Chapter 18

Xierna did not see a shocked expression on William's face; William instead said in a light tone: "It's fine, it's fine, I was only unconscious for four days."

"What do you mean 'only unconscious for four days'! Four days is a long time, okay? If after two more days you're still not awake, we'll have to go to the Adventurers' Guild and commission a mid-rank adventurer to come see you!" Xierna said solemnly.

William scratched his head embarrassedly; he couldn't possibly tell the other person that he had spent several decades in another consciousness space, ah.

William went downstairs, and upon seeing his son awake, his father David and mother Helena came over concerned to inquire about his condition; the two finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After dinner, Xierna and the others who had been taking turns caring for William these past few days also returned to their own villages; they had been exhausted these days, and finally they could rest properly.

The next day, upon hearing that William had woken up, Bulande early in the morning brought John and several children to William's house to find him; hearing Bulande say he had something to discuss, William changed his clothes and followed Bulande and the others to the small hill grassland near the village.

"What exactly do you want to say, Bulande? First, let me make it clear—I'm your lifesaver, so don't come looking for trouble with me again, okay?" William said in advance to avoid trouble, addressing Bulande and the others; however, Bulande stepped forward, and William watched him warily, not understanding what he intended to do.

Suddenly, Bulande bowed at a ninety-degree angle to him and said, "Thank you for saving my life!"

"Huh?" William jumped at the sudden gesture; he knew Bulande was a very proud person, and moreover Bulande had always looked down on him, so he never expected Bulande to thank him.

Before William could reply, Bulande straightened up, placed his hand on William's shoulder, embraced him, and said to John and the several children:

"From today onward, William is my brother; you should treat him the same way you treat me, understood!"

John and the several children said in unison: "Understood, Big Brother Bulande! Big Brother William!"

Bulande patted William's back, bared his teeth in a goofy grin, as if saying, "How are my little brothers? Not bad, right?"

Regarding the sudden friendship from Bulande and the several little brothers, William was somewhat speechless, after all his memories and personality were not those of a child, and he wasn't as immature as they were.

However, he soon realized that the estimated time of the goblin attack on Bigen Village was less than half a year away, and what he could accomplish alone was limited; if Bulande and the others were willing to listen to him, the preparations they could make before the goblin attack would certainly be greater than what he could do by himself.

Of course, if he could also get Geilan and the others to believe his words, that would be good, but that's not very realistic.

First, he couldn't reveal that he was a Reincarnated Person; Geilan would definitely not believe a child's words.

Second, while training, he had half-jokingly suggested to his father David the hypothesis of a large goblin attack on Bigen Village; his father David merely waved his hand and laughed, saying: "That kind of thing couldn't happen; goblins mostly live in the central area of the Magic Forest, rarely appearing in its outer regions, let alone attacking human villages."

Thus William asked: "Since you acknowledge me as your big brother, will you also follow my words?"

Bulande said: "What William says is what I say; you must obey him well."

John and the several children immediately replied: "We will absolutely obey Big Brother William's words!"

"Good," William nodded and said: "Then starting today, each of you, whether you have awakened magic aptitude or not, must begin daily training! Of course, as repayment, as long as I know martial techniques and magic,"

"I will definitely pass it on to you without reservation."

Upon hearing this, several children showed delighted expressions.

You should know that even Bulande, whose family background is the wealthiest in the village, only receives guidance from a Bronze-rank adventurer, whereas the ones teaching William are the five members of the White Shadow Squad, who are Silver-rank adventurers; being taught by William would thus be equivalent to indirectly receiving instruction from five Silver-rank adventurers—something these children from ordinary farming families could only dream of.

"Okay, Big Brother William! We will definitely persist in daily training!"

This time, their voices rang out exceptionally loud; whereas before they had shown respect to William merely because they were following Bulande's words, now they genuinely wanted to acknowledge William as their big brother from the heart.

Bulande was also surprised by William's idea, but William is no longer the object of his envy; instead, he is a comrade-in-arms who has fought side by side with him, a brother who can share life and death. Bulande smiled, patted William's shoulder, and said to everyone:

"Since William has said all that, I, as the big brother, cannot be stingy; starting today, I will take out the supplements and medicines my father bought for me and share them equally with everyone, so each person gets a share!"

Upon this, John and the several children cheered even louder: "Long live Big Brother William! Long live Big Brother Bulande!"

William, having become the children's king, quickly adapted to his new identity as Bigen Village's second-in-command among the children's leaders; as the maturity he displayed gradually showed before the children, Bulande faintly felt that William was taking the lead.

He still receives half a day of instruction from the five members of the White Eagle Squad each morning; in the afternoon, he both guides Bulande and the others in training and leads them to hunt slimes in the outer regions of the Magic Forest, gathering other materials needed to make traps.

At first, the children were still uneasy about the previous encounter with the huge black slime, worrying they might encounter William's magic beast; William, however, felt reassured about this—in his past life, such mutant magic beasts were only talked about among adventurers in taverns as similar legendary tales; encountering even one in this life is already unbelievable, let alone a second, which would make him either incredibly lucky or terribly unlucky.

By night, William returned home utterly exhausted; after dinner, he went back to his room, took out all the materials he had gathered during the day from the cloth bag, and, following Professor Finley's method, crafted trap after trap, continuously infusing magic runes into the first-tier magic crystals left behind by dead slimes.

Once a dozen or so magic runes were completed, William's magic power was completely depleted; exhausted in both stamina and magic, he flung himself into bed and instantly fell asleep—this happened every day, so his sleep quality was extraordinarily good.

"Bang!"

"Clack-clack."

"Whoosh-whoosh..."

A fireball exploded, shattering the trunk of the tree it struck, and the tree collapsed with a crash.

Not far away, after William finished casting the fireball, his mental focus gathered, his magic power circulated again within his body, the magic runes were fully formed, and a fireball appeared in his hand.

"How terrifying." Geilan, seeing William successfully cast magic for the first time, sighed.

Ou Li and the others also nodded in agreement, fully endorsing Geilan's statement.

Xierna said: "Right? I've been telling you all, it's only been a few days, and little William can already perfectly cast this fireball spell, whereas before he couldn't even cast it at all."

Geilan said: "When you first told me, I really didn't believe it; even now, having seen it with my own eyes, I still doubt my eyes—perfect magic power flow, perfect magic rune construction, perfect magic power control, aside from the magic power consumed by the spell itself, there is no other waste—could this truly be cast by a ten-year-old child? It's as if......"

"It's as if he had practiced this move for several decades." David supplemented what Geilan had left unsaid.

Geilan could not deny it and nodded.

Ou Li sighed: "Are even star-level aptitudes this terrifying now?"

Finley looked at Ou Li listlessly, as if gazing at something insignificant.

Xierna said: "Ou Li, you surely don't really think this is something star-level aptitude can achieve?! Being able to use martial techniques without awakening magic power, his body contains demonic magic power, having never been taught, he has mastered several martial techniques and magic, and now he suddenly displays terrifying magic talent comparable to legendary-level aptitude—little William's secrets are growing more and more, truly unfathomable."

David seemed to be thinking about something, remaining silent without speaking.

Geilan suddenly asked: "By the way, what does this kid William do every day aside from training with us?"