Inside Talia's attic cottage, Lanqi and Hyperion sat at the table, while Talia reclined in her armchair, a cup of steaming hot lemon black tea resting on the small round side table beside her.
There were neither too many nor too few chairs in the room; the cutlery and household items were kept neat and tidy, and a faint fragrance of pastries would drift through every now and then.
"Don't go corrupting Hyperion," Talia said, casting a slightly disgruntled look at Lanqi.
Even though, as a demon, she had little business accusing a human of corrupting a half-demon, no matter how she looked at it, she felt her words were completely justified.
The decades she had spent observing and imitating humans hadn't been for nothing.
"...Tata, let me ask you, what magic have you been teaching Hyperion lately?" Lanqi asked after a slight hesitation.
"..."
Talia fell silent, then turned her head away, unwilling to pay him any more attention.
It certainly wasn't because his spells were useful; it was merely that they were easier to teach Hyperion, that was all.
Beside Lanqi, Hyperion munched on her cake in her own little world, listening to the daily banter between Lanqi and Tata.
At times, she couldn't tell whether Lanqi and Tata were bickering or having a normal conversation, but this was simply how the two of them interacted.
She wondered if Tata would get lonely all by herself once she and Lanqi left for the Northern Continent for an extended period and the cottage fell quiet.
Still, Lanqi had guessed correctly. The spells Tata had taught her first over this past month were indeed Basic Etiquette and Friendly Communication.
Her affinities for mind and curse magic were both superb, and her poison and dark affinities were excellent as well. Since Lanqi's crafted spells blended human magic script with demon magic script, she learned them with astonishing speed.
Aside from affinity and innate magical talent, higher-tier spells were generally harder to master, making Tier 1 and Tier 2 spells the easiest to learn.
Furthermore, once a spell was made into a magic card, its quality and tier directly reflected how difficult the spell was to learn.
For spells corresponding to White Common spell cards, a student with high magical talent and good affinity for that type of magic could learn them very quickly.
The original spells corresponding to Blue Precious spell cards took at least some time to master, and if the student had poor affinity for that magic type, it became even harder.
By the time one reached the Purple Rare rank, one had to possess a fairly good affinity for that spell type first; otherwise, no matter how long one studied, mastering it was virtually impossible. Whether one could learn a Pink Sacred spell came down to sheer destiny, and the relevant grimoires and training methods were exceedingly rare. As for Orange Epic, spells of that caliber were practically equivalent to innate talents—much like a Blood Clan authority—and barring extremely exceptional methods, they could not be learned after birth, no matter how high one's affinity was.
This was precisely why Orange Epic magic cards commanded astronomical prices.
In an era where trading was so convenient, people simply learned practical spells whenever possible to save card slots. If they couldn't learn them, they directly equipped magic cards, avoiding the waste of copious amounts of time and energy trying to master the skill by hand.
"After a semester of study... I really have grown stronger," Hyperion said as she picked up Elegant Styling, which Lanqi had given her. Gazing at the translucent, wondrous spell card, she couldn't help reflecting on everything she had gained and how she had changed over these past few months.
"You are completely different from how you were at the start of the semester," Lanqi said with a smile.
He knew Hyperion originally possessed four Pink Sacred cards: three left to her by her father—the dagger, invisibility, and death immunity—plus the witch's shield obtained from the Temple Shadow World.
Now that she had learned two of Lanqi's signature spells and bound this fifth card that altered hairstyles, she had finally transitioned from a utility rogue into a trickster—maxed out on survivability and bristling with acrobatic antics meant to toy with her foes.
"Ugh, back then, people still thought of me as a half-demon..." Hyperion murmured. The moment she thought about what kind of spells she now possessed, she felt she had no face to see her father.
If she ever reunited with her father in the future, he would probably be dumbfounded.
According to Duke Mikhail's expectations, Hyperion should never have turned into this sort of mage.
Once upon a time, she was a damage-focused offensive mage.
Now, she had become a support mage providing mutual protection with Lanqi.
"And what about now?" Lanqi asked, already looking forward to teaming up with Hyperion and her new skill set for another round of tag-team combat.
"In the end, I've still turned into you," Hyperion said, shaking her head.
Oh well.
This wasn't bad either.
At least by Lanqi's side, no one dared to cross her anymore.
As a duke's daughter, her presence commanded even more authority now than it had when her father was still around.
...
Lanqi did not stay long at Talia's place.
Having completed his primary task for the day—handing over the card—he said his goodbyes to Talia and Hyperion.
When he walked downstairs and pushed open the front door of Boss Cat Restaurant, accompanied by the chiming of wind chimes, moist, chilly air swept over him with the wind, and he noticed rain had begun dripping from the eaves.
In the distance, the drizzling streaks of rain along the streets grew clearer, seeming as though the downpour would only intensify.
"Why did it start raining?"
Observing the rain, Lanqi realized he would have to borrow an umbrella from Boss Cat.
The weather lately had indeed been dreary and unpredictable.
Yet before he could deliberate any further, as soon as he turned around to head back inside, he found Hyperion bringing him an umbrella.
"Lanqi, I saw the drizzle starting outside the window," Hyperion said as she walked up to him and handed him the umbrella.
"Thank you."
Lanqi took the umbrella but didn't open it. He simply stood there, smiling as he gazed at the rain over the royal capital's streets.
"Aren't you leaving?"
A little puzzled, Hyperion stepped up beside him and followed his gaze toward the rainy street scene.
"Think about it, Hyperion. If someone ran downstairs specifically to bring you an umbrella and you just took it and walked off, wouldn't the person who brought it feel a little disappointed?"
Lanqi was completely at leisure today, not rushed in the slightest.
"That's true," Hyperion said after giving it some thought. She found it rather nice to chat with Lanqi a bit longer, or simply stand beneath the eaves listening to the sound of the rain.
"How are preparations for your card coming along?"
Hyperion remembered Lanqi planned to craft a core card that would fully flesh out his role as a Sealer. Once they reached the Northern Continent, he would no longer present himself under the combat class of white mage, but rather as a Sealer that Lanqi claimed was fundamentally different from the Bishop of Annihilation, Askesan.
"In about two days, we'll set off."
With the semester over, it was time for them to submit their application to the academy and depart.
Traveling to the northernmost tip of the Southern Continent, transferring between mana rail trains and mana airships across several countries, would take several days in itself. Crossing the sea depended on the weather; if things went poorly, the voyage across the Sea of Catastrophe could take more than a month.
"Though I hear the Northern Continent has been a bit unstable, since we've resolved to take on this research project, we must do it right and produce real results," Lanqi added, his eyes full of determination.
As a philosopher, educator, thinker, and man of action, not only did he shoulder lofty ideals for country and people, but he was also resolved to uphold justice in society.
"...Let's talk about the plan to retire at twenty instead," Hyperion said. She had grown a bit wary of Lanqi's grand ambitions. Under the sway of circumstance—perhaps driven by talent, perhaps by his sheer openhearted conviction—whenever he looked back, he often found himself standing high above the world, where the chill was unbearable.
Hyperion asked for nothing more right now; she only prayed that Lanqi wouldn't soar like a dragon at the first stirring of wind and clouds once they reached the Northern Continent...
Chapter 229