Chapter 290: A Talent That Shouldn’t Exist

Catrine turned around and saw three male students walking toward them.

They stood out, dressed in expensive robes usually worn by children of prominent families.

“What do you want?” Catrine asked coldly.

The three stopped in front of her. The boy in the middle stepped forward and said casually, “Don’t be so fierce, pretty girl. Alright, I won’t beat around the bush. Hand over the food supplies you got.”

He extended his right hand in a demanding gesture, as if expecting her to hand them over immediately.

“Damn… How dare they threaten my sister?”

Witnessing the scene, Merlin growled angrily. Although he knew the three of them couldn’t hurt Catrine, the sight still made his blood boil.

Luna glanced at him with a complicated expression but said nothing.

“Don’t worry too much, Merlin. Your sister is very strong. You should trust her,” Margaret said casually.

She had investigated Catrine and discovered something interesting. Catrine had disappeared for the past two years and had only recently reappeared.

No matter how hard she searched, she couldn’t find any information about what Catrine had experienced during that time.

It was as if a giant hand was deliberately covering it up. That was why her interest in Catrine kept growing, and she wanted to dig deeper into her past.

Merlin slowly calmed down. He stared at Catrine through the screen, wanting to see how she would handle the threat from the three boys.

“Why are you silent? Give it to us quickly! Otherwise, don’t blame us if we attack you,” the boy in the middle threatened.

To be honest, Catrine was incredibly attractive. He even felt like he might fall in love if he stared at her for too long.

But now they were in the middle of an important test. If he acted recklessly, he would be expelled, and his status as the family heir could be revoked.

Catrine remained calm, showing no fear at all. With a faint smile, she asked, “If I don’t want to hand them over… what will you do?”

The expressions of the three boys darkened. The one in the middle finally lost his patience and immediately drew his weapon—a spear.

The other two did the same. They were from the Knight Empire of Batrum, and all three had reached the third awakening level.

Although they were far inferior to the genius children in the first wave, they were still considered strong.

“Surrender or face the three of us!” the boy in the middle threatened again.

There were no rules against killing each other, so he wasn’t afraid to attack Catrine.

It was just that her fragile, ice-like appearance made him hesitate to use violence.

Catrine let out a soft sigh.

“How foolish,” she whispered.

She swung her sword, creating an X-shaped slash in the air, then calmly sheathed it.

Ignoring the three of them, she turned and walked away.

The three boys were stunned. A moment later, anger flared within them.

“Wait! How dare you just walk away!”

Unable to hold back any longer, the boy in the middle quickly mobilized the aura within him.

But suddenly, his friend’s frightened voice rang out from behind.

“Rucas, what happened to your back? Why are there cut marks?”

Rucas froze. When he turned around, he saw cuts spreading across both of his friends’ bodies.

“You… What are you talking about? Cuts? Aren’t they on your bodies too?”

The three of them fell silent, fear enveloping them. In the next second, their bodies were sliced into several pieces and collapsed to the ground.

It all happened so quickly that none of them had time to scream or make a single sound.

In the monitoring room, Merlin, Margaret, and Luna stood in silence. The atmosphere was so still that even a needle dropping would have been heard clearly.

“Just now… was that Catrine’s ability?” Margaret’s calm voice, tinged with a hint of fear, broke the silence.

Merlin snapped out of his daze and nodded heavily.

“Yes, that was her ability. What incredible swordsmanship,” he said helplessly.

How long had it been since they last met? Two years. In truth, two years wasn’t that long.

Yet during that time, Catrine had changed from the little girl who used to follow him everywhere into someone truly powerful.

“System, open Catrine’s status panel,” Merlin commanded.

[Status]

Name: Catrine Clay

Age: 10

Identity: Adopted daughter of the Viscount Clay family

Talent: SS

Guardian Spirit: Ice Bird (★★★★★)

Rank: Fourth Core Spirit

Bloodline: Sovereign of Winter (Gold)

Favorability: 100+

As Merlin read the status panel, his breathing grew heavy and his heart pounded.

’Fourth Spirit Core!? And what the hell is that talent? SS level?’ he exclaimed in disbelief.

His own power was still at the Fifth Spirit Core. However, his younger sister managed to surpass him and reach the Fourth Spirit Core first.

Merlin’s emotions were a mix of happiness and… bitterness.

As the older brother, he was supposed to stay ahead of her.

But that wasn’t the case. Catrine was already one level above him.

Not to mention her talent, which had reached an absurd level.

As far as he remembered, the highest talent was only S. Michiku-sensei had confirmed that in the past.

Yet Catrine had broken that limit. She had actually awakened an SS-level talent.

“System, you’re not making a mistake, right? Level SS? I’ve never heard of that,” Merlin asked doubtfully.

“[Do you think you’re the only one who’s confused? I’m also very confused, Master,]” the system replied, rolling its eyes.

“Huh? You’re confused too? How is that possible?” Merlin was shocked again. “You’re the system. It’s impossible for you to be confused about something like this, isn’t it?”

“[I’m not omnipotent, Master. Ever since you altered the course of this world with your actions, everything has become inconsistent and chaotic. One of those changes is the existence of SS-level talent, which shouldn’t exist,]” the system explained helplessly.

Merlin fell silent. He had expected the system to use that excuse to answer his question.

“[Or perhaps SS-level talent does exist, Master. It’s just that no one has been able to awaken it until now—and Catrine is the first,]” the system added.

Merlin considered those words and felt that possibility made sense.

Originally, Catrine was supposed to meet the Master of Illusions only after entering the academy.

However, in this timeline, she had already been taught by the Illusion Master at the age of eight.

Her potential was nurtured from an early age, allowing it to bloom fully and give rise to the first SS-level talent in history.

“Oh, right. Is it okay that she killed those three students?” Merlin asked. “They’re not really dead, are they?”

Margaret shook her head. “No. You don’t need to worry. The Academy Head has placed many powerful magic formations within this maze. Anyone who dies—intentionally or not—will be transported back to the academy grounds.”

Merlin nodded slightly. His gaze returned to Catrine, who had already disappeared deeper into the maze.

’Catrine,’ Merlin whispered. ’I want to see what other surprises you’re hiding from me…’

A faint smile curved on his lips.

…

In her office, Linda leaned back in her chair and sipped her coffee. In front of her, a magic screen displayed the test taking place inside the maze.

“The second wave of students is really… weak,” she muttered, shaking her head.

She had expected it, but seeing it with her own eyes still left her disappointed.

“But I did find a diamond among them,” she murmured, her gaze fixed on Catrine’s figure on the screen.

She had just witnessed Catrine’s abilities. It had to be admitted—the girl was exceptionally strong.

At an age two years younger than Merlin, she had already reached the Fourth Spirit Core.

Even Linda had not been that outstanding. At the same age, she had only reached the Fifth Spirit Core.

If she had known from the beginning that Catrine was this talented, she would have taken her in as a disciple—just as she had done with Merlin.

“Even so, I’m quite curious,” she whispered, rubbing her chin. “Can Catrine complete this test with ease? If she can, her name will surely be recorded in the academy’s history…”

…

A day passed quickly. During that time, the prospective students competed fiercely to take the lead.

They hunted monsters and collected food supplies from the beasts they killed.

Killing monsters also earned them points, which would later determine their rankings on the leaderboard.

However, the rules of this test were different from the one Merlin had taken. While the previous test was designed to eliminate the first wave of students, the second wave did not follow that system.

As long as they survived until the designated deadline, they would pass the first stage.

In just one day, two hundred students had been eliminated, while two thousand others managed to survive.

“Huh… This is the last one,” Catrine muttered with a satisfied nod.

She looked at the corpse in front of her, then split it open with her sword. Instantly, food supplies appeared before her.

She picked them up and stored them away. In truth, she didn’t need them anymore.

After all, this test was about to end. However, no one could guarantee that the next two tests wouldn’t require them.

Dong!

Dong!

A bell rang out, followed by a woman’s cold voice.

“The first test… is over!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep