So Mama Nicole truly could do whatever she pleased within the Magic Academy…
Walking down a long corridor paved with white ceramic tiles, Li Fei pressed a hand to her chest, her eyes brimming with undisguised envy.
Just moments ago, Melodia had stepped out of the Dean's office with her left foot first — and had been docked her entire month's bonus for it. The tall, golden-haired woman who looked so breezy and carefree, a full half-head taller than Li Fei, was now clinging to Mama Nicole's legs in tearful repentance.
She can be replaced — and I shall be the one to do it!
The star courtesan made up her mind on the spot. From this day forward, she would apply herself diligently as a new student, and one day she, too, would lord it over everyone with the same imperious authority as Mama Nicole. After all, being on the receiving end of other people's charity for too long was bad for the back.
Beyond the mural-lined corridor lay a wide, sunlit plaza, its center graced by a fountain of crystalline water gurgling up in cheerful arcs.
Li Fei stepped forward, cupped her hands beneath the stream, and took a small sip. The taste was clean and faintly sweet.
[Lucky Fountain]
[Description: Bestows good fortune.]
Luck: 1 → 2
According to what Zhihua-jiejie had told her, there were three Transcendent structures in Loxibrook capable of increasing Luck: the "Lucky Fountain" at the center of the Magic Academy, the "Fairy Ring" in the Secret Garden, and the "Rainbow Altar" at the edge of the Unicorn Forest. Unfortunately, all three only granted a temporary boost — none of them offered a permanent increase.
Li Fei drew a water flask from her robe and filled it to the brim. She was already planning to use this water to cook noodles every single day going forward — maybe, if she consumed enough of it, her Luck would improve in some more fundamental way?
"The Lucky Fountain's effect only lasts twenty-four hours," Melodia said, appearing at her side without warning. She splashed some of the fountain water on her own face — apparently she, too, was in need of a little good fortune. "And unlike a Magic Fountain, you don't need to drink it. Just making contact is enough for it to take effect."
"Noted. Thank you, Teacher."
Li Fei produced a clean white handkerchief — still carrying a faint warmth from her own body — and carefully dabbed the water from Melodia's face with the attentive grace of a devoted attendant. It was only sensible: Melodia was not only Li Fei's ideal type — a golden-haired, mature beauty she'd fallen for at first sight — but also a candidate for Vice-Dean. Cultivating that relationship could only do her good.
Mellodia's cheeks went red immediately. Her emerald eyes drifted, uncertain where to look.
"You'd better head to the main hall," she said, recovering. "The Dean will be addressing the new students shortly."
"Will Teacher be coming as well?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful. I don't know the way."
With that perfectly reasonable justification, the star courtesan cheerfully slipped her hand into Melodia's.
Melodia's hand was fair and slender, radiantly warm, and full of give — her nails slightly long, painted a pale grey that matched the color of Nicole's hair.
Who would have thought that this brash, vivacious, mature older-sister of a teacher would turn out to be the flustered type…
Li Fei let her thumb graze lightly over the tip of one painted nail, keeping her expression perfectly neutral.
Melodia went rigid.
Neither the Magic Academy nor the War Academy had any formal prohibition against teacher-student relationships — but being seen walking hand-in-hand with a female student on her very first day of enrollment would, in all likelihood, mark the end of her career as an educator.
"Teacher — is something the matter?"
Li Fei glanced back over her shoulder, her large, luminous eyes shimmering with guileless, crystalline innocence. Melodia opened her mouth, then closed it again, unable to find the words.
Just from those eyes alone, she could tell — Li Fei was a sweet, well-behaved girl, nothing at all like Irena. She simply warmed to people too easily. On the treacherous road of the Transcendent, being this openly friendly would get her taken advantage of sooner or later.
Melodia exhaled softly, and turned her hand over to fold it properly around Li Fei's warm, soft fingers.
"Nothing. Let's go."
In her office, Nicole sat at her desk and watched the two retreating silhouettes through the window without a word.
She pulled out Melodia's personnel file, uncapped her pen, and drew a third prominent red mark in the column labeled "Professional Ethics."
...
"Fellow students — for a mage, the most important thing is not boundless mana, nor a mastery of every spell under the sun… Transcendent knowledge is our foundation!"
"I hope you will all direct your energy toward exploring and internalizing that knowledge…"
Nicole stood in her robes, a gentle smile on her lips, offering earnest counsel to the assembled new students in her soft, melodious voice.
The bright-eyed students kept their gazes fixed on the Dean, their expressions full of admiration and longing.
After all, who could resist a cultivated, silver-haired beauty who radiated intelligence and quiet authority?
Of course, among the hundreds of assembled students, only the star courtesan was privy to the truth: in Dean Nicole's private estimation, the vast majority of those present were "dull-witted and beyond redemption."
"New students will be divided into six classes… Nature, Life, Chaos, Death, and Order correspond to Classes One through Five respectively. Those who have already decided on a path of study are welcome to apply directly to the class of their choice. Those who haven't yet made up their minds need not worry — Class Six offers foundational instruction, and a dedicated teacher will help guide you toward the right direction…"
Nicole's address was brief and practical, with little in the way of ceremonial encouragement — yet her gentle, pleasant tone left every new student feeling as though they'd been touched by a warm spring breeze.
Within minutes, the address was complete. This surprised Li Fei somewhat — back in her previous world, every school opening ceremony had required her to stand in a courtyard for at least half an hour like a decorative post.
"I won't take up any more of your time. Let us now hear a few words from our new student representative."
Nicole's smiling gaze settled directly on Li Fei.
?
Li Fei froze.
No one said anything about this.
"This student representative happens to be the very Special Enrollment candidate I personally selected…"
Nicole continued her introduction to the students with a warm smile, and beckoned Li Fei forward with a gentle wave.
Every pair of eyes in the hall swung to Li Fei simultaneously — and a moment later, a small ripple of commotion spread through the crowd.
"Oh wow."
"She's — she's so pretty…"
"Does anyone know her? Does she have a girlfriend?"
"…"
Scheming Mama Nicole.
After a brief, silent grumble, the star courtesan — tempered by her time in the world's most demanding social arena — composed herself with practiced ease. Wearing a smile that was both elegant and full of youthful energy, she walked to the front of the hall with light, confident steps, the silver brooch at her chest gleaming under the lights, the very image of a model student.
"Good morning, teachers and fellow students. My name is Li Fei, and it is my great honor to have been given this precious opportunity to speak today."
Li Fei gave a proper bow to the audience. Her voice was not loud — and yet every student at the very back of the hall could hear her with perfect clarity, their curious, eager gazes locked on the most beautiful girl they had ever seen in their lives.
Li Fei's eyes swept the room in a single discreet pass, reading the expression of every face at once. She concluded that there had to be a spell acting as a microphone.
"I'll be honest — my mastery of magic and Transcendent knowledge isn't particularly impressive yet," she began, easing into a measured, unhurried tone as she desperately organized her thoughts. "So today, I'd like to speak with all of you about something closer to my heart: youth, and the dreams that come with it."
Thank heavens for her Intelligence stat. With it raised this high, her memories of her previous life had grown sharper than ever — books she had read, videos she had skimmed through — all of it lay preserved in the depths of her mind, ready to be retrieved at will.
Motivational speeches about the "rising generation," valedictorian addresses from top students, impassioned monologues from art students who didn't get into their chosen schools, anthems about making the world a more loving place… Stitch a few of those together, and she had more than enough material to make it through an enrollment ceremony.
"Once, I was a naive and ignorant girl, knowing nothing of the Transcendent world."
"Like most people, I spent my days playing with friends, and my nights lying in the cool breeze watching the stars. Life was simple — and because it was simple, I was happy."
"Until the day I stood at a busy crossroads, watching the people around me — moving toward me, then past me, their steps rushed, their faces blank, like dim and fading stars adrift in an endless galaxy. They drew their modest wages, living the same day on endless repeat, bound by routine, going through the motions — their entire lives visible at a glance, all the way to the very end."
Li Fei's voice grew low and pensive, her expression shadowed with quiet grief. "In that moment, I felt a terror unlike anything I had known before — because in those people, I saw my own future staring back at me."
"It was only when I met Dean Nicole that the course of my life was rewritten."
Her tone began to lift. A light kindled in her eyes.
"It was joining the Magic Academy that showed me the boundless possibilities life holds. It was here that I understood — youth can be this vivid. This brilliant."
"Four thousand years of accumulated wisdom from every generation of Transcendents who came before us — all of their knowledge, their insight, their art — laid out like a gift made especially for us."
"I am fortunate to live in this age. Fortunate to have stepped through the doors of this Academy. Fortunate to stand before every one of you today."
"There is a saying from the Eastern Continent: the waves that follow will always surpass the ones before them."
"To those who grumble that each new generation of Transcendents is weaker than the last — I say look at us. We are the new wave. And we are the future of Loxibrook — and of the Continent of Enlos itself."
"When our generation is strong, Loxibrook is strong. When our generation is wise, Loxibrook is wise. When our generation rises to claim the Continent of Enlos, so too shall Loxibrook rise and claim its place among the stars!" ①
By the end, even Li — Student Representative — Fei had gotten swept up in her own performance.
The hall fell into a breathless silence. The speech, stitched together from layers of borrowed eloquence, had set hearts thundering in every chest. Even more than a few of the teachers present wore expressions of startled, genuine admiration.
The original "Rising Generation" speech had been controversial in its time, accused of being too removed from ordinary people — but who, exactly, was sitting in this hall?
In a world where an average commoner, working without rest for an entire year, could barely scrape together a single gold coin — these were the people wealthy enough to pay two thousand gold coins in annual tuition.
Was that speech appropriate for this particular audience?
Absolutely perfectly appropriate.
"This year's Special Enrollment student is rather interesting," murmured a white-bearded old mage, nodding in approval.
"Let's hope she isn't just a pretty face with a silver tongue," came a slightly sour voice from elsewhere.
"Ha." Melodia let out a dismissive laugh and began to clap without reservation. "She is the Dean's adopted daughter — by conservative estimate, she has at least 'Gold'-grade aptitude."
With someone leading, the applause spread rapidly through the hall until it swelled into a roar.
"My little sister is even more charming than I imagined."
Outside the hall doorway, a grey-haired girl with hair cascading all the way to her waist leaned against the frame, offering the observation with sincere appreciation. "Her beauty is no less than mine."
"Irena's beauty is without equal in this world."
The short-haired black-haired girl at her side tore her gaze away from Li Fei at those words, threw her arms around the grey-haired girl, and shook her head vigorously. "There is one sun in the sky, and one sun in my heart — and that sun is Irena!"
"For a witch, greed is a virtue, Saya," Irena said, pressing the tip of one finger lightly to Saya's forehead. "Don't you think a sky full of stars in the dark of night is more intoxicating than a single blinding sun?"
...
"A speech I won't soon forget."
When the enrollment ceremony concluded, Melodia walked over to Li Fei with warm praise on her lips.
"As long as I didn't embarrass myself," Li Fei said, and skillfully took Melodia's hand in hers. "I was terrified up there — my palms were completely soaked."
A flush bloomed across Melodia's bright, mature face. Her emerald eyes darted around the room with obvious discomfort — and sure enough, she found plenty of curious students watching the two of them, while more than a few of her fellow teachers were giving her quiet, approving thumbs-up behind students' backs.
She's the type who finds the thrill irresistible — which means there's every reason to commit to it fully.
The star courtesan read the situation in an instant.
The new student representative, who had decided that teasing the teacher was tremendously entertaining, fixed her sparkling eyes on Melodia like a cat that had just spotted a fascinating toy, leaned in close to her ear, and murmured in the most innocent voice imaginable:
"Teacher… my heart is beating so fast right now… Do you think I might be coming down with something?"
And as she said it, she lifted Melodia's hand and pressed it toward her chest, as though inviting her to check.
"Ahem, ahem…"
Melodia cleared her throat loudly and steered the conversation in a different direction with visible effort. "So — have you decided which alignment of magic you'll be studying?"
"Nature and Chaos."
Li Fei answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Then you'll be in Class One. Feel free to sit in on Class Three whenever you have time — the Academy has no objection to students with exceptional aptitude studying multiple alignments simultaneously."
Melodia flashed a sudden, self-satisfied smile, revealing the faint points of her canines. "Which means, from here on out, I'll be your homeroom teacher."
"Oh — please take good care of me, Teacher," Li Fei said, her expression brightening with exaggerated delight. Her tone took on a playful lilt: "Does that mean you can play favorites with me just a little?"
"Absolutely not. I treat all my students the same."
Melodia gave Li Fei a light tap on the top of her head. "Come on, let's go get your textbooks."
"Yes, Teacher."
Li Fei fell into step beside her and asked curiously: "What kinds of things will we be studying?"
"Ritual theory, Transcendent artifacts, spell catalogues, class characteristics, Transcendent creatures, continental history…" As the Dean's chosen successor and the Academy's most formidable instructor, Melodia had the entire curriculum committed to memory without effort. Her expression grew focused and attentive as she laid it all out with patient thoroughness. "Beyond that, every student must independently select at least one Meditation grimoire…"
Meditation!
Li Fei's eyes lit up, her expression practically vibrating with barely suppressed eagerness.
Her accumulated Potential Points had been waiting for exactly this moment.
She kept herself from interrupting, however, and listened quietly.
"Of course, Meditation grimoires won't be distributed with your regular textbooks — students choose them themselves from the library. Each student gets one selection. If you want more, you'll need to find your own means, or trade for them using academic credits."
Melodia paused briefly. "Special Enrollment students are the exception — they may choose three."
Yes!
A radiant smile broke across Li Fei's face.
Before long, Li Fei was walking into the classroom with a tall stack of textbooks in her arms, taking stock of the place she'd be spending her days from now on.
The Magic Academy's learning environment, it had to be said, was extraordinary. Every corner of the campus carried a deep sense of accumulated history and culture, and even the desks and chairs in the classroom had an antique dignity to them, with tall bookshelves standing along the back wall.
The students who had enrolled through conventional means had, naturally, long since sorted out their plans for Transcendent study. They filed into the classroom in small groups, textbooks in hand, faces bright with anticipation and a touch of nerves.
Li Fei, without a moment's hesitation, claimed a back-row seat by the window and began flipping through her textbooks at her leisure.
The pages were filled with vivid, lifelike illustrations of all manner of Transcendent creatures, accompanied by detailed descriptions of their habits, innate talents, and weaknesses. Nicole's morning cast of Language Comprehension would hold until the following day — the text offered no barrier whatsoever to Li Fei's reading.
The mysteries of the Transcendent world unfolded before her eyes, and Li Fei was quickly absorbed — until a sharp clap of hands pulled her back.
"Good morning, everyone."
Melodia stood at the front of the classroom, her short wand tracing fluid, luminous letters through the air as her wrist moved with practiced ease: "From now on, I'll be your teacher. This is my name — Melodia."
She then raised a hand, beckoning — and a petite, enchanting grey-haired girl stepped to her side.
"Hello, everyone."
The grey-haired girl wore a sweet, warm smile. "My name is Irena. I'll be serving as the assistant instructor. If I fall short in any way, please feel free to point it out."
———
① Source materials stitched together from "Rising Generation" (后浪), Zhang Xifeng's speech, and "Ode to Chinese Youth" (少年中国说).
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