Uh...
Upon seeing that Lan Qingyou was only in her twenties yet had dropped out at fifteen, everyone began to speculate whether something had happened at home.
High Priestess, however, didn't think that far ahead and immediately blurted out an apology.
She didn't know Lan Qingyou's circumstances and had only been joking. Realizing it had turned out this way, she immediately apologized.
The Tower: "It's fine, really."
Lan Qingyou didn't take High Priestess's words to heart at all.
Everyone was just joking around, and this kind of minor banter wasn't a big deal.
The Fool: "Tower, did you drop out because of your legs?"
As the only person in the group who had seen Lan Qingyou in person, The Fool was very aware of her physical characteristics.
After all, her flying posture was clearly unusual.
The Tower: "Yeah. When I was fifteen, I was in a car accident that paralyzed my legs, so I didn't go back to school."
Lan Qingyou didn't shy away from this fact.
Seeing this, High Priestess froze.
She had just been making a joke, but she never expected the Witch of the Tower to actually be disabled...
"...I'm such a jerk!"
High Priestess smacked her forehead, repenting for her joke.
It seemed she should be more careful with her jokes in the future.
"Maybe I really should learn from Hierophant and Empress on how to interact with people."
High Priestess, Vivian Nadasdy Bathory.
Her family was very wealthy, a fortune accumulated since her grandfather's generation in the pharmaceutical business.
Relying on her family's wealth, she had been sent to an elite private school.
However, the children of the nobility at the school looked down on such 'new money' families that had only lasted three generations.
Consequently, she suffered all kinds of insults and discrimination at school.
One day, unable to take it anymore, she fought back and got into a massive brawl in the school hallway with the people who always bullied her.
The result was predictable; she was physically weak to begin with and lost completely, ending up in the hospital.
From then on, she began a life of taking online classes at home and discovered the internet.
It was also from this moment that she became a complete shut-in.
To her, the internet was virtual and hypocritical, but at the same time, it was real and beautiful.
She loved surfing the web and observing from the shadows. Because everyone there was so talented and spoke so well, she absolutely loved it.
But because of this, her communication skills dwindled to almost zero.
Her parents, unable to bear seeing her like this, hired many therapists for psychological counseling, which slowly pulled her back.
Just as the therapists were preparing for further treatment, she was forcibly transported to the Kalim continent.
So, strictly speaking, while Vivian appeared carefree and talkative in the villa, her truly effective communication was limited to discussing magic and mana.
...
After discussing Lan Qingyou's paper, everyone returned to their own business.
After all, everyone had things to do, and it was about time to sleep.
Lan Qingyou was the same.
However, after her bath tonight, she didn't take out her card to read papers as usual. Instead, she took out the wooden plank she had pried off the collapsed shelter earlier.
This wasn't an ordinary plank; it was a plank engraved with magic patterns.
Of course, that went without saying.
The main point was that this plank held the magic shield core of that shelter.
It was the component that worked in the opposite direction compared to everything else.
After all, researching a shield core would surely grant more experience points than just studying magic patterns.
Now that transportation and lighting for traveling were solved, the remaining issue was safety.
Golems and housing.
If she wanted to fight and live in the wild, these two were indispensable.
So, on the next day—the third day of the second mana tide—Lan Qingyou officially began her research on the shield.
Magic patterns and magic circuits were two different things.
Patterns belonged to Semiotics and were more about the drawing itself.
Once the symbolic blueprints and conditions were mastered, one only needed to use drawing tools and their own mana to sketch them.
Magic circuits, however, were the things hidden beneath the symbols.
They were also drawn using one's own mana.
The difference was that one was the surface, while the other was the core.
Semiotics served as an auxiliary; on its own, it was useless except for being looked at.
Magic circuits, on the other hand, could function even when taken separately.
Thinking of this, Lan Qingyou took out a stone slab and began to draw on it with her finger as a pen.
The stone slabs were leftovers from what the stonemason Li Huai had made for her, and they were perfect for practice now.
She had plenty at home anyway; if she ran out, she could use wooden planks.
Her idea was good, but she was simply too unskilled.
Etching on stone was one thing, but once she finished the stone slabs and started on the wood, problems arose.
It was simple.
The wood couldn't withstand her attempts.
Or rather, her craftsmanship was too poor; she couldn't achieve the level of precision found on the shelter's components.
"It seems I need more practice."
After another wooden plank shattered, Lan Qingyou spoke with her arms crossed, looking quite serious.
She attributed everything to her lack of familiarity. While it felt a bit like shifting the blame, that was indeed part of the reason.
Previously, the most she had drawn were alchemy circles, which didn't require much precision beyond being a 'circle.'
But now, she had to draw an entire complete, interconnected composition, and she wasn't there yet.
Practice. Practice like her life depended on it.
Practice makes perfect. Just because she couldn't do it now didn't mean she couldn't do it later.
So, on the third day of the mana tide, Lan Qingyou obsessed over the magic shield.
She completely forgot her earlier intention to research something to make a 'contribution' this month, hoping to snag another S-grade grading.
She worked so late into the night that she didn't even notice the second mana tide had ended.
Surprisingly, after wasting a mountain of stone and wood, she actually began to get the hang of it.
【The one-month period has ended. The second monthly grading is now beginning.】
【This ranking will be based on three criteria: 'shelter level,' 'individual level,' and 'contribution to the Kalim world.' Additionally, those without rewards will not be included in the ranking.】
Whoosh—!!!
Lan Qingyou, who had only just fallen asleep at dawn, was suddenly jolted awake by the booming world consciousness echoing in her ears.
Sitting up abruptly, she looked around with bleary eyes, her hair slightly messy from sleep.
Seeing that no one had broken into her shelter, she lay back down in relief.
"Squeak— squeak—"
Steel Wool, huddled right next to her, was also startled awake when she sat up. Seeing her lie back down, it closed its eyes again.
"Wait, it's the monthly grading!"
Then, Lan Qingyou snapped her eyes open again.
Rate on N.U.
