Dawn had barely broken, yet Lulumia was already awake. Recently, she was overwhelmed by all sorts of matters, leaving her with almost no time to rest.
It felt as if she had returned to being a corporate slave.
Gazing at the mirror, the silver-haired girl with delicate dragon horns and tail, her pitiful, petite figure on full display, Lulumia placed her hands on her waist and sighed with the air of someone much older.
That being said, working for herself felt entirely different from working for someone else.
As a corporate drone, she’d felt like a cog in the machine, running meaninglessly day after day. But founding a newspaper in another world was creative, and there was a fighting spirit in working for herself. Even in her sleep, she was thinking about her next steps, so fulfilled that she could turn cattle and horses into people.
“Let currents be my shield, let torrents be my blade—‘Flowing Water Protection’.”
She softly chanted the spell, and with a “whoosh,” a stream of water suddenly surged forth, cocooning Lulumia like a silken chrysalis. The stream, thick as her wrist, seemed to possess its own will—wherever Lulumia looked, the water’s tip flowed in that direction.
With a thought, Lulumia extended her finger toward the table. The stream instantly slithered like a small snake, lifting the ink bottle from the table and obediently bringing it to her.
These days, Lulumia hadn’t slacked off on her magic practice. Earning money was merely a better way to improve her magic ability, not the final goal.
Because this world had magic, individual combat power was extremely high. Someone at the sixth rank could easily sweep through a city, and someone like Istelle, the Great Water Spirit, who had reached the legendary tenth rank, could even perform miracles like the Cataclysm of Fivefold Division.
If she only focused on making money and didn’t improve her own strength, she would always be the one taken advantage of. Strength was the only real truth.
“Neither speed nor power is enough; I can only pick up small items. It must be because my mana is insufficient.” As she felt the force of the water stream, Lulumia pondered. ‘Flowing Water Protection’ was not a one-off spell like ‘Water Bullet’ or ‘Fireball’; it required a continuous outpouring of mana. The more mana poured in, the stronger the water’s power.
Lulumia currently had 28 mana points. If she poured all her mana into ‘Flowing Water Protection’ in a short burst, it would be powerful enough to knock out a bird perched on a branch.
Right now, she was only Level 2, and ‘Flowing Water Protection’ already had some potency. She couldn’t help but wonder how terrifying the spell would be when she could channel 280 mana points.
Lulumia continued to practice her rapid-casting spells. After a few minutes, her mana was completely drained, and her maximum mana increased from 28 to 29.
“Phew.”
She let out a long breath. The season was nearing early winter, and her exhaled breath instantly turned into a cloud of white mist as it met the cold air.
She pulled her collar tighter and picked up the ink bottle in her hand.
The oil-based ink was already prepared; all that was left was the metal type.
That’s right, she had found the formula for oil-based ink.
Tilan had given her inspiration. This was a world of magic—there was no need to do everything the same way as on Earth. Trying materials unique to this world was also an option. Thanks to this, slime oil had become an excellent substitute for linseed oil.
Linseed oil needed to be boiled at 300°C and dried with an agent before it could transform into an ideal carrier for ink. But slime oil only needed to be simply boiled before it could be mixed with lampblack, producing ink ready for immediate use.
It was worth mentioning that slime oil on the market, used for lamp oil, was overly refined, making the ink produced with it slow to dry and thus unsuitable for ink production. This was a conclusion Lulumia had reached after days of experimentation.
To carry out her experiments, Lulumia had been found by the Priest from the temple two days ago, who said someone had complained she was cooking feces in the dorm at night, conducting evil god rituals—almost destroying Lulumia’s reputation. She couldn’t help but laugh in front of the Priest.
It was all just a misunderstanding.
Unrefined slime oil did indeed have a peculiar smell, and the smell became even stronger when boiled. But this was not the oil’s own scent—it came from impurities within the oil. As long as one added Charcoal or dried flax to absorb the surface impurities, the impurities could be separated from the finished oil. Afterward, the oil could be mixed with lampblack, and the ink would then give off a sweet, cloying fragrance reminiscent of burnt honey.
This, too, was a result of Lulumia’s days of experimentation.
She decided to visit Tilan’s jewelry shop—the glasses should be ready by now.
She put the precious ink bottle back in the drawer and straightened her clothes. Today, she was still dressed in a long white-and-gold church dress. Though the clothes were cold, they really evoked people’s protective instincts for the pitiful.
A little girl wearing thin clothes in the freezing weather, her outfit a size too large—who wouldn’t feel a surge of pity upon seeing that?
She would suffer from the cold, but the benefits she’d gain far outweighed the discomfort. After all, as a magic automaton, she shouldn’t catch a cold. She sniffed and, in front of the mirror, practiced every kind of smile, winking and pulling faces, sometimes stretching out her hand to adjust, striving for the perfect expression.
Not until her facial muscles grew stiff from fatigue did Lulumia finally end what to outsiders would’ve seemed a rather comical effort.
She let out a long breath.
“All right, time to go.”
Knock, knock.
No sooner had she spoken than a knock sounded at the door. Lulumia rubbed her face and put on the innocent liveliness of a young girl.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
“Sis Ino?”
Lulumia trotted over to the door. Today, Ino wore her long blue hair loose, and her clothes had changed to a more casual pale yellow dress—she didn’t even wear her sword at her waist. With one hand on her hip, she smiled and asked,
“Want to go out for a stroll?”
“No problem!”
Lulumia was already prepared to go out, so the two quickly arrived at the temple courtyard. What surprised Lulumia was that today, fewer nuns than usual greeted Ino; some even lowered their heads when they saw her, as if afraid to say much.
Something was off.
Lulumia looked up at Ino. In the pale morning sunlight, Ino’s face didn’t look good.
“Sis Ino, did something happen?”
“Mm. I came to tell you about a new rumor that appeared in the Royal Capital yesterday.” “What rumor…”
Ino’s beautiful face was filled with gravity. “A few days ago, I gained the trust of the Royal Capital nobles by rounding up the smugglers, remember?”
“Yeah.” Lulumia nodded.
“There’s been a new development. More than ten Holy Knights and Priests who helped confiscate the smugglers’ warehouses were found to have lined their own pockets, quietly taking the smugglers’ loot for themselves. I didn’t take part in the warehouse raids, so it should have nothing to do with me. But a few Holy Knights suddenly stepped forward and accused me, saying I was involved as well. They claim the reason I was able to get you, the perfect magic automaton, was because I made a deal with them.”
A familiar trick.
“Was it that lapdog Saint again?” Lulumia asked calmly.
“To be honest, with my influence in the Royal Capital, there’s no way I can verify it. But among those with the time and inclination to do such things, there’s no one but him. I already reported it to the church before coming here. Soon, someone will come to investigate and clear things up for me.”
Though anger churned inside her and she was already planning to teach Roden a lesson, Ino still did her best to smile as she patted Lulumia’s head.
“This isn’t the first time. I came to tell you so you could be prepared. The church is fair in matters like this—things will settle down soon. Besides, I won’t just sit and let things get worse. For now, Mia, just stay in the temple, all right? Don’t worry too much.”
I’m not just a pretty face.
Does Sis Ino think I’m so easy to push around? Lulumia snorted in her heart. Now that the ink matter was sorted, she needed to put together the final piece of the printing press puzzle.
Lulumia reached out, grasped Ino’s tightly clenched fist, and gave a sly smile.
“Sis Ino, I have a plan.”