Old Man

When the flash eventually vanished, Sora opened his eyes and saw a person sitting before him.

He appeared to be in a completely white room or space of sorts. The person before him had a long white beard, long white hair, and a wrinkly face, looking to be quite old. The old man seemed to be wearing a completely white robe with a weird black emblem on the front.

For a while, the two just eyed each other, with no one saying anything; eventually, Sora finally had enough and questioned, "Who are you?"

"That's not important for now; you're a human correct?" The old man replied, slightly confused.

"As far as I'm aware, yeah," Sora said after a slight moment.

"Hmm, interesting." The old man said with a slight smile forming on his face.

'How is that interesting? This old man is confusing me.' Sora thought after hearing the mysterious old man's comment.

"Anyway, I'm one of the guardians of this place called Transmigration Universe. I was given this position by the universe itself as well as the mission to greet and welcome the newcomers." The old man continued.

"Transmigration universe? What do you mean?" Sora asked, confused.

"It's slightly hard to explain in human tongue, but I'll try and explain it to you. Your previous universe is actually just one of the many byproducts created after the forming of this one. Therefore whenever a species gets intelligent enough, they'll be transmigrated to this larger universe so as to not uphold the progression of other species that also occupy that universe." The old man explained after a moment of contemplation.

"Okay... But that still doesn't explain why I was teleported here; what is the purpose of this world?" Sora replied, slightly troubled.

"I'm only a mere guardian tasked with welcoming newcomers; I cannot answer such a profound question with my knowledge." The old man replied, slightly annoyed at the question.

"However, if you want to know the answer to this question, you might be able to get it. This world has what your language would call magic or cultivation. Therefore if you get strong enough, you might be able to seek the answer to that question." The old man continued.

'Magic... Cultivation? Like those light novels, I used to read? Our ancestors really were ahead of their time; maybe we are descendants of humans that used to live in the transmigration universe.' Sora wondered.

"This transmigration universe we're supposedly in, how big is it?" Sora asked after a while of contemplation.

"How big it is? I'm not quite sure either; to be honest, my guess would be at least a few times bigger than the universe you were previously in." The old man replied.

"Okay... Can you tell me a little more about the cultivation aspect?" Sora asked, feeling disappointed in the old man's knowledge.

"The cultivation in this world works similar to light novels from your world if you've ever read those. You have to kill a creature and absorb its life soul. The life soul contains qi, and by meditating and focusing on 'sucking' the qi out of the life soul, you gain a slight amount of their accumulated qi. The qi then gets absorbed into your meridians throughout your body and gets transported to your Dantian." The old man explained.

"Oh, okay. But what happens after the qi enters the Dantian?" Sora said after processing the information.

"Qi can be used to 'upgrade' or transcend into the next stage of the Dantian; after reaching a certain limit of qi, the Dantian will be full, and you'll have to break through to the next stage." The old man explained after a sigh.

"Are there any skills or magic one can cast using qi?" Sora asked hurriedly, cutting the old man off.

"Yes, using the qi in the Dantian will temporarily decrease the volume of qi in the Dantian. The qi in the Dantian recovers slowly over time and can be sped up by cultivating with a life soul." The old man said, irritated after being cut off.

"Any other questions?" The old man asked, clearly annoyed.

"No, I think I'll be fine with this," Sora replied after a bit of contemplation.

In reality, Sora had many questions, but he chose not to ask them since the old man seemed troubled and because the old man hadn't given the best of answers previously.

"Alright then, I have one last thing for you; please put your hand on this stone to display your current status. This essentially shows you your race, physique, etc. This stone is the only way to use the 'status window'; it is quite rare, so read the contents thoroughly since it might take a while till you get to look at it again." The old man said as he waved his left hand.

As the old man waved his hand, a pitch-black circular stone appeared on an altar between the two. The altar was all white in color and looked to be carved out of wood. Stretching along the altar was a black marking that spiraled from the bottom of the altar up to the top where the black stone lay.

After a moment of hesitation, Sora raised his hand and approached the stone. As he stretched his palm across the top of the circular stone, a sudden window or panel popped up and hovered in front of him.

[Sora Jin]

(Race: Human, Unknown, Unknown)

(Age: 15,3 years)

Physique: Unknown

Bloodline: Unknown

Rank: Qi gathering 1

(Qi required for breakthrough: 0/100)

'Unknown... Why are there so many unknowns?' Sora thought with a complex expression on his face.

"Okay, since you've looked at the 'status,' you should now be ready to go into the real world." The old man said, relieved to finally get rid of him.

"Alright... Where will I be teleported to?" Sora asked.

"You will be randomly teleported to one of 8 neighboring countries in the eastern continent of the Transmigration universe. All 'Humans' will be randomly teleported to one of those countries." The old man replied.

"Your life is now in your hands; if you want to remain a weakling, you could, and if you want to become a powerful being, you could. It is now none of my business." The old man continued immediately after the previous answer.

In the next moment, another white flash erupted before Sora's eyes, causing them to close in response.

When he opened them again, he was in a foreign place, unlike the white room from earlier. Everything around him was so green; trees stretched many meters high, big and small bushes bloomed with flowers, and the light green grass grew everywhere.

Sora seemed to have found himself in a forest of sorts.

"That old geezer didn't even teleport me to a town??" Sora exclaimed after taking in the environment around him.

After taking a moment to recollect himself, he looked down and noticed that he had been given new clothes; although not stylish, it was better than nothing.

Sora was wearing a pair of brown leather shoes, beige pants that looked to have been made out of a bag used to carry potatoes, and a basic brown cotton shirt that looked to be from the 1600s.

"That old geezer even made me look like a beggar." He commented, clearly annoyed at the old man.

'Alright, I have to go hunting for food since I didn't get teleported to a city. At least it's still daylight; I have to find food before the night comes.' Sora thought, motivated.

'Since there isn't any path to follow, I'll just have to choose a random direction and stick to it.' Sora thought as he chose the most promising path and started walking.

Along the path, he found a rock formed perfectly as a spearhead; he then hit the rock against a boulder and made the tip sharp. Finding a long stick, Sora bound the sharp rock using bendy plants to the tip of the rod, creating a makeshift spear.

After walking for what felt like an eternity, Sora heard some noise coming from a bush to his right. Immediately stopping in his tracks, Sora cautiously approached the bush with the spear held high in his right hand.

A moment later, an animal that looked sort of like a white rabbit from earth jumped out of the bush.

'Yes! Jackpot, a rabbit' Sora, exclaimed in his mind.

However, what happened next shocked Sora thoroughly. The rabbit flared up its lips and revealed a couple of razor-sharp fangs and its vicious claws that had previously been hidden by its fluffy white fur.

In the next moment, the devil rabbit lunged itself at Sora, aiming its sharp claws toward Sora's open and defenseless neck.

Seeing the whole spectacle unfurl itself in front of him, Sora remained somewhat unfazed by it, and while the rabbit was still in the air, a woosh sounded.