I made up magic and taught a world-destroying witch?

Grace maintained her elegance as always, but her mood improved; after all, it would be a lie to say she wasn't hungry after practicing for a whole afternoon.

As Joseph led the two out of the reception room and pushed open the door to the experimental tower, Mia couldn't help but let out a gasp of surprise.

"Wow!"

The sky outside the tower was at its most beautiful at dusk.

The setting sun had completely sunk behind the towering walls of the college, and the sky gradually changed from orange-red to deep blue, as if someone had accidentally spilled a box of paint.

Joseph's experimental tower is a separate building, independent of the main tower complex of the college.

There are no other tall buildings around to block the view; you can see a whole open sky as soon as you stand at the entrance.

The tower is an antique left over from the old era. The bricks on the outer wall are covered with traces of weathering over hundreds of years. It is much older than the main tower complex of the college, but it is quieter.

What's most special is that the tower is covered in vines; during the day, they just look like ordinary ivy.

But as evening falls, the remaining magic in the veins of the vines and leaves awakens and emits a blue-white fluorescent light.

The light meandered and flowed along the vines, making the entire ancient tower look like it was illuminated with thousands of glowing magical veins under the night sky.

"So beautiful..." Mia murmured to herself, tilting her head back.

"This is called Twilight Vine," Joseph casually explained, seeing her eyes widen in amazement.

"Species left over from the old era, their roots are planted under the foundation of the tower, and they survive by absorbing the remaining magic from the ground."

During the day, it looks no different from ordinary ivy, but it glows when it gets dark.

It's only good-looking and has no practical use.

"But it's really beautiful!"

Mia tiptoed, wanting to touch a glowing leaf, but then withdrew her hand in awe.

"Sir, isn't it incredibly romantic for you to live in a place like this every day?"

"I watch it every day, I'm used to it."

That's the absolute truth.

His choice of this tower had absolutely nothing to do with vines.

What attracted him to this tower was that it was in a remote location, it was old, and most importantly, no one cared about it!

The farther away he is from the main building, the fewer people will pass by, and the lower the probability that he will be exposed.

As for being suitable for basic research that requires a quiet environment, that's just a reason stated in the application.

"The intensity of the Twilight Vine's glow is related to the concentration of underground magic."

  

Grace also looked up at the glowing light on the tower and said thoughtfully,

"I read in a book that during its heyday, the twilight vine was said to be bright enough to light up an entire street."

"It's already pretty good that it's this bright now," Joseph said.

"But it's really beautiful!"

Mia repeated herself, as if saying it only once wasn't enough to express her feelings.

Joseph didn't bother to reply and strode towards the main campus.

Two students followed behind her. Mia kept turning back to look at them, and only reluctantly looked away from the vines after turning a corner.

The road to the cafeteria stretches along the main road of the college, with a magical street lamp standing every few steps on both sides of the road.

At the top of the streetlamp is a fist-sized crystal, which is claimed to be the perfect fusion of the dwarven's pinnacle forging craftsmanship and the human's advanced enchanting techniques. It absorbs sunlight during the day to store magic and releases light at night to provide illumination.

Five years ago, when these streetlights were completed, the Dean of the Royal Academy even boasted about them for an hour during the opening ceremony.

The core idea can be summed up in one sentence: this thing saves money in the long run.

But in Joseph's eyes, isn't this just a solar street light with a different shell?

In my past life, I bought a product on Taobao for a few dozen yuan with free shipping, and it even came with an infrared human body sensor that turned off the lights when I left.

In this world, the academy burned through 800,000 gold coins of the Magic Association's special allocation just to install these high-tech streetlights!

These magicians are even better at packaging projects than the clients in my previous life.

"So this is what the headmaster is like!"

Mia walked along, looking around constantly, her head spinning like a top.

"It's much bigger than I imagined!"

"You haven't been here before?" Grace asked.

"I've been here before, but not to these places." Mia pointed to a brightly lit tower in the distance.

"Look, that's the assessment tower and training area. I only stayed there for a few days before I was asked to leave."

She turned around and looked at the large cluster of buildings stretching out on the other side of the road, her eyes widening even more.

"I had no idea there was such a large area here! What are those buildings for?"

Grace glanced in the direction she was pointing:

"The area on the left is where the library, archives, and various theoretical teaching and research groups are located."

Those buildings on the right are the training areas you visited; the student martial arts arena, magic manipulation training room, and spell experiment field are all in that direction.

"What about the living area?"

"The dormitories, canteen, and medical clinic are all located to the north.

"The cafeteria is to the north?" Mia paused, "Then where are we going if we head east?"

"The faculty dining hall," Joseph said without turning his head, "is in the East Wing."

Mia blinked, then a bright smile slowly bloomed on her face.

She quickened her pace to catch up, excitedly saying, "Sir, are you taking us to eat at the faculty cafeteria?"

"What, you don't want to go?"

"No, no, no, I mean," Mia stammered, unusually incoherent.

"I heard the grilled ribs in the faculty cafeteria are especially delicious, and the portions are generous, unlike the stingy ones in the student cafeteria!"

"Miss Taylor," Grace said softly, "behave yourself."

"What's with the composure? The master is taking us out to eat!"

As Joseph listened to the reactions of the two people behind him, his mind raced with calculations.

The faculty canteen is free for professors. Although the Royal College's teaching quality has declined with each generation, it has spent real money on the treatment of these senior professors.

He's had plenty of meals there over the past six months; since it's free, he figured he might as well eat there.

Today is the first class, so I have to put on a show and not let the students think I'm stingy.

And to be honest, taking students to the faculty cafeteria has another advantage: the food there is really good.

A significant portion of the annual budget allocated to the college by the association goes to the faculty canteen. It is said that the head chef was recruited from the royal palace and is specifically responsible for preparing expensive magical health-preserving soups for those white-haired professors.

Is there a better deal than using the college's freebies to do personal favors?

However, this good thing only lasts for today.

After treating them to this meal today, let them eat the pig swill in the student cafeteria tomorrow.

Eating with students is exhausting.

Besides, when he eats in the faculty cafeteria, he usually sits alone in a corner, reading a book while eating, and occasionally listening to the gossip of the professors at the next table as background noise. That's what I call enjoyment.

He had to be careful about his manners even when chewing food, since he had two tails with him when he went to eat.

We must not spoil them.

Mia was completely unaware of Joseph's shrewd calculations; she was lost in her own world.

The teacher not only let her experience the effects of the new magic in the very first lesson, but now he is also personally taking them out to eat.

Her former teachers, let alone inviting her to dinner, wouldn't even give her a second glance.

Every time an accident occurred during a practical class, everyone's expression was exactly the same: they frowned, sighed, shook their heads, and then signed the expulsion notice.

The gentleman is different!

The man would listen to her attentively, treat her wildly conceived blacksmithing method as a serious matter, and even take her out for grilled ribs.

Mia mentally added another point to her favorability rating towards Joseph.

Grace walked half a step behind Joseph, her gaze inadvertently sweeping across his profile.

The streetlights cast their glow on his sharply defined jawline, giving the collar of his dark blue mage robe a soft, warm gold hue.

Grace unconsciously adjusted her pace to keep up with his rhythm.

From childhood to adulthood, every magic mentor she encountered either treated her as a princess who needed special care, or as a useless person destined to be unable to cast spells.

But the master never looked at her with either of those eyes. He never even asked a question about her identity, as if the title of Third Princess was no different from that of a blacksmith's daughter in his eyes.

Grace looked at the man's tall and straight back.

She had seen so many people in the palace—powerful, wealthy, and talented—but none of them understood all her predicaments like her teacher did, yet never pointed them out, but simply laid out knowledge before her and waited for her to find her own way.

The gentleman must know everything.

Of course he knows everything; he's a great magician.

Grace lowered her head slightly under the streetlight, her golden hair obscuring the barely perceptible smile at the corner of her mouth.