His next awakening was in total darkness, without any sound. It took him a moment to remember all that had happened, but not before he reflexively used his senses to give him an overview of his current situation. Which after less than a few inches were thrown back to him.

This did not mean that he had not learned something from them, but it made him a little bit suspicious. Normally he could see with his senses the children in the womb, but this seemed to him not to be possible from the inside.

He was also surprised by the absence of any light or sound. It wasn't that his senses didn't tell him anything, be it about the place he was staying or about his twin. Which had a certain resemblance to him, which is why he assumed a twin. Especially his physique, that is, his meridians were not entirely dissimilar to his. One difference, however, was that his twin was in the process of forming a level three core and that he was female, not male...

It takes him a few moments to realize how wrong he was with his statement. His senses had also informed him about his own body and it was just as feminine as that of his twin. For a few moments, he was lost and did not know how to react. He had not assumed that his gender would change when he started a new life. Was that perhaps something that was natural?

He personally saw some problems with having a different gender than in his previous life. He had manipulated his body with his old sex in mind? Or had he created it, in its entirety?

These questions, however, had the consequence that he also became aware of another thing. One thing which he had ignored until now. That he was still himself, even though he had died. But how was that possible?

Was it because of the assassin's weapons or his level advancement? Or were there other possibilities. While all this was buzzing through his head, he noticed how he was getting sleepier and sleepier. How it became more and more difficult for him to stay awake. Still pondering the questions about his new body and his still intact me and many more, he sank back into sleep.

The next time he wakes up it was not like his first waking up in the womb. Not that he would have found the answers to his questions in his sleep, but was he now rested and could for the moment use all his strength to clarify them.

He assumed... shouldn't he see himself as her? He had a female body, with a faulty meridian system. The same was true for his twin. He shook his little head to rid himself of these thoughts. The question of his gender and how he wanted to think of himself in the future he could clarify later.

After all, he was not even born yet, and even after birth, it would take some time before he would really become part of society. Since he would first be an infant, then a child, and then an adolescent, and then finally be an adult. This all sounded quite gruesome when he thought about it, he had been a respected person for many years. Until he regained this status in society, years or even decades would pass.

No no no no, that could not be true, with it his new life became a nightmare and torture for the first years. He could still remember his first childhood very well. Which had already been bad enough. A tremor ran through his small body, which he could not suppress.

Once the childhood and then also as the other sex, after which he had lived centuries as a man. But what could he do? What possibilities did he have to change his fate?

He could not have much time left because his body and that of his twin were already quite far in their development. But since his senses could not penetrate to the outside he could not guess how long his new mother was pregnant. Stop, he must calm down. He felt himself getting tired again, in a short time he would fall asleep again.

A plan, he had to come up with one, get his thoughts in order. Before he had time for that, however, he was again overcome by his own fatigue.

The next time he awoke, he set about organizing his thoughts. About his childhood and the gender that he was unaccustomed to or in quotation marks wrong gender, he could not do anything at the moment.

He had no access to the masses of energies that had made it possible for him to create his present body. Possibly with a renewed level ascent? Of course, it could also be that he had to look for a completely different way.

However, he did not yet know what it would look like. Again, something he could not solve from the womb. Could he survive another death the same way he had survived his last?

Whereby one could not speak of surviving, which made him laugh a little. But this also brought him to his next point, how had he, or rather his self, survived death itself? This question, like the first, could not be solved in his present position.

Also, the factors were shrouded in darkness. He had to find them out before he could dare to die again and create a new body. And if he was honest with himself, this was a thought that sent shivers down his spine.

So he would have to watch someone else who was about to die. And whose soul left his old body and moved into a new one. But how would he be able to observe this, he didn't want to go around killing people. So he had to solve that problem first, along with a way to observe that process at all.

Another item on his mental list was his body, there were differences between men and women. In the process, in which he had created his new body, however, as by mistake had changed that of his twin. He had a male body and its meridian system as a model, namely that of his old body.

Of course, he had improved it accordingly once he was there, but still there remained a chance that he had made a mistake. He couldn't suppress a sigh, what had he gotten himself into again. Even if no one except perhaps the gods could hear him if they paid attention to him at all.

However, as with the previous points, he could do nothing about them. He could only hope that he would find a solution to possible problems. If any should arise. Problems that he could not solve in the womb, because the barrier, which threw back his senses, apparently also prevented Arcane Energies from penetrating. So the womb was an Arcane empty space, which was a whole new experience for him. It seemed that he had a lot of new experiences lately. But if the womb was an arcane empty space, how was it possible for his twin to form a level three core?

Which, as far as he could tell, had the same properties as his own core. The same could be said about the meridian system, which like his own could also conduct all three arcane energies. Without arcane energies, however, it was difficult to test his meridian system as well as his core for its resilience.

His reserves within the core were a meager remnant; there was not much to be done with such a quantity. He could already feel himself getting sleepier again, it wouldn't be long and he would be asleep again. Within a few heartbeats, he was asleep.

With each additional time, it seemed to him, he was able to stay awake a little longer and longer. He tried to use this waking phase as well as possible. His Arcane Energy continued to grow throughout the period. Not to such an extent that he could cause damage with it. Not that he wanted that or that it was possible for him. But it was enough to test his meridian system, at least for leaking or brittle meridians or other defects like malformations. To his relief, however, he could find nothing like it.

One thing that seemed to become clearer and clearer was the fact that neither he nor his twin seemed to be human. His own appearance did not differ too much from that of a human infant. If one left aside the ember-like glowing veins. These and a rather grayish-white skin color. Which in his eyes was not a normal or even healthy skin tone for a human.

His twin, meanwhile, was pitch black except for the insides of his limbs, which grew lighter and lighter until they ended in a light gray similar to his skin. Another new discovery was that there were meridian connections to two points at the top of his forehead, as well as to his fingertips. Also, the beginnings of a tail that originated at the coccyx were equipped with a meridian connection. These findings further fueled the idea that he may not even be human anymore.

The only good thing was that he was human-like, which meant that he was still a member of a race of gods. Thus, he did not have to worry about being hunted by human-like people.

He had also come closer to the mystery of the barrier. With a little patience, not that he knew what else to do with his waking time, he had been able to penetrate further and further into said barrier and thus unlock it.

As far as it was possible for him because this was written with runes, which were completely foreign to him. What this told him, however, was that someone did not want it to be known that there was a pregnancy.

If he was honest with himself, however, this barrier could simply be a safety measure, a tradition that his new race cultivated. Again a thing that could be clarified better outside of the womb. With these new discoveries, however, an existential question had come to his mind. How would he want to live this life? How was it with his obligations from his old life?

Did he want to continue to be faithful to them? Did he want to see his siblings again? Could he even do that as whatever he came into the world as? Would he also be born into nobility in this life? Would he have the same obligations as in his old life? These considerations brought him back to his new gender. And its biological ...purpose?

He cringed at the idea of being with a man or bearing him a child. But would this not change with time? When he had better accustomed to his new life? Was there even an alternative for a partner? Also, sex would not be an issue for him for a long time. Like many other privileges that his status in society, his age as well as his personal power had brought him.

He did not doubt that he could regain his strength, but how long this process would take and what obstacles he would face were hidden in the dark. He also still felt a sense of duty to the Empire and to his own people. All of this he chewed over and over again because there was nothing else to do. And so time passed.

With a jolt he woke up, something was going on? In the next moment, he felt how he was literally crushed, he could feel that his skull was deforming. The pressure was so bad that in the first moment he was not even aware that he began to freeze, as his head slowly saw the light of day.

Shortly after, he was completely out in the open, exhausted and feeling as if someone had let a whole dozen cars roll over his skull. He felt himself being lifted up and turned, then someone pinched his buttocks. Without being able to defend himself, he began to scream and cry like a newborn. Before he could really see anything with his senses or with his eyes, which still had to get used to the light, he was overcome by exhaustion.