4 Petrichor

Zanir was starving, so he ran back home as fast as he could. He was excited to see how the food would be different in this world. The sun was starting to set now, and he could faintly detect a delicious aroma coming from the direction of his childhood home.

Arriving soon at the humble home, he'd grown up in, he felt a strange sense of nostalgia. It was a very large home, and it was more than enough for him and his family to live in. The house had a few bedrooms, and he even had his own small room.

Sometimes, it was tough living in a remote location, but one of the benefits was that they could easily build a large home. This kind of house would've cost them a fortune if it were built near a city, as even the smallest city had a higher real estate value, due to the demand.

He had lived with his father Kevin and his mother Sara all his life. That wasn't uncommon at all, being that he was only eighteen. Only large and wealthy families could afford to send out their children early. More rural families would rely on the children to help with the work.

"Zanir you better clean that mud off your shoes before you come in" his mom called out.

It seemed like she always knew when he was about to come back in. It must have been some kind of maternal instinct, he thought. He made sure to wipe off most of the dirt and mud, then proceeded to wash up since his hands and face, which had become slightly soiled after working in the fields outside.

Walking into the kitchen, he caught a glimpse of his mom preparing dinner. His mom Sarah had shoulder length brown hair, that was tied back into a ponytail right now. She was moving around the kitchen, like clockwork, attending to all of the various dishes.

"Hey, mom what are you making tonight?"

While he was asking, he grabbed the plates and started to help set the table. Sarah turned around and started to respond but stopped and had a startled look on her face.

"Zanir are you sure that you're feeling alright after that fall?"

"Why are you asking me that mom?" he replied.

"Well you're setting the table and I didn't even have to ask you to help out."

Whoops, he had started setting the table out of habit. He recalled, that the body's previous occupant, hadn't been quite so well mannered. Several scenes of fights and tantrums, typical of a child that age, flashed through his mind.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on taking in the memories. Zanir knew he couldn't take back the past, but he knew that he could do things differently, now that he had reincarnated. He felt he was getting closer to merging, after taking in the memories, and that the sense of disassociation would fade, as he spent more time in this new world.

"After the fall, I realized what was important to me. You and dad are important to me, and I need to help you out more around the farm." He spoke to his mother in earnest, as that was all that he could do, to earn her trust moving forward.

Sarah Coffey had a slight mist in her eyes, as she looked her son and replied.

"We'll talk to your father about that when he gets home for dinner. I'm sure he'll be just as shocked as I am."

'It looks like my baby has finally grown up.' she thought to herself as she started plating the meal.

Drooling at the sight of the home cooked farm meal, he was glad that his mom was a good cook. There was that squash, that did pretty well, that he liked, and some kind of deer steak, that his father Kevin had hunted. There were also some flatbreads, that had been prepared from the wheat harvest.

Since it was a farm, it was a given, that they almost always had a big, fresh salad with every meal. With ingredients this fresh you would be crazy not to! This kind of home-cooked food was appreciated, especially from someone who had eaten a lot of microwaved meals.

Tearing into the food with gusto, he even went back for another portion of dinner. He was exhausted, physically and mentally, after listening to the system prompts all afternoon. Not to mention, he was still recovering from fall as well.

He felt much better, as he filled his belly. He felt a warm sensation in his stomach, as the happiness from being full, spread throughout his entire body. He'd just assumed, that since the planet didn't have much pollution, the food must be much more nutritious here.

What Zanir didn't know, was that the food on Norantal was full of energy. Even the basic crops they tended here, would make anyone who ate it stronger over time. Of course, wealthy people would eat the highest-quality magic crops, instead of the basic crops here.

It would provide several times more energy, and that energy would be of a much better quality. Warriors would use energy to cultivate and condense Battle Qi, and magicians would use the energy to condense Mana.

The energy was not wasted, for those who didn't cultivate. It would spread throughout the body and work to make more general, and overall improvements. They would become faster and stronger, due to things like the improvement of the inner organs, bones, muscles, nervous systems, blood vessels, etc.

It was necessary so that people could survive in a world that had wild monsters, savage calamities, and sometimes harsh weather patterns that could prove unpredictable.

He hadn't started cultivating yet and was waiting to receive the family battle technique from his father Kevin. He was wondering what kind of moves it would have, and if it would be like the movies and books, that he had read about. He also wanted to test out the differences this world had from his.

Through some of the absorbed memories, he knew, that the average 'Human' body here had to be much stronger and quicker, or else the people here would not have to be able to establish any cities or empires with demonic beasts around.

The door burst open and an older man in worn clothes, drenched in water, yelled out "Zanir! Zanir come quickly!" He was tall and lanky and had a frantic look on his face.

Hearing someone screaming his name; it pulled him out of his thoughts. He saw the frazzled old man and searched the memories for a clue. He recognized him, one of the farmhands who lived in the nearby area, Marvin Braxtel. He and some of the other farmhands in the area worked on his father's farm.

"What's going on Marvin?" Sarah asked. She was concerned by his tone and the fact that he had just run into their home. He would never do that unless something urgent happened. She had a bad feeling about this.

"There's been an accident, and your father fell into the lake! We were making repairs, to part of the dock, but the rope holding him up snapped and he fell in. Bart threw another rope in, and he's holding him up for now, but we gotta grab some more ropes and pull him up before a magic beast comes along."

Zanir was worried when he had heard something happened to his father. He grabbed some rope and started running down toward the lake with Marvin. He was surprised at how quickly they were able to run.

The speed and distance they covered with each step would put athletes to shame. He gave into the wild feeling and starting running as fast as his body would take him. It seemed like time started to slow down a little bit.

He wasn't actually affecting the flow of time, but entering a brief period of intense focus due to adrenaline. He could see the raindrops, falling heavily from the sky, as they poured down, in what looked like waves and sheets. He felt like he could hear the crisp crunch and splash of the mud, every time his feet hit the ground. He could smell the distinct smell that only comes when the rain hits the soil. He had looked up what that smell was called once.

He remembered that it was called petrichor.