Xion had no idea when he had fallen asleep.
Despite having been held at knifepoint earlier, his dreams were light and absurdly sweet, as if his subconscious chose to drown the stress in sugar.
In his dream, a table stretched endlessly before him, laden with pancakes drizzled in golden syrup and floating crepes overflowing with whipped cream and melted chocolate.
He grabbed a pancake and tore off a piece with relish. His grin widened at the perfectly balanced sweetness. He hummed in delight, savoring the taste that danced on his tongue like pure bliss.
With eagerness, he extended his hand toward the crepes. But the crepe burst.
No, not burst. It disappeared.
The entire dream table folded in on itself, vanishing like morning mist. Meanwhile, red fog descended around him and a blaring alarm screamed in his ears.
"Alert! Alert! A thief has been found!"
Allen appeared with a dagger in his hand and just as Xion was about to scream for help, his eyes shot open.
His body jolted up. He sat there panting heavily. He could hear his heart roaring in his chest as he desperately looked around.
Ah, it is my room. The thought brought a sense of comfort.
He must have fallen asleep while studying, again. Raking his fingers through the disheveled hair, he sighed. What an utterly ridiculous dream.
Just when his jumping heart settled down, his system blared in his mind and Xion nearly toppled off the bed.
"Happy Birthday to the host, Xion Aijawa! Also, Congratulations on attaining a new level! You have been promoted from 'Average Customer' to 'Loyal Customer!"
His eyes widened. As if sensing his proper attention, the robotic voice continued.
"You have been rewarded for upgrading your level!
Your reward: Magic Space unlocked!
Capacity: 10 slots (Upgradable).
Considering the host's special interest in the medical field, the system has enhanced the biology and chemistry sections for your convenience.
50,000 Mall points have been added as a birthday gift.
Have a happy journey in upgrading further~"
Xion stared blankly into the dark space before him. Birthday?
He blinked as the remnants of sleep evaporated. The sudden announcement had shaken him awake entirely.
Slowly, a grin tugged at his lips as he summoned the system interface. His bright eyes darted to the corner of the screen where an absurd number glowed brightly: 99,000 mall points!
Nikolai's recovery... That must have been the reason for the surge in points.
His fingers moved quickly through the menus. He eagerly explored new options, noticing how some items had disappeared while new ones had appeared.
The system had not lied. There were now expanded sections filled with medical resources. A budding excitement replaced his grogginess.
A bit more, and he would be able to open the system lab!
He followed the instructions for the Magic Space and closed his eyes. In his mind, he saw a virtual locker materialize with ten pristine drawers.
Testing it out, he placed items of varying sizes, from an apple to his entire bed. Everything went inside with ease.
"Convenient," Xion murmured, lips quirking into a small smile. The days of awkwardly carrying things while hiding medicines and safeguarding gold were over.
Though, he did not have much gold to begin with.
Satisfied with his discoveries, Xion plopped back into the bed with a soft sigh.
"Birthday, huh," he muttered.
The warmth of the system's birthday wishes dimmed a little under the shadows of the past.
His and "Xion's" birthday happened to be on the same day. Was it fate or just coincidence?
Either way, turning sixteen again felt… weird.
He had mostly spent his birthdays alone. He would be glad as long as he did not get scolded by his family.
His mother hardly ever yelled at him, actually. Just for this reason, for most of his childhood, he thought she loved him.
But slowly, he realized she was the one who hated him the most. More than once, Xion had tried to guess why he was not praised or cherished like his siblings.
Why didn't his mother ever pick him up or cradle him in her lap, or why did his father never play with him?
He had been sixteen then.
He was so absorbed in studying that he forgot to eat, and now his stomach had been screaming at him. So, in the middle of the night, he had gone to the kitchen.
That was when he heard his parents talk.
"Just two more years, and we can throw that misfortune out of our house," his mother's sweet voice said, "I don't want my children to get bad luck because of that thing."
"Hmm."
That was all his father answered.
Perhaps it was due to his hunger, he had lost control over his emotions, and for the first time, he burst into his parent's room.
"Why?!" he had yelled. In his rage, he did not notice a warm stream of liquid sliding down his cheek. "What have I done to make you hate me so much?!"
The answer he got was so absurd that even now, he could not believe it.
Due to his unexpected birth, his mother had to delay her career for two more years.
She was already stressed with the changes in her body due to three births, and now the graceful figure she had been trying to maintain had been ruined.
The more Xion looked pretty, the more she hated him. How dare he look like this after ruining her life?
As if that were not enough, a superstitious monk had declared him a harbinger of disaster.
"He will bring death. Why not leave him with me?" The old monk had said so.
Later, he was arrested for molesting a girl, yet his parents, who clung to such beliefs, still viewed Xion as little more than a curse.
They were just waiting until he turned eighteen to be rid of him.
The absurdity of it all stung even when he became a doctor. Someone who would save lives rather than take them.
Even then, the great Aijawa family members only had disdain and ridicule for him.
But in this new world, there was nothing like that. No scolding, no beatings.
Most importantly, no disdain.
As for love…
A few faces flashed in his vision. Eli, Ray, Berry, Allen and most importantly Darius Rael.
A smile curled his lips. He really was doing well in this world, wasn't he?