Chapter 4: Chapter I – The Start of a Great Adventure (1)

Chapter I

Waking up in a not-so-peaceful environment

I woke up feeling as if a spider had eaten my brain and then vomited it back in and then did the same again and again and again, for thirty-two hours straight, my body also felt strange, much better I guess?

I finally opened my eyes and the earth welcomed me, I was literally face down in the dirt.

I don't remember sleeping in the dirt, I think.

Why don't I remember anything anyways, I am...

I...

I don't remember.

How did this happen?

...Who am I?

 

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While our MC was having an existential crisis a foe was approaching, an ant, a very large, dog-sized ant.

By the time he noticed it was too late, he was having a very existential crisis, and so when the ant was less than a meter from his face he...

...screeched like a scared little girl and punched the ant so hard its matter changed phase from solid to liquid and splattered everywhere.

"..."

 

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That... was unexpected, since when are ants that large?

And are explosive punches normal?

This is not making any sense, like my old man said I must meditate for answers... wait, what?

I don't understand but I will be doing it anyways, not like anything dangerous could happen to a nude person in a forest filled with dog-sized ants.

This is not getting any better.

 

---

 

Our character followed his instincts which were telling him to meditate in the middle of a forest that is probably filled with mutated ants and of course, he has no clothes, it could not get any worse.

He emptied his mind, letting go of his confusion and focusing only on the search for answers.

Who was he?

Why was he in a forest?

What is the meaning of life?

And many more.

It didn't take as long as he expected, in seconds he immersed himself in his mind and could feel the answers coming to him.

It was like getting access to the akashic records, the amount of knowledge he was getting was insane, like a broken dam knowledge poured into the mind of our character, overwhelming his brain but too addicting for him to let go, so he tried to devour all the information as fast as he could.

Then, as if encroaching on the lair of a dragon he was pushed out violently, he lost his focus and woke up with a headache, but now he knew the answers to most of his questions and some more.

He smirked looking at the sky with a strange expression as his eyes shined unnaturally.

 

---

 

I remember now, I am...

"I am Valerian... and I was human... was?... yes... I'm not human anymore..."

My life was boring before [REDACTED] happened, truly something I hope doesn't happen to anyone, I lived on my own away from the city, never really interacted with people, I saw them as annoying, especially after [REDACTED] happened, luckily I was away from any place with many people when the final stages of [REDACTED] started forming in [REDACTED] as [REDACTED] when [REDACTED], so it is to no one surprise I [REDACTED] when [REDACTED] was birthed from the dying sun and everyone started turning [REDACTED].

I should stop thinking about my life before this one, it doesn't matter, and thinking about [REDACTED] hurts my brain.

Whatever I did while meditating has given me more knowledge than the sum of all the knowledge on earth combined and multiplied by a hundred, like, what is Quasi-Dimensional Reflection, well, it is a hacking technique, a very advanced technique that allows one to get data from alternate realities without setting off alarms.

Or Negative-Time Keys, the best encryption method possible, using quirks in space-time to have to input the password before it was generated, I know it doesn't make sense, but I know how to do it.

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That's not even talking about the other nonsensical stuff, like the method to terraform almost any planet into a Gaia World, the closest to paradise one can get, then there are the megastructures, have you ever wanted to build a Dyson Sphere, Ringworld, or even a Matter Decompressor, because now I know how to do so and some more.

But to more important topics, I, Valerian, am not human anymore, my new body looks almost the same as that of a human but the genetics are too different, it is basically a completely different species, a very complex and stupidly advanced genome that even me with all the knowledge I was just given can not understand how it was made.

My body is an insane mix of several different DNAs that have been combined to make a completely different species, it's not unstable, you could say it is too stable as the chance of mutation is so small that if I were to ever have children they would be more like clones than anything else, not like that would ever happen, I am the only member of my species.

The combined DNA is a mix of heavily modified Valteran-Human DNA serving as the base and an equal proportion of Ether Drake and Stellar Devourer DNA that has been heavily modified too, there is also a small amount of DNA that is completely artificial and doesn't correlate with that of any species that I know of.

This DNA mix has improved the body in various ways:

A greatly enhanced body 'Strong enough to lift heavy vehicles and punch through steel, fast enough to move at subsonic speeds, agile enough to leap over small buildings and dodge supersonic attacks, durable enough to withstand bullets, grenades, and most conventional explosives'

A greatly enhanced mind 'Far beyond any genius this mind is on par with a positronic AI, while not naturally wise a person this enhanced intelligence will be able to never forget anything, learn most things instantly or in a short time, process amounts of information greater than that of any supercomputer and with mental calculations alone be able to predict the outcome of most situations'

Some more abilities that are not the body itself:

Infinite Psionic Potential, I didn't receive much knowledge on psionics outside of the basics but from what I know I will never run out of psionic energy, the only challenge is channeling the energy, as I have no experience doing so, for now, the only powers are basic telekinesis and telepathy but in the future, the true might of psionics will show itself.

Energy Absorption, this body doesn't need to eat actual food, it can survive on sunlight, heat, radiation, electricity, any form of energy can be absorbed into the body and stored, there is a limit of course but the energy can be redirected somewhere else if the limit is reached, the limit can also be increased with training.

Energy Projection, the energy stored from Energy Absorption can be projected from any part of the body in various forms, lighting, light, plasma, kinetic energy, and any other form of energy, while the energy being projected can be controlled as long as it is connected to the body it can not be manipulated when it separates, the drain is much higher when energy is being controlled directly and not just thrown around.

Semi-Immortality, the body never ages past its prime, and its immune system is composed of biological nanites that would make any illness cry, the body also regenerates incredibly fast using energy stored from Energy Absorption, even most of the body being disintegrated would be survivable with enough stored energy.

Supreme Environmental Resistance, this body can survive in any environment, even space, for an unlimited amount of time, doesn't need to breathe and the only real bodily function keeping the body alive is Energy Absorption, so as long as there is energy the body will live forever.

Near-Unbreakable Bones, the bones are made of a biological alloy that is on a level of strength only below that of Neutronium, the best armor there is, you will have an easier time piercing an M1 Abrams from the front with a pencil than to try and break my bones without some kind of focused nuclear weaponry.

Indomitable Will, my mind is absolute, I am not affected by any form of temptation, mind control, pain, sadness, psychological trauma, any form of damage to the mind doesn't work, even in the face of death I will not flinch, my mind is inviolable and my will is eternal.

And lastly is my beauty, you have to understand what I mean by this, I say beauty quite literally, my new body is the most androgynous and beautiful body I have ever seen, on a level that it makes no sense really, just imagine Rimuru combined with Enkidu but better if that is even possible.

The only difference from a normal human body would be the small draconic tail, the pupil and iris being a bright gold color, with the pupil being a noticeably darker gold, the hair being somewhat platinum white more or less, and the small black horns that come from behind the ears and point forwards acting as some kind of channeling tool for my psionics, 

I still don't know how anyone could do this, the most I can do with the knowledge I was given is perfect a genome, not create a completely new one out of several different ones that should be clearly incompatible.

Ether Drakes are basically space dragons about the size of a large asteroid, and Stellar Devourers are moon-sized star parasites that as its name implies slowly devour stars over the course of their long lives.

That's not even talking about the Valteran genome that had already been perfected by the valterans themselves, how it was improved and modified to be compatible with the other ones is a question only God can answer.

Then there are the artificial additions that are clearly not natural, a biological organism can not be so perfect in its structure, this body is closer to a synthetic artificial body than to that an organic one.

But let's focus on something more important, I have no clothes and I am lost in a forest.

I should find shelter or something, a cave maybe?

I may have the entire technical knowledge of an interstellar empire but I have no way to use it.

 

---

 

Before going to find shelter he examined the remains of the ant he punched out of existence and was impressed, if he had that strength he would probably survive forever as long as he didn't kill himself, but that would be boring.

He tested his speed by trying to run as fast as he could, but it didn't end well, he crashed through a tree.

Valerian tried a few more times until he could avoid the trees, it didn't take long until he could sprint through the forest, not very fast but much faster than any human could.

"This is so fun!" he shouted before he stepped on a giant ant and flattened it like a gomba from a Mario game.

After he did that his face morphed into one of disgust as he tried to get rid of the insect goo from his foot.

"...I should be more careful, where are these ants coming from anyways?"

He jumped to the highest branch of the closest tree, seeing as he still couldn't see anything other than leaves he jumped to another higher branch.

He continued this until he was in the biggest tree in the vicinity, from here he could see most of the forest and the origin of the ants became clear.

To his right there was a small hill full of holes with ants coming in and out, it was far away and the land surrounding the hill had been cleared of trees so it wasn't difficult to spot from where he was standing.

"What could have happened to make ants so large, is the oxygen content higher or is there some nuclear waste or something like that in there?" Valerian talked out loud to himself, not like anyone was going to hear him, and from what he knows ants don't have ears.

"Still this is strange, I have not seen any other animal in this forest, only ants..." It didn't take long for him to realize why.

"The ants must have eaten them all, this is expected, but with the environment looking like the earth I hoped to find some animals from before the third [REDACTED] event" He held his head in pain when he thought about the last part, he should stop thinking about that, not like he could do anything about it.

He looked at the sky, directing his gaze at the blue sun floating above "But this is not the earth, the sun was not blue, it changed colors after the twenty-eight [REDACTED] event but it never stayed blue for long, it kept changing to the normal yellow all the time, like it was fighting its changes or something... it doesn't matter, I should not think about the old earth before something strange happens"

He stopped looking at the sky and jumped down from the tree "I should find shelter before nightfall, I have time so I will try and find somewhere where there aren't ants eating all the animals, I will try and find a bear or something and turn it into my new clothes"

He stopped for a moment "I should also test my abilities after I find shelter, I don't want to be surprised when I accidentally burn down the forest" Valerian then continued running, this time in the opposite direction of the ant nest, from what he had seen before the density of trees in that direction was much higher than here.

He didn't know how long a day lasted here but he hoped it was not much longer than on earth as even with the energy he can store he doesn't want to have to bask in the sun like a lizard for a few hours each day if he doesn't want to starve, he will have to burn things and absorb the energy released if he doesn't want to be a crocodile in all but name.

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