Chapter 2

Waking from sedation, Saryn groggily opened his eyes and looked around. Blurred objects and people slowly solidified in his line of sight after blinking a few times. He couldn't help raising a brow at the luxurious patient room he was resting in. In fact, it reminded him more of a penthouse hotel room than a patient room. By his bedside, he saw a woman who looked no older than twenty-five. Somehow, she carried herself with a surprisingly mature and composed demeanor despite the excited voice coming from her lips when she spoke into the hologram-like gauntlet around her arm.

"Nihilius, Saryn is awake," The woman excitedly proclaimed with a demure voice.

A heavy, cold, and throaty voice of a man replied, "Good. I will head there as soon as possible."

Ignoring the strange hologram glove that was steadily becoming a familiar sight, Saryn calmly observed the woman. Silky black hair cascaded over her shoulders and down to her waist. Neatly trimmed bangs covered most of her forehead. Not a single blackhead or blemish marred her stern yet attractive face. Above her thin nose, deep concern radiated from her eyes that had a strange silver to red color gradient in the irises.

Deep within his bones, Saryn felt the twinge in his blood indicating a blood connection with the woman. It was a feeling he recognized from meeting his biological grandparents for the first time in his previous life as an adult after growing up as an adopted child.

To Saryn's surprise, the woman suddenly shut off her hologram tool, leaned forward, and placed a hand on his cheek. Wrinkles at the edges of her silver-red eyes showed her concern toward him.

"How do you feel, son?"

Forcing himself not to shy away from what was basically the touch of a stranger, Saryn frowned and thought, 'Son? Is this woman my mother? She doesn't look ten years older than this body I'm in, though.'

"Does it still hurt?" The woman anxiously asked after not receiving a response.

Gears turned in Saryn's mind as he considered how to approach the situation. After a few silent seconds, he tired of the growing anxiousness on the woman's face and settled for saying, "I think I lost some memories. Who are you?"

The woman reeled back. Her eyes widened in horror as though she had seen an eldritch beast.

"No! This can't be! My baby boy forgot me?!"

Tears streamed down the woman's face, ruining what little makeup she was wearing.

"Wait here, Saryn. I'll bring the doctor in."

Despite the stoic nature he usually tried to maintain, Saryn couldn't help pitying the woman. For all intents and purposes, she lost her son. The tears in the woman's eyes forced him to recall the funerals for his adoptive parents and biological grandparents from his past life he attended during the last few years of his past life.

'Sorry, lady. I've taken away your family member. As a believer in equivalent exchange, I'll treat you as family in exchange for this body.'

Saryn quietly decided in his heart. No matter how much success he had grasped in the past, family was the only thing that made all of his sufferings worth it. Although he didn't know much about his current situation, he decided to take care of this body's family as his own in the stead of the boy he had possessed. Of course, he would not sacrifice succeeding in his own goals in this world, either.

"I'll have to study and dominate my surroundings, first," He mumbled to himself.

Thinking back to what he experienced upon waking up in this new body, his face lowered solemnly. He considered every detail. Every facial expression, every piece of technology, every spoken word… None of it escaped his grasp. In particular, he focused on the boy named Yu Tian who seemed to have a conflict with the previous Saryn.

"That brat reminds me of a few protagonists in some stories I used to read in my free time," Saryn mumbled while rubbing his chin.

Finally, he recalled the unusual words he heard just before losing consciousness in the flying ambulance. His eyes flickered with realization.

"System."

Nothing happened.

"Menu?"

A small black screen with a short list of white-lettered words appeared.

[ - IMPURATUS SYSTEM - ]

[Character]

[Quests]

[Exchange Center]

"...Am I the third-rate first villain from the start of a cookie-cutter story?" Saryn grumbled to himself. Although the system and Yu Tian character reminded him of such a situation, the complexity of the world around him tickled his brain with numerous absurd possibilities.

'Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye?' He wondered.

Before he could further explore the options on the screen, two people interrupted him by entering the room. The woman from before, supposedly his body's mother, and a man wearing mostly black clothing entered the room. The smooth and dark material of the man's clothing looked like a strange amalgamation of leather and nylon. His black combover made him look middle-aged, yet he waltzed into the room with hands folded behind his back like some old wizard grandpa in a fantasy novel.

After inspecting the new face, Saryn greeted the two people with his eyes. As a test, he left his Villain System screen open. Neither of the two people reacted to it, which pleased him.

'Disposing of the man won't be necessary, then,' Saryn noted. As another test, he attempted to close the screen with a thought. The screen blipped out of existence. Satisfied by the result, he briefly nodded. The nod doubled as an extra greeting to the two people.

"Saryn, this is our family doctor, Dr. Copperfield. Do you remember him?"

Sticking to the setting of an amnesiac, Saryn shook his head.

After proceeding with some brief tests that mostly consisted of the doctor scanning his brain functions or asking questions, the doctor stared at him with wrinkled brows.

"How perplexing…" The doctor mumbled.

"Is something wrong with him?"

"Well… yes and no. His brain functionality is more than double of what it used to be, and he also knows basic knowledge such as language or mathematics. However, it seems the hit to his head has permanently disabled his memories of the people around him, including himself."

"Can we get the memories back?" The woman inquired with a demanding tone. She grasped the doctor's right arm and clenched hard enough for veins to protrude on her forearm.

"I've checked both his Prana and Pneuma, but those memories are completely gone. It's like they've been completely erased from existence.

A sudden crack echoed in the room, prompting Saryn to flinch and raise a brow. The doctor's arm fell limp at his side. Surprisingly, the man barely flinched and waited for the woman to let go of him. Unfortunately for him, the woman squeezed his arm even harder. Another crack echoed out. Finally, the woman released Doctor Copperfield's arm and spewed out a visible breath of hot air.

Now freed from the woman's grasp, the doctor calmly reached up with his healthy left arm. Tendrils of translucent blue energy that looked like plasma stormed out from his healthy arm, penetrated straight through his overcoat, and poked into his broken arm. The tendrils squirmed under his skin. A few muffled cracks and scratches could be heard for a few seconds. Then, the tendrils dissipated, and the doctor moved his arm freely as though the break had only been a passing fever dream.

"What are we supposed to do about my son's life and memories, Gaspar?" The woman growled.

"For now, take him out of school for a few days and show him around places that mean a lot to your family or you have visited frequently with him in the past. If he doesn't recall anything after that, just make new memories with him. With the way his brain is functioning now, his lifespan shouldn't be as limited as before, so you have plenty of time to spend together from now on."

"Really? Can his Eight Forms progress further now?"

"Most likely."

"Finally, some good news," The woman quietly said while placing her hand on her chest.

Doctor Copperfield averted his eyes. He didn't see the need to mention that the previous Saryn came very close to being classified as mentally handicapped before losing memories. Now, everything checked out for the boy as a normal person. Unbeknownst to both Saryn and his mother, the doctor cared little for the young master's well-being and inwardly cheered at the fact that his paycheck might now come with less stress wrought by the boy's stupidity.