The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Meanwhile, Evelyn had already returned to the White Lily Palace along with the four array discs containing all the high grade cultivation techniques from the tower of solitude.

At first, she had only intended to beg her to borrow one extra disc, but since Aurora had said 'take what you like', Evelyn decided to be shameless and just grab everything she liked.

The platinum blonde did give her a weird look at that time, but didn't say anything else.

For Evelyn, exchanging a little embarrassment was more than fine to give her friends a better choice for their future.

Vivian was still quite young and ignorant, and didn't know exactly how precious these discs were, but both Amara and Cecilia gaped at her in disbelief as soon as she took out not one, but four cultivation array discs.

"H-How do you have FOUR of them?"

"You really did it?! No wait, you got away with it?!"

Evelyn couldn't help but chuckle. Their reactions were hilarious as expected. She pretended to be nonchalant as she waved her hand. "Don't be so shocked, I only borrowed them."

Looking at the pink haired girl's face, Cecilia couldn't help but squint her eyes. "Since when was that an option? That old guy at the tower is such a stingy bastard, he would even scold you if you're holding it 'wrong'!"

Of course, Evelyn knew that she couldn't keep teasing them forever, so after a while, she still revealed the matter of becoming Aurora's disciple.

While Amara just looked relieved that Evelyn wouldn't get into trouble, and had even managed to stumble across 'great fortune' somehow, Cecilia was even more shocked. "Aurora said that?"

Evelyn nodded. "Mhm…"

Cecilia couldn't help but sigh. "Wow… That's… amazing… What are you going to learn from her, though?"

Aurora had only told her to be there in front of the lake tomorrow morning, and not what she actually intended to do. "Uh… I don't really know yet? What is she good at?"

Cecilia shrugged. "Who knows?"

The pink haired girl stared at her in disbelief. Given that Cecilia seemed to be 'quite familiar' with Aurora, having gone to pester her all the time in the past, shouldn't she at least know this much? "You can't be serious…"

The ash blonde chuckled helplessly. "I mean, maybe the teachers must know, but at least it's not something the students are aware of. Maybe it's been too long since she revealed her abilities in public?"

Evelyn sighed. "I-I guess I'll find out tomorrow?"

Cecilia nodded. "Hm… more importantly, you said that the elder didn't place a restriction on your cultivation arrays?"

The pink haired girl nodded. Not to mention placing any restrictions, he hadn't even touched them, or let her know how to use them. "Right."

Cecilia couldn't help but clap in excitement. "Great! So basically… you can actually look into each of them, and then decide based on actual facts! That's super cool! While everyone just relies on instinct and luck, you can actually make a choice! Granted it's only between these four…"

Evelyn sighed, wondering how Cecilia would react if she knew she had already picked out the best techniques from the tower, and didn't rely on 'instinct' at all.

The ash blonde slammed her fat purse on the table as she patted her chest. "Don't worry about the cost, little Eve, your rich big sis is gonna cover it all! Let's drive up all four of these, one by one, and you can have a good hard look before deciding. Be careful not to start with your comprehension though, or you'll be stuck with—"

Evelyn shook her head with a smile as she tapped on the cultivation array disc she had placed closest to herself. "No need. I already made my choice. I'll pick this one."

Cecilia frowned. "Eh? How can you let such an opportunity pass? Big sis disagrees! Don't be an idiot, Evelyn, at least take a look at what they are!"

Amara also nodded. "I agree. In the long run, spirit stones mean nothing. The cultivation technique you pick will decide what kind of skills you have in the future, and how fast you grow. If you have a choice, why not take a look?"

Evelyn felt a headache as she thought of how to explain to them that driving up the arrays would only waste their resources with no gain at all, since she already knew the contents of the techniques.

Her eyes lit up as she suddenly realized the perfect 'scapegoat'. "I don't need to do that, since Aurora has already told me about what each of them do."

"Ah?"

"She did?!" Cecilia couldn't help but gape. How come this was completely different from the Aurora that she knew? 

That lazy lady would fling her across the lake just to avoid answering her questions, but here she was, not only taking her friend in as a disciple, but also being so 'meticulous'.

A strange thought couldn't help but cross Cecilia's mind. 'She couldn't have fallen for little Eve's charms, right? Although she looks like a little girl, I'm sure she must feel like a dusty old granny in her heart. Could it be that she wants to adopt her as a 'daughter' to inherit her legacy?'

If Aurora really intended to do that… Cecilia felt a chill just thinking about it. The difference between a disciple and inheritor was like night and day. If Aurora took in a disciple, although shocking, no one would dare to go to her to argue about it.

But unlike a 'disciple' who would only be taught some of their master's skills, an inheritor would receive a complete guidance until they had mastered almost everything in their master's arsenal.

For someone to be able to inherit everything from Aurora… the sheer amount of hatred, jealousy and wariness that would be targeted at her friend would be astronomical.

Perhaps only Aurora herself would be capable of protecting her in that case. But for a cultivator to be under such strict protection also meant a great interference in their growth.

As far as Cecilia was concerned, becoming Aurora's inheritor was actually a bad thing for Evelyn. 'My little Eve is so talented and bright, she would be able to shine on her own as long as she's allowed to grow. But always being under Aurora's protection is just going to restrict her growth!'

Of course, even if she had all these conjectures in her mind, Cecilia didn't dare to say them out loud.

First of all, if no one else realized that Evelyn was Aurora's inheritor, not even Evelyn herself, that was for the best.

Secondly, mentioning such a thing to Evelyn might make it look like she was actually jealous of her friend, and Cecilia couldn't bear to take such a look from her at all.

So the ash blonde could only keep such thoughts in her mind, and follow Evelyn's instructions to set up the spirit stones for the array disc's activation.

Unlike Cecilia, Amara wasn't quite as familiar with Aurora's status and strength, and didn't dwell on the matter any further, simply accepting Evelyn's explanation as they moved on to setting up Evelyn's cultivation array.

Since it was a sensitive process during which physical interruption could cause a great backlash, most people would prefer to lock up their room from the inside and do it alone. If they had someone trustworthy, that person would also be set up in advance to prevent any unwanted interruptions.

Of course, Evelyn, who had the ability to see their affection levels, trusted these girls to protect her to the best of their ability, and never even mentioned being left alone.

Cecilia and Amara, the only ones who understood how much 'trust' was placed in them, couldn't help but feel flattered as they meticulously helped Evelyn set up the array with spirit stones.

The method provided by Aurora was slightly different from the one that the elder in charge of the tower of solitude provided the students with, but that wasn't really much of a surprise.

Once everything was in place, Evelyn took a lotus position in front of the six inch wide stone disc and closed her eyes. "You guys go rest, alright, this might take a while…"

Of course, how could they just leave? Even Vivian, the 'baby' who was always put in charge of 'babysitting' the fox and the 'puppy', watched the 'excitement' with eyes wide open.

Unlike Bree and Ruru, who were perhaps the only two in their group with no idea of what was going on, Vivian more or less understood that Evelyn was 'deciding her future' right now.

Although the act of comprehending the cultivation technique from the array was probably as boring to watch as it can get, knowing that it was a life changing moment for Evelyn was enough.

Moreover, Evelyn had only told them that she 'knew' what each of the discs held, but hadn't told them their actual contents.

They didn't dare to ask if she didn't want to tell, since disturbing her 'state of mind' just before her first true cultivation session was simply the worst of ideas.

But that didn't mean they weren't anxious to know what she was actually going to cultivate in the end.

Amara couldn't help but bite her lip. "W-What do you cultivate, Cecilia?"

The ash blonde blinked. Although the question was somewhat private, one's cultivation technique could more or less be guessed based on the skills they displayed, unless it was something obscure and not as well known.

She looked a little sheepish. "Uh, mine is called… 'Child of Light'."