71 Back To The Past
It was late at night and a young boy was still typing on his computer. His youthful eyes glowed brightly, but their white sheen had a little redness that was formed due to the overexposure to the light coming from the monitor.
"Yawn." Though he felt like doing more work, his body was already at its limits. But even then, he did not stop. Typing away as much as he could so that he could make his mind rest peacefully. If he doesn't get to put his thoughts into words now, the itch inside him won't let him sleep anyway.
"Hmm..." A quick look at the clock made him flinch, seeing as it was already midnight. But when he was about to stand up, he felt an inspiration coming in.
Classes will start in just a few days from now, so he wanted to finish this work by then. Though it was only his first draft, at least he was presently fit to say that he had composed a novel. He had been trying to accomplish this for a while, and the productive summer seems to be just enough for him to finally finish writing one.
'Let's see. This looks too boring. I'll change it into this.'
"Click. Clack." The unmistakable sounds of typing lasted for a while before a final click was heard, then he relocated the mouse cursor to the save button on the top left corner. He leaned back in content, pleased with his work. He looked at the glass by his right side and picked it up to have a drink.
"Hmm?" He turned the glass upside down, and not a single drop fell. It seems the water it held had long been drained by him. He looked at the time, only to see it was already 1 o'clock, three hours later than he usually slept. "My head's gonna hurt tomorrow, isn't it? Sigh."
The bewildered boy looked meaningfully at the glass and wondered which one he wanted more. To sleep now or obtain more water. Advantages and disadvantages of both possibilities had been scrambling inside his head before he decidedly placed the cup back down on the desk and headed straight to bed.
'I'll drink tomorrow.'
Swallowing his saliva, he stood up from his seat and headed to bed. His exhausted body was too wasted for him to mind his thirst. Though the unquenchable thirst never escaped him, he was too tired to adequately care.
It was at this moment that a portal came about out of nowhere. A man was on the other side, looking strangely at the boy. The man turned his head to the side, seemingly talking to someone before passing through the portal afterwards.
"Ahh... Good looking kid, haha." Zel looked at his younger self and felt nostalgic. Looking at the computer that wasn't turned off, the messy clothes on the floor and the gaming consoles he used to play with under the television. It was as if he was back to more peaceful times, a more normal time.
'I don't think I've played a videogame in years. What did I last play again?' Zel didn't take over his younger self's body as soon as he could, there was no need to hurry. He walked towards the GameStation3 and looked at the games his younger self had, then he smiled.
'Oh damn, I remember this.' A picture of a yellow haired boy using his magic to create a rotating blue sphere. It was his favorite game at the time, Garuto: Ultimate Magic Ninja 2. He was about to turn the cover around to see the back when he heard a noise from behind him.
"Snore." Turns out his younger self was snoring his tiredness away, drooling on his bed without a care in the world.
'Wonder what I forgot from this time.' Zel was about to see what his parents were doing but decided against it when he felt the vibrations coming from their room. He didn't want to see what his older sister was doing, while his younger sisters were already asleep in their rooms as well. There really wasn't much to see in this period of his life.
'Hmm?' But when he was about to start the integration process, a weird aura came into his area of detection. This was one of the spells he learned in his time at the Tower, a constant radar to determine changes in his surroundings. With his current mastery, he could create one with a fifty-meter radius. Right now, he could sense a lifeform just outside the house. A man with enough mana to activate a red-rank ability!
'Who is that?' Zel was now unsure of what to do, should he check it now or leave it alone?
Since he felt no reason to decide against checking, he went to the windows to get a glimpse of the stranger. When he did so, he found an old man wearing a brown coat and a pair of black aviator sunglasses. The man looked like he just came from a trip, wearing a backpack and holding a blue gift-wrapped box in his arms. He seems to be hesitating on whether or not to cross the street as his feet wavered back and forth. In the end, the man turned around, shoved the box into his backpack and walked away.
'Strange.' Zel didn't think much of the man, as he sensed no ill intent from him. But he did take notice of his aura and stored it into his mind palace. Toph should be able to tell him if he meets the man again, or if he gets close. He turned away from the windows and went to the boy's bedside.
'Don't worry, bud. I'll take it from here.' Zel placed his hand on the boy's forehead, his Ring of Eternity lighting up as he focused his mana on it. As the boy had a complete soul, he needed to overlap his own soul while keeping a dominating position. If they were not compatible, Zel would have been absorbed by the boy and the boy would go crazy from having centuries of memories suddenly overwhelming his young mind. Thankfully, they were the same person.
But it wasn't as if many people could do this. Zel's soul has already been tempered by the time stream, even containing trace amounts of time energy that is one of the eternal sources, along with Primal Force for instance. Those who hadn't even gotten their soul to the Violet-rank would just die along with their bodies, returning to the Samsara.
'The connection is secured now, Lord Tiger.' A voice rang inside Zel's head, Toph has already been integrated into the Ring of Eternity.
The process of overlapping his soul was now starting, and Zel felt his soul being absorbed by the body. As trying to fit all of his mana inside this young body was impossible, unless he wants the body to explode to a million pieces, he made mana crystals out of the excess mana in his storage.
'Five, huh?' Zel was satisfied with his produce and kept the crystals inside the Ring of Eternity. For now, he needed to rest. He felt his mind palace almost collapsing from the lack of mana, but he still hadn't completed the process. The system isn't connected with the body, yet.
'Just a little more.' Sweat came out from the boy's body as Zel tried his best to stay awake. He took out the mana core from the ring and placed it over his chest. Afterwards, he sent the five mana crystals into the mana core, allowing it to absorb the mana. In the instant the mana core touched the mana crystals, it sunk into Zel's body.
The pain it caused made Zel's eyes almost pop out. It has been a while since he experienced pain, and the sensitivity of this body made it much worse. A body that had blocked mana nodes was suddenly being filled with rich mana, it was as if his whole body was being stabbed over and over again.
Zel was gripping the bed sheets with both of his arms while trying to keep himself from shouting. He was about to give in when he heard a voice.
"My lord! The integration is almost complete! Please, hang in there!" Toph materialized and placed her hands on Zel's hands. She couldn't do anything about the pain, but her words did give Zel enough willpower to persevere.
10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, time passed, and the process wasn't over. Zel was about to shout out loud, but it wasn't from the pain due to the process. He wanted to scream at Toph for spouting bullshit.
'How is this almost complete!? Ahhh!' Zel's face had long turned red, while veins appeared on his temples. His palms were already bleeding due to his fingers digging through them. But when he was about to scream from the pain, it disappeared. With the release from the pain came a sense of relief, and the fleeting pain took Zel's consciousness with it.
"Oh my! Wake up, Lord Tiger!" Toph looked at the mess on Zel's bed. She made a quick assessment and found multiple wounds on his upper limbs and internal injuries. If he doesn't get any medical attentions soon, he could die!
His body was at a very critical condition, but she couldn't do anything about it by herself. It was the first time since she was made that she wanted to break her code and move without Zel's permission. It wasn't to harm her Lord, it was to save him!
When she was about to panic, however, a gentle energy came from Zel's chest and spread throughout his body. The steady beating of his heart harmonized with the mana core, allowing the system to synchronize with Zel.
The two were becoming one, and the system was assessing his whole existence, both soul and body. His wounded palm and fingers were turned back to normal while his reddened skin came back to their usual light brown. A smile appeared on his face as he finally got a well-deserved rest.
