Grand Magister Valen's footsteps echoed heavily along the underground library hallway filled with dust and old paper scents.
The blue flame on Erin's palm vibrated slowly, reflecting Valen's tall shadow stretching over the cold marble stone floor.
Before the old reading table, Erin stood straight in her dark blue robe, her hands still near the dark black leather-bound book she had just opened.
她的黄眸... her yellow eyes stared sharply at the grand magister, showing no fear whatsoever even though she knew her presence in this restricted area was a heavy violation councils could use to revoke her teaching rights.
"Grand Magister Valen," Erin's voice sounded calm, clear, and unyielding.
"You stalked me to this place. Weren't the northern border issues officially resolved by the council?"
Valen stopped walking a few meters from the reading table.
He folded both arms across his chest, while his cold eyes examined the room surroundings before finally returning his gaze straight toward Erin.
The corners of his lips lifted forming a faint smile implying implied victory.
"The northern border resolution was only the beginning of everything, Professor Erin," Valen replied in a low yet sharp tone piercing the room's silence.
"You thought that by closing yesterday's dimensional cracks, this problem is over and you can return to living peacefully teaching kids in class 101? You are very naive thinking your family secrets can be buried just like that beneath academy shadows."
Erin narrowed her eyes.
He glanced briefly toward the black large book on the marble table—the book written by her late mother.
"What does the central council actually want from me?" Erin asked straight to the point.
"Why are you so obsessed with my mother's past and the magic technique I possess? Does this *Transfer Mantra* power threaten your power?"
Valen snorted softly, a dry laugh escaping his lips.
"Threaten our power? Don't overestimate yourself, foolish girl," Valen retorted sharply.
"The central council is not interested in cheap tricks to share energy with academy kids. What we want is the core key existing inside your soul."
Valen stepped forward one more step, his gaze radiating burning ambition behind his cold gray look.
"Twenty years ago, your mother fled from the central highest research laboratory carrying this forbidden manuscript," Valen continued pointing briefly toward the black book on the table.
"She found a way to unite human mana with outer dimensions without experiencing soul damage. But that experiment was imperfect. And that imperfection legacy... flows inside your blood, inside your mana core."
Erin listened to every sentence closely.
Although her heart beat faster, her mind worked very rapidly assembling every puzzle piece confusing her life since waking up in this world.
So, her soul transfer into Erin's body was not just an ordinary cosmic coincidence.
This body, with all its mana uniqueness, was indeed created and prepared as a vessel for a much greater destiny.
"If that experiment was dangerous, why didn't you destroy it long ago?" Erin challenged, staring straight into Valen's eyes without flinching.
"Why wait until twenty years later, and why target me?"
Valen's face hardened slightly hearing that question.
For a moment, the grand magister's gaze hid a small panic before turning cold again.