Sorcerer’s Handbook

There was a traffic accident on the way back that forced the tram to stop for half an hour. By the time Sonya returned to the academy, it was already past 7pm - according to the rules, Swordflower College prohibits entry after 7pm. If students return late, they have to register their names. After accumulating three late returns, they will be given a thorn penalty and expelled from the academy if they receive three thorns.

However, with Sonya's soft explanation, the young gatekeeper directly let her in without registering her name. Noticing the penetrating, vulgar gaze from the gatekeeper that seemed to see through her clothes, Sonya smiled politely on the surface but scorned him in her heart.

He really thinks that just because he is a gatekeeper at Swordflower College, he can get close to the pretty female students?

Not even having such basic self-awareness, no wonder he is just a gatekeeper.

Sonya was well aware since young that her beauty could bring her advantages, but it was not until she came to Cailleach that she realized just how much power beauty held - compared to that impoverished village, the civilized people in the city were willing to provide more conveniences for beauty.

At times like these, Sonya would sincerely thank the Starchild Archon, thanks to this archon developing the Starchild Dominion into such a prosperous and flourishing civilization, giving her the opportunity to squeeze into high society.

If she was in one of those uncivilized nations without the Skydome, her budding beauty would probably have been seized as spoils of war by some barbarian when she was young.

She was also grateful to her mother. If her mother had made her work in the fields instead of studying at home when she was young, no matter how naturally beautiful she was, she would have been weathered into a rough country girl by the wind and sun.

Returning to the female dormitory, Sonya was about to push the door open when she heard Iris' voice inside, "It's past 7 already. That country bitch probably won't be coming back tonight right? Hmph, finally revealing her true colors. She's probably seduced some rich merchant."

Oh? She just happened to run into the classic scene of 'talking behind one's back' in a dormitory drama? Sonya immediately stopped and quietly listened to Iris' impotent rage.

Adele spoke up hesitantly, "Stop it, Iris...she might come back any moment..."

"Let her come back! I want to scold her shamelessness to her face!"

Iris got more and more angry as she spoke, "Haven't you seen her flirtatious behavior, making eyes at others even during class? A country bitch from the countryside, other than a pretty face, what's so impressive about her?"

Hmph, being prettier than you is impressive enough.

Sonya sneered coldly in her heart. Of all her roommates, Iris disliked her the most. Iris came from a local merchant family in Cailleach and was full of pride in her looks. She normally made veiled insults about Sonya's lowly origins. But Sonya was prettier than her - when they appeared together, the number of boys who showed interest in Sonya exceeded Iris by an order of magnitude.

In their first year, they still maintained superficial peace. It was only after Sonya successfully outshone Iris and snatched an MC position at a school event that Iris developed full hostility towards her.

Iris wasn't innocent either. She organized several social events for the Hydromancy Department, even paying to treat her fellow water mages to meals at high-end restaurants, but deliberately excluded Sonya.

After this display of wealth, the number of pursuers towards Iris also increased.

After all, both men and women sought shortcuts. Even though Sonya was pretty, marrying the rich beauty Iris could mean avoiding ten years of struggle.

When it came to money, Sonya definitely could not compare. But she knew far too many ways to irk someone.

Whenever a male pursuer appeared who Iris had some interest in, Sonya would deliberately create a "chance encounter" to have slight physical contact with the boy, plus give him some flirtatious looks. This was usually enough to entrance him, even abandoning his pursuit of Iris to chase after Sonya instead.

The reason Iris exploded today was because yesterday, Sonya had "poached" a senior who had been pursuing Iris recently.

To be honest, Sonya looked down on Iris' taste in men. That senior was useless and full of himself despite his good looks. But in order to piss off Iris, she didn't mind batting her eyelashes at him.

While Sonya would definitely reject their pursuit, could Iris really stand to be with 'trash that even a country bitch like Sonya didn't want'? No wonder Iris was so angry she was screeching.

"Speaking of which, I heard Tess say she saw Sonya talking to a peasant woman at noon outside the campus," Adele suddenly recalled. "Could that woman be her mother?"

"Hmph, with such a shameless daughter, her mother is probably just as shameless--"

Clang!

Before Sonya lost control and barged in to blow up at them, a loud metallic noise rang out from inside the room.

She realized something and took half a step back. Right then, the dormitory door opened from inside and a blonde ponytailed girl carrying a sword bag appeared before her.

"Good evening, Sonya," she said.

"Good evening, Ingritt," Sonya replied.

Ingritt left without even glancing back, probably to do late night training at the training grounds. Adele and Iris were still sitting inside looking shocked.

On the training dummy that Ingritt had bought for the dorm room, there was an additional dent that Sonya had not seen before.

After Sonya entered and closed the door, calm returned to the dormitory room.

Since Ingritt had helped teach them a lesson on her behalf, Sonya naturally would not repeat it. But she made a mental note of this debt that Iris would have to repay in full with interest someday.