Chapter 284: Card Drawing Game

  "I remember," Luo Wei answered. "In our first astrology class, you used it to give us divination tools."

  Professor Tobias couldn't help but laugh: "Yes, everyone else got crystal balls and tarot cards, while you got a turtle shell."

  Luo Wei: ...

  Professor Tobias sighed: "I still haven't figured out what went wrong—whether my spatial magic box was broken from age, or because you're too special."

  Luo Wei quietly protested: "I don't think it could be my fault."

  Professor Tobias's eyes glinted: "But one thing's undeniable, Luo Wei—you are that special person."

  "Before you appeared, I divined countless times. Siria Magic Academy's fate was like a meteor in the sky, falling irreversibly toward destruction."

  "After you appeared, this meteor seemed tied to a string. It's still falling, but many times slower."

  "Perhaps it can land smoothly instead of shattering the moment it touches the horizon."

  Luo Wei firmly disagreed with connecting such divination results to herself. She reminded: "Professor, over two hundred other students appeared with me."

  Don't try to tie the academy's fate to her. She was a ticking time bomb herself—she couldn't bear others' destinies.

  Professor Tobias saw her resistance and smiled slightly: "Luo Wei, you always try to disguise yourself with coldness, but your actions reveal your heart."

  She gently pushed the sandalwood box toward her: "You could have refused these rewards—they're optional for you. But you accepted my unreasonable request because of them, putting yourself in danger."

  "Child, you have a kind and merciful heart."

  Luo Wei: ...Siria's professors were really all naive and good at overthinking. If she was so kind, how come she didn't know it?

  "Kind people deserve rewards," Professor Tobias withdrew her hand. "Open it. What you want most will appear before your eyes."

  Luo Wei: What "kind people deserve rewards"—she was getting these because she'd worked incredibly hard to win the competition!

  But she could only think these thoughts. Outwardly, she went along: "Alright, Professor."

  The treasure-filled magic box sat before her. Luo Wei reached for the sandalwood lid, suddenly feeling excited, like she was playing a card-drawing game.

  What she wanted most would appear before her eyes?

  What she wanted most was a mermaid pearl, then a cat that would give massages, then a talking owl, then magic bookworms, a Pegasus, puppets...

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  "Click—"

  A soft sound as she opened the box lid.

  Luo Wei looked inside expectantly. After 0.1 seconds, her smile froze on her face.

  "What is it?" Professor Tobias was also curious, standing up and walking around the desk to behind her.

  In the sandalwood box lay a palm-sized doll with black hair and black eyes, wearing black clothes and holding a tiny sword.

  "Oh, you're quite lucky. It's a swordsman puppet—a masterpiece from a puppeteer over a thousand years ago. You won't find another like it in all the Western Continent."

  Luo Wei said with difficulty: "A puppet person... this small?"

  Only then did Professor Tobias understand her stiff expression and laughed: "Of course not, child. Take it out and use an enlargement spell—it'll become normal human size."

  So it could grow bigger. Luo Wei felt embarrassed—she'd thought the sword-dancing puppet was just that tiny!

  Though it wasn't a mermaid pearl, a sword-dancing puppet was... acceptable.

  She took out the puppet and set it aside, closed the sandalwood box, held her breath and prayed: Please be a mermaid pearl, please be a mermaid pearl!

  After praying, she reopened the lid. A green light flashed inside, and Luo Wei's eyes lit up—anything glowing had to be good!

  When the green light faded, she looked closely: ...

  A fingernail-sized oval object. Incomprehensible.

  Cracks appeared on Luo Wei's face as she turned to Professor Tobias: "Professor, what is this?"

  "Ah, this is..." Professor Tobias looked for a long time without recognizing it, finally recalling: "I think it's a seed I picked up at the beach many years ago."

  Luo Wei collapsed. A randomly picked seed—why would you put that in a treasure box?!

  "Professor," she said with a drooping face, really unwilling to give up, "you said I could choose. Does this count as using one chance?"

  Professor Tobias also felt bad for her: "This doesn't count. I'll give you this seed for free—open it again."

  She didn't want it even for free. Luo Wei pouted, took out the seed and placed it next to the puppet, then opened the box for the third time.

  This time, both Professor Tobias and she widened their eyes simultaneously, saw what was in the box simultaneously, and fell silent simultaneously.

  In the box lay a gray-blue pebble, no different from the stones on riverbeds outside.

  If you had to find a difference, it was rounder than ordinary stones—probably every child who saw it would pick it up and play with it for half a day.

  "Ahem," Professor Tobias coughed to cover her embarrassment. "This doesn't count either. I picked this up as a child—open it again."

  Luo Wei's mouth twitched. To avoid getting another stone, she took out the pebble and set it aside, then restarted the magic box for the fourth time.

  The lid opened, revealing a smooth white wooden stick in the box.

  Luo Wei looked at Professor Tobias with a subtle expression. The latter denied everything: "I didn't pick this up, I absolutely never picked up this thing, I don't know why it appeared in the magic box."

  She looked at Luo Wei in confusion: "Why do you always get such weird things?"

  This time Luo Wei really couldn't hold back: "Professor, I haven't even asked why you keep putting weird things in there!"

  "I told you I didn't put them there," Professor Tobias said, then frowned. "Well, I'm getting old—I really can't remember clearly."

  Luo Wei: "Should I draw—I mean, open again?"

  "Let me do it," Professor Tobias refused to let her choose anymore. She took out the small stick and tossed it on the desk, then picked up the sandalwood box and closed the lid. "What do you want?"

  Luo Wei answered honestly: "I want a mermaid pearl, a massage cat, a talking owl, and magic bookworms."

  Professor Tobias looked reluctant: "There's only one owl—the one you see often."

  Luo Wei: ...Then why did you put it in the options originally!

  A gentleman doesn't take what others love. She had to change her choice: "Then I want a Pegasus."

  Professor Tobias nodded: "Alright, I'll get it for you."

  She opened the magic box, revealing a dove-egg-sized white pearl.

  "This is a mermaid pearl. Wear it on your chest and you can understand animal speech."

  Professor Tobias handed the mermaid pearl to Luo Wei, reopened the box, and produced a golden egg.

  "This is a magic bookworm egg. Nurture it with magic power for three days and it'll hatch. Magic bookworms feed on magical elements—just give it one magic spell daily."

  "Okay." Luo Wei accepted the egg too.

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