When Hibiscus awoke from her drowsy state and looked carefully, a whole day had passed.
It was fine not to sleep, but once she slept, it was like the world turned upside down. The three advancement stones she had clutched in her hand no longer reacted, but she could clearly feel they still had energy, and from an aesthetic standpoint they looked quite nice too. She simply strung them into a necklace to wear, quite matching and rather beautiful.
The girl made a peace sign at the full-length mirror and winked, then let out a laugh—relieved and relaxed, exhaustion swept away, making her quite pleased.
System rewards were now fully distributed.
Grumble grumble!
Her stomach's protest reminded her "hungry hungry, food food," so Hibiscus had to prepare breakfast, then eat while watching TV. The news predictably turned to describing the bar incident.
Officials characterized it as gang infighting and mutual slaughter, ultimately rooted out by police, with no mention of the black-clad figure at all.
Street interviews had different voices though, with comments like "We all saw it, that masked customer single-handedly defeated the entire Storm Gang," "Some shameless people shouldn't randomly steal credit," "I'm certain it's the same person as the Dock Gang one, no mistake," "The real hero is someone else—our Ningfeng Harbor is full of talent," making the girl in question twitch at the corners of her mouth.
Though officials buried it, public memory hadn't disappeared—in fact it was growing stronger. Who told her that magic trick escape was so shockingly exaggerated?
Now she couldn't avoid fame even if she wanted to.
Hibiscus felt no pride in her achievements—she wished everyone would forget completely. People fear fame like pigs fear getting fat. Attention did her more harm than good. Before truly possessing power, she didn't want to be too conspicuous. Even with power, it might not be enough—influence was equally important. Being alone now made her easy to target.
Fortunately, judging from various official tones, the investigation wasn't tense, so she should be able to live peacefully.
As if.
After college entrance exams came the trouble of filling out applications, choosing majors, choosing schools. She aimed for medicine and should prepare in advance.
Was there a possibility: using time stop to study?
Hibiscus almost made herself laugh at the thought, but practically speaking, she should indeed practice magic more. Admittedly, she hadn't forgotten the netizens' reminder about Origin's importance, but during the "small fry stage," magic had the highest cost-effectiveness. The question was how to improve efficiently, and what more bizarre magic might enemies possess?
With just one simple application of Sands of Time, she could come and go freely under the city's primary armed force. Other magic might be no less impressive. Anyway, she'd ask about it.
System, activate.
She mentally clicked a blue icon to open editing, smoothly editing background music for her complete recorded dungeon experience.
Under the original main thread, she updated with the title "Mission Complete: Crushed Storm Gang, Obtained Disaster Beast Remains and Awakened Magic, with Sands of Time Demonstration Effects" then uploaded and published. Sure enough, view count rapidly soared.
Hibiscus wasn't surprised—after all, her editing skills had improved and the material was overwhelming.
The footage quickly flashed through entering the bar, with camera language getting straight to the fight without wasted words. First Li Tian absorbed Disaster Beast remains and transformed, engaging the girl in close combat. Both sides moved incredibly fast, with power, balance, and impact merged into one, completely interpreting the violent aesthetics of martial arts techniques. The two sometimes crossed paths, sometimes collided, countering moves and highlighting evenly matched strong opponents.
The environmental destruction by both in the footage was another source of exhilaration—like a demolition spree even breaking through a floor, with dust flying and continuous thunderous sounds.
Why wasn't there a potion-taking segment?
Hibiscus realized that from third-person perspective, no potions existed. Even if she broke arms and legs, it wouldn't hinder usage—it was a kind of action concept. Of course, if she wanted to give them to others, they would appear, more convenient than imagined.
Meanwhile, bullet comments quickly filled the video with shock, and soon the progress bar reached the moment of magical awakening.
Sands of Time!
The screen turned gray-white, silver sand flowing toward profound darkness, the ground covered with white desert kicking up dust, looking dreamlike and boundlessly ethereal. From third-person perspective, Hibiscus gained considerable insight—her power should be far more than just stopping, with silver sand serving as the magic medium.
Bullet comments quickly emerged with various incomprehensible words:【Sakuya the head maid, is that you? Are there still Touhou fans?】
【Star Platinum: The World】
【Great! Hyacinth used her ultimate. In the blink of an eye, life and death are decided, unable to retain even a moment】
【Standing before you is the strongest time magic, reporting for duty】
【The most magnificent yet most useless ability】
【Freezing the world is clearly the most superficial power of Sands of Time, yet Hyacinth always treated it as a treasure. Only in the late stages did she gradually come to her senses and leap to become High Priestess of Time. Still that saying—anyone who studied college physics and understood object motion would develop more skills】
【Bullying our Hyacinth for not scoring 200 on college entrance exams? Marking this down harshly for you】
...The discussion glimpsed in bullet comments was very inspiring to Hibiscus. So that's how it was—indeed matching her speculation. Sands of Time magic had considerable room for exploration.
Before she could ask questions, she had already gained much. No wonder she felt time stop that lifted upon touch was weak—the strength wasn't there.
Magic was the materialization of miracles, then blessed upon girls, like a corner of the rules. So there weren't really any strict limitations—imagination was sometimes more important than magic power. She should open her thinking more. In terms of vision and insight, Hibiscus felt far inferior to her otherworldly friends. Listening to their words was better than reading for ten years, correcting some of her originally mistaken development approaches and avoiding detours.
She'd asked the right people.
Just as Hibiscus was lost in thought, the video had finished playing. The still-unsatisfied audience continued heated discussion in the comments:
【Technical skill too high, beyond words. Cinematography, explosions, and fighting with every punch landing—absolutely realistic. Is the OP herself or a stunt double? Action design that simply challenges human limits, full of spectacle】
【I work in film crews. I dare say even with wire work it would be hard to recreate this kind of martial arts sequence. Honestly the technical content needs improvement but the action is definitely strong enough】
【Actually there are many videos recreating martial arts films, but I'm giving full marks for the final segment】
【Exactly right, completely replicating Sands of Time special effects and even surpassing the original】
【Whether original anime or derivative games, novels, manga, even theatrical versions, none gave me such immersion and oppressive feeling. Got goosebumps all over—the author should have used CG to express their understanding of time magic】
【Case solved, it's Hyacinth herself】
【Went viral on other platforms, @OP, I found people already stealing your video (attached address) everyone go report it】
Hibiscus didn't much care—after all, she couldn't collect a penny anyway. Besides, the wider it spread, the more netizens could brainstorm together and the better advice she could get. Win-win, they all gained entertainment.
Seeing discussion gradually calming, she edited a new message for the main thread: "What exactly are magic mechanisms? How to improve? Netizens, seeking knowledge."