4 PM

  Pain wasn't new, whether it was physical or mental. However, today in the backyard was a unique experience. Daniel's right side was soaked in blue blood with continuous dripping from his hand. Heat vapor smoke emitted from an open wound above his wrist, but the constant bashings put his noob healing factor into a haywire. By this point, some of his backyard can be called a pond, and it wouldn't be incorrect.

  Being the hottest hour of the day, that didn't help either. A combination of elements with magic was abysmal. The pain was excruciating; it felt like it was burning forever. Doubling the intensity, Daniel's right side was constantly scraped and scratched. The feeling of sandpaper. It roamed his sides. He got so furious that he punched his right arm a few times, causing a ruckus from others. Lian teleported right next to him and pressed her hand to his right tricep. An initial cooling sensation before it got hot, like the over-the-counter topical pain relievers.

  "Feeling better?" Lian whispered.

  "Arms relaxing, but I feel a little bit tipsy," Daniel answered, rebalancing his footing with his left.

  "Woah whoa." Lian grabbed Daniel with her other hand, preventing him from falling. "You're different. What a crazy man, you are."

  "Seems so," Daniel muttered as Seth came right behind him with a chair. The former sat down, not caring about a potential mess. Indeed the blue blood continued to pour from the surface of the chair, flowing to the lawn.

  Incomprehensible amounts of blood. An average man would be fazed out before the end if not saved. Daniel was alert and awake. Without telling him, he already knew that he wasn't ‘human’ anymore.

  When he took a seat, it was the right call. Five minutes later, the immense bleeding stopped. Most of the terrifying pain diminished, leaving his right side a little numb and lethargic.

  “Unbelievable,” Seth said.

  “Congratulations, you made it through the introductions. A first Earth human. Take that as you will.”

  “So, what happens now?” Daniel asked.

  “You're done for the day. Let your body take in and adapt to your new qi.”

  “And to not forget, what's qi again?”

  “Energy source from your soul.”

  Daniel nodded and relaxed as the winds started to pick up around the neighborhood. Seth headed back to the table while Rebecca arrived with a large glass of cold water. Daniel gulped swiftly, taking more than half. He thanked her and told Lian he was fine. The latter didn't stop healing him, so he quickly nudged her hand off. "I think you did enough for me today. Take a break. Helda will have to leave soon." Daniel looked at Helda as he stood up from the soaked chair.

  Luckily, he wasn't in bright clothing, and the heat generated from his body dried everything up. He headed back to the table with Lian, leaving the chair out on the lawn. There were a few desserts on the table that were brought out from the fridge moments ago. Helda stood up from her seat. "It's unfortunate that I have to go…Are you available tomorrow?"

  "Yeah," Daniel said while nodding. "Early in the morning."

  A little silence before Helda accepted. "Tomorrow at 8, then." She headed out to her BMW by walking around the open backyard to the driveway.

  Daniel listened to the sound of Helda's BMW turning on. His ears were focused on the sounds as they faded away. Only to hear a different engine noise getting louder and louder. Somebody else was arriving. An aggressive, mighty beast. The presence through its noise got more intense, and he knew it was speeding.

  Most of the table reacted with a little chuckle, realizing who it was. The engine calmed, and everyone could hear the sound of the pavement from the wheels. It revved again, and moments later, a customized Harley Davidson V-Rod arrived at the backyard. The biker turned off the muscle bike and took off its helmet, letting the long hair roll out with the wind.

  "You seriously took this bad boy out into town. Janet, you're a wild lady," Daniel commented.

  "Bull, we have known each other for almost a decade…You should know my kind of approach," Janet said in her sweet, low-tone voice. She climbed off her Harley Davidson and took off her red moto jacket.

  “Bull? Did I hear that right?" Lian asked.

  "Only she calls me that," Daniel quickly said. "Nothing more."

  Janet grabbed her red moto jacket and placed it on the counter. "I didn't know you guys had a barbecue."

  "Please, take some. It's a pleasure," Seth said and handed her an empty plate.

  Most of the roast pork and rice filled her plate, with some salad on top. Janet sat down at Helda's former spot. She noticed the lawn was awful in terms of color, and nobody answered until Daniel did. He remembered that she wasn't supposed to be at his house today. An odd coincidence, but since she set foot on his lawn today, there was no choice but to hide. He demonstrated by firing loose lightning bolts right at the stained chair out on the lawn.

  Janet stopped eating and finished chewing a slice of roast pork. "That's not real."

  "Out fucking it is," Daniel said. "You dropped by uninvited today, and today is pure chaos. Everyone here gets to witness it." He demonstrated again until Janet could comprehend the new reality. And he could tell her mind clicked when everything around her eyes twitched.

  It triggered a small fire, prompting Lian to fire a cold blast. As it withered, Janet's tone changed. For someone like her, this was a rare moment because she rarely asked many questions. So much so that she forgot she had her plate filled with her roast pork still on the table.

  Asking questions sated her hunger, not interested in finishing. She took a few more bites before letting the plate rest on the table. "I still don't believe this."

  Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

  "No, I need a little bit to process this."

  "I understand. Take some time to think about it, but I won't take no for an answer before you leave today."

  "Why? You're not going to let me out?"

  "I'd rather have witnesses that I know can handle it than some random bystander," Daniel said with his hands open. "Losing two gallons of blood while forcing your body to regenerate at the same time is not an experience to take for granted."

  The implication doesn't sound pleasant to others sitting around the table, but they don't have a choice. And some answers could only be answered through personal experience. And nothing major event might have happened yet, but Earth was pretty much at stake. At least that was what the table was told. Lian's arrival and Ava's death were the stepping stones.

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  Lian decided to conduct another training, but for someone else. Same process and objectives as Daniel.

  Mother Elaine reluctantly raised her hand. "What if we didn't have the initial qi experience like Daniel has?"

  "Like what Daniel said earlier, if you can handle pain, you'll reach the end," Lian said and headed back to the lawn. "I'm ready when you are."

  As Mother Elaine stood up, the sky suddenly darkened. It hovered over the entire neighborhood as Colemond's skyline, and the rest of the city was still shining in sunlight. The lawn was almost pitch black. Crickets chirped in the vicinity. All the exterior lights of Daniel's house automatically switched on.

  Lian looked up. Daniel followed her attention and saw parts of charcoal-colored clouds getting flashed by bolts of electric light. So much so that he knew some of his hair was sticking up. Crackling sounds erupted from the sky that were as loud as an exhaust. The electricity condensed and proliferated into a gigantic orb. It burst and struck down on the lawn. Shockwaves sent the occupied table into a blitz. Everyone in their seats crashed to the porch's floor. A loud glass shattering erupted. Gusts overwhelmed the scene. They were pushed into the house.

  Daniel grunted when he flew into his home. He was hit on his right side by the frame of the glass door that led to the porch and the backyard. The entire living room was trashed, and swarms of gusts weren't slowing down. Despite that, he tried taking control of his qi to resist the winds. His legs immediately reacted to the surge and gave him the weight and balance to stand up. Daniel forcefully coughed, spitting out blood. The rest of his body got heavier, and his sky-blue qi erupted out of his body, giving a flame-like appearance.

  His movement was a struggle as it took more than a second to lift one leg at a time. However, his mind was curious about what was in the beam of electric light summoned to his lawn. There were multiple silhouettes within the beam. He ignored all the coming pain in his feet. Daniel kept moving forward until he was within close proximity. Once he was a few meters from the summon, everything stopped. It went almost completely dark again; Daniel realized most of his residence's exterior lights were destroyed. Charcoal clouds faded, returning sunlight to the scene.

  He found out how many were inside the beam of electric light. Unfazed, Lian stood at the same spot. She strolled forward, greeting them.

  There were five individuals in one group. All spoke the Yue Language. They returned their greetings to Lian and turned their attention to Daniel, who remained stationary. His eyes were locked on the person who presented as the leader of the group.

  Like Lian, she was extraordinarily beautiful. Much taller than her and himself in flat heels. Her clothing was a black and white dress and filled with multiple dragon vinyl. She had a long white cape around her shoulders like a jacket, covering most of her upper body. Both of her hands were equipped with black leather gloves. Her red hair was very blossoming. It was partially tied behind her head with a dragon-themed hairpin, which led into a long, loose ponytail, reaching down to her waist. If Daniel were like a towering building with a spire, the lady doesn’t have a spire. Her facial complexion is almost like that during the peak of when the cherry blossoms bloom.

  Lian introduced her and the group to Daniel.

  The lady smiled as if she was anticipating his present. "You must be the one Lian entrusted." She walked up to Daniel and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you…Hmm, you're heavy."

  "Is it too much?" Daniel asked.

  "No, not at all. It has been a while since I've seen someone adapting to the basics in such a short amount of time," the red-haired lady said. "My name's Empress Cai, or used to be."

  "Welcome to Earth…Empress Cai."

  Empress Cai partially bowed her head. "Thank you. And I see you speak our language."

  "You'd be surprised how I found your languages are like ours."

  "Give me a few."

  "Mandarin is Yue, German is Kriegyu, and English is Englisc. It's very similar when I read the two books Lian sent me."

  Empress Cai looked at his house. "Impressive…I'm sorry if I caused a mess there."

  "They'll be fine. It's only the clean-up part that will be a little challenging."

  "Oh, that shouldn't be an issue," Empress Cai said with a smile before turning to her group. "Can they understand us?"

  Daniel nodded. "Yes. They're bilingual. You're lucky this city has a lot of Mandarin speakers."

  "I want you to meet the other four," Empress Cai muttered. She called them over. They were talking with Lian, and all quickly came. Lian strolled up next to Empress Cai.

  Daniel greeted the first of the four. Empress Cai described her as the most active. Maybe a little hyper, but that was the best thing about her. She was wearing a simplified Hanfu, a plain black jacket, and pants. Hair was untied and flowed down past her shoulders. About the same height as himself. One thing he noticed was that all five and Lian wore boots.

  Daiyu introduced herself. "I'm Daiyu. I lead in all affairs and housing."

  "Very impressive. How long have you been doing this?"

  "Almost fifteen years."

  "Welcome to Earth, Daiyu," Daniel said with genuine interest. He then greeted the second. "Greetings, you remind me of my professor."

  Silence.

  Lian uttered: "She doesn't speak Yue well."

  Before it got awkward, Daniel switched languages. "Good afternoon, how are you?"

  "Oh, wow! You can speak Kriegyu," the second lady said. "Very good." Unlike Daiyu and Empress Cai, she appeared a little older but very youthful.

  "We call it German…What I read so far in the books Lian gave was almost the same. What's your name?”

  "I'm K?nigin Gertrud," Gertrud said, then turned to the third person. "Let me introduce you to my personal doctor. She is the author of the book you read…This is Hilde Georgine."

  Unlike Gertrud, Hilde Georgine was more multilingual, so she could speak English (Englisc). "I don't know what kind of book you gave me, but it was very detailed."

  "Do you have any questions for me?"

  "I have a few, but we can save that for later. It's nice to meet you, and welcome to Earth."

  The fifth person. He was broad and not as tall as Empress Cai. Oddly enough, his appearance was similar to that of present-day Earth. An ordinary T-shirt with a jacket and black pants. Minimalistic approach. "Name's Solomon."

  "Good to meet you, Solomon. Welcome to Earth."

  Empress Cai strolled around the lawn, asking Daniel to take a walk with her.

  "How's Earth?" She asked.

  "It's alright but chaotic…What do you want to know?"

  "I want to know if it's safe to stay here and invest? I'm sure you know why we are here."

  Daniel affirmed. "Why only now? You could have come twelve years ago. Earth's future has been changed because multiple regions filled with runes of stone were summoned. Nations were and still are greedy for it despite their lack of knowledge."

  "And you know?"

  "I was in combat for five years. Most of my tours were in those areas. Some of my pals got exposed to it after days, weeks, and months."

  Empress Cai appeared a little concerned. "Did they survive?"

  "The ones I know, yes. They are all still here, but they are fighting hard to keep those moments a secret. Symptoms vary, and they don't want the risks of being public…And that was two years ago."

  A little bit of a relief from a surprised Empress Cai. "Really? All of them. Well, that's great. Did you get exposed, too?"

  "Yeah. I recalled I got the most exposure, but unlike them, my horrific symptoms weren’t permanent, other than my physique and strength were changed. That was pretty much it. Maybe it helped and might explain why I adapted so quickly after first training with Lian."

  "Then I can safely assume humans here might be adaptable to our nature."

  Daniel paused for a moment. "I wouldn't say that. My team is only a small number relative to the Earth's total population." He looked at Downtown Colemond's skyline as the natural winds cooled down. "But now that you're here, that would mean more of you will arrive soon…I have one question. Are you the lead?"

  Empress Cai nodded while leaning against the fence next to Daniel. "Yes. That's why I asked you if it was safe to stay here. We have a lot of us."

  "A million?"

  "No, a few billion."

  The number took Daniel a little bit to process. Earth can't handle a few more billion people at once or in a short, unknown amount of time. There will be congestion and a lack of supply. "That I can not do. It's way over the capacity."

  "But we have a few solutions."

  "Let's find someplace else. We have a lot of time to talk about it now."

  The two headed into the residence with the other five following. Despite the mess, a new surprise came.