2 The passage of time

After dying the first time, I was reborn again. But this time on another planet. I didn't know how much time passed or if this new world was just more advanced than my first one. It didn't matter to me in any way. I was born into a small family. I was the second child and had an elder brother, who cared for me. I came to terms with the loss of my wife and children and saw this second 'second' life as a new beginning. I came to love my elder brother over the years, even if my mind was far older than his or that of my parents. 

My parents had actual jobs on this planet. There was a fixed set of things that every person had to fulfil. My mother was a housewife and that was the case for most females on the planet. I can see a pattern here. But I'm sure that there will come a life, where I will be born into a Matriarchy. My father was responsible for hunting and gathering food. I noticed that this planet's technological era seemed to have developed faster. There are a set number of farmers and those who go out to hunt. 

I used my time to first get familiar with everything and then tried to learn anything that was possible. I wanted to focus on science as long as I couldn't use the Force. And it seemed that I was unlucky in my second life as well. I was bothered by this a bit. So armed with that knowledge, I focused on studying anything possible. There weren't any jobs specifically for science but there were shamans this time, who had knowledge about healing. I was interested in that and spent almost all of my time in the shaman's hut watching him closely. 

Thanks to my perfect memory with infinite storage, I memorized everything he did the first time I saw it. At first, he didn't like me staying there all the time and used his authority to have me removed. My mother had to bow her head and ask him for forgiveness. He thankfully didn't try to use his station to gain special favours from my mother. He was a good man and so ... I continued to go to his hut and sit in front of it and wait until he would let me inside. 

It is hard to refuse a child like me. I never gave up and would also sleep there. After letting me sit there for hours, he grew impressed and allowed me to watch. He also tested me and when I managed to answer him, he was even more impressed. He decided to allow me to come every day and learn from him. That was the beginning of the best shaman/doctor the planet had ever seen and also the best doctor the universe will ever see in the future. Because while I couldn't use the Force and use things like Force Heal, I had all the time in the world to research hundreds of thousands of plants on the planet. 

I learnt everything the shaman had to teach very quickly and soon was on my own making discoveries and sharing them with him. The people would often hear strange and almost mad laughter and giggling when they walked past the shaman's hut. We were like a duo of mad scientists who tried to discover the secret to immortality. If only he knew. 

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It was about 40 years after I was born, that the shaman died and left everything to me. I was sad to see him go. He was like my brother in a way. I had a good relationship with my family. Both my Mother and Father were incredibly proud of me for my success and the improvement of health in the village. But when they died I was just as sad as I was when the shaman died. The Shaman's name was N'tutu. I don't even bother to call most people I think about with their names. It has been so long, that names don't hold that much meaning anymore. 

I continued my research. If this were a modern world, I would probably be known as a biochemist of a sort. I tried to find all sorts of different plants and animals who had special traits, I could use to create medicine out of. It took time. I might have perfect memory and infinite storage, but I didn't have a genius-level intellect. But what I did notice, was that I was smarter and a bit more intelligent than in my first life. It was weird. And it wasn't the only change I noticed. 

I kept up with my meditation. Every day I would meditate and come to terms with the fact that my loved ones die around me while I continue to live. And in my second life, I noticed that meditation was much easier for me than in the first one. I could delve deeper into my meditation and get much calmer than before. My old grievances could be fully accepted and I felt refreshed after such a session. 

I knew that I didn't have the ability to use the Force, but something had to have changed compared to the first life. So I did the only thing I could think of. I invented the first microscope. I failed the first time. Thanks to my perfect memory, I could somewhat recreate the microscope I used in school and high school, but using the lack of technology, this took me a long time. About two years after the start, I finished a functioning microscope. It only worked during the day and I had to create special reflective materials, close to mirrors to reflect the light and use it in the microscope. 

So I spent a long time researching my cells. I compared my cells to those of my family and other people in the village. I found out that my cells were mostly the same. I did find the so-called 'Midi-chlorians'. I started to study them in detail. But sadly that wasn't very detailed at all. There was no electricity I could use and to invent it now, would not work. I would again be seen as some sort of monster and be chased off. 

I did however try to at least get an approximate reading of the amount of Midi-chlorians. I took a small portion of my cell and then counted them there. I came up to 65. After that, I multiplied this number with about 40, since the small area I counted them, was approximately 1/40th of the total cell. So I had about 2600 Midi-chlorians per cell. 

This proved to me that I truly didn't have access to the Force back then. But I guessed that I had more Midi-chlorians then than in my first life. To prove this, I would have to die again and then check. I created a theory, should my guess be correct. I knew that by serving as the link between the Living Force and the Cosmic Force, the midi-chlorians make it possible to achieve immortality after death. With sufficient training and total immersion in the light side of the Force, the deceased could preserve their identity in the form of a Force spirit after becoming one with the Force.

But what about someone who already was immortal? Would he be connected to the cosmic Force already? And if that were the case, did that mean that unlike normal, my Midi-chlorians didn't connect the Living Force to the Cosmic Force, but the other way around?

If so, then there is reason to believe that my immortality and frequent reincarnation will result in an increase of Midi-chlorians in my body. Which in turn would grant me access to the Force and its powers. 

This was a daring and stupid idea back then. But it was an idea. Using this idea, I decided that after I had researched as many plants and wildlife as I could, I would forcefully die and reincarnate again, to test out this theory. 

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I lived for longer than I thought. The planet had a lot to show me and many things to learn. I even saw the grandchildren of my brother. I never married. I didn't want to. There may come a time or a life when I will marry again, but that wasn't in my second life. I wanted to fall in love again but due to the research, I never had the time. So at the age of close to 200, I died, for the third time in total and the second time in this new life/lives.

The third life was nothing special at all. I continued the trend to research anything I could. I was again on another planet somewhere in the galaxy. I didn't have parents in my third life, but that wasn't a problem for me. The only interesting thing was that I tested out my theory. I again took the time to create a microscope, since the people weren't advanced enough yet and counted my Midi-chlorians again. 

And what did you know? The amount was not less than in my second life. I couldn't say whether it got more or just stayed the same since I only estimated the number. I would have to wait for the next life or create a device which could accurately calculate the exact amount of Midi-chlorians. 

I took the time to study and research biology in my third life. I took blood samples from the people and the wildlife. I was already proficient in doing that, since as a doctor in my second life, I did this frequently and tried to create potions or serums that granted the people some abilities of certain animals to either live longer or fight sickness. 

I died on an excursion. I was not alone and my apprentice was with me. We were searching for a special flower that a legend stated had some healing properties. I was stomped on by a dinosaur-like animal that consumed me ... awesome. 

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Things continued that way. My fourth, fifth, sixth life ... etc. They were all similar. I learned anything I could and then did my own research. I wanted to understand what made different species special. I wanted to delve into studying the Force and its effects on flora and fauna but that still had to wait.

After the tenth life, I could say for certain that my theory about my Midi-chlorians was accurate. They grew in number with each reincarnation. My connection to the Force grew as well and that became apparent during my time meditating. I could enter a deep trance and calm myself. I used those moments to think about problems I encountered in my research. 

My mind also seemed to progress the more I reincarnated. Studying, learning and researching seem to have a positive effect on my intelligence. In my tenth life, I had arrived at a Midi-chlorian count of ~3'200. Considering that I had lived about 1500 years, that told me when I could expect to start using the Force. A Force-sensitive needs between 4'000 and 5'000 Midi-chlorians. So it took me 1'500 years as well as 10 reincarnations to gain an additional 700 Midi-chlorian per cell. 

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I didn't only study biology and chemistry in my lives. I also grew interested in technology. It was still in the beginning stages in most of the galaxy, but I was the one who would bring progress in each of my lives. As the years passed, I not only made progress and helped the people of the world I was in, but I also progressed in private. 

I knew that there was a species of space whales called, Purrgil, who could travel through hyperspace at lightspeed. I wanted to research them and create hyperspace technology to travel to other worlds. Because right up to that point, I could only die, if I wanted to see other planets. 

After about 2'200 years in total or another ~10 lives, I finally reached it. I reached approximately 4'200-4'300 Midi-chlorians per cell ...