Chapter 59

“Hahaha... Given up?” Madam Sue’s laughing voice rang out in Zairen’s head. “Pass it over. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

Sitting in the training gymnasium back at the Black Cloud School, Zairen held the mysterious dirty green ancient relic box in his lap. He and the rest of the Black Cloud students had finally just made it back to the school from the visit, and were now all sitting in the gymnasium once again, continuing their training - although the trip to the auction house was fun, it didn’t mean that training stopped for the day. There was some time left until bedtime.

Zairen looked down at the relic box in his lap with a puzzled face. On the way back, he had spent the entire hour-long trip inspecting it, poking it in various places, channeling spirit energy into it, opening and closing it, or whatever else he thought of, but to no avail. He found that the object was an enigma: it was a very durable material, but had no response whatsoever to spirit energy or any others tests he did.

Many other students had become curious and asked him what the box was, and in response, Zairen could only awkwardly smile.

“Ugh… yes...” Zairen grumbled, but then raised his head, his eyes narrowed. “But first, you promised me something!”

“Hm?” Madam Sue raised an eyebrow.

“Arts for Alivia and Finn to practice. You said you could pass those to me,” Zairen emphasized, his eyes narrowing. She wouldn’t skimp out on her end of the deal, would she?

“Oh, yeah,” Madam Sue’s voice turned uninterested. “Better arts for them. That’s right. Tch, tch. So needy… Fine, here ya go.” Within the interdimensional space, she flicked a finger.

BOOM!

“AHHHhhHHh!!!” Zairen clutched his head and yelped out, his forehead suddenly bulging a veiny red. Holding onto the sides of his head for dear life, he began coughing and breathing heavily.

Torrents and torrents of information burst painfully into his brain. It was like a thousand little snakes rushing through, searing through his thoughts like a lightning bolt. Like water through a pipe, if there was too much water, the pipe might explode. Because there was so much information, it suddenly felt like his head might explode.

However, just a moment later, the searing pain stopped, and everything returned to normal. Panting, he let out a painful breath of air.

“Zairen?! Are you okay?” Alivia and Finn’s concerned voice rangs out. They immediately stood up and put their hands on his shoulders in concern.

“No… I’m…” Zairen stuttered out, his eyes wide in shock. “I’m ok… I just… um…”

He blinked a couple times. “...actually, it’s nothing. I just accidentally hit my head, haha…” He gave a joking smile. “It’s nothing, go back to your training.”

“Oh…” Alivia and Finn looked puzzled, finding it a bit strange. “Ok…”

Turning around, however, they quickly put it out of their minds and returned their thoughts to their training.

“You… you did that on purpose…!” As soon as they had turned, Zairen growled out into his head.

“Haha!” Madam Sue’s giddy voice giggled out in Zairen’s head. “That was funny…”

Zairen shook his head a bit exasperatedly.

“I gave you what you wanted though. The arts I’m passing to Alivia and Finn are in your head now, passed on to you.”

Silently, Zairen closed his eyes and explored his mind, discovering new bits of information that he had not previously possessed. He slowly nodded, confirming that he had received the information.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but I just sent you an information fragment. It’s a way to transfer information directly to the mind,” Madam Sue explained.

Zairen nodded.

He was familiar with the technique. In his previous life, he had known many experts who had utilized it to pass on information. It consisted of forming thoughts into fragments of spirit energy that could be absorbed by others.

However, the transfer process was usually controlled and slow! Zairen grit his teeth. There was no need to pass all of the information on at once - it would be painful and could even cause the receiving person to become brain dead if it was too much. A slow transfer stream or multiple thought packages worked just as well, and was painless.

Clearly, Madam Sue just wanted to watch him suffer.

“Anyway, it should all be there,” Madam Sue went on. “In the information fragment I sent you, I included the complete, unabridged versions of two great techniques that I have come to acquire, Great Hellfire Dragon Art, and Holy Earth Mountain Art.”

“Alivia’s original art that you gave her, Hell Dragon Fire Art, actually isn’t that bad in essence, and really is quite a good fit for her. However, it’s a basic and simplistic version of a much better and more dynamic art, Great Hellfire Dragon Art, which has many more stages. This original art is what I am passing onto her now. Great Hellfire Dragon God art is actually one of the original god arts of the universe, created by the original Hellfire Dragon, and has one of the best foundations and an extremely high potential. In my past, I have even witnessed some that practiced it that have toppled entire worlds. However, this incredible potential comes with a tradeback: it is incredibly hard to train and spends a great deal of time on the basics. If people who train it don’t have the required talent, it will be even worse than the most simple and garbage of arts. It builds onto itself time after time again, so it is incredibly important for one solidify the initial steps and do them impeccably. However, having seen Alivia, I think she has the required talent for such an undertaking. With this, she’ll be able to reach much higher heights and realize her full potential.”

Zairen let out a breath.

So the Hell Dragon Fire Art actually had those kind of roots? All this time, he had never known. He had just picked it off an enemy he had slain and hadn’t really thought much about it. And this Great Hellfire Dragon Art was apparently so legendary that a people who practiced it had toppled worlds? Zairen found it slightly unbelievable. Could it really be that amazing and powerful?

Zairen took a small look into the new information in his brain and sifted curiously through the Great Hellfire Dragon Art. A moment later, his eyes widened. He couldn’t really understand most of it, but from what he could tell, it was the real deal.

How had Madam Sue come into possession of such an art? Zairen couldn’t help but wonder. What kind of status must she have had to be able to have something like this?

“Now, for Finn…” Madam Sue continued to explain. Her voice turned very flat. “Unlike for Alivia, the art you picked for Finn is completely and utterly garbage. If he practiced that… Great Golem Earth Art…” Madam Sue’s voice curled in disgust. “His potential would have been limited his entire life. It’s literally all show and no actual power.”

Zairen blinked a couple times. Really? To him, the art didn’t seem too bad. It had been gifted to him by a man he had treated who had practiced it, and it had seemed pretty powerful.

“However, Finn did seem to have a knack for earth golems and has a pretty high talent, so for him, I picked the Holy Earth Mountain Art. One of the arts developed by the ancients studying the aspects of concentrated spiritual grounds, it can allow Finn to develop powerful earth golems, just like the other… worse one… you gave him. Unlike the other one, however, it is much, much more than that, and can grant the user enormous power over time. Practicing it, one can have mastery over earth itself, having incredible versatility and the ability to create one of the strongest defenses known in history.”

“Wow…” Zairen let out a small sigh of amazement. Just from the descriptions… that also seemed like a completely incredible art. Not only creating golems, but mastery over earth itself? And incredibly powerful defense?

Taking a moment to go into his brain and sift through this art as well, he couldn’t help but be taken aback once again. This really did seem profound…

He thought about the difference between the arts he had passed to them and Madam Sue’s. The disparity was night and day… The importance of good arts couldn’t be more apparent. Given different quality arts, students would have drastically different results. Thinking about it now, he could understand why going to a good school was so important, and why the difference between rich schools and poor ones was so distinct. Having a strong foundation and resources was almost more important than talent.

“Alright, satisfied?” Madam Sue asked. She turned her gaze toward the green relic box, and the tone of her voice turned excited. “Now hand me that green box and let me show you how it’s done.”

“Alright,” Zairen finally acquiesced, picking up the dirty green relic box and sending it into the interdimensional space in his ring. He wondered why Madam Sue seemed so enthusiastic about it. What was it used for? Was it possible that Madam Sue had a relationship with the ancients? How did she know its use?

If even Madam Sue was excited about it, he reasoned, then it must something amazing. After nonchalantly presenting Zairen with arts that were beyond his comprehension, Madam Sue had been even more elevated in his eyes. Thinking about it, Zairen couldn’t help but also develop some anticipation.

“Oh, right…” Madam Sue spoke out, her voice curving in remembrance. “To get this to work, I need some rice and water. Go get some for me.” Her words rang out like a dead drumbeat.

Zairen blankly stared at Madam Sue. What? Rice and water? What for?

“Just do it. Go get me some rice and water,” Madam Sue ordered impatiently. “Do you want to see how it works or not?”

“...yeah… ok...” Zairen was slow to respond.

Slowly getting up and walking out the gymnasium, he pondered how to get some rice and water.

About ten minutes later, he entered the interdimensional space, carrying a small sack of rice and a cup of water.

He had went to go ask Jannie, and sure enough, the school had storages of rice and water. Thus, he borrowed some, but not without some weird looks from Jannie. The rice he carried wasn’t too high quality. After all, the school had been in financial instability for several years; they wouldn’t be able to afford high-end rice.

Instead of returning to the gymnasium, he had went back to the private room he, Alivia, and Finn shared so that he could enter into the interdimensional space in the ring without anyone noticing. He wanted to see what the relic box would do up close, and in person.

“Ok.” Zairen walked over toward Madam Sue and then sat down cross-legged, a considerable space away from where she was resting. He carefully slid the rice and water over to her, not daring to physically approach her. “Anything else you need?”

As he looked up toward her, he couldn’t help but freeze. It had been a while since he had talked face to face with Madam Sue, and every time he saw her, he couldn’t help but getting a jolt from her sharp presence and perfect proportions.

This time, she was wearing a thin, long, flowing red patterned dress. Zairen couldn’t help but feel that it suited her very well.

“Nope, that’s it,” Madam Sue responded, the tone of her voice happy. “Now… this is where the real magic happens.”

Zairen immediately went on alert. Madam Sue was finally going to reveal the mysterious purpose of the relic? He expectantly leaned forward.

“...hehe…” Madam Sue chuckled giddily, opening the lid of the green box. After measuring out proportions, she unceremoniously dumped most of the rice and water inside and then closed the lid tightly. Gracefully, she placed her palms face down over the top of it. “Go!”

Whoosh!

The box lit up, the inscriptions on the surface of it glittering and sparkling in a radiant white light.

“Whoa…!” Zairen gasped. How did Madam Sue do that?

Previously, whenever he had channeled spirit energy through the relic, no matter what he did, nothing had happened. He had tried to do so in so many various combinations, but to no effect. But now, Madam Sue had managed to activate in some way? Brows furrowed, Zairen looked closer.

A moment later, Zairen’s mouth opened wide. What Madam Sue was channeling into that green box… wasn’t spirit energy. It was certainly reminiscent of spirit energy, but was definitely not, at least any kind of spirit energy he knew of. He couldn’t sense any use of actual spirit energy, not even a little bit.

But how was that possible? Spirit energy was the essence of the world; he had never heard of anyone channeling anything else!

While Zairen was pondering in disbelief, Madam Sue let out a breath as she took her hands off of the green box. “Phew. Been a while since I did that…”

“What was that? How did you do that?” Zairen was stunned.

“Hahaha,” Madam Sue laughed, glancing mockingly at Zairen. “Wouldn’t you like to know!” She smiled and looked down at the box that now lay dormant. “Don’t you want to see the result?”

Zairen sat upright, his jaw involuntarily clamping down in anticipation. Was this the moment when he could finally uncover the secret of the mysterious ancient relic? What did the relic just do? What kind of transformation had occurred?

“Hehe.” Giggling, Madam Sue placed a hand on top of the box, and then with a flourish, lifted up the lid.

Fuoosh… a waft of hot steam lifted out from the box into the air.

Zairen blinked. Wait. This kind of steam seemed strangely… familiar…

“Ahhhh… that’s good. It’s been so long!” Madam Sue wafted a good deal of the steam into her face. “Ooh… so good, so good! It’s time to dig in!”

Wait a minute… Zairen stilled. ...was this…

Producing a metal spoon from nowhere and stabbing it into the box, she happily scooped up…

A plump morsel of freshly steamed rice.

“Ahh…” She sighed in contentment, admiring it for a moment. “Perfectly cooked.” Then, she sent it into her mouth and began chewing noisily.

“Mmmmmm…” She messily licked her lips. “So good… so good…”

Zairen’s jaw dropped.

The coveted, mysterious ancient relic box, auctioned off in the illustrious Golden Rooster auction house, praised as something top-tier by Madam Sue… was a… rice cooker??!

A rice cooker?!!