[Alliance] Seven Days

"It's fine. That one counted as mine." Ren Man's tone was gentle, as though he were comforting him. "You can hit him next time."

Bro, I might not be able to beat him without you. Ren Yi looked mournful, feeling that he had missed a great chance to give his "enemy" a thorough beating.

"Bro, let's go home. It's dangerous out here." Ren Yi edged closer to Ren Man and spoke in a low voice. After what had just happened, he clearly realized that he really was still too fragile.

From the adult weird beings' conversation, he could conclude that things like mirrors might only pose a threat to "younglings" like him and "children" like the little girl.

Ren Man nodded without speaking and took his hand, leading him to the electric scooter parked by the road. Once Ren Yi had settled onto the back seat, he finally had a chance to ask the question on his mind.

"Bro, I heard on the news that a 'Heartmare' presided over our awakening. So was Doctor Lin in charge of the awakening ceremony for everyone in our group?"

Ren Yi still wasn't used to being called a "youngling," so he had deliberately said "everyone" instead.

Ren Man concentrated on driving the scooter. At his words, he shook his head. "There are many Heartmares."

Oh. Ren Yi finally understood. Heartmare was a weird race, not a name for one particular person.

In that case, were there Wang Heartmares, Zhao Heartmares, Ouyang Heartmares and Shangguan Heartmares too...

"But you were right to hit him," Ren Man added.

Ren Yi: "..." Ignoring his brother's attempts to egg him on, Ren Yi's thoughts continued to wander.

"Bro, what are we, then?" Ren Yi asked curiously. Since Doctor Lin and the others were Heartmares, surely he and Ren Man had a race name of their own?

Ren Man's body paused, and he fell silent. Ren Yi could tell that the question seemed to have stumped him.

The scooter traveled smoothly along, the trees by the road whizzing past.

After a long while, Ren Man finally managed to squeeze out a sentence. "There's only us."

After another lengthy pause, he added, "Want to pick one?"

Ren Yi was dumbfounded at suddenly being granted the right to name their race. "Then what about when you were a youngling, Bro? Who was your family?"

"I grew up on my own," Ren Man answered calmly.

Ren Yi was taken aback, feeling a slight tightness in his chest.

Grew up on your own? Does the first member of a race have to grow up alone? What about the Alliance? Didn't they do anything?

He wanted to ask more, like how Ren Man had grown up, why there were only two of them in their race, and what abilities they had.

But Ren Man seemed to have made up his mind and clammed up completely. No matter what Ren Yi asked, he wouldn't say another word.

"All right." Once Ren Yi realized his brother wasn't going to tell him, he gave up pressing him and changed the subject. "What about the mirror, then? Why are 'younglings' drawn to mirrors?"

"Younglings are curious," Ren Man answered succinctly.

No, that's really not it! I'm the victim here! The mirror was the one drawing me in!

Fortunately, Ren Man seemed to notice how aggrieved he felt and added in a comforting tone, "You won't be when you grow up."

"Then was the little girl suddenly 'seeing' because of the mirror too?" Ren Yi asked.

"Mm. She might have seen her dad use the mirror."

So adult weird beings can 'use' mirrors. Ren Yi silently made a note of it. As for what they used them for, Ren Man only said, "You'll find out soon."

Ren Yi remembered what Doctor Lin had mentioned earlier and continued, "Doctor Lin said that little girl might get another 'mom.' What did he mean?"

"That won't happen in our family," Ren Man said calmly and firmly. "It's just you and me in our family."

Ren Yi fell silent for a moment, then worked up the courage to ask, "Then... where did we come from?"

He had actually wanted to ask that for a long time. Since they weren't human and didn't have "parents," there had to be some way they were "born," right?

Ren Man: "...We popped out of a rock."

"Bro, can you be serious?" Ren Yi was exasperated. He was asking a perfectly serious question!

"I am serious," Ren Man said.

Ren Yi sighed, knowing he wouldn't get anything more out of him. He leaned against Ren Man's back. Although he still had many questions, he felt inexplicably reassured.

It seemed there were some things he would only learn after he "grew up."

After they got home, Ren Man seemed to feel guilty about the "mirror incident" and let Ren Yi lounge around for another day.

Over the remaining five days, Ren Yi's life as a "weird being" raced along a strange path of growth.

On the first day, he "shattered" at three in the morning.

It wasn't a broken bone. His whole body began breaking into fragments from the chest outward, floating through the air like a cloud of dispersing smoke.

Without a word, Ren Man picked up Ren Yi's scattered pieces and brought them back one by one.

Once again, Ren Yi realized that maintaining the Humanoid Form really did take skill.

On the second day, building on the first, Ren Yi learned to "float."

That was right. Ren Yi had gained the ability to fly just after awakening, an ability that took at least three major realms to obtain in all kinds of fantasy novels.

Unfortunately, he could only hover in the sky like a cloud, and his speed left much to be desired.

Meanwhile, the main plan to become human still hadn't made any progress.

On the third day, feeling the deadline approaching, Ren Yi finally managed to maintain "half a Humanoid Form."

His upper body looked human, while his lower body looked like data that hadn't finished loading. After a couple of steps, everything below his knees would fall apart and patter onto the ground.

Ren Man held him like a bundle of sacks and said, "Again."

Fortunately, Ren Yi quickly developed the "Spider-Leg Technique" to move on eight tentacles. And, honestly, it was much faster than two legs.

On the fourth day, he finally managed to maintain a complete "Humanoid Form."

He looked like a white human silhouette, his features blurred but their outlines barely discernible.

He tried sculpting his face, but in this form it was soft, like molding jelly.

"Bro, my face fell off!"

"You'd fit right in at a haunted house," Ren Man commented flatly.

As an aside, Ren Yi had previously passed along Lu Zihan's invitation to a summer job, and Ren Man had generously said he could do as he liked once he reached E-Rank.

On the fifth day, Ren Yi saw "himself" using his perception.

He was no longer a jumble of limbs or a broken silhouette, but a delicate-featured human boy with soft features and bright, lively eyes.

Though his ears were still accidentally a tiny bit pointed, and barely perceptible white mist rippled when he breathed.

Ren Yi took a deep breath and looked at Ren Man beside him. "Bro, I did it."

Ren Man gave a hum of acknowledgment and raised a hand to stroke his head.

The air was still.

Today was the day the awakening results would be announced.

Ren Yi sat on the sofa, a little bored, refreshing his phone over and over.

"Bro, what kinds of things are usually 'food'?"

The earlier informative post had said that F-Rank younglings only needed to "feed" once to advance to E-Rank and gain an ability, but every weird being's food was different.

"Certain... energies," Ren Man said from beside him. He seemed to be in a good mood and was talking a little more than usual, but each thing he listed fit Ren Yi's idea of weird beings better than the last.

"Follow certain rules to produce energy. Common ones are fear, pain, or converting flesh and blood or souls."

"But the Alliance collects it." Ren Man tilted his head. "You don't need to worry about the first time."

So the Alliance even collects such abstract energy for weird beings to absorb?

Ren Yi's lips twitched as he realized the Alliance's tech tree had probably branched out in stranger directions than he had imagined.