"How did it ended up into you accepting the bet?"

Asked Sheila with curiosity. Mia lowered her head and said.

"I couldn't control my emotion at the time when that annoying girl was talking bad about my teacher. I don't mind much if they talk rubbish about me, but to do the same toward the teacher who was kind to me doesn't sit right to me. In my head, I knew that girl was plotting something but my emotion gets to me."

Sheila nodded her head in an understanding manner which prompted Mia to continue.

"I think the girl was planning to shame me and my teacher because of her unknown hatred toward me. The bet was if I won against her, she would retract her abusive word about my teacher and me. But if I lose..."

Mia paused for a moment as if the latter part was stuck in her mouth, looking at her bitter expression, the losing bet must have not been a good one for her. But Sheila had to ask even knowing that.

"If you lose? What is it?"

"I...I need to grovel in front of her and her little group before saying some kind of praising line toward her."

"What the hell? Now I kind of agree that you should beat her up till beyond recognition, not that I disagree with you from the beginning."

Sheila said with an upset tone, clearly starting to hate the girl she had never seen before. It could also be that Mia was lying to her by making up the story on the spot but... she doesn't seem to be that kind of girl to Sheila. What would she get by lying if it would soon get exposed once the date came? That annoying girl sounds like someone with an entitled disorder to Sheila based on what Mia had told her. Anyone with a sane mind wouldn't be asking that kind of bet since it was nothing to joke around unless they wanted to fill their vanity. At most, friends might tend to joke around too far but at the end of it, they would just laugh before forgetting completely about it and move on.

So she only has three days of preparation which Sheila thought should be plentiful enough. With the time dilation in the Trial Tower, three days, in reality, would net her as much as three months. That is if Mia decided to spend the entire three days in the Trial Tower. Three months should be enough for her to level up to 20 or at the lowest, 15. When she reached that level, it would just be a breeze to her when the duel arrived.

From what Mia said, the girl is not some kind of prodigy genius but only one with an ordinary talent. The girl got nothing special other than her family background which was something she knows herself and takes advantage of it at every opportunity. There's no way the girl with ordinary talent could beat someone at level 15 with the highest stats in Intelligence. Rather, she would only be asking to get herself killed if the one at level 15 ever decided to do so.

Even if Mia couldn't hunt the slimes to level up, she could still train her skills in the Trial Tower. Although it would be much slower than fighting in real combat, the experience for the skill did, in fact, increased no matter how small it is. If she decided to enter the Trial Tower for only 4-6 hours in real-time the entire three days, her strength should still increase tremendously.

With that said, since Sheila had already agreed on letting Mia completing more quests, but on one condition; She has to take a break once she was exhausted, and not push her body too far until it was beyond broken that not even a potion could do something about it. Without any other choice, Mia could only comply with it or she won't be able to hunt slime to level up anymore. After advising Mia a couple more times and once she was sure that the latter took her advice seriously, Sheila finally exits the Trial Tower for some other business. She couldn't stay too long in the Trial Tower since the time dilation didn't matter for her quest, the longer she stays without doing anything productive in there, the more her time was wasted.

It sucks but she couldn't do anything about it. If that wasn't the case, a month in real-time wouldn't be much to her. If she was the system, she wouldn't let the host took advantage of the time dilation either. When Sheila regained her sight, she was greeted with the same familiar room and when she looked around, the figure she was searching for was nowhere to be found. Perhaps, she might be downstairs watching a movie or something.

Sheila only required to spread her awareness to the whole house and it didn't take that much time as all the information she needs, entered through her brain like a sea wave. When she had done this the first time, she was hit by dizziness and almost puke on the spot due to a crazy amount of information entering her brain so suddenly. After a couple more practices, it didn't give her any more headaches so long as she didn't overuse it. It seemed she was right on the mark as she could feel Ria's presence seated on the cushion in the living room.

Sara was currently out of the house for her work and also, looking for a piece of land for the foundation of the still-in-process organization. So the only one in the house at the moment were the three of them, Sylvia included. Sylvia was currently in her room, most likely playing a game or two after she was finished with her homework. After the day Sheila brought her parent into the Trial Tower, Anthony only stayed for a couple more days before heading off as it seemed that his business company abroad was really desperate for his presence. So he couldn't put it off any longer even if he wanted to.

Even if he was traveling overseas, or at the end of the world, they could still meet each other so long as Sheila brought them to the same dimension.

"Phoenix, come out."

Suddenly, a bird-looking form with fire all over its body appeared in front of Sheila along with its cries, answering to her call. it was a Phoenix, or one can also call it as Vermillion Bird. It was one of the four mythical creatures used in the Four-Defensive Formation, or rather, it was only a liter of their blood which is not comparable to when they are still alive and at their prime. At most, their power was around 5% which is already strong enough to annihilate a whole city to nothingness.

As to why she called out to such a beast? It was obviously because she wanted to test out if they would take notice of it if she were to send it at their branch to cause trouble. That was just a joke. To be honest, she actually wanted to know whether they have some kind barrier protecting their building caused that's usually the case, in fictitious novels. Sheila doesn't know why but her feeling was telling her to be prepared just in case if they might bring trouble to her.

It's not really an impossible thing for them once they found out that she has a special ability that could bring an average person to 'another dimension' where one could become stronger beyond human's limit, in summary, one could become 'superman' if they raised high enough level. If such findings were to be spread to them, it wouldn't be a joke to say Sheila would get chased around by them to the end of the world. Even if she keep low-profile at the moment, it doesn't mean that it would stay like this till the end. Sooner or later, they would figure out that something is amiss, or some kind of incident happened which prompted her to reveal her 'true power' in front of them.

If she didn't want to get caught by them, she had to be prepared. Most importantly, she was about to create an organization that would definitely get in their irk. Actuality, the Mage Association is no different than an organization. But in this case, it was much bigger than what Sheila imagined hers to be. If a mysterious organization suddenly appeared in their turf without their knowing, won't it be obvious that they would get angry and thought someone was going to steal their turf, roughly something like that? She was going to prepare herself for that sort of situation.

With that thought in mind, Sheila was currently giving her command toward the Phoenix who was sitting on her shoulders like an ordinary bird. As the master of the formation, the powerful fire from the phoenix was unable to give any damage to her. But that didn't mean that her shirt would be fine meeting such a powerful fire so close. When that kind of thought appeared in her mind, her shirt was already beyond saving. With her quick reaction, Sheila was able to save her bra from being burnt to ashes.

So now, she was left with a shirt that has turned into ashes on the ground while wearing the almost burnt bra. Thankfully her pants were not caught in the fire or she would likely be left naked for a moment. It was a fortune that it happened in her room, at her own house instead of public places. She took the small incident to heart before continuing briefing about the mission to the Phoenix. As a mythical creature, it understood her word properly, or perhaps, it was able to read the intent in her word as the master of the formation. Either way, once it fully understood everything, she sends it out from the window as it flew like a normal bird, the fire was nowhere to be seen.

"I wonder what would their reaction be when they noticed that they were harassed by a Phoenix. Ah~ I wish I was there to see it, too bad."

Sheila said with a feeling of sorrow filled within her tone. She was not worried about what would happen to the Phoenix, after all, it is an undying bird. Even if they somehow managed to kill it, it would just revive again once the day has passed with the power of the formation. In fact, the Phoenix alone could destroy the branch base only by giving it a simple yet destructive command. But she didn't do so because it would only attract unwanted trouble, and who knows there might be an 'old monster' living secretly in their base. After sending off the Phoenix, Sheila turned her back from the window and find herself another shirt before going downstairs, heading toward the living room.

Meanwhile, at the Headquarter of Mage Association, Frank Llyod suddenly feels the chills run through his body for some inexplicable reason. He wonders if he caught a cold but thought it was not possible since he had been staying in his room for the past few days managing the pill of paperwork. It must be someone talking bad about me on my back, with that thought in mind, Frank continues working on the paper in front of it with a helpless and an exhausted sigh.