Chapter 2 2: Reincarnated as a Small-ass Store Owner in a Very Strange World
"Where the heck am I? Was I rejected by both?" he did not know whether to laugh or cry if that were true. But if it were... what the heck was he supposed to be? What the heck is happening to him?!
"Maybe... it will take... a little longer?" he bitterly laughed at himself. "What kind of situation am I in?"
*Ring* *Ring*
"Bells? Why am I hearing bells for?" Dylan did not know what is happening. Wasn\'t he already dead?
"Hey, mister." a voice rang in his mind. `A voice is this an angel`s voice?`. The voice was crisp and clear and... masculine? He was shocked what is happening to him.
" HEY! Why are you not waking up yet?!" the man shouted at him. Then, Dylan was awoken by this voice. When he opened his eyes, it wandered around him while some of drool was still present on his face. He was in complete and utter daze. He was fascinated by what he saw because it was... a store?! Wasn\'t he supposed to ascend to heaven or go to hell? Why was he suddenly in a store? \'God, you must be playing a joke on me, right?` he thought.
"HEY! Were you not listening?! I told you I wanted to buy something! Why are you standing around and slowly rotating your head left and right to? Why, you don\'t even know your own store?" the man roared at him. The man wore an aristocratic blue robe, he was about 1.8 m tall and was in his middle-ages. But what he said was true. He just arrived here. How was he supposed to know?!
"B-buy f-from me? Clearly this must be some kind of joke, right?" he awkwardly answered. But, he found himself speaking a different language. A language he was unfamiliar with but he could speak fluently with it. What was going on in this world? Where was he? What was this store supposed? What does this all supposed to mean? But before he could even understand what has currently happening to him, the man in front of him said.
"What is wrong with you?! I am trying to buy here and you ask me if this is some king of joke! You are a joke!! You`re entire family is a joke!!! Now, I know why this run-down store is being criticized by the people in the clan because it is without manners and etiquette and has poor services. What a joke for a store!" the man berated Dylan even going to the extent of insulting his family. This clearly left displeasure on his face.
"Then, kindly get out, sir." Dylan said in an icy voice while his expression got increasingly calm. He was infuriated with this man`s arrogant tone. Even though he felt betrayed but he understood his brother`s reason and he hoped that he may realize his wrongdoings and do a good turn, but even so, no one deserves to harm his family.
"That`s better, you`re finally talking. I want... uh... What did you say?" the man in front of him was shocked. He could not understand why he, someone who is from a prestigious clan would be chased out of this, run-down and seemingly broken store. " Do you not know who am I? I am Frank Aaron, an elder of the Aaron Clan, how dare you act so presumptuous in front of this elder?! I want 10 pounds of Silverdust Grass, a stalk of ...." Frank Aaron proudly stated and pointed at his list on the counter in front of him. But before he could continue Dylan interjected.
" Sir, I have already seen the list of items you want to purchase since you have already placed it on the table long ago. Unfortunately, this `run-down store` has none of this items in stock for we have `poor services`. That is the entire reason why I kindly asked you to leave, sir. Because I do not want Elder Frank to waste his time with this owner that is `without manners and etiquette`. Or maybe Elder Frank is unable to hear well, so let me kindly repeat it to you, dear sir, Kindly get out, sir" Dylan explained eloquently with a faint smile on his calm face. Being the most successful businessman in his previous world, he even handled deals with many international companies, much less this arrogant man in front of him.
"You.. You..." Elder Frank was unable to utter another word. Because of Dylan`s eloquent way of speech, he even used his own words against him. It was as if he was slapping his own self. He felt his cheeks burning from the embarrassment that he brought to his own self. He felt that he could just hide his head on a hole for a week. Unable to retort, he immediately left in embarrassment and said to Dylan, "You will pay for this."
"Why would I pay something immaterial, sir?" Dylan calmly asked to the leaving man.
"You!!" Unable to say anything, he furiously slammed the door shut and left as quickly as he can.
When Dylan saw that the man had already left, He inspected his surroundings and saw various herbs. Then he said to himself, `Where exactly am I?`. Then a thought drifted to his mind, "Dylan`s Herbal Place". `Ohhh so I am in Dylan`s Herbal... Wait whose memories are these`. Then myriads of memories started flooding to his mind. It was the memories of the owner of this body. Then suddenly, everything became clear to him. He was reincarnated into this person`s body. He was shocked to know that their names were similar.
"Dylan Ford" was also the name of the owner of this body. However, there was a slight difference, this Dylan was only 18 years old. He was shocked by this sudden turn of events, he became a young adult... AGAIN?! He looked on the mirror and he saw his present appearance. He did not have that outstanding prince charming appearance he had in his previous life. Instead, it was just a normal-looking guy with an average build. He was stunned by this at first but he thought it through. He can`t expect that everything would be the same as his previous life. Can he?
But there was another thing he was shocked about because he encountered something in the memories of this owner`s body that shocked him so much that his eyes bulged as widely as he could.
The world he was currently in was a world of... cultivation?! Does that he mean can grow stronger?! Then, he remembered the various light novels he had read. He may not seem like it but he was a die-hard otaku. He even promoted some mangas he liked to become an anime, even light novels to manga and to anime. That was why his company was not only liked by adults; it was also love by the younger generation of his world.
Due to the stress, pressure, and ecpectations, that every consumer, worker, colleagues subconscoiusly gave him which was too much for one person to carry, Dylan needed a medium to relieve himself from the stress that he needed to be great and perfect always. That is when he found anime and manga.
Dylan immersed himself with the amazing world of manga, light novels, and anime. He was psyched to discover new and different things one world after the other. This was why he retained some of characteristics of his youthly self.
\'Oh, how I dreamed of becoming a cultivator. Mwahahaha\' he laughed hysterically in his heart. `My previous dream was to establish the most biggest and grandest company in the whole wide world but now it has changed to become the strongest and most invincible existence of all.
Dylan then searched through his \'previous self`s memories\' and he then found out that he was in a world called "Great Mystic World". In this world, the strong devoured the weak. It runs by the most basic rule on any world, the law of the jungle. In this world, cultivators with the same belief or bloodline formed and created sects, clans, schools, in order to protect their ancestral heritage and doctrines. Countless wars among clans and sects occurred ever since the beginning of the Great Mystic World. Even spiritual beasts formed their own clans and warred against each other to be able stand in the peak of their world.
Dylan discovered that the name of the country they were in was called the Mystic Clouds. The founders of this country named it like so because every century a very unusual phenomenon occurs on its skies wherein 6 giant clouds of 6 different colors namely: Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Green, And Orange. This phenomenon was called 6 Mystic Clouds Convergence because the six colors divide this country into 6 different parts which was later on called the Six Great Mystical States. The state he was currently in was the Red Clouds State in a city called Rising Cloud.
Dylan was shocked that the country he was in had such a great history with it. His blood boiled upon thinking about this. There are so many things to discover and to explore in this world he was in. Then, he silently told himself that he would rise up to the top and conquer this world.
He would leave his name in the annals of history of the Great Mystic World. It may seem impossible to any one who would dream or even thought of it but he firmly believed in himself and his capabilities because with it he was able to create a miracle in his previous world he was able to climb up to the top of the business world by just starting with selling scrap metal.
His unwavering determination and tenacity that one could see on his eyes that day when he swore he would create the biggest company in the whole world when he was just a 10 year-old kid was now back in present in his eyes as he would leave legend that will never be forgotten by the Mystic Clouds Country or even the Great Mystic World.
"Great Mystic World, get ready for no matter what you might throw to me. I, Dylan Ford, will conquer it all" He vowed to this new world. Unbeknownst to himself, an unprecedented adventure of him that would shake the world was about to enfold.