"Now then, I'll be introducing four commonly used casting techniques for Fireball…"
Melodia held forth at the front of the lecture hall, a spell model built from solidified mana rotating and shifting through its forms in the air beside her.
Then she stopped.
Her gaze settled on the Special Enrollment student, who was sound asleep with her face planted on her desk.
The class collectively held its breath. Every head turned in that direction — most faces alight with an inexplicable, expectant gleam, with only a small minority of devoted admirers looking on with genuine concern.
Were they finally about to witness the Special Enrollment student's first academic demerit?
What the golden-haired teacher did next caught everyone off guard.
Melodia raised her teaching rod, and a gossamer veil of mana settled over Li Fei, sealing out all ambient sound — creating, in effect, far better sleeping conditions than she'd had before.
Then Melodia spoke.
"I will acknowledge that every student's path to Transcendence is unique — which is precisely why the Academy takes a rather relaxed approach to managing your attendance."
"However. The fact that the Academy respects your individual will and choices does not mean you are entitled to become complacent. With the exception of the first few days of term, our class attendance rate has barely reached sixty percent."
"Many of you have submitted leave requests citing advancement rituals. But I ask you to search your own conscience — is planting a single oak tree really so demanding that it requires a formal leave of absence?"
"By contrast: after narrowly escaping with her life on Viranean, Li Fei returned to class at the earliest opportunity. Even with a damaged soul, she has not let her Meditation lapse for a single day. I believe that kind of perseverance is something every one of you would do well to learn from."
"In fact, when I saw her this morning, the bloodshot in her eyes genuinely startled me. For a Transcendent's constitution to be pushed to that state, it is self-evident that she slept for no more than one hour last night."
"My dear students — when someone with greater natural talent than any of you is working this hard, you had best pick up the pace if you don't want to be left in the dust."
Having delivered her motivational sermon, Melodia resumed her lecture.
It was only as class neared its end that the Special Enrollment student finally stirred awake. Melodia hesitated a moment, then dismissed the mana barrier with a wave of her hand and fired off a cold, impromptu question:
"Li Fei — what is the standard effective casting range for the general-purpose Magic Arrow?"
"One hundred yards," Li Fei replied without hesitation.
Genuine advance study, combined with an exceptional Intelligence attribute, made for a very quick answer.
"What is the enhancement multiplier of a standard Tier-I Jungle Elixir on Nature-alignment spells?"
…Ten percent, or was it seven?
Li Fei glanced at the item description in her System's shop and answered:
"Seven percent."
"That particular detail hasn't come up in the curriculum yet. How do you know it?"
— Because I have a System boosting my Intelligence, and the Dean personally cast Eidetic Memory on me, so memorizing textbooks is trivial. Oh, and certain knowledge points are essentially open-book for me…
The now fully awake Li Fei offered a modest little smile.
"I flip through the textbook ahead of time whenever I have a free moment. I even brought it with me to Viranean…"
"Do you all see that?"
Melodia swept her gaze around the room, then let it rest on Li Fei, her voice softening. "Li Fei — at the lower Sequence stages, Meditation cannot yet substitute for sleep. Make sure you manage your time carefully and don't push yourself past the point of diminishing returns."
"That will be all for today. Li Fei — ten bonus points. Class dismissed."
The moment Melodia's swinging golden ponytail disappeared through the classroom doorway, a bright, energetic tide of female classmates surged around Li Fei's desk, their eyes sparkling — drawing no small amount of envious glances from the male students.
"Fei-bao, you work so hard — I'm completely in love~"
"Are you feeling alright? Your body…"
"You're making the rest of us feel so pressured~"
"Fei-bao, Fei-bao — I still want to see you do that thing, the 'come at me…'"
The top courtesan deployed her finely honed professional technique, bestowing affection generously and evenly across the cluster of female classmates, then coaxed them away with a few well-placed words. Only once they had drifted off did she stretch lazily, her elegant curves resisting any attempt the mage robe made to conceal them.
"Has your soul damage not healed yet?"
The question came from Klein, seated at the desk beside her.
"Not quite," Li Fei said, stifling a yawn.
"This might help."
Klein produced a small vial and set it on her desk.
"Klein, you absolute gem!"
A single touch told Li Fei everything she needed to know about the potion's quality — it was among the rarer and more precious items even within the Starlight grade, with properties beneficial to the soul. She beamed her thanks.
"Consider it repayment for the cake last time," Klein said, waving it off with a smile, then rose and made to leave.
"You really didn't have to. Stay safe out there," Li Fei called after her. "We should run a quest together sometime."
—
"Per regulations, we will review your application materials and notify you of the approved loan amount within one week…"
Inside City Hall, a man with the polished air of a business professional was in the middle of his standard spiel.
Li Fei, expression perfectly neutral, opened her phone's photo album, scrolled to a group photo, and set it face-up on the desk.
The man dabbed at a bead of sweat and continued without missing a beat. "Of course, we have recently been piloting a streamlined approval process. In light of your exceptional credit profile, I am authorized to offer you our 'Three-Minute Disbursement' service model…"
He lowered his head and reviewed Li Fei's file once more, weighing his words.
"Given your status as a Special Enrollment student at the Magic Academy, I can apply on your behalf for three thousand gold coins from the Academic Support Fund…"
Li Fei said nothing. She unpinned her Bronze Honor Medal and set it on the desk alongside everything else.
"…Four thousand gold coins, at an interest rate of…"
"She can also serve as my guarantor."
Li Fei extended her right hand, seized Sofia — who was standing nearby in her City Watch uniform — and pulled her front and center.
"With a guarantor, the ceiling can be raised further…"
"This can serve as collateral as well."
Li Fei produced the deed of transfer for the Secret Garden and placed it on the pile.
"My apologies — I need to consult my supervisor."
The receptionist fled in barely concealed panic.
"Aren't you worried about not being able to pay it all back?" Aurora asked from Li Fei's left, covering a smile with her hand.
"Not in the slightest," Li Fei replied with perfect composure. "As long as I borrow fast enough, the debt collectors can never catch up to me."
—
After classes let out at noon, the top courtesan and the former top hostess made their way to City Hall together to complete the property transfer paperwork. Midway through a conversation with the front desk staff, Li Fei suddenly realized that City Hall also served the function of a bank — and that here in Loxibrook, she was perfectly entitled to services like home loans and student assistance funds.
She barely hesitated before deciding: squeeze out as much as humanly possible.
For one thing, she had every confidence in her own return on investment. How long had she even been in Loxibrook? Her personal net worth had multiplied ten-thousand-fold if it had multiplied at all. Even if she borrowed a fortune just to kit herself out in top-tier equipment and harvested experience at light speed, she would come out well ahead. Not to mention that with her network of connections, the top courtesan had ten thousand ways to elbow her way into high-yield investment opportunities — she could even go the route of corrupt collusion between business and politics…
For another, simply exchanging the materials required for Enthralling Blood had drained nearly all of her Witch Points — and between buying a house, moving, and developing the Secret Garden, her expenses were climbing rapidly.
Third: with her Honor Medal and the trivially small thread of best-friend prestige she shared with the highest echelon of Loxibrook's leadership, she could surely push the interest rate down to the absolute floor. Naturally, freeloading outright was off the table — that would look appalling, and even women who actually lived in the Bai Mansion were expected to observe certain proprieties.
And finally: even in the worst case scenario where she truly couldn't repay — well. Selling herself to settle the debt had always been the top courtesan's core competency.
In short: investment succeeds, she's a high-end courtesan at an exclusive club. Investment fails, she's still a high-end courtesan at an exclusive club. There was absolutely no reason to hesitate.
Suddenly, Aurora's brow furrowed. Something shifted behind her eyes — two conflicting emotions tangling and crossing over each other, as though glaciers and lava were colliding somewhere inside her irises.
"Aurora-jie, what's wrong?"
Li Fei noticed something was off and leaned over with concern.
"She's coming out."
Aurora's voice had gone a shade colder than usual. She pressed a small medallion into Li Fei's palm and stood up without lingering. "Count me as a guarantor — I need to go."
Could it be that the 'mad' in Mad Witch refers to… multiple personalities?
Li Fei watched Aurora's retreating figure, turning the thought over in her mind.
—
Half an hour later, Li Fei strolled down the street at a leisurely pace, one hand resting over the property deed and goldsmith's notes tucked against her chest, lost in thought.
Why did she have more cash on hand after buying the house than before?
Between her Honor Medal, her Special Enrollment brooch, two guarantors, and the collateral she had put up, Li Fei had successfully secured a combined loan package — encompassing a mortgage, student assistance funds, and more — totalling twenty-five thousand gold coins.
That was enough to hire several mid-Sequence Transcendents to risk their lives completing a high-stakes contract.
And in deference to a certain best friend's considerable face, the monthly repayment came to a mere four hundred and thirty-three gold coins — over a five-year term at an annual interest rate of approximately 0.8%.
"Now I can buy a diamond ring for my mistresses… ah wait, they should be buying them for me. With this money, I could pick up a storage artifact, maybe one of those Transcendent items that reduce sleep requirements… should I splurge on some Fairy Mint too?"
Absorbed in her calculations for how to spend her newfound fortune, Li Fei drifted almost without noticing until she found herself standing at Mrs. Annie Teresa's front door.
She fished out her key and let herself in — and immediately noticed several pairs of shoes on the floor, all on the smaller side.
"Mm?"
Li Fei quietly poked her head through the doorway. Mrs. Annie Teresa was in the middle of teaching a lesson to a small group of beast-eared girls.
You've been taking on other students behind my back!
Li Fei's cheeks puffed out. She eased the door shut, bent down and slipped off her ankle boots, and let her black-stockinged feet settle onto the floor. The cool, firm hardwood made her toe tips — faintly visible through the sheer fabric — curl inward slightly.
――――
[Sensitivity Aura (Lv.3)]
Spell Effect: Increases the target's sensitivity by 12%.
Duration: 20 minutes
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Mana Cost: 6
Upgrade Progress: 119/140
――――
Sensitivity Aura had become the first spell whose leveling speed had started to give Li Fei a genuine headache.
If she didn't use it, adjusting without it was difficult. If she used it too much, the spell would level up before her body had time to adapt to the new baseline. And most critically: once she'd gotten used to having it active, suddenly going without it left her feeling noticeably dulled — which was its own kind of discomfort.
I really need to buy some higher-quality bodystockings…
Li Fei muttered under her breath and, not wanting to interrupt Mrs. Annie Teresa's lesson, wandered into the kitchen to get herself a drink of water. There, entirely by accident, she spotted half of a sandwich that had gone cold.
It had been eaten halfway. Inside there was no fried egg — just a few slices of vegetables and a smear of sauce.
Li Fei, accustomed as she was to being treated to delicious home-cooked meals and exquisite pastries whenever she visited, stood very still.
In that moment, she understood — directly and without ambiguity — that Mrs. Annie Teresa's financial situation was perhaps considerably more strained than she had ever imagined.
Perhaps in some distant past, the War Academy and the Magic Academy had been founded with the genuine intention of cultivating Transcendent talent — of allowing the rough gems hidden among the common people to shine, rather than be buried and forgotten.
But today, tuition fees of two thousand gold coins had become a chasm deep enough to swallow the hopes of anyone who was truly from the common people.
Li Fei had heard the Academy's official line — "We are more concerned with our students' futures than with turning a profit" — but the reality was that unless your aptitude reached Special Enrollment level, not a single coin of tuition would be waived. Not under any circumstances.
No matter how hard Mrs. Annie Teresa worked, scraping together that kind of tuition without selling off her possessions was simply not realistic.
Li Fei found her gaze drifting back to Mrs. Annie Teresa, who was explaining something to her young students in her soft, gentle voice. Details she had overlooked before surfaced one by one in her memory.
At the dinner table, Mrs. Annie Teresa rarely touched the meat, claiming she preferred vegetarian food. Looking back now, that claim was probably not entirely true — some of the guests Li Fei had seen here genuinely ate no meat, being the kind of people who had grown tired of every luxury imaginable. And through sheer force of habit, Li Fei had mentally grouped Mrs. Annie Teresa with them.
Then there were the sweets she always served — every one of them handmade, never store-bought. That might have been a matter of personal touch. But it was probably also a matter of price.
Li Fei let out a quiet, melancholy sigh. She pushed the window open, lit a cigarette, and smoked it without much enjoyment — one hand pressed over her chest. The thick layer between her palm and her conscience made any direct contact impossible, and yet something clarified inside her all the same.
She realized that no matter how low her Morality score fell in the years ahead, she would never become a cold, unfeeling monster — hollow of all attachment. Instead, she would simply keep expanding the radius of her desires, and become increasingly willing to do whatever it took to fulfill them.
Put simply: Li Fei could and would deceive, manipulate, and run psychological games on her own people without a shred of guilt — but provided her own desires were being satisfied, she still wanted her people to be happy. And if they weren't, she would feel it too — and would be perfectly content to deploy fraud, coercion, theft, and worse to fix that problem.
She finally understood, too, why the Witches of such ill repute — the ones who used every shameless and underhanded method imaginable to funnel innocent women into the wishing ritual as living power sources — were nonetheless so straightforwardly genuine with their own sisters.
Because Witches were loyal to their own kind. And to their own desires.
The sound of the door opening broke her train of thought.
Li Fei turned around, smile already on her face. She waited until Mrs. Annie Teresa had seen her young students out, then bounced forward and wrapped her arms around her.
"Since when do you smoke, you wicked girl," Mrs. Annie Teresa said softly, catching the tobacco scent clinging to Li Fei as she gave her a gentle, reproving look.
"Only occasionally. Barely at all."
Li Fei held the slender, soft-boned waist — the kind that would yield, or even snap, under the slightest careless pressure — and breathed in the lingering shampoo fragrance still caught in the chestnut-tinged golden hair. She let her voice drop to a murmur against her ear: "Teacher… you've gotten thinner."
"Oh? Have I."
For most women, those words are a compliment. A smile bloomed across Mrs. Annie Teresa's face, and she pinched Li Fei's cheek affectionately. "Such a sweet tongue you have."
"Teacher knows perfectly well how sweet my tongue is, doesn't she?"
Li Fei lowered her head and pulled her closer, holding nothing back — demonstrating for her teacher the full warmth of her affection, and the considerable progress she had made in certain extracurricular areas of study.
Mrs. Annie Teresa instinctively stepped back, her right foot — wrapped in its flesh-toned stocking — sliding halfway off the slipper so that her small, delicate heel lifted slightly from the ground. Her left foot arched into a soft, rounded curve, toes curling and flexing slowly inside the slipper. A full minute passed before she finally began patting Li Fei on the shoulder — signaling, breathlessly, that she was in genuine need of air.
"Sweet enough for you?" Li Fei asked, the trace of a provocative, satisfied smile playing at the corner of her lips as she licked them with lingering intent.
"Just the once today, you hear me — now come to my room, I have a lesson for you."
A blush rose to Mrs. Annie Teresa's face. She pattered down the hall in her slippers toward the kitchen, retrieved a tin of cookies from a lunch box — still faintly warm — and said, with just a touch of apologetic sheepishness:
"I was rather busy at noon, so I made these for you earlier in the morning. They've gone a little cold."
"Is this all there is?"
Li Fei tilted her head slightly.
"Well… if it's not enough, I can make more."
Mrs. Annie Teresa blinked, then answered.
"That's not what I meant. Why aren't you eating any yourself?"
"I'm not much of a sweets person."
"Liar."
Li Fei leaned in smoothly and, with practiced ease, pinned the approximately 155-centimeter Mrs. Annie Teresa against the wall. Dark eyes met pale blue ones in a steady, unwavering gaze.
"Wasn't the cake I made sweet? Am I not sweet? I seem to recall you enjoying both very much indeed."
She drew the words out, one by one, deliberate and weighted: "Tea… cher."
____
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