The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

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The situation at the academy had already calmed down after the Chaos Bone Spear was taken care of, and even people who had previously been despairing at the arrival of the Lord of Bones in the Old World felt as if they had been overthinking things.

After all, the Lord of Bones had been around for thousands of years, and the academy still existed. Even if he had now decided to spread his influence to the Old World as well, it didn't necessarily mean that he could simply wipe the academy off the map.

In such a time of turmoil, the academy and its forbidden cities were still much safer than the outside world.

Of course, even if these people had left, the academy wouldn't cease functioning, but Evelyn knew that the fewer people there were in the academy, the lower the power the main defensive formation would possess.

The reason that the Lord of Bones couldn't just break through the main defensive formation of the academy was because it perfectly utilized everything that the academy had at its disposal, and was also almost impossible to destroy.

The Chaos Bone Spear may have seemed like a carelessly executed taunt from the Lord of Bones, but Evelyn knew very well that it was something that he had used after careful consideration.

Its main purpose had always been to corrode the underlying structure of the academy to weaken and destroy the array itself instead of having to break through it by force, which showed that the Lord of Bones had no confidence in being able to do such a thing in a short time.

As for going all out against the academy… Evelyn didn't think the Lord of Bones would do such a thing yet, when he was still wary of Gwendolyn's presence in the Old World.

Evelyn didn't know what the Lord of Bones planned to do now that his first attack had failed, but she didn't want to wait and see anyway.

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The next time Evelyn saw Aurora was three days later, when she was taken to an underground tunnel hidden inside the tower of solitude by the female pillar Kaling.

The woman didn't follow her in, however, and had it not been for Aurora's handwritten note injected with the familiar spirit power, Evelyn would have surely assumed this to be some trap.

Thankfully, she soon encountered her teacher standing in front of an intricate circular gate.

Looking at her state, however, Evelyn couldn't help but frown. "What's wrong?"

Not only was Aurora's face noticeably paler than before, with how familiar the two were with each other, Evelyn could clearly see that her whole body was far more slender.

For people like them, consuming food was completely optional, and they relied on spirit power to sustain their lives. Needless to say, there was no such thing as losing weight due to not eating properly.

Although Aurora had always been petite and appeared harmless, she had never looked so sickly before.

As far as Evelyn knew, there could only be three reasons for a sudden change in Aurora's form - some kind of technique, damage to her soul, or damage to her vitality.

Aurora didn't answer her doubts, however, and simply gave her a nod before placing her palm at the center of the circular door. "This path leads to the academy's grand vault. I'll explain everything to you along the way."

Evelyn had no other choice but to follow her teacher in, staring worriedly at the platinum blonde's sickly appearance.

The path that opened up beyond the gate was lined with intricate white tiles, and the roof of the square tunnel seemed to be filled with indecipherable runes that glowed faintly.

The width of the passage widened the further along they went, and Aurora paused from time to time to place her palm on a rune along the way. "Normally, it is impossible to enter the academy's vault in person, but when necessary, one has to be careful to remember all the keys inside. If you miss one, the vault will close."

Evelyn nodded. As for what will happen once the vault closed… there was no need for her to think about it. Not long after they had started descending down this path, she had already started feeling a faint suppression of both her spirit and soul power.

Although it couldn't be compared to the complete immobilization she felt when in Nadia's presence under the Siren's Call, it was definitely similar to what people experienced in the lake itself, minus the continuous corrosion of their spirit power.

Aurora smiled. "I'm sure you've noticed the effects by now. This was one of the reasons why I believed that there could be a great treasure in the depths of the lake."

Evelyn blinked in surprise. "You mean this effect is not from some intricate array laid on this tunnel, but some artifact?"

Aurora shook her head with a smile. "It's not some artifact, but a natural born treasure of this world. Do you remember the Etherium Heart I told you about before?"

Evelyn nodded.

The platinum blonde sighed. "I can tell you're distressed, so I'll tell you. The reason I look weakened now is only because I activated the Etherium Heart to open this vault."

Aurora went on to explain how although the Etherium Heart served as a key to the vault, the array was constructed in such a way that in case someone managed to capture the holder of the Etherium Heart, it would still be impossible to force them to open the vault.

There were already provisions inside the vault to ensure that a certain amount of treasures and resources will be sent out to the holders of certain 'tokens', which would then be distributed according to the academy's rules, so the vault normally remained closed for thousands of years at a time.

The treasures and resources sent out remained random, however, so only in cases such as these where they had to look for something particular, was there ever a need to open the grand vault.

Of course, Etherium Heart wasn't just a key, but also a weapon.

To enable its functionality of serving as a key, the Etherium Heart had to first be filled with all the energy that its holder had, three times over, and only then would the key be 'ready'.

However, after each full 'rotation', the Etherium Heart could also be used to attack. Needless to say, if someone captured and tried to use the holder if the Etherium Heart, there was no way to do so unless they could survive an attack that was probably hundreds of times stronger than what the wielder would normally be capable of.

Of course, such power came at a price, and each time the Etherium Heart was used, the user's vitality would suffer greatly.

Aurora smiled. "Don't worry, once we're done here, I'll be able to restore it using some elixirs. The damage isn't permanent."

Evelyn couldn't help but sigh. "Okay. So this natural treasure suppresses everyone who enters here, just like the water in Siren's Call, right?"

Aurora shook her head with a smile. "No, that is just… its side effect. Now that we've met Nadia, do you understand why the Siren's Call is able to suppress everyone like that?"

Evelyn pursed her lips in thought. "I guess maybe the special properties of the water? Or it could be a special ability of Nadia?"

The platinum blonde sighed. "No. The reason is because… Nadia is a primordial creature."

Seeing Evelyn's confusion, Aurora patiently explained to her what she knew.

In some of the larger mystic realms, one could sometimes come across 'primordial creatures'. These beings were born with that realm itself, and in their own domain, their power superseded that of even those who had mastery over the said domain.

For example, if a primordial sea creature were to fight someone with mastery over the element of water, the element would refuse to obey even its 'master'.

Moreover, the lifespan of these creatures was the same as that of the realm. That is to say, if the primordial creature perished, the realm would collapse, and vice-versa.

Of course, the primordial creatures weren't invincible. Their domains were generally limited to where they were born. Whatever mountain, lake, or plain it was, as long as they left that domain, their strength would be greatly reduced.

Moreover, the base strength of these creatures depended on the realm as well. For a minor realm, the primordial creature could be weak enough to perish under the hands of a freshly awakened individual.

Meanwhile, a major realm's primordial creature, in its own domain, would probably be able to sneer even at a throne.

Evelyn gulped. "So Nadia…"

Aurora frowned. "That's the strange thing… even the major realms are puny if compared to our world, so Nadia should be able to effortlessly crush the thrones with but a thought. But… that's clearly not the case, is it?"

Gwendolyn's statement of Nadia being a 'fake' thus held some more validity, but Evelyn believed that even compared to Gwendolyn, her own system was still more accurate.

After all, while whether Chronos could compare with Gwendolyn in terms of strength remained unknown, it was certain that when it came to knowledge, it far exceeded the level of this world. Otherwise, there was no way for her true  origin to remain unknown.

And based on all the prompts so far, there had been no indication of Nadia being a fake in her system messages at all. Even though her status itself remained unknown, every single prompt that had been related to her clearly stated her existence as that of a 'Primordial Naiad', and nothing else.

Suddenly, Evelyn couldn't help but have a strange thought. 'But what if a primordial creature… had a baby?'

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