Wings

"Wings... Wings?"

The simple word held the power of a miracle. Strong and concise, it won the approval of all four witches almost at once.

Chu Yujun took out a notebook and wrote down the name:

"Then our society will be called Wings. If you have no objections, raise your left hand. If you object, keep your hand down."

Jiang Han and the other three witches raised their left hands.

Half a second later, Chu Yujun stood and gave them a slight bow, then made a note in her notebook:

"Approved. For now, I suggest we use voting to decide whether our proposals pass. Raise your left hand to agree; keep it down to disagree."

Once again, everyone raised a hand, meaning Wings had unanimously passed both of its first two votes.

Chu Yujun nodded, the corners of her lips lifting in a restrained smile.

"Ladies, this is a very small step, but also a very big one. We've taken the first step, and that means we've united. Now, let's decide whether to adopt a confidentiality policy."

"What's a confidentiality policy?" Jiang Han asked, raising her hand.

"Information about society members is kept confidential. Unless a member chooses to disclose it herself, the person responsible for confidentiality cannot tell anyone else. For example..." Chu Yujun tapped the table slowly. "Specific information about magical power. Since applying to form a society requires the founding members' ID cards, and some witches don't like others knowing their exact information, we can prevent leaks by having only the president serve as the keeper of confidential information."

A close-knit system, but not too close-knit... Jiang Han nodded.

"Raise your left hand if you approve of the confidentiality policy. Keep it down if you don't."

Whoosh—Jiang Han, Chen Ligu, Du Ningzhuang, and Chu Yujun herself all raised their left hands at once. Then Tang Wen glanced at them in confusion and raised hers, looking uncertain.

Chu Yujun nodded and spoke:

"Approved. Please place your ID cards on the table, backs facing up. I'll use a spell to print copies."

ID cards could only be updated or issued after completing a medical examination and registration.

Jiang Han had taken care of hers when she went for her checkup. It had a 40-by-25 ID photo, her name, magical power, blood type, clan location, and other information. There was no date of birth, since that was tied to many powerful magical curses and was never recorded. In fact, many witches' elders even used magic to conceal the dates they were born.

The other witches took out their ID cards and placed them on the table.

Chu Yujun took out her wand and lightly tapped each card. Then she drew a triangle in the air and tapped her notebook with the wand.

"All done." She picked up her notebook as she spoke and glanced at it. "These copies should do the trick..."

While Tang Wen wasn't paying attention, she quickly exchanged glances with Jiang Han, Chen Ligu, and Du Ningzhuang.

It was the sort of look that said, "We're all in the same boat." Jiang Han glanced at Tang Wen guiltily again, thinking that the poor girl might be scared half to death when she learned the truth someday.

"The next matter we need to vote on is funding."

Chu Yujun was probably from a well-off family and seemed very familiar with the ins and outs of forming a society. She guided them through the vote in an orderly manner:

"I'll contribute 2,000 yuan toward setting up the society. One month from now, each of the other members will contribute 100 yuan. Raise your left hand to agree; keep it down to disagree."

The costs of running the society were low, which was only natural.

They were just researching and developing a single spell, not conducting large-scale experiments or anything of the sort.

Once again, the vote passed unanimously. After making a note, Chu Yujun asked:

"Funding won't be a problem. Next, we need to decide how to allocate it... Miss Chen Ligu?"

Chen Ligu was getting into the swing of things too. She pulled out a small notebook and jotted something down.

"First, there's Miss Du Ningzhuang's research. That's our top priority. The prospects for developing convenient portal technology are excellent, and it's important to us, too. A convenient Transfer Station would save us a lot of travel time and give us the bare minimum we need for our gatherings..."

She smiled and added with a touch of humor:

"After all, we all have jobs. If you count the time it takes to travel, we'd probably only be able to go out together and relax once a month. We'd end up as something like a fishing club."

Ahem... All five members of the society had jobs. It already sounded like a hopeless venture... Jiang Han thought that if it weren't called Wings, they could call it the "High School Witch Part-Timers Society."

But at the end of the day, the society was just a way to find some enjoyment amid their busy lives.

Chen Ligu turned to Du Ningzhuang and asked:

"Miss Du Ningzhuang, could you tell us how far your research has come? How close are you to making it practical?"

"The theory works. I've built an explosion model. If I get enough funding to buy Red-Claw Pillarless Orchid, I should be able to get results soon." The Red-Claw Pillarless Orchid Du Ningzhuang mentioned was a plant that could easily cause small-scale explosions. Its blasts were powerful, with a small radius but great intensity, and it was often used for precision demolition.

Jiang Han asked curiously:

"Can you use that stuff to blow up the River of Time?"

Du Ningzhuang replied:

"Blowing it up is easy. The hard part is diverting it afterward..."

The refined witch pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and gave a simple explanation:

"The water in the River of Time is harmless, because it's just 'water.' In terms of its physical properties, it's ordinary 'water.' Even if you jumped in at the source and took a bath, it wouldn't hurt you."

"But it can easily become corrupted, become abnormal... I mean, its properties can change. After the River of Time is blasted open, we need to create a diversion model made entirely of magic. Since this model is invisible—in fact, it only 'exists'—the real water of the River of Time can leak out, causing the familiar forms of temporal destruction."

"Desertification, corruption, decay, space being severed and sliced open."

"Usually, diverting the River of Time is done to create an incredible source of magical power. But our goal is its destructive effect: severing space. We have to approach the diversion with the intention of 'failing.' Only then can we cut out the space we want."

...Wasn't that way too reckless? Jiang Han tried to act unconcerned, but she was scared half to death.

Blowing it up was one thing, but they were going to deliberately cause a leak just to get the effect they wanted...

But even as she was frightened, her innate witch's curiosity stirred:

What kind of effect would they get from blowing up the River of Time and deliberately letting its water leak out?

The other witches were interested too. Perhaps it was an inherent quality shared by Eastern and Western witches alike: an endless love of doing reckless things.

In the end, they decided that Jiang Han would use her family connections to find a Folded Space suitable for Du Ningzhuang's experiment, while Tang Wen would persuade its administrator. Chen Ligu and Chu Yujun would find a way to raise at least ten thousand yuan in sponsorship...

After excitedly discussing the details, they set a time for their next gathering:

After work on Sunday.

Jiang Han felt sleepiness wash over her and yawned.

"Shall we call it a day?"

"Call it a day, then," Du Ningzhuang added, making Jiang Han think that this witch, who didn't like to smile, was a bit of a secret flirt.

After saying goodbye to the witches, Jiang Han left the Witch House, heavy with sleep. Her sleep schedule had finally adjusted lately, and she'd become a proper witch who went to bed in the morning and got up in the afternoon!

Jiang Han struggled to keep her eyes open as she headed toward the administration office through the market, which was just as lively as it was at night.

Just then, a familiar voice called out to her from behind:

"Miss Jiang Han?"

Jiang Han turned toward the person who'd called her name. It was Miss Cen Jing, her former substitute teacher.

She wasn't wearing a witch's robe, but ordinary clothes: a two-shaku-sleeved hakama skirt and leather boots.

Since China had overwhelmingly crushed the Eastern Isles in this timeline, witches in China dressed in the Eastern Isles style during this period.

"What a coincidence." The stunning witch smiled gently and took a couple of steps closer.

Jiang Han yawned, then covered her mouth and apologized. "Oh, sorry, I'm so tired..."

"It's all right, it's definitely a good time to sleep." The witch said, "Let me buy you a cup of coffee."

"...Mm, thank you."