The upper floor of the restaurant is soft and delicate, bathed in warm pink hues that create a gentle, almost dreamlike atmosphere, where light and colour blend into a quiet elegance.
Pink curtains hang along the large windows, swaying slightly whenever the breeze slips through, while the polished white floor reflects the glow of the pink crystal chandeliers suspended from the ceiling above.
Along the walls, carefully arranged pink flowers bloom in decorative vases, adding fragrance and softness to the space.
Small round tables are placed neatly across the floor, each surrounded by four chairs, leaving enough space for privacy without making the room feel empty.
Two sides of the restaurant open toward the streets below, one overlooking a quieter side street, the other facing the bustling main road, where movement and noise are visible but softened by distance.
Sofia climbs the stairs and steps onto the upper floor.
She pauses briefly, scanning the room, then spots Olivia and Li Xiayi seated by the window, engaged in conversation.
She walks toward them.
Before she reaches the table, she hears Xiayi's voice.
"So, how was your date with Tang Li last night?"
Olivia's face tightens slightly.
A flicker of hesitation crosses her expression as she wonders whether to say what she now knows.
Two days earlier, seated around a bonfire, she had learned something unexpected.
While Wang Hui meditated at a distance, Tiekun mentioned overhearing Tang Li and some students from Li City threatening Wang Hui, using his family as leverage to force him to stay away from Olivia.
That memory lingers in her mind.
It changes everything.
Perhaps Wang Hui did not stop speaking to her because he found no benefit.
Perhaps there was another reason.
Sofia reaches the table and sits down.
She does not bring up Wang Hui.
The lunch passes in ordinary conversation.
Nothing is said.
Nothing is revealed.
When they leave the restaurant, Olivia takes a tram toward the port, while Sofia and Li Xiayi enter Xiayi's car, the driver already waiting.
They sit in the back seat as the car begins moving through the city.
Inside, Sofia finally speaks.
"Wang Hui reached mid-level Wizard Apprentice," she says.
"In our batch, only nine people reached that level in two years. Now it's ten."
Xiayi's eyes widen in surprise.
Sofia then lowers her voice slightly and shares the rumour about Tang Li and his friends threatening Wang Hui.
"Should we tell Olivia?" she asks.
Li Xiayi shakes her head immediately.
"No."
She looks ahead, her expression calm but firm.
"In the academy, only Tang Li can match Olivia. And Tang Li's family can support her future path."
Neither of them knows Olivia's true background.
They do not know she chooses to live in the dorm instead of the royal palace, hiding her identity.
Back at the academy, Olivia walks toward her room.
Along the way, she overhears students discussing Wang Hui's breakthrough.
She shows no reaction outwardly.
Her expression remains calm.
But once she enters her room, a small smile appears.
She sits on her bed.
A crimson-feathered crow flies in through the window and lands nearby, cawing softly.
It begins by relaying information.
Gossip.
Events.
Everything that has happened.
She listens quietly.
She already knows.
Her bloodline allows her to communicate with crows, tracing back to her grandfather.
Through them, she is aware of nearly everything that happens within the academy.
Including Tang Li's threats toward Wang Hui.
She could help him.
Easily.
But doing so would reveal her background.
And she does not want that.
So instead, she chooses another path.
She goes on dates with Tang Li.
Not out of affection.
But as a friend, do not establish any relation with Tang Li.
She does it to provoke Wang Hui.
Otherwise, she wouldn't give people like Tang Li any time of her day.
To push him forward.
His talent is not exceptional, except for his willpower.
If he cares enough, he will push himself.
He will grow stronger.
Perhaps strong enough to surpass Tang Li himself.
She closes her eyes and begins to meditate, gathering mana quietly.
Elsewhere, Wang Hui wakes from his sleep.
He rises and walks into the bathroom.
Looking into the mirror, he notices the scabs on his wounds beginning to fall away, revealing fresh skin beneath.
He dresses, takes his space bag, and heads toward the underground level of the castle.
There, he books a laboratory room and enters.
From his bag, he takes out bottles of blood, Violent Bear, Blood Steel Leopard, and Rage Hyena.
All obtained from his tasks in Rage Forest.
The forest itself is a remnant of failure, a place reshaped when a wizard failed to break through to the third stage, leaving behind a distorted landscape rich in unique resources.
The federation preserves it for that reason.
Inside the lab, Wang Hui begins refining.
Two days pass.
When he finally leaves, dark circles hang under his eyes.
He returns to his room and collapses into sleep.
A day later, he wakes and attends his classes, Advanced Fire Element, and Blood Rune Drawing and Formation.
These are only part of his schedule.
He studies eight subjects in total: Advanced Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth Elements, Tier One Runes, Blood Rune Drawing and Formation, Blood Potion Refining, and Blood Instrument Refining.
Now in the final year, there are no formal tests.
To pass, he must either reach late-level Wizard Apprentice or submit a qualifying magic paper.
If successful, he can remain in the academy.
If not, he must leave.
Wang Hui aims for both.
He wants the rewards.
A private dorm.
A private laboratory.
After classes, he returns to his room.
He removes his clothes, fills the tub with water, and pours in two bottles of body refining potion.
Then he steps inside.
The moment his body touches the water, pain erupts.
The liquid feels as if it is biting into him.
He clenches his teeth.
Activating the Blood Nourishing Formation, he draws the potion-infused water into his body.
It spreads through him.
Refining.
Strengthening.
Nourishing his vitality.
Even after the water clears of the potion, Wang Hui does not climb out of the tub.
He remains still, his body submerged, his breathing steady as he continues to guide the residual energy through his body, unwilling to waste even the smallest trace of what he has absorbed.
This path he walks is not one taught directly by the academy.
It is something he has pieced together himself.
After reading about martial arts in the library, he understood that martial cultivation requires vast resources, but its foundation is simple; anyone with a sound body can begin.
He does not practice martial arts.
Instead, he borrows from it.
He takes inspiration and reshapes it into something suited to his path as a wizard.
From fragmented knowledge of formations, he creates his own,
The Blood Nourishing Formation.
He draws it onto his own body using his blood.
His blood is not ordinary.
It is infused with mana, not fully, not perfectly, but enough to serve as a medium for forming runic structures.
The formation spreads across his skin in faint, hidden patterns, invisible unless activated.
Its function is simple in concept, yet complex in execution.
It nourishes his vitality.
That vitality is then used to refine and strengthen his mana.
His mana, in turn, nourishes his blood.
And as his blood improves, the formation itself becomes stronger.
A cycle forms.
Continuous.
Self-reinforcing.
The formation is not singular.
It contains two additional embedded structures.
Mana Body.
A thin layer of mana that coats his body, enhancing durability and resistance.
And Liberation.
A spell that temporarily unlocks his physical limits.
Both are integrated into the Blood Nourishing Formation, allowing him to activate them without external casting.
His ultimate goal is clear.
To transform his blood into mana blood.
To elevate his body beyond its natural limits.
And through that, to nourish his spirit.
If his body strengthens, his spirit will follow.
And the speed at which he refines his spirit will increase.
This is the path he has chosen.
A path no one has taught him.
A path he builds step by step.
While he continues this routine in silence, news of his advancement spreads through the academy.
Students begin to talk.
A name once ignored begins to circulate again.
Wang Hui.
Mid-level Wizard Apprentice.
The information reaches Tang Li.
And Tang Li feels it immediately.
A threat.
He had never truly considered Wang Hui before.
But now,
Things are different.
He meets Olivia again, asking her out as usual, but nothing changes between them.
She keeps him at a distance.
Always polite.
Always calm.
But never closer.
Never more than a friend.
That distance begins to irritate him.
To unsettle him.
A thought forms in his mind.
If Wang Hui becomes a permanent student of the academy…
Then the threat he once used will lose its power.
Wang Hui will no longer fear him.
And if that happens,
Wang Hui might approach Olivia again.
Might tell her everything.
What he did.
What he threatened.
Tang Li's expression darkens.
He cannot allow that to happen.
He cannot allow Wang Hui to pass the third-year requirement.
With Wang Hui's current speed of cultivation, reaching late-level Wizard Apprentice is not impossible.
And if he succeeds,
Everything changes.
Tang Li clenches his jaw.
He dismisses the possibility of Wang Hui submitting a research paper.
Even he himself cannot do that.
And Wang Hui has fewer resources.
How could he possibly achieve it?
Still,
He does not take chances.
Without hesitation, he turns and leaves his room.
His steps quicken as he heads through the castle corridors.
Toward his uncle's room.
A teacher of the academy.