That night, Enid lay on the bed in the room Antonio had arranged for her, processing all the information she had learned that day.

  First of all, her identity within the academy was that of a high elf, known under the alias "Enis," who had successfully joined the Nature Faculty as a professor teaching the theoretical courses on the Nature Magic system.

  In the afternoon, Antonio had warned Enid that her position as a professor at the academy had been arranged with her hidden identity and with a little help from his position as the headmaster. Initially, Antonio had even wanted to assign her directly to the position of dean of the Nature Faculty, but his colleagues—especially the other deans—would never agree to let a mysterious person take such a crucial role.

  As a result, Antonio settled for giving her the title of a full professor instead.

  So, to everyone else, Enid was a mysterious, unknown figure with no honors, achievements, or any proven abilities, but who seemed to have a close relationship with the headmaster. She had been placed in a professorship without going through the usual process, skipping the usual assistantship.

  Antonio also emphasized that, while most people would likely keep their distance and watch from afar, given the apparent connection between "Enis" and the headmaster, some arrogant, high-ranking individuals, or those who disliked him, might still try to target Enid. He advised her to be cautious.

  Enid, however, didn’t mind at all. She had been feared, distrusted, and despised for centuries. As long as these people didn’t directly confront her, she didn’t care about them.

  As for anyone who opposed her, a small demonstration of her strength would easily put them in their place.

  It would be challenging to get everyone to recognize her, especially when Nature Magic was practically worthless in today’s world. However, Enid had no doubt in her abilities. She had lived long enough and seen enough challenges in her time. Being a campus professor? She could handle that with ease.

  With this motivation, she climbed out of bed and sat at the desk, starting to plan her future as a teacher.

  Currently, the academy was in its summer break, and since it was also the National Founding Day, nearly all the staff and students were away. There was still a week before the new semester, giving her plenty of time to plan.

  Antonio had arranged for her to stay in an empty room within the Nature Faculty's tower, and he had also set up an office for her in the main city tower so she could work and rest conveniently.

  From Antonio’s description and her own observations, the main city tower, which was central to the academy, was like a palace. It housed the main hall for large meetings and lectures, along with classrooms, professors' offices, and laboratories. It also included the central dining hall, the archives, and the public library, along with many other facilities.

  The tower was surrounded by various gardens, squares, open spaces, and even a training ground. The headmaster’s office was located here as well.

  The lower levels of the city tower stored various experimental materials and magical tools, and at the deepest point, the treasure vault contained many precious artifacts and academy funds.

  The ten massive towers surrounding the city tower were dedicated to the academy’s different faculties. Each tower housed classrooms, offices, laboratories, libraries, and other faculty-specific spaces. While the amenities like dining halls, medical rooms, and bathrooms were available in the towers, they weren’t as grand as those in the city tower.

  The towers also contained student dorms and faculty housing. Each tower was essentially its own advanced academy, and calling the Stashier Comprehensive Magic Academy a “magical city” wasn’t an exaggeration.

  Beyond that, each tower had auxiliary buildings based on its specialty. For example, the Military Faculty had the academy’s largest outdoor training ground; the Medical Faculty had a large hospital; and the Science Faculty boasted a massive workshop to encourage the creativity of professors and students.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Now, back to the Nature Faculty.

  Although the Nature Faculty lacked a dean, it still had staff and students—though both were fewer in number and lower in rank than those in other faculties. Compared to the Military Faculty, which had a student body of over three thousand, most other faculties were similar in size. However, the Nature Faculty? It had fewer than five hundred students.

  At the academy’s founding, Antonio had briefly served as a lecturer in the Nature Faculty, but since Antonio never systematically studied the Nature Magic system himself and the related books and materials were scarce, he found it difficult to teach effectively. The students in the Nature Faculty mostly had innate talent and could sense two or more elements, some even as many as five.

  Given their natural ability, Antonio’s shallow understanding of Nature Magic couldn’t provide effective instruction. So, he quickly gave up on teaching there. The students, however, didn’t mind much, as their talent had already placed them far ahead of other mages from the moment they were born.

  This led to a strange situation for the Nature Faculty students. On one hand, students from other faculties despised the arrogant attitude of the Nature Faculty students. On the other hand, most of these students lacked the ability to sense elemental magic, which made their dislike for Nature Faculty students even stronger.

  As a result, there was a curious phenomenon.

  Other faculties looked down on the Nature Faculty, viewing Nature Magic as a barbaric and outdated magic system. Yet, at the same time, they also envied and resented the natural talent that the Nature Faculty students were born with.

  Because of this, there had always been voices within the academy calling for the abolition of the Nature Faculty.

  If not for Antonio’s strong opposition, insisting that there was no hierarchy among magic systems and claiming that his mentor was a powerful Nature Mage, along with the fact that the herbalism and elemental studies courses in the Nature Faculty had relatively good reputations, the faculty might have ceased to exist by now.

  After quickly reflecting on everything, Enid realized the situation was even more complicated than she had imagined. But it wasn’t something she couldn’t handle. After all, she had come here to revive the Nature Magic system, and this level of difficulty wasn’t enough to make her back down.

  There was another reason Enid had taken up a teaching position at the academy.

  That was to find a way to fully eliminate the curse inside her body.

  As Antonio had said, while Enid had insisted it wasn’t a serious matter, only she truly understood how grave the situation had become.

  For some reason, Enid had no idea when or how she was cursed in such a vicious manner.

  The twisted curse, compared to its early stages, had grown to a point where its effects were now impossible to ignore.

  Besides memory loss, the curse brought other issues as well.

  Every time Enid drew elemental magic from nature, the curse would press down on her, causing intense pain that started to interfere with her ability to cast spells properly.

  During the worst of the curse’s backlash, Enid could faint from the pain just by casting a basic Nature spell.

  And if the pain wasn’t bad enough, the curse had slowed down her ability to absorb elemental magic. If she forced herself to draw magic, she would quickly fall into an irreversible sleep from the overwhelming pain and fatigue.

  Over the years, Enid, Antonio, and those who benefited from her had tried many different methods to remove the curse.

  These included using divine magic for healing, using spellcraft to forcibly disperse the curse, and resting in areas rich in elemental magic.

  Despite all these efforts, Enid’s condition had improved significantly, but the curse remained.

  As time passed and Enid used magic more frequently, the curse would flare up again, requiring more effort to manage. It was exhausting for both her and those around her.

  Enid had still not been able to remember the way back to her birthplace.

  Perhaps the God of Nature was punishing her for past mistakes, she sometimes thought bitterly.

  For some reason, Enid felt she had committed an unforgivable crime in the past, and her inner voice constantly reminded her of it.

  “Forget it, I won’t think about this troublesome stuff right now. I’ll just focus on my responsibilities, and leave the future to the future me.”

  With that, Enid finished washing up and settled down to rest early, trying to ease the fatigue of the day in her new environment.

  Before falling asleep, perhaps due to a dream she had about the past, familiar yet distant memories suddenly flashed through her mind.

  In the vision, there was Enid sitting on the grass, teaching Antonio, and three other figures listening attentively.

  But, due to the curse, Enid could no longer recall their names or faces. She vaguely remembered that there were two boys and one girl.

  Since waking up a century ago from a deep sleep, similar to the one she had experienced five hundred years earlier, Enid had felt her memories slowly returning.

  Since the curse's effects on her memory had somewhat eased, she occasionally caught glimpses of forgotten memories before falling asleep.

  It was both a blessing and a curse.

  It was good that her memory was slowly coming back, but it was also unsettling to realize that she had forgotten far more than she’d thought.

  “Forget it. I’ll ask Antonio about it in a few days…”

  “…”

  “Whew… Zzzzz”

  That night, the sky was filled with stars, and the moon rose high.