Jody had a slight headache as he slowly opened his eyes. After his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw the most terrifying and inappropriately beautiful sight he had ever seen in two lives. It was dazzling to the extreme and gave him a new appreciation of the female gender from the bottom of his soul.
He had never once imagined a woman could be so breathtaking. It was amazing.
Isis Trillwolf was deeply asleep in front of his eyes, without a shred of clothes on, her face angelic and her body devastating.
Jody's more than adult mind momentarily short-circuited, and he refused to have thoughts. He couldn't allow himself to process what he was seeing. What kind of man was his father to land such a woman while already having three wives? Jody's evaluation of his father instantly went up.
Getting past his mother's current indecency, Jody examined her more closely. Lady Isis had dried tear streaks all over her face. It was as if she spent the last few hours crying. Upon noticing this, Jody felt a strange warmth inside. The maternal love he had always thought he didn't need...it wasn't so bad.
Little Jody closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'This is apparently a temperament tribulation given to me by the so-called Legion of Pharaoh Gods,' he thought, eager to fault this legion he had only learned about during his sleep.
Suddenly, Jody had another thought and immediately used his mind's eye to investigate the state of his body. What he saw left him shocked. A galaxy of smaller lights still surrounded twelve light spheres, but they had experienced a significant increase in size. Their size had nearly doubled. These were called astralis! They looked like little stars already, but now they also had that type of pressure!
Eight formerly tiny stars had even reached the size of the previous twelve. He was unsure how this was significant, but he presumed it was excellent.
All the energy in his body felt brighter, which Jody could interpret meant the purity was now much higher. He also felt smarter, able to process information much faster than in his past life. There were three hundred and sixty-one small points of light surrounding those twelve suns and eight planets. But the tiniest lights were simply uncountable.
On top of that, he had apparently grown significantly?
Jody actually found this incredibly strange. How long had he slept?
Jody started to wonder whether or not that was a dream he was having before. However, he soon put that thought out of his head. One time could be a dream, for sure. However, twice was suspicious. He started considering the possible implications of everything that had happened so far.
There was more to his current circumstances than met the eye. Only he couldn't understand any of it. He needed answers. With bright eyes and mind, Jody put his warm little hand on his mother's face. A chill ran through him as his mother's face was very cool.
"Using twilight star to dispel deadly yin frost. The protection protocol is in effect until the hunter is five years old. Twilight will be automatically used to protect the hunter during this time. There are 129 stars and 300 crystals remaining."
"Yikes…" Just as Jody grew worried, Lady Isis' body shook slightly, and the cold air retreated into her skin.
She slowly opened her sparkling sapphire eyes and looked down into an identical pair of eyes looking back at her. Her honey-toned face flushed red with excitement as she let out a small scream and started squeezing Jody in her chest as she wept. Surprisingly, she was no longer icy, but instead warm and soft.
Jody felt a bit sour in his nose involuntarily. It seemed that he had worried her. His eyes were watering despite himself, and he couldn't fight it.
Of course, this made Jody feel utterly baffled.
"Oh, baby, don't cry. With such a unique origin, my little man will be a powerful warrior one day. My bad little heartbeat, are you sad seeing Mama cry? You scared your mother half to death! You must never, ever do anything like what you were doing without me, okay? I need to know what's going on with you, and I need to be able to protect you. There are many things you have yet to understand well. No matter what other knowledge you have of worlds beyond, there are still many things you must learn," scolded Lady Isis in her bell-like voice, wiping away her as well as her son's tears.
Jody nodded silently as he buried his head into her chest bashfully. Honestly, she was right. He had been rash. He didn't even realize the strangeness in her words, as it made perfect sense to him.
Isis felt exceptionally pleased with the boy's behavior. She had covered her skin in neon instinctively before sleeping. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she had felt a little unsafe next to her own baby boy.
What if he woke up as someone else? Or combusted into emerald flames again?
But the boy had woken up, and acted completely normal. She even almost harmed him. Isis was positive that this brat had only just noticed his own physical changes, as she saw that familiar wonder in his little blue eyes. This was definitely her Jody.
Isis smiled brilliantly as she placed her hands on the back of Jody's neck and his wrist and probed his body with her spiritual sense. Her brows furrowed in surprise. Jody's constitution was more incredible than anything she had ever seen in a child. Neigh, it was more shocking than any she had seen in this world.
It was like her boy grew a couple of years older overnight. The boy should only be three years old this season, yet he looked thoroughly like age five or six.
"How are you, baby? Do you feel…strange? Or anything different?" his mother asked carefully.
Jody's heart skipped a beat.
Could he tell her that he ran into an unexpected circumstance while practicing the immortal laws of a Truth Compendium that was never designed for non-heavenly beings like himself to use? Of course, he couldn't. No way would that end in his favor. Fortunately for him, he had already decided on how to explain. Or instead, not explain.
He would feign ignorance.
"Mother, I feel ravenous," whined little Josiah to his mother with puppy-dog eyes.
Lady Isis wanted to slap her forehead. This brat would suddenly behave so properly like this every time he wanted food. Food could make him the perfect child. At least her son was acting normally. This was indeed that brat she dealt with daily. If Jody was possessed, then he had always been possessed…if that was the case, wasn't this her son?
"Mother will take you to get some food in a few minutes, baby. First, we must go to see your father."
While Lady Isis hurriedly dressed herself and her son, Jody learned from his mother's servants what happened after he lost consciousness. After Jody finished refining his first aiguille and through it the astralis, he officially entered the first stage of Titanic Rage.
The Wimpy Man Physique!
...well, Jody still couldn't get into the stage's name. Where was the honor?
Anyway, the strength increase temporarily over-drafted his little body's endurance, which resulted in him passing out. Jody surmised that he had exhausted his body's potential. He should have died or, at the very least, have been wasted. This is why it would have cost forty twilight stars for him to recover. Thanks to wolf boy and sword kid he saved some capital.
The moment he overdrafted himself to breakthrough, his mother walked in to check on him and saw him unconscious on the twin bed within black stinky filth. She immediately raised the alarm, and several wolf armor guards swarmed over, looking menacing and vigilant. However, they were unable to find any signs of intrusion or attack. Then Jody burst into flames that killed dozens of people, all while roaring as a giant winged wolf.
After obtaining this backstory, Jody was flabbergasted. To think he had caused such an uproar just by practicing Titanic Rage's first stage. What would happen once he reached the later stages? Wouldn't the heavens themselves be alerted?
Then again, a True Pharaoh of the heavens was already paying attention to him for reasons he couldn't comprehend.
Isis led her son out of a large courtyard. The layout and design meant that only cultivators above a certain level could live here; however, Isis' plea to her man made it possible for her family to move in without further delay.
Jody was taken aback by the luxurious surroundings. The spacious courtyards were joined by translucent bridges that sparkled with sapphires, pearls, and topaz. The faint sounds of trickling water blended with flute music drifting across the stone path. He felt the smooth texture of white stones under his soft sandaled feet. When Jody looked back at his mother, she winked and made a whistle so sharp that it made him wince and put his hands to his ears reflexively.
He felt his neck muscles contract involuntarily as the sound sliced through his eardrums like a needle made of air. The sky-piercing whistle seemed to burrow into Jody's skull and nest there with its spidery legs. His eyes widened in surprise when Isis noticed him flinch and hurriedly pulled her hand away.
When Isis saw the little boy cover his ears, she felt startled. That whistle was at a frequency that regular listeners shouldn't be able to pick up at all. Only cultivators, or what the negus called formulators for whatever godforsaken reason, and certain animals would have such impeccable hearing.
She briefly recalled the wolf in the flames before a loud howl reverberated through their ears. Lady Isis shifted her attention to the source of the sound as a three-meter-tall spirit wolf with grey fur came galloping towards them at a breakneck pace. The beast lifted its head to let out another long howl before ambling up to Isis and nuzzling its big muzzle against her. It paused for a moment when it noticed Jody in her embrace, sniffing gently.
"Do not be afraid, my son," Lady Isis said softly. "This is Synergy, one of my personal Wind Spirit Wolves, a ninth stage Vicious Beast."
But she noticed that there was no fear in her son's eyes as he observed this giant wolf. Instead, Jody seemed unbothered, almost like he had seen a rather large squirrel. There was no trace of excitement or interest on his face - just mild caution at best. Lady Isis found herself oddly impressed by her toddler's composure; he appeared far more mature than some of her past suitors.
Even her Left-Hand was intimidated by Synergy.
As Jody watched, the spirit wolf was staring back at him with its ears downturned. To Lady Isis' amazement, the creature had a meek posture, as if it recognized an intimidating higher being. This was vastly different from her daughter's experience; Iara Shu was petrified when she faced off against the same beast. The aura of the spirit wolf was enough to make even a Junior Spirit Sage quake in fear.
Moreover, the animal appeared to have a distaste for Iara.
The remarkable moment happened when little Jody ventured forward and put his hand out. To everyone's surprise, the spirit wolf let the child pet it gently! It rubbed its head against Jody's cheek, emitting a sparkle from its eyes, seemingly pleased and humbled by the child's adoration.
This was a Wind Spirit Wolf—one of the mightiest monsters in town—and it possessed enough power to reduce Jody to dust. But instead of attacking, it reined in all of its force as if it were a puppy. Lady Isis couldn't help but realize that this beast recognized Jody as a figure worthy of obeisance.
Realization struck Lady Isis like a lightning bolt.
Of course the beast would recognize her son, Jody, as royalty — it was obvious!
But why?
It couldn't be something so simple as Osiris; something inside of Jody made the Wind Spirit Wolf look at him with trepidation in its gaze. This was fundamentally different from the lad's father.
Lady Isis wrestled with her thoughts and anxieties, trying to make sense of this newfound knowledge regarding her son. His eyes were hers unlike her daughter Iara— not even Niagara had inherited those eyes from her soul. Jody must have some of her bloodline limit in his veins! Was he really that special?
Isis didn't have time to ponder further. With a fierce determination, she and little Josiah quickly mounted the Wind Spirit Wolf. Its powerful howl shattered the air and sent shockwaves through the clouds before taking off in a whirlwind of speed and intensity, disappearing with the wind into the estate grounds.