Chapter 2108: Learning

The moment Catherine gave her answer, this rather unusual apprenticeship ceremony finally came to an end.

In the next instant, the raging flames around her vanished without a trace.

The endless sea of fire, along with the strange elemental fluctuations Catherine could not begin to comprehend, disappeared as though they had never existed.

She found herself standing inside her own room again, less than two steps away from the door.

In other words, from beginning to end, Catherine had never actually moved from where she stood.

Everything she had just experienced had taken place entirely within Sein’s elemental domain.

This alone showed why low-ranking beings often regarded law-wielding existences with the same reverence they showed gods.

Even the crystal roses in Catherine’s hand had remained completely unaffected by the overwhelming pyro elemental spectacle just moments ago.

However, Catherine was now also holding the Verdant Flame Elemental Crystal Sein had given her.

Under the influence of the intense pyro elemental energy radiating from the core, the icy crystal roses were already beginning to show faint signs of melting.

By then, Sein was preparing to leave.

A portal suddenly opened inside Catherine’s living room.

On the other side was one of Sein’s underground laboratories within the Divine Tower of Ashes.

Sein had many laboratories throughout the divine tower, and he intended to head to this one to continue an experiment related to the pyro element.

But he could not simply accept an apprentice and then leave her completely unattended.

If Sein went into seclusion again and buried himself in research for another few hundred years, Catherine’s growth might very well be delayed because of him.

As he stepped toward the portal, Sein said, “Go to my laboratory on the top floor tomorrow. A fox maiden named Azelia will be there to receive you. She’ll show you which parts of the laboratory you’re allowed to access. There are some rooms you can enter freely, but others will still be off-limits to you.”

“If you have any questions, you can ask Azelia. You can also live on the uppermost levels of the divine tower if you wish. There are plenty of empty rooms there. Azelia will make the necessary arrangements for you,” he offered.

“I still have a project that needs to be completed. It shouldn’t take too long. Once I’m done, I’ll set aside some time to give you proper guidance,” Sein said.

He had actually conveyed quite a lot of information, yet all of it appeared in Catherine’s mind almost instantly.

At the same time, a silver-gray thread appeared on the divine tower badge pinned to her chest.

It signified that many of the previously restricted permissions within the Divine Tower of Ashes had just been unlocked for Catherine, granting her access to numerous areas she had never been allowed to enter before.

Before leaving, Sein glanced sideways at the crystal roses in Catherine’s hand, which were already beginning to melt, and added, “Unless they’re the love of your life, I suggest you hold off on dating for now.”

“I’m not trying to interfere in your personal life, but... You’ll be quite busy once I start assigning you laboratory work.”

With that, Sein stepped through the portal and left.

The portal vanished behind him a moment later.

Everything around Catherine returned to normal, just as it should have been after she finished her classes at the divine tower academy and came home.

Only the crystal roses slowly melting in her hand, along with the Verdant Flame Elemental Crystal radiating intense heat, the strange magic mask, and the mechanical arm, proved that everything she had just experienced was real.

A long time passed before Catherine finally murmured, “So... the one who wanted to take me as an apprentice was actually the Tower Master of Ashes?”

***

Sein was not a particularly good mentor. No matter how he looked at it, he had to admit that much.

When it came to teaching specialized academic knowledge, Sein was more than qualified.

The problem lay in how he taught it.

Sein had a habit of cramming enormous amounts of knowledge into Catherine all at once, making the learning process extremely difficult for her.

Just as Sein had instructed, Catherine went to the tower master’s quarters the very next day.

There, as expected, she was greeted by an exceptionally beautiful fox maiden from Beastmen World.

Yet for the next three months, Catherine did not see Sein even once.

Then, one day, he suddenly appeared.

Over the course of just a few days, Sein crammed an enormous amount of knowledge into Catherine’s head, including concepts she normally would not be expected to encounter until Rank Two.

There was simply too much to absorb, and many of the academic principles involved were far beyond what Catherine could fully understand at her current level.

In the end, she had no choice but to record everything Sein taught her with a crystal ball so she could revisit it later and slowly work through each concept one by one.

Originally, Catherine had no intention of moving into the tower master’s quarters.

A full-fledged mage suddenly taking up residence there would inevitably draw unwanted attention.

More importantly, aside from her own family, Catherine had never lived under the same roof as another man before.

However, after realizing that Sein might only emerge once every few months, and hearing from Miss Azelia that a single experiment conducted by the tower master could last years or even decades, Catherine did not hesitate for long.

She resolutely moved into Sein’s residence on the uppermost levels of the Divine Tower of Ashes.

If she did not stay close enough to catch him whenever he emerged from his laboratory, who knew how long it would be before she saw her mentor again?

Catherine was certainly enthusiastic when it came to her studies.

The fox maiden granted Catherine the same privileges Lorianne had once given Sein. The top three floors of the Divine Tower of Ashes were placed entirely at Catherine’s disposal.

This even extended to the underground section of the divine tower, where an entire floor had also been reserved exclusively for her.

And as the tower master’s apprentice, Catherine naturally enjoyed access to many areas of the divine tower that ordinary mages could not enter, along with early access to various cutting-edge equipment and facilities.

At the same time, Catherine gradually realized that the vast tower master’s quarters were not usually occupied by only Sein, Azelia, and herself.

Aside from the various specimen creatures, she often saw an electronic cockroach scurrying after Azelia’s broom, a ghostly girl drifting around the upper floors, and an aero elemental constantly sweeping through the area as though it had endless energy to spare.

These three seemed especially close to Azelia, which was probably why Catherine saw them so often.

Besides them, Catherine had also spotted a pink-tailed mermaid and an owl that frequently perched by a window on the top floor, squinting sleepily as it dozed.

According to Azelia, the mermaid was specifically responsible for preparing meals for the tower master.

The owl, surprisingly, was the tower master’s familiar.

One day, Catherine cautiously approached the window and studied the owl outside.

Could this be another powerful magic beast whose aura I simply can’t detect?

Hoot?

The owl lifted its head, glanced around, then looked at Catherine through the window before calmly returning to its nap with its eyes half-closed.

It seemed to have an exceptionally gentle temperament.

On two occasions, Catherine had walked past it and picked up several feathers that had naturally fallen nearby, yet the owl showed no sign of displeasure.

Naturally, feathers from a demigod-level creature were anything but ordinary.

Unable to make full use of their value for the time being, Catherine fashioned them into several magic brushes instead.

In a way, that also counted as completing the assignment Sein had given her to craft a magical artifact, albeit in a rather creative manner.

The last time Sein emerged from his laboratory, he even asked Catherine where those feathers had come from.