Let’s revisit the emotional journey of Jiale City University students on this day—
Morning.
"Shocking! ’Claw Club Sword Saint’ Suspected to Have a Lover!"
"I advise that lucky individual to co clean honestly. just breaking 208 bones, and we’ll call it even."
Noon.
"It must be because dating a Holy Sanctuary Mage is too much pressure, so she had to refuse, right?"
"Urgent, does anybody have that person’s photo? I’m ready to get plastic surgery to look like them; being a substitute would be fine!"
Afternoon.
"Breaking news! It’s neither Nages nor Demi! It’s highly likely that the other party is just a Two-winged Mage, or even a One-winged Mage, probably not a noble!"
"Would the Sword Maiden mind having an extra boyfriend?"
Evening.
Sonia kicked the door of her dorm room open, drew a wooden sword from her sword bag, raised it high, and slashed towards Adelle. Adelle quickly hid behind Ingrid and yelled, "Why are you so sure I’m the blabbermouth! On what grounds!"
"Even if you weren’t the one to say it, you definitely helped fuel the fire with an alt account!"
Adelle was at a loss for words and clung tightly to Ingrid, gripping her shield: "But it really wasn’t ! I’m usually very tight-lipped, and I want to expand the Claw Club, hoping you’d beco a Shadow Actress on Dedarose’s level... How could I possibly leak news about your love life that could affect fan enthusiasm!?"
Sonia’s anger subsided slightly, and she skeptically looked at Lois beside her, who didn’t speak but quietly t her gaze.
But the Village Girl quickly looked away and muttered thoughtfully, "If it wasn’t Adelle, then it mustn’t have been soone in our dorm who slipped up..."
"I’m not convinced. Why am I the only suspect?"
"I think I know who it is."
Everyone looked at Ingrid in surprise, and Ingrid said, "Do you guys rember Aisha?"
Aisha Marz, a pri candidate for the teor Disaster championship, crushed Reonie’s Rhythm Swordsmanship with her ’Perfect Counter’ Predictive Shield Battle technique.
Ingrid continued, "Being a Combat Mage is just Aisha’s side job; her main focus is ’Information Analysis.’ She’s not only a mber of the Truth University Strategy Group, but also an official editor for the Jiale City Star Cluster newspaper."
Strategy Group, full na: Truth University Affiliated Strategy Group.
From celestial manipulation to Abyss exploration, from social science evolution to Miracle research, almost any problem could be solved by the Strategy Group. However, most people’s knowledge of the Strategy Group ca from the drama series featuring Dedarose, "Chronicle of the Mistaken Blade," where the protagonist believed their father was frad by the Strategy Group and joined it to uncover the truth.
Although the Strategy Group is primarily composed of Prophet Mages, there are also many scholars serving there, handling tedious tasks like intelligence gathering. Since it primarily serves the Governnt Affairs Hall and the royal family, it could be considered a sort of unofficial governnt departnt, not high-ranking but highly influential.
Upon hearing about the Gospel System from the Observer, Sonia imdiately thought of the Strategy Group. One could say the Strategy Group is like a super low-budget version of the Gospel System with human influence and a smaller scale.
"Aisha has always had a ’Six Degrees Information Theory,’ aning that when you try to hide so intelligence, there will be six people around you who will faintly sense your secret, so a Prophet Mage doesn’t need to pry your mouth open directly. Instead, they can deduce your truth by gathering the information from those six people," said Ingrid, "These days, the Strategy Group has never stopped probing into Sonia."
As for why the Village Girl was targeted by the Strategy Group, the question hardly needed asking—before Sonia disclosed how she managed to climb to the Distant Realm from scratch in three months, the star prophets of the Kingdom of Stars would inevitably see her as a century-spanning enigma to be unraveled.
Honestly, it took Sonia a while to be sowhat fearful in retrospect. If it were the Kingdom of Blood Moon or the Kingdom of Gospel instead of the Kingdom of Stars, she would surely face pressures from Holy Sanctuary Mages and even Legendary Mages, maybe even have to flee into the Abyss.
However, in the Kingdom of Stars, all high-ranking mages are undoubtedly nobles, also bound by the Star Cluster’s Blessing, following the Kingdom of Stars’ laws as Laws ingrained in their souls, so the most the mages would do was send letters with various offers to entice Sonia, never daring to threaten—Star Cluster’s watching.
While overt action was impossible, private probing was inevitable, and Sonia had braced herself to be a perpetual target of the Strategy Group in this lifeti.
"This ’Six Degrees Information Theory’ is impressive," said Adelle, nodding, "Indeed, once soone has feelings of affection, even without speaking, it’s visible to others by their eyes."
"Mhm, mhm."
"Well said."
Seeing Sonia about to reach for her wooden sword again, Adelle hurriedly said, "So is it because all four of us knew the secret, according to the Six Degrees Information Theory, that there would be 24 people around us faintly sensing this secret, which the Strategy Group then analyzed?"
"I think this theory could be expanded to sixty degrees in your case," said Lois, "On your way to the cafeteria, everyone can faintly sense you have a secret you’re dying to share."
However, Sonia turned curiously to Ingrid, "Ingrid, are you close with Aisha?"
"Used to play together when we were kids," Ingrid paused, then added, "She protected when I was younger."
"Eh? Weren’t you the kid king back then?"
"That was after I turned seven or eight. When I was four or five, I was skinny and small, wore dresses, and was often bullied by other kids in the family. Aisha stayed at our house for a while one sumr, and during that ti, I played with her everyday..."
Although Ingrid seed indifferent about revisiting her past, everyone was clearly interested in her social connections: "You’ve been in Jiale City for a year of school, why hasn’t Aisha co to see you?"
"She has co to many tis, but I’ve been busy practicing swordsmanship and turned down all her invites. It was only after the university league tournant and the school vacation that I t with her."
Adelle was shocked, "Hey, why? She’s a genius from Truth University!"
"But she’s not a Sword Master," said Ingrid, confused, "What do I see her for?"
Though Ingrid exuded a legend-like quality as if her life was dedicated solely to the sword and nothing else, for so reason, in the eyes of her roommates, she more closely resembled a super shut-in obsessed with gaming and thus rejecting all social interaction...
"Wait," Sonia frowned, "even if the Strategy Group analyzed this intelligence, why would they spread it around?"
Lois: "Because you’re in a hurry."
"I am not!"
Lois said, "But if you’re in a hurry, you might reveal more information. They might think that the reason behind your rapid advancent is related to soone you like. So by finding out who that person is, they can further explore your secrets."
Sonia beca anxious: "I told you it’s soone my friend likes!"
"However, the Strategy Group is probably looking in the wrong direction," Lois ignored Sonia, addressing soone else: "A Mage can’t get help from others in the Void Realm. Even if Sonia’s lover is a Legendary Mage, could they really accompany her in exploring the Void Realm?"
Adelle analyzed, "Is it possible that just by holding hands with her lover, Sonia’s magic power absorption rate could increase...?"
Ingrid actually took the idea seriously: "Does love work that well? Is there a way to personify my sword? If it was a sword, maybe I could grow fond of it."
"You, you all..."
Watching Sonia on the verge of exploding, Lois quickly changed the subject: "Rember, didn’t your friend get interrupted midway through a confession and now doesn’t know whether it was a success or failure?"
The leader of the Claw Club’s arrogance imdiately tempered down: "Yeah."
"The solution is actually very simple," Adelle followed up: "You’ve watched ’Inverted World,’ haven’t you?"
"Of course, that’s Dedarose’s most famous romance drama—" Sonia stopped mid-sentence.
"Just like the famous line in it," Lois said,
"’If you can’t hear it once, then I’ll say it countless tis.’"
...
...
"Sword Maiden?"
Sonia suddenly snapped awake, took a step back, and pointed her sword: "What do you want!"
"This Technique Spirit—see if you need it," Ash brushed her sharp sword aside, said irritably: "If not, it goes to Weiser."
Sonia quickly glanced at it; it was the ’Sword Blood’ Technique Spirit, a composite Technique Spirit from the Weak Faction and Sword Technique Faction. Its passive effect was to enhance physical combat ability, making Fist Claw hits more likely to produce a ’sharp’ effect, but it wasn’t that useful for a Holy Sanctuary Mage, so she shook her head: "No need."
Ash distributed the spoils and frowned at Sonia: "Sword Maiden."
Sonia recoiled like a scared cat: "What?"
"You were way too distracted in today’s fight," he said seriously: "This is the Distant Realm, not the Sea of Knowledge on the Ti Continent. A single word suffix effect could kill you outright. If you’re not in good condition, then stay back with Weiser and look for word suffixes, rather than treating battle like child’s play."
Sonia bowed her head in embarrassnt: "Sorry, it won’t happen again."
Her mind was preoccupied with whether last night’s confession had any effect, wondering if she needed to confess a second ti. The fight had been purely instinctual sword swinging, so it was no surprise she got scolded.
And with Ash’s attitude, Sonia knew that her halfway confession from the previous night had failed. As for confessing again... Although she found that scene romantic when watching dramas, when it ca to her own turn, she only felt extrely shy!
How could she possibly have the courage to do it again!
Confeesion isn’t like a regular attack!
She’d, at the very least, need a three-day... ten-day... one-month cooldown!
While Sonia pondered, they had already reached the next Dream Bubble Shadow. Ash looked at the pillars of light scattered throughout the City and said: "This is the reward stage ’Reality-Illusion Bubble.’ Like before, let’s split up and collect reality-illusion materials. Taking one reality-illusion material consus 10% soul energy. We still have plenty of soul energy left today... If the material really suits, then each person can take up to two. Once collected, we’ll et back in the city center."
"Understood!"
Sonia quickly picked a direction and slipped away. Once she was alone, the Village Girl felt much more relaxed, even having the leisure to appreciate the architecture and passersby in the bubble.
This place was an Underground City, but with advanced and beautiful urban planning, skyscrapers could be seen everywhere, and there seed to be a massive elevator to the upper levels in the distance. People on the streets were lively, with bustling shops on both sides...
"This is the Nabistin Underground City."
Sonia turned around and saw Ash had appeared beside her. "Is this the last stop on your Evangelism?" she asked.
"Yeah," Ash seed to grow a bit nostalgic: "Let show you around, I think I still rember the way."
"Sure," Sonia’s tone was excited, but she quickly realized a problem: "But this isn’t the direction you were going, right?"
"Yeah," Ash said cheerfully: "So I ca to find you specifically."
Sonia stopped and locked eyes with Ash, then suddenly pointed with a surprised expression behind him: "Look over there!"
Ash looked in the direction indicated and only saw an ice cream shop.
However, when he turned back, the Sword Maiden had already run off.
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