A Buried Memory Resurfaced

Several hours later, night had settled and passed with the sun rising for a new day to start, just as Mateus finished transcribing the contents of the Heart's Embrace Heavenly Sutra.

[!Status!

…

Skills:

Name: Energy Transcription

Grade: Mortal

Level: 100 (Max)

Description: Allows a fledgeling Cultivator, without even basic Martial Qi, the ability to instantaneously scan, copy, and paste all manner of information.

Effect 1 (Scan): Any form of text or illustration can be temporarily copied over into your memory bank through the use of energy.

Effect 2 (Transcribe): Any form of information stored within your memory bank can be transferred over into a new medium at the expense of your Energy Reserves.]

"To think Monte's gift would come in handy so quickly," Mateus thought as he left his room, with bloodshot eyes. With his Level 100 Energy Transcription Skill, he could copy and transcribe hundreds thousands of characters and illustrations every second… His exhaustion could only be imagined for even with that level of efficiency it had taken him nearly half a day to finish copying over the Dual Cultivation Method.

For now, though, Mateus had no intention of consuming his transcribed version of the Heart's Embrace Heavenly Sutra. He wanted nothing more than to give his eyes and mind a bit of rest before falling dead asleep. So, he went to the kitchen and made himself a pot of coffee.

Yes… He was one of the rare few people immune to the effects of caffeine and part of the even rarer group of psychopaths who like to drink coffee completely black. At least one would think so, given the reactions he recalled eliciting whenever someone caught him indulging in a plain cup of coffee.

'How nice of the Sect to hand out monthly rations of common mortal foods to their Outer Sect Disciples,' Mateus managed a soft smile as he brewed his pot of coffee. He'd have to pay a pretty penny to eat Spiritual Cooking which could benefit his cultivation, but for now, when he was literally just starting out, he didn't need to bother with such excessive luxuries.

When the pot of coffee was done brewing, Mateus took the pot and stumbled his way over to leave the house. Having spent the last couple hours cooped up inside, he wanted to be outside to enjoy watching the sunrise from dawn while he enjoyed his coffee before inevitably collapsing due to sleep deprivation.

Every couple seconds, he would take a swig from his pot as he thought about the dozens of things had on his to do list. Most important of all was that he should get to Level 6 and breakthrough to the Martial Pawn Stage as soon as possible to gain access to Martial Qi. From there, many avenues worth exploring opened up.

There would always be a need to constantly push his Cultivation Base, but for efficiency's sake Mateus would start working to earn some resources. He could always fall back on Alchemy if things got rough, but first he wanted to take a look at the Sect's Boot Camp.

If ever he got tired of those two options, he could venture out of the Sect and go exploring; maybe take a couple missions; maybe join a couple tournaments… There were countless ways a Sect Disciple could spend their time.

...

"Come on, Karen. I'd rather not waste any more time than what's absolutely necessary. The sooner we're out of this shithole, the better," a man, who looked like he was in the middle of moving out of the house right across the road from Mateus', said to the woman that Mateus just now realized had been crouching down on the ground.

"Darling..." the woman, dubbed Karen, turned while still crouching as she asked the man, "Is there really nothing you can do about Kaiser? Are we really just going to leave him behind?"

"Hmph! Just forget about that stupid little pest. I've already told you god knows how many times how secular pets are banned from the Inner Sect Courtyard. Either you leave that worthless cat and come follow me to the Inner Sect, or stay with it and remain with the trash of the Outer Sect."

"Darling..." Karen sighed despondently, but she still chose to pick herself up.

Mateus watched as Karen gave the cat one last affectionate face rub before following the man into a car — or rather, it was a transportation artifact, but looked close enough and existed for the same purpose as a car. Powered by the man's Qi, no doubt at the peak of the Mortal Realm, if the context of his words were to be believed, the car was launched out of sight in an instant.

And yet, Mateus didn't so much as spare the couple or their fancy car a glance as his eyes were trained on the abandoned cat. "Kaiser, was it?" Mateus mumbled to himself as he watched the cat sit right on the spot it was abandoned, obviously waiting for its owners to return; though it was more than likely that they had left for good.

Mateus kept watching the cat as he recalled memories he thought he had buried deep within his subconscious.

He remembered a boy he saw once; a boy that couldn't have been older than five years old. This boy was wearing several layers of clothes as it was cold at the time that this memory was recorded; it was snowing, even. The boy was standing much like the cat, before the frontside of a house, only instead of being located in a suburb, the boy's house was isolated by a forest and a lake.

The boy had gone through something similar. There was a talk with his parents, but Mateus couldn't remember what was said. Then there was just the boy, alone and abandoned. Much like the cat, this boy obediently waited for his family to come back, but they never did and Mateus couldn't do anything about it.

Mateus could only recall watching the boy from a distance as the days past and he stayed out in the dead of winter, unable to go inside his abandoned house even if he wanted to, if just to escape the cold. Eventually, the boy started to walk around, never too far from the house in case his parents came back, but they never did.

Mateus could remember that the boy went to the forest first, at one point delirious enough to resort to eating wild berries and grass just to tame his growing hunger. He would later go on to drink muddied water, which often left him with terrible stomach aches. After weeks of waiting, praying, and wishing with all his heart for his parents to return... One day, the boy found himself sitting down on the frozen lake.

He was probably hallucinating back then from the countless possible sources of dirty water and possibly psychedelic mushrooms he had started eating at one point. But eventually, despite his questionable mental state, the boy found himself looking down at his reflection in the iced surface of the lake.

Mateus looked from over the boy's shoulder and he saw himself… He was the abandoned five-year-old.

"Hmm..." Mateus' tired eyes twitched as he felt his hands tilt his pot of coffee over, but failed to taste any coffee. He looked down and saw that the entire pot was empty. Looking up revealed that the sun was well over the horizon and closer in position to midday.

With a sigh, Mateues stood up.

'It's been hours hasn't it?' He asked himself as he felt and heard several of his joints pop as his muscles protested; he had probably been awake for more than a full day by this point.

He walked over to the abandoned cat, but stopped when it began to hiss at him after he passed the sidewalk and crossed into the abandoned house's grass front lawn. With dead eyes Mateus looked at the cat as it continued to hiss at him threateningly, until a faint sad smile appeared on his face and he began to walk back to his own house.

In a way, he could relate to the cat as he recalled how it had taken him weeks after his extended family had found him looking at himself atop that frozen lake before he could give up his attachment to his parents.

He wanted to help that cat, but he also knew it would be pointless to do anything right now. Ignoring his exhaustion, even if he forcibly adopted the cat, it would not respond with gratitude, but hate. For now, leaving it alone to accept reality and maybe even grieve if it was capable of that was for the best.