Chapter 400: The Ball
Chapter 400: The Ball
Hao Xuan loosened the shirt's collar that was starting to dig into his skin. He had on a black suit which along with his long hair and incensed expression, made him look quite intimidating. but with the little white furball in his front jacket's pocket poking its head out, he looked a bit comical.
Hao Xuan took a puff of the cigarette and looked at Henrik. With an annoyed tone that was all too common these days, he asked, "How long till we get there?"
"Not long, only 20 more minutes," Henrik replied after emptying an entire glass of some kind of alcoholic beverage. Hao Xuan could smell the alcohol sitting across from him, its somewhat sweet scent was quite intoxicating.
"Good. The sooner we get this over with the better," Hao Xuan replied while flicking the cigarette butt out of the window.
There was another person sitting on the only other window, with crossed arms and a scowl on his face, poking his head out of the carriage. Seeing as how Hao Xuan had finally finished the cigarette, he pulled his head back in and glared at him.
"I don't see why I have to go with you people. This is completely unreasonable!" Wu Jin commented like a child that was being forced to do something he didn't want to, and it wasn't completely wrong either.
"Shut up already. This is the one thing I asked for. I might need your help in there so you better do what I ask you hear?" retorted Hao Xuan, making Wu Jin look away, grumbling under his breath.
Henrik looked at them with wide eyes. Wu Jin was his senior and known to be quite a character, yet now he couldn't even talk back...
Two days had passed since Hao Xuan had met with the great elder and came up with his own plan thanks to Baracus. After asking Ryfon and Henrik about PAR he found out that the Fehim group that owned it was actually a direct competitor to the three Great Clans.
He was hoping to ask Ryfon to force them to sell the nanotech with the academy's backing but apparently that wasn't an option. A lot of Kingdoms and even a few empires were part of the Fehim group so they couldn't easily be threatened like that.
But Henrik mentioned an alternative. The Fehim group was throwing a ball in two days for all the royals and the Holy sons and daughters of all the powers of the continent that were participating in the tournament. It was the best place to meet the CEO of Pra and many others.
Hao Xuan, Henrik, and Wu Jin had departed the academy two hours ago. They had already gone through five teleportations before arriving at the Empire where the ball was being held.
And they weren't alone on this last stretch either, flying alongside were tens of different kinds of flying contraptions and even a few giant beasts that had entire buildings on their backs.
There was one that looked like a stingray that gathered a fair bit of attention from the other travelers. It was more than 5,000 meters wide and looked quite menacing.
There was also a giant winged sabertooth that was one of the fastest mounts. It kept trying to catch up to the carriage but could never do so.
Of course, none of them could even come close to the grandeur of the two-winged unicorns that were pulling the carriage. Ryfon had lent it to them just for going to the ball. They need to make a statement and arrive in style, especially since the ball was being held by their competitors so there was no better option.
In the darkness of the night the unicorns were like two white moons as they cut across the dark sky with astonishing speed.
Hao Xuan took one last peek at the hundreds of other beasts and flying treasures they were leaving behind before closing the window. He willed and a mask appeared on his face, covering it halfway. This was the same mask he used every time he went out in the Mei Kingdom. (Reference image in authors note)
Wu Jin took one look at it before turning away with an ugly face. That night when Hao Xuan 'severed' him, he was wearing the same mask. He still remembered how gentle he suddenly became.
Hao Xuan closed his eyes and appeared in the mind palace. It was more than 500 meters in diameter now and wasn't anywhere near as cramped as before. Ensis and Monk had already left but the Orcs were all still there.
Each of them was sitting cross-legged with a book or two in their laps. Their eyes were closed and wisps of Qi flittered about their bodies.
When Hao Xuan first arrived in the city he had asked Ryfon for a copy of every basic cultivation manual in the academy. Ryfon of course didn't mind since any student in the academy could easily get their hands on these manuals for whatever purpose, not that they would ever need it for themselves since the minimum requirement for joining the academy was to have a Spirit Realm cultivation.
He had Baracus made copies of those thousands of manuals and gave one to each of the Orcs. Well, everyone but Gavril who had already have one of his own it seemed.
Hao Xuan looked towards the usual corner and saw Gavril sitting there. His long white hair covering his entire face, he looked like a beggar in his current state.
Hao Xuan walked up to him and smiled upon sensing his realm. It felt like he was at the Earth Realm but something was different about him.
There was a faint mist-like energy surrounding him. It looked like an optical illusion where he would see it one second and the next it would be gone. The longer Hao Xuan stared at it, the sleepier he got. It was some turbulence in the outer world that woke him up.
'What the hell kind of energy is this..." Hao Xuan looked away as soon as he realized how dangerous it was. He was two realms higher than Gavril yet looking at his energy had almost put him to sleep. And it's not like he wasn't prepared for it.
Hao Xuan pinched his hand to keep himself attentive. He didn't even look in Gavril's direction again.
"Think you'll be ready in time?" he spoke loudly.
*Plop*
The surrounding energy rippled and suddenly receded back into Gavril's body. His thick voice came from under the hair.
"I'm already ready. As long as they don't expect it, there shouldn't be a problem."
"Great," Hao Xuan nodded and opened his eyes, returning to the outer world. After taking a look around he let out a breath of relief. Gavril was cultivating a mysterious scripture that was created by the old Orc King himself.
It was called the "The Nethwerworld's Dreamscape" and Hao Xuan only found out it about just a few days ago. It was much different normal cultivation methods of the beast world and Baracus had absolutely no information about it whatsoever.
The Nethwerworld's Dreamscape only allowed the user to foster and comprehend one type of energy, an energy that Hao Xuan didn't even know existed. In Gavril's own words it was called Somniom or Somnio, the energy of dreams.
He didn't say what it could do but instead wanted to show him first hand.
"Let me experiment on someone and then you'll see," he said.
Frankly, Hao Xuan was actually pretty hesitant to let Gavril cultivate this method but other than ordering him using the power of the constitution, there was no other way to stop him.
*Whoosh*
*Whoosh*
Henrik leaned over towards the window and started fixing his shirt.
"We're here. Please don't embarrass us you two, we are here as ambassadors of the Academy," he reminded the duo before opening the carriage door.
And as soon as he did, the hubbub of laughter, shouting, talking, singing among many other noises rushed in like a tsunami.
"Well, here we go," Hao Xuan sighed and stepped out.