Several hours later,
For these past few hours, Beatrice continually poured her mana into Elias's brain, slowly but surely shaping it to her liking.
But contrary to her expectations, Ellias seemed much more resistant to her control than expected, even though Beatrice had a much more thorough grasp of him than her prior servants, he still took more mana to enslave.
Thankfully though, by now Beatrice was at least somewhat experienced in the Dark Manipulation spell and could slow down her loss of mana by refining mana as she cast the spell.
Of course, as she could not put all of her attention on refining mana, after around three hours, Beatrice still drank the potion that she had obtained from her teacher, replenishing her depleted mana pool.
At this moment, Beatrice's eyes suddenly opened as she breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's finally over," mumbled Beatrice as she looked at the boy sleeping on her lap with a somewhat weird expression on her face.
After she had finished casting the spell, and controlling Elias, Beatrice couldn't help but fall into deep thought, trying to find the reason why the boy was so much more resistant to her mana.
'He's not any stronger than the average boy, so I can cross that off, and his willpower is not particularly strong as well,' thought Beatrice as she touched the cheek of the young boy with a smile on her face.
As she felt the white and tender skin on the boy's face, Beatrice's eyes couldn't help but narrow, as thoughts bubbled into her mind.
"Maybe he has talent for becoming a mage, that could play some part in this," mumbled Beatrice, prompting the figure sitting behind her to nod, a small smile appearing on her face.
"That's right this little guy does have the talent to become a mage," said Selena Watford as she suddenly appeared behind Beatrice, touching the latter's shoulders as she spoke.
Hearing her teacher's words, Beatrice could not help but fall into thought once again.
The fact that those with magic talent were more resistant to the Dark Manipulation spell made some sense, after all, those with magic talent, no matter how weak they were, had some resistance against mana and elemental energy.
In fact, this was one of the reasons those with higher talent could absorb mana faster, as their increased resistance allowed their bodies to be damaged much less than those with worse talent.
'Did she give me someone with magic talent on purpose, just so that she could test me?' thought Beatrice as she felt her teacher touch her cheek.
"Don't worry, I have no reason to test my little disciple," said Selena as she suddenly moved her body closer to Beatrice, staring at her and Elias somewhat weirdly.
Feeling her teacher's gaze, a thought couldn't help but suddenly enter Beatrice's mind.
'She just thought something incredibly weird,' thought Beatrice, feeling as if her teacher had just made an unfounded assumption about her.
At this moment, Beatrice did not know just how right her stray thought actually was, nor did she know how wrong her teacher's assumption was.
As she looked at her disciple, Selena couldn't help but feel that the way Beatrice looked at the little boy was somewhat weird.
Still, Selena did not pursue this matter, as she left after speaking with her disciple for a few moments, not before remembering to leave her disciple a small crystal ball.
"You can use this for now and give it back to me once I come back," said Selena, not bothering to explain what the crystal ball did.
...
Looking at her teacher's departing figure, Beatrice still couldn't help but feel weird, but even so, she ignored that feeling, shaking her head as she turned her attention toward Elias.
"Wake up," said Beatrice in a relatively cold tone as she looked at Elias, tapping him on the forehead with her nail, feeling somewhat annoyed as she looked at the little boy, as if he had caused her some trouble.
After that Beatrice got up, still feeling annoyed at the little boy for some reason, leaving Elias on the floor.
Thankfully for Elias, he woke up only a few moments later, just as Beatrice was about to go personally wake him up.
"Mistress," mumbled Elias, saying his first word after waking up from his sleep.
Hearing that, a small smile couldn't help but appear on Beatrice's face, feeling quite satisfied with the obedience Elias showed.
"Good boy," mumbled Beatrice as she patted Elias on the head, feeling quite satisfied with her new servant.
At the same time, Beatrice turned her attention toward the crystal ball her teacher had left behind, with a smile on her face.
'At least she is somewhat generous,' thought Beatrice as she picked up the crystal ball into her hands, isolating them with her mana so that her bare hands didn't touch it.
"Put your hands on this crystal ball," said Beatrice as she turned her head to her new slave.
The moment Elias placed his hands on the crystal ball, the ball suddenly changed color, becoming black.
...
At the same time in another location,
Looking at the city gate in front of her, Ella couldn't help but take in a deep breath.
It had been over a year since Ella had stepped into Deasdon city, a year since she had escaped from that hell, but even so, she still came back.
But right now, things were different compared to before, things were so much different, right now, Ella had power.
Without any hesitation, Ella stepped into the city before walking in a particular direction.
Soon after that, the nice houses around Ella began disappearing, being replaced by things that almost looked like shacks.
In only a few minutes, Ella had stepped into the slave market, beginning her search for a certain someone.
...
Looking at the unfamiliar lady before him, the fat slave trader, who was sitting on his chair felt somewhat worried as he spoke.
"Elias, we sold him half a month ago," said the slave trader, but sadly for him, these were his last words, as his body then began melting, turning into liquid as it dropped to the floor.