At the Swordsmanship Departnt of Cailleach's Sword and Roses University.
A conversation was underway in the professor’s office.
"What do you an you forgot?" Sonya asked.
The professor replied, "Exactly what it sounds like. I forgot to inform you. It happened a couple of days ago. Two mbers of the exchange team died in the Virtual World."
"Were their injuries serious?"
"Not exactly. One lost an eye, and the other suffered hearing damage. Their ability to fight was compromised, so they were replaced. Then Leona recomnded you, and that's how you ended up taking their place on the team.
"Oh, right. I’ll be leading the team for the exchange with Trajectory University. I hadn’t planned on letting you compete so soon, but the recent swordsmanship students are the worst I’ve seen. I had no choice but to let a newcor like you, with less than a month of sword training, step in and hold the line."
"Why didn’t you ask first?"
"Because I knew you’d agree anyway, so I didn’t bother. Then I forgot to tell you," he admitted.
Sonya rubbed her forehead in frustration. I enter the Virtual World at eleven every night, but the Chief match doesn’t start until at least midnight. It completely throws off my schedule, and I still have two hours of practice to get through. If no one had told , I wouldn’t even know there’s a gala tonight. Everyone in the school knows I’m fighting in the Chief match, except ! Professor, this really makes —"
Tap!
A pair of long boots landed on the desk. Trozan leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, a sharp impatience in his expression. "Are you done? I just forgot to tell you. Do you have to keep nagging like this? Next ti there’s any notice about you, I’ll send ten ssages on the Curtain to bombard you. Happy now?"
Sonya recognized the harshness in his tone, but she also knew Trozan had taken her concerns seriously.
After half a month together, she had already figured out his personality. Professor Trozan spoke harshly to everyone, like a prickly hedgehog. His thod of teaching boiled down to one simple principle, which was that whoever was stronger got to be listened to.
That confidence ca from his talent. His path to becoming a Sacred Realm sorcerer had been remarkably smooth. His skill more than compensated for his lack of social awareness, so he had never needed to learn how to handle people.
Others might find Trozan exhausting, but Sonya didn’t. Back in her hotown, people with even lower emotional awareness were everywhere. They learned everything from dramas, and their way of dealing with others ca down to instinct alone. Sonya had plenty of experience dealing with difficult people. Trozan’s blunt, low-empathy genius actually worked to her advantage. She could read him quickly and figure out how to make him listen.
Her sharp words now weren’t reckless. They were necessary. Trozan needed direct reminders, or he simply wouldn’t rember.
Trozan tilted his head. "Alright, I understand. You don’t really want to join the exchange, and even less to fight in the Chief match. If you’re in such a rush to enter the Virtual World, I can change the order. You could fight in the Vanguard Match first, then head straight back to school. I can even swap you out entirely. What do you want to do?"
"Still, even at my peak obsession with the Virtual World, I wasn’t as addicted as you. Will skipping a night or two really make a difference?"
Sonya thought. Miss a night? That would practically give the Witch a chance to get close to the Watcher!
Yes, that was Sonya's true concern, but she kept it to herself. She knew nothing major would happen in just one night. If soone could make a breakthrough in a single night, it would only show that she wasn’t good enough at her own ga. If, even after half a month, she still couldn’t take back control from the Watcher, could the Witch really succeed in just one night?
Is having a girlfriend with multiple personalities really that appealing? It’s just like having a gentle confidant, a sharp-tongued scher, an energetic girl, and a cold-blooded killer all rolled into one. What’s so impressive about that? Alright, fine, the Witch does have her advantages.
After weighing everything, Sonya realized her only real edge was having gotten to know the Watcher before the Witch did. Even by the Watcher’s favored asure of strength, the Witch’s future looked brighter. Soone practicing the Ti Class would keep improving automatically on the Continent of Ti; in other words, always staying one step ahead of her.
Her position in the group seed fragile, but Sonya wasn’t too worried about being pushed aside. The Watcher often talked about status, struggle, survival of the fittest, and the strong taking their place, but she knew it was just his way of pushing her to train harder. It was like professors saying, "This test affects your overall grade," just to make students anxious enough to study.
Half a month’s head start wasn’t for naught. Sonya had begun to understand the Watcher’s personality. Despite his apparent identity as a revived legend, he was surprisingly delicate. Beneath his absurd jokes ran a thread of genuine care, and even in his quietest actions, she could sense a subtle kindness.
If the Watcher hadn’t taken initiative, Sonya might never have brought up the Witch’s personality disorder during battle. Even if she had, she would have waited first for their bond to deepen further, and if it happened a few more tis. But the Watcher couldn’t wait. The mont he noticed, he acted imdiately, as if he couldn’t bear to hold it in any longer.
She couldn’t tell whether his actions stemd from a sense of responsibility, concern for the team, or were simply acts of kindness. Soone so delicate at heart wouldn’t open up easily. It would take far longer than usual for them to truly accept anyone. And it wasn’t just the Witch. Even now, Sonya felt the Watcher hadn’t truly accepted her.
He called her the pillar of his life, yet sotis, when he looked at her, she could feel an ungraspable distance in his gaze. It was as if he were staring at sothing forever out of reach. Perhaps it was because they didn’t belong to the sa place. The distance between them had quietly grown into a gap in their hearts. If even Sonya couldn’t bridge it, she couldn’t imagine the Witch could either.
If the Watcher were truly impatient and lustful, recruiting operators just to choose his consorts, then why had he never made a move on her? Could it be that he simply couldn’t defeat her? She could think of countless rational reasons why it was fine for the Watcher and the Witch to explore the Virtual World together. Yet none of them mattered. In the face of rising emotion, her logic quietly gave way.
The thought of them traveling the Virtual World without her sent a tearing pain through her chest. She had no way of knowing what they would see, what they would say, or what mories they might create together. Perhaps they would speak of her. Perhaps the Watcher would reveal pieces of his past. Perhaps they would stumble upon Special Areas like Miracle Paradise, the Sorcery Hall, or the House of Destiny Quiz.
These were experiences that had once been hers alone. And now, the attention, the monts ant just for her, were slipping away, little by little, into soone else’s hands. If she accepted the Chief Match and attended the gala, the Watcher and the Witch would create mories together, share experiences ant only for them, and keep their secrets hidden behind quiet, shared smiles.
She hated the feeling of losing control. She feared being pushed aside. She knew her worries were baseless. She knew letting herself dwell on them was pointless. Yet she couldn’t stop.
Sonya Selby was just that—a powerless village girl, unable to hold on, unwilling to let go, unable to bear parting, and incapable of keeping what mattered most. Every reason she had crumbled before the tug of her heart.
Professor Trozan asked, "So what’s your decision? Do you want to change the match order or withdraw from the gala altogether? Letting the Virtual World take precedence over reality... I can understand that."
"No."
Her answer surprised even herself. The village girl fixed her gaze on the professor with her fists clenched tight, shaking her head with quiet resolve. "We’ll follow your plan. I’ll take the Chief Match, and I’ll stay until the gala ends. The Virtual World must always give way to reality."
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