[Achievement Acquired!]
[Though This Body Die and Die, a Hundred Times Over]
[The World's Slowest Sperm]
"Haaaa……"
In the mental realm where he stayed before regression,
Johan barely managed to let out a sigh of relief as he looked at the messages appearing before him.
All that effort to reach one hundred had finally paid off.
'But was there someone like Jeong Mong-ju on the Arcana Continent too?'
No such person had appeared in any of the history books Johan had studied.
"Enjoy it endlessly. Regression Trial Version."
Humming to himself, Johan checked the detailed descriptions of the Achievements.
[Though This Body Die and Die, a Hundred Times Over]
[An Achievement awarded to a fool who repeated life one hundred times without properly understanding the Regression System. A perk is granted in the hope that you will eventually achieve your goal.]
'…That isn't a description. It's just insulting me. I repeated those lives to earn an Achievement.'
[Though This Body Die and Die, a Hundred Times Over]
[Achievement Perk: While possessed, active time is doubled.]
[Achievement Perk: While possessed, brief tips are provided.]
"While possessed…. Is it like a passive effect?"
If Johan's guess was correct, this was excellent news.
If some perks did not require an Achievement Slot, the possibilities were practically endless.
[The World's Slowest Sperm]
[A sperm that met a pointless end one hundred times. We hope you are born properly next time.]
[Achievement Perk: While equipped, Speed Adjustment: Medium-Low]
[*This is a higher-tier Achievement than Failed to Be Born. The Failed to Be Born Achievement will disappear.]
'Which Achievement should I equip? Legendary Womanizer? The World's Slowest Sperm?'
It was both a happy and miserable dilemma.
If he had even one more slot for Achievements, he would have chosen both, but his Otherworlder's Soul could equip only one.
In the end, Johan selected the Achievement that was most useful in his current situation.
[Name: Johan]
[Talents Possessed: Memorization]
[Effects Currently Applied: Speed Adjustment: Medium-Low]
Johan said that he wanted to regress again.
[Does that mean you wish to purchase the Full Version?]
'Quit the tricks.'
[Regression point will be determined randomly.]
[Returning to 1 hour ago.]
His vision was still dark, but after experiencing it a hundred times, the sensation had become familiar.
'So this is how you want to play it.'
He could feel the malice behind repeatedly regressing him into a sperm in an attempt to break his will.
But the Status Window did not know that Johan could carry Achievements over.
As long as he had the Speed Adjustment from his sperm Achievement, things would not go the way the Status Window intended.
Johan moved his body as hard as he could.
He was far faster than with the lower-grade adjustment.
And it was not merely a bonus that let him move faster.
The movement of his flagellum, his ability to read the current, his resistance like a salmon swimming upstream—
Every movement involved in gaining speed received an adjustment.
Johan shot forward like a bullet.
He streaked past countless other sperm, and at last his destination came into view.
He sensed several sperm that had already exhausted themselves lingering around the ovum.
Just as Johan was about to go through with it, an idea occurred to him.
'Wouldn't I earn an Achievement if I were born as a twin?'
He had not majored in biology, so he did not know the exact mechanism.
Maybe it would work if several sperm got inside.
Johan searched for promising candidates.
He ignored the ones that had already lost their strength.
Four particularly vigorous sperm caught his attention.
'Quintuplets should have a better chance of earning an Achievement than ordinary twins, right?'
Decision made.
This life, he was going with quintuplets.
Johan grabbed the nearby sperm and gathered them together in one place.
Then he pushed with all his strength and broke through the ovum's membrane.
'Now I just have to wait two weeks, right?'
[Though This Body Die and Die, a Hundred Times Over]
[Achievement Perk: While possessed, active time is doubled.]
[Achievement Perk: While possessed, brief tips are provided.]
His normal active period was one week.
With the Achievement Perk applied, that became two weeks.
While Johan wondered what sort of life auto-progression would create this time, a message he had never seen before appeared.
[TIP. The tedious fetal period can be skipped.]
[ERROR. ERROR. User does not qualify…… correction: User qualifies.]
[Skip?]
[TIP. Skipping does not reduce your available active time. A Skip Function that can be used outside the fetal period may be purchased from the Achievement Shop.]
In novels, there were plenty of protagonists who started practicing internal energy cultivation methods while still in the womb.
But Johan had no intention of spending his precious two weeks inside his mother's belly.
'Skip.'
***
A joyous event came to the Barony of Raks, located on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Asep.
The Baroness of Raks, who had remained pregnant for more than a month beyond the normal term, finally went into labor.
"Finally!"
"Baron, please leave the room!"
"Aaaaaaagh!!"
"Dad. Am I getting a little sibling now?"
The manor, normally relaxed and quiet, suddenly became a flurry of activity.
Even though this was her second delivery, the Baroness of Raks groaned through pain that felt no more familiar than the first time.
"Aaaaaagh!!!"
After straining with a scream, she delivered a wrinkled baby.
A maid quickly lifted the child and cried out in joy.
"It's a healthy young master!"
"Wait, there is more than one!"
The Baroness of Raks gave birth to no fewer than five babies.
By the end of the exhausting delivery, she was completely drained, but she clung to consciousness through sheer determination to see her babies' faces.
"Ahh……"
"These are the children you gave birth to, Madam! Quintuplets…… This must be a revelation from the Goddess that our territory will prosper!"
"Mm……"
The Baroness of Raks took the first baby born into her arms.
Unlike the other babies, he did not cry.
He simply stared at her with bright, alert eyes.
"My baby. Your name is Johan……"
Her words were overflowing with maternal affection.
They were gentle enough to make any baby stop crying, but Johan was looking at something else.
[Achievement Acquired!]
[Quintuplets]
[Twin-related Achievements may only be acquired once. Your next regression point will be fixed to a point where you alone have been conceived. You can never be born as a twin again.]
[Beginning with the next run, the twins will appear as helpers. Repeat runs and search for the twins as they live different lives.]
[TIP. The helpers' level is affected by the Achievements the twins earn in this run and by their relationship with the user.]
[TIP. A special reward will be granted each time you find one of the twins.]
Johan carefully interpreted the Achievement text.
'So basically, I should raise these kids well this time so I can make use of them in the next run.'
Having them appear as helpers was much better than merely having them as family.
Whenever someone fell into danger, or needed some particular item, a helper appearing at exactly the right moment was a classic trope.
And this reeked of Achievements.
He would receive rewards just for finding them one by one.
How incredible an Achievement would he receive if he found them all?
His heart raced just imagining it.
'But of all things, I have to spend two weeks as a baby.'
If possible, he would have preferred raising the children after growing up a little.
Still, at least it was two weeks instead of one.
Johan and the other newborns were moved into a nursery that had been prepared in advance.
There was some commotion because they did not have enough cribs, with people boiling extra bedding and scrambling to prepare new beds, but the problem was quickly resolved.
A newborn's body was fragile.
The moment Johan was laid down on a soft, fluffy bed, he fell asleep.
.
.
.
When Johan woke again some time later, he thought,
'How should I spend the remaining time so people say I used it well?'
There was probably no better option than a mana cultivation method.
Compared to families with a proper martial tradition, House Raks was not particularly impressive.
Still, it was a noble house, and it possessed the Raks Mana Cultivation Method that had been passed down through the family for generations.
Johan's mana sensitivity had always been poor, so he had never properly learned even the low-level Raks method.
But things were different now.
'According to martial arts novels, newborns don't have impurities blocking their acupoints, and their Ren and Du meridians? Whatever they're called, they're already open, so it's the best time to build internal energy.'
This was a fantasy world, but internal energy and mana were basically the same thing.
It would probably work well enough.
If he properly laid the foundation now, perhaps even someone with pathetic talent like Johan could eventually reach knight-level ability.
'And I have an adjustment now too, so there is a chance.'
Trusting auto-progression, Johan diligently practiced the Raks Mana Cultivation Method.
"My goodness. Young Master Johan certainly has a healthy appetite."
He practiced even while greedily nursing from the wet nurse hired by the Baroness of Raks after she became exhausted trying to feed five babies.
"Waaaaah!!"
"Waaaaaaah!!"
"Phew… They're crying again… If only the others were as quiet as Young Master Johan."
He practiced even while a maid, exhausted from caring for five infants, sighed.
"What do you think? Cute, aren't they?"
"Yes! They're really cute. Was I like this when I was little too?"
"Of course. Say hello to your younger siblings."
"Johan. Yodu. Yosen. Yona. Yoser. I'm Rarhan, your older brother."
He practiced even when little Rarhan came to see his younger siblings.
Unlike the first time Johan had learned it, nothing felt obstructed or uncomfortable.
He reached a much higher level than expected.
And so two weeks flew by in the blink of an eye.
.
.
.
[All activity time available under the Trial Version has been consumed.]
[Moving to the future immediately before death.]
The newborn Johan grew into an eight-year-old troublemaker.
***
The moment the time leap ended, memories of everything that had happened in between flooded into Johan just as they had before.
Like any mana cultivation method, the Raks method required regular breathing.
Because Johan had practiced it from the moment he was born, he had developed the habit of breathing in accordance with the Raks Mana Cultivation Method.
The small amount of mana he had accumulated during that short period had also helped him grow into a remarkably healthy child.
He was bigger and stronger than the others, so he naturally kept his younger siblings in line.
If Johan had been born into a commoner family, he probably would have become the leader of the neighborhood children.
But because he was a noble, he could not play freely with ordinary children.
Karane, the maid's daughter who had been born the same year, was his only commoner friend.
Even so, Johan and the other quintuplets never felt lonely.
They had the siblings born alongside them for company.
"Brother Johan! What are we playing today?"
"Let's continue the house game from yesterday."
"Yoser, you always want to play house. Brother, brother! Let's play hero together!"
"I don't want to play hero with Brother Yodu. He always makes himself the hero. And why does the hero always lose to the Demon King?"
"I want to read……."
"Yona, books again? Come outside and run around!"
Johan's younger siblings all said whatever they wanted.
It was Johan's job to mediate between them.
"Today, we're going to play in the forest."
"Really? We failed last time."
"That's because we tried to bring Karane and Uncle Palmeon with us. If we go by ourselves, no one will ever notice."
"No! The adults told us not to go because it's dangerous."
"There aren't any books in the forest……."
"Idiot. You can bring one and read it there. Imagine how nice it would be to lie in the grass and read."
"Brother Yosen……. Genius……."
Children always wanted to do what adults forbade.
That was why the quintuplets secretly came to play in the nearby forest.
The moment Johan reached the forest, he regained control of his body.
He scanned his surroundings with hawk-like eyes.
'So this is where I die?'
If his experience from his third run was anything to go by, death came suddenly.
It would be nice if he could prepare in advance and survive, but there were far too many dangers in a forest, while his own strength was far too limited to expect much.
Still, he had to try something.
'First, should we get out of the forest?'
The System said he regained control of his body shortly before death.
If he left right now, maybe he could survive.
"Everyone. Let's go back now."
"Why? We just got here."
"My legs hurt. I'm tired. I want to rest a little."
"It's an adventure!"
"My book is heavy……."
His younger siblings were terrible listeners.
Johan was about to try persuading them again when—
AWOOOO—!
A beast's howl echoed through the forest.