Chapter 8 - Reincarnated Souls Are Your Best Friends (Part 2)
The air feels sharper as I speed through, like a fan cranked up a level higher, though I can't tell if this is just my wishful thinking telling me I've gotten faster. Still, my legs do seem more stubborn in their endurance, like they've finally decided collapsing is beneath them. Placebo? Maybe.
At this point, the ache is like background noise at best. Another grumble from my stomach tries to start a conversation, but I hit "mute."
Another thirty minutes fly by before I collapse again. I sit down to meditate, coaxing more of my Ki to participate against their will.
I'm glad I can sustain thirty minutes of running every time with meditation.
This cycle continues—run, drop, meditate, ignore the pain, and repeat. And by the seventh iteration, I can finally say it without crossing my fingers: I've gotten stronger. The golden clouds blur through my vision much faster now. My 75% speed now feels like my full-throttle sprint back when.
How long was that? Feels like ages, but realistically, I've only clocked in about seven hours here. And honestly, I don't even know how I'm still functioning. With or without thirty-minute meditation breaks, I should still have become a dried-up husk by now. I mean, where is all this sweat coming from? At this rate, I could wring out my shirt and fill a kiddie pool. And my heart seems ready more than ever to pack up and leave that it's knocking at my chest, asking me to let it out. Good thing there's no more grumbling, though, and all the ache on my muscles seems to have vanished. Guess my body finally gave up on complaining.
I end up sleeping instead of meditating or calculating hypothetical numbers, because honestly, I'd rather not risk face-planting mid-sprint. My eyelids have been dragging like they're made of lead for hours now, and collapsing off this narrow path sounds like the dumbest way to reincarnate.
Waking up to this surprising lightness in my body after practically working myself to death the day before was pleasant, but then realizing the progress I made just destroys that mood instantly.
Yesterday, I made 184kilometers, more or less.
Honestly, I don't know how to feel. Should I be happy I'm able to run that far? Or should I despair over how long I still need to travel? Maybe both?
Regardless, I continue this mind-numbing routine. It's only on the tenth day when I finally hit a wall: my conscious ability to draw out more Ki just flatlined, no matter how much effort I put in meditating. That means my speed's plateaued, at least for now.
Overall, I made around 2,000kilometers.
At this rate, if I don't do something about this, I'd probably take more than the ten-year I promised King Yemma. Way beyond the five-year time limit I imposed on myself. Sure, I asked King Yemma for ten, but I was kind of hoping to beat Goku to the finish line. You know, just to feel better about myself.
Maybe I'd just run all the way anyway and hope for the best? Maybe Goku would pass me by five years later and let me hitch a ride on his back like some exhausted hitchhiker on a heavenly highway?
That sucks.
Still, no point crying about it. Time to move on to phase two of my so-called plan, which, to be honest, is less "plan" and more "wishful thinking with extra steps."
Sure, I could just grind it out and gradually increase my speed through sheer persistence, but I wouldn't bet my life on the gains being anywhere near enough. That leaves me with the next option, one so daring it's actually borderline embarrassing if it doesn't work.
My heart dips.
All or nothing, right?
Once my body calms down from another hellish run, I sit down, legs in a lotus position, hands on top of each other. Every time I do this, I would feel for my Ki within and try to influence it with my conscious mind.
But this time, I will try to tap into the Ki around me—that is the second phase!
Goku can use the Spirit Bomb and absorb it, temporarily making him stronger. He won against Super Android 13 in his Super Saiyan form while absorbing massive external Ki. So why can't I?
In my mind's eye, these tiny yellow firefly-sized particles swirl around me, way beyond the galaxy of my influence that contains all my body's Ki. These particles come from the golden clouds, no doubt. They float outside myself, weightless but somehow heavy with meaning.
My imagined body reaches out, trying to invite them, only to be overwhelmed by the sense of them, enough to push my imagined body back. I stabilize before I let my external body open its eyes. And with a breath, I stand still, and keep my focus.
Each of them holds a strong intent to defy my will, washing over me with the quiet dignity of something that has existed far longer than I could ever imagine. They're so far beyond me that the thought of commanding them feels almost laughable. Their holiness radiates so strongly it makes me feel painfully small, like standing at the foot of something ancient and immovable.
It's different. Purer. Higher. Completely unlike the energy inside my body, or even the traces left in wandering souls.
They are the Ki of this Heavenly realm. Divine Ki, probably? Or maybe some variant of it? It doesn't seem potent as what has been implied in the series.
Regardless of what they are, I ignore their lofty status. So what, right? If it's Ki, then it's bound for manipulation.
I try to command them, to bend them to my will like I would my own Ki, but then changes happen in my body, sucking my imagined body out of existence as I open my eyes in alarm.
My heartbeat thunders, all the aches in my muscles reappear like phantoms, my skin flakes, a waterfall of sweat cascades down, my lungs contract, my stomach growls in the emptiness, and my head throbs with pain. It feels like my very body is being torn apart.
Am I dying? Light seems to dim around me as I begin to lose consciousness.
Then it ceases. My body steadies, the world sharpens back into focus. My body settles, and I catch my breath, trembling from the shock.
Was that a warning from the Heavens? Am I restricted from trying to bend them to my will? I didn't even feel them getting inside my body and causing all that.
No, it's different. Upon further reflection, the Ki within me seemed to have been drained at the time my body malfunctioned, flowing outside, before flowing back inside. This does not seem to be my Ki.
It's the Ki of this realm! But why does it seem like they've been inside me all along?
Going back to my mind's eye, I gaze at the swirling of yellow particles in my field of influence. They still look the same, but feeling them, that's when I realize some of them hum with different vibrations, resonating with the same timbre of holiness.
I scan them, observe them, and try to communicate with them without any intention to manipulate them. As they flow inside my body, they don't flow to my meridians like I expected them to but to my heart, my lungs... to all parts of my body, sustaining me more than my own Ki could ever do.
Perhaps this is the reason why I never succumbed to hunger, or why neither my heart nor my lungs ever collapsed. It's probably the Ki from this realm that allows dead physical bodies like me to continue their journey on Snake Way without food or water.
Maybe there is an unseen Heavenly law in this area that governs how the Ki of this realm behaves.
But why can't I control them?
Are they naturally that arrogant? Unwilling to accept, I think more deeply. Perhaps they can be controlled. If this Ki here is some sort of subtype of God Ki, then control would be difficult. I don't know any ritual that can help me, nor do I know how Vegeta was able to tap into Divine Ki without one.
Wasn't God Ki supposed to be undetectable by mortals? Perhaps this isn't Divine Ki. Maybe something different. Still, it's clear they are of a higher level than normal Ki.
Entering my imagined world again, I try to coax them, spending a lot of time on them for Kami knows how long to no avail. No matter how I try to force my subconscious mind to be in the state of oneness with them, it recoils, painfully aware of its own inferiority in the presence of something so heavenly.
Frustrated, I lie down on my back again. Then I roll forward onto my stomach, chin resting on my forearms, hands clutching the edge. Below me, clouds shroud Hell beneath. I shut my eyes, gripping tighter, half-afraid I might slip and fall. Maybe the Ki below would be more cooperative?
I go back to my imagined world, my astral body still in lotus position. Underneath this void I float on, whispers rise and graze my ears like cold breath. The Ki below seems different: chaotic, filled with malevolent intent and the desire to inflict suffering. It's almost like it's mocking my weakness, basking in the contrast between my effort and its effortless menace. It's not necessarily evil; far from it. Just ancient and cruel in the way gravity is cruel. Indifferent. Part of the natural order of Hell.
Chills run down my spine.
Perhaps that is Hell Ki. Could I control it?
No, I'd rather not risk it.
Before I can exit my imagined world, familiar frequencies call out to me, thin and scattered among the thick chaos of Hell Ki. I narrow my focus, and there they are: drifting particles humming with the wistfulness of a past never forgotten, a past never mine. This Ki... they're the Ki of the souls in Hell down below!
If I was able to manipulate the Ki within my soul form, maybe I can also try subjecting them to my control. It's worth a shot.
Setting the intention, I focus on them. My subconscious knows although I may have a living body now, I'm still a soul within this dead shell. Although the energies were never mine, they already departed from them, trapped in this burden of freedom, of lack of ownership.
Maybe they are residues of souls long reincarnated, holding the memories of their lives already lost, as though their only purpose now is to exist. How else could I not sense any sort of barrier between us? I've tried reaching for the Ki of souls I've spoken to before, but theirs always feels locked away. Completely different.
They begin to acknowledge me, my soul, but they don't approach, as though wary. They pulsate with increasing luminosity.
"I call upon the energies of the souls long forgotten. Lend me your power, and I shall grant you a sanctuary in return."
It takes almost an hour before all the Ki I focus on gather above me. I return from my imagined world. And just as I envisioned it, above me where I lie, blue sparks of light swirl in an orbit like a halo. Standing upright, I hold out my hand, and they all converge, forming into a ball the size of my palm.
Power Levels:
Carson - 16