6 The Dog

"..." Salince was the only thing at the dinner table. Lily looked at Hope who was sitting at her side, slowly eating her food. sitting to her other side was Alex who was trying his best to calm himself down.

"You two should speak... mostly you Alex, you can't bury stuff deep down and move on without turning back," Lily said softly, Hope looked up for a moment. She looked at Lily and back at Alex before speaking.

"I didn't mean to harm anyone, I didn't think my actions through," Hope said while looking at Alex with tearful eyes, but Alex just shook his head.

"You're my daughter, I could never truly hate you. You're only 10 years old, and your mother is good at manipulating you." I said softly, I was just annoyed above everything else. But at my words, Hope just lowered her head.

There was a reason I was hard on my daughter. because like me, she was born with a unique mind. Before getting the system, I had a unique mind which allowed me to recall pretty much everything. while I had to recall it, Hope simply remembered everything. She was a genius, currently 10 years old, and she was going to enter high school starting next year.

She was a mini-me but better. while I was a kid, I held back showing just how smart I was thanks to my sister. She had no such trouble, from a young age I taught her everything. Like my mother always said, geniuses are not born, they are created. I began raising her and teaching her, hoping to create a little monster light years above me in intelligence. 

I was a family man above everything else. While others lost themselves at work, ignoring their family. I spent more time at home than at work. But I knew deep down Lily was still 10 years old, I spoiled her to no limit. I understand how Sarah's words could have easily affected Hope. Sarah used her love for me to guilt her into trying to help.

"Mommy said you always made me happy, So it was only right I do something to repay you." Someone as smart as Hope hearing such words would be affected greatly. for one, she saw how stressed out I had been for months trying to find what to do when the changes happened to this world. 

Hope hearing her mother's words, even if she wasn't willing, she would be guilt to repay me. Sarah attacked her weak point, adding the fact Sarah is her mother, Hope being a child would to her believing her.

Plus, Hope said it herself. The fact I didn't act to stop them or even run after them led to Hope thinking I already knew. The normal human reaction in that moment was to lash out or something, not to just stand there and watch them leave. yet that's what I did,

But what annoyed me even more was Sarah's plan, just how was a human-grade talent going to help Hope? she was only 10 years old, a year and a few months away from being 12 years old. when it came to that point and they found out she couldn't cultivate what was she going to do? yes, there were cultivation arts out there that could bypass such things, but how on earth did she think James of all people would be able to get his hands on them?

This is just stupid. Let's not forget as cultivators grew in power, the quality of who they were improved. this would mean males would become more handsome, while females became fairies. so, taking this in mind. how was a mortal hoping to rival cultivators in beauty?

"You look angry..." Hope said softly, seeing how the annoyed look I had just kept growing. I couldn't control my face right now, I had never been so annoyed in life. I felt like the annoyance might just kill me on the spot.

In my life, everything had been smooth. I never faced that many hardships in life. this moment trumped everything I had been through, and it was overwhelming me.

"I'm annoyed, eat your meal and go to bed. Just put all of this in the past." I said my voice also infused with my annoyance, Hope quickly lowered her head and ate her food. After eating she ran upstairs, leaving me and Lily, whom I went on to explain everything.

"..." Lily froze stunned by everything she heard, she couldn't help but feel guilty. Sarah was only doing the best she could do for her family. Was she in the wrong? She made a mistake, and that was she didn't think everything through. She could understand where Sarah was coming from, Sarah felt weak and useless. for the first time in her life, she found a way to do something to support her family, but things didn't go as planned.

Alex didn't say anything else to Lily and went to his room to cultivate. All his life, he was carried by his intelligence, looks, and luck. that meant nothing in this new era. he needed strength. but on his way to his room, he heard that from Hope's room, she was crying.

Hearing this, I stopped and began to take deep breaths. it took a moment, but my heart cleared, before I entered the room, causing Hope to stop crying.

"why are you crying?" I asked while sitting next to her bed, Hope wanted to speak but didn't know what to say for some time.

"we're going to be homeless and die of hunger," Hope said softly, for a 10-year-old, Hope had already seen dead people. they could be seen outside if one simply drove around long enough, you would see people who died of hunger. it was mainly those who were homeless before everything happened.

"give me your hand," I said calmly, to which Hope gave me her hand. I sent Qi into her body and began to check her talent. Kids of her age have yet to get their talent measured, this is because the orb had a high rate of giving false information. I didn't need to worry about this,

"..." My eyes couldn't help but narrow when I saw Hope's talent, how was it possible she was a Sky grade talent? Her talent was even growing, seemingly developing as she kept developing. 

"You don't need to worry about this. I will find a way." I said calmly, I will keep the fact I'm a cultivator to myself. At my words, Hope just nodded. but it looked like simple words could no longer fool her, her eyes said it all. She didn't believe me.

I didn't mind and simply went to tell Lily not to tell anyone I was a cultivator. to which Lily agreed although confused as to the why. She had no interest in trying to hurt Sarah or anything like that anymore. she wanted to apologize for her actions. but Sarah was long gone,

The next day came, and Alex got up, ready to go to work. but before he could, he first went to drop Alex at the sect, before he and Hope went to the shop. like always, Alex had a large line before his shop, everyone lining up to get a piece of the food cooked from those wild beasts' meat. 

Hope was my little worker, helping around the store to the best of her capability. This was my way of venting, and Hope was more than happy to help. Hope wasn't stupid by any means, she was just a kid. I always held her up to higher standards, even higher than those my mother held for me while growing up. This is because I saw her as someone who would be far better than me. 

I closed the store once more when I ran out of food, while closing everything down, I noticed Hope walking up to a dumpster where a weak woof came from. Hearing this, I flashed forward to protect her, only to see Hope frozen in horror at the sight in front of her.

A dog lay on the ground, one leg broken, it was missing an eye, with its golden fur covered in its blood. behind it, it was feeding a puppy its broken leg. Hope covered her mouth, feeling as if she would throw up from the sight in front of her. She looked towards me, a pleading look in her eyes. seeing this, I frowned slightly. Taking in more mouths to feed would be troublesome... but I was a cultivator, I could easily make money. but I couldn't help but have mixed feelings seeing the mother feeding herself to her child.

As wild beasts were swallowed by their instincts, there would be some which kept their senses. most likely, this dog had an owner but was abandoned when the cultivators explained how animals would transform.

I couldn't help but find myself annoyed, lately, I have been overwhelmed by this one emotion. not hate, rage, sadness. it was only annoying. I was annoyed by everything happening. Signing, I took out a pill from my storage ring and brought it in front of the dog.

The dog barked at me, clearly not trusting me. so I placed the pill down and stepped away, showing I meant no harm. the dog looked at me, and back at the pill for a moment, before it smelled it. Its eyes narrowed when it felt how its body seemed to be energized from just a smell. so it quickly at the pill, and after a moment, its broken leg began putting itself together, with the flesh that was eaten slowly regrowing.

It stood up, putting force on its leg. feeling as if it didn't hurt as much it was stunned. it scanned its body, the bullet wounds, and other injuries it had were gone.

"it is called the instinct recovery pill. it uses up all your body energy for a quick burst of recovery. but it has the side effect of leaving you low on energy. so here." I said while taking out some of the food that was in the car and giving it to the dog.

"... Woof." the dog said although it was still on guard, this time it stepped forward and took a bite of the food, before walking back to give it to the puppy.

"... it's going to get cold soon. can we take them home? I will look after them, I will go fishing to feed them." Hope asked softly, At her words, I sighed softly before walking to the door and opening the back door, before waving at the dog. the dog seeing this was hesitant, but it picked up the puppy by its mouth slowly walked over, and got into the back of the car.

Hope and I got into the car and went back home, where I took the dogs inside to wash them. the dog was a Golden Retriever. I was able to clean them all up, but the mother was filled with many scars. its left eye was also gone, and couldn't be healed. As for the puppy, it was not injured. it was just hungry.

"Alright, you all cleaned. this should keep you two from getting sick. Go downstairs, I will be down to get you two something to eat." I said calmly, the mother dog looked at me for a moment before licking my face. which honestly disgusted me, but I just patted its head and watched them head downstairs. 

"I fucking hate cultivation," I said before going on to clean the bathroom,

"You said a bad word..." Hope said stunned by my choice of words I sighed softly at her words. 

"My bad... for the time being, you will not be left alone with the dog. I'm already putting you at risk by bringing it home. understood?" I asked calmly, to which Hope nodded slightly.

"But it's a trained dog, without any signs of it turning into a wild beast. it even kept its small dog size. it also understood human language. if it had yet to become a wild beast after so long, the chances are small... but I understand" Hope said softly, to which I nodded slightly.

after cleaning up the bathroom, I went on to cook before heading off with Hope to get Lily from the sect. I was not going to leave Hope alone in this era. who knows what might happen? 

Upon returning home, I went on to give everyone something to eat, before we all went over what to call the two dogs. In the end, we came up with the name Honey to the mother and Sunny to the puppy. the puppy was a male.

Lily was uneasy about having the dog stay, but when she heard how they found them, she couldn't bring herself to cast the dog out. so, although it might remind her of the wild beast attack, she found herself unable to dislike this dog which just wanted to protect its son...

"Brother... you know we can't hold such a genius. those big shots will just take him from us with their so-called justice. " within a mansion, a native American stood before the sect leader of the Grand Thunder Sect.

"You overreact, I already planned everything out." the sect master said with a smile, confusing his elder brother. he looked at the papers belonging to Alex and back at his younger brother, before shaking his head.

"He is not marrying into our clan, you should understand the trouble that would befall our family. We have two things we can do, kill him right now. or befriend him, before allowing him to leave for those bigger clans. that way we could have an ally within them." He said calmly, to which the sect master smiled slightly while giving his elder brother a paper.

the elder brother went through the paper for a moment, before he slowly began to smile. but after a moment, his smile disappeared, replaced with a look of confusion.

"how does he have cultivation? should he have nothing?" the elder brother asked to which the sect master shrugged slightly.

"I have no idea. I'm guessing he went through a mutation or something. His first test came out with him having zero talent. but after his wife left, i'm guessing his 4th hardship, and maybe the worst one of them all caused the mutation to show. So, brother are you saying you don't want him to marry into our family? He has luck on his side, a pure human bloodline, that abnormal mind of his, talent." the sect master said with a bright smile.

"In just 2 days he went from knowing nothing about cultivation to suddenly reaching level 7 body transformation. on top of that, he can slaughter those wild beasts level above him in cultivation. He could have even defeated that Qi-gathering realm dog. this is my disciple." the sect master said smiling from ear to ear. 

"Fine... let's have him marry my daughter." the elder brother said softly after some thought, but at his words, the sect master froze, but after some time he just nodded.

"New Year is a week away, have him reach the Qi gathering realm at least before he goes." the elder brother said to which the young brother just nodded before he left, leaving the sect leader sitting on the chair.

"Hopefully... your child can help us retake our land." He said while looking at Alex's picture. his ancestor made a mistake years ago. they were not ruthless and were living in peace. this leads to them easily believing visitors from afar. His dream was simple, to take back what belonged to them. to get back their ancestral lands. Alex was going to be a major pawn in such a goal.