Damien had this question at the back of his mind. Isn’t reincarnation supposed to mean that one will be born as a baby, die as an old man and repeat that cycle?

But he had woken up in a 15-year-old body, which made him doubt whether he entered after the previous owner died or replaced his soul.

“Who said you were reincarnated in a dead body?” The girl countered.

“What do you mean?” Damien had a puzzled expression on his face.

“Well, you should thank me because, without me, you would have really died as your soul was already present the day you were born in this world. There were no traces of any other soul in your body. Sure, you find it hard to believe because you thought you woke up after being poisoned. Actually, the fact is that your soul knew you were going to die, and it triggered your subconscious memories as a self-preservation mechanism.

“But that doesn’t mean you saved yourself from death. I awakened from my sleep just a moment before you were going to die. I was surprised to find myself attached to your soul and had a lot of questions myself. But when I realized you were this close to dying, I quickly dispelled the poison from your body. I wanted to appear before you and talk with you. But, sensing that your mind was in a chaotic state probably due to you realizing that you had undergone transmigration, I decided to talk with you later after you had calmed down.”

Damien had an incredulous expression on his face. He never expected this kind of possibility.

‘In the end, I am Damien Ward? If I was asleep for 15 years in my own body, then doesn’t that mean I died at least 15 years ago. No wonder Damien Ward was too similar to my old self. Naive, kind, generous, and most of all foolish.’

Damien rubbed the sides of his head as he felt like he had a headache thinking about it.

“But then how can my memories just awaken like that? I thought one would be born as a clean slate. So wouldn’t that include the soul as well?” Damien asked, wondering whether his understanding of reincarnation was wrong.

“Well, you are not entirely wrong. Usually, reincarnation would mean one would be born as a clean slate, including your soul. But since that god interfered with your reincarnation, you weren’t part of the normal cycle, and your soul wasn’t cleansed properly. It might be because of his sloppy use of destiny laws. I don’t think he expected you to awaken your memories. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have even bothered to cleanse your soul and would have let you be born with your memories intact.”

The girl’s words seemed to make sense, but when he thought about the possibility of never awakening his memories, it made his blood boil.

If he didn’t awaken his memories, he would have died without even knowing.

No, even if he had awakened, if not for her help, he would have still died a miserable death a second time, unable to fulfill any of his objectives.

Even thinking about such a possibility sent a shiver down his spine.

‘I guess I really owe this little goddess my life.’ Damien, for the first time in a long time, felt gratitude towards another person.

Even though she was annoying and haughty, he didn’t mind it much since he felt like he was dealing with a kid and not some exalted goddess.

“Thank you.” Damien met her gaze as he said in a grateful tone.

How long has it been since he said words of gratitude to someone else?

He couldn’t help but feel a little strange as he said these words.

The girl’s eyes widened a little as she was surprised at Damien’s sudden words of gratitude since she didn’t expect him to say it.

“Of course, now you know how awesome I am.” said the girl, her face pink with pride.

“But remember that I did it to save myself. I just didn’t want to waste my precious essence searching for another host by letting you die.”.

‘Seems like she doesn’t want me to misunderstand.’ Damien smiled, hearing her words.

He knew she saved him so that she won’t have to find another soul to link herself. But he wouldn’t even have the luxury to think about these things if it were not for her. And he would have to kiss goodbye to his revenge.

That was why Damien sincerely felt grateful to her.

“So why didn’t you wake up earlier before I was even poisoned?”

“I was sleeping to replenish my soul essence. My soul fragment is already in a depleted state, and it isn’t easy to replenish it in this world with such a weak and turbid ethereal aura.” She said with a frown.

“Weak and turbid? But I heard cultivators use this same energy to make themselves stronger to the point where they can do impressive things. My adoptive father told me that the most powerful cultivators in this continent could split the mountains and even cause the seas to tremble. But he said this was only a myth since he never met any powerhouses.”

Damien obviously felt the air was different in this world than earth as even he, as a cripple, could feel some kind of richness in the air.

‘If she already labels this world as a weak one, how strong should a world be in her standards?’ Damien wondered.

“Hmph, these lowly mortals cultivating in such a weak world won’t take them to greater heights. In my eyes, they would forever be a mortal without any of their cultivation even touching the false divine way as long as they cultivate in this world. Splitting mountains and all is nothing but child’s play when even with a millionth of my true strength, I can do the same thing with just a thought.”

Damien’s eyes twitched, hearing her shrug off the ability to split mountains as a child’s play.

Even in his previous life, it wasn’t that easy for him to cleave mountains, especially Mt.Everest, using his old powers. Well, he stopped before it could cause a huge commotion, but he found out doing it in one stroke wasn’t possible.

‘Well, for someone who can create planets and lifeforms, cutting mountains amounts to nothing.’

Damien’s eyes suddenly lit up when he thought of something.

“By the way, since you are a very powerful goddess, you surely must have a way to fix my ethereal core, right?” Damien asked while suppressing the trembling in his voice.

He was hopeful that even if she was weakened, she was still a goddess nevertheless. Thinking about how she dispelled the poison easily just before he died, he thought she would also have the ability to restore his ethereal points.

The girl scoffed as she said, “Fix your core? Of course, even making you an overlord of this world would just take a single thought if I was at my peak. But now my soul is split into four fragments or shards.”

She pointed at the pyramidal-shaped crystal floating in mid-air near Damien’s chest. “This is one of my soul shards, [Shard Of Essence], out of the four. Other than my soul essence, it is the only shard that contains my consciousness, that is, my soul plane. My powers were split into the four shards, and so each shard has certain abilities derived from my true power. And this shard gives me the ability to manipulate essence, be it any substance or matter.

“Of course, because of my injured soul plane and depleted soul essence, my power to manipulate essence is not even 1% of my true ability. Only if I merge with all my soul shards would I recover my true powers and generate as much soul essence and soul energy as I want. It was not much to dispel that poison from your body, but I still had to utilize some of my soul essences for it, no matter how little. If I keep on using my soul essence like that, my consciousness will dissipate away, and that’s the last thing I want. Besides, my restoration abilities are almost nonexistent right now. If I merged with my [Shard Of Restoration], I would be able to restore your core as easily as breathing. But now, my other soul shards are separated so far that I don’t have a chance of even finding them now. So you can forget it if you think I can restore your ethereal core points.”

Damien pressed his lips together as his hopes were dashed. He didn’t fully understand what she said about her abilities and her soul’s situation, but one thing he understood was that she was too weak to help him.

“And besides, why would I even waste my precious energy helping you? Even if you die, I will just find some other host.” The girl said as her tone became indifferent.

“…” Damien was left speechless.

The speed at which the carefree expression on her face turned to an indifferent expression was legit indeed.

But Damien felt that something was off.

He curled up his lips as he said, “You can’t possibly expect me to believe that the only reason you saved me was that you were too lazy to search for another host. Otherwise, why would you save a cripple that has no chance of helping you recover your power? Unless…you want to sleep for who knows how long to recover your soul essence, and I would have already died due to old age by then. And I don’t believe you are magnanimous enough to waste your precious essence for a nobody like me.”

The girl: “…”

‘Tsk…how can a crippled kid like him be so stupidly smart?’

“Hmph, seems like your brain is not crippled, unlike your body.” she scowled.

“So, tell me what other factor made me precious enough for you to save me?” Damien ignored her jab and asked with a curious expression on his face.