Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

At night, Efnie sat in the quiet practice room, kneeling on the floor with a faintly glowing magic circle beneath her, its patterns clear and filled with numerous mysterious symbols. If one looked closely, they could discern that the patterns on the circle faintly resembled the outlines of four different creatures.

The "Wildfire Four Beasts Array" [Radiant Gold Level], belonging to the special array of the "Red Robe Death God Sect," was imprinted with four different mythical beasts: the 'Three-Headed Serpent,' 'Maimed Hyena,' 'Red Newt,' and 'Scorching Scorpion.' With this array, one could amplify their control over flame-related abilities, and constructing such an array required four kinds of secret potions and incense to awaken the spirits.

Although a completed array could be used repeatedly, that special incense was also quite expensive. The incense sold to the public by the 'Red Robe Death God Faction' cost at least tens of thousands of Federation Coins for even the cheapest can, making it a high-priced training aid.

However, there were advantages too. With the aid of such a ritual magic circle, a transcendent being at its center could boost their control over flame by 30-50%. (This presupposed that the transcendent didn't exceed Sequence 5—above that, the array's amplification effect was quite poor.)

After the incense slowly rose in wisps, Efnie opened her eyes, and an orange-red flame rose from her palm, then floated before her eyes.

This small orange-red flame was not large, but the magic power it contained was extraordinarily potent—it had been refined and condensed with 'flame'-related concepts. Just a small cluster of flame was enough to dry up all the water in the room.

Under Efnie's manipulation, the small flame began to twist and change, with fine strands of pale gold magic power condensation forming within it. These magic filaments slowly outlined and gradually formed the special branding patterns needed for advancement.

At first, everything seemed to go smoothly, but as the patterns became increasingly intricate and required more and more interlocking, beads of sweat started to form on Efnie's forehead.

In theory, since she possessed the "Circulating Back Flame," rated as [Perfect Level] talent, advancing her control over flame-related concepts should have been particularly easy. But being someone who set very high standards for herself, she didn't wish to advance through the easier transcendent professions with lower ratings.

She deemed only those rated as [Perfect Radiant Gold Level] transcendent professions worthy of her attempt, but in fact, what she aspired to advance to was the [Legendary Radiant Gold Level]. Having access to more information than most people, she knew that to go further in the future, she needed her low-rank profession model to be perfected to the best possible degree.

It was due to this stubbornness and pride that she refused to settle for ordinary transcendent professions, which kept her stuck at Sequence 3.

Just as the branding pattern within the flame was about to take shape, Efnie's mood lightened considerably. But as she prepared to continue and finish up the last part, a wave of weakness suddenly washed over her body from every direction. Her concentrated will dissipated, and the unrestrained flame began to waver, its delicate internal structure now in disarray and clashing with itself. Efnie hastily tossed away the flame which was about to go out of control, and it detonated afar.

The fiery explosion spread in a blast of heat, forcing her to shield her face with her arms. As the light from the flames faded, Efnie lay on the ground, soaked in sweat.

Another failure...

Lying on the ground, Efnie stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling a hollow emptiness inside her, a sinking sense of loss.

Was she not a genius after all?

Was she just a little luckier than others, not particularly intelligent, unable to compare to those true geniuses?

She couldn't help but begin to doubt these thoughts, a strange pain gnawing at hidden corners of her heart like a venomous snake, causing intermittent agony. Discover stories at empire

Suddenly, for some reason, she felt the urge to blink, holding back the warm liquid that threatened to spill from her eyes.

Gradually pushing herself up off the floor, her normally splendid golden hair now hung like dull, old fabric against her cheeks, adding to her disheveled appearance.

With both hands propped on the ground, she blankly stared at the deep gray floor, large droplets of moisture falling between her hands onto the ground, some falling on the back of her hands before sliding away.

This was not the first time; if it had only happened once or twice, she could have consoled herself that it was due to inadequate preparation or bad luck, but this was already the fourth time.

It's so sad, why is it like this...

She had completely lost confidence in advancing to the next Transcendent Profession, she didn't want to try anymore, didn't want to experience that pain again.

Otherwise, she could choose an easier Transcendent Profession to advance to; not needing a Perfect Radiant Gold Level, even a Rare Radiant Gold Level would do. Even if people laughed at her, it would be better than being stuck at this stage.

But, but...

Advancement was not just for this one time, at Sequence 4 she had already chosen the less difficult Rare Radiant Gold Level, wouldn't Sequence 5 inevitably lead to choosing an even lower difficulty Superior Condensing Bead Rank, and then Sequence 6 would just be an Excellent Colored Crystal Rank, and perhaps by Sequence 7, it would be hard to even touch the standard Angel Envoy Rank, she felt lost again when she thought about these.

For ordinary people, being at Sequence 6 was already extremely rare in society, the ceiling that mortals could reach. As for Transcendents of Sequence 7, many people might never see one in their entire life, only in various videos and images.

If she was just an ordinary person, she would be very happy and content to think she could reach the level of Sequence 6 in the future.

But she wasn't, not just because her father was a high-ranking official in the Star Domain government, having seen the elite of society's upper echelons, but also because she had been identified as having Perfect Level Talent, receiving much care from many people. She had even met two masters from the Transcendent Factions when she was quite young.

One of them was the 'Red Robe Death God Sect's Matriarch 'Zancafoni,' a Sequence 7 master who had specially visited the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain two years ago to see her. She had told her that after she graduated from high school and advanced to Sequence 5, she would personally take her as a disciple, becoming a core member of the 'Red Robe Death God Faction.'

Such honor was extremely rare, for members of most Factions, from applying, to being scrutinized, contributing, executing tasks and so on, even if they performed excellently, it often took over a decade to be accepted as a core member.

She feared that she would let down those great figures' kindness, she silently thought to herself, just like that, until the moisture on the ground gradually dried, before she lifted her head.

Standing up again, she walked to a corner of the practice room, swiped her card to let the Autonomous Unit clean up the traces of the Flame scorched marks and the floor, then walked over to the other side to the shower room. She took off her sweat-soaked clothes, and took a shower.

A few minutes later, she stepped out of the bathroom, putting on the clean and dried clothes that were already waiting, and then walked out of the room.

She passed through the corridor, entered the elevator, and quickly arrived at the ground floor of the Academy. It was already 10 p.m., the campus was quiet and cold, with only the chirping of summer insects and street lights still adorning the night.

It's time to go back, maybe it's time for me to face reality.

Efnie, you're not as talented as you imagine, after all, you're just a vase that's had a bit more luck.