Night at Silver Gallery

Li Jiaoran hunched over her desk, scribbling and drawing on the book with a black ballpoint pen, recording her thoughts and arguments in the margins. She continued writing tirelessly, barely stopping except when she was deep in thought, until she finally finished writing the last line of notes. Only then did she look up, continuing to ponder the knowledge she had just gained from the book, before closing it.

In front of her desk was an exquisite and elegant round window, through which she could see the already deep purple night and the cool moonlight tinged with that deep purple.

It's getting late.

As she pondered this in her mind, she reached for the lamp switch in front of her and adjusted the brightness to the lowest setting.

In the Magic Kingdom, the night sky changes color over time. At the beginning of nightfall, it is a clear blue-purple, but as the night deepens, the proportion of blue decreases while the proportion of purple increases. Therefore, the people living in the Kingdom can easily tell how long it has been since night fell simply by looking up at the night sky.

It was already late at night. Li Jiaoran had been so engrossed in her book that she had been oblivious to everything around her. Only now, after closing the book, did she feel a faint sense of drowsiness.

She covered her mouth with one hand, yawned softly, wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes, and stood up in her slippers. Looking back at the scene inside the room, her gaze swept over the antique and exquisite wall decorations, and did not linger on the seemingly soft bed, but instead looked at another corner—where several fluffy soft cushions were piled up, and a girl was lying on her back among them, raising her hands and fiddling with her mobile phone.

"I'm going to sleep," Li Jiaoran said, her voice calm and peaceful, yet carrying an undeniable force. "Do you need me to leave the light on?"

"Ah, ah?"

The girl, still engrossed in the world of her phone screen, took a while to realize that Li Jiaoran was talking to her. She reluctantly put down her phone, then straightened up from the pile of cushions. "What time is it? Why are you sleeping so early today?"

"It's getting late; if I'm not mistaken, it should be almost midnight."

Li Jiaoran walked to her bedside, took out her personal toiletries from the basket beside her bed, and then picked out bath products from a pile of bottles and jars. "I don't think there's anything strange about going to sleep at this time."

"But you're usually out there being a painstaking writer at this time of day, aren't you?"

The girl pointed to Li Jiaoran's desk. "You're not going to finish rolling today? You can't have finished rolling, can you?"

"Because I have an exam tomorrow, I think I need to get up early."

With a soft sigh, Li Jiaoran looked at the girl with some helplessness. "And, I don't like the term 'curly bitch' you used. I've emphasized this many times; please use my code name properly."

"Understood, understood, as you command, Miss Tudingui."

The girl, engrossed in her phone, continued tapping and clicking on the screen, absentmindedly responding to Li Jiaoran. However, a sudden animation flashed across her screen, and her eyes widened in shock. "Holy crap... what kind of damage is this? Did the game designer accidentally press an extra zero?"

"... Playing that weird magical girl mobile game of yours again?"

Holding her toiletries, Li Jiaoran, or rather Tudingui, looked at her roommate sitting on the mat with some surprise as she walked to the bathroom door. "Are you really not planning to study at all?"

"You said it yourself, the exam is tomorrow, how can you possibly have time to study now?"

The girl playing on her phone said nonchalantly, "Instead of reading a book and aggravating my anxiety, I'd rather do some mobile game events and at least buy my master a couple of accessories."

"I need to correct your statement. Even if the magical girl character in your game pays homage to my master's magical attire, incorporates my master's abilities, and even alludes to her codename, that character is not my master."

Tudingui frowned. "So please don't associate the title 'your master' with such strange and disgusting behavior. It's really impolite."

"But your master herself posted an article saying that it was herself."

The girl, engrossed in her phone, shifted her gaze from the screen and looked at Tudingui: "In the game, your master and I formed the supreme contract between a magical girl and Fairy, becoming uniquely connected. Can't I say she's my wife?"

Tudingui ignored the other party.

She realized that the other person was deliberately making fun of her, so she simply kept quiet, took her toiletries, went into the bathroom, and locked the door behind her.

This is inside the student dormitory in the Silver Gallery, within the Academy District of Luen Nore City.

As a magical girl from the Central City participating in the examination, Tudingui enjoys one of the special privileges unique to magical girls from the Central City: when she arrives in Luen Nore as an examinee, she can stay in the Silver Gallery and enjoy the same hygiene and cleaning services and three meals a day as the Silver Gallery students. Unlike examinees from smaller cities, she doesn't need to find an inn in the city herself.

Tudingui hadn't planned to accept this "special treatment" so easily, but after she left Heavenly City alone and embarked on her journey to the Magic Kingdom, she learned a good lesson just on the Kingdom Express.

That is, there were simply too many fellow test-takers who wanted to get close to her.

Before leaving home, she knew she was quite famous among her fellow magical girls, but she never imagined that this fame would bring her so much trouble.

The reason she attracts so much attention is simply because, as a "newcomer" in a broad sense, she has two unique labels.

Firstly, she had previously participated in a talent competition jointly organized by several Central City, and was the first place winner in last year's competition.

The second one: her squad leader, or rather her mentor, is named Blue Star.

Blue Star is known as the strongest magical girl in the Material Realm, and is even considered by many to be the strongest magical girl in the Magic Kingdom.

These two identities destined her to a prominent position in this year's qualification assessment. Furthermore, since the practical assessment will involve magical girls forming temporary teams, many candidates will inevitably want to seek her out for help.

This is only human nature.

Having come to terms with this reality, Tudingui abandoned his plan to find a place to stay in Luen Nore City and followed the arrangements of his elders, moving into the student dormitory in the Silver Gallery.

The dormitories in Silver Gallery are all double rooms, so she was assigned a roommate, the girl who had been playing on her phone earlier.

Before they became roommates, Tudingui and the other person weren't very familiar with each other. She only knew that the other person was also a newcomer in the Central City of Yuewang City. She had met the other person in the joint newcomer competition last year and was left with the impression that the other person was "quite capable".

Once the two of them moved into the same dormitory room, getting to know each other became an inevitable process.

During this time, as the two communicated, Tudingui also learned about a very troublesome trait of his roommate: he was a fan of Blue Star.

Or rather, the other party is not just a fan of Blue Star, but a self-proclaimed "champion fan" who has a very morbid fondness for magical girls who have great reputations in the public eye or are recognized as having great strength.

At this point, even if Tudingui wanted to say "admiration for the strong is only human nature," she felt somewhat powerless, because the other party would really come to her every day to inquire about her master's personal information.

From his abilities, strengths, hobbies, habits, and even more private matters, the other party was like a paparazzi reporter, pestering Tudingui with all sorts of questions.

At the beginning of their relationship, out of politeness, Tudingui would carefully answer a few questions. However, as the other party's questions became more and more outrageous, and as they became more familiar with each other, she learned to remain silent.