Step Two: Double-check everything

It took Lei a week to finally recover and wake up. When he opened his eyes, a handsome white-haired man greeted his vision. Lei stared in a daze for a while then, as if seeing a ghost, he suddenly jumped.

Startled, he loudly shouted, “What the f*ck?!” The veins on his neck were almost visible with this one shout. Normally, with how much effort he put, its sound is enough to travel through everyone’s doors and windows in his neighborhood.

But this time, as if a volume button set on the lowest minimum was present in the room, his voice only sounded like a small whisper, as quietly as that of a mosquito. It was so quiet that even Lei, himself, had a hard time hearing it.

This made him completely stunned. After a full minute of silence, he widened his eyes and asked in horror, “Y-you! W-who are you?! What did you do to my voice?!

Lei tried to raised his volume than before but it still sounded as quietly. Rather than making it louder, it only made him choked at the end. The guy was obviously amused, laughing loudly at him.

Lei was embarrassed but he still glared at the other. Hearing his laughing voice, he almost couldn’t help asking, “How come your voice sound normal?!” But remembering the sound of his voice just now, his face immediately darkened and he kept quiet.

The guy, finally done laughing, spoke. “Where did your IQ go? Why are you suddenly dumb? Who else would I be? You only slept for a week and you already don’t remember me the moment you wake up? Did you hit your head too hard when you collapsed and suffered amnesia?”

Understanding the indication of his word, Lei widened his eyes even more. He looked at the guy up and down. He didn’t dare believe it. He thought. What who else could I be? He couldn’t be the old man’s son, can he? But that little guy is black. Even if he suddenly transformed, his hair wouldn’t suddenly go white. He couldn’t be Red either. Red wouldn’t laugh at him like this. Then, there’s only one more person. But.."How come you look like that?” How could he be the old man?! Lei shouted internally.

However, looking closely, his eyes indeed look exactly the same as the old man’s. But his character doesn’t match. Did he chance upon an immortal elixir and drank it? Is the change in his character a side effect? How could that be?! Lei thought he didn’t hear him but the guy replied calmly, “I always look like this.”

Bullshit. Lei chose to ignore him and went silent instead. He tried to analyze the situation calmly.

Last time when he collapsed, he was sure the old man put him into Red’s back, making Red carry him. After that.. hmm.. what happened next? oh, right, there’s no more after. He already lose his consciousness. In his coma state, he didn’t feel or hear anything. It was like he was completely knocked out.

But even if old man was grumpy, he wouldn't left Lei alone by himself. As for Red, it is even more impossible. He’s such a baby. How can he left his mother alone. Thinking of Red, Lei's attention immediately shifted. He asked the white-haired man, “What about my son? Where is he? Why isn’t he here?”

The ‘old man’ raised an eyebrow and eyed him. He replied casually. “I left him in the forest. He’s too inconspicuous. He will attract people’s attention if I brought him here.”

Lei’s expression was immediately filled with incredulity. He tried hard to speak with his voice. “You left him in the forest? Isn’t there a giant python there? How can you left him there alone? Are you insane?!”

The ‘old man' leaned back on the wall lazily. “What are you so worried about? Although he’s young and still a coward, he’s still a rare species of a high ranking beast. Don’t underestimate his strength. Besides, he was from the Beast planet which is rich in rainbow crystals. He’s far stronger than his own kind. A giant python like that is a good practice opponent for him.”

Lei was even more angry. “If that was the case then why did we even run that day?”

The other party raised another eyebrow. “I wasn’t intending to run. It’s that little son of yours who pulled me and run.”

Lei really wanted to strangle this guy. Using a huge deal of his willpower, he hold himself back. “That’s no reason for you to left him there alone. He’s only two months old. He still couldn’t even bear to part with me. Don’t even mention fighting. He’s a good, silly kid. How could he fight?”

The guy straightened his back looking him in the eye. “Are you saying it’s fine for him to become a roasted chicken then? Besides, who told you he’s alone? My son is there with him.”

Lei was so mad he was about to go mad. He keep on thinking about his son.

Hearing this question, he recover some rationality and asked, “What?”

The man casually said, “Before exiting the forest, some warrior happened to bump on us. When he saw Red, his eyes lit with greed. He hurriedly came over to me. Seeing that I was only a weak, old man and no one was around, he asked me to hand over the bird with a hundred spiritual stones.

I refused. He tried convincing me again saying, one hundred spiritual stones is enough to make me rich. I still refused, telling him this bird is a pet of my son’s. Realizing that I couldn’t be convinced, that warrior immediately resorted to threats and violence. I asked him why he was so interested with the bird.

He seemed to think that I was about to die anyway and told me. It turns out the bird was famous for being a rare and high ranking beast. However, that is not the point. The point is, this kind of bird is often hunted for its flesh and blood are not only a delicacy, it can helped greatly with raising someone’s strength and quality. Moreover, it has no side-effects.

The feathers are even used as rare-quality protective armor that can deflect any spell. It can also keep the user comfortable in any environment and since it is very light, it is very suitable to use in battle. That guy offered me a hundred middle grade spiritual stones but based on his words, even a million high grade spiritual stones won’t be enough to buy even a hundred of Red's feathers.”

Lei didn’t know what expression to make. He waited for a few minutes for the man to continue but even after waiting for a full five minutes, he was still not speaking.

Scratching his head, he could only reply awkwardly, “Oh. You should’ve told me earlier. What happened after? You said that guy was a warrior. Did you fight? Is Red all right?”

The man eyed him. Lei gulped. “What do you think? That person thought he was strong but he was only courting death. Although he was a warrior, he was only a novice with D rank. How could he possibly beat me? I’m the strongest in the Milky Way. Just the flick of my finger is enough to kill him. He wasn’t even worthy to stand in front me.”

Lei’s mouth twitched upon hearing this. He was finally sure. This guy is indeed the old man. He will never mistaken his ‘down-to-earthness’. Before, when he asked him regarding his strongest in the Milky Way identity, he also bragged like this.

The old man rummaged through his things, tossing Lei some clothes.

“Enough talking. If you’re already feeling better, wear those clothes. We need to get you an identity. This is the Magic Capital. You won’t be able to stay and roam around if you don’t have one on you. Going through the forest needs to pass through the main street. You five minutes to prepare. Hurry.”

Lei wanted to tell him to fix his voice first but the ‘old man’ already rushed out as if late for his appointment. Lei wanted to cry.

Aren’t you going to give me food at least?! My chest is already touching my back! Do you want me to die from hunger?!

Five minutes later, Lei came out with a sour face. He was wearing the ripped jeans from before, a fitted black vest, a black weapon holder around his waist, black short boots, gold wrist band and a white hooded overcoat. The overcoat was light, in an umbrella-like style. It has no sleeves and has flowing edges, its length covering up to his knees. The collar fits perfectly around his neck with a single button with some kind of symbol holding both ends. The front have a slightly diagonal cut, exposing a little of his inner clothes.

Seeing him come out, the old man disabled the spell he casts on him and asked for his hand. Lei felt his throat instantly loosen.

Extending his hand, he asked, testing his voice, “What did you do?” The other party answered, “I disabled the spell. I had a premonition that you would shout when you woke up so I put a spell in your throat in preparation. Who knows the moment I’m done you’ll immediately wake up. If I knew this is was the only needed to wake you up, I wouldn’t have waited for a week and done it sooner.”

Lei grunted with his word, feeling wronged. “Why would I shout when I wake up? If you weren’t so close to my face that time, looking like an expressionless ghost, I wouldn’t be startled and shout.”

The man ignored his complaint and only looked at him seriously, saying “This is a pill developed by the empire to help those who failed to evolve accordingly. It has no side effects and can be used people like you. I’m giving you this since you need to awaken an ability in order to have an identity. This pill will increase your chances. However, as I’ve told you before, this will modify your body and you can longer go back to your timeline. Are you fine with that?”

Lei was dissatisfied about having his grievances ignored but upon hearing the other’s question, he almost rolled his eyes.

He directly took the pill, swallowed it into his mouth without hesitation and answered, “It’s not like I would be able to go back if I didn’t modify my body, right? You said this is a magical world. Along with that story of you bumping into a warrior, I can see that this world acknowledges and respected the strong while taking advantage of the weak. If I stayed ordinary in this kind of world, not becoming stronger, forget about going back, I might not even last a day for day. Besides, I only wanted to survive since the beginning. It doesn’t matter where I go as long as I’m alive.”

After eating the pill, Lei felt his hunger, that was about to kill him a moment ago, immediately eased. He wasn’t sure if it was because his body was being modified or something else.

“Then, let’s go.”

They were staying at the second floor of an old wooden inn. Upon going down the stairs, they could hear the people’s loud chatters. Walking out of the door and exiting through an alley, Lei suddenly asked, “Are we going to a guild?”

The man looked back at him, “What made you think that?”

“That’s always where anime characters go everytime they transmigrate in worlds with this kind of setting.“

“You still watched cartoons at your age?”

Lei felt offended. He always hated it when someone questions his interest. He instantly retorted, his mouth shooting like a machine gun. “Why, what’s wrong with my age? You can’t watch cartoons just because you’re old? Whose idea is that? Who said cartoons are only for children? I even watch Peppa pig with my nephew. Does that bother you? You old men-“

Suddenly realizing something, he hit the break. “Hang on, seriously how old are you even now? Just what kind of elixir did you drank. Why did your personality change too? Was that a side effect? Or are you actually schizophrenic?”

The old man was left speechless by his long argument. Hearing his question at the end, he furrowed his brows and grunted, “I’m not schizophrenic. I told you, I always look like this. Don’t you know that people’s character changes according to their looks.”

What people’s character changes according to their looks? Who are you trying to fool?

Lei obviously wasn’t convinced. He was cautious by nature so he asked the guy a few more questions. The man got tired of his incessant probing and directly performed a spell, putting a beard and messing his hair, he looked exactly like the old man. After Lei was done looking at his face, he change back to his earlier appearance.

Lei realized that there wasn’t really much of a difference with his look. One only needed to look at his eyes to see this. Lei was finally reassured.

The old man’s name is Alexander Bauer. He doesn’t seem sure of his exact age either but he should be at most seventy five based on estimate.. This is the first time Lei became aware of this two things.

Before, he only knew some facts about the old man. All are limited to the things related to that day. In fact, he only knew the old man was the strongest in the Milky Way through Ms. Emily.

The old man doesn’t speak a lot and have no interest in sharing his personal information to others either. He only cares about money, his son and the things that will benefit him. Lei was also fine with this. They only met due to mutual interest and their cooperation wad for only few days. There was no need to get to know each other and become acquainted.

However, the situation right now is different. He was sure they will be spending their time together for a long while so it’s best if they get along.

Arriving at the guild, seeing the people coming and going, Lei suddenly recalled the same scene that happened that day.