27 - How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

Volume 3, Chapter 27 ~ He Must Strive for Himself Too It wasn't long before Cairiliman Academy welcomed its first holiday of the new school year. This particular holiday was quite special as a mysterious secret realm had suddenly been discovered on the southeastern island of Cairiliman Academy. Upon investigation, it was identified as a relic left by the Marsmo civilization. According to the academy's regulations, professional mentors would first establish teleportation anchor points in the relics. Afterward, students could partake in explorations, and as a reward, they would have the chance to obtain the secrets within. Of course, acquiring anything beneficial depended entirely on luck and individual talent. Most often, participants would simply enhance their knowledge, experience, and practical skills. Unlike previous explorations, this time freshmen were allowed to participate, breaking the usual rules designed to protect those lacking experience in practical scenarios. Wenny might be unaware of other fated protagonists, but Ishtiya had shown an unusual interest in the secret realm, though the reason was unclear. Well, whatever the reason, he had virtually no knowledge of the Mars civilization and was entirely uninterested. So, he had no plans to venture into the secret realm. However... Wenny inexplicably recalled something that Fekrin mentioned a few days ago. Indeed, he had no family to rely on and had to depend on himself. With his family now in decline, he needed to seize every opportunity to gain power, enhance combat experience, and possibly acquire fate-changing fortunes. Therefore, Wenny was indeed inclined to take a look. After all, his classmates from the armor class seemed to be going. If he didn't go, he'd be left out of any discussions about what happened in the relics upon their return, and once again, he'd be ridiculed by Fekrin. Fekrin was right; in his current state, without a bit of initiative, how could he improve? Every bit of combat experience was crucial for a freshman like him. With this thought in mind, Wenny realized he had to strive harder. So... He turned over on the sofa in his dormitory, stretched, and continued to nap. Sure, it sounded like a good plan, but getting up was so difficult. The struggle and entropy were just immense; the sofa held him captive! Wenny preferred rolling around on the sofa like a wheel rather than getting up and heading to the sign-up area for the adventure. He had been in class for a week, hadn't he earned a little relaxing? By the way, he'd accumulated quite a bit of good fortune; it was about time to use it all! Suddenly, Wenny remembered this opportunity and realized he needed to rapidly use up his accrued good fortune to gain strength. Otherwise, wouldn't he have wasted all the blessings he'd endured from Aesphyra for so long? So, he opened the Good Fortune Panel, which displayed his current remaining fortune points: 11,814. The most critical aspect was naturally his realm. Wenny glanced at his current realm level: Advanced Warlock. Improving his realm level would increase his total magical capacity, mana recovery speed, and overall mana potency, indirectly enhancing his magical power and allowing him to master more spells. Of course, the greatest advancement was to his spell soul itself. Moreover, with a 100% compatibility with 【Shell Buff】, every significant realm advancement would alter its appearance and grant a new resistance attribute. Currently, his acquired resistance attributes were impact resistance and toxin resistance. What the next resistance will be remained unknown. However, Wenny was quite eager to find out. Thus, he focused on realm advancement. Currently, as an Advanced Warlock, he could advance to the next major realm, the Magic Spirit realm. It was indeed fortunate. Typically, a freshman achieving the Magic Spirit realm would be considered exceptionally rare, even in Cairiliman Academy. After all, just reaching the Magic Spirit realm meant one barely stepped into the rank of elite continental practitioners. The Magic Spirit stage placed one in a moderate position, where such skill levels often qualified individuals to serve as mentors in many ordinary, or even prestigious, academies. Outside the academy, numerous factions would vie for their allegiance, ensuring they'd never be short on money. As Wenny glanced over, having completed enough tasks allowed him the opportunity to ascend into the Magic Spirit realm. Achieving this realm would represent a massive milestone for him. As the realm level increased, the disparity between each major— and even minor— level would grow significantly larger. By the Master Realm, a novice master's abilities wouldn't match up at all to an intermediate master's. Yes, from this day forth, Wenny, the infamous bad boy from Camilla's capital, was a continental practitioner too! What progress! It was incredible to think he was once just a bully using his noble status to push around local ruffians in the slums. Now, he had achievements of his own, joining the ranks of top-tier spellcasters of the continent. He examined the cost of upgrading to a novice Magic Spirit: 8,000 Good Fortune. This was double the 4,000 needed to upgrade to an Advanced Warlock. But it was manageable. Fortunately, he had been saving consistently, not wasting his accumulated fortune. Otherwise, even if he had the chance to ascend to the Magic Spirit realm now, he'd merely stare at it in frustration. Evidently, saving was always a beneficial habit. 8,000 Good Fortune was indeed pricey, prompting Wenny to wonder about the potential costs involved in ascending to the Master Realm. He recalled that advancing from Two Wings to Four Wings required 15,000 Good Fortune. In comparison, the current price seemed more than fair. But reaching the Magic Spirit realm made it all worthwhile! Therefore, Wenny pressed the upgrade button. From today onwards, I'm a Magic Spirit too! Wenny thought with immense satisfaction. ‘8,000 Good Fortune deducted.’ ‘Current Good Fortune: 3,814.’ ‘Your realm has advanced to a Novice Magic Spirit.’ Great! Upon entering the novice Magic Spirit realm, Wenny suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of power coursing through his entire body. An intense force of frigid energy erupted from within him, simultaneously revealing a layer of ethereal armor scales over his skin. He sensed a qualitative enhancement in his mana and its recovery rate, making his mana supply practically inexhaustible now compared to before! So this is what the Magic Spirit realm feels like?? He leapt up from the sofa. Where others might need countless attempts to break into the Magic Spirit realm, he merely tapped a button to reach it. Roll the MVP cinematic for successfully upgrading to the Magic Spirit realm! Success in progress! “Eh?” Shikondell, holding a broom and descending the stairs, witnessed this scene with an incredulous expression. She couldn’t fathom what sudden fancy had taken over Wenny. Though, it seemed that Wenny was in good spirits today, wasn’t he?? “Shikondell, today's me is different! Can you spot what's changed?” Wenny ran a hand through his hair, questioning. “Uh, uh? Wenny, you’ve... become prettier?” Shikondell recalled Wenny's crossdressing incident a few days back, suggesting this with uncertain grin. “What do you mean, prettier?! What nonsense is that?!” Wenny retorted, unable to suppress his exasperation. “I told you, didn’t I? Let’s not bring that up again; let it stay a secret!... Ah, never mind, inner changes are probably hard to see.” With that, Wenny settled back into the sofa, examining the Good Fortune Panel. He focused on the new resistance attribute acquired post-advancement with 【Shell Buff】. ‘Achieving the Magic Spirit realm’s full compatibility effect: Reduce armor weight, enhance physical defense, and obtain a fixed affinity of 【Outstanding】 for magic.’ Hmm? A fixed affinity for magic at the 【Outstanding】 level?? So what specifically is this magic? Which element is it tied to?? Is this something that will only reveal itself during battle?? Still, possessing a fixed magic affinity at an extraordinary level was exceptional. Wenny's highest current element affinity was merely 【Excellent】 for the ice element. Other element affinities didn't come anywhere close to 【Excellent】. Acquiring a spell with fixed element affinity at the outstanding level indicated he now possessed a remarkable level of magical offensive capability. This, too, he owed to his extraordinary compatibility with 【Shell Buff】— a level of harmony many could only dream of achieving. What does the 【Shell Buff】 look like now? Curious, Wenny attempted to summon 【Shell Buff】. Instantly, he felt a significant weight on his body. He found himself clad in a heavy, luxurious half-plate armor, exquisitely designed with brass and silver scales, shimmering under the light. A half-plate armor? Wenny stared in awe at his armored reflection in the mirror. Moreover, at the moment he activated 【Shell Buff】, he discovered the fixed affinity magic he had gained. It was an earth-element spell called 【Meteoric Stomp】. The spell allowed him to leap into the air and stomp heavily on the ground, dealing considerable earth-element damage to all surrounding enemies and severely hindering their movements. What a cool magic! And better yet, it wasn’t an ice-element magic. Otherwise, if his entire arsenal consisted solely of ice-element spells, it would be far too easy for others to counter him with ice-resistant accessories and potions— rendering him defenseless. It's commonly known that the more homogeneous one's magical affinities are, the easier they are to counteract. Being able to wield another element's magic represented a significant upgrade for him, offering surprise and making it harder for adversaries to target vulnerabilities. Yet, could Vannesa also use this trick?? Wenny hesitated to imagine what Vannesa using such a technique might look like. Or perhaps, when in the female form of 【Shell Buff】, the provided magic might be different? After disengaging 【Shell Buff】, Wenny noted that while his armor had grown sturdier, it felt significantly lighter, facilitating easier movement— presumably, in Vannesa's state, this would translate into increased speed. He started to truly appreciate the benefits of a 100% compatibility with his spell soul. Initially, the impact resistance and toxin resistance were niche qualities and their effects weren't as visible, nowhere near as noticeable as this recent upgrade. After advancing to the Magic Spirit tier, he had 3,814 good fortune left. These points were in an awkward spot— not quite enough to buy significant power-ups, but too much to squander. Now that he had entered the Magic Spirit realm, he had access to more 【Saint Envoy】 spells. However, considering Vannesa's recent fatigued state, enhancing his male form's capabilities seemed more prudent. He abruptly recalled the potion he received at the beauty pageant, the one for boosting ice-element affinity. He retrieved it, uncorked the bottle, and downed it in one gulp. The deeper the feeling, the faster one drinks! Wenny drank the icy liquid in one swig, smacking his lips afterward. Hmm, cold and icy— though slightly sweet, akin to a chilled beverage. On that note, wasn't this potion crafted by Aesphyra herself? It had to be, right?? Given her adeptness in alchemy, concocting such elemental elixirs was well within her expertise, provided she had sufficient ingredients. Upon ingesting the potion, Wenny perceived a cold aura emanating from his body. Strangely, it seemed as if this was his normal body temperature. His surroundings felt colder, as though snow was falling, but he didn't feel excessively chilled. So this is the power of elemental elixirs?? In a short amount of time, the cold aura began dissipating. Was the enhancement complete? Wenny reopened the Good Fortune Panel, and whether it was just his imagination or not, he sensed that the array of magic available on the skills page had expanded. Before long, he set his sights on an ice-element spell called 【Avalanche of Frost and Flame】. It placed no particular demands on the spell soul but required an ice-element affinity at the 【Outstanding】 level. Wait, did this mean he couldn't learn it after all? Hold up. Ideally, the Good Fortune Panel wouldn't display spells unattainable for him, indicating his current ice-element affinity must have reached the 【Outstanding】 level. Wenny thought, utterly astonished. However, it seemed reasonable. His inherent ice-element affinity was already notably high within the range of 【Excellent】, teetering on the precipice of 【Outstanding】. What he needed was the final push for a complete transformation, which the top-tier ice-element elixir from Aesphyra managed to deliver. Well, that fluffball nutcracker wasn't entirely useless. He examined the advanced spell 【Avalanche of Frost and Flame】. It required Magic Spirit level or higher, and a high level of affinity— the only two prerequisites, regardless of one's spell soul being of a mage type or not. These spells could be considered as having high demands. Yet, in truth, the requirements were rather peculiar, as those with an ice-element affinity at 【Outstanding】 were rarer than those capable of wielding mage-type spell souls by a substantial margin. This spell, at one glance, appeared extremely destructive, so Wenny decided to purchase it. ‘1,200 Good Fortune deducted’ ‘Current Good Fortune: 2,614.’ The deduction was substantial, so he decided to save the remaining good fortune— no more purchases for now. However, by spending his fortune, he had returned to his former penniless state and would have to start amassing good fortune all over again. In contemplation, Wenny smacked the sofa, stood up, and headed out of the dormitory. Alas, he couldn't avoid it altogether. As the saying goes, fortune or misfortune, one can't escape. Having enrolled at Cairiliman Academy, he certainly couldn't idle forever. Destiny may not have favored him naturally, but he was determined to give it his all. With that resolve, Wenny arrived at the registration for the Mars Secret Realm, signed himself up, and handed over his student ID, signaling his intention to partake in the exploration the following day.