"Fuuu."
In a dimly lit apartment room, an alluring black-haired girl sat cross-legged on the ground.
White steam rose from her perfect figure as sweat dripped down her forehead. She opened her clear emerald eyes and blinked a few times.
"I did it," she said to herself.
She had managed to advance her mana core rank into the ‹Silver› stage and entered its first level – ‹Silver 1›.
Going up a level is not that difficult; however, breaking through a stage to enter the next takes a lot of time, effort, and energy.
For example, getting one's mana core from ‹Bronze 2› to ‹Bronze 3› is easier than getting it from ‹Bronze 3› to ‹Silver 1›.
To advance into the next stage, one has to forcefully compress their mana core and add layers upon layers of mana over it to create a new mana core over the already existing one.
Needless to say, the necessary process of compressing is hard and painful, and it can't be avoided.
However, there is a way to fasten it.
To cover their already existing mana cores, one needs to gather mana from the atmosphere.
This process of gathering mana through the atmosphere can be long and tiring.
However, one could fasten this process by obtaining some mid to high-grade mana potions that could provide the required mana instead to envelop their already existing mana core instead of gathering it from the atmosphere.
Dhak–!
Amelia fell back, tired. She wanted to sleep, but looking at the clock, it was already [6:54 AM] now. Soon her class would start.
"Tsk," Amelia clicked her tongue in resignation. "I guess I won't be getting any sleep today either."
Actually, her plan was to relax and maybe binge-watch a web series or two after coming back from the Virtual World yesterday.
However, before she could even get changed and sit down to watch something, a certain someone called her.
Who else could it have been but Lucas?
At first, she decided to ignore it, but he kept spamming calls and texts until her patience wore out and she answered.
He asked for a favor and sent a GPS coordinate. The location was the one and only graveyard in Academy City.
He told her to come meet him there and explained the situation. He also told her a rather detailed plan and instructed her to shoot Quinn with a light-enchanted arrow on his signal.
All in all, the plan went pretty well, and Lucas was able to subdue Quinn by the end, thanks to her and some of his rather expensive-looking relics.
However, the thing that was stuck in her mind was what happened after that. She said some things to Lucas, and now she couldn't get it out of her mind.
This was the reason she couldn't sleep after coming back last night and decided to train instead.
"Aghhh!" letting out a frustrated groan, Amelia smacked her face. "Why the hell did I say all that?!"
When Amelia was around six years old, on a windy winter morning, her mother passed away.
She passed away from an illness. Doctors couldn't save her, and even advanced medical technology didn't provide a cure.
Amelia felt her emotions die that day. She stopped laughing. She stopped talking. She didn't even cry during her mother's funeral.
Her father started taking care of her after that. He would never let her out of his sight since he knew how devastated she was.
Even when he had to work, he would take her with him.
Her father was a small yet well-established businessman who dealt with the trade of mana beasts' cores, an important yet dangerous ingredient used in various types of potion-making.
Since he was only one of the few names in this dangerous business in the Western Continent, he had to regularly show his reports directly to Reynold Morningstar.
One day, her father took her to the Morningstar mansion when he had to pay his regular visit. She still remembers that day vividly.
It was a huge mansion, around ten times the size of her own house. It had a huge front yard pool, backyard garden, and maid robots – those things were expensive back then.
While her father visited the overlord's personal office, Amelia waited patiently in the mansion's guest room.
Despite coming from a well-off family, Amelia was still in awe when she saw the luxurious guest room at the mansion.
That day, in that guest room, she met that boy for the first time.
Lucas Morningstar.
He was beautiful. His skin was as fair as snow, while his hair looked as if they were made from the strands of cloud. His eyes shone in a bright shade of scarlet while a charming smile was plastered on his face.
That was the very first time Amelia saw someone as beautiful as him. And maybe it was also the first time she felt her heart skip a beat.
However, it was only for a moment.
She actually knew who this boy was. He was in the same school as her, and since he was from one of the four Ruling Houses– a Morningstar, he was undoubtedly famous.
Both girls and boys wanted to befriend him and get close to him, some for his looks and others for his background.
As if that wasn't enough, the word was that Lucas Morningstar was also extremely intelligent and talented in academics, war strategies, and martial arts.
He was a true genius. Anyone would want to get close to him… but not her.
In reality, she just wanted to be left alone. She didn't even want to be there, but her father literally dragged her out of her room.
Unfortunately for her, Lucas had no intentions of leaving her alone.
He approached her and tried to talk, introducing himself and asking about her, but since she had no interest in talking, she kept ignoring him.
The day ended, and Lucas' pretty face was starting to annoy Amelia. The boy did not know how to shut up.
After her father's work was done, she went home with him, relieved that she didn't have to listen to the boy talking anymore.
But of course, her luck wasn't that great.
Next week, when she returned with her father again, she found the boy waiting for her in the guest room.
The same happened the week after that.
And the week after that.
And the week after that.
Months passed, and whenever Amelia would visit the Morningstar mansion, Lucas would be there waiting for her.
They would talk for hours– well, only he talked, and Amelia listened.
They would also play around the mansion– well, Amelia would try to run away, and Lucas would try to catch her, thinking she was playing tag with him.
Time passed by like this, and one year passed. They both were put in the same class at school.
So now, Amelia had to endure Lucas every day. However, by now, she was starting to get used to being around him.
The boy was annoying, and he sure talked a lot, but she could tell he was kind and funny and sweet.
There was much more to him than the 'genius' tag that people had given him.
Slowly but surely, she started to open up to him. Being around him was starting to get less annoying every day.
Although she still didn't start talking, she was beginning to laugh and feel joy. The sorrow she felt after her mother's passing was starting to fade away.
…But the kids at that age can be troublesome to deal with.
–"Do you see her? Why does that girl not talk?"
–"She's always so gloomy when she's in the class alone."
–"Yeah, but whenever Lucas comes to talk to her, she starts acting normal."
–"But I haven't seen her talking with him either. Why does Lucas even bother to talk with someone creepy like her."
–"Guys, I think she can listen to us. Ughh, she's looking this way, creepy."
It started like that. And soon, she became the target of class bullying. Lucas stood by her, but it wasn't enough to fend off all the bullies.
Although no one would bother her when she was with him, he couldn't be with her every second of the day.
Whenever she wasn't with him, they would start to bother her again.
Not so long after, being in school became unbearable, even with Lucas by her side. She would cry at night and try to keep a brave face during the day.
But one day… the bullying suddenly stopped. The students who used to bother her got suspended.
Although she was initially confused, Amelia immediately figured out who was behind all this.
–"They will never bother you again."
That's what Lucas said to her.
That day, for the first time in a while, she cried in front of someone– in front of him.
That day, it was also the first time in a while that she spoke up, "Thank you," while sobbing.
Their friendship only deepened after that incident. Amelia and Lucas– they both were inseparable. It would be rare to see one without the company of the other.
Of course, it didn't take long until she started having feelings for him– feelings stronger than friendship.
Every second that she spent with him only made her fall only harder for him.
However, one day everything started going downhill. They arrived at the age when they awakened their mana core.
As it happens to be, they both awakened their mana cores on the same day.
Amelia awakened an ‹Immortal› stage potential. Needless to say, she was happy.
But when she visited Lucas to let him on the good news, she was left shocked.
Lucas Morningstar, once an unparalleled genius, awakened a mana core potential that was barely high enough t be called average – ‹Gold›.
That was the day when Lucas started shutting people off.
She got to know that he was having problems with his family.
His twin brother, who she had only seen supporting Lucas until now, flipped and started bullying him in school.
His sister started ignoring him, much like his parents. And the people who wanted to get close to Lucas until the day before suddenly started laughing at him in front of his face.
Amelia tried to help her– she tried talking to her and standing by him as he did for her, but Lucas pushed her away too.
Then he changed for the worse.
Alcohol, drugs, women– he was merely a teenager when he started indulging himself in all of that.
His personality only worsened and Amelia tried to talk to him many times, but he acted like he didn't even know her.
It was painful for her to watch him like this.
However, one day when they were fourteen, he started showing interest in her again. Only this time, he was acting like a scum.
He tried to forcefully get her in his bed. And one day, he almost succeeded.
That day was the most painful day she had to go through in all her life after her mother's passing.
She cried for weeks after that.
She wasn't saddened by what intentions Lucas had; instead it was how he tried to achieve them.
If he wanted her that way, all he had to do was ask. But instead of doing that, Lucas betrayed her trust in him. He betrayed their friendship.
She swore to herself that day that she would never forgive him. She would never even see his face.
Yet, after four years, when she finally met him again, she found he had changed.
He wasn't acting like a scum, but he wasn't his former self, either. He was awkward and unreadable.
However, the way he talked, the way he walked, and his bad habit of biting nails when he was deep in thought– were all the same.
Even though she swore to herself never to forgive him for what he did, Amelia found herself talking to her again.
But when she mentioned the past, Lucas acted as if he didn't remember it. He surely remembered the 'incident,' but not their time before that.
…It made her think:
"Did he lose his memories or something?"
Is it possible that all those years ago, someone messed with his–
Beep–! Beeep–! Beep–!
Right when she was in the middle of reminiscing about the past, her alarm clock started ringing.
"Tsk," clicking her tongue in frustration, Amelia got up. It was time for her to get ready for the academy.
She could think about all this sometime else.
Besides, what happened in the past couldn't change, no matter how much she may think about it anyway.
