"The work of gods."
Li Fei craned her neck back, murmuring to herself as she took in the mirror-smooth walls that soared dozens of meters above her.
The Magic Academy's library was triangular in shape — narrow at the top, broad at the base — its three faces formed from vast, flawlessly polished panels of deep violet crystal. Under the open sky, they blazed and shimmered without a single seam, without a single flaw, radiating a grandeur so sacred and absolute that it felt less like a building and more like something a god had poured into existence with their own hands. Standing before it, a person couldn't help but feel the full weight of their own smallness.
"Knowledge is the most precious treasure in the world," Irena said with a smile. "It follows that the library built to hold it should be crafted with every ounce of care."
Li Fei reached out and touched the crystal surface — and a line of text immediately surfaced in her System Panel.
[Magic Library — 027]
Equipment Rating: Immortal
...
Li Fei's eyes went wide with shock. She had never for a moment imagined that this vast, magnificent structure was itself a Transcendent Item. The enchantment effects listed were so dense they made her scalp crawl. She had no idea exactly how terrifying it was — but her instincts told her plainly: if this colossus ever awakened, even high-Sequence entities of fearsome power would be ground to ash beneath it.
So this is the foundation of a true top-tier faction… When will I ever wield power like this…
Li Fei's heart surged. Her ambition-burning gaze sank into the miraculous architecture before her, unable to pull itself free.
"Come on, let's go in."
Irena unclasped the brooch from her chest and pressed it against the violet crystal wall. Dazzling purple light bloomed and enveloped her entirely.
"Mm."
Li Fei did the same. When the light faded from her eyes, she found herself standing in an entirely different space.
The floor beneath her feet was made of luminous white tiles. All around her, towering bookshelves stretched in orderly rows, rank upon rank, extending further than the eye could follow.
From the outside, the library had seemed almost modest in its footprint — yet its interior was a world unto itself, clearly the work of some deeply mysterious spatial magic.
"Follow me."
Irena took Li Fei's hand and made straight for the section where the Meditation grimoires were kept. The star courtesan drifted along behind her in a daze, her mind wandering entirely on its own — she had begun, involuntarily, to think about peaches.
The Magic Academy belongs to Mama Nicole.
If she were willing to… how many transactions would it take before Mama Nicole agreed to gift-wrap this entire library and hand it over?
"Here we are."
Irena stopped abruptly. The star courtesan, who had been busily inflating her own market value in her head, walked straight into Irena's back.
"Ah — sorry, I was spacing out a little."
Li Fei rubbed the back of Irena's head, looking slightly embarrassed.
"It's fine — everyone's a little awestruck the first time they come here."
Irena waved it off with an understanding smile. "Look — all the Meditation grimoires are kept right over there."
Li Fei turned to look. A long shelf was packed end-to-end with books, many of them yellowed with age.
"One, two, three… six rows?"
She counted, blinking in mild surprise.
The Magic Academy's grading system used five tiers — Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Gemstone — to classify everything from Innate Talents and specializations, to a student's level, to the quality of their Aptitude. The shelf before her, however, had six rows. Five of them were packed solid with books. The very topmost row held only a single volume — thick, pristine, brand new — sitting there all alone in a way that was impossible to ignore.
"As a Special Enrollment student, you may select three Meditation methods — for personal use only, of course."
Irena helpfully slipped into the role of guide. "The purpose of Meditation practice is to deepen one's perception of Transcendent knowledge, improve mana quality, accelerate mana regeneration, and refine one's spirit… Beyond that, each Meditation method carries its own unique special effects. Every single one of them is completely distinct."
"Of course, a person can only practice one Meditation method at a time. If you choose the wrong one and have to start over from scratch, you'll waste an enormous amount of time and effort."
"Wait — then why do I get three selections?"
Li Fei frowned.
"Compared to ordinary students, Special Enrollment students possess far superior Aptitude — and they need more options to match."
Irena slipped her oversized witch's hat off her head and cradled it to her chest, explaining patiently. "Most students specialize in a single alignment of magic. They just need to choose the corresponding Meditation method and dedicate themselves to it — and they'll keep advancing. Special Enrollment students, on the other hand, explore multiple magical alignments. Finding a Meditation method that truly suits them is far from a simple matter."
"And besides — Special Enrollment students have earned the right to a little recklessness. Thanks to their exceptional Aptitude, even if they stumble a few times, they'll almost always end up going further than everyone else in the end."
"I see…"
Li Fei got the general idea.
The unspoken message behind this policy is pretty clear: if you're a dull-witted deadweight with mediocre Aptitude, stay in your lane, practice diligently, and consider yourself a success if you ever manage to reach the mid-Sequences without embarrassing your alma mater — don't get any grand ideas. If you're a genuine genius with exceptional Aptitude, go ahead and experiment and innovate freely — the Academy can absorb the cost of your mistakes.
So the Transcendent world doesn't just have 'Sequence discrimination' — it has 'Aptitude discrimination' too… Well, no, that's not quite right. Isn't Sequence discrimination fundamentally rooted in the fact that those with insufficient Aptitude have no hope of ever advancing along the Knowledge Sequence?
"As for which grimoire to choose, you can use the Aptitude grade assessed during your entrance evaluation as a guide."
Irena continued. "Bronze pairs with Bronze, Gold pairs with Gold… The higher the tier of Meditation grimoire, the harder it is to comprehend. If your Aptitude is limited and you force yourself to choose a high-tier method, the result is almost always wasting one hundred academic credits."
Hm?
Li Fei latched onto the key detail with sharp precision. "What you're saying is… once you've used up your free selections, if you want to choose again — regardless of which tier you pick — it only costs a hundred credits?"
"That's right."
Irena nodded, her little silver ahoge bobbing with the motion. "Mama Nicole would be overjoyed if every single student could practice the highest-tier Meditation method and actually succeed at it… The restriction only exists to teach the self-unaware a small lesson: there's no such thing as a free lunch, and mistakes have consequences."
"So — which tier are you planning to choose?"
Irena flashed a sly smile. She was genuinely curious about where exactly Li Fei's Aptitude sat.
"Isn't Aptitude only rated in five tiers?"
Rather than answering, Li Fei fired back with a question of her own. "Then why is there an extra row here?"
"Times have changed, Fei."
Irena let out a small sigh. "As everyone knows, Aptitude in the current age is rated on six tiers."
"Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Gemstone… and Bai Mengtian."
After speaking those last three syllables, Irena turned her head to the side and blinked at the empty air, as though waving hello to some invisible acquaintance.
"So…"
The corner of Li Fei's mouth twitched. She understood now.
"The Meditation method on the top row was written by Bai Mengtian herself."
Irena shrugged. "No one else has ever managed to learn it."
Damn her — showing off again!
As if I, Li Fei, would ever let that little pest steal the spotlight all to herself.
Li Fei's cheek puffed out by an almost imperceptible degree — and then she smiled, cool and unbothered, and pointed to the grimoire on the sixth shelf.
"Then I'll take that one."
"Eh — ehhhh?"
For the first time, genuine shock broke across Irena's face — even the little ahoge on top of her head shot straight up. "You… are you sure you don't want to think about it a bit more?"
"I'll give it a try."
Li Fei smiled, unhurried and serene. "As far as Aptitude goes — I have a little confidence in myself."
Aptitude: 0
Potential Points: 4
...
Deep in an ice-cold basement.
A young woman was bound to a cross-shaped post by fine golden chains, arms and legs spread wide.
Her skin was flushed crimson. Tiny beads of sweat traced paths down her smooth, luminous body. Her jet-black hair was plastered in damp strands across her lips, sticking there with sweat and saliva. Her pale, arched feet were drawn taut, her soft toes curled desperately inward. Her whole body writhed and twisted as she let out broken, humiliated cries.
Several women in the uniforms of constabulary officers stood by with expressions of cold indifference, wielding instruments of exquisite cruelty — brushes, cotton swabs, and their ilk — as they subjected the tear-streaked girl to an extreme sentence.
"Not there — not there, please…"
Bai Mengtian's eyes were swimming with tears, her gaze beginning to roll back. Her flushed, sweet lips were parted, panting out humid little gusts of breath.
"Already can't take it at this level?"
The purple-haired matron with writing all over her legs regarded her with cool impassivity. "We haven't even gotten to the soles of your feet yet."
"Just kill me — kill me already — mnn—"
Bai Mengtian's wails came one after another.
Suddenly, she turned her head, as though she'd heard someone calling her name.
She spaced out for a moment. Then her little face scrunched up into a pout.
"You choose that Meditation method and then tell me you're not cheating…"
"Oh? Still have attention to spare for other people?"
The purple-haired matron narrowed her eyes, running the tip of her tongue along her lips. "It seems you need a little more… affection."
The increasingly hoarse sound of pleading was sealed away behind the heavy iron door.
The star courtesan, who had no idea her dear friend was currently getting her comeuppance, returned home with an armload of books.
The moment she stepped through the door, a rich, warm scent of milk reached out and burrowed straight into her nose.
"Mama!"
Ram and a second little fairy — this one with chestnut hair — came fluttering out of the kitchen, wings beating excitedly. They circled around her in happy loops, nudging and nuzzling their way into her arms, with Ram carefully taking the books from Li Fei's hands and setting them neatly on the desk.
"Good girls."
Li Fei tucked the chestnut-haired fairy into the crook of one arm and ruffled Ram's soft pink hair with her other hand, while her mind drifted back to what the textbooks had said about fairies.
Fairies were a gentle and guileless race. Their natural ability to fly gave them solid mobility, and on a battlefield they served as affordable, expendable scouts and skirmishers. Beyond that, they possessed an intelligence roughly equivalent to a young human child, and were remarkably nimble and dexterous. They couldn't handle heavy physical labor or tasks requiring high technical skill — but for low-threshold handicraft work or service-industry positions, they were quite well-suited.
Of course, every race had its range. This morning she'd left the house in a rush, but even in the few minutes of conversation she'd managed before going out, Li Fei had already sensed the difference clearly: the chestnut-haired fairy summoned today matched the textbook description more faithfully — in other words, she was an easily-impressed little girl. Ram, on the other hand, was a prodigy who outstripped most adults in raw intelligence — despite having a soul as pristine and unmarked as a blank sheet of paper, her capacity for learning and comprehension had impressed Li Fei enormously.
"My Lady."
The maid emerged from the kitchen as well, carrying a serving tray lined with small, freshly-baked rolls.
"How did the two of them get on today?"
"Both young misses studied very diligently. Miss Ram was especially outstanding."
The maid offered her praise.
— Translated into plain speech: the chestnut-haired fairy was average, and Ram outperformed her own kind. That's about the size of it.
Li Fei nodded, and a plan began to take shape in her mind.
She'd be drawing at least one card per day from here on out anyway. SR pulls she'd keep by her side and raise properly — R pulls she'd put to work on the production line…
Once she had enough fairies, she could set up some kind of operation. A workshop, maybe. Or better yet, lease out a stretch of the Secret Garden and put her little labor force to work — a contribution to the prosperity of capital.
With that thought, the look in Li Fei's eyes as she gazed at the chestnut-haired fairy grew noticeably warmer — the fond, appraising gaze of a farmgirl looking at a particularly thriving crop of chives.
"These cakes were baked by the two young misses themselves."
The maid held the tray out to Li Fei. "I tasted one myself — they're even more delicious than anything I make."
"Mm."
Li Fei picked up a small cake. It was impossibly soft to the touch — two fingers pressed lightly against it and the thing practically squished out of shape, still faintly warm.
She bit off half in one go. A rich, sweet flood of milky fragrance filled her entire mouth, along with the smooth, silken texture of egg — if she'd had a cup of unicorn milk to go with it, it would have been an outright finishing blow against the star courtesan's self-restraint.
"Delicious. You clever little things."
Li Fei savored the second half and swallowed it with genuine feeling.
If Mama Nicole's lavish Dean-grade banquet lunch hadn't already filled her to capacity, the star courtesan would have happily gone back for several more.
"It's all Ram-jiejie's doing — I only added a little condensed milk and honey…"
The chestnut-haired fairy ducked her head, her small face going pink.
"The honey proportions matter too, you know."
Ram offered her little sister earnest encouragement.
"Both young misses have a real gift for cooking," the maid added with well-timed praise. "Becoming a proper attendant takes time and stumbles along the way — when they were making the cakes, I didn't interfere at all. I only walked them through the process once and stood by to give pointers…"
"What surprised me was that Miss Ram has a remarkable memory — she completed every step correctly on her very first attempt. The other young miss accidentally added rather more honey than called for, and Miss Ram immediately decided to leave out the white sugar so the cake wouldn't become too sweet."
"Miss Ram's instinct was exactly right. Two clever and lucky young ladies ended up inventing a completely one-of-a-kind Fairy-Brand Cake."
The maid finished her praise and held out a small slip of paper to Li Fei. "I wrote down the proportions for the recipe."
"I had no idea my daughters were so talented."
Li Fei pinched both little fairies' cheeks, her face full of delight — while several thoughts bubbled quietly to the surface.
— Should she open a cake shop? Name it 85°C, or maybe Yuanzu?
— And, dear maid — you're training new recruits by letting them experiment with ingredients. Who exactly covers the cost of wasted supplies? Eggs aren't cheap, you know. This lady works herself ragged selling one bottle of wine at a time — and it doesn't buy that many eggs… Actually, never mind. This lady is magnanimous. She won't make a fuss.
"I just… really like flower nectar…"
Being praised so sincerely by the mother she adored and revered with all her heart, the chestnut-haired fairy went scarlet, her voice dropping to the faintest thread of a whisper.
"Good fortune and inspiration are the real keys to success."
Li Fei patted the chestnut-haired fairy's back gently. "It's time to give you a name."
At those words, the chestnut-haired fairy's head shot up immediately, her big eyes blinking with barely-contained anticipation.
That pure, transparent gaze gave even Li Fei — whose Morality had sunk ten full points — a small stab of guilt. She looked away, just slightly, but held firm to her plan:
"Ram — I'm passing this mission to you."
"Eh?"
Ram, who had been gently reassuring her little sister, froze, her small face a picture of bewilderment.
"You know that Mama loves you both more than anything."
Li Fei lowered her eyes, her voice soft and tinged with guilt. "But I have so much work to do — I can't be by your sides every moment…"
"A mother as neglectful as I am really has no right to be the one naming you."
"Mama!"
The little fairy panicked, clutching at Li Fei's sleeve — but couldn't quite find the words to protest.
"Ram — back home where I come from, there's a saying: the eldest sister is like a second mother. I'm entrusting the naming to you because I want you to be a good elder sister from here on — to look after your little sister and take care of her. And a little sister who was named by you will surely listen to you all the more. As long as the two of you stay close and share both the sweet and the bitter together — even a neglectful mother like me can rest easy."
Li Fei cupped Ram's face in both hands, met those soft pink eyes, and spoke with genuine, earnest remorse.
"…Mm."
After a few seconds, the unease in those pink eyes hardened into resolve. Ram gave a firm, decisive nod. "I'll take good care of my little sister."
What an easy fairy to manage.
Li Fei gathered both sisters into her arms with warm satisfaction, and quietly let out a breath of relief.
Give her a break — if she had to personally name every single free R-pull she'd ever draw, she'd be dead of exhaustion by Tuesday.
But why does the maid's expression look like it's gained a certain… extra layer of contempt?
This lady is adorable. Whatever she does is the right call.
____
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