Months piled up, soon turning into another year that was spent in the same quiet yet hard working regiment. Far from society, thankfully the soul existed in Sheng Hao wasn't that of a child, otherwise the lack of social development could have been damaging to someone who truly had his age. Sadly, he wasn't aware that some people were trained starting a very young age in the Portalia Continent.
The elder of the village didn't find it strange to teach a young child that was able to receive their knowledge. If he was able to follow through their teaching, then there was nothing wrong with continuing. In the end, the opposite case would simply be a loss of time where a talent could have been sharpened or developed. The obsessions that had haunted him in his past life felt somewhat distant, sometimes he even wondered if he would someday forget that he had lived another life before this one.
The experience of transmigrating wasn't something that could be processed in a few years, especially when the memories of his past life were still freshly clinging inside his soul. At least he felt that he was doing something productive that he was able to genuinely enjoy, despite the fact he sometime felt the need to travel to discover this world.
Although he didn't feel that much of a need to meet other people, he was still happy with the current state of the situation. The majority of his time was spent on learning this continent's written language, he also trained himself with the wooden dumbbells whenever he had some free time in the house. Through the past months he had never missed a single session of Sheng Wang, always helping him and constantly focusing the Singing Hammer technique whenever his grandfather executed his blacksmithing technique.
During the time his grandpa would use the Singing Hammer technique, he avoided explaining anything as there were far too many nuances to the principle used in it. In the end, Sheng Wang preferred staying silent on the matter related to that specific technique, even though he could see how much attention was paying to it. In the end if the small child chewed more than what he could digest, it could completely freeze his progress and even lower it.
Nonetheless he would also show him simpler technique, far less revealing and more focused on basic foundational concepts that were better suited to novice. During these times, he even let Sheng Hao stand closer to the anvil to have a better judgment when it comes to Sheng Wang's hammer technique. His explanations were short and concise, skipping through the superfluous and targeting the important aspect of every principle he was trying to teach to the growing Sheng Hao.
The further he saw the speed at which his grandson understood what he was saying, he shared his knowledge unhinged without being afraid to flood the young boy's focus. Through his words, Sheng Hao felt that the time where he would start handling a hammer was approaching too. However, he still felt that he still lacked the physical strength to go through the entire process.
In the end, his body was only six years old and despite all the weightlifting training he had gone through. He was still a small child with an innately weak physique that was still developing. Even with his current effort, he could feel that he will need intense training to develop decent physical strength. That thought slightly discouraged him but was quickly washed of after a few training sessions.
One year and a half after receiving Buckethead's gift, his physical strength had developed to the point where he didn't feel much progress when using the second set of wooden dumbbells. It was at this age that he felt his body develop sudden peak of energy. Going out for a few runs in the village to breath the fresh air outside of the furnace's mouth would sometime help him set his mind free.
Those runs would usually turn into endurance tests where he would every time push himself further, even back on Earth he enjoyed the sensation of the wind hitting his face when he jogged at full speed. The further he overused his endurance the better he slept at night, waking up every morning full of energy and ready to run for miles.
These jogs had also produced an effect he hadn't expected as he had met Vitenka during one of his numerous dashes. The day of that encounter it was an early morning where he had woken up with the urge to go run, it was as though his leg had taken him out of his sleep and ordered him to run. The fresh breath of air took out the last bit of resignation he had and focused himself on running as if he had been possessed by a wind spirit.
Soon the few alleys that existed in the Toe Village felt too little for his small feet. Sheng Hao's run took the direction of the illusory forest with the dawn's light softly lighted the way, the lack of light didn't hinder his steps and he very soon skillfully making his way behind the dozens of trees that formed the Illusory Forest.
He had heard from the elders that the Illusory Forest was a formation that protected the village, but he had never felt anything strange apart from the time he had been propelled by Vitenka and Sheng Wang's small spar. That even had nearly resulted in him colliding with a tree similar to the one that surrounded him. Thankfully the formation was disabled for a few moments by the Old Witch Flamelle which made it possible for Sheng Wang to catch him.
His speed increased as he started skillfully darting left and right through the tree. A few roots that extended outside the bark of its tree grew to his size and blocked the path in front of him, Sheng Hao didn't turn left or right he even accelerated. Half a meter before the root, he jumped and intercepted his flying body with his two hand to hop over the aerial roots.
Strangely during this time, his mind couldn't help but remember the pain his old man had refraining from showing. Back then he was but a small baby that could barely change the side on which he was laying, he could just listen to the grunted pain he released whenever Sheng Wang moved around or tried rotating his cultivation base.
He later learned through Flamelle that his grandfather's spiritual soul had been badly hurt, it was when he learned that information that he started traveling to the Old Witch's house to get his grandfather the medicine and drug that were crafted by the old woman.
The area that surrounded him was familiar as he had spent far too many afternoons walking by himself here. In an area on his left, dozens of meters away from him was resting the small clearing where he had seen Vitenka the last time. Feeling that he was reaching his limit, he accelerated toward the dim lighted glade preparing himself to rest there.
Upon arriving there, he was greeted with a very humid air that was smell like fresh dew. He couldn't help but sense his mind calm down the moment he stepped in this area, his thought crawled down to an inch and his breathing turned calmed after a few respirations. Unknown to him, Sheng Hao had stepped in the area of the Illusory Forest where the energy was the densest and richest.
His legs took him to the sole tree that was resting in the middle of the quiet glade, a large tree with light, purple-colored leaves. The moment Sheng Hao approached the tree, he crouched down and rested his back on a thick bark that felt strangely comfortable. The image of a six-year-old child sitting under the large tree made it look gargantuan.
The tree in itself would need five joining arms to form a circle around its trunk, but the young boy made it look far bigger. Dozens of seconds after Sheng Hao fell asleep next to the large tree small, specks of moonlight rushed swiftly to this area. The moonlight based spiritual energy mixed itself with the ambient spiritual energy that existed inside the glade.
Strangely even if it was currently early in the morning the Illusory Forest had seemingly maintained part of the energy released by the moon. Sheng Hao was turning into a magnet for the moonlight based spiritual energy that would be released in the night. And before long the surface of Sheng Hao's skin acquired a light blueish hue with his body naturally absorbing the energy. Time passed quietly as he slept for more than a few hours, waking up a few minutes after absorbing the last few specks of moonlight energy that were trapped inside of the glade.
During the entire period of time, he had been completely unconscious and was oblivious to what was happening to his body. The current energy absorption was different from the one he had inside of the village, seemingly due to the dense spiritual energy existing inside of the meadow. The process that should usually take a child to develop and attain an age between seven and nine years old was advancing at a faster rate for Sheng Hao.
His eyes opened up widely in surprise the moment he noticed that he was no longer alone inside of the glade. A few meters away from him he saw Vitenka, in the same spot he had seen her resting the first time he had seen the isolated glade. He didn't know if she had been meditating but the moment he rose to his feet, her head turned toward him, and she stared deeply at his two watery eyes.
She had arrived here a few hours ago and had watched Sheng Hao's process of absorbing spiritual energy through his sleep. The process in itself wasn't anything surprising as every single life form in this world was naturally capable of absorbing energy through their daily life. What was strange about what had happened to Sheng Hao was that his absorption was far too big for someone that didn't go through an awakening yet.
"Your awakening shouldn't be far from happening." She explained calmly before raising her finger to her chin before continuing. Sheng Hao couldn't help but gulp loudly, the reincarnated man was feeling as though he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have done. "No need to look like that, an early awakening isn't really a bad omen. It's just that I've never met anyone who was able to attract this much spiritual energy at your age…"
The reincarnated man's body shuddered; he couldn't help but try to guess where the discussion was going to go. He didn't know Vitenka's temperament apart from the time she had gone berserk on his grandfather. Due to their past, he had never felt at ease when interacting with her as he didn't want to hurt any of the two parties.
Vitenka's eyes blinked, her soft eyelashes trembled slightly as though she was able to read the young child's thoughts. Anger flashed slightly on her gaze before disappearing in the dept of his icy blue eyes, she sighed silently before adding in a clear tone.
"Are you interested in learning how to cultivate young boy?" the seriousness on her face only sublimated her elegance "Meditating can help you achieve what you just did while staying conscious through the entirety of the process. It is a practice that is common among spiritualists and has a calming effect to the body and mind."
"On top of direct impact that will appear after the first sessions, the benefit of meditation will help you prepare a better path for your future." Hearing her enumerating the benefits, Sheng Hao couldn't help his head from nothing without realizing the consequences that might arise due to that.