The Next Day

I slowly tried to open my eyelids but when I did they seemed to have been stuck closed

What the hell? Why can't I open my eyes?

I can only perceive that I was in a tightly enclosed space, it felt weirdly familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

It was like I was in a cozy and heated blanket in the middle of the dark and chilly night, it felt so pleasing I felt like I could sigh out in comfort.

I tried opening my mouth this time, but when words or any noise I could make tried to come out of my mouth it would get stuck in my throat, blocked by some weird liquid substance in my lungs.

What the fuck? I started to freak out a little since I couldn't speak or see.

Have I turned schizophrenic? I was perfectly normal last night...I thought I was at least

I tried moving my body but I couldn't see since my eyes wouldn't open, I could only feel myself in the warm enclosed space strangely floating around like I was in the deep abyss...

Wait...how was I floating?

I was never one to show my panic outwardly, but I could feel my heartbeat hammering in my chest at an unprecedented rate.

I couldn't see, I couldn't speak, and I was floating in a small space that felt weirdly comforting.

Where could I be?

I tried thinking of many different scenarios but nothing made sense, that was until I heard a strange female AI-like voice in my head that kind of sounded like SIRI

[Hello Lucian]

What the....where did that voice come from?

[It came from your mind, Lucian]

The fuck? How did you get in there?

[It's a secret]

I figuratively rolled my eyes at how even my imagination seemed to like to mess with me

[This isn't your imagination Lucian, this is reality]

Huh? Then where am I

[You are currently in your mother's womb]

Wait...are you telling me I've actually reincarnated?!??!

[Yes, bu-]

OH MY GOD?!?! Does that mean I could get rich this time? I lost all my savings trying to gamble on the stock market and I would have been rich too if I only bought my options further out.

Having the vast amount of knowledge I have now is too great HAHA this is amazing

[You didn't let me finish, you have reincarnated but you aren't on Earth anymore and you have a different mother in this world]

Wait, seriously? You're telling me I've reincarnated like in all of those eastern novels I read?

The system seemed to have sensed deep sorrow within my words and asked

[Yes you have Lucian, are you are sad that you will never see your parents and family again?]

No...I'm sad because I never really liked to read system novels since I felt like they really ruined my immersion and were also pretty lame and it seems that I'm stuck with you.

[W-what?] The mysterious female AI was stunned and stuttered

Yeah, I don't even like system novels so why are you here?

Anyway, what world have I reincarnated into?

[You seem strangely calm for being someone who has been told they are currently a reincarnated newborn baby stuck in their new mother's womb]

Of course, I'm calm, this is just a schizophrenic episode or whatever they call them

[I already told you this is not your imagination]

Yeah, yeah, ok voice inside my head, where have I reincarnated this time?

[You've never reincarnated before, but you are currently in a cultivation world]

My non opened eyes seemed to have a gleam in them as I turned happy, At least I wasn't imagining some massive spider dropping from my ceiling and attacking me, maybe this isn't so bad after all.

Hmmm alright, so how does this work? How much time until I get out of my mother's womb and become a free man?

[27 weeks]

What? what am I going to do stuck in my mother's belly for 27 weeks? My imagination really sucks.

[This is not your imagination, and I know what you could do]

Hmm? Okay tell me what I should do

[If you promise to accept 3 conditions of mine with no questions asked then I will tell you]

I accept

[What? That fast?]

Yeah since you're just a figure of my imagination what is the worse you could do?

[Uh-huh]

Why does it feel like you are laughing on the inside?

[No reason]

Okay...can you tell me what I could do to relieve my boredom, other than talking to myself?

[Yes, can you sense energy floating around you?]

Huh? Oh yeah, since I reincarnated into the cultivation world that means I can cultivate as a baby and have a head start from everyone right?

[Exactly]

That's pretty awesome, alright let me try to sense this 'energy'

I relaxed my whole body in order to sense this strange 'energy' the voice in my head was telling me about

I couldn't really sense anything specific, but the warm and pleasing feeling of this small space seemed to enhance as I focused on it more.

I also noticed something connected to my belly button, this must be the umbilical cord right?

[Yes Lucian]

It feels...strange, I focused on the umbilical cord attached to me and could sense it throbbing, I don't really know how the umbilical cord works but I'm pretty sure it is what transfers the blood and nutrients of the mother to her baby.

And when I focused on the umbilical cord it started throbbing insanely fast, I would have never noticed this if I didn't try to since everything felt so insanely natural.

The intense throbbing continued and I could feel my body becoming healthier and stronger with each and every throb,

wait...since this was a cultivation world and I was still in my mother's womb and I could sense the strong power that came from my mother's blood, this means that my mother must be pretty formidable right?

[You will see when you come out]

I could sense the smugness in her words which made me slightly shudder

I continued to focus on the throbbing as the feeling of my body accept the dense nutrients of my mother felt way too euphoric, so euphoric that I started losing consciousness.

[Good night, Lucian]

Those were the last words I heard as I started dozing off into an even deeper slumber than ever known to man.

********

I woke up again only to find myself in the same circumstances, currently in my new mother's womb, and reincarnated into a cultivation world was it?

[Yes]

And...there it is, the strange voice inside my head.

This dream is pretty persistent huh?

[It''s not a dream]

Whatever, how long have I been asleep? I asked.

It was weird not being able to check the time of day on my phone and computer, I could only hope the strange voice in my head knew.

[It's been 2 weeks]

What?!?! It only felt like I slept for a few hours

[Don't you know that fetus's sleep 95% of the time in their mother's womb]

I guess I do know now, hey since your a figure of my imagination how do you know facts that I don't?

[I'm not-]

Yeah, yeah, be quiet I'm trying to cultivate here.

I relaxed my body again to focus on the throbbing of the umbilical cord connected to my stomach, if I slept 95% of the time in my mother's womb then I would not have much of a head start if I didn't take every second that I was awake to cultivate, even in my dreams I have to be the strongest right? Well, these dreams seemed to have a few laws and realism to them which is what I'm down for.

I could sense a warm feeling course through my body as I focused on trying to absorb all of it, the throbbing went at a regular pace before, now it was going faster and faster the more I willed my body to absorb it.

Wait...could this be bad for my new mother? I'm absorbing a lot of her nutrients and blood, this couldn't be good for her.

[She should be fine.]

Should?

[Yes]

Okay...I don't know why, but I trusted the female AI's voice and continued to greedily absorb the nutrient and blood from my mother before getting that prolific drowsy sensation and having to fall asleep once more.

This continued on for an unknown amount of time, I would randomly wake up, say some snarky comments to the voice in my head, get told I'm not dreaming and this is in fact reality, not believe her, then absorb the strange energy through the umbilical cord and go back to sleep.

I could even feel my body becoming purified as I absorbed more and more of my mother's powerful energy, I could feel my pores expelling impurities with every new session that I awoke.

As the 16th week passed by (told to me by the voice inside my head) I could feel my eyesight developing, though I couldn't fully open my eyelids I can vaguely see light and some shapes.

I woke up like it was a normal day for a fetus and went about my usual routine

How long?

[Today is the 25th week, Lucian]

I yawned out loud, I was now able to make noises out of my mouth since the fluid in my lungs was now gone and I could also open my eyelids and see, but ever since the weeks steadily passed by I could feel the space inside my mother's womb was getting smaller and smaller, well actually it wasn't that it was getting smaller it was just that I was getting bigger.

I was still surprised that I haven't woken up from this strange dream but I kept playing along

Hey it looks like my mother is eating again

I loved it when my mother ate, I was able to absorb the nutrients through the umbilical cord and even taste it. She always ate stuff that tasted amazing and would also enhance my body, I would even see impurities expel from my body as I continued to absorb the energy.

The system also told me that I was absorbing the most purified form of energy that was extremely rare to find in the outside world, so I continued to absorb as much as I could when a sudden question appeared in my mind

Hey, voice inside of my head, are you going to be like these other system novels where the system turns into a hot girl and you become my harem member too?

[I thought you didn't read system novels]

I don't...

[Who knows then]