"Shin, our child was injured in the womb. Although I ate those natural treasures, it only barely repaired all the damage.
We haven't done right by our child. So tell me, what is it?"
Shin had no idea how to respond to Lin's question.
Many possibilities popped up in his head, and all of them would require long explanations that would needlessly make Lin worry and maybe even force him to repeat the process.
He just had a very long day, battling for almost half the time, so had no intention on prolonging it for even a second more than necessary.
Thus, borrowing a line from her childhood's favorite fairy tale, he replied.
"I think our son may be blessed by the light. There is no need to worry, only to rejoice." He said with another sigh that prompted a suspicious frown from Lin.
However, when she saw his blood-soaked appearance and lethargic expression, she pushed the matter to the back of her mind.
After all, it wasn't like she couldn't do it herself whenever she wanted, she just needed to rest and recuperate a bit.
Ryujin's first days as a baby were peaceful but far from boring. He had no responsibilities, and all he to do was eat, sleep, poop and make some occasional baby noise or finger grabbing routine.
That left him with all the time he needed to think about his future.
It was no mystery that kids had a greater potential for learning than adults, and since his family seemed human, or at least human-like he could hope for that to be true also in this dimension.
From what he could see, his body was no different from a baby from earth.
He could hear his heartbeat, his chest inflating and deflating while breathing. Even his reproductive apparatus was the same.
The same could be said for his new family. If it wasn't for the stopgap experience he had gained from the nether realm, he would have simply thought to have travelled through time, but things clearly weren't that simple.
He quickly dismissed all the hypothesis as overthinking.
One of the advantages of being a baby was that ignorance was perfectly fine, when the time came, someone would teach him.
He determined that he had two priorities: number one, learn their language. All babies are supposed to learn their native language, and he had only so much time before being considered a retard, so he could not slack off.
Number two, he had somehow to figure out how to cultivate, or at least its foundational fundamentals. And that also had a deadline, since his learning potential was at its peak only until his brain stopped growing.
Furthermore, since he was allowed to not only keep his memories but also the existence of all the treasures he had obtained from his trials, he was expected to hit the ground running with a bang.
In addition, his targets must be way higher than that of everyone around him, and even if possible; the entire planet; after all, he was meant to surpass the king of the netherworld with potential to spare.
With all of this in mind, he knew he had to seize every opportunity that came his way, and that included the negligence of the people around him as well as the ignorance they would project upon him.
If he didn't take full advantage of all these benefits, then he would be no different from anyone else with the same talent and disposition.
So, he set cultivation as his first priority. Being considered a slow learner was much better than being weak for life or falling short of the reason he was allowed to reincarnate in the first place.
Ryujin spent his first day in the new world in bed, together with his mother.
Their room was quite empty. The wall, the dresser, the seats, the bed, all of them were carved from marble.
The carvings were quite exquisite and gave off an aura of vintage beauty.
Atop the bed was a six or seven meter long enormous beast fur, with the fur hanging down to the floor. At a glance, one could tell the fur was no doubt extremely expensive.
His father was barely around, and he was hoping the trend continued into the foreseeable future; that way, no one would be able to logically scrutinize his actions.
Whenever someone talked to him, he paid close attention, trying to figure out common words or patterns.
The rest of the time he was not eating or being changed, he would try to make contact with any one of the treasures he had brought over.
For some mysterious reasons, ever since he had gained a physical body, he seemed to have lost touch with the treasures.
In fact, the situation seemed to have begun the very moment he reincarnated.
He could tell there were still within him, since he could palpably feel their presence, but their connection just seems to have been dulled heavily or cut off, for some strange reasons.
He failed every attempt he made at establishing a connection with them, except in certain instances when he laid eyes upon something that spurs a reaction from his mystic transformation pupils, and thereafter his origin codex.
However, it had almost been an entire day, and despite latching his eyes onto every object within the room, the reaction had only happened twice.
'Perhaps, I'm being too hasty. These are treasures that operate on Chaos or Origin energy, who knows what would happen if my current physical body is exposed to such type of energy?'
Ryujin shivered at the thought, but couldn't help but hope he was right.
Otherwise, who knows if they will only activate of their own accord henceforth? Or even worse, what if he never get to make contact with them again?
With all he had gone through to obtain them? He would indeed be the most pitiable existence on the planet then.
Failure after failure, Ryujin's anxiety grew stronger. Fear of the unknown, and of tomorrow started to build up.
Also, getting used to pooping and wetting himself wasn't a pleasant feeling either.
Thankfully, his mother showered him up with nothing but love and affection, making his day worth living.
The final outcome of his first day was zero progress in connecting with his treasures, and no progress with the alien language.
Nonetheless, his mother seemed to be a good parent, and he finally learned his new name; surprisingly, it was Ryujin!
The second day however, would turned Ryujin's world upside down.
Despite having just given birth to a child, his mother had easily been able to get off the bed.
She showed the strength of a wild ox; deciding that she was sick of resting, and thus got up, dressed herself in a white fur, and then got to help doing the daily chores.
Ryujin had the opportunity to see her full figure. Despite giving birth the previous day, she was a good-looking woman, in her early twenties.
She was definitely well endowed in all the right places, with a fit body honed through hard work and repeated chores.
Her shoulder-blade-long hair was of a beautiful moon-silver shade, with a midnight-purple undercurrent.
The mere reflection of the candlelights on them made it look like one was looking at a deep purple galaxy of silver stars.
'Seeing mother with her hair down on a moonlit night must be quite a sight to behold.' He thought to himself.
Perhaps, it was because Ryujin was still a baby, or maybe it was some sort of mother-son bonding, but he felt deeply proud of her.
He also discovered that she didn't seem to not use bra or underpants.
Once finished dressing, Lin wrapped Ryujin up tightly and cozily, rendering him immobile in the process.
Then she places him into her sash, using it like a baby cradle so that she could easily hold him with only one arm with minimum exertion.
She walked out the small bedroom and found her other daughter; or more precisely, her niece, Jada, messing with the fireplace.
"What in Wukong's curly beard do you think you're doing, Jada?
The sun is not even out yet, shouldn't you be sleeping?
You know you are not allowed to mess with fire, right?" She said with a hiss, trying to not wake up the house.
"I'm sorry, mah. I just wanted to make you all a surprise. Let you wake up in an already warm house and breakfast ready." She replied with sincere concern apparent in her gaze.
"You don't have to worry yourself about that, let the adults take care of all that." Lin said, ruffling her hair.
Jada, together with her twin brother, were the children of Lin's older brother.
She was a five years old, sporting a pink hair with pitch-black undercurrent, while the latter sports a sky-blue hair with pitch-black undercurrent, just like his father.
From the way things were, it seemed having a contrasting undercurrent to the color of one's hair ran in the genes of Lin's family.
Lin shooed Jada away from the fireplace, and as she focused on her index finger, a purple tongue of flame abruptly whisked to life, dancing over her nails in slow sways.
"Oh?!" Ryujin was stunned.
Though he knew this was a world where immortals exist and people cultivate Qi, but he was no newbie to the level of control it must have required to replicate his mothers feat.
Flames were known to be unbridled, tyrannical and destructive. For one to tame one to such an extent that it exists as nothing but a docile willow tongue of heat-radiating specter of light...
Lin sent Rin to open the window shutters and let the dawn light spill in while she prepared breakfast.
She took several vegetables out of a cabinet and proceeded to chop them with a knife. Some of them were familiar to Ryujin, like some semi potatoes and odd-colored carrots.
The others were all alien to him, and there was even one that managed to spur a reaction from his mystic transformation pupils; a bright red bulb-like fruit with a black stalk.
The idea of having such breakfast made Ryujin almost cry.
Based on his memories, he had never liked vegetables; not that he would be eating any anytime soon, but they were a testament of the future that awaited him.
Lin shoved everything inside a small copper cauldron, and with the help of a hook, hanged it on a metal bar over the fire.
Then with a finger-snap she conjured water out of thin air, filling the cauldron as she began making breakfast for the whole house.
After a while, everyone woke up to have breakfast together.
The family consisted of Raja (Lin's older brother and the father of Jada, and her twin brother; Dara), Shin (Ryujin's father), Lin, Jada, Dara and Ryujin.
From what Ryujin could tell so far, they seemed to live in a house with two wings, cojoined by a kitchen and dining area.
The breakfast was relatively quiet, so he had no problems learning a word or two whenever anyone on the dining table asked for water or more portions.
After everyone left for their daily routine, Lin moved along with Ryujin to a rocking chair.
During the morning, he had to pleasure to discover that in this world, daily chores were done using spell and elemental arts.
Ryujin was delighted to discover how common the use of Qi was, and even if the kids were unable to do so yet; his father, mother, and uncle had shown themselves capable of it.
When bedtime arrived, Ryujin was dying to absorb some Qi; he had a perfect memory of the route they had taken back when his father had done a quick checkup on him.
He had waited so long for his hands and feet to be finally free, and now that they were, he didn't want to waste any second of it.
Lin fell asleep almost instantly, yet Ryujin was impatient enough to have the impression of having waited for hours.
After a full day of thinking, he had realize that he could clearly sense it, and now that he was free, he wanted to see if he could absorb it; even if it was a single strand.