Chapter 93: Intense Focus
On the other side, specifically within the main hall, the children watched Amelia in utter bewilderment as she calmly lowered the magic crystal after uttering those mysterious, concise words before cutting the line. Silence reigned, and confusion and astonishment gripped the faces of everyone present—including the old maid, who stood in a state of wonder mixed with suspicion, completely unable to comprehend what this little girl with the composed demeanor and cold features had just done.
Cathy broke the silence, inquiring in a tone filled with faint hope, "Miss Amelia... will those simple words really bring my father and mother here? They are always so busy. Even when I cry and beg them to come back, they tell me over the crystal that they will finish their research soon and come... but they never do."
Amelia patted her small shoulder, speaking in a tone of absolute certainty that shook Cathy to her core: "Don’t worry, Cathy... I promise you they will be here in less than twenty minutes. In fact, it will go beyond that—they will never leave your side ever again after today."
Amelia smiled inwardly as she recalled the history of the "Ministry of Science." In her past life as Empress, this ministry had not been under her direct control; rather, it fell under the absolute influence of one of her traitorous and ungrateful disciples... Carlson.
Carlson possessed a massive passion for scientific matters and research maneuvers, which was why he had proposed long ago to establish a ministry dedicated to astronomical sciences and the development of star techniques. Granted, a ministry of science already existed back then; Carlson had not built it from scratch. It was exactly like owning a highly successful bakery and suddenly deciding to add the word "Fresh" in a bold font across the shop’s external sign. And poof! Just like that, Carlson had created the "Ministry of Astronomical Sciences." Although this political manipulation did not matter to Amelia at the time, she later understood that he had done it solely to monopolize the credit and glory for himself, showcasing to the public that the achievements of this entire department were purely the product of his own genius and founding.
Yet, when Amelia heard moments ago that Cathy’s parents worked in this exact department and—to her blatant surprise—were laboring to decipher a technique created by her very own hands in her imperial past, her calculations shifted. Under the normal circumstances of her new life, Amelia would never interfere in the Empire’s affairs or flaunt her capabilities. However, seeing Cathy’s broken state and the heartbreaking sight of her tears, a brilliant idea struck her to make Cathy happy and salvage her childhood.
She made a definitive decision: she would hand over the complete [Star Exploration] technique to Cathy! That legendary technique would make her parents and the entire ministry gasp in sheer shock. However, given that time was pressing and would not permit her to explain the spiritual and astronomical dimensions to a small child, Amelia immediately requested paper and a magical writing quill.
The maid rushed to fetch the items. Amelia sat at the table, her hand beginning to move with such blistering, superhuman speed that the lines blurred to the naked eye. She needed only a few minutes. As a dense volume of mana flooded her small arms, a mesmerizing silver glow emanated from the parchment, illuminating the white pages. Her fingers moved with absolute mastery and a rhythmic pace, until she finally finished filling five whole pages with highly complex manuscripts and intricate sigils.
As the speed of her hand gradually slowed under the transfixed gazes of the children, something bizarre occurred. The iron tip of the quill began to vibrate violently. Then, completely out of nowhere, the quill resting between Amelia’s fingers disintegrated into a pile of gray ash right before their eyes—utterly destroyed by the sheer volume of silver energy that had been funneled through it!
The children’s eyes widened, and Brandon muttered in profound shock, "How did that happen?!"
Amelia did not waste a single second in wonder. She extended her small hands and handed the five pages to Cathy, who received them with a startled, hesitant expression.
Amelia spoke in a low, serious tone: "Cathy... there isn’t enough time to explain much right now. But what you hold in your hands is the only weapon capable of making your father and mother stay by your side all the time. This is the impenetrable technique they have been searching for in their laboratories day and night. Commit these pages to memory perfectly, and do not give them to them easily without a price!"
From the old maid’s perspective, however, those overlapping drawings and sigils on the paper looked akin to random "children’s scribbles" that bore no relation to actual writing. Although she occasionally caught glimpses of similar astronomical charts while cleaning the master and lady’s chambers, these hyper-complex schematic shapes led her to believe in her heart that Amelia was simply a clever child who had copied some familiar patterns from here and there to produce a document that merely looked important, simply to soothe Cathy’s mind and comfort her.
Despite hearing Amelia promise the young girl that her parents would be by her side because of these papers, the maid did not believe for a single second that these lines would truly summon them from the heart of a sovereign ministry. Nevertheless, she felt satisfied with herself as a loyal servant, for she had accommodated her young mistress’s childish whims without causing any harm to her masters’ interests.
Amelia reiterated in a hushed voice, "Cathy, preserve these pages carefully. I cannot explain their essence to you right now."
In the end, Cathy was merely a seven-year-old child. If Amelia attempted to explain the dimensions of star energy and celestial trajectories to her through theoretical methods, she wouldn’t comprehend a single word. Amelia’s original strategy was to have the parents read the manuscript directly—and attribute the entire credit to Cathy.
Cathy and the rest of the children, led by Scott and Brandon, leaned forward to examine the charted paper. Scott’s eyes in particular were familiar with seeing star shapes and celestial diagrams due to his upbringing in a family of military advisors.
Brandon contemplated the lines, speaking in a puzzled tone: "What is this?! It looks like a strange and bizarre shape... yet it carries highly familiar traits that closely resemble the star magic arrays taught in the grand academies."
Scott stepped forward, beginning to explain and showcase his knowledge to ease the tense atmosphere: "This formation is called the Scorpio constellation. In the sky, it appears as scattered celestial bodies and stars, but these arrays drawn here resemble the complex geometric matrices calculated using astronomical numbers. They intersect perfectly to produce these kinetic patterns of mana."
Scott abruptly cut himself off, looking at the expression on Cathy’s face. He noticed that she was deeply focused, entirely absorbed in contemplating the paper she held. Her eyes were fixed upon the lines in a strange, unnatural manner, as though she had completely detached from reality and was no longer paying attention to Scott’s words or the presence of those around her.
Scott felt a sharp pang of guilt, assuming she was still sorrowful. He said in a low, apologetic voice,
"Cathy... I know I was wrong and cruel to you earlier when I pressured you in the game and made you cry. I am truly sorry. I can explain everything you want right now based on the extent of my knowledge regarding these charts and astronomical shapes, if you wish."
Although Scott wasn’t entirely certain of the true nature of what Amelia had rapidly drawn, he was begging for any way to make Cathy forgive his prior selfishness.
At that exact microsecond, Albert stepped forward as well, his face cast downward toward the floor as he looked at his feet in immense shame. He spoke in a choked voice,
"I am deeply sorry too, Cathy... I wronged you greatly with my poisoned words. Please forgive us."
The children were trying every possible way to comfort her and draw close to her, under the impression that Amelia had drawn these magical shapes merely as a sort of game or entertainment medium to fix Cathy’s miserable mood.
Yet, amidst their attempts, everyone noticed something unsettling and far outside the norm. Cathy’s eyes did not waver a single millimeter from the text. Instead, she continued to stare with an unnatural, profound depth. Her pupils locked into a state of absolute rigidity, as if she could no longer see anything in this vast world except those five pages resting between her trembling fingers.
Brandon whispered in a worried tone, "Cathy...?"
Suddenly... a flat, sharp voice, entirely devoid of any childlike emotion, escaped the little girl’s lips as she began reading the manuscript in a chilling manner
"The dimensional deduction of the drifting lunar trajectories is... 3.4566... which is the exact precise number used to measure the diametric dimensions of the explored spiritual star energy..."
Upon hearing these words, the blood froze completely in Amelia’s veins, and her self-confidence was violently shaken for the very first time; she doubted the validity of what her own ears were intercepting!
"Isn’t that right, Miss Amelia...? You forgot to write this down... There are many other things you forgot to add as well... You still have a very long way to go..."
Her purple eyes widened in sheer, for she was certain that she had deliberately written only the absolute fundamentals and general rules that adults and scientists could comprehend, and had never placed these precise, deductive calculations or numbers on the paper at all! Furthermore, it was completely impossible for a child Cathy’s age, who hadn’t studied a single iota of magical astronomy, to derive these figures simply by looking.
It became glaringly obvious that something colossal, unexpected, and deeply latent was slumbering within Cathy’s blood