The manual Lex had so graciously "provided" to Lucian was simple — deceptively so.
No flowery chants, no absurd acrobatics, no fiery qi explosions tearing the ground apart. Just one instruction: breathe.
That was why Lucian had chosen the garden as his place of cultivation. The air there was unlike anything he'd ever experienced — clean, crisp, laced with the faint shimmer of natural energy. The leaves of crystalline vines caught the dim sunlight, scattering motes of green luminescence into the breeze. Insects that weren't quite insects hummed faintly, their song synchronizing with the rhythm of the Inn's very heartbeat.
It was quiet. Peaceful. Perfect.
Lucian sat cross-legged beneath a silver-leafed tree, letting the serenity of the place wash over him. His chest rose and fell in a slow, deliberate rhythm. For the first time in what felt like ages, he wasn't panicking about his situation. The sheer absurdity of everything — the Essences, the Innkeeper verse, his new reality — had dulled into something like acceptance.
"Just breathe," he whispered to himself, exhaling a ribbon of steam into the cool morning air.
He'd read that in cultivation novels countless times, but now… he actually understood it. His Essence of Protection had given him an unshakable will — and that willpower, that infinite persistence, proved to be a terrifying weapon when turned inward.
Concentration, patience, endurance — he had them all in endless supply.
Hours passed. The garden shifted from morning gold to sunset amber, and still Lucian sat unmoving. His pulse slowed, his thoughts quieted, and something deep within his body clicked. A faint warmth began spreading from his core, rippling outward until it filled every cell.
When he opened his eyes, they glimmered faintly with power.
He had entered the Body Tempering Realm.
He grinned to himself. "So this is what progress feels like."
---
As night descended over the Inn, its lanterns shimmered with starlight drawn directly from other worlds. Lucian decided to celebrate the milestone the only way a mortal-turned-cultivator could — with food.
He ordered a nutrient-packed dinner, explaining to the bemused waitress that he was cultivating and needed energy-dense food. She didn't even blink — apparently, "odd" guests were the norm here.
The first bite nearly made him moan. Every dish tasted impossibly rich, perfectly balanced, and… alive. It wasn't just food; it was vitality itself. Even the air around the dining hall buzzed faintly, filling him with a sense of health and vigor.
"I could get used to this," he muttered between bites of glowing fruit.
After a short walk under the Inn's star-speckled dome sky, he returned to his room and slept dreamlessly.
---
The next day followed a rhythm.
Meditate. Breathe. Cultivate. Eat. Repeat.
By the time the Inn's artificial sun dipped below the horizon again, Lucian had already reached the third stage of Body Tempering. His body felt light, his muscles subtly denser, his reflexes sharper. It was almost addicting — this feeling of getting stronger through sheer will and air.
But the moment the fourth day dawned, he was distracted by something else entirely.
---
{Timer: 0. Essence Gacha available.}
Lucian's eyes gleamed. "Finally."
He'd been waiting for this moment like a kid on Christmas morning. Though the first two Essences had been defensive or supportive, part of him hoped that maybe — just maybe — this one would give him something explosive. Something cool.
"Come on, system," he whispered, rubbing his hands together. "Papa needs a laser beam."
{Rolling Gacha…}
A cascade of colorful runes shimmered in front of him, dancing like a slot machine made of divine symbols. Then it stopped.
---
{Essence of the World Merge
By taking this essence you gain the following benefits:
• You may choose a world to drop into or stay in your current one.
• You may now choose any world you know of — anime, game, movie, it matters not — and merge it with your current one. The merge can either be retroactive or new.
• Optionally, you may merge more than one world into your current one.
• You need not worry about conflicting power systems; they will coexist perfectly.
}
---
Lucian froze. Then blinked. Then burst out laughing.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
He reread it. Then reread it again.
This wasn't power — this was creation. This was authority.
He could rewrite the very fabric of reality. Change worlds. Fuse them. Create entire mythologies.
His lips curled into a disbelieving smile. "This isn't an Essence… this is a cheat code for God Mode."
A thrill ran down his spine, equal parts fear and excitement. The implications were… endless. He could make worlds where Rimuru fought Ophis, where Freya and Hestia argued over the same adventurer, where the Seven Deadly Sins teamed up with the Gremory peerage. A multiversal blender of chaos.
And the best part?
He could do it as many times as he wanted.
---
"Alright," he said, eyes gleaming. "Let's test this."
Without hesitation, he chose the Tensura world — his favorite verse. But before even entering it, he queued up three more worlds for merging.
Danmachi.
Highschool DxD.
Seven Deadly Sins.
He wasn't playing small. Go big or go home.
The system flared as four entire realities began to overlap in his mind's eye. Stars twisted, worlds folded, and cosmic threads realigned themselves to his will.
{Processing Merge...}
Lucian focused. He could direct the merger — guide how it would unfold.
"I want them merged at the core," he said aloud, voice trembling with awe. "They've always been one universe — from the very beginning. And... start the storylines now."
The system hummed in approval.
{World Merge accepted. Integrating timelines. Balancing power systems. Success.}
Lucian let out a shaky laugh. "I just rewrote creation. No big deal."
Still, he wasn't reckless enough to jump straight into the most dangerous areas. After all, True Dragons existed in Tensura's Cardinal World, and even if he couldn't be erased from reality anymore, getting blasted into paste by Veldora didn't sound fun.
He began weighing options. "Kuoh Town… Orario… Britannia… or the Jura Forest?"
Orario offered adventure. Britannia offered myth. Kuoh offered modern chaos.
In the end, the choice was obvious — start small.
"Kuoh Town it is."
---
Reality folded, and Lucian stepped through the veil.
He emerged into warm sunlight and the faint scent of asphalt and sakura petals. Birds chirped. Cars rolled past. The sky above was the same soft blue he remembered from Earth.
Except… not quite.
The air here thrummed faintly with mana. The boundaries of the world felt heavier, as if infused with divine structure. Somewhere far beyond the horizon, gods, demons, and dragons coexisted — all because he had made it so.
"Alright," Lucian said, brushing imaginary dust off his coat. "Step one of the adventure—"
{Notification: Voice of the World is trying to connect. Would you allow it?}
He froze.
The system prompt glowed softly in front of him. Of course — it made sense. This was Tensura's Voice of the World, the one that granted skills to reincarnated beings.
If he accepted, he might receive something akin to Rimuru's blessing.
But he was currently on Earth, not the Cardinal World.
And he wanted to do this right.
"I'll connect later," he decided, activating his Nomadic Essence.
His vision blurred, and in the blink of an eye, he crossed over to the Cardinal World — the very plane where Rimuru's saga began.
Using the Nomadic Essence, he was obviously able to create the same phenomenon that sometimes bring the Otherwolders to Cardinal world, just like what happened when with Hinata.
The moment he arrived, his surroundings shimmered with raw energy. Magicules saturated the air like cosmic dust. The Voice spoke.
---
Confirmed. Extra Skill "Battle IQ"… Successfully acquired.
Confirmed. Unique Skill "Extraction"… Successfully acquired.
Confirmed. Extra Skill "Appraisal"… Successfully acquired.
Confirmed. Extra Skill "Assistant"… Successfully acquired.
Combining "Assistant" + "Appraisal" + "Battle IQ" → Evolving into Unique Skill "Analytic Assistant"… Successful.
---
Lucian exhaled. His mind suddenly felt sharper. Threads of logic and information danced in his vision like living diagrams. Every object had data. Every motion had predictive lines. His very thoughts had gained a rhythm — precise, mechanical, elegant.
When he returned to Kuoh, it was with quiet confidence. "Now we're getting somewhere."
The Analytic Assistant would serve as his guide and strategist, while Extraction would let him claim the powers of those who fell before him. A terrifying combination for someone patient enough to play the long game.
Now, he only needed one thing: context.
Where in the DxD timeline was he?
Finding out turned out to be trickier than expected. After all, anime faces didn't translate perfectly to real life. He wandered Kuoh Town, scanning passersby, comparing data points — until he stumbled across a very familiar trio near the school gates.
Three boys.
One half-bald, one bespectacled, one staring at passing girls with wild enthusiasm.
Lucian almost burst out laughing. "The Perverted Trio. Bingo."
His Analytic Assistant confirmed it a moment later.
Two normal humans. One… interesting anomaly.
"Target: Hyoudou Issei," Lucian murmured. "Still human. No active Sacred Gear signature detected, but his existence was definitely different than normal humans.
He frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe it hasn't awakened yet."
That was fine. He didn't need to rush. There was no reason to interfere — yet.
But standing there, watching the first dominoes of the DxD storyline about to fall in a merged multiverse of four worlds, Lucian couldn't help but smile.
He'd started as a lost human trying to survive.
Now, he was the quiet architect of an entire reality.
And this time… he wasn't planning to stay in the background.