Complications

Thankfully though, after tinkering and experimenting for around a month, Beatrice was able to create a rather temporary solution for this issue.

Sadly though, Beatrice created this solution around seven years ago, and even now, she wasn't able to find a better one, which meant that she had to continue expanding this solution of hers more and more, which brought its own set of problems.

Beatrice's solution itself wasn't very complicated, as she simply used mages as a power source.

Even though it took a bit of time to find enough humans with elemental affinities, after she did, Beatrice was quickly able to 'modify' their minds to be more in line with her needs, whilst still allowing them to continually refine mana before sending it into the system.

Sadly though, Beatrice was unable to figure out a better method, which made this human farm of hers have to increase in size, which created some other issues, including the growth of food for both this farm, as well as the other human 'farm' that Beatrice was in the process of creating on the bottom floor of her home.

...

As Beatrice walked looked at the twenty mages, who were mediating with tubes stuck onto parts of their bodies, with small ants moving on all of their bodies, she couldn't help but turn to a small Beatrice, who was currently sitting on a desk working on something.

'Is everything going alright, do any of them need replacing just yet?' asked Beatrice as she approached Beatrice, causing Beatrice to suddenly shake her head.

'Their lifespan has increased quite a bit ever since we began having the ants look after them, none of them are currently dying just yet, so much so that if I had more space, I could increase the number of mages,' said Beatrice as she took her attention off the thing she was working on and onto her larger self, who had appeared nearby.

Hearing this, Beatrice faintly nodded before suddenly turning her attention to the wall of the room, which a large ant suddenly emerged from, causing her to smile.

As she looked at the large number of ants who were tunneling through the wall of the room, the small Beatrice couldn't help but faintly frown.

'Did you command them to do this just as I said that?' asked small Beatrice as she looked at large Beatrice, causing the latter to simply nod.

Small Beatrice then continued staring at her larger self, who looked completely serious, before touching her forehead and letting out a faint sigh.

'Fine, I'll look into expanding our mana production...' mumbled small Beatrice as a vein appeared on her forehead.

Hearing this, Beatrice nodded before walking away without saying any words, leaving small Beatrice who had just talked herself into getting more work rather speechless.

As Beatrice did not share her memories with most of her clones, this small Beatrice was of course unaware of the expansion that was taking place, and was currently cursing herself for getting more work.

...

At the same time, in another timeline,

Looking at the figure that was walking towards him with a calm expression on her face, Leylin, who had just opened his eyes, couldn't help but suddenly raise his guard.

The fact that someone would be able to arrive in front of him didn't surprise Leylin, as he wasn't currently in any sort of secured place, rather, the identity of the person in front of him made him feel rather weird.

"Weren't you supposed to be dead?" asked Leylin as he stared at the figure in front of him, causing it to open its mouth.

But the moment the figure did, three different Dark Arrows suddenly passed through its body, two through its chest and one through it's head.

"That wasn't very nice in the slightest Leylin, whilst we didn't have the best relationship back then, we were still acquaintances, is this how you greet me?" asked 'Beatrice' as her body reformed, causing the three Dark Arrows to pass through it once again as Leylin continued attacking.

Hearing the words of his junior apprentice sister, who was the apprentice of the same master as he was, Leylin remained silent, thinking about whether the being in front of him was trying to bait him into speaking, so she could apply some sort of curse onto him.

"Don't worry, Leylin, I don't plan on applying any sort of curse onto you... right now," said 'Beatrice' before letting out a slight chuckle as she suddenly moved her head and dodged the Dark Arrow that was about to pierce her once again.

But even though 'Beatrice' was reasonably trying to convince him to stop his attack, Leylin seemed to not hear the words of his dear junior, and simply continued his onslaught.

"Brother Leylin, I'm feeling very distressed right now, having a fellow apprentice attack me feels very sad," said 'Beatrice' several of her own Dark Arrows appeared around her and launched themselves towards Leylin.

...

As Leylin opened his eyes and look at 'Beatrice', who no longer looked like a shadow, but now had a real body, as well as at the Dark Arrow that was just touching his neck, Leylin narrowed his eyes.

"An illusion, but since when?" mumbled Leylin, knowing that some time ago, he had been caught into the illusion of the being in front of him, who he really doubted was Beatrice.

"Since the very beginning," said 'Beatrice' with a happy smile on her face, causing Leylin to fall into even more doubt about when this 'beginning' happened.

Was it now, or was it eleven years ago, when he had first met this 'Beatrice'.

Had he already fallen into an illusion back then, when he had first met her?

Without any warning, Leylin suddenly opened his eyes and broke out of a final illusion, and stared at the young girl in front of him, who was just about to test her magic affinity.

After this young girl tested her affinity, Leylin unconsciously looked onto the list in his hands and spoke out the name of the next teenager.

"Beatrice Agnes," said Leylin, caused him to feel a chill in his heart.

But before Leylin could say anything else, he suddenly felt something on his forehead, causing his eyes to pop open once again.

...

As she looked at Leylin, who now had a perfect red hickey in the middle of his forehead, a faint smile appeared on 'Beatrice's' face, causing her to stretch out her finger towards his forehead, allowing him to finally be released from her web of illusions and open his eyes.

But as he opened his eyes and stared at the woman in front of him, a look of horror couldn't help but slowly appear on Leylin's face as he felt.

"It's all over," mumbled Leylin as he felt a deep sense of worship and adoration towards the woman in front of him burst out from his very soul and completely envelop him.

Even though Leylin desperately wanted to escape, his body did not listen to him, but no, that was not possible as Leylin was an Official Mage with a perfect control over his body.

This was not Leylin's body acting up, discovered Leylin as he continued staring at the woman, as well as her perfect skin, pitch black eyes and alluring curves, which now filled his mind.

A few moments later, this sense of horror then disappeared as Leylin slowly but surely embraced this so alluring feeling, which by now had captured his mind.

...

As she looked at the shadowy 'Beatrice', who was walking in front of her with a man following behind her, a faint smile appeared on Selena's face.

"Very impressive, I didn't expect you to be able to take control of an Official Mage, your strength has grown quite fast ever since you have become an Official Mage," said Selena, making Beatrice shake her head.

"If not for the illusions that teacher planted onto him, I wouldn't have had nearly enough time to cast such a complicated spell on him, nor could I have destroyed his mental defenses as thoroughly as teacher did, I still have a long way to go If I want to do this on my own," said 'Beatrice', causing Selena to smile.