Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

The wooden door creaked open, and the scent of herbs and old ink wafted out.

Bie Chenye was squatting in front of a small copper pot in the corner of the room, stirring some thick, dark green liquid with a glass rod in her hand. When she heard the door open, she didn't turn her head.

"Wait, wait, this step can't be interrupted, if it's interrupted... never mind, it's already interrupted."

She tossed the glass rod into the pot, turned around, and saw a fresh herbal stain on the cuff of her dark blue robe. The vibrant red flower on her head trembled slightly with her movement, and then she saw the person standing at the door.

"night--!"

Bie Chenye's eyes lit up instantly, and her body reacted faster than her brain. Mi Ye didn't even see how she moved from the corner of the room to the door. The next second, Mi Ye was pulled into her arms.

"You're all better! You're really all better! Meredith messaged me saying you were discharged, and I couldn't believe it. Then you replied with WW, and I was sure, but I still couldn't believe it. I had to see you with my own eyes to believe it, and then you came! You finally came! Do you know how worried I was?! I almost overcame my social anxiety and went to the hospital! Almost! Just a tiny bit more!"

Bie Chenye spoke so fast it was as if he was pouring out lines he had been accumulating for days at once, completely lacking the aloof demeanor a teacher should have.

She buried her face in the top of Mi Ye's head, her black hair brushing against her light golden short hair, and the edge of the red flower petals on her head brushed against Mi Ye's ears, making Mi Ye shrink back from the tickling sensation.

Mi Ye was squeezed so tightly she could barely breathe, but she still smiled and reached out to pat Bie Chen Ye on the back.

"Teacher, I'm fine now, completely healed, without any aftereffects."

"real?"

Bie Chenye let go of her, his hands still on Mi Ye's shoulders. He bent down and leaned closer to examine her face carefully, his thumb gently rubbing the corner of Mi Ye's eye.

"Let me see... Hmm, you look good, your magic circulation is functioning normally, and your life force... wait?"

My fingers suddenly stopped.

She released Mi Ye's shoulder, took a half step back, and scanned Mi Ye's entire body from top to bottom, finally fixing her gaze on the back of Mi Ye's right hand, which had a band-aid on it.

"Miya?"

Bie Chenye's tone suddenly turned serious.

Mi Ye looked down at the back of her hand, then looked up and met Bie Chenye's gaze.

She never intended to hide it; she came today specifically to have her teacher look at these changes.

"I was just about to tell you, teacher."

Miya tore off the band-aid with her left hand, turned her hand over, and exposed the small black star symbol in the dim candlelight of the cabin.

"I discovered it when I woke up on the second day in the hospital. Before that, I think I triggered two flashes in my mind."

Bie Chenye paused, stunned.

She reached out and gently touched the edge of the black star with her fingertips, as if afraid of crushing a snowflake that had fallen on the back of her hand.

His finger paused on one corner of the star, held for a moment, then suddenly lifted, staring at her with an expression of surprise that Mi Ye had never seen before.

"This isn't an ordinary flash of light! This is a divine flash!"

Miya nodded and explained her experience of being dragged into the library and coming out.

After she finished speaking, she noticed that Bie Chenye's expression seemed to be laying bare all the emotions he had suppressed for the past five hundred years.

"Damn it, you—"

Bie Chenye's voice trembled slightly.

"Take off the band-aid and let me see that star again."

Miya blinked and stretched out the back of her hand.

Bie Chenye held her hands in his own, brought them close to the candlelight, examined them carefully, then took a deep breath and released Mi Ye's hands.

"The gods have cast their gaze upon us."

"Little Miya, look at this."

Bie Chenye pointed to the vibrant red flower in her hair.

Miya had always thought it was an ornament, but now, looking closely under the candlelight, she could see a faint iridescent halo flowing on the petals of the flower, just like the halo flowing deep within the black star on the back of her hand.

"This is also a mark of the divine light."

Bie Chenye put his hands behind his back and began pacing around the cabin.

The dark green liquid in the copper pot was still bubbling, but she had no time to stir it.

"Oh my god, quick, quick, let me tell you about it."

"The difference between a normal flash and a divine flash is that a normal flash means you've found your own path within the magic system. The gods don't care what breakthroughs a witch has made; to put it bluntly, they wouldn't even bother to look at you."

She turned around, her deep brown eyes shining brightly in the candlelight.

"But a flash of divine light means you have touched a higher level of being, and that being is very interested in you and has decided to give you something."

"I awakened the divine light a thousand years ago. At that time, I witnessed the passing of a certain life. She was someone who was very, very important to me. Before I even realized it, a crack appeared in my sea of ​​consciousness, and something looked at me through the crack."

"That feeling... how should I put it?"

Don't stop in the dark and look up at the smoke-blackened wooden beams on the ceiling.

"Utter nothingness."

The cabin was quiet for a moment. The liquid in the copper pot finally boiled dry, making a hissing sound, but Bie Chenye ignored it.

"The god who watches over me is named Azathoth, but that is all I know of his name."

"He never speaks to me, gives me any guidance, or tells me any purpose. It's also possible that I simply cannot understand the language of the gods."

She stretched out her hand and drew a symbol in the air with her fingertips.

Mi Ye couldn't make out what the symbol looked like, but deep within her consciousness, the black surface of the Wishing Pool seemed to tremble slightly.

"After that great battle, I gained the Flash of God, a power that can strip away the life force of anything with vitality, but the price is..."

Bie Chenye was silent for a moment, then unconsciously touched the petals of the red flower on her head.

"Never mind, I'll explain in detail next time I have the chance."

"In short, the Flash of God is different from magic that can be inherited through blood or learned. You cannot learn it from any textbook, you cannot copy it through training, and you cannot derive its triggering conditions using any formula."

"Every flash of divine light is unique, because every flash of divine light represents the gaze of a god."

Bie Chenye walked back to Mi Ye, bent down with one hand on her knee, and aligned herself with Mi Ye's line of sight.

She stretched out her hand, and Mi Ye's right hand and her left hand were simultaneously spread out in the candlelight.

Black stars and red flowers, two symbols of divine brilliance, quietly radiated their own light in the dim yellow light.

"Your symbol—"

Don't tilt your head in the dark.

"It does not exist in any pantheon totem I know of; at least, I have never seen it in any of the ancient books that exist on the continent."

She pointed her index finger at the star on the back of Mi Ye's hand and frowned slightly.

"However, based on my own experience, once the Flash of God is awakened, it usually comes with some minor side effects. I feel that these side effects are like the god's wicked sense of humor, or the price of the power itself. Anyway, they are not a big deal."

"What truly matters is that once the Flash of God is triggered, it proves that you have awakened a unique skill, the strongest skill, a skill that only you on the entire continent possess!"

"This is something that can't be learned, nor can it be replicated through inheritance. It's something that no ordinary talent can match. How far you can go with it depends entirely on yourself, but I believe you will go very, very far, because you are my student!"

Miya was a little stunned by the barrage of praise, and the tips of her ears started to burn again.

Before she could even formulate a humble response, Bie Chenye suddenly lunged forward and hugged her tightly again, this time even more forcefully than the hug he had given her when she entered the room.

Mi Ye felt Bie Chenye resting his chin on the top of his head, his chest rising and falling several times, as if he were taking deep breaths, or as if he was suppressing the emotions that were about to overflow from his heart.

"Xiao Yaye."

"Um?"

"Five hundred years."

The sound of the night was muffled.

"I thought I was the only one."

Miya was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening.

Although she didn't know exactly what happened a thousand years ago, nor did she know who the most important person was to Teacher Bie Chenye, she could understand what it felt like to be locked up in a remote place for hundreds of years.

Teacher Bie Chenye must be very lonely, and she must be very scared.

Mi Ye didn't answer, but buried her face in Bie Chenye's dark blue robe and hugged her tightly.

The smell of herbal stains, the smell of old ink, and a faint floral fragrance emanating from that red flower.

Outside the wooden house, the branches and leaves of the 800-year-old oak swayed gently in the midday sun, and a few clear birdsongs came from deep within the canopy.

The medicinal liquid in the copper pot had completely boiled away, forming a dark green film on the bottom, but neither of them paid any attention to it.

It was a long time before Biechenye finally let go.

Her eyes were still a little red, but her expression had completely returned to its usual slightly exaggerated vitality, or rather, she was using this vitality to cover up the fact that she had almost cried just now.

"Alright, alright, that's enough with the sentimentality!"

She turned around and lifted the burnt copper pot off the fire.

"Now that you've awakened the Divine Flash, things will be simple from here on out. If the board of directors finds out you've awakened the Divine Flash, they might all be fighting over you."

"However, Miya, I suggest you don't reveal this. Just pretend you're an ordinary little witch. Anyway, we can get by with our usual strength, right?"