The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Given how difficult to explore the lake was described to be, Evelyn had thought that it must surely be completely devoid of all life. And for it to be housing any 'people', meaning they must capable of intelligent thought, it wasn't something she expected at all.

Aurora smiled. "Are you shocked? Actually, not many know about it. I don't even know who else does, hm…"

The pink haired girl blinked. Didn't that mean this was a secret that Aurora had discovered herself, and was unknown to the rest of the world?

But the platinum blonde didn't seem to care about it much.

"Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if you can call them 'people'."

Evelyn couldn't help but be a little curious. "What are they like?"

Aurora thought about it for a while before nodding. "They're transparent beings, you cannot see them underwater. But they can touch you. If you let go of your spirit power, they will grab you and drag you down."

The pink haired girl blinked in shock. "H-Have they ever done that to you?"

Aurora shook her head. "I dare not let them, there are still things I need to do in this world."

Evelyn couldn't help but be appalled. "Does that mean even you would be helpless?"

Aurora chuckled. "What's with this 'even you'? You seem to think I'm some great, all-powerful being. Actually, I'm as helpless against them as anyone else. As soon as they make contact with your skin, you will immediately lose all control over your spirit power. So I dare not let them touch."

The pink haired girl could only gape. No wonder Aurora was so interested in these creatures. But there was still one thing she didn't understand. "If it's like this, couldn't they be just some skill or construct? They may not necessarily be 'people'?"

Aurora shook her head. "No… I have observed for a long time, so I know. Under my watch, they have not been able to 'feed' much for a long time, and they are starving. When I'm farther away and they finally get a chance, they tend to tear apart their prey on the spot, and become briefly visible while 'feasting'. Their real form is not that different from humans, only with slightly larger limbs and maw."

"I-I see…"

Evelyn had never expected to discover such 'interesting' information, when she asked Aurora about her 'interests', though she didn't know if it would ever be of any actual use.

Except maybe to dispel any idea of ever skinny-dipping in this lake.

The pink haired girl cleared her throat. "A-Anyway, what I meant to ask with 'what you're good at' was what subjects you prefer, you know. Though what you told me was interesting, too."

Aurora tilted her head in confusion. "Mhm. Like I said, water. That's all."

Evelyn blinked. "Just that?"

The platinum blonde couldn't help but pout. "Is it weird?"

Evelyn scratched her head in embarrassment. "Uh, doesn't the academy have like, a ton of compulsory courses? You should have liked some when you were a student, right?"

Aurora nodded. "Mhm. Water. I liked it."

Evelyn felt like she was stuck in a loop. Getting a straight answer from Aurora was really much harder than she thought. She decided to change her approach a little. "When you took me in as a student, you must have had some plans, right?"

The platinum blonde smiled. "Mhm. You can ask me what you want, and I will help you."

Evelyn stared at her blankly. "That's all?"

"Right?"

The pink haired girl took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. 'Right. She did help me whenever I asked… Okay, let's do this, then.'

"Do I have to go through all the classes like every other student?"

Aurora shook her head. "You can go if you like, or don't. As long as you can clear all the assessments, I won't let anyone complain."

Evelyn sighed in relief. "Oh… That's good. Then, can you help me with some subjects?"

Aurora seemed to think about it for a while before looking at her in slight confusion. "Not many?"

The pink haired girl decided not to wonder why that sounded like a question. "Which ones are you good at?"

Aurora smiled. "Water."

Evelyn almost facepalmed. 'Okay, that one's on me.'

"That's just one part of the elemental mastery class, right?"

The platinum blonde nodded. "Right. But you only need to be good at one element to pass."

Evelyn thought about it for a while before clearing her throat. "Ahem, okay. How about… the courses in the Maker's Mansion, are you good with any of those?"

Aurora shook her head. "I don't like them."

The pink haired girl nodded. "Oh, okay, then… which one did you take when you were a student?"

"… Enchantment…"

Evelyn smiled. "That's what you get after taking Design, right?"

"Mhm."

"Okay then, can you teach me about water element—"

The platinum blonde grinned.

"—and design."

Evelyn felt like laughing when she saw Aurora pout, but managed to control herself in time.

She had obviously been quite interested in both artifact formation and enchantments, but since it was impossible to take them both, she had decided to go with artifact formation first and figure out a solution to learning enchantment later.

With Aurora's help, however, such restrictions became non-existent. She could simply learn artifact formation in her regular classes, and rely on Aurora to learn design and then later enchantment.

As for water elemental mastery, given that she herself had almost eighty percent compatibility with the element, she should be able to do quite well under Aurora's tutelage.

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Evelyn realized quite quickly that Aurora was a very diligent teacher despite having never taken a student before, though she often needed a little nudge here and there from time to time.

Her initiation to the 'Water Element Manipulation' had gone much better than she expected, except for the part where Aurora tried to insist that they use that horrible lake as her training ground.

Thankfully, the platinum blonde was quite easy to 'convince', and happily created a smaller water body just for her using her own spirit power as a 'demonstration'. And after that, there was simply no need to use that lake, was there?

As she was just starting off, Evelyn was still only able to create about a cup of water for every point of spirit power she spent, which Aurora said was quite 'average'.

The pink haired girl was a little disappointed, considering her 80% compatibility with the water element, she had expected her talent to be 'amazing', or at least 'very good', but perhaps she had overestimated it.

Maybe even the 90% talent she had for the lightning element didn't matter much.

"What is your compatibility with the water element, Aurora?"

The platinum blonde gave her a blank stare, as if she never expected such a question. "I don't know?"

Evelyn couldn't help but be surprised. "You never had it measured?"

Aurora looked a little embarrassed. "I-It didn't show. Everyone said it must be too high."

"Oh? And what about the other elements?"

The platinum blonde gave her a pitiful look, quite similar to the ones she had seen while inside the cultivation array in the memories of the headmistress. "Um… Earth… five percent… Wind… two…"

Seeing how she looked so sad, Evelyn coughed. "I-It's alright, nevermind that. Anyway, how about you teach me some design next?"

"Okay…"

Evelyn had thought that even if she hadn't been impressed earlier, Aurora should be quite surprised by her natural talent in design, after all, with her [Artist] ability, she should do quite well.

"This… is the gladys rune… and then if you modify the upper part, um, like this…"

But despite her being able to draw all the runes and figures Aurora demonstrated in one go, the platinum blonde didn't praise her once, making Evelyn a little sad.

A normal kid her age wouldn't be able to do anything even close, right?

The pink haired girl could only sigh in her heart, wondering if she really thought too highly of herself as she continued following Aurora's instructions.

It was only when Evelyn told her that she was tired and would like to head back that Aurora seemed to suddenly realize something. "Um, good job today."

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Meanwhile, in the Terrazyme Kingdom's Royal Palace, a staunch man in golden robes was pacing back and forth in worry.

One of his aides kneeled on the ground. "Don't worry, Your Majesty, Prince Craig is sure to accomplish his task successfully."

Although the general wanted to say 'after all, he's never failed before', but how could he say that after the humiliation he suffered at the hands of the Aquan Princess?

"Hmph, of course the crown prince shall succeed. We are not worried about the prince at all. We worry, however, for how those old fogies in the academy will react!"

The aide could feel some cold sweat on his back, realizing that the matter was soon about to turn against him. "Y-Your Majesty—"

The golden robed man snorted. "We do not wish to hear of your excuses! We only want results. Confirm the matter at once, and inform us only when they make contact with the prince!"

As the man left the king's chamber with a hasty bow, he felt like the day of his execution couldn't be that far off.

Because even though he had sent almost three times the number of men as he had previously planned, they had still failed to find any traces of the prince in the 'Wonderland of Doom'.

And to make matters worse, he had already lost one of the six groups that had been dispatched.

With the ongoing war with the Lavinian Empire, however, asking for additional men from the king would surely lead to an even worse result.

The man sighed. "I-I guess I better head in there myself."

In the worst case, wasn't it better to just hide out in the forest than to be executed here?