Chapter 6

"So," I began. "what's Xiaoyue doing here?"

The girl's smile faltered a little, slinking lower in her chair. She stopped drumming her fingers on the table. I couldn't help but notice that she was dressed the same as her mother, as if matching parent-child outfits were the norm. They wore something similar to my own outfit, though theirs were lavender-colored, and they wore a frilly skirt instead of the fabric of their robe reaching down.

The girl's mother wrapped an arm around her. "Now, now," she chided. "Xiaoyue is my daughter, you know? What kind of mother would I be if I didn't look after her?"

"A normal one?" I asked. When she stared at me blankly, I continued. "What? My father didn't care about me at all."

"Oh, sweetie, that's not true. Yichen did everything he could to try and help you, even if it was stupid. Some scammer told him that if you wore those stupid rags, you might gain a heartbeat." Her face darkened. "Yichen should have had that idiot executed."

I realized my mistake, cursing myself silently. "Oh- is that so?"

"Yeah, so don't go thinking he doesn't care. Iadra's sake, that baby cried for hours when you first spoke to him."

I stared blankly. "I see."

The more I learned about this man, the stranger he seemed. He was supposedly stronger than both Yunshu and Meili, one of which was descended from dragons, though I wasn't sure which one. Despite his strength, from what Miss Zhang was telling me, he was a crybaby who cared deeply for the people around him, and showed mercy to those who would wrong him. Everything in my past life told me he couldn't possibly be powerful, but I had witnessed his power firsthand.

"Why is Yichen the king?" I asked.

"That's a weird question," Xiaoyue mumbled.

"Your father's the king because of his kindness." Miss Zhang answered. "There isn't a person in this country who doesn't respect him."

"Do you respect him?"

"Of course I do. Your father was the one who saved me from a horrible life."

"Why do you mock him so much, then?" I wondered aloud.

Miss Zhang chuckled a little. "If I didn't joke around with him, would that be better? It doesn't harm him at all. In fact, I'd say a king who's friends 'respect' him so much they can't joke around with him isn't much of a king."

I scowled in annoyance. That comment hit a little close to home. Memories of me choking the life out of my attendants for referring to me wrong flashed through my mind. I shifted uncomfortably in my couch.

"What about yesterday? Yunshu slammed his face into the ground." I pointed out.

"Do you really think that's all he could have done?" Miss Zhang countered. "Those two have been friends for a while. Yunshu often keeps him from making bad decisions, even if that means he has to use a bit of force."

"Does that mean Yunshu is stronger than him?"

"Oh, no. Not at all. I have full confidence that Yichen could take on the entire nation at once and still end up victorious." She leaned back in her chair, lighting a cigarette. "The fact is, with his strength and the things that have happened to him, the world should be thankful he has a good heart."

Xiaoyue swiped the cigarette out of Miss Zhang's mouth, pouting as she threw it away.

Miss Zhang apologized, patting her head and smiling. "Sorry about that. Let's get to work, shall we?"

She dropped a stack of books in front of me with an audible "Thud!" As the books collided with the tabletop, a cloud of dust was blown in my face, causing me to sneeze loudly.

Xiaoyue giggled a little as I snorted in an attempt to clear my nose of dust. She pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to me. I couldn't help but think she seemed familiar.

"Have fun, you two!" Miss Zhang said, basically sprinting away.

"Hey! What happened to being a mother?" I yelled after her.

"This is good bonding time!" she yelled back.

I sighed in annoyance, pinching the bridge of my nose.

Honestly, that woman and Yunshu were so spontaneous. A carefree nation like this was a far cry from what I was used to. Even during Donghai's rule, the residents of the palace were never this whimsical. These people had obviously never went through any pain. I looked at the little girl sitting across from me, who seemed to be absentmindedly humming a melody of some sort.

That's not right. I thought. Yichen can't possibly be that strong without any suffering. Then there's this girl, who flinches at the first sight of anything. What a weakling.

"I'll wash this and give it back to you," I whispered, not wanting to startle her.

"Don't worry! I have more!" she chirped, pulling three more handkerchiefs out of nowhere. Each one was wonderfully designed, with intricate golden patterns in the corners.

As the girl entertained herself by folding the cloths into various shapes while humming, I opened the books and began reading. I stopped about two words in.

Oh no. I don't know how to read. I could vaguely read a few characters, like aura and person, but besides that, I was basically illiterate.

My face twitched involuntarily as I struggled to read.

"Can you read Heinese?" I finally asked, giving up on trying to piece together what everything meant.

Xiaoyue's face brightened instantly. "Of course!"

She moved to sit down next to me, putting a finger on the first word, and began reading out loud.

I learned two things from the first book that Miss Zhang gave us. First, aura was a manifestation of one's spirit, and could take multiple different shapes and colors, depending on the person. I thought back to the forms I had witnessed so far. Mars, with his blood-red serpent; Yichen, with his deep-blue dragon; Donghai, with his crimson wolf and Miss Zhang, with her green wings. All of these people were particularly strong. It seemed there was a certain level required for aura to take a form.

Second, aura was manifested from the body itself, unlike mana, which drew on ambient particles in the atmosphere. Typically, aura would travel through the body, just like blood, and when manifested, it would surface through the skin. However, internally using aura was possible, and was the most basic form of aura-based abilities.

There wasn't a lot of useful information, but I understood more about the power now. As Xiaoyue slept on my shoulder, I silently pondered what would happen if I was able to unlock my mana core. Would I lose the ability to use aura? A thought occured at the back of my mind. If I managed to unlock my mana core, and my ability to use aura didn't disappear, I could potentially reach greater heights than before.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a loud squeal. It was Miss Zhang.

"Yichen, quick! Hand me your techpad!" she gushed. "I need to take a picture of this!"

A hand popped out of a dark, misty portal, presumably Yunshu's, handing Yichen a rectangular shaped clear gemstone. Yichen accepted it, passing it to the woman next to him. He caught my eye, shook his head, sighing, as if to say, "Don't ask."

"Hold still, Xuefeng!" Miss Zhang whispered loudly. She tapped the gem, and a screen of light was projected above it. From where I was sitting, I could see a mirrored reflection of myself and Xiaoyue, who was somehow still sleeping soundly.

Miss Zhang tapped on the projection, causing it to flash white. A second later, a piece of paper was ejected from the gem. Miss Zhang showed it to me, revealing a perfect replica of me and Xiaoyue on the couch.

"Aren't they just the cutest?" Miss Zhang squealed. "Yichen, Yichen, what do you think?"

Yichen stayed silent as he pursed his lips, Miss Zhang tugging on his arm the entire time. After about half a minute of silence, he finally spoke up.

"I'll be right back. I need to frame this immediately," Yichen muttered in a serious tone. His expression changed, as if he would kill anyone who got in his way.

Yunshu stepped out of a portal, stopping Yichen. He dug his pinky around his ear a little, then blew a bit of earwax off of it. His brown eyes caught mine, and he waved at me in an exaggerated fashion.

"Hey, little guy! Whatcha up to?" he asked as he handed Yichen a wooden frame.

"None of your business, asshole," I spat.

The man gasped in an exaggerated fashion, pointing at me with his jaw agape. I wanted desperately to throw something in his mouth. He shook Yichen and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Did you hear that, man? Your kid just cussed me out! Who even taught him that word?"

"Maybe they were burned into his memory or something?" Miss Zhang offered. "I mean, Huotian does swear way too much for someone his age."

"Speaking of my boy, why don't we go have a spar? A little father-son bonding, hm?" Yunshu taunted, prodding Yichen with his elbow.

Yichen grabbed his arm and smirked. "You and Huotian wouldn't even come close to touching Xuefeng and I. Why don't you bring Xiaolong along too?"

"Ugh, I've told you. I love that kid, but he just doesn't want to use magic or something," he groaned.

Yichen chuckled a bit before responding, "You said he has a core, right? Maybe he just needs some time to figure out how to use magic."

"Maybe, but in this competition, if he can't figure it out, he'll only get hurt."

"That's fair," Yichen said. "Meet at the training ground in an hour?"

Yunshu grinned. "You're on."

Xiaoyue chose that exact moment to wake up, rubbing her eyes groggily.

"What's going on?" she mumbled, stretching as she yawned. For whatever reason, she was still uncomfortably close to me, so I shifted to the side a little.

"Yichen and Yunshu are going to spar," Miss Zhang answered. "Huotian and Xuefeng are going to join them. Do you want to watch?"

Xiaoyue considered it briefly, twirling a lock of silver hair around her finger. "No thanks," she giggled. "it's obvious Uncle Yichen is going to win again."

"Hey!" Yunshu protested. "What do you mean again?"

The man strode over behind the couch we were sitting on, picking Xiaoyue up and tossing her in the air, catching her and tossing her up again. The girl strangely didn't scream, but instead laughed even louder.

"Uncle Yunshu," she said between small giggles. "every time I watch you two spar, Uncle Yichen either slams you into the floor before you can react, or you give up after being pinned to the floor!"

I stared at Yichen in disbelief. What I witnessed when the two of them argued didn't match what Xiaoyue said at all. Yunshu had slammed Yichen into the ground quite effortlessly; perhaps Yichen had been distracted due to Yunshu attacking me or something. Regardless, the brilliant arc of aura I watched Yichen use to annihilate the nest of camazots made me believe that Xiaoyue was telling the truth.

Yichen caught my gaze and grinned, puffing his chest with confidence.

"That's what happens when you go up against a legend-class aura user!" he boasted.

"Yeah, right, you fraud." Yunshu slapped him on the back of the head. "I'll meet you two outside."

He chuckled loudly as he exited the room, hollering for Huotian to meet him outside.

"Why did he call you a fraud?" I asked.

Miss Zhang furrowed her brow. "Oh dear. Did you finish reading the books I gave you?"

"Only the first one," I admitted.

"Simply put, Yichen isn't strong enough to be considered legend-class."

"W-what?" I stuttered. "That can't be true."