Chapter 256 Samsara? Part 4
When Mira finished experiencing her 99th parallel life, she felt… How should she put this? More well-rounded?
Yeah, she felt like she was more than just a killing machine who was only good at two things: training and murder.
That's not to say she isn't any less of a killer, no, it could be said that after experiencing 99 more lives, she was more of one. The number of people, beasts, and other creatures she killed throughout all these lives was immense.
However, what's strange is that even though she killed billions of people throughout all 99 lives, it still only added up to a few billion more than the 10 actual reincarnations she's gone through.
That just goes to show that Mira was nothing short of a psychopath whose sole purpose in life is to slaughter during the reincarnations she was controlled by that shitty god.
But now Mira knows what it's like to experience a life that wasn't built upon mountains of corpses. Though she was sometimes forced to do such a thing if she wanted to see her goal to the end throughout some of her parallel lives.
One might think that experiencing all of these different parallel lives would affect Mira's original personality by making her a bit more kind to those around her or maybe a bit more accepting of others, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.
Mira had experienced many different things throughout all of these parallel lives, but at the end of the day, they were all pretty much the same. Some of her other selves could continue living their lives with a smile on their face as they became the best they could be. While others grew cold and distant due to some childhood trauma or just from the number of lives they've taken.
But there was one irrefutable fact that every Mira had in common…
They all worked hard to achieve their goal or died trying. Nothing was more important than achieving their goal! Friends? Family? Responsibilities? All of that was secondary whenever Mira set a goal.
That's rather strange, don't you think? How can 99 different versions of Mira all be pretty much the same? Sure, each version of Mira is a bit different due to their individual circumstances, but their personalities were almost always the same with only a few slight differences.
They all put their entire life on the line to complete their goal. They all never got into a romantic relationship. They all never had kids. They all were incredibly prideful. They all had a sadistic urge to murder whenever they experienced something that would awaken it. And if they were 100% sure they were going to die by someone else's hand, they would kill themselves before their killer could finish them off.
It didn't matter if they were born from royalty or in a world where just about everyone was equal. It didn't matter if they grew up rich or poor. It didn't matter if they had a loving family or not. Whatever situation Mira was born into, those things remained the same.
Really, the only difference between each Mira were their goals and their expressions. Some could smile while others couldn't. Some wanted to be a Queen while others wanted to be the greatest warrior.
Not only that, but generally, Mira would set a goal between the ages of 7-12. So, one could say that how Mira grew up, directly influenced her goal. Just like how in her first parallel life, she wanted to be the best seamstress. That's because it was the only thing she could feasibly learn at the time. Also, she barely knew what a king was since she practically grew up in the slums.
The original Mira, who was watching and experiencing all of these parallel lives, was quite intrigued by this. She was also extremely proud of herself since even if she died and was reincarnated without any of her memories, she wouldn't be that different from her original self.
However, when Mira thought about this, something struck her. She hadn't thought about it much before, but seeing her parallel lives broadened her horizons.
What if these were her past lives? What if what she was experiencing was actually her own experiences, but she just can't remember them because these memories were erased in the process of reincarnation? Also, why was she pretty much the same throughout all of her lives? From what Mira knew, this was definitely impossible. Maybe it's not impossible for it to happen a few times, but Mira has experienced 99 parallel lives and all of them have pretty much the same personality.
Is it possible that her soul or maybe her original personality was so strong that after reincarnation after reincarnation she's still the same?
But if that's the case, what does this mean for her? Will she get some kind of cool soul power now that she's gone through this experience? Will she receive some sort of inheritance from the original Mira, a Mira before all of the reincarnations?
However, if Mira was really some super expert from the distant past, maybe even in a past so distant that it was before the current universe was created, she felt that maybe her original self was related to the god that has been torturing her.
What if they were enemies in the distant past and the original Mira had to use some special technique so that her reincarnations wouldn't lose her personality and would always prioritize their goal?
When Mira reached this point in her thinking, she felt as if weight the size of a planet came crashing down onto her shoulders. If such a thing was possible, how strong was she back then that she could even influence herself possibly billions of years later? Then that begs the question, how strong is the god that forced her into such a situation?
Mira was frozen in her thoughts for a while, before eventually snapping out of it.
She didn't know anything about anything. She didn't even know if there was even a super-expert immortal Mira who started all of this. She could very well just be a special case. Not only that, but it might not be the god torturing her right now that forced the original ancient Mira into this position. It could've been someone else. Someone much more dangerous. And this god found out about ancient Mira's circumstances and started looking for her reincarnations.
He could just be some bottom-feeder asshole who just wanted to pick up the scraps! Just thinking about that possibility made Mira tremble in rage.
However, a few seconds later, Mira calmed down and decided to push this matter aside. It wouldn't do her any good to think about any of this since even if she knew, she wouldn't be able to do anything. In fact, she wouldn't be able to do much even after becoming an Immortal. Right now she's not even worthy to be called a spec of dusk in front of someone near the peak of the Immortal Realm.
Right now, she can only focus on improving her strength.
Putting those thoughts aside, Mira started reflecting a bit on the experiences she gathered throughout her 99 parallel lives, past lives, or however you want to call it.
She realized that around 40% of those lives, she was born in a primitive Mortal World with no unique energy. Around 25% of the worlds she was born in were similar to the worlds that had a unique energy like 'Body Aura'. Another 20% of those worlds she was born in were relatively advanced worlds similar to Earth. They didn't have a unique energy in them, but humans had advanced enough where such a thing was unnecessary. 10% of the worlds she was born in were fantasy-like worlds that had different races similar to Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and various other unique races. These worlds also had a form of energy in them that was a bit more advanced than 'Body Aura' in the fact that it increased strength as well as lifespan, but the people in these worlds were unable to ascend to a higher Realm. In fact, the strongest they could become were somewhere around the Core Formation Realm in the Cultivation World.
The last 5% were high-tech sci-fi inter-planetary worlds where humans have conquered solar systems and galaxies. Also, technology had advanced enough where the aging process could almost be halted and human bodies could be incredibly strong. That's not to say that their lifespan was infinite since that's impossible without Qi, but humans could live around 500-1000 years if they wanted to.
Honestly, Mira was the most fascinated by these worlds because they were the most similar to the Cultivation World but without any Qi. Also, who wouldn't want to be born in such a place where one can traverse galaxies and conquer planets as a daily occurrence.
During these worlds is when Mira racked up the kill count. During the 5 lives she experienced in these worlds, she killed just about the same number of people as she had during her reincarnations.
One might think this is nonsense. How could someone who is literally conquering worlds kill only a few billion more people than a normal mortal on worlds not nearly as advanced as these super high-tech worlds?
Well, that's because Mira was never alone in her escapades. She would often have to conquer a world filled with thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of other people. All of these people hoped to kill as many or more than the next guy so as to gather more merit. Also, traveling from planet to planet takes time and so does actually conquering one. It might take years or even decades to conquer a single planet and it might take years to go from their headquarters to said planet and back to headquarters. All in all, sometimes one of these missions might take upwards of 50 years and Mira will only be able to kill a few million. Tens of million if she's lucky.
Not only that, but most of the time these missions aren't only about killing but also resource gathering. Or maybe she'll be sent to a planet that doesn't support life, but has a shit load of diamonds on it or something like that.
So even though Mira was sent to conquer planets, it's not like she could just nuke it and be done with it. Believe it or not, but nukes were almost never used on these types of missions since that would ruin the planet they are trying to conquer!
After reminiscing about the types of worlds she experienced, Mira also started sorting through the knowledge and experience she gained from her parallel lives.
Most of the occupations her parallel selves took up were usually some type of warrior or soldier. Even if that wasn't her primary occupation, Mira's parallel selves almost always learned the basics just in case. However, if given the chance, Mira would almost always jump into being a soldier.
There was one time where she was a Queen which Mira found amusing. Other than that, Mira pretty much just picked up the first thing she saw or the first thing she was interested in.
Chef, blacksmith, seamstress, farmer, CEO, doctor, etc.
Most of the variety in occupations came from Mortal Worlds without highly advanced technology or any sort of unique energy.
Mira was about to continue sorting through all the information she received until the space around her shook and her ethereal form was transported somewhere else.