Chapter 4: Grandma Ming (2)
Horacio Long woke up to see a baby. The baby had a tuft of crimson hair and was lying down next to him. The baby had lovely blue eyes and if one looked hard enough one could observe the embers smoldering in them. And found the baby staring at him curiously.
"Wu... Wu..." the baby staring at him made some noise and burst out crying. This startled Horacio Long, a wrinkled hand became clear as he saw an old lady pick up the baby. The old lady soothed the baby as she turned to look at him peculiarly.
"Was I abandoned? Whose baby was that?" he speculated.
Feeling depressed, he struggled to get up, but couldn't do so again, he could hardly turn a little. He tried to turn sideways and after doing so made him so happy that it seemed he would cry out loud if he could. To his horror, there was another baby next to him. The baby had gorgeous blue hair, and she looked older than the other baby. She was sitting next to him, which surprised him as he had a stifling feeling of being surrounded by babies and wrinkly old hands.
He could discern that the baby in front of him was a girl. Observing her, he noticed her staring at him.
PAA!!
It happened in an instance. Horacio Long couldn't even react [Author's note: Not that he could] as the girl in front of him slapped him and started crying.
It stunned Horacio as tears filled his eyes. The slap hurt him, and this was the first time he was slapped. This included his earlier life where he was a scientist. Though he was in a newborn's body, he had done nothing wrong. Was he that ugly? Looking at the girl who was he had an urge to slap her back as he did nothing wrong. He wasn't capable of making large movements. The wrinkly hand was once again in his views as the old lady picked the girl up and soothed her.
Seeing the old lady take the girl away, he sighed in relief. He did not move again as he was scared to find another baby around him.
"Aaron, what's the language spoken here?"
"Master, English."
Huh!! That's good. At least I'll be able to understand more of this world.
"Aaron, what's the scanning range?"
"Master, 50 meters."
"Can you scan without being detected?"
"Master there is a powerful human near you which can detect the scanning."
This surprised Horacio as he wondered how can a human be powerful enough to detect these radiations.
"Shall I go ahead with the scan, Master?"
"No"
Wondering what to do, Horacio was lifted up. The wrinkly hands felt soft as the face of the old lady comes into view. She had an exquisite pair of blue eyes and long silvery hair. She had a kind look on her face. Horacio observed her as she looked back into his eyes. Suddenly her eyes narrowed as Horacio felt that he was standing naked in front of her.
"Interesting." muttered the old lady.
Horacio's face didn't change a bit as he looked on blankly. The lady smiled suddenly which sent shivers down Horacio's spine. The smile wasn't benevolent as before but the lady had a crafty look on her face.
Horacio suddenly felt a pressure, and he felt that he would explode.
"Warning external mental energy intrusion!! Mental energy exceeds the limits of inbuilt protection. An automatic shutdown initialized. The mental barrier deployed at full power."
Damn, this A.I. Is unreliability, thought Horacio and suddenly the pressure vanished.
Looking at the old lady fearfully, Horacio wondered what did the old lady figure out?
"You can understand me, no?" said the old lady in a soft voice.
Even though it seemed like the old lady actually said that the voice rang out in Horacio's mind! Horacio kept on looking blankly as if to play dumb meanwhile he was panicking inside. He heard a sigh inside his mind as the old lady looked at him sternly and said, " Your mental age is around 20, though it is suppressed an expert can figure out if given a chance to examine closely."
Damn, this old lady!! How could this happen? How can a human determine someone's mental age??
As if reading his thoughts the old lady looked at him strangely and then sank into contemplation.
She sat down on a sofa as Horacio was kept floating in the air. This astonished Horacio so much that he forgot that he was floating a few meters up in the air.
He wanted to start crying when suddenly the old lady looked up and her voice rang out in his mind again, "It seems you are not from The Elemental World. Though you didn't react much to what I said, you are still a child in front of me, I can pick up the signs."
Horacio felt that he was stuck in a bad situation when he heard the old lady and as he couldn't say anything he couldn't explain that he himself didn't know how he ended up here.
"You can speak to me with your mental energy, concentrate and feel your mental sea and try to project it out." the old lady's voice once again rang out in his mind.
Sighing mentally Horacio decided to explain his situation to the old lady. He closed his eyes as he tried to feel his mental energy sea.
If someone saw this scene, they would be so scared that they would pee in their pants. An old lady sitting on a sofa and a baby floating in front of her with its eyes closed.
Meanwhile, after concentrating for a while Horacio found himself looking at a gray colored sea. The sea was boundless but was calm, and he could see an eye-shaped object on the seabed. The eye was green and pulsated with green light. He tried to approach it but was repelled by a strong force.
He looked up to see a dome covering his mental energy sea, which he assumed to be the barrier deployed by the A.I. He could see a wispy figure outside the barrier which looked like the old lady. Realizing that it was a mental energy projection the old lady talked about. Concentrating once again he tried to control a strand of his mental energy. He could feel the mental energy listening to his every command. Controlling his mental energy one strand at a time he realized that he could control only 20 mental energy strands at a time. This was not because he lacked the will to concentrate, but the body he was in could not support a stronger mental energy projection.
He molded his mental energy strands and the figure of a 21-year-old young man could be seen floating above his mental energy. He tried to move around and found that he could do so after concentrating a little.
Sighing again, he regained his composure and floated towards the top of the dome. Looking at the barrier he willed a little and a door formed on the barrier. He opened the door and walked out.
*
***
*
The old lady was surprised quite a few times today as she had never seen her granddaughter violent. She figured out that something was wrong. Looking at the baby boy in front of her, his gray eyes unnerved her. It was a huge shock to her. Her cultivation was immeasurable. There weren't many things in the cultivation world which could unnerve the old lady. The baby boy had bright clear eyes and seemed to see through her. Suddenly, she felt something as she muttered, "Interesting."
*
***
*
The old lady's mental energy projection was standing outside the dome seemingly inspecting it when a door suddenly formed on the dome. The door was intricately designed. The doorknob turned and a young man of around 20 years walked out the door. Horacio had fashioned himself with a long black T-shirt and black jeans as he usually dressed when he wasn't working. He was barefooted. Looking at the projection of the old lady who was looking at him sternly. What he didn't know that the old lady was very astonished inside. She could feel the 20 strands of the mental energy being so delicately controlled.
"I would invite you inside, but I don't think my mental sea can bear the pressure," said Horacio softly.
Hearing this the old lady looked at him strangely at first and then laughed. The laughter was bright and Horacio felt he was standing in a field full of beautiful flowers and a full moon in the sky. He immediately felt relaxed. He turned to look at the old lady and to his surprise, he found a beautiful middle-aged woman standing there. She was wearing an azure blue robe. She had a kind look in her eyes.
"You came out in your true form so its only right if I do so too", she said in a soft voice.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone