Dinner Back

Beads of sweat ran down Gwen's face, she wiped it off using the handkerchief in her hand. After a full day's work of figuring out the limits of this new spell, Gwen was extremely satisfied with the results.

From her multiple tests, she managed to figure out that although the Eye of Darkness was only a Tier 6 spell, it could even affect Tier 7 spells after a long period of time and could slightly corrode a Tier 8 spell. For reference, No. 12's barrier from earlier was a Tier 7 spell, after prolonged exposure to Gwen's spell it started to form cracks on its surface, eventually causing it to break apart.

"So, Eye of Darkness is an offensive spell that siphons the mana from its surroundings… well not really siphon more like mutual destruction. It cancels out other spells using the mana it has within its capacity. It inherently darkens the surroundings and prevents other people from casting their spells unless they have more mana than them or they drain the spell. This suits me so perfectly, I almost can't believe it!"

The young female maid, No. 12, was tiredly walking right behind Gwen as she spoke to herself. She seemed to have been drained of all energy as her mental capacity was at an all-time low. She wanted nothing more than to lay down and rest her weary and exhausted body. Fortunately for her, it was just about dinner time so she would be able to fill up her body with food.

'I don't know how Lady Gwendolyn does it. She just seems to have so much energy all the time. Kids just have it so easy. Ouch, my back.'

As Gwen entered the manor, numerous servants came forward to receive her, "Lady Gwendolyn, Sir Felix just finished preparing tonight's meal. He said that you'll like what he had in store."

"Felix did? Did he bring out his kingdom's specialty this time?"

A servant leaned in closer and raised his finger up to his lips, "It's a secret, I'm sure you wouldn't want to be spoiled."

"No. 12! Did you hear that? Come on, let's go!"

"Ugh, I'm coming, Lady Gwendolyn. Please control yourself this time, we don't want another incident like last time inconveniencing the staff."

"It was one time! I didn't know that they were that expensive! Besides, Father wouldn't mind, he has enough money to burn the whole world three times over."

No. 12 rubbed her temples together, "Where did she ever learn this? I swear if one of the servants started putting ideas in her head then I'll…" Saying so, No. 12, glanced at the surrounding servants who meekly excused themselves. They all knew that despite acting like a frail girl, she was anything but that.

Even if they didn't know her personally, once they heard Gwen call her a number, anyone and their mothers would know to not even breathe any louder for the elite batch of members under Nio's personal tutelage were here. This elite army was known as The Bastion, personally named by Nio himself. No one knew just why Nio named them as such considering that they were more of a kill squad than anything. One thing that no one could dispute was the sheer amount of talent of every single person who joined The Bastion.

Every single person without fail was either an Archmage or Aura Swordsman in terms of strength and prowess. There were twenty people officially considered in The Bastion as its true core, with backup mages and swordsmen right behind them. As the competition was intense and brutal, it was a miracle for those who strived to reach the top ranks to even have the same personality that they once had.

No. 52, who was tasked to 'rescue' Gwen back then was a mere Tier 9 Swordsman, although he was deemed to have been relatively decent, to try and bridge the gap between him and those in the top 30 was way beyond his capabilities.

No. 12 exhaled as she composed herself, bringing herself back to her initial tired mood. Right after, she opened the door to the dining hall where Gwen was currently consuming everything in sight. For some odd reason, Gwen required an immense amount of food, No. 12 guessed that even though Gwen was immune to The Corruption, she still had to pay some sort of price for it. Luckily for her, it only required Gwen to use more energy.

Gwen continued on eating, even though she briefly made eye contact with No. 12. By the side, Felix was eating a plate-sized portion on his end, completely overshadowed by the eight plates that Gwen already finished. He lost his appetite as he was only able to finish half of his meal, opting to watch Gwen eat instead.

"Eh? Gulp. What do you want?" Gwen cleared up her mouth as she noticed that Felix was just staring at her. She was too preoccupied with so many delicious meals in front of her that she lost track of her surroundings. At this point, she also saw the now 13 plates by her side, she briefly showed a shade of red as she noticed that she went a little too far.

"Hahahaha. You eat more than my father during a festival," Felix jokingly said as he took out his own pure white handkerchief with golden threads fixing his initials. He leaned in closer to Gwen.

The shade of red turned pink, "What are you doing? Stop!" Seeing that Felix had no intention of stopping, Gwen instinctively tried to push him away, yet Felix grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer. This caused Gwen to lock in place as Felix come face to face with her as he wiped off the sauce on her cheek.

"Gwen, that's not very ladylike." Felix brightly smiled as he continued wiping her face.

"Says who? They just haven't seen a real lady! Humph! And stop wiping me! I can do it myself!"

"Don't wanna," Felix did one last motion and Gwen's pristine skin was glowing once more.

No. 12's heart started melting away at the scene in front of her. It was such an adorable scene that she couldn't handle it anymore and took out a recording device to cement this moment in history. She excitedly enjoyed every moment of it. Even her tired and exhausted body seemed to have been lifted off all its fatigue as she meticulously took the best angle at every opportune moment.