Groggy, her blond hair a little frizzy, Lilith slid the window open out of habit and flung the potion outside.
It had no side effects at all, but as a mother, she naturally refused to take a [Birth Prevention] potion like that.
Then it hit her. Even though Miss Stepmother wasn't in the room, there was still another pair of eyes on her…
Her drowsiness vanished instantly. Lilith turned around, stiff as a board.
Sure enough, she met a pair of pale blue-green eyes: calm, bewildered, and underneath the bewilderment, faintly terrified.
Miss Grace, who had just stumbled onto a world-shattering secret, held the bottle against her lips for several seconds. Then she glanced at the bottle, thought it over for a moment, and in the end drank down her own share of the potion anyway.
Lilith's unruly blond hair floated up slowly under her nearly uncontrolled mana, then drooped like a deflated balloon.
Lilith said dejectedly, "Don't tell her yet."
"Mm."
Grace nodded lightly. Still, for the sake of the bond between two women who shared the same girlfriend, she broke her usual economy with words to warn her. "You can't hide this for long."
"I know. I just haven't figured out how to say it."
Lilith sighed.
Grace looked at her with a quiet, meaningful gaze and said no more.
When the belly started to grow, the one who would truly struggle to accept the truth wouldn't be Li Fei. It would be Lady Annie.
Both of them knew it, and both silently agreed not to mention it.
"Ta-da, da-da-da~"
Li Fei, now dressed, pushed the door open, pinched the hem of her pleated skirt and spun once, smiling sweetly. "How do I look? Quick, compliment me."
"Tch."
"Pretty."
The atmosphere turned harmonious again, as if nothing had happened.
…
Even though she'd spent a good while in front of the mirror that morning, after drinking a handful of Lucky Fountain water, Li Fei still couldn't resist using the clear surface as a mirror and measuring her hair length with her fingers.
A beauty with flowing long hair always has a gentle, elegant air and an ethereal, fairy-like charm. Even Tingbao occasionally has a focused moment when she looks like a serene literary girl. It's just that the startling beauty of that glimpse is soon wrecked by the suspicious flush on her cheeks, her steam-misted eyes, the coy, lewd line of her lips that seem to hold back words, and her indecent figure. Even the black stockings under her skirt gave off a thoroughly sugar-baby vibe.
Short hair, on the other hand, brings out a certain temperament and leaves a more distinctive impression.
In a JK-style pleated skirt, knee-high socks and a white blouse, the radiant-eyed Miss Top Courtesan looked especially innocent and dainty. But if she switched to more mature, composed clothes, it would surely give a whole different look.
"Long hair is better."
After a difficult weighing of the options, Li Fei reached her subjective verdict.
She scooped up another handful of spring water and lifted it to her lips.
Savored slowly, this stuff had a sweet aftertaste and got more fragrant the more you drank. Even high-quality mineral water couldn't compare. If she had to describe it, it was a bit like the tea-infused water in a bath, though she had no idea how it was made.
Once I've made it big, I'm definitely putting a Lucky Fountain in my house and using it as tap water…
Li Fei was quietly making up her mind when she suddenly heard a soft, timid voice.
"Um, you're not supposed to drink that."
Li Fei turned and saw a broom touch down beside her.
Irena was as beautiful as ever, with ash-gray hair cascading like a waterfall and bright eyes and white teeth. Not even her tall witch hat could dim her charm.
Her broom also carried a big, white-haired beauty. She had soft white short hair and pure, exquisite features, and her jade-green eyes shimmered with a glistening sheen like a newborn fawn's, naive and innocent, looking very easy to fool. Her proportions were excellent, her legs long and shapely. Her calves were fully wrapped in nearly opaque black stockings, the tightly gathered line of the leg utterly alluring, while the snowy, soft thighs were pinched into faint grooves by the stocking tops, giving her a plump, fleshy look. It was a sharp contrast to Irena's slender, porcelain-white legs, smooth and without a trace of extra flesh.
"Good morning, Senior Annesia."
Li Fei greeted her sweetly, then winked playfully with her right eye. "If you don't break a school rule once in a while, your student life can't really be called fulfilling."
As she spoke, she waved them over to share the fine vintage.
"But…"
Annesia hesitated, as if wanting to say more.
Li Fei assumed the senior was trying to dissuade her because of the "No Drinking" sign beside the fountain.
In truth, what worried Annesia was that Irena dragged her along every few days to wash their feet in the Lucky Fountain water…
Seeing her clueless junior about to drink foot-wash water, Annesia gave Irena's sleeve a small tug and looked at her pleadingly.
"It's fine. The water's very clean."
Irena's smile remained radiant, with a touch of slyness.
"Uu…"
Li Fei drank the water after all. Annesia let out a tiny whimper and covered her reddening cheeks.
It was only someone drinking water, yet she felt waves of palpitation. It was her witch instinct leaping with joy, as if those enchanting lips were swallowing not clear spring water but her own toes.
"You two really aren't having any? Then let's talk business."
Li Fei shot them a suspicious glance, then took out the [Midas Gloves] and walked up to them. "Senior Annesia, if everything goes well, the names on the Enlos Wealth Ranking will probably have to be replaced."
…
Half an hour later, the experiment was declared a failure.
Annesia's [Chaos Casting] specialty did indeed work on the [Midas Gloves].
However, recharging with [Mana Crystals] and then converting items into gold carried a certain loss rate.
Under normal conditions, the [Midas Gloves] automatically accumulated one point of energy per day, yielding 275 grams of gold. Recharging with [Mana Crystals] required 550 grams of gold to restore a single point.
Of course, one shouldn't assume the extra charge was a useless option. At its core, this item was equipment suited to Noble-school Transcendents, and the Midas touch could take effect on living targets with insufficient resistance. Normally, only mid-Sequence Transcendents had enough resistance to save against such a transmutation.
That meant that, given enough money, these gloves alone could instantly kill most Sequence 7 Transcendent beings. It worked in much the same spirit as [All-Or-Nothing Throw] and [Do As One Pleases], and suited the combat style of Noble-school Transcendents perfectly. Having money meant being invincible.
But a loss rate as high as half had shattered Li Fei's dream of getting rich.
"Sorry."
Annesia said with her head lowered.
"It's not your fault."
Li Fei was at a loss for words.
Not only did this senior speak in a faint, timid voice, she also blushed at every turn and always took the blame onto herself. She came across as soft and adorable, like a little white flower anyone could pick, frail enough to blow over in a breeze and so pitiable that it made one's heart ache.
Upholding the ladylike chivalry of cherishing delicate flowers, Li Fei naturally rested her snowy-soft paw on the senior's shoulder and said gently, "Besides, we didn't come away with nothing."
According to the tests, Annesia's [Chaos Casting] specialty currently had a 24% chance of double-casting, an 11% chance of triple-casting, a 3% chance of quadruple-casting, and a slim chance of quintuple. By Annesia's own account, she'd had a quintuple cast exactly once so far.
So, ignoring the quintuple cast with its tiny trigger rate, Annesia could raise the [Midas Gloves]' gold output from 100% to 155%, producing roughly 151 extra grams of gold per day on average. Split between the two of them, that came to about seven gold coins a day each. A sufficiently diligent wage slave who worked overtime every day without eating or drinking would earn about that much in ten years…
It wasn't a lot, but even a tiny mosquito is still meat. And for Miss Top Courtesan, it was also a decent chance to expand her connections.
Not to mention that an Innate Talent specialty could be upgraded. Once it broke past the 200% threshold, Miss Annesia could transform into a gold-producing girl…
"Mm…"
Faced with her junior's attentive, caring manner, Annesia nodded obediently.
It really was true that big and small only exist by comparison.
Next to Irena, the white-haired beauty looked big. But she was clearly a tiny bit shorter than Li Fei, and standing close to her, she gave off a delicate, frail impression with her slender limbs and dainty frame. Meanwhile, today's JK-style Li Fei, pressed up against Annesia, didn't look quite so innocent anymore.
Then a chilly voice shattered the rather pleasant mood.
"Excuse me—"
Irena wore a kindly smile. She took each of them by the arm, pulled them apart, and squeezed into the gap. "Are you two done talking?"
"Not yet," Li Fei answered instantly, her eyes curving. "Senior Annesia and I hit it off right away, and I'd like to chat a little longer."
"Then it looks like it'll have to wait for another day."
Irena looked at her dear little sister, her smile growing ever kinder. "The Dean asked me to tell Annesia to come to her office."
"What a coincidence!" Li Fei said with delighted surprise. "Senior Lilith relayed a message from Her Excellency last night too, telling me to go to the Dean's office."
"…"
Irena suddenly had an ominous feeling.
A few minutes later, Li Fei pushed open the door of the Dean's office in a huff and puffed out her cheeks at the sight of Irena.
What a mean sister!
She had actually, heartlessly abandoned her adorable little sister, who'd been trying to hitch a ride, and carried only Annesia to the Dean's office.
There was plenty of room left on that broom!
"Good morning, ladies."
Nicole sat upright behind her desk, smiling as she greeted the three witches.
Whenever outsiders were present, she always wore this intelligent, composed, and approachable look.
"G-good morning."
Annesia was a little tense. "May I ask why you called us here…?"
"Good news."
Nicole spoke unhurriedly. "Yesterday I received word from the Main Academy. Their Folded Space B-01 will open within a week."
Folded Space 01? The lower the number, the greater the significance… and this isn't even the 01 of the Loxibrook branch academy. It's the 01 of the Main Academy of the Magic Academy!
The moment Nicole finished speaking, Li Fei's heart skipped a beat.
Except for Irena, whose face showed dawning understanding, the other two blinked, waiting for Her Excellency the Dean to continue.
"The environment inside Folded Space B-01 is very special. Even for headquarters, it's an extremely precious site."
Nicole resolved their confusion. "It opens for ten days once every few years, and inside there are six [Sacred Altars]."
"Hiss…"
Li Fei sucked in a cold breath and pressed eagerly, "What tier?"
"Three of Tier 3 and three of Tier 4," Nicole answered. "Across the three schools of Life, Death, and Nature. The elites of the great academies will compete over those ten days for ownership of the altars."
"Annesia, in light of your outstanding contribution in Folded Space C-11, the academy has listed you as a candidate for Gold-rank student and is granting you an entry ticket to Folded Space B-01."
Outstanding contribution, not outstanding performance?
Li Fei narrowed her eyes. Nicole's tone shifted, and she turned to ask for Li Fei's opinion.
"As a Gold-rank student, you could have applied to enter a Divine Scion. But you know how precious a resource a Divine Scion is. Even if you've shown exceptional aptitude, you still have to wait for approval and queue up to enter… I can't guarantee the exact time. Quickly, maybe a month or two. At worst, perhaps half a year."
"Now you can give up the Divine Scion and exchange it directly for an entry ticket to Folded Space B-01. The upside is that you'd receive the resources the academy promised you sooner. The downside is that you'd bear the risk of coming away with nothing. I have to admit that in most people's eyes, this is a losing trade. Read the files on Folded Space B-01 first and then decide. Think it over carefully."
As she spoke, two document folders floated into the hands of Li Fei and Annesia.
Li Fei didn't say much. She tore open her folder at once and went through its contents carefully.
A Divine Scion was a Wonder-grade creation, its value on par with a Knowledge Tree. In theory, it should be directly controlled by the [Council of Elders] of the six great factions. But the so-called factions were loose alliances that only showed any cohesion when a danger threatening the entire faction appeared. The major organizations within them had long since slipped out of the Council of Elders' control, so Divine Scions had become the private property of top-tier powers.
The Thieves' Guild, the two great academies, the Holy Church and others each had a Divine Scion they enshrined.
And what a Divine Scion did was raise the realm of Transcendent knowledge, and even aptitude!
Maintaining and using one cost a staggering amount of resources, and there were many restrictions, such as "each Sequence level can visit a Divine Scion only once" and "the higher the Sequence level, the higher the cost of the visit." Still, a Divine Scion remained a treasure that countless Transcendents dreamed of.
Lilith had never revealed anything about her Legacy, but Li Fei vaguely guessed that Miss Stepdaughter had most likely visited a Divine Scion. Otherwise, it was hard to explain how her Death school magic had advanced by leaps and bounds in such a short time.
Sacred Altars, on the other hand, used inconceivable ritual methods to give law fragments a physical form, serving as "single-use divine altars." Those who touched an altar also made a breakthrough in the realm of their Transcendent knowledge.
But altars couldn't raise aptitude, couldn't raise the realm of one's Meditation technique, and came in clearly defined tiers. A Tier 3 Nature altar, for instance, could at most help a Transcendent grasp one [intermediate Transcendent knowledge], and only one of Nature Magic, the Principles of the Ring, or Summoning Magic. A Tier 4 Death altar could at most let a Transcendent master [advanced Transcendent knowledge], limited to Death Magic, Spirit Lore, or Soul Summoning.
For Li Fei, whether Divine Scion or Sacred Altar, they were all good things equivalent to priceless potential points!
Of course, if she had to pick one, she leaned toward the Divine Scion. After all, a Divine Scion only required queuing, offered a steady, risk-free promotion, and could even improve aptitude. Even if it meant waiting half a year, Li Fei could afford it. An altar, by contrast, carried risk and couldn't improve aptitude. Yet the words "competition" and "six" drew her in.
Li Fei calmed her mind and read the file line by line, her gaze flickering between bright and dark.
Soon she realized this was a single-choice question: on the left, a "fixed deposit"; on the right, a "casino."
"I want the entry ticket to Folded Space B-01."
Without much hesitation, Li Fei chose the "casino."
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