The poised and elegant Dean sat behind her desk as usual, her soft gray braid resting quietly over one shoulder.
She was sitting a little lazily. One arm propped on the desk, the back of her hand cradling her chin, her loose sleeve slipping down to reveal a slender wrist of porcelain white. In her other hand she held a cup of black tea, its refreshing fragrance rising with the curling white steam and filling the bright, spotless office.
Everything was peaceful and comfortable. Even the oddly shaped plants on the windowsill slumbered in the gentle winter dawn, the very picture of tranquil days.
Clearly, a steady and mature Dean could always bring people calm and security, holding up a clear blue sky for the whole academy of teachers and students.
Nicole lifted her cup, took a sip, and sighed with faint regret.
Black tea was fine, but an occasional cup of green tea had its own charm, especially the particularly tender, verdant buds.
Besides, even with all the experience and knowledge of an Archmage, the rate at which the Spell Encyclopedia Lady's allure was growing could only be described as "terrifying" and "mouth-watering."
It was a pity that the Spell Encyclopedia Lady had only just returned from a long trip. To taste her fragrance in such a rush would be far too rude. Still, there was plenty of time ahead, wasn't there?
Li Fei obediently finished off three cups of black tea. Then, hands clasped behind her back, she skipped around behind Nicole with a girlish, bouncy little hop, lifted the braid, undid the knot, and, using her slender fingertips in place of a comb, ran them through the gray hair back and forth as if playing a zither.
"Fortune is smiling on you."
Nicole spoke without hurry. "It seems your trip out brought quite a harvest."
"Mm-hmm."
Li Fei was brimming with pride. "I'm planning to push for mid-Sequence after the New Year."
"You always manage to surprise me, Spell Encyclopedia Lady."
Nicole praised her with open pleasure.
"Then... as my mother, don't you have some special reward for me?"
Li Fei bent down and breathed warm air against her ear, her fingertips, still combing the long hair, idly grazing the porcelain-white nape of her neck.
"Of course."
Nicole raised a hand, a gleaming golden badge pinched between her slender fingers. "Satisfied?"
"This is..."
Li Fei's eyelids fluttered. She reached out carefully to take the brooch, but before her fingertips could touch the treasure, Nicole closed it in her fist.
"This is an honor hard-won, you know."
Nicole sighed lightly.
"I'll treasure it, okay?"
Li Fei pouted in mock reproach, then, with practiced ease, settled onto the Dean's lap and undid the top button of the lady's blouse.
Clearly, using Miniaturization on the very first day of a reunion, and turning a blind eye to a signal sent so openly, would be far ruder.
Green tea met black tea, blending into a richer, sweeter and more layered taste, and the fragrance lingered between Nicole's lips and teeth, refusing to fade.
When Li Fei had buttoned up again and become a proper, well-behaved model student, she was giving off a rich scent of black tea herself.
She cradled the golden brooch, unable to put it down. The white dove on it was exquisitely made, wings spread as if about to take flight.
[Gold-Rank Magic Apprentice Brooch]
Equipment Rating: Full Moon
Attributes: Intelligence +3
Enchantments: Void (Lv1), Cleaning Spell (Lv5), Mana Identification (Lv10), Information Storage (Lv5)...
Void Lv1: Turns the target into a void state, removing most negative statuses of Tier 5 and below and granting immunity to physical damage of Tier V and below. Lasts 1.5 seconds; recharge time 6h.
A very powerful Full Moon piece of equipment.
The attribute bonus was dismal, but on its enchantments alone this brooch was enough to make Sequence 6 and even Sequence 5 mages green with envy. Void was absolutely a strong and practical spell, and used well it could turn the tide of a battle.
What's more, just as the Dean had said, the brooch's true value lay in the honor it represented, and honor was often tied to status and perks.
Among the many privileges of Gold-rank students, the three Li Fei cared about most were access to the treasure vault, the right to apply to the Spell Altar, and the qualification to worship at the shrine.
One was solid wealth, one was tantamount to a book of knowledge, and the last was a Transcendent wonder nearly on par with the [Knowledge Tree].
And Li Fei was just about to ascend to Sequence 6, the stage when a mage truly begins to come into her own. This brooch could help her quickly build a spell system of her own and escape the awkward state where, apart from fireballs to the face and extra-large Abyssal fireballs to the face, she fought entirely by hacking away with plain swings.
After all, the Blood Demon Scripture could currently store only one spell, and no enemy would ever give Li Fei the chance to chant [Abyssal Lava] or [Dragon's Strength]. Magic and battle qi had to advance side by side before she could be called well-rounded.
Beyond that, the [Holy Fountain], which permanently raises total mana, the [Spring of Mana], which restores mana quickly, and access to the [Magic Library] and the [Druid Church] were all tempting too.
"I've already put in your application for the shrine, but the answer has to wait for headquarters' approval."
Nicole lightly rubbed the rim of her teacup with a fingertip and spoke unhurriedly. "But the treasure vault and the Spell Altar are open to you at any time."
Clearly, the Dean knew exactly what Li Fei needed most.
"I'll go to the Spell Altar after I reach mid-Sequence. Can I go to the vault now?"
Li Fei didn't hesitate.
She still had potential points she hadn't allocated, and her Transcendent knowledge level wasn't high enough, so before the Spell Altar she could only stare helplessly. The thing might work no differently from a Book of Knowledge, but it couldn't break through the barriers of a realm.
The vault was different. The sooner she got equipment, the sooner she could enjoy it. Besides, she'd bought a portion of [Fire Fiend essence-blood] on the Demon-Sealing Continent to guard against Nie Yunyi, bought a triple-layer Meditation method to win over the Mountain-Moving Sect, and burned through a huge amount of Witch Sickness Suppression Ritual materials in some way she couldn't quite account for. As a result, the Wealth Points she'd already gathered for exchanging for Furnace Battle-Qi now fell a tiny bit short... A free-shopping pass to the vault, earned by her own ability, would naturally raise her Wealth Points and fill the gap.
"I'll take you over at noon."
Nicole smiled and opened her palm. "The birth of a Gold-rank student is a big occasion. There's a ceremony prepared especially for you this morning... so let me keep the brooch for a while longer, and I'll present it to you at the ceremony."
The Dean's words sounded perfectly reasonable, so the special admission student blankly handed back the brooch she'd barely warmed.
But the more she thought about it, the more wrong it felt. Only after stepping out of the Dean's office did the special admission student lower her head thoughtfully and look at her empty hands.
Realizing it at last, Li Fei slapped her forehead and cried out,
"Oh no!"
She suddenly saw it: the Gold-rank student's perks had always been hers. So the Dean was rewarding her with her own things! And drinking her up on top of that! And now the thing wasn't even in her hands!
Li Fei puffed out her cheeks, clenched her fists, and shook them twice at the door of the Dean's office.
I, the proud Top Courtesan, got freeloaded by the Dean. A lifetime of glory, ruined in a single day...
"Unforgivable! Sooner or later I'll..."
Li Fei muttered, her little face full of indignation and grievance.
"Hm?"
The Dean's kindly voice drifted out from behind the door.
"Sooner or later I'll bring glory to my alma mater and live up to Mother's careful nurturing."
Li Fei said it with heartfelt sincerity.
...
Brilliant fireworks bloomed under the blue sky.
They were a salute for the birth of yet another Gold-rank student.
In the promotion-speech segment, Li Fei's oratory had grown even more polished. If that counted as a skill, her speaking skill would be at least level 6 or 7, on par with thirty percent of a failed art student's might, and her acting skill started at level 10, a shoo-in for the golden statuette.
With tears shining in her eyes and deep feeling in her voice, she shared her thoughts around the theme of "effort and reward," promised never to forget her teachers' kindness, and vowed to become a good example for her classmates.
And it proved that as long as the speaker is beautiful enough, the chicken soup for the soul she brews will taste delicious. Her fangirls went wild. Quite a few girls covered their faces and wept, choking out, "We'll walk the Transcendent path with you!"
A group of upperclasswomen and underclasswomen even waved their wands, the tips glowing with light, and shouted, "If miracles had a color, it would definitely be pink!" And yes, the money-savvy Spell Encyclopedia Lady had once let slip between classes that she liked pink. By sheer coincidence, that very day after class, a few little sprites who preferred not to give their names had set up stalls at the school gate selling all sorts of pink accessories. Though the prices were far above market, everything sold out.
After her speech, the ceremony grounds grew rather noisy, and only when Instructor Melodia, her face cold, docked credits from several dozen people in one breath did things quiet down.
Li Fei put on a look of worry and shyness, though inside she felt neither joy nor sorrow.
Girls these days, honestly. Their minds are so complicated.
Ask any of them and they're all career fans, but search them and it's nothing but indescribable picture albums of the Spell Encyclopedia Lady.
Luckily, some of the female ghosts of the Kun Division were good at painting too. Albums like ancient-style Spell Encyclopedia Lady × Irena and Spell Encyclopedia Lady × Annesia sold quite well. The main reason was that the female ghosts who'd been "broken in" knew Li Fei more thoroughly, so the paintings were more lifelike. The complete edition was limited to female buyers. The all-genders, all-ages edition was the abridged one, meaning two inches of content trimmed down to two pages once you removed the cover and table of contents. Hehe.
And amid the fervent atmosphere, only one handsome, noble-looking young man stood with a face like still water, a trace of panic and despair in his sinister gaze.
...
Li Fei followed obediently behind the Dean, taking in the dazzling, multicolored portals beside them.
Most of these ancient gateways were built from the heads of all kinds of Transcendent creatures: giants, demons, hydras... Pale light bloomed in their hollow eye sockets, and their gaping maws were the passages linking different dimensions.
Before long they stopped before a green portal whose frame was the cold, enormous head of a behemoth. A beast that could battle black dragons on the ground, a symbol of savagery and might, it still gave off a primeval aura even in death, its thick fangs yellowed with age and a faint smell of blood clinging to it.
"I'm a Gold-rank student, so why only a Bronze-rank key?"
Li Fei protested.
"Silver and Gold-rank keys will be issued later, but only once you meet the corresponding credit quota and Sequence level."
Nicole gently poked Li Fei's forehead. "Leaping to heaven in one step isn't necessarily a good thing."
Then her lips parted, and she spoke the password at a frequency the human ear couldn't catch. The lifeless green glow in the portal suddenly flared bright.
"After you."
Nicole made a ladylike curtsy, Li Fei hooked her arm through hers, and the two stepped together into the behemoth's mouth.
A dizzying spin flashed past, and by the time their balance returned, they stood in another plane.
The sand beneath their feet was barren and poor, without a trace of moisture, and the gravity was so light that a little force would float a person up, as if drifting through the stars.
Countless bubbles floated in every direction, thousands of them, each holding a single item. By numbers alone, the stores here easily outdid the inner treasury of the Great Song's imperial house.
But Li Fei knew that the Magic Academy had a systematic and strict management system, and a Bronze-rank vault would hardly hold anything better suited to her than the [Blood Demon Scripture].
"One key, one item."
Nicole lifted her chin, signaling Li Fei to choose.
"Mm-hm."
Li Fei nodded, walked up to the nearest bubble, and poked it with a finger, curious.
The bubble bounced away at once, drifting off a few feet.
She picked up the Bronze key and tried touching the bubble again. This time her hand slid into it without trouble, but the bubble didn't burst, and no matter how she adjusted her strength or angle, she couldn't take out the [Mass Preemptive Strike] Spell Scroll inside.
"If you pour a thread of mana into the key, the key and the bubble will be destroyed together."
Nicole reminded her gently. "So before you make up your mind, keep your mana under control to avoid any unnecessary accidents."
"Got it."
Li Fei held the key and touched the items in the bubbles one by one, using her vast learning and sharp judgment to assess their value.
After taking the crown at the exchange tournament last time, she'd received her first key. Having been promoted to Gold-rank student, she'd received a second. She had to pick the two best-suited items out of thousands of treasures, so there was no room for carelessness.
[Mana Staff]
[Manalia's Whisper]
[Spell Crystal: Blizzard (Irena Edition)]
[Skullcrusher Hammer]
[Crown of Wisdom]
[Spell Scroll: Summon Succubus (Melodia Edition)]
[Staff of Clear Void]
[Margaret Edition Potent Mana Potion]
...
Li Fei calmed her mind, skimmed the appraisals Miss System gave at ten lines a glance, and committed them to memory.
Most were mage supplies, with a smaller share meant for warriors. There were plenty of fine pieces that tempted her, and she very much wanted to sweep the whole place clean.
After all, her gear was a mismatched lot, from the Starlight-grade ring [Fairy Whisper] at the bottom to [Binding Love], [Blood Demon Scripture] and [Stone of Deceit—Pink], which ranged as high as Dawn and even Blazing Sun grade. The gap was huge.
If after stepping into mid-Sequence she could swap everything for Full Moon pieces, her combat strength would improve at once. If she completed a full set of Dawn-grade gear, Li Fei would even dare to challenge a Sequence 5 without resorting to a sneak attack!
Of course, Li Fei wouldn't do that, because generational gaps in equipment were perfectly normal.
For a Transcendent on the rise especially, if she meant to surge forward on the Transcendent path, her spell system and gear had to be updated constantly. Just comprehending Transcendent knowledge, training combat techniques and spells, and preparing the Ascension Ritual and secret potion materials already demanded everything she had. How could she scatter her limited resources and energy on gear that would soon be obsolete? If that delayed her ascension, it would be putting the cart before the horse.
Only Transcendents whose potential was exhausted, who saw no hope of a breakthrough for a very long time, would spend ten or even dozens of years collecting a set of gear matching their Sequence level to consolidate their current strength. The especially rich were the exception. Rumor had it that some grandmasters' children had, from the moment they were born, a full set of gear already prepared for everything from Sequence 9 up to the high Sequences...
As for Li Fei, unless she had more money than she could ever spend, she wouldn't pour her main energy into forging gear before Sequence 4 at the earliest. Even at Sequence 4, she'd have to weigh the resources and time needed to reach the high Sequences before deciding, lest she step into the high Sequences before finishing her gear set for the previous stage.
In a way, this was the Young Madam of the Qin family leading the way in practicing thrifty housekeeping. After all, Lady Zhihua's private savings really did seem to be stretched thin. The proud Miss Qin, the most dazzling genius of the Alchemists' Guild, once the rich woman in Li Fei's eyes, had now been promoted to Sequence 5, and out of everything on her only the storage sachet and that sword were still valuable. Everything else was already behind the patch, yet she hadn't updated any of it, and who knew where the money went... Supporting a wife can't cost that much, can it? Maybe the Potent Luck Potion is just a teeny bit expensive...
What's that? She's still gathering the materials to refine [Smile of the Goddess of Luck]?
Oh. Then never mind, hehe.
Thanks to an extraordinary intelligence that low-Sequence mages could never match, Li Fei could already think on two threads. While keeping the system messages in Eidetic Memory, she also had attention to spare for idle thoughts.
"Hm?"
Suddenly Li Fei's movements halted. Wariness crossed her face, and her gaze locked firmly onto one piece of equipment.
____
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