After entering Xin'er's mind, Christian was about to head to the Spirit Resting Layer when he was suddenly curious. 'I'm only going to take a quick look,' he convinced himself before heading for her soul. However, something shocking happened to him.
As soon as he stepped in, Christian saw a small golden Eastern dragon — the ones in the myth that resembled a long snake — and the creature glanced at him. The majestic beast roared, and a powerful force pushed him out of Xin'er's soul layer and out of her mind. He opened his eyes, the shock visible from his expression.
'I had my suspicions that she was not an ordinary girl, but I didn't expect one of those random guesses to be correct,' Christian thought. Xin'er is from China, where the Qin Dynasty currently rules. According to their culture, eastern dragons were a symbol of royalty.
'Her family is either related to the Qin Dynasty or descendants of one of the kingdoms that Qin destroyed to unite China,' Christian thought. He was more inclined toward the latter. Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, conquered all the warring states before establishing the Qin Dynasty. However, it made sense that the royal families of some of these warring states fled abroad to save themselves.
Christian did not focus too much on the truth since it involved Xin'er's personal matters. Instead, he focused on his task of finding her Spirit Resting Layer and awakening her. Luckily, she was not having weird dreams like Lucretia.
After opening her eyes, Xin'er was on high alert and only calmed down after Christian explained the situation. "I'm sorry that I stabbed you."
"It's alright. I know you couldn't control yourself," Christian waved his hand, acting nonchalant to reassure her.
"I still feel bad."
"Look, I've already healed," Christian said as he showed her the tiny scar.
"There is even a scar," Xin'er said, her voice on the verge of breaking.
"Scars are a man's battle trophy, and I have several," Christian continued. He was not lying about the several scars. Lucretia's sword should have left a scar on his calf; the nastiest of them should be the wound Quirrell/Dark Lord left on his left shoulder.
"That's the stupidest thing I've heard you say," Xin'er laughed or cried, maybe both.
"You just don't understand," Christian smiled while Xin'er wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "Is Lucretia alright? Is she still injured?"
"She's fine, just embarrassed."
Lucretia opened her eyes, openly staring at him. Xin'er almost jumped in fright, but controlled herself and approached Lucretia to check on her. "What is the current situation?" Lucretia asked, trying to act as if nothing had happened.
"She ran away, so we are temporarily safe," Christian explained.
"You actually defeated one of the Golden Treasures." Lucretia looked at him, not hiding the shock and awe in her eyes.
"She was quite the formidable wizard and the strongest person around my age I've fought. However, she was cocky and too confident in herself." Sesha was too confident in her Mind Magic and underestimated Christian's ability. That's why she was defeated so easily.
"Because she earned the right to do so."
"The burden of a genius and always being bathed with lavish praise created such a flawed mentality," Christian shook his head. "I understand now why my mother did not want to put the label of genius on me." Was he a genius? Christian always knew the answer, but his mother refused to test his IQ and put the label on him. He used to feel some resentment, especially since he was forced to attend regular school programs instead of the gifted classes; however, now he understood her decision.
"I don't like how casual you are about defeating one of the four most talented wizards of our generation," Lucretia complained.
"Let's not talk about her," Christian said. "While we are safe because she ran away, my leg is injured. I've done the initial treatment, but I cannot put much force on it for the next six hours, meaning I'll have limited mobility. We will need to adopt a new formation to consider my situation."
"Don't worry, I got you," Lucretia said before standing up and approaching him. She removed her left golden bracelet before chanting an incantation. The golden bracelet released a gentle green light that enveloped Christian's leg. He sensed a gentle force traveling to his calf, repairing something.
A few seconds later, the green light dissipated, and Christian stood up. He walked around, applying different levels of pressure or force to his leg, but he felt no pain. "Wonderful!"
"I know, right?" Lucretia smiled.
"Is this the item you used to save me after the Wasp Queen stung me?" Christian asked.
"That's right."
"It's a great artifact to bring in this dangerous trial," Christian nodded. "What about the other bracelet? What does it do?"
"That one?... It's a spatial traveling artifact," Lucretia answered. "In an emergency, it will forcefully take me away from the trial."
"...I see," Christian nodded. The surroundings became tense for a moment. "Alright, let's move forward." The group marched forward, encountering a few minor distractions on the way. Eventually, they discovered an open door releasing a little bit of light. They rushed inside without much hesitation. This negative field was always gloomy, and even the light from the Patronus Charm was not enough to keep everyone's mood positive.
Christian felt his body spinning uncontrollably, and when he regained control, he was on a green plain with scattered trees and mountains in the distance. He immediately noticed a golden pillar of light that went straight into the clouds. As soon as he saw the light, he received information directly in his mind: this light was the trial's core, and the first 50 teams to reach it would become [Third Class Apprentices].
'I must be one of the 50,' Christian thought with determined eyes. He controlled his emotions to observe his surroundings. His expression became grave. He noticed Menes' ice coffin a few meters away, but no one else was nearby. Christian rushed over to check on him. He realized Menes needed a new round of life force.
Christian took the coffin to the nearest tree to stabilize Menes' situation. Once that was done, he pondered his next move. 'Menes will be a liability if I have to carry him around with me,' he thought. After mulling it over, he tried to put him back inside the bag, hoping the previous restriction had been lifted. Luckily for him, his attempt was successful.
After freeing himself, Christian's next goal was obvious: find his teammate. Without them, he could not pass this trial, so their safety was his priority. Luckily, fate was on his side as he had the girl's hair from the previous trial. He cast the Avenseguim Charm to find them, following the hair as it led him toward Xin'er.
After more than twenty minutes of traveling, he found her with tattered clothes, holding her dagger tightly, and running away from someone. Christian's eyes squinted as he recognized the person: Aurelius Ignitus. He did not rush to save Xin'er but observed first. 'He's treating her like a prey, playing around to exhaust her mentally and physically.' Such a conclusion revealed one significant piece of information: Xin'er was temporarily safe.
After knowing this, Christian chose to prepare for this fight. He entered his bag of holding to dig a large hole that he filled with water with the Aguamenti Charm. Once he felt he had enough water, he left the bag before following Xin'er's hair to her location.
"Finally tired?" Aurelius asked. Xin'er stared at him, her eyes acting like the dagger as they wished to pierce through his throat.
"Good," Aurelius chuckled. "Now, why don't you tell me about your teammate? The one called Christos."
"Save your breath!" Xin'er replied.
"Feisty, aren't we?" Aurelius smiled. "Unfortunately, that won't change anything." His palm suddenly combusted, raising the temperature of the surroundings. "I don't have time to waste on you, so I'll have to use drastic measures. How about we start with the face? You're a little beauty, so it pains me to ruin you, but it can't be help."
Aurelius immediately proved he was a man of action as he reached toward her face. Xin'er activated her dagger, but before she could succeed, Aurelius kicked it away before continuing his action. A shield appeared to protect Xin'er before another force pulled her into the distance.
"So, you dare show up," Aurelius asked with a wide grin.
"You know I was here?" Christian asked as he revealed himself from one of the trees.
"Of course. I noticed your heat signature the first time you showed up."
'Heat Perception? That's an interesting application of Fire Magic,' Christian thought.
"Now that I'm here, so what?"
"It's time for you to pay for all the humiliation you've put me through," Aurelius said with gritted teeth. He would make this bastard pay for ruining his reputation and making people doubt whether he deserved to be one one of the Four Golden Treasures.