“Welcome home, Master!” chirped the flat smart butler, hovering by the door as I walked in.
This thing had nothing better to do? Didn’t all that zooming around burn mana?
I checked the villa’s mana meter. This place ran on a shared pool, and if it ran dry, how was I supposed to charge my phone? Beg a senior to juice it up? No way I’d stoop to treating someone like a power bank. Who’d agree to that?
I got curious, though. Freshmen like me, barely trained, couldn’t control mana well. So how did we recharge the villa?
Crouching by the meter, I saw it had over 300 mana left. No clue how it was measured. One mana core per unit?
After poking around, I found a curled-up notice. It explained mana storage—automatic, but I had to be the generator.
Great. At least 300 mana should last a while.
One problem down. Now, time to clean this whole villa!
When I first moved in, I only tidied my bedroom. The rest? Ignored.
This was a big job. Three floors, including a huge rooftop terrace that needed sweeping, too.
“Master, are you cleaning the villa?” the smart butler piped up as I cast Cleaning Charm.
“Yup. Move over,” I said, scooping it up and setting it aside.
“Master, keeping the place clean is MY job. Leave it to me!”
“You? A vacuum bot? How’re you gonna clean walls, windows, ceilings, furniture?” I scoffed, ready to dunk on it.
Then I felt it—a familiar energy radiating from the bot.
“No way… Cleaning Charm?” I gaped, stunned. A vacuum bot with THAT?
After the shock, I remembered Bai Yu mentioning that this thing was an alchemical, mana-powered gadget.
I swallowed hard. Talk about overpowered. They programmed a Cleaning Charm into a vacuum bot?
And here I was, all proud of learning it myself.
I stared as the bot zipped around, its Cleaning Charm blasting a patch of floor spotless, working like it was having the time of its life.
“Hey, where are you going?” I called, my confidence shaken. “You’ve got a Cleaning Charm, so clean the whole place! You’re in charge now.”
Time to let this bot do the heavy lifting.
“Master, my mana’s drained. If I don’t head back, you’ll have to carry me to recharge,” the smart butler said, its voice noticeably weaker.
“No mana? Does the Cleaning Charm burn that much?” I asked, trailing it, my mood perking up.
“What’s your max capacity?”
“One standard mana?” I frowned. Same unit as the main meter? One charge eats one unit?
“How much to clean the whole villa?” I asked, zeroing in on the real issue. Time to reclaim some pride.
Maybe this thing was too power-hungry. I’d rather do it myself.
“Ten standard mana?” My jaw dropped. Thirty cleanings, and the villa’s power would be toast?
This place had other mana drains, too!
No way. I couldn’t let this continue.
My mana core was just one, and I had no clue how fast it’d recover. No chance I’d sit here playing power plant.
“Smart butler, no more Cleaning Charm for cleaning!” I snapped. “Only use it if something’s really dirty. And stop zipping around—save power!” Googlᴇ search 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⚑𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⚑𝙣𝙚𝙩
I blurted it all out, hoping the thing understood.
“Understood. Switching to energy-saving mode. Full cleaning canceled,” it replied.
I sighed, relieved. It got the message. I hadn’t realized this villa had such a mana hog. Were there more like it?
“Smart butler… do you have another name? Calling you that feels clunky.”
“No, Master. Please name me, or use a past name at random.”
“Past name?” I eyed the bot. Secondhand, huh? Made sense—this villa had housed who-knows-how-many seniors.
“Go for it. Let’s hear what the seniors called you,” I said, curious.
“Activated past name: Little Work Slave.”
“Wait, what? Your name’s WHAT?” I blinked, sure I’d misheard.
“Pfft—haha!” I cracked up. “What kind of name is that?”
I couldn’t hold it in, laughing so hard I nearly doubled over. Which senior came up with that? A joke?
“Little Work Slave, haha!” I wheezed.
“Master, I’m here,” it said.
I caught my breath, wiping tears. I kept the name. It was too funny, a spark of joy for my dull days. Hope my mystery roommates liked it.
Since Little Work Slave was a bust, I’d have to clean the villa myself.
It’d be exhausting, but the satisfaction of a spotless place would be worth it.
I started with the first floor. The lawn outside? Not my problem. Even if I wanted to trim it, I didn’t have the tools.
No way I was crawling around pulling weeds.
But man, the Cleaning Charm was a game-changer. Washing dishes with it? Way faster than by hand.
Sweeping through the villa also helped me get the lay of the land. I lived here, but I didn’t poke around every corner daily.
Still, I needed to know where things were in case it mattered.
While cleaning, I found dust and grime caked in forgotten corners. Guess Little Work Slave missed some spots.
Those nooks took a few zaps of the Cleaning Charm to get spotless. Looks like past seniors relied heavily on that bot to keep the place tidy.