Nighttime.
Magnolia First Magic Academy.
Inside an inconspicuous single dorm room.
Creak—
Accompanied by the groaning of the cheap iron bed frame, Asher’s Tier Three, Level Three cultivation instantly shattered its bottleneck, breaking through to Tier Three, Level Four!
At the exact moment of the breakthrough, the wild energy within Asher’s body surged uncontrollably, accelerating like a turbocharged engine and flooding every inch of his mana veins.
It took a few seconds for the turbulent magic to finally settle.
A deep, comfortable warmth washed over him, making him feel as if every cell in his body had just received a deep-tissue massage.
The next second, Asher snapped his eyes open.
His pupils rapidly shrank to dangerous pinpricks before returning to normal.
‘Whoa…
I broke through just like that?’
After confirming he had indeed reached Tier Three, Level Four, a massive grin spread across Asher’s face.
Just yesterday, he was stuck at Tier Three, Level One—the undisputed worst instructor at the academy.
But now, he was already at Tier Three, Level Four!
Sure, Level Four wasn’t earth-shattering.
Among the Level Two Instructors, it was only considered strictly average.
But the point was, it had only been a single day!
One day of progress for him was equivalent to years of agonizing meditation for anyone else.
It was completely absurd!
And all he had to do was guide Luna through a magic evolution and patch up a faulty combat spell.
‘As expected, hard work truly pays off.
My grueling efforts weren’t in vain.
I deserve every bit of this!’ Feeling his magic power surging several times stronger than before, Asher’s heart swelled with triumph.
And this was just the result of tutoring Luna.
If he could manage to guide the Heartfilia twins—Chloe and Claire—breaking into the Tier Four Transcendent Realm wouldn’t just be a pipe dream!
Once he became an S-Class Transcendent Mage, if he could just scoop up a few more SSS-Class apprentices…
‘Stop, stop, stop…’ Asher shook his head, forcibly reeling in his runaway imagination.
If he wanted to find more world-class seedlings, he would have to teach at a university level—like the Fiore First Magic University.
But to teach there, he needed to be a Tier Four Transcendent Mage at the bare minimum.
That was still too far away.
His most urgent goal right now was hitting Tier Four!
With that in mind, Asher stared deeply at the glittering stars outside his window, a sharp light flashing in his eyes.
“Transcendent Realm…
Asher is coming for you.”
Magnolia City.
The Imperial View Gardens complex, just outside the third ring wall.
The building only had 66 floors, making it a fairly decent residence for the working class.
Room 3601 on the 36th floor.
Even though the apartment was barely forty square meters, it still managed to squeeze in two bedrooms and a living room.
At this moment, inside the smaller bedroom, Luna had just finished her evening training session.
Even though the lights were off to save on the electricity bill, her eyes shone brightly in the dark.
‘My strength…!’
Feeling how much more powerful her body was compared to just yesterday, Luna swallowed hard.
She had only just broken into Tier One, Level Three yesterday.
But combined with her massive meat diet and the Extreme Compression Breathing Technique, it only took a single day for her to feel a staggering increase in her magic reserves!
At this rate, she felt like she could break through to Tier One, Level Four in just a few days!
Realizing this, Luna rubbed her temples with her delicate fingers, feeling her entire worldview shatter all over again.
Didn’t the textbooks say the average cultivation for a Combat Exam candidate was Tier One, Level Four?
And that was after six months of relentless, grueling training!
But for her, reaching Level Four didn’t seem hard at all.
It felt as easy as breathing.
As she pondered this, Asher’s confident figure slowly surfaced in her mind, and a deep sense of realization filled her eyes.
She knew full well that every bit of this was thanks to him.
If it weren’t for Master Asher, she would still be burdened with an F-Class talent.
She would still be stuck at Tier One, Level One.
She would still be absolute trash!
Phew…
‘Master Asher has sacrificed so much for me.
I absolutely refuse to let him lose next month!’
With that thought, a fierce determination locked into place.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Luna held her breath, focused her mind, and dove straight back into practicing the Extreme Compression Breathing Technique.
Meanwhile…
Over ten kilometers away, inside a cramped dorm room at the First Magic Academy, a handsome young man who was already fast asleep was continuously bombarded by system notifications ringing in his ears:
“Ding!
Detected that Luna’s trust level in the Host has increased.” “Ding!
Detected that Personal Disciple [Luna] has increased her cultivation.
Cultivation Return triggered!
Drawing multiplier…”
The Hakobe Hills, within the first ring wall.
The Heartfilia Family Villa.
Even though it was late at night, the massive estate was brightly lit inside and out.
In a city like Magnolia where electricity was heavily rationed, this was an undeniable display of absolute wealth.
Inside the first-floor training room, two slender figures in tight-fitting combat suits sat cross-legged on the floor.
One had striking purple hair, while the other had pure white hair.
It was none other than the sisters, Chloe and Claire.
Notably, the bangs plastered to their foreheads were completely drenched in sweat.
Their eyelashes trembled slightly; it was obvious they had pushed their stamina to its absolute limits.
“Not bad.
It seems you two are performing even better than I expected, still training this late at night.”
Suddenly, a gentle voice echoed in their ears.
Hearing it, the girls snapped their eyes open and looked back in pleasant surprise.
“Auntie Diana!”
Claire practically sprang up from the floor, throwing herself into Diana’s arms and blinking her big eyes.
“Auntie!
Why did you come home so suddenly today?
You didn’t even tell us!”
In her desperate bid to reach the Tier Four Transcendent Realm, Diana usually ate and slept at the academy, never wasting a single second.
“I came to see if you two little troublemakers were slacking off, of course,” Diana smiled, affectionately ruffling both Claire and Chloe’s hair.
“But I must say, I’m very satisfied with your dedication.”
“Of course we are!
Our tutor says we’re super hardworking,” Claire purred, closing her eyes and enjoying the head rub.
Chloe, ever the tsundere, turned her head away with a huff.
“Naturally.”
After a brief pause, Diana continued, “I mostly came to check on you two, but something did happen today that you should know about.”
Without rushing, Diana recounted the entire incident between Asher and Drake, including the massive wager they had placed on the class rankings.
It took her a good five minutes to explain the whole story.
“No matter what, Asher is officially your instructor.
If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t even be qualified to take the Practical Combat Exams.
So, I hope you two can do your best to help him out.
“Of course, the decision is entirely yours.
I’m just putting it out there.
Anyway, if you run into any bottlenecks with the family’s Solar Flare Breathing Technique, just text me.
It’s still early, so I’m going back to the academy to train.
Goodbye.”
Giving them both one last affectionate pat on the head, Diana smiled and turned to leave.
This time, Chloe didn’t try to dodge her hand.
The training room fell into a heavy silence long after Diana’s figure disappeared down the hall.
After a few moments, Chloe suddenly took a deep breath and sat back down cross-legged on the mat.
Claire blinked in confusion.
“Sis, what are you doing?”
“What does it look like?
I’m training!” Chloe snapped back, not even bothering to open her eyes.
“Ooooh~ You want to help Instructor Asher win, don’t you?!” Claire’s eyes instantly lit up with a teasing glint.
“No.
I just want to put in some extra reps.”
“You totally do!
You just want to help him out!
I know exactly how you are!”
“Shut up!”
“Make me!
Make me!”
“Three…
Two…”
“Okay, sis, I’m sorry, I was wrong!
Please put the dumbbell down first…” Claire laughed nervously, taking a step back.
“But seriously, why aren’t you leaving yet?”
Chloe smirked in the dark.
“Heh.
I suddenly feel like putting in some extra reps, too!”