Fifteen days remained until the Day of Descent.

Luo Wei couldn't find any opportunity to access advanced magic, neither through people nor books.

She couldn't make acquaintances with senior magic apprentices, and even if she managed to meet one, they wouldn't agree to teach her advanced spells if she asked abruptly.

The parchment scrolls in the library never recorded magic spells either, for fear that students with weak magical power might steal advanced spells and end up with their minds fried, becoming drooling idiots.

After all, there was indeed such a case recorded in the library's prohibition rules: a commoner who stole an advanced binding spell to win a competition, ruining his entire life.

Since then, magic books have been kept only in the hands of the school's teachers.

The best method Luo Wei could think of was to steal the magic book from Professor Moses, read it, and then return it.

However, Professor Moses never let go of her book, making it extremely difficult for Luo Wei to achieve her goal.

Luo Wei had also thought about running away, or just hiding in her room on that day, but the notice issued by the academy shattered her delusions.

"On the Day of Descent at 7 a.m., all faculty and students must go to the academy square to receive the annual holy water baptism. Those who evade will be treated as evil beings."

"At 2 p.m. on the Day of Descent, a grand demon-expelling ceremony will be held in the square in front of the Siria Temple. Teachers and students from Siria Magic Academy are welcome to attend and witness the execution."

The first notice was issued by the academy, and students must comply.

The second notice was jointly issued by the Lord of Siria City and the temple, and attendance was optional.

Time was running out, and Luo Wei felt increasingly anxious.

The students around her were enthusiastically discussing where to go on the Day of Descent, as there would be no classes that day. The holy water baptism process was also very simple, taking less than an hour to complete, which meant they essentially had a full day off.

Luo Wei lowered her gaze, hiding the heavy darkness in her eyes, and casually muttered, "Why do we have to go? I wanted to sleep in that day!"

"Ah, many years ago it wasn't necessary. It's mainly because an evil necromancer once infiltrated the academy," said Barton, who had grown up in Siria and knew some of the history of Siria Magic Academy.

"It was about when I was six or seven, so about ten years ago. A senior magic apprentice from the academy suddenly appeared at the demon-expelling ceremony and abducted the death row prisoner from the execution platform."

"Later, after the academy's investigation, they discovered that he was actually a human skin puppet controlled by a necromancer. Who knows what they were trying to do by sneaking into the school!"

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Luo Wei covered her mouth in horror: "Oh my god, was the necromancer caught in the end?"

"Of course he was caught!" Barton said proudly. "Principal Morrison personally took action. The necromancer didn't even make it out of the city before he was destroyed with a single move. His body was even turned to ashes by holy water."

"That's amazing," Winnie's eyes showed admiration, "Principal Morrison is truly a powerful archmage."

"He's a senior archmage," Barton corrected, "I heard that the principal is already working towards the realm of grand archmage."

There are eight levels of mages in total: junior, intermediate, and senior mage; junior, intermediate, and senior archmage; then grand archmage and saint archmage.

For magic apprentices like them, as long as they study diligently, they can become junior mages certified by the Magic Association after graduating from the academy.

Luo Wei felt a sense of helplessness rising in her heart. Every teacher in the academy had at least senior mage level or above. Even if she could learn the transformation spell, could she deceive their eyes?

Whether it would work or not, she had to struggle at least once.

Luo Wei quickly devised three plans for herself, a triple insurance. Surely one of them would work.

First, find a way to distract Professor Moses and steal her magic book.

Second, get a layer of waterproof coating for herself to see if it could protect against holy water.

Third, of the thirty-six stratagems, fleeing is best. Although the divination results said she couldn't escape, what if she could?

As the saying goes, man's will can conquer nature. She was determined to defy fate!

Luo Wei completed the second plan first. Using the excuse of making lemon honey water, she had Bella buy a large bucket of wild honey, from which she extracted two pounds of beeswax.

This beeswax, when melted and applied to the skin surface, could isolate water droplets from the outside. The effect looked very fake, but it didn't matter, she could still apply powder makeup.

Besides beeswax, Luo Wei also boiled a bowl of mutton fat. After removing the odor and rancidity, it solidified into white cream, which also had some waterproof effect when applied to the neck and arms.

The third plan was even simpler to prepare, she just needed to carry all her gold coins with her on that day.

The most important was the first plan. How could she get Professor Moses's magic book?

Barton's words gave her inspiration. She could make a puppet, lure Professor Moses out of her room at night, and then fly through the window to steal the book.

She wasn't a necromancer and couldn't make human skin puppets, so she could only make a simplified mechanical doll.

Luo Wei was an engineering student who had worked part-time as a science teacher in an elementary school extracurricular interest class during her undergraduate years.

She had once taught students to make a handcraft project to help them understand the principle of the phonograph, which was to make the world's earliest recorder - using a needle tip to record sound vibrations, engraving them on a spiral-grooved cylinder covered with tin foil, to record and release sound.

The alchemy classroom had metal tin, and material shops on Academy Street also sold it. Needles and metal cylinders were easy to find too. Making a simple phonograph wasn't difficult.

She just needed to make a spring-driven chassis with gears, put the recorded phonograph in it, dress it up to look like a person, and secretly place it by Professor Moses's window at midnight to make sounds and lure her away.

It didn't need to be dressed up too meticulously, as it would be dark and hard to see clearly anyway. But the puppet's movement speed had to be fast, otherwise Professor Moses would return quickly.

However, sometimes ideals are full, but reality is skinny.

No matter how fast a mechanical device driven by winding springs and turning gears could be, it wouldn't be fast enough, and the power wouldn't last long.

Luo Wei tossed and turned all night, and finally thought of a brilliant idea when she saw birds flying over the treetops in the morning.

She would make a kite, let the kite dangle the puppet past Professor Moses's window, and as soon as she noticed, cut the kite string immediately, letting the kite carry the puppet away.

To give the kite enough power to lift the dummy, Luo Wei diligently studied wind magic runes and weight reduction magic runes, carving them all over every bone of the kite and every inch of the dummy's outer skin.

After finishing all this, two-thirds of her time had been used up.

She needed to reserve enough time to learn the spell, so she had to act quickly.

Professor Moses lived in a detached villa outside the academy. She wasn't married and had no children, preferring solitude, her life monotonous to the extreme.

It was said that she had a lover, but no one had ever seen her appear with him.

Even the heavens were helping her.

The night had a good wind, trees swaying incessantly, the howling wind covering the arrival of the uninvited guest.

Luo Wei sneaked out of school in the dead of night, carrying the props she had made, and flew to the roof of the small villa.

The puppet she made was truly ugly, ugly enough to scare even herself.

It was a pity, if only the academy had given her a little more time to learn more magic runes and spells, she wouldn't have wasted ten days making such a shoddy thing.

Taking advantage of the strong wind to release the kite, Luo Wei held two thin lines to lower the puppet to the window of Professor Moses's bedroom, then cut one of the lines.

In the dark night, the puppet knocked on the wooden window, emitting a hoarse and strange tone: "Professor Moses krrr krrr I've come to find you krrr krrr krrr..."

To be continued