William Godfrey

Tokyo.

Inside a seemingly ordinary café, William was seated on a table, sipping his cappuccino and enjoying the view of the bustling city from the windows.

"I finally made it to Tokyo, tomorrow is my first day of university. I wonder how will it go?", this café was tranquil and empty for the most part, allowing William to ponder and think clearly about his future plans and prepare for what's coming next.

"I've spent a lot of effort and time to get into this university, I should make sure to not mess up in my first day.", William was just a young man of eighteen years old, but possessed astonishing academic achievements that allowed him to get a scholarship abroad in Japan, Tokyo.

"This city is truly lively." Seeing the bustling streets of Tokyo, William couldn't help but sigh in astonishment, after all, he is just a country bumpkin from a rural village in Great Britain.

After finishing his morning coffee, William got up from his table and exited the café.

"Hmm? What's going on?" After exiting the café, William noticed that everyone in the streets stopped abruptly and looked at the sky, every single person in Tokyo had their heads raised towards the sky.

They had mixed expressions as some showed astonishment, fear, puzzlement, confusion and all sorts of emotions. "What's... happening?" Seeing the state of people, William couldn't help but feel ominous, his heart tightened as he raised his head towards the sky.

An orb.

A giant silver-colored orb was hovering mid-air that blotted the entire sky, it outshone the sky and dispersed all the clouds. And the most forbidding thing is, it appeared out of nowhere, with no prior warning whatsoever.

"What's.... THAT?" Seeing something so outrageous and illogical, William naturally couldn't help but let voice to what's going on in his mind. Quickly, he grabbed his phone and opened social media.

His feed was being spammed constantly by pictures of the giant orb, people were panicking and tagging the officials and world leaders demanding explanations.

Apparently, this enormous orb that covered the sky appeared ALL AROUND THE WORLD. Night became day, and the sun alongside the moon are nowhere to be seen.

Everybody was panicking, and when the news posted something along the lines of 'the world's end' and 'impending doom', it didn't help the situation at all. Soon, the sirens could be heard, and the megaphones of Toyko city were clearly instructing it's citizens to take shelter and never come out unless they were told to.

Color vanished from William's face, and before he could turn around and head back towards the café. The orb rumbled, and shone with unprecedented light that dwarfed everything.

It happened so quickly that no one was even able to react.

William felt limp and dizzy, before he could even take one step, he collapsed to the ground, the last thing he remembers is that the entire world turned white...

"Where... is this place?" After what it felt like eons, William finally regained a sliver of consciousness, what welcomed him was darkness, pitch black darkness.

"I- I can't feel anything!" In this world of abyss-like darkness, William felt as though he lost contact to his nerves and muscles, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't even feel his hands and legs. "I can't open my eyelids, I don't feel my hands, toes... In fact, I can't even breathe!"

Naturally, finding himself in such a situation, William couldn't help but panic and feel anxious. After spending quite a good amount of time forcefully calming himself, William came to a conclusion that he was unwilling to accept.

"Death, this is probably death."

He's in a state of almost non-existence, the only thing he can do is think. Other than that, he could do nothing else, he has no access to his senses, nerves and muscles and in fact, he couldn't even breathe.

After thinking rationally about it, he came to another conclusion.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I'm probably hospitalized, and just barely hanging on life-support. A coma maybe? Is this what it feels like to be in a coma.." William's thoughts started wandering, he thought back to the giant orb that blotted the sky, and how when it shone light, he fell limpy to the ground.

He can still remember that event vividly... He can still remember the 'last moments' of his life very clearly... That silver-like surface of the giant orb, how it hovered in the sky, slowly levitating up and down like some sort of spaceship.

"I wonder what that thing was, no way something like that could be developed by humans.. It appeared in every single corner of the world. And when it shone with that white light, I fell instantly to the ground." Thinking about that spheroid orb, William couldn't help but feel fear and awe. That must've been an utterly gigantic structure for it to blot out the sky and could be seen from all around the corners of the world.

Even the sun's radiance couldn't outshine the light coming from that orb.

"It's impossible for it to be an illusion since many people took pictures of it... It must be something from an alient civilization." William started pondering about the origins of that orb.

"Or maybe I went mad, and all what happened previously is just my imagination." He couldn't help but chuckle to himself, there is a very big possibility that went insane, gripped by madness, he may have very well started hallucinating and seeing things.

It felt like years have passed in that dark void, the only thing William can do is ponder and think, he kept listening to his own voice constantly. If it were any other person who went through the same experience, he could have very well gone insane, but through sheer will-power or maybe some sort of miracle, William kept his sanity and did not become hysterical.

One day, William felt a pulling force tugging at him. It felt weird and ethereal, he couldn't get quite used to it, the pulling force started getting stronger and stronger, and at some point in the endless black void, some light could be seen.

Seeing the light, William felt a bit excited and... felt some fear towards the unknown.

"What's going to happen?"

Meanwhile, in god knows where.

"Madam, you have to push, push harder!" Couple maids were gathered around a beautiful looking young lady who sat laying on top of a bed, they were trying to help her give birth.

"It's okay, I can do this alone." Despite being in labor, the young lady casually replied, seemingly not affected at all by the state she's in.

In a corner of the room, a handsome young man could be seen standing with his arms crossed, he looked towards his wife with expectations and worry. "Cecilia, have the servants help you a bit, although you're a Ki Refiner, your and our child's safety are number one priority." Seeing how stubborn his wife is, the young man couldn't help but give out some words of concern.

"Dear, this is nothing." The young lady replied.

William felt himself getting pulled closer and closer to the light, until finally, his vision was assaulted by brilliant light, and his senses and nerves were overwhelmed by the cold air.

He also felt tremendous pressure put on his body, making him feel sharp pain all over his limbs, William couldn't help but grumble, other than that, he showed no reaction whatsoever.

Seeing this, the young man and Cecilia frowned.

"Why is my child not crying?" The young man said, his brows furrowed. The maids and servants stood to the side, their heads were bowed, and they dared not utter a single word.

Cecilia was holding onto William, she stood up from the bed and walked towards the young man, as if she did not give birth to a child a moment ago.

"Inspect him dear, you're far more experienced than me in this regard." Cecilia handed William to the young man.

Holding the baby in hand, the young man closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again, "Nothing's wrong..." He was puzzled, normally every single child who was just born would cry, this expands the lungs and helps expel other fluids, this is usually a good sign that indicates the baby was born healthy.

If a baby was born not crying, this usually means that the baby was born with some birth deficiencies and other irregularities, which means this is definitely not a good sign.

"As long as he's fine, I don't care." Cecilia heaved a sigh of relief.

The young man put his hand on the baby's tummy, closed his eyes then opened them again.

"I have good news, my wife!" A beaming smile could be seen on the young man's face.

"What is it, Dustin? Don't leave me in suspense!" Cecilia hurried.

Dustin looked towards his wife for a moment before he said, "Our son has top-grade spiritual roots, in the future, he will be a formidable cultivator!"

Upon hearing this, Cecilia beamed with happiness and joy as she looked towards William, she gently grabbed him from Dustin's hands and looked at him with deep motherly love.

Naturally, William didn't know what was happening on the outside, his vision was blurry and all he's hearing is mumble, just random noise and sound.

'What's happening?' Everything was blurry for couple seconds before it slowly started getting clear, what welcomed him was the sight of a beautiful young lady and a valiant-looking young man, they were both Cecilia and Dustin respectively.

He reached out with his hands towards them, then realization dawned upon him.

'I can feel my hands and foot! I can move them now!'

Seeing how the couple looked at him, he slowly started putting one and two together, realizing what just happened. 'Am I a baby? And are these two... my parents?'

This was an unfathomable event, naturally, it took William a while to process what's happening.

Dustin gently stroked William's heads, at the same time, he announced to his wife and the surrounding servants. "From today forward, this child of mine will be named William. William Godfrey, son of mine, Dustin Godfrey!"

The nearby servants acknowledged Dustin's announcement, and soon, the news of William's birth were slowly spread throughout the Godfrey Clan.

One year passed.

William, in the body of a toddler, was wearing nobility clothes as he was seated in a library, going through the books.

When he was born, William showed superb intelligence, quickly learning how to speak the local language fluently in a matter of days, then he learnt how to read and write in just two months!

Walking? It didn't even take him one month for him to get used to his new body.

As a result, the residences and members of the Godfrey Clan viewed him as a terrifying monster whose potential is unlimited, the elders of the clan viewed him favorably, allocating more resources and treasures into nurturing him.

After spending one year in this place, William knew that he was in a different world that is not Earth.

This was a boundless world with no visible limits, it was vastly different than Earth, people here were stuck in the medieval, but were superior to Earth's denizens in every aspect.

Why?

Because the locals of this world figured out harvest the energy of nature, allowing them to embark on the path of immortality, which will increase their lifespan and longevity, strengthen their bodies and allow them to do many inconceivable things such as flying without any external aid.

These people are referred to as Immortals or Cultivators, obviously, William was intrigued and he spent almost all of his time in the clan's library, reading books and stories about them.

According to the servants of the clan's estate, his parents Dustin and Cecilia are supposedly Immortals! William still remembers how his biological mother can walk and move fine even after giving birth, this was a testament to how powerful Immortals and Cultivators' bodies are!

Currently, William was flipping through a large book, it was entitled World Encyclopedia and it contained a humongous amount of information, it was divided into twelve volumes and William was browsing through the second one.

The World Encyclopedia was pretty detailed, it had a map of the continent William was born into, and contained records and details about the various powers and kingdoms that reside in it.

William was born into the Southern Domain, a large continent filled with many verdant forests and towering mountains. His clan, the Godfrey Clan, was a pretty impressive superpower that managed to carve out it's own territory, however, there were far too many powers, kingdoms, sects and other organizations that have their own territories in the Southern Domain.

It could be said that William was lucky to be born into the Godfrey Clan.

However, although he was born into a pretty powerful clan that has Immortals and Cultivators backing it, he and his father are nothing more than ordinary members who are not of the main lineage.

They were nothing more than branches of the primary bloodline, therefore the nurturing and support they'll receive is naturally lacking compared to the main bloodline members.

"Why was I brought here? And what does that orb have to do with the Godfrey Clan.." Alongside researching Immortals and Cultivators, William was also pondering the reason about why he was brought here to this world.

He looked for informations and records relating to that orb, alas, he found nothing.

"Young master William, your father requests your presence.", a servant came up to William and informed him.

"Coming." William casually replied, he closed the World Encyclopedia and headed towards his biological father's residence.

The Godfrey Clan's estate was huge, with tens of thousands of people living in it. The residences mostly consisted of servants and their family, with only a small majority being the lineage of Godfrey.

William had to spend quite a good amount of time walking before he arrived at his father's residence. It was a fairly-sized mansion, with statues depicting lions and other animals decorating the gates.

Per Earth standards, this mansion looks antique and historical, however in this world, this is pretty regular.

Although Dustin Godfrey is not of the main lineage, he was bestowed with this mansion because of he was a Cultivator, if it weren't for that then his residence would be fairly ordinary.

Entering the mansion, tens of butlers and maids bowed towards William and greeted him respectfully, seeing adults bow towards a one year old toddler, William didn't know how to feel.

"Greetings, young master."

Taking up the stairs, William found himself in front of his father's study room.

Knock. Knock.

The door opened and a voice could be heard coming from inside.

"Enter."

Dragging his one year old body, William entered.

It was quite a vintage study room, nothing really stood out except for the huge portrait of the Godfrey Clan's ancestor.

Upon seeing William, Dustin smiled warmly.

"Papa!" William called. Although he's disgusted by the way he's calling Dustin, he has to tread carefully and act like a child, otherwise if they find out that he's from another world, who knows what will happen?

Still, when he was first born into this world, he messed up big time by performing spectacularly, learning how to speak, read and write in less than two months. Thankfully, both his mother and father are Cultivators. And sometimes, the children of Immortals and Cultivators exhibit extraordinary qualities upon birth, which is why no one suspected him.

"Child, come here." Dustin indicated for William to sit on his lap, "I have good news for you!"

William walked towards his father, he totally did not want to sit on a grown man's lap but he gulped down his frustration and sat down on his lap.

'He's my biological father.. so it's okay.. so it's okay.' William consoled himself.

Obviously, his heart is attached to his previous parents from Earth. Although he was raised in a rural village, and his family's financial situation was quite dire, both his father and mother supported him tremendously, allowing him to achieve excellent academic results and even get the opportunity to go to Tokyo and study abroad.

On the other hand, William feels like both Dustin and Cecilia brought him here against his will. Although he does not know what their relationship with that silver-like orb that appeared in the skies of Tokyo, he acted warily and cautiously, ensuring that both do not suspect a thing.

The reason why he made it all the way from a backwater, ineducated village to one of the best universities in Tokyo is because of his intelligence. Naturally, he would put that to use.

"What gift, papa?" William spoke naturally and fluently, every word that came out of his mouth was enunciated correctly, this made Dustin extremely happy, he brimmed with pride and joy.

Although one year old toddlers can speak and utter out words, for the most part it wil be incoherent and un-understandable, it is extraordinary for a one year old toddler to talk fluently. However, William has learnt how to speak more than ten months ago, yet everytime he converses, Dustin feels extremely happy.

'Not only is he extremely intelligent, he also possesses top-grade spiritual roots.' Dustin looked towards William in satisfaction. He reached out for the drawer and grabbed a bottle that had violet-colored liquid in it.

"Do you know what this is?" Dustin 'tested' his child.

Seeing the bottle that contains the violet fluid, William's eyes shone. "Is this an elixir?"

Dustin let out a surprised gasp when he heard William's reply, although he knows that his child likes to spend most of his time in the library, he didn't expect him to know of elixirs.

"Yep! One of your grand-uncles noticed your talent and gifted you with this spiritual-root enhancing elixir!" Dustin confirmed.

In this world, in order to embark on the path of Immortality, one had to possess spiritual roots or else he wouldn't be able to absorb the natural energy of this world.

Spiritual roots are like the foundation for Immortals and Cultivators, they'll determine your talent and aptitude, and naturally, the higher their quality is, the farther you will walk down upon the path of Immortality.

In order to know this sort of information, William had to spend countless months searching through the clan's library in order to find a book that introduced spiritual roots briefly.

On the other hand, elixirs are treasures brewed by alchemists and powerful Cultivators. The spiritual-root enhancing elixir is considered priceless because it allows one to upgrade his spiritual roots' quality.

According to Dustin, William has top-grade spiritual roots, drinking this sort of elixir will not have that much of an effect on him compared to other people who possess low-quality spiritual roots, however, drinking it will ensure that his foundation will solidify and enhance it's quality minorly.

Still, that was more than enough! Each minor improvement into one's spiritual roots's quality is priceless, because in the future, that minor improvement will make it easier for Cultivators and Immortals to breakthrough bottlenecks and achieve higher levels in their journey.

Knowledge about elixirs and their effects are pretty widespread, the clan's library got many legends and myths about people drinking immortality elixirs, resulting in them becoming formidable figures in a single night. However, obviously the knowledge pertaining to their brewing, creation and other details could be described in one word.

Non-existent!

No matter how much William flipped through the books in the library, he could not even find an inkling to their creation and brewing, he figured out that such secrets are protected extensively and regarded as extremely important.

"Drinking this will improve my spiritual roots?" William asked just to make sure.

"Yes, my little dear, you're extremely lucky for catching the attention of one of your grand-uncles. You should cherish this opportunity and drink the elixir right away!" Dustin hastened for William to drink it, although William wanted to bring it along and study it's composition, he was left with no choice.

He casually gulped down the spiritual-root enhancing elixir and went on his merry way, returning to the clan's library. Little did William know that his father paid far too much of a price to get his hands on this spiritual-root enchancing elixir.