As I had suspected, life as a baby is incredibly hard. Over the past five years and eleven months, I've faced plenty of ups and a few downs.
The downs? Well, the humiliation of constant cloth changes tops the list. Yes, cloth—since this era is set in an ancient society, long before the invention of diapers. I had to make do with clean cloth. Even after buying a Body Control skill, it's practically impossible to hold everything together. And while I did have the option to mind-control my parents, I avoided it as much as possible, only using it once to escape the awkwardness of breastfeeding. You know, adult mind, infant body—it's just not something I could deal with.
Another challenge has been deciding whether to tell my parents about my reincarnation. I've decided to reveal Sanctuary to them and persuade them to move there after my Martial Soul Awakening ceremony tomorrow. However, as for my reincarnation, that's a secret I'll likely keep for the next 80 to 90 years. Maybe I'll tell a partial truth, claiming to have the power to live different lives while assuring them they are my first real parents. That wouldn't even be a lie—I was an orphan in my previous life and never experienced foster care for reasons I'd rather not think about.
Now for the ups. The biggest one is, without a doubt, the Login function. The Gacha rolls—one 100x and two 1000x—provided me with an incredible range of rewards.
The five most noteworthy rewards I received from the Gacha are as follows:
The first is a couple of Liquor Apes, a mating pair, they are ape-like creatures that specializes in crafting various types of alcoholic beverages. I was surprised to discover that liquor made by even an amateur ape is valued at 50,000 SP in the System Shop. I spent about 60k SP on buying the best instruments they might need.
The second is Lightning Falls, a location teeming with an overabundance of lightning energy compatible with all power systems. It's an ideal place for lightning users to enhance their abilities and deepen their understanding of lightning. This location was automatically integrated into the lightning zone of Sanctuary and classified as an S-Rank zone. While all zones I create in the Sanctuary can evolve naturally over thousands of years, starting at C-Rank and improving over time, obtaining Lightning Falls directly as an S-Rank zone saved me an enormous amount of time and effort.
The third is The Library, which initially could only scan and store books that had been published in the world I'm in. After investing about a month's worth of SP, about 600k, into upgrades , it now has the capability to store any knowledge that isn't protected by spells or deliberately kept secret by its original owner.
The fourth is a fascinating creature called Elemental Cloud Grass. This sentient grass has the potential to grow into a sapient entity and can thrive in virtually any environment—whether on the sun, the moon, deep sea, deep space, or even within a time tunnel. Its texture is extraordinarily soft, akin to touching a cloud. For every 1,000-kilometer radius it covers, it creates a five-meter radius area where the learning of elemental manipulation for that specific element improves by approximately tenfold. This effect triples with each doubling of the covered area. I was limited to adding it to only one zone for every 3 years that I experience. The first batch was added to the lightning zone- Lightning Falls.
Finally, the fifth is the World Recycling Unit, which was also integrated into the Sanctuary automatically. This unit collects all waste and unused items from my realm and transforms them into new and improved products. For example, waste fruit peels are converted into fertilizer that boosts plant growth by at least two times, and broken glasses are repaired with the added benefit of enhancing reading speed. The quality of products depends on the quality of waste, like a magical banana peel will produce better fertilizer compared to an entire bunch of normal banana. I've made a mental note to establish a division dedicated to reverse-engineering whatever innovations it produces.
The other function of the Login feature—the Sign-In function—also brought in a variety of gifts. These included mostly animals, books, magical items that aren't immediately useful, pieces of technology from mundane worlds, and even a sling ring from a Marvel Universe. However, the best rewards came from the annual Sign-Ins, which occur exactly 28 days before my birthday.
The first major reward was the Six Eyes from the JJK world. Originally, these eyes granted me 360-degree vision, expanded sight extending upwards to 25 kilometers, drastically reduced energy consumption for all my abilities due to precise energy manipulation down to the atomic level, and near-instantaneous brain processing. This boosted both my comprehension and reaction speed significantly. On my status page, my dexterity is now listed as DEX: 82 (x50), although I'll need to grow physically stronger to fully utilize it. When I tested its limits by swinging my arm at full dexterity, my regeneration and pain resistance both gained 18 levels from the process of regrowing my arm.
As impressive as the Six Eyes were, I wanted more. I invested about 40% of my stored SP into upgrading them. These upgrades transformed the Six Eyes into a Martial Soul capable of auto-generating spirit rings and endowed it with an innate ability to absorb the powers of any additional special eyes I may acquire in the future. I could keep it and one of its soul skills passively active for an infinite time or deactivate it completely so my eyes become normal for however long I wanted. I'm keeping them active 24/6 mostly because it's cool and for the passive INT and WIS increase due to analysing my surroundings, I switch them off once a week to just relax. Moving on...
The spirit rings generated were all abilities from the JJK World. Through semi-serious training, I had raised my level to 30, which allowed my Six Eyes to generate three soul skills.
[Soul Arms: (Martial Soul) Six Eyes:
Soul Ring Abilities:
1. Limitless: Manipulates space to create an infinite barrier, halting attacks before they can reach the user. Advanced users can use it offensively to make — Lapse Blue: a mass of infinite attraction pulling all matter towards itself, Reversal Red: a mass of infinite repulsive force that violently tears everything away from itself, and Hollow Purple: a paradoxical mass made by combining Lapse Blue and Reversal Red simultaneously that disintegrates anything within its radius.
2. Space Transfer: Marks a location or object in space, allowing the user to transfer themselves or others to the marked point instantly. Advanced mastery enables seamless transfers to moving targets.
3. Soul Imprint: Marks a target's energy signature, allowing the user to track them across vast distances or disrupt their abilities temporarily. The disruption weakens the target's control over their energy, making it harder for them to perform techniques.]
The 2nd and 3rd skills really meshed well together as Space Transfer was limited to the area within my vision, but this weakness was cancelled out by the Soul Imprint ability.
The second thing was a lady Phoenix, whom I named Rena, originating from a Harry Potter AU world. She possesses extraordinary powers: Rebirth from Ashes, Agelessness, Multiverse Travel, Time Travel, Unbarred Flame Teleportation, Flame Manipulation, Self-Size Manipulation, Mind Magic and Sacred Tears capable of healing anything.
Her Multiverse and Time Travel abilities are limited to worlds and time periods where a fire-attributed phoenix exists, but this restriction hardly diminishes her usefulness. Her Sacred Tears can even revive the recently deceased if applied within a minute of death.
Rena is fully sapient, with intelligence comparable to an average PhD holder. Despite not possessing a humanoid form, she behaves like a teasing older sister—a dynamic I occasionally find odd given her non-humanoid appearance. However, as a resident of Sanctuary and being automatically bound to me, she can cultivate like a soul beast. Upon reaching the 100,000-year cultivation mark, she will gain a humanoid form without losing her current strength or abilities. Thankfully, she won't have to endure the thunder tribulations that are standard in the outside world—a definite plus for both of us.
This was made possible thanks to Chanis perfectly implementing my wish for a harmonious power system that integrates abilities from various worlds, alongside beneficial evolution and growth mechanics for all beings in Sanctuary. Without these features, I would have needed to purchase single, less versatile versions of each function for at least 10 million SP each. However, the versions I currently have are so advanced that just one of them would've cost me so much I'd have to be super frugal for the next hundred years—even with the infinite money cheat active at full power.
She mostly spends her time in the fire zone of Sanctuary, visiting other areas only if I'm present.
The third thing was an ability called Omni-racial, which I renamed to Omnitrix because of its functionality. It allows me to change my race, archive genetic data, fuse traits, and edit genes to create new racial combinations. I can also decide whether to retain my normal appearance or adopt the appearance of the race I'm transforming into. However, keeping my normal appearance restricts the racial powers, limiting their effectiveness to 50-90% based on how different that race is from my natural form.
Similar to the real Omnitrix, this ability comes with a time limit, a cooldown, and a restriction on the number of races I can transform into. At level 1, the transformation lasted 10 minutes, had a 1-hour cooldown, and was capped at 10 races, with the races' average potential limited to D Rank: Large Celestial Body. Since I haven't found much use for it yet, it's only leveled up to 19. Now, the time limit has increased, the cooldown has decreased significantly, and the race limit has grown to 19. However, the D Rank potential limit remains unchanged and will only increase to C Rank at level 100, continuing to rise by one rank every 100 levels until it reaches SSS Rank.
I just need to get my hands on some DNA to be able to transform into different races, as the ability itself didn't come with a DNA library—or whatever a collection of DNA is called.
The fourth was a function added to Sanctuary called Safe Harvest. This function allows me to harvest materials like organs or any body parts from both sapient and non-sapient beings without causing them pain or harm, and the harvested part regrows within seconds. However, in the case of sapient beings, they must be willing participants. If they refuse, I can't take their parts, even if they are killed. In such cases, their bodies either decompose or are recycled in the World Recycling Unit, with a 50-50 chance unaffected by luck. Additionally, each individual can only be harvested once a month.
The last noteworthy reward was a Knowledge Simulation Card (Limit: Rank D). This card allows me to simulate a life from the moment of activation up to a span of 100 years. In the simulation, my simulated self focuses entirely on gathering and researching knowledge about a specific subject I choose at the start. I also get to select a version of the world I'm in and one talent to use during the simulation. At the end of the simulation, I retain all the knowledge gathered, and if I perform exceptionally well, I can keep the talent and one item that was in my possession for even a moment during the simulated life.
After reviewing all the Login rewards I'd received, I found myself reminiscing about a few encounters I had during my secret adventures. Using Sanctuary, I often snuck off to various parts of the Douluo Continent, taking advantage of the freedom my parents granted me to wander unsupervised since I turned three and a half.
Flashback no Jutsu: 3 and a half years old...
"Alright, my dear son. Now that you're three and a half, you're old enough to play outside on your own. But remember, don't go further than Auntie Lin's dumpling shop or Little Brother Kin Kong's carpentry shop. And make sure you're back before the sun sets," my mother, Li Mei, said, looking into my ethereal blue eyes as she gently ran her hand through my shoulder-length black hair.
Meanwhile, my father, Xu Rong, was busy working on a customer's order, smiling as he listened to my mother repeat herself for the umpteenth time.
Seeing the pleading look I was giving him, my father's smile turned into a broad grin. "Alright, Xiao Mei, let little Usha go and make some friends," he said cheerfully.
As my mother turned toward him, ready to argue once again about how I was still too young to wander outside alone, I seized the opportunity and bolted out of our restaurant's door.
After running for a few minutes, I made sure I was alone in the alley I had ducked into before teleporting to Sanctuary. The moment I arrived, I was ambushed—picked up and squeezed into two soft mounds. I managed to escape the hug only after poking my captor's sides for air.
As soon as I was released, I looked up to see Maya. Before I could say anything, a light, warm weight settled on my shoulder. Turning my head, I saw Rena, who had used her size manipulation ability to shrink herself into an adorable, chick-sized phoenix. She looked utterly cute, especially as she rubbed her cheek against mine.
Rubbing my cheek against hers in return, I greeted them both with a cheerful, "Hey Rena! Maya! What were you doing?"
Rena tilted her head, her mental voice dripping with mock disappointment. "You know, Usha, for someone with the ability to pop in here whenever you want, you sure don't visit enough. What kind of little brother keeps his big sister waiting weeks on end? Shameful, really."
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. "Hey, I visit! Just... not as often as you'd like. Life outside is busy, you know? Parents, chores, pretending to be a clueless kid—it takes up a lot of time."
Rena's feathers ruffled dramatically, her voice growing even more teasing. "Excuses, excuses. Do you have any idea how long it feels between your visits? And don't you dare say, 'Time flows differently here,' because it doesn't change the fact that you're neglecting me."
I chuckled, shaking my head. "Alright, you've got a point. But come on, Rena, give me some credit—you've grown ridiculously strong. Almost 50,000 years of cultivation in just two years? That's insane."
She fluffed up, glowing faintly with pride. "Well, of course! Did you think I'd be slacking off while you were out there playing pretend? The energy density and quality in Sanctuary are practically tailor-made for someone as amazing as me. By the time you turn six, I'll reach 100,000 years of cultivation. Then I'll finally take on my human form, and unlike the outside world, I won't lose any of my strength when I transform. Those pesky god-imposed restrictions don't work here, after all."
I raised an eyebrow. "And more importantly you'll be able to switch between your phoenix and human forms at will, right?"
"Exactly!" Rena said, puffing out her chest. "Imagine how useful that'll be when you're trying to convince those Fierce Beasts to join Sanctuary. Who wouldn't want a home where they can grow stronger without risking death or losing their evolution potential?"
Maya, standing nearby, chimed in with a serene smile. "It's true. The conditions here amplify growth significantly. Not only is the time flow adjustable, but the energy density and purity make it the ideal cultivation environment. For example, the Spirit Rice fields from your Login rewards are producing grains that enhance energy recovery and slightly improve cultivation efficiency over time. It's not overly powerful, but it provides steady, reliable support for long-term growth."
I nodded, impressed. "And what about the Elemental Cloud Grass?"
Maya gestured gracefully. "It's thriving. Right now, it's creating small zones where elemental insights are amplified tenfold. With careful management, those zones will expand over the next few years, potentially benefiting all residents."
Before I could respond, Rena leaned closer, her soft talons gripping my shoulder. Her tone turned playfully stern. "And don't think that just because you're praising my accomplishments, I'll let you off the hook. You still owe me more visits, little brother. I might forgive you... if you promise to come every few days."
I laughed, shaking my head. "Every few days? I don't think my parents would buy that if I disappear hours on end plus using time manipulation too much would make life boring in the early stages. But I'll try to visit more often, okay?"
Rena gave a satisfied chirp, nudging her head against mine. "Good. And if you don't, don't blame me if I swoop down into your mortal town and remind everyone just how amazing I am."
Maya sighed, shaking her head fondly. "Rena, you're supposed to support him, not bully him into submission."
Rena smirked. "I'm supporting him—just in my own way. It's what older sisters do."
"Alright," I said, rubbing my hands together as we settled into the Nature Zone. "Now that I've got some freedom, what should we do next?"
Rena fluffed her feathers and hopped onto my shoulder, her telepathic voice teasing. "Why not visit some towns and enjoy your little act as an innocent kid? You've been cooped up too long."
Maya chimed in, her voice calm and thoughtful. "Or we could explore more interesting areas. There's still plenty left to uncover in this world—and the Shop has maps you haven't even considered buying yet."
I scratched my chin, considering their suggestions. Then an idea struck me. "Actually, I've been thinking. What if we retrieved the Blue Silver Empress seedling and her Soul Bone? You both know the story—she's wasted in that cave."
Rena gave an approving chirp, her feathers glinting in the soft light. "Now that's an idea I can get behind. Tang Hao doesn't deserve her."
Maya nodded, her serene expression hiding a hint of sharpness. "Agreed. Ah Yin's been reduced to nothing more than a tool in his plans. Bringing her to Sanctuary would give her a true chance to recover."
---
The cave was as unwelcoming as I remembered from the animated adaptation. Its air was heavy, stale, and completely devoid of the vitality necessary for plant growth. The only reason Ah Yin's seedling remained alive was her ability to leech nutrients from the surrounding Blue Silver Grass spirit beasts. Even then, her glow was faint, her life force barely holding on.
I knelt by the seedling, placing my hand gently on her leaves. Ah Yin, can you hear me?
There was a weak pulse in response, an acknowledgment of my presence. Her consciousness was faint but intact. Though she couldn't speak, the emotions I felt were enough—confusion, weariness, and the faintest glimmer of hope.
"Don't worry," I murmured. "I'm getting you out of here. You deserve better than this."
Carefully, I uprooted the seedling, cradling her in my arms as Rena snatched the Soul Bone with her talons.
"Let's go before Tang Hao realizes what's happened," Maya said, her tone urgent yet composed.
---
Back in Sanctuary, we placed Ah Yin's seedling in the Nature Zone, at the heart of a lush area surrounded by Elemental Cloud Grass. The vibrant energy of the zone was a stark contrast to the oppressive cave, and I could already feel her responding to the change, her glow brightening slightly.
"Now she has a real chance to come back," Maya said softly, adjusting the soil around Ah Yin's roots.
I nodded, stepping back to admire the scene. "Let's see how Tang Hao reacts."
---
Through a viewing portal, we watched as Tang Hao stormed into the cave, his expression quickly shifting from confusion to fury.
"Who dares?!" he roared, his voice echoing off the cavern walls. "Who stole her from me?!"
He collapsed to his knees, his fists pounding the ground. "Ah Yin... my Ah Yin... You were supposed to be here for Tang San. For our son's awakening. For my vengeance!"
His words tumbled out in a rage-fueled rant, revealing more than he likely intended. "I staged your death so the Spirit Hall would take the blame, so I could become the youngest Titled Duoluo with the highest level spirit ring possible! I kept you alive only to awaken our son's Blue Silver Empress Bloodline so that he could help me exact vengeance upon the Spirit Hall for causing my Father's death! And now... now they've stolen you! The thief will pay. I'll make them suffer for trying to steal Tang San's birthright!"
Rena bristled, her feathers glowing faintly. "What a selfish bastard. He wasn't even keeping her alive for her sake—just for his own revenge and schemes."
Maya's voice was calm but laced with disdain. "And blaming the Spirit Hall for her 'death'? For his Father's death?His father's death was his own fault, and he's using Ah Yin and the Spirit Hall to justify it all."
I glanced at Ah Yin's seedling, her glow dimming slightly as if reacting to Tang Hao's revelations. "He doesn't deserve her. And he doesn't deserve vengeance, though giving him false hope should be fun."
Rena hopped closer to the seedling, her tone softening. "Don't let his actions define you, Ah Yin. You're more than his tool. You have a chance to thrive here, away from his schemes. Just focus on growing up, even stronger than before in this Sanctuary where only you can decide how strong you become."
After making sure we had planted her firmly in the middle of the Elemental Cloud Grass, its vibrant energy enveloping her, we left. Maya left behind a shadow clone to keep her company, ensuring she wouldn't feel alone as she processed the revelations about Tang Hao.
As we walked away, I glanced back at Ah Yin, her glow starting to stabilize. "She'll need time," I said softly. "Time to heal and to learn the truth about everything she doesn't know yet."
Rena nodded, her voice firm. "And when she's ready, we'll be here for her. But right now, she deserves peace."
Maya agreed, her gaze lingering on the seedling. "Let's hope she finds it here, in Sanctuary."
As we left the Nature Zone, my thoughts drifted to the future. Ah Yin's recovery would take time, but in Sanctuary, she had every chance to reclaim her strength and her identity—free from the shadows of her past. Though I wonder how she will react after learning her real son died at birth, with his body taken over by a transmigrated old man.
I will just have her learn mind reading magic and extract a promise to use it on Tang San from the moment of his birth or buy the animation of an AU Duoluo Dalu series where the characters I don't like are really bad, manipulative bastards to show Ah Yin.
Flashback no Jutsu ends...
---
Returning from my thoughts, I headed downstairs to the restaurant area of my house for dinner with my family after closing time. As my dad finished cooking, Mom set up the table. I picked up my chopsticks and took a bite of braised rabbit meat, made from a normal rabbit. I couldn't help but think about Xiao Wu and her mother, Rou Xin, and how Rena and I saved them from being captured or killed by Titled Douluos from the Spirit Hall when I was just four years and three months old.
---
Flashback no Jutsu: Star Dou Forest
Bored out of my mind from reading books, I wandered through the Star Dou Forest with Rena, who was perched on my shoulder, the size of a chick. She was practicing her recently acquired Observation Haki while I had my newly acquired Martial Soul, the Six Eyes, fully active. The Six Eyes allowed me to scan a 15-kilometer radius for any potential danger.
About nine kilometers west, I spotted a group of legendary God-Slaying beasts —the Wind Baboons, the only species of Spirit Beasts whose member nearly killed a future God. Without hesitation, I turned east, ignoring Rena's tsk of annoyance at the uneventful journey. She thought I was being overly cautious, especially since both my hospital and even Rena herself could heal me from death if needed. But I wasn't eager to return to the hospital, not after my last mishap.
That incident occurred when I swung my arm at full reflexive speed using the Six Eyes. My body wasn't strong enough to handle the strain, and I ended up tearing off my own left hand. I had to beg Rena for days to shed a single tear to heal me, avoiding a lengthy hospital stay. The phantom force running the hospital was still learning to administer anesthesia properly, and I wasn't keen on being its test subject again. Fortunately, Maya had set the time difference in Sanctuary so that only a few seconds passed in the outside world during my recovery.
That experience solidified my determination to recruit skilled medical professionals for Sanctuary, prioritising those with talent in medicine to all other fields. It also shifted my focus from studying solely technology to diving into both medicine and technology.
But I shook off those thoughts, determined to focus on my exploration of the Star Dou Fo— Wait, what was that?
I turned my head north and about eleven kilometres away, I spotted a pair of Soft Boned Rabbits fleeing from five Spirit Hall pursuers—two Super Douluos and three Titled Douluos. The rabbits were making a desperate dash toward the forest's core. One of them was clearly a 100,000-year-old beast, while the other was nearing the same level.
The best approach would be to have Rena use her Flame Teleport to grab the rabbits and return immediately. However, for that to work, she'd need to land directly on top of them, which wasn't possible. Her Observation Haki's precise sensing range was only seven kilometers, though she could scan up to thirteen kilometers with less accuracy.
Time to get aboard the Sanctuary Express.
I quickly returned to Sanctuary and explained the situation to Rena. Maya had just arrived and listened in as I relayed the details.
With a mental command, I moved Sanctuary to hover above the fleeing rabbits in an instant. I counted to three.
One… Two… Three…
Rena appeared above the rabbits, clutching one in each of her talons before teleporting back into Sanctuary. The Spirit Hall Douluos were left bewildered, scratching their heads in confusion. One higher-ranked Douluo stayed behind to search the area, while the others scattered to search nearby.
Inside Sanctuary, I looked at the rabbits in Rena's talons. There was no doubt in my mind—they were Xiao Wu and her mother. Though I didn't know her name at the time, her connection to Xiao Wu was obvious. And they were the only two rabbit soul beasts I knew.
As I processed what had just happened, I couldn't help but wonder why Bibi Dong wasn't leading this operation.
Turning my focus to the two shocked, motionless rabbits, I chuckled but didn't blame them for their reaction. They hadn't sensed Rena teleporting above them, and it wasn't their fault. Even though they possessed a Teleportation skill of their own, not even Gods could detect someone teleporting to and from Sanctuary for a few seconds.
Thankfully, Sanctuary had masked Rena's presence when she teleported above them. That brief window was essential, as I could only bring higher-level beings into Sanctuary if they were willing, or at least not resisting, and if I harbored no harmful intentions toward them. Had they resisted, even for a moment, Rena would have been forced to flee using Flame Teleportation and return only after we explained the situation.
As the 100,000-year-old rabbit regained her composure, her younger counterpart— her daughter, Xiao Wu—followed her lead. I halted my internal monologue and asked Rena and Maya to sing a calming song. Singing songs that evoked positive emotions in beings was a passive trait of phoenixes in many versions of the Harry Potter worlds I'd read about, and it seemed fitting now.
Watching the restless rabbits gradually calm down under the influence of the soothing melody, I spoke up to explain the situation after signalling Rena and Maya to stop singing, although a bit reluctantly. "Hello, little rabbits! You escaped by the hairs of your necks. I wonder, who's luckier—you two or me?"
The elder rabbit gently replied, her voice surprisingly human—an ability all soul beasts gained upon reaching 100,000 years of cultivation. "Human, why did you save us? If you desire a Red Soul Ring and Bone, I am willing to sacrifice myself to you, so long as you let Xiao Wu go free."
I couldn't help but marvel at the depth of a mother's love for her child, as well as her sharp intuition from the way her wary eyes darted toward Maya, the most dangerous person among us, capable of using all our skills better than us. With a small laugh, I reassured her, "Don't worry about your lives here. I have no such intentions. I was simply wandering the forest when I saw you being chased. Since both of you seem to have cultivated to a 100,000 year level —or are on the verge of it—and have developed sapiensce, I decided to step in and help. After all, it's not your fault the Gods of this world are deathly afraid of another Spirit Beast rising to the level of the Dragon God."
While speaking, I opened a portal near Ah Yin's area in the Nature Zone, gesturing for Xiao Wu and her mother to follow after Rena had released them from her talons.
"So, the younger one is Xiao Wu, and I still don't know your name, Miss Rabbit. By the way, my name is Usha, surname Xu. You can just call me Usha, and the pretty phoenix is Rena, while the lovely young woman carrying her is Maya. They are my future lovers." The last part I said to make it clear that anyone I want to bring into my harem should understand they wouldn't be my sole partner. I ignored Maya's blushing and Rena's sputtering.
Stopping, I gestured around us and said, "And this is Sanctuary! Or to be specific, the Nature Zone of Sanctuary." I ignored the mother-daughter duo's jaw-dropped rabbit faces, most likely due to the sheer amount of Soul Power and Plant elemental energy present, along with the passive and slow increase in vitality gained just from staying in the area.
About a few dozen meters from the area Ah Yin was planted in, I used the Plant Magic learned from a tome I got in my first-ever sign-in to build a small but cozy hut for Xiao Wu and her mother, Rou Xin, who told me her name after coming out of her shock again. With Maya helping to fix any mistakes I made, the hut was built within minutes.
Turning to the pair of rabbits, I asked, "So? What do you say? Wanna be a part of Sanctuary? And if you have someone in the outside world, you can bring them to stay here too. In fact, if you stay here, you can even meet Ah Yin, the Blue Silver Empress whom we rescued a while ago. Plus, there are various benefits of staying here beyond the energy levels. The biggest being that you can freely transform between your human and soul beast forms, use your full strength in your soul beast form, and even become a God as a soul beast."
To make the pair of rabbits more agreeable, I took them to meet Ah Yin, whose physical and mental health had improved tremendously over the months and who should be able to turn into a human at about the same time as Rena.
I also showed them my Six Eyes Martial Soul and demonstrated how it could generate its own soul rings by generating my second soul skill, Space Marker. I had reached level 20 a few days ago but, for reasons I couldn't remember, had been putting off generating my second soul ring. I didn't tell them about having another unawakened Martial Soul that would require hunting soul beasts for spirit rings if I didn't just use the Shop to solve the problem. That information could wait until I built a good relationship with them.
It took an hour of me, Ah Yin, Maya, and Rena continuously reassuring them before they agreed to stay. To provide additional reassurance, I even offered Xiao Wu the chance to hold me hostage while Rou Xin tested transforming into a human. This would give them some leverage if anything went wrong with her mother. Xiao Wu seemed torn, but Rou Xin declined the offer, stating she would transform at the same time as her daughter, which, according to my calculations, should be a month before Rena transforms and a few days after Ah Yin regains enough strength to transform.
Rou Xin then asked me to bring in the Titan Giant Ape, Er Ming, and the Azure Bull Python, Da Ming. I agreed on the condition that she be the one to convince them.
Following Rou Xin's direction, we appeared before Da Ming and Er Ming, and before long, they had agreed to settle in Sanctuary. I created a Rainforest Zone for them right beside the Nature Zone to get them comfortably situated.
Letting out a sudden yawn, I realized it had been a hectic day, so I quickly marked the newcomers with Sanctuary's entry key, which had the secret function of letting Maya monitor them, and left for my house where only a couple of hours had passed compared to my four, thanks to Sanctuary. Before exiting Sanctuary, I instructed Maya to answer as many of their questions as she thought was proper, after which I exited Sanctuary and hurriedly moved towards my bed, immediately falling asleep.
What an unexpectedly hectic day it was. Sigh!
Flashback no Jutsu ends...
---
"....sha... Usha... Usha!" My mom's repeated calls finally pull me out of my walk down memory lane.
Turning my attention to her, I see my mom pointing at my plate, her tone sharp as she says, "Finish your food before getting lost in your daydreams!"
Mumbling an apology, I pick up my chopsticks and quickly resume eating. The flavors of the meal barely register, though a sudden chill creeping down my spine almost makes me drop my utensils.
---
Maya Vyas' POV:
I quietly store the memory of Usha getting scolded by dear mother-in-law, adding it to the collection of his more... amusing moments. Embarrassing or endearing, every little snippet has its value, though I doubt he'd appreciate my reasons for keeping them.
Satisfied, I return my focus to the Miltanks grazing nearby. These sturdy creatures have become part of Sanctuary's rhythm, their milk contributing to the ecosystem. Caring for them isn't just a task—it's grounding, a reminder of the life this place nurtures.
Movement catches my eye, and I spot Xiao Wu darting through the field, her expression torn between laughter and desperation. Not far behind her, Rou Xin follows, her stern gaze locked on her daughter. Clearly, Xiao Wu has done something again.
I chuckle softly, shaking my head. Sanctuary has its fair share of chaos, but it's these small, ordinary moments that make it feel alive.
Finishing with the feeding troughs, I glance at the rabbits again. Xiao Wu has given up, Rou Xin catching her with a stern but patient air. Content with the balance of order and play, I turn my attention back to the peaceful hum of the Nature Zone.
This place, with its gentle vitality and endless potential, is more than a refuge. It's proof of what we're building together—safety, growth, and second chances.