Versatile Mage

“Mu Bai, will the effects double if she eats both bowls of soup?” Zhao Manyan asked softly.

“What did you say?!” Mu Bai was having a headache too.

The drug would go into effect in about an hour. Hopefully, Brianca was alone in her room when the time came. That way, she could just take a rest, assuming she was feeling a little sick, but if she was outside… it was difficult to imagine what was going to happen!

“Mu Bai, hurry up and get some antidote, we’ll find a way to have Brianca drink it. The woman is clearly the unreasonable kind. She wasted half our night over a roasted hare. If she knew we were trying to drug her, wouldn’t she skin us alive!?” Mo Fan said.

Ceylan was Heidi’s mentor, so obviously she was very strong. Brianca’s position was on par with Ceylan’s, indicating that she also possessed great strength. The three of them had no chance of surviving against her!

“Since when is there an antidote for an aphrodisiac? It’s just a kind of catalytic hormone, it’s not poison…” Mu Bai said.

“We are screwed! Goodness gracious me!” Zhao Manyan felt his scalp turning numb when he thought of Brianca.

“Pack your stuff, it’s time to leave!” Mo Fan said.

They did not dare to stay any further. They quickly went back to their room to pack their belongings.

“Let’s split up so we won’t arouse any suspicion,” Zhao Manyan suggested.

It would be very obvious if they left together. If they were on their own, they could still claim they were just taking a stroll.

Mo Fan went for the gate in the north. It was the same path they had taken to hunt some wild game on the mountain. Once he crossed the mountain and a huge icebound valley, he could quickly make his way back to Lake Geneva. He would apologize to Professor Li and Professor Zheng once it was over and tell them he could not stand the rules of the school, and had decided to go back to the city. He believed Brianca would not bother to chase him down, since it was not something she would want to mention, either!

Mo Fan was just about to step beyond the North Mountain Gate when he heard a commanding voice from behind.

“Hold it right there!” Brianca stood on a bridge above an icy lake and stared coldly down at Mo Fan, who was trying to run away.

Mo Fan almost broke out in cold sweat. He turned around and looked at the woman’s veiled face.

Mo Fan had finally seen her face at lunchtime. She was just as pretty as Heidi, her face as perfect as a statue, but in Mo Fan’s eyes, she was currently scarier than the Scorpion Lord Medusa!

Crap, he was caught in the act!

No way, he would never admit it, even if he was beaten to death!

It must have been some nutrients that had caused her hormones to go out of balance. They were not going to cause any harm to her. It had to be some other ingredients that had caused the reaction instead. It had nothing to do with him!

“Ah, Miss Brianca, what a coincidence to see you here… After hearing your words of wisdom last night, I do realize that I’ve overdone it. I shouldn’t harm the little creatures that are the incarnations of the deities on the mountain. I’m going to the mountain to repent,” Mo Fan came up with a perfect excuse.

Brianca started walking toward Mo Fan. Every step she took caused Mo Fan’s heart to beat even harder. His heart had never pounded so heavily, even when he was facing his beloved Mu Ningxue.

“I was looking for you; your bracelet told me where to find you,” Brianca said. She was holding a little box.

“Ah, you’re looking for me? Is there anything I can help you with? We’ve really reflected on the matter last night, and I was really thinking of repenting,” Mo Fan nodded continuously.

“It’s good to see that you’re repenting. I thought you were too stubborn to admit your wrongdoing. Here are the remains of the hare last night. I’ve burned its remains into ashes. I was planning to bury it on the mountain to cast aside its hatred. You should come with me.” Brianca was holding the wooden box carefully.

Mo Fan’s expression turned extremely complicated.

The bracelet!

Damn it, they were still wearing the bracelets! These people would know their whereabouts all the time, which meant it was impossible for them to run away!

“Al…alright,” Mo Fan let out a relieved sigh. It seemed like Mu Bai’s unprofessional drug was not effective at all. Brianca looked perfectly fine on the surface, and a long time had passed since she drank the soup.

It was a huge relief that she was fine. The drug might have failed because of Brianca’s outstanding cultivation, or maybe her body composition was special.

Either way, he had clearly dodged a bullet there. He just needed to put on an act and repent on the mountain to get it over with!

It seemed like luck was not on his side lately. He should avoid stirring up trouble and cultivate at the waterfall diligently to improve his mental strength instead…

—

Mo Fan followed behind Brianca as they traveled on the thick white snow. He was greatly relieved when Brianca seemed perfectly fine to him.

“Our Alps Institute was once an orphanage. An old Forbidden Mage went into seclusion here. She was hoping that the children of the orphanage could protect ourselves, so she taught the kids magic, but she passed away not long afterward. The orphans had yet to learn how to protect themselves and how to survive in society. To make things worse, a deadly snowfall happened that year. The young children were buried under the snow on the mountain, waiting to die of starvation or frost. When they fell into deep slumber under the snow, the hares, snow foxes, and many other little creatures dug into the snow…” Brianca was not as haughty and unapproachable as Mo Fan first thought. She told Mo Fan the origin of Alps Institute and why they cared so much about the little creatures on the mountain.

“I must admit that the founders did the same cruel things as you did. They ate the little creatures and used their fur to keep them warm in order to survive. They barely made it to Spring, and realized the mountain goddess of the Alps had shown them mercy. She was not willing to watch the kids die such a miserable death, so she turned into little creatures to save them. The Goddess of the Alps was that kind, she rather sacrificed herself… since then, we don’t want to hurt them, and chose to eat the same diet as them,” Brianca said.

Mo Fan was a little touched by the story.

It seemed like he had indeed broken their taboo. Alps Institute would not be around today if it weren’t for these little creatures!

“I can promise you that I will eat vegetarian for a month,” Mo Fan said.

“We’ve already asked the students to buy some meat when they go to the town to restock our supply. I’m afraid we don’t know how to cook meat, so you will have to cook it yourself. It’s true that it’s our choice to be vegetarian, so we won’t force you to eat the same diet as us. You have your own way of living too,” Brianca said.

“You have my thanks. I apologize for being ruthless and impolite before,” Mo Fan said.

It seemed like Alps Institute was not as terrible as he thought. Not everyone here was unreasonable!

“It’s fine, I do wonder if our semi-closed approach and rules that forcibly suppress a person’s nature is the right…” Brianca turned the corner at a wall while she was talking. She suddenly came to a stop and swallowed her words after witnessing something ahead.

Mo Fan was a little confused. When he caught up to Brianca, he saw she was trembling.

Mo Fan took a step forward, and was shocked to see the gentle snowy slope ahead covered in dead bodies.

The snow was white, but the color of blood was garish against it. There were countless carcasses of little creatures, stacked up into an utterly shocking sight under the bright afternoon sunlight!