Chapter 5 | Please Stop Possessing Me, Lord Evil God!

"She's not the real princess!"

The voice in her ear was decisive.

Grinya was so startled she stopped breathing... oh, she almost forgot, she couldn't even control her own breathing rhythm.

But Grinya was still terrified. The evil god's conclusion couldn't be wrong, so the only one with a problem had to be the Ruiya Kata'er before her.

But if she wasn't the real princess, then where was the real princess now?

"Your Highness Ruiya, why have you come to the academy today?" A senior female teacher approached, adjusting her gold-rimmed glasses.

"Ah, I... I came to see my future classmates..."

Ruiya looked a bit guilty, like a kitten caught doing something bad.

The teacher sighed and said, "Your Highness Ruiya, the academy's freshman assessment isn't over yet. The academy hasn't had time to verify everyone's identity information. You must be careful about people with ill intentions approaching you."

After saying this, her gaze drifted toward Grinya, whether intentionally or not.

The meaning was already self-evident.

"Teacher Zephu, I was just..." Ruiya was still trying to explain.

"Your Highness Ruiya, you wouldn't want what happened last week to happen again, would you?"

The teacher adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses again, a sharp light flashing across the lenses.

The events of last week, needless to say, referred to the sudden disappearance of the princess.

Ruiya stuck out her tongue. Although she was very unhappy, she had no reason to refute.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Zephu. I'll go back immediately. Please don't tell my father about me sneaking out!" She stood up, putting her hands together in a pleading gesture.

She looked at Grinya with some reluctance and said apologetically once more, "Sorry to have disturbed you, Grinya."

With that, she ran away looking rather dejected.

Watching her receding figure, Lu Xun stroked his chin, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"So... is this just an NPC who purely comes over to trigger a hidden quest?"

He thought he could unlock a special CG animation!

It had gotten his blood pumping for nothing.

"This child is really getting more and more disobedient." Teacher Zephu shook her head, then turned her gaze to Grinya.

"Student, the teacher's words just now were not meant with any malice toward you. You don't need to take them to heart."

"Grinya" nodded.

Zephu frowned slightly.

Why did this student's actions look a bit strange?

Was it because her actions just now had hurt her?

Students nowadays really were psychologically fragile; they couldn't take even a word!

She sighed and pulled a bottle of white potion from the pocket of her suit.

"My name is Zephu Kano, a teacher at this academy. I only wanted to warn that student earlier. Perhaps my words unintentionally hurt you; take this as an apology."

【Obtained Junior Experience Potion × 1】

"You are an apprentice mage who has just started, right? Perhaps this will be useful to you."

Unlocking rewards through dialogue—Lu Xun really liked this setting.

However, as the other party announced her full name, the question mark above her head gradually became clear in Lu Xun's eyes.

【True · Zephu Kano (lv20)】

To Lu Xun's surprise, the other party's name actually had a prefix. Was this some kind of trend?

Wait, where would an NPC get a sense of trendiness?

Hold on, didn't this game allow for free dialogue? Why shouldn't he try asking the teacher directly?

"Teacher, what does 'True' mean?" Grinya asked.

Faced with this sudden question, Zephu only assumed the girl before her was diligent and eager to learn. Out of a sense of responsibility to teach and resolve doubts, her tone became gentle:

"The 'True' you mentioned should be this, right?"

Zephu reached out, and a strange magic circle suddenly lit up in her palm. In the center of the array was a very unique symbol.

Lu Xun didn't recognize it.

But since the NPC said so, he could only control the character to nod.

"'True' is a type of Life Crown title. Once you break through level 10, you will come into contact with your first Life Crown title."

"Life Crown titles are blessings from the Original God. Only those recognized by the Original God will receive a Life Crown title, while those who cannot obtain one will be stuck at that level for their entire lives."

Hearing this, Lu Xun's expression became serious:

"As expected... the Original God is indeed awesome!"

Zephu was stunned for a moment, then nodded with certainty:

"The Original God is indeed awesome!"

"But teacher, is this Life Crown title just a symbolic sign of breaking through levels?" Lu Xun continued to ask. If this so-called Life Crown title only had this much use, wouldn't it be too useless?

Then he could only say the Original God was really stingy!

Zephu shook her head: "It's not. Every Life Crown title is very powerful. It can grant us new abilities, equivalent to letting us master a talent!"

"Each time you obtain a new Life Crown title, you gain a talent."

"For example, my Life Crown title has given me the ability of photographic memory."

So it was gaining a Constellation every ten levels.

Now he understood.

"Then teacher, how does an apprentice mage obtain a Life Crown title?" Grinya asked.

"When your level is facing a breakthrough, as long as you can obtain the recognition of the Original God, the Life Crown will naturally descend," Zephu said.

"..."

Damn!

If I had known, I wouldn't have quit the game and become a miHoYo-hater!

Lu Xun sighed toward the sky: "It looks like I'll never be able to break through."

Nonsense!

Grinya complained in her heart. You are a grand evil god; it would be a miracle if you could get the recognition of the Original God!

"So teacher, how do mages level up?" Grinya asked again.

Zephu said, "Generally, there are three ways."

"The first way is to obtain the power of faith from others, but this method is extremely dangerous. It's easy to be mentally contaminated and cause a great disaster! This method is strictly prohibited by the church, so we generally adopt the second way."

To put it bluntly, using cheats easily leads to getting banned.

"The second way is meditation. By achieving resonance with the Original God, we enhance our perception of magic. However, a small number of people, due to weak faith, easily resonate with the wrong deity—namely, an evil god. The consequence is also mental contamination, becoming a lunatic."

To put it bluntly, cultivation might lead to qi deviation.

"The third way is to consume Experience Potions. This method is the safest and saves the most time. However, Experience Potions are not easy to refine and are expensive. Generally, only nobles can afford them."

To put it bluntly, it was popping pills.

So this was just a cultivation game wrapped in a Western fantasy skin!

Lu Xun complained in his heart.

He looked at the Experience Potion in his inventory and tentatively clicked to consume it.

Well, no level up!

Zephu smiled and said, "This is only the lowest-grade Experience Potion. For a level 1 apprentice mage to level up, they need at least two bottles. But even if it's just a Junior Experience Potion, it still costs a high price of 20 gold coins!"

"So student, if you want to level up and become a powerful mage, you still have to rely more on your own efforts. Taking shortcuts is not the right path."

Lu Xun didn't reply to her. He just silently took out another bottle of white Experience Potion from his inventory.

Then he consumed it.

A golden light rose from Grinya's body.

【lv1-lv2】!

Seeing the golden light representing a level-up rise from within Grinya, the smile on Zephu's face instantly froze.

"Consuming Experience Potions occasionally is not impossible, but you must not develop a dependency. Experience Potions are highly valuable and not something you can afford..."