[Location]: District 1 · White City · An uninhabited back alley in the Commercial District
The wind screamed in her ears. Gravity felt like a giant, invisible hand, clamping down on Hathaway's ankles and dragging her straight to hell.
The dumpsters and stray cats on the ground were hurtling towards her face at terrifying speed.
"AAAAAH I'M GOING TO DIEEE!!"
Hathaway's mind went blank. Even though she knew her stats were off the charts, the moment that weightlessness hit, the primal fear of falling—etched deep into the DNA of every "Earth Primate"—took over. At this height, the laws of physics weren't just rules; they were a death sentence.
But while her Earth brain was screaming in terror, the body belonging to "Ludwig" moved on its own.
No thinking required. No chanting. Not even a spell model construction.
It was a cold, biological override.
Just as a hand jerks back from a hot stove, when the Witch's semicircular canals detected fatal gravitational acceleration, her spinal cord instantly hijacked her panic-stricken brain.
[System Override: Spinal Defense Mechanism v1.0]
[Falling vector detected... Denied.]
She didn't know how to summon gentle wind elements, nor did she understand the formulas of fluid dynamics.
Driven by a survival instinct that didn't belong to her soul, she subconsciously mobilized the massive reservoir of mana inside her and blasted a chaotic, structureless lump of energy at the empty air beneath her feet.
I am NOT going down! STOP!
BOOM!!
It wasn't a graceful float.
About one meter above the ground, Hathaway slammed into an invisible rubber wall as if she were sprinting a hundred meters directly into it.
A muffled sonic boom detonated in the alley.
The air, instantly compressed to the extreme by her domineering mana, kicked up a visible shockwave of dust, flipping the nearby dumpsters like toys.
Then.
Thud.
Hathaway fell from that one-meter high "air wall," her feet smashing heavily onto the bluestone pavement. The fragile tiles instantly spiderwebbed with cracks, sending gravel flying.
[Landing Successful.]
(Though her knees were numb, the pavement was destroyed, and the noise level was equivalent to a demolition crew.)
Hathaway froze in a stiff half-squat, her heart battering against her ribcage. She stared at the pulverized ground beneath her feet, then looked up at the terrifyingly high window above.
"I..."
Hathaway’s voice trembled, but it was laced with uncontrollable ecstasy—a shock far more intense than when she had exploded the vase.
"I hit the brakes!!!"
She jumped up abruptly, spinning in a circle with excitement: "Did you guys see that?! That wasn't just glowing—I fought gravity! I just kicked the lid off Newton's coffin! I just grabbed Universal Gravitation by the neck and curbstomped it!!"
For a soul from Earth, this was the true essence of magic. Not throwing fireballs, not parlor tricks, but defying gravity. This was the ultimate dream of humanity every time they looked up at the sky; the physical freedom the Wright brothers dreamed of experiencing!
"I am Superman! I am Peter Pan! I am..."
However.
The air was a little too quiet.
Hathaway gradually calmed down and turned her head.
Rhode and Lin were standing two meters away. They had landed ages ago—not only had they landed, they had already straightened their clothes. Rhode had even miraculously produced a fresh lollipop from somewhere and unwrapped it.
At this moment, the two top-tier Witches were looking at her with an extremely complex expression.
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It was a look that, even if you searched every dictionary in the universe, could only be summarized as: "The tender pity one feels for a particularly slow child."
"..."
Lin didn't even hold her staff properly anymore. She crossed her arms, tilted her head slightly, and asked Rhode with the tone of someone inquiring about a terminal illness:
"...Rhode, tell me the truth. Did Hathaway... get her head caught in a door when she was little?"
"No, she didn't." Rhode adjusted her sunglasses, a deep sense of worry visible through the red lenses. "I mean, she used to be a bit of a waste, but I remember she could use [Levitate] to reach the cookie jar when she was three. Why is her survival skill so... scuffed?"
"You call that a survival skill?" Lin glanced with disdain at the crater beneath Hathaway's feet, then at the dumpster overturned by the shockwave. "To stop a bicycle, she blew up the road. That wasn't [Feather Fall]; that was clearly [Meteor Swarm (Braking Variant)]."
Lin sighed.
She walked forward, extended a gloved hand, and gently—even affectionately—patted Hathaway's forehead.
"You poor child."
The woman known as the "G.O.A.T. of Dueling" displayed a touching amount of tenderness (even if her words were poisonous):
"It seems Adeline's killing intent scared you silly. To be proud of such an aesthetically bankrupt operation fueled purely by brute force... This is like an adult suddenly shouting in the street, 'Sweet Mother of Mana, I can walk! I can actually use two legs to move alternately without falling! I am Supreme!'"
"..."
Hathaway’s jaw dropped, her excitement instantly extinguished by a bucket of ice water.
Walking.
Right. In the common sense of a Witch, overcoming gravity was just like walking—a physiological instinct. Only Earthlings would tear up with joy over getting a passing grade (learning to walk).
"Alright, alright, don't kill the kid's motivation."
Rhode walked over and patted Hathaway on the back like she was patting a dog (with enough force to almost knock Hathaway back into the crater).
"Look on the bright side. At least in that moment, your survival instinct was very strong. The mana spike you just panic-flared was enough to shatter a low-level gargoyle." Rhode grinned, flashing her white teeth. "Although the execution was ugly and devoid of technique, 'Brute Force Miracles' is a style of its own. As a rookie, this spirit of 'I might not know how to fly, but I refuse to die' is worthy of praise."
"...Brute Force Miracles." Hathaway's mouth twitched.
On Earth, they call it a "Miracle," she thought bitterly. Here, they call it "Uncultured Nouveau Riche." Cultural gap. It's a killer.
"Enough. Let's stop embarrassing ourselves here. Even though there's no one in this alley, if a stray cat sees this and word gets out, we'll be the laughing stock of the year."
Lin glanced disgustedly at the filthy surroundings (mostly worried about dirtying her combat boots) and waved her staff (which she held like a conductor's baton).
"Let's go. Jumping out of that window burned about... 0.5 calories. I'm hungry," Lin announced righteously. "Since we dodged Adeline's poisoned wine, we need to eat something good to calm our nerves."
Rhode responded immediately: "Agreed. Hathaway only inhaled three plates of beef earlier; she must be starving too. Where to?"
"Hotpot."
Lin snapped her fingers, her gaze sharpening. "I heard a new place opened in the East District called 'Abyssal Magma Hotpot'. Only those with the hardest lives can handle the spiciest pots. I want to see if I can eat the owner into bankruptcy."
Hathaway looked at the two Witches who were jumping out of a building one second and discussing hotpot the next, and sighed helplessly.
She looked down at her toes, then at the pit she had stomped into the ground. Even though she was despised, and even though the operation was ugly, the feeling of controlling that power was real.
As long as you have enough mana, even air can become a cushion.
She clenched her fist, the corner of her mouth curling into an imperceptible smile.
Just you wait, you bunch of elitist monsters. Once I figure out how to use this body properly, I'm going to fly into the stratosphere and scare you to death.
"Wait for me!" Hathaway chased after the two long-legged figures, her energy fully restored. "I want to eat too! I want the extra spicy!"
Walking out of the dusty back alley, Hathaway finally saw the true face of the "East District."
Or rather, she saw the terrifying grandeur of Milan'thir.
There was no smog, no neon signs. There was only White.
A blinding, "Absolute White" that made Hathaway squint. The entire city seemed to be built from bleached dragon bones and white marble, reflecting the sunlight with an intensity that bordered on arrogance.
It was a world divided by altitude.
On the ground, ordinary humans (Mortals) moved like orderly ants. They rode bicycles or sat in silent, magi-tech buses, moving strictly along designated lanes, living their lives in the shadow of the colossi above.
But in the sky... that was the domain of the Witches.
Hathaway looked up, her mouth falling open.
Countless floating islands defied gravity, suspended in the azure sky like white stepping stones leading to heaven.
The most striking one was directly ahead—a massive, semi-circular Commercial Ring.
It was an engineering impossibility. The left side of the ring was normal, with shops and cafes sitting atop the floating rock. But as the ring curved to the right, the gravity inverted.
The buildings on the right side were built underneath the island. Hathaway watched with dizzying vertigo as Witches flew their brooms upside down, landing on the "ceiling" to enter inverted boutiques, their skirts defying physics to stay perfectly draped.
This is the arrogance of the First District, Hathaway realized. They don't just use magic; they humiliate physics.
"Hey! Taxi!"
Rhode, obviously not intending to walk another step in her flip-flops, raised her hand and snapped her fingers towards the sky.
A yellow, unmanned [Griffon-Cab] (a smaller, public transport version of the beast) instantly swooped down from a nearby rest-stop island, screeching to a halt in front of them.
"To the Abyss Magma Hotpot. Meter running."
Rhode shoved Hathaway into the backseat. "Get in. If we're late, the line will be longer than Lin's list of failed exams."
"I heard that!" Lin, who was climbing in from the other side, dangerously narrowed her blue-grey eyes. She poked Rhode hard in the ribs with her legendary staff. "And for the record, it's not a 'list'. It's a 'portfolio of academic exploration'."
"Keep telling yourself that," Rhode cackled, dodging the staff and squeezing into the middle seat between Hathaway and Lin.
"Just drive!" Lin slammed the door and snapped at the confused magic-construct pilot. "If I don't see a chili pepper in five minutes, I'm eating the upholstery."
The Griffon screeched, spreading its wings and launching them into the dazzling, chaotic sky of District 1.
Hathaway pressed her face against the glass, watching the inverted city blur past.
She survived the fall. She survived the idol.
Now, she just had to survive lunch.