The female mage pushed aside the last few people and stood before the desk.
Her purpose for coming here was very clear.
It was... Levitation.
The value of this spell far exceeded what anyone could imagine.
As long as she learned it, the doors of the transport guilds would swing wide open for her.
And when comparing the status of an adventurer to that of a member of a transport team...
It was like comparing an ant to an elephant; there was simply no contest.
A single commission reward for a transport team could easily exceed ten million gold coins.
Even the lowest-ranking subordinates could earn at least a million gold coins per trip.
And those were just the basic rewards.
Cultivation resources, a status higher than nobles and small-city administrators, and countless privileges.
These hidden benefits were terrifyingly abundant.
One could say that eventually joining a transport team was the ultimate and best choice for an adventurer.
However, those transport teams were notoriously selective when it came to recruiting members.
To this day, the Whitecliff City Adventurer's Guild had only produced two transport team members.
But if she knew Levitation, then it wouldn't be the transport teams picking her—she would be the one choosing the transport team.
Regarding Levitation...
She had once studied it with painstaking effort.
She was a mage who focused on the wind and fire elements, and she believed her talent wasn't poor.
She spent more time on magic than anyone else.
But that spell had crushed all her pride.
In that copy of 《The Complete Encyclopedia of Novice Magic》, Levitation spanned several hundred pages.
She recognized every single word, but she simply couldn't understand them when they were put together.
Complex magic circuits, control requirements so precise they were perverse, and a stability that would cause all previous effort to be lost with the slightest mistake.
It had been seventeen years since she first became a mage.
She had been studying this spell all that time.
Yet to this day, she couldn't even make a single feather float.
From then on, she understood.
Levitation was not something that could be learned through hard work alone.
She needed a mentor.
But a mentor capable of teaching Levitation cost a fortune.
A million gold coins per lesson.
She couldn't afford that kind of money.
Moreover, in this remote Whitecliff City, it was rare to even see a mage who knew Levitation.
And now, a mage who knew Levitation was sitting right here downstairs.
He looked quite young too.
He looked like... the kind of person she could approach from a different angle.
She took a deep breath, plastered her most charming smile on her face, and sashayed over with a sway of her hips.
Pushing through the crowd, she arrived at the table and looked at the black-haired mage, speaking up.
"Mage boss..."
"Please join the back of the queue."
Lin Gui didn't even look up. His pen tip glided across the paper as he gestured with his chin toward the long line nearby.
The female mage's smile froze on her face.
She was stunned for a moment, then began to laugh again, her voice as soft as melted honey.
"Mage boss, my name is Selena. I am the Vice Leader of the Crimson Flame Feather adventure group."
She glanced around at the chaotic crowd and spoke with a hint of sympathy, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"You're doing a good deed, aren't you? Delivering letters? You're even paying out of your own pocket to hire people to find the recipients? That must cost quite a bit, right?"
"You really are a rare, kind-hearted soul..."
As she spoke, she leaned forward casually.
Her well-fitted mage robe outlined her fiery curves, and the neckline was cut very low.
The collar of her robe swayed slightly with her movements, making the lines extending down from her collarbone flicker in and out of sight.
The rookie adventurers nearby watched with dry throats.
Some swallowed hard, while others didn't know where to look.
But Lin Gui didn't even lift an eyelid as the pen in his hand continued to scratch across the paper.
Selena was not discouraged and continued to talk to herself, her finger lightly tracing circles on the edge of the table:
"I've been in Whitecliff City for several years and know quite a few people."
"If you can't handle it all by yourself, I can help you make arrangements and coordinate some connections..."
She leaned closer and closer, her fingers resting incidentally on the table's edge, her body already brushing against Lin Gui's arm.
The outer layer of her mage robe had been removed at some point.
It was draped over the crook of her arm, revealing the tight-fitting shirt underneath that left nothing of her waistline to the imagination.
She reached out, her fingertips about to touch the back of Lin Gui's hand.
Lin Gui pulled his hand away.
He set down the pen.
Then he turned his head to look at her.
There was no expression on his face as he merely glanced indifferently at her half-exposed shoulder before looking into her eyes.
"Do you... want to learn Levitation from me?"
Selena was startled, her outstretched hand hanging in mid-air.
Instinctively, she wanted to nod.
But Lin Gui had already spoken.
"Two million, four hundred and sixty thousand gold coins per lesson."
He held out his hand to her, palm up.
"Pay first."
Selena's smile completely vanished.
Her mouth hung open, and it took a good while before she recovered, though her voice remained soft:
"Mage boss, you've misunderstood."
"I didn't come here for that..."
She paused, her eyes darting as her tone became even softer.
She stared at Lin Gui's exotic black hair and eyes, her gaze feigning a hazy daze while her eyelashes fluttered gently.
"I just thought that a mage as handsome as you is quite rare in Whitecliff City."
"Personally, I just like making friends."
"Especially... capable friends like you."
Her fingers glided lightly across the tabletop, her voice dropping a few octaves as her body leaned forward even further.
"I'd like to get to know you more deeply."
"An... in-depth understanding in all aspects isn't out of the question."
Selena spoke flirtatiously, her words carrying a naked suggestion.
It was as if as long as Lin Gui nodded, he could have an "in-depth" understanding of her in every way.
Lin Gui looked at her and said nothing.
Then he raised his hand and pointed to his right ear.
A pale green magical circle was there, emitting a faint glow.
In the noisy hall, it was almost invisible.
"Is that so?"
His tone was very calm.
"But my magic tells me that you'd rather see me dead."
Selena's smile froze instantly.
Standing far away on the second floor earlier, she hadn't noticed the magic operating by Lin Gui's ear.
That was... High Rank wind-element magic, Wind Listening.
Her fingers stiffened on the table, and the flirtatious mask on her face peeled away layer by layer.
Lin Gui withdrew his hand and looked back down to register the next letter, his pen scratching against the paper.
He had been using it the whole time.
The crowd was surging and chaotic; it was hard to distinguish many of the names being called out.
So he had activated Wind Listening to enhance his auditory perception.
He hadn't expected to hear the sounds of betting from the floor above instead.
Selena's face turned from red to white.
She straightened up and threw her removed mage robe back on.
Her fingers paused at the ties as she pulled the neckline a bit higher.
She looked at Lin Gui, her expression shifting from embarrassment to coldness, and the smile at the corners of her mouth vanished completely.
"My apologies for the intrusion."
She turned and left, her high heels clicking sharply against the stone floor in a rapid, steady rhythm.
After a few steps, she stopped and cast a glance back.
The black-haired mage had already picked up his pen again and was looking down to register the next letter.
The surrounding crowd had surged forward once more, surrounding him in the center.
Selena's gaze was profound. She narrowed her eyes and licked her lips.
In her heart, she had already begun to plan how to take down this little mage.
For a Gold Rank adventurer who lived by the blade and earned money with her life...
Temporary face was nothing compared to the potentially massive profits she could gain.
Rate on N.U.
