A Myth-Tier Soul in a Bottom-Tier Body

“Listen to me, Senior. I’m telling you this because it’s truly, deeply unfair.”

I was born weak. For twenty-four years, I lived a life of constant hospital visits and chronic illness until I finally kicked the bucket. I thought that was the end. But lo and behold, there was an afterlife.

It just so happened that one of the oldest gods suddenly had a thought: I’m so bored. Why don’t I create a new life form? Any gods want to join?

“Two other gods raised their hands.”

The three gods put their heads together to decide what to create and eventually decided to challenge the concept of the ‘Ultimate Life Form’ once more. The other gods were horrified.

/ You’re making that again after the disaster it caused last time? / Have you gone senile in your old age? / Stop this instant!

A deluge of mockery, condemnation, and threats followed. Pressured by the outcry, the three gods backed down for a moment, but they were indignant and stubborn.

“So, they gathered in secret to create the Ultimate Life Form anyway.”

They promised to use the greatest materials each of them possessed.

The first god placed the [Mirror that Reflects the Inner Self] into a jar crafted from my soul. The second god glared at the others and generously contributed the [Heart of the Perpetual Engine].

However, the third god—the one who was supposed to contribute the [Indestructible Body]—suddenly felt a sting of stinginess. He pretended to search his pockets for it, grabbed the first thing his hand touched, and quickly tossed it in.

“Do you know what that was?”

“……”

“A Sunfish. A Sunfish.”

Thinking about it now still makes me lose my mind.

The [Mirror that Reflects the Inner Self] constantly reflects the soul of the vessel, keeping it in a pristine state. You could call it a Roomba for the soul. Thanks to it, a sturdy and wondrous soul was created, one that no evil could ever breach.

The [Heart of the Perpetual Engine], which infinitely produces a massive amount of mana, became an endless source of life. The sturdy soul gained infinite vitality, moving one step closer to perfection.

But instead of the [Indestructible Body]—which was supposed to withstand any external shock—a body with absolutely no pedigree took its place.

[Indestructible Sunfish]

The only thing they have in common is the modifier. What good is being “indestructible” if the base is a sunfish?

When I first opened my eyes in this new life, I looked down hollowly at my small, frail hands. Because the balance was so off, even my age was ambiguous. Ten? Twelve? My young body immediately began to tremble.

“Gah.”

It was a body too weak to endure such a powerful soul and heart. I died exactly two minutes after being born. Then, I was resurrected by the power of the perpetual engine. After that, it took over twenty deaths before my soul and heart finally settled.

It was only after I stormed the temple and raised hell that I learned the truth. [Indestructible Sunfish] was an object the third god had created out of half-mischief and half-curiosity, inspired by a sunfish in a game from another dimension.

…I think I know which game it is, but I want to believe I’m wrong. The third god, avoiding my gaze, confirmed it was exactly what I thought. He said he was obsessed with the ‘meme’ itself rather than the game—.

“So it’s not just vulnerable to stress?”

/ ……

“What? A sunfish that can die for every trivial reason imaginable?”

/ ……

At first, I could only laugh. The fact that a ‘Sunfish’ had taken the place of a proper physical body. It meant a body that could die from tripping over a pebble, die from high blood pressure if I got too angry, or drop dead of a heart attack if someone shouted “Boo!” from behind.

The third god, who had royally screwed me over, said:

/ B-but, you don’t stay dead anyway.

“Are you kidding me right now?! Hand it over, you bastard! Give me the Indestructible Body!”

The god claimed it was already too late and fled.

“Aaargh!”

I got so angry I died again. After waking up, I smashed the divine statues and went on a rampage. I poured out my mana without restraint, creating a massive storm.

“Ugh.”

And then, unable to handle my own power, I was torn apart and died again.

After being resurrected, I lived the life of a fugitive. I fled to a distant country to escape the paladins and the temple’s “wanted” posters.

Living as a wanderer or a vagrant, I pondered. Just as creatures born with tails and wings don’t have to think about how to use them, I naturally operated the mana from my heart from birth.

However, using it efficiently was an entirely different matter. To use an analogy: it was like a 900-horsepower high-performance engine attached to a rickety, old bicycle.

At this rate, no matter how much time passed, I’d never be able to use it for anything other than mindless outbursts of power. I needed a proper master and an education.

While weighing my options, I heard rumors about a Magic Tower.

I set out blindly for the city where the tower was located. I lost count of how many times I died along the way. I was killed by orcs, killed by bandits, and I even starved to death.

When I finally reached the city, I loitered around the tower in a beggarly state for about a month until I caught the Eye of the Tower Master. My calculation—that a mage would recognize the mana erupting from the perpetual engine and pick me up—worked perfectly.

He took me in without a single doubt. The look in his eyes was simply the joy of someone who had found a raw diamond. That was all.

Life after entering the Magic Tower was a struggle against death. I was careful in everything I did, even minding my footsteps to avoid dying in public spaces. Fortunately, the Magic Tower was so steeped in individualism that most people had zero interest in anything other than their own research.

Even the Tower Master who picked me up was only interested in ‘how far this diamond could be polished.’ After picking me up and giving me what I needed, he practiced “neglect-play.” No one knew even if I died hundreds of times during magic experiments in my private lab.

I forged my own path. The greatest harvest from entering the tower was gaining the foundational knowledge of magic.

In the end, magic is the power of the mind.

From then on, everything was easy. The Heart of the Perpetual Engine replaced the mana circles. I didn’t even need to pretend to do the mana breathing exercises that other mages spend their whole lives on.

The same went for calculations and casting (or manifestation), which supposedly required wringing one’s brain like a wet rag. The [Mirror that Reflects the Inner Self] handled those processes for me.

I just had to think it. Then, for the most part, magic would spring from my fingertips.

But the body is a sunfish.

A damn sunfish.

‘No.’

The power of positive thinking. Let’s think about the advantages of a sunfish.

It’s good at dying. It dies at the drop of a hat. It dies if things don’t go its way.

“……”

I threw positive thinking to the dogs and went to wreck the temple again. The temple was flipped upside down by the attack of an unidentified mage, and the god wailed in my ear, but I didn’t bat an eye.

‘This much of a rampage is only fair.’

I had become someone who had a roughly 50% chance of dying just because someone bumped into my shoulder!

A fresh wave of resentment surged within me. I felt the signs of sudden death from the spike in blood pressure. I hurriedly calmed my heart. This is seriously bullsh*t.

After being recognized as a full-fledged mage, I devoted myself to research on how to make this cursed body stronger, while consuming anything and everything said to be good for one’s health.

And so, another age passed. By the time I had accumulated enough knowledge and experience to call myself a Great Mage anywhere, I finally managed to lower the probability of death-by-shoulder-bump to 32%.

Tears blurred my vision. If I were to list the rest of my life after that, it wouldn’t be tears but a waterfall pouring from my eyes. I tilted my head back. I lamented as I stared at the ceiling of the dark, damp dungeon.

“Still, I somehow lived and made it this far. That’s life, I guess.”

A dry voice suddenly interjected.

“…What exactly have you been doing there for a while now?”

“I was having a conversation with my Senior.”

The jailer looked at me as if I were a madman. I shrugged. I picked up the limp, white hand of my “Senior” and waved it at the jailer. With a snap, the elbow joint detached. Almost simultaneously, the Senior’s body, which had been leaning against the wall, collapsed into a heap.

“Aaah! Senior!”

The cellmate I’d grown fond of over the last three days had turned into a pile of bones. We had actually bonded quite a bit. Sighing in regret, I gently placed the arm back on top of the pile. The jailer, whose rank and status were incomparable to mine, decided to just ignore me and went about his business.

Creeeeak.

The iron bars opened.

“If you’re done, come out. Her Majesty is looking for you.”

‘Her Majesty’ referred to Vanessa, the Empress of the Empire, whom I had picked up and raised since she was ten, and who was now twenty-five. Sitting on the throne, she had wavy black hair reaching down to her waist and dark eyes. She always wore a uniform and carried two favorite swords at her waist.

Whenever she crossed her long legs and showed her displeasure, the nobles—who had been bullied by me and were filled with rage—held their breath. I grinned and raised a hand. As I waved flippantly in greeting, Vanessa let out a sigh as if she had a headache.

“Master.”

“Yeah?”

“Again? Why?”

“Why what?”

I tilted my head as if I truly didn’t know. The nobles who had been cowed by Vanessa pointed fingers at me. “That— That! Such insolence!” Some people even collapsed backward, unable to contain their fury.

I ignored them cleanly. Those bastards should be grateful to Vanessa. If it weren’t for her, I would have fried, roasted, and sautéed them all with magic long ago.

“Your Majesty! This time, you must punish him severely!”

“He’s right! Because Your Majesty overlooks it every time, he doesn’t know where the limit is—!”

But those rotten-potato-looking guys wouldn’t know that even if they died and came back to life.

Vanessa looked high-pressure and authoritative, but she was actually full of affection and weak for the vulnerable. To give you an idea: there was a family that recently plotted a rebellion. She only executed the ringleaders and sent the women and children to a remote castle near the border. If it had stopped there, I wouldn’t have said anything.

I had a strange feeling and checked; she had provided them with all sorts of things in the process. A manor, servants, wealth… When I argued that she had sent them on a tour rather than into exile, she just laughed and said she learned it from me.

On the other hand, I couldn’t laugh.

If her hair and eyes weren’t black, if her age hadn’t been exactly ten when we first met, and if she didn’t resemble the most beautiful person I had ever met during my long life… I wouldn’t have picked her up.

“Everyone, shut your mouths.”

As Vanessa growled, the surroundings fell silent. Her calm black eyes stared straight at me.