[Time]: 10:00 AM

  [Location]: Lab 606

  The Leviathan groaned. The thousands of pulsating cables attached to the central chamber hissed as they depressurized.

  Hiss—

  The brass iris of the central chamber spiraled open.

  Gallons of translucent, mana-rich amniotic fluid poured out onto the floor, steaming slightly as it hit the cold metal.

  "She's waking up," Victoria whispered, straightening her spine instantly. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, adjusted her collar, and stood at attention like a soldier awaiting inspection.

  From the wet, dark opening of the machine, a hand emerged.

  Pale. Thin. Soaking wet.

  Nino Lucent crawled out of the artificial womb. Her long grey hair was plastered to her face, dripping fluid. She looked less like a distinguished Professor and more like a drowned ghost dragging itself out of a well.

  She slid down the ramp, her bare feet splashing into the puddle of amniotic fluid with a wet plap.

  Any normal human would be shivering from the thermal shock. They would be gasping for air. But Nino stood with the unnatural stillness of a statue.

  Her chest barely moved. Her eyes were already wide open—grey, unfocused, staring at a reality only she could see. She walked forward, dragging a trail of water behind her.

  Victoria stepped into her path, clipboard raised. "Professor, the critical failure has been averted. I have stabilized the pressure and purged the system errors. The logs are—"

  Nino didn't break stride. She walked past Victoria as if the assistant were a piece of furniture, her attention entirely focused on the empty air.

  She stopped in the center of the lab.

  She inhaled deeply, tasting the atmosphere.

  Ozone. Fluid. And... The sharp, metallic tang of sterilized mana.

  "It's too clean," Nino whispered.

  She turned her head slowly, her dead-fish eyes locking onto the [Disposal Node] on the wall. The metal rim was still glowing with residual heat.

  Above it, the holographic log read: [Content: Industrial Slag].

  "Wellington," Nino said, her voice hoarse but terrifyingly clear. "You logged the waste output as 'Slag'."

  Victoria stiffened. "Yes, Professor. Just chaotic residue."

  "Physics 101," Nino murmured, already walking towards the incinerator before Hathaway could formulate a defense. She ran a wet finger along the cooling metal rim and held it up — not examining it, but displaying it, the way a prosecutor presents Exhibit A.

  Clean. No soot. No carbon.

  "Industrial Slag is carbon-based. It burns dirty. It leaves an orange residue." Nino turned around, her grey eyes boring into Hathaway. "But this incinerator... it smells of Ozone. It burned with a Blue Flash, didn't it?"

  Hathaway froze. The air in her lungs turned to ice.

  "Blue flame indicates the combustion of High-Purity Mana Crystals," Nino lectured, her tone flat and bored. "You didn't throw away garbage, Ludwig. You threw away a Diamond Husk."

  Nino stepped closer, the suffocating smell of the artificial womb washing over Hathaway.

  "And according to the Law of Conservation... If you burned the Husk, you must have extracted the Concept."

  Nino pointed a dripping finger at Hathaway's chest pocket.

  "Matter cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be stolen. Hand it over."

  Hathaway swallowed hard.

  There was no point in lying. You can fool a camera, but you can't fool the Law of Equivalent Exchange. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Crimson Memory Crystal.

  Nino snatched it. She held it up to the fluorescent light. The red light reflected in her dull grey eyes.

  "A stabilized Heartbeat Algorithm."

  She tossed it back to Hathaway. Hathaway fumbled to catch it, stunned.

  "Professor?"

  "I don't care if you act as a courier for Ghost Castle," Nino said, walking past her to the towel rack, leaving a trail of water behind her. "I don't care if you sell my byproducts to that Ghost."

  Victoria stepped forward. She didn't offer an excuse. She offered a Question.

  "Professor, the request is illogical. A Ghost is a Predator. This engine mimics Prey." Victoria frowned, her scientific curiosity overriding her fear of the tyrant. "Why would she request a device that causes her pain? Is she a Masochist? Or is she trying to Devolve?"

  "She is not a Masochist, Wellington." Nino cut her off, wiping the red dust from her fingers with a look of utter boredom. "She is... On a Diet."

  "A diet?" Victoria blinked, the word foreign to the context of high magic.

  "Spectra is a Vegetarian Vampire," Nino sneered, saying the words like a bad joke. "She refuses to feed on souls. She finds her own nature 'immoral.' She suppresses her hunger until she is practically starving."

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  Nino walked closer, the smell of ozone and amniotic fluid filling the air.

  "But you cannot starve instinct. You can only displace it. She craves the 'Warmth' of a fresh soul, but she refuses to hunt. So she tries to manufacture a substitute. A fake warmth. A synthetic heartbeat."

  Nino pointed a wet finger at the pulsing Crimson Crystal in Hathaway's hand, her lip curling.

  "She is like a smoker trying to quit by chewing on a plastic straw. That thing is just a Pacifier. It is Pathetic," Nino sneered. "She denies what she is. She wants to wear the symptoms of Life to hide the predator underneath."

  Hathaway felt a chill.

  A Vegetarian Vampire.

  A predator starving herself out of morality.

  That explained the desperation. It wasn't just a wish; it was a coping mechanism for an eternal hunger.

  "That won't do," Nino whispered. "You are already smuggling my goods. You will deliver the Finished Product."

  "Don't give her a prototype. If she uses this raw crystal, the heat will just irritate her hunger without satisfying it."

  Nino’s eyes narrowed, a sharp, calculating glint appearing in them.

  "Give her the Masterpiece. A heart that beats with a perfect, soothing rhythm. Make it so comfortable... that she forgets she is hungry. Make it so perfect... that she has no choice but to accept the Price."

  Hathaway blinked, confused. "The... Price?"

  Nino didn't answer. She simply turned her back, walking to the towel rack to dry her hair, as if the question was too stupid to deserve a response.

  "Just do it," Nino said indifferently, her voice muffled by the towel. "She wants a pacifier? I will enable her delusion. When she accepts this cure... the Account will be settled."

  Hathaway stood there, silence screaming in her ears.

  Nino is weaponizing Spectra's hunger.

  She is giving a starving man a banquet, knowing that once he eats, the debt is paid.

  "But Professor," Hathaway asked, realizing she had no choice but to obey. "I don't know how to build a compatibility layer. And I certainly don't have the formula for 'Void Bridging'. Where... where do I find that?"

  Nino stared at her over her shoulder, an eyebrow raised in mock surprise.

  "Are you stupid? Or do you just enjoy wasting the resources my sister gave you?"

  Hathaway blinked. "Your sister?"

  Nino pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a long, exhausted sigh like a scholar forced to endure a toddler's tantrum.

  "Heidi is a walking noise hazard," Nino stated flatly, walking back to her desk and collapsing into her chair. "She insists on narrating her utterly mundane existence to me every time we share a meal. And unfortunately, due to Witch biology, our brains are organic hard drives. I cannot format the garbage data she dumps into my auditory processing centers. It simply auto-saves."

  She picked up a quill, spinning it lazily.

  "32 days ago. Dinner. 7:15 PM. Exactly four seconds after the Wild Mushroom Soup was served."

  "She laughed and said she gave a Sector Zero Reading List to a 'cute silver-haired newbie' just to disgust Lin Zhaojun."

  Nino pointed a wet finger at Hathaway's chest pocket.

  "You have that Napkin on you, don't you? The one stained with Dragon Steak grease."

  Hathaway instinctively touched her inner pocket.

  She looked at Nino's indifferent, "It's-just-biology" face.

  And then, a massive, silent scream echoed in her heart.

  ...Wait a minute.

  Sure, Witches have eidetic memory.

  We remember spell structures and complex formulas.

  But who wastes storage space on the exact serving time of a Mushroom Soup?!

  That's not "Garbage Data"!

  That is an archived, high-fidelity, 4K resolution memory titled "My Sister's Cute Moments"!

  Hathaway swallowed hard, staring at the terrifying "Academic Tyrant" in front of her.

  This woman... isn't just a genius.

  She is a terminal Siscon who archives her sister's burps as sacred scripture.

  Nino didn't notice the storm raging in Hathaway's mind. To her, recalling this information was as mundane as breathing. She simply assumed the freshman was stunned by her superior intellect.

  "That isn't just a reading list, idiot. That is a Sector Zero Access Pass."

  Nino picked up a towel and started drying her hair, her tone casual but heavy.

  "Heidi's handwriting carries her mana signature. The Great Library's automated system will recognize it. Go to the Library."

  Nino waved her hand dismissively.

  "Find the fourth book on that list: [Deadlock Analysis in Chaos Theory regarding Wish Spell Paradoxes]. My sister couldn't resist vandalizing my work with her 'corrections'. She solved the Void Bridging Paradox on page 42 just to mock me. Use that."

  "Now get out. You smell like fear and cheap soap. Come back when you have the book."

  [Time]: 10:15 AM

  [Location]: Outside Lab 606

  The heavy brass door clicked shut, sealing the cool air and the scent of fluorescent potions inside Lab 606.

  Hathaway leaned against the corridor wall, slowly sliding down until she was crouching on the floor.

  She wasn't shaking from fear.

  She was shaking from a profound sense of Absurdity.

  "She... she really remembers the soup," Hathaway whispered, burying her face in her hands. "I thought I was recruited by a ruthless academic tyrant. Turns out I was recruited by a high-functioning stalker."

  She looked up at the ceiling, her eyes dead.

  "My safety doesn't depend on my grades. It depends entirely on Heidi Lucent's aesthetic whims."

  "I only got this VIP pass because my eyes don't glow like a 150-lumen tactical flashlight. But if she wakes up tomorrow and decides she suddenly misses the glare? I'm dead."

  "Who cares about the motive?"

  Victoria stood beside her. She wasn't questioning the absurdity.

  She was adjusting her gloves with a terrifyingly sharp Snap.

  To Victoria, it didn't matter if Nino was a Siscon or a madwoman. All that mattered was the Access.

  "The Professor just gave us a direct order. And she gave us Sector Zero clearance." Victoria turned to Hathaway, her blue eyes burning with a fanatical, almost religious light. "Do you realize what this means, Ludwig?"

  Hathaway looked at her roommate's feverish expression and let out a long, tired groan.

  "It means I have to go to the library and read a book I definitely won't understand, while you achieve spiritual enlightenment?"

  "It means Validation!" Victoria grabbed Hathaway's arm and hauled her up from the floor.

  "Ever since you showed me that napkin in the dorms, I have been waiting. I knew you had the key to the Forbidden Stack, but I couldn't use it without a valid academic reason. It would be... improper."

  Victoria smoothed her skirt, her expression shifting from "Student" to "Predator."

  "But now, Nino Lucent has authorized it. It is no longer 'sneaking in.' It is a Mission."

  "We are going. Now." Victoria started marching. Hathaway's feet moved before her brain did.

  "Can't we go tomorrow?" Hathaway tried to resist. "I'm exhausted. I just fought a fire claw!"

  "Don't be lazy. Nino gave us the day off specifically for this."

  Victoria didn't slow down.

  "That napkin grants access to the Author's Annotated Editions. That means Heidi Lucent's original handwritten margin notes. I have been dying to see her corrections on the 'Chaos Theory' paradoxes since you waved that napkin in my face a month ago."

  "You just want to read the margin notes," Hathaway sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat.

  "I would commit minor war crimes for those margin notes," Victoria admitted without a hint of shame. A manic smile touched her lips. "You are a barbarian. You will just look at the pictures. I will be there to translate the syntax."

  Victoria opened the door to the outside walkway. The wind of the high altitude whipped their hair.

  Far ahead, the The Great Library of Yggdrasil pierced the clouds like a spear of ivory and gold.

  "Stop complaining, Roommate," Victoria said, her voice filled with genuine, terrifying joy. "We finally have a date with Forbidden Knowledge."

  She grabbed Hathaway's wrist and dragged her... away from the Library.

  "Wait," Hathaway planted her heels, skidding on the stone pavement. "The Library is North. You are walking South. Are the stress hallucinations kicking in already? Sector Zero is that big white spire, not the greasy alleyway."

  "I know where the Library is," Victoria said, not slowing down. "But we can't go in empty-handed."

  "Heidi's Napkin is the Key. But to climb the tower, we need a Guide. And the Guides in this Academy do not accept gold, mana, or flattery. They only accept one thing."

  Hathaway blinked. "Sacrifice? Blood?"

  "Worse," Victoria said grimly. "Calories."