After reading the page, Lin began to turn what he learned over in his head. However, his musing was soon interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Lin-Lin! Breakfast is ready!"
A woman's voice was heard on the other side, her familiar tone apparent.
Lin, flustered, hurriedly untangled himself from a heap of sheets. He must've woken up on the floor because he fell off the bed…
'Act natural...'
Lin tried telling himself that, but unfortunately, his voice inadvertently tremored from nervousness.
"I, I'll be right there-!"
'?!'
Lin froze, widening his eyes in shock with his mouth agape. He was certain he had moved his mouth to speak Chinese, yet an entirely different dialect flowed out.
[It's exactly as you think! Quite convenient, no?]
"Definitely."
Lin spoke shortly, his concern already elsewhere.
What he was truly worried about wasn't how his words automatically translated into this world's language, but how he would act familiar and natural in front of people he had never met.
Anxious, he rushed out of the room, his heart beating wildly. It was undoubtedly nerve wracking
Lin navigated the house by relying on the memories left behind by the original Lin, his breathing bated.
When he finally reached the dining room, he could immediately smell a pleasing aroma wafting about. On top of a round table were four plates of steaming scrambled eggs and toast, a jam jar adorning the center of the display.
'Western food…'
It seemed that the panzelas had a culture similar to that of the west. Hao Lin wasn't very accustomed to the style, but he wasn't adverse to it either. Though, he found it a bit funny that names were Chinese despite it.
Feeling tense yet anticipant, Lin sat down at the table, waiting for the rest of the family to come before eating.
Just as he settled down, a young boy looking to be around the age of 12 approached him with a discontent expression.
"Lin, you're in my seat."
'Oh, this must be my younger brother, Hao Rong.'
After contemplating how to address the kid, Lin spoke up with a slight smile.
"Morning, Rong."
Unfortunately for Rong, Lin seemed to have let his complaint slip his mind entirely.
"Hahh. Lin you're in my seat."
Rong raised his voice a little, his immature side peeking through the agitated tone.
'In his moody stage, huh..?'
"I don't see your name on it."
Lin smirked jokingly, trying to lighten up the stiff frown on his brother's face. However, the boy refused to cooperate…
"You should know this already. My seat always has nothing with milk, and that's the only plate without cheese. What's so hard about moving?"
'I mean, technically we could just switch the plates… but it doesn't really matter anyway…'
Lin was too preoccupied with the strange environment to care much about such things.
"Alright, alright."
Raising his hands in the air as if in the middle of a confrontation with the police, Lin casually got out of his seat and plopped into another one.
He let out a breath that sounded like a mix between a sigh and a laugh, resting his head on his hand while staring at the tempting display of food in front of him.
'The hell…? Is he in a good mood, or something?'
Usually, Rong's older brother would act stubborn and retort back, yet strangely he listened well this time around…
Scrunching up his face in suspicion, Rong sat down slowly, his eyes still glued to Lin who was acting unusual.
Eventually, Lin's mother, Luo Wen, and his father, Hao Qiang, joined them at the table.
With everyone present, they began eating.
Comically, Rong was devouring his food as if he hadn't eaten dinner the night before.
"Haha! Hungry, Rong? It's good, right?"
Luo Wen chuckled lightly at the sight, her eyes curving happily.
"Definitely. It's much better than last time!"
Speaking between eager mouthfuls, Rong responded cheerily.
"Yeah, I tried to avoid last week's incident. The eggs were very… peppery."
Wen flashed a lighthearted grin.
"Hahaha! They weren't that bad. I actually prefer them that way!"
Lin Qiang said jokingly with a boisterous laugh.
"Ew. Dad, you're weird…"
Rong wore an exaggeratedly disturbed expression as he gave his dad a sidelong glance.
At that, the table brightened with laughter. Among this cheerful exchange, Lin felt bubbly with joy. It was something he had always wanted to experience, but never could. He couldn't help feeling a bit more content with the novel atmosphere...
Once the plates were cleared, everyone went to their respective rooms to prepare for the day.
Back in his room, Lin closed the door and began wracking his brain for the original Lin's memories.
Apparently, his school required a uniform, so he swiftly dressed into the crisp clothing, tying a red collar ribbon around his neck. The color of the ribbon showed which year you were in, red being for freshmen.
Then, the horrendous mess on the desk caught his eye.
The sprawled papers were his summer homework that he'd finished last minute the night before.
'New information acquired! OG Lin was a procrastinator.'
Lin thought jokingly as he gathered the crinkled sheets and organized them into his backpack. With the pens and papers cleared from the desktop, the clean white surface was finally revealed.
Feeling satisfied, Lin resumed getting ready, heading to the bathroom to wash up. However, he ended up pausing in front of the door, hesitant.
It wasn't an easy thing to know that you would see an entirely different face in the mirror, so he had to take a moment to steel his nerves.
After a deep breath, Lin finally faced his reflection… And that's when he realized he had hit the jackpot in the looks department.
His facial features were distinct and deep grey irises hid beneath tired yet sharp eyelids. His eyes drooped subtly and his lips were quite healthy. But the true finishing touches were the silver stud above a hanging, silver rod earring.
Altogether, he gave off a charming and carefree vibe.
'Damn! Not to sound conceited, but I'm f*cking handsome!'
[You sound very conceited.]
Bai chimed within his head.
'Shut up…'
Lin looked at himself, gawking. Then, he broke into a wide grin.
'Woah! Dazzling!'
[Stop exaggerating...]
Bai huffed in exasperation and materialized in front of Lin on the counter.
[Stop acting like an idiot and just get ready.]
It was clear the little fox was becoming impatient.
'Alright, alright. I'm going.'
Lin hurriedly began brushing his wispy, light brown hair to a fitting style.
'Western food, western hair… only thing that's chinese is the names. What happened? Were we whitewashed…?'
Lin sighed dramatically despite being the only one there... He was a peculiar kid in that he could entertain himself with his own humor…
After another round of nagging from Bai, Lin finally finished.
Plopping onto the living room couch, he went over what he knew while waiting for his mom.
The school he was going to had two campuses, one for regular study and the other for cultivation classes. The latter had basic courses as well, but needed a longer school day to incorporate cultivation into the curriculum.
Lin's parents, with much difficulty, had managed to get the original Hao Lin to enroll for the cultivation campus. He was far from happy with the decision, but in the end, his parents had the last say.
Eventually, Wen rushed out of the bathroom with her purse and keys jangling in her hand.
"Let's go Lin-lin!"
"Ok!"
Lin approached her, eyes sparkling with excitement. Understandably, his mother looked at him with bewilderment.
"Excited now, are we?"
She said with raised eyebrows.
The moody teenager had been arguing with her just yesterday about how he didn't want to go to the school and that they could still back out if she let him. Yet, now he was brimming with excitement.
Quickly realizing the objectively odd change, Lin clumsily conjured up an excuse.
"Um… I had a dream. A really weird one where an old man, who called himself god, said that the school will be more exciting than I think. His reassurance was really helpful, so I decided to keep an open mind."
In the midst of Lin's awkwardness, Bai snickered.
[That's what you came up with? Hahahahaha!!]
'…'
Lin tactfully decided to stay quiet.
"Oh, that's good!"
Wen smiled brightly, turning to the front door to leave.
'See? It worked.'
[Yeah, yeah. Sure. Whatever.]
One could hear twinge of annoyance in his tone, but Lin decided to let it go with just a sly smirk.
Following his mother to the car, he sat in the passenger seat while Wen turned on the car and started to drive.
'It's so smooth…'
Lin thought in wonder.
On Numia, all electrical energy came from a special type of stone called a qi stone. They held large amounts of qi and since they were abundant and relatively cheap, they were widely used as the main energy source. Additionally, they last long and don't emit harmful gases, making them an ideal alternative to the fossil fuels of the past.
'Fascinating… everything's so different…'
The car was silent as Lin peered outside the window. People walked around with peculiar yet obedient beasts while children chased each other with plastic swords. At a nearby restaurant, customers and staff alike laughed as a bird-like beast pecked at a plate of food.
The prospect of living in this world left Lin elated. He was so mesmerized by the peaceful scene that he didn't even notice that the car had come to a stop.
"We're here. Have a good first day, Lin-lin and try to enjoy, even if it wasn't the ideal place you wanted to go to."
She gave a worried look as she watched Lin step out of the car.
"I will. Love you mom."
After finishing their goodbyes, Lin was left alone in front of the school campus, gawking.
Behind the grand, wide open gates, a large, three story building with clean brick walls stood before him. A spacious pavilion spread in front of the entrance, an intricate stone pattern lining the floor.
Children stood throughout, laughing and chatting loudly in the humid heat while flocking to the shaded areas.
Lin spotted an empty bench and sat down, scanning the area in awe.
While waiting, he briefly checked the time.
Four minutes until school started.
Soon a loud bell chimed once, signifying the start of school as well as the first class.
Lin glanced at his schedule and headed towards his first period.
Looking back on the original Lin's memory of orientation, the freshmen were allowed to look for their classes and explore the school after a few speeches.
Lin found the classroom and took a seat just before the late bell rang.
Immediately, the teacher introduced herself and went over the syllabus she handed out moments ago. Then, she reviewed what the students should've learned last year.
'Luckily, I've already learned everything she's reviewed. Hopefully, the rest of the classes are the same, except history which I can rely on og Lin's memory for.'
Lin was quite relieved. He didn't know what'd he'd do if he couldn't keep up.
The rest of the core classes played out similarly and now it was time for the cultivation classes.
However, their structure was different. Each student had to go through a test when applying to the school. They would be tested on their perception of qi, and it was no surprise that Lin had failed. This put him into all beginner classes.
They say it in plural form, but beginner classes were really just one class: perception class.
You'd be taught methods on how to develop qi perception and then given the rest of the time to practice. If needed, the instructor would guide you and once it was confirmed that you could perceive qi, you could choose two freshman classes of your choice.
Typically, it took around five days for the average student to start perceiving qi well enough to learn other things. Subsequently, all other cultivation classes were put on hold for the first week and a half.
If one failed to perceive qi in that time, they were deemed incapable of cultivation and sent to the regular campus. It was strict, but they couldn't wait for forever.