Chapter 153 - The Eyeball

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Evelyn giggled. It might be amusing to watch her teacher blush, but she knew going too far might end up backfiring. "Alright, don't worry, I really won't do it."

Aurora nodded, not knowing that the pink haired girl had barely resisted the urge to add a 'for now' at the end of that sentence.

Evelyn kept her smile in check as she followed her teacher curiously deeper into the chamber. Aurora was clearly not used to having guests, and maybe she only used this place for sleeping, because aside from the bed, there weren't even any chairs.

The pink haired girl blinked. 'Wait, now that I think about it, didn't Cecilia say her room was where she stayed at previously? I guess she just doesn't like it here?'

Evelyn tapped her chin in thought. 'Well, I guess I can offer her the spare room at my place, if she like the feeling of the White Lily Mansion more.'

Her thoughts were interrupted when Aurora patted the spot next to her on the bed. "Come. Here, no one can listen or sense what happens from outside. Feel safe."

Evelyn cleared her throat in embarrassment as she slid in next to the platinum blonde. "Thank you. I know you must have been busy, but I had a really good reason this time."

Aurora shook her head. "It's fine. Just say it."

The pink haired girl nodded before taking out an ominous looking black pouch from her inventory. She was very careful not to take out the wrong thing, knowing how awkward it would be to explain ex-professor corpses to Aurora.

Evelyn handed the pouch over to Aurora, but held her hand when she grasped it, making sure she wouldn't open it. "Teacher, actually, I have no idea what's inside this thing, and I was a little scared to open it by myself. I wanted you to do it, but you also have to be careful not to mess up, okay?"

Aurora frowned. She could tell that her student was now much stronger than last time, even stronger than some of the junior professors. "You've grown a lot. Did you face some trouble?"

The pink haired girl coughed in embarrassment. "Y-You know, a few lucky encounters. Nothing special."

The platinum blonde focused her gaze back on the pouch. "I cannot tell what's inside without opening it. This is an isolation artifact."

Evelyn coughed as she let go of her teacher's palm, leaving the pouch completely in the other girl's hands. "I-I know, just be careful. I have a feeling it's dangerous."

Aurora frowned as she let go of the black pouch, making it float a few feet away from the two of them.

A layered bubble of water slowly formed around the pouch, and Evelyn could feel the spirit power inside the bubble gradually increase to alarming levels.

Evelyn gulped. She could only roughly sense the amount of power in the outer layer, but that alone was quite shocking. 'T-That little thing already holds around four… no five thousand points of spirit power? How much does she have in total?'

Compared to when she had been much lower in level, and couldn't tell just how much spirit power was being thrown around in the fight between the pillars, Evelyn really felt like she could now roughly grasp the true extent of Aurora's capabilities.

Of course, she could probably have a more accurate answer by using her probe instead of just guessing, but it wouldn't be a nice thing to make her teacher cry before asking her for a favor. Even if she didn't get beaten up, she would still be in for a scolding.

It didn't take long for Aurora to finish preparing her defenses, and with a wave of her hand, the string holding the pouch closed inside the bubble was loosened using her spirit power.

The pouch flipped over, and what dropped out… was a tennis ball sized eyeball.

Unlike the tentacles of the 'Thousand Eyed God', there was no miasma leaking from the eyeball, and Evelyn sighed, feeling like she had perhaps been too cautious. Maybe there was no need to bother Aurora, after all.

When she looked over at her teacher, however, she found the platinum blonde frowning tightly, her brows furrowed and her eyes sharp.

Evelyn couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion. Was there something going on inside the bubble that she couldn't tell. "Aurora? Is everything okay?"

Aurora's frown eased a little upon hearing her voice, and she shook her head gently. "Wait."

For the next few minutes, Evelyn watched as the bubble surrounding the eye rippled from time to time. Although she tried her best to sense the changes, all she could tell was that her teacher kept pouring more spirit power into the bubble, but what she could sense on it didn't increase.

The ripples seemed to slow down as the eyeball floated back into the pouch, though the string wasn't retightened.

Finally, Aurora breathed a sigh of relief, and the bubble popped while the pouch floated in front of Evelyn. "You can hold it and look, but don't turn it over, the eyeball is facing down."

Evelyn took hold of the pouch as she gave her teacher a confused look. "Eh?"

The platinum blonde sighed. "This is one of the eyes of the 'Thousand Eyed God', Ekaterina. Even if it has been plucked out, whatever enters its sight can still be seen, understand?"

Evelyn bit her lip nervously. "Y-You mean… it saw us?!"

Although she had grown a lot, she didn't think she was ready to face a threat of that level yet. If she had that thing hunting her down, Evelyn might really have to consider whether taking her friends along to the forest was a good idea. 'Not to mention leaving them in the dust, but without Cecilia's buffs, even my own growth won't be so fast.'

Aurora shook her head. "Don't worry, what I did was similar to a form of isolation, and I have already killed it, for the most part. Even if you open the pouch and take it out, what Ekaterina might see would only be a very blurry image."

"Eh? You killed it?"

Aurora nodded. "Not completely, since it might be of use to you, but I couldn't leave it in the state it was, being almost completely intact. If you took it out without me, Ekaterina would know who you are and where you are right away. I didn't want you to play around with something so dangerous."

Evelyn gulped. 'Luckily, I checked the bag's description before opening. I better make this a habit.'

Aurora smiled. "Well, was that all you wanted?"

The pink haired girl blinked before hurriedly waving her hands. "A-Ah, no! That was just one of the things. Anyway, you won't believe what I found out!"

The platinum blonde tilted her head curiously, and Evelyn grinned sheepishly. "B-But before I tell you, you have to promise me not to get mad!"

The two of them stared at each other in silence before Aurora gave her a helpless nod.

The pink haired girl smiled. "Good! Anyway, teacher, you know how you were searching around for what the Terrans were up to? Well, no need to guess, because I found this eyeball on a Terran, and alongside that, I also found this!"

Evelyn took out the array disc containing the grade nine 'Watcher of the Skies', and lifted it up with one hand while shaking the black pouch in the other one. "With these two being together, I have a really interesting theory I want you to hear!"

Obviously, had it been anyone else, she wouldn't dare show such a thing off, as it was bound to incite greed. But if there was one person she believed wouldn't covet such a thing, it would be Aurora.

Aurora frowned as she stared at the slightly cracked array disc. 'Broken, but still quite high-grade. A normal Terran shouldn't be carrying such a thing around, but they shouldn't have had the eye on them either… Evelyn…'

"Did you kill Craig?"

Evelyn coughed. "T-That's not important, right?"

The platinum blonde shook her head helplessly. "Why are you like this?"

It should be considered quite lucky that she had finalized the expulsion of Craig the moment he ran away from her interrogation that day, so Aurora didn't have to face a dilemma now.

Evelyn grinned. "But teacher, I know you will protect me."

Aurora frowned. "You deserve a beating."

The pink haired girl coughed. "A-Anyway, listen to this, teacher. Apparently, that array disc contains a technique that allows the user to enslave anything as long as they have its living tissue, moreover—"

As Evelyn continued her explanation, Aurora's frown couldn't help but turn grimmer.

She didn't ask her student where she had found such information. Maybe she had some technique to extract such knowledge from the opponent's mind, or maybe she had found some related documentation. The more important thing right now, however, was that she definitely wouldn't say such things for no reason.

And if this was all true… that could only mean one thing.

The Terrans wanted to control Ekaterina.

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