Why was it her again??

No, why was he always tied to that white-haired nut ball??

At the end-of-term live-combat final last time, it was the same—he’d been grouped with her and they ran into Jiu Lixue, the future demon king who was supposed to be a late-game boss.

Grouped with her again for this Marsmo run—what was going to happen this time?

If Carillian Spirit Academy didn’t assign internally by random balancing of strength, Vinny would’ve suspected rigging. How did he keep matching with this terrifying nut-person?

Every time he matched with her, it ended badly. If nothing unexpected happened... then something would definitely go wrong.

“Seriously, why is it you again, you walking misfortune?” Vinny scrubbed his face, head starting to ache. “Damn it, who knows what we’re about to run into this time??”

“Ah? But what does that have to do with Vinny?” Aesphyra tilted her head, smiling. “When the time comes, the ones handling problems will be me and Isatia anyway, right?”

“What do you mean ‘what does it have to do with me’? Hey, you’re saying that with a straight face?? Forget who saved you last time? If not for me, that white-haired fox would’ve pounded you into nut butter!” Vinny bristled.

“Last time, Vinny was coasting the whole front half. In the end, I was the one who led us out of danger.”

“I went back to save you. How is that the same??”

Isatia watched their bickering in silence on the side.

Once these two started sparring, they gave off a very clear “no outsiders” aura. Maybe that wasn’t quite the right phrasing, but it felt like no one could wedge themselves into their exchange.

“Registration. We’re going to be late.” In the end, Isatia had to speak up.

“Alright, alright. As expected, Isatia has a sense of time. Reliable as ever~” Before Vinny could say anything, Aesphyra slid in ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) to praise her with a bright smile.

Damn it, the hagane-chan bad habit again—already flirting, huh??

Arms folded, Vinny looked on with boundless contempt.

White-haired nut ball—incorrigible.

A thought struck him. Maybe the original lineup was supposed to be Isatia and Aesphyra together, plus some unlucky boy with zero connection to either of them to play third wheel??

And by sheer misfortune, he had been picked as that pitiful light bulb?

Why was he sure it’d be a male student? Wasn’t it obvious? Carillian Citrus was a work that delighted in persecuting men.

Add in a self-assuredly lucky, secretly powerful, well-connected guy, then forcibly toss him among a bunch of oddball girls; sparks fly between two of them, and he turns out to be just the clown on the sidelines. Isn’t that fun?

Vinny knew their tricks too well. The Carillian Citrus production team loved this brand of sick humor.

Could it be that, in the original, Isatia and Aesphyra’s relationship advanced here??

Was the plot’s main force arriving?

No—that couldn’t be judged. He had no clue whether, in the original, Isatia had not been grouped with Aesphyra. He didn’t even know if this sequence existed at all.

“Pfft. Laughing like a lovestruck fool,” Vinny sniped, throwing a roadblock in Aesphyra’s flirting lane. Only a few days ago someone had been secretly watching the beauty pageant, chasing down every story about a certain contestant with devoted fervor.

“Did that happen? And how does Vinny know so much about it?” Aesphyra cocked her head.

“I was there live. How would I not know?” The moment he said it, Vinny felt guilty and clammed up.

What if the nut jumped the wall and blabbed about his crossdressing?

Led by Isatia, the three headed for the registration desk—Aesphyra and Vinny trading barbs the whole way.

Vinny felt like he’d won, because he’d interrupted Aesphyra’s flirting run yet again—and from that, he drew new confidence in life.

Weird, though—why no Virtue pop this time??

It wasn’t until they were nearing the desk that Vinny remembered a question.

Something was off. Aesphyra shared classes with him and several other heroines; how come he’d never seen her make a beeline to flirt with them between periods??

He’d considered that she did it secretly, but from today’s look of things, she and Isatia didn’t talk all that often either; they weren’t particularly close.

Vinny snuck a careful glance at Aesphyra. She sensed it, looked back, and those violet-gem eyes slid over him with playful amusement.

He panicked for no reason, forced himself to glare—What are you looking at?—then yanked his gaze away.

At the registration grounds, Vinny found a host of facilities and barracks newly erected—no doubt built over the past few days. One had to marvel at Carillian Academy’s manpower, resources, and lightning execution.

Their trio drew plenty of attention, from upper- and underclassmen alike—Isatia and Aesphyra’s looks were simply too magnetic.

As for Vinny, people were curious who he was and why he could stand with those two flawless girls. When they saw his number tag, they cried out that this had to be the luck of fools.

“Instructor, our team is all present.” Plenty of others were still waiting on teammates.

At the entrance to registration booth No. 7, Isatia presented her student ID. Vinny and Aesphyra did the same with hers.

“Alright, looks like he really was mistaken for a bird. Otherwise how does a first-year ranked eighth get slotted into this group??”

Never mind that the two of them were clearly second-years, with strength that outstripped the vast majority of upperclassmen.

A white-robed instructor checked their tokens and IDs one by one, cross-referencing against the records. After multiple checks, he handed everything back.

“You three don’t have any upperclassmen in your team. Don’t be overeager. Do your best,” the white-robed instructor admonished.

With transfer anchors in place, they could warp back if danger struck—no need to worry—but the admonition had to be given.

“Understood,” Vinny nodded. The two beside him were more reliable than any upperclassman.

After logging their information and departure time, the instructor gestured them forward.

Vinny looked ahead and saw nothing but an empty ground ringed by a damaged-looking barrier.

“What? The entrance is here?”

He squinted at the sides. The only people passing in and out nearby were Carillian instructors—plenty of gray-robed and black-robed ones—deep in discussion.

Senior instructors, all of them.

Vinny didn’t get the chance to ask. The cold black-haired beauty beside him took the lead, stepping forward—an unseen breeze lifting the wisps before her temples.

“Don’t zone out, Vinny,” Aesphyra’s voice chimed as the petite, exquisite silver-haired girl brushed past his shoulder. She looked back, smoothed her bangs, and smiled. “Don’t fall behind inside.”

Was she... worrying about him?

“Of course I know,” Vinny said, moving to follow the two stunning girls.

He had no idea what the “entrance” actually was—until the instant he stepped through the barrier.

He stared, stunned, at the vast ruined city rising before him.

Layer upon layer of earthen steps caked with moss and the scrapes of time—

The stairway was wide—as wide as several arenas, he thought—and walking upon it made him feel small.

Unwittingly, Vinny set foot on the first tier. He realized the air had changed around him; when he looked up, the entrance behind was gone.

The barrier-ringed clearing might as well have been a different world from the outside; inside, one ancient structure after another surged up, steeped in history, and the soil’s temperament stood starkly apart from Carillian’s.

In the instant they entered, a tiny shift flickered in Aesphyra’s eyes.

“Something’s... off. Why can’t I sense...??”

It felt like there was no turning back.

Vinny looked ahead and saw only endless silt and yellow earth—nothing else at all.

It felt like he’d wandered into another dimension by mistake.

“So this is what they call a secret realm?”

As expected, a realm shaped by human hands wasn’t the same as one pre-cleared and certified safe for training.

“Pfft-pfft. If you’re that scared, why’d you join this exploration?” Aesphyra teased.

“Nonsense. Where do you see me scared? I’m just curious!” Vinny shot back without thinking.

“Then why did you come?” The moment he asked, he regretted how fast his mouth was.

The reason was too obvious. Besides “opportunities,” what else would bring her here?

With a protagonist’s fate, opportunities followed Aesphyra wherever she went; when danger hit, someone would shield her. Of course there was a script: where danger lurked, there she’d dive.

“Mm~ Why doesn’t Vinny guess?”

“I don’t have the time or interest,” Vinny grumbled.

Trading jabs with her bled away much of that fear and tension born of the unknown.

Had she done that on purpose, seeing he was nervous?

After those few lines, Aesphyra turned her head forward again, and Vinny couldn’t help sighing inside.

So this was the gateway to the Marsmo civilization?

He looked up the stacked red-earth steps; at the top seemed to be a grand gate-tower, though all of it lay in ruin—abandoned for a thousand years at least.

Isatia’s attention was absorbed by the entrance architecture. With her knowledge of Marsmo, she’d probably glean plenty of useful details.

Vinny also noticed Isatia was carrying the elixirs he’d made for her; several bottles had already been drained.

“Relax. This is a safe zone,” Aesphyra said. “Instructors surveyed it earlier. We haven’t stepped into any unsurveyed danger zones yet.”

“Speaking of, why were we just sent in—where are the other teams behind us?” Vinny asked, puzzled.

“Curious about the realm’s specs?” Aesphyra pressed her lips into a smile. “This one isn’t just a buried realm; its entrances are randomized. According to the instructors’ measurements, the Marsmo ruin realm has sixty-four entrances. We got transported to one of the sixty-four.”

“That ridiculous?” Vinny couldn’t help grousing. “How much manpower did it take to build this?”

“For them, those things may have been irrelevant.”

Isatia, walking point, suddenly spoke. She looked up at the city wall ahead, at a frieze unlike any human civilization’s. “For those who worshiped Continuance as their deity.”

“A bunch of gods? What’s that supposed to mean?” Vinny stared at the reddish wall carvings. The Marsmo style was extremely abstract—he couldn’t even tell if they were carving people. Did they really look like that??

“Hey, hey, Vinny—look, doesn’t that one look like you?” Aesphyra pointed at a relief on the wall, smiling.

“Did you time-travel back here?”

“I think it looks like you,” Vinny side-eyed her.

She really never missed a chance to argue.

Isatia didn’t look at them. She studied the wall intently, lost in thought.

“Civilization established. Wars on all sides. Prosperity. Prayers to the divine—pleading for eternity and continuance. And then...” Isatia murmured as she read the frieze.

“What’s that supposed to be?” Vinny jabbed a finger at the central mural. “Looks like a diaper. Why’d they carve a diaper?”

“Vinny, could you try for a little culture?” As expected, Aesphyra hauled him by the ear with a jab of sarcasm.

“Pfft! I’m just calling it like I see it. It does look like a diaper—don’t you think so?” Vinny pouted.

“That’s a celestial totem—the Marsmo’s spiritual emblem,” Isatia explained. “Legend has it they believed everything in the world had an end. Rivers eventually run dry; time itself eventually runs out. The only constant is the day the world ends. They held that as the dwelling place of their god.”

“They seemed to have a powerful obsession with Continuance and with Eternity.”

“Mm. That’s the clarity of a professional.”

He didn’t know how long they’d walked under the blazing sun before his stamina neared collapse. They finally reached shade beneath the city wall.

Vinny felt his back and legs coming apart. How many flights had they climbed??

The two girls ahead of him, meanwhile, were perfectly fine—as if this stretch didn’t count as effort at all.

He, a grown man, had become the least useful one in the team.

Beyond the gateless tower lay nothing but a sweeping sea of yellow sand and a sprawl of low, earthen structures whose meanings were anyone’s guess.