The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

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Evelyn wasn't really too shocked to learn about Aurora knowing about the 'throne' thing, as she had long suspected that her teacher was well aware of it. The only thing she had been uncertain of was to what extent Aurora was familiar with the 'thrones'.

Given that she had already known of their 'existence' for thousands of years, and the headmistress had tried her best to make it Aurora's life goal, it would only make sense for her to have dug into it as much as she could.

Now that she had brought it up, Evelyn was more relieved than anything else. She could finally be upfront about it and openly ask questions without revealing anything that she shouldn't, such as her ability to directly see her own and other people's status. "I think I understand what you mean, though I'm not quite sure what exactly the thrones are?"

The platinum blonde smiled. "It's alright. Not many know. Aside from this world, there are three 'moons' in our world, and they have their own channels. Those who are chosen by any of the three can thus grow at a much faster pace than anyone else, since they have not one, but two channels to fuel their growth."

Evelyn nodded. "So that means that 'thrones' grow twice as fast as anyone else, right?"

Aurora shook her head. "Not even close. To begin with, the baby that is chosen as the throne has to be extremely lucky, born with absurdly high stats. Only then is it chosen by one of the moons, and that is only if the 'position' itself is empty. There can only be three, after all. So they are already 'ahead' of their peers, are they not?"

The pink-haired girl nodded thoughtfully. 'Right. And if they have such stats, they're unlikely to be a normal baby anyway. Even I had the blessed spirit physique, which puts me at a significant advantage in terms of growth rate even if the throne thing wasn't there.'

The platinum blonde smiled. "It is believed that the ones who are 'chosen' are all 'Nature Spirits', a tier above even the 'Blessed Spirit' physique. Of course, it could be something that was just made up, since the only ones who could confirm if it is a lie are the only two thrones."

Evelyn gulped. 'I-If that is true, I might have just lucked into this throne thing because of the stat boost from my rebirth. I'm definitely no 'Nature Spirit' after all, my physique clearly states 'Blessed Spirit'!'

"Also, the throne channel is said to be far more rewarding, though that is an anecdote based simply on the strength of the thrones, and no one knows if it is actually true. Well, no one but myself, that is, since I can see that it is indeed true, having seen a 'throne' myself."

Evelyn gulped, even though she already knew Aurora knew about it. "Y-You're referring to me?"

Aurora smiled. "Who else? Don't tell me you didn't know?"

The pink-haired girl shook her head. "I knew I was different from others, but there is too much I don't know. I never had anyone teach me this stuff, you know?"

The platinum blonde nodded. "Well, that's fine. Am I not here now? But know that I didn't tell you all of this for free, and nor am I teaching you out of the goodness of my heart."

Evelyn tilted her head curiously. 

Aurora frowned. "Don't look at me like I'm joking? I will definitely abandon you if you can't pass my test."

The pink-haired girl nodded. "Don't worry. If I'm unable to pass your test, I won't continue to burden you. But… can you tell me what it is?"

The platinum blonde huffed. "I won't tell you!"

Evelyn blinked. "Why not?"

Aurora turned her head away, trying her best to look aloof. "No! I might have told you before, but now I know you will definitely pass it if you know! So I will never tell you. Hmph."

The pink-haired girl sighed. 'Seriously? Well, it can't hurt to try…'

And as expected, when she used her probe skill on Aurora, not only did the probe fail, her teacher also angrily turned around to stretch her cheeks. "Y-You bad girl! What did you just do? I felt your spirit power poke me! You can't do that!"

Of course, Evelyn would never reveal the deepest of her secrets, not until she was strong enough to take care of the burden that came along with it, at least. So she just kept quiet as the platinum blonde continued to 'bully' her, though the one whose eyes were wet was herself.

"D-Dare to harass me, your teacher?! You don't respect me at all! Un, I won't teach you if you're like this?!"

Ruru, who was arrogant to her bones, obviously wouldn't care about such a thing, but Bree felt that the platinum blonde 'little girl' was too pitiful, crying while begging for her mama's affection, while her mama remained uncaring. She jumped over to Evelyn's shoulder to lick Aurora's palm while she was still 'bullying' her student.

Aurora pulled her hands back in shock, looking embarrassed. "E-Even your pets are like you! Hmph."

Evelyn also couldn't bear it anymore as she patted her on the head. "Teacher, don't be angry, okay? I'm sorry, I was just trying to see if you could sense it, un."

The platinum blonde rolled her eyes. "A-As if you can do that?! If it was anyone else, I would have killed them on the spot. Hmph, not even my mother has ever dared poke my spirit! Don't be so shameless to others, understand?"

Evelyn rubbed the back of her head. "I-Is it really such a big deal? I just used a little—"

Aurora sighed. "You didn't even know? Only 'partners' can probe each other's spirit! It's a very intimate act."

She was too embarrassed to tell her that it was also a part of 'marking' the spirit egg, and what established the relationship between parent and child when it came to spirit babies.

"Un, thank you, teacher. What will you do with this beast corpse, by the way?"

Aurora's lips twitched, feeling like she had gone through more expressions today than she had in the last thousand years. "Greedy. You want this corpse?"

Evelyn shook her head. "Wouldn't it be a waste to just leave this grade eight beast corpse? It must have a lot of precious materials."

The platinum blonde pursed her lips as she thought about it. Had it been anyone else, she surely would have dismissed their opinion. "This beast exploited Terra to grow like this, and Terra wanted to exploit the wonderland for something. Now that this beast has died here, it is only right for its corpse to feed the forest! This is its destiny, and we shouldn't interfere. Un."

Evelyn scratched her head in confusion. "What? Teacher, it attacked you, and you killed it. It's yours. If you don't want it, it's mine."

"It belongs to the forest!"

The pink-haired girl sighed. "Okay, if teacher says so."

Just as Aurora was about to nod, satisfied, her student knelt down on the ground before placing her ear against the ground.

"Dear forest, do you want this corpse? Oh, you don't? I can keep it?! Thank you very much!"

Aurora stared blankly as Evelyn got up with a smile. "Teacher, you heard that, right?"

The platinum blonde sighed. "Greedy, clever, and stubborn too. Fine, I don't want to argue with you. Un, but if you're always greedy, it will definitely bite you one day!"

Evelyn nodded. "I know, teacher. But I cannot be as kind and free as you, please forgive me."

Although there was a faint blush on her cheeks, Aurora still looked away. "You don't need to say that. Un, I know you desperately wish to grow fast. Teacher was insensitive. So, I'm sorry too. I am used to imposing my will on others, not unlike my mother."

The pink-haired girl smiled. "Well, I'm a selfish person. I don't care how you treat others, but you have been very kind to me, so to me, you are like a fairy, Aurora."

Aurora huffed. "W-Who allowed you to call me by my name?"

Evelyn couldn't help but tilt her head a little. "You did, remember?"

The platinum turned her head away as she gave her student a sideways glance. "That was before I knew you were so shameless! Dare to poke your teacher with your spirit power! Pervert!"

Evelyn couldn't help but pout. "Hey, don't say that! My friends will misunderstand if they hear it, you know?!"

Aurora nodded. "That's right. Don't do things if you're too ashamed of others knowing about it. For perverts, it is their destiny to be known for being shameless."

But although she said so, in the end, Aurora did end up helping her take the giant corpse of the grade eight beast, and Evelyn finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had been worried that if Aurora really left without the beast's corpse, all the materials would be gone by the time Evelyn managed to make her way back on her own. 'Although I can't see her affection, it must be quite high, right?'

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~ To be continued ~

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