Chapter 325: 325

Michelle looked at Marcus with a lifted brow. She didn’t know he could set up arrays and actually found it quite skeptical.

“Master, what kind of array is that?” she asked.

Marcus looked at Michelle and clearly saw the unconcealed suspicion in her eyes. “It’s a one-use space-ripping array. It will take you to the training place.”

Eleanor leaned to Michelle.

“This part is safe. He doesn’t make those arrays.” She whispered to Michelle.

Michelle couldn’t exactly say she was reassured, but she decided to believe Marcus for a while.

So, until he finished setting it up, she looked around.

She was expecting to see at least one new face, thinking that Marcus had some more disciples, but it seemed Eleanor, she, and Asher were the only ones.

“Master, why do you have so few disciples?”

Marcus raised his eyes from the array.

“I’m picky with my disciples. I wouldn’t accept just anyone.”

Michelle had guessed that long ago, but she didn’t think there would be just three of them.

“Master, did you have other disciples than us in the past?” she continued asking.

Marcus nodded. “Five students of this academy were worthy of my direct teaching since I joined.”

With the way he spoke, Michelle was a bit puzzled.

If he thought the Ostrich Academy didn’t have enough talents, why didn’t he just go work at a different academy?

Or was he satisfied with having so few disciples? Was that something he wanted?

A moment later, Marcus was done setting up the array and straightened up.

“The rift will take you to the academy’s 1st training field. I will come to you in three days. Until then, you have to survive on your own.”

Hearing that, both Eleanor and Asher tensed, glancing over at Michelle.

“Master, but Junior Sister is only a Divine rank Spirit Master. She won’t survive there!” Eleanor finally spoke.

Michelle looked at Eleanor, understanding what she was so worried about.

The 1st training ground was the place where the Ostrich Academy’s artifact was placed, and the place was swarming with beasts and monsters that even peak Monarch rankers would struggle with.

That was why it was reserved for teachers to train in, since they were mostly Emperor rank and could stand up against the stronger monsters there.

Asher and Eleanor were mid Monarch rankers, but Marcus had probably sent them there a few times before, so they knew how to survive.

But Michelle, staging as Ana, was portraying herself to be at the start of the Divine rank. Someone like that wouldn’t even be considered a snack for the monsters.

Marcus looked at Eleanor and shook his head. “You two went there for the first time when you were only Divine rankers.”

Eleanor refused to back down. “But Master, you were with us back then!”

Marcus looked at Michelle before speaking again.

“I was only of Monarch rank back then, too.”

Eleanor felt rage rise within her.

Back then, Marcus was a peak Monarch ranker. That was a huge difference compared to her and Asher.

Not even four, not to mention two, mid Monarch rankers could compare to a peak Monarch ranker.

If Marcus wanted them to protect Ana, he was sending them all to their deaths.

Marcus saw the rage behind Eleanor’s eyes, but he didn’t concern himself with it much. “Anyway, go now! You won’t die!”

Eleanor wanted to protest more, but Michelle dragged her to the array.

Asher, who was standing nearby, had seen Michelle’s concealment abilities the day before, so he wasn’t as worried as Eleanor. He stepped into the array on his own. But he, too, was uncertain and didn’t like the idea.

At the same time, he remembered the man Michelle had a fight with, Alexander.

He didn’t know who that was, but he knew the man was strong.

Somehow, Asher believed that if something was really about to happen, the man would intervene.

What he had no way of knowing was that if Michelle got in danger, Alexander wouldn’t intervene.

He would leave her to get out of it on her own.

Of course, he wouldn’t leave her to die, but even in life-threatening moments, he would only interfere minimally.

When Marcus activated the array with his spirit energy, a rift tore open in front of the three.

They needed to stand in the array while it opened so the rift would recognize all of them and not close until they were through.

Before stepping through the rift, Michelle lifted her gaze to the trees behind the courtyard’s wall.

Alexander was there, leaning against a tree trunk.

Seeing the state he was in, Michelle smiled and walked into the rift, feeling quite satisfied.

Since she was the one who made the poison, she could tell that since the last time she had seen Alexander, it had spread a lot.

That meant he had been following her around when she was exploring the academy, which led to the poison moving from his neck and shoulders down to his chest and arms.

The only thing making the poison at least bearable was that it wasn’t yet in his whole body.

And when making the poison, Michelle made sure it wouldn’t get to his head.

She had no plans of frying his brain.

Thinking about what Alexander had to be going through, Michelle couldn’t conceal her smile as she walked alongside Eleanor and Asher through the rift.

Seeing Michelle’s smile, Eleanor felt that her new Junior Sister was a strange fellow.

“How can you smile when you just heard you are going to a place that will get you killed?” she asked.

Hearing Eleanor’s words, Michelle snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Eleanor.

“I was thinking about something else,” she answered calmly.

While Michelle’s answer only confused Eleanor more, Asher, who had seen Alexander before, could guess that she was thinking about something concerning that guy.

He didn’t see him before they entered the rift, but for a brief moment, he could sense a fleeting presence.

That had to be Alexander.

Asher was actually right. While watching Michelle leave, Alexander saw her smile when her gaze fell on him, and for a moment, he forgot to conceal himself.

That smile nearly took his breath away.

Michelle rarely showed satisfaction so blatantly.

So, with their own thoughts, the group of three continued walking through the rift before stepping out in a deep ravine.

When Michelle looked up, she could barely see the sky, most of her view obscured by the tall stone walls.

But before Michelle could look around the place, Eleanor grabbed her by her hand and dragged her behind one of the nearby boulders.

Asher went with them.

Michelle raised a brow in question, but she remained silent.

She wasn’t stupid enough to ask what was going on in a place where there was a high risk of being ambushed by monsters.

Especially after she was forcefully dragged into hiding by someone who had already been in the place before.

Eleanor and Asher stayed on guard, as if waiting for something.

Only after a while did they relax and heave a sigh of relief.

“What was that?” Michelle raised a brow.

She didn’t feel anything around them.

Was there something in the ravine so special that one had to specifically learn to sense it?

Was that why Marcus had them train there even though it was the teachers’ training grounds?

Eleanor leaned against the boulder, looking over it to see if the place was clear of threats.

“It’s the academy’s Heart Twins,” her expression was dire as she spoke.

Michelle raised a brow.

She had never heard about any Heart Twins.

What were they?

But, well, it was also true that she had never really looked into the academy.

She just knew that cultivating there would allow her to conceal her Spirit Soul Blood.

Nothing else.

Seeing Michelle’s confused expression, Eleanor really felt confused about who Michelle was.

“Junior Sister, tell me. If you don’t know what the Heart Twins are, why did you come to this academy?” she asked.

Michelle shrugged. “I was sent here because someone tried to kill me back at home. But I did hear the academy has something that boosts cultivation.”

Eleanor sighed at Michelle’s response.

“Well, that something that boosts cultivation are the Heart Twins. It’s a creature living in this ravine.” She explained.

Michelle’s eyes gleamed.

“What is it like?” she asked quickly.

Eleanor shook her head with another sigh, like Michelle was a helpless case.

“The Heart Twins is a pair of plant-based monsters keeping control over this valley. It keeps the population of other creatures stable, not letting them overpopulate.”

Eleanor continued with her explanation.

Apparently, the Heart Twins had grown all over the ravine, growing through the stones and boulders. They were more dangerous than any beast or monster in the ravine.

Especially since it wasn’t fond of humans.

It regarded humans as lowly creatures that always threw off the balance it created. So, whenever humans entered the ravine, it would observe them for a moment to find out whether they had the potential to destroy the balance.

Once it found something about the humans that suggested they could tip the balance, it would kill them.

And not only the humans who had the possibility, but all other humans who were in the ravine at the same time.

Asher and Eleanor had already been to the ravine, and the Heart Twins had observed them for long enough to see that they only wanted to hone their skills by observing, never killing the creatures.

Even if the creatures attacked them.

But Michelle was new.

So they had to keep her down for a while so the Heart Twins would decide to hold off on the killing.

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