“What’s the matter?”
Chu Tian looked at the figure in the crystal ball-it was one of his guard subordinates left at Magic Feather Fantasy.
“Boss, it’s bad! A group of magic students came to Magic Feather Fantasy to cause trouble. They claim the magic performances are just illusions and that Su Nian isn’t a real mage. They’re demanding a duel with her…”
Gavin, the subordinate rescued from the beastman tribe, spoke urgently.
Chu Tian’s eyes turned sharp, a surge of anger rising in his heart.
Though he had been scheming to stay close to Su Nian, waiting for the chance to control and humiliate her, he absolutely refused to let anyone else bully her.
Only he… had that right!
“I’ll be right back,” Chu Tian said coldly before cutting off the communication crystal.
The next second.
His figure instantly transformed into a streak of black shadow, racing toward Magic Feather Fantasy.
At the same time. outside Magic Feather Fantasy, Su Nian’s poster still hung.
But now, it has been splattered with paint and dye.
A group of students in mage robes had gathered at the entrance, led by a blond, blue-eyed young man with an arrogant gaze.
Arms crossed, he wore a disdainful smirk, followed by a crowd of equally scornful students.
His name was Oscar.
Though his family had fallen from grace, his status as an intermediate mage and a fallen noble still gave him some prestige among commoner mages.
“Hmph! What ‘Magic Girl Idol’? Just a fraud!” Oscar shouted loudly, and the surrounding students echoed in agreement.
“Exactly! What kind of mage becomes an idol? It’s obviously fake!”
“Today, we’ll expose her for what she really is!”
The commoner mages clamored noisily, drawing a crowd of onlookers outside Magic Feather Fantasy.
To these troublemakers, their identity as mages was their greatest pride and privilege.
So when rumors spread that a mage had joined a performance troupe, even broadcasting her acts to dozens of cities via projection crystals— They were outraged.
Becoming a mage wasn’t easy.
They had once revered the lofty status of mages.
And now that they had finally achieved it, they relished the sense of superiority.
But today…
Someone dared to claim that a noble mage would stoop to performing alongside lowly entertainers, displaying magic for public amusement.
In an instant, their beliefs seemed to crumble.
So when one person suggested the mage might be a fraud, many mage students rallied behind the idea.
Whether out of a sense of justice to expose a scam or simply to cling to their superiority-
Either way, they followed Oscar to Magic Feather Fantasy, determined to uncover the truth.
“Fraud using illusions, come out!”
“Fake mage, show yourself!”
The noise outside the window was deafening.
On the fifth floor of Magic Feather Fantasy, in the largest room.
Su Nian faintly heard the commotion outside and groggily woke up.
“Who is it?! So noisy!”
She smacked the bed twice in irritation.
Rolling over, she wrapped herself tighter in her blanket, trying to go back to sleep.
She had been exhausted these past few days.
So, the first day after their debut performance was designated as a rest day for Magic Feather Fantasy, allowing them to recuperate and do some shopping.
Isn’t sleeping in until noon just common sense on a day off?
What’s with all the noise so early in the morning?!
But the commotion outside only seemed to grow louder.
Sleep was impossible—absolutely impossible.
Growing increasingly irritated, Su Nian finally sat up in bed.
She wanted to see what the hell was going on.
Just as she was about to open the window-
Su Nian instinctively froze.
Holy crap!
She wasn’t wearing any clothes.
Now that she was a girl, she had to be careful about protecting herself.
And besides…
She had a nagging suspicion about those recording crystal balls.
While incredibly useful for capturing real footage-great for investigations, detective work, and entertainment-they were still a new invention.
If used for malicious purposes, they could be terrifying.
Back when she was a man, she wouldn’t have cared about being filmed.
But now…
Su Nian lowered her gaze to the soft curves of her chest and sighed inwardly.
Fortunately, recording crystal balls were expensive, costing hundreds of gold coins far beyond the means of petty thieves and criminals.
Hopefully, she was just being paranoid…
After getting dressed, Su Nian cautiously peeked out the window.
What was going on?
A riot?
Su Nian quickly left her room and questioned the staff of Magic Feather Fantasy.
Meanwhile, at the Magic Academy-
As the most prestigious and largest magic academy in the entire Western Continent, it was the true heart of the Academy City.
Here, the authority and power of the Magic Academy’s headmaster surpassed even that of the city’s lord.
At this moment, inside the administrative office-
A young female mage hurriedly entered, carrying a crystal ball, and bowed before the academy’s dean of academics, Sains.
Sains was one of the Twelve Grand Archmages—a Starlight Archmage, said to wield the power of the cosmos.
“Dean Sains, there’s a recording you need to see. The decision is yours to make.”
Ivelyn handed over the copied crystal ball, which contained footage of Magic Feather Fantasy’s debut performance.
Sains accepted it with little interest at first, assuming it was just a particularly beautiful girl singing and dancing.
But soon, the girl on-screen began performing dazzling feats of magic.
This… this level of control-how was it possible?
Even as a Grand Archmage, he found such precision nearly impossible.
Judging from the footage, the scale of the magical effects was immense, yet the mana consumption was minimal-proof of elemental control far beyond that of an ordinary mage.
He couldn’t be mistaken.
And the girl in the recording was so young…
Good heavens…
“Where is this girl? I must meet her!”
Sains demanded urgently, as if he had stumbled upon a treasure trove.
“Professor, do you intend to take her as your disciple?” Ivelyn asked instinctively.
As Sains’ student, she might soon have a junior sister.
“Disciple? Hell no! We’re going to visit her to invite her to the Magic Academy… as an instructor!”
Back at Magic Feather Fantasy-
Su Nian finally learned what was happening.
A group of magic students had accused her of using illusions rather than real magic during her debut performance.
Hmph!
If they didn’t believe her, they could test her themselves.
Right then-
The gates of Magic Feather Fantasy were blasted open by magic!
In an instant.
A group of magic students filed in one after another.
At that moment.
Magic Feather Fantasy’s guards, Gavin and Leo, stood in front of the students with swords drawn.
Matthew gave a signal to the staff in the corner to activate the recording crystal ball, preserving evidence.
“Get out of the way! Let Su Nian come out!”
“Yeah, settle this with a magic duel! Prove you’re a real mage!”
The students continued to shout as they barged in.