Villainous

However, Li Mei had two other data chips in her inventory.

She never peeked at them before since she kept getting distracted. But after more than an entire week of absolute boredom?

Days were spent tutoring her friends in reading, writing, and arithmetic under Faust"s derisive supervision. He occasionally forced an impromptu lesson on her, or conducted an obnoxious test. With the Archive and Interface in general, such tests and memorization were child"s play.
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He also gave lectures and instruction on social etiquette in Brittalund, forcing them to memorize patterns of speech and colloquialisms. Posture, hand gestures, dining manners, bows...

Otto and Hana learned quickly, but they were still exhausted at the end of every day. In many ways, it was harsher training than what Li Mei put them through!

At least she only scolded them when they were honestly responsible for a mistake through bad choices or slacking off in training, instead of scolding them for making mistakes through ignorance.

Her criticisms of their progress and ability was a bit harsh, but always fair. She even praised them from time to time!

And they watched her put herself through even harsher training, so neither Otto nor Hana felt they had any room to complain or ask for leniency. Otto felt bad watching someone younger than him do more difficult training without complaint on her own initiative, while Hana just felt inspired to work harder to catch up no matter how tired she got.

Faust mocked them the entire time regardless of their progress, and made them feel stupid with condescending sarcasm. Even if they got questions right, he attributed it to luck, a fluke, or his own skill in teaching. When he wasn"t teaching, he was filling the wooden box with cigarette smoke and sleeping in one of the two bedrooms which he claimed for himself, forbidding anyone from bothering him unless the box was on fire.

It only took a day of lessons for them to understand why Li Mei disliked him so much.

Li Mei slept less frequently than her friends, aside from Bao who kept similar hours. She often lied awake long after bedtime, studying the Archive or scrolling through the EXP Shop for ideas.

After more than a week of being bored to death, one such sleepless night she finally remembered the data chips she took from Vigen and pulled them from storage.

"You"d think air travel via giant dinosaur would be more exciting," Li Mei thought, rubbing the pad of her thumb over the smooth surfaces. "Maybe it"d be fun if Faust wasn"t around. Though if he weren"t, would I have gotten so bored that I remembered the data chips? I forgot about them for so long...

"Ah, speaking of which. I also have those whatchacallits... Right, here they are. Two-Color Mist Pearls." Li Mei pulled one out after scrolling through the screen displaying her cramped storage inventory. Another treasure pilfered from Vigen, but mana quality wasn"t an issue before she formed a Core, and afterwards...

Honestly, she just forgot about them. Her attention kept getting yanked around to more pressing matters at the time, like the Training Room, and they didn"t take much s.p.a.ce in her storage.

The Two-Color Mist Pearls were pretty little spheres, swirling with pink and blue colors that made them resemble candies.

"Increases mana quality on consumption, eh?" Li Mei swallowed one little pearl after the other, until all ten were resting in her tummy. They didn"t have a particular flavor beyond a slight metallic tang, much to her disappointment. At least they were small and easy to swallow.

Warmth spread from her abdomen to her fingertips and made her scalp tingle, but the feeling faded in just a few moments.

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[Mana Quality Increased]

Your Mana Quality increased by 1★!

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"Not bad!" Li Mei smiled and laid back in the bed, directing mana into the data chips to check their contents.

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[Black Jade Data Chip]

Encryption: None

Content: Contract spell.

Estimated Value: 28000c

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[Successful Contact With Black Jade Data Chip]

Copied content to Archive. Added Contract to spells.

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[Contract]

Create a contract between two individuals with binding terms that must be agreed to voluntarily. Both parties must be capable of understanding the contract terms in their entirety or the Signing will fail. Individuals with low or otherwise inebriated intelligence will not succeed in Signing.

Minor infractions or breaking the contract will alert the other party, and punishment depicted in the contract will be issued. Terms of the contract can be summoned by either party at any time and shown to others for verification.

In many countries, contracts using Contract magic are legal and binding, as the magic contains a unique signature that can be immediately verified as genuine.

The creator of the contract must contribute at least 70% of the mana required upon Signing the contract.

Each contract requires at least one obligation, and one contract breach punishment as well as established terms of what const.i.tutes a contract breach. Minor infractions and punishments thereof are optional.

Spell Rarity:

Spell Quality: S

Mana Cost: 10 mana to summon a contract page and start discussing terms. At Signing, final mana cost is determined as follows - 100 mana per obligation listed in the contract, 50 mana per listed infraction, 200 mana for minor contract infraction punishment, 500 mana for non-lethal contract breach punishment, 1000 mana per Rank of highest Rank signee for lethal contract breach punishment.

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[White Jade Data Chip]

Encryption: None

Content: Message spell.

Estimated Value: 3000c

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[Successful Contact With White Jade Data Chip]

Copied content to Archive. Added Message to spells.

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[Message]

A skill that allows you to send a message to someone you"ve spoken to before by visualizing the target, creating a small letter that flies to its target and can be opened even by those without a Core. The further away they are, the more mana it costs. Mana will drain constantly until the message reaches its destination.

Message travel speed is alleviated by caster"s Mana Quality. Base travel speed is 1 kilometer per hour, with a reduction of 5 minutes per kilometer per hour for each ★.

The letter"s appearance and unfolding effect is determined by the caster"s visualization when creating the message. Only the target can comprehend the contents of the letter, though others can see it until the message is opened. Target will also be informed of total mana cost for delivered message, in case they are willing and able to respond.

Despite being a common spell, it has high utility function and quality making it more valuable.

Spell Rarity: E

Spell Quality: B

Mana Cost: For a text message, 5 mana per message per kilometer of distance between caster and target. For a voice message, 15 mana per message per kilometer. For a video message which includes voice, 50 mana per message per kilometer. Voice and video messages require at least 3★ and 5★ Mana Quality respectively.

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Li Mei resisted the urge to let out an impressed whistle, storing her data chips away again. What a haul! She really regretted not checking the data chips out sooner, and couldn"t help wondering why Vigen never bothered to use the chips himself.

Maybe he didn"t have a Core? Since using a data chip required manipulation of mana.

Or he was just bad at mana manipulation and couldn"t use the chips well. Or... Maybe he wanted to sell them?

Their value wasn"t low, either in monetary terms or practical ones, though one was obviously a much greater windfall than the other. Since the Interface copied the contents without breaking the chip, Li Mei could use then turn around and sell them along with the Green Jade Data Chip containing Hecatoncheires!

Jade Data Chips were meant to be single-use, and their color indicating the amount of storage s.p.a.ce available. White and black were top-tier quality, while green was below average. More complex information, such as stronger or more intricate spells and techniques, required better quality jade to pa.s.s on.

Data was essentially encoded into the very structure of the jade. Accessing the data with a thread of mana allowed one to sense the amount of information inside and the quality of mana used to encode it. Absorbing data was a literal description of the action used, as the jade chip was consumed much in the same way as a mana core: by breaking down and a.s.similating the mana - and thus data - within its structure.

Such a process left only remnants of a brittle jade sh.e.l.l behind that couldn"t be used again. Copying data without destroying the chip was yet another enormous cheat.

"I have the data chips, a bunch of valuable books, and a bank token. When we reach Brittalund I"ll be able to get my own funding right away without having to rely entirely on Faust for everything. I"ll wring him for what he"s worth as much as possible, but it"s also good to have my own means that he won"t know about.

"From there I"ll need to build more capital and gather information. I"ll also need to network with other people at the magic academy if I"m going to make my own organization. People with useful backgrounds or skills, and most importantly, the right personalities and att.i.tudes. I don"t need backstabbers before I"ve built a foundation so I"ll have to be selective, but the Contract spell will help a lot."

An organization at her beck and call would solve many problems. Lower ranked minions for collecting information and gathering resources, and higher ranked minions to manage them. And she"d sit in the boss chair, reaping the benefits of hard work and loyalty!

Of course, setting up a decent organization was a lot of work, and Li Mei wasn"t going to shirk her duties. She wasn"t shy about rolling up her sleeves when necessary, and establishing a group of her own to eventually stand toe-to-toe with something like Erebus would take time and effort.

And money.

So much money.

She clenched her fists, staring through the darkness at a point beyond the wooden box and its Roc carrier. "If I"m going to find out the truth about 44, I"ll need to be a lot stronger. Not just myself, but my backing too. That filthy slave-owning child-neglecting b.a.s.t.a.r.d is Rank 7, so that"s my long-term goal. Rank 7 for me, competent allies at my side, and a strong organization at my back! Then, when it comes down to it...

"I"ll kill that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Faust with my own two hands. How much he suffers first depends on what I find out about poor little 44."

After a long few minutes of silence, Li Mei rolled over and pulled the blankets over her head. With the vague outline of a plan establishing itself in her mind, she fell fast asleep.