The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

When they passed through the teleportation gate, Evelyn found herself facing a grand, white-marbled castle that seemed to be around thirteen stories high, with some of its towers and turrets extending about twice the height.

As grand as the structure looked, however, Evelyn knew that it was only one of the Ancient Academy's many buildings.

But while the rest of the students were being led deeper into the academy grounds by the prefects, Cecilia dragged Evelyn and her friends out of the crowd and towards the white building instead.

"You don't need to go check your arrangements. I already did that~"

Evelyn smiled. "Of course, thank you."

"Mhm, anyway, it's not really a surprise that your room would be in this White Lily Palace. All the 'Princess' and 'Prince' titled children from the ancient families always get to stay here, as per the olden rules."

Evelyn along with her 'attendants' and Cecilia all passed through the white marbled archway and entered the porch. This archway too didn't have a gate, though, and Evelyn wondered if the academy really liked all outer boundary walls to be 'gateless' for some reason.

"You're actually quite lucky, by the way. I heard they're changing the policy next year so even a 'Princess' of the ancient families won't be guaranteed a special room in the White Lily Palace. This is probably the last time a fresh student can enter this building."

Evelyn blinked in confusion. "Do they plan to keep this place empty, then? And do I have to move out next year?"

Cecilia shook her head. "Of course not. I heard they plan to switch to a merit-based system. Better performing students get better rooms, and so on. But this way, freshmen would have to spend at least a year or so to be able to qualify for entry in this place."

The ash-blonde grinned mischievously. "And how can my cute little Evey not be outstanding? You'll definitely qualify for a room based on merit by the time this policy is enforced, don't worry. And if you don't, well, there's more than enough space in mine."

Evelyn rolled her eyes. Although she appreciated Cecilia's openness, the girl was really too obsessed with teasing others every chance she got!

As they were talking, they finally arrived at the ornate white doors lined with a teal blue pattern. There didn't seem to be any gatekeepers or guards, and all Cecilia had to do was press her badge against the door for it to open.

And a few seconds after they entered, it softly closed shut again. It was quite fortunate that Amara and Vivian were both her 'attendants' and wouldn't be required to stay separately, otherwise it was unlikely for them to get a room in this same building.

"It's on the first floor, come on, follow me."

Evelyn silently followed behind Cecilia, marveling at the beautifully carved out floral designs on almost every surface of the palace. It was as if some sculptor had made it their mission to make sure every nook and cranny of this place was covered in all kinds of flower patterns.

Vivian was still resting on Amara's shoulders ever since the centipede incident. And the redhead also seemed to have gone strangely silent.

Evelyn had a hunch on what was going on, and it made her feel doubly guilty for doing it. These two girls were probably still suffering from the trauma of helplessly watching their family being slaughtered. 

But if Evelyn didn't want to go through the same, she had to take every chance she got.

Her room wasn't too far from the entrance of the building, and they arrived in front of the silver frame of the door soon enough.

"Here… I think this is the room assigned to you. Try tapping the door with your card."

As the pink haired girl took out the metal identity plate thing from her inventory again, the door to her room unlocked with a click, and the four of them readily strode in.

"Wow… it's HUGE!"

Vivian seemed to have completely forgotten her earlier distress as she jumped down from her sister's shoulders and started running around the hall, screaming in delight.

Even the Knox mansion's main hall was barely half as large as the one in this 'apartment'.

Shaking her head in amusement, Evelyn left Amara to watch over Vivian as she explored deeper inside with Cecilia.

Cecilia hummed as she observed her surroundings carefully. "It's a little better than mine, but not by much."

It came as quite a surprise to her, since Evelyn assumed all rooms in the same building would be the same when it came to structures meant to house students.

"Shouldn't it be the same?"

Cecilia shook her head. "No two rooms in the White Lily palace are 'the same', Evelyn. They are all individually designed, as far as I know. Ah, here's the kitchen. Empty, as expected. How stingy."

Evelyn could see the girl's disappointment, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"I can just get whatever I need later, right? It's no big deal."

The ash blonde almost screamed! How could her friend not understand what a big opportunity she had missed?! 

"It IS a big deal, Evelyn, you don't understand! This place is even more luxurious than the professor's residences, so sometimes when there are many empty rooms, some of them move in here until they need to empty it for a future student. I know that weasel arts professor Ainsley was staying here, but that stingy bastard didn't leave a single potato behind!"

Evelyn chuckled. "Well, if he took what was his, we can't really complain, can we?"

Cecilia pouted. "The professors are just rolling in dough, though, would it have killed him to forget about a few ultra-rare ingredients and artifacts?"

The pink haired girl rolled her eyes. "As if that's going to happen."

Cecilia chuckled, looking quite smug. "Fufu, that's where you're wrong, you cute little thing, you. You saw my purse, right?"

Evelyn blinked. "You mean that fat pig like thing?"

The ash-blonde nodded. "Right. That's Mister Chonkers!"

"Ahahaha… Mister Chonkers? You gave it a name?"

Cecilia's face bloomed red instantly. "AHHH! You don't understand, Evelyn, Mister Chonkers is the name of the artifact! I didn't name it that!"

Now it was the pink-haired girl's turn to be surprised. "That thing… is an artifact?"

"Right! And it's a grade six!"

Evelyn blinked, and then blinked again. Wasn't her own precious space treasure grade five? How is that ugly, fat little thing considered better? Moreover, what could something like that even do?

Cecilia puffed out her chest, as if knowing what she was thinking. "Don't look down on Mister Chonkers, Evelyn. Although it doesn't have many cool features, there's only one thing it's good at, and it's very good at it."

Evelyn looked thoughtful. "And what's that? Don't tell me… it's storing money?"

"That's right!"

Evelyn was left speechless. Isn't that just a regular old purse?

The ash-blonde cleared her throat.

"Ahem, it seems you don't understand. Let me rephrase that. Mister Chonkers can store ALL the money. As long as it is just any kind of spirit material or precious metal, Mister Chonkers can hold it in his belly without limit!"

Evelyn still looked suspicious, so Cecilia took out her precious purse from her necklace and handed it over.

"Take a look for yourself! The weight of the contents still remains on Mister Chonkers, so it's not like a spatial treasure. This thing is very special!"

Evelyn nodded as she tried to probe the shockingly heavy item. No wonder it had made such a huge sound when she slammed it on the table in the carriage. 

The results of her probe matched exactly what Cecilia had told her.

[ Mister Chonkers: Grade 6 ]

— Can store any kind of precious metal, such as Gold, Silver, Platinum etc.

— Can store any kind of Spirit Fragment, Stone, Crystal, or Core.

- Note: Storing the item does not negate its weight. 

- Note: Only ten types of items can be stored at a time.

- Note: Although there is no limit to the quantity of the items being stored, only a hundred items of the same type can be taken out at a time. The action can, however, be repeated till everything inside is removed.

"…"

It was both amazing and useless at the same time. But that was only when compared to her overpowered inventory. Compared to normal spatial treasures with very limited storage space, Evelyn could understand Cecilia's excitement over the item.

"So… you got this thing for free?"

Cecilia nodded, looking proud. "That's right! And you know what the best part is?"

Evelyn tilted her head. "No?"

The ash-blonde flicked one of her twin tails haughtily. "The one staying in my room before I came along was Aurora! She's one of the academy's senior most staff, and only picks her students by herself, seemingly on a whim. So not only is Mister Chonkers an amazing grade six treasure I got for free, it came from Aurora!"

'Is that… something similar to getting a something that previously belonged to a celebrity or something?'

Evelyn never really understood this kind of thing, nor had she been in a position to participate in such activities in her previous life. Still, she was happy to feel Cecilia's enthusiasm.

"And to top it all off, it even had a hundred spirit cores when I got it!"

Evelyn was halfway through her nod as she froze.

A hundred cores… a hundred cores…

'Let's see… one spirit core is a hundred spirit crystals… and one spirit crystal is one hundred spirit stones. That means… one MILLION spirit stones?! And she just kept it?'

Won't that Aurora lady absolutely MURDER Cecilia when she found out?!