The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

"You're not joking, are you?"

Evelyn shook her head. In any case, she knew Cecilia wouldn't do anything to hurt Vivian, so there was no harm in letting her know. "It's true."

The ash blonde seemed a little lost for a while before sighing. 

"Then Vivian is an exception. If she can reliably produce a grade one artifact every few weeks, then yeah, she'd gain more contribution points than a regular alchemy student who's focusing on pills and the like."

Evelyn nodded. "I see…"

Cecilia felt that her friend might think the artifact formation class was the better choice for the wrong reasons, so she couldn't help but remind her again.

"But Evelyn, you know, artifact formation heavily relies on luck! I wouldn't suggest you go there. Even if Vivian is an exception among exceptions, she might still not earn more contribution in the artifact formation class than alchemy, because most of the time the artifact formation fails, while in alchemy you can succeed reliably once you have the art of it down!"

Evelyn smiled. "Don't worry, I'll consider it carefully before choosing. "And, by the way, what is this 'way' of switching subjects you mentioned earlier? Wouldn't it be better to try it out and switch if it doesn't suit me?"

Cecilia bit her lip. "Well, I can tell you if you wanna know, but I'll really beat you up if you even think about trying it! Still wanna know?"

Evelyn blinked. "Um, okay, I'm even more curious now, ahaha…"

The ash blonde rolled her eyes. "So suppose for example you're learning artifact formation, but want to switch to being an apothecary. Then you get your current professor to expel you from their class, and then somehow get the other one to accept you into theirs!"

Evelyn tilted her head curiously. "Isn't it just getting them to agree with a transfer?"

Cecilia scoffed. "No no no, you don't understand, Evelyn! There's no such thing as 'transfer' in the Maker's Mansion. All the professors believe their subjects require a lifetime of dedication to master, and there's always more to explore. 

"You CAN get expelled, if you really mess up, but no professor here will accept an expelled student except for the one who expelled you in the first place. So in the end you'll just end up losing time and experience in the subject you ended up going back to anyway."

Evelyn nodded. "I get it, don't worry, I won't mess around... Anyway, where's the place where we get our cultivation techniques?"

Cecilia frowned slightly, remembering her previous conjecture of Evelyn intending to steal one of the cultivation techniques.

"I-It's in the Tower of Solitude, but you know…"

"… Mhm?"

Cecilia didn't dare to voice her own doubts. But she still hoped she was wrong.

"No, nevermind. Anyway, there's no need to go there now. It's a compulsory course anyway, so there's nothing to see."

Evelyn nodded. "If you say so. When will we get our cultivation techniques, though?"

Cecilia sighed. "Well, everyone gets three days to pick their subjects, and then the next day the ones who failed to make a choice are informed of their allotted subjects, along with those whose first subject of choice couldn't be given."

The pink haired girl blinked. "What does that mean? 'Couldn't be given'? So there's a chance that even if I pick something I want, I may get something else entirely?"

Cecilia nodded. "Basically, if everyone wants to pick alchemy, wouldn't it be a mess? The professors decide the maximum number of students they want, and the rest are given another subject. That's why they always ask you for a second preference when you apply for a popular one."

'Well, that makes sense, hopefully I won't get shoved into something I don't want, though.' 

"I see…"

Seeing her friend nod, Cecilia smiled. "Yeah, so the classes will start on the fifth day, and at the end of the day should be when you get your cultivation technique."

Even though she had been looking forward to it all this time, there was barely anything Evelyn knew about the process. "Does everyone get the same thing?"

Cecilia shook her head. "I can't tell you much, um, but no. You'll see for yourself when you get there."

Evelyn nodded. "I see… I'll look forward to it."

Cecilia sighed. She wasn't concerned about the suitability of Evelyn's future cultivation technique, or its grade. She just hoped that she didn't do anything to put herself in danger.

"Be careful…"

==========

After looking around all the classes and deciding on her choice of subjects, Evelyn decided that it was time to change Bree's clothing from Vivian's hand-me-downs. If she put it off for later, it was likely that she would be too busy to take care of it once classes started.

Of course, instead of aimlessly wandering around, Evelyn would rather have someone more familiar with the area show her where to go.

The pink haired girl debated with herself for a while whether or not she should let Cecilia know about Bree's 'true form', and in the end decided that it was better for her to do so. 

The headache of keeping it hidden from her trusted friend when she visited their room so often was too much effort for too little trouble, anyway. It's not like Cecilia would leak it to anyone if Evelyn asked her to keep it a secret.

"I'm still a bit stunned… That cute little puppy of yours turns out to be your daughter…"

"… She's not my daughter, Cecilia…"

"And who's her dad, anyway?"

Evelyn sighed. She knew Cecilia was teasing her intentionally.

"Like I said… this is my aunt Bree I told you about earlier. I don't know how she turned out like this, but she's slowly recovering, so I just have to take care of her until then."

Of course, Evelyn hadn't told Cecilia all of her secrets. Only what she needed to know to help her out without being suspicious or causing her too much trouble.

"Hm… I believe you?"

"Why do you sound so unsure about it? Anyway, just help me get some clothes for her, will you?"

==========

Despite numerous protests from Vivian, Amara declined her invitation to come along for their 'shopping trip'.

Evelyn had a faint premonition that Amara wanted to become more 'independent' in the future, and was thus saving up for Vivian's future expenses. Shopping when she didn't need to would be quite undesirable under such circumstances.

She didn't know why Amara would start having such thoughts. After all, the feeling she always got from the girl before was of someone who wished to form a partnership with her, and grow together.

'Maybe her lack of strength was too much of a blow to her, and she doesn't see us as 'equals' anymore… But there's little I can do about it for now. Maybe once I get my hands on a cultivation technique I can change her mind.'

If possible, Evelyn wished to keep Amara by her side, regardless of how much of a burden the girl thought she was becoming. 

After all, she was a resourceful assistant if nothing else, and most importantly, Evelyn felt comfortable around her. They had already developed somewhat of a sibling dynamic in their years together.

Bree swiveled her head around curiously as they reached the teleportation gate for their destination. Normally, it would cost them one spirit stone, but the prefects didn't need to pay for using the portals, including their companions.

Evelyn wouldn't insist on paying for something she could get for free. She wasn't an idiot, after all.

"So we're going to the northern forbidden city?"

Cecilia nodded. "That's right, it is the one with the best market for beauty products, clothing and such. But if you want to buy weapons or artifacts, then you go to the eastern forbidden city."

The area within the thunder array was referred to as the 'academy zone' by the outside world, but the people within the zone itself did not call it that.

"I'm curious. Why are they all called the 'forbidden' cities?"

The ash blonde shrugged. "Well, I'm not sure myself, but I heard that the name stems from the fact that the long range teleportation portals are 'forbidden' inside the thunder array. So these are probably the only cities of this scale that don't have such a thing, even for the highest of echelons. This could all be wrong, though."

Evelyn nodded, and as they stepped through the portal, the city that came into view was clearly on an entirely different level compared to the one she saw when she first arrived in the 'academy zone'.

"Wow… it seems a lot different from that other city, huh?"

Cecilia smiled as she led them through the streets, seemingly quite familiar with the route. "Of course. The southern forbidden city barely has anything. It's just a stopping point for entering and exiting the 'Wonderland of Doom', more or less. The other three cities are much better in comparison."

The pink haired girl nodded. "So, do you have a specific place in mind, or should we look around?"

Cecilia grinned. "I have the perfect place in mind! Forget about inside the academy zone, even while I was at the Fulbright family, I'd never seen such quality before! Trust me, it's on a whole another level compared to anything you can find in the Lavinian Empire!"

Evelyn's attention turned away from Cecilia as she felt Bree clutch her hand, and when she looked down, she saw the girl staring at a man not far from their location, who was also staring back in their direction.

Except he wasn't looking at Bree, no… his eyes were set firmly on Evelyn herself.

The pink haired girl furrowed her brows as she saw the man shake his head before leaving.

"Do you know him, Bree?"