Chapter 1

Because of poverty, she diligently practiced low-level magic

       There's a strange rumor in Santa Blanca: never mess with any cute-looking girl, you'll never know how many guards they have.

　　But this was just a rumor known only to the locals; those newcomers to the city for the first time were obviously unaware of it.

　　"Hey! You over there..." A man with an unfriendly face was about to utter two curse words to harass the girl not far away when, in the next instant, the ground beneath his feet cracked open, and countless flexible stone pillars, like vines, wrapped around his body in a matter of moments.

　　These stone pillars seemed to come alive, tightening their grip even after firmly imprisoning the man.

　　Only then did the group around the man react, frantically trying to smash the stone pillar. One of them even glanced at the girl watering her crops not far away, looking completely nonchalant. Besides, she wasn't holding a staff, so it couldn't be her.

　　The man, who was being held captive, was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. Seeing this, the group around him had no choice but to take out their weapons and try to shatter the solid stone pillar.

　　With a deafening crash of shattering stones, the man who had spoken so rudely earlier collapsed to the ground. The broken stone pillar silently disappeared back into the earth, as if nothing had ever happened.

　　Even the experienced captain was unsure what had just happened. After quickly glancing around to confirm there were no other threats, he swiftly ordered his team members, "Let's go!"

　　Within minutes, the patrol team arrived at the sound. Based on years of experience, the patrol captain understood what had just happened at a glance from the marks on the ground. Turning around, he indeed saw the girl leisurely watering the fields.

　　"Miss Winnie, you didn't go all out this time, did you?" the patrol captain asked.

　　The girl whose name was called stopped what she was doing and gently shook her head.

　　Seeing this, the patrol captain was slightly relieved. "Alright, then it's all right." With that, he led the two men behind him away from the area.

　　On the way back, one of the newly appointed members asked with some doubt, "Captain, was that commotion made by that young lady? Why didn't you investigate?"

　　Before the patrol captain could speak, another member explained to the newcomer, "Don't mess with her. She's probably some rich girl here to experience life, and she's always surrounded by at least three high-ranking mages, the kind who's constantly casting spells."

　　High-ranking Archmages! And three of them at that! This left the new member utterly astonished.

　　Meanwhile, Winnie, the "rich heiress" they had mentioned, had just finished pouring water from the kettle. After shaking the kettle to make sure it was empty, she leisurely walked back into the house.

　　Winnie Wyatt, that's her full name, but few people know it. She only writes her full name when registering her name, and generally, she doesn't even bother with social interaction. This aloof attitude was already present when her parents were alive.

　　Almost all the older residents of Santa Blanca knew Winnie's parents; they were very warm-hearted people. Unfortunately, fate intervened, and they died in an accident. Perhaps because they weren't related by blood, Winnie didn't grieve much after her parents' passing and continued with her life.

　　Upon entering the house, Winnie placed the water bottle she was carrying on the table, then went into a room and closed the door.

        A beam of light suddenly appeared not far above Winnie's head, illuminating the room. The space wasn't large, but it was filled with books, ranging from magic tutorials to gardening; the books covered a wide variety of subjects.

　　She raised her hand and stroked the spines of the books in front of her, then suddenly stopped on one: "Unique Fundamental Magic Theories and the Law of Conservation of Magic."

　　The title is quite formal, but the content is far from what it seems. A quick glance reveals the immature writing style and the imaginative examples, which is probably why it's relegated to a corner of the bookstore. The bookstore owner likely never expected anyone to buy it.

　　It's obvious Winnie didn't buy it to prop up table legs; she genuinely intended to read it, and had even experimented with its methods. After some research, she discovered that the book contained 30% reliable theory. As for the remaining 70%... well, you could say the author had quite the imagination.

　　"Knock, knock, knock." Just as Winnie was about to open the book and take a look, there was a knock on the door. Reluctantly, she had to put it back in its original place.

　　When she reached the door and opened it, she saw a neighbor, "Mrs. Milton." Winnie greeted her politely, as the old lady had helped her a lot.

　　Mrs. Milton smiled and nodded, then reached out and handed Winnie a basket filled with seasonal fruit. The fruit was much fresher and larger than what was sold at the market, looking as if it had just been picked.

　　"Thank you, two are enough for me, any more and I won't be able to finish," Winnie said politely. Just as her hand was about to touch the fruit in the basket, a sound of shattering glass came from the house behind her.

　　Hearing the commotion, Winnie frowned, told Mrs. Milton, "I'll go check," and ran back to her cottage. Surely no one would be foolish enough to steal from her, she thought.

　　The first thing she saw when she opened the door was an uninvited guest, crawling on the floor in the middle of the room. Combined with a window that was half-broken, Winnie already knew what had happened. She just couldn't understand why this person had broken into her house.

　　After cautiously approaching the person, Winnie slowly asked, "What is it?" As she spoke, she estimated the cost of repairing the glass and how to fix it as quickly as possible; she didn't want to starve.

　　The person lying on the ground struggled to lift his head, and upon recognizing the speaker, he visibly became agitated. This reaction caused Winnie to involuntarily take two steps back, while simultaneously gripping two spells in her hands, ready to unleash them at any moment.

　　The man slowly pulled something from his clothes—a necklace—and then said hoarsely, "Your...country is waiting for you...to return." As he finished speaking, he seemed to run out of strength, and the necklace fell to the ground.

　　Winnie didn't act rashly. After checking twice to confirm that the person lying on the ground was no longer breathing, she carefully picked up the necklace from the ground.

　　This necklace… Winnie's brows furrowed again. She was very familiar with this necklace. Thinking this, she pulled a necklace from the collar of her dress; the style was exactly the same as the one in her hand.

　　After a close comparison, Winnie discovered that the pendants on the two necklaces could be pieced together to form a pattern. She wondered if it was just her imagination, but she felt she had seen this peculiar pattern somewhere before.

　　"Are you alright?" Mrs. Milton's concerned voice suddenly came from outside. Winnie immediately snapped out of her daze, hiding the necklace around her neck again and putting away the one in her hand. It seemed her background was not ordinary.

　　After letting Mrs. Milton know she was safe, Winnie turned her attention to the lying corpse. If she wasn't mistaken, there should be some important things on the person's person.

　　With a slight twitch of her fingers, a gust of wind blew in through the broken window. She searched the body, but unfortunately found nothing. The person only had some money on them, which she left untouched out of respect for the deceased.

　　Since that's the case, she could call the patrol to collect the body now. She washed her hands first before walking to the front door. Before she could even ask Mrs. Milton to pass on the message, the patrol had already appeared near her house.

　　The commotion caused by that person was far too great for the patrol team to detect, so it seems they had already spotted him beforehand.

　　"Have you two seen a suspicious person, about my height, with black hair and a black coat?" the patrol captain asked first.

        This description perfectly matched the corpse inside the house. Instead of immediately answering the patrol captain's question, Winnie posed a new one: "What did he do?"

　　Hearing this, the patrol captain became even more certain that the man was nearby, and patiently explained, "He entered the city illegally and his behavior is suspicious."

　　Winnie nodded slightly after receiving the answer, then turned and gestured for the patrol captain to proceed.

　　Upon seeing the broken window, the patrol captain immediately understood what was happening. He turned and ordered two of his men to investigate outside, while he and the rest of his men walked to the motionless body on the ground. Although the dead body meant there was no longer any threat, this situation made it difficult for him to explain himself.

　　"You did it?" the patrol captain asked Winnie.

　　Upon hearing this, Winnie glanced at the patrol captain; she wasn't going to take the blame. "I was just talking to Mrs. Milton when I heard the commotion and went inside to find a corpse."

　　While Winnie was speaking, the patrol captain had already determined the man's true cause of death: a large shard of glass in his chest, fatally wounded. They also found some money on his body, but no other clues.

　　When the patrol had packed up the body and taken it out, Winnie came out of the house, gave Mrs. Milton, who was still watching, a few words of explanation, and then went back inside.

　　The patrol team made quite a commotion, and a crowd of onlookers has already gathered. It won't be long before news of "Winnie killed someone" spreads throughout the area. That's not necessarily a bad thing for her; at least no one will bother her for a while.

　　After taking some time to clean the floor again, Winnie called some people to come and repair the window tomorrow. It's a pity that 'Repairing' is an intermediate-level spell; otherwise, she would have fixed it herself long ago. The thought of advancing her magic gave her a headache. When would she ever earn enough money to advance from a low-level mage to an intermediate-level mage?

　　If all else fails, go out and take on some quests; it's faster than farming to earn money. However, for low-level archmages... the rewards will be very low.

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