Grand Return System-Chapter 10: The Frost Reveals Everything

The Frost Reveals Everything

"Divine Ice Bones!"

Fog curled around the peaks when Mike spoke. His words climbed higher than the wind ever could. A sharp sound, clear as ice cracking under boots. Silence listened before anything else did.

Shera froze.

His eyes lingered on Mike before swinging slow toward Selena - mouth tight, brow folded like he’d heard a lie. The air between them cooled fast.

A glimmer, thin and glass-like, rested where her brows nearly met - quiet, much like ice when night light slips across it.

The mark of an awakened divine bone.

"That’s impossible," Shera muttered, shaking his head. "Back in the hall, we checked everyone. She didn’t have anything. The only one with divine bones was the one I personally accepted."

His mind reeled.

One moment she had hopes, the next nobody cared about her credentials at all. Her experience didn’t lack value - it was ignored outright.

Few leaders noticed at all.

Still, nobody moved ahead.

Just Leon - called the "general without an army" - opened his door to her.

So how...

What made anyone think she had sacred bones inside her?

Fingers twitched as Shera moved ahead, driven by the need to see it firsthand.

A finger rose, then another followed slowly. His palm faced forward without hurry.

"Enough."

A hush came over him, eyes drifting inward. His attention tightened, vision blurring at the edges. Something shifted behind his stare, thoughts pulling farther away.

Energy swept over the spot.

His face shifted suddenly, like a cloud blocking sun.

"It really is a divine bone. And purer than most... this one has the potential to grow into an immortal bone."

A shaky sound filled his words, something bright breaking through.

"Haha... good! Another genius for our Celestis Academy. This is truly a blessing."

A trace of sourness showed deep inside his gaze, though his words kept flowing.

Unfortunately...

She Belonged to the Amethyst Summit Division?

Under Leon?

Wasteful. Painfully so.

Fog settled into Shera’s expression, a shadow creeping across where light once stayed.

It wasn’t luck that guided his choices. Always, he believed sharp eyes caught what others passed by. A quiet certainty stayed with him: nothing valuable slipped past unnoticed.

Yet somehow...

He missed this.

Ash filled the mouth when shame arrived.

Morning light caught his shoulder as Mike faced Selena. Slow motion filled the shift of his body toward her.

"Child, are you willing to follow me back to the Emerald Crest Division and become my student? Don’t worry - with your talent, I’ll provide you the best resources. Your future will be limitless."

Warmth filled his voice. A quiet pull lived inside each phrase.

Fear curled tight in her stomach, yet a grin tugged at Selena’s lips.

That day - when she stood there shattered and left behind - none of them lifted a finger.

Once Leon stirred her divine bone to life...

Someone had plans to steal her away?

She bowed lightly.

"Thank you for your kindness, Headmaster. I am grateful. But my Teacher is alone in the Amethyst Summit Division. Someone must stay and take care of him. I cannot leave."

Respect filled her voice when she spoke.

She meant what she said, steady through every turn. Stillness lived in her choices, quiet but firm.

His fingers pulled back, a flicker fading behind his gaze. Naturally, the unspoken note made sense - after all, Leon had never been one to need saving.

Yet there was loyalty he noticed too.

And that...

He respected.

"Very well. Since you and your Teacher share such deep ties, I won’t force you."

He paused.

"Oh, right. Before he went into seclusion, did your Teacher teach you any cultivation methods? Seclusion can take months - sometimes longer. It would be a pity to waste your divine bone."

He meant well.

She’d learn it from Mike, had Leon never shown her.

Selena nodded calmly.

"Teacher has already taught me a Sacred Art."

Shera snorted.

"Hah. What Sacred Art could he possibly teach? What a pity - that divine bone will be wasted by someone mediocre."

A flicker of irritation crossed Mike’s face before his eyes turned toward Selina. His stare landed on her like a sudden chill.

"Child, would you allow me to see your current cultivation state?"

Out came her wrist, stretched slow. Then it paused there, hanging midair.

Fingers touched it, just barely.

A flicker crossed his face, sudden. The look in his eyes changed without warning. One moment still - then a shift, sharp.

"...Level four of Mana Requirement."

Quietly he said it, yet loud as a storm.

Shera blinked.

"What?"

Mike’s disbelief deepened.

"In four days... she advanced from nothing to the fourth star?"

Selena looked down, not with pride, not with shyness, just calm. Quiet settled around her eyes like dust on a windowsill.

Fear drained the color from Shera’s skin.

"Impossible. Let me see."

He checked.

Silence.

His teeth pressed together hard. A sudden tightness took hold of his face.

"This... no. This isn’t real. I must be dreaming."

Fragments of his once towering ego fell apart, much like ash scattered by wind. The confidence gained after taking a sacred bone at Emerald Crest simply vanished. What remained was bare, hollow ground where certainty used to stand.

And worse:

The boy who once laughed at him... now sat across the room, quiet

Beyond what he’d once reached before.

A cold knowing settled in, sharp and quiet.

He had been laughing at Leon.

Still, perched above the hush of that overlooked peak...

Foolishness showed up most in him.