Mage Manual
Chapter 312 - Chapter 312 Chapter 268 The Scarecrow and the Fire

Chapter 312: Chapter 268: The Scarecrow and the Fire Chapter 312: Chapter 268: The Scarecrow and the Fire Kingdom of Stars, Sword Flower University, evening.

Carrying a sword bag, Ingrid returned to the dormitory and lifted the gold-edged invitation in her hand, “I just came back from a practical swordsmanship class, and someone entrusted me to deliver this invitation to Sonia.”

Adelle went over to take a look, smirked, and casually threw it into the trash can, “A mere Viscount dares to send an invitation, really a toad lusting after a swan’s flesh… Ingrid, let me teach you, for invitations like this with less than three stars, just say ‘I’m not very familiar with Sonia’ to refuse it. If there’s a Moon Star, then you can bring it back because that means the sender is at least a formal heir of an Earl or higher.”

“What if there’s a Dazzling Star?” Ingrid, although of noble birth herself, had never studied heraldry since childhood and knew nothing about noble etiquette.

“That would represent an olive branch from the royal family,” Adelle said, “You’d need to kneel on one knee, put on white gloves to receive the invitation, as a sign of respect to the royal family… haha, just kidding, you can accept it normally, but doing so might actually gain you favor from the royal family!”

Adelle was only joking, but seeing Ingrid pondering deeply, she couldn’t help but feel surprised, “Are you actually considering it?”

Ingrid countered, “Why not consider it? Isn’t a chance to connect with the royal family very rare?”

Adelle scratched her face, “But… how to put it, Ingrid, you’ve always given us the impression that you don’t bow to power, nor would you compromise yourself for benefits, especially since Sonia wanted to introduce you to Professor Trozan and you were unwilling…”

“I do not bow to power, nor do I compromise myself for benefits,” Ingrid nodded, “In the few days since I became a Mage, many nobles have shown goodwill through various channels, which I’ve ignored.”

“Then why are you willing to bow to the royal family?”

“Bowing to other nobles is selling oneself to power, but serving the royal family is contributing to society, how could they be the same?” Ingrid gave Adelle a look, and went over to put down her sword bag, “I’m not a fool. My goal after becoming a Sword Master was to join the Dazzling Star Mage system, so why would I refuse an opportunity for a higher starting point?”

Adelle understood–Ingrid had strong principles because she had long determined her only master could only be this country, and since the rulers of the Kingdom of Stars were the royal family, she would only offer her loyalty to them and never accept other nobles’ advances.

“But why didn’t they directly approach Sonia?” Ingrid was curious, “Sonia goes to the training grounds every day, isn’t she easy to find?”

“They dare not.”

Lois, rubbing her eyes and yawning as she got down from the bed, said, “Nobles care most about face. If it became known that Sonia rejected their banquet invitation, it would be they who lose face, not Sonia. But if they issue the invitation through us, even if it’s rejected, no one would know… Ugh, my head hurts, Adelle–”

“Coming right away.” Adelle quickly prepared a glass of honey water and handed it to Lois, who gulped it down. Ingrid curiously asked, “Lois, do you get hangovers?”

“Normal people get hangovers after drinking and sleeping,” Lois muttered.

When Sonia triumphantly returned from Trajectory University at dawn, the entire girls’ dormitory erupted, staying up all night to celebrate.

Initially, the dorm supervisor had some objections, but after Professor Trozan personally paid to have several cases of wine delivered overnight from the Secret Garden, the supervisor had no choice but to reluctantly have a few drinks.

It was inevitable that the girls’ dormitory was so excited. Although Sonia had been focusing solely on swordsmanship training this past month and hadn’t participated in any female activities, it’s worth noting that during the last semester, Sonia diligently expanded her network; although she wasn’t close to everyone, she at least had some acquaintance.

Therefore, as Sonia rose up, the girls quietly followed this poor and beautiful university student’s progress–some with blessings, some with envy, and some with disdain. Regardless, they were all paying attention to Sonia, and as she continued her unstoppable swordsmanship training and achieved one dazzling performance after another, many of them gradually changed their attitudes, quietly cheering for Sonia, becoming her first fans.

Most of the students at Sword Flower University came from middle-class, lower noble families, and merchant families in Jiale City. Although born into luxury, their spiritual world was often very empty. The prosperity of Jiale City only filled their minds with vanity and pleasure, but did not provide them with proper ideals and responsibilities.

Some, like Lois, still knew they needed to study hard to eventually take over the family business; others, like Adelle, just muddled through four years at Sword Flower University, got married upon graduation, had a few children, and then continued to drift through life, since her future was guaranteed by others.

They were like luxuriously dressed scarecrows, superficially filling a role on earth.

Initially, the local natives Adelle and Lois shunned Sonia and Ingrid because, essentially, it was the contradiction between scarecrows and fire–both Ingrid and Sonia had clear ideals and goals. Their souls constantly emitted a flame called “striving,” which naturally led to estrangement from the scarecrows.

But now, things had changed.

Because Sonia was no longer just a fire; she had risen to become a dazzling rising star.

Scarecrows might fear the pain of fire, but they do not fear the sunlight of a rising star. On the contrary, they craved the sunlight to fulfill their souls; the brighter the rising star shone, the more they felt their empty souls becoming fuller and more radiant.

In fact, Lois was the first to be influenced. In order to keep up with Sonia, she had quietly turned down all invitations, no longer attended tea parties, withdrew from clubs, and even started listening attentively in class. She wholly dedicated herself to learning from the Water Technique Faction, achieving in one month what used to take half a year–all those meaningless social activities had taken up too much of her attention.

So when they saw Sonia slaying the alchemy bear with one strike in the Veil live broadcast, they almost jumped around in their dorm in excitement. The pride of Sword Flower students and Sonia’s achievement, these two joys overlapped and brought them even more happiness.

The celebration party last night lasted until dawn, and their dorm still bore traces of the festivity, with garbage bins full of wine bottles and cans, and even scraps of fireworks tubes on the floor–truly pulling off a celebration with late-night fireworks.

Lois was not yet a Mage, and staying up to watch the Veil live stream had exhausted her. Combined with the early morning celebration party, it was a night of staying up with drinking; the more she drank, the more awake she felt. At dawn, she crashed on her bed in a drunken sleep, missing a whole day of classes.

On the contrary, Adelle, who had drunk quite a lot too, was still energetic and didn’t need to sleep, claiming it was a “talent developed from binge-watching series.” Seeing Adelle looking radiant and playing with the Veil, Lois couldn’t help but kick her lightly with her foot.

“I’m sorry!” Lois said preemptively, raising her voice.

Adelle was immediately disconcerted by her and muttered, “Always taking it out on me…”

“Where’s Sonia?” Ingrid asked. She had been engaged in Void Realm Exploration last night and had returned after the celebration party ended, “Is she still out?”

“She came back at noon,” Adelle pouted, “She’s been lying in bed ever since.”

Ingrid looked over and noticed that Sonia was engrossed in playing with the Veil on her bed, tapping seriously, smiling joyfully at times, then gritting her teeth, or furrowing her brow seriously, and at times, beaming triumphantly. Her expressions changed several times within a minute.

The swordswoman blinked: “Why is she suddenly so absorbed in the Veil? She’s just like someone else…”

“Ingrid, you’ve changed,” Adelle said solemnly. “You never used to beat around the bush when insulting someone.”

“I didn’t say it was you!”

“Still denying it? As if I don’t know who’s the most addicted to the Veil in this building!”