Kraft had fully disappeared. Jin could no longer feel another presence. Only then did Jin realise, that he had been unable to view Kraft’s face. He had been able to recognize his silhouette, wearing a trench coat, but his facial features could not be distinguished even with his Dark Sight. It was as if he was purposely hiding to prevent anyone from seeing him.
While Jin was still busy pondering about Kraft’s appearance, he suddenly heard the hatch opening. “Seems like you have finally met with Kraft. That took longer than expected, but still better than nothing.” Ming opened the hatch ajar before he threw a burning flare in there.
“This will help you acclimatise your eyes to light before you come out. Otherwise the light will be too bright for your eyes.” Ming said as he walked away from the place. “Come up when you are ready.”
It took Jin some time, but slowly he climbed out of the bas.e.m.e.nt to find himself back in the same old cabin. He felt like he was in there for ages. “Have a cup of drink.” Ming offered the same drink he had to Jin, and he took it after thanking him. After some time, he realised that his entire shirt and hoodie had been torn to shreds from the chains and fox bites.
“Guess it was real…” He took off his clothes and was astonished to find out that a side of his torso was suddenly tainted with mysterious looking tattoos. It looked like a small black fox had imprinted itself onto his body.
“Hey look! We have matching tattoos now! Looks like we are fam now.” Ming pulled up his shirt and laughed heartily while showing Jin the side of his torso with the exact same small black fox tattoo. “This is the proof that you have a contract with Kraft but no need to worry. The tattoo won’t appear in your real life.”
“Anyways, it’s more or less time for you to get back. You were in there for more than four months.” Ming said which caused Jin to be surprised.
“WHAT?! Didn’t you say you would only cage me for a single month?!” Jin suddenly shouted at the top of his voice.
“Woah Woah, calm down. The whole idea was for you to come into contact with Kraft. I did not know that you would need much more time than I did. Guess I should add that to your flaws. Not as competent as me.” Ming said it out loud as if he was making a mental note. Jin could not help but sigh and swallowed the rest of the cup of drink.
“But well done. Perhaps it’s not entirely your fault. I mean it has been ages since the last time Kraft has had some action. Maybe that was why he wanted to play with you some more. Can’t say that I agree on the way he played with you, but what matters for me is the outcome. You got the contract. Now, off you go.” Ming gestured with his hand to shoo Jin off, and a blast of wind appeared out of nowhere, causing Jin to magically return to his conscious state.
“AHHHHHHHH!” Jin woke up to see that his face was the only thing above the sludge. Everything else was filled with black, and the sludge was trying to consume him. He tried to pull himself upwards out of the muck but realised he was stuck. The only thing he could do was to exit the hot spring instance forcibly.
“What the hell exactly happened?” Jin jumped from one instance and returned another. The Shop Level One Instance. Mr Patsu suddenly appeared and grabbed onto Jin, crying and begging for forgiveness. “Sorry, Boss! There was no way we could help you…” Mr Patsu told Jin the whole story, who realised he could have killed himself if he had stayed a bit longer in that subconscious realm he was in.
“We tried our best to help you, but there was nothing we could do. We even called Big Boss System, but for some reason, Yun was not able to help you at all either. She said that the only way to help you was for you to come out of the cultivation stance.” Mr Patsu wiped his tears away.
“What exactly happened, Jin? How come you could be so deep into your cultivation that you have forgotten your existence? Even the System was not able to barge in and rescue you? That was unusual for a cultivator to be this deep into a trance.” Yun was rather fl.u.s.tered when she saw Jin alive again.
She could not help but hug him and physically checked his body.
“System, analyse his body,” Yun commanded the System from her phone, and in seconds, rays of lights appeared from nowhere and started to detail any possible problem on Jin.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. No problems discovered. The only difference: The deep trance resulted in the cultivation having increased his Grade to 7. A considerable jump of grade was not expected. Analysis: Cultivation Manual might have been more suited for User than expected. Considering that the truth was revealed to him, enlightenment phase along with the hidden help from the Zoo Pandas and the Random Arena might be the probable cause for User to jump in Grade from 5 to 7. User has exceeded System’s expectation. System shall reward User accordingly.” The System spoke out, and suddenly a treasure box came flying from the sky, crashing through the Halloween stained glass ceiling and onto the floor.
“Do not worry. Repairs will be made in an instant. The dramatic effect of reward for coolness factor.” The System said before its voice disappeared from Yun’s phone.
“Ehh, Congrats?” Yun did not know how to react in the current situation, and Jin thanked her before he opened the treasure chest box. “Hmmm.” Jin took a look inside and noticed there were not many items in it.
He noticed there was an old ragged looking red covered manual with a thumb drive tied to it and realised that was the reward for Qiu Yue. The Cultivation Manual Radiant Red Panda in the Umbral Snow. “Hey, this isn’t a reward for me.”
“I guess the System was lazy and packaged it with your reward? Hahahha!” Yun giggled at Jin’s pouty face for being bluffed. “Come on. There are other things in there too, right?”
Jin placed the manual in his storage watch and noticed there were three technique cubes in it. He remembered receiving the very same technique cube when Zeru gave it to him to learn the Perfectly Normal Parry Slash technique. When he held onto the technique cubes, he discovered some small fine print at the edge of the cubes.
“Black Panda Fire Basic Mastery….White Panda Ice Basic Mastery….Pandaromic Eyes aka Inverse Eyes Basic Mastery…. Oh? So the eye techniques do have a name.” Jin then looked at Yun with a suspicious look.
“Why did you not tell me that these techniques exist? I thought I had to find and learn how to control the spiritual union skills myself despite me being able to unlock them!” Jin questioned Yun.
“Annnnnd did you use the Black Panda Fire on me when you were fighting against me??” Jin asked once more after he remembered the existence of the black fire. Yun did not reply but gave an excuse instead.
“Ahhhh, suddenly I feel that my eyebags are too bigggg! And my eyes are so heavy! I need to sleep now. Bye~!” Yun suddenly disappeared and he was left alone with the treasure chest box.
“Yun requested those items for you. They are considered as part of your manual. If you have read the last few chapters of it, they were categorised as Epic Arts of your cultivation manual.” The System spoke through his phone.
“Ah, now that you mention it, I do remember reading about it briefly before…no wonder it felt so familiar,” Jin replied as he used the technique cubes on himself. Each time he pressed the cube, it felt like a can of glittering dust was being sprayed at him. Jin suddenly experienced variety of colour overwhelming his sight and felt a little high from the inhalation of the glittering dust.
“The Pandaromic Eyes or as you termed them Inverse Eyes, have been categorized as Legendary Arts of your manual. Previously, only the basic description of these advanced techniques have been revealed in your manual. It has been deemed harmful for the User to try them out, before reaching the required cultivation grade. It was a coincidence that they were part of your Spiritual Union skills. System can provide the basic mastery since it was defined as part of your cultivation manual. System is unable to give you full mastery since they are categorised as Epic and Legendary Arts.”
“What exactly does basic mastery mean? To will it freely?” Jin did not have to focus as much to activate his Inverse Eyes.
“Interesting. User’s Inverse Eyes is 25% completed even though the basic mastery should only allow you to freely will it.” The System noted.
“What do you mean?” Jin asked as he picked his phone out.
“Your Inverse Eyes have Dark Sight. It was not part of the basic mastery. System can only conclude it was from the spiritual union skills.” The System analysed.
“Oh, perhaps. Hahaha, lucky me, I guess!” Jin had a cold sweat, but he now knew that Kraft was not lying. He was defending the information Jin had obtained from the subconscious realm. Although Jin did wonder why Ming and Kraft would want to be kept hidden. Especially Kraft, when he had nothing to lose to be in contact with the System.
“Maybe, he just wants to see how much can he pit against the System.” Jin wondered to himself.
“Maybe…” Kraft whispered in his mind as Jin could hear him snigger.
