Leaving the Academy

After Isabelle's hard-earned mana was absorbed and formed—No, Isabelle's mana did not form the Heaven-Swallowing Space inside Vaan's mind.

The Heaven-Swallowing Space had always existed.

What Isabelle's mana simply did was leave a traceable trail after getting absorbed by the Heaven-Swallowing, allowing Vaan to become enlightened of its existence.

But along with his awareness of the subspace, Vaan also instinctively gained the ability to control and monitor it.

"An infinite subspace in the mind, huh?" Vaan muttered softly before he suddenly noticed, "No, the subspace is definitely big, but not infinite—at least not yet."

Vaan observed the trace of mana enter the Heaven-Swallowing Space and disappear, integrating with the subspace.

The Heaven-Swallowing Space grew slightly bigger as a result.

"About the size of the small town, huh? It seems like I won't need to worry about my luggage," Vaan smiled with amusement before suddenly frowning, "However…"

With such a surprisingly big subspace, no problem relating to limited storage space will arise. However, the bigger problem was Heaven-Swallowing Space's endless greed for mana.

If the Heaven-Swallowing Space robs all the mana, there wouldn't be any mana left for his own body.

In other words, he would be unable to awaken Aura and embark on the path of the Aura Master, becoming an existence capable of fighting on par with the witches.

No, wait!

His body had become stronger, on par with Rank 1 Aura Warriors!

Although Vaan had yet to fully comprehend how this came to be, as long as he could figure it out, there was a way for him to continue growing stronger—!

"Ugh, this isn't the time to be thinking about this. I need to leave the Blackmoon Academy of Witchcraft quickly before anyone finds out about Isabelle's death and put the place in lockdown."

Vaan had already 'died' in the eyes of the academy's witches.

If he was spotted walking around alive and well, he would easily become a suspect for the murder of the City Lord's daughter—but that was as far as it would go.

The witches in the academy will not believe the weakest Witch Offspring in history would be so capable of killing a witch, even if it's just an Apprentice Witch.

'Being suspected is not the problem. The problem is if Isabelle's parents know I am alive, they will kill me, regardless of whether I am the culprit or not…' Vaan silently mused while making his escape from the infirmary.

He will need a new identity and a new face—or at the very least, stay away from people who were aware of his face.

While making his grand escape on the rooftop of the academy buildings, Vaan suddenly thought of something before making his way back to the wasteyard.

Since he had the Heaven-Swallowing Space, how could he leave such a big treasure trove of materials, scheduled for disposal, laying around?

After returning to the wasteyard, the place was devoid of people as Vaan expected. Even so, he did not drop his vigilance while inspecting the place.

'All of these used and leftover materials are going to be disposed of anyway, so I'll do the academy a favor and remove all of it for them.'

With that thought in mind, Vaan willed his intention before the space in front of his forehead began to distort.

Swish~!

The Heaven-Swallowing Space opened, and a strong suction force immediately pulled all the items inside.

Within several breaths, the wasteyard was cleaned.

It was the cleanest it had ever been—so much so that Vaan suspects the witches-in-training would even doubt they came to the wrong place to dump their disposable goods at the end of tomorrow's lessons.

'So this is the Heaven-Swallowing Space? How convenient,' Vaan thought as he stood in the center of the empty wasteyard.

A few breaths later, Vaan slipped into the darkness and disappeared.

…

Under the veil of the unsuspecting night sky, the security within the grounds of Blackmoon Academy of Witchcraft was extremely lax due to the students and instructors retiring to their sleeping quarters.

Vaan made his way outside the academy walls without problem before looking back on the place with complex emotions.

"I wasn't expecting to leave the academy when I woke up today, but I suppose life is always full of surprises…" Vaan shook his head with a light smile and muttered, "Either way, I've already learned everything I came to learn, even if it wasn't through official lessons."

"Alright. Since there is nothing keeping me here, it's time to leave. A whole world awaits me beyond the city walls."

With that said, Vaan left without looking back on the academy for a second time and slipped into the nearest dark alley to avoid the watchful eyes of the night city.

The next destination was already decided.

Within the Kingdom of the Black Rose, one of the seven witch kingdoms that belong to the Witch Union, Blackmoon Academy of Blackmoon City was only considered a low-tier academy of magic.

"If I want to deepen my knowledge on magic and other knowledge not accessible in a low-tier academy of magic, I should naturally head to a higher-tier magic academy to deepen my studies and research. The Royal Capital of Black Rose has one such academy of magic."

"But if I want to get there, it won't be possible with the current preparation I made in a hurry. I need more preparations if I want to survive the cruel world full of demon beasts outside the city walls and make it to the capital."

Due to the danger of the land, even Rank 1 Aura Warriors do not dare to travel alone, let alone ordinary people.

Vaan wasn't so arrogant that he would believe he could make it to the capital—just because he became a bit stronger and gained a system.

Adequate preparations and help are needed.

"I shall visit 'that place' and pay respects to my teacher and savior, the one who taught me how to survive in this city. Given our relationship, the person should provide me a temporary room to make my preparation."

Although the person was not entirely reliable, there's time before news of the City Lord's daughter spreads in the city.

He should be gone by then.