108 [108] Brewing Super Storm
Chapter 108: Brewing Super Storm
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Gentle, warm summer wind cascaded into the room and landed on my face. My eyes slowly fluttered open, the usual drowsiness of sleep unfound in my half-sage eyes.
The [Sage] rank grants a cultivator eternal youth, and although I'm not a full Sage due to not being an Archlord yet, I'm halfway there.
After the three lord ranks; the Underlord, Overlord, and Archlord, there is Sage and or Herald. At last, there is the Monarch.
To become a Sage, you have to be at the peak of the Archlord and connect to an Icon. To become a Herald, you have to be at the very peak of the Archlord, where you'll reforge your existence; bringing out your spirit and integrating it into the body.
For most of my life, Icons became a thing in that universe only after I was born. But during my 9th life, Icons already existed in that universe. Not in the homeworld I was born into, but in the higher worlds. So they had power systems that aligned with the Icons well. That's why I chose this system instead of following a more familiar one.
Since I already had access to the Icons, I would automatically become a full Sage the moment I reached Archlord. After that, to reach Monarch, I'll have to complete the Herald transformation as well. Only after accomplishing both would I reach the peak of this power system.
Ah, and, the peak of Sage should be when I can learn other Paths, so I look forward to that day.
"Mhm," I stretched a little, mostly out of habit rather than necessity. Halfway or not, eternal youth came with all sorts of health benefits.
I gently moved Ruby's head off my chest and got off the bed. I've been getting taller after the Overlord transformation, my body is pushing itself to reach its peak height as it wouldn't change once I became a proper Sage.
Two months have passed since that day, and in that time I have gained about two inches? I stood at 6"3' right now.
I've already surpassed my genetic limit a long time ago. While my biological father was above average, 5"10 from what I've gathered in his recorded information in the last two months, Ai used to be only 4"9. The presence of Qi in my body has pushed that genetic limit to reach this far. But 6"3 seemed to be the final limit.
"Unless I want to grow more," I yawned. That'd require alchemical help, but 6"3 is a good height for a human. I'm fine.
I walked out of the room, heading to the bathroom, and I paused. Two readers made me freeze. One, I turned my head to look back at Ruby, who was still sleeping. She'd been sleeping with me for the past two months, unwilling to let go of me even for a single second. As I had expected, she was a lot more clingy after finding out the truth.
The other reason was, do I really have to brush every morning…? I mean, it's not like my breath stank anymore.
"...."
Nasty, I should stay clean anyway.
* * *
I found Ruby missing when I came out, brushed, and showered. My all-time better Jade Perception had already sensed that as well as the people she was with.
"I guess I'll go meet them a minute later," I said and stopped in front of my room's mirror, stark naked. I looked into my eyes, and then my masterfully crafted frame. I was clad in droplets of water and looked bigger not just in height but in muscle too.
Slowly, I parted my lips. "Dry." A word left them that commanded reality itself. The droplets of water on my body sizzled, vanishing in mere seconds.
The Sage's Authority. It was the ability to push your will upon the world. It was a form of reality bending. I couldn't use it to its full potential, not being a full-fledged Sage yet, but it helped to do small chores like this.
"It worked perfectly this time. Looks like it has finally stabilized perfectly."
I walked to my closet and donned myself with a pair of gray trousers, and a simple white shirt. It was Sunday, no school, so no need to wear that stuffy uniform.
I walked out of my room and made my way downstairs, into the living room.
* * *
The last two months have been fairly dull and boring compared to the first month of my high school life. But starting today it'll change.
From what Ai told me yesterday, Ruby and the rest of B-Komachi were going to be busy starting today. This meant frequent visits from Mem-Cho, Shoko, and Yuzuru, meaning I too would be busy teaching them spells.
However, I had a feeling other reasons would have me busy.
When I reached the living room door, I heard the chatter of the exact girls, as well as Arima Kana and Tsubasa.
"Gosh, you look so pretty! Whoa, what's that smell in your hair??"
"Hehe, I'll tell you later~"
Yuzuru and Kana were busy talking about each other's looks. What a surprise, short girls got well together.
"Ugh, I just woke up earlier. Did any of you see Onii-chan?" Ruby was sitting on a couch, yawning still. Though at least she seemed to have washed up.
"Wait, check out this comment!"
"Where?"
Mem and Shoko were watching a Twitter post, giggling to themselves.
Away from them, I saw Tsubasa biting her nails as she worked on her laptop. When I walked into the room, she stopped biting her nails and looked at me, as did everyone else.
I waved at them. "Morning girls," I said as I looked around. "Ai's not here yet?"
When I mentioned Ai, Ruby's bright and cheerful expression at seeing me, died out as she looked away. Kana shook her head, "I saw her jogging with Asia and Blue when I was on my way. She told me she'll be here in a bit."
In the last two months, when the rebrand of B-Komachi connected together, Ai had revealed herself to be our mother to all of them. I trusted all of them to keep that a secret, although I had been a little skeptical about Kana at first.
"Do you know why she called us over so early in the morning?" Shoko asked as she waved back at me, "It seems important."
"It really is," I nodded as I moved to the kitchen to brew myself coffee. "Although it's been two months since you've officially joined the group, there has been barely any training after that. Since someone," I eyed Ruby, "has been feeling lazy and unsure about this entire thing."
She looked away once more, mouthing a little something under her breath.
Ruby wanted to be an idol, she dreamed about that since she was a kid. Honestly, that childhood dream was true for most of the girls here, although not all. Ruby, or I guess Sarina here, in particular wanted to be an idol because she was inspired by Ai. During her current life, that dream of hers had one more reason. She wanted to find her lover, Doctor Gorou, by reviving the idol band he was a fan of. B-Komachi.
However, Doctor Gorou was dead. And her reincarnation, me, has been with her all these years. She had found that out. So the second reason behind her dream didn't exist anymore. As for the first reason, which was the inspiration by Ai, Ruby didn't see Ai as… a respectable figure anymore. So that inspiration too had fallen.
Her drive to be an idol was mostly gone.
Which made their idol training sessions for the last two months a waste of time, and a lot less frequent.
That's going to change now. At least, Ai hoped it would. She hoped that seeing the other girls get excited and work hard for what she had to announce would reignite the drive in Ruby.
I went to one corner of the room, sitting with my coffee, and waited. The girls went about their chattering until a sweaty Ai returned half an hour later. She and Asia took a quick shower and rejoined us.
Asia walked over and sat beside me in the corner of the room, chewing on an energy bar. While Ai walked into the middle of the room to give a speech.
"You're working hard," I told Asia in a low voice who just nodded.
"Thanks." She was a nice girl, she didn't hate me. But she was still a little shifty around me, especially when alone after I had told her that God was dead that one time.
Since Asia is always lurking around Ai, I've decided to teach her a Path. Someone as soft as her suited to be a Mage more, but exactly because she's too soft I decided to turn her into a strong warrior.
Besides, Battle Nuns are hot.
During my 7th life, as the Emperor of Mankind, I ruled over the mighty and large Imperium of Man. During the 36th Millennium of my rule, I built a division of female-only military force there, titled the Sisters of Battle, or the Daughters of the Emperor. At one point, things went out of hand and some fanatics took over. The entire faction began to be made up of girls who were raised from infancy to be fanatic over I, the God Emperor.
So it didn't sound that weird if I wanted to make a Sister of Battle for myself? While she'd mainly work as an assisting force of Ai, along with Blue, she might later lead a guardian faction with the Nexus Sect.
I have yet to do her with a Path, she was just training her Qi right now, and she's in the Foundation realm now. After she reaches Iron, I'll give her an Iron Body and a path.
She was hesitant about it at first, but she had seen how Ai was attacked by Freed, so she was pushing herself to grow stronger.
We focused on Ai, who had been talking for a minute now. Now Aunty Miyako and Uncle Ichigo were here too, standing beside Ai.
"So LoveMy's director, Masaya Kaburagi Sensei, offered this to me. If you guys are ready, we can take part in the Japan Idol Festival that's coming next month," said Ai to the awe-filled girls. Even Ruby, who would rather look at the wall instead of her mother's face, was captivated by it.
Japan Idol Festival, or JIF for short, was one of the biggest festivals for Idols. It was a massive opportunity for any group to perform there, let alone a group like the new B-Komachi who hadn't performed ever before. This was beyond lucky.
"Um…" Shoko looked uncomfortable as she raised her voice. "I'm not sure that'd be a good idea for our first performance…"
"I agree with her," Kana nodded. She saw Ai raise an eyebrow at that, which made her blush and clear her throat. "I- I mean, while Mem-Cho and I are used to people and crowds, Ruby and Shoko are not. I can see many ways this can go wrong."
"You have a point, but there are also a lot of ways this can go right. Risks are there but so are the rewards," Tsubasa chimed in, which made Miyako smile in pride.
Ai was frowning with her arms crossed. She shared Kana's sentiments, and she let me know about her doubts yesterday. But she still wanted to take the risk because she wished Ruby would somehow regain her desire through this. She didn't like her daughter acting distant from her, as much as she liked seeing Ruby being a lot closer to me than before.
"It doesn't matter, honestly," the greatest expert among us, Uncle Ichigo, said. He was laid back about this entire thing, even yawning as he explained. "It's your debut. It can't go wrong. Even if somehow you guys do very bad, it'd still be great. I have heard Shoko's singing, it's insane, all will be fine."
"It can go wrong though," Mem-Cho said. "People would have high expectations as we are using the name of the idol group where Ai-san came from."
"True, the label of B-Komachi is a burden to y'all as much as it's an achievement," he replied casually. "Still, I don't think it can go wrong enough to mess anything up. I'll suggest you accept it."
"I think so too," I finally chimed in. All heads turned to me, as did Ruby's who was looking less skeptical now. "For a group with such a big name, the debut shouldn't be any less special."
A short silence fell over the room as the girls looked at each other's faces. In the end, it was up to Ruby, the leader of the group.
A minute later, she rubbed the back of her head and looked at Ichigo, purposefully not looking at Ai. She looked hesitant, but a bit determined too. "Alright, then uncle. Let's… let's do this."
"Let's go!"
The girls broke into a cheer, which made all the others smile. I did the same, while my [Jade Perception] caught the presence of a figure flying above the neighborhood.
I didn't react despite sensing the figure. I reacted the first time it happened a few days ago, flying up to confront the crow and fry it alive, but now it was too frequent to simply give in to rage.
The Fallen Angels have been scouting the area a lot recently. As well as two humans carrying holy sword auras. Looks like the Kokabiel situation is coming to be, maybe a bit stronger than in the canon timeline if the presence of the Norse Gods I sensed wasn't a fluke.
As I had expected, I might get a lot busier this time. School tomorrow is going to be loud and annoying.
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