew was the cold, cold void. A vast, endless scape of darkness. There was no need to dream or think in this empty space. You only float for eternity.

But that has all changed today.

"What is that?" I thought as my eyes tiredly looked towards a tiny flicker of light in front of me.

It didn't respond.

I continue to stare at the tiny spot of bright milky white. I continue to stare, with only the silence of the void to accompany me. It was at this point that I began to ponder. Why. Why do I know these words? Why do I know their meaning? Why do I know what they are used for?

No one has taught me this. Not that there was anyone to teach you in the void. I know that if there were someone in this void, they probably did not know how to teach, let alone think. Not that there was a reason to, though; why think when you could only float in this endless sea of black?

My attention steered towards the bright orb in front of me, the orb emitting a low, soft hum as I did so. Is this a sound? It's. It is beautiful. I want to listen to more of it. I want to know if I can make it myself.

My eyes furrowed at the thought. I need a body for that, don't I? I tried to produce a sound, any sound, but it was futile. No sound comes out. It was a nice, hopeful dream. But ultimately impossible in the void.

Wait. Eyes? I don't have a body. Why do I even know what eyes are? Why do I also know how to produce sound? Why did I also recognize that the sound the orb produced was called a hum?

Why the hell do I even know what a sound is?

Wait, what is hell?

A spiritual realm of evil and suffering.

What is evil?

An immoral and wicked thought or action.

I don't like evil. I now dream of the day when evil is vanquished.

Wait, what is a dream?

One's hopes, aspirations, or ideals

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What is hope?

A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

What do I expect? What do I desire?

I look towards the humming orb of blinding light. Its low hum calls and beckons me to come closer. To experience something new. To experience a dream. To experience hope. To experience change.

"I desire change, and I expect it to be good."

With that, a blanket of warmth and peace envelopes my vision and soul.

Wait, what is a soul?

Just another thing for me to experience, I guess.

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Alester Pov

OK, my guns are purring; they crave blood! But I won't give them it. Yet. I'll just have to see if the superhuman I made doesn't attack me.

But Father, we crave the slaughter and demise of our enemy!

Yes, my child, but right now we do not have an enemy. Sheesh, these machine guns are quite the handful. I'm not insane; you are! Oh, hey, it looks like the superhuman is starting to form.

Hmm, it looks like it's not instant; there seems to be a process. Probably because he should not even exist.

Because not only is he a 7-foot-tall giant, he's also unnaturally beautiful. I also gave him a swimmer's build because that's what I believe is most appealing. Not too buff, not too unbuff. If that is even a word,

Now for the other features. His bones are so tough and strong that they can be compared to steel. His organs are also incredibly enhanced, which means every breath he takes is HD 4K quality.

Any flesh wound can heal within days; this includes bones. Not that I'm worried about him breaking his bones when his are literally steel, but I also made them heal just as fast just in case. But I also wanted to avoid flesh wounds all together, so I made his skin as tough as carbon fiber plates but also as smooth as a baby's bottom.

I also kind of wanted him to do magic, so I also made it so that he could passively absorb energy like me and boost his energy reserves. You know what fuck this is. I'm calling it mana. Energy for me, mana for mortals

But Alester, your ego's going to inflate. Like, shut up; I can do magic. And I know when to stop, and right now, there is no need to. Besides, it was already inflated.

Anyway, he can also forcefully increase the size of his mana reserves by, ugh, cultivating.

*shivers*.

I have wasted way too many brain cells reading cultivation stories. Barely any good ones. It's not that it's a bad concept; it's the execution that makes me want to burn down the studio that made it. Like, bruh, can we have one that doesn't have a harem? My brother is seen as some sort of Sigma male giga Chad, when in reality he's a narcissistic asshole to women and men. Kind of like me.

I'm not saying that all cultivation stories are awful. It's just that there's a one in 100 chance that it's good. If the Mc is male, expect it to be shit with a shit ton of fan service. If it's a female, it's 50/50 hit or miss. If it had a harem, I bet you wouldn't last 10 chapters. Then again, I've mostly read manwhas and manhuas.

Although I really like the book-type cultivation stories, I'm not going to lie; there are a lot of amazing stories.

With that rant out of the way, I look back towards my heavily enhanced human.

Maybe I should add a bit more to him. Maybe a distinct feature that separates each human from the others? I know this is a bad idea, but right now I want specific humans with specific talents to work on specific roles.

Like one could work on construction, so I give them the power to control the earth. And the more talented they are, the more powerful their earth magic is. This also goes with any other element of a task.

Hmmm. Maybe I should give them different eye colors. Yeah, and maybe night vision that allows them to see either the surroundings, basically normal night vision goggles, or infrared vision. Yeah, I'm giving them eye colors for each element.

OK, but how about my first specimen? I want him and his bloodline to only have a very distinct eye color. I got it. Their eye color can change based on the element they are using or their current emotions. Yeah, that's the one.

I'll work out the rest of the kinks when my first specimen is complete. OK, time to add the eye features before he's complete.

Alakazow

Abraca-show

Your eyes are now a rainbow!

Nailed it.

Ahem, right on time, it looks like the lazy lug has decided to wake up. "Hey there, sleepy head!"

Awh. His blank-to-absolutely terrified expression is kind of cute. I wonder why? Oh well, some mysteries are better left unsolved. Oh, it looks like his expression changed to... Admiration?

Hmmmm. I'll give you a cool name—something that represents my idea for him. My idea of him was someone with honor, an unbreakable will, someone who would abandon his loyalty if he found the actions of his leader to be wrong and unjust, and someone with a pure heart.

I think my intent may have affected him as well. I can feel the heroism from here. Sigh, you can't be named something too edgy, or it wouldn't fit, or something that isn't bland or purposefully funny.

Hmmmm..... Got it.

"I will name you Ivictus Victorious. Now get on your feet; we have much to do."