Nox let out a heavy breath as he leaned back on the chair.

Aurielle just calmly sipped her tea, looking at him as he contemplated her words. Her blindfold was back on.

Astra looked at her and then at Nox before asking, "what did the blind bat show you?"

"Nothing you should concern yourself with child," Arielle said with a smile, "besides, haven't I given you enough clues to rank up?"

Astra frowned wanting to say something, but the blind bat was right, she really did have enough clues to move up to Transcendent rank now.

All she had to do was figure out what her path was... Maybe the annoying voices in her head had an idea?

....

No, as usual, they just proved to be nothing more than annoyances..

"Of course you are," Astra suddenly spoke up loudly.

An action which the three didn't seem to mind.

"You smell different," Ayla suddenly said, pulling Nox out of his thoughts.

He was tempted to take a whiff of himself but he realized that she had said the same during the test.

Besides, what if she wasn't talking about his body's scent? Rather, what she meant was his SE.

It would make sense if his SE smelled different from the first time they met, after all, according to the headmistress,

There was a seal placed on his heart, one that was meant to completely restrict his SE usage.

Fortunately, his outburst had successfully weakened the seal just enough to make it not affect him as much.

Though, if he didn't find a way to remove it, it'd just recover and maybe even worsen. He had asked for a way to get the thing off him, unfortunately, the Headmistress said she couldn't.

Rather than couldn't, it was more like she shouldn't. She said she didn't understand it enough to just sever the strings holding it up.

That could either cause his death or hers...or maybe even both, so until they figured out what it did, they won't mess with it.

She warned him not to even try to overload it with SE, which was exactly what he had been thinking at that moment.

"A lot happened in the rift," he answered, looking at her.

"Hmm," Ayla nodded in understanding before adding, "you're not too weak anymore, but you're not strong yet either."

"...."

Nox looked at her with a dead pan expression, was that what she considered a praise?

That he wasn't took weak anymore but neither was he strong? Well if that was her idea of a praise, then it sucked.

He had even managed to take down an Eclipsed that handled multiple Radiant knights....even if it mostly had to do with luck, a lot of luck.

But still, he was the one alive and the Eclipsed was dead, so he had won.

Headmistress Aurielle suppressed her laughter as she watched the two interact. Usually, Ayla would be completely uninterested in anyone.

No matter how strong they seemed.

She wouldn't even bother talking to them, but she seemed to be getting along with Nox just fine.

Though, that was mostly due to her curiosity. Not that it was a bad thing though.

The more the kid interacted with people, the less likely she'd try murdering anyone that pissed her off..... literally.

Maybe she would learn basic etiquettes from the little light.

"Shouldn't you get going now little light?" Aurielle said with a smile on her face, "your friends had also been worried about you for the past month."

"Right." Nox nodded and stood up.

"Thank you for the sweets," he said to Ayla, referring to the cookies in her tray.

"Cookies," she corrected and he nodded.

He then turned towards the headmistress and bowed a little, "and thank you for all the help even in the rift."

"No need to thank me," Aurielle said with a smile, "your fate is far greater for me to allow you to fall in a rift."

Nox nodded, this was the second time she had said something like that without elaborating, so he asked no questions.

He then turned to Astra who just waved her hand at him, "you go ahead, I have something to discuss with the blind bat."

"I'll get going then," with that he walked out of the office leaving the three together.

Astra leaned forward looking directly at the blindfolded headmistress who had a smile on her face, "I have questions."

"I know," the headmistress answered, "just go ahead and ask them."

***

Nox reached the admin building's lobby where Luna, the girl with the elf like ears worked.

She seemed a bit surprised seeing him, but ended up smiling and saying, "I'm glad to see you've safely returned."

"Thank you," he replied with a smile before walking towards the buildings door.

Though the elevator also led to the hostel block, he needed to walk around the academy to rearrange his thoughts.

"I'll see you around," she added with a smile as she waved to him and he waved back.

Nox exhaled slowly as he stepped out of the building.

He had to squint a little as the artificial sunlight hit him, it had been a long while since he saw daylight and he never expected to miss it this much.

He had never really paid much mind to the day and night cycle but after staying in endless darkness for over a month, you'd appreciate the small things.

He was even a bit pale, though not so much that you would notice.

He allowed his eyes to adjust to the brightness and he continued forward.

"So I'm basically walking around with a limiter," he muttered to himself as h kept on walking.

He was soon at a quieter part of the academy before he even realized. This place seemed to lead to some kind of abandoned warehouse....or a really old one that the academy didn't bother fixing anymore.

According to the watch, this was the old weapon storage which was now basically abandoned.

But it wasn't like students were not allowed around these parts. They just didn't like coming to such a gloomy looking place.

Without a second thought he walked towards an into the building.

The moment he stepped inside, the temperature dropped a little and the air became stale, thick with dust and the faint scent of rusted metal.

Rows of empty weapon racks lined the walls, some broken, others worn by age. Whatever was once stored here had either been moved or long since reclaimed by time.

Nox slowed his steps, his footsteps echoing softly in the vast space.

"…Perfect," he muttered.

He moved toward a cracked concrete block near the far wall and sat down, resting his elbows on his knees.

For a moment, he just stared at the floor, replaying everything that had happened in the past month, the rift, the Eclipsed, the dream, the seal on his heart.

Then, with a quiet exhale, he tapped his watch.

Something bony white with multiple cracks on it appeared in his hand, and even the air around it seemed to change.

It was the Wendigo's mask.

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