With little hesitation, he designated the present moment as the point that he would regress to in the event of his death. Knowing that he could further enhance his Talents, there was a high chance that he would be able to obtain additional opportunities to do so. And even should that not be the case, then there was still the fact to consider that he had been left without his safety net due to the incredibly horrendous luck of practically getting spawn camped.
'I wonder if I'll ever learn who was responsible for the Ravagers' attack...'
After clearing his head of this distracting thought, he felt a slight urge rise within him. Now that every single kill would provide him with something, shouldn't he start massacring right away? After all, for his plan, he would need quite a ridiculous amount of Attribute Points at his disposal...
Yet, when he thought about turning into a mindless slaughter machine, eradicating the innocent wherever he went, he felt a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't much, but unless it was absolutely necessary to go that far, he truly didn't want to do so. Those who he judged to be worthy of death–and those who dared to stand in his way–were obviously not the recipients of his pity, so they were fair game.
Prior to his Soul Fusion, Theodore wouldn't have held back from murdering everyone in this world without a care if there was something that he could have gained from it. But ever since John had entered the equation, both his internal lingo as well as the way in which he thought of the innocent had changed. Now, he would often find himself using terms from John's old world to refer to certain concepts whenever they somewhat applied. He also felt repulsed by the idea of indiscriminately eradicating all life.
Old Theodore would have started to murder every single person with a handy Talent once they had outlived their usefulness–most likely, this was how that regressor woman had come to loathe him–whereas the new and at least Talent-wise improved him would only do so if there was a good reason.
He had infinite time, and one day, even those with the most special Talents around him would meet their demise. He could always keep them close and wait until their natural final moments to reap his harvest.
"Are you hungry?"
Looking up in response to this question, he saw Xie Mei standing next to the dining table, a steaming pot of stew and two sets of tableware placed atop it. She was nervously grasping her skirt, evidently hoping that he would eat her cooking.
"Come to think of it, I am. Thanks for the meal! What did you make?"
Hunger pangs were one of the earliest annoyances which he had learned to deal with during his illusory lives, so he hadn't even really noticed the lack of nutrients until now. Getting up, he wandered over to his host's side and sat down on the chair that she pointed out while making small talk.
"Oh, just a regular vegetable and potato stew! My family has a pretty extensive garden, with lots of produce to choose from, so I learned how to make a good stew quite a few years ago. I hope you'll like it!"
After she had filled up his bowl, he grasped the piece of cutlery most similar to a spoon and tasted the stew, only to get a positive surprise. For a simple home-cooked meal, it was beyond merely excellent! If this girl had lived in a big city instead of an impoverished mountain village, then he would have recommended for her to start a restaurant!
"It's delicious!"
His short but genuine praise brought a proud smile to her face. Only after having watched him eat for a while and refilling his bowl twice did she also begin to partake in the meal herself.
"Come to think of it, you mentioned your family before. Where are your parents?"
Calculating internally, Xie Mei cutely tilted her head, evidently a little stumped.
"They're out selling our produce at the nearest town, as usual. But they left more than a week ago. They should have returned already. Well, you know how it is. It's easy to get delayed on the road!"
Acknowledging her statement with a nod, Theodore didn't think much of it. He would have loved to know an exact return date, so that he might avoid the potential fate of being chased out of the village with pitchforks for having dared to spend time with their daughter in the parents' absence. But with no clear information given, he would just have to leave whenever he was confident about having a sound plan to follow.
In good company, the afternoon and evening flew by very quickly, with the two of them still being the only ones at Xie Mei's home. Many theories had flashed by Theodore's mind throughout the day, but he would need a better grasp on the world around him first before he could set off on his journey.
When it came time to slumber, his host led him to her bed.
"You can sleep here, if you'd like."
Seeing nothing wrong with it, he nodded, then looked around and noticed that there was only one bed.
"Then you'll sleep in your parents' room, I suppose?"
He had thought his question to be a rhetorical one, but Xie Mei's response left him stunned.
"Huh? No. This is my bed, so I'll sleep here, too."
As he stared at her speechlessly, she once again began to blush like mad and hastily explained herself.
"I did the same thing last night, too, and it was fine, right?!"
'Yeah, because I was unconscious, and you are all mental bark but no bite.'
Not bothering to state his thoughts aloud, Theodore eventually reasoned that it should be fine, as due to Xie Mei's self-report, he knew that it wouldn't be the first time. Once a line has been crossed, one would rarely hesitate to overstep it again.
"Fine. But no funny business, alright?"
Staring directly into her eyes until it was abundantly clear to her exactly what he was talking about, the girl waved her hands in a panic and shook her head repeatedly.
"Of course not, of course not! I don't even want to... I mean, I do, but I'd never actually...!!"
Smirking amusedly at her behaviour, he eventually laid down in bed, at the very edge of it, and closed his eyes.
"I get it. Now go to sleep."
With his guard up against any life-threatening attacks, but otherwise prepared and ready for a prolonged nap, he drifted off to the land of Nod within a minute or two. He was confident that his host wouldn't dare to proactively lay her hands on him.
The next morning, when he woke up with a knee on his face, his right eye couldn't help but twitch in slight annoyance. He knew that there was a minuscule chance that she might be a restless sleeper, but it had been a risk that he was willing to take.
Extricating himself from underneath whatever inhumanely weird sleeping position Xie Mei found herself in, he went and freshened up using some of the water that had been prepared yesterday evening, as well as one of this world's toothbrushes that had been gifted to him by her.
The two of them had already discussed some of his plans for the coming days. Using a selection of the old, worn-out clothes of Xie Mei's father, he would try to blend in with the villagers, claiming to be a childhood friend of hers who had come to visit her family from a rather distant place. Unfortunately, her parents weren't around yet, so he was waiting for their return at their home.
While he thought that the cover-story was rather flimsy, as anyone who dug even a little bit deeper would notice some irregularities, Xie Mei assured him that it was fine. She was sure that her parents wouldn't be too harsh on either of them, especially considering that he had saved her. At that point, he had felt tempted to clarify that his arrival was what had put her in danger in the first place, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.
As one of the greatest geniuses of the Heavenly Dao, one might wonder why he didn't immediately rush out there, looking down on everything and everyone entering his sight all the while. But of course, none of the actually competent folk would choose to act like this.
Nobody knew how many of their peers had entered the same world, or even what kind of dangers that they might encounter here. Prudence was a cardinal virtue for a good reason.
Until he had learned more about the bigger picture, Theodore would bide his time, absorbing intel and further refining plus adjusting his plans all the while. All of this would be even more important during this initial period, where he was at his weakest.
It was under such circumstances that Shanxi Village welcomed the appearance of an unbelievably handsome young man, who started to help out wherever he could whenever there was a need.
At first, there was some doubt about his identity, as someone of his looks could surely not be a nobody. When Xie Mei came forward to explain his (fake) circumstances, however, most quickly accepted everything at face value. After all, for a divinely beautiful girl like Mei'er to have a childhood friend with the same level of looks as her... did in some way make sense?
In all honesty, it did not really, but nobody doubted her. The sole unhappy ones were those who had fantasized about her before, considering that this Theo guy was practically living at her place. Not only the young men, but pretty much everybody in the village kept gossiping about the two of them behind their backs. Still, everyone else only did so because even a blind person could see how incredibly taken with Theo Mei'er was.
Theodore's full name would have felt more out of place in this world than his nickname, so he chose to use the latter while he was here. After all, it didn't sound too outlandish, only a little bit weird. He could have simply come up with a regular local name, but he just didn't feel like it. 'Good enough' was very often sufficient when it came to the less important parts of life.
Like that, half a month passed by. Theodore had got a much clearer picture about this world from the elders of this village and was already contemplating that he should leave soon, as there was nothing more that he could learn here. He would still masquerade as the oddly named villager Theo until that identity was useless, though. After all, why throw away something that isn't broken?
Over the past few weeks, pretty much everyone had started to think of Theo and Mei'er as the newest couple in town, some even theorizing when the wedding would be. Maybe, he had initially come here to ask for her hand in marriage, but unfortunately arrived at an inopportune time. Yet, the whole village would have been shocked to hear that nothing had ever actually happened between them–much to the dismay of the girl, who was too timid to attempt to cross that line herself.
It was under such circumstances that the worst possible news arrived at Shanxi Village: Mei'er's parents had run into a member of the Imperial Han Family who had been out on a stroll. Because he was in a bad mood, he chose to kill a few worthless undesirables–and her parents therefore turned into two of his dozens of victims. It was only when multiple people were declared missing that the local authorities tried to investigate the matter and came across one of the terrified onlookers that had kept mum for fear of getting retaliated against by the imperial descendant or his supporters.
Just like that, Xie Mei's life–which had only been looking up ever since Theodore had moved in with her–completely fell apart.