If confusion could be materialized, then Xu Xi’s head would undoubtedly be covered in a dense cluster of question marks at this moment.
To ensure Krisha’s successful meditation, Xu Xi had prepared multiple plans long before today and was ready for a prolonged struggle.
He never expected that the girl would succeed on her very first attempt.
“Krisha, tell me about your experience during meditation,” Xu Xi asked cautiously, wanting to confirm.
“Yes, I saw…” Krisha answered obediently. Her speech was still slightly hesitant, but it was a significant improvement compared to when they first met.
Elements.
Mana.
Mental energy.
From Krisha’s description, Xu Xi could confirm that she had indeed succeeded in meditation.
But why?
In the dimly lit meditation room, the scent of burning Spirit Grass lingered, sharp and pungent. The young demon girl, dressed in a black apprentice mage robe, waited quietly for Xu Xi’s next instruction.
Xu Xi gazed at the girl, lost in thought and confusion.
“I succeeded in meditation, transforming from an ordinary person into a mage apprentice, because I possess the highest-tier red trait, supported by two purple traits.”
“With three traits in hand, it’s only natural that I succeeded on my first attempt.”
“But this child…”
Xu Xi pondered deeply.
He tried to identify the factors that led to Krisha’s success.
Beyond the basic requirements of talent and insight, there must have been something unique about her, something other demons and even humans lacked.
“…So that’s it, is it?”
Looking at the small figure before him, Xu Xi suddenly fell silent.
He understood.
This demon girl was no genius. She didn’t possess the powerful physique of a pure-blooded demon, nor did she have a superior mental capacity compared to humans.
Her body was frail, having endured endless torment and beatings.
Her spirit was like stagnant water, closed off in long-term despair, devoid of emotions, unaware of joy or sorrow.
Yet.
This was precisely the reason why Krisha succeeded in her first meditation attempt.
Meditation, at its core, is the mage’s mental energy reaching out to perceive the elements of the world, requiring a highly stable state of mind.
Ordinary people fail due to emotional fluctuations or overthinking.
But Krisha didn’t.
Without emotions, there were no fluctuations. Without thoughts, there was no hesitation.
Only when subjected to pain and suffering would this half-human, half-demon girl briefly show fear and distress.
“This truth is truly cruel.”
Xu Xi silently tightened his grip on his staff.
Krisha’s talent for magic was a blessing, but the cost behind it was so devastating that it left one speechless.
With a soft sigh, Xu Xi decided to test his theory further by having the girl undergo a few more trials.
Everything went smoothly, just like the meditation attempt.
In the subsequent steps of sensing elements, establishing connections, and absorbing mana, Krisha performed like a prodigy.
“You did well, Krisha,” Xu Xi crouched down and praised the quiet demon girl. “Do you feel any discomfort?”
“No, Mentor,” Krisha Christina shook her head.
Her small face was expressionless, devoid of the innocence and liveliness typical of a child. Instead, there was only a deep, all-consuming darkness in her pale golden eyes.
It was a kind of indescribable void.
One that left others silent.
In a sense, the girl was a complete failure—physically flawed and emotionally stunted, unable to respond to others’ expectations.
Yet it was precisely this deficiency that unexpectedly granted her the aptitude to become an elemental mage.
Xu Xi paused her training.
“Mentor?” Krisha tilted her head slightly, looking at him with confusion.
“Sit down, Krisha,” Xu Xi sat cross-legged on the floor and patted the spot beside him, signaling for the girl to join him.
Xu Xi realized that there was something more important than making the girl stronger.
He needed to understand her past, her experiences. Only by understanding could he truly help her move forward.
Without this knowledge,
even well-intentioned actions might inadvertently cause her further harm.
“…,” Krisha obediently sat down. The apprentice mage robe was slightly too large for her frail frame, covering her legs entirely as she settled.
Her long, silver-gray hair brushed against the floor, spreading gently across the tiles of the meditation room.
A breeze brushed Krisha’s cheek.
It was the warm breath from Xu Xi, who was sitting close.
A strange feeling welled up in the girl’s heart, bringing her an inexplicable sense of comfort.
Then, Xu Xi asked, “Krisha, can you tell me about your past?”
“You mean…”
“Anything is fine. I want to understand you.”
“I understand, Mentor.”
The girl didn’t truly understand what there was to know about her, but she knew that she just needed to obey Xu Xi.
As a personal possession, obedience was the most basic requirement.
And so,
under Xu Xi’s gaze, the twelve-year-old demon girl slowly began to recount a story from long ago, a truth that had taken place before Xu Xi even arrived in this world.
In the year she was born, Krisha met her birth mother.
She was a female demon known to humans as a “Succubus,” with large, curved horns, a human-like, alluring figure, and a massive iron collar locked around her neck.
Her mother gazed at the infant Krisha with a tenderness so profound it seemed to overflow.
Krisha never met her father.
From the day she was born, her mother had hidden her away.
For three or four years, Krisha remained hidden, until the day she finally saw her father for the first and last time.
Her “father” violently dragged her out of the room, threw her out the window, and cast her into the desolate wilderness.
Her mother tried to resist.
But her “father” looked at her with utter disgust.
“Filth… bastard… unworthy… die…”
At that time, Krisha didn’t catch everything her “father” said, but she knew that along with her, her mother’s severed head had also been discarded.
To this day,
Krisha still vividly remembers how her mother’s head had been brutally burned, its surface rough and charred, the massive horns mercilessly severed.
“Run…”
Demons are resilient creatures.
Even after being decapitated and burned, her mother’s head managed to speak one last word to the young Krisha.
And so, obediently, Krisha ran.
Far away from that “home.”