Hiring Lottie

I had only gained this chance to board the ship by relying on the name of a wizard Lineage, and now even that name was about to be gone.

Li Ang was somewhat puzzled. "Gone? What do you mean? Did something happen to your Lineage?"

She raised her head, her eyes misty with moisture, yet she tried hard not to let the tears fall.

"There are rules in the wizarding world. If a wizard Lineage goes ten consecutive years without a formal wizard overseeing it, it will lose the title of wizard Lineage and all the benefits associated with it... The formal wizard of the Polk Lineage was my grandfather, but he passed away eight years ago."

She said no more, but Li Ang completely understood the immense pressure she was under. The desire to help her in his heart grew clearer still.

Give her money directly? With Lottie's personality, she would never accept it. His gaze swept across the dining hall, and suddenly he had an idea.

He remembered his independent dormitory. Though it was not large, it still needed cleaning. There seemed to be no centralized cleaning service in the tower; apprentices had to handle many things themselves.

He set down his knife and fork, looked at Lottie, and said as casually as possible, "Lottie, there's something I'd like to trouble you with. After becoming a Formal Apprentice, I was assigned an independent dormitory, but I... am not very good at cleaning rooms, nor do I particularly like it. It seems no one in the tower takes care of that either."

Lottie looked at him in confusion, unable to understand why he had suddenly brought this up.

Li Ang continued, "I've seen that you're meticulous and serious in your work. Would you be willing to... spare some time every day to clean my room? It wouldn't take long, probably half an hour. I can pay you for it—say... two copper coins a day. What do you think?"

"Two copper coins?!" Lottie was so startled she nearly jumped up, her eyes wide and round. "Just... just for cleaning a room? Th-this is far too much, Mr. Li Ang. I can't accept that."

In the Wizard Tower, copying a book or organizing a warehouse for an hour earned only one copper coin.

And now, merely cleaning a small room each day would bring in a steady two copper coins. It was simply an unimaginably good job.

"It's not much." Li Ang shook his head, his tone firm. "I think my time and energy are worth more."

"When you ask someone to do something, it's only right to pay them accordingly. Besides, keeping my room clean is important for my studies and meditation. Would you be willing to help me with this?"

Lottie looked into Li Ang's sincere eyes, her heart in utter turmoil. Of course she knew he was helping her by taking a roundabout route. Two copper coins a day meant sixty copper coins a month, equivalent to two months of her allowance. If she took on some copying commissions in her spare time, she would at least be able to eat her fill every day and perhaps even save a little money. To her, this was like sending charcoal in the snow.

Her eyes reddened further, and this time she could no longer hold back her tears. They fell with a patter.

She hurriedly wiped them away with the back of her hand, lowered her head, and said in a choked voice, "Mr. Li Ang... thank you... I truly... truly don't know how to thank you... I... I'm willing. I'll definitely clean it extremely, extremely well! I absolutely won't disappoint you."

Li Ang smiled. "Then let's start tomorrow. Here's the key to my dormitory. The room number is B045. I usually go to the workshop for commissions after class, so you can go whenever it's convenient for you."

He pushed a spare brass key toward Lottie. She carefully picked it up and clasped it tightly in her palm. When she looked up at Li Ang again, her eyes were filled with gratitude and a hope rekindled anew.

After saying goodbye to Lottie, Li Ang returned alone to his independent dormitory on the third floor.

The room was pitch-black. Li Ang fumbled around and lit the oil lamp on the table. The flame flickered gently, casting swaying shadows across the walls.

His gaze fell upon the copying tools, and a familiar system prompt immediately appeared before his eyes:

[Inferior Gray Feather Quill: Lv0]

[Status: Bindable]

[Binding Cost: 1 Mental Power]

Could even the most ordinary feather quill be a magical product? Li Ang was somewhat surprised.

He then checked his own condition. The Mental Power he had spent in the workshop had recovered by two points under the uninterrupted restoration of the [Acceleration Pocket Watch], bringing it to four points.

"Bind." He did not hesitate. It was only one point of Mental Power. What if there was some pleasant surprise?

A faint sense of connection formed. The feather quill in his hand seemed... a tiny bit easier to use? He looked at the panel.

[Binding Successful]

[Inferior Gray Feather Quill: Current Level Lv0]

[Current Effect: Copying Speed Slightly Increased]

[Lv1 Effect: Copying Speed +10%, Magical Comprehension +10%]

[Upgrade Requirement: Mental World Magic Starlet quantity reaches 1, consume 5 Mental Power]

"Copying speed slightly increased..." Li Ang tried scribbling on some scrap paper. The smoothness of the nib had indeed improved by the faintest trace.

A bit of a chicken rib, Li Ang judged inwardly. This slight speed increase was truly of limited help for such tedious work as copying.

But the Magical Comprehension +10% after upgrading made his heart stir. Copying spellbooks could also increase magical comprehension? That was an unexpected delight.

After thinking for a moment, he set down the quill and decided to meditate first to restore his Mental Power. He would begin copying after upgrading the quill.

He blew out the oil lamp, sat cross-legged on the bed, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and sank his consciousness into the Mental World.

Time passed in silence, while his Mental Power rapidly recovered under the effects of the [Acceleration Pocket Watch]. Within his Mental World, the Astral Star had become far more solid and radiant than when it had first condensed, but it lacked the crucial opportunity to split into two.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Ang emerged from meditation. He felt refreshed and clear-headed, his Mental Power fully restored. He immediately directed his consciousness toward the gray feather quill.

[Upgrade Successful]

[Inferior Gray Feather Quill: Lv1]

[Current Effect: Copying Speed +10%, Magical Comprehension +10%]

"Alright, let's begin copying."

Li Ang relit the oil lamp, spread open the Level-1 Spell Compendium, dipped the quill tip in ink, and set it upon the parchment with a soft scratching sound.

The Lv1 quill's effects were considerably stronger. Writing with it was exceptionally smooth. He was copying the chapter on the wind-element Level-1 spell, [Wind Blade Technique].

The book described how to highly compress wind-element mana and shape it into an invisible blade capable of cutting.

Beneath his quill tip, those descriptions were no longer merely words, but transformed into the tangible sensation of actually controlling wind elements.

He vaguely "saw" the azure wind elements, constrained by Mental Power, changing from scattered to condensed, from gentle to razor-sharp...

This comprehension grew ever clearer. The azure-blue Astral Star in his Mental World seemed to be drawn along as well. Its rotation silently quickened, greedily absorbing the surrounding mana.

Before he realized it, he had copied an entire page. Just as his quill tip left the parchment—

With a buzz, his Mental World suddenly shook.

That azure-blue Astral Star, long saturated and faintly on the verge of splitting, abruptly erupted with brilliant light and finally divided into two.

Two azure-blue Astral Stars, slightly smaller and somewhat illusory compared to the original, began slowly revolving around the Mental Core like twin stars, following a mysterious trajectory.