As he drew closer to consciousness, the hymns of washing waves rushed through Solus' mind. A pair of footsteps approached the unconscious Solus and loomed over him.

"Are you sure he's not dead? He's got a whole hole in him," a snarky young girl voice near Solus asked, "Also, can I eat that?".

"Given you're still here and I still exist, I would say so, and it would be better than leaving it there," a deep male voice stated. At hearing a deeper version of his own voice, Solus shot his eyes open to see the wispy yellow, rose and pink sky with the appearance of swirling liquids. Solus sighed as he slowly sat up and stared out at the vast pale pink ocean surrounding the small island covered in pink grass, sakura trees, and a silver sand beach encompassing the island.

"Where... am I?". Solus itched his head before he heard the chimeing of a wind chime. Solus glanced backwards and saw the various silverwood torii gates scattered around the island. Solus gazed around before spotting the nude anthropomorphic kid-sized humanoid creature sitting on top of the largest torii gate while nibbling on the tip of a yokai's stinger.

(the creature is an anthropomorphic humanoid with an ambiguous gender but with a slightly female-leaning appearance; the creature has freakishly long trailing dark cyan glowing flame-textured hair which floats around as if it were submerged in water, glowing bright pink eyes glowing pitch-black scleras, her entire body up from the waist is covered in fuzzy faint cyan fur to the point it's practically white with her belly section being a cream white circle, their lower body is covered in dark cyan metalic dragon scales, anthro a black cat nose, large fluffy cream white hourglass-shaped rabbit ears, chonky thighs, and a chonky trailing dragon tail with a football-sized ball of cream white fur on the end of it)

The humanoid girl glanced over at Solus. The humanoid smiled while bearing her sharp fangs as she waved her stinger-filled hand at Solus. Solus raised a hand in reply to the girl's wave. Solus pushed himself to his feet. Solus took a step forward before he felt a sudden chilling shock course through him as his legs almost gave out.

"That was close....". Solus punched his legs to regain sensation in them before he continued walking. The girl wrapped her dragon tail around the top of the torii gate before she dropped down from the torii gate. The girl dropped in front of Solus and hung upside down as she continued nibbling on the stinger.

"Aren't ya going to heal that?" the girl asked.

"Heal what?".

"The hole?". The girl pointed at Solus and moved her hand towards Solus. The girl's hand kept moving closer and closer to Solus before he suddenly felt her hand touch the base of his kitsune tails. Solus swung his head down to see the girl with her arm through the gaping hole in his stomach.

"I'm sure it will heal on its own...," Solus stated.

"But don't you need to beat the kitten outside?".

".... you're not one of those people who think big cats can be pets, are you?". The girl smugly grinned before she removed her hand from Solus.

"Don't fret my... whatever the word was... I will graciously heal you so you can get back to your bed buddy as soon as possible.". Solus' cheeks turned slightly pink at the girl's bed buddy comment.

"I don't think you understand what that word means, Kyzil-," the deeper adult Solus-sounding voice stated from inside the minds of the two. The girl frantically flailed her arms around. In doing so, she made her dragon tail loosen from the torii gate. The girl's tail lost grip of the torii gate before she dropped to the ground, faceplanted into it, and knocked herself out with Solus jumping back to avoid her falling tail.

"Ignore Kyoshina; the last thing you need right now, Solus, is being in her debt," the deeper-sounding Solus voice stated, "Head to the shrine ahead of you, and I'll assist you in getting back into the fight.". Solus glanced around and spotted the small single-room shrine made of silverwood with pink liquid-looking roof tiles at the centre of the island.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Solus walked up to the open-air shrine and flinched upon seeing an adult version of himself sitting with his legs crossed in the shrine. The adult Solus opened his two middle eyes revealing the right one to be a dark royal blue eye with his pupil and sclera being filled with multi-coloured stars. His left middle eye is a purple/magenta eye with a five-pointed star-shaped pupil surrounded by a coiling shadow.

(the guy is an adult version of Solus with six eyes two large white alkorian horns on his forehead, larger and fluffier versions of Solus' kitsune tails and ears, and he is super tall)

(The adult Solus is wearing a black hakama with a dark royal blue fabric belt, an open dark royal blue knee-low kimono, fuzzy dark royal blue tabis, and black getas)

"You sure took your time coming to this place, and I must say your method of entry is rather ill-advised," the adult Solus remarked as he gestured to the hole in Solus' stomach. The adult Solus pointed his finger at the hole as an orb made of six separate energies on the tip of his finger; however, from Solus' perspective, only the dark royal blue and purple/magenta spirit energies were perceptible. The spirit energy sphere shot off into the hole in Solus' stomach. In a flash, Solus' body and school uniform were restored.

"It's not like I intentionally got stabbed... whoever you are, look alike," Solus retorted as he crossed his arms. The adult Solus nodded.

"True, but it does seem to be a pattern for your family it would seem... now, I believe my name in your era's main language would be... Solmeuetzo," Solmeuetzo stated. Solus rubbed the back of his head as he looked around.

"So... where am I exactly?".

"Your soul, although the particular part of would be your Shinsokuko Realm which represents the qi section," Solmeuetzo explained.

"I don't mean to be rude... but I need to get back to fighting that yokai.".Solmeuetzo unamusedly frowned at Solus.

"Even though I healed you, your power combined with Nebi will not be enough to defeat the yokai given me healing you is the equivalent of self healing which is vastly more taxing on you than healing someone else, might I remind you.".

"Right...," Solus uttered. Solus clicked his tongue before he ruffled his hair. Solus scratched the sides of her alkorian horns as Solmeuetzo continued sipping his drink. Solus' horn scratching gradually increased in intensity before he slapped the sides of his head and groaned.

"Then what do you suggest I do then? I can't just sit here doing nothing!" Solus exclaimed as he slammed a foot on the ground with a thunder strike crackling far off in the distance. Solmeuetzo remained unphased by Solus' outburst as he picked up his cup of rainbow-coloured water from the mini table which appeared between the duo.

"And you're sure you need to be the one to something? Also, I request you keep a level head; the storms here get quite unpleasant.". Solus blinked in utter disbelief at Solmeuetzo's lack of urgency for the well-being of everyone near the A-ranked yokai.

"I understand you're- where are you going?".

"To find a way out of here since you won't tell me," Solus stated as he began walking down the few steps of the shrine.

"And here I thought you liked reading," Solmeuetzo quipped before taking a sip of his drink. Solus paused on the top step and groaned from mental exhaustion.

"You weren't doing the thing where the mentor figure tests the hero's resolve by seeing how they'd react to seemingly getting no help from the mentor in their time of need or whatever, were you?". Solmeuetzo giddily grinned before taking another sip of his drink.

"And you fell right into it," Solmeuetzo stated. Solus groaned and rubbed his face as he glanced back at Solmeuetzo.

"So, what do you intend to teach me then, since you like hero stories so much?".

"Good question. How about I teach you how to do that technique you pretended to know to spite that Wyvern Princess girl during your duel?".

"Armatization?".

"Indeed, we do have time for it after all, although we'd only have time for the first variation," Solmeuetzo stated as he set his empty cup on the table before it and the table phased through the floor of the shrine.

"Really... we have time for a month's worth of training?" Solus said in a snarky manner.

"Naturally, time flows differently in this realm after all. Now, would you like to begin?". Solus defeatedly sighed and reluctantly sat before Solmeuetzo as the distant thunder strikes fizzled away.