"Heh-heh-heh."
A dopey grin plastered across her face, Li Fei suddenly threw herself into a wide horse stance, squared up to the front door, and bellowed at the top of her lungs:
"Open sesame!"
Ram hovered beside her with an expression of deep maternal concern, diligently wiping a trail of drool from the corner of her beloved mother's mouth.
"What on earth…?"
The door flew open. Annie Teresa took one look at Li Fei and immediately sensed something was very wrong. She grabbed her by the hand, pulled her inside, and pressed the back of her palm worriedly against Li Fei's forehead.
"Wife!"
The instant Li Fei's eyes landed on Annie Teresa, she launched herself into the air and flung her entire body at the woman. The petite widow stumbled back several steps in rapid succession, nearly toppling over entirely — she only saved herself by grabbing the wall at the last second.
"Lady Gneia has cast 'Eidetic Memory' and 'Stupefaction' on my mistress," Ram said, slightly breathless, as she turned to explain the situation to Annie Teresa.
Getting her beloved mother here safely had taken every ounce of effort the little fairy possessed. One moment of inattention and Li Fei had nearly sprinted off into the distance chasing a butterfly — and she had very nearly been lured away by a suspiciously friendly older woman armed with candy.
"Eidetic Memory is an Order-alignment spell that enhances memory retention."
To the side, Lilith stood with her arms crossed, expression blank, and delivered her explanation in a flat, clinical tone. "Stupefaction is a buff-type spell with severe side effects. It enhances memory, comprehension, and processing ability — but during its duration, it interferes with the mind. Some people become erratic and unhinged. Others shut down entirely and crouch in a corner pretending to be a mushroom."
"I see…" Annie Teresa said, her face going red.
In front of her daughter and a third party, she had a student roughly her daughter's age clinging to her like an octopus — both legs hooked around her waist, head nuzzling back and forth against her — and there had been that deeply mortifying form of address just moments ago. The flush that had risen in Annie Teresa's cheeks spread all the way up to the pale column of her neck.
Still, she made no move to push Li Fei away. With considerable effort, she carried the thoroughly uncooperative student over to the dining table.
"You're not actually planning to spoon-feed her," Lilith said, staring in disbelief.
"You were just as difficult at the table when you were little, and I fed you the exact same way," Annie Teresa replied, the smile tugging at her lips. She waited until Lilith turned her face away with a pout before waving Ram over. "Come now — eat with us."
"Thank you."
Ram accepted without argument. Once the door was shut, she fluttered over and settled very properly onto one of the chairs.
"Are you her hired maid?" Lilith asked, studying Ram's maid uniform with open curiosity.
"I am her daughter," Ram said.
The words had barely left her mouth before a loud clatter rang out — Annie Teresa's ladle had slipped from her hand and struck the table.
Lilith was equally stunned, but her mind went in a different direction entirely. She stammered, "She — she already… she's already mastered Introductory Summoning Magic?"
"Yes," Ram said, nodding.
"Unbelievable. Why does someone so insufferable have such ridiculous talent…" The twin-tailed girl let out a long, suffering sigh, her eyes glazing over with despair. "The Magic Academy is beyond saving."
"Lilith! Mind your manners," Annie Teresa said softly, though inwardly she exhaled a quiet sigh of relief.
She picked up the ladle, wiped it carefully, and then dipped it into the bowl of creamy mushroom soup and held a spoonful up to Li Fei's lips.
"No. I want meat," Li Fei said, wrenching her head stubbornly to the side.
Lilith pressed a hand to her forehead. "First time I've ever heard of Stupefaction turning someone into a toddler…"
"Drink this soup first, and then you can have all the meat you want. Be good," Annie Teresa said with inexhaustible patience, coaxing the wriggling young woman in her arms in a soft, gentle murmur, every bit the picture of overflowing maternal warmth.
From the corner of her eye, Lilith watched the two of them — the easy closeness of it, the tender familiarity — and felt an inexplicable surge of irritation she couldn't quite name. She stabbed her chopsticks hard into her rice bowl.
...
Dinner stretched on for a full half hour. Afterward, Ram insisted on staying to help Annie Teresa clear the table, while Lilith trailed dejectedly toward her own room.
"Lilith — take Li Fei to the bedroom and keep an eye on her for me, would you? I'll only be a moment."
Annie Teresa, thoroughly pinned in place by the octopus attached to her person, called after her daughter with a wry smile.
"Fine."
Lilith's expression was unreadable. She slipped both hands under Li Fei's arms from behind and began hauling her, none too gently, toward the bedroom.
Then Li Fei turned her head to the side, pursed her lips, and announced:
"Wife!"
Lilith jolted like a startled cat. The mana inside her nearly went haywire. Both twin-tails shot straight up.
"What did you just call me?!"
"Wife, wife, wife, wife!"
Li Fei crowed at the top of her lungs.
"Um… in her current Stupefaction state, my mistress tends to address all females with that particular term," Ram supplied helpfully, turning to explain to a shell-shocked Annie Teresa.
"This child…" Annie Teresa shook her head with a helpless, tearful laugh, then urged her daughter along. "Be gentle with her. Get her to the bedroom quickly — I'll be right there."
Lilith's face was scarlet. Her heart was hammering. Her head was still full of that heart-stopping declaration from just seconds ago. Moving with all the stiffness of a marionette, she got Li Fei into her mother's bedroom.
Something she couldn't quite explain made her lift herself onto her toes and ease the bedroom door softly shut behind her.
Thud!
She shoved Li Fei firmly onto the bed, turned her face away, and said, "Stay put. Don't move."
"No!"
Li Fei in full gremlin mode shot her hand out, snagged Lilith's wrist, and yanked her forward.
Caught completely off guard, Lilith toppled over onto the pillow — which still carried the faint, familiar scent of her mother's hair.
Before she could recover, Li Fei had her pinned. The warm, soft weight pressing down on her knocked the air right out of Lilith's lungs.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Lilith hissed, furious and mortified, forcing her voice to stay low.
"This!" Li Fei puckered her lips and, without a moment's hesitation, leaned in.
"Pervert — get away from me!"
Lilith slapped her palm over Li Fei's face, blocking the advance of that devastatingly beautiful countenance before it could get any closer.
"Is everything alright in there?"
Annie Teresa's voice, laced with concern, drifted through the closed bedroom door at what felt like the worst possible moment.
"A-ah… everything's fine, everything's perfectly fine!" Lilith called back, pitching her voice high with considerable effort.
"Mmph — mmmf!"
Li Fei's eyes welled up with wounded reproach, as if demanding to know why Lilith was so heartlessly refusing her.
"We — we can't. Now get up," Lilith managed, biting her lower lip, thoughts in complete disarray, words coming out in halting fragments.
Li Fei refused to comply. She began trying to pry Lilith's hand away.
Without the Ogre-bone staff to augment her, a non-combat unit — even at Level 10 — simply lacked the raw strength to overpower a Sequence 7 stepdaughter. Sequence progression was nothing short of an evolution of one's entire being; even a Cleric possessed physical strength beyond what any ordinary person could match.
Lilith could have sent Li Fei tumbling off the bed with one good shove if she'd used her full strength. Instead, she just kept her hand pressed over Li Fei's face, her own complexion crimson as blood, her guilty gaze darting to the bedroom door every few seconds in terror of her mother walking in.
The standoff stretched on. At some point, one of Lilith's slippers slid off her foot and fell to the floor. Her white thigh-high stockings floated in the air, feet flexed taut with tension. Li Fei's cascade of dark hair fanned across the pillow in a black waterfall, strands weaving together with strands of gold.
At this proximity, forced to stare directly into a face carrying over two hundred points of Charisma, Lilith's expression twisted between agony and conflict.
She could feel the warm breath from Li Fei's nose and lips seeping through the gaps between her fingers, turning humid and mixing with the sweat pooling in her palm. The squirming heat of Li Fei's body pressed against her — the steadily rising temperature — made Lilith's mouth go bone dry.
Slowly, the resistance in Lilith's eyes began to soften. A haze crept over her gaze, like a girl slowly walking into grey fog, beguiled by some ancient god's whisper.
The slender arm holding Li Fei back began to tremble. The pressure it exerted grew lighter and lighter — only her legs pulled tighter.
The door, left slightly ajar, swung open.
Ram fluttered in on her wings, her doe-like eyes wide and full of enormous, innocent confusion.
It's over…
Lilith's mind went completely blank — the same way it might for a young noblewoman who, on the night before her wedding, had slipped away for one last visit to the Golden Kumquat Tavern, only to find that the hostess waiting on her was none other than the childhood sweetheart she'd been engaged to for years and had only ever held hands with.
Ram considered the scene for a brief moment.
Then, with the devoted loyalty of a faithful little fairy, she flew to the bedside and helpfully pinned Lilith's wrists down to assist her mother.
Lilith: …
AAAAAH!
Lilith, her first kiss stolen, let out a bloodcurdling shriek and hurled Li Fei off her.
"What's wrong?"
Annie Teresa came running into the bedroom, a towel still in her hands, dabbing at water droplets.
"Ah — nothing, it's nothing," Lilith blurted out, flustered, covering her face. She slipped past her mother, fled to her own room, and slammed the door behind her.
In the darkness, Lilith leaned her back against the door and listened to the thundering of her own heartbeat.
"What is wrong with me…"
She pressed both hands hard against her burning cheeks, her voice cracking into something perilously close to a sob, and slid helplessly down to the floor.
...
"Good morning, Mama, Irena… oh, Teacher Melodia."
Li Fei pulled open the door to the Dean's office and, without a hint of hesitation, dropped into her usual seat at the table. A breakfast had already been laid out and was waiting for her.
She tore open a soft bread roll, dunked it into whatever variety of milk had been provided, and began studying the slightly tired-looking teacher with unabashed curiosity.
Well, I never would have guessed. Even a tall, poised, mature beauty like you is freeloading Dean Nicole's breakfast, just like me and Irena.
"I'm here to discuss study exchange arrangements with the Dean," Melodia said, ruffling Li Fei's hair once. "Every year at the start of term, we co-host an exchange event with the War Academy next door. On top of that, this year is a bit special — the end of term will coincide with the continental tournament held every three years, so the activity rewards are going to be scaled up accordingly."
"Oh?" Li Fei's ears pricked up immediately. "Tell me more."
Melodia produced an armful of slime jelly jars, distributed one to Li Fei and one to Irena, and downed her own in one smooth swallow to clear her throat before launching into her explanation.
"As you know, the Magic Academy has branch campuses scattered across the continent. In order to motivate students and evaluate the teaching quality of each branch, the main campus organizes a major competition every three years, requiring each branch to assemble its finest and most exceptional students to compete. In a very real sense, this triennial tournament is the grandest stage on the Continent of Enlos for the most talented young Transcendents of their generation — and almost every single edition has produced at least one breathtaking, once-in-a-generation talent."
"In principle, every branch must participate. And of course, I can't imagine any branch willingly missing out on the occasion — because branches that perform well receive a larger share of teaching resources, their instructors receive higher bonuses, and their students walk away with substantial rewards."
"Ohhh…" Li Fei nodded, the picture becoming clear. Basically: win, and you get the good stuff.
"From enrollment to graduation, each student has seven years with us."
Melodia gave Li Fei's shoulder an encouraging pat. "That means every student has the chance to participate in two tournaments. You've enrolled in the very year one is happening — if you work hard over the next year, you might be able to earn a spot on the preliminary reserve squad for the lower-Sequence bracket. That would mean competing in three tournaments before you graduate."
Ha. Reserve squad?
Give me a year, and if I don't make every spectator gasp hard enough to cause continental warming, this whole System has been a complete waste of my time!
The magnificently inflated thought flashed through Li Fei's mind. Her expression, however, projected nothing but wholesome, earnest determination. "Mm-hm. I'll work hard. I won't let you down, Teacher."
"Have you settled on a Class, Fei?"
Nicole took a sip of red tea and neatly interrupted Li Fei's attempt to cuddle up to Melodia.
"Ah — yes, I've made up my mind," Li Fei said, nodding.
At those words, even Irena — quietly enjoying her own breakfast until now — raised her head and perked up her ears.
"I'm choosing Druid!"
Li Fei took a breath and announced her decision.
"A fine choice," Nicole said, inclining her head. "The advancement ritual for Druid is 'plant an oak tree with your own hands.' The prerequisite is six notches of Intelligence — since you've mastered a Meditation method, you should meet that requirement without difficulty."
"We have the secret potion on hand. You can come collect it with me after breakfast."
"It looks like our Academy is about to gain another Transcendent," Melodia said, sounding warmly pleased.
"Congratulations, congratulations," Irena said, blinking with a small smile. "If there's anything you don't understand, I'm happy to guide you through it."
"Why, thank you, Assistant Instructor," Li Fei said fondly, nestling against Irena's arm.
"Then — a toast to our newest Transcendent."
Nicole's lips curved into a quiet smile. She raised her cup of red tea and drained it in one go.
...
Inside the Grand Library.
Li Fei gazed at the hundreds of potion vials arranged in neat rows across the wooden shelves, her eyes gleaming with naked, unapologetic covetousness.
Secret potions used to advance Sequence levels — the kind that granted direct, immediate power — were worth at least ten times the equivalent-tier Spell Scroll. Every single bottle on those shelves was a small fortune.
Although… there were far fewer than she had expected. Was this really all the Magic Academy had in reserve?
"Unlike ordinary Transcendent potions, even high-Sequence powerhouses only need a handful of advancement secret potions across their entire lives."
Nicole seemed to have read the question in Li Fei's expression, and smiled as she explained. "What we store here are all low-Sequence potions — the ingredients are relatively straightforward to gather, and we brew them in proportion to incoming student numbers. There's no need to stockpile more than necessary."
"That makes sense."
Li Fei let her fingers drift idly over two of the vials as she passed.
[Class Secret Potion — Sorcerer]
Advancement Requirements: Sequence 9; Introductory Chaos Magic.
Description: If advancement requirements are not met, consuming this potion will incinerate the soul. If requirements are met but the advancement ritual has not been completed, consuming this potion will permanently reduce Intelligence by 5. If requirements are met and the advancement ritual has been completed, consuming this potion will grant the [Sorcerer] Class.
[Class Secret Potion — Gambler]
Advancement Requirements: Sequence 9; Introductory Order Magic.
Description: If advancement requirements are not met, consuming this potion will fix Luck permanently at -10. If requirements are met but the advancement ritual has not been completed, consuming this potion will increase Luck by +30 for one minute; after the minute expires, Luck will decrease by -40 for thirteen days. If requirements are met and the advancement ritual has been completed, consuming this potion will grant the [Gambler] Class.
Wait —!!!
Li Fei's eyes went wide with shock, staring at the descriptions displayed in her System Panel.
"Before you are absolutely certain you meet the advancement requirements and have completed the ritual — do not, under any circumstances, consume a secret potion," Nicole said, her tone carrying a quiet, serious weight. "If the requirements are met, the risk of death is relatively low — though the price of failure is still severe. If the requirements are not met… believe me when I say this: it will be considerably more dangerous than an ordinary reject-batch potion."
"Ah — is there any chance I could take a few extra?"
Li Fei swallowed, treading carefully with her words.
Nicole: ?
The Dean turned on her most benevolent smile and said, with unhurried precision: "Did you hear what I just said?"
"I have an Innate Talent that allows me to appraise Transcendent items."
Li Fei knew that particular smile of Nicole's all too well. It sent a small, involuntary shiver down her spine. She pressed on quickly with her explanation. "I also have active Spell Contracts with Qin's Apothecary and the master alchemist Margaret to appraise reject-batch potions…"
"These secret potions are exactly like reject-batch potions — not all of their side effects are purely negative!"
"So — why don't I appraise every single one of these potions for you right now, as payment? And in return, you let me pick out a couple extra?"
"That's a compelling proposal," Nicole said, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"I decline."
____
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉