After changing his bedsheet and pillow covers, Kai started reading a few books he had borrowed from the shop's library.
"All that time wasted," he muttered. While reading, Kai could feel the Ki he had absorbed slowly leaving his body.
But he didn't care much about it and continued reading the precious books on herbal anatomy.
Before long, evening had arrived. Kai put away the books and headed out. After leaving the inn, he walked for around half an hour before reaching his destination.
[The Candy Complex]
Looking at the entrance of the apartment complex, Kai's legs gave out, and he struggled to move forward.
"Today's harvest was good. What should we do about the monster tide? According to the reports, it's happening tonight."
"What's there to think about? We'll mostly explore the outskirts. Even if we have to enter the forest, we won't go too deep."
"Oliver, stock up on supplies today. Also, buy as many healing potions as you can."
"Who is that?"
As Eric, Oliver, Omar, and Aisha were returning to the apartment complex, they saw someone standing outside the entrance.
"Don't tell me he's the creep that's been following Sophia," Aisha mumbled under her breath, remembering how Sophia had recently mentioned someone stalking her.
Omar, who was closest to Aisha, heard her clearly. He became furious.
How dare someone trouble the only person who knows how to cook?
This wasn't just about someone harassing his friend—this was someone eyeing his food.
"Hey, you! What the hell are you doing here?"
As Kai struggled with whether or not to go inside, he heard someone call out furiously—and the voice sounded familiar.
Turning around, Kai saw familiar faces he hadn't seen in a while.
"Isn't that Kai?" Eric was the first to recognize him.
"Wait, that's Kai?" Oliver and Omar were both surprised. In just a month, he had changed a lot.
As Eric, Oliver, Omar, and Aisha approached, Kai braced himself for the harsh words he expected to hear.
However, much to his surprise, Eric came up and hugged him.
"It's good you're back."
Meanwhile, Oliver and Omar also surrounded Kai.
"It's really you." Taking a closer look at Kai's hair, Oliver confirmed that the person standing in front of him was indeed Kai.
"Let's head inside first." Putting his arm around Kai's neck, Omar dragged him into the Candy Complex.
Once inside, they headed toward the backyard, where everyone usually gathered around this time.
As they entered, Kai saw a few more familiar faces.
In the backyard, Orion and Yara were playing, while Sophia and Henry were absorbing the surrounding Ki to increase their reserves.
"Guys, look who we brought with us!" Oliver announced loudly.
Seeing Kai alongside Eric, Oliver, Omar, and Aisha, everyone was surprised. After the initial shock, they were all happy to see him again.
Meanwhile, when Yara saw Kai, it took her a moment to recognize him. However, the moment she did, she came running toward him.
"Big bro!"
Out of the original twenty residents of the Candy Complex, Yara was the only child. No one knew where her parents were. So, when everyone else was training or out hunting, Kai was the one responsible for taking care of her. Over time, Yara started treating Kai as her older brother.
"How's Yara been?" Kai asked, picking her up.
"Big bro, did you defeat all those bad Fairies?"
Without answering his question, Yara asked about his fight with the Demon Fairies, her eyes filled with hope.
Around two weeks ago, when Kai last visited, he had told Yara that he was going to fight the Demon Fairies—the ones who always forced him to go to work—so it might take a while before he could visit her again.
For the past two weeks, Yara had been waiting for Kai to defeat the Demon Fairies and return.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't defeat them," he said softly.
Hearing the exchange between Kai and Yara, everyone nearby grew quiet. They were all well aware of the trauma Kai had been going through—because they were victims of it too.
However, everyone's way of dealing with trauma is different.
Eric spends most of his time fighting monsters or training. Oliver cries in his sleep. Omar has developed an eating disorder. Aisha chooses to close herself off from others.
Orion is the least affected by the trauma, but even he still has nightmares. Henry tries to numb the pain by indulging in lust, while Sophia keeps her mind off bad memories by spending most of her time in the kitchen.
So, when they heard that Kai still hadn't defeated the Demon Fairies, they understood—he still wasn't ready to move back in.
"However, I don't have to stay at the Fairies' House anymore. I'll be moving back."
Kai's next words surprised everyone.
"Really?!"
When Yara heard the first part, she was disappointed. But when she heard that Kai would be moving back in, her eyes lit up.
"Of course. Why would I lie to you?"
At first, Kai had only intended to drop by for a quick visit. But looking at everything—and thinking about all they had gone through together—he couldn't bring himself to leave again.
There were two main reasons why Kai had left the Candy Complex. The first was the constant death of people around him, and the second was the contract he had signed with the Honey Pill Shop.
A month and a half ago, his workload had increased, and he had to spend at least 4–5 hours daily completing the tasks on the Brewing List. Just walking back and forth from the Honey Pill Shop to the Candy Complex wasted around 2 hours every day.
This left him with very little time to study and figure out a way to perform [Herb Weaving].
That's why he rented a room at the Cherry Inn—to save time and escape the sword of slavery hanging above his head.
However, figuring out how to perform [Herb Weaving] using Ki was much more difficult than he had expected. All this time, he had been chasing shadows.
Now that he had finally discovered a way to perform [Herb Weaving] with Ki, he no longer had to worry about becoming a slave to the Fairies.
Since Kai hadn't told anyone about the clause in the contract that could enslave him, everyone assumed he simply couldn't take the pressure anymore and had run away.
"Really? That's great!"
"I thought you were going to rot in that godforsaken inn."
"I think this calls for a celebration. Why don't we have some monster meat today?"
Knowing that Kai was moving back in, Omar immediately called for a celebration—hoping to eat a lot of monster meat.
"Where's Tony?"
Seeing everyone's reaction, Kai was naturally happy. Once everyone calmed down, Kai asked about Tony, since he hadn't seen him.
"Tony, he…"
As Kai mentioned Tony, everyone became a little hesitant. After a brief silence, Henry opened his mouth to speak.
Just as Henry was about to say something, a voice interrupted.
"What's the commotion?"
Kai turned around and saw a man covered in bandages, sitting in a wheelchair.
__________
Special Note:
We're now entering the second half of The Alchemist's first arc — thanks for reading and following Kai's journey this far!
Right now, I'm also working on the first arc of [Absolute Control], the second main story in the Ascension Program series.
If all goes well, it'll be ready for daily uploads about a month after [The Alchemist] first arc finishes.
Plenty more to come — and the Verse is only just beginning to unfold.
– Burning Sun