The Wonderful Divinity (Part 2): The Promised Second Update

"Verification begins. Eye of Truth, record all changes." Shane cast the spell. A white ice lance formed in his palm with a biu and passed through the simulated spell ring. Just as it was about to accelerate and fire, it shattered with a bang, and with a crackle, the spell ring burned away with it.

"Where did it go wrong?"

"There are twenty-three areas requiring modification this time. They are..." Eye of Truth listed each problem one by one.

In the arcane arts, verification was a series of procedures used to prove that every stage of a spell's formation, from its casting to its flight path and impact on the target, could indeed achieve the intended result.

Using rare materials such as dust, essence, and truesilver, Shane created three-dimensional spell ring sets that simulated metamagic techniques. He then passed low-level spells through the rings, observing the process, sensing the changes, and identifying the magical runes that needed adjustment.

Each spell ring set was a single-use item. There were far too many magical runes to adjust, making the workload enormous. An ordinary mage would need a formidable team just to carry out the verification. But Shane had Eye of Truth. It could produce every spell ring with copy-like precision and record every minute change in exhaustive detail, reducing the workload by at least two-thirds. Even so, the remaining third was still no small amount.

"Another failure." Fragments of shattered spell rings covered the floor. Whenever Sylvanas came to keep him company at night, she would say, "Are all you mages this messy?" or, "Don't blow yourself up," before helping Shane clean the room.

He had failed twenty-five times in ten days. Before the verification was complete, he could not rashly commit it to memory, or he might blow up his own brain.

"Shane~ Shane~~"

At his most exhausted, Shane heard someone calling his name outside the mage tower. The voice was familiar. It was Vereesa! Sylvanas had said Vereesa would be coming soon, and here she was.

He walked to the window and looked down. Vereesa was standing on tiptoe, waving both hands at him, her face filled with the most sincere smile.

"I'll be right there," Shane said softly, teleporting before Vereesa. She had grown thinner, and sweat and dust marked her cheeks, yet they did nothing to diminish her beauty. There was a little less mischief in her eyes now, replaced by strength and maturity, but her purity had not changed in the slightest.

"Let's go." Shane took Vereesa's hand.

"Vereesa, let's go." The moment he turned, Vereesa was snatched away halfway. Sylvanas took her sister's hand and led her toward her ranger camp. Vereesa turned back helplessly, silently mouthing to Shane, I'll come again tonight.

Vereesa leaned affectionately against Sylvanas as the two sisters departed.

Watching their retreating figures, Shane suddenly felt as if he had narrowly escaped a great crisis. After coming to this world so many years ago, he had realized that, without noticing, he had developed faint attachments to its people and things. He thought about what they thought and cared about how they felt. Vereesa and Sylvanas were not a multiple-choice question, but an essay question.

Returning to the mage tower, he waited until midnight. Draped in starlight, Vereesa knocked on Shane's door. The young girl wore a gown of the same style as Sylvanas's.

"Pretty, isn't it?" She spun once before Shane, her skirt blooming as it swirled. Once she came to a stop, she lifted the sides of her skirt and gave a slight curtsy. "Good evening, Mr. Shane."

"Good evening, Miss Vereesa." Shane bowed along with her. "Please, come in."

"Hehe, we look like a young lady and a gentleman at a ball." Vereesa chuckled as she lightly entered the room. "Mm, it smells familiar. Just like the little house in Sun Sail Harbor."

"There's something with a familiar taste too." Shane snapped his fingers, and a plate of apple pie appeared on the small tea table. "I bought the apples from a grocery store. They may not taste quite the same as they do in Quel'Thalas, so make do with them for now."

"Mm-hm, it tastes just as good." Vereesa picked up a piece with her fork and put it into her mouth. "I slipped out secretly. My sister didn't notice me. I'm already pretty amazing."

Really? In Shane's eyes, Sylvanas was several times stronger than Vereesa in every sense of the word.

"But I can't stay too long, or she might notice."

After finishing the apple pie, Vereesa asked Shane to take her for a walk.

"You still can't sit still." Shane chuckled, took her hand, and teleported them to the observatory.

There was no moon tonight, only a midsummer night filled with shooting stars. It was the hour when the starry sky was at its most beautiful. A ranger's senses differed from a mage's, or perhaps Vereesa was simply careless. In any case, she felt no discomfort at all.

"What a beautiful night. The night sky is a black canvas. I grab a handful of golden sand and scatter it across the heavens, and the stars appear." Vereesa spread her arms as if she wanted to embrace the night sky.

"She even knows poetry?" Shane was surprised.

"But the decorations here are too plain. The ground should be covered with grass, and every terrace should have different flowers planted on it." Vereesa turned and flashed Shane a radiant smile. Then she suddenly kicked off her dancing shoes and ran about, pointing at each terrace as she spoke. "Shane, hydrangeas should be planted here. Shane, irises should go here. Moon laurels here, and here... here... here..."

Vereesa ran a full circle around the place. The jade-like feet beneath her skirt outshone even the beauty of the stars.

At last, the young girl stopped in front of Shane's chest and looked up at him. "Shane, I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Vereesa." Shane reached out and smoothed her hair, which had become disheveled from running. The image of the mischievous young lady faded from her. She had only just come of age, and her youthful innocence had not yet fully receded, blending instead with an increasingly mature air. Simply standing there, she radiated an incomparably dazzling light. She was an edelweiss blooming amid towering mountains.

"Vereesa, it's time to go back." Sylvanas emerged from the darkness. Shane had sensed her from the very beginning.

"Okay, Sister. I'm leaving now. Goodbye, Shane." The young girl picked up her shoes from the ground and trotted away.

Vereesa left the mage tower with her sister. Though their time together had been brief, she was very happy. Her eldest sister had once told her that her feelings for Shane were merely the hazy sentiments of a young girl, something she would forget with time. Yet after being separated from Shane, those feelings had not faded with time. They had only grown stronger. She longed to stay by his side and loved the feeling of having him around. Vereesa did not know whether this feeling was love, but she would not give it up. There was only one thing she was dissatisfied with: that familiar scent.

"Sister."

"Vereesa." Sylvanas frowned and spoke first. "We Windrunners are one of the great noble houses, not commoners. Do not forget our reserve. Although Shane Dawnblade is an outstanding mage, we must keep our distance from any man before marriage."

"Okay, I'll do that, Sister," Vereesa answered obediently. "I have a question. The Windrunners and the Dawnblades are sworn enemies who never associate with each other, right?"

"Right. I agree."

"But I really like Shane. Very much. Sister, you won't compete with me for him, will you?"