Looks like getting hit by a car is indeed the prerequisite for unlocking a cheat ability, even if it wasn't a dump truck.
Just kidding~!
"But usually, protagonists who get a lucky break end up transmigrating… Okay, this could count as transmigration, but why didn't my main body cross over?"
The overlapping voices came from two figures staring at each other.
Soul completion pushed Shiraki's soul power beyond a certain threshold, allowing him to glean partial information about the mysterious space and the full context of the situation.
First, the true nature, origin, and duration of the mysterious space were unknown.
The only certainty was that it existed in a higher dimension beyond human perception or intelligence.
Second, the core hub of this mysterious space currently resided within Shiraki's soul.
He wasn't just hit by a car—he was struck by the mysterious space itself.
Literally, a direct hit to his soul!
When the space collided with Shiraki's soul, it "copied" his soul countless times, scattering those copies across myriad multiverses.
Shiraki got it immediately!
This was straight out of some sci-fi author's playbook, like something from a certain anectoral doctor!
But that raised another question.
"This isn't how the Duke Virus manifests, is it?"
Shiraki's words blended perfectly with the girl's clear, ethereal voice.
Staring at her jade-smooth, snow-white body, Shiraki focused, and a jet-black dress materialized over her, covering the breathtaking view. A black-and-white checkered headscarf hid the crystal on her forehead.
Staring any longer would've been dangerous!
The girl exhaled softly, easing the fiery, complex emotions within.
Clearly, she and Shiraki were one and the same—completely, utterly one person!
What was going on?
Shiraki and the blue-haired girl raised their eyebrows in unison, puzzled, then continued absorbing information from the mysterious space, hoping for answers.
Luckily, the reason came quickly.
After the space "copied" his soul countless times, the remaining "kinetic energy" shattered part of Shiraki's "origin soul."
He didn't know how many copies were made, but his origin soul was fragmented into roughly two or three pieces.
These fragments, alongside the copied souls, scattered into the multiverse. One landed in a certain world, entering a pregnant woman's womb per that world's mechanics.
Thus, the girl was born.
The universe has been infinitely splitting since its inception. With near-infinite possibilities, every world depicted in human media—movies, anime—could, no, must exist!
Given enough monkeys, one would eventually type out Shakespeare!
So, the fact that the real world had a fictional work matching the girl's world didn't surprise Shiraki.
Elemental Gelade, an old anime Shiraki planned to binge.
In a distant world lived a group of beings, mysterious as dreams. Their songs were as gentle as a celestial choir, their power as legendary as myths, their hearts as pure as angels, their beauty as poetic as paintings.
Yearning for the sky, drawing close to it…
Mysterious yet beautiful, pure yet gentle, powerful yet fragile—they were the Edel Raids!
Edel Raids were nearly indistinguishable from humans. The only way to identify them was the "Elemental Gelade"—the translucent gem on the girl's forehead, glowing with a teal radiance.
The Elemental Gelade was the life of an Edel Raid, akin to a human's heart.
Its color, position, and shape varied by clan.
Through "Pacting" with a human, known as a Pleasure, they transformed into powerful weapons, fighting alongside their partner.
Edel Raids typically formed a one-to-one Pact with a human, only dissolving the bond at the end of their lifespans or if the Elemental Gelade was destroyed.
Among them, seven clans were revered as the royals of their kind—noble and mighty, known as the Seven Glittering Jewels.
Over countless years, the Seven Glittering Jewels dwindled. Some vanished, others hid, fading into legend until one girl emerged.
Even among the Seven Glittering Jewels, the Mederlence clan, representing "wind," stood at the pinnacle. She was their final bloodline, her name…
"Reverie Mederlence."
Gazing at the dreamlike, jade-carved beauty before him, Shiraki couldn't help but say her name aloud.
"Can I Pact with myself?" Reverie extended her delicate hand.
Shiraki gently grasped it, her soft, smooth touch irresistible. He felt the terrifying power within her Pledge Stone, his widened eyes gleaming with surprise. "It actually works!?"
An Edel Raid's strength in a Pact depended on two factors.
First, the Edel Raid's bloodline.
Reverie, the final bloodline of the wind-aligned Metherlence clan, was arguably the strongest wind-type Edel Raid in her world.
The second, more critical factor was the bond between the Edel Raid and her Pleasure.
Even a supreme bloodline couldn't shine if the bond was weak, potentially dissolving the Pact if too low.
Conversely, a profound heart-to-heart resonance could push the Edel Raid's power beyond her bloodline's limits, even tapping into the legendary "miracle force."
It was legendary because, in her world's history, only the first Edel Raid and her Pleasure had reached that realm.
But Shiraki and Reverie? They were Pacting with themselves!
What need was there for heart-to-heart resonance?
Their baseline was others' ceiling, guaranteed to unleash the full power of a Seven Glittering Jewels' final bloodline!
The problem now was…
"'I' am not in the same world!"
Shiraki and Reverie facepalmed in perfect sync, exasperated.
What use was Pacting in this mysterious space?
"How do we… Wait!"
After Reverie's soul merged, Shiraki's soul power had tripled or quadrupled. When he probed the mysterious space again, the feedback left him stunned.
The space could enable interdimensional travel!
Beings or objects smaller than Shiraki's "volume" could pass through the space's hub to other worlds.
A normal human's volume was about one cubic meter—if crushed into paste.
But the space's passage was shaped like Shiraki's "form."
Though Reverie was nearly 500 years old, she looked like a 14- or 15-year-old girl, easily fitting through Shiraki's passage.
By the way, under normal circumstances, a 500-year-old soul merging with a 25-year-old one, even if the latter was the origin, would tilt the resulting personality toward the former.
But Reverie's 500 years were mostly fluff—she'd slept for 485 of them!
Since her soul was a fragment of Shiraki's, her personality already diverged from the original Elemental Gelade, retaining some of Shiraki's traits.
Most crucially, the mysterious space's hub shielded Shiraki's soul algorithm—his personality and identity—from the older soul's influence.
Digesting the flood of information, Shiraki's grin grew wider.
This was the true meaning of the "noble assistance" fortune!
The noble was himself!
Uncontainable excitement surged within. Shiraki and Reverie exchanged a glance and vanished from the space.
…
Butterfly-wing lashes fluttered as the fairy-tale princess awoke, her vision shrouded in darkness.
Blinking cutely, then wrinkling her small nose, Reverie felt stifled yet barely able to breathe.
Instinctively, she sat up.
Bang!
"Ow! That hurt!"
Clutching her reddened forehead, she kicked upward with force. Brilliant sunlight pierced the darkness, forcing Reverie, who hadn't seen daylight in centuries, to squint.
The one-soul-two-bodies mechanism brought a fleeting disorientation.
It was like someone with one arm, one leg, and one eye suddenly becoming whole.
The difference in habit and movement was night and day!
Still, being "herself," Reverie adapted quickly, though her fair face remained bewildered.
Where's my home?
My massive home is gone?
Her adorable face was utterly confused as she recalled her pre-sleep memories.
Ugh, slept too long. Forgot everything~!
Whatever, no use thinking about it!
Rising from the sleep coffin marked with the Seven Glittering Jewel' emblem, Reverie surveyed her surroundings.
It looked like a storage room, with wooden crates stacked haphazardly, filled with…
"Holy crap!"
Her exclamation clashed hilariously with her super-cute appearance.
The crates brimmed with gleaming gold coins, translucent crystals, and an array of weapons—short swords, daggers, spears, and more.
It hit her: this wasn't a storage room. It was a treasure vault!
Of course. She was a top-tier Edel Raid, arguably the world's most valuable treasure. Who'd stick her in a junk room?
Even without knowing her identity, the malachite-encrusted silver-gray sleep coffin screamed "priceless artifact."
Though raised in an isolated Edel Raid village, Reverie had a basic understanding of the world.
A chaotic treasure vault like this usually meant a band of treasure hunters.
Like pirate crews in One Piece, some might lean toward adventurers, but most were ruthless bandits.
Without a Pact, Edel Raids had no special abilities, just slightly better physiques than humans.
That alone wouldn't let Reverie escape an armed treasure-hunting band.
Nor could she bet on them recognizing her as a Seven Glittering Jewels member, so…
She grabbed some gold coins and gems from a crate, picked two fine-looking long swords, and climbed back into the coffin, sealing the lid.
If the coins were pure gold, Shiraki could make a small fortune.
If they were an otherworldly metal unknown on Earth, then….