The older Alex looked at his daughter and smiled a bit. "I know child, we talked about it all yesterday," he said.
He then turned to Scarlet and bowed. "Greetings, senior Scarlet. I'm the clone of the Alex you are bonded with."
"I had heard about you," the little bird on Alex's shoulders spoke. "Let us go to your home instead of talking here in the open."
"Ah, yes. We should…" the older Alex turned around to look at his truck which could only hold 3 people at the front. One of them would have to sit on the back.
"Umm…"
Alex looked at what the problem was and realized the situation. "Don't mind me. I can sit anywhere," he said and walked up to the truck before jumping on its roof, instead of the open back. "Let senior Luhei sit with Ronron inside. Scarlet can stay with me."
"What? I want to stay inside too," Scarlet said.
"Okay, go with Ronron then," Alex said.
Scarlet immediately flew and went up to Ronron and sat by her shoulder. Ronron was a little surprised and scared for a moment as she was now holding the ruler of a continent on her shoulder.
"You guys get in, we can leave," Alex said.
"Right, please come in, senior," the older Alex said before quickly taking them to the truck.
Ronron walked behind them and stopped for a moment. "Papa, are you alright? You look different today," she said.
"Different? Different how?" the older Alex asked.
"Umm, more active, I guess. You aren't moving as you used to," she said.
"Oh, that, Hahaha," the older Alex laughed. "He gave us a healing pill, and it healed everything that was wrong with our body, from my bones to my joints to my teeth. I feel young again now."
"Is that so?" she asked. "Ah right! I forgot father was an alchemist."
"Right, right," the older Alex said. "I'm starting the truck now, be careful up there."
"Don't worry about him," Scarlet said. "He could get hit by the train we came in and he wouldn't even have a scratch on him."
"Of course," the older Alex said. He started the truck and started driving.
Coming here yesterday, Alex had flown in the sky, barely seeing anything that was down here. However, now that he was looking from a normal angle, he could see how much different the city had become.
He remembered coming here once in a while with his father on his deliveries, and none of the houses from back then really existed anymore.
Almost everything seemed to have something added to it or was completely rebuilt. The group talked inside the truck, but Alex found himself lost in his own thoughts up above.
He didn't even realize when they had reached the farm at all. He only got out of his thoughts when the truck stopped and he lurched forward.
He jumped and landed in front of the truck and waited for everyone to come out. Once they were all out, he went to the house with them.
Before they could even enter, Graham came running out the front door with a massive smile on his face. "Where's my granddaughter? Where is she?" he asked.
Whisker, who was staying on his shoulder, also squeaked a bit, asking to see his brother's daughter.
Ronron was surprised to see that Graham barely looked like a middle-aged man. Not old enough to be someone that she would consider a grandfather.
"Ronron, greet your grandfather," the older Alex said softly.
Ronron quickly walked forward and bowed deeply. "Hello, grandfather. It's nice to meet you," she said.
She looked up and was surprised to see that Graham was full of tears.
"G-grandfather, are you okay?" she asked.
"Hah," Graham quickly wiped away his tears. "Stop being so stiff and call me Grandpa or something. Come, give me a hug first."
Whisker squeaked too.
Ronron quickly walked up and embraced her grandfather. Graham hugged her while wiping his tears at the same time. "Look at you, you're so beautiful. You remind me of grandma when she was young. She was so beautiful too."
"She still is, father," Alex said from the front.
"Of-of course," Graham quickly said. "But Ronron here is definitely prettier."
"Hehe, thank you grandfa— Grandpa," she said with a wide smile.
"Oh dear, look. Whisker is excited to meet you too," Graham said as he took Whisker from his shoulders. "Say hello, whisker."
Ronron looked at the little mouse with a curious look, expecting nothing from it. However, when she heard the word "hello" sound in her head, she was taken aback.
"Wh-what? That mouse talked," she said quickly.
"Of course, I can talk," Whisker said. "Also, don't call me a mouse. You should call me Uncle Whisker."
He had heard from Pearl that Ronron called him uncle Pearl, so he had been waiting to ask that of her.
"Un-Uncle Whisker," Ronron said, still with a surprised look on her face. "How are you speaking in my head? Are you a Saint beast?"
"No, your father gave me a lily to unlock my spiritual sea," Whisker said. "Do you want one? I will ask one from him."
"My father?" Ronron turned around to look at Alex. "Who is this senior?"
"That's Whisker, another one of my bonded beasts," Alex explained.
"Another one?" Ronron was surprised. "How many do you have?"
"That's the last one," Alex said.
"Is he… like someone belonging to one of the heavenly beasts too? Like aunt Scarlet or Uncle Pearl?" she asked.
"Hmm? No, no, Whisker is nothing like that. He's a Seeking Mouse that is able to cultivate, that's all," Alex said. Of course, there was more to him than that, but he didn't want to go into details right now.
"Father, you should meet senior Luhei here," Alex said as he introduced his father to the snake.
The group went through a round of introduction before everyone knew who each other was.
Ronron went into the house to meet her mother who was busy in the kitchen and started helping her there.
Pearl walked up to Alex and looked at Scarlet who was on his shoulders.
"Is this the cat you were talking about so much?" Scarlet asked. "He's kinda cute."
"Pearl, meet Scarlet. She's a phoenix and the ruler of the Southern Continent," Alex introduced her.
"Greetings, senior," Pearl said.
"Hmm, what's wrong with you? Why are you so weak?" she asked.
"He had to give up the power in his bloodline and spiritual root to keep himself alive while in the Qi barrier, so he is rather weak now," Alex explained.
"I see," Scarlet said. "That means he lost a lot of potentials then. He's no different from a normal beast now that he doesn't have the White Tiger's blood in him."
Alex sighed when he heard that. "I'm hoping the ritual or whatever the White Tigers have that helps evolve someone with their bloodline into a White Tiger will be able to restore his potential," he said.
"Hmm, I'm not sure if it can, if what you said is true," Scarlet said, giving Alex a scare. "You have to be careful though, such evolution rituals usually end up killing the beast inside, so only do it when you are absolutely sure you want it."
