Yuna blinked, confused by the scene before her.
Did she just melt a high-level boss? Her?
No… she quickly shook her head. If she didn't have the ability to reconstruct her body with elemental essence, if she lacked healing capabilities, things would've ended very differently.
That creature was no pushover—it was a genuine threat. Letting herself believe otherwise was dangerous.
She wasn't strong. In a world where actual gods might exist, someone like her could be snuffed out with a flick of a finger.
Never get arrogant, she scolded herself. That's how cannon fodder acts.
With her impulsive anger simmering down, Yuna forced a reality check. She turned to the still-conscious classmates and instructed calmly, "Drink your potions. Help the others, too."
Then, with practiced indifference, she walked toward the place where the sentient creature had burned to ashes. She gave the charred spot a few petty stomps before stepping forward and looking down at the object it had been guarding—the broken, gleaming artifact known as the Scattered Crown of King Vaelthar.
"Tch," she scoffed, unimpressed, and picked it up.
The moment her fingers touched the crown, power surged through her palm. A hypnotic, mournful whisper buzzed in her ears, crawling along her nerves.
Not in the mood to entertain cursed voices, Yuna swirled the leftover water from her bottle, surrounding the Shattered Crown and pressing it down with the weight of her trait: Dominance.
"Quiet," she commanded coldly.
As if awakened by her will, the Moonlit Orchid—silent after its earlier healing rampage—extended its tendrils, wrapping around the crown. Its vines coiled tightly, almost possessively.
Then, the usually dormant dimension stone embedded in her chest flared to life. A faint purple glow shimmered across the vines, flowing into the crown as if siphoning something out.
To Yuna's surprise, the Moonlit Orchid and the dimension stone seemed… coordinated, like two beings in a reluctant alliance. No—more like the Moonlit Orchid was persistently integrating itself into the dimension stone, struggling every day to form a deeper bond.
And clearly, its efforts were paying off.
Damn, Yuna thought dryly. Iraised a sucker.
Well, it was a parasite at heart. The Moonlit Orchid had rooted itself in her bloodstream because her body was pure elemental material—and the dimension stone, also embedded in her body, was clearly valuable. From the beginning, it had done nothing but chase whatever benefited itself.
Scheming little thing.
Whatever the dimension stone was draining from the crown, Yuna couldn't care less. Let it do its thing. It's not like she'd understand the process even if she sat down and studied it.
Predictably, once the siphoning ended, the glow faded. The dimension stone returned to its usual state—quiet and dull, like an ordinary gem that definitely wasn't involved in her life chaos.
Yuna stared down at it and snorted under her breath.
The shattered crown continued to emit low, wailing noises—faint but persistent. Though the main flow of power had already been siphoned off by the dimension stone, Yuna figured it still had its uses. Celeste might enjoy dissecting the strange sound. With her obsession over vibrational patterns and resonance frequencies, perhaps she'd even manage to replicate it someday.
Once everyone had regained consciousness, Yuna signaled them to gather. She finally let out a quiet breath of relief as they all stepped out of the domain's exit gate and returned to the safety of the academy grounds.
The other classes hadn't exited yet—it seemed they were still chasing down the remaining Eusia Orbs.
"When they finish, the domain will likely collapse," Celeste commented, walking beside her. "After all, the core artifact's already been extracted."
"Yeah," Yuna nodded, then casually handed over the shattered crown. "Here. Study it."
"Eh—!?" Celeste blinked at the item now resting in her hands. "W-Wooowww… This sound—so beautiful… Eeeekk! Thank you, Yuna! I swear I'll master it! I love you! I love this domain!"
Yuna could only sigh at her friend's enthusiasm—for a domain that had nearly killed them.
Meanwhile, Celeste was already clutching the crown like a beloved relic, lovingly stroking its jagged surface. The delusional wailing that echoed from it felt like symphonic bliss to her ears. She'd been crestfallen earlier, unable to properly study the bog's wail, but now—this was far superior.
Unlike the living bogs, the shattered crown was an artifact—an inanimate object—but its delusional frequency was far more refined. Celeste couldn't wait to unlock its secrets.
A bright smile tugged at Celeste's lips.
When she first entered the academy, she hadn't held out much hope. Her motivation to study her sound ability was close to nonexistent. It felt like a burden—a deadweight. Something that required her to constantly open her mouth and push out louder, stronger sounds, with no clear purpose.
To her, it seemed like one of those useless awakened abilities.
She had originally planned to pursue the path of a rune master. She was still deeply interested in that field, of course—but who wouldn't want to discover that their supposedly useless awakened ability actually held real power? Who wouldn't want to explore and level it up?
Her family had all awakened with specific abilities—delusion sound-type, hypnotic sound-type, and the like. So, when she was told her ability was simply "Sound," it had confused everyone, including herself. They took it at face value, assuming it meant she could only… make noise. Nothing more.
But Yuna changed that.
Yuna made her realize that "Sound" was not a limitation—it was the source. All those specific abilities her family wielded now seemed like branches of the greater tree of sound.
These days, Celeste existed in a constant state of excited discovery. She woke up each day with a hunger to learn more about her ability, to explore its depth, to refine its edge.
She liked this feeling—the feeling of not being useless.
....
When the other students finally emerged from the domain, Principal Lillith Noir wasted no time in announcing the results of the Eusia Orb collection.
"As expected," she declared dramatically, "first in terms of Eusia Orb count—Diamond Class!"
Cheers broke out from the Diamond Class students.
"And second… Spade Class. Third place goes to Club Class…"
She paused, then smiled with faint amusement. "And in last place—Heart Class, with only three pitiful little Eusia Orbs."
To be fair, the Heart Class hadn't even known the orbs were important. They'd just picked up a few at random, because they looked vaguely magical.
However—just as the Heart Class was about to slump in defeat—the rankings flashed on the board… and showed them in first place.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd, confusion mounting. Before anyone could ask questions, Principal Lillith raised a finger and tutted.
"Uh-uh-uh~ Before you say anything, allow me to clarify: Heart Class retrieved the domain artifact. So naturally, first place is well-deserved."
The crowd fell silent, wide-eyed.
"Are you interested in knowing how they did it?" she asked, tilting her head with a mischievous smile.
Dozens of eager eyes turned toward her.
Then, with a laugh entirely too high-pitched to be reassuring, she threw her head back. "Ahaahahaha! Oh dear…!"
Wiping a theatrical tear from the corner of her eye, she looked down at the students and said sweetly, "Stay curious, dears. Let curiosity kill you!"
Dark lines formed on the faces of the students at her unapologetic teasing. Not funny, Principal. Not funny at all.