Chapter 32: What It Feels Like to Not Die - The Possibility of Breakthrough (Patreon)

Before he knew it...

The sun rose slowly the next morning.

They'd all played themselves silly late into the night before, and now everyone was still fast asleep.

Rudy slowly got up. Through the window, he watched Ghislaine practicing her swordsmanship out in the courtyard.

He let out a quiet chuckle. "Ghislaine really never misses her morning sword practice, does she?"

He tilted his head back and quietly gazed at the crack of fate spreading across the sky above.

Ever since arriving in this world, there had actually been a great many things he could have done. But in the end, he'd still ended up following the original storyline.

The one time he'd wanted to break from that path was earlier on, when he couldn't push past the nuclear rank — he'd thought about heading to magic school ahead of schedule. But now there was no need for that, at least for the time being.

As for the possibility of breaking through the nuclear rank, he'd made a real breakthrough while studying how to make his light-based attacks hit harder.

From here on, all he needed to do was keep following the original storyline. When he lacked the power to act freely, the original plot was his best shield.

Because transmigrators were so difficult for anyone to observe, his own situation remained a complete unknown to most of the world's great powers. And that unknown was exactly what guaranteed both his room to grow and his safety.

The time he'd fully reveal himself would come two years from now, after his tenth birthday celebration — the Fittoa Territory Teleport Incident. By then, he'd truly start showing his hand before the great powers. But by then, he'd definitely have grown even stronger!!!

If the great powers sent their subordinates, he wasn't afraid, obviously. If a great power came in person, he could test his own limits against them. If he could win, he'd kill the god!!!! If he couldn't, worst case he'd just run...

Then he'd wipe out every one of the great powers' underlings first, leaving each of them nothing but a commander with no troops. No matter how strong they were, what could they do if they couldn't even catch him???

He turned back and got dressed. Rudy glanced at Sylphiette and Eris, both sleeping soundly, and decided not to wake them. Instead, he crept quietly out the door and made his way to the big courtyard outside.

Sure enough, Ghislaine was there, swinging her wooden sword over and over as she trained.

"Morning, Ghislaine."

"Morning, Rudy."

"You're up really early..."

"Old habit. If I can't sleep, I just get up."

"Mm."

Rudy nodded and took his place in an open spot. He closed his eyes and quietly sensed the billion elemental spirits hovering above him.

Because of the limits of his mental capacity, controlling a billion elemental spirits at once was his absolute ceiling. Still, a billion was basically more than enough for what Rudy needed.

These days, his experiments had gotten a lot gentler compared to before — at least on the surface.

He conjured a ball of Water Magic and quietly let it sit under a beam of light as thick as a finger. The water bubbled and churned nonstop. That was all there was to see from the outside.

But hidden beneath that surface, Rudy was using photons to excite particles, manipulating things indirectly to run exploratory experiments on the hydrogen atoms at the very center of the water sphere.

Since the scope of the particle-collision experiment was fixed, even if something went wrong, the worst that could happen was the palm-sized ball of water in his hand blowing up. That was exactly why Rudy felt completely at ease running these experiments at Eris's house.

But watching this scene from nearby left Ghislaine more and more baffled.

What was he even doing — boiling water?? Could it be that boiling water nonstop was somehow a way to grow stronger??

The thought struck her, and Ghislaine set down her wooden sword. She opened her mouth to chant, summoning a ball of Water Magic.

Then, just as she was about to try scorching it with Fire Magic, Rudy opened his eyes, looking amused.

He looked at her, hopeless at this as always, and laughed. "Ghislaine, what are you doing??"

"I'm learning from you," Ghislaine said, looking utterly lost. "Boiling hot water."

He shook his head, then waved her over. Once Ghislaine came closer, he began explaining — in careful, exhaustive detail — the particle-collision experiment that followed from photon-excited particles.

The more she listened, the less she understood. But on the other hand, she did grasp one thing: her attempt at boiling water had been pure nonsense. Ordinary water-boiling wouldn't raise her strength one bit.

Only through Rudy's method — something about focusing light, splitting photons, particles... argh!!!! — the more she thought about it, the more her mind fell apart.

Finally, watching Rudy still going strong, she raised her chin. "I quit. I'm not learning this."

With that, Ghislaine flounced off tsundere-style to one side and went back to swinging her wooden sword.

Rudy watched her go, amused, then closed his eyes and returned to his particle-collision experiments.

And so it went — research, meals, tutoring Eris — the days cycling on, one after another. Life was a bit rigid, but Rudy, who made some new discovery every day, was thrilled by it all, poring over his research without fail.

Before he knew it, he'd turned ten years old!!!