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’Come to think of it...I’ve been a bit unfilial, huh? ’

"I haven’t even visited the graves of my parents recently."

’How long has it been? Two...no, three months? Ah, that won’t do.’

Ren truly couldn’t help but feel strange at the thought of his parents of this life.

It’s the awakening of his previous life’s memory that’s messing with him. Remembering two lives being lived in completely different ways tends to do that, really.

But in Ren’s situation, his parents this time around were, indeed, his real parents. He didn’t replace their son; he didn’t kill someone who was previously occupying this body. This body and soul were his right from the start; this is a second chance at life, bizarrely happening in a world he previously thought was nothing but a work of fiction. The awakening of his previous life’s memories got in the way, yes, but it’s certainly not a reason for him to not acknowledge the people who brought him into this world.

Alicia Maricel Vire is the name of his mother, while his father is Alexis Soren Dryar.

Both his parents were Inhuman Realm martial artists, some of the few strong people of this city. His mother was an expert at bone manipulation martial arts, while his father was a decent spearman.

They were teammates at a party. His mother used to hate his father’s face and guts, but as they grew closer and got to know each other more, that hate turned into interest, companionship, and eventually, love.

Alexis married into the Banished Arms Clan; he did not mind the aberrant physique that Alicia had. He also didn’t care about the fact that this curse will surely be passed down to their children. He even once said that he wouldn’t mind having the same accursed physique either, especially if it means being with Alicia.

’Yes, he’s that much of a simp,’ Ren used to think to himself. ’Hopefully I didn’t inherit that.’

So, in the end, they married each other and had Ren.

The ’Soren’ in his name came from his father, Alexis. His second name, ’Marek,’ was the name of the previous clan head, Ren’s grandfather. And since Alexis married into the clan, Ren will obviously take the ’Vire’ surname, which is the current leading family in the clan.

And thus, Soren Marek Vire was born.

Alas, Ren didn’t really have the chance to enjoy his time with his parents. His father died in a dungeon raid, leaving only a single necklace, which was brought back home, and the rest of the items he left on his storage device.

Although Ren never actually heard about how he died, he learned that the raid happened at Stage 90 of the Dungeons, and it wasn’t until his previous life’s memories were awakened that he began to understand why.

Stage 90 is a den of demonic flood dragons. In there, the monsters weren’t your only enemies; the whole dungeon itself is against you and your party.

That whole dungeon is underwater, and humans, a land species, must fight flood dragons that are demonized. There are at least 50 of said flood dragons in there, and only 10 are considered normal. The rest? Elites, lords, and boss-level creatures.

And like what was stated earlier, that dungeon adds difficulty to parties. Since it’s underwater, there’s a decent chance that storms, whirlpools, etc. could happen at any given moment in there.

Even though Alexis is an Inhuman Realm expert, he’s not a god or immortal. He’s just as slightly stronger and in front of the true forces of nature...and flood dragons.

His death was either quick or gruesome. Whatever it is, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s dead now.

Alicia, obviously, was stricken with grief over this. She warned him too. However, Alexis’ reason for going was that it’s supposed to be his last one, and if they cleared it, the rewards he gets will be enough to ensure that Ren grows up with sufficient medicinal baths and nutritious food to, hopefully, increase his chances of awakening a decent martial physique.

He won that argument, and they came to regret it.

Alicia fell ill shortly after, and because of the clan’s, frankly, reckless and self-damaging martial arts inheritance, she had accumulated a lot of hidden and old injuries that were never healed properly.

This was evident by how hard she had it during her pregnancy with Ren. And even after she retired as a dungeon explorer and focused on being a mother, sometimes her old injuries will flare up.

She would’ve been fine after some rest and medication, but the grief of losing her husband proved to be too much.

Ren saw how she aged ten years in a single night. Her hair turned white, her skin got all wrinkly, and her life force started decaying at an alarming rate.

He didn’t understand it back then, but he was in a panic. It was a traumatizing event for him. Even Mikel was distressed about what happened to her.

She didn’t last long after that. After making her final arrangements for Ren, Alicia apologized profusely to him, reminded him of how much she and Alexis love him, and told him that both of them will be watching him from heaven.

It’s because of this event that Ren turned into an introvert. He was never taught how to properly deal with grief and loss; he didn’t understand why his parents needed to die and leave him all alone. Once upon a time, he even convinced himself that his parents never loved him, so much so that they chose death over being with him, which made him resent them for a while.

Mikel tried to help. He tried to explain what happened and tried to teach Ren how to deal with grief and pain. But Ren became too detached and too distant. And Mikel became afraid that the more he tried to approach him, the farther Ren distances himself between him and the rest of the clan. That’s why he could only watch from afar and hope that it doesn’t get worse.

And fortunately for everybody involved, it didn’t...

Mikel had to thank Ren’s 5th-year class advisor for that. It’s this person who taught the class how to deal with their emotions, especially since around this time, Ren and other children at his age were already approaching puberty.

It’s in this class that Ren learned how to process grief, how to let go of the past, and how to move on without necessarily forgetting the past.

Because of this lesson and Ren’s rapidly maturing mindset around this age, he finally gathered enough courage to visit his parents’ graves after many, many years.

He sat down in front of them, talked to them like they were still there, and cried until he fell asleep. Mikel saw this and carried him back to his house, the same one where he and his family used to stay.

From then on, Ren’s visits became a regular thing. At least once a month, or if he could, twice a month. He found out that talking to his parents’ graves, even with just some random things happening in his life, made him feel lighter and more at ease.

Peace returned to him. And even though he remained an introvert for the most part, at least Ren regained his smile. That’s more than enough for Mikel to finally feel relieved.

The past three months, though, had been rather busy for Ren because of his graduation. He was so occupied that he didn’t get many chances to visit. Most of the time, he’d come home dead tired, falling asleep as soon as his back hit the bed. He won’t wake up until the day after.

It’s only this week that he finally got the chance to breathe because it was finally over. But even then, his mind was too occupied by martial arts and his plans for his future.

Now, he finally remembered, and he thought that it was time for him to face the music.

His feet carried him to the familiar path he usually takes to get there. The clan’s cemetery was built at the far back of the compound. Just past the hill, there’s a large field that’s been turned into the cemetery.

Ren brought flowers with him, two boquets of lilies, and two boquets of marigolds. Both were his parents’ favorite flowers.

The graves are arranged in an alphabetical manner; he had to walk to the far end of the cemetery to reach his parents’ graves.

Upon arriving there, his heart stuttered a bit. He felt a pinch on his chest, a fleeting sensation, but it happened anyway. He sighed and sat down.

He gave each grave a boquet of lily and marigold. Then, Ren started talking...

"Hey, parents...so, uh, funny story..."

Ren didn’t speak out loud. He whispered his words as if he were letting the wind carry his message, hoping that it’d take them to the afterlife for his parents to hear.

He whispered his secrets, the recent events that had happened to him, and what he felt about those. He also talked about random things; most were unimportant, and some were teasers for his plans for his future.

Ren talked for an hour and half, and when he finally ran out of things to say, he smiled.

He was over their deaths but will not forget about them. It made him feel light, airy, and spirited. He bid them farewell and promised to visit more often in the future.

After that, he made his way home.