[deep inside a forest]
A young man could be seen sitting inside a hut made out of wood.
Nine red rings floating around him
"Finally done" the man said to himself standing up.
This was tianming. A transmigrator who got here a couple decades ago.
He was reborn inside a small village. Though he was confused, he was happy. No one really wanted to die…right?
So began his new journey.
Except there was one problem…he was born with 2 small red stubbles on his forehead and after a couple of days his skin began turning reddish. Seeing this the villagers were alarmed and concerned.
Not concerned for the baby, but for their safety.
At the time tianming didn't know which world he was born into nor did he see the changes that was happening to his body, but what he could see was the fear in everyones eyes.
As for His parents…wel his father died trying to get a spirit ring for himself. So that left him with only his mother to take care of him.
She kept him safe from the other villagers who were trying to throw him to the beasts living inside the great forest.
…
[ The Past]
[ Tianming POV]
At the age of four i was already helping my mother around the house. Though she forbid me from going outside during the day.
For me it didn't matter cause i already knew why. So me and mom spend quite sometime strolling in the night.
It was her way of making it up to me.
At the age of six is when I realized where i was reborn…mom was talking to me about a member of spirit hall coming here to awaken the childrens spirit.
So on that day my mother clothed me from head to toe.
Hiding my red skin from others, she also made me a simple rough brown mask to hide my face.
It wasn't because i was ugly…I swear.
It was just so that the person coming from spirit hall didn't think i had actual horns. Because you know people in this world don't tolerate anything related to what they think is evil.
That day was the first time i went out during day time. I could say for certain that it was the worst and best day of my life.
Worst because of being stared at by the villagers and the kids. The villagers were quiet…they didn't talk about me or anything just watched judgingly from afar.
It looked like they also didn't want to bring trouble for the village with spirit hall representative arriving today.
But yea, those stares of theirs made me uncomfortable. I wasn't really a people person. Not in my past life and definitely not in this life.
It was also the best day of my life because, when I awoke my soul spirit new information began flooding my head…new powers.
My first soul spirit that i awakend was a simple red mask. Though i could feel another spirit hidden inside me.
It looked like a sword red and black in color.
My soul power was at that time was s
Zeven…but that didn't matter to me. I was the only one in my age group that could become a soul master.
The rest only had trash spirits souls.
Seeing that i was the only one and with with decent soul power he tried to recruit me…but i declined his offer giving him a random excuse.
With my new powers it would be best for me to stay out of populated areas…for my own sanity too.
Not really caring that I denied him.
He left shortly after that.
…
Like that the years slowly ticked by.
I helped my mother around the house.
Everyday We went fishing together. Sold the fish that we caught at the village market. The village somewhat got used to me. I only went out with the mask my mother made for me.
Life was peaceful.
Of course i was also cultivating by myself and finally after 4 years.
I finally reached soul power level 10.
Yea it took me that long because I wasn't really focusing on it and I didn't really know where to start.
I didn't have anyone to teach me and I didn't eant to go to school…again.
But now seeing as I needed a ring to continue…i silently sneeked out of the house late at night to hunt for one.
I didn't know it at that time but my body was stronger then a normal peerson…way stronger.
That night i hunter my first soul beast…a ten year old soul beast.
It was easy, i just stabbed it to death.
The age of the ring didn't matter for me i could always increase it later.
Yea that was one of the powers i got the day of my spirit awakening.
To similate things together.
So if i killed another ten year old beast and a simulated it with my first spirit ring it would become a twenty year old spirit ring.
That night, every ten year old beasts i could find were killed and fused with my first ring.
…
After that thing returned to normal. I helped mom with whatever i could and cultivated for the rest of the time i had left.
When i reached level twenty i went on my second hunt. I didn't dare risk going deeper inside the forest to fight stronger beasts. So again i just went after the ten year old beasts at the outskirts of the forest.
When i was done with my hunt Both my rings were 500 years old.
Crazy thing is i almost died in the forest when fusing the last 10 year old beast ring to my first ring to bring it up to 500 years.
It seemed that my body also needed to be strong enough to hold the powers of the rings or else i'd die a miserable death.
…
At the age of eighteen…i left home wanting to live inside the forest.
Away from people and closer to my prey.
Standing almost at 7feet tall, my ash grey hair reaching my waist line, inhuman amount of muscles beneath my clothes. I felt like a tank with legs.
Did i also mention that i was a soul master at level 50.
It was time that i took things seriously now. Before, i was scared that i would accidentally burst myself fusing with too much spirit beast rings…but now…
Now i looked like a demon straight out off hell.
My body felt harder then vibranium. Not that i know how vibranium feels like.
Mom was supportive in me leaving, but made me promise her that i would visit her every month at least one time.
After that i packed my things and began my journey into the woods.
I decided it would be best to blend in with the other soul masters…you know the ring configuration. I kept my first two rings at 500 years.
As for the other three…they between 2000 and 3000 years old.
So my ring configuration was yellow, yellow, purple, purple, purple. It was okay at best, atleast it wont draw any unwanted attention to me.
And i wont be touching those five rings anymore.
Not when i'm atleast strong enough to defend myself. Anyways that's not a long time at the pace that i'm going.
I built a little hut inside the forest. Put a bed inside and a place to light up a fire at night, a little storage unit. I even built an outdoor kitchen.
Everything considered it's quite comfortable living here…the morning dew…the birds singing…the insects sounds…and not far away from here is a waterfall. Where i can take a bath and wash my clothes.
A simple life for a simple man.
Every day i got up early to hunt for food and when i leave to go see my mom, i sell some of the pelts from the beasts to make money and buy spices for food and some useful things for the my house.
Of course i still spent time fishing with my mom on the weekend, Our usual spot at night.
[at the fishing spot]
"Soo did you find a wife yet" mom suddenly spoke out of the blue.
"Me?" I asked confused ,looking around dor a moment to see if she was talking to someone else then pointed at myself.
"Yes you dummy., who else is here" she said softly. A smile forming on het face.
"No…I don't think anyone from the village wants to be in a relationship with me" i said before going back to fishing.
Mom came closer to me standing on her toes.
"Nonsense, i'm sure they'll all fall in love with you if they see you without the mask" she said softly before slowly taking my mask off.
"You're my handsome little boy that i love so much, how could they not love you" she said hugging me tightly.
"I love you too mom" I sighed hugging her back softly.
"Right, some villagers said they saw two strange people in the woods yesterday…"mom spoke. Her voice laced with concern.
"Hmm…"i hummed signaling for her to continue.
"The people that saw them said they looked like bandits.."mom said not hiding the worry in her voice.
"Which way did they go then…i'll try to avoid them when going back tomorrow" i said.
"The villagers said they went west…luckily it's the opposite side from where you live."mom said.
"Alright then lets not worry too much about it" i reassured her.
"..Alright just be careful when going back"
We went back to fishing catching some really big ones.
…
That morning i left to go home to my little hut…saying goodbye to mom and leaving her with some of my pelts of the beasts that I hunted in the forest.
Halfway on the road to my hut, I dropped my stuff on the ground before breaking into a sprint
I took a detour around the village and headed west.
No way am I letting some bandits live too close to my mom.
…