Chapter 2: Rebirth and Discovery

Thorian’s mind blanked as he looked at the proof that was laid bare in front of his eyes. I… What does this mean? How?!

Thorian looked at his own body in shock for a full minute. The white fur, his hairy paw-like hands, his skeletal structure, all of it felt unfamiliar to him. It was as if his soul had been ripped from his original body and shoved into this new one.

As rage bubbled inside his heart, Thorian took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. At least I am alive… Somehow, even after Sun Sacrifice, I was given another chance.

Thorian remembered the face of Aldrich as he screamed in horror, and a warm breeze cooled his raging heart. In the end, even if he changed species, he lived, while they were burned to ashes by the flames of their greed.

The now white kobloid cackled at this strange turn of fate. However, as he looked back at his own body, he couldn’t help but click his tongue.

Did it need to be a white kobloid though? Couldn’t I have reincarnated in a stronger monster’s body?

Thorian opened his system panel and focused on the skill displayed at the bottom.

Minor Moon Boost (Passive)

Description: As a creature attuned to the moon, you gain power in its presence. Strength and Agility are boosted by 25% at night.

It is indeed as useless of a skill as I remembered, Thorian grimaced as he thought, What use is there for such a thing when nights are so short?

Thorian furrowed what used to be his eyebrows as his mind was filled with thoughts. Some of the other monsters that filled the cave looked at him with a mix of interest and curiosity, but he paid them no heed.

There is no use sitting here thinking, I need to see what is happening outside.

Thorian made his way to the entrance of the cave, each step he took had the confidence and bearing of a lord. Some of the kobloids sneered and growled at him for displaying such arrogance, but Thorian didn’t feel the need to even acknowledge their presence.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the new light when he walked outside the cave. In front of him was a clearing with fairly tall grass and green shrubbery. The vibrant and healthy colors told Thorian that it was the middle of Spring.

A smile parted his lips as he remembered the days before the apocalypse had happened. Now that I think of it; it was spring when it happened. Almost ten years ago…

Thorian looked up to the sky and basked in the warmth of the sun when his facial expression froze. Wait, what in the world? Where is the second one?

Thorian stared in shock at the sky which did not make any sense to him. Ever since the apocalypse started with the introduction of the “System”, a second sun stood along their old one. After ten years had passed, it became a natural and normal sight.

What’s happening? Did I go back to before the apocalypse? No, I cannot be hasty in my thoughts. This could be a completely different world.

Thorian went back inside the cave while frowning. His mind was a storm of different thoughts and doubts. If this was a different world, then there wasn’t much he could do. However, if he did indeed go back in time, then a host of opportunities and risks were presented in front of him.

I did hear rumors about the monsters appearing even before the apocalypse truly began. If I did truly go back in time, then it should happen very soon.

No matter whether this was a different world or he had gone back in time, Thorian needed to go out and explore. Staying in this dark cave without any knowledge of the outside world would drive him crazy.

But I can’t do it now, Thorian clenched his fangs. If I meet other monsters, I will be at a great disadvantage when the moon is not shining.

He cursed his fate for having reincarnated into a monster with such a glaring weakness before he took a deep breath. For now, the wisest choice would be to sit and wait for the sun to set.

After a few minutes of sitting down among the noisy monsters playing around, Thorian tapped his feet in annoyance. If only I could meditate and cultivate my Qi, this would be a perfect time for it.

As his thoughts reached Qi cultivation, Thorian raised his eyebrow as the most outlandish idea took form in his mind.

Surely it won’t work, but… It doesn’t hurt to try.

With hesitant movement, Thorian sat down in a lotus position. While the other white kobolds looked at him with weird stares, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly but surely, he performed the breathing technique he had been using for almost five years. Minutes passed and Thorian could not feel any change.

So like I thought, it does not work?

Even as doubts crept into his heart, Thorian continued practicing his breathing technique. Since there wasn’t much else for him to do, he did not feel that this was time wasted.

As half an hour had passed, he finally felt the ether in the air slowly breaking through Qi paths. What in the seven hells? I have never seen paths that are this filthy and clogged.

For a second, Thorian was about to stop his breathing cycle and curse outloud. In the ten years that he had spent practicing, training, and teaching, he had never seen a body with this much filth inside of them.

Hopefully, I can reach the first realm in this session.

Even though this body was not the best suited for cultivation, Thorian felt secretly happy. One could only meditate for one session each day, such were the rules that the gods had enforced. Even the royals and imperials with their most luxurious cultivation houses could only meditate for six hours a day. A normal person without access to any facilities could meditate for two.

If this was another world that played by similar rules, then Thorian felt glad that he did not waste precious days and months before discovering that he could meditate. However, if he had truly gone back in time, then this was a boon that could not be ascribed a price.

Minutes soon turned into hours as Thorian pushed the ether around him through his clogged and filthy Qi paths. Thorian's meditation felt like chiseling through stone with a blunt pickaxe, as he struggled to clear his blocked Qi channels using the natural energy of the world.

Just as his session was about to end, ether finally fully cracked through Thorian’s qi path and reached his dantian. Once it reached its natural destination, it transformed from pure ether to a qi that is truly his own.

Congratulations, you have unlocked the cultivation system

Display Panel

Ding

Race: White Kobloid

Lifespan: 40 years

Level: 1/15 (exp: 0/10)

Cultivation realm: Qi Gathering First Stage (7.9%)

Stats:

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Constitution: 7

Mana: 3

Qi: 1

Skills:

Minor Moon Boost (Passive)

As he looked at the system panel in front of him, Thorian grinned. Good… A monster that can cultivate his Qi? Now, that is something unheard of.

“Smelly poo!”

Thorian was confused by the angry deep voice before he turned and looked back. A monster that stood head and shoulders above the rest, a proper white kobold, pointed at him with an angry face. The other monsters were also disgruntled as they stole glances at him.

“Smelly poo! Go lake clean!”

Thorian looked around him. He was surrounded by a black goo-like substance that stuck to his white fur.

“Smelly poo! Go lake!”

Thorian raised an eyebrow at the white kobold that was slowly approaching him. The tone with which the monster was talking to him made the hair on his neck stand; his body physically reacted to the challenge to his authority. Is this thing trying to pick a fight with me?

Thorian instinctively pushed the small amount of ki in his dantian to strengthen his body. However, just as the qi exited his dantian through his channels, all of his muscles tensed and locked up.

No, this body isn’t used to handling Qi yet.

As the realization hit him that he would not be able to move his body, the white kobold took Thorian’s silence as an act of defiance. The last thing he saw was the monster’s fist before it punched him in the face.