After thoroughly testing Mei Gui's new capabilities out, we returned to the hospital - also via the...non-conventional way. I carried the girls up one by one using Flight. Even though some of them already had Sky Magic affinity on their own such as Yu An Yan and Xiang Peng, they still insisted that I carry them up so that it was 'fair'.

What a pain...

In the end, we all managed to get back to the hospital room Mei Gui was assigned to safely. Obsidia and Amane had also finished their discussion about my Chaos power and whatnot, and...she seemed to be taking it quite well, in fact. She didn't ask me anything, but instead just clung to me even more than before, much to the dismay of the other girls who didn't quite have as much guts as she did.

When we arrived in the room, however, we soon heard the sound of the door opening. Old Man Leng and his wife walked inside.

"Back?" Old Man Leng asked, raising an eyebrow.

I averted my gaze. "Uh...you knew?"

He chuckled. "Of course. I ain't this old for nothin', y'know. I pulled the same tricks ya did when I was yer age. I won't ask anythin' about this girl though. I know you won't tell me anyway."

I nodded. "Much appreciated. But that aside, did you need us for something?"

"Yeah. I think I may have mentioned it once before, but never really talked about it," Old Man Leng replied. "It's about the annual tournament. Ya know, the one to enter Fragment."

"...Is it coming up soon?" Feng Mian asked nervously.

"Yeah, but why so nervous? You'll be fine," Old Man Leng's wife said with a laugh. "If you managed to come out of a fight with a Holy Emperor alive, you'll definitely do fine in the tournament."

Yeah...it's more like she let us go alive, but whatever.

"Mm...I ain't too sure about that," Old Man Leng said, rubbing his chin. "I'm not concerned about the actual tournament. The thing I'm worried about is what comes before."

"What comes...before?" I echoed, curious and confused.

Old Man Leng nodded. "Indeed. Before the main tournament, there's a kind of...preliminaries, if you will. Otherwise, there would be too many contestants in the tournament."

"That's understandable, but...why are you worried about this?" Yu An Yan asked. "Is it dangerous or something?"

Old Man Leng's wife sighed, and answered in her husband's stead. "Yes, but...not because of the contest itself. It's because of the people you will be facing off against."

"The people...you mean...they'll try to get rid of us before the actual tournament even begins?" Xiang Peng concluded.

Old Man Leng nodded. "The less competition there is, the better for them, ain't that right?"

"Not only that, but considering these girls...that would make another reason to attack you," Old Man Leng's wife added.

Yeah...that's true. We will be quite a big target for a lot of people.

"...I believe we can deal with them," I said confidently. "But...there's just one thing I'm concerned about. Are there different divisions? They can't expect an Advanced Mage to fight against a Golden Monarch."

Old Man Leng's wife nodded. "Naturally, yes. That would be too unfair. There are two divisions - Novice Mage to Advanced Mage, and Ancestral Mage and above...though that is mainly just Ancestral Mages and Golden Monarchs. There are very few Holy Emperors here who have not made it into Fragment yet. That woman you fought...was an exception, I guess."

"Hmph. Now they care about 'fair'..." Old Man Leng muttered. "Yet they don't care at all when someone kills someone else during the preliminaries."

Strength is the only true justice, huh?

"Well, in any case, that makes things easier for us," I said with a shrug. "I'm confident we can handle Advanced Mages."

"I know, but...it's still best to be careful, yeah?" Old Man Leng said with a chuckle.

"U-Um, when exactly are these prelims happening?" Lan Xiao Su asked hesitantly.

"A month from now. Best get some trainin' in, ya hear me?"

"Training? Do you mean...guns?" Qing Yue asked, eyes dazzling in excitement at the chance of getting to use a gun again.

"Well. That, and yer normal magic, too," Old Man Leng replied. "Yer allowed to use anythin' in the preliminaries - guns or normal spells, so just choose the one ya find most comfortable."

"Hm...where do we train?" Feng Mian asked.

Old Man Leng and his wife exchanged glances knowingly, then chuckled. "I know a place. I'll take ya guys there...just don't forget to collect yer reward from my wife first."

Reward...? Oh, the gadgets.

"Right...I almost forgot about the gadgets," I said, slightly embarrassed. That had been the whole reason we even entered Exurtra Labs in the first place.

"Ha! Come with me back to my shop, you guys can choose whatever gadgets you want, as promised," Old Man Leng's wife said with a wink. "Only one per person though."

*****

- Some Time Later, Old Man Leng's Wife's Gadget Shop -

"Here we are. Pick anything," Old Man Leng's wife said, spreading her arms wide as she welcomed us inside her store. Old Man Leng had left to go back to his own shop, since right now was about time for him to open up anyway.

"Hm...you say that, but we're completely clueless about this stuff," Feng Mian said dejectedly. "Any recommendations?"

"Well, for starters, remember that dome of protection you were complaining about?" Old Man Leng's wife asked, walking over to the left wall and taking off what looked like a...pad? It had a weird pattern on it, but it was nothing more than a...pad.

"That's the dome of protection?" I raised an eyebrow skeptically.

She smiled. "I'm used to newcomers being surprised when I tell them this. Follow me outside - I'll show you."

And so, we followed the woman outside, and around the building, until we arrived at the back parking lot. There, she looked at us, and smiled.

"Look closely."

And then, she casually tossed the 'pad' onto the ground. Our eyes were glued to it the entire way, and then, immediately after making contact with the concrete, a translucent bright blue dome shot out from the center of the pad, and expanded to surround herself - much like the scene we had once seen during the fight with the Bloodthirsters.

"Woah..." Qing Yue murmured, eyes widening.

"It's...that simple?" I asked, frowning.

"Yes! Gadgets are made to be simple and convenient to use, after all," Old Man Leng's wife replied with a smug grin.

Hm...hard to argue against that logic.

"Wait, I have an idea!" Qing Yue added, waving her hand, before taking out her amber necklace and holding it in between her fingers.

"Is that..." Feng Mian began, eyes widening.

"Yep!" Qing Yue declared excitely. "This is the reward I got for placing first in the Advancement Exams a while ago!"

Ah...right. Song Qian Long had given all of us rewards for finishing in first, and Qing Yue's had been a necklace that could transform into a golden bell of protection. Hence, it was nicknamed...the Golden Fortress.

"And? What's the test you want to do?" Xiang Peng asked, curious.

"I want to see which one is stronger - my Golden Fortress or this dome of protection!" Qing Yue explained with a smug smirk.

"Oh? These babies aren't that weak, y'know?" Old Man Leng's wife murmured in response, as if up to the challenge.

"Hehe, I'm confident I'll win!" Qing Yue exclaimed, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"H-Hold on, how are we testing this, and why?" I asked nervously.

"Because it's fun!" Qing Yue immediately countered, and laughed. "Hehe, Big Brother Xuan Kai, all you have to do is launch your most powerful attack at both of our shields. Whichever one takes damage is the loser."

"W-Wait, what if...uh...the shields can't handle it?" I inquired weakly. "I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone."

"Don't worry about that! Give it all you got!" Qing Yue yelled, giving me a thumbs-up.

I sighed, and concentrated. "Level Two Fire Magic - Abomination Flare."

A large ball of fire shot out towards the Golden Fortress, and made a huge explosion on impact. But once the dust had settled, the Fortress wasn't damaged at all. And inside stood Qing Yue, triumphant.

I then turned to the Dome of Protection, and chanted the same spell.

A similar ball of fire emerged from my palms, and flew towards the dome. A loud blast ensued, and when the dust cleared, the dome appeared to be undamaged as well.

However...then Old Man Leng's wife deactivated the gadget, and stepped out.

"I admit defeat," she said, sighing.

"Huh?" we all tilted our heads in confusion.

"Like I said...I lost. That golden bell wasn't damaged in the least by your attack," she explained.

"Uh...yeah, but your dome wasn't damaged either, no...?"

She shook her head sadly. "No. It's just...it regenerated shortly after. If your attack had been any stronger, it would've broken straight through and not given it a chance to regenerate. If you don't mind me asking, little girl...where did you get that artifact? It seems to be extremely powerful."

"Hm...I don't know either," Qing Yue said truthfully. "All I know is that this cost quite a bit."

"Hm...I see."

After that little experiment, we headed back into the shop, and each of us picked out some kind of gadget - grenades, dome of protections, deployable cameras, et cetera. In the end, we each got one, just as she had promised. And with that done, we were now going to head to training with Old Man Leng.