Chapter 130

Chapter 130

The palace opened directly onto Central Avenue. As noon approached, the sunlight was clear and bright, illuminating towering buildings that lined both sides of the street, their cobalt-blue one-way glass silently reflecting the passing vehicles.

Sophia carefully navigated the bustling traffic of the Capital Planet. As they passed the Central Mall, Eve tapped the back of her seat. "Stop here."

*What did she want?*

Sophia found a parking spot. Moments later, Eve returned to the car, cradling a bouquet of pale yellow flowers. The vibrant buttercup yellow stood out vividly against the pure black of her clothes, making Sophia glance at it a few more times. It appeared to be a mix of several different flowers in similar tones, bundled together—a simple color scheme, clearly chosen by Eve herself.

As she restarted the hovercar and cautiously merged back into traffic, Sophia casually asked, "What’s with the flowers? Are you in a relationship?"

"Get lost," Eve retorted, baffled by her friend's thought process. "A classmate isn't feeling well. I'm bringing flowers when I visit her."

She wondered how Jessica was doing after a day had passed. Since they were dorm neighbors, Eve planned to check on her when she returned. The little princess probably didn’t lack any expensive gifts, so after some thought, Eve decided to pick the flowers herself and have the shop assistant arrange them into a bouquet. That way, she wouldn’t show up empty-handed.

Sophia: "......"

She seemed about to say something, but after glancing at the pale yellow bouquet held in Eve’s arms, the flowers complementing her face, she fell silent.

*At least the flowers weren’t pure white—that was already something. If her boss was personally paying a visit, what more could a classmate ask for?*

-

The First Empire Academy was located on the outskirts of the central district. It wasn't built there to boost the local economy—after all, how much money could college students possibly have? The Capital Planet’s government wasn't so desperate as to rely on their meager funds.

The reason was purely historical: the First Empire Academy's predecessor had started as a military school. In its early days, short on funds, it could only be built in a more remote area. Later, when money became available, the school administration couldn't be bothered to relocate. Instead, they expanded outward, acquiring a few more plots of land and building two or three branch campuses before calling it a day.

However, when people spoke of the First Empire Academy, the old campus was still considered the most authentic. It housed renowned departments like the Military Academy, Politics, and Theology, and other long-established disciplines.

Sophia drove straight through to the school’s internal parking lot to avoid causing a commotion at the entrance.

Eve got out of the car, bid her farewell, and walked a stretch of road that drew a hundred percent turning heads. Only then did she realize she was still wearing a custom suit, looking as formal as if she had just returned from some event. Standing out so conspicuously among the crowd felt rather strange.

After a moment of silence, a flash of white-gold light shimmered, and the fluttering wings of a Luna Butterfly erased the girl’s figure from view.

She had no idea how astonishingly famous she had become at school. In that short walk, many people had sneakily taken photos, pretended to put their phones away, and then, when no one was looking, shared the pictures on the campus forum.

《Encountered the Goddess! Another Stunning Day》

【0L: Just on my way from the library to the cafeteria, I ran into the goddess. Not sure which event she just came back from, wearing a suit—so elegant and cool. She was holding a bouquet of flowers too. No idea if she’s giving them to someone or received them. Sob... either way, whoever gets to have a flower-related connection with the goddess is so lucky... Jealous. (Image)(Image)(Image)】

The attached photos clearly showed the photographer's lack of skill, but even under such circumstances, the subject’s beauty still shone through. At noon, when students were slacking off, the post was like fish food tossed into a pond—a swarm of hungry fish eagerly flocked to it.

Some came to praise, others feigned casual interest but clicked anyway, some who had also passed by but were beaten to the post lamented their luck, and a few criticized the OP for sneakily taking photos but then lightly asked for copies themselves... It was chaos. Even a few familiar faces jumped in, stirring the muddy waters.

But none of this had much to do with Eve.

Whether people liked or disliked her, it was irrelevant to her.

She went straight back to the dorm area. Jessica had recovered well and had long since run off somewhere to have fun. Only her little follower, who also doubled as her roommate, was in the dorm catching up on sleep, trying to soothe her body after a week of brutal military training.

When the butler robot shook her awake due to Eve’s sudden visit, she was still groggy. Standing at the door in her pajamas with messy hair, she wore an expression of "Who am I? Where am I? What’s happening?"

*Why was the Chief suddenly bringing flowers for her princess? And why was she dressed so formally, looking as if she were about to enter the palace for an audience with the emperor any second?*

Her mind sluggish, she accepted the flowers out of ingrained politeness. "The princess made plans to go out with friends early this morning. She left at the crack of dawn, no idea when she’ll be back. Would you like to come in and wait for a bit?"

"She left early in the morning? Seems like she’s doing well."

Eve was somewhat surprised by the little princess’s resilience but still smiled and declined the invitation. "No need. Since Jessica is fine, I don’t have anything to worry about. I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll be going now."

The little follower said woodenly, "Oh... okay, bye."

After closing the door like a drifting soul and returning to the dorm, the butler robot had already found an empty vase. Dragging her feet, she brought the flowers to the sink to hydrate them. Only when the cool tap water flowed over her hands did she finally snap out of it.

*Wait, aren’t these two on bad terms?*

*Could there be some hidden meaning behind this flower gift?!*

She jolted, casting a complex gaze at the bouquet. But after looking left and right, aside from the somewhat perfunctory selection of flowers, nothing else seemed off.

*Throw them away? Or not?*

Gripping a kitchen knife, she pondered for a long time, her eyes shifting back and forth. Unable to decide, she eventually resolved to keep them.

*After all, they were flowers from the Chief... If the princess didn’t ask, she wouldn’t bring it up. If the princess asked, she’d play dumb—first excuse: still sleepy; second excuse: didn’t dare refuse the Chief’s gift; ultimate move: she’d take them away herself. With such a smooth combo, surely even the princess couldn’t find fault.*

*Having survived so many years serving a princess with a bad temper, she had her own wisdom for getting by!*

With this plan in mind, the little follower calmly set the kitchen knife down with a thud, and green flower stems rolled across the table.

-

Eve turned and went back to her own dorm, changing into more low-key casual clothes. She tied up her hair, threw on a black robe, and hurried upstairs to the alchemy lab.

Her learning progress differed from that of the First Empire. The things taught in university were often already taught to children from influential families before they even started school. This was why, even in a gathering place for prodigies like the First Academy, elites from noble families still firmly occupied the top ranks.

But this didn’t mean Eve had nothing else to do. Other young masters and misses her age had already begun diving into socializing, building connections for their futures. Eve’s path was slightly different from theirs, but not by much.

The only difference was that she had already entered the workforce ahead of time. Although Qin Mengde had said she didn’t need to handle princess manor affairs during military training, a boss’s promised break was as reliable as a passing fart. Relying on Qin Mengde was worse than finding someone to share the workload herself—like a certain genius hacker supervising online.

On top of that, she still had to complete the alchemy homework assigned by Gu Zhaoxi.

Normally, after fulfilling the Oliver Family’s commission and curing Lorca’s chronic illness, she should have reached the level of a Four-Star alchemist. And indeed, she had smoothly performed the experiment of turning stone into gold in front of Gu Zhaoxi.

But the problem was, she showed no signs of being summoned by the divine realm.

Ordinary alchemists would immediately sense the divine realm’s summons the moment they crossed the Four-Star threshold. Whether one had been to the divine realm was the biggest distinction between a Senior Alchemist and a non-Senior Alchemist.

In other words, even though Eve now demonstrated the ability of a Four-Star alchemist, as long as she hadn’t been acknowledged by the divine realm, she couldn’t truly be considered a Senior Alchemist.

The two stared at each other for a long time before Gu Zhaoxi finally realized that although this person seemed to know what she was doing, she actually had no idea how she had succeeded.

"......" She said speechlessly, "You’re a real oddity. I’ve never seen anything like this."

Eve said, "But I really don’t know how it happened?!"

The green-haired woman wearing a half-mask couldn’t be bothered to argue over an issue that was destined to yield no results. She turned and went back to her library, then dragged out several dusty boxes of books.

Eve flipped through a couple and realized they were all alchemists’ manuscripts. Like a mischievous relative’s child visiting during the New Year, she ignored Gu Zhaoxi’s protests of "Hey, hey!" and opened every box. She discovered that the entire pile consisted of alchemists’ manuscripts—diverse schools, varying styles, covering a broad range.

"—Your collection is this extensive?" she asked in shock.

Gu Zhaoxi said irritably, "Just gathering strengths from various schools. Did you think Five-Star Alchemists grow like vegetables in a field, able to figure everything out on their own?"

Half a vegetable from the field·Eve: "......"

She stayed silent.

"Enough, no more idle talk. Now I’m going to treat you with the same seriousness as He did with me back then," Gu Zhaoxi said solemnly, slapping the stack of books and raising a cloud of dust. Before she could finish lecturing, she started coughing from the dust. "So... cough... cough... there’s too much dust in the storage room! No, what I mean is, hurry up and take these books to study them!"

Reading itself isn't difficult—it's just a matter of quantity.

Eve mentally prepared herself, steeled herself, and immersed herself in the ocean of the sages' spiritual legacy.

She lost all track of time in her immersion, and it was only the sound of the butler robot knocking on the door of the alchemy lab that snapped her back to reality.

"What is it?" Eve yanked the door open, frowning at the rebellious AI.

"There's a guest at the door."

The rebellious AI replied.

But when she opened the main door, Eve was truly stunned.

She bent down and picked up the little girl who stood no taller than her waist. The girl's soft, wine-red hair draped over her arm, like some precious wine flowing.

"It's Ling Ling."

*Why was the First Princess's daughter outside her dorm?*

Eve wore an unreadable expression, her smile faint. "Ling Ling, little one, who brought you to find me here?"