After yesterday's incident, Xie Qing returned home to Britain and was now on the training ground.
Now there were flashes of light all around him, which were absorbed by his body. This light was now and then black and now white.
Aria watched him break through to the next rank. She was a little surprised.
There is no particularly strict definition of combat strength, but habitually it is graded from F to S. Each rank has a lower phase, a middle phase, and finally a peak phase.
Now Xie Qing was at the C+ level, but there was a hint of the B- (lowest phase) level in his magical power.
Vshuu!
A sharp gust of wind made Xie Qing's black hair flutter. Aria waved her hand and suppressed the surge of energy.
Xie Qing smiled, but did not open his eyes. An image of a black space with endless stars appeared in his mind.
At first he felt nothing, but after a minute Xie Qing felt the pressure.
"Child of the Abyss."
"You're in too much of a hurry."
"For your own good, go away."
Different voices began to appear, but Xie Qing paid no attention. He only grinned, and then threw out all his magical power.
"Hmph."
"Don't say we didn't warn you."
Xie Qing rolled his eyes and began to build his "star." A small one-inch star appeared in the air.
The star was black and glowed with purple energy. A faint light came from it, but it was enough to illuminate a small space.
Leaving his mark, Xie Qing opened his eyes to reality and smiled predatorily. Black smoke appeared around him and began to swirl around his body.
Boom!
A burst of energy hit from Xie Qing's body, but it was absorbed by the black smoke, raising Xie Qing's level to B-.
Xie Qing stood up and stretched out, then turned to Aria, who was sitting on the phone.
He took a step forward and appeared behind her. Putting his arm around her neck, Xie Qing bit her earlobe.
Aria flinched and blushed. She turned her head and looked at Xie Qing with a strange look.
"What's your level, wifey?" Xie Qing smiled and stroked her cheek.
"Peak B-level..." Aria replied with a red face, but surprisingly didn't hit Xie Qing.
The guy laughed and walked away from her. He sat down on the couch and put his foot on his leg, then propped his chin up.
He opened the system panel and activated a new function, Achievement.
He had gotten it a long time ago, but Xie Qing had never figured out how to use it. But after killing demons yesterday, he got an entertaining result.
[Demon Killer Achievement - Increases resistance to miasma, increases damage against demons by 2%.]
If he got it right, the achievement can be earned by doing something incredible. And because of this you can get different bonuses.
Xie Qing nodded and closed the window. It wouldn't be of much use to him yet anyway. For starters, he thought about that space.
"Aria." Xie Qing turned to her. "What was that space?"
"That's the Soul Rift. They usually put Soul Stars in it." Aria nonchalantly replied and sipped her juice.
Xie Qing raised an eyebrow. It seems that the star he created was called the Soul Star.
After Aria told about the Soul Star. It was mandatory when breaking through to level B. At the moment of its birth, it produces a tremendous amount of magical energy, which is what helps with the breakthrough.
And also with the help of the Soul Star with a small chance you can survive even after your soul is destroyed.
Naturally, the stronger you are, the more likely you are to be reborn.
The star could also produce magical energy, so when you run out of magical energy, you can borrow it from the star.
However, it's not worth thinking about right now. The Soul Star is rather unreliable, because if it is destroyed, your level will drop to C-.
Xie Qing smiled and thought about something.
***
The Palace of the Nine Guardians.
The ninth guardian, Antaeus, opened his huge mouth and questioned Geryon.
"Are you sure the Abyss has been revived?"
The giant smiled and nodded. Antheus frowned.
"But I must make a correction. The Abyss never died, it was just in a state of pause." Geryon shrugged his shoulders.
The guards of the sixth circle, the Sisters of Erinia made a hissing sound and asked in the same hissing voice in the same tone: "Then what shall we do? The Abyss will interfere with Lucifer's plans."
Charon, the first guard, tapped his paddle against the floor, causing small earthquakes and the sound of waves.
"We must not interfere. We have our duties and we must fulfill them. Let others think about the rest."
The other guards nodded their heads. Antheus and Geryon nodded as well. But, of course, such cohesion was only outwardly. In reality, everyone was thinking about something else.
***
Xie Qing looked at the situation he found himself in and sighed heavily.
He, the most innocent man in the world, was lying on the couch, and an angel was sleeping on him.
They used to say, "There's an emerald lying there."
Xie Qing only remembers that he lay tired on the couch and fell asleep. But in the morning he woke up in this position.
And worst of all, Aria began to wake up.
"Um..." Aria lifted her head and met Xie Qing's gaze. Instantly all her sleepiness was gone.
"Y-You! What are you doing here?!" Aria jumped up and flapped her wings and fled to the corner of the room.
Xie Qing smiled bitterly, then stood up and sat down on the couch. He crunched his neck.
"I didn't do anything. And anyway, wasn't it you who came to me?"
Aria furiously shook her head, but suddenly remembered a memory from yesterday. She saw that Xie Qing had fallen asleep, so she decided to touch his muscles.
But Xie Qing ended up grabbing her in her sleep and pinning her down! This memory made Aria's face turn red.
Xie Qing, seeing this, smiled. Of course, he didn't mind, he was just very surprised.
Also, he would never tell about the dream in which he was crushed by an elephant. Never.
Xie Qing stood up and walked over to Aria, and then grabbed her by the waist and pulled her against him. He smirked.
"We're husband and wife, so you can touch me as much as you want."
Aria blushed, but just nodded in surprise. She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
Xie Qing was surprised. He clearly didn't expect the eternally innocent Aria to do such a thing.
Naturally, he liked it. The sensation of having two angelic mounds pressed against you was quite a treat... I mean, ahem, it felt good in his beloved's arms.
Xie Qing shook his head and kissed the top of Aria's head. Today had been a boring day, but with Aria he felt happy.
And, of course, he got hit afterwards.