“Heya!!” a cheerful voice broke through the awkward aura in the air.

Feng Mian was still blushing and hadn’t came back to her senses yet, that same attractive smile on her gorgeous face.

“…Hey,” I said stoically, in stark contrast to Qing Yue’s bright tone. “How was your training?”

“Hmm…I’ve never been here before, and I’ve gotta say – it’s really fun!”

“…Fun?” Not sure that was the right word to describe a excessively pressurized area meant for training purposes. But Qing Yue paid my confusion no mind.

“I mean, look at how beautiful it is! The colors and everything – I could stay here all day!” Qing Yue said, jumping up and down as she clutched onto my arm. “Come with me!”

“…Uh-” I began, remembering a certain someone, still daydreaming, but was quickly interrupted.

“Hey hey, Feng Mian, join us as well! C’mon!” Qing Yue was one step ahead of me, as always.

“H-Huh?” Feng Mian snapped back to reality upon being called out, and let out a cute exclamation of surprise. “Ah…right, yeah, let’s go.”

“Hmm? Oh-ho, what happened?” Qing Yue quickly asked with a devious smile that would put the devil himself to shame. She had noticed the blush on Feng Mian’s face, and couldn’t help but wonder-

“Hehehe…what did you do to her this time, Big Brother Xuan Kai?”

“…Nothing,” I replied immediately.

“N-Nothing!” Feng Mian yelled at the exact same time, creating an impressive unison between the two of us.

“Hmm…? That sounds so…staged,” Qing Yue said thoughtfully while resting her chin on her hand. “Did you guys already have this act planned beforehand?”

“…No,” I once again replied instantly.

“N-No!” Feng Mian exclaimed once more, but-

“…Would you mind not saying the same thing as me, at the exact same time?”

“W-Well, I can’t help it, okay! It’s just a coincidence! Yes, just a coincidence!”

Feng Mian definitely sounded like she was convincing herself – making her argument invalid in terms of convincing others. Meanwhile, Qing Yue inspected this exchange while desperately trying not to laugh, covering her mouth with her hand.

“…Look, it isn’t how it seems,” I explained. “To be honest, I have no idea why that idiot was blushing either.”

“H-Hey! Who’re you calling an idiot!” a distressed cry rang out from beside me, belonging to none other than the idiot herself.

“Hehe…Big Brother Xuan Kai, you don’t understand girls at all, do you?” Qing Yue whispered just loudly enough for me to hear.

“…”

I had no reply – the only girl I’ve ever came in contact with was Qing Yue, after all. How can I understand something I barely know?

“A-Anyway! Let’s get going,” the idiot’s voice called out once again, and I looked at her in slight disgust.

“Hey, what’s that look for?! You’re insulting me in your head right now, aren’t you?!”

“…Not in the slightest.”

“I don’t believe-”

“Okay okay, let’s get going!” a third voice interrupted her.

Qing Yue comes in with the save once more…

*****

We had decided to try the Blessing Element first – it was already known that I could use Blessing Magic, and its respective section was right in front of us.

“Now, try casting a spell in here!” Qing Yue instructed once we were in the ‘room’.

Recalling what Qing Yue had done earlier, I sat down on a nearby rock and closed my eyes. Following the procedure taught in class, I visualized the mana in my body and condensed it into a perfect sphere, whereas it was spread all around and a complete mess before. I then drew on that energy and attempted to cast a spell.

“Potentia Excitant: Celeritas!”

I had already tried the jump boost spell before, so this time I aimed for the speed boost one. As expected, I felt strength rising to my legs once more – except that this time, they also felt breezy and light, like I could run forever with them.

“A speed spell?” Feng Mian mused. “Well – go ahead and give it a try, I guess. Run from here to the opposite side of the barrier.”

“…Here to the opposite of the barrier…Got it,” I echoed.

Then, I got into a running position. Both hands on the grassy floor of the Blessing Element Division, I took off into the deep forest ahead of me. Needless to say, the speed was incredible, considering how well the jump boost spell worked last time.

After a while (about two seconds in reality) the familiar lime-colored wall, glowing with radiance, came into view. I quickly stopped upon reaching the very edge of the barrier-

-Or so I’d like to say, but unfortunately I was going at a speed too fast to even stop. I coursed through barrier after barrier. Since the Blessing Element division was on the right side of the central pathway that marked the middle of the entire Magic Training Room, I coursed through four of the 12 Primary Elements’ Divisions – Poison, Ice, Shadow, and Light, in that exact order.

By the time I recognized the element of the section I was in, I had already moved on to the next one. And by the time the fourth one came around, I realized-

Boom!

I crashed into something hard and cold…and painful, for that matter.

The wall.

The sound reverberated across the entire room, and I had no doubt that Feng Mian and Qing Yue had heard it.

“Gah…” I groaned and walked backwards, head still dizzy. Impressively, I didn’t fall or crash into anything else.

After a while, my head became clear once more, though the same couldn’t be said about my nose, now coated in blood. I then turned back around, and decided to have Qing Yue heal my injury. I’ve never used healing magic before, though it is also a form of Blessing Magic. And I’ve heard that one little mistake can cause the patient to…well, simply put, suffer. Cases where inexperienced dislocated joint treatments caused the bone in question to be even MORE dislocated weren’t unheard of. So I decided to leave it to Qing Yue, who was proficient enough in Healing Magic to heal the mysterious headache I had gotten two days ago.

I decided to rush back as soon as possible to avoid having Feng Mian and Qing Yue needlessly worry, but as soon as I made my first step-

“Ah shit…”

Zoom.

I had wanted to get back as quick as I could in my mind, so…you guessed it – the speed boost from earlier hadn’t worn off yet, and I must’ve subconsciously triggered it based on my thoughts…

What I was thinking as I coursed through the same divisions I had just passed through once already:

“Woah, that’s bright…didn’t they say it was only 4 AM? Why is it-”

“Ah..it’s dark now…wait, this is a bit too dark for 4 AM, what’s going on-”

“Brrr! It’s so cold, what the hell…oh wait…this is the Ice element…”

“…That’s right…I’m currently flying- *ahem* *cough* *cough* sorry, not flying exactly, but ‘running’ through the air at 500 miles a second…”

And then, before I knew it (not surprisingly – my reaction speeds are nowhere near THAT speed…), I slammed into yet another solid entity. This one, however, was even colder than the last, though by no means any less painful. The mysterious item cracked from the impact and I instantly collapsed…landing on something in stark contrast with what I had just collided with in the process…soft, warm, and very very comfortable.

“Nya…?!” a high-pitched voice moaned.

I paid this no attention, however. My thoughts were completely focused on my Speed of Light Journey Through Dimensions and Space-Time. Hm, not a bad name. I only went through four ‘dimensions’ by the looks of it…though according to my knowledge of the arrangement of this array, and ‘previous personal experience’, I should’ve went through 3 more to complete the row…

“Hey…” a voice colder than the rigid object I had crashed into seconds earlier reached my ears. It came from…below me? “…Just how long do you plan on…lying here?!”

Okay. I could’ve done without that final sudden raise of volume…wouldn’t want my ears to bleed as well. Just my nose was more than enough, and that second collision just now didn’t help with healing the nosebleed. But my thoughts, having cleared (mostly), were finally collected once more. Then I realized that I couldn’t see a thing, and felt two soft and bouncy sphere-like objects, one on either side of my head.

I quickly processed what the feminine voice had just said and my eyes widened at the answer I reached…

I slowly began to sit up…I swallowed the bile in my throat. I already knew what awaited me…but this fear was something I have never experienced before. My palms were sweaty, and not just from running. My eyes zoomed out…

…At a disfigured uniform that enclosed around a voluptuous bosom.

I tilted my eyes slightly upwards, and saw the traces of golden hair.

All time froze around me, and no, I had not cast any Time Magic.

My thoughts at that moment:

“Yeah, I’m fucked.”