Chapter 17 The Truth

The first round of the tournament ended smoothly. Miss Harlet announced that the second round would proceed after the junior and senior brackets had been completed. Jace thought that based on her personality, Miss Harlet must not have felt like the Restricted Bracket was exciting and so it became an afterthought for her. However, if she went out of her way to make room for these two tournaments, she must have found something or someone interesting.

The group is celebrating Kim winning the freshmen tournament in the cafeteria.

“You are going to join the junior and senior brackets? Is that even allowed?” Jace asked.

“contestants from a lower bracket can join a higher bracket. That is the rule.” Kim said.

“Are you confident that you can win against the seniors? I know the mana stones are tempting, but the upper brackets won't be as easy as the freshmen ones. There are actual famous seniors in those.” Cade said

“She has an 80 percent chance of winning the junior bracket. 20 percent for the senior brackets” Beth leaning on Jace and Ruin answered in a lazy voice.

“Only 20 percent? Are you underestimating me?” Kim looked a little offended.

“Senior Wind Blade entered the senior brackets,” Beth said, motioning for Jace to peel an orange for her.

“So? I have beaten many Aura Warriors before. They just have stronger bodies and telekinesis.” Kim looked puzzled.

“Jace, remember my analysis of Aura Warriors's weakness?” Beth is busy eating orange slices that Jace has peeled for her.

“Aura Warriors are superhumans. Super strength, speed, reactions, hardened skin. At a high level a walking monster themselves. However, they need to train in many aspects to improve. Body forging, martial arts, Aura control, telekinesis control, Aura forging. When you split your study like that, it's extremely difficult to get to a high level in any particular way. Most Aura Warrior's combat abilities are even below low-level mages. Another weakness is Aura usage itself. It's extremely limited, only enhancing the body or weapon. Not a lot of versatility and if it runs out, they are just walking punching bags. In other words, they are jack-of-all-trades but masters of none.” Jace recalled

“Did you remember everything she wrote?” Cade asked, incredulous.

“So? Doesn't that mean that a student-level Aura Warrior is nothing big? I beat many of them in the freshmen brackets as well. There are not many Aura Masters like Duke Feng.” Kim said

“Not against an Aura Warrior that has improved only one area to almost the limit. Senior Wind Blade is famous for his speed, and only his speed. He doesn't use telekinesis or flying weapons. He doesn't rely on Aura enhancement on his weapons or body either. Only martial arts and speed. He decided to become powerful early in exchange for stagnant growth at later stages” Beth motions for Jace to peel an apple for her. She seems to be pouty and deliberately punishing him for something.

“Hm, that seems fun” Kim has an unusually wild smile.

“............my analysis is only based on the skill sets you and Senior have shown us so far. I may be wrong.” Beth felt uncertain after seeing Kim’s eerie smile. She told Jace to peel an orange and pick out the pith on each piece.

“...........are you a goddamn queen?” Cade looked at her with a disgusted face.

“Come with me somewhere tonight,” Jace said to her. The way he looks at her is complicated.

—------------------------

That night Jace met up with Duke Feng and his Wife for dinner. Duke Feng chose to stay in one of the public residences built for the common folk. He chose the house at the highest point in the forest, “I can keep an eye on the people’s safety from here.” He told Miss Wanders.

Jace greets the good Duke and his wife with the most respectable bow. Beth standing next to him only looked at Lealatha.

“My! I did not expect you to come to me……..and with a boy alongside you.” Lealatha has mischief in her eyes.

Jace could guess what their relations were. He chose not to use True Sight since he has experienced seeing some extremely private information of others. He did not wish to invade their privacy if not necessary.

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Duke Feng looked at Beth with warmth and compassion in his eyes but said nothing.

“Is he someone you chose? Is he trustworthy? Are you sure?” Lealatha walked close to Beth and whispered in her ears.

Suddenly Duke Feng emits his entire Aura wave in front of Beth and Jace. Jace jumped in front of Beth, covering her body with his big frame. He spat out blood and went down on one knee, still covering Beth behind him. He looked up at Duke Feng in defiance. His entire body was shaking from fear, yet he was getting ready to explode everything he had to get Beth to safety. His physique is extremely durable, but he wasn't confident that he could endure an attack from a master.

“Marvelous.” Lealatha clapped her hands, and the Duke's aura wave disappeared. “You chose well. Maybe it's ok to tell him. The Most Beloved Child of Thalanil”

Over the last 6 months, Jace and Beth have become extremely close, even closer than most lovers despite not yet sharing each other’s bed. He has seen various expressions on her face that no one else has seen. Angry, happy, pouty, flirty, excited, sad. But he had never seen this expression on her face before, regardless of what was in front of her, monstrous Chimera, killer Red Rabbits, even Duke Feng’s full power Aura before, she had never shown fear. Not like this.

“Beth, we can leave if you want” Jace embraces her shaking body and immediately tries to leave.

“Wait! We still have things to discuss!” The Duke said after his back.

“I am sorry, Duke. My companion is not feeling well. We must leave for today” Jace did not wait for his answer and jumped away with Beth in his arms.

“...........you should have waited until we finished discussing business.” Duke Feng chastises his wife.

“I don't care about the past, and now we see his character. That's good enough, isn't it? I think he is quite good” Lealatha sat down to eat the food that was prepared for dinner.

“More than good. Magnificent” Duke Feng smiled widely while looking at the young man leaping across the sky.

—-------------------------

Leaping through the air, Jace thought it would be better to not go back to the dorm for the moment. He kept leaping across vast distances and finally arrived at a small cave hidden near the gym. Beth still has not said anything, her shaking has calmed down a lot. Jace kept her in his arms and walked into the cave.

After a while, Beth could feel a mana wall, an invisible barrier that separated the mana inside the cave from the mana outside.

“..........what is this place? It's like a pocket dimension. I couldn't feel the mana in here from outside, but I could feel the mana outside from here. How is that possible?” Curiosity has distracted her from what has just happened. Her brain is going into hyperdrive just trying to make sense of it.

“It's dragon’s magic. I don't know either” Jace could feel that Beth was no longer shaking and he smiled. The best way to distract this girl is to give her an interesting puzzle or new knowledge to look at.

The cave soon opens up into a large room with a flower field and a giant tree in the middle. Ruin can be seen sleeping in the open hole in the middle of that giant tree. The flowers around him seem to be drawing on his mana and glow unnaturally.

“This is his lair. No one else knows about it, maybe only Miss Harlet.” Jace sat down under the giant tree leaning on it. He patted the ground next to him. Beth sat down and leaned on him. “I think it's time we have a proper talk”

“.....ok,” Beth said

“Do you want to go first or should I go first?” Jace asked her.

“.........I will go,” Beth said then went quiet for a long time. Jace waited patiently and only caressed her hair. After half an hour, Beth finally spoke.

“I am sorry for lying. My real name is Mistearia. I am an elf.” She looks up at him, afraid to see disappointment in the lies, but that is not what she saw. “You knew that I was not human? How?”

“I will explain that after I tell you my story” Jace smiled at her. “Is that it? Why are you scared of the Duke's wife?”

“...........I didn't know she was his wife.” Beth looked down. “She is my aunt. We heard she married a human, but we didn't know her husband is the famous Duke Feng.”

“She is beautiful but she doesn't resemble you.” Jace looked at her face and remarked.

“.........this is not my true face either……” Beth’s voice was no longer confident. Admitting to a lie is not an easy thing to do. “This is what I look like”

Her glamour falls away like flower petals. Extremely pale skin, pointy ears, hair so white it looks like it's glowing, and a beauty that is impossible to describe with words. Unnaturally beautiful

“You have always been beautiful, even in human form. Other men might die from desire seeing this face, but I am not so easy to seduce” Jace jokingly pushed her forehead with his finger. Tear blinked in confusion, this reaction was not what she expected. “Now I can see the resemblance”

“You are the first to dare use force after seeing this face! What a barbaric human” She smiles and her voice sounds more relaxed. Even amongst the elves, she would see intense desires in male’s eyes when they looked at her, but Jace was different. The way he looked at her did not change from before. She hit Jace's legs with her palms jokingly

“Should I call you Mist? Misty? MiMi? TyTy? RiRi?” Jace laughs but stops after she hits him with Kim’s martial arts, which hurts him a little. “You learned that weird thing huh? Fine. Tear it is.” Tear has a warm smile on her face.

“That's my secret.” Tear said

“What does it mean to be The most beloved child of Thalanil?” Jace asked her

“Humans are not supposed to know this, because it's too dangerous.” Tear expressed her sadness “My secrets are my own to share, but this is the elf's secret. I am sorry”

“It's fine. This is not an interrogation. We are just sharing what we feel comfortable sharing.” Jace patted her head. “My turn?”

Beth nodded at him.

“My name is Jace Yulian Farsea, and this is not my real face either.” Jace almost could not push the last word out. “Please stay away from me for a moment”

He lightly pushed her off of him. Jace pulls the skin on his face off. Tear has seen this device before, a magical skin mask. A type of artificial skin that reacts and changes depending on the user’s mana, unlike a glamour spell that changes the actual shape of the body, this mask is only an illusion. Under that handsome skin mask, a face full of scars and burns. Unnatural mana seems to run along his wounds. Tear grasped, her hands reflectively covering her mouth. The wounds on his face were too brutal, and a nasty scar ran along his neck. One of his eye sockets was misplaced, his right eye sitting in an unnatural low position, his left eye the color of blood.

“It's ok if you want to scream or run away.” Jace’s eyes are sad. He expected her to run. No woman could love him with this face. But contrary to his beliefs, Tear did not run.

“If you didn't glamour this, and instead use a magical skin mask, then I assumed it can't be glamoured. A curse?” Tear has already started to analyze the problem. She tries to use healing magic on his face. Many different types of spells, even using healing potions and some type of glowing silver liquid. It did not work. Tears fell on Jace’s face.

“Thank you for not running away.” She wipes his tears even as he says that. “Do you want to know how this happened?”

Tear nodded her head, her eyes were determined.

“Ok,” Jace nodded, as he put his mask back on.

—-----------------------

Somewhere in the Blue Tower’s female dorm

Greeneyes and Miss Wanders had come to the student dorm to investigate reports of unusual sightings and a few students went missing.

After a few rounds of patrol, they finally found something weird in one of the hallways. Crimson liquid slowly drips down from the walls. The stone tiles of the tower have grown green algae unnaturally, a damp, fishy smell.

“What happened here?” Miss Wanders was shocked. The fishy smell was overwhelming. She took a closer look at the red liquid on the walls.

“not blood…………..slime discharge,” Greeneyes said after touching the red liquid. It burns her skin.

“Slime? Inside the tower? Furthermore, the color…………..” Miss Wanders looked horrified. “The students went missing 2 days ago, slime hibernation takes a few weeks. We still have time to find it.”

“5 students gone…………..all elemental Mages. If the slime was red when it found them, then we pray it has become purple and not black.” The two teachers quickly teleported away.