The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

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Evelyn's first life was on a mortal planet called 'Earth', as a regular child born to a mother who perhaps did not wish to raise her.

Although she had no way of knowing her so-called 'mother's' mindset at that time, the woman had decided to disfigure her newborn child's face before abandoning her in front of an orphanage, and Evelyn assumed that it must be because she never wanted herself to be associated with this unwanted child.

Among all the children at the orphanage, Evelyn was the 'ugliest'.

Growing up as an orphan with a mutilated face, she went through her 'fair share' of misfortunes, and had always hated that so-called mother of hers. And like any other vengeful child, she had also done her best to 'find' her.

As for what she would do if she ever managed to find the woman? Evelyn had no idea.

Of course, she realized that her chances of succeeding in doing so were slim to none at that time, but as long as she performed well at school, and then progressed in her career step by step, it may not be impossible to succeed eventually. Or so she thought.

It was this 'folly', however, that led to her demise. Because she tried to dig into something she never should have. But Evelyn understood this far too late.

Even as she perished, however, she never felt the 'connection' between her body and soul, and most importantly, never got to experience her independent soul body.

This was because even when she had lost her mortal body, no matter whether it was before, during, or after the survival test, she had always inhabited some form of physical shell. Whether it was the wax doll, the scrawny little girl, or the supervisor's colleague, they were all temporary residences that had prevented her from being able to experience what she was going through now.

Evelyn wondered if such a thing was intentionally done by 'Lord Chronos', and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

Because shortly after assuming this state, Evelyn was able to feel something hidden deep within her 'soul', a tiny little speck of very potent soul energy that didn't belong to herself.

Even when she had been a mortal, simply allowing her to exist in this state would have made her feel something was 'wrong' with herself, though she wouldn't have been able to know just what exactly it was.

But now that she had a basic understanding of 'Searing Soul', she knew a lot more about it than before, and recognized the function of this thing being hidden inside her.

Like a breath mint hanging above a bottle of cola, whenever the 'owner' of this energy decided, they could cause an intense and devastating reaction within her soul, the results of which she didn't dare imagine at all.

"I obviously can't let this thing just stay here… But given that it's most likely from that 'Lord Chronos', it shouldn't be a threat for the time being. Although I can try wiping it off now, it should be safer to completely comprehend the 'Searing Soul' first."

If she had to go about it the 'normal' way, that would surely have been a long way into the future, but now that she had obtained this incredible opportunity, fully comprehending the 'Searing Soul' was going to be a piece of cake.

As her body continued absorbing more and more energy to continuously level up, Evelyn spent that time to further her comprehension of the soul. She understood that this opportunity was perhaps even more of a 'lucky chance' than the red mission reward.

When her required experience to level up had changed from 2,000 to 5,000 after hitting level 30, Evelyn had thought that her 'gains' may actually not be as great as she imagined, and the total amount of levels she gained wouldn't be that many if the required experience continued increasing at that rate.

Thankfully, however, her conjecture was wrong, and perhaps such sharp 'spikes' in experience requirement really were only for the milestone levels.

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-Level up!

—Level 30 [145,280 / 5,000] → Level 31 [140,280 / 5,500]

—All attributes +4!

-Level up!

—Level 31 [140,280 / 5,500] → Level 32 [134,780 / 6,000] 

—All attributes +4!

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Even as the system prompts continued, Evelyn focused her mind completely on her soul.

She understood that the way the cultivation arrays differentiated between 'individuals' was through their soul 'signature'.

This was not a unique case for just the 'Searing Soul' array, it was just the way the cultivation arrays worked in general.

As for what this 'signature' was, people understood that was the 'shape' of the soul, though what exactly that was supposed to be varied depending on whom was asked.

However, with Evelyn's 'lucky chance' this time, she was able to clearly 'see' what this so-called shape of the soul was supposed to be.

"So apparently the headmistress really was right in her conjecture… the soul takes the shape of whatever we imagine our 'true self' as. And for me… it's this…"

Currently, Evelyn's 'soul form' was in the shape of a girl around fifteen or so in age, with the same pink hair and pink eyes as her current self. However, there was a deep scar on her face that went from the left side of her forehead down to the right side of her chin, completely ruining her beauty.

Evelyn took a deep breath as she focused within herself, completely ignoring the passage of time as well as her system prompts.

The rate at which her body was absorbing energy had greatly slowed down after hitting level thirty for some reason, and each level up took a considerable amount of time.

Even so, Evelyn remained focused on her task single-mindedly as her body went through multiple level-ups.

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-Level up!

—Level 32 [134,780 / 6,000] → Level 33 [128,780 / 6,500]

—All attributes +4!

-Level up!

—Level 33 [128,780 / 6,500] → Level 34 [122,280 / 7,000] 

—All attributes +4!

-Level up!

—Level 34 [122,280 / 7,000] → Level 35 [115,280 / 7,500] 

—All attributes +4!

-Level up!

—Level 35 [115,280 / 7,500] → Level 36 [107,780 / 8,000] 

—All attributes +4!

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Evelyn breathed out a sigh of relief as she felt that the scar on her soul form's face had become much fainter. "Given that this is the 'key', just this much alone should be able to allow me entry as 'another person' in the cultivation array. But… this isn't enough for me."

Although the scar had almost faded, the 'face' on her soul form was still that of a 'stranger', and not 'herself'.

Of course, this stranger was probably what her real face in the first world was supposed to look like. It was certainly far more attractive than she expected, though still not as 'cute' as 'her' now.

"If she looked like this… ah, I know who she was now…"

Assuming that her face resembled her mother, that woman was likely to be the lady who was being touted as the 'most beautiful actress' in her first world. A woman who received an equal amount of love and hate, though she would only ever get the latter from Evelyn.

"It's disgusting… I don't want any part of me to resemble her!"

Even if that hadn't been the case, now that she had this opportunity to freely observe the changes in her soul form, why would she not take the chance to fully change it to her liking?

Although it was something that no one else would be able to see normally, the more 'at ease' Evelyn felt with her own soul form, the more refined her usage of 'soul power' will become.

And her current soul form made her even more uncomfortable than the one before, so she certainly had to change it!

Time continued to pass as the scar on her face turned fainter and fainter while even her facial structure started to shift. Meanwhile, her body also kept absorbing energy, and the system prompts continued to signal her progress.

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-Level up!

—Level 36 [107,780 / 8,000] → Level 37 [99,780 / 8,500] 

—All attributes +4!

-Level up!

—Level 37 [99,780 / 8,500] → Level 38 [91,280 / 9,000]

—All attributes +4!

-Level up!

—Level 38 [91,280 / 9,000] → Level 39 [82,280 / 9,500] 

—All attributes +4!

-Level up!

—Level 39 [82,280 / 9,500] → Level 40 [72,780 / 10,000] 

—All attributes +4!

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Milestone Level Reached! [Level 40 Milestone!]

All Attributes +40!

Attribute bonus per level increased from 4 to 5.

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Shortly after hitting the level forty milestone, Evelyn finally recovered her focus.

Not only had the scar on her soul form's face completely vanished, her age had also regressed from being a teenager to a preteen. Moreover, her soul form's face was now completely identical to that of her body.

Evelyn couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. "Perfect… Now, I am myself, in both body and soul…"

But even though she was already done 'renovating' her soul form, Evelyn didn't waste the rest of this 'lucky chance'. She knew there wasn't much time left for her in this state, since the amount of experience required per level up only kept on increasing, and she could already feel a 'tug' on her soul form.

Knowing that she would soon become 'whole' once more, Evely spent the rest of her time observing the connection between her body and soul, furthering her comprehension of the subject.