Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

The entrance to the Mirror World slowly closed in the center of the playground.

After the last glimmer of blue flame dissipated into the air, Andreas handed the podium to the staff responsible for live commentary, retreated to the foot of the flowering tree, spread her wings, and lightly landed on the thickest branch, closing her eyes to continue dozing off.

The holographic projection screen on the playground switched to live footage of the martial arts test. The perspectives of thousands of examinees were divided into densely packed small squares on the huge screen, and the parents of the examinees and the students who came to watch simultaneously made a hushed commotion.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mirror world, the three proctors had already found their positions.

Primula chose the tallest ancient tree and used flames to burn a flat table at the top of its canopy.

The wood was instantly carbonized by the pale blue flames, and sitting on it still left a warm, lingering heat.

She crossed her legs, rested her elbows on her knees, and cupped her chin in her palms. Her blue ponytail cascaded down her shoulders as her gaze swept across the holographic projection of the jungle, a smile on her lips that made the test-takers want to run away.

Violet stood beside her, choosing not to sit down, but instead crossing her arms over her chest, her long silver-white hair remaining motionless in the wind through the treetops.

Hiesta was sprawled on the edge of the table, her legs swinging behind her, her sleeves dangling down and fluttering, clutching a bag of caramel popcorn she'd swiped from one of her little fans, happily munching away.

"Asase, the thirteenth."

Primula suddenly spoke, unable to suppress the corners of her mouth.

She pointed to a small observation screen floating in front of the three of them. On the screen, at the edge of a muddy swamp, a girl with short black hair was pulling a katana from a magical projection that had turned into specks of light and disappeared.

The remaining icy blue magic patterns on the blade trailed a thin, cold mist in the air. As the blade tip dipped towards the ground, a drop of water, frozen into an ice bead, slid down the blade and was frozen into ice shards by the low temperature surrounding the blade before it hit the ground.

Her movements were perfectly executed.

Sheathed his sword and turned around.

His dark gray eyes had already locked onto another candidate a few meters away who hadn't yet reacted.

The magic missile in the examinee's hand was still gathering, but Asase's sword was faster. A flash of icy blue light appeared, and before the missile could leave his hand, the examinee himself had already turned into specks of light and disappeared on the spot.

Kills: 13.

"Where did she learn that swordsmanship from?"

Primra tapped her cheek lightly with the fingers that were supporting her chin, her tone unusually tinged with curiosity.

"Anyone can make magic missiles, but swordsmanship isn't part of the witch's education system. The angle, power, and footwork of her slash were not self-taught; someone must have taught her."

"As far as I know, the Asase family runs a kendo dojo. Although the witch doesn't practice swordsmanship, she's been interested in it since she was little and learned from her mother. Her mother doesn't have magic, and she has no intention of inheriting the family business, but she's practiced those moves for over ten years."

Violet said, her gaze never leaving the observation screen, her tone remaining indifferent.

"Later, I awakened the magic of ice element and added ice enchantment to the sword."

"Ten years or so, no wonder."

Primula nodded, her smile deepening.

"While other candidates are still casting missiles, she can already complete a slash in a second. It's more interesting to teach students like this. I actually hope she can get more kills so that she can be ranked higher and be assigned to my class."

"Do you like her as a person or her kill stats?"

Violet asked.

I like them both.

Primula was perfectly justified.

"I like kids who don't hold back when they fight."

Violet did not respond.

Her gaze shifted from Asase's screen to another observation screen.

The screen showed a relatively dry highland area, with boulders and dead trees interspersed, offering a much wider view than the depths of the jungle.

A girl with short red hair stands in the very center of the picture.

That was Xiaoye.

Her eyes remained half-closed and languid. There were no other examinees around her, but a skeleton stood at her feet.

The skeleton was a head taller than her, with a robust frame and a thin layer of dark purple magic membrane covering its surface.

They carried no weapons, but just by looking at their size, you could tell that a single punch from them could crack an ordinary magic shield.

Xiao Ye stood on the back of one of the skeletons, and drew a tiny circle in the air with his right index finger. The two skeletons he summoned then turned around at the same time and walked in different directions.

A few meters away, a candidate suddenly sprang out from the bushes, his magic missile already condensed to the size of a fist, clearly having been crouching for a long time to launch a sneak attack.

But before the missile could be launched, one of the skeletons turned and charged in that direction, punching the examinee's magic shield directly.

The shield shattered instantly, and the examinee was sent flying backward and crashed to the ground. Before she could even get up, the skeleton's second punch was already in front of her.

Xiao Ye strolled over from behind, squatted down next to the examinee, and asked with a smile, "Do you want to surrender?" Then he reached out and gently tapped her forehead with his finger.

Kills: 9

"Spiritualism?"

Primula briefly looked away from Asase's screen and glanced at Xiaoye's screen.

"Summoning skeletons is nothing special, it's a basic summoning spell, but the skeletons she summoned had the wrong stats. They were at least twice as tough as ordinary skeletons, and their attack power was ridiculously high."

"She combined charm with psychic abilities."

Violet said calmly, her gaze fixed on the image of Xiaoye, her silvery-white eyelashes drooping slightly.

"The charmed skeleton will enter a berserk state, with all attributes greatly increased, but at the same time it will continuously consume the summoner's mana. She solved this problem by controlling mana and maintaining mana sustain."

"She kept the skeleton's continuous energy consumption below normal levels, which means that her magic control precision is at least A-level. Her combat style appears to be a summoning style, but its core is actually precise magic control."

"Those who receive such a evaluation from you are usually not simple."

Primula glanced at her sideways and chuckled.

"Is she the kind of talent your alchemy department is looking for?"

"Alchemy does not need skeletons."

Violet looked away and turned her gaze forward again.

"But her ability to control the precision of magic does indeed give her the potential to conduct precision alchemy experiments, and I will keep an eye on her."

Primula raised an eyebrow but did not press the matter further.

For Violet to say that she would pay attention to her is already a very high compliment.

Just as she was about to turn around and continue watching the battle on Asase's side, she suddenly heard a rustling sound beside her.

Hiesta was leaning over the edge of the table, her legs sticking out even higher than before. Several pieces of caramel popcorn had fallen out of the bag and rolled onto the table, but she didn't bother to pick them up.

Her peach-colored eyes widened, her lips parted slightly, and her expression resembled that of a cat that had just seen catnip.

"Come and take a look."

Hiesta's voice was so low that Primura's first thought was that she was playing a prank.

But Hiesta rarely speaks in this tone.

Primula and Violet exchanged a glance and each switched their observation screens to Hiesta's channel.

The scene shows an empty space.

In the center of the open space stood a withered tree struck by lightning, and the ground was littered with debris from the explosion of the magic missile.

The two little witches knelt on the ground, trembling all over, their magic completely drained, and they couldn't even stand up.

A little witch with short, light blonde hair stood before them, two dark red tentacles extending from her sleeves and hovering beside her, their dark red petals gently opening and closing in the air.

Then Primula witnessed the most bizarre thing she had ever seen in an exam.

The little creature didn't eliminate the two candidates. She used her tentacles to tie them up, put them in the tree hole, and even left them half a hemostatic herb leaf.

Before leaving, he squatted down at the entrance of the tree hole and said a few words to them. His expression looked a bit fierce, but it was clear that he didn't intend to kill them.

Hiesta froze the image at the moment the little one turned to leave, a few strands of her light golden short hair blowing in the wind, the hem of her windbreaker still bearing the scorch marks from the missile that had grazed her, and two tentacles curling slightly behind her, as if waving goodbye to the person in the tree hole.

Hiesta slowly turned her head to look at Primula and Violet.

Did you see that?

she says.

"I saw it."

Violet said.

"Is that a summoned creature?"

"Not a summoned creature, but an organ directly connected to her body. So this is what flesh magic is like?"

"So cute."

Hiesta put the popcorn bag aside, cupped her cheeks in her hands, and a dangerous glint began to appear in her peach-colored eyes that Primula and Violet both recognized.

"Her movement of binding people with her tentacles was so gentle that it didn't hurt them at all."

"...You're not thinking about something weird again, are you?"

Primula cautiously moved a little to the side.

"I'm thinking—"

Hiesta took a deep breath, clasped her hands together, and the heart in her eyes was almost overflowing.

"How wonderful it would be to be bound by her tentacles."

"My wrist was wrapped in those soft, yet powerful dark red petals, lifted up, and gently placed on a soft spot. Then she said to me with that fake fierce expression that she couldn't actually be fierce at all—'Hmph, not everyone is as easy to talk to as me.'"

"And did you see that expression on her face? She's clearly incredibly soft-hearted, but she's putting on a cold and ruthless act. She definitely won't feel any pain when she's bound by the tentacles; it'll probably feel quite comfortable."

Violet glanced around silently, as if worried that someone might be overhearing her.

Primula stared at her expressionlessly, remaining silent for a while before turning to Violet and pointing at Hiesta, who was still rambling on about how the material of the tentacle petals looked like jelly but had the toughness of silicone—content that was clearly no longer quite right.

"She can't be serious for more than three minutes."

"Three minutes is already very generous of you."

Violet rolled her eyes in exasperation, which was a rather dramatic change in expression for her.

Primula was speechless and could only refocus her attention on the observation screen, rewinding the recording of the battle with Miya and watching it again.

She paused the video the moment the tentacle first popped out of her sleeve, zoomed in, and carefully examined the texture on the surface of the tentacle and the dark red petals at its end.

"What's wrong?"

"It's not powered by magic."

Primula touched the dark red patterns on the surface of the tentacles on the screen with her finger.

"Magic-powered summons have a halo of magical energy fluctuations on their surface, but this tentacle has none at all; its energy source is not magic."

"As for flesh magic, I had only read about it in academic papers before. I had never seen what flesh magic looked like in actual combat. It turns out that it is just living organs growing on the body."

"So she doesn't need to worry about running out of magic at all?"

Violet looked thoughtfully at Miya on the screen.

The wind blew up the cuffs of the windbreaker, and two tentacles were slowly retracting back to the wrists, turning into two thin, almost invisible red lines that clung to the skin.

"And that student is really cute, I like her so much~"

Hiesta chimed in at the opportune moment.

"I like her so much that I'd be willing to be tied up with her tentacles and put into her tree hollow. Oh, by the way, do you guys think there's any room left in her tree hollow? I'm about the same height as those two test takers, so I should be able to fit in, right?"

Primra snapped her fingers, and a pale blue flame barrier appeared between her and Sietha, blocking Sietha's next words from being spoken on the other side of the flames.

Hiesta tapped the barrier in annoyance, but no sound came through. All that could be seen was her mouth moving, and judging from the shape of her lips, she was probably saying something like "tentacle petals go in" or something else.

"If Bie Chenye knew that the reason she received the Best Contribution Award was a scheme orchestrated by the three of us, would she plant all three of us in the back mountain as fertilizer?"

Primula suddenly asked Violet.

"You planned this all by yourself."

Violet remained unfazed.

"Xiao hope and I just didn't stop you. The sentences for the principal offender and the accomplice are different."

"I confess, and I'll let you have the tentacles—"

"Can't!"

The remaining two spoke in unison.