Reluctant as she was, the deed was done — and to prevent "the pinnacle of Enhancement Magic" from being wasted in her hands, Li Fei had no choice but to find a staff that was both practical and capable of massively increasing her mana capacity.
That way, when the moment called for it, she could cast Dragon's Might on herself, then cave in her enemies' skulls with a staff that was heavy, hard, and deeply satisfying to swing — and let them experience firsthand what a mage-girl's wrath truly felt like.
Li Fei snuck a glance at her System Panel. With the help of her Special Enrollment Brooch and Intelligence Pendant, her Intelligence had climbed to 14 points, giving her a mana cap of 70 — but a single cast of Dragon's Might, even before factoring in the Cycle Principle's amplification bonus, cost a whopping 132 mana.
A gap of nearly half her total mana... Li Fei planned to bridge it with the right staff, then dip into her Wealth to pick up a piece of equipment she'd been eyeing from the Shop for a long time — one with exceptional value for its cost. Even if she had to sell everything she owned, she was going to scrape together enough mana for Dragon's Might.
"This one?"
"Still too light."
"Try this."
"Can you go heavier?"
"..."
Mrs. Ollivander dabbed at the sweat on her brow, the look behind her reading glasses edging toward quiet resignation.
For mages, the dream staff was light, nimble, and powerful. That expectation had driven craftsmen, even when working on the most unwieldy long staffs, to obsess over materials and process until they'd brought the weight down to two or three pounds.
Li Fei currently had 8 points of Strength. Factoring in level growth and Dragon's Might's boost, a staff that light was going to feel thoroughly unsatisfying when used to bludgeon someone.
"Do you carry Ogre Staves?" Bai Mengtian interjected suddenly.
She had seen straight through her best friend's intention to play melee mage — and wholeheartedly approved.
Close-quarters combat. The romance of humanity!
"We do, but..." Mrs. Ollivander hesitated slightly.
"Please, allow me to see one. I'd be most grateful." Li Fei pressed her palms together.
"Of course. One moment."
Mrs. Ollivander's gaze drifted, almost without meaning to, to the silver brooch on Li Fei's chest — then she turned and disappeared into a narrow, cramped passageway flanked on both sides by stacked wooden boxes.
Li Fei turned to her best friend, not even managing to get a word out before Bai Mengtian cut in with the answer: "Ogre Mages — Sequence 5. One of the rare 'spell-type combat units' in the Strength alignment."
"Ogre Mages are also celebrated as the disgrace of all spell-type combatants, because these green-skinned brutes possess Strength that surpasses even Crusaders and Earth Elementals — and the only spell in their entire repertoire is Bloodthirst. Their combat philosophy is simple: cast Bloodthirst on themselves and their allies, then beat their enemies' skulls in with a big, heavy staff, and eat the remains alive."
"The Ogre Staves that accompany them from birth are massive and built to last — capable of shattering a giant's head. They should meet your requirements."
"Ah... wait. Does this shop do installment plans? This is Sequence 5 equipment..."
Li Fei's thoughts momentarily scrambled. She was just about to ask the price when the sound of heavy footsteps stopped her.
Mrs. Ollivander trudged back out with some effort, both arms wrapped around a gnarled, black pillar of a staff — nearly as tall as Li Fei herself — and set it down before her.
At the top of the staff sat a skull, its surface darkened to near-black. The hollow eye sockets stared back at her, and a chill ran up her spine.
Li Fei reached out to take it — but the moment her fingertips grazed the cold shaft, Mrs. Ollivander stopped her. Her expression turned serious. "Child, I must warn you. This is a cursed weapon..."
Li Fei gazed thoughtfully at her System Panel. Compared to other Transcendent items, this staff had one extra line of description.
[Ogre Staff]
Equipment Rating: Full Moon
Attributes: Strength +10, Constitution +5, Mana Cap +200
Enchantment Effect: Bloodthirst Level +5 (Maximum upgrade: Lv10)
Description: "When you press your ear to the skull in the dead of night, you can hear the most harrowing cry of kin slaying kin."
Long-term use of this staff will continuously reduce Morality, to a minimum of -5.
A Full Moon-grade staff that boosts everything except Intelligence... Li Fei's eye twitched. Her expression grew complicated.
Damn it — can someone explain to me why this staff suits me so perfectly?
"According to legend, the Ogre bloodline ritual requires slaying the kin born alongside you, then crafting from your sibling's skull a companion staff that will be bound forever to sin and bloodshed."
"If you wield this staff rashly, and your willpower is insufficient, you will become cruel and volatile — perhaps losing your humanity entirely. Are you certain you wish to purchase it?"
Mrs. Ollivander studied Li Fei's eyes with careful attention. If she detected even a flicker of hesitation, she would put the staff right back at the bottom of the box where it had been collecting dust.
But in those pupils — more captivating than any constellation — the old woman found a serenity and self-assurance she had never seen before. There was even a faint trace of contempt.
"Rest assured, Madam," Li Fei said with a light smile. "I believe no curse, however wicked, could ever corrupt the light within my heart. My heart and my deeds are clear as a polished mirror — all that I do is righteous."
— This thing bottoms out at -5 Morality. Mine is sitting at -9 right now. If this could influence me, I'd eat this worthless system on the spot.
"I can see that, child." Mrs. Ollivander seemed genuinely moved by that brilliant self-confidence. She exhaled a long breath and placed the staff into Li Fei's hands. "You possess a remarkably precious force of will. I believe you can master it."
"You flatter me."
"Mm. The price is three thousand gold coins."
"..."
Far lower than she had braced herself for — and yet Li Fei's smile still froze on her face.
"Ah... would it be possible to pay in installments?"
Li Fei did a quick mental calculation of her income against the boost the [Ogre Staff] would give her in combat, and ventured the question with a faint guilty conscience.
"Of course." Mrs. Ollivander's smile remained warm and gentle. "A good student of the Magic Academy — you surely wouldn't deceive a poor, lonely old woman like me."
"With interest factored in, let me see... three hundred gold coins per month, over one year."
Good grief — that's a twenty percent handling fee over the year?
"Could you bring it down a little..."
Li Fei bit her lip, putting on her most aggrieved, soft-eyed expression.
"Well..." Mrs. Ollivander hesitated. "I paid two thousand eight hundred gold coins to acquire this staff myself. I was already giving you the lowest price because it clearly suits you so well... and a twenty percent annual rate has always been the standard on this street."
Fortunately, nearly two hundred points of Charisma was an equal-opportunity weapon — it worked on men, women, young, and old alike. Mrs. Ollivander ultimately surrendered to those dewy, beseeching eyes. "Fine. You only need to pay for eleven months."
"Could it possibly be a little cheaper still? My dear, generous Mrs. Ollivander... my best friend is so terribly poor, you know. She works hard every day, selling — I mean, working part-time to pay for her schooling."
Bai Mengtian had materialized at Li Fei's side without warning and struck a pose of hopeful, pleading expectation.
Li Fei shot a sidelong glance at her best friend, catching with her peripheral vision the flawless, effortlessly practiced stance Bai Mengtian had assumed — more convincing than her own, and radiating pure helpless-maiden energy. Her heart filled with profound admiration.
I'm the one who sells wine for a living. Why are you better at this than I am...
"Miss Bai, surely you too aren't..."
Mrs. Ollivander — who knew exactly who Bai Mengtian was — rubbed her temples in weary resignation.
The silver-haired old woman had long shed the kind of worldly desires that afflicted younger people, but that didn't mean she was immune to softening at the sight of something genuinely adorable. She wrestled with herself for a good while before finally sighing and waving a hand.
"Oh, forget it. No handling fee at all. Three hundred a month, paid off in ten months."
"Thank you so much."
"We're truly grateful."
After expressing their thanks, Li Fei tugged on Bai Mengtian's sleeve and gave her a look that said I need your help.
Bai Mengtian caught the meaning instantly. She snapped her fingers, and a swirling vortex bloomed in the air before her, its surface shimmering with shifting, iridescent colors.
"There." Bai Mengtian pointed at the vortex. "A portal. Step through and you'll be home."
Gulp.
Li Fei swallowed, hunched her shoulders slightly, and stepped through the vortex with careful, tentative feet.
A moment later, Li Fei emerged carrying three chests. She set them down on the counter with visible reluctance, opened them one by one, and watched three hundred gold coins gleam under the lamplight — an expression of pure physical pain spreading across the star courtesan's face.
The windfall she'd shaken out of Kenneth just this afternoon... gone, just like that...
"She's yours now, my dear girl." Mrs. Ollivander smiled kindly and handed over the staff — a battlefield trophy she'd picked up for nothing — to Li Fei.
Heavy... this must be close to ten pounds.
That was Li Fei's first thought the moment the [Ogre Staff] was in her hands.
Then — a surging, torrential strength flooded through every inch of her body. It was an intoxicating sensation, second only to pressing close to a beautiful woman. Li Fei couldn't help closing her eyes, exerting every effort not to let an undignified sound escape her lips.
Strength: 8 → 18
Constitution: 8 → 13
Mana: 70 → 270
When her eyes opened again, a thread of blood-red light flickered in the depths of her dark pupils. An inexplicable, restless urge to destroy surged up in her chest — her fist clenched, and she very nearly punched straight through the wall beside her to vent the power that was nearly boiling inside her.
But she thought of the repair costs. And what it would do to her image. The savage, idiotic impulse was suppressed almost immediately.
The blood-red gleam in her eyes vanished in an instant. For a "cursed item" of this caliber to rattle someone with -9 Morality for a full two seconds was already an overachievement.
Mrs. Ollivander's gaze remained as warm and gentle as ever — the short wand concealed in her palm quietly slipped back up her sleeve without a sound.
She added helpfully: "It weighs 9.7 pounds. Without magical assistance, wielding it will take a fair amount of effort."
"Thank you. It suits me perfectly," Li Fei replied sincerely, stroking the shaft of the staff with her thumb — the wood carrying the faintest, barely perceptible blush of red beneath the surface.
With this staff, her Strength had surged to 18 points.
And her mana cap, now at 270, was more than enough to cast Dragon's Might.
On top of that, the staff's enchantment — Bloodthirst Level +5 — was a Tier-II Chaos-type spell that could also dramatically amplify Strength. Li Fei was confident that with her own effort and talent, plus one Knowledge Book, she could fully master that spell in the not-too-distant future.
When that day came...
Maxed Strength + Stone Skin + Lv6 Bloodthirst + Dragon's Might. Li Fei genuinely wondered: how many Sequence 9 Transcendents could actually survive a single strike from her?
Though, had her path as a mage-girl... drifted somewhat off course?
She stepped out of Ollivander's Wand Shop and stood at the edge of the street, staring down at the staff with a complicated, drifting sense of feeling.
I originally just wanted to pick up a cheap Firefly-grade staff to get by... how did I somehow end up two thousand seven hundred gold coins in debt? How many bottles of wine do I have to sell to pay that back?
It's definitely Bai Mengtian's fault. She bewitched me.
The realization hit her. Li Fei spun around, cracking her knuckles, fully prepared to make her best friend pay — but her arm was immediately caught and pinned against a warm, soft side, rendering her completely immobile.
"You've already bought it," Bai Mengtian said reasonably. "Yes, it went over budget — but for a melee mage, this staff will carry you all the way to Sequence 7 without breaking a sweat."
"You're the melee mage!"
Li Fei puffed out her cheeks.
"Oh? If you weren't planning to be a melee mage, why were you so drawn to this particular staff?"
Bai Mengtian smiled.
"..."
Li Fei's face went faintly red. She changed the subject with decisive speed. "Didn't you just say Ogre Mages are Sequence 5 combat units? So why is their staff only Full Moon-grade and selling for three thousand?"
As far as Li Fei knew, Sequence 5 Transcendents generally used "Dawn-grade" Transcendent equipment — and even a Full Moon-grade staff in the Shop Panel was priced at five figures, minimum.
"Sequence discrimination." Bai Mengtian tilted her head against Li Fei's shoulder and explained with unhurried patience:
"In most cases, Knowledge Sequence Transcendents far outpace their Bloodline Sequence counterparts of the same rank in income, combat capability, and virtually everything else. An Ogre Mage is Bloodline Sequence — the fact that its companion staff reaches Full Moon-grade at all is already respectable."
"Beyond that, 'cursed equipment' gets at least a fifty percent markdown the moment it hits the market — and a staff with such an eccentric enhancement profile on top of that? Three thousand gold coins is a fair price."
"Fair enough."
Li Fei opened her mouth to argue, then closed it — because Bai Mengtian's logic was airtight and she couldn't find a single flaw in it.
But then a thought occurred to her.
When you're bullying your best friend, why should logic have anything to do with it?
And so, with the warmth of close friendship, she steered the completely unsuspecting Bai Mengtian into a deserted alleyway. Five minutes later, when they emerged, all the stress of debt had been thoroughly expelled from Li Fei's mind.
Bai Mengtian was still catching her breath as she straightened her clothes, her eyes looking distinctly damp. "You absolute wretch — why aren't you even ticklish..."
Li Fei smiled without answering.
Her own weak spot was the soles of her feet — while Bai Mengtian was vulnerable everywhere. Of course it was Bai Mengtian who ended up begging for mercy.
"Sleep over at my place tonight?" Li Fei glanced at the sky and extended the invitation. "Best friend — one blanket."
"Come stay at my manor instead — you've never visited." Bai Mengtian smiled with a meaningful air. "My place is enormous. Once you've worn yourself out playing, you can sleep right there."
"Mm... I suppose that works."
Li Fei thought it over briefly and nodded in agreement, then asked with mild puzzlement: "Why are you smiling so widely?"
"No reason. Elbow."
As though afraid Li Fei might change her mind, Bai Mengtian hooked her arm firmly through hers.
...
"Water — water, please."
The next morning, Li Fei opened her eyes, lips pale and dry.
A small, exquisitely beautiful figure beat a pair of brilliantly patterned wings and flew to the bedside, offering Li Fei a cup of warm water.
"Thank you..."
Li Fei propped herself up on one hand with a wince, accepted the cup, and drained it in one go.
"Is Mama not feeling well?"
The little fairy wrapped her arms around Li Fei, face full of tender concern.
???
Li Fei stared in wide-eyed, barely-contained horror at the adorable, enchanting pink-haired fairy hovering before her.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What happened?
____
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