A week had passed since the incident in the academy. Hina Xiao Lian was busy asking for their parents'' permission to go to Europe at the invitation from Serafina.


    The people that Serafina had invited were not just the usual four, but she invited Lucy, who apparently agreed with that. Still, she wouldn''t spend too much time in Europe because she had to go home to America to see her parents in the summer, as she had promised.


    Hina was pardoned after Hisako, and Hiroshi knew that she would be going with Soma; as for Xiao Lian, she was the hardest to get approval, but after she begged her aunt, who is currently buried in paperwork in the ce. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she let Xiao Lian have her holiday in Europe.


    Currently, the five of them are riding the private ne Serafina owns. n and Violet alsoe; they will act as attendants to their needs while on the ne.


    The four girls gathered around one ce, sitting on afy sofa, each of them holding a card, ying Old Maid.


    "Here, Silver hair, it''s your turn".


    "Mm".


    Hina has two cards in her hands; she shows it''s back to Xiao Lian. What she had were the old maid itself or Joker on the left side and three diamonds on the right. Xiao Lian probed Hina''s expression while she alternated her fingers from left to right. She did that multiple times before she took the left one.


    Xiao Lian, who picked the Joker, gulped her saliva, but her expression didn''t show anything else, only a disappointed sigh that she didn''t throw a cark on her deck.


    "Senior Lucy".


    "Yes!".


    With a tense atmosphere surrounding her body, Lucy''s trembling finger reaching toward the three cards in Xiao Lian''s hand alternated her choices while sometimes probing Xiao LIan''s face. Still, nothing was shown as she was, as usual, expressionless.


    "I''ll take this one! Ah?!".


    "Ahaha, again? You are loved by the old maid".


    "How did you know?".


    "You are not good in terms of lying".


    Serafina, who crackedughter from beside her, alternated her choices as she observed Lucy''s facial expression, and true to her thought, Lucy''s expression changed depending on what card Serafina''s finger touched.


    But Serafina didn''t make a hasty decision. She decided to tease Lucy further while battling in terms of mental, and when the time came, she snatched the card from Lucy''s hand


    "This one".


    "No!".


    A shrill escaped Lucy''s mouth as the atmosphere inside the ne turned lively instantly, and the other girlsughed at her reaction.


    Meanwhile, Soma sat alone in the corner while, as usual, dividing his consciousness and circting his Mana around his body while also putting his open palms together, stacking them on top of each other. From his palm emerged a tiny crackle that came from his lightning magic. He trained it along with the Mana maniption magic.


    Thanks to his Adapt skill, his mana maniption had reached level three, and lightning magic had reached level two in a week''s practice. His feat was nothing but outstanding, and if the whole world knows it, he will be showered with insults because of how absurd his training progress is.


    After a while, when the tension of the ne had subsided, someone approached his side, and when Soma opened his eyes, he saw Hina looking at him, amazed by his diligence. She felt a bit ashamed of only the one who was ying.


    "Train?".


    "Yeah, as usual".


    "Let me join too".


    "Go ahead".


    Seeing Soma closed his eyes and submerged in his train. Hina also sat beside him and then regted her breathing before slowly circting the mana around her body and the surrounding mana.


    However, something is strange as the undtion around her gets stronger and rouses Soma''s curiosity. Hina, who was in the middle of the chaos, kept closing her eyes, then she opened it, and her pupils shone in a brilliant glimmer that dissipated instantly.


    "I level up!".


    "Congrattions".


    Soma loosened his facial muscles as he felt joy seeing her grow. After waiting for months, Hina finally reached level 5 in Mana maniption, the same rank as Xiao Lian. She felt ted, and for some reason, she didn''t want to get left behind by Xiao Lian.


    "Hina, congrattions".


    Serafina and the other girls who caught the news of Hina''s growth began to gather around her and make the ce turn noisy, but eventually, the excitement didn''tst long as n approached their side and simply said.


    "Everyone, we will arrive at the airport in about two minutes from now on, so please, I suggest that everyone buckle up".


    "Thanks, n".


    "It was my pleasure, youngdy".


    The ne, as n said, began to lower its altitude, giving them a sense of floating briefly; then, they could see the airport with its long asphalt road stretched forward as the ne rode on it. Slowly, the speed reduced, and then it stopped.


    All of the passengers inside began to stand up from their seats and, at the same time, approached the door, which opened, and below them, a limousine had already awaited their arrival.


    "We wee you home, youngdy".


    A male wearing a formal ck suit and ck sses with a prim appearance and handsome constitution hurriedly escorted Serafina and her gang to the limousine.


    "Everyone, please make yourselffortable".


    ***


    Along the way, for more than thirty minutes, the atmosphere in the limousine was quiet while the trio of First-years were submerged in their training, and the two seniors who got swept in the atmosphere began circting their mana as well.


    The car finally stopped and everyone stopped their training. They thought they were arriving, but the car was being inspected before the steel gate opened.


    "Everyone, we almost arrived!".


    Serafina had an unusual attitude as she fidgeted in her seat, making Lucy chuckle. At the same time, the other three stared at her dumbfounded, including Soma, because this was the untold story about a person named Serafina Lawrence, after all.


    "You seemed excited?".


    Out of Curiosity, Soma opened his mouth, which made Serafina and the other girls in ce turn their gaze at him.


    "Well, Yeah, and I felt a bit nervous about this".


    "What is it, Senior Sera? ".


    Hina, who was curious, opened her question session, but Serafina just smiled, dodging everyone''s questions.


    "You will find out soon".


    With that as a cue, no one opened their mouth as the limousine drove silent in this vast garden before it stopped in front of a mansion with many people who awaited the limousine''s arrival.


    n opened the door, and once the passengers stepped outside, They were weed by a huge mansion painted in red with white lines that formed a brick wall stered across the wall. In front of it, a tall twin door opened, and many people were standing, including one woman who was sitting on top of a wheelchair.


    "Mama!".


    Serafina''s outburst, when calling the woman who sat in a wheelchair mama, brought the three juniors'' attention to her side, who dashed forward, approaching her mother, weing her with a big smile.


    "Sera, my darling daughter".


    The woman in the chair, if Soma observed her carefully, had a bit of a resemnce with Serafina, a beautiful woman with ck hair and eyes a bit mature, but herplexion was a bit pale; he wondered what had happened to her.


    The mother of Serafina cast her gentle gaze toward them and, with a soft tone, gave her greetings.


    "You must be Sera''s friend, right? Thank you foring to this farawaynd to apany my daughter; I wee you all".