The Villainous Lady Wants a Quiet Life

Chapter 6: Elegant

…During these two weeks, Serena devoted herself entirely to the understanding of magic and her physical body.

As a result, Serena’s entire body remembered the spell “Basic Telekinesis.” A massive psychokinetic magic circle was inscribed beneath her skin, like an invisible tattoo.

Whoosh.

In the spacious living room, three fountain pens floated like paper planes.

Serena’s limit with psychokinesis was ten fountain pens. If it was pure metal, the limit was 300 kilograms.

According to the magic book, the specification for Basic Telekinesis was:

“If the mage’s attributes match well, and only simple push-pull operations are used, the upper limit of Basic Telekinesis is 30 kilograms…”

In comparison, Serena’s output was astonishing.

“To reach this level in two weeks, although it’s still not enough, it’s acceptable.”

Of course, this was only an increase in power; her proficiency was still far from adequate.

The more powerful the performance, the harder it was to master.

Even with the help of “Understanding,” training was kept as efficient as possible, but at this point, even writing with a pen was a struggle.

She needed to at least reach a level where she could draw diagrams to be satisfied.

“The basics are complete.”

Serena picked up Basic Manipulation Magic Vol. 1 from the table.

Here, the difference between “Basic Telekinesis” and “Beginner Telekinesis” lay only in the number of lines—an entire difference of 18 strokes.

Basic Telekinesis consisted of 20 ‘lines’ and 2 ‘circles,’ whereas Beginner Telekinesis consisted of 38 ‘lines’ and 3 ‘circles.’

Of course, “Beginner” was an extension based on “Basic,” adding branches, so she only needed to memorize 18 more lines. But the problem this time was the thickness of the lines…

“We’ll leave that for later.”

The body also needed time to recover.

If she advanced to the beginner level without fully mastering the basics, it was obviously uncontrollable.

Therefore, the next targets were these:

Basic Metal Magic Vol. 1

Basic Fire Magic Vol. 1

Basic Earth Magic Vol. 1

Three types of elemental magic books.

Among them, Serena focused only on learning manipulation-type spells.

This was a side effect she hadn’t anticipated: because her whole body was inscribed with “manipulation”-type psychokinesis, learning spells that opposed manipulation placed a burden on her body.

For example, summoning and spirit-type magic clashed with manipulation and couldn’t be learned at all.

At best, they could only be learned in the order of: Manipulation > Softening > Support > Destruction.

Still, that didn’t matter.

Serena had a natural talent only for manipulation-type magic anyway.

Given that, she would just focus on studying that system.

Knock knock.

Just as she was about to open a book, someone knocked on the door.

After retrieving the floating pens, she responded:

“What is it?”

─It’s Ellen. Mage Ellen brought the lecture materials…

So it was Ellen.

Of course. The first lecture of the semester was in ten days, which was next Thursday.

“I’ll be right out.”

Serena used telekinesis to try putting on clothes. Or rather, she attempted to, but the pants kept ending up on her upper body, so in the end, she had to dress herself manually.

When she went downstairs to the first floor, Ellen was with the servants, setting several large boxes on the ground.

“…These are my lecture materials?”

“Yes! These are the compiled lecture notes for the first semester! We do this every year!”

Ellen answered with dark circles under his eyes.

Rather than the eye bags, Serena felt more pity for the joyful smile on his face from completing his task.

“You’ve worked hard.”

The other professors at the Mage Tower had at least five assistants, some even twenty.

Serena had only Ellen.

This was entirely the result of Serena’s poor conduct.

“All right, then I’ll take my leave!”

Just as Ellen was about to go, Serena grabbed the collar of his robe.

“Ah.”

“It’s late. At least stay for dinner.”

“What? No need, I…”

“Eat before you go.”

Serena signaled the maids, who quickly acted and led Ellen to the dining hall.

“Ah, really, it’s fine…”

“It’s fine. Sit down.”

The grandeur of the dining room made Ellen uneasy. He just stood there.

“Sit down.”

“…Okay.”

“It’s meal time.”

The food was quickly prepared.

To Serena, this was a luxurious feast.

Ellen was dazed for a moment, while Serena skillfully picked up her knife and fork.

“It’s late. Just spend the night here.”

“What? No, I…”

“Refusal not accepted.”

“Ah, okay, okay…”

Ellen nodded, shy and uneasy.

***

1:00 AM.

In the silent study, only the ticking of the clock's second hand could be heard. Serena was preparing the lecture.

[Compiled Lecture Notes: Serena — “Understanding Elemental Magic”]

Thanks to Ellen’s compiled notes, the preparations went smoothly.

Just understanding ‘half’ of the first lecture content consumed 3,500 mana points.

This meant she needed to invest 1,000 mana points weekly to smoothly run one class.

Fortunately, content understood through “Understanding” wasn’t easily forgotten.

“…Cutting out unnecessary parts seems better.”

Serena made her own reductions.

She extracted the core content from Ellen’s compilation and boldly removed anything too basic or deemed useless.

Since Serena had limited knowledge anyway, she intended to design the course to focus on student participation.

Serena wanted to provide “truly useful content” to the mages while not exposing her hollow mind.

This overly meticulous thinking was also partly thanks to Serena’s overly serious personality.

She spent about an hour planning and confirming the schedule.

“There are nine days left now.”

It was already past midnight. Only nine days remained until the semester began.

During this time, Serena had to improve her magical literacy as a professor.

Though she had never taught before and was a bit nervous, the system-given “Personality” trait reduced the burden.

Moreover, Serena had the trait “Dignity and Poise,” which made listeners more focused on her words and better able to understand the content.

Of course, giving up the professor role was an option too.

That would be much more comfortable.

But in the game, Serena was always referred to as “Professor.”

In other words, the “Professor” title might be a prerequisite for side quests and main quests.

Without a clue for returning, she couldn’t give up the identity so easily.

“This should be good enough.”

Serena carefully folded the handwritten lecture plan and placed it in an envelope.

Incidentally, Serena’s lectures were always fully enrolled with 150 students.

As one of the few “Chief Professors” in the university Mage Tower, her classes were extremely popular—but that surface-level understanding wasn’t entirely correct.

A deeper understanding was needed.

Mages at the university Mage Tower were first assigned the low-ranking title of “Debitan” upon entry.

Only after being promoted to “Sorda” could they choose a career path.

To advance, they needed to complete “required magic credits” at the Mage Tower.

In that regard, Serena’s class was worth 5 magic credits.

Equivalent to three standard courses.

Even if her teaching was mediocre, it couldn’t not be popular.

─Knock knock. It’s 3:00 AM. This week’s Wizard Journal has arrived. It’s been left at the door.

At that moment, the butler knocked and slid the magazine under the door.

Serena retrieved it using telekinesis.

[WIZARD JOURNAL – New Year Special Edition]

The most authoritative media in the magic world, Wizard Journal.

Looking at the cover, Serena seemed to hear a certain guy’s voice.

…Once players accumulated achievements, they would be featured in this magazine. This kind of small detail was also part of the game’s charm.

It was a nostalgic memory.

“I’ll check if that’s really true.”

Serena smiled faintly and opened the magazine.

“Newcomer Mage of the Year”

The first thing that caught her eye was this year’s newcomer mage.

This was content deliberately set by a company aiming for Game of the Year.

───────

“Newcomer Mage of the Year”

Winner: Aurelia Habs

Attribute: Origin.

Primary Type: Specialization.

At age 17, Aurelia held the Habs inheritance ceremony. Her heart contained three colors of origin—Red, Blue, Green.

This so-called miracle of manifestation—three primary colors—represented the source of all things.

She was born with these colors.

Therefore, Aurelia could create all things within the range of her mana.

She had been regarded as noble since birth, and that was no exaggeration…

───────

Serena had heard of this famous character.

A blonde beauty with the trait “Color of a Nation’s Fall,” heir to a family on par with the Leonharts.

Although Leonhart currently held a slightly higher position, because of Aurelia’s broken-tier fame, the gap would gradually widen.

Serena flipped through the pages, searching for herself.

Serena, Serena, Serena… before she knew it, her name took up quite a bit of space.

─────

“Chief Professor of the Imperial Royal University: Serena Leonhart”

Since childhood, she has excelled in elemental magic. After graduation, she was hailed as a genius in rune analysis, becoming the youngest chief professor at the Imperial Royal University Mage Tower…

…

However, now in her twenties, she had no notable achievements.

She had only focused on magical research announced three years ago.

It was time to prove her worth—not just through grades.

─────

If it were the original Serena, she would’ve grabbed the magazine and immediately called to protest.

What nonsense were these reporters writing?

“…They’re not wrong.”

But Wizard Journal wasn’t something influenced by money or family power.

Even if Serena’s personality had changed, she was still Serena.

She knew nothing of magic, had no pressure to produce results, and no pride in her job.

Those who sought more than they could handle often invited disaster.

Serena simply wanted to survive for a long time and understand this game more deeply…

“It’s already four o’clock.”

Looking at the clock, it was already 4 AM.

Serena headed toward the bedroom.

When she lay down and opened her eyes again—

It was already 6 AM.

“…”

The recovery ability of “Iron Body” was certainly amazing, but sometimes a day felt too long.

“I wish I could sleep six more hours…”

She always woke up at dawn.

The sun peeked just slightly over the horizon, its light slowly spilling in.

That lazy scenery felt like a nightmare, but Serena couldn’t fall back asleep.

Her mind was completely awake.

Fatigue and drowsiness had long been wiped away during those few hours of sleep.

Being trapped in the game, having to endure 22 hours a day was simply too much for Serena.

***

Although the lecture wouldn’t begin until Thursday, Serena went to the Mage Tower on Monday to use the “Staff-Only Magic Training Room.”

[Access granted to Chief Professor Serena.]

The training method was simple: in an enclosed training room, she had to solve stages like a “mini-game” using magic.

If the player cleared all stages, they could obtain a bonus trait, though it was unclear if this system applied to Serena.

In addition, magic used here was considered close to actual combat, allowing one to grasp a “magical aura.”

“It’s me. Serena.”

Serena placed her hand on the magic crystal orb in the center of the training room.

The orb glowed blue, and text burst forth.

[Confirmed. Please select the type of magic you wish to train.]

Serena selected the manipulation type “Telekinesis.”

Then multiple points floated in the air, intersecting and moving intricately.

[Level 1: Use telekinesis to maneuver an object through these points.]

It was simple.

Serena used telekinesis to lift a dagger from her pocket.

The dagger elegantly danced and pierced through the floating points—Level 1 cleared in two minutes.

Level 2 doubled the number of points—five minutes.

Level 3 introduced illusionary butterflies—fifteen minutes.

Level 4 summoned a swarm of phantom bees, flying everywhere—forty minutes…

For the next hour, Serena fought against a swarm of ant-sized flying bugs at Level 5 and ultimately gave up.

“Quite difficult. That makes it fun.”

2,500 mana was consumed.

That should be enough to grasp a magical aura.

[Magical Aura Confirmed: Serena Leonhart]

Every mage’s magic had an aura—put simply, a personality.

For example: fierce, provocative, explosive, calm, fluctuating, sly, alert, gentle, peaceful, humble…

This aura usually reflected the mage’s personality. It might seem trivial, but it was an important setting.

It could be regarded as “aptitude.”

Fierce, provocative, and explosive auras increased the power of destructive magic.

Sly, alert auras, enhanced illusion or support magic.

From this perspective, Serena’s magical aura was…

[Elegant Aura]

“Oh…”

■ Elegant: Meaning refined in taste or character.

In simple terms, the execution of her magic itself carried grace and style.

“…Couldn’t be more fitting.”

Serena smiled bitterly.

From any angle, this perfectly suited her.