It is not strange at all for a four-year-old child to speak.
In fact, it’s normal for a child to start speaking meaningful words around the age of one.
So, it’s nothing to be surprised about… but that’s not the issue here.
They are likely astonished by the circumstances in which I acquired language.
It’s said that babies learn language through communication with their parents.
However, I had been in a cultivation tank all along, without any interaction with my parents.
And since I was underwater, I didn’t even have the chance to practice pronunciation.
Yet, the moment I came out, I suddenly started speaking. Of course, that would surprise anyone.
To make matters worse, I started speaking naturally, just as I did in my previous life.
For someone supposedly speaking for the first time, it must have sounded incredibly fluent.
In fact, Kurt seemed quite bewildered.
“Is this even possible…? I thought children raised in cultivation tanks would naturally be slow to acquire language… but to speak so clearly…”
How should I explain this? If I say too much, I might dig myself into a deeper hole…
“Um… I was… listening to Mama and Papa… the whole time…”
I deliberately speak in a clumsy way.
“You were listening… inside the cultivation tank?”
“Yes.”
“Unbelievable…”
Kurt’s eyes widened in shock.
“Nero, that’s amazing! You learned to speak just by listening? You might be a genius!”
No, that’s definitely an exaggeration…
“That’s impressive, but… are you hurt at all?”
“Oh, right! Nero, do you have any pain?”
Prompted by Diana, Kurt snapped back to reality.
Considering the loud sound and the scattering glass shards, it’s no wonder they’re concerned.
He carefully checked my body to ensure there were no injuries.
But having just emerged from the cultivation tank, I was completely naked.
Though I had been like that inside the tank as well, being stared at so closely was a bit embarrassing.
“No.”
“I see, that’s a relief.”
When I gave a short reply, Kurt gently patted my head.
Then Diana brought a blanket from somewhere, wrapped it around me, and hugged me tightly.
“I’m so glad you’re okay…”
Her warmth was transmitted through the blanket.
But it wasn’t just physical; it felt like her warmth reached my heart, too.
“You’ve grown so much before I even realized it…”
“Really?”
“Yes, you’ve become even more handsome… no, more adorable.”
In my previous life, had anyone ever hugged me like this?
Of course, I might have been held by my biological mother when I was a baby.
But I don’t remember it clearly, and as an adult, I never experienced such affection.
“Oh… I’ve longed for the day when I could hold you like this… Nero, I love you so much.”
Tears welled up in Diana’s eyes as she hugged me even tighter.
“Mom, it’s… too tight…”
“Oh… I’m sorry!”
She quickly loosened her grip in a fluster.
“Diana tends to lose sight of everything else when it comes to Nero.”
“And you’re the same, Kurt.”
“You’re right.”
They both laughed together.
It felt… nice, moments like these.
“But still… how did this even happen…?”
Kurt glanced once more at the shattered pieces of the cultivation tank.
“Nero, could you tell me what happened to the best of your ability?”
“Can you explain what happened when the tank broke?”
Diana kindly rephrased the question in simpler terms for me.
If I lie now, things might spiral out of control.
It’s better to be honest…
“Well… when I touched it like this, it just went bang.”
I extended my right hand, mimicking how I touched the inside of the tank.
“Just by touching it?”
“Yes.”
When I answered Diana, Kurt began to mutter to himself, as if thinking aloud.
“Just by touching it? That can’t be… This tank is made of magi-crystal… it’s not just ordinary glass. A child touching it shouldn’t even cause a scratch. Breaking it would require something like… magic… magic?”
Suddenly, Kurt seemed to have an idea. He picked up one of the fragments nearby and inspected it closely from different angles.
“This edge… no way…”
It looked like he had some sort of realization.
He placed his hands on my shoulders and stared at me seriously.
“Nero, can you tell me more about what happened then?”
“Uh…”
I don’t have much of a choice at this point. I’ll just tell him what happened.
“Well… a light shot out from my hand…”
“A light? What shape was it? Was it triangular? Square?”
“Hmm…”
Even if I’m in the body of a four-year-old, a person who had just been in a cultivation tank wouldn’t know the word “heptagon.”
That would be unnatural, so I can’t tell them exactly as it was.
“Kurt, you’re asking the wrong way.”
As Diana pointed that out, I formed a rough circle with my hands.
“It looked like this.”
“…!”
I could see both Kurt and Diana’s expressions change immediately.
It was a look of utter shock.
“That’s… a magic circle.”
“Magic circle?”
“Yes.”
I’d never heard that term before.
At that moment, I noticed Kurt’s hands trembling on my shoulders.
It wasn’t from fear but from overwhelming excitement.
“Nero…”
“Hmm?”
“You have… magic power.”
Huh…?
The most shocked person of all was me.
