Mystical Journey

“It’s a new beginning once again…” The boy spoke with a tone of wisdom, nostalgia, and a hint of weariness.

“After such a long selection, this should be the perfect body according to the general trend,” A white, indistinct V-shaped mark flashed between the boy’s eyes without leaving a trace.

Everything related to the boy’s memories instantly swept through Garen’s mind.

‘Kong Xiaofei: Seventeen years old, introvert and keeps to himself, a Year 2 Senior High School Student of Linglan City No.3 High School. Average results, bad in sports, enjoys reading comic books, drawing, sleeping…’

Garen swiftly scanned through all the different flashbacks that were swarming his mind, mainly focusing on Kong Xiaofei’s family.

Kong Xiaofei’s father, Kong Yuan, brought him and his elder sister up single-handedly. He works at an oil company with a decent pay and he was an ordinary, honest good man.

His mother died while giving birth to him.

The main focus was Kong Xinxue, Kong Xiaofei’s elder sister. When Garen was observing the planet’s memories, his fuzzily detected her as a major character.

Due to the fact that the memories were too overwhelming, plus the rules of the universe being too strict, he could only vaguely see pieces of it. He was not able to see the main content clearly. However, he was sure of one thing, one of the Four Great Cornerstones would come into contact with Kong Xinxue sometime in the future. And when these four fight hand to hand, Kong Xinxue would then play a more important role.

“It probably will not take a few years. By then, we will see whether the Four Great Cornerstones are of the same kind as me…” Garen was actually looking forward to it, as he started to feel this body’s state attentively.

Garen’s face fell as he started inspecting. “No wonder this body didn’t even bother to fight me back. It’s deteriorated to this point…”

He took a look at the Talent and Power data that was on display.

‘Kong Xiaofei — Strength 0.2, Agility 0.3, Physique 0.1, Intellect 1.1, Potential 0%. Soul Limit 50.’

Garen took a deep breath. “Besides the Intellect stats reaching the standards of an adult, the others were so horrible that he could hardly bear to see it, it was no different from advanced cancer…”

He held back the urge to cuss, instead, he focused on regulating all his remaining soul power to nourish this body.

Ever since the Soul Ring was formed, his soul power could finally be able to shift around at ease to nourish the flesh. The flesh’s essence was able to produce a God in the form of a soul, and the God would naturally be able to replenish the body’s essence. However, the only shortcoming was that this process has a high rate of consumption.

Especially in this sort of crazy strict world…

“It’s a good thing the pure energy state within the body isn’t really restricted, which is equivalent to energy attached to the substances.”

Garen checked his soul power storage; there were about fifty-three units which were vacant. In the Mech World, every unit would be sufficient to fully nourish one adult’s body and completely heal every indiscernible damage.

“However, there would be an eighty percent loss if one was to use his soul power to replenish his flesh. Moreover, this universe’s rules are ridiculous… A 5% effect at most on the body is already not bad… To hell with it!” He could not resist ranting.

Five percent. This meant that after all his remaining soul power was exhausted, there would not be any more extra components to nourish and strengthen this body. The rules here were ridiculously strict. In the entire universe, there were only four people who had extraordinary powers, the superpowers that were supported by the entire universe. Even putting this way could not describe how exaggeratedly crazy this was.

Frankly, Garen knew it deep in his heart. It was what he had expected.

Furthermore, he wanted to restore and accumulate a brand new soul power. The rate of the Soul Ring recovery was indeed terrifying. In addition to its ghastly output, he would have to wait for a long period of time if he planned to use it to nourish his body.

“Seems like I’d have to make use of whatever pharmacology and biochemistry I’ve learned from the other worlds… After all, I’ve lived for so many years, I am considered as an elite biochemist,” In the end, Garen still found a way out. He was going to utilize this universe’s substances to strengthen his body, and not just insist on using pure energy to nourish his body.

At the thought of it, he immediately spread all the stored soul power in his body to every part of his body altogether.

There were no sounds or any light effects, just the plain sight of Kong Xiaofei, the body Garen was attached to. Colors were gradually returning to his cheeks, and even his dried lips were starting to have a tinge of moisture.

The effect was immediate.

Garen could see with his naked eye that his body’s state was rising rapidly. As time passed, his soul power reduced and became weaker, but his body’s attributes, on the other hand, increased.

At the end, when the last traces of his soul power was almost exhausted.

‘Kong Xiaofei — Strength 0.5, Agility 0.6, Physique 0.4, Intellect 1.4, Potential 0%. Soul Limit 50.’

The attributes were just slightly improved.

“Why are there no changes!?” Garen was shocked. He put in so much effort assembling this Soul Ring from a couple of worlds, and all the soul power produced by the Soul Ring was now wasted just like this. This was a complete tragedy.

However, he could vaguely feel the small changes that were happening within his body, and he suddenly understood.

In this world, the rules were as such. There would no longer be drastic changes like before, no more radical occurrences that involved processes that would nearly be neglected. Every single change here would only happen bit by bit.

Even if he completely saved up all his soul power, it would be impossible for him to change a seriously-ill patient into an ordinary person brimming with energy. He had to recover according to his body’s restore rate in order to recover to his original state of physique.

“In other words, if you can master the ropes of the other worlds, you can advance through several processes instantly, inciting other strengths and then on, create a miracle.”

Garen lied on the mat. Since he was not able to recover his body in an instant, he might as well lie on the ground and have a good rest.

The good thing was that while his body was being nourished, his body would still be able to withstand for a few more days without eating or drinking. At the same time, his qualities would still continue to rise all the way until he finished up his powers.

“Energy Machinist Imprint can still be used for basic computing powers… But I’d need my soul powers to support it. I guess I won’t be able to take both into account in the future,” Garen said helplessly.

Lying on the mat feeling tired with a tinge of weakness surging within the body, he lost all desire to move his body.

As time slowly went by, he soon heard the sound of a key unlocking the door outside.

“Thank you for sending me back. Please, you can go now,” It was a melodious voice of a girl. She seemed young, maybe about eighteen or nineteen years old.

“Remember the concert this Saturday! You’re one of our main characters, so you have to come,” An old man said.

“I’ll try. I’m really sorry, teacher.”

“Alright, enough with the chit chat, I’ve got to go to send off the others.”

“Yeah. Take care.”

Footsteps could be heard before the sound of engines whirred up, indicating that the car was leaving.

Bang.

The yard’s door closed.

“Xiaoxue, you’re back?” Kong Yuan’s voice could be heard from the living room.

“Yeah, how’s Xiaofei doing?” The girl’s voice sounded extremely cold.

“Doing much better, I tucked him into bed already.”

“… I’ll go see him for a bit,” Kong Xinxue’s voice was getting nearer and nearer.

Garen recalled every single detail about Kong Xinxue and the relationship between her and Kong Xiaofei.

‘Kong Xinxue: Seventeen years old, a violin prodigy, Year 3 Senior High School Student of Linglan City No.1 High School. Participated in the region’s student classical music competition thrice and was crowned champion back-to-back for three years. Talent has already been gradually shown, and in the next two years, she’ll become a famous international classical violinist prodigy. Then, she will finally emerge as an incredible, world-renowned violinist when she reaches twenty-four years old.

Has a cool personality, maintains an ordinary relationship with her brother, Kong Xiaofei, which may be slightly distant.’

“What a stunning sister. No wonder the brother is such an introvert, always quiet and keeping to himself,” A thought flashed through Garen’s mind.

Soon enough, a young girl dressed in a white dress appeared by the bedroom door and peaked in.

The girl had long red hair flowing down her shoulders and bangs across her forehead, a hint of wariness in her eyes. The white dress on her accentuated her young body perfectly, showing off every single curve just nicely. It was a plain white dress with no patterns or any lacework, just a simple black belt wrapped around her waist.

“Are you feeling better?” Kong Xinxue asked softly. Once she saw Garen awake, the worry in her eyes was wiped away.

“Much better,” Garen responded.

Kong Xinxue nodded, then turned and left.

The conversation between these two siblings had always been like that, it was as if both sides were used to it already. Since they were young, since they knew how to speak, Kong Xiaofei and his sister always kept conversations short and brief.

“So this body has red hair…” Then only did Garen realize that his own hair was actually a shade of fiery red.

*********************

Since the day of the heat stroke, Garen took a leave so that he could stay at home to rest.

Kong Yuan goes to work every day from nine to five while Kong Xinxue was always busy preparing for her school examinations. Both of them had their hands full, unlike Kong Xiaofei who was always idling away his time at home.

His sole purpose of coming to this world was to search for an inheritor of the same kind. Even if the inheritor was not the same kind, he should at the very least have the presence of soul power. He had everything planned. If the other person was not an inheritor of the same kind, he would take the opportunity and absorb the person’s soul power. With that, he would increase the soul power in his Soul Ring, maybe even increase his Soul Seeds.

The reason why he attached himself to Kong Xiaofei’s body was that this person was destined to die already. In the near future when Kong Xinxue came into contact with the Four Great Cornerstones, Kong Xiaofei would die from an accidental involvement on the first night they meet.

The one who would kill him was actually one of the Four Great Cornerstones.

To attach himself to an identity like this, there was no longer the need to search around all corners of the world. In the entire star, the only Four Great Cornerstones would automatically come on their own, which actually saved up tons of Garen’s effort.

The second purpose was to hide away from the Soul Ring-Leveled Void Creatures and at the same time, properly consider the path on which he was about to embark.

However, the one thing that disappointed Garen was that the rules in this particular universe were too strict to a certain standard. The powers his body brought was far from what he initially expected. Thus, it was most definitely going to be a problem if he aimed to reach the extent good enough to face off the Four Great Cornerstones. After all, Garen was still unsure of what those four were really capable of.

Ever since he came to this body, Garen restricted the interactions between him and Kong Xinxue along with Kong Yuan. He would only see the both of them every day in the morning and nighttime. Meanwhile, life over here was somewhat similar to back when he was in Earth, a slight combination of life in China and Japan. Rice was deemed as the main course, and everything was available, including sashimi, stir-fry vegetables, dumplings and so much more.

One week had passed by in a blink of an eye, and there was not much communication in general. Garen’s body was starting to recover.