In Chapter 14, inviting him to a team crossed the line.
It's a new week again. Ancia didn't trigger any new side quests while attending classes and exploring the school grounds, but her level slowly rose to level 5 thanks to the experience gained from a few classes.
Open the attribute panel, and thanks to the dagger given by Mortley, the strength attribute value has finally changed from a pitiful 5 to a double-digit 10.
As her level increases, the amount of experience required to level up also increases. If Ancia relies solely on the experience gained from attending classes, her level will not be very high by the end of the school year. She will still need to trigger quests or kill monsters to level up.
"Registration for the new academic year's competition has begun. Only students with three stars or below can participate in teams. Each team must include at least one first-year student, and the team captain must be an upperclassman. Team registration closes this month, and the competition will begin after the Harvest Festival. The rankings in the competition will be counted towards the entrance exam score and become part of the academic year's grades," Teacher Diana announced to all the new students in her Basic Magic Theory class.
Here it comes, the most important main task for first-year students—the freshman competition.
In the storyline, this is a great opportunity to gain experience and also allows you to interact with the male protagonists during the competition.
Ancia folded a piece of fiber paper, quickly began writing, and moved it toward Heligaluo.
Heligalo unfolded the note, which read, "Heli, wanna team up?", followed by a drawing of a kitten bowing.
The note was passed back, and when Ancia opened it, it read "Okay".
She is a pure priest, and Herigalo is not particularly aggressive, but rather good at controlling the field. In addition, an upperclassman is needed as the captain, so the remaining candidate must take on the offensive position in the team.
Who should I contact?
Ancia's eyes lit up, and she quickly began writing, then moved the note toward Herigalo.
Strangely, after seeing what Ancia wrote this time, Heligalo did not reply, but simply shook his head and put the note into his spatial necklace.
The classroom was in an uproar because of the news brought by Ms. Diana. The freshmen had already begun to probe each other's willingness to form teams, and whispers could be heard all around.
Teacher Diana simply changed the curriculum, teaching a simple sound transmission spell applicable to all elemental magic, and the classroom instantly became much quieter—if one ignored the students' excited expressions and slightly moving lips.
Ancia wasn't in a hurry and focused on practicing her telepathic magic.
[Congratulations, player, on learning the skill "Sound Transmission Magic".]
Unlike the previous skill acquisition prompts, the system used the description "learning" instead of "comprehension." It turns out that magic other than the light and wood elemental magic can also be learned through the teaching of a mentor.
After class, Ancia didn't see Princess Eve, who seemed to want to say something, and turned directly to Heligaluo.
"Heli, why can't we team up with Erlan? Isn't he an upperclassman?" Ancia asked in confusion.
“Aierlan is already a four-star, which doesn’t meet the competition standards. Moreover, he has a penalty for violating the rules, so he can’t participate in academy activities until the penalty is lifted,” Heligalo explained.
Ancia: "…………"
No wonder we didn't see Erlan appear at all in the main quest of the first year. If Ancia hadn't selected the Wood Element Advanced Course, she wouldn't have seen Erlan in the first year either.
"The two of us alone aren't enough for a team; we need to find an upperclassman. Do you have any good candidates?"
As soon as Ancia finished speaking, Princess Eve, who was dawdling over tidying up the table, suddenly stuffed everything into her spatial ring and walked away with a sullen face.
"Who has offended this princess again?" Ancia looked over in confusion, only to see the figure walking away quickly.
"I don't know." Heligaluo's expression remained unchanged, subtly diverting Ancia's attention. "I have no other friends besides you and Erlan, so I don't know any other students. I'm sorry, Ancia, I couldn't provide a suitable candidate."
Ancia stopped paying attention to Princess Eve and began tidying up her notes, saying gently, "It's alright, leave it to me. I'll find a reliable captain."
After the afternoon classes began, Ancia was pleased to see that her group's fluorescent sneezing plants were the most robust among all the students.
As Teacher Yesika inspected each group, she smiled with delight when she saw Ancia and her friends' flowerpots, praising them lavishly, "My goodness, you two are truly talented at growing plants! Let me see... Sunlight, moonlight, starlight... and even fluorescence? Two magical light sources, two natural light sources, very good, very good."
Ancia said modestly, "It's alright, it's alright."
Erlan chuckled, though she was clearly about to burst out laughing, she was still pretending to be nonchalant.
"Hey, have you assembled your team for the competition?" Erlan asked casually.
“No, I’ve teamed up with Heligaluo, we just need a senior student captain.” Ancia continued to pour sunlight energy into the flowerpot.
"Then why don't you ask me?" Airan frowned. Could she really leave him behind just because she teamed up with Heligalo?
"...Do you still remember your level and the penalties for violating the rules?" Ancia said speechlessly.
"Just because I can't participate, does that mean you won't ask me?" Airland crossed his arms, his lips drooping. "Why won't you include me? Stop, we can't add any more."
Ancia's fingertip light stopped, her fist clenched, and she suddenly felt an urge to smash her fist into Erlan's face.
"Are you even speaking human language? Listen to yourself!"
“It’s human language. I can also speak Elvish, how about that?” Erlan switched the two flowerpots so that Ancia could send sunlight energy to the other flowerpot.
“Alright, alright, then, the most beautiful Mist Moon Elf in the entire academy, would you like to join my and Heligalo’s team? Our team is still missing an upperclassman,” Ancia said in a flat tone.
"Although I really wanted to come, it's a pity that the sunlight is preventing us from meeting. We'll meet again on the next full moon night." Erlan was finally satisfied.
"Childish," Ancia said helplessly.
After checking all the flowerpots, Ms. Yesika smiled and said, "Everyone's fluorescent sneezing grass is growing well. It will reach maturity in the next class, and we can extract materials and make preliminary ink. Remember to bring your masks, gloves, and extraction tools in the next class."
With a wave of her staff, Yesika sent a diseased guide lily, pot and all, leaping onto the wooden table. "Today we'll learn how to treat sick plants. First, we need to find the cause of the plant's illness. Based on the pathology, we can use methods such as pure natural elemental therapy, magical spells, and potion intervention. This guide lily was infected because it was accidentally sprayed with a wilt-inducing herbicide, which greatly reduced its vitality. Who wants to try and cure this guide lily?"
The teacher's gaze swept across the long table, and all the students were still thinking; not one of them stepped forward.
Ellan immediately recognized that the problem could be solved with plant revival magic, but this was a spell only a three-star wood-type mage could use, and these lower-year students were not yet three-star.
Ancia suddenly spoke up, "Teacher Yesika, may I give it a try? I don't know what the success rate is, but I want to try my best."
Yesika smiled and encouraged her, "Of course, Ancia."
Ancia took a deep breath, simultaneously channeling the light and wood elements within her body, flowing from her fingertips towards the wilted guiding lily.
Golden-green light covered the brown petals and leaves of the guide lily, the bent stems straightened up little by little, and the diseased parts fell off and were replaced by pure white petals and brand-new leaves.
[Congratulations to the player for mastering the Life Rejuvenation skill and achieving the achievement [Dual System Fusion].]
The player receives 1000 gold coins and 666 experience points.
“Perfect,” Yesika exclaimed. “This doesn’t seem like plant resurrection?”
“Yes, Teacher Yesika, this is a combination of light and wood magic.” Ancia nodded.
Composite magic...
The advanced magic theories that only three-star mages can grasp, and five-star mages can master, have now been used by Ancia.
Everyone else looked at Ancia with complicated expressions, but only Erlan's gaze lingered on the guiding lily that was regaining its vitality.
He was the one with the most complicated feelings among everyone present.
*
Ancia looked at the moon in the night sky and didn't go out until it was almost at its highest point.
Erlan remained sitting in the tree until he saw Ancia arrive with a flowerpot, at which point he jumped down from the trunk.
Watching Erlan pray under the moonlight and use moonlight magic again, Ancia was still captivated by the scene and stared at it intently.
Aieran suddenly brought his face very close, his exquisitely sculpted features right in front of him, and asked softly, "Why aren't you fishing today?"
They were so close they could feel each other's breath. She even saw her own reflection in Ellan's emerald eyes, and was filled with amazement.
Ancia pushed Erlan away, creating distance between them, and refused to look at his face. "Let's talk this out. Don't get so close."
Erlan chuckled softly, "Ancia, you like my face."
His tone was smug, as if he had finally found Ancia's weakness.
Ancia puffed out her cheeks, her face still flushed, and muttered softly, "Who wouldn't like your face..."
Once her heartbeat calmed down, Ancia nudged Aerlan's arm. "Are all Mistmoon Elves this beautiful? What do the other Mistmoon Elves look like?"
Only one Mistmoon Elf, Ellan, appears in the story, and he is the only one with a character portrait. Other elves are only mentioned briefly in background text.
Airland's face darkened. "Haven't you seen me enough?"
Ancia said calmly, “There are many kinds of beauty. You are a woman… the beauty of the creator god’s skillful display, but there is also the beauty of gentle and jade-like skin, the beauty of strength and fullness, the beauty of wildness and nature… Every kind of beauty is worth appreciating and should not be let down. If we only look at your beauty, wouldn’t the others be very pitiful?”
Upon hearing this argument about beauty, Airland almost laughed in anger.
"Heligalo should really listen to what you have to say, and see if he'll still defend your image!"
Ancia's words were like a bombshell on Ellan's view of love. The Mist Moon Elves revered faithful love, believing that a lover was like the bright moon in the night sky—one that one might never find in a lifetime, but only one could exist.
"Why are you so angry?" Ancia tilted her head blankly and scratched her cheek.
“I…” Aierlan’s arrogance vanished abruptly, and he could no longer utter a single word.
"Mind your own business, Airlan. Do you treat Heligaluo like this too?" Ancia was used to Airlan's bad temper, and she could tolerate some minor things because of his beauty, but his anger tonight was obviously unfounded.
No, he didn't care about Heligalo's views on love at all, and they even maintained a tacit understanding of mutual respect regarding each other's life choices. This is the quality of a true friend.
Only with Ansia did he cross the line.
A note from the author:
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