Fifth Ring

"Brr! So cold!"

The next morning, Aoko woke up in her room and shivered, hugging her shoulders. She struggled out of bed, rubbing her hands together to warm them, and then remembered she was a Mage!

Aoko then let her magic flow joyfully through the ninety-nine circuits throughout her body, and the chill immediately vanished.

The Kuonji Residence was fine in every way and had good taste, but some of its facilities were too old, especially the heating. There were only large and small fireplaces to choose from, and she couldn't keep a fire going while she slept, right?

Overall, Aoko Aozaki was quite fond of modern living. Her own house with Touko incorporated all sorts of the most fashionable new technologies of the era. For example, the geothermal system buried in the ceiling and floors, or the central air conditioning and fully automatic water heater. These were specifically installed for comfort, and Aoko spent a lot of money on them (because locals weren't very receptive to new things).

It was only after coming to Alice's house that she truly felt the lifestyle of a genuine "old-school Witch."

No TV, no electric heaters, not even 24-hour hot water.

If Alice didn't have her PLOYs to take care of daily life, it would be like living in the modern era as someone from the last century.

Of course, people from the last century probably didn't live as comfortably as Alice, because they didn't have Alice's PLOYs, and many things relied on the hard work of servants to achieve a comfortable life.

Aoko went to the sink to wash up a bit, tidied her appearance, and looked at the girl in the mirror.

Barefaced and without makeup, her delicate and youthful skin and face were more beautiful than those who were meticulously groomed. Perhaps it was true beauty that couldn't be hidden? Aoko thought smugly.

After washing up, Aoko sat at her desk, took out her spellbook, and began her daily meditation.

After battling the Primate Killer and successfully bypassing its blockade (meaning she successfully escaped), Aoko, who had entered the Spiral of the Root, gained a massive amount of "experience points." This was somewhat similar to experience points in games, but not quite the same.

She initially thought it was like an RPG, where she could gain a lot of experience points just by killing a few chickens, wouldn't it be great to become a legendary swordsman? But after trying it, she realized that to increase her Mage level, she had to meditate and study daily, or fight enemies with spells that were not much weaker than her.

Moreover, there wasn't a clear quantitative measure at the beginning. Aoko just studied spells diligently, and then one day, she had an epiphany and leveled up.

In the last two years, Aoko had been thinking about how she could quantify her leveling progress through Magic Net Spells or Magecraft, creating something like a "character status screen."

However, the progress of this research had not been good until recently, when she had some vague inspiration, which still required more research and study to realize.

She had now reached the level of a Level 9 Mage, gaining her first 5th-level Spell Slot. Therefore, finding suitable 5th-level spells became the priority for preparing to deal with Touko's "Dragon King's Return."

Having prepared her spells for the day, Aoko closed her eyes, her entire mind immersed in her body, or rather, in the Weave Fragments deep within her soul.

The so-called Magic Net was the sum of magical energy contained within all things in heaven and earth, and all primordial magics were the raw materials of creation, each possessing a consciousness of varying size. These primordial magics with consciousness could not be directly used by mortals, but Mages could cast spells through the "net" woven from the primordial magic strings.

Aoko understood that the Magic Net within her body was definitely not as simple as chipping off a "fragment" from the Magic Net, because when she entered this "Weave Fragment," she saw an endless, magnificent ocean. Countless indescribable colors and knowledge washed over her perception of the world.

To obtain knowledge from this incredibly complex magical ocean, she had to strive to use her own consciousness as a "net bag" to scoop up valuable things from the ocean of the Magic Net for her to study.

In the past, she could only search for treasures in the "shallows" of the Magic Net, but as her spell knowledge grew and her level increased, Aoko could access deeper levels within the Magic Net. She immediately understood that in the depths of this bizarre ocean, not only were there precious treasures hidden, but also incomprehensible dangers.

So, every time she meditated, Aoko carefully searched for what she wanted, and she never touched those magical auras that looked dazzling but whose "true purpose" she couldn't understand.

At this moment, after a careful search, Aoko found three suitable 5th-level spells.

She opened her eyes, her consciousness leaving the Weave Fragment. However, Aoko maintained a state of "flow" without joy or sorrow, picked up her fountain pen, and began to transcribe the new spells onto the blank pages of her spellbook.

She also needed to concentrate when casting spells, but the state of concentration was different from the state of flow. Aoko could concentrate on casting spells at any time, as long as she wasn't too severely disturbed. However, entering the state of flow required some preparation beforehand, such as meditating and preparing spells every morning.

The three new 5th-level spells were: Nezaran Sapphire Shield from the Abjuration school, Teleportation from the Conjuration school, and Forcefield from the Evocation school.

Although these three spells belonged to different schools, they undoubtedly had defensive and battlefield control functions. After officially mastering the Fifth Magic, Aoko's offensive capabilities in the field of Magecraft had undoubtedly increased significantly. Therefore, supplementing her defensive capabilities through Magic Net Spells was undoubtedly a good choice.

Of course, the application of the Fifth Magic also had some unsolvable defensive means, but the cost of using the Fifth Magic prevented her from using it frequently. After all, she didn't want to always encounter the annoying lackeys of the Counter Force (seriously).

Around seven o'clock, Aoko finished transcribing the new spells. The actual process of learning and trying them out would have to wait for another time.

Aoko put away her spellbook, stood up, stretched, and walked out of her room.

Aoko made a delicious and healthy breakfast for herself and Alice (Dazhuang also got some). After eating carefully, they each prepared to go to school.

Riding her motorcycle with a helmet on, Aoko pondered how she would respond to the questions from teachers and classmates once she got to school. But then she thought, why should she care about her classmates' gossip? As long as a person is strong enough internally, they can disregard the opinions of others, and Aoko Aozaki was a prime example of this. Mere rumors were meaningless to her.

Thinking this, Aoko's mood improved, and the already minimal psychological pressure vanished.