Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1829: Floor 1, Earth

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Maria’s family, having encountered worlds similar to Earth multiple times before, felt far less awe than Maria did. Still, they found it peculiar, everywhere they looked, there were only humans.

For a family composed of so many different species and races, a world inhabited solely by humans seemed almost alien. Players of other races existed, of course, but their numbers were very small.

After all, few had any compelling reason to descend to this seemingly insignificant world. At first glance, it offered nothing especially valuable beyond its eight billion inhabitants.

That immense population dwarfed every other world Maria had visited.

Yes—even Yggdrasil and Murim couldn’t compare.

In those realms, constant dangers kept populations in check; people struggled to prosper and reproduce at the staggering scale Earth had achieved before its absorption into the Tower.

Perhaps Earth’s greatest treasure truly was its eight billion people—and whatever potential could be drawn from them.

Maria immediately extended her Aura as far as it would reach.

Instantly she sensed traces of Blood Energy, Divine Power, Golden Sand Essence, and Ki.

Indeed, these signatures converged into large concentrations scattered across the globe.

"The Crimson Order, Olympus, Thebes, and perhaps Murim and other worlds have established their own organizations here. That much is certain."

As she scanned further, she detected unusual energy signals. While most people remained unawakened and ordinary, some carried Mana within them...and others even harbored Blood Energy.

Certain individuals blended among the crowds had become Vampires—likely converted. She also picked up divine blessings carrying the unmistakable "scent" of Olympus gods; these larger groups moved openly.

"From what I can tell, the Crimson Order operates underground, while Olympus openly blesses people to form guilds...or perhaps even churches?"

Lost in thought, Maria realized many people were complaining about her blocking the view right in front of the Tower. She quickly stepped aside.

The Tower stood in the heart of a city she recognized almost immediately.

"Ah, this is New York."

"New York, really?" Alma asked. "So the same cities exist here too! But Earth...it sounds like such a boring name..."

"Yeah," Maria nodded. "But it’s honest and humble in its own way. This really is just Earth."

Maria smiled softly. She liked the simplicity of her planet’s name. It suggested humanity understood its own fragility and remained modest enough to call their home simply Earth.

No grandiose, god-like title.

Just Earth.

"Mama! Where do we go now?" Nyx asked eagerly. "I wanna meet my auntie and my grandma!"

"Me too," Lucifer added.

"I wouldn’t mind meeting your family from your first life..." Jonathan said with a nod.

"I want to check on them too..." Partner murmured, trying—and failing—to hide her excitement.

"Yeah, I think it would be wonderful!" Emeraldine agreed warmly.

"To think we would ever visit the planet you originally came from... Despite all the chaos the Tower brings, there’s something quite nice here," Nia said with a gentle smile.

"I can feel some really big oceans nearby..." Celes said, looking around. "Ah, this world’s oceans are a little nasty though... very contaminated compared to Azure Star and other worlds..."

"Yes, sorry. This world isn’t in the best condition," Maria apologized. "We humans can be foolish... Only a few truly try to help, while the vast majority don’t care or value the world they walk on."

"Hm..." Emeraldine nodded thoughtfully. "We can help make it a better place. We have the power."

"I know, and I plan to do exactly that," Maria said firmly. "For now I... Ah!"

Maria’s eyes widened.

After only a few minutes on Earth, she finally felt it.

A deep, unmistakable connection.

An incredibly powerful pulling force.

Something—someone—was calling her!

"I can’t believe it... it’s really there..." Maria’s hands trembled; her eyes widened in disbelief and joy.

"Maria, what’s wrong?" Jonathan moved to her side at once.

"Are you okay?" Lucifer asked, concern sharp in his voice.

"I-I’m fine... I just..." Maria laughed, the sound bright and shaky. "Hahaha...! This is... crazy. I can’t explain it well. You can find me anywhere, right? So just follow my presence! I have to go—I really need to go. I’m so sorry!"

"Mama?!" Nyx gasped as Maria shot upward, drawn by an irresistible force. "She’s being pulled somewhere!"

"What?! Maria!" Lucifer surged after her.

"We have to catch her!" Jonathan shouted.

The entire family raced through the sky, creating a tremendous commotion. Below, people in the city pointed and gasped at the sight of so many figures streaking across the heavens.

Even in this world, such a large group flying openly was rare.

While her family chased after her in panic, Maria couldn’t stop smiling and laughing.

Her Aura radiated pure, uncontainable joy.

"Why is she so happy?!" Lucifer called out.

"I think this isn’t an enemy..." Emeraldine said. "I remember Maria told us about something she saw while evolving last time... about..."

Emeraldine halted the group briefly to explain while Maria continued flying.

The pulling force grew stronger with every passing second. She vanished over the horizon.

Her soul crossed the sea and arrived in New Jersey.

Her hometown!

She plunged through the roof of a slightly run-down old hospital that had endured the Awakening.

The very hospital from her vision.

She passed through ceilings and sleeping patients until she reached a large room.

There, lay the body of a woman...

A woman with very long black hair and an almost skeletal, frail frame.

She lay unconscious, kept alive for years by machines, even after her brain had been declared dead.

"They never gave up on me... Mom... my sister... they’re alive, they’ve been taking care of me... all these years!"

As Maria’s soul wept with overwhelming emotion, it reached her true body.

Her real body.

Her first body.

FLAAASH!

It felt almost natural as her entire being flowed into another vessel.

Warmth enveloped her.

Her heart began to beat.

Blood surged through long-dormant veins.

Her brain’s neurons, silent for so many years, suddenly sparked back to life.

A torrent of memories flooded in, every detail preserved.

Her life here, her mother, her sister, her friends...

After so long.

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

The steady rhythm of the heart monitor echoed in the quiet room as Maria’s fingers twitched.

Slowly, her eyes opened—not red, but a vivid green.

"Haaahh...!"

She gasped, filling her lungs with air for the first time in decades.

Then she coughed violently.

"Cough, cough...! Ahh... Cough, cough..."

The noise quickly drew a nurse who had worked there for thirty years—the same nurse who had seen this girl arrive twenty years earlier.

Her eyes widened in shock.

She dropped the linens she carried.

After so long, a patient who had fallen into a coma at the Awakening...

Someone had finally awakened naturally.

"O-Oh my god...! Someone woke up?! Oh my god!"

She rushed to the bed where the woman coughed weakly.

"C-Calm down, dear. It’s been twenty years! Sit up slowly—breathe in and out, inhale and exhale... This must be the first time you’ve used your lungs in so long!"

"Ahhh... Aeeh..."

Maria could barely speak. Her mouth felt parched, her teeth weak, her eyelids impossibly heavy.

"Doctor! Bring the doctor!"

The nurse called out. Moments later, a doctor hurried in with several nurses, attending to her needs and gently helping her adjust.

"Do you remember your name?" the doctor asked. "Do you know who you are?"

Maria gave a faint nod.

"I guess she can’t speak yet. Are you thirsty?" he asked.

She nodded again.

"Okay, give her some water and... we’ll have to administer a few things so she can recover gradually," he said. "She’s probably paralyzed too... Call her family!"

"Yes!" A nurse hurried off.

"Don’t worry, Francisca..." The doctor smiled gently. "Everything is going to be okay now... You really did it. You woke up. Your family has worked so hard to keep you alive... It makes me happy their efforts have finally paid off."

Maria managed a weak smile, feeling the fragility of her body.

It was both refreshing and shocking how frail she had become.

But the power she had accumulated over years wasn’t wasted.

Slowly, she began circulating her stored Ki through her limbs.

Her Meridians awakened.

Then her Dantian.

FLAAASH!

A brilliant aura of light erupted from her body. The doctor and nurses gasped and stepped back.

"A-Awakening!"

"She awakened!"

"What is this power?!"

"Incredible!"

They watched in awe as the woman gradually regained her youth. She no longer looked like someone in her forties; she appeared in her early to mid-twenties.

Her withered skin softened and renewed. Muscle returned, banishing the skeletal appearance.

Her long black hair waved in the winds stirred by her aura as she slowly sat up, pulling away every tube and wire.

Her eyes shone with bright green light.

Maria gazed at her own hands.

"This is... I... finally feel whole."

For years she had carried a hollow ache, as though something vital was missing.

Even after crafting a perfect physical body with organs and flesh.

It had still been only her soul.

But now, at last...

She had returned to her rightful vessel.

A power the Toy Maker had once hinted at began to awaken.

"The other half of my darkness... where there’s pain there’s joy... where there’s nightmares... there’s dreams... where there’s grief, there’s hope..."

Maria smiled as a rotating Yin and Yang symbol manifested behind her Aura.

She realized she had finally unlocked her other half.

After reaching Level 500 just a day earlier, her powers...

She underwent her evolution right there.

[You have found your Living Body.]

[Congratulations! You have successfully fulfilled your Hidden Evolution Condition.]

[Your Species has successfully evolved into [Human]

[You have Ranked Up from X Rank to X+ Rank.]

[Your Level Cap has increased to Level 1000.]

[You acquired the Title Skill: [Reborn Human: Lv1]

[You learned the Skill: [Harmonious Yinyang Rotation Human Body: Lv1]

[You learned the Skill: [Abyssal Ghostly Curse: Heavenly Life Blessing: Lv1]

"I evolved... into a human? Hahah..."

Maria couldn’t help but laugh.

After all the wild evolutions she had endured.

She had simply become human.

And somehow, that felt perfectly right.

"Yeah... Because I am a human."

Maria clenched her fists, smiling as her Aura gradually receded and settled back inside her body.

The new Skills were extraordinary.

New vitality, new life, a restored body—or rather, everything she had lost was finally returned.

Above all, the "other half" of herself.

The power to transform her inner darkness and curses into blessings and light.

This was the true essence of [Abyssal Ghostly Curse: Heavenly Life Blessing].

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