Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst

"Don't look so impressed, it was just a small demonstration of my first disciple's skill, nothing out of the ordinary."

In the midst of the impressive meeting hall, Sigrún's voice, brimming with self-assurance, rang out. She was trying to make it seem as if what everyone had just witnessed through the holographic screens—where a young Ascended-level had completely dominated a Revealed-level beast and killed it within a matter of seconds—was nothing special. A typical case of "humble bragging."

Everyone present, including Eleonora, rolled their eyes upon hearing the boastful blonde woman. Sigrún wore an enormous grin that nearly stretched from ear to ear and gazed at her disciple's gallant figure with shining eyes. He, in turn, appeared to be saying something to the spirit still around his neck, his hand on his chin as he thought deeply.

"Those movements look slightly familiar..." Adrian remarked, his hand on his chin as he tried to recall where he had seen similar techniques before. However, his thoughts were cut short when Sigrún's voice once again sounded, brimming with conceit.

"Those moves aren't much, just something my disciple stumbled upon by chance at a university auction some time ago. He played around with them a bit, and this is the result. It still needs a bit of refinement, but it's good for young people to experiment on their own."

"You're not serious, are you? Did Erik really manage to modify Zhang Tao's sword technique?" A shocked Adrian asked with his eyes wide open as he looked at a Sigrún, who had a not-so-well-concealed smug expression on her face, as her words reminded him where he knew the technique from.

"Yes, it's not much, and it still needs some polishing, since my Erik didn't have much time to play with it." Sigrún commented as if it were a trivial matter that a mere thirty-year-old Ascended had managed to modify a complex Arcane-level sword technique to fit his dual-machete style—something that would take even a Master-level practitioner some time.

Not wanting to inflate Sigrún's vanity any further, those present avoided responding. Still, the look in their eyes changed when they regarded the star-haired young man on the screen, who seemed tireless in displaying increasingly impressive and valuable abilities.

This stirred a slight sense of envy in their hearts for Sigrún's luck in finding such an outstanding disciple—a fact that Eleonora, Sigrún, and Seraphina noticed with ease. Proud smiles graced their delicate faces as they began considering what rewards they might grant their beloved Erik.

Seated in his place, Ryoma observed Erik with a deep, idea-filled gaze but decided to watch the monstrously talented boy a bit longer before taking any action. Thus, he remained silent, splitting his personal holographic display to show a divided screen: his beloved granddaughter occupying almost the entire central section, and the boy displayed in a smaller pane on the left.

As for the Director, he watched Erik on the holographic screen with a calm smile. Though it was truly astonishing for someone so young to accomplish such a feat, if Erik really was a child of the Myst, something like this wasn't entirely beyond the realm of possibility. It would, however, make him a rather talented and capable individual among them, from what he knew.