Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex and Graham looked at their old house. It did not look like their house anymore at all. It seemed to have been entirely renovated, to the point that the original design was barely present at all.

The farm seemed to have been expanded a lot more, but for some reason, no one was working at all, aside from whatever machinery was in there.

Alex slowly dropped his father on the side of the road and landed next to him. He looked at his house from the outside and started feeling nervous and a little bit of anxiety.

However, before his emotions could take over a lot of him, he saw something in the distance. Something moved in the distance, faster than sound itself as it dashed toward the two of them.

Alex's nervousness and anxiety all disappeared, replaced by a sense of happiness.

"Pearl!" he shouted at the sight of the white cat that came toward him.

"Brother!" Pearl shouted and jumped at him.

Alex grabbed the massive beast in the air and was thrown to the ground by the momentum.

"Pearl!"

"Brother!"

Alex hugged the massive beast tightly as he felt his eyes start to moisten. "I've missed you so much," he said.

"I've missed you a lot too, brother," Pearl said.

Graham watched his son and the new beast hug each other for a while and smiled. "Is this the young beast you were telling me so much about?" he asked.

"Yes, father. This is—"

"Father?" Pearl shouted in surprise. "How… how are you…?"

"Hmm? You recognize me?" Graham was surprised.

"Father?"

"Alex?"

Two distinct voices came from the direction of their houses, prompting both Alex and Graham to turn around.

When they did, they saw an elderly couple standing by the driveway, both of whom seemed to have been quite shocked by their arrival.

Alex looked at the two individuals. The man was old with half a head full of more gray hair than white. He seemed to have lost the rest of his hair, and his skin had lost most of its elasticity.

The woman was a little better, but not by much. Her hair was fully white and she held onto the man for support.

The four people looked at each other with surprised and awkward faces. Alex stared at the old man, knowing who he exactly was.

The old man, however, couldn't keep his eyes off of Graham. He seemed to be more surprised at seeing Graham than seeing his other self.

The woman, however, did look at both of them equally.

"H-hi," Alex said. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

A single drop of tear streamed down the old man's face before he looked around and saw Alex. "Yes, hi. Hello. Uh… welcome home," he said. "They… they said it would be a while before they got to the Northern Continent. I did not expect you to be here so quickly."

"Hmm? I was on the Southern Continent. They started there," Alex said.

"I see," the old man said. He turned toward Graham. "I… I do not know if you consider me your son or not, but I consider you my father. I am happy to see you once again after all this time."

"All this time? I should have a clone here too, right? Where is he?" Graham asked.

"Father, he… he passed away a long time ago," the old man said. "It's been more than 20 years already."

"I see," Graham said.

"Honey, we can't talk on the street," the old woman said. "Alex, father, please come  with us."

"Oh right, please come. This is your house, so don't feel shy or anything," the old man said.

"Come brother, I will show you the way," Pearl said as he walked by Alex as they all walked in.

Alex pet Pearl as he walked by his side. Pearl was nearly as tall as him even while on all fours, which surprised him quite a bit.

"Why are you so big? Do you like staying big now?" Alex asked.

"No, I can't change back," Pearl said. "I don't have any Qi at all."

"Oh, I see," Alex said. "Right, are you wounded? Are you hurt? Do you want to eat some pills? I have many pills. Let me get one for you."

Pearl laughed a little. "I'm fine, brother. I'm not wounded anymore," he said. "That was a long time ago."

"I-is that so?" Alex asked. "I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. I tried to, but I just couldn't find a way to."

"I understand, brother," Pearl said. "I know how impossible it is to get in here. I don't blame you for not coming earlier, so please don't blame yourself."

Alex still couldn't help but feel bad for leaving him here for so long, but at least he hadn't been alone this whole time.

Graham looked at the fields by the side of the house. "How are you taking care of such a large land by yourself at your age?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, no. I don't do anything," the old man explained. "I have people hired to work for me."

"Oh, why don't I see them?" Graham asked.

"I've sent them all home," the old man said. "They won't return for a while."

"Why? Do you not need to look after the plants?" Graham asked.

"I had to," the old man said. "After all, today is the day everyone was returning, so I had to send everyone back so they could meet their parents and friends and relatives that they lost to the game years ago."

"Wait, they publicized our arrival?" Alex asked.

The old man nodded. "They prepared us for the influx of people returning. I don't think how else it could've been handled," he said.

"I see," Alex said.

"Come on, now. Don't stand around outside," the old woman said. "Honey, take them to the living room. I will prepare some tea."

"Yes, dear," the old man said. "Follow me, please."

Alex and Graham followed the old Alex into the house and came upon a large living room with open windows.

Alex sat on a couch and Pearl sat by the side. The old Alex sat opposite him, but Graham didn't sit immediately. Instead, he noticed some pictures hanging by the wall and walked over to them.

"Is that… me?" he asked, looking at an older version of him.

"That is father, yes," the old Alex said. "By his side is mother too."

Graham looked at the framed picture of the smiling old woman as well. "And where's your mother?" he asked.

"She has already passed away too," the old Alex said. "She died a few years after father passed away."

"How… did they die?" Graham asked.

"Father died from overwork," Old Alex said. "He… was stubborn and did not want to admit that he couldn't work as hard as he used to. Even though he knew his body wasn't as strong, he still tried to work every day."

"In the end, the fatigue got to him." As old Alex spoke, tears started streaming down his face as he remembered the day from over 2 decades ago.

"It was nighttime by the time anyone found him in the field. By that time, he had already passed away," Old Alex said. "As for mother, she died of cancer a few years after."

"That's…" Alex didn't know what to say. "My condolences. Was the cancer not curable?"

"No," old Alex said. "It showed up out of nowhere and her body couldn't keep up with the treatment."

"That's—"

"That's normal," he continued. "It's actually way more frequent than you might be thinking. With how bad our bodies are, many older people regularly die of diseases. Our generation got to get used to our body a little better, but we're not sure how much it has adapted. If anything, we also might just find out we have cancer tomorrow and just die."

"No, you won't," Alex said. "I am here now, and I won't let you die so easily. If nothing, I can at least give you pills to improve your body and increase your longevity by a lot."

"Haha, I'm happy to hear that," old Alex said. He turned to look at his father who was still viewing the pictures.

"We don't have that many pictures on the wall, but we do have many saved on the computer. I can show you them later, father," old Alex said.

Graham walked away from the pictures and came back to the couch.

The old woman returned with a tray full of cups and handed tea to everyone. Alex looked at the old woman and found himself a little puzzled.

"I shouldn't know who you are, should I?" he asked the old woman.

"What do you mean?" the old woman asked.

"You look familiar, even though I know I never met any girl before I started playing the game," Alex said.

"Brother, she is the clone of that lady from the village," Pearl quickly said.

"From the village? What village?" Alex asked.

"The one from the Northern Continent. The one you went to right after you got there," Pearl said.

'The one I went to?'

"AH!" Alex remembered. "Fan Li, that was her name. She must've been your real body. Wait no, she was a clone too."

"I died while playing the game, so I don't have a real body anymore," the old woman said. "Since you took some time to remember me, I suppose I did not leave much of an impression."

"Not very much, I'm afraid," Alex said. "May I know your name?"

"Ah," the old woman said. "My apologies. I forgot you weren't aware of me yet. I am Emily, Alex's— I mean, my Alex's wife."