No More Pain For This Villain.

Intelligence went to 7, while everything else like mana and strength is par on 100.

I jumped out of the bed and looked around. There was a lamp. I lit it up and the room was brightened. Going near the door, I checked the hallway outside. It looks like I am not in the place where the Imperial Academy team is staying.

Turning around, I closed the door behind me and thought about the things that have happened till now.

I showed clearly that I am strong in front of everyone. Second, I have met Ignisara - whose corpse I had seen with my eyes. She became a spirit? And next thing is, I still remember her showing something like me being the Heir, but it's because I passed on the heart of her so I can't make sense out of it other than just that. Blaze is not here or I would've asked him.

Third is the things that she said, like not to trust anyone and I have already lost - lost what? I try to think about every possible scenario where she can say that, but I still don't get the actual meaning behind my loss.

I won the Maze, I made it out of Nightshade Sanctum - Nightshade Sanctum!?

"She mentioned about going back there." I don't know why, but according to her, I should go there again.

Crooked Island is not the place I'd want to go back to again, as I still remember the cityscape I saw there - so many unnecessary questions at a single time.

Plopping on the bed, I feel like I am back in time when I had just come to this world - a lot of questions and not a single answer to any one of them.

I need three thousand experience points more to level up so I can skip eight-star level. I'll still need to learn how to manage that much power though.

"System store."

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To access the system store, you'll have to level it up.

Do you want to level up the system store?

yes/no

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"Do I want to level up the system store?"

[Trust no one.]

I grumbled as I was reminded of the words that Ignisara said to me—trust no one. While this whole system facade is the biggest issue, who made it and what do they want?

I shut down the offer and closed my eyes, not even knowing when I drifted into slumber.

In my dream, I dreamt about something. It was like I sat in a plush room. In front of me were some weird-looking things—I could smell them, and they seemed like fruits from their appearance.

My gaze involuntarily turned towards the door—it was huge, and someone entered the room. Not a single person, but a lot of them. But one that struck the most was a boy with fiery hair and eagle-like eyes.

"Ignisara?" I thought, as the boy resembled her the most. The boy sat right beside me, and with a flick of his wrist, he ordered others to go away.

He was saying something, but I couldn't hear him at all. I tried reading his lips, but he was talking fast—like an excited child.

He was a child from the looks of it.

He brought both his hands in front of himself, and his eyes—they turned into two fire orbs, while his hand materialized an Azure Flame.

One that I have... similar, soul watcher if I remember the name correctly.

The boy seemed happy, and the next thing I felt was like there was an explosion.

I felt my body jerk.

"Rise and Shine, Princess."

I opened my eyes to be met with a pair of yellow retinas.

"I went to the room, but it looks like you were here, in the nursing ward... slept well?" He asked.

"Where were you, motherfucker?" I asked, feeling like beating the shit out of him, to be honest.

"Missed me? Of course you did..." His voice irritated the fuck out of me. "Well, first of all, congratulations—"

Before he could complete his sentence, I interrupted, "I met Ignisara."

"What?" He asked.

"Ignisara, your friend—I used the spirit contract in the middle of the battle and met her through Ignis," I explained briefly.

"Ignisara... she's a spirit now?" Blaze looked at me like he had just seen a ghost.

"Yeah, I... haa, it's hard to explain, but I just dreamed about a weird place too. But more important than that, she talked to me," I started. "She said to go back to Nightshade Sanctum."

"Did she say anything about me?" Blaze questioned.

I paused, Smokeball seeming shaken.

"No, she did not," I answered.

He kept staring into empty space.

"Looks like she's warning me about something," I started the conversation again.

"Warning about what?" He asked, taking a moment off of himself.

"I lost, she said, and then told me not to trust anyone," I explained.

"You lost?" Blaze seemed confused.

"Same reaction I had. I don't know what she meant. Anyway, what do you think about the statement on going back to Nightshade Sanctum?" I questioned.

There was a pause before he spoke. "You know what, Princess, a god must lose all their pride to let go of their status as an eternal soul after death to become a mere spirit that serves mortals."

"And what does that have to do here?"

"Haha, you don't get it, do you? Pride. Ignisara was the most prideful among us. So if she let go of her pride to only give you this message, that means there's some truth behind it... maybe more like something that we don't understand right now," he sighed.

I furrowed my brows, processing Blaze's words as I reached for the pendant around my neck. Holding it up, I examined it closely, the smooth surface reflecting the dim light of the room.

"This pendant... it's identical to the one Ignisara wore," I remarked, turning it over in my hand.

Blaze's eyes widened in surprise. "That pendant..."

"what about it?"

"oh nothing,just Ignisara never told us much about it." he shrugged... motherfu- I sighed.

I nodded slowly, feeling a weight settle in the pit of my stomach. Ignisara's actions were becoming more enigmatic by the moment, and I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something significant about this pendant.

Before I could dwell on it further, I felt the need to freshen up. Pushing myself off the bed, I made my way to the mirror, running my fingers through my hair and straightening my clothes.

Just as I was about to head out the door, Blaze's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" he asked, his tone laced with concern.

I turned to face him, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "I was just going to..."

Blaze shook his head, cutting me off. "No way, Princess. You need to rest. You've been through a lot, and you should take it easy for a while."

I sighed, feeling the exhaustion creeping back into my bones. He had a point—I was tired, both physically and mentally, and a little rest wouldn't hurt.

"Fine," I conceded, reluctantly making my way back to the bed. "But only for a little while."

"Oh, by the way, I saw that general in the city," he chimed.

"General?" I questioned, pulling myself up.

"Yeah, that demon general Zephyrion. Remember the one that created the illusory path in Balcker Forest, Sephra?" He added.

"...Why was this the last thing he told me?"

"Are you retarded, or did you do this on purpose?" I asked.

"On purpose," his immediate response made it clear that he was saving this information – that's why all the talk about resting, I was weirded out seeing him concerned about me.

"Fuck you."

"Well, you can't expect me to bomb you with information after all that has happened today. Oh, by the way, I couldn't see you fight with the Amphiptere, but it seems like you did great. By the way, there's talk about you in town," he pointed out nonchalantly.

I got up and began putting on a robe. "What do they say?"

"Want me to be honest?" He asked.

Honest? Is it bad? Maybe? Do I care? ... Nah.

"Say it, Smokeball."

"They say that you are a vile, selfish piece of shit who can do anything and everything to win, like pushing down a student off of the raised platforms or throwing one of the captains into the jaws of death... while leaving students to die in a horde of Adele's," he began. Oh, it's bad.

He took a pause and said, "Well, some do say that you are a hidden card of the Imperial Academy."

"Hmm, that's good, I guess."

"But still, most of them hate you," he added, as if he liked it.

Putting on the robe, I left the room with Blaze on my shoulder.

"Tell me more about Zephyrion."

"Well, where should I even begin? Looks like they are already out of the city."