Growing up

Thus days passed, as the world was in turmoil.

Slowly days turned into weeks and weeks rolled into months.

Three months had passed since Rye was reincarnated into this world.

Currently Rye was lying in his cot, closing his eyes, completely still.

By now he clearly understood his surroundings. He was at the Okara orphanage, in the infant's ward.

Apart from that he didn't really know much. He would use all of the spare time that he had in cultivating his soul. He decided to leave his brain alone until he increased his talent.

'Today's the day.' He thought to himself.

Slowly white fog began to gather around him, entering his body and then reaching the heart, slowly increasing the size of the large white ball. He few days after he had been reborn, he had figured out the most optimal circuit to cultivate spiritual essence. Once the spiritual ball got big enough, then it would naturally explode outwards. All he had to do was get spiritual energy into the heart.

Of course, there were restrictions. It seemed like the golden time to cultivate the soul, where one could bring out their full potential was after the age of 10 years, so the speed in which he gathered spiritual essence dramatically slowed down after he reached level 1.

Slowly the ball got bigger and bigger until it finally exploded out with energy. Unlike the time when he was born, he had learnt about the benefits of keeping the energy that exploded when he had a breakthrough within himself. The energy slowly traveled throughout his body, revitalizing his cells and strengthening his muscles and bones. Even though the [Soul manual of the gods] was meant to cultivate soul, it also had many positive side effects on the body.

'Stage 1 level 3… reached'

It had been quite easy to raise his level until this point, but he understood that it would not be so easy in the future.

'I guess it's time to begin brain cultivation.'

By now, many of the nurses and matrons had noticed that he was odd. He would never cry, nor shed tears. Whenever it was time to eat, he would open his eyes and wait for the nurse to feed him.

'It's time for some food… little one,' a sweet melodic voice sounded out.

Rye escaped from his cultivating state and opened his eyes.

'Your so smart… aren't you little one…' said the voice as she slowly stroked his cheeks.

The nurse who was talking to him was the same one who had picked him up from outside the door. For some reason she had felt some sort of connection with him.

She slowly picked him up out of the crib before feeding him some milk.

'There… there… your eyes are so beautiful…' she said as she caressed his hair. He looked into her beautiful violet eyes and saw love and warmth. A trace of warmth appeared within his heart She then fed him and changed his diapers before putting hip back into the crib.

'Madame Angelica…?'

'Yes?' the nurse turned away.

'It seems like she has quite a high position in this orphanage…' he thought to himself, before shrugging it of and continuing to cultivate.

[Brain Manual of the gods]

Stage 1: Unlocking hidden potential

Stages: 9

Effect: Unlocking more of the brain and thus the possibilities of the brain.

Method: Take spiritual essence and gather it in the brain. Once sufficient energy is met, break through the blockade and unlock the potential inside one self.

'It says that I should use spiritual essence, huh… I wonder what it is…'

He really wanted to find out. Whenever he saw something intriguing, Rye would always feel the inexplicable desire to go out and investigate what it was. Unfortunately, due to his baby form, he couldn't do a lot of investigating…

He slowly breathed in and out…

2 year and 9 months later…

By now he was 3 years old and his body had grown up by quite a bit. Whenever he wasn't in the presence of others he would cultivate, continuously strengthening his brain. He noticed the differences, as he continued to cultivate his brain. His vision was much more clearer and brighter, while the range of his hearing had increased as well. What he was most shocked about was the changes to his processing speed. Previously, the processing speed of his brain had already been quite high and now it was higher.

When his brain needed to consolidate its spiritual essence, he would begin to cultivate his soul. He had already reached stage 1 level 5 of [Soul manual of the gods], but no matter what he did, his cultivation just wouldn't increase any further. This was probably the so called bottleneck that everyone would face.

By now, his strength was comparable to a six year old child…

He had begun to walk a few weeks after he had turned one. In this era, such a thing was not exactly unusual. Now that he could walk, he was given much more freedom. He no longer had to sit down in the crib every day.

Currently he was outside, sitting on the grass beneath the tree at the edge of the orphanage grounds. He sat there and enjoyed the cool feeling that the wind brought to his face and the lush rustling of the green leaves. It truly was much better to stay in nature when cultivating…

Yesterday he had reached Stage 1 level 3 of [Brain manual of the gods].

Stage 1 level 1, unlocked 20% of the brain.

Stage 1 level 2, unlocked 30% of the brain and

Stage 1 Level 3, Unlocked 40% of the brain.

His processing speed had exponentially increased. He was able to conduct calculations that only a calculator could within a second.

Truly… the brain was a limitless treasure trove that was just waiting to be opened.

Now he could relax for a while. After he reached level 5 of the brain, he would temporarily stop his cultivation.

To him cultivation was just a tool, what really mattered was discovery and exploration. He felt the urge since he was little. He wanted to discover the mysteries of the world!.

He was enjoying the feel of the breeze against his body, when he was interrupted.

'RYEEEE… RYEEEE!' a young girls voice sounded from inside the orphanage.

'Give me a break…' he muttered underneath his breath. Seriously… did this girl have a problem with him?

Slowly the silhouette of a little girl and a lady dressed in black appeared in his light of vision.

'Rye… there you are!' said the girl as she ran over to him, stumbling a few times before jumping into his seated figure.

'Rye… your such a meanie… you left me all by myself!'

'Aren't I allowed to have a few minutes to myself?' he asked the little girl with her tied into twin tails.

'No! Rye is not allowed to leave me!'

Rye sighed. It had been like this ever since she had begun to walk. She would always follow him.

He theorized that she mistook him as an older brother figure or something like that

'Aunty… Aunty… tell him' the little girl said as she looked at the beautiful young women that had walked with her towards his location.

'Rye… you should know better than that. You have to always take Mellissa with you, ok?' Natasha reprimanded him softly.

'Yes, I won't do it again.' He said as he slowly nodded his head in understanding and regret.

Natasha was the women that had raised him up since he was young. Despite his cold emotions, he still felt warmth towards this woman that had raised him in place of his mother.

'Seriously… you say that but next week you'll probably do it again.' The women said as she shook her head.

'Rye… do you want to play a game with me?'

'No.'

'Rye… please?'

'No.'

'Aunty… Rye says that he doesn't want to play a game with me!' the young girl complained to the women.

'Rye.' She said sternly.

'How come you always take her side?' he questioned her, like a little kid.

'Because she's the youngest and you are older than her!' she said as she used her hand to roughen his hair.

'That's not logical…' he murmured.

'Rye… what did you say' the woman questioned quietly with a nice smile on her face. Only… Rye did not feel any kindness…

'So will you play with me?' the girl questioned again.

Rye turned and looked at Natasha who was still smiling at him.

'She's the devil…' He murmured. It was the only explanation for the chill that he kept on feeling.

'Yeah… ok,' Rye replied halfheartedly.

'Ok then… let's play… house. You will be the father and I will be the mother and… aunty… you can be the grandma.

'Grandma? You naughty girl' Natasha said as she pulled her chubby cheeks.

Rye snickered.

'And you young man… no dessert for you tonight…'

'What? That's not fair. How come I don't get dessert?' Rye complained.

'Don't worry Rye… I'll share some of mine with you!' the little girl said innocently.