When Gwen was sixteen, her father remarried. His fiancée was a young white woman five years older than Gwen. Before they got engaged, Gwen had seen her a dozen times, and every time she didn't get in the way. A week before the wedding, her future stepmother decides to have an unexpected heart-to-heart.

"You've had such a bad influence on your father," she sobbed, standing so close that her forehead almost touched Gwen's chin. "You like your mom so much. It's a pain in our family. ”

This is not an unfounded accusation. Gwen's brutal rebellion against her father somewhat castrated Moyer's male authority.

"I've been waiting for you to leave for three months. We want you to go. What do you want? money, where to live? It doesn't matter. As long as you get out, we'll pay. ”

Moyer was not an antagonistic father, so he left Gwen's inevitable exodus and went on the path of nature. Gwen had planned to save money by working at Bondi and then move to a state youth housing project in Claus Nest (Crossnest), not far from Blackwater.

Although Gwen doesn't sympathize with her stepmother, something inside her is still hooked by a nail. She promised her future stepmother that she would move out, and then immediately called Helena to inform her father that at this particular time, in this place, would get married. Worried that her mother hadn't had enough of the shit storm, she also called Kwan to tell him that her stepmother had plans for her and Percy's inheritance.

The wedding went well after that; right on the fucking stream.

During the ceremony, several large vans placed buckets of excrement on the gates, the red carpet and part of the decorations of the venue. It was a symbolic message of dissatisfaction from a well-connected and influential family.

"How does Helena know?"

"How did Guan know?"

The bride's eyes turned to Gwen, who froze on the spot.

They know.

What do her new owners and her sister suspect?

Gwen was paralyzed by that familiar "oh shit" feeling.

How to explain a part of her soul, probably her initial division, that was not awakened? Isn't "awakening" the most important thing that mages have been instilled and emphasized since birth?

"I... Her heart was a mess of thorns, and her tongue was covered in barbed wire. "I ...... I do not know. ”

Stupid! stupid! stupid! Gwen talks to herself, useless brain!

"No way!" Alexia was as surprised as Gwen. "She's always been someone who evokes memories. I train her myself!"

Henry's eyes sparkled.

"Look here. He pointed to Gwen's astral form, where her crystalline silhouette reflected below. "The interaction between her lightning elemental and her summoning signal is strange, don't you think? notice how they make a detour and manifest out of her body. ”

Gwen looked down, painfully noticing that the current released from her summoning signal was indeed circulating around unnecessarily.

How do I know!Gwen screamed inwardly that our textbooks are all nonsense and they barely explain anything except the common ones!Fuck this world and it lacks Wikipedia!

"A part of her astral soul is still intact and untouched," Henry chanted with vigour. "Virgin, even!"

Gwen's face was on fire.

Alicia cast a warning look at her master.

"So...... Gwen, my apprentice," Henry hurriedly continued, dismissive of his own faux pas. "You don't know?"

"No, sir," Gwen admits that I didn't work very hard at school. ”

"You don't know anything?"

Gwen shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head.

"Okay. Henry shrugged, don't worry. ”

"Sir?" said Gwen with a giggle. "Excuse me?"

"Good. "I said," the judge repeated.

"Why, Master?" Gwen's shock and horror now turned to anger and confusion. Well, don't worry?Is the mystery of her dual elemental origin just a lark in a bar?Is she a sheep?She's so scared of becoming a specimen of another world that she almost pees!

Henry's expression told Gwen that she was the unreasonable one.

"Do you have to answer, boy?" said Henry. "I don't know why 'I' can dig into the basic elements, but not the positives and negatives. ”

The judge continued.

"I don't know why Alessia was able to channel the heat of radiating stars without imploding in star form. ”

"I don't know why dragons didn't wipe us off the face of the earth once and for all. ”

"I don't understand the brazen ambitions of people's hearts, especially my fellow judges. ”

"I don't know if I made the right choice to offer you Jas. ”

Henry Kilroy, the owner of the Sydney Tower, smiled.

"Do you know why your astral body remains dormant?"

The answer is "no".

Gwen wakes up in another world for no apparent reason. She has taken advantage of the Void and lightning and has always known little about magic and magic. What happened to old Gwen? Where did her Anima go? Is she now a merger of two Gwen or is it just her own?

"No ......," Gwen replied with absolute honesty.

"And who should I know?" said the mage with a look on his wisdom professor imparting his erudite talents. "The ocean of knowledge knows no borders, we are just sailors skimming over unfathomable depths. There is more knowledge to be discovered, buried in the depths of the Five Infringes, along with the bones of the world. Who has the courage to dig so deep?"

Gwen exhaled, the rhythm of her heartbeat softening.

She realizes that during this time, her master has been trying to shed light on her fears, stop her paranoia, and calm her pain. His tortuous speech reminds her of Plato's description of his teacher Socrates, whose teachings are conducted through dialogue rather than indoctrination. She begins to understand why Alessia shows a calm independence and confidence in everything she does, happily owning every action and decision.

"I think I get it," Gwen replied.

"Good. There is no shame in not knowing. When you are no longer curious, you are truly ignorant. Henry gestured to her reflection. "But for now, let's see what progress goes. ”

"Progress?" Gwen's tongue has loosened to boldly move beyond the fragments of speech. "How far has it come, master?"

"Oh, you innocent little girl......" Henry's eyes were full of anticipation. "Why, your awakening, dear. ”

"How exciting!" Alexia screamed, Gwen's hand swinging back and forth. "Gwen, if it goes well, you'll soon be a mage! Think you'll be on this path with two schools of magic, and you're only 15 years old!

For some reason, Gwen thought of Yue and Elvia. She wondered if they had returned to the dormitory safely.

"I won't count your lice before they hatch," Henry warned them. "Ideally, Gwen wakes up a second school. I could be wrong, too. I am not a prophet. ”

He turned to Gwen. Then, the magician pulled out a sphere, a quartz crystal the size of a human head, from his storage ring. A few months ago, a similar device set Gwen on the path of magic.

"This prototype is much taller than the ordinary crystals used in public schools. It is made from Drake Stone, mined from Lightning Ridge. We are replacing the "Awakening Stones" in one region after another, but I'm afraid it will take some time for the public system to get their support. ”

"Who knows what kind of talent we'll miss out on all these years," Alexia said sneeringly. "All the potential, and perhaps more mages like you, have not been discovered. ”

Gwen put her hand on the stone.

"I'm ready, master. ”

"First channel your unmodified mana into the stone, Gwen," Henry instructed. "I'm curious to know if your signal can enter the quasi-elemental plane of the Void. ”

"I'll give it a try. ”

The transparent mana of her astral body poured into the Awakening Stone, bringing it back to life. Its ingrained pipes refined Gwen's raw mana before returning the condensed energy to her pool of mana.

Away from Gwen at a safe distance, Henry Kielroy activated a set of diagnostic spells when the orb of mana reached her chest, mixing with her existing energy to study his students.

Meanwhile, Gwen finally sees its awakening. Without the help of the government, she did not need the help of the government in the first place, and she did not need the help of the government. Even if they could, the school's cognitive room was an ancient artifact from the '50s, and the No. 1 Observatory at the Sydney Tower, imported from Germany, was a masterpiece of European magical engineering.

As her soul melts into her astral form, she gains a new understanding of the underlying metaphysical principles of magic. Symbols, pipes, doors of the elements, one by one, she saw in the room detailed images of how they manifest mystical phenomena, transforming will and energy into matter and effect.

One by one, new pipes condensed in Gwen's body. Correspondingly, her astral body has undergone significant changes. The pox-like black holes began to coalesce, forming a dark nebula comparable to the electrical storm that illuminates the projection of the Gwen star.

"Master, isn't that a negative energy gate? Gwen is okay?" Alexia chanted worriedly.

"No, it's not like that. No life can survive in pure, pure negative energy," Henry noted solemnly. "Unless Gwen comes from a family of Egyptian jackal priests, or is secretly allied with the death priest of Kotlik, I doubt she'll ever wake up on the path of immortality. ”

Even now, the magician sees particles of dark energy,

"That, Alesia, is the element of nothingness. Kilroy's voice seemed to meander far away. A greedy and ruthless element, fueled by eternal hunger. There's a reason why we rarely see mages of this element, can you guess why, Alexia?"

Alicia looked at her master in horror. Gwen, a Void Mage?

"This is because the fuel of the Void spell consists of life, light, and existence itself. It is corrosive and is an element that eventually devours its host. ”

"So... Void mage destroys himself, Gwen will be fine, right?"

"I don't know," Henry repeated his earlier anaphora.

"Should we let her continue to manifest?" Alexia asked, frightened, "she'd rather Gwen be mediocre than let her sister in the craft die of self-harm."

"She should be fine now. Someday, we'll see if she self-destructs herself, or if we have to pick up that coat. ”

"You're talking about ......"

"Yes. ”

"But you can guide her, right? we can guide Gwen so she doesn't abuse the Hello element. ”

"Someday it will come......" Henry's eyes stared at the middle distance that Alicia couldn't see. “...... When hunger becomes too great. It begins with those who have been struck down by spells, and their essence nourishes emptiness, slowly counteracting the effects of using the elements. Then, as expertise increases, it becomes easier, faster, and more convenient to constantly harness the power of this absurdity. With each layer of spells becoming more and more powerful, the Void Mages wish there were other sources to sustain their magic. Items at the beginning, replenishing mana, then small sacrifices here and there, some life-draining rituals, and maybe using the life force of your enemies against them. Eventually, inevitably, hunger takes over the minds of mages, and that's what they think, and the more energy they accumulate, the more biomass they need to consume until the end......"

"Master," Alexia interjected, interrupting the master's muttering tirade You must have given Gwen a chance!

Kilroy met the pleading gaze of the student.

In a second, he regained his clear mind.

"Of course. Didn't I take Gwen as an apprentice? What kind of master am I to shirk the responsibility of polishing a difficult gemstone? ”

"But you just said—" Alicia stopped, will you? So emptiness isn't dangerous?"

As Henry said the next sentence, his voice seemed to grow stronger.

"The wood, the void, the lightning elemental are these, Alicia: the source of the blind and ruthless primordial energy. I'm talking about the void, its essence, not Gwen herself. For a young girl, knowing that our creed knows even more than we know ourselves, who can I judge how she will use her somewhat nihilistic powers? I am not a prophet of Delphi, as I said. It's the mantra of the heart, not the hand, that kills, you know?"

"I think so, master," replied Alessia, worried. Rarely did a flame mage see her master so contemplative.

Kielroy patted the second apprentice on the shoulder.

"Be Gwen's friend, Alesia, support her when she's scared, comfort her when she's lonely, and give her advice when she's confused. As long as she doesn't use her powers out of fear, recklessness, or immature passion, she'll be safe. ”

"Master, I—

"Look there!" Henry tightened his hand, his mind no longer the present, but the yesterday he thought had long been forgotten. "She's awake!"