NOVEL WEB Chapter 2 – Wishes & A Girl’s Birth
---------------Soul’s P.O.V--------------
I need an answer to one question before I can start considering anything else.
‘What will happen to my existence in my world?’ I need to know how all of this affects my family after all…
“Your existence will be removed from the world timeline itself, we don’t want a world’s system malfunctioning after all.” Says goddess Alkreya with a reluctant expression, clearly regretting the missed chance of wreaking havoc on an entire world.
This cheers me up and saddens me at the same time, my death won’t affect my family, but they will forget about my existence as their son. Despite the downside, shouldering it alone is the least I can do to repay the sleepless nights they endured and the efforts they have made to make life bearable.
I gave a mental small smile and mumble a thank you in a barely heard voice.
‘Oh? Such a tone is surprising for his normal demeanor. The female soul should be what is causing it fufufu. It was all just hidden under usual expressionlessness.’ Says Alkreya in her heart while trying to stifle her laughter at the thought of the boy’s expression after he reincarnates.
I’ve decided to go to the world of “So I’m a Spider, So What?” which means I should focus on wishes that can be attached to my soul instead of wasting them on my body, my new body will be lost after the classroom explosion, and that world mainly focuses on soul strength after all.
‘Does soul power help strengthen mental processes like calculation and analysis?’
“Normally, the body is a vessel for the soul. The brain conducts all the processes while the soul just exists to maintain consciousness, a human soul is too weak to do more after all. However, a strong enough soul can perform more functions in an exceedingly better way the stronger it becomes.” Alkreya narrows her eyes at me.
‘Is all space connected with every part of itself in the same universe? Is it connected to other worlds as well?’
“All space nodes in the same universe are connected, and certain space nodes are connected to other world nodes as well. However, some cosmic phenomena can interrupt this connection like black holes, supernovas in the same universe, and void storms between different world connections.” She explains casually while speaking about some really scary stuff as if she’s seen it happen with her own eyes.
Well, that answers my questions and my wishes have been decided.
‘Then, my first wish is the highest talent and knowledge to the utmost possible in the soul branch of the world. Including from general knowledge to the most obscure of magic.’
“Granted, but understanding this knowledge is up to you, it will all depend on your processing strength. The harder parts will be like memorizing a book on quantum physics with the memory of goldfish fufu” She emphasizes the word “goldfish” for some reason.
‘My second wish is the same except for the space branch as well’ Having surrounding space awareness and teleportation is crucial for safety and has incredible utility and convenience.
“Granted, with the same condition as the soul branch.” She simply states.
That’s talent and knowledge on two obscure and mysterious constructing elements of our world gained, now I need a method to obtain information on all other elements of the world around me. The greater the portion I can get off of this ability the smoother my future development is.
I take a deep break and then state my third and last wish.
‘I wish to obtain the ability of Manaka Sajyou in the fate series where I can connect to the root of the world and draw information from it.’
“Ah? You want something even normal gods don’t have, such a greedy man. I can only grant you the ability to obtain information about anything through analysis, the speed of the analysis will depend on the strength of your soul for knowledge and talent will also factor in for of skills that depend on proficiency.” She seemed genuinely surprised and happy that I asked for this.
Granting something like that is just like the icing on the cake for me. However, judging by her ever-widening smile, there certainly will be a tradeoff though.
‘What’s the catch?’ I urge her, lest she decides to conveniently forget about it.
“Hmphh, you’re no fun. The catch is that if you ever become a god, you’ll be a subordinate god under me while your strength is weaker than mine, then we sign an alliance contract if you catch up to or surpass me.” She pouts.
Wait, for real? This isn’t bad for me at all?! I get a solid backer and a teacher to teach me the ropes around my powers when I reach godhood, then it transitions into getting a free allied god when I’m strong enough. There are basically no downsides at all?!
‘Why give me all this for seemingly no price at all?’ I voice my perplexities to her.
“Your first two wishes don’t give you a high chance of becoming a god yet cost me nothing to grant, combining them raises the probability of you becoming a god by a high margin, then by adding in the third wish, you’re basically guaranteed to become a god with the passage of time. Although the last wish will cost me a lot, I consider it the price of buying an alliance with a future god of knowledge, this essentially negates the entire cost while simultaneously returning incredible profits. Removing any downsides grants me your favor resulting in ease of cooperation in the future.” She seriously goes over it for me, and I gotta say it seems she’s also gaining a lot.
'I see... Then cheers to successful future cooperation! I believe you already know which world I have in mind.' I offer my future boss and ally a mental handshake.
“To successful future cooperation. You’re going to be on your own from now on until you ascend, don’t let me down, or I’ll make sure you’ll regret it.” She mentally shakes my hand while giving me a look that sends shivers down my spine and promises hell if I fail.
Finally, I see the aurora lights around her increase in brightness until I’m swallowed by them, and I hear her voice one last time.
“I’ve put a marker on your soul, should you die and not revive within 100 years, it’ll bring me back your soul, and should you ascend to godhood it’ll act as a communication channel between us. You’ll be able to detect it after ascending to godhood and obtaining enough proficiency in soul manipulation.”
Then, My vision goes again and I lose consciousness.
“That was fun, let’s go find someplace where rules can be, this world’s system is too rigid.” A voice is heard in the void and with a pout, the Goddess of Fun and Trickery Alkreya leaves to embark on a new escapade in other worlds. All while giddily awaiting the ascendance of her new subordinate god to use her abilities to assist in her future exploits.
---------------Third P.O.V--------------
In a VIP ward in a hospital somewhere in Japan,
A woman’s pained and heavy breathing and grunts are heard throughout the ward, her hospital gown is flooded with sweat and her eyes are closed while her face is contorted into a frown. She seems to be in her late 20s with long black hair, black eyes, and a beautiful face.
Standing beside her is a man seemingly in his early 30s, he has short light brown combed hair, ocean blue eyes, and a gender-neutral face. His expression seems to show both joy and worry at the same time while holding the woman’s hand tightly. His clothes seem to show his well-off life and his eyes glued to the woman’s face express his affection for her.
Suddenly, a newborn baby’s cries are heard throughout the ward causing the man to relax and smile widely while the woman’s frown eases, and her grunts come to a stop.
A few minutes later, a nurse washes off the blood on the newborn baby’s body, dries her, and covers her in a blanket.
“Congratulations Ma’am, you’ve given birth to a healthy and cute baby girl, there are no abnormalities in her body, but we will do a routine checkup on her while you are still hospitalized.” The nurse smiles while handing the newborn girl to the man. The baby’s whole body is covered by the blanket due to how petite she is.
“It’s been hard on you Kaori, you can rest and leave taking care of you and our baby girl up to me.” The man smiles joyfully and shows his wife their baby while adjusting the blanket to not block the air from the baby.
The woman’s eyes open, and her tired face shows a soft doting smile when her eyes land on her newly born daughter.
“Yeah Leo, I’ll leave it all up to you until I regain my strength” She looks at the baby and her face brightens, even more, when the baby smiles at her.
“Have you decided on a name for her?” Asks the nurse while smiling slightly, watching the heartwarming scene between the wife and husband.
The newly born girl has been curiously observing the people around her for a while, then she makes a seemingly satisfied face after looking at Kaori and Leo. She seems like she suddenly starts understanding the words they speak and starts listening through waiting for any mention of herself.
“Tomoko…. Her name will be Tomoko Ito Grant” The man says while teasing the baby and holding her fingers.
The girl’s jaws suddenly drop, and she makes an almost crying face, which is instantly noticed by her mother who swiftly holds her.
“She got hungry huh, what a gluttonous little bird.” Kaori smiles while holding the baby closer to her and starts feeding her.
“Maybe she’ll end up a glutton like her uncle hahaha” Leo cracks a joke while reminiscing about his brother who has been traveling around the globe tasting all kinds of different cultural cuisines.
After a few minutes, Kaori finishes feeding her baby, Tomoko whose eyes start drooping as she drifts into the dreamlands. Kaori then hands her to the nurse who puts her into a specially prepared crib next to Kaori’s bed. After a few minutes of observing her daughter, Kaori also drifts into sleep with a soft and fulfilled smile on her face.
The nurse leaves the ward to not disturb them after the hard birth of a new life.
Leo sits down by the window table and starts pressing the keys on his laptop while observing Kaori and Tomoko every 2 minutes. Every time he looks at them, his face seems to brighten up even more and he is more determined to finish all of his job’s documents as early as possible in order to not waste any time away from his family.
He swears to stop any hardships from affecting his family, and firms himself to become a stable anchor and friend that his daughter can depend on in her time of need.
This image of quietness is the exact opposite of what the future of this family will look like daily. With a doting father, a carefree mother, and a daughter who is always acting like an adult while handling her parents’ antics, this family is destined to be a very lively one.
This is Tomoko’s first day in her new life with her parents that will, through time become a significant factor her heart similar to her first life’s parents.
