Love, Gun, Cupid

“I promise you,” he solemnly pledged, “I will do everything in my power to help you return to the sunlight.”

The woman stared at him blankly, then nodded vigorously. In her most confused and helpless moment, even his superficial promise was grasped at by her like a lifeline.

She looked at him like a weak woman looks at her hero. This satisfied the young man's vanity.

“There’s one last thing,” Du Juan said. “Ms. Jianlan, why did you go near Lin Jiade’s phone?”

“Originally, I just wanted to get up and take a walk, but suddenly, his phone opened a crack, and I felt a familiar presence inside. Maybe a fragment of my soul fell there.”

My phone is cracked?

Lin Jiade was a little flustered. In a sense, for a young man like him, the time and frequency of using his mobile phone was more than that of using his computer, so the importance of the mobile phone in his life was obvious.

He examined it carefully and, finding nothing amiss, breathed a sigh of relief, picked it up, and said, "There are no cracks."

“To explain this, we need to introduce more settings, and you’ve learned enough new settings tonight.” Du Juan glanced at the time. “You look very tired. Are you sure you want to stay up all night expanding your worldview?”

If it were something important, Du Juan would speak up immediately, so this was a less important setting. Thus, between expanding his worldview and continuing to sleep, Lin Jiade decisively chose to sleep… As he thought this, he let out a big yawn.

Du Juan tactfully took her leave, and Jian Lan returned to her residence. Lin Jiade lay back down on the bed, but couldn't fall asleep.

At this moment, Gladiolus's soul floated out and lay opposite him, resting her head on his arm. She had neither scent nor warmth, and her cloak and long dress loosely covered her body, offering no allure whatsoever, yet Lin Jiade still shyly closed his eyes.

"Is there something you need?" he asked in a low voice.

“You can’t sleep and are anxious about it, and the will link is transmitting your anxiety to me. I wonder if it’s because of me.”

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's nothing. Since we're partners, we should help each other. At least for now, you're the most important person to me, and I can only rely on you."

The vanity of being needed and relied upon made Lin Jiade feel lightheaded. A lullaby came from Jianlan's lips, and Lin Jiade opened his eyes, giving her a strange look. Jianlan reached out and smoothed his hair, then continued singing.

Lin Jiade felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier, and before he knew it, his consciousness had slipped into darkness. When he woke up, it was already 11 a.m. the next day.

He stood up and saw Jianlan "sitting" in the chair, an invisible energy lifting the book, the pages turning as the woman read.

The curtains diffused the sunlight, illuminating the lich lady's phantom image, which made Lin Jiade realize once again that she was a fragment of a soul, not a living person.

“Good morning, Lin Jiade,” Jianlan said. “Your two girlfriends are traveling together, and they asked me to look after you here.”

"No, Du Juan is not my girlfriend. She is my...benefactor and protector. I don't know what our relationship is, but as you can see, she is the one who has decided my life now."

Gladiolus has no memories, retaining only the most basic common sense, but her understanding of magic is quite profound. Even though she is now just a fragment of a soul, her eyes still retain a constant energy perception.

In her vision, Lin Jiade was enveloped by layers of pink chains, while another chain led to the void, or rather, to the direction where Du Juan was.

“Indeed, Cupid left a strong impression on you,” Gladiolus said. “Even after all that, do you… still have no feelings for each other?”

Lin Jiade looked down at his knees: "As you can see, I already have a girlfriend, so... I can't like Miss Dujuan."

Chapter Seventeen, First Lesson

"Can't?"

As Gladiolus pondered the young man's words, she seemed like a marble statue come to life, her skin and hair possessing a warm, hazy texture. Whenever Lin Jiade met her gaze, he, as the harbinger of fate, would resonate with the Lich Lady's inner world.

Lin Jiade looked down, punched his thigh, and told himself that his current girlfriend was Jasmine. He couldn't be tempted by the ripe fruit before him that would never rot, and his understanding with her couldn't surpass that with Jasmine.

"What's wrong?" Jianlan asked.

His gaze was focused on Gladiolus's loose black robe, which wrapped him up like a sack—from neck to ankle, only his feet were bare.

It lacked any aesthetic appeal, but it suited Lin Jiade perfectly. He calmed himself down and answered naturally, "It's nothing, I was just a little dazed, but I'm clear-headed now."

“There is a connection between us. I feel you more clearly now than you feel me, so I understand that you feel guilty towards your girlfriend.”

Gladiolus lowered her head: "I know that an apology won't solve anything. I'm sorry that my presence is creating pressure between you."

"It's my own problem. Even if you hadn't appeared, perhaps in the future, any beautiful woman who appears in my life would have made me waver."

"It seems like things haven't been easy for you either."

Gladiolus looked at Lin Jiade: "Am I honored to learn about your past? Perhaps it's because I have no memory, so I'm very interested in other people's stories."

Moreover, your sorrow, which you cannot describe to Jasmine or Cuckoo, needs a confidant. You need to confide, and I long to listen. In Cupid's words, we are a win-win situation.

Lin Jiade glanced at Jianlan, but before those violet vortexes could pull him in, he looked away and replied, "Is this the lich's care for the life box? Or his sincerity towards his partner?"

"Perhaps both, but apart from that, I think we're the same."

"what?"

"We are all uncertain about our future and entrust our fate to others. You entrust it to the cuckoo, and I entrust it to you."

Lin Jiade was silent for a moment before saying, "My story may not be to your liking. Also, let me get up and have something to eat."

"They left you some food."

"Ms. Jianlan, how do you maintain your livelihood?" Lin Jiade asked.

"Perfect timing, you're in good spirits right now, let's have our first lesson. Lin Jiade, how much do you understand about supernatural powers?"

Lin Jiade thought for a moment: "Extraordinary powers can be broadly divided into witchcraft, oracle, and magic. Witchcraft is imitating the power of other races, oracle is power from the heavens, and magic is power that one studies on one's own."

Based on the era in which magic took shape, magic is divided into modern (Level 1), contemporary (Level 2), ancient (Level 3), and primitive society (Level 4). Furthermore, based on the strength of its destructive power, magic is categorized into four grades: A, B, C, and D.

"What about the energy part?" Gladiolus asked.

Lin Jiade shook his head, and Jianlan said, "We generally believe that magic, witchcraft, and oracle use the same energy on this planet, but the specific part of the energy they utilize is not the same."

Part of the planet’s ever-flowing energy comes from our land, or more precisely, from the mantle, where it resides in water molecules and circulates with the air and water, covering the entire globe.

Another portion of the energy is contained in light, which is input into the planet along with sunlight. Naturally, moonlight, which shines from the sun onto the moon and is then scattered back to our planet by the moon's surface, also contains energy.

These three parts, based on principles that are currently unknown... at least unknown to me, constitute the energy we have in our concept.

Oracles draw more heavily on energy from the sun, an energy that is violent and difficult to control; witchcraft primarily utilizes energy from the moon, while magic harnesses energy leaking from the Earth's mantle.

“If air fills our air, fills water molecules, then everyone should have energy,” Lin Jiade said.

"Yes, everyone possesses energy, and everyone can learn witchcraft, oracles, and magic. People may have different social classes, but their baseness is the same. Mastering extraordinary power is not for equality, but for becoming superior."

The mastery of extraordinary powers objectively grants those with vested interests the ability to conceal related knowledge. Therefore, those who were the first to acquire these powers unanimously formulated rules for concealing their extraordinary abilities.

Today, the principle of secrecy has made people forget about supernatural powers. Everyone who boards a bus will instinctively turn around and kick off the next person who might board... even though, in my common sense, the energy that humanity actually develops and utilizes accounts for only 0.7% of the total energy.

Gladiolus moved closer, and Lin Jiade took a step back. The Lich Lady stopped and said, "The human body can store energy, but do you know exactly where the human body's energy is stored?"

"Fat? Bones? Blood vessels?"

“No, it’s the stomach.” Jianlan pointed vaguely. “A complete spellcasting process is like this: when you have the thought of casting a spell, under the stimulation of hormones, the energy stored in your stomach will be forced into your intestines, and then quickly circulate in the blood, accumulating in the parts needed for the spellcasting.”

The stomach is the primary site for energy storage, while the intestines and blood vessels also store energy. Furthermore, with each injury, energy is injected into the corresponding area to accelerate repair, allowing previously injured areas to also store energy, thus expanding energy storage capacity.

Lin Jiade recalled the training that Du Juan and Kapok had given him and murmured, "No wonder..."

“We Homo sapiens… well, maybe I’m no longer Homo sapiens.”

Gladiolus paused for a second in sadness, then continued, "We are quite mediocre in terms of energy reserves, so there are two solutions to deal with insufficient energy."

The first method involves creating minor injuries through excessive training, allowing energy to be poured into them to expand their capacity.

The second method is to store energy using external resources.

If possible, Lin Jiade would like to choose the second option, but that would mean he would have to buy additional energy storage equipment. He searched the Magic Registrar's shop, glanced at the prices, and then left.

He could also choose to accumulate points by completing tasks and exchange them through internal imperial channels. But right now, he's only doing menial tasks and running errands, which is far from enough to accumulate the points needed for such items.

Finally, he had to expand his energy reserves through sheer force and miracles.

The young man asked with some curiosity, "Madam, since you don't have a physical body, how do you store energy?"

Gladiolus was a little embarrassed: "Of course it's yours... I'm sorry."

So we even share energy? I've allocated points to Strength and Agility, so I don't have much mana to begin with! Lin Jiade thought.

Chapter Eighteen: Future Outlook (Bonus Chapter)

In just a few hours, Jianlan had apologized several times, and Lin Jiade had become numb to it. He waved his hand, then suddenly remembered what happened at three in the morning, and looked up again, saying, "I remember the spell you tried to cast on Miss Dujuan, it looked terrifying, the windows were all covered in ice."

Jianlan smiled and said, "It was just a bluff. Your energy can't support the use of powerful spells, so I pretended to be very powerful to try and get you back to my side."

"It looked so real, I was really scared at the time."

"Common sense tells me I'm probably around thirty. It's not difficult for an adult my age to fool a child who's ten years or more older."

"Now, I believe the lady is really around thirty years old. From this age onwards, adults often look down on us students and call us 'kids'."

As soon as Lin Jiade finished speaking, the eraser, guided by Jianlan, rose into the air and poked his forehead.

“Don’t discuss a lady’s age, at least don’t let her know,” Jianlan said with a smile.

"You, the lady, started this conversation?!"

“Making fun of yourself and talking about it with others are two different things,” Jianlan glanced down. “If you’re so energetic, you should get up quickly.”

Her figure disappeared from the spot, and Lin Jiade was a little confused. He looked down and saw the energetic appearance of the House of Representatives, and his cheeks couldn't help but burn.

"Forget it, I'm a guy, so what if I get looked at? I'm not at a disadvantage."

Lin Jiade got up, thinking about Jianlan, and marveled at how incredible magic was, making a person die but still be as if they were alive.

No, perhaps it's a punishment too. He thought, Lady Gladiolus was so sad she wanted to cry, but liches have no tears, so her sorrow was always silent.

He recalled the knowledge taught in the first lesson of Gladiolus's Little Classroom, and the fact that Gladiolus and he shared the energy pool, which strengthened his determination to learn magic from Gladiolus.

Otherwise, wouldn't the energy he expended on her be a huge waste?

Perhaps because of the doubled consumption, Lin Jiade was as hungry as if he hadn't eaten all day. He ate half a bag of biscuits, an apple, two boiled eggs, and three sausages, but he was still hungry, so he took out the sesame seed cakes left over from last night and started eating them.

Gladiolus reappeared, watching the young man wolf down his food with an envious expression. Then, she opened the floating book and dropped it inside.

As Lin Jiade ate, he glanced at Jianlan, who was "sitting" on the sofa. Jianlan's profile was facing him, and as long as she didn't look up, he could fully appreciate this ripe fruit, this living marble statue, without worrying about being tempted and devoured.

"What are you looking at?" Lin Jiade asked.

"The Papastathopoulos's Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic," Miss Cuckoo said, "is the source of your power, so she asked me to see if there's any possibility of rewriting this magical system to make it more powerful."

This was Gladiolus's duty in their partnership, and Lin Jiade wouldn't thank her for it. He said with interest, "How difficult is it to modify this magic from the theoretical stage?"

"It's not difficult. I'll first outline its structure and understand its operating mode, and then I'll improve it based on your needs... Which specific aspect of the spell do you want to improve?"

Lin Jiade sighed: "Sigh, I want to update the versions of all the spells in this system."

This is a Rank 4C magic system. The spells within it are affordable, easy to obtain materials for, and easy to cast. The only drawback is that they are practically useless.

Detection spells are almost unusable in actual combat, and defensive (vine) spells, healing spells, and offensive (blood spear) spells are only good for fun.