Ch 171 – A Dreamer’s Will

The cries of a rooster rang through the heavens, the originally dark sky slowly transitioned into a blue color as birds flew through the air. Warm sunlight bathed the vastness of Earth as one by one; many people woke up from their blissful dreams or horrid nightmares for morning has come.

Some felt depressed to be faced with the bleak reality once more, while others woke up with cold sweat after escaping their terrible nightmare. Others cried as their blissful dream was taken away, while others woke up with a smile for they felt grateful to be alive and well.

So many people woke up from their respective dreams, and it was no different from the young boy with rainbow hair named Nox Aeterna.

But this time, as warm sunlight draped his originally dark room with a soothing yellow glow, his pair of brilliant rainbow eyes like priceless jewels that usually gleamed with joy, was now instead staring coldly at the ceiling as his entire aura changed.

Gone was the youthful innocence of the child, it was now replaced with bone-prickling cold ruthlessness as he muttered softly, his soft pink lips moving with grace and eloquence: "Success."

Like cold wind, his soft voice slightly echoed through the silent room as his eyes gleamed with mysterious intentions. He stretched out his hand to the sky, and he could see his fair white skin and rosy patches, showing his vigor and life clearly. He clenched his fist, feeling the life energy coursing within. But there was a sense of distance, like he was not moving his own body but that of a video game character.

It was due to the cloning process brought by Isaac Deathwill. Considering he was dealing with a fellow cheater, there would obviously be some problems no matter how perfect his plan was. But just the mere fact that he managed to essentially 'kill' a cheater is a feat that is akin to defying the heavens.

'After suppressing 'my', or Isaac's luck, 'I' influenced my current self to become friends with Isaac, and slowly, my luck sided with him like an obedient puppy. After creating a real crisis of having my soul slowly dissipate, and that the only way to save me now was having Isaac's soul be fused with mine with the purest of intentions possible, Isaac released his own luck at its fullest at the last possible moment which caused slight chaos to occur in reality which Isaac used to make me become a clone…' Nox Aeterna thought carefully while slowly sitting up. 'But of course, plans can only take one so far before a flaw appears.'

Standing up with a silent thud, Nox moved his body around and clearly felt the flaws of his current synchronicity. 'My mind, body, and soul aren't completely in sync right now due to the imperfections brought by the cloning process. But with time, this problem would fix itself as my body and mind adapt to the sudden change. But for now, I still have other problems to solve.'

He closed his eyes, and his consciousness descends to his damaged soul that flickered weakly. He could clearly feel that his own magical abilities at that moment were dampened severely, and his soul would take a relatively long while to heal unless he uses his own methods.

'If I don't fix this soon, my Soul would regress down to lower ranks, and will take me a considerable amount of effort to raise it back to higher ranks without putting more effort in return. Due to the imperfections of the cloning process, I still haven't fully received all of my original self's skills and abilities, so making nanites to build a nuclear reactor would be near impossible. By my estimate, it would take me a month to fully assimilate Isaac's comprehension of all of his laws, which would be too long for my plans…' Nox's eyes gleamed with brilliance and continued. 'If Isaac was to use the Ancient Dragon Spirit along with the methods available to him, it would take him a couple of months to reach Z-Rank. So, reaching S-Rank would be the bare minimum.'

With such hard conditions, any normal person would feel hopeless at such high requirements, but Nox Aeterna was different. He was the clone of the clone of Isaac Deathwill, a thousand years old lich called the Emperor of Death! In this current life of his, he is the youngest member of the Aeterna household and one of the most brilliant geniuses humanity has seen, for he has reached B-Rank as a mere child. He was also a cheater, with absurd luck and infinite potential!

'Dreams, they are closely interlinked with the Law of Death. If I were to use my own comprehension of Death, and the absurd cheat that allows me to explore dreams, I could clearly expect that my comprehension of Dreams would be a meteoric rise.' Nox Aeterna thought to himself before walking up to one of the walls in front of him.

He opened his mouth and said softly: "One bottle of soul-healing pills, highest quality."

Instantly, he heard a beep and the wall retracted and he saw an exquisite white jade bottle resting on a golden platter. He stretched out his hand, and he could feel his tiny hands grabbing the cold surface of the bottle and felt its smoothness. But his sense of touch was dampened due to the imperfect synchronicity of his mind, body, and soul, which will prove to be detrimental if he were to be in a life-or-death situation.

'Such high-quality soul-healing medicine attained for free. This is the benefit of being born into such a powerful family.' Nox's face remained cold as he opened the top of the bottle and a strong aroma hit his nose, but his sense of smell was also dampened due to the synchronicity problem between his mind, body, and soul.

Staring inside it, he saw multiple circular pills with a white, pearl-like appearance that glistened lightly like they were jade. He shook the container for a bit and the pills inside made clanking sounds, which made one discern that they should be hard like jade, but as Nox slowly grabs one of them and put it into his mouth, he could feel it dissolving into a strange form of ethereal energy which hastily soothed his soul.

Like an ethereal white gas, the medicine enveloped his dim soul and repaired the cracks quickly. But some still remained, so he grabbed more pills and shove them into his mouth like candy and didn't care for their exorbitant cost. If he were to sell even one of the pills, he'd be rich enough to buy his own house, so if somebody else were to see him wasting those pills nonstop, it would make their heart bleed with pain to see money go down the drain.

Returning the bottle back to the tray, the metallic hand drove back into the white wall and the white wall retracted back to its previous state.

The sound seemed to have alerted the white dog sleeping peacefully in the corner of the room on top of its white bed and it barked loudly upon seeing its owner already awake: "Woof!"

Nox's body halted for a second, and his face turned around to greet the pair of innocent eyes the dog held. Instantly, a fuzzy feeling soothed Nox Aeterna's entire body which made his eyes squint with a dangerous glint.

'It seems like this body still has feelings for the dog and desperately wants me to let it be unharmed.' Nox hummed lightly and approached the dog with a big smile.

Seeing its owner approaching it, the dog woofed loudly and stands up, the drowsiness of sleep being washed away by its own excitement. It rushed forward, happily skipping its steps as its eyes beamed with happiness. Its mouth curved into a big wide smile, as sunlight donned upon it like a scene from an anime when two friends reunite.

It lunged into Nox's chest, pushing him down to the ground as it nuzzled its head to Nox's body affectionately. Nox smiled subconsciously, the warm fuzzy feeling emanating from his very core only exploded more and more as affectionate thoughts appeared deep in the recess of his mind.

'It seems like the remaining will of Nox Aeterna is desperately trying to change my thought process the more I try to think of killing the dog.' Nox assessed coldly. Even though his mind was feeling warm and joyful to seeing the dog, he can still think of doing malicious actions to the dog and observe his own situation clearly.

Feeling his arms wrapped around the dog and patting its head, Nox Aeterna's mind continued to increase its influence over Nox. The dog smiled wider, licking Nox's face as Nox Aeterna chuckled in return.

But deep inside Nox's mind, he remained clear-headed as ever. 'This will, this child truly isn't simple. Being raised in such a prestigious family and having unrivaled talent, it's obvious that his fleeting will would have such power. If I was a normal person, the will would have tricked me already and the dog would have remained unharmed. But that will just be the start, slowly, the will would gain more influence until the will would essentially become the one in control in the end.'

Nox Aeterna clearly knew the potential danger the will held, so his originally happy eyes that curved from joy turned cold in an instant. His soul bursts out with strength, and his body forcefully moves without the will's consent, and he could feel his hand piercing through the dog's fluffy chest.

A beating sensation appeared from his closed palm, and he stares coldly as the dog stared wide-eyed at him, its originally white fur turning crimson red while he held its beating heart through its chest. Nox Aeterna remained calm and rational, but his body subconsciously gag and almost puked, but he held it in through sheer control.

Slowly, he could feel the will left behind in his body and mind dying and contorting to his own soul and will, and the nauseous feeling he felt after killing the dog disappeared after a while.

'Effective like expected. It seems like that also allowed me to gain more of the original body's comprehension and increased the synchronicity between my mind, body, and soul as a side effect.' Nox Aeterna noted and he stood up slowly.

As the dog's body slid down from his childish arm and dropped to the ground, he glances at the beating heart he held in his hand and his eyes gleamed lightly. 'Emotions… Emotions are also closely related to Dreams just like Death and Sleep.'

Instantly, a radiant magic circle appeared between his outstretched hand and the dog on the ground below him, and the heart beating in his hand glowed brightly. It slowly dissolved into motes of rainbow light and got absorbed into the dead dog below him.

A strange power then slowly enveloped the dog's body, and miraculously, its pair of eyes opened and it looked back at Nox Aeterna affectionately. It even woofed and slowly stood up like nothing happened, and the hole in its chest and back were now gone.

'To think I'd be able to use emotions as a substitute. The heart stored the Law of Emotion, and I used my comprehension over the Law of Death and Law of Life to revive the dog using the strong emotions it had for me, and the strong emotions I had for it. This truly shows the vastness of Laws and how far I still am from reaching the peak and understanding the secrets of reality.' Seeing a new application of the Law of Emotions, Nox's eyes brightened up further as he once again felt his resolve as a scholar getting stronger.

With that, he patted the dog's head and whispered: "Just stay here boy, okay?"

"Woof!" It responded warmly and sat on the ground, causing Nox to crack a smile and stood up.

He neared the door of his room, and watch it automatically open upon noticing his presence. Seeing that, and feeling the magic circuits running through the entire house, his eyes gleamed with malicious intentions and he thought to himself: 'It seems like I have no time to dilly-dally. Getting this entire family estate under my control will accelerate my plans and bring me a greater level of safety.'

AN: This chapter has 2084 words.

ANOTHER NEW MAIN CHARACTER?!

(October 11, 2022 – 321st day of writing)