15 – This is the Advantage of Being a Woman

  When Mia returned to Baiyi’s side, he was already halfway through the books that he borrowed. He even had a few discussions about the content of the books with the rest of the Voidwalkers while he was waiting for her. There were a few books that he had returned because they were too outdated. Basically, there were no new information in there that could satisfy his need so all he could do was hope that the journals had more up to date information.

  “I’m sorry for returning so late, ” Mia apologized as soon as she returned while passing the notes that she had copied from the journals to Baiyi. Because it was inconvenient to talk, she did not mention her encounters on the second floor earlier.

  “Good job, Mia! Are you hungry? Let’s have dinner first.” Taking over the journal, Baiyi had no intention to scold Mia at all. He was an extremely patient person and he owed that to the thousand of years he was imprisoned in the Void.

  On the way back, Mia seemed to be very cheerful as if all of her burdens had been lifted. Unlike usually when she would tentatively hold on to Baiyi’s hands, this time she assertively grabbed Baiyi’s arm that was made of aged bull’s skin and snuggled up close to him.

  What is with this girl today? Why is she being so intimate and clingy? Baiyi was puzzled by her behaviour. Mia noticed his curiosity and without any warning, she raised her head up and grinned at him sweetly. What a lovely little girl!

  “Eh? Does Mia knows how to use feminine wiles now? Whoa, this is such a big improvement! There’s no doubt that she would become an exceptional beauty in the future!” one of the Walkers exclaimed.

  Oh, please don’t! What I need is for her to become stronger and not beautiful! Let alone flaunting her cuteness! Baiyi thought snappily.

  “You can’t be like that, Sir Hope! Being cute and wanting to be beautiful is natural and the rights of every female! I will never allow you to kill off such a beautiful thing! This is equivalent to you killing a living soul, don’t you know?” A Walker with a sense of justice countered.

  Look at this persons title! A Cleric? Tsk tsk tsk! As expected from someone who comes from the church! You are no different from the Paladin at all!

  “Well, there’s nothing wrong with her being intimate and clingy. At the very least, she would listen to you more now,” the Archmage proclaimed in the background. “Take a look at the Fourth Holy Grail War (T/N: in reference to Fate/Stay Night again)! Such a tragedy happened because of the lack of intimacy……”

  It’s one thing for you to agree with his opinion but can’t you at least come up with a more convincing example? How much fondness do you actually have for this outdated anime anyway? Do you even feel sorry for the lack of moon in this planet? (T/N: As in the Japanese game company, Type-moon, who produced the anime Fate/Stay Night, get it?)

  \r \r \r

  The Archmage continued on as if he did not hear Baiyi, “I have always wanted a cute and obedient disciple but sigh, it was a pity that in my past life I was so immersed in my research that I had no time for a disciple. But now that I’m stuck in the Void, I only have someone like you as my disciple Such a shame……”

  Hah? Excuse me Mr. Archmage? Who would have thought that as an ex-emperor who was all powerful and influential, you would even have this kind childish thought in mind? And what the hell is with that last sentence? What? Is it that embarrassing to have someone like me as a disciple now? Wow I’m sorry that I’m not cute and obedient enough for you then! Baiyi was totally speechless at the groups mindset. Being the only normal person among this group of people wasnt easy at all!

  I guess it can’t be helped then. All he could do was convince himself that having good looks would definitely be more advantageous than looking ordinary.

  The beautiful sorceresses in that world were not like those that were portrayed in the media. Although they might have the same enticing looks, seductive clothes and alluring bodies, they were not some brainless sex tools for men, beasts, goblins or some tentacle monsters, instead, they used their beauty to their advantage during combat.

  The reason could be explained by this logic actually: all of the mainstream spells were usually cast using Magical Runes. When a sorcerer cast a standard Magical Runes spell, a stream of runes would appear and float in front of the chest of the sorcerer as he chanted and he would have to use his Psychic Energy to infuse the Element of his choice into the runes. The moment he did this, the runes would light up with the associated color of the elementand that was when the caster would have to use his Psychic Energy to control and release the magic.

  Based on the fact that runes were the simplified forms of formations, one could infer that the shapes and the effects would be the same. As a result, as long as one was proficient in understanding runes, one could easily identify the spell based on the stream of runes that appeared in front of the caster’s chest. Even if one was not particularly skilled, one could still determine what element the caster was about use based on the color of the runes and use that knowledge to come up with a counterspell.

  To make up for the flaw, countless sorcerers came up with different ways to resolve the issue. For example, increasing the speed of spell casting so that the opponent could not get a clear view; or for those who were unable to chant faster, they would shrink the runes and change the location of the runes from the chest to places like the wrist, head or even at the back of their bodies so that it would be tougher for opponents to see through. And if one had enough Mana, one could even conjure up unnecessary showy effects like fireblazeto hide the runes and also to mislead ones opponent.

  But then those methods could only be used when casting an easy spell. If the spell itself needed a huge amount of Mana and Psychic Energy, those methods would be useless. If it really came to that, then it would be better to distance oneself, the further away the better. Or in the unlikely event that one managed to stumble upon a hunky warrior, one could always use said warrior as a shield.

  For young and beautiful sorceresses, they were blessed with a natural gift that would help them easily distract men. Take a beautiful sorceress who was blessed with huge breasts for instance, she would only need to show some cleavage to successfully disrupt the casting of the spell. If the opponent was a straight man, his gaze would undoubtedly be drawn towards that area. On the other hand, if a sorceress was not blessed in that area, she could always use a pair of sheer stockings to show off her legs or even expose her slender waist.

  Even though that world was severely lacking when compared to Earth but when it comes to the design of female clothing, it was quite equal. That was the main reason why even at a place as conservative as the Celestial Fortress Academy, the female school uniform was designed to bring out the appeal and charm of their female students.

  But even then, it was still not a proper solution. There was only one method that could solve this problem and that was to use Magical Formations instead of Magical Runes. Even though the formations would appear in the air as well but because of its complicated structure, the opponent most likely would not be able to see through it so easily in a short amount of time. It was by far the best and most practical solution compared to those cheap tricks.

  And that was why Baiyi would never allow Mia to wear those sexy clothing in the future. Even with the uniform she was wearing, he found the skirt to be too short and the waist area too tight.And dont get me started on those white silk stockings that is supposed to show off one’s legs and all that bullshit! What a disgusting trick! It was almost certain that when Mia finally manage to master the Magical Formation, he would find the plainest and ugliest looking sorcerer’s robe for her!

  Naturally, the group of Voidwalkers strongly objected to that idea

  “Is this how a Soul Armature should act? You are acting like her conservative and old fashioned father instead! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a girl dressing up nicely!”

  “You do realize that what you are doing right now is smothering a human’s natural instinct, distorting the aesthetic value of mankind and heading back to stone age period, dont you?”

  “Just because you don’t have a good-looking appearance yourself doesn’t mean that Mia-chan has to follow in your footsteps and become an ugly hobo instead! She is such a cutie! Don’t you think this is too much?”

  It was the first time Baiyi had been presented with such a strong and united objection from the group…… Well, it looked like Mia might be able to escape from Baiyi’s conservative mindset.

  The group of Voidwalkers was still engrossed in their topic of what Mia should wear in the future while Baiyi went back to the dormitory alone to study the journal after bidding goodbye to Mia.

  After he had finished studying the journal, he could not help but shook his head in disappointment,Even the latest research is hopelessly outdated. Sigh, it looks like we have no other choice but to depend on ourselves……

  The Voidwalkers had tried to use the existing information in this world to re-do the summoning but it had failed miserably. It seemed like Mia’s Grooming Plan was the only correct method.

  “Wait a minute, this handwritten copy of the journal seemed to have two distinctive sets of handwriting. Did Mia have somebody to help her?” Looking at the other set of beautiful and elegant handwriting, Baiyi decided to ask Mia when she return later.

  In the end, when Mia got back from her classes, instead of being eager to listen to the extra lesson that Baiyi was about to give, the first thing she did was to fetch a pail of water from outside and to wash her hammerhead doll carefully.

  Hmm something must have happened in the library just now…… Baiyi thought to himself as he stopped writing and put the note that he had worked on the entire evening aside– it was a detailed annotation and explanation about the barrier in the library earlier.

  After she had finished washing her hammerhead doll for the second time, Mia at first planned to dry it outside but seeing the doll was still dripping with water like a fish that was just caught from the lake– Baiyi had no idea how many days it would take for it to dry outside– He took the doll and used his Mana to draw the water out off the doll in just a blink of an eye, the water which he extracted was gathered into a sphere of made of water beside him.

  Without pausing, he released a wave of heat and dried the fine fur of the doll so it became assmooth and soft like how it was previously before passing it back to Mia.

  Mia was instantly delighted and could not stop hugging the doll close to her chest. As she was snuggling her face against the soft, white belly of the hammerhead doll, she flashed a sheepish grin towards Baiyi and said, “Wow it looks as good as new now! Oh my god, you are amazing, Mr. Hope.”

  Well, who asked that group of Voidwalkers to adore her so much? It was to the extent that they wanted him to use his refined power for such a menial task. That amount of power that he released just now was more than sufficient to cast an advanced level spell.

  But then again, looking at that earnest smile that was on Mia’s face, he could not help but feel helpless against it.

  She’s still a kid anyway. There’s nothing wrong with spoiling her once in a while, is there?

  After all, he was given the name Hope. And isn’t hope a thing that could bring joy and happiness to others?