Chapter 8: Do You Desire Power?

“You’re quite self-aware.”

A calm, unfamiliar voice sounded in her ear, tinged with mockery.

“But just knowing your own limitations already makes you better than most arrogant fools.”

Luo Ya was so startled she jumped up from the ground.

“Who!”

Then Luo Ya realized that at some unknown point, someone was lying right next to her, almost shoulder to shoulder.

‘When did she get here? She hadn’t noticed at all!’

The girl wore a patient gown.

She was slender but not as skeletal as Luo Ya.

Her chest was about the same as Luo Ya’s—almost nonexistent.

Her tone was almost flat when she spoke, and her small face was expressionless.

She was the picture of a classic emotionless girl.

“Why are you here? How did you get in?”

Luo Ya, like a startled cat, immediately put distance between herself and the emotionless girl.

‘Come on, this entire tenth floor can only be accessed by a special elevator. There’s no way an outsider could get in!’

“Don’t make such a fuss.”

The emotionless girl lazily sat up and tucked her white hair behind her ear.

“The Grand Magister’s domain is only physically isolated from the other floors. It’s not that hard to get in if you really want to.”

“W-What do you want?”

“Relax.”

The white-haired emotionless girl waved her hand, signaling Luo Ya didn’t need to keep her distance.

“Just think of me as a refugee who’s finally found a relatively safe place to rest.”

“I heard you’re also a refugee displaced by the war. Can’t you be a little understanding? Let me stay here a while longer.”

“What do you mean, ‘also a refugee’?”

Luo Ya frowned.

“I’m being hunted,” the white-haired emotionless girl said with an indifferent shrug.

“Being hunted?”

“Ah, it’s too much trouble to explain from the beginning. Anyway, I haven’t eaten in three days, and I’m starving and weak. Kind disciple of the Grand Magister, could you spare me something to eat?”

The white-haired emotionless girl kept her expressionless little face and spoke in a flat tone, saying words that sounded like an attempt at being cute.

“First, tell me who you really are. Otherwise, I’ll call someone,” Luo Ya said warily.

“Oh, don’t. It’s not easy to find another place like this—a tenth floor with only two people living here. If you take me in and let me rest a bit, I can even help you out.”

“…What do you mean ‘help you out’?”

Luo Ya said.

“I can solve your problems.”

The girl smiled eerily.

“You’re anxious about your strength not matching your status, right?”

“For example, worried that your beloved master might leave you because of your incompetence?”

“…Get to the point. No nonsense. Got it?”

Luo Ya’s tone suddenly turned cold.

The girl looked at Luo Ya, whose expression was dark enough to drip water.

Considering she was on someone else’s turf, she wisely chose to back down.

“Fine, fine. Don’t be so fierce. Did I hit a nerve?”

“Name?”

Luo Ya said.

“Uh…”

The girl was silent for a moment, as if momentarily dazed.

“Zhi Zi,” she replied after the brief daze.

“My name is Zhi Zi.”

“Obviously a fake name,” Luo Ya frowned.

“Sharp. I just made it up,” Zhi Zi laughed.

“So you’re fooling me with a fake name you just came up with?”

“Wow, such strong energy. You’re not that domineering around your master, are you? You only show off in front of someone as weak, pitiful, and helpless as me,” Zhi Zi mumbled under her breath.

“I’m just bad, not brainless,” Luo Ya laughed in spite of herself.

“I only escaped recently. I just started having time to think about what new name to give myself,” Zhi Zi shrugged.

“So what did people call you before you escaped?”

“GA-17.”

Zhi Zi smiled.

“What? Want to call me that too? Privately it’s fine, but don’t say it in front of outsiders, okay? I’ll get discovered.”

“Are you… an Experimental Subject?”

Luo Ya chose a less offensive term after deliberating.

“Don’t put it so harshly. A more civilized term would be… Unnamed Disciple.”

Zhi Zi made a funny face on her expressionless face.

“Disciple?”

Luo Ya’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yeah. Normally, a mage’s disciple is the most miserable of all professions,” Zhi Zi said helplessly.

“Being treated as labor, ordered to do this and that, slapped if they’re slightly unsatisfied—that’s the normal state for most ordinary disciples. And that’s the good side. Quite a few are used as experiments by their masters, eventually going mad or being played to death.”

Zhi Zi revealed a mischievous, devilish grin.

“Guess why countless elite apprentices still flock to become a mage’s disciple despite all this? Of course, because if they endure, they can flip from slave to master. As long as they become a full-fledged mage, they gain endless wealth and status.”

“One side endures humiliation to become a mage, while the other knows this full well but still vents the grievances they suffered as an apprentice, as if doing so can take revenge on the teacher who bullied them back then. At the slightest provocation, they’ll show filial piety on the surface but stab each other in the back. That’s the normal master-disciple relationship. As for you and your master, I even suspect if you’re his illegitimate daughter or something.”

“I’ve heard about this before, but I didn’t expect it to be so severe,” Luo Ya said softly.

“So since you struck gold and got the favor of that rising star, shouldn’t you work hard to repay that kindness? At the very least, don’t let your master be laughed at because of you, right?”

Zhi Zi crept up to Luo Ya’s ear and whispered like a demon tempting someone to fall.

Luo Ya swallowed.

“What can you do for me?”

Zhi Zi revealed a smug grin of a successful scheme.

“Hard stats like Magic Power and Mental Power can’t be drastically improved in the short term, but I know a way to boost your proficiency with magic!”

“Proficiency… with magic?”

Luo Ya mouthed the words.

“You mean familiarity with Magic Runes?”

“Shallow, girl. You’re being shallow!”

Zhi Zi said with a tone of frustrated disappointment.

“That basic stuff is fine, of course. We should set our sights on something more awesome and eye-catching!”

“Like?”

“Practical Combat Experience,” Zhi Zi said seriously.

“That’s the most scarce thing for an Academy Mage and the thing that can set you apart from others.”

“And I can give you a ton of Practical Combat Experience.”

“All gifts of fate come with a price tag,” Luo Ya shook her head.

“What do I need to pay?”

“Your master only has you as his disciple, right?”

Zhi Zi said.

“Yes.”

“Almost ninety-nine percent of this tenth floor is unopened areas, right?”

“Yes.”

“You just need to help me find a place to live here, feed me a few good meals when you have time, and don’t let your master know I exist. That’s all I ask.”

“But I have to tell you, shortcut experience doesn’t come without a cost. You’ll only know how to use it but won’t understand the knowledge. Later, you’ll have to make up all those missed lessons.”

“Like you said, all gifts of fate come with a price tag.”

“So?”

“Do you desire power?”