BUTTERFLIES (Arc 2&3; The Undefeatable Class 192)

Chapter 65: Family Mystery and MBI

  It was a telepathic message coming from MBI. Since I'd already entered the state of meditation, all I had to do was direct my spiritual consciousness to the claw prints of my Arerat symbol where the Mystical Beast of Illusion was entrapped.
  In my spiritual world, the surrounding was dark. However, there was an extreme sharp blue radiating from an illusionary creature suspended on thin air.
  “You've gained some more information? I thought that should only happen when I'm in an illusionary world?”
  It signed slightly and said, “I thought so too, but your meditation tonight caused me an epiphany. It seems your questions had a close connection with me.”
  I was befuddled for a moment, before saying, “I asked several questions, which one connects with you?”
  Its body was illusionary, so it was merely the way a genie out of a lamp would resemble, carrying no particular shape, man or beast. Only its sharp eyes were visible. Even with my increase in eyesight, I couldn't see its face clearly.
  MBI replied, “It seems my being entrapped with your Arerat wasn't your doing as you thought... it could have been...”
  “Dorothy?!”
  My heart thumped really hard.
  It nodded.
  “In truth, not all thaumaturgist could resurrect a Mystical Beast of Illusion. With my newfound knowledge, I came to realise that all Mystical Beats of Illusion were once savage beasts who were able to attain the Divine realm, or in other words, divinity. It is known across all continents, that savage beasts cannot attain such realms, except divine beasts, such as dragons and phoenixes. However, I've checked my bloodline, and it does not carry any of those characteristics. Still, another knowledge surfaced to my mind.
  “Extremely powerful savage beasts who had successfully broken into the Divine realm during the days of the founders of Arerat Planet, had given off their lives as blood essence to the nourishment of these ancient people. While some of the stubborn beasts were able to escape without ever been tamed, and through some thaumaturgy skills, adapted into illusionary beasts. However, all these beasts could ever do was to assure themselves of eternal living. Once a beast makes itself illusionary, it becomes a mere will only capable of protecting its own cave and corps.
  “It seems that the current generation of high tier Gifted cultivators had been able to summon these illusionary wills to merge into themselves for their own use.”
  My mouth dropped ajar from all the information I'd just received.
  “You... Does that mean you were once a powerful beast?”
  It sighed then raised its head into the distant nothingness, before saying, “I feel I was once a proud beast who had been untameable, even by the founders, despite their great strength. But what I do not understand is why your cousin's bloodline and your bloodline completely resonates with mine. Living inside you feels like I've always been part of you, meanwhile never part of you. There's a strong feeling, and anytime I try to reach for the knowledge, there's always a sudden force that pushes my thoughts away!”
  I began to think carefully. “Sudden force,” I repeated. I thought about Old Ancestor and realised that back then when I entered into the Butterfly Garden, MBI seemed to have been inactive. The same thing when I was in the Twenty Doors hall, and when I was freefalling in the eighth door.
  To think about it, if Old Sage Muyu was a being of an illusionary world, MBI would have awoken and told me, even without my asking. Could it be that both Old Sage and Old Ancestor were preventing its knowledge awakening on both areas?
  Now that I was in my spiritual world, I could completely control my mind, so not even MBI could read my thoughts. Even when I wasn't meditating, I still had a way to prevent it from reaching my thoughts in certain areas. It was the gift of the Meditation realm cultivator.
  After much contemplation, I decided to ask rather, “The thaumaturgy spell Dorothy used to summon you, what's it called?”
  It was able to speak, but then stopped itself, before saying, “The thought has suddenly escaped my mind. She must really be an expert in disguise. She'd put a permanent spell on that area from the moment I'd been summoned into materialisation. I could only reach for that knowledge during your series of questioning, earlier. Now, I've lost it again.”
  My eyes were wide in disbelief. ‘What mystery!’
  Could the person who was described still be the same Dorothy I knew?
  “May I ask?” its voice came again. “Just what clan are you from?”
  I shook my head sincerely and spoke, “I do not even know.”
  “The events are peculiar,” it said, “but I'm sure I was once a savage beast and a powerful existence at that! Whatever, one thing is clear — your clan is very powerful! I'd advice not to look for Dorothy and your uncle for a while. They've already made their intentions clear.”
  My interest quickly arose as I asked, “And what's that?”
  “They want you to be powerful enough before you could completely understand all you need to learn.”
  I thought about those words for a while before asking, “What do you know about the condition of Gifted cultivators who decided to return to the reality earth?”
  “They loose their cultivation, completely. Then their Gifts still remains, but they loose memory of their perfect control over it. Some may not even remember they once had Gifts. But one thing's always conspicuous — their professional skills never leaves. But all these happens after staying a long time away from the Arerat.”
  A bell rang heavily in my head.
  ‘Does Mum and Dad have amnesia?!’
  My father was a top genius in psychology, yet he actually had his knowledge of the cultivation world ripped off him? How ironical! I wonder what his profession was, here in the Arerat Planet.
  Mum, on the other hand, was the Music Queen. I used to take pride in this fact. We didn't live far from the Music Hall's headquarter back then, so I was quite popular. But looking at it from this perspective, it could have been that she was originally a 6-star musician over here, or more!
  Just why had they returned back when they were at the peak of their cultivations? What was chasing them?
  How about my mum's sister, Auntie Daisy, who gave me my second most favourite dress, the green gown I'd worn the day I'd left home with Uncle Ramsey and Dorothy? She was a wonderful, popular fashion designer and artist. Could she also have been a 6-star painter?
  In the past, all I'd known was that my family was quite wealthy. Even back then when Daddy told me about how Uncle Ramsey lived in fairytale kind of world, there always seemed to have been seriousness in his voice, and... lots of unsurety.
  Why would my mother, her sister and my father leave the Arerat? Dad said his family made up of six males and no females. Were the other four of Dad's brothers also here in the Arerat Planet's dimension, like Uncle Ramsey?
  It really was no wonder why Uncle Ramsey and Cousin Dorothy couldn't afford to sleep over when they'd arrived to pick me. They were actually afraid of their cultivations dropping!
  I subconsciously clenched my fists and went back into meditation, slowly pushing all thoughts away from my mind. Soon, I'd already recuperated all my previously exhausted energy to its peak before I opened my eyes at the first crack of dawn.