I've Just Been a Little Tired Lately

The two gun-sword sorcerers stared blankly as Sonia hung up immediately after crying for help. The abrupt cutoff made it seem as if the heroine had just been captured by an archvillain. "Um, excuse me," one of the gun-sword sorcerers ventured, "Miss Sevi, what is this...?" "Oh, it has nothing to do with you," Sonia said, waving a hand. "You're only doing your duty, so I won't blame you. But two minutes of my time have already been wasted, and someone has to take responsibility for that. I'm just a student, not qualified to demand an explanation from Truth University, so I called my professor over. Professor Trozan may only be a Sanctuary Sorcerer, but she still has some face, more or less. "When she gets here, just tell her truthfully who ordered you to intercept me and who wanted to restrict my access. Professor Trozan has a foul temper, but at least she won't go around chopping people up indiscriminately. Your lives won't be in danger." The two gun-sword sorcerers exchanged a glance, tapped on their miracle bracelets for a moment, and stepped aside. "The administrative office has approved your entry. Please, go ahead." "No, no." Sonia shook her head and waved her hands, a double rejection of their goodwill. "I've already cried to Professor Trozan for help. I have to wait for her here and report the injustice I suffered. After all, I can't pull this trick very often, but since I have, I need to make the most of it. "Don't worry, I don't blame you. But I suggest you don't act stubborn. That meager salary of yours isn't worth offending a Sanctuary Sorcerer over." "Miss Sevi, please calm down and don't be so angry. We'll—" "So you know I'm angry," Sonia smiled. "See, I'm this angry just from having my time wasted. Guess whether Professor Trozan will be even angrier when she finds out she was tricked into rushing over and wasting her time? I'm her student, so she won't take her temper out on me. Now guess who she will vent on?" A lie. Sonia wasn't really that close to Trozan, not to mention Trozan despised being lied to the most. A severe scolding after going back was inevitable. However, Trozan cared deeply about face. She was the one who had applied for Sonia's access to the Time Training Chamber. Now that Sonia was blocked outside the doors and had specifically summoned her over, no matter how furious Trozan was, she would have to stand up for Sonia. Even if Truth University had stopped Sonia according to rules and regulations, it wouldn't matter. Sword sorcerers weren't prophecy sorcerers; they believed in letting their blades follow their hearts, acting on gut conviction. When it was time to draw their swords, they drew them! Perhaps due to the telepathy shared between sword sorcerers, Sonia was utterly certain Trozan would take her side and never bow or compromise with Truth University. For Trozan's primary discipline wasn't the smooth, ever-adaptable mind faction, nor was it the soft, yielding water sorcery faction, but the indomitable swordsmanship faction! If she didn't dare stand up for her student when she knew the student was in the right, Trozan could kiss any hope of ever advancing her swordsmanship faction to Legendary rank goodbye! Just as Sonia vaguely sensed that if she swallowed her pride and slunk away in defeat today, she could forget about ever advancing her swordsmanship faction to Sanctuary rank until she retaliated! A sudden flash of insight struck her: cultivating a sorcery faction wasn't confined to combat and training alone; it was closely tied to a sorcerer's conduct, their emotions and passions, and their very way of thinking. Sonia had met many sword sorcerers. Sloppy or neat, lively or gloomy, none of them were weak. Even when conceding defeat, their eyes burned with the sharp edge of "just you wait." Come to think of it, when choosing a sorcery faction during her first year, Sonia had picked the Water Sorcery Department because she felt a water sorcerer best matched her ideal image: low-key yet elegant, gentle without being weak, adept at compromise while holding firm to core principles. If she were a water sorcerer, she might have devised a better, gentler way to defuse the malice directed at her. Unfortunately, the Watcher had insisted that she practice the sword. After the Watcher made her experience time and time again the sensation of defending her dignity with a sword, she could never go back to being that timid, cautious village girl. *Even the Watcher didn't dare make me suffer an injustice; why should I take this crap here?!* "Miss Sevi, please don't say such things. We reported your visit to the administrative office promptly; this was a reasonable delay—" "Sorry, but we sword sorcerers are just that uncivilized. Please save those excuses for the Sanctuary Sorcerer." The gun-sword sorcerers realized they had no hope of persuading Sonia. Soon, a young teaching assistant came rushing over. "Miss Sevi—" "Have I offended you?" Sonia cut him off directly. "Of course not—" "Then why did you bar me from the training chamber?" "You've misunderstood," the young assistant said helplessly. "The school recently stepped up security measures—" "Fine." Sonia cut him off again, summoning a sorcery spirit. "This is the Sincerity sorcery spirit. When you lie in front of it, it changes color on its own. Now please say it again: did I misunderstand?" The young assistant's face shifted, and he forced a strained smile. "It's quite rare to see a sword sorcerer carrying a mind sorcery spirit..." Sonia remained silent, watching him coldly. The assistant fell quiet for a moment, then sighed. "I'm just a nobody. Please don't make things difficult for me, all right?" "Fine, I won't make things difficult for you." Sonia looked up toward the horizon. Sensing something, the others looked over as well. A streak of sword light sliced through the blue sky and parted the white clouds as it flew toward them. When it touched the ground, it had already turned into a female swordswoman with fluffy hair. She glanced at Sonia. "From your scream, I thought I'd find you stripped down to your underwear at best, if not completely naked." "Did you come to rescue me, or did you come to watch me get humiliated?" "It's not multiple choice," Trozan said, glancing around. "I broke the Jialesi Flight Restriction Regulations to rush here. You didn't call me out just to tour Truth University, did you?" "Here's what happened. These folks tried to block me from entering the Time Training Chamber, and then asked me not to make things difficult for them. So I called you over, Professor." Sonia spread her hands. "You're the one who applied for my reservation at the Time Training Chamber. By keeping me out, they aren't slapping my face—they're slapping your heart-shaped butt, Professor!" Trozan glared sharply at her student, tugged down the hem of her jacket, and turned to face the young teaching assistant. "Professor Trozan, Miss Sevi, this was truly just a mis—" When Sonia summoned the Sincerity sorcery spirit again, the young assistant stammered for a second, unable to continue. "I lied. The Sincerity sorcery spirit can't detect lies," Sonia smiled. "So you're welcome to lie right to a Sanctuary Sorcerer's face. Don't be shy." As if his spine had been extracted, the young assistant hung his head and sighed. "I guarantee such an error will not happen a second time." "You only admit your mistake when I show up? I'm not an Apology sorcery spirit; I don't think I possess that ability, do I?" Trozan raised an eyebrow. "Speak. Who is targeting my student?" "Professor, think about it. Could it be someone you offended?" Trozan pondered for a moment, looking down at her fingers to count: "One, two, three, four, five..." "Pretend I never asked." Sonia walked toward the off-white building and said, "I'll leave the rest to you, Professor. I'm going in to train—fifteen minutes have already been wasted... Professor, I don't believe a single punctuation mark of his guarantee. Can you promise me that I won't run into this kind of gratuitous malice again?" "Are you the professor or am I? Expecting me to make promises to you?" Trozan scoffed coldly. Sonia shrugged. As she turned to leave, she heard Trozan add, "Next time, just call me over directly. There's no need to screech so miserably." Nailed it. Sonia knew Professor Trozan would definitely blow this matter up, making trouble for everyone involved until Truth University couldn't save face! And that was precisely the result she wanted. *You can disgust me, but don't expect to have an easy time either! Large as it looms, at worst I'll take a beating from Professor Trozan when I get back, but you guys are getting your bonuses docked!* Entering the Time Training Chamber, she found it divided into strength, agility, and intellect zones. Sonia had reserved a chamber in the strength zone. The moment she stepped inside, her heart pounded violently, and the abrupt surge in gravity nearly brought her to her knees. Time Training Chamber Level 1: 1.1x time acceleration, 1.1x gravity. As the training facility at Truth University that people coveted most, the potency of the Time Training Chamber was beyond dispute. A 1.1x increase in gravity effectively conditioned a sorcerer's entire body, including internal organs, boosting the cultivation efficiency of ascetic faction sorcery spirits by at least 25%. The 1.1x time acceleration did not speed up real time, but rather accelerated the sorcerer's thinking speed. In Sonia's perception, though her thoughts were accelerated, her body remained unchanged, even feeling more sluggish due to the amplified gravity. If she could endure training in this state, her physical body and even her soul would be significantly strengthened, while her perception and reaction speeds could break through their limits. The training chamber provided self-repairing armored dummies. Sonia changed into training clothes, drew her wooden sword, and began swordsmanship practice. But barely ten minutes in, her breathing grew ragged, and her form began to warp. Compared to sorcerers who had eaten well, drunk well, and exercised since childhood, Sonia's foundation was simply too deficient. Setting aside noble scions like Felix and Ingrid, her baseline physical constitution lagged far behind even Adele and Lois. Without enough meat, eggs, and milk in childhood, it was hard to compensate later in life. While the Watcher's Mandatory Training had allowed Sonia to quickly catch up to the pace of a full-fledged sword sorcerer, it had also drained her body's latent potential. It was precisely because ordinary training could no longer further strengthen her body that Sonia had applied for the Time Training Chamber. Yet her body had no more potential left to squeeze, meaning she would hit her limit very quickly. However, Sonia had come prepared. Sword Body sorcery spirit! Sonia's skin, organs, tissues, and muscles were all coated in a thin sheen of sword light. With the slightest movement, she felt stinging pain pricking throughout her entire body. A synthesis of the swordsmanship faction and ascetic faction, Sword Body produced sword light that could be absorbed by a sorcerer. Once a sorcerer absorbed enough sword light, their physique could be forged into a transcendent sword body. Yet the Sword Body sorcery spirit had two major drawbacks: the absorption efficiency of sword light was exceptionally low, requiring the sorcerer to persevere through training when their entire body was exhausted to slowly absorb sword light in place of latent potential; furthermore, when sword light coated the body, every minute movement sent agonizing needles of light through the nerves. Thus, even among sword sorcerers, very few used Sword Body to temper themselves unless they commanded some sorcery spirit that granted pain immunity. Though Sonia possessed no sorcery spirit to sever pain, she had her own method. Mandatory Training! After all these days of Mandatory Training, Sonia had discovered that not only could she complete it early to free up her evenings, but she could also break the two hours of Mandatory Training into segmented intervals. In other words, she could train on her own first, and once her body was exhausted, trigger Mandatory Training to let the Watcher's power drive her body through further refinement! Just like now! Her ragged breathing turned steady, and her warped form aligned into standard precision. The stinging agony of the sword light was suppressed beneath a soundless scream, while her body's fatigue was expelled drop by drop in sweat. Naturally, this full-power training mode had its own drawback. Because what gave out first was not Sonia's body, but her mind. Just as the agony and exhaustion threatened to drown her soul, Sonia immediately halted the training and activated the Sincerity sorcery spirit to drastically bolster her mental resistance, stubbornly enduring the bone-deep fatigue and the racking pain throughout her entire frame! *Plop.* The instant she exited Mandatory Training, Sonia collapsed flat onto the floor, feeling as if she were melting like ice cream. Her clothes were soaked as though fished out of water, and her tear ducts worked harder than when she was born, washing her eyes—Sonia couldn't even tell whether she was crying from pain or from utter exhaustion. *So tired. So painful. I can't take it anymore. I want to die...* She suddenly recalled her conversation with the little assistant earlier and couldn't help a bitter chuckle. If only one could truly derive joy from training in this world. Perhaps most geniuses were like that, but unfortunately, she was not. What drove her to struggle desperately was never joy found in training, but... Sonia rested for quite a while before sitting up, chugging down a large bottle of water in deep gulps, and gritting her teeth to stand back up and continue training. ... That night, having returned to the dormitory, Sonia slumped over her desk the moment she walked through the door. Lois glanced at her. "Tired?" "Yeah." "If you're tired, go take a bath and sleep." "Can't," the president of the Paw-Stretching Club replied, stretching lazily as she pulled out several thick volumes. "I still have reading to do." "Haven't you already read those books on the Time Continent?" Adele poked her head out from her bed. "Reading them once isn't enough to memorize them, and there are plenty of easily overlooked details," the village girl said earnestly. "If I don't read them a few more times now, it'll be trouble if I can't recall them in the Void Realm." Since she put it that way, Lois and Adele had no way to stop her from grinding. Yet as she read, the village girl suddenly let out a gasp. "Oh, I almost forgot!" "Did you forget to do your laundry?" Adele called out. "I forgot too—wash mine with yours, will you?" "I have an audition in two days, so I need to practice my vocal cords now!" "Shooting a drama, releasing a single, studying, training, preparing for the Intercollegiate League..." Lois counted on her fingers. "I haven't seen you rest once these days. Don't you feel exhausted?" "Is Sonia really that miserable?" Adele said. "Fine, then I'll wash yours too." "It's tiring, but these are all things I must do," Sonia said, looking up. "I don't want to grow old and whine about how I let these opportunities slip away when I was young." "I don't think you'll even get the chance to 'grow old,'" Lois said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you drop dead in bed one of these days." "If that happens, would the school waive all our term papers and assignments to keep us quiet?" Adele asked. "Don't worry, I make sure to get proper rest. You don't need to worry about me." Sonia smiled and waved goodbye to her roommates. But when she reached the dorm door, she suddenly stopped. After a brief pause, she said, "I'm not coming back tonight." Lois blinked. "You're going to practice your vocals outside all night? Are you training your throat or murdering it?" "No." Sonia shook her head, her eyes shining bright as stars. "My soul has completely recovered." With that, Sonia dashed out of the dorm like the wind, leaving Lois and Adele no chance to speak. "How did it recover so fast?" Adele asked, puzzled. "I heard that the soul recovery period for a Two-Winged Sorcerer is quite long... Did Sonia get bitten to death by a Lalafell or something, so her soul wound was shallow?" "I thought she'd relax a bit after dying in the Void Realm this time," Lois sighed. "I didn't expect her to push even harder than before... And she could at least sleep and rest these past days. Now that her soul is recovered, not only is she pushing herself to death in reality, she has to keep grinding in the Void Realm too." Adele nodded. "Every time I see Sonia working this hard, my conscience pricks me so much that I roll over in bed." Lois rolled her eyes at her. "By the way, Sonia's fan club... add me to it. I'll help you guys manage operations." "Didn't you say you weren't interested before?" "I'm not interested now either, but... well, it's not like I have anything better to do." ... Meditation Building. Touching the Gate of Truth, her consciousness sank into the Void Realm. When Sonia opened her eyes, the reverse golden rain she hadn't seen in days once again filled her vision. As usual, she sat in the back of the sports car beside the Witch, while the Watcher sat in the front seat. "Hmm..." Yaxiu opened the Void Realm Map. "Let me see how far we are from the Spider Tower area first... Huh?" Yaxiu turned around, only to see the Sword Princess clamber directly over from the back seat, wrap her arms around his neck, and rest her head against his shoulder. Yaxiu blinked. "Sword Princess, what's wrong?" "Nothing. Don't move. Just let me lean like this for a bit." Sonia took a greedy, deep breath, gently rubbing her head against him as the entire day's exhaustion, grievance, and pretenses seemed to vanish into thin air. "I've just been a little tired lately."