"Ninthfold Flame Domain! Crimson Lotus Karma Fire!!!!"

"That's not how you cast magic!!!" Yue Liuyi’s voice cracked like a whip under a summer sky.

Seeing Yin Mu stand rooted like a stone idol, her fingers knotting a maze of signs, Yue Liuyi rushed up like a gust through bamboo.

"Eh? Not like this? Then… bloom, collapse! Shatter, you false world!!!!" Yin Mu’s words flared like fireworks in daylight.

Yin Mu planted her left hand on her hip and jabbed her right index finger at the heavens like a spear at thunderclouds.

"Also not like that! What are these weird incantations?!" Yue Liuyi’s brows twitched like ripples on a pond.

"I saw it in stories, just like this," Yin Mu muttered, eyes shining like stars trapped in glass.

"No one chants before a fight like that! It wastes time, and your stance is full of holes, like a net in the wind!"

"Then… how should I do it?" Her voice trembled like a leaf in early rain.

"Hmm… magic’s something life is born with, like how fish know water," Yue Liuyi said, calm as moonlight on a lake.

"People forget it over time, like tracks fading in snow. You stayed in the Outer Ring too long, Yin Mu, and lost the basics."

"Is that so… then, big sis, what should I do?" Her hope flickered like a candle behind paper.

"Just regain the sense for it, that’s all—easy as catching a drifting dandelion seed," Yue Liuyi said with a sly smile.

The first step of magic is resonance with life-force, like two tuning forks singing across a quiet valley.

For someone with no spellwork, it’s hard, like groping for a path in mountain fog.

Usually that step alone takes a year, slow as moss climbing stone.

But Yin Mu faced a living battery of life-force, bright as spring in full bloom.

The World Tree Maiden, even in low-consumption form, can draw life-force like a tide and guide your senses like a lighthouse.

People call that the World Tree Maiden’s blessing, or in older places, a god’s dew on parched soil.

"Eh? I can feel it… a strange feeling, like my body slipped free of gravity, like a kite cut loose."

Under Yue Liuyi’s guidance, Yin Mu drifted into a trance, eyes wide as moon pools over midnight hills.

She stared at her hands, dazed as if watching snow melt; her raven hair lifted behind her like water rising.

"Oh… looks like a gravity-type gift," Yue Liuyi said, nodding like a willow in wind.

She wasn’t surprised; the answer fit like a key sliding into jade.

Gifts surface from what life longs for, like springs rising where the earth thirsts.

Yin Mu, a child of the ordinary world, yearned to break the cage and chase her own track across the sky.

So transcending gravity became the bridge of choice, like wings given to a grounded bird.

"G-gravity type…?" Her voice quivered like a plucked string.

"Yes!" Yue Liuyi took her hand, warm as sun on frost, and smiled like dawn.

"Congrats, Yin Mu! Anything tied to anti-gravity is rare, like feathers of a qilin."

"Rare… really? That’s awesome!!! Is—Is it SSR?!!!" Her joy burst like confetti in a gale.

"Ugh… real life has no gacha ranks," Yue Liuyi sighed, like rain tapping a paper umbrella.

"But many magic workshops need anti-gravity mages in their core chambers, like hearts needing steady beats."

"The pay’s high. It’s a solid path, like a well-paved road through cedar."

"Yaa!!! So good! I can finally turn my life over like a spring flood! I’ll leave my story in this new world and meet cute girls!"

Yin Mu hopped, buoyant as a bubble; the black-clad girl bounced unnaturally high, like a swallow riding a thermal.

"Not yet! You’re still at the seed stage. You need steady training, like sharpening a blade with rain and time."

"Then how do I get EXP? Can I fight monsters? Take citizen requests?" Her words tumbled like pebbles down a slope.

"Real life doesn’t level up like that. Growth needs practice and insight, like tea steeped slow."

"And yes—reading helps," she added, voice clear as spring water over stones.

She walked to the bookcase, steps soft as cat’s paws, and drew out a thick tome like a sleeping dragon.

She spread the heavy title page, and four bold characters rose like carved cliffs: Magic Codex.

"This is a grimoire that records study paths. Light a magelight candle and read, like stars waking in a jar."

"I’m giving it to you," she said, eyes bright as lanterns at dusk.

"Ah! Thank you, blue-haired sis! You’re amazing!!!" Yin Mu’s joy fluttered like banners in a fair wind.

She jumped again, a black comet, and this time hit the ceiling like a bell struck too hard.

"Ow! That hurts!!!" Her yelp popped like a firecracker under an eave.

"Don’t get too excited. If you can’t read something, ask me," Yue Liuyi said, palm landing on the edgy teen’s head like a calming leaf.

"O-okay… but I can’t read this world’s script. What then?" Her worry pooled like rain in cupped hands.

"After this is settled, go to school with Kaka," Yue Liuyi said, voice warm as hearthlight.

"As for the grimoire, don’t worry. It imprints by resonance, like ink soaking silk, and shows content in the clearest way."

"Got it!!! Thank you, Venerable Liuyi!" Gratitude rang like a bell on a red string.

The black-clad girl dropped to her knees with a thump, like kneeling on temple stone.

"Master, please accept this disciple’s bow!!!" Her forehead touched the floor like a falling star.

"No need for that ceremony!!! And what’s with ‘Venerable Liuyi’?! You’re breaking genre here!!!" Yue Liuyi flailed like a startled sparrow.

…

…

After teaching Yin Mu magic, the day slipped away like sunlight off a river.

The pale moon hung like a hook, and the girls’ life stayed quiet as snow in bamboo.

Yet elsewhere on Dreamwood Star, a hidden clash unfolded like thunder behind a mountain.

…

…

"Daishi! Run!" The shout tore the night like a ripped banner.

The man in a white suit clutched his chest, pain carving lines like knife marks in ice.

Blood dripped from his breast, one slow bead after another—drip, drip—splattering into red flowers on the stone.

A tiny boy stared, eyes blown wide like a fawn caught in torchlight.

"Dad!!!" His cry shivered like a reed flute in winter wind.

"Nightshade, take Daishi and go!" The order cracked like flint.

Before the echo faded, a shadow burst from the shrubs like a panther from brush.

The shadow scooped the struggling boy and fled, a black streak under the hooked moon.

They left the Chairman alone before an unbeatable reaper, cold as frost on steel.

Everyone but her lay dead; every guard had fallen like wheat under a scythe.

Tonight a black-robed figure entered the secluded manor and killed them all, one by one, like candles pinched out.

"Heh…" The robed mystery let out a laugh thin as a knife-edge.

They didn’t chase. They raised a pistol and aimed at the Chairman, like a viper fixing its strike.

Even with the barrel staring at him like a black eye, the man in white showed no fear, steady as a stone pillar.

"You’re from Fu Pi, aren’t you? How much did they pay?" His voice was cool as ice over a well.

"Haha… not money, Chairman Teng Feiyang," the figure purred, a lazy rot in the tone like smoke.

"When it comes to cash, Fu Pi can’t match you," they said, words curling like incense.

"Then what did he promise you?" The Chairman frowned, lines knitting like storm clouds.

"Women. Only women drive me this far," the figure hissed, feverish as summer locusts.

"They promised me the World Tree Maiden after the job," they laughed, eyes gleaming like wet obsidian.

"Haha! A World Tree Maiden! I, Lingzi, have never played with one!" Their sleeves flared like wings of a crow.

Moonlight bleached a face both male and female, cold as porcelain, strange as a mask on a shrine.

"You… you monsters…" The Chairman’s breath steamed like winter from tight lips.

"Chairman Teng Feiyang, farewell." Lingzi’s smile split like a crack in ice.

Laughing, wild as a brushfire, Lingzi pulled the trigger.