Noir, sitting on the bed, stared at the oval-shaped seed. "I'll become a cultivator if I eat this thing?"
he wondered, looking at the dark green seed. He didn't know if it would work or if there would be consequences.
"Doesn't matter, I have to believe in the system," he said, and consumed the seed.
At first, he felt nothing, then a cooling sensation within him. Suddenly, heat began to build inside his body. Sitting in a lotus position on his bed, his breath became heavy as he felt intense heat, which slowly became unbearable.
The heat eventually became so intense that he began to grit his teeth while bearing it.
[System]
[Heavenly Birth Refining Bloodline has been activated]
After the notification, the heat in his body began to subside. His breathing returned to normal as he felt changes happening in his abdomen.
Things were calm for half an hour when another notification came. After that, Noir ended his meditation.
[System]
[Congratulations for creating a Dantian]
[System]
Noir
Balance: 9 gold coins + 10 gold coins (Reward for Dantian creation)
Cultivation: First level Qi Awakening
Bloodline: Heavenly Birth Refining Bloodline
Storage: (empty)
"My body... it feels light. Even the pain in my body has gone," Noir realized. He could feel his body had changed since he had taken the seed of cultivation.
"So, this is Qi," he said, raising his hands, which were coated by an aura of Qi. Then, placing his hands on his abdomen, "Dantian, the very place where Qi exists."
Noir looked at the notification section. "What is Heavenly Birth Refining Bloodline? Where did it come from? Is it a reward from the system?"
He looked at the bloodline, which had a very imposing name, Heavenly Birth Refining Bloodline, but he had no idea of its origin.
"Let's not think about this. Today is my first day," he said, laying on the bed. "Let's go for a nap first."
.
.
.
After some time, a sudden commotion woke Noir. He opened his eyes when he heard a knock on his door.
"Knock"
"Knock"
"Who is there?" Noir asked, while getting up from his bed to investigate the commotion.
"There is someone outside, claiming to be your brother," a servant's voice came from outside the door. Opening the door, Noir asked, "Who? My brother!"
The servant nodded. Noir ran towards the entrance of the inn. "He must be the guy who stole the meat from the inn. He must know about my past."
Noir was thinking about the body he now inhabited, but referred to its past as "his own past" because his facial structure was the same as in his previous life, the only difference being his shorter hair.
He had already accepted everything about this body as his own because that mindset allowed him to focus on his present.
As he approached, the inn owner was, as usual, yelling at a young man a little older than Noir. The man was also wearing worn, torn beggar's clothes, like Noir.
"Where is my brother? Let me meet him," the man roared at the inn owner.
"You dare to come here after stealing from me? You have some nerve! Wait, I'll break the hands that stole the meat," the inn owner yelled back.
"Wait," Noir said, approaching them. He looked at the man, trying to remember his name, but for some reason, whenever he tried to recall something, he felt a searing pain in his head.
"Little brother, what happened? Did they capture you? Don't worry, I'm here. I'll get you out of here," the man said with concern.
"Get him out of here! He's staying here," the inn owner said sternly.
"You..." the man glared at the inn owner. "I'll pay back for the meat I stole, so let my brother go."
"I'm staying here," Noir said.
"I'll get you out..." the man began, then looked at Noir with a confused expression. "Wait! Did you just say you'll stay here?"
Noir nodded. "Yes, brother. Come with me. I have something to discuss with you."
He looked at the servant behind him. "Bring something to drink and eat."
He took the man's hand and led him to his room, while the man was bewildered by everything happening.
"Brother, where are you taking me?" the man asked, trying to stop Noir from moving forward, but his strength wasn't enough.
He then whispered as they got further from the innkeeper, "Little sister is cooking for us, the meat we stole, so let's go, or you know her temper, so let's..." Noir closed the door and sat on the bed with the man.
"Listen," Noir said sternly. "Something happened, and now I can't remember anything, including my name. So, first tell me everything you know about me, about us, everything."
The man looked at Noir, trying to see if there was any change, but he found nothing. His tone changed as he asked, "How much do you remember?"
"Nothing. Didn't I say I don't even remember my name?" Noir replied, maintaining his serious tone.
"?"
"?"
The man looked at Noir, completely confused. "This is real! You're not joking, right?"
Noir shook his head. "No."
The man face-palmed and sighed. "My brother lost his memories," he said, nervousness evident in his tone. "Little sister will kill me if she finds out about this."
"So, first thing," he paused. "Your name is Little Brother. Well, I don't know your name," he said with a shameless smile. "I always called you Little Brother, so for me, that's your name."
"How did we meet?" Noir asked, hoping this question would provide some clarity.
The man smiled. "Well," he rubbed his head, "five years ago, I tried to steal your bread. Instead of fighting me, you shared the bread with me, even though I tried to steal it."
"From that moment, I decided to treat you as my little brother and swore to protect you," he said proudly, beating his chest.
"That's why you left me to get beaten by people while you ran off with the meat," Noir taunted.
The man smiled. "That's not true. Today is our little sister's birthday, so we both decided to steal the meat together. While I stole the meat, you were supposed to distract the inn owner and workers."
Noir smiled and asked, "Then tell me about yourself and this little sister of ours?"
"Oh," The man began, "I'm Big Huang. That's what people called me in my village, but after it got destroyed by those damn bandits, I lost my parents." His tone turned emotional.
"I ran away from that place, and since then, I've been begging and stealing until I met you and Little Sister."
Big Huang continued, "Our little sister, well, she's Xiao Meili, beautiful as the moon and elegant as a flower, but..." He paused, "angry as a demoness." Big Huang shuddered while speaking.
"Two years ago, we met her. She seemed lost, and when she saw us for the first time, she called us 'brother.' At first, we played along, but after that, she stuck to us, so we accepted her as our little sister, and since then, we've been living together."
"What an emotional story," Noir commented. "But I found out nothing except that I have a little family of beggars here." He thought, smiling wryly, as the servant entered with a bottle of wine and nuts after a knock on the door.
"Brother, we have to go, or our little demoness won't let us off the hook. We're already late," Big Huang urged Noir, who was lost in thought.
"So, there's nothing else I could know," Noir sighed. "Let's just go with the flow. Maybe there will be a day when I'll find the origin of this body."
He considered the possibility that he might have been just a nobody in the past, without any background, but his heart told him to look into it, even if he found out he was nobody.
"Brother?"
Big Huang pulled Noir from his thoughts. Noir looked at the servant. "Tell the owner to prepare three more rooms for my family. I'll pay him when I come back." He picked up a handful of nuts in one hand and the bottle of wine in the other, then looked at Big Huang. "Big brother, let's go then."
Big Huang nodded. After grabbing a handful of nuts, he followed Noir as they made their way out of the inn.