Chapter 80
The academy seemed normal, too normal. Students continued walking through the garden paths carrying books and equipment. Distant conversations echoed naturally across the school grounds while the afternoon wind moved gently through the trees as though nothing unusual had ever happened.
Yet Nille knew better.
Time had regressed, just for a for few hours, but having that kind of power is beyond the realm shamanism can do, the level system the academy establish was created to see the achievement and changes of the students , but what Nille encountered wasn't even part or near anythingrelated to shamanistic practice.
Nille though may, just maybe he was spared by one of the two deans , or maybe the newly fused dragon heart and the celestial cloth help he retain his memories , not completely erased, but redirected.
And only he remained aware of it, even Nyx had a hard time recalling this memories as if it was block of remove, Nille took a deep breath and gave everything a second thought , this what he promised Nyx , to it through and see all the possible angles , the Lycan King is just a different matter, but hearing Imto Dimas that crazy Encanto Trickster Knowing who he was related to made him weary and curious.
The Drake incident.
Urto Dimas.
The manipulation of the Lycans.
And now, the revelation that Imto was Urto Dimas' sister.
None of those connections felt isolated anymore.
They formed a pattern.
A widening problem.
And for reasons Nille did not yet fully understand, that problem was beginning to move closer toward him personally.
Especially after Imto mentioned Kaunake's scarf directly.
That alone proved his existence had already entered their awareness.
Which meant remaining passive was no longer an option.
Nille lowered his gaze slightly.
If he wanted answers, then entering the hunting grounds alone was now the most reasonable path forward.
Group movement would only slow him down.
And worse, place others in danger if the situation escalated again.
The footsteps approaching him finally stopped nearby.
Alice stood with her crossbow resting against her shoulder while Diallo and Naveen waited expectantly beside her.
"So?" Naveen asked with a small grin. "Joining us?"
For a brief moment, Nille remained silent.
Then he slowly closed the book in his hands and stood up calmly from the garden bench.
"I appreciate the invitation," he said politely.
His tone remained calm and sincere, without coldness.
"But I'll have to decline."
The three looked slightly surprised.
Nille continued before they could misunderstand.
"There are some things I need to confirm personally inside Sector 6."
Diallo frowned slightly.
"You planning to hunt alone?"
Nille gave a small nod.
"Again I am sorry , but something came, For now i Need to act on it alone."
Alice crossed her arms lightly, but he wasnt upset , she has that disappointed look on her face
"That's dangerous even for skilled students."
"I know, but for reasons i really cant explain, "
His answer came naturally.
Not arrogant. Just factual.
Naveen scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"You sure about this?"
Nille adjusted the borrowed history book slightly beneath his arm before responding.
"I work better alone when trying to understand unfamiliar environments. again i never intend to be a loner , but certain things is just to weirdly unpredictable here, i cant be the one that might bring you to danger, I am not that well rounded in fighting "
That explanation, at least, was believable enough.
And partially true.
Because what Nille truly intended to investigate, he could not explain openly.
Not without sounding insane.
Ancient manipulations.
Time interference.
Hidden entities attempting to break isolation laws.
And a supernatural lineage connected to imprisoned monsters.
Those were not things ordinary students should be dragged into casually.
Alice studied him quietly for a moment before sighing.
"You really are the loner type, huh?"
A faint, almost apologetic smile appeared briefly on Nille's face.
"…It became a habit out of choice, my eerly wasn't all sun shine and glee"
The answer carried enough honesty that none of them pressed further.
Diallo eventually nodded.
"Then just don't die in there."
Nille gave a small nod in return.
"I'll try, again thank you for even considering me as a part of your group"
The atmosphere lightened slightly afterward.
No tension.
No offense taken.
Just quiet acceptance.
As the three classmates eventually turned to leave and regroup with the others, Nille remained standing beneath the garden trees, his expression gradually losing its softness once they were gone.
Inside his mind, Nyx spoke quietly.
"You are thinking about me , when i was still a Drake."
Nille's eyes narrowed slightly toward the distant direction of Academy exit
"Yes, sadly Nyx the memories that became part of your own is somewhat gaining its own narative, i thought everything were just coincidence "
Nyx was a bit confused, as it never heard Nille spoke like that, because now Nille understood something important. the attack on the Drake might never have been random.
And if Imto Dimas truly stood behind and was part of it, then the reach of this problem was already far larger than he initially believed.
Nille remained beneath the garden trees long after his classmates had left.
The borrowed history book rested quietly beneath his arm while his thoughts drifted back toward a single detail that continued bothering him.
Kaunake's scarf.
Or more accurately, the partially formed Celestial Cloth had become a hidden piece of equipment fused into Nille's very existence, constantly protecting his body. The moment Imto Dimas saw him, she recognized it immediately and openly admitted she had once been involved in its acquisition.
That alone deeply unsettled him.
Ever since inheriting the artifact, Nille had been extremely careful. He never revealed it openly, never activated it recklessly, and avoided drawing unnecessary attention to its existence whenever possible.
Even during combat, he relied mostly on physical skill while using the Cloth only to stabilize and control his spiritual techniques more effectively.
And yet somehow—
Imto still knew.
Nille's expression hardened slightly.
Inside his mind, he quietly asked,
"Nyx… was I being monitored this entire time?"
A brief silence followed.
Nyx began reviewing everything she had observed since becoming his steward and integrating herself into the partially awakened Celestial Cloth.
Every battle.
Every interaction.
Every fluctuation of spiritual energy surrounding him.
Then she finally answered.
"No."
Nille narrowed his eyes slightly.
Nyx continued carefully.
"There are no indicators suggesting long-term surveillance directed specifically toward you."
Another pause followed as she processed the information further.
Then her tone shifted.
"In fact… concealment is one of the primary strengths of the Celestial Cloth itself."
That immediately drew Nille's full attention.
"The artifact does not simply protect the wearer physically," Nyx explained.
"It suppresses presence."
"Lineage."
"Spiritual signatures."
"Even conceptual detection to a certain extent."
Nille remained silent as he listened.
That explanation answered many questions he had unconsciously carried for a long time.
Why instructors rarely focused on him despite his abnormal spiritual readings.
Why high-level Malignants often reacted strangely around him.
Why even powerful entities seemed unable to fully understand what he was carrying unless directly exposed to it.
Nyx continued.
"Under normal circumstances, no ordinary observer should have recognized the Cloth."
A brief pause followed.
"Which means Imto Dimas identifying it immediately leaves only two reasonable possibilities."
Nille already understood where the logic was leading.
"She either knows Kaunake personally…"
"…or she belongs to a faction connected to beings capable of recognizing Celestial relics."
Nyx could not confirm either possibility yet, but the implication settled heavily in Nille's mind.
Because both possibilities were dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Especially if beings like the Dalaketnon known as Apo Lakay truly existed beyond the isolated sectors of the island.
Nille quietly thought,
"Without direct bloodline sensing like King Lykos used, detecting the Cloth should have been nearly impossible."
That realization narrowed the possibilities even further.
Then another thought surfaced.
"And King Lykos never sensed the Celestial Cloth."
Nyx immediately understood his reasoning.
The Lycan King had sensed the Dragon Heart through direct bloodline resonance, tracing the layered ancestry hidden within Nille himself. Yet despite that deep metaphysical inspection, Lykos never once reacted to the existence of the Cloth.
Which meant the concealment truly worked.
Nille's eyes narrowed slightly.
"So based on Imto Dimas' reaction…"
His voice became quieter.
"She already knew I possessed the Cloth before we ever met."
Nyx did not answer immediately this time.
Because the implication behind that conclusion was deeply unsettling.
Imto had not discovered the artifact during the battle.
She had recognized it instantly.
Meaning she either already knew exactly what to look for—
or she had known about Nille long before their encounter ever began.
That realization disturbed Nille far more than the battle itself.
The Celestial Cloth was specifically designed to suppress detection. Even powerful entities struggled to perceive its existence unless directly exposed to its influence. Yet Imto had identified it immediately the moment she saw him.
And she had done so with familiarity.
As if she had expected him to possess it.
Worse still, she also knew Granny Amparo by name.
Not as a historical figure.
Not as a distant rumor.
But personally enough to curse both her and the bloodline connected to her.
That single detail changed everything.
Because it implied prior knowledge.
Preparation.
History.
Nille slowly lowered his gaze in thought.
This was no longer a random chain of strange events surrounding the cursed island.
Someone—or something—already knew who he was before he ever entered the academy.
Nyx spoke quietly afterward.
"This suggests your existence may have already been accounted for long before your arrival here."
Nille did not respond immediately.
Because deep down, he had already begun reaching the same conclusion himself.
And what unsettled him even more was the way Imto reacted to the Celestial Cloth itself.
Her anger had not sounded like frustration toward an unfamiliar artifact.
It sounded personal.
Resentful.
Almost envious.
As though she understood exactly what the Cloth was capable of… yet could never use it herself.
Nille could only speculate for now, but the possibility continued bothering him.
Especially when combined with the way she reacted to Granny Amparo's name.
People did not speak like that toward strangers.
Imto's words carried familiarity.
History.
Emotion.
She would not have spoken with that much hatred unless she truly knew Granny Amparo personally, or at the very least knew the bloodline connected to her.
And for the first time since arriving at the academy, Nille felt an overwhelming need to speak with his great-grandmother directly.
Not through assumptions.
Not through fragmented clues.
But face to face.
Because too many things no longer made sense.
The Celestial Cloth.
The Dragon Heart.
The Dimas siblings.
The Drake incident.
And now the possibility that Granny Amparo had been hiding truths connected to all of it.
Nille quietly exhaled. Unfortunately, returning home was another problem entirely.
The cursed island was isolated by ancient laws, violent storms, and spatial restrictions powerful enough to trap entire races inside designated sectors. Travel was heavily controlled, especially for first-year students.
And worse, Nille could barely remember how he had arrived there in the first place.
The memories surrounding his transfer to the academy felt fragmented, almost dreamlike after the incident that had left him temporarily comatose.
One moment he had still been connected to ordinary life.
Then suddenly, he was already there.
Inside the academy.
Inside the cursed island.
As though part of the transition itself had been deliberately erased.
Nyx immediately sensed the suspicion growing inside him.
"You believe information was intentionally withheld from you."
Nille remained silent for several seconds before finally answering.
"…I think I was brought here for a reason."
Another thought lingered heavily in his mind.
The Right Dean carried the same surname as his great-grandfather.
At this point, the possibility that they were related no longer felt like coincidence.
Yet despite that, Nille felt no real connection toward the man.
The deeper he examined everything surrounding the academy as a so-called "school," the less it resembled an institution of learning and the more it felt like something carefully constructed for another purpose entirely.
He was not blind to the information openly available to students regarding the Right Dean's identity. But even knowing that, he remained emotionally detached from it.
A shared surname alone meant nothing.
At most, the man might have been a distant ancestor connected to his bloodline.
But beyond that, he was still a complete stranger.
And that realization only deepened Nille's confusion further.
If he truly had no meaningful ties to this place or its leadership…
Then why was he brought here at all?
Why had he been placed inside this cursed island under circumstances he could barely remember?
More importantly, what exactly were they trying to hide from him?
Or perhaps, what were they trying to hide him from?
And at the center of everything remained the unanswered question lingering in Nille's mind:
Who was the Dalaketnon truly working with, and how deeply were the Dimas siblings involved in the larger scheme unfolding beneath the island's surface?
Nille looked up toward the darkened sky and slowly took a deep breath, forcing his thoughts to settle into order.
The cold wind passed quietly through the isolated sector while countless questions continued circling inside his mind.
After several moments of silence, he spoke softly to himself.
"I need an advantage before whatever happens next."
Inside the Celestial Cloth, Nyx sensed the weight behind those words immediately.
She understood that Nille was no longer thinking only about survival.
He was thinking ahead.
About hidden enemies.
About preparation.
About information he still did not fully understand.
Curious, Nyx finally asked,
"What are you thinking about so deeply?"
Nille remained silent for a few seconds before answering.
"Imto Dimas."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"More specifically… her connection to the Celestial Cloth."
Nyx listened carefully.
Nille slowly raised a hand toward the scarf wrapped around his neck—the visible outer layer of the partially awakened Celestial Cloth.
"If I remove this temporarily… would it completely hide the Cloth's presence?"
A brief pause followed.
Then he asked the more important question.
"Or would Imto still recognize me because of my connection to Granny Amparo?"
Nyx became unusually quiet after hearing that.
Because the answer was not simple.
After carefully processing the nature of the Celestial Cloth and everything that had occurred during the encounter with Imto, she finally responded.
"Removing the scarf may reduce active resonance… but it would not erase prior recognition."
Nille remained silent and allowed her to continue.
"The Celestial Cloth is no longer just an external artifact," Nyx explained calmly.
"After merging with your spiritual pathways and absorbing the Dragon Heart's influence, parts of the Cloth have already synchronized with your soul, aura, and even your body itself."
"Even if you remove the visible form, traces of its existence will still remain connected to you."
Nille's expression hardened slightly.
That was troublesome.
Nyx continued,
"For most beings, this would not matter. The Cloth's concealment is still extremely effective against ordinary detection methods."
Then her tone became more serious.
"However…this Imto Dimas being you mentioned , is no longer an ordinary case."
"If she truly has a connection to the Cloth or understands Celestial relics, then this situation becomes far more dangerous."
That immediately clarified the real problem.
Imto had already seen him once.
And if she had been affected by the strange time manipulation surrounding the battle, there was a real chance she would remember everything clearly.
Most importantly,
she had already identified the Celestial Cloth once.
That alone changed everything.
Nyx explained further.
"Recognition is different from discovery."
"Before the encounter, Imto likely could not find you because the Cloth was hiding your presence."
"But once she directly saw both you and the artifact together, she formed a conceptual association with you."
Nille immediately understood what she meant.
It was similar to recognizing someone's face.
Once a person had already seen and memorized you, hiding small details afterward became much less effective.
Nyx continued,
"Removing the scarf now will not erase her memory of your spiritual pattern, bloodline resonance, or connection to Granny Amparo."
"At best, it may weaken certain long-range tracking methods if she possesses such abilities."
"But if she meets you again directly, she will most likely still recognize you."
Nille quietly clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The situation had already moved beyond simple concealment.
Nyx then addressed the second issue still bothering him.
"As for Granny Amparo…"
She paused briefly before continuing.
"Imto's reaction was not caused by the Cloth alone."
"Her hostility sounded personal."
"Which means your appearance, spiritual traits, bloodline, or even your behavior may already remind her of that family."
Nille's gaze darkened slightly.
That explanation made sense.
Even if he removed the visible form of the Celestial Cloth completely, Imto would still remember the things connected to him.
His spiritual nature.
The Dragon Heart.
His bloodline.
And most importantly,
his connection to Granny Amparo.
Nyx gave her final conclusion.
"In simple terms… removing the scarf may hide the weapon."
"But it will not erase the identity of the person she already recognized."
Silence followed afterward.
Nille slowly lowered his hand from the scarf.
Deep down, he had already expected that answer.
Because the real danger was no longer the artifact itself.
It was the fact that someone from the island's hidden world had already connected him to a history far larger than he understood.
That realization alone filled Nille's mind with even more questions.
Too many questions.
Every answer he found only seemed to create new uncertainties afterward. The deeper he looked into the mysteries surrounding the academy, the Celestial Cloth, the Dragon Heart, and Granny Amparo, the more complicated everything became.
For a moment, Nille closed his eyes and quietly exhaled.
Then, without realizing it, his thoughts drifted back to his time with Granny Amparo.
Strangely enough, no matter how difficult life became around her, Nille could barely remember ever seeing her truly burdened by it.
She always smiled.
Always laughed.
Always treated life as though even its hardships were simply part of the journey.
Even when problems appeared, she never seemed consumed by fear or endless overthinking.
That memory made Nille pause.
What did Granny Amparo actually do whenever she faced something difficult?
Did she secretly spend sleepless nights drowning herself in serious thoughts and worst-case possibilities?
Did she carry heavy fears behind that smile?
Or…
Did she simply accept that life would always contain uncertainty and choose to move forward anyway?
Nille slowly recalled one of the things she used to tell him when he was younger.
"Apo, life is already hard. Why live your life without happiness?"
"Death is death."
"But being alive should still be filled with smiles."
The memory lingered quietly inside him.
And for the first time in a while, Nille began realizing something important about himself.
He had a habit of overthinking everything.
Whenever new information appeared, his mind immediately tried connecting every possibility together, building complicated assumptions before he even understood the full truth.
He treated every mystery like a puzzle that needed an immediate answer.
Every danger became something he had to mentally prepare for before it even arrived.
But the more he did that, the heavier his thoughts became.
Nyx quietly observed his silence before speaking softly.
"You are trying to predict every possible outcome before allowing yourself to live through any of them."
Nille remained silent.
Because deep down, he knew she was right.
The supernatural world was dangerous.
Hidden factions existed.
Ancient beings moved behind the scenes.
And yes, there were people who might already know more about him than he understood himself.
But despite all of that, his life was still his own.
Not the academy's.
Not the hidden world's.
And not even the Celestial Cloth's.
Those things might influence his path, but they did not control the kind of person he chose to become.
Granny Amparo had likely understood that long ago.
Problems would always exist whether a person worried endlessly or not.
Fear could prepare someone for danger,
but living entirely through fear only turned life itself into another prison.
Nille slowly looked up toward the sky again.
For the first time since the encounter with Imto Dimas, the pressure inside his chest eased slightly.
Maybe he did not need every answer immediately.
Maybe not everything had to be solved tonight.
And maybe Granny Amparo's greatest strength had never been power at all.
Maybe it was simply her ability to keep smiling despite knowing life could become cruel at any moment.
Because in the end, hardship existed everywhere.
In ordinary life.
In the supernatural world.
In war.
In peace.
No one escaped difficulty forever.
But how a person chose to face those hardships,
with fear, bitterness, anger, or acceptance,
was ultimately their own decision.
Nille quietly laughed to himself afterward.
A small laugh.
But genuine.
Because for the first time in a while, he realized something simple.
Even if fate, bloodlines, and ancient mysteries surrounded him,
he still had the freedom to decide how he wanted to live his own life.
From an outside perspective, what was happening inside Nille's mind could no longer be described as ordinary emotional growth. His way of thinking had always been unusually analytical, almost mechanical at times, as though his mind instinctively processed reality like a constantly adapting system rather than through normal emotional impulses alone.
Whenever pressure, danger, or uncertainty appeared, Nille did not simply react emotionally like most people. Instead, his thoughts automatically began reorganizing themselves, separating fear from logic, emotion from decision-making, and uncertainty from action. It was a habit born from survival, but over time it evolved into something far more complex.
Without fully realizing it himself, Nille had begun constructing a new mental framework inside his own mind.
Not a false personality.
Not deception.
But an adaptive persona deliberately shaped to help him endure the growing pressure surrounding his existence.
It functioned almost like a self-created survival mechanism.
A calmer and more emotionally stable version of himself capable of continuing forward even when overwhelmed by unanswered questions, hidden dangers, and impossible truths.
Part of it came from compartmentalization, the ability to separate emotions from immediate action so fear would not cloud his judgment.
Another part came from adaptive masking, where he unconsciously adjusted how he carried himself depending on the situation around him.
There was also self-conditioning, the gradual training of his own mind to remain functional under stress instead of collapsing beneath it.
And most importantly, there was cognitive reframing, the slow realization that not every problem needed to become a burden heavy enough to consume his life.
Most people developed such traits naturally over years of hardship.
But Nille's mind approached it differently.
More deliberately.
Almost consciously.
As though he were rewriting parts of his own emotional structure piece by piece.
It was not because he lacked emotions.
Rather, it was because he felt too much at once and instinctively sought a way to stabilize himself before those thoughts consumed him completely.
In many ways, the process resembled the creation of a self-made emotional mask.
Not to hide from others,
but to protect himself from drowning inside his own thoughts.
And perhaps the most important part of that transformation was this:
For the first time, Nille was no longer shaping himself purely around survival, bloodlines, ancient relics, or the expectations placed upon him by others.
He was beginning to shape himself according to the kind of person he personally wanted to become.