Now they were both crying with bright smiles on their faces. They were truly happy. Now none of them would ever have to feel alone.Soon they both fell asleep. They hadn"t known each other for that long and yet they were already as close as family.
A few hours later, Jin Long woke up. The spot beside Jin Long were empty, but this time, he did not feel panic at all. He knew that Xiao Huoyan couldn"t have left.
After seeing how happy and excited Xiao Huoyan had been the night before, he knew that he couldn"t have possibly left.
Jin Long was full of energy. He rose up from the bed and went over to the door, but as soon as he was about to open the door, it got opened from the outside.
Through the door came Xiao Houyan. He was holding a plate with many kinds of fruits on as well as a cup of water.
"Wake up, it"s time for breakfast!"
Right after saying that, he noticed that Jin Long was behind the door.
"Morning, teacher! Uhm... what are you doing back there?"
"Eh... morning! Well, thanks to a certian "someone", I got smashed against the wall when this "someone" opened the door!"
"O-oh, sorry! But I"ve prepared breakfast!"
Hearing that, Jin Long heaved a deep sigh. Xiao Huoyan was truly a good and innocent child. He had done a lot of bad things while not being himself, but the fact that he actually regretted it, is enough to know that he"s a good person by heart.
"Thank you, my dear di-..."
"Hm?"
"... After yesterdays talk, I"m not sure what I"m supposed to call you. We already decided that I"d adopt you legally as soon as possible, but even as my son, you would still be my first and only disciple."
"... You"re right. So, what am I supposed to call you?"
Jin Long thought of it for quite a while, then he suddenly remembered what happened yesterday. He started to remember how excited Xiao Huoyan had been. Those big and bright eyes, they were filled with both happiness and excitement. Those eyes were something Jin Long knew that he"d never forget.
"Since we"ve ready decided to be a family, then how about, from now on you call me father instead of teacher? But if you don"t want to, you can just keep calling me teacher. It"s up to y--"
"--Father!"
"Geez! Won"t you let me speak until I"m finished?!"
"Haha, sorry... father!"
As he said "father", Xiao Huoyan smiled brightly. Hearing his now dear son call him father with such a bright smile on his face, Jin Long felt his heart melting into a puddle of happiness. He couldn"t think of a time when he"d been happier.
He gladly ate the breakfast prepared by his son. While Jin Long ate, Xiao Huoyan started to think about how it would be outside. He felt a little sad knowing that he might be unable to ever come back. Jin Long noticed his son"s worried and sad expression. He understood the reason, yet he didn"t know how to comfort him.
"I understand that you might be sad about leaving this place. I know that it can be hard to leave a place that you grew up in and are familiar with, just to go to a place that you know nothing about. You just have to take it all in slowly."
"Take what in slowly?"
Xiao Huoyan looked a little confused. What was he supposed to take in?
"Information, knowledge and stuff. When you learn more about the outside and what waits for you there, you"ll understand that it was good to leave this forest."
"But my mother said that I would become the most knowledgeable person there is."
"You"re only five years old. I do believe that you will stand on the peak of humanity, but that doesn"t change the fact that you currently only five years old. How much could you have learnt on that short time? You"re simply too young to--"
"--I know that I"m young, but I have abilities that other can only dream of."
"Geez, will you stop interrupting me?! I know about your abilities, but to go invisible, go "insane", or absorb someone else"s spirit essence will not help you increase your knowledge."
"…But it will."
"Huh?!"
Hearing that, Jin Long felt as if he had just explained everything to G.o.dd.a.m.n pole or something. What his dear son had said didn"t make any sense! Unless…
"I--"
"—You can read minds, or maybe you can absorb knowledge and memories… right?!"
"Now, who interrupted who?"
"That"s not important! Just answer my question!"
"Right, sorry! I can read minds and I can absorb both knowledge and memories, but if I absorb someone"s memories, their memories will get either wiped out or temporarily sealed. That will depend on how much I absorb. I can either absorb all of it, causing the memories to be wiped out, or I can absorb fragments of it, causing the memories to be temporarily sealed."
"… Can you "give" the memories back?"
"Yes, I can."
"How do you read their minds? Could you possibly seal a portion of that power into an object, so that it could be used by anyone?"
"I just focus my thoughts on that person, and then I enter a s.p.a.ce. Then it"s like all of their memories rush against me like a huge wave. Now I"ve learnt to control that "wave" to the point where I can search for certain memories. I could create a small orb which can be used by whose ever blood I use to create the orb."
"Hm… how much blood would you need, and which of the two effects would that orb have?"
"I would only need a drop of blood, and the orb would not erase somebody"s memories, only temporarily seal them."
"How long would this...o...b..keep the other person"s memories sealed?"
"That would depend on how big that orb would be."
"Then… could you make me one that can seal another person"s memories for about… half a year?"
"Of course! But why do you need it?"
"If we run into some trouble on our way through the forest, then I would like to use it on you to make you forget me, your gifts and the people who killed me."
"WHY?!"
"Because I want you to be safe. I want you to forget about me and the people who killed me, so that you won"t go "insane", and I want you to forget about you gifts so that you will have no way of exposing them."
"If that"s really what you want… then I will make you one… but why will you only seal it temporarily then? What will happen when I regain my memories?"
"When you regain your memories, I hope that you will already have found someone whom you can trust. Someone who will take care of you without thinking of gaining benefits from your special abilities. By then you can try to get into a great school and start learning techniques, so that you can get strong enough to avenge me."
"…"
"I know that this makes you sad, but I just want you to be safe. And about that orb… could you imply some of that invisibility into it? I want you to be able to hide from them, even after losing your memories."
"Yes…"
"I want you to promise me something."
"Anything!"
"If we meet with trouble on our way through the forest, then you have to listen to my every command, absorb all of my memories before I die, keep this letter with information that you"ll need when you wake up and…"
"And what?"
"…And please live on well!"
"…"
"Please, promise me!"