I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Ophelia led them back to the area where the disciples lived, stopping in front of a row of empty houses on the west side.

"These courtyards have been uninhabited for a long time, but they are maintained by magic arrays on a daily basis. Junior brothers and sisters can each choose a room. Bedding and other supplies are in the storeroom in the east wing. Please take them yourself."

Mason walked into the yard, looked around, and then pushed open the nearest door. The yard was small and simply furnished: a wooden bed, a desk, and a chair.

On the windowsill sat a small celadon vase, holding a few unknown dried flowers that emitted a faint herbal fragrance, making it increasingly pleasing to the eye.

She turned back and tugged at Alex's sleeve: "Let's stay here!"

Alex had no objection, but simply looked at Ophelia and said, "Thank you, Senior Sister."

"No need for formalities." Ophelia turned around and pointed to another door next door. "That room is bigger. If you'd like to stay together, you can go and take a look."

A faint blush rose to Mason's face. He loosened Alex's sleeve and stammered, "Who...who wants to live with him..."

Ophelia nodded noncommittally. "Hot water for washing up will be automatically delivered through a magic array every morning. You can go to the dining hall on the west side for meals, and take the ingredients yourself. If you need anything, you can come to me, or wait until the sect leader is free to report to him."

"Cooking for ourselves?" Mason paused, then asked, "Isn't there a chef?"

"It used to be like that," Ophelia said calmly. "My third junior sister volunteered to be the cook for a month, burning the kitchen down three times and repairing the roof of the dining hall twice. The sect leader said that from now on, whoever wants to eat can cook for themselves."

Alex couldn't help but chuckle.

Mason frowned. "So... what do you usually eat, Senior Sister?"

"I've started a fast, so I don't need to eat normally."

Although she didn't know what "abstaining from grains" meant, Mason believed that "one cannot go a day without eating," so she decided to get up early the next day to see what usable ingredients were available in the dining hall.

After settling them in, Ophelia showed them the locations of the dining hall, storeroom, and washroom before bidding them farewell and leaving.

"It's getting late, you should all rest. The sect leader should gather everyone tomorrow morning for the formal initiation ceremony."

The two said in unison, "Thank you, Senior Sister."

Ophelia nodded slightly, turned and disappeared into the moonlight. The night wind blew by, leaving only the tinkling of the wind chimes under the eaves.

"Mason."

"Um?"

"Have you noticed..." Alex carefully considered his words, "When Second Senior Sister addresses Master, except for the first time, she always uses 'Sect Master' instead of 'Master'."

Mason, who was examining the dried flowers by the windowsill, didn't even look up when he heard this: "It's just a form of address, it doesn't mean anything."

"But the other disciples all call him 'Master'..."

Mason looked up, his fiery red eyes blinking in the moonlight: "Why are you still acting like you're on a battlefield even after arriving at the sect? Observing every single detail!"

She stood up, brushed the dust off her skirt, and said, "Maybe she has her own habits. What does it matter what you call her? We're from the same school anyway."

Alex paused for a moment, then nodded. "That's true."

"That's true." Mason stretched. "Compared to that, I'd rather talk to my third senior sister."

"What are you going to talk about?"

"Let's talk about books! Second Senior Sister said that most of those plot points were written by Third Senior Sister. How many good stories must Third Senior Sister have in her head? I need to ask her if she has any new manuscripts, or if she has any inside information—like when the next book will be published, whether the main character will be changed, whether the ending will be sweet or tragic..."

Alex smiled helplessly at Mason's eager expression: "Didn't you say you wanted to get some rest?"

"You can rest anytime, but the chance to chat with a living 'romance master' is rare." Mason had already started walking out. "You go to sleep first, I'll be right back."

Alex didn't stop her, but simply reminded her, "Don't stay up too late; the initiation ceremony is tomorrow."

"Okay!"

Following the route he remembered, Mason walked through the bluestone corridor, around the main hall, and made two turns in the disciples' quarters area on the east side before finally stopping in front of a courtyard gate covered with vines.

The courtyard gate was half-open, and warm yellow light shone from inside. Just as she was about to knock, she suddenly heard a muffled thud from inside, like something falling to the ground, followed by a short incantation.

"Fire—no, water—no..."

Mason pushed open the door and saw a girl with a high ponytail and a few withered leaves stuck in her hair sitting cross-legged on the ground. In front of her was a huge sheet of Xuan paper, with a charred mess on it, ink stains and burn marks mixed together, emitting a strange smell.

The girl is holding a calligraphy brush in the air, with smoke rising from its tip.

He held a talisman in his left hand; the runes on the talisman flickered, clearly indicating that the spell had gone out of control.

"Third Senior Sister?" Mason called out tentatively.

Alice looked up, her face showing a dark gray streak running from her cheekbone to her chin, making her look like a tabby cat.

Seeing that the visitor wasn't her master, she immediately beamed, "You've come at the perfect time! Quickly help me figure out what's wrong with this 'copying secret technique'—Master punished me by making me copy dozens of manuscripts, and I thought using fire magic to burn the words would speed things up, but the paper burned away and the words were gone. I tried water magic, but the ink bled through. Tell me, is there any magic that can make the pen move on its own, and the writing will be neat and beautiful?"

"Then why not just copy it yourself?"

"Copying is impossible. I'll never copy by hand in this lifetime. I can only use magic to copy it... Sigh, if only it could be engraved on a stone wall or iron plate. I have a lot of experience with that."

Mason approached, glanced down at the charred paper, then at Alice's cat-like face, and suppressed a laugh:

"Senior sister, magic is about the arrangement of elements. If you directly inscribe fire runes on the pen, the paper will naturally catch fire. You need to first use wind magic to cool it down, then use water magic to mix the ink, and finally use earth magic to control the pressure of the brushstrokes..."

As she spoke, she took out an old notebook from her storage ring, turned to a page, and found it filled with formulas for the permutations and combinations of magical elements.

Alice listened, stunned, then suddenly slapped her thigh: "A single conversation with you is worth more than ten years of study! You wait here, I'll go get some new paper!"

She got up, took out a stack of blank Xuan paper from the corner of the wall, and then placed the inkstone and ink sticks carefully made by her master on the table.

Mason watched her busy figure and, remembering the purpose of his visit, quickly said, "Third Senior Sister, actually I came to ask you something."

"What is it? Tell me." Alice didn't even turn her head.

"Those romance plots you provided for Second Senior Sister... are there any sequels? Is there a new book being written? When will the next one be released? Will Ji Tian still be the main character? Can you give me a little spoiler? I promise I won't tell anyone!"

Alice paused, turned around, narrowed her eyes, and looked Mason up and down.

Mason felt a little uneasy under her gaze and instinctively shrank back: "What's wrong?"

"What type do you like?" Alice suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Romance novels. Do you like sweet ones? Angsty ones? Angsty first, then sweet? Sweet first, then angsty? Or a mix of sweet and angsty? Is the female lead gentle or lively? Is the male lead cold on the outside but warm on the inside, scheming, or loyal?" Alice rattled off a long list, her eyes growing brighter with each word.

Mason thought about it seriously: "I like... the kind where two people clearly like each other but can't say it, are separated by thousands of miles, and finally come together. A little bit of angst is fine, but the ending must be happy."

Alice's eyes lit up even more. She sprang to her feet, grabbed Mason's hands, and, so excited she dropped her pen, her voice trembling, exclaimed, "You're my dearest friend!"

Mason was taken aback by her sudden enthusiasm: "Huh?"