Chapter 45: Crown of Thorns

If Sashafa hadn’t encountered someone like Samimi—a transmigrator—then her [Holy Sand] alone could have wiped out nearly every other mage of her generation on first encounter. Even challenging stronger enemies across tiers wouldn’t have been impossible.

The poor priestess Rebecca, on the other hand, was truly unlucky. Even if her healing talent was top-tier, she was still just a support—this wasn’t a world made for clerics. Clerics should’ve stayed in the Church. That’s why Rebecca’s here getting bullied.

But Samimi had learned the [Phantom Rose Sword], and with the system skillbook unlocked, had effectively awakened her dual affinity.

Last time, she was able to conjure a magical rose shield in addition to her Holy Shield, which defends against physical attacks. This double shield setup was enough to block Sashafa’s shield-piercing Holy Blade.

So in theory, Samimi now qualified as a full-fledged mage.

That’s precisely why Saintess Machima had forcibly assigned her to the Continental Magic Academy—to expand the Church’s influence.

Realistically, the Church might only have two young people with dual affinity: Samimi and her sister.

Her sister needed to maintain a pure, unsullied record within the Church, so all the dirty and difficult work had to fall to Samimi—the “black-gloved” operative.

Still, for the sake of getting that orange-tier legendary skillbook, Samimi didn’t mind.

“If you don’t enter the tiger’s den, how will you catch its cub?” As a transmigrator, Samimi actually had a decent grasp of the Academy’s rules and social games. Now that she had the chance to sneak in, of course she’d take it and fish for some gains.

“Everyone in this dorm is a weirdo—marginalized mages no one wants anything to do with. You’d best stay away from them,” Rebecca suddenly returned and warned Samimi sternly.

“But weren’t we just assigned here?” Samimi asked.

“I’m leaving this dump sooner or later. No way I’m dragging myself down by associating with these fringe mages. They’ll never achieve anything big,” Rebecca huffed, wiping her tears away and snapping back to her usual prideful self.

Samimi didn’t even have time to reply before Rebecca added, “Just stay in your room. I’ll take you to class tomorrow. Don’t go wandering off—or deal with the consequences yourself.”

With that, Rebecca retreated and slammed her door shut.

Samimi, for once, behaved. After putting her luggage away, she closed her own door and sat inside without venturing out.

Not because she didn’t want to explore—but because she had a ton of new skills to learn and new fields of magic to dive into.

She’d entered the Continental Magic Academy to face new challenges—and to do that properly, she needed to upgrade her external plugins (a.k.a. her cheat system) so she could show off without a hitch.

The ever-diligent Samimi sat at the desk, pulled out the chair, and unpacked all her magical notebooks, including the legendary skillbook she just got.

“Three… two… one… ding!”

Samimi began a dramatic countdown for no apparent reason.

(Ding! Your kindness value has reached 50 points. You’ve unlocked a new skill: [Crown of Thorns].)

Besides the legendary skillbook, Samimi had now unlocked a new ability on her Kindness Tree .

After days and nights of doing good deeds, she’d finally crossed the 50-point threshold!

However, it’s worth noting that she’d also tried countdowns like this when her kindness value hit 30 and 40… only for nothing to happen. Her attempt to show off had flopped hard—awkward.

Now, she could vaguely make out the pattern: 20 points = new skill, 50 points = new skill. So the next unlock might happen at 100 kindness points.

But how had she increased her kindness just by sitting in her room?

Ah yes—Samimi had discovered an exploit in the Good-Evil system. A classic “bug abuse” maneuver.

Every time she sold a healing potion, she got a tiny fraction of a kindness point.

This was the real reason she’d hired the town mayor to sell potions for her. It wasn’t about the money—it was about racking up kindness points.

And why was it an exploit?

Because Samimi didn’t have to personally heal anyone. As long as a healing potion got sold at the Melon Town inn—even if she was a thousand miles away or asleep—she’d still gain kindness points.

This made her point acquisition dozens of times faster. Though each sale only earned her a minuscule amount, the process was stable and effortless.

“[Crown of Thorns],” Samimi murmured, activating the new skill.

…?

Nothing happened. She checked her hands, stood up, took a few steps—no attribute buffs.

“Huh? Ah—!” Samimi frowned in confusion and raised her hand to scratch her head—only to poke herself on something sharp.

“Nun, are you okay?” Niubao asked nervously. “What’s that on your head?”

“Eh?” Samimi grabbed a mirror and finally saw where her spell had gone.

Right on top of her head sat a crown of thorns, made from rose-colored magic energy. Fortunately, the thorns pointed outward instead of inward—her skull was safe.

Like her [Phantom Rose Sword], this crown was a type of visualized magic spell.

But while the rose sword could be used for slashing or flying attacks… what the heck was the point of a crown?

Even stranger, Samimi couldn’t control it with her magic, nor could she physically remove it.

Not with spells, not with her hands—it was stuck.

“Am I supposed to headbutt people with this thing?” Samimi grumbled.

This spell was beyond her. Was there no skill description?

With a thought, she opened her Kindness System—and lo and behold, there was a description:

[Crown of Thorns] — Skill Description:

Designate one friendly target to link with your own magic. Allows casting of dual spells via the designated target.

“Oh?” Samimi’s eyes lit up. She instantly understood what this kindness skill did—and it was a god-tier support ability.

“Target: Niubao,” she whispered, flicking her fingers and casting correctly this time.

The Crown of Thorns shifted from Samimi’s head to Niubao’s, and now Samimi could finally link her magic to the crown.

“?” Niubao blinked, utterly baffled at what the nun was doing.

“[Magic Shield]!” Samimi chanted quickly.

Magical energy buzzed as Niubao was suddenly surrounded by a rosy, eggshell-like barrier of force.

“It worked! I can do that?!” Samimi shouted in joy, punching the air in triumph.

“What is this, Nun?” Niubao asked, touching her head—and pricked her finger on the crown.

“I’m invincible—I mean, you are!” Samimi laughed, leaping into a ridiculous little victory dance. “You’ve got a full-on magic shield now, Niubao. Hehehe!”