6:00 AM

A smile appeared on Ren’s face the moment he came out.

Though Jin had advanced to the 50th stage, everything wasn’t by Jin’s own strength. Everything so far has been given to him by Lucian and Ban. But the one thing that made him jump so quickly was the thing on Jin’s back. Ren didn’t even have to look underneath Jin’s clothes to see that Jin’s original-self gave a bit of the pure dark qi. ‘It shouldn’t matter right?’ Ren thought inside his heart.

“This doesn’t feel right…” I said in a bitter tone.

Ren’s eyes narrowed when he heard Jin. “What doesn’t feel right Jin?

My eyes shifts over to Ren. “It feels like I don’t deserve this feeling. Like… That feeling when someone gives you bitter chocolate for valentine when you weren’t even their valentine love or friend. It’s just…”

Ren raised an eyebrow and nodded in disappointment. “Ban was the one who helped you cultivate. If it is that bitter… Then… Would you rather it take three more months to reach the fifth phase Jin? Does the methods matter that much? I thought you were a person that weren’t too worried about methods as long as it achieves good results. That’s a bit childish no?”

I had to sigh. “Indeed… What I am feeling… is bitter childish feeling Ren. I’d rather take three more months than to feel what I do now. But… I guess this isn’t too bad. I’ll feel like crap for a while.”

For some reason, even if I’d reached such a level, I just didn’t want it to be this way. The whole world feels like it belongs to me. But in such a dirty and crap way that I wanted to throw it all away. What is this frustration I am feeling!?

Ren watches over Jin as he agonizes over the frustration of something that was given to him. ‘… He is just being a kid right now… Others would love the feeling of reaching the 50th stage with help. But Jin is just… Never mind. He’ll get over it in a few days.”

I really didn’t know what to feel. Just the fact that I was frustrated kept me in an agitated-state.

Ren lifted up his index finger and a string of qi flowed form the tip. “Aside from all that Jin, let’s get you some real clothes and wash you up before going anywhere. We’ll talk more about things once you straighten up your mortal life.”

That being said, Ren’s fingers struggled to dance through the air and wove the strings of qi together to form clothes made of qi. “There! First set of clothes!”

The first set of things that Ren made was a gigantic armor-like … thing. Imagine a half a breast plate and the other half a T-Shirt meshed together with parts of a chainmail on the back side as the shirt and pants which were two long translucent tubes.

The very thought of putting on such things made my face twitch in embarrassment. But it was much better than what I am wearing now. Except instead of being called dirty I would be called a weirdo.

Ban then came out because he just finished eating his reward. He was partly concerned about Jin because he didn’t fill Jin in on what happened while he was asleep.

Ban partly remembered that his words became a little slurred and ragged after staying up so long so his speech might be a bit impaired. So when he came out, he was expecting that he would speak a bit of gibberish.

He silently watched Ren making clothes. But when he saw what Ren was about to give Jin… Ban’s faced turned dark and his words became a bit clearer. “HO WHA DA FA!? WA N DA WO IZ DA!? GAH! DA SHI TE!?!?”

Translated from Ban’s gibberish: Oh what the f***!? What in the world is that!? Gah! The sh*t!?”

“Oh Ban. I thought you were going take a break.” Ren was slightly surprised to see Ban.

“NO! NO! NO NO NO NO NO! Jin… He is not going with your fashion sense Ren! Move aside!” Ban pushes Ren out of the way and took off the arm parts of his costume. To Jin’s surprise, Ban’s skin was as white as snow. Girly almost. Those delicate hands and long slender fingers with pink nails really almost made Jin think a girl might be underneath.

Ban’s face became ugly and said, “*Snort* I may be scared of pain, but I am more scared that Jin will wear something like that when going out.”

He waved his right hand and the clothes that Jin was currently wearing disappeared without a trace. That and along with the horrid unhygienic smell and stuffs that was on Jin.

Ban then waved his left hand and five strings of qi came out. Using Jin’s body as a layout, Ban pictured the images of the clothes that he wanted Jin to wear. Then, when the picture was clear, the strings came together to form the clothes. From the ground up, Ban’s qi wrapped around Jin’s body.

The difference between Ban’s strings of qi and Ren’s string of qi was like day and night. The qi Ren was using were white and almost translucent. They were practically see-through clothes! It was no different of a story than a tailor lying to people to wear see-through clothings and say it covers up well!

Ren watched with bitterness in his heart. His faced was almost like a child’s face when something was done for him. Now he knew a little bit of what Jin felt when Jin ascended to the 50th stage.

He was never good at these delicate things really. In his life time, almost everything was about fighting. He was never skilled in making clothes out of string or qi. If he was ordered to defend a fortress all by himself, then he would create miracles beyond human capabilities. If he was ordered to make a shirt out of yarn or knit a scarf, it would eventually be sewn onto his clothes and everything would end in a gigantic failure and would never succeed.

The only thing that can compensate his lack of skills in these areas of delicate item making is his ability to forging and smiting armors with iron and steel. He can also make jewelries which was the only thing he was really talented at in the delicate field. But, who in their right minds would wear armors of steel in this age!? He couldn’t imagine Jin wearing such jewelries either.

He sulked in the corner somewhere and found a boulder to kick.

*Boom* The rock was kicked so hard that its molecules turned into dust in an instant.

Ban paid Ren no mind and quickly worked his way up and down on Jin’s body. “Underwear… skipped… shorts will replace underwear…. Undershirt? Forget it. I’ll give him some sexy silk and wool like quality clothings to replace them…. Wool jacket… Pants… Jeans… Hey Jin! Stop moving or you are going to make these clothes yourself!”

“O-Okay!” Jin felt really scared now that Ban was angry. But he saw that Ren was sulking in the corner with a sword in hand looking very murderous at Ban and felt like his life was also on the line.

To better compare this, it was like a father being told by the mother that his fashion sense was off and the mother had to do the dressing for her kid. Ban would be the mother and Ren would be the father in this situation.

When Ban reached around to Jin’s back, he could see that there was a tattoo there. A tattoo of duality. One not made by going to a tattoo shop, but inscribed onto Jin’s back. ‘Is this… an inscribed magic seal? Or is it…’

Ban touched the tattoo and felt an enormous single emotion wash over him. The feeling of nothing around him except one person staring deep into his soul that was right in front of him. A warning message transmitted to Ban’s mind, ‘Don’t mess with this inscribed seal.’

Ban’s voice suddenly let out a near soundless and lifeless whisper, “Solitude… It can’t be… ”

The sudden shock made the strings of qi slightly unstable and transparent.

Ban shook his head trying to re-focus on the current task at hand. ‘No… I can’t think like that. The him now and the him then are two different people…’

Ban’s fingers trembled slightly as he tried to bring the threads of qi

Ban looks pretty angry right now… I had a bad feeling that if I called out to Ren now, he would just come over with an even grumpier face. Maybe he would yell a bit. So I waited it out till ban was finished with the clothes.

About 1 hour later….

7:00 AM

Everything so far took about an hour.

“Finished! Now that’s how a paragon candidate should dress!” Ban said after he added the scarf as the finishing touch.

Ren came over to see what Ban made and his face became even more twisted. “…”

Jin’s entire body was covered in blue qi clothes. A blue dual silk and wool meshed T-shirt was underneath the warm blue leather jacket. It was better said that the T-shirt was more like 50% wool and 50% silk woven in a winter pattern with silk as the shining ice on the shoulders and wool as the snowy back ground. The snowflakes were woven with ½ silk and ½ wool. The outside of the jacket was made of leather like qi but on the inside was made of wool like qi. Jin’s pants were almost the same color but a little darker. The jean like pants was much softer and smoother as well. It was also much warmer than normal jean pants that would freeze a person’s butt off in the winter. The wool-like scarf itself looked nearly white with only a hint of blue at the edges and ends of the scarf. From top to bottom, it looked like he was wearing nothing but top quality clothes made from the best designers.

I really have to say something here… Something that would make Ren feel better.

“Hmm… It’s amazing but… I feel like there is one more thing that needs to be added.” I said and then looked in Ren’s direction. I then noticed that Ren was also wearing some modern clothing this time. A red slimming shirt, with dark green jeans and what looks to be extensions and jewelries on his hair.

But I couldn’t find anything that was on him that could go with the clothes Ban made for me! So without thinking much, I decided to ask Ren a favor. “Hey Ren. I like those things on your hair. Think you can make one of those out of qi?”

Ban knew what I was thinking and egged on Ren. “... Ren is so bad that he can barely make a scarf… But making something like that? I-”

With those words, Ren fumed up and roared. “Is that a challenge Ban!? Well look here!”

Unlike making clothes, Ren worked even better making those jewelries! What came out were fine products of craftsmanship. “These jewelries are prisms-like hair that could attach to the ends of a person’s hair like extensions. They won’t fall off. But if somehow the wearer was burden or was being pulled on by those jewels, they will shatter.”

Reverse psychology! By insulting him, it made Ren work to prove himself. The pride of a man is never to be underestimated. Pride is what keeps a man going even if it is wrong.

Ren added the prism-like extensions onto my side-hairs and they camouflaged with my hair color due to its transparent nature. What was more amazing was that it looked like Jin had long blue hair.

A smile was revealed on Ban’s face. He gave a slight wink and disappeared.

“Now Ban. How-”

Before Ren could beat him up for that insult, Ban left behind a note that reads, “You always were a simple person. Nap time. See you in a while.”

“!!! BAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! … wait here a moment Jin.” Ren said and chased after Ban.

So Jin was left all alone like that. But he couldn’t leave the tubes and the chainmail like t-shit behind. In practical use, the t-shirt Ren made could protect his heart or any vital organs on the left side. So Jin slipped the chainmail underneath the clothes Ban made and to his surprise was that it didn’t feel like he was wearing anything. Jin looked under his shirt to find nothing there. Out of curiosity, he poked his own skin and a metallic feeling could be felt on the left side. The chainmail practically fused with his skin.

That was when Jin thought of trying to make his own cloths out of qi.

He didn’t know of the method of making one string of qi, but he got the general idea. Focusing all he could, only a centimeter of qi came out. But the qi was literally transparent. It didn’t even have color to it either.

When his concentration broke, the string of qi dissipated into the air. ‘What!?’ Again Jin tried to refocus his qi into making the string. But this time, only ½ a centimeter came out.

Jin looked back at the tubes in amazement. It seems like even making one piece of cloth out of qi was an amazing feat. Even the tube looked more amazing now than it did before. “Ha ha… Okay… Seems like I underestimated Ren.”

Thus, Jin picked up the tubes that Ren made. What he didn’t expect was for the tubes to deconstruct itself into strings of qi. They slipped under his clothes and melded onto his arms and legs. “Oh boy… Ren didn’t say anything about fusing… I have to hand it to him. His creations are more mysterious than Ban’s.”

Jin shook his head at how amazing saints are and walked off into the streets.

It didn’t take long for people to notice him as some thought he was cosplaying.

A familiar person came up and asked, “Hey. Do you want to join our dojo? We practice mixed martial arts ranging from Tae-kwon-do to karate! Wouldn’t you want to be both handsome and strong?”

This familiar person was someone looked almost like Mirana. But her eyes were yellow instead of amber.