A pronounced 'donk!' resounded around the empty training hall.

"Urrgh! My brain feels like it's fallen into the Elemental Plane of Magma." Gwen slumped against the table.

In front of her, spread across the entire two-meter pane, sat a chaotic spread of pamphlets, a dozen course guides, and an old Vid-Cast projector with a collection of Capture Crystals on the history of the Universities in Shanghai.

Her frontal lobe throbbed. Maybe it was her over sensitive Divination senses, but every time she tried to map out her next three to four years, she felt a tingling chill shooting up her spine. A warning sign, sure, Gwen pondered. But there was a reward in risk, right?

After sifting through a dozen combinations of various courses at various Universities, Gwen envisioned herself banging her head against the wall repeatedly.

Whatever her Master's plans had been, the circumstances in China were too different to adhere to her original five-year road map.

In Australia, when senior students completed the High School Course and received their Australian Tertiary Academic Rank, they were typically faced with four to five choices jointly distributed around an aggregate score.

In new Sydney, where Mermen still lurked in the flooded sewers, the percentile band required for entrance into the top universities were for ranked students and those with the connections. Under Henry's tutelage, She had never doubted her place at the table of the elites. For this reason, the concept of course selections had not occurred to Gwen because Henry had known better than herself what course would suit her talent, and there wasn't much for choice in the Frontier.

In a second-tier city, tertiary Spellcraft essentially ran barebones Advanced Spellcraft for Mages interested in Arcane theory and the creation of Signature spells, offering training for Incantations between tier 4 - 7. More militant minded Mages could furthermore partake in the Combat Mage curriculum, a university staple, taken in conjunction with Mandatory Military Service, offering Spellcraft training for Mages seeking permanent employment with the Frontier Military. Outside of the academic courses, there were offshoots, sub-schools, specialisations in Schools of Magic, but in so far as coursework was concerned, that was the gist of it.

Lesser Colleges attached to the Universities catered only for career specialists such as Spellcraft Engineering, a course for Abjurers and Transmuters seeking to enter the construction, civil architecture and Shielding development. Likewise, "apprenticeships" offers those with talent the instruction to create Magic Items. Rarer courses like Mechatronics and Artifice are taken under state-sanctioned Masters.

Finally, a student had to complete "general" coursework as part of the Mage's Spellcraft training. These courses accepted both Mages and NoMs, offering a selection of core skills such as accounting, leadership, appraisal, creature husbandry, agriculture, geography and more frivolous content such as literature, music, and the arts. NoM-related content was taught not by the Universities themselves but by individuals attached to universities such as the Apothecarum in Sydney University.

But— as the wise, Plane-hopping young Dorothy Gale once said to Toto, 'We're not in Kansas anymore.'

The choices that now assailed Gwen was the enviable matter of choosing a University and selecting a course tailored to the nation's "elites". Unlike the highly censored coursework of the Frontier, taught on a need-to-know basis, a first-tier city's Universities provided far more nuance.

Thus far into her mind-boggling research, Gwen only managed to figure out the general scope of what lay ahead.

"First-Year" was a general induction course featuring six mandatory Spellcraft topics and two General study subjects, based upon recommendations made by a senior advisor.

Second-year students were required to pick specialisations in their Schools of Magic and engage in specific fields of study. A Transmuter, for instance, could select Advanced Construction in Material Science. An Evoker could choose Energy Manipulation and Spell Shaping, and an Illusionist would choose Media and Communication or Intermediate Illusions, and so on.

In their third year, students gained the opportunity to study under Magisters or renowned Specialists in their field. Typically, this was when students began to make a name for themselves, take on "apprenticeships", register Signature Spells, compose research papers on arcane lore, discover new species of Magical Creatures or document novel ways to kill and harvest existing ones.

Post Graduate courses were also available to students wishing to stay with the faculty and engage in research, with results judged by the University and the Academic Board, ultimately receiving a stipend for contributions to Advancing Spellcraft. Petra had stated that her Path lay in this direction, wishing to become a scholar of the arcane arts instead of serving in the Military or inundating herself with Tower politics.

Additionally, Gwen finally understood the significance of the title of Meister.

A Meister was a "Magister", but not all Magisters could become a Meister. It was because a Meister was a Mage that had contributed significant advancement to Spellcraft and whose work benefited all of Magedom.

Claude Van Saint, the famous healer who pioneered modern magical medicine, is a Meister. Philo R. Farnsworth, the man responsible for proving that Illusions may exist as a form of media stored in Capture Crystal, is a Meister. As powerful as her Master had been, he was still an administrator, a Combat Mage, and a war hero, but not a Meister.

Sifting through the mountain of materials, Gwen likewise cleared up the misnomers she had acquired while on the Frontier.

Neophytes and Acolytes, which she thought were titles, were the colloquial names for beginner Mages. Meanwhile, the moniker of Mage, or Senior Mage, referred to those with mastery over at least one School of Magic, meaning access to spells over tier 4.

A "Magus" was someone who has gained multiple Schools of Magic through talent or laborious study in Australia. To be called a Magus in public, the Mage must undergo examination within a Tower in the academic world and achieve public recognition.

Finally, a "Magister" was a peer-reviewed, publically sanctioned arcanist. Unlike the moniker of Magus, Magister was a title that comes with the weight of public service and responsibility of upholding the Tower's interest.

For this reason, Mages more interested in academic research or consolidation of arcane might prefer to forgo the title of Magister or Meister to live free from the accountability conferred by the recognition. Many Mages from the old Clans chose this Path of subtlety, with few achieving enough cognisance to choose public service.

As for Gwen's preference of Universities, there was the choice of Jian Tong, Fudan, Shanghai U, Dong Hua, and the militant-minded Shanghai Maritime.

Of the "Great Four", Jian Tong and Fudan were the most academically inclined.

"The Mid-Term intake is in early May, which is three weeks away," her babulya informed Gwen and Richard after the family gathered for morning tea. "Both of you have commendations from Magus Shultz, courtesy of the Pudong Tower, so making the shortlist shouldn't be an issue. May I assume you will be joining Fudan? I mean, there are only two C9 Universities in Shanghai, and Fudan is the superior one considering that you are both Expats. Jian Tong may be the more prestigious of the two, but only if you intend to work with the PLA."

"So, Fudan," Gwen masticated the name thoughtfully. "Petra is there, right?"

"She is." Babulya nodded. "It is also my old college."

"But Jian Tong offers two teams for the International University Competition, and Fudan only has one," Gwen voiced her dilemma.

To carry out what she and Gunther had planned, Gwen, and preferably Richard, absolutely needed to qualify for the University team by Second Year. The Competition took place in the second semester and could take up to four months, from August to December.

Thinking of their final objective, Gwen felt an inkling as to why her babulya was pushing for Fudan so forcibly. Assuming Gunther had already told her of their aim, her babulya likely felt that if Gwen and Richard were to "inevitably" distinguish themselves, they might as well do so under the auspice of her alumni. That way, her grandmother could benefit her network and look over the children's shoulders, killing two Rocs with one Catapult. When framed as such, babulya's desire made sense, for a University's networks are fundamentally why elite institutions existed. Like her peers, Klavdiya maintained a web of 'Guanxi', extensively nurtured over four decades, and it was precisely one of these favours that had overruled her husband in keeping Gwen illicitly within the holding — thus allowing Jun free passage to retrieve her granddaughter.

"How about you, Richard? What do you want to do?" Klavdiya turned to Richard, seeing that Gwen remained undecided.

"Whatever she wants," Richard spoke without hesitation. "That or something complementary, but we need to be in the same university, if possible. That includes the General Courses as well, I suppose."

"How many General Courses do we have to take?" Gwen asked.

"Two per year, and you can choose to do higher ones if you pass the prerequisites."

"I see." Gwen considered the exponential volume of options opening up before her, looking to the older Richard. "Are the General Courses worthwhile?"

"Don't look down on the non-magical courses Gwen, it may sound strange, but it is the General Courses that make the C9 Universities so valuable." It was her babulya who answered her.

"How so?"

"How else are you going to learn about Civics, Oratory, Arts, History and Politics?" Her babulya laughed. "You can inherit talent, you can hoard arcane secrets, you can hunt down rare ingredients, but if you want to have your Tower, then you'd better take some Leadership and Governance courses! You can't even trade CCs for such knowledge, even if your instructors are Non-Magical citizens."

"I see." Gwen understood her grandmother's point. It was inevitable that those Mage who graduated from an elite university would one day become the ruling tier of the city.

"It's true," Richard went on to explain that to qualify for the possession of a demesne in the Frontier, one must complete a post-graduate course in good governance. Having NoM instructors at the university further offered students who had grown up around Mages to gain the perspective necessary to recognise life skills outside of Spellcraft.

"Are there courses for Economics?" Gwen asked out of curiosity. She already possessed a Master's degree in International Business and an MBA to boot. Maybe it was finally time she could tap into the privilege of prior knowledge?

"Of course!" Richard laughed. "Accounting, Appraisal, Corporate Law."

"What about Finance?"

"Sure, it's somewhere in there."

"Management?"

"Naturally," Richard pointed to one of the course booklets Gwen had flipped through. "Thinking of starting your demesne already, are you?"

"Babulya." Gwen turned to her grandmother. "What do I do to become an MBA?"

"It's called A-B-M, dear," babulya corrected her kindly. "It's a particularly challenging selection of Subjects and typically reserved for the best and the brightest. If you're interested, I can probably put a line through to the Faculty head of the department."

Excellent! Gwen speculated upon the prospect of enrolling in a course for Administration of Business and Management. She could probably ace it with distinction without breaking a sweat, so long as she could translate her knowledge over to this world.

"How difficult is it?" Gwen caught the tail end of babulya's affecting speech. The ABM course was probably challenging because students in this world had little contact with finance, economics, and corporations' management.

"Very." Her babulya's kind face regarded her protege profoundly. "If you wish to match your legendary brother-in-craft, or even the self-taught Ms De Botton, specialising in Aerial Combat is a foregone conclusion!"

"A—aerial combat?" Gwen stammered, realising that there must have been a missing link in their game of Chinese whispers.

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"Aerial Battle Mage," Richard added helpfully. "It's the most promising tier of proficiency the Arcana Curriculum. The booklet says that the course is joint-taught by instructors from the Tower, the PLA. The coursework comes with everything, dogfighting, passive incantation, mana conservation, spatial training. I think we ought to take it! Good choice, Gwen."

"…" These crazy battle Mages! Gwen bit her lower lip awkwardly. "Of course, I wouldn't dream of skipping it."

Now with the misunderstanding clarified, Gwen persisted in her suit.

"Is there a course for Business Marketing and Consultancy?"

Richard and Klavdiya meet one another's eyes. Why such interest in the General Course?

"Gwen, is this one of your 'NoM and Mages are of equal dignity' tangents?" Richard wrongly realised where Gwen was heading with her enquiry. "I know you're unusually sympathetic to them, but let's not get sidetracked from your Spellcraft education."

"Business is for the NoMs, Gwen." Babulya's face took on a slight worry as well. "As well as this 'Finance'. A Magister can level towns and raise mountains. A Magi can reduce entire civilisations to ash. What good could be served by hoarding Crystals and currency? Magical currency should be immediately converted to power to enhance one's mettle. Once you become a sanctioned Magus, earthly wealth becomes trivial. I mean, have you ever heard of an impoverished Magus or Magister?"

"Doesn't more capital mean I can purchase more items for training?" Gwen herself was a woman of two thousand HDMs, after all, though she would be happier if that number could grow by a few digits. "Making a high turnover is not unthinkable. We can invest in a product, improve its packaging, cut baseline costs by streamlining its production stream, and profit from targeted redistribution."

Richard laughed out loud. "If you have time for that, you may as well foray into the Wildlands, train, or learn new spells!"

"Well, I am sorry for wanting a steady fount of resources." Gwen's voice took an apprehensive tone. What was wrong with a little golden-fingered commerce? Wouldn't it be nice if she had a full complement of Magical Items? Or unlimited Crystals with which to purchase property and skills? Were her old skills that untranslatable? Hell, she could organise an Alchemist's alliance, reduce costs through volume and scale. Then, she could repackage and brand 'Ye Old Healing Injector' into a selfsame 'Restoration Elixir Plus', distribute it for sale after getting accredited 'branding' from the Tower.

In time, they could get a spokesperson, a famous Magister or Meister, and have them 'promote' the product in return for favours or resources. There were a dozen ways Gwen could bullpen the market in a world as blind to commerce as the Mage-world.

"Richard's right," Klavdiya disapproved of her money-making scheme. "Gwen, if you wish to progress down the Path of Spellcraft, you require resource and instruction. Resource, however much of it you possess, is a limited affair. Think of all the Clans and their treasure vaults filled with Crystals and items. Barring Mythic level artefacts, do you think having access to a rare diet and austere facilities made a significant difference when you and Richard stripped them of their Crystals and CCs in the Dungeon?"

"I guess not," Gwen confessed.

"Crystals, items, wealth- these things are material, and therefore they become immaterial," babulya intoned with sagacity. "In the end, your greatest investment is yourself. For a Mage, there is only one finite resource."

Gwen hazarded a guess.

"Life?"

"Time!" Klavdiya spoke with intensity. "Your youth can't be wasted making HDMs!"

"I see." Gwen surveyed the small hill of potential courses, each containing invaluable knowledge. How grand would it be if she could acquire the lion's share of arcane lore contained therein? How limitless and daunting would her potential then be? But there was no mitigating counter to the tyranny of time, whose leaden hands turned without mercy. "I guess, for knowledge, there isn't enough time in the world."

"That's correct," her babulya continued. "First, you have only three years to carry out whatever plan Lord Shultz and yourself have agreed. Assuming you and Richard achieve what you set out to do, you will have an even more limited window of time to mark your place in the world. By then, you will have progressed well past the point of return on the Path of Asura, eternally demanding more power and influence."

"And with every challenge bested, you'll need longer spears to beat up ever bigger tigers," Richard interjected with an NoM proverb. "Sound's rather depressing, doesn't it? We've ridden so far already, Gwe—no point pausing for breath now!"

Gwen noted with a shiver that her family inferred was a Path of no return, a Path of Asura without cessation. What would the end even entail? She would wager the end did not involve a bay view bedroom with floor-to-ceiling windows.

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past," Gwen recited sentimentally. "Sailing toward a blood-dimmed horizon where the sun never sets, we are all stuck on this rickety raft."

While the others looked on, she forced herself to smile, dispelling the sudden feeling of depression she felt for the unending toil ahead. A success today meant only a taller hurdle the next day.

"It's not all doom and gloom." Richard reached out and touched her hand. "Didn't you meet Elvia and Yue along the way? You met me, right? You found Babulya too, ain't she the sweetest lady you have ever met?"

"Why, thank you, Richard." Babulya gave her cousin a heartfelt smile.

"I merely speak the truth, Babulya," Richard replied seriously. "Gwen has not had a cordial relationship with family, and that's putting it mildly. My father, her mother, even Uncle Hai. Gwen has been alone for so long that I have no idea how she does it."

The Gwen that Richard knew hadn't "done it," Gwen felt a pang of guilt in her chest as Richard sought to butter her ego.

"Richard's right, Babulya." Gwen left her seat to walk behind her diminutive grandmother. She reached out with both arms and embraced her from behind, pressing her face against Klavdiya's flaxen hair. "Thank you."

Klavdiya held Gwen's slender arms around her, then kissed Gwen's fingers as they brushed her lips.

"I am happy that you're here." Klavdiya's response warmed her heavy heart.

The two women touchingly held one another, sharing the moment of filial intimacy with a palpable aura of sentimentality.

"So, Fudan?" Klavdiya inquired gingerly, her eyes moving toward Richard's, whose eyes twinkled with complete and utter innocence.

"Fudan," Gwen decided, her voice full of conviction.

"Fudan indeed," her cousin repeated after her, grinning like a shot fox.

[https://i.imgur.com/2b85nMm.png]

In the West, the saying went that where there's an individual with enough will, there's a Path. In the East, the equivalent was where there are people, there was Guanxi, and therefore a "way". For Klavdiya, the well-oiled mechanism of her network moved into motion the moment Gwen had decided upon Fudan.

Within hours, two Applications appeared on the desk of the Dean that very afternoon, together with a commendation from the Pudong Tower for the two Students and a reference from the Director of the PLA Second Army Hospital. A private letter was also attached, which Luo Jiang opened carefully, revealing the impeccable handwriting of a woman to whom he felt great admiration. Years ago, Luo's mother had fallen ill and required a rare, seventh-tier Dragon-Newt Logan to prolong her life. Luo had drawn upon every resource to find the unique ingredient to no avail until an old alumna had heard of his plight and acquired a piece of the fruit from her laboratory. That was Klavdiya Song, and though Luo's mother still passed, her passing was peaceful and happy, not filled with the agony of dementia and disease.

Usually, Luo ignored "backdoor" applications that watered-down Fudan's elite cohort. As the Dean, Luo did have an ethical duty to uphold toward the university in defending its academic authority. If Luo was at the end of his tenure, he might have considered such a thing to gain favour, but he was only a few years into his position and felt no desire for his legacy to end as an ousted, corrupt official.

However, as he owed Klavdiya a favour, the Dean carefully picked up one of the applications against his better instincts. On the cover, the attached photo was a Eurasian youth who looked a little older than the usual applicants, maybe a returnee from Military Service.

"Hmm…"

Luo's eyes scanned the lines.

He raised a brow in delight.

A Praetorian at Prince's?

He sat up in his chair.

Tier 5 Conjurer, tier 1 Abjurer. Nineteen?!

Luo blinked. His eyes moved past the biometrics and turned to the talent section.

T-Tier 8 WATER.

"Wocao!" he exclaimed with a spray of spittle. "Mao's Stars!"

"Sir? Are you alright?" A female face ducked into the doorway. Luo professed to have an 'open-door policy, though no students dared to see the Dean without a prior appointment. "Did you ruin your meditation again?"

"It's nothing, Ellen. How're the reports coming along?"

"I am working on them!" returned the catty voice from the reception, its owner visible by the reflection on the polished floor.

"Alright." Luo turned back to the application. "Keep hammering."

Tier 8? That's impossible. Luo felt that there must have been a typo somewhere.

He kept reading and found solace in the appendix that Richard Huang was contracted to a high-tier Spirit. Red Stars, Luo thought to himself. The luck of this kid. The Dean himself was almost fifty, a Magister, at the top of his game, and even so, he only had a sapient mid-tier Air Sprite. He continued reading the documentation, and when he'd finished, he had to tap the table contemplatively to digest the tingling sensation in his chest.

This application wasn't a favour for him to give. It was a favour granted to Luo! Even with the field of students Fudan currently possessed, someone with such stacked talent was impossible to ignore. He would still have to meet the young man, naturally, then put him through the wringer and see his abilities tested, but already he felt that there was little chance he could be disappointed.

Holding the application, he now felt less antagonistic to this 'favour' he had to grant, and so he glanced over at the second application.

A girl of almost seventeen, uncommonly pretty and of questionable ethnicity.

Luo pursed his lips. The girl might be pleasing to the eye, but there was no making up for talent. His secretary, Ellen, was such an exhibit. The name on the application read 'Gwen Song', not a first name that he recognised anywhere, but the last name was very much intriguing. Was she another member of Klavdiya's House? Luo pondered the last time he'd approved an application for Mrs Song, wife to the MSS Secretary of Confidential Communications, Director of the Second PLA Hospital. That had been the Mineral Enchanter, Petra Kuznetsov, a rare talent from whom Fudan greatly benefited. When he'd last spoke with Magister Wen, she'd informed him that she and her apprentice were already making substantial progress on the use of Spell Cubes and were ready to release an academic paper on the matter in the next six months.

"Alright, let's see what you got." Luo opened the application and scanned the girl's biometrics.

What and where the hell is Blackwattle? Luo found himself thinking. She's from Sydney, Australia? Is she a refugee? His brows knitted in consternation. There was nothing impressionable in her academic transcript at all. Her academic transcript was negligible, non-existent.

Luo thumbed the application, and that was when he realised that the form he was holding was several times thicker than what he had anticipated.

With an ominous feeling in his chest, he turned the cover page.

A blistering array of improbable numbers and statistics assailed his eyes.

"W-WOCAO!" Luo couldn't help but vociferate a burst of unbidden disbelief. His hands shook, his knees knocked. He almost ripped one of the pages from the application form.

"SIR? ARE YOU OKAY?" Ellen's elfin face ducked into the corridor again. "Did you get tea onto your pants? Or spill the ink bottle again? Should I get the cleaner to Pristigitate your pants?"

"I AM FINE!" Luo walked to the door and slammed it shut.

He returned to his table and held the application like a man who'd inadvertently found a Dungeon Core in the middle of a salt marsh.

Lightning at tier 4?

Elemental Void at tier 4?

VOID MAGIC! Luo wanted to leap from the table and perform a little jig. Seeing that Ellen wasn't watching, he did precisely that.

A Neophyte gifted with Void talent in the wild! Luo could barely contain himself. As the Dean of a C9 University, he had to fight for talent with the other universities. Despite existing as one of the top academic existences in China, Fudan regularly lost some of the best and the brightest to Jingyen, Beijing University, and even Jian Tong here in Shanghai. Those were the Big Three, the CCP sponsored academies with deep roots in the PLA, the dynastic Houses, and the venerable Clans.

When a uniquely talented individual appeared in the wild, the university scouts would be following them for years, offering incentives, help, and even tuition just so that the student would choose to join their institution.

But who's laughing now! Luo rejoiced. Fudan would be the first to produce a Void Magus! MAO! Just thinking about the prospect of such a thing sent his spine to tingling.

When was the last time there was a Void Mage of note? Elizabeth Sobel? She was a Commonwealth Battle-Magus, one who had met a sticky end, consumed by her talent, or so they say. But unlike the 70s, the theory-craft of the Elements, the Sigils and the Planes, had advanced leaps and bounds. They knew at least what the Void was now, how to counter its effects, anticipate, and how it affected the caster. This Gwen Song would be in good hands. He could place her with Magister Wen, or perhaps Magister Gongsun; hell, why not both? They would jump at the chance to see Void in action.

Then there was Lightning as well! What a bargain!

When he finally caught himself, Luo realised that he'd become so enamoured with the idea of the university coming to training a Void Mage that he'd neglected a crucial fact: this Gwen Song possessed TWIN elements and oppositional ones at that.

Where did Klavdiya dig up her granddaughter? Luo couldn't help but feel awed all over again. What the hell did they feed her in Australia?

Included with the Spellcraft statistics was another supplement that explained the rationale behind Gwen's twin elements, along with a request for secrecy. Luo finished reading the beautifully scripted handwriting and had to agree; if someone knew that one could potentially create Mages with two elements by impregnating the host with twins and then inducing one twin to consume the other—the outcome would be monstrous.

Luo shuddered. With a simple chant, the attached note turned to cinders.

Luo was more than happy to leave the shouldering of this secret to Klavdiya. It was best for all that Gwen Song remained a freakish product of the strange arithmetic of chance.

He continued to read.

Conjuration appeared to be the mainstay of the girl's ability, but the girl had terribly few Spells to note, barely a dozen.

Beneath the data on Gwen's Conjuration was a description and image of her Familiars. TWO familiars, Luo noted. The first was an ordinary beast, a run of the mill Lightning marten. The other was an indescribable thing that consumed the living to nourish its host, a shapeshifter.

Luo lowered the application and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had very quickly developed resistance against the string of surprises.

He read on.

"WO-WOCAO!" Luo slammed the table and swore out loud.

"Sir? Are you alright?" Ellen's voice peeped from behind the oaken door.

Evocation at tier 3?

Transmutation at tier 1?

Abjuration?

D-Divination?

What manner of destiny manifest had Klavdiya pushed onto him? Could he even bear the burden of carrying Gwen's monstrous existence to term? What if the junior Song became less of a power they created and more like a force they unleashed?

Though worried, Luo reminded himself that he was an educator. He was the Dean of Fudan! If there was one motto that was universal to all the Arcane Universities of the world, it was that they dreamt of bringing forth a Caster who could change the status quo, break the stalemate, expand the domain of Man beyond their meagre enclaves.

"Ellen, come here," he called for his secretary.,

There was no reply.

"ELLEN! COME HERE!" he shouted at the door.

The oaken door opened, and Ellen stalked through the threshold on stiletto heels, tightly wrapped in a white blouse and grey pencil skirt.

"Yes, Jiang?" Ellen tiled her china doll face, her expression uncanny and blithe. "You called?"

"Send these two Applications down to the Registrar and tell Han to put them in with the Mid-Semester Scholarships."

"Sir?"

Luo incanted a short glyph over the manila envelope, sealing it so that the intended recipient could only read the letter.

"Take this to him personally, and tell him to shortlist these applicants. Go. Do it now. Don't let anyone see you."

"Yes, Master." Ellen took the envelope and held it close to her chest. In the next second, she became as indistinct as air, transforming into a wisp of wind.

Luo walked back to his desk, his heart still pounding as he felt the weight of the application, amazed that a dozen sheets of paper could weigh as much as the world.