Sara leaned quietly against the wall. Her gaze seemed to fall on Emma, who had returned to normal, and Swan, who still kept his head lowered, but her thoughts had already drifted far away.
During these past few months, especially after the Raymond Territory incident, the image of Yize—who she once remembered as merely Teacher Kleya’s Fourth Disciple with average talent and in need of care—was being constantly reshaped in a way that was almost subversive.
She carefully retraced her memories. Initially, it was his insight into danger that far exceeded normal people, bordering on precognition.
In both the Raymond Territory and this Horn Disguise Incident, he had issued precise warnings in advance.
Then, there was the undeniable, close connection between him and that terrifying Black Shadow who had killed Horn—those strange, damaged clothing fragments capable of distorting light were still carefully kept in her collection.
Next was his performance on the battlefield today that had shocked everyone.
With his dual talents of Massive Mana and Rapid Casting, he had used a tsunami-like flood of low-tier magic to forcibly stall one Blood Pillar.
And now, even this Magic Potion with such amazing effects pointed back to him…
‘Yize… just how many unknown secrets are still hidden within you?’
Sara’s heart was filled with an unprecedented desire to investigate.
It felt like peeling away layers of a mystery; every time a layer was removed, what was revealed wasn’t an answer, but a deeper, more complex cloud of suspicion.
The negligible amount of attention she had given him over the past six years stood in stark contrast to the continuous shocks of these last few months.
She could no longer ignore this Junior who had always tried to hide on the fringes of the crowd.
While Sara was immersed in her thoughts, after an entire night of continuous, large-scale mana output to consume that surging, overflowing mana, Emma finally felt the recovery effect fade away.
She let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the table, somewhat drained of strength.
As the mana source dried up, the “majestic” burden that had made her feel absolutely humiliated also returned to its previous, perfectly sized, delicate curves of a young girl.
Emma subconsciously raised her hand to lightly press her chest. Feeling the familiar lightness, she couldn’t help but whisper, “Actually… being small is quite light and comfortable.”
Her gaze then curiously turned toward Swan, who also seemed to have returned to normal. With a Senior Sister’s concern and a hint of naivety, she spoke up.
“Junior Swan, speaking of which, you’re really quite unlucky. I saw so many male soldiers on the battlefield; they either became more muscular or their limbs became longer. Why were you the only one whose… whose thing grew larger?”
She obviously did not yet fully understand the truth behind the potion’s side effects.
Swan, “…”
His body, which had relaxed slightly, instantly stiffened again. His cheeks, which had just regained some color, turned beet red in a flash, and his head hung even lower.
Seeing this, Sara understood a bit more in her heart.
She quickly cleared her throat and skillfully changed the subject.
“Emma, let’s not talk about that for now. How do you feel?”
“That bottle of… well, potion that Luke brought you, how effective was it exactly? Setting aside those… er… unique side effects.”
She deliberately emphasized the word “potion,” steering the conversation toward a more critical direction.
At the mention of the potion’s effects, Emma’s expression immediately became incredibly focused and serious.
She carefully recalled the feeling and analyzed it earnestly.
“Senior Sister Sara, if we ignore those bizarre side effects and judge it purely as a Mana Recovery Potion… it has completely overturned my understanding of existing recovery Magic Potions.”
She held up her slender fingers, listing the points one by one, her eyes sparkling with the light of someone discovering a new continent.
“First, its recovery speed and total recovery amount far exceed any potion I know, even the highest-grade Magic Recovery Potions used by the Empire’s Royal Family.”
“Second, and this is the part that shocked me the most,” Emma’s voice carried a trace of unbelievable excitement, “It doesn’t just restore mana. It seems to temporarily and significantly enhance the user’s precision in controlling their own mana. It even… vaguely heightens one’s affinity for the surrounding magic elements!”
At this point, Emma froze for a moment as a vague association crossed her mind.
“This kind of potion design, which merges multiple amazing effects… it feels a bit like the style of that Hermit Senior who gave Yize that miraculous Potion Formula Blueprint back then…”
She muttered to herself but then immediately shook her head in denial.
“No, that’s not right. The effects of this potion are more domineering, more ridiculous. It feels as if… as if it has transcended the scope of what current human pharmacists can achieve.”
She looked up at Sara, her eyes shining with deduction.
“In my opinion, perhaps only the legendary Magic Potions specially made by the Elf race could possess such miraculous and comprehensive effects.”
Sara listened quietly to Emma’s analysis. Every word was like a puzzle piece, fitting perfectly with the suspicions in her heart.
Whether it was the pharmacy or the master of the Black Shadow.
Either Yize had a group of “non-human” monsters helping him from behind.
Or Yize was that “monster” who transcended human understanding.
“Luke! Are you outside?”
Unable to contain her urgency, Emma shouted toward the door.
She desperately wanted to get more information from Luke regarding the source of the potion.
Almost the moment her voice fell, the door was pushed open with a bang. Luke, with that conspicuous large head of his, rushed in and answered loudly, “Present!”
After entering, he scanned the room, his face filled with massive shock and confusion! “Senior Sister Sara, Senior Sister Emma, you… how did you all return to normal?”
Immediately after, his gaze fell upon Swan, who was trying to minimize his own presence.
Scratching his large head in even greater confusion, he asked, “And Swan… you… how can you also be… staying here?”
Sara gave Luke a sharp, annoyed glare. This guy really had a knack for bringing up topics that shouldn’t be mentioned.
“What?” she asked, her tone slightly cold. “You look disappointed? You didn’t want us to return to normal?”
Luke was startled by Sara’s gaze and quickly waved his hands, his massive head swaying with the motion.
“No, no! Senior Sister, you’ve misunderstood! I absolutely didn’t mean that!”
He pointed anxiously at his own still-enormous head, looking so aggrieved he was almost in tears.
“What I mean is, why have your… er… ‘problems’ been solved, but my head is still this big? There’s no sign of it changing back at all!”
Emma also looked at Luke’s large head with a face full of confusion.
“That’s true, how strange… I’ve clearly stopped my mana output, so the buff effects should have disappeared. How are you…”
She paused, feeling that now was not the time to fret over this, and waved her hand.
“Forget it. Your problem only seems to affect your appearance; for now, it’s a minor matter.”
Her expression became serious again as she stared at Luke.
“I have something more important to ask you. That magic potion you gave me to drink—where exactly did you get it?”
“This matter is very important and involves many things. I hope you answer me seriously and honestly.”
Hearing this near the door, Yize was startled, thinking things were about to go south.
He quietly moved behind Luke, using his body as cover to lightly kick Luke’s calf. He used his eyes to signal Luke to speak carefully and not to sell him out.
However, this small movement did not escape Sara’s eyes, as she had been secretly watching him all along.
A flash of realization crossed her eyes. She was now even more certain that Yize was inextricably linked to this potion.
Being kicked by Yize, Luke jolted. His brain, aided by his massive head, began to work at an unprecedented speed.
Believe it or not, with a larger head, his thinking had indeed become much sharper. He instantly concocted a story.
Struggling to put on an expression of recollection, he spoke.
“That magic potion… I bought it from a Traveling Merchant who passed through our family’s lands before. It sounded miraculous in the description, so I bought a few bottles to keep as spares.”
Emma pressed urgently, “What did that Traveling Merchant look like? Male or female? Around what age? Any distinguishing features?”
Luke blinked his eyes and continued to “recollect.”
“That merchant… wore a very strange cloak, as if it could distort light. I couldn’t see their figure or appearance clearly; it was all just a blurry mass. But the voice…”
He paused, trying his best to imitate the disguised female voice Yize had used.
“It sounded quite crisp, like the voice of a young girl.”
Emma was stunned and blurted out, “Wearing strange clothes that distort light… a crisp female voice… this description, why does it sound so much like that Senior Black Shadow I mentioned, the one who saved us and killed Horn?”
Luke slapped his thigh, an exaggerated expression of “sudden realization” appearing on his face.
“Exactly! Senior Sister! Now that you mention it, I remember! It really might be the same person! That Traveling Merchant who sold me the potion felt very mysterious and powerful too!”
Hearing this and recalling the unfathomable strength of that Black Shadow, Emma was mostly convinced.
She followed this line of reasoning, her tone carrying a bit of certainty.
“If it’s truly as you say, Luke, and they are the same person… then that mysterious existence is likely not human!”
“To possess such formidable strength and be able to refine a magic potion that transcends human skill… perhaps, she really is an Elf!”
Only that could simultaneously explain the terrifying strength and the source of the miraculous potion.
Luke immediately gave a thumbs-up, his face full of adoration. “Senior Sister Emma, you’re so smart! You actually figured it all out! Why didn’t I think of that?”
Emma was a bit embarrassed by Luke’s praise, her cheeks slightly flushing as she modestly waved her hand.
Standing in the back, Yize watched Luke’s performance and Emma’s convinced reaction. He felt utterly speechless, only able to blink his eyes silently.
These two troublesome matters had actually been tied together by this fellow Luke’s sudden inspiration from his big head?
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at Luke’s enormous skull. Suddenly, he felt that letting the kid stay in this state was… actually quite good?
However, with Luke’s head becoming larger, his stubbornness and curiosity seemed to have amplified as well.
He hadn’t forgotten his original question. His gaze swept back and forth between Swan and the two Senior Sisters.
“But, Senior Sister Sara, Senior Sister Emma, you still haven’t told me! Why is Swan allowed to stay here with you?”
He pointed at Swan, then at himself.
“According to Senior Yize’s previous analysis, the changes in people like us might be related to Senior Sister Emma’s overflowing healing effects, which would strengthen the body parts we most want to strengthen in our hearts.”
He reasoned with clear logic, his massive head appearing exceptionally “wise” at this moment.
“Senior Sister Emma and Senior Sister Sara are special cases, so it makes sense for them to stay in the room while Senior Yize and I guard the door. But Swan is a boy, so how can… how can he also come in and stay together?”
He scratched his head, his face full of pure confusion. “It doesn’t make sense?”
Indeed, Luke’s two sentences of reasoning were logically sound, and he hadn’t slipped up about Yize being the one who provided the analysis.
But the question he asked once again poked hard at Swan’s most sensitive and hidden pain.
Listening from the side, Yize was both gratified by Luke’s “growth” and looked at Swan with sympathy.
In fact, even in the depths of his own heart, there was a faint, undetectable curiosity…
According to this logic, wasn’t this Junior of his always resisting the feminization of his body?
Why would his subconscious “desire” for his chest to grow larger instead?
This made no sense at all… Could it be that Swan’s heart had, earlier and more thoroughly than he showed…
Sara, listening to Luke’s questioning from the side, became even more certain of her previous guess.
She saw the color drain from Swan’s face and was about to step in once more to save him.
However, Emma, beside her, did not realize the gravity and complexity of the problem at all.
She simply followed Luke’s logic and, without any ulterior motive, blurted out with an expression of sudden realization:
“Ah! Junior Swan, so… you actually wanted to have a large chest in your heart?”
This sentence was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Swan was overwhelmed by extreme shame, the embarrassment of being exposed in public, and the chaos of his own self-identity.
His mind went blank. He wished he could faint immediately or vanish on the spot.
In that socially fatal, suffocating moment—
His mouth opened uncontrollably.
“Hmph! It is I who desired a majestic bosom, is that not allowed? You mortals have no right to comment!”
Swan, ‘???’
Swan’s eyes widened, her heart filled with terror and confusion.
‘Iguneel?! How… how can you control my body to speak?!’
The room instantly fell into a dead silence.