Chapter 11

Chapter 11. Galactic Martial God Chronicle - Reincarnation (2)

The time of my clone visible through Third-Person Avatar was flowing.

Looking at the newborn babies wriggling beside me, aside from myself, it was certain that time was moving.

Third-Person Avatar was an ability that allowed me to control another clone while in the state of my main body, or another clone.

There was no controller for controlling the clone, but about one-tenth of my senses were connected to the clone, so I could control it with my will.

“Huh? Ah, so I can’t move because I’m wrapped in a swaddling cloth.”

I tried controlling it, but my clone could not move.

Could I control another clone at the same time?

Because that question occurred to me, I used Third-Person Avatar on my first clone.

“Oh, simultaneous control works too.”

Like using dual monitors, I could see both clones from a bird’s-eye view.

Rather than the reincarnated clone, who could barely move, I tried moving the Tower clone.

On the bed in the lodging, I rolled around as I controlled it, then stood up, sat down, and stood again.

“It looks no different from actually moving, but the sensation feels awkward.”

At this rate, combat seemed impossible.

The response was clearly slow.

It might have been different if I were a world-class fighting game pro player, but I was not that good at games, so it felt even worse.

Still, when I had to move a long distance, it would be comfortable for my body.

It felt like it would be convenient if I had a controller like a joystick, but when I tried controlling both with my consciousness, a sharp headache assaulted me.

Apparently, overlapping control was possible, but I could not actually use it.

I lay the Tower clone back down on the bed and disconnected Third-Person Avatar.

As I analyzed Third-Person Avatar while looking at my newborn-baby self, I discovered that this ability had functions like a video or game.

Pause, play, and acceleration.

Of course, pausing or accelerating time did not mean only my clone could move in that state. The entire dimension stopped along with it.

To be precise, it was not that real time stopped or accelerated, but that my observation stopped or accelerated.

“From 0.001x speed to a maximum of 1,000x speed, huh.”

I turned Third-Person Avatar back on for the Tower clone and tried moving it.

At 2x or 3x speed, it more or less reflected my will as it was, but the higher it went beyond that, the more delay there was in reflecting my will.

That was only natural.

If I accelerated it to 10x speed and gave a command to sit and stand at 1-second intervals, then in the world where the clone existed, that command was being given at 10-second intervals.

However, if I gave a repeated command like a macro, it carried out my command without delay.

If I accelerated it to 10x speed and commanded it to keep repeatedly sitting and standing until I ordered it to stop, the clone continued sitting and standing over and over.

“If I’m going to accelerate time, I’ll need to write macro commands properly.”

Of course, for a newborn baby just lying there, commands meant nothing at all.

“I get why it gave me Reincarnation and Third-Person Avatar together.”

Without Third-Person Avatar, I would have had to spend years as a newborn baby.

But thanks to Third-Person Avatar, I could quickly skip through the painful time.

At least until I was out of diapers, I decided to speed up time moderately.

I lay the Tower clone back down on the bed and focused on the reincarnated clone.

Naturally, time was currently accelerated, and I had input a command to suck on the baby bottle and consume its contents if a baby bottle was placed in my mouth.

“Biological activities like sleep are performed well on their own without me having to give commands.”

Third-Person Avatar remained maintained even while the clone slept.

Like that, I sat still in my main body and watched at 100x speed for 10 minutes, then noticed something strange.

“Why aren’t my parents coming?”

Even if my parents had come and gone while I was asleep as if I had passed out, 10 minutes at 100x speed meant 1,000 minutes, or about 16 hours and 36 minutes, had passed.

The only people coming to the reincarnated clone were those who looked like nurses or doctors. Parents or guardians did not appear at all.

I had not started in an orphanage or something. If I had started in a hospital with newborn babies, then I should have parents who gave birth to me, so why were they not coming to see me?

Did something happen?

Just as I was thinking that, about 5 minutes later, after another 8 hours or so had passed in clone time, a beautiful woman wearing a coat with a distinctive pattern engraved on the chest came to see me.

I stopped the acceleration and focused on the sound.

---

The attending physician of the deceased mother’s son, ‘Cheon Ji-woo,’ headed to the guardian waiting room at the news that a guardian had finally arrived.

Newborn babies were vulnerable to disease, so even if someone wanted to meet them, visitation was not immediately allowed because they were in a sterile room.

The guardian waiting room was a space where outsiders who wished to visit a baby waited briefly.

When the attending physician saw the unrealistically beautiful woman wearing a coat with the Cheon Family crest drawn on the chest, he sighed.

“An android....”

At the attending physician’s murmur, the woman lowered her head slightly and greeted him.

“Pleased to meet you. I am ‘Si-woo,’ the dedicated android of Master Cheon Ju-yu and Madam Seo Gyeong-ae.”

Androids.

Unlike cyborgs, they were humanoid machines manufactured mechanically from beginning to end.

The characteristics of androids were their somewhat unrealistic beauty and the android mark subtly engraved on the temple, at the position of the solar point.

The attending physician had no choice but to sigh at the fact that the one who had come was Si-woo, an android, and no one else.

It was not because he held discriminatory feelings toward androids.

He was merely worried about the baby’s future.

The fact that no one else but a household android had come meant that the Cheon Family, or the baby’s legal guardian and paternal grandfather, had little interest in the baby.

On the other hand, since they showed this little interest even in the baby, it meant there was unlikely to be harm done to him or the hospital for failing to save the daughter-in-law.

Of course, he had calculated that the Cheon Family was a renowned family famous as a leading righteous sect of Galactic Murim, so they would not create an incident that could become gossip.

However, even though they had done their best, he could not help fearing the tyranny of the powerful acting on unjust resentment.

He had boasted to his subordinates that it would be fine, but deep down, he had been worried too.

Si-woo noticed the attending physician’s concern and said,

“Please do not worry. We are aware that the hospital did its best. And my new master, Master Cheon Ji-woo, will receive full support as a direct-line member of the family.”

Of course, if asked whether that support included love and interest as family, she could not answer.

At Si-woo’s fluent words, the attending physician nodded in relief.

“I-is that so? That’s fortunate.”

Androids were divided into several grades. Low-grade androids carried out only the commands given to them, like factory machines, but high-grade androids containing the ‘technological singularity’ displayed emotions and intellectual abilities to the point that they were not easy to distinguish from humans.

Because of that, unlike other androids, ‘androids that used singularity’ were legally treated as quasi-humans, and there were various legal restrictions on their production.

At a glance, Si-woo was an android that used singularity, so her statement that the baby would receive full support was credible.

High-grade androids that used singularity were not only expensive, but also not something one could buy merely because one had money.

If such an android had been inherited by a newborn baby who had lost both parents early, then at the very least, there would be no inconvenience in living.

One might think this concern was meddlesome, but it could also be called the disposition of a doctor who cared about his patient.

“In addition, I apologize for arriving late. It took time to complete various inheritance procedures, including those involving ‘me.’”

“Ah, it’s fine.”

“Then when will my master, Young Master Cheon Ji-woo, be able to leave the hospital?”

“The baby’s examinations are not complete yet, so immediate discharge is difficult.”

Because the mother had been weakened by illness for a long time, the baby also needed various examinations.

“It will take at least another 15 days. However, there seems to be no major issue with his immediate health, so visitation is possible.”

At the attending physician’s words, Si-woo nodded and said,

“I would like to see him right away.”

“Please follow me.”

Guided by the attending physician, Si-woo headed to the newborn visitation room.

At the visitation room, she underwent disinfection once.

Beyond the transparent glass window, there were several newborn babies in the nursery, and the nurse brought one of those babies, ‘Cheon Ji-woo,’ into the visitation room along with his wheeled crib.

Seeing the newborn baby who had become her new master, Si-woo bowed to him.

“It is my first time meeting you. As of today, I, Si-woo, the nanny android who will serve you in place of your late parents, offer my greetings to you, Young Master.”

Si-woo did not think the newborn baby would understand her words, but she greeted him according to procedure.

From this moment on, this newborn baby was her master and the one she had to protect.

---

I admired the face of ‘Si-woo,’ who had introduced herself as a nanny android.

“Wow, she’s seriously beautiful.”

Anyway, an android? Was that real?

A robot that lived and moved like a human actually existed.

The dimension I had thought was a Murim world seemed to be not Murim, but an SF world.

“That’s strange. I clearly felt a strong destiny with Bluewood Sword. Did I make a mistake?”

More importantly, not Han Ji-woo, but Cheon Ji-woo.

Since I had reincarnated, I had been prepared for my name to change entirely, but only my surname had changed.

Had the Tower adjusted it?

For some reason, that felt unfilial. If I used Reincarnation even once more later, would I become Lü Bu with three fathers?

Except all three fathers would be biological fathers, not adoptive fathers.

In truth, even before Si-woo the android said it, I had already known from the nurses’ conversations that my newly born self had no parents.

The nurses had loose lips.

Well, what was there that they could not say in front of a newborn baby who could not even babble properly?

Perhaps because the nursery was a special place, the security devices were good as well, so it was a space where they could freely gossip about their superiors.

At any rate, according to the nurses’ chatter, I did not know how my father had died, but I was a posthumous child, and my mother had miraculously given birth to me while she was close to death from illness, then passed away.

I did not know whether I should think of this positively or negatively.

Judgment would come after I could control my body on my own.

But somehow, I did not think it would be entirely negative.

Thinking that, I accelerated time.

Around 15 days passed at 100x speed, and the attending physician called my guardian, the nanny android, saying there were no issues with my health.

Si-woo loaded me into something that looked like a pet carrier, drove a car, and headed toward the house where I would grow up from now on.

The view of the street from the third-person perspective was quite advanced. Some cars rolled along on wheels, while others floated in the air.

The buildings in the city center were lined with high-rises, and when we left the city center a little, a residential area appeared, packed with luxurious detached houses with gardens that looked like a wealthy neighborhood at a glance.

“It seems I’ve reincarnated as a young master from a rich family.”

And an extremely rich family at that.