[Training, it's always training... no matter how many times I try, I 't make it through the sele...]

  [Why do you look at me with those hopeful eyes, Father...]

  [It's that time again, in the July of the 824th year of the Holy dar, the third knight sele...]

  [Against Tiral, defeated iy-seven seds, once again... Do you hate me, Ivina? I uand your feelings, a failure like me stealing your opportunity...]

  [If only things could be reversed, why not?]

  [Perhaps, I should at all...]

  Time flowed slowly, and the fire in the cave flickered until the st bit of dry wood was ed.

  The sudden darkness interrupted Lynn's thoughts, and with a wave of his hand, the piled twigs and fallen leaves levitated aled into the firewood, whiow sparkled with starry fmes.

  In the moment, the crimson fmes leaped again, and Lynn flipped through the diary in his hand.

  No, to describe it as a diary might not be quite accurate.

  This was the record of an ordinary noble youth, ohout exceptional talents, who doted his hidden fears, self-doubt, rese, and pain on these pages.

  "Lotte Pedrol!" Lynn pronouhe youth's name.

  There was no doubt that this was a cssic case of too much expectation driving someoo madness.

  But what he saw was even more plex than that.

  Lotte's father was a baron in the Secas Empire, the kind of nobility that had long since fallen from grace, with only a title to their hey were the sort who had to rely on their dwindling savings to maintain a sembnce of ature.

  Just like every set of parents who hoped their child would rise to greatness, Baron Pedrol had pced all his hopes for family revival on his son's shoulders.

  Noble offspring like them, if they could pass the knight assessment before the age of twenty and remain steadfast in their faith, were eligible to bee priests or clerics, which was undoubtedly the best way to ge the fate of their family.

  For this reason, Lotte had been subjected torous training from a young age, with the goal of being a member of the clergy through the knight's assessment.

  The Pedrol baron eve a fortuo hire formal knights to hote's bat skills.

  However, Lotte's talents were ckluster, and no amount of hard work could ge that.

  Iire Nordnd region, there were only three slots for priests and clerics each year. Many aspired for those positions, and among them were individuals who were more dedicated, more talehan Lotte, and even more iial.

  Thus, from the age of sixteen, all he received were repeated disappois. Faced with the disparity between his family's expectations and the harsh reality, Lotte gradually became introverted, almost silent, to the extreme.

  His younger sister, Ivina, was the opposite, possessi talent. She had mastered swordsmanship not weaker than Lotte's through tinuous observation and sparring with formal knights.

  However, for Baron Pedrol, Ivina's dispyed talent was merely a small surprise.

  In the Secas Empire, there were prets of noble women, but those were usually exceptional cases where male heirs were absent. Otherwise, daughters were typically tools used for political marriages to enhance family influence.

  Iing signifit resources in their upbringing was not a wise decision.

  After all, the preservation of the noble bloodline was fual. Seleg a female as the heir meant the risk of losing everything the family had accumuted.

  Lotte, uo bear the pressure and expectations, robably trying to force Baron Pedrol to make a decision with his owh.

  In Lynn's view, Lotte's choice was undoubtedly a foolish move.

  He had some uanding of these noble personalities. From the description of Baron Pedrol's character in the diary, it was clear that upon hearing of Lotte's death, he would only be ed about whether he could still produother son or adopt a promising heir from a colteral branch.

  Ivina would forever be the st resort.

  As for individuals like the previous host, Carl, who were bastards, they were in an even more pitiful situation. Uhe family line was about to end pletely, they wouldn't get anything.

  The diary, spanning over a hundred pages, was quickly turo the st page. Lynn was somewhat touched by the experiences of this noble youth, but what truly caught his attention was a term mentioned in the diary.

  "Useless ones?" Lynn muttered to himself. He had thought he would no longer hear that term in this new world.

  After all, even a farmer tilling the fields here had some value in their exploitation.

  Ly out a slow breath, reanizing his scattered thoughts and then turo look at Lotte's lifeless body. Since he had accepted the young man's belongings, he should take the time to give him a proper burial.

  "071, how muergy reserve do we have now?" Lynn inquired in his mind.

  [Remaining energy: 12.3%. Energy tration is tinuously decreasiimated increase in energy reserve: 1% every ten hours.]

  As expected... Lynn checked the faintly lit sky and wasn't surprised by this. Just as he had guessed, the Moon's phases affected the activity of magic. After a night of rest, his stamina and magical energy were almost back to their peak.

  From Lotte's diary, Lynn also gained a crucial piece of information - he was in the harbor town of Nordnd, which meant that the underground river in the castle directly flowed into the Misty Sea.

  Unfortunately, he had sent Jonny and Dove away ahead of time to deal with Archbishop Anluke, so he couldn't be sure where the two witches had drifted to. If they were profit swimmers, they could nd anywhere, unlike him, who was left drifting along with the current, slowly learning to swim.

  In the absence of unication, finding two living persons iire Nordnd region wouldn't be easy.

  Avoiding the Church's pursuit was also a signifit problem.

  Lynn pondered for a long time, and a name suddenly popped into his mind - Lame Loude! Regardless of where Jonny and Dove were headed, if they were pnning to make their way to the nd of the wizards, they would iably arrive in the harbor town. Lynn o find a way to tact Lame Loude.

  So, all he o do now was to find this person! Lynn stood up and looked at the t city walls in the distahe only problem left was how to safely ehe harbor town.

  "071, retrieve information about disguise and transformation teiques, preferably those that be doh simple materials!"

  Lynn g Lotte, whose physique and hair color were remarkably simir to his own. Perhaps he could temporarily borrow the young man's identity to deceive the guards of the harbor town.

  If he remembered correctly, besides basic disguise teiques, the "Foundations of Universal Magi the book also had a spell that could hahis situation.

  Weebkun