Basking in the golden-orange sunset at five in the afternoon, a row of red-brick buildings quietly recounted the long history of Ikerite in their dignified, majestic posture.
When the sun's most dazzling rays pierced the gaps between the dense foliage, a pattern of dusk-gold was splashed across the stone facade of the School of Sages dormitory building.
Along a corridor beside just such a hall of shifting light and shadow, Lanqi found his dorm room.
"Once you get inside, let me out right away."
A familiar voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"How can you still talk to me?"
Lanqi replied telepathically, taken aback.
"The Poet of Great Love usually can too, shouldn't she?"
Talia felt as though she were half-sealed within Lanqi's soul space.
Lanqi quickly unlocked the door to his room. Following a crisp click, the heavy door swung open along with the barrier behind it, and he stepped inside and locked it behind him.
"That's true, but normally I keep her sealed."
Lanqi couldn't understand it at all and questioned her mentally.
Although the Poet of Great Love could also summon herself, that was only if Lanqi granted her the freedom to do so.
Talia, however, didn't seem to need Lanqi to grant her permission at all; she possessed the authority on her own.
"I'm stronger than you. What makes you think you could seal me?"
Talia retorted with solid logic.
"..."
Lanqi felt that the side effects of this waifu card were truly far too potent.
At least the Poet of Great Love showed some semblance of reason, whereas Talia was downright lawless.
Sure enough, powerful cards always came with corresponding risks.
Suddenly, amidst the drift of a delicate fragrance, a figure materialized from the mana beside Lanqi like a fairy among flowers, appearing not far from him.
"Did you really take me for a waifu card?"
Talia asked coldly.
She had constantly heard Lanqi and the Poet of Great Love refer to pretty summons that way, but in truth, she detested waifu cards and didn't like Lanqi having more of them.
"Well, you really are pretty,"
Lanqi answered.
"..."
Talia pondered for a moment.
Lanqi genuinely thought she was beautiful; she had confirmed this many times.
Even at the Golden Bee Amusement Park, when describing his impressions of her, the first thing he had mentioned was how good-looking she was.
"Make yourself at home. Give me a list of the daily necessities you need, and I'll go buy them for you."
Carrying Talia's suitcase past the coat rack in the entryway, Lanqi stepped into the dormitory's spacious living room, drew the curtains, and turned on the lights.
The throw pillows and blanket on the sofa radiated warm hues, while a vintage floor lamp quietly stood vigil to the side.
Inside, the sunset glow filtered through the slit between the curtains, softly spilling over the various pieces of brown wooden furniture and lending the entire room an extraordinarily cozy feel.
Lanqi placed her suitcase on a cabinet, sat down on the sofa, and began exchanging urgently needed magic cards with Boss Cat.
Outside of combat, magic cards of Purple Rare grade and below could be freely soulbound and un-soulbound, then exchanged with others.
"..."
Talia looked around Lanqi's home and walked over to sit on the other side of the sofa.
When she escorted Hyperion to school last time, she had happened to visit Lanqi's dorm room once.
It was on that very visit that she had caught Lanqi playing dress-up magic cards with the Poet of Great Love.
"Here, take these two cards. Since you share the Poet of Great Love's stats and attributes, you should be able to use them now too,"
Lanqi said as he produced two purple, translucent magic cards that he had unbound.
Talia looked at the two cards Lanqi handed her: [Poet of Great Love Polymorph: Human] and [Poet of Great Love Polymorph: Dragon Demon].
[Poet of Great Love Polymorph: Human]
[Category: Spell Card]
[Grade: Purple Rare]
[Tier: 4]
[Effect: Usable only by the Poet of Great Love. Upon activation, transforms race into human and alters attire without changing distinctive facial features. After transformation, drastically increases user's approachable aura. Cooldown: 24 hours.]
[Remarks: In a world without pain, cut off that endless noise. In a gentle cage, let me bring you satisfaction.]
Hesitating slightly, she took out [Poet of Great Love Polymorph: Human] and activated it.
The instant the magic card triggered, her figure transformed into a fresh, ethereal black-haired girl. Her emerald-green eyes shimmered with a lively, clear luster, her long skirt was elegant and light, and on her feet were dainty black leather shoes.
"Doesn't seem half bad,"
Talia murmured to herself.
She stood up and went over to look in the mirror.
Last time, when she saw the dress-up magic Lanqi crafted for the Poet of Great Love, she had felt only revulsion. Now that she could use it herself, she found the card to be quite a decent invention.
"Make more cards like this in the future,"
she said as if granting permission, lifting her skirt slightly and turning around in front of the mirror to check the back.
"Didn't you say skin cards like this were the most useless creations ever?"
Lanqi asked in confusion.
Right now, Talia was acting completely like someone trying on clothes in a department store!
"That's a matter of the meta. Some useless old magic cards can easily become tier zero because of changing times and environments,"
Talia instructed Lanqi with solemn righteousness, not forgetting in the slightest her duty as his magic card mentor.
"So you want to be tier zero too, is that it..."
Lanqi felt she was talking entirely about herself.
"What?"
Talia focused her gaze.
"Nothing."
Lanqi shook his head repeatedly.
Having finished exchanging magic cards, he rose from the sofa and hurried into the workshop.
One side of the dormitory's living room connected to the workshop.
"In that case, tomorrow just transform into human form first, change into this outfit, and come to school with me."
Before long, Lanqi brought out a freshly pressed set of clothes from the workshop's wardrobe and handed it to Talia.
"No problem. I'll go see if it fits."
Talia took the clothes and headed into the workshop.
She was currently right in the mood for trying on new clothes.
...
A long time passed.
Only then did Talia open the door again.
She seemed to have struggled greatly over whether to open it at all.
Her cheeks flushed, she hunched slightly with her knees bent, clutching her skirt tightly downward.
Talia stepped out of the workshop with stiff strides. She wore a tailored black shirt fastened with a tie and bow at the collar, a cream-white jacket adorned with the golden emblem of the Hutton Kingdom and the insignia pattern of the School of Magic Engineering, and a rather short hemline that failed to conceal her snow-white skin.
"Lanqi... could you explain to me why this skirt is so short?"
She forced herself to raise her eyes and glared at Lanqi as she asked.
"Pfft."
Lanqi clamped a hand over his mouth immediately, desperately trying to keep his shoulders from shaking.
He was in absolute agony, feeling like even gritting his teeth wouldn't stop his expression from crumbling.
Even though he had anticipated it...
...he hadn't expected it to be this hilarious in person.
"..."
Black lines covered Talia's forehead. She stared at him in disbelief, murderous intent slowly coalescing in the living room.
She stepped slowly toward Lanqi.
"No, no, no! I warned Lanfu that according to standard regulations it shouldn't be altered into a miniskirt—she took the liberty of modifying it herself!"
Lanqi felt a chill run straight down his spine and shouted his explanation to her.
"..."
Talia's steps halted.
It was indeed the truth.
So it wasn't that Lanqi wanted to see her legs and deliberately had the skirt altered so short.
"Then why are you laughing?"
Talia resumed her advance on Lanqi and pressed, her murderous aura not dissipating in the least.
"It's just... a hard-to-describe cuteness,"
Lanqi argued desperately.
It didn't fool Talia in the slightest!
He scooted frantically across the sofa, trying to put more distance between himself and Talia.
"Cute?"
Talia froze.
Wait, that's not right.
By normal human standards, shouldn't it be "sexy"? Why "cute"?
"Meow."
Even Boss Cat understood what Lanqi meant now.
An eight-hundred-year-old master wearing a miniskirt and showing up in a youthful, glamorous school outfit—"cute" was indeed the proper description.
"Wait—get back here!"
Talia finally figured it out and pointed at Lanqi, shouting.
Because Lanqi had already broken into a desperate sprint.
The two of them circled the coffee table, one chasing and the other fleeing, and Lanqi's dorm room was instantly thrown into chaotic uproar.
"So full of energy,"
Boss Cat said with a sigh, shaking his head from his spot on the floor.
It seemed there would be no peace in this household from now on.
Chapter 648