The flash of light was so bright that I had no choice but to cover my eyes, but this light didnāt last long.
When it was over, I found that the two of them were in the same position as before.
They hadnāt moved a single inch when the flash of light appeared.
In fact, it was even as if they hadnāt seen that bright flash of light.
"What happened?" I asked the qilin, but it didnāt respond to me at all as it looked at Dorothy in a daze.
With the two of them acting like this, I couldnāt help feeling a bit worried.
"Are you two ok? Do you feel anything strange?" I asked the two of them this second question which finally made them react.
The qilin moved forward as if it was falling towards Dorothy and she reached her hands out to grab the qilin in her arms.
Holding the qilin like this, she looked up at me and said, "Iām fine. In fact, I feel better than before."
The qilin didnāt say anything, but the look on its face showed that it was fine as well. It seemed like it was much more relaxed compared to before after making contact with Dorothy like this.
I couldnāt help looking at them with a strange look since it felt like there was something off, but I just couldnāt pinpoint exactly what it was.
After a moment of hesitation, I went over to Dorothy and said, "Can I take a look?"
She didnāt need to ask what I was referring to, but she did hesitate when I asked this. In the end, she gave a nod to give me permission to look at what I wanted to look at.
Pushing aside her hair, I looked at the back of her neck where that black dot was.
But the moment that I pushed it aside, my chin dropped down in shock.
That was because the black dot that had been there had disappeared without a trace.
I pushed her hair aside some more to make sure that I hadnāt missed it, but I found that it had completely disappeared. If I hadnāt seen it before, then I wouldnāt have thought that she would have had this black dot on her.
"What is it?"
Since it was her body that I was checking, it was only natural that Dorothy realized that something was off with how I was checking her.
I didnāt know what to say at first since I didnāt want to give her hope that I couldnāt confirm yet.
That was why I just said, "Wait here with the qilin for a bit. Iāll be right back with some people to check you out."
I could see the way that Dorothy looked at me, but I didnāt say anything as I went to find Max and the others. Though I wasnāt certain what happened, I knew that they would be able to give me a better idea.
When Max was alerted, it was only natural that Rose was also alerted.
Though when she arrived...
"How is she?"
Her voice was filled with worry, but I could see the angry way that she was looking at me.
I knew that she was angry because I was causing a large mess that might give Dorothy hope, but I did what I thought was best. After all, it was a fact that the black dot had disappeared from her neck.
"Sheās fine, heās checking her condition right now."
"You shouldnāt do this." Though Rose didnāt say it at first, she couldnāt help saying it in the end.
This wasnāt like the Rose that I knew, but I also knew that she was worried about Dorothy which was why she was acting this way.
"I know, but this might actually be good for her. I donāt want to take any risks."
A bit of anger faded from her eyes, but it was clear that she wasnāt going to let me off that easily.
For now, we just waited to hear what Max would say.
Only it seemed like it was taking longer than usual.
Max was the one that usually monitored Dorothyās condition and we had seen the different tests that he did. That was why we knew that there was something different about the tests that he was doing now.
It seemed like he was doing several extra tests, as if her condition had changed.
Whether that was a good sign or a bad sign still had to be seen.
It took a long time, but Max eventually came out with a strange look on his face. It was as if he was deep in thought, but there was also a part of his expression that made it seem like he was confused by what he saw.
Rose couldnāt wait for him to finish thinking things through, so she asked, "What is it? Is it good or bad?"
Max shook his head as if he wasnāt certain, but eventually he said, "I think itās good?"
Both of us immediately glared at him when he said this before I said, "Explain what that means."
Max didnāt answer right away as the expression on his face made it seem like he was sorting out his thoughts first. But eventually he said, "Well, for one thing, it seems like her powers are being suppressed right now."
Both of us were surprised, but we had already expected this a bit since the black dot had disappeared from her neck. However, that was far from enough information for us.
Max also knew this, so he added, "It seems like thereās something that is suppressing it, but that isnāt the proper term for it either."
"Not the proper term? What do you mean by this?" I asked in a confused voice.
Max once again didnāt answer as his expression changed a few times.
After a while, he finally gave a sigh and said, "I donāt know what it is either since Iāve never seen anything like this before. However, it feels like thereās something balancing out her power."