My Disciples Grind, I Get 100x Their Progress

The strongest reason driving Julian’s suspicion toward Ilunia came down to one single, remarkably simple question.

Who actually had enough information to know Julian had been attacked, then acted on it so quickly?

From that question alone, Julian instantly knew it had to be Ilunia.

The girl was a seer, and unlike Julian, who almost never received any prophecies or visions at all, Ilunia frequently received them instead.

That alone confirmed something genuinely significant to Julian. The fact that Ilunia was, quite literally, probably closer to him than he’d realized.

Whatever the girl had glimpsed in the future clearly had some connection to Julian himself.

Which was exactly why Julian wasn’t remotely surprised.

’Congratulations on my progress? Which progress, exactly?’

As it happened, Julian had managed to secure quite a bit of progress in a single night. Progress related to his mental struggles, progress from creating a new skill, and finally, progress from breaking through to Rank-D.

Well, honestly, which one didn’t really matter much. It was entirely possible Ilunia was congratulating him on every single bit of progress Julian had made.

Now, it just came down to asking.

Should Julian bring this up directly, or not?

’Well, staying silent isn’t going to help either.’

Julian glanced at Ilunia across from him, about to speak, but before he could, Ilunia spoke first.

”Master, is something troubling your mind?”

”...How did you know that?” Julian was startled by that sudden remark. But, perhaps thanks to Fearless, his surprise was minimal, and he recovered quickly.

”My instinct told me so.”

”Oh...”

Instinct, she says.

Julian’s lips twitched slightly, unsure how best to respond to that. But since things had gone this far, Julian figured he shouldn’t hold back any longer.

”Ilunia, the night I was attacked, did you do something?”

The moment that sentence left his mouth, Ilunia kept her smile in place. The girl didn’t look startled at all, simply tilting her head slightly to the side and answering:

”Yes.”

The answer was simple. Her sweet, soft voice, almost like a whisper, echoed gently in Julian’s ears.

With that, what was Julian supposed to do now?

’So, all those terrifying acts really were done by Ilunia...? Seriously?’

Julian found himself at a loss for words, staring at Ilunia. The girl’s golden hair fluttered slightly in the breeze, her whole appearance radiating nothing but innocence and helplessness.

Julian was about to believe exactly that, when Ilunia suddenly spoke again.

”I was a little worried. So, I asked an acquaintance of mine to help.”

She hesitated slightly, smiling a bit nervously, then added.

”I just didn’t expect them to be that ruthless about it. I’ve heard about what they did. I’m sorry if it bothered you, Master.”

Julian blinked.

”You weren’t the one who told them to write all those terrifying lines in blood?”

Ilunia shook her head, then froze, went silent for a moment, and finally answered after a pause.

”Actually, I just told them to make sure Mivelo wouldn’t bother you again, Master.”

And the result was exactly what Julian was seeing now. To stop them, somehow, Ilunia’s acquaintance had gone and done something this genuinely horrifying.

’Ah.’

Julian finally pieced it together, at least roughly. He could also connect the dots between Ilunia’s acquaintance and everything else that had happened.

Unlike how she appeared, Ilunia clearly wasn’t as simple as she looked. She had an acquaintance who clearly held real power and influence, enough to pull off something like this.

An acquaintance bold enough to openly offend a great family. That also explained how Ilunia had managed to help Julian with other matters too, like the sponsorship issue or the whole Eland incident.

’So, before I even met Ilunia, she already knew about me?’

How genuinely terrifying.

Julian somehow felt that he could no longer view Ilunia as just an ordinary, innocent girl.

Let his guard down even slightly, and Julian might just witness this girl doing something genuinely dangerous, given the kind of extraordinary connections she apparently had.

With an awkward smile on his face, Julian pictured that scenario playing out, then quickly wiped the thought from his mind entirely.

”So, Ilunia, why are you skipping class? You didn’t come here just to chat with me, did you?”

”Yes. I have something to tell Master, but... I also genuinely did come here to chat with you, Master.”

Ilunia flashed that sweet smile of hers again. A smile so bright that Julian felt like the surrounding area might sprout flowers just from it alone.

Still, he held himself in check, refusing to fall for that sweet smile’s trap. Ilunia, with her angelic appearance, might very well be the one most likely to harbor a heart closer to a devil’s.

Of course, that was just a random thought crossing his mind. Besides, there was no way Ilunia would actually go that far, right?

Clearing his throat, Julian finally answered.

”What is it?”

Ilunia had skipped class and come all the way here just to see him. Could Julian assume this was something important?

Related to a prophecy, perhaps?

”So, Master.”

Ilunia, for her part, didn’t hold back and got straight to what she wanted to say.

”Could I come with you?”

”Hmm? Come with me where?”

”To meet the merchant.”

The moment those words dropped, Julian fell silent, genuinely taken aback.

’How far into the future has this girl actually seen?’

Julian felt like an open book that Ilunia could just read at will. That made the girl a little unsettling, fortunately, Julian was currently under Fearless’s influence.

So, he calmly asked in return.

”Why do you want to come along?”

Aclyris’s location sat within a Rank-C Invaded Territory, a place teeming with plenty of Rank-C Invaders.

At first, Julian had planned to visit Aclyris only once he’d properly prepared himself. Well, honestly, he’d originally been genuinely terrified of going there at all, still being just a Rank-D himself.

But right now, under Fearless’s influence, Julian felt no fear whatsoever. If anything, he felt that as long as he had sufficient information about the territory, he’d probably make it there safely.

And if he had to bring Ilunia along, that meant taking on far more problems than he could currently handle on his own.

Which was exactly why Julian asked first. Honestly, he didn’t want to bring Ilunia along, simply because he wasn’t confident in the outcome.

”I have something I genuinely need, Master. And, thanks to my prophecy, I actually know one route believed to be fairly safe, one Invaders rarely cross. I have a pretty clear visual picture of it in my mind.”

In that case, the story might play out differently.

Julian had no idea just how safe the route Ilunia mentioned actually was, but it was clearly something worth considering. And, seeing how Ilunia seemed to be avoiding an explanation for why she wanted to meet Aclyris in the first place, Julian decided not to press further either.

”I’ll think about it.”

A safe route didn’t guarantee safety. Julian genuinely didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks, especially considering how he himself might react to all this.

If he weren’t under Fearless’s influence right now, what would he actually feel?

At this moment, Julian felt no fear whatsoever. He couldn’t feel it at all, to the point where he genuinely believed that even once Fearless deactivated, he might stay exactly like this, no longer afraid of anything at all.

But that was merely a feeling. Because, based on reasonable theory, Julian might end up facing some kind of rebound effect from his current actions.

Which was exactly why Julian didn’t make an immediate decision, choosing instead to think it over first.

Ilunia didn’t press further, immediately agreeing and thanking Julian for even considering her request.

The girl looked genuinely pleased as she turned her face away. While Julian sank into his own thoughts, Ilunia did the same.

She sank into her own private thoughts.

’Finally.’

Whatever she’d been waiting for seemed to be drawing ever closer.