372 Chapter 372: A Small Break (1/2)

\”How do you like Southampton City?\”

After the qualifiers, all of the sixty-four teams who had made it to the knock-out stages were required to return to Southampton City, where the tournament would be held this year. We were given a week's break after all that fighting and competing, and Bu Fan wasted no time wheeling his sister out. Xin Chun was wheelchair-bound for some reason. Don't ask me why. For some reason, even though healing magic existed, she couldn't heal her own legs and still needed a wheelchair. Maybe her disability wasn't something that could be healed, or it was a curse rather than an injury/disability. I had no idea. Knowing the author of Versatile Mage, I wouldn't be surprised if Xin Chun turned out to be harboring a Divine Spirit inside her body, and thus the burden of carrying two souls inside one body was so great that she couldn't walk. I guess we'll find out after 1,000 chapters…assuming we ever get that far (most likely we wouldn't).

Anyway, as Harrison promised, we brought Xin Chun along. Originally we planned to bring her before the qualifiers first began, but the young healing mage had classes and school stuff to do so she declined. Fortunately, she was able to come along right after the qualifying stages and here she was. Bu Fan turned into a completely different person the moment he saw her, and was always babying her, looking after her and wheeling her about.

\”I'll take you around Southampton City!\” he declared, and left the rest of the team behind. He couldn't even be bothered to stick around for strategy meetings and other discussions. With the knock-out stage taking palce next week, most of the team had gathered in Harrison's room to watch video replays of the other teams' duels, and figure out the optimal tactics to tackle them. Unsurprisingly, the lone wolf Bu Fan (unless he was required to go grab some treasure item in the middle of a desert) declined to participate in these group events and was more occupied with taking his sister out to play. Thus he was conspicuously absent.

\”Southampton City? Isn't this Stuart City?\” Xin Chun sounded confused.

\”Of course not. I know this city serves as the home base for the Stuart Clan, one of the ten great families, but why would they name the city after them? This isn't Battle Frenzy.\”

\”Uh, right…okay.\” Xin Chun didn't sound convinced, but she went along with whatever her brother said. And the two disappeared from the hotel shortly after that, never to be seen again for the rest of the day. By most of us, anyway. Since they were step-siblings and were not actually related by blood, I wouldn't be shocked if they developed a romantic relationship, despite Bu Fan already having a love interest in the form of someone from the Mu clan. Don't ask.

\”Are we seriously going to let Bu Fan go like that?\” Craig complained as he glanced out of the window.

\”Let him.\” Harrison sounded dismissive as he waved his hand. \”It's not as if he'll contribute much to the discussion anyway. He's the type who relies on brute force and overwhelming magic. That's his strategy and admittedly it's pretty viable.\”

\”Besides, it has been a while since he got to see his sister.\” Sheila placed a soothing hand on Craig's arm. \”Give them some time together.\”

\”All right, all right.\” Craig was grumbling, but he didn't argue. Harrison nodded and swept his gaze across everyone with a bright smile.

\”Let's begin then. This is the replay video of the team from Adolf Academy…\”

*

After spending a whole day of analysis and stuff, we broke up for rest. Several of my friends decided to go have dinner in some bar, but as I wasn't feeling very hungry, I decided to return to my room for now.

\”Are you sure you are all right?\” Yue Chu asked me, concerned. I nodded and smiled to assure him.

\”Yeah. Just a little tired. I'll probably take a nap, and then go for dinner in two or three hours. It's still too early for me.\”

It was only five in the afternoon. I usually didn't eat dinner until seven or eight, mostly because I was too lazy to cook. My stomach ran on its own internal biological clock, always subjecting me to its whims. It sucked, but there was little point in forcing myself to eat when I wasn't hungry, and I needed to eat when I was hungry.

Okay…that sounded weird. Anyway, I had more important things to focus on than to explain the whims of my stomach.

\”Since I have some time, I should go practice and develop my ice magic more, and infuse more of it with my summoning magic.\”

That was right. The best way of making myself hungry was to train. By the time I finished training, I bet I would be starving. Burning up mana, energy and calories would cause my stomach to growl. Theoretically, anyway. As I said, my stomach was one weird one.

After training, I left the gym, took a shower in my hotel room upstairs to wash away the sweat. Even though I practiced ice magic and ended up freezing myself, I still perspired a lot from the sheer effort and exertion of practicing magic and sparring with my newly developed Constellation spirits. Cetus was much improved from before, and Scorpius had a new ice-type ability because ice magic was a branch of water magic, so it was easier for me to infuse him with ice spells than my other Constellation spirits.

Even so, there were a couple of others that I wanted to try and infuse with ice magic, but I didn't know how it would work out. Honestly, it was going to take me a lot of time, but it should be worth it. Or so I hope. Well, one step at a time. Training and learning magic was a journey, not a single jump. You would get nowhere by being impatient and without making the required steps.

\”Ugh…now I'm hungry.\”

Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was finally eight in the evening. In other words, time for me to get some dinner. Gulping down some water, I then left my room, took the elevator down to the lobby, and then departed from the hotel. There was a Korean restaurant nearby, from what I remembered. Right, Tofu House. That was the one.

I had a craving for white rice and tofu soup. Mild spicy, of course. The last time I went there, I was attacked by the Hei Clan…sort of, but fortunately Hei Xin stopped the assault and allowed me to eat in peace. Not that I needed her permission, mind you, but it was better than getting into fights when all I wanted to do was eat.

Hopefully nothing too dramatic would happen. I recalled the courageous chef who stood up to the bullies from the Hei Clan, not caring that they were from one of the top ten great families of the Federation. As he said, this was his restaurant, and nobody was exempt from the rules he instituted. All customers were equal in his eyes, as long as they were within his property.

\”Yeah, I'll have that.\”

My mouth was already watering when I thought about the food that was sure to be cooked in the establishment. I could already taste that awesome tofu soup.

\”Welcome!\” the waitress greeted me in Korean when I stepped through the doors. She didn't recognize me, of course, even though I somewhat vaguely recalled her. I mean, she had to deal with hundreds of customers on a daily basis, she wasn't going to remember each and every one of them. \”How many?\”

\”One person.\”

\”Oi! Make that two. Let him sit here.\”