The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Aria hesitated before answering, because this matter was probably solely exclusive to her who was brought up by someone like Zehell. It was really sourced from her own experience, but it wasn't like Aria was telling the child to follow after her. In fact, she regarded the matter as a bad thing and wanted Alena to never plunge into this sort of twisted hole that would endanger her.

"That's because you are not blind enough. You are not blind like me, so you haven't tasted the flavor of bitter desperation. It's not a good kind of sentiment, so I hope that you wouldn't encounter something like that in the future. Instead, you should aim for a positive encouragement. Being desperate is good, but your mentality will be constantly challenged and pressured. If you are not careful, then one day you will burst apart into pieces and would never remain the same," Aria explained. She had seen so many people fall prey to this paradox where they had to be desperate and grow stronger, but at the same time, if they were pushed any further than they already were at that moment, all of their mentality would burst and crumble down into pieces.

Alena nodded, although she did not completely understand. She did not relate to Aria's words, as she thought that she had already tasted something called bitter desperation multiple times in her life. She had been disappointed, hurt, and underwent countless hardships as a child. Although she wasn't someone who liked to play the victim, she had to admit that she was very unfortunate in the wheel of life. If she was just a bit luckier, then she wouldn't be in the state she was in right now, tired and exhausted with little to no progress.

Having been hit with a curse without knowing who the caster was, or what she did to deserve it, wasn't that a prime example of something that would incite bitter desperation? She was bitter, and desperate to overcome the challenges thrown down her way. If that wasn't the thing Aria mentioned, what did the older mean by her words?

She kept the question inside her heart. Aria stated her cause with such confidence that Alena could do nothing but feel propelled to believe her. With their training session officially coming to an end, Alena made a resolve to get used to this kind of stress so that she wouldn't fall down the same way in the future.

Aria extended her hand towards the child who was laid down on the ground without any speck of shame or care for her elegance. She no longer had any poise to do so.

Aria picked the girl up, and carefully led her out of the training ground, as her body was severely lacking in energy. Alena was close to fainting, but she still held on to Aria's body as they both got out of the place. Aria escorted the child to her own abode before leaving her to her own business, knowing that the child would not hesitate to call up her servants in case something did happen.

Aria went back to her room and clutched her pendulum, the one she received from the System and was still unable to comprehend the mystery of. Zehell Rivkins. How was he tied to the System?

Her teacher entered her mind again after her bitter memories were triggered. She once believed that Zehell was a good man, and she forcefully made herself blind to the clear negativity that showed up in their progress. However, she couldn't keep lying to herself, not did the clear, hard facts allow her to lie.

There was constantly a damp aura of mystery revolving around her teacher, and before she was able to find the answers to those mysteries, her teacher disappeared.

She wondered if everything had a connection to her master in the end. She had spent years trying to be her master. Because she forced herself to respect the man and followed him in his footsteps without questioning the integrity of her situation. It was very frustrating.

'If I had to make a bold assumption, it would be that the System has ties to the concept of Unity, thus involving me and my teacher. But that is.. too far of a prediction. Everything seems eerie.. and uncanny.'

Aria contemplated as she began undressing and dipping her entire body inside the bathtub, as she too was drenched in sweat after leading Alena on for hours to no end. The child's passion to learn was large. Sadly, her own mentality and drawbacks held her from achieving the supposed results.

Other than that, there was something that caught her attention. Her doubts surfaced with a high momentum recently, so she couldn't help but feel unsettled. She called her Earth spirit out, as the knowledgeable entity was someone she could converse deeply with about her private matters.

"Hi! Hello! How are you feeling?" Rallaka called out cheerily as he popped out of the Summoning Space with his newly formed body.

"Do you know something called Unity?" Aria asked right away.

"...Unity? Nothing comes to mind right away, but... I did hear some things thaaaat~ Uh, somehow are related to Unity in one way or another... But I doubt that it would be what you're trying to find out."

"No, I want to hear it. It's important for me,"

"..Alright.. but don't pick on me if I sound like I'm spouting bullshit.. It's really like this, alright?" Rallaka warned before starting to speak.

"Yes, yes," Aria listlessly replied.

"So.. If my memory serves me well, back in my days.. I think it was way beyond your golden era. I was a rather young spirit in those years, but I overheard some things from my senior spirits. They were bickering about a matter, and I heard it concern Unity... It was in the spirit's language, so the translations might be wrong.." Rallaka tried to drag the matter on, and he stole a peek at Aria's way and found out that the woman was starting to get frustrated with the dillydallying.

Rallaka immeditealy straightened up and began stating his memory.

"Okay, so basically, there were talks about this Unity being a concept similar to the afterlife, a utopia, a heaven, a paradise- something like that, you get what I mean? Anyway, this Unity thing, it's supposed to be related to the creation of a new world. That someone would somehow get something that can cause the universe to move, and produce a new simulation like world. Then... Well, not everything is clear, but this Unity is supposed to be the key to being an omnipotent being. But of course, I don't believe that anything other than fate is omnipotent, or have the chance of being so. That's all I know,"

Aria began to digest what Rallaka had said and compared it to the theories she knew. A new world made up of Unity. Was that possible? Was the concept of Unity not  just aimed towards reaching the truth of the world by completing the chains of qualifications?

However, there was also a high chance that what Rallaka was talking about was simply just a fleeting hot rumor.

"Aaaah!! This is so embarrassing. How can a Great Spirit like me actually say these kinds of things? It's clear that it's all fake! Those senior spirits... I can't even begin to comprehend how they thought all of these were real. Such an embarrassment to spirits! Anyway, let's talk about your matters instead. Why did you ask? You look like something is bothering you a lot. I will be frank with you, if you are sad right now, I won't be able to wallow in sadness and cry beside you because I am too happy. Look at my body! It's.. well, not desirable, but it shows PROGRESS!! You know, I would've never believed that this was possible, I was about to give up, wuwu, my fate is so sad-"

"Shh. I want to sleep. Rallaka, go back to your Summoning Space,"

"Haihh? DId I talk too much? My apologies, my apologies. I will be more serious next time, but for now, I will be extra happy. It's not only a change in appearance, you know? My power will also get stronger, and I will continuously absorb energy from everywhereee! Aria, be sure to let me out a lot. I will just follow you everywhere until my mana runs out. I want to collect as much energy as possible, filter it into new power, and grow stronger until someday-"

"That's enough, you are going to be rambling endlessly if you don't stop now,"

"You are correct in saying that. I applaud you for understanding my psyche so early into the game. Anyway, I will go back to the space now. My filtering properties hasn't been properly set up yet, so absorbing aura right now will not be that efficient anyway. Call me tomorrow, I will make sure that I have everything set up!" Just as always, he was loud and talked too much, but that was one of the qualities that made the Earth Spirit him. 

"Ah, wait. Before you leave.. what do you think about Dianthe?" Aria questioned.