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Pitter-pitter.

Standing on the puddles at the training site, Kilian was directed to where the crash site was, and Huo stood beside him, viewing the blood stains and the depth of the crash.

“It is so deep into the ground. And the blood. Two days and the stains painted across the grass.” Kilian commented as he observed it.

Huo pointed to the end of the stains on the opposite side, “Significant blood loss. This is how far her blood leaked towards.”

Kilian glanced at where she pointed and walked over it. He held his head briefly, comprehending the severity. As he is about to ask, the doctor arrives.

Selina then took off her upper white robe, tossing it to the floor, leaving a black t-shirt, “Excuse me for interrupting.”

“What do you think, Selina?” Huo asked, interested in her insight.

“Since you all are here, I will join and fill in the information as we go,” Selina said.

Selina walks up to where Xiong landed. “When I got up seconds after she landed, it was already too late. Ribs were all broken, paralyzed. She already passed away before the blood puddle widened. First time seeing someone who contained that much blood, but if she wasn’t paralyzed and suffering from the back, she might have survived."

Kilian mentions that he could have gotten much more injuries than he should have. Holding the hat in his grip, he mentions the hat was what saved him from the impact.

"The conical hat you wear?" Selina asked, never heard of such a hat relic before. Now curious, she asked Kilian for it to observe. He nodded and gave it to her and Huo.

"The hat has its spirit and its qi. When I first arrived in Hong An’s footsteps, I had to borrow its power to take over the place until, eventually, I had to give it back. And be careful, don't wear it until I tell you to.”

"What about your eyes?”

"Mine is sky blue. Purple belongs to the conical hat. When I’m borrowing qi or abilities from her, my eyes go purple," Kilian said, then noticing something was wrong with Selina and Huo as the two were viewing the conical hat.

Selina bites her lips all of a sudden, and Huo feels a heavy weight inflicting on both of her arms. Kilian, knowing what it meant, ran up to the two, holding the conical hat. A jolt like it has shocked him.

Mei, what is happening?

<< This is what happens when I wake up. You put me to sleep for a while and this will happen. >>

Do you even realize that Huo and Selina are observing the conical hat right now? They don’t know you are within that void.

<< Ugh fine. >>

Time stopped when Kilian had arrived into the dark void, seeing Mei for the first time in days.

"You look gloomy. I have not seen you in two days. Did saving me put you out of commission that hard?" Kilian sat down at the new table.

“Went pitch black, didn’t even get a chance to think,” Mei said while cleaning her face. “So, Huo and Selina are out there right now?”

Kilian shook his head. “You know them. Unexpected reunion for the two.”

Mei nodded, adding she was excited to see them again. Kilian talked about the hat urging them in like how it tried to urge him way back. She nodded again, insisting to meet.

“Do you summon me back?”

“No need,” Mei said, snapping her fingers. Kilian turned around, finding Selina and Huo teleported into the dark void.

"Kilian? Where the hell am I?" Huo said.

Kilian gestured in the direction of Mei. She waved at the two. “Hi, It’s been so long. I can’t believe you're still here. Mainly you Huo. ”

“Good god…You were here this whole time?!”

“Sit down, we have plenty of catching up to do,” Mei said, followed by a summon of two chairs. Selina and Huo took the remaining sides of the square table. Selina then slapped Mei Zhan’s cheek, "How many fucking years has it been and you alive?!"

Mei's right cheek swelled, "Good to see you again, but no, I'm just a Hat spirit, stuck inside.”

“So, you just wake up like that. All this time?”

“You should thank Kilian for even seeing me in the first place. Him finding the hat led to where we are now,” Mei said, offering a glass of wine.

Selina took a sip of the unmarked wine. “Mmm, where do you even get wine? You never drink with us.”

“Well, now I do. Please let’s have a reunion.”

The conversation lasted pretty long when Kilian lightly yawned, covering his mouth. He looked at the three with their eyes focused on each other not backing down. Wanting to leave but without interrupting the conversation, he glances around into the empty dark void and stands from his seat, causing the three to stare at him.

“Where are you going?” One of them asked.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Kilian forcefully bursts his qi, through the whole dark void. In a blink, he is back outside at the training site, feeling the rain pouring over him. He lets go of Huo and Selina's shoulders, taking a couple of steps back. The two stood solid with the conical hat within one of their grasps.

Look back at the crash site again before going deep into the training site. About to begin, he heard a yell. Only to be Roland, who supposedly came out instead of being in the library.

“What brings you here?” Kilian asked while Roland was jogging past Selina and Huo.

“Half an hour has passed, and I need some caffeine alternatives. The coffee didn’t help,” Roland said, pulling out his book, and drying himself from the rain.

“You don’t like showers, do you?”

“No, not the rain. No thanks.”

“It’s positive mother nature. The rain is nicer than snow,” Kilian said with his arms up in the air. “That better not be jinxed.”

The aura envelops his head, evaporating the soaking wet lingering on his hair. “On the other note, since you are here, I might need your help to monitor my stamina for this session.”

Roland looks at Huo and Selina still standing at the same spot. “What’s up with those two?”

“Don’t worry about them, they are having a moment,” Kilian said, deploying his katana. “Let ourselves have a moment.” He directed the blade in the direction of Roland.

Roland’s book levitates and flies around him, hovering by his side. Rain clears around them as their aura and amount of qi escalate, wiping any upcoming water from above.

They dashed towards each other with Kilian striking at Roland, who blocked it with his book. The book violently shakes, and the cover is pushing from within to get the blade away. The light shines through the pages, pushing Kilian away.

He landed to see Roland’s book open, scrolling through the pages, and two pages clapped, blasting bright rays. Kilian’s eyes instinctively shut, protecting himself with the blade. The rays deflected from his blade, forcing Roland to dodge to the side. The rays strike towards the wall. Due to being so bright, the heat rapidly increases, causing the wall to burn.

“It’s burning the wall!” Roland yelled to Kilian, running to the book to stop it while covering his eyes.

Kilian leans the katana towards him, directing the blade upward. The rays barely missed the surrounding buildings outside. It then struck the clouds in the distance. At the target in the air, the clouds around it disintegrate into dust. “What did you train with the book to generate this much magnitude?”

Roland drifts behind the book and then kicks its front cover, sending it to his left hand. Grabbing the book, he looked back at Kilian whose katana’s blade was partially scorched. “It’s originally an empty ordinary book. Absorbing a fragment of my qi turned it into a PLG.”

“PLG…You love abbreviations on anything possible,” Kilian said, touching the scorched spots of the blade. His fingers reacted to the sizzling spots, jolting from the spot.

“Progressive Learning Grimoire. Supposedly study progressively through my experience in any matters. And take interesting magic information.”

“Kind of convenient…Then let’s test what else it can do. Also just give it a name. More unique than the abbreviations.” Kilian lifted his blade, with the scorched spots facing toward Roland’s direction.

“Your Katana is gonna break,” Roland warned, dodging the last sentence.

Kilian forces his qi to flow to his blade. “Not a problem.” The aura around his blade blows his hair upward. His eyes go blue, then unsuppressed himself, igniting a bomb shockwave that is so loud it echoes through parts of town. Roland’s shredded legs kept him from tumbling to the floor. The grimoire generated a force field around Roland. He dashed to Kilian, who was still powering up.

“Finally we can do something now,” Kilian said, with the blade’s aura coming into contact with Roland’s force field. The aura thrusts Roland away. He landed well for such a distance. Oof, my knees. He felt the pressure on his knees. His eyes focused on Kilian, and he suddenly disappeared.

“Behind you,” Kilian muttered, ready to strike upwards diagonally. Shit. Roland thought, realizing he was too slow to react.

Screech!

The grimoire reacted as Kilian’s katana stirred through, piercing the invisible forcefield by summoning an explosive. They reacted to trouble. Instinctively, the two grab the fuse, stopping time. “Let go, I’ll dispose of this explosive,” Kilian said in an unexpectedly high voice. He attempts to pull it. Roland refused.

Should I let him? Don’t want this to fucking explode, knocking us both. Roland’s thoughts conflicted, not knowing what to decide. The constant pull from Kilian gave him no choice but to do it. He slowly lets his hand go, leaving Kilian’s hand solely gripping the fuse.

He runs away till it’s enough distance from Roland and proceeds to throw it. At the last second, his intrusive thoughts override his mind, slicing the explosive in half. The force from the blade was so great, it raised beyond the original radius. The explosion exerts upward extremely fast and blows past Kilian. His aura acts as the divider, effectively blocking most of it.

“Are you nuts?!” Roland yelled from afar, witnessing Kilian walking out of the burning debris. His aura dissipates the flames he comes across.

“What? It’s just a blast. I made it out alright,” Kilian said unconcerned. “Right?” Roland then pointed to the head. Kilian feels his head. That feels cold. He thought after feeling something above his forehead near the hairline. He looked at his hand, revealing pure red blood soaking his fingers. Are you serious? Kilian was displeased while walking up to Roland.

Siss!

“Hm?” Kilian stopped after feeling a small siss of air coming from where he got a hemorrhage. “What’s happening?” he asks Roland.

“Oh my. You're healing.”

Kilian feels his head again finding no blood. “Oh, you are right. Incredible,” he muttered. The rain poured harder as the clouds recovered.

Now he can heal. What a progress. Roland was impressed with the new finding. Maybe that could help with his stamina. Finally something good. “Oi.” Roland heard a yell from afar, seeing Selina and Huo heading up to them.

“You guys talked a lot,” Kilian said.

“Hey, you didn’t have to do that!” Selina raised her voice. Recalling when he forces himself out of the void.

“I didn’t want to interrupt your lovely reunion.”

“You did though.” Huo counteracted.

“I guess we call that a success,” Kilian said to Roland, ignoring the two. Roland nodded and closed his grimoire.

Whoosh!

“Seriously?” Kilian responded after getting blown in the face by Selina.

“You ignored us,” she said.

“I can, we just did tests while you guys were standing like statues talking to Mei. And also, we were supposed to continue, but since you came back, the test concludes for the day.”

His stomach grumbles, desperate for food after being empty for two days. He walked with Huo, Roland, and Selina back to the palace as the rain poured. Selina handed Kilian back his conical hat. Leaving hanging on his back, he clenched his teeth. Mei yelled at him. Ok, not happening. Kilian handed the conical hat to Roland for him to hold for the remainder. Selina and Huo noticed and held their laughter which Kilian caught on.