Cornflower Witch

Chapter 397 The Vampire's Scheme
These are clearly fantastical and unrealistic words, but when spoken by this young girl, they feel perfectly natural. If Hilti had simply said that she wanted to earn a lot of money and reach a high position or rank, it would have felt a bit disappointing, like a pearl being tarnished.

"Go for it, Hedra," Xin Ke said with a wink, offering sincere words of encouragement.

Although the two had only known each other for a very short time, she was the one who could resonate with Hilti the most. To her, the things that many ordinary people pursued no longer had much meaning. Those so-called riches were already within her reach. The courses that other students found difficult to learn and the ranks that they were promoted to were, in her view, just a matter of spending more time and effort to achieve them easily.

The question of what life is all about and how to live this life that will eventually pass away has become a difficult problem for a small number of people, and their answers vary. The only certainty is that this answer will make her feel satisfied, completely at peace, and without regrets.

This is the kind of life I want to live...

Even if it costs me anything or I suffer any pain, I will not waver. Instead, I will accept reality with equanimity.

"You two are exchanging so many glances, I can't understand it~" Luo Wei'er felt that Xin Ke was going to steal Xilutiya away from her, even though she was the one who met her first.

Then cheerful laughter filled the ice cream shop.

In the afternoon, Xin Ke accompanied the three of them shopping, introducing them to her favorite places and the unique features of Water Lily Street, etc. They did this until evening before parting ways.

The following day, Monday.

After a short holiday, back at school, Hilti was still planning whether to go to the lab to practice the newly learned rune inscription technique. Suddenly, the class became noisy.

"What happened?" someone asked curiously.

"Waldlin from School No. 73 was attacked and almost died on his way home, but fortunately a fourth-tier mage passed by and saved him."

"An attack? This kind of thing actually happens in the Asura district?"

"Of course there are, but what he encountered is very rare. Usually, attacks are for robbery or revenge killing, but Huadlin's case was clearly not for either of those reasons, so it is quite unusual."

"Who did that?"

"I don't know. Walterin is still in a coma and will probably wake up in a few days."

"Now all schools have been notified that we should go out together after school and not walk alone at night, etc."

Will this work?

"Who knows? But that's all the school can do. Otherwise, if they assigned guards to each student, they would need to be at least Tier 3 to be effective against such an attack. But having only Tier 3 guards seems impossible."

The students were buzzing with discussion. After understanding the situation, Hilti was about to continue reading when someone came looking for her.

"Hedra, your teacher is looking for you."

"Okay, I understand." This probably refers to what just happened.

She went to the office, and the teacher indeed told her to be careful during this period. Soon after, the principal also came over.

"Here, you can borrow this spherical pendant. It has some protective function and can also send out a distress signal." As he spoke, the principal handed her a silver-blue metal sphere with intricate patterns engraved on it.

【Gulfin Protective Orb】(Tier 4, Excellent): Can deploy a protective shield that lasts for ten minutes. Its strength is equivalent to that of a normal Tier 4 mage. It has a certain warning function and will automatically deploy when there are violent fluctuations in the surrounding elemental energy.

"I understand, thank you, teacher." Hiltiya accepted the gift and then curiously inquired about what had happened.

"We don't know the specifics either, but we do know that the attack on Walderlin was likely launched by another organization," the headmaster explained. Another organization? In the entire Fourth Continent, the only organizations that the Mage Alliance would call "other organizations" are probably the 'Woodland Alliance,' the 'Harp Flower Union,' and the 'Sea Cliff Blood Clan.' Any smaller sects or organizations probably wouldn't even qualify as adversaries.

With some speculation in mind, Hilti left the office and returned to the classroom.

On Thursday afternoon, instead of attending classes with her classmates, Hilti went to the lathe lab at School 106 to try making a small clock, which was part of her recent research and a required subject for admission to Thetis Academy.

After finishing the experiment, it was getting dark. By the time she walked out of the gate of school number 106, it was already six o'clock in the evening.

At this moment, the shops along the street have lit up, and there are far fewer horse-drawn carriages on the road, with only the occasional roaring steam locomotive passing by.

As she walked back, Hiltiya thought about the problems she had encountered in the lab earlier. School 106 was not far from her dormitory, only a half-hour walk away. She usually didn't bother to find a car to go back, but preferred to take a walk at night.

As she was walking back slowly as usual, two figures emerged from the shadows at the corner of the street, gazing at the girl's back under the streetlight.

"Is it her?" one of them asked.

"Yes, her black hair is rare among students; she must be what the teachers call the 'Black Griffin'."

"It is said that he is an extremely talented student who will have the opportunity to reach the sixth rank in the future."

“It’s such a waste to leave someone like that to the Mage Alliance.” One of them licked his lips.

"Do you remember what Lord Ross said? For every genius like this that is successfully converted into a vampire, we will be rewarded with a portion of 'True Crimson Blood Brew'."

"With that thing, breaking through to the fifth rank will be a piece of cake," said the more robust figure, his words filled with longing.

"Fifth rank, huh? If you reach the fifth rank, you can become a lord of the vampires, establish your own island and manor, and enjoy endless money and countless beautiful women..." The thinner man next to him murmured to himself.

"However, we have to get it done first. That kid named 'Waldlin' was really ungrateful; he even tried to run away halfway."

"Although he was saved, he can forget about advancing in the future. With the 'Bad Blood Poison' we used, there are very few people in the Mage Alliance who can cure it. Even if there are, those people are all old monsters who don't care about worldly affairs. Why would they care about such a small matter? Hehe."

"Haha, that's right. That guy really doesn't know what's good for him. We talked to him about so many conditions that day, but he didn't listen to a single word."

"Don't you think about it? A normal person's lifespan is only a little over a hundred years, but a vampire, even a third-tier vampire, can easily live for more than three hundred years."

"Let's go, that girl is about to enter the next street, we'll go there and ambush her."

"So what if he's a genius? He hasn't grown up yet. Can a second-tier cultivator defeat two fourth-tier cultivators?" The two figures disappeared into the shadows again.

On the other side, Hilti stopped as she crossed the street, her gaze falling on a snack shop by the roadside. She wondered if she should buy some snacks to take back to her two friends in the dorm that night.

Aurora will probably give a rather bland response, but Lowell will definitely be very happy, as she'll bring her some food back herself.

Thinking of this, Hilti turned around and walked into the pastry shop.

The dim lighting made the colorful lettering under the sign appear somewhat warm and inviting in the night.

(End of this chapter)