"Not inside? Where did she go?"

As soon as Soren teleported to the camp, he made a beeline towards Professor Lyra’s tent, only to see no one.

Not only her, but even other professors like Kael weren’t in the camp. It seemed they were busy with their own things.

As for the Principal, he had no idea where to even find him.

’I did send a message to Professor Lyra, but I don’t know when she will look at it.’

Since the Abyssal Soul Compass had appeared here, it meant the ’Knight’ had already found a suitable place to open a demon gate.

It almost meant that it wouldn’t be long before that happened.

To be honest, if possible, Soren wanted to stop this invasion completely, as he didn’t want to clash with Crucible so early on.

After all, the ’Knight’ who was in charge of this invasion was an S-rank Lich.

His name was Knight because it was rumoured that he was a real Knight before he submitted to the Demon.

He was very powerful and almost impossible to kill. Nothing good would come if you came under such a person’s radar.

’But...they shouldn’t have located that dungeon Logan found yet. Why are they hurrying up all of a sudden?’

Soren was confused.

’Is it...because of that, Isabella?’

It didn’t take long for him to notice the link, though. After all, who else besides her was an unknown factor in these events?

He bet Crucible already knew of her presence and changed their plan accordingly.

’Sigh...Is this what a butterfly effect is about?’

Soren sighed, not liking the flow of events.

"Soren? What are you doing here?"

Just as Soren was thinking where to find a Lyra, he heard a soft voice in front.

"Sylvia?"

Surprisingly, it was Sylvia, wandering near the teacher’s camping grounds just like him.

"What are you doing here?"

Soren asked, ignoring that she was the one who asked him first.

"Me? I was just invited by Professor Lysandra for something. What are you doing here, though?"

Sylvia seemed a bit lively the moment she saw Soren, as she quickly replied before coming close, with a face filled with a beautiful smile.

All the confusion she felt from Lysandra was completley forgotten.

As for inviting Soren to her club, she didn’t even consider it.

Asking Soren to join her just so she could learn a thing or two from the Professor didn’t sit well with her style.

"Oh? Professor Lysandra is here? Good."

But it seemed Soren had other thoughts, as the moment he heard her, he beamed in surprise, before grabbing her hand.

"Then...let’s go meet her. I have something to ask of her."

As far as he knew, Lysandra had a good relationship with Lyra. Besides, although crazy in some ways, she wasn’t a demon servant like Ruther.

She should have some way to contact Lyra or even the principal for him.

"Wha...hey, Soren...wait..."

Sylvia was shocked by Soren’s sudden shift as he grabbed her hand, dragging her forcefully.

She never thought he would react so strongly after hearing the Professor’s name.

’So...they did know each other. What does he have to ask her of anyway?’

Sylvia couldn’t help but pout after stabilising her figure, letting Soren drag her hand in hand.

’Professor Lysandra said Soren is a cool guy, and he got excited the moment he heard her name. Just...when did they get so close? Why don’t I know?’

Sylvia slightly bit her red lips, looking at Soren, realising how anxious he seemed to meet her.

’And why does Lysandra want him to join our healer club all of a sudden?’

So many questions, and Sylvia didn’t have a single answer.

She wanted to ask Soren, but seeing how anxious he seemed, she first told him the truth.

"Professor Lysandra said she has something to do. She isn’t inside right now."

At least, when she left, she was already gone. So, Soren’s visit might be wasted.

"Hmm?"

"Soren Kingswell, right? Come inside."

However, just as Soren paused his steps, hearing Sylvia, a soft yet crisp voice echoed from the tent he was standing before.

And it belonged to Professor Lysandra, no doubt.

"..."

"..."

For a moment, Sylvia was shocked, while Soren looked at her questioningly.

Didn’t she just say that Lysandra wasn’t inside?

"Yeah, thank you, Professor."

Soren didn’t think much and quickly replied to the professor before entering the tent.

Sylvia also quickly tagged along, although her cheeks were a bit red, embarrassed.

She wasn’t lying to Soren, really.

"So you already asked him to join our club? This is quite fast. I am really surprised, Student Sylvia. Maybe I underestimated your charm a little?"

But the moment she followed Soren inside, Professor Lysandra spoke again, looking at her with a faint smile.

She was still in the same position as before when they first met, with an open book, sitting cross-legged on a chair.

But her eyes were focused on her, seemingly impressed.

"Club? What club?"

Soren asked, confused, turning to Sylvia only to see her flushed red.

"N-No... Professor, I didn’t ask him to join. He came here on his own. He has some things to ask you."

Sylvia felt Soren’s gaze and quickly explained, afraid that he would misunderstand. She didn’t know why Lysandra was adamant about embarrassing her.

To be honest, she already faintly began to dislike this professor.

Even if she did invite Soren, was saying it so directly to his face a good thing?

"Oh? So he came on his own? And I thought..."

Lysandra frowned upon hearing Sylvia and closed the book she was reading before looking at Soren.

To be honest, she really had no impression of this student before this time. After all, they only met that one time when Soren was injured.

So, it didn’t make sense for her to invite him to her club so suddenly.

The only reason she even did so was that she heard a very interesting piece of news from her best friend recently.

’Now that I look at it, he does look quite handsome and charming. No wonder he wooed the daughter of an Archmage and the Director of the National Hunting Association at the same time.’

Many didn’t know, but she had a very good relationship with Lyra.

Recently, she had a brief talk with Lyra during her relaxing time, when she heard her complain about this particular student, who seemed to be a playboy.

Although Professor Lyra was very tough with her students, she really cared about them even more.

She wasn’t lying when she thought of directing Soren in the correct direction.

Only... she never thought Soren would directly admit that both girls knew about his affair and were fine with it.

To be honest, Lyra was so stumped by Soren’s admission that night that she really didn’t know what to do at all.

So, she came to her for advice, only to make Lysandra curious unknowingly.

"Young man, we meet again. It seems your leg is all fine now."

Professor Lysandra showed an amiable smile at Soren, looking curiously.

For a moment, Soren felt a bit uncomfortable under her gaze. But he didn’t have time to waste after all.

Although he was curious what this invitation to their club was all about, he quickly focused on the pressing concern instead.

"It is all fine thanks to you, Professor, but forgive me for rushing over pleasantries as I have a very important thing to do right now."

Soren didn’t mince words and directly asked Lysandra what he wanted to know.

"Professor, can you contact Professor Lyra? If possible, Principal Logan would be even better. I have something very important and serious to tell them."

Time was of the essence. He could always entertain her later, but right now, he wanted to meet with Lyra immediately.

Although he couldn’t tell her anything about the invasion, which he shouldn’t know, he was sure that if she saw the ’Abyssal Soul Compass’, she would know everything.

And that was enough.

"Oh?"

But his saying "urgent" wasn’t enough to make Lysandra immediately heed his call, unfortunately.

Rather, it only intrigued her more as she leaned in slightly.

"What is so urgent that you want me to contact them? Care to tell? Or do you want me to just believe you?"

She asked, placing her palm on her chin, leaning leisurely on her chair, as if she had all the time in the world.

She was in no hurry about the urgency that Soren was showing right now.

For a moment, Soren felt a bit speechless, while Sylvia pouted beside him.

Okay, it was official. She definitely didn’t like this professor.

’Sigh... it seems she is in the mood to fool around. There is no point trying to contact Lyra through her then.’

Soren sighed after seeing her antics, before taking out the dark compass from his inventory and throwing it directly to Lysandra, who caught it reflexively.

"What is this?"

Lysandra was a bit confused by his rude gesture when a sudden sizzling sound echoed through the chamber, coming straight from her hand.

"Hmm?"

Only then did she notice that it came from the compass in her hand, which was reacting violently with her holy power the moment it landed in her grasp.

"Abyss energy!"

Only then did her playful smile turn into a heavy frown as she abruptly stood up from her chair before asking Soren solemnly,

"Where did you find it?"

It seemed she was now the one in urgency instead of Soren, as the aura around her shifted into dark gloom so abruptly that Sylvia felt a bit shocked just by being near her.

As for Soren, he just rolled his eyes speechlessly before resigning himself to fate, knowing he now had to give her a long explanation.