I'm going to be completely honest with the readers and say that I have no idea how many of the things work on these forum type sites. I have almost no idea what I am doing.

I looked for some tutorials in the forums and found a few things that helped me.

I am learning as I go along and hope that you, the readers, are patient as I learn how to do things.

I made the format of this chapter slightly easier to read and I might go back and do the same to other chapters if I find the time to do so. Every chapter has now been spaced properly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I managed to finish this chapter and chapter 7 along with it. Chapter 7 will come out tomorrow for sure and if I find time to finish up and edit chapter 8, it will come out the day after.

Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 6: Road Trip

After a week I am still at C ranked first realm. Well, it really isn’t that easy to get to the next rank. I sigh to myself in the empty room. Thankfully it has only been the nurse coming into my room. She brings me meals and takes me on walks every day. She really seems like a nice person except for the fact that she’s a pervert.

I stand up from the bed and walk towards the window. Today is the day I go back to Verandus. Claire isn’t the childhood friend that I thought she was going to be, but oh well. It seems like my peaceful week will come to an abrupt stop.

My mother thankfully left me a change of clothes to wear to get to our house so I can change into real clothes.

I take a deep breath as the door to my hospital room opens. The nurse walks into the room with a sad look on her face. I fully turn towards her, “What’s wrong?”

Tears start to form in her eyes, “You never told me you were leaving!”

Did I not do that? I almost feel bad. I walk slowly towards her, “Is my ride here to pick me up? Wait a second. As a nurse you should know that I was in good enough condition to go home soon anyways. On top of that, a nurse should be happy to see a person go home to their family.”

Tears start to flow down her cheeks, “I know that I should be happy that you can return, but you… you made me so happy! The files changed overnight from saying you had at least another month to saying that you were ready to leave! On top of that, your mother is already here to pick you up!”

What is this scenario? How do I comfort her? I put my hand on her head, “Don’t cry, okay? I know that you will miss me. People always tend to love what they cannot have. I will sadly say that I do not like you, maybe not even as a person, but someone out there might. It just isn’t me.”

She smiles weakly, “Do you really think that there is someone who loves me?”

I nod with confidence, “I can guarantee that there is someone out there for you. You just have to look. He may be far, he may be close, or maybe even a she. I don’t know what your real preferences are. Nor do I really care. But one thing is for sure, they/it are out there somewhere.”

She wipes the tears from her eyes, “Thank-you Mr. Ryu.”

I nod, “Not a problem. I will now take my leave.”

I walk towards the door as quickly as possible. Where did that talk even come from? Why was I rude to her despite trying to cheer her up? Why was she still happy about it in the end? I walk out of the room and turn towards the elevator.

Waiting in the hallway was my mother bent over and covering her mouth trying to stifle her laughter. She sees me and uncovers her mouth, “That was the funniest thing I’ve seen from you, you know?”

I hit her on the head, “I was just trying to get out of the room. I wasn’t trying to be mean to her, it’s just that she look really sad so I attempted to cheer her up.”

She points into the room, “Does that look like a woman who is sad to you?”

I lean my head into the room. On the bed was the nurse shoving my pillow into her face and smelling it. I turn and walk towards the elevator, “I see nothing.”

I hear a soft moan come from the room I was previously in, “I miss you already Mr. Ryu!”

I cover my ears with my hands, “I hear nothing!”

I walk into the elevator with my mother following close behind. I finally take my hands off my ears as I get into the elevator. My mother leans towards me, “So first we should go home so we can pack your stuff. Then we will drive you towards Verandus.”

I nod, “So what are the recommended items for Verandus beginner academy?”

My mother walks out of the elevator onto the bottom floor. She walks towards the front of the building, “You will need one set of day clothes, some form of entertainment, and one set of sleeping clothes.”

I tilt my head, “Why so little clothing? Isn’t hygiene a thing in the modern world?”

My mother shakes her finger, “Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should know as well as anyone else that there is magic to clean the clothes while they are still on the body. Even though fighters and mages do not get along, that doesn’t mean that we have to deny the existence of spells at the martial academy, right?”

I smile, “I guess that makes sense.”

My mother guides me to the car she drove in. She was driving an all-black car from 2025. It was a four door sports type car with nothing fancy on the outside. It still had two seats in the front with three in the back and a surprising amount of space for luggage in the trunk of the car.

I open the door to the front passenger seat and see Sayaka. She waves at me while sitting in the car, “Nice to see ya. I’m coming along for the ride if you don’t mind.”

I sigh as I close the door and step to open the rear passenger side door. Claire was sitting there and she points to the other side of the car, “You’re on the other side.”

I feel like smashing my head into a wall. Why are they both here? I brace myself for an overly chaotic drive to Verandus, and open the rear driver side door. I sit down in the seat and put on my seatbelt.

My mother looks at me in the rearview mirror. Apparently she got in the car at some point. “You ready to go?”

I nod, “Yeah, I’m ready to go home and get my stuff. Why are Claire and Sayaka here though?”

My mother starts the car, “Well, a normal human being would be able to guess it by now, but I’ll say it just in case.” Why is my mother so mean all of a sudden? “They are just here for the ride since going to Verandus by any other means usually costs quite a bit of money. So in order to save money, they are coming along for the road trip.”

I shrug my shoulders, “Okay. Can we get going soon? I’m excited to go to the Verandus beginner academy. Maybe I’ll meet up with some people I knew in the previous world.”

My mother starts to drive and Claire pokes my shoulder, “Well, that’s the issue. We don’t know anything about your past life. You refuse to tell us anything. You absorb both the power of heaven and earth, yet seemingly do not have an element affinity, yet you managed to make it to the first realm. We are all very curious about the method you are practicing.”

I want out of this car! I look out the window pretending not to hear Claire. “What a nice view, eh?”

Out the window is a fifty story skyscraper. Sweat starts to form on my forehead. Not good, not good. Claire pouts, “Come on! Just tell us anything about you!”

I smile gently, “Why is it really necessary for you people to know who I was? Does it really matter that much?”

My mother, Sayaka, and Claire simultaneously shout, “Yes!”

I look towards Sayaka who was glaring daggers at me, “Why are you even so curious about it? I met you because this body was stupid enough to jump in front of a train to save you, despite you easily being able to save yourself.”

She looks down, embarrassed, “It wouldn’t have ended any better for me if I was hit by the train. You risked your life to save mine.” She mumbles into her arm, “I need to repay you somehow.”

I tilt my head in confusion, “Repay me? Also, this body did more than risk his life! He died! I was lucky to be able to kill the demon lord Alveros by sacrificing myself in the other world. When coming to this world I find out that my link to this world died!” I cover my mouth realizing what I just said.

My mother turns onto the highway. The entire car silent. Shit! My mother knows that about the demon! I even told her the supreme emperor killed it!

They all start to laugh. I tilt my head and frown, “Why are you people laughing?”

Sayaka is the first to recover from the laughing fit, “Well, I already knew that you were the supreme emperor.”

I hit my head of the driver’s seat, “You what!? How!?”

Sayaka reaches back and pats my head, “You know who I was in the other world?”

I shake my head, “I have no idea! What are you people going to do to me now!?” My voice was shaking slightly.

Sayaka laughs lightly, “I was the head guard at the castle you know. I was twenty five when the fight broke out. I was heavily injured and I was only able to receive the report before passing on. Also, you were the only person in the known world to have been able to be able to absorb both the power of heaven and earth.”

I rub my eyes in frustration, “I guess that makes sense. Was I the only person who didn’t know that everyone knew about me using both the power of heaven and earth?”

Claire pats my shoulder, “Yeah, because it was considered to be a taboo punishable by death to talk about it near you or even talk about it in general. Only those who came in direct contact and or extremely close to you knew about it though. I was the head of the martial emperor’s battle maids in the other world if you were wondering.”

I tilt my head, “by the way, I was wondering why some people refer to the title as martial emperor or fighter emperor. Is it just me or are there two names for the same thing?”

My mother jumps into our conversation, “It seems to be a preference thing. It is the exact same position though. Anyways, how hard was it to say that you were the supreme emperor?”

I frown, “Well, I never wanted to say it because it seemed like many people would try to kill me while I was still weak. I had a lot of enemies in the other world believe it or not.”

They all nod. Claire sighs, “I know all too well the grudges that people have against you. You should know that it is only people close to you who knew. Those people who held grudges were deceived somehow, no matter how much people tried to tell them they would not believe that you were able to use both the power of heaven and earth.”

I smile slightly, “Does that mean that my rivals won’t try to kill me instantly?”

Claire shrugs her shoulders, “I dunno.”

I hit my head of the driver’s seat again. My mother yells back, “Hey! Don’t distract the driver!”

I lean back in my seat, “Sorry mother.”

We ride in awkward silence all the way to my house. The drive was only ten minutes total.

My mother stops the engine of the car after we park in the driveway, “Okay Ryu, go get your stuff quick we girls will stay in the car and wait for you out here. Don’t bother deleting your browser history either, I already checked it. Your body had some weird tastes.”

I open my door and ignore her comment. I walk towards the house and open the front door with my key.

I walk to my room quickly and change into a black long sleeved shirt and blue jeans. I pack a dark blue long sleeve and a pair of jeans. I grab some clothes to sleep in. I stuff my laptop, a charging cable and a wireless mouse into my bag and zip it up.

I sigh as I quickly return to the car. As I get back out to the car, I see that Claire and Sayaka’s faces are so red that I can almost see the steam rising.

I open the rear driver’s side door and get into the car after putting my luggage into the trunk. I tap my mother’s shoulder before she starts the car and she turns around, “Yes my child?”

I point to the two red blobs, “What did you say to make them like that?”

She puts her hand on her cheek, “Oh my, what did I say? Can one of you two girls remind me?”

Sayaka goes to hit my mother, but her fist is caught, “Like I could say that with him here!”

Claire recovers slightly and says quickly, “Your mother asked us if we could seduce you!”

I look towards my mother with a hint of disgust and a lot of anger, “Why would you make these girls do something like that when you very well know that I have to get stronger quickly. I don’t have time for a relationship.”

She smiles widely, “Oh my, so vicious. I was just teasing them a little, just to try and make it more interesting for when you arrive at the academy.”

I sigh, “Now why would you have to do that?”

She laughs, a hint of evil can be heard, “You know that this year, there seemed to be a large amount of men that had links.”

“No.”

“The guys’ dorms were kind of full.”

“No!”

My mother starts the engine to the car and drives onto the road, “So I got the principal to agree to put you in the girls’ dorm. However you could not be trusted in your own room, as you have the body of a depraved teenager, it was decided that you would be put into a room with Sayaka and Claire!”

“NO! NO! NO!”

She shrugs her shoulders, “I went ahead to agree with it since you don’t seem to have feelings for them anyways.”

I beat my own head with my fists, “Why!? Can’t you just get me to sign a blood oath? I’d rather do anything than to sleep in the same room as two women who may or may not get the urge to attack me!”

Claire frowns, “I wouldn’t attack you. I would just kill you!”

I turn to my mother, “See! That’s what I’m talking about!”

She shrugs her shoulders, “Oh my. It seems like you will have a great time at Verandus academy.”

I sigh in defeat as I look out the window. I am going to have a wonderful time at Verandus, just wonderful.

My mother turns onto the major highway going east, “Oh yeah. You should look out the window if you want to see something really cool happen.”

As the car slowly leaves the city limits it looks like any other highway going through the countryside. Green grass on either side of the road with trees scattered throughout fields of grass.

The car suddenly slows down rapidly as we turn onto a dirt road. After five minutes there is a paved stretch of road with no lines painted onto it to the right of the road.

The car swerves onto the paved stretch of road and accelerates.

As the car hits 80 miles per hour the sky instantly changes to a deep red color. The trees disappear and it changes to a barren land devoid of all life.