“Ha…!”
“Mo Ran, please, go easier!”
“I… I can’t take it anymore! I’m… I’m…!”
Su Ling was currently drenched in sweat, gasping for breath.
Mo Ran, standing below her, couldn’t help but press a hand to her forehead.
“Su Ling, you’ve only done three pull-ups. This… sigh!”
“I’ve already pushed past my limits!”
Su Ling hung from the horizontal bar, looking like she wanted to cry but had no tears left.
Who would have thought the physical education standards at the Witch Academy would be so insane?
Ten thousand pull-ups within ten minutes—was that even something a human could do?
Well, Witches weren’t exactly human.
“I’ve noticed that when you do them, you rely entirely on your stagnant muscles. Magic! You have to use Magic!”
Mo Ran quickly identified the problem.
Su Ling let go of the bar and collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.
“Huh?”
Seeing Su Ling’s bewildered expression, Mo Ran realized this girl knew very little about subjects other than physics and mathematics.
“Do you know why Physical Education and Magic Control are taught together? It’s because you have to use the Magic inside your body to complete those requirements.”
“We are Witches. Magic is our most important and defining characteristic. It isn’t just the foundation for our survival and reproduction; it is the source of our strength.”
“Feel the Magic rushing through your body. Use your mind to slowly gather it in your arms, your thighs, or any other part of your body.”
“Like this.”
Mo Ran raised her right hand.
It was small, white, and delicate, looking completely non-threatening.
However, under Su Ling’s watchful gaze, she slowly placed her hand on the horizontal bar.
Then, as if pulling a radish from the ground, she ripped the entire bar out of the earth.
“If we only relied on stagnant muscles, we would still be Ordinary Witches. We aren’t Transcendent Witches, so it would be impossible to do this.”
Mo Ran explained as she thrust the bar back into the ground.
“Now, I need to confirm one thing. Have you ever felt the presence of Magic?”
“Uh, I think so?” Su Ling said, sounding uncertain.
“What do you mean ‘you think so’?”
“It’s just that whenever we were cuddling before, I always felt like something was trying to burst out of me. But it was always blocked by the Isolation Array in the room. I suppose that was Nightmare Power?”
Su Ling scratched her head, sounding a bit embarrassed.
Upon hearing this, Mo Ran’s face turned beet red.
She was still an innocent girl!
“You… what on earth are you talking about?! Fine, if you can feel Nightmare Power, it means you’re a normal Witch. Now, hurry up and practice. These two courses are worth two hundred points. You wouldn’t want to throw all two hundred points away, would you?”
“Yes! Instructor Mo Ran!”
Su Ling felt a surge of fighting spirit.
‘What instructor? She just likes to talk nonsense,’ Mo Ran grumbled internally.
However, her body was honest.
She patiently began to guide Su Ling step by step.
Without realizing it, she had already begun to treat the person in front of her as a true friend.
***
“A recommendation letter?”
In the Ares Galaxy, a black-haired woman who looked strikingly similar to Ji Lingyuan frowned.
“You want me to give a recommendation letter to a Fuli Ji? Ji Lingyuan, did you get your head caught in a door?”
“I said that as long as you give her a recommendation letter, I will do as you say and marry Hua Feihua.”
Ji Lingyuan tried her best to suppress the anger in her heart, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.
As expected, she truly couldn’t maintain any composure when facing this woman.
“You care about her that much? It’s only been a few days. You’ve actually piqued my interest in her.”
“Ji Lingying!”
Ji Lingyuan could no longer hold back.
However, Ji Lingying suppressed her with a single glance, making it impossible for her to even stand up.
‘Damn it, are Great Witches that amazing?!’
“Actually, I don’t understand. Little Hua has been by your side for over twenty years. How can she not compare to a Fuli Ji you’ve only been with for a few days? Ha, Ji Lingyuan, you weren’t conquered in bed, were you?”
“You bastard, I was the one on top!”
“Heh, so it was just lust. Don’t give me any of that ‘love at first sight’ nonsense. You’re just craving her body, aren’t you?”
Ji Lingying pinched Ji Lingyuan’s chin with a mocking expression.
“Tch!” Ji Lingyuan turned her head away.
That was indeed part of the reason. She wouldn’t deny it.
“At least you’re honest.” Ji Lingying chuckled.
“I can provide the recommendation letter, but you know there’s a threshold. She must reach the minimum score of 300 points; otherwise, my recommendation letter is just a piece of scrap paper.”
“But looking at that little thing’s previous grades… tsk, tsk, tsk. They were absolutely disastrous.”
Ji Lingying sat on the sofa, crossing her long legs clad in black stockings as she looked at Su Ling’s transcript, clicking her tongue in wonder. Her eyes held unconcealed disdain.
“I believe in her,” Ji Lingyuan snorted, crossing her arms.
“Stubborn. Fine, as long as she scores above 300 points in the end, I’ll give her the recommendation letter. However…”
Ji Lingying reached out, and Ji Lingyuan’s body was suddenly pulled toward her by an invisible force.
“Ji Lingying! What are you doing?!”
“It’s been so many years since we last met. My bratty little sister has grown so beautiful.”
Ji Lingying’s hand, clad in a black leather glove, caressed Ji Lingyuan’s face as she teased her.
“Damn it, I’m not interested in you!”
*Slap!*
A palm struck Ji Lingyuan’s bottom.
Her delicate face instantly turned a visible shade of red.
“Mind your manners.”
“But since you’re so devoted to that little thing, it makes my heart itch. Tsk, tsk. Maybe I should go experience it for myself too?”
Hearing this, Ji Lingyuan instantly bristled.
“Ji Lingying, are you freaking crazy?!”
“Heehee, my recommendation letter isn’t that easy to get~”
Ji Lingying let go of Ji Lingyuan and laughed loudly.
She tore open a spatial rift and stepped into it, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
“Ji Lingying!!!!”
***
“Hey, I heard the Witch Academy in Andromeda is holding some kind of Astral Grand Competition this year. There are no restrictions on participants; any Witch can join.”
“Not interested. It’s not like they’re handing out wives.”
“Heh heh heh, that shows how ill-informed you are. I heard the reward for the champion of this Astral Grand Competition is a wisp of light.”
“Light?”
“The Light of Hope. Don’t forget, the Witch Academy in Andromeda is the school where **[Sequence Nightmare Witch Hope]** once studied. Thousands of years ago, she appeared at the academy’s grand ceremony and left behind that wisp of the Light of Hope.”
“The Light of Hope? What use is that?”
The Godemos Star System served as a transit station between Andromeda and Orion.
This was a busy traffic planet within the system, with travelers constantly coming and going.
Interstellar travelers, Despair Nuns, Witch Union believers, and Comet Knights—groups of people rarely seen in other worlds—were a common sight here.
A small tea house provided a place for weary travelers to rest and quench their thirst. With many people gathered, it naturally became a hub for information.
In a corner, three cloaked figures quietly listened to the discussion.
“The Light of Hope… it can grant you one wish. Any wish at all~ Never mind a wife, even if you wish to marry a whole planet’s worth of wives, the Light of Hope can fulfill it for you.”
“The Original above! Where do I sign up?”
“Whoa, it’s that powerful? I’m going to go check it out too. Cough, cough. It’s mostly just to participate, of course. It’s definitely not for a whole planet of wives.”
“……”
“Heh heh, if I could get the Light of Hope, I’d wish to turn into a busty big sister, heh heh heh~”
The leader of the cloaked figures in the corner raised a tea cup, though her gaze was fixed on a table not far away.
It was a Comet Knight.
She was covered head to toe in heavy plate armor that was primarily matte black.
The surface of the armor was engraved with flowing dark patterns that shimmered with a cold, faint blue light, as if the night sky had been forged into metal.
Her towering helmet had sharp angles and completely obscured her face, with only the faintest starlight peeking through the slits.
It was impossible to read her expression, but one could feel a sense of distant calm and sharpness.
Comet Knights were a group of Witches who walked the Sequence of [Justice].
They lacked any organizational discipline and acted solely based on a mutually understood code of conduct.
They were not to kill the innocent or bully the weak.
When they witnessed injustice, they were to draw their longswords without hesitation to defend [Justice].
The reputation of the Comet Knights was far better than that of the Justice Legion in the same sequence.
Seeing a solitary Comet Knight now, many people present couldn’t help but cast a glance her way.
This Comet Knight appeared to be about two meters tall.
The smooth lines of her armor didn’t feel oppressive; instead, they added a touch of elegance.
The Comet Knight seemed to be there only for a rest.
After sitting for a while, she departed alone.
The hidden gazes were retracted.
“Is our next destination the Witch Academy?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Another petite cloaked figure looked up; it was Bai Miao.
“You heard them. The Witch Academy is holding the Astral Grand Competition, and the reward is the Light of Hope.”
“And the Light of Hope is one of the materials needed to construct a new Insect Hive.”
Bai Wei finished the tea in her hand.
“Do you suspect the Zerg might appear?”
“It’s not a suspicion; it’s a certainty.”
Bai Wei had extracted a extremely important memory from the Zerg they had killed previously.
The Acting Empress of the Fourth Universe had sent people to find Su Ling not only for the Insect Hive inside her but also to construct a new one.
Once the Insect Hive’s will selected a successor, it could not be changed.
The Acting Empress knew this as well.
However, the Acting Empress was highly ambitious.
Since the successor of the Insect Hive could not be changed, she would simply build a new one.
To construct a new Insect Hive, one needed the old Hive as well as other materials.
The Light of Hope was one of them.
Of course, the method for constructing a new Insect Hive only existed in Zerg legends.
Throughout the billions of years of Zerg history, no Zerg had ever succeeded.
It was clear that the Acting Empress was insane.
“Let’s go. Perhaps we will cross paths with Ling Ling in the future.”
“What did you say?!”
Bai Miao, who had been feeling dejected just a moment ago, suddenly snapped her head up, her voice unable to hide her excitement.
“I asked a close friend to give Ling Ling a recommendation letter. She will be reporting to the Witch Academy very soon.”
Bai Wei held the shattered [Vain] and began walking toward the starry sky, accompanied by Bai Miao and the silent K423.
The Light of Hope could construct a new Insect Hive, but that was only a legend.
She knew of another use for it.
That was to completely activate the Insect Hive and allow Su Ling to fully awaken.
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