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...?"

Myra paused mid-sip, her wine glass hovering near her lips.

"Me? Oh no, darling. I don’t have a Dark Core..."

She leaned in, her face stopping just a few inches away from Aria’s wide-eyed expression.

"I have something far more... interesting."

Then, just as quickly, the mysterious tension vanished. Myra giggled softly, waving her hand dismissively.

"But that’s a story for another time~ Right now, aren’t we here to discuss the training for all of you?"

Sera flinched in surprise. "W-Wait, us too...? I mean, we’ll also receive training... and from the strongest combat and healer Crown in the empire at that?"

Aria nodded violently, both of their eyes instantly gleaming with pure admiration and excitement.

Myra chuckled softly.

"Haha, well, since you girls are such precious students of mine..."

Standing off to the side, a massive bead of sweat dropped down Lucian’s head.

’Umm... these two have absolutely no idea just how awkward and shameless this woman’s training can get. I guess there’s no point in telling them right now...’

After all, how could he even explain it? Aria and Sera were looking at Myra like total fangirls. If they found out what her actual training entailed, that blind admiration would instantly turn into pure trauma.

Meanwhile, Elira’s attention was completely elsewhere. She had been staring intensely at the heavy book on Sera’s lap this entire time. Reaching over, she lazily flipped another page.

A low, smooth murmur left her lips. "Kaezar-Vyl, Urum-Shar, Daesh-Thul... this is not a core, but a covenant forged in Shadow."

She was actually reading the text written in the ancient demonic language.

Myra raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "You can read demonic script?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes, I learned it from my brother a long time ago..."

Myra blinked, then a wide, appreciative smile spread across her face. "Of course. How could I forget? Princess... after all, you are also a prodigy, just like Lucian."

She leaned slightly. "Would you like to work with me on a secret project? I can let you borrow more books like these if you agree."

A rare glint of genuine curiosity flickered across Elira’s usually deadpan face. Though, instead of answering immediately, she simply tilted her head back and looked over her shoulder at Lucian standing behind her.

Huh? Lucian just gave her a look, his subtle eye gesture making his answer perfectly clear: "Don’t ask me. If you want to, just do it."

Elira stared at him for a few seconds. Then, letting out a soft sigh, her eyes dropped to a lazy, half-lidded gaze.

"No. I’ll pass."

Sitting right next to her, Sera snapped her neck toward Elira in pure shock. "Wait, you’re seriously saying no?!"

"Mmm."

"Are you crazy?!" Sera grabbed Elira by the shoulders and started violently shaking her. "Do you have any idea what studying under Miss Myra means?! You could learn far more advanced abilities! Are you getting any of this into your head?!"

Beside them, Aria nodded extremely fast, fully backing Sera up.

Elira calmly reached up and stopped Sera’s frantic hands.

"Nah, I will still pass... And besides, how could I leave Lucian alone with you?"

Sera froze. Realization struck her like a brick.

"Tch..." she grumbled, glaring sideways. "Bitch... she almost slipped out of the picture, damn it..."

Myra chuckled in amusement after watching their little jealous banter.

"Then it’s decided! I will give all four of you a free joint training class for one hour every day." She winked playfully.

"Yup... considering it’s a debt, I can definitely carve out that much time from my schedule."

"Only one hour?" Elira blurted out flatly.

"Hey — shut up!" Sera panicked, immediately turning on her. "One hour is more than enough! What do you expect, that a legendary training session is going to last 24 hours?!"

Heh... Aria giggled, clapping both hands over her mouth as she desperately struggled to suppress it.

"I was simply asking for more time for your sake... I mean, One hour is more than enough for me..."

Sera’s eyebrow twitched violently, now barely able to suppress her fury.

Aria couldn’t hold it back this time. She burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.

"Whose side are you even on?! Stop laughing!" She yelled at giggling Saint.

Lucian simply smiled as he watched their chaotic banter.

"Alright... let’s get started," Myra announced, clapping her hands together to grab their attention.

"What... right here?" Sera asked, looking around the room. "I mean, how will we do it here? Shouldn’t we go to the academy’s training grounds...?"

"Ah, yes, absolutely—" Before Myra could finish her sentence, Lucian interrupted.

"Say, I can suggest a place way better than the academy training grounds."

"How about..."

He gestured with both of his hands, and a shimmering portal instantly tore open right beside them.

"...we go here instead, completely hidden from everyone’s prying eyes?"

"Hmm, interesting..." Myra stepped toward him and affectionately ruffled his hair. "Excellent work, my dear boy. You truly outdid yourself..."

"Come on, let’s go see what you’ve suggested."

Just as she was about to step through the portal, Lucian deadpanly grabbed her arm.

"Master, before we go inside, I need to ask you something."

"Yes, yes, ask away."

"Well, a few days ago, I left a very important green stone on that table of yours... Did—"

This time, before he could finish his sentence, Myra interrupted him. She leaned in closely with a sly, knowing smile.

"Lucian darling, are you really going to demand the price of that little green stone from your lovely mentor...? Besides, I thought you left it as a gift for me... And I already used that money to buy my wine. Plus, about our first session... I haven’t even charged you for that yet—"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Let’s just go." He let out a defeated sigh, releasing her arm.

"Good boy..."

Sitting behind them, the girls had been listening to Lucian and Myra’s exchange, and they immediately straightened up.

Sera looked at Aria, her eyes sparkling with intense excitement. "So... is it really about to start?"

Aria nodded vigorously, her eyes shining with pure joy. "Yes! The legendary training!"

"Let’s go!"

One by one, they eagerly began walking into the shimmering portal. Aria was the last one in line, but just as she was about to step through, Lucian caught her arm from behind and stopped her.

"Aria, wait. I have something for you before you go inside..."

..

..

.

[Author’s Note: To my dear readers, are you guys enjoying the story so far? Please let me know if anything feels off, or feel free to share whatever thoughts are running through your mind. I’m purposely taking the story a bit slowly right now, focusing on building everything beat by beat. Also, just a heads-up—the upcoming Tournament Arc is going to be quite long, so consider yourselves warned in advance!]