Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst-Chapter 148: VOL 2 - 93: The ego fest.

"Yes, well, Ethan is actually the youngest son of my first disciple, and he inherited her fog affinity. The illusion affinity is something unique to him, so I decided to follow a path similar to the one his mother took, turning his not-so-offensive affinity into something more 'useful'." Jessica commented with a small smile on her face, but there was a certain trace of pride that could be perceived in her words.

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"Is he Charlotte's son?" Eleonora asked with curiosity as she looked at the young Ethan Williams on the screen, to which Jessica casually nodded and replied.

"Yes, he's her youngest son. Although he's quite mischievous, he's a good boy and very talented. Since his older sister didn't want to focus on the path of magic, his mother asked me to take him as a disciple, which I accepted."

"I see. Although he falls short compared to my Erik, he's still quite decent to have reached the Ascended-Expert level at 120 years old..."

Sigrún commented calmly, not wanting to be left out of the ego fest the other Master-levels were having, which brought a bitter smile to Jessica's face. She had no choice but to agree, after all, Erik was a true monster, to the point where she, as someone on equal footing, born without elemental affinities, struggled to understand how he managed to be so impressive. So, she could only comment in a calm tone.

"Well, Erik is a monstrous talent rarely seen. I think it's a bit unfair to make those kinds of comparisons."

"Hahaha, that's true. I apologize. Sometimes I forget that not everyone has the chance to reach the Ascended-Expert level before 30 or the Revealed level before 40."

Sigrún commented with a 'guilty' smile, almost as if she were truly aware of her mistake, which caused all the other Master-levels present to click their tongues in annoyance. After all, it was truly bitter that Sigrún could still show off even when her disciple was no longer in the tournament, flaunting the absurd achievements of her disciple and her own.

"But speaking of the topic, Zoe has also made considerable progress, reaching the Ascended-Peak level at just 105 years old, a rare genius." Not wanting to give Sigrún any more room to boast, Thalia quickly shifted the topic slightly while looking at Ryoma, passing the ball to him so he could show off a bit. To which he responded with a proud smile on his face.

"Yes, my little one has been working really hard lately and has made great progress. I might even say that in a couple of years, she'll advance to the Revealed level without too much trouble." Once he had boasted to his heart's content, Ryoma quickly looked back at Thalia and returned the gesture with a pleased smile.

"Though your Elara isn't far behind either. A 90-year-old Ascended-Virtuous is no small rarity."

"Hahaha, well, what can I say? I guess my little one was influenced by the great progress Liliana has made. Being an Ascended-Competent at just 50 years old is truly a rarely seen achievement."

Thalia commented with a somewhat proud smile, then passed the ball to Eleonora to let her show off as well, all to overshadow Sigrún a bit. After all, even though Erik was a disciple of both, he was Eleonora's third disciple, which meant that most of the 'credit' went to Sigrún for being his first master. Additionally, Liliana's achievements, though far inferior to Erik's, were still impressive—better than several of the Master-levels sitting there.

"Well, my little Liliana has also worked very hard and, fortunately, has achieved outstanding results. I suppose having Erik as a younger brother has pressured her a bit and brought out her talents."

Eleonora spoke in a calm and elegant tone, though visibly proud, as Liliana's performance had been dazzling. To the point that, if it weren't for Erik, she would undoubtedly be publicly recognized as the best of her generation, just like Desmond. Though it was far from her own achievements and Sigrún's, it was still something to be proud of.

"I can agree with that. Having a monster who can reach the Ascended-Expert level at just 30 years old as a younger brother can't be easy, especially for someone so young."

Adrian spoke with a somewhat serious expression, which made all the Master-levels present nod with grave expressions, except for Eleonora and Sigrún. Even they, Master levels in their own right, who had lived for millennia and had vast experience and minds as stable as mountains, weren't sure they could remain steadfast with such a monster as a younger brother.

As proof, there was Sigrún's 'older brother', who ended up disappearing from the public eye not long after his master's death. This was largely due to the immense pressure he felt from Sigrún's monstrous talent—the thousand-year-old baby Master-level, something never before seen in history.

For the same reason, all the Master-levels greatly respected Eleonora, who not only managed to withstand having a close relationship with someone so absurdly talented and who kicked her off her throne as the genius of the era, surpassing her in almost everything, but also loyally supported her. They were even closer than real sisters, understanding that, even though she was worse than Sigrún, she was still above everyone else—something very few in her position could see so clearly.

"By the way, Sigrún, what ever happened to your older brother? Have you heard anything about him?" Remembering a face she hadn't seen in centuries, Thalia asked with a bit of curiosity as she looked at Sigrún, who responded without much interest.

"Truthfully, not much. We were never very close, and after my master's passing, we lost all communication, to the point where he hasn't even bothered to visit my master's grave once, even though I gave him the location. Though I heard he married into a family from the Boreal League."

Hearing the response, Thalia quickly lost interest and started a new conversation with the other Master-levels about various random topics, while also glancing at the holographic screens showing the tournament to boast from time to time.

...

...

...

In a cave hidden by lush vegetation, several spells, and magical artifacts, Elara, Zoe, Liliana, and Ethan are walking, advancing through the dark place illuminated only by a sphere of light above them. They were accompanied by the other members of the group, who were recovering from their injuries and exhaustion with the help of various potions.

After a while, the group reached the bottom of the cave, where they found a dead end with an intimidating rocky wall. At that moment, Zoe pulled out a small black staff with golden geometric patterns carved all over its surface from her storage ring. She quickly activated it, causing it to glow softly, while the wall in front of them began to retreat rapidly on its own, revealing a magical scene on the other side.

Behind the wall was a spacious grotto with a high rocky ceiling from which numerous thin waterfalls cascaded down, pooling into a serene body of water on the cave floor, creating a small stream. Along with the soft, mysterious light emanating from various magical sources, the environment was filled with a warm and cozy feeling.

The interior of the grotto was finely decorated, giving the impression that the place was more of a themed hotel than an improvised campsite. There was a living room at the front, featuring two large, luxurious curved sofas on either side, accompanied by several individual seats and a beautiful low table in the center, holding an intricately designed magical lamp.

In the back, there were several structures that appeared to be large tents made from sophisticated and robust-looking materials, with different types of runes carved into their surfaces. Additionally, several magical circles glowed softly on the ceiling and walls of the grotto, forming a barrier that protected the place from enemy detection.

Upon reaching the beautiful living room, the group of young people took their seats—some on the sofas and others on the individual chairs—but all of them wore pleased expressions as they looked at the staff in Zoe's hands, the prize they had worked so hard to obtain. This finally allowed them to take a well-deserved and much-needed rest.

"So, we suffered three casualties..."

After glancing around, Zoe spoke in a gentle tone, tinged with some remorse. The battle had been extremely fierce, resulting in the loss of two knights—the female whip user and the other Zazen discipline practitioner—and a young water-affinity mage, all of whom sacrificed themselves to repel the enemy's assault. That left only her and the mace user as melee fighters in a group mostly composed of mages. However, her expression quickly grew serious as she went on.

"Though it's a bit painful that they lost their chance, I won't let their sacrifice be in vain, and I'll make sure to compensate them for their loss."

Though none of those present said anything about Zoe's words, she could easily see the calm and relief they brought to the eyes of the three students who remained in her group. So, with a smile on her face, she continued.

"I'd also like to thank all of you for your efforts because thanks to everyone's hard work and tenacity, we were able to achieve our goal!"

Everyone present nodded, filled with emotion at Zoe's words, who smiled proudly as she held out the staff they had obtained with so much effort. Something curious that had been discovered during the tournament was that the staff couldn't be stored in their storage rings, as it was rejected whenever they tried. But Zoe continued with her little speech.

"But we've only achieved half of our final goal. Now we need to focus on deciphering the staff's riddle to find the palace and secure our places in the exploration of the ruin. So, we can't relax yet—we even have to fight harder and more cleverly to overcome the next trials!"

Zoe sent her mana into the staff in her hand, causing different holographic images of star charts to appear in the air. Everyone stared at them with thoughtful expressions, trying to come up with ideas that could help them solve the mystery. After a while, Elara commented softly, with a pensive expression, as her gaze shifted between the different star charts.

"Those star charts seem to be the ones visible in the night sky on this planet, but don't they seem a bit distorted?"

At Elara's words, Liliana began to examine the star charts while comparing them to her memories of the starry sky visible on the planet, trying to confirm her claims. She reached exactly the same conclusion—the stars were indeed slightly out of place—so she commented with interest.

"You're right. Although the distortion isn't too great, there's definitely a slight distortion, or rather, a 'displacement'...?"

"How interesting. It's possible that those displacements are the clues needed to find the palace." Zoe added with an intrigued expression on her face as she carefully examined the star charts.

Though the other participants couldn't see the distortions Zoe, Elara, and Liliana were talking about, they still began to discuss various hypotheses to solve the riddle based on that premise, splitting into two separate groups discussing different topics.

One group was made up of the girls, who began calculating the distortions in the star charts. The other group, consisting of the three students, began discussing different hypotheses to solve the mystery, leaving Ethan aside, alone and silent, with a rather uncomfortable expression on his face.

After all, like the other members of the group, Ethan was unable to see the distortions the girls were talking about. And since he was now a direct disciple of the Arcane Order, it would be a bit awkward for him to go and discuss with the regular students. Besides, he had already missed his moment, and it would be awkward to join now, leaving him in a very uncomfortable and practically isolated position.

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A reminder about the levels:

Initiate

Apprentice

Ascended

Revealed

illuminated

Sage

Arcane

Master

Legendary

...

Each level has nine sub-ranks:

Initiate

Novice

Practitioner

Skilled

Competent

Advanced

Expert

Virtuous

Peak

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Camp: