Chapter 2

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At that moment, footsteps could be heard at the doorway and Alivia walked in, carrying in a tray with a glass of water and a bowl of porridge. “Hehe little brother, you hungry?”

Zairen stared at the food the little girl was holding, and involuntarily, his stomach grumbled. He hadn’t eaten for a long time; naturally he was very hungry.

“Wow… thank you very much Alivia.”

“Call me big sister!” Alivia passed the tray to Zairen.

“Thanks… big sister.” Zairen immediately wolfed down his food, hurriedly eating his porridge and gulping his water.

Alivia and Grandpa Dinran only smiled at the sight. Zairen was a growing boy who had most likely not eaten for days; how could he not be hungry?

In only a few short minutes, Zairen emptied his porridge bowl and water glass. Then he leaned back and gave a satisfied smile. “Thank you very much for the food, big sister. It was very good.” He handed the tray back to Alivia.

“Wow, you ate quickly!” Alivia laughed and took the tray back. She turned around and slipped out the door, heading back to the kitchen.

Grandpa Dinran grinned and then told Zairen, “You’re welcome to stay here for now. This is normally the guest room… You’ll sleep here for the time being. We’ll leave you to relax and clear your mind now. You must have been through a lot.”

Zairen bowed his head, greatly touched by Grandpa Dinran’s kindness. “Thank you.”

—————–

After both Alivia and Grandpa Dinran had left the room, Zairen slowly got out of the bed and stood up, feeling the hardwood floor beneath the soles of his feet. He felt weak.

He looked down and saw that he had the soft, uncalloused feet of a young child.Suddenly, he felt an intense urge to look at his appearance. This whole time, he had been bewildered. How was this body transformation possible?!

He began to walk toward the doorway, looking for a bathroom.

Soon, his steps turned into long strides. He somewhat hurriedly strode out of the small bedroom into a short hallway, which extended about thirty feet from left to right. To the right he could see a kitchen where Alivia was washing the porridge bowl and water glass he had just been using. He only glanced at Alivia’s figure for a moment before turning left and quickly moving into a small bathroom.

In the bathroom, there was a crude man-operated toilet and a bucket for handwashing. In the wall to the right, there was a small rectangular window, and bright sunlight streamed into the room. To the left of the small space there was a large opaque mirror.

Zairen hurriedly closed the door behind him and turned to face the big mirror.

Staring back at him was a small, black-haired boy. The boy had big eyes and an immature-looking face, and his skinny body was covered by an oversized faded grey robe.

‘How… how could this be?!’ Zairen was absolutely shocked. ‘I look exactly how I looked like when I was seven years old!’

He stood there, gawking at his reflection in the mirror. No matter how many times he studied it, he just couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

‘Could it be… my body somehow reverted to my past self?!’

Zairen looked at his left arm. ‘My left arm… I was disoriented before so I didn't realize… It was cut off by the bandits… but now it’s perfectly fine! How can this be?’

Somehow, his body must have reverted back to his seven year old self, healing his wounds in the process.

But… how?

Previously, he had been too disoriented to fully accept that his body had changed! But he had always trusted his senses, and now, seeing himself in the flesh, there was no way he could ignore the reality further.

He continued to stand there silently for a few moments, just staring dazedly at his reflection. Heavily confused, his mind whirled in a dizzying fashion.

This… This wasn’t possible! Was he dreaming?

THACK! Zairen slapped the side of his face.

After recovering from the blow, he raised his head back up and stared into the mirror again. The same familiar young boy stared back at him.

...There truly wasn’t an illusion! He had actually reverted back to his seven year old self!

He stared into his reflection for several more moments, his eyebrows furrowed.

“...” However, the more he stared, the more his expression softened. Soon enough, the corners of his mouth started to raise into a smile, and two little dimples formed in the corners of his reflection's cheeks.

Although he couldn’t understand it and didn’t know why or how... this was a good thing! The world had given him another chance at life!

Zairen stared at his childish face in the mirror. If there was no way to find out how or why this had happened, there was no point spending his time worrying about it.

‘It looks like I was given another chance at life… restoring my seven year old body. I have to take this chance and live this second life to the fullest!’

———————-

Hours later, at night.

It was dark in the cabin’s little room.

Zairen was sitting cross legged on the bed. His hands were clasped together and his eyes were closed.

The scene was strange. Shadows around Zairen’s body seemed to be dancing to an elusive rhythm, and Zairen’s already dark hair had somehow turned a shade darker, as if turning into the night itself. He was breathing very heavily, yet evenly, and an eerie aura surrounded him.

Without any warning, Zairen’s originally lowered arm suddenly appeared outstretched. It seemed as if his arm had teleported, since no movement could have been seen. Not even a slight bit of a breeze resulted from the sudden move.

‘Hmm… my body has lost most of its cultivation,’ he muttered. ‘I’ve been reduced to only the spirit power of a beginner. Luckily, my soul remains the same and I can quickly train with my Silent Shadow art.’

The Silent Shadow art was a powerful hereditary art passed down from his father. In Zairen’s youth, it had been taught to him by his father before he had disappeared. Zairen was currently training with the art, becoming one with shadows.

As he trained, Zairen thought back to his fight with those powerful bandits. ‘Who knows what dangers I’ll face this time... I have to train hard so that I won't die again!’

After a few moments, he retracted his spirit. The eerie aura surrounding him disappeared, and the shadows in the room shivered for a moment before going back to normal.

Zairen whipped his hand slightly, and in it appeared the Shadow Dragon Sword, slender and powerful-looking.

‘Luckily, this sword is bonded to my soul, and returns to my body when I am not using it. Or else, I could have lost it in the ocean.’ He mused silently. The Shadow Dragon Sword was extremely special, and once bonded with, could be fused within one’s consciousness.

After admiring the Shadow Dragon Sword for a moment, Zairen made a strange movement. He placed his hand on the black stone that was studded on the sword’s hilt tip.

At first, nothing seemed to happen.

After a few moments, a small, milky stream of energy emerged from Zairen’s hand and entered the stone. The energy coming from Zairen’s hand quickly became a stream.

As this energy transfer took place, Zairen was quickly becoming visibly tired; clearly, this action was consuming his stamina.

After a few seconds, Zairen could bear the energy exertion no longer, and took his hand off the stone.

The mysterious black stone seemed to shine with a slightly greater luster.

‘I’ll keep on storing more energy into the stone every night. That way, in an emergency, I can use the spiritual energy saved up inside to save my life.’ Zairen thought.

The black stone was a precious treasure that could store seemingly infinite amounts of spiritual energy inside. Zairen’s biggest regret from his previous life was not taking the precaution to store large amounts of energy in his ring. If he had done so, he might not have died that fateful day against the bandits.

However, it was hard to find energy sources for the stone. He could input his own spiritual energy into the ring, but it would make him fatigued, and his current weak self did not have much of a spiritual energy capacity.

He sighed weakly. The spiritual energy consumed by the ring was really too much; he was about to pass out.

Too tired to do anything else, he lay down, and as soon as his body touched the bed, his consciousness faded.

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