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Editor: Let’s be honest, she would have bonded with her sooner if she didn’t think of them as entertainment… sometimes. Anyways, who’s excited to see Yuehan work her magic? I know I am!
I finished my morning routine early.
The three sleeping beauties, however, were still dead to the world. Judging by the silence, their late-night antics had knocked them out cold.
Either they partied too hard, or they just didn’t have anything better to do this morning.
It did make me realize something, though—those three had bonded fast. Wait... did they bond without me?
No, no, no. It was definitely me. I was being antisocial again.
A sudden wave of panic hit me. I was used to being the loner, sure, but the Witch School was supposed to be my fresh start.
Was I really getting frozen out by my roommates on day one?
Was it because I knew too much?
I swallowed hard, feeling a little lost. I realized I needed to actually make an effort to connect with them, rather than just treating them like my personal source of entertainment.
I checked my phone. I thought I was up early, but Ms. Ji had beaten me to it. She had messaged me a while ago, likely trying not to wake me up, sending only a location pin.
Looks like that’s where I’m headed for the morning.
I slipped out of the room quietly, closing the door with a soft click, and caught a ride.
On the way over, I fell into my new habit: checking the class list to see if anyone else had arrived on campus so I could drag them into the group chat. After processing a few more names, I sat back and waited to arrive.
The address Ms. Ji sent was for a laboratory building in the Central Teaching District. Or maybe it was just a general academic building; I wasn’t sure yet.
Specifically, I was heading to Room 8401.
Room 01, 4th floor, Building 8. I’d never been there before, and I felt a flutter of nervousness as I walked in.
The first-floor lobby was intimidating.
The students passing by were seniors who looked like they ate textbooks for breakfast—the kind you instinctively knew not to mess with. Professors hurried past with serious expressions.
Honestly, it killed my confidence a little. If Ms. Ji hadn’t explicitly pinned this location, I wouldn’t have stepped foot in here.
This place screamed "academic elite." The pressure was palpable, enough to crush a slacker's soul.
But then I remembered the promise, or rather, the goal Ms. Ji had set for me: Surpass Tan Han. It felt unrealistic right now, but since she forced the target on me, it must mean I at least had the potential to reach it.
I just lacked experience. Give me enough time, and eventually, I’d be the one people looked up to with awe.
I climbed up to the fourth floor and immediately spotted the first room. The door was half-open.
Calling it a "classroom" felt generous. There were no neat rows of desks or chairs. It was chaotic, cluttered, and looked like it hadn’t seen a human soul in years.
I pushed the door open. A weird, fermented smell wafted out to greet me.
"Yuehan, you're here fast. You didn't want to stop by my office first?"
The voice came from right behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
I spun around, guilt written all over my face for absolutely no reason, and saw Ms. Ji’s signature smiling face.
"M-Ms. Ji..." I managed to stammer out a greeting. Why did I feel so guilty? I hadn't even done anything wrong.
"Mmm~" Ms. Ji seemed to enjoy my flustered reaction. "By the way, my office is in 8405. If you need anything, just come find me. As for this room, 8401... well, it’s been a vacant lab for years, so it’s a bit run-down. But this is going to be the home base for our experimental group."
I looked back into the room. Calling it "a bit run-down" was the understatement of the century.
"Right. Okay," I said. My internal monologue was screaming, but I kept my customer-service smile plastered on.
"I know what you're thinking—it's a dump," she said breezily. "But what can you do? It’s the closest room to my office. So, I’m going to need you to clean this place up. Throw the useless junk in the dumpster downstairs, but keep the sturdy lab benches and any equipment that looks salvageable."
"Go wild. Seriously, even if you toss everything in there, I can just requisition a brand-new set of equipment. You can handle that, right, Yuehan? I know you've got that Cleaning Charm up your sleeve. Tell you what—you handle the manual labor, and I’ll buy you lunch."
"S-Sure," I nodded quickly.
I wasn't agreeing because of the free food; I just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.
Yesterday, she was promising to show me the wonders of the "world of transcendence." And today? I'm staring down the barrel of cold, hard reality.
Janitorial duty? That was about as real as it got.
Thank god for the Cleaning Charm. If I had to scrub this place by hand, I’d be here until graduation.
I stepped into Room 8401. It was a graveyard of old equipment coated in dust so thick it looked like gray fur. It was obvious no one had used—or cleaned—this place in ages.
I swiped a finger across a transparent lab bench, leaving a clean streak through the grime. Underneath the filth, though, the build quality was surprisingly good. With a little polish, it might even pass for new.
As for the miscellaneous tools and the mysterious, unidentifiable stains on the floor... well, those were all going in the trash.
However, the half-used materials scattered around caught my eye. They were fascinating, raw, magical components I’d never seen before.
Everyone had that little urge to hoard cool, mysterious junk, right? It was a universal quirk.
I picked up a few odd-looking components and cleaned them off with a quick spell, ready to stash them away in my storage band.
But then, my common sense kicked in hard.
These were materials related to transcendence. Who knew what kind of chaotic energy they held? What if they were radioactive? Or toxic?
Hell, they could be breeding grounds for magical bacteria or some ancient fungal curse.
My desire to hoard cool stuff lost the battle against my desire not die a painful, unnecessary death.
Into the dumpster, all of you.
There’d be plenty of cool loot in the future. No need to risk my life for trash right now.
It took a few trips to the downstairs dumpsters to clear out the debris, but eventually, the large room was restored to its original, empty state. Luckily, I had plenty of experience cleaning the villa back home, or this would have taken way longer.
With the clutter gone, the room felt cavernous. But that wasn't my problem anymore. I didn't even know what we were supposed to do in here, so why keep the junk?
I dusted off my hands and headed straight for Ji Niang's office. She was lounging in her chair when I walked in.
"Ms. Ji? The lab is clean."
"Oh? Already?" A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes. She stood up and walked with me to inspect the results.
She probably expected that mess to take me half the day. But standing in the doorway, scanning the room, she couldn't find a single thing to complain about.
"Impressive. Looks like we can get ahead of schedule. So, Yuehan... did you think about what we discussed yesterday? Do you have an answer for me?"
"Yeah. I have." I was a bit surprised she cut straight to the chase. "I want to research Spell Books. Specifically, using my Psi-vision..."
"Mmhmm..." She smiled, cutting me off gently. "I think I get the picture. You want to master the usage of your Psi-vision to deconstruct the mechanics behind Spell Books. Is that it?"