Zoey didn’t show it on her face but she was very displeased and upset right now. It was the date of the Annual Meeting of Young Talents but she was the only young talent here! When they were arriving, she was wondering where the hell everyone was at. The entire school was empty! She suspected that maybe they fell into a trap by a daemon or something but then when she asked Victor, he said that wasn’t it.

Zoey was being stared at by three very strong magjistars. She had her limiter back on but now knew how to control it. When Victor released it after she woke up, Zoey had a very troublesome social interaction with her family and friends. First, her mother embarrassed her in front of everyone for cursing, Everett looked at her with a new glow in his eyes, her dad was startled about the outburst and accompanied it to her nearly dying, and Lindsay and Alexander did the same as her dad. Second, Zoey had to tell them everything that happened to help with the investigation of this group of daemons because daemons didn’t team up apparently. Third, Zoey was forced to rest and couldn’t train at all for the last few days just because she almost died.

It nearly drove her crazy even though she understood why she had to rest. Ever since the Box came into her life, she trained daily. It felt weird that she couldn’t exert her body in any way when resting. So, she had to cope with ways to train without using her body. Magji was also included in things she was unable to train. Magji uses the body as a conduit, an injured body makes it more likely for magji to harm the body or go out of control.

This meant that the only training that Zoey could do was mental. Social studies, math, literature, science, and the homework that her parents got from her teachers. It was only during those few days that Zoey truly understood why her Mental stat was only at 1.8 and far below her other two stats. She had absolutely no drive, motivation, or anything related to schoolwork. Initially, she thought she would gain skills like Science Lv1, Math Lv1, or Memorization Lv1, but the only reward she got was her mental stat going up by one. All of her suffering was for a single point increase that she didn’t even notice! The work looked no easier or harder after reaching 1.9 in her Mental stat! Zoey realized that she really hated school work.

“Did you seriously expect us to delay the Annual Meeting simply because you said so?! How foolish can you be!?” Lucus Cook, Principal of Supreme Magjistar High, angrily spat.

“I believe the correct word is arrogant instead of foolish. It must have never crossed Victor’s mind that we would simply ignore his request and go ahead with the Meeting on our own.” Haven Bonner, representative of the everyday magjistar, politely smiled.

“Heh. What a damn shame, Victor. Looks like no one will get to know how amazing your new apprentice is.” Jerome Kelly, representative of the connate factions, smirked.

“You bastards think you’re real funny, huh?” Victor still had his trademark grin but it was more sinister this time around.

“Excuse me!?” Lucus Cook rose from his seat, his wrinkly jowls shaking angrily.

“You got me.” Victor laughed. “I really didn’t think you’d ignore me like that.” He laughed even harder. “Fine then. Don’t regret this!” Victor grabbed onto Zoey and they casually walked out of the office.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Victor! Kali has returned from overseas and has no obligations to leave the country anytime soon!” Jerome Kelly threatened.

Victor only responded with a half-hearted wave behind him while his trademark grin deepened.

“Who the hell is Kali?” Zoey asked.

“My ex.” Victor casually responded.

“The break-up was bad, wasn’t it?” Zoey could already guess.

“She got jealous easily. It wasn’t my fault.” He shrugged.

“You didn’t care enough to try and fix it either, huh?” Zoey knew he liked to avoid troublesome things unless they were fun to him.

“She was a pain in the ass.” Victor left it at that.

“So, what kind of trouble are you planning on causing?” Zoey already knew he was upset at having his fun ruined. He was childish.

“You’re going to bully a few kids for me and if you do well, I'll teach you two new tricks. Similar to your Twisting Force.” Victor bargained.

“Three new techniques and one free order at any time that can’t be denied.” Zoey put up her terms.

“You think I'm going to make a deal like that with a little monster like you?” Victor chuckled.

“I’m not fucking stupid. You think I'm going to make that many enemies without a damn good reason?” Zoey shrugged.

“Tch, I didn’t think you’d think of that with how dumb you act.” Victor managed to witness her weakness in dealing with school work.

“Fuck off and die. I’m definitely not changing my terms and won’t fight anyone.” Zoey stood her ground after being insulted to her face.

“Why can’t you be cuter and nicer? My first apprentice and they only know how to curse and fight.” Victor sighed as if he was the most unfortunate mentor in the world.

“Die.” Zoey wasn’t changing her mind.

“Fine, you little monster. I’ll teach you one technique now and the rest will come later after you fulfill your side of the deal.” Victor held out his hand.

“Deal.” Zoey shook his hand.

“Have you ever heard about a Heart Oath?” Victor suddenly asked with his smile back to normal.

“A little bit.” Zoey admitted. There was a little inside Lindsay’s notes but she never really read over it, just the name.

“A Heart Oath is an oath made to the World. By making a Heart Oath, a magjistar can increase the effectiveness of their techniques, power, and bodies. But by breaking these Heart Oaths, you can die, be crippled, or suffer for the rest of your life. Depending on how life-threatening the Heart Oath is, the stronger your magji will respond in response to it.” Victor lectured.

“So, make a promise to myself about something and I can get stronger?” Zoey tried to simplify it for herself.

“One common example of a Heart Oath is informing the enemy of your magji technique and how it is used entirely. Your magji will grow if properly explained and the effectiveness of your technique will be improved.”

“How do I go about doing that? Just start explaining my Combo Magji while I'm using it or before I use it?”

“When you just start using it.”

“What other kind of Heart Oaths are there?”

“You already have a kind of Heart Oath activated now with your seal. Some magjistars limit their strength for a certain period of time during a certain circumstance. Someone I knew a long time ago sealed half of his magji during work hours and when he was forced into working overtime, his magji started rising past its limit.”

“But this doesn’t count as a Heart Oath, just a training thing, right?” Zoey pointed at her limiter.

“Right.” Victor nodded.

“What if I made a Heart Oath that I won’t use my Twisting Force with any other limbs besides my arms?” Zoey asked.

“That would work. It would work even better if you informed your enemy about it as well.”

“What about a Heart Oath where I declare I will only use my fists to attack?”

“Don’t be stupid.” Victor shut that suggestion immediately. “You might gain the strongest fists in the world if you live long enough but there are infinite ways to deal with something like that at my level.”

“I wasn’t going to do it.” Zoey rolled her eyes. “I was just asking...”

“I’ll kill you myself if you make a stupid Heart Oath. Now follow me! We have to visit our first kid.” Victor threatened in an easy-going tone.

“Tch.” Zoey clicked her tongue. ‘Annoying dickhead.’ She followed behind him.