The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Although the techniques that she had managed to acquire from the 'Tower of Solitude' were far better than she expected, Evelyn had actually been quite worried about making the 'wrong choice' when it came to actually allotting them.

It was a welcome relief when she discovered that Vivian really was quite 'compatible' with Eternal Ember, as she had just gone on a hunch based on her main talent being 'pyromaniac'.

Amara, on the other hand, hadn't shown any outstanding abilities in terms of spirit power. This made it much more difficult for Evelyn to judge which technique would be best suited for her.

Now that she had a positive response from the girl, however, Evelyn couldn't help but smile. "So, are you happy with it?"

Amara nodded. "Very much so. To tell you the truth, at first I was truly a little regretful, thinking that maybe I should have gone for a more offensive technique, but after talking about it with Oracle, I realized that this was actually far more suited for my needs."

Halfway through their talk, Vivian also woke up from her well deserved nap after watching over her sister almost all night. The little girl tugged at Amara's sleeve curiously. "Who's Oracle?"

Amara patted her little sister's head fondly. "The creator of the 'Arcane Archive', Oracle."

Vivian immediately grinned. "Oh, like the fire auntie? Cool. Reminds me, I forgot to ask her name."

Evelyn couldn't help but be startled. "You can talk to her, Amara? Ah, did she leave some way to communicate with her for you?"

The smaller redhead pouted, feeling ignored. "I can also talk to fire auntie! Is that special?"

Evelyn hadn't meant to ignore the little girl, she was just too focused on what Amara had said. She couldn't help but sigh. "No, Vivi… How do I explain this? The 'people' inside the cultivation arrays are like puppets. They only behave in a set way, and can't really think for themselves."

Vivian scratched her head, confused. "But auntie praised me! She said I was the most explosively fun kid she ever had!"

The pink haired girl nodded. "Mhm. That means you passed her 'test' with flying colors, probably exceeding all the 'standards' she had set. That's pretty amazing, actually."

Vivian couldn't help but pout, wondering why no one believed her. "Uuuh… Auntie is not fake… I don't believe it!"

Evelyn didn't know how else to explain it to Vivian, since the girl was apparently convinced that she had a dialogue with creator as well, even though all her 'responses' could have been 'pre-configured'. At least, none of what Vivian had told proved otherwise.

"You'll understand when you're older, Vivi. Anyway, Amara, are you sure you really 'talked' with her?"

Unlike Vivian, who could be easily fooled into believing that the other party was 'talking' to her when she was not, Evelyn didn't think Amara was so naïve. After all, she had both the age and the maturity to at least be able to judge this much, unlike her little sister.

Amara nodded. "Actually, if you had learned the Arcane Archive, you wouldn't think it was so strange. Oracle's level of understanding on how arrays work is on a completely different level. While everyone else relies on trial and error to figure out the 'perfect' method, she understands how arrays actually work, and can use them in a far more intricate way than most."

Seeing how Amara seemed so sure, Evelyn could only accept it. Her understanding of the entities inside cultivation arrays was that they were quite similar to 'bots' in terms of 'intelligence'.

That is to say, for their limited 'uses' they could seem quite smart, or even alive, but it only took a little deviation to expose their glaring lack of 'intelligence'.

What the creator of 'Arcane Archive' had made, on the other hand, was akin to an actual artificial intelligence inside her array, one that was capable enough to 'understand' what was happening.

If everyone had been capable of the same, there would be no need for any extensive 'testing' inside the arrays at all, because the artificial intelligence could simply check for themselves whether or not the 'disciple' was to their liking.

Thankfully, this was not the case with 'Searing Soul', or Evelyn wouldn't be able to 'cheat' with her identity changing plan later.

To be able to do such a thing, the only explanation would be either the creator of the arcane archive was on an entirely different level compared to everyone else, or her cultivation method itself focused mainly on the same thing.

Evelyn believed it must be the latter, but it was easy enough to confirm. "Is 'Arcane Archive' mostly focused on arrays, then?"

Amara rubbed her chin as she thought about it for a while before nodding. "You can think of it that way. In terms of creating defensive arrays and such, it's definitely second to none. If there is such a thing as an 'array creation' cultivation technique, this would definitely be it."

Evelyn couldn't help but be a little happy.

Although she preferred to take care of things herself for the most part, she understood that it was impractical to waste her time learning all sorts of things when focusing on those that mattered most would yield better results.

For example, she could also learn how to create clothing just like Madam Genie, and then some time later, she might even be able to make clothes that were superior to the ones that Cecilia bought for her.

But in the time she spends doing that, she would have been able to gain another ten levels, or learn something much more suitable for her purposes. 

This was why, since she already had some reliable friends, wasn't it for the best to have them diversify their skills, so they could cover each other's shortcomings?

She would obviously not force them to go in a way that went contrary to their growth though. That's why she gave Vivian the 'Eternal Ember' despite it being almost purely for offense, same as the Thundering Fury and her own 'Searing Soul'.

To put it simply, a high level assassin was probably still a better 'tank' than a low level knight.

The older redhead grinned. "I'm quite curious, though, how did you know that the 'Arcane Archive' would be so perfect for me?"

Evelyn couldn't help but blink. "Hm? Didn't you get convinced by what Cecilia said? About that senior professor in the Maker's Mansion?"

Amara coughed, looking a little embarrassed. "No, well, maybe partially. Mostly I just went with it because it was your choice."

The pink haired girl had that hunch, but still felt a little happy when Amara admitted it. After all, it felt good to be so 'valued' that her friend would put so much weight on her thoughts, even when making such life changing decisions. "Oh… To be honest, I don't think you're the type who would be suited to offensive techniques."

The redhead blinked curiously, wondering if Evelyn thought of her as 'motherly' or something just because she was her 'nanny' while growing up. "You think so?"

Evelyn nodded. "Mhm. Thundering Fury is definitely amazing, even being grade eight, and maybe even the grade nine Eternal Ember would be alright for you, but I don't think you'll make much progress with them."

Amara tilted her head, wondering if that was how she really felt, or if her friend was just too embarrassed to admit the real reason. "Why not?"

Evelyn hadn't actually wanted to 'expose' her thoughts on the matter at first, especially since it could be considered as looking down on Amara in a way, but since Amara asked, she decided to just put it out there. "Because being with you for so long, I understand you a little by now, alright? Remember that time when Tristan hit you with a rock on the head? You just focused on defending me, and didn't even think about retaliating."

Amara couldn't help but be slightly embarrassed. Although she could try explaining that she would definitely do things differently had it been an actual enemy, she understood what Evelyn was trying to say.

Even if the pink haired girl could also be said to have the same motivations, the way she handled things was completely different from Amara. Evelyn was the type to always prioritize destroying her enemies instead of just dealing with the immediate threats, unless she was powerless to do so.

Evelyn didn't want her friend to dwell on it too much, so she waved her hand. "That's not the only reason, of course. Another is that since you're going to be with Vivian most of the time, and she's going to be almost completely focused on being a dedicated attacker, doesn't it make sense to learn something else?"

Regardless of her friend's 'true thoughts', Amara was of course grateful for being given such an opportunity. After all, where else would she find a decent cultivation technique for herself? She had never even dared to dream such a day would come, much less so soon.