The Change at Six Years Old

On his sixth birthday, Lin Yun woke up very early.

Before dawn had even broken, he crawled out of his stiff, hard bed and tiptoed to the window. Outside lay the scenery unique to the civilian sector of Yangzhou City—dilapidated houses, narrow alleys, and the looming, faint outline of the massive city walls in the distance. The morning mist had yet to dissipate, and the air was filled with a faint scent of rust, said to be the smell of Monster blood drifting in from the Wilderness Area outside the city.

Lin Yun touched his chest, where the Small Bronze Tripod rested quietly against his skin, showing no signs of anything unusual.

Six years.

Six years ago, he had transformed from a graduate student who died in a plane crash into an infant in this apocalyptic world. Over these six years, he had learned one truth: some things cannot be rushed.

"Yun'er, are you up?" The voice of his grandfather, Lin Guodong, came from the outer room, sounding aged yet full of vigor.

"I'm up, Grandfather." Lin Yun replied and quickly walked out.

On the table in the outer room sat a glass of milk and a few steamed buns; this was his birthday breakfast. Lin Guodong sat opposite him with only a bowl of thin porridge. The old man saved everything edible for his grandson, unable to bear eating a single bite himself.

"Grandfather, you eat too." Lin Yun pushed a bun toward the old man.

"Grandfather has already eaten. You're growing, eat more." Lin Guodong pushed the bun back, his cloudy eyes filled with love.

Lin Yun did not insist further. He knew his grandfather's temper was harder than the city walls; once he said something, it was set in stone.

After finishing his meal, Lin Yun went out to find Luo Feng. He was his best friend in this world and the only person he had truly opened up to in the last six years.

Luo Feng's home was right next door, separated only by a corridor. Before Lin Yun even entered, he heard the sounds of "Heh! Hah!" coming from inside as Luo Feng practiced his punches. Peering in, he saw Luo Feng standing in a horse stance in the living room, his small face taut, throwing punches one after another.

"Luo Feng, up so early again?" Lin Yun walked into the living room.

Luo Feng stopped, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and grinned. "My dad says a Warrior must start from childhood. Why are you up so early today? Didn't you say today is your birthday?"

"Couldn't sleep." Lin Yun sat down nearby. "I'm six now; I feel like I've aged another year."

Luo Feng rolled his eyes. "If you're calling yourself old at six, what does that make me?"

Lin Yun couldn't help but laugh.

Luo Feng seemed more mature than his actual age, which likely had to do with his family. His father, Luo Hongguo, was an honest, hardworking laborer, his mother was in poor health, and there was a younger brother who needed looking after. The saying that children of the poor take on responsibilities early applied in every world.

"Come on, I'll take you to a great place." Luo Feng suddenly said, acting mysterious.

"What place?"

"Just follow me."

Luo Feng led Lin Yun through several alleys, winding around until they finally arrived in front of an abandoned factory. The factory gates were rusted, and the slogans on the walls were too faded to read, but the interior was quite spacious.

"This is my secret base." Luo Feng pushed open a crooked iron door and pointed inside. "Look, this used to be a Mechanical Processing Plant, but it was abandoned after a Monster attack."

He walked to a corner of the factory and moved a pile of debris, revealing a hole in the ground beneath it.

"There's a basement here. I've cleaned it up, and it's very tidy. We can practice our skills here from now on, and no one will bother us."

Lin Yun peered into the hole and found that it had been organized neatly, even featuring two makeshift beds made of wooden planks.

"You did this all by yourself?" Lin Yun was somewhat surprised.

Luo Feng nodded, a hint of pride on his face. "It took me two months."

Lin Yun was suddenly filled with emotion.

In the original story, Luo Feng was exactly this kind of precocious, resilient, and loyal person. He would work silently in the ruins, striving to become stronger in corners where no one was watching, only to eventually soar into the sky and make everyone look at him with newfound respect.

And now, Lin Yun had become the person closest to him.

"Luo Feng," Lin Yun looked at him earnestly, "let's practice together from now on."

Luo Feng was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Of course, why else would I have brought you here?"

The two children looked at each other, both seeing a tacit understanding in the other's eyes.

Three nights after his birthday, the change occurred.

Lin Yun woke from his sleep, feeling a familiar warmth spreading from his chest—exactly the same as it had been on the day of the plane crash six years ago.

He snapped his eyes open and looked down.

The Small Bronze Tripod, which had shown no reaction for six years, was now emitting a faint cyan glow. The light pulsed, dimming and brightening like a signal or a call.

"Finally..." Lin Yun muttered to himself, his heart rate accelerating sharply.

The frequency of the cyan light grew faster. The light pouring from the surface of the tripod began to spread outward, shrouding the entire room in a cyan halo. Lin Yun felt a massive suction force pulling from his chest; his consciousness began to blur, and his soul felt as if it were being dragged out of his body by an invisible hand.

He was all too familiar with this feeling.

Six years ago, on that crashing plane, he had experienced it once before.

But this time was different. This time, he felt no fear, only anticipation.

The cyan light grew more intense. The tripod detached from Lin Yun's chest and hovered in mid-air, rotating slowly. Those ancient patterns began to flow as if they had come to life, sketching out an incredibly complex magic array in the air.

Then, a crack tore open in the void.

On the other side of the crack was another sky, another world.

Carrying Lin Yun's soul, the tripod plunged headlong into the rift.

When Lin Yun regained consciousness, he felt himself lying on a soft bed.

The air was filled with a completely different scent—not the smell of rust from Yangzhou City, but the fragrance of grass and soil, along with a faint trace of incense.

He slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was a completely unfamiliar room.

The room was not large, but it was kept very tidy. The walls were built of bluestone, and the windows were fitted with stained glass. Sunlight filtered through the glass, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow on the floor. Beside the bed stood a wooden table, upon which lay a few books and some parchment filled with writing. In the corner of the room stood a wardrobe, its doors carved with heraldic patterns he could not quite decipher.

Where was this?

Lin Yun sat up and discovered that his body had become smaller—looking to be about five or six years old, much like it had been in the Swallowed Star World. He looked down at his chest; the Small Bronze Tripod was resting quietly against him, the lingering glow of its green light just beginning to fade.

At that moment, a chaotic surge of memories flooded into his mind like a tidal wave.

He saw a woman—gentle, beautiful, with long chestnut hair. She was holding an infant, humming a lullaby in a soft voice.

He saw a man—tall, strong, his brow exuding a heroic spirit. He held a child in one arm, standing before an ancient manor, his gaze firm and profound.

He saw two children chasing and playing in the courtyard of the manor. One was a cute boy, and the other, born a few minutes later, was the younger of the twins.

That younger brother was him.

Six years of memories poured into Lin Yun's consciousness within a few seconds. He knew that the name of this body was Lin Yun Baruch, the young master of the Baruch Clan. He knew the other boy was his twin brother, Linley Baruch. He knew that the man was his father, Hogg Baruch, and that the woman was his mother, who had "passed away from illness" shortly after his other younger brother, Wharton, was born.

He also knew that the Baruch Clan had once been glorious. They carried the bloodline of the Dragonblood Warrior and were one of the most powerful warrior clans on the Yulan Continent. But now, the clan had long since fallen, leaving behind only this dilapidated manor and a few loyal servants.

Lin Yun sat on the bed, taking a long time to digest these memories.

The Baruch Clan, Dragonblood Warrior, his twin brother Linley...

These names, these settings—he was all too familiar with them.

Was this not the novel he had once read?

The story about magic, Battle Qi, divine planes, and Sovereign gods—Coiling Dragon.

Linley Baruch, the protagonist of the Coiling Dragon World, the future Grandmist Controller.

And in this world, he was Linley's twin brother.

Lin Yun took a deep breath, struggling to calm himself down.

Six years ago, he had transmigrated to the Swallowed Star World and become Luo Feng's neighbor.

Six years later, the Small Bronze Tripod had brought him here, making him Linley's brother.

What secret was this Small Bronze Tripod hiding, exactly?

Just then, the bedroom door was pushed open.

A boy who looked almost identical to Lin Yun poked his head in. Seeing Lin Yun sitting on the bed, he paused for a moment before breaking into a wide grin.

"Lin Yun, you're awake? That's great! You've been asleep for an entire day; I thought you were sick."

This was Linley Baruch, his twin brother.

Lin Yun looked at this face, both familiar and strange, and a peculiar feeling welled up in his heart.

"I'm fine," he said, his voice calmer than he had imagined, "I just had a very long dream."

"What kind of dream?" Linley asked curiously as he walked in and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I dreamed of..." Lin Yun paused, "...a place very, very far away."

Linley nodded as if he understood, then pulled him by the hand. "Get up quickly! Father said that today is the day we start; we're going to begin warrior training with the other children in town! Uncle Hillman is already waiting in the courtyard!"

Lin Yun let Linley pull him out of the room, his mind racing at high speed.

In the Swallowed Star World, he had trained with Luo Feng, but lacking guidance, his progress had been very slow. Furthermore, because he was too young, he hadn't dared to train too hard. Now, with Hillman—a Level 6 Warrior and a minor expert in the early stages—to guide his training, his progress would surely be much faster!

Six years old, two worlds running in parallel; everything was just beginning.

He touched the Small Bronze Tripod on his chest, the corners of his mouth curling upward slightly.

The fates of two worlds were, from this moment on, tightly intertwined.

In Swallowed Star, he was Lin Yun, Luo Feng's neighbor and childhood friend, an orphan struggling to survive in the apocalypse.

In Coiling Dragon, he was Lin Yun Baruch, the second son of the Dragonblood Warrior clan, Linley's twin brother.

One soul, two bodies, two vastly different worlds.

And that Small Bronze Tripod, having completed this transmigration, fell silent once more, hovering quietly between Lin Yun's dual souls, waiting to be awakened again.