"Alex! Get up, breakfast is ready! Go freshen up first," my mother's voice called from the dining hall.
I groaned softly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I sat up in bed. Sunlight spilled in through the curtains, illuminating the small but cozy room I now called my own.
Four years. Nearly five, to be exact. That's how long I had lived in this new world as Alex, son of adventurers Ethan and Anna. It still felt surreal sometimes, remembering that I had once been an ordinary office worker on Earth who had died from a lightning strike. Now, I was just a child again, yet carrying the mind of an adult and the memories of a former life.
I stumbled over to the washstand and splashed cool water onto my face, chasing away the last of my sleep. As I lifted my head, my reflection stared back at me. Purple hair with faint golden streaks running along the sides, and eyes the color of polished ruby. They didn't resemble my parents' features at all. Father had dark red hair and sharp green eyes, while Mother's hair was light golden and her eyes a soft brown.
"Guess I really do stand out," I murmured to myself.
But my unusual appearance wasn't the only thing that marked me as different. From the very beginning of this life, my body had been… extraordinary.
I started crawling at four months. Walking by nine. By a year and a half, I could already speak and understand the native language. Every milestone came faster than expected, surprising my parents and astonishing myself. A small part of me smugly thought, So this is what it feels like to be a genius child.
But there was more. Deep within me, I could feel a strange current, like a hidden energy thrumming in my body. I noticed it before my first birthday, an inexplicable warmth that seemed to pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat.
It was this hidden power that led to one of my earliest—and most unforgettable—experiences.