The fragment that had vanished from the void reappeared abruptly beside Kai's soul. As it materialized, the world trembled, seemingly unable to sustain the fragment's immense presence, teetering on the brink of collapse.
"What happened? Is the world finally going to end." An insane old man wondered after seeing the situation of the world.
"Mommy, what happened, are we going to die here?" A child asked her mother in a panic and also she hugged her in desperation.
"Don't worry darling, nothing will happen to us."Her mother patted her in the head and comforted her.
Like this most of the citizens of the world panicked at the sudden change in the world.
UNKNOWN PLACE
In a distant realm, a humble old man in deep meditation snapped open his eyes, having detected a shift in the timeline.
Astonished by the sudden change in timeline, he tried to deduce the cause of it. A violent convulsion struck him, leading to blood being expelled from his mouth.
He gasped for air. Terror gripped him as he glimpsed a foreboding omen in time. It was a lone fragment looming over a world, a sign of the upheaval. Yet, as he fixated on it, the fragment vanished, leaving no trace behind.
This phenomenon was not unique to him; other beings of immense power shared his experience, only to find their memories of the fragment erased.
After the disappearance, life in the world proceeded uninterrupted, as if the event had never transpired.
The fragment, the catalyst of the turmoil, merged seamlessly with the soul and nestled deep within.
ENLIGHTENMENT WORLD, CENTRAL CONTINENT.
A man was holding a child in his arms with a smile on his face, he was the father of that child and his name was Alex. The child was Kai who got reincarnated.
"Riya, look our child is born, and he looks likes you,"
"Alex, give me the child. I want to see," Riya, the mother of the child asked.
Kai, who had thought he died, opened his eyes in confusion and gazed at the man and woman before him. Although they spoke in an unfamiliar tongue, their affectionate gazes bestowed upon him a sense of tranquility.
"Alex, look, he didn't even cry like any other child and looks at us with curiosity," Riya said while holding the baby in her arms.
"Well, let's name him. Since the baby is a boy, you can name him according to our bet" Alex said with envy.
"Hehe, who told you to make a bet with me and I already thought of a name for our child. From now on, we will call him Kai." Riya announced his name in the child's ears.
Kai, who was just born, had the same name as in his previous life. He looked at his parents with curious eyes for a few moments and then closed his eyes as he felt sleepy.
As Kai adapted to this world, he found it easy to learn the language because of his adult mind. He also discovered his father's and mother's names. They were a lovely couple who had married at an early age due to their affection.
A year had passed since Kai was born; now he was capable of crawling on his own without any help.
"Kai, don't move away from the house,"Riya said as she saw Kai start crawling away from the bed.
Kai, who just started crawling, heard the voice of his mother and nodded his head.
They call this world the Enlightenment World. The reason for the naming is because the people can enlighten themselves in the path of cultivation.
Kai was also quite excited about cultivation, and he began demonstrating his wisdom at an early age. Both of his parents did not find this surprising, as in this world, some people exhibit greater wisdom than him at birth. In comparison to them, he considers himself normal; they refer to themselves as genii.
(A/N - Latin word for genius)
Kai asked his mother about cultivation and other aspects of the world, but she did not provide him with the information since he was only a child.
Then he asked Riya to teach him the alphabet; Riya wasn't able to reject this request since he had to learn these things at some point in his life. She taught everything in detail about alphabets and also taught him about the pronunciation.
Kai had a hard time learning pronunciation since his vocal cords were not fully developed. A month has passed, and Kai learned the letters of this world. It took him a month since Riya would only teach him some small things, and the rest of the time, she made him sleep.
Kai couldn't resist, or else she wouldn't teach him if he disobeyed her orders. After the study session, she placed her hand on his head, and Kai felt very comfortable all over his body, just like being in a hot spring, and would sleep without any worries.
Just like that, another year had passed.
'I want to know about this world very much, but I don't know anything other than its name. I should do something about this.' Kai thought about a plan to get information from his parents.
As a child, Kai could only use one thing to achieve his dream, which is crying. Kai cried out loudly to attract his father's attention.
"What happened, son? Are you hungry ?" Alex appeared behind Kai and asked worriedly.
"Dad, I wa go livery! ( I want to go to the library) I want go livery!" He rubbed his eyes and said while crying.
Alex tried persuading him by giving him toys and other things, but Kai did not stop crying. He only wished for the library. Left with no choice, Alex complied with his wish.
The next day, Riya took him to the library. Kai was very excited about this trip as he would finally learn something new about this world.
"Baby, what book do you want to read?" Riya asked since she didn't know what kind of books Kai wanted to read.
"Mom, I want to read about our place and what it looks like outside," Kai stated his purpose.
"Well, how about you read this book? It has all the things you said and you can learn about other things too," Riya handed a very thick book to him. It has 'History of Enlightenment World' written on the cover.
'Just based on this title I should be able to learn the history of this world.'
"Okay, mom," Kai accepted and took the book from her hands.
"Well, let's go to the bedroom. You can read it there. If you want anything else, you can call me, and don't come alone to take books from here" She took him in her arms and went to the bedroom. She didn't want Kai to injure himself by accidentally pulling a book.
"Okay Mom." He nodded his head without arguing.
After arriving at the bedroom, Kai opened the book and began to read it.
'This world is truly massive.' He finished the entire book in a half a day.
There are five continents in the world: southern, northern, eastern, western, and central. His family lived in the central continent.
Many empires exist on the central continent, and his family lived in an empire called the Dragon Empire. It had been ruled by the royal family for generations.
The empire divides into several cities, with no further division. All the people are under the empire, and the Dragon Empire is one of the strongest empires in the entire Enlightenment World. There are also countless sects in the world. They are independent, unlike the cities in the empire. They also have supreme powerhouses from generation to generation, so they are like a royal family but without an empire under them.
What surprised Kai was the sheer size of the world. The Dragon Empire is already three times the size of Earth, and the size of the entire world isn't mentioned. But he assumes that one can only calculate in light years. Also, there isn't anything about cultivation in this book, which disappointed him.
"Mom, I want books that tell about cultivation." He asked while tugging Riya's clothes.
"Baby, you already read that book in just one day? " Riya asked in surprise, she never expected Kai to finish the book in a single day.
"Yes, mom." Kai lied and didn't tell her that he finished it in half a day.
Riya took him to the library and gave him a book that explains everything about cultivation.
Kai arrived in the bedroom and began to read the book. After finishing the book, he was unhappy. Not everyone here can become a cultivator.
It fully depends on talent and is genetically passed from generation to generation, and the upper limit of cultivation also depends on the talent. (Here, the upper limit means the speed of cultivation).
Theoretically, everyone can reach the highest realm, but people with slow cultivation speed will die of lifespan exhaustion before they even reach the peak. Hence, talent is the most important thing.
The book also mentioned that some heaven and earthly materials can increase the upper limit of cultivation talent, but they are so rare that it's as difficult as finding a needle in the whole universe.
Another important thing is everyone can only start their cultivation journey at the age of 12, and this rule is absolute, nobody can change it.
There are two reasons for it, first, it is set by the heavenly dao itself, secondly, it takes time for the development of the body. Even a powerful cultivator who has enough power to defy the heavens won't let their children cultivate before 12 years old since it will harm the child or become a problem in the later stage of cultivation.
This is the only thing that makes him happy since everyone has the same starting point. Kai also started worrying about his talent, even though he knows both of his parents are cultivators. (They already told him that they are cultivators) But they are regular cultivators with limited talent.
Kai did not want to become mediocre again in this world. In this world, the strong rules the weak, and being weak means you need to rely on others to live. He still didn't forget about his death on earth. He was helpless against the thieves, and the only reason they targeted him was because of his humble background.
Authors note: The world development can't be said in a single chapter because it is big and it will look like dumping the information in a single chapter, so detailed information will be in the upcoming chapter. Thank you for your patience.