"....Haa.”

A youth was currently lying down in a large clearing. The boy was drenched in sweat as he breathed heavily, attempting to replenish his body’s supply of oxygen. There was a serious expression on his face.

The boy was a little over four foot six inches tall. He had messy, short auburn hair with large, round hazel eyes. His frame was skinny. The drenched clothing he was wearing were made from fine silk that exuded a noble and expensive feel.

“This goddamn body still won’t react exactly as I want it to. Haa… I guess it is to be expected from the body of a child. I wonder how much more I’ll have to train to get complete control over my body again…. Still, I should probably head back before mom notices that I snuck out.”

As the boy finished saying those words, he got up to his feet before he started jogging out from the clearing and headed out of the forest. After jogging for around fifteen minutes, he was able to see the outline of a city on top of a large hill and quickened his pace.

“Welcome back, young master!”

The guards who were stationed at the city’s gates stood up straight and saluted the small boy as he entered through the main gates. The boy, in return, smiled at the guards and waved at them to relax as he hastily ran past them and headed toward the middle of the city.

After walking for around thirty minutes, the boy finally arrived in front of a large estate that was surrounded by large, thick marble walls on all sides. Using a secret passage that he discovered long ago as a child, he quietly sneaked back into the estate before rushing to his room. Once he finally arrived, he let a sigh of relief out and began to change into a different set of clothes.

“And where are you coming back from, all drenched in soak, Reynald?”

Just as he took off his shirt though, a voice rang out from the corner of his room which caused him to jump in fright. Quickly turning around, the boy saw a female standing in a space that, just a second ago, was empty. Hastily putting his shirt back on, his face contorted into an awkward smile as he replied back.

“Hey mom! I heard that there was something interesting going on in the city so I thought that I’d drop by to see what the fuss was about.”

The woman in the corner of the room stood at about five feet three inches in height with long strawberry blonde hair that reached her lower back. Her figure was slim and she wore a long blue dress that fitted her body quite well. Even though her age already passed her thirties, many people would automatically assume the lady was still in her early twenties with her beautiful face and smooth skin. The woman was the Marquees of the Moonshadow region, and mother of Reynald, Elizabeth Frostmoon.

Elizabeth humphed at Reynald’s explanation while she maintained a stern expression as she listened to Reynald fumble through his explanation. Seeing the cute expression on Reynald’s face though, the seriousness in her face slowly melted away as it was replaced by adoration and care. When she noticed the change in her expression, Elizabeth tried to change it back, but Reynald noticed the minute change.

Using the knowledge, he used his final trump card to placate his mom.

“Mom, while I was walking around the city, I found this and thought of you so I bought it for you.”

Saying those words, Reynald hastily scrambled through his pockets before his hands came back out. Stretching his hand out, he turned his palm up to show that the object that was inside of palm was a beautiful teal stone that’s surface resembled glass.

Seeing the beautiful stone and Reynald’s pure expression, Elizabeth finally wasn’t able to hold her stern expression anymore and walked forward to hug her son. After maintaining the hug for a dozen seconds, she finally released him while receiving the stone and patting his head.

“Oh honey, thank you for the beautiful present. I’ll treasure it greatly. Anyways it is time for dinner. Hurry up and change so we can go eat.”

Saying those words, Elizabeth stood back up and exited the room. Reynald could’ve sworn that he was able to see a little hop in his mom’s footsteps. Seeing his mom leave the room, he finally let out a sigh of relief, congratulating himself for always carrying around an emergency mother’s gift. Once he was finished changing clothes, he rushed out of his room and went to the dining room.

After eating a scrumptious dinner, Reynald was just about to go back to his room when his mother called out to him.

“Hey, honey. Mom’s going to have to go on a trip tomorrow. I’ll be gone for a week or so.”

Elizabeth’s face was filled with regret and guilt as she said those words. As her husband, Reynald’s father, died a long time ago during a battle, she was the only parent Reynald had. Unfortunately, due to her work, she had to leave Reynald alone at home with the maids and servants a few times every year when she went on long trips. Reynald was simply too young to accompany her on these important duties.

Even though she didn’t have any other choices, it still left Elizabeth in guilt, having to leave him by himself. Seeing his mom’s expression and knowing what she was thinking, Reynald’s purposely tried to smile more brightly as he hugged his mom.

“It’s alright, mom. I’m not a little child anymore, you know? Just go and do what needs to be done. I’ll be able to take care of myself until then, okay? I’m not a little boy anymore, after all. Just make sure to bring back something tasty, okay?”

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Elizabeth wasn’t able to help but smile as she patted his messy auburn hair. After the two spent a few more minutes to talk, Reynald excused himself and went back to his room. Making sure his door was locked, he sat down cross legged on his bed before he slowly closed his eyes. Feeling the ki in his body, he started to circulate it around his body through his meridians. After spending a couple of hours repeating the same action, he finally opened his eyes as he stretched his body in a relaxed manor.

“Even though I have a long way to go still, my progress is still somewhat faster than my previous life. What do you think, Azul?”

’I’m not sure what your state was like when you were young, master, but your ki level is indeed already close to what an ordinary adult would have.’

“Haha you’re right. Still, it’s amazing that people can use magic in this world. It’s a shame that I wasn’t born with such talent though… I wonder why I’m able to use ki in this world when no one else is able to…”

’Like I said before master, it most likely has to do with the fact that I fused with your soul before you passed away.’

“Yeah, it’s the only thing that would make sense. Still, it’s crazy that you were able to gain a conscious when you fused with my soul, Azul.”

’It was a shocking development for myself, also.’

“Still, I’m glad that you’re here with me, Azul.”

Reynald had retained the memories of his past life from the beginning. From the start, he noticed that there was a foreign presence within his soul back then and panicked. At first, he tried to use any method he was able to think of to push it out of his soul, but he soon started to realize that the even though the presence was foreign, it felt familiar. In the end, Azul woke up a couple of years later and to his great shock, he discovered that she was the conscious of his former partner, Moon’s Reflection.

He had to admit though, it felt uncomfortable at first when Azul regained her consciousness. Still, as time passed he grew accustomed to the feeling and now thought of it as being natural. Also, there were a few perks that he discovered after doing a couple of experiments.

The range of his senses seemed to have improved tremendously. Even though he was only an eight year old child right now, his senses were already able to encompass a range of over a hundred meters already. Also, his meridians were abnormally large and sturdy, allowing him to spend much less time attempting to strengthen them. Finally, the quantity and quality of his ki were even better than when he was alive before.

The only unfortunate thing was that he was not able to use the high level skills that he knew from the past yet as his body and meridians weren’t able to handle them at the moment. Still, he was able to tell that in the future, he would definitely be able to surpass his past self in strength by several fold.

One of the first things he noticed in this new world, to his great shock, was the use of magic. He still remembered how a young maid dropped of a vase which shattered in thousand of pieces. The young maid at first panicked and profusely apologized to his mother. Elizabeth, on the other hand, just patted her on the head before she pointed her finger at the broken vase.

At first, Reynald was wondering why his mother was just standing still and pointing at the vase. He assumed he was pointing at the vase for a servant to come clean it. Boy, was he dead wrong.

Not long afterwards, a green light appeared at the tip of Elizabeth’s finger. While he was amazed at the sudden green light that appeared, he found out, to his amazement, that the shattered pieces of the vase soon started to reassemble in the air. Not even ten seconds later, the vase was back into it’s original shape, floating in the air. Thanking his mother once again, the maid took the vase and headed to her original location.

Later on, when he grew a little more and was able to fluently speak the new language in that world, he asked his mother what she did back that day. When he found out that it was magic, his eyes opened wide in shock and he pestered Elizabeth to teach him magic. Unfortunately, he would soon find out afterwards that he had a rare body which wasn’t capable of storing mana, which made it impossible for him to become a mage.

He was still able to recall the look of disappointment that flashed across his mother’s eyes when she found that out.  After all, even warriors were able to use mana somewhat to increase their body strength. With Reynald’s rare disposition, it looked as though he wasn’t fated to become a strong warrior or mage.

Even though he knew all this, Reynald wasn’t very disappointed. After all, he already guessed somewhat that it would happen since his body possessed ki still. He was just curious in using magic, just like a kid was excited to try out a new toy. Still, seeing the disappointment flash across his mother’s face, he was determined to make a name for himself once again in this world just so she wouldn’t have to feel disappointed ever again.

“Anyways, Azul. Tomorrow let’s head out after mom leaves and train. I still need to get more familiarity with your new form.”

’Understood, master.’

“I wonder just how much I’ll be able to improve compared to my old self.”

With eyes full of anticipation, Reynald began to plan for his training session tomorrow.