Chapter 118: Regarding the Chief

Years later, inside the Spirit Tower.

A female student had just walked through a teleportation portal, frantically adjusting her oversized wizard hat.

“Finally here, new student.” The female mage guarding the portal smiled.

“H-hello, teacher!” The student quickly stood at attention. After noticing the badge on the other’s chest, she immediately corrected herself: “Hello, Teacher Lin!”

“No need to be so formal.” Lin’s tone was relaxed. “You’re the last new student I’m waiting for today. Come on, I’ll take you to register.”

She noticed the book in the student’s arms. “Oh? Bringing a textbook along? Previewing the material?”

“This is my favorite textbook! I worked hard to join the Spirit Tower because of the author of this book, Teacher Furina!” The student’s eyes sparkled.

“Strictly speaking, she’s not a teacher. She’s the Chief. She never teaches classes.”

“Eh? Is that so?” The student looked dejected.

“Since you admire Chief Furina, I happen to know some stories about her.” Lin’s mouth formed a ‘w’ shape as she whispered.

“I-I’ve heard her legends too.” The student nervously turned her head to look around. After confirming no one else could hear, she whispered:

“I heard that before she became Chief, she single-handedly defeated a hundred magic masters…”

“Pfft hahaha, what an exaggerated rumor.” Lin couldn’t help but laugh. “Not a hundred! It was ten!”

“Took on ten?! That’s super impressive!”

“That’s just one of them. She relied on her own efforts, found the former elders, successfully joined the Spirit Tower, and then gradually expanded and developed it.”

“The Spirit Tower wasn’t floating in the sky before, you know. That was all Chief Furina’s design.”

Lin led the student toward the grand hall in the center of the Spirit Tower.

On the high walls hung portraits of the past Chiefs.

The student’s eyes widened as she looked at each one, but she couldn’t find her idol.

“Where’s Chief Furina’s portrait?”

“Over there.” Lin pointed to the far end. “She insisted on painting one herself and hung it up.”

The student followed her finger and saw only a crude stick figure drawing.

Thick black lines outlined a figure, with facial features drawn crookedly.

It looked like the artist had given it their all.

“But, I heard the Chief is an elf with blue hair. Did she draw it wrong?” The student stared at the painting for a while before asking.

“That’s not her at all. It’s a painting of a human. Lin… something? I can’t remember the name.”

“Anyway, the Chief said this was her mentor, the one who introduced her to magic.”

The student’s heart skipped a beat.

The Chief’s mentor was actually a human?!

“Back then, the Chief was obsessed, searching everywhere for this human.”

“But we had no idea what they looked like. The only reference was this painting she drew herself.”

The student timidly asked, “D-did she find them?”

“Don’t you think this painting is terrible? Who knows what they really looked like.”

Besides, a human’s lifespan is at most a hundred years. Even if she did find them, they might have already…

Lin didn’t finish the sentence in front of the student. She just sighed.

“Teacher Lin, is it really okay to tell me so much gossip about the Chief?”

“Ah.” Lin snapped back, then quickly winked. “Just pretend you didn’t hear anything. After all, it’s rare for me to meet a student willing to talk in detail about the Chief.”

“Is the Chief… not popular?”

“It’s not that she’s unpopular. It’s more that everyone holds her in awe. She’s always serious and never smiles. No one dares to say more than a few words to her.”

Lin’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Oh, I happen to have a document to deliver to her today. How about I take you to see her?”

The student’s heart instantly bloomed with joy, and she nodded eagerly.

—

In front of the Chief’s office, Lin raised her hand and knocked.

The door opened by itself, revealing a dim interior.

“Chief, I brought some documents. There’s a new student accompanying me to help carry things. Is that okay?”

She stood at the door and waited for a while, but there was no reply.

Lin turned to look at the student, shrugged, and slipped inside, hunched over.

The student also cautiously poked her head in to look.

Thick curtains blocked most of the outside light, with only a few thin rays sneaking through the gaps.

The room was filled with tall bookshelves, all packed with books.

In front of all the bookshelves was a high-backed chair.

The student saw the idol she had longed for, and held her breath.

Just like the rumors, her ice-blue hair was loosely tied up, with a few strands falling down.

Her eyes were closed, her eyelashes long and fine.

Furina leaned back in the chair, her head tilted slightly to one side, as if resting with her eyes closed.

Her hands were folded on her lap, and her long skirt pooled on the floor.

Her delicate face was expressionless, her jawline sharp and cold.

Files were piled on the desk, and a magical quill was writing rapidly on its own.

Lin pulled the student out of the room.

“She’s fallen asleep again. Let’s not disturb her.”

“Huh? Then how did the door open?”

“She controls it with magic,” Lin explained. “Anyway, you’ve seen her. Let’s sneak out.”

The student nodded vigorously, but couldn’t help looking back once before leaving.

Chief Furina seemed just like the rumors—distant and unreachable.

Why would someone of such high status care so much about a human?

—

“Furina, I heard that strong mages can summon their own familiars.” In the bumpy carriage, Lin Shu rested her chin on her hand and turned to look at her.

“I’m wondering what your familiar would be like when summoned. Maybe an ice attribute?”

“I don’t know.” Furina drew up her knees, responding without much interest.

“Aren’t you looking forward to it?” Lin Shu asked back.

“No.”

She suddenly remembered that Lin Shu had once mentioned her and her master.

Furina turned her head and looked at Lin Shu’s face.

Lin Shu is a familiar.

If she didn’t need her own familiar, she only needed Lin Shu…

The carriage suddenly jolted violently.

Furina opened her eyes, waking up.

She had fallen asleep again.

Her eidetic memory caused her brain to process more information, so she needed more sleep than others.

Every so often, she would dream—dreams about Lin Shu.

Every time she woke from those dreams, her chest ached with a dull pain.

How long has it been?

She never saw Lin Shu again. There wasn’t even a trace of her anywhere on the Sacred Race continent.

She must be gone by now…

She never even had a chance to say sorry to her.

“Chief?” The elf mage standing before her asked.

“Sorry, please continue.” Furina asked the mage to continue the report.

After a while, she sensed something unusual and looked out the window.

A somewhat familiar presence.

Furina stood up, and with a flash, she was instantly outside the Spirit Tower.

The wind outside the tower harshly tugged at her long dress and blew her hair.

She looked up and saw a Sacred Church carriage speeding by.

“Chief, what’s wrong?”

—

That night, Furina stood on the terrace outside the tower.

She looked up and saw a shooting star falling from the sky.

The celestial phenomena today seemed somewhat unusual?

Furina channeled her magic and gazed into the distance toward where the meteor was falling.

Furina’s heartbeat instantly accelerated.

She saw the meteor heading toward the Sacred Church carriage she had seen earlier.

No.

What if that presence… came from the person she had been searching for all this time?

Even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, she had to intercept that meteor to prevent it from harming the carriage.

She raised her hand, and magic coalesced in her palm, forming a crystal longbow.

Furina aimed at the meteor, took a deep breath, and pulled the bowstring taut.