In a student workshop, Michi is currently sitting at her workstation, pondering about what enchantment she should put on her uniform.

  She seems quite rexed compared to other students who are struggling with their metal engraving knives and magic solutions.

  In fact, few students from her Enchanting css ever come here. While even those who aren’t Magicians can perform Enchanting with the help of specialized tools, Schors rarely feel the need to do so.

  Michi is different. She is aiming for a good result for the upcoming first year combat tournament, and naturally wants some boost in power from her specialized css.

  There are a few things she’s looking for from Enchantments. Since it’s her uniform, it’s going to be either defense or mobility. It’s also precisely what she’s cking.

  One option she’s looking at is some kind of weight reduction enchantment, which would synergize well with her Wind Control. Though, that involves Gravity Magic, and not really feasible the current Michi. Or anyone that isn’t at least Tier 3.

  Another mobility option is reducing wind resistance. But this only works well for people who are more acrobatic, and Michi… She doesn’t really move around.

  What about defense? Against physical attacks, fabrics aren't really the ideal material. Trying to put a hardening enchantment is not something she can do now at Tier 1, and ssh resistance won’t prevent Michi from breaking her bones.

  That leaves magic resistance, which seems to be the best option… After all, it’s the only viable option. An enchantment with her Word of Power added into the mix can help her block around 2-3 Cantrips, depending on the power, before breaking.

  And so, it’s decided. This won’t help much against Knights, but still better than nothing. In fact, it even gives her a pretty substantial advantage against Magicians and even Espers, since Esper attacks can be blocked too.

  Soo, in around an hour, her uniform is now enchanted, and it turns out more or less how she expects. Her Esper Ability to understand any written nguage kicks in here and helps a lot. She has named this ability Deciphering Eyes, courtesy of Aya and Dorothy’s suggestion. Word of Power also increases the strength of the enchantment slightly compared to a normal student,

  ‘Nice! I am not a top 20 scorer for nothing.’ Michi thinks as she looks at the finished product.

  Now all that’s left is registering so she can use this set of uniforms in official events. This is usually done by a teaching assistant or a senior student, and Michi soon learns that it’s the tter.

  A third year senior student is handling the registry counter, and Michi knows exactly who this is. Well, seeing that the future God of Esper is pestering her, her identity is quite clear.

  Colette Snowleaf is one of Leonard’s future heroines, and she is, in short, the Enchanter of the protagonist party. Being a typical indulgent big sister character, her appearance simply exudes gentleness.

  Using her perception, Michi can tell that Colette is currently a Tier 3 Magician, already meeting the requirement for graduation despite still having a year of study left.

  Soon, it’s her turn to register. There aren't a lot of people in the queue, and it’s actually quite rare to see a line at all. After all, Enchanting isn’t for anyone.

  The procedure is quite simple too. One option is to include footage of the Enchanting process, which is recorded by the camera included in each workstation.

  There is also a device to verify mana signature, and this is actually the main method of proof that students use. After all, a video can expose a lot of a person’s specialty.

  Though, for people who have to rely on high-tech tools to Enchant, the enchanted items won’t have their mana signature on it. Then, a recording is the only method of verification.

  Michi too doesn’t want people to learn of her Esper Abilities, so the second method is what she’s using. She walks to the counter, pces her uniform on the table, before injecting her mana into the detector.

  “Oh? Michi? Why are you… Oh, right! I have completely forgotten that your major is Enchanting, haha!” The guy who’s been standing here for way longer than anyone gives her an enthusiastic welcome.

  “Good morning, Leonard.” Michi replies in courtesy.

  Espers aren’t very numerous, and so there is only a single small Esper combat css avaible. Every student there basically knows each other. Michi and Leonard included.

  “Your friend, Leo?” Colette, who’s handling the device, chimes in.

  “Cssmates. Miss… Snowleaf, are you finished with my item?” Michi puts on a show of reading the name tag on the senior student’s chest. She isn’t supposed to know her name just yet.

  “Look at that, Leo! She doesn’t seem to like you very much. Well, Miss Amemiya, here you go! You can now use this uniform in official school events, as per the regutions.”

  “Thank you, Miss Snowleaf.”

  “No problem! Alright, next in line, please!”

  Michi leaves the building, and returns to her usual business. Well, not before she manages to get Aya back from Dorothy, who has borrowed the Scroll yet again.

  “Why do you even need the Scroll now after you’ve read everything?”

  “Hehe! The Scroll is valuable, but… I also want the memories of the sealed Youkai.”

  “And…” Dorothy adds. “I am helping Aya with collecting fear. So you are not missing out.”

  Well, what can Michi even say? So, she simply takes back Aya, noting that Dorothy is now even stronger due to the extra knowledge she acquired.

  Dorothy isn’t at the level of cross Tier battle just yet, but she’s pretty much unbeatable in her own Tier. Truly a protagonist-level character.

  ‘She should’ve been the main character instead of that random stealing guy.’ Michi has a strange thought. Since she’s here, it’s not entirely impossible…

  Michi and Aya slowly walk back to their dormitory room. There’s no css that morning, since it’s a Sunday.

  What the two pns to do is to add a few more youkai into the mix. The ones currently active are working fine, but the more the better.

  “We better not mess with things inside the campus anymore…”

  Inside Qualia Academy, there are already three active youkai. There’s the Nue, which is known by the students as the Unidentified Moving Object. And, the Saigyou Ayakashi, posing as the Cherry Blossom Tree of Love.

  Formerly, the Saigyou Ayakashi was quite bloodthirsty, and needed the help of a Menreiki to perform its role, but it has changed a lot from the rumours, and can now induce mutual attraction to those under its foliage instead of suicidal tendency.

  And outside the Academy, in the city of Neverwinter, there are also three active youkai. The Baku, who’s currently working on the Urban Legend of the Dream World, where people’s dreams are connected together.

  Meanwhile, the Fox and the Tanuki… Well, there are multiple of them now. One race is good at illusions, charm and manipution while the other is expert at transformation and disguise.

  The only problem is that they themselves can’t receive fear from their own transformations and illusions… And the solution is to simply create new youkai from Urban Legends, and seal them into the Scroll.

  Thus, the Picture Scroll has its first new blood. That being, the Ox Head and the Horse Head. They are quite weak at the moment, and are only acting as a proxy for Aya to gather fear, but they will be able to py the role of their own Urban Legend soon enough.

  The Dream World will gradually expand to cover the entire city. However, the Ox Head and the Horse Head will only be able to cover a district at most.

  So, new workers are in demand. And after some careful consideration…

  “The Grammar Tick and the Night Sparrow.” Michi muses to herself, looking at the figures in the Picture Scroll.

  The Night Sparrow is a unique youkai that can make people become night blind. Since the city is very well illuminated throughout the entire day, Night Blindness will be able to spread quite fast as an Urban Legend.

  And the Grammar Tick… Its ability is to eat up writings and make them disappear. To be honest, Michi just doesn’t like this thing and keeping it inside the Scroll gives her a strong distaste. Since she can’t just release it outside nor absorb it, might as well make it do some work away from herself.

  It will take some work for it to be able to eat up digitized characters, but once the youkai transforms like the Saigyou Ayakashi, it can be left to do its own things. She just needs to make sure it doesn’t eat anything important, like maintenance data for power pnts, or government financial reports.

  Now that things are finalized, Aya summons the two youkai. The Grammar Tick is, just like other youkai, a young girl. Just that, her skin is repced with hard carapace, while her limbs are instead insect legs.

  Some people might be into this, but not Michi. She feels a bit repulsed, in fact.

  “Haa… Can’t you just absorb her for yourself, Aya? I don’t even want to let this thing loose outside… I feel bad for other people.” Michi compins as she ys her eye on this bug.

  Well, insect hate aside, the main reason why she feels repulsed by the Grammar Tick is precisely how it consumes written text. But no matter what, it’s still useful.

  The Night Sparrow, on the other hand, looks a lot more pleasing. The pinkish feather coat and the soft pair of wings makes her seem more like a cute avian girl, who actually exists as a magical race here.

  She enforces her ability through singing, and anyone who listens to her voice will be pulled into Night Blindness.

  The songs are all in old youkai nguage, so Michi doubts anyone can understand. Even she herself is still learning it from Aya. She can read it just fine with her Esper Ability, but speaking or writing is out of the question. Maybe in a month or two?

  And with that, the two new youkai join their seniors in the city of Neverwinter. Michi still has to provide them with energy until they get their first bit of fear, but these two are retively cheap to maintain.

  Now that that’s set up, Michi sets her entire focus on practicing for the upcoming first year tournament, which is only a week away.

  A/N:

  SpoilerI completely forgot about those Urban Legends until I reread the chapter when uploading it...

  Night Sparrow I believe is an exclusively Touhou Youkai. I don't think it exists in Japanese mythology. The Grammar Tick too, I only learnt of it in Forbidden Scrollery and can't find it anywhere, sooooo...

  [colpse]