Chapter 574 – Calm Daily Life

Ling Xin said that the council was still finalizing the list of students to attend Counterhex Academy, and the results would be out in a couple of days. She stated that she would try her best to get all of us in, but the chances of that were low.

Of course, Ling Xin herself was already part of the school regardless—in fact, many of the Council members were. Only… they weren’t students. They were going to be the teachers.

… Yep.

But apart from all that, the meeting last night still discussed one more thing—the new Council of Arcanity members. According to Ling Xin, Tian Lin had brought in some suitable members—and I was shocked. Just judging from their appearances as described by her, I knew who they were:

The Library of Infinite Beginnings’ Founders.

To think they were going to be part of the IMF’s Council of Arcanity now… well, it’s not like all of them would be, but still. For example, Sylvoir definitely wasn’t going to be part of it, and the races that still had their representatives alive had no need of a replacement, even though I was pretty sure the Library’s Founders were stronger than the current Council members by quite the large margin.

In any case, for the next couple of days, Ling Xin was going to be quite busy. On the contrary, the rest of us could take this time to relax a bit—the girls cultivated and practiced using their mana to get stronger, while Ling Xin attended her meetings. Thankfully, they weren’t in-person this time—all she had to do was attend online, but even then, she was shut in her room all day, unable to talk with any of us. A pity, truly. I never wanted to be a Council member—that would suck.

Anyway, as for me… I decided to check up on my parents and the Four Empyreans. All of them were here on this private island, just in a different location.

My parents, for example, opted to reside on the tiny mountain on the west coast of the island, so I had a shack built there for them. It was quite the fancy shack, though—on par with a mansion. Their reasoning for doing this was they ‘didn’t want to disturb my love life’, which was both a relief and a struggle at the same time, if I am to be honest.

But that’s a problem for another day. Since I had some free time right now, I might as well check on them.

Before that, however, I wanted to go to the Empyreans first. They were my parents’ neighbors, and each resided in a different area depending on their element. Terrarim, for example, dwelled in a little cave he dug himself in the mountain my parents were residing on, while Aquira lived in a pond in their yard. Ignis had burned down a portion of the forest to make a comfortable place for himself (I’m not gonna judge) and Aerim built a little temple in the clouds (made out of air).

Naturally, my first visit was the most simple one—Ignis, who was quite easy to track. No, really. Just follow the scent of burnt wood.

And sure enough, I soon spotted him eating what seemed to be… coal? In the center of his little lair. Well, I called it a lair, but really, it was just a wide open space of burnt black ground.

“… Yo, Ignis. How are you?” I asked, waving.

“Ohhh, it’s you!” He leaped up upon seeing me, excited. “Hey! How are you doin- uh… wait, what’s your name again?”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “It’s Xuan Kai, Ignis… and you’re kind of contracted to me, so please try to remember my name at the very least.”

“Ohhh sorry!” Ignis laughed boldly, scratching the back of his burning head (literally). “I remember faces, not names! I will try to remember your name in the future, though!”

“… Cool. But uh, is that… coal you’re eating?” I asked, arching an eyebrow, and he laughed.

“Yep! Got my brother Terrarim to get me some from beneath that mountain of his. I gotta say, it tastes great! A glass of molten lava right now would be perfect… ah…”

“O… kay… and that’s my cue to leave.”

As Ignis fell into his delusive fantasies about weird hot food, I left to see the next Empyrean—Aerim. 

Or rather… she came to see me.

“Boo!”

I stopped walking, completely unimpressed, and turned around to see Aerim hovering in the air behind me, a grin on her face.

“Heheh, how about that? Did I get you?”

“… No. It’s really hard to imagine you’re a goddess sometimes, honestly. You act like a child.”

“Hey!” Aerim pouted, folding her arms. “I’m just playful, that’s all! What a person does has nothing to do with their identity!”

“Yeah, well. You look like a child too, so…”

“Grrr…!”

*****

Next up was Terrarim. As expected, his lair was quite considerate. A well-built entrance, easy-to-navigate tunnels leading down, et cetera. He was the most ‘normal’ and ‘kind’ of the four Empyreans, I would say. Of course, that also meant our conversation was pretty boring, just your average ‘hi’ ‘how are you doing’ sequence. Still, it was always nice having a chat with him.

Next was Aquira, who also happened to be right outside my parents’ house. I saved for her last particularly for this reason.

“Hello, Aquira. Are you comfortable here?” I asked the still water in front of me, and slowly, the figure of a beautiful woman appeared, dignified and somewhat stern.

“… Somewhat, I suppose,” she said hesitantly. “It is not nearly as good as a calming lake or river, where I am by myself, accompanied only by flowing water, but… your parents’ are quite the interesting duo. I find myself intrigued by they’re speech and actions.”

At this, I raised an eyebrow. “What have they been doing?”

“That…” Aquira turned to the house.. “… It’s better if you ask them yourself, to be honest.”