1014-1028

Chapter C1014: Siblings Reunion

Ning arrived in front of the door to Ely's old apartment, with Ely trailing a few meters behind. She had tears in her eyes that she was desperately trying to hold back, but her emotions were getting the best of her.

Ning knocked on the door and stepped aside, letting Ely go in front of him.

The door opened slowly to reveal a man in his late 20s. He had a head full of hair, although some of them had gone gray. His beard was rough and it looked like he hadn't cut it in a few days at least.

He was wearing a thin-rimmed spectacle and was wearing a pair of sweatshirts and pants.

He looked at Ely, someone who obviously looked about the same age as him, and frowned.

"Are you really Claire?" the man asked.

"Brother!" Ely said as tears rolled down her eyes. "It's really me, Claire."

She had proved herself through the story she had said a minute ago through the intercom, but Chase still found it hard to believe.

How could he? His sister who had died about 7 years ago had apparently come back to life somehow and she was nearly old as him. That shouldn't be possible at all.

Ely moved and hugged her brother suddenly. Chase tried to dodge, but she was too quick for him.

"I'm so happy to see you again, brother. I'm so happy," she said.

Ning watched from the side with a small smile on his face. He had thought he would no longer be affected by seeing people get reunited after what he had done 100 years ago, but somehow it was still getting to him.

"I-I can't believe it. Are you really our Claire?" Chase couldn't help but ask again.

"Yes," Ely said. "Although my name is Elenora right now. I no longer go by Claire," she said. "I've lived a different life after I was reincarnated after all."

"I can't believe it," Chase said. "I'm still finding it hard to process. But you know the story. No one else is supposed to know about it."

"It really is me, brother," she said. "I'm sorry for not coming earlier. I was in an entirely different place and wasn't aware that you would still be alive."

Ely finally stopped hugging her brother and wiped her tears. "Oh yes, I forgot to introduce you. This is Ning, my husband," she said while calling for Ning to come right by her.

Ning walked forward and held out his hand. "Hello, brother-in-law," he said with a smile.

Chase gave a weird look when he saw Ning, almost as if he should have known him from somewhere, but he couldn't think of anything clearly at the moment so he ignored it.

He shook his hands and nodded. "You can call me Chase," he said. "Uhh… come on in. I will get you some coffee or tea, whatever you like."

"Anything works for me," Ning said.

"Same for me," Ely said.

Chase stopped and turned around towards Ely. "What would Claire choose?" he asked.

Ely smiled a little and asked, "Are you still trying to figure out if I'm lying or not?" she asked. "Claire wouldn't choose anything. My illness meant I couldn't consume caffeine so I had to stick with water or milk. But I'm no longer ill, so I can drink anything."

Chase smiled when he heard that. "I'm starting to believe that you might just be my little sister," he said.

While Chase went to prepare some coffee, Ely walked around the house and looked at the various things that had changed in the time she had been missing, and the things that had remained the same.

She went to her old room and saw that it was neatly tidied up. There were a dozen or so DVD cases to the side for all the old movies she used to watch on a loop, most of them were cartoon movies from her childhood.

She popped open the box and saw the disc inside. "You haven't thrown out any of my old movies?" she asked loudly.

Chase, who had been trying to make sense of whatever the hell was happening to him right now, walked out of the kitchen and arrived at her little sister's room. There, he saw an excited Ely checking through the various boxes.

"So you know about this too," he said. "Which one was Claire's favorite?"

Ely smiled and picked up one of the boxes with a dark-skinned man next to a blue genie. "This one of course," she said.

"Why is that?" her brother asked, fully knowing the answer already.

"This was the first DVD you brought for me to watch after I couldn't leave the house," she said. "Also the song about seeing the world stuck with me as something that would be my only wish if I could ever have one fulfilled. But you already knew that."

Chase looked slightly shocked. "Are you truly Claire? I still can't believe it," he said.

"You don't have to believe me right now. I'm back, and I'll be here for a long time. You can gradually believe it when you can," she said. "You should go check the coffee now, it's about to spill."

"Hm? Oh crap!" Chase quickly ran back to the kitchen and closed the stove right before the coffee overflowed.

Ely walked by the kitchen and looked at the state. "You make coffee on a stovetop?" she asked. "You haven't bought one of those fancy artifacts, I mean devices that make coffee for you?" she asked.

"I can't," Chase said while he poured the coffee into 3 white, ceramic cups. "I'm a little low on money."

"Low?" Ely asked. "Are you still having trouble with money? I thought that would change since you are an A-ranked hunter."

"It's not that I don't earn enough," he said. "I just have too much debt to pay."

Ely felt a tinge of pain in her heart when she heard that. "Was that… because of me?"

Chapter C1015: Aliens

"I wouldn't say it was because of you, but yeah. Turned out mother had incurred a lot of debt to be able to keep up with your treatment," Chase said. "I only learned about it 4 years ago when people kept looking for mother for her missing payments."

"However, by then… mother had already…" Chase couldn't continue.

Ely gave a blank look and nodded. "I heard she died in a dungeon break," she said. "Was… was her final moment painless?"

"She was coming home from work when the monsters attacked. As far as I know, it was quick."

Ely took a deep breath when she heard that. "That's good," she said.

Chase brought out the tray full of coffee, and Ely found a picture of herself. "Honey look, this is what I looked like before," she said, showing her photo to Ning.

"Oh wow, you were cute," Ning said. "Cuter than you are right now."

Ely pouted and kicked him in the leg. "Stop joking," she said. She sat on the couch next to Ning and looked at her own pictures, reminiscing about the days from her past from a very, very long time ago.

She had lived many lifetimes worth of years since then, but the vivid memory Ning had given her helped in making her first one, one of the better ones in her mind.

"So, tell me more," Chase said as he sat down opposite them on a stool. "What was your life like? How did you two meet? Where were you this entire time?"

Ely looked at Ning, "Can I?" she asked.

Ning shrugged. "Your choice," he said.

Ely nodded and sighed a little. "This might seem a little surprising, but technically, I am an alien right now," she said.

Chase nearly dropped his cup of coffee. "You're a what? An Alien? What does that mean?" he asked.

"When I died, I was reincarnated into a different planet," she said. "That was where I was raised and lived for a long time before I met him. After we met, we fell in love and got together. Then… stuff happened, but to keep it short, he told me that you were still alive back here due to how slow time moved on earth compared to the other planet. So, I decided to come back and see you."

Chase nodded as he listened to everything he said and then suddenly started shaking his head sideways. "I didn't get a single thing you just said," he said. "You come from another planet? And you age faster there? How old are you even?"

"Well… don't be shocked, but currently, I am about 3 thousand years old."

This time Chase actually dropped his coffee. However, before it could hit the ground, Ely caught it with her Qi, along with all the coffee that had spilled, and placed it all back in the cup before floating it next to her brother.

"Also, I'm a cultivator. It's similar to being a mage but only stronger," she said.

Chase's hands shook as he tried to grab the cup floating in front of him. He grabbed it, but he still dropped it.

"Y-y-you are an alien," he said. "Then… d-did you somehow get my sister's memory? Wh-why are you here?" he asked.

Ely sighed. The progress was starting to regress a little. "Brother, come on. Don't be like this," she said. "I came all the way from another galaxy just so I can meet you again, and you act like I'm trying to abduct you or something."

Chase took a deep breath. "Are you?" he asked.

"No!" Ely said with an exaggerated expression. "It's alright. You're still in shock."

Chase wiped his brows and breathed audibly. "So are you Claire or not? I'm still unsure," he said.

"I am," Ely said. "I was just reborn far away."

Chase nodded when he heard that and took a deep breath. "I see," he said. "I need a drink."

"This early?" Ely asked as she looked around for a clock, before finding one on the wall next to her. "It's 9 in the morning.

"Huh? 9?" Chase turned around to look at the clock as well. "Oh no, I'm late. I need to hurry to the dungeon quickly."

"You're going to the guild?" Ely asked. "On a day like today?"

"I'm sorry," Chase said. "It's a very important dungeon run. If I do well in it, I can be promoted to the main A-rank team for the guild and will get to go in better dungeon runs. I will also earn more."

He was about to leave but hesitated for a second. "Please understand," he said.

"Go on, Chase," Ning said. "We get it."

Ely nodded in the end and Chase left to get dressed. He came back in a suit and pants that made him look almost professional. Almost because there were creases all over the place, making him look quite bad in it.

"You should iron your clothes," Ely said as she moved her palm. Her Qi moved through his clothes, magically ironing out any creases and rough spots.

"Thank you," Chase said mindlessly before moving to grab his keys and wallet from the drawer next to the wall.

He turned around and looked at the two with a hesitant expression. "What will you two be doing? Will you stay here until I come back?" he said, while his eyes darted towards the clock every single time.

Ning got curious. "When is this dungeon run supposed to start?" he asked.

"In… 10 minutes," he said. "It's supposed to start around 9:15. I'm sorry I must leave right now. Please stick around, or don't. Do whatever you want. I will be back by 1 o'clock in the afternoon so we can talk again then."

"Sure," Ely said.

"Do you need me to take you? You seem to be in a hurry," Ning said.

Chase turned around. "On what?" he asked. He then got a little closer and asked, "You're not going to take me on a spaceship, are you?"

Chapter C1016: Anti-Perception Veil

Ning chuckled when he heard Chase being worried. Ely couldn't help but chuckle as well. "He does have a spaceship. Do you want to use that?" she asked.

Chase gave a dry laugh, unsure if they were joking or not.

"Don't worry, that's not what I was suggesting," Ning said. "My transportation medium is faster than anything you can find in any part of the world."

"And it is not a spaceship?" Chase asked again.

"No," Ning said as he stood up. Ely did so as well and walked up next to Chase. Chase tried to step back a little, but Ning grabbed his arm before he could do so.

Ely grabbed onto Ning's shoulders and the next moment they disappeared.

To Chase, he was in his apartment at one moment, and in the next, he was somewhere outside.

The warded his eyes against the blinding sun for a second as his pupils dilated to let enough light in for him to not wince. It took a few seconds and he put down his hands and finally looked around.

His face showed a sign of shock when he saw that he was in front of the dungeon where he was supposed to meet his guild members.

"H-how did we get here?" he asked.

"Teleportation," Ning said simply.

Chase was surprised when he heard that, but it wasn't any more surprising or shocking than anything else that was happening today. "Did we appear here suddenly?" he asked while he looked around at the people that went past them. "How do they not see us?"

"They do," Ning said. "I've just put a slight anti-perception veil on us, so they won't be looking at us."

"Anti… what?"

"Anti-perception veil," Ning said. "It makes people not want to focus on you when they look towards you. It's a simple skill I learned recently."

"I… see," Chase said. He hadn't understood what Ning had said at all.

"Alright, before you go," Ning said as he brought out a bracelet. Chase was only wondering what it was when Ning suddenly placed it on the man's wrist.

Chase got a little worried and tried to take it off, but it wasn't coming off. He tried it again, but no matter what he did, it wasn't coming off.

"What did you do? What is this?" he asked angrily— as angry as one could get in the face of aliens.

"Don't worry about it. It won't harm you or anything," Ning said. "It just makes you unable to tell anyone about us. You see, we do have to remain a little careful."

Ely looked at Ning with a knowing look and Ning simply shrugged. He didn't want to tell the guy that it was to protect him from any threat and let him know if he was in danger where even the bracelet couldn't save him.

Ning felt that telling this to someone who was so afraid would only make them more afraid and untrusting of their words. Instead, telling half truth that could be accepted was the better way to go.

"Hey Chase, you're finally here. The leader is asking for us all to gather inside." A girl rushed out the gate and called him.

"Oh, hello Anna. I'm coming," he said before slowly turning towards Ning and Ely. "So, uh… will I see you guys later?"

"Of course," Ely said. "Your sister is back home. You won't get to be away from me for long enough."

Chase gulped a bit and nodded before leaving.

Ning smiled a bit and looked at him walk off. "Do you think he likes her? His voice definitely changed a little when he saw her," he said.

"I don't know," Ely said. "He was pretty afraid of us. Maybe he thought she would be in trouble for seeing us."

Ely's own voice was getting a little higher as well. Ning hugged her with one arm and consoled her a bit. "It's alright. He'll understand in a day or two," he said. "Just wait for him to realize that his dead sister is truly back home again."

Ely nodded and wiped what little tears she had been holding back this entire time.

"Also, your brother must've been way too shocked," Ning said. "He didn't recognize me at all."

"Are you really that recognizable though?" Ely asked. "I'm starting to doubt it. Maybe they have just heard about you and have never actually seen you."

"I suppose that might be it as well," Ning said. "So, where to next? I don't think he'll be out for quite some time."

"Let's just go back to the apartment. I want to spend some time in my old home," Ely said.

Together, the two of them returned to the apartment. Ning sat down on the couch and let Ely roam through the room, looking at the many things that were the same and the many things that were different.

A few minutes later, Ning heard Ely sob again. She was inside a room that wasn't being used for anything but hoarding whatever was unneeded to Chase. Ning walked in and saw a small portrait at the top of a young woman with an infant in her arms and another small boy by her side.

There was a man that looked similar to Chase in those pictures, and they all looked happy.

"Is this your mother's room?" Ning asked her.

Ely nodded and continued crying.

Thousands of years would take away the love one felt for one's family. Ning had been sad after hundreds of thousands of years. Compared to that, Ely's time was minuscule.

He let her cry as he thought that was the right thing to do.

After crying for a while, Ely went to her old bedroom and put on her favorite movie in the DVD player that was in there.

The player didn't work, so Ning had to fix it quickly before the movie started playing again.

Together, the two of them spent the next few hours watching the movie in silence, interrupted occasionally by a few giggles here and there.

Chapter C1017: Magic Circles

Ning and Ely were on their 2nd movie when the door to the apartment slammed open suddenly.

"He's back," Ning said.

"Why is he so sweaty? Oh, he must have had to walk all the way back because he didn't take his car," Ely said.

"Oh, right," Ning said. "I should have remembered."

Ning got out of bed and walked outside. "I'm sorry, Chase. I should have come to get y—"

"IT'S YOU!" Chase shouted suddenly.

"I'm what?" Ning asked curiously.

"It's you, the Apostle Ning. It's you, isn't it?" Chase asked. He fished through his pocket and pulled out a smartphone before showing the screen to Ning. "This is you, right?"

Ning looked closely and saw a news headline with a small picture next to it. The news read of how he had closed the SS-rank dungeon in Germany today, and how he had the power of 5 gods behind him.

"Oh, yes. That is me," Ning said with a smile.

"Y-y-you! How are you an Apostle? You're an alien," Chase said.

"Yes," Ning said. "And Aliens can't be an Apostle? Is there a rule like that?"

"That's…" Chase tried to come up with an argument, but nothing he could think would make sense to be used in the current talk.

"Also, you shouldn't keep calling your sister and brother-in-law aliens. That's quite rude, you know?" Ning said with his arms crossed. "We were both from the earth in our previous lives anyway."

"What?" Chase asked with an incredible look on his face.

"Oh, did I not mention it before? I reincarnated too, just like your sister," Ning said. "Come on, we can sit and talk."

The dazed Chase sat by the couch and Ning talked with him for a while. Ely also came out and sat on his other side, telling Chase various things as well.

Chase was still too dumbfounded to understand everything, but he at least got the gist of it all.

They talked for a while before Chase went off to cook something to eat. Once he was back with food, Ning asked a question he had been meaning to ask since he met the man.

"Do you think you can migrate to Korea with us?" he asked. "I'm going to build a massive house there with various facilities, and I'm sure you can make use of it too."

"G-go to Korea?" Chase asked. "You want me to move to Korea?"

"Yes, brother," Ely said. "It will be easier to keep track of you and meet you every day."

"But… France is my home. I can't leave France. I don't even know Korean. Living there will be hard," Chase said. Clearly, he was reluctant and Ning didn't want to force him.

"Well, if you don't want to, then we can't force you," Ning said. "However… in that case, we might have to create some magic circles so Ely can teleport around the world easily."

"Why teleport? I can just fly here. Won't even take me 5 minutes," Ely said.

Chase took a deep breath when he heard that. "Your spaceships are that fast?" he asked. Ely couldn't help but chuckle when she heard that.

"You might not need it, but it's still easier. It will also help Jung-Hee and Hi-Ah go around the world easily. I want them to see the outside world," Ning said.

"Okay, how do you make a magic circle?" Ely asked. "Is it like formations?"

"Kinda," Ning said. "It's about the same difficulty, but of course, the symbols in the circle do different things. Maybe I should have the government start using it as well. As far as I know, none of them have any idea on what it does."

"No one was taught about it, were they?" Ely asked. "Everyone only knows what the Constellation tells them. If they don't want to divulge some information, what can the humans do?"

"You're right," Ning said. "I should go share this information with the government right away."

Ning called the number for the director back in Korea. The number rang for a few seconds before it was picked up.

"Ning? What's going on?" the director picked up his phone.

"Oh, Director Sung. I was hoping we could talk about something very important right now," Ning said.

"Right now?" the director asked while checking his watch. "It's 9 o clock. Can't it wait until you return from Germany? I'm back home."

"Oh," Ning said as he looked around. "My apologies. I forgot about the time difference. I'll contact you once I'm back from France tomorrow."

"Okay, see you tomo— Wait, did you say France? Weren't you in Germ—"

Ning ended the call and turned around to see a slightly angry Ely.

"Uh… what's wrong?" he asked.

"Why are you so impulsive?" she said. "Stop doing whatever comes to your mind first. Think a little."

"Oh, uh… okay," Ning said.

"Geez, you did the same thing back in the director's office in Korea as well. You left me there alone and went god knows where," she said.

"Yes, yes, honey. I get it. I'll think a little more," Ning said. "Look, your brother is getting worried. You should drop it."

Ely sighed and said nothing else.

"So, back on topic. Since Chase doesn't want to come with us, I will make a magic circle in a few days that will connect one of the rooms in this apartment to one of the rooms in our new house," Ning said.

"We'll have a house ready by then?" Ely asked.

"I can do it with a snap of a finger," Ning said. "We can have our house whenever we want. Although, you should let me know what additions you want to do. I will have to integrate those into the blueprint that I'm preparing with the system. Once the director gets our land passed, I will make our house there."

Ely nodded. "I'll work on it tonight," she said.

"Good," Ning said. "Let's spend some time with your brother today. We will have to go back to Korea a little after midnight."

Chapter C1018: Teleportation Circle

Around 10 pm at night, Chase retreated to his room and Ning decided to make a magic circle there right away.

He found a small closet that wasn't being used except for storing some very old items and quickly renovated it to become able to house about 3 people at once. Then, on the floor of the closet, he drew the magic circle.

Ning didn't know much about Magic circles, except for a few ideas on how they worked. He hadn't had the time to learn them as extensively as he had for Summoning Circles back in Nulwurn, so he instead asked the system to give him the exact design of the circle.

He could use chalk to draw the circle, but he decided to go with something that would last a little longer. He dipped a brush into the small jug full of paint and started drawing the magic circle.

He could've asked the system to have it drawn, but using his own hands made him feel better when the results eventually showed themselves.

"You sure you don't need any help?" Ely asked.

"No, I'm fine," Ning said and continued with his magic circle. Ely watched from the side as Ning finished making it within the hour.

The magic circle was a giant circle with a 5-pointed star on it. There were multiple inner circles that separated the region around the 5-pointed star creating gaps where one could draw various symbols.

The circles were the base design that denoted the tier of the magic circle based on how many were being used. The symbols determined the intent of the circle itself.

"Alright, its done," Ning said as he walked out of the closet and looked at the magic circle ready in it.

"So… we can teleport now?" she asked. "Well… probably not. For the sake of safety, it's better if we don't use it as it is. Without a properly receiving magic circle, it will end up teleporting us in a small radius around the target location, which I've set to be our house."

Ely nodded as she heard that. "How large is the radius without a receiving magic circle? It sounds like it's usable if it's not too large."

"It's… about 200 meters I think," he said. "Give or take a couple of dozen."

"Oh, that's not too bad. I thought it would teleport you hundreds of kilometers away for some reason," Ely said. "Our house has that much land, does it not?"

"Yes it does, but you're not thinking it clearly," Ning said. "I said it teleports us in a 200-meter radius, but you keep thinking about it in two dimensions."

Ely gave a confused look for a second before realizing what he meant. "I see," she said. "So there is a chance we will appear high in the air, or… deep underground."

"Yes," Ning said.

"Can't you change that? Make it so it's always the same height?" she asked.

"I can, but I will need a lot larger space to put those symbols in it. As it is now, there is not nearly enough space for anything other than the general location," Ning said. "Most of it is covered by symbols that attract mana on its own so that you won't have to have a source to run it passively while receiving people."

"But it won't help people teleport? They will have to use their own mana?" Ely asked.

"That's the plan," he said. "That's the best I could do anyway."

"I suppose that's not too bad," she said. "Except for 4 of us."

Ning chuckled a little. "Saphandra won't absorb any mana, but that won't be the same for you three. At the very least, it won't be the same for you," he said. "With time, your body will adapt to the energy and find a way to make use of it. You will be able to use mana."

Although he wasn't able to tell how long that would take. The mana did not originate from earth to begin with anyway.

'It's alright even if it takes a few years,' he thought.

"Alright, let's go back," Ning said.

"I want to use that magic circle," she said.

"Uh, sure. Come into the closet then," Ning said and took her in. He closed the closet door from the outside and poured mana onto the circle on the ground.

Suddenly, the circle lit up with bluish-white light and spatial forces enveloped the two of them. In the next moment, they disappeared.

When they reappeared, they found themselves about 3 meters above the tallest tree in the land where they were going to have their house built.

"Good," Ely said. "I was a bit worried that we would appear underground. I didn't want to change my clothes just yet.

"Well, you might have to, it's already another day here," Ning said.

"Yeah, I suppose," Ely said. "Oh right, here." She handed him something small which Ning took and looked through.

It was a bunch of artifacts that she had invented herself with the help of her system, which would aid their house a lot.

She wanted it to be added to the building that Ning was going to have to make very soon.

"I'll see what I can do about it," Ning said. "I might just even make the house today itself."

"Right away?" Ely asked, looking at the area. "There's so much to clean up still."

"I can do that," Ning said.

"You don't have to," Ely said. "I can have Night, Blue, and Sorlus help me clear up this place. When you return, just make the house itself."

"I suppose that works too," Ning said.

Ely nodded and reached out with her divine sense to find the three beasts back at home. They had already returned from Germany.

She called them all to come to help her and within a few minute, they were all there. Ning gave a small idea of which places to clear up and which to leave and they started working on it.

As for Ning himself, he left for his meeting with the director regarding the magic circles.

Chapter C1019: Teaching Everyone

"Hey director Sung, it's been a while!" Ning said as he walked into the director's office.

"Been a while? But we only just met yesterday," the old man said.

"Huh? Oh right," Ning said as he shook his head. "I forgot. I've been awake for 2 days since we last met, so it has been a while for me."

"You haven't slept for 2 days? How?" the man couldn't help but ask.

"No need to worry about that," Ning said. "Anyway, did Germany contact you regarding the dungeon clearance?"

"Oh yes, they did. They are very thankful to you for that," the director said. "They have transferred your payment over, which we've put in your account."

"Hm, that's good," Ning said. "Also, what about my land transfer? Is it in my name yet? My people are already clearing it up."

"It has been started, but we had to wait for you to show up for the signature and thumbprints. Once you sign them, the land is yours."

"Great," Ning said and sat down on the couch by the wall. "So, about what I wanted to talk with you about."

"Yes?" the director got curious. "What was it that made you contact us?"

"I want to teach you guys or at least some of you guys about Magic circles," he said.

"Magic circles?" the old man gave a confused look. "What's that?"

"It's a circle that can be drawn, which when activated through mana can do certain things," Ning said. "Uh… imagine it like programming, but with magic."

The old man was still a bit confused. "I don't think I understand what exactly you are talking about," he said.

"Hmm, let's… see…" he looked around the room and quickly walked up to the director's desk. He took a pen and a small blank notepad and started drawing on them.

The director was curious, so he looked at the drawing as well. Ning took half a minute to finish the drawing and tore off a small piece of a different paper and placed it on top of the circle he had drawn.

"What is this?" the old man couldn't help but ask. He was more plagued by confusion than curiosity at this point.

"You can use mana right?" Ning asked. He could sense the old man's A-rank in mana usage, so it was almost unnecessary to even ask.

"Yes, I can," the old man said. "What about it?"

"Use your mana on that drawing I just made," Ning said.

"Use… my mana?" the old man asked. He had never done that before. The only time he ever used mana was to use spells, but using mana by itself was not a concept he was familiar with.

"Just focus on it. Think of the energy in your body leaving through your hands and you're more or less there already," Ning said.

The old man was still confused, but he did as asked. He took a deep breath and thought of sending his mana out through his palm and into the piece of drawing on the paper.

Suddenly, he sensed something leaving his body. At the next moment, a gust of wind blew out of the drawing, blowing away the small piece of paper that was on it.

"What?" the old man asked with an incredible look on his face. "Where did the air come from?"

"From the circle," Ning said as he pointed at the circle on the paper. "You can point it towards yourself and see how well it sends out air. Be sure to not let the paper fold. It must be as flat as possible for maximum usability."

The old man was way too curious to not follow Ning's orders. He took the paper and placed it on his palm so as to not have it blow itself away.

Then he used his mana.

The paper suddenly blew out air, surprising him and making the clothes flap crazily. The old man felt the hand holding the paper be pushed back as well.

He used his free hand to try and block the air, and in doing so cut off the mana input into the circle, turning it off.

The air stopped blowing and everything was back to normal.

The man heaved a few deep breaths as he stared into nowhere for the entire time. "How… how does this work?" he asked.

"You can use the circles to have it do everything you can possibly think of," Ning said. "You can even use high-grade spells if you know the design of the circle. It is basically a replacement for spells not used by humans. So long as one knows the design, anyone can become any type of mage."

The old man didn't smile learning this, instead, he feared. He couldn't imagine this in the hand of the public. Especially those that might have some nefarious intents.

If anyone could use the circles, anyone could use it, and if anyone could use it, finding criminals would be a nightmare.

"You… are you planning on teaching us this?" the old man asked.

"No," Ning said. "I'm planning on teaching everyone this."

"No!" the old man said. "You cannot teach it to the public. This has to be very confidential knowledge and not everyone should know this."

Ning chuckled. "Relax, when I said everyone, I mean every country," he said. "Also, I won't teach them everything. I will just teach them about the existence of the magic circle and give them a few designs. I will not be teaching anyone everything."

"Oh, how about just teaching Korea?" the man asked. "You don't have to teach the whole world. Or even if you do, it can be taught a bit later."

Ning shook his head. "Humanity is at a peril right now and you still think about improving your own country?" he asked. "I thought I made it clear before, I don't care about any of the countries, not China, not Korea, nothing. All I'm doing here is helping the world fight back against these invaders. If not for that, you wouldn't even be seeing me right now."

Chapter C1020: Owner

"Sorry, you're right. I shouldn't be thinking this way," the director apologized. "So, what should we do? What should I do?"

"Your first task is to find out who else can know about this, and at the same time contact every country on earth and tell them you have this information. Once you're all there, I will reveal this information, and you can all use it however you want to," Ning said.

"Got it," the director said. "It will take at least a day to contact them all, maybe even more."

"Take your time," Ning said. "I have some stuff of my own to do. Once I'm done, I will teach them all."

Now that he was done talking, Ning got out of the department of dungeon defense. However, before he could find a slightly uncrowded place to teleport away, someone came up to him.

He looked to the side and was surprised to see Lee standing in front of him.

"Hey, brother Lee. What's up?" Ning asked.

"Is it true?" Lee asked.

"You will have to be more specific," Ning said.

"Our gods. Are you really empowered by 5 of them?" he asked.

Ning smiled a bit. "What do you think?" he asked.

Lee became solemn for a moment before saying. "My god has only ever taken me in as his Apostle, and he prides himself in that. He says how others disperse their powers into weaker beings and ends up having weaker followers, which is why he despises having multiple apostles under him," he said. "So, tell me, are you really telling the truth?"

Ning thought for a bit. "If you do know your god so well, why don't you ask him?" he asked. "Surely the apostle he prides in can get an answer or two from him, right?"

Lee frowned a bit but otherwise said nothing in retort. "If you're not going to say it then it's alright. I didn't come here expecting an answer anyway. I was just… surprised," he said.

"Well then, see you later," Ning said and walked away.

He went over to the place where the deeds to his land were. An employee there showed him the way and gave him the file to sign on. Ning signed the place and left his thumbprints as well.

Once done, he was now officially an owner of land in Korea.

He took the deed and went back to his uncle's place.

His uncle and grandmother were beyond happy to see that he now had his own land. They were truly very proud of him and started saying how much they wished his mother and father were here to see it all.

In some ways, Ning wanted that too. However, it had been way too long for him without them, so he was fine even without them.

He was about to go back to Ely when his Uncle stopped him.

"Hi-Ah told me to tell you about meeting her guild master. Apparently, you said you would but then disappeared?" his Uncle said.

"Kim Min-Soo? Oh right, I completely forgot," Ning said. "I was supposed to meet with her yesterday, but the Germany job took away my attention. Thank you for the information, Uncle. I will go there right away."

"Also, both Hi-Ah and Jung-Hee will likely be staying at my place, so you will have to make your own meal," Ning said. "I will send Saphandra and a few others back, so you most likely won't be out of company anyway."

"It's fine, we will be fine without them," his uncle said. "But… your place? You only got the land right?"

"Oh, there's a house there already," Ning said. "I simply got the house along with the land."

"Oh, I see," his Uncle said. "I would love to see the house."

"Not yet," Ning said. "We need to do some furnishing, which is why I'm taking the two with me. Once it is done in a day or two, I'll take both you and grandmother there to stay with me for a while."

"I would love that," his uncle said.

Ning left the house and went over to the White Devil guild. He didn't even bother with the reception and directly teleported to the top floor where he knew Kim Min-Soo was alone.

He knocked on the door.

"Who?" her voice came from inside.

"It's me, Ning," he said and waited.

The door opened with a sudden jerk and the girl inside stared at him with a confused look. "No one told me you were here," she said.

"That's because no one knows it yet," Ning said. "I didn't want to bother with the other folks."

She gave him a weird look before stepping aside. "Come on in."

Ning walked in and sat on the sofa in a comfortable stance while she went over to her desk close to the window and shuffled through something.

A few seconds later, she brought out a file and threw it softly on the table in between them.

Ning looked down at the file and asked, "What's this?"

"This is what you came for, didn't you?" she asked. "Your contract. I… assume that you still want to join the guild."

"Yes," Ning said. "That is why I came."

He took the file and flipped it around a bit. His eyes moved through the file at incredible speed, reading through every bit of information on it.

"I see," he said. "I'm fine with most of these things, except I won't involve myself in these team-building exercises. My time is way too valuable for this."

Kim shrugged. "That's just there for formality's sake. We put that in every contract. You don't have to join," she said.

"Well, if that's the case, then I am okay with this," he said and signed it before Kim could say anything else. She wanted to negotiate his salary and see if he liked it or not, but for some reason, he wasn't bothered by it at all.

"So… are we done here?"

Chapter C1021: Home

Kim looked through the contract and nodded. "Do you have any form of identification we can use? If possible, your hunter id," she said.

"Oh, right. Here you go," Ning said as he pulled the id card from his storage.

Kim looked at his pulling it out form his storage and couldn't help but ask. "Is that your system or because you are now an apostles of the 5 gods?"

"It's… a secret," Ning said with a smile. "You can ask your god for the answers though."

The girl didn't say anything. Bothering her god for something like this was an easy way to get your powers taken away.

"Alright, since we are done here, I will be leaving," Ning said. "When is the next dungeon run for me?"

"I will let you know," Kim said.

"Good, here's my number. You can call me anytime." Ning left the number that could reach him and walked out of the room. He left as quickly as he came, giving Kim a feeling that everything that had happened just now was an illusion.

Ning went over to find Hi-Ah in a meeting where they made plans on how to take down a dungeon. The person at the front was teaching all sorts of things about the dungeons and the monsters they were going to be facing soon.

He waited for part of the explanations to be over before calling Hi-Ah outside.

"Come to this place tonight instead of going home," he told her as he handed a small piece of paper.

"What's… this?" she looked at the location on the paper. It was at least 10 kilometers away from her house, so she was slightly confused.

"You'll find out when you go there," he said. "Bring your brother too. I've already told Uncle."

Hi-Ah was even more confused now, but she still nodded.

After that was over with, Ning left the building, going directly back to Ely and the others.

He appeared in the air and looked down at the flat land that had nothing on it. Not even a single extra pebble.

"Wow!" Ning couldn't help but say. "You all did an amazing job."

"It's nothing," Blue said with a proud look on his face. He was incredibly happy with his master's words.

"Master, are you going to make a dungeon here or a cave? Make something big, okay? You should keep all your treasures there," Sorlus said.

"I'm making no such thing," Ning said. "It's just going to be a… well, I was going to say a normal house, but it's not going to be normal at all."

"Well, whatever you make, make it great," Saphandra said. "If possible, I want my own room."

"Every one is going to get their own room," Ning said. "There's going to be more than enough of it."

"So, when do we get started?" Ely asked. "How do you even start?"

"For starters, bring out the artifacts you have prepared," Ning said.

Ely quickly brought out all the artifacts that she had given him a list of before. Ning looked at the pile of artifacts and nodded.

"These are all, right? Or do you have something else that you haven't finished making?" he asked.

"No, this is all," she said.

"Good, now step back," Ning said.

Everyone stepped away for Ning to do his thing. Ning looked at the artifact and then his blueprint and closed his eyes.

Blue, Night, Sorlus, and Saphandra waited for Ning to do something. The land was probably going to rise, bricks were going to appear and start being placed around on their own.

They knew about his system and so they were ready to see something that even an Immortal like them wouldn't have normally seen.

Even Ely was a little excited.

"Do it!" Ning said.

Instantly, a bright light appeared in front of them and the air in the area was pushed out from something. The light lasted barely a second at most, and when it was gone, in its place, a house had appeared.

They all looked at the four-story tall building in front of them and asked, "that's it?"

Ning looked at them curiously. "What else did you want?" he asked.

"I don't know," Saphandra said. "A bit more of a spectacle than just… this."

"I was ready to watch it being made like the work of a master craftsman," Blue said. "Having it appear suddenly… it's not very fun."

"Why do you need fun?" Ning asked. "It's a house, it's our house. Be more excited, or I'm going to take away your rooms."

"Master this is amazing," Sorlus said suddenly.

"Yes, yes, this is fantastic," Blue quickly nodded. "He's saying something right for the first time, master."

"I quite like this too," Night said. "Although… never mind."

"Let's go see the inside quickly," Saphandra said before anyone else.

"Yes, let's go see what it's like inside," Ely said. "He's been keeping the design a secret from me too, so I'm very curious how it came out to be."

There was no gate to the house, just a few sets of steps that directly led to the front door. The entire house was mostly white in color, and the chocolate-colored door gave the perfect contrast.

The front door led to an open space where the main stairs of the house were located. Taking the stairs led one to the upper floors, each of which had 6 rooms in total, all of which were bedrooms.

The lower floor had open rooms with no doors and that was where the living room, the kitchen, and the dining area were located.

Everyone looked around in awe as they went through the rooms on the lower floors. Then, when they learned that their rooms were on the upper floor, they went there too.

Sorlus and Saphandra were especially happy to find out that each of their rooms had a TV of their own that they could watch whenever they wanted to.

Ning showed Ely the rest of the house, including the underground space that he was going to have to immediately use.

"There are still a few more things left to add," he said. "But at the very least, this is now our house."

Chapter C1022: Curry

Hi-Ah and Jung-Hee arrived by the gate and were a little surprised. Hi-Ah took her phone and was about to call Ning, but before she did, the gate opened and a voice spoke through a speaker.

"Come in!"

Hearing Ning's voice, they drove in.

The two siblings were immediately surprised to see the massive trees on either side of the freshly paved road that led to the mansion at the end of the pathway.

Hi-Ah parked the card towards the left and the two of them walked out with awe on their face.

Ning hadn't explained properly where they had to go, so she wasn't expecting much. However, even if she would have expected something, this would not have been it.

The door opened and Ning walked out. "You're finally here. So late," he said.

"Sorry, the dungeon run took a bit longer than we planned," Jung-Hee said with an absent look on his face. "Brother… is this a hotel or something? Or maybe a place you rented?"

"No, it's neither of those things," Ning said as he turned around. "I own this place."

The two siblings looked at each other and back at Ning.

"No way!"

"You're kidding, right?"

Ning chuckled. "Do you think I can't own such a place?" he asked.

"Wait, seriously?" Jung-Hee asked. "You come back one day and you own such a massive mansion?"

"Why not?" Ning asked. "What's the use of having so much money if I can't even do such a thing."

"That's right," Jung-Hee said. "Let's go in! I want to see the house."

Ning let in the excited siblings and gave them a tour of the house. Their voice echoes through the hallways and rooms as they made their way everywhere.

"You need to buy some furniture, brother. It's too… empty without it," Jung-Hee said.

"No need to hurry," Ning said. "We only just got the house. Everything else will come in due time."

Ely walked out of the kitchen with a ladle in her hands. "Ah, you two are here," she said. "You must be hungry. Come, I've created an excellent meal for you two."

"Oh, yes. I'm very hungry, sister-in-law," Jung-Hee said and went on ahead.

Hi-Ah walked with Ning and walked into the kitchen as well. She smelled the food that was being cooked and couldn't help but think that this was the best smell she had ever smelled in her life.

"What… exactly are you cooking, sister-in-law?" she asked.

Ely thought of answering but decided not to. "It's a sort of curry," she said. "A curry of what exactly? That you will have to find on your own."

The two siblings fortunately weren't weirded out by the lack of information and waited for the food to be served.

Ely handed them a hefty serving of the curry she was cooking and put some for herself and Ning as well.

They sat down to eat and both she and Ning kept a close eye on the two siblings.

Jung-Hee was the first one to dig his spoon into the food and take a bite of it. He was a little hesitant when the food entered his mouth, but when the taste settled in, his eyes went wide.

"Holy Shit! This is good!" he shouted all of a sudden. The curry had a burst of flavor that he had never experienced before. The bits in the curry had practically melted on his tongue so all he tasted was the smooth texture and flavor, and that was amazing.

He dug in once more and seeing that Hi-Ah got curious as well. She too took a spoonful of curry and ate it. As soon as she did, her eyes went wide with surprise as well. "Holy crap, he wasn't lying," she said softly. After that, the two of them didn't stop for a single second as they ate everything.

Ning and Ely smiled as they watched the two eat. While they did, the two of them ate as well.

Jung-Hee finished in record time as well. "Sister-in-law, can I get some more?" he asked.

Ely smiled, however, she shook her head. "You shouldn't eat any more than that," she said.

Jung-Hee was surprised. He wasn't expecting to be refused for seconds.

"Listen to your sister-in-law, Jung-Hee. This is not a food you can eat too much of," Ning said. 'At least, not yet.'

"Aww, but this tastes so good," he said.

Ning smiled. "Just wait a few minutes, you will feel awful soon," he said.

"Huh?" Jung-Hee was surprised. "What… do you mean?"

Ely quickly finished her meal and placed her bowl in the sink. He walked by Hi-Ah who was just sitting there with a confused look on her face and tapped her on the shoulders.

"Come on, you don't want to be here when it starts," Ely said.

Hi-Ah was confused. "Uhh... when what starts?" she asked.

Ely gave her a wide smile. "Your breakthrough."

Ning took his younger cousin to one of the bathrooms on the upper floor and made it sit in the bathtub while he filled it with water.

"You will start feeling a bit of pain soon, prickly pain. Endure it," Ning said. "At the same time, your body will also produce a lot of filth. It's normal, so don't get scared."

"What is happening, brother?" Jung-Hee asked. He couldn't help but be worried. Everyone was being so suspicious after all.

"Don't worry, your body is accepting Qi, so this is normal," Ning said.

In the end, Jung-Hee got into the bathtub as told. Soon, he started grunting in pain and complaining, but it wasn't as bad as Ning was expecting it to be.

"I see," he thought. "Their body is already enhanced with mana, so this bit of Qi won't really hurt them much at all."

Jung-Hee was surprised when the black, gooey filth fell out of his body and made the water murky. However, the slight pain he did feel wasn't enough to make him cry out.

It took exactly 30 minutes for it all to be over, and when it was, both Jung-Hee and Hi-Ah had now become cultivators.

Chapter C1023: Underground Space

"What is going on with me?" Hi-Ah asked, walking out into the living room in her fresh clothes. "I feel… weird."

"He says we are now a… what was it? Cultivator?" Jung-Hee asked.

"Don't worry, I will explain it all," Ning said. "Sit down."

The two siblings sat on the couch in the brightly lit room and listened to everything Ning explained.

Their eyes went wide in shock many times and many times their mouth opened as they finally understood many things that had confused them at first.

"So anyone who uses Mana is a mage, and anyone who used Qi is a cultivator?" Jung-Hee asked.

"In a sense, yes. But those are just names, and you can call whoever, whatever you want," Ning said. "All you need to remember is that Qi is usually better than Mana."

"Why usually?" Hi-Ah asked. "Why not always?"

"Well, in instances like Earth where there is both Qi and Mana, the amount of mana is far too much in comparison to Qi, so in this instance, cultivating mana would be better," he said. "However, what is best is growing stronger using both. Which is why I decided to turn you two into cultivators."

"So… I will be stronger now?" Jung-Hee asked. "I can get strong like you, brother?"

"Don't expect to get strong like me," Ning said. "But you can get strong like her."

The two turned to Ely and looked at her in surprise. "Sister-in-law is strong?" they asked.

"She's the strongest human on earth right now," Ning said. "Maybe even the entire galaxy."

"Even compared to you?" Hi-Ah asked.

"Of course not," Ning said. He wasn't a human after all. "Anyway, I will give you some information to learn about cultivation, do so in your free time. For now, I have something else you will need to do."

"What is it?" Jung-Hee asked. He wondered if there was something else they were going to learn about besides Qi today.

"Just follow me," Ning said and continued walking.

Sorlus walked down the stairs and arrived in front of them. "You called, master?" he asked.

"Yes, come with me," Ning said and took him along as well.

Hi-Ah and Jung-Hee were surprised when Ning took them down the stairs. They hadn't expected to go to the underground space just yet.

The entire underground space was dark, but the moment they walked in, it glowed bright instantly. There were no bulbs lighting up the place, but rather artifacts attached to the ceiling that used energy from the sun during the day. However, neither of the siblings noticed it at all.

Instead, they saw the massive underground space that was far wider than they were expecting it to be.

"What is this place?" Hi-Ah asked. "It's very unsettling for some reason."

"Ah, don't mind the open space for now. I plan on having a few magic circles built in here. For now, go into that room," he said.

They turned to their right to see a door alongside the wall. They weren't expecting that to be a room at all.

When they opened the door, the light kicked back in and they saw nearly a dozen different bunk beds in the room, set up in a row like this was some hospital ward or an army camp.

"What is this place?" Hi-Ah asked. "This is definitely creepy."

Ning didn't say anything and just jumped onto one of the beds. "You all sleep too," he said.

They looked around for a bit and slowly got onto the bed and stared at either the other bed on top of them or the ceiling.

"What now?" Jung-Hee asked.

Suddenly, the bed or ceiling over them opened up and something dropped, scaring some of them.

"Holy crap, that scared me," Hi-Ah said. "What is this now?"

The thing that had fallen was a sort of helmet attached to a bunch of wires at the top.

"Wear it and close your eyes," Ning told them. He did as he said and wore one over him as well.

There was no point in refusing, so everyone wore it and closed their eyes. One moment, they were wondering what was supposed to be happening, and the next, they felt a cool breeze on their face in a grassland that was on a cliff next to the ocean.

"What the fuck!" Jung-Hee shouted all of a sudden. "What the hell is this, brother?"

"Where the hell are we?" Hi-Ah shouted.

Ning chuckled a bit for a few seconds as he watched the two siblings freak out a bit. Even Ely was having a bit of fun.

Sorlus looked around, not understanding what was going on. However, he did manage to realize something.

"Something is wrong," he said. "This world… it's weird."

"It is," Ning said. "That's because this a fake world."

"A… what?" Jung-Hee asked. "What do you mean fake?"

"Have you heard of VR games?" Ning asked.

"I… have," the young man said as he looked around the world a bit. "No way! Is this a digital space? It looks so real though."

"It's because I meant it to be that way," he said.

"Is this a game?" Hi-Ah asked. "Are we supposed to be playing something right now?"

"No, this is not a game," Ning said. "This is a training space. Something I created just for the two of you so you can grow as a fighter."

"A… training space?" Jung-Hee asked curiously.

"Yes," Ning said. "Since this is a fake world, you can fight to your heart's content without worrying about death. I have made sure to have the system copy everything from your physical capabilities to your mana and Qi amount. Even your spells will only be the ones you can use outside."

"So, this is just normal training?" Hi-Ah asked. "We do that in the guild every day."

"Yes, but your guild can't teach you what I can here," Ning said. "So, let's start your training, shall we?"

"And for your first opponent, you will have to fight Sorlus."

Chapter C1024: Death and Fear

"We are… going to fight Sorlus?" Hi-Ah asked with a surprised look on her face. She wasn't expecting to have to fight with the 12-year-old-looking kid as part of her training today.

Jung-Hee was a little hesitant as well. Both of them knew that Sorlus was a strong dragon, but he was always in his human form, so they couldn't help but see him as a young brother to them.

Fighting such a young man was not something they were expecting to have to do today, or if ever at all.

"Not really fight, no," Ning said. "With the power difference, there won't be much of a fight at all. What you're going to do is die today."

Hi-Ah and Jung-Hee paused a little. "Sorry?" they asked.

"You heard me right," Ning said. "You two do not know the extent of the terror the monsters in the upper-tier dungeon can hold. So, today you will find out."

He then turned around to Sorlus and said, "Revert back to your dragon form and kill them."

The two siblings were immediately on guard when they heard that and looked toward Sorlus, ready to fight him.

"Are you sure, master?" he asked.

"Don't worry, this is not the real world, so they won't die even if you kill them," said.

"In that case, understood!"

Suddenly, the little boy shined in a bright blue light as his body got larger. Scales appeared all over him and his hands and fingers turned into talons. A tail and two wings grew out of his back while the rest of his body turned blue.

When his face changed to that of a draconic beast, his dragon body was finally in view for the two siblings and Ely to see.

Let alone the two weak humans, even Ely was surprised by Sorlus' size.

Sorlus wasted no time and opened his mouth as he spewed out water from it. The water came out so fast that it ripped the two siblings to shreds in an instant, killing them despite their defenses.

They had no chance of survival against a Sorlus that was ready to kill. When the burst of water disappeared, the two of them were gone.

Ning waited for a few seconds and the two appeared in a bright light. However, compared to before they weren't standing at all. They were crouched on the floor, shivering in fear as the pain from dying filled them with dread they didn't even know they could feel.

Ning walked over to them and pat them over a couple of times to assure them that they were alright. "So, how did dying feel?" he asked.

Hi-Ah tried to answer, but she couldn't find the will or the ability to speak at all. The best she could voice was the clattering of her teeth.

Ning gave a warm blanket to comfort his two cousins and waited until they could finally speak.

It took a few minutes, but Jung-Hee was the first to speak again. "W-why d-did you kill us?" he asked. Hi-Ah looked at Ning for an answer as well.

"As I said, you need to know how terrifying the higher-tier monsters are and how easily you can die if you don't pay any attention," Ning said.

"B-but why did you make us feel the pain of dying? It hurts so bad," Hi-Ah said.

"Well, there's no point to this if you don't feel the pain," Ning said. "Only by feeling this pain will your body learn to avoid such a thing again."

"While I'm trying to teach you how scary these beasts can be, what I'm ultimately trying to teach you is fear," Ning said.

"Fear? F-fear of what? Death or the monsters?" Hi-Ah asked.

Ning shook his head. "I'm trying to teach you to fear fear itself," he said. "You're now a cultivator and very soon you will be an SS-ranked mage. Your power will grow to such an extreme height in such a small period of time that it is impossible for either of you to not overestimate yourself."

"So, for the next however many days it takes, you will train here to try and understand just how weak you are and how no matter how strong you get, you will die every time you have to fight the beasts from those stronger dungeons," Ning said.

The two siblings took a deep breath. "D-do we have to die e-each time?" Hi-Ah asked.

"Of course," Ning said. "How else will you learn the severity of the difference in strength between you and the others?"

"T-this is a virtual world right?" Jung-Hee asked. "Can we at least not feel pain? There should be a setting for that."

"I can remove all pain," Ning said. "But I will keep it all. Besides, it's set at a capacity where you will barely remain sane. If you were to truly feel the pain of dying, you will go mad. To die over and over and over and to still retain your sanity, only a madman could do such a thing."

"Why do we have to feel pain?" Jung-Hee complained. "We know we will die, is that not enough?"

"Is it enough?" Ning asked. "If you don't feel the pain, then will dying have any effect on you? Will you be sitting here, unable to move just now if you didn't feel the pain and fear from having died?"

"There are stories of people in dangerous jobs dying stupidly because they were so used to the job that the danger became an everyday part of their life and they started ignoring the danger," Ning said. "If you die over and over to someone stronger than you and you no longer fear that, you will die stupidly against someone stronger than you too. Do you want that?"

The two quickly shook their head.

"Good," Ning said. "Now that you understand what is going to happen, I reckon you are ready to die again, yes?"

"What, wait no—"

Before the two of them could finish their sentence, Ning gave Sorlus the gesture and he killed the two siblings one more time.

Chapter C1025: Training

After a couple of deaths, Ning asked Sorlus to not kill the two immediately again. He wanted them to at least fight back to see just how strong they would be against a dragon like him.

Sorlus agreed and let the two siblings attack him.

Hi-Ah did not find it hard to attack Sorlus at all. Whether it was because of his current size, or the absolute disparity he had shown them that led to them being in such despair, she wanted to hurt him too.

Her fingers suddenly crackled with lightning as a massive bolt of electricity flew towards Sorlus in the blink of an eye. It struck his thick hide, but the dragon scales were too strong for Sorlus to feel any pain at all.

Sorlus let out a weak attack that was barely strong enough to hurt the two siblings but not enough to kill them.

Jung-Hee jumped forward and moved his arms in a circle as he suddenly created a barrier in front of him.

Ning saw a magic circle flash right before the barrier was created, but no one else seemed to care much about that.

After all, it was quite an ordinary visual for them all as most spells did create a momentary magic circle.

If one could draw that circle, they could use that exact same spell despite not having the talent towards that category of the spell.

Ning thought of learning the designs for magic circles in his spare time if he could. He watched the three of them fight for a while and in the end left the virtual world to let them fight on their own.

Once he was out, Ning made his way over to the vacant underground of his house where he was going to draw some teleportation circles.

Ning got himself a bucket of paint and a brush and started drawing.

He made two teleportation circles, each of which was about 3 meters in diameter. It could easily hold up to 8 people to teleport at once, and that was enough for everyone in his household to teleport over.

It took him about an hour to properly finish making it all and by the time he was done, it was midnight already.

Ely walked out of the room she was in and walked up to Ning. "You're done?" she asked.

"Yes, I made both," Ning said.

"Which is which?" Ely asked as she was unable to tell exactly which formation she was to use.

"Oh, the left one is for your brother's house, and the right one is for Uncle's house," Ning said. "You want to go there right now?"

Ely nodded. "It's 4 pm there, so I want to bring him here for the night to help him train there. Maybe even help him become a cultivator, we still have the leftover curry after all," she said.

"Sure," Ning said. "Step on, I will send you there."

Ely nodded and walked onto the paint that had dried already. She stepped inside and Ning poured his Qi onto the circle.

The magic circle lit up and she vanished.

Ning spread his divine sense that easily reached France within a couple of seconds. "You got there easily?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm inside the closet," Ely said as she unlatched the door and walked out. "It seems he's in his guild right now. I'll wait around a bit, see you later."

"Alright, have fun," Ning said and went back to the room where they were all inside their virtual world. He went inside the world and watched them continue their fight.

Neither of the brother or sisters realize just how many times they had died, but little by little they were learning to move even in the face of death. When Sorlus attacked this time around, they were at least able to move a bit far away, even if they were eventually killed in the end.

When the two of them came back, they were able to stand up immediately even while their body shivered in fear of their own death.

Ning arrived in front of them and helped them up. "Sorlus, you can rest now. You don't have to fight anymore," he said.

"Okay, master," Sorlus spoke in his gruff voice. Ning taught him how to leave this world and he went out. Now, only three of them were remaining in this current world.

"Let's see just what you have learned," Ning said. "You will fight me now."

The two of them looked at each other and back at Ning. "Aren't you supposed to be stronger than Sorlus, brother?" Jung-Hee asked. "I feel like we will just die."

"Do I look like someone who is capable of killing my own junior cousins?" Ning asked as he shook his head. "You two must think I'm a monster."

The two didn't know what else to say. He had just ordered his dragon to kill them a dozen or more times after all.

"Stop dilly-dallying and come fight me. I want to see how much more improvement you two need," Ning said.

The two didn't hesitate any more and came to fight Ning. Lightning attacks struck Ning while barriers covered them.

Ning looked at their fighting styles and learned from them. He moved through their attacks, taking absolutely no damage as he appeared beside them.

He punched through the barrier, leaving Jung-Hee stunned. At the same time, he grabbed Hi-Ah by the throat and choked her for a few seconds before dropping her to the floor.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Ning clicked his tongue. "You two need to be able to react faster than this. I was so slow too."

"Jung-Hee, is making barriers all you can do?" Ning asked. "What about fighting back? I broke your barrier, but you weren't able to do anything at all."

"And you, Hi-Ah. You need to have something defensive of your own as well. You can't rely on your brother's barrier alone. Learn some defensive spells too," he said.

The two nodded in a daze.

Ning shook his head. "Start all over again. I will have to teach you quite a lot it seems."

Chapter C1026: Exhausting

A few hours into teaching the two siblings how to fight, Ning stopped their training and sent them out of the virtual world.

They were disoriented when they came out of that world and took a moment to remember to unplug the headgear they were wearing.

The gear went up into its space on top of them, and the two siblings walked out.

"You will have to train physically too," Ning said. "It's good to give you instinct virtually, but if that won't translate to muscle memory, it won't be as good as we hope it will be."

"So… do we train again?" Jung-Hee asked.

"No, not today," Ning said. "It's already 4 in the morning, and while your body has been sleeping for the past 6 hours, your mind has not. So, you will have to go rest your mind too."

"Once you have a bit of cultivation and your mental state is improved, we can use full nights to train," he said.

The two siblings nodded as there wasn't anything else they could even think to do. Ning was going to teach them how to get better then they were going to accept it full-heartedly.

Ning showed the two of them to the guest rooms on the 3rd floor where they went to sleep.

After they were gone, Ning went to the living room and opened the TV there. He watched as he waited and just an hour later, Ely returned, this time with her brother.

Ning sighed. He had been waiting for this, but for some reason doing so much at once felt pretty exhausting.

He had always done many things back to back but somehow the difference in the tasks was making him feel burnt out. He needed to rest a bit to reset, but rest didn't seem like a luxury he could afford just yet.

Should he open up a portal and leave for some distant planet where he could live 5 years and come back in 5 days?

No, that was way too drastic of a move. He needed to do something simpler.

Just then, someone called him. Since the call was in the system, he easily saw the name of the caller. He was a little surprised and accepted the call.

"Director Sung? Why are you calling me at such an unus—"

"Oh thank god you're awake!" the director's voice came from the other side. "Ning, we need your help. Can you come right now?"

Ning's eyes narrowed. "Is this an emergency?" he asked.

"Sort of," the director said. "I just got a call from the prime minister saying that his wife has gone into a coma due to mana poisoning. He's freaking out right now and is asking for anyone that can help. I have a report saying that you can cure these sorts of illnesses, so I was hoping you could help."

"I can't really heal them, but I can get rid of them for a year or two," Ning said. "Tell the prime minister I will be there right now."

"I will," the director said. "Do you need the address?"

"No need," Ning said and ended the call. Once the call was over, he stood there for a moment as he was reminded of some other things he had to do.

He massaged his head as he remembered about the hundreds of thousands of people that were waiting for him to heal their Mana poisoning.

Fortunately, he was reminded of it so directly. If not, he would have spent weeks doing his own thing before getting to that problem.

'I can't go heal them right now though,' he thought. 'I still need a bit more before I can reach SSS-rank, and then go to the tier above it.'

That was the tier he needed to be to use the mass healing spell that cured the mana poisoning.

Ely walked into the living room with her brother who was in a daze looking around. He still couldn't figure out just how they were in a new house all of a sudden. After all, just a minute ago he was inside his closet with his apparently reborn sister.

"I need to go somewhere. I will be back in… well, I don't know," Ning said. "It might take a few minutes."

"Sure," Ely said. "I will give him some food and then have Blue or Night help me with the rest."

Ning nodded. "Alright, see you in a bit."

He teleported out of the room, surprising Chase once again. He quickly looked down at Ning's feet and didn't see any sort of drawings there. If there was nothing there then how was he teleporting?

Why did none of this make sense at all?

"Come on, brother. I've kept you from eating long enough," Ely said and dragged her brother to the kitchen.

Ning appeared outside a very high-security mansion while the world was still in shadows but the sky was getting brighter. The moment he appeared, the guards outside the gates immediately pointed their guns at him.

However, Ning wasn't scared at all. He simply pointed his fingers and the guns pointed away from him, out of the guard's control.

"I'm here to see the prime minister about his wife's illness," Ning said and waited at the gate for the guards to do something.

Someone picked up a small communicating device and called the house where they were quickly told to affirm that it was Ning and then let him in.

The guards squinted their eyes and pointed flashlights at him and finally realized who they were looking at.

"My apologies, sir. We didn't recognize you," they said, bowing at the waist multiple times. Ning chuckled a bit and waved his hands.

"No need to apologize, you were just doing your job."

One of the guards showed him the way into the mansion and very soon Ning arrived in front of a nervous man who Ning didn't recognize from his face, but from his importance in the hallway.

"Sir prime minister?" he asked. "I am here to help."

Chapter C1027: The Patient

"H-hi, I'm Park Woo-Young. Nice to meet you, Apostle Ning," the prime minister gave a shaking hand for him to shake.

Ning shook it firmly and asked, "Where's the patient?"

"Right here, with the doctors," the prime minister gestured towards the room next to him and Ning walked in.

As soon as he was in, he was very much surprised to see the lack of… anything in this room. A room with a patient should have been clean and with open ventilation for fresh air. However, the room was full of unnecessary bookshelves and tables that had gathered dust, and there weren't even any open windows in the room.

The windows that were there were behind bookshelves and were completely closed.

There was at least an AC, but that alone wouldn't be able to prove a lot of natural light and fresh air both the room and patient would need.

"Why are you keeping the patient in such a terrible room?" Ning asked with an angry tone in his voice. "Someone who is in constant pain from the mana poisoning should be kept in a proper room with good airflow and light. If you can't even do that, at least send her to a hospital where she can be taken care of."

The prime minister and the various doctors there were flinching at his voice. The doctors said nothing, but the prime minister spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know that was what you had to do. I will immediately have another room ready."

Ning nodded. "She must've been in pain for so many days, even months. At least give her some relaxation in the place you keep her," he said.

The prime minister who was about to give orders to his men suddenly paused. "Eh? No, my wife wasn't ill for months or even days. She fell ill today, or yesterday rather at night."

Ning looked around with a confused look of his own. "What do you mean she fell ill last night?" he asked. "She has Mana poisoning, right? That means she became ill months ago."

"No, she just fell ill last night," the prime minister said. "It's been, maybe 8 hours since she fell ill. Definitely not months."

Ning frowned. "So, how do you know it is mana poisoning?" he asked.

The prime minister gave a blank look for a second and pointed toward the doctors. The doctors who were trying to keep their heads away from Ning's anger suddenly came face to face with it.

"T-t-the machine says there's mana clumped up in her body. That's why we said she has mana poisoning," one of them said.

Ning walked over. "But Mana poisoning doesn't happen overnight. It takes time, the patient grows weak and finally falls into a coma after months," he said as he checked the prime minister's wife.

"Y-yes, but what else would this be, sir?" one of them asked. "These are clear signs of mana poisoning."

Ning frowned. "That it is," he said. "But only the signs are that of mana poisoning. The illness itself isn't."

The doctors stepped aside as Ning did a thorough test of her illness. A few moments later, he found the problem.

Somehow, she had a bit too much mana in her body that was trapped inside her mana circuits, not moving even a single inch. What surprised him the most was the fact that her mana circuits were fully formed, not half formed like the people that were normally a victim of mana poisoning.

"Hmm?" Ning frowned. 'Can't I just take away this mana then?'

He reached up to her stomach and placed his hands there as he started absorbing the mana. The mana threatened to not leave at all, but Ning's pull was too strong for it to not move despite how badly it was dislodged in there.

After a few seconds, it came out of her body, entering into him, empowering him by quite a lot. It was akin to taking in 3 SS-ranked mana cores at once.

Once he was done, he moved away. "Test her again," Ning said.

The doctors nodded and got to work. Ning waited for a bit for them to give out their surprised exclamations and notify the prime minister that she was fine. After a bit of rest, she would come out of her coma.

"I see," the prime minister took a deep breath. "Thank you, Apostle Ning."

"It's alright," Ning said. "Now that she is fine, I will be taking my leave."

"Wait, don't you want anything in return?" the prime minister asked.

Ning shook his head as he walked away. "I didn't help to expect something else in return," he said as he waved them goodbye.

He returned back to his house and called the director.

"Ning? What's up? Did you go to the prime minister's house?" the director asked quickly.

"Yes, I did. She wasn't mana-poisoned like you said. Something else was the problem," Ning said. "I healed her regardless so she will be fine."

"Oh thank god," the director said. "Now that she is fine, he will at least be able to attend tomorrow's meeting. Due to your performance, he should easily accept your proposal to distribute the knowledge of Magic circles."

"Oh, is he the one you must get permission from?" Ning asked.

"Yes," the director said.

"Then it's a good thing I got on his good side. If he had remained helpless with his wife in… coma..." Ning's voice trailed off as something struck him. "I'll call you later."

He ended the call without hearing anything in return and put on a frowning face. "Was that intentional?" he asked his system. "Did someone put mana into her body to make her sick so the prime minister wouldn't attend tomorrow's meeting?"

"You're smart," a voice spoke suddenly into Ning's ear from far away. "I thought my plan was watertight, but I didn't expect you to be capable of healing her so easily. I underestimated a weak human's reliance on others."

Ning looked in the direction of where the voice was coming from far, far away. "And which Constellation might I be speaking to?" he asked.

"I am called Briss."

Chapter C1028: Conversation with Briss

"Briss… I see," Ning said with a thoughtful look. "You have an apostle in Mexico and Ghana, don't you? What are you doing here in South Korea? And why are you hurting people?"

"Hurting? No, no, no," the constellation said. "I do not hurt people. If I wanted to watch them get hurt, I wouldn't have appointed Apostles to help your world. I simply wanted a distraction, but you got rid of it way too quickly, didn't you?"

"Distraction? To stop me from teaching them about Magic Circle?" Ning asked.

"Yes," Briss said. "Where did you even learn it?"

Ning ignored the question. "Why do you want me to not teach them about Magic circles?" he asked. He couldn't find any obvious consequence of teaching magic circles to humans at all. At least, not from what he was going to be teaching.

'Unless…'

"What will it take you to not teach them about magic circles?" Briss asked.

Ning gave a smirk towards the faceless godlike being who could peer through space to look at him. "Are you worried that humanity would advance far too quickly for your tiny pawns to no longer seem so unique?" he asked. "The moment the Apostles no longer appear as powerful and out of reach as they are now, you are afraid the people will lose faith in you. Given the context, it does make sense why you would be so afraid."

"Afraid? Hah, I don't fear anything," Briss said. "If my plan fails, I will simply stop and wait for the apocalypse to begin."

"So you will join the other side?" Ning asked. "Join the ones that are waiting for the world to end before it's their time to shine."

He wasn't very angry hearing that. "That simply means I have to stop it from ever getting to that point," Ning said. "With me stopping all the Tier 6 dungeons, there will never be one that will grow strong enough to turn into an actual portal. Do you still want to wait for that?"

Briss didn't answer for a few seconds, leaving the morning silence lingering for a while before Ning got an answer again.

"If that doesn't work out, I will simply go to another world. Your galaxy has plenty anyway," he said.

"Yeah, but not all of them have the apocalypse like ours, do they? The ones that do have some are orchestrated by other Constellations, which makes it impossible for you to go to that planet," Ning said. "Besides, I know how useless Constellations are. You only want to sit and reap benefits. This is way to late for you to start sowing for anything."

Briss didn't not answer again, but Ning could feel the anger from that thing. He wasn't intending to, but he had managed to rile up this Constellation enough so that he was actually angry towards Ning.

His anger became very apparent when he spoke again. "This is your last warning, if you don't stop what you are doing, I will group up with the others and kill you. You may have killed Stryxus using some means, I am willing to bet you cannot do the same again. At the very least, you can't do the same to multiple one of us at once."

Ning felt a pang of fear in his heart too. That was something he had been worried about. He had talked with his system and he had gotten some rather unfortunate answers.

The system was only capable of linking to one Will at a time. This meant that in a battle against multiple Wills, he could only kill them one at a time. And depending on the amount of Energy they had, the time varied.

Still, Ning had a card to play in this situation.

"Do you know what I will say to the humans when I help them understand Magic Circles?" Ning asked. "I will tell them that all of this stuff was taught to me by my 5 gods, the one you surely know I'm in an alliance with."

"With such recognition from the world, they would certainly like it a lot, and in return, they will fight alongside me if you ever team up with others to attack me," Ning said. "Also, even if you bring so many that I will certainly die, I will make sure to take you along with me. How does that sound? Still want to fight?"

Ning made sure to not let it be known that he was immortal. That was akin to telling the constellation that he was a host of the Energy system.

With how wanted that system was throughout the multiverse, he would immediately be taken and, figuratively and literally dissected to be learned from.

"This is your last warning," Briss said and then his aura vanished. Ning could no longer sense him at all.

He continued smiling for a few more seconds, but after realizing that Briss was truly not looking at him anymore, he finally dropped the act and frowned.

'This is bad,' he thought. He had been hoping to move under the Constellation's attention for a while so he could do the things he wanted to do, but it seemed he had brought himself directly in front of them.

The other 5 constellations weren't going to help him when war broke out against him, and he knew that. He only hoped the bluff would keep the others from acting rashly. Given how cowardly these wills were, he wasn't worried about that aspect.

"How much more energy until I can get uhh… two of them?" Ning asked his system.

<For both of them, it will cost you 1.3 Octillion more energy>

"And for all 3?" he asked

<All three require a total of 3.9 Octillion Energy>

"Damn souls make everything so expensive," Ning thought to himself. "I don't think we have the luxury to sit around anymore. I need to at least work towards one of it."

<You do have enough energy for one of it>

"Yeah, I might have to do that," Ning said. "Help me find a suitable one. Once we find it, I will leave."