Chapter 11. Galaxy Martial God Hall - Reincarnation (2)
Time was flowing for my clone, which appeared as a 3D Avatar.
Seeing the other newborns squirming beside me, it was clear that time was indeed moving.
The 3D Avatar was an ability that allowed me to control another clone using my main body or yet another clone as a medium.
Although there was no physical controller for the clone, my senses were linked to it by about one-tenth, allowing me to manipulate it with my will.
"Huh? Ah, I can't move because I'm wrapped in a swaddle."
I tried to control it, but my clone couldn't move.
Could I control multiple clones at the same time?
Curious, I used the 3D Avatar on my first clone.
"Oh, it works simultaneously."
Like using a dual-monitor setup, I could see both clones from a bird's-eye view.
I moved the Tower clone instead of the reincarnation clone, which couldn't move well.
I rolled around on the bed in the lodging as I commanded, then stood up and sat back down.
"It doesn't seem any different from moving in reality, but the sensation is awkward."
It seemed impossible to engage in combat or anything similar in this state.
The response was clearly sluggish.
If I were a professional player in a world-class fighting game, maybe it would be different, but I wasn't particularly good at games, which made it even harder.
Still, it would be convenient for my body when I needed to travel long distances.
It would have been easier if I had a joystick-like controller, but as I tried to control both with my consciousness, a sharp headache struck me.
It seemed that while simultaneous control was possible, I couldn't actually utilize it.
I laid the Tower clone back on the bed and deactivated the 3D Avatar.
As I analyzed the 3D Avatar while looking at my newborn self, I discovered that this ability included features like video playback or game functions.
Time stop, playback, and acceleration.
Of course, stopping or accelerating time didn't mean only my clone could move in that state; the entire dimension stopped along with it.
To be precise, it wasn't that actual time was stopping or accelerating, but rather that my observation of it was being paused or accelerated.
"From 0.001x speed up to 1000x speed, huh?"
I turned the 3D Avatar back on for the Tower clone and moved it.
At 2x or 3x speed, it reflected my will almost perfectly, but beyond that, there was a lag in reflecting my intentions.
It was only natural.
If I accelerated to 10x speed and commanded it to sit and stand at one-second intervals, that command would be issued at ten-second intervals in the world where the clone resided.
However, if I issued repetitive commands like a macro, it performed them without delay.
If I accelerated to 10x speed and ordered it to keep sitting and standing until I told it to stop, the clone would repeat the action continuously.
"If I'm going to use acceleration, I'll need to write macro commands carefully."
Though, for a newborn lying in a crib, commands were meaningless anyway.
"Now I see why I was given both Reincarnation and 3D Avatar."
If it weren't for the 3D Avatar, I would have had to spend years as a newborn.
But thanks to the 3D Avatar, I could quickly skip over the agonizing time.
Let's just accelerate time appropriately until I'm out of diapers.
I laid the Tower clone back on the bed and focused on the reincarnation clone.
Naturally, time was already accelerating, and I had input a command to suck on the baby bottle and consume the contents whenever it was placed in my mouth.
"Biological activities like sleep are performed automatically without needing specific commands."
The 3D Avatar was maintained even while the clone was sleeping.
As I sat still in my main body, watching at 100x speed for 10 minutes, I noticed something strange.
"Why aren't my parents coming?"
Even if they had visited while I was asleep, 10 minutes at 100x speed meant 1,000 minutes, or about 16 hours and 36 minutes, had passed.
Only people who appeared to be nurses or doctors came to the reincarnation clone, and I saw no sign of parents or guardians at all.
It wasn't like I started in an orphanage; if I started in a hospital with other newborns, there should be parents who gave birth to me, so why weren't they coming to see me?
Is something wrong?
Just as I was thinking that, about 5 minutes later—after another 8 hours had passed in the clone's time—a beautiful woman wearing a coat with a unique emblem on the chest came to see me.
I stopped the acceleration and focused on the sound.
* * *
The attending physician for 'Cheon Ji-woo,' the son of the deceased mother, headed to the guardian waiting room upon hearing the news that a guardian had finally arrived.
Newborns were vulnerable to disease and kept in a sterile room, so just because someone wanted to see him didn't mean they could visit immediately.
The guardian waiting room was a space for outsiders who wanted to visit the baby to wait temporarily.
The doctor sighed when he saw the woman of unreal beauty wearing a coat with the Cheon Family Clan emblem on her chest.
"An android..."
At the doctor's mutter, the woman bowed her head slightly in greeting.
"Nice to meet you. I am 'Siu,' the dedicated android for Mr. Cheon Ju-yu and Ms. Seo Gyeong-ae."
Androids. Unlike cyborgs, they were pseudo-humans manufactured entirely from machines.
The characteristics of androids were their somewhat unrealistic beauty and the minute android mark engraved on their temples, at the acupuncture point known as the sun point.
The doctor couldn't help but sigh that it was Siu, an android, and no one else, who had come.
It wasn't because he held any discriminatory feelings toward androids.
He was simply worried about the baby's future.
The fact that a domestic android, and not anyone else, had come meant that the Cheon Family Clan—or the baby's legal guardian and paternal grandfather—had little interest in the child.
On the other hand, it also meant that since they had so little interest in the baby, there would be no harm coming to him or the hospital for failing to save the daughter-in-law.
Of course, since the Cheon Family Clan was a prestigious family representing the Galaxy Martial God Hall, he calculated that they wouldn't create any gossip.
However, even after doing his best, the tyranny resulting from the resentment of those in power was something to be feared.
He had boasted to his subordinates that it would be fine, but he was worried deep down.
Siu noticed the doctor's concern and spoke.
"Please do not worry. I am aware that the hospital did its best. And my new master, Mr. Cheon Ji-woo, will receive full support as a direct descendant of the family."
Of course, if one were to ask if that support included the love and care of a family, she could not answer.
At Siu's fluent words, the doctor nodded in relief.
"I-is that so? That's a relief."
Androids were divided into various grades; low-grade androids only performed commands exactly as given like factory machines, but high-grade androids equipped with a 'technological singularity' showed emotions and intellectual abilities to the point where they were hard to distinguish from humans.
Because of this, unlike other androids, 'androids with a singularity' were legally treated as quasi-humans, and there were many legal restrictions on their production.
Since Siu was clearly an android with a singularity, he could trust her words that the baby would receive full support.
High-grade androids with a singularity were not only expensive, but they weren't the kind of thing you could just buy even if you had the money.
If such an android had been inherited by a newborn who had lost his parents, at least he wouldn't have any inconveniences in his life.
One might think this worry was meddlesome, but it could also be considered the professional duty of a doctor who cared for his patients.
"Also, I apologize for the late arrival. It took time to process various inheritance procedures, including 'myself'."
"Ah, that's quite alright."
"By the way, when will my master, Young Master Cheon Ji-woo, be able to be discharged?"
"The tests on the baby are not yet finished, so immediate discharge is difficult."
Because the mother had been weakened by illness for a long time, the baby also required various tests.
"It will take at least another fortnight. However, there don't seem to be any major problems with his health right now, so visits are possible."
At the doctor's words, Siu nodded and said,
"I would like to see him immediately."
"Follow me."
Siu followed the doctor's guidance to the newborn visiting room.
She underwent sterilization once in the visiting room.
In the newborn room visible through the transparent glass, there were several newborns, and a nurse brought 'Cheon Ji-woo' to the visiting room in his wheeled mobile crib.
Seeing the newborn who had become her new master, Siu bowed her head to the baby.
"Nice to meet you. As of today, I am Siu, the nanny android who will serve you in place of your late parents. I greet you, Young Master."
Siu didn't think the newborn would understand her words, but she exchanged greetings according to protocol.
From now on, this newborn was her master and the one she had to protect.
* * *
I admired the face of 'Siu,' who introduced herself as a nanny android.
"Wow, she's really pretty."
Anyway, an android—is that for real?
That a robot living and moving like a human actually existed.
The dimension I thought was a martial arts world seemed to be a sci-fi world instead.
"Strange. I clearly felt a strong destiny with the Azure Wood Sword, did I make a mistake?"
More than that, Cheon Ji-woo, not Han Ji-woo.
Since I was reincarnated, I was prepared for my name to change entirely, but only my surname changed.
Did the Tower adjust it?
It feels somewhat immoral. If I use reincarnation even once more later, will I become like Lu Bu, who had three fathers?
Except in this case, all three fathers are biological, not adoptive.
Actually, even before the android Siu spoke, I knew from the nurses' conversations that I, reborn, had no parents.
The nurses had loose lips.
Well, what could they not say in front of a newborn who couldn't even babble properly?
Perhaps because the newborn room was a special place with good security, it was a space where they could freely gossip about their superiors.
Anyway, according to the nurses' chatter, I didn't know how my father died, but I was a posthumous child, and my mother had miraculously given birth to me and passed away while she was on the verge of death due to illness.
I don't know whether to view this positively or negatively.
Deciding that can wait until I can control my own body.
However, for some reason, it didn't feel like it would be entirely negative.
Thinking this, I accelerated time.
About fifteen days later at 100x speed, the attending physician declared there were no issues with my health and called for my guardian, a nanny android.
Si-woo loaded me into something that looked like a pet carrier, drove the car, and headed toward the house where I would be raised.
The scenery of the streets, viewed from my 3D perspective, was quite advanced; some cars rolled on wheels, while others hovered in the air.
The city center was lined with high-rise buildings, and as we moved slightly away from the downtown area, a residential district appeared, packed with high-end detached houses with gardens that looked like a wealthy neighborhood at a single glance.
"It seems I've been reborn as the young master of a wealthy family."
And a very wealthy young master at that.
(To be continued in the next chapter)
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