First of all—
Body Reconstruction Template.
Right. I didn't have a body, which was kind of a problem, but this item neatly erased the problem. With it, not only would I be able to reform a body, and not just any body, I'd be getting a body based on a template. It was random, sure, but that just made it more interesting.
And honestly? I didn't really mind. My luck had carried me this far already.
Winning lottery lots four times in a row didn't just happen to anyone. If there was ever a time to trust it, now was the time.
But wait, there was more.
Whatever skills or abilities that body originally possessed… I'd inherit them. That was a big win.
[Drawing…]
[Template: Dio Brando]
Oh... Oh shit.
Maybe my luck really was that good. I accepted the template immediately.
[Commencing Body Reconstruction…]
Suddenly, a faint pressure wrapped around my consciousness, as if some unseen hands had taken hold of my very essence. I felt myself being pulled, stretched, and compressed all at once like playdough forced into a mold I couldn't see. Pain flickered at the edges. Not overwhelming, but there, dull and constant.
Bones formed first, dense and unyielding. Flesh, muscles, and tendons followed, weaving and layering over the structure in tight, coiled strands, each woven with unnatural strength. The skin settled over everything, flawless and unblemished, as if it had never known imperfection.
And then, a heartbeat followed. Slow and steady. Each thump echoed through me, sending blood surging through my veins, every pulse sharp, vivid… yet cold.
My eyes then opened.
The white void remained, unchanged.
But I wasn't. I stood there, no longer as some vague existence, but something real. My chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. My breath felt smooth and controlled. My senses sharper and clearer. I felt... more alive that I ever did before.
Anyway, there was something I needed to check. I brought my hands up to my neck. My fingers brushed against the smooth skin, gliding over it, until they paused. There, I felt a faint line, a seam connecting Dio Brando's head with Jonathan Joestar's body. So, what did that mean?
Well—
"Za Warudo (The World)!"
The space rippled as a tall and muscular humanoid figure fully manifested behind me. The World, the time-stopping Stand of Dio Brando, was now mine.
This realization, unknowingly, let a slow smile to spread across my lips.
"...Yeah. This was a good roll."
Now, how should I maximize my spending, knowing I had just become Dio Brando now?
Well, I'd had this "What if?" sitting in the back of my mind for a while now. And now? Now, I could finally test it on myself.
The first thing I did was searching the Green Baby in the Shop under the Contract. After I located it, I contemplated the price for a moment. As I felt that fifteen million was totally worth it, I bought the permanent contract.
The Green Baby, as its name implied, was an infant with green skin and a veiny body. It had large, pointy ears, reddish eyes with eyelids that protruded outward like leaves, along with a leaf-shaped mark on its forehead and cheeks. It also bore the star birthmark on the back of its neck, much like the other descendants of the Joestars.
The Green Baby wasn't just some random creature. It was an entity born from Dio's bone after absorbing the souls of thirty-eight sinners. It could even be said to be the "reincarnation" of Dio's will.
In the original plan, that "Dio" was meant to merge with Enrico Pucci. That fusion would give birth to a new Stand, C-Moon, that would eventually evolve into Made in Heaven under the right conditions.
That was the path to "Heaven," according to Dio's Notebook.
But...
What if Pucci wasn't needed?
What if "Dio" merged with himself?
What if "I" became my own friend?
With the Green Baby in my hands, I already completed half the plan. What I needed next were the fourteen phrases.
"Spiral staircase. Rhinoceros beetle. Desolation Row. Fig tart. Rhinoceros beetle. Via Dolorosa. Rhinoceros beetle. Singularity point. Giotto. Angel. Hydrangea. Rhinoceros beetle. Singularity point. Secret emperor!"
The final word hadn't even fully left my mouth when the Green Baby reacted. Up until now, it had been idly tugging at my hair and chewing on it with absent curiosity, like a real child with no real awareness of what it was doing.
That vanished. Its eyes locked onto me, its expression twisted into something feral, and then it moved. Pain hit a fraction of a second later as its teeth sank deep into my neck, right into the star-shaped birthmark. Yet, I didn't react or resist.
I let myself being pulled as my vision flickered. The white void warped, twisted, and then everything went black. However, my vision returned as suddenly as it had gone black, as if I hadn't just blanked out of existence.
Physically, nothing seemed out of place. My body felt, more or less, the same. Just more refreshed and light, if I had to put it into words. Like the lingering comfort after washing away the exhaustion of a long, grueling day.
But that was only on the surface. Deep within, something had changed. Something had elevated. A quiet power stirred from the depth of my soul, its presence vast, almost boundless and suffocating, yet perfectly under my control.
I let out a slow, deliberate breath as I reached inward, toward that overwhelming force.
"The World," the words left my lips in a calm whisper.
The World manifested. Compared to me, its form had changed a lot since absorbing the Green Baby.
Its while body was sculpted in a smooth ivory-white. Gone was the bulky diving equipment that once defined its silhouette, in its places, golden plates were embedded along the shoulders, framing the chest, and accentuating its torso.
The headpiece had split cleanly at the center, each half curving backward in a smooth arc, resembling the sweeping form of a horse's hooves. Leave-shaped eyelids framed the piercing red eyes that shone with intensity.
The World didn't just change in form. It had also elevated to a greater height. From the start, I already expected it to inherit C-Moon's manipulation of gravity and minor time acceleration, but, The World was more than that. It was more complete.
Not only did it obtain C-Moon's power, it had also—
[You have ten minutes left to finalize your preparation.]