Earth

"What's your name lad? Where do you come from?" asked Abel without even taking his eyes off the road.

"I'm Kane, Kane Hugh. I'm from the Brunhilde empire. I'm a member of the Aten clan, the ruling, the once-ruling clan of the Brunhilde empire. My father is Rhiener Hugh, he was the former emperor of the Brunhilde empire" Kane replied gloomily as he recalled the events which occurred the previous day.

"What! How is that possible? How can you come from Brunhilde? This is Edan a city deep within the Dyssodia empire" Able could not help it as the SUV jerked a little when he lost control of his emotions.

Abel was right in the way he reacted. The earth was truly not the way it was supposed to be.

It all started in the year 1955. An asteroid as large as a mountain crashed into the grand canyon. Unlike the doomsday scenario predicted by scientists, the impact caused only a small ripple which was felt all over the world.

People celebrated such an uncanny miracle which they thought was the act of a benevolent god. Little did they know that it was only just the beginning.

A viral mutagen was silently spread along with the strange ripple that was felt by every organism on the planet.

This virus was later called the progenitor virus. P virus for short. It was quite subtle and unnoticed since it only altered the genetic information found in the reproductive organs of all living beings on the planet.

Everything seemed fine until every living thing started reproducing. New strains of bacteria and viruses were discovered and animals gave birth to stronger and weirder offspring as they eventually evolved into wild ferocious beasts with strange and unusual abilities.

Humans gave birth to superhumans with different and diverse powers and abilities. As the race with one of the highest gestation periods on the planet, humans were almost wiped out of existence by other mutated animals with shorter gestation periods.

With technology and advanced weaponry, humans were able to hold the line long enough for more superhumans to be born and trained to maintain human civilization even as the old generation of regular humans died off.

This was only the tip of the iceberg. Yes, there was more…

The P virus also somehow managed to infect the earth, turning the planet into a giant, sentient and self-sufficient organism. It could perfectly simulate climate, weather, and even day and night cycles without the aid of the sun.

The earth was quickly filled with laws that govern all facades of life which were called the dao of heaven and earth which gave both man and beast who were at higher levels of existence the ability to use and rule over reality.

The planet quickly fell out of orbit as it flew freely into space as it looked for other celestial bodies to devour.

It started with satellites, comets, and asteroids. It actively crashed into them and the celestial bodies merged with the earth seamlessly as though the celestial bodies were slowly dipped into a viscous liquid.

The more the earth absorbed, the more its mass increased. The distance between locations kept increasing until it became alarmingly clear that travel between distant countries became virtually impossible.

Not only was distance a problem, but the expanse of land or sea in between was also surely brimming with mythical monsters after years of continuous evolution.

There were some special cases where the landmass didn't expand.

For instance, when a city wall is built around an expanse of land and the land was declared a city belonging to an empire and approved by the earth, the landmass within that city wall will no longer expand.

Although the landmass between the cities that make up an empire increases, the rate of increment is only a tiny fraction of that between empires. This makes traveling between cities in an empire though hard and long, possible.

The inability to maintain satellites in orbit made communication between different empires impossible. News about other empires was only disseminated by the earth when it felt like it.

When the earth was done absorbing the other planets and their moons in the solar system, it quickly made its way to the sun. By this time, it was already a fourth of the sun's size.

This time, it didn't crash into the sun. The fiery energy from the sun was quickly absorbed from a distance in a funnel-like fashion. When it was done only the sun's core which was a little bit larger than the earth remained.

The earth went on to slowly absorb the core. This process took nearly two years. When it was done, it flew into the vast expanse of space in search of another unlucky solar system to feed on.

…....…

Kane's eyes were listless as he thought of what happened the previous day. In mere hours, his father's throne was usurped and his family has broken apart.

His mother who was colluding with general Briggs was killed by his father. His father also sacrificed him to the dao to save his and his first sons' skin.

"My father is a king-level being in the dao of space. He was dethroned by his trusted general and I was used as a dao sacrifice to buy time for him to escape.

Due to some anomaly, I was brought here by the dao of space" Kane stopped talking as he studied the building they drove past. The past events were too much for a four-year-old child to bear. His childhood had been ruined and he would never be considered normal ever again.

"It's quite unfortunate, sorry. I've never heard of the dao displaying such abilities but the dao of space is, after all, a heavenly dao and it's not too surprising for it to teleport you to another empire" said Abel as he momentarily glanced at Kane.

Abel further asked, "Since you are a royalty from Brunhilde, I suppose you have a neural chip installed already, right?"

"Yes" replied Kane.

"Can you tell me what your mutation is? If you don't want to tell me then it's perfectly fine" said Abel.

Brunhilde Empire, among the four empires, was known for its vast and steady advancements in technology. Although they were lacking in the aspect of power level, technology has more than made up for that making them arguably the most powerful empire on earth.

An example of their technological marvel was the neural chip. This was a microchip that was made mandatory to be implanted in the head of every citizen of Brunhilde. Not only did this make taking the census easier, but they were also other functions that were mind-blowing. Of course, the social status of each citizen determines the grade of the neural chip issued.

For royalty like Kane, an S-grade neural chip was implanted in him. It could analyze his entire body composition and disclose his strengths, weaknesses and even his mutation whilst others could only blindly figure it out by themselves. It could also give him photographic memory and the ability to obtain muscle memory of skills as long as his mind could accurately understand it.

Kane had to only focus a little to call up the neural chip's panel in his mind.

The panel displayed his personal information.

Name: Kane Hugh.

Age: 4.

Class: Un-evolved.

Elemental Affinity: Universal.

He quickly navigated to the skills panel which displayed:

Mutation

Heightened Observation and Adaptation.

Skills

Unknown skill: 5% complete.

"Heightened observation and Adaptation" replied Kane. "Oh, ok" replied Abel rather unenthusiastically as if he was disappointed with the information.

"Oh, and there is this unknown skill that is only 5% complete. What's that about?" asked Kane not minding Abel's change in tone.

"Unknown skill? 5% completion? Has the dao spoken to you yet?" asked Abel a little bit intrigued.

"Do you mean the floating head? Yes, early this morning I woke up to it mumbling and my head hurt so bad" replied Kane as he winced a little because his head was still throbbing a little.

"Hahaha, now I get it. You are very special. In fact, I've never seen anyone like you. I now understand the first part of your mutation. That was the dao trying to impact an ability to you. The key for you to survive your condition is to learn the skill"

"Most people who are sacrificed to the dao don't get past 5% until they die and you are already there on your first session. With your heightened observation, you can notice things that are difficult to observe and understand. As expected of someone with royal blood. It sounds ordinary but it's really impressive. I just can't imagine what the second part of your mutation does" said Able with a wide grin.

"Wait, what do you mean by the first session? Am I going to experience that thing again?" Kane had already started feeling a headache coming up.

"Yes. And you have to learn that skill within three years or you will die" replied Abel who still had the same grin on his face.