Chapter 76: The Person Chosen Four Years Ago

Victor stared at the final message on his identity card for more than ten seconds before reconnecting the communication with Albert.

"What do you mean, they knew four years ago that Leah would awaken?"

A faint rustling of paper came from the other end. Albert seemed to be examining a document he had just discovered, and after a moment, he transmitted a yellowed research record through the magical communication device.

[Astral Bloodline Compatibility Observation Record]

[Observation Subject: Leah Vane.]

[Age at Registration: 13.]

[Bloodline Compatibility: Meets Requirements.]

[Estimated Primary Observation Window: Four Years Later.]

[Remarks: Subject has not yet completed profession awakening and does not currently possess a stable Astral Core. Continuous monitoring is required. Astral Core induction must not be performed prematurely without authorization.]

There was another line at the very bottom of the record.

[This project must not be disclosed to Elena Vane.]

Four years ago, Leah had been thirteen.

In other words, even before Elena died, someone had already listed her biological daughter as an observation subject for some secret research project, and they had specifically ordered that Elena herself was not to know.

"Where did you find this?"

"Underground archive room," Albert replied. "It was hidden among a row of abandoned magical beast ecology records. If we hadn’t noticed that several sheets were preserved using Astral materials, we probably wouldn’t have bothered pulling them out."

"Who signed it?"

"There’s no signature."

"Then why did you just say they knew four years ago that Leah would awaken?"

"Look at the date."

Victor glanced over it again.

Four years later.

Exactly now.

However, he quickly noticed that the record said estimated observation window rather than a confirmed awakening date. The people behind it might not have possessed the ability to accurately predict the future. They could simply have used the Vane family bloodline, Leah’s physical condition at the time, and Elena’s research data to predict that she would reach some important stage around the age of seventeen.

But regardless of which explanation was correct, it was enough to prove one thing.

Someone had been waiting for Leah to grow up for a very long time.

And Elena had most likely known nothing about it.

"What about the other records?"

"We’re still searching."

"Don’t go any deeper yet."

Victor suddenly spoke.

Albert clearly paused on the other end.

"Why?"

"You said there were signs that the underground metal door had been opened recently."

"Yes."

"Then we aren’t the first people to discover this place."

Victor straightened in his seat, his gaze returning to the research record.

"If they were capable of arranging everything in advance at the Seventh Trial Ground, and they could get the board to replace the screening location in less than half an hour, there’s no reason they wouldn’t know what used to be hidden inside the Third Ecological Zone."

"I don’t think they’d leave anything truly important sitting there intact, waiting for us to take it."

"You think it’s a trap?" he asked.

"Not really." Victor shook his head. "Someone might simply have removed the most important parts already. But either way, there’s no reason for you to keep going deeper just for a few old documents. Bring out what you’ve already found and leave the rest to a professional investigation team."

The other end of the communication stayed silent for several seconds. Then the vice dean suddenly laughed.

"Victor."

"Hmm?"

"I’ve realized you’re a rather interesting person."

"What’s interesting about me?"

"When something happens to you, a Level 22 student dares to charge straight into an out of control trial ground. But when it’s my turn, you suddenly start reminding the vice dean to be careful?"

"You’re overthinking it." Victor’s tone was calm.

"I just think you’re more useful alive."

"..."

Albert quickly ended the communication.

Victor looked at the darkened identity card, the corner of his mouth rising slightly, before taking something out of his storage ring that had been sitting there for quite some time.

It was a damaged silver disc.

It had been inside the hidden storage ring in Elena’s old research archive cabinet.

Victor had been unable to identify it then, so he had simply kept it together with Elena’s private notes. Its surface showed no obvious magical reaction.

But now...

He reopened the image Albert had sent him of the underground metal door.

At the center of the door was a circular recess.

Six thin lines extended outward from inside the recess, while one section along its edge contained an obvious gap.

He lowered his gaze to the silver disc.

They had the same structure. Although it was impossible to compare their exact dimensions from an image, their shapes clearly belonged to the same design.

"So this is where you were meant to be used."

Victor gently rotated the silver disc.

The things Elena had left behind inside that storage ring weren’t merely a random collection of research scraps.

The disc, the letter, and her private notes inside the ring found yesterday have been clues Elena had deliberately left behind for the day someone eventually investigated the old research again.

Victor did not attempt to forcibly inject mana into it.

If this thing was connected to a secret experiment from four years ago, activating it carelessly might not be a particularly good idea.

After taking an image of it, Victor sent it directly to Albert.

[Look at this.]

Less than thirty seconds later, the communication lit up again.

[Where did you get this?]

[Elena’s old storage ring.]

This time, the silence on the other end lasted much longer.

[The shape is almost identical.There’s a good chance this was the research authorization disc originally used for that door.]

Victor narrowed his eyes.

[Is the door open now?]

[The first layer has already been opened by someone.]

[There’s another sealed door inside. Forcing it open could destroy the stored data.]

[Keep the disc safe. I’m coming out first.]

Victor had no objection to that. If this really was something Elena had deliberately left behind, then it was at least more trustworthy than having some random magical engineer forcibly crack open the old laboratory.

Of course, that was assuming they first figured out what exactly had happened there recently.

...

Third Training Ground.

"So someone was already observing me when I was thirteen?"

Leah sat opposite Victor, holding the freshly printed research record in her hands. Her expression was calmer than expected, but when her eyes once again fell on the final line stating that Elena must not be informed, her fingers unconsciously tightened slightly.

Cecilia sat on the other side.

She had just finished a second search through the royal archives, and several old reports from four years ago were already stacked on the table. However, aside from proving that a fairly large Astral research project had once existed inside the Third Ecological Zone, none of them provided much information that could directly identify the organization behind it.

"Your mother might not have died in an ordinary research accident."

Victor looked at Leah.

"At the very least, it now appears that someone had already begun studying you behind her back while she was still alive."

Leah lowered her head and looked at the paper again.

After a moment, she said, "I just remembered something. Four years ago, there was a period when Mother suddenly stopped allowing me to visit her laboratory."

She slowly searched through her memories.

"At the time, I thought I had been interfering with her work. Before that, she would occasionally take me to the academy, and sometimes she even let me stay in her office and read. But then, suddenly, I wasn’t allowed anymore."

"How long did that last?"

"A few months."

"Did she tell you why?"

"No."

The girl shook her head.

"But once, she came home very late, and her right hand was injured. I asked whether an experiment had failed, but she didn’t answer. Instead, she suddenly made me promise her that no matter who told me they could help me awaken my profession in the future, I couldn’t trust them without first understanding the price."

Victor’s gaze flickered slightly. Elena had probably already noticed something by then.

"Then why did you still attempt awakening seven times afterward?"

"Because every attempt followed the research notes Mother left behind."

Leah raised her head.

"And an academy instructor checked everything each time. Although I kept failing, no one ever asked me to do anything extra."

Elena clearly had not wanted her daughter to abandon the Astral Spirit Envoy profession entirely.

She had simply been worried that someone might use the promise of helping Leah awaken as an excuse to do something else to her.

Victor looked at the research record again.

If that speculation was correct, then Elena’s behavior before her death was beginning to make much more sense.

Perhaps she had not merely left behind an incomplete formation because a research experiment had failed. After discovering that something had gone wrong with the project, she might have tried to hide its truly critical components from the others involved.

Otherwise, there was no explanation for why the Star Marrow Fragments capable of helping Leah awaken had been present at her awakening ritual alongside the incomplete formation rather than being properly registered among the project’s assets.

"Victor."

Leah suddenly called him.

"Hmm?"

"If my mother already knew these people existed, why didn’t she simply leave the academy?"

...

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