Xuan Li was lying on something soft when he woke up.
Something tickled his back and chin, making him shift. The sweet scent of freshly harvested hay drifted into his nose.
He wrinkled his nose as something tickled his ears. In a confused state, he swatted at it, murmuring, "Stop it."
The tickling stopped for a split-second before ensuing. A feather-like object trailed down his neck and his ears, and he shivered. "Stop itttt!" he groaned in annoyance.
When the feeling persisted, Xuan Li's eyes opened with a jerk. The first thing he saw was something white and fluffy sitting right above him.
His eyelashes fluttered as he blinked.
"Is this heaven…? Did I finally die?" Li spoke in a drawl, eyes looking hazily at the scene in front of him. The fluffy white thing was still covering his head.
Just as he reached out his hand to touch it, a familiar voice rang out, "What do you think you're doing?"
Xuan Li halted in his actions and turned his head sideways. To his surprise and shock, it was the baby panther. The small animal was lying on kneaded hay strands beside him, waving a smooth feather in one of his paws.
Still half-asleep, Li proceeded to ask the baby panther, "Dumdum? Are we in heaven?"
The baby panther threw an annoyed glance at him. What nonsense was this foolish mortal saying again?
Xuan Li's voice grew heavy, he spoke somberly, "I'm so sorry, Dumdum. I dragged you in with me. Even though you're just a baby… But I'm so happy… Finally, I'm dead." He choked at the end of his small speech.
He was just about to close his eyes again when a heavy paw smacked him right in the face. The sting made Xuan Li hiss loudly in pain.
"Wha—!?" He yelped.
The baby panther hissed back. "Get back to your senses. This isn't heaven. As if someone like you could even get there. You're still alive, mortal."
Xuan Li blinked once. He blinked again. He kept blinking till his vision slowly came back. His body was aching all over, but there were no signs of wounds. Only his clothes were slightly bloody, and the familiar iron-like scent lingered on him.
"Not dead?" He mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"Unfortunately, still alive." The baby panther went back to his position, and curled up comfortably.
"Then, those clouds…?"Li questioned. His gaze shifted upwards, only to see a white parasol spread above.
After a second of silence, Xuan Li chuckled, lampooning with helplessness.
"Not againnnn... Even that couldn't kill me? Then what will!??" Memories began to play in his head. He remembered the massive attack both the chief and his wife had thrown.
It felt so powerful that he was sure that he would die.
Yet, here he was… Still alive.
"What should I do now?" he asked monotonously to no one in particular.
"Why don't you go visit Flecent? There's lots of wild fights there. Maybe you'll have a better chance of dying." The baby panther suggested, suppressing his mirth. This mortal was amusing, not being able to die even after so many attempts.
Xuan Li turned his humorless eyes at the baby panther. "More travelling? No, thank you."
"Do you plan on staying here longer then? Do you think they can kill you?"
Pausing, Xuan Li scratched his head without a reply.
The baby panther impatiently waved the feather at him.
The feather once again tickled Xuan Li's nose, causing him to sneeze.
The baby panther gave a disgusted look. "Wipe your nose; it's all dirty."
Sniffing, Xuan Li looked around for something to wipe his nose with. His hand reached for a slightly tough cloth. He cleaned his nose and wiped offthe traces of blood on his clothes.
A crash was heard in the room.
Both Xuan Li and the baby panther turned their heads towards the source of the sound. A shocked Eduana was standing in front of them. A clay bowl filled with water had fallen from her hands.
Eduana's eyes were fixed on the cloth Xuan Li had in his eyes. Her pink lips were slightly apart, shock evident on her face.
Xuan Li stood up from the bed and went near her, about to ask what was wrong.
"W-what have you done?" She stuttered.
Bewildered, Xuan Li shrugged. "What did I do? I just wiped my nose."
"No-not that. What did you just use for wiping your nose?" She pointed at the cloth desperately.
The baby panther answered for him, "Isn't it just a rag?"
Eduana swallowed back the scream threatening to erupt from her throat. "That was a Tier 2 magic circle pattern." She forced out.
The baby panther was stunned to silence. Even though he didn't care much about magic circles, he knew that it meant a lot to these puny humans. And this foolish mortal had actually ruined a Tier 2 magic circle inscription…
The results wouldn't be good.
Xuan Li was still confused. He didn't get what he had done. "Should I wash it?" He muttered, and bent down to wash the cloth in the puddle of water Eduana had made.
Even though he was about to wash it, the water had already become dirty by the muddy floor. In his tired state, he didn't even notice that.
Eduana's heart panged. This senior… Just what was he trying to do?
"Please… Please, stop it." She spoke weakly.
The baby panther sprinted forward and nudged Xuan Li with his paw. "Stop it already."
'I know he's strong but this is too much.' Eduana silently thought.
Soon, the entire family and the village, who had come to check up on Xuan Li, gathered there. On finding out that a Tier 2 magic circle pattern scroll had been lost, they all stifled a gasp.
Roman felt exhausted. First, his reputation had been brought down after not being able to defeat this man, and now, he had lost a tier 2 scroll. How was he supposed to bear this loss?
In a fit of anger, he turned towards his son who had placed the scroll, asking, "Why did you have to keep the scroll at such a place?! You shouldn't have been that careless."
Roman couldn't possibly scold the man who had actually done the damage. He was too strong for him. So, he took his anger out on his son.
Eduana stayed silent. This time, the loss wasn't repairable. It was very hard to find a tier 2 scroll. They cost too much, and for a village like this, they wouldn't be able to pay up.
Every scroll counted.
At this moment, Xuan Li interrupted Roman, and asked, "Excuse me, are you saying that the cloth I used was actually a beastskin on which a Tier 2 magic circle was drawn?"
The baby panther resisted rolling his eyes.
Eduana nodded slowly.
The villagers wouldn't stop whispering. They kept badmouthing Li, who had brought so much loss to them in such less time. But they were helpless, they couldn't fight against him.
Roman answered along with Eduana. "That's right. It was one of our precious Tier 2 magic circles. Extremely rare to find here."
His tone was one of defeat.
Xuan Li cocked an eyebrow. "What's that rare about a circle like that? I can replicate something like that in just a few seconds."
"..."
For a few minutes, the entire area was silent.
It was eventually broken by the panther laughing aloud. "Hahahahahah, he said he could draw a Tier 2 magic circle. HAHAHAHA!!" The baby panther started to roll on the floor with laughter.
Even the villagers joined him, giggling in a low tone. The two sons hid their smiles.
However, Roman was not amused, and he glared at Xuan Li for some time, before hesitantly looked away.
Xuan Li protested, "What are you laughing for, Dumdum? I'm serious. I may look dumb, but I'm way better in things like this. I've always been good at drawing. Grandpa used to say this to me all the time. You don't realise my true worth. Laughing won't cut it. You don't have my skills. I tell you, once you see it, you'll realise you were wrong and—" He rambles on, but was stopped by the panther.
"Stop cracking jokes." He snapped.
Xuan Li went to the corner of the room, mumbling to himself in a low voice. He picked up a twig and in a depressed manner, began to draw on the slightly muddy floor. He kept etching on patterns.
While the villagers were discussing what was to be done, Eduana, whose interest had been piqued, went to take a look at what Xuan Li was doing.
She gasped loudly when she saw what he had drawn.
It was as if what had been stopping Eduana all this time had lifted. She could finally figure out what her limit was, and where she had gone wrong. Her head immediately started to glow.
This was the first sign of a new magic circle being formed.
Roman's attention immediately went to Eduana.
Aghast, he spoke loudly, "Eduana!? You're about to break through?"
Eduana excitedly tugged Roman's hand, "Roman! Look at what he drew!! It's a Tier 3 Magic Circle! Its more complex than our tier 2 circle! We can use this!"
Roman choked. He scrambled to do as Eduana had said.
Soon, his head began to glow as well.
His hands shook as he bent towards Xuan Li, who was still pouting.
"My heartfelt gratitude to you. If it weren't for you, my wife and I wouldn't have obtained this enlightenment."
Xuan Li sniffed indignantly.
The baby panther stood up in disbelief.
'You mean to say this mortal here actually drew a Tier 3 Magic circle? No way!'
"Did he actually draw a tier 3 circle?" One of the villagers asked.
Eduana calmly replied. "It's true. Take a look yourself."
The villagers crowded around them. It did indeed look like a magic circle. If their chief and his wife had said so, then it must be true.
They all bowed in unison to Xuan Li, shouting, "We're forever grateful to you!"
Xuan Li ignored them.
Leaving the magic circle he drew untouched, he started to walk away from the village, in a direction different from where he had come from.
The baby panther followed him, still caught in disbelief.
"Wait for me, foolish mortal!"
Xuan Li's eyes glanced at the warm sunlight pouring down. A slight burning sensation started to spread in his body, but he ignored it.
He waited a bit for the panther to join him, and soon, they both took away, bantering on their way.