4. Past and Plannings (2/2)

'Ha... Not that I can forget my past experiences... I am a petty person myself, but they were my parents. They deserve a chance. Their current love for me is not fake, after all... And my mother deserves to live a good life, considering how she lived and raised me in my past life...'

Shaayadh's past life was like most people's—full of ups and downs. He lived an average life and faced many hardships.

He had an above-average intelligence level, maybe a little more than that, but still within the range of normality.

His childhood was simple but had many painful experiences—not because of others, but because of his family.

There were not many instances where he was bullied by others his age, thanks to his academic excellence, which allowed him to stay away from bullies.

But he faced many hardships because of his insatiable mother.

Vanitha's expectations for him and his sister were high since she worked hard to raise them alone in the "future."

Although Nathan was currently working hard at a construction site, he was, in fact, an irresponsible father and husband—a man with no ambitions but who was good at using abusive language.

Vanitha faced many hardships because of Nathan and his family. They were not welcoming and belittled her for various reasons, leading Vanitha to harbor a grudge and vow to live a good life in front of them.

Because of this vow made in front of others, she made Shaayadh's life a bit painful.

Vanitha was somewhat lenient towards his sister since she was a girl. But he never got the chance to live like a normal child after the age of 7 and spent most of his time with books, never leaving his home unless necessary.

His intelligence allowed him to get good marks in his subjects, but Vanitha felt it was never enough. She was a woman conscious of others—what could one expect from her? She raised her child while enduring many hardships, such as cleaning jobs, but her child only ranked second? His average marks were only 92 out of 100?

She increased her strictness towards him continuously. But luckily for Shaayadh, he was able to satisfy her requirements with his intelligence and hard work. But how long could it last? How long would he be able to continue living this life of home to school and school to home while others his age were enjoying their lives?

After all, he was only a child under the age of 10 at that time. He, too, wanted to live like a normal child without worries. So how could he understand his mother and her expectations? He had never played with anyone other than his sister. But that was also not possible most of the time since he had to study all day, or else his mother would find out and punish him.

As expected, soon enough, he didn't like studying that much and started to fool around with books in his hand. Hence, his scores also began to decline, which led to Vanitha using something more than just a stick—abusive language, which her husband used against her. She shouldn't have done it. She also regretted it. But would Shaayadh ever know that she regretted it? Luckily for her, Shaayadh didn't know the meaning of those words at that time and only thought that his mother was simply scolding him.

But as everyone knows, if something happens once, it tends to happen again and again. His mother continued the same pattern. It was alright as long as he didn't understand the meaning behind those words, so he continued to study hard. But how long would he stay ignorant? What would happen if he realized that his parents were not as he had expected—the best parents in the world?

His childhood aside, his teenage years were also a bit of a mess. But there is not much to note—over the years, he started to distance himself from the people around him and became a social introvert.

Not that he couldn't face people; he was better at understanding people and handling them compared to others his age. It was just that Shaayadh began to feel it was better not to have much contact with people, as he was becoming something he didn't wish to be—a hypocrite, selfish, and unclean person. But Shaayadh didn't want that; he hated what he was becoming. Society and the world had shaped an unclean personality for him, which he didn't want to become.

So distancing himself from people and being alone was the only way to prevent what he was becoming, which he understood over time.

By the age of 17, he lived a solitary life. What his mother or sister thought no longer mattered to him. During that time, he also experienced love, which ended up breaking his already fragile heart even more.

When he was bored with his life and thought it would always stay average, a magical event occurred throughout the world: the Awakening of Ether, which resulted from the world reaching the threshold of evolution and maturing. The year 2028 marked the day the world and its people evolved, which, in turn, made him evolve too.

But he didn't achieve much even after the "Great Rending" and died in the year 2037—New Era Year 09—without even knowing how he died or what caused his death.

Now that he had been reborn, he didn't feel much anger towards his parents. His current brain had vivid memories of his mother and father. Although, in memory, Nathan seemed to use abusive words and was a little irresponsible, it was only occasional. It hadn't come to the point where he didn't provide for the family and leeched off Vanitha's earnings.

'If I remember correctly... Mom hasn't taken that so-called vow yet. We haven't met that little uncle of mine during the past two months since we moved to District-4 either...'

'My big sis also hasn't joined primary school yet... So the day will be around this month or next month, December...'

Shaayadh didn't remember his childhood memories from his past life clearly. He could only infer this point from all the things he had heard and remembered when he was older in his last life.

But he remembered that "vow" incident since his mother always mentioned it whenever she scolded or hit him. So he had a rough idea of when it happened. With his current body's vivid memories of these last four years, he was sure that the incident hadn't happened yet.

'Hmm... It seems my 4th birthday is also coming in 5 days. Is there any chance I can use my cousin-in-law? If he can come to my house at least once, I can easily solve most of the problems...'

Shaayadh thought, his eyes again shining with a "wisdom light."

'These things aside, now the most pressing thing is to think about a proper way to showcase my intelligence... But it can't go past a limit. Otherwise, what if people come to dissect and research me? Hehe, even if others kidnap me, my parents can't save me with their abilities. Just kidding. Hehe.'

He couldn't act like a regular child considering his mature mind, and acting as such was also wasteful.

'Isn't it better to showcase some intelligence and shut others' mouths? Acting cool is always awesome.'

Thinking like this, a series of ideas continuously emerged in Shaayadh's mind:

'I'll just do slightly better than that genius friend I remember… Just enough to surpass him and outshine everyone my age in intelligence.'

'Although that genius friend of mine, Imyvan, was a badass and a one-in-a-million prodigy, that's all. Considering the world's population of 12 billion, there must still be more than 10,000 people like him who are just as intelligent. It shouldn't garner too much attention, right…?'

'Maybe I'm overestimating him. He might just be a one-in-a-hundred-thousand genius. Who knows… I'll just go with the flow. I'll figure out the appropriate limit once I start. I can always compare myself with my peers when needed. Yeah, that's it.'

Coming to a decision, Shaayadh put those thoughts aside and shifted his focus to the next important thing. Soon, another set of ideas took shape in his mind:

'Studying the same subjects I did in my last life will be mostly useless… I can't afford to waste time on that, especially considering how the future is going to change. Other than satisfying my vanity and regrets by showing off, studying won't be of much use to me.'

'So, I should focus on maintaining my physique and learning all types of martial arts… My body is the foundation for everything.'

'Yes, that's it! Learning martial arts systematically and gaining real combat experience will be my priority in the future. Although it will lose its effectiveness in the later days after the Great Rending, in the early stages, fighting is the only way to gain an advantage over others—other than using hot weapons.'

'Hmm… Moving out of the country is another priority. Whether it's about finding those people and implementing my plan of "subordinating" them or capturing the best opportunities, I need to go abroad.'

'And all of this requires money and a wide network of influence… So, the next step is earning money.'

'There are plenty of ways I can think of… Reading novels really paid off—especially those rebirth stories. See? I don't even have to use my own brain to come up with these plans. Hehe.'

'Hm, yes. I should read more of those novels in the future too. The insights they provide might become crucial. After all, human wisdom and imagination are truly limitless.'

'Now, let's start listing the ways to earn money… Cryptocurrency, music plagiarism, investments, creating a company based on future speculation, sports gambling, capturing the last life missed rich girl in school… Hahaha'

Shaayadh couldn't stop the smirk that formed on his lips when he thought about the last option. But soon, his brows furrowed.

'Ha, it seems I'm reaching my limit… I should take some rest.'

Closing his eyes slightly, he leaned back into a meditative sleep.

Although he had sorted through so many thoughts, it had only taken him a little over ten minutes. Even though he expected to be able to think deeply for at least an hour a day, it seemed there were natural intervals in between.

Now that Teacher Rosy hadn't started teaching yet and was still busy receiving children, this was the perfect time to cool down his smoking head.