Wang Yue wasn’t a fool; she could see that Lulu’anna’s obsession with Dorothy had surpassed a mere fondness for a personal maid.
After the other girl stormed off, Wang Yue rubbed her tingling face, wondering why she had let herself get so worked up. Theoretically, she should have remained calm, perhaps offering a few mocking, playful barbs instead of losing her temper.
Yet, the intensity of her own outburst surprised even her.
Lulu’anna didn’t return to the gym. Instead, she headed straight back to the dormitory. She kept her head low, her eyes dark enough to drip ink, her fury nearly shattering the last of her self-control.
“Cursed Wang Yue… I’ll make sure I see that arrogant, insolent face of yours crumble into panic inside Paradise Lost. Soon… I’ve bought enough paint and paper. Soon, I’ll hear your pathetic sobs and mournful cries…”
She ground her teeth, her eyes growing brighter. By the time she finished her muttered tirade, she felt a surge of twisted excitement.
At the dormitory entrance, she ran into Wang Yue again.
As luck would have it, Wang Yue had also ditched class and rushed back.
The two let out simultaneous cold snorts. Like opposing magnets, they repelled each other—one clinging to the banister, the other hugging the wall. They climbed the stairs in a huff, maintaining the maximum possible distance between them.
Pushing into her room, Wang Yue went straight to the corner to check on the Polyp Spider.
Movement had triggered its metabolism; its surface was now coated in a layer of greasy, foul-smelling grime. More metabolic waste had been deposited on a sheet of paper in the corner.
Wang Yue had ordered it not to leave the room, forcing it to relieve itself indoors. However, the fact that it had the sense to use a specific piece of paper—and place it where no one would step on it—proved it was remarkably intelligent and surprisingly polite.
Wang Yue nodded in approval. Her appreciation stemmed not just from its civilized bathroom habits, but from the evolution of an excretory pore at its rear.
She remembered clearly that when she left for the Star-Well Atrium, it had no such feature. In just two hours, it had evolved mouthparts, a digestive system, an excretory system, and a central biological axis.
Even though it had self-digested nearly half its body to provide the energy for these changes, it had strictly followed her command to “not attack living things.” It hadn’t even hunted Kira Yoshi-lamb, which suggested the risk of it losing control was minimal.
Wang Yue found herself agreeing with the octopus; using a Special Grade Relic like this just to control people was a waste. “Squandering God’s gifts” didn’t even begin to cover it.
Come the weekend, she planned to visit the bazaar to buy enough mutton to help it sculpt a proper body. Then, she would release it into the wilderness to serve as her avatar in the outside world.
Despite her earlier lapse, Wang Yue was still a “good student.” She didn’t abandon her classes in a fit of pique like Lulu’anna. After playing truant for ten minutes, she slipped back onto the training grounds.
She arrived just as Mrs. Diaz was calling roll.
She chuckled inwardly, waiting for Lulu’anna to get caught. To her surprise, a girl from Room 203 answered for their dorm leader, successfully covering the absence.
A pity.
Once the two periods of physical education were over, Wang Yue returned to the dorm again. The end of the day’s classes was always the most relaxed time.
“Since becoming a girl, I seem to enjoy bathing more and more.”
Though she hadn’t broken much of a sweat during class, she grabbed a change of clothes and stepped into the private shower stall. She pressed her palm against the magical Rune on the water tank and channeled her mana.
While this simple water heater required mana to generate heat, it was well-insulated. Someone had showered at noon, so she only needed a quick burst of warmth to reach a comfortable temperature.
Wang Yue felt a flicker of excitement. This was her first bath since getting rid of the Gaze Worm. In other words, it was time to truly get to know herself!
She stripped down quickly. Well… the body hasn’t really developed yet. There were no dramatic curves or the “front-and-back” silhouette she might have imagined. She was lean, with few undulations to speak of. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing and having porcelain-fair skin, she just had a very pretty face.
She wasn’t sure about the upperclassmen, but at least a third of the freshmen were her “face fans.” If she didn’t usually keep her mouth shut and maintain a cold, distant “keep away” attitude, she would have been swarmed by admirers long ago. She could probably have built a harem spanning several classes.
The hot water cascaded down, flowing over her small frame, curving past her slight but firm backside, and trailing down her slender legs to her delicate ankles. Finally, it bloomed over her narrow feet, wetting her soft, pearl-like toes.
She used a bit of lime-scented bath salts. By the time she finished, she carried a faint, refreshing citrus scent.
When she stepped back into the room, her roommates were huddled together, deep in discussion.
“You’re just in time,” Dorothy called out. “We’ve had a bit of a falling out with Room 201.”
“201? Isn’t that Medeili’s room?” Wang Yue asked, surprised.
She was on good terms with Medeili. Since the octopus incident, they weren’t just friends—they were brothers-in-arms. Even Dorothy, her closest companion, was occasionally a bit jealous of their bond.
“I wouldn’t call it a conflict, exactly. It’s more of a philosophical clash regarding culinary theory,” Dina said gently.
Wang Yue’s gaze drifted to a jar of pickled cucumbers on the table.
“Plum sent those over herself, hmph,” Dorothy added.
Wang Yue opened the jar and used a fork to try one. It was perfectly pickled—sweet, sour, and crisp. The flavor of sweet soy sauce had seeped all the way into the core of the cucumber, making it utterly addictive. With her body temperature still high from the bath, she suddenly craved a large bowl of cold congee to go with them.
“Philosophical clash? What does that mean?” she asked.
Dina was an excellent communicator and summarized the situation in a few sentences.
It turned out that while they were busy baking pizzas and bread, the girls in Room 201 across the hall were also cooking. However, the two primary chefs had different specialties: Medeili loved cold dishes, while Dina loved baking. The two had engaged in a friendly debate over which was superior—after all, not everyone was as manic or aggressive as Lilith.
Ultimately, they had engaged in a rational, logical, “adult” discussion and decided to hold a cooking competition. The winner would be decided by the scores of three judges.
“Eh? Are we starting a Food War already?”
Of course, this was just a casual match. Winning or losing didn’t actually stake anything important. The food they made was ordinary; it wouldn’t glow, cause hallucinations, or make clothes explode…
Twelve students from both rooms stood in their respective doorways, facing each other across the corridor with crossed arms. None of them were willing to back down; the tension was palpable.
“Plum, how are we picking the judges?” Wang Yue asked.
“Three judges total. One from each room, and you’ll be the third judge.”
“Thanks for the trust. But everyone has different tastes; how do we account for personal bias?” Wang Yue pointed out.
Medeili offered a faint smile. “It doesn’t matter. You are the key.”
Wang Yue didn’t quite follow, but since both sides were in agreement, it wasn’t a problem. It was just a friendly sparring match, anyway.
Room 201 chose Winnie as their judge. Room 202, unsurprisingly, chose Dorothy—she had always been an expert at eating.
The third judge was Wang Yue.
Both sides returned to their rooms to prepare ingredients. The Food War had to be conducted quietly; if they made too much of a scene, the Housemother might come and shut the whole thing down.
“We’ll prepare three dishes each for a three-round showdown,” Dina explained. “The judges will score from zero to ten. The side with the highest total score wins.”
Wang Yue did the math; this was going to be a long process. Dina’s pastries needed to be baked fresh, which would likely take two or three hours.
She could use the intervals to do other things—like reviewing and preparing for her classes. Unlike before, Wang Yue had become quite the studious pupil. In this academy of witches, she knew exactly how her knowledge would be applied and how it could tangibly change her current circumstances.
Back on Earth, the utility of knowledge felt too distant to her; she couldn’t use it immediately, so she lacked passion. It was like the difference between someone who knows they’ll drown tomorrow—who would practice swimming with everything they have—and someone who knows they’ll drown in three years. The latter wouldn’t feel the same urgency.
Dina stood before a pile of ingredients, looking troubled. Dozens of recipes swirled through her mind, making it difficult to choose. She turned to her roommates for advice.
Dorothy: “Make sure it’s a big portion!”
Matcha: “I want wasabi cake.”
Wang Yue: “You can’t go wrong with extra sugar.”
Cerceybe: “…”
Veronica: “Can we have takoyaki?”
After listening to them, Dina was even more distressed; her “layman” roommates were no help at all. After a moment of silence, she finally settled on a plan.
“A Cheese Chiffon Cake. I’ll start with that for the first round.”
“Yay!” Dorothy cheered, clapping her hands.
Wang Yue thought it sounded like a solid plan. Cheese is power. Extra sugar, extra cheese—you really couldn’t go wrong.
As the daughter of a pastry chef, Dina understood this well. She planned to add large chunks of cheese to the standard cream cheese base, creating an oozing, molten core.
