03. Power

Noah didn't believe in the existence of the soul during his previous life, living was all about empirics and reality, after all, there was no place for religious or spiritual thoughts.

Yet, after he was reborn, he started considering the idea that there was much more to be seen beyond that observation.

As he was staring at the old man gently standing on the edge of the balcony, seemingly appeared out of nowhere, his mind fell into chaos.

'A dragon has just appeared all of a sudden and it was going after some sheep. So this world has dragons. Then the wall lit up and hurt the dragon, right? Then the dragon got angry and tried to burn all of us, but this old man, which apparently is my grandfather, blocked it with one hand while flying and then stared at the dragon to make him flee.'

After a brief sum of the previous events in his mind, he only had one thought.

'Where the fuck did I end up?!? This guy can literally fly and fight dragons, and they want me to protect them?? Is something wrong with their minds? Wait, if they want me to protect them, it means that I should be able to learn a thing or two.'

His stream of thoughts got interrupted by Thomas entering the balcony and slowly walking in their direction.

"Yes, Lord Patriarch. This is Noah, son of Rhys and my son."

Lowering her head, Lily gently exposed Noah to Thomas for him to have a better look at the baby.

Maybe Lily wanted to use this occasion to impose a tinge of love in Thomas for his grandson so that he could protect him in the future, or perhaps she was just scared stiff at the sight of the old patriarch that she could do nothing else but to expose her son with trembling hands.

Noah, in the meantime, was staring at the old man with intense eyes.

Thomas didn't even notice the passion and curiosity that his stare was displaying.

'People in this world can fly and fight fucking dragons! Old maaaan, look at how cute I am! Teach me how to fly!'

Yet only some sounds came out of his mouth, they resembled words but had no meaning.

Noah then stretched his little arms toward Thomas, to appeal to his feelings, putting a face of happiness at the sight of the patriarch.

'You fight dragons, but you still love your kin, right?'

Needless to say, the whole dragon incident had left a deep impression on him.

After all, dragons were only legends in his previous world and were represented as mighty and unbeatable.

While their might was up to fantasies, in that world, dragons could be fought and defeated.

"Oh"

Looking at the baby happily stretching his arms toward him, Thomas could not help but show a trace of warmth on his serious face.

Then he picked up Noah from his armpits and stared at him with a slight smile.

"Ooh, he seems pretty interested in me, there sure is some smartness in this child. Maybe he will really become a good counselor in the family. I'll keep an eye on him from time to time."

After she heard that, Lily was ecstatic and hurried to say the most respectful thanks she could muster.

"Many thanks, Lord Patriarch. I'm sure that his safety can be assured for life with just one gaze of yours."

She bowed as she said so, with both hands forming a praying gesture.

"There is no such being that could do that. Here, take Rhys' son and bring him back to his room. Today's events are not for a child this little to see."

Thomas handed Noah back to Lily and disappeared from the balcony.

Lily could not stop her excitement after he left and kept cheering at Noah.

"Have you heard? He will keep an eye on you! The Patriarch of the Balvan family will keep an eye on my son. Hahaha, wonderful! And he said you could become a counselor, this is brilliant too! Not only will my son be protected by a mighty cultivator, but he might also be away from the battlefield for life."

As a mother of a bastard son, Lily knew that Noah and the other rightful descendants of the main family weren't given the same means, so she felt suddenly relieved when she heard some kind of assurance from the patriarch.

Carrying Noah back to their sleeping quarters at the center of the first floor, she did not notice that the baby in her arms was silent and that his eyes were growing more and more determined.

'A counselor my ass! What's the point in advising people with such powers. Any problem can just be blasted out as the old man did with the lance of flame! To think that power like this actually existed! I must get my hands on it. I might have to risk a bit though, it seems that the purity of the bloodline is kept in high regard inside the Balvan family, so showing some talent might attract unwanted attention from the main family descendants. Yet, I need some information to really understand what's going on.'

From all the books he had read, he could imagine that the fight for succession or even the envy of someone with a higher status than his, might end up in blood.

'I have already died once, and it was by accident. I don't want to be put in a political scheme and end up dead again, being powerless about it.'

A never-felt determination ran through his little body, while Lily was preparing to put him in his cradle.

'A world where power is not given to men by the society they created, instead it seems to come from the inside of each individual, it belongs only to themselves. Lily called him a "cultivator", I must find something about it. I must learn to walk and read as fast as I can so that I can have some form of independence and, at the same time, show some early talent in the field of literature. It might lead me to books that describe what a cultivator actually is and how to become one.'

From that day on, he started eating more and more to grow stronger and get rid of the skinny physique he was born with.

He began to actively try to walk, first in the cradle and then on the ground, worrying the maidservants or his mother every time he would fall from his attempts to stand on his feet.

Yet, that kind of pain was nothing.

'A bullet in the chest hurts way more.'

And so, only eight months after his birth, Noah was standing upright on the ground, taking his first steps.

'This is so fucking slow, I need to train for this. I should start running from time to time to be more healthy and feel more comfortable with my body.'

Even though he was disappointed with how slow he was growing up, Lily and the maidservants were stupefied.

"This baby has been trying to stand up for three months, and now he did it. Most importantly, every time he fell, he would not cry but try to stand up again. If we didn't stop him regularly he could have got himself injured quite a few times by now."

The chatting maidservants were completely ignored by Lily as a sense of pride enveloped her seeing Noah walking at the age of eight months.

"This must be the patriarch's blessing, I knew something good was bound to happen since that day."

Luckily or not, Noah's achievement was pinned to the supernatural character that was Thomas Balvan.

The surprises on the first floor of the guests' building were far from over though.

After being sure of having a good balance, Noah took slow and careful steps in the direction of Lily.

Slowly but steadily, and with a bit of support given by the wall at his side, he arrived in front of his smiling mother.

"Come to mummy, little one, you did a wonderful job today. Mum is happy!"

Saying this, she half-kneeled on the ground with spread arms waiting for Noah to reach her embrace.

Noah looked at her and smiled, then moved with spread arms toward her and yelled at the last moment before the embrace:

"Mommy!"

And then he fell into his mother's embrace, while Lily and the maidservants stared at him with wide eyes.

'This should be enough to grant me an early education.'

****

Edited by: Alessandro Sica