Lucian heard this voice in a daze, and couldn’t help but open his eyes to look up at who was speaking to him. He was wearing clothes that would normally be shown in pre-industrial revolution exhibits back where he came from, so it was quite odd to see someone with such a stern expression staring at him in such a costume.

  ‘Does this mean souls exist? If this were in my previous world, this would be a ground breaking discovery!’

  ‘If only I could have continued my research…’

  ‘No, wait, Maybe I could continue my research in this new world…’

  Now that his head was clear, Lucian remembered very clearly that just moments ago he was getting stabbed repeatedly by the husband of a woman he had killed in one of his experiments. It sent some shivers through his body involuntarily, as the memory of the blade entering his abdomen still lay fresh on his mind.

  In the time he was from, the year was 2175, and technology had advanced so far that everyone received their own AI implants right after birth, and medicine had even reached a point where limbs could be regrown and cancer could be cured. But even with all that progress, Lucian wouldn’t have been able to survive such a brutal attack before the doctors got to him, nor could his fellow lab geeks save him either. They were specialised in dissecting humans, not sewing them back together — good as new! The damage to his heart and all his other organs was just too severe.

  But the obvious giveaway that he had transmigrated, was the very room he was inhabiting, as well as the fact that his body felt very different. He felt like a foreigner in his own body. His hands weren’t quite the right size, his arms not the right length, and his legs didn’t even fully reach the floor!

  This place would be considered a museum exhibit in his previous world, it all seemed so backwards and behind the current progress that he almost wanted to believe he had fallen asleep and woken up in some sort of renaissance festival, but that just couldn’t be the case. It would answer one question, but it wouldn’t explain why he was in a completely different body!

  After organising the memories he received when that sudden, sharp pain assaulted him, Lucian finally had a better grasp of things. The people of this world were at a developmental stage equivalent to the European middle ages. With Knights, chivalry and all the romanticised history still being the main focus of this society.

  His current body was also named Lucian Verdan, the son of a Knight. His father, Knight Robert Verdan, had him tested and found that he had the gift to become a Knight as well, and so he asked some of his old buddies from the academy to pull some strings and allow entry to Lucian, even though he was officially too young to enter.

  Lucian was currently in the preliminary classes, with the actual academy being in another location. And all this time the teacher was still standing in front of him, waiting for an answer, he also happened to be the owner of that grating voice that annoyed Lucian so much right after he awoke…

  “No sir, I just had a bad headache, that’s all.”

  Lucian tried his best to imitate the actions and words of the previous occupant of this body to the best of his memories. From what he recalled, he was a timid child, afraid to speak too loudly, while also too afraid to speak up for himself. But he was most afraid of getting into trouble or bringing attention his way.

  Lucian felt like he gave a pretty solid performance, he’d rate himself a solid 8.5/10 if he were auditioning for a show.

  “No ordinary headache causes a reaction like that one. Go to the nurse to get yourself checked out.”

  It seemed like the teacher was a responsible one though, as he wouldn’t just forsake his duties and take a 12 year old boy’s word for it when he said he was fine after letting out such a blood-curdling scream. Lucian just nodded and stood up from his seat, following the instructions of his teacher as he left the classroom.

  This was what his predecessor would do, so he had to follow due course to not bring any suspicion or attention to himself.

  “Now, where was I…”

  The class carried on as usual without him, like nothing had even happened. The teacher still had a class to teach after all — he couldn’t give all the attention to one kid and cause everyone else to fall behind on their studies.

  Meanwhile, Lucian silently slipped out of his seat and made his way to the back of the classroom where one of two doors out of the room was located. He chose this one because out of the two, it was the one that brought the least attention to himself. The other door was at the front near the podium and chalkboard, and following the same actions the old Lucian would have taken, Lucian kept his head down and walked out of the room.

  He decided to actually visit the nurse to confirm that nothing was wrong with his body. While he may feel fine now, he had no idea what sort of ailments or illnesses he could be carrying that might have caused him to have such a bad headache. Though he suspected this was just the side effect of his soul performing a hostile takeover of this new body — but it wasn’t exactly like he could prove this, nor would he voice this theory to anybody either.

  He didn’t know what kind of after effects could be caused by transmigration, but one thing for damn sure was that he wasn’t willing to be thrown back into the loop so soon after he was given a second chance.

  “Where are you off to, Lucian?”

  Lucian looked over at the voice that just called out to him. Surprised and annoyed that someone would stop him again while he was mid thought.

  He saw that the boy who spoke was a large, tall young boy. Or would he be considered old now that Lucian himself was 12? He had vibrant, blue eyes, a well chiselled face and golden yellow hair. He looked far older than he actually was, with his body being well muscled, looking like a bodybuilder who had been working on his physique for decades.

  “The Nurse.” Lucian just gave a short answer.

  He was struggling to remember the name of this particular youth. His mind was quite foggy still, and his inherited memories hadn’t quite settled in yet. It was best to play it safe and just give short replies while he figured things out.

  “Haha… Lucian, don’t you know you have to pay the hall tax before you get my permission to go anywhere?” The boy continued speaking to him though, looking as if he had zero intention to stop.

  ‘So he’s one of those types.’

  Lucian originally thought he must have been one of the previous Lucian’s friends, but it seemed not. It was clear that the old Lucian’s timid and cowardly personality would be completely incompatible with this brute, which was only made glaringly obvious by the way he was speaking to him.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  ‘Hahh, trouble’s already found me and it hasn’t even been 10 minutes since I inhabited this body…’ Lucian kept his thoughts to himself, instead taking a secret glance at his surroundings and making note of everything.

  He looked to see if anyone else was nearby, whether to help or to hide suspicion. But it turned out to just be him and this new boy. The hallway itself was quite long and wide, causing their voices to echo quite far — Lucian noticed this and made sure that for the next few moments, he kept his voice down. The less people who heard him speak, the better it would be for the both of them.

  ‘Why does trouble always find its way to me…’

  To be quite frank, Lucian was already in sort of an odd mood after finding out he had not only died, but had now transmigrated into this odd world. He was already still experiencing some residual effects of transmigrating, and he barely even managed to get used to his new body.

  It was hard to readjust to this new life, he had spent 35 years getting used to his old body in his old world, so taking on the role of a 12 year old was difficult, to put it lightly. All this, while simultaneously having to try and appear normal, like he was still the same person they thought he was. But after hearing this rough looking youth speak, his mood quickly changed from odd to sour.

  “How… interesting,” Lucian muttered to himself.

  “What was that?” The rough looking youth said, unsure if he was hearing things or not. He was probably thinking something along the lines of, ‘This brat dares to speak back to me??’

  However it seemed his old habits were coming back to bite him already, as he had spoken his thoughts aloud unknowingly. But it seemed the brawny youth wasn’t that interested in what Lucian actually had to say, as he glossed over it in only a matter of moments.

  “Here I thought you’d never show your face again after what happened last week.” The boy, at least twice Lucian’s own size, sneered. “Thought you could hide away forever, huh?”

  Lucian’s mind shifted through the lingering memories of his predecessor. It took a great deal of effort out of him to go sifting through his memories with his mind still groggy, but he felt like he needed to know more about the boy to understand what was going on in this current situation. As a scientist, Lucian liked to have all the facts before he made a decision on things.

  Eventually, after thinking hard and long, a vague recollection started to form. This was Roderic, a constant thorn in the side of the previous Lucian. He was twice Lucian’s size — in both height and girth, as Lucian himself was actually quite short and skinny for his age. He was the sort of bully who thrived in places like these, where the weak willed were gathered for easy pickings to the stronger kids.

  But instead of fear, Lucian felt something quite different. Amusement. It was like watching an insect crawl across a perfectly laid experiment guideline, thinking itself significant. When in the grand scheme of things, it was just a tool for a greater mind, a higher being to observe and understand concepts it could never even begin to comprehend.

  “Roderic.” Lucian called out to him, testing the name on his tongue.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Roderic sneered, clearly amused with Lucian’s sudden bravery and willingness to talk some smack back to him.

  The hint of sarcasm in his voice wasn’t subtle at all, and it must have struck a chord. It seemed Roderic wasn’t used to the previous Lucian responding back to him like that, and he tried to hide his anger with his amusement. The cover up was clear as day for Lucian though.

  Roderic’s expression darkened, and he took a threatening step forward, fists tightening at his sides. “Don’t play games with me, runt. I said pay the hall tax.”

  Lucian tilted his head, feigning ignorance. “Hall tax? I don’t recall such a thing being in the academy rule book?”

  Of course, Lucian was just mocking Roderic again, Roderic just didn’t know it, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was too stupid to realise it? In truth, the memories of past encounters with Roderic had flooded Lucian’s mind now, with the faint memories clicking into place.

  The old Lucian had indeed been squeezed dry by this brute, giving up whatever allowance he’d been given by his father every month to avoid confrontation. But the old Lucian was gone now. The notion of parting with currency, of being coerced by such a pitiful child was laughable to the new Lucian.

  He let out a soft chuckle, almost a giggle since it came out of his prepubescent, 12 year old mouth, before meeting Roderic’s gaze directly.

  “You believe you have leverage over me because of a few coins?” Lucian asked mockingly.

  Roderic blinked, momentarily thrown off by the sheer audacity in Lucian’s tone. He obviously wasn’t expecting this rebuttal from little old Lucian.

  “What—?”

  “Fascinating…” Lucian stroked his chin with a snide remark.

  His eyes narrowed as he regarded Roderic as one might a particular specimen under a microscope. While Roderic may seem like the typical school bully, this was exactly what interested Lucian. The similarity in behaviour between Roderic, a human from this brand new world Lucian was just beginning to experience, and bullies from his previous world, could probably created a nobel prize winning social study.

  Lucian wasn’t interested in sociology though, so he moved on.

  “What drives you I wonder? A sense of entitlement? Power? Or perhaps just a base craving to dominate the weak?” Lucian mocked Roderic outright.

  At this point Roderic’s face had flushed with anger. He stepped forward, raising his fist threateningly, acting like he wanted to bash Lucian’s face inwards. And Lucian had no doubt that he fully intended on following through with this act.

  “You little—!”

  But before he could finish, the door along the hallway behind Lucian swung open with a heavy creak. The atmosphere shifted instantly as Lucian gazed at the newcomer, and Roderic turned around to catch a glimpse of this new party. When he did, his fist, which had been halfway through its arc, froze in mid air. His face twisted into a mask of frustration and confusion.

  The man who emerged was striking — a solidly built figure with a presence that seemed to command the air around him. He was dressed in a dark robe-like garment, somewhere between the simplicity of a martial arts Gi and the elegance of a scholar’s robe, cinched at the waist by a broad leather belt. The garb was adorned by some faint lettering of this world’s language, that spelt out the words ‘Combat instructor’.

  His hair, long and tied back in a simple knot, was streaked with silver despite his youthful face, and his eyes were a piercing shade of blue, the kind that seemed to see through every layer of a person.

  A subtle aura of power radiated from him, nothing like what Lucian felt from Roderic’s stocky, bodybuilder-like figure. Lucian could tell that he was the type of person that, when stepping into a room, brought all of the attention naturally onto himself just from his presence.

  “Is there a problem here, kids?” The man spoke with confidence.

  Lucian straightened, with his interest in this person piqued. He glanced at Roderic, who had immediately shrunk back, all of his intimidation vanishing as if he had been doused in cold water.

  “N-no, Professor Kaldor!” He stammered when he spoke, with his face on the verge of turning pale. “Just… having a chat with my friend Lucian here!”

  “Friend?” Professor Kaldor questioned.

  His gaze shifted between the two of them, settling on Lucian with a faint, almost imperceptible frown. His eyes seemed to carry a sense of questioning in them. “I wasn’t aware the two of you were on such friendly terms.”

  Lucian offered the professor a disarmingly innocent smile, knowing that a zero tolerance policy was in place at this academy. If one went down, they both went down. It didn’t matter who was on the receiving end or not. Lucian didn’t intend to be punished so early into his transmigration. Considering this place seemed to be around the middle ages in development, he didn’t want to find out just how strict those punishments were.

  “Oh, absolutely. Roderic here was just asking me to contribute to the welfare of the academy.” Lucian stated confidently, despite knowing that he had to maintain an air of cowardice if he wanted to blend in with the original Lucian’s actions. But he felt that even though this was a bit different, it still fit in with the stereotype of a quiet kid being bullied. After all, even bullied kids tend to have a moment of realisation and stick up for themselves every once in a while.

  “…”

  “…”

  The atmosphere quickly grew awkward. It was clear neither person expected this sort of response out of Lucian. The corners of Kaldor’s mouth twitched, as if suppressing a chuckle of his own.

  “I see. Quite the philanthropist, aren’t you, Roderic?” He turned to Roderic and questioned him, following along with Lucian’s ruse.

  It didn’t take an idiot to figure out what was going on between the two of them, and Kaldor was no idiot. It was obvious that Roderic was in the midst of bullying Lucian before he stepped in. But with both sides denying anything had happened, what was he supposed to do? Make it up? Then that would just cause even more problems not just for the two of them, but himself as well if they decided to report it.