The Foundation

Third person POV:

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“What did you say?!” Sitting straight up, Rose questioned Hēi with a surprised face, her eyes opened widely.

“Isn’t it obvious? I came inside, so you have a high chance at getting pregnant with my child,” Hēi replied, with a feeling of foreshadowing. Rose was left with her mouth opened.

“Wait… You can’t regulate whether your inheritance ability is on or not!? It is a basic thing for cultivators!” Rose exclaimed upon realizing such a possibility.

“Is it? It is different for us. We train our mind and body, but we don’t build the energy into our bodies the way you do. We can earn such a thing only through ability. Like if… we try to intentionally turn it off with our Mana. But since I never had a relationship, I never bothered with learning such a skill…” Hēi explained himself, shrinking back. But as he could expect it from his other half, Rose reacted as he wished it.

“Hēi… This came as a damned big surprise, to be honest. I could be very angry… but I’m not. I have no idea whether it is easy for us to have a child or not, as we are of a different race than before. You know, I felt left out for a long time now, as I always saw Hiro and Alice get along so well. We were separated thanks to an event and the next time we met they brought along another couple.”

“They were the same as Hiro and Alice. Crazily in love. From that point on, I was getting surer and surer that we indeed had other halves. The thing that gave them this ability is above everyone. So I believe in you, being my other half. Honestly, up ‘till now, you didn’t betray my expectations. I like this slightly clumsy side of yours as well. Maybe because I’m the same…”

“My point is… that if fate wishes it, you will be a father and I’ll be a mother early on. Although this child would come a little sudden, I will love him or her and take care of our child. I hope that you are in as well…” she questioned with a serious face, looking for even the slightest bit of hesitation on Hēi’s face.

But she never found anything of the sort. Nodding with a serious face, he said that he would take responsibility. “You know, I’m even happier like this. We can’t bond our souls since I don’t have mind power yet. But once I’ll form my sea of consciousness, that will be my first movement. Unless you disagree?” Raising a brow, he added with an expectant face.

“Haha, don’t be stupid. Of course, I agree with you,” she said, laughing at his question.

“Since we have gone this far… shall we make sure that we will have a child?” With a grin on his face, Hēi offered up.

“F-Fine…” Turning away with a red face, Rose mumbled silently.

---------------------- Alice’s POV: --------------------

Hearing my offer, Gaia took my hand and stood up from the ground. “Are you sure about this?” Sedna questioned from the back, with a serious face.

Without even turning to look at her, Gaia replied with a deadly serious face, “I am.” Sedna was surprised to see her being so serious, as it was a rare occurrence, I guess. Turning towards our destination, I said, “Your half is that way. But he is really far away. You can teleport further than us, so take us with you.”

Nodding, she clapped her hands, and everyone disappeared. Turning to look around, we noticed Sedna standing behind us. “What? I am curious,” seeing us looking at her weirdly, she replied honestly. Shrugging I told Gaia that she teleported too far away, even passing her half. People at the ninth level were able to teleport anywhere, so it wasn’t surprising.

After a few more redirections, we finally arrived at the right place. We found ourselves in front of a dead-looking planet. Large holes littered the planet and we sensed no life on it, except for a Harbinger, lurking inside those tunnels, though it had no way to sense us.

“This is a trap…” Furrowing her brows, Gaia remarked. “Why do you think so?” I questioned her, my brows raised.

“There is a seal around this place causing those who enter to be unable to leave unless they can break the seal or ask for permission from its creator. You stay here. We should be careful…” looking into my eyes, she explained with a serious face.

“Aren’t you forgetting something? Your other half is in the middle of that planet. What do you think you dream man would do?” Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Hiro pointed out the obvious. Realizing her mistake, she slapped her forehead.

“Let’s see… A fun person, who would like to do similar things like me. I don’t mind if he is even better at tricking people than me. It would only make me look up to him. Oh, pursuing! That’s definitely a point. I want my partner to pursue out of place and weird things just as much as me. Like my legacy for you. I don’t think that I’d have to describe his looks for you. What else…”

“He should be shameless and clever. Shame is for the weak. Hahaha~ Anyway, I think that this little trap is here for the reason to catch some people for experiments. In case your personality is fine, you could leave, but if not, then you will die…” Considering that I have a good relationship with you, I’m sure that you would pass as a ‘fine’ person.

“Actually, I didn’t ask you to describe his personality, but good to know,” laughing loudly, Hiro pointed out the truth. The latter half would have been enough for us.

“Whatever… By the way, I’ll go in. You can decide if you want to come or not,” she said as she started flying towards the planet. In reality, this planet was amongst many populated planets, so lots of people could pass by here. Following Gaia, we entered a tunnel and flew towards the center of the planet.

Suddenly, Gaia started flying from left to right and before we could question her, we crashed face first into an invisible wall. Spatial laws… Seeing her laughing, we realized that she intentionally didn’t say anything… Gritting my teeth, I couldn’t help but curse at her.

Following in her steps, we soon found ourselves in a huge hall. In the center was a dark-red throne, with a guy sitting on it. He was a hundred and ninety centimeters tall and had a slim but fit-looking, muscular body. His eyes were sea green colored, and he had short, dark brown hair. If he were to be somewhat bulkier, he could pass as a second Hiro.

[It’s good that she didn’t take a liking to you…] I remarked through our bond, earning a laugh from Hiro.

“Hello, guests… If you want to stay alive, you will have to survive battle-” Before he could continue, Gaia raised her hand and made a gripping movement. Space was crushed around him and he soon disappeared.

“That was just a mirror image,” Gaia said, shrugging her shoulders. A huge formation lit up under our legs and summoned an Elephant-looking monster. Gaia waved her hand, crushing its body with the strength of space. “Let’s go,” she said as she looked at us, smiling. But a hole suddenly appeared under us, which tried sucking us in. Grabbing Gaia’s waist, we held onto her tightly.

“You look cute when you try to hug your mother,” looking at us with clear ridicule on her face, she remarked. As she jumped down the hole, we found ourselves in front of the same guy as before.

“You are killing the fun! I wanted to prank them, but you kept interrupting me! Who are you people to begin with?!” He questioned with an annoyed face, looking at Gaia.

“We came here to… How do I tell it to him?” She started with self-confidence, but meeting a wall, she turned around to question us.

“It seems like my daughter needs some guiding,” getting back at her, Hiro replied. I rewarded him with a kiss on his lips.

“She is here because she fell in love with you. Please love her with your all~” Hiro said with a grin on her face, looking into the eyes of the man in front of us. Furrowing his brows, he looked at us for a few seconds, before laughing loudly. Gaia looked at us with an enraged face, clenching her fists.

“How am I supposed to talk to him after this?! You damned hydra!” She screamed in Hiro’s mind, making us laugh even more.

Raising a finger, Hiro pointed out the truth, “You don’t have to force yourself. He is your other half. You should know how he will behave after this little prank. Good luck with him!” Patting her shoulders, we left with smiles on our faces. It took only a few minutes for us to reach Genotin Academy.

After entering our world, we took it easy for a few days, waiting for Gaia to return. But our relaxation was short-lived, as we were raided by Rose and Hēi. We were sitting on the couch in our living room, while Hiro was embracing me. It was really cozy… But Rose barged in, holding some kind of stick behind her back.

“Good evening!” She said with a smile on her face, making me raise a brow.

“Good evening to you too… but what is this strange behavior?” I questioned with a frown on my face, thinking that she messed up with something.

Stopping in front of me, she pulled up the blouse on her belly, looking at me expectantly. “Please touch it.”

“O-Okay…” feeling weirded out, I did as told. [What does she want?] I questioned Hiro, hoping that he would know more, but he didn’t… Of course… none of us knows more than the other one.

“I’m touching it for ten seconds, but why?” I questioned her, sighing loudly, having enough of the silence. She was blocking my view of the movie we were watching as well…

“Use your mind power!” She shouted with an annoyed face. I could be annoyed as well! I retorted in my mind but didn’t say anything to her. As my mind power rushed through her body, I picked up on something strange. Using it another time, I was left flabbergasted. I sensed another presence inside her body. It was very tiny, barely bigger than a sperm… but it was still there.

“How the hell did you get pregnant so quickly?!” I questioned her as I stood up, with a dumbfounded look on my face.

“E-Ehm… it was like this and that… and then boom! I happened!” She said, turning away with a red face, motioning an explosion with her hands. I looked at Hēi with a frown. Appearing in front of him, I sniffed the air around him.

“You have her fragrance all over your body,” I said with a serious face. Knowing what they did, I couldn’t help but remark with a smirk on my face, “You are quick, aren’t you? Haha… But how come it was conceived? Both of you have a completely new bloodline. I don’t believe that you could have a child this easily…”

“Uhm… it was my ovulation time, actually… Although we don’t have periods, we still ovulate. If you want a child, I’d suggest you do it at that time!” She said with a red face, probably feeling ashamed of what she was talking about.

“Fine… but we will have to celebrate this!” Hugging her, I said with a smile on my face. Hiro grabbed Hēi’s hand and congratulated him. I wonder how will this turn out. But I’m really happy for them and this is a good thing for us as well. We can learn from their example in the future.

After a cozy house party with all of our friends, everyone went their own ways. After having a nice and hot bath, we got into bed. I rested my head on Hiro’s chest, embracing him. “Will we be able to have a child as well?” I asked Hiro as I caressed his chest, feeling a little worried.

Cuddling me, he turned on his side and put his chin on the top of my head, whispering, “Don’t worry. I’m sure that there is a way. And who knows? Maybe we can have children as easily as the other races.” His voice and words soothed my mind.

“Huh? Why did you activate our ability?” Seeing my heart shaped pupils, he questioned me. In truth, he knew it all too well, but he still wanted to hear it from me. This pervert… “So that you can see the love in my eyes when we make love~” I replied playfully, sitting on his stomach.

“Oh? But I don’t need these stupid eyes. I want to see the real you. I can see your love through your normal eyes as well,” placing his hands on my thighs, he said with a loving smile on his face. Feeling touched, I couldn’t help but turn slightly excited. Leaning forward to kiss him, our night turned into a hot one. It happened about two weeks later, that Gaia came back, along with that guy.

In the meantime, we also reached the third stage of the Eternal Law Realm. But there twist! Our souls went past the threshold of the Mature Soul. That is something for cultivators at the second stage of the eighth level. But our souls were much more advanced than normal cultivators’ souls. After the Mature Soul, there was only one left, which wasn't known by people below the eighth level, unless they had some kind of inheritance.

It was called the Immortal Soul, which would consist of changing our souls shape into that of our worlds. At the moment, our souls had the shape of our real bodies, with our first planet connected to it. As our Immortal Souls would grow, new soul planets would start forming.

This meant that when we gain complete control over the Universe Energy, we would also turn into immortals. But that was something for people at the ninth level. Leaving our worlds, we went to Gaia’s house. Greeting each other, both all four of us were just standing there silently, waiting for the other to talk. Considering that the brown haired guy was hugging Gaia’s waist, we were quite sure that they were a pair.

Sensing only one soul, we realized that we could be sure of it. The brown haired guy kept looking at us with a frown on his face. Stopping in front of us, Gaia randomly stepped forward and hugged each of us.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I never thought that I could live a normal life once again. And we are even stronger now that we can merge… Hehe,” she said with a happy smile on her face, laughing happily.

“O-Oh… No problem. It was our pleasure. So? Will you help us out? We need your strength only for a few years at most,” crossing my arms in front of my chest, I replied, making her remember the deal.

“No. Give me your blood,” she said with a serious face.

“B-But Gaia, dear! Are you sure about this? What if they make you do weird things?” The brown haired guy asked. We were quite sure that he was at the ninth level, which was again surprising. Gaia shouldn’t be at that level either. This just shows that he probably created something similarly crazy.

“Anthony! Ah, wait… I didn’t even introduce you. He is my husband, Anthony Blackwood. As you know from my memories, they aren’t bad people and this is something I decided on,” she replied, introducing her ‘husband’ as well. Everyone is going at it so quickly… But it is understandable. Cultivators at this level think differently than mortals. We don’t beat around the bush. We say what is in our hearts when it comes to these kinds of emotions.

From another’s perspective, there are so many huge universes. One person doesn’t like you? You will leave him or her be… It makes no difference. On the other hand, our personality has been like that since we were young. Hiro had his past life and his race to support him, while me… I was very prideful so telling my feelings was never a problem.

[‘Was’ is wrong. You are prideful, even now…] Hiro remarked in my mind.

[N-No…] I tried denying it, but my attempt was futile, as not even I believed in my words.

[Don’t worry dear, I love you as you are] he thought as he hugged me, pulling me into his chest. [Mhm~ I love you so much!] I talked to myself as I rubbed my face on his chest and coiled my arm around his back.

“We are here as well…” Anthony remarked from the back, his brows twitching. I can understand him. I wouldn’t want Hiro to turn into someone else’s blood servant. Even the thought of it is creeping me out.

“Well, we never asked you to do such a thing. Really, it would be enough if you just helped us,” Hiro said with a shrug of his shoulder. Seeing her shaking her head sideways, we cut our wrists and poured our blood into a bowl from our inner world.

As she received the bowl, she appeared beside Anthony. Both of them drank from it and then Anthony started laughing creepily. “Hahaha! With your bloodline, my Blood Magic will be perfect! I’ll be able to ignore your commands anytime!”

“I hope that you don’t mind this prank. We will help you as a favor, alright?” Gaia said with a grin on her face, adding that now she finally got back at us. We shrugged our shoulders, not really caring about it, but they soon fell to the ground.

“H-HUH?! What is this?!” Anthony asked with a panicked face. He made strange hand movements, probably trying to control our blood. But it seemed like his attempt was futile. A few minutes later, their transformation finished. Since they drank our mixed blood, both of them turned into Dre’khans.

The usual scale covered body, with two horns, a long tail, and a more powerful body. “Why the hell is it not working?!” Anthony put his hand on his chin, thinking heavily.

“This is something I control, not you,” a familiar voice resounded around us, startling all of us for a moment. It was the damned Abyss.

“How cruel, I’m not damned… And no, Anthony, I won’t drop dead… You kids are so cruel. Always wishing my death and cursing at me!” It exclaimed loudly, like some kind of hypocrite.

“So… Unless you allow it, I can’t break their control?” Looking towards the sky, Anthony questioned.

“Yes,” it replied simply and then turned silent. It’s interesting how it interacted more with people at higher levels. But we were called kids… us, kids?!

“Ehm… I’m really sorry, dear. My plans backfired on us…” Anthony said, looking at Gaia with a downcast look on his face.

“Did you really go as far as to plan this whole ‘scene’ of yours? And what is this Blood Magic about? Answer me,” I asked them plainly, but I commanded them for my last question.

“We did… And after lots of experimenting, on bad people… I finally gained the ability to control blood and suck out my targets’ genes. I could do that with guys’ sperm as well, but I don’t wish to touch or drink that… Ugh…” He explained with a disgusted face. Wiping his forehead, he added, “After I caught a three-star divine beast, who was weaker than me, I was able to inherit his bloodline. That’s why I cultivate so quickly!”

“I understand. Now then, let’s go~” Nodding, I said as a feeling of excitement welled up in my heart. Instead of teleporting towards the gate of the Abyss, we just cut open space and made an entrance for ourselves.

We could crush and destroy space, leading to the gray matter and a catastrophe. But at the same time, now we could control space in such a delicate manner, that it would just open a portal to the Abyss. Looking down, we were able to see the same gaping darkness below us. Mist covered our surroundings, hiding away the real world.

Using our mental powers, we scanned a huge area of the Abyss. It felt so much better that we weren’t of the lowest level in the Abyss… “Come this way,” Gaia said as she waved her hand. Anthony started whistling playfully, making the whole place resound with a simple tune. A strange feeling of foreboding welled up in our hearts. I believe that if not for being our blood servants, then we would feel much worse than now.

Through our whole trip, not even a single monster came nearby. It was as if all of them hid away. Breathing in, we felt the smell of blood filling the air. “What is this?” I couldn’t help but ask him, looking at his back curiously. Turning around with a smile on his face, he replied, “I’m burning my blood to create this aura around me. It covers a huge area and fills the weaklings with fear. This is like an enhanced form of Bloodlust, actually…”

Feeling surprised that he actually told it by himself, I questioned him. But he replied as expected, “You would have commanded it either way, so it was pointless to delay things.”

Nodding, all of us agreed with him. We always sought these kinds of straight and reasonable people. Well, Rose was a little different, but she was perfect for livening up the mood. Now another one had joined.

“And how come that you are advancing so quickly? Although cultivation doesn’t take much more time than before, and your fused soul doubles your speed, it is still weird… The laws take much more time to truly understand and comprehend. There is also the experience, as you have to use them!” Looking at us, Gaia asked as she raised her brows.

“Huh? Did you forget our race? We have the laws and experience stored. We did modify a few of them to fit with our own understanding, or else it would never work… but it wasn’t a big deal. Except for cultivating, we barely waste our time with the same thing as normal cultivators,” I replied, feeling surprised that she didn’t understand this.

“You are such a cheat. But experience? I never heard that other True Divine Beasts had experience in their memories as well…” Nodding, she remarked enviously, adding something strange.

“They don’t?” Hiro questioned her in his curiosity.

“As far as I’ve heard, they don’t. But maybe they’ve just never said this. I don’t know if the difference between you and other True Divine Beasts is your bond or this experience… Maybe it will turn into a new trend… damned blood legacies. I should have never left behind my world. You even had the luck to find it… Stupid pests!” As usual, her reply turned into a fuming mumbling.

Entering the first level of the Abyss, we spread our arms as our mind powers rushed out of our bodies. Sensing the world around us, we realized just how huge this place was. Seeing our faces, Gaia questioned us, “Feeling surprised? This place is about as big as the universe we came from. The place we ‘own’ is ridiculously small. But even that is wonderful and worthy to fight for.”

“Oh? Why so?” Hiro asked curiously, upon hearing that it was ‘worthy’ to fight for.

“Hehe… you don’t know this yet… but those who own an area here will be rewarded on a monthly basis. That’s why people keep fighting here, to get their hands on more and more territories. Nothing more, nothing less. The treasures of a person are just a bonus. What you must know is that you can’t trust anyone while being here,” Anthony replied with a smirk on his face.

“And what do we get?” I asked the most important question.

“Hahaha~ Anything! You can even get law crystals, buckets of them… if you have a big enough territory. But interestingly, this place isn’t just about territory. Depending on the strength of a group, they could still gain the same amount of benefits, as a group with more people in it. Your group just had to be as powerful as the other one,” he added with a smile, once again taking care of our curiosity.

Snapping his finger, Anthony took everyone away. “Here, this is the center of the first level. Keeping this place should be fine at our levels. So? Which of you wants to declare this as his or her territory?” He asked with a smirk on his face.

Raising a brow, “How does this work? Don’t we have to fight or anything of the sort?” Hiro asked.

“Not now. You can declare it anytime, but the owner will come to take it back as he will be notified. I had an unresolved debt with him anyway~” Cracking his fingers, he replied with a bloodthirsty grin on his face.

Holding Hiro’s hand, we said at the same time, “We declare this as Alice Ourichi’s and Hiro Ourichi’s territory from this day on. It shall be called the Sawolond. A land for soul bonded people!” Finishing our sentence, we stomped on the ground and took out an enormous city from our world. While Gaia was away and we weren’t cultivating, we spent our time with building this.

The whole city was built using top grade metals, mixed with spotless white marble. It had a huge wall all around it and we didn’t forget to use protective formations around it. After asking Gaia and Anthony, both of them strengthened the formations. Unless someone at their level attacked, it would be hard to use any kind of space attack on this city.

Although it had only a few people in it, meaning our friends, over time it will fill.