Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm clock went.
That was until a hand slapped it hard enough for it to stop.
"Never was and sadly never will be a morning person" Alaric groggily spoke annoyed from awakening at the terribly shrill noise.
"I wish I could have my phone with its classical music alarm from my former life." He uttered.
"Welp, let's get something to eat. And I need to pretend of going to the library in order to make the Miss Evans not suspicious."
Those were Alaric's thoughts right after getting up to start wearing his clothes. He always slept with only a T-Shirt and short pants after all. And in his usual day to day he wore a jeans together with a T-Shirt and a baggy zip-up hoodie.
He lucked out in that regard, because those things were always clothes that got send to the orphanage when people thought it was too sad to throw them away.
After doing his usual morning rituals of freshen up in the bathroom, sadly shared, but since the orphanage separated the kids based on age and gender, he usually had the bathroom to himself, since none of the younger kids woke up before 7 in the morning.
School was only a 20-minute walk away — a blessing for kids who'd rather sleep in and sprint than wake up early.
Thankfully it was Sunday and he didn't have to go to school in the first place.
After freshening himself up Alaric went to the dining room, where a small assortment of bread, jam and eggs was awaiting him.
After filling his plate with a batch of food, he strode to the table.
"Thank God, that this guy Zhao Tian from the village so eagerly accepted my lie so easily. Then again, I assume that people in these small villages don't really have to doubt that story, after all, none of them would ever think that I came from another world."
Clank! Suddenly Alaric looked up, finding one of the older kids sitting itself opposite of him.
"Morning, Alaric."
"Morning, Edmund."
Edmund, a kid 2 years older than Alaric. A guy who also rather appreciated the company of books to the company of other people. In his case though, it was more along the lines of entertainment mediums. One of the few people that Alaric didn't mind talking to as he could at least keep up with him somewhat.
"Any plans for today, Alaric?" he asked while deciding what to eat first on his plate.
"Going to the library."
"Ah yes, our genius needs to go find some more books. At this point I'm surprised that you haven't been thrown out of there already, since you are practically living there." He said with a smug.
"Nah, Miss Fields, the librarian is quite nice to me."
"Which is astounding after that story, where she found you in the library in the morning after you slept the whole night in there."
"Mate, I was sick and simply fell asleep on the sofa. And it's also not like I did anything weird at the night. I didn't even realize it until she woke me up in the morning." He drily muttered.
"Lucky ass, everyone else she would've screamed at."
Alaric gave him a stare, that felt like it penetrated Edmund's soul.
"Yeah, after that story where you let the books for the 12 years olds drop right into the mud after walking out the library, you don't need to be surprised by it."
"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! I ALREADY TOLD YOU I SIMPLY TRIPPED! Man …" Edmund screamed aloud. Everyone in the room turning to him.
"Just saying." Alaric cheekily answered with a smug.
"Yeah, yeah" he whispered after sitting down again.
"Well, I'm off. See ya." Alaric said and brought his plate back to the table for dirty dishes before going off into the direction of the library.
Alaric went to a small alley right between 2 smaller apartment buildings, and hid behind a glass container before activating his scar.
Pop!
This time he didn't feel like vomiting all his insides out.
"Seems like my body adapted to the transportation this time." He thought while already walking along the path towards the Silver Flower Village.
In the distance he heard an old grandpa screaming at the Zhao Tian.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LET HIM GO? IT'S A SMALL CHILD. WHAT IF HE WERE TO BE EATEN BY ONE OF THE TEN-YEAR OLD BEASTS AROUND HERE?" the elder screamed as if he had been robbed in bright daylight.
"Look I already said, that I didn't think abo… Ah, there he is." He spoked as he suddenly saw Alaric closing in.
As soon as Alaric came close, he said "Hello Uncle Zhao, I'm here to get my Spirit awoken, can you tell me what exactly I need to do?"
"Are you okay youngster?" The village chief instantly interrupted the conversation.
"Uh, yeah senior …" Alaric hesitated.
"Mei Lan, for you its village chief or elder Mei. Now tell me are you sure you are not injured? There are spirit beasts around here, and although they aren't dangerous for adults and usually don't come all too close to the village, you are still a small child." The village chief asked with a worrying expression.
"No village chief, in I'm used to hiding in the forest. After all the Martial Hunting Village's primary work is hunting. So, I'm used to finding a place to sleep in the forest." Alaric lied straight through his teeth.
"That's good to hear, I was worried after THIS IDIOT here, told me he simply let you run off." Mei Lan explained.
"Chief, I …" Zhao Tian instantly tried to explain again.
"ENOUGH, we will talker later about that. Now we need to get this kid get his martial soul unlocked. Come with me, little Alaric, the ceremony is to begin in 20 minutes and we should already be there." The village chief told him and instantly started to walk off in the direction of the biggest building in the village, with Alaric instantly following him.
Upon arriving he noticed a relatively big crowd of 2 dozen people with 8 children waiting before them, huddled together in a small group.
The person who stood out the most was the only person in the crowd who looked like he had enough money to actually buy properly colored clothing.
He wore a white robe with accents of gold on it. He looked into his 40s but with the temperament of an older soul.
Mei Lan instantly walks over to the soul deacon and spoke with a notable reverence and respect: "Sir Mu, we have the last child here now."
"Excellent, let's start then" he answered.