Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 73

Today was the day the Magic Academy was on break. Lu Mingqiu majored in Summoning, and the Vice Principal who taught her class waved his wand before the end of class. A small bell flew out from the tip of the wand and rang twice.

“Students, after a year of study, I believe you have all mastered how to summon and how to communicate amicably with the summoned creatures. So, your assignment for this semester is to summon a companion creature. It doesn’t matter what species or attribute it is. You need to spend the vacation with it. When school starts next year, bring it back to school with you to participate in the Harmony Test.”

“Some of you might ask, what if the summoned creature dies, disappears, or doesn’t get along with you? You can also dismiss the summon and summon another one. But remember, you only have one vacation to do this. If you can’t pass the Harmony Test next semester…”

The Vice Principal, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, narrowed his eyes, “Then I can only give you a failing grade.”

After school, the Vice Principal left the classroom. Suddenly, it was like cold water being poured into hot oil, and the classroom became noisy. The students chatted about the types of summoned creatures they wanted, excitedly imagining.

Lu Mingqiu put her textbook into her backpack, but she didn’t look as happy as the others. Her deskmate saw this and also restrained her smile, she leaned over and whispered, “Why don’t you come stay at my house for the vacation?”

“Thank you,” Lu Mingqiu’s eyes were grateful, but she still shook her head, “If I don’t go home, my father and mother will be angry.”

“It’s okay, see you next semester.”

Her deskmate could only wave her hand and watch her leave the classroom with her backpack.

Students from different majors and grades all ran out of the school, happily heading towards the school gate. Some got on carriages, some got on buses, some rode bicycles, some rode horses, some rode magical beasts, they were all showing off their skills.

Lu Mingqiu’s home was far away, but she didn’t have a magical beast to ride, nor did she have the money to take the bus. But she had her own way.

She took off her glasses and took out her wand. She chanted a spell at it.

The brown wand, the length of her arm, went poof and turned into a wide, large broom. Lu Mingqiu sat on the head of the broom and whoosh, she flew up into the high sky.

The wind blowing in her face blew off the hood on her head, revealing a head of thick, curly red hair. It was so red, like azaleas, like camellias, like the first rays of sunset.

Even a strict teacher like the Vice Principal couldn’t help but admire—red hair was a symbol of a magician with extraordinary talent.

And she was indeed like that. Her grades in her major were far ahead of the rest, she was way ahead of countless students from wealthy families. Because of this, she was ostracized a little.

Above her head was a clear blue sky, beneath her feet were rolling green forests. Black-backed white-bellied birds with long feathers boldly landed in front of the broom and hitched a ride for a while.

Lu Mingqiu lay back, her hands resting under her head, watching the clouds in the sky gather and disperse.

Until after half a day, she got hungry. The broom swooped down and stopped by a green lake.

The girl jumped off the broom. It turned back into a short wand, which she held in her hand. In the next instant, the wand turned into a fishing net. She threw it out with force, then pulled it back. Several live, jumping fish were caught in the net and brought up with it.

Lu Mingqiu only kept one, the rest she threw back into the lake.

After a delicious meal of grilled fish, she continued on her way.

When she was hungry, she would catch some wild game. When she was tired, she would take out her tent and sleep. When she got home, it was two days later.

Her home was in a mountain valley, there was a small river, and next to the river was a small village.

Lu Mingqiu flew over from the sky and landed in a courtyard with a three-story house. An old man who looked like a butler was sweeping up the fallen leaves, “Miss, welcome home.”

“Butler Grandpa, is Father home?” She put away her wand, tidied her messy hair, smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt, and turned back into a clean, well-mannered girl.

“Master is in his study,” the butler said.

Lu Mingqiu nodded, she put her luggage in her bedroom first, then went to the study on the second floor.

Her father was stern and unsmiling, he sat in a large armchair, his feet resting on a faded dark red carpet, “Show me your report card.”

Lu Mingqiu handed him the report card, which was full of A’s. Her father looked at it for a while, then he hummed, “Study hard. The revival of the family rests on your shoulders. Don’t disappoint my expectations all these years.”

She replied, “Yes,” and left the study.

Her mother wasn’t home, she must have gone shopping for groceries.

She walked down the corridor, she saw that several pieces of paint had chipped off the stairs, so she took out her wand and repaired them. She saw that the wall was peeling, so she repaired that too, making the dilapidated old house look a little better.

After finishing all that, it was time to do her homework. Lu Mingqiu went to the basement, which had been converted into a small room for her to practice magic. Her father, the head of the family, valued her studies very much, he ordered that no one was allowed to disturb her practice.

Sometimes, when she wanted to be alone, she would also come here.

What should she summon? In terms of destructive power, demons were the best, but she was just an apprentice. Demons were inherently cunning, even with a binding contract, they could easily backfire.

Or an elf? Water elves were gentle and the easiest to summon. Herbivorous magical beasts were also a good choice. But she seemed to have choices, but in reality, she didn’t.

She had to get first place in her class, her father’s pressure, her mother’s expectations, the burden of the family were all on her shoulders. She had to get first place, otherwise, she would be a sinner of the family, an unfilial descendant.

So, she had to summon a demon, preferably a high-ranking one, so that she could surpass everyone else.

Demons…

Lu Mingqiu’s expression was serious, she meticulously drew the magic circle. A hexagram, a goat’s head, then she lit the candles.

After preparing, she took a deep breath, she cut her finger and let her blood drip into the center of the circle. Suddenly, the wind howled, the magic lamp flickered, as if she was having a vision of the scorching smell of sulfur and the cold, hard rock and scorched earth, the bloody sky and the distant howls.

Black flames roared straight up to the ceiling, quickly spreading across the ceiling. The grating whispers were like drills drilling into Lu Mingqiu’s ears, greed, lust, appetite, all kinds of desires flashed one after another. Just when she was about to collapse, the flames suddenly retracted, turning into a humanoid shadow.

The magic lamp stopped flickering, a figure with horns projected onto the wall.

“Human.” The demon opened its mouth, its deep orange-yellow eyes suddenly lit up.

A humanoid demon, with horizontal pupils and goat horns, a Great Demon, there was no doubt about it, this was at least a Great Demon.

How could she summon a Great Demon!

Lu Mingqiu forced herself to stay calm. No matter what it was, as long as it was summoned through the magic circle, they had signed a contract, they were bound by the rules, she absolutely couldn’t actively harm it.

Calm down, calm down.

The first thing was to offer the demon its favorite blood food. Lu Mingqiu’s expression suddenly froze, her gaze fell on a piece of raw beef shank on the table next to her.

Humanoid demons, do they eat raw meat?

The demon also looked over, “Oh, is this for me?”

She walked out of the magic circle on her own, Lu Mingqiu’s pupils constricted, her mind screamed loudly—How can it just walk out on its own!!!

As the shadow receded, the demon revealed its true form. Curved black goat horns coiled from the top of her head to the back of her head. Her hair was also as black as ink, and it was even burning with inextinguishable black flames. Her face was cold and white, her eyes were a clear yellow, she was wearing a long robe like raven feathers, and… a pair of goat hooves.

Wherever she walked, she left black, scorched hoof prints, and she also burned through the magic circle on the ground.

The demon picked up the fresh beef shank, sniffed it under her nose, then opened her mouth and took a bite, she seriously commented, “Half-year-old calf, very tender.”

Lu Mingqiu saw the shark-like teeth in her mouth, sharp and sharp, cutting through the bone like chewing on a biscuit. Soon, she ate the whole beef shank, leaving nothing behind.

—Hello, my name is Lu Mingqiu, I’m sixteen years old, I’m a magic apprentice. Today, I’m going to die from a summer assignment. Please put sunflowers on my grave, if I have a body left.

After eating the beef shank, the demon turned her gaze to her, her tone was flat, “Why aren’t you talking? Are you mute?”

Lu Mingqiu was silent for a moment, “Hello. I’m just surprised, with my level of magic, I shouldn’t be able to summon you.”

“Indeed, your magic is like a glass of water, weak, barren, tasteless.” The demon said calmly, “I just wanted to go for a walk in the human world, and it was convenient for me to come here.”

“What do you want to summon a demon for?” she asked.

Lu Mingqiu was silent again, she understood her unspoken meaning. She wanted to quickly fulfill the conditions of the contract, then she could fly freely in the human world.

Excellent.

The apprentice in her robe held her wand, she tried to keep her voice steady, “To complete my summer assignment, and to take the Harmony Test with my summoned creature at the start of the semester.”

Demon: “Harmony Test?”

Lu Mingqiu explained with a stiff voice, “School starts in September, there will be teachers who will assess the relationship between the students and their summoned creatures.”

Demon: “What month is it now?”

Lu Mingqiu: “…July.” In the unsettling silence, she silently added, “The third.”

The demon blinked slowly, “July.”

Nine minus seven equals two, simple arithmetic.

The demon’s expression was indifferent, her goat hooves made a crisp tap-tap sound as she walked. She gradually approached, she retracted the black flames around her body, she lowered her head and leaned close to Lu Mingqiu’s neck.

People who are too nervous might suddenly calm down. The girl’s mind even started to wander, she was thinking about whether her blood would splatter all over the place or be sucked dry, she was wondering if her flesh was tender too.

She hadn’t dared to look at the other person for too long, but now she was surprised to find that the demon’s eyelashes were a pure white. And her breath, it was like she had inhaled the air from a whole lava lake, it was scorching hot.

“Okay,” the demon said.

Lu Mingqiu hadn’t recovered, “What?”

“I’ll accompany you to take the Harmony Test.” The Great Demon with horns answered.

How strange.

Lu Mingqiu sat by the river, reciting the spells she would learn next semester, and she couldn’t help but glance at the demon who was also sitting on the stone, staring at the river.

When she took the demon upstairs, it was quite chaotic. Her mother screamed and knocked over the fruit basket, her father picked up a stool. It took her a lot of effort to explain before the two of them believed that the demon was summoned by her.

To be honest, even though it had been more than half a month, she still couldn’t believe it. She didn’t understand why the other party would agree.

Normally, before the summoner officially confirmed the binding contract, to prevent some summoned creatures from attacking, the magic circle should be a restraint. Without the summoner’s consent, the summoned creature shouldn’t be able to walk out of the magic circle. This was to make it easier for the summoner to send back summoned creatures that they didn’t agree with or didn’t like.

But she could move freely.

Lu Mingqiu really doubted whether the contract had any binding power over this demon.

Why did she agree to stay here?

The demon knew her doubts, but she had no intention of explaining.

She stared at the fish swimming in the river, she thought for a moment, she reached out and grabbed a butterfly that was flying around, she blew on it.

The power of the abyss turned the butterfly with white wings into a huge monster with sharp teeth and sharp legs.

That monster flapped its bone-spiked wings, plunged into the water, grabbed a live, jumping fish, and delivered it whole to its creator.

The demon pinched the fish’s tail, expressionlessly opened its mouth, revealing a set of sharp fangs, and bit it in half, slowly chewing it in its mouth.

Blood and fishy smell splattered everywhere. She frowned, clearly finding it not very tasty, and threw the remaining half of the fish back into the river.

Lu Mingqiu was dumbfounded.

For a moment, she didn’t know whether to ask about the butterfly monster or the tragically dead fish.

“Is…” she steadied herself, “This, your servant…”

“It’s not my servant.” The demon denied her words, “It’s just a low-level imp, not worthy of being my servant. You can use it for practice.”

“Okay,” Lu Mingqiu said.

The mutated butterfly landed quietly on the ground, not expressing any opinion about its impending slow demise.

“I don’t understand,” Lu Mingqiu said, as she experimented with the new magic she had learned, she couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you agree?”

Even without a summoning medium, the demon could have found a way to come to the human world. The doubts in her heart had been bothering her for too long, she couldn’t settle down without knowing the truth.

“Because my purpose in coming to the human world was to find you,” the demon said.

She stood up and walked towards Lu Mingqiu. As she passed the mutated butterfly, black flames suddenly ignited on its body, burning silently, burning it to ashes, leaving not even a soul behind.

The demon looked down at her, “An innocent person, the one who will kill me in the prophecy.”

The wind picked up, blowing Lu Mingqiu’s clothes, and carrying away the cold sweat that had broken out on her body.

“Are you going to kill me?” Her voice was hoarse.

The demon’s expression was indifferent, “The prophecy also said that you and I will be united.”

Lu Mingqiu: ?

From enemy to lover in an instant… was that too abrupt a shift?

“Humans all have a clever tongue, they are good at spitting out all sorts of cunning lies. I’m very curious…” The demon raised her finger and pressed it against her lips. Her fingertips were as black as ink, they held the hottest love poison. Just a light scratch, a wound that touched it, could make even the purest angel fall into a beast that only knew lust.

— “Whether you used this tongue to weave lies to deceive me, and made me walk the path of the prophecy.”

Lu Mingqiu didn’t dare to dodge, nor did she dare to move. She could only stand there, defending herself, “After all these days of getting to know you, you should be able to tell that I haven’t told you a single lie.”

Only a madman would lie in front of a demon who was skilled at manipulating people’s hearts.

“Then you’re using honesty to seduce me.” The demon said unreasonably, “You’re flaunting things that don’t exist in hell in front of me, it’s blatant seduction.”

Over the past few days, Lu Mingqiu and the demon had had some conversations. Unexpectedly, although the other party was taciturn, she could definitely be considered easy to talk to.

She had been secretly guessing in her heart, maybe this was the cultivation of a Great Demon. Compared to the lower-level demons who were indulged in their desires, the Great Demons were better at disguising themselves, and they were more like humans.

After hearing this speech today, she realized that making assumptions was truly a sin.

She could only say with difficulty, “You know I don’t have that thought.”

“Why not.” The demon approached her, the black feathers on the hem of her robe brushed against the back of her hand, it was surprisingly warm, “Why don’t you seduce me?”

“A position above all others, power within reach, mountains of gold, countless treasures. Humans all want these things, don’t you want them?”

The demon’s tone was flat, but it naturally had the power to tempt people. Lu Mingqiu’s eyes immediately filled with various images, all of them were the pleasures of the human world.

“I don’t want them.” Lu Mingqiu broke free from the illusion, her eyes were devoid of any infatuation, “I’m doing very well in my studies, I’m very talented, I’m going to be a top-notch magician. I can get these things on my own, I have my own plans for my life, I don’t need to rely on other means.”

The demon pondered, “The prophecy is right, you are indeed special.”

She lowered her eyes, “I should eat you.”

Lu Mingqiu’s face turned white, she immediately tried to escape, but her legs were fixed in place, she couldn’t take a step. She wanted to wave her wand, but her arm was like clay, she wanted to shout, but her head was stiff. Her whole body, from head to toe, was fixed in place, she could only watch helplessly as the demon lowered her head and got closer and closer.

Then, her lips felt a burning sensation.

A forked tongue, like a snake’s, pushed open her teeth and went straight in, slippery, hot, it went to a depth that was difficult for ordinary people to reach, then it licked back out.

Lu Mingqiu was terrified and frightened, she fell backwards with the force on her shoulders, but she didn’t feel the pain of landing, only endless falling.

The demon bit her lip in the weightless environment, she lingered over every drop of blood, “You’re delicious.”

Lu Mingqiu was absolutely certain that the “eat” in her mouth was the most literal and bloody kind.

She didn’t know how long it had been, but she finally landed, on a soft round bed.

The power of the abyss filled the air, and the never-ending smell of sulfur lingered in her nostrils.

This was hell.

The demon’s bedroom was extremely luxurious, it was terrifyingly large, but she was still unable to move. She could only see a little of the scene outside the bed through the flowing curtains.

Spoils of war.

That’s what the demon called her. She imprisoned her in her bedchamber.

Every day, at no fixed time, she would do things that were unspeakable to Lu Mingqiu whenever she felt like it.

But every time, she was very restrained, and very absurd.

The demon would only randomly caress one part of her body, sometimes her palm, sometimes her calf, using a slow, continuous frequency to ignite her passion.

Or, she would take Lu Mingqiu out, to see the plays of hell, filled with blood and betrayal; to take her to the treasure vault where gold and jewels piled up like a sea, she could pick up any gem at random, and it would be of unparalleled value.

Or, she wouldn’t do anything, she would take the human girl to see the first rays of light when the purple moon rose, to see the blue light streaks in the sky, to see a pink lake, to see a thorny vine growing in a crevice blooming white flowers.

The girl couldn’t eat hell food, so she would go to the human world to bring her delicacies, all of them were flavors that humans had never tasted before.

This was undoubtedly a temptation.

The demon was restrained yet unrestrained, she seemed to care about the girl, but she also seemed to just treat her as a plaything.

Lu Mingqiu was just a teenager, although she was more mature than her peers because of her family environment, her mind was still not mature.

Faced with the demon’s forceful offensive, she quickly surrendered. But despite this, she still retained a sense of vigilance, she wasn’t the kind of person who would easily fall head over heels.

Finally, one day, the demon came to her, she didn’t kiss her, nor did she take her out, but she asked, “Have you fallen in love with me?”

Lu Mingqiu didn’t lie, she nodded.

The demon’s face finally showed a hint of happiness, “The prophecy also said that I would fall in love with you first, and then willingly die. Now it can be proven that it is completely wrong.”

“Then why don’t you kill me?” Lu Mingqiu asked calmly, “If you kill me, wouldn’t the prophecy be broken?”

The demon was angry, her magic surged, burning all the furniture in the room to ashes, but she spared the girl in the center of the room.

“Are you provoking me?”

She said angrily, her pupils also turned a black ink color.

The human hugged her waist, the rising flames gradually subsided.

“You’re not like a demon.” She said with a smile.

“You’re not like a human.” The demon retorted.

The end.