Chapter 187: The Variants

Floating in the middle of higher-dimensional space with Paige resting comfortably in my lap, I let out a soft, quiet breath.

I looked down at her dark eyes and the nine fluffy white fox tails wrapped around my waist.

Truth be told, I hadn’t been oblivious to the growing chemistry between us. Neither of us had. We were both pretty open about showing affection, whether it was playfully teasing each other or sharing quiet moments like this.

Lately, life had been moving at a breakneck speed. Between awakening my Astral Soul, meeting the High Council, getting a Sovereign Deck, dealing with academy preparations, and navigating my relationships with Yerin, Yoona, and Val, I felt like I had somewhat neglected Paige’s feelings.

This road trip through the solar system and into the cosmos hadn’t just been about satisfying my own curiosity. That was only a small part of it. The real reason I asked her to take a physical body and drive across the stars with me was to give her a date, a experience completely unique to just the two of us.

Looking at the brilliant, happy smile on her face, I was glad to see it was working.

“So,” I began, leaning back against the leather seat as my fingers gently stroked behind her soft fox ears. “How do you actually feel about being in a physical body, Paige? Do you like it?”

Paige purred softly under my touch, her fluffy ears twitching in delight as she nestled deeper into my chest. She tilted her head, her eyes looking up at me through her silver reading glasses.

“It’s a very unique experience, Seth,” Paige admitted, her rich voice trailing off thoughtfully. “Back when I lived strictly inside your mind, I was essentially a formless, boundless existence. I didn’t have a singular shape, weight, or biological limits. My consciousness was as vast as existence itself, after all, considering I encompass reality to influence whatever you desire. That kind of absolute freedom was incredible, and I loved it.”

She gestured toward her current voluptuous, silk-clad foxkin body. “In a way, having a physical body actually limits me. Matter is heavy, spatial dimensions restrict movement, and physical sensors can be surprisingly inconvenient.”

“Inconvenient how?” I raised an eyebrow, amused.

Paige offered a devious, wicked smirk, her dark eyes flashing with her signature horny banter. “Well, for starters, Host, having a physical body means I actually have to wait for you to take your pants off before I can touch you! When I was purely inside your head, I could stimulate your neural pathways and tease your pleasure centers directly whenever I wanted! Now I have to deal with clothes, physical distance, and waiting for privacy! It’s an outrageous downgrade in efficiency!”

I rolled my eyes dryly, giving her ear a firm, unamused tug. “Of course that’s the first demerit you bring up.”

“Ow! Hey!” Paige giggled, though her smile softened into something deeply genuine and warm.

She reached up, gently resting her cool, delicate hand against my cheek. “In all seriousness, Seth… it really is a wonderful, unique experience. Experiencing mortality, even temporarily, gives me a real perspective on how you live every single day. Feeling the cool breeze, tasting real food, and feeling your actual physical skin under my hand… it’s amazing. But most importantly, it allows me to exist as a separate entity beside you.”

I looked into her eyes, my expression softening. “Did you hate being inside my head?”

“I absolutely loved being inside you,” Paige answered instantly, without a shred of hesitation. Then, her lips curved into a sharp, shameless wink. “Though, if I remain exclusively inside you… you can’t ever be inside me.”

BONK.

“Ow!” Paige yelped playfully, rubbing her forehead with a dramatically pouted lip as I gave her a light head-bonk.

“You really can’t go five minutes without turning something into a dirty joke, can you?” I chuckled, shaking my head with a smirk. “Honestly, Paige, if you had an Astral Soul of your own, it would definitely be connected to the concept of Lust. You’d probably have a hundred percent compatibility with it.”

Paige straightened her posture proudly, fluffing out her nine white tails with a triumphant huff. “I’ll have you know, Host, that if I took over the concept of Lust, I would be far better and vastly more corrupting than even Lucifer!”

I let out a genuine laugh. “You’re still hung up on Lucifer, huh?”

“She’s a rival!” Paige declared playfully, snuggling back into my chest and letting me resume scratching behind her ears.

After enjoying the quiet warmth for a few moments, my mind shifted back to the broader universe floating outside our car windows.

“Hey, Paige,” I asked, looking out at the countless crystal spheres hanging in the higher-dimensional void. “How does the Astral World fit into all of this? We’ve talked about concepts, mana mechanics, and physical universes, but where does the Astral World actually sit in the grand hierarchy?”

Paige adjusted her glasses, her tone taking on an informative, analytical rhythm. “The Astral World is the ultimate origin of everything you see out here, Seth. Every single multiverse, timeline, and physical dimension in existence is simply a downstream reflection of the Astral World, an impure, lower-dimensional copy.”

She pointed her manicured black nail toward a cluster of infinite, stacked universes drifting nearby.

“Even if you stacked an infinite number of multiverses or higher spatial layers on top of each other, they would still remain nothing more than fiction or a shallow shadow compared to the raw, absolute reality of the Astral World. It is the primary blueprint of existence.”

I hummed, absorbing the scale of her words. “And what about the Creator of the System? Where does he stand in all this?”

Paige gave a casual, indifferent shrug, her fluffy tails swishing over my lap. “All I know, Host, is that even if you stacked an infinite number of Astral Worlds, it wouldn’t mean anything to the Creator. He operates beyond the concept of hierarchical structures entirely.”

I stared into the void for a moment, genuinely fascinated by the sheer, incomprehensible scale of the cosmos.

The Creator had fashioned a system as absolute and boundless as Paige, meaning his own existence was either completely beyond comprehension or he was the literal source of what we defined as power itself.

‘Definitely not a guy I want to poke my nose around,’ I thought to myself with a quiet smirk.

Curiosity was great, but I had zero intention of disturbing whatever entity sat at the absolute top of existence. I was perfectly content enjoying my life, my family, and my harem.

Catching onto a subtle detail in her previous explanation, I looked back down at Paige. “Wait, you mentioned earlier that there are multiple multiverses existing as different timelines. How does that work?”

“Precisely like it sounds,” Paige explained smoothly. “Physical existence branches into parallel timelines and alternate multiverses. They share similar foundational structures, but their events, choices, and historical progressions diverge.”

My eyes narrowed slightly as a realization hit me. “Does that mean… there are multiple versions of people out there? Like, are there multiple Lucifers? Multiple Yerins?”

I paused, looking at her intently. “Are there multiple Seths?”

Paige offered a soft, knowing smile, leaning her chin comfortably against my collarbone.

“There are definitely countless versions of Yerin across different timelines,” Paige answered clearly. “Mortals without absolute conceptual dominance branch out endlessly across the temporal web. In one timeline, she might be a famous pop idol; in another, an ordinary college student or a high-tier cultivator.”

“What about Lucifer?” I asked.

“There are very few Lucifers,” Paige clarified, her tone turning precise. “And there’s a very specific reason for that. You see, Seth, no matter how many multiverses or timelines exist, they all share the exact same singular Astral World. That means they all draw from the same pool of fundamental Authorities and concepts.”

She raised a finger, illustrating her point. “When an entity reaches Lucifer’s level and claims a massive portion of a singular Astral Authority, in her case, the Authority of Death, it creates a massive conceptual resonance across all realities. Naturally, holders of the same Authority across different timelines attract each other like opposite magnetic poles. It creates an inevitable, cataclysmic conflict where timeline variants hunt and consume each other to consolidate their control over the concept. Over eons, almost all variants are eliminated, leaving only one or two supreme dominant versions across the entire multiverse.”

“A cosmic battle royale for Authority,” I summarized dryly.

“Exactly,” Paige nodded.

Then, her bright golden eyes locked onto mine, her smile turning incredibly soft, sweet, and filled with a deep, reverent affection. “But for you, Seth… it’s completely different.”

I tilted my head. “Different how?”

Paige reached up, cupping my cheek with her soft, cool palm, her thumb gently tracing my jawline.

“In the entire expanse of existence, across every single timeline, every multiverse, every dimension, and every layer of reality, only one Seth Fernando exists,” Paige whispered softly.

My breath hitched slightly. “Only one?”

“Only one,” Paige confirmed firmly, her nine white tails wrapping tightly around us in a warm, protective embrace. “Because the Origin Astral Soul is absolute. It is the singular, non-replicable foundation of reality itself. It cannot be split, copied, or branched into parallel variants. You are completely unique across all of creation, Host.”

I sat quietly in the leather seat of our floating convertible, letting her words settle deep into my mind. Floating in the middle of higher-dimensional space, surrounded by infinite universes and holding my physical system companion in my arms, the sheer weight of my existence felt clearer than ever.

Yet, looking down into Paige’s warm, glowing eyes as she smiled up at me, I didn’t feel an ounce of pressure.

I leaned down, pressing a gentle, lingering kiss onto her forehead, making her fox ears twitch in happiness.

“Good,” I smiled softly, pulling her closer against my chest. “Because one Seth Fernando is more than enough to handle.”

Paige giggled softly, resting her head against my shoulder as our open-top car glided peacefully through the endless, beautiful light of the higher-dimensional plane.