I exhaled, closing my eyes, then drew in another breath. Feeling air again after twenty thousand years of death was so intense it almost burned. I opened my eyes and exhaled once more, and the gust of wind from my nose shattered the nearby boulders. My power had not fully returned, or perhaps my true body simply refused to give it all back to me.
I realized I was standing in a pitch-black cave where nothing had ever been visible. I raised my hand in front of me and released a fiery arrow to the left. It illuminated the entire cavern, giving me a clear sense of where the exit was.
I walked toward the cave's exit, each step accompanied by the faint crunch of stone. I assumed this was because I still could not fully control my power, and my steps were saturated with magic. Reaching the white light at the end of the cave, I saw a sight I had missed deeply: forests, rough textures, trees, animals, and everything else. The animals immediately fled upon sensing my aura.
I focused and managed to suppress a small portion of my power so that it would not frighten the nearby flora, but then I noticed a tree quite literally ripping itself out of the ground and running away on its roots. The scene was comical, yet as far as I remembered, such creatures did not exist tens of thousands of years ago. Had new "species" emerged? What kind of idiot thought it was a good idea to conceive a tree?
Without thinking for long, I used search magic. Millions of thoughts instantly rushed through my mind, showing me the direction of humans and their massive concentrations. However, what caught my attention was that, for some reason, many of the beings visible to my mind had no clearly defined race. I sensed the blood of absolutely every kind within them: spirits, demons, gods, humans, and many others that had emerged as civilization redeveloped over the course of twenty thousand years.
It was strange. In the past, every race fought for the purity and unity of its blood. Now, even trees seemed to possess spiritual energy.
Without me, the world had lost its order. And yet I had warned the gods that with me, they would rule the world far better. I wondered if they were still alive. And more importantly, what did I look like in this body?
A small violet magical sphere appeared in my hand. Its eye began blinking as it examined me, and my mind merged with its vision. Before me stood a beautiful sixteen-year-old boy with tousled platinum-gray hair and green eyes. His clothes were modest: black trousers, a white shirt, and a crimson tie.
The sight unsettled me, but it reminded me of the past. I had always worn such clothes before being resurrected in this era through "Revival." Fine. Time to move on. Being alone in a forest full of spiritual trees was boring.
I stepped toward the nearest empire and headed in that direction. Along the way, I sensed countless new things: from flying foliafs and bird-people to massive dragons and wyverns. I snorted quietly and muttered to myself, "Did the mixing of blood really lead to this? Too many races. This is bad. Annoying. I'm already sick of it."
My eyes glowed crimson with disapproval, and nearby life forms burned to ash within moments. I relaxed and continued walking across an empty clearing filled with charred spiritual trees and animal remains. Along the way, I encountered countless new things that disgusted me. I still believed in blood purity, and I wanted to kill them almost like a jealous son seeing a man beside his mother.
Fine. I was almost there.
Ahead, I saw three human figures walking toward me. Two men and a woman. I could tell clearly thanks to Eagle Vision. I walked toward them as the distance steadily closed. I noticed that while they were weak as humans, they were strong in other racial aspects. The woman was powerful spiritually, the older-looking man was strong in demonic aspects, and the younger one possessed both divine and demonic strength.
By the time they reached me, they… walked past me? Straight through me.
What?
I turned and grabbed the woman by the shoulder. She squealed and spun around to face me."Are you all right? Ignoring a god isn't suicide?" I hissed in response to her disrespect.
Her eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness. The older man collapsed as well. The younger one grabbed his sword with his right hand and swung it at my neck in a wide arc, but the blade passed straight through me.
He stared at me in shock, but when I slightly tensed up, he too lost consciousness.
Why?
Was it because of my aura? But I had suppressed it, and this was nowhere near the full power of my true body. I sighed and closed my eyes. Gritting my teeth, I muttered, "Aura concealment." The aura vanished.
Hm. Strange. I shouldn't have been able to use spells without adapting to this body, yet it had already worked three times.
I snapped my fingers, and countless particles of light rose around us, forming a small house. The three of them lay on beds inside. Judging by appearances, any passerby would have already branded the girl a harlot, but whatever.
While I waited for them to regain consciousness, I summoned the Eye of God once more. It soared above the planet, surveying every region. Within two seconds, I could see the entire world. I noticed countless new cultures, species, even new continents and lakes that had not existed before.
And among the things I liked: countless beastwomen.
Even back then, I had a weakness for them, when the gods first began creating such beings a few thousand years before my death. Even now, it was damnably beautiful. I also noticed that the planet itself seemed… larger. The moon was slightly farther away, and judging by what the Eye transmitted from space, the planet had undergone numerous changes and asteroid collisions.
Enough thinking.
The girl stirred, rubbing her eyes as she propped herself up on one arm. She looked cute. The difference between the current generation and the old one was drastic. In ancient times, women tried to appear as intimidating, elegant, or coldly beautiful as possible. Now, girls openly emphasized their cuteness and fragility.
She looked at me, her eyes widening."Who are you? I've never seen you before."
I thought for a moment. She must have forgotten what happened after losing consciousness.
"I am Azriel Castwell," I said, expecting terror to twist her face.
Instead, she smiled and extended her hand."I'm Eron. Nice to meet you."
I was surprised she hadn't slit her own throat in fear upon hearing my name, and I didn't understand the gesture."Why did you extend your hand?"
She smiled slightly. "You don't know this gesture? It means 'nice to meet you,' you know?"
After hearing her explanation, I did not take her hand. I had no desire to meet her, and she frowned.
"Why won't you?" she asked in confusion.
"I have no pleasure in meeting you. Modern blood is horribly defiled. That is what I hate."
She paused, clearly not understanding what I meant. Apparently, blood had been mixing more and more over countless generations, to the point that she didn't even grasp the concept.
"…Alright," she said, pulling her hand back.
At that moment, both of her companions regained consciousness and immediately reached for their weapons…