Ch. 133 - A Productive Afternoon (Part Two)

"Alright, cut the act. The incense burned out ages ago."

I had to be the one to break the spell. They clearly hadn't crossed the threshold yet, and watching them struggle was starting to get painful.

"Seriously, open your eyes. You think I can't tell when someone’s actually under?" I walked over and gave Hong Chenyi a light swat.

She was the one I’d caught peeking earlier, so she was naturally my first target. Besides, she was in Section 14—it was practically my civic duty as class president to keep her in line.

"Ow! Yuehan, come on! I was right there," Hong Chenyi groaned, rubbing her head with a pout that screamed 'dramatic victim.'

"Please. I was nailing my meditations before you even unpacked your bags. I know exactly what a trance looks like, and that wasn't it."

"Wait—you've already mastered it?" Hong Chenyi’s eyes went wide, her jaw practically hitting the floor.

Dongli Yiren and the others opened their eyes then, looking sheepish. They hadn't succeeded; they'd just bought some incense after their first lecture and figured they’d give it a shot at home.

"Yuehan! Help a girl out! Share the wisdom!" Hong Chenyi didn't just ask—she literally dove for the floor and wrapped herself around my leg. She really had a flair for the dramatic, didn't she? Total attention seeker.

"We haven't even had the official meditation unit yet," I said, trying to shake her off. "What’s the rush? You afraid the teacher is going to skip the good parts in class?"

"You have a waiver, so you don't care if the rest of us drown!" she wailed. "Yiren told me her meditation teacher today sounded like he was speaking a dead language. Total gibberish. No one understood a word."

I rubbed my temples. This again? Being exempt from the intro classes really was a blessing I hadn't fully appreciated.

"Yuehan, please. Give us the cheat codes. Me, Yiren, Guan Qiuling—we’ll be eternally in your debt."

"There aren't any 'cheat codes,'" I said, looking over at Yiren and Qiuling. They hadn't said much—Hong Chenyi was doing enough talking for four people—but I could see the desperate hope in their eyes. They really wanted this.

"Sigh... look, I'll give you my personal take, but don't treat it like gospel. Honestly? Ignore half of what the professors say. Just get the basic theory down, keep burning the expensive incense, and keep trying. Also—did no one tell you about the meditation halls on campus?"

"The what now?" Hong Chenyi spun around to look at Yiren. Apparently, Yiren’s class was the only one that had actually covered the topic today.

"The professor didn't mention them," Yiren said, shaking her head. "He just went on and on about the differences between Witch Meditation and traditional styles. It wasn't exactly practical."

"Barely useful at all," Hong Chenyi added, flipping through a stack of library books on the coffee table with a bored expression. "We had to go trek to the library ourselves just to figure out where to start."

She tossed the book aside, and her eyes lit up with a new obsession. "Anyway, forget that! Where did you get your flight license?! I saw you zoom off this morning, and I nearly died of jealousy! I want to fly so bad!"

"Jealous? Good. Use that energy to study harder," I teased. "It took me an entire break to get that license."

"I can tell you where I trained, but I’ll warn you—the tuition isn't cheap." I glanced at Yiren as I said it.

I knew she was tight on funds, and the look in her eyes told me my warning had likely killed her flight dreams for the foreseeable future.

Still, I noticed her quietly making a note of the location anyway. Maybe for later.

Most of the boys who ended up at the Witch School were accidents of fate, usually broke and cut off from their old lives.

Money was always the biggest hurdle. Guan Qiuling seemed to be the exception; I had a feeling her family was still footing the bill.

I didn't dwell on it, though. Other people’s bank accounts weren't my business. I spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the living room, acting the part of the 'experienced senior' and offering what advice I could. Eventually, I had to call it a night.

Regardless of whether I had a formal class tomorrow, I was heading back to the lab.

Ji Niang might be busy, but that wouldn't stop me. There were so many variables inside a Spell Book ritual just waiting to be tweaked. Exploring the unknown was the best part of this whole world.

Sure, it was risky... but as long as I didn't do anything intentionally stupid, I’d be fine. Probably.

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