One weekend, the morning sunlight poured through the clean glass windows, spilling into the study of Sefina’s Villa.
At this moment, Sefina was buried alone at a wide experimental table. Various strangely shaped glassware, grinding mortars, and categorized magic materials were scattered around her.
Her wine-red eyes stared intently at a thick, heavy tome spread out before her — *Breaking Demon Miscellany*.
She had borrowed this book from the depths of the academy library. It recorded many methods for breaking common curses and negative states.
Although it did not explicitly mention the shameful, periodic “heat” curse she carried, it did record some ideas for breaking curses related to “mental interference” and “loss of emotional control,” which gave Sefina a glimmer of faint hope.
The book mentioned that certain specific complex magic potions could resist external negative induction by harmonizing mental and Magic Power Waves.
Perhaps… they could produce a certain suppressive effect on the side effects of the magic crest.
Therefore, over the past two days, she had purchased the necessary materials according to the records in the book and decided to try concocting a potion called “Tranquility Mixture” herself.
Originally, she would have preferred to hand over this potion-making task, which required extremely high precision, to Nona, who excelled in magic potion lore.
However, Nona had been fully committed to concocting the complex potion to awaken Campbell over the past few days and simply had no time, so Sefina had to do it herself.
At that moment, she was carefully picking up a small pinch of shimmering “meditation grass” powder.
Sefina’s movements seemed steady, but upon closer observation, one would notice her fingertips trembling slightly.
Especially when performing actions that required fine strength, a faint ache and stinging pain would come from her knuckles.
‘It’s like I have a mild case of tendonitis…’
Sefina sighed helplessly in her heart. This problem had often troubled her in her past life when she was buried in writing code as a programmer.
She hadn’t expected that after crossing over into a new body, this familiar pain would return while she was concocting magic potions.
It was likely the result of her frequently moving her fingers and constantly mixing potions over the past few days.
Sefina held her breath and precisely shook the powder into the conical flask in the center.
Inside the flask, several basic solvents had already completed their preliminary fusion over a low-temperature magical flame, appearing as a cloudy light purple.
The preparation of this magic potion had almost harsh requirements for the ratio of materials, the order of addition, the intensity of stirring, and the temperature control.
Especially the dosage of the final few catalytic materials, which were often accurate to the milligram.
If there was even a slight error, the efforts of the previous several hours would be in vain, and all she would get was a failed product emitting a burnt smell.
This was exactly why Sefina had wanted Nona’s help before, because that kind of precise control over dosage was the result of accumulated experience and not something that could be achieved in a single day.
Over the past few days, Sefina had already experienced many failures.
Either the color was wrong, or the magic reaction was unstable; once, she had even nearly caused a minor magical disorder and blown up a glazed bowl.
But this time, it seemed different.
As she picked up the final catalyst and used a dropper to add it drop by drop extremely slowly into the flask, the liquid inside began to undergo a subtle change.
The cloudy light purple gradually faded, and a pure sky blue, like paint spreading from a drop of water, quickly diffused until it filled the entire flask.
Success!
Sefina breathed a long sigh of relief, and her tense shoulders finally relaxed.
This sky blue was the sign of success for the “Tranquility Mixture” recorded in the *Breaking Demon Miscellany*.
She carefully poured the cooled potion into a prepared crystal bottle.
Looking at the liquid rippling with a peaceful blue, she did not hesitate much. She uncorked the bottle, tilted her head back, and drank it all in one gulp.
The cool liquid slid down her throat, carrying a hint of herbal fragrance and a very faint bitterness. But other than that, her body had almost no special sensation.
Sefina recalled the instructions in the book — it was normal for the effects to require time to penetrate and take effect.
Although she didn’t have 100% hope, successfully completing the concoction itself still made her feel a bit more at ease.
Sefina began to tidy up the messy utensils and remaining materials on the experimental table.
However, when she tried to bend her fingers to pick up a heavy grinding mortar, a sharp, stinging pain came from her knuckles, making her unable to resist letting out a soft *hiss*.
‘It seems the tendonitis is indeed quite serious.’ Sefina frowned slightly.
She needed to minimize the movement of her fingers over the next few days; it would be best to apply a cold compress…
Or, she could go to the teachers in the potion department tomorrow to ask for some special magic ointments for relieving muscle and joint strain.
Why didn’t she use Healing Magic?
Because most Healing Magic focused more on repairing external injuries. For this kind of chronic physical strain, the therapeutic effect was often unsatisfactory.
So, Sefina simply stopped touching things directly with her hands.
Instead, she raised her hand and cast the **[High-level Levitation Spell]**, controlling an invisible force field to return the utensils and materials scattered on the table to their places one by one, cleaning up the traces of the experiment.
Just as she had steady placed the last glass bottle back on the shelf, a clear and rhythmic knocking sound came from the villa’s main door.
*Knock, knock, knock—*
Sefina paused, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes. ‘Who would it be at this time?’ She hadn’t made an appointment with anyone today.
She took light steps, crossed the living room, walked to the entrance, and reached out to open the door.
However, the scene outside took her by surprise, causing her to even take half a step back. Her wine-red eyes widened in astonishment—
“Happy birthday, Teacher Sefina!”
Standing at the front, Mia had a brilliant smile on her face. Before her voice could fade, the small party popper in her hand went off with a *pop*.
Countless pieces of colored confetti fluttered down, many landing on Sefina’s blue hair and shoulders.
Beside her, Kefi held a large, beautifully packaged box with both hands. Through the transparent part, a cake decorated with cream and fresh fruit could be seen. She had a gentle and shy smile on her face.
And standing slightly behind them was Ellaria, who was helping to carry several gift boxes of various sizes, presumably birthday presents.
Ellaria looked at Sefina, her emerald-green eyes sparkling with expectation and a hint of nervousness.
“This is…”
Looking at this sudden display before her, Sefina was momentarily unable to react and spoke hesitantly.
Kefi hurried to explain, “Teacher Sefina, we’ve come to celebrate your birthday.”
Birthday?
Sefina’s heart suddenly stalled, as if it had been lightly bumped by something.
‘Birthday…’
She hadn’t had this concept for many years. Or rather, she didn’t even know which day her birthday specifically was.
As a wandering orphan, an accurate birth date was naturally vague.
The few memories that could be called “celebrating a birthday” were from the two years she lived with Theresa.
And today… why did Mia and the others think it was her birthday?
A possibility quickly flashed through Sefina’s mind — her teacher’s license.
It did require a birth date to be filled in, but that was just a date she had casually written down to handle the recruitment procedures, one that matched her outward appearance and seemed reasonable.
It was just… a randomly written number.
Sefina looked at the three faces before her, overflowing with sincerity and expectation, as well as the colored confetti falling on her. A complex emotion quietly stirred a ripple in the lake of her heart.