Chapter 4 – Where it all Began

The two midwives and the man congratulated the woman together. As Ken would find out soon, the man's voice belonged to the doctor, not to his father.

"Is it over, is my wife doing fine?"

A new man's voice could be heard and the trio congratulated him too for the birth of his son. This time, it was his father.

Although Ken couldn't understand their language, it didn't pose any real problem to him. He only had to hear each word once before remembering it forever. After hearing it a few times in different contexts, he would be able to deduce its meaning easily.

The first 3 months passed quickly. His parents played with him when they were free, but most of the time they left him at home with a few maids. The maids would take care of him, feed him, bathe him, and clean him.

To Ken's delight, he was rarely ever left with one maid only. Most of the time there would be another maid at the same time, which meant they did the only thing you could do with your friend during a boring task. They talked!

Ken would listen attentively every time and 3 months later, he could already understand nearly everything. Whatever he couldn't, he'd just fill by the context, and after a few more times that this word was used he'd be sure of its meaning.

"The elder's baby is really cute, but he never cries. Isn't it kind of weird for babies?"

"I don't know, I never had one."

"I remember when my younger sister was born. She would cry her soul out all the time. I can't count all the times I was tempted to just press a pillow on her face to make her shut up."

"Hey, you shouldn't say such stuff about your little sister! I'm sure she's a sweet child now."

"She is, but anyway, my point is that babies cry. Ken, will you cry for this big sister?"

She poked his cheek only to get a frown back. Ken just assumed it was something about his soul that made his parents name him with the same name as his last life.

"Look, he is frowning at me as if he is saying I'm stupid. That can't be, right?"

She poked him again just to make sure and got the same frowning response.

"I hope he won't remember I was nagging him when he grows up. Wouldn't he bully me if he does?"

"Stop talking nonsense, nobody can remember their time as babies. That being said, don't do things he dislikes. Don't forget he is the only son of the second and fifth elders."

Ken found out that his father was the second elder of the sect, and was in charge of the guarding and fighting division. His mom was the fifth elder and was the head of the pills division. She was considered the best alchemist in the sect.

As a newborn, he still needed around 17 hours of sleep every day to support his growth. His body had its growing process enhanced by god's blessing and thus required even more sleep and nutrients.

He would wake up every few hours to be fed and do his stuff, always making sure to do it when there was a maid nearby. He didn't like the feeling of laying unclean in his bed.

He spent the rest of the time in which he was awake listening to the girls and learning their language. It was pretty convenient; when they talked it'd wake him up and he would listen. When they didn't talk, he'd just sleep or wake up and scream for food when he was hungry.

Now that he was 3 months old and knew the language, he found the time to start thinking about his future.

'God told me I had 25 years of a safe environment. Judging by the fact they kept all their promises despite their reluctance, I believe I can trust their word. However, the 25 years might mean 25 years of experience, and they might mean of living.'

Ken was starting to find the problem in his condition.

'By logic, it should mean 25 years of information, since this is my actual problem. While it might be the other option, it'd be stupid to do nothing and hope for the best. As for now, I have no cultivation techniques and no common sense about the cultivation of this world.'

He decided to bet on the worst scenario that it meant 25 years of experience.

'If it's 25 years of experience, I already have 19 from my former life. There are also the 9 months in the womb, but they probably don't count as I was barely exposed to any stimuli during my time inside. It means that I have around 6 years to rank up. I don't know how many ranks up I need to be safe, but probably every addition would increase my chances of survival in the future.'

He kept analyzing his situation and set his goals for the future.

'I don't know how much time one needs to train before being able to rank up, or what are the stages of cultivation. Since my father oversees the defense of the sect, I might likely have a chance to see others cultivate if I can spend more time with him. Given my wish was granted, I should be able to deduce a training regime even without getting one from the sect.'

After reaching all those conclusions he decided to act on them. Generally, he believed his parents wouldn't abandon him in this life because he wasn't as twisted as he was in his last life, but he also didn't trust them. He even found it possible that they might abandon him when they realize his personality was too weird and unlike his age.

This world seemed backward in technology. The house was made of wood, the maids would light the fire by striking a weird-looking iron on a piece of flint, and the food was quite basic.

It made him worry that there might be some weird superstitions in the world and his parents might even beat him to knock a demon out of him or something in that context.

He decided to first act as normally as he could and train covertly, and only if they would prove he could trust them, he would ask for their help overtly.

Once his plan was ready, he set it in motion. Every time his father would come to see him, he would reach with his arms to his father and scream, signaling him to carry him. Whenever he would leave, Ken would scream even harder to make his father bring him along.

'It might take a while, but I will eventually get to watch the guards training once my father takes me with him.' 

His mother was getting jealous as she saw this behavior. She even tried spending more time with her son, yet whenever her husband arrived, little Ken would scream and try to get to his father's embrace.

"Haha, he can recognize his father! I can already tell he will be like me when he grows; handsome and strong!"

"Don't be a narcissist, Haoran. I'm sure he will understand Mommy is much better. Right, little Ken?"

But to her frustration, Ken only reached out with his arms to his father. This went on for a month, and Haoran would come to spend more time with his son when he saw his son demand his attendance.

"Little Ken, there are no disciples today to take care of you. No disciples. Do you understand me?"

Ken found out that his so-called maids were actually female outer disciples of the sect and his parents published babysitting him as a mission and rewarded the disciples who took it with CP – contribution points.

Disciples were young people who learned under the sect to become stronger and achieve longer lives. They would have to contribute to the sect's growth by completing all kinds of missions, and that's how the organization sustained itself. Missions could be hunting beasts, collecting herbs, teaching younger disciples, or babysitting elders' offspring.

Elders were disciples who had cultivated for a long time and became powerful enough to lead the sect, they were essentially the leaders.

Ken also learned from the disciples that his mother insisted on accepting female disciples only since she didn't trust the men to be tender enough with a newborn. Another fun fact was that he was quite popular; it was considered an easy task, it was safe, and it granted the disciples a chance to make connections with elders of the inner ring.

The sect was divided into an outer ring and an inner ring. New recruits would be sent to the outer ring, also known as the outer sect, and only be promoted to the inner sect by displaying talent and perseverance in their training.

This day there was an event in the sect that kept the outer disciples busy, and nobody accepted the babysitting mission. When his parents discussed who would take care of him for the day, his father was chosen due to Ken's constant calling to his father.

Thus, today, at the age of 4 months old, Ken was finally brought with his father to the training room.

His father put him on a blanket in the corner of the training room and instructed the inner disciples. Ken learned from Haoran's conversations that he would train the inner disciples for four hours, and he planned on watching them carefully.

"Be good, Ken, Daddy will come back soon," Haoran whispered before turning away.

The lesson began, and Ken found out it was his lucky day! It was a group of 12-year-old kids, who were part of the inner sect only thanks to their parents. They went through a few lessons already, but they were still in the basics.