At three in the afternoon, Ron arrived at the Jadeite Pavilion as scheduled.
The courtyard today seemed unusually quiet, even the usually chirping Crystal Songbirds had quieted down.
The exotic flowers, once blooming brightly, now had edges tinged with a subtle darkness, as if touched by some indescribable force.
Franka, as always, was waiting at the door, dressed in the heavy long gown that remained unchanged throughout the seasons.
"Wizard Ralph, His Highness is waiting for you in the reception hall."
The voice of the half-dragon maid was as steady as ever, but Ron’s special perception allowed him to detect its subtle changes.
Through the "Hermit’s Knowledge," he discovered that Franka’s muscles were in a state of slight tension.
Her breathing was slightly hurried, her left hand unconsciously tightening and then loosening, a typical reaction when facing uncertain threats.
The afternoon sunlight streamed through the lattice windows into the reception hall, casting dappled shadows on the floating dust.
These dust particles were naturally formed energy particles under high concentrations of magic power, and their movement trajectories could reflect the surrounding emotional fluctuations.
Entering the reception hall, Eve was sitting by that familiar crystal table, with teaware and some exquisite pastries placed in front of her.
The black-haired Princess was wearing a light-colored long gown today, and her amethyst-like eyes immediately lit up upon seeing Ron.
"Master, you’ve come."
Eve rose with a joyful smile, her voice carrying undisguised delight:
"I’ve been feeling much better lately compared to before."
Her emotions, besides pure joy, also harbored an almost pathological sense of dependency.
The girl’s cheeks slightly flushed:
"These days, I hardly feel that tearing pain, and I’ve even managed to perform some simple magic exercises."
Her voice was filled with irrepressible joy, but soon it turned worried:
"It’s just... I fear this improvement is only temporary. Demon Devouring symptoms tend to be erratic, and it might worsen again in a few days."
Ron carefully observed Eve’s expression, noticing she indeed seemed more spirited than usual.
Her complexion was much rosier, her movements more agile, and the fragility caused by the Demon Devouring symptoms had significantly lessened.
"It seems our previous favor exchange is indeed yielding positive effects."
Ron nodded in satisfaction: "Your overall improvement is evident, but any treatment requires time for verification."
After observing, he gave his judgment:
"But from the current data, the improvement trend is stable. We need to continue observing."
"All thanks to your help." Eve’s eyes were full of gratitude:
"Mother said the favor you gave carries a special purity, able to repair on a soul level."
When mentioning Cassandra, her expression slightly darkened but quickly recovered.
"As usual, I’d like to share some of my recent research findings first."
Eve’s eyes were full of excitement, like a prisoner seeing a crack open in the prison door:
"The recent relief of Demon Devouring symptoms has allowed me to attempt some operations previously impossible."
She extended her right hand, and her fingertips began emitting a faint silver glow.
It was a more refined, more complex form of energy manipulation.
"I call it ’spiritual layer control.’"
Eve’s voice carried the focus unique to researchers:
"Traditional spiritual power usage is linear, focusing only on one task at a time.
But I found that if consciousness is divided into multiple independently operating threads, each handling different types of information..."
As she explained, the silver glow began to split, forming three independent energy flows.
Each energy flow was executing a different task:
One was analyzing the magic composition in the air, one was monitoring her own physiological state, and the third was performing complex mathematical computations.
"This technique originally came from the helpless adaptation to Demon Devouring symptoms."
Eve smiled wryly:
"When the main consciousness was occupied by pain, I had to learn to let a part of my mind continue running in the background, handling daily affairs.
Unexpectedly, as I gradually improved, this adaptive change evolved into a brand new spiritual power usage technique."
Ron looked at the demonstration of spiritual layer control, somewhat amazed.
The complexity of this technique, even with his level of spiritual power control, required considerable practice to grasp.
"An impressive innovation."
He sincerely praised:
"This multi-threaded thinking mode, if applied to magic construction, should allow simultaneous maintenance of multiple complex spells.
It has an uncanny resemblance to the multiple magic system construction required for Official Wizard’s advancement to Moon Level."
"That’s what I think too."
Eve’s face bloomed into a brilliant smile:
"Although Demon Devouring symptoms prevent me from casting spells normally, in theoretical exploration, I’ve instead gained a depth unattainable by most."
At this moment, the favor link between the two began to manifest.
Eve silently felt this change, half-squinting her eyes, deeply addicted to this transient experience.
Franka then timely refilled their tea.
The half-dragon maid’s movements remained deft, but her usually rock-steady arm, when pouring tea this time, slightly trembled.
The light clink of the teapot against the cup sounded particularly abrupt in the quiet room.
"Franka, you really do look a bit tired."