Chapter 20 — Storm on the Horizon
Two years.
That's how long I'd been in this world.
Two years of quiet training, quiet planning, quiet survival.
And now, the first ripples of the story I knew so well were starting to break the surface.
The Signs
It started with a rumor.
Xiao Che, the crippled boy of the Xiao Clan, had been seen at the outer edge of Floating Cloud City — again, alone.
Normally, no one would care.
But I knew what that meant.
His sixteenth birthday was approaching.
The engagement with Xia Qingyue was drawing closer.
The timeline was aligning.
And with it… chaos.
The Clock Ticks
I wasn't ready.
Not ready for the Yun Che who would eventually appear.
Not ready for the storm that would follow him — the chaos, the enemies, the sheer destructive weight of his existence.
But waiting wouldn't make me ready.
Only action would.
Simulation Options
When the cooldown ended that night, I sat cross-legged on my mat, the dim glow of the System's interface flickering in front of me.
[Available Advanced Simulations]
Demon Slayer — Intermediate Combat & Breathing Techniques
Avatar — Energy Control & Elemental Integration
Fate/Stay Night — High-Intensity Combat Scenarios
Fullmetal Alchemist — Alchemy Fundamentals & Tactical Thinking
My thumb hovered over the second option.
Energy control.
Precision.
Adaptability.
If I could deepen my control, sharpen my reactions, then maybe — just maybe — I'd survive what was coming.
[Simulation Selected: Avatar — Energy Control & Advanced Sparring]
[Duration: 2 Years Simulated = 20 Minutes Real Time]
Arrival
The world of Avatar greeted me with the sharp tang of sea air and the rhythmic crash of waves.
A white-haired master, calm but sharp-eyed, studied me.
"You wish to understand energy," he said.
Not a question.
A statement.
"Yes," I answered.
He nodded, gesturing toward the endless expanse of ocean.
"Then learn to feel the world. Only then will you learn to shape it."
The Training
If swordsmanship had been humbling, this was humiliating.
Hours spent meditating, sweating in silence as I strained to sense even a flicker of something beyond myself.
Days spent learning to guide energy through my body, to control flow and intensity until I could flick a pebble with more precision than my own fingers.
Then came the sparring — brutal, precise, and unrelenting.
Not about power.
About control.
About patience.
And slowly, I began to understand.
Integration
[Energy Flow Control: Intermediate — Unlocked]
[Combat Adaptability: Enhanced]
[Reaction Time: +12%]
When the simulation ended, my body thrummed with quiet, restrained energy.
Not raw power.
Not instant victory.
But control.
The Calm Before
Back in my room, I sat in the quiet, breathing evenly.
Out there, the world still turned.
The Xiao Clan still plotted.
And somewhere, fate was aligning itself to throw chaos straight into Floating Cloud City.
But when that storm came — and it would come — I wouldn't be a nameless shadow scrambling to keep up.
I'd be ready to meet it.