Walking side by side out of the grand estate, Victoria kept pace with the siblings, her eyes repeatedly darting toward the supposedly powerless youth who was calmly holding his little sister's hand.
"What happened there, brother? It seemed like something about me?" Scarlet was entirely clueless about what had just happened. She merely assumed that it was some adult talk she did not understand.
"Don't worry about it, Scarlet. I simply talked with that uncle just now about him giving you lots of free stuff!" Dylan walked with the steady, unbothered stride of a king who had just successfully conquered a boardroom, completely unfazed by the City Lord's final, petty snub.
"Really?! He's really a nice uncle, after all!" Scarlet got excited hearing about free stuff especially since they were rather poor.
"He really is. Haha." Dylan sarcastically said with a laugh
As the grand doors of the City Lord's manor shut behind the three of them, leaving the defeated Alistair alone in his office, Victoria realized that the absence of light in the orb wasn't a sign of emptiness at all.
But rather the terrifying reality that the true depth of Dylan's soul was something this entire world was simply not vast enough to measure.
Victoria was still bothered by what happened earlier. There was absolutely no chance in her mind that a reincarnation of someone who easily killed someone who could be at the peak of the Half-Saint Realm.
She thought more and more about it. 'There was something especially wrong with the test earlier. Even normal mortals should have made the ball light up with a star or two since that signifies their life. One star should be the lowest it goes and not nothing.
'Yet, the Spiritual Testing Orb did not react to Dylan's at all. Does the Orb malfunction in Dylan's hands? Why would it be selective about this particular error though? Was it simply just him having no talent at all?'
She began considering a brand new possibility, 'Or maybe it was because his talent was immeasurable for the orb to handle...?'
"Come on, Big Sis!" Scarlet called to Victoria who has yet to come up on the passenger cabin.
"Coming." Victoria said as she entered the cabin.
Then, the group left the City Lord's Mansion as the gates followed the exit of the carriage that took them.
The City Lord was looking at the window as he sipped his wine, "I will have to repair my relations with the princess as long as she is still here. During that time period, any overt actions against Dylan must be strictly deferred. However, the moment of her departure shall signal his undoing. Once she is gone, I shall deal with that insolent wretch decisively and without delay"
The group eventually arrived at Dylan's home and they parted ways with a warm goodbye.
===
Now, it was late in the night. Dylan just left Scarlet's room after making sure she has slept already.
"She's finally asleep." Dylan said after stretching his neck. Scarlet was too energetic today and wanted to simply talk with him one topic after the other. She talked about the things she did while he was asleep like taking care of him and the house.
'She must have missed her brother so bad.' Dylan knew that the reason for her wanting to spend more time and talk with him was because she wanted to make up for lost time.
The two siblings would often talk about what they have done throughout the day during dinner. This routine made them closer to one another.
"Time to sleep. It's been a long day." He went to his room and laid down on his small but comfortable bed.
The head-sized hole beside his bed from this morning's incident had already been covered with wood. He closed his eyes as he slowly immersed himself to the darkness.
Just as he was about to be fully asleep, he discovered a bright light on the corner of his mind. As he further sank to his dreams, he discovered that the bright light became brighter.
He slowly approached the light and it left him wondering, "What kind of dream would this be? Wait, this space seems familiar?"
Wanting to confirm his suspicions, he cautiously walked towards the light because slowly it outlined a building. Quickening his pace, the building became much clearer. Then he stopped several meters away from the building.
"I-it really is..."
Stunned, he saw an extremely large and grand mansion shining brightly. The light it emitted was not that blinding type of light instead; it was pleasant to the eyes and had a warm feeling to it.
This was certainly the Cosmic God Mansion!
"So, the condition to enter this space was simply to be asleep?" Dylan thought to himself. He thought that there would be a harder condition but it seemed to be pretty straightforward.
"Hey!" Another voice suddenly resounded within the space.
Before Dylan could turn around, he was tackled by someone from the back. But with Dylan's combat experience and quick reflexes, he was able to easily anticipate the surprise attack.
He used the strength and momentum of the attacker against by sidestepping into a chokehold to the back of the neck to pin him down while holding his wrist to his back and his knee pressed on the small of the perpetrator's back.
"Aaarghh!!" The man screamed in pain as he was pinned down to the ground.
"You're that Dylan?! You're still alive?" Only when he got a closer look of the man's face did he realize that this was actually the younger Dylan.
He could not understand what was currently happening. 'Is it possible for two souls to inhabit one body? This goes against what those reincarnation plots have.'
In a typical reincarnation plotline from the series he has experienced, once the reincarnation occurs, the one who reincarnated into the body is the only one who proceeds to live into it.
'Wait, I'm being too much of an otaku. I need to let go of my preconceptions first. Apply what can be applied and adapt what is different...' Dylan reprimanded himself.
"Grrr, of course, I'm still alive! Get off me, you body stealer!" The younger Dylan accused while trying to struggle. Despite the overwhelming strength of the younger Dylan, his joints were compromised so he could only helplessly lie there.
"Body Stealer...?" Dylan Ford realized something from those words, "What do you mean by that? Did you see me use your body?"
"Yeah, I could see you using my body the entire day!" The younger Dylan angrily replied.
"I understand that you're angry. But calm down. If you do, I will let you go." Dylan wanted to deescalate the situation so he suggested a truce.
"Hm... fine." The younger Dylan agreed.
"Great. There you go." Seeing that the younger Dylan had agreed, Dylan Ford let go.
But as soon as he released, the younger Dylan pounced on him once more, "Hahaha, Take this!"
"I knew it." Dylan Ford sighed as he evaded with a single step and positioned himself behind the younger Dylan. Then, he performed a rear-naked choke, one of the most deadliest holds in MMA.
Once the hold is established and the legs, acting as hooks, are secured around the waist, it provided Dylan dominance over the situation, making it difficult for the younger Dylan to escape.
"What ith dis?" The younger Dylan had no idea what was happening right now. He tried to struggle but he felt like his entire body was being constricted by a large snake. He couldn't breathe properly and move like he wanted.
"Time to sleep." Dylan Ford said before the younger Dylan eventually lost consciousness after 8 seconds in the submission hold.
...
A few minutes later, the younger Dylan woke up from a slap to his face.
"Hey, wake up, kiddo." Dylan Ford said to the younger Dylan who had just woken up.
"You finally woke up." Dylan Ford sighed in relief.
He tried looking around and his gaze returned back to the younger Dylan, "Surprisingly, you can faint in this space as well. Bodies operate like regular bodies here as well. That's worth taking note of."
"Also, don't get any more funny ideas. I can easily defeat you in a million ways." Dylan Ford warned his younger counterpart.
"Fine..." The younger Dylan stood up and behaved himself. He knew from those two attempts that he just did that Dylan was way stronger and skilled than him in hand-to-hand combat.
"Now, we can finally talk properly." Dylan also sat down directly across his face. "First and foremost, I would like to clarify that I did not mean to use your body. I'm pretty sure that you saw how confused I was as well when I realized that it was your body."
"Mhm." The younger Dylan nodded. "I was just really angry earlier since no matter how much I screamed, I could not do anything."
Dylan suddenly interjected and asked, "How were you able to see everything exactly? Does that mean you were conscious the entire time that I was awake as well?"
"When I woke up, I was still in the this space. Suddenly, in front of the Cosmic God Mansion, I saw a giant mirror like blob that allowed me to see what you were seeing. Then, after several hours of effort, you returned to this space after you slept and this vision disappeared at the same time."
"Interesting, so it allows you to see what I do, huh? That is pretty understandable." Dylan Ford replied. "I did my best to act like you would. Thankfully, I could access your memories. That's how I was able to somewhat cope with the situation."
"Thank you very much. You took care of my sister really well." The younger Dylan thanked him and also apologized right after, "I'm sorry I attacked you earlier, my emotions just got the best of me..."
"I understand that it must have been pretty scary-"
"I wasn't scared! It was just because I tried everything in my power to communicate with you for hours on end but I was not able to get through you."
"It must have been rather difficult for you to be all alone in this unfamiliar space and suddenly seeing someone use your body."
"Thanks..."
"..."
There was silence for a little bit since their situation right now was quite awkward.
"I wanted to also speak of the events of today with you..." Dylan said.
"Is... this about my talent?" The younger one said. Evidently, he saw the incident earlier.
"Somewhat."
"Somewhat? Isn't it concerning that the body you're currently in? That I can't cultivate?" The younger Dylan said.
"It is but that's a variable that's completely out of our control. The important thing to is what you will do with the things that you have right now. How you can maximize it to better yourself, how can you further develop what you currently have, and finally, how you will use those to carve a future for yourself." Dylan Ford simply advised with confidence.
"..." This made the younger Dylan silent. He was in awe with Dylan Ford's mindset. "The things that we have? What could be those things?"
Dylan Ford raised his arms in the air as he spoke with confidence, "We have my knowledge and experience! We have connections! Connections with possibly the greatest genius this planet has ever seen with Victoria! Your younger sister talent is also a generational talent that sects would nurture and cultivate! Lastly, we have the connection with the Cosmic God Mansion. While we may not comprehend it yet, we simply need to study this space and this mansion. Like you've said, there has to be a reason why we are connected with this mansion."
"Throw away your preconception that being the strongest cultivator is the only way to thrive in this world. Individual strength is not the only way to be powerful. Being wealthy is power! Having influence is also power! With my knowledge and experience, I will create a company and sect that will command thousands, if not millions of cultivators! That will be power!" Dylan clenched his fist as though he had the entirety of the Great Mystic World in his hands.