The invasion of the deviants.

  Those were terrifying words to all humans living on the Sia Continent. Humankind hadn’t forgotten about the countless countries that were destroyed in the numerous Holy Wars over the past thousand years.

  It didn’t matter whether one was from the Theocracy or the Austine Empire; those who had suffered through the war would often share their tumultuous experience with their children, to the point that the invasion of the deviants was almost like a traditional bedtime horror story.

  Fear was an integral part of everyone’s life during those periods of bloodshed. The common populace lived their everyday life in trepidation, not knowing when the deviants would overrun their defense line. It was hard to stay positive when all sorts of negative rumors were floating around.

  …
Terror gripped the Sia Continent with the outbreak of the news. There was a diverse range of responses coming from people all over the world. Chaos broke out in almost every country to varying extents, but some were able to quickly re-establish order thanks to the strong leadership of the ruling class.

  In the Country of Scholars, an atmosphere of tension encroached on the students.

  Brolne was the cradle for talents and transcendents in the Sia Continent, and those studying there were automatically deemed as reserve soldiers for the united army. Due to the contents of the missions they were entrusted with, most of them were vaguely aware that a war was imminent. Even so, it hardly softened the blow for them when the news finally arrived.

  The invasion of the deviants signified the arrival of an era where they lost control over their own fate. Another person’s mistake could easily cost them their life.

  A time of chaos also brought about opportunities for the ambitious. Old establishments could crumble under the strain of war, creating space for the ascendance of new powers. Until order was finally restored, everyone had a shot at grasping power.

  Roel’s life was also affected by the invasion of the deviants. The most tangible difference was the flood of missions coming in from the united army, such that the members of Rose of Dawn had no choice but to start heading out.

  He personally had no objections toward those missions. Students could earn Academic Credits through them, and their completion supported the war efforts at the frontline. As the leader of both the Bluerose Faction and Rose of Dawn, Roel took great care in selecting and assigning missions to others.

  Unlike most Second Grade students struggling to put their theoretical knowledge into practice, the transfer students from the Knight Kingdom were able to complete their missions with great ease.

  This was due, in part, to the transfer students’ superior strength, but Roel’s wise leadership also played a factor. He had been keeping up to date with each member’s proficiency over their abilities, and he took care to assign missions that played to each of their strengths.

  Paul, Geralt, Brittany, and the others from the Bluerose Faction also achieved decent results in the dungeon exploration and forest clearing missions they had taken on, and they had grown significantly from the experience. In fact, Paul and the others were growing so quickly that it left no doubt in Roel’s mind why they were part of the protagonist party in Eyes of the Chronicler.

  But soon, Roel realized that the others from Knight Kingdom Pendor and the Bluerose Faction had been growing unusually fast.

  Upon further investigation, Roel learned that the Sia Continent’s average mana concentration density would spike whenever a Holy War broke out. This effect appeared to have been further enhanced by the brief awakening of the Mother Goddess not too long ago, resulting in the mana concentration density of some parts of the Sia Continent increasing severalfold of their usual level.

  These were the highest recorded mana concentration densities in the past thousand years.

  Transcendents grew by deepening the mutation of their body through mana, so human transcendents naturally grew faster when mana concentration density increased. It was almost as if the world was trying to nurture a generation of heroes before the decisive climax.

  Roel had benefited from this phenomenon too. The growth he experienced from browsing through mountains of historical records had been more than he had anticipated. Even so, there was still a group of people who greatly outpaced him in terms of growth.

  They were none other than Lilian and the other female capture targets.

  Roel wasn’t clear about Lilian’s situation as they hadn’t met at all recently, but there were rumors that she had reached Origin Level 2. This feat understandably came as a huge shock to most students. There had been no more than ten people in Saint Freya Academy’s long history who had been able to reach Origin Level 3 as a student, let alone Origin Level 2.

  So far, there had been no official confirmation from Lilian nor the Purplerose Faction, but as someone who shared the same bloodline, Roel didn’t doubt the rumors. He was aware of just how talented Lilian was.

  Lilian was a prodigy who surpassed her peers despite adopting the Kingdom Origin Attribute, which had a much lower compatibility with the Kingmaker Bloodline than the Crown Origin Attribute. On top of that, she had also grasped ‘Ten Fortresses’, one of the most powerful abilities of the Kingdom Origin Attribute.

  Her talent was rare even within the lineage of the Kingmaker Bloodline. Even Roel would have found it hard to match her if she had instead adopted the Crown Origin Attribute. That was also why he wasn’t surprised by the rumors. In fact, he thought that she might have been staying away from him in order to focus her effort on making a breakthrough.

  The other female capture targets weren’t lagging behind her by much either.

  Take Alicia for example, the rate of her growth had been mind-boggling to Roel. It was just a vague feeling, but his intuition told him that she would be making a breakthrough very soon.

  That left Roel feeling rather conflicted, considering how he had just made a breakthrough to Origin Level 3 himself. Putting aside his pride as an elder here, Alicia’s speed of growth was astounding. The fact that she could possibly reach Origin Level 3 before reaching adulthood was inconceivable!

  “Alicia, you have grown extremely fast over the last few years. Have you experienced any side effects as a result, such as finding your powers hard to control?”
“No, I don’t think I have experienced anything like that. Is something wrong?”
“… That’s good to hear.”
Roel had no idea what to say in response to Alicia. He stared at her in bewilderment before shaking his head and ending the topic there. He was arguably the cause of this anomaly, so he had no right to complain here.

  As far as he remembered, there was no such ‘increase in mana concentration density’ event in Eyes of the Chronicler, which meant that this was part of the butterfly effect induced by the awakening of his bloodline. He suspected that it was related to him absorbing the Six Calamities and the Mother Goddess’ gaze on him.

  One could even say that he was the one who had ignited the ‘Alicia Rocket’.

  If it wasn’t for the tumultuous times they were living in, Roel would have asked Alicia to slow the pace of her growth just to be safe. However, now that war was already upon them, it would be best if she could become strong as soon as possible.

  It was probably with such a mentality that more and more students were applying for missions. They knew that this was their best opportunity to advance their strength before they were required to join the battlefield.

  In this unnerving calm before the storm, Roel continued to gather more information on the Six Calamities while managing Rose of Dawn and the Bluerose Faction. It was just that this intermittent peace was shattered by the sudden arrival of a piece of news.