Mystic Overlord: Reading Gives Strength
Chapter 170 - 169 "Secret of Aogen

Chapter 170: Chapter 169 "Secret of Aogen

Surrounded by plants, the little cabin stood.

Nicole occasionally sipped her tea to moisten her throat while also narrating her story to Ronald.

The Nicole of the past was not actually a citizen of the Gred Empire.

Her hometown lay on the coastal region of the Latoya continent, in an inconspicuous fishing village of a small country.

And Nicole, who was not yet ten at the time,

Was just an ordinary child seen in any village.

But on that day more than a decade ago, a severe earthquake triggered a violent tsunami.

Since the epicenter was far out at sea, the village felt little impact.

As a result, late that night, Nicole’s village was completely destroyed by this sudden natural disaster.

In the midst of misfortune, there was a stroke of luck—the young investigator was fortunate.

A Caster, who was passing by collecting materials for Spells, happened to be in that region, coincidentally encountered, and saved the dying Nicole.

That Caster was later Nicole’s teacher,

As well as a leading Caster of the "Secret of Aogen" school.

— Bernell Ulysses.

From that moment, Nicole followed her teacher around the world and learned about the school of the "Secret of Aogen" under Bernell’s guidance.

Nicole couldn’t reveal detailed knowledge of the school.

But there were things she could talk about,

Including the inheritance mechanism of the "Secret of Aogen."

The "Secret of Aogen" was a school with a very special mystical structure.

Their school possessed a wealth of ritual and knowledge, bound by a one-to-one mentorship tradition, where a teacher would absolutely not accept a second student before the current apprentice completed their studies.

The extensive body of knowledge and the difficulty of learning the mystical abilities,

Also meant that members of this school often spent many years learning before they could graduate, hence their infrequent activities in the outside world.

But Nicole was an exception.

She was a true genius!

Spell learning came to her in an instant, her understanding of rune combinations was extraordinary, and the compatibility of her body and magical power was terrifyingly high. In six or seven years, she had mastered all the knowledge she could learn.

At that rate, her becoming the leader of the school seemed nothing but destiny.

However, three years ago, everything changed.

To celebrate Nicole’s graduation, Bernell took her to the depths of the Yuez Forest, planning to hold the ceremony at the original discovery site of the school’s founding texts, the sacred land of the "Secret of Aogen."

Yet after the ceremony, on their way out of the forest, they were attacked.

Bernell knew everything about Nicole and understood that his student was purely academic and absolutely not suited for life-or-death combat.

So he immediately knocked Nicole out, then summoned the treants to help her escape.

The next day when Nicole woke up and rushed back to the previous location, all she faced was an open expanse of ground.

Deep in the Yuez Forest.

An area of nearly five hundred acres had been flattened.

And in the empty center of the leveled land stood an almost indestructible solid sphere about the size of a person.

—Since that day.

Plants, birds, beasts, insects...

Including Nicole’s teacher, they all vanished from the world.

Afterward, Nicole naturally sought out fellow members of her school at the sacred land to no avail.

Months of arduous searching yielded nothing but futile effort for Nicole.

Apart from that hard stone sphere, the combatants left no clues behind.

Since there were no clues in the forest...

She decided to look elsewhere!

With this in mind, Nicole, undeterred by adversity, made her way to the nearest major city, Berenwic.

There, like Ronald, she received the ciphered letter.

—Your teacher is already dead.

Afterward, to facilitate her movements in Berenwic and to increase her sources of information,

Nicole naturally chose to join the Investigation Bureau and serve the Queen.

At this point, she still had come up empty-handed.

Finally, one day, as her abilities grew through real-world experience, Nicole felt she was strong enough.

She decided to take a risk and attempt something.

——Using her own school’s Prophetic Spell.

This spell

was the highest level technique of the "Secret of Aogen".

It delved into multiple forbidden realms, including destiny and soul.

Without the original texts of her school to cast the spell, theoretically speaking, she was gambling with her life for information.

But Nicole was indeed an undeniable genius.

The girl had shattered the conventional wisdom accumulated by her school.

She had succeeded.

Pushing her health and the balance of her mana to the limit, she risked instant death by casting this spell without the original texts again, and Nicole had received a clue.

——"The hero shall receive an invitation."

"..."

"Wait a second!"

Upon hearing this, Ronald interrupted the investigator girl’s narration for the first time:

"You mean to say you can predict destiny?"

With an exceptionally proud smile, Nicole then explained:

"That’s what I said, but in reality, destiny is unpredictable."

"According to the records in our school, this spell not only has an extremely low success rate, but it also only presents a possibility of destiny. Rather than for prediction, its correct use is to obtain predetermined information."

However, right after that, the investigator girl helplessly shook her head:

"It’s just a pity, like the result I got, this spell is just a trap."

"What I wanted to know was the whereabouts of my teacher."

"And it gave me such a hugely misleading clue."

Nicole sighed:

"Ah—"

"Why does a spell that takes my life to cast give me such useless information?"

Ronald nodded in understanding, speaking with a somewhat emotional tone:

"So that’s how it is."

"But you’ve really had a tough time."

"Facing so many things, and yet you can still maintain your current character."

Upon hearing Ronald’s praise, Nicole instead revealed a brilliant smile:

"Haha—"

"If pulling a long face every day could bring my family back from the tsunami, if maintaining a depressed attitude could bring my teacher back to my side, then I’d definitely go patrol the streets with a twisted face every day."

"Those who are alive should confront the future and face it with a smile..."

"Eek—!"

Suddenly, Nicole’s expression changed as she stood up from her chair, and the vines beside her retracted the teapot and cup.

This exclamation was so abrupt that even her voice had been raised by three keys!

Standing up as well, Ronald immediately asked:

"Nicole, what’s wrong?"

"..."

Turning her gaze stiffly, the investigator girl showed a pale smile:

"I..."

"My prepared flower root vegetables are still soaking in water, now they’re all ruined!"

Before her words had even finished, Nicole dashed towards the adjacent kitchen with a scream.

Ronald stood there, thinking for a moment.

Then he remembered that flower root vegetables were a quite rare tuberous ingredient.

Due to their inherent qualities, they had to be soaked in warm water for a specific amount of time before cooking.

Soaking for too long or too short would both spoil their taste and texture.

So...

This guy was worried about her lunch!

Shaking his head helplessly, Ronald also followed her there.

——Heading out as a guest.

He ended up not only having to engage thoughtfully in conversation with the host.

But now, even cooking seemed to be his responsibility.

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