Over the following two years, Adam made only one further improvement to humanity: an enhancement to its natural awareness of the surrounding environment.
He accomplished this by developing a form of biological echolocation.
With every step a person took, their body would emit and interpret subtle vibrations, allowing them to sense objects and movement within roughly three feet of where their foot had landed.
It was hardly a replacement for ordinary sight, but it provided an additional layer of awareness.
People could become more conscious of their immediate surroundings, detect nearby obstacles, and move with greater confidence even when visibility was poor.
Adam was still debating whether his next improvement should be night vision or thermal vision.
His growing collection of summonable animals had given him access to an ever-wider range of sensory abilities, and he was beginning to appreciate just how differently other creatures experienced the world.
For now, however, he left the decision unresolved.
Over the course of their travels, Adam and Zakiti explored much of the region that would eventually be known as Iraq.
They ventured beyond its future borders as well, but the farther they traveled, the more frustrated Adam became.
There were simply too few human settlements.
He understood that the land could be harsh and that not every region was suitable for farming, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that more humans should be able to survive in such places.
Humanity had endured far too much hardship already.
If people could learn to live in more environments, fewer would be forced to abandon their homes or perish because of the conditions surrounding them.
And so Adam began contemplating another improvement.
This time, however, he wanted to approach the problem differently.
Rather than giving every human an innate ability to construct buildings and other structures, he decided to make the improvement something that could be developed through practice.
Anyone who regularly built things would gradually develop a better understanding of construction.
The more they worked with their hands, the faster they would learn to recognize sound designs, identify weaknesses, and understand how different materials could be used together.
He also expanded the echolocation enhancement he had recently introduced.
In people who developed this new construction ability, their enhanced awareness would become increasingly useful for examining structures.
They would be better at detecting flaws, identifying unstable sections, and recognizing weaknesses that might otherwise remain hidden.
Adam hoped the combination would make construction safer and more accessible, allowing humanity to build better shelters and establish settlements in places where survival had previously been difficult.
As usual, he had no idea how far the consequences of this seemingly simple change might reach.
Adam Age 28
Once again, the ability to consciously alter his own DNA proved to have consequences far beyond what Adam had anticipated.
This was especially true because he was not merely an intelligent individual making changes to himself.
He was connected to humanity as a whole, and every improvement he introduced had the potential to influence an entire species.
After years of traveling, Adam and Zakiti finally reached the edge of the land they had been exploring.
Beyond it, they could see a vast expanse of water stretching toward the horizon.
Adam’s first thought was to swim across.
Fortunately, he reconsidered.
Instead, he put his newly developed understanding of construction to use and built a rudimentary raft.
It was hardly an impressive vessel, and under ordinary circumstances, Adam doubted it would have carried them very far.
Their journey succeeded largely because Zakiti pushed the raft along with a stick, using her extraordinary strength to propel them through the water.
Eventually, they reached the other side.
They had arrived in ancient Egypt.
Their first stop was a small settlement, where the locals spoke a language neither Adam nor Zakiti knew.
For Adam, this presented little difficulty.
He learned the language within seconds, his enhanced mind allowing him to understand its structure and meaning with astonishing speed.
Zakiti, unfortunately, did not share that particular advantage to the same extent.
Adam eventually resorted to acquiring an instructor for her, and with the assistance of her supernatural connection to her son which could enhance her capabilities by as much as twenty-five times, she managed to learn enough of the language to communicate effectively.
It took four and a half days.
With that obstacle overcome, the two could finally settle into their new surroundings without constantly struggling to understand the people around them.
Their first week in Egypt was remarkably similar to their time in Babylon.
They farmed, gathered food, hunted when necessary, and gradually adjusted to the rhythm of local life.
There was, however, one major difference.
Religion played a far more prominent role in the settlement than Adam had previously experienced.
The locals worshipped numerous gods, including Horus, whom they associated with the sun and kingship.
Adam wasn’t particularly concerned with whether these gods were real, imaginary, or simply figures used by their leaders to maintain social order.
If they were real, he would eventually find out.
If they weren’t, their existence still told him something about the people who worshipped them.
What mattered was that the gods’ followers seemed willing to go to extraordinary lengths in their service.
And that became a problem when one of those fanatics attempted to kill Zakiti.
The would-be assassin was not alone.
Others attempted to kill Adam as well, though he remained unaware of their efforts.
Zakiti, for her part, never realized that anyone had attacked her.
Her skin was simply too durable.
The weapons used against her failed to inflict any meaningful damage, and she was so accustomed to dealing with Adam a boy who could neither feel ordinary pain nor visibly demonstrate the damage inflicted upon him, that she had little experience judging how much force was appropriate when interacting with ordinary people.
She had learned to be careful around her son, but even that care had its limits.
Adam’s unusual nature made it difficult for her to understand just how fragile other people could be.
As a result, Zakiti had no idea how much strength she needed to hold back.
Their discovery came about in the most absurd way imaginable.
One evening, Zakiti noticed someone nearby and, while only half-conscious, reached out to give the intruder a gentle pat on the head.
Unfortunately for the intruder, Zakiti’s idea of a gentle pat was considerably more forceful than she intended.
It was only then that the pair began to piece together what had been happening.
They had been attacked repeatedly, apparently without realizing it, and their attackers had been failing to accomplish anything, while Adam and Zakiti continued with their ordinary lives.
The dead man was no ordinary fanatic, either.
He was an apostle of Sekhmet.
The others involved in the attacks were followers of Anubis and Set.
The death of a divine apostle was a serious matter, particularly in an era when the relationships between gods, their followers, and the mortal world were still being established.
The Egyptian gods took notice almost immediately.
And their attention finally brought Adam and Zakiti face-to-face with the truth.
The air around them changed.
Adam looked up, his vision enhanced by Mana, and saw four divine figures standing before them.
Anubis stood nearby, accompanied by Set.
Sekhmet, meanwhile, glared at them with barely restrained fury.
Zakiti could see them too.
Then Sekhmet spoke.
“Which of these mortals dared lay a hand on my apostle?”
Her gaze swept across the two figures before her.
But as she looked more closely at Zakiti, her expression changed.
Her eyes narrowed.
Then widened.
“You.. you are no mortal! What manner of Ma’at has cursed you?”
The goddess was referring to Zakiti.
Whatever she saw in the older woman was clearly not what she had expected to find.
Then she turned toward Adam.
And her confusion only deepened.
This finally attracted the attention of Anubis and Set, who had initially been more concerned with the circumstances surrounding their apostle’s death.
They looked at Adam.
What they saw was not what a human should have looked like.
Nor was it what the Celestials had once perceived.
The Celestials possessed a perspective that allowed them to see far beyond the limitations of the younger divine beings.
The Egyptian gods, by contrast, saw something stranger and more difficult to comprehend.
Adam appeared to them as an opaque white manikin without a face, its featureless body surrounded by countless colorful threads that extended outward from every part of him.
The threads seemed to connect him to something beyond their understanding.
Anubis experienced the strangest revelation of all.
As the god responsible for guiding the dead through the Duat, he possessed the ability to perceive souls that had passed from the world of the living.
When he looked at Adam, he recognized several souls he had personally helped guide through the Duat in the past.
Yet those souls were not merely inside Adam.
They were also present within the Field of Reeds.
Confused, Anubis used his divine sight to look directly into the afterlife.
The souls were there.
And they were also somehow part of the strange being standing before him.
More disturbing still, they did not appear to be suffering.
There was no sign that they had been trapped or forcibly taken from their rightful place.
They simply existed in both places at once.
Set, on the other hand, seemed almost delighted by the reactions of his fellow gods.
The moment he had laid eyes on Adam, he had begun formulating a theory.
Now, seeing the others struggle to comprehend what stood before them, he felt increasingly confident that his suspicions had merit.
He was the first to speak.
“You creature without form, who has brought great chaos into the world, what has drawn you here?”
The chaos Set referred to was not merely the confusion caused by Adam’s presence.
He had become aware of the upheaval spreading through humanity as Adam’s changes took effect.
In some settlements, individuals with unusually high genetic potential had begun displaying abilities that appeared supernatural.
Their frightened neighbors, unable to understand what they were witnessing, had sometimes killed them out of fear.
Elsewhere, the changes had produced unexpected consequences in human reproduction and development, resulting in deviations that Set could not have anticipated.
Humanity was changing.
And this strange being appeared to be at the center of it.
Adam, meanwhile, was still trying to understand what he was looking at.
“My name is Adam,” he replied.
“I simply wish to experience humanity’s prosperity firsthand.”
His answer gave Anubis pause.
“If that is the case, why do you hold those who have successfully passed through the Duat within you?”
Adam blinked. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
For several seconds, he appeared genuinely puzzled by the question.
Then he answered honestly.
“I don’t know how accurate it is, but Aunt Thena told me that I am both all of humanity and myself. Both the living and the dead.”
As Adam spoke, he failed to notice that Anubis had quietly placed the Feather of Truth upon his heart.
It was a divine artifact that tested the truth of a person’s words.
Had Adam knowingly spoken a lie, the feather would have weighed down upon his heart with crushing force.
But nothing happened.
The feather remained still.
Adam had spoken what he genuinely believed to be true.
And the artifact’s response confirmed something far more significant than his own sincerity.
The truth of his statement was recognized by a divine instrument founded upon the very concept of Truth.
Set and Sekhmet witnessed the result.
Their reactions were immediate.
Whatever they had expected to find in Adam, it was becoming increasingly clear that they were dealing with something far beyond an ordinary mortal.
Sekhmet’s fury gave way to alarm.
“Do not be concerned, manifestation of all humanity. We shall leave you in peace.”
With that, the gods vanished.
One moment they were standing before Adam and Zakiti; the next, they were gone, as though they had never appeared at all.
Zakiti had been excluded from most of the conversation.
She had heard her son’s answers, but she had no way of knowing what the gods had seen or why they had reacted so strangely.
She turned toward Adam.
“What happened?”
Adam’s confusion disappeared almost immediately, replaced by unrestrained enthusiasm.
“It seems the gods are real!” he exclaimed.
“And belief in humanity might be what gives them life!”
He could feel a connection to the divine beings that was slightly stronger than the connections he normally sensed around him.
It was faint, and he had no idea how to use it, but the discovery alone was enough to excite him.
Zakiti, however, reacted rather differently.
The moment she learned that the gods were real, her thoughts returned to the attempted attacks against her son.
If these beings decided to come after Adam again, she would be ready.
And if they tried to harm him, she would fight them.
Gods or not.
The Egyptian Pantheon
Meanwhile, the Egyptian gods had gathered to discuss what they had just encountered.
They knew they had little chance of harming Adam or his mother, at least not in any way that would be worth the effort.
More importantly, they could see no obvious benefit in antagonizing beings whose nature they barely understood.
Anubis was the first to bring up another matter.
“The recent rituals performed by Hem-netjar-tepi have been far more effective than they were in the past.”
Mafdet nodded before adding her own observation.
“My recent apostle, Sed the Ever-Running, was also his work.”
They were referring to the high priest and the extraordinary changes that had begun occurring during his rituals.
What had once been symbolic acts of devotion were now producing tangible results through the unintentional use of magic.
Human belief, intention, and ritual were beginning to interact with Mana in ways that had previously been impossible.
Or at least far more difficult to achieve.
The next to speak was Taweret, who seemed positively cheerful.
“The recent blessings protecting mothers and children are likely his doing as well. I say we leave him alone. The more changes he makes, the better.”
Set smiled.
Unlike some of the others, he was already considering how they might benefit from Adam’s continued presence among humanity.
“This being has the potential to strengthen our position by raising humanity’s belief in us. We should honor him. I nominate him as Ma’at, Ittasal, Bearer of Progress.”
The proposal was met with wholehearted agreement.
Adam had already demonstrated that he could influence humanity in ways the gods could barely comprehend.
His improvements were making people stronger, healthier, and more capable of achieving things that had once seemed impossible.
As those changes spread, the world would inevitably change with them.
And if humanity prospered, the gods believed they might prosper alongside it.
There was, however, one god whose enthusiasm concealed a more complicated motive.
Set had not proposed the title solely out of admiration.
He wanted a way to observe Adam more closely, to understand his intentions, and perhaps to establish a relationship that might eventually allow the gods to influence him.
Whether such a plan could succeed was another matter entirely.
For now, Set was content to let the title do its work.
After all, if Adam truly was the Bearer of Progress, then perhaps the best way to understand him was to see what progress he would bring next.
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