25: Erase Her Memory?

'What? Erase her memory? I'm not a witch!' Evelyn exclaimed in her head. She was shocked to hear the voice again, and it was the same female voice she had heard before blacking out.

'Am I going insane?... Who are you? How can you talk in my head?'

She had concluded that the healer didn't hear the voice because she was still calm and excited, still moping at her amulet.

'I will tell you more about me and who you truly are later. But now we have to erase her memory before someone else walks in here. And the longer the memory is registered in her mind, the greater amount of spiritual energy it will require to erase it.'

'We? Okay, how do we do that? I am a low-level mage and not a witch. I can't even control my elements yet.'

'I will channel my energy into the amulet now. Just repeat the incantations.'

Evelyn suddenly felt a surge of energy entering her body from the amulet. But what surprised her was that the energy didn't flow into her core first, but instead circulated directly around her body. She decided not to ask the mysterious voice any more questions and to focus on the task, so that she wouldn't disappoint whoever that woman in her dream was in protecting the amulet.

The voice instructed her to gaze directly into the healer's eyes and recite the incantations while placing her hand on the other's head.

Evelyn did as she was told. If anyone were to see her, they would think she was a sorceress using her magic on the dazed healer. Evelyn had her right hand on her head, and her lips were moving up and down.

'It failed. Can't you focus on what you are doing? I will now transfer more energy. Repeat the process with full concentration.'

When she heard what the voice said, she wasn't surprised. In her mind, she was simply doing what the voice asked of her in order to fulfill all righteousness. Evelyn didn't believe that it would work because her mother had told her that only witches can manipulate people's minds and even mess with people's memories. But she knew full well that she was just a low-ranked human mage student.

"Can I take a look at your amulet?" The healer asked her, looking into her eyes.

'Do it now! I don't have time'

Evelyn heard the voice persuading her to undergo the so-called memory-erasing procedure. Since she wanted to learn more about how that being could communicate with her in her mind, she complied.

This time, with full concentration, she looked into the healer's eyes as both of their irises glowed a purplish blue. She recited the incantations while placing her hands on top of the woman's head, feeling her spiritual energy flowing into the healer.

When her eyes turned black, she instantly removed her hands. 'Is it successful?'

'...'

'Hey, can you hear me?' she asked in her mind, but still, there was no response.

"How do you feel now? I have discovered the cause of the soreness in your chest and abdomen, and I have successfully treated it," Evelyn was snapped out of her mind-talking by the healer's voice. She didn't need anyone to tell her that it worked. She simply nodded.

"I will go check on other students who need my help now. I will find someone to inform your brother that you are awake," the healer said as she turned and left, leaving Evelyn shouting in her mind, calling out to the voice. But she could no longer hear anything.

She had so many questions to ask that voice, but it just vanished. But she was sure of one thing: the voice belonged to a witch who was using telepathy to communicate with her.

But she wondered why a witch knew about her amulet, why a witch would call her a princess, how the witch knew that the healer had seen the amulet, how the witch transferred energy to her, and finally, what she meant by "breaking the curse."

—— — ——

Evelyn, after countless attempts to communicate with the voice, decided to give up. She looked towards the healing pool and saw her academy skyrim uniform carefully hung on a branch of a large flower near the pool.

She retrieved her clothes and changed into her uniform while being covered by the curtains that separated her bed from the others.

When she finished dressing up, she sat on top of her bed and tried to absorb mana, especially since there were herbs around the nearby healing pool, in addition to the powerful crystal hovering above it.

As she entered her meditative state, she felt mana rushing into her core. And she could feel it; her mana core seemed to have increased in size a bit.

She kept absorbing the pure mana present in the Infirmary as her mind wondered why there was a drastic change in her body, mana core, and even how she could now easily rekindle her flame. It seemed that her mana control had also improved.

But as always, her mana core reached its bottleneck. However, this time it took nearly twice as long as usual. She began circulating the mana around her body, refining it into spiritual energy. When she finished, she opened her eyes and summoned her flames once more, using both hands.

But instead of a flicker, there was a flare of golden-red flame burning with a radiance similar to that of the sun. And this time she extinguished it herself.

"Even my flames seemed to have evolved. Wow, this fight is really profitable. I hope I will grow stronger soon. Wilson has entered the list of my sworn enemies. I can't wait for the payback day

"Let me attempt to summon that lightning once more. I can't believe I can wield two elements. After being discharged from here, I will meet Mr. Leonard for help, and maybe I can ask that healer to help me with some pills or potions too," she muttered, grinning widely. It was actually her first time being this happy.

Evelyn stretched her hands out once again, remembering what Mr. Leonard had told her about visualizing the elements she wished to summon when she wanted to switch between them. She imagined lightning crackling in her hands.

"Boom!"

A blood-red lightning sizzled through her arm and into her palms, brightly crackling all around. This time, she wasn't feeling electrocuted; it was her own element.

Evelyn remembered what Elvis did when he discovered his lightning. She walked up to the nearby window of the infirmary and unleashed a bolt from her hand. The bolt shot at a small plant, and instantly the plant's leaves turned brown and fell off.

"Truly powerful, just like Mr. Leonard said."

"Evelyn! You are awake!"

Turning around when she heard a familiar male voice, she was embraced by her beloved Elvis. She also wrapped her arms around him as she whispered into her ear, "Yes, I hope you have recovered."

Evelyn felt a hot tear drop on her shoulder as Elvis released the hug, scanning her body to check if she was fully healed. She was surprised. Elvis was shedding tears for her.

"You didn't wake up all night, I thought something had happened to you... I am fine," Elvis immediately realized the tears and quickly wiped them away, as if he had never shed a single drop.

Lifting her head, she saw Zoya and Cedric approaching them. Zoya also went to hug her too. "I also thought something serious had happened to you."

Evelyn's heart melted as she saw her brother and roommate caring so deeply for her. "I am fine now," she replied with a cracked voice. Zoya untangled the hug and scanned her body.

"You've changed. You are more beautiful now," Zoya said, and that was when her eyes landed on Evelyn's watch. "You had two breakthroughs? You are now a 3-star mage!" She exclaimed.

The two boys also glanced at her watch and couldn't believe their eyes. She transitioned from a 1-star to a 3-star in just that fight. Now, she is already at the same rank as Elvis.

If only they knew about her powerful amulet, they wouldn't be so surprised.

Evelyn herself was shocked when she saw the boldly displayed 3-star rating. She hadn't noticed it before. Now it explains why her core had enlarged and her mana control had improved. But she just shrugged it off. She was still far away from challenging Sushi, let alone Wilson.

They sat on the infirmary bed, the four students, catching up Evelyn and Elvis on what had happened when they found them unconscious.

Zoya mentioned Troy and Steve helping out during the fight, their punishment of being sent to the underground prison, and even how they were weakened by the mana-draining mechanism in the prison room. She recounted that they were carried out of the prison to the infirmary this morning, where they were each given a potion that helped them recover their deeted mana.

***

Just like every other thing in the universe, humans also have their own innate mana. Even though this mana is different from the one outside their body, they don't usually use it to perform magic in order to avoid depleting it. Once depleted, it can take days, even weeks, to replenish it. However, since the academy is using it as a form of punishment for students, they will provide them with free elixirs to replenish it.

The mana in the human body is so powerful and easily depleted. That is why mages usually only harness it as a last resort. Since it is different from the mana found outside the human body, mages need to absorb external mana and refine it into spiritual energy, which is similar to their internal mana, before they can harness it.

***

When Evelyn heard about Troy, she was surprised because she had only met him today. Although Zoya told her that he was the flirting type, she didn't believe it because he didn't seem that way in the fire elemental section yesterday. Then there was Steve too. She doesn't know why, but she always feels that Steve is a nice guy.

After discussing, the healer came back. Elvis immersed himself in the healing pool before being discharged with Evelyn from the infirmary, allowing them to attend their classes for the day.