Lucia carefully placed three iron ingots on the bedroom floor, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and reviewed all the practice sensations in her mind before extending her hands and releasing her ability to surround the targets.

This was a practice method Anna had devised for her, and the iron ingots were also specially made by Anna – the three pieces of wrought iron contained different compositions, respectively melted with silver, copper, lead, and some impurities. Now, what she had to do was reduce them to elements while retaining the impurities, and find the iron ingot with the highest silver content.

This meant she had to control the output of magic power and only operate on the target once.

Otherwise, the impurities would be further dissociated – which was why she felt her ability was difficult to control when she was at home in Gold穗城. It was still paper, but the products of reduction were completely different, because she didn't understand the relationship between the magnitude of magic power and the effect of the ability, resulting in some papers being continuously differentiated several times, and ultimately most of the raw materials turned into water and gas.

After arriving in Border Town, the first lesson the witches taught her was to control her magic power in practice.

Lucia didn't really believe that something invisible and intangible could be precisely controlled until Anna demonstrated measuring length with Blackfire on the spot. Only then did she realize how wrong she was. Anna could even adjust the size and thickness of the Blackfire by regulating the magic power output, and each time it was accurate to the millimeter.

"Sister, are you starting to practice again?" Ling curiously poked her head out from the bed, "You just finished lunch."

Lucia's hand trembled, and a piece of iron ingot immediately turned into several piles of powder.

"I told you, don't disturb me when I'm using my ability," she turned around and tapped her sister's head, "Focus on your reading!"

"I can't understand it," Ling pouted, "I don't understand half of the words, I'm not like you, sister, who can write."

"That's why you need to read more. Many words have similar structures, and even if you haven't seen them, you should be able to guess their meaning. Literacy itself is a familiarization process."

"Okay," Ling缩回了脑袋.

Lucia refocused her attention on the second iron ingot, controlling the magic power to flow out slowly, imagining it in her mind as a thin veil, gently covering the target and evenly wrapping it.

"Hey, I'm here," the door suddenly creaked open, and a blonde woman flashed into the room, "Oh, are you practicing your ability?"

"Nightingale姐姐!" Ling exclaimed cheerfully.

The second iron ingot once again turned to dust.

Lucia sighed and collected all the metal debris on the ground into her leather bag. She felt that she probably wouldn't be able to practice at noon today.

"Here, for you."

A scoop of ice cream with a rich milky aroma was handed to her.

"Thank you," Lucia took the ice cream, "But isn't this only distributed during afternoon tea?"

Nightingale patted her chest proudly, "This is a reward I specially requested from His Highness. Oh, right... you have a share too." She handed another one to Ling, eliciting a burst of laughter from the little girl.

"Nightingale姐姐 is the best to me!"

This kid, she forgets all about me when she has something good to eat, Lucia thought helplessly. But the moment the ice cream entered her mouth, she felt that if she were her sister, her reaction would probably be the same as Ling's – the mellow honey and milk flavors melted in her mouth, and the icy coolness further blended the two together, amplifying the sweetness. Even after swallowing, a trace of coolness lingered between her lips and teeth.

No one could resist its deliciousness, especially in the hot summer. No wonder His Highness only distributes ice cream during weekend afternoon tea. Such a unique food must be expensive, at least she had never heard of such a dessert in Gold穗城.

Thinking of this, Lucia couldn't help but ask, "How did you ask His Highness for it?"

"Hehe," Nightingale curled up the corner of her mouth, "I ranked third in this test, only after Wendy and Leaf, but Roland His Highness thought I wouldn't pass. With such a large deviation from the actual situation, I naturally had to ask him for a reward."

"I see... so," she hesitated for a moment, "Then, what about me?"

"Sixty points, I don't know what rank you are."

"Uh, so low." Lucia said dejectedly. Out of a total of one hundred and twenty points, she only answered a little more than half correctly, and this was based on the fact that she was already literate.

"It's not bad," Nightingale patted her head, "After all, you haven't been listening to classes for long, mathematics and natural science will definitely be a little worse, you can come and ask me if you have any questions."

"Me! Can I ask!" Ling raised her hand.

"Of course," Nightingale responded with a smile, "You're always welcome."

"Once I pass the elementary assessment, will I be able to choose my own job?"

"You're still early, His Highness said that the minimum age for working is fourteen, you're only ten, what's the rush." Lucia glared at her.

The little girl retorted unyieldingly, "I also want to share the burden for you sooner, things like getting married and having children cost a lot of money. If we don't have enough money, life will be very hard!"

"Who did you hear that from again?" Lucia rubbed her forehead.

"Dad, he often complains that he can't afford to raise us anymore."

"Puchi," Nightingale couldn't help but laugh, "If you can work, where would you choose to go?"

"Chemical Laboratory!" Ling raised her hand, "I want to become an alchemist, obtain the title of Sage, and be admired and praised by everyone!"

"This... it's best not to," she shook her head, "The laboratory is actually quite dangerous."

"Dangerous?" The sisters asked in unison, surprised.

"Yeah," Nightingale spread her hands, "Not only do you often deal with acid, but sometimes there are explosions, even Chief Alchemist Sidu can't avoid accidents, last time he had four fingers blown off. If it weren't for Nana瓦, Mr. Kaimo.S垂尔 would probably never be able to pick up those bottles and jars again in his life." She paused, "And His Highness seems to be planning to develop a new huoyào recently, even he thinks this thing is extremely dangerous and a separate laboratory must be set up for preparation."

"Uh, in that case, do you have any good suggestions?" Lucia put her arm around Ling, determined not to let her sister work in such a terrible place.

"Of course, enter the City Hall and become a civil servant."

"Civil... servant?" she repeated.

"Ahem, this is what His Highness calls it when he talks to himself. In layman's terms, it's a City Hall official," Nightingale coughed twice, "It's stable, safe, and the salary is above average, but the prospects are good. Once you become a department head, the salary will not be lower than that of a witch."

"I see," Lucia said thoughtfully.

"Nightingale姐姐, do you like His Highness?" Ling shouted, "You say 'His Highness said' so many times, Mom said that you only mention people you especially like all the time."

The sister's question made Lucia's face stiff. Damn it, how could she ask something like that directly, it's just too rude. Even ordinary friends can't ask directly, let alone a senior she respects. She hurriedly covered Ling's mouth, intending to apologize, but heard Nightingale answer frankly –

"Yes, I like him." (。 )