Hilia has always believed everything Rose says.

Rose said Nosen might be the culprit, so she simply decided that Nosen was.

But even if she assumes Nosen is the culprit, Hilia still doesn’t quite get it.

"If it’s true, why would he do this? Isn’t he afraid Anarce will find out and try to kill him, even at the risk of breaking the agreement?"

"Besides, for regular civilian Mages, apart from becoming Guardian Knights or adventurers, the most stable path is to become a noble’s personal Mage. There’s really no need to do something like this. Tons of people are willing to give up everything just to be a Mage."

Rose nodded. "Exactly, that’s why I didn’t confirm it directly—just told you not to dismiss this guess so soon."

"Alright, I’ll remember that."

Hilia ended her conversation with Rose and looked toward Anarce sitting across from her.

After she quieted down, Anarce did too, just sitting in silence, staring out the window.

Who knows if she was thinking about her parents, or if she hadn’t escaped the endless dream loop in her memory.

Hilia was very curious about what exactly Anarce was hiding from her.

But after hesitating over and over, she still didn’t ask, just made up her mind silently.

A few days later, when Anarce goes back for revenge, she’ll secretly follow, making sure Anarce stays safe, and get a look at what’s really going on over there.

"I remember Anarce’s hometown is called... Frost Town?"

Hilia opened her wristband and searched Frost Town’s location and info on the Star Spirit Network.

"It’s a town in the north, pretty close to where we went before in Silver Frost Town, but quite far from Huijin City. I wonder if we’ll run into a Heretic Base or something."

Hilia was totally pumped about wiping out Heretic Bases.

Every time she destroyed a Heretic Base, she gained something, and she’d love to do it again, honestly.

Not long after, the carriage stopped outside the school. After paying the driver, the two entered the school, headed to the cafeteria for dinner, and split up at the base of the dorm building.

"Originally, I wanted to finish training Crystal Arrow today, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow."

Back in the dorm, Hilia dug out her last Ghost Fruit and munched as she wrote up her thesis on improving basic Magic Puppet runes.

Blake had asked her to write it ages ago, but she’d delayed it because she’d been so busy lately.

It wasn’t until Blake finished handling the White Whale business and came to push her, that she grudgingly got started.

"No more Ghost Fruit. Not sure if there’s any mature ones left in Dusk Town."

"None," Rose replied dryly. "That kind of rare fruit is scarce anyway, hard to cultivate artificially. Having this many is already pretty good."

"Originally thought about selling them, but ended up eating them all myself."

She finished off the Ghost Fruit, still wanting more.

At first, she really had planned to sell the Ghost Fruit to make some money, but then found it helped her Spiritual Power so much that she stopped selling any, ate them all, turning them into proficiency with Mage’s Hand.

Too bad—the more she ate, the less they boosted her Spiritual Power.

But at least, thanks to those 21 Ghost Fruit, Mage’s Hand has made rapid progress.

Now Hilia can use Mage’s Hand to lock onto a target and pre-plan their actions, while supporting other spells at the same time.

Hilia isn’t really keen on thesis writing, especially handwritten ones; soon enough, she just tossed the pen aside.

"Forget it, I’ll finish it before the final assessment."

She opened her hand and summoned an ice orb.

"Practicing Magic is always more fun."

The next day, Monday—classes as usual.

Morning is best for Meditation; first period is once again Meditation class.

Today’s Meditation class felt a bit different from usual.

The strict Meditation class instructor, Mr. Nelson, paced back and forth as always, checking for anyone slacking or napping during Meditation.

When he walked past Hilia, he suddenly stopped.

"Such fast Magic Power absorption—this is... Tier Two already?"

Nelson was secretly amazed, then showed a look of praise.

No wonder she’s a Holy Daughter candidate—every candidate in this batch is stronger than the last.

Moving past Hilia, Nelson went to the front, looked over the whole class, and began to frown.

He saw quite a few students looking confused.

Some even couldn’t help opening their eyes, glancing repeatedly at him, as if they had something to say but didn’t dare.

Nelson realized what was happening.

"Hilia’s absorption is so fast it’s affecting everyone else’s Meditation."

He fell into thought, considering how to handle this rare situation.

A student couldn’t hold back any longer. "Sir, I feel my Meditation efficiency has dropped a lot—can you take a look?"

His words immediately got others to chime in:

"Me too, I’m slower than usual... Can you help me, sir?"

"Same here—so weird, it’s never like this."

"Feels like all my Magic Power is just disappearing..."

"..."

Nelson pressed his hands down, signaling for silence.

"Quiet. I already know what’s going on."

He stepped over to Hilia.

After hesitating a moment, he decided to wake her.

"Hilia, Hilia?"

Hilia opened her eyes. "Mr. Nelson? Is something up?"

"Your Magic Power absorption is so fast it’s stopping the other students from meditating. Let’s go to another classroom for Meditation."

"Huh? I’m affecting everyone else?"

Hilia froze and looked around, noticing a lot of people glancing at her.

They all looked confused, not sure what was happening.

"Yes. A Tier Two Mage’s absorption rate will disrupt the Meditation of surrounding Tier One Mages. You need to go to the Tier Two Meditation classroom—won’t disturb anyone there, plus the special Tier Two incense will help you absorb Magic Power even better."

As he spoke, Nelson added, "From now on, you meditate over there, no need to come here anymore."

"Oh, okay."

Hilia obediently stood and followed Nelson out.

Meanwhile, all the students who’d stopped meditating suddenly exploded into chatter.

Except for Anarce, who already knew, everyone else was discussing, shocked that Hilia was already Tier Two.

The most stunned of all was Mier.

Listening to everyone around him, he looked dazed.

He’d only just decided yesterday to use Nosen’s little tricks against Hilia.

And today Hilia is already... Tier Two?

So the stuff I promised Nosen wasn’t it for nothing?

Mier lowered his head.

No, it can’t be for nothing—those things are super valuable!

I’ve already gone all out for Hilia!

Nosen never said those tricks wouldn’t work on Tier Two Mages.’

At worst... it’s just riskier.

I trust Nosen—he’s used these methods so long, he’ll handle it.

Mier chose to trust his big brother, and decided to hide Hilia being Tier Two, so Nosen wouldn’t back out.

But...

The whole class knows.

Can I really keep it a secret?