"Haah...Haa.."

"C'mon maggot, don't tell me that's the best you can do."

Huo yi struggled to get up as Eva taunted him with a challenging grin. During the days of training in the soul dimension, Huo yi's speed and quick thinking improved immensely, he could now conjure more advanced spells with combos to counter some of Eva's attacks. But he was still no match for a veteran warrior like Eva, so he had to rely on dirty tricks and through planning. 

"If you aren't going to attack... Then I will!"

Eva dashed with heavy footsteps towards Huo yi, she reached out her hand for Huo yi's forehead.

"Kuh!, Flame shield!"

A large barrier made of hot flames engulfed Huo yi, unabling anyone to get close to him. Eva didn't stop her body from moving, she casted heat resistance on her arm, violently grabbing Huo yi's head and pulling him towards herself.

"Ah!"

"Got you!"

The flames around Huo yi dispersed, leaving him in pain as Eva placed a headlock onto him. She started to increase the pressure, causing a sharp pain to occur in Huo yi's skull.

"Ugh! I-I give up!"

Huo yi managed to breath out his surrender, making Eva release her grip on him. She bursted into a mighty laugh, having become an annoying pest that one would gladly want to punch.

"Match over."

Eli looked over at Huo yi and announced in a deadpan tone, yawning loudly. She was bored and was itching to go outside, Staying inside the soul dimension for weeks was tiring. 

Huo yi laid out on the floor, gasping heavily. Eli took a cold towel and mercilessly slapped it on his forehead. He couldn't retaliate due to his fatigued body.

"Maggot, tired already? Hur hur, If this was a real fight, your ass would be screwed beyond recognition."

Eva chomped on her bag of potato chips, poking fun at Huo yi. Because of the boredom from not being able to have fun by herself, Huo yi was used as a 'stress reliever'. Although she did not go all out with her strength, it was enough to keep her entertained.

Huo yi continued to lay still without saying a word. His 'body' was battered and bruised all over, it ached all over as soon as he tries to get up.

"...Y'know, relying only on magic is not a good thing. Once you run of magic whatever mana, you're practically fucked. Meh, I guess that's alright, since that would be my time to enter the stage. Hehehehe...."

Rubbing her hands together, she snickered while patting Huo yi's head. She then walked over to the couch to lay down. Obviously, Huo yi didn't understand some of the words she meant, but he was certain that running of Ki was a bad thing. He slowly recovered from his fatigue, he leaned his head against the soft velvet pillow while remembering something.

That's right, tomorrow's afternoon was suppose to be their inter-class match, he wondered whether he could win against any of them, especially Lu song. Since there was still spare time before morning, he planned to use that time to rest up and nap to gain energy.

"Big sister Eva, can I go back to my body to sleep?"

Huo yi looked over at Eva, who was already snoring away.

"..."

His already tired eyes then turned towards Eli, she was quietly sitting down in front of the television, with aloof eyes. She noticed Huo yi's gaze, and scoffed harshly.

"What."

"...uhh..."

Hesitating, Huo yi started to get nervous. He was not familiar with Eli, who was cold and distant to him. Eva and Celio were much more approachable, due to their somewhat friendly personalities. That's why he never initiated any conversation with Eli before, so talking to her now was a bit nervewrecking.

But now, he was really tired, and wanted to lay down on his bed where it was less bright than in the soul dimension. He quickly gathered up his courage before Eli got angry.

"Big sister, could you please bring me back to my body?"

"..."

Eli snorted, she walked over to Huo yi, picked him up by the collar, and went outside the soul dimension with him.

_____________________________

In the room, Celio was silently reading the books he picked up in the library. laying down on his belly, he flipped through the pages with one hand while the other supported his chin. It was raining heavily during the night, Lu song and Zhou Wei xing were already sleeping away as the raindrops pattered heavily against the window frames. Not wanting to alarm his roommates, Celio placed a dim lighted candle upon his bedtable to provide light for him.

Celio noticed the two flashes beside him while he was reading the books in a lazy manner, he welcomed Huo yi with a laidback attitude. After Eli tossed Huo yi towards Celio, she went back to the soul dimension without saying another word. Huo yi dived headfirst into the mattress with a "Oomf!", questioning why Eli couldn't be more gentle with her handling. 

"Little yi, are you going to sleep now? The rain is quite nice to look at, even though it's night time."

Celio whispered, he tilted his head a little to the side. He gathered up the books with telekinesis and placed them on the table, blowing out the candle in the process.

"Uh-huh....*yawn*.... Big brother Ce, may I use my body now?"

"Certainly."

Celio's ghostly figure emerged from Huo yi's back, he then gently picked up Huo yi and placed him inside his own body. Just as he was about to leave, Huo yi tugged at his sleeve.

"...What is it?"

Celio gently asked. He was much more natural and kind to Huo yi than before. Maybe it was because of the little kid's pure innocence that got him to be more forgiving.

"....Could you rub my head till I fall asleep?" 

Huo yi asked with blinking eyes, how cute. Celio placed his slender hand on his head, using his thumb to brush his bangs back and forth. The comfort and feeling soon put Huo yi to sleep. 

 He left Huo yi after making sure he was asleep, not noticing the unconscious boy with a small smile on his face. 

He entered the soul dimension, wanting to tell his siblings of the idea he came up with. He paused awhile,

'....Maybe there's still hope for reconcilation.'

 He took his time to walk towards the couch, gently knocking on Eva's forehead. Eva's eyelids fluttered open, a little suprised that Celio was not rough with waking her up. Sensing the solemn mood he had, she moved a little to make space for Celio.

"What's gotten into you? What happened to the bastard brother I knew?"

Eva jokingly exclaimed, making Celio humorously roll his eyes. He sat down on the seat.

"I have a proposal. Eli, come and listen too."

Eli  glanced over with disbelief. If it was the usual Celio, he would retort with a smart remark, but now he didn't.... Pausing for a moment, she walked over to the couch, sitting next to Celio. 

Now that his sisters on each side were paying attention, Celio got straight to the point. He didn't like to beat around the bush.

"I was planning that we should have different personas when we take over Huo yi's body for certain situations. I can change the hair color and some facial features, but nothing more than that. What do you think about it?"

He took a piece of shredded cuttlefish from the small table in front, biting the top of the seafood snack. Hm, it's quite tasty.

"Yooo..., does this mean we get to be secret superheroes?"

Eva said excitedly, the piece of fish dropped from her mouth.

"I guess it is something similar to that. Yes, the personas will be used if we need to be undercover or for some other situations. I I brought my clothing for the same purpose before, but since I won't be using it for only myself, I was thinking that we should use them for this idea. Since we are going to stay here for pretty long."

Celio said with a little bit of helplessness in his expression, he was a little sad to part with some his clothes. Even though the clothes were expensive, he had enough trust in his siblings to know they won't damage them badly.

Eli's interest was piqued, it had been a long time since she had freedom to walk around in a real body, so this was a great deal for her. However, she was still wary of Celio planning something.

"Saying this out of the blue, do you have another plan in mind...?"

Celio looked at her, with amusement in his eyes. He can't blame her for getting suspicious, Their sibling relationship had yet to turn for the better. He chuckled, with sincere eyes looking at Eli.

"I do, but it's not what you think it is."

Eli raised her brow, still not convinced.

"For the past few decades, we loathed each other, didn't want to interact with one another... because of the incident that was already resolved? Don't you think that it's a little immature?"

He responded rheotorically.

Both Eva and Eli frowned at Celio with hesitation, for him to say this after so many years... It truly shows that they were being selfish in their behaviour.

"...I know that we can't forgive each other for what we did to her...  I am also not saying you should force yourselves to, but I was hopeful we could start by resolving our conflicts. Even if it takes a long time."

Celio started to fiddle with his fingers. He would be lying if he said he was not pained inside. He was a little afraid of being rejected again by his sisters."

After an awkward silence, Eva was the first one to sputter.

"...Geez, and here I thought I was the only one who was not conceited."

Scratching her neck, she turned her head away from Celio and Eli. From this sudden turn of development, how could the three of them not be suprised or stunned?

"...Celio, thanks."

She mumbled, making her cheeks pout with red. 

"..."

Eli just kept silent, to Celio and Eva, this meant approval.

Celio sighed, dealing with Eli was going to be more hard than Eva, but it's a shocking change and improvement in attitude unlike before. Maybe getting stuck with your siblings for almost 10 years is enough to soften up. Well, he was more relieved that now he had a starting point.

He walked over to the closet, opening a wadrobe full of simple but classical and nice dress suits. He had many and different assortments of clothing and robes, There were even some lady-like shoes and heels and wooden sandals. He looked back at the couch where his sisters were still sitting in deep thought.

"What are you doing? Come on here and pick out some clothes. I'll pamper you two for today."

He beckoned them to come, attracting the two unsure ladies to go over. As expected of a big brother, he was still the courtly and soft-natured kind of person inside, despite having some ruthlessness to him. They started to silently pick out clothes, admiring Celio's tastes.

___________________________________

Huo yi woke up refreshed, he let out a small yawn and stretched his arms. On the table next to him, was a ceramic cup with warm milk and honey, probably prepared by Celio. Huo yi took the cup and let the heat transfer to his hands, he then took a sip of the sweet milk. Delicious. Ever since he was five, Celio told Huo yi that his bones were too weak, so he needed to drink milk. Eva practically forced the drink onto him, but he didn't mind because it was sweet.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Finishing the drink, he went and did the necessary washing up, and changed into new clothes. He looked into the bronze but clear mirror, Huo yi was clothed in a nice and smooth green jacket and pants, he fixed up his frizzly hair to straighten it to a fluffy feeling.

Making sure he was neatly dressed, he went to wake up Lu song and Zhou Wei xing by patting their cheeks.

"Brother Lu song, brother Zhou Wei, it's time to wake up."

"....Huo yi, it's so early."

Lu song squinted at Huo yi, a little annoyed at being woken up. Zhou Wei xing groaned simply and continued to sleep.

"But you said to wake you up this early, we need to practice early for the match soon. See, a lot of our classmates are already up and walking."

"Ok ok, let me get up first."

Lu song struggled to motivate himself to stand after hearing Huo yi's reminder. 

Huo yi scrambled to Zhou Wei xing, patting him on the hand. After a few attempts, he finally woke up. 

Soon, the three were dressed and ready, they packed their important belongings in their pouch, heading outside where they were suppose to assemble. 

"Say brother Lu song, are we going to fight you in the match later?"

Huo yi was huddled in the middle, while Zhou Wei xing was at his left and Lu song at his right.

"Yeah, I'm quite good at fighting you know? I am already at Sliver rank fire Ki."

Lu song said quite proudly, although the reaction was quite weak.

"You want to boast? All of us here are Sliver rank, you lowly commoner."

Zhou Wei xing snorted, making Lu song frown. Just you wait bastard, later I'll beat you so hard you won't be able to walk!

"Ummm... What is this Sliver ranking all about? Does this mean we are very powerful?"

  Huo yi asked, tilting his head slightly. Uwah, cute. Lu song patted his head, thinking his little action was abit adorable.

"Well, it's not that we are really that powerful, it's just that we are much more stronger in Ki than the bronze rank. You see, bronze is where our Ki starts to form into our base soul. The level goes like this, Bronze, Sliver, Gold, where our breakthrough the spirit force is 100, Sliver is 500, then gold is 1000. Once our spirit force goes beyond 1000, we get to ascend to expert level."

Lu song explained precisely, he didn't miss out on a single detail. 

"The expert level then has different layers, such as having 1-10 ranks, then to grandmaster, imperial, and then the celestial level..." 

Lu song admiringly emphasized on the word 'celestial', his tone showed great respect.

"Wow, brother Lu song, how strong is the 1st to 10th ranks?"

Huo yi looked at him with sparkling eyes, intrigued. Lu song gave a smirk, showing off as if he was at that those ranks.

"If the first rank could smash boulders with a fist, then the 10th could stop an army of 1,000 to 2,000 men! Imagine the power of the celestial stage..."

"Wooah.."

Huo yi imagined with amazement in his expression, a whole scenario was already playing in his mind. Zhou Wei xing scoffed.

"Don't be misled by his talk, an 8th level expert is already as rare as a phoenix, having even a imperial or celestial level here is ridiculous." 

Lu song growled at Zhou Wei xing for interrupting his dream-talk. 

"Hmph, I bet a simple-minded person like you won't be able to even reach gold rank."

"What did you say?! Damn commoner, go and stay as a sliver rank for the rest of your life!"

The two started bickering again, leaving Huo yi's mind to wander. He then thought of asking the guardians which rank they were in.

"Ne, Big brother Ce, since you're a heavenly being, what stage are you in?"

Huo yi asked Celio in his mind, speaking aloud would just make him seem crazy.

"I am already at imperial rank."

To Celio, it was nothing, but after hearing that, Huo yi brain stopped functioning for a minute.

"Eva is at the 7th rank, and Eli is at the 6th."

Without waiting for him to ask, Celio answered the next question for him. Huo yi's mouth looked as if it was going to drop.

"D-Does this mean you're the strongest? So cool.... "

"Haha, there's still someone more stronger than me. But I am much more powerful than most of the experts in this continent."

'Although there's a celestial expert right here.' Celio thought secretly.

Huo yi's evaluation of the three increased greatly, the fact that these powerful beings were teaching him, won't he become as strong as them too?

"I'll become a celestial stage expert too! The strongest of strongest!"

Huo yi's eyes sparkled with confidence. He lifted his head to see the corner of Celio's mouth play into a smile.

"Hm hm, all right my little celestial mage, let's go before we are late for the match." Celio chuckled in response. He tapped the tip of Huo yi's nose.

Realizing that they might be late, Huo yi quickly pulled Lu song and Zhou Wei xing by the arm, dragging them out of their argument. They started running towards the fighting arena which was near the training area, arriving in a few minutes.

On the arena's stage were two groups of students gathered in a crowd. One could discern the classes of the students, as the fire mages   had an air of superiority around them. Huo yi and Zhou Wei xing parted with Lu song to join their classes, with Huo yi cheering them both on of course. Celio and his sisters looked around the stage, suddenly noticing someone's gaze onto them.

In the spectator seats, there was some seniors observing their juniors for the fight, many of them were just around to pass the time. But right smack in the middle, there was a large assembly sitting and chatting while the junior classes got ready.

The man was none other than the man Celio met in the library, Ye han. Or what is assumed to be his alias. His staring gaze bore right at Celio, even though there were others who were trying gain his attention.

Celio made a wry smile, feeling a bit helpless. Obviously this Ye han person had a small grudge with his previous teasing. He didn't put it into too much thought though, he believed that a small joke shouldn't be able to agitate a person to cough out blood or kill someone. In addition, he could of kill him in the past few days but didn't. 

He gave a little wink at Ye han, after confirming that he could see him as well as his sisters. This made the man raise his eyebrow slightly.

"Celio, who is the hottie staring at you? Ah, there's a lot of bitches around him. Oh my god, he's a player!"

Eva leaned in next to Celio and whispered, he gave a small shrug of the shoulders.

"Just someone I met for a short while, don't ponder too much over him."

Of course Eva was someone who loses interest easily, they continued to observe the place before going back to Huo yi.

Huo yi would be lying if he said he was not nervous. This was his first physical battle with other people his age, other than in his soul dimension where he fought with a 7th rank warrior who was barely using a speck of her strength, he was not sure how to battle with a fire mage.

"Yo maggot, don't get ya' ass beat by these toddlers before I do."

Eva grinned widely, her shark-like teeth glinting menacingly.

Huo yi started to calm down his trembling legs, he fought with a 7th rank warrior and an imperial mage, so he should fare well, right? Speaking of Eva, a thought popped out in his mind.

"Big sister, big brother Ce said that you're a 7th rank, but why are you more stronger when you look more thinner than big sister Eli?"

Both Eli and Eva eyes widened, was he saying that Eli was more...fatter? Eva couldn't help but to let out a snort, followed by laughter as she tried to get away from Eli's face that was getting more and more blacker with rage.

"Oh boy, now you've done it little punk, she gon whack your ass."

Eva muttered out, still choking from laughing. Huo yi paled after hearing her words, gulping down his saliva that was stuck at his throat. Eli looking as if she could snap at any moment, was about to exert pressure but was interrupted by the teachers.

"Now now disciples, the first match will begin in a few minutes. The arrangement will go like this, one student from each class 

will volunteer to challenge first, the time limit for each fight will be ten minutes. No fatal magic, or serious wounding. And no cheating! Got it?"

The female lecturer who was in charge of the Air Ki class spoke up. Chirping their response with a "yes~" the students stopped their small conversations. Eli suddenly stopped in her actions of beating Huo yi to a pulp, she slowly regained composure. Sigh, Celio looked with a little disappointment. His sisters were so easy to anger.

"Brats, this is a competition, Put some spirit into your shouts! Understand!?"

The loud domineering shout rang out from the Fire Ki teacher, he was more buff and looked like a warrior instead of a magician.

His tough face was enough to scare children without his loud voice.

"Y-Yes!!!"

Afraid of the strict and scary-looking lecturer, the students shouted once again with more energy.

"Alright, Who's up first?!"

There was heavy mumuring coming from the Air class, since they were a little overwhelmed by the murderous gazes from the Fire class, there were some eager ones who were already shouting to go first. 

"I will go first. Move."

Amongst the crowd of Fire ki students, a proud and haughty boy strode over to the the teachers, obviously a noble. Some of the students were already scared, it's only the first round and they have to go against some noble? They didn't dare.

 The two reasons were that if they were to fight against powerful nobility, were that they were commonly more stronger than commoners. Two, Even if you win or lose, he would definitely put you on his blacklist. More so, most of the Fire class students were nobles while the Air class had more commoners.

The students from the Air class stood back, reluctant to go forth. This put on some frowns from the teachers and the fire students.

"Are you scared? Ha! I knew it, the Air class is just a bunch of chickens that only know how to flap their wings."

The student who volunteered first put on a sly smirk, his comment was followed by his other classmates.

"What a bunch of cowards."

"Geez, this is a waste of time." 

"Hurry up and get on with it!"

Even when the students remarked rudely, the teachers only put on a frown. This only made the Air class students more afraid. Just Huo yi was about to speak to them, Zhou Wei xing stepped forward.

"I will go then."

___________________________________

Here's a 3800 word chapter XD Also, I'm back from a short break, another chapter will come tomorrow soon.

Enjoy!