Dahila noded her head in return gently. She wasn't very concerned with what Zavier asked of her as long as it didn't tip her scales.
"Alissa hasn't been talking to me, it's like she is mad about something I did but I can't figure out what I did wrong. It's hard to understand the mind of a girl. I want to know why she would behave like that? You are a girl too so you must know something about it."
Dahila wanted to slap the back of his head so hard but resisted the impulse. What did he mean? Were all girls this unreasonable? And how dare he suggest that she was like that too?
She restrained herself and brought a stiff smile on her face that was enough to insinuate that she wasn't very used to smiling that often.
"When was it exactly that she started to avoid you? Was she like that the whole day or after a certain incident.?"
Zavier got to thinking and he had the answer.
"She started to do that after I won the bet with Miss Valerie and got back to my seat. I know, is it because I didn't listen to her when she tried to stop me from taking up her challenge?"
Dahila wanted to punch him this time as well but couldn't help but think about how he managed to pull that off with Valerie and restrained her violent impulses.
This was the first time something like this was happening to her. She had always been quite calm and composed and had never felt such violent emotions.
The person she had never paid any attention to before was now bringing out all these emotions in her. She was unable to figure out the reason behind that.
How could someone she considered worthless have such an impact on her?
Coming out of her reverie, she opened her mouth to answer what she thought was the actual reason and at the same time let out some of the frustration she had been holding in.
"You fool!"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you really think girls are that petty? That she would be angry because you didn't listen to her and took up the challenge?"
Zavier was now unable to understand why this girl was angry with him. Looking at her expression, he was sure that she was deliberately scolding him.
Zavier could not help but purse his lips thinking:
"It is the same thing all over again, just with a different girl as the protagonist. What a nightmare it is, trying to understand girls."
But he couldn't just blurt out what he was thinking in front of Dahila. He had to find out the reason for Alissa's behavior first.
"Why don't you tell me then, why was she acting that way?"
Dahila let out a huge sigh as if she was unable to hold back her disappointment.
She took a breath and continued talking:
"If you want to hear the real reason then, Alissa feels that she is unworthy of talking to you. That's why she is trying to break away from you and is unwilling to talk to you."
"How are you so sure?"
Zavier wasn't quite convinced. How could she suddenly want to cut him off? It seemed very bizarre to him.
"The exact moment when she changed her attitude, was it not when you had already triumphed? She was still worried about you before you took on the challenge."
"In that case, my theory might have been true as well. She might have been mad because I didn't listen to her."
Dahila rolled her eyes before arguing back: "What kind of friend wouldn't be happy when you pull off such a legendary feat? Even if she was mad at you for not listening to her, she would have at least offered her congratulations to you."
Zavier was starting to believe her words now. There was sense and logic to it. Seeing as the iron was hot, Dahila continued to talk.
"The real reason behind her trying to break away is her low self-esteem. Before today, Alissa and you both were pretty useless when it came to magic. But suddenly you became the star of the class who managed to pull off a feat that even I being the number one in class couldn't.
This might have frightened her a bit into thinking that she wasn't good enough to be your friend now that you were able to sense magic and she was still the same.
Her low self-esteem would have also caused her to think that you wouldn't want to be friends with her anymore, now that you are one of those who can sense magic. On the other hand she also feels alone and abandoned."
Zavier was completely convinced that this was the reason after listening to Dahila, after all he knew how timid Alissa could be.
"I understand. It seems to be like that. Now about what you wanted to know, ask away."
"Tell me how you managed to levitate Miss Valerie so easily. Even when I put my whole mana into use, I was barely able to lift her foot off the ground and yet you managed to do it so easily. How did you do it?"
Zavier had already anticipated that she would be asking this question. After all, before today they had never talked to each other.
If she had suddenly wanted to ask him something, it had to be related to what had happened today, otherwise it would have felt very odd to him.
"It is quite simple and straightforward actually. There was no elaborate strategy to it."
Dahila revealed a disgusted expression on her face as if she had heard the worst of drivel and nonsense. She thought that Zavier was trying to worm his way out of their deal.
Before she could start to protest and threaten Zavier, he continued with what he was saying because he had also seen the expression on her face changing.
"I am telling the truth. The key to my success is I restricted her before I cast Float. As you might have noticed, most of your mana was used up in overcoming the resistance of Miss Valerie's own mana. If you didn't, you would have at least felt that you were pouring your mana into a ditch since there was no effect whatsoever."
At this point, Dahila was sure that he was telling the truth. She did have the same feeling while casting Float.
Turns out, it was because Miss Valerie was resisting with her own mana at the time.
Of course the teacher hadn't given it her best shot, otherwise she would have been blasted back due to the sheer difference in magical energy between the two.
Then there emerged a doubt in her mind. How was he able to restrict her when she couldn't even overcome Valerie's defense against Float?
"How did you do it, I mean…restrict her…how did you manage to do it?"
"As to that, I used a level 2 illusion, Dizziness."
"WHAT?"
Dahila wasn't able to wrap her head around such an unexpected answer. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that the useless kid in front of her was actually a Mesmer, the rarest of all the professions in the world. On top of that, he could already use level 2 illusionist skills.
Zavier let her get used to it before continuing with the rest of his explanation.
"Since I cast Dizziness, Miss Valerie was unable to defend at all when I cast Float. That is to say, her mana was in turmoil so it couldn't provide any magic resistance at all."
He had laid it out so casually in front of her but she knew that Zavier was selling his genius too short.
If it had been only mage skills then, even Dahila might have been able to replicate the same under certain conditions.
Zavier on the other hand could have pulled it off regardless of the situation since illusionists didn't need mana to pull off a skill successfully, what they relied on the most was actually mental strength.
Even if Miss Valerie had been alert to it, she might not have been able to defend herself against the mental strength of an illusionist.
Her magic resistance would have been completely useless. She would have still fallen for it.
Dahila could finally appreciate the horror of the man; he had been hiding too deep. She stared at his face that was devoid of pride or ego and felt her own pride shatter all around her.
"I hope that you can keep it a secret. I don't want others to know that I am a level 2 illusionist. Let's keep this between us, okay?"
Dahila replied in kind to his trust.
"I got it. You can rest assured that your secret is safe with me."
"You have my thanks."
Zavier was in a hurry and left as soon as the deal was complete. He wanted to catch up with Alissa who had already left ahead of him.
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