Three candles sat in an ornate candelabra, their flames swaying gently — painting the star courtesan's ever more breathtaking face in warm, flickering gold.
She rested her chin in both hands, keeping half an eye on the room's entrance while the other half tracked the movements of her System Panel.
Mana: 28/55 → 29/55
The moment she saw the mana tick up by one point, Li Fei tapped the stopwatch on her phone to a halt. The display read: 27:29.
A second or two of margin for error, perhaps — but combined with the observations and calculations she'd logged over the past two days, it was more than enough to draw a precise conclusion.
She switched to the calculator and punched in a string of numbers. Then she nodded. "Same result as the last few tests..."
She had confirmed it: every point of Intelligence increased her mana cap by 5, and her mana regeneration rate by 0.2 per hour.
After putting down Eddy's group of five, Li Fei had rocketed up two levels in a single day. Now at Level 4, her Intelligence had climbed to 11 — giving her a regen rate of 2.2 mana per hour.
Which meant the star courtesan needed roughly four hours to pool enough mana for a single cast of Stone Skin — and just over half a month of casual casting to level the spell up.
"Not enough. Nowhere near enough."
Li Fei's brow knitted with mild frustration.
A Tier-1 spell needed more than half a month per level — so what about higher-tier spells? The mana costs would be a magnitude greater. When would she ever level those up? The Year of the Rooster? The Monkey Millennium?
And then there was the matter of Potential Points. Having long since recognized their true worth, Li Fei had never intended to focus exclusively on Nature magic. On a whim during the fight with Blackstone Tasha — wanting to pull off something dramatic — she'd sunk a single Potential Point into Introductory Chaos Magic, which was the only reason she'd been able to activate the Fireball Scroll. Which meant she now had at least two spell schools queued up for leveling. Possibly more, down the line.
With that cheerful thought in mind, the star courtesan opened the Shop Panel — and immediately made the face of someone who had just checked their bank balance after a bad week.
The Shop was drowning in mana-restoring potions and equipment. The price tags were equally drowning — in numbers Li Fei could not afford.
Every gold coin she earned added one point of Wealth, and that Wealth was retained even if she spent the actual coin. But when it came to mana-related items, even the cheapest single-use option — the Minor Purification Potion — cost ten Wealth points.
[Minor Purification Potion]
Potion Rating: Firefly
Effect: Restores 100 Mana over 30 minutes. Only effective while in a Meditative state.
Never mind that Li Fei didn't know how to meditate — even if she did, she was not about to burn over a hundred Wealth points just to level up Stone Skin by one.
The system's Wealth criteria were also infuriatingly strict. She'd discovered that only income earned through her work — or loot seized from kills — counted toward Wealth. Gifts from guests at the Tavern? Not a single copper.
Otherwise, Minor Purification Potions would've been an easy purchase — buy two, drink one, dump the other.
"I need to find out how to accelerate mana recovery through other means. I can't keep relying on the system for everything..."
She murmured to herself with a quiet sigh. "I've been frantically cramming common sense and Transcendent lore since I got here, but the time is so short and there's no structure to any of it — my blind spots are still enormous... I can only hope Lady Nicole brings good news tonight."
At that moment, a soft knock sounded at the private room's door.
"Come in~"
Li Fei's voice carried the lazy, half-drowsy lilt of someone who had been lying on the sofa for just a little too long.
Lady Gneia swept the door open in a violet gown, one arm looped through that of a grey-haired beauty. The two of them entered chatting and laughing like a pair of brilliantly matched wives out for an evening together.
Nicole was, without question, the Tavern's most prized patron — whenever she came to spend, Lady Gneia made a personal appearance to attend to her, ensuring the sort of customer loyalty that kept the most important clients coming back.
"Fei — your guest is already here, and you can't even be bothered to get up and greet her properly. What kind of manners are these?"
Lady Gneia shot Li Fei a look that managed to be both reproachful and devastatingly charming.
"I'm so tired today~"
Li Fei pouted. It worked spectacularly.
"What a refreshingly adorable child."
Nicole's smile was as warm and unhurried as always — but her gaze had settled on Li Fei and refused to move. Her azure eyes were luminous with undisguised wonder. "Fei, you put the moonlight outside that window to shame."
In barely a month, the little star courtesan who'd still carried a trace of girlish softness had blossomed into something that could topple kingdoms. It was almost impossible to believe she was a pure-blooded human and not the secret love child of a witch and a succubus empress.
"Do you like what you see?"
Li Fei cast a casual glance at the full-length mirror. Whether it was her surging Charisma, or her rising Constitution and age catching up — the black-haired beauty reflected there had quietly, without her quite noticing, grown into a figure that was tall and languid and breathtakingly mature: sinuous curves, eyes that held a world of warmth even in their most languid moments. The wide-eyed high school girl she remembered was drifting further and further into the past.
"Who could fail to be enchanted by such a rare and exquisite treasure."
The grey-haired Grand Magister's admiration was entirely unfeigned.
"Then I shall take my leave. I wish you both a lovely evening."
Lady Gneia withdrew with a graceful smile, pulling the door shut behind her.
The moment the latch clicked, the smile faded from Gneia's face — what replaced it was something dimmer, laced with a bitterness she couldn't quite name. An ache that sat somewhere between envy and a more complicated grief.
She looked, in that moment, exactly like a merchant who had dressed his beloved wife in her finest and personally escorted her to a nobleman's estate.
"Fei..."
She leaned against the closed door, spent, and called Li Fei's name softly to the empty corridor. Then she raised her pipe to her lips and exhaled — a long, slow breath of melancholy smoke drifting upward into the dark.
...
Li Fei was reclining with her head pillowed in Nicole's lap. The neckline of her pale linen dress had — entirely by accident, of course — slipped down one shoulder, baring the delicate arc of her neck and collarbone: smooth, flawless, one half of the ivory ridge buried beneath a curtain of dark hair, playing a teasing game of now-you-see-it, now-you-don't.
On the table, a bottle of Unicorn's Blessing had already been opened — 28,888 silver coins, more than ten times the price of the Fireball Scroll she'd burned through that afternoon.
The mood had been cultivated to perfection. Time to get down to business.
So the star courtesan turned, set her chin on Nicole's shoulder, and was just drawing breath to speak — when the elegant profile that filled her vision scattered every thought in her head.
The grey-haired Grand Magister's face in three-quarter view was somehow more mysterious and serene than the Mona Lisa in any oil painting Li Fei had ever seen — and yet those lips, just barely touched with wine, shimmered with an allure that could pull a person under in a single glance. Even the prim folds of her mage's robe couldn't fully contain the warmth of the curves beneath — if anything, it made Li Fei more curious about what that composed exterior was concealing than the bare hills of the Goddess of Nature's own skirt.
The unexpected glimpse struck the star courtesan — who had long since grown comfortable enough to flirt and fuss around Nicole freely — like a sudden intake of breath. She found herself pressing that image of the grey-haired beauty into the darkest corner of her memory, quiet and involuntary.
After a brief, dazed pause, Li Fei gathered herself, wrapped both arms around Nicole's slender wrist — her heart beating a little faster than she'd like — and asked in a soft, wheedling tone: "Nicole-unnie~ when do I get to start classes at the Magic Academy?"
Nicole drained the last of the amber liquid in her glass, then produced a medallion. "This is your enrollment pass."
Li Fei took it curiously. At the center of the bronze medallion, a white dove had been rendered in breathtaking detail — wings mid-beat, as though it might take flight at any moment, like a fleeting flash of inspiration.
[Type-V Magic Apprentice Brooch]
Equipment Rating: Firefly
Attributes: +1 Intelligence.
Enchantment Effects: Mana Identification (Lv5), Information Storage (Lv1)...
A brooch barely an inch across — and it carried no fewer than five enchantments. Li Fei, who had spent more than a few idle hours browsing the Shop Panel like it was a shopping site, knew exactly how much enchanted items were worth.
And the +1 Intelligence attribute was nothing to sniff at either.
"Nicole-unnie is too good to me..."
Li Fei clutched the brooch to her palm, let out a little cheer, and promptly buried herself in her guest's soft and wonderfully fragrant arms — nuzzling around with her head and making small, happy, indistinct sounds as she shared her joy.
"And you're satisfied with just that?"
Nicole's lips curved, and she produced a second medallion.
"Hm? What's this one? Let me see, let me see."
The star courtesan's hair slightly askew, she craned forward and reached out to touch the second medallion with curious fingertips.
The same white dove motif — but this one was cast in silver.
[Type-IV Magic Apprentice Brooch]
Equipment Rating: Starlight
Attributes: +2 Intelligence.
Enchantment Effects: Cleanse (Lv1), Mana Identification (Lv5)...
Cleanse (Lv1): Removes dirt and impurities.
The second brooch not only offered two Intelligence points, its enchantments had expanded to six — and Cleanse, which could self-recharge and fire once every twenty-four hours without drawing on her own mana, was something the star courtesan coveted with her entire soul.
With this, she could effortlessly clean any object — or herself — at will.
Not that hygiene had been an urgent problem lately: since her Charisma broke a hundred, Li Fei's Constitution had undergone some frankly bewildering improvements. Even after a full day of sprinting around in boots in the middle of summer, removing them posed no threat to the surrounding population. She had, in fact, spent some time genuinely wondering whether the faint, barely-there hint of natural scent that remained — just noticeable if you leaned in close — was an incomplete transformation on the system's part, or a deliberate design choice. After all, in the right mood, a subtle trace of warmth might set a more interesting atmosphere than aggressively clean feet.
But that was beside the point. Cleanse still had enormous practical value. At minimum: after the next kill, she wouldn't have to spend twenty minutes scrubbing dried blood out from under her fingernails.
The star courtesan's eyes lit up like two tiny stars blazing to life. She said nothing — just bit her lower lip, crossed her arms over her chest, and fixed Nicole with a slow, unblinking stare.
This time, Nicole didn't play along so easily. She refilled her own glass at a leisurely pace and spoke without hurry:
"The first brooch gets you admission as an ordinary apprentice."
"The second brooch makes you a specially admitted student."
"Special admission naturally comes with special privileges... such as a full waiver of the two-thousand-gold-coin annual tuition, extended access to the Spring of Mana, permission to study deeper and more advanced magical theory, more frequent visits to the Druid Cathedral, priority consideration when the Nature Shrine opens its doors... Among other things. I can't remember all of them off the top of my head."
Nicole had not only put the most trivial benefit — fee waiver — at the top of the list, she'd made a point of specifying "two thousand gold coins" — a sum she herself would barely register as pocket change. Predictably, the star courtesan now had the expression of a cat being dangled a dried fish by a very mischievous owner.
It had to be said: Li Fei possessed a genuinely rare gift for the hospitality arts. She had walked into the trade with no training and, through pure instinct alone, navigated it like a fish returned to water. But she had made one small miscalculation — every woman who spent money at the Golden Kumquat Tavern was, without exception, wealthy and distinguished. A handful of sheltered young noblewomen and well-bred daughters of great houses might genuinely fall for the star courtesan's tricks and lose their heads entirely. But the rest — the ones who were truly powerful — how many of them could be played so easily?
On an ordinary night, indulging this naturally gifted, inexperienced ingenue in her little courtship games was perfectly fine entertainment — a star courtesan of this caliber was a once-in-a-millennium find, after all. But the moment these women chose to reveal their mature and formidable side, Li Fei's still-developing tricks were nothing more than children playing house.
For instance: while the star courtesan had been inwardly smirking over Lady Gneia's half-concealed "let me take care of you" implications, she had neatly overlooked the fact that Gneia had never once let anything slide during actual work hours — and had claimed every last copper of her ninety-nine percent cut without blinking.
Now Nicole had tossed out a handful of bait, and the star courtesan could hardly help but bite.
So she did what she always did — deployed her public relations arsenal to its fullest, angling desperately for a free ride to Special Admission status. She toyed with her fingers, let her chin drop just so, and arranged her face into the precise combination of tightly pressed lips and shy, faintly wounded eyes that would give Nicole the most advantageous view.
"Do you know, Fei," Nicole said quietly.
She swirled her glass, watching the crystal-clear wine spiral lazily along the walls and form an irregular little vortex at the center. "Once, House Mettis attempted to bribe me with a chest of Sacrificial Gemstones in exchange for a Special Admission slot."
Li Fei quietly opened the Shop Panel, found the Sacrificial Gemstone listing, and glanced at the six-figure unit price. The words died somewhere between her brain and her mouth.
"They failed, of course. I'd already decided to save the slot for someone who would satisfy me more."
Nicole's gaze was warm enough to carry an edge of heat. "Fei — will you satisfy me?"
"Nicole-unnie... what would it take, exactly, to satisfy you?"
The star courtesan's fingers tightened anxiously around the hem of her skirt. Her breath came just a little unsteady.
If she were being fully honest with herself — she had long since been wanting something to happen with one of her beautiful guests.
But the star courtesan had one particular wish. Her first time — her coming-of-age — had to have ceremony, had to have meaning. Not like this. Not in a private room of a tavern in the middle of a working evening.
She wanted a girl or an older woman who felt the same way she did — beneath flowers and moonlight, to give and receive something real.
Only after that could she throw herself wholeheartedly into the grand enterprise of public relations — using every tool available under the name of the star courtesan, extracting every last drop of nourishment to fuel her ascent along the Transcendent path. That future, Li Fei didn't merely accept as a matter of resolve — she was genuinely looking forward to it.
It was precisely for the sake of that romantic, dreamed-of coming-of-age that the star courtesan had been restraining herself all along, preserving her chastity in this sea of temptation — keeping herself to nothing that crossed the line.
To put it plainly: her Morality was low. But not quite low enough yet.
Nicole seemed to see straight through her. She stroked Li Fei's hair with quiet affection. "Don't worry. I won't push things too far."
At those words, Li Fei let out a breath of relief — and then felt, inexplicably, a faint pang of disappointment.
"Here I thought you were going to do something outrageous to me."
The star courtesan pressed a hand over her heart and pouted. "Nicole-unnie is such a meanie."
"'Unnie' is not a title I find particularly satisfying, you know."
Nicole extended one slender, pale finger and tilted Li Fei's chin upward — gentle and unhurried, but unmistakably firm.
Li Fei recalled Nicole's little joke from last time. She looked at the poised, graceful woman before her and inwardly sighed.
Human XP may be boundless and free, but I do think you should turn yourself in...
Then, face flushing crimson, she murmured in a voice barely above a whisper:
"...Mama."
Now that she thought about it — Nicole already had an adopted daughter, didn't she? A once-in-a-generation genius, no less. Sorry about this, Miss Irena, stranger though you are — looks like you're getting a little sister whether you like it or not.
The star courtesan, slightly lightheaded, never noticed the shift in Nicole's azure eyes — something dark and turbulent flickering through them — nor the way the corner of her mouth had curved into an expression that was not entirely composed.
She still assumed Nicole simply found her irresistible in a straightforward, physical sense.
"The first step of the Ritual is no longer obstructed. The mission I carry — the glory that transcends all living things — we are on the eve of a new era opening its curtain..."
Nicole's lips formed the words without sound, her expression unguarded and blazing with something vast and haughty. A deep flush spread across her face. But by the time Li Fei glanced back, all she saw was that same constellation-calm, effortlessly elegant beauty.
Just as the star courtesan was losing herself in Nicole's loveliness, Nicole spoke:
"Fei — what's your favorite flavor?"
"Orange."
"Understood."
Like a magician producing a coin from thin air, Nicole drew out a small orange-flavored candy and placed it in her own mouth.
Reading the gesture for exactly what it was, the star courtesan immediately understood what was coming.
A fruit-flavored kiss? That's the move?
I had assumed that a woman of Nicole's singular caliber — coming to the Golden Kumquat Tavern, standing before the star courtesan herself — would have something rather more creative up her sleeve.
And the answer is this?
I was doing this in my first year of high school, sweetheart. Hilarious.
The star courtesan's eyes curved into twin crescent moons, some fond memory surfacing — the sweetness of a Ferrero Rocher melting across cool, soft lips.
In the next instant, Nicole extended one fingertip and lightly tapped Li Fei on the forehead.
A surge of tremendous mana flowed inward through that gentle touch at the center of her brow, and the world around Li Fei began to expand in every direction — growing and growing in her wide, astonished eyes.
"...Huh?"
A moment later, a star courtesan one-tenth of her original size sat with her arms wrapped around herself, collapsed in the folds of her now-enormous dress, jaw hanging open.
Nicole reached down, cradling the tiny, dumbfounded star courtesan in her warm, pale palm, eyes bright with amusement.
"Fei — are you ready?"
With every breath, warm air washed over the miniaturized Li Fei — saturated with the rich, sweet scent of orange.
"...Huh?"
The trembling star courtesan, with the wide, helpless, faintly anticipatory eyes of someone very small and very uncertain about what came next — was slowly, inexorably lowered into the warm, soft, enveloping darkness of Nicole's mouth.
____
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