Chapter 84 The Spotlight

Several hours later, now in a hotel room, an annoying elf prodded Evernya from her slumber. Her sapphire eyes fluttered open as she lazily stretched out on the comfortable king-size bed.

Already dressed, Meira stood at the foot of the bed with her hands on her hips. “I know it’s a nice bed, but we don’t have time to laze around. You slept longer than we expected. We have to leave within the next ten minutes, or we’ll be late. Hurry up and take a shower. Elizabeth is fetching the car for us.”

While lying spread eagle on the bed, Evernya lazily replied, “I thought you said it wasn’t a big deal that we were late?”

“It isn’t, but that doesn’t mean I want to be late. We have fancy outfits and a fancy car. We need to show them off.” Meira argued.

While rubbing her flat stomach Evernya gave in, “Fine, I’ll get ready, but don’t expect me to rush. I’m still a little sluggish from my amazing meal. We need to back there soon. They sure know how to make a meal for me.”

“Funny, they said the same thing. The owner of Sullivan’s even knocked 25% off your meal because of the show you put on caused a viral video on social media. Even after watching you eat multiple times, it’s unbelievable how fast you eat. How did you even taste any of it?”

At the mention of a video, Evernya burst upright, instantly shaking off any residual sluggishness. “What do you mean by a viral video? Someone recorded me!?”

Not wanting to waste any time on her kitten’s panic attack, Meira assured her, “Don’t worry, the video has your face, and the engraving on your collar blurred out. Somehow It already has two million views, apparently the one who recorded it is a famous streamer. If you want to see it, I’ll show you the video in the car. We don’t have time right now.”

“So much for lying low. I would have thought people would find my machine gun eating disgusting,” Evernya grumbled, now wide awake.

“Nothing is disgusting about how you eat, you’ll see in the video. Most of the comments are about how amazing your telekinesis is or how cute you are with very few negative comments. Now enough talking, get your little ass into the shower.” Meira ordered, blasting her kitten with a gust of wind.

Evernya reluctantly dragged herself off the comfy bed and trotted over to the bathroom. She admired the beautiful bathroom as she stripped naked, climbing into the luxurious granite shower with a waterfall on the ceiling and multiple jets of water coming from all sides. She almost purred from the sensation of the water spraying her.

Over twenty minutes later, Evernya finally emerged from the steaming bathroom wrapped in a towel.

The first thing she saw upon exiting the bathroom was a finely dressed inpatient elf glaring at her. “Hurry up! Your outfit is on the bed. We are going to be late.”

“Sorry about that. The shower was too nice to leave.” Evernya defended as she trotted toward the bed.

On the bed, neatly spread out, was her dress with her shoes and evening beg to the right and a jewelry box filled with her expensive jewelry set on the left. Evernya discarded her towel, ignoring the glaring elf before pulling the silvery blue halter top dress on, securing the top around the back of her neck with straps that seem to stick to each other, leaving no seem. After pushing her mana into the dress, causing it to hug her body without a single wrinkle, Evernya bent down and straps on the heels. Finally, she grabbed the bracelets, anklets securing them on their designed appendage, finding everything fit perfectly. She looked down at the collection of rings but skipped them, feeling sparkly enough.

After stumbling a few times, Evernya found her balance on the heels as she glided toward the bathroom to admire herself in the mirror. A little too sparkly for my taste, but damn, I look beautiful. If it weren’t for this damn collar, I would look perfect. The sooner I get rid of this damn thing, the better.

A gust of wind reminded her of the impatiently waiting elf, forcing her to cut her admiring session short. After returning to the bed, Evernya picked up the tiny evening bag before shifting her eyes to her ID, debit card, and cell phone laid out on the nightstand to her left. How the hell am I going to fit everything in this tiny bag? Oh well, I may as well give it a try, though I doubt I’ll need the debit card.

One by one, she squeezed her belongings into the tiny bag before she pulled the straining zipper shut. Before she could revel in her victory, a firm grip grabbed hold of her right arm, pulling her toward the door. Caught by surprise, Evernya didn’t resist as she stumbled on her high heels out of the room and into the elevator a few doors down.

Once in the elevator, Evernya, for the first time, took in her impatient elf’s outfit. A royal blue dress beautifully hugged her torso before flowing down to the floor with a slit flashing her long golden legs supported by matching royal blue pumps with thirteen centimeter heels. Jewelry adorned her wrists, fingers, ears, and neck, shining with gold inlaid with sparkling diamonds. Her long silver-blonde hair was up in an intricate braid with more gold jewelry keeping it in place.

“When did you change into that!?” Evernya questioned in shock.

“Before I woke you up, you just never noticed I must not have dressed flashy enough.” Meira pouted.

“Oh no, you couldn’t get much flashier if you tried. I practically look like a peasant next to you. I can see why you wanted me to wear heels. Even with them, you have almost a foot on me.” Evernya gushed, overwhelmed by Meira’s otherworldly beauty.

“Don’t sell yourself short, even if you are short. If only we could have done something with your hair, otherwise, you look perfect. You don’t need flashy diamonds to look beautiful.” Meira complimented as the elevator doors slid open, revealing an expansive, luxuriously decorated lobby filled with equally luxuriously dressed people.

Heads turned their way as they glide through the lobby towards the revolving glass door leading outside. Outside the doors, Elizabeth was waiting in the car’s backseat dressed in a beautiful dress of similar style to Meira’s but a dark red with ten cm healed pumps of the same color peeking out from under her floor-length skirt. Her jewelry, like Meira’s, was gold, but instead of diamonds, her jewelry sparkled with deep green diamonds matching her eyes. Her brunette hair was up in a similarly intricate hairstyle.

Evernya and Meira joined her in the backseat, closing the door. Once inside, Elizabeth poked on the control panel, setting course for the auction house. She pressed start, causing the car to start up and pull out into traffic toward the auction house on its own.

“So no one is going to sit in the driver’s seat? What if the self-driving fails?” Evernya questioned.

While relaxing back into the seat, Meira replied without worry, “It won’t there are multiple fail-safes to ensure our safe passage. Even if it did, I’m sure we could save ourselves, or you could take control of the steering wheel with telekinesis. Sitting back here is much more comfortable, no reason for someone to miss out on that. Besides, we are only a couple minutes down the road.”

“I’m not sure my control is that good, but if we do crash as long as we keep Elizabeth safe, she can heal us,” Evernya commented.

“Oh, so that’s why you brought me along as your own personal pocket healer,” Elizabeth shot back teasingly.

After running her eyes up and down Elizabeth’s curvy body with an almost hungry look in her eyes, Meira teased, “Hey, it’s not like you get nothing out of this, you seemed to enjoy shopping for your outfit.”

“True, it was nice to go shopping on someone else’s dime. I’m not like a certain shifter who constantly complains about someone spending money on her.” Elizabeth jabbed, missing the look Meira gave her.

“I guess I deserved that.” Evernya conceded with a smile.

A few minutes later, the car slowed down before taking a right, then stopped. “Looks like we made it,” Meira observed, looking out the window on her right.

Stuck in the middle and unable to twist her neck, Evernya looked out the front window, seeing the back of some SUV. “I’m guessing we will be here for a while, won’t we?” Evernya commented.

After checking the time on the central control panel, Meira replied, “Probably at least a half-hour. We will be one of the last ones. It’s already 9:30, so half of them are already in the banquet hall.”

“So now that we have time, show me that video,” Evernya demanded with a grabby hand motion toward Meira.

Meira pulled her smartphone out of her similarly tiny evening beg and opened the video before handing it to her eager kitten.

Evernya’s eyes widened upon landing on the total views. “What the hell! Over three million views!? How can this video be so popular!? How did you find this video so quickly?” Evernya questioned in rapid succession.

Amused by her kitten’s reaction, Meira explained, “Emily called Elizabeth when she saw it on Manatube. Apparently, she is a follower of this guy’s channel, and when she watched it, she immediately recognized you despite the blurring.”

Upon the mention of her first friend, Evernya inquired, “How is Emily doing?”

Elizabeth’s face lit up as she gushed, “Terrific, she hasn’t had a mana attack since you jumpstarted her awakening. She went through testing and registration just two days ago with surprising results. She forbid me from telling anyone what she awakened until her awakening party in a week, so you will have to wait to find out. All I will say is she is a very talented girl, maybe on par with you.”

“I’m happy for her. She’s been through a lot.” Evernya stated with meaning before returning her attention to the smartphone.

Evernya pressed play on the video. The first part of the video showed a handsome guy in his late teens outside Sullivan’s. “Hello peeps! Inferno here! I was eating an early dinner up here in Minea before the Minea’s summer solstice auction at a little place called Sullivan’s, which I highly recommend, by the way. So when I was looking through their menu a few tables down, I witnessed a scene I just had to share with you guys. Beware, you may overdose on the potent combination of awesome and cuteness!”

Next, the video switched to show Evernya shooting tiny pieces of her meal into her mouth so fast the camera couldn’t track them. “Holy crap, is this real speed!?” Evernya exclaimed in shock.

“It is,” Meira confirmed.

With her eyes glued to the screen, Evernya commented in surprise, “I didn’t realize they moved that fast. To me they shoot at maybe a quarter of that.”

Upon hearing her patient’s comment, Elizabeth entered her doctor mode as she theorized, “Interesting. I suppose it makes sense with your genes and speed to have perception enhancement. You just keep on giving us more surprises. You need to come with a manual, though that would ruin all the fun. From the video, I can see your eyes are glowing brighter than they normally do, so maybe that’s the key. When Meira tested your night vision, your eyes glowed brighter as well, though they turned catlike too. Your eyes seem to glow brighter as you use more magic, like right now they are fairly dim, probably indicating you are only using minimal mana to sustain yourself. For most people, when they use stronger magic, you can feel more mana wafting off of them, giving you a slight warning. For you, there is nothing. You are like a void. I can’t even feel any mana in the surrounding air. Just sitting next you drops my mana regen to nearly nothing.”

“I know I am a freak, but at least I’m cute. Even the comment section agrees with me.” Evernya gloated as she scanned through the comments on the bottom half of the screen.

The video moved on to when Evernya burped and passed out. The video continued for a few seconds longer, showing Meira and Elizabeth eating, ignoring the unconscious girl at the table.

After seeing the end of the video, Evernya directed a glare of accusation at her companions. “So you just left me there? You could have at least laid me down somewhere.”

“There wasn’t anywhere to put you, and besides, when you enter your food coma, nothing will disturb you, so it doesn’t matter we leave you. We didn’t expect you to pass out so quick. I thought you would at least last until we had time to eat a little.” Meira justified, showing no remorse.

“Whatever,” Evernya grumbled, annoyed, returning her attention to the screen to scroll through the comments.

I suppose another thing that hasn’t changed. I usually spend just as much time in the comment section as watching the video. To me, a video or article without a comment section feels incomplete and lonely. Evernya thought as she read through the comments, most of which were gushing about how amazing that was or how cute she was. Some were even questioning if she really was a shifter. However, she froze when she found a stream of comments mentioning her Mage’s test.

7:40 Iceprincess21: That’s the shifter from my mage’s test, like a month ago! It was horrible to watch what that asshole did to her!

7:42 Watergirl87: What happened?

7:43 IcePrincess21: Some racist examiner sabotaged her mana grade test. At least I think it was hard to tell from where I was. Her screaming still gives me nightmares sometimes! I’m so glad she’s okay! Even if she is a shifter, no one deserves what happened to her.

7:44 Watergirl87: Wow, that makes me even more nervous about my mage’s test in the winter! Did that tester at least get punished?

7:46 Iceprincess87: From what I heard, all he got was a slap on the wrist because she was a shifter and she didn’t die.

7:47 Watergirl87: That’s sad. If it was me I would have drowned that guy.

7:50 IcePrincess87: Well, she wasn’t going to do anything in the state she was in after she finally passed out. The entire gym smelled like burned flesh for the rest of the Mage’s testing! It was horrifying! I got the hell out of there as soon as I could!

7:55 Rockhard52: So she really is a shifter? I thought she was just wearing cat ears, though that collar kind of gives it away. Where did that happen, by the way? My younger sister should awaken soon, and I would like to avoid her being tested where they allow someone to sabotage the test.

7:58 Iceprincess21: Druth.

8:03 Electrifyinglycute1: I heard from my big sister that she had a run-in with this girl at DIOM! She may look harmlessly cute, but she packs a punch! My sister’s ex-friend tried to bully her into giving up her fancy training suit, which didn’t end well. My sister’s ex-friend attacked her with ice, causing the catkin to blast them all away! It took the headmaster himself to calm her down! She destroyed the entire changing room in a split-second!

8:06 Blazinghot45: What was she even doing there? They only allow mages to attend college.

8:07 Electrifyinglycute1: You idiot, she is a mage! She wouldn’t be at the Mage’s test if she wasn’t. She wasn’t even at fault in either incident. My sister even got punished for trying to gang up on her!

8:08 Blazinghot45: She can’t be a mage, she’s a shifter, though I would still do her. She looks smoking hot.

8.09 Electrifingcute1: Whatever, asshole.

8:12 Tornado89: So you think she will enroll at DIOM?

8:13 Electrifinglycute1: I think so. My sister asked the private training room observer for the floor, and apparently she had her makeup Mage’s test there. I don’t know what her magic classes are, but I’m sure she has a warrior and maybe air element sorcery. It happened so quickly that my sister couldn’t tell. She has to be at least grade five because she shredded that ice like it was nothing.

8:14 Iceprincess21: At her first mage’s test, it showed she was Psionic and warrior and like mid-grade 5.

8:15 Electrifyinglycute1: I’m so jealous! When I awakened Lightning sorcery last year, I thought it was so special, but it’s nothing compared to that! No wonder she destroyed my sister and her former friends!

The comment chain continued, but Evernya lost interest because nothing new came up. “Well, crap, looks like I can’t go anywhere without attracting attention. I was hoping I would get some time to adjust to college before things got too crazy.”

Both Elizabeth and Meira stared at Evernya as if she was a naïve child. “What you expect? You are a shifter wandering around in a mage’s world. Of course, you will attract attention. Even if none of this happened, I bet you wouldn’t be able to hide out at college for long. You just have to get used to the attention, good or bad.” Meira commented.

“But still, how the hell did they connect dots so quickly from one short video?” Evernya whined with a childish pout.

“Well, from what Emily said, Inferno is one of the most popular streamers and video makers on Manatube,” Elizabeth replied.

“Just my luck! What’s the chance of eating at the same place as some famous streamer?” Evernya grumbled as she continued to pout cutely.

“It’s not all bad, at least the video, and most of the comments are positive,” Meira added, trying to cheer up her kitten.

Unaffected by Meira’s attempt, Evernya continued to pout. “Still, I would rather it not happen.”

“Most people your age would drool over someone as famous as him making a video about you, but I suppose you aren’t like most of your age,” Elizabeth commented from experience dealing with college-age students daily.

Well, I guess I should have seen this coming. If this world is anything like earth, everyone has a smartphone ready to record anything interesting. I just hope my fifteen minutes of fame dies down soon.