Li Mei sighed as she leaned back inside the carriage Lucas and Vera picked out for her. It was suitably large and comfortable, external enchantments preventing rattling or noise from disturbing the passenger. Vera worked with Otto to make lovely tapestries emblazoned with the Yueluo Clan's noble crest for the sides. Inside were cushioned benches large enough for an adult to sleep comfortably on, facing a broad table with more enchantments to keep objects resting on its surface from toppling over. Heavy curtains blocked the large glass windows, preventing passerby from getting a look at the young delegate and her lovely new dress before she arrived at the Rosethorne Estate.

Hana and Otto rode atop the carriage as it rattled down the road leading away from Ashwick, relaxing in cushioned chairs with a cloth canopy shielding them from the setting evening sun. Otto listened carefully as Lucas explained how to steer the carriage from the driver's seat, but their conversation was muffled and faint even to Li Mei's enhanced hearing, thanks to enchantments suppressing noise inside the carriage car.

Bao trotted easily beside the carriage, keeping watch for danger while occasionally scoffing at the domesticated beasts pulling the carriage. He was still unhappy about his little human sister insisting on riding the wooden monstrosity instead of a strong and adorable Wild Fera, all because of some strange clothing restricting her movements. But no matter how much he sulked, Bao wouldn't slack on watching out for threats.

Besides, he was clearly enjoying having some formal clothes of his own. A new fancy gilded harness studded with iridescent sparkling gems like a canvas trapping the night sky itself, matching delicate jewelry on his crystalline horns jingling and sparkling with each trotting step. He walked with his head held high, prancing with each step, even as he kept making faces at the vehicle separating him from his little sister.

Li Mei peeked out of the curtains and smiled at the sight of Bao scowling at the carriage, then glanced up toward the horizon where the spires of a large palace were rapidly getting larger. A long line of swiftly moving carriages occupied the entire road leading from Ashwick to the Rosethorne Estate just past the city borders. Colorful hot air balloons and various flying creatures dragged enormous colorful glowing ribbons through the air along the route, while their passengers showered entire baskets of shimmering flower petals on the guests.

An armored rider approached from the opposite direction, checking the carriage emblems and respectfully tipping the visor of his helm at anyone who met his gaze. Li Mei let the curtains fall to hide her face, preferring to let Lucas take care of any conversation. A small cyan barrier hovered above her fingertips as it shifted shape from a ball, to a bowl, to a dagger.

The shifting was no longer slow and clumsy fumbling like her first attempts at manipulation, changing its shape entirely in a mere three seconds instead of the minute or so it used to take. Summoning a barrier was instantaneous, but shaping it was too slow. She'd made vast improvement, but it wasn't good enough.

"I can't seem to sharpen the edges significantly," she muttered to herself with disappointment. She could make the shape and give it a fine point, but creating bladed weapons from her barriers, even with the [Barrier Manipulation] ability, was still beyond her skill. "I guess I have to try and use Skill Merging to upgrade [Barrier (Basic)] after all? Pointed daggers will still help, especially if I make them hollow points for injecting venom."

Turning a barrier into a makeshift staff was also an option. The durability of her barriers depended on how much mana she poured into their creation, her base stats, as well as the attacking power of who was hitting them. She couldn't create a barrier with durability higher than half the sum of her STR and INT scores.

A durability of 5 would block physical blows equivalent to someone with less than 5 STR, or spells with power of people with less than 4 INT. However, the barrier would lose an equivalent amount of durability. A blow of 4 STR would bring the barrier down to 1 durability, then a follow-up spell of 3 INT would shatter the barrier, losing 1 INT worth of power to pierce through to the other side.

With her INT and STR both at 10, Li Mei could create barriers with 10 durability. In most cases, especially within a mythal restricting the power of techniques and spells to Rank 3, such a barrier would be enough to save her life no matter the situation. For combat, however...

Each strike with a barrier-created weapon counted as though the enemy were attacking it using her stats. The harder she hit, the more damage it took.

Li Mei opened her profile window.

-----

NAME: Li Mei

RANK: 2 (32%)

HEALTH: 100%

AGE: 14

SPECIES: Human (Seed)

JOB: Disciple

CORE: 100%

C.GRADE: A+

C. QUALITY: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

MANA: 1000/1000

M. QUALITY: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

EXP: 619

STR: 10

CON: 10

DEX: 10

INT: 10

WIS: 10

GIFT: [Barrier Lv.4]

TITLES: [Disciple] [Experiment 44] [Illegitimate Child] [Sky Serpent Apprentice]

TECHNIQUES: [Barrier Manipulation] [Celestial Crane of the Northern Winds (Journeyman)] [Hecatoncheires (Journeyman)]

TRAITS: [Acrobat] [Enslavement Bind] [Mana Sight] [Poison Resistance]

SKILLS: [Archive] [Concealment] [Fera Riding (Natural) Lv.5] [Parkour Lv.2] [Scan* Lv.5] [Sense Lv.5] [Storage Lv.2] [Throw Lv.5] [Traps Lv.3]

SPELLS: [Barrier (Basic) Lv.5] [Contract] [Dismantle Lv.2] [Synthesize Lv.2]

-----

Her Rank rose quickly once she coincidentally witnessed a sparring match between Lucas and Hana, in which he taught the girl to direct mana from her Core to her hands or feet when attacking to increase the force behind powerful blows. Lucas lacked the ability to use the technique himself, but was aware of the theory behind its use thanks to spending time around nobility and their guards during training. His insights helped improve Li Mei's own training methods.

She also spent her piddling amount of saved EXP on the Scan Modules Threat and Empathetic Gaze, considering her situation and the likelihood that she'd be interacting with noble society fairly often in the foreseeable future. Being able to detect lies and emotions would help just as much as detecting someone's threat levels.

Threat was separate from Rank, and would be useful in filtering out people who might look harmless but had hidden non-combat techniques or resources for snuffing out life. Poison, traps, there were all sorts of deadly skills that didn't affect one's Rank. Scanning showed Threat results as a percentage relating directly to whether Li Mei could avoid or nullify their hidden killing methods.

'I wonder how the Interface detects hidden threat,' Li Mei pondered to herself as she spun her dagger-shaped barrier between her fingers. 'Is it something I could learn to do on my own? I still don't know how much of what the Interface does is actually possible through other means. I should practice with Mana Sight more often, there might be a difference in people's mana flows or auras depending on their strength.

'Thinking of which... The Interface didn't hint about hidden things like the Mana Sight trait at all. It just popped up when requirements were met! That implies so much, and I can't even really test my theories. Ugh, I wish I could ask my questions to Lina directly again, but that Helper upgrade is so expensive...'

Her thoughts were interrupted as the carriage rolled to a gentle stop. Li Mei dismissed her barrier and tucked those ponderings safely away for later. Instead, she temporarily pulled out a hand mirror from storage to make sure not even a single hair was misplaced, straightened the lacy collar hugging her neck, and climbed to her feet.

A Quest flickered in her field of view, accepted and dismissed before the carriage door started to open. Her eyes narrowed, pushing aside the significance of her first Quest failure condition for later pondering.

-----

[Dressed To Impress]

★★★☆☆

The Rosethorne Spring Gala is an important annual event in which nobility rubs elbows, shoulders, and nerves as they flaunt their wealth and superiority. It's also an opportunity for the younger elite to make connections with their older, more experienced peers, provided they leave a positive impression.

The Reputation function has been unlocked. It measures reputation for factions and areas rather than individuals. More information can be found in the Archive.

- Put faces to names while letting Brittalund know you're here. 0 / 12 House Matriarchs greeted

- Don't embarrass yourself, or your Clan! 4 mistakes will fail the Quest. 0/3 Allowed Mistakes

(Bonus): Forgiveness is a virtue, even if it's performative.

Reward: 500 EXP, +10 Brittalund Rep, +10 Rep for each House, ??? for completed Bonus

Failure: -10 Brittalund Fame, -10 Rep for each House, 2 Week EXP Penalty

-----

The Spring Gala took place in the Walled Garden of the Rosethorne Estate, an entire sprawling expanse of gentle green fields, meticulous flower beds, and cultivated tree groves, all separated from the rest of the property by a massive white stone wall. Bubbling fountains provided quiet ambiance beside several bands, situated throughout the garden playing their various instruments on ornate stage pavilions, artfully covered with carefully maintained flowering vines. Minstrels in bright outfits strolled among the crowd, singing favorite tunes or reciting famous poems on request to keep folks entertained. Dozens of servants in plain unassuming attire carried decorative plates filled with snacks, or trays with goblets of assorted drinks, served to the nobles by their waiting attendants.

Carriage after carriage rolled up to the wrought iron gates set within the large stone wall, and a herald would announce long strings of titles and names before allowing the nobles inside to play. Ladies in gorgeous flowing gowns, each of which cost at least as much as a town's entire annual budget, strolled with their attendants along flower-lined paths, exchanging pleasantries before regretfully moving on to greet the next guest. Gentlemen in splendid suits clustered around tables of cards, gossiping over drinks.

Teresa Rosethorne, watching from behind silk gossamer curtains of a large viewing pavilion, clenched and unclenched her hands each time she saw the herald open his mouth. Dread was a heavy stone in the pit of her belly, weighing her body down and making everything seem to move so much slower.

A new dress and a fancy party where everyone would fawn over her was usually a reason to be excited. But today, Teresa couldn't even bring herself to smile. The cold stares Teresa kept receiving from her mother as they awaited one guest in particular was making her skin crawl.

Draped on a cushioned bench beside her anxious daughter, Marilyn Rosethorne swirled a dark red wine within an exquisitely engraved silver goblet. The Rosethornes considered it a great shame to have a daughter standing at their mother's side. It meant she wasn't independently mingling with guests, and couldn't be trusted to remain unsupervised without embarrassing the family.

Teresa glanced over in the direction of another pavilion, where her older sister Alba was enjoying tea with the daughters of other Houses. Alba, a beautiful debutante who strongly resembled her mother in looks, caught her younger sister's eye and gave a soft smirk. She leaned forward to whisper something to her companions, who all glanced over at Teresa before covering their mouths with their hands to barely hide tittering laughter.

Gritting her teeth, Teresa forced herself to look away.

The sun had set. Hundreds of small glowing orb lights burst to life throughout the garden, clinging to tree branches, decorative ribbons, fountain statues and pavilions to provide illumination both beautiful and functional. Several people clapped in appreciation at the sight of it, murmuring compliments as they walked up to greet Marilyn and her disgraced daughter.

Despite the Walled Garden spanning an enormous plot of land, the party itself was centralized around the wrought iron gate. The main entertainment pavilions were all within view of the gate, clearly signifying Marilyn's wish for everyone to remain in one specific area.

Within earshot of the herald.

"...Lady Li Mei of the Yueluo Clan!"

Teresa perked up as she heard the one name she was waiting for. It cut through the countless conversations like a knife, causing silence to briefly descend over the party.

"It's true then," someone whispered before their companion hurriedly hushed them.

The secretive Clans of the Mu Republic sent their heirs out to travel the world and gain experience. If the heir died in the wilds, they were unworthy. The Clan elders themselves rarely interacted with outside countries on an official basis, leaving such connections for their heirs to forge.

It was, quite clearly, a test of leadership that granted the traveling heirs surprising status both within and without the Clan. Having one arrive in Brittalund, a golden opportunity for trade and alliance, only to be immediately offended by the daughter of a House...

Teresa felt countless gazes on her back, and fought the urge to shrink away. Instead, she tossed a resentful glare toward Alba, who maintained an oh-so-familiar condescending smirk.

The wrought iron gates opened, and a small figure stepped through.

Brittalund evening gowns tended to follow a specific pattern of design, especially in the spring. Long embroidered skirts, corsets, and tight bodices, all worn over layers of petticoats and cage crinolines, with lace undersleeves covering the lower arms. Low necklines accented bared shoulders, ornate hairstyles emphasizing the graceful curve of a woman's neck.

Lady Li Mei's dress was something very different. Slender and tight-fitting, a simple and almost scandalous design using no petticoats or even a corset. Next to Brittalund's famous voluminous silhouette, her outfit was slim and unremarkable at first glance.

But only at first glance.

Lady Li Mei wore a black lace shoulder shrug that shimmered like a raven's wing under the lights, creating beautiful moon and star patterns against her tanned skin, complimenting the black band around her neck. She didn't apply makeup beyond a dusting of sparkling powder on her cheeks, as appropriate for a young lady not yet of age to present as a debutante.

The bodice of her dress was black fading into a lovely dark blue at the bottom of the long skirt, sparkling silver gems making the entire cloth seem as though it was cut from the night sky itself. An iridescent gossamer veil matching her in height and tripling her in width descended from silver clasps on her back, floating and undulating around her body with each movement.

Most shockingly, her carmine hair was pinned in a half-up style using strange black wooden sticks that stuck out away from her head, each capped by a silver crescent moon, supporting delicate chains of silver beads and gemstones by the dozen, countless falling stars sparkling like her bodice. The twin moon of the Yueluo Clan was placed boldly, proudly, upon a silver sash at her waistline.

Lady Li Mei glanced around at the crowd of people, staring with different expressions at her hair, her face, her dress. Then she lifted a folding fan, one made of the same material as her veil, and flicked it open to obscure her playful smile. Her back was straight, posture prim and perfect, elegance and confidence in every step. Chin tilted upwards, so despite her minuscule height she gave the impression of looking down on everyone who met her gaze.

In a garden of flowers, surrounded by impressive flouncy dresses and kilometers worth of lace ribbons, Li Mei's outfit was a stark rejection of their traditions.

Teresa herself was so busy staring at the strange, beautiful dress that she almost missed her mother's hissed whisper.

"An annoying brat, indeed."