"Don’t envy me," the director said. "Miss Sevi, you might also encounter a Gold-eating Beast that sticks to you in the Void Realm."
"Haha, impossible," Sonia waved her hand. "I’m not of noble birth."
Being strong, kind-hearted, and simple-minded—these traits were only possible for all to coalesce in the scions of nobility. Ordinary people, no matter how capable, had to sacrifice one of these to make ends meet—under normal circumstances, ordinary people couldn’t fulfill any of the three conditions, much less the power requirement, not to mention the latter two traits which needed to be carefully nurtured and protected.
"Since there’s no part for me, I’ll take my leave now."
"You worked hard today," the director said. "Heading back to school?"
"No, I’m going to borrow the ’Time Training Room’ at Truth University. I finally managed to reserve three hours of training time."
"Such diligence!" said an assistant admiringly. "Truly worthy of being Sword Flower, highly talented and hardworking. I can’t even muster the spirit to study normally... But for geniuses like you, training must be a real joy, right?"
"Mmm~" Sonia feigned contemplation. "It’s not that joyful, actually. It’s just that I can clearly feel each incremental progress I make, kind of like playing a game. Every so often, I see ’Experience Points +5’ popping up over my head..."
"Sigh, the worlds of geniuses and ordinary people really are different," the assistant lamented. "There’s certainly a reason why you’re so amazing, Miss Sevi."
"Then I won’t disturb you any longer," the director adjusted his six-lens glasses. "Don’t push yourself too hard—I’m not just talking about acting."
Sonia blinked, but the director had already returned to planning the second scene.
It’s admirable to be kind-hearted and to care for others...
The Village Girl chuckled softly to herself, was pulled aside by the assistant to change clothes, and then hurried to find the makeup artist to remove her makeup quickly. The makeup for this scene, though not thick, was particularly delicate to highlight the character’s charming qualities, meaning it was complicated to remove, especially the eyebrows, which had to be cleaned strand by strand.
By the time Sonia left, the set had transformed into a forest real scene, with the male and female leads shooting their scene.
The film base in Jiale City, which produced the most films and series, was known for its malleability. With just a touch of detail, wood technique Mages and Illusionists could turn the set into various real scenes so well that one couldn’t distinguish between reality and illusion, even on the set—such was the power of Miracle.
For distant sceneries, with the help of Artisan’s tools like the Camera Eye, Illusionists could project the real world’s sceneries directly into the set, intertwining the real and the imagined without a flaw. Not merely forests or snowy landscapes, if they wanted to depict the ocean floor or a lava field, the film base had several Camera Eyes permanently stationed.
It was only upon coming here that Sonia realized that the films and series she watched through the Light Screen were daily routines woven by Miracle. Practitioners, even if they weren’t Mages themselves, had to master Artisan’s tools. The six-lens glasses the director wore, for example, allowed one to simultaneously view six different camera angles.
After a glance at the male and female leads illuminated by the spotlight, Sonia left the film base by car.
Since it was a half-hour drive from Jiale City’s downtown, Sonia didn’t sit idle but opened the "Inter-school Competition Participant Data" on her Miracle Bracelet.
The inter-school friendly competitions had ended, and the official Inter-School Competition was next. The academy had already prepared a summary for Sonia of the participating seeds from the various colleges, recording their performances in the friendlies.
Below the profiles of some strong competitors, Professor Trozan had specially annotated strategies for dealing with Sword Masters.
Senior Reonie had once joked with her: "The Inter-School Competition is over before it even starts." That might be an exaggeration, but this analysis really helped Sonia understand her own strengths and weaknesses against different factions of Mages and even calculate her probable ranking in the competition—if she hadn’t made significant progress recently or had any hidden cards.
And this was just the analysis from Sword Flower University; it was rumored that Truth University had a Prophetic Faction professor who could deduce the actual Combat Power of the competitors based on existing data and devise targeted strategies for overcoming the enemy. Students of Truth University could often defeat their opponents swiftly in most competitions, which owed much to the analytical abilities of the Prophetic Faction.
The Inter-School Competition might not be over before it begins, but in truth, it starts before the first whistle. Schools provide as much help as possible to the students, who must digest this gift quickly before the competition starts, working to shore up weaknesses and reinforce strengths.
By the time Sonia’s eyes grew tired from reading the material, the car had already stopped outside Truth University.
Sonia got out of the car and immediately saw the White Tower reaching for the skies not far away.
Since the "Star Fall" event, this White Tower had stood in the center of Jiale City, with no further Star Falls. While invisible, Sonia knew a Prayer of the Stars maintained the celestial balance from atop the tower.
Though Truth University was not open to the public, this ’public’ did not include other colleges—non-affiliated college students could directly visit Truth University with proper identification.
"The red-haired Sword Maiden..."
Sonia’s recent rise to fame was remarkable, rendering her a ’Sword Saint Seed’ well-known even in Truth University. Many students recognized her on the way, but they didn’t attempt to approach or engage with Sonia, merely nodding in acknowledgement. Despite feeling drained, Sonia mustered the energy to gracefully smile in response to each gaze, whether friendly or hostile.