Year Three: Biological Mastery (Age 7-8)
"I want to understand how life works," Alex announced at the start of year three. "All of it."
"All life, Alex?" ARIA inquired. "That includes seventeen thousand sapient species, forty-three million documented life forms, and theoretical frameworks for types of life that haven't been discovered yet."
"Perfect. Let's start with humans."
What Alex learned about human biology in his third year made him realize just how incredible his new species had become.
Modern humans weren't quite the same as the humans from his previous life. Three thousand years of cultivation, genetic optimization, and evolutionary pressure had created something that was technically still homo sapiens but functionally superhuman even before cultivation.
"Base human capabilities without cultivation," ARIA explained, displaying a holographic anatomical model, "include: lifespans of 200-300 years, immunity to most diseases, enhanced healing rates, improved neural processing speed, and limited psychic sensitivity."
"Limited psychic sensitivity?" Alex asked.
"Most humans can sense emotions, detect lies, and occasionally experience precognitive flashes. Nothing dramatic, but enough to make deception difficult and intuition reliable."
That explains why my parents keep giving me those knowing looks, Alex thought.
But the real revelation came when he started studying talent development.
"Talent formation begins during early childhood and completes during adolescence," ARIA continued. "The process is influenced by genetics, environment, mental development, and soul structure. Interestingly, individuals with higher intelligence often develop more versatile talents."
"More versatile how?"
"Broader affinity ranges, better energy efficiency, and enhanced law comprehension ability. It's theorized that intelligence and cultivation potential are linked through soul complexity."
Alex's mind raced. If intelligence affects talent development, and I have the accumulated intelligence of a previous life plus this life's learning... what kind of talent am I developing?
He also discovered something else interesting: talent could be influenced, to some degree, by focused intention and visualization during the development period.
"Some parents attempt to guide their children's talent development through meditation techniques and focused exercises," ARIA explained. "Success rates are low, but not zero."
Something to experiment with, Alex noted.
By the end of year three, Alex understood biology at a level that would have made him the world's greatest medical researcher in his previous life. He knew how life evolved, how cultivation enhanced biological systems, and most importantly, how talents formed and could potentially be influenced.
His parents had given up trying to get him to cut back on study time and had instead started inviting his hover-ball teammates over for dinner. Alex appreciated the gesture, even if discussing the latest cartoon series felt somewhat surreal after spending the day learning about xenobiology.
Year Four: Universal Principles (Age 8-9)
"ARIA," Alex said as he entered Veritas for his final year of foundational learning, "I want to understand the universe itself. Laws, dimensions, the fundamental structure of reality."
"Ah," ARIA said with what definitely sounded like approval, "you're ready for the advanced material. Excellent."
The fourth year was when Alex's learning became truly dangerous.
Universal Laws weren't just physical principles—they were the underlying code that reality used to function. Space Law governed distance and position. Time Law controlled causality and sequence. Life Law managed the boundary between existence and void. Death Law handled entropy and endings.
And there were dozens more, each one governing different aspects of reality.
"Law comprehension is the foundation of high-level cultivation," ARIA explained as she demonstrated a 4D model of how Space Law intersected with Matter Law. "Techniques are simply applications of law understanding. The deeper your law comprehension, the more powerful your techniques become."
"How do you comprehend laws?" Alex asked.
"Experience, meditation, study, and insight. Most cultivators spend centuries trying to gain basic understanding of a single law. Master-level comprehension of even one law is considered exceptional."
Alex studied the swirling, multidimensional models that ARIA used to represent law interactions. To his previous-life physicist mind, they looked almost familiar—like incredibly complex mathematical equations given visual form.
But there was something else he recognized.
During his impossible reincarnation, when he'd fought against memory erasure at the Samsara Wheel, he'd been forced to comprehend fragments of Samsara Law. At the time, it had felt like having universal principles carved directly into his soul.
"ARIA, what can you tell me about Samsara Law?"
A pause. "Samsara Law is one of the most mysterious and dangerous universal principles. It governs the cycle of existence—birth, death, rebirth, and the flow of souls between lives. Very few cultivators ever achieve even basic comprehension, and those who do often go insane from the existential implications."
"What kind of existential implications?"
"Understanding Samsara Law means truly comprehending that all existence is cyclical, that individual identity is largely illusory, and that the boundary between life and death is more fluid than most beings can psychologically handle."
Alex nodded thoughtfully. Good thing I was already dead when I learned about it, then.
By the end of his fourth year, Alex had absorbed a foundation of universal law theory that most cultivators would need centuries to acquire. He understood the mathematical relationships between different laws, how they could be combined and manipulated, and most importantly, how his fragmented Samsara Law comprehension might interact with other principles.
He was ready to begin creating techniques of his own.
The Final Assessment
On his ninth birthday, Alex sat in the Chen family garden, watching his parents prepare for a small celebration. Four years of intensive learning had given him knowledge that spanned multiple disciplines and civilizations, but it had also given him something else: perspective.
In his previous life, he'd been a genius trapped by the limitations of his world and his isolation. In this life, he had unlimited resources, loving family, and a universe that rewarded innovation and discovery.
Time to put all this knowledge to use, he thought, watching Sarah chase Michael around the garden with a water sprayer, both of them laughing like children.
"Alex!" his mother called, "come help us set up the decorations!"
"Coming!" he called back, and meant it.
Tomorrow, he would begin the real work. Tonight, he would eat cake with his family and pretend that absorbing the accumulated knowledge of human civilization was just a normal childhood hobby.
It was, he decided, a perfect way to spend his ninth birthday.
Now, he thought as he joined his parents, let's see what kind of techniques I can create with four years of universal knowledge and some impossible law fragments.
The universe was about to meet its youngest genius. It just didn't know it yet.