Chapter 187

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Chapter 187

At the front desk, it was Catherine, the eldest sister of the Rost family, on duty. Sylas said she wanted to say hello, so she let go of Xerath’s hand. After the chubby eldest sister saw her, she felt a strong sense of familiarity and asked, "Those two little rascals wouldn’t come back! Caroline even lied to me and said you wouldn’t come back either!"

Sylas shyly smiled and said, "Please don’t misunderstand Caroline, I really didn’t plan to come back."

"But why?" She leaned over a bit and saw Xerath looking around in the distance, teasingly saying, "Ah well, you missed the teacher too much, so you came back?"

"No, no!" Sylas blushed and denied it.

"So, does that mean the teacher misses you?"

"No, no, she wouldn’t…"

"Alright, alright, it’s very normal for elders to miss children who are away from home. If you don’t miss her and she doesn’t miss you, then you two wouldn’t be appearing here together! Oh, how are the two of them doing?"

Sylas quickly filtered through all the mischievous things the twins had done in her mind. These were things that absolutely couldn’t be mentioned, so she simply said, "Caroline and I are busy every day studying for exams, and Swis is also well-behaved. He found a job as a copyist and doesn’t cause any trouble."

"So, does that mean there were some before?"

"No, no, I absolutely didn’t mean that!"

Catherine smiled and said, "I know very well what mischievous things you little rascals have done. How’s the ‘Dueling Law’ going?"

Sylas nervously said, "Shhh! Shhh… don’t talk about that, even though it’s great, but the teacher can’t find out. Please, let’s pretend it never happened, okay?"

Catherine smiled kindly and showed understanding of the feeling of doing something wrong without parents knowing, and asked, "Do you want to borrow a book?"

Just as she said that, Sylas heard Xerath asking from behind, "Sylas, what’s wrong?"

Sylas quickly turned her head and said, "No, just chatting," then turned back and said, "Not borrowing a book, just accompanying the teacher for a walk. We should go first."

Xerath nodded politely and distantly at Catherine, then grabbed Sylas and left. Sylas was scared and started sweating, afraid that Xerath would ask about the "Dueling Law."

"Sylas."

The cold sweat that Sylas had just calmed down started rising again. Not only that, her hair also stood on end, waiting for Xerath’s next question.

"Is the combat class fun?"

"It’s… it’s quite fun," she answered nervously. In reality, she had only attended the combat class two or three times, spending most of her time training alone with Virgil on the roof of Falcon Fortress. The roof tiles had been blown away countless times by tornadoes, but they always magically returned to their original positions. Virgil said that spatial magic had been cast on those roof tiles, allowing objects to remember their spatial positions.

Because the students loved climbing and causing havoc everywhere, the school had to come up with spells to enhance their mischievous abilities. This resulted in reducing the maintenance workload, but the consequence was that not only Falcon Fortress, but the entire Star Song Castle became very expensive to build.

Xerath felt strange. Usually, Sylas would present arguments to support this view if something was really fun, but this time she didn’t. "Isn’t it actually fun? It’s okay, at least the credits are high."

Oh no! Sylas started racking her brain to divert her attention and said, "No, no, it’s really fun. Sometimes, there are battles where everyone wears armor and uses spells to attack each other. The one whose crystal is completely destroyed first loses. During this time, you can freely cast spells."

Xerath expressed doubt about this, "Can you really do that?"

Sylas quickly shook her head. It was impossible to lie about this, "No, but there’s also no need to completely unleash and cast spells freely." For her, what was called "unleashing and casting spells freely" was almost impossible. Driving elements without control would eventually cause terrible chaos, just like the Keatlerdemon beast riot years ago. All of her spells were the result of precise control.

"The attack strategies are quite interesting. It’s somewhat similar to Portal design. You have to make the most of the advantages you already have under the given restrictions. It’s an interesting mental challenge."

"Mental challenge," Xerath smiled. Perhaps not many people would consider it a mental challenge. Most students feel overwhelmed by the practical subjects because they also require physical strength. "You’re quite good at finding your own amusement. Do you have any other discoveries? Tell me more, hmm?"

"Hmm… Actually, I found the armor very interesting. Essentially, the armor is made of absorbing crystals."

Xerath nodded and said, "Yes, I don’t know how it is now, but in our generation, the practical courses were relatively expensive. Students had to pay for the crystals because you needed large pieces of crystal to ensure your safety. Generally, if you signed a directional agreement guaranteeing that you would engage in related combat professions after graduation, such as joining the military or security system, you would receive support from the foundation of these organizations. They would pay for you to take these courses."

This was refreshing. Sylas looked at Xerath in astonishment.

Xerath nodded her head, "The armor is also very heavy, and can only cover the body and hands as much as possible. Running for a while will make you tired to death, so there are very few girls in the practical classes, even male mages can barely hold up with the armor, not to mention female mages."

"What about you, teacher? Aren’t you also…"

"We have to take the graduation exam, so during that time, besides the students in specialized training, the rest are students participating in graduation exam preparation. Even if they can’t handle it, they still have to endure it. For that reason, the school even brought in people from the warrior guild to train our physical abilities."

"And what about you…?" She was very skeptical that the archmage, who was lazy and didn’t want to go out, would really participate in this kind of physical training.

"I don’t wear armor," the archmage said lightly, "Armor hinders my spellcasting." She then looked at her young apprentice, "How is it now? I heard the armor has been improved."

Sylas smiled and nodded, "Yes, it has been improved a lot. I don’t think you can imagine it. The armor now is small and delicate, connected by inexpensive small crystal beads with the core placed at the back."

Xerath seemed lost for a moment, and sighed, "Indeed, I couldn’t have imagined."

"When I first participated in battles, I was thinking, this technology has been widely used, yet there are still people who criticize you. Do they really turn a blind eye to all of this?"

Xerath chuckled softly, without answering.

"You deserve the award this year, teacher. Congratulations."

Xerath started feeling a bit uneasy, "You already congratulated me in your letter. In fact, that sentence was quite emotional, so much so that Xerath felt a bit embarrassed just by reading it. As her mind weaved a web of thoughts, she sincerely said to her mentor, "You’re always right. Maybe there will be some technical details that might deviate, but the overall direction will never be wrong. Now I can confidently say this to you." Her face felt like it was burning.

"At that time, I felt protected by the teacher."

Xerath suddenly picked up her speed and walked ahead. She pursed her lips and remained silent for a while, and then hastily said, "Let’s eat first, and after that, we can take a walk around."

The little wild beast who had lived among people for a year now could easily distinguish human expressions. She thought Xerath might be shy too, so she followed behind Xerath and found her incredibly adorable.

Xerath walked quickly with one hand in her pocket and brought them to a restaurant that served Southern cuisine. Sylas felt slightly surprised because they usually went to the Nislan restaurant when they wanted to change the taste during their walks. When she questioned Xerath, she replied, "Aren’t you tired of it? Let’s try something different."

In reality, Sylas wasn’t particularly obsessed with food, and she thought maybe Xerath just wanted to eat there. However, when a variety of dishes with mysterious spices were served on the table, she immediately became fascinated. Eating them felt like her taste buds were melting.

"Do you like it?"

"I quite like it."

"Is Nislan tasty?"

"They are equally good," Sylas answered honestly.

"Maybe you spent your childhood in the Nislan and Sauran regions. Kampocho is the southernmost city of Sauran."

"But how did I end up in Keatler?"

Xerath really wanted to touch her head, but she held back. "Maybe something dangerous happened, so you fled there, I guess."

"Perhaps I should go to those places and see if there are any memories to be found."

"Do you have any memories about the south?"

Sylas chuckled and shook her head, "None at all."

"If you like it, eat more." She ended the topic, seeming unwilling to discuss anything that might make Sylas leave.

Borrowing Xerath’s kind words, she ate a lot and almost couldn’t sit properly. Xerath laughed at her and took her hand to the riverside.

Sylas hoped to see flowers by the Windon River, but everything was green with no flowers. Xerath looked at her disappointed expression and smiled, saying, "The flowers have already fallen, it’s midsummer now."

The dark clouds above moved slowly, and the light leaked through the changing gaps. The soft light flowed over Xerath’s face, and Sylas opened her mouth but forgot what she wanted to say.

Maybe it was just talking about unimportant things.

"What’s the matter? Are you very disappointed?"

"Well… the peach blossoms are beautiful, and the bookmark is pretty too."

"Do you like it?"

"Yes, I do. But I have more than one book." She felt brave after saying that, actually making a request to Xerath.

But Xerath wasn’t upset at all. The gentle breeze messed up her hair, and she reached to tuck the strands behind her ear, smiling at Sylas. "Not only flower petals can be used as bookmarks, beautiful leaves can too. If I find anything, I’ll make one for you."

"That is really great," Sylas exclaimed from the bottom of her heart.

They walked along the river for a while, and then she led Sylas up a mountain path. At the end of the road, there was a small piece of high ground, but it was blocked by tall green hedges. The archmage walked with open arms, and golden radiance spread along the road. Suddenly, an ice bridge formed, allowing them to walk directly from one side of the wall to the other.