"So your current idea is to never leave Glacial Arcana Academy at all?"

  The way Ryan looked at Sally had completely changed. She was clearly an innocent fool who had never seen the world.

  "Otherwise?" Sally sniffed, her eyes filled with fear.

  "I have heard that the outside world is extremely dangerous. The senior sisters in the academy often talk about their experiences killing dark mages and hunting magical beasts."

  "When they tell me these things, I can only force myself to maintain the original body's aloof Divine Maiden demeanor, quietly smiling and nodding in response, not daring to reveal even the slightest flaw."

  "Do you know how hard that is? I am really exhausted. I really want to…"

  "Die?" Ryan raised his head and frowned, calmly voicing the word he expected.

  "I do not want to die!" Sally suddenly raised her voice, her eyes reddening again."I really want to eat the food from Earth. I want to eat and gnaw on fried chicken."

  As she spoke, her emotions inexplicably collapsed once more. She burst into tears, even snot running down, completely losing all Divine Maiden dignity.

  "Can you stop crying already?" Ryan rubbed his forehead helplessly, left with nothing but speechless frustration.

  He had thought he could recruit a clear headed ally. Instead, it turned out to be a fool who only knew how to cry. It was truly painful to watch.

  Had the grand elders of Glacial Arcana Academy really not noticed anything wrong with her?

  Ryan was full of doubts. Were those three elders really that senile?

  What he did not know was that Sally's grievance and fear were entirely caused by the academy elders.

  Over the years, whether it was the grand elder, her mentor, or the other elders, they had repeatedly examined her soul.

  The most excessive incident was when Maelira directly imprisoned her and used mental regression magic to search her soul.

  Yet the memories retrieved were nothing but blank emptiness. Only then did the elders finally relax.

  It seemed that some unknown cause had damaged or crippled her soul, which was why she had become completely different from before.

  That soul search alone left Sally foolish and vacant for dozens of days.

  The pain of having her mind forcibly torn apart, her soul feeling as if it were about to be crushed, went without saying.

  She dared say that sensation was absolutely no weaker than electric shock therapy, perhaps even hundreds of times stronger.

  After waking up from those dozens of days of stupor, Sally was terrified out of her wits. From then on, she became even more cautious, afraid that one small mistake would expose a flaw and lead the elders to judge her as corrupted by dark magic and execute her on the spot.

  "Do you know what the outside world is like?" Sally asked. Although she was filled with fear and dared not take a single step outside the academy, deep down she still yearned for the world beyond. After so many years inside the academy, she had long grown tired of it.

  "What else could it be like? Strength reigns supreme." Ryan spread his hands, his tone indifferent.

  "As long as you are strong enough, you can kill whoever you want and take whatever you want. No one can stop you."

  "Ah?" Sally cried out in shock, her face full of disbelief.

  Although she had vaguely known the cruelty of the magic world, hearing Ryan describe it so bluntly with her own ears was still hard to accept.

  "I'm telling you, a woman as striking as you, if you venture outside and happen to make a mistake or fail to defeat an enemy," Ryan's tone carried a hint of mockery, but suddenly turned cold,

  "then there are only two possible outcomes awaiting you. I do not need to say more, you should be able to figure out for yourself what fate would befall you."

  He cast Sally a glance full of ambiguous meaning, and the depth in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine, as if she could already sense the malice of the outside world.

  "So have you awakened any special magical talent, or received any magical inheritance?" Ryan finally asked the question he had been holding back.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  This was a crucial piece of information that Sally had never mentioned. In the magic world, such unique abilities were the foundation for survival and status.

  "No!" Sally shook her head quickly, her tone urgent.

  "Since I transmigrated here, apart from inheriting the original owner's identity, I have no special abilities at all. Even the original owner's memories are incomplete. I have had to figure everything out on my own."

  Ryan nodded thoughtfully at her words.

  It seemed she was yet another unlucky transmigrator without divine favor, though he could not completely rule out the possibility that she was deliberately hiding something.

  "If you are hiding it from me, I might not be able to do anything to you right now, but it will definitely do you no good."

  "So I hope you think carefully about whether you want to tell the truth."

  If Sally had been pretending to be innocent all along, her cunning would be profound. She would be a huge threat to him, and he would have to guard against her as soon as possible.

  "Really, nothing! Since I transmigrated into this world, I have not awakened any special talent, nor received any inheritance!" Sally's eyes reddened from urgency.

  This scene exceeded Ryan's expectations, and seeing her like this eased some of his doubts.

  Even after years of transmigrating, Sally had never killed anyone, never stepped outside the academy, and her experiences were limited entirely to this one place.

  What kind of growth could such a person have? The moment she met him, a fellow transmigrator, she had unguardedly poured out all her secrets. Her innocence was almost laughable.

  A person with this mindset, if encountering ruthless, unscrupulous transmigrators outside, would likely be completely manipulated, willingly giving up everything.

  She might even hand over all her magical resources with both hands and foolishly help count the magic crystals in the end.

  However, Sally had survived safely until now largely thanks to the protective umbrella of Glacial Arcana Academy.

  Ryan had once seen the worst case of a talentless female transmigrator. Just after leaving the beginner village, she was captured by a dark mage and sold to a special area of the underground slave market.

  The woman could not die even if she wanted to, suffering torment every day, her life worse than death.

  It was only when Ryan passed by that he casually rescued her, but by then she was already mentally broken, her mind completely shattered, never to recover her former self.

  Back then, that female transmigrator, at her pleading, had been granted Ryan's final strike of all his accumulated magical power, allowing her to finally be freed.

  Ryan's thoughts returned, and after a moment of silence, he continued asking Sally,"Have you ever revealed your identity as a transmigrator to anyone?"

  "No!" Sally shook her head quickly, her tone urgent."I saw that even when the elders used regression magic to probe my soul, they found nothing abnormal. So I completely hid this secret, never mentioning a word."

  She paused, a hint of pride in her voice as she added,"I've read plenty of transmigration novels before I came here. I do have some caution, but I'm not that foolish."

  As she spoke, she suddenly realized that although she had initially wanted to ask Ryan about the outside world, the conversation had turned completely around. He was now asking all the questions, taking the lead.

  "You really are clever." Ryan scratched the corner of his mouth. The way he looked at Sally was like he was watching a toddler, yet he gave her a thumbs up, his tone full of"sincere" praise.

  Unexpectedly, Sally was actually flattered by these few words, her face showing a shy sense of pride, completely unaware of the perfunctory tone behind Ryan's words.

  "Good, you haven't revealed it." Ryan's smile vanished, his tone turning icy.

  "You better never tell anyone I'm a transmigrator. Otherwise, I can guarantee that Evelyn and the three grand elders won't do anything to me, but you will suffer a fate worse than death."

  After saying this, he quietly observed Sally's reaction.

  In truth, most of this was meant to intimidate her. He was not even sure what the elders would do if they learned the truth, but projecting authority like this could at least keep this innocent woman in check.

  "I absolutely will not tell!" Sally waved her hands frantically, inwardly thinking: this man may be handsome, but he's ruthless. He threatens people at the drop of a hat and is not approachable at all.

  After a brief silence, Ryan picked up a wine glass from the table and took a sip of the fruit wine inside, then posed the key question again."How much advanced magic do you currently know? Are your resource reserves sufficient?"

  "I know quite a few spells! As for resources, they are fairly sufficient. I have been the Divine Maiden in the academy for many years, I haven't wasted my time!" Sally straightened her chest, her tone full of confidence.

  "So in other words, since transmigrating, your intelligence hasn't grown much, but your resources haven't fallen behind, right?"

  With a single sentence, Ryan cut off the little confidence Sally had just mustered. The slight sense of grievance on her face froze instantly.

  She stared at Ryan, frustrated: can this man not just have a normal conversation?

  "As long as your resources are sufficient, that's enough." Ryan ignored her expression and went straight to the point.

  "I'm a little short on resources recently. If you invest some in me now, when I rise to Grand Magus in the future, I will ensure you benefit and can walk across the magic continent without worry."

  This was the real intention behind all his questioning. The earlier probing had been nothing more than setup.

  "Didn't you already give me a meeting gift?" Sally was dumbfounded. She had just handed over her gift, and now he was asking for resources.

  "That was a meeting gift. It represented your goodwill as a senior," Ryan said matter-of-factly."Now this is an investment. You're placing a bet on a future powerhouse. Can you really compare the two?"

  "Why are you like this!" Sally almost jumped up in anger, raising her hand to slap Ryan, but then thought better of it.

  He was the only person of the same kind she had in this world, so she held back her anger.

  "I have Evelyn, my Mentor, watching my back. By giving me your protection fee, it's equivalent to me covering for you. In this way, you are indirectly under Evelyn's protection, understand?"

  Ryan explained patiently, trying to persuade her with this logic.

  Hearing this, Sally furrowed her brow thoughtfully, clearly considering the feasibility of his proposal.

  "Stop thinking. I'm just asking, will you invest or not? If not, I won't force you. Just pretend I never said anything."

  Ryan said no more, leaving the choice entirely to Sally. After all, forcing someone rarely works, and pushing too hard often backfires.