Death... and me

"Uh?"

Malaka and Calina went stiff for a second. Didn't they just save Calina? How come they were killing her now? Of course, only the two kids thought like that. Seeing the two girls' confusion, Rean then explained.

"Well, I don't know what he's planning, but I believe that he wants you to disappear, am I right?"

Roan nodded.

"Yes. What I want is for others to think that you are dead. At the moment, I don't know just how many people want you dead, which will make things quite annoying to deal with. From the looks of it, even the Shadow Reapers are involved. Well, that's to be expected since the Imperial Family definitely doesn't lack money to pay them."

Roan then continued.

"However, this Profound Abyss gave us an opportunity. As long as you don't leave this place, everyone will think that you died, especially after they notice that none of your guardians came out from it as well. That's simply perfect."

Calina immediately asked in response.

"Wait, wait, wait! If I don't leave this place, I will definitely die! Let alone with the surge ongoing, once I run out of Anti-Decaying Pills, I can't resist the Decaying Energy anymore. How do you expect me to stay here? Could it be that you want me to wait for the next time the Profound Abyss is open?"

Roan snorted in response, saying.

"Don't be ridiculous. Let alone you, even peak Core Formation Realm participants in this thing will die in no time if they stay here. What I mean is that others should think that you didn't leave this place."

Calina had a worried expression, inquiring.

"But what about my mother? She's a member of the Chrole Empire who was sent to this place to marry Father. I can't leave her behind. Also, what will we do about telling her that I died? I can't let that happen."

Roan shook his head in response.

"Your mother is different. She's a pure Chrole Family Member, right? She should know her own limits, and there is your father, who's a prince. No one will try to kill one of the prince's wife under the Imperial Palace's roof. The proof for that is that they had to arrange this weird plan of having you dying in the Profound Abyss instead of killing you in the Capital."

"As for the news about your death, this is only a temporary thing. Once the old Emperor makes his move, it will be the moment you can reappear. You can simply apologize as much as you want after that happens."

Calina didn't like that, but she still nodded in the end.

"What about pretending that I'm dead? There is only one way out of Profound Abyss, and it is a very narrow entrance on top of that. There is no way I can pass through it without anyone seeing me--especially Elder Polian, who's in the Saint Realm."

Roan didn't seem to care.

"You don't need to worry. We have a way of doing it. When the time comes, I'll explain it to you."

Calina narrowed her eyes in response.

"Fine! It's not like I have another option other than trust you anyway."

Roan nodded.

"After that, you will come back to our sect with us to spend your time training. I'll be sure to give you some... special attention."

Roan then noticed a certain naughty girl looking into the distance as if it had nothing to do with her.

"Of course, since the one who insisted on saving your ass was Malaka, she will be glad to accompany you during that time. You two are both talented girls with Water Element Affinity. It will be simply perfect."

"Ah! Why me?"

Roan answered as if stating a fact.

"Isn't that obvious? That's your friend. How could you abandon her?"

Rean almost burst out in laugher. It was evident that Roan didn't give a damn to the friendship between them. He only took the opportunity to make Malaka pay for dragging them into this ridiculous quest. After all, if Malaka hadn't insisted on saving Calina, the hidden quest would never have activated.

Malaka wanted to say something, but that would be the same as denying Roan's words. As for Calina, she couldn't help but feel curious about this situation. Every time Roan spoke about training, Malaka's face would become pale. In the end, she sent a Spiritual Sense message to Malaka.

'Is his training that difficult?'

One must remember that Calina was really pretty much like Malaka. She even tried to escape her training sessions several times in the past too. Perhaps that's why these two girls got so well along.

Malaka then looked at Calina with a crying face, telling her everything about Roan's 'Special Methods' of training through a single Spiritual Sense message. As one could imagine, Calina became paler than Malaka. Roan's methods were really... brutal... to say the least.

'I-I-It can't be that... bad... right?'

Malaka shook her head.

'If anything... it might be worse.'

Roan didn't know what the two girls were talking about, nor did he care.

"Alright. We are already inside the Profound Abyss anyway, so we might as well go after the Vermilion Pools. That was our primary objective to start with. It can also help with Calina's training, which will be a great help for her cultivation."

Roan then looked at Rean, who immediately understood his intentions.

"Alright, guess it's my time now. Calina, come over here."

Calina was puzzled but did as she was told anyway. Rean then touched her face with his hands, which made her a bit flustered.

"What are you doing?!"

"Just wait a bit. We can't let you go around with this appearance of yours, right? Just leave it to me."

Suddenly, Light Element began to gather around Rean's hands and enter Calina's face. Calina couldn't help but relax her entire body. Rean's Light Element just felt way too good!

Soon after, a weird scene played in front of everyone. Calina's blonde hair turned into a snowy white color. Not only that, but her eyebrows suffered the same fate. Following that were her blue eyes. It also changed into the same silver-white color as Rean's. Last but not least, the structure of her skin and bones also changed, making her look at least three to four years older! At the moment, Calina looked like a completely different girl!

*Wow!*

Malaka couldn't help but widely open her eyes! It was the first time she saw Rean doing something like that. Not too long after, Rean finished his job.

Curious, Calina summoned the Water Element to create a clean water mirror in front of her. Sure enough, she couldn't recognize herself. Not only did she get quite a few centimeters taller, she really looked a lot more mature. It's just that her face, eyes, and hairs were not the same anymore.

"How did you do that?!"

Rean smiled but didn't explain. He could increase the body's strength with the Light Element to a ridiculous degree. Changing one's appearance wasn't anything too difficult for him.

"This change is not permanent. I will need to provide you Light Element every few hours to keep the transformation. Besides, it can only fool the Core Formation Realm and below level participants in the Profound Abyss. The elders' Divine Senses outside would notice something wrong with you straight away. Still, that is more than enough for others in here to not relate 'Princess Calina' with us if we are spotted while inside the Profound Abyss."

Roan nodded at the sight before saying.

"Alright, that's good enough. Let's go!"