Sacred in the Dream, Part Two

"That's a strong smell of blood. Killed someone again?"

Flender chuckled as he took the lunchbox Ma Hongjun handed him and set it on the table. He lifted the lid, and the aroma of lamb soup sent his appetite soaring. That was the stuff. Add the freshly warmed flatbread from the stove, and tonight's meal was going to hit the spot.

"Yeah. I ran into a particularly stupid Soul Ancestor who wanted 1,500 Gold Soul Coins for a Spirit Bone catalog." Jodio wiped his hands on a towel in Flender's room, explaining it as calmly as if it were nothing. Killing someone was simple enough. If a person deserved it, he killed them. Flender of all people would understand. He and Zhao Wuji were veteran Soul Masters who had traveled far and wide. What hadn't they seen? They had even seen plenty of people killed over a bowl of soup.

"How much? Fifteen hundred? Why didn't he just rob you?" Flender nearly spat out his lamb. That was the equivalent of admission fees from 150 students, and the man had dared to ask for it? Incredible.

"So I didn't pay. Negotiations broke down, and we fought." Jodio pulled over a chair and sat down.

"You should've seen it, Headmaster. Boss Jo took down that Soul Ancestor in no time. Man, it was awesome!" Ma Hongjun said with a grin.

"When you can take down a Soul Ancestor that quickly, I'll celebrate with you," Flender replied, smiling.

"How's the new student? You two haven't been bullying him, have you?" Flender asked, changing the subject.

"He's all right. Headmaster, that Dai kid doesn't seem too sharp. Boss Jo had him fooled in just a few sentences."

"Of course he did. Does Jo talk like a normal person? Forget brats of nine and twelve—even that old bastard Zhao Wuji gets run in circles by him." Flender snorted in amusement.

"Still, look after the new student. A White Tiger Martial Soul and the surname Dai—he's probably a prince from the Star Luo Empire. Why would a prince come here, though?" Flender grumbled.

"He's a loser, Headmaster. Did you forget what Boss Jo said earlier today?" Ma Hongjun opened his own lamb soup and chatted as he ate.

"A loser, huh? Poor kid. But why didn't he bring his girlfriend along? Then we'd have just as many students as teachers." Flender was joking.

Jodio sat in the rocking chair by the window, gazing outside as he thought over a great many things. Every so often, he followed Confucius's example and examined himself. Oscar and Hongjun didn't worry him. He had raised them from the age of six, teaching them himself before they had been exposed to other ways of thinking. But Dai Mubai...

"That guy's still a coward. Give him half a chance, and he might lose himself in pleasure," Jodio said suddenly.

"Hongjun, you and Oscar can put your Great Soul Arena assignments on hold for a few days. Take him out drinking and carousing each day, but make sure you only take him there. Then the two of you come back and keep training," Jodio continued.

"What's the point of that?" Ma Hongjun asked, puzzled. Drinking and carousing had some appeal, but not much. As long as he trained, fought, and stayed active on Boss Jo's schedule, he got to eat good food. Why do this to Dai Mubai?

"People have a sense of shame. Whether he finds his resolve again is up to him. Let him wallow for a while, and it might finally provoke a reaction. Then he could remember why he started," Jodio explained calmly.

"Little Ma, suppose you had an older brother who always had the upper hand over you. When you came of age, you'd have to fight him, and the loser would either have his Soul Power crippled and be exiled or die. How would you feel?" Jodio asked.

"I dunno. I just know my amazing boss would help me sort it out," Ma Hongjun said through a mouthful of food.

"You..." Jodio grumbled.

"Well, never mind. I've got years to set him straight." Jodio stood and waved a hand.

"Get some rest. Tomorrow, show the new student how it's done," Flender said with a nod.

Shrek Academy had undergone a modest round of renovations over the past few years. At least the buildings no longer looked quite so dilapidated. The dormitories were still shared rooms, but curtains divided them into separate spaces, and a few small tables and wardrobes had been added. They felt much cozier and more reassuring now.

Jodio's nighttime routine had not changed. He went to bed at eleven sharp, after a sip of hot orange juice and twenty minutes of Soul Power training. His vast mental strength kept him energetic and unusually alert at all times. Fatigue had not touched him in a long while.

Challenges? The unknown? The future? Jodio did not torment himself over any of them. He simply did what he believed in, what he thought ought to be done. It was faith: the conviction that he was walking the right path.

After washing up, Jodio climbed into bed. Warm candlelight fell across the prototype Soul Tool on his desk. Ah, that thing was a failure. Soul Tools might have been everywhere by the time of Soul Land 2, but Jodio's skill at making them remained mediocre. Managing to make one that could record images was already something.

After so many failures, Jodio could not be bothered with complicated offensive Soul Tools anymore. He planned to find time to make storage and recording devices instead. There was no point banging his head against something he was bad at just because others in the field made Soul Tools first.

Everything in the dream was far more indistinct. Jodio walked across an endless white expanse, not knowing where he was going or where he had come from. He found the dream soothing, so he treated it as a chance to rest, wandering at will as he recited numbers.

"Two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-three, twenty-nine, thirty-one, thirty-seven."

Walking across that boundless dreamscape while counting prime numbers was an excellent way to rest. Then Jodio suddenly remembered something. If you found yourself in a world of endless white, with no sense of up, down, left, or right, and nothing but boundless land stretching in every direction, what would you call such a place?

"Death?" Jodio wondered, rubbing his chin.

The sound of thunder and storms interrupted his thoughts. He looked ahead, but saw only a forest fire and a figure flashing past.

"Jodio."

"Jodio."

"Who's there?" Jodio turned around, his guard raised to its highest. He was ready for an attack like Death 13's at any moment. Plenty of Soul Masters attacked people in dreams. Shi Nian, for instance, specialized in it.

"Time is a branching Möbius Strip. You can choose to keep going in circles, or you can choose to move forward."

"Jodio, do you have the courage to choose?"

"I do," Jodio answered simply.

"Then seize it."

Jodio turned toward the voice and looked at its owner. His pupils contracted in an instant. Then he woke, and everything faded away.

A cuckoo sang as sunlight slanted through the window onto Jodio's bed. As calm as ever, he sat up and began putting away his bedding, ready to train. He really had had a good dream last night. He had dreamed of something wonderful.