Chapter 2: Chapter 1: Come Back

Jack was drifting in the endless space that he had once experienced back when he had been reincarnated from Earth to where the system named World No.146. In front of him, what seemed like a sphere of water, its shape ever-changing, was radiating silvery waves outward.

Unlike the last time, the sphere didn’t bother greeting or asking him what he wanted to continue forward. His previous request had been the ability to learn and to master. The sphere, origin of which he knew little, had granted him just that, stretching his limits, especially the mind, in order for him to acquire all knowledge he could get his hands on.

Now, this supreme entity could only mumble and grumble something as if Jack was underwater, listening to someone trying to call him. Jack assumed it was trying to convey something, unsuccessfully. Everything stayed the same until, at last, the system screen appeared before him.

You are granted the System of Knowledge.

Installation begins now.

Before he could ask anything, Jack was once again covered in darkness.

The next thing he knew, birds were singing into his ears. A wave of warm sunshine spread upon his skin, and the mattress underneath his back made him feel more comfortable than ever.

Suddenly, a stream of memory ran through his mind like a wave breaking out of a dam. Its sheer enormous capacity made him spring up and let out a loud, uncontrollable cry.

Jack could barely hear through the pain the sound of an open door on the other end of the room. Somebody rushed in and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Young master, you have awakened…?”

Jack still couldn’t answer through his mind-breaking headache. His eyes were blurry with a screen of tears.

“Are you okay, master Jack?” The voice is full of worry. “Somebody, quick, call for a doctor.” 

“N..no!” Jack tried to speak.

Despite all of this mind torturing, Jack slowly regained his own thoughts. He knew it was best that nobody should know about his condition.

Someone else entered the room. The clomping on the floor headed toward Jack.

“Is Jack awakened?” Said another man.

“Yes, master!” The first man responded. “But I’m not sure about his current condition, and he is refusing to call for a doctor.” 

“I will be fine, father!” Jack said, gritting his teeth.

Jack could feel the worry and anxiety of the two, but he could not explain his situation to them, nor he knew how to do so.

The memory of a five-hundred-year-old Jack was overwhelming his mind, and that was undoubtedly not a pleasant experience. Somehow, the omnipotent sphere had conveyed a vague message that said this body was, in fact, his actual self, and Earth, or World No.146 for that matter, had only been an incomplete version that it had created. The sphere had separated a part of the soul and life of many subjects and brought them into simulated worlds. The reasons for all of that, though, were not yet revealed.

A strange resentment arose inside Jack when he realized everything he had ever had was unreal. Emily, Elle, Xerath, Manuel, and all of his companions and friends, was everything just a dream? But the headache stopped him from screaming again. It made him wonder, who was the real Jack Corvus?

As the pain lessened, Jack found out how small his body was. It wasn’t until now that he acquired his personal information in this world. This new world was not new, Jack had been here for nine years, and it hadn’t been an easy life. He was the 10th son of a family prominent for its magic, and from birth, the magical indicator had shown his magic affinity index to be plebeian low. Like many worthless children of the Corvus, he had been sent away to other families relying on higher authorities.

Jack had never felt any sense of unfair treatment, maybe because many of his siblings had shared the same fate as him. To maintain the family’s power and influence, his father, Ascar Corvus, was willing to perform a breeding project to find a worthy successor. His mother had died in premature birth, and that was how he had been born earlier than expected, only to become the elder brother of dozens of siblings whose fate was oblivious to him.

The headache was fading away. Although it still lingered slightly, Jack was able to stop his tears and see the faces in front of him. A woman had entered the room when he was unaware. She looked at Jack with her gentle eyes, in which there was a mix of joy and worry. When she saw Jack looking back at her, her wrinkled face shifted, and her emerald eyes were instantly covered with tears. She leaned forward and hugged him dearly.

“Jack,” she sobbed, “you are back!”

“Yes, mother Sophie, I’m awake!”

Jack hugged back.

Seeing all of this, a second man ran into the room. The lady’s husband, Abraham, went forward and gave them both a big hug as his strong arms wrapping around couldn’t take away the feeling of a bulky chest.

“I’m so glad you are finally awake, Jack.” He turned to the other man, “Edward, get the medicine packs!”

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Edward, Jack’s personal butler, sent from the Corvus household, bowed and replied.

“Most certainly, master! Welcome back, young master!”

Jack gave Edward a thankful look. The tall, stringy, middle-aged butler returned Jack with his sincere smile and left to fulfill the task.

“Oh, Jack, let me have a look!” Sophie put her hands on Jack’s cheeks, turning his head from one side to the other. “Just waking up and you have already messed up the hair I have been caring for.”

Abraham had let go of the two. He walked to the table by the headboard and poured Jack some warm water. He silently put the cup into Jack's shaky hands, his eyes filled with tears.

There were still so many things left for him to process, but, at that moment, Jack understood the couple’s reaction. Even though they were not his true parents, they had nonetheless raised him like their son. May it be to replace their long-lost son, or to fulfill their duty of the Harper family to the Corvus, their love for him was, in his mind, warm and genuine, especially for the hundreds of years old loner suffering in his heart.

“Father, mother, I’m back!”

Jack’s words touched the couple’s heart, and the three of them found themself wrapping their arms around each other once again. They had feared Jack would never come back with his condition of soul deficiency, the only healing factor of which is said to be luck and luck alone. Some returned, while others were forever tormented in a vegetative state. The fact that Jack had escaped the deep coma was the most gracious thing that had happened to them in years.

Jack’s body had been preserved by magic, saving his muscles and skin from atrophy during his prolonged bedtime. However, Jack still had to nurture himself to instigate the metabolism cycle of his organs back. Easy as it might sound, Jack quickly found quite the opposite.

The problem was that his experiences, habits, and memories mostly belonged to a grown man. The contradiction between the different lives made his actions sluggish and nonuniform. He felt slower and fatigued faster than expected.

“Magic may have protected your body from harm and developed it,” Edward said, seeing Jack's clumsy motion, “but your mind is still that of a seven-year-old. Perhaps some running practices will prove beneficial.”

Heeding the advice of Edward, Jack started to practice running around the back garden of the Harper mansion the next day. It was circularly constructed, centered by a fountain carved from Amberstone, a special type of material that originated from the surrounding area of mount Oxdale. Around the center were rings of flowers and bushes, personally cared for by mother Sophia. Ancient and grandeur trees, grown throughout generations of the Harper, some were as big as a circle of ten people, created the outline.

Jack's intention had been one whole lap, but he was out of breath just after a quarter. He dragged his exhausted body and rested under a nearby tree. Seeing this from the eaves, Sophie and a servant quickly ran to his spot, water in hand.

“You don’t have to do this, mother,” Jack said, seeing his mother also breathing heavily in her heavy dress.

“I also need some exercise for myself, isn’t that right, dear?”

Jack shrugged and laid his towel on the ground for his mother to sit.

“Now, you wouldn’t want to dirty your clothes. Poor Clara will have to wash it!”

Sophie laughed wholesomely and sat next to her son, her hand fanning Jack.

“Clara wouldn’t mind, though, right?”  Sophie asked the servant.

Stupefied by the fact that he still remembered her name, Clara froze for a moment and then frighteningly nodded her head.

“I might have scared her a bit too much, right, mom?”

“And you the one to say!” Sophie scorned but couldn’t hide the joy expressed on her face.

Jack Corvus had been a reserved and quiet kid, quite scary sometimes with his aura of gloominess. But after the awakening, he had been much more approachable.

“What do you want to do after lunch, Jack?” Sophie asked, seeing her son with his eyes wandering on the blue sky.

“I need to learn,” Jack said.

Again, both Clara and Sophie were surprised and looked at each other. Neither found the answer in the other’s eyes.

They were both misunderstanding Jack’s purpose. He needed to learn about this world and his current memory. He had lots of doubts in his mind, especially about the disappearance of the system. Was this all a dream? But he found it too detailed and coherent to be so. Without the system, he felt even more lost. To find the answer, he would need to verify the history and magic of this world. If there were any headline mentioning an omnipotent sphere, perhaps he would discover the truth of soul deficiency. Because he hoped whatever was happening to him happened to Emily, Elle, and his friends.

With the hope of reuniting with them, the library shall be his first destination.

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