At that moment, Lin Yue was replaying everything that had happened recently.
He hadn’t expected that just a small decision on his part would push the plot in a completely different direction.
Not only did he nearly get the protagonist killed, but the main characters, still undeveloped, were forced to confront enormous risks ahead of schedule.
Although he’d managed to offset all the consequences in the end, when it came down to it, he still ended up changing some characters’ relationships and goals.
Even the tiniest action could lead to such an intense butterfly effect.
It seemed he’d have to be much more careful with his choices from now on.
Suddenly, Lin Yue realized a very serious problem.
The big boss of Act One had actually made it safely through the scene where the accident was supposed to occur!
How could he be so absent-minded and forget such an important thing!
“Sigh… sigh!”
Airella was startled by the sudden change, still gnawing on a chicken wing.
Isabella watched as Lin Yue unceremoniously grabbed Airella’s hand.
Her eyes immediately filled with panic and she hurriedly said, “Can’t you just say what you want to say here?”
Airella echoed, “R-right, what could you possibly say that Isabella and Lia can’t hear…”
Airella’s heart immediately filled with panic.
No way, is the flag I just set actually coming true?
But in front of her, Lin Yue looked into Airella’s eyes with a very serious expression and said: “That’s right. This is something I can only say to you—no one else!”
W-what!
Only to me?
Just as she tried to reassure herself that it must be about something else, Lin Yue added, “I don’t want anyone but you to hear what I’m about to say…”
Even though Airella didn’t want to admit it, she could only say she was truly flustered now.
Wh-what is he going to say?
A confession?
A proposal!
Why only the two of us?
Is this Lin Yue really going to snatch me up after just one meal?
Countless images flashed through Airella’s mind.
She shook her head instantly, “No way, you can’t force me!”
She instinctively shook off Lin Yue’s hand, grabbed her things, and got ready to leave.
“I-I’m full. I’m leaving!”
Right now, no matter how much she craved Lin Yue’s cooking, she had to run away first.
She couldn’t possibly throw away her whole life just because Lin Yue’s food was tasty!
“No… this will affect both your life and mine!”
Seeing Airella try to escape, Lin Yue reflexively reached out to grab her again.
“Ah… goodbye!”
Airella swung her hand at Lin Yue, and in an instant, two black tendrils pinned him down, leaving him unable to move.
Then, she chanted an acceleration spell and ran away without even looking back.
What kind of monster am I, for you to be so excited!
Tied up and unable to move, Lin Yue felt like all the meals he’d given her had gone to waste.
I didn’t charge you a single cent, and you pull this stunt?
Ungrateful!
Not until Airella’s shadow was gone did the binding magic on Lin Yue disappear.
What now, picking up a watermelon and dropping a sesame seed.
If Airella didn’t trigger the beast tide at the right moment, the people from the Holy See wouldn’t take advantage of the situation, there would be no crisis in the second act, the Saintess wouldn’t enroll at Avelina, and none of the important events that followed would happen…
The more Lin Yue thought about it, the more absurd and frightening it felt.
No, he had to find out if Airella had used the power of magical beasts during the exam!
He didn’t even know why, but whenever he wanted to ask Airella a question, she would just run away.
Judging by everyone’s reaction around them, it seemed no one else knew about Airella’s ability yet; otherwise, it would have caught the academy’s attention already.
If worse came to worst, he’d just have to ask her teammates from the test.
Right, isn’t Isabella’s older sister right here… He could just ask her… huh?
Lin Yue turned his head, just about to ask her for a favor, only to find her glaring at him with a look of burning anger and deep disappointment.
“Isabella, I—”
“Don’t talk to me!”
She turned around and left, slapping something down on the table as she did.
What…
What did that mean?
Is this how you treat your savior?
For the first time, Lin Yue felt a bit bad—he hadn’t even done anything and already people disliked him.
“Sigh…”
Nothing else for it.
He’d have to find a time to talk things through with Airella.
If that didn’t work, he’d just have to find Isabella and ask her to repay her debt to him.
After all the commotion, only Lia was left, completely focused on eating and totally oblivious to everything else.
“Lia, you’re the only one who really doesn’t care about anything…”
Lin Yue moved to sit next to Lia, and she knowingly shuffled her seat over.
“Who says I don’t care? If you marry a wife, don’t forget to formally introduce her to me. After all, I’m your teacher by seniority, so I’d have to check her out for you.”
Lia must have eaten so much she’d gotten dizzy, because Lin Yue couldn’t figure out what she was talking about.
“The girls you’ve been hanging around lately, as your teacher, I’m satisfied with all of them. Oh… except that Marpel. I really don’t like her. Don’t bring her home.”
What does this have to do with Marpel?
Lin Yue was a bit confused and couldn’t figure out how Marpel had offended Lia.
“She reeks of copper coins, too shrewd for her own good.”
Shrewd?
He hadn’t really noticed.
Since this wasn’t in the original story, Lin Yue could only rely on his own impression.
“I don’t have any interest in them…”
Lin Yue felt wrongly accused.
He really didn’t want to hang around with these dangerous people.
Why did they always hover around him, and why did people keep misunderstanding?
He’s supposed to be some notorious scoundrel, not a playboy—so why was everyone making such wild guesses…
Lia looked at the man in front of her speechlessly, then said with a half-hearted tone, “Lin Yue, to what extent has your magic power degraded?”
Lia knew full well that Lin Yue had forcibly used the magic she’d left inside his body.
Lin Yue clenched his fists, feeling for his own magic.
“Probably back to Stage One, Beginner. Lost quite a lot of magic, it hurts.”
His power was originally gained by forcefully expanding his magic circuits.
Now that he’d overdrawn his magic, the magic reserve twisted by spatial laws had returned to its original state.
However, thanks to his usual effort and Lia’s devilish training, he still managed to retain decent strength.
“Take it easy next time. Magic circuit modification is out of the question for now. The circuits in your body are a mess; it’ll take a while to recover. If you run into trouble, just call me directly.”
“Mm… by the way, what exactly happened after I lost consciousness that day? Why did you have such killing intent toward Allen? Back in the assembly hall, you were really scary.”
Lin Yue hadn’t fully understood what happened and could only ask the person involved.
Upon hearing Lin Yue’s question, Lia’s eyes grew serious as she recounted the events of that day.
…
“The Power of Law… were those guys they sent all Stage Six?”
After blocking that slash, Lia instantly realized this power was far from ordinary magic.
This was a power on the same level as her own.
She couldn’t pull off the previous dimension-cutting tricks, swallowing attacks outright.
She could only cancel out the force with space law magic of equal strength.
Moreover…
On the boy in front of her, whose magic was so weak it was barely detectable, she felt the terror of a death god’s reins tightening around her throat.
This was different from what she’d sensed from Lin Yue.
If Lin Yue made her calmly accept death, Allen gave her a sense of dying with regrets.
After advancing to Stage Six, it had been a long time since she’d felt such a sense of crisis.
Lia didn’t dare let her guard down, preparing to attack with a determination to kill.
“No, he’s just an ordinary Stage One mage?”
Suddenly, she noticed something counterintuitive.
Could it have been that repulsive aura from earlier?
Lia fended off several of Allen’s attacks, soon realizing he was simply losing control of his magic—like a puppet repeating the same attack sequence over and over.
Could he be one of those disgusting experiments from the Holy See?
In the battle when she broke through to Stage Six, she’d seen several Stage Six priests use a divine art called “Descent” to control believers, allowing those believers to use their abilities.
But she’d never seen a puppet capable of wielding the Power of Law.
Unheard of.
Sensing something off, she didn’t kill Allen immediately, but knocked him out instead, planning to discuss what to do with the school elders.