The dim evening sunlight streamed through the window, split into warm patches by the window frame, neatly scattering across the soft carpet of the dormitory.
In the air, the intense jasmine and fresh mint intertwined, exuding the sweet, ambiguous atmosphere unique to witches.
“What’s this about, superstar?”
At this moment, Tunzuo was like a piece of melted caramel, lying defenselessly on Olivia’s straight and slender legs, head slightly tilted back, the ghostly green soul flames in her pupils flickering back and forth like a lizard snake whose scales had been groomed to perfection.
“Superstar? Calling me that reminds me of some not-so-pleasant memories, little ghost.”
Olivia pinched a crystal-clear grape from the fruit platter, held it between her fingers, gently peeled off the skin, and fed the plump, juicy flesh into Tunzuo’s parted crimson lips, allowing her to chew to her heart’s content.
“What? You’re getting picky now? Isn’t this your honor, my big superstar~?”
Tunzuo swallowed the sweet flesh, letting the glistening juice trickle down the corner of her mouth, a hint of mischief flashing in her eyes as she deliberately bit down hard on the word “superstar,” dragging out the final syllable.
Tunzuo’s teasing made Olivia pause slightly in her grape-peeling.
She lowered her gaze, a hint of helpless yet doting smile flashing through her brilliant golden vertical pupils, and slowly shook her head.
“After all, that nickname came from you shouting it in anger when we first met, so no matter what, I can’t help but feel a bit of unease about it.”
“Is that so? I couldn’t tell.”
Instead of backing off, Tunzuo curled her lips into a seductive smile, deliberately nudging her head closer to Olivia’s hand, her cool breath brushing against Olivia’s palm like a restless little snake, trying to prick at Olivia’s heart with her words.
“I think you were enjoying it back then. You hit me with such enthusiasm, your eyes all red. What, too afraid to admit it now?”
Tunzuo’s merciless callout made Olivia’s eyebrow twitch.
She extended her fair index finger, precisely pressing it against Tunzuo’s lips, physically shoving that venomous serpent tongue that was trying to slither out back where it belonged.
“Hey, don’t say that.”
Olivia leaned down, gently cupping Tunzuo’s cold, delicate face with both hands.
Her gaze was deep, the love at the bottom of her eyes rippling like spring water, shimmering brightly, as if it would drown Tunzuo the witch entirely.
“You know, the instinct to compete and fight is innate to dragon witches. Besides, you have no idea how captivating you were on that dueling arena back then.”
Olivia’s fingertip gently traced Tunzuo’s cheek, her tone growing more lingering and tender.
“Moreover, you were hitting even harder than I was, weren’t you, you little madwoman?”
Olivia’s doting yet possessive nickname only made the smile at the corner of Tunzuo’s lips grow thicker.
She reached out without hesitation, viciously pinching Olivia’s handsome face, not letting go until a faint red mark appeared.
“What, if I said I wanted to beat you up right now, would you dare to fight back?”
Tunzuo raised her chin arrogantly, retorting with extreme dominance, her eyes full of the recklessness of someone spoiled rotten.
Facing Tunzuo’s provocation, Olivia didn’t back down.
Instead, she bared her teeth in a fierce grin, her brilliant golden vertical pupils contracting into dangerous needles.
Her rough tongue slid out from between her lips, slowly licking across her sharp, white dragon fangs.
And between Olivia’s sharp teeth, faint traces of dark purple bloodstains remained, clearly the “special medicine” she had just consumed for her condition.
“Basic self-defense, I still need to put on a show. Otherwise, other witches will say, ‘Little ghost, you’re being abused at home.'”
Olivia’s voice was low, laced with a hint of seduction.
“But rather than making your eyes red on the dueling arena, I’d much rather make you cry red-eyed somewhere else. Do you want to know where?”
Before she even finished speaking, Olivia’s palm slid down along Tunzuo’s spine, finally coming to rest at Tunzuo’s slender waist, her thick palm rubbing and kneading the most sensitive soft flesh there.
The scorching heat of Olivia’s palm, along with her teasing and suggestive technique, instantly made Tunzuo’s body go soft.
Her normally pale cheeks flushed with an alluring crimson, and the temperature at the tips of her ears rose steadily.
Staring into Olivia’s brilliant golden vertical pupils, so aggressive they seemed ready to devour her whole, Tunzuo stubbornly held the gaze.
But caught between Olivia’s overwhelmingly oppressive stare and the fingers causing havoc at her waist, Tunzuo eventually caved, awkwardly looking away.
She reached out and pressed her palm against Olivia’s forehead, trying to push the overly aggressive golden dragon witch away.
“Shoo, shoo. You perverted dragon with nothing but filth in your head. All dirty talk. Also, you need to brush your teeth.”
Tunzuo shot Olivia a flustered glare, scolding her in a soft voice that sounded more like flirtation.
Watching Tunzuo act like a shy little wife trying to escape but only drawing more attention to herself, the smirk on Olivia’s lips grew even more arrogant.
She greedily licked the dark purple bloodstains clean from between her teeth, her tone sultry, breath fragrant as orchid.
“Is that so? But I still want your taste to linger in my mouth just a little longer.”
Olivia had once thought the idea of drawing fresh blood from Tunzuo had become nothing but a shattered fantasy.
After all, judging by Tunzuo’s previously defensive behavior, no matter how she begged, Tunzuo would never agree.
But things were different now.
Based on the situation just now, if she acted more assertively, Tunzuo, with her current behavior, most likely wouldn’t resist.
Realizing this, Olivia’s blood rushed to her head, and the dragon witch’s instinct for plundering took complete control of her mind.
She pushed through Tunzuo’s arm pressed against her forehead, forcefully leaning in, ready to do something a little more daring while the mood was right.
And so, Olivia’s hand slipped restlessly through the gap under Tunzuo’s clothes, and with an unrefusable force, pressed directly onto Tunzuo’s flat, soft stomach.
“Hey, hey, hey! Stop! Little ghost, stop! My ear’s about to fall off!”
Just as Olivia’s lips were about to reach Tunzuo’s neck, ready to feast, the sudden sharp pain in her ear instantly shattered the ambiguous atmosphere in the dormitory.
Tunzuo’s quick hand grabbed Olivia’s perked-up ear and gave it a full 360-degree twist.
The agonizing pain of her ear nearly being torn off snapped the lust-blinded perverted dragon back to her senses, forcing her to immediately pull away from Tunzuo.
“What are you thinking?! Don’t you know there are other witches in the dormitory?”
Tunzuo sat up from Olivia’s lap with a red face, scolding her sternly.
Hearing Tunzuo’s words, Olivia snapped back to reality and instinctively looked toward the balcony.
Two resentful gazes were fixed dead on them.
“Honestly, no sense of restraint at all.”
Tunzuo grumbled while smoothing her disheveled hair, trying to hide the remaining blush on her face.
Olivia, however, shamelessly stuck to Tunzuo’s side, wrapping both arms tightly around Tunzuo’s waist, trapping her in an embrace, chin resting on Tunzuo’s shoulder, asking with unbridled audacity.
Tunzuo squirmed uncomfortably in Olivia’s arms, trying to break free, but after a few attempts proved futile, she gave up and let Olivia cling to her like a piece of sticky candy, answering in a petulant whisper.
“So that means, when no other witches are around, it’s okay?”
“Depends on how you behave.”
Hearing the answer she wanted, Olivia’s smile bloomed like a sunflower, feeling as if the spring she had long awaited had finally arrived.
Before Olivia could continue her teasing, Tunzuo quickly cleared her throat and forcefully dragged the conversation back on track.
“Ahem. You still haven’t answered my question. What exactly is the Academy Championship all about?”
Sensing that her little ghost was starting to show signs of impatience and irritation, Olivia quickly adjusted her demeanor, her expression turning serious as she began to explain properly.
“To keep the matches interesting and unconventional, the rules of the Academy Championship change every year, but the overall framework stays the same. In short, the Academy Championship is a large-scale hunting event mixed with quests.”
“Hunting?”
The unexpected word made Tunzuo furrow her brows.
“That’s right, a large-scale hunt.”
Olivia nodded and continued explaining to Tunzuo.
“The organizers release hordes of vicious monsters into a specially designated folded space, and the contestants’ job is to hunt as many high-point-value monsters as possible within a limited time. Of course, contestants can also steal points from each other, and the final ranking is calculated based on each academy’s total points.”
Just as Olivia was about to dive deeper into the explanation, Sally’s voice came from the balcony ceiling, eagerly cutting in to add to Olivia’s explanation.
“During the hunt, random story NPCs will also spawn inside the folded space! These NPCs trigger all kinds of quests, and if you complete them successfully, you get huge point rewards. So the Academy Championship isn’t just about fighting and brawling.”
At that moment, Huli’s voice also squeezed into the conversation, filling in the gaps in Tunzuo’s knowledge.
“Also, the number of contestants each academy can send differs. The higher an academy ranked in previous years, the more witches it can send, all to give elites better training and a chance to shine. At the same time, to keep things fair, the academy’s ranking points are averaged out by the number of participants. Based on last year’s ranking for the Witch Academy of the Vast Sea City, we should be able to send three witches this time.”
“Sounds like a hot river hunt with extra quests attached. Seems kind of interesting.”
Tunzuo stroked her chin, nodding thoughtfully, feeling that the Academy Championship she was being forced into wasn’t so bad after all.
However, after briefly sorting through the information, Tunzuo suddenly noticed a new point of confusion.
She glanced at Olivia beside her with surprise and asked, full of doubt.
“Wait, if the ranking is based on the academy, then how did you get three consecutive championships?”
Olivia smiled mysteriously without saying a word, but Sally and Huli’s voices came in unison from above the balcony, providing the answer for Tunzuo.
“Of course there’s an individual points leaderboard too! Lady Olivia single-handedly earned nearly half of the Capital Academy’s points last year!!”
Those two little rascals sure know a lot about the tournament.
Tunzuo glanced up casually before lowering her head back into thought.
However, the direct stares coming from the balcony made Tunzuo extremely uncomfortable, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.
“Tutu, we’re sorry. Please, just for explaining everything to you, let us down…”
Sally and Huli, hanging on the balcony, let out pitiful, tearful pleas, their big watery eyes shooting adorable looks at Tunzuo nonstop.
As it turned out, to get revenge for the two little ones’ “disrespectful” behavior when they first entered the dormitory, Tunzuo had used a coat hanger to string them both up from behind, left and right, hanging them on the balcony where they spun around like wind chimes.
What?
You’re asking where Tunzuo got such a large, load-bearing coat hanger?
Oh, that would naturally be from our esteemed Mistress of a Thousand Forms.
Let’s all say, thank you, Naiya.
“Ugh… Tutu is so petty.”
After being let down, Sally rubbed her sore shoulders and muttered quietly.
Huli, as if remembering something, tilted her head while hugging her teddy bear and asked Tunzuo and Olivia.
“Tutu, Lady Olivia, since you two are participating in the Academy Championship, have you gone to Teacher Sherry to sign up? If I remember correctly, today is the deadline.”
“Huh?!”
Tunzuo and Olivia both froze, exchanging blank, bewildered looks, both seeing the impending disaster in each other’s eyes.
“Hey, perverted dragon, did you sign up with Teacher Sherry?”
“No… I never had to worry about that before. The Capital Academy always handled it themselves…”
“And do you think, if we don’t sign up, my mommy and your mother will let us off the hook?”
“Heh, heh…”
Following the two witches’ nervous laughter at their own impending doom, the very next second, Tunzuo and Olivia burst into motion, scrambling out the dormitory door.
“Please don’t clock out yet! Teacher Sherry! Overtime is good for your health! We’re coming!”
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