Heaven's Greatest Professor

Agnes completed washing up rather quickly using the Cleansing Crystal. Well, she was mostly clean; her power allowed her to devour and disintegrate all the blood and grime that fell on her person—this was actually something Warden was so envious of.

There were multiple times she thought he was checking her out, but on all those occasions, his gaze was envious of how efficiently her power worked to keep herself pristinely clean. However, there was one thing the master runesmith wasn't aware of: although her darkness kept her clean, it couldn't stop her from feeling disgusted.

On that note, devouring that filthy blood only increased her inner disgust, which she could only alleviate by washing up. Of course, she was never going to mention that to him. Let the guy be envious.

She was near the stream but decided against dipping into the corrupt water for the same reason she had given Warden. However, before she was going to leave, she noticed something noteworthy: a couple of figures moving on the other side of the stream suspiciously.

She narrowed her eyes and flew to make their acquaintance. Even if she didn't recognise the soldiers personally, she could alert them about the problems with the forsaken.

But as she drew closer, Agnes lost all her goodwill towards the fellows. One of the fellows was actually carrying an unconscious girl, whose clothes were all wet and torn, her appearance haggard, hair dishevelled over her face.

Increasing her speed, she landed before them as panic ensued between the two soldiers.

"What are you doing with the girl?" she asked, and then her eyes lingered on the girl's slender form. The girl wasn't very tall, half a head shorter than her, with black hair and rosy fair skin, but more importantly, she recognised the girl. It was Jenni, one of the Adepts, and Warden's temporary assistant.

"Um, we found her near the river, contorting in pain, asking for help," the free man said, hesitating. "It might look like something else, but... as fellow humans, we only tried to help her."

Agnes didn't remain to argue with him, as Jenni's condition looked extremely serious. She pushed her way to seize the girl from the suspicious-looking soldier.

"Hey, we were just going to help her," the carrier complained.

Agnes shot him a sharp look.

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"Shut it, dock, this is Captain Agnes, act within your station," the other man reminded his friend, recognising her.

Before they could embark on a spree of apologies, Agnes asked, "What are your names and posts? Better yet, show me your badges…"

She couldn't leave a couple of potential offenders unpunished.

Both fellows exchanged glances, swallowing hard.

"If you're only here to help Jenni, there will be no consequences," Agnes told them, her eyes shining with a cold glow. "Now, your badges?"

They reluctantly drew their badges and handed them to her to note down. Both men were from the tenth infantry: one a sergeant with a rather stellar record, and the other a newly joined private. Still, that didn't say anything about whether they were intending to take advantage of Jenni's situation.

Unfortunately, given the poor girl's condition, Agnes couldn't get to the bottom of the incident.

"Captain Agnes, we really didn't mean any harm," the sergeant said. "She's a runesmith, right? I recognised her from the barrier-breaking event that happened a couple of weeks ago on the western front. We simply wanted to help. We even gave her a healing potion, but her state hasn't improved much."

Agnes narrowed her eyes, weighing his words, which felt genuinely sincere. "We'll put this matter aside for now, Barn," she said, calling out his name to let him know he would be on her mind. "Jenni needs immediate care... I'm taking her with me."

She didn't give the two soldiers a moment to complain. Dark wings unfurled behind her as she took flight, carrying Jenni with her.

She had already noted that the girl's channels were wracked with twisted dark essence. Something like this could only have happened if she had come into direct contact with the twisted dark essence. Looking at her state, it was clear Jenni had been submerged in the stream for a good while, leaving her in such a haggard state.

Thankfully, dark essence was something with which Agnes was familiar. She could safely drain it from Jenni's system and save her from the twisting corrupt power. It would leave the adept in a weakened state for some time, and might even diminish her potential, but those problems were inconsequential compared to losing her life or her condition worsening.

Agnes flew back to their camp at top speed. She had already begun to stabilise the dark essence, preventing it from harming Jenni any more than it already had.

She didn't bother to disable the wardstones as she entered, breaking through them. Warden, who had been playing with runes, leaped to his feet, ready for a fight. But his expression softened upon seeing it was her. His gaze then shifted to the woman she carried, and he knitted his brows.

"It's an emergency," she said, positioning Jenni's slender figure near the fire. "She fell into the corrupt stream... Don't ask any questions; help me. I need to drain all the dark essence from her."

"What do you need me to do?" Warden asked, crouching near.

"The way I'll drain the dark essence from her system will be rather visceral," Agnes explained, placing her palm on Jenni's abdomen. "She'll feel a great deal of pain and might struggle. Hold her in place."

Warden nodded. "I can help with cleansing runes," he offered. "I've been experimenting with them by supplying radiance energy. The results have been promising... but it's experimental, slow, and I'm uncertain of the effects it might have on her condition."

Agnes frowned. "We can try your way after she's out of danger," she said. "Now, hold her firmly."

Agnes channelled her power into Jenni's channels. She connected to the twisted essence and used her devouring power. The dark essence writhed, tearing its way out as she extracted it.

Jenni's back arched as she surged forward, letting out a scream. But Warden was already prepared. He secured her by placing his strong arms under hers, holding her firmly in place.

"How long are you going to take?" Warden asked, his voice gentle, his eyes soft as he looked at the girl.

Jenni struggled in her unconscious state, but against Warden's physical strength, her efforts were futile. The screams, however, were beyond his control.

"A few minutes to get her out of danger," she replied. "As for the rest, I'm not sure how long it will take."

"You do your thing," Warden nodded. His palm glowed with golden streaks of light as he infused them into Jenni. The darkness within her began to thrash wildly, agitated by the light. Warden was prepared to cease his intervention if necessary.

"Don't stop," Agnes urged him. "Your light attribute can drive away the dark essence; it can even cleanse, if only it wasn't too weak. Regardless, continue what you're doing, push the dark essence out of her channels... it will make my job easier, and her pain less severe."

Warden nodded. With the combined effect of light and dark power, they began to cleanse Jenni of the twisted essence. Agnes absorbed the essence within her, her expression tight with concentration. She wasn't concerned about digesting it right then, as her entire focus was on aiding Jenni.

Warden's radiance power significantly calmed her struggle. She wailed in pain, tears streaming down her closed eyes. She even coughed up dark blood a few times, her skin turning pale and pink.

After Jenni was out of danger, the process became easier. Warden no longer had to hold her tightly. He supported her gently as she wailed and moaned, subconsciously surrendering to the process.

After about half an hour, with sweat on her forehead, Agnes lifted her palm from Jenni's abdomen. The skin there was already an angry red, all swollen.

"Is it over?" he asked.

"From my end, at least," she replied, the sweat disappearing from her body automatically. "I have drained at least 70% of the dark essence, but the rest has already intermingled with her essence. A good healer can take care of it in due time. Maybe you can too... though it will take longer."

Warden nodded. He took out a handkerchief to clean the blood from Jenni's lips and face. He hesitated to do more and looked up at her. It didn't set right to him to help when Agnes was there.

"Change her clothing and clean her," he said, standing up.

Agnes nodded. "You're actually more tender than you appear, huh..."

Warden didn't respond.

"She'll be fine," Agnes reassured him. "I mean, it will take her some time to regain her strength and lost potential... She has lost a significant amount from her attributes, I reckon. Such things are never easy..."

But considering Jenni's father was a master runesmith and a Grandmaster Blacksmith, any resource needed to improve his daughter's condition would be inconsequential. He would likely call all his favours and get the best healer to heal her. Unfortunately, Jenni was inside a subspace where her father had no knowledge of what went through her.

Hopefully, Agnes would find someone trustworthy from the 16th infantry to help Jenni out of the subspace, because both her and Warden would be occupied with other things.

"I know," he said and sighed. "I'll be outside."

She stared at the girl's face. SHe wouldn't have a nice sleep, but it should be nicer than before.