Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 252: Mental Energy Improvement

"Astrid... I have a question I want to ask you..."

Hearing Lyra’s soft yet slightly hesitant tone, Astrid lifted her skirt slightly, revealing the lace trim of her black stockings, then gently pulled them up with her fingertips.

"What’s the question?" After adjusting her stockings, Astrid spoke softly.

Seeing this, Lyra’s ears turned slightly red, and she moistened her lips before speaking.

"Is your current mental energy reserve... still the same as before..."

She knew that Astrid had some issues, or rather, shortcomings, with her mental energy, but she didn’t know the specifics.

Astrid fell silent for a moment before finally speaking.

"Well, it’s about the same as a normal middle stage apprentice."

If Astrid had previously thought that her mental energy was simply innately insufficient and could be replenished with diligent practice over time, after such a long period of training, she began to doubt that view.

Recently, Astrid faintly felt that she had reached the mental energy threshold mentioned by Ms. Case.

Every mage’s mental energy threshold is different, some high, some low.

Those with lower thresholds require less time to accumulate mental energy, often allowing them to improve quality more quickly and achieve breakthroughs in level.

On the other hand, mages with high thresholds need more time to fill their reserves, which slows down their rate of quality improvement.

It’s like comparing a wine bottle to a barrel. The former is easy to fill but has a lower capacity, while the latter has a higher capacity but is more difficult to fill completely.

However, even though there are differences between individuals, the gap isn’t too large, at most, it’s equivalent to one or two advanced apprentice-level spells.

Astrid is completely different. If others’ mental energy is like a bucket, hers is more like a bottomless cup that shows no sign of filling no matter how much you pour into it.

She didn’t enjoy the benefits but suffered all the drawbacks. Perhaps the original Astrid realized this, which is why she was so resistant to learning magic, after all, she was the daughter of the Arcanist Lady Fanya.

Rather than being discovered as an unpolished gem, it was better to use laziness as an excuse from the start to hide her mediocrity and disregard.

"Astrid..."

Looking at the silver-haired princess who seemed unfazed, Lyra hesitated for a moment before whispering.

"...It will definitely get better in the future!"

The importance of mental energy to a mage is self-evident, especially since Astrid’s elemental affinity is so high.

Her excellence and exceptional talent could easily overshadow all the new students, but her storage capacity falls far short.

Such a contrast would be hard for anyone to bear, and Princess Astrid’s theoretical knowledge of magic is so strong that she must have put in a lot of effort in private.

Yet, even so, she didn’t show the slightest hint of disappointment or sadness, instead burying her sorrow deeply within and silently enduring it.

Princess Astrid... is truly both gentle and strong...

Unaware that Lyra had been imagining all this, Astrid looked at her with some surprise and smiled softly.

"Are you encouraging me?"

Hearing this, Lyra blinked a few times and said softly.

"Yes, I believe in you too."

Without any basis, just a feeling of belief.

Astrid’s smile deepened, her tone is exceptionally gentle.

"Alright, alright, I understand."

Even she, who had read the entire novel, couldn’t find a reasonable explanation, so how could Lyra, as a character in the book, know?

After chatting for a bit, Lyra suddenly thought of something, her gaze lingering on Astrid for a moment before turning to Amalia.

"Miss Livia hasn’t suffered an elemental affinity test. Will that affect her studies?"

Hearing the name Livia, Amalia’s eyes flickered, and after a moment, she replied softly.

"My sister already tested me."

"Thunder element is Exceptional, water element is Superior, and the rest are all good."

The power of royal blood is indeed not to be underestimated. Amalia not only has high elemental affinity but also learns quickly.

Despite starting magic later than Lyra, she has already reached the level of a peak apprentice, keeping pace with the destined female lead.

The only thing that surprised Astrid was that, in the original worldline, the tyrannical and cruel empress, in addition to her strong destructive thunder affinity, actually had an even closer affinity to the inherently gentle water element, reaching a superior level. The contrast revealed by this comparison is truly poignant.

Perhaps without those dark years of confinement in the ancient castle, Amalia might have become someone gentle to the core.

After hearing Amalia’s answer, Lyra recalled her own elemental affinity test results, feeling a flash of disappointment, but she quickly adjusted.

’It’s fine. I’ll just specialize in fire magic in the future.’

After resting in the dorm for a while, the group went out for dinner. After finishing their meal, Astrid suggested visiting the training room to meditate and practice mental energy.

"Elise, take Livia back to rest first."

Hearing this, Amalia lowered her gaze, knowing that her sister wanted to do something alone.

Although she felt a bit reluctant, she thought there would still be plenty of time for intimacy in the evening, so she obediently followed Elise and left.

Seeing that Lyra had no intention of leaving, Astrid lifted at her and said softly.

"Are you coming with me too, Lyra?"

The pink-haired girl nodded and replied gently.

"I was planning to meditate for a while too."

It’s clearly not suitable to practice fire magic in the dorm. If the blankets or furniture got burned, they’d have to spend money to replace them.

Astrid didn’t say much more and walked with Lyra toward the training room.

It was late at night, and the path from the dining hall to the spiral training tower passed through the main square of the Elizabeth Academy of Magic.

Lyra listened to the crisp sound of high heels, looking at the silver-haired beauty just half a body’s length ahead, her gaze gradually softening.

The evening breeze brushed her cheeks, carrying a faint fragrance, and their slender shadows fell among the dappled tree shades.

Apart from them, there were a few students strolling in the square after dinner.

Lyra noticed a couple charmingly holding arms, the boy occasionally leaned down to rest his head on the girl’s shoulder. The girl, heard something, let out a bell-like laugh.

Are they a couple...

Lyra reversed at them for a moment before shifting her gaze back to Astrid’s calves, looking at the high heels she wore and her height, which was only slightly taller than her own, suddenly realizing something.

Those high heels are probably about six or seven centimeters... Princess Astrid is actually a bit shorter than me...

A year ago, when Lyra left home, she was less than 160 cm tall. Now, she didn’t know if it counted as a second growth spurt, but she was about 167 cm.

Usually, the high heels and her excellent body proportions had obscured the fact, but Princess Astrid is actually quite petite.

If she wasn’t wearing anything, she wouldn’t even need to slightly raise her eyes to look at her.

Noticing someone staring at her, Astrid turned to look at Lyra, who quickly raised her head and hurried to catch up.

"Let’s see if the training rooms are closed. If they are, whoever finishes first can come knock, and we’ll leave together," Astrid said.

This was exactly what Lyra had in mind. The girl nodded and replied softly.

"Alright, Princess Astrid."

Arriving at the spiral tower, they showed their student IDs to the receptionist on the first floor, and the staff handed them the corresponding room keys based on their information.

"The training tower is open from 8 AM to 11 PM every day. Remember to leave on time, or you’ll have to wait until the next day."

"Keep the keys with you and don’t hand them over to others. From now on, that training room will be your private space for the next four years."

Astrid changed at the number on her key, 418, and noticed Lyra tiptoeing to sneak a peek at her key. A faint smile crossed her face.

"What’s wrong? Are your shoes uncomfortable?"

Hearing Astrid speak, Lyra realized her little action had been noticed, her cheeks slightly reddening as she whispered.

"No..."

"What’s your room number, Princess Astrid?"

Astrid answered truthfully, and Lyra’s lips quickly curled into a smile, her tone becoming much more cheerful.

"I’m 419. It should be right next door."

Walking up the spiral staircase, their view suddenly opened up. The training tower was quite crowded, with many room doors bearing "Do Not Disturb" signs, likely indicating someone was practicing magic.

As the second tallest building in the Capital, surpassed only by the royal palace, the Elizabeth Academy of Magic’s training tower was designed from the start with enough training rooms to accommodate every student seeking knowledge.

Looking out through the arched windows beside them, the black night sky was dotted with a few orange-yellow lights. Turning back, near the rooms, light-attribute crystals were placed for illumination.

The scene reminded Astrid of her past life, where evening self-study was a nightly routine.

But strictly speaking, what she and Lyra were about to do wasn’t much different from evening self-study.

After exchanging greetings, Astrid pushed open the door to her room, her mental energy quickly dispersed to locate the ceiling light.

With a slight thought, bright light instantly filled every corner of the room.

Turning to lock the door, her fingers lightly touched the magic circle at the entrance to activate the soundproof barrier.

Astrid stood straight, looked around, and found the training room unexpectedly spacious.

Facing her was a table and chair for meditation and experiments.

To the right were dry wood and straw for burning, and the walls were equipped with water-attribute crystal outlets.

There were also small clumps of soil and a few thunderstones to increase the concentration of thunder element particles in the air.

Fire, wind, ice, water, earth, and thunder, the entire training room was equipped with all the elements needed to cast spells.

Activating her elemental vision, Astrid saw the various elemental particles floating in the air.

She casually chanted a fire-attribute spell, the scorching flames illuminating her pale cheeks and reflecting in her blood-red pupils.

After a dozen seconds, the flames extinguished, and Astrid tried a few other spells before sitting down on the chair, crossing her legs, and placing her hands on her abdomen to meditate quietly.

As Astrid had previously judged, her mental energy hadn’t improved at all, as if it had reached some kind of limit. Even when replenished, any excess mental energy will simply overflow.

However, the quality was steadily improving, albeit slowly. She could feel it.

Half an hour later, Astrid opened her eyes, confirming that the soundproof barrier was intact, and softly spoke.

"Harness the free-floating ice particles in the air, shaping them into razor-sharp arrowheads that follow the path of my mental will."

There was no praise or plea for the elements’ response in the chant, clearly indicating a classic Elders Speech.

As soon as she finished speaking, several crystal-clear ice arrows formed in the air. Astrid blinked, and the next moment, the arrows shot toward the opposite wall, shattering into ice shards upon impact.

Ancient spells could greatly enhance the quality of spellcasting. Astrid only needed to input a portion of mental energy to achieve a spell effect several times stronger than a generic chant. This not only increases the spell’s power but also saves mental energy.

The biggest issue now is that Astrid’s current strength was too weak. She had to chant spells aloud to cast them.

While this was fine for private practice, if she were in a public setting, unless faced with a life-or-death crisis, she wouldn’t easily reveal her ability to read ancient languages.

After chanting a few more ancient spells, the difficulty increased from that of a low-level apprentice, continuing up to the level of a Intermediate.

"Weave a web-like structure through sheer mental energy, channel fire into one end to ignite a repeating cycle of motion, and..."

Halfway through, Astrid clearly felt her mental energy couldn’t sustain the spell, so she quickly stopped chanting.

The Intermediate spell, Sticky Fire Net, requires more fire element particles than her current mental energy quality could handle, even if her reserves were sufficient.

Forcibly stopping the chant interrupts the process of converting mental energy into magic, causing the magic to burst out and backlash onto the caster.

Astrid felt a dull pain in her head, her fingers instinctively clenching, and her body involuntarily leaning against the wall.

After a few minutes, the magic dissipated, and Astrid quickly adjusted her breathing, retracting her mental energy to ensure it wasn’t harmed by the residual effects.

It seemed her limit was using ancient spells to cast Intermediate spell.

Calming her mind, Astrid felt that the quality of her mental energy had improved slightly.

Although the increase was small, compared to the time she had spent before, it was a qualitative leap.

This method... really works...

Looking at the slightly blackened wall in front of her, struck by various spells, Astrid suddenly thought of Lyra, who was diligently practicing magic on the other side of the wall.

Since chanting in English does help improve mental energy quality...

Should I tell Lyra...