3 A Wolf And... A Stone?
'Well, shit...'
The small voice of the odd baby prince was heard by no one but himself.
'The last thing I remember is dying because of Truck-kun in what now appears to be my past life... and then I wound up in some dark space, which I later realized was the womb of my present self's 'mother'.
The baby prince's thoughts started to echo out inside his mind.
'When I heard my 'parents' and the people around me speak of a spiritual power type tester, I thought I was given another chance at life, a chance to live a life where I could pursue power all I wanted, and yet...'
His gaze looked around the forest he found himself in before his thoughts resumed.
"And yet... woopdy fucking do! Here I am, abandoned by that whore mother and 10-ton-looking father of mine because of some stupid ball that deemed me incapable of cultivating."
'Screw that ball!' He began with hate filling his heart.
'Now I stan-... I mean lay face to face with some mutant-sized wolf the size of a small building, and I have no clue what to do...'
"..."
The giant white wolf stared at the little prince with its watermelon-sized eyes as if it were staring into the very soul of the little creature, analyzing his whole existence as if looking for something.
It stood there like that for 5 whole minutes before the giant wolf finally decided to move.
'Welp, looks like I'm about to become dog food for this giant mutt.' Azmond thought to himself.
'Maybe I will reincarnate into a world where I can pursue power without interference.'
His infant eyes began to glow at such a thought before they returned to their gloomy sheen.
Haa... I won't count on it with my shitty ass luck.'
The giant wolf was mere inches away from the baby prince, with its large car-sized mouth wide open.
The baby prince, in such a perilous predicament, just imagined himself gaining supreme power that could flick mountains out of existence with ease in the next world he reincarnated into.
He had not a care in the world for the maws looming over his head--maws that could swallow hundreds of his current self with one gulp!
That was until the giant wolf did something unexpected: it lifted the baby prince by the handle of the basket the prince was swaddled in, and it started to run in a certain direction of the forest.
'Huh? I'm not dead...?' He questioned with a puzzled expression.
'What the hell is this wolf doing? Did it forget how to chew?'
He looked at those meat grinders attached to its face and immediately scratched that theory.
'I don't think that's the case... It looks like it wants to take me somewhere, but where?'
....
Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye as the wolf looked like it had no intention of slowing down anytime soon, which would have given the little prince some trouble if not for the basket he was in.
'Why the hell is this wolf moving so fast?? It has already surpassed speeds that the majority of cars in my past life would never be able to reach!' He exclaimed, his face full of wonder.
However, such fascination didn't last for long, as such speed was extremely questionable from the perspective of an earthling.
'Is this mutt on drugs?? Although the fact that it can reach such high speeds without technology excites me more than it confuses me!'
His eyes started to shine as his gaze turned from fear to something else...
'What if I can one day reach such a speed on foot as well??'
Such a thought only excited him more, as expectation grew within him.
'Ohhh the things I'll do in this new world of mine.'
The little prince formed a wide, scary smile in his mind as he thought of his potential feats.
'Assuming I live past the encounter with this wolf, that is...'
His expression became a little wry upon mentioning such a matter; however, he didn't feel like dwelling on the inevitable, so he turned his focus back to the speeding forest that passed him by.
.....
Ten minutes passed as the giant wolf finally started to slow down next to a very large cavern.
'Is this the giant wolf's den or something?' The baby prince asked himself.
He could see the entrance to a gigantic cavern even while lying on his back.
'This cavern has to be dozens of meters in height, huh?'
The giant wolf then proceeded to venture forth into the gigantic cavern until he reached a spot hundreds of meters in--a spot where a reddish-black aura of sorts was emanating from what appeared to be a small, dark red stone.
"..."
*Plop*
The wolf slowly set down the baby prince in his basket, a couple of meters away from the ominous-looking red stone.
'Huh? What is this weird red aura that surrounds the depths of this cavern??'
The baby prince ascertained his surroundings with a scrunched-up expression.
At least, that was until he suddenly realized something...
"Wait, aura!? How can I see an aura of anything!?'
His expression morphed a little in astonishment before he started to ponder the situation of his new life.
'I have read a few cultivation books in my past life, and I assumed this was a world of cultivation because of that shitty spiritual ball tester, but I assumed you had to actually start cultivating to see anything spiritual-like...'
That was the natural course of things, right!?
He mulled over the topic for a few moments before he shrugged his non-existent shoulders.
'How unusual... But it is what it is...'
The young prince discarded the topic for later before he refocused his attention on the abrupt movements of the giant wolf.
...
Thud! Thud!
The wolf approached him as he started to fret a little.
'Is he getting into a fighting position!? I must prepare!' He announced with a fearless look on his face.
'Wait... I don't have anything to prepare with...'
He mourned his lack of powers as he awaited the next move of the giant wolf with bated breath.
But contrary to his grim expectations, the giant wolf simply curled up around the baby prince before it started to cutely yawn until it fell asleep with the prince in the middle of its body.
'Uhmm, what the hell is this situation?? and why is this killing machine so fricking cute???'
The baby prince became a little enamored by the cuteness of the giant wolf, but he quickly snapped out of his reverie.
'Stop thinking of useless things, ME! I have to stay focused if I want to survive past the night in this new world of mine!'
With newfound resolve, he ignored the adorable appearance of the giant white wolf; however, such determination didn't last long, as he was once again distracted.
'Hmm? What is this feeling? It's almost as if something is calling to me...'
He felt something start to resonate within something inside him as he looked for the source of such an inexplicable feeling.
And it didn't take long before he was able to discern the cause of the disturbance within him.
'It seems to be in the direction of that weird-looking red stone over there.'
What the baby prince saw was a red stone located within the center of the wide cavern, and he could tell, as if on some mystical instinct, that the stone wanted him to approach it.
So, in response to that unknown 'instinct', some relatively dangerous ideas started to form inside his head.
'I should touch it, right?'
He felt something within his very existence tell him that he needed to touch it, and that feeling only seemed to grow exponentially.
'It could be dangerous...'
His cautious side attempted to steer him away from touching the stone.
'But~ is danger really all that bad?? I won't survive the night with this weak baby body of mine, so I should touch it, right??'
However, such thoughts of apprehension lasted about as long as Grandma's freshly baked cookies.
And that was all it took for his rational side to completely crumble and fade away into nothingness.
'Yep, I'm going to touch it real good!' He exclaimed.
'But how? I can't exactly get up and walk towards it with this infant body of mine.'
The baby prince completely forgot about his 'ineptitude' as he didn't know how to get around that.
'I really want to touch it tho.. hmm...'
He began to brood over the subject, until it hit him like a flash of inspiration!
'Aha! I got an idea.'
The baby prince knew what he needed to do to make everything work out well; all he had to do next was put his idea into action!
And that's exactly what he did...
...
"Whaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
A loud, shrill cry echoed out inside the expansive cavern.
Meanwhile, the 'cause' of such an obnoxious noise saw his 'plan' as ingenious and fail-proof!
'I knew my infant form had some uses! I'm going to use my baby charm to woo this giant puppy to bring me to that red stone over there. What could go wrong?? It's not like the wolf will eat me because of some harmless crying, right? Right??'
He started to doubt himself a little, but his nonchalant attitude quickly reeled its head back in full swing!
'Oh well, might as well give it a shot if I wanna survive and get stronger.'
And it was with such resolve that he let the cries let out unrelentingly, awaiting the reaction of the giant wolf.
....
"...."
The giant wolf heard the crying and got up from its comfy spot to understand what was making all that noise.
It looked down, only to see the little creature it brought back from the forest.
That was when the giant wolf realized something... it forgot... it forgot why it brought the little creature back to its den.
'Is it food?' It asked.
'No... Not food.'
The giant wolf followed up such a 'complicated' line of thought as it spent the next period of time on some very strenuous thinking.
It thought harder than it ever had in its many years of life!
That was until the giant wolf finally remembered.
'Little creature, stone?'
'Little creature… Touch stone?'
'Creatures die when touch stone'
'Little creature die?... Maybe not?'
A series of thoughts went through the giant wolf's head before it eventually gave up on thinking altogether.
....
The giant wolf leaned its head down to once again pick up the baby prince in his basket; the wolf then walked towards the ominous red stone with slow steps, almost as if the wolf was afraid of the red stone, which felt very out of place given the wolf's large and intimidating stature.
'Huh? What is this wolf doing? And why is it taking me towards that stone?? I didn't even have to point at it or anything.'
The young prince realized he was in the air again, as he didn't understand how the giant wolf knew where to take him.
'This seems too easy... can this wolf read minds or something?'
Weird thoughts swirled around inside his head before he dispersed such useless thoughts.
'The world of cultivation sure is weird, but whatever, this wolf is only helping speed up my goal of attaining supreme power! That's only if this stone is what I think it is, but either way, I thank you Big Puppy for your assistance.'
...
The giant wolf placed the basket down just a few feet away from the red stone before the wolf picked up the baby prince by his swaddle and set him not even an inch away from the creepy-looking stone.
'The connection I was feeling earlier has only gotten stronger now that I am closer to the stone.'
He felt the same feeling he felt earlier, except it was far stronger than it was before.
'What is this stone anyway? And what does it want with me?'
The baby prince expressed his concern for the strange red stone with a scrunched-up look on his baby face.
However, he soon discarded all inhibitions when he remembered the speed at which the white wolf was traveling.
His future power train to the top was only getting closer and closer the longer he felt the connection with that stone!
The baby prince could feel it within his soul; that stone was his key to gaining power in this strange new world of cultivation!
'Welp, no time like the present to figure that out!'
He didn't like contemplating useless topics too much; however, yet another problem was brought up...
'Wait... how do I touch it? I don't even know if I can move my arms yet... I guess I should just try harder to move my stubby little arms in the direction of that stone.'
The little prince sported a determined look on his face as he focused on the task at hand.
...
"..."
The Giant White wolf was just watching the changes in the little creature's facial expression with a curious look in its big blue eyes.
...
'I think I got the hang of these little hands; now it's time to reach for the stars and touch the hell out of that red-looking death rock!'
It took him a while, but he was ultimately able to gain a modicum of mastery over his tiny hands. The next step would be for all the marble's!
The little prince reached out with his short right hand and touched the red rock with just his small index finger.
WAAA!
That was all it took for a reaction to happen, as a flash of reddish-black light lit up the whole cavern!
It was a light so bright that both the little prince and the Giant White wolf had to close their eyes.
'Arghhhh!! What is happening to me?!? I feel something invading my mind!' He screamed inside his head.
'Some sort of knowledge is being transmitted into my brain! It hurts! It hurts a lot!! It hurts dozens of times more than any physical torture I have been through!'
The pain was unlike anything he had ever known to be possible! It was pain so terrible that he felt like dying!
'This pain makes death seem like a luxury! It feels like 10 thousand termites are crawling inside my brain trying to eat their way out!'
He started to squirm and twist around inside his cradle as sweat droplets formed on his head.
'Arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I want to die!!! No!!! I can't die!! I want to pass out!!! But I can't!!! I feel that if I pass out before the stone is done, I will regret it for the rest of my life?!??. My journey to power is just starting!! I can't give up now... I refuse!!!!!! Not after what happened in my past life, I won't let my own weakness hold me back again!! I won't allow it!!!'
And as if fate was acknowledging the little prince's determination, the bright light faded, and the Little prince lay there passed out with an exhausted look on his small face.
