A short while later, the entire group was standing outside Professor Myra’s quarters...

It was morning, and Lucian knew very well that before showing the three girls what was on the other side of the door, he needed to confirm it himself first. Otherwise, just like last time, the three of them might end up traumatized. So, without opening the door, he directly opened a portal right at the entrance...

"Wait," he commanded.

Elira, who had been following right on his heels, halted abruptly. Sera, caught off guard, bumped right into her back.

"Ouch..." She groaned, rubbing her nose in irritation.

"Let me go inside and confirm something very quickly first. Then you three can come in, okay?"

The three girls just exchanged confused glances as he slipped inside, shutting the portal.

A few seconds of silence passed... and then, voices started leaking through the door.

"Yaaawn... Oh, my, my~ Lucian, darling. Here so early in the morning? And without even knocking... How bold."

"Yeah, I’m here. Put some clothes on first," Lucian deadpanned.

"Nhhh... why clothes? Come on, come over here. Let’s have some fun~"

"Get up and put some decent clothes on quickly. I brought some people to meet you."

Outside the door, Sera and Elira had their ears practically glued to the wood, shamelessly eavesdropping on every single scandalous word. Aria stood a little further back, fidgeting awkwardly and looking around, completely unsure of how to react to what she was hearing.

Click.

The door handle suddenly turned.

Leaving, Both stalkers instantly jerked back, standing up straight and pretending they were just casually admiring the hallway walls. The door swung open, revealing Lucian standing there wearily.

"Come in."

Inside, Myra had grumblingly — walked for a shower.

Now, the group was waiting inside her well too cleaned room. The sound of the shower echoed in the background. Sera and Aria were nervously mumbling to each other in hushed whispers, completely intimidated by the vibe of the room, while Elira and Lucian just sat there in absolute, stoic silence...

A short while later, the bathroom door clicked open. Myra stepped out, dressed in her usual tight jeans and a crisp white tunic. Without bothering to look around, she used wind magic to dry her damp hair.

"Well, well... what do we have here?" A devilish smirk formed on her lips.

"A little harem of my most precious student..."

Sera and Aria flushed slightly, while Elira remained entirely unfazed.

Lucian began to stand up.

"No, no, stay seated," Myra waved him off lazily. "I know who everyone is. How could I not? The top three prodigies of our future generation..."

She took a slow, deliberate step forward.

"So what brings you here, Lucian darling? Did you finally decide to show off how much you’ve grown without my training, or perhaps..."

Hooking a slender finger around the neckline of her top, she lightly pulled it down to reveal a tantalizing glimpse of her cleavage.

"...do you want some mommy’s milk?"

Hearing this, Aria and Sera turned as red as boiled crabs. They were well aware that Myra was the strongest ’Crown’ rank in the entire empire, yet her shamelessness was beyond anything they could have ever anticipated.

Elira, however, immediately stood up. Stepping directly in front of Lucian, blocking him completely — as if she had to protect him from his perverted master’s gaze at all costs.

Myra tilted her head, blinking in genuine amusement.

"Oh my..."

In a split second, she closed the distance between herself and Elira, blurring across the room.

"Come on, darling. Did you really think I was hitting on your prince?" she purred, gently placing a finger under Elira’s chin.

Elira didn’t even flinch. She stared right back, remaining as deadpan as ever.

"Well, aren’t you a grumpy little one..." She chuckled softly.

Sitting on the sidelines, Aria and Sera remained perfectly quiet. They knew exactly who they were dealing with, and Sera knew better than to mess with a powerhouse like Myra unless she crossed a strict boundary.

Sighing, Lucian reached out from behind, grabbed Elira by the waist, and gently pulled her back down to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Myr—" he started, then quickly cleared his throat to correct himself. "I mean, Master... still, let me formally introduce them."

He gestured toward the two girls sitting nervously nearby.

"This is Aria and Seraphina. And the one next to me is Elira."

Myra’s gaze shifted toward Aria and Sera as she leaned in slightly, her eyes scanning them with an appraising look.

"Hmm... I didn’t expect something like this. though both girls still have their chastity intact. Have you not... done it with them yet?"

The fiery blush aggressively returned to Aria and Sera’s faces.

"NO, I DID NOT! WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?!" → "Master... no. Just — no." pinches bridge of nose "Can we focus?"

Then knowing myra he couldn’t do anything with these habits of her so he just rubbed his temples and let out a heavy sigh.

"Master, did you seriously not notice?"

Myra’s tone remained effortlessly casual as she strolled over to the window and poured herself a glass of wine.

"Your curse... you managed to erase it. And your core... it has also changed,

She took a slow sip of her red wine. Then, extending her free hand, she opened her palm. With a faint shimmer of mana, a heavy book materialized directly into her grasp...

Suddenly, Sera shot up from her seat.

"W-Wait, what do you mean by a changed core?"

"You heard me right, darling. You could say that Lucian’s mana core is now... a Dark Core," Myra said smoothly.

"A Dark Core...?" Aria repeated in a daze.

Myra casually walked over and handed the heavy book to Sera.

"You can find all the details about the Dark Core in here. It contains everything—its origin, how to manifest it, and all the other... intricate things."

Driven by her own piqued curiosity, Elira scooted over and sat right beside Aria and Sera to get a better look.

"Though, I’ll give you the short explanation," Myra continued, taking another slow sip of her wine.

"A Dark Core is simply ten times stronger than a regular mana core. And over time, with the right training, it can become a hundred times stronger... no, actually, I knew some people in the past who had Dark Cores a thousand times stronger..."

Without even opening the book yet, the three girls were left completely in awe just hearing those staggering numbers.

Lucian interrupted the heavy silence.

"So you already knew exactly why I came here,"

Myra just gave him a knowing smile...

I thought you liked my training and I was also excited to get my hand on you... once in a while...

Lucian just gave him a deadpan stare then shrugged it off.

This woman is so unpredictable..

Meanwhile, the girls had eagerly flipped open the cover. However, as they turned a few pages, their awe quickly twisted into deep confusion. They couldn’t understand a single thing. The text was written in strange, demonic symbols — a language that was definitely not normal.

"This book..." Sera lifted the heavy tome slightly, looking up with a frown.

"What exactly is written in here? If you knew it was in some unreadable foreign language, why did you even hand it to us...?"

Myra’s lips curled into a smug smirk.

"I just wanted to show off a little... After all, this is the only copy in the entire world, and it was all written by me."

The girls remained utterly bewildered for a few moments, staring blankly at the proud professor before Aria murmured, still in a daze.

"So does that mean... Miss Myra, do you also have a Dark Core...?"