Knock! Knock!
Hearing the knocks on the door, Alden's, Owen's, and Neo's hearts tightened as they remembered the illusion they experienced.
They had no friends, so they could not help but worry about who might be behind the door.
Alden looked at Neo, and both nodded.
"Little Rainbow, go back to the mental world." As Alden said this, the rainbow-colored portal appeared, and Little Rainbow went through the portal, disappearing.
Steeling his resolve, Alden walked to the door. With a trembling hand, he grabbed the handle and opened the door.
Alden's eyes widened in surprise for a second, but he quickly breathed a sigh of relief.
With a cold, grim expression, Chloe stood before Alden.
"O-Oh! Hi." Seeing her, Alden did not know how to act. She knew his secret, so should he act as if nothing happened or say something?
"Come out for a second. We need to talk." She said in a cold voice.
Alden turned behind to look at Neo and Owen. He received a nod from Neo, so he nodded back and turned his attention to Chloe again.
"Sure, let's go."
With Chloe leading the way, Alden left the room.
He followed behind her in silence.
A few minutes later, she suddenly stopped.
Thud!
Alden bumped into her. "I-I am sor..."
Swoosh!
Before he could even apologize, Chloe had an icicle up his throat, the sharp pointy end of it threatening to pierce Alden's throat upon the slightest touch.
"Whoaa! I am sorry for bumping into you." Alden raised his hands, his eyes staring around. But there was no one in the hallway. "But isn't this going too far? You are threatening to kill me just for bumping into you?"
Chloe did not respond. With her silver eyes, she just stared into Alden's eyes, her expression grim.
Even though being in a situation like this, Alden could not help but blush a bit.
She was too beautiful, and by the looks of it, she was pure and dignified.
Suddenly, the temperature around them dropped drastically.
Sharp little needles formed all around them. There were more than a hundred needles, all pointing at Alden, threatening to put holes all over his body if released.
Cut!
Chloe put the icicle closer to Alden's throat, causing a small cut on his throat.
A drop of blood slid down the icicle.
Only now did Alden realize the grave situation. Chloe was not joking. She had the intention to kill him.
He gulped hard. "Can we talk it out?"
"Where did you get that egg from?" She asked. "What did you do to the parent of the beast?"
"I ca...."
"Think before you speak." She spoke, her voice chilling. "If you do not answer me, I will put holes in your body right now."
Once again, Alden gulped hard. He did not know what to say to her. He could not think of any explanation other than the truth itself. And he could not just tell her about the system.
"I can't tell you." Alden finally said it. He could not come up with an explanation, and at the back of his mind, he did not believe she would kill him.
"I see." Chloe closed her eyes. "You despicable human. Die!" She raised her hand and was about to release the ice needles.
Alden froze. 'She is really going to kill me?' He panicked.
He wanted to jump to the side and dodge but was surrounded by ice needles. He had nowhere to run.
"Meow!"
The seven colored portal opened, and Little Rainbow jumped out of it right into Chloe.
Chloe froze in surprise. Seeing the incoming cute cat, she did not know what to do. She instinctively stretched her hands and caught Little Rainbow.
"Y-You are..." She uttered, her eyes wide in shock.
"Meow." Little Rainbow meowed.
For a second, to Alden, it looked like Little Rainbow shook his head.
A warm smile spread on Chloe's face. It made her look like an angel.
"I am glad." She petted Little Rainbow as the ice needles around disappeared.
Unlike what he did previously with Neo, Little Rainbow happily allowed her to pat him.
The smile on Chloe's face captivated Alden's heart. Even though just seconds before, he was about to lose his life to her, now, his heartbeat increased, and his whole face turned red.
"Meow! Meow!" Little Rainbow jumped onto Chloe's chest. Using its little claws, it climbed up to her shoulder.
"Meow, Meow." He meowed happily.
"He just hatched," Alden revealed. "I named him Little Rainbow. You are the first one he allowed to touch him beside me. He has not allowed my friends to touch it."
"I will keep your secret." She said, not even bothering to look up at Alden. She just focused on Little Rainbow, who happily played with her.
"It's time for me to return. Otherwise, my friends will get worried." Alden extended his arms to get Little Rainbow.
Chloe took Little Rainbow from her shoulder and passed him to Alden.
Little Rainbow climbed on Alden's shoulder. So, with little Rainbow on his shoulder, Alden turned and started walking back toward his room.
"See you soon." Chloe waved with a smile.
'Is she waving at me?' Alden's face turned red. He felt like it was on fire.
"Meow!" But the happy meow of a certain creature slapped him hard in the face.
"She is waving at Little Rainbow." He muttered. "Little Rainbow, you saved my life." Alden patted Little Rainbow. "You're quite the charmer too. You captured the heart of the ice goddess in an instant."
"Meow!"
Alden returned to his room. Neo and Owen waited for him. He decided to not mention what happened with Chloe.
After all, knowing Neo's temper, he was definitely going to go and ask explanation from Chloe. And as Chloe was cold, she would say something rude. Thus, it would most likely result in a fight.
Alden returned to the room but did not stay long. He returned Little Rainbow to the mental world, and he, Owen, and Neo went to the cafeteria to eat.
When they returned from the cafeteria, the night had already fallen, so Neo and Owen went to bed, but Alden started cultivating.
He entered his mental world.
"System, what is this?!" Alden exclaimed upon entering. HIs mental core the size of a football ball has lost all color. "Why is the mental core barely shining any light?"
[Host, the mental core contains your mental energy. The mental energy inside is shining. The reason why it is shining weakly is because you consumed mental energy to form the soul contract. It needs time to replenish the mental energy you consumed.]
"Ohh, I see." Alden breathed a sigh of relief. He thought his efforts had been in vain. "Is there a way to fasten the recovery of the mental energy?"
[Yes. By cultivating and merging more mental particles in your mental core]
Alden nodded in understanding.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Little Rainbow lying on the ground, his eyes closed.
"System, is Little Rainbow sleeping?"
[Host, he is cultivating. When the beast is in the mental world, it has nothing to do, so it cultivates to improve its strength]
"Ohh, system, I remembered now. Previously, Little Rainbow came out of the mental world on its own. Why is that?"
[Host, most of the time, the beast does not come out of the mental word if not ordered from the beast tamer. There are rare cases of disobedient beasts]
[But the reason Little Rainbow left the mental world was because it sensed your life being endangered]
'So she was really going to kill me.'
Alden did not waste any more time. He sat cross-legged and started cultivating.
...
Alden slowly opened his eyes. It was 6 am.
He has cultivated all night and managed to double the size of his mental core.
"Ahhhh!" He yawned as he stretched his body.
He woke up Neo and Owen, and after they washed up and took care of their hair, they left for the cafeteria.
After eating, they headed to the academy and went to their classroom on the tenth floor.
They arrived quite early, so barely half of the students were in the classroom.
But Chloe was not there.