It was night, and the corner was shielded by several buildings.Leoric couldn't make out her features clearly, only judging from her silhouette that she was a petite female wearing a wizard's robe.

  Students at the academy all wore unified black wizard robes, with their names and grades embroidered in white silk on the left chest. Fortunately, although Spiritshade City valued hierarchy, it wasn't as extreme as the Japanese animeLeoric had watched in his past life. At least within the wizard academy, lower-year students didn't need to address upper-year ones with respectful titles like "senior" and endure their bossy commands.

  "Third year, Freya Monica... Such a beautiful name,"Leoric read the text embroidered on her chest. The white silk thread stood out vividly in the darkness. "Good evening, miss."

  "Good evening, Mr. Lannister," she smiled. "It seems I've disturbed your practice. I'm sorry... I couldn't help but applaud at such a magnificent magic."

  Leoric nodded, his mind racing. Freya, who was now standing before him, had witnessed his levitation spell. As a third-year student, she naturally wasn't his competitor, but there was no guarantee she wouldn't spill the beans.

  Kill her to silence her?

  The foolish thought flickered briefly before being immediately rejected. Come on, aside from whether he could cleanly get rid of her or not, if he did, he would surely be found out immediately. This was the world of magic, and many professors at the school were proficient in prophecy. All they had to do was cast a spell on a crystal ball to know thatLeoric was the murderer.

  What to do...

  Just asLeoric was contemplating, she had walked up to him. "Mr. Lannister?" she called out in a low, puzzled voice. "Are you alright?"

  "Oh, I'm fine,"Leoric said. "Nice to meet you, Miss Freya. What are you doing here so late?"

  "I've been having insomnia," she frowned cutely. "I never had this problem before, but recently, it's been getting worse. I often can't sleep and can only come out for a walk."

  Insomnia?

  "That's terrible. Insomnia is indeed very painful,"Leoric sympathized. "I used to have insomnia too, although it's cured now, so I can understand how you feel."

  In fact,Leoric had never suffered from insomnia, neither in his past life nor in this one. Since practicing internal martial arts, he had never had trouble sleeping again.

  "Really? How did you cure it?"

  Leoric chuckled and pointed to the small garden ahead. "Would you like to sit over there for a while?" he invited. "The view tonight is quite nice."

  Leoric and Freya sat side by side on the bench in the garden.

  Although there was no moonlight, with the help of the distant yellow streetlight,Leoric could clearly admire her delicate beauty and graceful figure. As a little girl who had just turned fourteen (whichLeoric found out later), her development was astonishing. Despite wearing a loose wizard robe, it couldn't conceal her curves. Judging by sight, her bust size was about 32B, which was decent for her petite frame (about 1.6 meters tall).

  Like most women in Spiritshade City, her black long hair had slight natural curls, and her face was delicate, radiating the innocence of a young girl. What captivatedLeoric the most was her small mouth, with corners slightly upturned as if always bearing a mischievous smile.

  How strange, such a pretty girl and already in her third year, yet he had never noticed her before. It seemed he had been scared by those ugly girls around him in his freshman year and forgotten to observe the new students in the school afterward.

  Well, never mind that.

  Leoric felt a little attracted and considered getting her.

  In his past life, he wasn't exactly a lecher, but he had slept with a few girlfriends; in this life, as a fifteen-year-old virgin with rich theoretical knowledge but no practical experience, he had both theory and practice combined... Why hesitate?

  Freya seemed completely unaware that she was sitting next to a lecher, or perhaps she was still anxious about her persistent insomnia. Of course, this was completely worth worrying about. If it wereLeoric, he would be a hundred times more anxious, perhaps even to the point of contemplating suicide. For wizards, insomnia meant they couldn't prepare magic smoothly the next day. Without magic, were they still wizards? No, they were just useless.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Leoric casually chatted with her and soon extracted the information he wanted. Freya was a girl without much guile, of course, she was only fourteen after all.

  "So, you're the second daughter of the Monica family?"

  "Yeah, I have a twin sister, Fulia, who's an apprentice priestess at the goddess' temple."

  Spiritshade City had a history of over two thousand years. Logically, such a long time should have produced many aristocratic families, but in reality, there weren't many. The rules of Spiritshade City were strange, or rather, strict, and could even be said to be power-oriented.

  Only wizards or priests could be nobles.

  TakeLeoric as an example. His full name wasLeoric Lannister, with Lannister being his family name. As long asLeoric could graduate successfully and become a full-fledged wizard, the Lannister family would leap to noble status. Even Leovenawould then enter high society and be respected.

  But ifLeoric passed away, and the Lannister family had no other wizards or priests, the entire family would degrade to commoners.

  Due to the infestation of shadowy essence, the residents of Spiritshade City generally had poor fertility, and becoming a wizard or priest wasn't something one could aspire to easily. It required great talent and diligence. Therefore, some noble families, after just a couple of generations, had no successors and degraded to commoners. And in this world, it was always easier to go down than up. Degradation was simple, but it was much more difficult to climb back up.

  The Monica family had existed since the establishment of Spiritshade City. Although sparse in numbers, they had endured for a long time, which was quite remarkable.

  However, by this generation, the Monica family seemed to be encountering a bit of trouble. According to Freya, there were no males in their generation, only her and her twin sister, with no collateral relatives either.

  In such cases, the usual solution was to take in a son-in-law, whose offspring would inherit the family name and title of the mother's line, thereby maintaining the continuity of the family. Otherwise, if the daughters married and took their husband's surname, the original family would be extinguished without successors.

  In recent generations, although the Monica family had produced one or two wizards each generation, their achievements were mediocre, only securing jobs in the military. Freya said that according to their father's expectations and arrangements, her sister Fulia was serving as an apprentice priestess at the Sharr Temple, while she herself entered the wizard academy. It was evident that they bore the heavy responsibility of revitalizing the family, or at least, that was what their elders expected.

  The ruling class of Spiritshade City was made up of wizards and priests, so their father had let the two sisters take different paths. It was a good idea in theory, but unfortunately, plans often go awry.Leoric didn't know how Fulia was doing at the temple, but at least her sister at the wizard academy had developed insomnia this year due to excessive pressure. If this continued, she would surely be eliminated by the exams.

  Leoric had never suffered from insomnia, so he didn't have experience in curing it—but what did it matter? Remember, he was now a skilled potion brewer.

  Brewing a magic potion to treat insomnia shouldn't be difficult, right?

  WhenLeoric suggested this, Freya shook her head. It wasn't that she was worriedLeoric would tamper with the potion (actually,Leoric did plan to), but because...

  "After discovering my insomnia, I bought calming potions and even went to the temple for a priest's treatment, but nothing worked."

  Leoric furrowed his brows slightly. It seemed the situation was quite serious, likely caused more by mental anxiety, so relying solely on medication and divine healing was ineffective.

  "Don't worry,"Leoric assured her. "The potion I brew is not like the plain water you buy in stores. It's much more effective. Actually, I used to have severe insomnia too, just like you. The potions in stores didn't cure me either—but I cured myself."

  "Really?" She was skeptical.

  "Of course,"Leoric's tone was absolutely certain. "Last year's final exam, I got a perfect score in potion-making."

  "I heard about it," she nodded. "Everyone says you're the fastest-progressing student since the establishment of Spiritshade City Wizard Academy. Now many people are betting on you to get that opportunity."

  Leoric chuckled bitterly.

  He knew he wasn't exceptional in any way, except perhaps for having a bit of self-awareness. When it came to talent, he was far from outstanding. His current achievements were largely due to sacrificing sleep for more practice. Just becauseLeoric wasn't a genius didn't mean they didn't exist. Those ranked ahead of him—they were born sorcerers. Beating them would be an uphill battle.

  Well, he'd worry about that later. "Where's your dorm?"Leoric asked. "The potion should be ready in about three days. I'll deliver it to you then."

  She smiled brightly and toldLeoric her address. "Chatting outside has made me feel much better. I should be able to sleep tonight," she stood up, "Thank you, Mr. Lannister."

  "Just call meLeoric," he said. "I'm really glad to meet you."

  "Me too," she replied with a slight curtsy, "Well, I should be going now."

  "Let me walk you back,"Leoric offered.

  "Thanks, but you don't have to," she said. "I already feel bad for keeping you from practicing magic... Oh,Leoric, was that Levitation you were practicing earlier?"

  She winked mischievously atLeoric.

  Leoric hesitated for a moment before realizing what she meant. "Yeah, Levitation," he said. "I learned it a long time ago. I'm a bit rusty, so I was just testing the waters."

  What he had actually been practicing was Flight—Flight and Levitation, despite their similar names, were worlds apart in difficulty. Levitation allowed only vertical movement, while Flight permitted free-range soaring. As a third-year student, she should have been able to tell the difference.

  This little girl was smarter than he had thought.

  "Oh," she turned back after a few steps, "If I have time in the future, can I ask you some questions? I'm having a lot of trouble with Transformation magic, and I heard it's your specialty."

  "You're more than welcome, Freya,"Leoric said.