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Herschel's jaw tightened. "A flying magical tool that only a Mystical Smith Master can make — how would you know anything about that?"
"Because I've ridden in one," Luo Wei answered with a soft laugh. "Many years ago, a Mystical Smith Master in our Misty Plains invented the airplane. That's how I crossed the ocean to the Western Plains — I flew."
Herschel furrowed her brow, turning the words over in her mind.
After a moment, she couldn't find a reason for Luo Wei to lie. At the Holy Knight's banquet, Luo Wei had already let slip that she'd been forced to wander to the Western Plains under certain circumstances, and that she had to complete a trial her family had set before she could return and claim her inheritance. In front of a Holy Knight, lying wasn't an option.
So was Luo Wei genuinely just trying to tell her that the mechanical bird was poorly made, and offering her the method to craft an "airplane" out of goodwill?
No. There was no such thing as a free lunch.
Herschel turned it over from every angle until she arrived at the most likely answer , the real motive behind this conversation.
The trial from her family was probably exactly that: find your own way home.
Yes. That made sense.
Luo Wei had spotted her talent for mystical smithing. She wanted her to build the airplane. A way to get back to the Misty Plains.
Confident she'd seen through the scheme, Herschel spoke quietly. "I'll admit, I'm somewhat interested in this airplane you're describing."
"However." Her gaze settled on Luo Wei. "You also said it takes a Mystical Smith Master to build one. I'm an alchemy apprentice. I think you've come to the wrong person."
"No one starts out as a Mystical Smith Master," Luo Wei said gently. "Senior, your talent gives me hope of getting home. What I said before wasn't a threat — I only want to earn your friendship ahead of time."
"Perhaps we could call it a mutual partnership."
Herschel frowned. "Mutual partnership?"
"Exactly." Luo Wei's voice was earnest. "You love mystical smithing. I want to go home. I give you the formulas and the ideas. You help me craft the flying tool I need. We both get what we want."
"It sounds good," Herschel said. "But betting on an alchemy apprentice to become a Mystical Smith Master , that's a little naive, don't you think?"
A Mystical Smith Master was a magical profession on the same tier as a Grand Archmage. An alchemy apprentice who passed the graduation assessment became an Alchemist. A talented Alchemist needed at least several decades of dedicated study to reach the rank of Mystical Smith. And a Mystical Smith wanting to become a Mystical Smith Master?
Dreaming about it was faster.
The Western Plains hadn't produced a Mystical Smith Master in over a thousand years.
For a sense of how difficult that ascent truly was, consider Headmaster Morrison of Siria Magic Academy. He'd been attempting to break through to the Grand Archmage realm for twenty years. He was still a high-level Archmage. Still stuck.
If the person universally acknowledged as the fastest-leveling type of mage found it that hard, Alchemists didn't even bear thinking about.
Herschel shook her head. "Forgive my bluntness. I wouldn't even dare to dream that dream myself."
Luo Wei straightened her back. "Only cowards lack the courage to move forward. If you don't believe in yourself, then it doesn't matter how much talent you have for becoming a Mystical Smith Master , you'll bury it yourself."
Her gaze didn't waver. "I've wandered to a foreign land thousands of miles from home. And I have never once believed I've lost my right to the throne."
"I don't doubt I'll become queen. That same certainty is why I believe you'll become a Mystical Smith Master. I'm willing to believe in you, senior. So why would you sell yourself short?"
Herschel's oval pupils shifted. "You really think I'll become a Mystical Smith Master?"
"It's not what I think. It's what I saw."
Luo Wei held her gaze, those deep black eyes sparkling with something like starlight.
"I am a descendant of angels. The blood of gods runs through me. The gods once granted our line a special gift. Do you know what it is?"
Herschel's eyes held confusion. "What?"
"Prophecy." The girl's voice dropped to a murmur, light as a breeze, scattering the moment it left her lips. Darkness blurred her face until only the movement of her mouth was visible. "In a prophecy, I saw you become the greatest Mystical Smith Master the Western Plains has ever known."
The night wind carried those faint words into Herschel's ears. They were barely audible , yet they struck her chest like a hammer blow.
"Prophecy. Me?"
A crack ran through the composure she always wore.
So that's it.
That's why she was so certain.
Herschel's hand curled into a fist. Something surged up through that crack and spread through her whole body, hot and unstoppable.
Even if this was a dream, the dream was enough to shake her to the core.
She studied Luo Wei. The girl standing before her was slight , her face even younger-looking than most of her peers , yet something inside her radiated an almost uncanny force, enough to leave anyone who spoke with her utterly spellbound.
"Alright." Herschel didn't hesitate. "I'll do it. Mutual partnership."
It wasn't a bad deal for her, either. She was carrying a secret that could get her killed. Helping Luo Wei was also helping herself , if the day ever came that she was being hunted across the Western Plains, fleeing to the Misty Plains with Luo Wei would be a perfectly reasonable escape route.
"Good. Mutual partnership." Luo Wei's eyes curved into crescents.
"Mm." A faint smile crossed Herschel's face.
"Hey! You two juniors over there , that's way out of line! Stop hiding there and slacking off!"
An indignant shout rang out across the water.
Luo Wei looked up. Of all people, it was Senior Guinea Pig himself , Sebastian.
"Senior Noël, you've got it all wrong! We are absolutely not slacking!"
In one smooth motion she plunged the dip net into the water, scooped up a load of fallen leaves, and swung it toward his boat.
"See? I've pulled up loads of things!"
Sebastian's face went through several dramatic changes. He lurched backward, yelling, "Hey hey hey, that's not fair! You get caught slacking and your response is to try to suffocate me?!"
"Not at all," Luo Wei said lazily, pulling the net pole back in. "Why don't you come over to our boat, senior? We've got a whole sack full of leaves. Don't believe me? Open it yourself. Or I could scoop some out and show you."
Sebastian shook his head and waved her off. "No thanks. Forget it. I'm going to fish over there."
He poled the boat around and rowed away, grumbling to his companion. "Juniors these days have no charm whatsoever. Aggressive and mean."
"Isn't that the truth," his companion agreed. "Not a shred of sympathy for us poor, lonely senior students. Absolutely no charm."
Herschel watched them go, then turned to Luo Wei. "How exactly did you manage to offend them?"
Luo Wei glanced at the familiar faces scattered across the nearby boats and sighed. "Probably because they snuck over to steal letters of reflection and I caught them."
Herschel went quiet. She'd come very close to being caught herself.
"Thank you," she said after a moment. "For going easy on me."
"Don't mention it. We're friends." Luo Wei's tone was warm.
Herschel felt genuinely relieved. Thank goodness she had a talent for alchemy. Without it, Luo Wei would absolutely have hauled her up onto the stage too.
Getting caught burning down a classroom cost four credits and one day of public service labor. Getting caught burning letters of reflection, on the other hand, cost twenty additional credits on top of that , and five more days of labor. Just like Sebastian and the rest of those seniors out here tonight.
The academy's public service assignments were reliably awful. The only jobs handed to students were the ones hired workers flatly refused to touch.
Wading through this filth-lake for one night had already done enough damage. She had absolutely no intention of coming back for a second round.
More than twenty people worked until well past midnight before the blocked waterway was finally clear.
They watched the murky water crest the dam and rush downstream. Every person on every boat let out a sigh.
"Finally! I can go back to sleep!"
"Let's go, let's go, hurry up and get to shore! I need a bath!"
Everyone eagerly wrenched their poles free from the mud and started rowing for the bank.
Herschel moved to pull her pole out too, but Luo Wei pressed a hand over hers. "Wait, senior. The channel just opened up , the current is still running hard. If you're not careful, the boat will get swept downstream."
The words had barely left her mouth when the screams started.
"Aaah! Mmmph—"
Several small boats had been swept directly onto the dam. They flipped sideways and launched their passengers clean over the edge. The waterfall , thick with what had spent the last several hours being cleared out of the channel , hammered down on the heads bobbing at the surface, driving them back under like a child bouncing a ball.
Herschel and Luo Wei stared at the chaos, looked at each other, and completely failed to hold it together. PFFT,
HAHAHAHA,
Their laughter burst across the lake and carried far into the dark.
➤ Next: She Is No Longer a Threat
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