Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

“You can’t do it like that, Erica,” another lively voice rang out. “You should do it like me.”

After saying that, the boy felt a sharp pain in his stomach and quickly opened his eyes.

Although the image was still a bit blurry, he could still see the flaxen-haired girl lying on top of him, and the white-haired girl standing beside him with a worried expression.

"Chinatsu, Erica?"

"Get up, Isaac," the girl named Chika said with a smile. "Auntie has already called us down for breakfast."

"Okay." Isaac rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Could you wake me up a little more gently next time?"

"How about I kiss you awake next time I'm on top of you?" Qianxia whispered to Isaac.

"No!" Isaac's face turned slightly red.

Ever since this girl came to his house, she's always found ways to tease him. Erica, who arrived first, stands silently behind him.

Erica was slightly older than Isaac at this time, while Chinatsu was the same age as Isaac.

Going downstairs to the living room, a beautiful woman was setting out food on the table, while a middle-aged man was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.

They are, of course, Isaac's parents.

Seeing Isaac and the others come downstairs, the father casually greeted them, "Fanfei, good morning. You got up a little late today."

"I've been having a lot of dreams lately, Dad, you know that." Isaac rubbed his head.

"is it?"

Any recent news?

“Nothing much,” Isaac’s father said, looking at the newspaper in his hand. “It’s all about the US invasion of Iraq and the use of new weapons and such.”

On the back of the newspaper, Isaac also saw the picture, which appeared to be a scene of two giant robots facing off with guns.

"Oh."

"Alright, breakfast is ready, come and eat." Isaac's mother had already prepared all the food.

The five people sat around the dining table and began their meal.

"By the way, Feifan," his mother suddenly asked, "you've been having a lot of dreams lately, what are they about?"

Hearing his mother's question, Isaac put down his cutlery and recalled: "Recently, my dreams have been continuous. I dream that I am a prince in a country called New Kingdom, and I have a childhood sweetheart named Lanfang..."

"You're already having teenage angst at your age?" Isaac's father looked at his son in surprise.

"No way!"

Isaac coughed twice and continued, "And my father is the emperor of this country, and my mother is a concubine."

"Oh my, so I'm an imperial concubine." The mother covered her mouth and chuckled.

“I think about becoming emperor every day,” the father said, laughing along.

Isaac continued, "It seems the emperor married a total of fifty concubines."

“Fifty concubines, I do this every day…” The father was about to say something when he noticed his mother looking at him with an unfriendly gaze.

“Every day I feel deep hatred for this kind of thing. It’s the dregs of our times. I will only ever love your mother.”

"Dad, can't you be a little less driven to survive?"

"Shut up and eat your food."

At this moment, the mother said, "Qianxia, ​​Feifan, you two need to hurry, the school bus is coming soon."

"Oh!" Isaac quickly finished the bread and eggs on his plate, drank his milk, and started packing his schoolbag.

As they heard the sound of car brakes outside, Isaac and Chika slung their backpacks over their shoulders and headed outside.

"Mom and Dad, I'm going to school now."

"Goodbye, Uncle and Auntie, I'll take good care of Isaac!"

"I don't need you to take care of me!"

--------------

Isaac, whose real name is Yao Feifan, was born in New York City in 1979. He is twelve years old this year.

Both his mother and father are Chinese. They came to the United States during the early years of the immigration boom and settled down. Compared with other immigrants from China, they are considered to be doing quite well.

The mother, Yao Shufen, is now a Chinese lawyer with a high success rate in handling cases. The father, Yao Dabao, is an attending physician at a hospital in New York City.

The family lived a relatively comfortable life.

Isaac is his English name, which he usually uses when he's out and about, and his parents also like to call him by his real name when he's at home.

The family of three lived a peaceful life until Isaac was ten years old. Suddenly, his father brought home a girl who was a little older than him. That girl was Erica, and he said she was his patient.

Later, when the four of them went to a concert together, a terrorist attack occurred. Chinatsu's parents were killed in the attack, and Isaac's parents decided to adopt Chinatsu, who was the same age as them.

Isaac wasn't unhappy with his parents' actions. His allowance hadn't decreased, and he now had two more family members, which kept his life from getting too boring. However, since both were girls, their interests might not be the same.

On the school bus, Isaac and Chika sat side by side.

"Was your dream really a series of dreams?" Chika brought up the dream Isaac had told at the dinner table again, and for some reason she seemed to care a lot about that story.

“Hmm.” Isaac nodded. “This dream has been going on for quite a while now. How should I put it? The world in the dream feels like it really exists.”

It was like a completely separate world. This was Isaac's personal experience of his dream.

What's even stranger is that Isaac has been having this dream for five years, dreaming about that place multiple times during those five years.

Five years ago, Isaac had appendicitis, and his father, as a doctor, personally performed the appendectomy on him.

And ever since his appendectomy, dreams have followed Isaac to this day.

His father had taken him to the psychiatric department of the hospital, but the doctors all said that the child was fine.

"Never mind, you'll get better someday."

“Hmm.” Isaac nodded. “Speaking of Chinatsu.”

"what happened?"

"Could you please stop holding my head while you talk?" Isaac said helplessly.

At this moment, Isaac was being held by Chinatsu, his face pressed against her chest.

"What does it matter? This is how an older sister comforts her younger brother." Qianxia let go of his hand, then placed her hand on her skirt and lifted it up. "Or do you want something more exciting?"

"Stop!!"

Chapter 464: Isaac, the Bullied

Isaac always had a lingering doubt about the content of his dreams.

That is, he always felt that the world was real, and that he might indeed be a prince, and everything in the dream seemed so real.

Moreover, he cannot control himself in the dream, but experiences everything that happens from the perspective of his dream self, just like recalling a memory.

However, whenever he had this doubt, he would wake up from the dream.

He had a feeling that the world he dreamed of, the place called the New Country, might not be his true stage, because every time he dreamed of setting off for the country called Amestris on the other side of the desert, the dream would end.

Perhaps in that country, the story of one's own dream truly begins.

……

As the school bus drove on, they finally arrived at their elementary school.

Chika got off the bus first and said to Isaac behind her, "Remember, if you get bullied by your classmates, be sure to tell me, and I'll teach them a lesson for you."

"Know it."

Isaac said this, but in his heart he felt it was unnecessary.

Bullying does exist in schools here. As an Asian, Isaac was often bullied by his classmates in American schools. This only subsided a little after Chika was adopted by Isaac's parents and transferred to the same school.

Because all those who dared to bully Isaac were pinned against the wall and given a good beating by Chika.

However, this was only a temporary solution. Since they weren't in the same class, Isaac would still be bullied when she couldn't see him. Every time she saw him walking back covered in dust after school, Chika would question him about why he didn't come to tell her.

However, even when he was bullied badly, Isaac would swallow it all and he didn't like to fight with others.

He always believed that violence could not solve any problems.

But to others, this is precisely what appears to be cowardice.

Isaac walked to the classroom door with his backpack and said goodbye to Chinatsu. He went inside by himself, put his backpack on the ground, and then prepared to sit down.

thump!

"what!"

Isaac suddenly plopped down on the ground, his bottom hurting a little.

Turning around, he saw several blond students looking at him with mocking expressions. It was obvious that they had pulled the chair the moment Isaac sat down.

Isaac was probably used to it, so he ignored them pulling their chairs back and sitting down.

He discovered that his desk had been covered in drawings and insulting graffiti.

Looking around, Isaac still didn't know who had done it, but he was pretty sure that it was one of the few bad students who usually bullied him.

Helpless, he could only take out a rag and silently clean the table.

"Hey, Isaac."

A voice called out to him, and he turned around abruptly to find a very strong-looking child walking in front of him.

"Um... is there something you need?"

"I've lost all my money."

"I didn't steal it."

"Of course I know you didn't steal it," the child said impatiently. "How many did you take?"

"Why are you asking this?" Isaac already had a bad feeling.

Bang!

The kid punched Isaac on the table, startling him.

"Five...five US dollars."