After a brief moment of thought, Ryan understood the situation. When an apprentice with Grand Magus potential went out for training, it was standard practice for the academy to assign a protector.

  What he had not expected was that the academy would dispatch an Elder Mage. That was far beyond his expectations.

  What was more, she deliberately chose to hide in the shadows. Was she afraid that he might use her name to act recklessly or bully others?

  He decided not to bother with her for now. The urgent matter was figuring out how to shake her off. If she followed him the whole way, his plan to secretly head to the Central Continent would inevitably be affected.

  Ryan quickly worked through possible escape plans in his mind. He was quite confident in his own survival abilities, so whether he had a protector or not made little difference. On the contrary, the feeling of being watched at all times made him deeply uncomfortable.

  ...

  Ryan stepped through the gates of the town. Everywhere along the streets, he could hear pedestrians discussing his battle with the Snow Demon.

  Some claimed that he had perished together with the Snow Demon, leaving no remains behind.

  Others said that after defeating the Snow Demon, he departed gracefully, hiding his achievements and fame.

  There were even those who worshiped him as a peerless hero, praising him for saving the town.

  Faced with these wildly varied rumors, Ryan merely smiled faintly and offered no explanation. He walked straight into a bustling tavern.

  "I am telling you, when that peerless hero fought the Snow Demon, the scene was nothing short of earth shattering!"

  "With a single sweep of his spear, raging heavenly flames engulfed the land, burning the Snow Demon until it screamed in agony!"

  Standing atop a table in the tavern, Ryan gestured animatedly as he told the story, his tone passionate and stirring. Diners nearby quickly gathered around, listening with rapt attention.

  "Go on, keep talking!" the crowd urged impatiently when he suddenly stopped at the most critical moment.

  In this town, there was no shortage of people recounting the battle with the Snow Demon, but Ryan alone told it with such vivid detail and realism that it felt as if he had witnessed it firsthand. That was exactly why so many people had gathered around him.

  "Such a world shaking battle can only be understood, not put into words," Ryan said, shaking his head with an inscrutable expression.

  He then pulled a few silver coins from his pocket and placed them on the counter to settle the bill, before turning and heading toward the room he had booked in advance.

  Having had his fill of storytelling, he felt no urge to continue. He had only been amusing himself to pass the time.

  "He obviously could not make it up anymore!" Laughter and jeers erupted behind him, though the crowd felt unbearably curious, wishing they could grab Ryan and force him to finish the tale.

  Stopping right at the most thrilling moment was clearly a deliberate tease.

  Back in his room, Ryan shut the door behind him and circulated Chaosforge Arcana to recover a small amount of magic power. At the same time, he began planning his next steps.

  Tomorrow, he would ask around to see whether he could use the town's magic teleportation array to travel to the Central Continent.

  The academy had granted him a training period of three months. Using the first month to search for his target on his own should be sufficient.

  He would spend the first month exploring independently. If he still could not find it, he would directly activate the Grimoire's tracking function. That way, time would be more than enough.

  However, according to what the female elder at the Mission Hall had said, three months was only the listing duration of the mission scroll, not his actual training limit.

  That meant even if he returned to the academy after that time, as long as the Snow Demon mission had already been completed, he only needed to bring the proof to report in afterward.

  Even if he delayed turning it in, once someone else accepted the mission again and confirmed that the Snow Demon had already been slain, the mission scroll would naturally be canceled. It would not affect his training evaluation in any way.

  As for Evelyn, Ryan reasoned that with her calm and composed personality, she would most likely assume that he simply wanted to spend more time training outside and accumulating practical experience. She probably would not have much of an emotional reaction.

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  Lying on his side on the bed, Ryan silently calculated things in his mind. With that settled, time was no longer an issue.

  The top priority was still getting rid of the grand elder hiding in the shadows, so that his plan to head for the Central Continent would not be discovered and result in him being dragged straight back to the academy.

  Shaking her off would not be difficult. As long as he activated the Grimoire's magic signature masking function and altered his appearance, her perception should be unable to lock onto his trail.

  With everything planned out, Ryan stopped overthinking and finally lay back down, soon falling into a deep sleep.

  On the other side, Evelyn was meditating with her eyes closed when her mind suddenly stirred, and the magic flowing within her wavered slightly.

  Over the past few days, she had inexplicably felt an emptiness in her heart, as if something were missing. Yet after carefully checking, everything within the academy was perfectly normal, with no sign of any disturbance.

  She ended her meditation and let her gaze fall upon the bed in her room, one that had not been slept in for quite some time.

  After a moment of hesitation, Evelyn slowly walked over. From a distance, she could still catch a faint floral scent lingering on the bed. It was the trace left behind by the purification solution she had given to Ryan.

  Looking at the empty bed, Evelyn found herself lost in thought, images of Ryan's usual mischievous grin surfacing uncontrollably in her mind.

  She took out the Clockwork Doll once more and held it quietly in her palm.

  The male figure on the doll was carved with lifelike detail, eyes closed as if sleeping peacefully, looking utterly adorable.

  The female figure beside it still wore a cool and distant expression, yet the left corner of her lips curved upward ever so slightly, adding a hint of subtle playfulness.

  Evelyn's gaze lingered on that faintly raised corner of the doll's lips. Without realizing it, she lifted a hand to touch her own mouth, a trace of confusion rising in her heart. When had that pattern changed?

  If I shake this Clockwork Doll right now, would he sense it, even while training far away?

  Once the thought surfaced, Evelyn could no longer restrain herself. She gently grasped the Clockwork Doll and gave it a couple of light shakes.

  At the same time, far away in a tavern room in the town, Ryan was fast asleep when his entire body suddenly jolted. His steady breathing instantly turned ragged.

  Almost by reflex, he sat upright as magic surged within him, nearly bursting out and collapsing the entire room.

  "Evelyn, have you lost your mind? You scared me to death!" Ryan exclaimed as he came to his senses.

  He had been sleeping perfectly fine when a sudden, inexplicable palpitation surged in his heart. Anyone would have been frightened by that.

  Sitting on the bed, he focused and sensed his surroundings for a moment. After confirming that the intense palpitation did not return and that there was no sign of danger nearby, he finally let out a breath of relief, lay back down, turned over, and went back to sleep.

  The next day.

  "Are you sure this teleportation array will not send me off course?" Ryan asked after disguising himself and changing his appearance.

  Looking at the ancient teleportation array before him, its surface covered in cracks and its runes dim and faded, he hesitated as he questioned the hunched old man who had led him there.

  "Let me make this clear first. I am heading to the eastern region of the Central Continent. Do not send me to the west," Ryan said, pointing at the unreliable looking old man in front of him.

  "Rest assured! As long as you give me two hundred High grade Mana Crystals, the teleportation will be absolutely precise!" the old man replied.

  Only then did Ryan relax slightly. He took two hundred High grade Mana Crystals out of his storage pouch and tossed them to the old man.

  He had no other choice. This was the only large scale cross region teleportation array in the town. If he wanted to reach the Central Continent as soon as possible, he had to take this gamble.

  "If you send me to the wrong place, just wait for a flying kick from me!" Ryan threatened, his eyes full of menace.

  "Relax, leave it to me!" The old man caught the Mana Crystals and suddenly grinned, shoving Ryan straight into the teleportation array.

  Then, with a pained expression, the old man took fifty of the two hundred High grade Mana Crystals, preparing to embed them into the grooves along the edge of the array.

  "Teleportation is about to begin! Are you ready?" the old man shouted loudly at Ryan inside the array.

  "Reporting, sir! Ready for action!" Ryan suppressed his laughter and gave the old man a solemn, standard military salute.

  This left the old man completely dumbfounded. He froze for a few seconds before coming back to his senses. Whatever the salute was about, as long as the kid was ready, it was fine.

  The moment Ryan finished speaking, the old man's demeanor changed abruptly. His previously hunched figure straightened slightly, and his expression became incomparably solemn.

  With a flick of his wrist, the fifty High grade Mana Crystals flew with perfect precision toward the grooves of the teleportation array.

  One embedding sound after another rang out as the Mana Crystals locked firmly into place, and the previously dim runes instantly lit up.

  Streams of magical light patterns flowed rapidly across the array, eventually converging into a semi transparent crystalline screen that enveloped Ryan.

  "Until we meet again!" the old man waved his hand, a sly smile returning to his face.

  As soon as his words fell, the teleportation array flared with brilliant light. Ryan's figure turned into a streak of light and vanished from the array in an instant.

  Ten High grade Mana Crystals suddenly popped out of the grooves and rolled onto the ground.

  The old man chuckled, hurried over, picked them up, and stuffed them into his robes.

  Fortunately, he still had a bit of moral bottom line and did not touch the remaining forty Mana Crystals.

  Those Mana Crystals had already bonded with the core of the teleportation array. If they were forcibly removed, the array would completely collapse.

  He could only watch as the magic within those forty Mana Crystals was rapidly siphoned away by the array, eventually turning into powder and dissipating into the air.

  "Let us not meet again! Time to head home!" the old man muttered leisurely, his steps light as he walked in the opposite direction of the teleportation array, disappearing into the depths of the alley in the blink of an eye.

  At the same time, high above the town, within the clouds, Mora had already gone frantic.

  The concealment magic around her had long since been dispelled. The aura of an Elder Mage spread outward without restraint, frantically searching every corner of the town for any trace of Ryan.

  Where did he go? In just one night, how could he vanish like this?

  She was an Elder Mage assigned as a protector, yet she had actually lost track of a mere Senior Mage boy?

  This was bad. When she returned, she was definitely going to be severely complained at by Elara and Maelira.

  Mora spun around anxiously, her heart filled with panic. What was she supposed to do now?