The moment he entered the cottage that served as their habitation in the Toe Village, his grandfather's meditating figure entered his eyes. The old man was sitting in the middle of the lightly furnished living room, a modest area that was only composed of a mattress and a short wooden table.
"The weight loss is quite vicious…" thought the reincarnated drunkard as he couldn't help but notice that his grandfather had aged a lot compared to when he had just arrived in this world.
Even though Sheng Wang was injured prior to the dangerous trip through the vast wilderness, his body shape still showed a great vitality that seemed to nonetheless have dwindled now.
"Grandfather Wang…" awkwardly spoke the young Sheng Hao.
These two words were one of the few words he was able to pronounce, albeit with difficulty but he didn't feel any shame from the comedic baby slur his sentence had.
"Thankfully, the elders of the village aren't aware that I can already talk a few words…" He sighed due to his inward thought as the smile he was showing trembled a little.
"This voice is far too depressing." He stepped through the room and threw the self-deprecating thought to the back of his head.
His small wobbly steps produced a light muted noise that caused Sheng Wang's eyebrow to twitch lightly. Soon after, by the time Sheng Hao joined his grandfather around the table, the old man awoke from his meditation and greeted the child with a tired smile.
The beaming smile that seemed to have been filled with the intention to shower the child with attention and love didn't produce the expected result. Through their many interactions from their daily life in the Toe Village, Sheng Hao had come to understand that his grandfather was hiding a painful past.
One that didn't seem to come from his history with Vitenka and the other elders of the village. But one that hid the reason behind their current situation. Although the village was safe, the reincarnated drunkard couldn't exactly say that it was the perfect place for the growth and social development of a newborn child.
Now, his eyes could no longer ignore the troubles that were torturing and have marked his grandfather's wrinkled face. His eyes in particular would sometimes be lost on a past that seemed to open his grandfather heart wide open, splattering it on the walls of their modest house with a vivid red.
It was as if he was watching a case worse than his past self on Earth. Unable to truly accept the event that had gone through his life and that made him go down a path of obsessive self-destruction. Although in Sheng Wang's case, he could guess that the events were far more tragic than what made him slowly take his own life. That sensation was truly unpleasant but the reincarnated drunkard couldn't simply ignore it.
He had come to understand that spiritualists were superhuman that had far bigger potential than the average human on Earth. Their will was supposed to be akin to a thousand-year-old ancient tree, due to the fact that patience and strength of mind represented two of the biggest factor for one's personal growth.
These principles were also important qualities when it came to the result of a spiritualist's path. A slow and calm process that took years and years to build a solid foundation. And a lifetime of hard work and practice to attain the height of his grandfather's spiritual cultivation.
"Opening the subject at this age won't help…" concluded the reincarnated drunkard, fully aware that his current strength or capabilities would amount to nothing for his grandfather.
He returned the smile and dropped the book and the leather pouch that contained his grandfather's medicine on the table before departing to the small space they used as a kitchen. Soon after, he came back and placed a tea set between them.
Sheng Wang was far too used to Sheng Hao's precocious behavior. He didn't stop the small child's attempt as he was truly making his life easier on a daily basis.
It wouldn't even surprise him if he awoke one day to Sheng Hao preparing their breakfast. Sadly, his height didn't make it possible for him to do that yet as he wasn't even able to touch the stove with the help of a chair.
"What would I do without you?" Sighed the grandfather as he couldn't help but feel that the situation had reversed far too quickly.
When Sheng Wang had come here, he had decided to fully take care of his clan's newborn. However he was soon forced to focus on his own condition that was deteriorating, feeling tired and panting after every healing session.
The injury to his spiritual soul had even caused him to age drastically. Although he had recovered part of his strength and cultivation, he had paid a price that couldn't be ignored and would never be repaired.
"How was the Old Flamelle?" asked the old man casually.
"Good!" nodded Sheng Hao calmly as he poured milk and a syrupy honey inside of his cup.
"Damn my sweet tooth…" he cursed inwardly as he couldn't help but feel the effect his young age had on his taste buds.
"What's with the book?" the old man asked while grabbing the thick book in curiosity.
"Oh…" a small chuckle escaped from his parched up lips as he couldn't help but have a strange look appearing on his usually rigid face.
"Can't hide anything from that witch…" he paused for a second, taking his eyes from the cover of the thick book before looking deep in his grandson's large eyes.
A shiver traversed Hao's back before he even heard had the chance to hear the sentence. He couldn't himself from silently gulping while waving his head left and right as if he understood what Sheng Wang was coming up with.
"It's good then… Even here. It'll never be bad as long as you don't reveal everything you possess." Sheng Wang's voice was neutral and didn't contain any hidden meaning, but Hao felt that the old man facing him knew everything related to his life.
Even though he didn't want to hide the truth from him. He knew that matters related to reincarnation and transmigration would always be strange, he couldn't imagine how the old man would react if he was aware of the truth.
"You've been going to her house quite frequently. I can tell that your mind is getting bored but don't forget that you are still young and can't rush some matters." Sheng Wang explained calmly taking the time to speak the sentence one word at a time.
"Learning from the elders isn't a bad idea at all. I'll try to talk with Buckethead and the others to see if you can spend some time with them too."
"I'll need to take the rust out of my own hammer too." He ended his monologue in a concise matter-of-fact tone. His words surprising Hao as he had thought that his grandfather was only a combat-type spiritualist.
The Old Witch's word reappeared in his mind, he now understood what she meant when she spoke about Sheng Wang's work. His eyes shone brightly as he now knew what his grandfather's profession was.
The rest of the day passed quietly, the pair of grandfather and grandson ate dinner early before separating. Each of them was used to spending time on his own. Their temperament was similar, both axed on a tranquil solitude, without ever feeling the need to really interact with those around them.
The strange equilibrium they attained was a situation that suited both of them as Hao felt that his growth through the upcoming years could cause problems if noticed by those around him.
Thankfully, his grandfather was leaving him with a lot of freedom and never seemed to force any type of situation on him.
The upcoming days, Sheng Hao left the house early and departed in the direction of the Old Witch. He had slowly taken his time to go through each page of the thick book, understanding that it was a knowledge-based book that spoke about many regions of the wilderness they had traversed with his grandfather.
Sometime, he recognized some plants or trees that he had looked at on the road. In the process, he found himself surprised by his mental capacities.
Time passed quietly, and soon more than a few months had quietly moved inside the serene atmosphere of the Toe Village.
By the time a month passed since he had received the book. Sheng Hao had slowly memorized the majority of the plants and herbs that were recorded on the book. The easy feat wasn't done on purpose as he didn't really know the characteristic of each item apart from their visual aspect.
However, the sensation of learning something new made him go back to the Old Witch's house every single day. Skimming through the numerous books that he could find from the alchemist's collection.
Flamelle was the real name of the Old Witch, she soon noticed that the small toddler was taking utmost care of what he received.
Thus she never stopped him whenever he was "reading" her collection. In fact, the situation was quite the opposite. Sometimes she would even sit next to him, taking the time to read the paragraph that accompanied the drawings and even explaining the abstruse diagrams in difficult but somewhat simpler terms.
Even if she was just explaining basic introductory knowledge, Sheng Hao had no idea of how lucky he was to be in this situation. The number of people who had tried their luck in receiving the Old Witch's tutoring could fill up small cities. She was well known for refusing the request of princes and kings without even batting an eyelid.
Being accompanied by a kind-hearted but troubled Sheng Wang and by the cold but caring Flamelle. Some calm afternoon with the unfettered Buckethead. Sheng Hao's life went by at a calm rate without ever making him feel bored.
Weeks passed quietly, turning into months without any notice. And by the time Sheng Hao's third birthday approached, Buckethead too had started taking more time from his routine to accompany the young boy through his development.
The afternoons Hao was spending with the elders helped him learn more about the world he had arrived in. Buckethead taught him and showed him what it meant to live as a combat-type spiritualist, counting him insightful stories and legends about the spirit beasts of the Portalia Continent.
Due to his native tribal descent, he was one of the few individuals that knew the importance that every single life had on the ecosystem of the continent.
"Little Hao. Never forget that we are spiritualists, we can never exist and grow without our special relation with the spirit beasts that live in this continent! No spiritualist had ever been able to outgrow this situation."
"The world is vast, the biomes diverse and the beasts that live in them can grow into many different shapes as they grow and mutate."
"But always remember to never take more than what you need, and to always leave seeds of regrowth to let life recover on its own."
These principles might be simple to understand as Hao's mind wasn't one of a three-year-old child. But concepts related to taking care of the spirit fauna and flora were far from being mainstream thoughts in the spiritualist's community.
In fact the common situation revolved around the opposite as spiritualists were still human that thought of themselves as beings that stood outside of the evolutionary chain.
Although he was still a little bit too young to awaken his spiritualist's soul, the reincarnated drunkard didn't want to miss out any information that could later help him.
Through the interactions he was having with the elders, he had come to understand that his current situation was a propitious one. The amount of guidance and tutoring he could get in the Toe Village wasn't something he could ignore.
He didn't know if there existed schools or universities in this world but even if they did it wasn't in his nature to refuse any free teaching.
On top of that, he genuinely enjoyed spending time with them as each of the elder had different life philosophies. The situation couldn't be more perfect. Every day that went by, his control over his growing body grew, enabling him to travel more freely inside the village and in the areas surrounding it.
Although, to this day, he never left the illusory patch of forest that protected the Toe Village from the outside world. Only traveling in the few areas near the outskirt of the Toe Village.
Sheng Hao was well aware of the village position in the wilderness. Even if the surrounding areas looked calm and idyllic, he knew that his current body could be hunted by far too many weak creatures. Not even talking about the ten-year-old spirit beasts that would take less than a second to end his life.
His hunch told him that the Old Witch Flamelle was monitoring the entirety of the village. If she didn't tell him that his short journeys were problematic, it simply meant that he could keep going there.
In the end, he still had to act like a somewhat bored three years old toddle, when living inside the secluded village.