“Here’s your coffee. No sugar, right?” Eleonora asked, slipping past before taking a seat on my left side.

She took a sip of her tea, her eyes lighting up with satisfaction. A soft groan of pleasure escaped her as she savored the taste before she leaned back against the couch.

I didn’t want to deal with her, not today.

“What do you want?” So I cut straight to the point.

“Hand me over the void energy,” her eyes stared at me intently, not breaking away from my gaze as she put down her cup of tea.

My eyes turned cold as soon as she uttered those words.

“No.”

Obviously, I didn’t comply, I needed this void of energy after all.

“I know what you’re trying to do, and I assure you that it isn’t going to work. Void Energy is more corrupted than you think,” she spoke, resting her chin on her hand, as her eyes still didn’t break away from my gaze.

Her lips curled into a slight smirk.

“Trying to make “void” as your second element, is probably going to be the stupidest thing that you could ever do.”

“Void isn’t compatible with the human body after all.”

I raised an eyebrow, a little confused. Was she playing dumb? When did I ever say I wanted to make void my second element?

I had never even thought about it.

Seeing my confused reaction, she blinked in surprise, her lips biting down in hesitation as her eyes flickered with uncertainty.

“Wait… you’re not using it for that, are you?” She looked almost guilty asking.

I shook my head.

“No, I never thought about it. The only reason I need this void energy is to keep my body stable. That’s it.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, Eleonora’s eyes widened. a faint, glowing rune appearing in her gaze as she stared at my chest.

“Oh my…” she exclaimed in surprise.

“Your mana paths… they expanded?” Immediately, like a cat, she sidled closer to me and brushed her hand against my chest.

Puff…!

Suddenly, I felt a strange energy surge into me. Instantly on alert, I closed my eyes and focused, checking my internal mana flow.

The energy from Eleonora drifted through my veins, but it didn’t seem to do anything.

It was like it was just testing, feeling around my mana pathways, looking for something. After a few moments, the sensation faded away.

Eleonora’s brow furrowed as she processed what she’d just felt.

“I see… your mana paths were forcibly expanded, but I’m pretty sure that neither your mana quality nor capacity increased which is even weirder,” she muttered to herself, before gazing back at me.

“Tell me, what really happened?” her pale blue eyes, almost like tiny pears, reflected my face, and I couldn’t help but stare into them for a moment.

Sigh…

‘I guess I could tell her about this…’

Even though I indeed despised her, she was still the strongest mage in the entire world, and only she probably could help me with this problem.

Even though I knew that she wasn’t really going to help me.

“After I broke the seal on my aura… my Twin Heart Mana Body… it sort of mutated,” I began, seeing her face already scrunch up in confusion.

“Since then, my output has shot up—like five to ten times more, maybe more than that. I haven’t tested the limits yet, but if I push it further, my mana pathways could expand even more.”

Eleonora bit her lip, her fingers trailing absentmindedly across my chest as she processed my words.

I had almost forgotten her hand was still resting there.

“Hey, Aestrea…” Her voice softened, containing a hint of concern in it. “Why not just accept my offer to become your master? You could fix this body issue easily.”

Her gaze softened as she leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“The Twin Heart Mana Body is like a ticking time bomb. If you don’t fix it, it’ll eventually explode, and… well, it could kill you.”

I clenched my jaw at her words, fighting the unease that bubbled up inside me. I knew exactly what she meant.

I could solve this problem with one word, but…

It essentially told me to leave everything behind and simply stay by her side.

What about Silverleaf? If I accepted her conditions I needed to transfer to the Royal Academy, so what would happen to my friends and classmates if I left?

Would they be okay without me?

“Change… the last condition,” I spoke in a softer tone.

I could accept her offer, but not on those terms. She was asking me to drop everything and leave, including my friends.

That was too much.

“Aestrea…” Eleonora sighed, her eyes looking away briefly. “You know I can’t. How would it look if my only disciple came from another academy?”

I felt a familiar frustration bubble up.

I’d been there before, with her.

Her words hit me harder than I expected.

“If that’s the case… why didn’t you accept my application to Eternum Royal Academy? That would’ve solved everything, wouldn’t it?” I couldn’t help the bitterness that slipped into my voice.

My old dream of becoming the strongest, with its first phase being, entering the most prestigious academy…

It was crushed by her.

And suddenly, after months I spent at Silverleaf, she appeared asking me to be her disciple because she discovered that I had the same physique as her.

So hateful.

Eleonora’s face shifted slightly, guilt flickering across her expression.

“If only I had… met all the applicants,” she muttered, clearly disappointed with herself.

She leaned back against the couch, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.

“We wouldn’t have this problem.”

I didn’t respond.

I wasn’t in the mood to talk anymore.

“I’m leaving,” I said flatly.

There was nothing left to say.

And, honestly, I didn’t even want to look at her face anymore.

—

After leaving the Headmistress’s office, Aestrea found himself wandering aimlessly.

Even though he had read about the academy’s layout in the novel, he still had no real sense of where he was going.

But honestly, he didn’t care much.

He was just looking for a way to clear his mind.

He just wanted to refresh his mind and take a breather as his thoughts were fully occupied with how to solve his body’s problem without Eleonora’s help.

But the more he thought about it, the more stressed he became. He didn’t have nearly enough money for a Lich Orb, let alone a Dragon’s Heart.

He could potentially borrow enough money, but Aestrea was really intimidated by the idea of getting into a huge amount of debt.

It didn’t feel worth the risk.

Swooop!

The sound of the wind caught his attention, pulling him out of his thoughts. He blinked and looked ahead, his gaze landing on a beautiful garden.

The breeze felt refreshing, almost like a gentle invitation to step inside.

The garden was alive with color—the deep green grass seemed to stretch forever, dotted with a few stone paths that wove through the area, leading to different corners.

There were flowers of every shape and size, their petals soft and vibrant.

Tall, elegant structures stood in the garden too, statues of the Headmistress, intricately designed buildings, and little fountains that added to the peaceful atmosphere.

It all fit together so perfectly.

“……”

Aestrea paused for a moment, just taking it all in.

“Haaa…”

He inhaled deeply, letting the sweet fragrance of the flowers fill his lungs, the calmness of the garden wrapping around him like a comforting blanket.

He couldn’t help it—he sank down onto the soft grass, adjusting himself into a comfortable position.

Lying there, he stared up at the clear, bright blue sky above, letting the cool breeze wash over him, slowly calming his mind.

“Aestrea…?”

Suddenly, Aestrea’s peaceful moment was abruptly interrupted by a familiar voice calling his name.

But this time, he didn’t even bother to look up.

He was too lost in his own thoughts as the calming atmosphere of the garden still lingered around him.

But the voice didn’t stop.

Instead, the person seemed to smile faintly, as if they were expecting this reaction. A moment later, they sat down in the grass beside him, the quiet rustling of the blades filling the air.

“Aestrea… do you ever wonder if gods really exist?” the voice asked softly.

There was a long pause, and then a quiet sigh:

“I suppose you won’t answer, huh?”

It wasn’t a question that truly demanded an answer, but then, the voice continued.

“I used to think gods were just stories. Things people clung to when they needed something to believe in. You know, something to make sense of the chaos. Life’s messy, unpredictable… and people need something bigger to blame or to hope for.” the voice smiled lightly.

“It’s easier that way, isn’t it? When you think someone’s out there watching over you, keeping you out of danger, being your guardian angel.”

The voice paused for a moment, letting the silence stretch out before continuing, its voice drifting like the breeze.

“I always thought I didn’t need any god. I was fine on my own, or so I told myself. But then, something happens. Maybe you lose someone, or something goes terribly wrong, and suddenly, you’re standing there, feeling like the world’s caving in. And in that moment—when you’re at your lowest point, feeling like there’s no way out—you find yourself whispering a prayer. Asking for something, anything. A miracle, even if you don’t believe in miracles.”

The voice softened, a slight sadness creeping in.

“It’s funny how we don’t think we need a god until we really do, right? We push it all aside, dismiss it as nonsense, until the day comes when we’re desperate and we’re praying for something you never even thought existed. But you still pray, don’t you?”

He looked over to Aestrea.

“Maybe that’s when you realize… gods do exist. Not in the way we imagined, but they’re there, in the places we never looked for them—until we had to. That’s when you know they’re real. You just… have to believe.”

“If you truly believe, our Goddess will reach out to us in our weakest moment, and make you revive, just like a soaring phoenix. Even I didn’t believe in our Goddess at first, but now…”

There was a few seconds of silence, as the voice then uttered in the most sincere tone possible.

“I do believe in our Goddess. She saved me at my weakest moments, and made me the person that I am today,” he whispered softly, enough for Aestrea to hear.

“That’s why… sometimes you just need to make a sacrifice.”

Aestrea listened quietly, still looking at the bright blue sky, his thoughts swirling around the last word that the voice had spoken to him.

Finally, after a long pause, he turned his head slightly to look at the person next to him.

“I do not believe in gods, Lucas.”

His eyes were terrifyingly calm as he said those words.

Then, he added in a tone that was as calm as his eyes.

“Gods don’t show up when you need them.”

“They don’t fix things or make life easier.”

“People have to fight for themselves, no one’s coming to do it for you.”

“I’ve learned that the hard way…”

“Relying on gods is just waiting for something that may never come.”

He paused slightly, his eyes locked with Lucas’s.

“You can believe in gods if it helps you, but I’ll never put my faith in something that’s never been there when I needed it, even though I prayed for years straight.”

“Because in the end, the only thing that I truly need, is none other than…”

“…myself.”

As soon as he uttered those words, his red eyes seemed to have turned into a strange shade of blue, reminiscent of the glow of moonlight just before dawn.

And in those beautiful blue pearls, the faint symbol of a crescent moon stood quietly.

Shining dimly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep