Even with a medium Storage Ring, Gwen couldn't fit everything she owned.

Babulya had told them that they needn't pack so hastily, but Gwen felt scant desire to meet Percy and Guo in the morning and put on a charade of congeniality. She then proposed finding a motel for a short-term stay while they shopped for lodging—until Mina's passion persuaded her to take up one of her dad's vacant apartments.

"Mina, I think it's too much," Gwen replied out of politeness. It wasn't as though they would be homeless. She had enough HDMs to last herself and Richard for half a year, assuming no unforeseen expenses, and she had always hated the idea of charity.

"I don't mind taking you up on it," Richard answered in her stead, as straightforward as ever. "BUT you need to charge us the going rate. We're not broke, at least not yet. It'll make Gwen's pride easier to swallow."

Mina chortled as her cousin's complexion took on a pink glow.

Babulya tried again to convince Gwen and Richard to stay for a week longer, but Gwen politely refused, soothing Klavdiya by kissing her forehead.

"It's alright, Babulya. I am feeling fine. Moving out is something that has to be done. Rest assured, this changes nothing between us."

With the matter thus resolved, Tao called for housekeeping to clean the place while Gwen and Richard packed with the help of Mina and Tao's Storage Rings.

At the threshold of the Song estate, her grandmother once again grew worried.

"Gwen, promise me you'll come back," she pleaded with her. "Your Grandfather is a stubborn old mule, but he'll come around one day."

"I'll keep that in mind," Gwen replied enigmatically. "Don't forget, Babulya, we still have our shopping date, and I'll come and see you for checkups. We'll be spending time together again, but for now, I need some space."

"Dear, I am sorry for what happened." Her babulya shook her head.

"Take care of yourself, Gwen." Jun shook her hand, then shook Richard's. "Take care of her, Richard."

"I will," Richard answered affirmatively.

"Another one for the road?" Her father appeared intoxicated with the father-daughterly rapport he'd built on presumption. Gwen suspected it was because they were both giving Guo the finger.

"I suppose another one couldn't hurt." Gwen indulged herself again, finding the intimacy strange and unusual.

"I'll be around. Call if you need help." Her father gave her a wink.

Jun looked on with such envy that Gwen couldn't help but indulge her uncle as well, though his bushy beard stabbed her lips painfully and irritated her cheeks terribly.

"Heres my Glyph." Her uncle passed over a note.

Gwen embraced her uncle a little tighter, wondering if her life would have been different if Jun was her father.

As soon as they were inside the car, Mina stepped on the pedal—then suddenly, they were out of the Song's home and into Shanghai's fantastic mirage of lights.

[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]

Klavdiya, Jun and Morye watched as the dark vehicle pulled away from the compound.

Klavdiya sighed.

"They'll be fine, Mama." Morye habitually patted his pockets for a cigarette, then sighed with as much disappointment as his mother.

"I concur." Jun patted his brother's shoulders. "You got one heck of a daughter, Brother."

"Well, I did raise her myself," Morye boasted proudly.

Klavdiya turned to Morye with her amber eyes glowing with criticism. "Did you really, Hai?"

Hai swallowed his following words.

"So, no send-off from Percy, huh?" Jun remarked with a frown. "Not very brotherly, considering what Gwen gave up."

"That boy takes after his mother." Hai snickered.

"Is that all you have to say?" Their mother's tone was not happy.

Hai breathed out another long, drawn-out breath. "I suppose I am responsible as well. I was negligent in teaching him. Sorry, Ma."

The three of them stood listening to the sound of frog-song lifting from the rock garden just outside the compound.

"Hai," Jun asked at last. "You told Gwen to call you."

"Yeah."

"You don't have a Message Glyph. You don't even have a Message device right now."

Hai shrugged. "So?"

Klavdiya pinched her brows. "I am tired," their mother spoke into the night. "Good night, boys."

"Goodnight." Hai bowed slightly.

"Goodnight, mother. I'll be going back to the barracks." Jun shook his head at his brother, then comforted his mother by patting her arm.

The trio took one last look at the vehicle screeching past the main boulevard, paused in case anyone else wanted the last word, then went their separate ways into the flickering darkness.

[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]

"You sure you're alright?" Mina held Gwen's cold hands as the car cruised down the Second Orbital Ring Road. "Your fingers are like icicles."

"I am holding up," Gwen replied, one of her hands unconsciously moving toward her chest. "All the adrenaline is draining out of me, that's all."

"The Kirin Amulet…" Richard observed Gwen repeatedly feeling the space between her breasts. "You never did clarify what it did."

"It's a little hard to explain, but you've all seen it in action, so I'll try my best." Gwen anecdotally informed her companions of what she could discern, listing each instance in which the Kirin Amulet acted on her behalf. "...So the most important thing is that during the Mermen Crisis in Sydney, it drew power from a Mythic serpent's egg, then fended off a Faceless shapeshifter by releasing the serpent's essence."

"You're gonna have to tell us about that sometime," Mina remarked. "Mermen? Shapeshifters? Mythic beasts? Your life sounds like someone wrote a Vid-cast episode. Are you sure you're the same age as we are?"

"Who knows, what if I told you I was a wise old Changeling?"

"Ha!" Mina chortled. "As if!"

Gwen smiled weakly at her cousin. Telling the story of her time in Sydney had felt hard and unpleasant. To think that she once had a Geas planted in her by Henry that prevented her from speaking to anyone about Almudj, and now that restraint was gone. Invariably, she grew aware of a masochistic desire to feel the old Geas restraining her Astral Soul. Such an agony would act as proof that her Master was alive, that if she recounted of Almudj, her rare and kind mentor would at once know of her disloyalty.

But whatever her wishes, her Master was gone now, murdered barely a month ago.

A month? Gwen trembled at the thought. Had it only been a month? She suddenly felt at a loss, for losing the pendant was nothing when compared to the loss of her Master.

"Gwen," Petra spoke beside her. "Now that you don't have this amulet, I think my Master should give you a proper checkup. From the time we were together in Hengsha, I'd say it did more than absorb Essences from dead monsters. You might not think so, Gwen, but I think you're going to regret letting that thing go."

"I know, but it's just a thing, in the end." Gwen defended her decision.

"Gwen doesn't need it," Richard said besides the girls. "It was a ball and chain as much as it was useful. On the Frontier, we don't get to see many Magic Items, so we've learned not to rely on them overmuch. Most of us go into battle with a bandoleer of potions, that's it."

"Now that's God's Truth," Gwen castigated her humble origins. "We don't get no Magic Items out there in the Outback. Just Roos and Emus, and Aurochs. So many Aurochs. Which we wrangle with our bare hands."

"You joke, I hope." Petra wrapped an arm around Gwen's shoulders. "My only concern is that you continued to hit the coursework. Whatever the heck the amulet did for you, you can do better for yourself. I mean to make a Mage out of you, and I mean it!"

"Thanks, Pats." Gwen leaned on her cousin's broad shoulders. "You're worth ten Kirin amulets."

Her cousin turned away with a smile, her face made rosy by Gwen's earnest affection.

"Huuuuuu—ghnnnn—" A loud snore from the rear-most seat of the seven-seater SUV interrupted the conversation. Tao, as expected, was a man with a talent for disruption like no other.

Some thirty minutes later and closer to midnight, Mina's car arrived at a set of serviced apartments some fifteen minutes walk from the Bund.

Gwen sucked in the chilling night air as they exited the SUV. A vacant apartment?! She grimaced. Mina's gesture of charity turned out to be a two-bedder suite at the Shanghai-Bund Waldorf overlooking the Bund and the Huangpu River.

Within, the NoM servants had already refilled the toiletries and changed the sheets before the young Mages arrived. According to Mina, there was also a 24-hour kitchen, anytime room service, a masseuse, and laundry services, all prepaid by the strata.

"We'll start looking for a place tomorrow," Gwen informed them immediately, feeling her crystals becoming lighter with the passing of each moment.

"My recommendation is to stay on campus," Petra advised sagely, her eyes scanning the ultra-luxury interior. "Assuming there are vacancies, LCSS students should have no issues getting approval. Of course, the admin's slow as molasses, and you might have to be enrolled first, but I am sure they'll make an exception for scholarship recipients."

"Thanks, Pats. I'll swing by first thing in the morning."

"Why? You're always welcome to stay here," Mina reminded Gwen of her generosity. "It's a little far, I know, but it's cheap and clean."

Cheap doesn't begin to cover half of whatever this is; Gwen smiled with a grimace as she suppressed an urge to shout.

"It's okay, I'll need to see Pats almost daily, and I'd like to try out the campus life." Gwen met her cousin's imploring eyes with tenderness. She felt a little dirty for euphemistically omitting the fact that there was no way she and Richard could afford a place like this long-term. "Thanks, Mina, I appreciate your offer, and I won't forget your kindness."

Stolen novel; please report.

"Don't mention it." Mina appeared well-pleased with her boundless generosity.

"Yeah, it's our Dad's anyway, he said to—Ow!" Tao hissed at his sister.

"Peaches, shut up." Mina withdrew her pincer-like fingers.

Gwen maintained a sweet mien and said nothing.

"Yo! You guys wanna have some Xiao-ye?" Tao spoke up suddenly. "There's five of us, and we're five minutes walk from Huahai Road, perfect for some Hot-pot!"

"Hot-pot?" Gwen's ears perked up. She had heard of the famous steamboat dish before and seen her colleagues enjoy it in Sydney, though she had never personally participated.

"Ya! Bitch'n peppers that melt your asshole! Order the red soup, then dunk in some prime cuts of lamb and auroch, Wildland vegetables and mushrooms; it's the SHIT dawg!"

"I am game." Petra's anticipation suggested she was an old hand at the spice game.

"Count me in. I love spicy food," Richard added. "I've had it a few times in Australia as well, though I doubt it was authentic."

"Great, I'll take morning class off tomorrow." Mina twirled her hair. "Gwen?"

Gwen pictured a mountain of ingredients sitting next to a famously steaming pot, eaten at two AM.

"Alright!" her stomach growled. "Let's do it!"

[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]

"I KANT FEEL MY MOUTH."

Gwen moaned as she sipped her warm beer.

"MY TUNG ISH NUMB."

Initially, the reddish, peppery soup had been savoury and zesty. Then, an hour into the meal, the soup became lava, teaching her that what her Asian companions considered a medium level of spice was for her, suicide by Fireball.

As she lay in a food daze, she was shocked to realise that the clock was ticking toward four AM. Yet, she didn't feel sleepy at all. Was it the overstimulating spice? Gwen wondered, or the boisterous company?

Tao was on his sixth beer but remained entirely lucid, loudly speaking as he recounted stories with his gang of wannabe Rappers.

Mina appeared demure and petite, her coiled hair framing her small face as she sat primly, her slim thighs tucked across the low stool, a princess eating at a street eatery.

Richard was a carnivore through and through, seemingly unaffected by the river of the molten pepper oil. He clinked beers with Tao often, surprising Gwen with his ability to make fast friends.

The boss, a hard-boiled veteran waging war against health inspectors, was so impressed with the young Mages that he couldn't help but provide supply them with an endless train of beer.

Eventually, Gwen grew drunk enough on beery emotions to speak of her life in Australia, her high school, and her meeting with Alesia, with Henry and Gunther.

"Wow, Henry Kilroy…" Mina made a face. "I've read that name in one of my textbooks. To think he was still around."

"And Elizabeth Sobel… that bitch is COLD, dawg." Tao was enthralled when Gwen regaled the events at Rosebay, redacting her narrative where necessary.

"I want to meet this Elvia of yours," Mina noted after Gwen's story concluded. "I think we would get along."

"I wanna meet dis Yue—" Tao was fascinated by Gwen's mention of Yue's unparalleled bust.

"And that Debora—what a poor girl." Mina chewed absent-mindedly on some noodles. "Can't believe she was skin-changed for so long, and no one noticed."

"We have Skin-Changers as well." Petra gave her two Rubles. "Naturally, magical impersonation is illegal. The maximum penalty for identity theft under the PLA is summary execution or permanent stasis."

"They do summary executions here?" Gwen reached for another beer, though Richard passed her a glass of water instead.

"Oh yes, there's Vid-Casts even." Her cousin shrugged.

Gwen acknowledged the fact, a little too drunk to comment even as she shivered at the prospect of dying for a non-violent crime.

"Anyway, now you know my story—and why I need this Scholarship, as well as the Inter-University Competition." Gwen sipped her warm water. The chilli was SO GOOD, but it was SO SPICY. Her guts felt Vulcan had opened a Dwarven forge in her intestines.

"Well—" Petra wrapped another piece of lamb around her chopsticks expertly, swishing it back and forth in the hellish soup of floating garlic and Sichuan peppers. "—It's a good plan, I think It'll work, but you've got quite a bit of balancing to do."

"I can b a good juggler," Gwen replied.

"If you want the Pudong Tower to recognise you, getting your Magus' accreditation is essential," Mina informed her helpfully. "That and participate in Tower Quests from Fudan T2. Once you're recognised by one of the Towers, the title is valid the world over."

"I can confirm that," Petra agreed. "My Master, Magister Wen, worked for a while for Pudong too, though she's well-received in the PLA Tower as well."

"Speaking of work, I'll be doing some part-time work over the next few weeks. At least until university starts," Richard suddenly informed them, turning toward Gwen. "I was going to tell you earlier. But you know, stuff happened, we got kicked out and became vagrants."

"What kind of work?" Mina asked curiously.

"Light Utility-stuff, mostly construction and guard duty. It's close, just up the Yangtze. Babulya set me up with a few of her old colleagues who needed a good Water Mage."

"Pays well?" Gwen asked.

"Well enough." Richard grinned. "Enough to keep myself lodged and fed, with spare left over for training."

"Alright." Gwen didn't pursue the matter. Richard had his pride as well. It wasn't as though he was going to mooch off her the entire time they studied together. "Congrats on getting a job."

"Cheers." Richard raised a beer. "I'll leave finding our new home to you. If you can afford it, so can I."

Tao met Richard halfway and swigged his sixth stout, after which the group continued to talk until Mina accidentally fell asleep on Richard's shoulder, triggering a round of laughter from her extended family.

"We better pack it up." Richard finished off the last of his bottle. Tao agreed heartily and slammed his seventh.

Petra Messaged for a cab then told Gwen to come to the Lab after 2 PM. Together, they would go and see the Campus Administration, get their student card pre-registered, and see if the university is willing to fast-track her dorm application.

Half an hour later, Gwen melted under the luxurious multi-headed shower system back at the borrowed apartment before retiring to the temporary luxury of silken sheets. Pushing herself against the window, she hugged a pillow closer to her chest as she sat city-gazing near the panoramic windowsill, her legs pale against the colourful panes and their prism of light. Her hair rested damply across her shoulders, slowly drying as the cool, conditioned air chilled her exposed shoulder. Below, the shimmering mirage of the Bund beckoned, promising a future fraught only with uncertainty.

[https://i.imgur.com/hg5cY37.png]

Gwen woke around 11 AM.

Her cousin was gone, though Richard had left a note reminding her to wear her Message device. Additionally, he had left her two hard-boiled eggs.

Gwen hefted the eggs in one hand. They felt more like billiard balls in weight and shape, informing her that either these were magical eggs or the hen was the size of a goat.

She cracked one, and a sweet aroma of creamy egg-yolk filled the room. After last night's flaming turmoils, her stomach lining could use some fortifying.

Lacking access to her whole wardrobe, Gwen found an easy-Sunday dress and her favourite sandals, then called it a day.

Today was her first day in Shanghai as a free woman, and she would prefer that it was as uncomplicated as her attire.

Drawing a recalled Glyph on the lock, she locked the apartment after washing the dishes and setting the bed, then ventured toward Fudan via the No. 10 subway.

Now out in the open, she found it easy enough to orientate herself once she was out in the vicinity of suburbs surrounding Fudan. To her right, she could see the enormous superstructure of the PLA Second Army Experimental Hospital just looming on the horizon. To her left, she could see the top of the two mock-Towers atop the Guanghua building peeking over the numberless apartments.

Seeing as it was only noon, Gwen figured she should explore the area and find her bearings. The university district was a modern area, well possessed by manicured greens on well kept median strips, escaping the muddy potholes and choking construction of the older neighbourhoods.

As she passed a block zoned for reconstruction, she marvelled at the transformation of the old Hutongs, buildings that had existed since the Ming Dynasty, into rapidly gentrifying shopping streets.

"Spare some change, Miss?" a voice croaked out just below her field of vision.

Gwen almost jumped at the sight of a tramp who'd suddenly emerged from the darkness between two alleyways marked for demolition.

The man was an NoM, for she would have felt a Mage's approach from their ambient mana. Usually, she would have ignored folk such as these, as she had always done in her old life, but this was her first day out in Shanghai as a woman of means, and she fancied herself in a generous mood.

"I could spare some, sure." Gwen stopped beside the construction site. Above, in red writing, a slogan read something to the effect of, "Peaceful Removal of Old Structure for Safety - Welcome the Birth of Civil District."

The NoM seemed just as surprised as Gwen when she took note of his existence.

"Donation for… the poor?" the old man repeated. He had the look of someone wracking his brain for something intelligible to say but was too shocked that a Mage, a gweilo at that, was speaking to him. "They took my home."

A few feet from her spotless sandals, the NoM looked to be in bad shape. The old battler had bruises on his face, and he sat, half crouching, on what looked like a dolly, like the ones used for furniture removal.

Gwen materialised a few LDMs, as well as the comically large egg she had saved from breakfast.

"Here, Sir," she said kindly, kneeling to give the man her offer of charity. The hobo's eyes widened when he realised that she was giving him not mundane currency but mana crystals.

"This is too much," the hobo croaked, looking suddenly afraid.

At that moment, Gwen felt the presence of Mages turning the corner.

"Hey! What do are you doing!" a voice barked across the dilapidated space of the deconstruction zone. Gwen quickly recovered herself. She cursed herself for her random charity, for the tone of the incoming voice sounded far from friendly. Whatever happens, she had better not be late for Petra.

The emerging trio were construction Mages, though Gwen was surprised to find the leader wearing a Naval Officer's cap embossed with Shanghai's skyline. The leading officer was short and middle-aged, while his two companions looked like cadets. These, Gwen realised, were the City Guard, more colloquially known as the Chengguan.

Gwen stiffened as they approached.

"Hao! I told you not to return here!" the middle-aged officer howled at the hobo, then stepped between the man and Gwen.

"We're sorry if you were harassed, Miss!" the two young men bowed. "If you would like to make a report on this incident, we are happy to be of service!"

"Oh no, it's quite alright." Gwen put up her hands and back-peddled, confronted by the Chengguan's eagerness to be model guardians of the city's civility.

While two younger men charmed her with diplomacy, the officer continued to admonish the NoM beggar for violating a string of the city's rules Gwen had never heard off before, everything from 'No soliciting money,' to 'No Loitering around Construction Zones.'

"But… here is my home!" The man wailed. "I lived here for thirty years!"

"You HAVE A NEW HOME!" the officer shouted at him, sending a string of spittle flying toward the man like dandruff. "GO HOME, HAO!"

"Was he lying?" Gwen asked out of curiosity. "The man said he was homeless."

"The NoMs 'are' provided new homes, Miss," one of the young men answered her with eyes aglow with earnestness. "The residents here are moved to the more rural areas where the city has built a whole new apartment-city for them."

"Oh, that's nice," Gwen replied, unsure of who to believe.

"Are you a student, Miss?"

"From Fudan, yes."

"How wonderful!"

"Hao! I am warning you. Move it!" the sergeant barked, finally out of patience.

"No! Please. LI! My home is here! We grew up in the same Hutong! You can't just demolish the place! My father and his father lived here! Your Grandmother too!"

"Yuu! Lee! With me!" Officer Li sighed. "Get this eyesore out of the way."

The two officers apologised profusely to Gwen and requested that she leave the premises.

Gwen complied and walked some distance away before she heard the sound of painful grunting and the noise of something scribbling and struggling, pressed against the pavement.

"Miss!" a voice called out behind her.

Gwen turned to see one of the cadets running toward her. The young Chengguan bowed again before opening his hands, revealing four LDM crystal chips.

"These are yours, I believe." The young man met Gwen's eyes expectantly. "Once again, allow me to apologise for the harassment you had to endure."

With a sinking feeling, Gwen took the LDMs and thanked the young officer.

The young man saluted before turning and running back to assist what Gwen could only assume was the forced removal of the beggar from his old home.

Still feeling the sting, she hefted the weight of the LDMs in her hand for a moment before stowing them away in her Storage Ring. It took her another block before her mind wandered back toward Petra's appointment, motivating her to hasted her pace.

Nearer the middle of University Road, the already furnished glass and concrete apartments began. Above her, multi-storey apartments loomed over the sycamore trees lining the boulevard, while all around her, a riot of students and staff shifted through the innumerable choices available for lunch.

At lunch, University Boulevard was packed to the rafters with diners. Even casually, Gwen noticed a French bakery, a Texan smokehouse, a Japanese sushi train, all geographically aligned with infinite Chinese restaurants with just as many milk-tea outlets. Tempted by the delicate scent of butter and eggs, Gwen ended up wasting another ten or so minutes purchasing two boxes of Lembas before she had to run for the Administration building, hoping that Petra liked her shortcakes.