Bab 21: Coming Back
– Alvin was also intelligent, but the way he acquired information was through action, through experiments, through practical experience.
***
Thien Minh returned to Pacific.
In the past, when both souls of him and Angus were still being in the "exchanged" state, Mr. Truong Quan once consulted his teacher who was the Supreme Mage, asking whether there was any solution for the "soul exchange" problem. At that time, the Supreme Mage answered that, "Every creature, every object has a world where it belongs to. If for some reasons, someone belonging to a world wanders into another world, he or she will be forced to return to the original world when reaching adulthood, by an unnamed mechanism of the Nature."
For the Dragon clan, it was the year of twenty years old.
After receiving the answer from his master, Mr. Truong Quan told Angus to calmly live on the Earth and wait until he was twenty to return to Pacific, then find the way to change the souls back in Pacific land – It was obvious that each world had its own mysteries that humanity never knew all, and the point was whether or not human persevered in finding the solution.
In addition, after Angus could return to Pacific, he and Thien Minh were in the same world, certainly the success rate of changing souls back would be likely higher than taking the risk of changing souls between the two worlds.
However... unexpectedly, before Angus's twenty-year-old birthday, for an unknown reason, the souls of him and Thien Minh were exchanged safely and completely. As for the cause or mechanism of the incident, Mr. Truong Quan had not figure it out yet.
Some months later, while Angus was in his Military Training course in Base Five and Thien Minh's twentieth birthday had passed, a force calling themselves "Space – Time Management" suddenly appeared on the Earth. They said that "the time" had come and they would send Thien Minh back to the world that he belonged to.
It was just exactly like what the Supreme Mage of the Earth had told Mr. Truong Quan.
The "Space – Time Management" group gave Thien Minh only ten minutes to prepare for the space-time travel.
Thien Minh was speechless: "..."
Why they were coming so suddenly?
He had not yet prepared the luggage nor prepared the psychology of leaving!
Ten minutes? They should have given him at least thirty minutes!!!
Facing Thien Minh with an angry face, the "Space - Time Management" group showed their cold faces: "No luggage needed. You are not allowed to bring anything from the Earth to your world."
Thien Minh did not agree: "Even bringing some photos as souvenir is not allowed?"
The "Space – Time Management" group still maintained their cold faces: "No."
Thien Minh was about to get mad: "So how about the clothes I'm wearing? Do I need to take all off?"
"Use this." The "Space – Time Management" group gave Thien Minh a white outfit that looked like an astronaut's uniform, bringing the feeling of "high-tech".
Looking at the doubtful face of Thien Minh when he received the outfit, the "Space – Time Management" group explained further: "This is a specialized costume made from environmental-friendly materials, for one time use only. After you return to your world, it will decompose within seven days." – The implication of this saying was: We already thought of all possible situations, there was no way for you to refute us!!!
Thien Minh was speechless again.
After that, Thien Minh used ten minutes to say goodbye to the couple who raised him up – Mr. Truong Quan and Ms. Thien Y, then joined the team.
The "Space – Time Management" group asked Thien Minh the destination in Pacific where he wanted to set foot.
Thien Minh did not hesitate to reply: "The Hills Village, in Talus province."
***
Thien Minh walked through the familiar village gate.
It was late afternoon. The afternoon sunlight prolonged the boy's shadow on the ground. The boy was standing looking at the village gate for a long while. It looked like he had fallen into some memories.
Grandpa Tim had just prepared some ingredients for fishing baits, now he was going to Grandpa Simon's house to schedule a fishing trip, suddenly saw a strange young man entering the village.
He walked up and asked, "Hey boy, who are you..."
Just seeing the other person's face, Grandpa Tim froze slightly. Before the two words "looking for?" could be spoken out, he heard Thien Minh's happy voice.
Thien Minh was both surprised and delighted to see Grandpa Tim: "Grandpa Tim! Are you going to fishing?"
Thien Minh had nearly one year living in Pacific (in Angus' body), he clearly knew that Grandpa Tim and Grandpa Simon went finishing twice a day: four in the morning and five thirty in the afternoon. He even had followed the two old men to the river and learned fishing for several times, so he still remembered clearly.
The expression of Grandpa Tim showed that he was a little suspicious. Thien Minh thought for some seconds and then he understood. He smiled brightly: "Grandpa Tim, I'm Thien Minh! I'm back! This is my true appearance!"
Grandpa Tim was stunned.
Thien... Minh?
How long it had been since the last time he heard this name? Just a few months since Angus' soul returned, right? But he had a feeling like it was half a life!!
Thien Minh! Unexpectedly, this boy was Thien Minh!
No wonder he felt half strange half familiar at the same time!
Grandpa Tim intently stared at Thien Minh, the surprise in his eyes quickly turned to joy, then suddenly he turned his face to the village, screaming: "Hubert! Hubert! Tom! Sienna! Vera! Hurry out here!!! Hurry up!!!"
Making Thien Minh startled.
Well, normally Grandpa Tim was considered to be the most quiet and gentle person in the village...
But seems like he was also loud enough when needed!!
Thien Minh laughed. No doubt, the Elderly Association of his village was always the best ones!!!
A few minutes later, all members of the "Elderly Association" gathered at the village gate.
Cheerful, excited, laughing, smiling, anxious, touched, crying, so on and so on... In short, there were as many types of expressions as the number of faces there.
Amidst a crowd of elderly people, the twenty-year-old boy repeatedly called "grandpa", "grandma". His smile shined brightly like the sunshine in May. This made the Hills Village "Elderly Association" unconsciously recall the image of a skinny teen boy of a year ago, crying and telling them how much he had been always dreaming and looking forward to this world.
Grandpa Hubert nearly cried, but he tried to restraint by repeatedly patting Thien Minh shoulder: "Good! Good! You're back! Nothing better than this!"
Grandpa Phelim carefully said: "Somebody should call and inform Edmund and Silas!"
Well, Grandpa Edmund was a doctor. He worked for the downtown hospital from Monday to Friday. Sometimes he had to work on the weekends if necessary. That's why he was not in the village at this time.
About grandpa Silas, his full name was Mr. Silas Ellis Dermot. He was the Principal of the Military Technical Academy. He was also a member of the Hills village. He usually spent some time in the village for resting. Currently he was at the capital Aurora.
Grandma Sienna also showed a rare gentleness: "I wish Angus were here so that we could have a party tonight!" Then she wondered, "Or should we party tonight? It's too long to wait until summer that Angus can be back!"
"Agree! When Angus comes back, we'll have another party!" Grandpa Balwin quickly decided.
On the next day, Grandpa Huberb took Thien Minh to the downtown to carry out his citizenship procedure. With the help of Mr. Silas – who currently was in the Capital, making support from afar – the difficulties in naturalization for a dragon of unknown origin became such smooth.
To facilitate the demographic declaration and the later education, Grandpa Hubert suggested Thien Minh to change the name into Pacific's style. Thien Minh agreed without any hesitation.
"Your name will be Alvin. Alvin Farley. Is it okay? You like it?" Grandpa Hubert asked.
"Yes, it's a good name. I like it!!" Thien Minh immediately agreed.
Alvin. The name of friendliness and happiness.
Good! The feeling of having another grandson was really really good! Grandpa Hubert told himself.
***
A few days later, the series of playful days of Thien Minh – currently Alvin – with the Elderly Association of the Hills village officially ended, due to the return of Mr. Silas.
After being announced that Alvin had come back, Mr. Silas returned to the village, then took Alvin to the capital Aurora for a qualification test from Military Technical Academy.
Similar to other academies, the Military Technical Academy and the Medical Academy usually conducted the enrollment after the Compulsory Military course ended. Because of the unique conditions of professional practice, the two academies had to closely monitor the performance of freshmen in the Compulsory Military Course.
They paid special attention to the freshmen with excellent internal power control so that –
Later they would rob those excellent students and bring to their academy!
The act of preparing a qualification test for someone before the Compulsory Military course ended had only happened twice in the history of Military Technical Academy ➡ Already counted the case of Alvin.
The previous case was Mr. Silas's first disciple, currently serving as Vice Principal of the Military Technical Academy.
Mr. Silas introduced Alvin to the Vice Principal, and told the Vice Principal to arrange a qualification test.
Hearing his teacher tell him that Alvin was his "junior brother", the handsome and talented Vice Principal praised Alvin: "He's been being trained by you for a long time. I believe that he doesn't need the test! We can just give him our approval!"
Mr. Silas disagreed: "No. We are being observed by many people, so just follow the process."
The Vice Principal seemed to remember something, immediately agreed: "Yes, I got it. I'm preparing the test now."
The result was... As the handsome and talented Vice Principal predicted, Alvin easily passed the qualification test, becoming the first year student of the Military Technical Academy.
How could he do that?
If someone asked what Alvin had done in the time living in Pacific (in Angus' body), the answer would be: Spending most of the time on "traveling" with Mr. Silas.
For Angus, he was very good at learning about things through books. Born intelligent, plus the good ability to associate and reason, he easily put himself into the world in the books, easily understand and absorb the knowledge.
But Alvin was different. He was also intelligent, but the way he acquired information was through action, through experiments, through practical experience.
Mr. Silas understood that, so he suggested Alvin to "travel" with him. Although Mr. Silas, was the Principal of Military Technical Academy, the total time he spent at the Academy was just around two months per year. The rest time of the year, he often spent three or four months in the Hills village to rest, and spent nearly half of the year to travel around Pacific, collecting more information about the materials for weapon creating.
Before the incident of exchanging soul with Angus, Alvin had lived on Earth for more than eighteen years. During those eighteen years, there were countless times he thought of the land where he was born, thinking about how it looked like and how his fellowmen lived on that land. Therefore, he was really really happy and grateful to suggestion of Mr. Silas.
Then he spent over six months to travel with Mr. Silas.
In every land that they set their foot on, Mr. Silas always spent time to explain to Alvin about the specific materials of each region and the methods of turning them into objects and weapons.
The more Alvin learned, the bigger his understanding of the Material industry got. He did not know that some of the things Mr. Silas taught him were from the curriculum of second or third year of the Military Technical Academy! He did not know that the materials he was exposed to were the best materials for weapon creation that the students in the academy could never reach!
Therefore, before officially becoming a student, Alvin already had an extremely solid foundation of the Material industry.
After the test, all the members of Military Technical Academy enrollment board agreed that Alvin was eligible for admission without attending the Compulsory Military course.
Receiving this announcement, the other academies were completely speechless: "..."
The military course was not ended yet! They were still in the phase of observing students! How could Military Technical Academy find out such a talent like that?? How could???
In order to be in sync with the other new students, Alvin was put in the Preparation program of the Military Technical Academy. He would study in this program for half a year. Then after the academy enrollment process finished, Alvin and other students would study the official program together (➡ See Chapter 6 for the education curriculum of Pacific).
There were not many things for Alvin to do in the Preparation program. All he had to do was to go to the library, pick some introductory books for self-learning, do some simple experiments, and the write the report every week.
At the beginning, when Alvin returned to Pacific, Angus and other young dragons in the same age had already entered the military course for over three months. It was supposed that he was late for almost three months. But then after the qualification test, Alvin was admitted to the academy half a year earlier than Angus and others. So now Alvin had to wait for them.
Following each of Alvin's weekly reports, the battle for the position of Grade Leader among freshmen was also coming.
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Author words: Recap & Spoilers for the next events
1. Just FYI, in Vietnamese, "Thien" means sky/ heaven, "Minh" means intelligence/ wisdom. Combining the two words together, the name "Thien Minh" shows the hope of parents for their son to be smart and wise.
2. Mr. Truong Quan was the one belonged to Magician races on Earth. He and his wife (Ms. Thien Y) raised Thien Minh (now Alvin) for over 18 years. And then the "soul exchange" incident between Angus & Alvin occurred.
3. Most of the races of Dragon land were mentioned in Chapter 20. The main features of each race will also be gradually revealed via next chapters.
4. The battle for the position of Grade Leader will be from Chapter 25 to 33 (estimated).
5. The world background of this novel will be completely revealed in Chapter 37 - 38 (estimated). Please be patient ^^~
Status Power Mingguan
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