After completing the three tomes, Yvette felt she had worked too hard and too diligently, so she decided to give herself a two-year vacation, temporarily setting aside the compilation of the fourth tome, awkwardly named Tome of Earth Magic.
However, it wouldn’t be accurate to say she was entirely on holiday, because theoretically, she was upgrading herself every moment. Not only was her total mana volume automatically increasing while awake, but even in her sleep, she was enhancing her mental strength.
With this kind of passive cultivation method, it seemed reasonable to take some relaxation time.
Moreover, in this post-apocalyptic world, she didn’t have much survival pressure, which further diminished her motivation. If it weren’t for her role as a teacher, she wouldn’t feel embarrassed about letting a crucial learning material lag for too long; writing just one tome could take her five or six years.
…
Just like that!
After Yvette decided to take a break, Dugrabi’s life immediately became much more comfortable.
Because its teacher would no longer conduct her usual monthly checks on its mastery of spell runes.
With the acquisition of the three great magical tomes, Dugrabi’s combat strength skyrocketed. Now, it often ventured into the nearby mountains, bothering elite aberrations and nest masters above the third stage, enjoying the thrill of coming and going like the wind, reviled by higher-level corrupt magic beings who, despite their frustration, couldn’t do anything about it.
However, this kind of life became tedious after just a month, akin to playing a game with cheats; the initial thrill was the only enjoyable part, while the rest was blandness and emptiness.Moreover, the power granted by the magical tomes was ultimately external. Only by truly mastering the spells and various combo techniques could Dugrabi truly live up to its teacher’s nurturing.
Thus, though Yvette said nothing, Dugrabi decided to establish a routine, dedicating four fixed days each week to serious study, with the remaining three days reserved for leisure and entertainment.
—But it planned to implement this schedule in the fall because summer was excessively hot, with sticky winds blowing daily. Without air conditioning, it would be hard to muster the enthusiasm to study under those conditions.
…
In late August, Dugrabi began to learn fishing alongside its teacher.
It found this a very enjoyable activity. The only downside was that while Yvette could catch corrupt magic beings, Dugrabi couldn’t even manage that. Every time it felt a nibble on the line and peered into the water, it would find only peculiar bits of junk from the origin civilization.
Most often, it was scrap metal, but occasionally there were exceptions, such as silicone dolls resembling human corpses, said to be made from high-tech organic materials by Linde Development Company that could last a millennium without decaying, remaining soft as new. It was hard to tell if that was true.
Dugrabi was disappointed with the silicone dolls, deeming them useless, yet Yvette surprisingly admired them, calling Dugrabi a genius. Dugrabi guessed “genius” must be a compliment in the eyes of a god, which delighted it, feeling it had gained recognition from its teacher in certain aspects.
Later, to continually receive praise, whenever Dugrabi caught or found something strange, it earnestly presented these as gifts to Yvette. Over time, however, Yvette grew tired of receiving them and warned that it would have to face punishment if it continued. This made Dugrabi quite sad for a while.
As time passed into September and temperatures gradually cooled, Dugrabi began following its original plan for a structured study routine.
Of course, it wasn’t very disciplined; in fact, it was quite playful. Only when hearing stories about its senior sister from Yvette did it realize that the senior was an exceptionally dedicated and studious mage who could study for days without distraction or laziness—something Yvette admired deeply.
This inspired Dugrabi significantly. As the future legendary Dragon King and second disciple of the Silver Witch, it thought that even if it couldn’t match its senior sister, it shouldn’t fall too far behind. Otherwise, it would tarnish the reputations of both Yvette and its sister.
Driven by this motivation, it occasionally overcame its inclination to be playful and lazy, entering a diligent state, only to quickly burn out and regress after a few days—until a few days later, it would awaken anew and start striving again… forming an almost continuous cycle.
…
Another year, around June and July, on a clear afternoon with cloudless skies.
Soaking in a certain “bathing area,” Dugrabi was leisurely splashing its tail in the water, blowing bubbles.
This was a shallow water zone in a submerged city, located along a higher street. On both sides, ancient decorative statues stood like barnacle-covered rocks, and vines with yellow flowers sprouted from the holes in the brick walls of shops. Petals blown off by the wind fell onto the river surface, attracting a few small fish to chase and peck.
This place wasn’t safe; the closer it got to the base of the “Water Tower,” the higher the chances of being attacked by the aberrations lurking beneath the water. So, whenever it relaxed in such “cold bathing areas,” its three magical tomes would float nearby in a swirl of light, hovering at corners, ready to launch attacks on any approaching aberrations, eliminating them on the spot.
The scorching summer was a good excuse to justify not studying, and during such times, Dugrabi found itself a bit envious of Abella, who could escape into Yvette’s vehicle to enjoy the cool air.
Although the dragon clan had opportunities to take human forms, it required first becoming a Dragon King and unlocking specific draconic magic to do so, which meant it first had to return to the Dragon Kingdom and participate in the Dragon King trials… Thus, during its time in the End of Days, it had no chance to show its teacher its human form.
But that was alright, it thought; its future self would definitely become a Dragon King, surely forging a legendary tale to showcase to its teacher.
By then, it would probably be the new top power in the human realm, just like that senior sister it had never met!
After dreaming for a while, it noticed the sky suddenly darkening but didn’t pay much mind until it heard distant shouts from the citizens of Water Tower Nation. Lazily, it lifted its head to look at the sky.
Then it saw a magnificent aurora, long anticipated for countless years, suddenly stretching across the sky, even blocking out the blazing summer sun, plunging everything into a mysterious and shadowy night.
…
At the highest point of the Water Tower Nation, on the top floor of the abandoned hotel, Yvette was also standing there, staring blankly at the aurora in the sky, an increasing sense of unease stirring within her.
She had only seen the aurora twice before, both times at night, which led her to subconsciously associate it with the nighttime; auroras seemed only to appear under the cover of darkness.
Of course, this made sense. With the sun so strong and it being summer, how could one have the opportunity to see an aurora at this time?
Yet it had appeared, so suddenly and so perplexingly that this aurora seemed to overshadow the sun, resembling a semi-transparent black curtain shrouding the world.
Immediately following this, before she could recover from the unexpected aurora, she noticed various abnormal sounds coming from the submerged city. Lowering her gaze, she saw countless aquatic aberrations restlessly rushing toward the mountains, like a writhing tide, and those directions were precisely where some of the mother nest forces were located.
Was this… the summons of the nests?
But why would the nests suddenly summon these low-level aberrations?
Thinking of this, suddenly a long-dormant word surged in Yvette’s mind.
—The Day of End.
If she guessed correctly, then this moment was the beginning of the End Sorceress’s invasion and destruction of the Glimmering Continent!