Jaden looked at her departing figure and walked back towards the chair. He picked up the spell book of Shadow Projection and began to flip through its pages.

After he flipped it to the near end, a black card slid out of it.

"... For apology, huh," he muttered with an impassive look and picked up the card.

He checked the black card, its one side had the symbol of Shadow Order while the other side had a name... A name Jaden knew very well.

"Zaria Benedictus, what am I supposed to do with this?" He questioned himself and picked up the spell book.

He left the room, and just as he stepped out of the dark chamber, his eyes fell on a set of clothes.

"I thought I would've to stay in this armour," he mumbled, picked up the clothes and wore them.

A few minutes later, he checked himself in a full-body mirror of ice and mumbled, "Not bad."

He dismissed the ice mirror and walked out of the dark chamber. Suddenly, he felt something in his right pocket. He checked his pocket, and to his surprise, he had his camera.

"Where did this come from?" He questioned with a frown and thought, 'I had left the camera at the dorm, so how is it here?'

He continued to ponder it for a few minutes before he pocketed the camera and pushed the thought of it to the back of his head.

"It's always been a strange object, it never breaks and never stops working.... It's probably a divine relic at this point," he muttered sarcastically and let out a chuckle.

Soon, he reached a spiral staircase and began to climb it. As he climbed, he thought of his plans for the near future: 'I have ten slots, so I should capture two A-rank nightmares to upgrade the grimoire of Arden and Jamie, and I have to level up as much as I can...'

Jaden continued his thoughts and was unable to see the person who was descending the stairs.

Both of them bumped into each other, and he came out of his thoughts. He looked at the person with an apologetic expression, but was left speechless upon seeing their eyes, which held different colours.

Tyron looked at him with his usual calm smile and said, "Can you please allow me to pass?"

"Y-yes," he stuttered and stepped aside.

Tyron gave him a nod and continued to descend the stairs. Jaden stared at his departing figure and thought, 'Who was it?'

As he thought, he felt something warm on his hand. He looked down, and hot blood was dripping down his hand.

He blinked a few times and mumbled, "When... and how?"

***

Tyron continued to move down the stairs and raised his left hand, which had a needle the size of a chopstick. He twisted the end of the needle and took out a small glass container with blood.

He looked at the blood inside the glass container and mumbled with his usual smile, "You were right, Xeron... I haven't used all the methods of prophecy yet."

He gripped the container and continued to descend.

***

Jaden pushed a wooden door and found himself in the garden behind the Imperial palace.

"What am I supposed to do now?" He mumbled with furrowed brows and began to walk towards the tent of Navin and others.

While walking, he watched the other students who were talking to each other with tired expressions covering their faces and managed to hear tidbits of their conversation.

"I still can't forget how Mad Sword killed all of those nightmares... that grin... it wasn't something a human should have," a student said darkly while shivering.

"I haven't seen him fight, but I did see Blinding Bow... he didn't miss a single nightmare, it was truly crazy," said another.

"Have any of you seen Illusion Thorn fight?" A student asked with gleaming eyes.

"I don't know if I saw it or not... It's impossible to see her sword path," answered another student.

Jaden furrowed his brows at their words and thought, 'Mad Sword? Blinding Bow? Illusion Thorn? They couldn't be talking about Jamie, Arden and Selina... right?'

He quickened his steps and soon reached the tent. He stepped instead, and voices reached his ears.

"The fuck do you know about sword? Call me Mad Sword one more time and they will call you Blind Bow instead of Blinding Bow!" Jamie shouted furiously.

"Navin, you tell me. Isn't that something a madman would say?" Arden said in a teasing tone.

He shook his head, stepped inside, and found Arden sitting at the top of a bunk bed on the left, while Jamie sat at the one on the right, and Navin simply sat on the ground as he cleaned his shield.

"Jaden!" Arden called out to him with a wide grin and climbed off the bunk bed.

He grabbed Jaden's hand, pulled him towards the bunk bed and said, "Navin, you move with Jamie. I and Jaden are going to use this one from now on."

A smile appeared on Jaden's face, and he muttered, "Calm down, we can't just change everything because of something this minor."

Arden glared at him and replied, "Shut up."

Jaden chuckled.

Seeing him chuckle, Arden let go of his hand and asked, "Can you tell us where you were for the past two months?"

He glanced at all of them with a calm expression and nodded. He took a seat at the bunk bed and answered, "Two months ago, I had entered the arcane library of the academy."

"Huh?" All three of them looked at him with stupefied looks, and Jamie questioned, "How did you even do that?"

Jaden scratched the back of his head and thought, 'I can't just say Maria's name now, can I?'

"I have my methods..." he answered.

Jamie frowned and just leaned back in his chair instead of asking another question.

"What happened after that?" Navin asked with a curious expression.

Jaden turned his head towards him and said, "Nothing really... I entered a mental realm while learning the spells and only came out after two months."

All of them looked at him with a foolish expression and mumbled, "Mental realm... huh."

Jaden smiled wryly at their reaction. He knew how hard it was for someone to enter mental realms, even for a moment, and he just told them that he had stayed in a mental realm for two months.

'No wonder they don't believe me...' he thought and looked at the other as he waited for their questions, but much to his surprise, they didn't ask him anything. Instead, Arden muttered, "So that's what happened, it's good that you are back now."

He blinked at him and asked with a dumbfounded expression, "Do you not think that I may be lying?"

A smile appeared on Arden, and he replied in a teasing tone, "Are you?"

He shook his head, and Arden added, "Then why are you asking us such things? We've been through hell together... I don't see any reason not to trust you." A wry smile appeared on his face, "No matter how absurd your words are."

Jaden's expression turned sombre at Arden's words... He felt far smaller before him, even though he was way stronger than everyone combined within the room.

He had even forgone the concept of trust until he regained his lost memories, but seeing them trust his words without even a shred of doubt made him ashamed of himself.

Even so, if he were given a choice, he would still choose not to trust anyone without a solid understanding of them. They all had worked together to escape the Elara Peace, yes. But they didn't do it out of choice; they simply had no other option.

Jaden cleared his mind and replied, "I see..." he looked at Navin and questioned, "Can you tell me what actually happened?"

Arden looked at him with a hurt look and asked, "Why didn't you ask me?"

He turned his head towards and replied, "No reason... You can tell me if you want."

Arden smiled and cleared his throat before he answered, "Everything began two months ago... a Master rank dreamgate appeared near the eastern wall of the academy, but the principal was able to close it.

However, just as she closed it, two more Master rank dreamgates appeared at opposite locations.

The principal and headmaster closed them, but then ten elite rank dreamgates appeared throughout the academy.

The students, teachers and Instructors worked together and were able to close them, but more dreamgates appeared... it was like hell had descended.

Finally, after a week, we were no longer able to close them, and the Fairy of Space had to teleport all of the students into the bunker chambers for safety.

Before long, the reinforcements appeared and everything seemed to be getting better... but a saint rank dreamgate appeared at the centre of the academy.

At the end, the academy was destroyed and Fairy of Space teleported not just the students but the whole bunker out of the academy... because of that, she got injured and can't use all of her powers, at the moment."

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