Ryan curled up beneath the blanket, secretly sizing up Evelyn, whose hair was still slightly damp.

  Without her usual cold authority, she looked a bit disheveled now. Instead of diminishing her beauty, it made her fair skin stand out even more, like an ice rose soaked by rain, delicate and breathtaking.

  Realizing that he himself had caused her to look like this, Ryan lowered his head a little more, his eyes darting away as guilt filled his heart.

  As for why Evelyn showed no reaction when she saw him climb onto the bed, it was simply because this bed, which had originally belonged to her, had long since been taken over by Ryan.

  To this day, Ryan still could not understand why Evelyn refused to sleep on the bed no matter what. Every time, she insisted that he rest properly while she meditated on a chair beside him.

  Ryan fully activated his Chaosforge Arcana, the magic within him circulating rapidly and instantly dispelling the remaining moisture and chill from his body.

  He steadied himself and asked with a hint of unease,"Mentor, why did you suddenly appear in front of me? You really startled me."

  His body, still wrapped in the blanket, trembled slightly. Warm steam rose from him, dampening the corners of the blanket it touched.

  "I noticed you had not returned for quite some time and planned to go look for you. I did not expect you to fall asleep in a water barrel right outside the door."

  Evelyn frowned slightly, her gaze resting on Ryan huddled under the blanket, her tone tinged with helplessness.

  She glanced down at her own dress, now a patchwork of wet and dry, with water still dripping from the hem. A surge of irritation rose within her, and she nearly felt like striking the boy on the spot.

  Evelyn shot Ryan a glare, then finally turned and walked out of the room.

  After quite a while, she returned, now dressed in a fresh long gown. The soaked dress from before was nowhere to be seen.

  Evelyn had assumed that by the time she came back, Ryan would have already changed his clothes. Instead, he was still wrapped in the blanket, his head turning left and right as if searching for something.

  "Why are you not changing your clothes, and what are you looking around for?" Evelyn asked.

  Only then did Ryan realize that he was still wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. He had been so caught up replaying the awkward scene of pinning Evelyn down that he had completely forgotten about changing.

  He threw off the damp blanket and casually pulled out a set of clothes from his storage space, starting to get dressed right in front of Evelyn without a second thought.

  "Do you have no sense of shame at all?" Evelyn quickly turned her back to him."Every time you change clothes, you insist on doing it in front of me, with no restraint whatsoever!"

  "Mentor, who are we to each other?" Ryan said matter of factly."We are mentor and apprentice, like family. What is there to be embarrassed about?"

  Seeing that Evelyn had her back turned, he added another line.

  "Believe it or not, even if you changed clothes right in front of me now, I would not feel even the slightest emotional reaction."

  The word family echoed in Evelyn's mind, leaving her momentarily stunned.

  "Mentor, if you do not believe me, I can…"

  "Enough." Before Ryan could finish, Evelyn seemed to already know what he was about to say and cut him off without hesitation.

  Ryan immediately shut his mouth, obediently straightened his clothes, then carefully lay back down on the bed, barely daring to breathe.

  Evelyn stared coldly at Ryan on the bed for a moment. In the end, she said nothing, turned around, walked to the chair, and sat down. Closing her eyes, she began to circulate her magic and meditate.

  The atmosphere in the room fell completely silent. Ryan also composed himself, lying on the bed and preparing to activate Chaosforge Arcana to continue his meditation.

  "In a few days, you will need to go to the Mission Hall to accept a training assignment and head out for practical experience."

  After the room had been quiet for about five minutes, Evelyn's cool voice suddenly broke the silence and reached Ryan's ears.

  "Huh?" Ryan opened his eyes abruptly and turned his head toward Evelyn, who was seated in meditation, his face full of confusion.

  "This is a rule of Glacial Arcana Academy," Evelyn explained slowly without opening her eyes, sensing his confusion.

  "Every apprentice who advances to Senior Mage must accept academy missions to gain real combat experience."

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  Ryan, however, had already begun planning in his mind. It seemed this training assignment would be the perfect opportunity to head to the Central Continent and search for that item.

  After the awkward incident the previous night, Evelyn no longer dared to approach Ryan casually at night. That night passed quietly in silent meditation.

  Several days flew by in the blink of an eye. During this time, female apprentices who had reached the level of Ninth tier Journeyman Mage frequently delivered challenge letters to Ryan.

  After all, he was the only male apprentice the academy had seen in centuries, and he was clearly favored by the Headmistress. Naturally, he became a popular target for many female apprentices who wanted to test their skills against him.

  Driven to irritation, Ryan simply went straight to the central arena of Glacial Arcana Academy that day.

  In full view of countless apprentices coming and going, he leaped onto the arena platform. This sudden move left the female apprentices who had been chatting there completely dumbfounded.

  Ryan cleared his throat and channeled magic into his vocal cords. His voice was instantly amplified several times, resounding across the entire arena area.

  "All senior sisters at the Journeyman Mage level, gather at the arena immediately!"

  His voice echoed three times within a limited area of the plaza. Word quickly spread from person to person, and in less than half an hour,

  Countless female apprentices had gathered beneath the arena, and even quite a few Senior Mage level apprentices hurried over to watch the commotion.

  Ryan glanced at the dense crowd below. Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, he shouted impatiently,

  "All of you Journeyman Mages, stop sending me challenge letters from now on. You are driving me crazy!"

  As soon as his words fell, someone below loudly interrupted,"What kind of purification rinse are you using? Why does your whole body smell so strongly of flowers?"

  The one shouting was clearly a Senior Mage.

  After all, most of the Journeyman Mages had already been offended by his blunt words just now, and for a moment, none of them dared to speak.

  "Can you stop interrupting me when I am talking?" Ryan followed the voice to look at the female apprentice and scolded her irritably with a frown.

  In truth, he himself felt rather helpless about the fragrance clinging to his body.

  So many days had already passed, yet the scent still had not faded at all.

  Just what kind of flowers had Evelyn used to refine that purification liquid?

  The smell was so strange that even circulating Chaosforge Arcana could not dispel it.

  Of course, there were ways to remove it completely, but they would require consuming quite a lot of precious resources to cast high tier purification magic.

  He felt it was just a scent and not worth wasting resources over, so he simply let it linger.

  Moreover, Ryan vaguely felt that Evelyn did not seem to dislike the scent lingering on him either.

  If she truly found it unpleasant, she would not have deliberately given him that bottle of purification liquid in the first place and told him to rinse himself.

  Pushing down the stray thoughts in his mind, Ryan spoke again. His voice, wrapped in magic, spread across the entire arena.

  "Send up a First tier Senior Mage. If you can defeat me, I will have my Mentor Evelyn bestow a rare grade weapon upon you."

  The moment these words fell, the crowd below erupted into an uproar. Countless female apprentices cried out in shock, their faces filled with disbelief.

  He actually wanted to challenge a Senior Mage while only at the Journeyman Mage level.

  Whether Ryan's promise was true or not, many female apprentices at the Senior Mage level were tempted. One after another, they stepped toward the arena, instantly crowding the not very large platform.

  Ryan hurriedly pointed at the first purple robed female apprentice who jumped onto the stage."You first. Everyone else, get down and wait."

  His words filled the female apprentices who had followed her up with frustration, and they reluctantly jumped back off the arena.

  "Come on. Hit me with everything you have." Ryan took up a defensive stance, his tone carrying a hint of provocation.

  "Then be careful." The purple robed apprentice spoke politely, but her eyes sharpened and her movements showed no mercy.

  With a thought, a battle halberd appeared in her hands.

  Ryan was startled at the sight. She was way too fierce. She went straight for a heavy weapon right from the start.

  With a fierce shout, the purple robed apprentice's magic power erupted, her momentum surging to its peak. She kicked off the ground hard and charged straight at Ryan.

  She leaped into the air, and the battle halberd in her hands howled through the wind as it chopped down viciously toward Ryan's head.

  Faced with this fierce strike, Ryan stood completely still. Chaosforge Arcana roared at full speed within him, and his aura surged violently.

  He slowly raised his arm. In an instant, it was wrapped in dense chaotic magic, his bones emitting faint cracking sounds.

  His arm directly transformed into a gleaming magic longsword, the blade wreathed in sharp sword intent, its edge fully revealed.

  A deafening, crisp clash rang out as the longsword and the battle halberd collided violently, sparks flying everywhere.

  The powerful impact spread outward. The stone slabs beneath Ryan's feet shattered instantly, leaving behind a sizable crater as fragments of stone flew in all directions.

  Before the purple robed apprentice could react, Ryan's figure flashed. His speed was pushed to the extreme, leaving only a faint afterimage behind.

  The people below did not even see his movement clearly before he had already appeared behind the purple robed apprentice.

  In the blink of an eye, the longsword formed from his arm was already resting against her neck. The cold blade made her entire body stiffen.

  She did not even have time to use footwork to evade before she had already lost.

  "So fast." The purple robed apprentice stood frozen in place, her eyes filled with shock and confusion.

  Her rank was clearly higher than Ryan's, yet she could not even see his movements before being subdued.

  What confused her even more was what kind of secret art this was.

  It could actually transform an arm directly into a longsword, and that sword was hard enough to withstand her battle halberd head on.

  Not only her, but all the female apprentices below were completely stunned, their faces filled with shock and bewilderment.

  They had never seen such a bizarre yet powerful secret art before. For a moment, no one spoke, and the entire plaza fell into brief silence.

  "My god. A Journeyman Mage defeating a Senior Mage, and with a single move."

  After the short silence, the crowd instantly exploded into thunderous uproar. Discussions and exclamations rose one after another.

  Only a few individuals with higher magical ranks stood quietly at the back of the crowd, replaying the flow of magic and movement paths from Ryan's fight in their minds, a trace of gravity in their eyes.

  Ryan withdrew his magic, and his arm returned to its original form.

  He raised both hands, the arrogance around him reined in somewhat, and shouted toward the crowd below.

  "From now on, Journeyman Mage level ones, stop bothering me. Otherwise, do not blame me for showing no mercy and spanking you until your backsides bloom."

  With that, he ignored the discussions below, leaped off the arena, and headed straight for the Mission Hall in the direction Evelyn had told him earlier.

  The clamor and chattering discussions behind him gradually faded with his footsteps, finally dissipating into the wind and snow.