Jacob sat on the high-school roof, sleepless. He had stopped cultivating so he could spend some time with his thoughts.

What am I doing?

In his head, it should all have been easy. Then, after getting back with his experience and knowledge, he should have been able to maneuver easily around these people, to lead them to a swift victory against the monsters that besieged humanity.

His new life was already completely different from his previous one, and not even 24 hours had passed since his reincarnation. Francis could have been dead for all it mattered; the guy hated him, clearly, and wouldn’t mind seeing Jacob die.

He had messed up with Juliet on a very deep level, with a thrice-damned Ancestral Bond. Jacob didn’t even know if she would be messed up in the future because of him, and he hadn’t even asked. He had just done it to save her life.

What should I do?

Frederick had thanked him profusely for saving his life. He had seemed surprised by Jacob’s gesture and probably didn’t expect it. That kid was good at hiding his emotions but not as good as Jacob was at spotting them.

He rubbed his face while sighing loudly.

He wished he could somehow trust these people, get them on board with him. He didn’t need to lead nor be the top dog of humanity. He just wanted everyone to survive and a second chance at taking down the Black Dragon.

Jacob had enough insights from his past life to know that he still lacked enough depth in his Cultivation to bring down the strongest Demonic Beast on Earth.

If only there were a way I could trust Frederick, Helena, and the others…

He took out a cigarette pack from his pocket and put one in his mouth. After the apocalypse in his past life, he and Francis raided multiple stores to get cigarettes. Smoking was calming and, thanks to Qi. They didn’t have to worry about tumors.

He lit a cigarette under the moonlight, taking in small puffs and coughing slightly. This body was not accustomed to smoking.

Jacob’s ribs hurt, but nothing compared to the pain he was experiencing in his arm; after getting hit by Francis’s mom, he hadn’t had time to prepare an herbal paste or anything. So instead, he had come back to the school and started watching for monsters from the roof.

I wish I had some more ingredients and artifacts. I could probably build a weak Formation to detect Demonic Beasts…

There were so many things he knew how to do but lacked the materials or strength to.

As his first cigarette of this new life was coming to an end, he whipped out a new one from the pack and used the tiny butt to light it.

He kept puffing for a minute until he heard a voice from the door that led to the roof.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” said Helena.

Jacob bit his lower lip and smiled right after.

“Well, if Qi can heal anything, tumors included, who wouldn’t like to smoke?” he grinned.

“Smokers stink,” Helena rebutted.

“Your ass does too, I guess, but no one seems to mind,” Jacob said, taking a long puff and lighting a small orange light in the night.

“What did you just say?” Helena looked puzzled.

“Bad jokes, sorry,” Jacob moved a hand back and forth, gesturing like all Italians did to shoo away worries and concerns.

“Fred told me you saved his life, Jake,” she got closer to him with a wary gaze.

“Gotta save the fuc**rs too, unless you want to become a fuc**r yourself.”

“Not even Plato would have been able to put that in a better way,” she blessed him with a small laugh. “But seriously, what you did was incredible. He said you reacted with an insane speed. Even Fred was frozen.”

“Even? I can hand him his ass anytime, young lady. Yours too, for what matters,” Jacob said, shrugging and taking yet another puff.

He coughed a couple of times. Then, embarrassed by his frailty, he tried to ignore the girl.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you saved his life even if you told me he was bad news. You seem to know a lot, Jake. And you are nothing like the person you were before this change. Everyone got some strange powers, so it would not be so strange for you having sort of an oracle specialty.”

He just remembered he had told Helena he was an oracle or some sh*t like that.

“Get to the point,” he yawned, starting to feel some tiredness.

“Juliet is stronger compared to this evening. I can feel it—Joseph and your Aunt too. Whatever happened, you are the common denominator between these people. So, why not ally with Fred and me too? Don’t you need anyone you can get?”

“I need people I can trust, Helena,” Jacob was not going to deny any further. He just told her the truth.

“And how come you trust all these other people?” Helena looked at him with an accusatory gaze.

“I would trust my aunt with my life, no questions asked. For Joseph… I’m just giving him a small help. I don’t have many chips riding on the guy.”

“And Juliet? She’s insanely strong and getting stronger by the minute, Jake.”

Jacob scratched his head awkwardly.

“Let’s see. How can I explain it to you?”

He blushed a bit and tried not to think of the Ancestral Bond as a lovers thing.

“I discovered this technique to share a deep bond with someone. Partners use it to share a life-and-death bond. It lets me know what a person feels and, to a level, what they think.”

Helena widened her eyes.

“You and Juliet…”

Jacob almost dropped his cigarette. But, instead, he started waving his arms exaggeratedly.

“No, no! It was also used by warriors in ancient times to trust each other, allegedly. I needed to guide her Qi to help her not die to her special Constitution. Listen, it’s very complicated, but just know that there is nothing between us.”

Helena furrowed her brows and stood still for a while, deeply thinking. Jacob took the chance to stay silent too and finish the cigarette in peace.

“This technique, can it be used with more than one person?” she asked.

“The Ancestral Bond? Sure, it’s not common at all. But it can be used by however many people you want. Of course, it’s not advisable for a whole lot of reasons, but yes.”

“And if you used it with someone, you could trust them blindly?”

“Oh yeah,” said Jacob.

“Jake, why don’t we share this bond among us?”

“Me and you?” Jacob asked, panicked. His heart threatened to stop here and there.

“Not just us. You, Juliet, your Aunt, Joseph, Fred, and me.”

It’s not an overly moronic idea.

“Uhm. I need to do some research, but… it could actually work. In theory, at least,” he mumbled. “But Joe and Fred too?”

“Yeah, what’s the problem with them? You said it yourself, bonds between warriors. Think of it like Spartan warriors sharing a blood oath. And if you have no sexual history with Juliet, you should not be worried about anything, am I right?” she asked slyly.

“Still…”

“What?” she laughed.

“I don’t know, it’s just a little gay…”

Nonetheless, Jacob started pondering about their future and the possibility of using an Ancient Bond to solve the trust issues. Of course, it was an extreme solution, but it would put everyone in the same boat.

Maybe…