"Best friend, eat up."
Bai Mengtian was gnawing at a tender, juicy rib, and still found time to pucker her oil-slicked lips and wave Li Fei over.
"I'm not hungry…"
Li Fei swallowed quietly and looked away.
Once Qin Zhihua had confirmed Li Fei's "special talent," she had wasted no time making a decision: on behalf of Qin's Apothecary, she would draw up a formal spell-contract and hire Li Fei to assess the shop's entire stock of defective potions, with payment calculated by volume appraised.
Following Eastern custom, business was best discussed over a meal — and so, besides Li Fei, Bai Mengtian, and Qin Zhihua, three pureblooded Eastern beauties all sharing the same black hair and dark eyes, even the shop clerk turned out to be half Eastern by blood. Under Qin Zhihua's lead, the four of them were soon seated in a restaurant that looked expensive just from the outside, talking terms over dinner.
And so Li Fei's torment began.
A full bowl of wontons at noon. A generous spread of dishes personally prepared by Madam Annie in the afternoon. A shared pot of mala hot pot with her best friend in the evening. Today's caloric intake had already shot past any reasonable limit — and the star courtesan, a consummate professional who took her figure management very seriously, sat before a table laden with delicacies and did not dare pick up her chopsticks.
Bai Mengtian, naturally, had no such concerns. A high-Sequence Transcendent could swallow mountains and drain seas — weight gain wasn't even a concept.
"Don't worry, Fei-bao. Even if you get chubby, Mama will love you all the same."
Bai Mengtian was already twirling fork-loads of noodles drenched in meat-tomato sauce into her mouth as she said it, eyes curved into a mischievous squint.
"Women's mouths — the devil's workshop."
Li Fei turned her face away, not believing a single word of her best friend's nonsense.
She had spent time in idol fandom circles back in her previous life, following the biggest girl group in the country for a stretch. Whenever some little idol went live or posted on social media complaining about gaining weight, Li Fei — like every other fan — would shower them with earnest encouragement:
"Sweetie, you're too thin, please take care of your nutrition."
"Down with the skinny-pale-delicate beauty standard — what's pretty about being a stick? Soft and round is adorable."
And yet — if any idol was foolish enough to actually take that advice and let her figure go, the individual known as "Li (name withheld)" would be the very first to unfollow and drop the membership.
Qin Zhihua sat quietly peeling shrimp, her gaze drifting between Li Fei and Bai Mengtian. Her eyes were full of warmth — and threaded through it, barely perceptible, a faint envy and a small, private wistfulness.
They really are so close… there isn't even a gap for me to slip into.
"Ugh! Once I become a Transcendent who can eat anything without gaining a single gram, I'm going to feast on the finest food in the world every single day!"
Li Fei glared at Bai Mengtian — currently engaged in enthusiastic and unrepentant feasting — and felt her yearning for the Transcendent path intensify considerably.
To distract herself, she turned to Qin Zhihua. "Zhihua-jiejie, how many defective potions does the shop need assessed each day, roughly?"
"About… a hundred bottles, I think."
Qin Zhihua considered briefly, then answered honestly: "We're training some junior alchemists right now, so the Firefly-grade defectives will be on the higher side. The Starlight-grade work is done by our senior staff, so there are fewer failures there — rarely more than ten. New Moon-grade I handle myself, and there's almost never a defective batch from my work."
"I see…"
Li Fei immediately began running the numbers.
Per the agreed terms: one silver coin per Firefly-grade potion assessed, ten per Starlight-grade, and one hundred per New Moon-grade — higher tiers were almost always custom orders and wouldn't be in steady production.
Hmm… an extra two or three gold coins a day, plus a few free defective potions to take home… that's actually less than I make selling wine. The problem is Zhihua-jiejie's failure rate is way too low.
Having done the math, Li Fei offered her most sincere wish:
"I can only hope that Zhihua-jiejie has more off days in the future and makes a few extra mistakes when brewing her higher-grade potions…"
Qin Zhihua, fortunately, could not hear Li Fei's inner monologue. She reached for another shrimp on instinct — and found the plate empty, replaced only by a small mountain of shells accumulated at her elbow.
She wiped her fingers clean, then slid the entire plate of freshly peeled shrimp across to Li Fei, her gaze drifting slightly elsewhere. "In the future, I'll have someone deliver the potions to your residence…"
"Ah, right, I live at—"
Li Fei was staring at the glistening, plump shrimp on the plate in front of her, engaged in a fierce internal battle, and entirely failed to notice the simultaneous brightening of both Qin Zhihua's and the shop clerk's eyes.
The delivery errand — who else but me?
The shop clerk took small sips of her ale, stealing glances at Li Fei's flawlessly beautiful face from the corner of her eye, cheeks flushed, quietly deliberating over tomorrow's outfit.
The sky-blue dress she loved — that was an absolute must.
Mature black stockings, pure-white stockings, or bare legs? Those semi-sheer ones were quite lovely too… she wondered which style Miss Li Fei preferred…
The poor, conflicted clerk had no idea that her own young mistress was wrestling with the exact same question.
Meanwhile, Li Fei had finally made her move on the neatly arranged shrimp.
"Zhihua-jiejie worked so hard peeling all these… it would be terribly rude not to have at least one…"
Having furnished herself with a perfectly reasonable excuse, Li Fei carefully lifted a shrimp and placed it in her mouth.
It had been flash-fried in oil, the tail slit open and the vein removed, the cavity packed with minced garlic — savory, fragrant, irresistible. The firm, springy flesh was so succulent that the star courtesan let out a deeply undignified little nasal sound.
Just two. Two is perfectly fine.
I'm pretty sure shrimp isn't fattening. Two more should be okay.
Bai Mengtian reached over with one greasy hand and grabbed a roasted lamb chop glistening with dripping fat and scattered scallions. Her voice dropped into the register of a demon whispering at the gates of paradise:
"Best friend, don't be picky — this place does amazing lamb chops too. Just try one."
"Mmph… fine."
By the time Li Fei came back to herself, a small mountain of bones had accumulated in front of her plate, the one-liter wine cup had been drained to the dregs, and greasy fingerprints were smeared all over the transparent stem.
"Bao, I'll take responsibility. Rest up and take care of yourself," Bai Mengtian said with an expression of indulgent adoration, giving Li Fei's newly rounded little belly a fond pat.
"Drop dead!"
Li Fei spat the two words through clenched teeth and slapped Bai Mengtian's hand away with irritation.
Qin Zhihua watched the two of them in a quiet daze, lost in thoughts she did not put into words.
...
Well-fed and pleasantly full, the business concluded, they said their goodnights to Qin Zhihua and the shop clerk, and the four of them parted in pairs beneath the evening sky.
"Staff shopping next," Li Fei said, hanging off Bai Mengtian's arm with comfortable laziness.
"Budget?"
"Looking for a Firefly-grade one. Any recommendations?"
Li Fei hadn't planned on buying anything too expensive for her first staff — she was confident that between her own effort, talent, intelligence, and the marginally useful assistance of her system, she wouldn't be stuck at the low Sequences for long.
Once she enrolled at the Magic Academy and built a deeper understanding of Transcendent knowledge — once she crossed the threshold to Sequence 9, or even Sequence 8 — there would be plenty of time to invest in premium equipment then.
"Wise choice," Bai Mengtian agreed. "Once you've built out a complete spell system, I'll introduce you to a master craftsman. He can design a staff tailored specifically to your specializations, preferences, and combat style."
Li Fei's lips moved. She swallowed back the question "Is he treating?" before it could escape.
A best friend and a client were different things. Li Fei didn't want to ask things of her.
Night had deepened around them. The star courtesan, pleasantly tipsy, leaned her weight against her best friend and quietly pulled up the System Panel.
To avoid distraction during the business dinner, Li Fei had deliberately held herself back from checking the prize she'd won from the [Gacha Panel] earlier. Now, at last, it was time to see what she'd gotten.
A golden prize… what could it be?
There, floating in her vision, was a book — radiant gold, laced with threads of vivid green. A book of knowledge.
!!!
The small head that had been drooping against Bai Mengtian's shoulder shot upright. Li Fei's eyes went wide with pure, undisguised excitement.
Even from a glance, the quality was in a completely different league from the [Stone Skin] she'd pulled last time — if she was reading this right, this was an eighth-tier Nature spell. One of the most expensive categories in the Shop Panel; the price tag alone, made up of so many digits, was something the star courtesan could never hope to afford even after a hundred years of selling wine.
Li Fei pressed both hands over her mouth, barely maintaining her composure — the pig-squeal of delight that tried to escape never quite made it out.
"Had too much to drink?" Bai Mengtian gave her a puzzled look.
"Not at all, not at all."
Li Fei buried her face against Bai Mengtian's shoulder again and quietly lectured herself: Calm down, Li Fei. Calm. This is only the beginning. You're a woman aiming to be a Five-School Legend…
Breathing in the faint fragrance of Bai Mengtian's hair, Li Fei wrestled her emotions back under control.
Thanks to knowledge Madam Nicole had let slip in passing conversation, Li Fei had a clear understanding of what an eighth-tier spell meant.
In some quarters, people equated eighth-tier spells with Forbidden Magic. That was a misconception. All Forbidden Magic was necessarily eighth-tier — but not all eighth-tier spells were Forbidden Magic.
That said, none of it changed the raw, staggering power of an eighth-tier spell.
These were the spells wielded by the greatest mages on the entire continent — the ones who could look down on the world and hold life and death in their hands. Unbound Summon: Phoenix. Shatter. Hand of Death…
Every eighth-tier spell was a force that could shake heaven and earth. They were the power that countless mages spent their entire lives chasing.
Unbound Summon? A phoenix would be amazing, a fairy dragon would also be fantastic, Nature's Wrath would do in a pinch… oh right, the Gate of Demons is apparently a Nature-type skill too.
Her heart hammering in her chest, Li Fei read the panel description one word at a time, every fiber of her being trembling with anticipation.
[You have obtained a Nature-type Knowledge Book — Enhancement Magic — Eighth Tier…]
Hm?
Enhancement?
Li Fei's heart sank by half. The light drained from her eyes. She looked, in that moment, precisely like a bride on her wedding eve who had just had her virtue stolen by her older sister — a gaze gray and hollow with loss.
[You have obtained a Nature-type Knowledge Book — Enhancement Magic — Eighth Tier — Dragon's Might. Use now?]
"Well. How lovely."
Li Fei tugged at the corner of her mouth with glacial composure.
What is this brute-force barbarian spell doing in my golden prize slot? The rotten system is clearly targeting me personally. I want a refund!!!
The star courtesan nearly choked on her own rage. Her cheeks puffed out in moody indignation, and she jabbed a finger into Bai Mengtian's side.
"Tell me about Dragon's Might."
"Why the sudden question?"
Bai Mengtian pinched her best friend's suddenly deflated cheek and launched into an explanation with the patient air of someone dealing with a minor headache: "Dragon's Might is considered the pinnacle of Enhancement Magic. Unfortunately, there aren't many people left in the world today who know it."
"I had a nightmare. Dreamed I learned it myself."
Li Fei's face was completely flat.
"Wake up — the staff shop is almost here."
Bai Mengtian pointed toward a lit-up storefront not far ahead.
"Oh."
Li Fei accepted the prize without further ceremony. The Knowledge Book shattered, dissolving into tiny sparks of light that drifted up toward her forehead.
A torrent of profound, arcane magical knowledge flooded into her mind all at once.
Dragon's Might (Lv1)
Spell Effect: Increases target's Strength and Constitution by 100%.
Duration: 5 minutes
Mana Cost: Enhanced attribute points ×2 + 100
EXP to Level Up: 0 / 4,620,000
Li Fei stared at the spell description at length, biting down hard on her back molars.
She had to admit — the enhancement values were genuinely staggering. A flat hundred-percent boost to two attributes was just the baseline; it could also stack with bonuses from equipment, Transcendent knowledge, Class effects, and more.
Li Fei could already tell that even with just her Introductory Cycle Principle, she could push Dragon's Might's multiplier up to one hundred and ten percent. She could only imagine what the spell looked like when a high-Sequence mage in full legendary gear cast it — even if it didn't quite reach Super Saiyan territory, it was at minimum a magical-world Kaio-ken.
The problem was: she, personally, had ambitions of becoming a spellcaster. What exactly was she supposed to do with this thing?
Stack a pile of buffs on herself and wade into melee range swinging her staff?
The deeply conflicted Li Fei didn't even have the mental bandwidth to feel excited about a newly discovered system mechanic — namely, that Knowledge Books could bypass the normal tier restrictions on Transcendent knowledge and simply force-teach you a spell outright.
"Why has it come to this… The first time I cracked the secret to the gacha, and the first time I pulled a golden prize. Two happy things happening at once should have doubled the happiness. This was supposed to be a time of bliss, like something out of a dream… so why, why has it come to this…"
Li Fei murmured in a hollow, spiritless daze, looking utterly soulless, and allowed Bai Mengtian to drag her through the staff shop's door.
"Welcome to Ollivander's Wand Shop."
A silver-haired old woman stood behind the counter with a kind smile, greeting her customers. The shop looked modest from outside, but inside every surface was crammed with staffs and wands of every conceivable shape and style.
The warm amber glow of the ceiling lamps eased Li Fei's mood slightly, and she said with listless resignation:
"I'd like to buy a Firefly-grade staff."
"Long staff or short staff?"
The old woman adjusted the lenses on her nose. "Oh my — you two young ladies are the most delightful customers I've seen all year. I thought angels must have descended upon my little shop tonight."
"You flatter us."
The shopkeeper's cheerful, warm manner nudged Li Fei into something resembling her normal spirits. She shot Bai Mengtian an inquiring look.
"Short staffs are light and nimble — faster spellcasting, but the limited material can't hold many enchantment runes, and the spell amplification effect is relatively modest," Bai Mengtian answered promptly. "Long staffs are heavier and slower to cast, but they can store more mana and amplify spells more powerfully. Generally speaking: short staffs excel in small-scale close-quarters fighting where you need to seize the initiative, while long staffs suit large-scale formation combat."
Li Fei glanced at Dragon's Might's description. Her jaw tightened.
"Give me a long staff. The heaviest one you have — the kind that maximizes total mana capacity. As much as possible."
"As you wish."
The shopkeeper's smile didn't waver. "One moment, please."
After half a minute of rummaging, the old woman lifted a long, slender brown staff with both hands — a deep-green jade set into its tip — and presented it to Li Fei.
"Everspring tree-branch with fairy-forest jade. It should meet this young lady's requirements. Give it a try."
"Mm."
Li Fei took the staff, gave it a single one-handed bounce to feel the weight — then held it straight back out.
"Too light. Show me another."
"I — what—"
Bai Mengtian buried her face in her hands. "Best friend. Do you think you're picking out a magic staff or fishing for the Ruyi Jingu Bang at the Dragon King's underwater palace?"
____
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