Danya knocked on the door to the headmaster's office with quickly fading confidence. She was beginning to worry about what she had been called for, assuming she was in trouble. Possibly for something related to the incident with the nobles yesterday.

On some level, Danya knew that as a champion, she now had a status that greatly exceeded a majority of nobles. Her position was so great that she could likely get away with anything short of cold-blooded murder, only receiving a stern talking to in response. However, it would take her a while to get used to such a sharp rise in her station.

Hearing a muffled "enter" from the other side of the door, Danya did as instructed and stumbled at what greeted her.

The room was packed with bookshelves and could have passed for a small library. Light poured into the room through a skylight that covered a large majority of the ceiling. Only the area around a simple wooden desk was illuminated, however. The light appeared to be magically focused, causing the rest of the room to be cast into shadow.

A man who somehow managed to look ancient, even though he had no wrinkles or any gray in his hair, was sitting behind the desk. He had an amiable smile and a twinkle in his eye as he looked at her.

None of this was what caused Danya to stumble.

Standing across the desk from the headmaster was a tall, seemingly middle-aged man with short-cropped platinum blonde hair.

Besides his fine clothing, indicating his wealth, the man appeared ordinary at first glance. That changed once one saw his eyes.

The man had no irises. His eyes were a solid white, only broken by the pure black of his pupils.

Danya stood just barely inside the door, frozen, eyes locked with the man. A moment passed before the man spoke, in a deep voice laced with confusion, "Why are you dressed like that?"

She attempted to respond but was unable to do so. Her body was locked in place. She could not blink or even breathe. What felt like an eternity passed before her system pinged, and relief flooded through her body.

---
You have experienced the unrestrained aura of a being immeasurably stronger than you!

Congratulations, you have learned the skill Aura Resistance! Your Spark of Divinity has activated!

Aura Resistance:
You resist the aura of other beings.
Rank: F
Passive:
Effects of an aura placed upon you, including pressure, are reduced by 25%.
This effect is reduced by 5%, to a minimum of 1%, for each enemy level 3 or more above yours.
Effects of an ally's aura can be wholly repelled.
Each effect of this skill can be individually toggled.
---

Finally able to move, Danya took deep, shaky breaths.

Shivering, she fell to her knees and lowered her head. Not wanting to risk being trapped by those eyes again, she didn't dare to so much as glance upwards.

She heard an embarrassed cough, followed by more words from the man. "Sorry about that. I had forgotten that my eyes were exposed while I was speaking with your headmaster. The eyes are the window to the soul, even more so in my case. I can't control the aura that leaks out from them without special equipment."

He walked over and extended a hand down into Danya's field of vision. Still shaking, she took his hand, muttering a thank you as she rose to her feet.

Several minutes passed before she gathered herself and risked glancing at his face again. This time the man was wearing a black blindfold with a series of geometric and runic markings covering its surface. Despite his eyes being covered, he seemed to have no issues seeing. He looked her over with a smile before leading her to sit in a simple chair in front of the headmaster's desk.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Danya blurted out before blushing, "How are you able to see?"

Chuckling, he responded while tapping his temple, "As you can no doubt guess. My eyes are special. Physical barriers do not impede my vision."

Danya gawked at him for a split second before gasping. She instinctually moved in an attempt to cover herself, feeling exposed against her will under his gaze. Seeing this, the man burst into laughter. After a long moment, he eventually recovered and said, "Sorry about that. I haven't had a reaction like that in such a long time that it brought back some fond memories... Don't worry. I don't look through clothing without permission. I even asked the Goddess of Modesty to restrict the skill so that I am unable to do so outside of very specific circumstances. Thankfully she was able to grant my request after I completed a set of trials to prove my conviction."

Danya glared at him skeptically for a moment before she received a system prompt that verified his claim. Her shoulders slumped as the tension left her. The still unidentified man chuckled and said, "You haven't answered my original question. Why are you dressed as you are? Even without being able to use my vision, you're not leaving much of anything to the imagination."

Feeling flush with enough embarrassment that she was sure her blood was on fire, Danya covered her face with her hands and stuttered out a reply. "N-none of my clothes fit after my Awakening. M-my malnourishment was fixed along with a few other additions."

She paused before continuing with more confidence, "I actually benefit a lot from this style of clothing, so it's not really a big deal that-" Danya was interrupted as a wave of pressure, much different from before, suffused the air. Danya saw a snarl of pure rage on the man's face as his anger rushed out from him, given physical form by his sheer power.

The pressure quickly dissipated as his expression became neutral, and he spoke, "Ah yes. That would explain it." He took a step toward Danya and got down onto his hands and knees. "For that, I owe you the deepest of apologies. I have been negligent and have failed to notice a plague of corruption running rampant throughout my city officials."

The man slammed his forehead into the floor, cracking the stone and causing the building to shake as a result.

"I, Duke Montre Wingraden, of the City of Wingrad, offer you my sincerest apologies for the hardships that neither you nor any other child of the orphanage should have had to endure. Please forgive me!" Danya could only stare, slack-jawed, as blood began to pool under the now identified duke's head.

During this exchange, the headmaster had only watched with an amused smile on his face. Seeing that the poor girl was frozen again, though this time by confusion, he coughed lightly.

Hearing the cough, Danya scrambled out of her chair and kneeled by the duke. She was torn between wanting to yank him up and not wanting to touch one of the highest-ranking nobility that wasn't of the royal family. Luckily, she quickly found a solution and pleaded, "Please raise your head! I forgive you! It wasn't your fault in the first place."

A tense few seconds passed before Duke Wingraden finally got back to his feet. He turned to the headmaster and deadpanned, "Sorry about the blood Lono. Please bill my estate for any cleaning fees."

Headmaster Lono just raised an eyebrow and asked, "The blood? What about the cracks you caused to my carefully crafted floor? The cracks you caused by smacking it with that stupidly hard head with enough force to collapse a building?"

Wingraden turned back to Danya, with his forehead somehow completely uninjured and cleaned of blood. He snorted, "Why would I pay you for something that you can fix with less effort than it took me to damage it in the first place?"

Clapping, he continued. "Now! Onto business. Lady Danya, the King, has summoned the Zardonia Kingdom's champions to the palace. He intends to meet with the two of you and ensure that you are given any resources that you may need. After the meeting, you'll also be given a choice to enroll in the Royal Academy, should you desire."

He pulled a smooth black orb out of his pocket, presenting it to Danya. "Before we head out and get started gathering the supplies you'll need for the journey to the capital, please use this."

Accepting the orb, Danya received a system message.

---
Use Skill Orb - Inventory?
---

Not expecting such a rare item, Danya gasped and almost dropped the orb. She quickly tried to return the orb to the Duke, who shook his head and said, "This is a gift to you. I had been saving this skill for the right individual, and there is no one better than one of our kingdom's champions."

Danya hesitated for a moment before using the orb upon seeing the duke's resolve.

---
Congratulations, you have learned Inventory! Your Spark of Divinity has activated!

Inventory:
Store any nonliving entity in a personal pocket dimension.
Rank: C
Active:
Storage space is equal to 10,000 feet cubed.
Time does not flow inside the Inventory.
Items can be instantly equipped from the Inventory.
---

Smiling at Danya's amazed expression, Duke Wingraden inquired. "I'm glad you like it. I believe it should be rather powerful?"

Danya nodded in agreement. "It has a huge capacity!"

The duke exclaimed, "Wonderful! While storage skills aren't commonplace, they're not particularly rare. I had high hopes that Inventory would be a powerful variation."

Stepping towards the exit, he continued. "Now, let's head out. We have much to do before you depart in the morning."

After a moment of hesitation, Danya followed, after placing her bag into her Inventory and quickly curtsying to the headmaster.

---

The pair quickly arrived at the school gates. A handsome young man, appearing around Danya's age, greeted them.

He was tall, standing about 5 foot 11 inches, with a toned, athletic build. He had messy, golden blonde hair and vibrant green eyes that widened as he caught sight of Danya. 

Danya almost stumbled as lust energy surged into her. At this point, many had gazed at her with lustful eyes. The large variety allowed her to gain some insight into the composition of energy produced by different people. 

The energy she gained from this man was several times stronger than what she had gained from the Level 1 individuals. It shocked her that it was composed of almost entirely lust instead of the usual roughly equal split.

This quickly changed as the man visibly centered himself, and the energy decreased in volume and became more balanced.

The sudden change confused her and caused her to realize that she had barely received any energy from the duke and headmaster.

Before she could ponder more about this, the man spoke.

"Hello, Father." He nodded towards Wingraden before extending a hand towards Danya with a charming smile and saying. "You must be Danya. I am Sala Wingraden. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

With a slight blush on her cheeks, Danya extended her hand. Only to gasp, blushing up to her ears as Sala grasped her hand and brought it to his lips.

Her new biology and personality changes made it so that she felt little embarrassment from activities an ordinary woman might consider vulgar. However, it didn't seem to do much for other social interactions. Danya certainly had no idea what to do in this situation and was quickly overwhelmed.

Releasing her hand, Sala spoke. "I am glad to see that your awakening seems to have corrected the health issues brought upon by your circumstances."

His expression became grave. "Once our magicians managed to scry you, and we went over the gathered information, we feared the worst."

He paused, smiling briefly before he continued. "Luckily, it seems that our fears were unfounded, and you are quite possibly the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes upon."

Danya could not formulate a response and just stood, blushing furiously.