The night passed without incident.
When Qin Che opened his eyes again and saw the familiar white ceiling, a sense of calm settled over him.
"It wasn't a dream after all."
He could feel a turbulent energy surging within his mental world, but it was being suppressed by an even greater force, obediently shrinking into the colorless, transparent Chaos System stardust.
Within this stardust, Qin Che noticed that his Chaos System stardust seemed unusually vast.
Though he had never seen a nebula in person, his subconscious told him it was at least half the size of a Magical Nebula.
After a moment of disorientation, he washed up and left his room.
He immediately collided with Ding Yumin's bright, joyful gaze.
"Qin Che, you're awake! Have you had breakfast yet? Grandpa Fu brought some over. Want to join us?"
Staring at Ding Yumin's radiant smile, Qin Che paused, then noticed an elderly man sitting beside her, roughly the same age as Dean Xiao.
"Dean Fu?"
Hearing his name, Dean Fu immediately turned his gaze toward Qin Che.
"You're the Chaos System boy Dean Xiao picked up? You've got potential."
"Thank you," Qin Che replied.
He then heard the *thump-thump* of slippers hitting the floor.
"Come eat breakfast! It won't taste good if it gets cold."
Ding Yumin skipped over to Qin Che and tugged him by the arm to the dining table.
Qin Che stared at the girl, who was nearly his height, and found himself at a loss for words.
They had only met yesterday and become friends.
*Well, what's done is done. Let's eat first.*
Perhaps he was truly hungry, because Qin Che devoured the entire bag of steamed buns and mantou on the table.
A short while later, Dean Xiao returned from outside.
"Qin Che, how's your condition?"
"I'm completely recovered, Dean Xiao. Thank you for saving my life." Qin Che expressed his sincere gratitude.
"Eh~ We're teacher and student now. Why are you being so formal?" Dean Xiao joked, seeing that Qin Che was fine.
Qin Che scratched his head and forced a wry smile.
*Why is Dean Xiao acting like an old rascal, so unpredictable?*
"See? I told you the Chaos System Afflicted I picked up is stronger than your Mind System Afflicted," Dean Xiao said, tilting his chin smugly at Dean Fu, who was sitting in a massage chair.
"Lucky bastard," Dean Fu muttered, his eyes still closed.
Dean Fu seemed deeply dissatisfied with losing the bet.
"Say what you will, you have to admit that Qin Che, the Chaos System Afflicted, is currently the only one who can withstand the mental influence of Yumian."
"Let's take it one step at a time. At least they can't appear in the public eye for now."
Dean Fu couldn't help but shudder as he recalled the day Ding Yumin's powers went out of control.
A mere emotional fluctuation had nearly resulted in the deaths of all the teachers and students in the middle school.
Though he had never witnessed Qin Che's powers going berserk, given this precedent...
Dean Fu could easily imagine the terrifying spectacle.
"Let's start with cultivation. Qin Che, Yumian, come here. Today, I'll teach you a special meditation technique."
Because Qin Che and Ding Yumin were Afflicted, they couldn't be treated according to ordinary standards.
Dean Xiao had devised a unique cultivation method specifically for them.
This approach wouldn't interfere with the anomalous power within their bodies while still allowing them to cultivate steadily and rapidly.
Qin Che and Ding Yumin exchanged glances before obediently approaching Dean Xiao.
They listened patiently and attentively as he explained the technique.
***
After a while, Dean Xiao observed the two students who had entered meditative cultivation and nodded in satisfaction.
*It seems my intuition was correct.*
However, this was only a temporary calm. He would need to monitor them for any signs of instability before he could truly relax.
Meanwhile, within Qin Che's consciousness:
As the meditation deepened, Qin Che's consciousness fully entered his mental world.
But when he saw the scene before him, he froze in shock.
Apart from a swirling mass of colorless, transparent, and violent energy, there were also two distinct energy bodies: one a ghostly blue and the other a dark crimson.
Qin Che instinctively reached out to touch the energy bodies, but information about them immediately flooded his mind.
After fully absorbing this knowledge, Qin Che was stunned.
*These are the souls and flesh of Demon Beasts! They can be used to enhance my physical attributes and mental power!*
It was common knowledge that even after becoming a mage, a human's physical constitution could never fully match that of a Demon Beast.
Yet Qin Che's Chaos Vortex could transform the Demon Beasts it devoured into energy beneficial to himself!
And mental power—this was the very core of cultivating Dimensional Magic!
The Mental Power Realm is divided into nine stages.
Stages 1 to 3 are equivalent to the Elemental System's Spirit Seed.
Stages 4 to 6 are equivalent to the Elemental System's Soul Seed.
Stages 7 to 9 are equivalent to the Elemental System's Heavenly Seed.
If Qin Che's Mental Power Realm were high enough, he might be able to completely control the violent energy of the Chaos System's Afflicted!
The mere thought of this made Qin Che's heart race with excitement.
With this heaven-defying absorption ability, he might be able to fully control that power even at the advanced stage.
Unlike Qin Yuer, who had her Afflicted identity exposed at the advanced stage and was imprisoned by the Inquisition Court in Tianshan for ten years!
Once he reached the advanced stage, he would appear to outsiders as nothing more than a prodigy with extraordinary talent.
In the following days, Qin Che focused on refining these two energies.
Of course, this process also tempered his physical body and mental power, making it somewhat painful.
But Qin Che had already faced death itself. How could he fear such trivial pain?
However, this was all Qin Che's own perception.
Outside, Dean Xiao, who was guarding him, watched Qin Che's strained expression and nearly jumped up in alarm.
"My calculations were correct! How could this be happening? No, no... yes, yes... Perhaps I need to make further adjustments...?"
Dean Xiao paced back and forth in the living room, constantly pondering the flaws in this cultivation method.
After pacing and pondering for a long time, Dean Xiao couldn't find any bugs in the system.
So he shifted his attention back to Ding Yumin.
Silence!
An unnatural silence!
"Yumian shows no issues at all! Why does the problem only arise with Qin Che?"
Finally, Dean Xiao shook his head. After completely absorbing the two forces, Qin Che had once again fallen into a state of perfect stillness.
"It must be related to the Chaos System," Dean Xiao sighed, drawing this conclusion.
Night fell.
Qin Che awoke from his meditation, feeling completely different from before. An involuntary smile spread across his face.
"The energy provided by the Demon Beasts in this nest is truly abundant!"
Qin Che now felt brimming with power!
Even if a One-Eyed Demon Wolf stood before him, he could easily slap it a few times.
"Qin Che! You're awake? Come join us for dinner! We've been waiting for you!"
Suddenly, a girl's clear voice reached his ears. Qin Che instinctively turned toward the sound.
He saw Dean Xiao and Dean Fu already seated at the dining table, smiling warmly at him.
"Alright, I'll be right there!"