While he was being chased by the Emperor, Nick had been traveling in zig-zag patterns and made various turns into multiple forests and through mountains, which led him to his current predicament, he didn't know where he was exactly!

 

"The sunsets in the east, so that must mean...wait a minute, that was true back on earth but I don't really know where the sun goes too in this world...I also don't know the coordinates of the village Peter and the twins are staying in which makes this method all the more useless." Nick kept mumbling to himself.

 

"Daddy, are we lost, sweet baby Duke needs to eat, sweet baby Duke is hungry!" The Emperor began complaining, as he rubbed his tummy.

 

"Of course we aren't lost! Your awesome father was once awarded the best GPS of the year award by the 'Secret association of trackers'!" Nick made a humblebrag.

 

"Really?! Father is awesome! But father...what does that GPS mean?" The Emperor forgot about his hungry belly due to his curiosity.

 

"GPS means, Global Positioning System! It is someone that can tell where he is with a press of a button!" Nick bragged again, he just couldn't let his son find out he was an illiterate in this world. He didn't even know where he was going most of the time and had to ask directions multiple times on the way.

 

"Now, we travel...that way, in the direction of that pointy thing!" Nick pointed to a small pointy thing that kind of looked familiar from miles away and began heading towards it.

 

"Do you mean the mountain father?" The Emperor was trying hard to figure out what his father was pointing at, and due to his high cultivation, he could see what his father was pointing at was a mountain that he had never seen on his way here.

 

To be truthful the Emperor felt like he knew how to go back the way he came, but he didn't want to show off in front of his father, for fear of being reprimanded in case he was wrong.

 

"Uhhh?" Nick was stunned, it was only then that he realized he was currently walking with one of the people that knew the Empire like the back of their hands, and even though the Emperor had lost his memories, he still retained the general knowledge and basic instincts of his previous self, so he could most probably take Nick were ever he wanted to go as long as it was inside the Empire.

 

"Hmmm, it seems you need to learn how to navigate boy! That isn't a mountain, it's just a large piece of rock that is covered with trees and is pointy at the end! You can't even differentiate between a mountain and a large rock?!" Nick sounded furious.

 

"But...father, isn't a large mountain a large pointy rock?" The Emperor was honestly confused.

 

"Hmph! Insolence, it seems you have learned to talk back, good, you are now in charge of taking us back, you will be rewarded if you do find the way, but if you fail, you are in for a spanking!" Nick did what every real parent did, find a nonsensical excuse to punish or transfer their responsibilities to that child.

 

As an orphan back on earth, he didn't have any parents so he shouldn't have known what conversations with them were like, but luckily for him he had a trusty friend that enjoyed telling him all about it! And this was back at the time where he stayed in an orphanage, long before he ran away to live in the streets.

 

The Boy's name was Ron, and he sat right beside Nick in the public school he went to, and his favorite pass time was telling Nick about his tragic life.

 

"Nick, you have no idea how lucky you are to be an orphan! You don't have to do chores after eating or clean up your room, but guess what, I do! Yesterday my mom, that stupid bitch made meatloaf, and she knows how I hate meatloaf! Then, believe it or not, she told me to wash the plates!!!" Ron spoke up for the injustice he was suffering.

 

Nick recalled what happened in the orphanage the previous day, they had oatmeal, and god bless her soul the cook even gave them a week-old bread to help add some flavor to their meals. Then after they ate they washed the dishes, their clothes, the clothes of the orphanage workers, and cleaned the entire orphanage before bed.

 

And on the next day, Ron would come up to Nick in the same exact way, angry at the world and his mom for no concrete reason.

 

"Dude, you wouldn't believe what my mother did?!"

 

 

 

"What?" Nick would ask, not because he was curious, but just because he found his stupid juvenile friend amusing.

 

"I was on my way out of the house today right, and my mom actually insisted that she take me to school because it was in an 'unsafe' neighborhood, she doesn't even consider how uncool it is to have your mom drive you to school! Dude, seriously, thank god for taking away your parents from you!"

 

This was another odd thing about Ron, he seemed to enjoy telling Nick how lucky he was for losing his parents! Which would have probably angered any other orphan half to death, but not Nick, no, he was the kind of person that could wait years for revenge!

 

So he waited and waited until about nine years later when he heard Ron's mother died, and he went to the funeral fully dressed in white with a congratulations basket...

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

"Father, can you tell me a story?!" The Emperor asked as he yawned and rubbed his eyes, he was in charge of leading the way, but his baby mind was growing tired of just heading in one direction.

 

"A story...okay, once upon a time, there was a turtle and a hare, the turtle was the fastest animal in the forest, and the hare was known as the slowpoke, but one day the hare wanted a chance to redeem itself so it challenged the incredibly fast turtle to a race, and then the turtle won...I think?" Nick didn't hear of any stories growing up, and the ones he knew all came from accidentally stumbling on a children's channel.

 

"Oh...nice story father." The Emperor was about to faith this father of his, he couldn't even tell a story right?!

 

"Hmmm, let's eat a little before we continue." Nick saw the lack of true admiration in the Emperor's words and felt challenged, even if he was just a fake father, he didn't quite appreciate a crazy person looking down on him.

 

"Food, yay! But father...do you know how to cook?" The Emperor asked cautiously. His father didn't know that mountains were just large elevated terrain and he didn't know any good storied let alone how to tell them, so he could only hope his father had some talent in cooking.

 

"Hmph, you'll find out soon won't you?!" Nick snorted in anger, to think that there would come a day where he was actually looked down on by his own offspring, his own seed!

 

"Okay father, I'll hunt down some beast for you to cook!" The Emperor said excitedly as he flew away to a forest on the horizon.

 

And just as Nick began contemplating on whether he should make another run for it the Emperor made a quick return, but he was dragging a large beast on his way back!

 

It only took one look for Nick to figure out that the beast was at the transcendence realm before it died, even though only at the third rank, transcendence realm nonetheless!

 

It was only now that Nick realized he might not have made a loss by taking the Emperor with him, first of, he had practically robbed the man of everything even his sanity, so it only made sense that he also took the man with him, and secondly, having the Emperor was kind of like having a peak level powerhouse as his bodyguard, and even though Nick was certain it wouldn't take him long to surpass the Emperor, he still didn't mind having the extra layer of protection until that time came.

 

An hour later.

 

"Daddy, cook this one as well, pweeeeease! Just one more beast and you can stop!" The Emperor was on his knees pleading, he swore that he had never expected it to be so delicious, he just couldn't stop once he started, he had already made his father cook three different beasts but amazingly the food was easily absorbably and it would just vanish once it entered his stomach, never letting him feel fulfilled!

 

"No! You can only eat again once we reach our destination!" Nick refused, he hadn't even lifted a finger during the cooking process as he simply placed the meat on the campfire and took it out. But the meat was nurtured and nourished by the Cooking skill until it turned into a delicacy in itself, without needing to add any seasonings!

 

"Pinky promise?!" The Emperor extended his aged hand and raised his pinky finger.

 

Nick was surprised, when did this childish ritual come to this world? But even though he was reluctant, under the pleading eyes of the Emperor he could only extend his pinky finger and make the childish promise.

 

Dwadwa! Dwadwadwa!

 

Suddenly, just as Nick's and the Emperor's fingers interlocked, heavy thunder and lightning shook the area and a golden seal floated down from the sky and had landed on Nick's finger before he could even blink!

 

"Hey brat, why would you perform a Dao promise for something so childish?! Don't you know that if you accidentally break it you will die a miserable death?!" The Old geezer scolded Nick.

 

"Dao...what?! But we only just picky promised?!" Nick was stunned.

 

"Yeah, that's its nickname, pinky promise of doom! This is usually only performed between two leaders of an Empire to make sure that they keep their word." The Old geezer explained.

 

Nick didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he tried to imagine two Emperors locking pinkies solemnly...Nick then stared at the Emperor in horror, did the brat want him to die if he didn't honor his promise?!