Chapter 10

Rubbing his chin, Cyrus briefly contemplated the situation. Unfortunately, he couldn't solve the issue immediately, so investigating the reason why such an annoying aura was wafting around in his own bedroom in the First Heaven could wait until he recovered Gu Yangde's memories. For now, however, he needed alternative resting arrangements.

Since he could not easily clear away the annoying aura in his bedroom that felt like a slightly toxic humidity in a short amount of time, he decided to temporarily find a better place to read and sleep. After pondering for a few moments, a brilliant idea struck him. Without further ado, he decided to make good on his previous promise and headed straight for his mother's room.

Moments later, he knocked on the woman's door. It didn't take her long to open it. The moment their eyes met, her eyes and mouth widened uncontrollably.

"Hey. I'm back," Cyrus greeted with his most amiable smile.

"I see that," The woman mumbled while looking at him with anxious eyes as though trying to make sure he wasn't an illusion.

"Figured I may as well show up for the talk I mentioned earlier, but I've also got a small request, if you don't mind."

"...Really?"

"You don't believe me?" Cyrus replied with a small chuckle.

The woman blinked as though needing a moment to recognize the current moment as reality. She even pinched her own arm.

"So, can I come in?"

"...Yes."

The woman stepped back to give him enough space to enter the bedroom. After he entered the room, she stiffly closed the door and walked toward a small table sitting in the evening light streaming into the room from a tall window.

While following the woman across the room, Cyrus observed the furnishings within. This bedroom was large enough to fit at least three of his own bedrooms within. It was split into a few different sections by neatly placed shoji blinds built from some sort of black-colored spiritual wood and inlaid with a slightly golden-colored metal that pulsed with a gentle and healing rhythm of Qi. The paper-like rectangles looked like simple bamboo paper, however. Seeing those, Cyrus raised a brow and curiously glanced at his new mother for a few moments.

'I wonder if this woman is from Oshyai? It could just be her style preference, but she does look like an Oshyaian. I'll ask later.'

Lost in thought, Cyrus halted for a moment and wondered if Yanrejia, the country he originally started in back when playing Seventh Heaven as well as the land he currently found himself in, and Oshyai, the neighboring country, still got along like water and oil. The situation intrigued him, but not enough to ponder for more than a few seconds.

Rather than waste his time on speculation, he briefly observed the other sections of the bedroom to see if he could learn anything about this new mother of his. One section looked like a small library, complete with a soft and reclined reading chair topped with a dozen pillows and an open book that looked like it had been hastily dropped onto the chair not long ago.

Across from the reading area, he saw several shelves of potted plants. Most of them gave off slight invisible Qi fluctuations of varying degrees as well as a comforting natural scent of nature. Since he did not recognize any of the plants for monetary or medicinal value, he figured they were mostly there to add atmosphere, especially considering the abundance of colorful flowers and beautiful vines.

Those two areas gave him an inkling of understanding regarding this new mother of his, but it was only surface level. At the very least, he could find some conversation topics if things devolved to awkward silence.

"Is something wrong?" The woman asked, noticing that her son had stopped to look at her books and plants.

"Nothing. Just passing curiosity," Cyrus replied while casually sitting in the chair opposite the woman.

Upon focusing on the woman again, he noticed her pressing her thumb on a small tablet that looked somewhat similar to the one sitting in his spatial ring. Although barely noticeable, he perceived a small glow where her thumb pressed on the small device, indicating a flow of Qi channeling into the object from her thumb. A moment later, the rather unassuming spatial ring on her finger sucked in the tablet-like object.

"A servant will bring some tea soon. In the meantime, please tell your mother what went wrong after you took that mission from your sect."

'Did she contact the servant with that tablet? Maybe I should take a closer look at mine later. Might have more functions than I thought.'

Cyrus made note of that, but quickly switched gears. Smiling, he explained, "It wasn't anything special. Just a small adventure, I suppose."

From there, he briefly recounted his experience starting from when he woke up in Basilisk shit.