Chapter Ninety-One: Classmate, Please Wait

Unlike Oliver, who paid the position of First Prince no mind at all, Blair was determined to claim it. Once he became the queen’s consort, he would gain access to an enormous trove of cultivation resources, and his future progress in sorcery would become far smoother.

More than that, his children would stand a great chance of inheriting the throne and becoming rulers of the country. And once he became the queen’s husband, his influence within the Clark family would rise dramatically, at the very least sparing him from ever again having to read that woman’s expression.

As a scion of a great house, Blair had of course met the current queen and knew her to be a rare beauty. That only made him all the more eager to be chosen.

For that reason, he had arranged for men to keep watch within the discipline office, since by his reckoning the queen would certainly choose a husband with spiritual talent, and most such people studied sorcery at Grimm Academy. If he had been a member of the council, he would certainly have begun by examining the academy’s disciplinary records.

Blair’s judgment proved correct, allowing him to discover several rivals in advance. He then began laying plans to weaken them one by one. He had not expected to run into Andy Charles this time. Even without the matter of the queen, Blair would never have let him go simply because he was Stein’s apprentice.

Blair was pondering what trick he might use to deal with Andy when he failed to notice that the brown-haired girl in his arms had stiffened ever so slightly upon hearing Andy Charles’s name.

After Alan and Blair spent a night in licentious indulgence, the brown-haired girl, enduring her body’s discomfort, put away the magic stones she had obtained the night before, then quickly dressed.

She slipped out of the House of Fragrant Beauties in silence, wound through the alleys of the royal capital, and entered an inconspicuous private residence.

“Who goes there!” came a sharp cry from inside.

“Second-rank worker bee Lilyth reporting for duty!” the brown-haired girl answered. She was quickly verified and admitted inside.

“I’m here to deliver my report! I’ve found news of Andy Charles,” Lilyth said impatiently as soon as she entered.

Not long after, Andy’s information was delivered into the hands of Frula, the queen bee. After receiving the news, Frula sighed. “So he has entered the outer court. Is this Stein’s tempering of you, the same way I temper my niece, Cora? If so, I won’t directly thrust you into the inner court and stunt your growth.”

Then she murmured to herself, “But the necessary care should still be given.” She took out a blank card, transferred some of the academy contribution points from her identity card onto it, and then sent someone to summon her niece, Cora, to see her.

Half an hour later, Cora left Frula’s residence in a daze. Fury and jealousy blazed wildly in her eyes. Once she had put enough distance between herself and Frula’s villa, Cora finally stopped restraining herself and hurled the contribution card in her hand to the ground.

Then she roared, “How damn generous! Three thousand contribution points! That’s enough to exchange for a high-grade meditation method, isn’t it? I begged you for a high-grade meditation method and you refused, yet now you hand it over so casually to an unrelated outsider!”

“I’ve worked myself to the bone for you for so long. Fine if you give it to your own son, but now you’re even giving it to this Andy Charles who crawled out of nowhere. When it comes to me, there’s nothing left. I’m still stuck using this trash meditation method, and I’m your own niece!”

Venting her anger did nothing to improve Cora’s mood. On the contrary, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. In the end, she forced herself down and calmed her breathing. Then she ground her teeth and muttered, “Fine! You value him, do you? Since you value him so much, I’ll destroy him all the more!”

“I’d like to see whether this Andy really has three heads and six arms.” Cora bent to pick up the card. After wiping the dirt from it, she put it away.

She tugged lightly at her sleeve, and a small section of her arm was exposed. On her fair, tender skin was a blue star-shaped birthmark, vivid and startling to behold.

Cora called this birthmark her Star of Potential. When she awakened her soul talent upon becoming an apprentice sorcerer, this mark appeared upon her body.

Cora discovered that the color of the birthmark could change, and that its changes were related to the people she came into contact with. After much study, she uncovered its use.

If, after contact with someone, the birthmark turned gray, that person most likely had no spiritual talent and no possibility of cultivating as a knight. At best, they could only live as an ordinary person. Cora classified this as potential of the lowest rank.

If, after contact with someone, the birthmark turned white, that person more or less possessed aptitude for cultivation, or came from a noble house. Even so, their talent was usually not high, and their future achievements would be limited. Cora classified this as low potential.

If someone made the birthmark turn green, that person had the possibility of becoming an elite sorcerer. Cora called this moderate potential.

If it turned blue, then the person would be outstanding even among elite sorcerers, either a genius with first-rank spiritual talent, or someone harboring hidden strength and an unseen trump card. Cora called this high potential.

If the birthmark showed purple, then that person was either a powerful figure who commanded a region, or someone with astonishing secrets, or a talent beyond measure. Cora called this extraordinary potential.

Cora discovered that her birthmark could automatically assign a potential rating to anyone she came into contact with. Of course, this potential did not refer solely to cultivation talent. Background, fortunate encounters, resources and treasures under one’s command, soul talent, secondary profession, status, and more would all affect the rating.

Moreover, a person’s potential could change continuously. For example, if someone possessed an astonishing treasure, their potential rating would be very high; but once that treasure was lost, the rating would fall accordingly.

Take the period not long ago, when Hilly Clark’s potential rating changed. It had originally been blue, high potential, but had suddenly shifted to purple, extraordinary potential. That told Cora that Professor Hilly must have had some fortunate encounter or obtained something valuable.

At first, when her aunt hinted that she should seduce Professor Hilly to test his reaction, Cora had been extremely unwilling. But after discovering that Professor Hilly’s potential had surged, she took the initiative to flirt with him, hoping to pry some hint of information from him. Unfortunately, Professor Hilly understood nothing of charm, and Cora’s plan came to nothing.

That was also the only time, aside from Little Udy, that Cora had encountered an existence of extraordinary potential. As for whether the birthmark could display colors beyond purple, she did not know. Purple was the highest she had ever seen.

The blue just now had been her aunt Frula’s potential display, and Cora had tested her aunt repeatedly many times. Based on her understanding of Frula, the rating should never have been this high, which led Cora to realize that her aunt must still be concealing some unknown trump card or power. This made Cora deeply wary of her.

Thus, although she raged inwardly at her aunt’s favoritism, she never dared vent that anger upon Little Udy, because he was her aunt’s one true taboo. More than that, Little Udy also possessed astonishing talent.

Cora had also tried to gauge her own potential, and the result was a tragedy. She had only plain, unremarkable low potential. But Cora believed that if she obtained a higher-grade meditation method, her potential would surely be elevated one level and reach moderate potential.

Just as Cora was thinking about how to improve her own rating, the birthmark on her arm flickered faintly and suddenly turned purple.

Cora froze, then abruptly lifted her head to look at the tall, broad-shouldered figure that had just passed by beside her. Seeing that the figure was already walking away, Cora grew anxious and could not help calling out.

“Excuse me, classmate, please wait!”