This feeling.....
Ash’s consciousness returned to his body, and the instant that connection was restored, his soul shuddered slightly because of the sudden surge of sensations flowing into his awareness.
After being disconnected from his body for such a long time, reconnecting with physical senses again felt incredibly stimulating, though his mind quickly stabilized itself and began processing everything with surprising clarity.
His brain was far too powerful to be overwhelmed by something like this. Instead of confusion, what he felt was a brief moment of shock at just how drastically his perception had improved.
And even more so because the sensory perception he was experiencing right now was far beyond the scope of mortal perception.
His eyes were still closed, yet he could clearly see everything around him in a full 360 degree vision, as if every direction existed within his awareness at the same time, and his other senses had also become far more sensitive than he remembered.
The faintest disturbance around him felt clear, and even the subtle movements of space around his body were being perceived by his senses, making the experience feel strangely vivid and detailed.
I need to get used to it, its quite stimulating...
It almost felt like when he slept he had only two eyes to observe the world, but now it was as if he possessed far more than two eyes, while his other senses had also been greatly amplified to a level that his mind had never handled before.
And what’s this? Am I floating inside the asteroid belt of a planet...Hmm....
Ash calmly processed the information his senses were providing. Even without opening his eyes he could clearly perceive countless rocky bodies drifting around him, all slowly moving within the gravitational pull of a nearby planet.
Thus, Ash did not waste too much time and tried to move his hands and his body. Previously he could only stimulate his fingers very slightly, and even that movement was so minimal that it never caused any damage to the mold like substance that had formed around his body during his long transformation.
But now when he tried to move again, the result was completely different.
The moment his body attempted a proper movement, intense vibrations spread across the hardened substance covering him. Fine cracks immediately appeared across its surface as the pressure from within increased.
Those cracks slowly extended across the shell that had encased him for years, spreading further as Ash instinctively moved his body again while adjusting to the return of physical control.
And after reaching its breaking limit, the mold finally split apart in two sections vertically, the hardened structure unable to withstand the force any longer.
The shell broke open.
And Ash opened his eyes.
"This....feeling is somehow addicting...."
Ash spoke in a deep voice as a small smile appeared on his face. The moment the words left his mouth, he paused slightly as he heard his own voice echo in the silent space around him.
That was when he noticed the first clear change after his senses. His voice had become deeper than before, and there was a natural weight within it, as if every word carried a subtle charm and a quiet authority that had not existed previously.
He had not intended to speak in any particular tone, yet the sound that came out felt distinctly different from what he remembered.
How did he realize it so quickly?
His instincts were telling him.
That realization felt strange to him because his instincts had never behaved like this before. Earlier they had only been vague gut feelings that occasionally surfaced in moments of decision.
Now they felt far more vivid and responsive, almost as if they become alive. The moment a thought appeared in his mind, his instincts seemed to react instantly, giving him a subtle understanding of his own condition without requiring deliberate analysis.
Ash slowly looked at his hands, then his body, and finally toward his lower region to confirm the rest of his form. As his gaze moved across himself, he could not help but feel slightly surprised by the changes he was witnessing.
He then used his 360 degree vision to carefully observe his entire appearance. As his perception wrapped around his body from every direction, what he saw was a being that possessed the same basic structure as a human, with two arms and two legs forming a familiar silhouette.
But everything beyond that basic structure was completely different.
The most striking difference appeared in his eyes.
They were extraordinary.
Instead of the normal whites that filled the eyes of ordinary beings, his eyes contained a mixture of countless colors that slowly blended and moved together as if they were liquid. Those colors never remained still and continuously shifted within his eyes.
Even more unusual was the fact that he did not possess a iris at all.
At the center of his eye there was only a small black pupil, a darkness so deep that it seemed to absorb the surrounding colors rather than reflect them. From that black center, thin lines extended outward in a circular pattern that resembled the spokes of a wheel.
Those lines were exactly ten in number.
However, when Ash looked more carefully, he noticed something else.
There was one extremely small line beginning to extend outward from the center of the pupil, but unlike the others it had not fully formed yet, as if it was still in the process of developing.
Ash quietly observed the strange structure of his eyes with growing curiosity.
And if someone looked even deeper into that dark pupil, they would notice something even stranger hidden within it.
Deep inside that darkness there existed a single symbol.
It constantly changed its form, shifting endlessly as if it refused to remain the same even for a moment. Despite those continuous changes, its color remained a pure and brilliant gold, faintly glowing from the depths of the pupil like something that did not truly belong within ordinary sight.
The moment Ash attempted to focus his attention on that symbol, his consciousness suddenly trembled as a sharp wave of dizziness spread through his mind.
It felt as if his brain instinctively rejected the act of observing it too closely.
His concentration broke immediately, forcing him to look away.
Damn what the hell is that?
The symbol was unlike anything he had ever observed. Looking at it did not feel like looking at a simple mark or pattern. Instead it carried a strange depth that made it feel as if the symbol itself contained something far greater.
The feeling it gave him was almost as if it represented the concentrated essence of every rune he possessed.
Ash’s mind began to churn rapidly as countless possibilities appeared one after another in his thoughts. It was only then that he noticed another change. His thinking had become incredibly clear. His mind moved with a speed and precision that he had never experienced before, and new ideas formed naturally without effort. It was as if he was in the constant state of Omni Thought.
Thoughts that once required careful reasoning now appeared almost instantly.
It did not take long for Ash to arrive at a possibility that made his expression grow thoughtful. If the runes he possessed represented fundamental aspects of reality, then perhaps they were not truly separate from one another.
There might exist a possibility that all 25 runes of reality could eventually fuse into a single one.
And the symbol within his eyes might simply be an incomplete reflection of that final rune.
There was nothing that confirmed this thought, yet the idea felt strangely natural the more he considered it.
His instincts told him that he was correct.
Moving forward, Ash began noticing the other changes in his body.
Another thing that caught his attention was his hair. It was pure white, even whiter than before, yet within that whiteness faint rainbow and golden hues shimmered softly when light touched it. The same was true for his eyebrows and eyelashes.
They were thick and white, yet subtle golden and rainbow reflections flowed through them, making them appear almost too beautiful to be real.
His skin, muscles, and inner structure were also far from normal.
Instead of looking like ordinary flesh, his body possessed a strange cosmic texture that resembled a distant starry sky. His entire form carried a violet black shade, and within that darkness countless tiny lights blinked continuously across his skin.
At first glance they looked like distant stars scattered across the night sky.
But they were not stars.
They were runic symbols so incredibly small that they appeared as flickering points of light spread across his skin, blood, and veins.
His veins were like that of filaments of universe, strong, deep and beautiful.
Ash then carefully observed his physical build. His body had a very slim frame with very little visible muscle, yet he still appeared naturally athletic.
At the same time there was also a strangely delicate quality to his appearance, one that gave him a faintly feminine elegance, almost like a sheltered princess who had never faced hardship.
However that appearance was only superficial.
The structure of his muscles was completely different from that of ordinary beings.
Instead of thick muscle fibers, his muscles felt more like layers of space stacked upon one another. Because of this, even if his strength increased in the future, his muscles would not grow in a visible way.
They would simply continue stacking inward like layers of space, becoming denser and stronger without altering his outward appearance.
His body itself also carried another unique feature that he had not paid attention to earlier. Across his entire form, countless tiny runic symbols flickered like distant stars, scattered through his skin, blood, and veins. However, those were not the only runes present on his body.
There were also larger runic symbols embedded across certain parts of his form.
They were far fewer in number compared to the countless tiny ones, yet they were clearly visible if someone looked carefully. These larger runes were present across the back of his fingers, along his shoulders, across his back, and spread across parts of his legs. Unlike the tiny flickering symbols, these runes were stable and clearly defined, carrying a faint golden glow that blended naturally with the cosmic texture of his body.
They looked ancient, powerful, and strangely harmonious with the rest of his form, as if they were an inherent part of his existence rather than something that had been carved onto him.
And most importantly.....
I have my little brother with me...and that’s a good news....
Ash smiled with quiet satisfaction after confirming that he was still a man, and that his size had even increased slightly compared to before.
As for his internal organs, however, the situation was completely different.
There were none.
His body did not contain the usual organs that living beings possessed.
Instead he had only a single heart, and from that heart countless veins extended throughout his body like a vast network connecting every part of his form.
Even that heart itself was unusual.
It possessed two distinct sides.
One side functioned in a relatively normal way, pumping blood through the network of veins spread across his body. The heart itself was not particularly large, yet the circulation it created felt perfectly stable.
The other side, however, was completely different.
Within that half of the heart there existed an entire universal void.
It was an endless darkness that seemed to stretch infinitely inward.
That was his core.
The source of his power.
Currently there was nothing inside that void except darkness. It was empty, completely silent and untouched.
Ash instinctively understood that he would have to fill that void himself, slowly building the source of his strength from nothing.
There was something else that felt strange as well.
His heart was not beating.
And he was not breathing either.
Although he possessed a nose and a normal human face, there was no need for him to breathe at all. His body simply did not require air to sustain itself.
And his blood was different as well. It was golden violet in color, thick to the point that it almost seemed rigid, yet at the same time it remained flexible enough that the flow through his veins felt completely natural, without causing any obstruction to his circulation.
I feel so much powerful than before..
Ash expressed his genuine feelings as he quietly observed his own body. The strength he felt right now was not an illusion or an exaggeration born from excitement. The difference between his current self and the version of himself before this transformation was enormous.
If that previous version of him were standing here right now, Ash felt that he could destroy it with nothing more than a casual swing of his hand.
That was the level of power he instinctively felt within his body.
"Now lets try something....."
Ash spoke softly as curiosity appeared in his eyes. Out of habit, he attempted to open the familiar status window that had accompanied him for so long.
But nothing appeared.
There was no response at all.
"Looks like the status window has vanished.....hmm...."
He muttered quietly while observing the empty space before him, but instead of feeling disappointed, a small smile slowly appeared on his face.
The disappearance of the system did not trouble him as much as it might have before.
Without wasting time thinking about it, Ash activated his Eye of Omniscience and directed his gaze toward himself, intending to observe his own details through his ability.
***