<h4>Chapter 509 - via''s Failure</h4>


    "What-what about us?" Maia asked through a whisper, luckily, the manor was empty and the empty study helped sound carry easily. Else her question wouldn''t even have been heard.


    "I was thinking of having you continue to care for the other house. I didn''t expect to receive a manor when buying it and don''t really know what to do with either. Please, keep it in good condition for me."


    "Of course!" Maia replied with force Eldrian didn''t know she had.


    He smiled and nodded before turning his eyes to the book. Starting from the front, Eldrian slowly sunk deep into reading.


    ...


    The rest of the day passed quickly as Eldrian lost himself in the book, impressed by the theories that the author had proposed and also what he had been able to determine himself.


    ''Indeed, if I was still reliant on spell modules, focusing on the nodes would be an important step in gaining more control over the spells. I can see how Ogen wasn''t able to put it into practice. Entering the magic abyss seems to truly be hard for the natives of Gaia...''


    Eldrian mumbled while climbing out of the cabin. Not muchter, just as he had finished showering and changing, a knock appeared on his door.


    "via?" Eldrian questioned, not having expected her at all. Normally Gengxin or the others would just visit him if they wanted. So he assumed she was here for another reason.


    Her not being in Miracle clothing but instead a summer dress in the midst of winter was also extremely confusing. Granted, the entire building was temperature controlled so it wasn''t that unusual. Eldrian was in a simple shirt and shorts himself.


    In fact, at the moment his shirt was clinging to him thanks to not having dried properly upon hearing the knocking. His hair also told the story of a recent shower.


    "Hi! You made another massive leap forward!" via said excitedly while diving past Eldrian and onto his bed.


    Turning around, Eldrian looked at her questioningly. "What are you doing here?"


    "What? Did you want to keep me at your door?"


    "Well, I certainly didn''t think you would just barge past me," Eldrian said as he finally left the doorway and mbered into the chair next to his desk.


    His room was full but bare at the same time. There was a small pile of clothes in the corner next to the bathroom, his bed, the cabin, and then his desk with the provided PC. Eldrian had no personal items and he wasn''t really someone who understood them.


    Though, currently, there were three thick books on the corner of the desk too. Eldrian was halfway through the first, but honestly, these books couldn''t hold a candlepared to the one written by Ogen that he was reading.


    The two looked at each other in silence for a while, when it was bing unbearable via finally broke the silence.


    "Where did you learn to dance like that? You never leave your room and in the game you are always training or fighting."


    "You mean?" Eldrian blushed as he recalled that he was always being observed. Thus far, he hadn''t really clicked how embarrassing that could be. Joren and the others always kept things professions, via just broke that finely kept bnce.


    "Yeah, you were throwing Vivian around like a pro. Soe one, where did you learn? When did you learn?"


    "That..." Eldrian paused as he recalled learning with his sister for the end-of-year dance of his school. Though, in the end, he hadn''t even made use of what he had learned as he had just sat and watched everyone else enjoy themselves.


    "My sister, she''s an amazing dancer. Loves going out and enjoying herself."


    "And you?"


    "Me?" Somehow, Eldrian was shocked that he hadn''t expected the question. "I have too many things I have to do..."


    Eldrian didn''t like that response one bit, nor did via. So, she took the initiative to ask, "So you don''t dislike it? Then?"


    "Wait- You want to?"


    "Why not?" via said while trying to hide her burning cheeks.


    Seeing her act so shyly, Eldrian realized that she wasn''t bad-looking. No, she was quite pretty. It was just that normally she was dressed in Miracle''s signature clothing, the summer dress certainly added to that shy maiden look she had now.


    "That... I don''t know. Dancing with Vivian was..." Eldrian smiled at the mere memory. That was the first time he had danced with anyone besides his sister, and the pace at which they had gone was far past anything his sister had taught him.


    With how often Eldrian and Vivian sparred, they knew each other''s limits extremely well and were able to adjust to each other almost instantly. It had allowed Eldrian to use all his three hundred-ish points of agility to its fullest.


    "You really like her, don''t you?" via smile, naturally as part of the monitoring team she had watched Eldrian and Vivian fight, talk, joke, sightsee, and more, more than once.


    "I-I, I do," Eldrian admitted.


    "But... You do know she is only virtual, she isn''t real."


    Eldrian didn''t be angry at herment, nor did he let it disturb him. Instead, he smiled and looked via in the eyes.


    "She might not be real to you, but for me; she is as real as can be."


    "I-I... I see." via quickly averted her eyes as she wondered where to go from here. Naturally, as someone who has ced nearly all her focus on her career, this was the first time she had taken the initiative to try and ask someone out. And to have that end as a refusal...


    Standing up, she prepared to leave. However, Eldrian asked her something before she could.


    "Where did you want to go?"


    "But?" via turned to Eldrian in confusion, looking for clues as he smiled at her.


    "We can go as friends, I quite enjoyed dancing and wouldn''t mind going out. We can invite the others too."


    via sighed internally but put up a smile and nodded before leaving. Asking herself just what she had been thinking while Eldrian was left still wondering where she had had in mind.


    ...


    The next day Eldrian logged in right after his midday tutoring and immediately got back to reading Ogen''s book, which was more just a collection of his research and theories.


    Eldrian absolutely loved reading the path that this mage had taken on learning magic and how fastly different it was from his own. The topics had little direct meaning to Eldrian, but they fascinated him nheless.


    When the sun rose, Eldrian stood up from the table and book with a heavy heart. Taking a deep breath, he told himself to just get it over with. And as he was leaving his study, he pped his cheeks.


    ''Come on! You can''t let them know this is a frustrating thing to do.''


    What was this thing? It was greeting the new staff, of course!


    On any other day, before having dived into magic theories, this would have just been an ufortable experience. Now, it was both ufortable and something which distracted from his reading!


    "Darren," Eldrian nodded as he looked at the twenty-seven people in his reception hall.


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