Chapter 17
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Byron sneered. “Guys, there are only three kids left in our generation at First Unity Coven. Other than me and Kermit, have any of you actually stepped up as elders?
“Taking on a student isn’t just about slapping on the title and calling it a day. You’ve got to actually teach them.”
And Linda, who had earned the approval of the Trial of Conscience, was so talented they couldn’t just wing it with her.
Hearing that, everyone went quiet, lost in thought. They knew that this was definitely not something to mess around with.
“Send her to the Frost–Crowned Highlands,” a voice cut in. It was as crisp and cold as shattering ice, with a chill that made everyone in the seance circle freeze in silence.
“M–Mack?” they blurted out. Everyone was stunned. Mack, who never bothered to show up for their meetings, had appeared.
Byron’s expression shifted. “Mack, have you come out of seclusion?”
“Yeah,” Mack replied.
Kermit finally spoke up, a faint smile on his lips. “Are you planning to take this kid as your student?”
Mack replied coolly, “Isn’t the thing Kermit asked her to deliver meant for me?”
As he spoke, a wave of Mana gathered before Linda. The brocade box in her hands popped open, revealing an apprentice token inside.
Seeing this, Linda immediately understood what was happening. Especially when Byron looked at her as if weighing something.
As the apprentice token pulsed with mana, Linda, who knew what was coming, didn’t hesitate to speak up. “Sorry, I can’t join First Unity Coven.”
Everyone from First Unity Coven was stunned. ‘Wait, did she just reject Mack?‘ they thought. They all perked their ears.
“Why?” Mack’s voice sliced through the silence, cold and sharp as shattered ice. It seemed to hang in the air, chilling everyone to the bone.
Linda heard it too. But she kept her gaze steady, her face calm. “I do want to stay, but I don’t dare. I’m a traitor expelled from the High Sanctum of Archmagi.”
She uttered the word “traitor” with biting irony. Inside the seance circle, Byron and the others didn’t say a word.
Linda continued, “During a match with my fellow, I injured her. I shattered her gilded core. Because of that, they ripped out my own cores and kicked me out of the High Sanctum of Archmagi.
“With a reputation like mine, if I begged someone to take me as a student at the Convocation of Sorcery, nobody would
touch me,”
She added calmly, “Nobody wants to mess with the High Sanctum of Archmagi.”
She knew that some things needed to be laid bare. Even if she kept her mouth shut now, they’d figure it out eventually. That would only bring greater trouble later.
“I’m not joining First Unity Coven. It’s the only way to keep trouble from landing on all of you.” Linda returned the apprentice token to Craig.
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Chapter 17
But Mack said calmly, “So what?”
Linda stiffened slightly. She looked a bit awkward. “I seriously hurt a fellow and turned my back on my sect.”
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Mack replied coolly, “Getting hurt in a duel is nothing out of the ordinary. Leaving a path one does not believe in is nothing
unusual.”
“But I shattered Marietta’s gilded core,” Linda said.
“You were both at the same stage, and you still managed to break her gilded core. That’s pretty impressive,” Mack replied.
Linda was lost for words. ‘What the hell is up with these First Unity Coven people?‘ she thought.
Mack asked, voice still calm, “So, you want me to praise you?”
“No,” Linda said, looking a little awkward.
Mack continued, “Then that’s settled.”
Linda was confused. “But what if, someday, because of the Archmagi, I end up bringing a ton of trouble down on you?”
Everyone in the séance circle started laughing. “Just how much trouble do you think you can stir up?”
“What if I killed Coleman or the leader of the Archmagi?” Linda said. The seance circle went dead silent for a moment. ‘Knew it, she thought.
But Mack’s voice remained detached. “You’ve got guts. If taking Coleman out is what it takes for you to be my student, I’ll head out this instant.”
Linda was stunned. “You’re not going to judge me?” The eight elders shook their heads.
Kermit offered a gentle smile. “We had a pretty good idea about your situation when you first came up the mountain. Your gilded core was torn to pieces once.”
Linda stiffened, her eyes growing misty before she even realized it. Then, she felt a gentle hand slip into hers. It was Laura. Laura looked at her with concern.
Kermit said softly, “We may not know exactly what you’ve been through, but Laura’s never wrong about people.
“You’re a good kid. Stay with us. None of that stuff you’re scared of is going to happen here.”
Linda asked, “You won’t kick me out? Or rip out my gilded core, lock me up in the Abyss Oubliette, make me kneel on the Glacial Overlook, or stab me through the heart, right?”
Everyone in the séance circle was shaken to the core. They thought, ‘Did they really do that to one of their students?‘
Byron was stunned too. After Rafael came up the mountain and caused so much trouble, they had never punished him. But Linda, just a teenager, had gone through all that?
Even Rafael, still sprawled on the ground, stared at Linda in shock. Linda didn’t cry. She stared straight ahead, her eyes unfocused, not really seeing anything.
Linda didn’t know where to look, but she needed an answer. She was too afraid to lean on anyone,
The space rippled open. From the void, a man who looked like a lunar spirit stepped out unhurriedly.
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Chapter 17
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His silvery–white hair cascaded down his back, and he walked with bare feet. Snowflakes swirled around him. Standing in the light, he fixed his hazel eyes on Linda. “Never.”
Linda met his gaze, and in those striking eyes, she saw nothing but sincerity. After a moment’s thought, she said, “Alright, but I have one condition.
“If, after three years, I still can’t see myself as part of this coven, I want the freedom to leave. I hope you and First Unity Coven will let me go, no strings attached.”
The corner of Mack’s lips lifted slightly. “Alright.”
The others thought, ‘It might not be that easy.
Linda officially joined First Unity Coven, becoming the sixth student in the 101st generation, with Mack as her master.
Once the apprentice token was in her hand, she was officially a member of the coven.
Laura and Craig happily hugged her. “Linda, welcome aboard,” they cheered.
Linda looked at her token. Sixth in line. She closed her hand around it. ‘Can I really belong here this time?‘ she thought.
“Come find me at the Frost–Crowned Highlands in three days,” Mack said.
“Got it.” Linda said.
After Linda and the others left, in another seance circle at First Unity Coven, Byron spoke up. “The cultivation method she’s using isn’t one of the Archmagi’s signature techniques.
“If I’m not mistaken, she’s practicing the basic Mana–Channeling. It’s the kind they hand out to outer–circle apprentices. But with her talent, she shouldn’t be stuck with something so basic.”
Yet, to have reached this point using the most basic Mana–Channeling only highlighted how extraordinary Linda’s aptitude truly was.
“The High Sanctum of Archmagi? Isn’t the current leader Dewitt?” Laurence asked.
“Yeah, but I’ve met Dewitt before. He didn’t seem the type to be so harsh toward a student,” Kermit said, stroking his beard, still puzzled. Everyone else looked just as confused.
“It doesn’t matter what happened before. From now on, she’s my student,” Mack stated coldly.
Everyone nodded. “That’s right. No matter who she used to be, she’s one of us now.” First Unity Coven had a reputation for fiercely standing by their own.
Linda lay on her bed, fiddling with her token. The First Unity Coven’s token differed from the one she had had at the High Sanctum, though both were for direct students.
However, this one also served as a communication and tracking device, allowing voice transmission between students and sending one’s location in emergencies.
After a moment’s thought, Linda stored the token away, closed her eyes, and began to meditate.
With the Trial of Conscience’s approval, Linda’s Astral Incarnation had gotten a serious boost.
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Chapter 17
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Even though she was still stuck in the Mana–Stoking Phase, her spirit felt way stronger than someone at the Gilded Core
stage.
But her cultivation was being suppressed, so she couldn’t break through yet. Linda murmured, “I’ll get my chance eventually
The Trial of Conscience lay quietly by her bedside, as if resting alongside her.
The next morning, as was her habit, Linda rose at dawn, intending to take her sword to the training grounds. She wanted to test Trial of Conscience further.
But upon opening her door, she found Craig, Rafael, and Laura waiting outside in casual attire, waving at her. Linda blinked in surprise. “What’s going on?”
“They gave us the day off and told us to take you down the mountain for some fun, Craig said with a grin.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
