Although Nalser felt as though he had been reborn, when he tried to move, a searing pain coursed through his body. He tried to cry out in the pain but he didn’t have the voice to so any more. With great difficulty, he turned his head ever so slightly to take a look at his body. It was still covered in split skin and charred flesh. However, for some magical reason his hair was still all there. He had thought that when his body turned out like this, his hair would burn up but since it didn’t happen it puzzled him.
However, he didn’t have a long time to think about it as the pain coursing through his body got worse. He felt that his connection with the soul was shot, the soul seemed to be injured a lot as well. He only had a little sliver of Qi left, so he closed his eyes and connected to the pendant. Through it, he sent a message to Medic. He was connected to all the puppets and he could use his Qi to communicate with them telepathically but it didn’t work vice versa.
***
In a doctors room, Medic was just patching up the loser of a duel. Since the young man had been overestimating himself, he only got more seriously hurt. Just as he finished applying the bandages, a weak voice sounded out in her head, “Help me.”
As she heard the voice, her face immediately flickered as she disappeared from the doctors office. She immediately called Alchemist, Sweeper and Librarian as well. As they came to a stop in front of the Training Hall, Librarian asked, “Are you completely sure that it was Master?”
Medic gravely nodded as she said, “Yes, his voice was extremely weak and he only said those two words.” Everyone’s expressions were grave. The Training Hall was in another pocket dimension so they had no way of knowing what was happening inside when they were outside. Finally, getting rid of their hesitation Sweeper was the first to enter.
When everyone had entered their expressions drastically changed. Every one of them had a different expression on. They were immediately assaulted by an extremely foul smell and the scene they encountered was extremely gruesome. The whole Training Hall was deformed, remnants of a huge fight were remaining. If Sweeper and the rest weren’t 100% sure that no one was here except for Nalser, they would have thought a battle between two experts erupted here.
As their gazes scanned the room, they all came to a stop on a charred body in the middle of the room. “MASTER!” As Sweeper yelled out, him and Librarian both shot towards Nalser in an attempt to pick him up. Just as they were to touch him, Medic loud voice sounded out, “STOP! DO NOT TOUCH HIM!” Sweepers hand faltered and he reluctantly withdrew it. Medic immediately came up to Nalser and started inspecting his body.
Her expression turned from serious into grave as time went on. Suddenly, she withdrew her hand in a lightning speed manner as astonishment flashed on her face. She said quietly, “There is currently an extremely strong Qi reforming Master’s body from the inside. I have never seen or heard of someone who could possibly possess a cultivation this strong.” Hearing this, everyone’s expression showed astonishment before turning grave. Librarian probed, “How strong is it?” Medic just said, “If the owner of the Qi had just snorted towards our Old Master, then that would have been enough to completely shatter his body and soul.”
Now fear crept onto the faces of everyone present. Suddenly Nalser said, “Let. It. Be. Give. Something. For. Pain.” After every word he took a deep breath. It even hurt to breathe but he gathered all of his will to say those words. Medic spoke with Alchemist for a second before they both started working. Medic fed some Elixirs to Nalser mouth to mouth while at the same time Alchemist sprinkled some powder all over Nalser’s body. He then took out some ointment that he rubbed all over his body.
When they were done, Medic stood at Nalser’s head while Alchemist stood at his feet. As they stretched out their hands, they started to gently pour Qi outwards. As they did so, Nalser started gently rising up from the ground. As he hovered in mid air, Medic suddenly snapped out towards the frantic Sweeper and Librarian, “What are you dilly dallying for?? Go and get Artificer to lay down a floating formation here.!” This snapped them back to reality as Sweeper shot out like a beam of light. Even though Sweeper was the strongest of them all and Librarian had the most knowledge, they were unable to do anything in this situation, so they were demoted into being lackeys, errand boys.
It seemed as though Sweeper briefed Artificer on the way as he although he was surprised seeing Nalser’s condition, he didn’t lose his composure. As Artificer finished laying down the floating formation underneath Nalser, Medic and Alchemist could relax. They also bandaged Nalser’s body now that they had the free hands to do so. Librarian asked Medic, “What happened to him and what will happen from now on?” Medic could only shake her head as to say, she had no clue.
Nalser said with great difficulty, “Bodies. Merged. After. Healing. Can. Cultivate. Again. Need. Time. To. Rest.” As he said so, everyone were astonished. They could see that each word came with extreme difficulty, so all they could do was urge him not to speak. As they left Nalser there to float, the decided to move outside of the Training Hall. As they turned around to leave, they noticed a blue haired maiden staring at Nalser with an extremely worried look.
From his pure white hair, she could immediately recognise him. When they noticed her, everyone’s head went blank but soon one word echoed out in everyone’s mind, “SHIT!” As they hurriedly chased her out of the Training Hall, they had a bitter smile on. When they were outside, Mei immediately asked, “Was that Nalser? What happened to him?” Everyone could only stay silent as no one knew what had happened. However Medic took Mei’s hand to lead he away as she said, “Not here. Come with me, I will tell you everything we know.” Everyone’s face flickered but no one could say anything. They had no way of bullshitting their way out of this one and if they did not explain it to her, she may say something unnecessary to her clan members.
***
Inside the stone room, when everyone had left, Nalser just floated there but his mind was working on looking through the information Enn had left behind to him. It was all sorted and it was divided into three categories:
1. was the Black Flame Angel Cultivation method and what to watch out for at certain stages. It also summarized the potential bottlenecks he might encounter and way’s to deal with them. However, there was one section that surprised Nalser a lot. It said this, “When you start training in it, don’t be afraid to adjust it to work the best for you. What worked for, may not work for you.” This sentence seemed simple but it held many different meanings. Since he won’t be able to train before he had completely healed any ways, he was in no hurry to ponder over it for now.
2. It was on fighting techniques. Well, actually, it was the body refining technique called “Phantom Song Sutra”. It talked about something called Mana but Nalser soon figured out that Mana was another name for Qi. And it didn’t have any specific killing moves or set moves but it talked more about Qi Rotations. By following the method for rotations, he could create his own set of moves. What he needed wasn’t fighting techniques someone else had invented but rather he needed foundational techniques like this. As Nalser briefly looked through the second section, he realized that it was a very solid foundational technique. It had no set moves but it encouraged the person to create his own fighting style.
The third section was what Nalser focused on at the moment. It had the extended version of Enn’s history and it was in more detail. It also talked about the Ascension, the Dimensional wars and so on. As Nalser hovered there, slowly, the pain from inside his body subsided. Although a few days had passed since Medic and the rest had left him floating there, Nalser had no way to tell how much time had passed.
All he could do was think over all the information left to him by Enn. As the pain from the inside of his body subsided, he could actually move a bit. Although he couldn’t do quick movements and his movements looked like a rusted puppet, who hadn’t been used for a hundreds of years, he could nonetheless move. When he took a quick look at his bandaged body, he felt as though he was a mummy. As he slowly scuttled towards the door to leave the hall.
His head was however full of different thoughts. The main one was that from Enn’s story he understood how important it is to have someone by your side to not abandon you even when all odds are stacked against you like a mountain. As Nalser finally scuttled out from the Training Hall, he was greeted by a very vigilant Sweeper and Dummy, the two strongest people on the island. Their eyes were bloodshot from keeping everyone else away. They did not allow any single being to step in a 15 meter radius of the doorway.
They were also scanning everything in this radius and even if a blade of grass moved, they knew about it. That just goes to show you, how thoroughly cautious they were. When they saw the mummy suddenly appear at the door, they nearly attacked Nalse. However, they managed to stop their attack before they connected. This scared the hell out of Nalser. The moment he stepped out of the Training Hall, he was greeted by a sword and a fist. He nearly stumbled back thorough the portal but managed to stand his ground. As the two dropped to the ground to apologize, Nalser’s heart softened.
This Foundation Establishment experience had changed him a lot. When before he was a bit cold and even didn’t care about the people following him, then now he saw them all in a new light. He had truly learned the importance of people to guard his back. When Nalser saw the bloodshot eyes of the two and the relief on their faces when they saw him, he understood that everyone was on the edge. They didn’t know whether Nalser will survive or not. These two had closely guarded the only way in, so no one could harm him.
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He dismissed the two and let them go take get rest. In the end he had to order them to go and rest because they were very adamant on following him closely just in case. When Nalser finally got those two to leave, he slowly scuttled to his favourite thinking place. He felt his head most clear when he was sitting at the edge of the Island just staring at distant stars. Although Nalser had sent the two to rest, they contacted Librarian and the rest. Everyone were extremely happy that Nalser was able to move, it was at least a sign that he was recovering. So they decided on rotations to look over Nalser in the shadows.
Medic and Librarian were in the first rotation. As they observed the pondering Nalser from the shadow of a tree Librarian asked Medic, “What are your opinions on his future cultivation. Can it be done?” Medic just slowly shook her head as she said, “I honestly do not know. The strong Qi reformed his body, so if he can continue to cultivate, he will have to start over again.” Librarian nodded as well, this was not the worst case scenario but it was not the best either. However, Medic’s next words baffled Librarian, “The Qi I sensed reforming him was not of this world. I said that before but now seeing him pondering like that all I can say is, that the merging of his Special Bodies was not by accident and it had a helping hand.”
When Librarian thought over it, it actually made sense. The miraculous merging of the two extremely domineering Special Bodies, the strong Qi reforming his body, And also, he had changed a lot. It wasn’t something extremely obvious but it was more like subtle feeling. He felt more mature and he seemed to now have a certain friendly aura. It wasn’t the same cold detached one as before but more warm now. It was hard to explain but everyone could feel the change in the aura instinctively.
Nalser had no idea that there were still people protecting him, if he did he would just chuckle and think that they are worrying too much. Nalser no longer had any Qi left. His cultivation was completely gone. Although he was still the Master of the Island, he could only control the entry and exit of the island. He couldn’t access the other functions for now, since all those required him to channel Qi into the pendant to do. For Nalser, who was used to being connected to everything and knowing everything that was going on, this feeling brought a bit of insecurity.
However, he didn’t mull over it for long as he started thinking about Enn’s story again. He now understood very well the sentiment behind his apology. Like Nalser, he had never known his parents, at least before the summon. Before the summon he had grown up amidst bloodshed that had killed his emotions. When he was teleported to the other world, he started regaining them slowly. Through his long journey he had finally understood the importance of friends, love and so much more. Even the sentence, “Straight to the point, an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” made sense to Nalser now. He could only chuckle to himself as he thought about it all. Him and Enn were similar but worlds apart at the same time.
As Nalser thought about how the puppets that followed him, were worried about him, Mei and the rest, he finally realized that this was his place. Before he didn’t have anyone, he didn’t realize the importance of a place to belong. He finally realized that this was the place he belonged and the people who followed him all trusted him. They worried for him, they were glad with him and so on. Nalser’s cold heart started accepting the feeling of belonging. As he did, he felt himself a bit relieved. He had always felt that he was out of place. It wasn’t some strong feeling but it was just a feeling that said, “I don’t belong here. These people are not for me to trust.” Now that feeling was gone. He felt lighter by a lot.
As he sat there reflecting on his own behaviour up till now, a shadow approached him. The person who the shadow belonged seemed to hesitate. She kept going then seemingly turning back before continuing going towards him, always torn between two choices. Finally Nalser’s voice echoed out, “Come here or go back. Make up your mind already.” The tone wasn’t angry or anything, it even had a hint of being amused. The girl pouted a bit then dejectedly walked to sit next to Nalser. She didn’t say anything but Nalser ran his hand through her blue hair as he said, “Why is your hair blue, little lady?”
The Mei was a bit embarrassed as she said, “I don’t know. When I woke up from the cocoon, it was blue. When I asked Librarian about it, he didn’t know what to say anything either.” Nalser just let out a laugh and removed his hand. Mei stole a few glances of Nalser’s body before gritting her teeth and asking, “Are you alright?” Nalser looked towards the horizon as he answered, “Define “alright” for me please.”
There was a slight smile on his lips under the bandages. If Mei could see the smile, she could understand that Nalser was just teasing her a bit. Mei stuttered as she asked, “Does it still hurt?” Nalser just said, “It hurts to move but not as much as before.” Mei stayed quiet now. Her head was spinning as she tried to think of a way to continue the conversation. Seeing that Nalser just let out a little laugh as he said, “No need to be so tense, I won’t die. Also, how much did they tell you when they asked you to check up on me?” When Mei heard that, she felt as though she was hit by a hammer.
She was seen through this easily. However, a stone was lifted from her heart when Nalser said that he wasn’t going to die. She slowly relaxed and her head also became clearer as she narrated to Nalser that Medic had told her everything regarding the Foundation Establishment ordeal. Worry was still evident in Mei’s eyes as she asked, “May I ask, what happened? Medic said that the Qi inside you was not from this world.” Nalser lightly smiled as he thought to himself, “As expected, they are no fools.”
He asked Mei a question, “Are you willing to follow by my side outside of the Realm? Will you stand behind my back to help me when I have to fight against a mountain?” This unexpected question made Mei puzzled but for some reason she felt very weird thinking about the question. Her face started burning up as she remembered something Medic said to her. She looked towards the stars for a moment before her mind became clear, “It is that simple.” As she realized this, she slightly smiled as she said, “I want to walk beside you whether you want to walk through Hell or Heaven.” Her gaze was directed towards the stars and she couldn’t see the smile on Nalser’s face. Nalser removed the bandages from his mouth and as he turned Mei’s head to face him, he kissed her.
In the shadows, Medic almost fell over from the sudden turn for events but Librarian was a lot more calm. He had slight surprise on his face but that was it. Medic pointed towards the two and stuttered,”W-w-what the heck. I knew that the girl had feelings for Master but not vice versa.” Her head was spinning as she couldn’t understand the situation at all. Librarian just said with a calm smile, “Although Mei’s feelings were as obvious as day, Master had also sprouted similar feelings. However, he was a lot better at hiding them but since I spent a lot of time together with him, I picked up the small hints.” Medic looked towards Librarian with rage as she wanted to hit him f holding back such information.
However, Librarian quickly continued, “So, this is nothing surprising. However, I had not expected Master to make the first move. I honestly thought that Mei would gather up her courage and confess to Master.” Medic calmed down as she listened to Librarians explanation. Even though she hadn’t realized Nalser’s feeling for Mei, she had also thought that at some point in time Mei would be the one to confess. However, neither of them said anything any more as they just smiled and left the two of them alone. They had lived for countless years so of course they understood the importance of having someone by your side to pick you up when you fall.
As the two of them tactfully left, Nalser removed his lips from Mei’s. Mei’s face was blank as she was processing what just happened. Before she could even make sense of anything, Nalser laid his head down on her lap. Slowly, Mei came back to reality and she smiled sweetly. She understood that Nalser had the same feelings as her. As she gently started playing with Nalser’s hair, Nalser said, “I am sorry for surprising you but I was happy.”
Mei was silent and Nalser continued, “It was only recently I realized how important it is to have someone by your side. Since I had grown up completely alone, I didn’t know how to act around others.” Mei was still silently listening as Nalser continued to rant. She just listened and felt very happy.
As Nalser kept ranting, he told her everything. About his gut feeling, meeting Enn, surviving only thanks to Enn, all the things Enn passed on to him, also he told her about the Ascension. He even told her about Enn’s last request. When he showed her the dog tag, he could see a tear rolling down Mei’s cheek. She was visibly moved by the story. When he had finished pouring his heart out, he felt lighter, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
He realized that this was the effect of trusting someone enough not to keep anything hidden from him. Then he asked about Mei’s past and how she was doing while he was in closed door training. Mei started from the beginning as well as she kept narrating everything to him. As the two talked to each other, time passed and soon the night had passed. They had been talking for the entire night but neither of them was tired at all. Instead, they felt happy, as they had finally found someone they could talk about everything with.
When the morning arrived, Nalser raised his head from her lap and Mei reluctantly stopped fiddling with his hair. Nalser promised her that he wouldn’t train in any sort of cultivation until his body was completely healed. This relived Mei as she had heard of Nalser’s previous cultivation frenzy. She was afraid that Nalser would be too impatient again and start cultivating before he was healed. Nalser promised to oversee Mei’s training for now while also formulating a plan for his own cultivation. As the two walked towards Mei’s training room hand in hand, all the puppets along the way, at least the ones they saw, grinned to them.
Mei repeatedly cast her head down with a red face and there were a few times that she tried to take back her hand but Nalser wouldn’t let go. Finally, she gave up and walked with her head held high. When they finally reached the training room, Nalser first gave her the improved body cultivating Arts and told her, how to train in them most efficiently. Also he gave her a hint with the “Hidden Palaces, Hidden Meridians.” He also warned her that training in these body cultivating Arts would be painful, so she shouldn’t push herself too much.
After getting a guarantee from her that she wouldn’t push herself too far, he left towards the Library. He planned on completely and thoroughly comprehending everything Enn entrusted to him. He looked at the dog tag for a second before deciding to store it in the Armoury. It would be the safest place for it.
When he finally reached the Library, he started sorting everything out. There were a lot of techniques and buts or ifs involved. As he thought about the Qi movement techniques of Phantom Song Sutra, some potential moves entered his head and he also wrote them all down, so that he could test them out in the future. As he looked through the information again, he found an interesting technique that Enn had found a long time ago. It was extremely mysterious and even Enn had left a note praising it.
The techniques name was called, “Birthing Seed.” What it did was that the user had to collect all sorts of materials, the more precious, the better. Through a special formation he can turn them into 3 Birthing Seeds. Each of the three seeds would be different. One would be to birth a weapon, one an armour and one a supportive Artefact.
What made both Enn and Nalser interested in it was the fact that by submerging the Seed in his Qi Spring, the seed would birth the most optimal, completely customized weapon, armour, Artefact. They would also fuse with his body and constantly grow stronger as the user did.