Afterward, Rothgar finished his lunch in silence. Because the human body was still feeling slightly unwell, he did not finish the meal this time; once Anna Virelle had cleared the table and departed, he gazed down from the glass window, only retracting his gaze when she disappeared from his sight.

He was actually quite looking forward to Anna making a move on the mage, Ulysses Russell. That would allow him to follow her lead and switch bodies, as Patrick Wilson's current form possessed no Natural Elemental Affinity and was loathsomely weak. The mage's body, on the other hand, was at least passable.

Anna walked away with a sense of trepidation, feeling as though the demon was staring at her with ill-intent, his gaze nearly boring a hole through her back. However, following this "illness" incident, her fear of him had lessened slightly.

A demon, after performing a host possession on an ordinary human, could actually fall ill!. Furthermore, he seemed to have no way of curing the illness himself. Heavens, that's far too weak! This proved that the demon was strictly bound by rules; as long as she did not satisfy a specific condition, he could do nothing to her.

Of course, a demon capable of possession was still far stronger than a defenseless ordinary person like herself; she could afford to be less afraid, but she could not afford to be contemptuous. Otherwise, she might not even know how she died. There were times when his killing intent was so overwhelming that she suspected he might have the ability to bypass the rules at a great cost. As long as he believed there was still hope to harvest her soul within the rules, he would not easily break them.

Therefore, she had to maintain a careful balance: while clearly refusing his marriage proposals, she also had to offer him a glimmer of hope to prevent him from "flipping the table" and quitting the game through violence. Thinking this way, Anna felt a bit like a "schemer" stringing someone along as a back-up. But since the demon wasn't human, she decided it didn't matter.

During the afternoon break, Abigail, Kelly, and Fiona ran over once more, deeply concerned about Lord Patrick's health and eager to pry more information out of Anna. Anna reassured them that he was fine and casually mentioned meeting the mage, successfully steering the conversation toward magic.

"That noble lord looks so majestic. I wonder if we have any chance of becoming mages ourselves?" Anna remarked with feigned wistfulness. Though the three were trying to curry favor with Anna, they couldn't help but burst into laughter at such an ignorant comment.

"We are mere commoners," Fiona said through her laughter. "How could we ever become noble mages?".

"Anna, surely you don't dream of becoming a noble?" Abigail added with a sharp, ironic edge to her voice. "To become a mage just to gain nobility... you'd be better off trying to marry a noble". She paused, realizing her mistake, and quickly added, "Of course, you have a lover, so you wouldn't want to marry a noble". She certainly didn't want Anna eyeing Lord Patrick as a husband.

"Yes, I am fiercely loyal to my lover," Anna replied, continuing her act before bringing the topic back. "But haven't you ever thought of becoming high nobles yourselves? If a person doesn't have dreams, what's the difference between them and a salted fish? I want to become a noble alongside my lover, so I want to know if there is a way".

Abigail's earlier mention that becoming a mage could grant nobility had deeply intrigued Anna. She wanted power, and she wanted status!.

Hearing Anna's words, the three maids looked at one another and fell silent. Becoming a noble? What commoner didn't wish they had been born into the nobility?. But they lacked noble blood, they lacked the Natural Elemental Affinity gifted by the Goddess, and they weren't men who could distinguish themselves through military service; they had no path to nobility. Becoming the mistress of a noble was the best destiny they could hope for.

After a long silence, Kelly said thoughtfully, "Although it is extremely rare, it is said that commoners have become mages before. We don't have them in Bluestone City, but I heard they exist in Turquoise City. And Anna, if you want to become a respected person, you could also become a priest, not just a mage".

"A priest? Like Priest Louis?" Anna asked, her interest piqued. There were scattered terms in her host's memory—Holy See, Pope, Bishop, Priest—but she didn't know exactly what they represented.

"If you possess a Holy Light Body (圣之体) and are favored by the Goddess, you can enter the temple as an apprentice and eventually become a priest," Kelly explained. "Priest Louis is a priest, and he presides over our Temple of Lumenia in Bluestone City". Having worked at Wilson Manor for years, Kelly knew things ordinary commoners didn't.

Abigail, who had previously mocked Anna's ambition, chimed in, "If you have a Natural Elemental Affinity, you can study at the Mage Association. Once you become a one-star mage, you can become a Baronet".

Fiona curled her lip; Anna's talk of becoming nobility had annoyed her. "But do you even have five gold coins?" she asked irritably.

Abigail and Kelly stopped talking immediately.

"Five gold coins?" Anna asked in confusion. Her salary was ten silver coins a month. Even if she saved every single penny, it would take her over four years to save that much. Abigail and her friends earned slightly more, but it would still take them nearly four years.

Fiona sneered, "If you want to find out if you have a Holy Light Body or a Natural Elemental Affinity, you have to go to the Temple or the Mage Association for testing. Each test costs five gold coins". She seemed to take a complex pleasure in crushing Anna's unrealistic dreams while simultaneously feeling resentful of the reality herself.

Anna pressed her lips together. If that was the case, she couldn't even think about it for several years. Yet with that demon watching her like a hawk, she didn't know if she even had several years. She didn't know when the demon would lose his patience; she desperately needed to become a mage to gain the power to resist him.

"Is there no other way besides paying five gold coins for a test?" Anna asked, unwilling to give up. "Perhaps I could learn on my own?".

"Are you even literate?" Fiona raised her chin, her expression mocking. "Even if you were, where would you find the precious books? I heard a single book like that costs over ten gold coins!".

Though Anna had been a university student in her own world, she was effectively illiterate here. Literacy was incredibly low; even some nobles couldn't read, let alone commoners. Furthermore, the language was not English; Anna relied entirely on the original host's memories to communicate. Even if a magic book were placed before her, she wouldn't be able to read a word of it.

Seeing Anna's dejected expression, Kelly pulled Fiona back and said kindly, "Actually, there is a chance! The Goddess loves all people. Every five years, clergy members come to select those with Holy Light Bodies. The most pious can receive a free test!".

"What defines someone as 'most pious'?" Anna pressed.

Kelly hesitated. "The Goddess would surely send a divine oracle...".

To hell with the Goddess and her oracles! Anna thought. She looked up at the bright sky; there wasn't a single sign of divine punishment. Since she wasn't being struck down for insulting the Goddess, it meant either the Goddess didn't exist, she wasn't omnipotent, or she simply didn't care about such trifles. The selection of Holy Light Bodies every five years was clearly a minor matter. This meant the standards were likely set by the clergy themselves, and as an atheist in a magical world, Anna feared she might be weeded out by some strange spell from the very start.

"When is the next time the clergy will visit?" Anna asked with dwindling hope.

"They came last year," Kelly said. "You'll have to wait another four years".

Anna sighed inwardly. Four years—she might as well just save up the five gold coins. But the demon would likely finish her off before then. Given his temper, she doubted he would wait even three months, let alone four years.