She was a miracle.
Beatrice studied Li Fei in secret — Li Fei, who was laughing brightly as a unicorn nuzzled and licked at her cheek — and felt something stir in her chest that she couldn't quite name.
Two months ago, Li Fei had been nothing more than a girl who looked lost and out of place, abandoned by the whole world, a stranger who didn't belong in Loxibrook.
But after only a few dozen days apart, she had changed in ways that defied all explanation. What struck Beatrice most wasn't her devastatingly beautiful face, or her shockingly valuable Transcendent equipment, or the connections that let her walk sideways through Loxibrook without a care, or even the silver Magic Academy badge that marked her as a Special Enrollment student. It was her bearing.
That lost, helpless girl now radiated confidence and ease from the inside out — as though the entire world had knelt at the hem of her skirt.
What on earth happened to her?
The thought dissolving in Beatrice's mind snapped off abruptly, because the very person she'd been thinking about was currently wrapping her arms fondly around the unicorn's neck and asking with wide, genuine curiosity:
"Fufu seems so clever — do you think she'll be able to take human form someday?"
"She can, actually — Fufu is one of the rare Knowledge-Sequence members of the unicorn clan," Beatrice answered without thinking. "Though her bloodline is so powerful that, without some stroke of extraordinary fortune, she'd need to reach at least Sequence 4 — maybe even higher — before she could shift into human form… Come to think of it, by unicorn standards of beauty, Fufu's Charisma actually exceeds that of a princess. She's definitely going to be stunning when she does."
"Oh, now I'm really looking forward to it."
Li Fei stroked the unicorn's rainbow-bright mane with the fondness of someone who never wanted to let go — though in her mind, the image that surfaced was that of the nine phoenix sisters kept by a certain good friend back home.
"Yes," Beatrice agreed. "Me too."
She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something felt faintly off. She just couldn't say what.
"Everyone, please prepare yourselves — we're next in line."
After a final headcount, Old Jiang called out in a clear, carrying voice.
To avoid any disputes, passage through the teleportation corridor required paying a fee, collecting a voucher, and waiting for the time printed on it. The wait was generally brief.
Li Fei left off chatting and turned her gaze expectantly toward the enormous demon's skull — rendered in stone-like stillness by whatever special treatment it had received.
Amid the crowd of watching eyes, a striking pair of red heels stepped through the portal first. They were followed by long legs wrapped in torn black stockings, and a skirt red as fresh blood.
Leona emerged from the portal. After a full night of fighting and killing, fatigue showed plainly on her face — no amount of polished, mature makeup could conceal it. Her scarlet dress was slightly torn, her hair disheveled, and there were long snags running up her stockings, revealing pale skin beneath. And yet her posture remained ramrod-straight, and her stride didn't waver for a moment.
Li Fei frowned, genuinely puzzled.
Even Qin Zhihua had switched into practical gear before heading out. Leona had always struck her as sharp, capable, the kind of woman who inspired both unease and confidence — so was she really so devoted to looking beautiful that she'd fight in high heels?
Something's going on there… Li Fei reached back and patted her travel pack. When she was lazy, she was the laziest person alive — but when she buckled down, she was second to no one. She'd already packed a selection of textbooks she hadn't gotten to yet. If she made it through those and still couldn't figure it out, she'd just ask around and broaden her horizons.
The queen of the establishment had a clear-eyed sense of her own position. Yes, she'd joined this expedition on the basis of having Terrain Awareness — but in practice, her actual treatment was closer to that of a beautiful personal secretary along for a fully-paid business trip with the head of a major firm. Which meant that barring any surprises, Li Fei was going to be the most comfortable and unhurried person in the entire group over the next few days.
"Zhihua."
Leona broke into a smile. She stepped forward to meet Qin Zhihua and handed over a map. "I spent the whole night doing another sweep of the island. I've circled the few spots that are still tricky — as long as you don't go near them, there shouldn't be any real danger. Either way, stay safe."
"You've worked so hard." Qin Zhihua accepted the map with a slight bow of her head. "Go get some rest."
"Mm."
Leona glanced back. Behind her, her subordinates were filing out of the portal one after another, escorting their spoils. Anything valuable had already been stored in spatial equipment; what required manpower to transport were the prisoners.
The mercenaries were tall and broad, cigarettes dangling from their lips, weapons in hand, affecting an air of bored indifference — though every so often their eyes would flash with something sharp and predatory, like hawks scanning the ground below.
The prisoners were predominantly female. Their wrists were bound, their bodies caked in blood, their appearance wretched.
Li Fei could identify most of them: the captives were primarily Harpies and Sirens — the former with human heads and bird bodies, the latter with human torsos and fish tails. What they shared was strikingly beautiful, eerily alluring faces, well-defined arms, and skin so smooth and pale it seemed to gleam. According to her textbooks, the Sea Clan was an enormous overarching category, with the Merfolk, the Siren clan, and the Harpy clan as distinct sub-groups.
In any other city, the gender ratio among the spoils wouldn't have been so staggeringly skewed. The Sirens being entirely female was one thing — but male Harpies were valuable commodities too.
This was Loxibrook, however. Straight women were rarer here than dragons. The male slave market was essentially nonexistent — grab a few for appearances' sake, maybe, but take too many and you couldn't sell them off, which was just burning coin.
The Sea Clan women of Viranean were clearly no fools. They could probably guess what lay ahead for them. Some had already given up entirely, their eyes vacant and hollow. Others wore expressions twisted with bitter hatred, their faces taking on something feral and vicious. Most of the Sirens had tears brimming in their eyes, glancing around with wide, frightened confusion.
One of the Sirens stood out — a woman with an air of mature, gentle warmth, tears streaming silently down her face, yet both arms wrapped tightly around a young Siren girl, her melodious voice murmuring steadily in the Sea Clan's tongue. It wasn't hard to guess: a mother, trying to calm her daughter.
"Move it."
A female mercenary with a long scar cutting across her face delivered a sharp kick to the fish-tail, sending them both crashing to the ground. Then she grabbed the Siren by the hair and dragged her several steps before hurling her forward. Mother and daughter tumbled over each other to the sound of their own cries.
The prisoners dropped their heads and swallowed their fury in silence. The female Siren scrambled back to her feet with terrified urgency — ignoring her wounds — and pulled her daughter close, hurrying forward.
"Well, well — got your eye on someone?" a nearby mercenary called out with a leering laugh.
"Come on," the one with the staff-and-robe chimed in with a smirk. "Sister Asells likes to be on top — she's strong as an ox. These fish-tail types are only good for buyers who want to lie back and be pampered."
"A change of pace every now and then isn't so bad…"
The scarred mercenary lit a cigarette and was just starting to grin, about to suggest they all go out drinking tonight, when a sharp, resounding slap cracked across her face.
"Do you remember what I said?"
Leona stood directly in front of her. Those wine-red eyes fixed on the mercenary without a flicker of warmth or anger — just a flat, bottomless stillness.
The mercenary was tall, but Leona was taller. That depthless gaze pressed down on her like a weight, making it hard to breathe.
She immediately recalled Leona's instructions before they'd set out: once you cross through that portal, do whatever you like as long as it doesn't interfere with the mission — and if anyone sticks their nose in where it doesn't belong, the Mercenary Guild will back you up. But the moment you return to Loxibrook, you put your civilized face back on.
Because Loxibrook had been at peace for too long. The soil here had been fertile enough to grow things like kindness and mercy. Letting standards slip would damage the Mercenary Guild's public image.
The mercenary swept her gaze around her. Sure enough, several onlookers who weren't prisoners were already frowning.
"I was wrong, my lady." She bowed her head deeply.
The other mercenaries instantly shed their casual swagger as well. A few even stepped forward to support a stumbling Harpy, and one considerately produced a cloak to drape over a wound still dripping red. The ferocious warriors transformed on the spot into a polished, professional management unit radiating humanitarian concern — the performance practiced and seamless.
— In fairness, if not for the fact that a night of bloodshed followed by a triumphant homecoming loaded with spoils had made them a bit full of themselves, and the fact that they hadn't quite crossed back into Loxibrook's city limits yet, the mercenaries Leona had handpicked did generally know where the line was.
In all likelihood, these prisoners would be formally charged with unprovoked assault on mercenaries and premeditated murder. After being suitably "rehabilitated," they'd be sent to auction houses and the estates of prominent figures. With any luck, some of them might end up as colleagues — or even co-workers — of a certain queen of the establishment.
What about the Transcendents who had witnessed their conduct over in Viranean? Would they expose them?
Please. The whole push into Viranean had been an invasion from the start, orchestrated under City Hall's auspices with every major faction piling in together. Everyone had been playing the same game — doing as they pleased on the other side of the portal, then returning to present a refined and civilized face to anyone with a conscience back home. Hypocritical, yes. Effective, also yes.
"How terrifying…" Su Ling'er murmured.
"If you ever set foot on the Transcendent path yourself, you'll have to face things like this eventually," Beatrice said softly, patting her shoulder.
Grace, bow slung across her back, said nothing. Her face was expressionless.
Qin Zhihua — who normally gave the impression of someone gentle and kind to the core — demonstrated something quite different in that moment: the composed, unruffled dignity of a girl raised in a powerful old family. She drifted to Leona's side without hurry, and nodded toward the Siren mother and daughter who had just been knocked down. "I'm short two attendants at home. Would those two be available for purchase?"
"Soft-hearted?" Leona's usual warmth and ease had already returned. She even flashed Qin Zhihua a playful wink. "I'll have them sent to your residence shortly. I could come along too, you know~"
The second part of the offer was politely declined.
Good. The dowry just got more generous.
Li Fei narrowed her eyes and swept her gaze down the long column of prisoners.
As long as she wasn't the one in chains, it wasn't her problem.
But then her expression shifted — shock flashing across her face — and she let out an audible hiss of breath.
Because at the very tail end of the column were several ogres who were, against all reasonable expectation, quite handsome.
Li Fei realized with some clarity: her own Morality score was still nowhere near the bottom of what this world was capable of.
...
Li Fei stepped through the swirling, kaleidoscopic light of the teleportation corridor, and her boots sank into soft, warm sand.
The sunlight was almost blindingly bright. The roar of the waves was a constant, rolling thunder, carrying with it threads of cool sea air that cut through the heat.
Somewhere above the water, a creature with vast, bat-like wings dove toward the surface in a sweeping arc, sending a column of spray crashing upward. It snatched a writhing, struggling humanoid creature from the waves, then vanished into the haze of the distant blue horizon.
Su Ling'er opened a paper parasol and dutifully raised it over her mistress. Qin Zhihua accepted the handle from her with a smile, took a light step forward, and angled the shade squarely over Li Fei instead.
Zhihua, please — you'll embarrass us both…
Li Fei beamed sweetly. Her small hand brushed across Qin Zhihua's fingertips and closed around the handle. "Let me. You'll need to be picking herbs soon — save your strength."
"I really don't mind."
Qin Zhihua, slightly flustered, slid her grip up the handle — and let the tip of her index finger rest lightly against Li Fei's pinky, savoring a warmth so small it was almost nothing, and yet entirely satisfying.
Beatrice glanced at them and let her head droop with a small, deflated sigh.
They really do suit each other… and get along so well.
But I was the one who met Li Fei first…
Grace said nothing. She unslung her bow and clutched it tightly in both hands.
Old Jiang's gaze swept over the eldest young miss — whose eyes were currently full of tender, honeyed warmth — and he let out a quiet, inward sigh. His face, as always, wore its kind, easygoing smile as he set about organizing the group with practiced efficiency.
The expedition consisted of fifty-three people in total, but they would split into five teams according to a pre-planned route, each heading out to gather herbs in their assigned zones.
The team led by Qin Zhihua numbered thirteen. It had Su Ling'er — the mascot of the group — along with the boss's personal favorite, plus the female classmate said personal favorite had brought along…
Su Ling'er was not a Transcendent, but as the young mistress's personally designated handmaid-in-waiting, she was expected to stay at her mistress's side at all times under normal circumstances — a girl who was slated to attend even on the wedding night had no reason to be left behind for something as theoretically risky as Viranean.
As for stamina, there was no cause for concern. The Qin family was a clan of deep resources — they had more than enough means to rapidly cultivate a capable assistant. The flowing Liuxian-style dress Su Ling'er wore and the delicate embroidered slippers on her feet were both Transcendent items, capable of keeping even an ordinary person effortlessly light-footed and energized.
When the time was right, special rituals and secret medicines could even bring about a fundamental transformation — letting her leap directly into the mid-Sequences in a single bound. Of course, a non-Knowledge-Sequence Transcendent might be able to vault to those heights, but afterward the road would be sealed off entirely, with no further room to grow.
"Topographica conscientia."
Li Fei murmured the incantation and cast Terrain Awareness on a young man standing about a meter away, then sent him off with a bright smile. "Safe travels."
Terrain Awareness cast by an ordinary mage merely improved movement. But Terrain Awareness cast by a beautiful girl in person apparently came with a bonus effect: morale boosted by a hundred percent.
The young man's face went red. He scrambled to think of something to say — and found that Li Fei had already drifted away. He laughed, a little helplessly, to himself.
A girl like that, with looks like that and Grandmaster potential on top of it — she was so far beyond his reach she might as well be in another sky entirely. Untouchable.
Li Fei moved on to a mature, capable-looking woman. This time was different: the queen of the establishment extended one finger and pressed it, quite openly, to the woman's forehead, smiling like honey. "Safe travels, big sister — come back with a full haul."
In one sentence, the already-slim straight-woman population of Loxibrook shrank by one more.
Terrain Awareness had no cooldown. Within moments, Li Fei had worked her way through more than twenty people, casting the buff one by one. The other half she left to Beatrice.
Releasing over twenty consecutive casts of Terrain Awareness made more than a few onlookers — those who hadn't recognized the Ogre Mage Staff — stare in open amazement, the shock evident in their eyes.
Terrain Awareness was one of the most demanding spells among all first-tier magic — both in terms of how difficult it was to learn and how much mana each cast consumed!
"Is she not only exceptionally talented, but also born with an unusually deep mana pool?"
Someone muttered the guess under their breath, privately lamenting the unfairness of the world — why did someone like this exist? Impossibly beautiful, genuinely kind in spirit, and blessed with absurdly monstrous natural gifts on top of it all.
Those who knew better cast quiet, knowing glances at the Guardian Mage Robe and the Ogre Mage Staff, their inner voices crying out in unison:
Rich lady, hungry, feed me…
As if she'd read their minds, Li Fei's smile took on a faintly inscrutable quality.
There's no such thing as a girl who was born beautiful and rich. She just sold a lot of wine, and here we are.
She cast a glance at her System Panel. Her mana bar was down to just under a quarter.
The Introductory Five Elements Meditation could raise Intelligence by up to 10 points, Charisma by 5, and her mana cap by 100 points. For the average Transcendent, fully unlocking an introductory-level meditation's potential typically took several months — but at Li Fei's rate, she estimated she could do it in about a month.
Not because of any exceptional talent — just because this particular meditation technique was genuinely extraordinary.
After a few days of practice, Li Fei's Intelligence had climbed to 22, and her mana cap had risen to 321.
"Everyone — rendezvous back here in three days. Watch yourselves out there."
With that commanding call, the freshly buffed, fully equipped teams dispersed, fanning out across the island with eager anticipation.
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