It was the seventy-first year of the New World calendar, in the middle of summer.
...
A young white-haired boy with golden eyes was sitting in a library reading deeply into research about cultivation. His serious look only added to his almost radiating cuteness.
'A few months ago, it was such advanced and interesting knowledge, but I see more and more problems with it every day.'
Young Aaran sighed and got lost in his thoughts again. Lately, it has been happening more and more often. Since his fourth birthday, he had started receiving a monstrous amount of knowledge from literally nowhere. He felt like it was always there, but he was sure it wasn't!
Thanks to his parent's advice, he had already read some novels labeled as 'historical books,' as they were written before the Change. His first thought was that maybe something possessed him, so he instantly asked his family for health checkups, but they didn't find anything wrong with him.
Just as he was ready to explain everything to his family, new knowledge appeared from nowhere, and it explained where it came from: his previous life! At first, he had some reservations about believing in it, but his whole being agreed with it, so he had no choice but to accept it.
He spent all his free time in the library, trying to find more about living a few lives, but he only found more fictional stories. The worst part was that most of these stories were so similar that he got bored out of his mind!
But his will was strong, and so he persevered! He read all these stories from before the world changed but found no helpful information for his current situation.
'After a few months of getting knowledge almost only about societies in different worlds and how to act around people, I finally started getting cultivation knowledge, and just in the first two months, this report changed from advanced knowledge for adults to something faulty.'
A serene voice from behind pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Young master, it's time for your dinner. Will you come today to eat in the dining room?"
Behind his chair was a short, slim woman with a beautiful, cold-stone face. Her black hair fell on her shoulders, and she wore a maid outfit with some tweaks to not impair her movements.
"Will my parents be there?"
"Young master, everyone is very busy this year and cannot be here today."
"Then I'm not going."
Although her facial muscles didn't move, one could spot pity in her eyes. He was her young master, and she was his personal maid, but she couldn't do anything to help him. Aaran was the only child in the family, and because his parents, as nobles, had to take care of essential projects, he could see them only on his birthday and New Year.
Aaran didn't mind that his family was busy; he didn't like to play with kids his age, or adults for that matter. He found reading and learning new things much more enjoyable.
"Alright, get me the usual if u can, please."
After a while, Sheela returned with chicken fillet and fries on the tray. Poultry was Aaran's favorite food, and to be honest, eating was one of his favorite activities, just after learning new things and reading.
One day, Aaran read that food created from high-quality spiritual ingredients is much taster. Since that day, every time he thought about it, his whole meal would be filled with regret, as he couldn't yet consume anything that included too much Essence.
Every human awakens at twelve years old, and this lets them commune with Essence and cultivate. That means he must still wait seven years to eat that tasty food!
After eating his fill, Aaran felt inspired to learn more about cooking and decided to do so. He was in his family library, which contained knowledge of just about everything, including cooking.
The Sirius family was one of the research-focused noble families. Although they focused on medicine, they still needed to research other topics. There was enough knowledge for an average person to become a professional in most fields.
...
Like that, year after year passed. Soon, young Aaran was already eight, and it was time to start his official studies. Usually, kids at that age would go to school. In noble families like Sirius, their children were commonly sent to the Royal Academy.
Aaran's parents also had that idea, but for the last month, he has been fighting with all his might against it; even if that academy was in the same city, students wouldn't usually leave its walls before the holidays, and he couldn't allow that!
Before leaving, he still had so much knowledge to finish in the family library. He believed that, at most, he needed one more year to finish it!
Even though they wanted him to meet more peers and create some memories, maybe because they doted on him or perhaps because they felt guilty that they couldn't spend more time with him, his parents finally agreed to hire a private tutor for their son, so that he could stay home.
...
Aaran has discovered some interesting things about himself in the last few years. For example, his memory was much above average, and his comprehension was crazily good, too. Even with all that knowledge from his previous lives about so many topics that flow almost daily into his mind, he could still read and remember everything nearly every day. Not to mention that he would also understand most of this knowledge!
Today was the day he had been waiting for—the first day of his studies! After all, what can be more enjoyable than learning new things?
After waking up, he cleaned himself and went to eat breakfast in the dining room. Sheela followed him like a second shadow. Sometimes, he wondered when she was sleeping. He got her as a personal maid as a gift for his first birthday, but officially, she couldn't work for him before his awakening, not that he had any money to pay her anyway.
After fulfilling breakfast, he went straight to one of the guest rooms that would be used as his classroom.
After going through the doors, he saw a tall, elderly man with short grey hair in a black suit with purple elements. Then, there was a desk that wasn't there before, with huge stacks of books and papers on it. Right beside his soon-to-be teacher was a wide blackboard.
In these times, technology caught up with times before Change, but most resources were still used on essential matters, not to make his temporary study more comfortable.
"Good morning, my name is Aaran. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Although Aaran gained knowledge and insights from his past life, he didn't gain experience, including his social skills, so he had to spend his free time learning everything from the basics. That was also why he hadn't finished reading everything from the library yet.
Elder raised his brows a little bit. He tutored many elites, but no eight-year-old kid was that polite with him when acting so mature.
"Why, hello there. My name is Shui Lao, and I will be your teacher for the foreseeable future."
Aaran was taken aback a little bit. It was his first time meeting someone with a different naming culture; well, to be honest, it was his first time meeting someone from outside of Academic City.
"Teacher, are u from Warring State?"
"Oh, you think so because of my name?"
Aaran nodded seriously. Shui decided to test the waters and asked.
"You are self-taught, but I don't know how much you learned. How about you explain more about our kingdom?"
Aaran sat down and thought for a while before saying.
"Around eighty years ago, something changed our world, injecting Essence into everything: plants, earth, air, stone, and living organisms. While that was happening, land also changed, resulting in new topography. After humanity gathered again, our ancestors founded this kingdom. On east from our land lies Alysians, and from west, we are bordering the neverending sea. Later, our kingdom was divided into two states: Academic on the west and Warring on the east. I didn't find why there were different cultures in these states."
After Aaran started talking, he closed himself in his world and didn't focus on anything outside his thoughts. That was one of his most intense habits. After all, it's easy to start talking to yourself when you don't have anyone with a similar way of thinking.
Seeing that situation, Shui waited a few seconds before interrupting Aaran's thoughts. "And that's why I'm here. In the future, you won't need to rely only on yourself to find answers. The reason for different cultures is simple; they come from the most distinct cultures left in these lands before Change."
...
For the next few hours, with some small breaks, Shui got to know Aaran better and answered all his questions about different topics. Shui wasn't proficient in many things, such as cooking or healing arts, so he couldn't help with everything. He promised later that he would find some good tutors if Aaran did well in his lessons.
After their lesson, Shui stayed in the room for a while, looking at the doors through which Aaran had just left, and sighed.
'I knew he was called a genius, but learning that much in just a few years as self-taught, even with his family backing, is hard to believe. But his real talent lies in his thirst for knowledge and determination to get it. Seriously, I wasn't that tired even when I was doing favors for that old man. Sigh, it's going to be a long few years.'
After sighing again, Shui left the room to prepare for the next lesson. With such a hardworking student, he couldn't allow himself to slack off.