Villainous - 58 Praise?

Refining and refilling mana in the Core wasn’t something that happened automatically. Even a good night’s sleep wouldn’t restore so much as a drop of mana! So when Li Mei woke in the late morning hours, the first thing she did after being compelled to put the heavy boots back on was to utilize her mana circulation technique. With a broken arm throbbing painfully it was a bit of a struggle to focus on moving refined mana through her meridians, but Li Mei patiently persevered.

Then she had a snack, cleaned up her little nest, checked her daily quests, tied her broken arm once more to her side with the makeshift cloth rope, and summoned a barrier ramp to descend from the roof beam to the attic floor.

“It’s much better sleeping by Bao or Hana,” Li Mei muttered, rubbing the back of her neck as she walked toward the attic stairs. She missed the added warmth and comfort of someone sharing the bed, and the security of more people listening for danger in the night. “Never thought it’d be so nice to not sleep alone.”

In her previous life, Li Mei never shared a bed with anyone. Neither platonically nor romantically! She slept in a crib as a baby, then in her own bed once she outgrew the crib. Once, she’d had a nightmare and ran to her parent’s room, only to be chased out and severely scolded for being an unfilial nuisance and disturbing her elders.

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After that, no matter how scary the nightmare was, little Li Mei would burrow deeper into her blankets and hug a stuffed toy until she cried herself to sleep. Eventually she stopped having nightmares, and it stopped being a problem.

Li Mei was an only child until her teenage years so she never had to share with any siblings. Her family carefully controlled every aspect of who she interacted with and in what ways, they never allowed sleepovers with cousins or friends. They did so behind a loving guise, doting on her and saying it was all for her own good because they loved her very much. Anything she wanted they would buy for her so long as she kept up with her studies, but friends couldn’t be bought.

Hell, they never really allowed friends at all! Just meticulously chosen and supervised ‘playmates’ since she was home schooled with the best private tutors in the country. Once Li Mei got older they started bringing her to parties and events to refine her social skills, but was still never allowed to leave their sight.

Their strict scheduling and control over her entire young life was why she was able to endure Faust’s Spartan Studytime much easier than Hana, Otto, or Bao. It had a hint of familiarity – the detached authoritarian figure with austere requirements bullying young children who had no way to refuse or complain.

From the time Chang Yezi abducted her at age 15 until her escape four years later, he never once forced her into his bed and she never went willingly, so nothing happened between them in that regard.

Her young life was stolen by a strict family who emphasized etiquette and study so she’d one day become a valuable wife to another important family, and then her best teenage years were stolen by a kidnapping psychopath. Escaping Chang Yezi led to the Li family casting her aside as soiled goods, and from there Li Mei spent the rest of her life alone trying to cope with memories of horrible experiences.

Aside from many sessions of therapy she also tried out different hobbies as they piqued her interest. Li Mei missed out on them as a youth, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try them as an adult! She always liked learning new things, so she threw herself into hobbies and picked up a job to help fund them. The money the Li family gave her when she was disowned was spent emigrating and buying a comfortably furnished apartment in another country far from their influence, where she could exist in peace.

With countless new hobbies to keep her busy and past experiences forming emotional walls in her heart, Li Mei didn’t seek to make friends. Acquaintances at hobby workshops or at work were good enough for social interaction. She never let anyone get too close, physically or emotionally, until the very day she died.

Then on that day…

Li Mei froze mid-step, halfway down the attic stairs. A glimmer of a memory flickered in the back of her mind, like the light shining from a cracked closet door. Then the door slammed shut and the glimmer vanished, the memory once again out of reach.

On the day she transmigrated Li Mei heard a voice she dubbed ‘Intern’, who insisted she didn’t die a traumatic or violent death after she realized she couldn’t remember what happened at all. Yet somehow Li Mei felt it wasn’t being entirely truthful, perhaps to facilitate her transmigration or prevent lingering attachment to Earth.

Something about that glimmer of memory peeking through the cracks made her feel relieved it didn’t show itself, then confused as to why she was relieved.

Thump!

Her heart beat heavily in her chest. Li Mei shook her head, patted her chest, and set the thoughts aside.

The Earth she was familiar with was in an entirely separate universe! That past life didn’t matter anymore, and neither did anything that happened there.

It didn’t matter.

‘There’s no Li family here, I have a good fluffy brother, a cute little sister, and an adorable subordinate I can bully. Even the Interface is helping me out! Things are different, and I’m different too. It doesn’t matter how I died. I should be grateful instead, since it led to me coming here!’ Li Mei exhaled, calming herself before resuming her trudge downstairs.

The house had an entirely different vibe during the day. The furniture was tasteful, hand-carved with appealing patterns. Scan revealed most of it to be very expensive, with values in the thousands!

“All the curtains, rugs, and mattresses will be replaced,” Li Mei murmured thoughtfully as she wandered the halls. She ducked into one of the bathrooms to wash her face and rinse out her mouth, delighted to find the taps had running warm and cold water.

With that done, she resumed wandering the house and making plans. “Remaining clothes will be burned to respect the dead. We’ll scrub everything usable down – furniture, walls, floors. The portraits, hm… If they have surviving family I’ll send them over, otherwise I’ll burn them. I promised to make a grave with the ghost anchors or I’d send those too. Ah well.

“Rotten food in the pantry will have to be cleared out fast. The poor kitchen garden… Otto can plant a new one, he likes taking care of plants. Since he hates fighting so much, maybe I can have him be my butler? And groundskeeper, I’ll have him tend the yard too. Plant all the stuff we brought from the forest, make a nice little outdoor grave. And for cooking, Otto’s better at it than me. Mm-hmm. He’ll be a Super Butler!”

Li Mei opened all the windows in the house for ventilation, combating valiantly against rusty hinges with her one good arm.

Outside, the previous day’s heavy fog was cleared by early morning rain that left the cool air smelling of damp soil, ocean salt, wet timbers, and hearth smoke. Sparkling leftover raindrops clung to lamp posts and dripped slowly from the eaves of houses.

Steely gray clouds scattered across the periwinkle sky, partially obscuring light from the warm orange sun. An enormous blue and purple planet dominated a majority of the horizon beyond the city skyline, peeking out from behind the clouds, its numerous rainbow rings seeming to glitter like gems.

Over the entire archipelago stretched a transparent dome protecting the occupants from outside threats. Circuit pathways and brilliantly glowing nodes occasionally sparkled overhead even in the brightest sunlight. In the very center of the island cluster stood a tall ivory tower that reached to the heavens, crowned with an oval ruby the size of a skyscraper in its own right. From that jewel extended the circuit pathways that made the protective barrier.

Faust explained as they approached the city on the previous day that the barrier was something called a mythal, rare and powerful magic arrays imposing specific rules and restrictions on an area.

Brittalund’s mythal was abnormally huge compared to most, apparently, and restricted all travel through the barrier. The red jewel atop the tower was capable of firing Rank 5 spells with unerring accuracy at a target the size of a fly anywhere within Brittalund’s borders. Any vehicle entering the archipelago had to carry special tokens to allow it and its passengers safe passage, or they’d be fried on the spot!

The Brittalund mythal also suppressed Rank. Regardless of how strong someone or something actually was, it couldn’t muster strength or defenses above Rank 3 while within the barrier. The only exception were captains of the Royal Guard.

Faust repeatedly emphasized to never mess with the Royal Guard. They all wore special crown-shaped badges with the image of a rose twined around a rapier engraved on the surface. In particular, the Golden Guard – those who wore a gold badge – were peak Rank 4 captains who held authority second only to the Empress Herself within Brittalund. Offending one was a quick trip to an early grave.

Differences in power between Ranks only got more exaggerated with each increase in stage. A single Rank 4 guard would be able to suppress an entire pack of Rank 3 sea beasts by themselves. But the Royal Guard didn’t just have impressive individual power – every single one had social standing and authority to back it up.

Li Mei dispelled the barrier on the front door and sat on the porch with a book she brought from the study, after checking around to make sure the spiders were still gone. She inhaled the fresh air, and smiled to herself as she watched people walking on the street.

Houses were mostly half-timbered or Victorian Gothic in styles, with muted yellow brass ornamentation for decor. Weather vanes sat atop many a peaked roof, while hanging sculpted glass wind chimes decorated almost every porch en masse. Few homes had yards or gardens as large as Li Mei’s house, at least from her vantage point, but many balconies and porches were adorned with potted plants and decorative brass statues or figurines. Chimneys spewed black smoke into the skies, carrying the smell of soot and burned wood over the city.

Occasionally, flying beasts carrying wooden boxes would cross the sky, flapping their massive wings effortlessly as they ferried their passengers to unknown destinations.

Carriages of dark brown wood and polished brass were pulled up and down the streets, drivers wearing top hats and stiff coats while beasts wore brightly colored tasseled harnesses. Most carriages were pulled by various breeds of horse- or cow-like beasts. Those pulled by fera, or other kinds of beasts, had cloth pennants displaying different heraldic bearings of noble families hanging from the doors of the vehicle. Li Mei only saw two passing by on her street, and they were moving much more quickly than the other carriages. Several pedestrians scrambled out of the way to avoid being squished.

People crowded the streets, many carrying umbrellas under their arms since the skies had yet to give up on the idea of rain. Most seemed to favor rather elegant and formal fashions, with long gowns and stiff coats paired with mantles and hats or bonnets. Men and women alike sported brass or gold jewelery often taking the motif of sea animals, which was also displayed in cloth patterns and styles of their clothing.

After observing for awhile, Li Mei briefly pulled out the house deed Faust pushed on her the day before. Sure enough, it was signed over to her with Faust’s fake identity of Professor Samuel Bishop as a guarantor due to her age. The previous owner was that Brent Daniels fellow, so she’d have to find him if she wanted to send out the portraits to any surviving kin.

“My address is…” Li Mei skimmed the document, memorizing the information within before stashing it safely in her storage. “88 Little Shark Lane. Huh. That sounds kind of cute!”

Li Mei opened the book across her lap as cover, then opened her Archive to sort through information she’d downloaded the night before. Every book saved had many different arrays, circuits, enchantments and recipes that were all saved to her Archive, but Li Mei focused intently on the magical theory and introductions first.

She read for hours through dozens of books worth of content before arriving at one final conclusion:

The non-Core magic in Elysium was really underdeveloped!

Core Gifts were understandably personal learning experiences not easily shared. But when it came to other types of magic most people just copied from the Progenitors, and their study was focused on understanding and mastering existing techniques without trying to improve or otherwise alter them.

Mana circulation techniques?

Passed down directly by the Progenitors, or recovered from the ruins of their once-great cities.

Alchemy recipes?

Passed down or recovered.

Enchantments?

Passed down or recovered.

Arrays and circuits?

Passed down or recovered.

The books demonstrated patterns for circuits or arrays, then spent the rest of their precious page space expressing the author’s understanding of the magic as well as praising the Progenitors for their wisdom and might! Even the rare ‘original’ magic was just modified from knowledge studied for centuries!

It wasn’t just magitech tools that were replicated. All of the world’s current knowledge was blindly copied! And as for the reason no one made anything new, or tried to improve on what had?

Because the Progenitors didn’t make it, so how could it be as good?

“I understand the concept of filial piety, but this level of ancestor worship is a little…” Li Mei shook her head and frowned. “It’s like an entire world of rabid Progenitor fans! Oriole’s a terrible organization but at least their research files show they’re trying to dissect the Progenitor’s information rather than just blindly using it. But this…”

Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “This is an opportunity, as well!”

Aside from worshiping the Progenitor’s boot heels, the books also emphasized one thing in particular, which explained why the magic teacher ghost used a sword – magic should always be used in conjunction with martial arts.

Standing on a hill to set up a huge array without having the ability to defend one’s self from attackers would ensure a quick death. Magisters – the general term for magic users – were encouraged to have at least a basic physical foundation, to buy themselves the necessary time to cast complex circuits or lay down arrays.

Additionally, casting strong magic required a strong body to withstand the force of surging mana through their veins. The more mana a spell utilized, the rougher it was on one’s body even with a top-quality Core.

To be a strong magister, one must also be a strong fighter!

Li Mei’s foundation, formed by life-threatening daily combat in a terrifying danger forest, wasn’t for nothing!

She was picking out an array from the Archive to test when she heard the faint creak of metal hinges, the wrought iron gate sealing off her front yard swinging open. Faust – in his Professor Bishop disguise – crossed the entire yard in just a few long strides. Li Mei barely blinked in the time it took for him to go from standing at the gate to towering over her, his presence suffocating and thick with intimidation.

He seemed to bring a storm that threatened to draw the very breath from her lungs. The air crackled with tension, and even the sun hid away behind a convenient cloud in order to avoid shining on the furious expression Faust wore. Li Mei, who’d never seen the man so emotional, shrank back in surprise while using her book as a shield.

He was Rank 7! Even with Brittalund’s mythal lowering his combat strength to Rank 3, he still had too many tricks up his sleeves for her to feel comfortable bearing the brunt of whatever rage he’d worked himself into.

Knowledgeable and talented people were really troublesome to deal with as opponents! Li Mei cursed. She didn’t even have the heart to ask where her friends were, since he’d claimed he’d bring them over in the afternoon yet showed up all by his lonesome.

Faust’s eyes flicked from the torn hem of her dress, to the bruises on her face and legs, to the broken arm tied in place with a makeshift rope. “What the hell happened?”

“Uh. I dealt with the ghosts?” Li Mei muttered, finding herself unwilling to meet his enraged gaze. She ducked a little further behind her book, only to yelp when he grabbed her unbroken arm and yanked her into a standing position. Her book dropped from her grip, skipping all the way down the porch stairs to flop helplessly on the dirt. “Ow! Ow ow ow take it easy, would you?!”

“Are you expecting me to believe some weak ghosts broke your arm? I examined the auras myself, those things couldn’t have broken your fingernail even if I sent you in blindfolded!” Faust shook her hand as though to emphasize the point, only to stop when a sharp silver glint caught his gaze. “This… Where did you get this ring?”

“Ring? I didn’t…” Li Mei scowled, following his gaze to an odd silver band resting on her middle finger.

Color drained from her face. She pulled up her storage inventory screen, where that odd ring she picked off Keori was still safely ensconced.

Wait.

There were two rings!

She only put one in her storage, and the other…

Apparently sat on her hand, where she didn’t notice it at all. Nor did she remember putting it on!

Why the hell would she put it on?!

Faust yanked the ring off her finger, stashing it in his own spatial magitech ring, then poked and prodded her broken arm from shoulder to wrist and back again. Satisfied with his examination, he pulled out a medicinal pill and shoved it in Li Mei’s mouth. It dissolved in seconds leaving only a refreshing and slightly minty taste lingering on her tongue. The pain in her arm faded to a manageable dull ache.

Seeing color returning to her face, Faust gripped her chin and forced the girl to look him in the eye. “What happened, exactly?”

Li Mei brushed aside the alert indicating her recovery quest had been shortened to 2 weeks thanks to the medicine, and swatted Faust’s hand away from her face.”I took care of the ghosts like you told me to, alright? But then there was a bunch of noise in the yard out back and now there’s five bodies in the basement. One of them… Had nothing to do with me. They had another ghost anchor and were doing some sort of ritual in the basement! I thought the girl they were chanting over might be alive, so I tried sneaking up on them to find an opportunity to help, but lo! Behold! The Dunce Boots got me caught!”

She pointed angrily at the heavy boots on her feet, and something akin to guilt flickered across Faust’s face for just a second before she continued her tirade. “It interrupted the ritual, which got two of them killed from the backlash. One of them seemed like he was in charge, he kept ranting about how I ruined his chance to bring back his sweet Lessa, whatever that meant. He’s the one who broke my arm while trying to beat me to death, screaming for his master to help him kill me, and was the one wearing that weird ring, but I don’t remember putting it on or anything like that. It’s ugly, why would I want it?

“And then a weird head with a tentacle mouth appeared and snapped his neck and vanished. The girl was dead all along by the way, she didn’t need my help after all, so I killed the last two guys since they probably had a hand in her death.”

Faust was silent as Li Mei finished her long-winded explanation, eyes closed the whole while. A long period of silence followed, during which Li Mei imagined she heard the distant rumble of thunder brewing in the atmospheric storm Faust apparently carried in his pocket.

Then he finally spoke. “Alright. Well done.”

“It’s not like I WANTED to- wait, what?” Li Mei froze, her prepared defense fizzling before it fully escaped her mouth. She’d been expected a scolding for stupidity, mocking her reckless actions and apparent weakness, not…

Praise?

From Faust?

Goosebumps broke out all over her body. She used Scan just to make sure he was the real thing and not a bad impostor.

Ignoring her obvious discomfort, Faust sighed and glanced down at her feet. Then he pulled out a long brown cloak and tossed it over her head with a flick of his wrist. “You’ve done well. I rescind the order regarding the boots. It’s now merely a strong recommendation that you use them for training your awareness. I’ll take care of clean-up here, go back to the box for now – your little strays are waiting.”

“I thought you were bringing my friends here?” Li Mei muttered as she awkwardly wrestled the cloak into position one-handed, emphasizing the word ‘friends’. The cloak covered her broken arm and bedraggled appearance, which would keep people from questioning or otherwise taking note of her as she navigated the streets back to the travel docks.

“Mm. Changes in plans, I’ll stop by in another few hours. Read through this while you wait, but only open it once you’re in the box.” Faust handed over a crystal tablet engraved with a complex circuit, nodding when Li Mei stashed it away. “Make sure you don’t move that arm much until it heals. You’re lucky it was a clean break, shouldn’t take more than a few weeks. Go on, then.”

Li Mei scurried off in a hurry in her excitement to reunite with her friends, leaving Faust standing alone on the porch of her new house. He waited until she was out of sight before pulling the odd ring back out, narrowing his eyes at the strangely undulating surface. “Someone is bold enough to lay claws on what’s mine, eh? Bullying my disciple? If they’re so determined to seek death, I may as well help them out.”