I woke up in the morning to the sun hitting my face and someone petting my tail. In my groggy mind, I did not find any issue with this and sat up in the bed, stretching my arms and back. I moved my tail around out of the person's reach and tried to find a good way to stretch it as well. This caused my mind to cleanse itself of the grogginess I was feeling earlier. At this point, what was happening earlier finally registered in my mind, resulting in me jolting from the bed and spinning around to see who was behind me.
Sitting in the bed was Raina, who seemed to have made herself at home reading a familiar book resting open on the bed next to her. Not caring about what she was doing with my tail earlier anymore, I rushed over to the table where I left all of my research material. I started to look for my notebook but was unable to find it. This was when I heard Raina move around on the bed before saying, "This little book is quite interesting. Where did you find it?" while holding my notebook up in the air.
"Give that back!" I shouted while lunging for the book she was holding.
"Why would I?" she asked while moving from the bed and now standing a few steps away.
"Because that's my notebook, and I wrote it!" I shouted while lunging for the book again.
"And how do you ask for it back, my dear daughter?" she asked with a smile, but I was stopped at the last thing she said.
"I am not your daughter!" I shouted, probably louder than I should have, as this was reminding me of what she told me the last time we met, and for some reason, I was having a hard time controlling my emotions. "You said that you would fix that!"
She lowered her hand holding the book, and the smile on her face disappeared. Sighing, she then said, "I am not able to do anything about that as it is engraved into your bloodline. The only way to get rid of the mark is to either change your race completely or to go through the cycle of reincarnation."
For some reason, I was having a bad feeling about what she was saying, so I asked with a shaking voice, "What do you mean?"
Sighing once more, she said, "What I mean is that I can not change the fact that I am now your new mother whether either of us like it or not." After she finished speaking, I felt like there was some weight crashing down on top of me. I wanted to know why but I was unable to find out the cause as I felt a liquid running down my cheeks. Checking with the back of my hand, I find out that they are tears and that, for some reason, I am now crying.
The more I try to think about this, the more I end up crying. My breathing even started to get interrupted by this, but I was not able to stop thinking about why this was happening. Eventually, my leg started shaking, and I fell onto my hands and knees. Near me, I was barely able to hear someone near me drop something and walk up to me. They had even started to touch my shoulders and seemed to be saying my name but I was not able to fully make out what they were saying. Soon, even my arms gave out, and I started falling toward the ground. Someone caught me, though, and kept me from hitting the ground, but I was no longer able to make out what was happening around me. The only thing that I could make out was the floating window in front of me.
{ERROR : CODE : BLACK-DELTA : IMMEDIATE ACTION NECICARY}
{MEMORY AND EMOTION BLOCKER FAILURE TO DEACTIVATE}
{MENTAL STABILITY OF HOST FALLING}
{ACTIVATING EMERGENCY MEASURES}
After these windows appeared, I felt like the world was slipping away from me. I did not fight back against this, and for some reason, I even wanted this to happen even faster. Then, within a second, the world disappeared, and I felt so tired that I immediately fell asleep.
____________________
(Raina POV)
I knew that I had gone too far when the little girl started crying after what I had said. My old habits were finally coming back to bite me. They did not use to be much of an issue, but what I was not considering was that Vale was not a native of this world but a recent transmigrator from Earth. Her thought process was different from everyone else on top of the fact that she also had her gender-swapped and was now having to deal with a new set of hormones and a different way that her brain functions, making her more emotional.
When she reached up and touched her cheek and felt that she was crying, I thought that she was just surprised at how emotional her new body was being. But when she started having breathing issues, I started to feel that something was wrong as the expression on her face did not change. The moment that she fell to the ground, I knew that this was an even bigger issue than I thought. Dropping her notebook I run up to her and kneel down and grab her shoulders while calling her name. She did not respond, however, as she collapsed even more and was about to hit the ground when I pulled her back into my arms and flipped her over so I could look at her face. Her eyes were completely covered with tears, and I was fairly sure that she was unable to see me. A few seconds later, she had lost conscience and was now lying limp in my arms.
Since she was already in my arms, I picked her up and placed her on the bed to rest hoping that she was just tired and remembering some of the things from her past life, then left the room. While leaving, I made sure to pick up her notebook again on the way out. I was on my way to the office of the current head of the Xia family, Quan Xia so that I could try to improve the technique I gave them a few centuries ago. However, I was not able to get my mind off of what had happened earlier with Vale's breakdown. Opening the door to his office, I saw him sitting there in his chair behind the desk.
Hearing the door open, he looked up from his work and saw me standing in the doorway. When I did not enter the room, he chose to speak up and pull me out of my thoughts, "Good morning, Aunt Raina; how might I help you?"
"Sorry, kid. I was lost in thought for a moment there. I came to see if you would like my help with improving your family's technique." I responded, stating my intentions from the start, as I find that this is the best approach. His reaction to what I said was a flash of surprise crossing his face before it lit up in joy.
"Of course, you can help improve the technique. After all, you are the one who created it. Why would I not want you to help if you are offering?"
"Comon, you don't have to be this friendly with me, you little rat. Now bring out the technique so I can modify it, though I will only be able to modify the first realm at the moment." I said, remembering all the times that I spent with him and his wife when they were kids in the sect. This also brought back all the memories of when I told them to be wary of problems that could happen when cultivating. I was also brought back to what happened before coming here, so I felt the need to ask about what Vale was doing while she was here. "Did Vale get into any trouble or do anything that could have any major consequences while she was here?"
He then looked at me confused and said, "I have not seen anything aside from when she was first brought to the house and also two days ago when she finished her cultivation technique."
"What happened when she came here? I was already given a cursory report about this, but I want you to give me an in-depth retelling of events." I asked. He then started to explain everything that happened and even said how he was the one who gave the original order. After explaining the incident, he went on to explain everything that happened afterward until I came to the scene. During this time, the morning meal had already been served, and his daughter, Lou Xia, came to check on us to see what was going on. Both Lou Xia and her father then asked me why I was asking about this. From here, I told them about what happened this morning.
When explaining Lou Xia had a look of confusion on her face before saying, "Could this not be because of her System? She did say that it was still in the experimental phase and she was testing it."