《Ode to Freud》


 Prologue: The Goddess in The Bright Room

    I woke up in a bright white room. It was a weird, but still familiar setting. Weird because I have never lived such situation before.


    Familiar because I became tired of reading about it and seeing pictures of it as well.


    Because I am an Otaku and a semi-hikikomori whose only interests are literature, occultism, porn and shameful things.


    No, porn isn¡¯t shameful. It is a man¡¯s pride. You can judge someone¡¯s character by the size, type and composition of their porn collection. And if they have none, then they should see a psychologist and work up that tight asshole.


    Literally. It is much possibly a problem with the early phases of mental development. Have I also said I like to pretend to know about things?


    From psychology to quantum mechanics, I can pretend to know about almost anything after years and more years researching the internet about them. I have even done some online courses on stuff, like one on astrophysics and one on human evolution. I always get amazed at how much more content there is in the real thing though¡­ I guess you can call it a liar¡¯s curse, to know only enough to impress and talk back to others but not enough to actually use this knowledge for something useful.


    I return my attention to the white room.


    It seems I deviated from my train of though. It happens a lot. My eyes become lost and it looks almost as if I¡¯m in a trance. In reality I¡¯m only absorbed on myself, my thoughts and delusions. 100% narcissist. No wonder I have no friends except on the internet, where I can doze off and answer a simple question with an enormous wall of text five minutes after asked something.


    Something changed.


    Ah, there is a¡­ shape ? Shadow ? It¡¯s like the outline of a person, made of shade and brightness. I can barely see it.


    - I see you have woken up. And you are thinking a lot already.


    Ah, it talked. That¡­ seems to be a mouth I guess.


    It¡¯s waiting for me. Probably waiting for an answer. Do I like the way it talked to me ? I¡¯m not personally bothered by it. So I guess it is a friendly kind of existence.


    Shouldn¡¯t I be more concerned ?


    Why ? I have never been. In my whole life, only a few times have I feared death, and even on then I just kept my policies of judging people¡¯s character by how they treat me and what they do to me.


    I will trust anyone who is truly nice to me, without seeming like they are trying to win my affection.


    Not that such a thing is easy, seen as I always make an enemy out of everyone¡­ ah, whatever. I should just answer. Yes, I feel good about this person. Let¡¯s answer in a polite tone as well.


    - Yes, I guess I just woke up¡­ not sure why was I sleeping, though.


    - ¡­. You though a lot during that time. Do you usually have such long mental discussions with yourself over trivial matters?


    - I don¡¯t know if this could be trivial, but, yes, sometimes it feels like there¡¯s at least a few hundreds of ¡°me¡± competing to see who takes control of this body, soul and mind of mine.


    - You didn¡¯t think much before answering that, though.


    An unpleasant warm and sticky feeling is going through my throat and chest just now. The feeling of self-depreciation. I know you¡­. Aaahh¡­this will be liberating, won¡¯t it ? This conversation ? I will get some attention from it. Someone to listen to me complain. It is good to have others listening to your complains. I could do it all day, and receive some sympathy from them all day as well.


    Aaah¡­ I¡¯m getting a bit aroused here¡­.


    - I¡¯m used to question myself about that, so I just have an answer ready at any time I guess¡­


    - Those last thoughts of yours¡­.


    Aah, she can read thoughts, bitch¡­ no¡­ aah, she can read them. She know them. She won¡¯t  be tricked. Because I am worthy of sympathy, right ? My pain is real. So she is going to give me real sympathy, even without I concealing that I want it.


    I want it. Desperately bad, I want it so much !


    - You¡­.


    - Ah, sorry¡­ it seems my unpleasant feelings are showing up. Please feel free to stop reading my mind at any time. I will try to refrain myself from showing this side to you, since it would be emotional vampirism, but I never have much control over these things, so¡­


    Suddenly, she pats my head.


    - It¡¯s ok.


    Aaah¡­ is she using me ? Is she doing it because she know what I want ? Is she going to try and dominate me ? I will fight her if she does it. I will rape her. I¡­ I can¡¯t rape anyone. Only thinking of it makes me flaccid. I will only dominate her. Or escape from her. I will run away.


    Her eyes seems full of some degree of compassion. But they also have that business-woman feeling to them. She is going to charge me something for this, but it isn¡¯t bad¡­ is that it ?


    - You are easy to read, so I will be sincere to you as well. I will use you, but then you can use me. You can have my compassion. Is that good enough?


    I want to say yes. I immediately think of sex. Boyfriend-girlfriend kind of sex. Then incest. Like in mother-son hentai. That feeling of bonding. That Freudian bonding of a nature I cannot describe with words.


    Then I remember my mother. My real mother. And I cannot feel like that anymore. I despise that woman a lot. I calm myself. It¡¯s ok. She is proposing a deal. Let¡¯s calm down and try to recompose myself.


    - Ah, I am sorry. I lost my composure. It feels almost like a shared delusion. Please let¡¯s snap out of it. You said you will use me, so I suppose you have some kind of business with me? I am curious about this place and what is happening to me, so I shall listen to you.


    But please explain it clearly and in full disclosure. I don¡¯t want to feel like I have only half of the information¡­..  Is what I think next.


    - Ok. I will be very clear, but it is a long story, so pay attention. Also, you may like to seat for listening to it.


    She says, while releasing my head and point to my right. There, a sofa and a chair can be seen. They make the old European style of a few centuries ago, being made of noble wood and with cushions of rustic red cotton thread. The characteristic curves on the edges are dignifying and, at the same time¡­. Cute somehow? It makes me feel good, no doubt.


    She is using me, manipulating me. But I like it. Thank you very much for being so mindful of my comfort.


    Oooh, is that a small table with tea ? She has just awoken the snobby and pretentious Englishman on me. Even if I haven¡¯t been born in England.


    - Now, please seat.


    Ah, she is wearing a XVIII century ball dress with golden and white colors, with flower patterns. The wig is fantastic and she is also wearing jewelry of the finest quality, as one can see for the feeling of weirdness and brutality they pass me.


    Why do I feel so good ? I haven¡¯t feel so good in years. I look at myself.


    I am slim and proper. A nice arm, a beautiful swallowtail suit with knee-high white socks. I really feel like an Englishman. An upper-class lord and bon vivant.


    Haven¡¯t I made a regression in a psychology session in which I saw myself like this ? I remember clearly that. Even though the death I see myself dying at the time was¡­ horrendous.


    The goddess¡¯s voice calls me out.


    - Oh, you have realized my nature already. Come here, sit please.


    She is seated at the chair, waiting for me to seat at the sofa. Of course I would have realized her nature at this point. I mean, what else could it be if not that ?


    I wonder if I am dead or something ? If so, the after life is surely looking good ! I should have killed myself earlier !


    I didn¡¯t commit suicide, did I ? Last I remember I was just reading a manhwa or light novel in my room, wasn¡¯t it ?


    - You have a lot of questions, but I will answer them in time. Now, didn¡¯t you ask me about what this all is about ?


    - Yes, please, I am sorry.


    I take my place at the sofa and she passes me a cup of tea. It isn¡¯t very hot, and I am sitting in a very improper manner. My arm at the sofa¡¯s armrest, my right leg over the left leg and my body in general point away from the goddess.


    But it feels good sitting like this. Like I am at my place. Like I am in charge. Secure. Being manipulated like this surely is good. I have to take care to take advantage of her and her goodwill in the future. I don¡¯t care if she use me, as long as I can have everything the way I want, like now.


    Even if I wouldn¡¯t hurt innocent people for the sake of it. At such times, my pride and life itself would stand in the way.


    I correct my posture a bit by dropping my leg and sitting more straight.


    I am not a playboy. Do not be a playboy. I shall not be a playboy.


    - Then, let me start by congratulating you for reaching so far. It isn¡¯t easy to get someone to talk to me for a long time you know?


    - Oh, thank you.


    - Yes.


    She doesn¡¯t give me much time to think. Well, that¡¯s good. I think too much.


    - As you see, this is a place like the ones you see on most of your Light Novels and Mangas about reincarnation and transported people to other words, and, before you ask, yes, it is intended to be like this. We, gods, spread those kind of works in your world for convenience. So we could recruit the people we want with more ease ¨C get them with a lighter impact upon arrival here, if you may.


    - Ah I see, so¡­


    - No, no, not everyone who reads those works are to be selected. Actually, we don¡¯t know who will read it for sure. There are many timelines in your world, and we have to synchronize with a few of them. We sending the literature works was a trial, but we aren¡¯t still totally omnipotent, as powerful as we are. I know this makes you reassured and also doubtful, but don¡¯t fear. We call ourselves gods, but it is just so you people from the human race of the earth planet can better understand us. In reality we don¡¯t see ourselves as omnipotent and omnipresent, or omniscient, and we are not the creators of your universe ¨C even though we can create a few others, in other places, some of which you people can go to.


    - So, why transport us ? I mean, I believe I am being transported or teleported, not reincarnated, right ? I didn¡¯t die.


    - That¡­ depends. You see, it¡¯s all up to now, this very moment. Answering your first question, as I said, we are not omnipotent. We have a lot of power, but not in your world. Your world is ranked further than what we can reach, and your people have qualities of spirit and soul which are very useful to act as catalysts in the worlds we create, share and manage. In truth, you all have a little seed of divinity in you, while we also have it, but more matured. More in the stage of a three, not a seed.


    - Ah, so what you need is like a co-creator? To help you create the world and the people?


    - Not exactly. And this is where you get In the picture. Your people isn¡¯t very smart, I am sorry to say, and your dominion over mind and soul is¡­. Very poor. But you, as most mortals from earth, have this¡­ waves that spread from your seed of divinity. It isn¡¯t like something you control, but more like a little piece of what you have inside of you, that is a part of who you are. This part of you, I want it to be placed at one of my worlds in order to change it to something more alike earth. More lively like earth.


    - I see. So I need only to inhabit the place? No need to change drastically the living conditions, get myself a harem, help the weak, defeat the evil, protect the wronged, undo wrong preconceptions and misunderstood taboos? I always felt the Light Novels and Manwhas where about that.


    - You people can¡¯t do it in your own world, how do you hope to do it in mine?


    That phrase resonated deeply inside of me. Obviously as a human of earth those where matters that upset my own people and my own species. Not something an alien race of other world would have to share¡­. Right ?


    - Not exactly. It would be impossible for you, as a human from earth, to keep your mind, soul and memories if I send you to a world so different from your own. You wouldn¡¯t be able to imagine it, and would hurriedly develop dementia to protect yourself from losing your identity. So I will have to send you to a world that is a lot like yours, with lots of prejudice, injustices, evil, drama and disgrace.


    A very bad, nauseating feeling took my throat as I thought something very bad. It was a feeble thought, but it had a big impact on me¡­.


    - Don¡¯t worry. I didn¡¯t create this world for you or for any mortals from your race. The reasons for which a being like me create this kind of world¡­. Well, you see, it is still better to live the bad things it has, to not live at all. It is the kind of world where beings with seeds of divinity who need that kind of environment to grow gather.


    The spiritual argument. I have always been weak to it. Well, I believe it, so it is fine, right ? I won¡¯t discover later that this was always my fault, right ? I think I will give up. I cannot live with this guilt. Without knowing. Any proof she shows me about that can be a fabrication. She can delude me. Delude me so I inadvertently create a world of pain and disgrace where all suffer because of me. Because of me. I am the guilty one.


    She isn¡¯t saying anything. She is drinking her tea comfortably.


    - You are being ridiculous.


    - Ha. Hahahahhahaha. Sorry. I am a little mad. You are right.


    - I know, this is what I like in you.


    - Excuse me ?


    - Oh, you are the first one not only to reach so far, but also to have such big delusions while in front of me ! I have to say, not even the wannabe demon lords and sick people have show so much delusion so far ! Then again, you are the first of the ¡°mad man¡± series I take, so this may become more common with the passage of time.


    - Ah, I see. Anyway, sorry. You were saying¡­ ?


    - Yes. I have some worlds I can send you to. And as I said, I am very aware of your madness and difficulties. I also know that you can probably do a lot of wrong things there with the power I may bestow you. But I also trust my judgement.


    The goddess put her tea cup in the small table and looked seriously at me.


    - You are going to do everything in your power to make that world a better place, right, Sugirou Silva ?!


    - Yes, yes I will !


    Ha ! I am being played ! And this is good ! Keep it coming please !


    - Good. Then, let¡¯s discuss the terms after I give you a brief explanation of this world I want to send you to. It isn¡¯t the only one, but I believe it is the one you will find better suited for yourself. It is a world of sword and magic, like the one in your novels. I shall give you some powers, but I don¡¯t intend to make it look like a game, since I feel you would get too delusional if I did. The world itself doesn¡¯t have a name yet. The level of development is close to the one of the medieval ages of Europe, but without the classics to guide the people. Maybe you could say it is more like the times of Babilon in this aspect, that is, not having even old greek science to guide them. They do have some magic research going on, but magic there isn¡¯t so developed yet, since it is mostly for medicine and war. So it is very barbaric. Finally, the world is divided in twelve continents, three of them having communication amongst themselves and the other nine isolated from the rest. It is a big world, so going with your current body would be impossible. The gravity would crush you. In each of the continents you will find different races, being the only advanced one the Noble Undead Elfic race of the north continent. They can contact me and have fairly advanced magic¡­


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    - Wait, wait¡­. Have you said Noble Undead Elfic race ? And that they can contact you ?


    - Yes. Most undead in this world aren¡¯t vicious natured, since I made it so grudges wouldn¡¯t generate them, but rater only some kinds of magic and blessings.


    - Interesting. I played with this concept in a RPG I was writing with a friend once. It is very cool.


    - But you didn¡¯t like the world, did you?


    -¡­ No. I didn¡¯t like it. It seems boring. I would have to develop civilization from the very beginning, no? Can¡¯t you send me to a world with ancient secrets and mysteries? A more trilling place, where I can pretend to know stuff of the ancient and make myself more credible? Or maybe a world already used to summoned heroes?


    -¡­. Do you really want to go to a world used to heroes? I believe you would hate being known. I have observed you. You expose a lot of yourself, but you always conceal things you think would make others sure of some key aspects of who you are. You shouldn¡¯t feel good in a world where others are prepared to receive you, and thoroughly investigate and counterfeit your acts and boldness.


    -¡­ That¡¯s true. Please don¡¯t send me to one of those worlds then.


    -¡­ Let¡¯s see.. why don¡¯t I send you to a more varied world then¡­ I have one that may suit your tastes.


    - How come ?


    - This one has a great barrier dividing it into many smaller worlds. Each of them is inhabited by peoples, meaning those worlds have different civilizations. It is almost like having many worlds into one only.


    - Please don¡¯t tell me it is the world of M*shok* Tensei.


    - It isn¡¯t. I know how much you hated that world.


    - That fucking hit*gami. That piece of crap, useless Rud**s !


    - Yes, yes, calm down. You know you will be pretty much like R*d**s In the sense of undermining your own achievements by delusion and lying to yourself, so why not admit that what you hated the most was to see yourself on his shoes ?


    - I would have done differently ! Abandoning R*xy and Sh*lph* and just dying, they will live for other eighty years or more yet, as his widows! He couldn¡¯t have done it ! He should have found I way to live with them ! They will have to face the L*pl*ce Wars¡­ without him !


    - Ok, ok. Calm down. Don¡¯t worry. I will make it so you don¡¯t have to care about your lifespan in the world you are sent to, so you won¡¯t commit the same mistake even if you are lazy, ok ?


    -¡­. Thank you.


    - Now, as I was saying, this world is separated by barriers and is actually many worlds in one only. There are variated levels of civilization, but they range only from barbaric to post-apocaliptic without any great ¡°Golden Age¡± empire or anything. The max you will see is a fantasy setting in one of these worlds which is¡­. A little like R*d**s left his own world, with a little more magic and teleport circles, not to mention some old ruins with a lot of secrets.


    - Please tell me it isn¡¯t M*shok* Tensei.


    - I told you already it isn¡¯t ! The whole thing is completely different.


    - I¡­. please tell me again.


    She looked at me with hard eyes. A feeling of defeat and ridicule filled my chest, as I sighted.


    - Fuuuu¡­.


    - That¡¯s better. Enough of that. As I said, this world has a lot of magic and fighting. You can lead an adventurous style of life if you want, but even if you reach the required level of magic you must NEVER, and I mean it, NEVER, break the barriers between the worlds, you hear me?


    - Ok, but why?


    - Those worlds are actually the same world split in time. The space they inhabit is the same space, existing in different timelines. But those timelines are artificial, not natural. So, they aren¡¯t really¡­ there. In natural timelines, different ¡°spaces¡± would be created for each ¡°time¡±. But there only different ¡°times¡± where created to the same ¡°space¡±. If they are to be broken, which is possible with Overrank Magic, everything would be mashed up. People, buildings, deserts and seas, mountains and cities, tectonic plaques¡­ it would be a disaster.


    - Oh, wow. But why have this been made like this again? Shouldn¡¯t you have corrected that?


    The goddess sighed while dropping her shoulders. She looked dejected.


    - That¡¯s actually the result of a deal I made with another god, so please bear with it. Unless you discover a way to create different ¡°spaces¡± for each of the ¡°times¡±, just don¡¯t mess with the barriers, ok ?


    - Ok, I can do this much.


    - Do this much¡­.. *sigh*¡­


    I wonder if I am being manipulated again or if I really reached the end of the goddess patience ? I know I am emotionally tiring, but please bear with me for a little more !


    - As I was saying.


    She continued, after leaning a bit in the chair. I felt a little better.


    - This is a good world for you to go to. Would you be interested ?


    - It depend on the terms. Not having to worry about my lifespan is great, but you know I am very lazy and difficult to work with, so a lot of cheat skills would be good. Also, are you sure about the game settings ? Isn¡¯t it possible at all ? I would really like to avoid having to pay attention to my body and skills. The game setting in the Light Novels seems so easy, so fun¡­ you level up, you can put some points into your strength and ban ! Immediate strength increase. Without having to lift weights or anything.


    - No game setting. You can develop some original magic about it though. But you will have to do it yourself. If it is a delusion born of your own craft, then it probably won¡¯t make you too alienated.


    I don¡¯t like it very much, but it still beats my current life a billion to one¡­


    - Ok. Are there skills in this world ?


    - More like techniques. If you want to produce something like a Sword of L*ght, you will need to learn how to control it with your body and mind.


    I close my eyes for a moment and repeat to myself : This isn¡¯t M*shok* Tensei. This isn¡¯t M*shok* Tensei.


    This will be my mantra from now on.


    I wonder if the goddess is finding this amusing ?


    - Ok. About magic, can it do anything ?


    - Almost anything. There are many kinds, as you can guess from your studies on occultism from your life on earth. I can guarantee there are at least psychic types of magic, emotional types and also physical types. I can¡¯t say you will grasp the spiritual types though, since it would require for you to develop your Seed of Divinity a little more.


    - Ok. And what about my body and limitations? I go on like this?


    - I would strongly suggest no.


    I am a little baffled. The goddess has her back straight and is looking at me with a hard expression.


    - Your earthly body is shit. It is overweight. You have high blood pressure. You have depression and signs of early dementia. You have joint degeneration, fat intrusion on your liver, and your kidneys are in a bad shape. Your heart has suffered a terrible amount of small, unnoticeable each but bad in the long term, heart attacks and your brain is a soup of chemicals without which you will get into an abstinence crisis. You need a new body. So die and reincarnate in this world, please.


    I cannot say a world to her. It is all true. Yet, for me to die¡­. I feel a terrible feeling in my throat and chest. Is this survival instinct ? Ah, no, it is just fear¡­. Hahah, me, the suicidal man, full of fear of death¡­. Well, were I to not be afraid and I would have killed myself a long time ago, no ?


    I must go through this. An opportunity like this won¡¯t appear easily again. I need to use it to have a good body and cheat skills. A very good body.


    - Ok. But I want to have some plusses.


    - Very well, tell me what you want.


    - First, I want to have a perfect body. Very good genes. Beautiful, but not too much. I don¡¯t want to be noticed in the crowd, but I want to be considered ¡°good enough¡± to any ladies. Second, I want to have perfect control over it, being able to change myself like a shape shifter and keep all functionalities of the body I take. Be it male, female, futa, furry¡­. Even an animal if I want.


    Aaah, my pervert side is showing off¡­.


    - I can give you metamorphosis skill, which is similar to what you are asking, but you won¡¯t be able to become an animal with it. At most a demi-human of some of the beast tribes. There is no way with the laws of that world to give you innate ability to metamorphose into an animal, you need to learn druidic magic to do that.


    - Ok, being able to change my sex is already good, and I always like more the anthro than the bestial types of yiffin anyway¡­. And if really need it, then I just need to learn with the druids right ?


    The goddess didn¡¯t answer. I wonder if I get a prize for getting her angry ? On the other side, she is a creator goddess, so she probably has seen worse shit than this¡­


    - Indeed I have. But go on with your list.


    - Ah, sorry, ok. Ahn¡­. Eternal youth would be nice, and instantaneous regeneration and eternal life as well. Also, immunity to all disease and no need to breath, drink, eat or sleep, but with the ability to do it if I want and fully enjoy every moment...


    - It¡¯s difficult to get you all of that, but if I pull some strings¡­.


    - Please, no rape. I rate rape. Don¡¯t ever make my mother raped, or any kind of rape for me to be born with those skills!


    Ah, I said it¡­.


    - No problem. I don¡¯t need to push those kind of skills.


    She smiled a weird smile. I wonder if all gods work by making people falling in love¡­. Isn¡¯t this morally wrong?


    - Not at all. They will be created personally by me in order to meet in the future. You can say it is love blessed by the heavens, haha.


    Ah, even her sense of humor matches what I want to hear¡­. I am definitely talking to a copy of myself here, hum¡­ no, I wouldn¡¯t be so nice with myself. I am talking to someone who is manipulating me.


    But it is fine. I am taking a huge profit in all this !


    - Ok. Then, for the rest¡­ I also want to not have limits to my growth, and a cheat way of growing. Like, I want to be able to memorize everything without ever forgetting what I want to memorize, and also to be able to grow my strength, stamina and general physical prowess without limits, ever. And if I could absorb the strength of all things I eat, better, of all things I touch, that would be good !


    - There is no way for me to give you an ability to take the strength of things you touch or eat, since there isn¡¯t such a trait in any kind of existence in that world. What you can do is to develop your own mind and learn how to analyze and reproduce skills and powers by using magical power and technique. I said it to you already, but this world doesn¡¯t have a thing like ¡°skills¡± from a game. The rest of the things for your body I can give you¡­ but are you sure you want to live forever? Aren¡¯t you be like R*de*s if you do that ?


    - Since I will be immortal myself I suppose there is a way for me to make others immortal as well ?


    - Yes, there is magic capable of doing that.  But it may be specially difficult for you to deal with it. If your family grows a lot, then¡­


    - I don¡¯t need it for my whole family. I need it only for the wives I promise to live my life with. Not to mention, you said something about souls. Is the world of the dead also a part of that world ?


    - They don¡¯t have much developed souls, so there isn¡¯t a world of the dead proper. Their souls usually disperse a little after death, and then become part of the world again. Their minds enter a hibernation state and they are reincarnated when the mind is ready to reincarnate.


    - Then I can just have a way to preserve the souls of my descendants, instead of making them immortal as well. This way I won¡¯t disrupt the flow of the world, and I can keep my duty.


    -¡­.


    - Why the longface ?


    - I am just thinking you will immediately change your mind once you have children. You never had then in your past life after all.


    - I will not. And even if I do, eventually they will want to die someday. Even I will want to die someday. If I make a rule about only having children in small amounts, or put an infertility jinx in the immortality spell, then it is fine. By the way, please make it so I can control my own fertility. That way I can avoid letting a lot of children loose in the brothels of the world¡­


    - No can do. There isn¡¯t such skills amongst the living things of this world.


    - Well.. that makes things a little bit more difficult but¡­ I guess I just need to figure out the ¡°contraceptive spell¡± before getting a lady for myself.


    - If you say so. Is there anything else ?


    - Uhm¡­.


    Is there anything else ? I will have an immortal, eternally young, impossible to permanently hurt and fair-looking basic male body. I will also have the ability to change my own body to great degrees. As long as it looks hominy, I can do it. I will have perfect and unlimited memory, and also no limits to how strong, agile or dexterous my body can get. I will be almost a god walking on earth, except¡­.


    - Can you make my soul a little stronger? And guarantee that I have good parents? I don¡¯t want a rich or powerful family, but I want to be able to learn fighting and magic from a young age. Also, if they could love me¡­.


    - It will be easy to get you lovely parents who aren¡¯t very important but do have some comfort. However, it is impossible for me to strengthen your soul any further. Since your depression is linked to your memories not only of your past life, but of the other lives you lived before, but don¡¯t remember, it would require for me to erase your existence and reduce you to only your Seed of Divinity. This is a battle you will have to won by yourself.


    - I¡­ I see. Then there is nothing else I want. Thank you very much.


    - Good. Close your eyes then. Dying will hurt a little, but you will be soon in your mother¡¯s arms.


    - Ah, wait, can I not get conscious until right after my birth? It would be bad to get stuck on the womb¡­


    Before I realized, a strong sleepiness took me.


    So I slept.


    ***


    - So, how was it ?


    Two barely-possible-to-see figures stood in the perfectly White room.


    - Better than ever. He actually liked being manipulated this time.


    - You have made him well over the years.


    - He is a precious existence.


    - Because of his seed ?


    - Because I made him grow to be obedient, but not subservient. Because he can agree to a good deal, even when the other party is getting something he isn¡¯t sure what is, but he has the guarantee that  others aren¡¯t being hurt and he himself is getting some profit.


    - Shouldn¡¯t all humans be like this ? What is the point to refuse a good deal only because the other party may get a bigger profit than you ?


    - You would be surprised with how far human greed can go¡­.


    - Well, good luck. I have to return to my own list.


    - Oh, do you need help with it ?


    - No, I am fine. The ones assigned to me are a bit of a rowdy bunch, but I can deal with them.


    - Good them. If you need my help, just ask.


    - I will keep this in mind. Thank you.


    - Anytime.


    The transcendental being floated a little in it¡¯s own space, wondering.


    Why always a goddess, Sugirou ? Why always a goddess ?


    .


    .


    .

 Chapter 1 : Birth and Early Life

    Volume 1 : Infancy


    Chapter 1


    Next I remember is being squeezed by all sides. My head seems heavy, and my shoulders are in a weird position. I cannot see anything, or even make sense of most stuff. All of my body is numb, so I do not feel pain. However, the sensation of being lightly suffocated is here. Are those screams I hear? Who is screaming? Why is it all muffled?


    Then, the sensation is over. My body is still numb, but I¡¯m not being squeezed anymore. A loud bang, and my butt is on fire. Someone slapped me!


    If I was my usual self, I would have steeled my heart and yelled at the person. But I wasn¡¯t. Almost immediately after being hit a burning sensation rises to my eyes. My lungs expand, and I let out the most amazing cry of my life.


    There is laughter. Someone is very happy it seems.


    Aaah¡­. Something is leaking. It¡¯s me. I¡¯m peeing. It feels good, as if I had been holding it in for a long time. I wonder what is happening?


    I¡¯m¡­. So sleepy¡­. I¡­ I have to sleep¡­.


    Ah, a pretty lady.


    She is opening her arms to me.


    So beautiful.


    Her dress is made of stars.


    Thank you for having me, pretty lady¡­.


    ***


    When I wake next I feel that same sensation of being squeezed by all sides. However, this time it is different. It isn¡¯t slippery, and I¡¯m a bit cold.


    I tried to open my eyes, but it was so difficult.


    I feel a little fear, but I manage to suppress it. Good, it seems I didn¡¯t lose all of my emotional intelligence after all.


    Where am I? I try moving my body, but I am unable to. My head is so heavy!  There isn¡¯t anything holding it, but I just don¡¯t seem to be able to move my neck.


    I must try harder.


    Ah, a little light! I can see!


    It seems I have been able to open my eyes a little. I¡¯m in some sort of dark room. The only light comes from a little breach in a window in the other side of the room.


    I cannot see much in the end, can I¡­. well, I will just have to wait. It doesn¡¯t seem like I¡¯m in immediate danger.


    Ah¡­ my belly hurts.


    I try to hold it in, but my body doesn¡¯t obey me.


    How humiliating. How frustrating. Even if I was in my own house, next to my parents and family, doing such a thing would be so embarrassing!


    I¡¯m losing control a bit¡­.


    Ah, I started to cry again.


    Bright! The room is too bright! My eyes hurt! Ah, the crying is getting worse. Wonder why I don¡¯t feel attached to it at all? Well, it may be because my head is still so heavy¡­


    Is this a dream?


    It feels like one.


    I hear a weird voice. It is saying something.


    What is this warm sensation?


    Suddenly, I feel such a big amount of love¡­ is as if I am in the arms of my own mother¡­ no, I hate my mother, I can¡¯t feel this way with her¡­ but then¡­ who is this¡­ I¡­ why do I love this person so much?


    Ah, I am better now. The crying is lessening. I feel tired. So tired!


    I will sleep again. These things are too much for now. I will think on then latter¡­


    ***


    I am growing used to this dark room already. I also finally figured what has happened to me. Yes, I am a newborn baby. I have reincarnated.


    When I first had that conversation with the goddess, I didn¡¯t believe it was real at all. I just said things because I didn¡¯t feel the weight on my words.


    No¡­ that isn¡¯t it.


    Truth be said, I was tired of my former life. So I choose death easily. But I feel a little bit sad about that.


    Not dying and reincarnating. But to die so suddenly. Even if I had some bad blood with my family, they surely didn¡¯t expect for me to die so soon. Even morbidly obese fellows won¡¯t die so easily in the prime of their youth.


    I wonder how I died?


    Well, I surely can¡¯t tell now.


    Thinking only this much took me a long, long time, and was only possible because of my perfect memory. If I had to restart the though process each time, it would be impossible. Between feedings and diaper changes, after all, I have only a little time to think.


    This new body isn¡¯t ready yet. The muscles aren¡¯t developed; the back isn¡¯t in the regular ¡°S¡± shape. It will take a long time for me to¡­ aaah¡­. The sleepiness¡­ it¡¯s ok now¡­. I will just sleep again¡­.


    ***


    It seems I have been finally moved out of the dark room. Or, better saying, people are finally letting me get some sun.


    I can¡¯t notice it much, since I still can¡¯t raise my head too much and most of the time I am sleeping.


    Most of the days I only wake because of some loud noise from the outside or because I¡¯m hungry or dirty.


    Also, seeing things is so hard ! My vision is all fuzzy, and I can only see things that are very close to me.


    But I have already seen my new mother¡¯s and father¡¯s faces. Also a kid, who is probably my older sister or brother. I cannot see its face, since it doesn¡¯t get much close to me.


    Father seems to be one of those people who have had its shares of hardships on life. He has very strong and callous hands, and a strong face with a few small scars here and there. His nose is also a little strange, so I guess he must have broken it a fair amount of times. His skin is very thick, and he has dark hair cut very short. His eyes were happy when he held me, but he doesn¡¯t do it a lot. I guess he doesn¡¯t like kids too much, or maybe he is used to it since I am not his firstborn. Well, not like I care.


    Mother seems to be a fairly crude woman. She sows a gentle smile when she sees me, but I can see she has the traits of someone born and raised in the countryside.  Callous and hard hands. Disheveled sunburn blond hair. A healthy tanned face. She seems young. Maybe eighteen years old. Her breasts are still firm and her nipple is lightly pink. Mother, your impure son asks for your forgiveness, but he must eat. As a good otaku I say itadakimasu in my mind, before sucking on it.


    ***


    Today I was left in my belly for the first time. Mother has left me here, looking at the pile of clothed straw which currently serves as my mattress. I wonder how many times have I been bitten by insects so far?


    Sometimes I wake itching all over, and rarely can I control myself.


    This world¡­ it is seriously primitive!


    No, this is how the medieval ages must have felt, hum ?


    Anyway, since I have been left on my belly, I decided to enjoy the opportunity to try and make some light exercise.


    Of course, since my hands and feet haven¡¯t totally extended for the first time yet, it could barely be said to be exercise.


    However, I am confident that I can at least train my back muscles and try to increase my motor coordination.


    I have no limits after all! If the goddess has been true to her promise, I shall enjoy these first weeks to try and grow as fast as I can!


    ***


    It seems I have an older brother as well.


    I noticed it only recently, after achieving my first milestone in my muscle training ¨C holding my own head using my neck.


    I was able to raise my head a little, and noticed a small child near the door. He didn¡¯t seem to be allowed inside the room, as he had a mischievous and angry look on his face.


    Aah, he must be jealous.


    I heard of this.


    Kids are usually jealous of their younger siblings when they are born.


    But this is no good.


    Older sister likes me you know? She probably felt the same way when you were born, so endure it!


    I try to be amicable and give a smile, but I cannot hold my head high anymore. So I drop on the straw again.


    ***


    It¡¯s a tragedy! An awful tragedy! I have been poisoned! The poison is slowly dropping on my throat. The horrid taste is making me want to puke, but I hold myself back. If I puke now, it will come again to my mouth. That awful taste.


    Who could be this cruel, to do such a thing to a young baby? Who could be this heartless?


    The culprit is looking my way just now. I know her. I know that face, and those hands. Holding the terrible flask on one hand and a wooden spoon in the other, mother seems surprised at me.


    She said something I can¡¯t understand. But by her tone, she seems happy with me.


    How dare you be happy with my pain, wretched witch! You must atone for your sins! Give me your breast!


    Ah, she didn¡¯t.


    The taste is still in my mouth.


    What the hell is this after all?


    It tastes just like ricin oil. But no one would give laxatives to a baby, right?


    I don¡¯t have any signs of intestinal clogging, in fact, my brownie factory has been working no stop those past days¡­ she can¡¯t be giving me a laxative!


    Right?


    ***


    The laxatives are given to me from time to time.


    I don¡¯t know exactly why, but everyone sees it as normal. It doesn¡¯t seem mother is trying to kill me.


    Still, the taste and the pain, they don¡¯t subside fast.


    I asked the goddess to be immortal, eternally young, have instantaneous regeneration, amongst other things¡­ but still, it seems poison immunity isn¡¯t included in my powers.


    Since I have been affected by the ricin oil.


    Aaah¡­ what a pain.


    ***


    Mother sure yells a lot. At my older brother, at my older sister, at our father. She is constantly yelling.


    But it isn¡¯t a very angry yell. It is more like how countryside people yell so they can talk over some distance.


    It is a bit unsettling though.


    Well, beggars can be choosers. I choose to be reborn in a different world, so I should be focusing on the tasks at hand.


    First of all, my muscle training isn¡¯t going very well. I have been able to hold my head longer, and recently I have even been able to sit.


    However, progress seems to be so slow !


    Also, I still sleep a lot.


    And, more important of all¡­ I can¡¯t understand a word that anyone is speaking!


    I forgot to ask to come to this world with knowledge of the language, so I will have to learn it by myself. Well, having perfect memory I suppose it won¡¯t take much time.


    Then, the thing with the goddess.


    She said I didn¡¯t need to do anything, only live here for a while. But I wanted to live an overpowered-protagonist kind of life, so I asked for a body with a lot of cheat abilities and skills.


    So far, I have tried training some of them.


    First, I tried to hold my breath. I felt a small sensation of suffocation, but it is more of a slight discomfort than pain. I also could hold my breath for what seemed to be a very long time. At least enough to have the sunlight in the room at noon visibly diminishing, so I guess around half an hour or so. No need to breathe, check.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I cannot try not to eat, since this would probably upset my mother. So I will let this for latter.


    About not needing to sleep¡­ well, I tried to resist the sleepiness once, but it was stronger than me.


    I don¡¯t know if this is because I am a baby or what, but this skill seems sealed for the moment.


    As well as the metamorphosis skill. I tried transforming my body into an adult form, but no matter how much I tried to imagine or feel myself changing, I cannot change at all.


    ¡­ maybe I just don¡¯t know how to do it?


    I should keep trying later.


    Then, the eternal youth thing I hope is sealed until I am older, or I might remain a baby my entire life. If that goddess was an evil genie kind of person, she surely would do it, but I have faith in her¡­ I guess.


    The immortality thing¡­. I seriously don¡¯t want to try it now. Since it would be a problem if I really died before exploring any of the world.


    The perfect memory seems to be working fine. I can remember a lot of stuff and don¡¯t have the feeling of having forgotten anything I didn¡¯t consciously allowed myself to forget, like some of my diaper changes. And when I tried to recall some of them, they appeared in my memory with ease. This is a very useful skill.


    So, this leaves only the unlimited growth and the instantaneous regeneration.


    The unlimited growth I have no idea on how to test now.


    The immunity to diseases is also mostly impossible to test.


    But the instantaneous regeneration¡­ maybe I should try it.


    Thinking like that, I looked around, searching for something I could use to cause a small injury in myself.


    I don¡¯t want anything big, so I took my time between naps. This world is full of dangerous things, so I need to be careful not to overstep myself.


    Like that, I found a small wooden chip next to one of the bars on my crib.


    I suppose I can use that.


    So, I rolled to it and hit the splinter with the back of my hand.


    Pain ! It hurt !


    I repressed the cry with tears in my eyes and looked at the back of my hand.


    The splinter had cut the skin and a small stream of blood was running top of it. I thought I may have gone too far, but in a few moments the pain subsided and the injury wasn¡¯t anywhere to be seen.


    Phew¡­ I am glad it worked.


    So, the resumed status of my cheat abilities is as it follows:


    Perfect Memory (unless I consciously allow for something to be forgotten): Ok.


    Eternal Life/Immortality: Unknown.


    Eternal Youth: Hopefully sealed until I am older.


    Immunity to Disease: Unknown.


    Metamorphosis: Unknown.


    No need to breath: Ok.


    No need to eat: Unconfirmed, but likely.


    No need to sleep: Sealed or missing.


    Instantaneous Regeneration: Ok.


    Unlimited Growth: Unknown.


    ***


    I don¡¯t know how much time has passed since I was born, but I guess it has been quite a while. I now can sit on my own, to my mother¡¯s delight.


    I can also understand a few words, like ¡°mama¡±, ¡°papa¡±, ¡°sis¡±, ¡°time to eat¡±, ¡°crib¡±, ¡°smart¡± and so on. I am not much sure about the latter, however. It is just a deduction from the praise I have received.


    I mean not to be presumptuous, but it feels good to be praised. Even when the reason is because you are a cheat character, full of cheat skills and abilities.


    That said, my older brother¡¯s jealousy isn¡¯t getting any better. The other day he came next to my crib, looking menacingly at me.


    I was a bit scared, but I held my emotions.


    That is, until he poked me in my side. It hurt! Luckily he left as soon as I started crying.


    To avenge myself I haven¡¯t cared to memorize the word for ¡°older brother¡±.


    Let he be forgotten, oh ashes of time!


    My older sister is a bit more of a cute person. She seems energetic and strong, and her body well trained with muscles here and there, just like our father. I wonder if she is training to be a warrior? Or maybe she intends to be like father?


    I don¡¯t know what our father do, but if the way he cuts his hair has something to do with the meanings it had in our previous world, I suppose he is in the military.


    He shouldn¡¯t be much of a big shot, since our house doesn¡¯t seem to be so big. However, I may just be mistaken. I have barely left the crib in my parent¡¯s room all this time. Mother doesn¡¯t take me to the table during meals, and I try not to complain. I suppose there aren¡¯t baby chairs in this world.


    Sincerely, wasn¡¯t it for the fact that I sleep most of the day I wouldn¡¯t be able to get through all of the boredom. Let¡¯s just be happy I still need to sleep a lot.


    ***


    Some time has passed. I guess around three weeks. I¡¯m getting better at this whole baby thing. I can craw now, and my need to sleep has been reduced, for the amusement of my family.


    I don¡¯t dare speak a word, though. I cannot understand the words very well, and I suppose I¡¯m not at an age where I should speak.


    Then again, my parents look human, but can I use my common sense in this world?


    Mother seems too young to have a child like my older sister, and the other day I saw an ethereal figure walking around the room.


    First I was a bit scared thinking it was a ghost, but it just passed right through without giving me a second glance.


    If it had moaned I would surely have started crying.


    ***


    The ethereal apparitions have been becoming more common recently. I can see then occasionally during the day. Usually just for a moment, and then they disappear.


    I have been a little scared, but also curious.


    Tonight I shall try my best to remain awake.


    I heard a lot of moaning tonight. But it wasn¡¯t a ghost at all. Since I always awake crying because of insect bites or hunger I never noticed it, but father and mother are a healthy couple in a world like the ancient one.


    They don¡¯t have a lot of pudency.


    Well, so be it. Let¡¯s forget these ghost things and try to sleep. All this moaning is making me uncomfortable.


    ***


    I am finally mobile!


    I can crawl around, and sometimes even stand on my own. I have also started to try and speak my first words. It isn¡¯t easy, since my tongue still doesn¡¯t obey me very well.


    Mother seems amazed. Father as well.


    I wonder if I am a prodigy?


    Well, I still sleep a lot and mother doesn¡¯t let me out of the crib easily, so it isn¡¯t all I expected to be.


    Also, brother is ever more infuriated at me. The other day he broke something in the house and made a tantrum. Those kind of things are becoming more and more frequent.


    I also finally got to a point where I am confident I can understand my parent¡¯s names and my own.


    My father is called John.


    My mother is called Alice.


    My older sister is called Ann.


    My older brother is called Jacen.


    But I myself don¡¯t seem to have a name.


    It seems in this world children are only given a name in their first birthday, since child mortality rates in the first years of life is too big.


    It doesn¡¯t surprise me. I have been made to drink ricin oil once a week for months now. Also, the water used for the baths they give me is on room temperature, and we are left to rest on straw beds. Not to mention mosquitoes and insects, which are so common.


    Even if this world has magic, some kinds of bad practices will still hurt young children you know ?


    ***


    A long time has passed.


    I feel like I may have developed too quick. I can already understand what most of the people in the house say, and also walk.


    It seems I am only five months old. It shouldn¡¯t be possible for me to walk. So mother is a little anxious because of it.


    She didn¡¯t expect to have me walking around so early, so she put my older sister to take care of me and my older brother. I expected to be able to walk around the house as I wanted to, but mother wouldn¡¯t be so irresponsible as to let a five years old unaccompanied, and she has a lot of chores to look after.


    At first sister was pissed to have to stay inside home all day, looking after me and my brother.  She would play with us for some time, but then just seek the first chance to go outside and ditch me in the crib. But one day father returned home with something ¨C a small fence made of wood, with a space in the middle I can stay in.


    It¡¯s a playpen.


    This way I can be left in a restricted space and sister doesn¡¯t have to pay so much attention to me. In the end I am left in the kitchen while she trains in the backyard. She keeps swinging a twig as if it was a sword.


    Sometimes I imitate her. She seems to find it funny.


    Older brother has been a problem on himself. He will use all chances he has to hit me or bully me. He will also compete with me on everything.


    When I started to imitate sister, he grabbed a twig and started to do it himself.


    This was interesting, so I just let he get the praise this time, while pretending to have lost interest.


    The other day brother was training side by side with sister.


    He can go outside, but It seems they believe even having people visiting the house before I am one year old is a bad omen, so I remain in the playpen in the kitchen.


    ***


    I am able to talk a few words. Not baby talk as I had been doing so far. I am finally able to talk clearly.


    Only a few words however. This world¡¯s human language isn¡¯t so difficult, but getting a baby tongue to obey your brain¡¯s commands is indeed difficult enough.


    Since I am almost an year old, it took me quite a while. My parents think it is a bit weird though. It seems not even my older brother can pronounce words like I can.


    ¡­..I thought the bullying would worsen because of that, but he compensated that with more rigorous training with sister. It seems father is very proud of him doing it, so my accomplishments in language aren¡¯t much.


    However, this also brings me a problem.


    There isn¡¯t a single book in the house, and it seems no one can read or write either.


    I have overheard father complaining to mother about the village¡¯s announcer not repeating something he asked of him.


    It seems It isn¡¯t only my family who can¡¯t read. If the village has something like an announcer who writes and read letters for the people, then this means¡­ this world is very undeveloped, indeed.


    I wonder if I will be able to learn it somehow¡­.

 Chapter 2 : First Birthday (Repost)

    Volume 1 : Infancy


    Chapter 2


    It has come. My first birthday in this world, that is.


    It seems to be in the fifth month of the year, which has twelve months just like the years in earth. It doesn¡¯t have weeks though, so it feels a bit weird.


    Oh, right, it is the middle of harvest season and my parents aren¡¯t rich, so it probably will be just a few neighbors and family having a drink together. Mother seems trilled with the chance to reunite with her friends after almost a year of semi-reclusion in the house, since this world has a rule about not having anyone outside the family visiting when there are newborns.


    Maybe I should take this chance and also explain how the housing process is carried in our village.


    First, almost all houses are small wood houses with three rooms ¨C a kitchen which is also the living room and two bedrooms.


    Ours is a bit bigger, and has a kitchen attached. Brother and sister share one room, while my crib is in the other where father and mother sleep.


    Second, the style is a weird mix of oriental and occidental ways of many ages. There is a clay and bricks stove in the kitchen, with three mouths and a clay chimney. The cooking is done in stone pots, and mother always look at them with a certain sense of pride. I guess this could be considered a wealthy lifestyle?


    The kitchen floor is bare, and the walls are thin. It almost looks like it didn¡¯t used to be a proper room but an open-air kitchen around which walls where latter built. This may just be the case.


    The living room and the bedrooms, however, have a wooden floor which is slightly elevated from the ground. People eat dinner in the oriental way, seated on their knees in front of a small table in the living room. There is also a small fireplace in the middle of the living room, which I believe is used for heat in the winter. In most houses it seems this is the place where people cook, but ours has a kitchen so the fireplace is used only in the winter, when it seems to snow a little bit.


    The beds, of course, have straw mattresses, and by that I mean they are just a slightly elevated sheet of wood with wooden legs, made a little less uncomfortable by adding on top straw stuffed in rough cotton cloth. It is also another luxury item, since it seems in most houses the straw mattresses are thrown directly in the ground and people sleep there. In the poorest houses people sleep directly in the straw, or sometimes in the cold hard ground.


    I have even heard mother saying something like ¡°this guy is no good, he has to sleep in the bare ground after all¡±. Isn¡¯t this a bit snob? Well, maybe it is bad manners to do it. Straw is cheap after all.


    There is no running water, of course. All water in the house comes from a big barrel which is kept in the kitchen and filled by buckets every day at morning. It is sister¡¯s duty to do it. For laundry I suppose there is a river nearby, since mother takes our dirty clothes out from time to time and return with them clean. The fact that my dirty diapers are kept in the same place as everyone else¡¯s clothing is a bit unsettling though. One more example of this world¡¯s low patterns on hygiene.


    Of course, there is no bathroom. And no bathroom means not only the baths are either river baths or sponge baths, or¡­ well, no bathing at all.


    Then, I have seen a big wooden basin nearby, so there must be some kind of indoor bathing done at home from time to time, but this seems to be very expensive as sister was saying ¡°mother, when will we bath in the hot water again? It is getting cold already.¡± and mother said something like ¡°stop complaining. It is for when it is really cold.¡±


    But it also means something problematic. And by that I mean the fact that there are no toilets in the houses.


    Now, again, we might be a modestly rich family, since we have our own private toilet in the backyard.


    It is at the very end of it. A small wooden cabin on top of a hole dug on the ground, with just a wooden sheet on top of the cistern and a hole in the middle of it. There is also a bundle of straw at the sides, to replace toilet paper.


    It is disheartening. The first time I saw that I felt as if I never wanted to go through potty training in this world. I cannot imagine myself near that thing. What if I fall inside? The straw, won¡¯t it hurt my sensitive area?


    Older brother seems to use it just fine, so maybe it is a baseless fear.


    Still, it is a little comical. That unsafe and smelly thing surely is the biggest incentive for me not getting morbidly obese as I used to be in my past life.


    Just thinking of stepping inside with a body over 150kg makes me immediately think that a bath will be needed when and if the person gets to crawl out of the sceptic tank under.


    Let¡¯s make a vow to never grow fat in this world. Mother, from now on I shall have your perfect breast only during meal times and stop doing it for my own deviant pleasures. I hope you don¡¯t mind.


    Anyway, as I was saying, even this level of toiled seems to be already a luxury. Beyond our fence the other houses don¡¯t seem to have a single toiled, but a public one. A big structure of wood, like many of ours stacked together.


    The houses are also fenced in bundles of five or six.


    Why the need for fences? Well, everyone raises chickens in the backyard, so it is a way to keep foxes and raccoons out of reach. Not that it helps much, as a chicken pen is also needed to ensure safety at night, but it is better than nothing.


    However, so much privacy¡­. I will correct what I said earlier. Father surely is a big shot at work. I should even be a bit ashamed to live with so much comfort, but¡­


    It is just too primitive! The ancient times, even if it has the better of japan and Europe, it¡¯s still too primitive for me!


    I mean, there is a very good reason why people take of their shoes when they come back from the street, and don¡¯t step on the living room or bedrooms with them. And it isn¡¯t because of dust.


    In one word: Dong.


    This is a world of poop. Chicken poop. Horse poop. Cow poop. Bird poop. Sometimes even human poop, as some people just don¡¯t have any fear of doing it on a corner of the street. It is just EVERYWHERE.


    Will I truly adapt?


    Can I live in a dong world?


    As mother sings a song happily and sister practices her swings I look at my older brother with teary eyes, thinking if it wouldn¡¯t have been better to be born like him ¨C clueless about the hygiene standards of modern human life.


    Ah, he patted my head. Did he got the wrong idea?


    Oh, well, no matter. This is the first time this brother of mine shows some brotherly affection, so I will give him a big smile in return.


    I will try to be strong, poop-world brother. So please take your hands out of my hair now. They are full of dirt.


    ***


    The birthday is here!


    That said, for now it is just father, mother, me and sister sitting at the table. Older brother is looking at the window from the top of a log.


    Me? Sleepy because of the time? Nonsense. I just awoke from a long nap and had a meal from mother, so I am fine! Energy is cursing through my veins!


    So, we are sitting in the table. Father has his legs crossed, mother is seated in a relaxed seiza position and sister has one leg under the other, hugging one of her knees.


    It is night already, and everything is prepared. The beer barrel has been moved to the living room just for today.


    Ah, I forgot to tell about the beer barrel, haven¡¯t I?


    Well, people in this world seldom drink water. They usually drink a very thick beer made with lots of grains and kept at room temperature. It has a very low alcohol content, as I could see from myself earlier.


    It reminds me of old tales about beer. It seems it was a sort of ¡°liquid meal¡± in most of Europe, and drank because drinking the river water isn¡¯t always safe.


    Well, in this world there are things like Cleansing Magic which can ¡°cleanse¡± the water and meals, but most people can¡¯t use it so they just drink beer instead of water. So every house has a barrel with beer on it. It isn¡¯t done in the houses, as there is a beer master who knows how to do it in the right way, but it is none the less a vital part of everyday life.


    Incidentally, father knows how to use cleansing magic of the lowest level. It isn¡¯t enough to cure diseases, but it can cleanse half-rotten food and impure water. I wonder where he learned it¡­.


    I hear a knock in the door. The first guests have arrived. Mother went there, and soon I tilted my neck.


    There are two of mother?!


    Oh, no, sister and brother are running to hug them, while shouting things like ¡°Grandma! Grandpa!¡±.


    I see.


    ***


    I knew mother was special. From all I could understand, she is 29 years old this year. Father will be 31 soon, sister 11, brother 4 and I, of course, 1.


    None the less, mother looks like an 18-yrs old girl.


    I first wondered if she had a noble-like upbringing, but the way she behaves¡­ she may be a little snob, but her mannerisms are the same as the ones of the other people going through the street or working on the other houses.


    She also has the skin and life marks of someone who worked since young, even if she looks as if she is 18.


    And the reason now is clear. There is a woman in front of her, almost her exact image. She is now coming in my direction, and taking me. ~~I¡¯m floating~~ just joking.


    Her face is soft. Her skin is perfumed. What a difference. Mother, you should learn more from this woman.


    From grandmother, that is. Even if she looks like she is your sister.


    ***


    Grandmother and Grandfather from mother¡¯s side where the first ones to come. They live in this village, and it seems mother has always lived here as well.


    Grandmother is the split image of mother. Or rater it may be better to say mother is the split image of grandmother.


    Before you ask, no, she doesn¡¯t have pointy ears and her hair is only a shade of blond clearer than mom¡¯s.


    ¡°As always, you seem the same as ever Marie. Good to see you Anton.¡± ¨C Father has greeted both of them by their names, and the conversation became casual as grandpa is gently stroking my head.


    His hands are even more callused than father¡¯s! His skin is also more tanned, but he doesn¡¯t seem to have any big scars and his nose is almost normal. I guess they didn¡¯t get to meet each other as guard friends or anything.


    ¡°Good to see you also, Jhon. And this little one! My second grandson! How cute! Did you two choose a good name for him?¡±


    ¡°Yes. We have chosen to call him Alvin. Since his brother is Jacen.¡±


    ¡°Alvin ? Uuuhm¡­¡±


    Grandma is making a complicated expression. I get you grandma. It isn¡¯t the best of names. Why is everyone here named after a combination of their father and mother¡¯s names?


    At least call me something great like Alexander or Siddartha¡­ and I shall shout out loud ¡°Under the heavens I am the chosen one, the son of zeus amon, brother of heracles!¡±.


    Joking. I wouldn¡¯t do something so weird.


    ¡°Well, it is unusual, but I guess we can get used to it. So little Al, what do you think of your new name, hum?¡±


    I think it sucked. But I guess I don¡¯t have any other choice, do I ? It is the parent¡¯s duty to choose the child¡¯s name¡­


    Ahh.


    ¡°Grandma! Hurt!¡±


    You are hugging me too thigh!


    Grandma seems a bit surprised.


    ¡°He can talk this much already?¡±


    Mother sighed¡­


    ¡°He has been talking and walking for months now¡­ he is even better than Jacen at spelling words¡­¡±


    Grandma is making a complicated expression again¡­


    ***


    I don¡¯t seem to have a grandmother or grandfather from father¡¯s side, but there is an uncle in a village nearby. It is a bit too long of a trip though, so he isn¡¯t coming. But he sent a gift.


    That is right, gifts!


    It seems people give gifts to children at their birthdays!


    Not that birthdays are so common¡­ they are a little creepy actually, since they mark times when the child has survived beyond the usual.


    Mother doesn¡¯t seem to have lost any children so far, even if sister almost died of a disease. Luckily father and mother know a bit of magic, each, so they were able to save her life. But it is very common for children to die before completing certain milestones in life.


    The times when children reach a point in life when they are clearly safe from this or that kind of danger are at the ages of 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15.


    Death of infants beyond the age of 1 seem to be so common the child isn¡¯t even given a name until this age. This world¡¯s common sense says that when a house has produced a child and it is still under one-year-old the house shouldn¡¯t even allow others to visit. Not even the grandparents. Only the immediate family can come and go. The only accepted exception is if the mother of the family becomes pregnant again only shortly after giving birth. Then she will need support.


    Between the ages of 1 to 3 children die easily because of a series of reasons, so they usually are kept under constant supervision. However, others can already visit them, so the burden on the mother is reduced.


    Between the ages of 3 to 5 the child is left mostly unsupervised inside the house, but it¡¯s still forbidden from going outside.


    Then, from 5 to 10 it is expected to the child to go out of the house and socialize.


    At 10 they are "almost adults" and supposed to start working as apprentices on something.


    The next birthday, at 15, marks the entrance to adult life. From there on people don¡¯t commemorate birthdays anymore, and some even lose sight of what their actual age is.


    But returning to the gifts!


    This time mine are very little.


    No, it isn¡¯t because Jacen is throwing a tantrum in the corner, competing with me for the attention of the adults.


    It isn¡¯t for lack of people either, as more and more have been arriving from the outside. The living room is a little cramped already, and mother and her neighbor friends are moving to the kitchen to talk.


    There is a lot of people. Most of our neighbors, father¡¯s friends from work and also many friends from the village. Mother has lived here most of her life, after all.


    The real reason why I haven¡¯t got many presents is because the first birthday is more of a party to the parents than it is for the kid.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Surely, I just got a name, so this is good. I won¡¯t be ¡°John¡¯s newborn¡± anymore. I will be Alvin, or, as grandmother made sure to tell everyone, ¡°Little All¡±. From Alvin to All to Little All. Grandmother was quick.


    But most presents are everyday goods and help. Like special food, beverages, cloths or weird seeds which seem useful for making tea. Some people bring things like small hand-carved statues or weird creatures and other come empty-handed, but it should be expected.


    Gifts for me myself include only the name given by my parents and some of the carved statues. One of them is of what seems to be a bird. Other is of a weird tiger-like thing with two tails with spikes on them. And the last one is of a man wearing some armor and standing guard with a spear.


    Oh, yeah, I just discovered what father does.


    He is the second in command in the village¡¯s militia.


    HI duties include mostly watching the gates and making patrols, but sometimes he has to command a force of around ten men around the forest to help the Hunters of the village with beasts or monster subjugation.


    I trembled a bit hearing the word ¡°monster subjugation¡± but it seems our region is very, very calm and pacific.


    ¡°Monsters¡± here include little more than horned rabbits, overgrow spiders and mad hounds.


    The first are rabbits which grow a horn in their heads and become aggressive. The second are spiders around one-meter long which have a weak poison ¨C lethal if not treated, but not a problem for father who can use the lowest level cleansing magic.


    And the last are the more dangerous ones ¨C packs of two to four wild dogs who get bright red eyes and become very aggressive. They do not get any other special skills like being bigger or stronger than the usual wild dog, but since they are very aggressive they can be dangerous.


    Father knows them all well, since he used to be an adventurer before settling in the village and marrying mother. He never went past one of the lowest ranks of adventurers (the Lower Adventurer Rank, which is only higher than the Beginner Adventurer Rank), but he is good enough to deal with this class of monsters.


    Well, it seems father won¡¯t die so soon.


    But I shouldn¡¯t raise any flags.


    ***


    In the end I became sleepy soon after the party had started. I could learn a lot of things, like father¡¯s profession and that grandfather is a farmer and grandmother used to be a travelling peddler.


    But there were many words I did not knew what meant, and the adults didn¡¯t have much patience for explaining them to me.


    The only one who expended a lot of time with me was Grandma. She would hug me and carry me on her arms at any chance she got. Jacen got jealous, so at some point she had to carry him too.


    Still, I learned a lot. Let¡¯s hope things keep being good and pacific from this on.


    Ah, right, grandma used to be a peddler, right ? I wonder if she can read and write¡­ I should ask her later.


    But if I do, then how do I ask her about teaching me? I am not in scholar age yet.


    Besides, mother is of the ¡°long-lived race¡±, a race of humans who seem to have a very, very long lifespan. I don¡¯t know her precise age, but maybe she doesn¡¯t have much patience for teaching something so basic to me.


    Well, it is decided. Next time I have a chance I will ask grandmother about it.


    ***


    There have been a few changes in the house.


    First of all, I now have a name so mother screams for me from time to time. I obviously come as fast as I can, since there isn¡¯t much for me to do by myself.


    Second, my happy time with mother¡¯s breasts is coming to an end. Since my birthday mother has been making soups and having me drink a little bit of this world¡¯s beer each meal, while also reducing my breastfeeding to a minimum. It¡¯s a taste I am not used to, and my tongue isn¡¯t much happy with it either. Salty vegetable and meat soups and bitter beer. Shouldn¡¯t kids get milk and cookies?


    At least there is a bit of spice in the soup, so it isn¡¯t totally tasteless.


    ¡­. I have to admit that the transition is being though. Even in my past life I always used to eat sweets after every meal, like a super grown baby. I may have lost control a few times, and cried a bit.


    One day older sister even took me and breastfeed me herself. Of course, her young body barely have small buds as breasts, but I did it regardless.


    Goddess of purity, cleanse my impure heart for I have sinned.


    Not to mention, sister was deeply flustered and her breathing was a little rough all the while she was letting me suck on her nipple¡­. Have I corrupted my older sister, or is this the awakening of her motherhood instincts?


    Goddess of purity, exorcise the demons of depravity from my life and from my poor sister.


    Ah, mother just yelled at her.


    I am sorry Onee-chan. I made you get yelled at.


    Oh, yes, this world is indeed a very weird mix. There isn¡¯t much of a polite speech pattern here, so people speak normally most of the time, even to their parents and elders. Like in the occident, it is the tone one speaks that determine if they are being respectful or not.


    However, they seem to understand it clearly if I exchange ¡°older sister¡± to ¡°onee-chan¡±. Mother was a little surprised when I first did it, but no one else cared.


    Is this something common from this world? Or maybe my otaku heart has moved their hearts in synch and the magic of anime has transferred to this world as well?


    I am not sure.


    Well, besides not having so much of my breastfeeding times recently, I have also being awoken for longer and longer periods of time, and boredom is starting to kill me.


    Surely, one of the benefits of being one year old now is that I am allowed to play in the backyard, as long as it is still under supervision of mother or sister.


    But our yard isn¡¯t very big, and chasing after chicken gets boring after a while. There is plenty of other chores to do around the house, but I cannot help with many of them.


    Also, winter is coming soon, so even father is starting to spend more and more time inside the house ¨C since the farmers don¡¯t have to plow fields in the winter and monster activity becomes smaller there is no need to patrol a very long distance - so everyone from the town¡¯s militia gets some extra resting time.


    It sure is boring~~~~


    ***


    As winter progresses, everyone is starting to stay more at home. Sister is the only one who keeps training every day without rest. However, father and mother are expending always more and more time inside.


    Not that they are idle.


    There is a lot to do. Keeping the firewood stocks dry and preparing pots and picked food to last the whole winter for instance.


    It is a time when there is a lot of work to do.


    Also, the fireplace in the living room needs to be kept lit in order for us to have a warm house, but this task has been entrusted to older brother. He seems pretty happy to help us by being the fire keeper.


    And me?


    I try to help when I can, but no one trusts a one-year-old to do anything right.


    So I wait an opportunity to prove I can be of use.


    The opportunity came a certain day. Mother had just finished getting a large amount of herbs from her garden and spread them on the table. She was sorting them meticulously, looking for dried leaves and what was in good condition and whatnot.


    That¡¯s when I sat next to her and started to make small piles like the ones she was making.


    At first she didn¡¯t pay attention to me, thinking I was just playing, but I got very proud when she finally noticed I had sorted the plants accordingly.


    ¡°Oh my, Al, can you really tell the herbs apart?¡±


    ¡°Uhm! I can! Mother, what is this?¡±


    "Ah, that plant? It is called Bigfoot, because of this engorged root you see? We use it to make medicine for when people get [frostbite]¡±


    A word I didn¡¯t know came up.


    ¡°Mother, what is [frostbite]?¡±


    ¡°[Frostbite]¡­ how do I explain¡­ you know how your fingers will get stiff when you put them in the snow?¡±


    ¡°Uhm!¡±


    ¡°So, if they get too cold they will start turning blue and you will have [frostbite]. It hurts a lot, so don¡¯t ever put your fingers in


    the snow for too long, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    It is frostbite then. But for mother to know herbal medicines¡­ no, I should not be surprised. People from the countryside usually have this kind of knowledge.


    ¡°Mother, and this one?¡±


    I was now holding a plant that looked very similar to rosemary.


    ¡°Oh, that? It is pine bush. We use it with peppers in the meat soup, so it can be made tasty. It is also good when you have a cold.¡±


    Oh, so it is rosemary in the end. This isn¡¯t just a medicinal garden, but a spices garden as well.


    Mother is looking with me with a smile.


    ¡°Say Al, do you want to help mommy with these herbs?¡±


    Yosh! I have decided! I will help mother with this, and learn everything she has to teach me about countryside medicine and spices!


    ¡­not that I am an enthusiastic botanist, but there is absolutely nothing better for me to do.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Then, let me teach you how to do it.¡±


    ¡°Mother, me too! I help!¡±


    Ah, Jacen has just came over here from his post as fire keeper. His rivalry with me is as strong as ever.


    Well, there is plenty of wood in the fire still, so we don¡¯t need to fear it extinguishing so soon.


    Like that the three of us started to sort through the herbs of mother¡¯s garden.


    It was an instructive day, and at night father brought some wild plants with him and joined us.


    Mother has also started to trust me a little more with tasks. After a few days she allowed me to help with putting vegetables in jars and other small tasks while she was preparing an assortment of pickled foods and preserved meats, cheese and other foods.


    Eventually we even had a warm bath once a week. They used the big tub I have seen before and a small clay furnace to heat it the water.


    It was enjoyable taking a warm bath after so long, even if mother didn¡¯t submerse me fully in water. I guess she was afraid I would lose control and contaminate the water or something.


    Well, in the end I learned a lot of stuff this winter, so it doesn¡¯t truly matter.


    ***


    The winter is over, and boredom is striking me from time to time.


    It isn¡¯t as strong as it was during the autumn, since mother¡¯s friends seldom come to chat and have a good time. Sometimes they even bring their own young kids with them.


    Grandma have started to come more frequently as well, around once a week for one or two hours.


    However, none of them give me much attention. They get tired easily when I start making many questions, and the children are mean to me.


    The other day one of them hit me really hard for no reason.


    It was painful, but at least it was fun seeing my older brother defending me. He and the other kid got into a hell of a fight.


    It was the first time I had respect for my older brother.


    Well done, Jacen. Well done.


    Still, sometimes the one to hit me is Jacen himself, so I have been mostly lonely.


    Kids my age don¡¯t get my interest, the adults would rather talk amongst themselves and even grandma, who give me a lot more attention than the usual visitor, likes more to hear about me from mother than to talk directly to me.


    I even tried to ask about reading and writing, but she didn¡¯t give me much attention in any of the times I asked. The only time I got a reply from her it was something like ¡°you are too young to worry about this dear. We will talk when you are older, okay?¡±


    Am I being oblivious to something important here?


    Well, at least I heard some interesting things.


    For example, since it is spring, it is planting season. Not only the farmers like grandpa, but virtually everyone from the village is asked to help plowing the fields and spreading the seeds.


    Even grandma helps, or she would come home to see me every day, she says.


    The only ones who are exempt of this are the mothers who have to take care of young children, like Alice.


    That¡¯s why the housewives always bring kids between 1 and 5 years old with them¡­.


    Anyway, everyone helps in spring and autumn, while summer is the time when farmers like grandpa take care of the fields and winter is the time to process the products such as making pickled items, wooden furniture or just leisurely passing the time.


    No wonder there are so many wood carvers in this town ¨C anyone can use a knife and a piece of wood to take engraving as a hobby.


    That said, the seasons themselves are pretty equilibrated. There aren¡¯t great storms or the such, and in winter only a small amount of snow falls. That said, we live in the far north of the continent, almost at sea ¨C so that is a bit surprising.


    So, boredom.


    What can I do about that?


    Uuuhm¡­


    ***


    It seems I was mistaken about not having anything to do. After a few days laying around without doing anything mother started to get bothered with my blank stares and started to give me stuff to do.


    Thinking better about it, I have never seen mother standing idle. She always has something to do, and her hands doesn¡¯t stop ¨C even when she is chatting with her friends.


    Sewing, cleaning, cooking, feeding the chickens, repairing the fence, replanting the garden, doing laundry¡­ there is a lot to do and when Jacen isn¡¯t playing with other kids mother will get even him to help us. I have to admit, he has a way with some of the chores.


    Sister¡­. Does her chores and trains her body for the rest of the day. Pushups, running, twig swings¡­ she sure works hard.


    Mother sometimes looks at her with a clouded expression, and I wonder what happened between them¡­ I guess I will hear about it in the future. Meanwhile, I do what I can. Light exercises like running around the backyard, helping mother, and that is mostly it.


    Well, it is a newb''s life. In the beginning you have to do a lot of grinding before facing your first real quests, right ? I will try and see this the same way.


    ***

 Extra Chapter 1 : Work Hard And You Wont Think Weird Things

    Extra Chapter: Work Hard and You Won¡¯t Think Weird Things


    My youngest son is a bit frightening of a child. He could walk and talk before he was one-year-old. He didn¡¯t cry as much as a child usually does. He also didn¡¯t sleep as much. During his first year anniversary he seemed to be listening attentively to the adults talking. The only thing he does like any baby is to suck my breast.


    Mother says I didn¡¯t care for the talks of adults until I myself was already past fifteen.


    Sometimes I wonder if something is wrong with my son. John don¡¯t seem to think he is different, but a child who can differentiate bigfoot roots and pine bushes at his age isn¡¯t common.


    Mother said Al is different, but in a good sense. I cannot understand mother. Didn¡¯t we have so much problem because we were different?


    It took a long time for people to get used to her appearance, and the elders of the village still look at her with suspicion. My own friends have started to look at me with bad eyes, saying things like ¡°you are really lucky you don¡¯t age, I wish I was like you¡±.


    If you really mean that, then why do you look so angry when you say it?


    When I was young I was friends with everyone and everyone liked me. Now many of them are mad with me because I don¡¯t age. Some of my childhood friends even accused me of trying to seduce their husbands away.


    When truth is that those idiots keep trying to grope me or have me sleep with them. Why did they grow up to become such warts? I am lucky I married John, or something bad would have happened with me one of these days.


    I do not trust any man in this village anymore. Not after having to remind them so many times who I am married with. Who is my husband and what he would do if they try anything funny.


    All of this because I am different. So how could it be Al being different is a good thing?


    Well, Al is a boy, so maybe he won¡¯t have this much problem. I guess boys don¡¯t worry if girls want them. Even if they get rough. It is only people like me who have to worry about rough men.


    The water is running low.


    ¡°Ann! Why haven¡¯t you filled the barrel today?!¡±


    Ann is my oldest daughter. She is 11 this year.


    ¡°Sorry ma! I will do it now!¡±


    ¡°Hurry up them! The barrel is empty and I have to make your brother¡¯s soup!¡±


    ¡°Going!¡±


    There she goes. Six buckets in a stick. Three on each side, each of them really heavy. With just that she will be able to fill the barrel in two trips, less than one hour of work.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    At her age I could barely lift one at a time. Filling the barrel was the work of a whole day for me, and in the next day it would be empty again. No wonder mother put me to do housework instead. I was better at sewing and cooking than doing this kind of heavy stuff. So were most of my friends.


    My daughter is also different.


    But I don¡¯t worry much about her. Mother may have taught her weird things, but that is because she wanted to learn them.


    My daughter won¡¯t have to worry with rough drunk men. When I think like that, I feel a bit proud of her.


    Still, I wonder if she will find a good husband. I have heard woman who do too much exercise don¡¯t get pregnant easy. Also, many men don¡¯t like woman who are too strong.


    Even if she is getting to that age already, none of my friends even think twice about her being married to one of their sons. Even when I say that joking they just change the subject with wry smiles.


    Is she really going to be okay?


    I hear crying.


    This one is Jacen.


    ¡°Son? What happened?¡±


    He is running towards me with his cute steps.


    ¡°Ma! Ma!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s ok, it¡¯s ok. Tell ma what happened¡±


    ¡°snif. Ma! Ma!¡±


    ¡°Ch, ch, it¡¯s ok. It¡¯s ok. Ma is here, Ma ain¡¯t going nowhere¡±.


    He is just lonely. He has been like that for a while now. My friends say it is normal for young kids who just had their younger brothers born. They get like this.


    There, he is calming down.


    ¡°Now, tell me what happened¡±


    He tucked to my apron strings. This is no good.


    ¡°Jacen, you are almost five already. Let go of mother¡¯s skirt.¡±


    ¡°Ma!¡±


    His eyes are all teary again.


    ¡°Here. You want to stay close, then help Ma with drying the dishes, ok?¡±


    ¡°uhm.¡±


    I put him seated in the stool right next to Al. Having two stools in the kitchen. Usually it is one for the wife and one for the husband, so they can have tea together without having to seat at the table. Now it is for my two sons to stay close to their mother.


    Well, it is just one year until Jacen is five and Al is three. Then me and John will have our room back to us. Until them we just have to endure it.


    There is a muffled sound to my right.


    ¡°Jacen, stop poking your brother! You know this bothers him!¡±


    What am I to do with this son of mine who won¡¯t cry even when his brother pokes him¡­?

 Intermission: A Special Day in Winter

    I finished the last of my swings for the day. I am a bit happy.


    Because today is warm bath day!


    Father and mother don¡¯t care because they work less in the winter. But I stuck to my training every day, and I sweat a lot while doing it.


    Of course, I can always take cold sponge baths like mother forces Jacen and Al to take when they are too dirty, but those are unpleasant.


    I would rather have a hot bath every day.


    But mother is always complaining on how much we need to work in order to have a single bath. It is true that the tub uses a lot of water and wood, but it isn¡¯t her who have to work half a day to get those, so I don¡¯t know why she complains so much.


    It isn¡¯t as if I am becoming soft either.


    I will be a warrior in the future. I do not do ¡®soft¡¯.


    But today is a good day.


    I enter the house and see the family reunited at the table. It is dinner time already. I take my place.


    ¡°Ann, you smell¡±


    Mother is being picky as always.


    ¡°You should take better care of yourself¡±


    Even you father? What should I do if my cute brothers start picking on me as well because of how you are always doing it?


    ¡°That is right. Every day you are outside, sweating like a baker in the sun. Wouldn¡¯t you go outside at least once a week? You don¡¯t have any friends your age either.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need any friends. There is no one who likes the things I do anyways.¡±


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Mother makes a sad face. We have had this discussion many times before.


    ¡°Ann, listen to your mother. She wants the best for you.¡±


    I know where this leads to. The best for me isn¡¯t what I want for me. Let me change the topic.


    ¡°Are we having a warm bath today?¡±


    Jacen rises his head, and even the small Al seems interested.


    ¡°Warm Bath?¡±


    Thank you Jacen. You asked just the right question at just the right time.


    ¡°That is right. It is a warm bath. You probably don¡¯t remember it, but you had one last year as well you know?¡±


    ¡°Really? How is it? How is the warm bath?¡±


    ¡°Oh, it is wonderful. The water is hot, and it makes you go ¡®phuaaaaa¡¯.¡±


    ¡°phuaaa?¡±


    ¡°Hahah, that is right.¡±


    ¡°Ann¡±


    Father isn¡¯t letting this go, is he¡­


    ¡°Yes father?¡±


    ¡°¡­ forget it.¡±


    He is back eating his fish and veggies.


    Yes. It is my success after all!


    ¡°Ah, by the way, since I have to wash Al, why don¡¯t you and your brother take the bath first? It will be the two of you, then I will wash him and lastly me and your father will wash each other¡¯s backs¡±.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    I will be the first in the bath!


    Today is a good day!

 Chapter 3 (part 1) : A Year Watching on The Sides

    Volume 1 : Infancy


    Chapter 3


    I don¡¯t know how to describe the past months.


    Uneventful?


    No, they were filled with everyday work together with mother. I have learned further about life on the countryside. For example, I learned how to start a fire on a brick stove and how to properly prepare meat and vegetables which had been preserved in salt.


    I have learned which fruits this land produces in spring and summer, and also homemade recipes of many kinds of sweets and other summer-like foods.


    Somewhat I even learned a bit on sewing and cleaning a medieval house. It is weirder than most people think, since there are things to consider like sweeping the kitchen¡¯s bare floor.


    Why? Because bare earth won¡¯t attract insects and rats, but a kitchen full of small grains of food and general uncleanness will.


    Also, gossip. I have heard so much gossip the later days, I think I know even which sexual positions each girl of the village likes more.


    I mean, when people talk about not having privacy in modern countryside they have no idea what happens when we are talking about medievalish countrysides.


    The houses have little privacy by themselves. It¡¯s common for the voices of grown ups to reach their kids when they have sex, for example. It is also common for most of them to not care.


    There are no secure windows, as most have no wooden panels and those can creak easily. So middle-aged woman who like to spy on others from their windows have plenty of material to collect.


    And don¡¯t think the darkness of not having electricity is a problem for them. Not only some couples like to do it in candlelight, but also most of the town shares multi-hole bathrooms, which aren¡¯t divided by sex.


    It is the weirdest of things.


    Even when we take in account that doing one¡¯s duty in the bathroom isn¡¯t the most erotic of acts, still it¡¯s maybe too intimate to be shared by two people who aren¡¯t of the same family.


    Of course, I won¡¯t say a thing about the people who do their stuff in the streets. Not only the occasional drunk, but also many of the children and even some adults, when they just need to do it¡­. Well, they just do it. In the streets.


    It¡¯s just nasty.


    So, those things, plus the river baths which are shared by the same-sexed people, make it so everyone¡¯s body and sexual habits isn¡¯t a secret to anyone. Or at least it isn¡¯t a secret to any of the gossiping hags of the village.


    I feel grateful for having asked the goddess the power to change my body at will. Listening to the middle-aged woman making jokes about the small-sized men of the village, or the ones whose wives are unsatisfied for a multitude of reasons makes me cringe in fear of being the subject of their talks.


    I feel as exposed as if everyone were nudists. Or as if everyone bathed in the open, and when a neighbor passed by they just said ¡°heya neighbor. Pass me ¡®tha soap, will yah?¡±.


    Not that there are any kind of soap in this world. People usually brush their skins with rags or their own hands, even at the river. I don¡¯t even need to talk about how they smell, do I?


    Well, at least grandmother is an exception. She smells so good!


    Anyway. I think it may be because everyone grows together. Somehow the whole village is like a big family.


    An enormous dysfunctional family, where me, my parents, grandparents and siblings are poorly accepted.


    It seems the fact of mother being long-lived race and a foreigner is something most cannot endure, even after so many years living here.


    Father being a retired adventurer, and therefore also a foreigner, is also something most cannot accept very well.


    People are territorial here. A foreigner won¡¯t ever be a part of the ¡°village family¡±. Maybe his children can do it, like how mother has some friends who come over and talk to her. But the person herself will have one or two lifetimes of difficult adaptation.


    Maybe that is one of the reasons why we have a private cistern on our backyard. I don¡¯t know if grandmother has one as well, but could it be that the nudity of foreigners doesn¡¯t follow the same rules as the nudity of the ones who grew up in town?


    It evokes very bad stereotypes in my head, but I can understand it if I think this way. Foreigners aren¡¯t the same ¡°old thing¡± you see everyday. They are like someone wearing sexy lingerie in a beach where everyone is wearing regular bikinis.


    Or someone wearing a bikini in a non-costal town.


    They just become sexualized.


    I feel a bad thing when I think this way. There is no way sister¡äs obsession with the sword comes from tragedy in her past, right?


    If some of these damn rednecks hurt my sister, I will burn this whole fucking village down and rape their skulls or my name isn¡¯t Alvin.


    Who knows. The goddess said things like mind and emotion magic exist as well right?


    So I may also learn it, only so I can imprison their fucking souls in endless torment. Only so I can make they be soul-raped by razor blades. All of them.


    Ah, mother is looking at me. She seems concerned.


    ¡°Al!¡±


    ¡°Uhn¡±


    ¡°Is something wrong son?¡±


    ¡°Ma.¡±


    ¡°Ma is here honey, don¡¯t worry. Tell me. What happened? Are you hurt?¡±


    Her tone is calm, but I can see the hints of anxiety in it. Mother has been giving me more and more freedom recently, so she may be a bit worried. Currently I am using a small bread knife to cut vegetables.


    ¡°U-uhm¡±.


    I gave a negative nod with my head. Mother seems relieved.


    ¡°So, why are you so serious? Common, don¡¯t you want to help Ma make dinner? Ooh, you have finished the potato already. Here, cut this carrot next.¡±


    How should I bring up the subject? Maybe I should just be bland.


    ¡°Mother, have someone hurt Onee-san?¡±


    Mother made a doubtful facial expression.


    ¡°Your sister? Why would anyone hurt her dear?¡±


    ¡°Onee-san is always training¡±


    ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t mean she has been hurt by anyone, you know? Why would you think that?¡±


    ¡°But why Onee-san is always training? Why she wants to be strong?¡±


    I cannot just ask ¡®is she training because she was raped and now feel insecure?¡¯.


    ¡°Ara. Your sister has her reasons you know. She just wants to be strong, so don¡¯t mind it. Common, chop that carrot at once.¡±


    That means she wasn¡¯t the victim of a tragedy, right?


    I won¡¯t find my sister crying in the moonlight someday, right?


    Rater, mother¡¯s tone and the way she changed topics. It is a difficult topic for her, no doubt. But it doesn¡¯t give me the feeling of tragedy. Not at all.


    Very well. Let¡¯s trust mother on this.


    ***


    Again, how should I define the last months?


    Now, only a few days away from my second year of life in this world, how can I describe what have I lived since the end of the past winter?


    Well, of course, it isn¡¯t uneventful.


    Then, should I say I have been lonely?


    I cannot say that.


    Sure, since I have been expending more and more time awake, I should be feeling some boredom and the such, but my daily routine has actually been packed full.


    I wake everyday around 7 a.m.


    At this hour father is already at work, and everyone had their breakfast already, so mother usually gives me some veggie pap.


    I already have plenty of teeth, even if the bigger ones at the back aren¡¯t fully developed. So I usually eat some fruit as well.


    Then, the day progresses depending on mother¡¯s schedule.


    Sometimes she will have to do laundry or clean the house. In these cases I cannot help much, so I stay at the garden with sister and Jacen.


    I have started to swing a twig with both of them, but I cannot make most of the exercises yet. Swordsmanship forms and specific moves are too much for my toddler coordination. When I try to do them I just fall to the ground.


    So I do swings and basic calisthenics like running, sit-ups and push-ups.


    Sister seems amazed with my progress, while brother at first was jealous ¨C that is, until sister gave him a sermon on being an example to me.


    I played with the tune and started to do stuff like he did, which made his chest inflate with pride.


    It seems Jacen is finally feeling like a proper Older Brother.


    Then, when mother isn¡¯t doing chores I cannot help with like buying things in the market, I help as I can.


    Sometimes it is preparing medicine for a friend, others it¡¯s cooking, and others it¡¯s sewing.


    Anyhow, I always get a mid-morning light snack and the four of us in the house have lunch right before midday.


    Then, at afternoon there are even more chores to do. However, at this time mother¡¯s friends and grandmother usually come over to talk and gossip, so the chores are shared.


    If for example someone has a lot more sewing to do than the others, all will help her.


    It is also the time when they usually bring their own kids.


    For a certain reason we ourselves never go visit them. The reunions always happen at our house.


    I used to think there were some hidden circumstances behind that, but it seems it is because of the spinning well.


    What is a spinning well?


    Well, professional sewing and textiles are a thing for the extremely rich in this world, so textiles and cloths have to be handmade in everyone¡¯s houses.


    The usual way is by using two staffs called spindle and distaff. It is a very time-consuming method, but it generates good results. With these two tools it is possible to turn raw cotton or wool into yarn thread, which then can be used to manually produce cloth by knitting or crocheting.


    But we seem to be the uber-riches of this village so we have a much faster method. It is a rustic machine called a spinning well, which makes yarn production speed up many times. All of mother¡¯s friends use it at alternated times.


    So, this is the reason why the reunion always happens here. It¡¯s also part of the reason why Jacen was so angry with me when I was born. Since mother couldn¡¯t receive visitors during my first year of life, he was forced to spend over a year away from his friends¡­


    I am sorry Onii-san. It seems I have made you suffer without knowing.


    Anyway, sewing, making yarn and the such usually takes most of the afternoon. It is the main activity of woman in this world, and one of the top reasons why they seem to be stuck to do house chores.


    After all, producing enough cloth to make a shirt or a pair of pants can take weeks or even months, depending on how able the person knitting or crocheting is. The final quality of the product will also depend heavily on the person¡¯s ability, and in most of the cases the villagers end up dressed in crude wool pants made with roughly stitched together fabric and long armless shirts knitted by hand.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Anyhow, the housewives usually are fast. Very fast. It¡¯s almost hypnotic see how these women can produce cloth from yarn at astonishing speeds without even bating an eye to what they are doing. They gossip and knit, gossip and crochet. All afternoon.


    Then there is leatherwork. Since it isn¡¯t common to have big pieces of leather available, and it is expensive, most people do not use it in their clothes. In fact, most of the villagers walk without any shoes, their bare feet touching the ground directly or using sandals made of wood planks and leather strips.


    Of course, we being the rich people of the village are different from most. Not only father, but even sister has a set of clothes made entirely of leather. Both have plain leather pants with few strips patched together, meaning they came from cow leather, and also long leather shirts.  Father also has a pair of leather boots.


    But they don¡¯t use those everyday ¨C only on special occasions such as when father has to go hunt monsters or sister is doing special training by stitching leather strips to her pants and shirt ¨C a species of improvised leather armor.


    Daily they use common cotton clothing. What is a good thing. Otherwise they would smell horribly. We may be rich, but we are still commoners. We can¡¯t have three or four sets of leather clothing so they can change their clothes everyday. Besides, doing laundry on leather is especially difficult and the sweaty smell don¡¯t leave the clothes, no matter how much mother scrubs them.


    Of course, there is one occasion when everyone on our house use leather clothes. That is in winter. Our family have jackets and boots made of sheep leather which has been processed by the hunters with the wool still attached to it. They are very warm and fluffy, so father, mother, sister and brother have a set of wool jackets and boots to use on winter. For father, sister and mother, who go out of the house, there are even wool pants, which aren¡¯t made of leather but are still better than cotton pants. I myself have expend the last winter wearing a big wool leather robe. It was heavy, but I guess it was good exercise.


    That said, all of our family clothes have been hand-made by mother. Even the cloths I use as diapers. Many of the ones I use haven¡¯t exactly been made for me, of course ¨C my baby shoes, shirt and pants have been my brother¡¯s before me and my sister¡¯s before him ¨C but she had to adjust them to my size not only when I was born, but also from time to time as I grew.


    Thinking back in the history of earth, many causes have been given for the woman right¡¯s movement and feminism to have succeeded in our modern society, including war and the genius of the feminist writers.


    But I believe it was fabrics and steam-powered machines. If these women in front of me didn¡¯t have to expend most of their life making cloth and clothing for everyone (including their children and themselves) they would have at least 4 to 5 hours more in their day, which could be used for a lot of stuff ¨C including politics and working outside the house.


    Of course, being bound to the land and its cycles is a big factor in that as well. Grandmother for instance has been less and less frequent to come to our house, since it¡¯s Harvest Season and all help is welcome to help pick stuff from the fields. Harvesting machines would also give her a lot of extra time.


    That said, sister never join us at afternoons. Mother has called her many, many times, but it is almost impossible for her to come and do some knitting or sewing. And when she does come its usually something like sewing extra patches of leather to her own reinforced-leather set of shirt and pants.


    I guess sister has decided she doesn¡¯t want to be a woman of this world. That would explain why she devotes herself to the sword with such passion.


    I knew some women like that in my previous life as well. Women who decided they didn¡¯t want to conform living a housewife¡¯s life, and because of that became obsessed with studies and work.


    Some of them succeeded, but I personally knew at least a few who went too far and lost themselves to their obsession.


    I hope sister can find a greater calling in life after she gets independent¡­.


    Well, mid-afternoon I usually get breastfeed by mother and take a big nap. In this time many of the other children nap too, while others remain awake. It depends a lot of their ages.


    It¡¯s fun to see so many woman breastfeeding together. They eat together, sew together, wave together, knit together, gossip together, feed their children together¡­. They are almost sisters in this.


    Grandmother always makes a soft and tender face when she sees mother breastfeeding me. The feeling of being loved is so great I almost forget to suck sometimes.


    I guess this is one of the reasons why mother still allow me to breastfeed this one time of the day.


    My naps usually go for two, maybe three hours. It depends a lot on the day.


    Then, when I wake up the other woman have gone back to their houses and mother is preparing Dinner.


    Sister generally has finished her day-long training and has gone to the river to take her daily bath. She is the only one in our house who takes daily river baths ¨C because she is the only one who sweats so much.


    Sometimes I get the feeling that she is also the only one her age who does it. At least amongst the girls. It seems boys who are training to become adventurers and swordsman in the future do the same as her ¨C they train all day long and then they bath at the river before coming back home. The difference is that they do it as a group, and not alone.


    Jacen and I also get cloth baths everyday, since we have been training with sister. The cold water is awful, and Jacen used to get a lot of colds because of that. But after a while it just stopped.


    I guess he became stronger.


    I by my turn never became sick since the beginning, probably because I am immune to all forms of sickness.


    After helping mother with dinner father comes back home and we all eat in the table.


    I have to say ¨C I am happy to have an eastern-style dining table in the house. Truth be told, not only would I be unable to eat with everyone if the table was western-style, but also this is a nice way to become more flexible and cultivate a better posture.


    Many westerners have problems with being unable to sit on their own knees and bad posture, and much of it comes from never sitting on their knees when they were young. The ¡°crossed legs¡± position is something very rare in the west, so people become stiff in their knees.


    Also, can I say how awesome it is to have baby-like flexibility?


    If there is a thing I want to bring with me to my adult life is this amazing skill. I mean, if I want to, I can easily put my feet behind my neck!


    Once I even did a circus-like stunt. It took me a many days of stretching to achieve this feat, but I finally was able to do it.


    While supporting my weight with my chest I pulled my butt up, and then grabbed my feet and pushed them down.


    I was able to make my feet touch the ground and my butt touch the top of my head. It didn¡¯t hurt at all. Then I put strength in my abdomen and stood up by raising my abdomen over the ground.


    This is so cool. Just so cool. I want to be flexible like this forever.


    Anyway.


    At dinner father talks about his day, mother gossips about stuff and me and Jacen add some commentaries to what is being said. Sister is usually silent, except when mother or father try to have her going out of the house, doing womanly chores or the such. Then she may become angry and things can even become a discussion.


    Once she even left the house and didn¡¯t came back for hours. Father had to go and look for her, but both only returned by morning.


    It didn¡¯t look like they had a fight or anything, but both had sullen expressions. Father¡¯s low spirits went on for weeks after that.


    Eventually even mother started to be in a bad mood.


    I guess something happened that night. Can I discover what?


    No, maybe it¡¯s best if I don¡¯t ask. There seems to be a rift between my parents and Ann.  Every time I tried to include her in our dinnertime talks she and father would get in one of those fast-and-short replies kind of discussion. Sometimes she would even leave the table without eating dinner.


    I learned that my cuteness as a younger brother and son have its limits. I cannot fill this ravine between then with adorableness alone. And I do not have enough information to know what happened, so I cannot help.


    Let¡¯s hope I discover more about it in the future.


    Around 7 p.m. I go to sleep. Mother puts me in my crib, and that is it.


    Ah, right.


    Remember how I should have a special skill allowing me not to need any sleep?


    Well, it has showed itself, finally!


    I mean, almost.


    I can stay awake for two or three hours after my bedtime, without any negative repercussions on the next day.


    However, more than that and I start to be very sleepy during the rest of the day.


    Oh yeah, father and mother are still abstinent. At least as much as I know, that is. Maybe I have slept on one of their nights of love making, but I guess I would wake if they did it. Since I haven¡¯t they seem to still be holding their needs in check. It must be difficult to sleep everyday side-by-side with a person you are socially expected to have relations with, and still keep your calm.


    I shall congratulate my parents on their efforts and resistance to the urges of the flesh. I hope such strong genes have been passed to me as well.


    They may have had some alone time when we were bathing in the winter, but even so, it has been months now.


    Congratulations to both.


    ***


    Well, my second birthday came and went by without repercussions of any kind. In fact, I even missed the day. I only realized it had come and gone because mother and her friends where making small talk someday.


    Things like ¡°time sure flies by, doesn¡¯t it?¡± and the such. That¡¯s when grandmother said ¡°that is right. Even Alvin is two already¡­¡±.


    That was a few days after I had completed two, so I felt really sad.


    I mean, it hurt a little to think my own birthday just went by without anyone even caring to give me a ¡°happy birthday¡± or something.


    But this is just how the people of this world are. I guess I have to get used to it.


    Is this going to change something in my life? Seeing as how people are just acting the same as always it may not change anything at all.

 Chapter 3 (Part 2) : A Year Watching On The Sides

    ***


    Progress has been made!


    For the first time I was able to follow with a few of the simplest swordsmanship forms. Sister is very impressed, and Jacen is just happy to ¡°help¡± me by pointing all my mistakes and showing me the ¡°right way¡± to do the moves.


    Should I tell him he is teaching me his own errors and mistakes instead of something even remotely like what sister does?


    I guess I should not. Let brother have some fun for now. It would be a bit too hard on him if I were to break his self-confidence.


    Okay poop-brother, I know. Swing with the elbow, not the back, right?


    Yeeeeah.


    Ah, Ann just corrected him. ¡°What do you think you are teaching Al?!¡± and the such.


    Sister is a bit scary when the subject is swordsmanship.


    I will pray for you poop-brother.


    ***


    Later that night brother told father that I could do some of the basic swordsmanship techniques.


    ¡°Is that true Ann? How much talent does he have?¡±


    ¡°Uhm. He has a lot. It is a bit frightening even.¡±


    ¡°Really? That¡¯s my son!¡±


    Let¡¯s use this chance to learn a bit more about father¡¯s life before becoming a militia guard.


    ¡°Father also use swords?¡±


    ¡°Me? No, your Oldman was a spear user.¡±


    ¡°Spear? What is this?¡±


    ¡°Uuuhm¡­ a spear is a type of weapon.¡±


    Jacen seems to have become interested as well.


    ¡°Father used spear? Not sword?¡±


    ¡°That is right. Spears are much better for an adventurer after all.¡±


    ¡°Better?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    I also became curious. Why would a spear be better than a sword?


    ¡°Yes. Because you don¡¯t need to come close to use it, so it is much safer to hunt monsters with a spear.¡±


    Oh, I see. Spears are useful for adventurers because they usually fight against monsters and the such. It makes sense. No one wants to be close to something that can be a bit threat to you.


    Still¡­


    ¡°Father, if spear is better, then why do the hunters use bows?¡±


    ¡°Uhm? Oh, that is because most of them use both of them. Adventurers sometimes use even more weapons than this. A good adventurer may carry as much as five or six different kinds of weapons.¡±


    ¡°Six! That many?¡±


    ¡°That is right. But the spear is still the best of all.¡±


    ¡°But why they carry so many weapons?¡±


    Father gave sister a meaningful look. She seemed a bit angry, but remained as she was.


    At that moment I thought something would happen, however¡­


    *sigh* ¡°Well, each weapon is useful for a different thing Al. Especially when you are hunting monsters.¡±


    I was speechless. I had a suspicion that father¡¯s and sister¡¯s behavior had something to do with she choosing to train the sword. Since she is ten years old it is obvious that she intends to follow some kind of violent path in the future, and I guessed father was against it.


    Still, he decided to keep talking to us.


    What is this? I am unsuspectedly happy and, at the same time, I simply don¡¯t know what to do! The goddess surely said I would have loving parents but this much seems so perfect¡­. My eyes are watering out.


    That is bad, I won¡¯t be able to control this. It¡¯s a big one. I hugged father with all my strength and let it out.


    ***


    ¡°Oh my, John your son is such a crybaby! Here Al, your father is ok. The monsters can¡¯t get him inside the house.¡±


    Mother is patting my back, but I am not crying because of that. I am crying of happiness. Genuine happiness. I cannot be more happy than now.


    ¡°Haha. It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. Al is still young. I bet even Jacen is worried about monsters.¡±


    ¡°I.. I am not! I¡¯m not worried about monsters at all!¡±


    ¡°Hehe. That¡¯s my son! Come here then. Let¡¯s get your brother back on his feet. Come on Al! Everyone is watching you know!¡±


    I know, I know! Thank you for embarrassing me even more! There, I am done crying! Now I am angry at you!


    ¡­joking. I may have lost myself for a moment but I¡¯m not the kind to just let it take over me forever and ever.


    ¡°There. That¡¯s a good boy.¡±


    ¡°Very well, no more monster talk tonight then. Let¡¯s just finish dinner and be thru with it.¡±


    Aaah, I should try and go back to the main topic, but wouldn¡¯t it be weird if I was to bring it up again?


    Yep, it would definitely be weird. And I don¡¯t want to get even more weirdness inside this house of ours. Let¡¯s just wait for other opportunity to ask father about weapons and the such. I bet he will be more willing to talk to us now that he has given up on his stubbornness with sister.


    Ouch!


    Jacen, that hurt! Why are you poking me?!


    When I looked at my older brother, there he was, looking at me with an annoyed expression.


    The talk in the table changed from the previous theme, and now father is telling how a subordinate of his just brought his son to be a recruit. Since the boy is only fourteen years old he will stay as an assistant until he is ready to become a recruit. In this time, he will be helping with moving stuff, preparing food and also having basic combat training.


    It¡¯s a mildly interesting topic, so I am listening attentively.


    OUCH!


    He poked me again!


    One of these days poop-brother¡­. One of these days¡­..


    ***


    Jacen¡¯s poking kept going on for a few days, until I finally decided I had enough and started to tell Ma every time he did it.


    It¡¯s an impressive amount of times and he became ever angrier at me for a while, but eventually father decided to get serious and give him a sermon, which made him stop it.


    It was the first time I saw mother looking for father¡¯s help in order to solve something on the house, but it was very effective.


    That¡¯s the power of fathers for you!


    Anyhow, winter is coming so there is an ever-growing amount of tasks to be performed and my own duties increased.


    Since my coordination is a lot better these days, mother has started to give me more things to do.


    Also, mother¡¯s friends have started to notice how much of a helper can a young son be, so they decided to have their own sons and daughters help as well.


    The kids are staring at me with such hatred in their eyes¡­


    I am not the one who made you be born in a time before children labor laws were invented! Please spare me!


    Yet, a positive consequence of that was that the children started to become part of the everyday talk of the housewives, as well as talking between themselves.


    Of course, the ones between one and three years old can at most babble a few words here and there, and the ones between three and five usually try to ditch the duties their mothers give them to play amongst themselves.


    But on the rare occasions they felt like being helpful, I actually took the place of ¡°big brother¡± amongst them and taught them how to do stuff.


    Jacen disliked being taught by me, so he put triple the effort to surpass me in all things the housewives have put us to do.


    Since he seems to have natural talent and has a better coordination than I have now, he did it in no time.


    Veni, vidi, vici. Well done poop brother. You have taken my spot of glory!


    I feel like being the one to poke you now.


    ¡­ let¡¯s do it. Just this once.


    ****


    Winter has come and is almost gone by now.


    I have witnessed some interesting things. Like how detoxification magic works, when father was helping mother deal with a lot of meat which was being made into sausages. It is very anti-climactic, but I made sure to ask father to teach me about it. He said something on the lines of ¡°some of these days¡±.


    Indeed, father and mother have been the principal form of distraction we had this winter.


    Both have been telling us stories about a lot of things. Dad has a lot of stories on monster subjugations, labyrinths and adventurer lifestyle. And mother knows a lot of folk tales and legends.


    Why is this so interesting?


    Because sister and brother enjoy those with the same passion as I do.


    It seems father and mother have been hoarding stories for years now. Ever since they opposed sister¡¯s dream of following the path of a warrior.


    It was a subtle, but intense, form of coercion. She could do whatever she wanted with her life, but they would do their best to keep her oblivious about the world.


    I don¡¯t know how long has this been going on, but from what I have heard of father and mother¡¯s pillow talk it has been happening for at least two years now.


    So this winter was special for us. I and brother could listen to folk tales and our father¡¯s adventures, and our parents have finally decided to accept Ann¡¯s choices.


    By the way, it seems she is decided to become a knight.


    It isn¡¯t easy, but every year the kingdom promotes a tournament. Those who finish in the top ten strongest warriors, without exception, gain a seat on the knightly order of the kingdom.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.Of course, sister has no chances of winning at her current strength. Not only she lacks in power, but in technique as well. So the first step is for her to move to our county¡¯s capital and enroll at a dojo.


    Father cannot afford to pay her expenses, but she intends to double-time working as a city guard or even as a maid. However, father made her swore never to work as an adventurer.


    Apparently women usually don¡¯t become adventurers except in the last of cases. Even prostitution is a better option for most of them.


    I don¡¯t know exactly why, but this is how things are.


    When I was curious and started to pressure father to tell us more about it, he became sad and reflexive. Mother hurriedly had a ¡°need¡± to cook some complex food, so she took me out with her, to help with the cooking.


    I know mother, it was insensitive. Sorry.


    Oh, of course, me and brother have made sure to ask father more about the spear and other weapons as well.


    What we discovered was something like this :


    Spear: Good to take down enemies at a reasonable distance, especially monsters with big bodies and soft hides like the ones around our region. Father believes to be the best of all weapons, but recognize it is tough to use against human enemies, since they tend to avoid the pointy end and get too close for it to be effective.


    Sword: Good to take down closer enemies and also against humans. Father says adventurers usually have one for when their spears break, they have to face bandits or the monsters they are fighting again are too small or get too close to them.


    Daggers: Father says they are very useful as last-resort weapons. All adventurers carry at least one with them, usually tucked in their boots.


    Mace: Surprisingly not only useful but a first necessity item in labyrinth exploration and many kinds of monster subjugation ¨C because it can smash open monsters with tough carapaces like insectoid monsters or monsters with bone armor or made of crystal.


    Bow: A must-use item for hunting anything. If you can take a monster down with the bow then you won¡¯t need to come close to it. That¡¯s why adventurers build their weapons in order of necessity. First, the spear. Then, the bow. Then the dagger. Then another dagger. Then the sword. And lastly the mace. Six weapons to cover all kinds of possible encounters with monsters.


    Father himself never got to the point of owning a mace, but on his adventuring times he would use all other four. At least until he made it big and decided to settle down, that is.


    Alchemical Oils: Those are a bit more rare to be possessed by adventurers, but all want to have eitherway. They are usualy slimy oils which are highly flammable. You can just throw them on the ground to get a monster out of balance or throw a torch on them and create a distraction.


    ***


    Winter came to an end, but father still hasn¡¯t taught any of us anything practical. Even though I bothered him for a long time, he didn¡¯t teach us the spear or magic or anything¡­


    Sister seems to have understood something, but Jacen is as lost as me.


    Well, I keep training. I am though enough to train with sister for almost the entire day now, and even though mother don¡¯t appreciate losing my help there are days when just there isn¡¯t a single thing to do ¨C on those days I train with sister for a bit longer.


    Jacen has gotten a cold when he tried to imitate us, but sister pushed him into training even while sick. I thought he would collapse, but when his situation started to turn serious father used a detoxifying and healing magic combo on him and he became healthy again.


    Almost two years without using it once, and now he has started to use it as if it was the most common thing in the world!


    What is up with this?!


    Well, there is the thing with sister, so maybe it¡¯s because of that.


    The thing about magic though¡­


    It is just weird.


    Father will impose his hands and then start chanting something that isn¡¯t made of words at all. It¡¯s like a mantra or a tune. It seems the tone is very important, but isn¡¯t this like singing?


    I can see how hard can it be to use this kind of thing in the middle of battle, so I am not surprised to know that only rarely an adventurer uses magic against monsters.


    Well, I guess I will have to wait until he teaches me.


    In terms of sword practice I have already mastered the theory behind all of the forms sister knows, but I am still ways from being able to actually do them.


    Because they require a lot of training.


    For example, to be able to swing my twig in a straight line with all of my power I need to have the same strength in both my arms, and also to be able to use both at the same time in different positions of the handle, both positions accurately held.


    On another words, I have to become ambidextrous. Sister seems to have been able to learn it in a few months, but in this she says my progress must be even faster, since young children should be able to quickly learn ambidexterity as long as they train from a young age.


    ****


    Spring has come, and we have one less person on the house.


    And the reason is because mother makes him go outside everyday.


    My older brother, that is.


    He just turned five, and five years old is the age when the kids are supposed to go outside and play with the other kids in the village. When they are supposed to start getting a social life.


    The birthday party reflected that well, since he got a lot of presents meant to be used with others ¨C a whipping-top, some wooden marbles and the like.


    Still, Jacen didn¡¯t want to do it for the first week or so, and a few weeks later he tried to shut himself inside of his room.


    Mother forced him to go out, even as he screamed and cried all the way.


    I wondered if he was being bullied, and for a moment I thought of letting he become a hikikomori or something.


    However, he¡¯s still my brother. Even after poking me and making fun of me, he defended me when one of the older kids tried to hit me.


    So I decided to help him the best way I could. That is, allowing myself to cry.


    I had been suppressing it for quite a while now. It isn¡¯t easy for a young child to hear another cry and keep his emotions in check.


    So I cried and ran, giving him a hug.


    He himself stopped crying. I guess the surprise move worked. Maybe it was even superefective, as mother as well had stopped yelling at him.


    Oh, even sister is getting here in a hurry.


    It seems I had accumulated a lot of crying inside of me, so I cried really loud. Mother is worried, hugging me.


    ¡°Al, son, what happened? Al ?¡±


    Sister and brother are starting to get shaken as well. I need to stop this. It¡¯s hard, but I can do it.


    I can do it.


    I did it. I suppressed these emotions.


    That was hard!


    I wonder if it is because I have gone too long without crying. I suppose I should blow off some steam from time to time.


    Mother is still inquiring me. Okay. It is my chance to make things work now.


    ¡°Onii¡­ onii-san don¡¯t want to go! Why mother make he go! Don¡¯t hurt Onii!¡±


    ¡°Oh my goodness, Al¡­.¡±


    Everyone is making a relieved face. Jacen is even more surprised now.


    ¡°Ann, go with your brother and see what is happening. I need to do the laundry.¡±


    ¡°Okay Ma. Don¡¯t worry Alvin. Your big sister will take care of everything, okay?¡±


    *snif* *snif* ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    False tears? Emotional manipulation? Shameful behavior for a man?


    I know not of what you are talking. The situation really made me feel really bad you know? I am only a toddler, even if I am much older in my mind!


    That is why, none of this is fake. It may be a bit mischievous though.


    A secret. I won¡¯t tell anyone if you don¡¯t, ¡®kay?


    Anyway, that night sister told us of how she had beaten up a 9-yrls-old who was bulling Jacen really bad, and how after she even beat up the kid¡¯s older brother, who was fourteen already.


    That gave father a hell of a headache since the older brother in question was supposed to become a recruit of the town¡¯s militia as soon as he reached fifteen. At first, when he came home, he was furious with Ann. She started to get angry too, but then mother intervened and calmed things down. After explanations father had a mean look on his face. He even talked something in the lines of:


    ¡°So, Robert¡¯s kid has been bullying Jacen hum¡­ and his older brother was backing him up, even while being my subordinate¡­ it seems I will have to give those two some discipline tomorrow¡±.


    I pity the fools.


    From that day onwards Jacen would leave the house proudly. He even started to come back later than he was supposed to and had mother give him a sermon on that.


    Life isn¡¯t easier without him, but it isn¡¯t harder as well.


    It is a bit lonelier not having him with us during morning training with sister, but the time I used to spend with him I have put into training harder and one other very important thing.


    So I am not really idle or bored.


    Which I guess is a good thing.


    ***

 Extra Chapter 2 : Sausage Making

    Extra Chapter 2 : Sausage Making


    The first snows of winter are here. The housewives have returned to their own homes and we are to face three months of family time.


    This is the first time since I have been reborn when I feel that the house is just¡­ empty.


    Where are all those noisy kids with their noses running snot all the time?


    Where are all those gossiping hags with their venomous tongues?


    Why do I feel like they are already a part of the family?


    Being used to call them ¡°aunt¡± is a big factor in that, for sure, but shouldn¡¯t the reincarnated me have a colder heart?


    Well, all family stuff impacts me pretty heavily, so let¡¯s focus on the disgusting task ahead.


    Yes. Disgusting.


    Because today is sausage-making day.


    Sausages are very useful. They are easy to make, full in calories and easy to preserve.


    But goddammit, isn¡¯t it GROSS to see how they are made?


    I mean, father just came home with a whole pig on his back. And it is a WHOLE PIG. I mean over 300kg of pig. It isn¡¯t even gutted.


    Of course, maybe I should be more amazed by the fact of him being able to carry this monster of an animal on his back, alone.


    But this is a world of swords and magic. I was prepared to see superhuman feats of strength from the very day I was born.


    Also, the floor is full of pig intestines now.


    Because the organs are relatively small, mother has taken then in buckets. But the intestines are just so much, and so big¡­


    She used it.


    Yes.


    Our bathtub.


    She used it to store the pig¡¯s intestines.


    I barfed when I saw that, but brother and sister are looking at the scene as if they had just seen Disneyland.


    For Christ sake! Poop brother I can understand, but sister?!


    Sister¡­ are you poop sister as well?


    Anyhow¡­ It¡¯s disgusting.


    Oh gods¡­


    They are turning them outside out. The pig¡¯s intestines.


    Mother has just chopped them into big pieces, each around forty centimeters long. And now she is turning them outside out.


    Dong world! Why do you do this to me??!


    I couldn¡¯t see this scene anymore, so I just ran to the living room and stood there.


    Not much later sister, father and even Jacen where happily going out with our tub full of intestines.


    For all I understand they at least have the decency of cleaning the intestines before preparing them to eat, so I guess they are headed to the river.


    Meanwhile mother is cleaning the kitchen from all the blood and feces.


    I can hear she humming happy while throwing buckets of water to wash all the shit away.


    There, she is done.


    ¡°Al! Where are you sweetie?!¡±


    I am here, poop mother.


    ¡°Oh, there you are. Come, help Ma with slicing the meat. We have a lot of work to do before you father comes back home. Can you imagine? A whole pig! We will have meat to eat all winter!¡±


    ¡­. will our kitchen smell like pig intestines the whole winter as well?


    Aaaah¡­ there is just nothing I can do, is there?


    This is the kind of world I have chosen to be born in. World, I don¡¯t even know if you have a name since no one in the village seems to even know what a map is. But from today onwards, I name thee Dong World the First!


    Anyway.


    Last winter we didn¡¯t have so much meat and I wasn¡¯t really seen as helpful, so mother made the sausages all by herself.


    But this year I will have to help with everything.


    I don¡¯t know if I should regret making myself useful or not.


    No. Let¡¯s think on this as a life lesson on how to cook properly. I will have to live on my own someday, won¡¯t I? It¡¯s not like I pretend to depend on women to have my meals.  So I need to know everything about how to cook properly.


    ¡­.. no I really don¡¯t. Since one of my powers is not needing to eat anything to survive.


    But I like to eat!


    That¡¯s it! Let¡¯s take this as a lesson on how to make good food, so I can eat good food!


    ***


    At the end it took us over two days to get all that meat processed and prepared. We even had to host a barbecue, or some of it would spoil.


    300Kg of meat, it is just too much for a family of five to prepare.


    Of course, the first thing we did was to cut it in big pieces, while father went back to wherever he took the pig to collect a portion of it¡¯s blood. He intends to do black puddings¡­ also known as blood sausages.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    After that, as father and Jacen took out the pig¡¯s skin and fur, me and mother cut the organs.


    The throat, stomach, bladder and intestines were double-washed and turned outside out. The gallbladder was just too smelly, so mother threw it out.


    The liver, heart, tongue and lungs were made into very thin cut meat, and then mother put sister in charge of beating the hell out of it using a huge stone mortar with wooden pestle we had in the house.


    Really. That thing is freaking HUGE. It was at least one-meter-high and the pestle probably weighted over twenty kilos. I used to think it was for decoration only, but it seems to be useful.


    Sister was done with it in a moment, but that was just a small part of the whole process.


    The kidneys, brain and head (except the nose and ears) mother washed and put in a stew. We would eat it at lunch. Better saying, the family would eat it.


    I may have decided to accept this dong world, but eating a pork-head stew full of brains, eyes and whatnot is just too much for me.


    The rest of the day we spend separating the lard from the meat, cutting it into pieces and smashing a massive amount of salt over everything.


    Dinner was blood sausage and vegetables. I was actually curious about the taste, since I never ate them in my previous life. My family liked them when I was little, but I guess I used to find them gross. They are weirdly tasty.


    The first day¡¯s night was dedicated to make the mixed meats sausages, since the organ meat used in the sausages would go bad very fast if they didn¡¯t make them that same day.


    Mother had father operate the stone mortar all night as she and sister prepared enormous amounts of meat, lard and spices. Those would be grinded as ground beef in the mortar, and then put aside.


    Me and Jacen just couldn¡¯t keep ourselves awake, so father put a bundle of straw in the Livingroom and we slept there.


    By morning they had prepared all of the mixed-meats sausages already, so the three of them enjoyed a few hours of sleep with me and poop brother.


    Then, by morning we had one of the sausages for breakfast.


    It wasn¡¯t easy for me to eat it. It surely was easier than eating the pork head stew from the other day, but still¡­ well, it was delicious in the end, so I cannot complain much.


    We expended the whole of the second day mashing different combinations of meat, lard, spices and other meats together, in order to make a lot of sausage.


    Me, mother and Jacen would cut the meat into small pieces, while father and sister would mash it into a pulp.


    Then, when it was all mashed nicely, we all would take pieces of intestine and shove the meat inside of it with funnels, making nice and plump sausages.


    We had pure meat and lard sausages, beef-and-pork mixed sausages, sausages with cartilage grounded together with the meat, spicy sausages, salty sausages, sausages with herbs¡­ mother even prepared some with cheese rennet, so they would become fermented sausages. They look moldy, but aren¡¯t all bad.


    By the end of the second day we had finished the sausages and moved to the rest of the pork.


    Mother prepared bacon and a variety of forcemeats.


    She also hanged the pig¡¯s legs in the ceiling, after making sure they were all very well dressed in salt. These would luckily become Ham.


    At the beginning of the third day we had only a few meats remaining, but both mother and father decided it would be a problem to keep trying to make conserves out of them, since some are already starting to smell.


    Usually this kind of meat would just be thrown away, but the people of this world are strong of stomach so they decided to cook it all.


    Of course, father wouldn¡¯t take the chance of making everyone sick, so he used detoxification magic on the meat before preparing it.


    It was my first time seeing magic, but it was a bit anticlimactic.


    No big incantations, no great poems to rulers of the elements¡­ just a bunch of low-tone humming, much like a mantra.


    Then, a small glowing effect under his hand, and the smell in the meat was gone.


    Mother cooked most of the meat, and even made a thick stew with the bones. Of course we couldn¡¯t eat all of it, so we shared with our neighbors and friends.


    It was a lot of hard work, but at least we could feast.


    Then, of course, we had to clean everything we used on these past days.


    So. Much. Blood.


    ***

 Extra Chapter 3: A Frightening Son

    Ugh.


    I am sore all over. I have even give up my morning routine, but that¡¯s not being enough to get me back on shape.


    I have slacked off, haven¡¯t I?


    Just a few days of healing and I have already accumulated so much aura damage. If I was still diving head first on labyrinths I would be dead by now.


    I should get back in shape.


    ¡°Something wrong boss?¡±


    ¡°Ah, nothing. I¡¯m just a bit tired.¡±


    ¡°Are you still doing that healing thing?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s not being much effective though.¡±


    ¡°Still, for you to be able to use it every day like that¡­ as expected of someone who got rank in the adventuring office.¡±


    ¡°Pff. That much isn¡¯t anything. Back in the day I had to do it all days, every day. If something I have grown too weak.¡±


    ¡°Every day?! I heard rank people get it rough, but this much?¡±


    ¡°He. Labyrinths are a hell of a place you know. Being of rank means only you have the minimal skill needed to dive in one of those.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    Guard duty.


    I am obviously not free from it. Only the commander has the leisure to spend the whole day training.


    I wish I had this much patronage from our Lord. I wouldn¡¯t have become so weak if I could train as I wanted.


    Well, it¡¯s life. The village is small. Our militia is only ten people strong and the guard duty can¡¯t be just abandoned to a poor soul while the others train. It would be too bad if something happens and the guard dies before letting the others know.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.¡°But, boss¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t your kids too young to learn that?¡±


    ¡°Jacen is a bit young but I guess he can do it if he tries hard. All surely is. He hasn¡¯t even gotten out of his diapers yet.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what¡­ how old is he again?¡±


    ¡°He is going to be three this year.¡±


    ¡°Three? So he won¡¯t be learning it so soon.¡±


    ¡°No. He is the one who is progressing faster.¡±


    ¡°Really? How can he have so much aura to expend like this?¡±


    ¡°Well, he has been training sword swings with his sister from the moment he became able to walk, so¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­ aah, boss¡­ you really have a frightening child on your house¡­ with this much talent, he may even become an accomplished someday!¡±


    ¡°Haha! Isn¡¯t that right ?!¡±


    An accomplished. Someone who has braved all the floors of a dungeon and conquered the core.


    They say most accomplished make a deal with the dungeon core and become dungeon masters.


    The living legends, the ones who can merge with the world and become superior beings of the higher caliber. The ones treasured and feared by each and every country in the world as one-man armies. The dungeon masters.


    Maybe All indeed have the qualifications for that!


    John grinned broadly thinking on the bright future his younger son may have in front of him.


    What an amazingly frightening child!


    It really feels like he has been blessed by the gods in the heavens. Even if there isn¡¯t such a thing in this world.

 Chapter 4: Increased Difficulty Level (part 1)

    Volume1


    Chapter4


    Even I am not so dense as not to realize what father is doing.


    I mean, I was at a loss in the beginning, but now it¡¯s clear. Because he is using detoxification and healing magic in front of me and all at literally every chance he has.


    When some food smells funny, or when someone has a bruise from training. Even as a way to get beer to be less bitter. It tastes just like water after being detoxified.


    And he always gets mine and Jacen¡¯s attention as well. He says ¡°Al, Jacen, want to see magic?¡± and we go ¡°yes!¡±.


    But I have to say, wouldn¡¯t it been easier if he had just said ¡°try by yourselves now¡± instead of waiting until we copied him out our own initiative?


    Well, maybe there¡¯s a learning in this as well. Thinking back¡­ how did father learn magic in the first place?


    When I asked him, he said it was by listening attentively when someone casted heal or detoxification, and then trying to imitate it by himself.


    ¡°This is the way adventurers usually learn it.¡±


    So, that¡¯s why.


    Thinking better on that, those kinds of basic magic should be easy to use if you need only to sing a few tunes. No need to know the theory behind it, uhm¡­ guess I will need to learn the theory later.


    And that is why I have been trying to do it by myself. After seeing me trying Jacen has decided to try as well.


    I am faring better so far. Having perfect memory helps a lot. Since I remember every single time father has used magic I can compare each of them and see the differences ¨C that is, roughly calculate how far off one can sing the tunes and still do the magic.


    It isn¡¯t much, I have to say. Maybe a quarter of a tune up or down, tops. I don¡¯t remember very well those music stuff, since the last time I studied about that was on my previous life, not to mention on my previous childhood-teen years, so I¡¯m not sure. But what I am sure is that even this amount of variation changes de magic itself.


    I focused on trying to imitate de strongest I had seen father use so far ¨C that is, the one which produced more light and gave a feeling of being more ~intense~.


    It¡¯s hard!


    It¡¯s really hard, since I don¡¯t know the first thing about singing!


    Also, singing only pieces of the magic isn¡¯t something harmless. Once I sung a piece totally out of tune and a small explosion happened on my hand. It didn¡¯t injure me, but it hurt, specially my ears.


    That¡¯s when I discovered mother can cast healing magic as well. Later it was sister¡¯s turn to help me and Jacen.


    Both are better than father.


    ¡­. Seriously, if you guys know so much why the hell haven¡¯t you used it so far?!


    So I trained and trained until¡­ I collapsed.


    The last thing I saw was mother jiggling.


    Ok, I get it.


    ***


    So it seems magic has nothing to do with mental power, but rather with stamina.


    Since me and Jacen have been training with sister non-stop both of us had quite a lot to spare. But even us would run out after a few uses of magic.


    That is why training took me so much time. I must have expended three whole days trying by myself until I was finally able to cast healing properly. Detoxification came easier after since I was already used to sing in the weird tunes, but it was hard nonetheless.


    Also, holly molly, it expends a LOT of stamina!


    I mean, healing expends a fixed amount. Around the same amount one would need to train sword swinging for a couple hours.


    But detoxification expends more as the amount of things to detoxify increases.


    I collapsed after a single use to try and remove toxins from an old piece of meat.


    Father is amazing. Just how much stamina does he have to be able to use it on that tremendous amount of food we had laying around at winter?


    Well, he can lift a 300kg pig and carry it on his back all the way home without breaking a sweat, so¡­ yeah, father surely has a lot of stamina.


    I¡¯m a bit envious. I want to be like that too!


    But at least it seems my learning speed is top class. Not only have I learned faster than Jacen, which is still struggling with the third or fourth tone in the sequence, as I have also been praised by the whole family.


    It was fun.


    The moment sister saw me using the healing the first time she hurried to get mother.


    ¡°Ma, look! All can use healing already!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly Ann, there is no way your brother could¡­ good heavens¡­¡±


    Mother just saw the light coming from my hands and lost her speech.


    I feel so special!


    Later that night father also couldn¡¯t believe it, but when he saw me using it his jaw also dropped.


    ¡°Ha! That¡¯s All for you! Jacen, hurry up or he will leave you behind!¡±


    Yeah, Jacen didn¡¯t like it so much. Lately he has been training so hard I have even got used to see he collapsed on the floor.


    It seems he has forgotten a piece of the enchantment, as he is jumping a few tones here and there.


    Let me help you, poop-brother. Hey, don¡¯t look at me like that! I¡¯m a cheater reincarnated person, so you don¡¯t need to feel inferior.


    I didn¡¯t tell him that, of course. Maybe later I will ask for advice on something. It will be bad if he grows with an inferiority complex after all.


    ***


    My daily routine has changed a lot recently. Ever since I managed to do healing and detoxification magic sister has been insisting that I train harder with her, so we have been training most of the day together.


    I only help mother when sister is out to do her chores or when for some reason mother needs me a lot ¨C like when she is cooking and need something fresh from the garden, or when someone brings a lot of yarn and they need extra hands.


    Of course, what this means is that they have been trying to get me into knitting and crocheting.  I have to say ¨C it is tough as nails!


    I have been able to learn the basics, but goddamn, I just don¡¯t have the skills to do this!


    Well, at least this happens only a couple times every week, so the overall time expend listening to the distilled venom of these hags have decreased considerably.


    On the bad side, I¡¯m not making any childhood bonds with the other kids.


    Some of them get around to the yard and try imitating me or sister sometimes, but they quickly lose focus and go do other things.


    As I am not much interested in nose-picking, playing with marbles or just generally acting like a usual kid, that means I don¡¯t expend much time with them.


    Anyhow, I am becoming isolated from the world. It¡¯s just me and sister training all of spring, so I¡¯m not making any real bonds with others.


    Well, no matter. Maybe it¡¯s better this way. I am a reincarnated person after all. Pretending to be a child in order to bond with them may go a little too far into immersing myself in the toddler role. If I was up for doing that then I would have asked to be born without my memories.


    Which may have been a little less embarrassing at some point, since my south parts are now very cold.


    Because I am constantly naked in my bottom.


    That is right. You guessed it.


    It¡¯s potty training.


    I have it easy since I remember how to clench my sphincters from my previous life, but using the latrine still scares me.


    I mean, the smell alone!  There is no flushing, so it¡¯s the smell of years of accumulated waste at the bottom of that thing.


    Also, it¡¯s dark in there. We have to light a ceramic lamp to have some light inside, while doing our stuff. But this may be for the best. I definitely don¡¯t want to have a look at the state of things inside the hole.


    Anyway, it is just too weird being crouched in a dark and smelly space, doing your business in such a precarious position.


    Plus, the straw!


    It has been taking its toll on my behind. So much I just don¡¯t want to wipe myself after finishing.


    Luckily I have learned healing magic, so I¡¯m not losing too much blood from using this barbaric method of cleaning yourself.


    Anyhow, I won¡¯t be using diapers no more. And that means walking around with my bottom naked, since mother won¡¯t be making pants for me. It would be just a waste, since I am constantly growing a lot.


    Well, I shall get at least a robe when I am older, but kids around 2 and 3 usually run around totally naked or with just a shirt.


    It¡¯s a way to avoid them soiling the clothes because of poor sphincter control.


    So, here I am.


    Bottom naked, training sword swings with my sister in the yard while the gossiping midwives knit in the kitchen right at my side and a bunch of kids I barely know run around the place.


    How can I endure this?


    Because I am a toddler!


    I have to say, the first day I wanted to just hide and wait until everyone was gone. The kids and the wives even made some mean comments when sister forcefully brought me to the yard. My face red as a tomato.


    Still, soon no one gave a damn about me.


    I mean, it¡¯s natural. Kids run around naked and that is that. So what?


    This is so liberating.


    I can totally understand nudists after this experience.


    I am now capable of accepting the idea that being naked doesn¡¯t make me vulnerable. It¡¯s just a way of being.


    I feel stronger somehow.


    Thank you poop-world! Your backwards methods and customs have made me prideful of dangling my manhood around like a boss!


    So, I have been training with sister most of the day. Still¡­ am I becoming any stronger?


    I have managed to become ambidextrous and after two months I can already train for hours non-stop.


    I don¡¯t know if this is a good learning speed for this world, but sister seems pretty satisfied. Father even promised he would teach us both how to use the spear, as soon as winter came and he could have some time off.


    Still¡­ after reaching this point, am I improving?


    Thinking back on that, sister does this training constantly, and doesn¡¯t increase its difficulty at all.


    The twig she uses is still the same from the beginning.


    Is she becoming stronger somehow?


    Maybe it¡¯s just simple repetition. I am not used to concentrate deeply on what I am doing, so I may not be seeing it good.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.To have a straighter sword. To make it more precise and accurate. Is this the kind of training sister is doing?


    I guess so. Still¡­ I am not good at concentrating so deeply. I find it so boring to just have ¡°beat yourself¡± as my main objective.


    I need a goal.


    Something exciting.


    Maybe¡­ should I try asking for a sparring session?


    Yeah, let¡¯s do that.


    Except¡­ what was the word for ¡°sparing¡± again? I¡­ guess I never heard it.


    Well, I can make myself understood, so¡­.


    ¡°Onee-chan! Fight me!¡±


    ¡°What¡­ All, are you out of your mind?¡±


    ¡°U-uhm! It¡¯s just pretend! So we can train!¡±


    ¡°Pretend fighting you say¡­. You mean [joint training] ?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Sister is serious.


    ¡°All, put your sword down¡±


    Ah¡­ oh¡­ okay..


    ¡°Now, where did you learn about [joint training]?¡±


    ¡°Uhm¡­ I just thought we could pretend to fight, so training would be fun¡­¡±


    *sigh* ¡°So it isn¡¯t [joint training]. Listen well, this is impossible.¡±


    Uhm?


    ¡°Impossible? Why?¡±


    ¡°Have you ever heard of [aura] ?¡±


    ¡°[aura] ?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. You know how when you use magic and feel something inside of you gets empty and then you get very tired?¡±


    Oh, it¡¯s the MP-stamina relationship hum. I never thought I would learn it from this sister of mine. Isn¡¯t she less of a muscle-head than one could think at first?


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°This is your aura. It¡¯s your inside power.¡±


    Yeah, my stamina, right? But what does it have to do with sparing?


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°If you eat plenty and make a good amount of exercise, you can also make more of it. It becomes thicker and stronger, and it goes all around your body, making it stronger.¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°And that is why we cannot make [joint training], got it?¡±


    ¡°¡­ sister is too strong?¡±


    ¡°That is right. I could hurt you badly.¡±


    ¡°But it is just pretending!¡±


    Sister looked at me doubtfully.


    ¡°It¡¯s not just pretending. Your aura is already too strong for me to fight without using mine, and you don¡¯t know how to deplete yours, do you?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ no.¡±


    ¡°I surely won''t deplete mine, and I also don¡¯t have enough control over my own, so we cannot do [joint training], ok?¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡±


    So the training isn¡¯t made in order to horn her skills¡­. It¡¯s just exercise to accumulate this aura thing.


    On the other hand, if when we use magic it becomes empty¡­ aren¡¯t we using the accumulated aura and becoming weaker because of that?


    Also, sister knows how much aura I have even without me doing any feats of strength¡­ is this because I am able to use magic? Or can she feel it?


    ¡­ I would ask more, but she is so focused in training I just feel out of place interrupting it.


    That is right. Sister has to train in order to become a knight someday. I cannot stop her training to become stronger.


    Also, since father likes to tell stories, maybe he can tell me more about it.


    That¡¯s it. Let¡¯s ask father about aura tonight.


    I resumed training with sister after that.


    ***


    We are already at the end of spring, so tonight¡¯s dinner isn¡¯t much impressive.


    Since we are on the planting season most of the fruits on threes aren¡¯t ripe yet, and hunting is meager after winter.


    Also, we still have to wait until Autumn for the next harvest, so we can¡¯t just gobble down our grain stocks.


    I had never noticed it back on earth, but spring isn¡¯t a plentiful season in terms of foods, is it?


    I mean, there is a lot of flowers and we have a lot of wild edible herbs and roots, not to mention mushrooms, but in terms of reserves of grain and meat we cannot exactly make feasts.


    Summer is the time of ripe fruits, so we can eat a lot of them. Autumn is the season of harvest and when animals are the fattest, so there is plenty of grain and meat. Winter is the season when there is no fruit and game is the worst, so we need to eat what we have in stock. And Spring is a season when things get a little better, but it¡¯s planting season and also when animals are recovering from winter and a lot of females get pregnant, meaning the hunters won¡¯t hunt them - so it isn¡¯t exactly plentiful. It¡¯s just a little better than winter.


    And this is why tonight¡¯s dinner isn¡¯t impressive at all. We have some rice and a stew made with eggs, roots, mushrooms and the such.


    But no meat. We ate the last of the sausages and ham weeks ago.


    I really feel a little bit of regret on these kind of days. On earth I could eat meat every day if I wanted to. Here it depends on the season.


    Well, let¡¯s put this blues aside.


    Yes, because today I will ask father about aura.


    It¡¯s my first step on learning a supernatural skill with endless romance.


    What, my magic?


    Oh, that¡¯s¡­ just not much impressive I guess?


    It isn¡¯t like I have learned the fireball spell. Or how to summon demons and bind them to my will.


    It¡¯s just a faint glow in my hands which heals small cuts and bruises. It is very useful as it can mend one¡¯s injuries, but it needs lots of uses for something big and cannot act on internal injuries ¨C the healed things are just the ones the light can reach, so if someone gets a ruptured spleen they can¡¯t be helped.


    ¡­. That is. I have a theory that it would be possible to heal the organ by opening their bellies and casting the light directly on it, but I don¡¯t intend to test it on anyone so soon. So for now it¡¯s just a hypothesis.


    Gastric surgery made by a toddler may be a little too much for a medievalish world to deal with. Even when this world is one of swords and magic.


    And this is why learning aura is the first step on becoming superhuman!


    Lift enormous weights! Split mountains with a karate chop! Jump so high I can reach the other side of a river in one go! Run so fast I can do all of that in under three minutes!


    Hell yeah, aura!


    So, that is what I learned about it¡­


    Everyone has an Aura. It can be strong or weak, and it can reach far or stay inside their bodies.


    It¡¯s made of a lot of things, and father don¡¯t know how to express it well, but it seems to circulate all the way both inside and outside of the body.


    We use it for everything in our lives. It seems to be connected even to how much physical energy we have, as some people can fast for months depending only on their auras to keep their bodies alive. When it is trained it will give you a stronger and more powerful body, which is able to withstand hits, have great physical might and even heal faster. One has to learn how to control their auras in order to be able to clad equipment and weapons with it, or use it to sense other¡¯s auras, absurdly increase their strength momentarily and things like that. When you use too much of it the body isn¡¯t able to resupply in the same amount fast enough, and your aura grows weaker until you accumulate a good amount again. This is called Aura Damage, and makes your body vulnerable to disease, soft and cold. It can also make you collapse and get weak as if you had anemia.


    Aura is produced and stored inside of the body when someone eats, exercise and sleeps on good amounts. The passive effects are always active and make the person stronger at a low aura cost, meaning simple exercise is enough to resupply it. But the high-end active aura powers consume a lot.


    A good aura is thick like armor, fluid like water, strong like steel and flexible like thread ¨C both inside and outside of the body. If it has too much of any of those characteristics, that is, if it is too thick for example and becomes little fluid, it can damage the whole body and even kill.


    Also, at a certain point the body won¡¯t be able to naturally accumulate more aura, meaning one need to learn techniques which allow for transformations to take place in their bodies.


    People who go through this kind of process are called ¡°superior beings¡± because they can withstand a greater amount of aura than a normal human being. Sometimes a human gets this spontaneously, but It usually is something gotten from secret practices at a dojo.  It seems common animals can also go through a similar process and become monsters.


    That is why sister trains the same way everyday ¨C it would be useless and maybe even dangerous for her try and accumulate more aura than her body can withstand.


    Which is also the reason why she needs to join a good Dojo before trying to win the Kingdom Tournament ¨C so she can learn proper ways to control her aura and the needed techniques to go through the transformation process.


    Warriors who knows how to precisely control their auras are capable of many things, like deciding exactly how much they will use at any moment, controlling their passive auras, feeling the environment with aura like a sonar, cladding their equipment on it or even throwing it like offensively ¨C being borderline magicians at this point.


    Or maybe we could say they are a kind of magician, since magic power indeed comes from Aura, naturally consuming aura by chanting.


    I was kind of amazed father knew so much about the subject. Still, mother and sister acted as if that was normal.


    Even Jacen is a bit bored.


    Is this much common sense in this world?!


    Not to mention magic also consumes aura, which was a surprise for me. It means there is some kind of relationship between sounds produced by someone and how their auras reacted.


    However, shouldn¡¯t someone be able to use sounds to control someone else¡¯s aura? Isn¡¯t there any aura in the environment which can be used to power spells in place of someone else¡¯s aura?


    When I asked father he shrugged and said he didn¡¯t really understand much about magic besides what he had taught me.


    The idea of someone being able to control my aura by singing isn¡¯t very comfortable. Not at all.


    Anyhow, tomorrow sister starts my aura control training. With that I may be able to learn the basics ¨C how to sense my own aura, how to get it to the maximum and the minimum outputs, and how to sense other people¡¯s aura.


    I have some suspicions in regards on how it works, so let¡¯s pay attention closely.


    ***

 Chapter 4: Increased Dificulty Level (Part 2)

    I though today would be a nice day, but sister¡¯s face is scary. Just scary.


    ¡°Goo¡­good morning Onee¡­¡±


    ¡°Get here at once. Let¡¯s get this over with!¡±


    Aaahh¡­


    ¡°Sorry for interrupting your training¡­¡±


    These eyes!


    *sigh* ¡°At least you got it. Start by closing your eyes.¡±


    I did it and soon felt her hands around my arms. Where is she taking me, I wonder¡­?


    Oh, it smells.


    Wait, don¡¯t tell me¡­


    ¡°Sis! What are you doing!¡±


    I am above the toilet¡¯s hole! What are you doing!


    ¡°Onee¡­ you aren¡¯t intending to¡­.¡±


    I started to fell.


    NO!


    Ah, she got me.


    I¡¯m sweating cold here!


    Still, her eyes are so hard. Have you taken a grudge on me sis?


    ¡°Calm down and pay attention to the feeling on your body. Can you feel something different?¡±


    Uh?


    I can feel my nerves on point of bursting, that is for sure!


    ¡°Here, try swinging with all of your strength.¡±


    Ah, my knees are trembling.


    Still, I swung the twig.


    It made a huge explosion sound. And then I felt tired. Very tired. It¡¯s as if someone had drained strength from my insides. My hips feel so weak¡­


    Still, was that a sonic boom? I heard professional swordsman can do it, but me?


    ¡°Aah¡­.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Remember this feeling. This is how you use your aura at maximum power. Avoid doing that if can, or you will fell dead tired like that. Now sit on the ground and close your eyes.¡±


    ¡­ you won¡¯t do that again, will you?


    Well, if she just wanted to give me a scare¡­ plus, I am dried up already, so she probably won¡¯t do it.


    Let¡¯s trust sister.


    ¡°Now, try paying attention to the feeling on your skin. Try to feel the wind and everything around you. Tell me if you feel something pressing on you, like when someone pokes your leg when it goes numb.¡±


    I waited a bit and started concentrating. It was hard, since the sleepiness was starting to take me. I may have been just an armchair magician in my past life, meaning I would read a lot and never practice, but meditation is the basic of basics.


    This feeling¡­ uuuhm¡­ yeah.


    ¡°I feel it sis¡±


    ¡°Good. Let¡¯s continue. Tell me when you feel it.¡±


    There. Don¡¯t feel anymore. It¡¯s back. Now it¡¯s stronger. Now it¡¯s weaker. It¡¯s closer. It¡¯s far.


    Yep. This is just like feeling someone¡¯s energy back on earth. Just like what I had learned to do when I tried Aikido.


    I opened my eyes and sister was staring at me. Have I gone too far?


    ¡°This is so unfair.¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°¡­. It¡¯s not your fault. Common, let¡¯s resume training. Or are you too tired for that?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ I want to sleep¡±


    ¡°Okay, go on.¡±


    I won¡¯t even bother getting to my crib. The bare floor is good enough.


    Goodnight.


    ***


    When I woke up it was night already. I was on my crib and my parents were sleeping heavily.


    Damn I¡¯m hungry.


    I wonder if it will be long until morning.


    Actually, forget it. I will go and get food by myself. It will take some crying for me to wake them up and I¡¯m just dead tired.


    I don¡¯t know why, but I guess that thing with sensing aura got me in a bad mood. I think it is because it has lost some of the magic it had to it.


    I mean, sure I am excited with the idea of a world were Qi is real. As anyone who liked dr*agonb*ll or wuxias in my previous life, the idea of cultivating it until I am able to do superhuman things is nice.


    Still¡­


    Still¡­


    Well, I have no real reason to be in a bad mood, do I?


    What a weird thing. I am just moody today. Maybe it¡¯s because sister almost tossed me in the hole.


    Argh. That is definitely it.


    Damn sister, I trusted you!


    Let¡¯s get out of this crib at once and¡­


    ¡­.


    ¡­.


    I can¡¯t.


    I can¡¯t push my own weight over the crib¡¯s bars. What the hell¡­ A few days ago I could push my own weight easily¡­.


    Is this because I have used all of my aura?


    If so, then my physical body really is weak on its natural state, that is, without the passive bonus¡­ I definitely need to reverse this situation. If I have unlimited growth capacity, then I should make good use of it.


    My aura may fail me someday, but if I have good muscles underneath then this is good insurance!


    Right!


    Now, you damn crib¡­ fall over!


    I slammed my body against the crib and it feel to the ground. I took a little damage, but it doesn¡¯t seem to have awoken my parents.


    Just as I thought. They are hard asleep.


    Let¡¯s just get to the kitchen at once.


    Ahh.. walking is hard.


    I can barely keep myself on my two feet. My legs are on fire with just a few steps. Plus, my balance is affected.


    I really have been relaying too much on aura.


    It seems I will have to craw from here I on.


    I could try getting my parents awake, but I want to do it myself. I need a little time for myself.


    ¡°Uuhm¡­ All? Is that you ?¡±


    Oh, father has awakened.


    He is looking at me with a dumb face.


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you on your¡­ oh.¡±


    He saw the toppled crib. Well, it¡¯s inevitable now.


    ¡°Come here. Let¡¯s sleep together in the bed with Ma, ok? Tomorrow we think about the crib.¡±


    Didn¡¯t I say it was inevitable? He is carrying me.


    ¡°Pa! I¡¯m hungry! Pa!¡±


    Damn these sleepy heads. I had to pinch him in the neck to awake him for good.


    ¡°Ouch! All! Don¡¯t pinch me!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hungry!¡±


    ¡°Hmpf¡­ of course you would be, after getting so much aura damage you had to sleep for an entire day¡­ still, pinching me is bad.¡±


    Please don¡¯t say I will have to go back to sleep without eating. I am really hungry you know!


    ¡°It¡¯s because Pa wasn¡¯t listening to me!¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s get you something to eat.¡±


    All is well when ends well. Pun intended.


    I ate some cheese and drank a cup of the diluted beer we drink instead of water. It isn¡¯t exactly the most suitable for my tastes, but i couldn¡¯t care less.


    After that we went back to bed and I slept between father and mother.


    I don¡¯t know why, but I feel very safe here. I shouldn¡¯t, since I am a reincarnated person, but, still¡­ I guess this is just how humans are.


    My bad mood is gone.


    Goodnight.


    ***


    The next day was a bit awkward. I awakened at the same time as everyone else, since I had slept so much the other day.


    So it was my first time having breakfast together with the family. It was a rather simple meal, and I listened to what everyone intended to do for the day.


    Father had some things to solve at work, mother had to adjust Jacen¡¯s clothes and sister would resume her training.


    Father also scolded her lightly for making me go too far the other day, but then gave me serious advice.


    ¡°You should take the day to train with your sister, eat plenty and rest whenever you feel tired. Good food, good rest and enough exercise to get you a rough breath but not enough to make you pant. That is how you recover from aura damage the fastest.¡±


    I took father¡¯s advice to heart. It made a lot of sense, since the qi one¡¯s produce in their bodies is made with the qi absorbed from what they eat and refined by making good exercise.


    Still, there are better ways to do it. Faster ways. And I intend to train them today.


    By the way, sister seems a bit fed up. I guess father talked a lot on her ear the previous day. It was a rough training after all¡­


    Well, she will be fine with a little reflection on what she did.


    No I won¡¯t go on and hug her! She almost threw me in a pit full of shit!


    ¡­ I will think on something to make our relationship sweeter some other day, but not today.


    Today is qigong training day!


    Even if I don¡¯t remember much, I still used to practice a little bit of one or two techniques, so I may be able to get a grip. Let¡¯s do it.


    ***


    So, here are the results of today¡¯s training:


    -  My muscles are indeed very weak. However, I noticed there is almost no needed time for me to recover from fatigue. I guess this is an effect of my regeneration power, which means as long as I can catch my breath and give my body some time to produce more energy I can recover from exhaustion without any pain or sore muscles. This also means I can grow them much faster, since I don¡¯t need to wait a lot before getting the muscle fibers to regenerate. My strength gaining speed is almost instantaneous. As soon as I get some muscle fatigue and recover I will be stronger.


    ¨C Almost any kind of exercise will produce aura, and in big amounts. I was amazed to see a little bit of exercise getting me stronger by a lot. I have been trying to develop techniques to let it out in a controlled manner, but sister¡¯s teaching methods really were too rough. Right now I can only use aura in big amounts by putting my all into it, and feel terribly tired after. I have managed not to pass out, but still¡­ my control is just too little for now.


    ¨C When I tried using the technique I knew for absorbing qi from the ¡°infinite¡± above, that is, from space or heaven¡­ it just resulted in almost nothing. Just a very thin amount of qi being absorbed by me. It¡¯s an amount dozens of times bigger than the one I used to feel on earth, but, still¡­ eating a fruit and running around the yard a few times gives me a lot more.


    ¨C Then, when I tried absorbing energy from my surroundings¡­ it was awful. I felt extremely heavy, and my belly, right below my navel, were one must accumulate qi¡­ well, it became hard as a rock. I had to massage it for a long time until the thing dissolved. I¡¯m not afraid of dying for doing something foolish to myself, but if I had to resort to self-surgery to take this off of me¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be pretty. So, direct absorption of energy is out of the picture.


    - So, what I could do¡­ was to eat and control the qi production process directly. Surprisingly, it worked wonders. After eating something light, if I just warm my body with a little or exercise and then start the meditation, breathing control and visualization process I used in the qigong practice I can make the amount of produced aura increase several times. I tried some feats of strength to compare. I can lift myself from the ground using only the fingers of one hand, while in lotus position, after a single use of this technique. By doing simple exercise it takes me over five attempts to lift myself using both my hands, whole. I would have tried for a longer time to discover exactly how many times the technique is more effective than exercise, but it was dinner time already, so I just stopped.


    Of course, I kept my training a secret as much as I could. It wasn¡¯t very difficult, as mother and sis thought I was resting for most of the day.


    Why?


    Obviously because this is knowledge from my previous life. If I am to just pop with a method to increase one¡¯s aura strengthening speed they would be frightened or even think something supernatural is going on.


    I mean, this IS a world of monsters and magic. Maybe they would think a globin had taken me in my sleep and put a globin child in the crib instead¡­ or something, I don¡¯t know.


    So I just kept it a secret.


    Anyhow, these discoveries made me think on a very interesting new training regime for myself. But I still want to discover exactly how many times the technique I have is faster than the normal technique ¨C since this will be the defining factor on what will I do about my daily training with sister.


    So, let¡¯s eat dinner and listen to what everyone has done during the day.


    ***


    What¡­ what kind of situation is this?


    This is the first time someone asks me about my day during dinner. And it is father from all people.


    Aah¡­ they are all looking at me, aren¡¯t they?


    Well, let¡¯s be true.


    ¡°I slept and trained.¡±


    ¡°And have you made any progress in controlling your aura?¡±


    ¡°¡­.. no.¡±


    ¡°Then keep going at it! Try to get at least a couple blows before falling to the ground, okay?¡±


    ¡­


    Father just gave me a goal to reach.


    ¡°Father, me too!¡±


    Ah, Jacen is competing with me again.


    ¡°You too hum. Very well, why don¡¯t we have your sister teaching both of you tomorrow?¡±


    ¡­ sister is glaring at us. What murderous intent!


    ¡°Jacen have to go outside during the day, so he won¡¯t be training here!¡±


    Mother is strict as ever. I wonder if she is worried about Jacen not making any friends?


    ¡°But Ma! I wanna!¡±


    Oh, he is gonna cry isn¡¯t he?


    ¡°Hey, let¡¯s do it this way then. I will take you to the barracks and teach you myself. How about it?¡±


    ¡°Really??!¡±


    Ah, Jacen¡¯s eyes are shining.


    Well, at least sister is freed from losing another of her training days with us.


    But I wonder if father has so much time to spare like this?


    ¡­


    Not my business.


    We went to bed at the usual time, and I slept between father and mother again. Since I toppled the crib the day prior they decided it would be safer for me to sleep with them.


    I cannot say it¡¯s something comfortable to sleep between a couple being aware of the fact, but there¡¯s something which just makes me feel very good being close to both.


    I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s their smells, or the rhythm they breath or just their presences.


    I am very happy to have these two parents to sleep between.


    ***


    I have spent most of the next ten days trying to get an accurate measurement on how many times my qigong training is more efficient than regular sword swinging.


    Of course I didn¡¯t spend the whole of those days training since I had other things to do¡­ like knitting with the hags and helping sister to fix a whole in the fence.


    Also, Jacen has also worked to exhaustion numerous times and got a terrible mood in all of them. He tried to poke me and get in a fight numerous times. Luckily a few days later he got to the two blows line, while I haven¡¯t been training, and all of that rivalry went to space.


    Father was a bit disappointed with me. That hurt a little, but I just endured it. I¡¯m not wrong in my calculations. Learning my potential before trying to master these techniques, in my present condition, is the best thing¡­


    Right?


    All those hindrances aside, I have counted thirty exercise routines (comprised of a meal and numerous hours of sword swings) for each qigong routine (which is comprised of a meal, light exercise and then qigong training).


    ¡­ really. Just how much of a cheater am I now?


    Just a single day of qigong work from me is worth a whole month of sister¡¯s sword swinging.


    And that is why I decided to try a new training regime.


    I will wake with everyone, take breakfast and then just head straight to endurance training.


    That means I will get my best to take all of the aura out of my system, leaving just a little bit behind. Just enough so I don¡¯t faint.


    Then I will have classic strength and muscle training with calisthenics. I don¡¯t have weighted clothes to make advanced training, but this is for the future. Now my own body¡¯s weight will be enough.


    Next is sword swinging with sister for the rest of the day, save when mother needs me.


    I will do it not with the objective of accumulating aura, but to make upper body and dexterity training.


    I was very disappointed after discovering that not only my strength but also my dexterity had fallen after my aura had been consumed. Maybe I have even lost some insight and intelligence, as small details which I used to notice easily, like sword swinging angles, are now difficult to gasp.


    I guess aura really is a wonder thing which can make you a superior human.


    That is why I will get heavier and heavier sticks and try to get more and more blows in smaller amounts of time, without using any of it. So I can have a strong body besides the amount of aura I have at my disposal. It¡¯s just basic insurance.


    Of course, to do that I will need to be able to be constantly spending aura as I exercise ¨C so the amount gained with the exercise is compensated by the amount I spend swinging and I can train my muscles instead of accumulate aura.


    Let¡¯s do it!


    ***


    Time has started to go by really fast now.


    Every day I have something new to learn or do. Some things I used to do easily, like running or calisthenics, now are much more difficult to do.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Knitting has become almost impossible, as my fingers have become so much less dexterous.


    But my growth has also been extraordinary.


    I may even become one of those ugly six-pack babies if I keep getting muscle at this rate.


    Just joking. I am getting stronger and sharper, not buffed.


    A good thing about this body of mine ¨C the goddess indeed gave me what I asked. Unlimited growth potential.


    How is this related to not getting buffed with muscle training?


    Have you ever seen a heavy-lifter trying to scratch his back? Some can¡¯t even touch their own shoulders because of the bulging muscles in the way.


    So not getting any perceptive changes on my physique while my strength is clearly growing is a good thing.


    Also, sister seems to have misunderstood my intentions.


    After a month of training she suddenly came by and said she would help me get better at it ¨C that is, aura control.


    I realized she might have been feeling guilty about exaggerating in my first training, so I just went along with it.


    Truth be said I could already do much more than two blows after my second week of training, but since I released everything at once every day at morning the family may have misunderstood.


    Since then I have been releasing it in two shots, instead of doing it only once. Father made a pleasant expression when sister told him, and said my next step was to get as good as sister was now ¨C and that I should try to do it in three years¡¯ maximum, since that was how much she had taken.


    By the way, it seems sister can do five blows before getting worn out. Jacen have stopped training too hard after reaching two, but father said he also should try and get to five.


    I wonder how father would react if he knew I already have enough aura control to be able to continuously release it on small blows. If I try seriously it is possible for me to release aura blows all day long, since the consumption is the same amount as the one I generate.


    They aren¡¯t even closely as powerful as the ones as I do with max power or even half power, but they already have an extra kick to it.


    Of course I don¡¯t intend on telling him or anyone else. My growing speed is monstrous because I roughly know what I¡¯m doing, while everyone else is learning by feeling and empiric experience alone.


    Besides, I don¡¯t need to fear death or injury so I can do reckless things like when I tried to absorb the environmental qi.


    Everyone else have to deal with the fear of getting badly hurt by experimenting with aura. If I told them how I got my current abilities, wouldn¡¯t this spell trouble?


    So let¡¯s keep this a secret.


    ***


    My third birthday has come!


    I was too young to notice Jacen¡¯s when he had his, but this is a date when people commemorate birthdays in this world.


    At the first, third, fifth, tenth and fifteenth years of life.


    They signal what you can and should do.


    At your first year you are expected to just lay around and survive.


    By the age of three it seems we start getting chores to do around the house, besides helping mother when she asks for help. Jacen¡¯s is to watch the fire during winter. Mine will be decided once the party is over.


    On the subject of the party itself, it¡¯s supposed to be a big one, but not so big as the one I got for my first birthday.


    In the end the first, fifth and fifteenth birthdays are the most important out of all, since they mark great changes in life. From totally dependent to half-dependent after the first year. And then from half-dependent to just economically dependent after the fifth year. And finally from economically dependent into adulthood from the fifteenth ahead.  The third and tenth are just regular birthdays.


    So the party isn¡¯t going to be too big.


    Just me, the family and a few friends.


    Father will have three or four people coming from work, Jacen will bring two boys he is acquainted with, mother will have a friend and her kids come over and both grandpa and grandma are going to be here. Our neighbors may come by quickly and have a drink before going back home as well.


    That will make a party for something around ten or twenty people.


    Quite a number, but on my first birthday there were a lot more.


    Still, it¡¯s a party!


    Beer barrel is in the living room; mother is making snacks. Sister will go wash herself sooner and both father and Jacen will return home earlier than usual.


    We may even have some music, if mother decides to sing.


    Oh, I haven¡¯t told this before, but father can play the lute. Some of his friends can play some other instruments as well, so we get to have some music from time to time.


    It¡¯s not of the most refined and it seems to be all improvised or folk tales, but it¡¯s music nonetheless.


    It¡¯s going to be fun.


    ***


    Well, it has come and it has gone.


    The party was so-so. I got a few gifts this time. A few wooden marbles, a hand-carved small statue of a monster spider and, most important of all, some sweets.


    That is right! Sweets!


    Mother never let us have much of it, since sugar, even if it¡¯s brown sugar, is very valuable. But grandmother and some other visitors got me some as a gift.


    Call me a glutton as much as you want, I didn¡¯t get to over 150kg in my past life for hating sweet foods.


    So I am very happy.


    Since they received a good amount of cloth, tea seeds and other stuff, father and mother seemed happy as well.


    Jacen was behaving a little better than the last time. He still craved for the attention of adults from time to time, and he even tried to steal some of my sweets. We got in a fight and mother told me to give some to him and his friends.


    So unfair!


    But that¡¯s family policies for you. I will eye your ten-years-old candies, heard me poop brother?!


    Anyhow. Sister was gladly chatting with father and his militia friends.  I guess after being accepted by father as a future warrior she earned a place at the ¡°army¡± table. At a certain point even me and grandmother joined in.


    It may not look like it, but grandmother knows a lot about weapons and stuff. It seems being a traveling peddler in this world, especially as a woman, is dangerous ¨C so she learned and practiced quite a lot back in the day.


    She is the one who taught Ann, and mother seemed to have learned a lot from her as well. Except mother had no talent for the sword and quickly dropped it in favor of learning domestic stuff and living a normal person¡¯s life.


    Grandmother seemed a bit disappointed at that.


    The party went on for a couple hours into de night, but that was it. Then we all went to sleep.


    And that is when I discovered my parent¡¯s gift for me.


    Or should I say it¡¯s a gift for them?


    They got me a new bed.


    That means, a suspended sheet of wood on four rustic legs, with a crude straw-stuffed mattress and no pillows.


    Still, it¡¯s my bed.


    Which means I will be sleeping in the ¡°children¡¯s¡± bedroom now.


    I guess my nights of sleeping comfortably between my parents are over. It¡¯s just logic when you think about it.


    I have been able to control my sphincters fairly good now, but I still had an accident a few days ago.


    I also have just completed 3 years old, and the crib have proven to be unable to hold me.


    Plus, father and mother have been abstinent for at least two years now¡­. or something. I don¡¯t know. Maybe they did it somewhere recluse?


    Anyhow, I¡¯m sure they miss their bed.


    So be it. Children have to grow sometime, right?


    I accepted it calmly and went to sleep.


    Still¡­


    Do they need to do it on the very first night I get out of there!


    Look, Jacen is putting his ear on the wall, and sister is pretending to sleep while holding her chest. But I can see everyone is feeling extremely awkward now!


    Besides¡­ I can sense your presences, so it¡¯s almost as if I could see the two of you.


    Damn medieval houses and their tiny wooden walls. I demand soundproofing! And aura sensing proofing as well!


    Guess I will just try my best to erase my aura and numb my senses.


    Yes. I¡¯m not hearing anything. Not. A. Thing.


    ***


    ¡°Pa, what were you and Ma doing last night?¡±


    Thank you poop brother. Now my breakfast is all over the table.


    ¡°Uhm? Me and your mother? I see¡­ so you three could hear it¡­¡±


    ¡°Thinking well, Ann has complained in the past, hasn¡¯t she?¡±


    Mother¡­ you even knew¡­


    ¡°No sense worrying over it. Everyone¡¯s house is like this.¡±


    ¡°Still¡­¡±


    Well, mother is at least a bit uncomfortable.


    ¡°My parents used to do it in the straw right next to me and my brothers you know? And our neighbors lived close, so sometimes we would hear they doing it. Your mother is the weird one for giving so much attention to such things.¡±


    ¡­.. poop brother, poop sister, poop mother. Poop father as well. It¡¯s poop family, the re-mastered edition!


    Still¡­ why am I feeling a bit excited with this?


    After being reincarnated I thought my impure feelings would vanish little by little. I don¡¯t even carve mother¡¯s breast anymore, and the other day, even though Ann was changing right in front of me, I didn¡¯t get aroused at all. And she has developed quite a bit already¡­.


    So why am I feeling like bursting right now?


    ¡­ I must keep my bottom hidden under the table at all costs. Not wearing pants for being young is a huge embarrassment right now.


    ¡°John! You promised!¡±


    Is that the first time mother calls father by his name in front of us?


    ¡­. I guess it is.


    Today is a weird day. Definitely.


    ¡°Okay, okay, no more talk about that. I will just explain it to Jacen and we won¡¯t talk about it anymore.¡±


    ¡°¡­ fine. But I will be in the kitchen, so talk quick.¡±


    Jacen is totally lost. Ann is blushing a little, but she hasn¡¯t quit eating.


    ¡°So, son, you see¡­ when husband and wife are together, sometimes they want to make each other feel good. That is what me and your mother were doing last night.¡±


    ¡°Feeling¡­ good?¡±


    ¡°That is right.¡±


    ¡°Then¡­¡±


    ¡°Uhm? What is it?¡±


    ¡°Can father do that to me as well?¡±


    Gah.


    GAAAH!


    Poop-brother I could fry an egg on my face right now! I¡¯m red as a pepper! How do you dare say such a thing?!


    Children are shameless. Just shameless.


    Pff.


    I just looked at sister¡¯s face. She is laughing. Now I¡¯m feeling like laughing as well.


    Still, father doesn¡¯t look very happy.


    ¡°That is something which you can¡¯t do with family son. Also, two man doing it is bad.¡±


    Jacen seems a bit crestfallen.


    ¡°Bad?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t say you want to do it with your family or another guy, or people will be angry with you. Better yet, only say you want to do it with people you really like and who really like you as well. Because you will have to take responsibility if something happens.¡±


    ¡­what¡¯s with this mix of prejudice-filled and accepting father?


    Jacen probably just said that because he has been very attached to father lately.


    It¡¯s not like he is gay.


    I mean, he surely is better at house chores than most, and have a little bit of a sensitive feeling.


    But none of those mean he is gay, right?


    Well, maybe I¡¯m the one prejudiced here. Maybe father just want to avoid Jacen telling weird stuff to strangers.


    Still¡­ from what father said, I can understand that homosexuality isn¡¯t well accepted in this world. But he accepts it?


    Well, I asked for a body which could change into any sex and for a loving family as well. Maybe the goddess understood my hidden¡­ special sexuality¡­and gave me a very special family?


    ¡­. At this rate I am almost convinced this is the case.


    ¡°Responsibility?¡±


    ¡°Yes. When a men and a women do it, there is a chance the women will become pregnant with a baby. If that happens you have to take responsibility and be a good father.¡±


    ¡°A baby?!¡±


    ¡°Yes, that is how babies like you and your brother are made.¡±


    ¡°But then, why can¡¯t I make a baby with father?¡±


    For Christ¡¯s sake little brother, I¡¯m starting to think you are a woman in a man¡¯s body¡­


    ¡°What have I just told you? You can¡¯t make babies with your family. That is very bad! Also, two man can¡¯t have children. You need a man and a woman to have a baby.¡±


    ¡°But Paaaa !!!¡±


    ¡°That is enough. Jacen, go out.¡±


    ¡°But Ma!¡±


    ¡°Not ¡°but¡±. Just do it! Now!¡±


    And now he is crying. I guess father will just¡­ uh?!


    Mother just tossed him out. Crying and everything. And slammed the door after.


    Mother¡­.  Aren¡¯t you afraid Jacen will grow up to be traumatized with sex?


    No¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure mother can¡¯t take another word. She is as red as me.


    So much for that loving family thing¡­


    And sister is just munching on the rice.


    That is right sister. Just munch and jiggle. Munch and jiggle.


    ***


    Days have finally started to go back to normal. It took us a few weeks to get over the whole ¡°father and mother having sex next door¡± thing, but eventually we just grew used to it.


    Jacen stopped listening with his ears glued to the wall, sister is sleeping soundly and I have discovered my young body is capable of dry orgasms.


    ¡­


    Don¡¯t judge me. I don¡¯t do it always. It¡¯s just¡­ that talk the other day, it started something inside of me.


    I¡¯m trying to stop, I swear. The mean hags are making sure to make me feel pretty bad about it already, when it happens of me having an erection near them.


    Of course, they don¡¯t think it is abnormal since kids around my age usually have erections and even rub themselves publically. But they still make fun of it and I¡¯m still a reincarnated person, so this is rough.


    ¡°Hahah, look at that little man getting all stiff again!¡±


    ¡°Alice, this kid of yours will bring a lot of grandchildren in the future!¡±


    ¡°You are becoming quite the man, aren¡¯t you Alvin? Getting worked up with some old hags knitting!¡±


    Cut me some slack already. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m thinking on YOU bunch when I get like this. Definitely not on the giant-mole-in-the-nose Rina.


    Anyhow. Being able to get some relief by myself, this isn¡¯t the only think I discovered.


    No sir.


    I also discovered that I¡¯m now able to sleep just a tiny little bit every night and be completely refreshed the next day.


    I have calculated my needed amount of sleep to be roughly two hours. I can sleep normally during the rest of the time, without any setbacks ¨C but it would be wasted time.


    So I have added a night routine to my training.


    During the day I do the usual, but at night I wait a little bit until everyone is deep asleep and start a special type qigong training. It¡¯s still being perfected, but the focus isn¡¯t on accumulating more energy but on strengthening my connection with the infinite, void, heaven and earth or whatever you want to call it.


    It is a training mostly comprised of meditation in lotus position, and I don¡¯t know much except for the basics of the basics in the subject of how to connect to what should be this source of infinite energy.


    Still, I¡¯m making progress slowly and since it¡¯s a silent training there is little chance of brother or sister awakening subtly in the middle of the night. Even if they do, I would just say I was playing with an imaginary friend or something. With a bit of luck this should be enough to convince them.


    Not that I actually have an imaginary friend. That ghostly apparition I used to see on my first days in this world is totally gone now.


    But how do I know my siblings are asleep in the first place?


    I poke them in the cheek.


    Just lightly.


    Once or twice sister awakened and I had to pretend I wanted to sleep with her, but Jacen hasn¡¯t awakened a single time so far.


    If I did something to sister during her sleep?


    I may be a pervert, but I am not a family destroyer. Sister is untouched, thank you. When in her bed I am just a peaceful toddler sleeping with his sister.


    ¡­ a toddler with a raging boner which he keeps from poking her as best as he can, but, still.


    As long as I can repress it, it¡¯s okay.

 Extra Chapter 4: Neighbor Complains

    All is at it again.


    Every day at morning he does the same thing. Take that twig, swing it full of aura and then do it again.


    And both swings are always exploding swords, no less.


    When did he got such a fast aura gathering speed?!


    A normal person should be able to produce an exploding sword after two or three days of aura accumulation, not every day by morning. It takes year of exercise for the body to get to this speed.


    Maybe it¡¯s because I have let he do exercise since he is young?


    No, the accumulated aura from that time was expended on that one time. It was an awakening call for me to see All doing that.


    A [sword of light]. One that created a trail of waving light in its path. One that could go beyond his body and project in the space.


    I cannot deny it anymore after seeing this much. Mother was right. Al is definitely a different child. It worries me. Why can¡¯t he be more like Jacen?


    His brother can also do amazing things, but he does them after trying for a long, long time and very hard. If All had the same amount of effort put into it, I could at least say to others it¡¯s because he had tried for a long time.


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    Having a [genius] born on my house. Isn¡¯t this something I should be trying harder to conceal?


    Mother and John say there is no risk anymore. That the pogroms are over and no one will ever come looking for All.


    That even if they were happening, our village is far away from the capital and they would never look for him here.


    But, still¡­


    That is right, the neighbors!


    All is bothering the neighbors with his exploding swords. Madelaine told me she has just discovered to be pregnant again.


    I will have All stop his training. There are other ways to train aura control. Maybe I will have mother teach one of those to him.


    I have asked for her to stay away after the thing with Ann, but since John finally decided to accept it¡­


    Besides, All need to keep it concealed for now.


    That is for the good of everyone, his own included.


    I will talk to mother this afternoon.


    I cannot have my son attracting too much attention.

 Extra Chapter 5: My Grandson

    These peaceful days are really relaxing.


    Once one gets to my age and live as much as I have lived, this kind of thing really helps the soul.


    I don¡¯t care much for what is being talked by these women, but at some moments even I will be present of mind and spirit.


    I.


    Enjoying my daughter breastfeeding my grandson.


    Who would have guessed.


    My own mother would enter a laughing streak if I told her.


    But that is life. I cannot fight the course written in the stars anymore. I don¡¯t want to. I have found happiness with it.


    It never goes for too long, of course. A couple years¡¯ maximum. Alice has stopped breastfeeding already, but I am sure she will have another son or daughter to breastfeed in no time.


    Ever since she got fertile again her aura hasn¡¯t changed a bit. I¡¯m sure her body is still ready for conceiving.


    Haha, what will be it this time?


    A grandson or a granddaughter?


    ¡°Mother, can we talk?¡±


    That¡¯s unusual. For her to ask me to stay after the other woman have gone home.


    ¡°Sure darling. What do you need from me?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ actually wanted to have this talk with John if possible.¡±


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    With that trash of a husband?


    Curse the stars. Curse the course.


    ¡°Very well.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Not a problem darling. I guess it has something to do with Alvin?¡±


    ¡°Ah, y¡­ yes.¡±


    ¡°I imagined so. Come, let¡¯s sit in the kitchen while we wait for John.¡±


    It¡¯s a good opportunity I think.


    All, this boy.


    He really is a genius. And one of the big ones.


    I have seen some genius in my days. Genius of all kinds.


    Still, I cannot see what kind of genius is he.


    Such deep mystery written on his aura¡­ wait¡­


    His aura¡­ is it showing traces of cultivation?!


    Yes. This is [Heaven and Earth Transcendence, Five Streaks of Light Cultivation]. And I can see traces of [Body Refining], [Soul Elevation], [Mind Deepening] and [Spiritual Advent] as well.


    This is the complete secret of the [Goddess Mountain Trail]. It¡¯s still incomplete, but it¡¯s there.


    This kid¡­.


    My peaceful days are over.


    Such is the course of the stars.


    Curse the course. Curse the stars.

 Extra Chapter 6: Family Meeting

    The river bath today was cool and refreshing. Hot baths in winter, cold baths in the summer. That is how someone can really recover after a day of training.


    I reached home at the same time as father.


    We greeted each other and entered. He entered first.


    I like this.


    This is how they do in the militia. The commander enters first. Not such a thing as letting women go by because they are women.


    Father has really accepted me.


    How weird.


    Grandmother is home still.


    Mother asks us to come closer.


    She wants Grandmother to teach something to Alvin. An aura control technique which doesn¡¯t produce exploding swords.


    It¡¯s so unfair!


    I have trained for over two years before being able to produce exploding swords, and Alvin did a Sword of Light in his first try.


    I can barely do one today!


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    If he was a younger sister I would have given him a beating already.


    But I cannot bring myself to hit such a cute younger brother.


    Hmpf. Whatever.


    Father doesn¡¯t like the idea, but mother¡¯s reasons are good.


    We cannot disturb the neighbors.


    I didn¡¯t used to care for such things, but It was a pain when Jacen and Alvin were kids and cried all day long.


    Enough to make me want to get out of the house to train on the forest. I have done it once or twice.


    I can imagine the neighbors getting crazy angry with us and getting the family expelled from the village if we anger them enough. So we shouldn¡¯t disturb them.


    Nice, father has accepted.


    I will seize the chance as well.


    A chance of learning from grandmother is something rare.


    This is good.

 Extra Chapter 7: Grandma Teaches.

    Grandma teaching?


    Sword isn¡¯t for girls!


    Grandma shouldn¡¯t teach!


    Sister is a boy in disguise so it¡¯s okay, but grandma is grandma!


    No! Grandma doesn¡¯t teach! No!


    Mother, stop telling me to be quiet! No, mother can¡¯t talk on boy stuff! No!


    UMU!


    I won¡¯t learn!


    Don¡¯t matter what, I won¡¯t learn!


    I will learn from father, and father only!


    Father is the only one who knows! Father can do it, because father is a boy!


    ¡°Like this?¡±


    ¡°That is right All. Do it like this. No, you must make it flow from here to here. This way.¡±


    Stop!


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    Why is brother doing it!


    I won¡¯t lose to brother! I am the older brother!


    ¡°Grandma! Teach me too!¡±


    ¡°Oh, Jacen, you have finally decided to quit being stubborn uhm? Very well.¡±


    It goes out.


    It goes to one arm, then you make it go to the other.


    It¡¯s easy!


    I can do it already!


    Sister can do too; Alvin is the only one who can¡¯t!


    But that is right. Because I am the older brother, I can do it better!


    ¡°Very good Jacen.¡±


    ¡°Uhm!¡±


    Mother praised me. I will show father when he gets home!


    Then he will praise me as well!

 Chapter 5 : A Winter to Remember (Part 1)

    Sorry for the delay. I had a big emotional block and couldn''t write at all.


    Good part: Next week''s chapter is secured now.


    Please Enjoy :)


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Volume 1


    Chapter 5


    It started with grandmother teaching us a new aura control technique.


    I didn¡¯t understand it very well at the time, but it seems mother has asked her to teach us.


    The technique itself is very interesting. It relies heavily on focused breathing and assuming certain postures, but it makes perceiving aura very easy. Then, one needs only to focus on moving their aura consciously by merging their attention and the aura itself ¨C which is done by feeling both at the same time and then just¡­moving it? I cannot explain the feeling. How can you explain how to move your fingers to someone who doesn¡¯t have fingers?


    I guess it¡¯s the same principle.


    Mainly it means your aura moves to what you are paying attention and want It to move to. So if you¡¯re paying attention to your right arm and gives the mental command for it, it moves there; if you¡¯re paying attention to your left arm and commands, it moves there.


    It¡¯s pretty simple in practice once you get the aura feeling, and one of the first steps needed to do the qigong exercises I do every night. I had no idea grandma knew something like this.


    On the bad side, just this much isn¡¯t enough to empty my aura. In fact, this exercise¡¯s aura consumption rate is so extremely low even the faint heavenly energy I can absorb from above is enough to replenish it all.


    Also, mother has forbidden me from using aura as I was using. She said the ¡°exploding swords¡± I was doing were bothering the neighbors.


    Well, I have to admit the sound made by me swinging the sword is a bit noticeable. It obviously isn¡¯t a sonic boom like the first time, but you can hear the wind being cut. Like a firecracker.


    But it¡¯s just a couple swings every morning, and I bet the neighbors can barely hear it.


    So I¡¯m a bit unconvinced, but mother didn¡¯t want to tell me anything more. No matter how much I pressured her and asked again about the subject, she would just say I shouldn¡¯t have been bothering the neighbors or attracting attention.


    That it¡¯s okay to be good at something, but that I shouldn¡¯t expose myself.


    ¡­seriously, only this much is already something which exposes me?


    I guess mother has some reason for that. Something she is more reluctant to talk about than sex.


    Let¡¯s trust mother for now and ask again when I¡¯m older.


    So, with this kind of problems I had the idea to try and improve grandmother¡¯s technique in order to be able to use all of my aura by morning without getting too much attention.


    Originally grandma¡¯s technique isn¡¯t meant to expend aura, however, being able to move it with attention and thought is pretty useful.


    I¡¯m usually unable to move it outside of my body, and grandma¡¯s technique is just the same, but I remember being able to do it a few times in my previous life. Just a truly few, by accident, and just on the scale of what could be done at that time. But enough for me to know it should be possible, seeing how similar qi and aura are.


    The trick is how to get sensitive.


    Being able to accurately sense the qi is the first step to be able to manipulate it. Inside the body that¡¯s easy to do. As long as you can sense qi with your body, you can sense it inside of you. But once some gets outside of the body you will stop feeling it, if only your body is sensitive.


    But this can be dealt with if you become entranced with it, making it so the qi itself becomes an extension of your sensitivity.


    Once you become able to sense with the qi itself, as if it had nerves, instead of just sensing its existence ¨C that¡¯s when a person becomes able to take it out of their body and still control it.


    In this matter grandmother¡¯s technique surely is useful. Using controlled breathing and body positions to be able to grasp aura easier. This is another cheat the world has just thrown on my lap.


    Thank you world. Now I shall use it to become an even cheatier character.


    ***


    Winter is approaching fast. The first snows have fallen already, and mother is certain this will be a very cold season.


    I¡¯m not amused with the perspective of having to go outside to use the toilet, but at least mother has decided to let me use some clothing, since it¡¯s starting to be very cold now.


    She has also been putting me in diapers just in case, but I¡¯m not so cheesy as to make use of them.


    No sir. I¡¯m out of the disgraceful position of having someone take care of my poop, and I don¡¯t intend to go back.


    Still.


    Damn this is cold!


    There is no toilet seat to freeze my butt, but the whole toiled is as cold as it can be.


    I wonder if I could use aura to make my body warmer?


    The qigong exercises I have been doing don¡¯t have this kind of effect as the expected result, but I have been drenched in sweat a few times after doing them.


    Also, monks and yogis in earth should be able to do it, right?


    If it¡¯s this weird world were even common people can manipulate aura, then I should be able to do it as well.


    But how do I do it?


    Qi is supposed to be warm by nature, but I cannot dump it on the environment yet. I have been training hard to be able to take it out of my body and dump it somewhere else, but so far the results are coming slow. I can at most irradiate it out of my body, and it takes an awfully long time to get it all out.


    Really long time.


    Well, maybe aura itself can make my body more resistant to the elements?


    I mean, if it can resist kinetic energy from an attack, it probably can also resist thermal energy from fire. Maybe.


    But if can do it, then can it avoid energy leaving my body?


    It makes sense if I think in terms of aura being some kind of force field or whatever.


    It won¡¯t hurt to try.


    Like that I expanded my aura a little bit, just like when sister pretended to throw me in this very same hole I¡¯m crouched above.


    And that is how I discovered that aura is capable of protecting against environmental hazard, even if it has quite the consumption and makes the air around you chisel and undulate a bit.


    In the end I keep losing energy to the environment, but it¡¯s from the aura and not thermal energy from inside my body. The laws of thermodynamics can¡¯t be overwritten so easily after all.


    But it¡¯s a way to avoid getting cold and would even be a good way to get rid of my aura, were not for the fact of it being flashy with all these small sounds and air undulations.


    Still, having a stronger gut make you finish your business a lot faster.


    So, no more worries when going to the toilet.


    ***


    And so a week has passed.


    Winter is officially here, and I have gotten my head around the whole ¡°how to get rid of my aura¡± thing.


    First, yes, I have been able to extend my aura beyond my body and control it. I have even been able to insert it into stones. I was thinking on making a species of battery, but the stone broke after I put around two meal¡¯s worth of aura in it.


    It wasn¡¯t a big stone, but it became serious brittle after the first load and just became dust after the second.


    I also tried with fruit and grains, but the apple seeds just started to germinate and the grains as well started to grow roots.


    Then, on my last trial, I injected it on an earthworm. I also stored it in a wood pot with some dirt on it, just in case.


    It held huge loads of the stuff without problems.


    Day after day for the whole week it had been absorbing all of my morning aura.


    Until today.


    As soon as I opened the pot, the thing there wasn¡¯t a simple earthworm anymore.


    It was seriously huge and weird.


    It has grown to be almost triple the size, and when I poked it with a stick the thing bit into it.


    It has teeth now. Carnivorous, dangerous teeth.


    This thing just became a monster.


    I thought of taking it to father, but then how could I explain it?


    Maybe he would get panicked if I said a monster just appeared on our backyard. I can see him excavating the whole place to try and see if there is any more of it laying around.


    I dealt with it.


    It wasn¡¯t pretty.


    It wasn¡¯t nice.


    I felt horrible, as if I had just committed an awful sin.


    After all, I was the one responsible for turning a simple earthworm into that thing. And then I had to kill it because of my own short sight.


    Still, if I¡¯m to get this depressed every time something goes wrong, I will be without a reason to live anymore.


    After all, I¡¯m a cheat character in a world of sword and magic!


    It¡¯s bound to backfire on me sometimes. I just have to be careful not to let the damage become too big.


    Today was a single earthworm. No big deal, right? It may make me a bad person for doing such a thing to it and then killing it because of what I did.


    It was just an earthworm. I shouldn¡¯t feel this bad.


    ¡­


    The feeling haunted me for the rest of the day.


    ***


    I have decided to stop trying to get my aura out on living things. It was useful to learn how monsters are born, but I don¡¯t think that was nice.


    So I was back on trying to put it on inanimate objects.


    And that is how I screwed up again.


    First I discovered water to be a nice base to absorb aura.


    I dumped three days of aura in a single pot of water, and it absorbed that much with ease.


    Then I tried sipping a drink out of it.


    After all, if the water had absorbed all of that aura, it should hold some of it still, right?


    I was right, and one third of the cup gave me back only a little less than a whole day¡¯s worth of aura.


    So that was almost 100% conversion rate. And I had just invented an aura recovery potion.


    I was happy with that, and kept doing my thing.


    Then, the next day the water just moved and jumped on my face.


    Since I¡¯m three now I have been much less accompanied by mother¡¯s or sister¡¯s glares. This is how I have been able to keep this cup under my bed and do this kind of experiment every day.


    But I didn¡¯t expect for a slime to be born out of it!


    It¡¯s just a water slime, so it¡¯s trying to suffocate me to no avail.


    I have a cheat body which doesn¡¯t need to breath, so it¡¯s main weapon is useless against me. Also, even if it has a strong acid inside it takes time to secret it, so I¡¯m not being digested or anything.


    Slimes, with only very few extraordinary exceptions, are weak creatures in this world, which feed by being very specialized on how they do what they do. Father said they are the kind of monster which is easiest born, being found even on places with just a fair amount of environmental aura saturation.


    Sorry buddy, but you won¡¯t be able to kill me.


    And like this I pushed the outer edge of the slime¡¯s body towards the inside, reached my mouth and bite into it. It¡¯s a bit weird, but my teeth are the sharpest thing I have now and slimes are almost immune to blunt attacks. So this will have to do.


    The slime¡¯s body collapsed into a puddle of water.


    It seems I have been doing nothing but mistakes recently.


    I¡¯m glad that rock I had been testing with just broke, instead of becoming a rock monster or something.


    ¡­or has it?


    By the gods I hope I haven¡¯t released a monster out there.


    But this makes my training more difficult.


    If I can¡¯t put my aura into things without the risk of creating monsters, then how am I supposed to get rid of it in order to strengthen my body?!


    Not to mention I have been producing more and more of it recently.


    I have asked father and he said it was the result of doing exercise with my aura depleted.


    That it would make my body stronger until it hit a certain limit, and also increase my aura production speed at the same time.


    By the way, it seems sister has hit her limit a long time ago. She definitely doesn¡¯t give of the feeling of a bodybuilder, but father said everyone¡¯s body has their own limits and that is that.


    ¡­


    Isn¡¯t he just unaware of how someone can train with weights?


    I mean, all I have seen sister do is calisthenics. Even if she hit her limit with that, this is just because she has become strong enough to deal with her own bodyweight.


    I tried asking something about weight training but father said it was too dangerous.


    ¡°Training by lifting heavy things can make your bones bend the wrong way and give you diseases on your joints. Even dojos avoid applying this kind of technique if they can.¡±


    Of course. There are no gyms in this world. Or Personal Trainers and Coaches¡¯. Or professional equipment, special diets and steroids.


    The number of people spraining their backs because they have been lifting crates or rocks to increase their bodies¡¯ strength must not be small.


    So my kind of ingenious training regimen is already used in this world. Plus, it seems it will quit being effective shortly, as I don¡¯t intend on training with weights without having good materials to do it well done.


    So, what should I do?


    ***


    In the end that came just in time.


    My parents have finally decided on my chore.


    You know? Everyone gets something to do at home when they turn three years old.


    Ann¡¯s task used to be to watch the winter fire, but this became Jacen¡¯s when he was three. Instead mother made her go outside and fetch water, since she was old enough already and starting her body training.


    ¡­. isn¡¯t this a form of weight training?


    Well, things aren¡¯t much different with me.


    Since Jacen will remain inside of the house because it¡¯s winter, I¡¯m not going to be taking his fire-keeping chore.


    Instead I¡¯m to make sure our firewood is dry and chopped.


    That means I will have work all year around, differently from him. I have to check If there¡¯s any humidity in the log cabin, and chop wood not only for the winter fire but also for mother¡¯s cooking.


    How this was decided to be a good task for me?


    Well¡­


    ¡°Training by lifting heavy things can make your bones bend the wrong way and give you diseases on your joints. Even dojos avoid applying this kind of technique if they can.¡±


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    ¡°But Pa, sister gets buckets of water every morning. Isn¡¯t this just like that?¡±


    ¡°That is right. That¡¯s also why she hit her limit with only a few years of training. But lifting buckets is something very easy, and it¡¯s safe because of that.¡±


    Sister showed a somewhat proud smile.


    ¡°Pa, can I do this too, then?¡±


    ¡°You are too young All. Besides, this is your sister¡¯s chore.¡±


    Mother interjected.


    ¡°But I want to get strong like sister too!¡±


    Father stroked my head.


    ¡°That¡¯s something you will have to take time doing. But if you want to do something that makes you sweat, how about helping Pa with the wood? You can¡¯t lift the buckets yet, but you may just be able to use the axe. This way you can use a lot of aura and become stronger. How about it?¡±.


    ¡°Pa, me too!¡±


    I seized the chance and Jacen, obviously, did it too.


    ***


    The axe is¡­ well, It¡¯s over seventy centimeters long, so it¡¯s only a little bit smaller than me and weights around 3kg, so, a fifth of my own weight.


    How can I lift it without losing my center of gravity and falling ahead?


    Well, I have to bend my whole body backwards and adjust my position so I can handle it without falling to the ground.


    I seriously expend a lot more aura on keeping my balance than on gathering strength to raise the axe and let it fall on the wood with my body weight behind it. But I¡¯m able to do it, and, since it¡¯s a lot heavier than the twig I use for sword training, it doesn¡¯t produce [exploding swords] or anything like that. Just the usual axe-cutting-wood sound.


    It¡¯s also seriously tiring. Since I have to raise this axe so many times and keep working my best to keep balance, my aura consumption has been quite formidable. Enough to exhaust it after six or seven logs are split.


    Father is with me, so until now I have been just helping him, but this is seriously heavy work.


    Jacen sometimes try to help too, but his aura is depleted by cutting just five logs.


    At the beginning I thought he would weep and cry, or maybe try to hit me out of jealousy, but father has scolded him seriously.


    ¡°If you have energy to be picking fights with your brother then work harder on your training¡± and things like that.


    But in the end father is the kind of person who values effort more than results. He won¡¯t praise the number of logs I or Jacen cut, but how much effort we put into getting better.


    In the end Older Brother is best at surpassing his limits than I am, so father praises him more.


    It gets me a little frustrated sometimes. If this was a common situation, I bet I would develop some kind of ¡°father why doesn¡¯t you appreciate my results which are better than brother¡¯s¡± syndrome or something.


    But I¡¯m a reincarnated person, so I can see the broader spectrum. I have a cheat body, and I am much younger. Jacen is just a kid, but he has his pride as my older brother. And it is true that he can surpass his own limits better than I do. He has been doing this non-stop for a long time now, so he can feel better than me when he is at the verge of fainting from aura damage.


    Even if my control is better, I admit that I may have overstepped my bonds in this matter once or twice.


    Plus, father loves me just as much as Jacen, and every time I get better he indeed praises me.


    It¡¯s just that he wants for me to get better instead of simply showing results, right?


    I mean, results are important as well. When I stopped at the third log one day because I had tried too hard, he scolded me.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay to fail, but learn for it¡±


    Hahaha¡­ I¡¯m not okay with this. Not at all. Reincarnated person my ass. My father is praising my older brother who is worse than me. Why isn¡¯t he praising me instead?


    ¡­one more complicated but childish feeling for me to repress. I wonder if there are any therapists in this world.


    I may need one when I grow up.


    Then, after we are done cutting the logs, Jacen and I are instructed on body training by both father and sister.


    They won¡¯t be doing it since they have reached their limits already. Plus, if they lose all the aura they accumulated thought the years it may put father¡¯s work and sister¡¯s dream on danger.


    Still, their insights on calisthenics surely is better than my own. I should learn not to underestimate a fighter¡¯s insight on how to properly do exercise.


    ***


    My night trainings seem to be somewhat haunted recently. I have just realized that weird apparition is back.


    I have seen it spying on me from the cracks in the window.


    Creepy.


    Really creepy.


    When I asked father about ghosts and things like this he said he had never seen one. It seems some exist in places with extremely high concentration of aura, but a ghost shouldn¡¯t be able to appear in a common place.


    Because what kept ghosts in this world was the aura remnants they still had, and which allowed them to manifest even without a body.


    Then again, I have been seeing this apparition ever since I was a baby.


    It shouldn¡¯t be harmful, right?


    ¡­


    Right?


    ***


    Today me and sister have been pestering father since morning.


    Because almost half of winter is gone already, and he still hasn¡¯t taught us how to use the spear.


    His first excuse was about how me and Jacen should be focusing on body training now, instead of learning how to use a new weapon.


    Well, if it¡¯s the two of us together then we can take care of the firewood splitting task alone. I do most of the work, but it¡¯s true that I wouldn¡¯t be able to do all of it without Jacen¡¯s help.


    ¡­so much for my jealousy of him. I should try and let this feeling of camaraderie grow bigger than the complex feelings from earlier. Wish I had better insight on how to do it.


    Anyhow, wood splitting isn¡¯t a problem anymore!


    Then he said he had to find us good batons to serve as spear dummies. According to him, differently from how one can use a twig the size of a sword from young age, if me or Jacen try to use a normal spear not only would it be impossible to move it appropriately, as it would also make us learn things the wrong way, since spears are supposed to be more mobile than swords and work by paying attention to their length relative to the person¡¯s height.


    Then yesterday he finally presented us with our dummy spears. They are just short twigs, each one head smaller than each of us, with a small ball of leather on one end, but he said this should be enough as training material.


    And like this me and sister finally got him to start training us.


    My daily routine changed quite a lot.


    Now I spend most of the day together with brother. We start by eating breakfast, then chopping wood for half of the morning, then doing calisthenics right after.


    Normally we should eat something after chopping all of that wood, but that would get in the way of our body training, since we would produce aura like that.


    Me and Jacen are supervised by dad on this until lunch time, and then the entire family eats together. We are usually hungry at this point, and both of us have gotten into the habit of asking for seconds.


    Afternoon is dedicated to sword swings followed by spear training until noon approaches. I get a light snack between the swings and the spear training.


    I help mother with preparing dinner and we all eat together again.


    When night falls everyone goes to their own rooms.


    Father and mother sometimes do what couples do, sometimes don¡¯t, but I just wait until everyone is asleep.


    At this time, I sneak out of bed and check if Ann and Jacen are really sleeping soundly.


    They usually are, so I proceed to do qigong training. It¡¯s progressing with hiccups, but I can see some improvement already.


    I would say five hours of connection to the infinite gives me around one meal worth of energy.


    How am I not bored out of my mind every night?


    Well, I ask myself the same thing.


    I guess it¡¯s just how this body works. I feel good being home, listening to my siblings sleeping in a very quiet place.


    I mean, I have always liked Ann. She is strong, have an iron will and¡­ well, I do like her for other reasons as well. Instinctive reasons as a male who hasn¡¯t developed the due taboo for his sister.


    But I have started to enjoy Jacen¡¯s presence as well.


    Of course, he¡¯s still a little prick, but he is weirdly diligent and really does his best. He is constantly improving, thriving to be better. At first I thought it was just so he would receive more praise from father, but even at the moments father isn¡¯t looking and in small tasks like cleaning the dishes, he is always trying to be better.


    I also thought it may be just so he can feel proud of himself for having surpassed me¡­ but even at taking care of the winter fire, he is always looking for the best and safest way to keep it lit all the time, so he can safely train.


    On another words, even though he is trying to surpass me with all of his might, he won¡¯t abandon his duties.


    Compared to him the only reason I¡¯m stronger is because of my cheat reincarnated body.


    I wonder if I shouldn¡¯t be learning from him in this aspect.


    Foolishness.


    This is just a damn 5-yrs-old who wants to get praised. Why have I built such a dreamy delusion of him?


    ¡­ obviously it¡¯s to justify why I¡¯m starting to enjoy being around this idiot of a brother.


    I guess just have grown used to quietness. And like this I can do things like meditating for long periods of time without feeling the need to run around or do stuff.


    It¡¯s just silence colored by the breath of people I like a lot.


    It¡¯s good and soothing, so let¡¯s forget about poop-brother and just enjoy it.


    ¡­ goddamit that weird apparition thing is looking at me again!


    ***


    Winter has progressed as usual. We heard folk tales, sung, and spent some quality time together.


    Every day by morning me and brother would get to wood splitting, but father eventually said Jacen should let me do it by myself.


    Taking care of the wood is my chore after all.


    At first Jacen was a bit disappointed, thinking his body strengthening training would be cut off, but father got a way for him to deplete his aura in the mornings as well.


    That is by using an advanced version of grandmother¡¯s technique.


    Before you say it, no, he didn¡¯t teach Jacen what I discovered by myself. What he taught him was a technique called ¡°sword strengthening¡±.


    It¡¯s an intermediary-level technique which uses the aura-moving ability to clad the surface of one¡¯s weapon with aura.


    This way the weapon itself becomes more resistant.


    Father said this is needed to be able to kill some kinds of monsters which are immaterial, as well as a way to prevent one¡¯s weapon to be damaged in middle of battle.


    Immaterial monsters include things like mist monsters and phantom slimes ¨C one of the most dangerous kind of special slimes, born when a great amount of aura condenses by itself, without ¡°something¡± to cling to. Those little fellas can become immaterial and drain someone¡¯s aura away, including the basic energy needed to move the body.


    They are like energy vampires which can¡¯t be hit unless you know how to control your aura. Scary. Luckily father said the chance of ever encountering one of those monsters is almost null. They only exist in places where not only the aura concentration is insane but also there is nothing for it to cling to. Not even air.


    Or course, father doesn¡¯t expect for Jacen to find or fight one of those, but the endurance increase is needed on swords and, above all, spears.


    Spears are just wood batons with an iron top after all. A good hit from a monster¡¯s or even beast¡¯s pawn and it¡¯s gone.


    That¡¯s why Jacen has been learning how to clad his twigs with aura. I believe I can do that much if I want, but I never thought of doing it before. Since I trained my aura control to be able to expel aura from inside of me into the environment, it didn¡¯t come to me to use it to clad stuff.


    I should have thought of it, since it¡¯s one of the uses father listed when he first talked about aura to me.


    Anyhow, Jacen is now struggling to learn it. It seems to be a technique which increases substantially the aura consumption, since it needs to be make hard in order to increase the weapon¡¯s hardness.


    It also doubles as a technique to learn how to make your body actively tougher, that is, how to increase one¡¯s body toughness by actively expending aura to make it hard.


    It¡¯s a very efficient technique which combines the capacity of learning how to make oneself tougher, how to harden your weapon and also how to control aura to a finer degree.


    Me?


    Well, not only have I a bigger load of wood splitting to do now that brother has been relieved of this work, I also have been denied by father!


    He said it should be impossible for me to learn it with my current level of Aura Control, and that I should reach at least three blows before trying.


    Since I haven¡¯t shown him my achievements in this area, he is clearly treating me as the untalented brother this time.


    ¡­


    So this is how it feels. It¡¯s not much pleasurable. I want to take my twig and show him the degree of aura control I have, just so I can prove to be worthy.


    It¡¯s ok.


    I will do it in a couple weeks, as soon as I have gotten used with the amount of aura needed to split all the wood we will use for a whole day.


    It¡¯s surprisingly big.


    But once I reach this much skill I will ask father to teach me the technique¡­. Which means I will just do it in the first time, since it seems to be fairly simple compared to what I usually do.


    In the end, my real objective isn¡¯t this elementary technique after all.


    What I want to learn is what lies ahead!


    Prepare yourself, poop-brother! This time I will be the one surpassing you!


    Poop-brother saw the determination in my eyes and is suddenly training harder.


    ¡­shouldn¡¯t you be the type who always give your best? Have I really missed your true character this much?


    Damn poop-brother.

 Chapter 5 : A Winter to Remember (Part 2)

    It¡¯s been four weeks now. It took me a little more than two and a half weeks to be able to deal with all the aura damage accumulated from splitting wood, but I have managed to surpass it.


    Then, half a week I expended preparing terrain.


    I asked mother to be allowed to train for a few days, only so I could create a fa?ade for learning to do three swings.


    She negated vehemently, and father also didn¡¯t approve of me getting off my wood splitting duties to try and learn the new technique.


    It was a bit annoying, but I expended half of the week focusing on doing a little more than the needed amount of split wood.


    Expending a morning¡¯s worth of aura to cut a day¡¯s worth of wood is a thing. But to try and recover enough aura to do it again with just a few daily hours¡­ considering I wasn¡¯t dispensed from spear training as well, this meant I could skip only body strengthening training and sword swing training to try and recover aura to do extra splitting.


    So, I only accumulated enough extra wood by the end of the week. Then mother accepted for me to try the sword swings once.


    Of course I was able to do three.


    I went a bit overboard with the act, so it looked like the result of a lot of effort and desire, but that meant I passed out for a few hours after doing that.


    It was super effective.


    Father believed and Jacen was motivated, but not downhearted. Sister also seemed to think something on the lines of ¡°well done¡±.


    ¡­


    I feel a bit guilty.


    Sorry guys, this isn¡¯t the fruit of late night training and surpassing my limits.


    This is just cheat talent I was born with.


    Please don¡¯t hate me.


    Please don¡¯t compliment me as well. It hurts.


    ¡­


    Well, the result was ¨C I learned the cladding technique, and expended the last week practicing it.


    Jacen is well more advanced in it than I thought he would be, and I might say he has almost surpassed my own skill.


    To surpass my cheat skills with effort alone.


    As I thought brother, you are an achiever.


    So, today father will test our cladding. If we pass we get to learn the next step in the technique. If we fail, we lose the chance.


    Let¡¯s put a good fa?ade here as well.


    ***


    In the end I lost.


    How come?


    Well, I prepared myself to put up the fa?ade, but¡­


    ¡°Very well All, let¡¯s test yours now. Clad your twig and put it here.¡±


    Father was pointing to the splitting stump. It¡¯s an old three stump we use as the base for splitting the wood.


    What is supposed to happen?


    Well, if I look at Jacen¡¯s test I¡¯m supposed to clad my weapon (my spear twig) with aura, and then put it on the stump.


    Father will hit it with the axe, and if it is hard enough to withstand a single hit I will pass.


    Jacen passed by a hair breath. His aura got exhausted almost immediately and his twig had a small mark by the end.


    He is laid on the ground over there.


    And now is my turn.


    The problem is, I don¡¯t have almost any aura left.


    I¡¯m confident I can do as much as Jacen if I have my aura as usual, but I depleted almost all of it earlier.


    This is so unfair!


    ¡°Pa, I don¡¯t have aura!¡±


    Why are you smiling, old fart?


    ¡°No matter. Do it anyway.¡±


    I did it and he obviously split my twig in half without any effort.


    I¡¯m done. My aura is totally drained now.


    So I will just go and sleep a bit.


    ***


    I woke up when dinner was being served. I ate with everyone, but I was feeling like I had been cheated.


    Father was giggling when sister gave her impressions on today¡¯s events.


    ¡°Usually All have much more aura than Jacen, so I was surprised. It was smart.¡±


    Smart. You call that cheating smart?!


    I will have a say on this!


    ¡°No! It was unfair! I want a remach!¡±


    Father is openly laughing now.


    I look at him with a piercing glare.


    He patted my head and turned a bit more serious. It seems this thing was his plan all along.


    ¡°Listen All. In real life you have to be prepared for this kind of things. You have a faster aura speed recovery than the usual person, but you have also a hard time controlling it, so you have to put more effort in training that. If I let you take the test while rested, you would have passed even if your control was poor and the twig was soft. Because you would use a lot to compensate for having a bad control. Do you understand?¡±


    Well, he is mistaken about the part where I supposedly don¡¯t have good control of my aura. I would say I have top skills in that area. But he isn¡¯t wrong.


    ¡°It¡¯s important to control well your aura. So keep training. In one or two months from now I will let you repeat the test, okay?¡±


    So, roughly the same amount of time brother took to do it.


    In another words, he is trying to make me try harder to compensate for my ¡°lack¡± of talent.


    ¡­well, so be it. However.


    ¡°But will father teach me then? Don¡¯t you have to work?¡±


    ¡°The difference between hardening and sharpening is small. I can teach you easily, and your brother can do it as well. Then you can try for yourself to learn how to use both at the same time.¡±


    That is the skill I want to learn.


    Sharpening.


    If I learn how to sharpen my weapons, wouldn¡¯t even a twig become a dreadful weapon?


    Plus, I will be able to use it on the axe and finish my chores quickly.


    Still, a whole month of pretending to suck at aura control.


    Lying was a bad move after all.


    ***


    I¡¯m ashamed of myself.


    I¡¯m seriously ashamed.


    It happened during hot bath today.


    I won¡¯t tell what happened.


    Not at all.


    I will forget it.


    It¡¯s already too difficult for me to keep my lust in check with the image of sister in the nude glued to my head. Now with this on top of that¡­.


    ¡­yeah, we have been taking baths together for some time now.


    Since no disgusting accidents ever happened with me on the bath, mother and father have entrusted me to sister.


    She, me and brother have been taking the hot baths together ever since. It¡¯s a bit embarrassing, really. I thought it was weird from the first day, to be fair.


    Cleaning the front part of the body like that.


    But it¡¯s all this poop-world¡¯s fault, right?


    ¡­or isn¡¯t it?


    How people on earth take care of this kind of stuff?


    ¡­


    That¡¯s it. I will just forget about this and go to sleep. Forget! My lustful memories filled with sin and corruption! Bygone at once, I expel thee!


    ***


    Mother has been making medicine. Which is super weird, because we aren¡¯t in the winter anymore.


    During winter many villagers get sick with colds, the flu or stomach pains because of badly preserved food.


    Of course the whole village acts to help in those times. We are a small village, so people dying suddenly increase everyone¡¯s burden on protecting the place and producing more crops.


    If the situation is very serious, someone will try using healing and detoxification magic even.


    However, usually this much isn¡¯t needed or wanted. Since the aura damage for those spells isn¡¯t small, we tend to avoid using them. And that¡¯s why we use herbal medicines, like pinebush (rosemary) essence for clearing one¡¯s nose.


    Most people seem to have this kind of basic knowledge in the village, but today mother is making something unusual.


    Not only because we are in spring already, and therefore cases of cold or flu shouldn¡¯t be abundant, but also because she is using the special pot.


    That is, the pot where she keeps her weird, more potent and powerful herbs.


    There are plenty of plants there I don¡¯t know, and some which just vaguely resemble plants from earth.


    But the most important thing is, those plants aren¡¯t common.


    Mother has learned how to deal with them from grandmother¡¯s knowledge and a lot of personal skill and talent. But those herbs are top class stuff, and very dangerous if used in the wrong amounts.


    Some of them can even kill.


    That¡¯s why mother keeps them stored on the highest shelf on the kitchen and the further in the back as she can.


    Even she has to use a stool to get it. So, today¡¯s lesson is on advanced medicine making.


    ¡°All, go outside. Ma has to make special medicine for your grandpa.¡±


    ¡°But Ma, I want to learn!¡±


    ¡°No. This is too dangerous. I will teach you when you get older.¡±


    ¡­seriously? I have been doing this since I was one-and-a-half years old! Give me some credit here!


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    ¡°Ma, let me help you!¡±


    I approached the table. Then it happened.


    I was suddenly taken by her and carried on a rude manner.


    She sat on a stool in the backyard and put me on her knee.


    This¡­ this isn¡¯t what I¡¯m thinking, right?


    You won¡¯t do it, right?


    This is too barbaric! You can do it with Jacen, but not with me!


    Ma, not with me, no!


    She slapped my butt.


    She slapped it so hard I couldn¡¯t help but let a surprised sound get out of my mouth.


    She isn¡¯t holding back.


    There was even aura on that attack. Probably because she sensed I was releasing my own automatically.


    It hurt. It hurt bad.


    Then she did it again.


    I¡¯m accumulating a lot of aura damage. I can¡¯t even react. I¡¯m just too surprised.


    Ah, my eyes are watering out.


    I¡¯m going to cry.


    After a long time playing the big boy, training as if I was getting ready to become an adult¡­ I¡¯m crying again.


    This is so humiliating. Why do that to me, Ma?


    She slapped my bottom quite a few more times, until she was satisfied. In the end I had no more aura left.


    I¡¯m just a young child after all. Had I been getting too high on my image of myself?


    Here I was, all happy that I could lift a 3kg axe a few times. Or my own weight with my arms.


    I have seriously overestimated myself. I shouldn¡¯t get so cocky.


    Mother¡¯s spanking finished with a scolding.


    ¡°When I say it¡¯s dangerous, it¡¯s dangerous! Don¡¯t come if I don¡¯t allow you to!¡±


    ¡°Yes Ma.¡±


    ¡°What else?¡±


    ¡°¡­I¡¯m sorry Ma. I won¡¯t do it again.¡±


    I might have become too entranced on this world¡¯s new stuff.


    Suddenly the whole of my past life bitterness comes to me. I¡¯m making a really ugly face.


    Ugh.


    Woman. Mothers. They are all the same. They will hit you and humiliate you. They will destroy you for trying to help and do good things. Even when they are wrong. Even when they are the ignorant ones. The stupid ones doing stuff without knowing what they are doing.


    They are just the worse.


    *sigh* ¡°Now, come here¡­ you don¡¯t need to make that face. Ma just want¡¯s what is better for you, okay?¡±


    Mother is patting my back and burying my face on her skirt.


    I start crying again. This time something else comes out. It¡¯s not just my body that¡¯s crying. My soul and my mind, my memories of another time.


    This mother of mine will have to bear the grudge of two lives. Even If it¡¯s unfair, I cannot do anything about it.


    It¡¯s just how I feel.


    ¡°All¡­ Alvin, son.¡±


    She is patting my head.


    ¡°Thinking well, this is the first time I hit you, right? You have been a good boy all this time. But I can¡¯t let you get close to those. Even if I have taught you about others, those are too dangerous, okay? Listen to Mama on this.¡±


    ¡°Okay Ma¡­.¡±


    It¡¯s finally over. My heart is steeled.


    But I cannot love mother the same way again.


    Have I just fallen in the same mistakes as the ¡°I¡± in my previous life?


    Maybe I should just forget what happened today.


    Let¡¯s do this. Consciously forget what happened.


    ¡­


    It¡¯s not getting any better. I still look at mother with different eyes, even if I don¡¯t remember what happened.


    As I thought, even if I forget something consciously, that¡¯s just from my conscience. My subconscious mind still keeps record of everything I lived.


    That is the limitation of my Perfect Memory. Or should I say that it is insurance?


    ***


    It¡¯s been little less than a week now.


    Since the spanking.


    I have to say, this really is a loving family.


    For the first day I actually reverted to my old self. I overslept and quit training. I stopped doing anything, and didn¡¯t even wanted to eat.


    It was depression all over again, but there are no medics in this world, so I can¡¯t get any happy pills.


    Still, father and mother pulled me out of it.


    They would get me to the table with a smile, and pat me in the head.


    Ann started to sleep with me, and even Jacen patted me in the head one at breakfast in the second day.


    Even though I was being mean, spoiled and stubborn, once it crossed the simple line of children stubbornness they wouldn¡¯t push on it.


    They wouldn¡¯t hurt me more in order to reaffirm what they did.


    That is, mother wouldn¡¯t hurt me more to justify the delusion of ¡°that wasn¡¯t a big thing at all¡±.


    It was a big thing for me. It¡¯s something she did and would do again without a hitch of doubt.


    But it wasn¡¯t something bad, it wasn¡¯t something meaning she didn¡¯t love me.


    It wasn¡¯t a ¡°little bitterness to compensate the sweetness of love¡± either. There is no such thing as being bitter and evil because too much love is bad.


    The love is fine. Giving yourself to your own satisfaction and being irresponsible trying to receive more proves of love from your children. That is what spoiling a child is. Not too much love, but too much weakness of heart to endure the children thinking bad things of you, when you did what you did for a fair reason.


    It was the needed heat to forge steel out of iron. It was like when father scolded Jacen, even if father loved him so much.


    Wouldn¡¯t it be easy for father?


    To have Jacen do silly stuff and congratulate him?


    Differently from me, Jacen doesn¡¯t seem to think it¡¯s good to have a hard but fair coach. He doesn¡¯t see the playfulness I see in a hard master which makes you get better by being good at being a teacher.


    He only sees a father which is displeased and hurting him with his displeasure.


    Still, that shouldn¡¯t be brought to the table, that shouldn¡¯t offset the parent. Even when Jacen cried, even when Jacen was stubborn, even when Jacen was depressed for doing something bad and being rightfully reprimanded.


    Even then father received him at the table with a smile. Even then father rugged him to help get rid of sadness.


    Even when I did something mother was right to fear me doing, and was rightfully punished, the punishment ended there.


    There was no more punishment at dinner, breakfast or in the days.


    There was just loving. There was just helping me heal from my sadness and depression.


    Because the sadness isn¡¯t part of the punishment. Because mother doesn¡¯t want for me to feel bad or sad.


    Because mother just wanted to stop me before I became conceited and did things without hearing her.


    Spanking wasn¡¯t a way to humiliate me. To make me a bad person and enslave me in a shadow of depression.


    It was just to wake me up to her warnings and limits.


    All of that I realized with such simple acts. With such simple feelings and beauty. The beauty of a loving family.


    Thank you goddess dear, for giving me this family.


    Thank you.


    ***


    The gossiping hags are at it again. I usually get freedom from hearing their poisonous words, but today mother had a huge amount of sewing to do ¨C so she took me from spear training after the afternoon snack and made me knit and sew with her.


    That because Jacen¡¯s clothes had become too small for him, so she is opening some of them and sewing more cloth into the existing shape.


    It¡¯s a temporary measure while she doesn¡¯t knit him at least one or two new sets of clothing, but it¡¯s also a needed measure.


    He just hit a small growth spurt which mother intended to countermeasure by giving him one of sister¡¯s old clothes, however¡­


    Sister¡¯s old clothes were no more.


    There was a rat in the house.


    More specifically, it had eaten the bottom of the old clothing chest she had in the corner of her room and eaten most of sister¡¯s old clothing.


    I was looking from the door and thought mother would just scream and run away, but for my surprise she became furious instead.


    Really furious.


    Mother became an Ashura and turned the rat and it¡¯s breed into a bloody pulp with her own hand.


    The worst part of all¡­ she kept a half-composed smile during the whole thing.


    It was a bit sickening to see, but I understand her anger.


    Every single one of those clothes had been knitted or crocheted by hand. She made it sturdy believing someday a new son or daughter would be born and she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about that.


    And now those rats had taken it to make their nest.


    Scary.


    Mother can be scary.


    Father protect us from this Ashura¡¯s anger!


    Or, rather, protect me from this old snake¡¯s venom also! It¡¯s hard to listen to it without losing my mind!


    ***

 Extra Chapter 8 : Hot Bath Day (2)

    Disclaimer: This chapter has commentaries of genital nature with hints of sexual meaning regarding underage fictional characters. There isn¡¯t any sex act, but more sensitive audiences should be warned.


    Today is hot bath day. First of the year.


    And we will go first again.


    Me and Jacen, that is.


    But today Alvin will join us as well.


    Why should it be my responsibility to take care of bathing both of them?!


    Well, no use complaining. It¡¯s only because I do this that mother allows me to bath first.


    Let¡¯s go.


    Sandals are ready.


    The water is warm already, and the fire seems to have enough fuel.


    ¡°Okay, both of you can take your clothes off.¡±


    Jacen strips his clothes in a few seconds only. Alvin is taking his time, but it doesn¡¯t matter.


    He probably has a stiff.


    Jacen was like this in his age as well. But he wasn¡¯t ashamed of it. He would even ask me to rub him when I was bathing him. Mother said it¡¯s normal in kids this age. That they don¡¯t know what they are doing and I should just ignore it.


    There. He is ready to start. I take my own clothes off and take the towel.


    I rub his back, armpits, arms, groin, butt and legs. He is also using sandals since the kitchen is bare ground, so I ask him to seat on the stool at once, so I can rub the soils of his feet. He himself takes care of rubbing his neck, face and ears.


    ¡°Can you wash it yourself?¡±


    He nods and wash his manhood by himself. Meanwhile I take one of the buckets and splash some water in his hair. I scrub it with one hand while washing with the other, and get all the dirt out of it.


    It¡¯s finally over with him.


    ¡°I will wash All now.¡±


    He gets out of the stool and I look at All.


    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you took your clothes out yet?¡±


    All is still wearing his pants. He looks troubled.


    ¡°Take it off, common.¡±


    He obediently starts to take his pants down.


    So slow!


    ¡°Here, I will help you.¡±


    I take his pants down and seat him in the stool.


    He has a stiff, indeed. That must be why he is embarrassed. He always gets embarrassed when people notice that he has one.


    Well, I will just finish quick and we can take our bath.


    I take a towel and start rubbing him.


    It¡¯s no use giving him one, since he doesn¡¯t know how to bathe.


    So I rub him like I did with Jacen, except for two things.


    First, I begin with his face, neck and ears.


    Second, I wash his manhood myself.


    Or I try to.


    The moment I get close to it he closes his legs.


    ¡°Stop that All. I have to clean you.¡±


    ¡°Ah, onee-chan¡­ that place¡­ it¡¯s no good..¡±


    Onee-chan, onee-chan, always this weird thing he invented. Why doesn¡¯t he call me ¡°older sister¡± or ¡°Ann¡± like everybody else?


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    I¡¯m not anger at him, but it¡¯s weird he hasn¡¯t forgotten this weird word. He invented it when he was much younger and didn¡¯t knew his words, so shouldn¡¯t it have disappeared by now?


    Whatever.


    ¡°What is what? Stop being silly. You have to wash everything, or you can get a disease. Mother told me so.¡±


    ¡°T-then I will do it myself.¡±


    ¡°Do you know how?¡±


    I present him with the towel.


    Why am I feeling a bit disappointed?


    What a weird thing.


    Forget it. Doesn¡¯t matter.


    ¡°Ah.. onee-chan¡­ I¡­ shouldn¡¯t but I¡­ n-no.. I¡­¡±


    There, he opened his legs, finally. Not without some rubberish mumbling.


    I take it between my fingers, pull down gently and rub it. And it¡¯s done.


    Why is he flinching? It¡¯s cute seeing how red he is, but there shouldn¡¯t be any reason for that.


    ¡­ I want to tease him a little. But that¡¯s stupid.


    Next I take the bucket and wash his hair.


    It¡¯s my turn to wash now.


    ¡°Okay, both of you can get in the tub. I will wash myself.¡±


    Jacen didn¡¯t lose a moment. He jumps on the tub splashing water everywhere.


    ¡°Good heavens Jacen, didn¡¯t I told you not to jump in the tub?! You are wasting water!¡±


    Water I had to fetch for half a day!


    At least All hasn¡¯t jumped in a well.


    ¡­ he isn¡¯t there.


    He is here still.


    ¡°All. You can go.¡±


    ¡°Ah.. no.. I¡­ sis¡­ can I help you wash?¡±


    What is this?


    Isn¡¯t this brother of mine the cutest?


    I can¡¯t get mad at him.


    And there comes Jacen.


    ¡°Ann! Me too!¡±


    And now he is walking on the bare ground without his sandals.


    The sole of his feet is all dirty, no doubt. I will have to scrub it again.


    But still, I can¡¯t get mad at them.


    I take two towels and give one to each of them.


    ¡°Okay, you can rub my legs.¡±


    So they start helping me wash. Jacen is just a mess, but All is doing it well.


    ¡­ isn¡¯t All reaching to some pretty weird places?


    I guess he is curious, but I shouldn¡¯t let he do it.


    I don¡¯t really mind if he touches¡­ but mother is very strict with these things¡­ she may forbid me to take bath first if I let this keep going.


    ¡°All.¡±


    ¡°W-what¡­¡±


    ¡°I will wash that myself. No need to help.¡±


    ¡°S..sorry.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡±


    Well, he is scrubbing my legs again.


    All is good when it ends good.


    Then, after washing Jacen¡¯s feet again, we could finally enjoy the bath.


    ¡°Puaaah!¡±


    ¡°Puaaah!¡±


    ¡°¡­bllrrr..¡±

 Extra Chapter 9: Hags Poison

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see? How she moved her hips when she talked to them?¡±


    ¡°What, all of them at once?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you know how she likes more than one. Also, you know what she is like, right?¡±


    ¡°The main source of income for the family, that is for sure.¡±


    ¡°Could you not say such things? My husband wouldn¡¯t fall for such vulgar tricks.¡±


    ¡°That husband of yours would fall even on his all feet!¡±


    ¡°Well, Alice surely has something to say about that, right?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t push me. You know I don¡¯t do this kind of things.¡±


    ¡°Common, not even once?¡±


    ¡°Matilda!¡±


    ¡°Oh, spear me the lesson. Everyone has done it at some point.¡±


    ¡°Well, at least you we know have!¡±


    ¡°Very funny. I won¡¯t be giving you that recipe then.¡±


    ¡°Do as you will. It¡¯s not my daughter who is engaged to my son¡­¡±


    ¡°Really? For a stew recipe?¡±


    ¡°For only this much?¡±


    ¡°That is low.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just joking, you know that.¡±


    ¡°Sure I do. Let¡¯s pretend this never happened.¡±


    ¡°Again.¡±


    ¡°Hahahahaha¡±


    ¡°But then, at least it isn¡¯t Alice going around like that.¡±


    ¡°If it was Alice then all of us would be doomed, right?¡±


    ¡°Your husband¡¯s pigs would quit existing pretty fast, that is for sure!¡±


    ¡°Again this story. That didn¡¯t happen.¡±


    ¡°She is a home girl.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s be thankful for that.¡±


    ¡°Oh, did you see how that boy returned from the forest?¡±


    ¡°Poor thing. He should have taken better care of himself.¡±


    ¡°I heard it was a wild boar. It¡¯s a shame. That will leave a scar.¡±


    ¡°He was so handsome.¡±


    ¡°A shame he would never go out with you.¡±


    ¡°Or you¡±


    ¡°Common girls, you all know very well that he would never go out with any of us.¡±


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°That only makes me want to try, though¡±


    ¡°Of course it does¡±


    ¡°What a mean thing to say¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean it that way dear.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡±


    ¡°Also, even if you did try, you know it would be useless, so...¡±


    ¡°Why those three of all people?¡±


    ¡°But do they do it together?¡±


    ¡°I heard only two live like that.¡±


    ¡°Then what do the third does? He isn¡¯t married at that age.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember? He is the one with the wound.¡±


    ¡°Good heavens.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Such a pity. Such a young boy also.¡±


    ¡°He isn¡¯t so young anymore.¡±


    ¡°Ah, the only one who remains young forever is Alice.¡±


    ¡°Well, mother also seems very young.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being sincere darling, but no one would envy your mother¡±


    ¡°That is true¡±


    ¡°You two!¡±


    ¡°What can I do, it IS the truth!¡±


    ¡°Enough of this.¡±


    ¡°Why are you all so defensive? Everyone knows it.¡±


    ¡°All, son, stop that. You made a mistake. Here, start again from this part.¡±


    ¡°Your boy is so helpful.¡±


    ¡°To think he would be able to learn at this age.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that amazing?¡±


    ¡°I guess this is talent for you.¡±


    ¡°Or is it because of something else?¡±


    ¡°Hahahahah¡±


    ¡°Whay do you say All?¡±


    ¡°Uh?¡±


    ¡°Hahahahaha¡±


    ¡°So adorable¡±


    ¡°Here cutie. Let aunt Rina give you a hug.¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°Oh my Rina, the young boy has graduated from your charms already!¡±


    ¡°But he surely was energetic earlier!¡±


    ¡°Well, he is young¡±


    ¡°Oh, talking about young, did you see¡­¡±

 Chapter 6: Confession (Part 1)

    Since last week i posted with a delay, this week i will post earlier.


    ========================================================================


    Volume 1


    Chapter 6


    Our rat problem got worse.


    They seem to be everywhere.


    They have infiltrated our food stocks, our bedrooms, my firewood cabin¡­ even the toiled had a few in an underground nest.


    I managed to see many Ashura the last few days. The whole family has showed me a side I didn¡¯t knew existed.


    There is no mercy for the poor rats.


    Or should I say, there is no mercy for these damn bastards?!


    They ate our food!


    We are eating shitty soups and even more meager meals because they ate and spoiled so much.


    We cannot eat anything the rats have eaten, because they may have pissed or pooped in it and their excrements usually carry a lot of diseases. It¡¯s almost certain to get diarrhea for two weeks if you eat rat excrement. That if you don¡¯t get something worse.


    Father didn¡¯t even try to decontaminate it with detoxification magic. It was just too much spoiled food.


    Almost our entire pantry.


    I could eat it, of course, since I don¡¯t get sick. But the family doesn¡¯t know it, so I share everyone¡¯s fate.


    The fate of eating only meager and spare food.


    This requires for me to explain better.


    The village doesn¡¯t recognize land ownership. First, because no one of common background owns land in this place.


    We live in a county inside a kingdom. So the land here belongs in first place to royalty, and in second place to nobility.


    What the village have is usage permission from the local Lord.


    The lord allows for the villagers to have farms around the place, both for planting as well as for raising livestock.


    So most of the villagers are farmers, exception for a few people like father.


    Father is a militia guard. The militia receives a stipend from the Lord, but since it would be useless in a small village like ours, with less than twenty families spread on some thirty houses or something, they don¡¯t get it in money.


    Instead, they get it in food and goods.


    Besides father, the non-farmers of the village include a blacksmith and a brewer master. They are the ones who produce the beer and iron goods we may need.


    We also have a few hunters. It seems they are in a number of five. They are the ones who get wild animal¡¯s meat and leather for us. They also tan all the leather produced in the village. However, since in spring they don¡¯t hunt much, it could be said they are half-farmers.


    All of those are paid by the villagers with food, goods and services.


    So of course there would be almost no use for currency amongst us.


    Instead the militia¡¯s pay is taken from the Lord¡¯s taxes. It¡¯s the militia¡¯s chef duty to correctly collect the taxes, separate the part of the militia, and then give them to the Lord¡¯s men when they come, once a year.


    Which means father only gets paid once a year as well ¨C at the end of harvest¡¯s season.


    So the rats eating our pantry means the rats eating not only our food, but also all the ¡°money¡± we had stored to buy anything.


    Of course, we won¡¯t starve.


    We have chickens on the backyard, and grandmother has sent us some staple food. Plus, if we really need we can beg our neighbors for some help. That happens sometimes, and the whole village helps when it¡¯s the case.


    But still, it¡¯s only because of those damn rats!


    ***


    The rats have started attacking our chickens.


    Two of them were dead this morning.


    This isn¡¯t a joke anymore.


    These things can get us to starve and reduce our whole family to live by the goodwill of others.


    Everyone is in a state of alert.


    Father took a day out of work.


    Ann has stopped training for today.


    The neighbor wives have come to help.


    Mother has demanded Jacen stay at home and help. Even Jacen¡¯s friend, a boy who¡¯s one year older, has come as well.


    Today is rat hunting day.


    We have to find them, and kill them all. We don¡¯t know where they came from, but after eating all of our pantry they could spread around the village and cause a disaster.


    A rat infestation in the whole village. This would be catastrophic.


    So we started hunting them.


    ***


    We found five nests until now. Two hidden in the ceiling, one in the empty pantry, two in the backyard.


    No matter how one looks at it, it¡¯s just too many rats. Something weird is going on here.


    Father has decided to call for help from the hunters. A small and well-build man came to our house the next day.


    He talked with father in an easy tone, until it was time to start searching. Then he became totally different.


    Focused, silent.


    He looked around attentively and I immediately felt something tingling around me.


    That¡¯s aura, I have no doubt. And it seems to be aura like the one I developed to be able to manipulate my own qi beyond my body. It wriggles and touches stuff, reacting and adapting as if alive.


    It¡¯s aura with ¡°nerves¡± on it.


    I guess this is a hunting technique, and another defeat for me. He is really good at this. I can¡¯t come even close to reach such a wide range with my aura.


    Not only the amount needed is over twice what I have now, the amount of information he must be receiving and processing with his brain is much more than I usually have to deal with.


    It didn¡¯t take long for him to find the problem.


    It was outside.


    Buried deeply in the ground, he sensed the source of our misery.


    We started digging, and after a couple hours¡¯ father and the hunter uncovered the nest.


    The thing was as big as a dog, and it had a huge, swollen belly. There were a lot of other, normal rats around it, and father did his best to kill all of them as well.


    It was a monster called a ¡°hex rat¡±. It¡¯s main power is to give birth to wave after wave of a big number of rats.


    Since it can easily plague and destroy whole villages, they called it a hex. Even if it¡¯s one of the weakest types of monsters, with zero mobility and no fighting power at all.


    Father knows it well, as adventurers are seldom paid to deal with it, but he said that wasn¡¯t good news.


    Because hex rats become so in a distinctive way.


    When a common wild rat eats monster meat, it hurriedly dives deep into the ground and hibernate for months at once.


    When it finally wakes up, the monster will give birth to wave after wave of rats for weeks, until it dies of starvation.


    Then things will return to normal.


    They are monsters which are mostly harmless in a dungeon or in the wild, but they become very problematic on a human settling.


    Also, they pose a problem for me personally.


    That is the fact that hex rats don¡¯t burrow much further from the place where it feed from monster meat. It¡¯s almost instantaneous. It eats and then dig.


    So it must have feed in our backyard.


    Father took another day off to search the backyard for clues, and looked everywhere to try and find signs of monster invasion.


    But he won¡¯t find them, will he?


    It¡¯s the fruit of my recklessness after all.


    ***


    I have been feeling pretty horrible the last couple weeks.


    Not that this world has the concept of ¡°weeks¡±. It¡¯s just an entire month hasn¡¯t gone by yet.


    Still.


    All of my ingenious techniques to become stronger seem to already exist in this world.


    Not only that, but stronger techniques exist as well.


    My experimentation with aura was reckless, and give birth to a huge problem for our family.


    Everyone got affected in a negative way.


    And that is only the beginning of my family problems.


    I have allowed myself to be taken by lust, to defy my mother, to lie to all of them, to repress feelings I can¡¯t deal with, but which are still eating me alive inside.


    And all of that brought forth no positive results at all.


    I thought I ought to be a cheat character in a fantasy world, so why do I feel to lag behind so much? To have failed so much?


    It¡¯s such a heavy burden. My whole body feels heavy. Almost as if I had returned to my fat days.


    Maybe I¡¯m just putting the cart in front of the horses.


    I have underestimated this world. I thought I would come here and be an expert in everything just because it has similarities to my own world.


    But it seems I have been wrong.


    This third year of my life have come with a realization.


    I was arrogant and impulsive. I must take time to learn again.


    Let¡¯s not give up. Let¡¯s persevere. Not in the same path, but with a new attitude.


    Should I just stop pretending and get ahead of them in everything?


    Should I just stop worrying about how the family will see me?


    No. I shouldn¡¯t do that. That¡¯s just another path to failure.


    I need to learn to be sincerer and open. But I must also learn how to do it without upsetting too much the balance of this family.


    I love them, I want to be loved by them.


    Someday, maybe, I can tell them my whole story even.


    But until there, let¡¯s be a little more ¡°me¡±, and also show then that I am ¡°me¡±.


    Let¡¯s apologize. Let¡¯s be sincere. And let¡¯s do it calmly.


    First the thing I know I can do.


    I will be sincere with them about my aura control, and I will be sincere about the whole deal with the monster earthworm.


    Let¡¯s do this.


    ***


    It was dinner time, and it was normal.


    Everyone was talking as if nothing had happened wrong. As if no one knew who was the one responsible for the meager dinner we were having.


    Beer, thin soup and boiled eggs.


    Just this much.


    And they indeed didn¡¯t know yet. But I knew. I knew.


    I wanted to tell, but I was afraid.


    Will they stop loving me?


    Will Jacen become somewhat mad that I have been lying to him?


    How will father and mother react?


    And Ann?


    Should I tell her I touched her knowingly?


    ¡­I¡¯m scared. I¡¯m afraid.


    Still, I can¡¯t bear it.


    Every single time I see father taking the spoon to his mouth with a dismayed look.


    Every single time I see Jacen with a face like ¡°I don¡¯t like it, but ok, it¡¯s food¡±.


    When I look at Ann and notice the small wrinkles of dissatisfaction on her face.


    I¡¯m guilty. I¡¯m guilty. I¡¯m guilty.


    I¡¯m guilty of too many things.


    I.. I need to talk¡­ I need to confess¡­ I need to be forgiven.


    But will I?


    I finally can¡¯t endure it anymore. Dinner is almost over. Mother is asking why I haven¡¯t touched my soup yet.


    ¡°Alvin. Why don¡¯t you want to eat? Is it bad?¡±


    I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t been able to sense taste for days now.


    I can¡¯t do it anymore.


    I can¡¯t keep it inside.


    ¡°I DID IT! IT WAS ME! I¡¯M SORRY!¡±


    I start to cry torrentially.


    This cry. It¡¯s just like the one that time. It¡¯s strong. It comes from somewhere deep.


    I feel that my body is being pulled towards something soft. I don¡¯t know what it is. I can¡¯t see, I can¡¯t hear. It¡¯s all crying for now. I bury my face in it and sob.


    I sob, and sob, and sob.


    Until I¡¯m almost done.


    Then I¡¯m released gently.


    ¡°There son, what happened?¡±


    It was mother who gave me a hug.


    I talk while hiccupping.


    ¡°It¡­ was¡­ me¡­ I hide from you¡­ I did.. I am guilty!¡±


    She patted my head a bit. I could feel father¡¯s hand on my shoulder.


    ¡°Calm down Alvin. And tell us what happened¡±


    I feel so fragile right now. I just want to obey. It¡¯s acceptance I guess.


    There is no more point for strength. For hiding. For keeping things concealed.


    I started to talk.


    I talked about how I could do lots of aura control, but didn¡¯t want them to know about it.


    I talked about how I thought Jacen would be down if I showed my whole skill. I said I loved him, but I felt false when I pretended.


    I talked about how I discovered about body strengthening from an early age and had been practicing it instead of trying to do slashes.


    I talked about how I got entangled on these lies.


    Then I talked about how I had developed a way to insert aura on things. On how I had created two monsters, and how I thought the monstrous earthworm was why the hex rat had been born.


    And then¡­ finally¡­ I talked about how I touched sister in the bath. I said I knew I was doing something bad and that I couldn¡¯t control myself. That I felt I liked her. That I wanted her in a sense I shouldn¡¯t want.


    In the end I managed to hold my tongue on being a reincarnated person and also the things related to that, but I told them a lot.


    Even the thing about sister was said.


    So I was ready for anything.


    But no one talked.


    It was a long silence. At least mother¡¯s hands still held my shoulders.


    What will happen to me now?


    ***


    It started plainly. Father took me to his lap and slapped me. Then again, and again and again.


    He slapped strongly at first, but he didn¡¯t stop when my aura was depleted. He kept going for a while.


    He only stopped when I snapped out of it.


    That weird state I was in, I mean.


    I was totally passive. I just accepted it as my punishment and let it be. Just hit me. Hit me stronger so I stop feeling so bad about myself.


    Then, eventually it faded away and I started to react. My muscles tensed a bit and he probably felt I had changed a bit.


    Everyone is looking at me with bad eyes.


    I feel terrible.


    ¡°Alvin. That was very bad. Don¡¯t do it ever again. Don¡¯t you EVER again lie to us like this, you hear me?¡±


    Father is angry. I have made father angry. That easy-going and happy father. Angry.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°Apologize to your sister first.¡±


    I turned to Ann and kneeled to the ground. Then I hung my head low.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°Uhm. I don¡¯t mind.¡±


    Did she just said something really unsettling now?


    No, no, she may not mind, but I do.


    Plus, mother does as well.


    ¡°Yes you do Ann. And you won¡¯t allow him to touch you anymore.¡±


    Father may be a little more poop-worlded than mother, but I guess I won¡¯t get any support in this situation.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Ann is taking this far too naturally, isn¡¯t she?


    ¡°Now apologize to everyone.¡±


    I did as father ordered, and lowered my head for every one of them, one by one.


    ¡°Sorry Pa¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°Sorry Ma¡±


    ¡°Keep going.¡±


    ¡°Sorry Ann¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°¡­.Sorry Jacen¡±


    ¡°Stupid.¡±


    ¡­ one of them is different from the rest, isn¡¯t it?


    Well, I can¡¯t wait to be forgiven by Jacen at this point. I just hope he will forgive me in a few days.


    ¡°Apologize to your brother again¡±


    ¡­ what?


    ¡­ okay, I will do it.


    ¡°Sorry Jacen.¡±


    ¡°Stupid!¡±


    ¡°Again¡±


    ¡°Sorry¡±


    ¡°Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!¡±


    Jacen left the table and went to his room.


    ¡­ even though the one I touched was sister, why are you acting like this.


    ¡°I will go.¡±


    ¡°Uhum.¡±


    Mother went to comfort my older brother, and father remained with me and Ann.


    ¡°Alvin.¡±


    ¡°Yes Pa.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t touch your sister again. Since your sister is fine I don¡¯t think it¡¯s too bad, but your mother doesn¡¯t like it. And you Ann, make sure you don¡¯t let him touch you. If he tries tell me or your mother. We will put him back on track.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Sorry.¡±


    Sister apologized. That¡¯s a rare sight.


    Well, she doesn¡¯t do many mistakes, so that much would be expected.


    ¡°And Alvin.¡±


    ¡°¡­yes Pa.¡±


    ¡°You are not so smart as you think, so don¡¯t lie to me. If you had told me about the flesh-eating earthworm I would have told you how to take care of it. None of this would have happened.¡±


    I bite my lip.


    Should I tell him about reincarnation? About the goddess?


    No¡­ I could get out of this with just this much because they see me as a three-years-old. Plus, the goddess said it to me, right?


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    This isn¡¯t a world used to heroes. To people who come from somewhere else and do stuff. I¡¯m pretty sure it also isn¡¯t a world used to reincarnation, or they would have asked me about my previous life.


    Unless there is some kind of religious cult or sect teaching about this.


    ¡­it would make sense.


    How people are so free-minded about sex and nudity. Father even said he didn¡¯t mind me touching sister¡¯s down area since she was fine with it.


    Could it be?


    That reincarnation is common in this world?


    That my family is of reincarnated people?


    Maybe I should try¡­


    Maybe I should tell him.


    ¡°Common, spit it out.¡±


    I guess my silence and anxiety have given me away. Well, I don¡¯t know the word for [reincarnation] or if this world even has one of those, so¡­ I guess I will have to explain.


    ¡°Pa¡­ I¡­ I remembered something¡­¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I was from another place¡­ and I died¡­ and I ended up here¡­¡±


    ¡°That is just dream.¡±


    Uh.


    I guess they don¡¯t have this concept here after all.


    My mind is a bit more at ease now.


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°Right. Here is what we will do. Tomorrow I will teach you how to make rice mature. Then you will learn it and take care of increasing our meals until they pay me. It will be very hard on you, but you must make things right for what you did. That will be your new chore for a while. Understood?¡±


    How to make rice mature?


    Does he mean like the grain I had put my aura into and it germinated?


    I had thought it should be possible to mature it quickly with aura, but won¡¯t it turn into a monster?


    ¡­ I will worry about that tomorrow. If I can somewhat atone for what I did, then I don¡¯t care if we have to breed treants in the backyard and kill them to eat.


    Yes, this world has treants.


    They seem to be very common in places with high aura concentration like the surroundings of labyrinths and in old battlefields where many people died at once. Especially if it was a forest battlefield.


    Anyhow.


    ¡°Okay Pa.¡±


    ¡°Also¡­ uuhm¡­ no¡­ I have to talk with Ma first..¡±


    He murmured something.


    ¡°Go to sleep.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    I went to our room. Ann was ready to follow me, but father called her.


    ¡°Ann, stay for a bit.¡±


    And that was that.


    Should I try and listen to what will be said amongst them?


    ¡­no.


    I have a greater challenge in front of me right now.


    Jacen¡¯s eyes are piercing me like javelins.


    ***


    ¡°Now, tell Alvin what you told me.¡±


    Mother has made me kneel in front of Jacen, which is on her lap.


    I¡¯m listening attentively.


    ¡°Alvin is unfair! You don¡¯t train and you still get strong! That¡¯s unfair!¡±


    ¡­ I cannot say you are wrong poop.. no, older brother.


    You are definitely right.


    This is what I chose before reincarnating. To be stronger than others even while doing less work.


    Well.. there¡¯s more than it, though.


    After all there¡¯s all that talk about divinity seed and whatnot.


    I¡¯m useful to the goddess in a way others aren¡¯t, and because of that I¡¯m blessed with powers others don¡¯t have.


    It¡¯s the subordinate¡¯s lottery, and I just got first prize. To receive income without having to work.


    Still¡­ I would feel bad as well if someone just got stronger than me based on talent alone.


    I would feel bad.


    ¡­I do feel bad. I have experienced this is the past. In my past life. To be unable to do what other people did with ease.


    ¡­or maybe that¡¯s another kind of experience, I don¡¯t know.


    ¡°What else Jacen¡±


    ¡°¡­brother is unfair, but I¡¯m still Older Brother!¡±


    ¡°That is right. And what else?¡±


    ¡°Umu.¡±


    Jacen is patting my head.


    Well.


    Isn¡¯t mother a miracle worker.


    I wonder what he said to him. I thought he would develop into an ¡°I will kill you because you robbed me of the rights I had from birth!¡± kind of person.


    Still here he is, patting my head.


    Weird. Definitely weird.


    Wait, doesn¡¯t that means that¡­


    ¡°That is right Jacen. What do we say now?¡±


    ¡°Alvin is younger brother, and I am older brother, so forgive you.¡±


    Yep, that is it.


    Filial piety.


    The concept that family comes first than meritocracy or personal power.


    Even god incarnate must bow his head to his human mother. Isn¡¯t that how the story goes?


    On another words, that¡¯s the price for me being allowed to fully display my powers ¨C to recon Jacen as my older brother and, therefore, as someone I must respect even if he becomes weaker than me.


    ¡­


    That¡¯s not a bad price.


    He IS older than the current me and my older brother.


    Plus, the deep unconscious mind doesn¡¯t care for things like status gained by having power.


    If it¡¯s things like that, unless you have a complex or something, it won¡¯t matter.


    You should treat your older siblings as older siblings, even if you are more talented than them.


    Why?


    Because your mind will go insane if you don¡¯t.


    That is how things work. I don¡¯t know why, but that is how they work.


    So I just accepted poop-brother¡¯s patting.


    I guess¡­ in the end¡­ this was less of a tragedy than I thought it would be.


    Silly me and my silly secrets.


    Let¡¯s be more honest from now on.


    It will spare everyone trouble, including myself. And if something is wrong people can tell me about it and we avoid stuff like the crazy thoughts I had been having before this whole thing.


    ¡­the heavy conscience made me thing of some very awful things, which would have been much disgrace.


    I even thought of running away or¡­ doing bad stuff to the family, only so I felt less bad about what I did.


    Of course, I would probably feel worse.


    Sanity is a strange thing indeed. Sometimes it requires for you to ignore your deeper fears and everything that seems logic.


    Others it requires for you to ignore the rationalizations and follow your guts.


    And there is no indication as to what Is the appropriate course.


    There is only trial and error.


    So let¡¯s sleep knowing I have won the bet this time.


    At least this time¡­. I didn¡¯t go the other way. At least this time, it seems I did it right.


    I¡¯m sorry mother.


    I¡¯m sorry siblings.


    I¡¯m sorry father.


    Not Alice, John, Ann and Jacen.


    The other ones.


    I¡¯m sorry.


    ***


    Well, that was weird!


    But now I¡¯m back in shape!


    Let¡¯s start this new day with pride and energy!


    It¡¯s a new day, it¡¯s a new place, it¡¯s a brand new world!


    And I will learn some amazing things today, I¡¯m sure!


    So let¡¯s be happy and take my punishment with goodwill! I deserve it and it¡¯s more of an opportunity to undo my mistakes than something to make me feel bad, not to mention being also a way to teach me something totally new about aura, so it¡¯s wonderful!


    Opportunities of redemption are wonderful!


    Redemption is wonderful!


    ¡­


    I take it back.


    This is gruesome.


    Please father, don¡¯t make me do it again.


    Argh.


    I just finished eating a small treant and now I have to eat another.


    Plus I¡¯m super tired!


    Yeah.


    This is awful.


    ***


    Let¡¯s go back to the beginning, shall we?


    Father took me to the backyard first thing in the morning. It was even before breakfast.


    Jacen came as well, but Ann and Mother are preparing the meal for us.


    It will be just boiled eggs today.


    ¡°Now, first get some soil.¡±


    Father took the tube we use for bathing and I started to shovel some dirt inside of it. He allowed me to stop when half of the tube was full.


    ¡°Now, put a lot of water.¡±


    I started pouring water in the tube, stopping only when the dirt stopped absorbing it and a small amount remained there, as if flooded.


    The family was eating breakfast at this point, but I wasn¡¯t allowed to eat. For now on I wouldn¡¯t eat until my chores where done.


    That is what father decided.


    Then, after filling half of the tub with dirt, father told me to start pouring aura on it.


    I did as ask, but he corrected me on many aspects.


    The amount poured had to be smaller, the area covered had to be bigger, this kind of things.


    In the end I dumped a meal¡¯s worth of aura in it.


    Since I didn¡¯t do night training the night prior, that was extenuating. Father allowed me to eat an egg and do some light exercise.


    In the meanwhile, he took some garbage and started to mix it with the dirt.


    It was eggshells, pieces of herbs mother wouldn¡¯t use, chicken feathers, chicken poop, fruit remnants like orange skins, bean pods and the such.


    Usually those things would be thrown in a far corner of our backyard and let there to rot. This would attract insects, but had the plus side of producing fertilizer mother could use for the garden.


    Also, since we have the toilet in the middle of the yard, insects would appear anyway, so it wasn¡¯t make the place more prone to their appearance.


    Anyhow, as he mixed those I started to do exercise without expending aura. It took a couple hours until we went back to practice. During this time, father turned the garbage into fertilizer by using magic. It was originally his intention to have me do this, but mother talked him out of it.


    Because the next step was to use a magic father didn¡¯t tell me existed until this moment. It was called ¡°toxin magic¡± and it had the opposite effect of the ¡°detoxify¡± magic.


    Meaning it would increase the number of pathogens and toxins when applied.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s better to wait a bit more before teaching him this kind of things¡±.


    And like this mother convinced father to do that part himself. He also chanted the mantra very quietly, so I couldn¡¯t hear all of it.


    I became worried that father would expend a lot of aura to do that, but from what I can sense the use was minimal ¨C because he only enchanted a very small piece of bean pod, which started to get eroded immediately.


    If I think in terms of biology this can be explained with a terrible idea.


    If the bacterial growth and decomposition ability has been increased by magic, it would surely lead to a very fast pace of garbage eating.


    Basically it¡¯s the same concept as creating bacteria monsters.


    No. Probably those were created the moment I infused the soil with my aura. If an earthworm can only teak a week worth of aura, how much can a bacteria possible store?


    The idea of superinfections passed through my mind, but then I remembered monster corpses could make rats mutate¡­ then normal bacteria would mutate as well, I wonder?


    If this is so, then why are there any living beings in this world at all? Shouldn¡¯t we all be dead already, victim of monster bacterial infection?


    The fact there¡¯s people living around me contradicts this line of thought. Maybe the people in this world have a way to deal with monster bacteria? Or maybe bacteria don¡¯t mutate at all?


    Then how to explain the fast decomposition happening in the tube right now? Could the magic be needed to ¡°activate¡± mutation on microscopic beings?


    This is a mystery for me in the end. Well, father¡¯s still teaching me, so let¡¯s make some research in the future or something.


    ¡°Listen All. When you inject raw aura into something, it will change and you don¡¯t know what will happen. It can just destroy, or explode, or it can become a monster. The more aura you just pour in there, the more dangerous it is, because it can get beyond its natural limit and mutate into something else. So you must never infuse things with your aura directly, okay?¡±


    But then, the soil¡­


    ¡°Pa¡­ what about the dirt?¡±


    ¡°That was an exception since we needed fertilizer. Don¡¯t do it without having me around.¡±


    It¡¯s the same principle of why people don¡¯t try to accumulate aura beyond their body¡¯s limit. If they do it, they can die or mutate into monsters. Except it doesn¡¯t seem to apply to microorganisms.


    ¡°The only safe way to put aura on things is to use magic. Then you know what will happen to the thing.¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    Should I believe this is the same principle by which people can quit being simple humans and become Superior Beings?


    If it¡¯s so, then the process may be more complicated than I originally thought. My first impression was that they learned body techniques which allowed them to do that, not that they used magic.


    Should I ask father?


    ¡­


    I have learned something these past days, so let¡¯s ask.


    ¡°Pa, is that like how people become Superior Beings?¡±


    ¡°I heard there are many ways to do it son, but I don¡¯t know any. We are not talking about that now, so pay attention.¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°The magic I want you to learn is called Crop Growth. It¡¯s long and difficult, so be sure to listen. You will have to cast this from now on, so pay a lot of attention.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    The mantra was really long.


    The healing mantra had only ten words, but this one has over thirty.


    Plus, the level of singing needed to sing it is totally different. I would say it is at least three times as difficult.


    Luckily I have perfect memory, so I can try.


    Then, obviously, I failed.


    And what grew from the rice seeds I had planted on the tube wasn¡¯t rice grass, but rater weird deformed bushes with tentacles. It¡¯s only 2cm high, so it isn¡¯t menacing, but it surely is a bit unsettling.


    ¡°This is a rice treant. It¡¯s still young, but it can appear when you fail chanting Crop Growth magic.¡±


    I thought as much. That helps explain why people wait the whole year to harvest crops the old way.


    After all, Aura damage aside, if growing crops with magic is a thing, then why not use it for everyday foods and eating?


    I thought that maybe it was because the aura harvested from the crops growth by magic would be inferior, but if they grow from normal fertilizers in the soil, then it should be around the same amount of our regular food, right?


    Right?


    ¡°Now, to dispose of monsters we usually burn then. But you need the aura you have expended back, so you will cook it and then eat it.¡±


    Uh.


    Uh?!


    ¡°But Pa¡­ isn¡¯t that dangerous?¡±


    The tentacles wriggled menacingly. Father shoved his hand on the dirt and took them off.


    ¡°Not at all. These are small and rice treants aren¡¯t poisonous. But some other species are, so don¡¯t eat without asking me first. Also, if you ever produce one which is bigger than your hands, don¡¯t come near it. Call me, your mother or your sister instead.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Now, come with me. You can eat them raw if you want, but the taste is very bad. So you should at least cook them a bit before doing it. Like this.¡±


    Father cooked the rice treants and gave me them to eat.


    They taste seriously gross. It¡¯s a mixture of the chewiness of hard meat with the taste of grass and poorly cooked, unseasoned rice.


    Plus, they seem to have only a very small amount of aura. Around one tenth more than what I used to create them. In fact, this must be the first time I eat some food from this world and feel it as being outrageously low on aura.


    But if they have only 10% more aura than what I expended and common exercise gives me only a fraction of the foods aura¡­ doesn¡¯t this mean it¡¯s useless to eat it?


    I mean, it expends more energy to create than it gives when eaten.


    ¡°Pa¡­ this is too bad¡­ and it doesn¡¯t have any aura¡­¡±


    ¡°If you do the magic right it should be the same as regular food. But don¡¯t complain. You are the one responsible for the hex rat, so you will be doing that. Your mother doesn¡¯t use much of her aura, but I, Ann and Jacen use it every day for training and work. So try your best to produce normal rice soon, okay?¡±


    ¡°¡­yes. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind that. It was just a mistake. But it was your fault, so work hard to make up for it.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Common All. Will you do it?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Say it louder son.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Good. Now back to practice. I will sing the spell again, and you try to remember it.¡±


    I can remember it already, but this is part of the secrets I don¡¯t want to tell father yet.

 Chapter 6: Confession (part 2)

    Today in gross kitchen!


    Chef Alvin has seen himself in a difficult situation!


    Only a few days ago, the Chef admitted his crimes to his family!


    The sexual harassment of his sister was brushed off with a warning because she didn¡¯t care, but he wasn¡¯t forgiven for almost driving the family to extreme poverty, to the point where they had to ask the grandmother for food!


    Then, in an impressive turn of events, Chef Alvin was presented with a totally new daily routine!


    He is now training hard to achieve mastery in rice-treant cooking!


    What do you have for us, Chef?


    Good morning Chef. I have a nice plate of medium-sized grilled rice-treant with vinegar and garlic reduction.


    Ok. Presentation is pretty bad. You should have put more effort in making the tentacles look less¡­ tentacly.


    I hope it¡¯s at least cooked right and¡­.


    I can¡¯t believe this.


    I fucking seriously can¡¯t believe this shit!


    It¡¯s pink!


    Oh no.


    Pinky treant! I can¡¯t believe you served me raw, pinky treant! Are you trying to kill me young man?


    No chef! I¡¯m sorry chef!


    Take this out of here. You don¡¯t deserve to work at Fantasy World Fine Cuisine and Barbecue!


    I¡¯m sorry chef, but no one else wants to cook this chef!


    ¡­ dammit.


    ***


    Bonjour monsieur.


    Today we have a nice plate of boiled rice treant. It has no salt or condiments because mother became furious when she discovered I used the vinegar last time.


    Could I get you a few servings sir?


    No?


    I¡¯m sorry sir. I¡¯m required to make you eat it all.


    No sir, you cannot ditch it on the ground. Please remember what happened the last time you ditched monster corpse in the yard sir.


    Thank you sir. Have a nice day.


    ***


    Welcome, to Alvin¡¯s Crazy Show!


    Today, will Alvin be able to¡­ eat a whole raw rice treant?!


    He is daring.


    He is insane!


    He is choking because this damn thing is still half-alive!


    Thankfully he doesn¡¯t have to breath to live!


    There it is! Ladies and gentleman, Alvin, the treant eater!


    ***


    One week.


    Training the whole day. All seven days.


    One week for me to be able to master this damn spell.


    One week of endless treant eating.


    But I finally did it.


    I finally grew my first rice crop.


    Father have come to inspect it, and after pondering a bit he said it was ok.


    He complimented me as well.


    Now I only need to do this every day, while also producing enough rice to feed at least two adults and two children.


    To put it on simple words, it¡¯s impossible.


    Because all of the aura I expended during the whole day was enough only to make the rice grass to grow ten centimeters.


    It has to grow to at least fifty, and then made mature by adding another three days¡¯ worth of aura.


    So I have to work the whole week to get a single harvest.


    I worked with a crooked smile as I realized the sheer amount of exercise I will be doing while my aura is depleted is bound to increase my aura recovery speed a lot.


    On another words, everything changed but it also remains the same.


    How ironic.


    ***


    It has been a few weird months.


    I progressed a lot quicker than I thought I would.


    Eventually producing the rice took me only six days¡­ then five, four, three¡­


    Today I can produce a crop a day. So my aura recovery speed increased seven times.


    I was even amazed this was possible at all.


    I mean, the amount of food the family have been eating increased, but my own share is still roughly the same meager meal ¨C since if I eat the rice I produced, it gives me back much less than what I expended to grow it.


    How am I capable of producing more then?


    Well, I unveiled the mystery by remembering my qigong training.


    At the time, each training session was the same as thirty sessions of regular sword swinging.


    I have a hypothesis on why this happens.


    I think it¡¯s related to my body¡¯s capacity to produce aura without my conscious control.


    If I try to control the process, I will get an increase in efficiency because I will be controlling my breathing, while also moving my qi inside the body to make it as efficient as possible.


    What is happening is simple then ¨C  since I have been doing exercise while my aura is exhausted after casting the magic it¡¯s the same as doing body strengthening training and my body is becoming more effective as a result.


    Exercise does change the body after all. It makes the breathing and heart beats more smooth and regular, while also increasing the pulmonary capacity. Not to mention it also has a lot of other positive effects.


    So this must be the reason why I¡¯m able to absorb more energy from the food I eat, and thus have more aura eating the same amount (plus some treants).


    And now, with autumn advancing, father will finally receive his annual stipend.


    This means grains and foods, plus meat if there is some.


    It also means I will be allowed to stop growing rice on this tub.


    Father said I will still need to do it for some time since the debts we accumulated during this period are plenty ¨C so they will be depending on my rice for a little bit longer in order to have some spare on the pantry.


    But by my birthday I shall be released of it and go back to wood splitting.


    I have a lot of training to catch up to.


    Jacen has slowed down a lot since he goes out to play every day, but even like that he can clad his twig in sharpness already.


    Even if his aura recovery speed seems to have halted at a certain point, his control is much more developed.


    Well done poop-brother. Well done.


    Oh?


    How is my relationship going with the family?


    Stolen novel; please report.Ha¡­ haha¡­


    I¡¯m fine.


    I mean, you get off things easy when you are a young child.  Everyone gave me sharp gazes for a couple weeks and mother thought seriously if she would keep bathing me¡­. But eventually the thing with sister has been brushed off completely, and mother seems to have forgiven me. I guess in the end my confession didn¡¯t sound so much as the one of an adult, but really as the one of a child.


    The whole amount of sobbing and crying certainly helped.


    So routine has almost returned to normal now.


    My guilt trip was indeed unneeded. Give it a break, drama king Alvin!


    Yeah.


    ***


    My birthday has come!


    And it meant nothing again!


    Because I¡¯m four this year no one gave me happy birthday¡­ again.


    Well, I¡¯m getting used to it already.


    Also, I have received a present of sorts.


    That is, the family finally allowed me to stop growing the rice crops.


    At least!


    I was getting sick of casting this same damn spell every day. I did it for months. Months!


    If it wasn¡¯t for my night training I wouldn¡¯t be able to endure it.


    Ah, right, the night training.


    I have hit a bottleneck there. I can get a meal¡¯s worth of food with two hours of meditation, but I don¡¯t seem to be able to increase the connection to the nothingness.


    After a month of fruitless training I just decided to start to sleep normally instead of remaining awake.


    Also, sister still accepts me in her bed normally, even after that thing happened. The only difference is¡­ her breath gets a bit rough sometimes¡­


    I¡¯m starting to think, maybe¡­


    No.


    There is no way, right?


    Yeah. This is all in my head. My perverted, good-for-nothing, family-destructive, woman-hazardous head.


    Forget about this.


    Let¡¯s focus on doing other stuff!


    Like learning sharpening from brother.


    Poop-brother teaching me something. This day has come after all.


    Sigh¡­ let¡¯s end this quickly.


    ***


    Poop-brother¡­


    Why¡­


    Why are you a good teacher?!!


    How?!


    Better than sister, better than father, better even than mother?!


    How?!


    Don¡¯t do this to me! I will start respecting you a little! Don¡¯t¡­


    Too late.


    Goddamit poop-brother.


    I will have to have you graduate from your position now. No more poop-brother. Just brother or Jacen.


    Let me see¡­


    First I do hardness¡­ then I concentrate on where the blade of my twig should be¡­ then I pull the aura lightly towards the center, creating a tension on the edge¡­ and then I harden this part even more than the rest of the twig.


    Less aura, tighter aura, but a harder aura. This creates a sharp aura.


    ¡­.Poop-bro¡­ no, Jacen¡­


    You¡¯re a genius of teaching.


    A single lesson was enough for me to learn. And¡­ somehow also enough for Ann to barge in and thank Jacen.


    ¡°I had never noticed the tightening part¡­ well done.¡±


    Well, brother is good at teaching, that is for sure.


    But was him always?


    No. I recall clearly he teaching me something wrong when we were learning sword techniques from sister.


    He improved on this as well, uhm.


    Well done indeed.


    ***


    Ha!


    Hahahahahahahahaha!!


    Splitting wood! It is so easy now!


    I have aura to spare, and I can apply sharpness to the axe. I can cut every log with a single strike!


    Haha!


    Aah, don¡¯t mind me sister!


    I¡¯m just happy I can do this easily now!


    ¡°Alvin! Alvin! What do you¡­ be quieter!¡±


    Oh¡­ mother just complained. I guess I got a bit overexcited, maybe.


    But it¡¯s impossible to help it!


    I¡¯m finally free from rice growing duty! Finall, free from the phantom paranoia of having to eat rice treants!


    I¡¯m so happy I could shout!


    But let¡¯s not do it. Mother is worried with something.


    ***


    Of course, I¡¯m back knitting with the hags as well. Sincerely, what a pain. It¡¯s all bad jokes and gossip the whole day.


    Aaah¡­ spear training, I do love you. Please never leave, or I will have to endure even more village gossip.


    Wait¡­ did grandmother just joined in the conversation? She is rarely here on autumn, and it¡¯s even rarer for her to take part on these conversations¡­


    ¡­


    Seriously?  Your house¡¯s ceiling is needing urgent repairs¡­


    And you tell us just now?


    Winter is almost here you know! We don¡¯t have any time!


    ¡­it seems we will have visitors.


    ***


    In the end grandpa wasn¡¯t able to fix the ceiling in time. The hag¡¯s husbands tried to help him, but the damage seems to be severe.


    One of the secondary roof beans caved in. The whole thing has to be redone.


    Of course, since autumn is harvest season no one had the time to help with that. So grandpa and grandma will move on our house for a while.


    I wonder how will this affect us.


    It seems me, sister and brother will sleep on the living room. Grandpa and Grandma will take our room for themselves.


    ¡­. I won¡¯t have to endure hearing them at it as well, right?


    Grandmother seems to be the reason mother is so composed in terms of sex, so they will probably hold themselves.


    Still, grandfather isn¡¯t even on his fifties yet, and grandmother has the body of an eighteen years old.


    ¡­ steel the heard, close the ears.


    On the plus side, we will be allowed to sleep near the fire!


    It will be warmer than sleeping in our room, so it will probably be nice ~~


    Besides, the house will be livelier.


    I wonder if grandmother has any good stories for us to hear? I bet she knows some stuff mother doesn¡¯t tell us.


    It will be fun, hehe.

 Extra Chapter 10: Fatherly Worries

    ¡°Are they sleeping already?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡±


    Alice sat in front of me. Sincerely¡­ I knew Alvin was a special kid, but to have this kind of problem¡­


    We may have overlooked the seriousness of this.


    Alvin is definitely an abnormal.


    I¡¯m conflicted.


    My whole life people have taught me the abnormals were monsters wearing human skin.


    My whole life I have been against them.


    I have screamed of joy at the executions. I have thrown rotten food on them. I have thrown torches on their houses.


    I was one of those people you could call the mass.


    Until I came to know my wife.


    Alice is the daughter of a long-lived race. A woman which is an abnormal by birth.


    And I just fell in love with her.


    It was immediate. The moment I looked at her it was as if a voice said in my head: ¡°It¡¯s her. The one made just for you, and for whom you have been made to.¡±


    I don¡¯t believe in voices, of course.


    I know Marie believe in them, but this is beyond being a criminal. It¡¯s death penalty material.


    What I believe is that I was wrong.


    I was totally wrong about the abnormals, and that is why I want to protect my house.


    When Ann was born we were ready to deal with the potential problems. She may inherit her mother¡¯s capabilities and be also an abnormal by birth.


    We taught her when she was ten.


    About the things we usually don¡¯t talk home.


    And that is when she decided to become a knight.


    Of all things, a knight.


    I opposed that with all of my strength, but she was irreducible.


    Jacen should learn about those things when he completed ten as well.


    But Alvin¡­


    Alvin is too abnormal, even for an abnormal.


    We don¡¯t know if Alice¡¯s youth will be passed down to the three of them, but Alvin has a lot more than the usual.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.No¡­ all three have more talent than usual.


    Ann¡¯s willpower is way above average. Jacen¡¯s as well.


    And All¡­


    What he doesn¡¯t have in terms of willpower he has in everything else.


    He never got sick. He never cried. He never got hurt. Alice told me she was worried multiple times ¡°what if All hurt himself with the knives? What if he hurts himself with the needles?¡±. But he never did it.


    He was talking and walking from an extremely young age. Today even, he talks as fluently as Ann. Jacen is far outpaced by him.


    And the training he came up with¡­ those are just basic training formats, but he came up with it by himself.


    So he understood everything we taught him about aura. He understood the whole principles being a three years old.


    That is just too abnormal. And in the worst possible sense.


    My son is an abnormal of mind, soul and body. That is too much, even for the people of such a backwater village as this one.


    We will need to do something about it.


    We will need to get Marie involved in this. Of all things we could do, getting her to take part in this kind of thing is the one which makes me more anxious.


    But we have no other alternative.


    Simply ignoring It can be catastrophic.


    ¡°¡­Pa?¡±


    ¡°Yes Ann?¡±


    ¡°What will we do now?¡±


    I looked at Alice. She was terribly anxious. She is holding her skirt even.


    I place my hand on top of heirs.


    ¡°I think we should get your mother to help us.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I think¡­ I think as well.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s ok. We will get through this.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all my fault. If I hadn¡¯t insisted so much in living away from her¡­ or if I had kept my vow!¡±


    I held her in my arms.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be.¡±


    We headed to Marie¡¯s house.

 Extra Chapter 11: Family Meeting (2)

    I remember being eight when I first made this vow.


    I vowed to myself. That I would never marry. And that I would never have children.


    It was because of something that happened that day.


    They came to our house in the middle of the night.


    The village elders.


    They had torches with them.


    They demanded my mother proved she wasn¡¯t a monster.


    That she drank the ¡°monster¡¯s concoction¡±.


    ¡°If you really aren¡¯t a monster, then drink it!¡± ¨C They said.


    Father tried to intervene, but then they demanded that he drank it as well.


    They did it, and the elders waited.


    I wanted for mother to throw it up. I wanted for her to put a finger in her throat and just take that from inside her body.


    I screamed and pushed her and ran to my room in despair.


    But she endured it. She endured as much as the elders wanted.


    They stayed overnight to make sure she wouldn¡¯t take it from her stomach.


    Five old man sitting around the table, facing my mother and father.


    They left by morning.


    Mother and Father watched they go, and closed the door.


    Then both collapsed to the ground.


    I was desperate. But I understood I could not scream.


    I wanted to call someone for help, but I couldn¡¯t do it.


    Why had father collapsed as well?


    Shouldn¡¯t this only affect us?


    ¡­I believed in it at the time. In the lie of Abnormals being monsters.


    Mother would never grow old, so that was the same as being a monster, right?


    I was used to that.


    Mother was a gentle monster. I was a gentle monster as well.


    We only remained young while others grew old. We weren¡¯t dangerous. We were normal, even if we were monsters.


    We were gentle monsters.


    But monsters couldn¡¯t drink the monster¡¯s concoction. It would kill them.


    The monster¡¯s concoction was venom for us, even if normal humans could drink it.


    Then, why had father collapsed as well?


    Why?!


    I tried chanting the strongest detoxification magic mother had taught me.


    It was for no use.


    That day, when the tiredness and anxiety rose to it¡¯s peak I lost consciousness believing my parents had died.


    From that day on I began to understand the truth.


    Mother told me everything when I was ten.


    And then I vowed again, that I would never marry or have children.


    This world didn¡¯t want people like us. The people of this world didn¡¯t want for us to exist.


    So I went with my life like that, until I met John.


    And then things changed.


    I let go of my vows and decided to marry him.


    Ann was a special child with a lot of willpower and a bit of an edge over other children her own age.


    Jacen was also smart for a child, and after Alvin started helping me he proved to have at least as much willpower as Ann.


    Not to mention he also had a big talent for aura control.


    Then, Alvin.


    I used to joke he was frightening, but now it has become truth.


    It¡¯s almost as if he has all of it.


    John didn¡¯t see how much effort he puts when he really wants something, but I¡¯m sure he has at least as much willpower as Ann.


    He learned things very complex for his age and his mind is clearly superior.


    He can control his emotions. He won¡¯t cry as much as a child his age would, or seek vengeance when Jacen poked him.


    He has enormous talent with aura, and even if his aura aggregate amount hasn¡¯t been increasing because of his special training, his recovery speed has already surpassed even Ann¡¯s and reached John¡¯s level.


    And his memory¡­ he can learn things like medicine recipes by seeing them only once.


    This is too much.


    It¡¯s frightening.


    My son is a menace. I love him, but he is dangerous.


    I¡¯m worried. What will happen to us? What will happen to him?


    ¡­ we reached mother¡¯s house.


    It¡¯s night already, so we may need to wait a bit before she opens.


    This waiting is killing me!


    ¡°John? What are you doing here at this¡­. Come in.¡±


    Mother opened the door as soon as she saw our faces. She looked both sides before closing it.


    The next time she talked was in whispers.


    ¡°Where are Jacen and All?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay Ma. Nothing happened yet. We are just worried.¡±


    Mother clasped her hands and looked above.


    This much could get her killed if someone else saw it. John¡¯s face has become cramped.


    ¡°Come over and sit. I will make some tea.¡±


    Brown tea? It¡¯s not that I dislike it, but it makes the head a bit fuzzy.


    ¡°Are you sure Ma? Is it really the time for this kind of things?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not brown tea darling. It¡¯s just beauty grass tea.¡±


    Oh. I had forgotten how much mother liked this kind of things.


    Thinking well, it has been many years since I came to mother¡¯s home. Ever since Jacen¡¯s birth.


    No... wait¡­ it has been even longer, hasn¡¯t it?


    Maybe eight years or something.


    ¡°Here. Drink a bit. It will help you calm down.¡±


    The tea had it¡¯s peculiar, perfumed and sweet taste. It started to melt some of my worries.


    We all drank it. It was refreshing, even if it¡¯s spring already.


    ¡°Marie? What¡¯s happening?¡±


    Father is surprised seeing us. He is looking around.


    ¡°All and Jacen?¡±


    ¡°They are fine Anton. We are just worried about Alvin.¡±


    He sighed in relief.


    ¡°Goodgrief. Ma, give me one of those cups of tea please.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Here.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Now, why don¡¯t you tell me what happened?¡±


    John told mother about Alvin¡¯s confession to us. Then he talked about how worried he was. How he was uncertain first, but now was sure of it. That All needed special education, and that we needed her help.


    ¡°You said you used to teach Abnormals, right? We need you to teach Alvin.¡±


    My mouth curled down when he said it, the word.


    Abnormals.


    That is how they call us.


    It has been years now, but John still think on us like this.


    I can understand why mother holds a grudge against him.


    ¡°Indeed I used to train geniuses at some point of my life. But is that all that happened? Ann, Alice?¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Now it was John¡¯s time to curl his mouth down.


    This world was forbidden.


    So many forbidden things. So many secret things. Is this a curse of some kind?


    Ann started complementing John¡¯s report on Alvin.


    Then it was my time to complement her. In the end I talked a lot more than I thought I would. John seems amazed with the amount of things he didn¡¯t know.


    ¡°He trained the healing spell until he passed out so many times? I didn¡¯t think he had put so much effort in it.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I thought it was a bit weird, but since you decided to teach them the adventurer¡¯s way I thought it was in your calculations¡­¡±


    It was the same case with Ann. We both trusted John had a bigger plan for them.


    ¡°No¡­ that wasn¡¯t my intention¡­ to think both wouldn¡¯t even flinch at using aura like that¡­ if they had asked me I would have taught them how to train it after properly calming their hearts.¡±


    ¡°Do you understand it better now? I warned you several times in the past, but you can¡¯t train them as if they were your recruits.¡±


    ¡°Mother, please¡­¡±


    ¡°No, she is right¡­ you were right, Marie.¡±


    ¡°Good you realize that, even if only now.¡±


    ¡°Then, will you help us?¡±


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s best to wait a bit.¡±


    Father said something weird. Even mother is surprised.


    ¡°What do you mean? I have to start teaching them soon.¡±


    ¡°I know, but you all seem to be forgetting a thing. Alvin just did something very bad. You can¡¯t let he do as he pleases just because he is special. If it was my parents, they may even kick him from the house.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t kick Alvin dad! What are you talking about! He is only three!¡±


    ¡°He is three but he said he tricked and touched his sister knowing it was wrong. And also, he made the five of you lose almost everything you have. Don¡¯t spoil him just because he is a kid!¡±


    ¡°The two of you, calm down! Alice, your father is right. You don¡¯t need to do anything drastic, but he must be punished. Also, he hasn¡¯t left the house so far, right? And you live amongst your friends from when you were younger. They will know better than to go around running their mouths to the Dorians or to talk anything to Forehead.¡±


    The Dorians are the only family in our village given a surname by our Lord. They are dangerous, since they got their surname for accusing mother¡¯s existence in the village.


    Forehead is the chief-in-charge of the town¡¯s militia. His real name is Uller, but we call him like that because his forehead is big.


    Both are a danger to us. The Dorians given what they did to us in the past. Uller because he has duty to report irregularities to the Lord.


    Anyhow, mother is right.


    ¡°Then, what should we do?¡±


    John is being very humble today. Mother looked at him for a bit, but soon dropped her defenses as well.


    Thank you. For putting those feelings aside for my son. Thank you.


    ¡°First we need to calm down. From what you told me, Alvin may as well be a superior genius. Since we don¡¯t know, let¡¯s take it for granted that he is one.¡±


    My eyes are moistening.


    We all knew this, but I still don¡¯t want to believe it.


    A superior genius has just too many flaws. It¡¯s impossible to hide it completely.


    It¡¯s impossible for him!


    John is comforting me. Ann as well.


    ¡°Then?¡± ¨C John is taking the initiative.


    ¡°Then we have to trust he will be able to help taking care of himself. Let¡¯s explain things to him and start his training as soon as possible.¡±


    ¡°When would that be? Tomorrow?¡±


    No, that¡­


    ¡°No, that would be impossible. If we just stop accepting Alice¡¯s friends inside her house it will be suspicious. They may realize something happened, and that may bring us trouble.¡±


    Mother is correct.


    ¡°The best time would be winter then. You and Anton should come and live with us for a few months. We can say something happened to your house.¡±


    Winter is too far away. We can¡¯t have Alvin growing more during this period.


    ¡°Winter is more than six months from now!¡±


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s have Alvin punished during this period¡±


    Father came with an idea.


    ¡°What do you mean Anton?¡±


    ¡°Teach him Crop Growth. I remember teaching you how to do it in the past. Say it¡¯s so he can help with the food for the family. No matter how much of a genius he is, it will take him months to be able to do it right, that¡¯s for sure!¡±


    Crop Growth.


    It¡¯s an insurance technique farmers use when something very bad happened to their crops and the only intermediate-level spell everyone is taught, no matter where.


    If a heavy storm destroyed the fields for example, the farmers can use their life¡¯s savings of accumulated aggregate aura to cast this spell and grow normal crops.


    It¡¯s a frail insurance since it takes a long time for the regular person to accumulate enough aura to produce even a single day¡¯s worth of food, but if everyone from the village spend everything they accumulate thought most of their lives¡­ then it may be possible to produce one meager year¡¯s worth.


    ¡°I thought this may be a good idea, but even I have difficulty casting this spell. It takes me a week to accumulate enough aura to produce a day¡¯s worth for four. Do you think he will be able to do it?¡±


    John asked Anton, but mother was the one to answer.


    ¡°If he truly is a Superior Genius, even if he¡¯s still a child, that much should be possible. He may master it in a month and reach your level by the time he is four and a half.¡±


    ¡°No¡­ Alvin already has an aura recovery speed similar to Jhon¡¯s¡­¡±


    Mother froze when I told her about this point.


    ¡°Regardless, that only means more food for you, right? Keep his training in secret and it¡¯s alright.¡±


    Father was a pragmatic as always.


    In the end we decided this would be our plan.


    Alvin would be trained in Crop Growth and then, when winter came, mother would teach him.


    It¡¯s unavoidable that Ann and Jacen will learn some things we may have preferred for them not to, but mother tranquilized me.


    She insured Alvin will be taught only on ways to hide himself and, at most, on the old cryptic language.


    It¡¯s dangerous to learn cryptic, but it¡¯s needed.


    It¡¯s dearly needed.

 Chapter 7: Ten Thousand Years of History.

    Volume 1


    Chapter 7


    The first snow of the year is now fresh on the ground. Just in time to help me with my training by making me wear it as protection against the cold.


    Ever since I finished the rice training I have been having some trouble dealing with my aura.


    I have managed to deplete it by using sharpness and hardness on the axe while I train, but it was only thanks to father teaching us how to clad equipment with hardness that I regained the efficiency from before the whole rat incident.


    It¡¯s pretty much the same as cladding one¡¯s weapon, but you do it on your clothes. Really simple.


    I also asked father about cladding the skin or even the whole body with hardness, but he said I should not try to do that. It seems the aura from inside the body and the aura from the outside are different things, even if both come from eating and exercise.


    If I try to use the outside body on the skin it can damage it bad and make me wounded all over¡­


    Which of course is an explanation I had to put to the test, so now I have discovered I can regrow even fingers.


    I seriously didn¡¯t expect for my skin to boil in a moment and for the aura then attack the muscle in my pinky and just evaporate it.


    I didn¡¯t even feel any pain. I guess my nerves got severed immediately, so it was just deeply unsettling.


    Seriously unsettling.


    I have awoken once or twice at night, having nightmares about losing my finger for good.


    Oh, talking about nights, we shall move to the living room in a few days.


    Grandmother and grandfather are coming over after all. So I, Ann and Jacen will sleep near the fire.


    It seems it will be a good thing.


    Mother seems happy and relaxed as well. It¡¯s the first time I see her like this in months. With such a calm look. That¡¯s reassuring.


    ¡°Alvin.¡±


    ¡°Yes Onee-chan?¡±


    ¡°Concentrate on your training. Your swings are all wrong.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Sorry.¡±


    I keep swinging the twig with sister, of course. It has become a kind of habit by now.


    Sincerely, I don¡¯t even know why I do it anymore. It¡¯s just nice to feel I¡¯m doing something with sister.


    Sometimes Jacen also join us, and it feels even nicer. Something like bonding over the same activity.


    Of course, bonding all day long would be too much, so my routine has become a bit more relaxed when compared to a while ago.


    By morning I deplete my aura by splitting wood. Then I do calisthenics. Then at noon I train with sister for a couple hours or something.


    The rest of the day, then, I spend just walking around the house, helping mother or things like this.


    Why don¡¯t I do more calisthenics? Like all day long?


    Well, they sincerely have stopped being useful at this point.


    I can already do most exercise like push-ups and squats for a big amount of time without needing my aura. And I mean a big amount. I can go on all day if I want to.


    Not to mention the axe training is meant to be used as weight-training as well, and not only aura-depletion training, so my body has gradually become a little stronger than it¡¯s needed to support my own weight.


    Even advanced exercises like one-arm push-ups I can do without relying on aura, while exercises like finger push-ups and bone strengthening by hitting against things depend on getting calluses on your bones¡­ something I cannot do too fast without raising suspicion. So those aren¡¯t helping much.


    ¡­what ? It¡¯s too early for me to hit a bottleneck? I have been doing training like this for only what¡­ two years now?


    Well, blame it on my cheat body which can repair fiber damage instantaneously. I literally become stronger a millisecond after hitting my current limits. Just this much has made my body easier to strengthen to the extreme.


    Then, I thought about making the training with the axe something regular like how I swing my twig, but father was against it.


    When I asked why he said it was because of my age.


    Doing a lot of weight-lifting when young can damage your body. Of course my body wouldn¡¯t get damaged, but he doesn¡¯t know that.


    So my calisthenics have come to a halt at my current limit. They may become effective again in a few months, when I¡¯m a bit heavier, but I don¡¯t intend on getting fat just to keep with the training.


    I¡¯m not a sumo wrestler you know?


    Plus, there¡¯s also the threat of falling into the cistern. I would like to avoid that if possible.


    Then, the result is simple: I¡¯m enjoying a bit of laziness for the moment.


    That is, if you consider cooking, cleaning, sewing, fire-watching, medicine and preserved foods making as living a lazy life.


    Ain¡¯t I adapting well to this place?


    Getting away from videogames and the net really did wonders for my depression.


    Or was it the chance for a new start with really sweet people?


    No idea, and I don¡¯t fucking care!


    There¡¯s too much patting in the head to receive by doing my job right, and too less time to worry about a previous life I¡¯m not even sure existed really!


    ¡­ I mean, it COULD have all been a dream, right?


    I cannot explain my gifts and cheats without relying on that, but¡­ did it indeed happened? Or has something else?


    Maybe I¡¯m like that girl from that light novel, which discovered her memories had been copied from an earthling and then put into a brand new soul which was sent to a parallel world.


    Or maybe I just don¡¯t want to think about myself as being that sorry excuse for a human being anymore.


    ... I should take care not to be taken by my desire to emotionaly repress who I used to be, uhm?... I should really take care¡­


    ***


    Grandfather and Grandmother have just arrived!


    They brought big bags with them. Those are just cloth with stuff inside, but they surely are big.


    It seems they will stay around for almost a year, because grandfather can only really work on the house on winter and summer ¨C and, of course, he won¡¯t do it during winter. It¡¯s too cold and there¡¯s always the risk of slipping on the snow and breaking his neck.


    He may be young for earth¡¯s perspectives, but someone over forty is already at quite a respectable age in this world.


    I wonder if it¡¯s possible that father and mother will have them stay over forever. Just dump the house and come live with them.


    It wouldn¡¯t be weird, right? Even if grandma has a young body, if grandpa is already thought of as someone of age, shouldn¡¯t he live with his daughter?


    I guess we would need a new room if this is the case.


    But no no, he is old but not so old.


    I mean, he isn¡¯t on the age one would have trouble eating or getting sick all the time, right?


    Maybe on earth¡¯s medieval times he wouldn¡¯t have a single tooth remaining in his mouth because of poor oral hygiene habits, but here, as much as the hygiene habits are as poor as there, there¡¯s aura covering everyone¡¯s teeth and also healing magic ¨C which can grow back teeth which gets damaged, even by caries.


    No brushing, no dentists, and no worries about being toothless when you¡¯re older. Isn¡¯t this a dream place?


    ¡­ I mean, not that I need to care about that. My teeth are still all baby teeth. And one of them is getting loose already.


    Aah, childhood is really an exciting time, no?


    People say shit about adolescence, but having lived two lives I can say ¨C childhood brings a lot more changes in the body than adolescence!


    Just thinking that my teeth will all fall out and new ones will grow in the place is already much scarier than getting a deeper voice.


    Oh, yes, a weird thing is definitely how girly I sound having a young boy¡¯s voice. I even tried some voice acting when I was bored but, despise sister¡¯s smile, it bored me quickly.


    Anyway!


    I got off track!


    Grandpa and Grandma are moving to their room and taking our stuff out.


    Our straw mattresses will be kept piled on top of one another and we will sleep once dinner is over.


    Since putting grandpa¡¯s bed on our room would be difficult they will put their mattress on a few of the beds combined together while we sleep on the ground.


    Our clothes will remain on our chest inside the bedroom, since it¡¯s unneeded to take them out.


    All seems nice and cozy.


    Plus, everyone seems happy having them. Mother even said she would prepare some special tea for us tonight.


    It seems to be called brown tea, and it¡¯s made from those seeds they kept getting from mine and Jacen¡¯s birthdays.


    Let¡¯s taste this thing. I wonder if it¡¯s similar to something from earth?


    ***


    One weird thing about couples in this world, is how they call themselves. Mother and father sometimes call themselves by ¡°Ma¡± and ¡°Pa¡±.


    Like how father wants to ask to mother if dinner is ready. He goes and say something like:


    ¡°Ma, is the dinner ready?¡±


    And then she answers with something like:


    ¡°Not yet Pa.¡±


    Or just ¡°not yet¡±.


    Now that grandmother and grandfather are with us I wondered if they would call themselves like that, and they indeed did it a few times.


    However, they quickly corrected themselves after noticing the habit. Like this they started calling one another ¡°granpa¡± and ¡°granma¡±.


    They had playful smiles while doing that, like two kids. Aren¡¯t you too old to be finding this funny?


    I mean, I¡¯m the third kid born from this house! You two should be used to being grandparents already!


    Well, it¡¯s a nice feeling having them around so this is just me being a boring asshole.


    Or maybe it¡¯s because mother doesn¡¯t want to allow me to drink the tea.


    Really.


    I mean, really.


    What¡¯s so special about tea?


    I drink beer every day since the day I was born!


    It¡¯s diluted and almost non-alcoholic beer, but, still!


    I was a little upset about that until the adults started to laugh at stupid things like the shadows in the winter fire.


    ¡­. Is this thing alcoholic?


    Ah, sister just put me on her lap. And now Jacen is here too.


    Today is a weird day.


    ¡°But then I said... hey¡­ let me get a pig here, and then we talk about that!¡±


    ¡°Bwahahahahahaha!¡±


    Jokes about weird nicknames people get are a weird thing indeed. But pig-fucker is a nasty one.


    Still, all the adults are laughing.


    Weeird.


    Ah, sister is resting her cup close to me...


    ¡°You want a bit?¡±


    She whispered on my ear.


    Well, I don¡¯t look like it, but I¡¯m a very special child you know?


    I have the mind of an adult, even though the body is small.


    And that is why I must investigate this deeply by tasting what this thing tastes like.


    Besides, being the only one sober when others are having so much fun is just boring.


    I mean, look at Jacen.


    He is dozing off.


    So I will take a sip.


    Uuhhm¡­ spicy!


    This thing is fucking spicy!


    Also¡­ this taste¡­ wait¡­ isn¡¯t this¡­ cocoa?!


    Those are cocoa seeds??!


    This is cocoa seed tea?! Isn¡¯t this thing hallucinogenic in big amounts?!


    Oh boy¡­


    Ooooh boy¡­.


    Here come the pretty, pretty colors.


    Just joking.


    I just took a sip of it.


    It¡¯s as if I had a big cup of coffee, but I¡¯m not on the level of the adults.


    ¡­ except I¡¯m laughing at the weird jokes, aren¡¯t I ?


    Hahah, yeah, I¡¯m definitely high as fuck!


    ¡°Ann! Did you just¡­ did you just gave brown tea to Alvin? Hhahahahahaha..¡±


    ¡°It was just a sip, just a sip!¡±


    ¡°Oh boy¡­ hey, Alvin!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a me, Alvin!¡±


    ¡°What?! Hahah¡±


    ¡°Want to see something funny? Come with granpa, come!¡±


    ¡°What Pa, what are you¡­ oh good heavens, hahahahaha!¡±


    And now we are dancing!


    Haha, yeah, shake those hips granpa!


    Let¡¯s twist again!


    Shake¡äen baby!


    Hahahah


    That is fun. Drugs are fun.


    Let¡¯s just hope I don¡¯t become a crack addict, right!


    ***


    Uuuhm¡­ my¡­ head¡­ it¡­ hurts¡­. So much¡­ what¡­happened¡­ WHOA!


    Holy shit! Shit, shit, shit!


    Sister¡¯s breast on my face! Sister¡¯s breasts on my face!


    And this¡­ her hand on my pants?! She is grabbing my butt?


    What the fuck happened last night?!


    Why can¡¯t I remember doing anything bad?!


    Calm down. Calm down.


    Let¡¯s access the situation.


    We are both together on a mattress. Jacen is behind me, his back facing mine.


    Sister¡¯s arm is out of her shirt, and one of her breasts is in front of me.


    It doesn¡¯t seem we did anything crazy. Thanks the gods.


    Let¡¯s look around¡­ everything seems fine¡­ except the winter fire is out.


    I guess it burned through the night and we didn¡¯t notice.


    Why is Jacen asleep also, when he should have awoken and kept it lit?


    Oh wait¡­ ouch, my head!


    Argh¡­ is this caffeine withdrawal?


    May be.


    Ok, let¡¯s sit down and remember calmly¡­ ah, sister¡¯s hand just¡­ it just passed right through the front of my pants...


    Forget it!


    Forget it!


    Evil spirits, begone! Begone!


    Ouch, my head!


    Ok, no sudden movements.


    After grandfather started showing me how to dance everyone was having a blast.


    Then I kept drinking the cocoa bean tea¡­ and Ann gave some to Jacen as well¡­


    Eventually the tea ended and even though father and mother considered the possibility of making more, they decided against it since it was too late.


    Then, I went outside to cut some wood¡­ because we would sleep until late¡­ right?


    But what did I do to..


    Oh¡­ it¡¯s right there at the corner. The wood I went outside to get.


    I guess it never reached the fireplace.


    I must have just dropped it there and then went to sleep.


    I guess I remember sister hugging me right before I started sleeping, but I don¡¯t remember doing anything lewd to her¡­


    Well, I guess I wouldn¡¯t have any condition to do lewd stuff anyway.


    Now¡­ there are still some embers on the fire¡­ but it¡¯s getting very cold in here, and very fast¡­


    Let¡¯s clad myself in aura and start the day with the right foot¡­


    Here¡­ detoxification magic and¡­ the headache is gone.


    Now, let¡¯s put this fire back up.


    First a bit of straw, then¡­ here¡­ some wood and... we have the fire back.


    Wait, there¡¯s something inside¡­ is that¡­ uuhm¡­ what IS that?


    Let¡¯s see¡­


    First, surrounding my body with aura like how I avoid the could to get to me¡­ then¡­ there we go.


    It¡¯s just an old rusty nail. Back in the fire you go.


    But taking it from the fire depleted a HUGE chunk of my aura just now. I didn¡¯t do this before because I thought it would deplete the same amount as defending from the cold or only a little bit more¡­


    Well, I guess my training can resume now, can¡¯t it?


    As long as I deplete my aura with a similar method I can split the wood without using any of it and start getting stronger again.


    But now¡­ to enjoy the last of my lazy days.


    So I returned to the bed and let sister embrace me.


    Her boob?


    ¡­ she is the one pressing my head against it.


    I¡¯m not the one doing it.


    I¡¯m definitely not to blame here.


    Plus, her hand is just back on my butt.


    That means it¡¯s at least mutual harassing, right?


    Let¡¯s pretend I¡¯m just a little kid and enjoy it a little more.


    ***


    The family was up around midday.


    It seems everyone had a case of hangover, so I volunteered to use detoxification magic on everyone.


    Grandmother, Grandfather, Father and Ann allowed me to, but mother and Jacen would rater do it themselves.


    Also, for some reason mother was a bit anxious after I finished.


    ¡°Listen All.. we will talk about this later, but don¡¯t use detoxification in so many people at once outside home, okay? It¡¯s very bad. Mother?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s too late to start the training now, so let¡¯s prepare lunch and have the talk after that darling.¡±


    Uh?


    Uhm?


    Training?


    Grandmother is going to train me at something?


    I mean, the aura control technique she passed us was interesting, but what else would she train us in?


    Let¡¯s just ask.


    ¡°Grandma is training us?¡±


    ¡°That is right sweetie.¡±


    ¡°What will grandma train me into? Are you going to teach me words?¡±


    ¡°Uuuhm¡­ yes, I guess I can teach you how to read. But let¡¯s talk about this after lunch okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    That¡¯s it!


    The day I have been waiting for since my first days of talking!


    I will finally learn how to read!


    Oh boy, I hope the alphabet used in this world is closer to the Greco-Roman alphabet I knew in life than to oriental alphabets.


    This way it will be easier for me to learn.


    I wonder, is the reading here the same as in earth? From left to right?


    Or is it somewhat different and weird?


    I can barely wait!


    It¡¯s over three years now. I have been waiting for over three years for a chance of learning how to read, and maybe getting some books!


    I can barely contain myself, so let¡¯s go outside and finish my wood splitting for the day.


    This way I can vent some anxiety.


    Oh, but, before¡­


    I clad my hand on aura and put it over the fire. If I should conceal myself while doing this?


    Well, ever since I got punished by eating rice treants I made a vow not to hide this kind of things from my family, right?


    So let them see it.


    See? Most people aren¡¯t even looking at me. Only grandma is paying attention to what I do.


    She looked surprised, but I was done in a moment, so let¡¯s go and...


    ¡°Alvin, what did you just do right now?¡±


    Oh, she decided to investigate.


    ¡°I was spending aura!¡±


    ¡°So you can train with the axe?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Show me how you did it.¡±


    ¡°Right! Like this!¡±


    I showed her how I expanded my aura around my hand to protect it from the fire. It started to make me very tired at this point, so I did it for just a brief moment.


    ¡°Did someone taught you how to do this?¡±


    ¡°.. no. I was cold in the toilet, so I tried that and it worked.¡±


    ¡°¡­ I see. This technique is called Aura Cushion, and it¡¯s an intermediary-level aura technique. You must not use it when others are seeing. Also, when you do it to protect yourself from heat, be sure to keep your aura moving around your body. This way you will move the heat away with the aura, the wind will cool it a bit and the amount you spend to protect yourself will be lower. Right now you want to spend a lot, but in the future you may need to spend little, so train hard to increase your control and do it right, okay?¡±


    Oh. Grandma is even more knowledgeable than I thought at first.


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    I have a good feeling about this.


    ***


    Lunch was very simple, as it had to be. If mother were to make something too complicated it would take a long time and we were all hungry, so she just used some of the wood I cut the day previous to light the fire and start cooking.


    It was a mix of lunch and breakfast. There were scrambled eggs and wheat and oat porridge, but also some fried sausages and a hot soup with spices, picked vegetables and a good amount of ham.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Oh, I should also add that there is no fear of running low on supplies.


    Since grandpa and grandma will be staying with us they have brought their share of food with them.


    There are a lot of new chickens in our backyard and the pantry is stuffed to the ceiling with so much food!


    Of course, grandpa didn¡¯t bring their whole pantry, but there¡¯s quite a lot more than usual.


    Farmers do have it easier than militia guards, it seems~~~


    Or maybe it¡¯s just my impression. They brought a lot more grain, but there isn¡¯t much more meat with it.


    So I guess there¡¯s pluses and minuses to the farmer life.


    Regardless.


    Lunchfast was good. The talk was something like father saying how the tax collectors had trouble this time because of a broken wheel in their wagon and trying to protect the cargo near a hex rat¡¯s nest.


    The guys aren¡¯t exactly hated around the place since there have been no wars for a little over thirty years now, but misfortune happening to taxes collectors is always a sweet tale to the ears.


    I guess this is the kind of vibe I¡¯m getting.


    On the matter of wars and taxes, it also seems our country is a good place to live and our county specially gifted.


    That because even though there are other countries around the place, in most of them the local feudal lords can go into battle with one another without any permission from the king. They just needed a reason for that, and there was an assortment of reasons like staining someone¡¯s honor and whatnot.


    But our country is considerably centralized, so the feudal lords cannot go into battle against one another easily. They must follow strict rules and march only if the king approves.


    Then, our county seems to be the main source of food for the capital and also a land under the direct management of the king¡¯s seneschal.


    On another words, there is no way someone is going to attack us unless they want the full might of the king to rain upon them. Not only that, but the king as well is rarely demanded to produce troops to fight alongside nobles against rebels who lost their nobility in war and stuff like that ¨C so conscription doesn¡¯t happen too often.


    I wonder what would happen if Ann or Father were conscripted to the army.


    Could I take it if someone just barged into our house and started to drag them to the army?


    ¡­ in the end this talk took a really weird shape on my mind, I don¡¯t know why.


    It¡¯s almost as if the atmosphere was making me think weird things¡­


    But then, indeed, the atmosphere has become heavy all of a sudden.


    ¡°So¡­ let¡¯s start.¡±


    Uhm?


    Start what grandma?


    ¡°Alvin and Jacen¡­ both of you pay attention to grandma now. Me and your parents have been talking and we decided to tell you something very important. It¡¯s something you ought to be taught when you reached ten years old, but we decided to do it sooner.¡±


    ¡°Ma, wait a moment please. I will make us some tea.¡±


    ¡°Sure dear. I have brought beauty grass tea with me. Feel free to make some.¡±


    Mother is weirdly anxious, isn¡¯t she?


    But now I¡¯m curious as well.


    ¡­. This doesn¡¯t have anything to do with me sleeping with sister, right?


    It can¡¯t be that this world has weird rules on female purity?


    ¡­ worry not family! I will take full responsibility and marry my sister.


    We will move to the capital, and I will support her on her mission to become a knight. Then we will build a cozy home and have a lot of children. I will work as an adventurer and do suicide missions which will grant me a lot of money due to me being immortal.


    And if someone says I¡¯m a bloody redneck bastard for impregnating my sister I will cut their necks off and skull-fuck the hole.


    Ah, but then I guess I will have to start my research on immortality, won¡¯t I?


    ¡­Thinking well¡­ me, Ann and Jacen all probably have eternal youth like mother and grandmother.


    But father and grandfather doesn¡¯t.


    Doesn¡¯t this mean I will have to watch as they grow old and die in front of me?


    ¡­ I guess I will have to start researching as soon as possible.


    Delusions apart, the so called beauty grass tea has come.


    It smells just like¡­


    Yes, this is chamomile tea. Let¡¯s forget those heavy thoughts for a moment and concentrate on something else. I will address this problem again in the future. Maybe I will have to change my strategies after all.


    I don¡¯t want my siblings to die of old age, so I need to hurry up with a solution to grant them immortality.


    I may not have so much time to spend around lazily or keeping my little secrets¡­.


    Why didn¡¯t I think of this first?


    I guess father just seems full of vigor, so the thought didn¡¯t go through my head so far¡­. It took me taking a while to analyze grandfather¡¯s white hairs and remember of this basic fact of life. That everyone dies someday.


    Or maybe it¡¯s because I still have the mind of a child. Didn¡¯t people say children sometimes doesn¡¯t understand the concept of death?


    ¡­. No, I understood it very well when I killed the monster earthworm¡­


    Ah, forget it. I¡¯m overthinking this. Let¡¯s drink the tea, listen to grandmother, and then dedicate this night to thinking on what to do about this immortality thing.


    Common. Get into the tea. Savor it.


    Forget about the shadow of death looming over your dear ones, forget the anxiety of being all alone and deprived of those who you love.


    Just focus on the tea.


    Take a sip, let it warm your insides.


    Meditate a bit.


    Yeah, one-second meditation. Just like that, all is illusion.


    All things are void in the nature of their essence, and the void is what composes all.


    Hear me Sharipura. There is no mouth, no ear, no body, no soul, no life-and-death and no after life-and-death.


    All form is void in its essence and void¡¯s essence is form.


    There is no thought, no feel, no desire. Free of all bindings, the bodhisattva stands on the peak of absolute purity.


    Gate gate paragate parasamgate Bodhi svaha.


    Or something. I don¡¯t remember the whole sutra. I don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s right.


    I used to listen to it on youtube to be like ~~ah, it feels good, it feels nice~~ but I¡¯m no budist in the end.


    Still¡­ Bye bye fear of death. Bye bye fear of loneliness. You shall also pass along. I¡¯m good here, calm and centered on the reality that everyone is still alive and happy.


    With my family, listening to winter stories in happiness.


    So relaxing ~~~


    ***


    Uh?


    Why is everyone looking at me like this?


    Grandma is shaking. Mother is biting her lower lip. Grandfather is pale as a ghost, father¡¯s tea is all over the floor¡­


    Ann is staring at me dumbfounded and Jacen¡­ Jacen is just as confused as me.


    Ah, mother just pulled me on a hug.


    Wait, is she¡­ is she crying?!


    What¡­ why?!


    Why have I made mother cry?!


    Is there anything weird with me?!


    Have I done something improper?!


    Someone explain things for me!


    ***


    Things have become weird somehow.


    Mother is still crying and clinging to me, but now everyone is trying to help her.


    Grandmother is pale, saying things like:


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I will help you darling. It¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t be afraid. They can¡¯t get him here. They don¡¯t know where we are. No one must have seen it.¡±


    Then there is father, holding her:


    ¡°Don¡¯t be like this. I love you. I love you. No matter what, I love you.¡±


    Grandfather just holds her. Then he calls Ann and Jacen.


    ¡°You two, come closer and hug your mother. Here.¡±


    It took a few minutes. Then I noticed mother was hugging not only me against her body, but also hugging her own belly.


    What¡­ what is just happening here¡­?


    Just... just for precaution, I hugged her as well.


    Ah, something is boiling inside of me again¡­ my eyes are weathering up¡­


    But, still¡­ I can control it, right?


    For some reason I don¡¯t feel the need to cry right now.


    It¡¯s okay, I guess. I can help her more like this.


    Just like I used to do on earth. Hugging her with my heart.


    Feeling her crying, her emotions, all of this chaotic thing¡­ it¡¯s okay. Just be strong, just be here, just be calm and perfectly available as someone to hug and embrace.


    Well, I don¡¯t know if it helped her, but I¡¯m surely better now.


    Ah, she is stopping a little bit at a time.


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay dear. In your condition, it must be hard on you.¡±


    Mother¡¯s condition? I wonder¡­ could it be?


    ¡°You¡­ how?...¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m your mother dear. Don¡¯t you think I would notice?¡±


    She¡¯s crying again.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°Marie, what is happening?¡±


    I would also like to know dad.


    ¡°Nothing much¡­ just that¡­ the two of you will be blessed again, I think.¡±


    Oh, so that was it uhm.


    Father is looking at mother¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Alice¡­ is this¡­ is this true?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­uhum..¡±


    Ah, is there something bad on mother being pregnant?


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry¡­ even though Alvin was like this¡­ I accepted you and this happened again¡­. I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡±


    ¡°Wha¡­ what are you talking about?! I couldn¡¯t be happier! Alice! Alice! Look at me!... I love you. I love our children. Thank you.¡±


    This feels so heavy¡­ mother is sad for having children?


    What¡­


    What is¡­


    Grandfather, grandmother, even Ann¡­ me and Jacen are the only ones who don¡¯t know about it in the end¡­


    Well, at least it seems mother is now crying less painful tears.


    The tears are still there, but they are less painful. That is good, right?


    I feel like I should back off a bit, but she¡¯s still holding me.


    Holding me while being held by dad.


    Let¡¯s just wait until this is over. And if I did something bad¡­ I apologize. Please forgive me.


    ***


    Mother went to sleep for a bit, and father went with her.


    The rest of us are here at the living room.


    ¡°Grandma¡­ did I¡­ do something bad?¡±


    Grandmother touched my hair and patted my head a bit.


    ¡°Not at all darling¡­ it¡¯s just¡­ you are too special, and your mother got a bit scared. That is all.¡±


    ¡°Why is mother scared with me?¡±


    Grandmother¡¯s eyes¡­ they are at the same time deep and sweet, but¡­ also¡­ weirdly profound.


    They carry a certain anger at them.


    ¡°A long time ago, somethings happened. Special people aren¡¯t liked in this country because of that. You will be at danger if you let others see things like what you should us today. Well, with this degree of talent maybe you would have been at trouble no matter if today or in the past.¡±


    Uh?


    What she means?


    ¡°Alvin, honey¡­ do you know what you just did?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°While you were sipping your tea, your whole body started to emit a bit of light. Then your aura enveloped it, and started to become visible. We could see many colors in it, and then it calmed down and flowed around you like a river. Your skin became very brittle, full of cracks¡­ and then evaporated, showing a new, smoother skin under. Do you know what is this?¡±


    I have no idea!


    What the hell!


    I was just calming my thoughts!


    ¡°I¡­ no!¡±


    ¡°Alvin, how did you learn the [Body Refining] technique of [cultivation]?¡±


    ¡°Wha¡­ what is [body refining]? And [cultivation]?¡±


    ¡°You know how when you close your eyes and move your aura around or manipulate the emotions on the inside of your body? Like how you did right now?¡±


    ¡°Y.. yes.¡±


    ¡°That is cultivation darling. How did you learn it?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡±


    Should I tell her?


    ¡­


    Oh, screw it, I will tell her.


    ¡°I remembered being someone in another life, and there I learned it. Then I became a baby again and I knew it.¡±


    I still don¡¯t know the word for reincarnation, so let¡¯s go with an explanation.


    ¡°So you learned it from a dream¡­¡±


    Well, it isn¡¯t a dream but actual reincarnation¡­ but why are your eyes so sad right now?


    ¡°Listen honey. You just did something very difficult to do, okay? These techniques you use, do not show them to absolutely anyone. Don¡¯t practice them out of the house either. No one can know you know them.¡±


    ¡°Uhm. But what did I do?¡±


    ¡°You¡­ well dear, you just became a Superior Being.¡±


    ***


    Wait.


    Wait a fucking moment.


    A fucking moment, wait!


    The hell.


    Superior beings. They are humans who have undergone a special process which allows for them to become ultra-powerful.


    They have special bodies which give them power to accumulate more aura than a normal human being.


    They are mostly humans who have underwent the same transformation an animal goes through when it becomes a monster.


    So am I monster now?


    No, Superior Beings shouldn¡¯t be monsters. They should just be humans with special powers.


    ¡°I see your father explained to you something about Superior Beings. Tell me what he told you.¡±


    Ah.. what father¡­ father¡­


    ¡°Father said... when you reach a certain amount of accumulated aura, you can¡¯t accumulate anymore¡­ if you do, then your body will mutate into a monster¡­ but if you become a Superior Being you can accumulate more¡­¡±


    Grandmother stopped patting me and sighed heavily.


    ¡°I guess this isn¡¯t totally wrong, but it isn¡¯t totally right either. I have a lot to teach to all of you. Let¡¯s start when your mother has recovered. Now, go to sleep a bit. You must be feeling tired, but this whole commotion probably kept you awake. You need to sleep in order to recover from your first transformation.¡±


    Actually I feel like I want to try moving my qigong a bit. Indeed, I¡¯m feeling a little tired, but somehow I want to see if my previous bottleneck is gone or something.


    ¡°Grandma¡­ can I train a bit first?¡±


    ¡°Why would you want to do that?¡±


    ¡°I had problems and couldn¡¯t go forward¡­ now I want to try before sleeping.¡±


    ¡°¡­ very well. Go on and do it.¡±


    I sat with my legs crossed in lotus position.


    Really, I love this flexibility.


    Now, to start the training.


    I immediately plugged into a very deep meditative state.


    I don¡¯t know exactly why, but it was very easy this time. It¡¯s almost as if this was the natural course of things.


    Ah, I can sense something¡­


    My connection with heaven¡­ it¡¯s increased several fold!


    I can feel a lot of energy coming from above. It¡¯s filling my dantian¡­


    Wait, my dantian feels weird¡­


    Indeed, it¡¯s¡­ wobbly?


    Wooly?


    It¡¯s weirdly soft.


    Ah, the energy is filling it and¡­


    Argh! Gods, this hurts!


    It¡¯s a piercing pain¡­


    And still, I feel like this is right¡­ there are no masses being formed by my qi¡­ it isn¡¯t hardening¡­ it¡¯s just¡­ pushing my dantian¡¯s walls.


    It¡¯s stretching, stretching¡­ it hurts, but it isn¡¯t a bad pain.


    It gives me a good feeling. A certain excitation.


    I know it. From inside my gut, I know this will make me stronger somehow!


    This is how it should be. This is the good pain of getting to your limits and going beyond. The good pain of achieving something extra, the hidden treasure only completionists can find in a game!


    It stretches¡­ then it started to compress again¡­ compressing the qi in there¡­ it¡¯s becoming hard and powerful¡­


    Oh.. the heavenly connection is small again.


    It¡¯s still around double what it used to be, but it¡¯s smaller than before.


    Also¡­ somehow my qi is being sucked fast.


    And the dantian itself seems¡­ ticker?


    It¡¯s getting ticker.


    I see. It¡¯s as if it was getting more muscle.


    This is the perfect time for training it.


    I wonder if it¡¯s because I have instantaneous regeneration, but it¡¯s clearly becoming stronger just like a muscle.


    So let¡¯s try my best to make it even stronger.


    I tried increasing my connection to the heavenly energy.


    It increased a little bit again, and my dantian hungrily took the energy.


    Argh.


    It hurts just from entering.


    A caustic pain.


    Urgh.


    This isn¡¯t good. It feels like burning. It isn¡¯t that good pain anymore. The dantian feels like it has become chaotic and bad.


    Let¡¯s purge it.


    I directed all that energy outside and cleaned the dantian. Then I filled it with some common qi from the air and the food I had eaten.


    That is, by doing breathing and qigong exercises without using the energy from the void.


    The dantian is returning to normal.


    It¡¯s as if it had been burnt and now is recovering.


    I added a little bit of the void energy, and it alleviated the weird feeling.


    Indeed, it¡¯s like I thought.


    I cannot depend only on it. Only on heavenly energy, that is. I need to mix heavenly and earthly energies to ensure the dantian grows strong and reliable. Balanced.


    I may be able to use only void energy if I want, but then my energy will become too heavenly and my progress will be marked by the consumption of my body and the inability to access the earthly and kind energies of this planet.


    Let¡¯s cure the dantian with a stream of compassion and love from my nidan and let it heals.


    There.


    It¡¯s healed.


    I opened my eyes, and it was night already.


    ***


    *phew*


    I let a small sigh out.


    Grandmother is looking at me.


    ¡°Wanna eat a little All?¡±


    ¡°Please. I¡¯m hungry.¡±


    I started eating the soup she presented me. It¡¯s cold, but it¡¯s better than nothing.


    It seems me and her are the only ones awaken now.


    Jacen and Ann are sleeping in the floor right next to us. The rest of the house is silent, so I guess the rest are sleeping as well.


    ¡°Sincerely¡­ you are really unlucky to have been born at this time¡­.¡±


    I looked at her and talked with the spoon still in my mouth.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    She patted my head again. So much patting.


    ¡°It¡¯s just that, if had been born a few hundred years sooner¡­ maybe two or three hundred¡­ you would probably be a royal prince now.¡±


    That displeases me. I¡¯m not here to be someone¡¯s puppet. I¡¯m here to enjoy this world to my heart¡¯s content.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡±


    ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t you want to?¡±


    ¡°Princes have to do a lot of stuff for others, right? And they don¡¯t see they mothers and fathers, and they have really lonely lives. I want to live with mother, and father, and Jacen, and Ann, and grandpa, and you too grandma. I like it better.¡±


    ¡°Pff.. hahahaha..¡±


    Grandmother is laughing, but I do mean it. I¡¯m having a nice family for the first time in two lives. I wouldn¡¯t trade it for royal life in a million years.


    ¡°Right¡­ I guess you¡¯re still four anyway¡­ come here with me.¡±


    Uuuhm¡­ grandma¡¯s hugs are warm.


    ¡°I would also give up royalty to live with everyone. So go to sleep. We will talk tomorrow, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡±.


    Now I really feel like I can sleep like a baby.


    So let¡¯s hug sister from behind and¡­


    I slept before even having time to think on something lewd.

 Extra Chapter 12: Brown Tea

    I shouldn¡¯t be drinking it.


    Brown tea is for adults only.


    But so what?


    I will be a knight. I won¡¯t be losing my grip here. Father has that look on his eyes, and grandmother as well.


    This is a test.


    Haha.


    I¡¯m laughing.


    Why am I laughing? That wasn¡¯t even funny at all.


    So what. Let¡¯s drink more.


    Father is pouring in my cup. His eyes are malicious. You old fox. You know what you are doing.


    But I will show you! That I can take it no problems!


    Oh, All is looking so cute. He is looking here. He is looking there. Haha. Such bright eyes.


    I want to put him on my lap. But mother wouldn¡¯t allow that, would she?


    Bah, screw mother.


    Come here All.


    Fufu, his hair smells nice. I guess he still washes it every day.


    Aaah, my younger brother smells so nice~~


    Uh, Jacen wants to sit in my lap too?


    It¡¯s okay, big sister¡¯s lap can fit you both. Come here, come here~~~


    Don¡¯t look me like that mom. My younger and my youngest brothers are happily sharing my lap. That is all.


    Hahah.


    Yes, dance! Dance! How fun!


    Ah, Jacen has fallen asleep.


    It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay, I will put you in your mattress¡­ which¡­ which was yours again?


    Oh, just sleep on this one, it¡¯s fine.


    Ah, it¡¯s time uhm?


    Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go.


    Father is pointing his twig at me. I¡¯m holding mine.


    Grandmother, Grandfather and Mother are watching on the sides.


    Where is Alvin?


    Oh, he is¡­ cutting wood?


    Ah, I shouldn¡¯t be so distracted¡­ whoa!


    Father almost got me.


    Okay, fun time is over.


    Let¡¯s do this.


    ¡°Ann, stop it!¡±


    Uh? Why Ma ?


    ¡°You¡¯re letting your aura out! It¡¯s dangerous you know?¡±


    Oh no. I leaked some aura. Damn.


    ¡°Let me try again!¡±


    Father is looking me from far.


    ¡°So¡­ you didn¡¯t get enough eh¡­ fine¡­ common, let¡¯s try again!¡±


    I start to repress my aura.


    I have been doing extra training recently.


    Seeing Jacen¡¯s and All¡¯s talent has made me a tad jealous at the beginning, but it doesn¡¯t matter.


    They will have their share of hardships because of that. Besides, if I was so talented I would never be able to become a knight.


    So let¡¯s¡­ let¡¯s be serious here.


    ¡°Common Ann! How long are you make your old man wait~~ ?¡±


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°John! Don¡¯t say those things to her! Go Ann~~~!¡±


    Mother is cheering for me?


    Brown tea is a wonderful thing, right?


    Haha, let¡¯s go. Be ready old man!


    We exchanged a few blows.


    It¡¯s difficult! Brown tea makes my body all fuzzy.


    Ah, father¡¯s spear is coming close¡­


    He hit my head.


    It hurt a bit, but I¡¯m fin¡­. Blueeearrgh¡­


    ¡°There, there, let me help you.¡±


    Mother is holding my head straight as I throw up.


    It¡¯s fine I guess.


    Father¡¯s level is still above mine. He had real combat experience after all.


    ¡°You did good for your first time! Common, let¡¯s go back inside and drink some more!¡±


    Yeah! Let¡¯s do it! For my first time fighting against someone else!


    I raised my arm.


    Next we were drinking again. I guess we will drink this whole pot!


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s over¡­¡±


    ¡°Uuuhm.. should I.. make some more~~~?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡­ it¡¯s enough for a night. We have to start Alvin¡¯s training tomorrow¡­~~¡±


    Grandmother can hold her tea better than I thought.


    ¡°Ah, right! ~~¡±


    I¡¯m sad but I¡¯m not sad.


    My stomach hurts. My mouth is hot also. The tea is very hot, hot~~~~


    So, let¡¯s go and sleep~~~sleeepy¡­ ah, Jacen is here, but¡­


    ¡°All! ~~~All! ~~¡±


    Ah, he¡¯s still cutting wood~~~


    ¡°Common, let¡¯s go¡­ let¡¯s go¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah~~~sis~~ are going~~ are going to do it~~~ with sister, so nice¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s sleep~~~¡±


    I hugged him. Uuuhm¡­ what is this sensation¡­ uuhm¡­ he¡¯s stiff..


    Uuuhm¡­ All¡­ All is such a crybaby¡­


    Such a baby¡­ All, baby¡­ is he hungry ?


    ¡°mom, All¡¯s hungry¡­ come¡­ feed him¡­¡±


    I.. I will do it so he won¡¯t cry¡­


    Here¡­ here¡­ drink.. drink it¡­ uuuuhm¡­.


    All¡¯s¡­ All¡¯s stiff is rubbing my tummy¡­ Uuuhm¡­ lo¡­ lower¡­.


    Ah, so¡­ so sleepy¡­


    ¡°All¡­ are¡­ ahh~~¡±


    He is asleep already¡­ sleeping¡­ okay.. let¡¯s¡­ let¡¯s sleep¡­.


    Hug and sleep¡­.


    When I woke up the next day All was still sleeping next to me, but Jacen had come close as well.


    He is hugging All from behind and looking at me with jealous eyes. My head hurts.


    ~~come here~~ let¡¯s sleep all together today.


    So I hugged both of them and took a little nap.

 Extra Chapter 13: Vigilant

    We went a bit overboard last night.


    I didn¡¯t go over my limit, but I surely got close to it. Drinking with my whole family¡­ how many centuries have passed since I last had this much of a good time by doing something so simple?


    ¡­. I can¡¯t even remember anymore.


    I did have other families at some point in my life, but this one is really special. I love it more than any other.


    Well, it¡¯s the family given to me by the Course, so it¡¯s obvious I would be happier here than anywhere else.


    Anywhere else.


    Still, it¡¯s also a big headache. As expected of the Course. Curse it.


    Alvin and Ann slept together, and I can see clearly that both want each other.


    Alice pretends not to see, but I know she and John are aware of that.


    Also, Jacen seems to have some feelings as well.


    No matter.


    Ann hasn¡¯t gone through her first fertile cycle yet, and this also seems not to be written in the stars. They do not have the sparkle between then.


    So it¡¯s probably something born of being too secluded on her own house, with the only men being her father and siblings.


    Nothing I haven¡¯t seen before. This kind of things happens sometimes. Thankfully, in their case it doesn¡¯t seem to spell problem of great proportions.


    Not that I like it. Once one has lived as much as me, some things become clear regarding relations between siblings.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    I may even had been a little too harsh on Alice on this point. Well, nothing I can help with. The Opposers had a lot to do with the way I had to raise her.


    In the end I had to make this daughter of mine a girl which wouldn¡¯t be easily tempted or tempt others. A shame it seems to have warped into an excessive shyness.


    It¡¯s the Course. Curse it.


    Regardless. Alvin¡¯s training will have to start tomorrow instead of today. Let¡¯s take the day to explain the situation to him.


    Still¡­ how come this boy progressed so much in such a short time?!


    His [Body Refining] technique has reached the first bottleneck. The [Soul Elevation] is throbbing with power, but it isn¡¯t overcoming him. His [Mind Deepening] is already beyond the point where I can evaluate it with a simple Aura Analysis and his [Spiritual Advent] is showing signs of radiance.


    He is already at the brink of becoming a first step cultivator.


    At four.


    Is there any register in history about such a thing?


    I don¡¯t believe so.


    And now¡­


    Just what¡­


    That¡¯s Aura Cushion.


    He is using Aura Cushion.


    To train his physical body!


    Which kind of insane training is this?!


    I almost feel as if I¡¯m back at the Goddess Mountain Trail.


    Alvin¡¯s training¡­ can I really do it in only three months?

 Extra Chapter 14: My Sin

    John held me on his arms all afternoon.


    I¡¯m pregnant again.


    Mother said it to me.


    The woman of our clan give birth first to weak children, them to stronger and stronger ones.


    The strongest child is born when the cycle is nearing its end.


    It¡¯s a secret, even amongst the people of our race.


    Because of what happened to some woman in the past, because of how they were forced to give children to the world.


    When the world still liked geniuses.


    When we were still regarded as living treasures.


    But the world doesn¡¯t see us like this anymore. And so our power, which used to be a curse, is now even more of one.


    And I was careless.


    The child born after Alvin¡­


    My son or daughter¡­


    How much more powerful than him will you be?


    How much suffering will you have to endure?


    I should have kept myself from John. Just a little earlier.


    Mother said our fertile cycles are a mystery even for the older woman of our race. For some people they seem to come every three years, for others it doesn¡¯t come for fifty years and then one day they are fertile.


    But this is no excuse. I had been this feeling for a couple months now. That something would happen.


    Still, I couldn¡¯t deny John.


    I¡¯m just afraid.


    Afraid that I will lose him.


    Afraid that he is secretly like all other man in this village.


    Afraid that he is just normal for doing what most of my friends and all of their husbands did when they couldn¡¯t find satisfaction back home.


    How many of the children who have come to my house were actually bastards? Sons of another fathers which were accepted in the family due to a clever trick?


    How many of them could be actually John¡¯s?


    I shouldn¡¯t doubt my husband. I shouldn¡¯t doubt his love for me. I love him dearly, with all of my heart, and even mother said he would never cheat me.


    Because of the Course of the Stars or something.


    More of mother¡¯s ramblings.


    I cannot cheat him, but we are abnormal.


    Isn¡¯t it possible that this ¡°course¡± thing doesn¡¯t apply to them, but only to us?


    So I give in and allowed John to sleep with me.


    I won¡¯t say I didn¡¯t like it. Even the scent of his sweat is sweet to me.


    But I shouldn¡¯t have done it. Not when I was feeling that weird feeling. Not when I wasn¡¯t sure it was okay.


    If we had waited just a bit more.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    My cycle started with Ann, fourteen years ago.


    Then after her birth it was seven years without any surprises.


    Seven long years, until I was pregnant with Jacen.


    Then, just two years after he was born, I came pregnant with Alvin.


    We remained abstinent for a while, but when Alvin completed three, I didn¡¯t felt I had any excuses anymore.


    One more year, just for precaution since these things aren¡¯t written in stone.


    Cycles come and go, sometimes they are shorter, sometimes they are longer.


    If we had waited one more year, this wouldn¡¯t have happened.


    Am I not a failure as a mother? As a wife?


    As a human being?


    ¡­


    Am I even human?


    ¡­


    John¡¯s still whispering nice things to me.


    I really love this man.


    Someone is knocking on the door.


    ¡°Alice, darling, it¡¯s me.¡±


    ¡°Come in¡­.¡±


    Mother entered the room and sat at the edge of the bed. She is patting my head.


    ¡°How is Alvin?¡±


    ¡°He is fine dear. He is cultivating a bit.¡±


    ¡°Cultivating?¡±


    ¡°Yes. This is how he managed to breakthrough. He seems to be a dreamer.¡±


    A dreamer. Someone who learns real things from his dreams.


    So he isn¡¯t a Destined after all. Still¡­ does this means my child will be one¡­


    I rubbed my belly a bit. Mother put her hand on top of mine.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It won¡¯t happen. Your child won¡¯t be like Alvin. She will be like Jacen.¡±


    ¡°She?¡±


    Mother¡­ does she know something I don¡¯t?


    She patted my hand lightly.


    ¡°Your old mother may keep some secrets, but she loves you. So don¡¯t worry about the child. She will be fine.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Now sleep a bit.¡±


    ¡°What about Alvin¡¯s training?¡±


    ¡°¡­. Let¡¯s start tomorrow.¡±


    Mother¡­ seems anxious. No, that¡¯s not the answer.


    Mother is¡­ insecure?


    Mother, insecure.


    ¡°Mother?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine dear. It¡¯s just¡­ he knows some things I didn¡¯t expect for him to know. But I can work with it. Don¡¯t worry. Just rest, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Goodnight you both.¡±


    ¡°Goodnight.¡±


    And so I went to sleep.


    In my house, cuddling with my husband, with my mother and father next to me. Knowing my children are safe just a few meters away.


    There are no elders with torches here.


    It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s fine¡­

 Chapter 8: A Long History Lesson

    I started to cut chapters in two because initialy i was to make 10 pages each chapter. However, it gradually increased and bigger chapters became the norm.


    Please let me know if you fellows would rather have the chapters posted whole like this one or in parts and how much is a good amount per chapter.


    Also, i would really appreciate comments and constructive feedback.


    Thank you all for reading. Here''s your chapter for this week.


    ==============================================================================


    Volume 1


    Chapter 8


    The day began with a mixed odor of bacon, eggs and wet grass.


    I guess it¡¯s because of the breeze washing away all the bad odors, but rain in this world is really something delicious for me.


    Sister is the one who dislikes it the most, of course, since she keeps training even when it rains in winter.


    I wonder if she uses aura cushion not to be affected by the elements?


    Well¡­


    Oh¡­ right¡­


    I¡¯m a superior being now.


    ¡­A lot of things happened yesterday. Maybe too many things. I feel a bit guilty about mother, and sincerely I would want to apologize.


    Maybe I should do just that.


    When I reached the kitchen everyone was there already.


    Grandmother was talking happily with Mother and Ann as the three of them cooked. Jacen was drinking something from a tin cup, using both his hands. I guess it¡¯s beer.


    Since when we have tin cups? Shouldn¡¯t we be using oriental tableware, made mostly of ceramic?


    Father and grandfather where talking something amongst themselves.


    Then, everyone froze as I came by.


    All attention centered in me, I felt something would be said soon enough.


    Still, if I let them brush this off as if it was nothing, I wouldn¡¯t be able to convey my feelings.


    So I went straight to mother and hugged the frills of her skirt.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Ma.¡±


    She patted my head gently.


    ¡°Sorry for what?¡±


    ¡­ sorry for what, exactly?


    For making her worry about my well-being? For making her cry?


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    She kneeled in front of me.


    ¡°All, what happened? Did you wet your bed? You can tell me.¡±


    So, this time I hugged her shoulders.


    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know what I did, but you cried. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    She hugged me while making a sound herself. A kind of.. ¡°uuuuhhh¡±¡­.


    ¡°Silly boy. Stop that. Common.¡±


    She then raised herself and directed me to brother.


    ¡°Go drink something. Breakfast will be done in a minute, and then your grandmother will tell us a long story, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡±


    I went to Jacen¡¯s side and took my own tin cup. Right after I walked to the beer barrel and submerged it there, taking some for me.


    What an annoying sensation of being observed by every single living soul in the place.


    Let¡¯s ignore it. I said what I wanted to say and now I will wait until grandmother tell us this so called story of hers.


    Ah, people are talking amongst themselves again.


    This is better. Indeed, this is better.


    Today is quiet day full of breezes, cold, dampness and melancholy.


    It makes me think and appreciate just being around people without talking to day.


    Let¡¯s enjoy this and¡­


    OUCH!


    Jacen you little motherfu¡­


    What?


    This is the first time I see a mischievous smile on Jacen¡¯s face as he pokes me.


    And now he is running from me.


    What should I¡­


    Shoul I run after him?


    Should I¡­ what should I do, I¡­


    Oh, fuck it.


    I will grab you poop-brother! I will grab you and poke the hell out of you! Come here!


    ***


    I started running around the house chasing Jacen.


    He went to the side; I went after him.


    He went to out parent¡¯s room, I almost got him, but he jumped over the bed and landed on the other side.


    Hey! Using aura is no fair!


    If he can, then so can I, right?


    I released some power and went after him. When I was almost catching him, he made a curve on the kitchen and I had to stop before hitting the wall.


    But here he can¡¯t scape and¡­


    ¡­


    Seriously ?


    Into the rain?


    Oh, but you won¡¯t scape!


    You won¡¯t!


    ¡°Jacen ! All! Don¡¯t go into the rain! Hey!¡±


    Sorry ma. Too late now. I will grab this buttered badger.


    Just a little more¡­


    Here!


    I caught yah!


    To the ground! To the ground!


    Stop laughing, oh wait, this laugh is mine.


    Hehe. Right. I got yah.


    Stay down there. Right under my knees.


    ¡­


    Jacen¡­


    Jacen is kinda cute when he¡¯s under me like that¡­ with his breath making small white clouds and stuff¡­ right in front of my pants¡­.


    OUCH!


    He threw me!


    How did he¡­ his legs?!


    He caught my neck with his legs?!


    Damn it I will catch you now you little¡­


    Ah.


    Is it too late to say sorry again ma ?


    ***


    Our bottoms are on fire again. This time mother made us expend most of our aura with aura cushion and then spanked us.


    Well, we were running in the rain after she told us not to, so¡­


    Ah, whatever.


    Our clothes are drying above the fire and we are both under our blankets. This way we can remain warm.


    Jacen seems more tired than me.


    Well, let him sleep.


    Still¡­


    What just happened earlier?


    Jacen under me¡­ why did I stop like that?


    ¡­. Oh boy.


    Please don¡¯t tell me that.


    Please don¡¯t tell me I¡­ yeah.


    I¡¯ve gotten an erection.


    ¡­


    *sigh*


    ¡­


    Life is what it is.


    Let¡¯s not feed this desire and I won¡¯t feel any need to make it happen, right?


    Right.


    Madness time is over now. Jacen is taking a nap, I¡¯m returning to my senses little by little, and breakfast will soon be served.


    Ah¡­ he is leaning on me. His skin is touching mine.


    It¡¯s fine, right?


    Just.. just a hug...


    Just hugging is fine.


    I bet sister won¡¯t mind.


    Yeah, she won¡¯t. Let¡¯s touch him. Let¡¯s touch Jacen, press him against me.


    No, stop.


    What¡­ what am I doing, why¡­.


    ***


    No, nothing weird happened. I¡¯m back on my clothes, Jacen is back on his, we are just eating breakfast normally.


    But, still¡­


    Why do I feel so weird?


    Is as if something was wrong, as if something was out of pace and place. As if I was somewhat empty, or in a dream or something.


    Is this real life? Or just fantasy?


    ¡­


    ¡°Grandma¡­¡±


    ¡°What sweetie?¡±


    ¡°I feel weird.¡±


    ¡°Weird how?¡±


    ¡°As if I was in a dream¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh stop it. You are medicated already. Why do you keep saying things like that? I miss your grandfather so much¡­ why did he abandoned us? Did he leave? Or did he die? I can¡¯t remember¡­¡±


    Grandma, what are you¡­


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it time for you to get a job? I don¡¯t have any more money! The water bill is too expensive! Your computer is too expensive! Go live somewhere else! Go learn something in college! What have I done wrong with you ? Why are you like this?¡±


    What¡­


    What is happening¡­ ma¡­ don¡¯t talk to me like this Ma¡­


    Why I¡­ why¡­ what¡­


    ***


    I woke in the middle of the night.


    Grandma is sleeping next to us, on the other side of the fire. Grandpa is with her.


    Everything is chilly. I can hear wind whispers and thunder.


    The fire is almost out.


    The darkness creeps around us. Around me.


    Ah, what is happening¡­ let¡¯s¡­ let¡¯s put fuel in the fire¡­


    And, as I grabbed the fuel¡­ pain. A black snake slides on top of the wood.


    No¡­ this isn¡¯t happening.


    I¡¯m on another dream.


    This ominous feeling. This thing.


    It¡¯s just a dream. Just another dream. It¡¯s a dream.


    It hurts. My hand is getting bigger. There¡¯s pus, and a smell. Am I going to lose my hand?


    The snake.


    Where¡¯s the snake?


    Ah¡­ ahh¡­ it¡¯s right around me, right?


    If I move it will bite me and kill me, right?


    I can feel it. I can feel the danger. It¡¯s everywhere.


    But it¡¯s fake.


    ¡­ it¡¯s a dream, it¡¯s a dream¡­


    It is just a dream. Wake up. Wake up!


    ***


    I woke up again.


    The fire is still going strong. Ann is by my side, Jacen too.


    But there¡¯s a black figure.


    A scaled baby.


    No, it¡¯s the snake. Is it a snake?


    It¡¯s a snake. A short black snake with a lump in its body, as if it had swallowed a whole baby.


    It¡¯s right next to Jacen. There is me, Ann, he and the snake. It¡¯s looking at me. I can¡¯t move my body. I can¡¯t get out of here.


    It munches on my face. It eats my skin and melts my flesh.


    I deserve this. Because of the earthworm, I deserve this.


    I¡¯m going to die, then the whole family as well. All is going to disappear.


    Why¡­?


    Why have I done so many stupid things¡­


    From so long ago, from such a long time now¡­ am I really reincarnated?


    Have this really happened to me?


    No¡­ no way, right?


    I¡¯m just delusional. I¡¯m just kidding myself. I will wake up and be a fat man rolling on his own disgrace.


    I will be dead, because I need to kill myself.


    I need to kill myself, because there is no future for me.


    All is wrong. I will just die. Let me die, please. Let me die and forget this.


    No eternal life. No nothing. Just make me disappear. Quit being. Quit existing.


    I don¡¯t want to play this game anymore¡­ not anymore¡­ I¡¯m not made for this¡­ I¡¯m not here¡­


    ***


    ¡°All, son¡­ All¡­¡±


    ¡°A¡­ ah!¡±


    Father¡¯s face was close to mine.


    It¡¯s day. The sunlight hurt my eyes. The place reeks of human feces and dirt.


    Everything hurts a bit.


    It¡¯s okay.


    There¡¯s no false happiness here. There¡¯s no demons waiting on the corners.


    It¡¯s just my house. It¡¯s just my new house.


    ¡°Come. Let¡¯s eat breakfast. Then you can sleep a little more if you want to.¡±


    The sound of sister¡¯s swings was the same as ever.


    I¡¯m back from the nightmare.


    ***


    ¡°I had a nightmare¡±. I said when mother asked what had I dreamed of this night. That was after I apologized to her, of course.


    I have to say, her answer in the dream was more touching. Here she just brushed my hear and said I should help peeling the egg¡¯s shells.


    Anyhow. Hearing about the nightmare mother got a bit of a worried face, but grandmother made a gesture with her hand.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. He just had a small fever from the evolution process. It¡¯s normal.¡±


    ¡°But, mother, can¡¯t this be¡­¡±


    Grandmother touched my face.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Dreamer¡¯s truths don¡¯t come like this. Besides his forehead¡¯s still hot, so there¡¯s no doubt. Here, touch it.¡±


    Mother touched my forehead with an inquisitive face and gave a small, relieved, sigh.


    ¡°Okay then. Don¡¯t worry son, it was just a bad dream, okay? Jacen, eat your vegetables! I can see you putting them on Ann¡¯s bow!¡±


    Everything is back to normal indeed.


    But what is a dreamer?


    ***


    ¡°So, let¡¯s begin¡±.


    And again we are at the table, all together.


    Hope this time something weird doesn¡¯t happen to avoid us hearing grandmother.


    I mean, what are the chances?


    Oh, here it comes.


    ¡°[Four hundred] years ago there weren¡¯t any kingdoms on our [continent]. There was only one big [empire], the [Empire] of the Greater Sun. This [empire] was based on a single belief. That the mighty beings, whose name has been prohibited, had given superior power to certain people, and that those people should rule above all. Did you understand this much?¡±


    Uuuh¡­ no.


    What¡¯s up with those words I don¡¯t know?


    ¡°Grandma, I don¡¯t understand some of the words.¡±


    ¡°Which where those?¡±


    ¡°What is [four hundred]? And [continent] and [empire]?¡±


    ¡°[Four hundred] is¡­ a lot of time darling. It is a time older than your grandpa¡¯s grandpa. You will understand better when you learn how to count.¡±


    So, it¡¯s a number. Something on the house of the hundreds.


    ¡°And [continent]?¡±


    ¡°[Continent] is the name we give to the land under our feet. There is a lot of it, but if you walk in a certain direction you will see the sea. The sea surrounds our land, and if it was just a little bit of land we would call it an [island], but since it is a big amount of land we call it a [continent].¡±


    Oh, so it¡¯s a continent.


    ¡°But [empire]?¡±


    ¡°You know how we live in a kingdom, right? The one who governs a kingdom is a King. A, [empire] is like a big kingdom, but with a person on top of it. And the person who governs the [empire] is the [emperor].¡±


    Oh, an empire then.


    Ok, I can get this much.


    ¡°You understand this much?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And you Jacen?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t understand what is¡­ [emperor]¡­¡±


    Grandmother explained again. Well, he is just six, so of course he wouldn¡¯t know.


    ¡°Going back. Four hundred years ago the emperor was a very bad man. He did a lot of bad things. So people decided to revolt against him.¡±


    That much should be clear, since there is no empire anymore¡­


    ¡°Many people said to him that he should give up. That he should just leave the people be¡­ but he was very stubborn and a fool.¡±


    Grandmother¡¯s voice is very bitter now. Wait¡­ could she have lived on the time of this man? The look on her eyes is full of contempt.


    No, no, she must just hate him because he was a bad person. There is no way grandma is old on the measurement of centuries, right?


    ¡°So¡­ instead of releasing the [powerless] people and giving them a land where they could all live¡­ that fool did a lot of bad things to them, to try and make them submit.¡±


    ¡°Grandma, what is [powerless]? And what did he do?¡±


    ¡°Oh dear. I¡¯m sorry grandpa. Forget I ever said this word.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It was a slip of your tongue.¡±


    Grandpa is accepting grandma¡¯s apologies¡­ I guess it¡¯s a bad word.


    ¡°Listen Alvin. The people who don¡¯t have any special talent are just called people, okay? Don¡¯t give them names like [powerless] or [forgotten]. That is very bad.¡±


    I nodded to father¡¯s words.


    ¡°Go on Marie.¡±


    Well, that is rare. Father talking to grandmother like this.


    ¡°Because he did a lot of bad things to people¡­ the revolt grew bigger and bigger, and then he was forced to put a curse in the world.¡±


    A curse¡­ in the whole world?!


    The fuck is this guy?!


    ¡°But that a big cost. He had to kill a lot of people, and expend his entire life savings of aggregate aura. So, when he was weak¡­ he was killed.¡±


    Oh, a typical idiot indeed.


    To not lose the throne he lost his life.


    ¡°The empire didn¡¯t crumble, but his daughter, who become the [empress] kept doing the things her father did. And now with the curse on her command, she was even worse than him. It was the beginning of a terrible time. All the people who didn¡¯t had special talent from birth or enough power to resist were [enslaved] and given to the powerful people as [slaves].¡±


    Shit¡­


    That doesn¡¯t seem nice.


    ¡°What is [slave]?¡±


    I can imagine what it may be by the tone of the story, but Jacen is asking anyway¡­ so¡­


    ¡°A [slave]¡­ is someone who has been cursed with a very bad magic dear. It makes them do anything the person who cursed them order them to do.¡±


    ¡°Like playing [follow the master]?¡±


    Mother has a sad smile in her face.


    ¡°No¡­ [follow the master] is a game dear. You can stop playing when you want. But you can¡¯t stop doing things if you are a [slave].¡±


    ¡°That is boring!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. That is very boring, and very bad.¡±


    ¡°And they made everyone be like this?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They made everyone be like this. It was very bad!¡±


    ¡°Uhm!¡±


    ¡°Then¡­ for fifty years or something, things kept going on this way¡­ but what the old [emperor] didn¡¯t know at the time, was that the world was bigger than this continent only. His spell had reached many other peoples, and we were invaded by those who had resisted his curse. It was the beginning of a war of [a hundred years].¡±


    ¡°A war?¡±


    ¡°Yes dear. The worst of all we have ever seen. Almost half the people of this continent died in the war, and when the outsiders won the other half was divided amongst them and the ones they conquered as allies in this continent.¡±


    Wait, shouldn¡¯t these guys be the good guys?


    ¡°They didn¡¯t release the slaves?¡±


    ¡°No dear. They didn¡¯t. They just took the empress and made her divide the world amongst them. But the empress wouldn¡¯t marry any of them, so¡­ they made her pregnant by force.¡±


    ¡­ well, that¡¯s it. Poop world indeed.


    ¡°Pfff¡±


    Father is looking to the side with anger.


    ¡°Pa?¡±


    Shit, he is really angered.


    ¡°Look, All. Don¡¯t be surprised by that, okay? They did a lot worse to us back in the day. My grandfather told me stories about the things they did to [slaves], and saying that [bitch] empress suffered enough for what she did is¡­. Is..¡±


    ¡°John¡­ please¡­.¡±


    Mother is holding his arm gently. Ahh, the power of gentleness.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°I will continue now.¡±


    Let¡¯s go back to the story of rape and genocide. Yey.


    ¡°The empress decided to take revenge, and gave an order¡­ she¡­ ordered all of the [slaves] to turn against their masters.¡±


    ¡°She sent them all to death!¡±


    ¡°John, please!¡±


    ¡°No, he is right.¡±


    ¡°Mother!¡±


    ¡°The ones who had been cursed couldn¡¯t do anything about it. The only ones who survived where those who were too young or incapable of doing anything. Even children couldn¡¯t do anything. As long as they could walk, they had to follow the order. It was terrible, and only ended when the last master died.¡±


    ¡°You¡­ were you alive that time?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Forget I asked anything. I will go take some air.¡±


    Father left the place, and mother went after him. Grandmother kept her composure.


    ¡°With the end of the masters, the curse remained but there wasn¡¯t anyone else to give them orders, so the people were free for the first time in more than [two hundred years]. Can you guess what happened after, dear?¡±


    It¡¯s pretty obvious¡­


    ¡°They started to fight against each other?¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t have such power darling. Most of those who remained where the ones who were too weak or too young. It took twenty years or something for them to grow up, and, in this time¡­ the ones with power who weren¡¯t [slave owners] tried to make a new empire.¡±


    ¡°Are [slave owners] the masters of slaves?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And what happened?¡±


    ¡°The people on our continent hid themselves. But the people on the other continent didn¡¯t. Because most of the owners where here, they didn¡¯t lose so many people. So, they attacked us.¡±


    Well, shit.


    ¡°It took them over a [hundred years], but on your grandfather¡¯s father time they had already took most of our continent. They are the ones who became the current kings of the many kingdoms we have.¡±


    Father is returning. He sat down.


    ¡°Still on this?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m almost finishing.¡±


    ¡°Now dear, after such a long time and so much suffering¡­ people didn¡¯t want to remember the past. And they were afraid. So¡­ they created the book.¡±


    Uuuhm? A book?


    ¡°It¡¯s not a common book. It¡¯s the Book¡­¡±


    ¡°The [Book on Abnormals].¡±


    Mother complemented.


    ¡°It¡¯s a very bad book son, which tells many lies. But we need to show it to you. Dad?¡±


    Grandpa took a small book with leather cover from his front pocket.


    It¡¯s written on what seem to be words similar to the ones of my country of origin. Good. I will have ease learning this.


    Grandmother is making a conflicted face and pressing her hands on her legs. Mother kept talking.


    ¡°This book¡­ it says everyone who isn¡¯t [normal]¡­ is a monster with human form. It calls people like me and your grandmother [abnormals].¡±


    Wait, wait.


    When you say people who aren¡¯t ¡°normal¡± you don¡¯t mean general warmongers? Like, people who get cheat powers from birth and become drunk on it?


    You mean people like grandmother who just don¡¯t age?


    Aren¡¯t I one of those people?!


    ¡°You can take it back now, grandpa.¡±


    Granpa took the book back with him. Grandma begun talking again.


    ¡°Our clan had a word for our type of people, and it was [Genius]. This book your mother is showing you say it is a forbidden word, so you two should never let other people hear you using this word. Because they will think you are a monster in human form, and will be mad at you.¡±


    Well, thank you for letting me now.


    Of course I won¡¯t use this words with others!


    Shit man¡­ why are you even teaching me this stuff if it can get me into serious trouble?!


    I don¡¯t want people with pitchforks and torches in front of my house!


    ¡°Now, the [genius] exist in three categories and on sixteen types. There are the [peasant geniuses], the [superior geniuses] and the [royal geniuses]. Ann is a [peasant genius], Jacen Is a [superior genius] and Alvin is a [royal genius].¡±


    So, that¡¯s why she said I would become a prince if was to be born four hundred years ago.


    Hahah, no thank you.


    No thank you!


    ¡°Those ranks were decided by the Emperor when he casted his curse. Those who had enough potential to break the curse by themselves in twenty years, even if they were still enslaved, where the [peasants]. They had special treatment as slaves. Those who could break it in ten years from their birth or had already broken it where the [superior]. They were treated as nobles. Those who would be capable of inherit the command of the curse where the [royals], and any who would ever be born should be adopted by the crown.¡±


    ¡°Wait, then Alvin¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes. There is a possibility¡­ no, it¡¯s certain that he is the first child in four hundred years¡­ outside the old royal lineage, that is¡­ who could inherit that.¡±


    Father¡­ could you please don¡¯t look at me like this?


    ¡°Alvin.¡±


    ¡°Y.. yes Pa?¡±


    ¡°Y¡­ you¡­ ...¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t do it Pa! Even if I can, I will break it!¡±


    Grandmother is a bit surprised.


    ¡°You will break it?¡±


    ¡°Yes! I won¡¯t let people be controlled anymore! I will break it! The curse!¡±


    Grandmother is smiling a bit.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that dear. Curses can¡¯t last forever. There isn¡¯t enough energy for that. It has become useless for controlling people since your father¡¯s generation.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s as you have heard. It¡¯s mutilated on you. You can¡¯t be controlled, not even by the emperor himself. Nor do anyone from your generation.¡±


    ¡°But the book said...¡±


    ¡°The book is a big pile of stupidity and a LIE!¡±


    Did grandmother just¡­


    Did she just scream?


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Well, now it¡¯s father time to apologize.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back. The reason [peasants] can break the curse is because the curse itself is what creates the first level of the Aura Aggregate Amount limit. Once it¡¯s broken, the person can be released of the curse. It¡¯s also the reason why so many people believe [genius] are secretly monsters¡­ since those who are just normal have a hard time breaking it without mutating into monsters, those who have the potential to unlock it by themselves were seen as monsters.¡±


    ¡°So I don¡¯t need to go to the city?¡±


    Well, first father, now Ann is also making questions. Is this story really meant for me and Jacen?


    Or is it meant for the whole family?


    ¡°It would be better if you went there dear. You will probably break the limit by yourself if you just start accumulating more than your limit, but then how will you explain becoming a Superior Being by yourself?¡±


    ¡°Uhm. I understand.¡±


    So that means I¡¯m fucked. Nice.


    ¡°And I grandma?¡±


    ¡°That is what I wanted to tell you Alvin. You are too powerful to do the same Ann is doing. Be it by [magic transmutation], [body refining] or [soul overload], any technique would make you breakthrough the second level too fast, even if you could explain the first one. So you need to learn to hide your aura.¡±


    ¡°Hide my aura? But I¡¯m doing it!¡±


    ¡°No dear. You are just accumulating it. There is a small portion of it leaking from your body, as there is always leaking aura from every living thing. And people who know a technique called [Aura Analysis] can understood all about how you trained yours with just a simple look. That is why you need to learn how to change the appearance of your aura.¡±


    Oh, I see.


    ¡°Is that how you knew¡­ mother?¡±


    Knew what ma? Oh, the pregnancy, right...


    ¡°Uhm. Your child will be a little bit more than Ann. A lower [Superior Genius].¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    ¡°Regardless, this ranking only talks about raw power. That isn¡¯t important at all, because the real important thing is the type of powers a genius can have.¡±


    Type of power?


    I wonder¡­


    ¡°There are sixteen types of genius. They are the [Fast Learners], [Willpower Masters], [Metamorphs], [Long Lived Race], [Aura Control Geniuses], [Immortals], [Spirituals], [Soul Walking Prodigies], [Mind Walking Prodigies], [Reminders], [Dreamers], [Destined], [Heavens Defiers], [Unpoisonables], [World Treasures], [Born Warriors] and [Death Seers]. Each type means the person had that power and would be considered a member of that Clan when it manifested.¡±


    I¡­ couldn¡¯t understand a single word of the genius types?


    What the hell was that?


    ¡°Grandma, I couldn¡¯t understand!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay darling. It¡¯s because these names aren¡¯t on the same [language] you speak. It¡¯s another name for the things. It¡¯s called [cryptic] and it used to be the language our Clan spoke.¡±


    ¡°Our Clan?¡±


    ¡°That is right¡­ I just told you, right? When someone had one of those talents from birth, they were considered members of that Clan. You will understand better once I finish.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°The [Fast Learners] were those who could learn things fast, specially things from books and tales. This talent is enough to make someone be considered a [peasant genius] by birth.


    The [Willpower Masters] are those who have superior willpower. They were a fierce clan, and they were considered geniuses because with enough willpower one can avoid becoming a monster when breaking through the curse. They were [peasant genius] by birth right.¡±


    ¡°But, mother, wait¡­¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Ann¡¯s power¡­ her willpower is exceptional¡­ but isn¡¯t she a member of our clan? The Long Lived Race?¡±


    ¡°The Clan a genius belonged to was something defined not by which talent the person had, but by which was the strongest clan amongst the ones it shared by talent. Since our Long Lived Race clan was the one who amassed the greater power besides the Destined, Ann is definitely a member of our clan.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°So, the [Metamorphs] were a clan capable of changing their appearance. They could change their bodies to look like [demi-humans] or other people. They were considered [Superior Geniuses] because their bodies wouldn¡¯t turn into monsters even if they just surpassed the aura limit.¡±


    Ah¡­ I should have this power, no?


    ¡°The Long Lived Race was our Clan. We were the second most powerful clan, even if most weren¡¯t born as geniuses. That because our clan can live for a very long time, so we had influence with the emperor. We managed to keep almost all of our enslaved with us, little by little giving them the right techniques to overcome the curse and become [superior geniuses], like the [Body Refining] technique¡­ at least until the war begun.¡±


    Grandmother¡¯s face has become very cramped. At the same time, a weird expression showed on everyone else¡¯s faces.


    The moment grandmother said our clan was one of the strongest I thought father would leave the room again.


    But now there he was, showing that face.


    ¡°Marie.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Did you¡­ did your people opposed the curse?¡±


    ¡°Of course. Since the very beginning.¡±


    ¡°Still, you didn¡¯t stop it.¡±


    ¡°We couldn¡¯t. The emperor was a [Destined], and all we tried was useless. We could only protect our own.¡±


    ¡°¡­.¡±


    ¡°I will continue now.¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°The [Aura Control Geniuses] were a small clan of people with great control of their aura. They could easily control the flux and reflux of aura in their bodies, so breaking the curse without becoming monsters was possible as long as they had some training. They were [Peasant Geniuses] by birth right.


    The [Immortals] were considered a cursed clan. They were impossible to kill and wouldn¡¯t die of old age, but if they weren¡¯t [reminders] as well they were cursed to become completely forget who they were someday. They would also grow old and become frail. Our clan and the [immortals] had been supporting each other for a long time, so we shared the Body Refining technique with them.


    The [Spirituals] were a people who didn¡¯t needed to eat or even breath. They could connect to aura from a mysterious place and used that to live. Since they didn¡¯t need to ingest aura from the world, most of the clan was born free from the curse. They were [Superior Geniuses].¡±


    Then the curse is related to this world¡¯s aura¡­ I guess the emperor poisoned it or something?


    ¡°Grandma.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Is the curse related to the world¡¯s aura?¡±


    Grandma stopped for a moment before answering.


    ¡°Yes. The curse spreads using the world¡¯s aura.¡±


    ¡°Wait a moment Marie, what do this means?¡±


    Father seems curious as well.


    ¡°Aura comes from many places, but it gathers in the earth. What the emperor cursed were the veins of aura in the earth. It made aura gush from the earth much stronger than it used to, but it also carried the curse with it.¡±


    Well, that¡¯s weird. Wasn¡¯t this the cause of the increase in the number of monsters?


    ¡°Then, grandma, didn¡¯t this made more monsters?¡±


    ¡°Yes darling. It created much more than used to be. It¡¯s a terrible curse.¡±


    Well, that¡¯s just a problem for everyone.


    ¡°Anything else?¡±


    ¡°no¡±


    ¡°no¡±


    ¡°Then I will continue.


    The [Soul Walking Prodigies] could use a technique called [Soul Walk] easier than most. This was a way of breaking the curse without the need to go beyond the aura limit.  Because of that they never had to face it directly, and could just accumulate aura as much as they wanted. They were [Superior Geniuses].


    The [Mind Walking Prodigies] were the same as the [Soul Walking Prodigies], but able to use another technique. They were also [Superior Geniuses].


    The [Reminders] were the third most powerful clan. They were capable of remembering anything that ever happened to them. They had a perfect memory. The elders had so much knowledge and memory they rivaled our own clan in power, even if they lifespans were smaller. They usually weren¡¯t geniuses by birth, but would break the curse after a few years.


    The [Dreamers] had dreams were they saw things which were real. They could collect techniques like this, and eventually discovered how to break the limit.¡±


    ¡°Grandma, didn¡¯t you told me I was a Dreamer? But am I not from the Long Lived Race?¡±


    ¡°Since you are my grandson you probably are from our race. But we can¡¯t be sure. Right now you would be only a dreamer, since we can¡¯t know until you get older.¡±


    I see.


    So that¡¯s how it works.


    Well, not that I care. I surely have talents from most of those clans, even if this ¡°dreamer¡± one isn¡¯t something I asked the goddess to give me.


    I wonder if I have it?


    None of my dreams have proven to be true so far, so I guess I¡¯m not.


    ¡°Then, the [Destined]¡­ they were also a cursed clan. They had a destiny from birth, and no matter what happened, they would achieve it. It was impossible to stop them. If you tried, something would happen to avoid interference. However, they themselves couldn¡¯t avoid their destinies as well.¡±


    ¡°Did that had something to do with the enslavement curse?¡±


    ¡°No. The destiny of the imperial lineage was to rule a piece of land to the north. The Last Fortress.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯s why they never took it!¡±


    Grandpa seems to like history, hum. Well, he certainly married to right woman. But shouldn¡¯t he know this much already?


    I mean¡­ is grandmother telling this to him the first time as well?


    ¡°Yeah. They couldn¡¯t take it, no matter what.¡±


    ¡­


    Well, silence has come to us.


    Weren¡¯t there more clans to go by?


    ¡°Grandma?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right. The others.


    The [Heavens Defiers] had bodies which recovered very fast, and could even regrow an arm or leg. They wouldn¡¯t be affected by the curse for some reason, and were [Superior Geniuses] by birth.


    The [Unpoisonables] could eat and drink poison without being affected. They were also immune to disease. So they used a potion made of deadly herbs and managed to break the curse this way. Since it took only a single use of the poison to break it, they were considered to be [Superior Geniuses] by birth.


    The [World Treasures] had exceptional power and ability with crafting. They could make things like magical swords and alike with ease. They didn¡¯t had techniques to break the curse, but many clans would give them patronage and shelter them from being subjected to the curse.


    The [Born Warriors] had superior bodies from birth and wouldn¡¯t be affected by the curse, so they were [Superior Geniuses].


    And finally, the [Death Seers] could see the mark of death on anyone except the members of the [Immortals] clan. They were terrible assassins, and the Destined sheltered them from birth.¡±


    ¡°Those¡­ weren¡¯t those the shadow corps?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They were used by the empire to the bitter end.¡±


    ¡°¡­ My grandfather used to say they were our greatest allies by being our greatest enemies.¡±


    ¡°I see what he meant. They surely killed most of the powerful Geniuses of the world at the time.¡±


    Silence again.


    ¡°Well, that is it. As I said, those were the types of geniuses. That is, of people who could break the curse by themselves or at least dream of it for being part of a powerful clan. Of course, many had more than one talent¡­ All, for example¡­ your greater talent seems to be a Dreamer, but you surely have a superior willpower, as well as fast learning and aura control.¡±


    ¡°Uhm¡±


    Actually it seems I have quite a few. Immortality, perfect memory, don¡¯t need to eat or breath¡­


    But I also don¡¯t need to sleep, and my immunity to disease don¡¯t make me immune to poison.


    I didn¡¯t have a superior body from birth, so¡­


    Are those all kinds of talents and powers someone can have?


    No, no, grandma said it in the beginning.


    Those are kinds of [genius].


    People who could break the curse on the time of the empire, and why can they do it.


    Even if some seems more like they can break it because of the help of others.


    Regardless¡­


    It¡¯s almost time for lunch already.


    ¡°Ma, I¡¯m getting hungy.¡±


    ¡°Good heavens, it¡¯s time for lunch already. Can we continue later Ma?¡±


    ¡°Sure darling. And All...¡±


    ¡°Yes grandma?¡±


    ¡°I know you understood my explanation, so I don¡¯t need to tell you to keep this a secret, right?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°Good. You and Jacen, come here.¡±


    We stood in front of grandma.


    ¡°Now, put your hands with mine.¡±


    Grandma kept both her hands in front of us, making a ¡°stop¡± kinda pose with them.


    We both put our hands with hers.


    ¡°You two will promise me you will never talk about this to anyone outside of our house.  If you do I will know, so don¡¯t try to trick me, okay?¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    A small light started to envelop our hands and I could feel something weird in my head.


    It was as if my thoughts were being enveloped by something.


    ¡°Let me do it All. Don¡¯t remove those or I will be mad with you.¡±


    ¡°O ¨C okay¡­¡±


    So, she¡¯s doing magic in my head. Manipulating my thoughts.


    Damn.


    ¡°There. You two are done. All¡­ you are also a reminder, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°Well, you may not be a fast learner then. Let¡¯s try and discover what are your talents, so I can help you, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay grandma.¡±


    ¡°Good. Now go help your mother.¡±


    And so I went.


    ***


    Lunch, again, was simple.


    Grandmother didn¡¯t help us this time, and Ann took the opportunity to go back to training.


    Jacen helped us, but father didn¡¯t come.


    Instead, he stood in the living room with grandpa and grandma.


    I guess the three of them have a lot to talk to each other. Today¡¯s lesson was hard.


    Also¡­ it¡¯s time to explain my powers to the family.


    They won¡¯t believe I¡¯m a reincarnated person, but I can always be considered a ¡°dreamer¡± and say I learned stuff from a dream or something.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.But to think I lived in a world were being a genius was a bad thing. Also¡­ all this time here, and not once have the people talked about gods.


    I wonder if the ¡°superior being¡± grandma talked about when mentioning the emperor would be that. A god or something.


    Well, maybe it isn¡¯t. Since there¡¯s so many kinds of ¡°superiority¡± in this world it can just be someone who¡¯s good at magic or something.


    Is this a world without gods?


    I mean, of course it has gods. The goddess was the one to reincarnate me here.


    But maybe the people in this world doesn¡¯t have the concept of what a god is?


    It¡¯s something to ask grandmother later.


    Ah, the three in the living room started to talk. It sounds emotional, but I can¡¯t hear it perfectly from here.


    Unless I try and¡­ here¡­ let¡¯s use just a little bit of aura, just on my head¡­ enhance my hearing a little bit.


    Ouch. It¡¯s a hard topic indeed.


    But it seems interesting. Grandfather and father are both born from ex-slaves after all. Hearing the details of what the old masters used to do may bring ease to the grudge they have.


    Still, grandmother¡¯s clan went so far as to help the empress in exchange of something so small as a promise she wouldn¡¯t keep¡­


    I said this was poop-world, but I can clearly picture this much happening back on earth as well.


    Weren¡¯t old chinese tales and modern wuxias full of this kind of things?


    They didn¡¯t make big in modern occidental literature with exception of a few books. But political intrigue is part of life anywhere there¡¯s politics.


    Well, my vegetables are cut. Now to put them to boil and¡­ done.


    I can just sit a bit and wait now.


    Ha. Mother is pretending not to, but I can see her changing the pace of her actions with the talk in the other room.


    I guess everyone is curious in the end. Except maybe Ann.


    She wouldn¡¯t expend aura on this much. She really has an iron will.


    Still¡­ isn¡¯t it sad that she will have to submit herself to years of training in a dojo in order to do the test, when me or grandmother could easily teach her an easier way to get the power she needs to become a knight?


    No¡­ why would she want to become a knight in the first place, when that will put her in more danger than ever?


    Is life on this little village really this bad?


    I mean, of course it¡¯s a bad life. There¡¯s no sewage system, we have people taking craps on the streets, our village may be raided by bandits or destroyed by a rat infestation at any time.


    But still... isn¡¯t this the fate of this whole world?


    Father¡¯s stories about the towns didn¡¯t mention sewage systems. They are medieval indeed. People have to crap in buckets and then have it throw in a dung pile at the end of the town.


    And then there were plenty of jokes and funny stories about the people paid to do this for them.


    The beggars, the poorest of the poor who didn¡¯t wanted to become adventurers¡­ they were the dung carriers, the infamous dunggers, all day long carrying other¡¯s shit to the end of the town and returning to take another smelly bucket.


    ¡°So, one day this lad just quit being a dungger to try and be an adventurer, right? So, there were us, killing one of the worst monsters you can face, smell-ranked. An engorged green beetle. The thing¡¯s smell is awful, and it skirts a smelly thing from its but. It was our third time trying to kill this thing, when the lad had an idea. He said ¡®when it shows its but, I will go on the rear, so run to the front!¡¯. People usually don¡¯t do this kind of thing because most past out with the smell, but the lad could take it, so we went with that and killed the thing, but the lad got covered on the monster¡¯s goo. We thanked him and started to pack things to go back home, but then the lad said ¡®wait, aren¡¯t we going to eat?¡¯. We were without any provisions, so we asked him ¡®eat what?¡¯. He twitched his fingers and pointed to the thing. Then our leader, Brian, turned to him and said: ¡®Well, why don¡¯t you cook it? You have a lot of sauce all over you already!¡¯.¡±


    Then people would laugh at the joke, and dad would keep going:


    ¡°But you know what else? The lad just hung his head low, but we all could hear when he let something slip ¡®at least it isn¡¯t as smelly as your bucket¡¯.¡±


    This kind of thing.


    Surely the sanitation conditions of the world aren¡¯t much better. At least in the cities father has gone to.


    But then again, sister has been born in this world. Sanitation wouldn¡¯t be a reason for her to move to the city, unless she was very picky with the matter¡­ and she isn¡¯t.


    Aaah¡­


    Let¡¯s go eat and wonder about life later.


    Things have gotten really weird recently, haven¡¯t them?


    ***


    I finished eating the last of the risotto balls in my bow. It¡¯s a recipe of sticky risotto from this world. It wasn¡¯t bad. A little undercooked maybe. But the fried vegetable omelet was good and the pickled white cheese with dry fruits was a nice desert.


    Regardless.


    The table is lively again.


    That¡¯s all we needed. Some light talking with happy undertones.


    Right, right, let¡¯s forget all that sadness from earlier. Let¡¯s eat and drink and make merry!


    Right?


    Oh, mother is taking the bows back to the kitchen and¡­


    Everyone is serious again.


    Common guys! I will make a false association between food and happiness like this!


    You guys will make my infantile mind believe eating means forgiving and living happy with people you love but were sad!


    Then I will get fat and unemployed and depend on mother for the rest of my life!


    As if.


    I lived this shit in my previous life, but I don¡¯t intend to live it here.


    Besides, I have been living a good number of happy things which aren¡¯t related to food, like exercise and helping with the chores.


    If I am to relate family with happiness things will go smoothly, right?


    I think so.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s start.¡±


    Mother finished taking the bows to the kitchen and returned. It¡¯s time to start accessing our talents.


    ¡°It was tradition in the old days that, when someone was asked to state their talents, everyone else in the room should do it as well, so let¡¯s start with myself.¡±


    Uh? We will start with grandmother?


    It seems I¡¯m not the only one surprised.


    ¡°I¡¯m a member of the long lived race clan. I also have the aura control genius, the born warrior talent and the soul walking talent as well.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°It¡¯s you now grandpa.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just the son of a common man. I have no talents. I plow the land and that is it.¡±


    ¡°John.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m also just a common man. I have no talents.¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡±


    ¡°Wait a moment dear.¡±


    Uh? Why did grandmother stop mother?


    ¡°John, you may have never noticed this yourself, but you have a minor talent for aura control. It isn¡¯t much, but it¡¯s there.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Jacen probably inherited his control from you. Besides, you never broke your aura limit but you always brag about how you exceeded it countless times before going on quests, right? You would surely have turned into a monster if you hadn¡¯t this much talent.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I am an abnormal¡­ but then¡­¡±


    ¡°Most adventurers of this world are. At least the ones who survive to become ranked like you did. Most of the so called Superior Beings as well¡­ but they will just trick themselves in believing they did it with their effort alone.¡±


    ¡°And the accomplished?¡±


    ¡°Those¡­. Let¡¯s not talk about them. They aren¡¯t human anymore.¡±


    ¡°Because they fused with a core?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They aren¡¯t human at all. They just look like it. It¡¯s very [ironic], don¡¯t you think? That the true monsters in human form are treated as saviors of humanity, while us are condemned to hide.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°Then, darling, if you may¡­¡±


    ¡°Uhm. I¡¯m also from the long lived race clan. I have the learner talent, the willpower talent and the warrior talent.¡±


    ¡°Now, Ann.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m from the long lived race, but mother said I have the willpower talent.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Jacen now.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ do I have something?¡±


    ¡°Yes dear. You have the willpower talent, and the aura control talent as well. Keep those a secret, okay?¡±


    ¡°Uhm! I will!¡±


    ¡°And then¡­ Alvin.¡±


    Well, it¡¯s the time of truth. I don¡¯t even care anymore. It¡¯s not like our family can return to be like it was before all this. Before getting myself in this world¡¯s bad side to my neck.


    So let¡¯s just spill the beans.


    ¡°In my dream, the woman said I would be young forever, and also immortal, and also wouldn¡¯t need to eat or breath or sleep, and that I would remember everything I wanted, and that I would have a body which would heal fast, and that I would be able to change my body and that I would never get sick. But I drank ricin oil when I was young and it made me sick, and I ate things which made my tummy get bad, and I was never able to change my body.¡±


    ¡­


    Yep, they are just staring blankly at me.


    I should have known this would happen.


    ¡°Mo¡­ mother?¡±


    It¡¯s okay Ma, I don¡¯t bite¡­ even if I¡¯m a bit of a time-bomb on your lap and a treat to the whole family.


    Maybe I should just go away?


    I¡¯m only four in this world, but I have all the knowledge from my previous life ¨C so I shouldn¡¯t be at too big of a trouble.


    Besides, I have just become a Superior Being, which means I should have as much strength as a regular Knight, whatever that means. If I just accumulate a lot of aura, then I should be able to defend myself from nasty things, right?


    I may not know any offensive spells, but as long as I can run fast enough I should be able to grant my own life.


    ¡°All, dear, have you ever tested these things?¡±


    ¡°Uhm. I can remember everything, and when I cut myself it healed fast, and I never got sick, and I need to sleep only two hours a night, and I can go without breathing¡­¡±


    ¡°[Gods help us].¡±


    ¡°Uh? Grandma, what does that mean?¡±


    ¡°Never mind dear. That¡¯s¡­. it¡¯s just that grandma is impressed, it¡¯s all.¡±


    Well, I may not have many of the powers the rest of the family have, like being a master of willpower or a dreamer¡­ I mean, my willpower comes from the fact that I¡¯m a reincarnated being in a world full of magic. I may have more than a child, but it¡¯s just as much as a normal adult would have.


    Plus, my ¡°dreamer¡± powers are actually my memories of my past life.


    So I don¡¯t have a lot of what has been said.


    Still, I do have a big collection of powers and stuff.


    ¡°Then, ma, how do we train them?¡±


    Mother is worried as ever.


    ¡°It¡¯s impossible to hide something like the [heaven¡¯s defying] talent, the [spiritual] talent, the [metamorph] talent and the [immortal] talent, but we can try and do our best in teaching All how to deal with them. It will be very hard, so you will need follow everything grandmother tells you to do, okay All?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡±


    Aaaah¡­ I guess she will teach me how to pretend to be powerless and stuff.


    I haven¡¯t been trying too hard since I got into so much trouble when I did it myself, but since grandma is a person from this world I guess It won¡¯t be as bad.


    Or so I hope.


    The rest of the day we spend with grandmother teaching us the meaning of the words we didn¡¯t understood and, after a bit of joking around, training with Ann in the cold.


    Grandmother said it would be more believable if the three of us where to train every winter day under father¡¯s guidance, so it would look like he was the one making us train like that.


    An iron-handed military father who wanted his children to be strong and disciplined in combat as the reason why Ann, Jacen and Me would be so comported and do things like training every day instead of trying to ditch it to play and have fun by ourselves.


    It¡¯s more common than having the willpower to stand hellish training just because you want to be a knight or to become stronger.


    In the end it¡¯s all about what it looks like instead of what it is.


    ***


    Things got into a routine again after that.


    At morning we would wake up and take breakfast. Then grandmother would have me and Jacen putting aura into Ann¡¯s and father¡¯s beer.


    Since things have come out in the open she decided to get our training up a notch and help both of them at the same time.


    Father because he would deplete his aura a lot and Ann because she wouldn¡¯t train as she usually does.


    Why didn¡¯t the beer become beer slimes or something? Because grandmother can see aura and calculate how much we are putting into it. So she stops us before getting to this point.


    And this is our first training for the day. Not only for me and Jacen, but for Ann as well.


    The method to learn [Aura Analysis] is to pour aura on our eyes and then stare in an unfocused manner to each other until we get the gist of it.


    Auras look very weird. Wooly and full of colors and things floating on them.


    We put a couple of ours on that every day, since we need to get better at it so we can see details.


    Then we start the part of our training which is meant to be something to keep up the appearances.


    That is for me, Jacen and Ann to go together to take water on the river.


    I shouldn¡¯t be leaving the house before I¡¯m five, but grandmother said I should do it regardless.


    Also, since we must show Jacen and Ann as more trained and stronger than me, I¡¯m made to use aura cushion before going ¨C so I¡¯m using only my physical force to lift the single bucket I¡¯m made to carry.


    It¡¯s a small bucket, the smaller we have, but it¡¯s still heavy as fuck!


    I can lift my own weight, but carrying this bucket to the river and back is still difficult as hell.


    Oh, right, I haven¡¯t told about the river, right?


    It isn¡¯t anything much special.


    There¡¯s our village, with thirty and three buildings. They are thirty houses, the militia barracks, the hunter¡¯s lodge and the farmer¡¯s storage room. The blacksmith has his shop on his own house.


    The houses are all made of wood, and organized on five-to-five or six-to-six, separated between each other by two or three meters and fenced with short fences, high enough just to roughly separate the chickens everyone breeds on their backyards.


    Our house and grandmothers are the only houses fenced alone. Even the militia guard chief, which doubles as the town¡¯s prefect, lives with other families.


    I used to think that was because we were rich, but isn¡¯t that because they are afraid of us? Or anger at us?


    This world became a little sadder after thinking like this.


    Regardless.


    Between the groups of fenced houses there are small roads, large enough for four or five people to pass side by side. Just enough so a cart can pass.


    Then, after the last group of houses, heading south for two minutes on foot, there¡¯s the village¡¯s main gate. The wall which protects us from the monsters around is big and sturdy, made of pilled rocks, pegs and mud which rise from the bottom for two meters and end with pointy, one-meter-high wood stakes on top. It¡¯s may seem weak since it¡¯s made with only rock, mud and wood, but it¡¯s a five meters thick wall of rocks wood and mud which was built by the local lord¡¯s engineers.


    It gives a sense of safety.


    Then, after going through the gate we find the river at the end of a slope. It¡¯s just thirty meters or something from the gate, plus some three hundred meters from our house.


    Still, this world¡¯s rules of moral in regards to children say I shouldn¡¯t be allowed out of the house until I¡¯m five.


    So of course as soon as people saw me in the streets some came to talk to us. It was mainly mother¡¯s friends and some of their children, but one or two guards came by as well.


    Ann explained that it was father¡¯s orders, so they took her word for it and let us by.


    In the end I saw one or two going to our house, probably to ask father what was going on, but this was part of the plan as well.


    The story is that, since very young, I had been fascinated with aura. Then, I would have learned magic as he told me, but then went against his orders and started to feed aura to an earthworm I had taken as a pet.


    Since everyone knew I was indeed training since young, this shouldn¡¯t look like something too out of ordinary.


    Of course, the story goes on with the earthworm becoming a monster and me hiding it from father.


    It was thrown in the yard, a rat ate it and it became a hex rat, which ate our whole pantry and drove us through almost a year of poverty.


    Father made me cast crop growth to make me amend for what I did. It was a gruesome punishment and I would be dead tired every day, but it was only fair.


    Father will give false details on how he would make me work until I fainted almost every night, casting crop growth to exhausting.


    Then, autumn came and I didn¡¯t need to cast the spell anymore.


    In reality father forgave me and I started having a nice time as always.


    But what father will tell the villagers is that I have returned to be rebellious and that he found another pet earthworm under my bed. Not only that, but that Jacen knew and didn¡¯t tell him about it.


    So, he will punish us both by making us carry water with sister every single day of winter.


    If people say I¡¯m still too young he will brush it off saying I will be five in a few months and that I¡¯m with sister and brother all the time, so it should be fine.


    Anyhow, the real reason why I¡¯m getting water with sister is because this is training.


    Grandmother gave us instructions to keep using [Aura Analysis] while making heavy exercise and being around people ¨C this way we can become used to using it without the need to stop and stare weirdly at people.


    The three of us do that the whole morning, and use the water to fill our bathtub.


    Yes. We are having hot baths every day.


    I could swear sister¡¯s eyes have been brighter than usual because of that. Mother, father and Jacen are happier as well.


    This is a plus indeed.


    If any other incident happened?


    Hahah¡­ no.


    Since grandmother and grandfather are bathing with us we have been having men-only and woman-only baths.


    Grandmother, mother and Ann take the bath first one day, me, father, Jacen and grandfather take it first the other day.


    Anyhow.


    At the afternoons, right after lunch, me and Jacen will train under father.


    He will teach us some simple spells all adventurers know and will be useful for us to hide ourselves may the need arrive. Those are the [Aura Sensing] like the hunter used to sense the hex rat on our house and the [Cotton Steps] one, which clads a person¡¯s body in a tight bubble of soft aura, making it so we don¡¯t produce much sound while walking.


    The plan is for us to learn both spells in one month, train them to perfection in one other, and then learn the [Light], [Flash], and [shadow] ones.


    Those are spells not many adventurers know, but father learned them since he got rank, even if it was one of the lower ones. The first one, [Light], allows us to produce a little light with our aura, be in the tip of our fingers or in the whole body. The [Flash] one allows us to produce a flash of light like a flashbang grenade. The last one, [shadow], makes the outside of the aura appear pitch black like a shadow. Very useful, even if it isn¡¯t [Aura Analysis] proof. Those we are supposed to learn in the remaining month of winter and carry on training for a few more months until we know them by heart.


    Ann?


    Grandmother will teach her a little bit of qigong, so she can do training without the need to do sword swings.


    It was a little bit weird to think sister will stop doing sword swings, but father will say she has reached her limit on Aura Aggregation already.


    Why?


    Well, sister will make fifteen in only a few months, plus she was very close to hit her limit already.


    So it¡¯s believable that she would have reached her limit after so many years of training.


    And then father, who would have made her do that gruesome training every day in order to allow her to leave the house¡­ finally allowed for her to chill at home a bit before leaving.


    That¡¯s the story we will be telling people, even if it doesn¡¯t have much to do with reality except for the fact that, indeed, Ann is leaving¡­


    After training with father for a couple hours me and Jacen will join grandmother on other kind of training.


    We will do it indoors, in the living room. Since its winter we can do the training with the windows closed, so that¡¯s good.


    This training has two sides. First grandmother will teach Jacen how to tune down his aura even more. Since I can already control it pretty well, she won¡¯t bother teaching me this much.


    Instead, she will teach me the second step, which Jacen will learn when he has enough control.


    She will be teaching me how to clear the traces of abnormalities from my aura. Things like the remnants of my qigong training need to be perceived by me with [Aura Analysis] and then conscientiously erased by controlling the colors and forms in my aura.


    This training seems to be related to the [light] and [shadow] spells father will teach us in the future, but grandmother said I shouldn¡¯t worry about that for now ¨C since I would need a whole other level of mastery to be able to get the same effects using this technique.


    Regardless, since I can¡¯t see the details in my aura very well, this has turned into a supplementary [Aura Analysis] training time.


    After that we take our bath and go eat dinner.


    Then, after dinner grandmother would teach us how to count and calculate.


    Of course, I told her I had a ¡°dream¡± and knew how to do it already¡­ so more [Aura Analysis] training for me! Yey¡­.


    After that Jacen will be put to sleep, but Ann and me are to have classes with grandma on learning to write.


    She won¡¯t be teaching us the common language of this world, but the old language of the nobility of the empire, the [cryptic] language.


    I didn¡¯t understand how an Empire could use a language for nobility and another, totally different, for common folk ¨C but grandma explained to me that the cryptic and the Etilian languages once, thousands of years ago, where the same ¨C but the cryptic language remained the same with its stiff rules and burocratic use as the people gradually began talking and writing on a simpler and simpler language.


    So it isn¡¯t just the language of nobility¡­ it¡¯s also the language of old peoples. And a damn language with letters just like traditional Chinese.


    How come the present language is like occidental languages and the old language is oriental?


    ¡­no, this world has a lot of mixed up stuff. Or maybe it¡¯s our world that¡¯s weird for having them so separated like that.


    Oh, right.


    Our continent¡¯s name is ¡°Etilian¡±. It seems to be named after the first Emperor, Irmus Etilian Rosenkrof the First.


    Grandma will teach us for about two hours, and then she and Ann will go to sleep as well.


    I¡¯m to remain awaken, but not to go outside. Since I have told the family about me not needing to sleep grandma decided to make use of the nights to have me training qigong.


    According to her I¡¯m to keep training as long as I can, and only sleep if I really feel I need.


    When I asked why she just said I may need it in the future, so I guess the idea here is to make me strong in case something happens.


    Muscle training?


    Well, it seems the [Body Refining] technique allows for someone to go much beyond the normal physical limits of the body, effectively working better than muscle training.


    So if I had kept my qigong training I wouldn¡¯t need to go through that tiring routine by morning, or do any of the things I did to get rid of aura¡­


    Why this king knowledge only comes at times like this, when mistakes have been made already?!


    Cut me some damn slack.


    Anyhow, I spend my nights either training qigong like I used to do at the very beginning or trying to increase my connection to the void energy.


    It has stopped burning my dantian after that one time, so I¡¯m getting more and more.


    I also discovered the time I need to sleep every night has been reduced to a single hour.


    I guess the metamorphosis power the goddess promised me must start to show itself. Or at least I want for it to appear at once.


    It would make it a lot easier for me to conceal my identity if this power appears.


    *sigh* Let¡¯s go on. Things could be a lot worse, so let¡¯s be thankful that I¡¯m not a tragic hero destined to kill the demon king or something.


    ***


    Training is going well, and the family is recovering. I hadn¡¯t noticed how difficult the last weeks had been on us, but I guess we were on the verging of breaking and disappearing as a family.


    Mother¡¯s eyes, sometimes worried, sometimes fearful¡­ father and grandfather¡¯s long and reflexive looks, full of self-reprehension.


    I can understand what they must be thinking. I think the same about myself.


    That I love them, but I¡¯m also a treat to them. Maybe the bigger they could have inside their house.


    A monster can be just killed.


    A beast can be repelled.


    Bandits can be submitted to justice.


    Even a large group of soldiers can be tricked by running to the forest.


    But I can make them wanted people on the whole continent, not to mention also hated by everyone they ever knew.


    My simple existence is a menace.


    Also, there¡¯s the fear of me inheriting the curse.


    Of me becoming a master like the awful monsters of the past.


    Grandmother, father and grandfather didn¡¯t talk much to us about the times of the empire, after that day. But I listened to some muffled talks between grandfather and father.


    Before the times of the curse, exploitation and unfairness. A reign of terror and genocide.


    After the curse¡­


    Collective rape to increase the number of slaves.


    Working them until they died of exhaustion.


    Throwing the bodies on the forests so they would be eaten by hex rats and no graves would need to be dug.


    Wars were thousands died because some upstart superior genius spilled wine on another noble¡¯s clothing.


    I would have revolted as well. I would have called the [geniuses] monsters in human form as well. The empire was inhuman, and the curse only made it worse.


    The curse only made them to think regular humans were garbage even more.


    Can I really blame father?


    Can I really blame the people of this village for what they did?


    Grandmother told us of the ¡°monster concoction¡±.


    It was a plain venom made of pure purplecup, a kind of sinister flower similar to a devil¡¯s trumpet, except it¡¯s black with clear purple veins in it. It was one of the dangerous dried herbs mother has on her stock.


    It didn¡¯t have the power to differentiate between geniuses and non-geniuses. The only reason grandmother and grandfather survived drinking it was because grandmother knew what it was made of and had both of them drinking beauty grass tea the whole night.


    Beauty grass is one of the only antidotes to purplecup, and also the reason mother has a stock of it in her herbs storage. It seems mixing beauty grass and purplecup creates an antiseptic medicine useful for diseases that make the person swollen by accumulating water under the skin.


    That¡¯s unacceptable.


    Still¡­


    After going through such pain and suffering for over two hundred years¡­ aren¡¯t these people acting like that because of what their parents lived?


    Well, grandmother is able to live normally with father and grandfather.


    She also knows a lot about many things, and she is a [genius]¡­ not to mention the one who taught Ann on the sword and knows techniques even father doesn¡¯t know.


    If she wanted vengeance, then she would have had it.


    Still, all she seems to do is to drink wine whenever one of the elders dies. They were old men already when they did the pogrom 20 years ago, so she just enjoys drinking on top of their tombs. Of course, she doesn¡¯t drink in public, but on her own house.


    But grandfather also drinks with her, so I guess this much vengeance they can enjoy together.


    Vengeance, vengeance¡­


    I must avoid people¡¯s vengeance for crimes not only I¡¯m not the one who committed, but also that I absolutely can¡¯t have anything to do with.


    Even my soul and mind weren¡¯t a part of this world when those things happened.


    All of those things I have reflected upon, and the others in the family must have thought similar things as well.


    So it was a weird time.


    But we are recovering.


    Bit by bit, day by day, we recover.


    Even after so many reveals, even after so much danger was exposed¡­ we can still sing songs after dinner and take one or other day out to tell nice stories of the past.


    For a bit everyone seemed distant, and I didn¡¯t dare to approach mother or sister for a while, but eventually someone patted my head, and then sister began hugging me while sleeping again.


    Bit by bit, we are putting the family together again.


    I¡¯m glad even all the danger didn¡¯t break us.


    ***


    May I see daily bathing in hot water is turning me into a damn spoiled brat?


    Since our progress has been steady and even a bit over grandmother¡¯s prediction, she has given us the day out today.


    Which meant me and Jacen didn¡¯t went to the river with sister¡­


    And that we didn¡¯t bring back water to fill the tub.


    And that today we will have to bathe with a cold cloth.


    We could go without bathing, of course, but for some reason Jacen thought it would be just hilarious to start a snowball fight, and then for some reason the rest of the people of the house, with the exception of mother, just decided to join.


    The hell was that¡­ is this something he learned with his friends from the village?


    Well, I obviously was the first target and¡­ well, it wasn¡¯t as bad as it seemed at the beginning.


    So, for this reason now we are all covered on mud and need to clean ourselves with cloths.


    Damn, this is cold.


    ***


    I¡¯m done mastering [Aura Analysis], [Aura Sensing] and [Cotton Steps]. It took me only a month, so I¡¯m one month earlier than expected.


    Jacen is halfway here, but Ann still has ways to go before getting the details in the [Aura Analysis].


    Grandmother started to teach me the aura hiding technique, and it¡¯s tough as nails. I must be constantly aware of my aura, so I need to constantly use [Aura Analysis]¡­ and then, I also need to perceive the details and control the aura so they become blurry and disappear as if they were regular aura patterns.


    But there¡¯s a good side to that.


    It¡¯s just fun as hell to notice certain things on people¡¯s auras.


    I mean, just the other day I saw a weird turbulence on grandmother¡¯s and grandfather¡¯s aura¡­ grandmother told me that was the sign of a man and woman doing what couples do, so that was weird as shit.


    But at least they are silent, and now I can see all the incongruences on those damn hag¡¯s tales.


    I would say they didn¡¯t get even half of it right!


    Hohohoho, damn hags. I have gone beyond your hellish network of gossip! I can see things you don¡¯t even imagine!


    Anyhow, one interesting discovery I made was in regards to my intelligence, or, rather, my mental capabilities.


    I should be able to have unlimited mental growth¡­ but as I keep making efforts to multitask and do many things at the same time, even if my mental capabilities are growing this did nothing to my intelligence.


    I mean, I can use [Aura Analysis] and control my aura at the same time, and this become easier to do by the minute.


    But even if I¡¯m clearly increasing my mental power, when I stop doing this I don¡¯t suddenly become Einstein or anything.


    I guess mental power isn¡¯t the same as insight on the nature of the universe. There are other kinds of knowledge needed to be able to deal with physics and stuff.


    Still, if I keep multitasking, won¡¯t I become something akin to an omniscient overlord capable of processing a lot of information at all the time?


    Heheheh, this will be good. Good stuff.


    Oh, right.


    Father has also started to teach me the ranked spells. They are even more difficult than crop growth, but use much less aura.


    So I¡¯m working hard on them.


    Let¡¯s try and finish this to the end of the month.


    ***


    It took me one and a half month to master the [Light], [Flash] and [Shadow] spells.


    They are really something else.


    If I use [Shadow] and [Cotton Step] at the same time I¡¯m able to look like a shadow moving in a totally silent manner.


    If someone doesn¡¯t have [Aura Sensing] active all times they wouldn¡¯t be able to notice it.


    Oh, right¡­. Grandmother was thrilled that I was able to finish my training on hiding my aura in just a month and a half. Jacen is just starting his.


    But she didn¡¯t liked it even a tiny bit when I asked if I should try keeping [Aura Sensing] up all the time.


    ¡°Alvin, can¡¯t you sense when someone uses [Aura Sensing] next to you?¡±


    Indeed, I could.


    ¡°Then what do you think people will think of you if you use it at all times? You Aura Recovery Speed may be high enough to compensate for it, but most peoples isn¡¯t! It would make it clear that you are a Superior Being, at least. So don¡¯t do it.¡±


    I guess I should have expected this much. Father did pay a hunter to use [Aura Analysis] to find the hex rat, so it isn¡¯t something common for the usual person to use.


    Anyhow, now that I¡¯m able to hide my aura in detail the next step is to create an image of a common aura and keep it up all the time, so I can stop using [Aura Analysis] and be constantly checking my aura.


    Truth be said, it was indeed a bother to keep looking at myself each five minutes. I looked like a freak, always inspecting my own body.


    So this next step is my objective.


    Now, in terms of spells, father taught me the [Toxin] spell, but said I shouldn¡¯t ever use it except when facing monsters which demand poison to kill, like creeping sponges ¨C which are the monstrous version of sea sponges and which demand either poison or fire to be disposed of permanently. Truth be said they are just huge sponges which fixate themselves on fishing boats and rocks and stay there, but since they will regenerate even from the smallest piece left alive from time to time a bunch of adventurers will be paid to go to the beach and cast ¡°toxin¡± on the water until it becomes poisonous and kill the sponges.


    Of course, It also kills any maritime life in a certain radius from the beach, but it¡¯s something needed each ten years or the like.


    Then, after I mastered the [Toxin] spell in a couple hours or something, he said I already knew enough to get by and should ask grandma what to do.


    And that¡¯s when grandma decided to give me what I have wanted for such a long time ¨C lessons on writing and reading the language of this world!


    For now, she gave me an alphabet and some exercises to make letters by myself. But I must say, I didn¡¯t expect to have trouble holding a piece of coal to write.


    Yes, it¡¯s retrograde and it isn¡¯t anything like a pen or pencil, but I hold my Hashi without a problem ¨C so why are my fingers refusing to write properly?


    I guess I have to train them¡­


    ***


    And winter is over.


    I have been doing progress on the [Aura Hiding] technique and read a little bit on both cryptic and this world¡¯s language.


    How did I learn so fast?


    Well my friend, I have perfect memory, remember?


    Once I see a word I will always remember the sound related to it. I would probably be reading and writing in both languages already, had I just some books instead of having to rely on grandmother¡¯s handwritten cards.


    There¡¯s the [Book on Abnormals] but I don¡¯t intend on reading that for my first book in almost five years, thank you.


    Then, as I said, my progress has been steady.


    But the problem is¡­ grandmother and grandfather¡­ what will happen with them?


    They won¡¯t be returning to grandfather¡¯s house so soon, since grandfather, grandmother and Jacen will have to go help with the spring planting.


    But the house will be full with the hags again, and grandmother won¡¯t be here to train me most of the day.


    Mother thought of asking the hags not to come, but grandmother said she shouldn¡¯t.


    Not only because it would be suspicious, but also because mother¡¯s belly is already starting to show.


    According to grandmother, mother is already on her sixth month.


    The baby will be born in the end of the year. She will be our little jesus.


    Not that there is any jesus or christmas in this world.


    Then it will be one whole year when outsiders shouldn¡¯t visit the house. It would be the perfect time for me to train with grandma, except that¡­ it would be too weird if she and grandpa weren¡¯t trying to get the hell out of our house until there.


    They aren¡¯t the new child¡¯s immediate family, so they shouldn¡¯t be here as well.


    Also, a few months after my little sister¡¯s birth It will be Ann¡¯s birthday. Since it¡¯s her fifteenth birthday it is a very important occasion, so her party needs to be held on grandmother¡¯s house.


    It¡¯s quite a pickle.


    What should we do about it?

 Extra Chapter 15: Just a Farmer

    When did it all began?


    I guess it was some thirty years ago.


    I was just a kid at the time. Thirteen years old I think.


    But things were very bad for me.


    I have lived in this small village all my life. I never went to nowhere else.


    It was me, ma, pa and Tommy.


    But back then we didn¡¯t have any walls around the place or anything.


    The previous lord wouldn¡¯t expend so much money on us.


    So we were attacked a day.


    ¡änoids.


    Faces like nightmares. Deformed bodies.


    There weren¡¯t many of them. Fifteen maybe.


    But we were just farmers. Pa was first. He told us to run when the door was broken in the middle of the night.


    Our house had only two rooms back in the day.


    We ran like Pa said to us to do, but they were outside as well.


    They had taken our quarter and were getting what they could. Killing people and taking the food.


    The militia came, but they were only four and would group all on a single monster, to avoid dying.


    ¡änoids are strong.


    Most of them are people who broke through the aura limit but didn¡¯t become total monsters.


    Brutes, bandits, people of the mountain who would rather take the risk than to die to a pack of mad hounds or something.


    One of them took ma by the hair.


    I tossed a stone on him, but it just bounced on his forehead.


    He broke ma¡¯s neck just like that.


    ¡änoids don¡¯t make prisoners. If they want to have woman or man they first kill, then they use them.


    They aren¡¯t like people; they aren¡¯t like superior beings.


    I took Tommy by the hand and started to run with him.


    But there was one more in front of us.


    His hand was almost at my face when she appeared.


    Marie.


    She cut the monster in half just like that.


    Who was she?


    She looked young. Maybe she was a Superior Being.


    But why would a Superior Being be here?


    No matter.


    The things were dead a little after.


    Then she sat on the ground, breathing heavily.


    Her eyes were wild. The militia was warry of her.


    She looked at me and said.


    ¡°Hey boy. Care to get me food and some bigfoot root?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t react. As I looked at her, she collapsed on the ground.


    The woman of the village took her in.


    In the meanwhile, we prepared the grave for the dead.


    Thirty people. Me and Tommy had lost ma and pa.


    We dug the two holes in the ground, then put the firewood under. After we put the bodies of the dead and burnt they all together.


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    I couldn¡¯t eat any kind of meat for eight years after that.


    ***


    Marie came to live with us in the end. Me, Tommy and the other children.


    The old block became an orphanage of sorts.


    I was the oldest one left alive. Tommy was eleven. Sylvy was eight. Oran was seven. Billy and Mattew were only five.


    Hadn¡¯t Marie been accepted in the village and they would probably be taken in by the other families.


    If any family remained after the ¡änoids finished their business.


    We took the old houses down and rebuild a new one, this time bigger. It had four rooms. One for Marie. One for me, Tommy, Billy and Mattew. One for Sylvy and Oran. And one to cook food and eat together.


    It was a big house.


    And so we kept living. Marie needed a whole year to recover from the wounds she had all over her body and the frostbite which ate all of her fingers.


    We thought she would lose those, but she knew intermediary-level healing.


    And for a couple years we believed she was a superior being.


    Then, it was time for her to go.


    I got sign of her packing her stuff one night. I was already an adult, so I could look after the kids if needed.


    But I didn¡¯t want for her to go.


    I was just a farmer, but I didn¡¯t want for her to leave our village.


    She told me the truth that day.


    But I didn¡¯t care.


    In those two years she had done a lot for us.


    She helped us to recover the soil by exchanging which crops we grew and were.


    She took care for me, Tommy and the others.


    She taught Sylvy how to hunt. The two of them would bring fresh meat from the forest and trade it for grain.


    She helped the militia to hunt down the ¡änoids and monsters around.


    Not a single death in those two years. Our village hadn¡¯t a single one.


    How many people died every year before she came here?


    Two?


    Maybe three?


    She healed those who got attacked, helped the pregnant woman to give birth, salved so many lives.


    She is no monster. She is even better than our useless lord who won¡¯t even give us a wall to protect ourselves.


    From there on I lived with her.


    She was no monster; she was just my wife, Marie of the Long Lived Race.


    The heavens gave me thirty years with this woman so far.


    And I don¡¯t regret even a single moment.

 Chapter 9: Sister is Leaving

    Volume 1


    Chapter 9


    It¡¯s the first day of spring and also the first day of our new routine. It¡¯s just another change on it, but at least we seem to have found a solution for our problems.


    The most urgent problem is: Grandma¡¯s house is on tatters.


    The roof need to be undone, the good parts preserved and the bad ones turned into firewood.


    Of course, since this was calculated damage grandpa has been assessing the place from time to time and, counting with the damage made by the winter snow and winds, a group of three to five should be able to complete the work in a week total. It would be a lot more if the wood needed to be prepared and the nails ordered from the blacksmith, but these things have been taken care by father and grandfather on winter.


    Except we can¡¯t just go there and work because it¡¯s spring!


    The fields need to be tended, the orchards as well, and the seeds need to be planted.


    Usually everyone above the age of ten would be on the fields, with the exception of housewives which are babysitting young kids and Ann, who wouldn¡¯t stop her training no matter what.


    So, this year Ann will help at the planting and we will leave the rebuilding of grandma¡¯s house to the second-from-last week of spring, when grandpa, hopefully, will have completed his quota of planting for the year.


    Of course, this means the water gathering chore will be exclusively on mine and Jacen¡¯s shoulders.


    Seeing as I need to keep low-profile on my aura, this means expending most of the day to go to the river and then back, only so Ann can help at the fields.


    Not to mention I still have to tend to my wood splitting chore and help around the house, since mother¡¯s belly is pretty swollen already.


    This means I and Jacen will mostly become househusbands.


    What a pain.


    But it will be a problem if mother gives birth and grandmother¡¯s house isn¡¯t done yet, so let¡¯s do our best.


    I mean, there are some plusses also, right?


    I won¡¯t have to go through the hag feast again, and grandmother will keep training us at night, when she has returned from the fields.


    *sigh*


    Let¡¯s go with this¡­.


    ***


    First day was ok.


    Wake in the morning after sleep on sister¡¯s arm. Eat breakfast with everyone together. Split wood.


    Take my bucket and go to the river with Jacen.


    Then again.


    And again.


    And again.


    And again.


    Mother complains we are too slow and need to go faster.


    We go again.


    Me and Jacen help mother with lunch.


    And then we eat.


    The hags come with their sons and daughters.


    I sweep the house clean, including taking care of the ashes in the brick oven, and Jacen takes a time off to go play with his friends.


    I make midday snacks. The hags now want tea with their snacks, since mother has gotten so much from grandmother. Damn hags.


    I help making yarn.


    Night approaches, the hags go away.


    I help mother with dinner, and Jacen soon joins us.


    We finish dinner in time for grandfather, grandmother, Ann and father come back home.


    We all eat together.


    Before sleeping me, father and Jacen go to the kitchen and take cloth baths. Since mother is pretty much sure I can remember how to do it by now, this means I sweep most of my body by myself Jacen sweeps my back. In return I sweep his.


    Since that dream I have been feeling a little weird about touching him, but I guess I need to get over it.


    I mean, father¡¯s penis should be much more of a trauma for me at this point of life.


    Can you imagine the trauma of noticing your father¡¯s penis being larger than your forearm?


    It¡¯s one of the most emasculating things I have ever experienced in my life. The experience of being harassed by the hags included.


    If I didn¡¯t know this is just a perspective trick, I would be seriously downhearted by now.


    Anyhow.


    Me and Jacen help sweeping father¡¯s back together, since he is large and this is a good bonding moment.


    Mother doesn¡¯t bathe because she isn¡¯t doing much work during the day, while grandma, grandpa and Ann take baths in the river before getting homer.


    Father could take one of these as well, but It seems he doesn¡¯t feel much like it those days. No. Instead I have to remember the scene of a humongous penis dangling a few centimeters from my face.


    Thanks dad.


    Next grandma checks on my progress on the [Aura Hidding] technique, gives me insight on it and corrects things I¡¯m doing wrong, like imprinting weird colors or forms in the aura.


    Then it¡¯s reading and writing classes for a little bit. Grandmother teaches me, Jacen and Ann on cryptic. After she teaches basic math to Ann and Jacen, while I try to read some of the human language of this world.


    It¡¯s a bit difficult to do it by myself, but with perfect memory she just gives me a piece of paper, reads out loud what each word means and I try to copy and understand the grammatical rules by myself. It¡¯s almost like a game of deciphering a lost language.


    After that we go to bed. I hug Ann and Jacen¡­ hugs me I guess¡­


    That is a bit awkward, but since he doesn¡¯t have an erection or anything I guess it¡¯s fine.


    I sleep for an hour and wake.


    I gently leave the bed and resume training qigong and [Aura Hiding]. Since grandmother has given me permission to, I also do a late-night training consisting on using all hiding techniques at the same time.


    [Aura Hiding], [Aura Analysis], [Aura Sensing], [Shadow] and [Cotton Step]. I put all of them to use and keep sweeping the boundaries of the house while looking for things like movements of insects and the breathing rhythms of everyone.


    It¡¯s difficult as fuck. The sheer amount of information I need to deal with is insane.


    But again, cheat body, cheat skills.


    I finish the night by sleeping with the family for just thirty more minutes.


    ***


    First week was ok as well.


    Father decided to take his baths on the river more than at home, which is good.


    Mother bathed with us three times or something.


    At first she was a bit shy, probably because she knows I have perfect memory, but¡­  I guess she eventually realized - is there anything in her body I haven¡¯t seen before?


    Thought so.


    Or maybe she just perceived how weird it is to be ashamed of being nude around your two sons which are bellow ten years old.


    Nope. Me being a pervert who would get an erection because of her nudity doesn¡¯t has a thing to do with that. Not at all.


    Nope.


    Anyhow.


    The week was fine.


    ***


    Second and third weeks.


    Fine. Just boring, but fine.


    Got permission from grandma to hunt the insects I see using a technique called [Wind Needle]. It¡¯s a mix of the cladding, hardening and sharpening techniques.


    However, you clad a small bubble of air and makes a needle with it by hardening the air in a certain form.


    Weirdly grandma doesn¡¯t seem to have the concept of air. There isn¡¯t even a word for it. She said I should clad the [wind] around me and got a bit scared when she saw me cladding the air.


    I mean, isn¡¯t it a lot easier to clad air than to clad wind?


    When I explained there was a ¡°thing¡± around us which we breathed, like vapor from boiling water but invisible, she first looked puzzled and then amazed to be able to create aura needles without the need to clad small wind currents, but instead cladding air.


    Of course, I said I had learned this from a ~dream~ of some sorts.


    ***


    Fourth week.


    We had laundry day this week.


    Now, laundry in this world is a weird thing.


    First, there is no soap. So, most of the times mother just boils some water, puts it into a big basin and have them cook for a bit in there. After that she removes any stains by scrubbing and go to the river to wash them completely.


    Now, even while being seven months¡¯ pregnant mother would still go to the river with me and Jacen to teach us how to wash the clothes. But she didn¡¯t do it this month, because¡­


    Second, there is one time in the year when mother does a special kind of washing.


    So far I had only seen she do it once, since on my years here I didn¡¯t actually care for what was going on with the clothes.


    It was quite surprising, let me say, to see my mother mixing ashes with water and then ordering me and Jacen to stomp it with our bare feet.


    It¡¯s called [lye] and it seems to be something which helps cleaning the clothes.


    Third, there was a whole year worth of greasy clothing to be stomped all day long, let rest in the buckets for a night, then stomped again, then let to rest in a new bucket with more lye for another night, them be scrubbed for a whole day.


    Fourth, after all that scrubbing, we had to take this years¡¯ worth of clothing for five people, boil it and take it to the river.


    Once there, mother taught me and Jacen how to kneel on the river basin and scrub the clothes even more, eventually also beating them with a wooden stick.


    All while mother talked with other woman who were doing the same thing as her.


    So this was a hell of a week full of washing.


    ***


    Fifth week. I¡¯m glad there¡¯s no more washing.


    Sixth week. Sister is getting a bit tired of plowing the fields. For some reason this translated on she holding me stronger when we hug at night.


    Seventh week. I felt something on my back this night. Oh gods, please let it be just a slimy bug¡­ it isn¡¯t. Poop-brother, I swear I would break your skull if I didn¡¯t know you are deep asleep right now.


    Eight week. I have become a master bug hunter. And also mastered the [Aura Hidding] technique. Grandma said I should keep this one active at all times to the point where it¡¯s active even when I¡¯m asleep. So, to make it an unconscious act. She also taught me a more advanced version of the [Aura Cushion] which is the [Aura Armor]. It¡¯s just a mix of the [Aura Cushion] with hardening on the outsides, but it¡¯s pretty difficult to do and dangerous as well¡­ grandma said she wouldn¡¯t let me try by myself if I hadn¡¯t the regeneration powers, since it can hurt pretty bad. And indeed It can. I lost many small pieces of myself to this thing. Luckily they all grew back again.


    Ninth week. Mother¡¯s belly is freaking HUGE! She can barely move around the house, so I have taken the cooking duty full time. It seems grandma did it when she was pregnant with Ann, but today it¡¯s my turn. Well, not that I hate cooking.


    Tenth week. Just one more week until we start rebuilding grandma¡¯s house. Everything seems to be ok. Also, my night training is giving great results. I can already have a small conversation with grandmother in the cryptic language and also write a little bit on both the cryptic and the common languages. I have mastered [Aura Armor] and although I can¡¯t keep [Aura Hiding] unconsciously yet, I have achieved a level of mental development where I can keep tracking of it with ease. Grandma has also accepted to teach me a technique called [Aura Needle], which is the advanced version of [Wind Needle]. It¡¯s a lot harder, since I have to create a small ¡°mass¡± of Aura and harden only that, and then shoot it, but I think I can do it if I try hard enough. I mean, I do have a lot of spare time at night.


    ***


    And it¡¯s here!


    First thing in the morning I helped mother making rice porridge, and then me, Ann, Jacen, Father, Grandfather and Grandmother went to grandfather¡¯s house.


    It was in a sorry state.


    I mean, it was a house mostly like ours, but a big piece of the roof was caved in.


    It was right over the kitchen, so at least the floor boards had been preserved.


    Regardless, the first thing to do is to take the whole roof off.


    So that¡¯s what we will do.


    Mother will stay at home and prepare our meals for us.


    She is nine months pregnant, but the hags can help with at least this much, even if it¡¯s spring.


    Stay well ma.


    So, as the adults start to work on removing the roof I and Jacen am in charge of taking everything and storing it neatly.


    Ann isn¡¯t with us because she went to the river take the water mother will need to cook. My wood splitting was done last night before we went to sleep, so there¡¯s no need to worry about that.


    Anyhow.


    This world is really something else.


    The outer layer of the roof is made of straw, so taking it off was simple. Time-consuming, as people tried to preserve as much as the straw as possible, but simple.


    Even I could help with that.


    But when late afthernoon came people started working on the wood, and that was just as impressive as the 300kg pig father brought home time ago.


    There was no need for crowbars or hammers. The adults just grabbed the wood on the right spots and lifted it with the use of a little bit of aura.


    Of course, knowing which are the sweet spots and which wood is to be taken off first is valuable knowledge, but it¡¯s really weird to see the beans being taken from the roof with bare hands.


    Not to mention the nails.


    They are taken out of the wood with only the fingers. Grandfather seems to be the one in charge of this task.


    Just amazing.


    Of course, I can¡¯t do much more than observe and help carry light stuff. We are in the open here, so if I¡¯m to start lifting half a ton wood beans things would be weird.


    But it¡¯s interesting work indeed. Plus, everyone has a healthy face at the end of the day.


    And then¡­ river bath!


    My first river bath in this world!


    Was anti-climactic.


    Since it was almost night we just quickly undressed, submerged in the water briefly, scrubbed with cloth, dressed our clean clothes and returned home.


    At least dinner tasted delicious.


    ***


    I¡¯m glad I can talk stuff out with grandma. You see, I had an ingenious idea today, while I worked on the roof.


    If I could use [Toxin] on the [Wind Needle] wouldn¡¯t I be able to create a poisoned ranged attack?


    [Aura Needle] would be like shooting my own foot, since an aura-eating disease would affect me as well.


    But the air inside the [Wind Needle] isn¡¯t directly in contact with me. It¡¯s been restrained by the [Hardening] effect of the aura and will be released only when it hits the target.


    Also, if I inject a lot of aura inside this air it seems to be possible to create a [Air Slime], which must be the weirdest thing in this world.


    A slime made of air. Grandmother said they are probably the most harmless and fragile creatures in the world, but if I create one in a confined space which I had previously infected with the [Toxin] spell¡­


    Wouldn¡¯t I create a slime made of poisonous disease?


    I¡¯m feeling like Al-Kaeda now. Making antrax bombs.


    So, the two of us went to the backyard this night to try my hypothesis¡­


    First I casted [Toxin] on the air inside the [Wind Needle]. Then injected some aura. Approximately the same amount I did when creating the water slime.


    Fun thing: Since I have [Aura Analysis] I can now see what is happening. First it was just air, then after the [Toxin] spell it become a collection of green-ish blue dots, then with aura some started to eat one another, until¡­


    There was just one big dot of green-ish blue aura color. With the [Aura Analysis] off I couldn¡¯t see it, but the poisonous air slime was there.


    Grandma took a chicken and I lightly poked it with the [Toxic Air Slime].


    The thing moved inside the chicken by itself and then popped into nothing. The chicken seemed to feel something, but there was no result.


    I tried again with a plain [Air Slime], but it popped as well.


    Then, I tried one less time with just the [Air Needle] + [Toxin] combo¡­ and this time the chicken died a few moments after being injected with it.


    So, it seems indeed the [Toxin] spell has something to do with bacteria. But, more interesting than that¡­ doesn¡¯t that means that slimes are actually bacteria which mutated by eating others and receiving huge chunks of magic power?


    Very interesting.


    Oh, yes, since we didn¡¯t know for how long it would keep being poisonous we obviously didn¡¯t eat the chicken. We stored it on a box, but when we checked back it had turned into a smelly red slime grandmother said to be a [Flesh Slime]. Those things can melt and eat flesh pretty quick, so I poked it with an [Aura Needle] and burnt the remains.


    No more hex rats, please.


    ***


    Second day of rebuilding.


    Things got slow now.


    We have to take all nails out the wood, so this is a task for the whole day. Since Jacen and I can¡¯t be seen using aura to do this with our bare hands we have been tasked with helping mom and bringing things to people on grandmother¡¯s house.


    Tea, snacks, beer¡­ these kind of things.


    Boring days are boring.


    ***


    My new hobby is to make late night experiments with grandma.


    No, not that kind of experiments.


    The scienc-y kind.


    You see, the [Toxin] spell seems to be very interesting indeed. It increases the life of pathogens in stuff and so on.


    But only pathogens? Or any kind of microbe?


    Today¡¯s experiment is designed so we can discover that.


    I¡¯m casting [toxin] in a bow of milk with some left-over cheese from a previous batch.


    Theoretically speaking, if the [toxin] spell is a spell capable of making all microorganisms multiply and become active, this should make milk into curd pretty fast.


    So, let¡¯s try and¡­


    Yeah, no.


    It has spoiled too quick. The curd isn¡¯t even sour. It floated on top of the milk a bit and then sunk right at the bottom. I tried fishing it up with a wooden spoon, but it seems there¡¯s no more curd here.


    Just ultra-spoiled milk. This thing may be pure lactic acid.


    The spell is too strong to do this.


    Aaah, how will I explain this to grandma¡­ I said I had a dream where this worked, so now I have to come up with an explanation¡­


    ***


    In the end I told grandma it had failed and she said it must have been just a common dream then, and not a [dreamer¡¯s dream].


    Pretty convenient if I must say so.


    Regardless, she allowed me to buff the milk with aura to see what we get. I thought it would be a regular slime, but this time we got a weird urchin-like thing.


    Grandma quickly tossed the thing in the fire. It seems that was an acidic shelled slime. A variant form of the acid slime which has a shell over it.


    Why would a slime get a shell?


    Isn¡¯t the main point to be invulnerable to common blows?


    No¡­ thinking well, slimes in this world aren¡¯t invulnerable to physical attacks at all. They are like small balloons full of liquid. If you pop them they explode.


    Having a shell should be an advantage at the end.


    Oh, and don¡¯t misunderstand. It was an acid slime, but it wasn¡¯t as dangerous as it sounds. It was born from lactic acid after all. It probably was as acid as vinegar or something.


    Anyhow, I wonder if that evolved from a bacterial spore? I¡¯m guessing this should be the case.


    ***


    Third day of rebuilding. Nails are out, now it¡¯s time to start rebuilding. Again, me and Jacen can only help a bit since the way of nailing the nails in the wood is fantasy-like as expected.


    Yes, people do It with their bare hands. Just put the nail on top of the wood, your tumb on top of the nail, and press hard. It¡¯s there. Nailed.


    Now, this is also a time-consuming job, not because of its nature but because it¡¯s difficult to find good positions to stay at while working at the roof.


    Ann almost fell a couple times already.


    I guess some things only experience brings us.


    ***


    Ok, I have reworked the experiment.


    This time I won¡¯t be using the [toxin] spell but just giving a little bit of aura to the cheese base we need to make new cheese.


    Mother said I can do it only once more since she doesn¡¯t want to expend all of our cheese base, but that¡¯s life.


    I¡¯m confident it will work this time.


    Under grandmother¡¯s eyes I took the milk I have let to rest at the beginning of the day. It was lightly sour already, and had a nice crud.


    I took the crud and put into another bowl. Then, I took the cheese-base and poured aura in it until I could see the small blue dots moving inside with [Aura Analysis].


    Then, right into the bow it goes aaannd¡­. We wait.


    A little salt and it should be done by tomorrow.


    ¡­


    Let¡¯s see, let¡¯s see¡­ it is¡­ a slime.


    A damn white slime.


    Why does everything magical in this world gives birth to damn monsters?!


    Grandmother says it¡¯s a common earth slime. According to her they are mostly inoffensive, unless you get suffocated by it.


    We just popped the thing and tossed the remains in the fire as always.


    The insides where a bit sticky.


    ***


    Fourth day of rebuilding.


    We finished putting the wood back in place. Now is time for the most boring and time-consuming of all the tasks so far:


    Weaving the straw into it.


    Me and Jacen can help on this, so we are doing our best. Still, it really doesn¡¯t help that the straw needs to be weaved on leaves bigger than me.


    I start to question why don¡¯t we use wood and create a wood ceiling.


    Grandma said the problem is the amount of nails needed. We would need a lot more, so everything would become too expensive.


    Where are the iron slimes when you need them?


    ***


    So, I can¡¯t just use magic power on microbes or they go nuts and become slimes.


    I also can¡¯t just use [Toxin] or things get too spoiled.


    And, yes, I have tried using less of the chant. However, it was useless. Even when casted on just a tiny piece of maturing cheese it would make the whole cheese decompose in a lot of goo instead of maturing faster.


    My only other option is to try to change the spell by singing it with slightly different tunes until I find one which allows me to increase the speed of fermentation without destroying everything in the process.


    But this grandma has forbidden me to do. I won¡¯t disagree, since there is a chance I will cause an explosion or something even worse, like the birth of an aerial disease which can affect the family.


    It was pretty dangerous already to even learn how to cast [Toxin], so much that when father taught me how to do it we trained outside of the house, near the toilet.


    So, no explorations on creative uses for the [Toxin] spell tonight.


    Instead, grandma said I should start training the use of [Aura Hand] and [Aura Weapon]. They are advanced versions of the [Aura Needle] one, where I can make a simple hand or a simple weapon made of aura.


    However, not even I have enough aura recovery speed to be able to keep those on all the time.


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    In the end I had to increase the time expended on qigong every night I order to increase my aura recovery speed even more.


    Who would guess I would be pressured to increase this aura recovery speed I have been so proud of¡­


    ***


    Fifth day of rebuilding.


    More straw weaving.


    At least we are at the end of the process already.


    ***


    So, tonight we had another family reunion¡­. Kind of.


    We finished weaving grandmother house¡¯s roof today, so all that¡¯s left is for us to move her things there.


    This, however, means our private lessons will be no more.


    What to do?


    Well, the adults didn¡¯t seem much concerned as they drank brown tea again. I guess it¡¯s some kind of tradition for receiving and seeing people out.


    Of course, mother didn¡¯t have any. She is 9 months pregnant, so even this world has some restraints on this.


    Good news is ¨C I have witnessed the preparation of the tea. As weird as it may sound, it doesn¡¯t take only the cocoa seeds to make it. In fact, I would say it is the least¡­ the other ingredients include sugar, orange, apple and lemon skins, cinnamon sticks, cloves and a lot, and I mean a lot, of ginger.


    Preparation is easy. You just boil everything together and then serve.


    Anyhow.


    I was talking about training, right?


    Well, I asked grandma about it and she said I should focus on increasing my aura recovery speed for now.


    It seems to be the way things used to be done in the Long Lived Clan ¨C A ¡°better to have a large income than to have a lot in the bank¡± kind of situation.


    Still, can¡¯t I keep learning in the meanwhile?


    At least she promised to write some of the history of our clan and world for me, so I can train my reading and become more fluid. Right now I can remember all the words she taught me, but it¡¯s still hard for me to actually read things. Getting the sense of how the grammar is put together isn¡¯t easy.


    So, for the next four or five months I¡¯m to keep just training to increase my aura recovery speed.


    That means a lot of qigong.


    It seems a little boring, but she allowed me to try to do it while walking, and also keeping the spells activated and the [Aura Analysis] and [Aura Sensing] techniques activated as well.


    It¡¯s just insane to think on doing this much, but I really want to get an even stronger brain. Plus, it¡¯s a world without TV, internet or even books where I¡¯m not allowed to go outside for now. How am I to have fun if not by creating seemingly impossible challenges and defeating them?


    So let¡¯s do this.


    In a few months, when I¡¯m five, I will have to spend my time out of the house ¨C like all kids my age.


    Mother wondered if I shouldn¡¯t be kept inside the house, but grandmother said it would be too suspicious. I must be out like a regular kid would.


    I said to grandmother I wouldn¡¯t like to be stuck to the other kids, but she said I should hang out with Jacen or find myself a quiet place. Since she wouldn¡¯t be coming to mother¡¯s house I¡¯m allowed to visit her to train and listen to stories, but not more than three times a week.


    There are a good couple hundred meters from the houses to the wall, so even if I didn¡¯t mixed well with the other kids I could try and find a place amongst those to just sit by myself or something like this.


    Yeah. Pretty rough.


    Also, I didn¡¯t get any tea today. Mother didn¡¯t let Ann give me any. Sister still hugged me extra hard though. Guess I can¡¯t go training when my cute older sister is hugging me so hard, right?


    ***


    Mother¡¯s labor started a couple days after moving grandma¡¯s stuff back to her house. I got pretty anxious thinking either if I should be here to see it or not, but the family¡¯s utter and total relaxation was a bit unsettling.


    Mother herself was just chilling. Ann went to get grandmother but she was walking all the way there.


    And I soon discovered why.


    Mother¡¯s labor took twelve hours.


    First it was just her moving around the house. Should woman in labor get so stressed and prone to move around?


    I mean, she was cooking dinner and sweeping the house!


    I tried saying I would do that, but she pushed me aside, a bit angered.


    Mother angered with me. It has been some time since this last happened.


    Well, it was a few hours later that she seated on the ground and finally got grandmother¡¯s and Ann¡¯s attention.


    Me and Jacen were made to go and prepare hot water and clean cloths.


    Soon mother¡¯s water broke and a weird scene started. She got into a series of positions for the next hours. She laid on her sides, stood against the wall, kneeled on the ground, even stood on all fours.


    Then, she stopped and rested for a bit.


    I was worried since her water had broken already, but Ann and Grandmother were calm, so¡­


    Anyhow, after a break she started to push again, this time squatting on the ground with Ann holding her back and grandma under her, waiting for the baby.


    Her screams were weird. I thought they would be of pure pain, but they were a mix of pain and strength, like how a weight-lifter does his best to lift a heavy set of iron.


    There was some determination on that. Something that made me see mother as strong.


    Well, mother is strong. Plus, this is her fourth birth. I guess she is used to it by now.


    Soon little sister¡¯s cry echoed in our living room.


    ¡­yeah.


    It seems having the birth in the bedroom isn¡¯t good. Plus, grandmother had the winter fire lit to guarantee the room would be hot and ¡°just in case¡± something needed to be done.


    Little sister was born and soon grandmother gave a knot to the umbilical cord, cutting it after with a knife.


    I thought it was over by then, but grandmother and Ann stood by for some forty minutes until mother started to push again. She wasn¡¯t putting so much strength on it anymore, but soon a weird¡­ thing¡­ came out of her.


    I guess that¡¯s that thing babies get wrapped on. The placenta or something.


    Anyhow, grandmother put it on a bow and then casted healing magic on mother¡¯s genitals.


    The spell she used, however, was different from the one I knew. It was longer and more complex, on the level of complexity of the [Shadow] spell. She also didn¡¯t need to touch mother¡¯s genitals to apply it. She just casted it and mother started to relax.


    ¡°All¡±


    ¡°Yes grandma?¡±


    ¡°This is the intermediate level healing spell called [Deep Healing]. If you ever find yourself in a situation like this, don¡¯t ever cast the spell on the woman¡¯s womb, which is here. Cast it only downwards, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Well, later grandmother said the reason why, and it seems a woman¡¯s womb will remain open longer if I do that, which could make them infertile or even cause the womb to fall down.


    Pretty nasty.


    But you know what isn¡¯t nasty?


    Seeing mother holding little sister on her arms.


    I mean, it IS kind of nasty because she is all covered in goo and I feel a weird jealousy swelling up inside me.


    Really strong jealousy.


    But I¡¯m an adult in my mind, so I can control this.


    Afterwards grandmother hugged mother and went back home. Mother went to sleep and father bound the baby tight with cloth, taking it to the crib in their room next.


    He also forbade us from entering there, saying the baby should be kept away from any light for at least a week.


    So this is why I was kept in the dark at the beginning.


    It doesn¡¯t seem very healthy.


    ***


    Well, I totally understand Jacen now.


    I don¡¯t know why, but every time mother or father has to go and take care of little sister I feel really jealous.


    Like, really jealous. As if I had been robbed of something precious. As if I wasn¡¯t the important child of the house anymore.


    Maybe indeed I¡¯m not.


    Damn. This damn feeling of not losing love.


    Get a grip myself! Get a fucking grip! You are a reincarnated person, not a freaking drama kid!


    But it feels so sad¡­


    I have to say, I may have been showing a pissed off face the last days, so strong this feeling is.


    Me, sis and Jacen have gone back to our room, so I wasn¡¯t sleeping while hugging her anymore.


    But fuck that. I just started to sleep with her again. If I can¡¯t have mother¡¯s love then at least I can have sister¡¯s, right?


    ¡­ what a fucking ridicule line of thought.


    I have even accepted Jacen and his inopportune erections when he decides to come and sleep with us.


    ¡­it¡­ doesn¡¯t feel all bad.


    Anyhow.


    Let¡¯s talk business.


    I kept splitting wood, but I¡¯m finally off the water collecting duty. On the other side, mother needs to rest for a few days, so I¡¯m helping more with the house chores. The hags won¡¯t be coming for a whole year, so we need to pay extra attention to knitting.


    So, my routine is waking early, making breakfast, wood splitting, then sewing with mother, then making lunch, then laundry, then knitting with mother, then making dinner, then sleeping with sister for an hour, then special qigong training.


    Now, this qigong training is especially difficult.


    First because I¡¯m trying my best to do it while standing up and walking around, second because I¡¯m using most of the techniques and spells the family taught me while doing it as well.


    That means to do qigong while moving and keeping active, at the same time, the [Aura Sensing], [Aura Analysis], [Aura Hiding], [Smoke], [Cotton Step], [Aura Armor], [Weapon Strengthening], [Sharpening], [Aura Needle], [Toxic Wind Needle] and even [Crop Growth].


    The only ones I don¡¯t use are [Ligh] and [Flash], since they would be seen from the outside.


    How do I do practice using all of those techniques at once?


    Well, first I took a bow and put some dirt in it. Then I prepared myself. Cladded with all the aura-cladding derivate techniques and spells, such as [Aura Armor] and [Smoke], I casted [Crop Growth] on a grain of rice while also doing qigong.


    I usually cast it wrong and a single rice treant a little bigger than my legs grow, but it¡¯s no matter. Next I train cutting each of the treant¡¯s tentacles using either my sword-training twig, my spear-training twig, [Aura Needle] or [Wind Needle].


    It¡¯s impossible for me to use all those techniques at the same time now, but I do intend to come to a point where I¡¯m able to use the spear on one hand, the sword on the other and still cast spells at the same time ¨C so I¡¯m working towards that.


    And the best part of all is that I don¡¯t need to fear boredom. Not only training at night, in the dark, is hellishly difficult and I need to use [Aura Analysis] and [Aura Sensing] to the fullest to just do as much as see around me, I also effectively battle against a treant every night.


    I mean, even if the tentacles aren¡¯t bigger than half a meter or something I still get excited, jump and do acrobatics to get away from the tentacles, and once or twice it almost broke through my [Aura Armor] by grabbing one of my legs or arms and squeezing hard.


    If I¡¯m not using the [cotton step] technique at all times I fear people may hear me. Thankfully the treant¡¯s tentacles make only little sound as well.


    Anyhow, it¡¯s intensive battle, so no boredom here my friends! No boredom at all!


    ***


    That apparition has returned.


    You know, the white ghost thing?


    It was gone for a while after grandma started my training, but it¡¯s back now.


    And I think I know what it is.


    I tried looking at it with [Aura Analysis] and I saw literally nothing. So this thing has no aura at all.


    It¡¯s not a living thing from this world.


    But it¡¯s also another thing that has started to ignore me. It goes straight to my parents¡¯ room and only after comes to look at my training.


    So I developed a theory based on what grandmother had told me earlier this year on the subject of souls and the dead.


    And I guess it got confirmed once wrote a word on the ground and then used [Light] to illuminate it. The thing read the writing and tried to pat my head.


    Yep.


    This is grandma.


    She said she was a [Soul Walking Prodigy] after all.


    She is the white ghost-like thing which has been creeping around the house all this time. Grandma¡¯s soul, walking out of her body to check on us.


    So this is why this thing only comes at random times. It¡¯s when grandma gets worried or curious about us.


    Normally people shouldn¡¯t be able to see her, since she is only a soul going around, but I guess this is somehow another one of my cheat skills?


    Or maybe I have developed this on my own. Grandma said people become able to see souls and ghosts if they go through intense emotional experiences while they are around. And I surely had my quota of intense experiences as a newborn trying to control his feelings.


    So I can see ghosts.


    Neat.


    ***


    The next day marked two big events.


    First, the day my little sister has finally completed three weeks of age, and a terrible secret got revealed to me.


    Second, the day grandma came to our house and asked mother to talk to me.


    Let¡¯s go a bit at each time.


    Little sister had been quietly laying on her crib this whole time ¨C her face looking like a knee, just like all children this age.


    Mother has been paying special attention to me all the while I¡¯m next to the crib, and Jacen as well.


    Do they think I will poke her or something?


    I¡¯m not older brother, you know?


    Anyhow.


    It was when I was looking at her weird knee face that it happened.


    An ominous feeling.


    A terrible premonition.


    When a looked behind me, mother was holding that¡­


    That bottle. The awful bottle of venom which made me suffer diarrhea for weeks.


    ¡°M¡­ Ma?¡±


    ¡°Uhm? What is it?¡±


    She is filling a tablespoon. A full tablespoon of ricin oil. The smell makes me petrified.


    ¡°That¡­ that isn¡¯t good for¡­ baby¡­¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? This is so she won¡¯t get a constipation. All babies must drink this.¡±


    This¡­. this can¡¯t be right.


    I never had constipations as a baby. You¡¯re giving this terrible diarrhea-inducing venom to babies which aren¡¯t even constipated?!


    Little sister, I will save you. I will cast detoxification magic as soon as mother turns her back, don¡¯t worry.


    ¡­except then you won¡¯t poop and mother may think you need even more oil.


    I will cast it only in your mouth, so you won¡¯t be subjected to the taste.


    Mother didn¡¯t object when I proposed this much, so please calm down. Big brother will help you from now on.


    Even if that bottle gives me the creeps.


    Anyhow.


    Grandmother came by noon.


    Since she couldn¡¯t get inside and I couldn¡¯t go outside we talked from the window.


    She said the skill I had and which allowed me to see her was a technique called [Soul Seeing]. Since it was convenient for learning I should be attentive. She would come and stay next to me while I battled the treant.


    According to her only intense emotions and the presence of someone else¡¯s soul is already enough to awaken the complementary soul-skills, like the [Soul Hearing] and [Soul Feeling] ones.


    After I learned those we would be able to keep our training at night, while everyone slept. She while soul walking and I who don¡¯t need to sleep more than a single hour every night.


    I won¡¯t even need to go to her house in order to learn, after I¡¯m five.


    That seems good. In the end maybe I can escape from the fate of being bored to death during all of the day.


    After all, if she teaches me the [Soul Walking] technique wouldn¡¯t I be able to go around learning a lot of new stuff?


    I won¡¯t be training my body, but I surely will be able to collect info and discover interesting things.


    Let¡¯s set for these two objectives.


    First, be able to use all techniques and spells while also doing qigong. Second, learn [Soul] related skills, like the basics [Soul Hearing] and [Soul Feeling]. Third, use this to train harder with grandmother and learn nice things.


    ***


    The day has come.


    Sister¡¯s birthday.


    My training is going smooth and I have learned all the needed techniques. I can also use the spear and sword at the same time.


    Still, I don¡¯t feel happy.


    Because we are going to grandma¡¯s house to prepare everything for sister¡¯s birthday.


    Mother will stay home taking care of little sister, but I, Jacen and Father will go to grandmother¡¯s house and prepare a big feast.


    It¡¯s sister¡¯s last birthday party and also the one which marks her adulthood.


    Tomorrow she will leave for the county¡¯s capital to find a job and enroll at a dojo.


    I¡¯m sad.


    Genuinely sad.


    I mean, I¡¯m happy sister is happy. She has been with a smile in her face the whole day and, when I hugged her and congratulated her on being an adult she lifted me from the ground and hugged me against her face.


    That was nice.


    But she is going to the capital, and I¡¯m worried.


    She is a trained person and has a lot of aura to spare.


    But she¡¯s still a countryside girl going to try and live on her own on the big city.


    I really feel like I want to be with her.


    And what if something bad happens to her while she is going there?


    It¡¯s a long, long trip until the capital, even if it¡¯s only our county¡¯s capital.


    It¡¯s on the scale of a couple months on foot. Making measurements on this world¡¯s units of length and roughly converting it to the metric system¡­ I guess around 500km from here?


    It will be a lot less if she can find merchants to help her on the way, but a two-wheeled merchant cart like the ones we have coming to our village doesn¡¯t move much faster than the average walking speed of a person.


    While the bigger ones, with four wheels and three to four horses pulling them¡­ well, those won¡¯t pass close to us. Our roads aren¡¯t even large enough for them to go by.


    That¡¯s just saddening.


    If sister at least had a horse, then I would feel less bad.


    But what if she finds monsters in the way?


    Or bandits?


    Damn.


    I will complain with grandma. We can¡¯t have sister going to the county¡¯s capital like this!


    We just can¡¯t!


    It¡¯s too dangerous.


    ¡­and grandma said she will be helping while in Soul Walk.


    I guess [Soul Walking] is really useful, but to think grandmother can even cast spells while using it¡­


    She said she will train me once I get the skill, but I wonder how it works since the soul form I saw had no aura on it.


    Well, one more reason for me to increase my training difficulty.


    I¡¯m considering adding a second treant in order to make training harder, but that would be the maximum I can do for now.


    Our kitchen isn¡¯t so big as to allow me to fight more than two monsters at once. I won¡¯t even be able to do my acrobatics if I do it.


    Besides, if I mess things up like breaking pots or the such mother will be furious with me. So let¡¯s avoid doing this much.


    She just recently took back all the chores I was doing in her place, so I don¡¯t want to receive special punishment.


    So, let¡¯s focus on giving sister a good party.


    ¡­ how did I convert this world¡¯s measurement system to meters?


    Well, this world has measurements which are just like the anatomical measurements of earth.


    Things like foot and inches.


    I remember a foot of earth was around 30 centimeters, so I have been adapting thinking the ¡°foots¡± of this world are somewhat the same thing as the ¡°foots¡± on earth.


    I may be wrong though¡­ after all, a foot here is the measurement on when someone like father puts both feet one in front of the other and then measures the distance.


    Is this right?


    Besides, I remember the goddess saying this world was bigger than earth and that my original body would be crushed if was to be transported here.


    Could the people be bigger as well?


    I¡¯m not sure, but the conversions seem ok from what I have experienced so far.


    Houses have ceilings around 6 foot, or two meters, high and so on.


    So I guess whatever the actual sizes are, they do correlate on some proportion.


    ***


    Sister¡¯s¡­ no, Ann¡¯s birthday was¡­ okay I guess.


    It was on grandma¡¯s house, so Jacen and I got some sips of brown tea.


    I wonder if we shouldn¡¯t had done it?


    I mean, while we were on the party it was all fun and games. Everyone was joyful and even if an old hag which seems to be somewhat related to grandmother and grandfather kept hugging us and trying to kiss us, it was fine. It was just a few times, and she was so¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ drunk?... she missed all the attempts and collapsed on the ground.


    Besides, there was a lot of joy and happiness. Singing, dancing, talking and presents as well.


    People knew of Ann¡¯s dream, so the presents were very practical but very touching as well.


    Father gave her his old sword from his adventuring days; grandma gave her an old chainmail I guess was hers from when she traveled around. Grandfather gave her a pair of shinning new daggers. Matthew, the blacksmith, gave her a crude spear. He seems to be a friend of grandpa, but to think he would go to this extent¡­ well.


    Other people gave her valuable things like herbs which sell well and someone even gave her some money. It was my first time seeing this world¡¯s money, and it¡¯s made of small round circles, instead of coin-shaped. I guess it¡¯s made of copper by the color.


    Anyhow, it was touching when father gave his sword to Ann. I thought I would cry, and some of the woman around indeed cried. Grandma didn¡¯t, but I saw she had wet eyes.


    And then, when we returned home¡­


    Sister took a present from me and Jacen as well. And to think she would be the one going on the offensive¡­ no, it¡¯s Ann, of course she would take it if she wanted to.


    I don¡¯t want to say it was something I didn¡¯t want to give her, but I thought we would do it alone. Instead Jacen joined in and things got complicated. Especially since he was more focused on me than on her.


    Besides, we are so young we couldn¡¯t be very big¡­ maybe we could say she took ours but didn¡¯t give us hers.


    How didn¡¯t mother listened to our moans is a thing I cannot understand.


    Maybe she did.


    Well, it¡¯s official now.


    I¡¯m a sister-fucker redneck. And I¡¯m enjoying every second of it.


    Amen.


    ***


    Ann¡¯s back leaving the gate was a difficult thing to see in the morning. But I guess this is life.


    I should train harder to be able to help her if she needs it. I need to become able to do [Soul Walking]. And I need to do it now. So let¡¯s increase the number of treants to five and see if the emotion of trying to keep the tentacles away from mother¡¯s cooking utensils is enough to make me see grandma¡¯s soul or what. The faster I get this skill, smaller is the amount of time grandma will be training me instead of watching sister.

 Extra Chapter 16: Working on the Fields

    It¡¯s my first time doing this.


    Working on the fields, that is.


    Usually all kids above 10 come here on spring to help with the planting, but I have ditched this work my whole life.


    Since I have been using my time to gather aura instead.


    It¡¯s a bit.. no, unfair by a lot.


    I have been training since I was six.


    All for my objective.


    All to avoid becoming like mother, who had to listen to what those idiots talked to her all day long on parties and the such.


    Even while pregnant they would try and hit on her.


    No, maybe because she was pregnant they would do it even more.


    ¡°This way there¡¯s no risk, right?¡±


    They would say, meaning father wouldn¡¯t discover because she was pregnant already.


    The men on this village are trash.


    Only my cute brothers are trustworthy.


    So I decided since I was young, that I wouldn¡¯t take the same path mother had taken.


    I wouldn¡¯t give up everything to become a housewife. She may have accepted that and even wanted that kind of life. But I don¡¯t.


    I would be someone who could defend myself, make my own money, buy my stuff and live without a husband if I wanted to.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    There are plenty of woman who do it. Grandmother was one of those. She was a peddler before being attacked and getting to our village.


    That¡¯s why I train.


    All day, every day.


    In summer, under the sun, I train.


    In winter, under the snow, I train.


    In the spring, when I should be helping in the fields, instead I train.


    In autumn, when taking baths in the river mean diving head-on on water so cold your chin will rattle, I still train.


    And all this time, grandmother had a better technique.


    But I couldn¡¯t be a knight if I used that technique, so it doesn¡¯t matter, even if it¡¯s unfair.


    What good is to be strong if that means never getting out of here?


    I could try and become and adventurer if I¡¯m strong, but adventurers are scum and woman adventurers have it rough.


    If they pass out, people use them. People use the men as well, but the woman can get pregnant. Then they need to kill the baby or become whores to keep living.


    So I will be a knight instead.


    But now I need to wait until I¡¯m fifteen. Father made me promise.


    So I¡¯m working on the fields for the first time.

 Extra Chapter 17: Things of Old

    I took the clothes off the chest.


    This thing has been here for so many years I don¡¯t even remember most of what we stored here.


    There¡¯s some emergency money, a few old things I got from friends in the past and¡­


    Here they are.


    I still carry my spear around, since I¡¯m a militia guard.


    But these I don¡¯t carry anymore.


    The barracks have swords and armor for us, so I won¡¯t be using these.


    My old weapons. My old armor.


    They aren¡¯t better than the ones in the barracks. They are just regular. Just my spear was of higher grade.


    What those weapons carry are my memories.


    I took the old sword out.


    Ann is going to leave. It¡¯s going to be dangerous. I would give her everything if we needed to, but she doesn¡¯t know how to use a bow properly and she also isn¡¯t proficient with a spear.


    It¡¯s best for her to get a rough iron spear than to use mine. If I gave her the steel spear she would lose balance because the tip isn¡¯t heavy enough. That much was clear on our [Joint Training] the other day.


    And that is why I¡¯m giving her my old sword.


    The handle Is still firm.


    The blade is sharp.


    There are no signs of rust.


    I did a few moves, and it seems as good as ever.


    I don¡¯t want for Ann to become an adventurer, but maybe the weight of what I lived can help protect her.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Besides¡­


    I took the sword¡¯s scabbard and touched the small crystal hidden inside.


    Even if this is a regular sword, the scabbard is special in the end.


    The aura I stored in this [Mana Pebble] is still here.


    This is the fruition of my life.


    The greatest good I have harvested and which gave me the rank of [Lower Adventurer].


    The [core] of a [unformed dungeon].


    In truth it was just a pebble and the ¡°dungeon¡± was only a hole in a cave. I had a bit of a hard time killing the grass treants and dealing with the [Ghoul] that guarded the place, but in the end It was a walk in the park near what a true dungeon is.


    With this Ann will have a little more insurance. This little thing can store up to what would be the whole accumulated amount of a common person¡¯s aura.


    If it¡¯s me or her we have around four times this much, but, still, this little thing can be the difference between life and death.


    And it¡¯s still fully charged.


    I sheeted the sword and took it with me to Anton¡¯s and Marie¡¯s house.


    I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t give you more Ann. But this is all the help your father can give.


    Please, be safe with only this much.

 Extra Chapter 18: Big Sis is No Good!

    Warning : Sexualizated fictional content including minors. Read at your own discretion.


    Big sis is no good!


    Kissing brother, striping brother!


    I like brother as well!


    Big sis leave brother alone!


    Big sis¡­ ah¡­ ah¡­


    Big sis is¡­ no good¡­ brother is¡­ brother is¡­ brother is no good¡­


    It feels good.


    Big sis mouth is hot. Is hot. Brother mouth, I want brother mouth as well, but brother mouth is in big sis thingy.


    Do big sis thingy tastes so good?


    It¡¯s smelly.


    Aaah, big sis, no, don¡¯t eat little brother thingy with your thingy!


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    I want to taste little brother thingy¡­


    Uh?


    Where?


    Here?


    Uh, it¡¯s hot.


    It¡¯s hot here, it¡¯s hot there.


    Is hot good?


    It feels weird.


    Little brother¡¯s face is so weird! He is so silly!


    Uuuhm, like this?


    Little brother¡¯s thingy¡­


    It¡¯s hot as well¡­


    Everything is so weird.


    I feel weird! Big sis, it feels weird!


    Ah! Big sis, no, don¡¯t¡­ ah!


    Kisses feel good when we hug. Even if it¡¯s sweaty.

 Chapter 10: Go On and Keep Going

    Volume 1


    Chapter 10


    It¡¯s been a week since sister left and a lot of things packed up. I mean, first there¡¯s Jacen¡¯s new relationship with me.


    He started to sleep on my bed and to hug me while we sleep.


    I didn¡¯t care at first, but I wonder if I have to take some kind of responsibility.


    We did do that thing with big sister after all. I may be younger than him in body, but I¡¯m much older in mind.


    How should I deal with how he sees what happened?


    Besides, I didn¡¯t feel particularly draw to him before, but now I remember our night with sister and I get some degree of wanting to do him.


    I shouldn¡¯t since he didn¡¯t take the initiative, but it¡¯s difficult to deal with him sleeping with me at night, either his erection touching me or mine touching his.


    Oh, to hell with this.


    There are more important things to do first. I can control myself for an hour or so each night.


    But then again, there lies another problem.


    I don¡¯t need that single hour of sleep anymore.


    I noticed it only a couple days ago, but I definitely don¡¯t feel sleepy in the least even if I keep awake all night.


    But Jacen still wants to sleep with me, so I wonder if I should keep sleeping with him or tell him I won¡¯t be sleeping anymore.


    No, I can¡¯t do that. I fucked the little boy¡¯s but, for goddess¡¯s sake. I can¡¯t just toss him aside like this. It would be too cruel.


    Besides, what of his mind?


    Right now he might still develop as a normal kid if only we treat what we did with care. But if I toss him aside he may feel like he was just an object to satisfy my lust.


    No, no, I shouldn¡¯t toss him aside.


    But then there¡¯s sister¡¯s traveling.


    I¡¯m worried. Worried as fuck.


    Is she traveling well?


    I want to go after her.


    I even went to grandma¡¯s house and talked to her. If I use qigong while I move and eat plenty, shouldn¡¯t I be able to run to where sister is and come back every day by using a lot of aura?


    It could double as a pretty fucking efficient training, right?


    She gave me a little chop in the head and said I was saying nonsense. Even if I could do it, it would be just too flashy and absurd. ¡°Besides¡±, she said, ¡°your sister has to learn how to defend herself. Don¡¯t go getting into it while you still have to learn the same thing as well.¡±


    Argh.


    What a damn load of bullshit.


    Defend herself?


    So she will put herself in danger just to learn that?


    Goddamit, spare with father or grandmother or something. Even sparing with aura can¡¯t be so dangerous as facing against monsters and bandits while traveling alone for freaking months!


    In fact, I¡¯m pretty sure sparing with grandmother while she uses aura would be much more difficult, even if less dangerous.


    I don¡¯t get the people of this world.


    And that is why I decided to become a little extreme with my training.


    I tried with the five small treants, of course, but even that much wasn¡¯t enough to make me experience enough emotion to fully understand grandma.


    At beast I can hear her voice as a whisper carried by the wind from a place far away, feel her touch like a breeze and sense her presence like ¡°something¡± in the room. Nothing more.


    It seems I need to be able to touch her for real, listen crystal-clear to what she says and so on before moving on my training.


    So let¡¯s do this right. Let¡¯s take this to the extreme.


    As soon as grandma came house I started leaving the kitchen.


    She seemed a bit surprised, but I won¡¯t give her time to go back to her body and run after me.


    I will do it. I will fucking do it NOW!


    I clad myself on my hiding techniques, ran and jumped over the village¡¯s walls. Grandma¡¯s soul is at my side. Weirdly the expression in her face is more of having fun than trying to stop me.


    Well, whatever. Grandma is weird.


    I started running ahead while jumping on the trees. I have never done this ¡°ninja jumping¡± before, but it sure as hell can be done with my senses as sharp as I¡¯m making them be. There¡¯s a place I heard about from father while we were having dinner.


    Spiders.


    Damn spiders as big as me.


    There¡¯s a nest of them a few dozen kilometers to the south. And I just found it.


    The webs spread in front of me like silk all over the tree branches. It seems like it¡¯s sticky, and there are many birds and insects trapped on then.


    I stopped my qigong and the hiding techniques. Next I funneled all my attention and focus on getting my [Aura Armor] on while cladding the woodcutting axe I¡¯m holding with [Hardening] and [Sharpness].


    Let¡¯s do this.


    Let¡¯s fucking DO this!


    I prepared a few [Aura Needles] as well, and prepared to jump on the spider right in front of me.


    Except¡­ I¡¯m not seeing her with my [Aura Analysis] anymore.


    But¡­ how?!


    It was there a moment ago!


    I could see clearly how the monster crawled all over the place!


    And now there¡¯s no aura anymore.


    I used the [Light] spell and was baffled.


    The spiders were dead, each of them pierced by something a lot bigger than my [Aura Needle].


    I looked over my shoulders and grandma¡¯s soul gave me a smile.


    Ok, I get the message.


    You can protect sister if you want.


    I don¡¯t need to go around doing stupid stuff to ensure her safety.


    I should just go back home and keep training.


    Dammit.


    Uh?


    Grandma¡¯s soul¡¯s hand is touching my shoulders.


    Ah, right, I didn¡¯t say it earlier, right?


    I can see her facial expression a lot better now. Anyhow, she is pointing to a direction east of her. It isn¡¯t to the village.


    Well, let¡¯s go. I wonder what she wants to do?


    I activated my [Aura Analysis] again and went on the direction she pointed me to.


    There were a few holes in the ground next to a clearing.


    I suppose those are mad hound¡¯s holes. They dig them in order to sleep safely.


    Ah, grandma is making a expression with her hand.


    What?


    Five¡­ four¡­ three¡­ two¡­ one¡­ Go!


    And like that she prepared [Aura Needles] the size of my whole body and threw on the hound¡¯s holes.


    Ah, I get it.


    I totally get it.


    You think this is a joke grandma.


    Besides, I can see how you are manipulating the [Aura] of the threes around us to make your engorged aura needles. I don¡¯t know why they obey your soul, but It explains why can you do magic while in soul form.


    Okay. I will be a part of it.


    Let¡¯s compete for a while.


    Me and grandma competed for a couple hours after that. She would point me to where monster nest¡¯s where and we would see who could slay them first. She with her technique and me with [Aura Needles] or [Toxin Air Needles].


    It wasn¡¯t difficult at all since they would easily die from a few attacks. But the hunters surely will be glad.


    We probably exterminated half of the forest¡¯s population of monsters in this period of time. Even if they end up becoming slimes that won¡¯t be half as bad as the monsters they originally were.


    But my training session has become a hunting party in the end. Yet I somehow can grasp grandma¡¯s face a little better after this much, so I guess it wasn¡¯t total failure.


    ***


    So, I have talked to grandma. She said the emotion I was carrying with me was useless for the [Soul Walking] training.


    *sigh*


    Why are things so difficult to grasp? Wasn¡¯t I supposed to be a cheat reincarnated character or something?


    Grandma said I would progress faster if I stopped the treant fighting and focused on qigong, most specifically on the [Soul Elevation] technique.


    I was a bit confused, but when she explained I got it. It¡¯s just plain meditation, really. I do it in order to visualize better what I¡¯m doing while practicing the qigong technique.


    Oh, yes, it seems the technique in itself also has others mixed in it. The breathing exercises are [Body Refining], the meditation part is [Soul Elevation], the visualizations I do to channel better the qi are [Mind Deepening] and the feeling of spirituality I cultivate is [Spiritual Advent].


    I wonder why people would learn those things separately?


    I mean, it¡¯s a fairly simple technique. If you couldn¡¯t do as much in earth you couldn¡¯t call yourself even an armchair hobby magic practioneer.


    Well, not that [Soul Walking] should be difficult for me. It was known as astral projection or out-of-the-body experience back in earth.


    But differently from qigong I actually tried to do it my whole life without any success.


    Ah, did I inherit my blockages from back on earth as well?


    No, no, I shouldn¡¯t have.


    If I tried the astral projection techniques I did back on earth?


    Of course I did.


    But, thinking back on it, I didn¡¯t try them with grandma¡¯s soul around, have I?


    Maybe I can do it if she¡¯s supervising the process.


    Let¡¯s try and do it.


    But later.


    Now I have to try and deal with Jacen¡¯s hand touching me in inappropriate places.


    ***


    It seems he¡¯s still sleeping. I lightly poked him in the face, but he didn¡¯t wake up.


    Okay. Let¡¯s take this hand out of here.


    Oh, to hell with it. Let¡¯s take my whole body out of this room.


    Fuu.


    It¡¯s too early for training with grandma now.


    It usually starts when the moon is already past the middle line in the sky.


    So, what should I do?


    I could keep training qigong but I think that would be useless. I don¡¯t have the mind for it. Besides, I¡¯m a bit frustrated with my progress.


    If I can hunt monsters easily already, doesn¡¯t this means I should be doing some kind of upper echelon training?


    But I can¡¯t go on out in the world trying to make a living by diving head-first in dungeons or something. There¡¯s the prejudice against [genius] after all.


    ¡­.


    Why am I trying to become strong again?


    Oh, right, the immortality thing.


    Grandma said she only knew one way to turn people semi-immortal in this world, and it was by fusing with a dungeon¡¯s core.


    This, however, would rid them of most of their humanity as they became entwined with the core¡¯s soul. They would still have their minds, but their emotions would become¡­ twisted.


    It wasn¡¯t an option.


    It seems I have to look on ruins and other places where old knowledge can be gathered.


    There are legends, at least, about magic which could make people immortal.


    But even grandma doesn¡¯t know it.


    In the worst of cases I may need to start research on the subject by using myself and/or some people of the [Immortals] clan as test subjects.


    And to do that I need to become stronger. Not only to subject monsters in my path but also to gather the needed resources and build a basis of operation. A headquarters or magician¡¯s tower or something.


    Then again, I don¡¯t know how much magic grandma knows. It¡¯s pretty clear for me now that she wasn¡¯t just a common peddler. She knows details about court politics of four hundred years ago, so she at least had access to a lot of books on history.


    But seeing how much emotion she puts on her words while talking about the foolish emperor and his daughter, I guess she was alive back then.


    Grandma Is over four hundred years old.


    She may have seen many humans live and die.


    I need to surpass her.


    I stopped my steps, suddenly realizing I was in the middle of the street.


    It seems I have been walking around while thinking.


    Walking around the village is dangerous, but I at least remembered using the [shadow] spell.


    Well, isn¡¯t this a new thing?


    I didn¡¯t use to walk back on earth. I surely had the habit of driving around in my car at night to cool my head and think, but walking was never my forte.


    I guess training your body really changes things.


    He.


    Let¡¯s go back house.


    I have to milk grandma of her techniques and knowledge. I don¡¯t have four hundred years to spend watching my father and grandfather die one after the other.


    So let¡¯s learn this damn technique, TODAY!


    ***


    I had a small success, but not a total one. Then I became terribly frustrated. Then grandma said we would stop training until I regained composure.


    Then I became irritated and walk around restlessly while using the [shadow] technique.


    Then I realized this was stupid as fuck and returned home.


    What the hell is happening to me?


    Why am I doing these weird things, running around in circles like a headless chicken?


    Have I become insane again?


    Is it because I¡¯m almost five?


    Or is it because of what happened with Ann and Jacen?


    Gods, what¡¯s happening to me?


    ***


    Grandma told me to go to her house tonight.


    I¡¯m here. She obviously opened the door the moment I arrived. Just enough so I can pass by. She must have sensed me with [Aura Sensing]. I can feel the technique¡¯s tingling around my skin.


    ¡°Come here dear. I have prepared some tea for us.¡±


    I sat at the table. It wasn¡¯t just me and grandma. Grandpa is here as well.


    ¡° ¡änit All.¡±


    ¡° ¡®nit Granpa.¡±


    The chamomile tea is cold, which is good. The temperature is still hot.


    Grandma sat next to grandpa and looked at me worriedly.


    ¡°All, darling, tell me what happened to you.¡±


    I don¡¯t know what she is talking about. What does she mean?


    ¡°You can talk to us son.¡±


    It¡¯s granpa this time.


    I just looked down into my cup.


    I don¡¯t know what they mean¡­ right?


    I don¡¯t know, okay!


    I don¡¯t!


    Why¡­. Why am I crying?


    What is happening to me?


    Hahaha.


    I know I know, but I refuse to let myself know. No wonder I¡¯m insane.


    No. I was insane. In my past life. I¡¯m not insane in this life, right?


    Then, why am I still sad?


    Grandma is hugging me.


    Grandpa¡¯s eyes are kind. His hand in my shoulder is strong.


    ¡°Do you remember what happened darling? Was it a dream or something?¡±


    ¡°No. I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. We are here for you. If you remember, you tell us, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°Now, why don¡¯t you sleep here today? Come, sleep with us.¡±


    I slept between grandma and grandpa.


    There was no touching. There was no sexiness. Just plain sleeping. Calm, warm, recovering sleeping.


    I went back home right before sunbreak and brushed Jacen¡¯s hair.


    It isn¡¯t your fault little one, but you sure brought something weird from inside me, didn¡¯t you?


    Or was it really you who did it?


    Well, it¡¯s life. Let¡¯s just return to normal now.


    Enough insanity for the time being.


    ***


    In the end I stopped carrying about Ann¡¯s safety.


    And my training as well.


    All of my attention was directed to myself.


    So when I sat to start my qigong training I let it go slowly. Gradma¡¯s soul is at my side, so it¡¯s time to try my techniques.


    Let¡¯s empty my mind of worries. Let¡¯s empty my heart of reactivity.


    It¡¯s okay.


    No need to react. No need to be fragile. Let¡¯s just allow myself to float. My soul to go beyond my body.


    And so I felt as if I was getting lighter and lighter.


    My mind freeing itself from something heavy and difficult.


    Like that something dissolved around me, like wrappings around a present box. And I was right above my body, floating calmly.


    Grandma pushed my soul by the arm, and took me away from the vicinity of my physical body.


    When you are next to it your conscience gets fuzzy and you may end up returning inside on reflex.


    I was outside my body. I have been able to do [Soul Walk].


    ***


    So, the first thing we did was to go and see Ann.


    To my surprise she was sleeping on top of a three.


    I thought she would set up camp in the ground, but thinking well, the top of the threes is indeed the safest place for her to sleep on.


    She is traveling alone, so there isn¡¯t much luggage and none has to be kept on the ground.


    It may be cold, but she has a mantle, so a fire isn¡¯t needed ¨C which is good, since it could attract the attention of bandits.


    And then, even if bandits or monsters come looking for her, unless it¡¯s a monstrous spider they probably won¡¯t be able to get her.


    Since spiders usually don¡¯t leave their nests, she should be a lot safer than in the ground.


    I was a bit surprised.


    I always thought on making camp while traveling on foot by getting wood and making a fire. But sister¡¯s system is indeed a lot better.


    On another words, there is no need to make camp in the ground unless you have a horse or a cart/carriage with you.


    That¡¯s a relief.


    So, after looking for sister for a bit grandma and I returned to our house.


    How is the sensation of doing [Soul Walk] ?


    Well, it¡¯s¡­ weird.


    Like a very, very realistic dream.


    But things happen like we getting to sister without the need to travel there on foot. We just thought about sister and appeared right at her side.


    There¡¯s also ¡°places¡± besides the material world we can go to. I can¡¯t see or understand grandma very well yet, since I haven¡¯t developed my soul senses enough, but from what I could understood I shouldn¡¯t go to those places. There seem to be many of them which are very safe, but some may be dangerous.


    I should wait to go with her as my guide. Not a big problem.


    Anyhow, this adds a new experience to my daily routine.


    I will go on [Soul Walk] five to six times a day to check on sister and travel alongside grandma. Then I will also resume my training and try again to get to a level where I can wield the [Aura Hand] and [Aura Weapon] techniques.


    It seems what grandma did earlier, the big aura needles, where actually a type of [Aura Weapon] called an [Aura Javelin].


    And no, it isn¡¯t easier to manipulate aura when you are outside of your body. The amount depends on what you can gather from the living things around you, so there¡¯s no limits linked to Aura Aggregate Amount, but the degree of mental control is on another level.


    I would say it¡¯s a level above the usual techniques, so [Aura Needle], for instance, becomes as difficult to control as [Aura Weapon].


    Anyhow, grandma said she will teach me how to do it later.


    Now we will focus on developing my soul senses to a level where I can have classes normally.


    ***


    My fifth birthday will be the next big event in the upcoming months.


    Not that it matters much, but we need to keep appearances, right?


    I used to like my birthdays in this world more, but now I¡¯m just¡­ kinda annoyed I guess?


    I mean, part of that is jealousy because of little sister getting all the attention to herself, sure. I feel like I have less space in the house and even as if I¡¯m loved less.


    I know it¡¯s foolish to think like this, but facts are facts. Everyone¡¯s attention is on her while it used to be on me.


    She is the one receiving smiles and snuggles, while I just keep being asked to help with the chores.


    Argh.


    Calm down Alvin. Calm down. You¡¯re an adult, for god¡¯s sake.


    So, there¡¯s this.


    And then, there¡¯s grandma wanting for me to remain outside all day long. I thought she would at least go on [Soul Walking] and teach me magic and stuff all day long but she intends on doing it only for a couple hours during the day. Our main lessons will be at night.


    I guess my only chance of doing something useful with my time is training by myself.


    Well, at least Jacen stopped being too clingy.


    I thought I would need to ask him to stop sleeping with me, but he just did it naturally after a few weeks.


    It does give me a weird feeling though. Something like ¡°I wanted you while you were sister¡¯s, now I don¡¯t want you anymore¡±.


    Fuuuu.


    So much drama. Alvin the drama queen is back in town everybody!


    Let¡¯s stop this shit and focus on something cooler.


    Right. Science! Magic science!


    I got an interesting idea recently.


    You see, by adding aura to the soil we create slimes because the bacteria eat it all up, right?


    But what happens if I add a lot of aura to the soil while killing all the bacteria?


    Can I create something like a mana stone? It would be pretty useful if I could create those and use them to create batteries for aura.


    Grandma told me it¡¯s very difficult, however. It seems to be possible if you put a huge amount of aura in a crystal or rock, but normally you should get a wild golem as a result instead of mana stones.


    Besides, it seems mana stones develop a soul, so they are mini-dungeons in unformed state.


    I thought she would prohibit me doing that, but she only demanded that I did it with my own power, without going to the woods to gather aura with [Soul Walking].


    Damn grandma, this much is obvious. I need to smash the thing down if it goes wild on me, right?


    I mean, I don¡¯t want to create a dungeon on the doorstep of our village or something.


    So tonight I¡¯m doing experiments with dirt.


    Three balls of clay, each the size of my hand. Let¡¯s put pure heavenly aura I get from the connection with the ¡°above¡± in one of them, mixed aura in the other and this world¡¯s aura in the third.


    Of course, during the process I will be killing the bacteria with [Detoxification] magic.


    A little bit of working aand¡­.


    Here are the results:


    The one with this world¡¯s energy became a tiny wild golem made of clay. It immediately attacked me so I just smashed it on the ground. The consistency was weird and it sucked aura out of me each time I touched it, so these things are dangerous.


    I¡¯m glad I did it on a small scale first.


    The one with mixed energy became a tiny golem as well, but it developed an outside crust of dirt and wandered around apparently without purpose. I tried giving it a mental command but nothing happened. It also wouldn¡¯t suck my energy by itself.


    But it attacked me when I poked him.


    Then, the one with energy from above became a dry and lumpy small golem. It just stood still and moved according to my will.


    I would think ¡°move there¡± while looking at the golem, and he would move.


    Interesting. Very interesting.


    Grandma¡¯s soul seems interested as well. None of us is sure of it, but it seems in the far past all golems where obedient to their creators.


    So the golems made with this world¡¯s energy are rebelling against me because of the curse in the world¡¯s aura?


    It should be possible, even if problematic.


    Anyhow, I destroyed the tiny obedient golem as well.


    It pierces my heart, even more knowing those things don¡¯t have minds but do have small, tiny souls which form naturally.


    So it can actually feel things like loyalty for their creator.


    But I can¡¯t have them inside the house. It¡¯s too dangerous if someone discovers I have made them.


    So unfair.


    Poor golem, before dying I shall name you.


    ¡°Thou name shalt be Enrico Emilio the First¡±


    The golem didn¡¯t answer but I could see a small radiance in his lifeless eyes.


    Goodbye Emilio. You served me well.


    I made a prayer to the golem after destroying him¡­ and this is where grandma¡¯s soul most literally jumped at me.


    ¡­ what the hell grandma? Are you trying to possess me or something?


    It¡¯s impossible to possess someone¡¯s body with just your soul, you know? I tried it earlier.


    ***


    So, I went on [Soul Walk] and grandma started to talk to me. It was a weird talk. She vehemently prohibited me to make prayers. I should never, ever, join my hands to pray. Even as a joke.


    And so I discovered why I haven¡¯t heard of gods in this world.


    Yep, you probably guessed it.


    The empire was a theocratic nation.


    Their ideology was based on the idea of being special beings chosen by the gods in order to rule over others. So they could do whatever they pleased.


    Well, isn¡¯t that a piece of shit.


    Ah, of course grandma didn¡¯t talk to me directly or lengthily on the subject. She just said a couple phrases to me.


    ¡°All, dear, don¡¯t ever do things like that, even if you saw them in your dreams. That is the way of the old Empire, and even inside the house it¡¯s dangerous to do it.¡±.


    Or something like that.


    Isn¡¯t this place looking more and more like China each day?


    No, it¡¯s a mix of modern chinese atheism, jewish grudge towards past aggressors and european medieval laws and customs on how to deal with religious criminals.


    Pretty eclectic.


    Anyhow, I learned something new today. Don¡¯t pray, even if you know gods are real and have been sent to this world by a goddess.


    You don¡¯t want to end up as a human skewer over a big fire.


    ***


    Well, I¡¯m quite surprised with myself.


    Remember when I said I would expend the lazy days I had after my birthday by stalking on sister?


    She just reached the county¡¯s capital now.


    It was a few months of walking with some encounters with monsters and so on, but she is now on someone¡¯s house.


    It¡¯s a big house made of stone.


    I guess she got hired as a maid, since she is doing housework during the day.


    She is also preparing to go to the dojo and ask to be taught there.


    In the end, she definitely won¡¯t need regular monitoring.


    Even on the woods where she may find danger grandma and I rarely had to intervene.


    Yes. I did learn how to use plenty of techniques while using only my soul. It has been interesting, even if using magic while doing [Soul Walk] is hard as balls.


    You need to remember the ~~feeling~~ of the spell and then let it go through your soul to the aura which will then affect the physical plane.


    On another words, it means to use feeling/emotion to pass information to the aura instead of voice. Very useful since it means you don¡¯t need to chant the spell, but very unstable. It seems I can also use my imagination to visualize the needed effect and use my ~thoughts~ to pass on the information instead, but there¡¯s always emotional influence to some degree.


    The cool thing is, this concept isn¡¯t very far from the one of occultists back on earth, so I¡¯m much more familiar to it than I was to singing. Grandma got pretty shocked when she saw I could do the magic using visualization instead of emotion. It seems this is considered to be the ¡°third degree of difficulty¡± off magic, whilst the first step is changing, the second is chantless magic and the third is thought magic. I don¡¯t understand very well what she meant with that, but I guess I will get it once she teaches me properly.


    Anyhow, her common day of work is just doing laundry or sewing and there doesn¡¯t seem anything really threatening around.


    I was a bit scared with the idea of rape, but a drunkard once tried to grab her breasts in the market and ended with exposed fractures on both of them. The militia went to see what happened but the guy seemed to be known as a good-for-nothing kind of person and got arrested instead.


    Since then she had been known all over the place as a dangerous woman to mess with, and there doesn¡¯t seem to be many people interested on fooling around with her.


    Besides, she keeps dressing plainly on the old clothes she carried all the way from home, with spiky hair and everything. She would never attract attention from the people in the city when woman in the city¡¯s whoring quarter are so seductive and so many.


    I mean, it isn¡¯t a BIG city, but still big enough to have a few brothels.


    Maybe it has 10.000 inhabitants or something. I didn¡¯t count each one, but I counted the number of houses and It reached around two hundred in a space which kind of amounts to one tenth of the city. So I¡¯m guessing five people per house and maybe 2.000 houses total.


    In earth it would barely be called a small city.


    But hell, isn¡¯t this big compared to our own village!


    So, of course they have brothels, clothing shops and so on.


    Nothing too fancy. It seems they still use lye to clean the clothes, and even urine seems to be used as well¡­ ironically to clean the fanciest clothings. I believe it¡¯s something on the level of a roman city around 100 b.c.e ?


    Let¡¯s say it is.


    Still, no sewage system.


    Seriously. The dung pile at the end of the city, and the dunggers carrying buckets or even barrels of shit and piss¡­


    Hell man, it¡¯s fucking NASTY. They get covered in the stuff and the sun makes them their skin spotted in the places where urine bleached it.


    URGH.


    Enough with that.


    Sister is fine, that¡¯s the point.


    So watching her would be unnecessary.


    Well, maybe I will watch from time to time, regardless of if it¡¯s necessary or not. It brings good memories when I see her bathing after all¡­


    ***


    Ah, my birthday has come. What a bother.


    I mean, it should be fun, right?


    After all, every single aspect of the last birthdays is present. I have got a lot of presents, including sweets and a hand-written book by grandma. It¡¯s just a book with folk tales she thought I may want to read, but it will be very useful to expand my vocabulary. Grandma even made small explanations on the margins, making clear for me what the words I didn¡¯t knew meant.


    I have also heard some fun stories here and there, participated in singing and enjoyed being the center of attentions for a little bit.


    Still, I¡¯m quite moody.


    I mean, mother isn¡¯t here, right?


    She has to stay inside the house taking care of my little sister, and my birthday is happening at grandmother¡¯s house.


    I¡¯m surprisingly sad with that. And mother even made me my favorite foods.


    Hominy porridge with milk, sugar and toasted peanuts for breakfast. This thing is hellishly difficult to do, since one has to dry the special corn with lye and ashes for days before finally cooking it for hours.


    Then for lunch she made spicy omelet with sour cream and crispy cheese.


    And for dinner she prepared a thick beef stew.


    She didn¡¯t even had me helping her. She said it would be her gift for me, since I seem to like it so much.


    Of course, she could give me something else besides food, like clothes or toys. But then she would need to have father buying it on her place.


    She went through all of this work because she wanted to give me something herself.


    I can¡¯t be mad at her, right?


    Mother loves me, right?


    So, why am I still a bit moody, even if I remember all of this? Even if she isn¡¯t here, I should be glad she loves me so much, right?


    ¡­.


    I¡¯m still sad when I look around and don¡¯t see her.


    And I guess I would remain that way if grandma didn¡¯t take me on her lap and hugged me while the family talked.


    What a useless baby I am. So old in my mind, and I still need this woman¡¯s arms around me to feel happy.


    But I¡¯m happy now.


    It¡¯s okay if I take a nap here, right?


    Thought so. Until later.


    ***


    Aahh¡­ damn.


    First day outside the house. We got water and I split the wood.


    Now Jacen is leading the way to a place he seems to go to hang out with his friends. Father said he should take me with him for the first day.


    *sigh*


    Okay, let¡¯s see how this develops.


    So, those are Jacen¡¯s friends.


    Two boys and a girl. One of the boys seems to be the oldest, while the other is Jacen¡¯s age and the girl is my age.


    Their names¡­ why the hell should I care?


    Argh, common Alvin, don¡¯t be so anti-social. You know what happened to you in your past life because of your arrogance and sense of superiority when dealing with other human beings.


    Loneliness and depression. Don¡¯t go this path again.


    So, Jacen has three little friends.


    One is older than him and the ¡°big brother¡± to the little group. His name is Ralphe and his is the son of Raphael and Elise. The other two are a boy who is the same age as Jacen, called Maurus Dorian, and Ralphe¡¯ little sister, Elipha ¨C who is my age.


    I don¡¯t need to say fathers and mothers in this world, or at least in our village, seem to have the habit of making up the children¡¯s name by uniting parts of their own, right?


    It¡¯s pretty clear at this point.


    Anyhow, I was kind of surprised by hearing this Maurus boy has a surname. I remember father talking about these guys. The Dorians¡¯.


    They seem to be a family given surname by our Lord for some kind of deed done in the past. I don¡¯t know what did they do, but it must have been important.


    Regardless, the head of the house, a certain man named Matthew Dorian, is just an honorary Gentleman ¨C meaning he is kind of a third rate nobility, but without absolutely any privileges except being allowed to have a surname.


    I¡¯m not totally sure how nobility works in this world, but it seems Honorary Gentleman are kinda like people who get the town¡¯s key ¨C honored, but only on the degree which commonfolk can climb to.


    Hereditary Gentleman, by their time, can pass this title to their children as well ¨C meaning Matthew¡¯s grandsons won¡¯t be allowed to have a surname, only his immediate offspring.


    Weird, weird.


    Is having a surname something so special?


    I mean, I had two of them in my previous life and they meant jack shit.


    But then again, this IS a medievales-que kind of world, so I guess it gives people ¡°distinction¡± ¡­.


    Except in the case of Maurus here it doesn¡¯t seem to be good.


    Let me explain.


    After meeting with Jacen¡¯s friends I wasn¡¯t even introduced. They just got together and went straight ahead to the village¡¯s temporary market.


    You see, we are in Autumn. This means there is plenty of crop harvested. And this crop has to be exchanged not only locally but also with merchants.


    Not that there are many. To tell the truth, it seems we have only a single merchant who comes to our town every year around this time.


    He¡¯s a fat man named Tom Dockster and he¡¯s a Squire ¨C a semi-noble, whose title means ¡°attendant to a knight¡±. In truth this is given to very wealthy people who usually possess a tiny bit of land.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    What? All farmers possess land?


    Hahahha. No.


    In this world, and I think in all nobility systems, all of the land belongs to the king until said otherwise. The local lords receive management rights and then divide those amongst the populace so the land can be cultivated, but there isn¡¯t such a thing as private property in this world.


    No land buying and selling. You have to get into the good side of someone who has it and want to give it to you, or to become so rich a decaying noble will shame themselves to take a big ¡°present¡± from your hands and then give you some land in return.


    Oh, all nobles possess land?


    Not at all my friend. Not at all. Honorary nobles usually don¡¯t possess none or only a very small property. And it will become the local lord¡¯s family possession once they die.


    And even hereditary knights and so on may only have a very small piece of land or no effective land at all.


    They do get preferential treatment and usually manage to live better than the commonfolk, but it happens sometimes that nobles keep their titles without having any land attached to it.


    Anyhow. Tom¡¯s cart is a four-wheeled one pulled by four horses and the reason why he comes by every year is because this village seems to be in his way to another place.


    Truth be said this man walks around with a bunch of rude ruffians and doesn¡¯t pay the littlest attention to us.


    He only stops his cart at our village¡¯s door for a single day every year, and weird rumors of muffled sounds of voices coming from the inside of it have circulated thought the village plenty of times already.


    So he¡¯s a shady person. Which isn¡¯t surprising. He sells spices to our village and takes grain with him, but why would such a rich man come by this route?


    That said, we went to the village gate. He obviously hasn¡¯t come by yet, but there are already some people making deals there ¨C that is, hunters selling meat for grain, people who got wild edible herbs changing them for meat and grain, and even a couple old ladies exchanging yarn amongst themselves.


    This is important since when Tom arrives everyone needs to have their deals in order already.


    Imagine if someone was to sell a bunch of grain in exchange of salt and cinnamon, but there¡¯s someone else in the village who has a lot of cinnamon left over from the last year and no salt?


    In this case this person wouldn¡¯t have enough grain for herself, and there would be too much cinnamon in the village.


    Also there have been cases when a hunter got large prey but needed grain ¨C the problem is, he couldn¡¯t sell it all because he got here too late. In the end everyone ate it together, but he had to accept the fact of giving meat for free and going without food for a few days that year.


    On another words, people have to barter between themselves before bartering with Tom.


    And this is where we come in.


    You see, kids are always hungry for sweets.


    They have a bottomless pit on their stomachs or something. I don¡¯t know.


    Besides, it¡¯s kind of like a game. You go to the market and try to ask someone who is loaded with sugar for a spoon of it.


    Sometimes you get some.


    So, that¡¯s where we headed to as soon as Jacen got to the meeting point where he meets his friends ¨C that is, a place a few dozen meters away from our house.


    And there is where Maurus being a different kind of kid became something weird to see.


    There¡¯s plenty of children in our village. I would say at least forty. And still, our little group of five is the smallest one and also looked with weirdness by the other kids.


    First I thought it had something to do with me and Jacen, but we got sugar from the guy who was offering some of it to others.


    But when it was Maurus¡¯s time he got none. The man looked at him with a sore eye and said he wouldn¡¯t give any more to anyone.


    Except he gave some to a kid a few moments later.


    Jacen¡¯s ¡°big brother¡±, the kid named Ralphe, gave some of his to the kid ¨C but it was pretty clear this Dorian kid is despised by both the adults and other kids of this village.


    I wonder what happened here? And how Jacen and this other Ralphe boy got attracted to form a group with him?


    Regardless.


    The day was all about running around to places, eating stuff we got from people in the market and from the bored housewives who were on the windows of their houses and playing child games.


    Some events brought together more kids, like when Ralphe started a marble¡¯s contest where the winner takes it all, but even on those occasions the Dorian kid got left out.


    I wonder if he is going to grow up to be a resentful little guy who will want revenge on everyone?


    Not that he lacks motives.


    That said my role was mostly to train qigong and other techniques while also having a little fun on some of the contests.


    I tried not to bring too much attention to myself and I have to say it seems I was successful. Most five-years-old don¡¯t get noticed too much anyway, so it was easy to just blend with the crowd.


    Then again I noticed something worrisome.


    Even if I don¡¯t use my Aura, it¡¯s passive effect of strengthening my body is still present.


    Just like how when I was a kid there was plenty of strength and other buffs to my physical body given that I just kept accumulating it, now as well.


    Even after running all day I¡¯m not tired in the slightest, while Jacen is panting and sweating like crazy.


    I guess I have to find a way to deal with my aura in order to hide effectively amongst the people.


    It would be a lame disguise if I couldn¡¯t move freely after all.


    So I will ask grandmother about it tonight. Who could have guessed. Being amongst the common folk¡¯s dirty children indeed gave me some insight on something that might be useful for me in the future.


    Life is full of surprises, uhm?


    ***


    So, tonight everyone was happy.


    Mother asked me what happened during the day and I and Jacen gave descriptions. She and father commented on it, both with a happy face.


    Little sister still isn¡¯t eating with us, but I felt even her cries tonight where less of a pain than in the other days.


    And goddamit.


    Do babies really have to cry THIS much?


    It¡¯s loud as well!


    Well, time to go into [Soul Walking] and talk to grandma.


    ¡°Hi grandma¡±


    I¡¯m using [Soul Walk] to go to a place in the forest both of us use to go together in order to talk while using our souls.


    ¡°Goodnight dear. How was your day?¡±


    I described what we did and grandma¡¯s soul gave me a smile.


    ¡°That is good. Keep playing with the other kids and you will discover even more things to improve upon.¡±


    So, it wasn¡¯t just concern for my emotional and social well-being in the end. Grandma is a sly badger. She¡¯s testing me.


    ¡°Uhm. But what about training? Grandma promised!¡±


    She got near a tree and seated with her legs crossed, her soul¡¯s back touching the tree¡¯s trunk.


    ¡°Sit in front of me dear.¡±


    I sat.


    ¡°I will teach you how to use two techniques which will help you with the problem you had today. The first one is called [Last Stand] and it¡¯s a technique to concentrate your aura in a place in your body, removing it from the rest. Do you know how can this help you?¡±


    ¡°If I take the aura out of my arms and legs and head I will start sweating?¡±


    ¡°That is right. But the better you get on this, the better you can concentrate your Aura on small places. If you put it on your belly and free your lungs, for example, you can start panting by running around.¡±


    ¡°But grandma, isn¡¯t it easier to just learn how to pretend?¡±


    ¡°Pretending to sweat is difficult dear. Besides, someone with good ears will be able to tell the difference between fake panting and real panting because of the sound of the air going through your nose and your heartbeat. It¡¯s possible to control this as well, but much more difficult than learning [Last Stand].¡±


    To the point of hearing my heartbeat?


    Well, ain¡¯t this kind of motherfucker a little TOO full of aura?


    ¡°Uhm. And the other technique, what is?¡±


    ¡°The other technique is called [Last Breath]. It¡¯s a simple technique which complements this one, and allows you to release all of your aura at once. You can use the first technique to defend your internal organs while releasing your members and this one to make a single big attack, but in your case I want for you to use it to remain hidden may the need arise.¡±


    Wait a moment¡­ isn¡¯t this what I did on my first day learning aura?


    Just jamming all of it outside without any control?


    Let¡¯s ask grandma.


    ¡°What you did wasn¡¯t [Last Breath] darling, because [Last Breath] uses all of your aura at once, even beyond the point of passing out. It¡¯s a dangerous technique which sometimes become a [suicide] attack. But I have been able to see the signs of the [Immortal] and [Spiritual] talents on your body recently, so even if I teach this technique to you, you won¡¯t be in danger.¡±


    Oh, a technique which can only be used by immortals.


    I guess [suicide] means suicide.


    ¡°But grandma, how can this help me?¡±


    ¡°Even if you are from the [Immortal] clan, by using this technique you will lose all Aura in your body darling. This means your body will be left without any life in it. Your heart will stop beating and you will look dead to everyone around. If you had only the [Immortal] talent you would enter what we call the eternal sleep of the [ancient]. But since you have the [Spiritual] talent you will come back to life once your body has recovered some aura, but by using [Last Breath] and [Soul Walk] you can control this. It will be a technique to be used only in the last of the cases. Do you understand?¡±


    Well, this is smart.


    How to get away with being an immortal cheating character?


    Just pretend to die in a way no one can even doubt you¡¯re dead.


    I like it.


    It will make me cheatier.


    Besides I can also use my metamorphosys talent to choose a new identity after.


    It¡¯s the perfect ¡°let¡¯s pretend my own death¡± technique. Huhuhuhu.


    ¡°Uhm. I will learn.¡±


    ¡°Good. Those are more difficult than [Aura Hand] and [Aura Weapon], so you must train a lot to learn them.¡±


    More difficult, uhm?


    Well, my great problem with those two was lack of aura recovery speed to keep them at all times. So I guess I won¡¯t have any problems if it¡¯s just more difficult in technique. My mind has become quite capable in the last months, so even if it requires a set of very difficult and specific movements and visualizations I can easily process them all at once.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Besides that, I want to ask you what you want to learn next. It¡¯s a big decision, so be wise.¡±


    Big decision?


    Are you accepting me as your disciple, grandma-seensei ?


    Just joking.


    ¡°Why big?¡±


    ¡°Because I want you to choose between learning more spells and techniques to use In the physical world or to learn things to use in the soul world.¡±


    Uuuhm.. techniques which use the soul, hum?


    Seems good. But I wonder¡­


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand grandma. Why can¡¯t I learn both?¡±


    Grandma gave me a small smile.


    ¡°You can dear. And you will. But things which happen in the world of souls are very dangerous, even for you. You need to learn much more and increase your cultivation before adventuring here. If you want to learn soul spells and techniques you will become very powerful, but you will also be in danger, because your soul isn¡¯t immortal like your body.¡±


    Waaait wait wait.


    What do you mean my soul isn¡¯t immortal like my body?


    Do you mean you can kill people from the [Immortal] clan if you want, by destroying their souls?


    And that you want to teach this to me?


    Woman, are you fucking insane?


    Teach this to me now!


    What if a fucking ghost comes and kill me while I sleep?!


    Not that I need to sleep, but, regardless.


    ¡°Then I should learn that grandma, so I can defend my soul!¡±


    Grandma turned her head to the sides, negating.


    ¡°The easiest way for you to defend yourself would be to keep cultivating your [Soul Advent] and [Mind Deepening] techniques. The first technique can make your soul very strong against attacks and the second one can make your mind so deep and powerful you can regrow your soul, even if it¡¯s lost. But if you want to learn soul spells and soul aura you will have to stop cultivating. Because you¡¯re near the first [bottleneck].¡±


    [bottleneck] ?


    I don¡¯t know this word.


    ¡°Grandma what is a [bottleneck]?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the neck of a bottle. But it also means you are approaching the first big challenge you will have to face in cultivating. Do you remember when you became a Superior Being?¡±


    ¡°Uhm. I do.¡±


    ¡°That happened because you used [Soul Advent] to break the curse, but your body didn¡¯t truly change. Only now you¡¯re approaching the moment in your cultivation where you can breakthrough it. If you keep cultivating, you will achieve the next level and we can start training soul techniques after.¡±


    Uuhm¡­ weird.


    Besides, how this relates to me needing to stop cultivation to learn soul techniques?


    It seems my doubt is being transmitted to grandma. The soul world is really a weird place.


    ¡°Soul techniques change our own soul and make we feel many things we aren¡¯t used to. If you learn soul techniques while cultivating, you may change your body as if you had gone beyond your limit and became a monster. I don¡¯t know if you really should worry about that since you have dreamed of having the [Metamorphosys] talent, but I don¡¯t see it on your Aura now. Besides, a strong soul will also get the attention of dangerous beings which only exist in the soul world. So I don¡¯t want you to choose this option. I want you to learn more techniques to use on the physical world. Things like spells to make fire or water, and [Joint Training].¡±


    [Joint Training]. I remember sister using this word when I was really little.


    But, still¡­


    ¡°If grandma thinks it¡¯s best for me I will learn new spells. I want to learn how to make a ball of fire to toss it into others, and a beam of light and rain and things like that. But why is grandma asking me if this is better?¡±


    Grandma made a relieved face.


    ¡°Because of the [Course] darling.¡±


    The what now?


    ¡°[Course]? What is this?¡±


    Grandma looked above us. The sky is full of stars.


    ¡°Honey, you must swear you won¡¯t tell this to anyone. You won¡¯t even tell this to your brother and sisters, okay?¡±


    ¡°O.. okay?¡±


    ¡°Your mother and father made me promise I wouldn¡¯t ever talk a word about this to none of you. But I guess you need to know. Not to mention it¡¯s something punishable by immediate death sentence. So don¡¯t ever talk to others.¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°Alvin, son, do you think there are things out there which are bigger than us humans?¡±


    Of course.


    ¡°Grandma told me there are things like dragons, demons and angels, right?¡±


    She shook her head.


    ¡°Even those can be challenged and destroyed as long as the challenger have enough power. I¡¯m talking things which go beyond life and death. Things which go beyond our minds, things which are so big nothing can touch them?¡±


    Isn¡¯t she talking about the gods?


    ¡°Things like what creates the world?¡±


    ¡°No. They are alike because these things are very, very, powerful. But they only have power. I mean things which no amount of power can go against.¡±


    So¡­ beings which transcend the very idea of power.


    It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s an ant or the entire universe¡¯s power. It just doesn¡¯t affect it. Like how our souls can¡¯t be affected by things from the physical plane.


    No, thinking well, we can interact with aura, so there¡¯s probably some way aura can affect us.


    Something even more transcendental than that.


    Difficult to imagine.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°I will tell you a history then.¡±


    Grandma adjusted her position and started the tale.


    ¡°Much, much time ago¡­ before the world existed, before anything existed¡­ the [thing] created the [course]. The [thing] is impossible to understand or think about. It is beyond everything and we cannot imagine what it is. We don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s only one [thing] or many [things]. It¡¯s just the [thing]. The [course] created by the thing is called the Law. The law is what makes our [spirits], which are the higher things we have, and which are just like the [thing] ¨C impossible to imagine or understand. Our spirits, however, drifted in the spirit world, without purpose and without mind. We couldn¡¯t think or feel or do.


    That¡¯s when the [thing] created the mental world.


    In the mental world, everyone was given minds. And now we could think.


    Some of us noticed then that they had bigger, more powerful minds than the others.


    We don¡¯t know why, but there the first [titans] were born.


    Those [titans] were the strongest of all minds, and they created many worlds where they sent the other minds to, and ruled over them.


    The [thing], however, didn¡¯t stop creating, and it created the Soul World.


    Some of the minds refused to get souls, but many decided to do it.


    Once they discovered someone could have a strong soul even without having a strong mind, many more decided to go as well, and the [titans] from the mental world became confused.


    How to deal with being so strong in the mental world, while many of them were so weak in the soul world?


    It was a big conflict, especially since not many knew how to do [mind walk] and became incapable of using their mind power once they got souls.


    A very long time passed, and the soul world and mind world found balance. And in this balance, there were those who were strong of both mind and soul.


    Those where then called the [true titans], and they ruled the world over the [titans], which were only strong in one ¨C mind or soul.


    But the [thing] kept creating, and it created the physical world.


    Many, many souls went to the physical world once they discovered it.


    But the physical world made the souls weak.


    Once a soul enters the physical world it becomes brittle, and it will disappear after death.


    Not only that, but the mind will also suffer, and the memories will be forgotten. Power will be lost.¡±


    So, reincarnating beings become weaker and have amnesia.


    Okay, I know this much.


    But haven¡¯t there been anyone who reincarnated and kept their memories so far?


    ¡°Grandma, can¡¯t someone keep their memories?¡±


    She smiled.


    ¡°Some people say that¡¯s where the [Dreamer¡¯s] dreams come from honey. But this doesn¡¯t happen.


    Their dreams come from the [Titans] or from other strong minds, which will give them knowledge to try and affect our world.


    Someday we will go on [mind walk] and you will see by yourself.¡±


    Wait, wait¡­


    This doesn¡¯t seem nice to me.


    Is there a chance I¡¯m just some [titan¡¯s] pawn? That all of my memories are indeed a dream I had?


    Goddamit I hate when this shit happens.


    I have read quite a few Light Novels back on earth which ended like this.


    The person suddenly realizes she is the product of some higher being altering their memories.


    I hate this idea.


    I hate it!


    ¡°The beings which came to our world had also different bodies which not always matched their souls. There were strong beings with weak souls, and weak beings with strong souls.


    But this time not many of the beings from the soul world came besides the first ones to come to the physical world. That because there were many chances of becoming trapped here.


    Still, some came. Some became very powerful when they used to be weak, and others remained powerful when they already used to be powerful.


    The sun, the moon, the earth and the darkness in the deep sky are very powerful beings.


    They sun, the earth and the moon used to be [Titans], while the darkness in the deep sky used to be a [True Titan].


    The ocean, as well, used to be a strong [Titan] with a powerful soul and weak mind.


    But things like the [Great Fish] from the [Abyss Lake] in a certain place of the soul world became just a small part of the bigger thing called [Hunger], which is ruled by an old titan.¡±


    Wait, wait and wait again.


    Ok, I got it.


    Being strong in one of the three worlds doesn¡¯t make you strong in the others.


    But what¡¯s up with talking about two spirits in the feeling of [hunger]?


    Besides, isn¡¯t this something emotional?


    ¡°Grandma, hunger is a feeling, not a thing. And why are there two spirits to it?¡±


    ¡°Oh dear, there are hundreds, thousands, a number impossible to count of spirits in every little thing of our physical universe.


    They inhabit every littlest piece of things, most of them very weak in other worlds, but some very strong. The feeling of hunger is something from the soul world, but the effects it makes in the body, like how it makes your stomach make sounds or how it burns inside, these kind of things have many spirits in them as well.¡±


    Well, I can understand having a spirit in every fundamental particle of the universe¡­ or at least in some of them¡­ but having a spirit in sound and burning feeling?


    I mean, sound is just a movement of air particles.


    And the burning feeling is just the chemical reaction being interpreted on our nerves.


    But then again, she said the darkness on the deep of the sky had a spirit on it.


    So does she mean things like energy and frequency patterns have spirits as well?


    I mean, is it possible to spirits to inhabit light, the lack of it, space and time, patterns of movement and, maybe, even information itself?


    That¡¯s not unheard by me, since in earth there were these bunch of weird people who believed literally everything had a spirit, but¡­


    Does this make any sense?


    ¡°Again it took time, but a new balance was established. Those who were strong of only minds remained as being [Titans], and some took souls and bodies and live amongst us. Those who were strong of both mind and soul, but had weak bodies, were the [True titans]. Those strong of soul and body, but weak of mind, were the [Demi-Gods]. And those who were strong of mind, soul and body became the [Gods].


    Those created entire worlds inside each of the three main worlds, the mind world, soul world and physical world.


    They would create things which were amazing, and destroy as well.


    But the [thing] keep creating, and it created the humans.¡±


    So, that¡¯s the part where we see the anthropocentrism of the human race on making itself superior to the gods, right?


    We will see a tale of how we are special and all.


    ¡°Humans are weak.¡±


    Well, maybe not.


    ¡°We are some of the weakest beings in the world, because only very weak minds and souls can become human. The [thing] made it like this. But it made something else as well. It waved our paths in the Course.¡±


    ¡­excuse me?


    Yeah, anthropocentrism 100%, no doubt.


    ¡°Humans have a destiny. It is inevitable. So it is with the [Destined], so it is with our clan which always have a Loved One somewhere in the world. It is inevitable. The Empress had to rule over the Last Fortress, and I had to fall in love with your grandfather. This is all part of the Course.


    Curse it.¡±


    Curse it?


    I mean, I do understand grandma feeling bad. And I may have some degree of blame in this, since my family three has been prepared by the goddess to give me my current body.


    ¡­ if there is indeed a goddess and I¡¯m not just some [Titan¡¯s] pawn.


    But those should be different things, no?


    I mean, people falling in love to give me my genetic makeup is one thing. But this [Destined] bullshit has nothing to do with me.


    I think.


    By the way, the reason why we were talking about this was¡­


    ¡°So darling, this is how we came to be. This is the [Course] and it demands that I give you an option once you come close to your first bottleneck.¡±


    ¡°What would happen if grandma didn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°If either you choose wrong or I didn¡¯t ask, I wouldn¡¯t be able to teach you. No one from the Long Lived Race would.¡±


    That¡¯s¡­ weird.


    This is something written in the destiny of people?


    ¡°Grandma, is this only for people of the Long Lived Race clan?¡±


    ¡°Yes. None would be able to teach you anymore.¡±


    ¡°Then isn¡¯t this a curse instead?¡±


    Grandma game me a wry smile.


    But, I mean, it has all of the characteristics of a curse.


    It¡¯s a test to see if you have the same priorities and ideology as the Clan ¨C slow in the beginning, slow but safe, tossing your greed behind to achieve power in a way you don¡¯t put your future at risk.


    And if you don¡¯t pass others can teach you, but not someone from the Clan.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible Darling. We would be able to see it by using [Mind Walking] if this was the case. This Is the Course, not a simple thing such as a curse.¡±


    ¡­


    My intuition tells me otherwise.


    ¡°But you have passed, so let¡¯s start your training okay?¡±


    I shudder to think what would have happened to my training if I was a little greedier.


    ***


    So, I have a new routine now.


    Wake early in the morning. Cut the wood. Eat breakfast. Get water in the river.


    Go out and train [Last Stand] while also using other techniques and spells which doesn¡¯t appear too much and doing qigong.


    I also play along with the kids and observe how people around me act on the day-by-day basis.


    By lunch time me and Jacen return home and eat. Then at the afternoon we go back to the streets.


    I usually take a few minutes under a three to do a quick [Soul Walk] and check on sister. She seems to be doing fine, training at the dojo by swinging a heavy boken. The other kids have seen me doing this and a post-lunch nap time has been instituted amongst us.


    After waking up I keep lazily following the kids around.


    I have learned a couple more interesting things recently, like how I have to keep my balance a little off in order to look like a commoner and some muscles and postures after doing certain exercises and playing certain games.


    Otherwise I just stand out too much and it becomes clear the exercises and playthings everyone does doesn¡¯t affect me as much.


    By dinner time we return home, eat, talk about our days and the family goes to sleep.


    At this time my serious training mode begins.


    I start by cladding myself on all of the hiding techniques and then leaving the house.


    I jump the village¡¯s wall and run full speed ahead until a small clearance some fifty kilometers away.


    It¡¯s quite the distance, so it¡¯s almost impossible to someone see me. Or at least grandma agrees with me the probability is so low it¡¯s worth it.


    Here I have created a small training camp.


    There are wood planks all around in the ground, and a two-meter wall surrounding the whole place.


    After getting here I create wild golems and a series of small treants.


    Grass treants, rice treants and pine bush (rosemary) treants are what I usually do.


    The grass treants are dangerous because you can¡¯t go right thought them. They are spiky grass leaves with very sharp edges which become active and try to cut you to pieces when you get inside them. They act as natural barriers and I use them to protect the others in the circumference.


    The rice treants are the kind which will try to drag you to them and crush you. I put them right beyond the grass treants,


    making it dangerous to be taken by the tentacles ¨C since they would make me right thought the grass treant¡¯s blades.


    And finally the pinebush treants are the long distance type. They shoot small harpoon-needles, which are as hard as iron and have a natural fiber tread attached to them.


    Their prey capture method is to stung you to death and then retract the needles fishing your body with them.


    So, long-range, mid-range and short range.


    These are my immobile enemies which are arranged in a circular formation all around the training area with me in the center.


    But I also make some small wild golems so they will attack me and make the scenario a little less predictable.


    More than a couple times I have actually gotten hurt, so it isn¡¯t a walk in the park.


    Not to mention once my [Aura Armor] got broken as I was inside a grass treant¡­ the thing almost chopped me up into pieces, and I lost most of the fingers on one of my hands.


    Luckily I¡¯m not so dumb as to do this kind of extreme training without supervision.


    Grandma¡¯s soul is also with me for most of the time, so I fight while using all of my techniques plus the [nightvision] spell she taught me and while doing qigong¡­ but certain that if I do a slip she will put the treants down before they cut my head off.


    Call me immortal and endless regenerating being as much as you want. Truth be told I would still hate to be beheaded and have to wait for my body to regrow. It¡¯s too gory. Besides, there¡¯s a chance the treants would grow big with the aura they would suck from my body and I would have a real problem after waking up. Growing my fingers again was nasty enough, thank you.


    Regardless.


    I do this kind of training with treants around one-meter-high each and two to three golems half a meter high each.


    Since I myself ain¡¯t much bigger, I guess it¡¯s balanced.


    Then, after finishing them, usually by a combination of [Aura Sword] and [Aura Spear] with [Aura Javelin], all subtypes of the [Aura Weapon] technique, I go into spell training.


    Grandmother has taught me the [Fireball] spell I wanted, but also its simpler and more utilitarian versions like [Candle Flame].


    She also said she would teach me other kinds of magic like [Wind Gust], [Rain], [Water Gathering], [Water Creation], [Storm], [Hurricane], [Sea of Flame], [Lightning], [Thunder], [Mud] and other such magic, but she said It and I agree ¨C learning all possible mantras is kind of useless for me now.


    You see, as I said chantless magic is based on feeling. Once you chant some magic correctly you can notice the feeling it gives you and, using it, manipulate your own aura or the aura around you in order to make the magic happen.


    In magics like [Sea of Flame] or [Water Gathering] it¡¯s almost impossible to cast by using only the usual magic mantra.


    This happens because the mantra will always drag energy from your aura, and spells like those need TONS of energy.


    And I mean TONS of it.


    That not to mention spells grandma said she would teach me but where impossible to use, like [Water Creation] ¨C which theoretically should be able to make someone materialize water from pure energy.


    It seems the spell has been used only once by a [God] who had descended on earth, so it¡¯s kind of a lucky charm to be learned.


    What¡¯s the difference from [Water Gathering]?


    Well, [Water Gathering] attracts water from the air around and condensates it on your hand or where you put the spell at.


    It¡¯s a weird spell which makes a ¡°bubble¡± or aura in your hand and you can then put it where you want the water to condensate on.


    It¡¯s also the basis for the [Rain] spell.


    So, these spells use a lot of energy.


    Then, the best way to cast them is by using energy from the threes and forest around, or even from the remains of the monsters I create to train.


    The process of doing it is by using the technique of chantless magic to attract and use the energy of the environment with your soul, even while inside your body.


    Then, if I use this while also using regular chantless magic, I can power my magics with energy from the environment instead of energy from my aura.


    And if I learn two or three mantras from spells which are just the advanced version of one another I can compare the ¡°feeling¡± each of them give me and learn to cast it in a more flexible and controlled way.


    Like how I learned the [Candle Fire], [Fireball] and [Sea of Flame] spells and then compared the feeling each of them gave me to learn how to manipulate and generate fire whenever and however I want.


    This kind of technique is called [Magic Flexibility], and so far I have learned how to do it with fire and water.


    Mixing both is even more interesting. I have been able to produce steam and fog by mixing the feelings of [Water Gathering] and [Fireball], but I think I can refine this to create a small rain of fire.


    The possibilities are endless!


    Huhuhuhu.


    Anyhow.


    After doing this spell training I clean up the rest of the place and focus on going thought the bottleneck.


    So I need to focus a lot on my [Body Refining] technique in order to get a breakthrough which should manifest itself in a transformation like the one I got when I became a superior being ¨C only more intense and visually distinct.


    I¡¯m curious.


    Anyhow, I seat in lotus position and do qigong while grandma goes to check on Ann.


    After that I go back home and do the last of the training for the day ¨C the [Last Breath] technique, which is a suicide technique.


    I have to say I almost gave up when I first tried it, with the fear that I would die and not return.


    But grandma was near me, so I steeled my heart and did it.


    What I did was to put all of my aura into a rock.


    Not that I have much to spare after all of that training. My aura gathering speed is enormous right now, but it isn¡¯t infinite.


    I usually get home with just a few drops remaining, so I just dump these last few drops into the rock.


    How the technique is done?


    Well, how can I say it¡­ you have to burn trough your youth?


    I don¡¯t know how to describe. It¡¯s just weird.


    But I¡¯m mastering it.


    Little by little I sure am.


    So, after putting the last drops of aura I have into a small rock, I drop dead in my bed and come back to life little by little.


    It takes around half an hour for that to happen, but I have been training while doing [Soul Walk] in order to control how much energy I get from the void, even in that form.


    With this I should be able to learn how to stand this ¡°death state¡± indefinitely.


    And this is my routine.


    Wake, play, train, die, come back to life.


    Have I said already that I love fantasy worlds?

 Extra Chapter 19 – The Grandson’s Cute Worries

    Alvin is a cute child, this much I¡¯m certain of.


    But he is a bit too impulsive and impatient sometimes.


    I guess this has to do with what Ann did to him and Jacen. I can¡¯t approve, but I won¡¯t say anything. Let Alice deal with this her way. Besides, it seems they stopped it after Ann was gone, so it may be best to pretend it didn¡¯t happen.


    Anyhow, the little one is worrying about his big sister.


    That is refreshing to see.


    He has been doing so much to learn [Soul Walking], and now he has decided to go out hunting monsters.


    Haha.


    I guess his little sister being born is even more of an incentive. He surely must be feeling some jealousy.


    But he won¡¯t learn faster like this. The way of learning how to sense souls has nothing to do with ¡°run or fight¡± emotions.


    It¡¯s emotions like fear, worries, calm happiness, sadness, contemplation, longing or joy.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    His night training had a bit of worry, joy and fear, so it has been very effective.


    But this hunting trip of his is full of excitement. It will be useless.


    Well, we can do something fun out of it, can¡¯t we?


    Besides, it¡¯s a chance for me to show him that I can indeed protect Ann.


    Not that she needs much protection. She is currently on a very safe road, sleeping on top of a three.


    There¡¯s no bandits on these poor parts, and I have taken care of most monsters on the way. She will encounter only a couple ¡®hounds or something.


    You should trust your grandma a little more, little one. She likes you a lot, even if she isn¡¯t trustworthy.


    So let¡¯s hunt a few hounds. Your [Aura Needles] versus my [Aura Javelins].


    My grandson¡¯s daring face is really cute.

 Extra Chapter 20 – Little Brother is troubled.

    Alvin is troubled.


    I don¡¯t know why.


    He looks around with a weird eye.


    He walks around the house like he was looking for something, but he never finds it.


    Is little brother sick?


    I told Ma, but she is too busy taking care of little sister.


    Little sister is a baby, so Ma can¡¯t take care of little brother.


    She said I should help him. Because I¡¯m big brother.


    So I have been hugging him really hard in my sleep.


    But he isn¡¯t getting better.


    Then I tried playing with him. There¡¯s a play Ralphe taught me. It¡¯s like this. You go and you touch the person. Then you run and they have to catch you. It¡¯s fun.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    But little brother doesn¡¯t want to play with me.


    Little brother never plays. He just trains all day long. He is like Ann. How boring.


    Bo-bo-boring brother!


    But brother is still weird.


    What should I do?


    Ah!


    Grandma knows! Grandma always know!


    So I will talk to grandma!


    She will fix little brother for me, and everything will be nice!


    That is it!


    I¡¯m smart.

 Extra Chapter 21 – Party

    We got home when the moon was three quarters in the sky.


    I was carrying Alvin in my arms, and a little high on brown tea.


    I guess that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t understood why Alice lost the color in her face when she saw us getting home. She should have expected for us to get a little later on his birthday.


    But our child doesn¡¯t need to sleep, so she must have thought something happened to him.


    It¡¯s good Jacen was with me, so he pulled on her frills and I snapped out of it.


    ¡°Oh, right, he is just sleeping.¡±


    It¡¯s difficult to believe. Both of us had noticed once or twice that he doesn¡¯t need to sleep at all.


    Still, he does sleep sometimes.


    Mainly when he is sad.


    We don¡¯t know what to do.


    Why is he reacting to his little sister¡¯s birth like this?


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because Ann is gone. He may be lonely.¡±


    Alice has a point.


    Alvin used to spend his days training with his older sister. Now he just helps with the chores and trains alone.


    The kid is only five. It must be tough for him.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°So, what do we do?¡±


    ¡°Uff¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­¡±


    She is seated by my side in the bed. Soon her head rests in my shoulder.


    ¡°Maybe we should let he go and live with your mother.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that would be good for him.¡±


    Alice is right. Marie may be able to teach him properly, but she is also too wild and strict on making others act like she wants them to.


    ¡°Well, tomorrow he will be going out for himself. Maybe he will make some new friends.¡±


    ¡°Can¡ät you take him with you?¡±


    I held the hand she had put on my leg.


    ¡°It would be bad if he stayed at my side forever. Besides, my work is pretty boring most days.¡±


    Alice grabbed my hand.


    ¡°Is he really going to be okay?¡±


    ¡­ I don¡¯t know.


    ¡°He is a strong and smart kid. He will be fine.¡±


    ¡°But he is so lonely! What if he never makes any friends?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Let¡¯s give time to time. Ann did fine by herself after all.¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    We went to sleep.

 Chapter 11: Tom the Merchant and Other Little Things

    I don¡¯t know what¡¯s weirder: That sister is now beating the dojo¡¯s master son black and blue or what I discovered about the so called merchant Tom.


    Well, I guess I should review things from the beginning.


    It was just a few days after I started my new and improved Alvin Hardcore Training?.


    The so called merchant, Tom, came to our village.


    I could see he had arrived soon as I wake in the morning, since people were making a fuss outside as me and Jacen took water from the river.


    And I could see something was wrong at that moment as well.


    First, his companions.


    The people in the street say they are just rude ruffians, but considering how the housewives are almost stripping Tom naked I highly doubt that¡¯s the case.


    I mean, they are just furiously competing for a spot in front of him in order to try and be the first to batter. The men don¡¯t even try to enter in this battle.


    I don¡¯t blame the guards for pushing them away with the pole once they get too rowdy. They even do it pretty gently I would say.


    So, that¡¯s weird.


    Second, Tom himself isn¡¯t looking down on people. On the contrary, he is dealing with everyone with a lot of respect. Listening to each one and making exchanges while taking notes in the paper piece he has in his hand.


    Maybe it¡¯s because he is taking notes that people fell offended? Most of the people in this world don¡¯t know how to read after all. Even father doesn¡¯t, and I¡¯m not sure mother does.


    Third, there¡¯s his cart.


    It isn¡¯t just a four-wheels cart.


    It¡¯s a big wagon and it¡¯s clearly loaded. His horses are being treated near the river and the poor things look like they just ran an entire marathon.


    Still, he isn¡¯t taking the spices and so on from the insides of the wagon, but from bags he has attached to the sides.


    Fourth, there are at least three of the eight guards which are far superior than the others. Looking at their auras I can see the signs which separate them from the regular folk.


    They are Superior Beings.


    And then, finally¡­ there are people inside the wagon. That is for sure. I can see the typical movement of four auras inside, while using [Aura Analysis].


    Obviously I didn¡¯t use [Aura Sensing], since people can notice when it¡¯s active. If I did then I would be able to understand what is happening inside the wagon.


    But [Aura Analysis] is enough to see through cloth like the wagon¡¯s cover.


    On another words, it¡¯s suspicious. Very suspicious.


    And that is why I went to grandma¡¯s house in order to ask her what was happening¡­ and she gave me yet another test.


    This time I was to try and follow these people without being noticed. She would be by my side in [Soul Walk], but it would be good training for me to try and go on unnoticed.


    So that¡¯s what I did. Starting by the next morning I ditched the kids from the village and started following Tom. I guess Jacen said I was sick or something.


    It took a whole day of traveling for him to finally reveal the people in the carriage and¡­ to my surprise, they were green!


    Three bulky men and one bulky woman. All of them with prominent teeth and strong chins. All of them with skins in tones of green.


    Orcs.


    It¡¯s my first time seeing this. Demi-humans, that is.


    Not that I wasn¡¯t aware of their existence.


    It seems demi-humans in this world are the product of humans going thought the process of becoming superior beings and getting ¡°warped¡± by it.


    They don¡¯t become monsters or irrational beasts like the so called humanoids (which some call just ¡®noids), but they do become ¡°inhuman¡±.


    Of course, this means they have problems with the people from this continent.


    It isn¡¯t to the level of geniuses, but demi-humans are indeed considered weird in a certain sense.


    Not that I don¡¯t understand.


    Elves are humans who became very thin and fragile, with an etheric appearance. All of them seem to be sterile, and all of them have a deep sense of wonder to arts, magic and hedonistic lifestyles.


    They usually make a living as artists and performers. Some of the more desired prostitutes and courtesans of the world are elves as well. It seems they are mostly all beautiful.


    Then pixies are very small and have wings. They become the size of a small child, around seventy centimeters tall, and become lovers of the wilderness, talking a lot and eating sweets as well.


    It seems the government uses them to deliver mail, but the common folk think of them as gossip-spreading airheads.


    But orcs have it a little worse - they become big, bulky and strong ¨C with the problem of also becoming rude people who like to live life rough and raw, to go against authority and to surpass challenges.


    Obviously they are scum in the eyes of most of the world, especially the most powerful.


    The beast people, by their time, aren¡¯t much better. They are seen as ¡°ferocious¡± and ¡°wild¡± at the best.


    And there are other races as well, like Halflings, who are great cookers and goblins, but I digress.


    In the end all of them are treated on the basis of stereotype. I don¡¯t know how deep the stereotype is true, however.


    There seems to be some degree of truth to it.


    Anyhow, there were four orcs in front of me.


    Tom gave them the grain and meat he got from the village and walked away. The group of four took a different path and went deeper into the woods.


    I thought about following them, but grandma said it would be better to return, and that she would show me the place they are headed to in [Soul Walking] after if I wanted. It seems to be a place far away, so I returned to the village.


    And this is the secret of Tom, the merchant.


    He is taking orcs to the woods and releasing them.


    Grandma said she isn¡¯t sure of it, but they are probably sons and daughter of nobles who ¡°failed¡± at the process of becoming superior beings and became orcs ¨C thereof bringing disgrace to their families and being exiled from the port city.


    And here I was, hopping it was something noble like Tom being a slave-freeing man.


    But it doesn¡¯t seem to be many orc slaves around. They are people who broke the curse, so most of them have backgrounds and come from families who can pay a magician to break it by force or a dojo to teach them how to do it by themselves.


    They will be exiled, but not enslaved. Most of the cases. Besides, orcs like to go against authority, so they obviously make terrible slaves.


    And how does this relate to sister?


    Well¡­


    No, don¡¯t worry, she didn¡¯t become an orc.


    But the dojo¡¯s master¡¯s son is a playboy, and when he tried to grope her she answered by crushing his nuts.


    Literally. She shoved her hand inside his pants, grabbed them and squished until a wet *pop* sound came from them. Then she held the boy¡¯s shoulders with the other hand and ripped the boy¡¯s balls off of his body.


    Yeah.


    Sister didn¡¯t get much from all of that fuss.


    The dojo¡¯s master ¡°forgave¡± her after hearing the whole of the story. It seems he had been looking for a chance to give his son a lesson for a while. Besides, this world has healing magic, so it wasn¡¯t a permanent injury.


    But I¡¯m starting to fear she will indeed become an orc once she breaks the curse.


    Well, I won¡¯t stop loving her because of that, I think.


    Orcs aren¡¯t so ugly as in many literaly works. They aren¡¯t monsters. I would say¡­ the female one looked even a bit cute?


    Or maybe it¡¯s my hitting range that¡¯s a bit too wide.


    Anyhow, I have taken some time to check on her regularly. Besides that, my training is progressing fine and I have been able to learn [Magic Flexibility] on lightning, sound and light spells as well.


    The lightning spells use a lot of energy, but create various sizes of electricity, electric bolts and discharges. The sound ones produce sounds like thunder and impact waves. And the light ones produce not only light but also colors.


    I guess I can develop this into some sort of illusion powers later, but this would be difficult. These spells are very difficult to understand, since they are complex and give a mix of feelings.


    The [high yell] spell, which increases the volume of one¡¯s voice, and the [cotton step] spell, for example. By using them I can easily learn to reduce or increase the many sounds I produce.


    But spells like the [Knock] spell, which creates the sound of something hitting wood, is different and has a weird ~~feeling~~ to it which goes beyond just higher or lower sounds. It has to do with properties of sound like tone and rhythm, which are harder to grasp.


    So I can¡¯t do things which are too complex, like holograms and illusions, even if I can make an area like my room or the kitchen become silent or provide highlighted sounds.


    Let¡¯s keep progressing.


    Oh, about this matter - recently little sister started to produce sounds. I don¡¯t think any of them actually mean ¡°mama¡± or ¡°papa¡±, but father and mother surely think she already can say their names.


    Besides that, what happened ¡­


    Oh, right!


    I have had success!


    With the mana pebble creation, that is.


    For a couple times small rock golems where born from the rock I was using to train [Last Breath], but since they are only five centimeters big and round they really aren¡¯t a treat.


    Seriously.


    They may be hard, but a pebble-sized small golem which hasn¡¯t even hands or legs can only vibrate of fury in your hands.


    No, rock golems don¡¯t grow arms or legs by themselves. It seems rock is too hard for them to do it. Only the clay ones grow those.


    Anyway, I destroyed those.


    But then I got lucky one day, and it didn¡¯t turn into a golem. It became a thing which has a weird feeling on the hands, as if it had small tentacles made of [Aura Sensing].


    I consulted with grandma and it was indeed a mana pebble.


    Since it¡¯s small there is no risk of it becoming a dungeon core, so I decided to use it as a battery and just keep pouring energy in there.


    It¡¯s better to accumulate instead of wasting it needlessly, right?


    Besides it may be useful for making experiments as well.


    I want to try and create a magical weapon with it.


    One thing I¡¯m sure I don¡¯t have is the [World¡¯s Treasure] talent, since all of my craftsmanship is poor at best.


    But one can always try stuff, even if it¡¯s just for fun, right?


    So let¡¯s see if I can convince grandma to let me pile some wood in the training center and make a small furnace so I can try and imbed this pebble into a piece of metal.


    She said the way to make magic weapons is like this, so I will try to make a baton with an electrified metallic stub.


    Like a fantasy-world taser.


    ***


    Well, it¡¯s winter.


    And I¡¯m finally relieved from pretending to care about the kids and playing with them.


    Returning to childhood?


    Playing marbles, running around, eating fruit from the orchards, playing tag and being in a small gang which rules over your quarter?


    Yeah, fun for a couple days. Then it gets boring as fuck.


    I really need to find something to do when spring is back.


    But what?


    Right now me and Jacen will be staying home and helping mother with the pent-up chores like knitting and sewing, but it¡¯s just three months.


    What to do after that, I wonder?


    ***


    Grandma allowed me to try the electric baton building project, but I didn¡¯t have much success so far.


    Maybe it¡¯s because winter has come, and trying to imbue a crystal in hot iron in the middle of snow, at night, isn¡¯t exactly easy.


    I¡¯m not cold since I use [Aura Cushion], but the mana pebble broke into pieces.


    I tried using the small pieces then, but in the end the efficiency of the baton was just too low. It doesn¡¯t store even a tenth of the energy amount it used to.


    Besides I don¡¯t know how to program the baton to release the energy inside as lightning.


    Grandma said it had to do with manipulating the little soul inside the mana pebble by adding a primitive artificial mind to it.


    I don¡¯t know soul magic and mind magic, but there was a similar concept on earth. On a kind of magic called chaos magic, creating artificial ¡°servers¡± was possible.


    When I started to do it grandma observed the process and corrected many points where I was doing the wrong thing.


    According to her I was splitting a small piece of my mind and soul and modulating it, while the process shouldn¡¯t be like this.


    I should be able to create a small mind without the need to split a piece of my own.


    So I will be letting this project rest a bit until she teaches me mind magic. Until there my rod will be just a small piece of metal with small mana pebble pieces embedded on it.


    ***


    So, the day has come.


    The day when my body reached the same level as my qigong technique.


    What does that mean?


    Well, that means I can now get the same amount of energy by simply training my body with swings that I would get by doing qigong.


    Remember how I measured my aura gathering speed as being 30x faster than sister¡¯s, a few years ago?


    Well, I measured it again today.


    And I have reached that level. The one where I have a body which is able to take as much aura from food as if I was doing qigong constantly as a baby.


    Now, this does bring a small problem¡­


    Because I redid the measurement again, and I discovered doing qigong doesn¡¯t make me 30x faster than the previous 30x.


    I don¡¯t have an aura gathering speed, with qigong, 900x faster than sister. And the reason is clear as long as someone has the [Aura Analysis] ability.


    That is because I¡¯m already at 100% absorption from food. There isn¡¯t any more aura I can absorb from the food I eat.


    So the qigong only increases my speed in proportion to how much I can take from the void.


    Currently that¡¯s worth two or three meals for every hour of training¡­ so my current aura gathering speed, while doing qigong, is around 4x my normal speed¡­ which means 120x more than sister¡¯s speed.


    It¡¯s a fair amount, but it also means my growth will become slower unless I do something about it.


    I mean, it¡¯s nice that I have grown so much, but not getting more aura from food means it¡¯s becoming more and more useless to train the [Body Refining] technique.


    If I concentrate on expanding my connection to the Void I should be able to increase my aura recovery speed much more than by keep training the [Body Refining] technique.


    However, I can¡¯t stop training it because I need to go through the first [real bottleneck] on human¡¯s aura gathering amount.


    On another words, if I quit training my [Body Refining] technique I can prioritize the speed of aura gathering but will turn my total amount smaller.


    Grandma¡¯s opinion is the same as ever ¨C slow but safe.


    She thinks I should keep training the [Body Refining] technique as much as possible, and only care about increasing my aura recovery speed after I have gone through the bottleneck.


    But I don¡¯t want to.


    I have a cheat body exactly to be able to do this kind of things, right?


    Reckless things which will bring me more power.


    Or maybe I¡¯m being immature in this.


    I mean, the [Body Refining] technique isn¡¯t here to only give me more aura capacity, but also to effectively increase my body¡¯s physical abilities.


    So it decreases my aura consumption by increasing my physical strength.


    Shouldn¡¯t I think on this as something that will somewhat makes my aura accumulation more effective?


    Uuuhm¡­


    That reminds me¡­


    This whole thing is becoming very complex.


    Shouldn¡¯t I make a log or something?


    I remember the goddess saying something about me getting the chance to create a game system to represent my growth.


    Maybe I should do something about it. Put my strength into numbers, that is.


    On the other side, I do have perfect memory, so I don¡¯t need to.


    But giving numbers to my strength would make possible for me to make calculations easier and look for the more effective way to train myself.


    But I have to do math.


    Argh.


    I¡¯m back here again. On the mental dialogues and discussions.


    Forget this shit.


    Let¡¯s do something else and leave these ideas for later.


    Besides, today is hot bath day.


    So I better hurry up with this water buckets. Since sister left it has become increasingly difficult to fill the bathtub.


    Me and Jacen, since we need to keep our power hidden, take two whole days to do it by ourselves.


    It¡¯s a bit annoying~~~


    ***


    Aaahh~~~


    It¡äs useless in the end.


    I can¡¯t stop thinking on it.


    Even as I bath I¡¯m still thinking.


    To keep training [Body Refining] or to put all of my efforts into becoming more connected to the void?


    ~~ I¡¯m troubled.


    ¡°All, are you sad?¡±


    Uhm? Oh, it¡¯s just you.


    ¡°No. Just thinking.¡±


    ¡°Thinking what?¡±


    ¡°You know that technique grandma taught you?¡±


    Jacen has been learning the qigong techniques from grandma. Since he doesn¡¯t have a chance of pretending to be normal, like sister has, she decided to teach him.


    ¡°Uhm¡±


    ¡°Do you feel aura entering your body when you do it?¡±


    I mean, that¡¯s how it has always worked for me.


    ¡°Uh? Aura? No. Just the one from my belly.¡±


    Wait¡­ wait¡­


    Oh shit.


    Holly shit.


    I just realized something.


    Something, holy fuck I realized something!


    ¡°Jacen, do you imagine aura coming from above and filling your belly?¡±


    ¡°No. Grandma said it was bad to do that. That I would get hurt.¡±


    I¡¯m stupid.


    I¡¯m a big idiot who doesn¡¯t know how to use his own powers.


    Of course he doesn¡¯t.


    I have been using this together with my qigong, but it¡¯s totally different, right?


    I mean, this connection to the heavens, I knew how to do it due to my past life as an esoterism enthusiast from earth.


    But I have something here I didn¡¯t have there.


    The [spiritual] talent.


    I don¡¯t need to eat, drink or breath. My body can replenish energy by itself.


    But this energy, where does it comes from?


    Is it from the connection I made when I¡¯m connecting to the infinite above?


    Or is it from something else?


    If it¡¯s from the infinite above, then it wouldn¡¯t make any sense for me to be able to control it when I¡¯m technically dead after using the [Last Breath] technique.


    It¡¯s two different things!


    The energy from [above] I get from doing qigong and the energy I get naturally from having the [spiritual] talent, they are two different things, even if they might feel the same!


    I mean, of course they are.


    Isn¡¯t the [spiritual] talent active at all times while the connection from above requires for me to actively train it with qigong?


    They are different, even if they feel almost the same.


    Now that I realize this, it¡¯s striking obvious. The difference between both, that is.


    Hahah, I¡¯m such an idiot.


    Thank you Jacen.


    Thank you poop-brother.


    ¡°O-oy!¡±


    Oh, sorry. I forgot we are nude. Here, I will release you from my surprise hug.


    Now, if you guys excuse me, I have some special training to do.


    I need to explore the memory of my epiphany on which is the difference between the [spiritual] talent¡¯s energy and the energy from the connection above. With it I will be able to train both things separately at all times ¨C effectively being able to make both trainings at the same time ¨C that is, the one to increase my aura recovery speed and the [Body Refining] one as well.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡­.


    Wait.


    Couldn¡¯t I have had just put extra pressure on my mind again and multitasked this as well?


    Like, the training to increase the connection to above is usually done with me entering a deep meditative state, which means I can¡¯t make the visualizations needed to do the [Body Refining] technique.


    But if I multitask this into two different things I could increase the efficiency as well.


    Not to mention I could even multitask the other aspects of the technique, like the breath control.


    Why haven¡¯t I thought on this before?


    ¡­


    First I have mental arguments with myself.


    Then I become restless while being unable to stop it.


    Then I have an epiphany and notice I had been just stupidly hitting an obvious wall the whole time and could have been making better use of my power all this time.


    Isn¡¯t this the same pattern I had to live while being on earth?


    That¡¯s a bit unnerving.


    That I¡¯m starting to manifest this kind of thing again.


    Well, it¡¯s life. Not like I know how to deal with this. Let¡¯s go train and increase my power again.


    ***


    Karma is a bitch.


    Seriously.


    There I was, seated on lotus position, when I felt something on my mouth. It was soft and weird.


    I slowly pulled my consciousness from the meditative state and came back to myself¡­


    Only to find Jacen¡¯s dick on my mouth.


    SERIOUSLY?!


    I MEAN, GODDAMIT JACEN, SERIOUSLY?


    YOU ARE MOUTH-RAPING ME?!


    SERIOUSLY?!


    I gave him a well-deserved slap on the outer tight and when he felt on the ground I proceeded to turn him around and slap his butt.


    ¡°DON¡äT. YOU. EVER. DO. THIS. AGAIN!¡±


    When I stopped he was sobbing in the ground in fetal position.


    Hell and witches, when have I last been so angry like this?


    I think it has been years.


    Literally years. It was before I reincarnated, I¡¯m pretty sure.


    Arf.


    ¡­


    Okay.


    You can stop now.


    Oh dammit, he curled into a small ball. I thought father and mother would come to see what all the fuss was about, but I had been casting [Cotton Step] on the room this whole time.


    I guess I started doing it reflexively when I snapped out.


    I have to take care not to do it around regular people.


    Argh.


    Let¡¯s deal with this.


    I stopped casting the spell and looked at Jacen. His butt is all bloody, swelled and purple.


    I may have slapped him while using aura.


    That¡¯s¡­. not nice.


    I hope I didn¡¯t break his hip.


    I mean, I didn¡¯t want to hurt him too bad. It was just the anger. It slipped. My aura-clad hand, that is.


    I approached him and the little thing started trembling and curling even more.


    ¡°Jacen¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    He is trying to craw away.


    ¡°Calm down, here, come with me. Calm down¡­¡±


    I held his shoulder gently. He resisted at first but then gave himself into my arms.


    ¡°I will heal you now. I¡¯m sorry. Here.¡±


    I casted the [Deep Healing] spell on his tight and butt, and it started to get better.


    I casted it a couple more times, just to be sure.


    He¡¯s still trembling, however.


    ¡°Listen, Jacen, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t want to hurt you. But you must never put your thing into another¡¯s person mouth without asking them first, okay? It¡¯s very, very bad, okay?¡±


    He is crying in my chest.


    I guess he¡¯s finally a little relieved after knowing why I beat him.


    But, really, where did he got this idea from?


    I put him to sleep while hugging his shoulders. It wasn¡¯t until the next week that I discovered why.


    It was me.


    He had become excited when I hugged him in the bath. Then he came to the room, saw me and took advantage of the situation by himself.


    That¡¯s plain mouth rape, but it wasn¡¯t because he is a bad person.


    It¡¯s because he¡¯s a kid and didn¡¯t know any better.


    He didn¡¯t want to hurt me or violate me.


    It was heartbreaking seen he cowering in fear when we were naked in the bath.


    I had no other option.


    I mean, it was the only way to ensure he wouldn¡¯t become traumatized for life after such a rough beating.


    I gently embraced him and explained the situation.


    I said I would sleep with him and that if he wanted we could do pervy things. That I was sorry for hurting him so bad, but that he should always, and I mean ALWAYS, ask for it first.


    That it was not okay to just do it without asking me first.


    And like that we started a very weird kind of relationship.


    Does that mean I¡¯m gay?


    ¡­


    Well, I¡¯m at least bisexual, since I did sister as well.


    But, damn¡­


    It¡¯s weird to think on me having a relationship with Jacen just like this.


    Ann onne-san¡­ when will you come back?


    I seriously need some sis-con to put my masculinity back in place.


    And no, I won¡¯t look for little sis. She is a baby, for gods¡¯s sake.  I may be a lolicon pervert but I don¡¯t think that much would be acceptable.


    Even I have limits.


    I think.


    ***


    Jacen is just insatiable.


    I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s because it¡¯s winter or because he¡¯s a damn kid, but he¡¯s always creeping around every time the opportunity presents itself.


    ¡°All, can we do it?¡±


    ¡°All, I¡¯m hard.¡±


    ¡°All, I want to do it.¡±


    ¡°All, can I put it in?¡±


    ¡°All, can you put it in me?¡±


    I like sex but I¡¯m not used to do it with men. This body of mine can get excited with him, but my mind still remembers the time when I was heterosexual, so this is very weird.


    Besides, I never had a girlfriend in my past life. All of my sex was done with hookers. So I¡¯m just not used to someone wanting it when I¡¯m not in the mood for it.


    It¡¯s a bother, I must say.


    I mean, the perks are great. He has a cute body, a nice face, and I can experience things I didn¡¯t thought I would ever experience and like.


    But it¡¯s just a bit annoying.


    Besides, he has become dependent. He¡¯s always lowering his head to me and taking a submissive pose.


    I guess in the end I avoided him becoming traumatized but created a little bit of a M side in him?


    Well, luckily things will get solved once spring is back.


    I guess I will try to do something about this by starting a relationship between Jacen and that ¡°big brother¡± of his.


    He will be conflicted anyway, being submissive to both me and him, so if I put him under the boy¡¯s wing it¡¯s mostly sure he will leave me alone and start chasing him.


    His name was Ralphe, right?


    As long as he is a little bit homo or bi I should be able to push Jacen onto him.


    Yes, this seems like a good plan.


    What, cold-hearted? Manipulative? Cuckholder?


    Bitch, please.


    I¡¯m not my brother¡¯s boyfriend. I¡¯m his fuck buddy. And he wants to fuck too much.


    I will get someone his age for him to fuck and do him a quickie from time to time.


    It would be a totally different story if it was Ann, but Jacen has always been poop-brother. I don¡¯t need to care, right?


    ¡­


    DAMN I¡¯m cold!


    That won¡¯t do.


    What¡¯s happening to me? Thinking those things?


    Should I be a little more possessive, maybe?


    He isn¡¯t a fleshlight sex toy I can use and toss away!


    ¡­ even if that¡¯s pretty much the kind of relationship we established between us.


    Aaah, I¡¯m confused.


    All of this sex and relationship business is making me lose precious focus and time.


    I mean, I can argue with myself while keep my training due to my mental ability to multitask reaching a really good level, but maybe I¡¯m putting too much attention into this?


    I mean, grandma just said I should pay more attention, and it¡¯s true.


    A rosemary treant¡¯s harpoon-thorn just grabbed my arm. I¡¯m being pulled. Those things surely are stronger than they look.


    Well, let¡¯s deal with this and think more about Jacen latter.


    ***


    What¡¯s the best way to deal with relationship uneasiness?


    It¡¯s obviously to create monsters and battle then in an all-out arena!


    And that¡¯s why today I decided to make it really good. I want to feel some adrenaline!


    First, [nightvision] spell is off.


    This will make me need to concentrate more.


    Then, I¡¯m adding slimes and mad hounds to the treant-golem mix.


    Where did I get the hounds?


    They followed me all the way here after I busted their nest and had them run after me.


    Eighty slimes, twenty golems, five mad hounds and an encirclement of treants.


    I won¡¯t lie. This took me some time to make. The treants alone may be easier to create than their versions as food, but they still require around one-fifth of the needed energy each.


    So I can create a maximum of forty before passing out.


    Usually this is more than enough. I get here, create the treants, rest a bit, then kill them, set them on fire and go back home.


    The energy to power my spells and techniques I take from the surrounding environment.  The threes suffer a bit with me taking energy from them and from the air, but I guess they recover as much with the treant¡¯s smoke and ashes.


    Which is another reason why today¡¯s a day to go all out.


    The amount of aura scathed around this place due to the monster¡¯s smoke and ashes is getting to significant levels.


    It¡¯s nothing worrying, but if I¡¯m to stay here for another two or three years small wild treants may start to be born.


    So today will be my last day using this training place.


    Which means I have to go out with a boom, right?


    So, the number of treants has increased to roughly eighty.


    This, plus the slimes, golems and mad hounds make a superb challenge.


    Grandma is pretty sure I will end up with at least one missing arm, but I¡¯m confident.


    You see, I have put these monsters together after three days creating them.


    Of course it was dangerous, and the last day of treant creation was almost as difficult as a regular day of training ¨C since most of the monsters where inside the encirclement already.


    But I will prevail.


    So, let¡¯s go!


    ***


    The moment I jumped in the middle of the training grounds a number of rosemary treants shot their harpoons at me.


    Typical. They always do it.


    But today I can¡¯t take my regular evasive measures, because there are slimes trying to craw on my leg and two hounds have jumped in my direction as well.


    It¡¯s weird how monsters work together naturally.


    All those days spent on the same confined space and the treants haven¡¯t shot and eaten the mad hounds yet.


    Very peculiar.


    Well, let¡¯s see.


    I will need to cut the harpoons on my left while jumping there and avoiding the slime pile in the ground. This means I will have to land on the tip of my left foot.


    The moment I land a clay golem will swing at me, so I will need to duck and jump while cleaving it with the [Aura Sword] in my right hand.


    I shall be able to topple the golem and hit the hound behind it with a kick on his neck. If I put just a little bit of aura or cast [Aura Weapon] on my feet I can cut it with a swing.


    It¡¯s useless to make plans ahead of this point. Three movements ahead the battlefield will be totally different from now.


    Let¡¯s go.


    I cut the harpoons at my left and jumped. The slime pile moved a bit, so I had to land on my pinky toe. The feet joint is almost ripping apart due to the bad position I landed on.


    Good thing I can reinforce it with aura. If this was earth I would have broken my foot.


    I duck and rearrange my weight on the side of my feet as the golem swings at me, but a new wave of harpoons is coming from all sides.


    I can¡¯t go as planned, so I jump and stick my [Aura Sword] on the golem¡¯s head instead of cutting his chest.


    The harpoons go around and stick to his body, piercing deep.


    When I look to my next landing spot, the mad hound is jumping at me already.


    I can¡¯t escape easily in the air, so I will use his body momentum.


    I stick my [Aura Spear] forward and make a hound skewer while using the strength of his jump to rotate in the air and go back to where I came. Once the strength of the hound has been fully transferred to my spear I undo it and make a new one. Better than to try and take it out of his body.


    I¡¯m next to the center again, but there are too many slimes on the ground.


    I need to get rid of them, so I cast a flame spell chantlessly while still mid-air.


    The slimes are defeated, but I didn¡¯t see the golem which was laying down beneath them.


    Damn, these things are getting smarter!


    The golem uses his arms to grab my torso. A new volley of harpoons is coming.


    I have no other option, so I use [Harden] not on my body, but on the air surrounding it.


    You know how [Aura Cushion] creates a small zone habitable around you, like a small barrier?


    Well, this is similar. It¡¯s as if I¡¯m protected by an aura egg.


    I obviously push the golem¡¯s chest and slide out of his embrace.


    The problem is what is coming behind me.


    The egg is undone now that I have left it, so the harpoons smash my [Aura Armor].


    They lost most of their strength, but there are dozens of rosemary treant harpoons inside my skin right now.


    The pain is hellish.


    Besides, there are the other hounds as well. Two of them are jumping at my legs and one is aiming for my neck.


    I have no other option but to quick the ground strongly and pin then down with [Aura Javelin].


    But now I¡¯m on the air again, and a new volley of harpoons is coming at me. I haven¡¯t freed myself from the first ones yet, so these are really dangerous.


    I can use [Flame Sea] to destroy all of the vines and at least avoid being pulled by the rosemary treants, but I don¡¯t want to use wide area spells.


    Call me stubborn, but this wouldn¡¯t be a challenge if I was to just throw an area spell and kill everything.


    So I will do something else. And that is to make sure I¡¯m at least pulled where I want to go.


    I make an [Aura Sycle] in my right hand and cut the vines which are holding my left hand. At this moment the new volley hits me, but I cut the new vines as well.


    The treants start to pull me to them, and this time I make an [Aura Sycle] in my right hand as well, and use it to cleave the last Mad Hounds¡¯ head.


    Now comes the painful part.


    I stick both [Aura Sycle¡¯s] in the ground and let the harpoons pull on my body while using [Last Stand] to take the Aura out of my skin, concentrating it on my muscles, tendons and joints.


    The harpoons tear through my skin and recoil to the treants, but the training isn¡¯t over yet.


    I quickly pull on the [Aura Sycle¡¯s] to gain momentum and jump forward. The next instant five golems hit the ground where I was. They were doing damned body slams. That would hurt like hell if was there.


    Regardless, there¡¯s a big pile of slimes where I¡¯m heading to, so I need to do something about that.


    I quickly turn my body in the air and land with my feet on top of an earth slime, which means I slide to the side for a few meters.


    Just enough to jump again, as a new volley of Harpoons come at me.


    Now I¡¯m just too close to the training camp¡¯s borders and the rice treants are sending their tentacles to take me.


    I need to act quick, so I use a peculiar technique.


    It consists on making the strongest possible aura armor and then casting [Impact Wave] on myself.


    It¡¯s difficult to cast spells without using one¡¯s hands, like how it¡¯s necessary to be able to gain speed midair by casting this spell, but I have mastered this much technique.


    If you don¡¯t need to say anything, just convey the ¡°feeling¡± to your aura, then why would you need to point at things?


    Just convey the ¡°feeling¡± of casting the spell to the outer border of your aura, directed at yourself, or, better yet, the feeling of receiving the spell on yourself, and it will hit you.


    So now I¡¯m a small A-Bomb.


    The Alvin Bomb.


    I hit the middle of the treant formation and immediately cast as many [Toxic Wind Needles] as I can.


    Those scathe around and kill a lot of treants in one go.


    But I still have more things to do. This technique produces slimes after all.


    And there are still many golems and treants.


    Well, since I have breached the treant line it¡¯s just a matter of cutting the ones in front of me and repeating the routine a few times.


    Cut and evade. Evade and duck. Jump, Alvin Bomb. Cut, cut, cut, Toxic Wind Needle.


    Evade the golem¡¯s fist, cut it in half, jump behind the golem wave, cut all of them with a really long [Aura Sword] swung as fast as possible.


    Soon there¡¯s nothing else remaining but a few slimes which I burn.


    Great Training Challenge.


    Results achieved:


    Harpoon Volleys avoided: 32.


    Harpoon Volleys which hit the [Aura Armor]: 5


    Harpoon Volleys which caused damage: 2


    Lost fingers: 4


    Total of enemies destroyed: Eighty treants. One-hundred and ten slimes. Twenty golems. Five mad hounds.


    Experience points gained: If only things where so easy!


    But it was fun. I¡¯m satisfied with myself.


    Even if¡­


    Aaah¡­


    I passed out in the middle of the training grounds.


    ***


    Interesting thing. Since I don¡¯t need to sleep I also don¡¯t exactly become unconscious unless I desire.


    When my brain gives up I can remain inside of my body, in a totally void of sensitivity place, or go on [Soul Walk].


    After that training I did it and was praised by grandmother.


    We choose a new location for my training on the opposite direction, and soon started to build it.


    Once my body had recovered enough I took a quick bath in the river, put my clothes on and returned home.


    Ahn?


    What I mean by ¡°put my clothes on¡±?


    I obviously wouldn¡¯t train with clothes!


    I mean, not only the [Shadow] spell makes my aura pitch black and therefore protects my privacy, I don¡¯t want to go back home all dirty.


    Besides, mother would get worried if the clothes where all thorn apart and full of holes. And I would need to sew them or worse, knit myself new clothing.


    Nope.


    I have enough sewing as it is.


    So I usually train naked.


    Then I take a river bath, put my clothes on, and then head back home.


    Regardless.


    I¡¯m feeling happy.


    So I won¡¯t care even if Jacen asks me to do pervy things with him.


    I may even enjoy it a little.


    Or maybe more than a little.


    To home!

 Chapter 12: Jacen Does Something Stupid

    Volume 1


    Chapter 12


    Jacen, you are an idiot.


    Really, the idiotiest of idiots.


    Seriously.


    Now I¡¯m made to sit in seiza because of you.


    ¡°Explain it, Alvin.¡±


    Mother¡¯s eyes are scary. Too scary.


    Yes, we have been busted.


    Why?


    Because Jacen is stupid as fuck.


    Dad decided to take a cloth bath that night and he tried to touch him.


    From there on he spilled the beans on everything.


    He told them about us and sister, and then about what he did to me and that I promised to be with him as long as he asked first.


    Mother is beyond furious.


    Her eyes are cold. She looks like an angry Buddha.


    ¡°I¡­ it felt¡­ good.. so I¡­¡±


    Ah, she just broke the table we eat on.


    With her bare hands.


    Mother, please hold your aura back.


    You¡¯re expending too much! Just too much!


    ¡°EVEN AFTER WHAT WE TOLD YOU!¡±


    Ah, here it comes.


    Yep.


    A good beating in the butt.


    It hurt.


    Besides she decided to have Jacen sleep on the room alone¡­ with the door locked. I¡¯m to sleep in the living room or just do as always and don¡¯t sleep at all.


    She can¡¯t do much about what we do outside of the house, but she will keep an eye on us while we are here. And since it¡¯s winter this means keeping an eye on Jacen at all times.


    I have to say, I sincerely thought she would forbid one of us to go outside¡­ but she seems to think socialization is more important than getting in the way of us committing incest.


    Mother has some weird values.


    Anyhow, father also said something interesting to me.


    ¡°Alvin, don¡¯t you let other know you and Jacen did this. And don¡¯t do it with men. You¡¯re a boy. You should do it only with girls.¡±


    In the end this world indeed sees homo as bad, it seems.


    Not that it¡¯s rare, but I guess there¡¯s plenty of ¡°don¡¯t see, don¡¯t talk¡± policies around.


    Or at least that is what I conclude from using [Aura Analysis] and seeing how people behave in the streets.


    Yep. There¡¯s a thriving homo and bi society beneath the common life one.


    So is life. So it is indeed.


    ***


    So, no more sexiness.


    Not that I care, it takes a weight out of my shoulders.


    But Jacen is a bit bummed out.


    Bah!


    Soon he will be good again.


    Spring is coming after all.


    We will have nice, warm days ahead of us.


    And away from mother¡¯s piercing gazes and sighs.


    Please get over it.


    ***


    Spring is here!


    That¡¯s nice.


    Except it happened.


    Yes.


    It finally happened.


    I got lost for the first time.


    I was going to return home after night training and noticed I didn¡¯t know how to.


    It¡¯s not like I¡¯m bad with finding my way in the woods. The perfect memory I have is indeed one of the most, if not the most, overpowered gift the goddess has given me.


    I can remember even things like the amount of leaves in a three ¨C if I take my time to count them, something I won¡¯t do since it¡¯s boring as fuck and useless.


    Yes, useless!


    Because threes, bushes, and even the forest soil ¨C all of those are constantly changing, even more when it¡¯s spring.


    Somewhere along the fifty kilometers which separate my new training grounds from the village something changed more than my ability to compare the previous and actual scenarios allows for.


    So, what do I do?


    Grandma¡¯s soul is back on the village already¡­ so I can¡¯t just ask her for guidance¡­


    Oh, right, the sky!


    I don¡¯t know this world¡¯s constellations, but I do remember how the sky appears when we look at it from my house.


    So if I compare the scenery there with the scenery here¡­.


    It makes no difference.


    Haha.


    Right, fifty kilometers is nothing when thinking on the scale of the stars in the sky.


    Using the sky to locate yourself is useless unless you have a map and know roughly where you are. I can tell which side is the village located on, but I don¡¯t know how far I¡¯m from it in the other axis.


    So if I¡¯m to the west, I know where the east is ¨C but I don¡¯t know how far I am to north or south.


    So I could follow in the village¡¯s direction and end up lost anyway.


    Uuuhm¡­


    Think Alvin¡­ what can you do¡­


    Maybe [Soul Walk]?


    If I use it I should be able to explore the area around faster and losing less energy than if I was trying to do it by foot, right?


    Let¡¯s try.


    ***


    Disturbing fact: The soul world doesn¡¯t connect dot-to-dot to the physical world.


    I tried following around the forest in the Soul World and got to a lot of different places.


    Somehow I found a swamp going in a certain direction, and then when I returned I was in the border of a desert.


    Then I tried returning again, and I was face-to-face to a huge mountain.


    I came close to my body by just ¡°feeling¡± where it was and tried to pay attention to the physical world ¨C and then things got even weirder.


    It seems I managed to follow the physical world and even found traces of the path I usually take, but on the way the whole environment changed drastically.


    From day to night, to a place with many moons in the sky to the interior of a cave.


    I followed the threes and the soil, but the space where they are located changes dramatically.


    On another words, the souls of the threes and the places where the aura of the soil intersect with the soul world are different, and by following them you go to different places in the soul world ¨C where you can still see shadows of the forest itself, but which you can also explore and then lose yourself on them, leaving the forest behind.


    It¡¯s weird and strange.


    No wonder grandma said I shouldn¡¯t try and go exploring by myself.


    You know what, I will just go back to my body and leave exploration to another day.


    I think I will go back to the trail if I walk some hundred meters to the south, so that¡¯s enough exploration for a day.


    Yep.


    ***


    So, back in the village.


    Back playing with the kids and pretending to be a calm boy.


    Back seeing Maurus getting bullied by the townsfolk and Ralphe being the ¡°big brother¡± of the group.


    How did Jacen deal with being together with us?


    I guess he forgot everything about sex already.


    I think kids are like that? They won¡¯t think on sex unless something wakes this up on them?


    I for sure feel a lot less sex drive recently. It was moderately strong until a few months ago, but now it¡¯s gradually fading away.


    I suppose Jacen is the same. He stopped looking for me and will probably remain abstinent for a few years yet ¨C at least until he hits adolescence.


    Let¡¯s take this as a blessing.


    He doesn¡¯t feel much sex drive, I don¡¯t like too much to do it with men, we don¡¯t need it at all and it would be bad if he was to misunderstand stuff and get in love with me, right?


    Right.


    No more sex brother. I will even avoid hugging you, so you won¡¯t feel my body heat and awake some unexpected need for it.


    Uhm?


    It seems our group was invited to have lunch on Maurus¡¯s house today.


    It will be my first time having lunch on someone else¡¯s house. It will be fun.


    ***


    I¡¯m¡­ confused.


    I guess it¡¯s because I¡¯m getting mixed signs here.


    Let me count them.


    First, this is a noble family, right?


    I mean, they surely are not real nobles, but they have surnames¡­ so as noble as an upstart can hope to become in a realistic medieval world.


    At least an upstart that hasn¡¯t somehow became extremely powerful, like an accomplished or something.


    So, they should have matching living conditions¡­ but they don¡¯t.


    They live in a quarter of the town, like everyone else.


    The father, Matthew, seems to be just a regular farmer like all others. He is in the fields, as most people are.


    And their house is like most houses around. It¡¯s three rooms big, with two bedrooms and one kitchen which also doubles as a living room.


    Everything seems pretty normal, if compared to what I can see from our neighbor¡¯s windows.


    In fact, if something I would need to say they look a bit poor.


    The sheer impression I have from seeing the number of chickens in their backyard is that they have few if compared to other people from the village.


    Also the number of kids seems to be smaller.


    Maurus seems to have only one brother, who is working in the fields with his father.


    The other houses around as well, have just less kids than our neighbors.


    Also¡­ they look a little bit sick.


    I mean, Maurus¡¯s mother has an unhealthy color with a pale face, yellowed skin and weirdly pale eyes.


    So, this is a weird mix of nobility and poverty.


    But there are some other signs as well.


    Maurus¡¯s mother, which is called Ullma, welcomed us with a smile. She even said.


    ¡°So the two of you are Alice¡¯s children. Be welcome!¡±


    But the looks of the people around aren¡¯t so welcoming.


    I mean, there is an old man looking angrily at us from his house, and two woman darting us with sharp gazes as well.


    Then there¡¯s the meal.


    It¡¯s a simple meal of pickled cabbages with eggs and some left-over ham from the winter.


    I mean, simple for me.


    It surely is a delicacy for everyone else, since the Ham reserves are probably running low.


    Maurus is looking at it with hungry eyes.


    So, we are being treated nicely, right?


    But when it was our turn, me and Jacen got served much less Ham tan Ralphe and Elipha.


    In fact, we got almost no Ham at all.


    Well, I gave mine to Jacen which looked quite dissatisfied and just ate my pickled cabbage.


    What we talked about during lunch?


    It was mostly Ullma talking with Ralphe and Elipha while me and Jacen remained silent.


    When we talked something she would give us a smile and change the subject. Quite forcibly I have to say.


    This woman¡­ is she having us only because Maurus asked?


    Or is she doing this because of Ralphe?


    No, it makes no sense¡­


    Ralphe¡¯s father is a farmer as well, and his mother is a housewife just like Ullma.


    So she must have no ulterior reasons for having us over.


    Then, is this because of us being who we are?


    Is she discriminating on us?


    But why would she do this?


    Let¡¯s ask father and mother about this once dinner time comes.


    Until there I have a lot of running around with kids to catch up to.


    All the while training my qigong and my ability to absorb energy from above.


    ***


    ¡°I think they don¡¯t like us.¡±


    It¡¯s dinner time. Mother and father asked us about our day first thing after our plates got served.


    The abundant rice with thick ham and plenty of peas covered in spicy sauce surely makes the lunch we had today pale in comparison.


    Anyhow.


    I told mother and father all that happened, and Jacen even agreed that they didn¡¯t gave us much ham.


    ¡°Fu¡­ hahah.¡±


    Mother let out a sigh and then gave a small laugh.


    Jacen is looking at her with an inquisitive face. But I¡¯m curious as well.


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry then. If it happens again you come back home and I will cook something for you to eat, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay ma!¡±


    ¡°Okay. But why were them angry at us?¡±


    Yeah, I know, my weird questions in their weird moments. Mother is looking at me with a face which is a mix of wry smile and silly secret holding from children.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. It¡¯s just something from long ago.¡±


    ¡°You think we should invite them to eat here as well?¡±


    Uuhm. Now that father brings it up, indeed, it probably would be a good idea.


    Except mother looks a little uncomfortable.


    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Jacen, you voice betray your emotions too clearly. You want to have your friends over, don¡¯t you?


    Besides, how will they eat here if mother can¡¯t go out and they can¡¯t come in? Will they put a table in the front yard or something?


    ¡°Really. You can invite them tomorrow, how about it?¡±


    ¡°Yay!¡±


    So, we will have people coming over tomorrow. Nice.


    But my question remains unanswered.


    So let¡¯s ask grandma tonight.


    ***


    ¡°Matthew Dorian got his title by denouncing my existence to the local lord. Me and your grandfather had to drink the monster concoction and almost died.¡±


    ¡­


    I think I want to kill that man.


    ¡°Don¡¯t make this kind of face. You saw how they are treated by others. Me and your grandfather surviving was a surprise for most, and in the end the Dorians lost all support. They live like that now.¡±


    ¡°But grandma, they almost killed you.¡±


    ¡°Wrong. They gave me a way to convince this people I¡¯m not a monster. Or at least that I¡¯m not totally a monster. Most believe I¡¯m half-monster or something. But they still call me when people get sick or need help with labor. So the Dorians have no way of doing anything against us. Not without putting in risk their lives in the village.¡±


    ¡°Because of the people you saved?¡±


    Grandmother¡¯s soul smiled to me.


    ¡°One life saved is one life owned darling. We can never demand the person give it to us or we become tyrants and someday get their anger and ingratitude. But as long as we don¡¯t overstep our bonds, the ones we save will always want to repay their debt to us. Now, go back to your training.¡±


    Well, this is some tricky rationalization.


    I mean, there¡¯s plenty of ingrate people in the world. Some won¡¯t ever become prone to obey you just because you saved them. They may even try to use you or destroy you instead.


    But this simple folk of the masses¡­ I bet there is quite a few of them who truly believe grandma saved their lives and would at least think twice before doing anything against her.


    Not that they can do anything.


    Except bullying Maurus and cast the Dorians away from living in community.


    ¡°Oh, darling. You said your Dorian friend will come tomorrow to have lunch, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡°Then you serve his plate, and give him the biggest piece of meat, okay?¡±


    Uuh?


    Oh, I see.


    ¡°So I make him my friend?¡±


    Grandma¡¯s smile is frightening.


    You old spider, creating webs all around you.


    ¡°That is right.¡±


    Well, let¡¯s make the best possible use of this opportunity then.


    ¡°Is this so he helps us if his father ever does something bad again?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about his father darling. He can barely keep living in the village now, and Lord Emilian already trusts me far more than him.¡±


    Well, there goes MY diabolical little plan.


    ¡°Then why?¡±


    ¡°¡­ Alvin, dear, why should we have them hating us if we can have them as friends? Our old enemies or not, they are still people of our village. Wouldn¡¯t it be better if they were to live with us as friends?¡±


    I won¡¯t fall for that. There is no way Your Mischievousness doesn¡¯t plan to use them in any other way.


    ¡°Grandma is lying to me. Why have friends? We don¡¯t need them!¡±


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Darling, we don¡¯t have friends because we need them. We have friends because life is easier and funnier with them. Doesn¡¯t you have fun while playing with the kids?¡±


    ¡°No! I do it only because grandma asked me to!¡±


    ¡°Then don¡¯t you have fun when we have parties and talk? Or when we tell each other stories in the winter?"


    And now there¡¯s a sword in my shoulder.


    ¡°Pay more attention to your training. Do you need to talk at other time?¡±


    I cut off the scythe arm of the Giant Grasshopper in front of me. This is a rare kind of monster for these parts, towering two meters tall and with scythes in place of his front grasshopper legs.


    But it¡¯s a nice opponent for the current me which can¡¯t be bothered by treants and golems anymore.


    ¡°¡­ yes, it was fun, but we are family. Family is like that.¡±


    ¡°But you don¡¯t need us to survive. You never did, since you are immortal.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t ever have fun with Maurus. Or with any Dorian.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not. But his children or grandchildren may be good friends. Maybe they will discover something you may want to know or become friends with the next Lord. Don¡¯t make enemies of people you can make friends of. It¡¯s the way of the [Long Lived Race], as well as the way of the [Immortals] Clan and the [Reminder¡¯s] Clan.¡±


    Bullshit. Only power matters.


    If I have power, I don¡¯t need friends!


    ¡­I obviously won¡¯t say such a thing.


    It surely must be more beneficial for people who live long to have friends instead of enemies.


    Not to mention it becomes more of their strength as much time passes.


    Even if people envy us they will be forced to recoil themselves and remain silent because everyone else is grateful to us.


    Is that how it goes?


    Won¡¯t people try to make us into their possessions?


    Like grandma.


    The only reason someone like Matthew Dorian can¡¯t make her a slave and demand she heals his wife sickness is because she is stronger and smarter than him.


    If she wasn¡¯t she would have died on his hands when people made her drink the Monster¡¯s Concoction.


    Then again, we could be just like the Dorians, wasn¡¯t if due to grandma¡¯s connections and charity.


    We are one of the richest, if not the richest, families in our village. Father is a man who lives on the militia¡¯s share of food, so a public servant. He literally lives of people¡¯s taxes.


    Mother is seen as a monster or half-monster.


    And still we remain rich, free and welcome.


    Mother still has her friends, we can buy and sell as much as we want, I can even get sugar in the market when I ask for it.


    Isn¡¯t this because grandmother made herself as the great helper of this village?


    The one who saves the lives of pregnant woman whose labor is risky? The one who prevents people dying from sickness?


    ¡­ I can¡¯t weight the value of those things, but I do think they are fairly good.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Good. Now try this.¡±


    Today I killed a Giant Grasshopper and then finished learning the magic which allow for me to manipulate the solid things around me. It¡¯s a very versatile magic, but difficult to master since it uses a lot of energy.


    [Magic Flexibility: Earth] acquired!


    It can be used to manipulate soil, dirt, rocks, minerals and even metals to some extent.


    However, it can¡¯t be used to manipulate crystals or living things. Anyhow this reduces the list of magic I need to master before being able to say I have true control over things.


    Grandma already said she will teach me at least five other categories of magic flexibility.


    Crystals, Healing, Plants, Detoxification and Flesh.


    Those are interesting but also a bit disturbing.


    Crystals involve spells which are used to accelerate or change somehow the crystallization process of things. It seems those kind of spells are used by some jewel makers to polish the jewels and cut them, as well as to repair small pieces which become destroyed when they make a wrong cut.


    Healing just involves healing spells in general. Grandmother knows them to the advanced level, which means she knows spells capable of growing body parts and organs, and also reverting gangrene.  She says above this level there are rumored spells which would allow for things like growing someone¡¯s body again from just a piece of their flesh and things like that, but isn¡¯t this the same as growing body parts?


    Maybe not. I shall test it latter, but those spells make no sense to me. If they can grow body parts, why not growing a whole body?


    As long as you are able to secure the person¡¯s soul you should be able to bring someone back from the dead by growing a new body to them.


    Well, this is the problem with a world where people know spells but now how magic works: You just have the results, not the knowledge about how and why things work.


    Plant spells are capable of interfering with how plants grow and which forms they take.


    Detoxification spells are capable of curing diseases, poisons and various conditions. Grandmother also knows them to the advanced level, meaning she can cure magical diseases as well ¨C things like the first stages of a person¡¯s transformation into monster when they force their way through the aura aggregate limit. Only the first stages though.


    Then Flesh spells are just plainly weird.


    Grandma says they are spells to manipulate people¡¯s and animals body, like stopping blood flow. I know they can be used in offensive form, but from what she says the main use is to help when you¡¯re casting healing spells.


    I wonder.


    Like if someone loses both legs and one arm, you cast this and then go on growing back one at a time?


    Or maybe it¡¯s for cases like when someone has their neck cut and you need to stop the blood flow until you recover their bodies.


    What?


    You won¡¯t suffer irreparable damage to your brain until three minutes have passed, you know?


    Besides, healing spells can cure brain damage as well. If they can grow back an arm they obviously can grow back a piece of grey or white matter. And since the information about things you have learned and so on is in your mind, not in your brain, you come back just as new.


    So cutting someone¡¯s head may be a problem if three minutes or more go by, but besides that it¡¯s fine. You just need an intermediary-level spell like [Deep Healing] and both the head and the person¡¯s body.


    Of course, if they lose their entire body then there is nothing you can do.


    You theoretically could regrow just the head in case the person lost it and the body was fine, but to do it you would need to keep the rest of the body alive without a head ¨C which will require to cast simultaneously one of the advanced spells of the [Flesh] kind and the advanced spell [Divine Healing] from the [Healing] kind.


    What happens if you take someone who¡¯s head has been cut, heal the person, and then try to grow a new body out of the old head?


    Grandma say it will just fail. If the person¡¯s soul isn¡¯t connected to the piece of flesh you¡¯re trying to make grow back again the spell won¡¯t work.


    Oh, right, this is the defining factor. You need to have a big enough piece of the person¡¯s body intact to use this spell. Basically one of the six vital organs. That is, the person¡¯s brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, liver or pancreas. If you don¡¯t have at least one of those intact, you just can¡¯t regrow the person¡¯s body back. That¡¯s the difference from the advanced healing spells to the so called saint spell which can grow someone a new body from just a piece of their flesh. Or the divine spell which can grow someone a new body from their souls alone.


    Doesn¡¯t this mean the [healing] spells actually use someone¡¯s soul as the basis for how they work?


    Or at least the advanced version of those spells?


    That¡¯s the only answer I can come with. Traditional Chinese Medicine says there are ¡°souls¡± living inside those organs, so that must be why at least one of them must be intact.


    Well, someday I may find out. For now, I just learn what techniques grandma has to teach me.


    When will I start learning soul spells?


    Maybe when I¡¯m done with my breakthrough. Grandma said I¡¯ve completed the process around one third of the way in, so I guess at least six more months until I¡¯m finished.


    And tomorrow I have to pretend to like a five-years-old kid I couldn¡¯t care less about. Because this grandma of mine who can make someone grow a whole body out of his beheaded remains is demanding me to.


    Life is crazy as fuck.


    ***


    In the end it was anticlimactic as ever. We got the children in front of our house and mother gave everyone bows to eat on the doorstep.


    They didn¡¯t get inside; mother didn¡¯t go outside. She just gave them the bowls through the window.


    So there will be no complains about she being a bad mother, right?


    Well, even if there are little sister definitely won¡¯t suffer an inch from it. She¡¯s a strong and healthy baby, and so far she has gotten sick only once or twice ¨C and at that time I was more than able to use basic detoxification magic to heal her.


    So she isn¡¯t getting the short end of the stick so soon.


    Maurus?


    Well, I gave him the big bow with a lot of ham just like grandmother said I should. I managed to do it by asking mother to give him the bigger one and going like:


    ¡°Give Maurus the bigger one! Because he invited us yesterday!¡±


    And things went smoothly.


    He¡¯s a small kid in the end, so I don¡¯t expect for this to impact him heavily. But I get grandmother¡¯s intent.


    Become friendly to the kid, but not overfriendly. I don¡¯t want him to think I¡¯m afraid of him or something. I will get clean on the details tonight.


    This is just for the sake of having one less enemy in a few decades.


    A little bit of lip service isn¡¯t going to weight much in my side of the scales when that time comes. But it may weight a fair amount on his.


    ***


    Well, it seems grandma has plans for me.


    Our training has changed. She said I should quit the physical training time and concentrate on learning other things, like spells and survival skills.


    She says I must be ready to make my way in life as a Magic Researcher.


    What that means?


    Well, there are Adventurers. They work for money, which is given by the kingdom, or for fame and the possibility of becoming an Accomplished.


    And no, this world doesn¡¯t have an Adventurer¡¯s Association or anything. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild is a branch of government and Adventurers are civil servants. The elimination of monsters, gathering of special ingredients and the exploration of dungeons is a governmental monopoly.


    Which is just obvious. No country in its right mind would allow for a private entrepreneur to delve into dungeons where they can achieve power equal to a small army.


    So, exploring dungeons without governmental license is a heavy crime.


    The first and easiest way to attain such license is by becoming a ranked adventurer. They have access to any dungeons appropriate for their rank into the association, which is measured with basis on their past achievements.


    Adventurers must always give everything they find in the dungeons to the government and are paid accordingly.


    Then the second way is to buy an exploration license from the government and become owner of a dungeon for a period of time. This is a heavily expensive method, but some very rich nobles sometimes do it in order to explore dungeons in ways which are different from most.


    For example, the Magic Associations explore dungeons for secrets lying within.


    Since the formation of [Dungeon Cores] is based on a large amount of aura gathering on rocks, dungeons form naturally in places which accumulate a lot of aura ¨C like old cities which have been taken by disaster, old places of cult and the most variated ruins.


    Places where precious information and insights on magic can be gathered.


    Be from old books, stone murals and inscriptions or even the eventual ghosts of powerful necromancers who managed to retain their souls alive after death ¨C all of those are research materials which increase the repertoire of known spells for nobles who are searching for an edge above others.


    This is the path grandmother wants for me to take.


    Oh, the ghost thing?


    Yes, souls usually scathe after death in this world. But some necromancers seem to have developed means of immortality which are¡­ less comfortable.


    Talking plainly, undeads exist and can even have intelligence.


    In the case of ghosts, they bound their souls to a certain physical space. This means they can¡¯t go very far from that place, but they can interact with the physical world and avoid scathing.


    In the case of Liches, they bound their souls to a crystal, very much like a dungeon [core].


    And other undead types usually bound their souls to mortal remains, like bones or decaying meat.


    It seems I will learn how to do it once grandmother starts teaching me soul magic, but this is the kind of thing which is used only as a last resort.


    Most undeads have very boring lives after all.


    Regardless.


    Grandmother wants for me to be a Magic Researcher.


    It¡¯s a good way to get knowledge and I can come up with excuses for my eternal youth by saying I was hit by some weird thing in a dungeon or something like that.


    I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a bad idea.


    I mean, becoming an [accomplished] is something I don¡¯t want to.


    That would be stupid.


    If I can increase my body¡¯s power infinitely, why would I want to fuse with a dungeon core and have my soul transformed in the process?


    Besides, working as a civil servant looks problematic. I would be conscripted in case of war and I do better avoiding that.


    Not to mention all the general lack of privacy on the civil servant career path. Having nobles kicking you in the balls every step of the way is a bad thing as well.


    So, Magic Researcher.


    But I could do other things as well.


    I could become a farmer. Or a fisherman. Or a hunter. Or I could become a criminal who explores dungeons without license and then sells the materials to shady people.


    Just by hiding myself and living in a small cottage home without any worries or ambitions.


    As if.


    I dislike appearing in public, but I do like the rush of making people do meaningful stuff and changing the world around me you know?


    The only other real option would be to become a member of some of the other researching societies like the Historians Society or the Society for Research on Monsters, Plants and Animals.


    Truth be told, the Magic Research Society seems to be the only one which really align to my goals.


    I want to discover immortality so I can make grandfather and father immortals.


    So I obviously should choose to be a Magic Researcher and follow on this lead. And if something happens like the Society constraining me¡­


    Then becoming a smuggler may not be so bad after all.


    It¡¯s set.


    Grandma will teach me the survival skills of this world. I do know quite a bit already due to our training, like how to hunt and how to build improvised shelter like in the training grounds, but there are things like botanic knowledge and geography lessons which I must take.


    Delving into caves and dungeons is dangerous. You never know when one of them might cave in and, even if I¡¯m immortal and know earth magic my provable companions would still suffer and die without air to breath.


    And in research a powerful mind might be useful, but numbers make the blunt work a lot easier.


    So let¡¯s learn how to keep possible future companions alive and also some spells to bring them back to life in case they happen to die.

 Extra Chapter 22 – Confession.

    ¡°And then, what happened?¡±


    ¡°He beat my butt.¡±


    ¡°Is that all?¡±


    ¡°He said I had to ask first.¡±


    ¡°Jacen, have you and Alvin been doing couple stuff?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Jacen.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Jacen. Answer me.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­ yes.¡±


    It hurt!


    Mother slapped my butt!


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    It hurt!


    Mother is bad!


    Why is mother slapping my butt?


    ¡°I told you not to do it! I told you!¡±


    Mother, stop!


    Stop!


    ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH !¡±


    ¡°Now go and sit in the corner.¡±


    It hurts!


    ¡°SEAT NOW JACEN!¡±


    Chuif.


    Mother is bad!

 Extra Chapter 23 – Mind

    There are plenty of monsters out there which can change appearance to the one of small human children and then take their place.


    Even the [Metamorphs] clan can do it.


    But I¡¯m fairly certain Alvin isn¡¯t one of them.


    I have watched over this child since the very moment he was born. Unless he had been camouflaging from the moment he got out of his mother¡¯s belly he wouldn¡¯t be able to trick me.


    Still, is this the growth rate of a true Royal?


    The old lineage was mediocre at best. The empress sure was powerful, but the legends told of much superior existences of the far past. Alvin has far surpassed her in all aspects of his growth.


    He understands complex things and cultivating good relations for a goal, even if he¡¯s only five.


    He has already mastered spells most people would have trouble even remembering.


    Maybe it¡¯s the combination of skills.


    An immortal reminder, or a defier of heavens with the spiritual power. Those two existences alone would already stir up the court in the old days. They would surely be pampered and spoiled since a young age in order to become useless addicts full of debilitating disease gathered in brothels.


    And if one of them had immunity to sickness, then that would be even more of a challenge for the nobility to suppress.


    Alvin has all of those talents and even more.


    Maybe I should think on his growth as expected.


    He doesn¡¯t seem to have natural limiters on his growth. He finds it as easy to learn an advanced spell as it would be to learn a bunch of basic spells. It¡¯s just a matter of time for him.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    That is unheard off.


    Someone able to learn something complex with the same easiness of learning a bunch of simple things.


    Not his body. Not his skills.


    His mind is the most powerful tool he has.


    I should nurture it properly. It¡¯s a shame I don¡¯t have any of the old books here. I wonder¡­ should I try and send him to an Academy? Maybe as an adoptive son of Lord Blackscale ?


    ¡­


    No.


    Alvin¡¯s mind is far too advanced for his age. He would be unsociable, and amongst nobility there is nothing worse than being unsociable. It invites disaster.


    I must nurture him as I can, and send him in a path of exploration by himself once he is old enough for this to be believable.


    There are plenty of adventurers which are accepted in the Magic Associations of this continent once they gather achievements as explorers of dungeons with old formulas and rich history.


    Once he¡¯s accepted in one of the Associations he should be able to read quite a bit and expand his horizons.


    I wonder if he will accept the future his grandmother chooses for him?


    Of course he will.


    He¡¯s a good, obedient boy.


    Besides, if he doesn¡¯t then this grandmother needs only to stop teaching him. The little one is as curious as a kitten.


    He will make his path to knowledge somewhat.

 End of Volume 1

    Thank everyone for reading so far.


    This chapter ends Volume 1 of Ode to Freud.


    I decided name this Volume ¡°Volume 1 ¨C Learn to Live¡±, since it brought the MC in a path of life.


    We will be back next week with Volume 2.


    If anyone has any commentaries and/or constructive criticism, please make them.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I have a couple chapters of the next volume written already (a good precaution against writters block), but i indeed would like to know everyone''s opinions and impressions of the work so far.


    Have a good week o/

 Chapter 1: Spirits and Friends

    Volume 2


    Chapter 1


    Spring came as always. This time, however, we had a little difference: It was little sister¡¯s first birthday!


    It wasn¡¯t much different from my own.


    Sigh..


    Another small torn on my heart.


    Not being special is though!


    By the way, yes, I¡¯m back walking around with the kids on the neighborhood.


    Oh, little sister¡¯s name?


    She was named Johannah, but grandma immediately gave her a nickname as ¡°Anna¡±.


    Ann and Anna.


    My two sisters.


    What a lack of creativity.


    But on the other side, people do name their kids after themselves, so the more the more repetitive the names tend to be.


    Going back to what matters, however.


    Yes, I¡¯m back walking with the kids in the neighborhood.


    They even came to little sister¡¯s birthday as mine and Jacen¡¯s invited guests.


    Ralphe, Elipha and Maurus.


    Yes, even Maurus.


    I said we were trying to make him our friend, right?


    Not that we need much work. I don¡¯t usually talk much with the kids, being the ¡°distant and quiet one¡± of the group, so Jacen and Ralphe are the ones who are truly becoming his close friends.


    Elipha?


    She doesn¡¯t care for me, and I don¡¯t care for her.


    And no, I don¡¯t feel attracted to her in a sexual manner.


    I said it already, but I¡¯m going to repeat: My sex drive is almost nonexistent.


    If I masturbate myself I can get an erection and even an orgasm. But anything comes out and I don¡¯t feel any need or desire to do it.


    I¡¯m at the point that I won¡¯t feel desire even if I see a girl totally naked. It only reacts to direct touch.


    How do I know this much?


    I have said it already, so I will repeat: The neighboring houses around us have very little privacy. Seeing one of the neighbors taking a bath is easy.


    Which reminds me of something interesting.


    A few days ago we were strolling around the town, near the hunter¡¯s storehouse, when we saw one of the other kids in the neighborhood looking at the cracks in the window of the building.


    His friends where a few meters behind, on the roadside of the fence, hidden away.


    What where they seeing?


    We took turns approaching the window and I soon was able to see it.


    It was too of the hunters doing it.


    Sex I mean.


    Or maybe should I say hungrily fucking each other¡¯s brains out?


    They looked as if they were holding it in for a long time.


    And it was two males out of anything.


    When I saw that I though some things.


    First was : ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why those kids are laughing hysterically¡±.


    Second was : ¡°Shit, Jacen¡¯s going to get horny¡±.


    The first one was true, but hopefully the second one wasn¡¯t. He just became embarrassed. Deeply embarrassed.


    And then the kids started to bully him because of that.


    Luckily Ralphe was there to defend him.


    If I should have done something?


    Eer¡­ how can I put this¡­


    I support Jacen becoming intimate with Ralphe if he wants to. So this is a good thing for me.


    Besides, defending him would blow my cover.


    Or, even worse, expose us.


    So, well done Ralphe.


    I just hope you¡¯re gay as well, or Jacen is in for a pretty hard heartbreak latter.


    ***


    And since we¡¯re talking about Jacen¡¯s love interests, I have a problem in my hands.


    You see, there¡¯s a small love triangle forming.


    No, not with me.


    It¡¯s Elipha, Jacen and Maurus.


    Or maybe I should call it a Love Square?


    Maurus seems to like Elipha, since he is always trying to impress her.


    But Elipha looks to Jacen with a look of respect and follows him as if she was following her own big brother.


    Which is exactly the same thing Jacen does to Ralphe, which, by his turn, looks dearly to his little sister.


    No, I don¡¯t think they have THAT kind of relationship, nor that Maurus or Elipha have any sexual meaning to what they do.


    But childhood admiration and desires of affection easily develop into love, so I¡¯m thinking on how to deal with this.


    Me and Jacen?


    Well, it was just sex to begin with, so I don¡¯t feel much.


    Maybe just¡­ a little bit of Jealousy?


    I¡¯m really fragile in my heart since little sister took my spot as the young bud of the house.


    But I¡¯m not particularly attracted to older brother. When I look at his face I just feel something going like ¡°urgh, no, thank you, but no¡±.


    Weird feelings are weird.


    So, the love square.


    I guess it would get easily solver to my own best interest if Maurus got Elipha and Jacen got Ralphe.


    This way we could have Ralphe¡¯s family serving as a cushion between us and the Dorians.


    We would be friends and almost related by marriage, but not so close to the level where we would need to bring them inside our house and create feelings of disgust between old enemies.


    That, of course, if man could marry each other in this world.


    They can¡¯t. At least not officially.


    Which mean they hardly can live together, since there aren¡¯t churches here. Marriage means to move to someone¡¯s house and start living with them. But it¡¯s very weird for two unmarried man to share a house. They would be expected to live in their parent¡¯s house until they marry.


    So Jacen and Ralphe can¡¯t be together.


    Well, the worst thing that can happen is if Jacen gets a crush on Elipha. Maurus¡¯s jealousy and envy would break our friendship and put him in a straight course against us.


    I think. Maybe this will all be different by the end of the year.


    Anyhow, this is almost impossible since Jacen seems to like man more than he likes woman.


    At least when we were in our thing with sister he was more interested in me.


    But wait, what if he was more interested in me because I¡¯m me, and not because I¡¯m a man?


    ¡­


    Now things look even more dangerous.


    ***


    I decided to ask for directions from grandma.


    What?


    Oh, yeah, of course she knows about us. She has [Aura Analysis] after all.


    It was super weird giving her a report on what happened between me and Jacen in detail, but she also gave me some valuable pieces of information.


    It seems our clan has a mark on our auras which grandma called ¡°the Sparkle¡±.


    It¡¯s a sparkling point located a little to the left of our hearts.


    When two people destined by the [Course] meet this point sparkle and keeps sparkling as long as they are close to each other.


    This is the mark that tells when someone from our clan has met someone else they are supposed to love more than anything ¨C the love that¡¯s written in the stars.


    It seems one can love people without the need for the Spark, but that the spark marks two people who will definitely love each other and produce offspring, no matter what they think of each other.


    Quite a number of tragedies happened in the past when the people of our clan married others trying to escape from the [Course] and meet their destined person later in life.


    That¡¯s also why our clan had a custom of never allowing someone¡¯s first marriage to be with someone they didn¡¯t had the spark with ¨C and one of the reasons why grandma cursed the [Course].


    I didn¡¯t understand very well, but her soul was clearly sending feelings of longing, lost loves and things of the far past.


    I think she lived some kind of forbidden love in the past.


    Anyway!


    The love square.


    Grandma said I shouldn¡¯t intervene directly. The maximum help I should give is by defusing conflict.


    Why?


    Because it¡¯s extremely easy for me to get entangled in this mess if I try to make something.


    Besides, it¡¯s still too early for us to do anything. It seems I will be able to directly intervene once she teaches me a bit of soul magic.


    And now I will be using magic to manipulate young kid¡¯s hearts.


    Damn I¡¯m a cold manipulating bastard!


    Let¡¯s use this for justice only.


    Against tragedy, in favor of peace.


    Uhm?


    No,no, I haven¡¯t learned soul magic yet.


    I¡¯m still working my way with the physical magic and techniques.


    It seems in terms of Aura Control I have achieved the maximum level grandmother knows of.


    That would be the so called [Aura Mastery].


    I¡¯m able to control my aura to the degree of making it as thin as a hair and wave or knit it as if it was regular thread.


    Still, I have this feeling that I can go even further if I keep training.


    But this is something for other day.


    Since my time training spells have increased.


    In qigong?


    Well, I¡¯ve hit two-thirds of the way to the end of the [bottleneck].


    Now, an unexpected ability I have also gained with all of this training was the one of singing really well.


    Not spells, but regular music.


    During little sister¡¯s birthday I kind of stole a little bit of the stage by singing the folk songs we know to the best of my skill.


    It felt good to be praised.


    ***


    Spring came and is now gone. Then autumn came, and there¡¯s no birthday for me this year, so it¡¯s being just more of the same.


    Except for a little weird thing, which is Ralphe¡¯s absence from our kid group.


    What happened?


    He turned ten, that¡¯s what happened.


    And also something that changed totally our internal power dynamics.


    Without the ¡°big brother¡± guiding us we now have Jacen and Maurus in constant conflict for leadership.


    I sincerely don¡¯t know who should I support in this.


    If Jacen becomes our leader we will get Maurus in an advantageous position as our ¡°younger brother¡±.


    But if this happens Elipha may start looking up to him even more.


    Then if Maurus become our leader, we will be in a disadvantageous position as his underlings¡­


    It seems, in the end, the only option is¡­


    Yes.


    I will have to create another kind of group dynamic.


    You see, without Ralphe to be our leader it¡¯s clear that me and Jacen will have to become the pillars that keep Maurus from being bullied from others.


    If we have a single leader this will be a problem, since I would need to blow my cover to become this person and the other two have the problems previously mentioned.


    So the only option for us is a brotherhood.


    I shall be the smart kid which gives the plan, Maurus shall be the impetuous kid who gets things done and Jacen should be our strong brother, which keeps others from bullying Maurus.


    I will be the smarts, Maurus the impetus and Jacen the muscles. Elipha shall be our hearth, of course.


    Not because she¡¯s a girl, but because that¡¯s basically what she has been doing.


    She¡¯s an active and smart kid, but she¡¯s still the ¡°leader¡¯s little sister¡±. That¡¯s the position she has been occupying in our group since ever.


    There¡¯s no way she can take over her older brother either.


    Yeah, let¡¯s go with this.


    Luckily it isn¡¯t something very difficult to do. I must only take the position as the ¡°smarts¡± and the others will get naturally on their positions.


    After all, Jacen is indeed the strongest in the group ¨C if you take me off the equation, of course ¨C and Maurus has a lot of desire to prove himself.


    Only Elipha remains as a wild card, but she won¡¯t do a thing.


    ***


    And she did.


    Oh, for fucks sake.


    Elipha is taking over her big brother in a spectacular manner.


    The plan was simple.


    Last week a few kids took a lot of our marbles.


    It was a fair game, but it was bitter.


    So, my part was to give the group the ingenious idea of making new marbles.


    They got surprised, since none of them had thought about this idea, but things didn¡¯t go as I expected.


    Instead of Maurus taking the lead it was the Elipha the one who did it.


    Just like Ralphe would have done, she said ¡°That¡¯s great! We can get them back and give then a lesson!¡±.


    No!


    Girl, you should be the heart, not the guts!


    ¡°But isn¡¯t this cheating?¡±


    Jacen, what are you doing?


    You¡¯re not supposed to be the heart! You¡¯re the brawls!


    ¡°It isn¡¯t cheating. It¡¯s just us taking it back!¡±


    There, now Maurus is trying to show off to Elipha by pretending to be the muscle-head!


    Sigh¡­


    We went with the plan and made the marbles.


    In the end we have Elipha as our leader, Maurus as our brawls and Jacen as our heart, while I¡¯m the smarts.


    That¡¯s bad.


    I don¡¯t want for Maurus to be our brawls.


    It¡¯s bad if he thinks he can deal with things by using violence. In the future he may become the brawny adult who wants to solve everything with fists.


    Things like our old grudge.


    Sigh¡­


    It¡¯s grandma¡¯s counselling time again, isn¡¯t it?


    ***


    Grandma said I should stop meddling with them while I still can. That I shouldn¡¯t become so involved.


    She isn¡¯t carrying much for the possibility of tragedy, is she?


    Or maybe I have really became too intertwined in this?


    I mean, it¡¯s just kids, right?


    The first time we have a fight with other group Jacen will naturally become the brawls, since he is the stronger one in our act.


    Why fighting?


    Well, we are a small gang made by kids who like to pretend they own something in a village full of the same.


    It¡¯s play one day, fight the other. Just as it would be expected of a bunch of rowdy kids, really. It¡¯s the law of the strongest here. At least until it gets in the way of all of the fun. Then past fights are forgotten and all is fine again.


    Oh, talking about strength, now I¡¯m finally allowed to bring two buckets of water home each time, instead of only one.


    Grandma has watched me in soul form a few times, giving me tips on how to pretend to be making an effort to carry the buckets, but after a while I guess I got the hang of it.


    How is the former bucket carrier, A.K.A, Ann, doing?


    Well, she¡¯s still doing her best at the county¡¯s capital dojo.


    It seems they have an incomplete version of our [Body Refining] technique.


    And I mean very incomplete.


    It¡¯s only the breathing exercises, and it¡¯s also slightly off.


    Luckily she knows the right technique, so she¡¯s progressing faster than most people from the dojo.


    Which has also earned her even more credit with the Dojo¡¯s master and kept his son out of the way.


    As expected.


    ***


    And our first fight with other kids after Ralphe¡¯s departure indeed helped solving the problem.


    I played my role as the smarts by pretending to be weaker, while Jacen gradually took the lead and Maurus tried his best to protect Elipha every time more.


    Not that she remained totally still, but at least the roles of ¡°brawls¡± and ¡°heart¡± between Jacen and Maurus seem to have been switched.


    That will do.


    That will do, indeed.


    So, besides the manipulation of my little friend¡¯s group¡¯s hearts, I have also achieved something new and interesting.


    And that would be the very end of my [bottleneck].


    I noticed it during my night training. Suddenly I felt as if my skin was soft and loosen.


    When I touched it, it was almost as returning to my fat days.


    It scared me a bit, I have to say.


    The skin wobbled from one side to the other, as if I had a lot of fat underneath.


    So, grandma said I should stay still on my training camp for that day, which was also an opportunity to test some of my survival skills.


    I hunted a boar piglet and used some wild herbs to make it tasty. I also built a small roof, collected some water, and proceeded to complete my [Breakthrough].


    It took me a week, during which grandma had to calm my worrying parents over and over again.


    Anyhow, it was a very, very weird process.


    My body started to go into small cycles of swelling, cracking and producing a little light with steam.


    It didn¡¯t swell much, just a little bit, but it was still a very weird sensation.


    According to grandma this was the technique working on all of my body, from the outside to the inside.


    After the week it took for the process to complete itself I shed a layer of compacted skin with various kinds of dry meaty bits in it.


    There were even shadows of my bones. It was as if someone had put me on a cartoon and passed over my body with a steamroller. That was the appearance of that weird compacted skin layer.


    I didn¡¯t lose a single drop of blood, however. And It wasn¡¯t painful either. It was just weird.


    So, that happened.


    And I reached the second stage of power according to the old empire¡¯s measuring scale.


    The next bottleneck seems to be so far away I don¡¯t need to carry about it, so, now¡­


    It¡¯s Soul Spells learning time!


    ***


    So, first night of training for soul spells!


    Also happens to be the day of Tom¡¯s annual visit.


    The merchant brought his stuff and I remembered grandma didn¡¯t show me the Orc village yet.


    So tonight I will see if we can do both things.


    I mean, I got most kinds of [Magic Flexibility] already. It¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have time.


    ¡°Good night grandma.¡±


    ¡°Good night dear. Ready for your first day of soul training?¡±


    ¡°Grandma, can we see the Orc village first? It will be quick, right?¡±


    She stopped to think for a moment.


    ¡°Tom has been in the village today, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡°Then it¡¯s a good chance. I planned to go there once we were over here, but since you want to go, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Why would you go there grandma?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m used to go there to warn them about newcomers.¡±


    ¡°So, should I wait you here?¡±


    ¡°Uhm? Of course not. We will go on soul walk.¡±


    ¡°Can they see us?¡±


    ¡°Very badly. But the Shaman can hear me.¡±


    A shaman.


    How picturesque.


    And I have to say, their village was also pretty picturesque in its own way.


    It¡¯s a large village, quite larger than ours. I would say around two hundred houses.


    Plus, they have not only people who turned on orcs but, it seems, also children born as orcs.


    Later grandma told me demi-humans can reproduce as well ¨C at least most of them, the elves being exceptions for unknown reasons.


    But I didn¡¯t expect for their offspring to be demi-human. That explains why even noble ladies would be sent out of their families once they became demi-human. They would be useless for aristocracy, even if it¡¯s just as marriage partners to other people.


    So, this was an interesting discovery.


    Another very interesting discovery, however, was that grandma is a goddess.


    Just joking.


    She isn¡¯t.


    But she surely is treated as so in the village.


    As soon as we appeared in the middle of the square, grandma going there by ¡°feeling¡± the location and I by ¡°feeling¡± grandma, people started to come to greet and knew in front of us.


    First it was the guards.


    The orc militia spotted us and came in a hurry to knew in front of grandma. Then one of them went to ring the bell in the middle of the square.


    Soon a sea of orc heads, old and young, was bowing in front of us.


    It was at that moment that the Shaman came.


    He looked like a middle-aged orc due to the wrinkles on his face, but I have no idea how old is he. I don¡¯t know how orcs age, after all.


    This one came to the front of the heads and bowed deeply while greeting grandma.


    ¡°Fair lady of the forest, we welcome thee.¡±


    ¡°Raise your head Shaman, and tell me your name.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m known as Ghoorr, Fair lady.¡±


    ¡°Ghoor of the Great Orc Tribe, has your predecessor passed away?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Fair lady. Gnir now lies with the ancestors.¡±


    ¡°Very well. I shall look for him in the soul world.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, fair lady.¡±


    ¡°Ghoorr, a newcomer is arriving. He is on the trial now.¡±


    ¡°I understand fair lady.¡±


    ¡°Do you have anything you want to ask of me, Ghoorr?¡±


    ¡°Fair Lady, the ¡änoids have been attacking my people. We are scared of hunting because of them.¡±


    ¡°How many there are?¡±


    ¡°Fair Lady, there are five of them.¡±


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°I shall not interfere. However, my grandson will kill them.¡±


    ¡­


    Wait.


    Is she talking about me?


    Grandma, what?


    ¡®noids ?


    Aren¡¯t those the almost fully monstrous people who have gone through the process to become Superior Beings and failed beyond the point of no return, but just not hard enough to become totally monstrous?


    The ¡°humanoids¡± as people call them? The human monsters?


    ¡°The Fair Lady has a grandson?¡±


    Aah, the people are whispering. They are totally whispering to each other.


    I would whisper too if some kind of spirit just came and said to me ¡°hey, I have a grandson¡±.


    Do spirits even mate?


    ¡°Yes. I shall present him for you.¡±


    ¡°It will be my honor, o Fair Lady.¡±


    ¡°Come.¡±


    Okay, I¡¯m going. Hope they don¡¯t get too disappointed with me.


    ¡°This is my grandson.¡±


    ¡°This is the grandson of the fair lady, but I can see him as clearly as I can see the fair lady herself. This me is honored to meet such powerful person.¡±


    ¡°Ghoor, this has been everything. You and your people can go back to your sleep.¡±


    ¡°We of the Great Orc Tribe honor the Fair lady!¡±


    ¡°H¨¢!¡±


    Suddenly a yell from all of those guys.


    Seriously, don¡¯t startle me like that.


    Anyhow, our job here is done.


    ***


    ¡°Grandma, what was that?¡±


    We are finally back at my training camp.


    ¡°That was the village, darling. But I think you want to know why they treated us like that?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an old story. Go back to your body and seat in the ground.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡±


    As soon as I seated grandma started to explain.


    ¡°Once in the far, far past¡­ before the time of the empire¡­ it¡¯s said that the demi-humans and the humans where totally different beings. They could not produce offspring, and a human couldn¡¯t become demi-human except with the use of magic.


    The [metamorphs] clan, of course, was an exception.


    However, still before the time of the empire, at some point, the demi-humans and the humans started a big war. This was known as the [Thousand Fangs] war and it waged for a very long time.


    In the end, it was this war that brought all humans together and allowed for the first [Emperor] to be born.


    With his might unparalleled, the emperor slaughtered the demi-human clans of our continent, but in a last effort to survive, the dying magic-users of the demi-human clans created a potent magic.


    It was the first ever recorded world-wide magic, and also the inspiration for the Emperor¡¯s own [curse], many years later.¡±


    ¡°And this magic made humans capable of becoming demi-humans?¡±


    ¡°Yes. But not only that. It also preserved their feelings.¡±


    ¡°Their feelings? Not their souls?¡±


    Grandma looked at me with candid eyes.


    ¡°Darling, what do you think happens once someone¡¯s soul scathes?¡±


    ¡°They are reborn?¡±


    ¡°And how do that happen?¡±


    ¡°Because their minds don¡¯t scathe!¡±


    ¡°Correct. Their minds just sleep, they don¡¯t scathe. So those demi-humans the emperor killed someday¡­¡±


    ¡°Are bound to be reborn as humans!¡±


    Grandma is smiling.


    ¡°The old magic of the demi-humans was meant to make those who were reborn as humans regain their old bodies and minds with time. For the first decades that worked to perfection, and once a reincarnated demi-human reached enough power to change his own body with magic, his mind awoke by itself. However, nowadays this magic is almost depleted and they only remember very little.¡±


    That¡¯s interesting.


    And also, maybe, a solution for me?


    If I research how the old demi-humans did this magic I would be able to make my family into people who can remember their old selves even after dying and being reborn.


    And I wouldn¡¯t have much problem even if they just wanted to finish the present life and live a new one.


    It is one way to achieve immortality, indeed it is!


    ¡°Grandma, can you teach me this spell?¡±


    ¡°Haha. I would darling, except it was lost long ago. I don¡¯t know it.¡±


    Well, magic researcher I will be, magic researcher looking for old demi-human ruins I shall become!


    ¡°Then, that¡¯s why they were treating me with so much respect. They remember there used to be forest spirits in the old days, so they have mistaken me for one of them.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this dangerous?¡±


    What if they notice? Wouldn¡¯t they raid our village?


    ¡°A little. But I don¡¯t ask anything for them, and help a lot. Even if they realize I¡¯m not a forest spirit they should still be grateful enough to respect me. And now you as well.¡±


    ¡°But why me?¡±


    ¡°Because if anything happens you know where to go to.¡±


    Oh, I see.


    Insurance in case I need protection from the world.


    Well thought grandma. Well thought. But..


    ¡°What are forest spirits?¡±


    ¡°Have you noticed how trees have just a faint glow over then in the soul world?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the beginning of a soul. They don¡¯t have souls themselves, but they have those glows and, if the forest becomes old and powerful enough, their glows will entwine together and create a soul for all of them. That allows for a mind to connect to that soul and live as a forest spirit.¡±


    So, it¡¯s literally the spirit of the forest.


    ¡°But grandma, our forest doesn¡¯t have one?¡±


    ¡°Indeed it doesn¡¯t darling. Forest spirits have become very rare after the emperor casted his curse. Since monsters usually have their own souls and eat most of the aura from the environment, they don¡¯t allow for the forests to become powerful enough to give birth to a forest spirit.¡±


    Oh, I see.


    So the emperor increased the aura output of the world and that created more monsters. Those monsters eat up all the magic in the air and the regular trees can¡¯t use it themselves to become a huge collective organism which is the ¡°forest spirit¡±.


    ¡°Now, are you ready to start learning soul magic?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    And finally we started on that.


    ***


    So, soul magic.


    It¡¯s pretty much the same as physical magic, except it¡¯s totally based on getting the right combination of feelings you need to vibrate from your soul to the world around you.


    What does that mean?


    Well, souls are¡­ weird.


    They can change shapes easily and easily obey mental commands.


    So to make magic which affects the soul, you need to remember what you want to do, that is, the kind of feeling you want to create, and then kind of ¡°throw¡± it on your target.


    For example, if I want to burn the fleeting soul of a tree, I need to remember how soul fire feels and then create it around me and then project this emotion to the tree¡¯s soul while using my own soul to make it.


    It¡¯s a dangerous kind of magic, since an error and you can damage your own soul in the process.


    And that¡¯s also another reason why I needed to go through my [Breakthrough] in order to do it well.


    Because my soul has been strengthened by the [Soul Advent] part of my qigong technique, it can resist better when I do something wrong ¨C and this avoid me getting badly hurt.


    Which is great, since grandma decided to start the training on hardcore mode.


    She made me go back to my body and try the soul spells while inside of it.


    This way I can learn how to keep my physical actions separated from my soul actions ¨C something hard to do at the beginning but which will spare me training time in the future, since I won¡¯t need to re-learn everything in order to be able to use soul magic while inside my own body.


    But soul spells don¡¯t exist only to damage souls!


    No my friend, I can generate any kind of emotions with them, and If I use it while also manipulating the aura in the environment I can do even things like programing how my improvised lightning rod will work.


    You see, it¡¯s all about making it act like a machine.


    If you put the appropriate feeling of a lightning spell inside the mana pebble I embedded in it and also a feeling of ¡°allowing¡± or ¡°denying¡± based in a small command like an activation series of sound or the pressing of a small surface, it¡¯s possible to make the lightning rod work.


    It will depend on magic power, of course, but it will work.


    Which is great, since I have mastered [Magic Flexibility: Crystal], which allows me to control crystallization processes like the one which makes rocks into mana pebbles.


    Soon I will be able to start producing my own magic equipment.


    That said, I still have a lot of training to do before doing that.


    After all, after mastering soul spells I have a whole new league to reach¡­ which are mind spells.


    And, just like how the soul can be used to influence the physical plane, the mind can be used to influence the soul plane.


    So magic made with base in thought alone, be it soul magic or physical magic, not only is possible but also one of my goals to master until the end of the year.


    I will do my best, since magic is cool!


    ***


    I feel like I¡¯ve grown apart from the family.


    I was reflecting on that today as we ate our lunch.


    Father¡¯s stories all look a bit boring now. Plus, mother just doesn¡¯t have much to tell us¡­ not to mention she is always taking care of younger sister, so our only time together is really at the meals.


    I mean, this is normal and expected.


    The rule of sending your children out of the house when they turn five exists precisely for this reason ¨C so they would start growing apart from the family and eventually build relationships with the world around, growing into adults by themselves.


    But I don¡¯t have any way to build those relations. I have become too powerful, so I can only look at other people¡¯s struggles like I see the kids struggling. I don¡¯t relate to it.


    Truth be said, I just have no one to talk to, except maybe grandma ¨C and she isn¡¯t much of a talker besides when we are training.


    I have tried to ask about history and the such, but she will only tell me stuff in a secretive manner.


    I guess it¡¯s part of her cover. After all, I myself can¡¯t believe she was really a simple peddler.


    No way she was just that.


    She probably did sell stuff from town to town, but she is far too powerful to had been that because she needed to.


    So she has this habit of omitting things and deceiving everyone constantly, which means I can¡¯t have a proper conversation with her.


    Who am I supposed to talk to?!


    I¡¯m growing lonesome.


    Maybe I should try and find spirit friends?


    Grandma said we could start exploring the soul world if I wanted to, but she also said I shouldn¡¯t do it lightly.


    Spirits have this small problem, you see¡­ since most of them are aware that people reincarnate after dying they don¡¯t really value life so much.


    They will kill you as easily as a normal person would go into a fist fight. Because for them making you hurt or killing you have both the same ending ¨C you will come back on your foot and that will be that. Eighty years later or eight hours later, that¡¯s the only difference in their view.


    Or in this case in new feet, since you will be reincarnated and such.


    So it¡¯s dangerous to have spirits as friends. Specially for my family, since there are some who will attempt to kill your loved ones to ¡°play a prank¡± on you or something.


    Dangerous, dangerous, it¡¯s too dangerous to have spirits as friends.


    Unless¡­


    Maybe I can make friends with people like grandma has become ¡°friends¡± with the orcs?


    I¡¯m stronger and superior to most people, so if I go around in soul form and find someone to¡­


    Naaah.


    It will be just me bragging all day long.


    What¡¯s the point?


    It may do wonders to my sense of pride and make me feel a little less lonely, but it won¡¯t be people I can trust or rely on.


    It won¡¯t be true friendship, with mutual benefits and happiness.


    So, how can I¡­


    Oh, I know!


    What if I create a forest spirit?


    Grandma said they are created once the forests grow old and powerful enough. They also seem to help people who help the forest, destroy monsters on their own and also have a generally nice and easygoing personality.


    Winter stories talk about villages in the times of old which would even enter mutual agreements with those kind of spirits in order to be able to collect lumber and wild herbs in exchange for taking care of the forest.


    And the best of all is that the forest spirit will even take in things like human wastes and repel bad people like bandits.


    How are forest spirits different from regular spirits?


    Well, they do have bodies so they do know how painful it is to lose one¡¯s physical body. So they value life!


    On another words, it¡¯s the perfect friend for me.


    I can make use of this forest around us, and then I will have a friend.


    Let¡¯s do this!


    ***


    Grandma is making a reflexive pose with her soul.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible darling, but very difficult¡­ you would need to patrol the forest destroying the monsters, establish an [altar] and command regular [goodwill ceremonies] for the forest. Are you sure you can do this much?¡±


    ¡°Ceremonies? Like as if I was [praying]?¡±


    ¡°Yes. In the old times, the easier way to create a [forest spirit] was by praying. You need to make a piece of the forest into a small [holy ground] dedicated to the spirit you want to create, and then keep all of the space around it [holy] and clean as well, while redirecting energy to the trees and injecting the feelings you want into a mother-tree, which will become the first one to link to others. You must inject the right feelings of union, peace, love, friendship and happiness, otherwise you may create a lot of monsters like ents, dryads, nymphs or even treants. And you need to do it for a long time. At least every day for a full year.¡±


    ¡°But in a single tree? Don¡¯t I need to connect them to the whole forest?¡±


    ¡°Once you make the mother-tree filled with the right amount of [feeling] it will generate [compassion] by itself, and then link its own small soul to the other trees around it. It will spread and grow with time.¡±


    ¡°Then, I want to try it!¡±


    ¡°Very well. Let¡¯s find a good place for your [temple] and [sanctum].¡±


    So, to find a good place where to create my mother-tree. The one which will start the process of creation of my future friend, the forest spirit.


    Now, which is a good place to do it well?


    You see, I need a place where things like sunlight and water flow with ease.


    But I also need it to be idyllic and clean, with good soil and lots of trees around.


    I don¡¯t intend to start with a tree that has been in the forest for a long time either, since it would have too many emotions by itself already.


    No, the best is to start with a sapling and then use [crop growth] on it once I have made its soul sufficiently filled with good emotions.


    This is to make sure the spirit will go around and become a true forest spirit, but also as a countermeasure to help select which mind will become coupled to it.


    What do I mean?


    Well, I can¡¯t create minds by myself, and grandma said it would be better to have a real mind coupling with the forest spirit, since a newborn mind is too innocent and may harm others or itself by mistake.


    So by making the tree¡¯s soul full of good feelings we can more or less attract minds which also think positively and are good-natured, since those kind of minds feel more attraction to souls with lots of good feelings in them, while the opposite is also true ¨C souls with lots of bad feelings in then tend to attract minds which think negatively and have mischievous thoughts.


    And like that I decided for a clearing in the woods, some sixty kilometers from the village, pointing south.


    There¡¯s a natural water spring nearby, so water is secured.


    Besides, there¡¯s also plenty of sunlight and the trees around seem healthy.


    It¡¯s a nice place with soft and tender ground and everything.


    That said, the first step is to create small stone walls delimiting the space of my [temple]. Why is it needed?


    Because they will say where the limit is for things which aren¡¯t consecrated to the [holy] ground.


    From the wall inside the ground will be consecrated, so only people and things with positive and happy thoughts can go inside.


    How am I to be sure that¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen?


    Mana pebbles my friends! Mana pebbles!


    I have gotten permission from grandma to create a few of them using the forest¡¯s energy and then I will use my soul to program a simple algorithm into their souls. Something like this:


    <check if there is people inside the temple>


    <If no one is inside the temple>


    <gather aura from the outside>


    <gather soul energy from the outside>


    <generate happiness, calm, satisfaction and well-being>


    <release small amounts of these feelings inside>


    <if someone is inside the temple>


    <check their souls for the feelings they have>


    <if positive feelings: do nothing>


    <if negative feelings: push them away with [aura hand]>


    <repeat>


    This should guarantee that no one stays inside the temple with bad emotions which could contaminate my forest spirit.


    Not even myself, if I for some reason slip on my thoughts and start producing bad feelings.


    Besides, it shall also keep the good feeling gradient of the sealed holy space roughly saturated, which will be beneficial for what I¡¯m doing.


    How will I seal the place?


    Well, there¡¯s a soul technique called [Soul Cushion], which can be used to create something like the [Aura Cushion] technique, but for souls.


    I will program a second row of mana pebbles with a protection algorithm, like this:


    <absorb aura and soul energy from the outside>


    <check if [soul isolation] spell is up >


    <if it¡¯s up, feed energy to it and check if [soul hardening] spell is up>


    <if [soul hardening] spell is up, feed energy to it>


    <if [soul hardening] spell is down, cast [soul hardening]>


    <if [soul isolation] spell is down, cast [soul isolation]>


    <check if [aura cushion] spell is up>


    <if [aura cushion spell is up, feed energy to it and check if [aura hardening] spell is up>


    <if [aura hardening] spell is up, feed energy to it>


    <if [aura hardening] spell is down, cast [aura hardening]>


    <if [aura cushion] spell is down, cast [aura cushion] spell>


    <repeat>


    With this I will be able to create an egg-like protection barrier around the temple, with the only place left without it being the main door.


    This way nothing can enter the temple if not by entering by the main door.


    And if you enter by the main door but have bad feelings, the temple will shoot you off of it.


    I think I could improve the protection algorithm to recognize people with bad intentions and create a barrier on/off switch to create a double protection, but, sincerely, that is far too much work.


    We are in the middle of the jungle, what¡¯s the need for it?


    Besides there will be heavy wooden doors to be open if someone tries to get in, which give some protection, and I can¡¯t go around taking too much energy from the area.


    I can manipulate the energy of the surroundings to feed the mana pebbles, but the more mana pebbles competing for the energy, the weaker the overall amount.


    So this much is fine already.


    That said, construction is going to take me quite a while.


    I have to be extra careful while programming the mana pebbles and check on them regularly to be sure that they won¡¯t rebel and start becoming dungeons. This is going to take a heck load of time.


    Not to mention I can¡¯t put all of my night hours into this, since I have to take care of the humanoids grandma promised the orcs I would kill.


    Yeah.


    There¡¯s that still.


    ***

 Extra Chapter 24: Awareness

    I bowed my head as low as I could.


    The almighty being in front of me isn¡¯t a force to be trifled with.


    ¡°Raise your head Gnir, former shaman of the Great Orc Tribe. Do you recognize me? I¡¯m the Fair Lady that you served in life.¡±


    I feel as if I¡¯m going to die.


    My heart pumps in my chest, even If I don¡¯t have a heart or a chest anymore.


    I try to speak, but tears come to my eyes and my throat closes.


    I¡¯m afraid.


    I¡¯m terrible afraid.


    Please, please¡­


    ¡°Calm down Gnir. I will bring you no harm.¡±


    I bite my lip.


    I need to at least pledge for the others.


    I need to at least get enough mercy for them.


    ¡°P-..please¡­ please allow us to remain reincarnating with our memories!¡±


    The weight of what I just did fills my heart with unspeakable horror.


    I feel the motions on my throat as if I was throwing up, but I have no more a stomach to throw up.


    Such powerful being, such almighty being, and I dared to ask it for mercy.


    One shall not ask for mercy in front of such a being.


    I should have accepted it.


    My eternal death.


    The dissolution of my soul and mind. The ripening to pieces.


    Maybe then the almighty woman in front of me would have spared the others. If I just hadn¡¯t had the petulance of asking it for mercy!


    Please, let me die already, before the guilt of doing such terrible thing destroys me forever!


    ¡°Gnir of the Great Orc Tribe, by your reaction I see you remember me. Fear not. Loosen your soul to my touch and let me bring your peace, otherwise you will fall in the Soul Abyss because of your fear.¡±


    The Almighty desires my soul, so I give it to the almighty.


    I gladly release all of my thoughts and emotions.


    I¡¯m free. I feel free.


    I finally have nothing more to fear.


    If all I am is in the hands of the almighty, then the almighty will do whatever it wants with me, and I shall not fail.


    If I avoid failure I shall avoid the worst of all.


    Thank you, thank you, oh Great Arch-Sorceress, oh Exalted One, for your piety to this foolish being!


    ¡°There. You seem to have found a little stability. Now, tell me what you remember.¡±


    I feel control returning to me.


    But I have to fear no more.


    I¡¯m open to be used by the Almighty as it desires. I can say whatever, and the Almighty will take me and do whatever it wants with me.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    I shall be the desire of the Almighty and say all and everything. It¡¯s all for her.


    ¡°I remember the times of old, when the Empire was prosperous and the great Arch-Sorceress reigned supreme amongst all magic peoples of the world. It¡¯s my honor to be in the¡­¡±


    In¡­ what?


    The grace?


    The presence?


    No¡­


    ¡°to be submitted to the will of the Arch-Sorceress. May your Will be done.¡±


    ¡°Ha. Hahah. Oh Gnir, you little fool. You remembered the fear people had of me of all things? Even after I lived such a common life so close you could get to my house on foot if you wanted to? Stop with that. There¡¯s no need for you to treat me like that anymore. The empire is over, I¡¯m no Arch-Sorceress anymore. I¡¯m just me. Marie.¡±


    The respected being desire to be something, so I give myself to the respected being and accept it being something else.


    ¡°Now, raise your head, look me in the eyes.¡±


    Just now I noticed that I was kneeling and looking at the Almighty being¡¯s feet.


    Her divine feet, I desire the grace of kissing them, but this would be too much.


    ¡°Oh Saint-sama, please do not ask me of such a thing. I cannot bear it.¡±


    A faint hand is touching my hair.


    The goddess hand is lightly touching the top of my head.


    I cannot think.


    This is supreme blessing.


    ¡°Quit calling me like that. Not Saint-sama, Arch-Sorceress, Master, Greater and Almighty, Supreme Advisor, Ruler of Magic, Hope of Many or any other title. I¡¯m just Marie. Understood?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Marie! My loyalty to Marie! My undying loyalty and soul to the holy Marie!¡±


    ¡°I guess it¡¯s useless to say I¡¯m not that at all¡­ here, take this.¡±


    I receive the small stone in my hands.


    A soul stone.


    ¡°Marie, I do not know how to use this gift.¡±


    ¡°Swallow it, and be blessed. With this you shall be able to reincarnate and keep your memories again.¡±


    ¡°Yes! Great mistress, thank you!¡±


    I swallowed the soul stone.


    And then my soul scathed in the winds.


    It¡¯s time to be reborn again.


    ¡°Do your best this time as well.¡±


    The sorceress last words became marked in my heart.

 Extra Chapter 25: Surpassed

    They say a son will always surpass his father.


    But I didn¡¯t expect for All to surpass me so soon.


    Ever since Marie started teaching them, the kids have become really good at many things I can¡¯t grasp.


    Jacen can read auras and even know how to multiply numbers. Alvin¡­ he has to become better at hiding his own prowess.


    He has stopped describing his training to us long ago. I have no idea what he does in the woods.


    But he still comes home with small clues sometimes.


    At first Alice couldn¡¯t understand very well.


    When she showed me the Rosemary treant¡¯s hook my face went pale for a moment.


    Then she said it was in the middle of Alvin¡¯s clothes.


    It is small things like this.


    A rosemary treant¡¯s hook.


    Slime stains.


    At the beginning, broken things in the kitchen and dirt remains.


    Right, knowing he used to battle treants in our kitchen it becomes obvious that he has decided to take his training to the next level.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    It¡¯s insane for a simple adventurer like me.


    A single rosemary treant would be classified as a monster of [Low Rank]. Me being of [Lower Rank] would need all of my equipment and some companions to dare facing it.


    But his clothes are never thorn or dirty. He must have hunt some animals and used their pelts to make training armor.


    He has surpassed me already.


    And I don¡¯t know what to feel.


    There¡¯s a hint of sadness, but I¡¯m somewhat very proud of this son of mine.


    After so much fear, he is showing such power and will I don¡¯t doubt it anymore.


    Alvin won¡¯t need our protection in the future. He will be the one protecting himself, may the day come when it¡¯s needed.


    After all, he has surpassed his old man already.


    Take a bigger piece of meat son.


    You will need the energy to keep your training going well.

 Chapter 2: Killing and Building.

    Chapter 2


    Volume 2


    So, ¡®noid killing.


    I have finished the first three mana pebbles, wiped and cleaned the clearance where I will build my temple, gathered some heavy rocks and cut them with an [Aura Sword] ¡­ and now I can¡¯t procrastinate anymore.


    I must kill at least one each week, according to grandma.


    The good side of this is that I can get corpses which are just full of aura and ready to be used as food for my mana pebbles.


    With a single ¡®noid I should be able to charge up to fifty pebbles full of energy.


    Of course, I don¡¯t intend to create fifty mana pebbles, but if I burn the noids to a crisp and store the ashes in ceramic pots I should be able to achieve a highly-aura-energetic ash which should provide at least one third of this much energy.


    Then it¡¯s just a matter of storing this ash in somewhere safe, like a small bunker created in the middle of stone, and make sure it doesn¡¯t spill on the rock.


    The ceramic may just become golems, but ceramic golems can¡¯t do much more than vibrate by themselves, so this much is fine.


    If I could use that ash to make highly-energetic grain full of aura so my qigong practice goes beyond the usual?


    Far ahead of you buddy!


    I¡¯m preparing a special fenced plot of land right next to my temple. I intend to plant fruit trees there, like apple trees and peach trees.


    It isn¡¯t a big plot of land, but it has water and it¡¯s protected in case something happens and the trees mutate into treants.


    By using this special ¡®noid ash as fertilizer and measuring just the right amount used I should be able to produce special fruit loaded with aura, just on the brink of monstrification.


    Yeah, I could eat the ¡®noids as barbecue as well, but it¡¯s just disgusting thinking on eating something which used to be human ¨C which is also the reason why I don¡¯t intend to eat most of the monsters I catch while keeping the forest clean.


    Mad hounds are fine as food, but spiders, slimes and treants are a bit too much. Maybe roasted treant seeds will do, but I swear to you, if I have to eat treant meat again, I will punch myself to death.


    So those disgusting things will become ash to be scattered around my temple¡¯s walls and in my temple¡¯s orchard as well.


    If I could just suck up the energy from the air around me instead?


    It¡¯s a nice theory, but it doesn¡¯t work in practice. Just like what happened to me years ago, sucking the energy from the environment without having it processed by plants first makes your insides go nuts.


    It literally turns your flesh into stone, and it also seems to be the basis of the [petrification] spell of the [flesh] spells ¨C which is really a bitch to heal, since you have to control the invading energy and drain it slowly from the affected flesh.


    It¡¯s a useful set of spell and counter-spell for me since my body is immortal, but most people¡¯s soul would scathe before they had the invader energy taken from their bodies. Besides, this energy is loved by plants, so petrified people may become soil for treants in the blink of an eye.


    Cockatrices and treants are co-inhabiting monsters it seems. Dangerous things when living together.


    So, I can¡¯t eat the energy from the environment directly. I can suck the energy inside trees directly into my stomach, but it¡¯s a bothersome technique which doesn¡¯t give much energy, since I need to go sucking from tree to tree instead of just using whatever aura is around me.


    So aura-filled fruit would be better.


    ***


    The ¡änoid is a few meters away.


    Grandma wasn¡¯t kidding when she said the orc village is far away. It¡¯s over one hundred kilometers from our village.


    That said, I¡¯m in a pickle.


    You see, ¡®noids are group creatures.


    They don¡¯t have enough humanity in then to be considered humans in mostly any aspects, but they still go around in groups as big as they get.


    So all five ¡®noids which have been bothering the villagers are in front of me and¡­


    Well, those bastards are fucking too much for me!


    All ¡®noids, according to grandma, have very strong bodies.


    They can¡¯t use magic or any kind of battle skill, but they have insane amounts of aura inside of them.


    And I mean it.


    A ¡®noid can easily snap a tree in half with a punch.


    Seeing one of them hunting a deer was terrifying.


    The thing took a rock from the ground and threw at the deer. The rock should be at least one ton heavy, and still it flew meters in the air and crushed the poor animal to death.


    Really barbaric.


    How do a ¡®noid looks like?


    Imagine a dried corpse. Now add a black, sticky luster over it. Now add pointy teeth and red eyes full of pain in them.


    Now put this thing on its two legs, hands like claws, dirty smiles on their faces as they fuck a deer corpse while eating it.


    That¡¯s a ¡®noid.


    And I need to deal with five of them.


    Gods help me.


    ***


    So, it¡¯s hit and run strategy.


    Grandma said I¡¯m clear to use aura techniques in the fight, but that she wouldn¡¯t let me use magic spells.


    It seems this is a combat training because I can¡¯t find good enemies inside the forest anymore.


    Now, this is my strategy:


    ¡®noids sleep.


    After a few hours walking around and killing things to only then have their sexual pleasure with them, they roll on their bellies and sleep.


    So I¡¯m using [aura needles] to lightly puncture one of them into getting up and running after me.


    If I should use [toxic wind needle] and be done with it?


    I tried.


    The bastards are immune to it.


    Besides, when I tried an [aura javelin] it barely pierced their skins. However, it made the ¡®noid feel pain and scream, waking the others.


    And that¡¯s why this time I¡¯m using just [aura needles].


    They have enough strength to pierce a tree, but will feel just like a mosquito bite in a ¡®noid.


    And if the thing wakes up and starts chasing after me without warning the others, then I will be mostly grateful.


    So far I haven¡¯t happened even once yet.


    They will always wake and then yell for their companions right after.


    I need to be patient before showing myself.


    ***


    Third week of ¡®noid hunting.


    I haven¡¯t killed even a single one so far.


    But I have a good feeling in my gut this time.


    There we go¡­


    It waked up, and isn¡¯t calling the others.


    Because this one is the leader. The alpha ¡®noid.


    He is also the most egoistic and barbaric of all. Usually he¡¯s the one who will fuck the food first.


    So I¡¯m betting my stakes on this pride of his being his fall.


    There I go.


    I¡¯m here buddy. Yes, right on top of this tree.


    Can you see me?


    Oh, you can. Now, would you please come over quiet¡­


    OH SHIT!


    SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!


    That thing leaped the whole distance to the place where I was!


    Run legs, run!


    I have a trap set a few kilometers from here, but I need to run until there.


    Shit, this fucking ¡®noid is damn fast!


    Run, run, run¡­


    YES!


    Jump to get me, aaaand¡­ NOW!


    I jumped to the border of the camouflaged pit I have dug and waited a fraction of second.


    The moment the ¡®noid jumped after me I got my [Aura Trident] out and received it on that, changing its trajectory to the pit.


    With a powerful trust I added strength to his fall and ran to the rock right next to me.


    It¡¯s just two seconds.


    I need the ¡®noid to be impaled by the big stakes at the bottom for just two seconds, so I can drop this rock on top of him.


    It weights some five tons, and I will expend most of my aura to..


    ¡­.


    Shit.


    He¡¯s on top of the rock.


    Damn cocky smile.


    There are holes in his skin from the place where the trident punctured him, but there¡¯s no bleeding.


    Since I saw it getting to his back this means he regenerated already.


    Besides he¡¯s on his feet.


    So this means even though he landed on the stakes, he managed to jump from there and regenerate his feet in mid-air.


    Damn.


    His claws graze my neck, and I lose a huge amount of energy keeping my [Aura Armor].


    So much that I can¡¯t keep it on while he munches on the other side of it.


    There¡¯s only one option left.


    I release the [Aura Armor] and use [Hardening], [Sharpening] and [Last Breath] with the kitchen knife I brought with me from home.


    I manage to pierce the thing¡¯s heart.


    It falls to the ground on top of me, but won¡¯t stop munching.


    I go out in [Soul Walk] and see the dreadful scene of the ¡®noid munching on my neck, my own hand holding the knife buried on his chest.


    His eyes are watering out, but he¡¯s still trying to come on top to stick his dick in me. His legs give up¡­ and he¡¯s finally dead.


    ¡°You should have paid more attention to your [Aura Trident]. If you had used an [Aura Spear] instead you could have dropped him on the ground and pierced his heart sooner. Or you could have used that moment to slash him in half with an [Aura Naginata].¡±


    Grandma is criticizing my approach to the ¡®noid problem.


    ¡°I thought I would have more time.¡±


    She doesn¡¯t say anything. She doesn¡¯t need to.


    ¡°I will try the naginata next time.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good dear¡±.


    She pats my head while I concentrate on maximizing my [spiritual] talent in order to go back to my body.


    I still need to get this ¡®noid¡¯s corpse back home, burn him and get his ashes in a pot.


    Then a good bath and some sleep.


    I don¡¯t need to sleep, but¡­ right now, I need it.


    I just had to use a suicide move to kill my opponent, and died before him died.


    If I wasn¡¯t an [immortal] then I would have died with him.


    It¡¯s my first time really losing to a monster. Not only losing a few fingers, but my life.


    It tastes very bitter. I¡¯m sad.


    ***


    Aaaah, motherfucker!


    What the hell was that, uhm?!


    That damn alpha ¡®noid.


    At least now he has been replaced.


    The group has a new alpha, and I have some ¡®noid ashes in a small upwards cave I have dug in solid rock with an [aura sword].


    So, I have been hunting the ¡®noids by going for their alphas.


    They are the only ones with enough pride to come after prey by themselves. All others will stick to the group.


    But I have to say, at least the alphas are getting a little weaker every time.


    I tried the naginata approach and it was successful once and failed once as well.


    Then I started using a bunch of other approaches to the problem, and the better one has been quantity over quality.


    Just store a massive amount of aura before fighting those bastards, so I won¡¯t be toppled over by their strength.


    If I store some four or five days of aura before fighting them I can even manage to kill them without the need for using the [Last Breath] suicide technique.


    The problem is that I become unable to keep building my Temple as I do so.


    You see, building the temple takes a lot of aura. I need to cut and place the rocks, clean the space, create the mana pebbles¡­


    Besides, I shouldn¡¯t do it while harboring bad feelings.


    Since a big part of the work has to do with creating a [holy] site I need to work while feeling happy, lighthearted and truly glad to be alive and doing that.


    Ain¡¯t that hard as fuck?!


    I mean, I have expended more days trying to be happy about my work than actually working on the temple.


    It¡¯s just so hard!


    Especially after fighting some of the most disgusting things I have ever seen in my life, which are the ¡®noids.


    They just fill you up with bad feelings.


    And that¡¯s why I have been investing more and more time into getting quality relationships with the kids.


    Jacen, Maurus and Elipha.


    They are boring, childish and whatever else as always.


    But they are also innocent and playful in the way only kids can be.


    Looking at then after committing suicide to kill a monster which is trying to kill me and rape my corpse?


    Healing.


    It¡¯s just healing for the soul.


    They are small treasures in this aspect, and I¡¯m actually glad to have them around and to be childish with them.


    This way I can regain my good feelings and work towards building a nice temple.


    And it also avoids me getting poisoned by the bad feelings from the ¡®noids, so that¡¯s a plus I guess.


    You see, I need to take a lot of care when dealing with my memories.


    I realized recently that I have multiple memories of the same fact.


    I remember something, then I remember me remembering that thing, and me remembering remembering that thing¡­


    And so on.


    So if I think on my moments with the kids, for instance, I can recall all of them.


    Soul hurt by battling the ¡®noids as I currently am, the memories, even if they come with feelings of boredom and frustration at their childshiness, bring me a sweet taste and happiness when I remember them.


    I want to smile at the pranks and playing we did, and laugh at my own haughtiness. Just like an old grandpa would while remembering his foolish days of young.


    But the problem is, those memories are accumulating on my mind, aren¡¯t them?


    Just like with the ricin oil bottle, the memories of the feelings I have while dealing with memories of the past and the feelings I had that time, they do affect me in different ways depending on how my soul is now.


    That¡¯s complicated, but also a good thing.


    If I create a lot of happy memories, then keeping a good mood should be easier. And if I ever fall in depression again, I can just look on then and, at the cost of building some memories of me sadly looking into the past, renew my soul a little bit and go for the creation of happier memories.


    Indeed.


    Creating happy memories is of ultimate importance to keep my soul healthy.


    So let¡¯s play like kids!


    I¡¯m allowed to do it.


    I¡¯m a kid after all.


    Just six years old.


    Hahahaha.


    ***


    Damn ¡®noids are done in!


    Killed the last one today! Ashes are stored as well, and I can go for the temple building!


    Yay!


    So, I suppose I should start by finishing the soul-programing sequence of the mana pebbles, and then building the wall.


    Except today I¡¯m supposed to stay indoors at night.


    You see, the tax collectors usually just pass by, take the stuff they need and go back their way to the local lord¡¯s castle.


    However, this time there seems to be some kind of problem with the taxes, so they will stay overnight at the militia¡¯s barracks.


    They are just common folk and I believe there¡¯s absolute no danger for me to sneak out as I always do, but mother is especially nervous about those guys.


    They are directly related to the local lord after all.


    Of course, I haven¡¯t been storing my mana pebbles at home. The family doesn¡¯t even know I¡¯m able to produce them.


    Why?


    Well, you see¡­


    I discovered about father¡¯s gift to Ann.


    It came up during our night meals. Since I¡¯m checking on her regularly with grandma I¡¯m the one to give news of her development to the family.


    So when I said the sword he gave her was broken in half during a [joint training] session he made a worried face and asked about the scabbard.


    That¡¯s when the old ¡°why¡± came into question and he told us the scabbards secret.


    If father knew I can produce mana pebbles by myself, wouldn¡¯t his pride be too badly injured?


    It is the symbol of his achievements in life after all.


    I shall not reveal to them I can produce those. At least for now.


    What¡¯s this damn [Joint Training] thing?


    You see, people in this world don¡¯t have a clear concept of sparing.


    Since everyone stocks aura on their bodies and the number of people able to effectively control it is low, no one spares.


    It¡¯s logical after all.


    You see, I learned how to control aura easily because of my memories of my past life.


    However, most people in this world doesn¡¯t have such skill.


    They use the passive boost aura gives to one¡¯s body and that¡¯s it. Then if they come close to a life-or-death situation, or just really scared like I was when older sister seemed to be on the brink of tossing me in the toilet, they just release it in an uncontrollable manner.


    This would be too dangerous for normal people, so only those who are under the teachings of a dojo master spare ¨C and when they do it, they do it while using their auras and controlling closely the amount they use.


    Such form of training, where one spars while using Aura, is called [Joint Training]. Sometimes it becomes quite deadly, since the most basic of the defense techniques, like the [Aura Armor] one, are just too advanced for most people.


    ¡­


    Yeah, I¡¯m starting to think on myself as a little too out of scale for this world.


    Maybe I got too many cheats?


    HA!


    As if.


    Give me more. Give me all the cheats and I shall be happy!


    MUAWHAHAHAHAH!


    Joking.


    So, there are tax collectors in the town today, I¡¯m grounded inside the house and I can¡¯t go to the woods to start programming my mana pebbles because of that.


    I guess this sums up my situation.


    Tonight¡¯s night is promising to be really boring and¡­


    ¡­


    Well, aren¡¯t ma and pa back on it?


    On having sexual relations, I mean.


    Haha.


    They are going at it as if I wasn¡¯t in the house.


    I have been observing the signs on their auras for some time now, but I thought they wouldn¡¯t do it knowing I¡¯m awake here.


    In the living room, obviously. Since I can¡¯t sleep on the same room as Jacen.


    ¡­


    Guess I should just go on [Soul Walk] and expend the night walking around the place.


    I could try and program the mana pebbles just with my soul, but not only would this make things more difficult, would also be bad for my training ¨C which is to use soul magic while inside my body.


    How am I avoid getting lost like it happened when I was in the forest before?


    Well, there¡¯s a technique to do it.


    You need to ground your soul to the earth bellow you. It¡¯s a simple process, very similar to controlling your aura to go below your feet and spread on the earth, but it makes your soul attached to the physical plane.


    Most ghosts come to be like this. They just become naturally attached to a place and this avoids their souls scathing.


    So, this is the way to avoid wandering around the soul world.


    The bad side is that sensitive people will see you.


    But I don¡¯t have to worry about that. At the worst case I will scare an animal or two.


    ***


    Sooo¡­


    Mana pebbles assembled, wall built!


    Now I just need to make the inner building, which will hold the altar and will be the ¡°sanctum¡±, that is, the ¡°sacred place¡± of my temple. The place where I will breed my friend, the next forest spirit to rule over our forest and protect it against every possible treat.


    If something unusual happened last night?


    Absolutely nothing. I mean, one of the tax collectors indeed seem to have been a problematic person, since he was peeking through grandma¡¯s window.


    But he didn¡¯t do anything, and in the end returned to the barracks to sleep.


    Besides, grandma was also taking turns watching what he would do.


    We stood at the ceiling looking at him, while in soul form, our bodies sleeping calmly in our houses.


    It was fun.


    Anyhow, let¡¯s keep building.


    ***


    Winter has come with good news.


    Ann has finally started her process to break through the course!


    Me and grandma watched in soul form as her skin started to present small cracks near the neck.


    It seems my own process of breaking through the curse was definitely abnormal, but that is because it happened almost completely because of the [Body Refining] technique, while Ann¡¯s is happening mostly because her aura aggregate amount is overflowing. The process, in her case, will take another year to be completed.


    On this time, she will be sheltered by the dojo, given food and space to train absolutely for free.


    The reason is because one usually must avoid contact with the exterior world when going through the breakthrough.


    Doing many things and being too active can lead to the person losing control of the aura in its body and becoming a monster.


    Another reason why people need dojos to become superior beings. You don¡¯t want to have to work and live an active life while battling the curse.


    That said, we are both very confident that she won¡¯t ever become a monster.


    Ann has the [Willpower] talent, so she definitely won¡¯t lose. She can control the process with iron will.


    But that isn¡¯t the only good news.


    My temple is ready as well!


    I choose a seed of [Old Man Tree], a tree of this world which is very much like oak. It¡¯s like a little nut.


    I planted the nut in a piece of land I filled with aura and then casted [Crop Growth] on it until it became a seedling.


    I considered the possibility of making a mana pebble to continuously cast [Crop Growth] on the seedling, but grandma said it would be better if I did it myself after praying and filling the seedling with good feelings.


    This way all growth bursts of the young tree will happen as it¡¯s make to develop its soul as well.


    Eventually this should learn to a pattern in the growing organism, where the more it grows the more it will grow its soul as well.


    Perfect for a [forest spirit].


    That said, praying every day is hard.


    I mean, keeping good feelings every time I go there to pray?


    Not easy buddy. Not easy at all.


    Oh, right.


    There¡¯s also the matter of the little orchid I started with the ¡®noids ashes, right?


    The trees there have received some [Crop Growth] spell as well, but they are developing with a little twist.


    It seems the ¡®noid ash has some remnants of the ¡®noids emotions.


    So the trees capture that essence and become deformed and sick when they grow.


    The only way to avoid this is by bombarding the tree¡¯s souls and destroying them, but that is too much energy expenditure.


    It¡¯s just not efficient to do it by myself, so I burned the trees and added them to the ¡®noid ash.


    I will need to purify this ash first, before I can do anything useful with it.


    Ash purifying¡­ wonder If I should make an automatic system for that by using some mana pebbles with simple orders of gathering soul energy and producing good feelings from it, and then emitting those feelings in the general direction of the ash?


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Like as If it were microwave radiation.


    I will try that.


    ***


    News!


    Important news!


    Mother has finally allowed me to help her with the dangerous herbs on her medicine pantry!


    I remember clearly how she made my but hot by spanking it when I tried to get a hold of those herbs in the past.


    But I guess she still doesn¡¯t want for me to become poisoned even because there is some very scary stuff there.


    The sheer amount of side effects and strong venoms mother has stored in her special herb storage is freaking huge.


    Purplecup, which is used on the Monsters Concoction, is just the tip of the iceberg.


    She has Old Willow, Stripped Bush, Small Foot, Ika Berries¡­.


    What are those?


    Haha. Just things which will make you die painfully if you eat. All of them will kill you in less than a day.


    And there are others as well, like Little Brown Pea ¨C which will make you starve to death no matter how much food you eat.


    I suppose it fucks up your stomach and intestines, and it¡¯s one of the reasons why mother wouldn¡¯t let me touch these herbs even knowing I¡¯m immortal.


    She said, and it¡¯s true.


    What if I had eaten one of those and became poisoned for life?


    Of course I could just use an advanced detoxification spell or, in the worst of the cases, had grandma cast advanced healing on my head after cutting it off.


    I wonder¡­ if I cut my head off, do I need the advanced spell or will it regenerate by itself?


    And if it does regenerate, will it be from the head or the severed neck?


    I¡¯m digressing.


    All of that would be pretty gruesome and painful regardless of the choice, besides, mother doesn¡¯t know grandma knows those advanced spells.


    Yeah.


    Grandma has a lot of secrets, and these are some of the ones I can¡¯t reveal no matter what.


    I guess she would just totally stop teaching me if I did it.


    And that would be pretty bad if I have to say.


    Pretty bad indeed.


    ***


    So, I have some spare time now.


    Not that my training is being slowed, but I can¡¯t train with grandma for the whole night.


    There seems to be things she has to do by herself, and she won¡¯t take me along all of the time.


    Grandma has way too many secrets.


    But at least she approved my two little research projects.


    What am I researching today?


    Hehe.


    It will be the themes which took my attention in the past days.


    The Little Brown Pea and the ¡®noid ash.


    The first one is just strangely interesting.


    I mean, it¡¯s an herb which will make you die because you can eat as much as you want and still you won¡¯t be able to absorb the nutrients.


    The people of this world say it will make you smaller and smaller, lighter and lighter and think that¡¯s because the herb makes you dry.


    But it doesn¡¯t seem to have a diuretic effect like the Ika Berries which make you pee so much you will lose blood in the urine and almost surely die of dehydration.


    It seems to be just something that will make you progressively lose fat.


    Let¡¯s test the effect on some wild rats.


    And the ¡®noid ash?


    Well, this one is simple.


    I want to see if I can cleanse it of the soul impurities it has.


    I mean, I know I can.


    If I use some basic soul spells like the [Holy Guard] and [Cleanse] ones I should be able to stir up all of the bad feelings with the first one and then clean them with the second one.


    What they are composed off?


    Well, the [Holy Guard] spell is composed mostly of feelings of duty and piety, making bad feelings lose strength and also for them to revolt and become stirred up.


    It¡¯s used to take bad feelings out from wherever corner they are creeping on.


    While the [Cleanse] spell is a basic soul spell to scathe bad feelings into the air, which makes easier for them to decompose into their basic emotional composites and eventually disappear.


    However, I don¡¯t want to cast those spells myself, since I would need to keep doing it whenever I burn some monster meat and make it into fertilizer.


    Instead I intend to make manna pebbles imbued with a programming which constantly not only release those spells, but also produces good feelings and let them go.


    Let¡¯s make it happen!


    ***


    I¡¯m a bit scared.


    I mean, things are going too smoothly for me.


    Both my experiments showed remarkable results and confirmed my thesis.


    The mana pebbles have been able to wonderfully cleanse, purify and make holy the ¡®noid ash, while the rats I have made to eat the little brown peas showed a lot of scar tissue on their stomachs and small intestines.


    I mean, it was a bit gruesome to feed the rats poison and then, after a couple days, killing them and making a dissection of their insides, but it was something needed for me to advance my knowledge of this world.


    The rats had not only ulcers in their stomachs and intestines, but bigger of all, cicatrized ulcers.


    So the reason why this thing won¡¯t kill you at once but rater slowly is because of that.


    It will destroy your insides and then make you regenerate them ¨C except it will regenerate not as intestine tissue, but as scar tissue, which can¡¯t absorb nutrients.


    There.


    It¡¯s proven.


    And I may have found the reason why this herb is used to make a cicatrizing agent. It¡¯s poisonous part which creates the ulcers must be removed in the process of mixing it with other herbs and making the cicatrizing oil, while the power to make someone cicatrize fast is kept.


    So I should be happy, right?


    The seedlings I planted with purified monster ash are growing into beautiful trees, I have cracked the mystery of the Little Brown Pea poison¡­ and all on my first try.


    But things tend to go wrong on the first try.


    Doesn¡¯t that mean I probably did something wrong in the process and just couldn¡¯t notice it?


    ¡­


    As I said¡­ succeeding so easily is scary.


    ***


    So, training is turning out to be pretty weird at this point.


    Did you know it¡¯s possible to make treant zombies?


    It¡¯s amazing. Almost anything can be made into a zombie as long as you attach correctly the soul to the physical body you want to use.


    Except you also need to wire the body correctly and the thing you want to turn into a zombie need to learn how to suck aura from the environment with its soul.


    Without intuitive wiring most things won¡¯t know how to move since they don¡¯t have this much aura control in the first place, and without energy from sucking aura with their souls they just don¡¯t have enough magical juice to go around.


    Yeah.


    I¡¯m learning how to make zombies.


    And I can also use the same principle but different treatments of the base material to create other things as well.


    It¡¯s all based on the [Soul Grounding] spell, which grounds a soul to something in the physical plane.


    The easier thing to do is to trap souls into places or objects and then create a ghost like this.


    Then the second level involves trapping the soul into something which has aura wiring which allows for intuitive use of aura to control the body.


    Obviously the simpler the wiring, the easier it is to make but also smaller is the amount of flexibility the soul has.


    That¡¯s why zombies are so easy to do.


    They only need a little bit of wiring to connect the soul to key-pieces of the body and then some light programing to make the thing able to use it.


    You know, like linking the ~feeling~ of walking with the ~act~ of expending aura to walk.


    Then again, since the wiring is done by attaching retractable aura strings to the monster¡¯s bones in place of the tendons, it isn¡¯t easy to program and the walking is pretty mechanical as well.


    I¡¯m building a slow zombie which reacts by ¡°walking slowly¡± to all and any feeling of moving his legs around.


    And no, it isn¡¯t easier to use mana pebbles to program everything from scratch. That would at least double or even triple the amount of effort needed, since I would need to program the ~feeling~ of moving legs in the pebble.


    If I¡¯m using a poor human¡¯s soul to train?


    Obviously not!


    What do you think I am, a monster?!


    I¡¯m using a mad hound¡¯s soul.


    The thing almost scathed right after the hound was dead, but I casted [Soul Grounding] to preserve it while attached to a wooden plank and then transferred it to the zombified version of its original body by casting [Soul Release] on the plank and then re-casting [Soul Grounding] on the aura-wired hound corpse.


    Call me doctor Frankenstein, it¡¯s walking!


    Since I¡¯m just a beginner it can¡¯t bite or scratch, just walk slowly.


    But it¡¯s a success!


    Next step is to improve my wiring methods.


    More wires, better placed in the corpse, with a more complex programing which reacts to a greater deal of feelings.


    Then, once I¡¯m good enough with zombie creation grandma will allow me to move to skeleton creation, complex undead creation and then magic undead creation.


    Which are the differences?


    Well, skeletons don¡¯t have any meat on them, so I won¡¯t be able to look into how the meat connect to the bones and the general muscular anatomy ¨C which means I won¡¯t be able to use those as guides for an effective zombie.


    This makes it easier to create aberrations which look like they came from a B movie, but it makes it more difficult to make effective and efficient undead.


    What¡¯s the use of an undead made of intestines and heads if it can¡¯t even walk because the corpse¡¯s anatomy is totally busted?


    It¡¯s just bad taste decoration.


    Even if it¡¯s creepy as fuck and I definitely wouldn¡¯t want to have one of those in my bedroom at night.


    Oh, right, necromantic technical terms.


    A ¡°corpse¡± is anything anyone is using to make an undead. Including wood, clay or rocks.


    And an ¡°undead¡± is anything that has a soul attached to it. That includes golems which have their natural soul crushed and a new one added instead, so it doesn¡¯t need to be something which used to be alive in the first place. Just something that received a soul from a being which used to be dead and now is bound to the physical plane by magic.


    That said, after skeleton creation the complex undead creation includes things like armored skeletons, B-movie like horrors made in an effective manner and the such.


    And after that¡­


    Well, after that we go into the reigns of magic!


    All undead can use magic if they know how to control it with their souls, but it¡¯s also possible to create undeads which have intuitive wiring to be able to use magic when they have certain feelings.


    For instance, undeads which produce fire magic when they are angry, or undeads which have holy auras around them.


    Yeah, it¡¯s possible to make undeads based on feelings of happiness.


    Just pretty mind-boggling.


    That said, all of this is pretty much useless. To make an undead with effective magical skills one need to associate the magic¡¯s activation to a feeling the undead can control, like the feeling of moving a tail in an undead made without tails.


    It seems to be very related to which kind of feelings the soul used to be able to feel before dying.


    Making it so the undead shoots fireballs by using the feeling of moving its tail would be useless in undeads born from human souls, but is perfect for undeads born from mad hound souls.


    That said, isn¡¯t it easier to just learn how to control aura by using your soul?


    Grandma says this is already more than most of the people on this continent even think to be possible in the first place, but I hadn¡¯t such a tough time learning it.


    A little experience with [Soul Walking], a few years of practice and everyone should be able to do it, right?


    ¡­


    No?


    Well, back to undead creation.


    And, yes, there are spells which allow to create undeads with pre-programmed wiring.


    They are mixed spells ¨C need to be sung in the physical plane at the same time as you emit the right feelings with your soul.


    But they are boring after being used a few dozens of times, like I did to create battle-training undead enemies.


    What¡¯s the use of knowing the undead creation spells, like I have come to know at this point, if you don¡¯t understand what they do in the first place?


    [Magic Flexibility : Undead Creation] may be useful if you intend to be a carrier necromancer and take down a city with an army of skeletons.


    But it¡¯s useless for SCIENCE!


    Not to mention the undeads created by this method have a fixed bug into them which compels the poor things to keep killing and doing terrible stuff in order to increase the feelings of guilt, anger and sadness ¨C which are then used to re-fuel the [Soul Grounding] part of the spell.


    So, let¡¯s quit being lazy and let¡¯s do some research!


    So I can create even undeads who pet puppies for living!


    Sweet, sweet research, ahahahahahahahahhaha!


    ¡­


    After I learn the proper method from grandma, of course.


    ***


    I knew it.


    I just knew it.


    Nothing good comes from thinking you got everything right on the first try.


    What happened?


    Well, my ash-powered trees have developed way past the point of being just mana-filled trees and started to move their branches by themselves.


    They didn¡¯t become treants, but they can move their branches.


    I mean, I¡¯m right in front of them, and they are all trying to move they small, twig-like branches in my general direction.


    Why am I feeling down?


    It¡¯s a failure!


    Grandma says this is the first step on the creation of Dryads.


    Having dryads around also messes up my plan to create a [Forest Spirit] since they will have to share the forest and the [Forest Spirit] probably won¡¯t be able to take their souls.


    Not to mention dryads are a kind of dangerous monster. They won¡¯t kill people just for fun, but¡­ well, how can I put this¡­


    They are a kind of sex vampire.


    They have two bodies. One is the original tree which is the dryad¡¯s true body and life. And one which is made mostly of soft clay and can assume the form of many different kinds of beings to lure them closer.


    Now, the original dryad tree can suck aura from the environment just like a mana pebble, while the soft clay body can assume a lot of different forms, textures and even temperatures.


    So they will usually lure animals into humping them and suck on the animal¡¯s aura while the thing is busy having its way with a bunch of clay.


    If humans fall on this kind of trap?


    It seems they indeed do. Some horny people won¡¯t even notice the beauty they are having sex with is actually made of warmed-up clay.


    Once the dryad learns the difference between beautiful and ugly human males and females, of course.


    Now, a single dryad usually isn¡¯t a problem, because they won¡¯t suck something¡¯s aura to the point of killing it. Their method of growth is more like ¡°give pleasure, take aura¡± like.


    But a collection of dryads like my small orchard?


    Those will suck the life of you before you even have time to come.


    So they are dangerous. Definitely dangerous.


    But this is only the first problem.


    You see, the mana pebbles I have been using?


    Well, I found a big problem on their programing.


    They continuously suck aura and soul energy from the environment, so this whole area is now extremely depleted in terms of aura and soul energy.


    Entering here is almost like entering a sterile place devoid of life and emotion. With exception of my orchard and the small tree inside the temple, everything in a fifty meters¡¯ radius is dead.


    One can¡¯t even feel any sadness for the dead trees and other flora, since all the emotional energy is being sucked as well.


    So¡­


    Should I maybe undo all of this?


    Destroy the temple and everything else?


    I could reprogram the mana pebbles to run a check to see the local aura levels before sucking it. That means low aura levels would deactivate the most aura-expensive functions and keep only the basic ones running.


    ¡­


    No.


    I don¡¯t need to downgrade my current setting. I can still try something else and avoid the inevitable setback which would come with it.


    It will take me a lot of time every night, but I¡¯m sure grandma will agree to it.


    We can change my training so I train the soul spells and techniques while also doing other things.


    Especially since the focus has changed recently. Grandma has been teaching me techniques which are good for soul-on-soul battle like [Soul Weapon] and [Soul Armor], not to mention the soul versions of the detection and hiding aura techniques.


    Those would be [Soul Analysis], which is a version of [Aura Analysis] but applied to a person¡¯s soul, [Soul Hiding], which is basically [Aura Hiding] of the soul world and [Soul Sensing], the soul-sister of [Aura Sensing].


    Those are difficult as fuck, but they can be trained while I¡¯m in my body and doing other stuff.


    So, that¡¯s the plan.


    I will keep training those techniques and will also hunt monsters every night from now on.


    Then I will burn then and make nice monster ash, which will be purified by my special mana-pebble pots.


    This ash then I will spread around the temple, creating a new orchard with better distributed trees.


    They need to receive just enough ash as to grow and provide me with aura-filled fruit, but avoiding to become dryads.


    This way I will be able to make a small tree-powered aura power plant, and at the same time keep my temple running nice and smoothly.


    I just need to guarantee that I have enough monster ash to power it up. And also that this ash is purified and ready to be used.


    But then the problem of the emotional energy shortage may be a problem.


    You see, it is possible to turn things like sadness and anger into happiness and peace.


    But that uses a bunch of emotional energy to cast the [Holy Guard] and [Cleanse] spells, so the final result is very small.


    Like how you can get fresh water from the rain, but will expend so much energy building a device to collect this water it may be better to just try and find a river.


    That said, I can make the trees produce happiness and other good feelings as well, but it will be difficult to keep them like this.


    Why?


    Well, they will be being sucked dry of those feelings, so they also need a kind of soul fertilizer.


    And I know exactly how to get it.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible, but very difficult darling.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you help me grandma? Pleease?¡±


    ¡°Okay, I will do a few for you. But only if you learn [Soul Isolation] until the end of the day, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    [Soul Isolation].


    That¡¯s a technique which is the first step to learn [Soul Hiding].


    Just like learning to change small aspects on one¡¯s own aura is the first step to learn [Aura Hiding]. It¡¯s the same principle, but applied to the soul world.


    How?


    Well, souls naturally irradiate their feelings around them. Just like you can feel when someone passes by and the person is in a bad mood?


    Like that.


    So, the first step to manipulate this kind of thing in order to create a false appearance to someone¡¯s soul is to control how much your own soul irradiate.


    You know, ¡®cause strong souls will irradiate a lot and weak souls will irradiate almost nothing?


    So, [Soul Isolation] is just like that. Controlling how much you soul irradiate its feelings and information around itself. The goal is to learn how to completely isolate yourself once you want.


    And I need to finish learning it tonight.


    If I do it, grandma will make a nice thing for me.


    Soul Pebbles.


    You know.


    Just how there are mana pebbles in this world, which absorb aura?


    They can absorb and transform a little bit of emotional energy, since they have souls, but they can¡¯t deal with big amounts of soul remnants and soul energy, since their own souls are very small and primary.


    Instead Soul Pebbles are much more efficient and malleable.  They are just like mana pebbles, but made with rock from the soul world which has been manipulated by mind power.


    Once I have one of those I can get the remains of the scathed souls from the monsters I hunt, purify those, decomposing them to their basic emotional compounds, and then mix and [Ground] then to my monster ash by using [Soul Grounding].


    It will be a mixed fertilizer ¨C able to make fertile things both in the physical and soul planes!


    Soul fertilizer!


    Very nice.


    But also very dangerous, since the soul pebbles have small minds of their own. I will need grandma to keep a vigilant eye on them, so they don¡¯t infuse themselves on my mana pebbles and become sentient dungeons.


    I guess the safest way to do it is by having two different sets of purification pots. One to guard and purify the physical remains of the monsters and one to guard and purify the emotional/soul remains.


    If I add a second bunker on the rock I¡¯m using I can create a killing routine for the monsters. Hunt them, [Ground] their souls to a pot, get their corpses to my burning grounds, burn the corpses in a fire, put the ash on another pot.


    The pot with the souls gets the soul pebble put inside and I release the souls with [Soul Release]. They shall scathe naturally in just a few minutes, while being kept in place by the soul pebble, and then have their remnants purified by it.


    The pot with the ash will have a mana pebble etched to the inside, and like that will be purified of any emotional remnants by using [Holy Guard] and [Cleanse].


    Once both processes are done, I will have only to use [Soul Ground] to ground the soul ash to the physical ash and my special fertilizer Alvin 9000 will be ready!


    But there¡¯s plenty of room for failure with such complicated materials and process, so this time I will start in small scale.


    Fewer trees, planted more apart of each other.


    And I obviously won¡¯t use this super fertilizer on the twig inside my temple.


    [Crop Growth] is more than enough to keep that growing nicely, and I don¡¯t want to submit myself to unnecessary risks and lose my precious [Forest Spirit].


    That said, let¡¯s go to work!


    Starting by destroying this poor semi-dryad orchard.


    Goodbye darlings. I¡¯m very sorry, but you shall now become ash for me.


    ***

 Extra Chapter 26: Always

    The villagers look at us with the same fear and reverence as always.


    ¡°Oh Fair Lady, we welcome you on our village!¡±


    ¡°I have come to say: My grandson has destroyed the humanoids. You can hunt in peace again.¡±


    ¡°Honored the Fair Lady!¡±


    ¡°H¨¢!¡±


    As always.


    We went back to Alvin¡¯s temple.


    He¡¯s making a fine work here.


    To think someone would try and create a [Forest Spirit] to be its friend.


    Well, I can understand this much. He¡¯s just a kid in the end.


    ¡°Grandma, why hasn¡¯t the reincarnation magic ended?¡±


    Uhm?


    Where did this question come from?


    ¡°Reincarnation magic? You mean the one that makes humans and demi-humans capable of changing on one another?¡±


    ¡°Demi-humans can change to humans as well?!¡±


    ¡°Of course. Both the magic and the curse of the emperor affected the whole world darling. When a human is reborn as a demi-human, once it breaks the curse it may become a human again.¡±


    ¡°So they aren¡¯t more powerful than humans from birth?¡±


    ¡°No, they are just different on their bodies.¡±


    ¡°But then, why hasn¡¯t it ended yet?¡±


    ¡°The old shamans where many and powerful. Even if they couldn¡¯t muster as much power as the Emperor, the number of people affected was much smaller as well. So it has degraded less with the centuries.¡±


    ¡°Then, in a few centuries humans and demi-humans will be unable to turn into one another as well?¡±


    Alvin is smart, but a kid is still a kid after all. Ignorance cannot be overcome by intelligence alone. Knowing things is needed first.


    ¡°The process is triggered by the curse darling. Once the curse is broken, the only ones who will be able to turn will be the ones who overcome the first [Bottleneck] like you did. In just a few decades there won¡¯t be almost no one.¡±


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    ¡°So they won¡¯t be able to turn into us and we won¡¯t be able to turn into them¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s how it should be. Humans have reincarnated as demi-humans, and demi-humans have reincarnated as humans since many, many millennia ago. Except for the ones with the [Metamorph] talent, this is how people should live their lives. One different from the other. So their souls and minds can grow more diverse.¡±


    Two of the Great Magic.


    The one called Overrank.


    Not advanced, saint or even divine.


    Overrank magic can change the whole world.


    And the two magic of this kind ever casted in recorded history brought forth so much unbalance.


    It¡¯s the course. Curse it.


    ¡°Grandma, shouldn¡¯t I have the [metamorph] talent? Why can¡¯t I use it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know darling. It doesn¡¯t appear on your aura at all. Maybe you need to be older?¡±


    ¡°Older?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Some talents don¡¯t manifest until later in life. Didn¡¯t you said you had the [reminder] talent since young, but not the [spiritual] one? Maybe it¡¯s the same thing.¡±


    ¡°Or maybe I¡¯m not a [Dreamer]¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible darling. You know many things you couldn¡¯t know otherwise. You are a [Dreamer], that¡¯s for sure.¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t want to be a titan¡¯s pawn!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the course darling.¡±


    ¡°Curse it.¡±


    Yes.


    Curse it.


    Always curse the course.

 Extra Chapter 27: Old Witch

    Father used to say I shouldn¡¯t walk with the old witches¡¯ grandson.


    That he is a monster because his grandmother is a monster.


    But they are my only friends.


    Our neighbor Grand says I should keep playing with them.


    Grand lost his wife and child.


    Mother lost one of my brothers also. And my sister also died.


    Grand say we are too stubborn.


    That the old witch can help when babies get sick and pregnant woman have it difficult.


    After younger sister died father stopped forbidding me to talk to them.


    It happened because older brother hit him in the face and screamed very loud.


    I felt bad.


    Why has little sister died?


    Older brother said it was father¡¯s fault.


    That he was useless. That sister would have lived if he asked the old witch.


    He was mean to father.


    But father didn¡¯t say anything. Why didn¡¯t father said to him to shut up?


    Father cried. Then the other day mother said I should invite everyone to eat here.


    There was meat!


    We never eat meat.


    It¡¯s too expensive.


    Only the old grannie¡¯s daughter has enough grain and eggs to eat meat every day.


    Because their chickens never get sick or die. The ones she has are the fattest of the village, and lay an egg every day, all days.


    And she can make medicine as well. When Grand got sick he went to her and brought medicine.


    It was expensive, but he got better.


    It¡¯s unfair.


    Why do they have so much and we don¡¯t?


    Elipha is nice. I like talking to her.


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    But she is always talking to Jacen.


    Why do they have everything?


    Alvin is the new kid.


    He is Jacen¡¯s brother.


    He¡¯s weird.


    He¡¯s always looking for a place to sleep or to stay still.


    He¡¯s lazy.


    Why does he have so much, if he¡¯s lazy?


    Father and older brother always say the way to get more is by working more, but Jacen don¡¯t work.


    He just plays like I do.


    Then there was lunch on their house.


    We couldn¡¯t go in because they have a little sister.


    It¡¯s sad.


    They served me first.


    The meat is big.


    It¡¯s the bigger one.


    Why are they giving it to me? Aren¡¯t they hungry?


    Alvin is happy. He says it¡¯s because I¡¯m the guest.


    Ralphe is eating.


    Elipha got a small piece.


    I want to eat with her, but I¡¯m so hungry.


    I don¡¯t want to give my meat to her!


    I don¡¯t !


    Ralphe did it.


    He gave a piece of his meat to her.


    I¡¯m sad.


    Meat tastes bad like this.


    Why do they have so much if they don¡¯t work?


    The old witch gives it to them? She does, right?


    Then why is she bad?


    Maybe she¡¯s bad because she didn¡¯t help us when sister died.


    But father was the one who said we didn¡¯t needed her.


    Is father wrong?


    Is father bad?


    Father is bad. Father is idiot.


    The old witch will give us things if we become friends with them, so father is idiot.

 Extra Chapter 28: On the Path

    It¡¯s been a couple years already, but that doesn¡¯t matter.


    I can feel it.


    I can feel my muscles getting tighter. My skin cracking little by little.


    I will surpass the curse soon, and become a Superior Being.


    The man in front of me is giving me instructions.


    They are clearly wrong.


    When I follow his breathing technique I can feel the breakthrough process becoming slower and weaker.


    Grandmother¡¯s technique is much more efficient.


    But I must endure.


    So I can say I was this man¡¯s apprentice, this is just a small part of my path. So it doesn¡¯t matter.


    I focus on my breathing.


    ***


    He says it¡¯s enough for today. I¡¯m unhappy. This amount isn¡¯t enough to make me reach my limit. It makes me feel pain in my whole body, but nothing more than that. It doesn¡¯t hurt me or hinder my progress.


    But this man is still my master, so I obey. I will have time for extra training once I pretend to go to sleep.


    It¡¯s time to go to the river and fill my own water barrel. There¡¯s one in the common student¡¯s lodge, but since I beat the master¡¯s son I¡¯ve been living in the First Disciple¡¯s room. So I must fill my own water barrel.


    This city is dirty and smelly, and the men here are worse than that.


    Somehow the drunk hands of the men of my village fell less of a treat now that I have lived here for so long.


    They might try and touch you, but the men here will push you against a wall and have their way with you, may you be too weak.


    I have seen it happen once or twice. I interfered, but rape isn¡¯t such a big crime; they won¡¯t be hanged because of that.


    They will walk around again, very soon.


    In the village at least, they would have been expelled.


    Sent to somewhere far away of to the middle of the woods.


    Then the monsters would take care of them.


    But here things aren¡¯t so gentle. No one cares if you aren¡¯t of a big family.


    If you live in a house made of rocks and bricks then no one will be a treat.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.But if you live in a house of wood, no guardsmen will come to your aid.


    They aren¡¯t militia. They don¡¯t feel like it¡¯s their daughters and wives.


    It¡¯s sickening, and the capital of the kingdom is probably even worse.


    But I will be a knight.


    If I must endure this, then I will.


    I go to the East and walk past the market in the border with the noble district. This is a roundabout. I can¡¯t walk the rich and noble¡¯s district streets, which would be the shortest path.


    So be it.


    The gate is right over there, so I go to the river as always. In the path a man locks his eyes on mine, filled with hate.


    I pass through him and keep my path. It doesn¡¯t matter. Soon my buckets are filled with water and I return to the Dojo, people staring as always.


    It¡¯s a bit heavy, but not much more than anyone from the village would be able to hold.


    City folk are weak. Only the guards and adventurers have some power.


    Best for me.


    I reach the Dojo and pour water on my barrel. That should be enough for five days. Then I take my cup and drink some of it.


    There¡¯s no soft beer in this city. The beer here is strong and will make you drunk. So I need to drink this water. It has made me sick a couple times already, but there¡¯s nothing I can do about it.


    Before bathing, I should train more. This time using grandmother¡¯s technique.


    I seat in the correct position and start breathing as she taught me.


    Then I start to add the other elements. Imagining light filling my insides, my mind getting stronger. Something inside me awakening.


    My cultivation soars and the pain returns.


    It¡¯s a strong pain, but I can still endure it. As long as it doesn¡¯t damage my body, it¡¯s good pain.


    Shows I¡¯m making progress.


    I keep doing it as a feeling, a presence, manifests itself around me.


    Most times it¡¯s only grandmother¡¯s, but sometimes I feel Alvin¡¯s as well.


    Is she watching over me? Are they?


    I have no time for wondering.


    I breath and focus.

 Extra Chapter 29: Sincerely!

    After all I told those kids.


    They went and did it.


    And it was Alvin and Jacen no less.


    Those two, haven¡¯t I said they couldn¡¯t make it?


    At least now they seem to be keeping it together.


    After I made sure they wouldn¡¯t sleep in the same room anymore.


    They could be doing it when they are out of the house, but kids don¡¯t do it.


    ¡°Alice, you¡¯re making that weird face again.¡±


    ¡°Remembering your one-night affair, is it? Oh, if John knew!¡±


    ¡°Haha, I¡¯m sure he would break into all of the houses in the village with his spear in hand and threaten everyone until someone said it was them!¡±


    ¡°I said it already, it isn¡¯t anything like that.¡±


    Those may be my childhood friends, but why are them so focused on sleeping with other men?


    ¡°Oh, common. It¡¯s been a couple years already. Aren¡¯t you going to tell us who is it? Did the two of you broke up? Or are you having a secret romance? Uhm?¡±


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    ¡°Sew this boot and stop teasing me.¡±


    ¡°Oh, someone said something sensitive! So, the two of you are still going together to this day?! By the heavens, you can¡¯t let John know! Ever!¡±


    Ahr.


    At least it¡¯s better than they knowing what really bothers me.


    Maybe I should let it rest already?


    Two years without doing it with each other, Alvin and Jacen must have taken separated paths already, right?


    They even have a girl on their small group.


    Maybe one of them will marry her. That would be good. I can see myself holding my own grandson one day.


    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s smiling now!¡±


    ¡°Oh my, you get off by doing it at his back?¡±


    ¡°Good heavens!¡±


    ¡°Well, they always say the quiet ones are the truly lewd ones, doesn¡¯t them?¡±


    ¡°Oh my, oh my, Alice, Alice, I can¡¯t believe you.¡±


    Let it rest already, will you!

 Chapter 3: Time Keeps Flowing

    Volume 2


    Chapter 3


    Spring is here. That¡¯s good, right?


    Yeah, it¡¯s good.


    Warm, fuzzy, happy spring is here.


    Uuu~~~~uhm¡­


    Well, what¡¯s..


    Ha, today I¡¯m feeling good, don¡¯t know why.


    Maybe it¡¯s because I got to take a goodwill nap after a long while.


    You know, those you take because you feel like doing it, instead because of needing to do it?


    I surely feel reinvigorated.


    How are things going?


    Well, the Temple is coming up nice. And training keeps following the old recipe. The soul techniques are hard to master, so I¡¯m still working on them.


    Besides that¡­ well, I guess family life keeps being the same as ever?


    Oh, right!


    Little sister started to eat with us at the table.


    She¡¯s still kind of knee-faced, but it gives off a good vibe when she smiles and makes mother and father smile as well.


    My jealousy?


    *sigh*


    It still hurts a bit sometimes, but I¡¯m getting over it.


    Little by little, I¡¯m overcoming it.


    Besides, she seems to like me.


    She will stop crying if I pat her in the head and will always give me a smile when seeing me.


    Is this because of me casting detoxification when she was made to drink the ricin oil?


    Maybe she sees me as a nice brother already.


    Jacen¡­


    Well, he acts a little bit more mature around her than he acted around me. At least he doesn¡¯t poke her.


    But they don¡¯t have any kind of special bond or anything, I think.


    Oh, right!


    Special bonds.


    You see, Ralphe has joined the village hunters.


    It¡¯s a very dangerous job to be an apprentice of, but he seems to be doing fine.


    I came to know that the head Huntress, a woman named Sylvy, is an old prot¨¦g¨¦e of grandma and also that she was taught how to hunt from grandma herself.


    So all the Hunters in our village know at least the basics of [Aura Sensing], [Aura Cushion] and the basic [Healing] spell.


    This seems to be the work of grandma as well.


    I wonder ¨C is our village rich and more developed than others?


    Seeing as how grandma seems to have been improving the whole region for decades I wouldn¡¯t be surprised.


    But, returning to Ralphe.


    He has joined the Hunters, so he has some spare time when they aren¡¯t hunting ¨C like now, in spring.


    So he has been hanging around with us.


    And, what to say¡­ it seems he has been looking at Jacen with some eyes.


    Some different eyes.


    I can see he hasn¡¯t been fooling around with real sex yet, but I guess he discovered some things by himself.


    Maybe it¡¯s his adolescence coming by, or maybe his parents finally gave him the talk.


    ¡­ That is, if there was any need for that.


    Sex is something these kids know of. There¡¯s plenty of peeping around and everyone has a tale about their parents, neighbors or siblings having sex somewhere and them seeing it.


    It¡¯s just impossible not to know about it if you live in dung world.


    Anyhow, Ralphe is looking at Jacen with eyes of wanting.


    So, score!


    Life is going just as I wanted!


    There we go. Ralphe looking at Jacen like that, Elipha is starting to get a bit Jealous but it is useless.


    We might have a small fight between siblings but Jacen will probably rather have the brother than the sister.


    So Elipha will have to settle for Maurus. Or come after me.


    Not that there is a big chance of her getting all worked up for me.


    Since Maurus has been protecting her and she protecting him for some time now, both have started to develop a lot of mutual respect and proximity.


    All is nice. All is good.


    Guess I can relax a little bit.


    I know.


    Let¡¯s take the day off today.


    ***


    ¡°Hey Alvin, come, the game will start!¡±


    ¡°Go on. I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Under a tree, with a piece of grass in my mouth. Looking at a bunch of dirty kids playing with a cloth ball.


    They aren¡¯t playing soccer or football, but a game of this world.


    It¡¯s called ¡°well-tag¡±. To play it you need a cloth ball, a relatively open space, some dirty kids divided in two or more factions and a circle drawn on the ground. You have to kick the ball to the other side of the field, with a maximum of three kicks, without anyone taking it from you. Then you become ¡°it¡± and can tag someone else inside the circle drawn in the ground or take someone out of it. Of course, the winning condition is for one or more of the factions to lose all of their people. The game itself is pretty brutal, with lots of low kicks on everyone¡¯s legs, but the kids seem to have fun playing it.


    Anyhow, today I¡¯m being a lazy bun. And I don¡¯t care.


    I have taken the day off, so I will just relax under this tree and see them playing.


    It¡¯s no T.V., but still it beats sleeping all day.


    So go on little gladiators!


    Beat yourselves for my entertainment!


    Muawhahahaha!


    The ball goes to one side, the ball goes to the other side, it¡¯s more of the same.


    Soon everyone is sweaty and panting right at my side.


    Yeah, this tree¡¯s shade is nice, isn¡¯t it?


    Uuuhm¡­


    Everyone slept.


    Guess the game today was one of those tiring ones.


    But it¡¯s fine.


    The spring breeze will give us a good time. Yeah, it will.


    ***


    I woke up when I felt something getting really close to me.


    I can¡¯t keep [Aura Sensing] up at all times, but I can keep just a faint trace of it close to my body. Less than a centimeter beyond my skin.


    So I felt the fingers getting close before they touched me for real.


    Then I jumped.


    ¡°What ?!¡±


    ¡°Run!¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±


    Goddamit those kids!


    What were they doing with..?


    Oh.


    Everyone has stuff drawn on their faces.


    Even Ralphe.


    The kids used a piece of charcoal. Probably from some oven left-overs. There are moustaches, horns and other silly stuff drawn on everyone¡¯s faces.


    *sigh*


    If they wake up like this, won¡¯t they think it was me who¡­


    Too late.


    They are up.


    ¡°What happened? Why have you screamed?¡±


    And Ralphe was the first to wake up.


    I guess being a hunter apprentice is giving him some sense of alertness.


    ¡°Oh¡±


    After telling my tale it was time to plan our vengeance.


    Guess I can¡¯t get out of this one this time. If I laze around on our vengeance time against the terrible face-defilers who drew stuff on everyone¡¯s faces¡­ well, then I would be a traitor, wouldn¡¯t I?


    So let¡¯s go!


    For vengeance!


    ***


    Vengeance is nice when it¡¯s just for fun.


    But playing with time and space can be very confusing.


    What do I mean?


    Well, you see¡­ the soul world has a much more plastic existence than the physical world.


    So, even if it isn¡¯t possible in the physical world, in the soul world time and space can be extended, contracted, even ripped ¨C with just a little bit of energy.


    And that¡¯s why grandma is teaching me space-time techniques and spells.


    You see, the most basic of them I learned right after going on [Soul Walk] for the first time.


    That would be to go to a location by ¡°feeling¡± it.


    If you¡¯re seen by someone from the outside while doing it, it¡¯s just like as if you had disappeared from existence.


    And from a certain point of view you indeed have, since all of ¡°you¡± just transfers immediately to the place you felt.


    So this is already a kind of teleport. Soul-teleport.


    And the rest is kind of the same.


    You can control time and space with spells like [Soul Gate], which creates a portal between two places in the soul world, or [Soul Time Swiftness], which makes time go slower for you, making your soul somewhat faster, living ten minutes for each minute outside the time bubble created by the spell.


    Or you can just use [Soul Magic Flexibility: Time and Space] to manipulate that as you like.


    And this is my goal for the moment.


    To learn that.


    It¡¯s quite useful. Maybe even more useful than [Soul Magic Flexibility: Materialization and Dematerialization] which uses soul energy influenced by your imagination to create or destroy things in the soul world, using as basis for that only your thoughts.


    I have to say, this soul world is looking more and more like a fantasy one ¨C even compared to the physical world where things like goblins and dragons exist.


    This explained, my Temple will surely get some extra protections now.


    After all, so long it had only the [Soul Cushion] spell protecting it. But if I use soul materialization to create a nice and cozy house around the small soul which is gathering in the center, it should be even better protected.


    If it will just dissipate with time?


    Nice thing about materializing things in the soul world: They will last much longer if you put a lot of energy in the process.


    So this soul-energy saturated environment should guarantee my small soul-temple will surely remain strong and beautiful for a long time.


    Not that I¡¯m a good architect.


    I¡¯m definitely not.


    But grandma will be helping, so it will surely have a grandmotherly feeling to it.


    Just how my orchard around the temple seems nice and cozy as well.


    Since it¡¯s spring, the trees are in full blossom and some bees and butterflies have come to eat the flower¡¯s nectar.


    The place is just idyllic. A little paradise in the middle of the woods.


    Seen as I haven¡¯t had any more problems with unexpected monstrifications on the trees, I can only have good feelings about this.


    Soon I will have nice and juicy fruit out of this. Aura and Soul-Energy filled fruit which will make my own cultivation soar to the heavens.


    So let¡¯s pray a bit inside the Temple and wait for my Forest Spirit friend to come to life!


    After I¡¯m done learning how to manipulate time and space in the Soul World, that is.


    ***


    I¡¯m losing contact with the family.


    On the sense of¡­ not carrying about it anymore.


    I just realized it.


    You see, I have taken on the habit of skipping a few meals recently.


    Sometimes it¡¯s breakfast, sometimes it¡¯s dinner. For lunch I¡¯m usually there.


    But I just don¡¯t really care to eat anymore. Or eat with the family for all that matters.


    As soon as my orchard gives fruit I shall eat again, but at the present condition¡­ well, I just don¡¯t get enough aura from eating to be worth the work.


    Since I don¡¯t feel any hunger or need to eat or drink, I started to skip meals more and more frequently, until I went a full week without eating either breakfast or dinner.


    I had noticed mother¡¯s and father¡¯s faces getting gloomier, but it just didn¡¯t occur to me that this could be the reason.


    Until tonight, that is.


    ¡°Son, could you eat with us tonight?¡±


    ¡°Do I have to mom? I want to go back to training.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure son? It¡¯s been a while now.¡±


    Father was the one to answer me.


    ¡°Did something happen?¡±


    ¡°¡­no, nothing.¡±


    ¡°I can eat with you, if you guys want to. It¡¯s just that I wanted to go back sooner. I have a lot to do today.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you can go. Have a good training.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Now that I recall it, it¡¯s almost as if I had suddenly turned into an ungrateful teenager. Or an insensitive adult.


    The five-years-old semi-independence period is important.


    But most kids are still just kids on this period. So they won¡¯t truly cut their bonds to the family.


    Not until they get to be fifteen.


    I have almost become a totally separated person now. I don¡¯t even eat with them anymore.


    Of course they would feel hurt because of that. Maybe they even think it¡¯s because I despise them or something.


    I shouldn¡¯t have done this.


    Tomorrow I will eat with them. And make sure to be home from the moment they awake to the moment they sleep.


    ***


    It¡¯s working.


    I mean, it¡¯s more or less working.


    Father¡¯s worries as a town¡¯s militia guardsmen are mostly about how to keep the wall intact and helping the hunters when there are monsters they need to get together to destroy.


    Like a small pack of mad hounds.


    Hounds. Just silly hounds.


    Eight hounds barely make up for research material for me today, and still the hunters may ask for father¡¯s help to deal with them.


    Being worried about them is already far away from my reality.


    It feels more of a threat knowing that some of our white pepper got mold on it, as mother told us, but still for everyone else the hounds are more dangerous.


    So I need to measure my words and keep my act in check.


    That¡¯s pretty hard to do, and why I keep trying to improve my acting.


    The family isn¡¯t to blame for me having so many cheats by birth. If their worries feel too mundane and silly for me to care it¡¯s because I¡¯m special and different, not because they are weak or something.


    So I shouldn¡¯t let them know how little it matters to me.


    Except¡­


    Why again does it matter so little?


    Now that I¡¯m here, hearing all of this talking¡­ father could be at danger, right?


    He¡¯s not immortal yet.


    Besides, if he gets devoured or suffer too much damage, even with all of grandma¡¯s knowledge he wouldn¡¯t be safe.


    So it shouldn¡¯t be a trifle matter. It should be serious talk about father facing a life-or-death situation in a few days.


    ¡­ why do I care so little?


    ***


    My aura control is slipping through my hands. Something is wrong. I feel like I¡¯m sick, even If I¡¯m not.


    I can feel it creeping in.


    It¡¯s the same as I had in my previous life.


    That despair. That depression. That sadness. The burning anger and the endless frustration.


    They are coming back.


    Someone kill me. Destroy me. Annihilate me. Get it over with. I want to forget. I want to reset back to zero. End this. This game is bad anyway. Just reset and let¡¯s start back from the beginning, so I can do something different.


    Mother is calling me. She is saying breakfast is ready.


    But I can¡¯t get up from the floor.


    I can¡¯t walk. I can¡¯t talk. I want to shout but I¡¯m embarrassed of myself. I want to cry but I believe I¡¯m faking it.


    But if I¡¯m faking it, then why am I feeling it?


    Am I faking it?


    Am I fake?


    ***


    I¡¯m better now.


    Grandma is at the door, father has let her in. Mother is holding me. She¡¯s worried. Everyone is worried.


    I want to be a baby again. I want to everyone to forget me. I look away and cover my face with my arms. Mother is trying to hug me. I can¡¯t hurt her, but I can still get away if I use just a little force.


    I won¡¯t. Please forget me.


    Go to work. Go take care of sister. Forget me. I want to go home. Home is where I¡¯m safe in my previous life.


    Home is where I have my computer where I can shut myself away from everybody. No one will interrupt me in my computer.


    No one will get to me, or talk to me, or look to me. I will be alone, so I will suffer in peace. So I will be myself and no one else, and won¡¯t be faking.


    And even if I fake for myself them I¡¯m faking only for me. There¡¯s no blame, there¡¯s no problem. I forgive myself.


    I need peace. I need quiet. I need somewhere without humans. My orchard.


    There is nice fruit there, and no monsters.


    There is nice.


    ***


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. He¡¯s just going through a transition. I will take him with me to a quiet place. You three can rest. We will be back after a while.¡±


    Grandma is talking with mother and father.


    We will leave.


    That¡¯s good.


    ***


    We have come to my orchard.


    Grandma brought me here on foot.


    I think it¡¯s the first time she carries me here with her body.


    We got out of the village in the middle of the day, but since it¡¯s grandma I¡¯m sure she did something so we won¡¯t be found out.


    ¡°Alvin dear¡­¡±


    I hugged her.


    I pressed the side of my head against her belly. She patted my head. I closed my hands and made a little pressure downwards. She¡¯s following along and sitting on the ground, while holding me.


    I don¡¯t want to talk. I don¡¯t want to ask. I will do everything slowly, so she will say no if I¡¯m doing something wrong.


    But I can¡¯t talk. I can¡¯t endure it now. I just want to feel her, not talk to her.


    Talking is so difficult. It takes so much of me.


    I put my legs to the side and my head on her lap. She held my body with her arms and I kept myself close to her.


    Like this is good.


    That¡¯s what I wanted.


    Thank you.


    ***


    Grandma is still holding me.


    It has been what looks like a long time now. I don¡¯t know how long. But I¡¯m feeling embarrassed.


    She¡¯s okay. She¡¯s not trying to make me talk.


    But I feel it.


    The invisible pressure.


    It¡¯s not magic or aura or anything. It¡¯s just me thinking that, if it was me in her place, I would want to know why.


    Why am I doing this, why am I so in need of this?


    I feel the questions in the air. I need to answer them. I need to justify to them.


    I need to feel like there¡¯s no more answers anymore.


    ***


    I¡¯m finally ready for it.


    For separating from grandma.


    I raised my body and looked around. We are still in the orchard. She¡¯s still not saying anything. She¡¯s not getting up either.


    I put my back against the same tree she¡¯s laying against and then waited. Soon her arm was around me, in a different type of hug.


    ¡°Sorry¡±


    She¡¯s caressing my face now.


    ¡°What happened to you darling?¡±


    ¡°I feel bad. I feel sad.¡±


    ¡°I can feel that. But why? What happened?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m just like this.¡±


    Grandma stopped caressing my face and touched her head with mine.


    ¡°Relax a bit. Let me see something.¡±


    I relaxed and opened my mind to her. The feeling of her mind prodding mine soon manifested.


    The sensation of another ¡°processor¡± inside yours, another ¡°bubble which deals with thoughts¡± inside your head, this bubble being of someone else.


    That¡¯s the sensation.


    Grandma¡¯s eyes are sad and worried as well.


    ¡°I can feel you¡¯re hurt darling. But I don¡¯t see the memories associated to that. Have you been doing [Mind Walk]? Have you learned by yourself?¡±


    ¡°No. I think it¡¯s because of my memories of the other life.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    It¡¯s pretty clear. I have lived this already in the past. The feeling of a huge wound in your mind. In somewhere deep you can¡¯t reach. No one can reach. Not even grandma¡¯s mind.


    ¡°Darling, do you know what this is?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Grandma sighed.


    ¡°We call this the Dark Night son. It¡¯s full of sadness. It seems you have it.¡±


    I didn¡¯t answer.


    Yeah, it¡¯s depression. I know I have it. Thank you very much for telling me the obvious thing.


    ¡°Maybe we should find you a good, obedient wife. So you can do to her what you did to me now.¡±


    ¡­excuse me?!


    Now I¡¯m¡­


    Just¡­


    What?


    Grandma¡¯s wry smile is embarrassing.


    Besides, I¡¯m only seven!


    ¡°What do you think?¡±


    I¡­ I¡­


    I can¡¯t even answer!


    We didn¡¯t have any form of sex!


    I mean¡­


    We didn¡¯t, right?


    ¡°I¡­ grandma, we¡­ we didn¡¯t do couple stuff! That¡¯s not being married!¡±


    What a wry smile.


    ¡°Darling, you pushed me down and laid your head in my lap. That¡¯s not ¡®couple stuff¡¯ as your mother told you, but it isn¡¯t also something you do with your friends.¡±


    ¡­.


    It¡¯s not sex, but indeed¡­


    In my previous life, it¡¯s just how I treated my hookers.


    I can¡¯t talk while I¡¯m having sex.


    I can¡¯t be vocal. I just need to go slow, sure, commanding, waiting and looking at them. Paying attention.


    I don¡¯t want to rape anyone, so I need to be attentive. But that¡¯s also the only way I know how to do this. And this brings me peace. I don¡¯t know why. It just does.


    ¡°Well, maybe you are too young for marrying. But still, what should we do with you then?¡±


    Even after talking about all of that, grandma¡¯s still hugging me.


    It¡¯s embarrassing. But it¡¯s erotic as well.


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ we don¡¯t need to do anything, I will be fine, I think¡­¡±


    Grandma is caressing my hair.


    ¡°Maybe you will. Maybe not. Open your soul a little bit. I will help you feel better.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡±


    I relaxed and allowed for grandma to affect me. Soon feelings of relief and a nimble happiness took me.


    I started to cry a silent cry.


    I¡¯m not contracting the muscles of my face. I¡¯m not letting the tears flow by my will. My eyes aren¡¯t burning.


    They just make their trails on my face.


    What weird tears.


    ¡°There. Do you feel better?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡°Good. Now relax a bit and come back once you feel like you¡¯re ready to go back to routine.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind it. I wanted to come here after all.¡±


    Grandma took a peach from one of my trees.


    ¡°Those seem tasty. Have you eaten any yet?¡±


    I have taken a couple apples, but the peaches have matured only recently.


    The apples at least were very tasty. And aura-loaded to the brim.


    ¡°Not the peaches. Are them good?¡±


    ¡°It seems so. Can I take a few with me?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Then I will be going. Have a good day.¡±


    Grandma gave me a last patting in the head and left a peach with me. Then she left.


    I¡¯m alone here, so let¡¯s take some time to relax and let my mind settle. Maybe I have just been thinking too much after all.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ***


    Well, that¡¯s settled.


    I¡¯m better now.


    But a weird thing happened.


    Autumn came and those tax collectors came back.


    You know, the ones which spied on grandma?


    Again the same thing. He¡¯s spying on the cracks of her window.


    What. A. Weird. Fellow.


    I mean, it¡¯s good since grandma is using this opportunity to show me how feelings like [Loyalty to the Death] look like on someone¡¯s soul, but why is a spy who¡¯s loyal to the point of dying for his master doing here?


    What it looks like?


    Well, it¡¯s a strong pallor which takes most of the person¡¯s soul, while also making it hard like muscle in the head, neck, chest and guts.


    Touching it is very weird indeed. Hard pallor.


    That said, the most impressive thing was how the man¡¯s soul reacted when I touched his [Loyalty to the Death] with my own soul hand.


    It squirmed, contracted, and released a small lightning on me. It hurt a bit, but grandmother said it¡¯s natural.


    You see, when someone¡¯s soul has very strong emotions it will react when touched. Sometimes even violently. It¡¯s like a self-protection reflex.


    That said, oh¡­


    The man has fallen to the ground.


    Aaaaaand¡­ he just soiled his pants.


    What a weeeird thing.


    I just lightly touched his soul¡¯s guts with my soul hand, and he reacted so violently in the physical world.


    Is this a psychosomatic effect?


    ¡°The stronger are a person¡¯s feelings, the stronger they will be affected in their bodies when you change those feelings darling.¡±


    Yep.


    Psychosomatic effect. Thanks for explaining grandma.


    So, I made this guy get bloody diarrhea by touching his feeling of loyalty to his master.


    Why simply touching?


    Well, my own soul is made of emotions. So when I touched his feeling of loyalty the emotions I¡¯m made of interacted with the feeling of loyalty in his guts and apparently changed it somehow.


    That doesn¡¯t happen always, since not all forms of emotion interact with one another, like how grandma patted my head many times, but this time my emotions seem to have interacted with his.


    What am I feeling?


    Well, just the regular I guess. A mix of curiosity and well-being. I¡¯m kind of chilling ¡®round.


    I guess this reacts pretty bad with feelings like loyalty to the death. It makes sense. ¡ächillers be no killers.


    Tough luck, spiy the friendly spy.


    But don¡¯t worry.


    It was just a light touch. Look, you¡¯re up on your feet again already!


    With soiled pants, sure, but up on your feet and good to go to the river and take a freezing bath in the middle of the night!


    Or to sleep on your own feces. Your choice.


    ***


    And winter has come again.


    But this time we aren¡¯t so leisurely telling stories by the fire.


    Nope.


    Me, Jacen and Father are sewing with mother. It¡¯s around the fire as well and there are some stories being told, but we aren¡¯t idle as always.


    Why are we sewing?


    That would be because Jacen¡¯s birthday is coming in a few months.


    His tenth birthday.


    But that doesn¡¯t explain much, does it?


    No, it doesn¡¯t.


    What explains a lot is knowing that Ann started to train for real once she was ten years old. That¡¯s when mother stopped requiring that she tried to socialize with the kids from the village and allowed her to train all day long inside the house.


    So her old clothes clearly won¡¯t fit Jacen. They don¡¯t even exist anymore. They have been so worn-out the cloth has come undone.


    And that¡¯s why the whole family is making new clothes for him.


    Even he himself is helping making his clothes. The only unoccupied hands in the house, indeed, would be little sister¡¯s.


    She¡¯s only two years old and not an ¡°Alvin¡±, so the most she does is get entangled on the yarn.


    It¡¯s kind of cute in a way.


    I still feel some reservations for finding her cute, but it has become much weaker after that breakdown I had the other day.


    Aaah~~ to think I would be so fragile in my heart yet. Shouldn¡¯t I have a strong soul with unmovable feelings?


    After all, I made a man who had the resolve to die for his lord to doubt that by just touching his soul.


    But I guess the world is bigger than that.


    This said, I haven¡¯t knitted in a long while, so it¡¯s a refreshing feeling.


    And, who would guess, Jacen became better at this. He can¡¯t compare to my speed and accuracy, but he¡¯s somewhat faster and more accurate than mother.


    I wonder if this doesn¡¯t fit in the category of ¡°let¡¯s not make our family feel less than they are¡±?


    ¡­


    No.


    Mother can do a thing neither I or Jacen can. She can produce more brothers and sisters for us.


    There is no way for me to take this from her, even If my [Metamorph] powers manifest. She¡¯s our mother and that¡¯s it. Even if we knit a little better than her.


    Besides, she doesn¡¯t seem sad in the slightest. On the contrary, I think I never saw mother so motivated.


    Maybe we lit a little fuse in her?


    A little friendly competition with her children?


    That would be fun.


    Mother is a [Genius] as well, after all. Even if she doesn¡¯t have the [Aura Control] talent, she has skill above average.


    So let¡¯s compete!


    ***


    I went to inspect my temple again.


    Of course, I don¡¯t just inspect it outside. I have a whole inspection routine. Most of it is based on expanding my [Aura Analysis] as far as I can, and looking at every single piece of this place.


    I take special attention to the underground, since there¡¯s always the risk of the aura-rich ash I have been using as fertilizer infiltrating the soil and creating wild dungeons underground.


    But it seems so far I need not to worry.


    The temple¡¯s mana pebbles are sucking the underground dry, and since it doesn¡¯t have a way of replenishing itself, there¡¯s no traces of life there.


    It¡¯s a totally barren soil beyond my fertilizer¡¯s reach.


    Which actually worries me a bit.


    I mean, the [Old Man Tree] seedling I have planted will fixate its roots deep on the soil later on.


    So by doing this, aren¡¯t I making it harder for the seedling to grow later on?


    I guess I will need to give some nutrition to it once it has developed enough of a soul to understand me.


    It won¡¯t be long now.


    The seedling is already one-meter-tall, and it has a nice soul-light around itself.


    As soon as this light condensate on a form with boundaries and separate itself from the environment around it will be a new soul.


    I guess it will be roughly at the same time as Jacen¡¯s birthday at this rate?


    That will be nice.


    ***


    I¡¯m a bit thoughtful today.


    That¡¯s because I just happened to go by my old training camp.


    I have been hunting monsters non-stop in an ever-increasing radius. That¡¯s both to get more monster ash as also as mean to be sure my [Forest Spirit] won¡¯t be attacked by anything.


    And not my hunting radius has finally cached up to my last training grounds location.


    Everything is here still.


    Everything is covered in vines due to the aura saturation of the place, but there¡¯s no signal of monsters being born here.


    Still, these remains evoke some emotions in me.


    You see, I just discovered that, even though I remember everything that has ever happened to me, from a while ago I have been treating my memories in a different way.


    I don¡¯t forget them, but I let them on the background.


    For instance, my memories about slime experiments, or the creation of the [Toxic Wind Needle].


    Haven¡¯t I got lost in my way?


    The last experiment I did was with the little brown peas and the mana pebbles. That was around one year ago.


    In this one year I learned a lot of new soul spells, but I just didn¡¯t had any bright ideas regarding them.


    I wonder why?


    I mean, I could mess with them a bit, but¡­


    Oh, no, I know why¡­


    Because they only affect the soul.


    I haven¡¯t really tried messing with thing¡¯s souls besides my experiment with creating a [Forest Spirit], right?


    Actually, I haven¡¯t done much soul stuff. The closest I have come to do something was when grandma was teaching me the basics of necromancy.


    Maybe I should return to my experiments?


    After all, I have some alone time since grandma isn¡¯t training with me all night and experiments are fun to do. Besides, I have developed things with them not even she knew where possible.


    Like the Toxic Wind Needle.


    After all, she may know a lot, but she doesn¡¯t seem like the most creative of persons. She¡¯s more of a ¡°play safe, do what you know how to do¡± type of person.


    Yeah.


    Oh, right, what if I use the [Toxic Wind Needle] alongside the necromantic [Create Lower Undead] spell? I can bound both by using a small soul object like a piece of soul rock as a bomb to contain the spell¡¯s [Feeling], which will trigger once the soul rock dissipates.


    With this, shouldn¡¯t I be able to kill and then transform the killed thing into a lesser undead as soon as the soul rock scathes? I can even control how long it will be after the thing dies if I use [Soul Materialization] to create the soul rock myself and then control how much energy it has ¨C meaning I will be able to control how long will pass until it scathes.


    Oh, better yet!


    I could program the big bacteria inside the [Toxic Wind Needle] to be able to cast the [Soul Grounding] spell by themselves. As long as they have even the tiniest of souls I should be able to insert a small algorithm there.


    This way they would be able to ground the affected thing¡¯s soul to themselves and maybe become intelligent slimes!


    Or even something totally different!


    Ha!


    Have I just cracked the way to turn people into slimes? After all, if I ground the person¡¯s soul to some bacteria which has no completely formed soul but only small remains of it, then it would be the same as the person getting itself turned into a slime!


    Hahahah, that¡¯s a spell I have got to try!


    But later.


    Now I have some horned habbits to hunt.


    Damn things are cute but fuck and reproduce like horny rabbits!


    Which they are, so it makes sense.


    I¡¯m digressing again.


    To the hunt!


    ***


    Uhm.


    Interesting results arose from my previous question.


    First, it seems my idea wasn¡¯t so original after all. Since [feeling] can be used to manipulate Aura, there¡¯s a simpler way to make things become undead after killed ¨C and that would be to just create my regular physical spells with the undead creation embedded in them.


    I mean, it¡¯s quite the complicated process, and it definitely can¡¯t be done without the use of chantless magic.


    Not only undead creation requires chantless casting itself, the mixing of two spells isn¡¯t a simple matter of mixing the singing sounds of each. If you try do it then you may have unpredictable results.


    Still, it is possible to create an [Aura and Soul Weapon], for example, which has embedded in itself the [Undead Creation] spell.


    This way I can create an Aura Sword, for example, and either have it be able to destroy both body and soul or, instead, act as an activator.


    If the [Soul] part of the Aura and Soul Sword isn¡¯t harmful to souls, being mostly empty space with just a modified version of [Soul Cushion] around it, it can hold the [Undead Creation] soul spell¡¯s [Feeling] like a bubble, acting as an activator as well ¨C once the [Soul Cushion] detects the presence of a certain amount of aura, it activates the [Undead Creation] part of itself and creates an Undead by directing the spell to the right target.


    So the person has the spell cast on its foes every time they are cut by the sword. Otherwise, if I tried to just ground the [Undead Creation] spell to a sword itself, then the sword would become an Undead, and not those hit by it.


    Then again, it may require for the weapon holder to keep it inside the person as she dies, so it¡¯s not the best of the best weapons.


    Or is my [Toxic Wind Undead Creator Needle].


    If I follow the initial design, then the soul rock would need to be precisely tuned to scathe right after the person dies.


    So both options for undead creation have small chance of success.


    The idea of giving bacteria small soul programming also doesn¡¯t work.


    Since bacteria apparently have a number of Titan souls mixed in it.


    You know, the guys who have massive souls but weak bodies?


    For some reason they seem to be very common amongst bacteria, so it would be utterly dangerous to mess around with bacteria souls.


    So!


    The solution is to mix everything and come with two new designs.


    For the [Toxic Wind Undead Creator Needle] I will first create the usual [Toxic Wind Needle] and then add a [Soul Cushion] around it. Then I will use [Soul Grounding] to ground the [Soul Cushion] to the [Toxic Wind Needle] and proceed to write the algorithm inside the [Soul Cushion] spell, by making it feel like this:


    <check if in contact with significant concentration of soul energy>


    <if yes, cast [Skeleton Creation] on the soul energy mass>


    <if not, hold [Skeleton Creation] inactive>


    <repeat>


    And since the [Soul Cushion] will be grounded in the aura around the [Toxic Wind Needle], it should remain for quite a bit of time.


    Why can¡¯t I just program the Algorithm to recognize when it¡¯s in contact with a soul?


    Because it¡¯s the fucking soul world. Everything there is souls. Even the air is soul-air. So I need to recognize a target by it being a certain concentration of soul energy, which is enough to be recognized as a soul.


    This way I can have my [Toxic Wind Undead Creator Needle]. And for the [Turn Into a Slime!] spell, well, in this case I just need to ground the [Soul Cushion] to one of the superbacteria inside the [Toxic Wind Needle], instead of grounding it to the Needle¡¯s aura.


    Or that¡¯s the plan!


    Let¡¯s test it!


    A couple of horned rabbits have been caught in some of my hunting traps. I guess this much should be enough for testing, right?


    Right, right.


    Let¡¯s get one of them here, tie his leg to a branch of a tree aaand¡­ done!


    Sorry little one, but please become a nice undead skeleton for me!


    Let¡¯s cast the [Toxic Wind Undead Creator Needle] and¡­


    It has pierced the little rabbit, it¡¯s killing it and¡­ yes!


    The flesh is falling from it!


    The skeleton is moving!


    I can see the soul wiring!


    Oh, wait¡­


    Why is the ground twitching?


    ¡­


    Shit.


    I hurried to destroy the [Soul Cushion] part of the spell, as well as the soul wiring. The rabbit¡¯s soul vanished away soon after.


    So.


    Damage assertion.


    It seems my grounding of the spell on the aura part of the [Toxic Wind Needle] wasn¡¯t a good idea.


    I thought it would disappear once it scathed, but instead the [Soul Cushion] remained grounded to the aura itself, so when it scathed inside the rabbit¡¯s flesh it became a contaminating agent.


    Everything touched by the rabbit¡¯s flesh has started to decay and become [Undead] too. Including the leaves on the ground. That¡¯s why they were twitching. That was the rabbit¡¯s soul being grounded to them.


    Now, fun thing about the [Undead Creation] spell. It only affects physical things which doesn¡¯t have souls attached to them, so it can be dead or just inorganic. Which means if I cast this [Toxic Wind Undead Creator Needle] into something I will not only create an undead of the thing I kill with it, but also contaminate the soil and other things around.


    And since the [Soul Cushion] part of the spell remains active while glued to the scathing aura, things that die while in contact with it may have it¡¯s souls grounded to the whole of the infected area.


    On another words, I have created a chaotic, tormenting and terribly confusing undead plague. How lovely. I bet the poor souls trapped to this would not only be in suffering but also incapable of having basic control of the undead area around themselves.


    The wiring would be messed up, so the undead crew could have parts of itself not only on bones but also mixed with plant fiber or dust particles. Not to mention all of them would be connected to everything.


    It¡¯s a useless spell. It can¡¯t even be used to torment people, since the undeads created like this wouldn¡¯t even be able to move themselves with precision. Unless they decided to act as a big group and went for a long time trying to figure out how to move themselves.


    Argh..


    Let¡¯s redesign this project later.


    Maybe if I redesign the Algorithm. Something like once it recognizes a certain concentration of Soul Energy, fire the spell a couple times?


    This way at least I would reduce the chance of getting other souls trapped in it.


    Oh, right, I can program the soul cushion to stop acting once the Aura Needle scathes, right?


    This way I can guarantee at least some undead integrity.


    But I would lose the infecting power.


    You know, this infecting power seems wonderful.


    Terrible for the poor things affected, but there¡¯s some mischievousness into creating a undead which can replicate itself.


    Maybe I should make this algorithm a little bit more complex indeed?


    You know, I CAN make it to be a self-replicating algorithm. Maybe I can make it move the scathed aura needle to the extremities of the undead and make it¡¯s claws capable of transmitting the undeadfication?


    Oooh, better yet.


    I can make it so the Aura Needle scathed parts absorb aura from the environment around and condensate while also replicating the undeadfication part of the spell.


    This way I can make it so the undead¡¯s attacks as a whole become extremely poisonous to human flesh.


    They will inflict petrification where the person is hit, because of environmental aura poisoning. And will also propagate the disease.


    What a delightfully evil spell!


    MUAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


    I¡¯m an evil genius!


    Just kidding.


    I should test those things latter, but I won¡¯t use them. It¡¯s just a curiosity. Besides, I need to develop a counter-spell in case someone discover how to use this. After all, if I have discovered how then someone can discover by themselves as well and try to use it against others.


    It would be pretty bad, specially seen as undeads created by the [Create Undead] series of spells obey the one who created them unconditionally.


    It has to do with a certain emotional wiring in the spell, which makes the affected soul to feel extreme loyalty to the master who casted the spell.


    The bad news is that if the soul you¡¯re trying to imprison is stronger than the amount of strength you have used in the spell, then they may break it or jam your ruling powers.


    It¡¯s a typical ¡°the strong-willed hero kills the bad necromancer after being turned into an undead¡± scenario.


    Better not to mess with this.


    That said, I shall concentrate on redesigning this spell later.


    Now, to the light of the party!


    The [Turn Into a Slime!] spell.


    I¡¯m quite excited with it.


    Okay, it¡¯s just grounding someone¡¯s soul to a slime, so I could do it with a simple [Soul Grounding] spell and a slime present.


    But isn¡¯t it much more fun to think on something you shoot out of your hands and then use to turn the person into a slime from inside out?


    It must be so fun.


    I will definitely cast this on some mad hounds later.


    So, let¡¯s test it.


    Using the data from the latter experiment, I should rework the algorithm to be a little more like this, I believe:


    <check structural integrity of aura>


    <if aura is intact, proceed>


    <check soul energy concentration>


    <if soul energy concentration small, hold [Soul Grounding] inactive>


    <if soul energy concentration significant, cast [Soul Grounding]>


    <if aura is scathed, scathe>


    <repeat>


    This should do it, right?


    Even If I¡¯m casting the spell into the bacteria, which shouldn¡¯t break into pieces, I need to be sure it will be just the bacteria itself.


    Let¡¯s try.


    Prepare [Toxic Wind Needle], cast [Soul Cushion] on the aura around engorged bacteria I can see while using [Aura Analysis], write down the Algorithm on the [Soul Cushion]¡­


    It¡¯s done!


    The [Turn Into a Slime!] spell/technique mix!


    Go! [Turn Into a Slime!] !


    ¡­


    Oh.


    Right.


    I¡¯m stupid.


    I understood it the moment the aura needle hit the rabbit. It released the toxic bacteria inside and killed the rabbit. Then the rabbit¡¯s soul got attached to the bacteria I had casted the [Soul Cushion] on.


    The problem is, even though this time I don¡¯t have the problem of needing to take care for the scathing aura of the [Needle] part of the spell, the rabbit¡¯s soul has been stuck to the bacteria¡­ and rabbits apparently don¡¯t make good bacteria.


    It gotten itself eaten by another blimp of light right the next moment and then disappeared.


    The soul has scathed again.


    *Sigh*


    Right.


    Rabbits don¡¯t know how to be good bacteria. And I should have studied slime formation more in dept.


    Now that I look at it up close, it¡¯s clear that the bacteria are eating each other. That explains why they become slimes only after some time has gone by ¨C they need to eat each other to get the aura not only from the meat they are infecting but of each other as well.


    That¡¯s the only way for small bacteria to become huge slimes. By consuming a lot of aura.


    Let¡¯s burn this rabbit and try again latter.


    Two spell technique mixes in urgent need of redesign in the oven sir!


    I will think about how to make it work later. Now it¡¯s almost morning already.


    So let¡¯s go chop some wood and carry water buckets back home. Then play with children until night comes again.


    One can¡¯t be an Evil Genius from an Advanced Civilization of Another Planet all the time. You got to be a childish kid worrying over your friend¡¯s sexuality and relationships as well.

 Extra Chapter 30: Darkness

    The Dark Night.


    It¡¯s a terrible disease. One of the mind, and one there¡¯s no known cure for.


    Because it¡¯s a disease of the mind¡¯s core, and the mind will come undone if you try to take it off.


    To heal it, only time and the right experiences of life can do. Only by gradually living through things which change the mind core softly and slowly can one get rid of the Dark Night.


    It usually takes many, many lives to do it.


    Not that my grandson can live many lives. Or need to. Being immortal he¡¯s sure to live the needed experiences, as long as his state doesn¡¯t give a turn for worst.


    So I must find him a suitable companion.


    Prodding his mind, I could sense, vaguely, the experience of mischief.


    I can¡¯t say what was it that made his mind sick, but I can sense how to ease his pain. He needs someone to use and be consoled by.


    No wonder it manifested so late in his life.


    He had his mother before. And his sister. But now he¡¯s mostly alone, since both have separated from him.


    I myself do not fit for the role either. I¡¯m his teacher, and his grandmother. Even if I hadn¡¯t my Destined One at my side, even if the course didn¡¯t prevent me from being with any other man, curse it, this child still need a teacher ¨C someone he can¡¯t control or use as an extension of himself. As if it was his mother and he still a baby.


    So he should find a proper person.


    Someone to take this role in place of others, to live for this cause. There are plenty of poor souls in this world which would gladly become his silent servants for a few hours every day in exchange for food, shelter and a peaceful life.


    Except he¡¯s a Royal Genius, too young and also too smart for his own age.


    An appropriate person will be difficult to find, so I may need to send him away in the end.


    Send him to a place where he can find people to fulfill that role in place of the ones he had before, even if at the cost of some emotional pain later on.


    Maybe the best chance is to make him go with Ann when she¡¯s leaving to the country¡¯s capital. The Royal Magic Research Association is out of his reach for now. Even if he can be hired, they would make he do dunger work, and then things would only get worse.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    But Duke Bishton¡¯s association usually hire the poor who come around as carriers.


    It¡¯s a sinister association as they don¡¯t care much for those who they hire, but it also presents a chance for him. His companions will depend on him, and he will depend on them eventually as well.


    It¡¯s decided.


    I barely reach my house and hear knocks at the door.


    This man. He has finally come.


    ¡°Marie.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect for you to come to see me personally, Matthew Dorian.¡±


    He¡¯s silent.


    That¡¯s not my intention. This should be carried all the way through.


    ¡°Is it because of your wife that you have come to me?¡±


    Surprised, angered, ashamed, humiliated and sad. Just as expected for him to be.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Ask my help and I shall help you.¡±


    He almost gives up, but he won¡¯t. Not after what happened with his daughter.


    ¡°Please help me.¡±


    ¡°Your wife is suffering from Yellow Skin Vermin. That¡¯s from eating undercooked eggs.¡±


    His face is a bit pale, but stiff.


    ¡°We all eat soft eggs. It¡¯s how my father taught us.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s why most of you have it as well. But you won¡¯t feel a thing until you are too old or lose a lot of blood. Like she lost when she was in labour. Your daughter was the same thing. Children die easily of Yellow Skin Vermin.¡±


    His face shows a lot of pain. That¡¯s adequate.


    ¡°I can give you medicine for the disease, and it should cure you and your sons. But since Ullma is weak I will need to cast detoxification magic on her.¡±


    And now he ponders. But not for long.


    ¡°Please do it.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go at once¡±.


    My family demands a lot of attention and care. However, thanks to him the Dorians have now bow to me.


    It¡¯s the course.

 Extra Chapter 31: Remorse

    I woke up with a cold sensation on my back.


    The straw was wet.


    When I shake her up, Ullma didn¡¯t wake.


    She soiled the whole bed and wouldn¡¯t wake, no matter how much I called for her.


    When I finally made fire and returned to the room, fear started to take me.


    She had the same eyes as our daughter.


    Yellow eyes. Yellow skin. Puffed stomach.


    She¡¯s sick. She¡¯s sick with the same sickness of Mullan.


    I couldn¡¯t pretend I didn¡¯t know. That was the moment when I discovered I couldn¡¯t pretend anymore.


    My sons were watching us.


    My eldest would run from the house. He would go to the witch to get help for his mother. I have no doubt. He even hit me last time.


    ¡­


    She won.


    The witch won.


    And that¡¯s why now she enters my house.


    She¡¯s walking around. The neighbors are all here. All of them can see my failure.


    No matter.


    She comes close to Ullma and starts chanting.


    I feel something cold in my back. A shiver runs on my spine.


    The witch is casting her spells. I have let the monster inside my house.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.Is she going to do it now?


    Is she going to enslave us? Destroy us? Eat our souls?


    The knuckles in my hand hurt.


    She has stopped chanting. Ullma looks healthy.


    ¡°She will be fine now. Drink the herb concoction I give you, and give it to your children as well. Then give a mix of Frog Tongue roots and Berry Blue trunk to your chickens to eat. And don¡¯t eat raw eggs anymore. Cook them well.¡±


    ¡°How much do I own you?¡±


    The witch never does anything for free.


    ¡°Five bags of rice for healing your wife and one bag for each of you. You can pay me at the next harvest.¡±


    A single bag of rice can serve four people for two months.


    Eight bags are enough for a whole year. I don¡¯t have so much.


    ¡°I can¡¯t pay this much. We will starve.¡±


    ¡°Then you can pay me in ten years. One bag each year.¡±


    She¡¯s charging interest. But I can¡¯t say no.


    ¡°Fine.¡±


    ¡°Good. If you need anything else, you know where to find me.¡±


    And so she¡¯s gone. And I have a ten-year debt to pay.


    The memory of my daughter¡¯s smile makes my eyes hot.


    Only ten years.

 Chapter 4: Older Sister is Returning!

    Volume 2


    Chapter 4


    ¡°Is it really that good?¡±


    ¡°Yesh, it¡¯s good.¡±


    In a corner of our house, near the beer barrel but not quite at the kitchen entrance, there are four kids.


    Those would be me, Elipha, Maurus and Ralphe. And Maurus is saying it¡¯s good while eating a jewel egg - which is basically an egg and egg yolk mix softly boiled on a sugar and water sauce with just a little tad of vinegar. A type of candy.


    It seems Maurus likes soft eggs, but his family has been eating only overcooked eggs recently. It¡¯s a mistery.


    Now, Jacen is in the middle of the room, listening attentively to father and a few other people. They are telling him what each of them do in the village. It¡¯s the first step on the big choice he has to do ¨C that is, who is he going to become an apprentice of.


    And there are many possibilities. Not only the chief Huntress of the village and Father, but also Grandfather, our Blacksmith and the village¡äs Brewmaster ¨C which is the guy who makes everyone¡¯s beer.


    All of them seem to be somehow related to grandmother at some level, but I shouldn¡¯t be impressed with the old spider¡¯s skill to make relatively influential people her allies anymore. This is the elite of our village, but since grandma was from such an influential clan back in the times of the Empire, and also know so many and so powerful magic, I¡¯m fairly certain that¡¯s just child¡¯s play for her.


    I mean, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she could do the same thing on a national or maybe international level.


    That said, maybe I should be there as well for information gathering purposes, but I have a higher priority.


    Oh yes. A higher goal in life.


    Alvin never forgets. Alvin never forgives.


    I must get revenge.


    For all of the candy Jacen stole from me on my fifth birthday!


    So that¡¯s what I¡¯m doing now, hhohohohohoh.


    I mean, there isn¡¯t much I could learn about those people¡¯s professions. Hunting monsters and learning survival techniques for grandma already taught me the basis of what the hunters do.


    Farmers just farm the ground. I don¡¯t know much about this, but I highly doubt I will need this knowledge later in life.


    Father is father. I have been listening to his gatekeeper duty reports for literally my whole life so far.


    Then there¡¯s the Brewmaster and the Blacksmith. I don¡¯t know much about what they do, but just like with farming, I don¡¯t think I will ever need to.


    It may be fun to learn it in the future, but maybe not here on the village. After all, I don¡¯t want to make people believe I will live here forever, or worst, follow the customs and only start learning once I¡¯m ten.  By there I will have gone away. To explore and become an apprentice at a Magic Research Society.


    I mean, I¡¯m definitely tired of this village by now. It¡¯s a shame for my [Grow a Little Friend] plan with the [Forest Spirit], but even if I make friends with it, there¡¯s really not much it could teach me.


    It will be born without memories after all. I would be more of a teacher than a friend, at least for a few years.


    But that¡¯s for the future!


    Now me and my crew are plundering on Jacen¡¯s stash of candy.


    And what a stash!


    There¡¯s candy of all sorts here!  Soft buttersugar candy with ginger, jewel eggs, hard caramel balls, crystalized fruits, dried and fermented cocoa seeds with sugar toping, beewax gum, sweet rice, soft cheese with jam and an assortment of sweet biscuits made with rice flour.


    There isn¡¯t much of every kind of candy, but there are many kinds ¨C since all of the ingredients for those things are expensive, people bring small amounts but the variety is up to what everyone can spare. Unfortunately, there doesn¡¯t seem to be wheat around, or we surely would be able to relish on some sweet cakes as well.


    Such a shame my older brother won¡¯t see some of this gluttonous glory, right?


    After all, there are four hungry kids here. And I ain¡¯t going to stop any of the other three if they go berserk.


    Vengeance tastes sweet in my tongue.


    ***


    News! News! Important news!


    So, Jacen decided to go with father and become a militia apprentice. Just as expected. Ralphe may have some eyes for him, he may have some admiration for the boy, but, well, it¡¯s ¡°following your father¡¯s footsteps¡± after all.


    Besides, Jacen will also have opportunities to go hunting with Ralphe when the hunters need some help, so it¡¯s fine.


    That said, he got really upset when he noticed the unholy damage done to his candy stash.


    He even cried a bit, which made me feel a bit ashamed.


    I will get some extra honeycomb gun for him when I can. It seems to be the most desired thing amongst the ones we ate, and it isn¡¯t so difficult to get.


    You just need to take a honeycomb, open it, put the combs in a pot, smash them, take most of the honey off, and then make small candy shapes with the remaining honey-filled wax.


    It makes excellent candy, just like real bubblegum.


    Except you can¡¯t make bubbles with it. And you should always spit the wax in a separate pot ¨C it can be sold for high prices, since nobles don¡¯t seem to like regular lard candles or oil lamps, using beeswax candles instead.


    So, that¡¯s a thing.


    Now, besides that, there¡¯s definitely no chocolates in this village. Not even grandma knew of the recipe when I said something on the line of ¡°candy made with brown seeds, sugar and milk¡±.


    I wonder if I would be able to do it, but I¡¯m not exactly sure how to do it.


    The brown seeds with sugar toping were sweet, but also had a lot of bitterness still. So it¡¯s not just mixing both together.


    Besides, they are hard as hell. You need strong teeth to nimble on those.


    I mean, I do know I need to make cocoa powder somehow. And then mix with milk and sugar.


    But how am I supposed to make the powder in the first place? Should i just grind it on the mortar ? But then how to separate the butter from the powder?


    Questions, questions.


    I already have a research project going on, so I will leave the cocoa bean investigation on how to make chocolate for later.


    Now I should focus on more important things. Like how to create a zombie apocalypse spell and then how to make a counterspell for that.


    ***


    ¡°I believe it¡¯s best darling. Your friend has already developed enough of a soul to hold a mind. It shall awake soon.¡±


    Grandma is giving me advice regarding the [Forest Spirit] creation.


    It seems the [Old Man¡¯s Tree] I used as a basis for it has already reached a nice point of maturation and is ready to receive a mind, as soon as one attuned to the feelings I have embedded in the tree¡¯s recently-formed [Soul] gets around.


    Ah, that¡¯s how life is. I¡¯m pretty sure it would be lightning fast if I had made it full of my own bad feelings, but minds attuned to only the best feelings one can muster aren¡¯t as common as those with more earthly desires.


    My own isn¡¯t, so I should now!


    That said, the only thing remaining to be done now is to undo the temple¡¯s structures and collect the many mana pebbles.


    Then I need to smash the pebble¡¯s souls, erasing the programming on them and making sure they don¡¯t turn into dungeons.


    So, hands to work!


    Move a rock here, cast [Soul Dissolution] there¡­. What is [Soul Dissolution]? Well, it¡¯s a spell which is basically the feeling of ¡°letting go¡± and ¡°dissipating emotion¡±.


    It makes many kinds of soul energy to just dissipate, as if it had been dematerialized.


    It hasn¡¯t. But still, it scathes easily.


    Of course, this spell can¡¯t be used with all kinds of soul objects ¨C they are just too malleable to be affected by this ¨C but there¡¯s a hearty amount which can be.


    Like the emotional version of the temple¡¯s walls and the many mana pebble¡¯s souls.


    So I¡¯m casting those while also removing the rocks.


    Aand¡­ done.


    Rocks removed, mana pebbles erased.


    I wonder what should I do with them?


    The rocks are full of residual aura, so I need to take care of this. They may become rock golems which vibrate or even mana pebbles themselves.


    Then there¡¯s also the mana pebbles. Their souls have been obliterated, so the things are in a kind of comatose state now.


    But as the soul energy first accumulated around them, it¡¯s bound to happen again.


    Maybe I should use them making gadgets for my own use. Like my lightning rod. Which I have been keeping stored under my bed recently.


    Uhm.


    At that times, indeed it would be useful to become a blacksmith¡¯s apprentice, wouldn¡¯t it?


    But if I diversify my training too much, then I won¡¯t learn anything to the max of my skills.


    After all, I have already postponed my soul spell and techniques training for far too long.


    Yes, I have been making great progress, and learned a bunch of stuff.


    But I haven¡¯t mastered necromancy yet. The [Magic Undead Creation] is being really though on me.


    I mean, it¡¯s not easy to wire souls to be able to use magic you know?


    To do that I need to associate the soul¡¯s existing feelings with small feeling bubbles which are embedded with a certain programming -  the spell I need to use.


    Then I need to carefully wire these bubbles to the corpse I¡¯m working with, so the spell is copied and launch at the right way and timing.


    And it stops there?


    Of course not.


    Because damn dumb undead monsters can¡¯t gather aura with their souls alone.


    No, they don¡¯t know the freaking technique.


    So I need to create a retro-feeding system including feeling bubbles with aura-absorbing programing and the correct wiring to connect all of that aura to a place inside their corpses which can hold all of it.


    Most of the times is the inside of the bones or an artificial core. But it seems to be possible to even use mana pebbles instead, for creating more powerful undead.


    Not that I intend to create those. I have enough of corpse digging without needing to imbue cores to them.


    I may even try to master the technique if it was just placing the stones there, but damn undead tend to decay unless you create an even more complex wiring to make their corpses constantly sterile.


    So it¡¯s useless work.


    Which I need to learn how to do in order to get insights on how to work with souls, but still, it¡¯s gruesome.


    The smell of monster entrails is so common to me now I don¡¯t even flitch when smelling it.


    Sigh.


    Well, back to the temple.


    It¡¯s undone, the mana pebbles are at my pockets.


    And the small tree stands proudly amidst my orchard.


    Damn, it¡¯s a beautiful tree!


    A young tree, looking like a ten-years-old oak.


    But it¡¯s just perfect!


    Bright and lively green leaves, a trunk of remarkable luster, very straight.


    Maybe even a bit artificial.


    Well, no matter.


    It¡¯s still young, but I can feel an amazingly delicious aura of goodwill and happiness exhilarating from it.


    ~~Aaah.


    It soots you down.


    I almost feel like this load of work was worth it.


    No.


    I feel like all of this work was a gift!


    Something amazing I had the honor to do.


    It¡¯s totally unfair that I get something so good out of so little work. I¡¯m truly blessed by the universe, I¡¯m certain of that.


    I mean, it¡¯s obviously because of the tree¡¯s influence, but I feel so good right now.


    So good.


    Look.


    Even grandma¡¯s soul is smiling.


    Yeah.


    That¡¯s very, very nice.


    Now let¡¯s scatter the temple¡¯s rocks around the orchard so it can feed on the aura remnants and go back home to find a place to store these mana pebbles. I don¡¯t trust the bare ground, since they can become dungeons if I put them there.


    Maybe the ceiling is a good spot?


    ***


    In the end I have stored the mana pebbles in the ceiling indeed. I know it¡¯s a bit dangerous since they can become dungeons if one of them get too close to the earth, but still, it¡¯s the closest place possible. So I can watch over them and try to be sure that nothing will happen, like they gathering emotional energy or aura by themselves and getting new souls.


    And now¡­


    Well, now I have to face it.


    My first day playing alone with Elipha and Maurus, without Jacen in our group.


    Or do I?


    Jacen is right at the village¡¯s gate with father. He¡¯s armed with a spear and looking at our direction.


    Will father let him slip out of guarding duty and come to play with us?


    ¡­.


    Nope.


    Isn¡¯t happening.


    In fact, he just gave us his back and started to stare outside intensively.


    That¡¯s a militia guard¡¯s life for you. To look at the outsides while people do other things.


    In our case, going to Maurus¡¯s house in order to get a honeycomb.


    It¡¯s related to what we did to Jacen at his birthday.


    Luckily Maurus¡¯s father, Matthew, seems to have found a honeycomb near his plot of land ¨C which means it¡¯s his for all rights.


    Usually they would sell it at the market, but I asked Maurus to see if his mother wouldn¡¯t sell it to us instead. This way I can repay my debt with Jacen for eating all of his beewax gum.


    Mother has agreed with me taking a couple fat chickens as payment.


    Of course, this do means I need to repay mother one way or another, but it seems she¡¯s happy with me helping on getting wild herbs while I¡¯m in the forest.


    There are some which are difficult to get, like the Ika Berries for instance, so she said I must get a few of those for her in exchange for the chickens.


    I guess it¡¯s only fair.


    Oh, here I come.


    ¡°Ma, we¡¯re here!¡±


    Oh.


    Maurus¡¯s mother is looking a lot healthier. Even if their house looks even a little bit gloomier than before.


    ¡°Right, here it¡­¡±


    And she stopped while looking at the chickens I¡¯m carrying.


    Mother said two should be a very fair amount for a honeycomb, so it shouldn¡¯t be because it¡¯s a small pay.


    Maybe she thought we would take it for free?


    It¡¯s for her son¡¯s friends, and Maurus ate some of the beewax gum with us, but in the end I was the main gluttonous culprit, so It wouldn¡¯t be fair.


    ¡°Aunt Ullma, here, those are for the honey!¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, than.. thank you.¡±


    She¡¯s holding the chickens dearly. It¡¯s a weird scene to see someone holding a couple chickens by their feet while the birds move their necks around, aware and alive.


    Like right now. One of the chickens messed with its own feathers, as if it wasn¡¯t upside-down. Isn¡¯t it scared of being eaten?


    Animals are weird.


    But I¡¯m getting used to it.


    Now, the honeycomb¡­.


    Thank you very much!


    Let¡¯s take this home. The honeyed wax we will use to make gum off, and the excess honey I will ask mother to use as ingredient for some biscuits.


    She could make honeyed rice bread as well, but people just don¡¯t use bread here. It¡¯s too much work to grind the seeds in the mortar and pestle, so eating the rice cooked or in porridge is the most common way. And when it¡¯s about making sweets, it seems biscuits are more common than bread. Maybe because they actually get pretty sweet.


    Anyway, I don¡¯t care. Bread is just overrated anyway.


    ***


    [Undead Apocalypse] spell and [Turn Into a Slime spell].


    Today is test day for the re-designed version of those two. So I¡¯ve come to my old training grounds and did some work around by placing some [Aura Cushion] and [Soul Isolation] around. Just for safety.


    Grandma is also present in case she has some insight on what can I do to make it better.


    So, here¡¯s how I have reworked the spell design:


    For the [Undead Apocalypse] spell I will make a design alteration where I cast the [Skeleton Creation] into the subjects flesh instead of just jamming it inside the [Toxic Wind Needle].


    On another words, I will make a more complex algorithm than last time.


    It will be launched like this on the [Toxic Wind Needle]:


    <check if aura is in contact with flesh>


    <if aura is in contact with flesh, proceed>


    <cast [Skeleton Creation]>


    < cast [Aura Gathering]>


    <cast [emotional energy gathering>


    < replicate [Undead Apocalipse] into the aura>


    <if aura is other, remain still>


    <repeat>


    The replication function is the trickiest part. I needed to concentrate really hard in order to sort out what was the feeling of ¡°writing down this spell on aura¡± and then add it to the spell¡­ only to need to expend even more time to get a grip on the feeling of writing this spell on aura with the self-replication part added to it.


    That said, this is a virus.


    A nice, cozy virus to cause an undead apocalypse, muawhahahaha!


    Let¡¯s try it out.


    First, hit the giant spider in front of me.


    It¡¯s dying. The [Toxic Wind Needle] seems to have scathed inside it¡¯s body already, but the spell is half-soul and half-aura made, so it should keep being active¡­


    It is!


    But no reaction¡­


    Why hasn¡¯t it worked?


    The aura remnants still have the spell written on them. If you look with [Soul Analysis] the little bubbles of emotional energy are clearly all around the spider¡¯s body.


    Let¡¯s see¡­ none of them is triggering.


    If none is triggering...


    Oh.


    The indicator.


    I used the feeling of being in contact with flesh, like when I touch fleshy things with [Aura Sensing].


    The feeling of the spider¡¯s body is just a bit different because it has a little bit of a insectoid twist to it.


    Let¡¯s try to¡­


    Here.


    I have adjusted the feeling to match insect meat as well.


    Let¡¯s try it again and¡­


    That¡¯s it!


    It¡¯s alive! Alive!


    And it obeys simple emotional commands, just as it should be expected form the [Skeleton Creation] spell!


    Now, let¡¯s see if it¡¯s self-replicating properly. [Aura Analysis] and¡­ there it is. The corpse is gathering aura as expected.


    The only problem seems to be that it¡¯s not accumulating it. It just gathers aura from the environment, pass it around it¡¯s body and it soon leaks out.


    It¡¯s kind of freaky since it creates a toxic aura around the undead spider, but it makes the spell ever more fun to use.


    Now, in terms of emotional energy, it seems to be the same¡­


    And there we go.


    It¡¯s working properly.


    And if the aura around the undead gets in contact with flesh, it will automatically trigger the chain of events, making it so the ones affected get not only some of their aura drained, but also the spell inscribed on them themselves and, if they die, they become undead as well. It will dissipate with time, but around the undead It is pretty sure to work with 100% accuracy or something.


    So it¡¯s like a movie zombie virus. You get infected from just being in contact with it. It can make you weak. And it can turn you into an undead if you die.


    Self-replicating undead creation algorithm. And it seems to be pretty durable as well. It can replicate as long as there¡¯s aura to replicate into, so if you cast this on people you won¡¯t be able to get rid of the spell until either there¡¯s no more aura or someone cleanses it with [Soul Release], [Soul Cleanse] or a similar spell capable of destroying the algorithm and/or the feelings associated to it.


    Thinking well, someone with just the right kind of feelings on its soul would be immune to this spell, hum?


    Well, no matter.


    I just created this spell to have some fun with the whole [Zombie Apocalypse] thing. I can adapt it to create any kind of undead, but it isn¡¯t like I want to do it.


    So it¡¯s [Soul Cleansing] time.


    The spell has spread quite far, hasn¡¯t it?


    I can see little bubbles of the soul energy and the algorithm-duplicated aura filling the inside of the [Aura Cushion] and [Soul Isolation] bubbles I have set around the place. It should decay and disappear from the aura eventually as the feeling bubbles scathe, but it has a nice reach. At least five meters of undead creation on all sides.


    Well, it¡¯s bleaching time.


    So let¡¯s just cast [Soul Release] and [Soul Cleanse] on everything and eliminate the feeling part of the algorithms.


    This will destroy the influence of the [Feeling] into the [Aura], therefore destroying the whole of the algorithm.


    And done.


    With this spell, that is.


    I would test the other one as well, but I have no more test subjects available. Maybe I have over-hunted the monsters in the forest a little bit.


    ***


    We are at Maurus¡¯s tenth birthday party.


    Me, mother, father, Jacen and grandma.


    His father has invited all of us, so we¡¯re at his doorstep.


    Not that we intend to stay. It would be too much to pretend to like them.


    But still we have come. That¡¯s grandma¡¯s good neighborhood policy.


    I wonder if something happened between grandmother and the Dorians?


    Maurus¡¯s father is avoiding grandma¡¯s sight. Maurus is at his father¡¯s side.


    ¡°Welcome, Marie, Alice, John.¡±


    ¡°No problem Matthew. It¡¯s your youngness¡¯s birthday and he¡¯s Jacen¡¯s and Alvin¡¯s friend after all.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Ah, here it comes. The awkward silence.


    ¡°I believe that would be it.¡±


    And then grandma said goodbye, just like that.


    ¡°Yes. Thank you for coming.¡±


    ¡°Goodnight.¡±


    ¡°Goodnight.¡±


    That was quick.


    That was fucking quick!


    I couldn¡¯t even congratulate Maurus!


    And we¡¯re back home now.


    Well, something as serious as attempted murder can¡¯t be solved so easily after all.


    There¡¯s a heavy mood around us.


    Fuuh. What a tense night.


    ***


    It¡¯s me and Elipha.


    And I don¡¯t know what to do.


    So we are both just hanging around a tree.


    ¡°I¡¯m bored.¡±


    She¡¯s holding her knees.


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    ¡°I wish Maurus was here.¡±


    I bet you do Elipha, I bet you do.


    But the kid just left with his father this morning. To go and learn how to work the fields past the village¡¯s gate.


    Oh, she¡¯s gone.


    ¡­


    Probably going to find herself another children group.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    She¡¯s a bit older than me, so she still has a few months before needing to discover what she wants to be.


    Probably a farmer like her father.


    Then, after some time working on the fields she will find a boy for herself and start getting intimate with him.


    And this is when she and the boy start building a house for themselves at the outskirts of the village.


    After a year or two the house will be ready and they will move in, starting a new family. And then she won¡¯t work on the fields anymore, but rather stay as a housewife.


    That or she may become a huntress or just never marry.


    Still, it would be difficult for her to work on the fields after having the first child. Since the mother need to take care of the child until it¡¯s five years old.


    And then, since she will be home for a while, she will also probably have another child within this five-years period and become like the Hags at mother¡¯s house.


    That is, she will expend her days making clothing and such, until she stops having children.


    Then and only then, she may go back to working on the fields.


    Well, at least she won¡¯t have trouble getting a job. There¡¯s enough uncultivated land here for everyone to plow.


    No laws forbidding woman to work either. Instead, it¡¯s almost impossible for them not to work at least on spring and autumn.


    So go on Elipha!


    Enjoy your last months of carefree life amongst the village children.


    I will sleep a bit and dream of nice spells. Maybe I should check on Older Sister as well?


    I¡¯m sure there¡¯s some interesting stuff to see going on with her. It¡¯s like having a T.V.


    Today¡¯s channels are ¡°village children monkeying around¡± or ¡°iron will sister hardcore training¡±.


    Let¡¯s zap a bit.


    ***


    ¡°So the souls would get entangled if you try to do it this way darling. It isn¡¯t a good spell because of that.¡±


    Grandma is criticizing my new [Undead Apocalypse] spell.


    Sigh.


    It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t expect for her to do it, but the truth is, I¡¯m bored with it already.


    And she, of course, can feel this much from my soul.


    I definitely need to improve my [Soul Isolation] technique.


    ¡°All, darling, if you really want to create something new, then you have to take your time to do it right. If you used this spell of yours it would bound countless souls to the undead, and his flesh will become a grounding place for others. I know you tried your best, but this one is useless.¡±


    Urgh!


    I know, I know, ok?!


    I¡¯m just dead tired of working in this thing!


    Grandma smiled on my direction.


    ¡°Here, do you want to go and check on Ann? She¡¯s close to having her breakthrough, so we may be able to see it. You haven¡¯t ever seen one of those before, right?¡±


    Uhm.


    That¡¯s true.


    Let¡¯s leave this spell for another time. I won¡¯t be able to focus on it with so much pent-up frustration anyway.


    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Good, follow me then.¡±


    Ann¡¯s room in the dojo is just a 3x3m space with a straw mattress in the ground, a barrel of water for her own use, a bucket and a chest where she can keep her clothes.


    Still, there¡¯s a faint light here, and it isn¡¯t coming from any candle or oil lamp.


    It¡¯s Ann.


    She¡¯s producing just a small light around her body. A halo half a centimeter thick.


    That said, I can see that her skin is all cracked and shedding. It¡¯s a weird image, seeing Ann¡¯s skin evaporating as if it was small pieces of silk paper leaving the surface of her body.


    Underneath it was a smooth, beautiful new layer of skin.


    ¡°We came just in time.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty.¡±


    ¡°Yes. But your sister should have waited a little bit more before doing this. The master won¡¯t believe easily if he doesn¡¯t see the process himself. It may take her months to accumulate enough aura in order to convince him.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we help then?¡±


    ¡°Uhm. It may disrupt her cultivation, but I believe she¡¯s already beyond the point where it would bring any trouble. Why don¡¯t you take this as a chance to test your chantless magic skills out of the body darling? Use [Aura Hammer] to produce a loud noise in front of the room.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    I concentrated myself and started to accumulate some aura from the environment. However, it was excruciatingly hard.


    ¡°Grandma, I¡¯m not getting enough aura.¡±


    ¡°Yes, cities have very little of it in the air. There are too many people, so they breath in all of the surface energy. You will need to take it from the ground underneath.¡±


    Oh.


    Well, that makes sense, I guess.


    There¡¯s a lot of people, and aura is gathered mainly by eating and breathing. So in a place like this the air will naturally become poor in aura.


    The only bad side is that aura from deep underground is very heavy. Literally. When someone tries to lift it with their souls it¡¯s like moving rocks around.


    So when my [Aura Hammer] hit the ground outside of Ann¡¯s room, it did so with a sloppy and heavy sound, like the one of an obese man tripping on his feet.


    Soon people were at the door, mainly young boys with bodies which clearly needed more training.


    Still, amongst them was a man in his mid-forties, exhibiting a nice, round, belly, bulging muscles all around and bald head.


    It¡¯s Ann¡¯s master, and was it not by the clearly above-the-normal amount of aura emanating from his body one could be deceived by the appearance of an old uncle who should quit drinking and taking steroids at the same time.


    He opened Ann¡¯s door while asking in his deep voice:


    ¡°Hound, what happened in front of your door?¡±


    Still, soon he stopped in his tracks.


    That because Ann hadn¡¯t bulged an inch from her previous position, and kept training even still now.


    Breakthroughs really take some time for regular people hum¡­


    That said, now this bald man is sitting in front of Ann and analyzing what¡¯s happening to her.


    Let¡¯s stick around and see what happens.


    ***


    In the end Ann just went through the rest of the process and exchanged a few words with the dojo¡¯s master.


    He reprehended her for training beyond what he instructed, but commended her for getting a fast breakthrough.


    For a moment I was scared that Ann would accept his offer of remaining in the Dojo as his adopted daughter, but she thanked and said she pretended to win the tournament in the kingdom¡¯s capital.


    It was pretty standard, I guess.


    Besides, now I know she will be returning home before going there. This way she can see us for the last time in a long while, since the trip to the capital usually takes over a year on foot and knights don¡¯t get long vacations.


    Even if she serves for just ten years, which is the usual period of enlistment in the army, it¡¯s still ten years away from us.


    So it¡¯s good that she¡¯s coming back. Not to mention she has developed into a beauty.


    She¡¯s not quite like mother and grandmother, but still, I think that I may feel a little too incestuous if she asks for us to have a little ~intimacy~ again.


    Not that I would deny her.


    Ah, grandma just looked at me with a terrible face.


    That¡¯s it.


    I¡¯m perfecting [Soul Isolation], and I¡¯m doing it TODAY!


    ***


    And now I have a new group of children friends.


    I don¡¯t know exactly how, since all I remember is she getting to our typical spot with three other kids ¨C two girls and one boy ¨C and then starting to include me in everything.


    I guess this is the previous leader¡¯s small sister. She¡¯s just this proactive.


    Still, I remain as the second older in the group. The girls have both seven years, and the boy is their little brother, at six. Yes, they are twins.


    Tila, Tima and Ysim. Those would be this three.


    Well, they are Elipha¡¯s group, not mine to care, right?


    So let¡¯s play around with them for a while like always.


    Yeah, marbles, then running around and getting into little gang wars and stuff.


    Just the usual, I guess.


    ***


    So, [Undead Apocalypse].


    Let¡¯s make it happen. I have a nice, rectangular shaped stone and some coal. So let¡¯s write it down to try and visualize better.


    And let¡¯s do it in Cryptic language, so I can train a bit my writing skills after such a long time.


    That said, my current problems are:


    1 ¨C It may bound more than one soul to the same body.


    2 ¨C The undead can¡¯t accumulate aura and creates a toxic field around itself instead. So it won¡¯t grow more powerful, just in numbers.


    How should I solve this?


    Maybe add a second check before making things get grounded?


    <check if aura is in contact with flesh>


    <if aura is in contact with flesh, check if flesh is in contact with soul>


    <if flesh has no contact to soul, proceed>


    <cast [Skeleton Creation]>


    < cast [Aura Gathering]>


    <cast [emotional energy gathering>


    < replicate [Undead Apocalipse]>


    <ground [Undead Apocalipse] to all Aura>


    <if other, ignore and repeat from beginning>


    <if other, ignore and repeat from beginning >


    <repeat>


    Uuuhm¡­ no, no.


    If I do this I won¡¯t be able to assure that the soon-to-be-undead soul doesn¡¯t scape at the moment of death.


    Since it would need to get away from the body first.


    Maybe if I change the order of things?


    <check if aura is in contact with flesh>


    <if yes, cast [Aura Gathering]>


    <cast [Emotional Energy Gathering>


    < replicate [Undead Apocalipse]>


    <ground [Undead Apocalipse] to all Aura>


    <check if flesh is in contact with soul>


    <if flesh has no contact to soul, proceed>


    <cast [Skeleton Creation]>


    <if other, ignore and repeat from beginning>


    <if other, ignore and repeat from beginning >


    <repeat>


    Uuuhm¡­ this is dangerous.


    Fucking dangerous.


    Even if the attack fails to ground a soul to the body, it would still keep accumulating aura and emotional energy.


    Some kind of monster or even wild undead is bound to be born from this thing.


    Too dangerous. Let¡¯s scrape this one.


    Uuuhm.


    Let¡¯s rethink this¡­ maybe I have got it wrong from the beginning?


    What do I want?


    I want to kill someone. And then cast the [Undead Creation: Skeleton] spell on the corpse, so the soul gets entangled to the corpse.


    Then I want to be able to replicate this on the undead¡¯s attacks, and maybe even give it some kind of evolution power.


    ¡­I¡¯m being too ambitious here.


    I haven¡¯t even succeeded in the first step, which is to create undeads with aura weapons, and I¡¯m already trying to make them able to create other undeads in the process.


    Let¡¯s downgrade my spell a bit.


    Let¡¯s go back to something like [Undead Aura Weapon].


    A weapon capable of binding the person¡¯s soul to their body.


    If I make [Aura Javelins] then I can create a bubble of feeling with the feeling of the [Undead Creation: Skeleton] and attach this bubble of feeling to the aura javelin.


    It will, however, deform the aura javelin and destroy its purpose.


    So I need a control. I need something which avoids the javelin from deforming until it¡¯s inside the corpse.


    That¡¯s an important point. A limitation of design.


    I need to make sure the javelin is in contact with flesh and also that it¡¯s capable of casting the spell multiple times, in order to guarantee that the person die and become an undead after dying.


    I know that the aura will become small particles inside the body of the prey, and that each of those will keep casting the [Undead Creation] spell for a while. Seeing as how strong I¡¯m making these feeling bubbles, maybe three hours.


    Then I need to make sure only one soul is in contact with the body.


    Oh, that¡¯s it.


    There¡¯s just a simple thing I can do. And I can use the old design as well, just perfecting it a bit.


    <check if aura is in contact with flesh>


    <if aura is in contact with flesh, check if flesh is in contact with 1 or less soul>


    <if flesh has contact with 1 or less soul, proceed>


    <cast [Skeleton Creation]>


    < cast [Aura Gathering]>


    <cast [emotional energy gathering>


    < replicate [Undead Apocalipse]>


    <ground [Undead Apocalipse] to all Aura>


    <if other, ignore and repeat from beginning>


    <if other, ignore and repeat from beginning >


    <repeat>


    I just needed to add a numerical limit, hum.


    This way I will be able to cast continuously the spell and guarantee that only a single soul inhabit every body, since if more than one soul gets in contact with the same flesh, it won¡¯t be grounded.


    It may also create things like undeads made of pieces of flesh instead of corpses, but I can¡¯t differentiate very well the feeling of a whole corpse and a piece of flesh. Not without losing the ability to include monster bodies in the mix.


    Maybe if I concentrate the spell for a single type of target, that is, humans or spiders or mad hounds, then I should be able to produce such feeling.


    But I don¡¯t intend to use it on humans and creating undead monsters may have been useful for training for a while, but I don¡¯t know which kind of effect would the [Undead Creation] spell have on a [Immortal] like me, so I won¡¯t be using THIS self-replicating spell of doom while making enemies to fight with.


    And that¡¯s how I just made it.


    [Undead Apocalypse] spell, I declare you ready and done!


    Oh, right, and to destroy you¡­. I guess just [Soul Dissolution], [Holy Guard] and the such would be enough.


    Or maybe using the replication process to create a [Holy Guard] replication algorithm. That¡¯s bound to make a [Holy Infection] or something.


    The [Undead Creation] series of spells is entirely based on bad emotions and feelings after all.


    To be able to create undeads based in feelings of happiness and goodwill I would need to crack the code on what exactly constitutes the principles of this spell.


    So no doing that for now.


    Indeed, let¡¯s forget this spell exists at all. Poor souls shouldn¡¯t be bounded by such a lame spell.


    Even if it¡¯s to start the zombie apocalypse.


    Oh, right¡­


    What about [Turn Into a Slime] ?!


    Can I adapt something from this algorithm?


    Let¡¯s see¡­


    I need to have contact with flesh, and then¡­ yeah, pretty much the same things, except it doesn¡¯t need to include the self-replication part.


    ¡­


    Oh hell, I can just make slimes which make you turn into a slime if they manage to kill you!


    Or even if they happen to start eating your flesh after you were killed, if your soul stands too close to your body after you died!


    Oh, wait, no¡­


    I need to get a way to make the slime inhabitable first¡­


    Uuhm..


    Maybe if I wait¡­ no, I can¡¯t wait until the slime has formed itself to only then cast the spell. Damn things take an eternity to develop by themselves.


    Unless I make it so a single cell gets a lot of energy all out of a sudden and then becomes a slime in a pop.


    But then the aura consumption of this spell would be ridiculously high. Too much for a simple joke.


    Uuuhm¡­


    I need to think more on this one.


    Let¡¯s wash this rock and come back other day. My small vacation due to grandma having to go to the orc¡¯s village is near it¡¯s end anyhow, so I should go back to my training of soul techniques.


    I¡¯m getting better at this.


    ***


    Jacen is at the gate today, with father.


    I usually don¡¯t stick around for too long, even when father is there.


    Maybe for a few minutes in order to listen to one of his stories or something like this, but today is special.


    I want to see how big brother is going.


    He has serious eyes and is holding his spear with firm hands. That¡¯s nice.


    ¡°Hi Pa. Hi Jacen. Hi Filli.¡±


    Filli is one of father¡¯s man. He¡¯s a the kind of guy which just doesn¡¯t care to stand around all day, so he¡¯s usually easy-going, even when he¡¯s at guarding duty.


    ¡°Morning son. Do you need something?¡±


    ¡°I got a cooked apple from Matilda today. Want a bite?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    I gave the small apple to father, which took quite a bite and then gave it to Jacen. He took a bite as well, and then gave it to Filli.


    Well, Jacen has been disciplined to share with his fellows already.


    The army is really a frightful thing.


    ¡°Thank your brother son.¡±


    ¡°Thanks All.¡±


    ¡°Right, thanks boy.¡±


    Jacen and Filli thanked me, while father gave me a nod.


    ¡°Pa, can I stay here with you for a bit?¡±


    Father just raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°Why? Doesn¡¯t you want to play with your friends? You and Timber¡¯s kids were playing nicely, weren¡¯t you?¡±


    I can¡¯t say I don¡¯t have new people to play with, but still¡­ I don¡¯t want to make them my friends in the first place.


    I mean, technically I can say I am friends with most of the children of the village, as marble tournaments and bigger games which needed more people to be played where a thing we did together.


    But still, I¡¯m just sick of having to pretend so much.


    It¡¯s been three years already. Can¡¯t I get a break?


    You know what, I will just answer sincerely.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you get a gift for Anna¡¯s third birthday?¡±


    Uhm.


    That¡­ that may be a nice way of passing my time, right?


    ¡°Anna? What should I give her?¡±


    She¡¯s only three after all. And not a reincarnated person. Otherwise she wouldn¡¯t have tried to drink mother¡¯s lye just to get emergency detoxification spell casted on her. Twice.


    ¡°Whatever you think you should.¡±


    ¡°Pa, should I give her something too?¡±


    Jacen just asked, a little concerned.


    ¡°If that¡¯s what you want.¡±


    ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t ya kids make carvings and give her?¡±


    So Filli is one of the guys who made me small monster statues as birthday presents, hum.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯re quite good at this Filli. What do you two think? Do you want to learn how to carve with a knife?¡±


    Well, it¡¯s something to do which isn¡¯t playing around with the kids, so¡­


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    In the end we expended the rest of the day learning how to carve figures into wood. It isn¡¯t easy, but it¡¯s also not quite wrong. You just need to get the right mindset to be able to do it and accept what you¡¯re doing. Almost as if you¡¯re letting yourself be the wood and carve it with following the flow of your ideas.


    Eventually Elipha and the other kids joined us, so the gate got quite lively for a while.


    Such a shame my sculptures could be summed up as abstract art at best. But Jacen is quite good at this. His carving is recognizable as a human from the first try.


    Sometimes I wish I had been born with the [World Treasure] talent. But I clearly am not.


    It¡¯s life.


    I¡¯m still pretty good at creating zombie apocalypses though. So I won¡¯t complain much.


    ***


    Well, little sister¡¯s birthday has come and passed by. It wasn¡¯t so big since it¡¯s just hers third birthday, but it was still interesting.


    What about my present?


    Well¡­ I just got a honeycomb from the woods and said I got it from a place near the river. Since the village people do know about father training me in aura control since a young age they didn¡¯t had such a hard time believing I was able to grab the comb and jump into the river in time to avoid being stung to death by the bees.


    Instead it became one of those small folk tales about a boy who wanted to make a birthday gift for his sister but couldn¡¯t, so he stole a honeycomb and had to jump into the river to avoid the angry bees.


    Sigh.


    What won¡¯t I do for my family, right?


    I mean, at least little sister looks happy munching on the beeswax.


    It¡¯s life. It¡¯s family.


    It¡¯s me having the pleasure of seeing Jacen showing some animosity to little sister for the first time in our lives.


    Oh yes, look at the honey with envy-filled eyes poop-brother. Look at it as if you wanted to rob it all for yourself.


    She deserves your hate!


    ¡­


    Flying spaghetti monster¡¯s grace, she¡¯s just a baby Alvin!


    Well, I guess I¡¯m still a little bothered about not being the center of attention after all.


    Let¡¯s work to stop this by furiously craving the attention of others when I grow up. Not that I have an option!


    Hahaha.


    That¡¯s definitely something I¡¯m not carrying from this life alone, is it?


    Let¡¯s just hope my [Metamorph] talent has shown itself until there. Then I will be able to do it without ruining my family and loved one¡¯s lives.


    Manifest thyself, [Metamorph] talent! Manifest thyself so I can be sure that all the flashiness and adoration I desire won¡¯t bring me real life consequences!


    Yeah. Manifest thyself.


    ***

 Extra Chapter 32: Fairness

    We used to play together.


    Me and the witch¡¯s daughter, Alice.


    We would do it at a time when I was too young to understand what she was.


    And then one day she mounted me and hit me in the face. I don¡¯t remember what happened, but there was so much blood in my clothes I thought it shouldn¡¯t be possible for me to have survived.


    It was only many years later that I discovered why she did that. That Matthew, my cousin, had been the one to denounce her mother to Lord Blackscale.


    So many times I cursed the day when he walked to the new lord¡¯s horse, kneeled and said, full of pride: ¡°Milord, there¡¯s an abnormal in this village!¡±.


    I cursed it when I first got pregnant and hadn¡¯t the witches¡¯ healing spells and Alice¡¯s medicines to keep it inside of my stomach. When I lost it.


    I cursed it when so many of my children died, one after the other.


    I cursed it when the lord declared she would no more be considered an abnormal, and that he would give our village walls as an apology.


    And I cursed him as well. So many times. As I was also cursing him when my breath was roughed, when I was coughing blood.


    When the witch came and healed me.


    I don¡¯t think I can forgive my husband. I may be just the second wife of a widowed cousin, but I didn¡¯t deserve all I went through.


    And I don¡¯t deserve having to give all of good we have to the witch, as payment for my husband¡¯s stubbornness.


    Even if I¡¯m just a cousin who couldn¡¯t marry and then became his second wife, don¡¯t I deserve more? Don¡¯t I deserve some peace now that he has gone and given up that stupid pride of his?


    When Maurus said the witche¡¯s grandson wished for honeycombs I felt my heart skipping a beat.


    We can¡¯t deny it. The witch loves this boy and gives him everything he wants. At a certain point his mother even made hominy for him.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Still I don¡¯t want to give him anything.


    His family came to Maurus¡¯s tenth birthday. To congratulate him.


    Since then I have been able to trade with people from the village. Cinnamon from last year got traded for salt. Meat from a few birds Matthew caught we traded for rice. I couldn¡¯t get a fair price, but still, that¡¯s more than we ever could get.


    The witches¡¯ payment is a ten-years-long debt. We have been cutting on our meals already, or we won¡¯t be able to pay her.


    Still, if not for this boy¡¯s wishes and desires, the witch may very well lose interest on us. If I don¡¯t give this boy what he wants, then our life may become harsher.


    That¡¯s why I¡¯m thinking if I shouldn¡¯t smash this thing in the ground.


    Maybe if I do it the boy will be mad, but his grandmother will forgive us. If I pretend to slip and smash it as I fall.


    They are here. Maurus is opening the door. I¡¯m ready to launch myself in the ground. I won¡¯t give this to the boy. I won¡¯t let him have what should be ours. I won¡¯t lose it because of his grandmother.


    ¡°Aunt Ullma, this is for the honey!¡±


    I gave him the honeycomb.


    Two chickens are more than what someone would usually get from a single honeycomb. Chickens lay eggs after all.


    Maybe that¡¯s what Alice would get for selling one?


    Everyone gives them preferential treatment after all.


    If I sold it to one of the hunters, then I might get some pieces of meat. Gizzards, a monster¡¯s heart, maybe some pork intestines and so on.


    And here are two chickens.


    Take the comb child. It¡¯s only fair.

 Chapter 5: Things that happen

    Chapter 5


    Volume 2


    Nails aren¡¯t a problem for most people. I mean, all the manual labor we do is more than enough to slowly chip them off and slowly but surely keep them short.


    It¡¯s only obvious. Plowing the dirt, or washing clothes with lye, or even going all day long on the woods, holding into rough surfaces like ropes and rocks. It¡¯s bound to eat on your fingernails.


    And toenails¡­ well, most people use simple wooden sandals to protect their feet, so those don¡¯t get as rough as a treatment as the fingernails, but still they have its quota of wearing out naturally.


    The problem is the people with too much aura on their bodies.


    Since aura passively strengthens the aura wearer the most aura one has, it also applies, obviously, to its nails, teeth and hair.


    I think it¡¯s a good thing since the teeth brushing habits of the people of this world are less than hygienic. They are composed mostly of chewing on some tree resins or other fibers, at least on our village.


    Having strong teeth regular bacteria can¡¯t eat up is surely what preserves this people¡¯s mouths full of them until old age.


    Otherwise I¡¯m sure they would lose them all.


    But warriors and other aura-filled people. They do have it rough.


    And that¡¯s why I¡¯m so interested on what father and Jacen are doing.


    You see, I have had this problem recently. Mother hasn¡¯t been able to cut my hair because my aura concentration increased too much recently. I¡¯m just gathering insane amounts of it every day, so she can¡¯t cut my hair.


    Grandma has been using an [Aura Knife] to do it instead, and I have been using [Aura Nail Clippers] do keep my nails trimmed.


    But, still, it¡¯s interesting to see how the militia guards, which have a lot more aura than the others in the village but can¡¯t use [Aura Weapon] or know what a nail clipper is, deal with the thing.


    So, I¡¯m in [Soul Walk] in the middle of the militia barracks, where father is teaching Jacen what to do.


    The barracks are mostly just a common wooden house, except they are long and have an also very long backyard, where straw dummies serve as targets for bow, spear and sword training.


    There are three main rooms in this big house, which are the armory, where weapons and armor are stored, the chief¡¯s office, which is by the side where usually the sleeping rooms would be, and the militia barracks proper, which is where the living room would usually be.


    Then there¡¯s also a special room annexed to the chief¡¯s office which seems to be the militia¡¯s pantry. They must keep it safe at all costs, since not only the militia¡¯s pay comes from it, but specially the grain taxes we pay to the local lord are stored there until the tax collectors come.


    It may very well be the only stone room in the whole village. It has stone floor and walls, and no windows. Even the armory has a very small window, but this room doesn¡¯t.


    Anyhow. The militia seem to have a routine, as there is a board with small stakes and wooden rings on the barracks proper wall.


    Since no one can read, it has colorful feathers on each ring.


    Father came in with Jacen and took two rings. One seems older and has a bunch of feathers from a variety of animals and monsters in it, not to mention intricate nots and weaving made of plant fiber. I guess this one is his ring.


    And then there was a smaller one, which had just a lonely, small, white chicken feather. This one must be Jacen¡¯s.


    From father stories these rings are their militia rings. They get new feathers, pieces of horns and etc as the militiamen does great things and engraves its own story onto its wooden ring.


    Father never was very specific about what it was used for, however. But seeing this wooden board with three stakes under three drawings ¨C one being a straw dummy, which stand in the center of the stakes, the other two being wooden gates, one can imagine what this is about.


    It¡¯s a job rotation board to control who will be doing what.


    There are always two rings on every gate stake, meaning those are the rings of the militiamen who have to patrol the gates.


    Then there are the other rings on the dummy stake, meaning those must be the rings of the militiamen who must do training inside the barracks.


    Father just took his and Jacen¡¯s rings from the last gate stake and put on top of the dummy stake.


    This means they have gone from the gate keeping duty back to training day, and I suppose the two bottom rings must be the ones which will replace them.


    Clever stuff.


    But that¡¯s not what matters today.


    No.


    What matters today is hair and nail clipping. How do militiamen cut their hair and trim their nails?


    And in case of father, just how does he deals with his beard?


    He¡¯s always shaved and smooth, so there must be some secret which I must learn!


    Hum. There they go.


    ¡°So, once your nails get too long, you take one of these.¡±


    Father just went to a chest in one of the corners of the room and took a weird shaped knife.


    It¡¯s shaped like a crescent moon, and has a sharpened edge on the outside. Is this a primitive nail clipper or something?


    ¡°Then you take the brick and you put your nail in it, like this¡­ and then you cut the nail like this.¡±


    Father put a small rock brick on the ground and positioned his toe on the edge of the brick, with his toenail sticking out on the rocky surface. Then he used the moon-crescent shaped knife to cut the nail while doing a small arc.


    And there it goes. Nicely cut, round nails. But couldn¡¯t he do the same with a regular knife?


    I guess he could, but then he wouldn¡¯t be able to roll it in an arc around the nail ¨C which would leave those sharp nail edges which are just a damn bother to deal with.


    Interesting stuff this nail cutting skill. Useless for me, since I do know [Aura Weapon] and would rather use nail clippers made of it, but interesting.


    But what about your beard and hair, I wonder¡­


    Uuhm.


    The hair is cut with a knife, just like usual. Except since it¡¯s strengthened hair, the militia people are the only one capable of cutting one another¡¯s.


    And the beard is shaved off with a sharpened round rock. I guess it fits better in his hands than using a knife, so it makes sense.


    Interesting. Very interesting hygiene.


    ¡°Is everyone ready?¡±


    Aaand¡­ who are you again?


    Oh, father just straightened himself up and answered with the others.


    Is this father¡¯s boss?


    The militia¡¯s top brass, the guy called Forehead?


    I guess he is. His forehead is really enormous.


    ¡°Yes sir!¡±


    ¡°Good. Let¡¯s start then. Jhon, you¡¯re in charge of supervision. I will do my routine.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir!¡±


    What. A. Dickhead.


    My father may be a sergeant and the second-in-command, but why is he leaving everything to him?!


    Shouldn¡¯t this guy at least supervise the other¡¯s training?


    Father said this guy would just keep training all day long, all the days, in an attempt to someday reach a level beyond his current Superior Being stage. It seems to be an underlying belief to many of the people of this world, that there must be a way for people to become like the accomplished without the need to fuse themselves with a dungeon¡¯s core.


    But to think he would be so blunt and put all of the responsibility on father¡¯s shoulders¡­ father who isn¡¯t even a Superior Being¡­ why isn¡¯t this damn walking forehead teaching others his own training methods and making them become Superior Beings as well?


    And someone is shaking my physical body.


    Dammit, can¡¯t you see I¡¯m busy being angry at father¡¯s boss here?


    *sigh*


    Let¡¯s return¡­


    ***


    And it¡¯s Elipha.


    Now, I must confess something.


    I¡¯m not training my [Soul Analysis] properly. Or, better putting it, I am training it properly, but I¡¯m not keeping it up at all times like I do with [Aura Analysis].


    Because it¡¯s too alienating. Grandma agrees with me. Once you come to know what the people around you are feeling, you just become this much alienated from them.


    I have enough depression and alienating cheats as I am, without the need to know what everyone is feeling at all times and become like a total outsider to normal humanity.


    Still, with the current Elipha, I will do it.


    Because she¡¯s crying, because I can¡¯t find a reason for it in her aura, and because if I don¡¯t stop her crying someone will think I¡¯m beating her up.


    So let¡¯s use it.


    ¡­


    Human souls are weak.


    Extraordinarily weak.


    I think my [Forest Spirit], which hasn¡¯t even given any signs of being alive yet, probably has a stronger soul than this kid in front of me.


    Her soul is just frail. Small, diffused, weak.


    It makes me think maybe I should indeed be more attentive to my [Soul Isolation] technique.


    Couldn¡¯t I destroy her soul entirely by just sending a couple [Soul Needles] into it?


    I wonder if she could resist a single [Holy Guard] spell cast on her. Maybe the soul is so weak it would break when the bad feelings stirred up and started to bubble on the outside of her soul.


    ¡­


    Nah. [Holy Guard] is a kind of [Blessing] spell from the [Soul Magic Flexibility: Blessing and Cursing] series. It won¡¯t destroy people¡¯s souls, right?


    Oh, right, she¡¯s still crying.


    Now is no time to be wondering about how strong her soul is. I¡¯m looking for the feeling complex which is making her cry.


    Yeah.


    Because as frail as human souls are, they surely are demonically complex!


    Feelings never come alone on them. They never come simple. It¡¯s always a tridimensional knot of many feeling bubbles, each etched to different parts of the soul.


    So let¡¯s look for it.


    I can see the human-looking outer layer of the soul. Nice.


    Now to increase the potency of [Soul Analysis] and it starts to show small boundaries within the human appearance.


    I can see through the soul-skin and the soul-organs.


    But this isn¡¯t enough. Even If I can see already some of the reason on her soul-heart, neck and eyes, it¡¯s just as looking at a regular human. She¡¯s soul-crying as well, but this isn¡¯t revealing.


    I need to see what are the feelings. The soul-composition which is making her cry.


    So let¡¯s concentrate more on the [Soul Analysis]. It¡¯s too much for my current level to do it while also practicing all the other stuff I regularly practice as well, so let¡¯s stop the qigong for a bit.


    There.


    More mind power available. Let¡¯s look deeper.


    Now I can see the soul bubbles. The small emotional components of her soul. There¡¯s some happiness and childish innocence, but I can see the pulsating emanations of a bigger feeling there.


    Uhm.


    It seems to be a mix of fear, fantasy, frustration, feeling of injustice and loneliness.


    Gods be damned, all of this work to figure out what is happening to her exactly and all this kid need is a hug.


    She¡¯s scared. Probably fearing to lose me or something. Or for her childhood to end.


    It would be a fair emotion since she will be ten years old soon.


    There, there.


    Rest on my shoulders a bit. I will give you some consolation.


    And learn not to over complicatedly analyze stuff when children are crying next to me.


    ¡­ Not that it¡¯s easy to learn how to be simple and still accurate.


    There, there. Everything will be alright. Now sleep a bit. Soon you will be just as new. And then we will play with the other kids a bit and you will forget these feelings. You will forget everything about them, I¡¯m sure about this.


    ***


    There, now I can look at the militia training.


    Hum.


    Father¡¯s and Jacen¡¯s training with the other militiamen seem to be regular military drills.


    They train with the spear, eat, train with the bow, train fist-fighting each other¡­


    Wait¡­


    Oh, so this is [Joint Training] then.


    Fist fighting with your aura being controlled nice and slow so the other part won¡¯t be too hurt.


    And then fighting the air in front of you for real.


    Nice, nice.


    But I¡¯m not interested in this.


    Oh no.


    What I want to see is this damn cocky forehead¡¯s training.


    He¡¯s sitting in lotus position on top of a piece of wood, facing the fence, giving his back to the others.


    A captain giving his back to his regiment. Ridiculous.


    Let¡¯s analyze what he¡¯s doing.


    Hum.


    Interesting.


    There¡¯s no flow of qi on his aura. He¡¯s not doing qigong.


    But he¡¯s muttering something.


    Is this a spell?


    ¡­.


    It surely sounds like one. But I don¡¯t see any effect.


    Maybe he¡¯s still chanting it.


    Let¡¯s wait a bit.


    ¡­.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Seriously.


    Half an hour of chanting and there¡¯s absolutely no effect.


    Maybe it¡¯s for the best that he¡¯s not teaching this useless thing to his subordinates.


    Let¡¯s get out of here and leave forehead to his own foolishness.


    ***


    My [Forest Spirit] keeps slumbering.


    It¡¯s a beautiful tree and gives a very nice vibe to be around, but it¡¯s unresponsive.


    So, that¡¯s why I¡¯m with grandma tonight.


    We¡¯re hunting monsters and bandits near sister¡¯s hideout.


    She¡¯s coming home! She¡¯s really coming!


    But she has chosen poorly where to sleep tonight.


    There are two monster nests closely, and a couple of drunken hobos who aren¡¯t up to any good searching around.


    Grandma said she would take care of the hobos, so I¡¯m dealing with the monsters.


    A spider nest, which I took care of by shooting them with [Aura Javelin] and a couple ghouls.


    What are ghouls?


    Naturally-spawning undead of low caliber. A kind of zombie, but they have freewill and usually don¡¯t rot ¨C in fact, their appearances are disturbingly alike the ¡®noids appearances, if not by the fact that they look moister. They come to be when either someone dies and can¡¯t get over this fact, grounding itself to its own dead body and then becoming an undead, or when someone dies and the body for some reason accumulates a lot of emotional energy ¨C enough to create a wild soul which is then taken over by a random mind.


    So, there are a couple of those.


    And that¡¯s why, again, I¡¯m using [Soul Analysis].


    I don¡¯t want to destroy humans which have grounded themselves to their bodies.


    What if their grudge is justified?


    Even if both are male, maybe they have been raped and then killed by the hobos of earlier, and now are back to exact their vengeance.


    In which case I would totally support them.


    So let¡¯s see and¡­


    Oh.


    Oooh.


    Oh my gods.


    How unpleasant.


    THIS is a rapist.


    And the one besides him is a murderer-rapist.


    The feelings are strong sexual desire, lust for violence and humiliation of others, not to mention bloodthirst. They just want to kill and rape, rape and kill. Humiliating their victims all the way down.


    How. Unpleasant.


    Really.


    Still..


    They are humans, right?


    Even if they are undead, they are still human souls.


    Even if there¡¯s a strong feeling of frustration mixed with ¡°I¡¯ve got my comeuppance¡± feeling from both of them.


    Even if they both have rope burns around their necks, so they are probably people from the nearby village who got hanged for murder-raping.


    Still..


    Kill or not to kill.


    Or, in this case¡­ to forcefully cut the bonds between their souls and bodies, and then destroy the souls after, or not to do it¡­


    ¡­ What should I do¡­


    ¡­


    You know what, I know what to do.


    Make the fuckers kill themselves and destroy their own souls. Because of fucking guilt over having their bad feelings obliterated and experiencing good feelings, and then remembering what they did to others. This ought to reform them for the next life, right?


    I casted [Holy Guard].


    Their souls exploded.


    Not the effect I wanted.


    Now I¡¯m covered in soul-goo.


    And their minds are probably in a state of disarray and confusion after getting blasted with empathy and feelings which just obliterated all of their desires at once.


    I wonder if they even had time to feel guilt. They souls where just so saturated with bad feelings the [Holy Guard] made them explode when entered in contact with it. They probably didn¡¯t feel any guilt at all.


    I do hope they are reborn not-to-be-psychos. But I can¡¯t know now, right?


    Sigh¡­.


    One more thing on my list of things to ask grandma.


    What to do with rapist-murderer psychos and what is wrong with forehead¡¯s training which consists of chanting what seems to be a useless spell, over and over again.


    What a day!


    ***


    ¡°You seem troubled darling.¡±


    Grandma and I just returned to the training grounds, where my body is resting near the [Forest Spirit]¡äs orchard.


    ¡°Yes. Lots of things happened today.¡±


    ¡°Really? Like what?¡±


    Let¡¯s give her the resumed version.


    ¡°I see. Well, I¡¯m sorry you had to deal with that. It must have been difficult for you, taking your first human life.¡±


    ¡°They were bad people, but I don¡¯t feel right¡­ I feel bad about it¡­ I don¡¯t know why¡­¡±


    Grandma¡¯s soul smiled to me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much. They were aggressive undead. You did what you had to do. It¡¯s the village¡¯s fault for not burning the bodies, but they would do much worse if you had left them there.¡±


    I can¡¯t argue that it seems things would have been worse If I had let them roam free, but still¡­ I don¡¯t want to take people¡¯s lives.


    I don¡¯t feel like I can or should do it. Like, isn¡¯t this meddling with something I have no authority upon? Something I have no responsibility or right to interfere with?


    I do have killed a bunch of monsters and animals until now, but I don¡¯t want to start butchering people as well. I don¡¯t feel I have the righteousness to kill others and just say ¡°sorry¡± if I make a mistake or something.


    ¡°Besides, they aren¡¯t dead forever. They will be reborn someday, as you know. Don¡¯t be so sad, okay?¡±


    Well, that does makes the thing a little less dreadful, but letting go of the values of my previous life isn¡¯t so easy¡­


    Ah!


    Okay, enough drama already!


    I can¡¯t stand forever thinking about how bad and wrong I am for having killed a couple of rapist murderers.


    Let¡¯s brush my face and focus my mind on something else.


    Right.


    Reforming people¡¯s emotions.


    ¡°Grandma, what about what happened? Why did they just explode? Shouldn¡¯t [Holy Guard] be a safe spell to use against normal people?¡±


    ¡°First return to your body and let¡¯s get a little farther away. We are producing some bad emotions right now, and it wouldn¡¯t be good if they affected your [Forest Spirit].¡±


    And so we did.


    Protecting the [Forest Spirit] so it doesn¡¯t become a murderer rapist himself.


    Not that it would have big chances at becoming a rapist, but murderer is quite likely I think.


    So let¡¯s get away.


    Here. A few dozen kilometers should be enough.


    ¡°Where were we?¡±


    ¡°The [Holy Guard] spell. Why did the undead¡¯s souls exploded?¡±


    ¡°Uhum. You know how the [Holy Guard] spell stir up the bad feelings inside someone and make them get to the surface of their souls, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡°Well darling, when you use it in a regular human, as bad as he or she is, they will have their souls still grounded on their living bodies by feelings of sensation. Things like how your skin feels when it touches something, or what are certain smells. So, even if the person¡¯s soul doesn¡¯t have any integrity and could collapse from the [Holy Guard] spell, it is kept together by those feelings, and the person won¡¯t die. Can you understand now what happened to the undead?¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t have these feelings? But how could they move then?¡±


    ¡°Wild undead have very instinctive wiring darling. I suppose you didn¡¯t took some time to study how they were wiring themselves to their corpses?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t even think on doing it at the time. I was too busy checking if I should kill them or avenge their deaths.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Next time you should check before destroying them, okay?¡±


    Ah, grandma¡¯s soul is patting my head.


    It has been so long since someone patted my head. Years I think. Oh gods, it feels so good..


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Good. So, that¡¯s the reason. They probably didn¡¯t wire themselves to their corpses with sensations, or with just the bare minimum of those. Then, when you casted the spell, those basic sensations which everyone has weren¡¯t wired in a sufficient amount and couldn¡¯t keep the form of their souls. So they exploded. They could have also imploded or shredded into pieces, or a number of others things.¡±


    ¡°So I can¡¯t reform their feelings like this?¡±


    Now grandma is looking at me with pity.


    ¡°You can¡¯t reform someone by touching their feelings alone darling. If you could, then you would be able to heal yourself from the Dark Night as well. You can make them happy or cut the emotional effects of their diseases, but from what you told me they had the [Man Eater] disease. It¡¯s a disease of the mind¡¯s core, very much like yours. You can¡¯t cure it without destroying their minds.¡±


    ¡°What happens if someone loses their minds grandma? They die forever?¡±


    ¡°It would depend a lot darling. Some people have a thing called a [Spark of Divinity]. If you destroy their minds, they will return someday. Only with a new mind, so as if they had just been created by the [Thing]. Others don¡¯t have it, and if you destroy their minds, then they will disappear from the three planes of existence as we know them. Only the [Thing] knows what happens to them.¡±


    Uhm.


    Spark of Divinity you say?


    If I¡¯m not mistaken, and, well, since this is a memory from before I get my [Reminder] ability I may as well be, the goddess said something about this to me. She also said something about being unable to heal my depression without destroying my mind, so I guess this would be the same thing?


    At least I¡¯m happy to know I do have this spark of divinity thing. If I have it, then not even the so called gods of this world can destroy me.


    Only the [Thing], whatever it is, may have such power.


    Still¡­


    ¡°Grandma, and what about forehead¡¯s chanting? It didn¡¯t seem to do anything to him.¡±


    ¡°Chant it for me for a bit.¡±


    I started chanting the spell just like forehead was, and I could feel it chipping away a small amount of my aura. So it must do something, even if I don¡¯t know what it is.


    ¡°This seems to be an old [Breakthrough] spell darling. It¡¯s used to help people break the curse without turning into monsters. However, you need to hit the curse¡¯s Aura Aggregate Amount limit, and it¡¯s useless after you do this much. Even if you hit the maximum Aura Aggregate for a regular Superior Being, this spell won¡¯t trigger the real [Breakthrough].¡±


    Interesting.


    Still, thinking better about it, I don¡¯t know much about these breakthroughs, do I?


    I mean, why do the Superior Beings of this world fuse themselves with mana crystals on dungeons?


    All I had to do to reach a level beyond the one of a regular Superior Being was to keep training my qigong technique after all.


    ¡°Grandma, why won¡¯t it work? How do the breakthroughs work when people don¡¯t use our clan¡¯s techniques?¡±


    ¡°The breaking of the curse happens when someone hits the Aura Aggregate Amount limit for the curse darling. Then, the first real [Breakthrough] happens when someone hits the Aura Aggregate Amount limit for humans. The first one can be pushed through by simply increasing your aura. But the second one is the limit of human flesh to store aura. Even if you try to accumulate more, you won¡¯t be able to. You need to remake your flesh and bones, and every single wiring between your body and soul as well. That¡¯s the difference between simply breaking the curse and truly going through a [Breakthrough].¡±


    Oh.


    Well, that does explain a lot. Like why the chanting would be useless and why Superior Beings fuse themselves with mana crystals. If they don¡¯t know a qigong technique which can change the composition of their very flesh and souls, it would be useless to try to accumulate more aura.


    ¡°Then Superior Beings won¡¯t turn into monsters while trying to go through a [Breakthrough]?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s possible to become a monster if you use very wrong techniques, but it won¡¯t happen like how common people may become monsters just by accumulating too much aura. Still, it¡¯s dangerous.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°If your body can¡¯t store the aura and still you try to accumulate more and more, not only can you be affected by [Petrification], but also you may start to leak aura all around you, at all times. Then it¡¯s a matter of time before wild monsters appear on your house or wherever you go.¡±


    Oh.


    That seems problematic.


    ¡°And what about the Accomplished grandma? Are them so much stronger than me?¡±


    Grandma is making a funny expression.


    ¡°Why would they be stronger All?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m a Superior Being, and they are accomplished. Shouldn¡¯t they be stronger than me?¡±


    ¡°Well, some may be but, darling, you¡¯re not a Superior Being.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Didn¡¯t I go through two [Breakthroughs]? Shouldn¡¯t I be a Superior Being?¡±


    ¡°Well, you are, but you are also above that. You¡¯re a First Rank Cultivator, just like me. In terms of this era¡¯s standards, that¡¯s enough to make you as strong as an Accomplished or Dungeon Master as well. The only difference is that Dungeon Masters mix theirs bodies with the dungeons and absorb aura from the environment, while you can¡¯t eat the environmental aura, but can use your [Spiritual] talent.¡±


    ¡­


    Oh.


    So I¡¯m an accomplished.


    And here I was thinking I was just a Superior Being.


    And Grandma is one as well. And she¡¯s patting my head again.


    Well, it¡¯s life.


    Somedays you are a useless blob of fat and depression living on your hateful mother¡¯s goodwill towards her more-than-useless son, somedays you are an amazingly powerful being in a parallel world with magic and head-patting grandmothers.


    I can live with that. I definitely can live with that.


    ***


    It¡¯s been a few months.


    Summer has arrived and I¡¯m enjoying an old memory. From the times when I still lived on earth.


    Except the memory itself was terrible. What I¡¯m enjoying is how I can live now and how things are so much better.


    Oh yeah.


    What is this memory?


    Mosquitoes.


    Fucking mosquitoes.


    I¡¯m remembering summer in earth. The constant buzzing. The itching. The diseases they carried.


    FUCKING MOSQUITOES!


    DIE THEM ALL!


    IN PAIN AND UNIMAGINABLE SUFFERING!


    So, mosquitoes.


    There¡¯re none here.


    At least not on my village. Maybe it¡¯s because it¡¯s a bit cold here. Even summer doesn¡¯t bring in too much heat.


    So I¡¯m happy.


    Oh, Elipha?


    Yeah, she turned ten. Now she¡¯s going to the fields with Ralphe every morning.


    As for me, I didn¡¯t became too attached to the twins, so I don¡¯t care much. I¡¯m free. A boy without a gang. A lone wolf.


    I do participate on some games with groups here and there from time to time, but I have been expending my time mostly laying down somewhere and watching stuff happening.


    Literally watching the grass grow.


    Not that I¡¯m terribly bored. I¡¯m constantly training qigong and the concealment techniques I have to keep up, like [Aura Hiding].


    Not to mention soul techniques. Those I¡¯m training as well.


    But my physical body is laying at the feet of a tree between the village gates and the houses.


    Confy.


    That said, I just noticed something weird.


    I¡¯m feeling a certain stiffness recently.


    Like as if my body was a little heavy.


    It isn¡¯t like when I¡¯m depressed, but it¡¯s weird nonetheless.


    Maybe I should move a bit. Do more exercise and stuff.


    Meh.


    Let¡¯s do it tomorrow.


    ***


    Just a little more.


    Just a little more and older sister will be back!


    She¡¯s already only a few dozen kilometers from us!


    A shame she¡¯s stopping at a village midway. But I can¡¯t blame her. She¡¯s been traveling all day long for three months now.


    After the breakthrough she still stayed at the county¡¯s capital for a time before coming back. Earning money to make the trip back and stuff like that.


    She worked mostly with protecting establishments and so on. A private security business of a single woman.


    I was worried when I first saw she doing it, but it seems no one even dared to mess around her anymore.


    Not only Ann is now known as ¡°Mad Hound¡± in the county¡¯s capital due to all she had done to the abusive men, she was recognized as a Superior Being by a local dojo master. It¡¯s just obvious that no one would dare create a mess if she was to work as private security.


    That said, she would have expended a lot less time traveling wasn¡¯t it for the problem of doing it in summer, when there¡¯s constant rain.


    500km can become quite a chore in a hilly terrain, even more when there¡¯re summer rains to make you sore and tired.


    It¡¯s quite amazing she¡¯s progressing with so much speed, I have to say.


    That said, it should take maybe¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ ten days for her to come back?


    It will be nice have her back. I will be sure to make a nice warm bath for her.


    ¡­


    No, I¡¯m not having perverted thoughts!


    ¡­


    Maybe I am.


    ***


    Mother of coincidences.


    You see, I wonder why things decide to happen all at once sometimes?


    I mean, one thing is for me to see that Ann is just a couple dozen kilometers from the village. She¡¯s sleeping soundly in a tree not far from here.


    I just checked on her. She has a tired expression, but she looks fine.


    Now, other thing is for me to discover that the [Forest Spirit] has finally awoken.


    It has taken one of the peach trees from the orchard, by extending its soul towards it.


    So, it¡¯s awaken, that¡¯s for sure.


    Now we need to teach it how to talk and stuff¡­


    Except I can¡¯t!


    Hahah!


    Why ? Because my body is fucking cracking.


    There are cracks in my skin, in my bones, even in my freaking eyes!


    As soon as I could I went on [Soul Walk] and got grandma¡¯s soul to come over to look at me, and she was as dumbfolded as a soul outside its own body could be.


    Yes.


    I¡¯m going through another [Breakthrough].


    However, this time it¡¯s not a regular one.


    You see, I¡¯m not doing qigong for long enough to justify me going through another one of those.


    Not after becoming an Accomplished.


    Besides, the effects aren¡¯t like the ones when you do qigong.


    Because my body is cracking all up, instead of orderly, in layers, how it was supposed to.


    Grandma herself haven¡¯t gotten through the second rank in cultivation, but she said this isn¡¯t how it usually happens.


    Oh gods, I just hope I don¡¯t become a monster.


    Please don¡¯t make me a monster.


    Not when comeback sex with my sister is about to happen!


    Pleeeeeeease!


    ***


    First day of breakthrough.


    I¡¯m secluded on my training camp.


    My flash is all cracked, in some points you can see my muscles. Those cracks emit a lot of aura.


    I have placed the [Mana Pebbles] around me and gave them a simple command to absorb as much aura as possible.


    Grandmother was the one to take them from home and bring here.


    I hope it doesn¡¯t spread around and start creating monsters.


    Water is secured by grandmother.


    Sister has come back home, but she went there and let everyone know that I have hit an unexpected event on my training.


    I want to go back, but I don¡¯t think my current appearance would be a good thing for them to see.


    ***


    Second day of breakthrough.


    My flesh is now becoming black dust instead of just cracking.


    Monsters are being born already. Earth slimes are born at each step I give. Grass treants have started to encircle this place.


    I decided to cut a big bolder and made it as a place for me to seat on.


    I thought about stopping the flow of Heavenly Energy and from the energy from my [Spiritual] talent, but if I do it then the wounds on my flesh don¡¯t regenerate.


    I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m becoming undead.


    I have made a fire in front of me, in order to quickly burn all of my decaying flesh.


    ***


    Third day.


    The big rock underneath me has started to vibrate.


    It probably became a rock golem with all of the aura that¡¯s sipping through it.


    The mana pebbles have hit max capacity and became useless.


    I got two big pieces of rock with [Aura Hand] while in [Soul Walking] and placed them at my right and my left.


    Each is a cube of 4mx4mx4m. Huge.


    I¡¯m consciously injecting all of the energy from the environment on them, controlling the process with my soul, and hoping that they become gigantic mana crystals.


    I hope they don¡¯t become dungeons. Otherwise I will be screwed.


    But I¡¯m constantly casting [Soul Dissolution] on everything around here, so I guess they won¡¯t get souls.


    I hope.


    ***


    Fourth Day.


    The rock golem beneath me has started to evolve into something different. The rock stopped to vibrate and begun to shrink.


    It was a large 6mx6m piece, and now it¡¯s reduced maybe 20cm or something.


    All around the ground I can see a lot of powder. I don¡¯t feel any aura coming from it, so I guess it¡¯s some kind of purification process.


    I¡¯m reduced to only my bones. Still I haven¡¯t died.


    I can¡¯t see the wiring between my soul and my bones. Am I really an undead now?


    Am I even alive?


    ***


    Fifth day


    The amount of aura I get from my [Spiritual] talent has increased thirtyfold. The amount of aura from the Void increased twenty fold.


    It¡¯s a lot. It would be fun if I had any chance of using it.


    But my bones are disappearing.


    I believe this is it.


    This is how I die this time.


    For real.


    Soon there won¡¯t be anything for me to regenerate from. If I could still regenerate.


    The amount of aura I lose to the environment has become minimum. Nonetheless, the rocks all around seem to have created small cores.


    They have mana crystals deep inside of them, I can feel it. But the whole of the rocks haven¡¯t turned into it.


    I decided to let the other mana pebbles spread around the rock pieces. Maybe they will fuse together.


    ***


    Sixth Day.


    Grandma doesn¡¯t know what is happening to me either.


    She can feel my aura all around where my body used to be, but not even my bones have remained.


    I¡¯m sure I will die, so I have asked her to bring the family here. Even if mother and little sister can¡¯t come, I want to say goodbye to everyone else.


    She said it would be difficult since my training camp is so far from the village, but she would do the best she could. That way they can at least make me a grave and retrieve the mana crystals before they turn into dungeons.


    The mana pebbles have embedded themselves on the rocks. Indeed, they are merging.


    I have put the rocks closer as well. This way they can all become part of the same thing.


    ***


    Night of the sixth day.


    I noticed something.


    Powder from the environment is gathering around me. The aura bubble where my body used to be is organizing this powder around itself.


    I can see bones forming.


    I¡¯m amazed.


    What is this?


    I shouldn¡¯t have any bones or anything else remaining to regenerate. I thought I was a goner.


    Still, it¡¯s happening.


    The moon is shining over my new bones.


    I would go on Soul Walk and talk to grandma, but I¡¯m afraid to leave this place.


    What if my soul has something to do with how my body is being reconstructed?


    I wonder if I will keep my cheat powers with this new body.


    The [spiritual] talent surely will remain, but I don¡¯t know about the others.


    Let¡¯s see.


    ***


    Seventh day.


    Grandmother¡¯s soul has come to see if I¡¯m still alive. She¡¯s as surprised as me.


    Grandmother¡¯s soul is crying.


    I¡¯m crying as well.


    Those are tears of happiness.


    I will live!


    ***


    Eight day.


    My bones are done, and now nerves and blood vessels are growing.


    I don¡¯t have organs yet, so it¡¯s quite the scene.


    I also can¡¯t see the wiring between my soul and body. If there are wires remaining, they aren¡¯t of the same kind I used to have. They aren¡¯t like others.


    Around me the mega-crystal is growing vigorously.


    It seems all of the rock has fused, and the mana pebbles have been absorbed into it.


    There are small holes in the rock, making its path to the center. I believe the true mana crystal core is underneath me.


    ***


    Ninth day.


    I have organs and viscera, and some deep muscles as well.


    There are no traces of life around me.


    All plants have died, everything is sterile.


    I believe it¡¯s because of the programming I gave to the mana pebbles, to continuously suck energy from the outside.


    I¡¯m paying extra attention to the soul part of the rocks. I don¡¯t want it to create a dungeon.


    As soon as I¡¯m done here, I will smash those rocks and retrieve the mana crystal inside. This way I will be sure nothing bad will happen.


    ***


    Night of the Ninth day.


    I have muscles and the skin is starting to grow over them, but I¡¯m not alive yet. I can¡¯t hear my heartbeat, and blood isn¡¯t flowing through my body.


    It¡¯s as if I¡¯m in a state of suspended animation.


    I hope I get out of it.


    ***


    Tenth day.


    Morning brought me my first breath of fresh air in a long time.


    And together with it, an unbearable itch which took all of my body.


    It was as if I was itching all over, from the deepest part of my bones to the outer layer of my hair.


    Still, it soon ended.


    Ha.


    Hahahahahaha.


    HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!


    I¡¯M ALIVE!


    I¡¯M FUCKING ALIVE!


    HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA !


    Oh gods, thank you.


    That.


    That was awful.


    ***


    I¡¯m currently breaking the rocks which I used as basis to my mana crystal creation.


    Inside of them there¡¯s a huge chunk of pink quartz crystal, the size of my head. I guess this is the mana crystal made by fusing together all of that energy, plus the mana pebbles and everything else.


    It surely is big.


    Let¡¯s put it to sleep.


    And then¡­


    Take a bath, and head back home.


    The family must be worried about me.


    Oh, right¡­


    Let¡¯s try it out¡­


    Regeneration came immediately as I cut myself with a small [Aura Knife]. It¡¯s just as before¡­ or maybe even a little faster, if that¡¯s even possible.


    So, my talents are all still here.


    Or at least the regeneration, spiritual, reminder and so on. I don¡¯t know about the [Immortal] talent.


    Or want to try it.


    I don¡¯t want to risk dying again so soon. Even if I didn¡¯t die in the end.


    Gods, that was intense. Fucking intense.


    Let¡¯s go back home. Let¡¯s see sister. Let¡¯s sleep for a big. Let¡¯s put this damn crystal somewhere it won¡¯t be a treat.


    That one was a close one.


    I guess I will turn the Void Energy Gathering training off. I can feel it filling me up with energy at unbelievable speeds. I may not last another month at this rate.


    Enough breakthroughs for now.


    Seriously.


    Enough.


    ***

 Extra Chapter 33: Preparations For Returning

    ¡°So, how do you intend to do it, Hound?¡±


    For some reason the people of the capital have started to call me ¡°Mad Hound¡±. As if I was some kind of monster.


    I don¡¯t care. It¡¯s a good name. It makes men think twice before trying to touch me.


    ¡°I will go through the same path I took to get here.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure the roads are open? What if there is something happened?¡±


    The woman I¡¯m talking with is called Hadra. She¡¯s a Beginner Ranked adventurer and knows a lot about the surrounding region.


    ¡°What could have happened?¡±


    ¡°Sometimes roads disappear. Specially roads to places like your home village. It isn¡¯t in any map, so you know there isn¡¯t much commerce, right?¡±


    ¡°If I can find Purrit Village then I can get home. My uncle lives there and it¡¯s only three days on foot from my parent¡¯s house.¡±


    ¡°This one isn¡¯t in the maps either.¡±


    ¡°But I can find Purrit Village if I find Lowriver Village¡±


    ¡°¡­.¡±


    ¡°Which I can find if I find the Black Dragon Scale coal mine.¡±


    ¡°Black Dragon Scale mine? I remember hearing about it, but no one goes there these days. Besides, it¡¯s over a month and a half from here!¡±


    ¡°Yes. It takes two months to get home. I should get there a little later because of the rain, but it¡¯s no problem.¡±


    She¡¯s hanging with her mouth open.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­. I can understand how you managed to become a Superior Being at your age when you talk like that. A three months¡¯ journey, and you don¡¯t hesitate even a bit before going. That¡¯s amazing.¡±


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t say this kind of things. You¡¯re much more amazing than me.¡±


    ¡°Me? Why would I be?¡±


    ¡°For not killing everyone on your party, that¡¯s why.¡±


    ¡°Buawhahahahaah¡±


    She¡¯s laughing It off again, but that¡¯s what I truly believe in. This woman is constantly used by the man in her team, and still she finds it hard to travel a couple months by herself. I can¡¯t understand this.


    ¡°You¡¯re always the same, aren¡¯t you? Forget about that already. I almost feel bad about telling those things to you when you react like this. They are good to me.¡±


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Right.¡±


    I can¡¯t stop looking at the bags under her eyes.


    This woman alone saved their lives countless times. She has lost pieces of her flesh for them.


    They climbed together from misery to Rank.


    Still she¡¯s treated as a private prostitute.


    ¡°Say Hadra, won¡¯t you come with me?¡±


    ¡°What, me?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I want you to come with me to my village.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t. The guys need me. Besides, I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep it up with your rhythm. Gaspar is always complaining about how slow I walk after all.¡±


    ¡°Because they make you carry all of the cooking stuff.¡±


    ¡°Bah.¡±


    She just waved her hand, like that.


    ¡°I will get food for us in the way. And you don¡¯t need to worry about walking with me. We can go a little slower.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ don¡¯t¡­ ah, don¡¯t mind it.¡±


    Just like the others.


    She doesn¡¯t want to come with me, even if I have a better life for her.


    ¡°I¡¯m talking seriously. I can protect you. And I want to help you.¡±


    ¡°Help me? What do I look like to you? I¡¯m a ranked adventurer Hound, don¡¯t you forget that!¡±


    You look like a woman who lives at the mercy of others. Like someone who kills beasts but won¡¯t receive a single copper for it because the men on your team will take your part and then use it to pay for a night with you.


    But you¡¯re too proud to accept my help. And I don¡¯t think you would come with me, even if I were to take you by force.


    ¡°As you wish.¡±


    ¡°Right. I will be going then. I still have to prepare the poisoned arrows for later. See you.¡±


    ¡°Careful with the poison.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know how to deal with it. Goodbye.¡±


    ¡°Goodbye.¡±


    I took the purse Hadra left on the table. There are a couple hundred copper coins inside, minus twenty or something.


    Knowing old Berta, this should be right.


    She always takes out a few coins, forgetting that I can count, even if Hadra can¡¯t. I will talk to her later.


    Then I will buy the boots I need to travel.


    I¡¯m going back home!

 Extra Chapter 34: A Strong Daughter as Well

    Once I saw her in the distance, a strong need to run to where she was grew in my chest.


    But I didn¡¯t do it. I have my duty.


    So I watched as she approached with heavy steps. She must be tired from walking so much.


    Still.


    Under all of the road dirt. Under the messy hair and tired face.


    I can still recognize my daughter.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    She¡¯s a beautiful woman now, but that¡¯s not why I¡¯m smiling.


    I¡¯m smiling for the same reason she¡¯s smiling.


    Every step she gets closer we smile more.


    She¡¯s in front of me.


    ¡°Hi dad.¡±


    I finally hugged her.


    ¡°I¡¯m home¡±


    ¡°Welcome back.¡±

 Extra Chapter 35: Younger Brother and Older Sister

    When Alvin said Older sister was coming back, I felt something weird on my chest.


    It¡¯s weird. I don¡¯t know what is it.


    I don¡¯t like her. I don¡¯t know why.


    I shouldn¡¯t feel like this, but I do.


    It¡¯s as if she was a bad person. Who did bad things all the time. I don¡¯t like when Alvin talks about her.


    I don¡¯t like how he talks about her.


    Still, when I saw she, something stirred up inside of me.


    I felt so good.


    Seeing her after so long.


    I missed her. I don¡¯t know why, but I did.


    So when father brought her home I gave her a big hug, and then mother did it, and younger sister as well.


    Ann is nice and warm, and she¡¯s strong.


    I can see in her aura that she¡¯s much stronger now than when she left.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    She surpassed me, even if she doesn¡¯t have a chance when it comes to Alvin.


    Alvin¡¯s power is something I can¡¯t understand, but he can even do things like hiding mana pebbles on our ceiling.


    I think he already busted a lot of dungeons, that must be why he has so many of them. I won¡¯t say a thing to father, but he truly is amazing.


    But sister surpassing me is a bad thing. I should be better than her.


    That must be because I have been slacking off.


    I stopped training because I felt I didn¡¯t need to. That there was no reason.


    If I start training again, then maybe I will get as strong as her. Or even more.


    So I should do it again.


    Still¡­ where is Alvin?

 Extra Chapter 36: Ann and Anna

    Everyone is hugging the woman. The woman who came thru the door!


    Who is her?


    She looks like mommy.


    She¡¯s looking at me.


    ¡°Hey Anna. Do you remember me sweetie?¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    Ah!


    Stop hugging me!


    You smell!


    You¡¯re dirty!


    STOP!


    ¡°Ma, I made her cry.¡±


    ¡°Haha. Don¡¯t worry. She doesn¡¯t like the smell of sweat. That¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°Uff. I was thinking she didn¡¯t like me!¡±


    Hum.


    Ah!


    Grandma is coming!


    Grandma! Grandma!


    Hug!


    Grandma smells good!


    Grandma, Hug!


    ¡°Hi darling. Not now. I have something important to talk to your mother, okay?¡±


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Uuuuuuuuuhhhmm! Huuug!


    *sigh*


    ¡°Okay, come here.¡±


    Uhm! Grandma smells good!


    ¡°Alvin won¡¯t be coming.¡±


    ¡°What? Why? Ann just came back, shouldn¡¯t he come and greet her?  Specially after staying out all day long?  The children came asking for him, so I said he was sick.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s going through special training.¡±


    ¡°But now?¡±


    ¡°Something happened, so it was needed.¡±


    Uuh!


    Grandma keeps talking and talking.


    Grandma!


    ¡°Wha.. what is it darling?¡±


    Hug me!

 Extra Chapter 37: Alvin

    ¡°I need all of you to come with me tomorrow.¡±


    Mother is very pale today. That¡¯s unusual.


    ¡°Why? Did something happen?¡±


    John is participating in the conversation. Well, it¡¯s rare for mother to stay long, so he¡¯s probably interested as well.


    ¡°Yes. Be prepared to come at dawn. It¡¯s far, so we will need to walk for a few days.¡±


    Days?


    ¡°Mother, what about Alvin¡¯s training? Didn¡¯t you say he is going through something? Maybe we shouldn¡¯t go so far.¡±


    She¡¯s holding the cup with more strength¡­ it¡­ does it means that¡­


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    ¡°Has something happened to Alvin?¡±


    John asked before I had the chance.


    ¡°He¡¯s going through something. So I need all who can come to come with me to where he is.¡±


    She doesn¡¯t want to tell us.


    But why?


    ¡°Mother, what is happening?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure, so don¡¯t worry about it. Still, I want Jhon, Ann and Jacen to come with me. It¡¯s important, so please come.¡±


    There is no way to refuse mother¡¯s wishes when she asks like this. But it makes me worry.


    I hope my son is well.

 Extra Chapter 38: Purification

    The way to become a second-ranked cultivator, which would be a third-ranked human in the old empire, is to go through the [Purification] breakthrough.


    It takes roughly a century to go through it, and eight hundred years of cultivation to reach it.


    This way the transformation becomes complete.


    Even for the Long-Lived Race, it was a difficult task to achieve. Even for me, who am cultivating for enough time to have only two hundred more years before achieving it, the [Purification] stage may be too distant a dream to dream about.


    I may lose my memories and sanity before, as time corrodes what I am able to remember.


    But what matters is the truth that Alvin isn¡¯t going through it.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    This aggressive transformation isn¡¯t the gentle and peaceful [Purification] stage, were one becomes light and happy as the years pass.


    I don¡¯t know what this is.


    I don¡¯t even know if he will survive.


    His soul is also going through something. It¡¯s showing layers upon layers of emotions I cannot recognize. They feel¡­ weird.


    If this soul damage continues to grow, he will have to reincarnate. Even if his soul is immortal, reincarnating would cleanse him of his memories and it wouldn¡¯t be different from dying.


    Such an amazingly talented boy, with such an amazing collection of talents. And he may lose them all.


    It¡¯s the course.


    Curse it.

 Chapter 6: Back Home, Things to Do

    Chapter 6


    Volume 2


    I think I may have overreacted last time with the whole [Breakthrough] thing and stuff.


    I mean, I have the goddess word that I would be [Immortal], right?


    It wouldn¡¯t make sense if I were to die. Of course, if my memories from before the current life have been implanted by a Titan then this might be the case, but they weren¡¯t.


    They definitely weren¡¯t.


    So I shouldn¡¯t be so worried.


    Besides, I think I know why I went through that weird thing.


    It¡¯s because of my special talent of having no limits to my growth.


    It would make sense, I think. Since I should have unlimited capacity on everything, then I should also have unlimited capacity to store aura¡­ which means I go through [Breakthroughs] as long as I have enough accumulated aura.


    I don¡¯t need qigong or anything. If I had just accumulated aura forever, I would have gone through those [Breakthroughs] just like I went now.


    Well, maybe it was good to learn qigong. Since this breakthrough was terrifying.


    Really.


    I literally got shredded to nothing and then returned.


    What the fuck was that.


    But at least I have an explanation.


    That said, I¡¯m only thinking that because I don¡¯t want to think about the other thing that just happened, hahaha¡­.


    As soon as I got home mother gave me a big, worried hug. Then she checked me all over.


    I guess grandmother told her I was going through tough times, since she seemed very relieved.


    Then it was time to meet older sister.


    She came off of Jacen¡¯s room and I ran to her. We hugged like we had never seen each other.


    Aaah.


    The scent on her skin.


    You know, the scent of a woman¡¯s skin. One which you have had intimate relations with. It¡¯s a wonderful thing.


    It¡¯s not the smell. I¡¯m not talking about any smelly sweat.


    It¡¯s just something that sticks to the clothes.


    Like umami flavor. You can¡¯t really taste umami, the same way you can¡¯t really smell a woman¡¯s scent.


    But it¡¯s there.


    Your brain knows it¡¯s there. Your body know it¡¯s there. And they will make you feel safe.


    I wonder if it¡¯s pheromones or something?


    No matter.


    It makes you feel good. Safe. Invigorated. Like you own yourself, life and strength.


    So I was enjoying sister¡¯s scent, thinking she may had been enjoying mine as well, when she let me go due to a certain¡­


    calling¡­ from the sides.


    ¡°Ann! Ann!¡±


    ¡°Oh, you want a hug too? Here.¡±


    ¡­


    WHY?!


    WHY LITTLE SISTER AGAIN?!


    I suffer.


    And now she wants to hug me as well.


    ¡°All! Hughs!¡±


    *sigh*


    Come here young one. I shall be strong of heart and hate you with brotherly hate only.


    ***


    Aaah¡­


    I wonder.


    As I remain seated in the living room, I wonder, lost deeply in thought.


    Why is that, oh well, obviously it¡¯s because I¡¯m doing it.


    I¡¯m waiting to see if sister is going to come to me.


    The day was fun and all.


    Eating with sister, smelling sister¡¯s pheromones, hearing about her journey.


    I didn¡¯t keep tag on her ALL of the time, so it¡¯s fun to hear new stories, like the one on how drinking beer isn¡¯t common outside of the village.


    I¡¯m shocked by the idea that people drink unpurified river water outside of our village.


    Really.


    Shocked.


    I need to ask about this to grandma later, but¡­


    Not today.


    Oh no. Oh no mister.


    Today I ain¡¯t going to go training. I ain¡¯t going to go ask stuff to grandma, I ain¡¯t going to go to do any-fucking-thing.


    Unless it¡¯s fucking sister.


    Oh man.


    I need it so much!


    It¡¯s not that I feel unrestrained desire. There¡¯s no desire involved.


    But I just need it.


    I had so much homo sex. I need some hetero to regain some of my ¡°macho¡± juice.


    Some woman nectar to create hair in my chest and proudness in my beard.


    Not that I have any of those.


    So, that¡¯s why I wait.


    Even if I know the chances of sister coming out of Jacen¡¯s room are high.


    Even if I know the chances of grandma¡¯s soul interrupting us midway and looking at me with unmerciful eyes.


    I JUST FUCKING NEED TO FEEL LIKE A WOMAN-FUCKING MAN AGAIN!


    So I wait.


    Let¡¯s hope something miraculous happens.


    ***


    Being horny makes people do weird shit.


    And man, is sister horny.


    I mean, she didn¡¯t have a single partner all of these years. I¡¯m pretty sure she didn¡¯t.


    So she¡¯s packed up and I¡¯m glad she took the initiative¡­ again.


    Except¡­


    She¡¯s damn rough this time. Maybe it¡¯s because she knows I¡¯m already past her in strength or because she doesn¡¯t fear expending some aura now that she has gone through her own [Breakthrough], but it looks a lot like [Joint Training], and not exactly sex per se.


    It may be a little late at night, but father and mother are in the other room you know?!


    Thanks the heavens I know how to extend the [Cotton Step] technique to take the whole room.


    ~~Aaaaah~~


    You know what, I may not have any sexual needs, but pleasure is pleasure. Besides, it¡¯s sister! Sister is doing this to me again!


    Oh the masculinity!


    I can feel the hetero parts of me rejoicing!


    Someone is lighting up the fuses. Someone is giving me the po-po-po-power!


    I even bet my ass has become a little tighter after that, like as if I hadn¡¯t put anything inside that place yet.


    Thanks the gods I know what is going on. Otherwise this may have been very confusing.


    Uuuhm~~~ older sister weight on top of me really is the best!


    It makes me feel so fucking goood~~


    ***


    ¡°Thanks !¡±


    ¡°Enjoy it, Wax. Now go play with your friends.¡±


    ~~Ugh.


    I have made a mistake.


    I have let people call me ¡°wax¡± because of the whole me getting a honeycomb to sister thing, and now this has become my nickname in the village.


    I¡¯m Wax, the kid who went to get honeycomb and had to dive into the river.


    Well, it doesn¡¯t matter.


    Because I sister gave me something so good yesterday, I¡¯m refreshed enough not to care in the slightest.


    Aaah.


    Here.


    My tree of choice. Since sister is gone to the fields in order to help grandpa with weeding out the crops, I don¡¯t have anything out of the usual to do.


    Let¡¯s sit on the same place as ever and¡­


    Uh?


    Wait¡­


    This thing has a soul?!


    And it is¡­.


    It¡¯s my [Forest Spirit]¡¯s soul!


    The fuck!


    So fast!


    Ah, it¡¯s extending to touch me. Its feelings are still quite pure and nice, even if it¡¯s not exactly the same as when it was born.


    There¡¯s some element of wilderness on it.


    Some sadness, probably for having lived a bit under the law of the jungle.


    Still, it¡¯s my little friend. Or maybe son?


    Wait¡­ [Daughter], is that?


    Really, you¡¯re a female?


    Nice.


    Ah, I should stop for a moment exchanging feelings with you. I need to let grandma knows. What if you¡¯re dangerous?


    No,no,no, I don¡¯t mean you feel ill malice against us, but we don¡¯t know. What if something happens because you¡¯re here?


    Wait a moment, I will be back soon.


    ***


    ¡°Grandma! Grandma!¡±


    ¡°What is it darling?¡±


    Grandma is on the backyard of her house, putting some clothes to dry. I better tell her with my soul¡¯s voice, so the other¡¯s don¡¯t hear about it.


    ¡°It has reached us!¡±


    ¡°Uh? What has?¡±


    ¡°The [Forest Spirit]! It has taken the tree I usually sleep under!¡±


    Ah, grandma dropped the pair of pants she was hanging. They are all dirty now.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go¡±


    She¡¯s talking with her usual voice now.


    ¡°Okay¡±


    I hope she doesn¡¯t do anything too drastic.


    Here we come¡­


    Uh?


    Ah, it has spread itself again.


    It¡¯s all over the village now.


    What a fast-moving spirit. Already took all of the trees around.


    ¡­grandma isn¡¯t happy. That¡¯s a bit scary.


    Yeah, the spirit seems a bit scared as well. That¡¯s the right way to stay my friend.


    Here grandma comes after all.


    And she¡¯s talking with her soul, like I was before.


    ¡°Alma, what do you think you¡¯re doing? Haven¡¯t I said you should remain within the forest?!¡±


    ¡°Sorry Ma! I wanted to know Pa!¡±


    Eh¡­ it can talk.


    Wait, What?


    ¡°Your father would go see you later today. You didn¡¯t need to come to see him.¡±


    ¡°But I wanted to!¡±


    ¡°Do you know what you have done?! What if someone sees you? You will bring trouble to your father and to me as well, you know?!¡±


    ¡°Sorry¡­¡±


    Hey¡­ ey ey ey, what is going on? Why are the trees around the village losing their souls?


    Wait¡­ they are losing their leaves¡­.


    They are dying!


    ¡°Alma, stop it. You don¡¯t need to kill your trees just to go away. It would be worse.¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    Grandma is sighing.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay kid. Just don¡¯t do it again. Now, come over Alvin. This is your [Forest Spirit]. I named it Alma.¡±


    Ha.


    Haha.


    What should I say to this child of my relations with grandmother?


    ***


    It seems the mind which took over Alma¡¯s soul wasn¡¯t totally free of memories of its past life.


    Since it was a mind coming over a soul, it didn¡¯t need to go through the usual *reset* a mind gets when reincarnating. It had only a softened version of it.


    The one inhabiting my [Forest Spirit] is the mind of a youngster from somewhere in the world. Probably a teenager if it¡¯s way of speaking say something about it.


    It doesn¡¯t remember much of its previous life, only that it used to be alive in a flesh and bones body and that it lived a difficult life.


    Then it got attached to my [Forest Spirit] because it had a good affinity to it.


    That¡¯s interesting. Maybe a clue to the [Reincarnation] spell. This fact that losing memories still happens when you get a new soul after being a mind for long, but isn¡¯t so severe as when you get a body.


    The thing about me being its father and grandmother being its mother?


    It seems the little one had an easier time comprehending things like this when it had just awakened, so grandma took the liberty of saying things like this to it.


    In a way it¡¯s true since the [Forest Spirit] is the fruition of grandma¡¯s knowledge and my actions, but it¡¯s too weird being called father at my own age.


    When these feelings passed through my soul the [Forest Spirit] started to laugh and grandma gave a smile.


    She knows. The [Forest Spirit] knows.


    Was this a prank those two pulled on me?


    *sigh*


    When will I learn?


    I put up my [Soul Isolation] technique like it was before I started to ¡°talk¡± with the [Forest Spirit] using my soul¡¯s irradiations instead of my Soul-Mouth.


    That said, it¡¯s pretty weird that me and grandma are seated on the middle of the village, looking at one another without saying anything.


    I feel we haven¡¯t blown our cover yet, but isn¡¯t this pretty close of doing so?


    ***


    In the end grandma returned home and me and Alma stayed under my favorite tree, coming to know each other better.


    It¡¯s set that the trees she took in the village will remain with her, while the ones she didn¡¯t will remain without a soul.


    She took most of the trees, so that means she will be around most of the time.


    And that¡¯s a good thing, but also a bad thing.


    Because Alma is very lively and fun, but also a bit rebellious.


    The first thing she did after coming to the village was to spread her control over the trees around, taking them.


    Then, once grandma told her she couldn¡¯t, she started to remove herself from the trees¡­ which almost killed many of them, since the aura within the trees started to follow her soul.


    Then she returned her soul to the trees, and they started to recover. Still, they are in pretty bad shape.


    It¡¯s possible that the villagers will notice that the trees have dried suddenly and think something bad is happening.


    No, it¡¯s almost certain.


    This is the kind of personality Alma has.


    She will do things impulsively and then make them worse when she gets scolded.


    All with the best of intentions.


    Sigh.


    Should I have had a little more self-control and avoided creating her?


    After all, I survived this long without a friend¡­ couldn¡¯t I have survived a couple years more?


    Anyhow, she¡¯s here now.


    So we have been talking with our souls. I wander around, showing the village to her and commenting on people¡¯s lives.


    ¡­


    Damn, why is this so good?


    She does have a sense of humor which matches mine!


    And she can see people¡¯s souls and auras, just like I can!


    So we joke of the same things, and have fun together.


    It¡¯s so good having someone to laugh with!


    ***


    Aaah~~~~


    What can I say?


    Yesterday was weird.


    First, the whole village got a bit worried when people noticed the almost-dead trees. They called everyone to the center of the village and sent a delegation to grandma¡¯s house.


    It¡¯s really weird to see people going to your grandmother¡¯s house in an official delegation.


    The ones in it were the village¡¯s militia¡¯s guard, Forehead, our village¡¯s chief, Uller, and Matthew Dorian.


    Still, everything went smooth. They got tea and grandma said it was the emergence of a [Forest Spirit].


    I got sincerely surprised with how happy they got.


    I mean, really happy.


    So happy we had a fucking festival!


    The news spread around in a flash and, by eight o¡¯ clock we already had everyone gathered at the center of the village, eating, drinking and talking happily.


    I thought about asking grandma why, but I didn¡¯t have a chance to, since at the middle of the thing Uller got up and yelled:


    ¡°EVERYONE!¡±


    People looked at him and he went, his mustached and round face being all red while illuminated by the torches people put around for illumination:


    ¡°Marie of the Long Lived Race confirmed it earlier today. A FOREST SPIRIT HAS BEEN BORN ON OUR FOREST!¡±


    Cheers and screams. Holy cows of India, the people are even jumping on the place.


    ¡°MARIE OF THE LONG LIVED RACE! PLEASE COME! Have the seat of honor! TONIGHT WE TELL TALES TO THE FOREST SPIRITS!¡±


    And so they went all night long telling tales to the forest spirit.


    Well, I can¡¯t say they were boring, but the weirder part of that was that this seems to be an old custom done only once every 30 years.


    That or yearly if a [Forest Spirit] is born.


    We could say it¡¯s a form of collective praying, in which everyone tells tales of how [Forest Spirits] are nice and gentle and aggressive when they need to be.


    Probably a way of creating forest spirits itself, since some of the tales had spells mixed In them.


    It was also interesting to notice how it¡¯s perfectly possible to infuse spells into usual singing.


    You just need to make the lyrics taking into account the mantra-like sounds, so those stay at the strong syllables.


    This way when people are singing they will sing the spell while singing the song as well.


    A shame I¡¯m no poet, or I could make use of that.


    Still, very smart. And very intense. Some of those singings are even soul spells. I¡¯m sincerely surprised people can sing them, but everyone¡¯s feelings get tuned to the right frequencies due to the music, tales and so on.


    On another words, it¡¯s like a collective ritual where people go through a series of theatrical acts in order to get the right feelings and emotions, so when they sing the spell they actually DO something instead of just pretending to do.


    Amazing.


    Just amazing.


    A shame the emperor¡¯s curse made it impossible for regular people to create a [Forest Spirit] with just this level of ritual, what to say for them to be able to do it while repeating the ritual only once every 30 years, but, still, amazing.


    How did Alma react to all this?


    Well, she absorbed the emotions and energy given to her as expected.


    For a moment I feared that she would change due to that, but she didn¡¯t.


    Since my own emotions had been the decisive factor for choosing which mind would inhabit her soul, the feelings which were too dissonant to the ones I infused her with got digested by her soul and transformed into something else.


    Anyhow, it was nice.


    Grandma had obviously made a contract with Alma regarding how she would deal with the village long before she took the trees around, but she still sung and had fun in the middle of the people.


    It was nice for her, and they became drunk on the niceness of the emotions emanating from her soul, so that was really touching to see.


    I wonder if they realize Alma¡¯s still a young spirit with just a few hundred trees now, but seen as they were already choosing a ¡°sacred tree¡± inside of the village to represent the village¡¯s connection to Alma, I guess things will go fine.


    Today?


    Well, I have plenty of monster ash and refined monster soul remains left, so I intend to feed all of them to her.


    Let¡¯s go and do it.


    ***


    Alma¡¯s trees are only a few hundred and in almost straight line. She did her best to reach the village, it seems.


    But on the other side, she has also expended quite a lot of energy.


    So I will be spreading all of my mixed purified monster ash and soul remains around those trees, increasing the amount she can absorb at once.


    There we go¡­


    ¡°I think this is the last of those Alma.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Pa!¡±


    Ugh there she goes calling me father again. She knows I¡¯m not that.


    ¡°Hehehe.¡±


    And she¡¯s even laughing!


    What a mischievous thing! And they call it gentle!


    Sigh¡­.


    ¡°All, what will you do with those?¡±


    Alma is pointing to the mana pebbles inside the monster ash golem-vases.


    It¡¯s a good question. I don¡¯t intend to leave them be, of course.


    ¡°Uhm. I guess I will just fuse them together with the big one I have on my house¡¯s celling. It will be easier to control them like this. Why, do you want one?¡±


    ¡°NO!¡±


    What a strong answer. Cute, but strong!


    ¡°Eh? You don¡¯t like those?¡±


    ¡°They fell awful! They make me feel bad!¡±


    Uh.


    I guess that makes sense.


    They are the seeds of dungeons after all. Kind of natural enemies of [Forest Spirits] since they absorb the aura from the environment and dominate everything around. Just like monsters do as well.


    ¡°Okay, don¡¯t worry, I will take these with me.¡±


    ¡°Hey, All¡­¡±


    ¡°Uhm? What is it?¡±


    ¡°Did you use those to make me?¡±


    Oh. What a question. Should I answer it truly? She seems to be pretty scared of those things after all.


    ¡­


    Bullshit. She will see much worse things in the future. Besides, if I lie here then this could be bad in the future, right?


    A little white lie, she develops some kind of prejudice against mana pebbles, I need one of those, her feelings are hurt because I lied.


    This kind of scenario.


    Let¡¯s avoid tragedy flags. She won¡¯t be too traumatized from knowing her enemies are needed to be used to create beings like her¡­


    Oh, wait, they don¡¯t.


    Right. If I explain it properly she will understand she doesn¡¯t need to rely on these things for anything, and will keep destroying them¡­


    ¡°ALL!¡±


    ¡°Wha- what ?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re taking too long to answer! It makes me nervous!¡±


    *sigh*


    ¡°I do like thinking before answering you know? And yes, I used those to make the ash for your soul and tree. But they don¡¯t need to be used all of the time. It was just because I wanted to make you come to existence in a few months instead of hundreds of years.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    Her soul seems a bit disappointed. I wonder if I gave her some of my depression as well, besides the good feelings?


    ¡­let¡¯s hope I didn¡¯t.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t make that face. You don¡¯t need to show mercy to those things. I used them, but they aren¡¯t meant to be left wild. If you do, it will hurt everyone.¡±


    ¡°¡­uhm.¡±


    ¡­


    Still sad hum.


    ¡°But it seems this isn¡¯t the problem. Why are you sad?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I didn¡¯t want to have to get rid of them¡­ monsters are okay because it can¡¯t be helped¡­ they just appear and that¡¯s it¡­ but you created the pebbles, just like you created me. Aren¡¯t them my brothers?¡±


    Ah.


    Now I feel bad.


    And for some reason I remember a certain golem I created once, and which displayed a little soul.


    Poor Enrico Emilio the First.


    I still remember your clay eyes looking at me with loyalty.


    And then I smashed him.


    Damn, I get sad remembering that.


    Arh.


    Now isn¡¯t the time to think like this.


    It didn¡¯t have a mind.


    It was like a computer program. Like a machine. Just obeying orders without a mind, thoughts or will.


    I don¡¯t need to feel like I killed one of my children, right?


    Yeah.


    Let¡¯s make Alma understand this as well.


    ¡°Nope. They aren¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Uh?¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t have minds, darling. They have only souls and bodies. They aren¡¯t different from regular rocks. You shouldn¡¯t feel like they are your brothers, because you have a mind and a will. You are a person. They aren¡¯t. They are just like the trees you take for yourself. Do you feel those trees are people?¡±


    ¡°No. They are empty inside.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the same thing. Those pebbles have souls, but are empty on their minds. So don¡¯t worry about them okay? Besides, I won¡¯t destroy them. I will merge them onto the big crystal I have on my house¡¯s ceiling.¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t destroy them?!¡±


    ¡°Of course not. They may be useful in the future. You can make a lot of things from them, you know?¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    He.


    Nice to see she is in good spirits again. No pun intended.


    That said, have I just called Alma ¡°darling¡±?


    ¡­.yeah I did.


    Good heavens. Am I becoming my grandmother?!


    ***


    So, talking with Alma is super fun.


    Knowing she¡¯s watching me and Ann have sex¡­. Not so fun.


    I mean, she only has limited range of observation from her trees. [Forest Spirits] have a very strong wiring, much like [Soul Grounding], since their bodies are very brute.


    So they can¡¯t go very far on [Soul Walking]. Only a few meters away from their trees.


    Still, that¡¯s enough.


    I can see her watching from the other side of the window.


    Damn kid, stop that.


    How will I savor sister¡¯s taste with you giggling on the outside?


    My training?


    I have just returned from it.


    Me and sister have been doing this late night, once I return from my training and we know grandma won¡¯t be too pissed at us.


    And, let me say, grandma isn¡¯t happy with us being together.


    She didn¡¯t say a word to me directly, but she stayed at our house later one day and said to Ann:


    ¡°You need to train more your [Aura Hiding] technique. I can see Alvin¡¯s aura mixed with yours.¡±


    Now, the words may not seem threatening, but the face¡­


    Oh boy, the face.


    Besides, Jacen was there and heard it¡­ I wonder how pissed off he is at us having sex.


    I don¡¯t sleep in the same room as he and Ann do, and I don¡¯t have any other opportunities to talk to him directly without mother or father hearing us.


    I mean, I can¡¯t just ask him what are his thoughts on me and sister fucking in the middle of breakfast.


    ¡­even if he did make a very similar question to father when we were younger. Asking if me and he could fuck and stuff like that.


    Well, that said, me and Ann started having sex every two days instead of every day and when I return from night training instead of before I go.


    And since we have been at It for a while now I have also started to take the initiative a few times.


    It¡¯s nice to ask her to do stuff to me, or for us to try new things.


    Ann is amazingly open to try new stuff. I guess her Willpower talent isn¡¯t the same as being a dom.


    She¡¯s just a regular girl, but with extreme resilience when she sets her mind on getting something.


    That¡¯s nice.


    Anyhow, tomorrow I need to scold Alma for peeping¡­. Again.


    She is good natured and gentle, but she does like to play little pranks on us, like this one of watching me and Ann having sex.


    Not that she can ever have sex with me or want to. She¡¯s no dryad.


    It¡¯s just for the pleasure of knowing I will be a little pissed at her. Just a little.


    ¡°Yes¡­ more like this¡­¡±


    Oh, I found sister¡¯s sweet spot again, haven¡¯t I?


    I may have only a little eight-years-old penis, but I¡¯m getting really good at using it.


    Let¡¯s enjoy this discovery a little more. Last time I didn¡¯t payed attention to the exact spot, so let¡¯s make sure I can find it again later.


    ***


    I have already learned all of the soul techniques and spells grandma knows off, to perfection.


    Be it [Soul Grounding], [Holy Guard], [Cleanse], [Soul Release], [Magic Flexibility: Undead Creation], [Soul Weapon], [Soul Armor], [Soul Analysis], [Soul Isolation], [Soul Cushion], [Soul Magic Flexibility: Time and Space], [Soul Gate], [Soul Magic Flexibility: Materialization and Dematerialization], [Soul Dissolution], [Soul Magic Flexibility: Blessing and Cursing], [Soul Surgery], [Soul Overload], [Feeling Insertion], or my own spell: [Undead Apocalypse].


    I mastered them all.


    And it is a whole lot of them¡­ [Soul Surgery], [Soul Overload], [Feeling Insertion] and [Soul Bending and Transmutation] being the last ones I have learned, the first being how to properly cut souls, the second how to infuse energy into them to the point they beat the curse or explode and the third how to insert feelings into souls and make them a part of the soul-system.


    But it isn¡¯t the most important I have learned about souls.


    Oh no.


    The most important things I learned about souls was how feelings mix together and react with one another.


    If I mix two parts anger and one-part ignorance, both about the same subject, what happens?


    That would be the annoying feeling of ¡°needing to destroy the foreign thing¡±.


    Which is quite similar to when I mix one-part fear with two parts run-or-fight feeling about the same subject, let¡¯s say, a monster¡¯s nest.


    Then one would create the ¡°need to destroy the threat¡± feeling.


    Of course, both can be also brewed with other feelings. For example, the ¡°need to destroy the threat¡± can be gotten by mixing the feeling of ¡°duty¡± with the feeling of ¡°hardened resolution¡± if you add to this mix the feeling of ¡°something is threatening my duty¡±.


    Yes, yes, soul chemistry is really interesting. And quite useful.


    For example, there are mixes which will just explode, like [Holy Guard] casted on hate-and-violence based, poorly-wired, undead.


    And I learned all of that.


    And now is time to move to higher learnings.


    Yes.


    Grandma will finally teach me the third degree of magic.


    Not that I don¡¯t know how to do a little bit of it already. Since long I have used visualization to help me with all kinds of magic I do.


    But now grandma will officially teach me how to do it. And this means also how to do other amazing things, like how to see people¡¯s minds and go on [Mind Walking].


    LET¡¯S DO IT!


    ¡­ after dinner is over, of course.


    It¡¯s important to hear about how the dojo people were all weaklings near sister and the city folk a bunch of lazy-asses.


    Why if I have heard it a number of times already?


    Because little sister is listening attentively, as if she had been captivated into a spell.


    I won¡¯t lose Ann to you, little demon! I won¡¯t!


    ***


    ¡°Hold it steady. You¡¯re shaking a bit.¡±


    Damn it be.


    I¡¯m holding an [Aura Bow] on my hands now.


    And it¡¯s a very strong one.


    Grandma made me make it so tense I will feel difficulty to hold it in position, even while being the well of aura I currently am.


    The aura consumption of this thing is astronomic.


    No wonder I¡¯m shaking.


    But she just insisted I must learn it like as if I was a cadet at a military school. From the basics. Feeling the pull of the cord.


    Why?


    Because we had to do a quick revision of everything today.


    We just HAD to!


    Argh.


    The worst is, it was my idea.


    I went all ¡°Grandma, can we go through everything I learned to see if there¡¯s something wrong?¡±


    And then both of us noticed it.


    That I hadn¡¯t trained enough with the bow and arrow.


    I went from using stick spears to [Aura Needles] so quick I didn¡¯t had time to train with either the bow, the mace, the axe or the throwing daggers.


    The throwing daggers have the same principle as the [Aura Needles] with the exception of being a little harder to aim.


    But the Axe has a lot of weird moves, and the Mace requires unsuspecting precision to be used.


    Then there¡¯s the flail and, worse of all, the bow.


    I have enough skill with swords and spears, and in the process got some skill with batons, naginatas and such.


    But more classical weapons are my weak spot.


    So let¡¯s learn how to use them effectively.


    First the basics, then messing with people¡¯s minds.


    ¡°Now shoot it in angle.¡±


    Yeah. First the basics. Except I¡¯m not using an arrow because it may pierce the mountains in the distance, due the absurd amount of aura I¡¯m expending on this damn bow.


    *sigh*


    Didn¡¯t do it right the first time, do it double in the second. First training how to properly feel a bow, then how to shoot an arrow.


    Grandma is merciless when it comes to training.


    ***


    What¡¯s this fucker doing here?


    Forehead, I mean.


    He¡¯s at our door, this early in the morning.


    Argh, father is doing that military thing to him. Continence or whatever. Now Jacen as well.


    ¡°You both can rest.¡±


    ¡°Thanks sir. Would you like to come in?¡±


    ¡°Please.¡±


    Well, at least he has manners.


    And now mother is offering him a cup of beer.


    I don¡¯t like this.


    I definitely don¡¯t like this feeling of a stranger in my house, coming all of a sudden.


    He drank his beer, and then looked at sister. Older sister.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re Jhon¡¯s daughter eh? I¡¯m Johnson, your father¡¯s superior.¡±


    ¡°Uh.¡±


    He raised an eyebrow.


    You go Ann! Show this intruder we won¡¯t have people bothering us at the morning like this!


    ¡°Your father said you intend to go to the tournament to try your chances at the army. Is that true?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I will be a knight.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Aiming for the first prize, that¡¯s good. But you will be enrolled in the army as long as you show enough skill you know? You don¡¯t need to win the first prize.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. I want to be a knight.¡±


    Eeh¡­


    What is this all about?


    And why are you tensing up your body, forehead?


    Let¡¯s look at your soul and know¡­


    Uhm.


    Feelings of envy and despise¡­ nostalgia¡­ I can also see some negation and a good deal of annoyance.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t so easy you know? Even if you¡¯re at your maximum in Aura, there will be others like that as well. Getting to the quarters-of-final should be a good standard. Not everyone can become nobility by just winning a contest.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    And Ann is silent.


    Good answer.


    No need to retort to this bitter old man. He may have lost, but you will win!


    Yeah!


    ¡°You said there will be others which hit the Aura Aggregate Limit?¡±


    Ah.


    She was just surprised?


    Ann?


    You¡¯re not losing your confidence, are you?


    ¡°You realized it now. I myself have been there in the past. There were at least four others like me. In the end I managed to get enrolled and work my ten years¡­ then I enrolled for another ten years¡­ and then I decided to find something less troublesome and came to work under Blackscale.¡±


    ¡°And why haven¡¯t you tried again? I heard plenty of people do it.¡±


    Forehead took another large gulp of his beer. Could you please stop drinking so fast?


    It¡¯s awful to see mother subserviently filling you cup every time you finish your drink. And this is the third time already!


    ¡°Once you become enrolled in the army they will work you to the bone. There is no way you can keep your Aura Aggregate Amount so high as the first time. People usually fall to half of their original strength until they send them to do the usual tasks. The ones you see returning every year have either refused to enroll in the army or got themselves some easy job in a ready-to-go garrison.¡±


    Ah.


    So sister may not have a second chance, that¡¯s what this man is saying.


    Well, we can always help sister.


    I mean, if I give her a monster ash purification pot then I can hunt monsters while in [Soul Walk] and deliver then to her with [Aura Hand].


    Then she burns them and uses the ash to make aura-filled trees like the ones I created at my orchard.


    With those and grandma¡¯s technique, there is no way she won¡¯t be able to keep her Aura Aggregate Amount.


    ¡°I see, thank you for the advice.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not why I came here today.¡±


    Ah, forehead. Which feelings creep on your soul?


    Let¡¯s give a look¡­


    You¡¯re now with that feeling of putting old grudges to the side and focusing on something you wanted¡­


    Something which can give you power beyond regular, eh¡­


    I can see this thing on your soul. Oh, I can see it indeed.


    ¡°The reason I came here today was because I want you to teach the militia.¡±


    Eh?


    Eh?


    Wha..


    The hell forehead¡­


    ¡°Don¡¯t answer yet. Listen to me first. I won¡¯t do anything to your father, even if you refuse. But you have managed to become a Superior Being in only three years. That can¡¯t be done, even at the fastest of dojos in this world. My own transformation happened with a [Magic Transmutation] technique, and it took me six years. Your father says you have gone to a Dojo on the county¡¯s capital, so that¡¯s surely not what you used.¡±


    Ah, things are getting dangerous here¡­


    ¡°So? I cannot teach you the technique my Master gave me. I refused to become his daughter, so I do not own his [Lineage].¡±


    Forehead drank the last of the beer in his cup again. Then, as mother was going to refill it.


    ¡°It¡¯s enough Alice, thank you.¡±


    Well, he gulped down four mugs of beer, so I would be surprised if it weren¡¯t!


    You damn glutton.


    ¡°See, I have known your grandmother for a long time. It was she who noticed my wish for a peaceful life and asked Lord Blackscale for my transference to this village. And if there is a thing I have learned about her when we were traveling back here, it¡¯s that your grandmother has a lot of secrets.¡±


    Aaah¡­ I will have to kill him, won¡¯t I?


    He knows too much S2


    ¡°For example, we would travel for months and never once find something seriously threatening for our lives. We would find monsters and things like that, but we wouldn¡¯t be in real danger. Then after I came to this village¡­.¡±


    Forehead opened his arms.


    ¡°A beer which doesn¡¯t make you drunk and can avoid [Water Belly], [Four-Week Fever] and a lot of other diseases. An apothecary which is better with her herbs than the best doctors of the kingdom¡¯s capital. A family which can use the [Healing] spell. A whole family! Your mother never left this place, but you have. You know how rare healers are. And your grandmother who makes woman have two, three, sometimes even four children without even once fearing death or losing them. Ullma Dorian lost a lot of children, but where I come from she would be seen as a strong woman with a womb of steel. And all of that is connected to Marie. She is the one who taught the beer recipe to the brewmaster, she¡¯s the one who trained the midwives at how to handle labor, she was the one who taught the farmers here how to plant rotating crops. Isn¡¯t this village a paradise because of your grandmother?¡±


    Ah.


    Paradise.


    Really?


    Our poop-village is a paradise?


    Ullma¡¯s count of dead children is the one of a woman with ¡°womb of steel¡±?


    The world outside is even worse than the one here?


    *sigh*


    Oh right, everyone is silent.


    ¡°Uhum. I think your grandmother taught you a technique, and that the one you learned from the Dojo is just so you can present a master you studied under at the tournament. I want you to teach that technique to everyone in the militia.¡±


    Yep.


    That¡¯s it.


    He unveiled the secret.


    Time to kill.


    Aaah, it will be such a mess. The militia chef killed inside the militia¡¯s sergeant¡¯s home.


    We will have to pretend he was drunk or something.


    Maybe say he tried to rape mother or sister.


    We probably can get away with it if we pretend well. Everyone in this village likes us, so they probably won¡¯t ask too many questions.


    Still, it will be a mark on our reputation. Maybe people will start whispering things in the streets, like ¡°don¡¯t mess with Marie¡¯s family, or they will kill you¡±.


    And then we become like a Mafia in a reign of terror.


    Aarfh.


    How unpleasant.


    ¡°If you want to learn it, then ask my mother directly. Ann doesn¡¯t have her permission to teach the technique to others.¡±


    WOW!


    Mother took the initiative to retort to this man!


    That¡¯s so nice. Rising from the ¡°subservient wife¡± position to the ¡°go fuck yourself¡± position!


    You go Ma!


    ¡°I asked already. She said she would give it her blessings as long as Ann accepted to do it. I will put my neck on the line and say it¡¯s the technique she learned from her Master, so you don¡¯t need to worry.¡±


    ¡­


    Aaah.


    But I was ready to kill you!


    Not that I want to kill another humans, but¡­


    You know.


    Just for the thrills?


    Damn am I becoming cold.


    I wouldn¡¯t really have killed forehead, would I?


    I mean, his existence was just threatening my family¡¯s peace, but I wouldn¡¯t kill him, right?


    If I wanted to reform a murderer-rapist, then why not forehead?


    ¡­


    Well, I would kill the murderer-rapists if they were anywhere close my village though.


    ¡°My mother approved?¡±


    I would be surprised as well sister. I would be surprised as well.


    ¡°Yes. I talked to her yesterday and she approved.¡±


    Uhm.


    I suppose grandma wants to increase the fighting potential of the village.


    You know, so they can protect themselves in case something happens.


    Or maybe she just wants to create a place which resembles the old empire a bit.


    Like with everyone having higher living standards and stuff.


    After all, from what grandma says they had aqueducts back then.


    And if they had the tech to build aqueducts, then they should have the tech to build sewage systems.


    Truly a more sophisticated world.


    Maybe someday I will return here to see this little village turned into a decent city.


    That would be nice.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but no. I have to train.¡±


    Ann!


    Don¡¯t do this!


    What about the aqueducts? The sewage system?


    We need to produce Superior Beings in large scale! Otherwise it will take slavery to do it!


    ¡°I can allow you to use the militia¡¯s barracks to train. We have dummies and spare weapons and armor. And if that¡¯s not enough, then I can be your partner on [Joint Training]. I have already reached my Aura Aggregate Amount limit, so you will have someone of your level to train with.¡±


    Ann¡¯s soul was showing little more than disdain for the whole ¡°dummies and weapons¡± part, but it seems the idea of training with Forehead got her interest.


    Indeed, it seems like a good deal.


    If she does a lot of [Joint Training] with a hardened veteran which fought on the tournament many years ago, then she may have better chances.


    And now¡­. silence.


    ¡°I accept.¡±


    Yep.


    There we go.


    Go get¡¯em sis!


    I will be returning to my own training in the meanwhile. Damn bow lessons.

 Extra Chapter 39: Back Home

    What is this cute thing which hide behind mother¡¯s back as soon as I got home?


    I always thought a little sister would be detestable, but this child is so cute.


    She is called Johannah. Or Anna for short.


    She has mother¡¯s eyes and father¡¯s hair. But she¡¯s also happy, calm and¡­ just cute.


    I don¡¯t think we ever had someone with this kind of temperament here at home.


    Someone who is smiling at all times. Jacen would smile when we gave him things, and All when he achieved things.


    But the small one is happy whenever we are near her.


    I guess she likes people. That¡¯s how it is.


    ***


    For a few days everyone was a bit tense. Grandmother told us that something was happening to Alvin, and managed to scare us a bit.


    However, it didn¡¯t matter much for me.


    Grandma¡¯s technique for raising one¡¯s aura aggregate demands that I keep my heart calm and my mind focused.


    So I didn¡¯t feel it as much as the others.


    I would share their concern during meals, but that was it. Training took all of the rest of my time, and in the end I managed to make progress.


    I can feel my Aura Aggregate Amount increasing at amazing speeds. Grandmother¡¯s technique shall give me an edge above the other people at the tournament.


    My opponent will probably be one of the finalists from last year. They are strong, but I can do better.


    Let¡¯s pat Anna¡¯s head for a bit. Your older brother will be fine.


    She thanked me with a hug to the sides.


    This child is adorable.


    ***


    Alvin is back.


    He has grown a bit, but he¡¯s still¡­.


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    I haven¡¯t thought much about what we did when I left home, but suddenly I¡­


    Uhmf.


    The cuteness of a young boy is different from the one of a young girl after all.


    I should go talk to him.


    It seems his [Spiritual] talent has fully bloomed and he doesn¡¯t need to sleep anymore.


    A little bit of late night talking should be good for the two of us.


    Maybe he has discovered something about grandmother¡¯s technique, something to make it better.


    His face is really ripe, isn¡¯t it?


    Jacen is a bit too old now. I can start seeing hair on his face, and his shoulders are getting larger.


    I don¡¯t like this. He¡¯s becoming too¡­ argh, I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t like it.


    But Alvin¡¯s still on a good age.


    He¡¯s still¡­


    ***


    Jacen doesn¡¯t say anything.


    He has peeked a couple times, and probably saw Alvin¡¯s smile. So he¡¯s not worried about what we¡¯re doing.


    Maybe he¡¯s even a bit relieved, I think.


    Grandmother is a lot angrier, however.


    I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s because of what we are doing, or because I have been training less.


    I¡¯m waking too early. I¡¯m not getting enough sleep.


    I should stop this.


    What am I doing, putting Alvin ahead of my training?


    Ain¡¯t I going to do something with my life? Ain¡¯t I going to become a knight?


    That¡¯s right.


    Enough of this.


    I have gotten carried by something. I need to return to my training.


    Once every two nights should be good, but no more than that.


    Otherwise I won¡¯t train as hard as I can.

 Extra Chapter 40: Thinking

    I feel like I can think now.


    It was like I lived a dream all of those years. Like as if I could just answer automatically to things.


    But I can think now.


    Thanks to father.


    It started when I went to have training with the militia. I¡¯m becoming a good soldier, and a soldier must think.


    You never know what you need to face, so you need to be ready. To be able to listen and understand.


    To look at everything without getting tired, but without losing your attention as well.


    I wonder if Alvin knows what I¡¯m talking about?


    He¡¯s strong, but he doesn¡¯t have enough attention.


    He isn¡¯t alert enough.


    It happened more than once. He stood by the gate with me, father and our companion.


    He would soon look for something else to do, besides watching the outside.


    One must always be alert to the outside.


    Father may seem like he¡¯s joking and looking for ways to pass his time, but he will spot anything wrong immediately.


    Once someone needs help, he will see it.


    A few days ago he was playing three-face dice with Filli. I thought he wouldn¡¯t see when Rudolf came out of the woods with his feet hurt, but as soon as I could see him father and Filli saw him as well.


    That¡¯s what brother can¡¯t do.


    Remain alert even when he¡¯s playing.


    So I don¡¯t know if he can think as well, because thinking only happens when you¡¯re alert and aware.


    If you let yourself be taken by impressions, then you won¡¯t think.


    Like right now.


    Sister is doing that to him again.


    Is he thinking?


    Doesn¡¯t he think it¡¯s weird?


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.We didn¡¯t saw adults doing this to kids when we were young. Why sister does it?


    I asked Ralphe once, he said adults shouldn¡¯t do that to kids. It will hurt them.


    Still, there is no way sister will hurt Alvin.


    He¡¯s too strong for her.


    I can¡¯t see his aura because he¡¯s always using [Aura Hiding], but I can notice some things he does.


    When he comes back home.


    He sometimes brings wild herbs like Old Willow with him.


    Old Willow only grows in places far, far deep into the forest. Ralphe said it would take him over a month of traveling if he was to try and find a place so deep.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t that far, but if it¡¯s in the middle of the forest then there are no roads. You take eight days to walk the same you would in a single day of walking on a path.¡±


    A month of traveling.


    And he does that every night. Probably by jumping on the three branches instead of walking in the ground.


    That would use a lot of aura, and still he¡¯s always accumulating more and more.


    Alvin is strong. Sister wouldn¡¯t stand a chance to make him do anything. She wouldn¡¯t stand a chance of hurting him.


    Still¡­


    It feels wrong.


    We did that when I was young, and back then I was confuse.


    I wasn¡¯t thinking.


    I couldn¡¯t say yes or no. I couldn¡¯t decide.


    Not how I can now.


    It feels wrong.


    But Alvin is stronger than me and sister, and he¡¯s always wanting more from her.


    When it was just the two of us, for a time I also asked for more.


    Why did I do that?


    I should sleep.


    It¡¯s too late now. Tomorrow I will have guarding duty.

 Extra Chapter 41: Power

    I have trained for many years now.


    I can¡¯t keep an exact track of how many, to be true. I never learned how to count properly.


    But it was enough for my hair to become white at the sides. For me to enlist to the royal army twice.


    All this time I have been training because of what someone said to me once.


    I was just a boy at the time.


    A hungry boy on the street.


    Passed out again, in the cold.


    It wouldn¡¯t be long before I died.


    And when it happened, my body would be eaten by the dungeon. The dungeon beneath the city, were the [Dungeon Master] would suck the aura from the dead.


    It was common for us.


    The king had given that dungeon to the [Master] many, many years in the past. The village was founded because the [Master] had conquered the dungeon and desired for trading.


    Dungeons are powerful things, and valuable things as well.


    They can be used to breed monsters with cores in then, and those monsters become obedient to the will of the dungeon.


    They can be used to harvest aura greater than any mortal man can muster by itself. And then use this aura.


    They can even make a human ageless, as the dungeon¡¯s crystal entwine itself to the [Dungeon¡¯s Master] body and soul.


    So those who Accomplish getting to the last floor of a dungeon and fusing with the crystal within become beyond human, and bring prosperity to wherever they are.


    Our city was prosperous back then.


    We didn¡¯t have good crops since the dungeon would suck the energy from the ground, but the [Dungeon Master] would trade monster cores, hides and other items with us.


    Then we would trade those with merchants and travelers, and also farmers from far away, and we would live good lives.


    But I was unfortunate.


    My parents had died. I had become diseased and couldn¡¯t work anymore.


    I tried begging, but it only worked in the Autumn, when people had a lot to spare.


    Winter was too cold, and in spring no one would sell me cheap food.


    So I started to break in into houses to sleep, and steal to eat.


    It was just a little, so I wasn¡¯t arrested. But I couldn¡¯t work and I people wouldn¡¯t give me things if I begged anymore.


    So I started to pass out of hunger.


    One of the things the [Dungeon Master] ordered us was to throw the dead inside of the dungeon.


    Cemeteries are dangerous. Dead people can come back to life, and hex rats can be born of regular rats eating the corpses, so that¡¯s why everyone burns the dead.


    But not there.


    There, the [Dungeon] would spread its invisible hands over the dead, and feed on their corpses.


    That would be my fate, sooner or later.


    Passed out in the cold, there was no mistake.


    Until someone touched my shoulder and I felt warm.


    I couldn¡¯t see who was the one who healed me.


    My eyes were foggy because of the cold.


    But I was healed.


    And the person said to me: ¡°Get up. Take this and find yourself something to do.¡±


    It was a woman¡¯s voice under the hood, and I felt heavy coins on my hand.


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    I replied with the greater compliment we knew at my town.


    ¡°May you become an Accomplished someday.¡±


    The woman scorned and said to me:


    ¡°There are better things to be than that.¡±


    Those words marked my heart. They became the foundation of my belief. Of my belief that there was something greater than being a [Dungeon Master].


    Once I heard the legend of how people could become greater than the Accomplished by secret methods of training I started to believe even more.


    That was it.


    That was the thing my savior was talking about.


    And that was the thing I was looking for all these years.


    At least until now.


    I¡¯m too old.


    It¡¯s time to face it.


    The greater and more expensive spell of [Magical Transmutation] I could buy wasn¡¯t enough to make me go beyond the Superior Human limit.


    I tried for many years, but after seeing the witches¡¯ daughter coming back I realized it was futile.


    The spell won¡¯t miraculously start to work after eighteen years. It hasn¡¯t brought the smallest of changes to my body in all of this time, it won¡¯t bring any now.


    Still, the abnormal.


    I always kept my distance from her.


    She¡¯s powerful. But she¡¯s an abnormal.


    She may have convinced lord Blackscale that she isn¡¯t a threat, but you never know near this kind of people.


    She may be cunning, or hiding something.


    Still, it¡¯s time for me to take my chances.


    Even if she doesn¡¯t know of a way for me to go beyond my limit, I¡¯m not so innocent not to have realized what she¡¯s doing here.


    She¡¯s building an empire for herself.


    A small village, where everyone is indebted to her.


    A small village, far away from any others.


    And still, a small paradise.


    I don¡¯t have children, but If I had I would make sure that they become friends with the abnormal¡¯s grandsons and granddaughters.


    A man from like me know that, in a few years, she will have enough power to do almost anything she wants.


    Lord Blackscale¡¯s power is declining by the day. The new [Dungeon Master] has stripped the Blackscale clan of a huge amount of land and power. This village now has a [Forest Spirit].


    So he will decline as Marie grows in power. As his voice becomes smaller, hers become stronger.


    And soon she will bring forth a [City of Miracles] like the one in Ytrmund Kingdom.


    Who knows. They say there us Normals where seen and used like cattle. But then she wouldn¡¯t have married to a farmer or married her daughter to an adventurer. People are afraid she will eat them as well, but she would do anything for that grandson of hers. She even forgave the Dorians for him.


    Maybe she is one of the [Divine Sages]. Or even the [Abnormal Queen] herself.


    Soon the militia of today will have become the [Miracle Army] or tomorrow. They say there were people above the Superior Beings in the [Miracle Army]. And that they weren¡¯t Accomplished.


    Maybe, if I help her. Maybe, if I¡¯m useful to the [Abnormal Queen].


    Then she will grant me my wish.

 Extra Chapter 42: Tools

    A farmer¡¯s tools are his life.


    That¡¯s why I¡¯m sharpening mine today.


    ¡°It seems we will have visits.¡±


    Marie is at the window. I suppose she saw whoever is outside coming here.


    ¡°Really? Who is it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s forehead. It seems he decided to quit being afraid after seeing Ann.¡±


    Our granddaughter returned to the village a Superior Being.


    I can imagine how frustrated Forehead is. Everyone knows of his stubbornness in trying to go beyond his limits.


    ¡°Want for me to make some tea for us then?¡±


    It is good to have something hot to drink while talking difficult things.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, I don¡¯t want to bother you. If he¡¯s coming in I will make it myself. Please entertain him.¡±


    ¡°Uhm. Please no sugar on mine.¡±


    ¡°Sure darling.¡±


    The sickle needs some polish on the middle section, so I¡¯m not worried. Soon there were knocks on the door.


    ¡°Johson. What can I help you with?¡±


    ¡°Marie. I want to talk.¡±


    ¡°Sure, come in. I will make tea for us.¡±


    ¡°Anton. Good to see you.¡±


    ¡°Johson. Please seat.¡±


    Forehead is seated in front of me. I keep sharpening my sickle.


    ¡°So, I heard the crop this year will be even better than last years¡¯ ?¡±


    Indeed, it¡¯s seeming like that.


    ¡°Yeah. We almost didn¡¯t have any hex rats this year. I think it¡¯s because of the new [Forest Spirit]. It¡¯s protecting us already.¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.¡°It¡¯s amazing. I remember some tales from when I was young, but to think a [Forest Spirit] would really be born around this village. That explains why the hunters haven¡¯t been finding any monsters nests recently.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s amazing.¡±


    Marie soon gets back with the tea.


    ¡°Here.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°Thanks ma.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. Now, Johson, you said you wanted to talk.¡±


    He¡¯s suddenly serious.


    ¡°Marie, I want to make a request to you.¡±


    ¡°What would that be?¡±


    ¡°Please teach me how to go beyond the Superior Being limit.¡±


    I¡¯m a bit surprised.


    Why would my wife know such a thing?


    ¡°And why do you think I know how to do it?¡±


    He¡¯s looking at me. I look at Marie, she seems calm.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you will ask of me, but I¡¯ve decided to take my chances.¡±


    ¡°Please leave.¡±


    ¡°I will. Thank you.¡±


    In the end forehead left a little after.


    I still have to finish polishing my sickle.


    Marie gives me a kiss to the cheek and hugs me.


    She hasn¡¯t denied to know something. I won¡¯t ask her why.


    My wife is my love, but she is how she is.

 Extra Chapter 43: At Least

    So, forehead has decided to make his move.


    At least.


    I didn¡¯t though this man¡¯s fear would last so long.


    As soon as he said he was ready to accept anything I sent him out.


    My house isn¡¯t the place to do this.


    So let¡¯s go to his instead.


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    He lives alone, so it should be simple.


    Once he swears loyalty I can start teaching him.


    Then it will be the time to have the rest of the militia taught.


    Damn foolish emperor and his stupid curse.


    It¡¯s the course.


    Curse it.

 Extra Chapter 44: Forest Spirit Tales (1)

    The tale of the Mushroom Man.


    A long, long time ago, a man was going up the mountain where a forest spirit lived.


    He was looking for mushrooms, so he started to pick them from the ground.


    The mushrooms looked delicious, so the man took one of them.


    Then, the mushroom was knocked out of his hand!


    The man got mad and said:


    ¡°Forest spirit, quit playing tricks on me. Let me hold my mushrooms.¡±


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    Then he took another mushroom, but as soon as it touched his teeth, he got slapped on the face.


    The man got mad and yelled:


    ¡°Forest spirit, quit playing tricks on me! Let me eat my mushrooms!¡±


    So he took a third mushroom, but it was a poisonous mushroom.


    The man took a bite and died.

 Extra Chapter 45: Forest Spirit Tales (2)

    The Tale of Happy Village


    Happy village was very happy.


    So happy it had happiness on its name.


    However, it was also very poor.


    So when it came spring, people would say:


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s getting warm! Everyone be happy, because we will have mushrooms!¡±


    So everyone became happy because there was mushrooms.


    Then when it was summer, people would say:


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s hot now! Everyone be happy, because there will be lots of fruit!¡±


    So everyone was happy because there was a lot of fruit.


    Then it came autumn, and people said:


    ¡°It¡¯s beginning to turn cold! Everyone be happy, because the crops are due and the hunt is plenty!¡±


    So everyone was happy because there was a lot of crops and meat.


    Then, at winter, people would say:


    ¡°It¡¯s so cold now! Everyone be happy, because we have wood for the fire!¡±


    So everyone was happy because there was wood for the fire.


    Happy village was near a river, and the river was near a forest with a Forest Spirit in it.


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    The Forest Spirit loved to hear people¡¯s songs and happiness.


    When it was spring it would give people plenty of mushrooms, so it could hear people singing near it while picking the mushrooms.


    When it was summer it would make the trees give a lot fruit, so it would be delighted at the faces of people eating the fruit.


    When it was autumn it would whisper where male animals where, so the hunters could hunt them, and also protect the crops from winds. This way it would hear happy when people praised it on the festival.


    Then, when it was winter it would let old trees die and replace them with new ones. This way there was always good firewood for the village people to use to warm themselves. So they would keep being happy.


    But one day a sadness fell on Happy Village, and it wasn¡¯t happy anymore.


    The forest spirit looked and looked, but could find no one happy.


    So it went deep into the forest, as it heard no laughter.

 Extra Chapter 46: Forest Spirit Tales (3)

    Silly Billy was so silly; he would take a river bath when it¡¯s chilly.


    Someone asked Silly Billy:


    ¡°Why do you bath even when it¡¯s chilly?¡±


    Silly Billy said:


    ¡°Because I like to bath every day!¡±


    ¡°Even when it¡¯s chilly? Won¡¯t you become sicky?¡±


    ¡°As if!¡±


    Silly Silly Billy became sicky, and could no longer get up from his bed.


    So Silly Billy went and said:


    ¡°Ma, please take me to the river!¡±


    And his Ma said:


    ¡°Silly Billy, you know you¡¯re sicky, you shouldn¡¯t bath when the day is so chilly!¡±


    But Silly Billy still wanted to bath, so he said to his Pa:


    ¡°Pa, please take me to the river!¡±


    And his Pa said:


    ¡°Silly Billy, you¡¯re sicky and you shouldn¡¯t bath when the day is so chilly!¡±


    So Silly Billy turned to his brother.


    ¡°Brother, please take me to the river!¡±


    And his brother answered:


    ¡°Brother Billy, you¡¯re sicky. You shouldn¡¯t bath when it¡¯s chilly!¡±


    But Silly Billy is so Silly, he turned to his sister.


    She said:


    ¡°Billy, Billy, quit being silly. You can¡¯t bath, the day is too chilly!¡±


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    So Silly Billy had no way but to wait, and wait and wait.


    Wait for his bath.


    But poor Billy become more and more sicky.


    So one day, Silly Billy said:


    ¡°Ma, take me to the river!¡±


    And his ma said:


    ¡°Silly Billy, you¡¯re silly. But I cannot stop after you ask so much. Let¡¯s go to the river, even if it¡¯s chilly.¡±


    So Silly Billy went to the river, and as soon as he entered the water, he started to poop.


    His mother turned to him, shivering:


    ¡°Silly Billy, what are you doing pooping like this?¡±


    And Silly Billy said:


    ¡°Ma, only in water can I poop!¡±


    ¡°But why Silly Billy?¡±


    Silly Billy turned to his mother and said:


    ¡°Because the Forest Spirit lives in the ground, and if in the ground I poop it will be mad at me!¡±


    Oh Silly Billy, how Silly!


    His mother said:


    ¡°Oh Billy, the Forest Spirit lives in the forest, not in the ground! You don¡¯t need to come bath only to poop!¡±


    Silly Billy then said:


    ¡°Oh, how Silly! Mother take me home, because it¡¯s chilly!¡±

 Extra Chapter 47: Forest Spirit Tales (4)

    Evil Man, Good Man.


    One day an Evil Man and a Good Man met in the forest where a [Forest Spirit] lived.


    The Evil Man said to the Good Man:


    ¡°Good Man, sit with me. Let¡¯s have brown tea.¡±


    The Good Man, however, said:


    ¡°Evil Man, this is a bad idea! We are in the middle of the forest, what if a monster attacks us!¡±


    The Evil Man then said:


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s no problem, we can deal with it. Besides, in this forest there is a Forest Spirit, it will protect us from monsters!¡±


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    The Good Man then said:


    ¡°Oh, if there¡¯s a Forest Spirit then we are safe!¡±


    And then they drank brown tea, but the Evil Man didn¡¯t drink as much as he made the good man drink.


    So, when the Good Man was sleeping, the Evil Man slit its throat and took its purse.


    ¡°Foolish Good Man¡± ¨C He said.


    ¡°As if the Forest Spirit is going to protect you from me!¡±

 Extra Chapter 47: Forest Spirit Tales (5)

    One day a good hunter was going through the Forest Spirit¡¯s forest.


    Then, it meets a bad hunter.


    It turns and says:


    ¡°Bad hunter, why do you leave your prey behind?¡±


    The Bad Hunter answers:


    ¡°Because I don¡¯t need it.¡±


    ¡°Then, why do you hunt?¡± ¨C Asks the Good Hunter.


    ¡°Because I think it¡¯s fun¡± ¨C Says the Bad Hunter.


    ¡°You should be careful¡± ¨C Warns the Good Hunter.


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    ¡°Careful of what?¡± ¨C Defies the Bad Hunter.


    ¡°Of leaving a trail behind.¡± ¨C Says the Good Hunter, leaving the place.


    ¡°Bah! Hogwash! The forest spirit will protect me!¡± ¨C Says the Bad Hunter.


    Then, as it aims at another rabbit, a bear attacks and rips him to pieces.


    Foolish is the hunter who believe itself more worthy than its prey!

 Extra Chapter 48: Forest Spirit Tales (6)

    Missing Child


    One day a child ran away from home into the woods.


    Its parents were worried and looked for it.


    ¡°What if my child is eaten by a wolf?¡±


    ¡°What if my child is killed by a mad hound?¡±


    ¡°What if my child is hungry?¡±


    ¡°What if my child is cold?¡±


    But the child returned in three days.


    It then said:


    ¡°I was cold, but then the forest spirit gave me a bed of wool. Then I was hungry, but the forest spirit gave me berries to eat. A monster then attacked me, but the forest spirit killed it! And when the wolf came after me, then the forest spirit took me to a cave away from him!¡±


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.¡°Where did it came from, this wool?¡± ¨C Asked the father, surprised.


    ¡°From a sheep which the spirit made to drop from a cliff!¡± ¨C Answered the child.


    ¡°And how did you found them, these berries?¡± ¨C Asked the mother, suspicious.


    ¡°Listening to the wind!¡± ¨C Answered the child.


    ¡°And this monster, how did the forest spirit kill it?¡± ¨C Questioned an elder.


    ¡°Smashed on the ground by anger and furry!¡± ¨C Assured the kid.


    ¡°Really? And how did you know where was this cave away from wolves? Did it whisper on your ear?¡± ¨C Asked the kid¡¯s younger brother.


    ¡°Inside my head, it spoke, indeed it did!¡± ¨C Said the kid.

 Extra Chapter 49: Forest Spirit Tales (7)

    Old Woodcutter, Lazy Woodcutter.


    On villages with many people, they always need wood. So there is people who live only to get wood from the forest, and those are woodcutters.


    Then in a village next to a Forest Spirit¡¯s forest, there was an old woodcutter.


    He would go to the forest every day by morning, and walk, walk, walk, until he found a dead tree.


    If a tree was young and full of leaves, he would leave it be.


    But if a tree was dead or had no leaves, he would cut it.


    The old woodcutter had to work a lot to get his pay, for sometimes there wouldn¡¯t be dead trees close to him.


    So every day he walked and walked and walked inside the forest.


    Not even a single time had he been bitten by a snake or attacked by a boar.


    He would walk, walk, walk, and then leave the forest at evening.


    One day, however, as the old man prepared to go inside the forest, he saw a young lazy man cutting a tree near the border.


    It was a young tree, full of life, so the old Woodcutter went to the young man and said:


    ¡°Young man, stop cutting these trees! They are young and full of life! If you cut them, you will hurt the forest spirit!¡±


    The young man then said, yawning all the way:


    ¡°What if I hurt the forest spirit? I¡¯m tired and want to go back to bed! Besides, it¡¯s dangerous to go inside the forest. What if I¡¯m bitten by a snake? What if my legs are crushed by a boar?¡±


    ¡°If you ask for the forest spirit for permission before entering, and cut only the dead trees, then it won¡¯t let you get bitten or crushed or killed!¡± ¨C Replied the Old Woodcutter.


    ¡°That be too much work!¡± ¨C Said the young man, laying at the feet of the tree he had just cut. ¨C ¡°While you walk all day to get a tree, here, look, I already got it. I only have to wait for it to dry, and this I can do while I sleep. Besides, from time to time, don¡¯t you also cut young trees?¡±


    The old woodcutter shook his head and went into the forest. Indeed, when he couldn¡¯t find any dead trees in the forest after walking all day long, he didn¡¯t had any other option.


    Before entering, however, he said:


    ¡°Forest spirit, I come looking for wood. My people need it to live. Please lead me to a place where I can find a dead tree.¡±


    And so he went and returned, and then listened to someone calling him:


    ¡°Old Woodcutter! Old Woodcutter! Help me!¡±


    It was the Lazy Woodcutter from that morning, limping around.


    ¡°Lazy Woodcutter, what happened to you?¡± ¨C Said the Old Woodcutter.


    ¡°I was sleeping under the tree I just cut, and then a snake got into my boot! As soon as I put it, what pain, it bit my feet!¡±


    ¡°I told you, Lazy Woodcutter, don¡¯t hurt the forest spirit, and always ask for permission!¡±


    The next day, the Old Woodcutter returned to the forest, and again he saw the Lazy Woodcutter cutting a young tree.


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    ¡°Lazy woodcutter, stop cutting this tree! Don¡¯t you know you¡¯re hurting the forest spirit!¡± ¨C He said again.


    ¡°Shut up, shut up, I want to sleep!¡± ¨C Said the Lazy Woodcutter.


    But this time, as the Lazy Woodcutter couldn¡¯t finish cutting his tree.


    As soon as the tree feel, a boar rushed forth from the bushes and smashed its legs.


    ¡°Old Woodcutter, Old Woodcutter, help me please!¡± ¨C Said the lazy woodcutter.


    ¡°Wish I could, Lazy Woodcutter! I helped you already the other day, and still you keep hurting the forest spirit. This time you will have to go back home alone!¡± ¨C Replied the Old Woodcutter, getting into the forest.


    Then came winter, and all woodcutters assembled near the borders of the forest.


    ¡°It¡¯s too cold, it¡¯s too tiring, it¡¯s too dangerous, it¡¯s even snowing! Old Woodcutter, why are we here?¡± ¨C The Lazy Woodcutter said.


    ¡°Because our village needs new houses, Lazy Woodcutter. So we need to cut many trees for building.¡±


    The Lazy Woodcutter got scared when he saw the Old Woodcutter holding his axe against a young tree in the border of the forest.


    ¡°Old Woodcutter! Old Woodcutter! What do you think you¡¯re doing? If you cut this tree, then a snake will bite you!¡± ¨C Said the Lazy Woodcutter, worried.


    But the Old Woodcutter looked at him and replied:


    ¡°You¡¯re young, so you¡¯re a fool. Look at the tree¡¯s branches. Do you see any leaves?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡± ¨C Answered the Lazy Woodcutter.


    ¡°Then learn from me. When a tree has no leaves, it¡¯s allowed for us to cut it!¡± ¨C Said the Woodcutter.


    ¡°But Old Woodcutter, won¡¯t we harm the forest spirit?¡± ¨C Said, still scared, the Lazy Woodcutter.


    ¡°Listen well¡± ¨C Said the Old Woodcutter ¨C ¡°This is what you have to say¡±.


    And so he said this:


    ¡°Forest Spirit, it¡¯s winter, and my people need space. Our village is too small, and this tree has no leaves. All things in the world need something for its people to live. I shall cut this tree, and I shall kill it. Not because I¡¯m lazy, but because I need it.¡±


    And as soon as the Old Woodcutter finished his plea to the Forest Spirit, a brown snake with a pyramid head fell from the branches of the tree, slithering and contorting and trying to get away.


    The Lazy Woodcutter then said:


    ¡°Old Woodcutter, kill that snake! It¡¯s meat in winter, it will be great!¡±


    Then the Old Woodcutter replied:


    ¡°Fool you are! Didn¡¯t you listen to what I just said? We have enough meat, there is no point in killing it!¡±


    ¡°The last time he said something like this to me, my legs got broken¡± ¨C Thought the Lazy Woodcutter ¨C ¡°So it¡¯s better if I listen¡±.


    And as the snake slithered away, a boar stomped the snake and started munching the head making the Lazy Woodcutter understand.


    ¡°Had I killed that snake, and the boar would have killed me too!¡±.

 Chapter 7: Change Unrest

    [A.N. : Sorry about the delay. Family went on a small vacation yesterday and dragged me along.]


    Chapter 7


    Volume 2


    Lots of things been happening lately. It¡¯s weird.


    I mean, it¡¯s not like any of those are particularly bad. It¡¯s just that Ann started to spend her days at the militia¡¯s barracks, helping forehead with everyone¡¯s training.


    She¡¯s teaching them grandma¡¯s technique, so they have been doing great progress compared to before.


    But¡­ there¡¯s a weird¡­ thing in the air.


    Like when you feel a big gear in the bottom of reality just turned a dent.


    Like that.


    It also doesn¡¯t help that I¡¯ve been expending most of the last months training with weapons.


    Grandma gave a second look at my other weapon techniques and decided I was still green at many of them, so it¡¯s back to the basics.


    Except it¡¯s almost to no avail to have spare trainings with golems or treants anymore, since the amount of aura in my body is absurdly bigger than theirs.


    A treant wouldn¡¯t be able to pierce my skin, even if my Aura Armor is down.


    So I¡¯m training with grandma herself.


    She will make [Aura Weapons] out of the environmental energy and I will have to defend.


    It¡¯s tough as nails defending against someone who can manipulate weapons like grandma.


    First, I¡¯m fighting against her soul, so I cannot use the movement of her muscles or joints to guide myself. I have to rely on observing where the weapon is going to and then calculate in my mind where it can land on my body based on that.


    Second, she is a master in changing her [Aura Weapon]¡¯s form midway an attack. Like how she constantly changes from [Aura Sword] to [Aura Dagger] and then to [Aura Pike] in the middle of an attack. Just so she can make me guard against the sword, go past my guard with the smaller-reach dagger and then blow a hole in me with the Pike. Noticing the aura changing in a few seconds and then recalculating all of the possible moves she can have the weapon do, considering that she doesn¡¯t have physical limitations¡­ its insane.


    Third, she knows I probably won¡¯t die even if she goes all out and there¡¯s plenty of aura in the environment, not to mention she¡¯s making me train without aura armor. So when she hits me, it isn¡¯t fatal but it hurts like hell.


    Fourth¡­ she just knows everything.


    From the most basic mace movements to the most intricate weight-and-chain ones. Grandma knows all about weapons.


    What the hell is she?


    Some kind of ancient shaolin master?


    She said, laughing, that her own skill is only on the level of a deputy master on common weapons, or a practice assistant in the most exotic ones, but that only makes me fear the masters of the Long Lived Clan even more.


    What kind of monsters where them?


    *sigh*


    Wasn¡¯t that enough, Alma is also watching us and learning.


    At first she didn¡¯t know even how to do a proper [Aura Weapon], but after a few months she can already do [Aura Javelins] with ease.


    Well, at least she is becoming good at hunting monsters and stuff. It seems to come naturally to her. And also in producing nice-tasting fruit.


    Alma¡¯s peaches and apples are delicious. Juicy, ripe and sweet on the right measure.


    And she can make them whenever she wants.


    I bet it expends a lot of aura, but she always makes me at least one a day.


    It has been fun.


    I expend my nights training with grandma, then I eat a peach, then I go back home and once every two days me and sister have some nice time together, like as if we were a recently-married couple or something.


    The best part is that she isn¡¯t fertile, so there¡¯s no risk of deformed incest babies.


    No.


    It¡¯s all raw on natural, risk free.


    I love [Aura Analysis] and its miraculous capability of showing me when a woman is going to be fertile or not. And I love our clan¡¯s weird many-years-long fertility cycle even more.


    That said, my day time¡­


    Well, I have been expending them with Alma.


    Not in the village, but in the soul world.


    What are we doing?


    Well, one of the techniques of the [Soul Space and Time Magic] is to basically cut a piece on the tissue of emotional space and create a small emotional demi-plan for oneself.


    So I¡¯ve done it. It¡¯s like a tree house for me and Alma to build stuff.


    Currently we have a castle, a lake, some emotional trees, some emotional ducks and ducklings and a nice statue of emotional marble.


    Emotional ducks.


    They are a thing.


    They aren¡¯t souls of animals because those don¡¯t last even as much as the souls of humans, but rather small soul vessels we created just like how I made Alma herself.


    So they are intelligent ducks.


    Not very intelligent, since they have only very rudimentary minds, but I guess maybe as intelligent as a smart dog?


    They know how to make tricks after all.


    Like when we give them emotional corn I materialize with [Soul Magic: Materialization] and they pretend to be roasted ducks on a plate.


    It¡¯s very entertaining. Alma loves to make them duck-jump to silly songs and stuff.


    She goes: ¡°Du-du-duck, what¡¯s your name? Is it lu-lu-luck or am I insane?¡±. Silly.


    So, that¡¯s what we have been doing in the emotional plan when I¡¯m not playing with the children and stuff.


    Emotional demi-plan building with alma during the day, meals with the family, weapon training with grandma¡¯s soul during the night and sex with older sister from time to time.


    Life is nice right now.


    ***


    A certain thing has been bothering me.


    ¡°That¡¯s all for today.¡±


    ¡°Thanks!¡±


    Not the fact that I have finally gotten enough mental power and multitasking capability to be able to hold back grandma¡¯s full-on weapons training, but how Alma is dealing with the whole monster killing thing.


    It has been months now, but it seems she has been killing monsters pretty much from the day she was born.


    But¡­ it¡¯s weird.


    I mean, killing isn¡¯t something nice and cozy, as much as it is monsters or whatever.


    Killing is killing.


    But she can still be all lovely and nice and gentle, even after swiftly eviscerating a monster.


    Maybe it¡¯s because she isn¡¯t human?


    I mean, she surely has some human mannerisms. And she has some hazy memories from a life as something which had a family. Maybe even as a human.


    Maybe not.


    But, regardless, she surely isn¡¯t human anymore, if she ever was before. Her soul doesn¡¯t take a human form except when she¡¯s imitating someone, and she doesn¡¯t deal with stuff the same way as us.


    Maybe that¡¯s why she can kill monsters without feeling anything.


    I have seen it once or twice, even if it¡¯s difficult. I would be patrolling the forest and most of the times that meant me killing monsters.


    Or, when it happened from one of them getting too close to one of Alma¡¯s trees, that usually would mean the monster itself getting destroyed by her.


    But it happened of me finding a monster near one of her trees, and then seeing she disposing of it.


    The emotions on her¡­ well, it would be mostly just a small glimpse of ¡°bad!¡±. And then she would deal with the monster and would return having nice, cozy emotions.


    Or maybe it¡¯s because she¡¯s a spirit.


    I mean, she definitely knows the value of bodies. She isn¡¯t like the spirits grandmother told me exist over in the soul world, and which just don¡¯t care about if you live or die.


    She would get worried when grandma hit me with the pike after all.


    But being a spirit¡­


    Oh.


    Right.


    She¡¯s a [Forest Spirit]. She isn¡¯t just a regular spirit.


    Her body is the trees around us.


    Filled with insects, birds, spiders, snakes, all kinds of animals.


    Animals and plants which compete for life.


    Which live in the law of the jungle. Quite literally.


    I may have made her with the purest of feelings, but she was still in contact with death and killing even before getting awareness of herself, uh.


    Or maybe that has nothing to do with it.


    Should I ask her?


    My [Soul Isolation] technique is working pretty well, so she shouldn¡¯t be able to notice what¡¯s happening to my emotions right now.


    Still, how should I ask?


    I can¡¯t just bring up the subject like this, out of the blue¡­


    Maybe when she¡¯s playing with the emotional ducklings.


    But then she may take it wrong.


    I would go all like ¡®what¡¯s up with you liking animals but not feeling bad about killing monsters¡¯ and she would go like ¡®what do you mean? Do you think I¡¯m a bad person?¡¯ and I would pass as a dense character who can¡¯t read the mood¡­


    ¡­


    Fuck it.


    I¡¯m asking.


    Now.


    ¡°Alma?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m curious.¡±


    ¡°About what?¡±


    ¡°When you kill a monster¡­ don¡¯t you feel bad about killing them?¡±


    ¡°Killing monsters? I think no. It feels right.¡±


    ¡°Right? How come?¡±


    ¡°Like¡­ they are not supposed to be, I think. Like they disturb things. So I kill them.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you love them?¡±


    ¡°No! They feel wrong!¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°But I love you!¡±


    ¡°Hehe. Nice. I like you too.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Pa!¡±


    ¡°Stop calling me that.¡±


    Uhm.


    It may just be [Forest Spirit] instinct then.


    Monsters and [Forest Spirits] are natural enemies after all.


    I don¡¯t understand this whole instinct thing very well, however. Is it something from the mind world?


    Maybe grandma will explain it better to me once she starts teaching me about the mind world.


    ***


    Nine years old birthday night.


    It¡¯s really good to be a reminder, but I guess I would like to be able to forgot somethings, sometimes.


    It¡¯s not that I feel super sad, but it is a bit saddening that I won¡¯t have a birthday party this year either.


    Let¡¯s just go inside.


    Oh.


    Grandma is here still.


    Unusual.


    ¡°Hi grandma, hi Ma, hi Anna.¡±


    ¡°Welcome home.¡±


    ¡°Hello Darling.¡±


    ¡°All!¡±


    There, there, a small hug on Anna and i will seat at the table with grandma and mother.


    Seated I am.


    ¡°Has something happened?¡±


    Grandmother usually doesn¡¯t stick here until this late after all.


    ¡°I have something to discuss with all of you.¡±


    Yikes.


    Thanks for the Chamomile Tea mother.


    I wonder what is this thing grandma is wanting to tell us.


    ***


    Dinner tonight consists of fried chicken with rice, mushrooms, egg and seasonings. Quite simple.


    But it does taste amazing. Mother is a great cook.


    ¡°So, how was the day today?¡±


    Father started the conversation as we began chewing. There¡¯s an implicit order for things. He or mother will ask this question, and then the other one will start talk. Since it was father this time, the first to talk will be mother, then father, Ann, Jacen, Me and only then Anna.


    It¡¯s not like this order has to be followed too strictly, but since everyone naturally flows this patter it has become a habit already.


    Of course, with grandmother here we may need to change it, but let¡¯s just let things flow suit.


    She probably won¡¯t want to talk to us in the middle of the meal. It seems to be an important subject after all.


    So, it¡¯s mother first today.


    ¡°I finished sewing your and Ann¡¯s clothes.¡±


    ¡°I Helped!¡±


    That¡¯s pretty standard little sister, pretty standard indeed.


    ¡°Then I checked the pantry again for that mold, and there doesn¡¯t seem to be any. But Matilda said her house is covered in it, and Rinia is having trouble with mice. So if you see any, you need to tell me.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Yes Ma.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Ookaay!¡±


    Good to know we won¡¯t have problems with mold or mice. I¡¯m done with the rats from the last time.


    ¡°What about you, Pa?¡±


    ¡°Today was training day, so Ann kept giving us instructions. This technique of yours is amazing Marie.¡±


    ¡°I know. Has someone suspected something?¡±


    Grandma. Concerned as well.


    ¡°Not at all. Has Ann told you how forehead decided to explain it to us?¡±


    ¡°Not until now.¡±


    ¡°He said it was because of father.¡±


    Ann is composite as ever.


    ¡°So, in the end it¡¯s as if you had asked her to do it Jhon?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It was a bit weird since I¡¯m not everyone¡¯s friend, but we are comrades after all. If they die I will be damned as well.¡±


    ¡°I bet Filli is still thanking you.¡±


    ¡°Indeed he is Ma. You know Filli right Marie? Fred and Lilly¡¯s son?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I remember helping Lilly when the boy had a fever.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a great friend of mine, and he just always wanted to be able to hop into trees on a single lap. Once he understood that Ann would be teaching us a dojo¡¯s technique he was like Jacen when he saw that beehive Alvin got him some time ago.¡±


    Hehe.


    Jacen¡¯s embarrassed face is nice to see.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°Uhm.¡±


    Silence. It¡¯s Ann¡¯s turn now.


    Will she need for mother to ask her, or will she start by herself?


    ¡°The day was good. Forehead taught me a fencing move I didn¡¯t knew. He¡¯s good at [Joint Training].¡±


    Mother¡¯s look become a little worried, but father reassures her with a look of his on.


    Now they are touching each other¡¯s hands.


    Yeah.


    It¡¯s on the small things. The truth that they care.


    That said, forehead¡¯s movement isn¡¯t anything much spectacular. I have been looking at today¡¯s training by using [Soul Walk] and it¡¯s just a fairly common feint.


    You need a bit of aura control to pull it off, but the movement consists of trusting your weapon sideways relative to the person and then subtly changing the angle in the middle of the movement by thrusting your own body on the opposite direction of the weapon, while keeping your wrist bended to change the tip¡¯s direction. It¡¯s a perforating movement with a good range which can take most enemies by surprise, but not perfect at all.


    If it is in a common fight the timing would be awful and the movement would be wasted due to the loss of momentum and speed. Not to mention that the bended wrist would probably break once you hit the enemy.


    But if you keep a bit of your aura concealed then you can regain this momentum by suddenly accelerating the sword, it is possible to deal a good amount of damage.


    If your enemy is human, of course.


    Most animals and monsters don¡¯t have the nimbleness of sideways movement of the human body, so it¡¯s a wasted movement on them.


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. What about you son?¡±


    Yeah Ma, let¡¯s keep the ball rolling¡­


    ¡°We just trained grandma¡¯s technique all day long. But I tried to use [Aura Analysis] at the same time as well, so it was very hard and Ann had to correct me.¡±


    Uhm.


    I¡¯m using a bunch of techniques at the same time here. Including qigong and [Aura Analysis]. But I¡¯m a cheat character so it doesn¡¯t count.


    Silence again.


    Oh, right, it¡¯s my turn now.


    ¡°Tila and Ysim came looking for me today. I taught them how to fix Tila¡¯s doll¡¯s head and they thanked me.¡±


    The little doll was a piece of trash to be fair, but things are how they are. The girl likes the straw-and-cotton doll; I help her to sew the head back on.


    No big deal.


    ¡°I killed a rat!¡±


    Oh.


    Anna was waiting all dinner to say that, wasn¡¯t she?


    ¡°Really? A rat?¡±


    ¡°Uhum!¡±


    Father¡¯s fake excitement face hides true fun and joy.


    I¡¯m fine.


    It¡¯s just my younger sister.


    It¡¯s usual for her to get this kind of treatment. I won¡¯t get jealous.


    If not, I¡¯m glad no one is paying attention to me right now.


    Since I would need to explain how I managed to just do just that much all day long, and they do know I don¡¯t need to sleep.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. Now tell your Pa where we found the rat Anna.¡±


    ¡°In the garden! It was eating mother¡¯s plants!¡±


    It was probably after the Big Foot herbs. Rats love them for some reason. Maybe they¡¯re scared of frostbite or something?


    ¡°That¡¯s nice darling. What was it nibbling on?¡±


    ¡°It was eating my Big Foots.¡±


    Score.


    ¡°I see. Rats do like these. I remember we used to fence them with wood planks.¡±


    ¡°Until Pa got sick of having to do that again. How is he?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s fine. Working on his patch. It seems this year¡¯s crop is going to be good¡­¡±


    Well, dinner was good.


    Now, to wait until the chit-chat ends.


    Then it will be time to listen to grandmother¡¯s seriousness.


    ***


    Desert is honey-candy orange peels with beer.


    You take the orange peels and then boils them on water until the bad taste is gone and the peel is soft. Then you boil it again, but with honey in the water.


    It¡¯s tasty and accentuates the taste of the beer.


    Everyone is nibbling on theirs happily.


    ¡°Very good peels Alice.¡±


    ¡°Thanks ma.¡±


    See? Even grandma likes it.


    ¡°Now, if I could have everyone¡¯s attention¡­¡±


    Ah, here it comes. Go on grandma.  Is it forehead? Do we have to kill him?


    Or maybe the local lord sending spies was an unforgivable act of aggression?


    Should we bomb his castle and take his wife hostage?


    I¡¯m feeling a little aggressive recently.


    May be all the macho juices boiling up inside of me after I started hanging out with sister more.


    It¡¯s been two days already. Can¡¯t wait for more.


    ¡°I want for Alvin and Ann to go together to the Kingdom¡¯s Capital one year from now.¡±


    ¡­


    Wait.


    What?


    So soon?


    ¡°Is his training done already?¡±


    Father, is this what you¡¯re worried about?


    I shouldn¡¯t leave the house until I¡¯m fifteen!


    If I go now, that means you won¡¯t be able to commemorate my fifteen birthday with me!


    The Capital is on the far-side of the kingdom, it¡¯s over 3000km to the southeast!


    Besides, the terrain is all Hilly and if we go in Autumn the weather will be awful!


    I may be able to make it in a few days if I run seriously like I do to get to my training camp, but Ann will need over a year to travel this much by walking!


    So, if I go with her¡­


    That means a one-year long road trip.


    I don¡¯t want to expend so long on the road! There will be nothing to do besides walking!


    Except maybe having sex with Ann.


    Uhm.


    May not be that bad.


    ¡°One year will be more than enough to finish it.¡±


    ¡°Mother, do he really needs to?¡±


    I know Ma, I¡¯m a bit sad as well.


    ¡°Alvin won¡¯t live a good life if he¡¯s to stay in the village. He can¡¯t stand being bored. I think the only path for him is to conquest a dungeon, enslave the core and pretend to have become a Dungeon Master. Then he will be able to use his full power and live the life he deserves.¡±


    ¡°Enslaving a dungeon core? Is this even possible?¡±


    Father is surprised.


    Well.


    It¡¯s for the best that he doesn¡¯t know about the huge chunk of mana crystal over his head, isn¡¯t it?


    Even if ¡°enslaving¡± isn¡¯t a good term. I won¡¯t be making a being with a mind follow my orders. If I understood what grandma said well, what she wants for me to do is to take a dungeon¡¯s core, destroy its soul and maybe put an algorithm in the place.


    Like a computer.


    I miss my computer.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°It¡¯s difficult and he won¡¯t be able to do what a Dungeon Master usually does, but he can pretend to be the Dungeon Master with this much.¡±


    I wonder what they do?


    Dungeon Masters surely work with dungeons by fusing their souls with the dungeon¡¯s crystal and soul.


    So that means they use the dungeon¡¯s wiring with their minds to control it.


    On another words, shouldn¡¯t I be able to create an artificial interface which allows me to ¡°dive¡± into the dungeon¡¯s core without needing to fuse my soul with it?


    I would need to use [Soul Surgery] to cut the dungeon¡¯s soul to pieces and then create a soul-interface which allows me to receive inputs from the dungeon and at the same time send commands, but if computers existed back in my world then I should be able to do something like this in this world as well.


    The only problem is that I will have to basically write an Operating System from ground zero, and I don¡¯t know how to program.


    Hahah.


    I wasn¡¯t a programmer back in my former life.


    But I am a fairly competent necromancer in this life.


    So if I try¡­


    Oh, and I don¡¯t even need to wait until I get access to a dungeon.


    If I take my Mana Crystal with us I can train on it while Ann is sleeping.


    It will be interesting I bet. Something to help me pass the time.


    ¡°All is going away?¡±


    Oh, little sister got a little of that.


    ¡°That is what I want dear.¡±


    ¡°Uuumuh..¡±


    Oh, she¡¯s sad.


    And now mother is putting her hand on her shoulders.


    ¡°Mother, shouldn¡¯t Alvin go once he¡¯s older? He will be only ten next year.¡±


    ¡°No. This is a perfect age. His training will be over and he would be accepted as a baggage carrier by the Bishton¡¯s Magic Research Association. If we wait until he¡¯s older then he would be refused until he made a name for himself as an adventurer.¡±


    ¡°Marie is right, Ma. It¡¯s easier for a kid to be accepted than an Adult. I don¡¯t know this Bishton¡¯s Association, but no Association would hire an Adult as Explorer without it having at least Lowest or Low Rank.¡±


    ¡°Then can¡¯t All just get rank by himself?¡±


    Ha.


    Jacen doesn¡¯t want for me to go either, hum.


    ¡°It would be too suspicious that he¡¯s an Abnormal. It took me five years to get to Low Rank and I was considered Lucky to have found an [Unformed Dungeon] back then.¡±


    Father has a point.


    Besides, it gives me a chance of getting inside a dungeon early. If something happens and we ¡°get lucky¡± to get to the main core chamber early then I probably can become a Dungeon Master early as well.


    Without having to go through all of the bureaucracy of getting a license to explore and all of that bullshit.


    It may be a stretch, but I bet the Royalty of the Kingdom wouldn¡¯t mind. Accomplished are treated with even more respect than low-class nobility after all. Not to mention most high-nobility houses have Accomplished within them.


    Yeah.


    Let¡¯s do this.


    ¡°Okay then.¡±


    Mother accepted.


    Everyone else is nodding¡­ except for Ann.


    ¡°Is there a problem Ann?¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t be going in a year. I will be leaving in six months.¡±


    Oh.


    She already decided this much hum.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you wait a bit longer?¡±


    ¡°The tournament is in six months. It will take me a year to reach the capital. If I go in six months I will get there just in time. If I go in a year I will have to wait six months at the capital.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true. But you will expend aura while traveling. Six months of resting would be good for you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to wait anymore. I will do grandma¡¯s technique every day while traveling. This way I can preserve my aura.¡±


    ¡°¡­ very well. Alvin doesn¡¯t have to preserve his aura, so he can find you middleway.¡±


    ''I don¡¯t need to'' would be a better instalment.


    But the family is on the dark regarding my capabilities, so I guess this much is okay.


    ¡°It works for me¡±


    I¡¯m sure it does sis, I¡¯m sure it does.


    But It does hurt a bit to know you wouldn¡¯t stay here a bit more in order to commemorate my tenth birthday with me.


    Or even be company to your younger brother as he goes to the big city for the first time.


    Everything will be fine.


    Grandma can guide me while using [Soul Walk] and she has showed me some maps already, so there¡¯s no risk of me getting lost.


    But, still¡­


    It¡¯s a bit sad, that it is.


    Well, the family just doesn¡¯t have what it takes to stand up against grandma. She¡¯s just right.


    I hate boredom, and if it takes me too long to leave I will lose time pretending to be a regular person.


    Better to bet it all on the ¡°stroke of luck¡± possibility and create a fantasy-like story of how the poor baggage carrier happened to be able to reach the dungeon¡¯s last room and fuse with the core.


    If I¡¯m lucky to be sent on an unexplored dungeon at first, of course.


    Let¡¯s hope I am.


    ***


    So, the bow lessons are over.


    Indeed, all weapon lessons are over.


    It ended with me being able to keep myself from being pierced by grandma in a 30-minutes-long fight.


    It was a boring fight since all it was was grandma trying to pierce me with all kinds of dirty tricks.


    She would change her aura weapon midway her attack, cast the [Shadow] spell on hidden secondary weapons, try to blind me with the [Flash] spell, create illusions¡­.


    After this much I¡¯m pretty sure I can deal with whatever technique an enemy uses against me.


    And since there isn¡¯t such a big risk of getting overpowered by an enemy with brute strength, things are fine for now.


    I think.


    I mean, there must be things which are stronger than me in this world.


    I may meet them someday and have the need of defeating them.


    So I should keep increasing my strength.


    Problem is¡­


    I don¡¯t want to.


    I have stopped absorbing energy from the void and from my [Spiritual] talent. I don¡¯t need it.


    But if I was to keep absorbing energy, I would surely go through another hard limit in a few days. Maybe ten or twenty.


    And then, once I hit this hard limit, I would go through the same I went on the last time I hit my Aura Aggregate Limit.


    No sir.


    No thank you.


    I don¡¯t want to be reduced to bones and decaying flesh to then have my body reconstructed from zero.


    So, until I effectively need more strength, I won¡¯t be doing it.


    ¡­.except maybe I will need it and won¡¯t have ten days to get it.


    On another words, I may regret bitterly having made the decision not to become stronger now.


    But I don¡¯t want to!


    It¡¯s awful!


    Aaaahh~~~


    You know what, I should just do it.


    Really.


    Except grandma wants me to learn [Mind Walk] as soon as possible.


    What to do?


    ***


    [Mind Walking]¡­


    Is damn hard.


    Grandma tried pulling my mind out of my soul tonight, but it ended with me entering a comatose-like state.


    It seems I don¡¯t have enough awareness of what my mind IS to be able to get my consciousness to inhabit it. So when I had it moved there all that happened was for me to lose consciousness.


    So that¡¯s why grandma has decided to start from a different approach.


    She will go on [Mind Walk] and stay by my side, interacting with me as I go around at night and do stuff.


    Just like how we did with me learning to see and hear people¡¯s souls.


    Alma is interested as well, so we will just stroll around the forest while grandma keeps us company.


    This would be the regular kind of training one such as me would be doing to be able to learn about mental magic, but it isn¡¯t the only one.


    Nope.


    Grandma also gave us a game to play.


    It¡¯s called six-face dice and it¡¯s a harder version of the popular one, three-face dice.


    On three face dice you think of a dice with three faces and try to roll it on your mind. If the person you¡¯re playing with figures which Is are the faces of the dice you were thinking of, then they win.


    Otherwise, you win.


    Six-face dice happens with six dice instead, and it¡¯s more adequate for training.


    After all, thinking of three dice gives a rather small probability of winning by sheer luck, but it¡¯s still reasonably high.


    Six dice add a lot more difficulty.


    Grandma says we will have started to develop our mind magic skills better once we are able to always guess right what the person is thinking of.


    Not only that, we must also train including her, that is, her mind which will be traveling alongside us, and play with her as well.


    Then, once we get it right every single time, we are supposed to increase the number of dice in our minds.


    After 6 it¡¯s 12, then it¡¯s 24, and then it keeps increasing by doubling the amount.


    Even visualizing 24 dice in my head at the same time is already pretty difficult, so there¡¯s definitely room for improvement here.


    That said, this training looks a lot like esper-training stuff.


    Like how people would train their intuition with cards and dice and rocks to see if they had psychic powers on earth.


    Not on this level though.


    I guess this world¡¯s standards are a lot higher than earth¡¯s.


    That said, I do intend to become good at this at an amazing rate.


    Why?


    Hohohohoho.


    Cheat mind my friend.


    I don¡¯t have limits.


    I can learn fast as shit.


    Besides, I¡¯m a [Reminder].


    A talent which lets me remind things and never forget them¡­ that¡¯s bound to give me some edge in regards to mental training, right?


    It surely gave on emotional training.


    So let¡¯s do it.


    ***


    It¡¯s been a month so far.


    Training is going well, but I¡¯m getting a little bored.


    Me and Alma are currently at our little emotional subspace tree-house. That is, our small emotional demi-plan castle.


    How?


    Well, we don¡¯t need to be on our bodies to be able to train our minds. My body is back home, sleeping in the living room.


    After all, walking around the forest aimlessly for three whole weeks was getting pretty boring already.


    So we have been making improvements to the castle this last week.


    ¡°6, 3, 4, 1, 1, 2¡±


    ¡°You got only two right.¡±


    ¡°Oh, how bad! Your turn now!¡±


    ¡°8,4,4,4,4,2. You should stop using 8-faced and 4-faced dice. That¡¯s cheating!¡±


    ¡°Uuh! You¡¯re the one cheating! How come you can win every time?!¡±


    Well, Alma is a bit frustrated at my progress, but what can I say.


    I¡¯m the cheat-man.


    ¡°Hehe. I¡¯m grandma¡¯s grandson after all. Common, it¡¯s you turn to guess!¡±


    ¡°5,3,4,3,3,1. And grandma is using 12-faced dice as well!¡±


    ¡°¡­ that¡¯s true. I saw that as well!¡±


    Grandma made an emotional gust of wind pass along, making a smile face on the floor.


    Yep, we got it right.


    ¡°Yey! I got it right!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s nice! Your turn again. Also, give me the ¡°peace¡± brick please.¡±


    ¡°4,4,3,6,1,3. Here!¡±


    ¡°You got four of them right this time. Thanks.¡±


    We are building an ¡°Inner Piece¡± sanctum on the castle.


    It¡¯s made with materials materialized by using the ¡°peace¡± emotion as it¡¯s base. All of the materials.


    It¡¯s kind of bouncy, but since there are many kinds of ¡°peace¡± feeling, we are able to make a nice Buddhist-styled room with a roman bath in the center.


    Again with this world¡¯s weird mash up between East and West of earth.


    ¡°3,3,4,5,5,5,5, you thought of seven dice! I win!¡±


    Damn, that was a slip on my part.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, sorry.¡±


    ¡°Have you been bored again?¡±


    ¡°5,5,3,2,1,4. I guess yes. It¡¯s starting to show?¡±


    ¡°Right numbers. Yes. You always start doing stuff sloppy and wrong when you¡¯re bored.¡±


    Hum.


    That¡¯s a harsh truth.


    Still, she says it with the most benevolent emotional voice of love and compassion. There¡¯s even a hint of joy. She thinks it¡¯s funny or something?


    Appropriate for a Buddhist-inspired inner sanctum I guess. Or maybe that¡¯s just a preconception of mine. I never went to a real Buddhist temple back on earth.


    ¡°3,3,2,5,6,6. Why don¡¯t we go somewhere else then?¡±


    ¡°3,3,4,5,6,6. Where else should we go?¡±


    Grandma wrote on the floor again. She wrote ¡°Alma¡±.


    Damn, I got it wrong?


    I was so sure I got it right.


    ¡°I got you! How about we go to the Sparkling Woods?¡±


    ¡°3,3,4,6,6,6. Sparkling Woods? Is this a soul-world place?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s a nice place! I discovered it yesterday!¡±


    Uhm.


    Should I go?


    I have never really got adventurous on the soul world so far.


    I mean, there was that time when I got lost on the woods and stuff.


    But after that, no more.


    Grandma didn¡¯t take me to places after all. And I just didn¡¯t care to go. I guess I got too absorbed into doing multiple things at once, so I didn¡¯t notice how boring my life had become eh.


    It¡¯s needed for me to get this kind of weird subconscious messages like getting stuff wrong to finally realize I need some new thrill for my life.


    ¡°6,5,5,3,3,3. Okay, let¡¯s go. Grandma, can we?¡±


    She drew an ¡°yes¡± on the ground. And then a ¡°I will go as well¡±.


    Nice.


    Let¡¯s go then.


    ***


    So, Sparkling Woods.


    They are woods. And they sparkle.


    That¡¯s the resume of the thing.


    But not the totality of it.


    Actually they seem to be made of crystal-like emotions which shine once the emotional sun touches them.


    It¡¯s kind of pretty.


    A whole living forest made of colored crystal-like natural spawning spirits, which are made of a myriad of emotions.


    The emotional sun is probably the main fountain of existence of these things.


    The feelings it is made of are mostly bravery and happiness. A mix which makes ¡°that¡¯s nice¡±-like feelings.


    So the naturally spawning spirits probably came to life as that sun shone its bright emotions around and kept bombarding this place with them. Little by little, these crystal-like stuff formed.


    Very nice.


    But they don¡¯t seem to have minds.


    At least most of them.


    I can feel emotions of ¡°order¡± and ¡°systematism¡± far to the right, so that may be a living, intelligent spirit.


    But right here doesn¡¯t seem to be anything in special.


    Oh.


    Shit.


    I take it back.


    This place¡¯s soul sea!


    Damn is this pretty!


    It¡¯s all made of fluid crystal-like emotional water, with a cold and yet warm feel to it. I tried sipping a bit.


    It¡¯s refreshing, even if it crystalizes on your mouth and throat. I guess someone used to breath would have a hard time with these, as it would spur a coughing crisis. I, myself, can endure it while my soul-throat soul-muscles break the crystal and it slides to my soul-stomach.


    Very nice.


    Maybe we should go to other places like this one more often.


    Grandma seems to agree as well.


    That¡¯s it.


    Let¡¯s travel on the Soul World a bit before I start traveling in the Physical World.


    ***


    Autumn is gone. Winter is here. Traveling the soul world is fantastic.


    Usually it¡¯s just really amazing scenery and weird guacamole physics, but sometimes we also do nice stuff.


    Like the other day.


    We got to a place where hundreds of spirits dwelled, and they were living harsh lives because of the lack of emotional water.


    So we gave them a little bit of rain and made a portal to a place with more water. Like an infinite pond.


    It was fairly nice.


    Then we found an emotional plane which apparently connected to another physical planet on another physical universe, and helped the immortal human souls there to settle in an emotional town we build ourselves. It was quite a shock to see people there, and also a moment of great excitement for me. So much I actually got transported chaotically for a while until I made my best to summon willpower and keep my feelings appropriate.


    Then, when we came back home I immediately started to test new magic, because those guys knew a lot of it and taught me a lot as well.


    However, none of it worked on our own physical plane.


    It seems the emotional plane can connect not only different physical places and planets, but also different universes.


    I wonder if someday I can find good old earth in there?


    I tried thinking on my city in my previous life, but I didn¡¯t find it.


    The common means of transportation through space-time in the soul world can¡¯t reach earth¡¯s emotional subplane¡­ or maybe there are countless emotional multiverses as well.


    I don¡¯t know which kind of rules are in place here, only what I could experience by myself.


    On the plus side, I have become the better storyteller on our house. And maybe in the entire village.


    Since we have been visiting such amazing places I could create nice descriptions of scenery which everyone else found fantastic and difficult to imagine. This way the stories I come up with become everyone¡¯s favorites.


    And earn me some jealousy from Jacen as well. He used to be better than me at making stories to tell around the fireplace after all.


    Maybe that¡¯s going even to become an incentive to him.


    He has taken back training because of Ann after all.


    I hope you can surpass emotional reality soon poop-brother!


    So I can even use your stories as inspiration to try and find new and exciting places in the emotional world.


    Using someone else¡¯s emotions can be handful to experience things you didn¡¯t knew exist after all.


    ***


    Finally!


    Four months of training just for me to be able to hazily see grandmother¡¯s mind form in front of me.


    She looks like a dot of ligth. A small sun.


    Let¡¯s keep training. Alma¡¯s still stuck on 12 dice, but I have hit 48 recently. She¡¯s having trouble keeping up, so I have been doing double training.


    One with her, with 12 dice, and a second one with grandmother only, with 48 dice.


    She will tell me when I¡¯m right by shining brighter.


    Obviously I¡¯m not letting Alma know about this secondary training. I whisper to grandmother though small soul-voice packages I create by making soul-sound bubbles and sending them to her house, where she hears it not with her mind, which she uses to hear what me and Alma speak, but with her soul.


    It was hellishly hard to do it at first, but ¡°no limits¡± cheat is the best cheat for training. It¡¯s like playing a MMO where you get as much of your exp¡¯s bar filled per monster killed in the late levels as you get in the early ones. On another words, fucking fast.


    Goddess, I love you.


    Even if you may be a fucking titan.


    ¡­


    I take it back.


    Fuck you if you¡¯re a titan.


    But you¡¯re not. Because I¡¯m a human from earth which reincarnated. Not an artificial being created by you with memories of someone from earth.


    Yep.


    I¡¯m real. This is all real.


    Let¡¯s keep playing.


    ***

 Chapter 8: One last year

    Chapter 8


    Volume 2


    Sister is leaving again.


    Mother has prepared a small farewell party for her, with plenty of foods she enjoys - like roasted chicken breasts and thick bone soup.


    Not my first choice of food, but I guess sister has a peculiar palate.


    That said, younger sister is the sadder one amongst us.


    She even cried a bit while holding on Ann¡¯s leather trousers.


    ¡­I can¡¯t say I don¡¯t feel just a little bit of satisfaction from seeing the rest of the family looking at the display she¡¯s showing with restrain.


    It¡¯s one of those rare times when younger sister¡¯s wishes and cuteness aren¡¯t enough to move anyone¡¯s hearts. Probably because they see it as selfish.


    Of course I feel a little bad for her as well, but there¡¯s just a little bit of satisfaction.


    She won¡¯t become a spoiled kid, I hope.


    Or at least not a very spoiled one.


    ¡°Ma, Pa, I will be going.¡±


    ¡°Safe travels honey.¡±


    ¡°Careful on the road.¡±


    ¡°Grandma, Grandpa, goodbye.¡±


    ¡°Travel well darling.¡±


    ¡°I hope you can get there in time.¡±


    ¡°Jacen, goodbye.¡±


    ¡°Goodbye sis.¡±


    Eeh~~ such resolute eyes. It doesn¡¯t even look as if you were about to cry, poop-brother.


    ¡°Alvin¡­ goodbye.¡±


    ¡°Bye sis.¡±


    We are keeping the mater of me going to the capital six months from now as a secret.


    We can¡¯t have the rest of the village knowing I can get there faster than sister after all.


    ¡°Safe travels Ann.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Johson.¡±


    Yeah forehead. Now scram. This is a family moment, and you¡¯re not invited!


    Even if it¡¯s impossible not to have it.


    We have a script to follow after all.


    ¡°It¡¯s a shame you can¡¯t teach my guys any longer.¡±


    ¡°I have given instructions to Jacen to do it in my place. He¡¯s already got it right.¡±


    ¡°I see. So we could expect him to become the next Superior Being on our village.¡±


    ¡°That and a few other things I taught him as well. He can help you in your training by using that.¡±


    ¡°I see. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. Goodbye everyone.¡±


    *sigh*


    To insert this kind of dialogue into our goodbye conversation¡­


    Being a [Genius] is though.


    Well, at least we have an excuse. It¡¯s sure that the windows around have ears, so the others in the village will know soon enough that Ann taught something to Jacen she didn¡¯t to the rest of the militia.


    Then Jacen becoming instructor at the militia barracks will come naturally, even if he isn¡¯t an adult yet.


    Or as naturally as something like this can be.


    Meh.


    I shouldn¡¯t worry about such things.


    This world should be a world of magic and swords. Why am I worried about my brother instructing people far older than him?


    It will work out somehow¡­ right?


    ¡°Hey, All, why is everyone sad?¡±


    Oh, Alma is talking to me. I will talk to her using my soul mouth.


    ¡°Because we know we will miss sister.¡±


    ¡°Miss her? Can¡¯t you go visit her?¡±


    ¡°I can, but the rest of the family can¡¯t. They probably won¡¯t see her again.¡±


    ¡°Eeeh? Why don¡¯t you take them there? Can¡¯t you just carry them with [Magic Hand] or something?¡±


    ¡°I could, but then the people would notice I¡¯m a [Genius]. That would be bad for us.¡±


    ¡°Really? Can¡¯t you just show people that you¡¯re a good person?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. It will only take time. Maybe more than grandpa has to live.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will find the Immortality spell for him.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to go looking for the people at the [Hollow-Point Tavern] again? There were a bunch of human mages there.¡±


    ¡°Nah. They didn¡¯t know about our physical world. None of the spells worked, after all. Let¡¯s try to find an old dungeon with scriptures in it, or maybe a necromancer¡¯s soul which has remained around long enough for knowing this kind of stuff.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I will keep helping then!¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Alma has been helping me for quite a while now.


    By spreading her soul to as many trees as possible, that is.


    For now, she has only covered enough space to encompass the radius I myself have traveled around, but eventually she will start looking at broader distances.


    Then I will trust her to tell me in case she finds a dungeon around, or maybe old ruins or something like that.


    Seeing sister¡¯s back leaving the village indeed made me apprehensive about the future, didn¡¯t it?


    ***


    Okay, mind training night!


    Enough with the 112-dice game!


    I have reached grandmother¡¯s maximum potential as well for this game.


    Besides, I can see her mind clearly already.


    Now, the thing about minds is that¡­


    They just don¡¯t have form.


    They look like a blob of light, and will only take a form if the owner so desires, and after a lot of concentration.


    Besides, controlling one¡¯s mind is though as balls.


    Because it means controlling one¡¯s thoughts, and that has to be done with the use of Willpower.


    Willpower.


    That¡¯s the thing that makes up a person¡¯s spirit, and also the way to control one¡¯s mind.


    Of course, mental magic can be done if you know the right line of thoughts to have.


    For instance, if you think on a certain order, certain feelings can be produced.


    A [Soul Javelin] can be easily produced by going through a sequence of thoughts consisting of analyzing the environmental information and then imagining a possible enemy hidden within the space-time.


    And then an [Aura Javelin] can be made once you let the [Soul Javelin] influence the aura around.


    But this is merely non-self-produced emotional magic.


    Like chantless soul magic, if we think on ¡°feeling the right feelings in the right succession¡± as ¡°chanting¡±.


    The REAL challenge is to be able to control one¡¯s thoughts and produce mental magic with them.


    I mean, technically this is the fourth tier of magic, ¡°chantless mind magic¡±, if you think ¡°having the right thoughts in the right succession¡± as ¡°chanting¡±, but it¡¯s needed for me to go on [Mind Walk].


    Otherwise my mind will naturally start to spawn a number of simultaneous thoughts which will make me jump from place to place in the mental place, without being able to focus on a single one of them.


    So that¡¯s why I need to learn Will magic in order to learn [Mind Walk].


    And the other stuff¡­


    Well, [Mind Reading] and [Mind Speaking] and so on is just developing my mind¡¯s senses in order to be able to see, hear and talk to other minds - just like I¡¯m doing with grandma now.


    While [Mind Hiding] is a spell to make one¡¯s mind hidden from others, making it so [Mind Reading] and the such can¡¯t notice it.


    And other, more potent and dangerous mind spells¡­ well, grandma says she doesn¡¯t know any.


    I¡¯m amazed at that, since [Mind Reading] allow for someone to look at other people¡¯s beliefs and so on, so I obviously thought we could change people¡¯s beliefs and values with a king of brainwashing magic¡­ but this kind of thing doesn¡¯t seem to exist here.


    ¡°That¡¯s a dangerous magic darling. I don¡¯t know any spell capable of doing it, but if you master Will Magic then you may be able to do it.¡±


    Those where grandma¡¯s words for me.


    As if it was so easy¡­


    Manipulating one¡¯s own Willpower is more difficult than it looks. Especially since after using it we become so vulnerable - totally feeble and devoid of willpower to resist the desires and will of others around us.


    Let¡¯s just keep training [Mind Reading], [Mind Speaking]. [Mind Hidding] and [Chantless Soul Magic].


    Even if grandma doesn¡¯t know strong mind magic stuff there¡¯s already plenty of Soul Magic which I can learn how to do without having feelings of my own - by just manipulating the surrounding emotional energy with the correct thoughts and mental power, that is.


    Then, once I have learned all of that¡­


    It will be time to head back and try [Mind Walk] again.


    ***


    Time surely fly by once you start doing something new.


    For me that would be hearing the thoughts of the people in the village.


    I avoid doing it to the family, since it could be too emotionally scaring for me.


    Some things like ¡°how your family really thinks and feels¡± aren¡¯t good to know.


    But the rest of the people around have simple and entertaining ideas.


    I mean.


    Most of them.


    I have located a couple dangerous people in the village already.


    They are constantly making mental calculations on what would happen if they were to rape or kill the people surrounding them.


    I can¡¯t just kill them without making the village panic though, so I have inserted an algorithm onto their souls instead.


    Any time they do such a thing as getting involved with thoughts of rape or killing, they will feel pain and nausea.


    It¡¯s a simple algorithm, but which requires a complex wiring, since I have been tampering with the connection between their minds and souls in order to do it.


    That would be part of the [Magic Flexibility: Soul-Mind Surgery] series of mind magic, but it is actually a lot less glorious than it sounds.


    There¡¯s just too many mind threads which can¡¯t be messed with or the mind will detach from the soul.


    So it¡¯s pretty standard wiring for everyone.


    That said, those two were under grandma¡¯s watch for a while, but she hadn¡¯t thought of messing with their behaviors.


    A kind of ¡°that¡¯s normal, don¡¯t mind it¡± way of thinking.


    I don¡¯t like it.


    Even if it¡¯s normal to have psychopaths mixed with the general populace, I want to try and at least make it so they don¡¯t have pleasure being what they are.


    That they feel like they want to change, due to pain.


    Am I being too rough on them?


    I mean, they didn¡¯t choose to be like this, and I may not have what it takes to say I¡¯m just completely right and no one should question me.


    Why should I have the power to change other¡¯s feelings and sensations regarding their own thoughts?


    Am I not brainwashing them?


    ¡­


    Maybe I am.


    Maybe there¡¯s nothing wrong in brainwashing people.


    It¡¯s the might of the powerful.


    This is this, that is that.


    ¡­


    Well, I clearly fell into a pit of authoritarian thinking there.


    Maybe I should just stop thinking about it¡­


    Or remove the algorithm.


    ¡­


    *sigh*


    Let¡¯s stop thinking on this for now.


    ¡°Alma?¡±


    ¡°Hi!¡±


    She just popped by my side.


    ¡°Hi. Everything good?¡±


    ¡°Uhum! All trees are going so lively now~~~ I love spring! It¡¯s so good¡±


    ¡­


    Spring Alma is the weirdest shit ever.


    I mean, I can clearly see signs of multiple sexual encounters on her soul.


    The residual feelings of pleasure from sex.


    Still, most of them come from herself.


    That¡¯s because she has trees for bodies, so in spring she¡¯s having sex with herself and all other trees and stuff which are around.


    It¡¯s like tree months of unending sex.


    So fucking weird.


    Besides, it makes me think of sister.


    For some reason I¡¯m feeling relieved now she¡¯s gone.


    We were used to making love every three days, but¡­ I guess I didn¡¯t notice that, it just became mechanic.


    The joy of discovery, the feeling of freshness, the idea of doing something fun and somewhat weird or forbidden¡­


    We just got used to mash up genitals together.


    So now I¡¯m relieved we stopped doing it.


    Isn¡¯t this weird?


    I mean, sex is supposed to be this big, meaningful, always-pleasurable and always-good thing.


    And still, it just became, like¡­ eating together when you¡¯re not hungry.


    Eating by habit alone.


    But is this the problem, really?


    I mean, sister has been gone for a while now.


    And even if I feel a little bit of desire, I can just work it off with masturbating myself.


    I don¡¯t feel the need for woman now. Or man.


    Just don¡¯t feel the need for either pussy or dick.


    Am I becoming asexual?


    Should I start thinking about cloning myself so I can leave offspring?


    Not that I want to have offspring in any way, so it¡¯s a stupid question.


    ¡°ALL!¡±


    ¡°Woah, what, what?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m talking to you! Meanie!¡±


    Ah, Alma, always cheerful.


    Sorry, sorry.


    Too many things on my mind at once.


    Literally.


    [Aura Hiding], [Soul Isolation] and [Mind Hiding] alone should be enough to make a common human¡¯s brain to give up and take a bus ticket to Alasca.


    That plus all of the other stuff I¡¯m doing right now, and thinking about life¡­


    I just stopped minding Alma entirely.


    ¡°Sorry. I lost myself in thought.¡±


    ¡°Eh~~? Aren¡¯t you a reminder?¡±


    It isn¡¯t like I don¡¯t remember what she said. It¡¯s just that I didn¡¯t mind answering because I was so deeply involved with my own thoughts. Multitasking have this kind of problems. Sometimes you will keep a conversation naturally, but if you¡¯re distracted by your own thoughts then you can just stop minding the information you get from your surroundings and answering to it.


    ¡°Ah, I remember what you said¡­ that you have assimilated the big Old Man¡¯s Tree by the mountain¡¯s feet, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Where should I go now?¡±


    I¡¯m having aura assimilate the biggest trees around since they probably have the highest concentration of emotional energy, being alive for so long.


    Unfortunately, all of that monster ash is gone already, so she¡¯s depending on absorbing emotional energy with her trees.


    It¡¯s still quite he amount due to her being well-spread already, but it¡¯s only enough for her to assimilate 100m2 of forest a day.


    Grandma says this is more than most [Forest Spirits] would assimilate in ten years, but still, she¡¯s helping me with looking for dungeons and ruins, so I would appreciate if she could get faster.


    Hence we¡¯re assimilating the emotional hotspots first, and then moving to the less energetic areas.


    ¡°I guess the red heart bushes up west?¡±


    Those are truly a wonderful sign.


    Strawberries the size of one¡¯s hand flourish there.


    People call them red hearts, differentiating from the blue hearts, which are a kind of poisonous berry which kind of reminds one of a mix between strawberry and mushroom, but grows on tree trunks as a parasite.


    They also have a lot of emotional energy on them, probably because they are appreciated by many animals as a delicacy.


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    And there she goes.


    Good girl.


    ¡­should I start training my attention as well? Remaining attentive is basically gathering more mental energy in order to increase my mind¡¯s toughness.


    I guess the best way to do it is to go back training qigong.


    ¡­


    Let¡¯s wait until I¡¯m out of the village to do it.


    No use making the family afraid of my weird bodly transformations¡­ again.


    ***


    Ah, here we are.


    [Mind Walk] training¡­ finally.


    With sister already on her way and the day of my tenth birthday arriving soon, there isn¡¯t much more time to finish my training.


    So let¡¯s get going with this.


    First, I go on [Soul Walk]¡­ there, done.


    Now, grandma¡¯s mind is going to help me get into [Mind Walk].


    So I need to lay my soul on the ground as if I was going to sleep and forget all about my feelings.


    Just my mind should remind, with no feelings attached to it.


    How psychopathic.


    Still, it¡¯s life.


    I¡¯m not going to give up on my soul, but mind walking means to do exactly this - leaving emotion behind and then going to places using just your mind.


    Here it comes¡­


    Uhm.


    Uhm¡­


    ¡­


    ***


    ¡°You did great.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Grandma is in Soul Form right at my side.


    ¡°What is the matter? You seem shaken.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just that¡­ I thought it would be different.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I couldn¡¯t think while I was doing [Mind Walk]. I was my thinking. My body was made of thoughts. The environment around me was made of thoughts. Everything was thoughts and concepts and things like this¡­ I¡­ I¡¯m not used to this. To not think.¡±


    ¡°You will get used to it soon enough darling. Besides, this is good. I guess for the first time you experienced what your Will is. You finally noticed how it is the source of thinking, instead of thinking being the source of it.¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡±


    It was SO weird.


    I mean, thinking is¡­


    Thinking is the product of something.


    When I think, that¡¯s because something else I have is moving.


    Grandma says it¡¯s my spirit but¡­


    What the fuck.


    I mean, just¡­


    What the fuck.


    If thinking isn¡¯t who I am¡­


    Then who am I?


    What am I?


    If I¡¯m not who I think I am¡­ if I¡¯m not my memories and emotions and everything else like this¡­


    Why am I this thing, this spirit thing, and not myself?


    I mean, the spirit is me, or it should be me, but it doesn¡¯t feel like me.


    I am what I am.


    I am my memories, my skills, my desires, my emotions.


    I am what I think I am, what I remember, what I think. What I question about the world.


    Cogito, ergo sun.


    There is no way this is just a reflex.


    That all of those things¡­ all I think I am¡­ are just reflexes of a lowly ¡°body made of mind¡±.


    Right?


    RIGHT?!


    Holy fuck¡­


    Shit¡­


    I¡¯m¡­


    I can¡¯t take this.


    I can¡¯t understand this.


    ¡°All¡±


    ¡°All¡±


    ¡°ALL!¡±


    ¡°AAH! Don¡¯t startle me! Oh, grandma, sorry.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay darling. You just had a very intense experience. This much is to be expected. Why don¡¯t you take the night off to sleep a bit? I guess you need to expend some time being unconscious to sort things out inside of yourself.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I will¡­ I will do that, thanks.¡±


    Let¡¯s go back to my body.


    I¡¯m my body.


    I¡¯m my mind.


    I¡¯m my soul.


    Am I my spirit?


    Or is all of that just illusion?


    ¡­


    ***


    I don¡¯t care.


    I just don¡¯t care what I am or what I am not.


    I¡¯m what I am, so whatever. It won¡¯t change anything.


    That¡¯s the conclusion I came to while I was sleeping.


    I didn¡¯t have any dreams this night¡­ or at least I thought I didn¡¯t.


    It seems I actually moaned the whole night, to the point where mother took me to her room and let me sleep between her and father.


    That¡¯s why I wake up between them, on their bed.


    I¡¯m better now.


    I¡¯m just better.


    That¡¯s okay.


    Whatever I am, it¡¯s okay.


    Maybe I¡¯m something greater than I thought I was before, so what, big news.


    I had plenty of intense experiences in my previous life.


    They were amazing and gave me insight on many things.


    Like how my soul and my body where different things, and how my mind was above them.


    And now I believe I discovered something which is even greater than my mind.


    I mean, I knew it was.


    Intellectually speaking, before coming to this world even, I knew it.


    That the spirit was greater than the mind, and something which controlled one¡¯s mind.


    Just like the soul controls the body.


    Of course, the mind affects the spirit.


    But I never allowed myself to experience this kind of thing.


    The feeling that my mind wasn¡¯t the end of my being, that is.


    Discovering that there¡¯s something greater than the body you thought was the limit of yourself is awful.


    It makes you see how frail that body is. The idea of immortality just fades away.


    After all, it¡¯s just how my physical body is immortal just until someone destroys my soul.


    It doesn¡¯t matter if my physical body is immortal. If my soul is destroyed, then ¡°I¡± won¡¯t be inhabiting it anymore.


    It will be like a useless CPU without a processor or O.S.


    Or worse, it may even start to degrade and become just atoms again, since it seems my soul is linked to the origin of my immortality.


    So, seeing that there¡¯s something greater than my mind.


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    Means I¡¯m mortal. No matter how immortal I am, there is something which can destroy me.


    If someone destroys my mind, then I¡¯m just dead.


    And as long as someone has enough control and strength with their spirits, then they can destroy my mind.


    My precious memories, all of what I considered to be good and mighty¡­ all of that is in peril of dying.


    I¡¯m afraid.


    I wasn¡¯t while I was doing [Mind Walk].


    Because I didn¡¯t have any feelings while doing that.


    But I am now.


    Because I¡¯m back in my soul.


    And I don¡¯t want to be mortal.


    I don¡¯t want to die!


    I don¡¯t!


    ¡­


    Hahahahahahah.


    Shouldn¡¯t I be a suicidal person?


    Someone who¡¯s willing to die?


    To let everything go away just because the world isn¡¯t working like I wanted to?


    Oh gods, that¡¯s so weird¡­


    Aaahh~~~


    Whatever.


    I¡¯m here now.


    I¡¯m here now. I¡¯m alive now. I exist now.


    If someone destroys me, then that¡¯s that.


    I can¡¯t be killed by most things around me, so I should be relatively safe.


    Unless I mess with the wrong bacteria and a Titan decides to fuck with me.


    Hahahaha.


    Yeah.


    I don¡¯t have enough Spiritual power to regrow a mind for myself if I lose my current one.


    Maybe if I keep doing qigong then I will have it.


    Yeah.


    Let¡¯s go back practicing qigong seriously.


    And stop all of this nonsense about me not wanting to hurt the family¡¯s feelings by staying away.


    If I can be killed at any moment, then there isn¡¯t any time for me to do this kind of shit.


    I need to be stronger.


    I need to be at least strong enough to be able to regain my memories and my mind if someone destroys it.


    A titan for example.


    I know it is possible.


    Intuitively I know.


    My spirit can regrow a mind for myself the same way I can create new souls with [Chantless Soul Magic].


    It¡¯s just creating a vessel for myself.


    But I need to make my spirit stronger, so It can locate all my mind was and put it together.


    Maybe that¡¯s the secret.


    The secret about why people don¡¯t remember their past lives.


    Are people¡¯s minds really just slumbering in the mind world when they die?


    Or are them being dissolved to the core, to the point where no memory remains?


    I know I can access all memories of my previous lives if I grow my spirit.


    Because it can go back in time and find the minds which were connected to itself, from the very moment it started to exist.


    From the very moment I got my spirit.


    Maybe that¡¯s what I need to do in order to be myself entirely as I am, instead of being myself as just a part, a small piece of all minds I ever had.


    Of all memories I ever had.


    Of all things.


    ¡­


    Ain¡¯t I being a little too extremist¡­?


    Yeah.


    Do I need this all, do I really need all of this?


    I mean, if my spirit can do this¡­


    Then someday, once it grows, I will be able to do it.


    Even if my mind is destroyed now, if the spirit can go beyond the barriers of time and space¡­


    Then ¡°I¡± as ¡°I¡± am now¡­ my mind¡­


    It will be reintegrated. Regenerated.


    And ¡°I¡± will come to be again, even if ¡°I¡± won¡¯t be the only thing I am. I will be me, plus all I have already been and all I will be until there.


    There¡¯s no hush.


    I am immortal.


    I just didn¡¯t get there yet.


    To the point where my mind will rebuild itself.


    Yes.


    This applies to everything, doesn¡¯t it?


    If there¡¯s something above my spirit¡­ as long as I can go beyond time and space with it, and I can already go beyond time and space with my [Soul Magic Flexibility : Space and Time], then¡­


    Then I just need to gather the pieces of myself.


    They are there.


    And I can go after them.


    At any time.


    Now, tomorrow, some other day.


    It doesn¡¯t matter.


    As long as time and space are open for me, then I can¡¯t die forever. Because some remnant of me will be able to reorganize itself, and then go back to the origins.


    To what it was before being what it is.


    My physical body was a star someday.


    Helium being fused in the hot core.


    My soul was something someday.


    Emotional particles drifting after being scattered by something.


    My mind as well, was something else.


    And my spirit.


    All of that.


    I can know which souls I had by seeing to which point my mind can go back in time, and looking at my souls.


    I can know which bodies I had by seeing to which point my soul can go back in time, and looking at my bodies.


    And I can know which mind I had by seeing to which my spirit can go back in time, and looking at which minds I already had at the pass.


    Yes.


    That¡¯s all me.


    Amongst the unsurmountable amount of souls, minds and bodies in this universe or in others¡­ amongst all of them, as long as I can breach the time-space barrier, I can know which ones where mine and what I was.


    And then I can make myself whole again. By knowing which souls I had, I will be connected to them and become one with them, even if they disappear on a certain point in time, they will still have that connection to me and return to what I am. To the source.


    That is.


    They won¡¯t.


    But the information of what I was will.


    And I will know that indeed was what I was¡­ who I was¡­ and not just some random existence I have been incorporating to myself¡­ because I will be able to notice the connection they had to one of my subtle bodies, which didn¡¯t die with them.


    They will be like skin shed from a snake.


    The skin goes, the snake continues.


    Yes.


    So ¡°I¡± am not any of those.


    Not my body, mind, soul.


    Maybe I¡¯m not even my spirit.


    I am the immortal thing which connects all of them¡­ without being other things, of course.


    After all, I won¡¯t give up on my individuality so easily.


    On my previous life, in occultism it was said that above the spirit humans weren¡¯t individual beings anymore.


    They were part of collective things.


    Meaning many spirits would belong to a single being at the same time, and this being would be split amongst them.


    So I¡¯m this thing. This big thing. Except I¡¯m using many spirits, minds, bodies and etc at the same time.


    That¡¯s it. I¡¯m a transcendental thing trying to get buffed.


    It got to be that, right?


    I mean, if I¡¯m something transcendental developing myself, then¡­ why the hell am I so limited in doing it¡­ why would I¡­


    Oh, fuck it.


    I¡¯m just thinking too much!


    Too deep, too much, too everything!


    Stop thinking, me!


    There.


    That¡¯s better.


    Let¡¯s watch mother eating rice.


    It¡¯s wonderfully peaceful and simple.


    *sigh*


    Yeah.


    Peaceful.


    ***


    The family is getting a bit clingy.


    I mean, I can understand father and Jacen calling me to stand by their side in the gate, or mother asking me to stay a home once or twice and help her cook and sew.


    But to think she would let me go back sleeping on Jacen¡¯s and little sister¡¯s room.


    I guess that¡¯s the dread of separation.


    They are trying to enjoy my presence, so¡­


    I guess I will enjoy theirs as well.


    It¡¯s just a matter of staying home a little bit more, sleeping in the same room, these sort of things.


    But it¡¯s nice.


    Kind of like eating together and telling how the day went by.


    Yeah.


    I mean, I don¡¯t need to stay out of home or anything.


    I have begun doing qigong again, but stopped just at the right point.


    I can feel it boiling inside of me, and I need just a little bit more energy to start the process of transformation.


    But I won¡¯t do it by now. Let¡¯s wait until I¡¯m out of home.


    Yeah.


    Besides this, I only have [Mind Walk] training with grandma.


    Which I can do while my physical body sleeps.


    So that¡¯s it.


    Let¡¯s enjoy these days with the family. They may be the last ones in a long time, after all.


    ***


    The day has come.


    It started with grandma patting my soul-head in the soul world after our final session of [Mind Walk].


    I can already do it with a certain level of mastery. Also, I have mastered the basic mind techniques as well.


    ¡°Congratulations darling. From today onwards you can say you know everything I know in magic and combat.¡±


    ¡°Thanks grandma.¡±


    Maybe I should have asked her WHO she is.


    But I¡¯m not so insensitive.


    So many years of training, lessons and living together.


    If she wanted grandma would have told me.


    ¡°Now, there is just one more thing.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°There is a level of magic above the ones I taught you. Today its existence isn¡¯t known except by a few. But in the old empire it was used to know who had the Right to Rule as true Royalty. It is called [Will Magic]. It happens when you use your willpower to do ¡°chantless¡± mind magic. Can you understand what I say?¡±


    Of course.


    After all, that¡¯s what [Mind Walking] is all about.


    Going to places with your mind by using your willpower to direct it.


    Besides, it isn¡¯t so difficult to do.


    Again, the qigong techniques I have been doing since ever are based on that. The main force which moves your Qi is your attention. Your conscience and the willpower needed to move it from a point to the other. Concentration.


    ¡­


    Do that mean I have been doing Royalty-like magic all this time?


    It does explain why grandma said I was a [Royal Genius] and able to inherit the [Curse] if I wanted.


    Not that I have enough energy for that¡­ ha.


    ¡°Uhm. I do.¡±


    ¡°Then, you must have realized you can do it, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. But it isn¡¯t so hard. You have been doing it to, right grandma? When you move your mind in the mind world, that¡¯s what you¡¯re doing!¡±


    Grandma smiled.


    ¡°Yes darling. But that¡¯s just because I have had the luck of training a [Mind Walk Prodigy] in the old days. I can¡¯t do anything besides that. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t teach you, okay?¡±


    Uh.


    Training a [Mind Walk Prodigy]¡­ so this isn¡¯t the first time for grandma training a genius, eh.


    Thinking well.. if she was alive in the times of the Empire, then she probably have done things like this many times in the past.


    She has been living undercover, but will heal people and kill monsters.


    On another words, she probably did it.


    Eh. Another interesting thing about grandma popped up.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Then, as my gift to you, I will remove the [Mind Alarm] I have put on you a long time ago. This is because I trust you. Never tell about your talents or teach anyone if they aren¡¯t worth of it. Do you promise me?¡±


    Of course.


    I don¡¯t want to be burnt on a flaming stake.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡±


    Soon a weird thing happened.


    It was as if a small piece of something hard was removed from my mind.


    I felt a small relief, but also a weird feeling of emptiness.


    I guess I got used to having that little ¡°mind bug¡± into my mind.


    It¡¯s a simple mind spell. It uses [Mind Reading] to find the right thought processes hidden within the person¡¯s mind, like, for example, all thoughts which include the ¡°immediate presence of someone other than the allowed people¡± and ¡°telling the information which shouldn¡¯t be told¡± and then [Mind Surgery] to insert a small thought in there with a mental command. Once these thoughts become active, a small mental alarm, like a sound or image, is sent to the programmed person with [Mind Speaking].


    This is [Mind Alarm], the spell grandma put on both me and Jacen when we first heard the story of our peoples.


    And my graduation gift was having it removed. She¡¯s giving me permission to teach those I judge better to teach.


    ¡­


    I wonder if this is something you should do to a 10-years-old¡­


    Regardless, that was the beginning of my day.


    Once I woke up, I had a surprise.


    Father, mother, little sister and older brother.


    All of them were on our room, waiting for me to wake up.


    I got hugs from everyone, and gifts as well.


    Mother got me a complete new set of clothes. I hadn¡¯t seen she knitting it at all. I wonder if she made those while I slept or something?


    Mom is amazing.


    Father and Jacen gave me a set of leather armor. It¡¯s crudely sewed on some parts, and very well sew on others.


    They must have done it themselves.


    Amazing.


    I mean, sister had training leather armor since I remember, but this is an expensive piece of clothing.


    She probably got it from her tenth birthday as well.


    Little sister gave me a kiss on the cheek and a small medallion with everyone¡¯s initials written on it.


    There was father¡¯s, which was a ¡°J¡±.


    Then mother¡¯s, which was an ¡°A¡±.


    Then Ann¡¯s, an ¡°Ann¡±.


    Jacen¡¯s, a ¡°Ja¡±


    Mine¡¯s, an ¡°Al¡±


    And her¡¯s, a ¡°Jo¡±.


    Right.


    Her name is Johannah.


    Everyone calls her Anna, but the name is Johannah.


    Where did she learn letters?


    She told me Jacen had taught her, saying I would be happy if she learned letters. That I loved to write and read, so I would be very happy.


    Indeed, I am.


    I haven¡¯t thought about this at all, but¡­


    This smaller sister of mine.


    She loves me, doesn¡¯t she?


    As a brother, of course, but¡­


    She really likes me.


    What a fool I had been.


    Feeling all jealous and childish because of her.


    What if she became the center of attention on the house?


    I was five already!


    Any kid over five would stop receiving as much attention as before.


    It¡¯s the age to stop carrying about this kind of things.


    Besides, everyone keeps loving me regardless.


    I hugged everyone, and we had amazing breakfast.


    Hominy in the milk with cinnamon and sugar was the best.


    Then, as I finished cutting the wood, someone knocked in the door.


    It was the smaller kids. Tila, Tima and Ysim.


    They came to congratulate me, and then we went to the center of the village.


    Some of the other kids, the ones I knew for a few years, came to congratulate me as well.


    Many other people also congratulated me as I took the buckets to fill our barrel back home.


    At lunch we had a nice piece of fried ham with rice and sauce.


    Afternoon I expended with mother and little sister.


    Mother gave me a lot of medicinal herbs and compounds, and helped me preparing my bag.


    Winter was close, so I should go out soon.


    She had such a pained expression while helping me¡­ but at the same time, resolute.


    My throat felt sore for some reason.


    I wasn¡¯t crying!


    It was just that my eyes became moist.


    Maybe because of dust or something.


    Once my bag was done, it was time to prepare dinner.


    I helped her again, and we cooked for everyone who would come.


    I moved the beer barrel to outside of the house, and we prepared many foods.


    Some she had been cooking since the last day.


    Mother didn¡¯t sleep the previous night. She waited until I was asleep and started cooking everything.


    Still, she was happy and had a smile in her face when she looked at me.


    The party was huge.


    Almost everyone from the village came.


    Including Ralpha, Elipha and Maurus.


    Grandma seemed satisfied to see Maurus playing with us as if nothing had happened with our families in the past.


    Then, it was time for the announcement.


    Grandpa was the one who should be giving me the option of becoming a farmer, while father the one the one giving me the option of becoming militia.


    They knew what was coming, so they held themselves.


    But the others seemed to be excited.


    The blacksmith, the head-huntress, forehead¡­ even Uller.


    I guess everyone had high hopes of having me as an apprentice.


    Yeah.


    I might have healed the children once or twice¡­ plus, as much as I used [Last Stand], sometimes I would slip a bit and people would notice I had more strength or speed than I should.


    No to mention the times when I would show craftiness by fixing doll heads or getting a beehive, as much as the official story was that I had to dive into the river to avoid being stung to death.


    Or maybe that had nothing to do with it.


    People had this idea that grandma would favor me¡­ so maybe they just wanted to stay at her good side.


    Regardless, at the time of giving me ¡°the talk¡±, grandma intervened.


    She walked up to them and simply said:


    ¡°Everyone, please listen to me.¡±


    There was some aura mixed with the words, so it¡¯s no surprise the voice went much farther than it would usually go - without raising the volume.


    So, suddenly the whole village was looking at us both.


    ¡°As some have seen, Alvin has been a very talented kid from youth. His father has been training him ever since he had enough age to stand on his two feet and I have taught him how to read. This is because, many years ago, we saw how easily he learned the healing spell, and how much he wanted to learn more. Now that his sister is going to the capital and he¡¯s old enough to travel, we have decided to send him after her.¡±


    People are surprised and uncomfortable.


    Like when people want to say something, but feel pressured not to say it.


    It was the head huntress who finally got enough nerve to talk.


    ¡°Teacher, isn¡¯t Alvin too young to travel? Please let him at least get to become an adult first.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense. I have taught him how to hunt already. I even had him expending a few weeks on the forest by himself, and he returned fine. Besides, Alvin has learned his sister¡¯s techniques and is very close to becoming a Superior Being. Look at the cracks on his skin. This journey is exactly what she needs.¡±


    Oh.


    Grandma asked me to use a version of the [Shadow] spell enhanced with my Aura Control to create the illusion of having small cracks on my skin.


    So that¡¯s why.


    The head huntress is without words.


    ¡°Here darling. Show them your [Aura Sensing].¡±


    That¡¯s what she said to them.


    Then, to me myself she would complement ¡°just a little bit¡±.


    Okay.


    Enough to be almost a Superior Being, nothing more, nothing less.


    That¡¯s the idea, right?


    So I altered my [Aura Hiding] technique and let a little bit of [Aura Sensing] slip.


    People are feeling uncomfortable.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough darling. Save your strenght.¡±


    I stopped and pretended to pant a bit.


    I¡¯m good at this.


    ¡°That¡¯s why, this is the last night of Alvin with us. Everyone, please wish him a good farewell.¡±


    The rest of the party was mostly Ralphe, Elipha, Jacen, Maurus, Tila, Tilma and Ysim gathering around me and enjoying the last day together.


    Well, at least they decided to enjoy it to the fullest.


    Singing, joking, running around.


    That¡¯s how my tenth birthday ended.


    That¡¯s how my last day at the village ended as well.


    ================== END OF VOLUME 2 ===================


    I have decided to call this Volume ¡°Power-Boosting Stage¡±, since it marks mostly the more training-intensive part of the training arc.


    Also, we finally left the village behind!


    I have to say, when I started Ode to Freud I DID NOT plan for the childhood part to be so long.


    However, to give it due dept. and truly justify what will happen in the next chapters (everything will be very smooth for the MC from now on) I felt I needed to create something a little better build.


    Besides, human relations and how they change the person are something interesting to explore - even if it became increasingly complex after a while.


    For those fearing the Mushoku Tensei phenomenon (the village being destroyed, people dying to artificially advance the MC¡¯s personality, lots of angst and drama built upon losing all he loves, etc), that¡¯s not on my plans for now. I do not appreciate drama or angst.


    Please enjoy this week¡¯s Extra Chapter (we have gotten to Extra Chapter 50!) and next week¡¯s Intermission (which will be a single chapter and maybe one or two extra ones).


    I hope to start Volume 3 by day 06.


    See you guys there!

 Extra Chapter 50 - Alvin is Leaving.

    When I first awoke, it was Marie who was at my side.


    I was confused, and did not understand, so she said she was like my Ma.


    And her grandson was my Pa.


    I felt so happy!


    I had Ma and I had Pa!


    And it was nice.


    But now Pa is leaving.


    His party was fun, but we didn¡¯t talk much. He was playing with the others.


    Now he¡¯s walking on my forest, so I¡¯m right at his side.


    Everyone was sad when Pa was going away, so he¡¯s sad as well.


    Let¡¯s make Pa laugh!


    Pa likes to see blue birds flying so I¡¯m going to make him a surprise!


    I expand my soul and touch some of them.


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    Excuse me. Sorry, sorry, just for a moment.


    There they go!


    ¡°See Alvin! Birds!¡±


    ¡°Woah. Nice. Is this your doing?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Thanks. They are pretty.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome¡±.


    He¡¯s going to go away now.


    I¡¯m a little scared.


    But it¡¯s okay.


    I can go visit him. Even if it¡¯s difficult for me to go away, I can go visit him.


    Even if Ma doesn¡¯t like it.


    She says I shouldn¡¯t go visit him too many times, or he may be angry with me.


    So I will work hard to find him a dungeon!


    This way I can go and visit him!

 Extra Chapter 51 - Traveling Guide

    Traveling Through the Kingdoms - Brumund Kingdom


    By Faerlyn the Merchant


    Brumunt Kingdom¡¯s History dates back from the declining of the old Empire.


    Many say that, indeed, the Kingdom began to exist once the Reckless Empress finally got killed after the Order of Martyrdom was unleashed.


    However, this would be only in official terms and politics.


    The area of the current Brumund Kingdom was already inhabited by the Goldscale Dinasty long before the falling of the Last Fortress, and the rule of the first King of Brumund - Thurin Goldscale - had been effective in a vital part of what would one day be the kingdom for at least two decades before the fall of the Destiny Gates.


    The Goldscale Dinasty, by its time, has come from the Old Continent at the time of the First Invasion, and settled in the current Black Dragon Scale Mine area as simple retainers of their lord at the time - Lord Emilian Black Dragon Knight.


    The first years of the dynasty in the continent were rough, and the Hundred Years War took its toll on them.


    Some say the current state of the Black Dragon Scale Mines, were human bones can be found at every corner and every hit of a pickaxe, is due mostly to the strenuous effort of the Goldscale clan to keep producing the Coal and mining the precious Miasma Rock for Lord Black Dragon Knight.


    Of course, as the Hundred Years war ended, came the advent of the falling of the Last Fortress and the Conception of the Rightful Emperor, when the Reckless Empress unleashed the Order of Martyrdom on all Slave Owners.


    At this time, the Black Dragon Knight clan perished amongst the Slave Waves, but the Goldscale clan, which kept its slaves inside the mines most of the time, was able to overcome the Waves by detonating the supporting pillars and burying them inside.


    Having no more slaves which they owned, the Goldscale clan then survived, becoming entitled as Surviving Royalty, and welcome the Second Invasion, giving aid to the settling troops.


    As the Hundred Years of Ruling unshed, the Goldscale clan then extended its land owning to include a connection to the Sea, in the kingdom¡¯s, at the time first, and today now second, Capital - Ullt - and an inland expansion following the Bearded Mountain Jaw which gave the kingdom it¡¯s peculiar shape, finally ending with the building of the kingdom¡¯s current First Capital - Irta - at the junction of the Small Stream and Great Slither rivers.


    For a while Burmund Kingdom also expanded beyond the Giant¡¯s Jaw and encompassed a part of what today would be the Monster Wildlands between Burmund Kingdom and the Dragon Tamer Kingdom.


    However, the advent of the City of Miracles in Rose Kingdom brought forth the need to reallocate troops for the Extermination Army and the region was taken back by the many dungeons which hadn¡¯t been completely conquered at the time.


    That said, what the traveler may most need to know about Brumund Kingdom is the state of its roads.


    Being a mountainous region, Brumund Kingdom have very hilly roads and paths, which may hinder the traveler, increasing the traveling time by one day for each two or three traveled.


    It also has only one truly useful road, which connects the two capitals - Ullt and Irta.


    If you intend to bring any cargo that may spoil, then bring only the minimum amount needed.


    Crossing to other countries by means of the Giant¡¯s Jaw is unwise, and most of the side roads just aren¡¯t appropriate for a four-wheels to go by and a two-wheels doesn¡¯t pay off the cost of hiring the many needed guards and hunters.


    Also, differently from more plain countries, food and provisions should be gathered by the roadside. It¡¯s advisable to hire a hunter or two and avoid eating any herb you don¡¯t know for sure. There are many which look alike edible herbs from the countries around, but have been turned poisonous by the mountains.


    On the good side, however, Brumund Kingdom usually has a very low population of monsters, which are kept in check by its Government-Sponsored Adventurer¡¯s Office.


    You may find Giant Spiders, Mad Hounds and/or Treants here and there, but a traveler used to the roads will find those to be small treats compared to the usual population of Giant Crickets from Rose Kingdom or the terrible Ant-Headed ¡®noids from the Sun Country.


    The horned rabbits which sometimes can be found by an attentive traveler make delicious stews and present almost no danger when faced with a spear - even though it is dangerous to face them with short weapons like daggers or bare fists.


    In terms of monsters, the worst a merchant will find in this kingdom are, of course, the always-present mountain bandits and their cursed offspring.


    Humanoids are some of the worse monsters in existence, excluding the like of dragons, hydras and such, or course, and it¡¯s said each of them have equivalent strength to an Elite Knight.


    If you¡¯re planning to travel through the kingdom, again, keep by the main road connecting the two capitals.


    Those kind of monsters are sometimes found even there, but the risk increases once one abandons the main road and go inside the many maze-like small roads made by farmers, adventurers and the such.


    If you¡¯re traveling in the main road, then two or three mercenaries and one or two hunters should be enough for protecting you and your goods, as long as it¡¯s a single carriage. For more than one, add the double of mercenaries from above for each carriage.


    But if you intend to go into the countryside, then just add an extra hunter, keep yourself on two-wheelers, never go with more than one carriage and hope not to be killed because of it.


    As a man who lost not only his cargo but also his dignity and a chunk of his flesh, I cannot warn enough those who let themselves be blinded by greed.


    Because I do not advise my fellow travelers to go into Burmund¡¯s Kingdom countryside, no matter how much you think you will profit from a little extra risk, I will refrain from specifying the small villages in the way and talk only about the bigger settlements in the Main Road.


    Talking about traveling, there¡¯s snow on Burmund Kingdom during the winter, and the place becomes very cold. So you must avoid going there in winter or you will be stuck there for months.


    The Second Capital - Ullt


    If you¡¯re coming from the sea route, then this will probably be your first glimpse of a real city in weeks.


    If you¡¯re coming from the land route, then I believe this will be where you will give up on the merchant life and become a beggar instead. That or you¡¯re an abnormal.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Ullt is a stone-walled city with some few dozens of thousands of people in it.


    It has a river and many wells, but I would advise making soup and avoid drinking any of it, since the river carries all of the mountain mud and many of the wells don¡¯t have stone guards and the people and animal¡¯s shit is constantly dropping inside.


    Even rock soup should be good enough, but the water shouldn¡¯t be drink as it is.


    The wells by the seashore should be avoided at all costs, since they smell the foulest.


    Ullt has cheap salt, which the people from inland will buy for great prices.


    If you have come with spices, then avoid selling them here. They will make you more the deeper inland you go, as long as it isn¡¯t in Irta.


    Be careful with the coin, though.


    There¡¯s plenty of people here who smuggle cheap stuff in the copper, so make sure to calibrate your scale and check for the Lord¡¯s Signet. The folk may pretend to take offense when you scale the money after checking if it has the Lord¡¯s Signet, but they will forgive you if you pretend to quit buying.


    Coin without the local Lord¡¯s Signet should be brought by the scale¡¯s value, but coin with the Signet and a lighter weight should be dealt with carefully, as the punishment for using the Lord¡¯s Signet without permission is death by impalement.


    If you¡¯re coming back from Irta, then make sure to sell your furs here before boarding the ship.


    Uphill City - Dorank


    The first city you will find when going uphill from the sea is called Dorank and will probably surprise you since it doesn¡¯t have any walls.


    In all of my years of travelling, I have never seen a city without walls.


    However, Dorank is two-thirds of the way to Irta and isn¡¯t properly a city.


    Maybe that has changed by the time you read these words of mine, but Dorank is mostly a settlement for people who are trying desperately to get a place in the Royal Army.


    Brumund Kingdom has that weird tradition where the strongest champion of the Royal Arena is allowed peerage and accepted as a Knight in the Kingdom¡¯s rank.


    Almost all of the second and third-sons, and many of the daughters, go there to try and get the peerage they won¡¯t normally have for being only second or third sons.


    And the place those young lords have chosen to take residence in is no other than this place, which became, over the years, the city called Dorank.


    If you have any good weapons and gear with you, Dorank is the place to sell them.


    Everyone here is looking for good gear and they have the money to pay for it.


    On the way to this place you may have passed through two or three villages with dojos in them, but do not be fooled - selling techniques or magic to these folk isn¡¯t worth it.


    Sell this kind of things in Dorank instead. There is absolutely no other place to sell it except here.


    You will make a life-worth of fortune out of two or three scrolls - if they aren¡¯t taken from you as tribute to the King in the gate¡¯s inspection.


    If you can afford for a wandering blacksmith to come with you all the way, leave him here.


    Dungeon Cities and Small Villages - All over the Place


    Brumund has a lot of Dungeon Cities, maybe because it¡¯s a mountainous place.


    You may find people talking about them in almost any tavern you go to.


    But be not fooled.


    The King of Brumund concedes every Dungeon Master ownership over not only it¡¯s dungeon but also the land around it.


    Business there is harsh.


    You do better by buying stuff out of the local travelers who come to sell them at the Main Road¡¯s little villages and settlements.


    The Brumund countryside is no place for those who value their money.


    The same thing for myths of Miasma Coal. You will find a lot of people talking about having gathered Miasma Coal from the around the Black Dragon Scale Mine, maybe from a secret underground tunnel, but it¡¯s all hogwash.


    It¡¯s surely made into graveyard-type dungeons, so don¡¯t follow anyone to that place unless you want to become one more pile of bones littering the place.


    On the good side, you should always sell your spices in these little villages.


    Prices here go as high as you can imagine, and I myself managed to trade a bag of sugar for a huge piece of miasma coal once.


    Also, you should buy the local herbs and medicines.


    The one called Bigfoot sells very well on Irta, so if you¡¯re going there, be sure to buy as much as you can.


    First Capital - Irta


    Irta is a big city for a mountainous place, but still smaller than Ullr. Probably because of the climate.


    Arriving here may coming from Ullr may take around two years or so, so at this point you should have no spices left and a lot of roots and herbs.


    But don¡¯t be afraid of having made a bad deal.


    Since the King allows the landlords to pay a part of their grain tax in spices and metal is as common as dungeons around this parts, you probably made quite the deal.


    Indeed, once I painted all of my sugar bags with green ink, and could see that, indeed, they were being sold at Irta for a smaller price in coin than what I had sold them to the landlords.


    If someday the roads of Brumund allow for one to trade grain directly, that lucky fellow would surely make fortune.


    In Irta you want to buy furs and sell your herbs. There used to be a magic shop there which would by some magic ingredients if you had it, but it closed its doors when I was still living in the city, so I guess you won¡¯t find anyone to buy those.


    All of the rest is pretty expensive, so you should stay in Irta for just enough time to sell your things and then leave.


    Maybe even don¡¯t go there, unless the furs attract you. Plenty of merchants have stayed at Dorank and made a good amount of coin out of simply selling weapons there.


    This finishes my advices about traveling in Brumund Kingdom. May you do good business.


    p.s: The hex eats in ullr and dorank, but nests in irta.


    ***


    I¡¯m sorry everyone, but the Intermission chapter will be delayed.


    Today I will only be able to post Extra Chapter 51 and 52.


    I will do my best to post the Intermission Chapter tomorrow.


    Sorry again.

 Extra Chapter 52 - Maps

    Those are rudimentary maps i have drawn with an map-drawing tool (AutoREALM).


    I do tried my best to make them into scale, so please don''t be so harsh on me for the rudimentary colloring.


    Map 1 - Blackscale County, where Alvin was Born, with detail on the county borders and the position of the main villages (His village, his uncle''s village, Black Dragon Scale coal mine and the County''s Capital, Cinna).


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Map 2 - Overview of the Path taken by Alvin and Ann to try and reach the Kingdom''s Capital, Irta. This will be the Intermission Chapter''s main story.


    [/url]


    [url=https://postimage.org/]</a>

 Intermission Chapter - Two Sides of the Same Coin

    [Ann''s POV]


    It¡¯s the first day of my travel.


    Grandmother wanted for me to wait another six months, but I cannot do it.


    Alvin will have to walk along by himself.


    Going long distances shouldn¡¯t be a problem for he, who doesn¡¯t need to eat or sleep.


    Not to mention, he¡¯s absurdly strong.


    I can¡¯t pluck a single strain of his hair. This much is enough proof.


    I should make haste. The Old Man¡¯s tree I usually sleep under is still far away.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    I¡¯m at the gates.


    In the end I got here a little later than I expected. Maybe it¡¯s because today is the last day I expend in the village, but¡­ I just needed more time with the family.


    We all slept in the living room today. Everyone together.


    It was nice.


    And now¡­ well, now I¡¯m being overloaded with weapons.


    Forehead came with a sword, the head huntress with a bow and a quiver, and the blacksmith with a couple of daggers.


    Everyone had resolute expressions when they gave me the weapons. Peeking a bit on their minds¡­ yeah, they are thinking something on the lines of ¡°this is what Marie expected for us to do¡±.


    Grandma is already all over their heads, eh~~


    Well, no matter.


    It¡¯s time to go.


    Yeah.


    A last hug on everyone.


    Don¡¯t cry Ma¡­ I will be fine¡­


    No use telling you this, though. You know it.


    Fuuuh.


    Let¡¯s go.


    ¡°You look funny!¡±


    It¡¯s Alma.


    ¡°Yeah, I bet I do. But it feels nice.¡±


    ¡°Really? Everyone says it should be itchy because it¡¯s new. Maybe it¡¯s broken.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I don¡¯t mind. Besides, It¡¯s nice to have received a present like this from the family.¡±


    I¡¯m using the leather armor everyone made for me.


    I guess it would be annoyingly itchy if someone usual were to use it, but with the amount of accumulated aura I have in my body, that¡¯s not a problem.


    If I don¡¯t use [Last Stand] there is nothing the itchy parts can do to me. They won¡¯t deform my skin enough to tell to my nerves ¡°hey, it¡¯s itchy here!¡±. So I don¡¯t feel it.


    So knowing I¡¯m feeling itchy on my own choice somehow makes the feeling a little less irritating.


    Why am I doing it?


    Well, obviously because I need to learn how to properly use armor.


    Grandma told me I should use [Last Stand] so I can feel the limits of the armor and avoid ripping it to shreds by doing movements which are too extravagant.


    So, that¡¯s what I¡¯m doing. Feeling the itchiness¡¯ in all of its glory.


    Besides, if I start running before I¡¯m far enough from the village, someone may see me doing it and become suspicious.


    So let¡¯s just stroll around the forest for a bit. I should be safe to do my stuff at night.


    Meanwhile¡­


    ¡°Say Alma, want to play a game?¡±


    ¡°A game?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. How about we play [Aura Sculpture]?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s unfair! You always win!¡±


    Heheh.


    ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s play with the usual rules then.¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    The ¡°usual rules¡± means Alma will be using [Aura Control] to make sculptures using aura and I will try to imitate her with a knife and a piece of wood.


    I¡¯m not good with this, but it¡¯s fun because Alma just sucks so much at using her soul to make refined work - so it¡¯s a friendly competition.


    I took one of the blacksmith¡¯s daggers from the scabbard and a twig from a nearby tree. Of course I checked if it was one of Alma¡¯s first.


    It¡¯s going to be a long day now¡­


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    It¡¯s been three days.


    I can see Purin village in the distance.


    That¡¯s good.


    Uncle Jino should be waiting for me around this month. I told him I would come by after all.


    The fields look healthy.


    I guess the Forest Spirit has spread around these parts as well, since there doesn¡¯t seem to be monster damage to the fences.


    As I walk through the place, I can hear the noise of the pigs, cows and sheep.


    Soon I can see them. And then the village¡¯s walls.


    The gatekeeper seems familiar.


    ¡°Ann, is that you?¡±


    It¡¯s Maurice. He asked me in marriage one day, while drunk.


    ¡°Yes. Good to see you, Maurice.¡±


    ¡°Good to see you too. So, have you seen your family?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°That must have been nice, seeing them again after such a long time.¡±


    ¡°Has uncle come back from the fields already?¡±


    ¡°Not that I remember. It¡¯s not the time yet.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the sun¡¯s still high.¡±


    ¡°Come in. You can stay at my house while you wait for him.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    I¡¯m tired, but I can only stay overnight. Let¡¯s use the time until uncle comes back to sleep a bit.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Night already.


    Time surely flies when you use all of your mind¡¯s processing power.


    Well, it¡¯s time to start running then.


    Slow at first.


    Aura on my legs aand¡­


    I¡¯m at a tree¡¯s branch.


    Nice thing about this way of traveling - it expends a lot of aura, but you look like a ninja or something. Except I can do much fancier magic and won¡¯t run with my arms laying opposite to the direction I¡¯m going.


    They are much more useful being right at my side, since real trees aren¡¯t all aligned perfectly.


    Maybe aura can make a forest with perfect-aligned trees if I ask her, or I could do it myself.


    Hum. Let¡¯s think about this as a project for the future.


    Now, let¡¯s go.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    ¡°Ann, good to see you!¡±


    ¡°Uncle. Good to see you as well.¡±


    I have been wakened by someone¡¯s presence coming close.


    On our village one isn¡¯t supposed to use [Aura Sensing] in the open like this, out of it many can¡¯t sense it.


    Besides, I¡¯m already a Superior Being, so it shouldn¡¯t be so weird.


    ¡°Sorry to disturb your sleep.¡±


    ¡°No problem. I was just resting a bit.¡±


    ¡°Come, let¡¯s go to my house.¡±


    Uncle Maurice has a simple house, much like the ones we have on our own village.


    The difference is in the number of kids.


    He has five of them, but no wife.


    His first wife died while giving birth to his second child. Once he marries again, that one would be his fourth spouse.


    That¡¯s normal.


    Woman die easily while giving birth outside of our village.


    ¡°Here, sit down. Tell me about everyone back on John¡¯s place. Is everything alright on those parts?¡±


    ¡°Everyone is healthy.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful! I should go visit someday, but it¡¯s a long trip, so it¡¯s difficult for me.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t overexert yourself.¡±


    ¡°Keep that out of your mouth, Lucei.¡±


    My youngest cousin. He¡¯s two.


    ¡°Is Lucei sick?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I don¡¯t know why though. I have been giving him plenty of oil recently. He shouldn¡¯t have the worms.¡±


    He¡¯s pale and slow.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this Yellow Bug Bite disease?¡±


    ¡°Yellow Bug Bite?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Mother once made medicine for a kid in our village.¡±


    ¡°Then¡­ do you have the herbs? Can you cure him?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Just give me some time.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Uncle.¡±


    It¡¯s always like this.


    But it¡¯s thanks to this kind of things that I can avoid expending too much time gathering resources.


    ¡°By the way, have you gotten what I asked you?¡±


    ¡°The food and herbs? Yeah, I¡¯ve gotten them. But you aren¡¯t thinking of going so early, right? At least rest for a few days.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t. I have to be at the capital in one year.¡±


    ¡°One year. That¡¯s a long time traveling.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Let¡¯s start preparing the medicine.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Uhm. I can see it.


    The first village in the way.


    It¡¯s called Purin village.


    Interesting thing about this world¡­ and I think, every world ever.


    The one thing which says where a village will be settled is the proximity to rivers and lakes.


    Everyone needs water to drink. If you have enough land to plow then, well, that¡¯s how you make a village.


    Now, villages tend to be constructed closely to each other. Half a day of traveling would be the maximum distance anyone would go ever to gather stuff in the forest, so villages tend to be found around one day of distance from each other.


    Except we are a border village. And that means big trees in the way and soil which may not be the best to plow.


    So our own village is three days away from Purin village, the closest one - and where our uncle lives.


    Now, as I look at it, what can I say?


    The place is¡­ weird.


    I mean, first are the pens.


    They don¡¯t exist.


    The animals are just fenced in different areas.


    Then, second, it¡¯s the people.


    I can see at least two people sleeping outside of the village.


    What the hell are these people thinking?


    ¡­


    Damn, they reek!


    That¡¯s no weak-beer-you-can-drink-instead-of-water, oh no sir, it ain¡¯t!


    That¡¯s some heavy liquor they drank.


    Thinking about it¡­we didn¡¯t have reckless drunkards back in the village.


    Even when people drank brown tea or something, they just wouldn¡¯t go around making a fuss.


    But these guys are sleeping in the manure.


    Yeah.


    And here¡¯s the worst.


    Filth.


    FILTH!


    Looking over the small mud-walls, which are quite smaller than ours own, it¡¯s¡­


    It¡¯s just everywhere.


    People sometimes would poop on the streets back in the village, but this place is more human waste than mud.


    How can they produce so much shit?!


    Except¡­


    I don¡¯t see any toilets.


    The shit and garbage are arranged next to people¡¯s doors¡­


    Don¡¯t tell me people shit on the door and then someone comes and take their shit away, I mean¡­


    It¡¯s ridiculous, right?


    ¡­


    Yeah.


    That would explain why the farmland around smells so bad.


    It¡¯s not only animal manure being used there, is it?


    Let¡¯s ditch this place.


    Uncle may live here, but I never came to know him¡­ besides, he may think something bad happened or try to keep me in the town once he sees¡¯ I¡¯m still only ten.


    Yeah.


    Let¡¯s go.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    ¡°Aaah¡­. Aaah¡­.¡±


    The Black Dragon Scale mine is close now¡­


    I remember this road¡­


    It should be only half a day away.


    Heavens!


    It hurts!


    O look at my calf, wrapped as it is in plant leaves.


    Still, I didn¡¯t have the right ones, so the wound is getting worse.


    Damn hound.


    I was too careless.


    There is no way.


    I will have to use it.


    I concentrate on the wound and start chanting.


    First, the detoxifying spell. The pain gets worse, but I can endure it.


    Now, the healing spell.


    There.


    It¡¯s healed.


    But I have expended too much aura.


    I will have to make camp at the Dragon Scale mine. Otherwise I won¡¯t be able to recover it.


    Let¡¯s get there.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Uhm.


    There are two options for me here.


    I can either follow the road or go straight to the mountain and cross it.


    The good side of following the road is that I will be able to see all of the small villages in the way.


    They become more common once we get closer to the capital, to the point where you have villages every half a day of distance or something.


    The bad side is that it is the long road.


    It would be a lot faster to go to the mountains, cross them and then head south directly.


    Now, cities would be a need if I was traveling like sister and had to worry about things like shelter and food.


    But I can just keep going and nothing bad will happen.


    So, what should I do?


    Humm¡­


    I still have my breakthrough to go through.


    Maybe I should just ditch the villages and go over the breakthrough once I reach the mountains.


    Whatever happens to me, that is, even if I end up creating dungeons like last time, it won¡¯t matter.


    Because I will be in an isolated place no one goes to.


    That¡¯s it.


    Let¡¯s head straight to the mountains.


    Then I will go down and follow the mountains to the West until I find the Black Dragon Scale mine.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    I¡¯m finally here, and still, there are problems.


    Are these people camping at the mine¡¯s entrance friends or foes?


    ¡­


    Can I avoid them?


    I look at my bag.


    It¡¯s almost over.


    Still, there are too many people there.


    I can handle the hunger.


    It¡¯s worth it.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    It feels weird.


    ¡°All¡­ it feels bad.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know. Like as if we were in a graveyard, right?¡±


    ¡°Like that decaying place.¡±


    Alma is talking about a place we visited in the Soul World.


    Black skies with no stars, black dirt, chilling winds, spirits like skeletons walking around.


    Almost a Graveyard World.


    This place feels very similar to it.


    ¡°Maybe I shouldn¡¯t do my breakthrough here after all.¡±


    I thought there would be many monsters after I crossed the small garrison near the border, but I haven¡¯t been attacked yet.


    What¡¯s wrong with this place?


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    ¡°DIE, YOU BASTARD!¡±


    Huff.. huff¡­


    Thirty down.


    Forty more to go.


    ¡°To think you would take down my guys so easy like this¡­ I bet ya¡¯re one of those abnormals¡­¡±


    Tsc.


    Sixty-nine humans and one orc.


    How the hell did they track me?


    ¡°But ya¡¯know? The man pays heavy coin for abnormal heads. They have this magician or whatever which can tell if someone was one¡­ I guess I will be taking yah there for a visit¡­¡±


    I readied the sword father gave me and started absorbing the aura in the scabbard.


    I didn¡¯t want to use it, but if I don¡¯t, then I won¡¯t make it.


    He¡¯s smiling, the bastard.


    ¡°Look at that boys! The little bitch thinks she can face me! Let me tell yah one thing¡­¡±


    His mace swings at my face with absurd speed.


    Monster!


    I barely have time to move my aura and get out of the mace¡¯s way.


    ¡°My name¡­¡±


    It¡¯s coming back.


    I jump.


    ¡°Is¡­¡±


    Dagger!


    No, I can¡¯t stop looking at the orc.


    The dagger cuts into my flesh.


    It has broken my [Aura Armor], but got slowed down by it.


    It shouldn¡¯t be fatal.


    ¡°Johnson Blackscale!¡±


    The mace is coming from the other side.


    An opening.


    He¡¯s trusting this dagger to stop me. Trusting it too much.


    I step ahead and trust my sword.


    I got his gut.


    His arm hits my head.


    Everything is spinning.


    ¡°AARHG! BITCH!¡±


    I¡¯m flying behind.


    There¡¯s no way for me to fall on my feet. Not with this thing on my side.


    I take the dagger out and hit the ground with force.


    It hurts!


    Sword!


    I roll to the side and avoid the bandit¡¯s blade.


    Then I throw the dagger at him.


    It hits his chin and I stand up.


    It¡¯s coming at me.


    The mace hits my shoulder.


    The [Aura Armor] breaks into pieces and I barely have time to take my shoulder bone out of the way.


    My armor stretches and my muscles are crushed under the strength. I can feel my flesh ripping.


    ¡°Lousy bitch¡­ stop¡­ jumping around!¡±


    I¡¯ve cut deep enough to kill him, but he¡¯s pretending not to have noticed.


    No.


    He must still think he has a chance.


    He can¡¯t accept it.


    But he¡¯s becoming sluggish.


    ¡°Aaaaah!¡±


    The spearman coming from the right tries to impale me from behind, but he¡¯s too slow compared to the big orc.


    I get out of the way.


    But this has come in handy.


    I take the spear by the middle of the handle and change the path it makes.


    The orc moves and avoids a more serious injury, but I have pierced his tight.


    ¡°Urgh!¡±


    He can¡¯t move as well as before now, can he?


    Still¡­


    Thirty-one down. Thirty-nine to go.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    I have found a few wild undead so far, but nothing new, really.


    There were some undead mad hounds, undead horned rabbits and even a couple hundred undead treants in a ravine.


    I just fireballed the hell out of them all.


    For such a dreadful atmosphere, I expected more danger.


    ¡°All¡­ I don¡¯t want to go anymore¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, you can go back home. I will call you once I¡¯ve crossed the path.¡±


    ¡° ¡®kay¡±.


    Well, that was fast.


    Let¡¯s keep going¡­


    Uhm.


    Ooh?


    There¡¯s a weird place ahead.


    In the physical plane it looks just like the regular rock, except it gets a little bit darker.


    But in the emotional plane I can clearly see it changes totally.


    There¡¯s a dark spot over there.


    ¡­


    Fuck this shit.


    [Holy Guard]


    WOAH MAMA!


    There¡¯s black goo flowing out of this thing like a geyser!


    The hell is that?!


    ¡°GRRRAAUUUR!¡±


    ¡­


    Oh shit.


    Seriously?!


    A fucking DRAGON?!


    COMMON!


    Oh, wait.


    It doesn¡¯t have a mind¡­


    Is it just the corpse of a dragon?


    Yirck!


    It just spat on me!


    Lucky I am for getting away¡­ that thing seems nasty.


    Uhm.


    Yeah, that¡¯s no dragon.


    I can see the bones.


    They are mostly human.


    Still, why is it taking draconic form?


    And what Is controlling this?


    ¡­


    I can see the soul threads heading downwards the hole it came from.


    Yeah.


    This thing is here to trap big prey.


    But the master is definitely down that hole.


    How do I kill it?


    Irc!


    Take these damn dirty claws out of me!


    They¡¯re creepy!


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    ¡°TAKE HER! NOW!¡±


    I jump at a nearby tree branch and almost fall.


    An arrow whistles right besides my ear.


    I can¡¯t take them all together.


    ¡°AFTER HER!¡±


    This is hard.


    Even while using a lot of aura, this is too hard.


    ¡°HAHAAHAHAH!¡±


    One of the damn bastards has gotten right next to me.


    It¡¯s a kid.


    A girl around 12 years old.


    She has a maddened eye, but I¡¯m not worried about it.


    I¡¯m worried about the dagger on her hand. It¡¯s going to cut my kidney. She¡¯s at my right. At my sword hand.


    If I try to catch her, then I will have to drop it.


    ¡­


    I can¡¯t.


    I¡¯m sorry.


    I cut her down.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Now, my little bone-friend here is disabled for combat.


    Movement soul-body strings safely cut.


    Now let¡¯s give a look at this¡­


    ¡­


    This hole¡­ it¡¯s shallow?


    It barely fits this thing.


    Then, how¡­


    Oh.


    The mind strings are coming out of the rock¡­ does that means whatever is controlling him is doing It remotely?


    It must have a good mind to be able to keep control of two bodies at once.


    I could do it if I tried, but¡­ I don¡¯t know if it would be worth it.


    Well, whatever it is, it¡¯s inside this mountain.


    Should I just destroy it?


    He.


    No.


    I don¡¯t know if I can destroy the whole mountain at once, but it would surely be too apparent.


    Let¡¯s do something else.


    [Aura Sensing], [Soul Analysis] and [Mind Reading].


    Common little one, show yourself to¡­


    ARGH!


    What a DISGUSTING fellow!


    URK.


    Damn dungeon cores.


    DISGUSTING I SAY, DISGUSTING!


    Urgh.


    Just a puddle of awful feelings and aura.


    It doesn¡¯t even have a mind!


    It just¡­ kills things, wait until one of them come back as undead, and then takes the body, destroying the original soul in the process.


    It¡¯s all worms and poison and¡­ emotional disgustingness.


    That¡¯s it.


    Let¡¯s destroy this thing.


    It¡¯s buried deep in the ground, so I won¡¯t be able to get to the core easily¡­ but I can do better.


    Yeah, I can.


    Let¡¯s just get out of this damn mountain first.


    Disgusting place. Just disgusting.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    They gave up.


    Finally.


    Finally, they gave up on me.


    I¡¯m tired.


    Heavens, I¡¯m tired.


    Just how much aura I used?


    ¡­


    Ha.


    Hahaha.


    Half of it.


    Half of everything it took me years to accumulate.


    My eyes are hot.


    The kid¡¯s eyes.


    They were insane.


    How did it get right at my side?


    Did she go all out in a single jump?


    Or has that orc tossed her?


    ¡­


    No use.


    It¡¯s no use thinking about it.


    My sides hurt.


    The dagger.


    Ah.


    It¡¯s black.


    Black and green.


    It had poison in it.


    Aah¡­


    They didn¡¯t give up, did they?


    They¡¯re just waiting until I die¡­


    Aaah¡­


    But I won¡¯t.


    No, I won¡¯t.


    I take out Alvin¡¯s farewell gifts.


    He gave me them right before I went out.


    It¡¯s food, but it isn¡¯t regular food.


    A peach and an apple.


    No matter how many days go by, they just don¡¯t rot.


    Because they were gifts from the [Forest Spirit].


    I take a bite at the peach.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Out of the peak, right at the mountainfoot, here I am!


    It¡¯s still a bit unpleasant around these parts, but not closely as much as it is on the peak.


    Now, let¡¯s start working.


    First, find myself a nice tree¡­ this one should do.


    Get confortable¡­. Aaand¡­


    Soul out of the body!


    Urgh.


    Really an emotional puddle.


    This place.


    This. Fucking. Soul place.


    It¡¯s like a big swamp full of worms and holes and¡­ just disgusting.


    Let¡¯s start the job.


    [Cleanse] at you, swamp!


    The light hovers over the infected mud and dissolves it, showing an even deeper and more disgusting layer underneath. Let¡¯s materialize some walls made of [Cleanse] feelings to keep the upper layer from falling down as I go deeper.


    Yeah.


    It¡¯s going to be hard work, isn¡¯t it?


    Dig dig a hole.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    The [detoxification] spell seems to be working, but it isn¡¯t perfect.


    The poison is already on my blood.


    I can only hope grandma¡¯s technique is enough to make me resistant to it.


    It doesn¡¯t make one immune to poison, but if I have enough aura, then maybe I can avoid death.


    It hurts.


    But I can endure it.


    I will be a knight, and this won¡¯t stop me.


    It won¡¯t.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    And here I am.


    After going through layers upon layers of awful feelings and being attacked by the reactive emotions inside¡­ also known as giant emotional worms¡­ I¡¯m finally here.


    Hello, dungeon¡¯s soul.


    I see you¡¯re old as hell, since you have soul crystals forming around you.


    I suppose this mountain has been your house for a long time. So long you are almost becoming able to bear a mind!


    But, unfortunately, I cannot allow that, can I?


    Seeing the kind of emotion you¡¯re attuned to, in the least you would surely spawn the mind of a psycho or something worse.


    So goodbye.


    [Cleanse]. [Holy Guard]. [Cleanse]. [Cleanse].


    Done.


    No more soul for you.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    It¡¯s morning already.


    My sweat is cold.


    I have a fever.


    But I¡¯m still alive.


    This should be blue heart poison. It makes one stop breathing and die in a few hours.


    I¡¯m still alive, so¡­


    I won¡¯t die.


    At least not from the poison.


    I can hear the steps.


    They are coming closer to me.


    I have to get up.


    Aaah.


    There.


    I¡¯m ready.


    Four of them.


    Only here to collect the body, I suppose.


    ¡°Tsc¡­ the bitch¡¯s still alive.¡±


    ¡°Just get her already, she can barely move.¡±


    ¡°Common bitch. Just give up. I will give you a fast death if you put the sword down. How about it?¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t give her anything slow. This bitch is mine.¡±


    Three man and one woman.


    ¡°Yours? Oh, right, the kid. You can have her then. Just wait until we cut her hands off.¡±


    The kid?


    ¡­


    ¡°Are you that girl¡¯s mother?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I am.¡±


    She¡¯s ticking her head to the side.


    ¡°Sorry for your daughter.¡±


    ¡°YOU BETTER BE, BITCH!¡±


    She¡¯s coming at me at an amazing speed.


    Almost as fast as the Orc.


    ¡­


    No.


    It¡¯s me who¡¯s slower.


    No matter.


    She¡¯s branding that spear as if she knew how. But she can¡¯t even keep a right posture.


    I come to the side a bit, and my sword is on her throat.


    If this was a winter tale, she would have been the last one, and I would have managed to apologize once more.


    But it isn¡¯t.


    The other three come at me together.


    Spear, axe, dagger.


    What a combination.


    I jump behind and take the woman¡¯s spear.


    It¡¯s a bad spear. It¡¯s terribly balanced.


    But it¡¯s still a spear.


    They stop midway.


    ¡°HEY! Shouldn¡¯t this bitch be dying ? Are you sure she got hit?¡±


    ¡°Of course she did, morrow. Just go over¡­ NOW!¡±


    Ffffuuuh¡­


    I take an instance and clove the sword on the ground.


    My two hands are on the spear.


    The first one to get in range is the one with the other spear.


    He¡¯s coming for a trust, and is in the middle of the other two.


    I can¡¯t do anything about him.


    So I step to the side and advance against the one with the daggers.


    The tip of the spear plunges deep into his chest and I fall back just in time to avoid the second trust of the one with the spear.


    The one with the axe is coming by my side.


    He¡¯s too close already, so I can¡¯t use the spear on him.


    I can only move to his side and use him as a meat shield not to be taken by the next spear trust.


    I drop my weapon on the ground and go for my sword.


    They are too close already for me to use the spear.


    The one with the axe tries to take my head while I¡¯m reaching for the sword, but I¡¯m quicker.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    His side is unprotected now.


    So I stab him and jump backwards.


    I¡¯m dizzy.


    I can¡¯t see the spear right.


    It feels just like that night, that night with father.


    When I¡¯ve drank a lot of brown tea and had a match.


    I can do it.


    As long as I don¡¯t commit the same mistake, I can do it.


    The man is closing the distance.


    He must be afraid, but I can¡¯t see very well.


    His face is a mystery for me.


    Every time I look high enough to see it, my vision becomes blurry.


    I don¡¯t have much time.


    I won¡¯t be able to do fancy tricks like this.


    Let¡¯s put everything into the next strike.


    He¡¯s coming.


    No matter.


    My hands are held above my head, and a scream echoes from my throat as I produce a Sword of Light.


    It cuts him.


    Have I been impaled?


    Am I still alive, or have we both died together?


    ¡­


    Everything faded into dark.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Theeere we go.


    Soul destroyed, but I still need to get to that Mana Crystal, don¡¯t I?


    Now, as I expand my [Aura Sensing] around, I can see that there isn¡¯t a direct path to it.


    The dungeon¡¯s core is in a place deep underground, in fact it¡¯s in a sealed room.


    I suppose I¡¯m expected to conquer the dungeon and then get it, right?


    It would be faster to go through the maze than digging the rock directly, that¡¯s for sure.


    So, let¡¯s just find the entrance.


    It seems to be near the Dragon Scale mine¡¯s entrance.


    Here it is.


    Hidden above the entrance.


    By the way, is that a settlement down there?


    I see fire from up here.


    I wonder if the lord has given people permission to camp near the mine or if this is still considered an ¡°out of limits¡± place.


    Well, they can always be bandits.


    Let¡¯s care about this later.


    This damn dungeon entrance is so small I have to craw to get inside.


    And I¡¯m only a ten-years-old!


    Damn dungeons.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    I woke up when night was falling down.


    I¡¯m still alive.


    There¡¯s a big wound in my belly, but the spearman must have become scared when he saw the Sword of Light.


    He changed the course of his spear while trying to scape.


    Ha.


    Hahahahahahahahaha.


    I¡¯m alive!


    Haha.


    Aaah..


    Then, why am I crying?


    ¡­


    No matter why.


    I need to find another place to rest.


    It¡¯s been three days since I last ate.


    I¡¯ve expended loads of aura.


    And I have been poisoned.


    This must have been the single most unfortunate traveling week I ever had.


    Let¡¯s go¡­


    It¡¯s only a few hours of walking ahead of here¡­


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    This dungeon is boring.


    Always the same thing, over and over.


    I mean, all of the monsters which are under the dungeon¡¯s control are now dead, since the dungeon¡¯s soul has been destroyed and its way of taking control of the undead was by destroying their souls and then taking the wiring for himself.


    So, it¡¯s just rotting corpses all around.


    The walls are boring as well. They are just high enough for the local monsters to craw on them.


    This isn¡¯t a smart dungeon.


    Or one meant to be conquered, for all it matters.


    Now, I don¡¯t care much about crawling around loads of bones and corpses, since I can just toss them aside with an [Aura Hand] while I carry myself with another aura hand.


    This way I can travel inside the tunnels a lot faster than if I was just traveling around.


    But when there are so many corpses you need to make them into paste just to be able to craw by, then that¡¯s just disgusting like everything about this mountain.


    This dungeon¡¯s crystal is better be worth it.


    Oh, it is.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    Dragon Scale village used to be a miner¡¯s city when the mine was still active.


    Or at least that is what the elders are always saying to anyone who comes by.


    That¡¯s why they have so many abandoned houses, and also why they have stone walls, even if the village itself has only some hundreds of people.


    But at least it has an Inn.


    I can finally sleep in straw.


    I can finally eat.


    Unless the villagers are with the bandits.


    But I don¡¯t think they are.


    The orc said something about him being a blackscale.


    A blackscale noble became an Orc while trying to overcome the curse.


    I can only hope I don¡¯t have to run away from this village as well.


    ¡°Bed, bath and food please.¡±


    ¡°Good heaves girl, what happened to you?¡±


    The old innkeeper woman¡¯s name is Silve.


    ¡°Black Dragon Scale.¡±


    ¡°You went there?! Did you tell the militia already?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    She seems relieved.


    ¡°Damn bandits started camping there three months ago. We didn¡¯t have any merchants coming back alive ever since.¡±


    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t anyone notified the army?¡±


    ¡°We have sent a militia boy to Dragon Path, but he never came back. They must have someone in the city.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°Anyhow, just wait a minute and I will give you food.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    I¡¯m not safe yet.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    I¡¯m here.


    Yep.


    It¡¯s big, but not bigger than my own mana crystal.


    To think this thing was so nasty in the soul world¡­


    Should I purify it?


    Yeah, let¡¯s purify the remains of it.


    Inscribe the purification algorithm inside and¡­ done.


    It¡¯s purifying its own existence.


    Oh.


    Wait.


    Why are the walls glowing as well..


    ¡­


    This thing has strings on ALL of the mountain?!


    Holy shit.


    Dungeons can make mountains into their bodies!


    They string themselves to the place around and manipulate it by using that¡­


    So that¡¯s how they work.


    I can see why someone would be tempted to fuse with those things.


    Becoming a mountain.


    Well, they also take over monsters¡¯ corpses, so¡­


    It¡¯s like becoming many people.


    Enticing, enticing.


    But it makes me wonder¡­


    Should I really take this Dungeon Core with me?


    I mean, I don¡¯t need it.


    It¡¯s smaller than my mana crystal.


    Besides, if I make an artificial soul for it while using [Chantless Soul Magic] then I could create something like Alma, but a dungeon instead.


    A happy dungeon.


    A place which was nice to people and stuff.


    ¡­


    Yeah, better not.


    I can barely watch over Alma, having a second ¡°son¡± would be reckless.


    Besides¡­


    ¡°All!¡±


    Ah!


    ¡°You startled me! Don¡¯t pop into thin air like this!¡±


    ¡°Sorry!¡±


    *sigh*


    Talking about the devil¡­


    ¡°Have you done something with the mountain? It¡¯s feeling good here!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have just purified this dungeon¡¯s soul. It was the thing making the place uncomfortable.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good! You can go through your breakthrough now, then!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I can¡­¡±


    But should I?


    I mean, there¡¯s that weird camp outside, besides, the place is being purified, but isn¡¯t totally purified yet¡­


    Uhm.


    Wait.


    Isn¡¯t this actually the perfect place for me to do it?


    After all, the dungeon has spread its threads all over the mountain¡­ or at least all over this tunnel and the places around.


    I can put an algorithm on it and make it so it will suck all of the aura around and avoid wild dungeons forming.


    Besides, there probably isn¡¯t a most reclusive place for me to do it.


    Yeah.


    Let¡¯s do it.


    Let me just expand the place a bit.


    These tunnels are really cramped.


    I wonder if I can do it by using the dungeon¡¯s core?


    Let¡¯s test some of these strings.


    Here.


    Aura String 1, you big, round one¡­ if I touch you with my soul¡­ you coil some of the aura around the place¡­


    Hum.


    Things may have been easier if I had studied the soul before destroying it. Tested the feelings to see what they did to each one of the strings.


    On the bad side, things would also have been more complicated, as I would have needed to destroy all of the monsters and get here without being buried alive by the dungeon.


    Well, it¡¯s life.


    String 2¡­ what do you do¡­


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    It¡¯s been a week already, but I¡¯m far from recovering.


    The poison is still on my system.


    I can feel myself becoming more and more agile by the day, but it will take time for me to go back being in a state where I can travel safely.


    Grandmother¡¯s technique is amazing, but it isn¡¯t miraculous.


    At least I still have enough money.


    Someone is knocking on the door.


    I grab my sword and get behind it.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±


    Silence.


    I put the tip of the sword under the door. There doesn¡¯t seem to be anyone there.


    They have found me.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Uuuhm.


    So, if I pluck strings 1 and 8 at the same time, I can make the aura around the mountain to go back and forth¡­


    Damn, this is complicated!


    I hate puzzles!


    You know what, fuck this dungeon!


    Just fuck it!


    Here. I will just make my own strings from scratch.


    First, I need to erase the current programming, so let¡¯s make this dungeon core absorb all of the aura around itself.


    There.


    It¡¯s absorbing, including the aura which made the strings.


    Now, let¡¯s erase the neutral emotions holding their programming¡­ done¡­


    And let¡¯s get started on something more useful.


    First, to open the space around so I can at least stand.


    To do that I need to cut the rock and then fly it outside.


    If I put a feeling like when I use [Aura Hand] to hold an [Aura Weapon]¡­ like this¡­ I can then make the aura inside the core take the form of small aura hands which will cut the rock around and take it outside.


    It¡¯s a long way, but my [Aura Sensing] can go quite far.


    By the way, I could put some [Aura Sensing] on the [Aura Hand] programming as well, couldn¡¯t I?


    Yeah, let¡¯s try doing it and then¡­ connecting these feelings to my own Mind by emulating the way it connects to my soul¡¯s strings of sensation¡­


    HOLY FUCK.


    STOP!


    ARGH.


    ¡°All? Is everything okay?¡±


    I ripped the damn thing off.


    SO. MANY. SENSATIONS!


    My head fucking hurts!


    ARGH!


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s okay Alma, I just¡­ did something reckless¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, okay.¡±


    Too much.


    It was too much.


    It worked, but it was too much.


    Damn.


    I need a sturdier mind to do these kind of things.


    Let¡¯s just keep this as a programing now.


    I can see the path to the dungeon¡¯s entrance and feel if the rocks are being thrown outside with [Aura Sensing], so let¡¯s use it.


    There.


    The thing is expanding the cave for me.


    Damn, my head¡­


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    I have to go downstairs to eat.


    But they will probably use this time to get inside my room.


    That¡¯s why I¡¯m going armed.


    Silve has a rusted smile.


    There¡¯s nothing she can do about the guy in heavy clothing at the corner.


    He isn¡¯t someone who can be tampered with by her.


    ¡°Food please.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Just a moment and I will bring it.¡±


    When will it be?


    Will he come to me now, or try to sneak into my room?


    I can sense his smell from here.


    Damn orc.


    He¡¯s looking at my waist.


    I put my hand at the sword¡¯s handle.


    He doesn¡¯t say anything, but I won¡¯t wait.


    I release my [Aura Sensing] just in time to sense the other one sneaking behind me.


    My reflexes are slow, so it still manages to get my nape with the rope. Too bad he can¡¯t choke someone¡¯s nape.


    The orc is approaching from behind.


    I bow my head and lower my knees while twisting my hips. Just in time to step away from both while the damn bastard destroys the chair I was on.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you managed to kill all of my boys¡¯ girl¡­ but it¡¯s personal now¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, how afraid I am of the big mean green pig-faced asshole. What? Do you still think on yourself as a noble even after being exiled?¡±


    He¡¯s enraged beyond measure.


    Just what I needed.


    As the pawn at my side tries to hit me with a dagger again, this time I take his arm and pull him close to me while going behind.


    The mace drops on his back and I can hear the backbone cracking.


    There aren¡¯t any more pawns here, but there are two militia outside.


    I need to end this quick.


    The orc is raising his mace again, but he¡¯s not used with being limp.


    The wounds I gave him aren¡¯t healed yet. They smell so foul I can sense it from behind his cape. He¡¯s dead man walking.


    I go to the side and use the chance to trust the sword¡¯s tip into his armpit.


    I should have gotten his lung now.


    ¡°Cough¡­ damn¡­ little rat¡­¡±


    He¡¯s coughing blood.


    I¡¯ve got it.


    He¡¯s swinging the mace against me again. From left to right.


    All I need to do is to get out of his reach and¡­


    He threw it.


    The mace hits the side of my chest.


    I¡¯m not using [Aura Armor].


    It crunches my bones and smashes my right breast to a pulp.


    It hurts like hell.


    ¡°He¡­ hahah¡­ bitches¡­ ain¡¯t supposed to¡­¡±


    He¡¯s getting closer. It¡¯s difficult standing. It hurts when I breath, but I keep breathing.


    ¡°Try to¡­¡±


    He¡¯s getting a chair.


    ¡°FIGHT BACK!¡±


    He broke it.


    An improvised spear, is that it?


    I will be a knight.


    And you won¡¯t be the one to stop me.


    ¡°DIE BITCH!¡±


    The chair¡¯s leg comes at my left side, leaving me in a difficult position.


    If I try to dodge, then I will be under the grasp of his left arm.


    I need to finish this.


    Here.


    Now.


    I step ahead while trusting my sword.


    I won¡¯t be strengthening it with aura.


    I won¡¯t be using an Exploding Sword.


    I will strengthen my own calf.


    My body accelerates suddenly and the tip of my sword reaches his chest before he dodges.


    It enters the flesh.


    It goes through the bulky muscles, and I feel it hit bone.


    Normally, that would be it.


    The sword would be deflected by the bone.


    I would have cut him bad, but he will still be standing to come and hit me while I¡¯m in a bad position.


    I would die.


    But I have taken time to train under forehead.


    So as the sword start to be deflected, I raise my wrist, force the handle of the sword and twist it in the opposite direction, going for a place a little above the bone.


    My wrist bends in a weird way and I feel the tendons screaming.


    Still I send aura to it, and it doesn¡¯t break.


    Instead, it changes the sword¡¯s path while I twist my own body in order to avoid losing my hand.


    The tip reaches the interior of the orc¡¯s chest.


    I fall to the ground, and the sword comes with me, still stuck in my hands.


    He looks at me, baffled, as a gush of blood comes from his chest, as if a well had been drilled in his body.


    He tries to raise his improvised spear again.


    And then he falls dead.


    Thirty-seven gone. Two more to go.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Okay.


    Done.


    I have a good space around now.


    I can stand, I can lay, I can seat.


    Everything is fine.


    Let¡¯s start the breakthrough process.


    Fuuuh..


    Yeah.


    That feeling.


    The feeling of something compressed inside of me.


    Of something undoing my flesh.


    And now it is going to my soul as well.


    Yeah.


    My body is glowing. My soul is cracking.


    By the gods, I hope my soul doesn¡¯t disappear.


    It would be too ridicule if everything was to end like this.


    With me dying because of my own powers.


    But no.


    It¡¯s fine.


    The goddess must have known what she did.


    I asked for immortality¡­ she certainly couldn¡¯t have fucked me up like this¡­


    Fuuu¡­


    Uh?


    How weird...


    The cracks in my soul have disappeared.


    And now¡­


    Wait, what the hell is happening with my body?!


    It¡¯s bloating!


    But not like before!


    It¡¯s becoming huge, like, Schwarzenegger-like huge.


    And red and¡­


    ¡°All! You have a weird thing on your head!¡±


    Eh?


    I touch it.


    A horn?


    Why do I¡­


    Why do I have a horn in my head?!


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    I¡¯m back at my room.


    I have barricaded the door.


    My body hurts.


    It hurts a lot.


    My breast is black and bloated.


    It hurts if I breath.


    My ribs are surely broken.


    I¡¯m trying to use [Healing], but it only makes my breast looks a little less flaccid.


    It won¡¯t heal the bone.


    My sword is with me.


    I¡¯m waiting.


    When will they come?


    The militia, will they come now, or ask for reinforcements?


    There is a window on my room, but I can¡¯t escape through there.


    There are four militia under it.


    What should I do?


    Knocking on my door.


    ¡°A- Ann¡­ it¡¯s okay, the boys said they won¡¯t hurt you¡­ they said they want to thank you.¡±


    It¡¯s the innkeeper.


    I put my sword under the door. Someone steps on it and tries to pull it out of my hand with the sole of their boots.


    I pull back.


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t they do it right now? It seems they are right there with you, right?¡±


    Bastards.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    My body.


    It has changed.


    My soul¡­ it is¡­ feeling weird.


    It has become the same form as my body.


    From the legends it seems I would be a demon.


    A buffed demon with red skin and two big black horns.


    The space inside the cave has become too small for me again.


    I¡¯ve put the dungeon into digging duty and increased it by programming my own mana crystal to do the same thing.


    What the hell is happening?


    I¡¯m not leaking aura, but my body¡­


    Now I have brown fur in my hands.


    What the hell?!


    I may have masturbated a bit after sister left, but hairy hands?!


    Oh, it¡¯s spreading.


    The hell¡­


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    There¡¯s whispering on the other side of the door.


    They are saying something.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay then, Ann. They will go away and you can stay in peace. Don¡¯t worry. But please don¡¯t travel with your wounds. We have a man who knows of herbs in the village. He can help you.¡±


    Yeah.


    As if.


    ¡­


    The man are going away.


    They really are.


    Is it¡­


    Really over?


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Demon.


    Werewolf.


    Now breasts and a vagina.


    I have breasts.


    I have a vagina.


    My dick is gone.


    ¡­


    Is this¡­


    Is this [Metamorphosis]?!


    Has it finally awoken?


    Because of my breakthrough?!


    Or am I not being decomposed into small pieces because it was awakened since a while but I didn¡¯t know how to use it?


    ¡­


    Good for me.


    Let¡¯s pay attention to the sensation.


    On how it feels to transform.


    Then I can try and do something about it later.


    Learn how to transform myself, that is.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    It¡¯s night.


    There is no militia around.


    It¡¯s time for me to go.


    I open the window and look bellow.


    There doesn¡¯t seem to be anyone, but there is something suspicious on the ground.


    I hang myself from the window frame and drop to the ground bellow.


    It¡¯s a sack.


    There¡¯s food inside.


    Pots with things, fruits and water bags.


    Thank you Silve.


    But I won¡¯t stay around to be questioned or worse.


    If you really think I¡¯m to be thanked, do it when I¡¯m back from the Royal Capital.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    In the end it took only a few minutes.


    Here I was, ready to go through another awful transformation, but It only took a few transformations until the bottleneck was gone.


    I became a demon, then a werewolf, then a woman, then some kind of female angel, then, I don¡¯t know¡­ an elf?


    I had pointy years.


    And then, my body grew, I got scales and almost got crushed by the cave.


    I guess I became a half-lizard race or something.


    And then¡­


    I was back being myself.


    And I could feel the blockage was gone.


    This time my aura absorption from the void didn¡¯t increase much, and it seems the one from my spiritual talent also didn¡¯t increase so much.


    But, still, it¡¯s weird.


    Can I metamorph by myself?


    The sensation was¡­


    It was like changing how you feel about your body?


    Like, there¡¯s me when I don¡¯t pay attention to what my appearance is, and then I can pay attention to my hand and start feeling as if it had claws¡­


    And claws will appear on it!


    How¡­


    Complicated.


    Well, at least I have unlocked the last one of my special skills, right?!


    Time to get out of this place and check that camp bellow.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    The next village is only a few hours away, but I¡¯m not going there.


    I will ditch that and go through the secondary road.


    This way I can be sure I won¡¯t be followed.


    My chest hurts, but at least I have food now.


    I may be able to recover the lost aura if I don¡¯t encounter other problem like this in the way.


    I really hope I don¡¯t.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    ¡°So, you guys are merchants?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. And you midget, what do you do for a living?¡±


    I have changed my appearance.


    I look a bit different from before.


    I have matured my face a bit, and added a bit of a beard.


    At first I thought I would be seen as a dwarf, but it seems this world¡¯s dwarves are a lot more bulkier than a bearded ten-years-old with the face of an thirty-years man.


    ¡°I get into holes.¡±


    ¡°That ain¡¯t too bad for a living eh? HAhahahahaha!!¡±


    In the end these guys seem to be merchants which were camping by the place.


    ¡°But you know, these stories about Miasma Coal still being found in this place¡­ it¡¯s all legends. No one has ever found even a single piece here.¡±


    ¡°Miasma Coal? What is that?¡±


    ¡°Yah live by these parts and don¡¯t know? It¡¯s a type of coal which is full of undead miasma in it. It¡¯s how people call undead aura, because it makes you sick. But It can be used to power forges which burn very hot.¡±


    ¡°People pay nice coin for it, since some folks can use it to make weapons of dungeon metal.¡±


    ¡°Dungeon metal?¡±


    ¡°Common midget, are you fucking with us? You don¡¯t even know about dungeon metals? How do you live being an explorer if you don¡¯t know about this?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not an explorer, I¡¯m a chimney cleaner.¡±


    ¡°Wha¡­ people pay for others to do these kind of things now?! This world is losing itself, I say to you.¡±


    ¡°If I have enough for food then I¡¯m good.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Then, Dungeon Metals?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right. You know. Silvereon, Ironeon, Coppereon. These kind of stuff. Dungeons have them and people can make nice weapons out of them. Some of those even have magic on them.¡±


    ¡°Magic on swords?!¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Most are trash though. Stuff like a sword which burns your hand. Hahaha. There¡¯s this story, about a man I know¡­¡±


    He.


    Interesting.


    Metals with magic properties.


    I wonder if it¡¯s because dungeons have a lot of aura?


    I only noticed it after fusing my mana crystal with the dungeon¡¯s core, but the amount of aura inside that thing was insane.


    It¡¯s almost as much as I have now!


    If you take metals and imbue aura on them¡­ and if you put on the right emotional algorithm¡­ then it should be possible.


    But then, the intense emotions of people doing battle¡­ wouldn¡¯t those rewrite the algorithm?


    On another words, these metals have magical properties not because they have been imbued with an algorithm but because of something else¡­ is that it?


    But if that¡¯s the case¡­


    Then what would it be?


    Maybe I should test latter.


    ***


    [Ann''s POV]


    I¡¯ve reached Cinna.


    It has been a long time, but I¡¯m back.


    Time to go to Old Berta¡¯s inn and get a room.


    Then I should visit my Master and see how things are going for Hadra.


    I could just stay a couple days and head directly to the next village, but I don¡¯t think that would be good.


    I still haven¡¯t recovered all of the aura I have expended with the Blackscale Orc, and Dorank is famous for being a place where people will be constantly taunted and forced to use their aura.


    It¡¯s best if I recover here.


    ***


    [Alvin''s POV]


    Experiment time.


    Let¡¯s try putting aura on my dagger.


    It absorbs it¡­


    And it¡¯s starting to vibrate.


    I just made a golem.


    Okay.


    Let¡¯s destroy the golem¡¯s tiny soul, take the aura back and try again.


    ¡­


    Happened the same.


    ¡­


    Yeah, that¡¯s not how stuff turns into special metals. Simply putting aura inside of them isn¡¯t enough.


    Maybe if I find some of it I will have a clue.


    On the meanwhile¡­ should I go to Cinna or head directly to Dorank?


    Uuuhm¡­


    Looking with [Soul Walk], sister seems to be in a small village in the Main Road.


    But how far is she from Dorank?


    It¡¯s difficult to know, since I¡¯m looking from the Soul World and it changes in comparison to the Physical World.


    Well, she¡¯s not in Dorank yet, so let¡¯s go to Cinna and then follow the road from the nearby trees.


    If I find sister in the way, then that¡¯s good.


    If I don¡¯t¡­ then I just wait for her in Dorank.


    ================================


    End of Intermission


    Hello all.


    Thanks for waiting on the chapter.


    As you guys could see, I have made an effort to make the Intermission Chapter different from a regular chapter.


    It took me quite an effort, however, since it¡¯s difficult to keep Ann and Alvin from becoming the same character. Each one has its own personality and desires, so it was quite the challenge to write about the high points of their journeys side-by-side.


    That¡¯s it then.


    See you guys next week with the first chapter of Volume 3.

 -So...-

    Hello all.


    As you guys may know, sometimes life is a bitch.


    Then, sometimes it is an Uber-Bitch.


    And then, sometimes, when you really need her to be a cool, nice monster, it becomes the bitch equivalent to superman.


    Now is one of those moments.


    Therefore, I won''t be able to write for a bit.


    I''m very sorry about it, but i believe i won''t be posting anything for at least one month.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    I will do my best to return soon, but when it''s your ass in the line, the weekend-hobbies need to be cut off.


    I hope to come back to Ode to Freud in one month.


    Until there, here''s a potato monster for you:

 Chapter 1 - Traveling Around

    I¡¯m back!


    Lots of things happened in my personal life. My writing style is rusty, I have lost my rhythm as well as my grip on the character¡¯s personalities and Ode will probably never be the same again.


    But I will keep writing it. Story has got to get an ending after all.


    I''m sorry for the inconvenience.


    Please enjoy.


    Volume 3


    Chapter 1


    It was difficult finding sister.


    I can¡¯t just sprint on the main road, so I had to do it in the shadows of the woods nearby¡­ except doing so prevented me from clearly seeing the road itself.


    It took me a few days to come with a solution for it.


    I call it the ¡°Hey I¡¯m here!¡± Alvin patented method of finding people.


    You see, if I can sense someone¡¯s soul but not know how far it is in the physical plane, then all I need to do is to attach something I CAN feel on them and then follow it, right?


    I did It by making small aura threads which I spread all around sister¡¯s immediate location, as far as I could go before the soul world disconnected from the piece of the physical world she was in.


    Then the process was quite easy. I just needed to cover the distance between Cinna and Dorank a couple times and found her.


    I scared a couple of guards which were camping nearby due to using [Aura Sensing] with a relatively strong output for a normal person, but I guess they will blame it on the wine or something.


    I passed through them really fast, so there shouldn¡¯t be many clues of it being me.


    Anyhow, I found her.


    Finally.


    [Ann] - Who¡¯s there?!


    Of course she would be guarded against someone approaching from the woods. I¡¯m giving in a regular human¡¯s aura output after all.


    [All] - It¡¯s me sis!


    [Ann] - All? Has it been six months already?


    [All] - Yes.


    [Ann] - *sigh* I¡¯m delayed¡­


    Indeed, she is.


    We are maybe half the way to Dorank¡­ and that¡¯s only, like, half the way to the Kingdom¡¯s Capital.


    [All] - It¡¯s okay, we can get there in time.


    [Ann] - Right. Come, sit with me.


    It¡¯s the beginning of the night, but I guess she¡¯s preparing to sleep already. Or at least is what I would think seeing as how she¡¯s making vegetable-and-boar-meat skewers at the bonfire.


    And she¡¯s needing it.


    Ann¡¯s face is pale, and she¡¯s thinner than when she left our village. Much thinner.


    I guess she may have lost 15 kilos at least.


    Not to mention she¡¯s also kind of¡­ sick?


    Maybe it¡¯s just the bags under her eyes, but it doesn¡¯t feel right.


    [Ann] - So, you¡¯re ten now, aren¡¯t you?


    She¡¯s brushing my hair.


    [All] - Yep.


    [Ann] - Good. Here, take one.


    She¡¯s giving me one of the skewers.


    Seriously sis?


    I don¡¯t need to eat, but you do.


    [All] - Uhm. I¡¯m not in the mood.


    [Ann] - Are you sure?


    [All] - Yes.


    She started eating it.


    Sister is pretty even like this, isn¡¯t she?


    ¡­


    Isn¡¯t her aura a lot weaker than when she left the village?


    Yeah¡­ it certainly is¡­


    [All] - Sis?


    [Ann] - What is it?


    [All] - Are you sick or something?


    ¡­


    She¡¯s laughing.


    Really now?


    I¡¯m worried about you!


    [Ann] - Haha. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m just tired.


    She¡¯s brushing my hair again.


    *sigh*


    If traveling makes you so tired you lose weight and have huge bags under your eyes, then maybe you should stop for a few weeks and at least regain weight.


    [All] - Then, why have your aura depleted so much?


    [Ann] - I had to fight an orc.


    [All] - I see.


    An orc?


    Seeing how much aura she used, it should be one of those who have transformed after going through a failed [Breakthrough].


    Why hasn¡¯t grandma helped her?


    [Ann] - Would you mind helping me with it?


    [All] - No. It¡¯s fine.


    The way to do it is simple. I have done it before after all.


    When sister was getting ready to go to Cinna, I would put just enough aura on her beer so she would have a high-energy concentration drink. Almost like a MP potion.


    I can¡¯t say it recovers a lot of energy, since too much of it and the beer would become a beer slime, but I input just enough aura so it gets to the edge of turning into it.


    Well, sister¡¯s meat skewer isn¡¯t much different. The major difference is that it would turn into a flesh slime.


    ¡­


    Wait.


    If slimes are born out of microbes, then would a flesh slime even be born out of this?


    I mean, if there are no microorganisms in the meat due to it been cooked only a few moments ago, then even if I put a lot of aura in it¡­ it shouldn¡¯t turn into a slime, right?!


    ¡­


    OF COURSE!


    OF COURSE IT SHOULDN¡¯T!


    And then I could make real MP potions, ones which would be useful even for me!


    ¡­


    Unless it became a golem or something.


    Rocks become golems, so¡­ could meat turn into a golem as well?


    Let¡¯s try it out later.


    For now, here you go sis.


    High-aura packed meat skewers.


    And I have one of Alma¡¯s peaches with me as well. You can have it as desert.


    ***


    Yeah, it turned into a golem.


    Sister is sleeping soundly in the ground next to me.


    She has only a blanket with her, so she¡¯s sleeping with her back on the grass and the blanket over herself.


    Still, I guess it¡¯s a lot better than sleeping on trees, without even a bonfire next to her.


    Her face looks a lot better than before.


    Really pretty.


    We haven¡¯t done it, of course.


    Sex, I mean.


    It¡¯s dangerous having sex in the middle of traveling.


    Not because of monsters or people - those I can deal with¡­ I think.


    But¡­ sister is just tired.


    Really tired.


    One can see on her face, as well as in her body.


    As she was taking the armor off, I could see how much she had been enduring.


    Her skin is full of calluses where the armor scrapes against it. Her muscles are tight, but the skin is pressed against them in a weird way.


    She¡¯s not like a ripped girl who goes to the gim every day.


    She¡¯s more like¡­ like¡­


    It¡¯s weird, I can¡¯t say what she¡¯s like.


    Maybe a pilgrim?


    But even those tend to have a religious glam around them.


    People who expend a lot of energy because of the need to are different from people who expend a lot of energy because they want or feel religiously compelled to.


    Her body just gives me this impression of unhealthiness.


    Maybe it¡¯s because of the stress of travelling on foot. It¡¯s very different from going on a mystic journey or jogging.


    She¡¯s looking forward to arriving at Irma, not sightseeing the world around her.


    Yeah.


    That¡¯s the kind of thing which transforms someone¡¯s body.


    Which creates calluses and marks which show that they have gone way beyond a leisure pace in order to get where they want to get to.


    Like the ones on her shoulders, which the armor rubs against.


    And the weird bra-like thing she uses, by bandaging her breasts.


    One would think it¡¯s just for sexiness purposes, but seeing the two localized blood stains on the bandage would quickly change one¡¯s mind.


    Bandaging the breasts is a way to avoid the nipples to rub against the underarmor and the armor, since they would bleed otherwise.


    Anyone who have done long amounts of exercise knows about this. If your nipples rub even against regular clothing, they will start hurting.


    Then they will bleed and open a wound.


    That happens to males and females, but woman have a harder time - because they have breasts, which naturally bounce around when they walk.


    Man can just put on a tight piece of armor and hope this binds their nipples in place.


    Woman will still brush their nipples against even tight armor.


    So sister has to bandage her breasts.


    Not to mention her feet, which are those of someone who have been walking with leather boots every single day for months.


    She just smells horribly.


    I took care of most of it, of course.


    I casted [detoxify] and [healing] on her and then [detoxify] in the armor itself.


    That¡¯s probably one of the reasons why she¡¯s sleeping so well today.


    Still¡­


    A regular adventurer or soldier would pass salt on their wounds, so they don¡¯t get an infection, and then scrap any mold out of the armor with a knife.


    I¡¯m pretty sure sister must have done this countless times already.


    ¡­


    It¡¯s brutal, and it¡¯s also why she¡¯s so tired. That¡¯s why travelling isn¡¯t the same as jogging or even running a marathon.


    So, we are not having sex tonight.


    Or any night until we find a good inn, I guess.


    And then¡­ maybe after she soaks in a bathtub for a week to get rid of the smell of molded sweat which has incrusted all the way to her bones by now¡­ then maybe some sexiness will ensue.


    Anyhow!


    My experiment.


    I have thoroughly cooked a meat skewer and then increased the amount of aura in it a few times.


    At the beginning I was quite happy with the results, since there didn¡¯t seem to be any bacteria eating the aura and I had already gone beyond the regular aura threshold, but then the meat started to vibrate.


    It turned into a golem in the end.


    Meat golem!


    I ate it.


    No hard feelings, but I have quite a bit of seasoning with me and I can¡¯t allow for a meat golem to keep vibrating around, attracting insects and rats.


    They would turn into monsters after all.


    Then, on the good side it had quite a bit of energy in it still. I wonder if I can just keep pouring aura in it and accept the idea of eating golems?


    ***


    Sometimes, things are just too complex.


    For example, my relationship with Alma.


    After testing with the meat skewers last night, she poked my soul.


    It was the first time I saw Alma pouting.


    I guess she missed me already, since she kept demanding my attention through the night.


    We visited our emotional playhouse, feed the emotional ducks and then went around a few of the emotional places we used to go to.


    In the end we collected a lot of emotional stuff and expended our time playing with it.


    For instance, if you take some crystals which breed when you have emotional ¡°stillness¡± earth illuminated by an emotional ¡°magnanimity¡± sun, and then mix those crystals with pure emotional water which appears in places where emotional ¡°stillness¡± earth is mixed with ¡°silent, cold, mysterious satisfaction¡± you get a funny reaction where both start to attack and infiltrate each other.


    In the end they become a weird mass of almost liquid crystal, which is much like emotional plastic, but the process itself is fun to watch.


    So, that¡¯s the kind of stuff we have been doing together.


    Which makes walking down this road a really, really boring process.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I mean, there are small differences everywhere.


    These flowers have more pigment than those, this kind of stuff.


    But in the end it¡¯s just a small road paved with stones and surrounded by grass.


    And it¡¯s the Kingdom¡¯s main road!


    I mean, it¡¯s what¡­ 4m wide?


    I¡¯m pretty sure two carriages wouldn¡¯t pass side by side here.


    Really, this world¡­


    Not to mention, it¡¯s almost empty.


    Maybe it¡¯s because it¡¯s winter, but the roads are totally empty.


    ¡­


    Should we be traveling in winter at all?


    I mean, I won¡¯t get affected, since my body has a lot of aura to spare.


    I just need to use a bit of [Aura Cushion] around my skin and the cold won¡¯t affect me at all.


    But Ann is using just her regular clothing and the leather armor.


    Isn¡¯t she cold? Won¡¯t she get frostbite?


    ¡­


    Let¡¯s extend the [Aura Cushion] to her as well.


    [Ann] - Uhm? Did you do anything?


    [All] - Uhm. It¡¯s dangerous to walk on the cold like this!


    [Ann] - Thank you.


    [All] - You¡¯re welcome!


    *sigh*


    Seriously¡­ how long have you gone by like this?


    We are lucky winter has just begun, or you would surely have lost the tip of a couple fingers by now.


    Well, I would be able to regrow them with magic, but, still.


    Sometimes sister¡¯s willpower is just too strong for her own good.


    ***


    In the end we reached a small village by midday.


    I guess sister was hopping to reach this place yesterday, but had difficulty because of how bad her body was.


    Anyhow, we will stay by for the day, and then tomorrow we will try to reach the next village before night comes.


    It¡¯s my first time in an Inn! How exciting!


    Not something I would say, of course.


    It¡¯s just a small wooden cabin after all. Like a house with extra rooms they rent to people.


    Except the living room is huge.


    There¡¯s a big fireplace, some stools and tables around, so I guess this is a place for people to eat.


    Interesting stuff, though - there isn¡¯t any alcohol.


    I didn¡¯t ask about it, but I guess it¡¯s because drunkards make business hard.


    Anyhow¡­ this world¡¯s money!


    It¡¯s just small metal coins.


    Or at least sister¡¯s money is. Round coins made of something I guess would be copper or the like.


    One night at the Inn¡¯s communal room and two meals cost us 10 pieces of it.


    What¡¯s a communal room?


    Well, it¡¯s a big room with a lot of straw beds in it, and no storage place. It seems most travelers sleep on those.


    What about hygiene?


    ¡­


    Well, I killed at least twenty insects so far, amongst which where at least eight cockroaches.


    Nothing poisonous, but, still, kind of disgusting.


    Almost on the same level as the soup with hard rice. Doesn¡¯t these people know about cooking stuff?!


    ¡­ well, at least sister seems happy.


    I can¡¯t blame her, since she has been sleeping in the open for months.


    But I can¡¯t just stay still as well, so let¡¯s start working on my mana crystal.


    I have brought it inside my cloth bag, so I can just hug it like everyone else is hugging their belongings and start to work.


    Let¡¯s see¡­


    Here.


    I can feel the mana crystal overflowing with energy. Nice. It will make a really good basis for what I want to do.


    Now, what exactly do I need this thing to do in the first place?


    I mean, I want to be able to build a dungeon by using it, but there are other uses for this kind of equipment as well.


    A regular Dungeon Master would, for example, be able to use the crystal¡¯s energy easily to cast spells and the such.


    Not that I can¡¯t do it. I can just manipulate the crystal¡¯s energy directly.


    But maybe I should program a macro to release some easy-to-use spells, just in case.


    Like fireballs or the such.


    This way I can have a greater degree of control over my dungeon.


    ¡­my dungeon¡­


    I need to have a way to cut through rock. And then to put this rock away.


    It will be difficult. I don¡¯t have anything as convenient as a game¡¯s inventory.


    I would need to reallocate the rocks.


    That said¡­. How do dungeons usually dig their way inside the rock?


    I remember seeing something like this when I was going through one of my breakthroughs.


    The small mana pebbles I had dug a tunnel around the rock and met at the center.


    If I¡¯m not mistaken¡­ those tunnels had more solid rock?


    Meaning the mana pebbles didn¡¯t exactly dug through the rock, but rather pushed the rock away and made natural walls around their path to the central rock underneath me.


    That, combined with how the Black Dragon Coal Mine felt with all of those weird feelers coming out of the crystal¡­


    I guess, maybe¡­


    [Earth magic: Soften Soil] and [Earth magic: Statue Maker]?


    Those spells expend tons of aura, but they are able to make rock soft or harder, and even compact smaller rocks into a bigger boulder.


    As most of the spells grandma taught me, I don¡¯t understand very well how they work. They just do.


    But maybe those are really important spells to have.


    Yeah¡­


    ¡­


    On the other hand, I could make it better by creating the blocks in a hexagonal shape and them making them into golems.


    This way I would be able to order them to change the dungeon¡¯s map or even close it entirely.


    Besides, if I give them enough aura, I guess they could learn [Aura Armor] and become stronger.


    Or maybe I could just put this programming inside of them since the beginning. This way they will absorb aura directly from the environment and be self-sustaining.


    ¡­


    Nah.


    I¡¯m thinking too hard on stuff and deviating from my point.


    Besides, if I made the dungeon¡¯s walls absorb aura and store it on themselves, I wouldn¡¯t have a good measurement of how much is the dungeon absorbing and expending.


    Keeping a good control of income and expenses is needed.


    By the way¡­ I suppose those feelers had some function like that at the Black Dragon Coal Mine?


    They do look like the strings I use to control the undead. Except they were being used at the dungeon.


    Can I control rock by using the feelers alone?


    I mean, of course I can. I could make them cast [magic hand] or become information relays to the golems in the walls.


    But, how am I supposed to control all of them at once?


    ¡­


    Yeah.


    I know the answer about how.


    Damn, this is unpleasant.


    I look at the sensory feeler in front of me.


    So unpleasant.


    But I need to do it, right?


    Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to use my ability to not have a limit to my growth.


    Argh.


    I can imagine the headaches already.


    ***


    Alvin¡¯s Over-Sensory Input Journal


    Day 1


    I just connected the damn thing to my mind.


    The mixed [Aura Sensing] and [Magic Hand] sets of self-made threads.


    It stood there for less than five minutes, and it already gave me such a FUCKING HEADACHE!


    I tried using only a single one of them, but it¡¯s like having a split view of the world. My own, from my always-active [Aura Sensing], and the threads as well.


    Enough.


    ¡­


    I¡¯m tired. My head and soul both hurt. Let¡¯s sleep a bit.


    ***


    Day 2


    Ann¡¯s decided to leave the village at morning. She hopes to get to the next one until the end of the day.


    It would have been difficult if we didn¡¯t have my [Aura Cushion] to ease the cold and such, but in the end we made it in time.


    And I also got to expend some though on how to deal with the sensory inputs.


    It¡¯s useless to just create a single sensory thread and then use it while shutting down my own [Aura Sensing].


    First, because that would make me unprotected.


    Second, because I need to expand my mental ability in order to be able to control each thread individually.


    It¡¯s like growing a new hand, except it has [Aura Sensing] all around itself.


    *sigh*


    Grandmother is here, and Alma as well.


    Let¡¯s talk a bit. Maybe they have some new ideas for me?


    ***


    Day 3


    As expected of grandma.


    Not only did she not had an easy answer for me, she even made things more complicated.


    Indeed, using only [Aura Sensing] on the threads wasn¡¯t much different of being semi-blind to what would happen in my future dungeon.


    I should create undead-like sensory threads and make each thread able to sense at least all five senses.


    Hahaha.


    Yeah.


    Thanks grandma.


    Thank you very fucking much.


    Now I can¡¯t rest until I have found a way to do it.


    Except my own megalomania has just kicked in from that commentary.


    I mean, if I should make those threads able to use all six senses I have at my disposal, why not increase it even more?


    [Aura Analysis], [Soul Seeing] and [Mind Reading], not to mention expanding the field of vision to include the [Nightvision] spell.


    With those each feeler would have as much sensory input as my own body has.


    And if I someday found I spell which gives me another sensory-enhancement skills, like being able to smell better or see farther, then I could even start getting my mind used to it and grow new senses on my mind.


    ¡­


    Let¡¯s not go too far.


    I don¡¯t intend to make myself inhuman so quickly.


    I mean, I could always try and study insects and other beings which have more fine sensory-inputs than humans, and then try to emulate this kind of sensory input with the right emotional threads.


    But the problem would be how to create the necessary supplementary structures in my mind in order to be able to understand those kind of stuff.


    How does a new color, which humans usually don¡¯t see, look like?


    Should I just make a random change on my mind, creating a random structure to represent that color?


    The [nightvision] spell probably translates infra-red and UV light to regular light, so it allows me to see the world while still using my human view of the world.


    Should I mess with my mind and start seeing things with a new point of view?


    ¡­


    Nah.


    Too dangerous.


    Let¡¯s just translate stuff.


    New colors, fuck it.


    Let¡¯s just make like the [nightvision] spell and translate things.


    I¡¯m fairly certain I can deal with any stuff I fuck up within my body and maybe even in my soul.


    But my mind?


    I can¡¯t be too careful with it.


    So!


    Translating other sensations.


    Like subsonic waves.


    I will need to collect some animals with over-human sensory skills to look at their soul-body wiring.


    Bats, flies, those kind of things.


    Once I get what their soul-aura strings are made of, I should be able to reproduce them at my sensory input dungeon thread.


    And then I should normalize them in order to connect pair-to-pair with a regular human-soul like set of threads.


    This way I will have a human-friendly interface to work with.


    Yeah.


    Let¡¯s work on that tonight.


    First, making a copy of my soul¡¯s general structure, and then grounding it to the crystal.


    This way the interface will be as intuitive as it can be for my own use.


    Then, I should start making the sensory feelers and connecting them to the soul-sensing parts of the dummy soul I made.


    Vision-sensors to the dummy soul¡¯s eyes, sound-sensors to its ears, this kind of thing.


    Let¡¯s do this!


    First, to get myself a copy of my own soul¡­


    [Mind Walk] followed by [Aura Analysis] and the right thoughts of the exact [Soul Structure] mixed with the thought of [Gathering the specific emotional energy and consolidating it in the right places] would be the answer.


    Mind-puzzling, but I can handle this much.


    Let¡¯s go!


    ***


    Day 5


    Maybe I have been a little too conceited.


    It took me two whole days and a little help from grandma and Alma to be able to create a dummy of my soul.


    Of course, it doesn¡¯t have even a hundredth of my soul-energy levels, only the quality of my soul.


    But, still, there are just so many little parts and details.


    Not to mention, some feelings fall apart if their supporting feelings don¡¯t stay in place.


    Like how my soul-brain will fall apart if it isn¡¯t connected to any soul-sensory-input organ.


    Making my soul-eyes first, and only then my soul brain.


    Isn¡¯t this just fucking counter-intuitive?!


    Regardless.


    I have been taking a lot of care not to let any mind come inside this dummy soul.


    That¡¯s why I have made a single mind-emotion thread connecting my own mind to it.


    It¡¯s a secondary thread connected to my thoughts of ¡°disposable body¡±, so I¡¯m fairly certain I won¡¯t be badly damaged even if this soul is destroyed.


    At max I will lose the piece of my mind which understands the idea of a disposable body.


    Which can be regrown fairly easily, I believe.


    So that¡¯s why I will be using this part as my own safety-proxy to deal with this body.


    Even when all emotional threads are done, I will only access this body through this though of ¡°disposable body¡±. And all sensory inputs will go through it as well. This way I can have something like a ¡°firewall¡± between me and the dungeon core, avoiding it from penetrating into my ego or, worse, my mind¡¯s core.


    Yep, safety first!


    Now let¡¯s make some sensory threads.


    ***


    Day 6


    We have hit a town today.


    It seems towns appear once in a while along the way to Dorank, the city before the kingdom¡¯s capital.


    The biggest difference would be the size those have while compared to the villages in the way.


    This one is as big as our county¡¯s capital.


    Also, for the first time today I have seen a noble.


    We have encountered one or two other travelers on our way, most of them almost freezing to death in the cold.


    We helped as we cold, making camp and giving them Bigfoot roots to help with the frostbite, but at those times I had to cancel the [Aura Cushion] around me and sister, just for safety.


    Anyhow.


    This guy wasn¡¯t a traveler, that¡¯s for sure.


    He was mounting a bulky horse and used full-plate armor.


    We could notice him from far in the distance, since the horse was at full throttle.


    Then we went to the side of the road and he just ran past us.


    I wished he went a little faster, so I could put the [Aura Cushion] up again.


    Horses are quite slow, aren¡¯t them?


    Anyhow, that¡¯s a noble for you.


    Gladly it had no business with us.


    Now, sensory feelers!


    I have added the standard undead-like sensory threads to a single, bulky thread made with [Aura Hand] which was programmed to be constantly cast by the dungeon¡¯s crystal.


    I have also made a small algorithm to ensure the dummy dungeon soul would be able to re-do the threads or make new ones if I sent it the correct order of thoughts.


    More specifically, I needed to send an [order - order confirmation- order] routine to the soul.


    Like this:


    [My mind]: Create new thread


    [Dummy soul]: Create new thread?


    [My mind]: Create new thread.


    The difference between actually doing it and just thinking of doing it comes as the dummy soul answers with the feeling of ¡°this is real¡±.


    This way I can avoid creating new threads while I¡¯m lost in my imagination or stuff like that.


    Anyhow!


    My first multi-purpose sensory thread is done.


    It has a soul portion and an aura portion. It can sense everything I would be able to sense with all of my sensory abilities and it also has an [Aura Hand] - like ability, which I have connected to the feelings of moving my arms.


    Of course, since it¡¯s an Aura Thread I should be able to move it like a tentacle, but I¡¯m a damn human, not a tentaculoid monster.


    I don¡¯t know how to control a tentacle. My mind doesn¡¯t have the needed knowledge.


    So let¡¯s be satisfied with having an all-sensing hand.


    Fuu.


    First test is tomorrow.


    Hope I get it right.


    ***


    Day 7


    Towns surely have better Inns than villages.


    Even if we stayed at the same communal room as ever, this time the straw was new and there weren¡¯t as many insects as in the villages.


    Truly relaxing.


    Except for the ruffians.


    One of the guys in the room tried to rape sister tonight.


    He just entered the door and launched himself on top of her all of a sudden. He didn¡¯t even hesitate.


    Motherfucker.


    Of course, sister awoke with the man trying to hold her, but at this point I had already given him a nice one in the ribs.


    ¡­


    Maybe I have exaggerated a bit, since my hand just went right through his guts.


    I definitely exaggerated.


    So, that¡¯s why we are running way by jumping above the wall.


    Sister didn¡¯t even flinch.


    Once she saw the wound on the guy¡¯s side and felt the blood, she immediately took her stuff and jumped through the window.


    I followed behind her and we jumped above the town¡¯s walls.


    Then we started to run.


    She is using quite a bit of aura to run while using the tree branches, so I will make her an extra-aura-filled set of meals in the morning, as soon as we stop.


    Anyhow, no dungeon sensory thread testing tonight.


    ***


    Day 8


    We are at a small clearance some three days of traveling away from the town where I hit the guy in the guts.


    It looks like sister has finally calmed down.


    [Ann] - All¡­ why did you do that?


    [All] - Sorry. I didn¡¯t intend to hurt him that much.


    She¡¯s sitting in the ground while holding her legs.


    [Ann] - Hold yourself better next time.


    [All] - Okay. Sorry.


    [Ann] - Can you get us a meal?


    [All] - Uhum.


    [Ann] - Then do it. I will make a fire.


    *sigh*


    I¡¯m really unused to this kind of things.


    I mean, I was sure I was using just enough force to break the guy¡¯s ribs.


    For him to be so weak to the point where my hand went inside of him.


    Have I committed some kind of mistake?


    ¡­


    Now that I think about it, his aura was really thin, wasn¡¯t it?


    He surely had a lot less than a regular farmer or even than the people from the villages we have been going to.


    Sister have told me of these kind of things before. People in the cities are really weak. Weaker the more developed the city is.


    I mean, I¡¯m not surprised.


    They don¡¯t get to exercise as much as people from the countryside after all.


    So they don¡¯t accumulate as much aura.


    But that guy had even less than a regular person.


    Maybe he was an adventurer. They usually expend almost all of their aura when they go doing their quests and stuff.


    Yeah.


    Well, he was a rapist.


    No reason to worry about such a guy, right?


    Oh¡­


    A boar just entered my [Aura Sensing] range.


    Let¡¯s get it.


    Boar meat is nice with some pinebush seasoning. Besides, I can use detofixy on it and fill the meat with a reasonable amount of aura.


    Let¡¯s go.


    ***


    Day 9


    Sister is avoiding the villages for now, since we don¡¯t know who that guy was.


    In the worst-case scenario, I may have just killed a noble.


    I mean, nobles do have weak auras.


    It¡¯s an amazing thing.


    They either strive to be a Superior Being and live in fancy houses right at the entrance of a dojo, or are just very, very, fat and useless.


    I guess the fat ones are first-sons who will inherit their father¡¯s houses or something, while the ones at the entrance of dojos are the kind who need to do something with their own lives. Like third sons or something.


    But on the other side, why would a noble be at a cheap inn, and, moreover, at the communal room?!


    That doesn¡¯t make sense.


    But sister is wary so let¡¯s just do it.


    Besides, she¡¯s safer here and I can use this opportunity.


    The pain from using the sensory threads from before was great.


    If that hurt, what to say about this super-thread then?!


    I may even get out with a trauma.


    I mean, it¡¯s reckless, but the worse that will happen is for my mind to shut down the emotional-mental sensory threads coming from the proxy.


    The ¡°disposable body¡± proxy is my safety measure.


    I¡¯m counting on it.


    So, let¡¯s do it.


    First, casting a silence zone around me and sister.


    And then¡­


    Let¡¯s do it.


    SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!


    AAAAAARARRRRRRRRR!


    IT HURTS!


    FUCK!


    ARRGH!


    ENOUGH!


    ENOUGH!


    With. This. Shit!


    Aaarh¡­


    My head.


    It fucking hurts.


    Shiiiit.


    Aaah¡­. I have held my own head so strongly I have cracked my skull.


    Shit.


    It¡¯s regenerating, but this was dangerous.


    Still.


    Aaah¡­


    It hurts to think.


    I need to sleep.


    Now.


    ***


    Day 10


    I woke up feeling renewed.


    There¡¯s a mad hound corpse right at the edge of our camp, so I guess Alma killed it.


    It was a good idea to have her around.


    Eh.


    How weird.


    Everything seems slow somehow.


    Aah.


    It¡¯s like when I get too focused on stuff.


    Time seems to get to a halt.


    Let¡¯s just¡­


    Yaaaawwwnn!


    Yeah.


    That¡¯s better.


    [Alma] - ALL!


    Whoah!


    You¡¯re there?


    Really?


    I haven¡¯t seen you yet, why did you took so long to call me?


    Oh¡­ my [Soul Seeing] is down.


    I should put it back up.


    There. Done.


    [All] - Uh? What¡¯s happening?


    [Alma] - I was worried! You passed away and I couldn¡¯t wake you up! Not even your soul!


    [All] - Don¡¯t worry, I was just tired.


    Oh, she seems sad.


    [All] - There, there. Wanna see how I¡¯m fine? Here, feel it.


    I just transferred a little bit of my current feelings to alma.


    It¡¯s working well with her.


    [Alma] - It feels¡­. Refreshing!


    [All] - Right?! How long have I been sleeping?


    [Alma] - Almost all of the night long.


    Uhm.


    So, I took enough damage to lose conscience all of this time.


    I should access how much damage that is.


    [All] - I will see if I¡¯m fine. Just wait a bit, okay?


    [Alma] - Okay!


    First, [Soul Walking].


    Uhm.


    No damage here, I see.


    Now, [Mind Walking]¡­.


    OUCH!


    This hurts!


    What¡¯s¡­.


    Oh.


    I have almost blown up my ¡°disposable body¡± proxy, eh ~~~


    It¡¯s badly wounded.


    I can barely notice it.


    I guess I will need some days of resting and qigong to be able to repair it.


    But!


    It¡¯s still on one piece.


    Which means I can use this mind-bomb to get mentally stronger.


    Nice.


    But let¡¯s start with something a little less intense the next time.


    Yeah.


    I will make a new thread, with only [Aura Sensing]. Then I will wear it all day long and go increasing the amount of senses a little bit at a time.


    This way I guess I can reach the big bulky all-senses thread faster than by blowing up pieces of my mind.


    Once things get damaged like this, you know your training has gone too far anyway. And I do not have a perpetually self-repairing mind.


    ***


    Day 15


    I have been resting my mind the past days. Just enough so my it recovers from the excessive pounding of information.


    In the meanwhile, me and sister have been going through a few villages and she has finally decided to rest a bit.


    I have been adding aura to all of her food and drinks, but it isn¡¯t as if I could just give her all of the aura she has expended on the past months at once.


    Still, I think she will recover enough by the time we get to Irma.


    Now, to restart my training¡­


    Let¡¯s plug this little one here¡­


    There. The small sensory thread, the one with just an [Aura Hand] and [Aura Sensing] combo, has been connected to my mind.


    Urgh.


    It still hurts.


    A lot less than before, but it¡¯s a lot of info to take in.


    The first time I tried to use it, I was at the mountain, so the amount of info was unbearable.


    Then, at the Inn, I used a bunch of them at once.


    I was being too greedy.


    Let¡¯s control my ambition a little bit, and start low.


    Baby steps.


    A single thread, with a simple [Aura Hand] and [Aura Sensing] combo, and with an [Aura Sensing] output of only a few centimeters beyond the thread¡¯s thickness.


    The difference is that I should use it all day long, and try to control it as a remotely-controlled sensory organ.


    Like a long-distance eye.


    There.


    Let¡¯s do it.


    Day 17


    I¡¯ve gotten used to it.


    To the single thread, that is.


    I can use it all day long without feeling headaches.


    It¡¯s time to increase the intensity of the training.


    I wonder if I should increase the number of threads or the number of senses in a single one?


    ¡­


    I think it will be easier to increase the number of threads once they have reached a certain number of senses than it would be to increase the number of senses in many threads.


    Like growing an extra eye.


    What¡¯s easier on your mind?


    Growing a single extra eye, or getting eyes after being blind your whole life?


    Let¡¯s start by giving this sensory thread a new sense.


    Which one should it be?


    Day 21


    I¡¯m finally getting used to having an extra visual sensory input.


    Being able to see in 360¡ã with my sensory thread was¡­. Confusing as fuck.


    I mean, it¡¯s just like¡­


    My whole sense of balance has been affected.


    Even while expending a lot of aura to increase my accuracy I would sometimes trip on a rock and fall on the ground.


    Sister got a bit mad because I was delaying her, but since we¡¯re still on time to get to Dorank she isn¡¯t complaining much.


    It¡¯s been only roughly one month since we got together after all.


    I think I still need more time before adding another sensory input on this one¡­


    Day 25


    Finally, I¡¯m able to walk on my two legs without needing to use aura.


    Adding a visual input on this thread and trying to walk while using it has been trippier than any LSD trip. Specially since I can see stuff with the thread I wouldn¡¯t be able to see with my regular human eyes. Like infrared and ultra-violet lights.


    It¡¯s impossible for me to fight in this state.


    Or even run properly.


    I guess I will need to learn how to do it latter.


    Now, let¡¯s add another sense to the thread.


    Since I have a LOT of walking to do, better to have some use to it. Like getting myself used to hearing, seeing and doing stuff with extra weird aura limbs which I have created using the huge dungeon core in my possession.


    Yep.


    Day 30


    Listening to sounds one usually wouldn¡¯t listen to¡­


    It¡¯s weird.


    Very weird.


    Like the sound of some birds, and, weirder of all, the huge amount of sounds made by our own bodies and clothing as we walk - even on grass.


    Or maybe that¡¯s because the thread gets really close to my body before spreading to the outside at a small hole in the back of my right knee, so it¡¯s like having my ears plugged at only a few millimeters of my skin.


    Anyhow, it¡¯s weird.


    Very weird.


    But it¡¯s definitely better than the trippy LSD-like visual inputs I have.


    I guess I¡¯m good for adding other senses.


    Day 35


    Senses of smell and taste were weird to implement.


    Tasting and smelling my own body odors all day long isn¡¯t exactly a nice thing.


    Luckily I don¡¯t feel like puking thanks to the ¡°disposable body¡± proxy on my mind.


    It¡¯s different sensing a bad smell with your own nose and sensing it with only a ¡°disposable body¡±.


    Still, since I didn¡¯t want for the thread to experience reflex reactions from my dummy soul, or to sense the weird feelings of repulse and disgust it would reflexively feel from awful smells, I have taken out this part of the dummy soul.


    So, awful smells and tastes come to me only as information, without the regular sensations of being awful or stuff.


    Maybe I should feel humiliated by knowing the taste of things like dirt and horse shit, since the threads touch all of those things in the ground, but it¡¯s better not to think about it.


    Knowledge is always useful.


    I should believe in this and don¡¯t think about the weirdness of tasting every single pebble I touch with my feeler.


    Anyhow.


    Sense of touch is next. Pressure, heat and pain.


    But I will make it so pain comes only on a certain threshold. Only so I be aware if something cuts my threads.


    Nothing which would be really painful.


    Let¡¯s do it.


    Day 40


    [Alma] - Hihihi.


    [All] - Could you PLEASE stop that?


    [Alma] - Hhaha. It¡¯s fun how you twitch if I do it like this.


    [All]¡­*sigh*¡­


    Weird thing about pressure inputs.


    They can either be pleasurable, painful, or something in between.


    On another words, if I make my threads more or less sensitive, I can either feel a lot of pleasure or even some pain by touching stuff with the feeler.


    And that¡¯s where Alma¡¯s playing with the thread comes by.


    Since I have been learning how to calibrate the feeling correctly, she has been tweaking with it by using an [Aura Hand] of hers and sometimes she either makes me feel a little bit of pain or a little bit of pleasure.


    Of course, I have taken the reflexive emotions from the dummy soul, so only the information gets to me.


    But, still, it¡¯s weird and makes me cringe thinking Alma is mostly masturbating me through this thread.


    Of course, I can¡¯t tell her what she¡¯s doing.


    She would do it even more, just to make me feel embarrassed.


    This damn kid¡­ she¡¯s indeed a wild spirit in the end. No respect for human taboo at all.


    *sigh*


    Now¡­


    Only [Soul Seeing] and [Mind Reading] left.


    I can imagine which kind of trippy LSD stuff I will see with those, since I don¡¯t usually keep them on.


    Seeing the emotional and mental planes surrounding the thread while walking with it on the physical plane.


    That will be a new experience.


    Anyhow.


    Day 45


    It has been quite trippy indeed.


    The various emotional and mental planes we go by seem to have some theme in common.


    Like how in the road they are mostly connected to [Loneliness], [Freedom], [Longing], [Tiredness], [Nature] and so on.


    On the cities and towns the regular themes would be things like [Money], [Hunger], [Desire], [Longing], [Frustration] and [Dreaming].


    The weirdest part is to many at once even when standing still. Since the aura thread goes beyond the physical place of docking of single planes.


    Anyhow, I try to keep the perception from the threads to a minimum.


    I don¡¯t want to expand it too much and end up seeing stuff which will make it even more difficult for me to walk around.


    Seriously.


    I have been having to make a huge effort to be able to follow sister.


    Simply walking around with my own legs is hard as balls when you have just so much information about the world around you.


    Not to mention how weird it is to walk while seeing and hearing things with other stuff instead of your own eyes and ears.


    Besides, I have been keeping the [Aura Cushion] around us all of the time, not to mention my regular qigong training and hiding skills.


    Haha.


    My [Unlimited Growth] skill is really the most powerful one in my arsenal of skills, isn¡¯t it?


    I guess I should be at least at the level of a supercomputer now.


    ¡­.or maybe not.


    Okay, I¡¯m being too prideful now.


    I¡¯m just doing a little bit more than a regular human, right?


    So let¡¯s keep doing this much, and a little more as well.


    Next step is to reactivate the old thread I made last month and increase the number of sensory threads.


    Fuu.


    At least it¡¯s the end of having to learn how to deal with multiple new sensory organs.


    ****


    Okay.


    Walking with two threads is difficult as fuck.


    [Ann] - Come on, you¡¯re lagging behind.


    Argh.


    Let¡¯s pick my pace.


    Right foot, left foot. Right foot, left foot.


    ¡­


    Shit.


    Big stuff at three o¡¯clock.


    I think it¡¯s a monster mantis or something.


    Shit, shit, shit.


    Calm down.


    I can deal with this¡­


    ¡­


    Fuck, sister¡¯s safety is at stake here.


    Let¡¯s stop this whole training stuff.


    There.


    Unplugged.


    ¡­


    Eh?


    [Ann] - ALL!


    SHIT!


    The thing¡¯s sickle just cut me from shoulder to belly.


    DIE FUCKER!


    Okay.


    Aura Spear to the head.


    It¡¯s dead.


    AAAAH~~~


    Shit.


    I¡¯m not feeling any pain. Big wounds like this don¡¯t hurt. Your body can¡¯t understand what the screaming nerves mean, so it just ignores it.


    And I¡¯m regenerating already. So, I will be fine.


    But what the hell was that?!


    I¡­


    I feel lost.


    It¡¯s as if suddenly I lost an eye or something.


    ¡­shit.


    Am I becoming useless because of this whole extra sensory organs shit?!


    ***


    Sister had a less strong reaction than I thought.


    She just came running to me and, right after seeing that I was okay, gave a relieved sigh and began walking again.


    [Ann] - That startled me.


    [All] - Sorry. I was doing something¡­


    [Ann] - ¡­


    Aaah~~~


    The awkward silence.


    It¡¯s fine sis, I won¡¯t die from being cut in half.


    I will feel the unpleasant sensation of my insides itching for a little bit as my juices get reabsorbed by my body, but that will go away soon enough.


    Still.


    Walking is still hard.


    Even after turning off the sensory threads.


    Shit.


    I may have done something stupid.


    I mean, it¡¯s obvious that this would happen.


    If someone has two eyes and you take one off, then the person will be disoriented for a bit.


    If someone has only one eye and you add a second, then they will also be disoriented.


    On another words, I need to get used to more than just having extra sensory organs.


    I need to actually get used to be without then once I return to my regular state of mind.


    ¡­


    This will require some training after all.


    ***


    Okay, Alvin¡¯s patented sensory-training will now start.


    My routine with sister has been very simple.


    We get to a new village; she buys rations and sleeps at an Inn. We leave in the morning.


    That taken into account, I need to jam a nice sensory training in there. And maybe some extra training as well.


    My body does remember all of the cool fighting moves grandma taught me, but my perception of my own body is all messed up.


    So I need to get that in order first.


    And the best way to do that¡­. I don¡¯t have the smallest idea of which would be.


    I mean, I remember ninjas in manga doing equilibrium training, and children and small animals do the same, right?


    They go around walking and jumping on poles and stuff like that. The ninjas I mean. Small children just try to walk, run and climb.


    So I guess this is what I need to do.


    Which means I will be away from sister, doing silly stuff in the forest while she walks calmly in the road.


    I should keep one of my threads near her just in case, but the other one I should keep with me.


    This way I can get used to jumping from branch to branch on the trees while using multiple sensory organs.


    And then¡­


    I guess I will leave her to enter the villages alone and remain in the woods, training how to move around without using my extra senses¡­. And maybe without using the [nightvision] spell and the [Aura Sensing] and other skills I have.


    This way I can get used to all of the possibilities. More senses than usual, less senses than usual, and, of course, the usual amount of senses.


    There¡¯s always the risk of a new ruffian attack, but sister would have been more than able to deal with that guy by herself.


    Besides, I can take breaks at training to look at her with [Soul Walking].


    Or better yet!


    [All] - Alma.


    [Alma] - Uuh? Found something nice ?


    Sometimes I found small flowers or insects which I find funny and call Alma so she can see them.


    But not this time.


    [All] - Can you take care of Ann while I train at night?


    [Alma] - Sure! But you will train even more?


    [All] - Right?! It¡¯s as if the need never ended! I¡¯m always getting myself between a rock and a hard place. But it¡¯s nice. I feel like I¡¯m powerful like this.


    [Alma] - Heheh.


    [All] - What?


    [Alma] - It¡¯s funny because you always want to be more. That¡¯s silly!


    [All] - ¡­


    Sometimes I don¡¯t get this forest spirit.


    I don¡¯t get it at all.


    ***

 Chapter 2 - Suddenly, everything changes.

    Volume 3


    Chapter 2


    It was in the middle of my night training. Me and sister are almost at the doorsteps of Dorank now, so things have been prorcssing smoothly and more people have been around during the day and also the night.


    That¡¯s why I have taken on an orc¡¯s face and body to make my night time training.


    I just transformed and keep in that form while re-learning all of the martial moves grandma taught me.


    I have been getting pretty good at it.


    With the new senses, and also without being able to rely on more than a single sense or two.


    From moving with two sensory-input threads which wriggle around or with all but one of my senses sealed.


    I¡¯m almost mastering that and also everything in between.


    So, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t noticed when she got closer.


    Not until I had already finished doing a massive amount of martial arts training forms.


    Her name is Ranna.


    And I think I love her.


    ***


    It was weird how it all started.


    I had all of my senses sealed.


    [Aura Sensing], [Soul Sensing], [Mind Reading], all down.


    Hearing sealed with the creation of small bubbles of the [Cotton Step] spell, right at the outside of my ears.


    Vision sealed with [Shadow] outside of my eyes.


    Taste and Smell sealed by numbing my tongue and nose with [Numbing] from the [Flesh] spells series.


    I only had my sense of tact, and was going against a couple of Mad Hounds by feeling the changes in the air flow when they were almost touching my skin, after attacking me.


    That was the training I was doing and, right after finishing it, it was also what had Ranna looking at me with such utter respect.


    Now, I was confused after looking at her. I also immediately reactivated my other senses and had Alma explaining me things while looking at her.


    I¡¯m sure she must have thought I was evaluating her at that moment, but I was just asking Alma¡­


    [All] - Alma!


    [Alma] - Sorry, I thought you wouldn¡¯t want for me to hurt her.


    Of course, I wouldn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t have any [rape], [murder] and other such feelings on her soul.


    All I could see there was a huge amount of [Surprise], [Admiration] and even [Love].


    [All] - Why didn¡¯t you just misled her?


    [Alma] - Well¡­.


    Alma may be able to hide her soul¡¯s feelings with [Soul Hidding], but fidgeting with your fingers in front of yourself isn¡¯t a good way to pretend not to have committed a blunder.


    So, I looked around and saw the cause.


    There was a portal close by. To our emotional tree house.


    Seriously?


    I ask you to guard my training spot, and you do that ?!


    Alma¡­


    Still¡­ why am I not angry with her ?


    Why can¡¯t I come with words to reprehend her?


    Ah!


    The woman, she is right next to me now.


    She¡¯s a well-defined lady with dark-yellow hair and eyes which seem to be looking at something I cannot understand what is.


    I know her name is Ranna, because she has been thinking like that for a while now.


    She stopped at a few feet from me, kinda nervous.


    And then¡­


    She extended her hand.


    [Ranna] - Uuuhn¡­ hi! Nice to meet you! I¡¯m¡­


    [All] - Ranna.


    [Ranna] - Ah, yeah !... Wait¡­


    She¡¯s making a dubious face.


    [Ranna] - How do you know that?


    My chest is exploding in love.


    My mind is silent, allowing for something to flow by it.


    I see it now.


    This is coming from above, isn¡¯t it?


    I love her because not of a collection of feelings, but because of my spirit.


    [All] - Because I can read your mind. Nice to meet you. I¡¯m..


    Should I give her my real name?


    ¡­


    No.


    Not now.


    [All] - I¡¯m Alduin.


    I touched her hand, and soon my other hand was touching the side of her head.


    [All] - And I think I love you.


    Oh, she¡¯s surprised.


    But she¡¯s accepting my hand on her face without doubting for a single moment that she wants it there.


    Yes.


    I love her.


    Welcome to my life¡­ Ranna.


    ***


    Okay.


    Shit is getting serious now.


    Because I just told all of my life story to this girl.


    All of it. Even that I¡¯m reincarnated and many of the things grandma told me.


    Of course, I omitted some things like my real name, some of my powers and also other things she wouldn¡¯t understand.


    But Ranna knows I¡¯m a reincarnated person from another world. She knows I¡¯m an Abnormal. She knows I¡¯m powerful beyond measure for regular humans.


    She even knows I have a dungeon core with me, here and now, and that I¡¯m able to control it without needing to fuse with it.


    I wouldn¡¯t get surprised if she started worshipping me.


    But, instead, she¡¯s hugging me.


    She has hugged me once I told some of the sadness in my heart.


    And then we laid in the grass and stood like that, looking at each other¡¯s eyes.


    ¡­


    Here it comes.


    A small kiss.


    Just the touching of the lips.


    Ah, but now she¡¯s infatuated.


    [All] - What happened?


    [Ranna] - I don¡¯t know what to do.


    [All] - What do you mean?


    She¡¯s caressing my arm.


    [Ranna] - I love you¡­ but I¡¯m married already.


    Oh.


    Of course she is.


    That or she has a man she had been having sex with.


    The proof is in her aura.


    Well, no matter.


    I¡¯m not here to take this woman for me. I¡¯m here to enjoy this feeling.


    Yes.


    I may be drifting in a sea of love, but it¡¯s still just a sea of emotion.


    I can destroy it if I want to. I can even force my mind to stop it.


    But I won¡¯t.


    Because it¡¯s coming from a much higher source. From my spirit.


    This love is beyond the flesh. And I fuck my sister and my brother. Why should I care?


    Worst case scenario, I will have to fuck this guy as well.


    [All] - So what?


    She¡¯s casting her eyes downwards. My hands gently touch her chin.


    [All] - Hey. What¡¯s the matter?


    She speaks with a pouting mouth.


    [Ranna] - Is it possible to love two people at once?


    I can see it, Ranna.


    I can see the love.


    [All] - Of course it is. Because I love you. I know you love me. And I know you love him.


    Isn¡¯t it too fast ?


    Ain¡¯t I saying something I can¡¯t understand myself?


    I mean, a brief image of her fucking the guy just appeared on my mind and now I want to kill him.


    But this is stupid.


    This love is spiritual. There is no reason for me to be so possessive about matter.


    I mean, if I destroyed her body, gave her a new one and grounded her soul there, I would still keep loving her.


    If someone cut off her head, I could just regenerate that.


    Hell, I may even be able to regenerate her virginity.


    So why am I feeling jealous now?


    Why am I feeling like that is unforgivable?


    Enough.


    Enough of this feeling.


    I can see it. I can squish it.


    There.


    Destroyed on my soul.


    ¡­


    And here it comes back again.


    Nice.


    It¡¯s on my mind, the source of this Jealousy.


    If it isn¡¯t on my spirt.


    Fucking shit.


    Fuck this.


    [Ranna] - That¡¯s¡­ but then¡­what can I do?


    ¡­


    No.


    Don¡¯t fuck this.


    Don¡¯t fuck up with this girl I love.


    There must be another way.


    [All] - I don¡¯t know. Maybe he would accept it? If I become his friend, he would accept that we love each other and let it be? Maybe he would live with us?


    Live?!


    Wait, what the fuck am I promising here?!


    I can¡¯t live with this woman!


    And why am I considering living with her AND ANOTHER MOTHERFUCKER?!


    What¡¯s just fucking happening here?!


    [Ranna] - Haha. Live in your dungeon? The three of us?


    Wai..


    No¡­ I¡­


    ¡­


    There¡¯s¡­


    I don¡¯t like this.


    I need to reformulate my plans if it¡¯s for me to include them.


    I¡­


    Why was I building a dungeon again?


    It¡¯s my playtime.


    It¡¯s not work.


    It¡¯s not to share with others. It isn¡¯t my fucking house. It¡¯s my slaughter house.


    The place I will make to be badass!


    ¡­


    [All] - Who knows. Would you like to?


    ¡­


    ¡­


    I give up.


    Damn Alvin, what the fuck is happening to you ?


    I mean, I should be that guy who goes around giving the middle finger to everyone and then destroying them and stepping above them just so they can feel me there¡­


    Why the hell am I¡­


    What is this feeling doing to me?


    This love thing?


    And¡­ is it really the feeling?


    I mean, it¡¯s coming from above. And I have squashed it a number of times already.


    Yeah.


    And I¡­


    I mean, I¡¯m not being manipulated, right?


    All I AM comes from above.


    I can create souls and minds if I want to.


    Artificial souls and minds.


    But what I can¡¯t create are spirits. So, that¡¯s what I should be.


    Or should I think of myself as everything I am, the spirit being just a piece of it ?...


    ¡­


    Useless.


    All of that is useless, isn¡¯t it?


    Ah, Ranna¡­


    What am I to do with you babe ?


    You won¡¯t be on the path of my destiny.


    I need to find immortality for grandpa and father.


    And I need to build my stuff. Keep growing. Become higher and more powerful even than those things I have been told by grandma are freaking unfathomable.


    I mean, I don¡¯t, but I do¡­


    Because the goddess said all I needed to do was to exist on this world. And everything else would be a present for me.


    But, still, I like these plans.


    I like thinking on myself doing these kind of stuff. I want to do it.


    So¡­


    Can I¡­


    Can I include you on this?


    [Ranna] - Maybe I would.


    So, you would even live in my dungeon with me¡­. You can adapt your plans as well. Kiss me.


    A small kiss.


    It grows.


    A kiss of love.


    But there is sadness.


    [All] - I feel like you¡¯re sad¡­


    Her eyes are weathering out.


    [Ranna] - I don¡¯t know¡­ I don¡¯t know what I should do.


    None of us do, do we?


    [All] - Do about what?


    [Ranna] - About everything¡­


    Well, that¡¯s not very useful, is it?


    [All] - Like?


    The husband guy?


    Meh. That¡¯s easy to solve.


    Worst case scenario I just need to rewrite his mind and make him accept it.


    I¡­ I just don¡¯t know if she would approve of it.


    Ranna I mean.


    She likes him after all¡­ and if I mess up with him, he may become someone totally different.


    Oh.


    She¡¯s making a resolute face while holding her arms against her chest, almost like an ancient pharaoh.


    Still, my arms are around her, the same way as before.


    She¡¯s bracing herself for something. Maybe to tell me something.


    [Ranna] - I can¡¯t live in your Dungeon if it¡¯s to stay away from the world forever.


    [All] - Why is that ?


    Woah!


    Shit, did I just said something without thinking about it first?


    [Ranna] - Because I have a dream as well.


    Have I said to her that the dungeon was my dream?


    ¡­I might have.


    It is a dream of sorts in the end, after all. Something I want to build. Maybe not something I actually dream with, but¡­


    I have done quite an amount of work to keep it nice.


    The plan, I mean.


    The plan of building a dungeon¡­ finding immortality and everything else.


    Still, what would be Ranna¡¯s dream¡­ and why would she be able to live in my dungeon, but not live there excluded from the world?


    [All] - And what would that be?


    [Ranna] - I want to have a dojo. To teach kids.


    ¡­


    A dojo which teaches kids? Like a school?


    What the hell?


    I mean¡­.


    Why would you even have something like that¡­


    It¡¯s¡­ unexpected.


    [All] - That¡¯s¡­. weird. I mean, nice and all, but¡­ weird.


    [Ranna] - Weird why?


    [All] - It¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t know, I mean¡­ a dojo to teach kids? You want to have a kids dojo? That¡¯s so¡­. I mean, I guess it¡¯s because I don¡¯t like kids that much.


    I¡¯m one of them though.


    But only in time of life.


    [Ranna] - Hahaha. I like kids. They are wonderful.


    [All] - Wonderful? They are little pests! Always running and letting snot everywhere and dirty!


    [Ranna] - Hahah. I like how they have a shine in their eyes, you know?


    She looked a little sad.


    [Ranna] - They haven¡¯t forgotten how wonderful the world can be¡­ like so many people have.


    She¡¯s looking at me.


    Maybe she¡¯s talking about me?


    ¡­


    Well, all I know is that I want this girl for me.


    My arm presses against her back, and we kiss again.


    Should we go forward?


    ¡­


    No.


    I feel like even kissing is already a big step for her.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Maybe because she¡¯s married or something.


    Yeah.


    Definitely.


    [All] - Then¡­ how about if I make my dungeon public?


    Ranna is opening her eyes wide.


    [Ranna] - Isn¡¯t it dangerous? You said your grandmother said for you not to reveal yourself¡­.


    Yeah.


    She did.


    And I¡¯m not doing it.


    It¡¯s not the time yet.


    Not the time yet for me to be with you as I am.


    Now¡­. now I need to be with you as an Orc.


    A big, green, bulky, hairy guy with an attitude.


    That¡¯s how I will be able to live with you and still do the things I want to do.


    Then, someday¡­


    Someday, maybe, when all of that becomes unnecessary, because people will be different about me¡­ about what I am¡­ about me being an abnormal¡­ then maybe I can live with you as I am¡­


    [All] - It¡¯s fine. Actually¡­. I lied to you¡­ sorry¡­


    [Ranna] - You did?


    [All] - Yeah. I have another name. And I have a place of birth¡­. And another body as well. I¡¯m a metamorph. I can change my body at will.


    She¡¯s not saying anything.


    Is that bad?


    ¡­.


    [All] - Sorry.


    [Ranna] - It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s best like this.


    [All] - Really?


    She¡¯s closing her eyes on my chest. She sighed.


    [Ranna] - Yeah. Because you told me. And I can live with that.


    Yeah.


    [Ranna] - Besides.


    She¡¯s looking me in the eye.


    [Ranna] - That means we can live together, right?


    Yeah.


    Yeah it does.


    [All] - I guess so.


    [Ranna] - Then, won¡¯t it be bad for you? Can you live with someone like me? Or is it¡­. Is it impossible?


    ¡­


    It isn¡¯t.


    It just isn¡¯t.


    [All] - I guess I would even rather have you with me than not have you with me. Living with you¡­. I can be Alduin, the OrcDungeon Master¡­. And you can be my wife, Ranna, the Dojo Master.


    ¡­


    [All] - If you want, of course.


    [Ranna] - I do.


    ¡­


    I wish I could just soak in this feeling.


    But I can¡¯t.


    Because I can see the cloud in her soul.


    I can see something she¡¯s keeping away from her soul¡¯s core¡­ yeah¡­ this love she has for this man¡­ her husband¡­


    It¡¯s a very beautiful love¡­ but full of awful feelings around of it.


    Confusion. Humiliation. Martyrdom. Sadness. Guilt.


    There¡¯s so many bad feelings¡­. She wants to keep the love¡­. But she¡¯s almost giving it over forever¡­. Just not to feel those bad things.


    Such¡­


    Such a bad omen.


    That this love as well, is being kept by a superior force, beyond her mind.


    I sigh.


    There¡¯s only one thing I can say.


    [All] - And if you want to bring this man as well¡­ I can learn to live with him as well.


    Ah.


    Damn emotions.


    Jealousy, humiliation, that ¡°sense of not being a man¡±¡­ crush those shit stuff.


    There.


    Crushed.


    He.


    Those don¡¯t have any spiritual backing, do they?


    Yeah¡­.


    Now she¡¯s sleeping on my chest.


    [Ranna] - Thank you¡­


    [All] - You¡¯re welcome.


    What a wonderful night this has been.


    ***


    The fuck just happened to me ?!


    ¡­


    I mean, I know what happened.


    Love happened.


    It¡¯s still in my soul somewhere.


    I can see it boiling my usual emotions and fighting to keep to exist.


    But I can also see weird stuff being born from it.


    It¡¯s like¡­ I mean, I know it.


    It¡¯s a lot of feelings like hatred and possessivity¡­. And the most interesting thing is, they aren¡¯t born directly from the love thing, but rather from¡­ the boiling stuff from my soul ?


    I mean, I never took too much time to look at this. This stuff in my soul.


    It doesn¡¯t mind, right? Even if it¡¯s a bunch of negative feelings, they are naturally born from my depression, so why should I care about them ?


    ¡­except¡­.this love thing is making them boil and swirl all around me.


    And then they start forming new feelings like this anger for her.


    I¡¯m angry at her because I love her. Because she makes me become different from what I usually am.


    Still, I shouldn¡¯t be.


    Because she¡¯s making me good.


    ¡­.the fuck is happening.


    Is she really making me good ?!


    ¡­


    Yeah, she is.


    She is making me so good I just finished my training. It took me only fifteen minutes once my depression gave way for me to learn it intuitively and wholeheartedly, instead of learning with while my head was full of thoughts and stuff.


    I¡¯ve been surely learning things a lot slower than I could learn¡­. Because of this depression.


    Yeah.


    It makes sense.


    My mind is always growing, not having a limit to it¡¯s growth.


    Then why hasn¡¯t my learning speed increased all this time ?


    Shouldn¡¯t I have a huge learning speed by now?


    ¡­because I have been delayed by this hidden cloud of depression which my mind core is always spreading around.


    I think.


    I mean, I have definitely gotten smarter somehow.


    The one thing I wasn¡¯t able to do so far, she gave me.


    And, still¡­


    I¡¯m angered at her for giving me this.


    ¡­ hell is this man¡­.


    ***


    Yesterday¡¯s night was a confusing night.


    But today I will see her again.


    Ranna, I mean.


    I miss her. I miss her a lot.


    I just want to see her. A lot as well.


    Now, I¡¯m not sure if I SHOULD go to see her.


    How am I to deal with my feelings for sister?


    We have been fuckbudies for a long time now.


    Besides, Ranna is married and so on.


    Not to mention we are now literally at the doorsteps of Dorank.


    We got to the city¡¯s gates half an hour ago and the guards are currently checking sister¡¯s Letter of Introduction - the one she got from her Master at the dojo.


    Which is a good thing, since it¡¯s nightfall already and those without special permits wouldn¡¯t be allowed inside of the gates.


    There are even a few dozen people setting up camp here already.


    One can see it¡¯s regular practice because of the smell.


    I mean, there¡¯s a huge hole which was dug on the ground only a few dozen meters from the walls and the merchants and peasants who are to stay put for the night go there to relieve some stress.


    Why would people rather go poop into a hole in the woods than in the river?


    Well, that¡¯s just how it is.


    I¡¯m already done trying to understand some stuff from this world.


    I mean, one may find it bad that people crap in the woods, but it¡¯s only worse that the majority of them don¡¯t even take straw with them.


    They go stinking, they come back stinking.


    At least wash it on the river, goddamn¡­


    Could it be that they are afraid of getting wet?


    It would be bad to get a cold, but isn¡¯t it worse to sleep with a lot of feces on your ass?!


    ¡­poop world, I hate you.


    Regardless.


    The walls here are definitely smaller than I thought they would be. They seem to be made entirely of stone, but tower only three meters high with a rampart on top, where a couple guards watch every ten or twenty meters.


    On the other hand, the gate seems sturdy.


    It¡¯s made of over one-meter-thick wood, and it was iron hinges so thick one would think they are meant to hold a giant, but, still, it¡¯s just wood.


    If I didn¡¯t knew any better I would think these walls are meant to keep farmers away, and not monsters.


    They can¡¯t be here just because of that, right?


    Anyhow.


    The city¡¯s entrance is actually very simple.


    There are two small rooms made of wood on both sides of the gate¡¯s entrance, and the guards stay cozy there with their fire and protected from the elements.


    They also seem to have a ladder which allows them to get to the top of the rampart.


    So, that¡¯s how they pass messages from the guards guarding the outside of the gate to those guarding the inside.


    I don¡¯t need to say, none of them is looking very affectionate of me or sister right now.


    Maybe being a Superior Being isn¡¯t such a big deal for them?


    I mean, none of them is one.


    They have around half of the Aggregate Aura Amount needed to become one, but no more than that.


    Grumpy idiots.


    At least I have the pleasure of seeing them getting out of their asses because sister can beat their faces with one hand tied on her back.


    -¡°Here¡±.


    The guy just shoved sister¡¯s letter back on her hand.


    Tsc.


    -¡°Come over here. We will let you in.¡±


    The guard signaled to us, and we got closer to the gates. Enough to hear it creaking a bit as someone tried to open it.


    I guess it isn¡¯t exactly a light gate.


    Then, a huge *THUD* sound and the gate started to open.


    Oh, someone¡¯s getting closer¡­ HEY, WHATHEFUCK DUDE ?


    GET OFF!


    I just punched someone in the nuts.


    The skinny guy is rolling on the ground and the guards are laughing.


    Hell was that man¡­. Hell was that¡­


    Was him trying to enter with us? As if he was my older brother or something ?!


    Fuck you dude!


    Fuck your ass!


    I mean, he did try to poke the back of my neck with that shiv in his hand.


    That¡¯s why I went hadcore full throttle punch on his balls.


    Not full throttle, I mean, but hard enough to feel them getting smashed against his pelvis and making a testicle smoothie.


    Someone ain¡¯t going to be using his dick again so soon.


    I mean, there isn¡¯t that ¡°I want to rape¡± feeling on his soul, or even that ¡°I¡¯ve raped someone¡± feeling, but this kind of guy probably isn¡¯t far from it.


    After all, he just threatened a kid with a knife¡­


    Well, no more balls for you, mr.Skinny.


    And no more balls means no more testosterone. Which means you won¡¯t be sticking that filthy cock on anyone so soon.


    Now let¡¯s enter the city at once.


    ***


    [Ann ] - All.


    We just entered the city and walked a couple dozen meters before sister touched my shoulders and directed me to an alley between two houses.


    She doesn¡¯t want to do it right here, does she?!


    I mean, it¡¯s sis but¡­ I just¡­ you know, Ranna and stuff¡­


    [All] - What ?


    [Ann] - Can you use the [Smoke] and [Cotton Step] spells to hide us ?


    Oh, so that¡¯s what she wanted.


    I can do that much, but..


    [All] - Why ?


    [Ann] - You haven¡¯t been to a city like this before. Things here are dangerous. No one should be at the streets at this hour.


    Dangerous?


    Sister knows a little bit about my power, and she herself is a Superior Being¡­ what is she scared of ?


    [All] - Dangerous ?


    [Ann] - Not like you think. I will explain later.


    [All] - Okay.


    There we go.


    Done.


    Now, let¡¯s move around until we find an Inn or something.


    ***


    In the end we found an abandoned house in a corner of some damp street.


    What about Dorank?


    Well¡­


    It¡¯s filthy. It¡¯s awful. And it¡¯s maybe one of the worst places I have ever had the displeasure of knowing.


    I¡¯m not even mad anymore.


    I mean, somewhere between the starving prostitutes servicing drunkards, the multitude of people with the [raped] and [rape] emotions imprinted on their souls and the sea of children sleeping together on the street, only so they don¡¯t freeze to death, I just lost it.


    That without even starting on what kind of soul places are linked to this city. The emotional and mental landscapes around are¡­ awful.


    I guess I¡¯m just sad now.


    I know, I know, it¡¯s a cruel world out there.


    But, still¡­


    I can read it. Their memories and shit. See the emotions on their souls.


    There¡¯s this one girl.


    She was a carpenter¡¯s daughter. Then her father was killed in a tavern fight, and people came to extort the money he owned the innkeeper¡­


    She got raped several times¡­ and then¡­ her mother told her to ¡°get some money¡±, no matter how.


    It seems her mother worked at home, I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t look too deep.


    But that was what she was doing.


    Prostituting to bring money home because her stupid father had died in a bar fight.


    I mean, there isn¡¯t all of that guilt from having sex and prostituting herself one could expect her to feel.


    But it hurt on her.


    She would remember the day her father died everytime she did it with someone. She would remember everything that happened to her.


    Isn¡¯t this just cruel ?


    I mean, I was ready to expect for the people in this kind of big city to be in a worse state than we were back home, but¡­


    ¡­


    Well, I have sown some of my algorithms around.


    Plenty of rapists to make feel nausea and other stuff by only thinking in rape.


    I could kill them, but¡­


    To be true, many of them didn¡¯t deserve it.


    Most people around aren¡¯t as bad as those guys who became undead. They were conflicted, and most of them had really bad stuff on their memories.


    How to put it plainly¡­


    Most of those who had [rapist]-like feelings on their souls also had the [raped] ones.


    So, I don¡¯t think I should just go around killing them.


    Things can be more complex than they seem after all.


    ¡­


    Or am I just being too fearful of killing other humans?


    Those undead could be considered monsters¡­ and in terms of humans, I haven¡¯t killed any so far.


    Why am I hesitating?


    ¡­


    Let¡¯s not become a mass murderer so easily.


    I mean, there must be something else to this city and to the people in it. Maybe if I give them a second chance or something¡­


    [Ann] - That seems good enough.


    Sister has just finished preparing herself for the night. That means closing the door and looking around to make sure no one can enter the house without she noticing it¡­


    ¡­


    Not that it is an easy feat to do so.


    This place is only two rooms wide. There¡¯s the entrance room, where we are now, and the back room, which is full of mold, so we won¡¯t go there.


    It seems this place acts as a living room as much as a kitchen as well.


    Maybe it is the standard on cities of this world? The other houses around us seem to follow the same pattern as well. Almost like a south american favela.


    Eh. It¡¯s life.


    Uhm. Sister just seated in front of the fireplace and started lighting the fire. It¡¯s winter still, even if we are reaching the end of it, so I can understand why.


    [Ann] - Will you go out tonight?


    ¡­


    Should I?


    I mean, it¡¯s riskier here.


    On the path here I saw a bunch of guards patrolling the place. They aren¡¯t much stronger than father, but still, they have a little bit of skill, so I will need to take a little more care than before.


    On the other side, I do have the rest of the night to train.


    But then again¡­


    Should I talk to sister about Ranna?


    ¡­maybe not.


    No.


    Definitely not.


    If I do then she will know I told everything to her.


    Besides, sister doesn¡¯t seem too eager to sleep with me. She must be tired still. Also, I need to make a reconnaissance trip around the place. See how the city is organized and the surroundings as well.


    [All] - Yes.


    [Ann] - Okay. Let me tell you some things first then.


    Oh, this must be the explanation she said she would give me later.


    [Ann] - Living in cities is hard. Everyone is sick in the head.


    I wouldn¡¯t say everyone, but there seems to be a lot more complexity here than in our village or in the villages on the way here¡­


    [Ann] - If you go to a place you don¡¯t know at night, people will fight you. And if you hit a noble, it will be bad. So don¡¯t go out at night. There are no latrines, so if you need to go to the bathroom, you need to do it in a bucket and then give it to the dunggers to throw away. Also, there are a lot of thieves and people will try to deceive you. Also, when you take water from the river, always take it from up the river. And if you get lost, ask a woman for help. Don¡¯t ask a man and never go into the places where there are stone houses.


    Basic city living tips on one hand, weird shit on the other.


    But I can guess why.


    I should ask woman for help if I get lost because they are less likely to be criminals or the such, right?


    After all, housewifing is still the primary occupation of woman in this world.


    So most woman would be housewives, while you never know about the guys.


    And the stone house stuff¡­


    Well, stone houses must be expensive. So they must be for nobles only. A commoner getting into the noble district of the city must be problematic indeed.


    So I get it.


    [All] - Okay. Anything else?


    Sister is making a complicated expression.


    [Ann] - We should stay a bit longer this time. Winter is almost over, and I need new boots. So I will get some work. Let¡¯s leave in three weeks.


    [All] - Okay!


    Three weeks eh.


    Maybe I could help sister if I do something nice, but I think I want to expend this time sorting things out with Ranna.


    Besides, it will be good for me to learn how to deal with places full of people. Reading all of their minds and souls is being overkill on me. It just isn¡¯t healthy. They are too depressed!


    ***


    Well, lesson number one¡­


    There¡¯s just too many fucked up people in cities.


    I have decided not to pry too deeply into It, or I will end up getting imprisoned on all of the emotions, but even without taking my time to decipher every soul I can see that most people here have pretty bad emotions imprinted on them.


    Shiny and sparkling emotions, or even not-ugly ones, are hard to see. Even on those who are sleeping and on the children.


    I need to do something about it.


    I mean, these people don¡¯t mean anything to me, but still I feel that there¡¯s just something too wrong in how they live.


    I wonder if I should just have all of them live in my dungeon?


    ¡­


    Nah.


    That would be stupid.


    I don¡¯t want people complaining to me all day long.


    Besides, even if they saw me as a mighty being which they served blindly, I seriously doubt they would do something good about how their souls are tainted.


    Maybe I should just write and algorithm for good feelings. Have the people start amassing them on their hearts.


    But then I may end up with a bunch of happy robots whose happiness is useless.


    I mean, when you¡¯re happy, you need to have some level of consciousness about it. Otherwise, it¡¯s wasted happiness, right?


    I mean, if you¡¯re just happy all the time¡­ then aren¡¯t you living a false life where you don¡¯t mix your emotions with what you¡¯re actually living?


    Almost like a disease.


    Yeah.


    I should avoid tampering with people¡¯s souls at will as well.


    Anyhow.


    That¡¯s lesson number one. Don¡¯t mind people¡¯s souls and minds too much. You don¡¯t want to know what¡¯s there.


    Lesson number two¡­


    FUCK THIS PLACE IS HUGE !


    Our village was only a few hundred meters wide, but this place¡­. Pff..


    This city has at least 15.000 people living in it. Maybe even 20.000


    I can¡¯t know for sure because I can¡¯t count the number of houses.


    You see, our county¡¯s capital had around 2000 houses, but I know about that because I counted 200 of them on around one tenth of the city.


    But I can¡¯t divide Dorank the same way.


    The city itself is too irregular.


    There are places where huge houses, with three stories and dozens of meters of backyard and frontyard are spread.


    But there are places packed-full of little houses like the one sister is sleeping on now, and even worst places, where tenement housing happens.


    Not to mention places like the prostitution zones and the three markets one can see from up above while using [Aura Hand] to raise one-self a few dozen meters above the ground level.


    So I can¡¯t know for sure.


    All I know is that, this place¡­ well, it is huge if compared to other cities and villages on this world.


    I would say, at least a couple kilometers of radius.


    ¡­


    Yeah.


    It¡¯s definitely small.


    Smaller than most rural towns on earth.


    But, still, almost ten times the size of our village, so¡­ yey ?


    I¡¯m just a bit concerned about the fact that this whole place is packed full of houses, with at least fifty times more people than our own village, and with only ten times the size.


    Isn¡¯t this a bit weird?!


    This place is packed full!


    Not to mention, there isn¡¯t a sewage system¡­ obviously.


    So the shit piles accumulate are spread around the town like a dung-beetles treasure stash.


    ¡­I hope those aren¡¯t for agriculture.


    Seriously.


    Please tell me this isn¡¯t human manure.


    Please!


    ¡­


    It probably is human manure.


    ¡­


    *sigh*


    ¡­


    I shouldn¡¯t care so much. There are more important things to take notice of.


    For instance, there are two stone-housing areas in the town.


    They are around two markets, while the third is surrounded by small wooden houses.


    Looking from above it is clear that those markets are on another level.


    And the reason is simple.


    The first market, the one with small wooden houses around it, could barely be called a market.


    I can recognize the straw-on-the-floor place as a market because it¡¯s a huge open space in the middle of the houses. Unless it is a place for punishing people or something, then it must be a market.


    Now, the second one is next to an area with one-story to two-story tall stone houses, with only a couple three-story tall wooden houses mixed on it.


    It clearly is a market given the fact that there are wooden stalls all over the place.


    Then there is the third one.


    This one maybe should be called a ¡°shopping street¡± instead of a ¡°market¡±, maybe ?


    Anyhow, it uses as much space as the other two, but the floor is paved with small stones, there are benches and flowers in the middle of the street, and, aligned side to side, are houses with signs like ¡°Armour Shop¡± and stuff like that.


    So those are clearly shops for the filthy rich. Which can be understood once we see that most houses around the place are three-story stone houses. There¡¯s even a small mansion in the middle of them, with a backyard which extents for a hundred meters until it touches the wall.


    Weird.


    But you know what is weirder ?


    ¡­


    I don¡¯t see any militia barracks.


    There are twelve dojos. You can see they are dojos because every and each one of them has an elongated backyard with training equipment inside, like wooden dummies.


    But where are the militia barracks?


    I have taken my time to follow one of the guards which patrol the ramparts back home, but all I saw was him going back to one of the small wooden houses.


    Very weird indeed.


    Anyhow.


    One can¡¯t see much more than that by night, right?


    I mean, the prostitutes on the streets are ugly, the abandoned kids sleeping on a corner next to a few taverns are a sad sight to see, and the drunkards are annoying.


    Except for the fact that there are as many pleasure quarters as there are markets, all of them weirdly hidden to the right of the marketplace, there isn¡¯t much more to say.


    ¡­


    Let¡¯s get out of this city. I have a dungeon core to finish mastering. And then, I will expend some quality time with Ranna.


    ***


    Uhm.


    Quality assessment of the woods around Dorank.


    They are shit.


    There¡¯s a ¡°hidden dojo¡± every kilometer or something.


    And a bunch of people training as well.


    Most of them even have their auras full expanded and are training [Aura Sensing].


    This is dangerous, you know?!


    I can hide my aura, but that means they will easily feel me if I train around here.


    Let¡¯s finish walking around and then go deeper.


    ***


    He.


    How unexpected. There seems to be mining going around this place.


    I mean, there are quite a number of small water streams which join the river coming from the mountains, and there¡¯s placer mining going on many of them.


    Also, there seems to be at least three open-air mines around the place. They don¡¯t follow the course of the river, but rather seem to gather on some of the small hills which have big rocky foundations¡­ let¡¯s see¡­ one of them is a coal mine, but the other two are something else.


    Maybe iron or copper, I don¡¯t know.


    I¡¯m not a metal expert. All I know is that this stuff isn¡¯t coal.


    Also, there¡¯re people mining here.


    They don¡¯t use torches and seem to be in high alerts.


    Is this illegal mining of some sorts?


    Well, they don¡¯t need to bother too much. The guys who should be patrolling this place are probably the lazy ones at the wood shacks spread around, and they are just drinking and sleeping near the fire.


    It¡¯s winter after all. No one wants to be in the cold.


    Eh.


    Neither do I. Let¡¯s find a good place to train and make some clothes for my orcself, shall we ?


    ***


    Now, this is what I call a good place.


    I had to run almost fifty kilometers inside the forest to find a place without humans in a ten-kilometer radius.


    Really.


    What¡¯s up with this city and dojos?!


    Anyhow.


    Let¡¯s see¡­


    Uuhm.


    Dungeon Core. Two threads mode.


    Slight dizziness, but I can move fine¡­. And I¡¯m 100% again.


    Nice.


    Now¡­ suddenly cut both of them.


    Stronger dizziness. Only five seconds of it.


    But, still, it would be enough for most monsters to give me a beating.


    But then again, it isn¡¯t something which drops me to the ground. I can still fight like this.


    So, let¡¯s keep mastering this thing.


    I call it ¡°Plugging¡±. The act of ¡°plugging¡± yourself to the dungeon core via the threads.


    If I can get used to it, then there will be no problem on plugging and unplugging myself many times during the day¡­ or even during a fight.


    Then I need to keep increasing the number of threads.


    Only two is far too little to control a whole dungeon.


    I would need hundreds to do it well.


    But let¡¯s go one step every time.


    First, to become capable of plugging and unplugging with ease. Then a 50% increase in the number of threads, from two to three.


    It¡¯s less than the last time, which was a 100% increase.


    Luckily that means it will be easier this time.


    It¡¯s easier to lose a single eye and get used to it than to lose both eyes after all.


    So unplugging should be less disorientating once I get the third thread.


    Let¡¯s do it.


    ***


    There she is.


    Ranna.


    It¡¯s morning. I can see her guarding the gate.


    She told me she would be there today.


    I¡¯m a bit nervous.


    I just took the form I had when I first found her in the woods. The bulky orcone.


    People are looking to me weirdly.


    The guards seem agitated. The people in the line look the other way when I get closer.


    Also, the ones at the gate seem particularly nervous. Ranna seems happy to see me, but the other five guys which just came from the small wooden house with spears in hand don¡¯t seem so happy.


    Well, no matter.


    Let¡¯s go to the end of the line and wait my turn.


    There.


    ***


    Maybe I should be worried about the people looking at me with weird eyes.


    Maybe I should be worried about the farmer in front of me being so nervous he¡¯s almost pissing himself.


    Maybe I should be worried about the fancy-looking guy who intended to cut on the line, and was blocked by the guards.


    They bowed deeply and pointed to me with their heads.


    He.


    The boy¡¯s face turned paler than the snow around and he ran back to the woods he came from. Probably to a dojo or something.


    Still, his soul uhm¡­ it was cleaner than most of the people¡¯s souls around. I looked a bit deeper and saw memories of living in a big stone house and acting in an overbearing tone.


    He¡¯s probably a noble.


    So that¡¯s how their souls look like.


    There¡¯s a lot of vanity and useless pride, but they have a lot less burdens on themselves than the common populace.


    Or at least this young one had.


    So.


    Maybe I should be worried that a noble just ran back home when he saw me waiting in line.


    But I am not.


    Because it is my turn now.


    [Guard] - Y¡­ you¡­ wha¡­what business do you¡­ ?!


    I ignored the shaking guy who came to ask me what I wanted and went straight to Ranna.


    [All] - Remember me?


    [Ranna] - Of course I do.


    Her voice.


    It makes me feel good.


    [All] - I have come.


    [Ranna] - Just like you said.


    [All] - Like I promised.


    [Ranna] - So, what now?


    She seems nervous. Her breath is rough. Her beautiful chest, even covered in armor, still goes up and down from anxiety.


    I want to touch her face, so I extend one of my hands¡­ and lightly touch the side of her face.


    She grabbed my hand inside of hers and rubbed the side of her head on my palm.


    I can¡¯t help but to let a smile come to my face.


    [All] - Is there a law against Orcs on this town?


    She keeps laying the side of her head on my hand, but this time with her eyes open.


    [Ranna] - No. But you should register on the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. This way they can¡¯t take you out for no reason.


    [All] - Okay. I will be going then.


    [Ranna] - Okay.


    ¡­


    I can¡¯t bear it.


    I close myself to her and lightly touch her shoulder.


    She embraces me and rests her head on my chest.


    I have taken my time to make a long fur skirt to hide my legs this time, instead of meeting her while wearing only a loincloth, but my chest is still bare.


    So this is a nice feeling.


    [All] - Until later.


    [Ranna] - I will be waiting.


    So we said goodbye again. Only for a short while, though.


    ***


    Weird thing about being an orc¡­ there¡¯s a patrol following you around, no matter where you go.


    I have been seeing them with my threads since a while ago. I obviously can¡¯t use [Aura Sensing] inside of the town, but having eyes on my back is more than enough to notice it.


    I wonder if there¡¯s some kind of system for it?


    Or are the guards following me for a while until they reach the next guard post and can give the responsibility to others just for fun?


    Oh, right, the city by day.


    It¡¯s full of people. They open paths when I walk though.


    Even the merchants in carriages send their carts to the side just so I can keep walking straight.


    The feeling of being a walking menace. It¡¯s nice. It gives something of an aggressive feeling inside.


    Niiiiiice.


    He.


    Anyhow.


    People¡¯s souls keep being tainted, but they are less tainted than those who where up at night.


    Now, If this was our old village, I would probably be surprised. People just stay home during winter.


    But here things seem to be different. Everyone keeps doing commerce on the market, even during winter.


    Or at least this is what I can deduct from seeing lots of people coming and going with stuff on their hands. They are going to the market, so¡­ I suppose that indeed they are going there to trade.


    Oh, also, there are those guys with pickaxes and mining pans. I suppose that they are going to try their luck on the mines.


    We didn¡¯t had any mine on our village, so everyone just enjoyed winter in their houses.


    But people here don¡¯t have such luxury, do they?


    I hope you guys don¡¯t freeze to death.


    Or catch frostbite.


    Bigfoot should be quite the sellable commodity around this parts, shouldn¡¯t it ?


    Anyhow.


    Adventurer¡¯s Guild, eh.


    Registering as an Adventurer.


    Then people won¡¯t have an excuse to say I¡¯m here just to look for fights and should be expelled from the city.


    Not that they would be able to expel me, it¡¯s just that I don¡¯t want to bring Ranna any troubles.


    So.


    Where¡¯s the adventurer¡¯s guild again ?


    ¡­


    *sigh*


    Let¡¯s ask someone.


    Someone¡­ uuuhm.


    Just standing in the middle of the street is enough for the guards following me to feel restless, eh.


    I wonder what they would do if I was to try and talk to someone. Probably ready their spears.


    Besides, people are getting away as fast as they can without running or making a scene.


    So.


    Let¡¯s detour a bit from sister¡¯s advice and ask one of the guards instead.


    I spin on my calfs and walk towards the guards. Their legs are shaking.


    He.


    Should I make a scary face?


    No, no, resist the temptation, Alvin.


    You don¡¯t want for them to run away.


    I stop at a distance of two meters from them.


    There¡¯s an old lady on the window. She¡¯s frozen in place.


    [All] - Where¡¯s the guild?


    [Guards] - ¡­


    They heard me.


    Probably can¡¯t think straight.


    [All] - The adventurer¡¯s guild. Where is it?


    ¡­


    These guys.


    How long will they remain frozen solid?


    [Woman] - Third street to the left of the market¡­.


    Oh.


    The woman on the window was the one to answer me.


    Nice.


    I mean, she had a dream-filled voice, like one in boundless despair, but it¡¯s no use worrying about that, right?


    [All] - Thank you ma¡¯am.


    Now, turning on my calves again.


    Let¡¯s find the market.


    Which one of the three?


    Obviously, it must be the lower one. Since Adventurer¡¯s are usually those poor bastards who can¡¯t get anything in life and accept throwing their lives in front of monsters out of sheer despair.


    So, It must be on the slums.


    Let¡¯s go.


    ***


    Uhm.


    Well, the market is as depressing as one would think. There are around fifty people trying to sell stuff.


    Dried fruit, grain, fresh game, and also coal and iron it seems.


    They just sit on the ground with their stuff in front of them, in big baskets or just laying barren on the ground.


    There¡¯re a lot of hungry children around as well.


    Some of them carry knives, so they must be little thieves. But others seem to just want to beg for food.


    ¡­


    Or are they just too young to steal?


    ¡­


    Yeah, I can¡¯t see a single pure soul amongst them.


    I can¡¯t see anyone who is purely evil either.


    They seem to think that the right path in life is just to do as they see their ¡°older brothers¡± doing.


    The girls think about prostitution as well. Some of them indeed prostitute themselves already. But I guess there aren¡¯t many who like young girls, so those have a harder time selling themselves for money.


    No.


    They just want to be like their¡­


    Wait¡­


    That guy...


    They guy in this kids memories!


    It¡¯s the same guy who tried to use me to enter the city!


    The one who put the shiv against my neck!


    He doesn¡¯t seem to be the greater of the ¡°big brothers¡± and ¡°big sisters¡± these kids have, but, still¡­


    A professional thief, eh.


    That explains why the guards did nothing when he approached me and sister, or when I crushed his nuts.


    That was probably a staged act.


    Could there be a criminal guild or something like that going on?


    No¡­


    Real life crime doesn¡¯t work like this.


    It¡¯s probably a few gangs who deal with stealing, beatings and murder.


    I need to be careful of that.


    Anyhow, I didn¡¯t read everyone¡¯s minds. I cared about reading the children¡¯s because I felt that I should look deeper in the matter, but my compassion towards them would be useless with what I just saw.


    They aren¡¯t starving to death, neither do they need someone to say ¡°hang up in there!¡±.


    They have each other for this. And their criminal heroes.


    Yeah.


    I need to make something bigger in order to reform them.


    Something which will make them interested on being something else but criminals and prostitutes¡­


    ¡­


    On the other side, why aren¡¯t them thinking about being dunggers, miners or farmers?


    Should I pry deeper on their minds?


    ¡­


    Nah.


    Let¡¯s do it later.


    If I stay too long watching the kids the populace is bound to think I¡¯m thinking on eating them or something.


    Let¡¯s see¡­


    Uhm.


    Adventurer¡¯s Guild.


    It should be the third street to the left of the market.


    So¡­


    Around here somewhere?


    I just went to the third street which connected to the market and turned left¡­. Uuuhm¡­


    Should I ask around or..


    Oh.


    That¡¯s and adventurer, right?


    Dirty clothes like a beggar, limping around, looking like a half-dead person.


    But equipped with a spear and a bow and carrying a bag with¡­ wait for it, let me get one of my threads inside of it¡­


    Yep.


    Horned Rabbit¡¯s horns.


    This guy is definitely an adventurer. Probably returning to the Guild.


    Let¡¯s follow him.


    ***


    And here I go.


    I have my own adventurer license now.


    How was the reception?


    Haha.


    Well, first, that guy wasn¡¯t going to the guild. He was going to the market to try and sell his horned rabbit horns.


    It seems the guild asks not for the horns as proof of killing a horned rabbit, but for the pelt. And then they pay you just barely bellow the market prices as the commission¡¯s reward.


    On another words, if you killed the rabbit by yourself and sold it in the market, it wouldn¡¯t be a great loss.


    But if you killed the rabbit and the pelt got lost in the process, then you wouldn¡¯t receive your commission reward.


    Besides, if you get an overly-destroyed pelt, they wouldn¡¯t accept it either.


    So, to be true, they are just buying pelts and saying those are commission rewards.


    But they still buy even when no one is buying the pelts in the market, so that¡¯s why people still sell to them and complete requests.


    Tsc tsc¡­ government offices¡­


    Anyhow, the registration process was quite simple.


    I entered the two-story wooden building, and then people just made way for me.


    There were two girls and a boy working as receptionists behind the large balcony.


    As I approached the closer one, the boy, the other adventurers just stood to the side and waited with their hands on their weapons.


    I said something like ¡°I want to register to become an adventurer¡± and then one of the girls eventually pat the boy in the back.


    He said something like ¡°yes!¡± and then asked my name and place of birth. I said only that my name was Alduin and he pretended not to notice it. Then he gave me a wooden plaque with my name and a number written on it.


    Next I asked about commissions and he said the guild would pay for monster pelts.


    And I guess that¡¯s it.


    I¡¯m now a registered adventurer.


    Let the adventure begin!

 Extra Chapter 51 - Lover

    I will probably be punished for doing this.


    Hugging Alduin, that is.


    But I don¡¯t care.


    I love him.


    I feel something for him.


    When I saw him the first time, my chest exploded in love, my downsides became burning hot.


    I love him¡­. And I want him.


    I don¡¯t know why.


    Mirtil isn¡¯t a bad husband.


    He never beats me.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    He never curses me. Or say nasty things to me.


    He doesn¡¯t have many lovers, and only once in a while goes to the brothels.


    And I love him.


    Still, what I feel for this man...


    No¡­


    Can I even say he¡¯s a man?


    He isn¡¯t even human.


    I should be afraid of him.


    I didn¡¯t notice it the first time I saw him, but everyone is afraid of him.


    He¡¯s an orc after all.


    They are dangerous. Unruly. Wild.


    Then why do I feel so safe around him?


    Is it because I know he isn¡¯t truly an orc?


    No¡­


    I felt like this since the very first time I saw him. A naked orc in the forest, mauling Mad Hounds with his fists.


    Closed eyes. Perfect stance.


    That should have been impossible, but he did it as easily as if he was breathing.


    And then, he told me his story.


    I expended a long time with him, but he didn¡¯t try to take me. And when I returned to camp, I just said I had gotten lost for a while.


    Why do I feel like I feel?


    It doesn¡¯t matter.


    I want to stay with him.


    Even if this ¡°depression¡± thing he says he has is just like Mirtil¡äs sadness¡­


    Somehow, I believe he will be able to overcome it. Maybe, if i help, he will do it even faster.


    But I do not believe Mirtil will be able to overcome his. Not anymore. Not after so many years.

 Stuff

    Hello.


    As some may have noticed, things happened to me in my private life and not only did it affect Ode, it also meant profound changes on myself.


    Well, shit goes down the drain. I expected to be able to writte Ode again, but the pretense girlfriend (which i turned into Ranna in Ode) just broke up with me.


    Not only that, i''m VERY, VERY troubled inside.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    So i won''t be posting Ode again so soon. I may even delete it entirely.


    Ode was the product of me reviewing my own life through the eyes of an OP character in a fantasy world, where i would correct as many past trauma and bad blood i had on myself by means of literature.


    I would take my horrible father and turn him into Jhon.


    I would take my shitty brother and make him into Jacen.


    And so on.


    Now i have a new, HUGE element to my life. This girl which just game and ruined every-fucking-thing.


    Just EVERYTHING.


    So i''m not writting right now, and i don''t have the minimum idea WHEN THE FUCK i will have the disposition to do the Writting Process of Ode again.


    Sorry for that, but i''m not writting this. Because i CAN''T writte anything right now, and i don''t know when, but it will probably be a couple years at least until i can do it again.


    Until later.

 Last words

    Thank everyone who has read Ode and gave me honest impressions about it.


    Since i started this profile on RR, i have written more than i had in all of my life. And i have changed a lot too. Ode was a project born of many confliting parts on my personality. It''s almost as if it was the only scape from the pressure inside as i submerged myself on depression, neediness and other emotional conflicts.


    A lot -and i mean it- has happened to me since i started writting it. And now it''s time for me to close this once and for all.


    I apologise for the lack of continuation to this story. It has a LOT of pages, and i would HATE to be in the position i''m putting your guys on (the one of "i read through all of this, and now there isn''t any closure?!").


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I apologise and hope you all can forgive me.


    That said, i do not intend to abandon the world Ode is situated in. Nor do i intend to abandon Alvin. I think i could do something a lot better than what i did in Ode, however, and i may write a better work with some of the basic traits of the characters in Ode - only better worked on.


    With such desire in my heart, i do hope i can start anew soon - a new story in the world of Ode, with better worked characters, a better plot and also better narration.


    However, when i do it, it will be on a new profile - one which isn''t self-depreciating, even though i find it relaxing to write under a name like "trashmctrash" .


    It''s time for me to take some things head-on, and my writting life is one of then - hiding behind a self-depreciating name may be relaxing since i can do some mental/emotional gymnastics to escape some feelings, but it does get me the short end of the stick.


    So, as soon as i get in shape to write something good again, i will post the new profile here. Thank you all for your patronage.