Eishi didn't know how much time had passed. He randomly 'woke up' while he was in a daze.
'What did I..?'
For a moment, his head buzzed. The recollections of what happened slowly came back to him. His entire body froze as chills went down his spine.
'It's her!'
Eishi realized how abnormal his state was during the time he had sex with the so-called 'World Will'. Even the time his constitution attribute went up didn't make him like this. Only after a careful recollection did he realize something.
His power was gradually drawn away.
Every time he came inside Mahiru, Eishi discovered his life level waning. His perception was altered at that time, causing him to miss it out. Only when he became clearheaded did he see another 'version' of the events compared to the one in his memories.
'She didn't lie but she didn't tell the truth either.'
His current state betrayed what should have been its outcome. Overwhelming power surged throughout his entire body. His mind acted so fast Eishi couldn't rein in his thoughts. His senses caught everything within the entire city, overloading his brain with countless new information.
One of them made him look at the woman on his right. They were currently inside the bedroom of his luxurious villa. The softness of the mattress and the mystical feeling of the seventh-grade bed confirmed it all. They returned back to reality.
Eishi heaved a sigh of relief. The girl hugging his right arm remained unresponsive. His current powerful state meant that her intention to 'drain' him failed.
'It's the system again. If it didn't act…'
He knew it was the 'Favorability Lock' granted by the Confidante System. The more he spent time with his confidantes, the higher their favorability became. The more it became like that, the less chances they would betray him.
For various reasons, Mahiru's favorability towards him rose. Once it became high enough, her thoughts changed. She no longer chose to drain him, instead empowering him. That was how he managed to survive up until now.
'I really…'
Recalling his memories of that time, Eishi became speechless. The red dog collar wrapping around her neck explained everything. Some 'hardcore' stuff that he didn't dare do even with Saeko, he did it with Mahiru. Aside from her seductiveness, there was the fact she chose to go with all of his wishes. The sensation of being understood entirely was something nobody elicited from Eishi. Only the 'World' who witnessed everything about Eishi could make him feel like that.
'How crazy am I to do it..?'
He shook these thoughts off and opened the three-line menu. Several lines of text appeared in his eyes.
[Successfully bound SSS rated Confidante. First-time reward: Restorative Law, Spatial Backpack +800,000 cubic meters ]
[SSS rated Bond 'Darling of the World' has been unlocked.]
[Golden Milestone successfully reached. Reward: Spatial Backpack +8,000,000 cubic meters, Clear Fruit, Talent Synthesis Upgrade, Rebate Chances Increase]
His eyes steered clear from the rest of the rewards.
'My power is different than before…'
He swiftly opened up his attribute panel.
[Eishi Hiraoka]
Innate Talent: Lord of the Universe (EX, Tenth-order)
Non-exclusive Talent: Spatial Backpack (15,210,000 Cubic Meters), Constitution Boost (SS, Tenth-order), Weak Electricity (A, Tenth-order), Spirit Boost (B, Tenth-order), Metal Sharpening (A, Tenth-order), Clairvoyance (A, Tenth-order), Transcendent Regeneration (SS, Tenth-order), Law Penetration (S, Tenth-order), Qi Burst (S, Tenth-order), Cosmic Barrier (S, Tenth-order), Sun's Essence (SS, Tenth-order), True Dragon Will (SS, Tenth-order)
Converted Talent: Sex Fiend (SSS)
Life Level: Tenth-order, Nine-stars
Strength: 13,411 > 205,411 (1,088,678)
Agility: 13,370 > 205,370 (1,088,461)
Constitution: 16,770 > 410,370 (3,406,071)
Spirit: 20,235 > 237,435 (1,258,406)
The large batch of 'tenth-order' momentarily blinded his eyes. His breathing hitched before he let out a dry laugh.
'That's how it is… No wonder everything felt so fragile just now.'
The seventh-grade bed was fine. If Eishi stepped on the carpeted floor, he would have destroyed the entire villa. That was his most conservative estimate. From six digits, his attributes soared straight to the seven digits. He has a feeling not even the so-called 'backer' of those sea monsters is a match for him, much less the elusive eighth-order sea lifeform that remained hidden up until now.
'World Origin… Might as well consider it as a wishing power of sorts…'
Eishi opened his backlogs of other notifications. The majority of them came from his confidantes' resource returns. It didn't take long before he saw his target.
[Confirmed consumption of World Origin Strand. A rebate of 9,997 times has been activated. 9,997 strands of World Origin have been credited to the system space.]
This alert occurred five times, the maximum number of return chances for the day. That was the 'Rebate Chance Increase' stated under the Golden Milestone.
'The time!'
Eishi checked the clock and discovered only a few minutes had passed. The space Mahiru pulled him into halted the flow of time for Earth!
The more he thought about it, the more Eishi felt relieved. Had it not been for her favorability rising upwards, he might have died at this exact moment.
'World Origin…'
He curiously peeked inside his spatial back pack. In his eyes, the 'World Origin Strand' presented itself in the form of a rainbow thread. When he picked one up, it melted into his hands. A strong surge of power appeared inside his body, turning it into an active furnace. His electromagnetic field was roused, emitting a kind of mental pressure that permeated beyond the villa's walls. It went beyond Yokohama City, spreading all over Japan.
For a moment, everyone felt a suffocating and terrifying pressure pressing onto them.
Eishi, the troublemaker, did not notice any of it. He was preoccupied experimenting with the 'World Will Strands'. The single strand he absorbed was enough to raise his life level, yet it failed to do so. He felt it got stifled inside his body—stuck, in other words.
Life level was merely the first thing it tested out. It attempted to pour onto Eishi's talents, but to no avail. They were also hard-stuck on the tenth-order. Finally, it attempted to increase the quality of his talents.
'It remained still after that. Is it lacking in quantity?'
To verify his conjecture, Eishi picked up another World Origin Strand.
Swoosh-!
This time, it did not fail. It went straight to his lowest-rated talent, [Spirit Boost]. He closed his eyes as he began a round of introspection. His eyes saw through his physical body. Aside from his extremely powerful flesh and blood, there was the white orb placed inside his brain. Inside them are several strands of light flickering restlessly. Each one represented a talent he possessed. The most noticeable one was the streak of silver that enveloped the entire white orb—his innate talent.
Before long, the [Spirit Boost (B)] turned into [Spirit Boost (A)]. Eishi gained the corresponding attribute increase upon its rank up.
He decided to stop experimenting with it. He re-opened the notifications and examined his other rewards.
[Restorative Law]
Details: A godhead condensed from the Law of Restoration. It effectively assimilates with EX talents at the tenth-order, turning them into a genuine godhead.
[Clear Fruit]
Details: Clears any restrictions related to the item usage counts.
[Darling of the World (SSS)]
Base Effect: Charm is increased by 50,000%.
Group Effect: Dramatically increases luck when present in the home world.
Looking at their descriptions, Eishi grasped the 'answer' to his question.
'Godhead… Was this the reason why I can't level up further?'
His attributes far surpass that of a regular tenth-order lifeform. Even if he fought against eleventh, twelfth, or even thirteenth-order lifeforms, he wouldn't be able to meet his match. The one that set them apart, however, was this 'Godhead'. It was similar to a level-up requirement he must fulfill.
As for the [Clear Fruit]...
'The Potential Enhancement Fruit finally found its partner.'
Before, the limitation of the Potential Enhancement Fruit hindered Eishi from abusing it. Having everyone's talent at the SSS rating—or even the EX rating—was heaven-defying.
Finally, there was the somewhat tasteless 'buff' he received. A fifty-fold increase in Eishi's charm is a complete overkill. At best, it could make wooing other confidantes easier.
Shaking his head, Eishi checked the new functions of the Talent Synthesis option. There were two major things that changed: The disappearance of 'once a day' restriction and the unlocking of external synthesis. The latter indicated that evolution fruits could be under its effect.
Eishi paid more attention towards the 'unlimited' chances of Talent Synthesis.
'If I can raise them all to SSS rating, I can synthesize them all for the EX rating. If…'
Just as he was about to be consumed by his thoughts, a soft but seductive voice interrupted from his side.
"You are too greedy, aren't you?"
His vigilance peaked as he stared at the groggy looking Mahiru. The red leash on her neck hung loosely, revealing a slight patch of red. Her body was covered with hickeys, though the same could be said for Eishi.
"EX is the representation of pinnacle. It is the most unique power present in the world. It is not something that could be picked up like vegetables on the street."
"...Is that also the case with the tenth-order threshold?"
"Quite, but not exactly."
Mahiru proceeded to explain its intricacies.
"From the other worlds I have seen, they require a concept to anchor themselves with. Only at that time could they ascend into a conceptual being."
She revealed a lot of concepts Eishi hasn't heard yet.
For instance, the entire esper power system was adapted by the World Will, not created. Through the innate talents awakened from the countless futures affecting the present, the World Will formed a systematic way to catch up to other worlds at a faster rate.
At first glance, it looked like a slow-progression power system. Its advantage, however, was its ability to absorb external aspects—evolution fruits and further on, World Origin. Out of all the other worlds, only the World Will belonging to "Earth" has the capability to be this extravagant. Nevertheless, it is one of the few options left.
Facing the other worlds that coveted its vast reserves of World Origin, it has no other choice but to forcibly create individual powerhouses through them.
Eishi couldn't help but wonder how many strands of World Origin Mahiru possessed.
"Curious about my stash? It's not that big of a deal. Counting the ones I spent on you, it totaled 510,000."
As if that wasn't enough, she added:
"Most worlds wouldn't even have ten thousand. Poor blokes, indeed…"
"..."
The smug and seductive Mahiru got on Eishi's nerves again. He couldn't help but think about the contrast between her and the real Mahiru.
'About that much… It would take about half a month to earn them.'
The thought of it shocked Eishi. The Confidante System showed it could replicate these strands of World Origin.
Mahiru sensed the unease and anticipation in his thoughts. Similarly, Eishi noticed her eyes look 'differently'. The lingering sense of unease pushed him to check on her favorability: [90].
Seeing it, he felt completely relaxed.
"That makes me sad, you know? I admit I tried other means, but haven't I given you World Origin in the end?"
Mahiru's indifference resurfaced. It calmed Eishi down as he managed to regulate his thoughts back to normal.
"Do you care to explain what it was?" He asked.
"I wanted to take your innate talent. It can be used as a core for a plan I have in mind."
Her words brought back the unease in Eishi's heart. She didn't even bat an eye when she talked about her attempted murder!
"...What plan?"
"The plan to reverse Earth's time."
"..."
"I changed my mind. I wanted you to do the honors. You have the means beyond what I could see. No matter how much I hated bets, I chose to stick with one."
'There is no way I will sacrifice myself for a world.'
Thinking about her words, Eishi could only be thankful for the Confidante System.
After putting everything aside, he thought of a new problem—
The Mahiru beside him.
He could vividly recall the time they spent together. All of it ended up raw. That was something he never did with the others, mostly because of their youth. Most of them, including himself, only turned eighteen almost a year ago. He deemed it too early to have children, more so during this 'chaotic' time.
Mahiru's mind-reading capability allowed her to see through most of his thoughts. She gave him a smile as she tapped on his arm. When he looked at her, she gestured towards her slightly bulging stomach.
"My physical body… is pregnant."
"..."
The worst of his fears came to life.
As if that wasn't enough, the sudden intrusion to his bedroom turned everything from "worst" to "hell".
Mahiru's face froze as she discovered the woman with identical looks as hers. Eishi could swear it was the first time he saw her cold expression, especially her eyes that could kill.
"Eishi… who is she?"
"...Can you sit down first? I will tell you everything you need to know."
She puffed her cheeks, her breath softly escaping her nose. It wasn't long before she took Eishi's right arm. The other Mahiru saw this as a cheeky provocation and hugged his left. The naked Mahiru and the fully clothed Mahiru wearing her school uniform gave a strong sense of contrast.
Nonetheless, Eishi hasn't forgotten about his current task.
"This goes far back to the origin of the apocalypse…"
He didn't hesitate to spill the beans—basically everything the World Will beside him said. When Mahiru heard that the person beside her was the manifestation of Earth's "Will", she was at a loss. The coldness in her eyes disappeared, replaced by evident confusion.
"Why…"
Before she could ask why she took her appearance, Mahiru answered:
"Because you are the person closest to his heart."
"..!"
Mahiru froze as her cheeks turned red. She meekly looked up at Eishi, her eyes turning affectionate.
'Her bluntness helped a lot this time…'
He decided to lessen the 'punishment' he was ought to give Mahiru, though he had a feeling she would feel happy with more of it.
After settling the disaster quietly, Eishi focused on the things that needed to be done. The disaster experienced by Earth remained at a standstill. While it possessed a large reserve of World Origin, it would run dry one day. The solution it found lay on Eishi—to be exact, his [Lord of the Universe] talent that reached the EX rating.
"I will turn back time before Earth merged with other worlds. By then, everything will be scattered everywhere. Good luck to them seizing loose amounts of World Origin."
Mahiru would rather pull Earth apart than to give others what they wanted. It was either that, or she would send Earth's espers to various other worlds.
Eishi's appearance presented another solution for their predicament. His Confidante System could rebate even World Origin strands, from two to 10,000 times. Counting his total number of confidantes, he could produce a total of 200 to a million World Origin strands… every day.
With enough World Origin, everything can come true. It is akin to a wishing power extremely rare within the vast reality. Had Mahiru possessed tens of millions of World Origin strands, she could have severed the connections to other worlds, isolated Earth's location, and left its inhabitants to grow.
That was exactly what Eishi planned to do now.
For the following days, he each gave all twenty of his confidantes strands of World Origin. He earned back 900,000 on the first day, and then 700,000 on the following day. Nothing else happened during this time. Rifts kept on appearing all over the world. The 'invasion' spurred on by other worlds continued as usual.
If there was a massive change, they happened within Eishi's impregnable villa.
Using his accumulated World Origin, he strengthened its durability. Even if Earth explodes, it would be left unscathed. He also placed a concealment field all over it, containing his confidantes' successive level-ups inside.
Finally, there were Eishi's talents. Everything was forcibly raised to the SSS-rating. To this, he spent around 500,000 strands—the entire sum of Mahiru's savings. It failed to make Eishi wince one bit, however.
Then, the [Talent Synthesis] function showed its heaven-defying trait. According to Mahiru, EX-rated talents couldn't be obtained just by using World Origin. There is something else they had to obtain, something related to the person's uniqueness.
For him, it was a matter of a single click.
[Constitution Boost] and [Transcendent Regeneration] equated to [Immortal Body (EX)].
[Sun's Essence] and [True Dragon Will] created [True Sun (EX)].
[Conceptual Sharpening] (i.e., Metal Sharpening's evolved form) and [Law Penetration] turned into [Perishing Strike (EX)].
[Spirit Boost] and [Clairvoyance] led to [Omniscient Pupils (EX)].
[Weak Electricity] and [Qi Burst] turned into [Causality Loan (EX)].
[Cosmic Barrier] was synthesized with another SSS-rated talent and turned into [Divine Kingdom (EX)].
Finally, [Sex Fiend] was synthesized with a new SSS-rated talent and turned into [Lord of Romance].
There were also several other EX-rated talents synthesized from Eishi's remaining slots, though he could not be bothered to look at their effects now. All that mattered was their plan with Earth; [Talent Synthesis] was something he did in his spare time.
After half a year, Earth turned into a place straight out of hell. Hundreds of rifts appeared in its airspace. Creatures from other worlds rushed straight inside it. The survivors who were lucky to survive half a year ago were weeded out. Throughout the Asian Continent, only the two cities supported by Eishi remained standing. Every other place suffered acts of devastation enough to make an unfeeling man despair.
It was, at this moment, a man flew to Earth's atmosphere. Every single monster looked in his direction. Their eyes gave him a predatory look.
In the next instant…
Click.
…everyone dropped dead.
Hundreds of thousands of monsters all over Earth died. Countless bodies fell from the sky, kicking up clouds of dust hundreds of meters up. The abandoned buildings collapsed from their sheer weight. It was yet another scene of devastation.
One by one, the spatial rifts closed. It wasn't long before every gateway was locked shut.
"It's over."
Mahiru appeared right beside Eishi. The white sundress she wore emphasized her innocence, though she is nothing like that.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Hum. The others are ready too."
He nodded before stretching out his right hand. He placed it atop Mahiru's palm. A soft rainbow glow emanated from it. Her eyes turned from expectant to shocked, and then numbed. Strands of World Origin were transferred from Eishi to Mahiru. The latter's reserve went from half a million straight to tens of millions. Soon, it reached a hundred million.
She instinctively reached out for her slightly bulging stomach. Her intention in having Eishi's child was to leverage on his EX-rated innate talent. Back then, she sought to usurp his innate talent and use it to reverse Earth's time. At the spur of the moment, she felt cautious around his secrets she didn't manage to dig out. As such, Mahiru changed the plan into having his child. Not once did she notice her thoughts gradually shifting in favor of Eishi.
Sensing the hundred million strands of World Origin within her, Mahiru felt complex emotions. She was born out of the world's collective will. She was destined to never live like a human, yet here she was feeling sentimental.
By the time the transfer ended, Eishi gave her a whopping 150 million strands. His eyes drifted above her head—to her favorability meter—and was shocked.
It no longer showed a number, but the infinity symbol.
"This amount… It is enough to make you a high and mighty god."
"No need. I want my share of peace."
The current height of his power had long turned indescribable. World Origin could do anything. The process of condensing a 'Godhead' during his tenth-order threshold was completed instantly by his EX-rated talents. Later on, he faced these thresholds at the thirtieth, fiftieth, and hundredth-order. When Eishi transcended the hundredth-order, he vaguely sensed extremely powerful beings staying in several worlds. There was no doubt his [Lord of the Universe] would lose, but he was the youngest out of them all. He possessed neither the means nor the experience to contend against one.
Most importantly, Eishi felt like he could still become stronger by piling up more World Origin strands. Time is his comrade, not his enemy.
Seeing they did not gang up on him, he ultimately decided to pull off the plan from before. Earth would be isolated from every other world until he mastered his newfound powers.
His thoughts remained hidden at the giddy Mahiru. She waved her right hand. Her fingertips streaked through the air. It looked adorable at a glance.
Eishi noticed the 'changes' stop after ten seconds.
Earth became truly isolated at this exact moment. Only the corpses of the dead otherworldly monsters remained in the group. Finding them unsightly, he turned them into dust at the next moment.
He heaved a sigh of relief as Mahiru locked him in an embrace. Her nose kept sniffing his body. It wasn't long before her intoxication spread all over her face. The EX-rated [Lord of Romance] turned him into the most potent aphrodisiac on Earth.
Clap-!
He slapped her buttocks, prompting a startled look in her eyes. Then, it turned into an even greater intoxication. She was turned on because of it!
"Let me finish my job first…"
Under his mutterings, Earth was covered by a white light.
Click-!
Zap-!
Once they were touched by this light, they froze. It took a fraction of a second for this light to touch all of Earth.
What came next was the reversal.
Zip-!
Countless phantoms rose from the ground. They detailed every single thing at a certain timeframe. They overlapped with each other, forming a blinding light present all over the planet. Nothing escaped its range, be it life or inorganic objects. The only thing that remained unaffected was his villa.
'The best time…'
Not long after, these phantoms sank to the ground. Only one of them remained.
'It's time to go back.'
Click-!
Everything took a blink. There was no longer the bloody sky filled with the stench of blood and smoke. The familiar clear blue sky returned. Upon looking down, Eishi saw the city beneath him full of life. Everything returned to the moment he first 'awakened' in this world—March 15, 2025.
At this time, he was still an outgoing high school student awaiting college enrollment.
Mahiru did not pay attention to the changes around them. Her breathing turned more heavy as time went by.
Looking at the planet full of vitality, an unprecedented sense of comfort and relaxation assaulted his senses.
One thought remained in his mind:
"I can finally experience the slice of life."
*****
A/N: This marks the end of this fic. To be honest, it all started because of the apocalypse slop I have read days prior to its conception. Then the resource return theme grew on me. There was also me feeling nostalgic, remembering the HoTD fanfics that flooded Webnovel back in 2023. It felt like yesterday, but in reality, it has already been three years. Finally, the writer's block. I felt demotivated writing for a good while, to the point my other fic was affected by it. I felt I could overcome that writer's block by going back to the past, and 2023 happened to be when I started writing fanfics (though I started way back in 2022, but as an original author).
That made me question myself: Why am I writing?
One of the answers that grew on me was "to see something I hadn't seen in the original source". I didn't hesitate what to put on it, so long as it didn't have things I hated, one of them being NTR. Anyone who knows me will know how much I hate that genre to my core.
Anyways, that "experimentative" approach was something I hadn't done for years. So I did it with this fic. Everything that I hesitated to put in my other fics, I placed here. The most influential one was a main character whose development bounces back and forth. I wanted to see how everyone would react to an MC that was good, turned bad, and then went for redemption. I built everything up from his rich jokes down to the execution of its irony—on how Eishi turned into the very same guy he used to joke about.
Then there was his earlier justification of the system essentially forcing him to turn into a scumbag. It was fine at first, but when he sunk more onto it, he turned into a real scumbag. The only way to make him realize is to change his environment altogether. That was why the Tokyo Arc happened.
Overall, writing this fic wasn't all too bad. I got to know which troupes to avoid and which one to improve on. Everything I learned from this fic would go to the fic that will replace Is this really a slice of life?
All I can say is, the main character of that new fic won't be as perfect as Shi Tian. Treat him as a relatively normal person transported into a brand new world. He would have his lows as much as he would have his highs. He would repeat mistakes because he is as stupid as any other human goes. The twist is that it would be reasonable, not forced. That's one of the greatest challenges posed by this new fic. In lieu of that, I would try my best to follow the standard update schedule which is 3 chapters a week.
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who has read this fic. All of the comments and reviews helped a lot in verifying my ideas.
Once again, thank you.