“Lily!”
A faint yet clear voice echoed by her ear.
Wen Li immediately shot up from her chair, sending a stack of papers scattering to the floor. She reflexively said, “The proposal is revised—I’ll send it over right away!”
But no one responded.
Only then did Wen Li realize she was in an unfamiliar environment—not her familiar company, not her familiar cubicle.
Turning her head, she discovered that what was unfamiliar wasn’t just the surroundings, but also herself—a thin, pale face was reflected in the mirror.
A flood of memories came rushing in.
Wen Li passed out again.
When she came to once more, she couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh: it seemed she had transmigrated into this girl named Lily.
Why did this happen?
Because her English name was also “Lily”? Or because Lily, like her, had died suddenly?
That’s right—Wen Li suspected she’d died of sudden cardiac arrest. She’d worked nonstop for two days straight without a wink of sleep. She remembered her heart racing violently before she lost consciousness, and her vision kept going dark…
Lily wasn’t a corporate drone like Wen Li, but she had studied magic without rest—and then there was no “and then.”
Could it be that two kindred souls had somehow become entangled across time and space?
Well, all of the above was just Wen Li’s wild guessing based on the transmigration novels she’d read before.
All Wen Li knew was that after occupying this body, she hadn’t sensed Lily’s presence at all. Could Lily have gone to the modern world? She wasn’t sure.
Wen Li sat blank-faced in her chair, staring into space for a while.
If this had happened during her most cringey, chuunibyou years—if she’d been given the chance to transmigrate and encounter magic—she would have been bouncing around excitedly.
But now, she was a corporate slave ground down by years of work. Sometimes she felt like an NPC, her curiosity and passion worn smooth.
Did she want to transmigrate back? Meh.
Did she not want to transmigrate back? Also meh.
Yeah, either way, whatever. That was Wen Li’s state—what you might call “barely alive.”
But after sitting there like a drifting soul for a while, she pulled herself back together and began picking up the manuscript papers she’d scattered on the floor.
Even if Wen Li wanted to contemplate the meaninglessness of life and a meaningless life, the prerequisite was: being alive. But her current identity came with a huge problem—if she wasn’t careful, she might really end up dead!
Lily, 18 years old, had luckily become a freshman at the First Magic Academy—but that was precisely where the trouble began.
In this era where [Magic is Supreme], Lily had dreamed of magic since childhood. An orphan, she’d worked multiple jobs, managed to complete her basic education, scraped together enough travel money, and made her way to the Magic Holy City, located at the continent’s center, to pursue her studies.
The Magic Holy City had three major magic academies: the Divine Magic Academy, the First Magic Academy, and the United Magic Academy.
Each academy had different philosophies.
The Divine Magic Academy was an aristocratic institution with rigid class divisions. Unless someone was extraordinarily, exceptionally gifted, they wouldn’t accept commoners.
For someone in Lily’s position, that was basically out of the question.
The First Magic Academy had the most relaxed atmosphere, but it had many assessments. There were no identity barriers for admission, but there were qualification tests and other requirements. If you didn’t meet the standards, you could buy your way in.
In terms of talent, Lily’s elemental affinity was very average.
In terms of knowledge reserves, Lily had tried her hardest and could at most read, write, and understand what magic was—how could she compare to those who’d received magical enlightenment from an early age?
She couldn’t become one of the academy’s favored prodigies, nor could she buy her way in.
Lily’s initial goal had been the United Magic Academy.
The United Magic Academy had low entry barriers, widely recruited commoner students, and low tuition, but its teaching and management style was relatively strict. Graduates had to follow arrangements and work in the New Federation for three years. Those unwilling to accept assignment had to pay a hefty compensation fee.
The Magic Holy City stood independent of all powers, enjoying a transcendent status, but behind the three major academies lurked the shadows of different factions. The United Magic Academy, for instance, was subsidized by the New Federation.
But the New Federation had recently come into conflict with the Kingdom of Leyne, and the border was tense. Then another incident occurred: a rising star mage in the New Federation military suddenly defected and returned to the Kingdom of Leyne.
This mage had been trained by the United Magic Academy—but he was Leyne-born.
Not wanting to betray his homeland was understandable; many Leyne people even thought he’d done a great job.
But choosing this critical moment to make such a grand spectacle of it, taking a group of followers with him and humiliating the New Federation—that screwed over those who came after.
This year, the United Magic Academy would still accept students from the Kingdom of Leyne, but they would no longer provide tuition subsidies to Leyne students. Unfortunately for Lily, she came from the Kingdom of Leyne.
By the time she arrived in the Holy City, Lily was practically penniless. She couldn’t afford the tuition for either the First Academy or the United Academy.
Hopeless in her pursuit of education, Lily wandered sadly in front of the gates of the three academies, wanting to remember their grandeur, wanting to remember her dream.
She planned to find a job in the Holy City—one day, she would definitely become a mage!
At the gate of the First Academy, Lily was lost in her emotions and didn’t notice two people locked in a tense standoff behind her, nor did she notice that a large empty area had formed around them—a sign that ordinary people knew better than to come near and court trouble.
“Ray, aren’t you a supporter of [Popularizing Magic for the Common People]? What are you doing at the First Academy?” a young man with fiery red hair crossed his arms, his posture arrogant.
Chris Leyne, the Third Prince of the Kingdom of Leyne, had hair as fiery as a flame—the very symbol of Leyne bloodline.
The Ray he was addressing was the son of the current Chief Executive of the New Federation.
Ray didn’t take Chris’s bait, replying calmly, “And you? Don’t you believe magic should be controlled by only a select few? Why aren’t you at the Divine Magic Academy?”
“Haha, that just shows you don’t understand my philosophy at all. I support elitism, not simply class-based division. The First Academy fits my philosophy perfectly. I plan to cultivate my core team here. Say, Ray, why don’t you just join me instead…”
Chris thought for a moment and added:
“Never mind, your skills aren’t quite up to par. I don’t take just anyone, you know.”
“Oh.” Ray remained indifferent.
Chris was dissatisfied with his unflappable attitude. He narrowed his eyes and suddenly said:
“By the way… ‘Popularizing Magic for the Common People’ is just a slogan to win people over, isn’t it? You guys don’t actually believe it yourselves. The United Academy’s mass recruitment of commoner students—isn’t that just to supply cannon fodder for the New Federation?”
Ray’s gaze turned icy cold. “Chris Leyne, be careful what you say—words have consequences!”
“Alright, alright, I won’t provoke you anymore. But I still have to say, even if the idea of popularizing magic isn’t malicious, it’s fundamentally unrealistic!” Chris said, as if backing down.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“I want to make a bet with you.”
“What bet?”
“That person—hey, the blonde one over there!” Chris was calling out to Lily.
Lily’s situation was easy to see through. A Leyne commoner who’d come to the United Academy only to find the terms changed, and who might very well never get to study magic—there were quite a few like her this year.
“I’ll cover her initial tuition. If she can hold her own in the academy, then I’ll admit your philosophy has some merit. If she can’t, then your so-called popularization of magic is a joke.”
But Ray didn’t take the bait. “An individual can’t represent the whole.”
By this point, Lily had also realized: this was her chance!
Chris and Ray were talking, and Lily really had no place to interrupt—but she had to fight for herself!
Her voice trembled with nervousness. “I’m willing to take this bet! If I fail, I’ll pay back the initial tuition with interest!”
Magic academies didn’t accept students over the age of 25. If she stayed in the Holy City working odd jobs to save up tuition, with the meager wages she’d earn, how long would that take? Lily had thought that way before only because she didn’t want to extinguish her own hope.
She knew very well that most windfalls came with poison mixed in. But for someone like her, did it matter whether there was poison? Being able to eat her fill was what counted most!
Ray frowned, looking at Lily. “With interest? Can you even afford to pay it back?”
“I can!” At this point, Lily had calmed down instead—she was already prepared to go all in. “My face, my body—they ought to be worth something.”
Having grown up on the streets, how could she not know about certain black and gray markets?
“This isn’t worth it—”
Before Ray could finish, Chris had already burst out laughing. “Ray, even a young girl has this kind of courage, and you still won’t take the bet?”
“If you want to bet, then let’s bet.” Ray glanced at Lily. “And you—look after yourself.”
A bet had successfully delivered Lily into the magic academy she’d dreamed of—but it also dragged her into a conflict between different magical traditions and ideologies.
As mentioned earlier, the First Academy had many assessments. Fifteen days after enrollment came the freshman assessment—the first hurdle Lily would have to face.
A perfect score on the theory exam earned one credit.
Three consecutive wins in combat earned one credit.
Becoming a disciple of a mentor earned one credit.
Alternatively, every ten gold coins could be exchanged for one credit. Yes, even after enrollment, the pay-to-win route for clearing assessments was still valid.
After the freshman assessment, those with zero credits would be expelled.
For most people, the freshman assessment wasn’t particularly harsh. The theory exam had plenty of out-of-scope content, making a perfect score difficult, but consecutive combat wins and choosing a mentor left plenty of room for maneuvering.
This was really just the First Academy’s appetizer—a way to help you adjust to academy life.
But Lily was already caught in the vortex of factional disputes, and she was nothing more than an insignificant nobody—of course others would make an example of her!
So, she frantically crammed theory while trying to improve her combat abilities.
Before Wen Li transmigrated over, Lily had been experimenting with black magic—a type of magic with great power but excluded from the Holy City’s magical system.
Wen Li looked at the pattern of a blood-red eye on the manuscript paper and sighed. Even the mirror she could see when she turned her head had been specially moved by Lily as a test prop, with twisted markings carved onto it.
But it seemed Lily hadn’t gotten the chance to conduct the experiment before she died suddenly—at least, Wen Li didn’t receive any memories related to black magic experimentation.
Wen Li could understand Lily’s thinking: if she could learn one or two black magic spells, she’d have a good chance at three consecutive wins in the combat component—that was the credit she was most likely to earn.
Wen Li wanted to help Lily get past this hurdle.
On one hand, she felt like she wasn’t exactly living a satisfying life, but she didn’t really want to die either. Like a weary salted fish, when it truly came down to life or death, she’d instinctively flop around a couple more times.
On the other hand, she saw Lily’s unwillingness to give up and her defiant struggle. She admired Lily’s vitality and courage. If one day Lily came back to reclaim this body, Wen Li hoped she’d have a better life.
For now, she’d live temporarily as Lily.
The moment she had this thought, Lily suddenly saw the blood-red eye on the manuscript paper seem to move. She had a feeling that the eye was like a living thing, staring at her with a hint of a smile.
The atmosphere suddenly grew a bit eerie.
Lily expressionlessly lit the manuscript paper on fire, and the blood-red eye turned to ash along with the paper.