24th of January, Year 870.
As the bright morning sun rose, a gentle breeze carried the fresh morning air.
In the kitchen, a beautiful, slim lady wearing a flashy floral apron could be seen busily cooking, her hands moving quite fast but steady enough that no crumbs are thrown out of the pot.
"Good morning, Dear."
At this moment, a broad-shouldered, slightly buffed man said, "Good morning. What's my beautiful wife cooking now? Hm?" as he put his arms around her.
"Chicken curry, of course. It's your son's important day today. I thought his favorite food might help him ease his worry of his awakening today. Right, he will turn eighteen in two days as well. What gift do you think he would like?"
As they were talking in the kitchen, the son, sound asleep in his room, suddenly woke with a jolt and,
*gasp*
"Ha! Ha! What the hell?!" After uttering the words, Zein looked around him and saw that he was lying on a bed inside of what seemed to be a bedroom.
Looking at the pictures on the walls for a moment, he realized it was his bedroom.
But how could that be? Wasn't I inside the dungeon just now?
And this room, I remember I sold this house a few months after my parents passed away.
Thinking of the various possibilities. He finally found one conclusion.
Could it be... I returned to the past?
It's possible; after all, I once transmigrated here.
That's right. Not only did Zein return to the past. He wasn't even from this world in the first place.
In his first life, Zein was also called Zein, but he had no family name as he was an orphan.
In that life, he never got to know who his real parents were or even if he still had any living relatives.
He was on his way back to the orphanage after attending the last day of practice for the graduation ceremony at the school.
But after getting off the bus, a truck running at full speed suddenly appeared from across the street, and it hit him fast enough that his body flew and tumbled tens of meters away from the spot.
When he woke up, he found himself in the body of the sickly seven-year-old Zein Valentine.
However, a month after finally getting himself used to his new body, the Ancient Tower suddenly appeared. Fortunately, their family lived in the Evergreen City of the Verdant Federation, located about 6,000 miles away from the tower, as far as the distance from west to east coast of Russia from his previous life.
All that happened at that time was witnessed by him from a live broadcast of the Federation's aircraft that was carrying the reporters and journalists from various cities.
Although the tower had been silent since it appeared, something inside him made him feel otherwise; after all, he came from Earth, where there were countless collections of novels similar to what was happening in the news. But there was nothing he could do about it with his seven-year-old body.
And the day came, three months later, and all kinds of monsters poured out from the tower, starting from within the black mist it emitted; from the weakest wild dogs to goblins, mutated insects to giant ogres. It all felt too surreal. The bad thing was that normal weapons were of no use against these creatures. Allowing them to spread chaos to surrounding regions and cities populated by hundreds of thousands of humans. Thus, left with no choice, these forces near the tower had to retreat or seek refuge with other forces.
But that was until nine months later, when the awakened people appeared. Various broadcast channels showed news that millions of people around the world started seeing transparent screens or panels like those from the games they played. Those people who awakened saw the prompt that they received a talent related to their attributes. Some awakened Heightened senses, Super speed, etc, while some awakened powerful talents that enabled them to enhance their strength, even granting them the power to kill a monster with just a few punches. Along with these talents, they also learned that they could master more skills that the monsters drop after they die, allowing the awakened to grow more powerful.
After recalling his experience, he looked at the calendar and saw that it was the same day he was about to awaken his system.
That day, 10 years after the emergence of the tower.
After a few moments of staring at the calendar, he went to the bathroom sink to wash his face.
Since I was able to return this time, there must be something wrong with that giant werewolf.
No, there is! Otherwise, I wouldn't believe it if anyone said that a late-stage King-ranked demon beast appeared inside a floor without a single late-stage Lord or early-stage King!
Since he was given a chance to return and do things again. He will make sure to correct his mistakes before.
Also, his parents.
They suddenly disappeared two days after his awakening.
When he heard the news from the Federal Security Bureau seven days after their disappearance, they said it was a case of felony murder. The couple went to buy a middle-grade epic treasure from a luxury store, which was supposedly their gift for his awakening.
However, this was seen by some evil people, and greed took over them. They ambushed the couple on the way back and hid their body.
His father, Jill Valentine, was a late-stage master-ranked awakened, while his mother, Amanda Clark, was a middle-stage master-ranked awakened. With both of them skilled in group fights and also possessing A-grade and B-grade talents, respectively, how could they be easily killed?
There's at least a grandmaster involved in this, otherwise, they won't even think of doing it in public without someone to protect them.
"Honey! Come down now, the food is ready!"
His thoughts were cut short when he heard his mother calling him for breakfast.
Since they were killed because of him, he had the responsibility to take revenge. However, since it hasn't happened this time yet, he will make sure it will never happen.
-----------
On the way down, he saw his father watching the news from the television, while his mother already preparing the plates on the table.
"I cooked your favorite chicken curry this time." Amanda looked at Zein as she smiled when she said this.
"Wow, I missed this." Zein murmured.
"Missed already? Your mom cooked it the day before yesterday as well, right?" Jill retorted then he chuckled loudly all the while still watching the news.
When Amanda heard this, she pouted in pretend, "You! You say that but you also like eating it a lot. Hmph!"
Hearing his parents like this, Zein smiled and sat on the chair as he called his father to eat.
Then on the television.
"...Please welcome General Sanders. General Sanders is the new General who replaced the late General Murray, and will lead the Dragonfly Division that has been in-charge of the Federal Security Bureau of our Evergreen City for the last 3 years. Please, General." as the screen changed to face General Sanders in a close-up view, everyone saw, his face full of wrinkles and scars, as well as the heavy eye bags. This was the result of his years of service and commitment to protect the citizens before and after the monsters' emergence.
"Good morning, citizens of Evergreen City." As the thick deep voice was heard, everyone realized just how authoritative he was. "It was indeed an unfortunate event that the late General Murray has perished early. However, let us all not forget how he did his best to serve and protect the city and its citizens from those evil creatures and those criminals who did our people injustice..."
As Zein heard the old man speaking in the television, he remembered who he was.
Old man Sanders, he was my mentor at the dojo for four months. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to come back after he volunteered to be deployed to Astaro City to war against the demon beasts a year later.
After meal, Jill took his car from the parking lot and waited for Zein to come out of the house. Today, he was supposed to take his son to the academy. Since Jill and Amanda are both busy with their jobs, they weren't able to watch Zein as he awakens his system.
Before stepping out of the door, Amanda hugged Zein and said, "Son, good luck on your awakening, and don't forget, it's alright no matter which talent you awaken since you can still learn skills and get stronger like everyone else, alright?"
"Thank you, Mom. But I will definitely be back with a powerful talent tonight. I promise that!" Zein answered as he smiled brightly, without concern of what he was going to awaken since he already knew of his talent.
Of course, even if he awakened a different talent, he still had his past memories and can easily improve himself through his experience.
"Bye! And be safe on your way! Hon, don't drive recklessly, got it?" Amanda waved goodbye as she watched Zein walk towards the car and warned Jill to drive safely.
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From their house, located in Rose Gold Villa at the eastern part of Evergreen City, to Cloud Academy at the central district of the city, it takes approximately an hour and 30 minutes to arrive even without traffic.
However, they stopped at a Milk Tea Shop across the street of the main gate of the academy.
"Son, what do you think your talent will be? Any guess?" Jill asked while drinking his milk tea.
"You know it's gonna be your birthday in two days. I promised your Mom that I will go with her to buy you a gift. Do you already have one in mind?" As Jill bombarded Zein with these questions, Zein's face went stiff.
So, this is why you suggested that we stop for a milk tea? But this is also good, so I won't need to search too hard later.
"Ahem. Dad, actually I've been thinking of joining a dojo."
"A dojo? For martial arts?"
"Yes, it's also good in the long run, you know. If I were to awaken a magic-related talent then I will need magic-related skills and equipments. And if that happens, won't I be physically weak since I'll be concentrating on my mana?"
"So I think practicing some physical skills will do me good, and if I were to awaken physical-related talent, won't I be a step ahead and will be able to focus on a physical skill directly?
Hearing this, Jill realized it was really plausible. Either awaken a physical talent or a mana talent, it will still benefit his son if he had physical skill.
"Alright, then I will suggest this to your Mom when we go later. But don't tell her we talked about this. Okay?" He said as he looked at Zein with a knowing look.
"Alright. Thanks, Dad!" Zein chuckled.
"Good. Alright, let's go now. Your class should be starting soon."
They then went out of the Milk Tea Shop and drove towards the main gate of Cloud Academy.