Chapter 2106: Meeting Mentor

Everyone had a time in their youth when they were young and naive, and Catherine was no exception.

Back when she was studying at the imperial public magic academy, there had once been someone she admired.

However, the harsh realities of their circumstances left Catherine without the courage to take that extra step.

She never revealed her feelings. Instead, she buried herself in the study of magic and poured all of her energy into becoming a mage.

Later, after achieving outstanding results in the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War and advancing to Rank One, Catherine returned to the academy she had once attended in the Byrne Empire and stayed there for several years.

By then, however, everything had changed.

The boy she had admired in her teens had already become a potbellied, middle-aged noble in his forties.

The sight left Catherine, who had already become a Rank One mage by then, momentarily stunned and at a loss for words.

Now, several more decades had passed. That minor noble, who had never even reached the level of a senior initiate, had most likely been buried in his grave long ago...

Since then, Catherine had never entertained such thoughts again. Her attention was now fully devoted to exploring the mysteries of truth.

Without her realizing it, the spellbook she had yet to fully decipher had gradually become something of an obsession.

Catherine had even set herself a goal. She intended to completely decipher the spellbook within the next one hundred and thirty years.

Coincidentally, that was also the duration of the contract she had signed with the Divine Tower of Ashes.

To be honest, Catherine had recently begun to suspect that the rumor she heard all those years ago, that some powerful mage had taken a liking to her and intended to accept her as an apprentice, had been nothing more than a rumor after all.

There was, however, a perfectly reasonable explanation for why Catherine had been able to report to the Divine Tower of Ashes only a few decades after the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War ended.

Her original contract with the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun had been for one hundred years. Her contract with the Byrne Military lasted one hundred and thirty years, while her obligation to the Imperial Public Magic Academy was only ten.

However, because Catherine had ranked among the top one hundred in personal merit points during the academy war, the various obligations she owed had been reduced by half.

Even then, Catherine had never taken any shortcuts!

After advancing to Rank One, she had actually traveled to Abek World, a resource demiplane under the control of the Byrne Empire, and served there as a garrison mage for twenty years.

It had also been the first foreign world Catherine had ever visited.

As for why she eventually chose to come to the Divine Tower of Ashes instead of remaining at the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun or elsewhere in the Byrne Empire, the former simply offered far greater potential for her future growth.

And since she supposedly had a “powerful backer” waiting for her here, why would Catherine not come?

The only reason Catherine had not come sooner was her own stubborn determination, along with the gratitude she felt toward the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun, the Byrne Empire, and the elderly Rank Two mage named Lani.

She simply wanted to fulfill the promises she had made through those contracts. Now that her obligations were finally complete, and even Lani had strongly encouraged her to journey to the Divine Tower of Ashes in pursuit of Truth, Catherine naturally came.

Moreover, the perceptive woman had long suspected that the spellbook in her possession, along with the various forms of “preferential treatment” she had received over the years from the Divine Tower of Radiant Sun and the Byrne Empire, might somehow be connected to the “important figure” who had supposedly taken an interest in her back then.

Yet after arriving at the Divine Tower of Ashes, all of that preferential treatment seemed to disappear. Everything here was handled strictly by the book.

According to what Lani had told her years ago, the person who had taken an interest in Catherine was Master Marie, the academy dean there.

But after their one and only meeting, Catherine did not think it was her.

At the time, Master Marie had merely acted in her capacity as dean of the divine tower academy, registering Catherine’s divine tower mark into a crystal ball before assigning her a residence and issuing her an identity badge.

Even if the rumors about someone taking a special interest in her back then had really been nothing more than rumors, Catherine no longer cared much about it.

The rapidly expanding Divine Tower of Ashes was indeed a better fit for a freshly promoted full-fledged mage like Catherine than the long-established Divine Tower of Radiant Sun.

The benefits offered to registered mages here were also undeniably better.

It was no wonder the Divine Tower of Ashes had flourished so rapidly despite having been founded less than ten thousand years ago.

Fifteen years earlier, Catherine had even visited Pyreling World, a plane under the control of the Divine Tower of Ashes, where she stayed for two years.

That peculiar foreign plane had brought her quite a few surprises and greatly enriched her specimen collection.

By now, Catherine had already made peace with everything.

Even if everything she had believed back then had simply been her own misunderstanding, it no longer mattered.

Once her two-hundred-year contract with the Divine Tower of Ashes came to an end, Catherine planned to travel through other regions of Magus World and perhaps even visit some of the countless foreign worlds under the Magus Alliance’s control to broaden her horizons.

Of course, the Magus Civilization was currently at war. As a registered mage of the Divine Tower of Ashes, Catherine could be deployed to the front lines at any time.

Her previous garrison assignment under the Byrne Military had taken her to a demiplane not far from Magus World, a strategically important stronghold rich in resources.

In a sense, Catherine could already be considered a participant in the Clash of Civilizations.

A war of this scale was hardly friendly to Rank One mages like her.

Only law-wielding powerhouses could truly claim to possess even a modest ability to protect themselves in a Clash of Civilizations of this caliber.

Catherine had also heard stories from seasoned mages who had fought on the front lines, recounting the bloodshed and brutality of both the Clash of Civilizations and interplanar wars.

With her own strength still far from sufficient, how could Catherine possibly allow herself to become distracted by trivial matters of the heart?

Ever since her early teens, she had already set aside those youthful and naive emotions to devote herself fully to rigorous study.

That alone showed just how rational and level-headed Catherine was. Once she set her sights on a goal, she would continue pushing herself forward without hesitation.

More importantly, she had her own principles and convictions.

The crystal roses outside Catherine’s residence had been sent by a Rank One mage named Baradur.

He had also participated in the academy war seventy years ago and had openly expressed his admiration for Catherine even back then.

In fact, Baradur had been personally eliminated by Catherine during that very war.

Unfortunately for him, Catherine felt nothing toward him.

Baradur came from a prestigious magic family that had once produced a Rank Three grand mage, and his desire to build a family with Catherine was likely driven by more than simple affection.

Much like knight houses, prestigious magic families often arranged marriages with families of similar standing in order to preserve and strengthen their bloodlines.

The offspring of two Rank One mages had at least a sixty percent chance of eventually advancing to Rank One themselves.

This was one of the main reasons so many knight and mage families in Magus World had managed to endure for generation after generation.

Catherine frowned slightly as she picked up the bouquet and opened the door to her residence.

However, the moment she stepped inside, she froze. Someone had already entered her quarters before her.

Standing there was a mysterious man wearing a mask.