Hearing the loud ringing, Ash's gaze shifted toward his house. He was not too far from it, so the sound reached him clearly through the still air.

...A mail...?

The ringing was the notification sound that activated whenever important information was sent to him. Since the house had been constructed by the military, it was fitted with several such mechanisms and protective features.

Teleporting inside within a blink, Ash appeared before the wall where a small screen, roughly the size of a normal television, was embedded. It was blinking continuously. He walked closer and touched its surface. The screen lit up immediately, and a stream of information unfolded in front of him.

As his eyes moved across the text, a small smile tugged at his lips.

So they are changing their ways....nice...

The message was from the academy, announcing that it would reopen in a few days, along with a significant change in its curriculum.

Until now, the academy had followed a strict yet balanced system, one designed to ensure that even those unfamiliar with mana could, within four years, master its use and excel as capable mages. That was why only students with high potential and natural talent were ever scouted, as their ability to adapt and learn would guarantee results.

But the sudden growth of dungeons had become a major headache for the Human Association, forcing the academy to change its focus. It was no longer going to remain a purely educational institution. Instead, it was transforming into a place that resembled a military zone, where the priority would be combat training, survival skills, and the study of only those theories that truly mattered.

Students would now receive daily practical experience. The weaker ones would explore low-ranked dungeons while the stronger students would be sent into untamed forests outside human control, where they would search for wild dungeons and subjugate them.

As the dungeons are sprouting like weeds nowadays, it was clear the association was using students to clear them and, at the same time, give them practical experience.

Naturally, this path carried risks. Yet the Human Association had reached the conclusion that there was no other choice. Students needed to build real battlefield experience as quickly as possible, even if it came with the possibility of casualties.

Ash could already guess what had pushed the Saints into taking such a drastic step, something they had never done in the Original Novel. The presence of the Whisperer must have been involved. In his own indirect way, he likely warned the others about the dark times in the future, which ultimately led to this decision.

To be honest, Ash felt quite satisfied with the change.

Even though he had fought many monsters since coming into this world, he had not yet faced enough to call it true experience in comparison to what might come.

....I guess I could look forward to what kind of training I will be receiving....

Still, Ash had already made up his mind. He would try the academy's new system for a single day, but if he felt that his own training produced better results, then he would return to his personal regimen without hesitation.

After all, fighting monsters was something he could already do on his own. The Neutral Continent was filled with dangerous creatures, far beyond what the academy could prepare, and if he wished, he could step into that land and gain all the experience he needed. Of course, the borders of the Neutral Continent were the most heavily secured in the world, precisely for that reason.

Ash's lips curved slightly as another thought surfaced in his mind.

"It will also prove a great opportunity for Elysia to gain experience."

Stretching his body, he slowly walked towards the exit again.

****

There was a lot of intel he collected by moving from place to place, and with his concealment combined with teleportation, everything became far easier to accomplish.

The Elven Continent was beginning to take shape much faster than he had expected. Serena was proving herself to be a perfect queen, her natural genius shining all the more because of the lessons she had carried with her since childhood. She was like a rough diamond that had finally begun to gleam. Now that the elves had resumed communication and trade with humans, the situation was steadily moving in a positive direction.

Ash had also spoken with the Whisperer about the corrupted individuals who still remained inside the Human Association. The Whisperer had insisted on taking responsibility for that matter himself, declaring that it was his duty to cleanse such filth. Since he could peer into both their past and present, he could judge exactly how severely they deserved to be punished.

The Old man had not stopped there. He had also given Ash a collection of thick books, around ten to twenty in total, saying they would aid him in developing his magic spells. He had also handed over several potions, unmistakably Elixirs, and ancient ones at that.

Among them, there was one Elixir that the old man said would ignite his hidden potential and grant his body a short period of growth. The effect would last only a month, but even that much was valuable, especially since Ash's stats had not been increasing recently. The other Elixirs carried different effects that strengthened his body in various ways.

Ash had been suspicious of the Whisperer's generosity, particularly when he noticed the man's face turning red, as though he were being strangled by some unseen hands. When he asked, the Whisperer's only reply was that Ash was a hope, and he couldn't help much more than this; his hands were tied.

Ash did not completely understand what he meant, yet at the same time, he felt that he did.

The books themselves were filled with forbidden spells, each one capable of causing large-scale destruction and chaos if unleashed. All of them were recorded in magic circle format, which made them practically useless to him. If anyone else heard him dismiss forbidden spells as useless, they would probably try to skin him alive. They were forbidden for a reason, after all.

Still, they held value as inspiration. Even if he could not use them directly, they provided him with ideas for new spells he could create. As for the Elixirs, he had already consumed almost all of them except for the Growth Elixir. Even without that one, the rest had been enough to break through his stagnation and push his stats to rise once again.

..

[Attributes]

Strength – 402 → 415

Agility – 402 → 415

Vitality – 402 → 415

Intelligence – 402 → 415

Stamina – 402 → 415

Charm – 402 → 415

Mana – 402 → 415 (x2)

..

He was going to consume the Growth Elixir when the time was right, and he believed that time would come soon.

That was not all. The information he had collected by venturing again and again into the Dwarven Continent had been quite a shock as well. It left his mood sour for many days, and now, as he thought back on it, those memories resurfaced. These were the things he had discovered before the assassination attempt, and they lingered heavily in his mind.

There was not one, not two, but twenty-three Hollow Mothers scattered throughout the entire continent, each one proportional to the number of underground cities of the dwarves.

One of them had already been destroyed, while he did not include the Central City in his count. He had no idea what was hidden there, and checking all twenty-three cities was already a troublesome task. The moment he drew near a city that housed a Hollow Mother, it became aware of his presence and immediately sent every dwarf in that city after him.

All he needed to do was step inside to confirm whether a Hollow Mother resided there. However, he chose not to enter the Central City. If he encountered whatever existed within and the same level of destruction occurred as with the last city, he did not know what he would feel afterward.

He did not want to cause unnecessary deaths. He believed he should first gain perfect control over his Death affinity, just as he had with Life Mana, before confronting whatever was hidden there.

Alright, let's go see Elysia….. she asked me to reach the academy hall around this time…..

He did not know the reason, but he would know soon enough. He sent a message to Elysia, saying that he would arrive in ten minutes. After all, she had asked him to let her know right before he came.

He changed into better clothes, wearing a simple pair of black trousers with a brown shirt and a black sweater. Standing before the mirror, he took a moment to look at himself carefully.

His short white hair, falling neatly to his neck, appeared almost luminous under the light. A small earring, a miniature form of Eclipse, rested on his earlobe. His piercing blue eyes gazed back at him, steady and sharp, as though they could see through the reflection itself.

His charm flowed out of him naturally, making his presence refined and magnetic, the kind that could draw the eyes of anyone nearby without him even trying.

I am glad there is no one in the academy except for the workers and a few instructors…..

Otherwise, the countless admiring gazes would have made him feel far too uncomfortable.

Letting out a light sigh, he teleported away.

Appearing near the Academy hall, which was one of several on the campus and often used either for training sessions or celebrations, Ash began to move slowly toward it.

He was not teleporting this time because he had noticed how often he used teleportation for even the smallest distances, and it felt as though he was losing the simple beauty of walking. So he decided not to rely too heavily on his skill unless there was a real emergency or the distance was large.

The sound of his steps echoed through the empty hallway, and in that silence, his mind felt strangely calm. His thoughts drifted to what he should do next.

There were three major things he could focus on. The first was to go to the Neutral Continent and acquire the Rune that might allow him to see the true Runic names of other Runes.

The second was to venture into the Unknown, to step through the space crack hidden in the untamed forest and explore what lay beyond. There was a chance he might discover a rune that was never mentioned in the novel.

The third was to finally make a decision about his shell, the matter tied to his potential, and how he would handle it in the long run.

Although these three choices seemed separate, they were connected in many ways. If he decided to venture into the Unknown, how would he even recognize a rune if it appeared? It was nothing more than his guess that there might be a rune there, and this guess was based on how the system acted in the Novel.

There might be a rune, but there was no certainty. The butterfly effect of his presence could have possibly changed the behavior of the system.

Without any skill to identify a rune, how would he find one? And even if he found it, how would he absorb it without knowing its name and what it does?

If he chose to go to the Neutral Continent first and Ray happened to enter the space crack before him, Ray's system might allow him to absorb the rune instead, if there was any. That would lead to complications in the future, complications Ash wanted to avoid.

Hell, I don't even know if a rune can be separated without killing the person… or if killing someone even separates the rune at all..?

Ash had no answer to that.

As for the third task, the problem of his potential, he left it aside. It was something that confused him greatly, and although he disliked ignoring it, he reminded himself that he could still grow for now. He would think about it when the right time came.

Then that leaves either going to the Neutral Continent or the space crack…?

Before he could think further, he reached the hall where he was supposed to arrive. Relaxing his posture, he placed his hand on the door and pushed it open.

Inside, there was no light, only darkness.

Am I early? The lights are off…

Believing that he had arrived too soon, he walked further inside and reached for the switch on the wall. As soon as he pressed it, the hall was filled with bright light.

At that very moment, a chorus of voices rang out, full of joy and excitement.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH!!!!!!"

***

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