After giving the package to Theo's team, Radvils was chilling in his own workplace. He was looking at the screen his Skylink projected for him while playing with a skill card in his hand.
"Hmm?"
His peace was soon disturbed by a knocking sound as Radvils looked at the door with an annoyed expression. "Come in. Do you have any problem, Principal Eigen?"
Principal Eigen opened the door and entered the room with a serious expression. "I just want to confirm something with you. It seems Alea Eilric has been absorbed into another team and become their sixth member, is that—"
Before he finished his words, he somehow found this weird sensation when he looked at Radvils' face. This was the first time he felt it, so he was unfamiliar with it.
"You… Are you happy?"
Radvils narrowed his eyes and shrugged, spinning his chair to the window behind him and staring at the sky. "Who knows…"
"You are even playing with a skill card." Eigen glanced at his hand.
"Well, you can say so." Radvils sighed and didn't want to play word with him anymore.
"It seems you have found the perfect team for the tournament," said Eigen when he saw Radvils opening a certain team's profile in his Skylink.
"No, I have found someone who can push this team forward. That's all. Whether they can do it or not, it will be up to them."
"Sounds like you… I think you have someone special since you are holding that kind of card." Eigen narrowed his eyes when he caught the name of the card and its explanation when Radvils spun it on his hand.
Radvils couldn't help but smirk and said, "You are right. It made me think hard whether to give this card to him or not."
There was an excitement in his tone. He got this feeling after observing that last fight. Radvils stopped playing with the card and grabbed it.
In the card, there were two things shown.
Skill: Illusion Manipulation (C)
Effect: Manipulate one's perception to make one get a sense of touch and vision of an illusion along with the ability to manipulate a certain level of reality.
…
While the two had a chat, Theo returned to his room to discover more about his next skill. However, he suddenly felt a presence in his room, making him halt his step to assess his situation.
Before any misunderstanding appeared, an aged female voice resounded from his room, calling his name.
"What are you doing, Theo? You brat, you don't want to see your master?"
Theo's body shuddered as he quickly opened the room and saw his master standing by the window.
"Master…"
"Heh, you brat." The old lady smiled and looked at him with gentle eyes.
"You are breaking into someone's house, you know."
The old lady widened her eyes and stared at him in disbelief. "You brat, it seems I will need to destroy all the security cameras here."
"Oi, oi. You know I can't catch you even with the help of the police or even the strongest person in this country, right?" Theo sighed in defeat.
"Anyway, it's not like you have any real footage about me, so it's fine." She shrugged and continued. "Still, I want to congratulate you for finishing the second stage of training."
"Thank you." Theo politely bowed his head. "I wouldn't have reached this far without Master's help. No, I would say I should have died in that forest when the Lange Family searched for me."
"No need to thank me." His master shook her head helplessly. "You are the real reason you can stand in this stage. Don't look down on yourself."
"Ahaha…" Theo let out a hollow laugh while putting his hand on the back of his head, feeling embarrassed.
"How do you feel about losing?"
"Hateful and grateful. I wish you could inform me something like this and train me in another way, but I guess I won't hold you accountable since, in the end, everything is alright." Theo smiled. "I get good teammates and people I can ask for advice. I can get stronger from this point on."
"That's good. To be honest, I need to go home, so I am thinking of visiting you one last time before returning to my country."
"So soon? I thought you—"
She shook her head and sighed. "It's quite unstable right now, so I need to break my promise with you. Besides, you have understood the basics of all five aspects. Each of them has something special that you may see in the Grand Gaia… If you manage to enter the main stage, that is."
"Like Force Control?"
The old lady widened her eyes in amazement. "I don't know where you get that word, but yeah. It's something like that. But I want you to keep practicing your foundation even if you are advancing to the next stage. After all, the variations are derived from these five."
"I understand. I won't abandon them… No, I will set a time to practice them every day. Even if it's only fifteen minutes, I will still do it." Theo smiled.
"That's good enough." She was satisfied. "If you have a strong foundation, learning the variations will be an easy task for you. Still, I must say, it's better to master one thing instead of everything. That's right. Jack of all trades, was it? Something like that.
"Don't say you want to master everything and become a master of all trades! It's good to have a goal, but you need to set it realistically and try to achieve it first before getting a bigger goal. Last but not least…"
She paused for a moment and walked to Theo before hugging him tightly. She said with a gentle tone. "Last but not least, you have worked hard, Theo, my disciple. I'm proud of you."
In that instant, all the past training flashed in his eyes. Although his master kept pushing him too hard, she always took care of him afterward. In his training, his master never looked away, even if it was to reply to a message or something to solve her boredom. When he couldn't move anymore, she would nurse him until he was back at full health.
Hearing her words truly made him emotional. He couldn't contain his smile and replied.
"Thank you, Master. I'm glad that you are my master."