"In your soul realm..." The Kirin sniffled.
"My soul realm..."
Lotus raised a brow in surprise.
"What does that mean?" Riddle questioned slightly worried.
"Well," Lotus hummed in thought, "You could say your mind is in a place plentiful of mana... and you're basically within a realm manifested by the mana of your... well, soul... Rather than relying on an outside source to rebuild your mana, this place regenerates the mana by themself. So, why is Riddle here?"
The Kirin shuddered off the remaining water and responded, "I'm not too sure. It's probably because of the imprint..."
"Um..." Lotus wore a small wry smile, "I-imprint?"
"That means..." Riddle narrowed his eyes.
"Oh no..." Lotus sighed and shook her head in exasperation, "Do you know how to navigate around here, Little Jun?"
"Sort of?" Little Jun responded hesitantly.
Lotus nodded, "Then, you can find the other two guys?"
"I can try, but..." Little Jun responded nervously.
"But?" Riddle raised a brow.
What now?
"I used up all of my internal energy..." Little Jun confessed nervously.
Lotus sighed and shook her head as Riddle turned to her in confusion, "What does this mean?"
"It means..." Lotus grumbled, "He doesn't have enough mana to even fly anymore."
"I see..." Riddle nodded with slight confusion on his face.
Lotus lectured Little Jun bluntly, "Next time, you must carefully use your internal energy. It is dangerous for cultivators to be without internal energy. Enough. I'll lecture you later tomorrow night. Tell us how we can leave this realm?"
Little Jun was instantly in dismay after learning about his upcoming lecture as he answered, "You can leave the place much by waking up. That's all."
Little Jun hopped onto one of the ridges of the mountain peaks, "I can feel some movements on the other peaks, Big Sister."
"Good." Lotus nodded in approval.
"Are we going right now?" Little Jun questioned with perked up ears after hearing her praise.
Lotus nodded again and turned to Riddle, "Do you know how to ride horses?"
"I can... Wait..." Riddle's eyes widen upon realization, "You want him to give me a ride?!"
"That's right." Lotus responded, "I don't have a saddle right now, so you'll have to ride him bareback. He's still a foal, but he's strong enough to give rides. We'll be jumping to another peak so I'll need you to get on him."
"Jumping to another peak?!" Riddle stared at her in disbelief.
"You don't have internal energy to help you jump, so you'll need to rely on someone else and I don't have the body or strength to carry you." Lotus reasoned, "I'll just give Little Jun enough mana to jump across."
Riddle hesitated as he looked to the other peaks with a shudder nervously. Finally, he frowned and scowled at her with a glare, "If I fall... I'll have your head..."
Hearing the last phrase of his in a silent hush, Lotus shrugged and turned to Little Jun, "Well, Little Jun... Don't drop him."
His ears perked up as he called out joyfully, "Okay! Okay! I've always wanted to give them a ride!"
Seeing him frolic dangerously to them with a wagging tail, Riddle narrowed his eyes in doubt as Lotus shook her head in dismay, "Calm down. Are you trying to throw him off your back or are you going to get him across?"
"I understand..." the kirin nodded his head nervously under her firm voice with the golden mane swishing along with the motion.
Little Jun helped Riddle onto his back as the kirin was rather taller now.
"He's grown again..." Riddle muttered under his breath in amazement, "How is this a foal..."
Hearing this, the kirin puffed his chest as a light feeling came of him. He felt rather strong and confident.
Lotus could see the pride shining in his eyes to which she shrugged in exasperation. What a child...
Feeling a tug on his mane and a light kick on the tummy, Little Jun smoothly began on their way as he snorted softly in complaint, "Why did you kick me?"
Startled, Riddle looked to him in confusion to which Lotus sighed, "That's the signal to start walking. You'll have to get used to this, Little Jun."
"Always?" Kirin groaned in dismay as he imagined the idea of his poor belly by then.
Riddle sighed in exasperation as he relented, "I'll do it a little gentler next time."
"Okay..."
Lotus shook her head as she led the kirin away, "Listen well, Little Jun. Without my permission, nobody else is allowed to ride on your back."
Little Jun nodded, "I understand, big sister..."
Riddle raised a brow in bewilderment as he pondered in his thoughts. Wasn't this a little too excessive?
Leaping over the cliffside wasn't a problem for Lotus who did so easily. The problem was if Riddle would be able to hold on tight to Little Jun. The guy was rather interesting as she watched Riddle and Little Jun cross the empty space in the air. With the guy's dorm uniform still on, his cape really did flutter behind him and she wondered how he didn't loose his little crown during the leap. Was it magic?
*What?" Riddle looked to her with a raised brow when he saw her staring at him with an uncomfortable feeling in him, "What are you staring at?"
"Well..." Lotus looked to him curiously, "That crown... Is it attached to your head by magic when you're in your dorm uniform? I'm surprised it didn't fall off when Little Jun jumped."
"That's what you're worried about?!" Riddle looked to her in disbelief.
Here he was risking his own life with that leap and the girl was more worried about his little ornament than his life!
Seeing him staring at her wordlessly, Lotus tilted her head in confusion, "You have something you want to tell me? Why are you silent all of a sudden? Is there something on my face?"
Her words brought him back to his senses as he huffed and turned his face away in a sulking manner, "Hmph! And here I thought I dropped something, but you were more concerned over my crown than my well being..."
"Hm...?" Lotus raised a brow in confusion, "Well, I was curious and you did ask me what I was staring at... Are you sulking again?"
It was then Lotus saw his ears were slightly redder to which she figured that he was probably mad.
"Pfft... Hahaha!"
Lotus looked up and saw the area with large rocks as she saw a familiar figure walk out in the dorm's uniform.
"Trey!" Riddle looked to him in surprise when he noticed anything figure suddenly appear, "Cater!"
"Hi, hi!" Cater smiled wide at the sight of the two.
Lotus waved with a smile, "I see Trey has arrived..."
Walking out of the formation of rocks and bushes, Trey approached them with a relieved expression, "Cater and I came across each other when we were looking around the place. We didn't know what was going on, so we were looking around for a way back."
As Riddle got off Little Jun, he answered, "According to Little Jun, the only way out is when we wake up."
"Seriously?!" Cater looked to him in bewilderment, "So, then... we wait till either we wake up or our alarm wakes us up?"
"Big sister..." Little Jun turned to her curiously, "What's an alarm?"
They looked to Lotus and Little Jun in bewilderment to which Lotus responded with a sigh, "A mechanism that wakes you up with loud noises at an appointed time."
"Oh..."
"Um... Isn't that..." Cater questioned nervously as he stared at the creature before him.
Little Jun's ears perked up and his tail wagged behind him like a dog the moment he saw Cater looking to him, "Ah, it's Cater! Yay~! Cuddles!"
Without warning, the creature almost jumped onto Cater if Lotus hadn't suddenly yanked the three away using her energy. She called out firmly, "Little Jun! What are you doing?!"
The creature froze in his place with his ears pulled back almost trembling as he snorted nervously. Seeing the display of power, Riddle stared at her in bewilderment.
"I-I-I..." Little Jun shivered in fear as he stood where Cater had been standing at before.
He wasn't a fool and knew that he had crossed the line this time. Seeing the fire behind his master's eyes, he knew he messed up big time, to which he began fighting back tears. Lotus frowned, "Crying again? Go ahead and cry till the heaven crashes down on the earth. Then, maybe you'll stop crying!"
Lotus said sternly, "Go to the corner and sit down under the sun. You're not allowed to lie down or stand till I say so."
"Isn't that going a little overboard?" Riddle muttered in confusion to Trey's surprise as he watched the guy go next to a rock and did just that.
The guy who dishes out punishment was actually calling this overboard compared to his own decision. Well, it probably was a good thing in the end.
Lotus stood firmly as she responded, "If it was something as light as getting us soaked in water or kicking dust up in the air, then perhaps not, but he isn't small anymore and one tackle from him would break your ribs. In here, it'd probably damage your soul."
"S-soul?" Cater stared at her in bewilderment.
Lotus went ahead and explained the situation to them to which they ended up understanding much more easily as Trey touched his forehead, "So, the reason we ended up here is because... of our imprint that you gave us? Then, that'd make you..."
"No way..." Cater stared at her in surprise, "The person who did that laser beam stuff was you? A girl?!"
Shocked, Lotus pouted as she folded her arms in annoyance, "Yes, I'm a girl. What else do you have to say about it?"
"B-But..." Cater muttered hesitantly as he habitually played with his shoulder-length wavy hair nervously, "Night Raven College is a private boys school... Would you be all right?"
Understanding his point of view, she nodded without hesitation but confusion, "Yup. I haven't been caught yet, you know. But thanks for the worry?"
It was weird how they would worry over her when she was rather strong despite being in a boys' school. The only people she would probably have to worry a little over would have to be Lilia and Malleus. So, it was weird how some humans were this worried over her who was a stranger and snuck onto campus.
"A-Anyway..." Cater stared at the Kirin crouched in the corner a little agitatedly, "You know... It's only been a few weeks..."