Chapter 46: So This is the Sun?

Later, they would only need secondary heating to draw out the desired curved extensions. The only drawback was that glass flowers produced this way were uniform in style and could not withstand close scrutiny, making them more suitable for glass bouquets. However, she figured they wouldn’t mind.

Yulia, however, was clearly not so easily appeased. On the way back to the dormitory after the banquet, Yulia clung to Su Na like an octopus.

“Oh, I want one! I want one too, Nana!”

“Let go of me!”

Yulia’s pout was so pronounced you could hang an oil bottle from it: “No! Why does Caitlin get one and I don’t!”

Su Na sneered: “Heh, the land deed I put up as collateral today was a gift from Her Highness Princess Caitlin. What did you give me? I should be thanking you for not selling me off for cash.”

“How could you say that! That’s slander!”

Look at that rich lady—she shoved money into your hands the moment she met you, without a second word. How generous.

Then look at this black-haired girl. Aside from running her mouth with empty promises, she offered nothing practical. How was she any different from those scumbags who only talk about love but call you shallow the moment material things are mentioned?

While Su Na was grumbling internally, she suddenly felt the weight on her body lighten. Turning her head curiously, she saw Yulia looking down, gazing at her with teary, wide eyes. Even the ahoge on top of her head was drooping pitifully.

“I thought we were already good friends~”

Su Na’s heart gave a slight tremble, and she quickly turned her head back: “Don’t try that with me!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll make you one!”

Damn it, she should have known. It wasn’t surprising that Yulia would do anything to avoid spending gold coins. No wonder she could string the male lead along like a prize fish in the original novel.

Yulia’s tears instantly turned into a beaming smile, and she pounced again: “Yay! I love Nana the most!”

“Let go! I feel like I can’t grow taller because you keep squishing me!”

“No~”

Upon returning to the dormitory and resting briefly, Su Na took Yulia to see her studio. At this time, when it came to making this kind of handicraft, there truly was no place with a more complete set of materials than hers.

Since coloring glass required different minerals as raw materials, if she didn’t provide the formulas, it would take the glass workshops an eternity to figure it out through their own experiments.

Thus, she happened to have a batch of semi-finished colored glass blanks that the territory had express-delivered via magic array for her inspection, which was how Princess Caitlin’s poppy flower came to be.

Taking out the red and green glass blanks used as raw materials and placing them beside her, she glared at Yulia, who was waiting not far away with her hands propping up her chin. Su Na sat barefoot and cross-legged in the center of the magic array. The pre-arranged magic stones lit up one by one, and mana flowed along the lines, rapidly illuminating the entire array pattern.

Su Na’s silver hair, cascading down her back, drifted slowly with the fluctuations in the air. With a thought, the fist-sized red glass stone appeared and floated above the palm of her right hand. Positioning it directly in front of her, with her right hand below and left hand above, Su Na closed her eyes slightly. Blistering heat rapidly gathered in the center where her hands met.

Under the terrifying heat, the glass stone turned glowing red and gradually began to soften. Guided by Su Na’s mental power, it was slowly drawn out into a glass rod. At the tip, as if pulled by an invisible giant hand, it was stretched bit by bit into the shape of translucent petals, while retaining its original red color at the middle and base.

In this way, petal after petal took shape under the sculpting of her mental power, combining every six petals into a single unit, accented with several long, sharp leaves.

Raising the temperature in a short time was not difficult, but maintaining a stable, ultra-high temperature for an extended period was something Su Na could not achieve at her current level. This was why she used the magic array to continuously replenish her mana, allowing her to temporarily keep up with the consumption required for the high heat.

Speaking of which, creating glass flowers was actually a meticulous task that greatly tempered one’s mental control. At the very least, compared to the discomfort of using mental power to draw out the poppy petals last time, Su Na felt much more relaxed this time.

After about an hour, having reheated the bases of several flowers and adhered them to the root formed by a green glass tube, Su Na dispelled the surrounding fire elements, opened her eyes, and looked at the finished product floating and spinning in the air. She immediately enveloped it in a water sphere formed of mist.

Yulia, sitting not far away, saw her begin to regulate her breathing and hurriedly picked up the water cup in front of her and handed it over: “Rest a bit and drink some water.”

Su Na took the cup: “Don’t touch it yet, let it cool down slowly.” Only then did she raise the cup and gulp down the water. Even with her high resistance to fire magic, being baked by such high temperatures at such close range for over an hour had left her nearly dehydrated.

“Oh, okay…”

Yulia didn’t even cast a proper glance at the little trinket she had been longing for. Instead, she earnestly took a handkerchief and wiped the fine sweat from Su Na’s forehead, treating Levi as if she were completely invisible.

“Here!”

When the time was right, Su Na waved her hand and dispelled the thin layer of enveloping mist, revealing the fiery red flower within. Guided by her mental power, it wobbled and flew into Yulia’s arms.

Yulia picked up the still-warm glass flower, noticing its distinct weight as soon as she held it. A delighted smile appeared on her face: “What is this flower called? It’s so beautiful!”

“Red Spider Lily, though I prefer to call it Lycoris radiata.”

The glass Red Spider Lily looked even more bewitching and eerie than the actual flower. The sharp leaves appeared aggressive and fierce, giving the whole piece an imposing and domineering presence. It occupied the absolute opposite extreme compared to the serene and peaceful aura of the poppy.

Of course, this also reflected Su Na’s initial impression of Yulia. This little vixen was not the type to accept a loss, so gifting her this flower was quite fitting. And judging by Yulia’s delighted expression, she was indeed very satisfied.

Initially, Yulia had thought Su Na would make her something similar in style to Princess Caitlin’s. She truly hadn’t expected Su Na to create a completely unique design just for her.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but lean in and kiss Su Na’s cheek: “You really are my good sister! Thank you, Nana! I’m going to give you a big surprise later!”

“I’m off! I have to go show it off!!!”

Su Na wiped the saliva from her cheek and muttered as she watched Yulia run downstairs: “I’ll thank the heavens if it isn’t a ‘shock’ instead.”

Though it supposedly didn’t cost money, the true cost of crafting the glass flower was actually quite steep. Just those few magic stones were worth a small fortune in gold coins. She definitely wouldn’t be doing any more special favors for anyone else. It was best to keep magic away from problems that could be solved by industry.

Life at the academy soon settled into a routine. Aside from studying, Su Na spent her days taking Levi to socialize with the noble scions. Besides their own subordinate nobles, she mostly interacted with mages of commoner backgrounds.

Having accepted the nobles’ recruitment, these mages naturally became their subordinates. With the nobles’ financial backing, they would have no shortage of resources to delve deeper into the field of magic in the future.

This situation was extremely common in this world, and almost no one saw anything wrong with it.

It wasn’t a s*ave contract; according to Su Na’s understanding, it was actually closer to campus recruitment by modern corporations. If these mages possessed exceptional talent, they could even renegotiate the contract into an equal partnership in the future.

With strength, everything was negotiable. This was also the primary motivation behind the nobles’ generosity. Even if the other party struck it rich later and refused to remain a subordinate or retainer, they would still owe a favor. Either way, the investment was never a loss.

Su Na was doing worse in this regard than the other nobles. Having been here for over a year, she seemed to only maintain superficial acquaintances with everyone. Her relationship with Lucy, the apprentice alchemist, was the only one that could be considered genuinely good. As for the others, they were mostly just familiar faces rather than true friends.

The main reason was that she hadn’t been very sociable in her previous life, and in this one, her high status acted as a barrier. If she didn’t initiate conversations, the commoners wouldn’t actively strike up chats for fear of accidentally offending her.

Furthermore, due to her lack of interaction, rumors about the Fafnir family’s eldest daughter having a bad temper had spread everywhere at some point, further solidifying the public’s stereotypical impression of her.

Thinking of this, Su Na scratched her head in frustration. But she quickly figured it out: she didn’t have a fetish for begging people to be her dogs anyway. If there were none, so be it. After all, didn’t she still have this one lone seedling~

And so, Lucy, whose routine consisted of a simple four-point line—nine-to-five work, studying, eating, and sleeping—suddenly found the aloof noble lady beside her frequently feeding her. From asking her to eat together to doing alchemy experiments together, Su Na slowly squeezed into her daily life.

She hadn’t wanted this at first, but the damnable part was that the alchemy materials were literally inexhaustible, and she could use the expensive alchemy equipment whenever she wanted. This “sugar mommy” life was simply too sweet!

Although the Magic Academy provided certain subsidies and waivers for students studying there, there was a fixed monthly quota. They couldn’t let you use alchemy materials limitlessly. Additional study and experiments still had to be funded out of your own pocket, which was why Lucy had to work to earn money to buy materials.

This was a pure, overt scheme by Su Na. No apprentice alchemist could refuse a laboratory fully stocked with equipment and materials, especially one backed by someone whose commercial network extended everywhere. Many of the tools were things even the mentors coveted.

And through Lucy, Su Na poached a large group of senior and junior students from the Alchemy Department. Alchemy actually shared many similarities with science in many aspects, and Su Na nodded repeatedly upon hearing many of their wild ideas.

This was especially true regarding the modification of various old-style magic arrays. By substituting certain alchemy materials, mana consumption could be drastically reduced, indirectly lowering the cost of using magic arrays. This would be incredibly beneficial to the future development of her factories.