The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Amara knew that even if it was that lady professor who gave Evelyn the permission to take the discs, she wasn't any less in her friend's debt.

The redhead sighed. "I guess it makes sense. Thank you, Evelyn, I don't know how I can ever—"

Evelyn just smiled as she waved her hand. "Is there a need for that between us? Anyway, tell me more about the 'Arcane Archive', I'm a bit curious."

Normally, it would be considered quite shameless to ask someone the details of their cultivation techniques. 

After all, only a few obvious things that could be easily observed were known to the public most of the time, and the true 'secrets' of the techniques would only ever be known by those who managed to comprehend them.

To ask such things directly was just asking to be slapped in the face.

Even Aurora didn't know all the details about high level cultivation techniques, or at least, she didn't tell too much about it to Evelyn.

But Amara didn't hesitate at all as she freely shared everything.

And as Evelyn had expected, the 'Arcane Archive' was capable of more than just defense. The 'Great Arcane' ability allowed Amara to 'capture' her opponent's abilities, which she could then keep to either analyze and decipher, or if the situation was urgent, simply reflect them back to her opponent.

The limitations of such an extensive method depended on Amara's level of 'comprehension', though. It wouldn't be wrong to even say that Amara's level mattered less than her understanding of the 'Arcane Archive', which was in sharp contrast to most other cultivation methods. 

For everyone else, both level and comprehension were equally important, and a higher level could mostly cover up any shortcomings in 'comprehension' with time. That is, if a genius cultivated a regular technique for ten years, and a moron cultivated the same for a hundred, it was possible that they would have around the same 'results'.

But if Amara was unable to really make progress with Arcane Archive in the future, even if she managed to level up over time, her actual abilities would remain lackluster.

This was the biggest 'drawback' of this technique, though neither Amara nor Evelyn believed it was something they should be worried about.

Since her elder sister had been 'boasting' about her cultivation technique for a while, Vivian couldn't contain herself either. 'Haven't I done it too? Why is no one praising me?!'

From what Evelyn was able to glean from the little girl's ramblings, the 'test' inside the 'Eternal Ember' was simply a measurement of the scale of destruction caused after being bestowed with a 'trial version' of the Eternal Ember's power in the form of a virtual artifact.

For those with a very strong sense of 'justice' and high morality, this technique would actually have an incredibly poor compatibility, since even if they rationalized that the city inside was 'fake', it was their real feeling on the matter which would decide the outcome. 

Just like even if Evelyn had known before entering the array that reaching an understanding with the headmistress was key to comprehending 'Searing Soul', it wouldn't mean anything at all until she actually reached such understanding in her heart.

Evelyn knew that although Vivian was innocent and adorable, she was also incredibly simple minded when it came to certain things, with a very loose set of 'morals', if any.

Inside the array of 'Eternal Ember', the requirements hadn't been mentioned outright before the conclusion of the test, just like Evelyn hadn't known much about her own 'test' before going in. Vivian was only given a glowing wand-like artifact that could shoot out fireballs, in the middle of the 'city'.

The pink haired girl couldn't help but look at Vivian curiously. "How did you end up destroying the whole city, though, did you know beforehand that you had to do it?"

The younger redhead tilted her head in confusion. "No? I just waved the wand because I was curious, and a fireball shot out, which may have exploded something? I'm not sure what it was, I didn't look. Anyway, when I was saying sorry to the pile of ashes, a bunch of people started saying mean words to me, so I got angry. And then these scary looking guys came running, so I used the wand to fight them!"

"Oh…" Evelyn nodded. 

She had a feeling she knew exactly how it went.

After Vivian accidentally burned someone to ashes, of course people would get mad, and once she started fighting what Evelyn assumed were the 'guards', the situation escalated uncontrollably.

All the 'residents' in the city were mere mortals, though, so they stood no chance at all against the inexhaustible and endless might of Vivian's fireballs. Arrows vaporized, armor melted, and people and buildings alike turned to ash as the little girl  threw a tantrum at being unjustly attacked.

Evelyn made a mental note to make sure Vivian was never left on her own, especially in small towns. It was fine this time since this was just a fake thing inside the Eternal Ember's array, but she didn't want Vivian to really turn out like the creator of that technique, after all.

The 'Crimson Witch of Flames' was still a wanted criminal, after all. In the entire continent, only the Ancient Academy would allow her entry, and that too only because she was an alumnus who had contributed greatly to the academy by adding a grade nine cultivation array disc to the 'Tower of Solitude'.

Of course, it had been hundreds of years since she had been last heard from, and she was presumed to be dead.

The pink haired girl couldn't help but sigh. The heavy compatibility between Vivian and the Eternal Ember may have caused her to make an error in judgment. Although it was a powerful combination, it was also equally disastrous in the wrong hands.

Amara was busy scolding Vivian for being a 'bad girl', but the little girl didn't seem to understand the issue at all. "But 'Mara, they deserved to explode for trying to hit me!"

The older redhead pulled Vivian's ear, growling menacingly. "Why don't you try exploding me for hitting you, then?"

"Ow, don't pull! 'Mara doesn't count, I can't do that." Even though Vivian tried her best to pull her sister's hand away from her ear, it was to no avail. 

Amara rolled her eyes. "Why not?"

The girl gave her older sister a pitiful look. "Because I love you?"

Amara had been expecting something along the lines of 'because you're too strong' or even 'because I don't have that glowing wand anymore', but what could she say to that?

Evelyn didn't know if Vivian was just lucky or really clever, because the older redhead's heart had clearly been melted as she stopped arguing about the matter.

"Well, I'm sure she'll grow up and mellow down somewhat."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 

Tristan Knox, the one and only son of the first lord of the Knox family, was three years older than Evelyn. Shortly after the ceremony on the girl's fifth birthday, he had been sent to the Ancient Academy, with a heart full of hopes and dreams for the future.

His mother had always told him that he would be able to meet all sorts of big shots once he gets here, and the likes of Cecilia would only regret not treating him better earlier.

If things had gone according to his mother's plan, in the three years of time he'd had before Evelyn arrived at the academy, he should have been able to enter a position to completely lord over her.

However, not long after coming here, he realized how little his mother actually knew about it all.

Unlike what Nadina thought, forget about 'every other royal family member' being here for Tristan to be able to befriend, the Lavinian royalty had long since stopped sending their direct descendants to the academy at all.

He had been in such disbelief when he first heard it that he attributed it all to a fluke chance, hoping against hope that the situation would change soon, perhaps in a few months, or even a year.

However, as time passed, Tristan came to accept that, indeed, this is how things were now, and his mother was wrong.

But Tristan wasn't one to give up so easily. One thing he had learned after all his failures, was that adapting was better than giving in to rage and impulse.

So he made do with what he had, and strengthened the strongest connection he had - Ryan Reynolds.

While not as good as a member of Lavinian Royalty, Ryan was still the heir to one of the strongest ancient families after the Fulbright family. Given that Tristan wouldn't be able to just walk up to foreign royalty and befriend them just because he wanted to, Ryan was his best available choice.

Tristan had realized that the boy was quite obsessed with making those who were 'more talented' than him appear inferior. Perhaps he had a deeply ingrained inferiority complex in his heart, and Tristan made full use of that to become the boy's closest confidant in the academy, despite their age difference.

The boy was six years his senior, and by now he was ready to graduate. As a senior, he already had numerous connections both within the academy and outside. And now, most had been tied up with Tristan too, as the two of them got along quite well.

By the time his second year had come to an end, Tristan firmly believed that he would be able to completely dominate Evelyn when she finally showed up in front of him.

Unfortunately, Ryan decided to take a ranger mission to earn some contribution points not long before the new session was supposed to start, and Tristan could only begrudgingly follow this friend of his.

Anyway, even if the girl's humiliation was a few days later, perhaps it was better that way. After all, she could have a short moment of respite before being plunged into the depths of hell.

By the time Tristan returned from his excursion, his heart was giddy with excitement. 

How dare she humiliate him so, just because she was born stronger? If it hadn't been for her rich aunt and the Knox family discriminating against him, wouldn't he be the strong one instead?

Tristan could still vividly remember that day under the tree in his own backyard, when that pink haired girl had just casually strolled in to smack him across the face with disdain.

Up until that point, he had only felt like she was a hateful person, but hadn't felt true hatred for her deep in his heart. However, the pain on his face had made him realize was it truly felt like to hate someone.

He couldn't wait to show that little bitch her place.