Chapter 114: Born Magical Girl
The entire meeting felt very strange and abstract, and Luo Shuangxing couldn’t understand what Xiao Yi wanted to do.
She briefly showed her the pendant, then talked to herself about how they were friends, and finally asked for a hug to conclude?
What on earth was going on? Why couldn’t she comprehend what Xiao Yi was trying to do?
“Let’s go back!” Xiao Yi smiled at Luo Shuangxing with effort.
“…Okay.”
After returning to the classroom, the more Luo Shuangxing thought about it, the more she felt something was off. During the next class, she could sense a vague gaze coming from Xiao Yi’s direction.
Why did it feel like she was being targeted by some creep?
As it turned out, reality was just as Luo Shuangxing suspected. After the morning class, Xiao Yi approached her as if they were very familiar with each other.
As for the class monitor, it was as if she had never met Xiao Yi at all and walked with other classmates instead.
“Shuangxing, let’s go have lunch together!” Xiao Yi grabbed Luo Shuangxing’s arm, her slightly warm hand seemed to transmit the heat of her excitement to Luo Shuangxing.
“Huh? Why?” Luo Shuangxing finally couldn’t hold back and voiced her confusion.
“Eh?” Xiao Yi looked a bit perplexed by Luo Shuangxing’s question, as if it shouldn’t have come out of her mouth. “Because we are friends.”
“Why would we be friends? Including that time at the amusement park, we have only interacted twice in total. I really can’t figure out why you think we are friends, Xiao Yi.” Luo Shuangxing said while counting on her fingers, under Xiao Yi’s surprised gaze.
It was very strange. Xiao Yi’s behavior just now seemed to assume that they were friends, but that was obviously odd.
Luo Shuangxing herself wasn’t a strange person, so she could only assume that Xiao Yi was the strange one.
After being questioned like this by Luo Shuangxing, Xiao Yi became completely dazed. She looked down at the pendant hanging around her neck, then at the completely confused Luo Shuangxing, and finally withdrew her hand as if she were a frightened rabbit.
“Why? Why is this happening…” She clutched the pendant and took two steps back, her eyes filled with bewilderment.
It was as if a magical girl had suddenly discovered her gem had been replaced with a fake and couldn’t transform anymore.
“What the hell is going on? Xiao Yi, what is wrong with you?”
Xiao Yi said nothing and simply turned around and ran out of the classroom in confusion.
“She ran away?” Luo Shuangxing was also stunned. For the first time, she felt like her smart brain wasn’t working right; what had happened that morning left her at a loss for words.
Maybe she should ask Xiao Yi what was wrong after the lunch break? She thought to herself, but to her surprise, Xiao Yi didn’t appear in the classroom all afternoon.
And the classmates in the entire class acted as if Xiao Yi had never existed, completely ignoring her absence from school.
Even when Luo Shuangxing asked the class monitor, her reaction left her shocked.
“Who’s Xiao Yi? Classmate? Haven’t I always been without a deskmate?” The class monitor looked bewildered at Luo Shuangxing’s question.
Huh? Then what was that thing I saw? A ghost?
Luo Shuangxing was utterly dumbfounded. Even after school that afternoon, when she flew to the Magic Department’s training ground, she still had that absent-minded expression.
This piqued the curiosity of the two college students who had been waiting at the training ground, wondering what had happened to make Luo Shuangxing look so lost.
Smashing the magic cannon cast by Xia Mo, Luo Shuangyue said sternly, “Your magical power concentration is off. How did the arrowhead turn into a round head? Practice again!”
Pointing out Xia Mo’s shortcomings, she then turned her gaze to Luo Shuangxing. “Linglan, have you seen a ghost? Hurry up and come train!”
Hearing Luo Shuangyue’s words, Luo Shuangxing rested her forehead against her oversized magic wand and let out a melancholic voice.
“I might have really seen a ghost.”
“A magical girl can get a fever? Your forehead feels normal.” Seeing her sister’s expression, Luo Shuangyue walked over and took off her gloves to check Luo Shuangxing’s forehead.
A normal temperature; she wasn’t running a fever.
While in Dark Butterfly form, Luo Shuangyue’s skin was icy cold, and being touched like this made Luo Shuangxing shiver.
Seizing the moment, she hurriedly told the two “elders” in front of her everything strange she encountered today.
“I later asked other classmates, and they all said they had never seen Xiao Yi, but I clearly remember she existed!” Luo Shuangxing stomped her foot, feeling that this disconnect from the world was just too terrible.
In the end, she even asked the teacher, who gave her a negative answer as well.
“Xiao Yi? Is she the girl who played with you at the amusement park before?” Xia Mo rubbed her chin, seeming to have some recollection of the girl.
After all, she was Luo Shuangyue’s ‘rumored target’; it would be odd if she didn’t remember her.
“Sister Xia Mo, you remember her? Then it seems it’s not my problem!” With Xia Mo’s affirmative reply, Luo Shuangxing’s expression immediately brightened, her previous self-doubt almost driving her insane.
She had been entangled in whether she had a problem, and now, Xia Mo provided her with an answer.
It wasn’t her that had a problem, but the whole class had a problem.
“I think that girl is… uh, anyway, you can now confirm that the child named Xiao Yi truly exists, right?” Luo Shuangyue was about to agree, but halfway through, she suddenly realized she was in Dark Butterfly form, and Dark Butterfly had no interaction with Xiao Yi.
Jeez, almost slipped up there. Sighing helplessly in her heart, Luo Shuangyue noticed she was starting to blur the lines between Luo Shuangyue and Dark Butterfly.
Such a rookie mistake, she never would have made before.
“Of course I can confirm; she’s a girl with light brown shoulder-length hair, blue eyes, and very hot to the touch. She wears a very beautiful pendant around her neck.” Luo Shuangxing nodded seriously.
And this description garnered unanimous approval from both Xia Mo and Luo Shuangyue.
“If we all see the same Xiao Yi, then that means this isn’t just your illusion, Shuangxing.” Xia Mo stroked her chin, her eyes filled with confusion. “But why don’t your classmates recognize her?”
“Could it be cognitive modification? Magical girls skilled in mental powers basically have this ability.”
Luo Shuangyue shrugged, thinking it was better not to overthink things now.
The three magical girls were unaffected, while Luo Shuangxing’s classmates had undoubtedly felt the effects.
Excluding the speculation that all of Luo Shuangxing’s classmates collectively had a problem, there was only one possibility left: Xiao Yi had an issue.
This girl might employ some tactics similar to mental control or hypnosis, and Luo Shuangxing’s classmates were influenced by this technique, affecting their perception.
But why wasn’t Luo Shuangxing affected? That was naturally because she was a magical girl; magical girls had a natural resistance to such things, unless they voluntarily let their guard down. Otherwise, even a Blooming Level magical girl couldn’t casually invade the mind of a budding level magical girl.
Of course, it was still possible to muddle the consciousness of a budding level girl if they were knocked out during the process.
“If her abilities can’t affect you but can affect ordinary people, and you haven’t sensed a clear attack yet…” Luo Shuangyue began to analyze delicately.
If the psychic attack encountered had been too powerful, Luo Shuangxing would feel as if her head was being attacked. However, she didn’t experience that feeling when facing Xiao Yi.
This indicated that Xiao Yi’s psychic attack power was quite weak, weak enough that it couldn’t even trigger Luo Shuangxing’s passive defense.
“She might not even reach the budding level and can only show off her might in front of ordinary people.” Ultimately, Luo Shuangyue gave her assessment.
She had said this transfer student wasn’t ordinary; after all, she was someone capable of psychic attacks!
It was just that her superpower was a bit weak, not as good as a magical girl.
“It seems she hasn’t used this ability for any bad deeds; she merely attended school and wanted to be friends with you? That’s quite innocent.”
“I don’t think she’s innocent at all. Expressing random people’s emotions, isn’t that something only bad people would do?” Luo Shuangxing stated that she didn’t believe Xiao Yi was a genuinely good girl.
Just look at what Xiao Yi did to her; was that something a normal person would do?
Luo Shuangxing felt there was definitely something wrong with Xiao Yi’s attitude toward her. It was a big issue!
“In my eyes, that’s quite innocent. Don’t forget who I am.” Luo Shuangyue rolled her eyes, lightly patting the back of Luo Shuangxing’s head. “Get back to training!”
Compared to a mysterious girl who might be capable of some mental tactics but had no idea where she had run off to, improving their combat strength through training was far more important.
This day, Luo Shuangxing didn’t collapse from exhaustion like during previous trainings. Luo Shuangyue was also worried that right after they finished training, magical beasts would immediately attack.
Then the magical girls could only confront them in a half-damaged state, which would be disastrous!
After checking the results, it turned out that half of the damage their side had taken was inflicted by her. The scene was nothing short of beautiful.
“You’ve done a good job compressing magical power. Your magic cannon’s power has improved a lot compared to before. However, your shaping of the magic arrowhead is really poor. Keep practicing tomorrow!”
After training, Luo Shuangyue took on the role of a teacher and pointed out various issues Xia Mo had.
Meanwhile, Luo Shuangxing and Xiaomimi stood to the side, whispering quietly.
“Linglan, don’t you think Miss Die seems like Senior Bai Ye right now?” Xiaomimi asked in a very, very soft voice.
Seeing Luo Shuangyue scold Xia Mo made Xiaomimi feel like she was seeing that big senior they hadn’t seen in a long time. When they were receiving special training from that senior, Xia Mo was also scolded just like this.
The only difference was that Xia Mo had her head down then, only letting out agreeing noises, while now, she stood tall and had a spirited discussion with Luo Shuangyue about how to solve these issues.
“Maybe they are the same person.” Luo Shuangxing whispered.
Then she was called out by Luo Shuangyue, “Linglan, are you daydreaming? Come here and listen; your performance is worse than Xiaomimi’s!”
At least Xia Mo succeeded in compressing magical power, whereas Luo Shuangxing couldn’t even complete the first step successfully.
But Luo Shuangxing had something to say; what weapon was she using? A magic wand!
And what was Xia Mo using? A cannon with a weapon spirit!
Ye Lin could compress magical power by just adjusting the cannon’s barrel, but for her, that difficulty was completely on different levels.
The magic cannon released by Luo Shuangxing had a virtual barrel, not a real one.
This was much harder to shrink compared to Xia Mo’s.
“I’m trying, but after compressing it initially, the subsequent infused magical power expands the barrel again.” Luo Shuangxing voiced her frustrations about the difficulties she faced.
She couldn’t maintain the same magical output while keeping the magic cannon’s barrel shrunk.
“Is there any easier way to practice this?”
“There is! Unlike Xiaomimi, you can also go down the path of magical power morphing.” Luo Shuangyue didn’t continue to pressure Luo Shuangxing. She could see that Luo Shuangxing was genuinely working hard, but the results weren’t as good as Xia Mo’s.
Maybe this method just wasn’t suitable for Luo Shuangxing, she thought to herself.
If that’s the case, then let’s change the approach.
Being a budding level magical girl, Luo Shuangxing’s path to advancement wasn’t set, so trying out various methods was acceptable.
Since Xia Mo’s magical cannon method wasn’t working, maybe she could try other methods.
For example, turn her magical power into a siege crossbow or something to blast magical beasts.
Though she didn’t know how effective it would be, it couldn’t hurt to try more.
“Okay, I’ll check some资料at home and strive for progress by tomorrow.” Luo Shuangxing nodded obediently.
As for Xiaomimi, her training was quite standard. The magical paw plan she thought of last night had worked well, and she quite enjoyed this method of attack.
Just polishing the quality of her magical output a bit more, and Xiaomimi could definitely draw blood from magical beasts.
“Alright, today’s training ends here. We’ll gather here again at this time tomorrow.”
“““Okay!”””
……
“Why… why isn’t it working…” In a dark alley, Xiao Yi clutched the pendant tightly to her chest, slumping helplessly against the wall.
Whirling like a nebula, the swirl within the pendant slowly flowed, infusing a touch of warm energy into the girl’s body.
In her daze, she seemed to hear a soft call arriving with the wind.
“Yi jiejie… where are you?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Great tears flowed from the girl’s eyes, shattering against the rough ground.
She was a coward, a timid person.
She had abandoned everyone just to survive.
If she could make the choice again, she might face death alongside her family calmly, right?
“Yi jiejie… I’ve found you~”
?!
……
Today, she didn’t come to class?
Resting her chin on her hand, Luo Shuangxing looked at the empty seat and felt a bit regretful.
She had originally planned to corner Xiao Yi and ask a few questions, but it seemed like Xiao Yi had foreseen her intentions and decisively chose to evade.
Now, this situation where she couldn’t find her alive or dead, Luo Shuangxing didn’t know what to do.
Time slipped away in a flash, and Xiao Yi, just as Luo Shuangxing had anticipated, didn’t show up for school all day.
“Didn’t come to school? Seems like she fled in guilt.” After hearing Luo Shuangxing’s recount, Luo Shuangyue unceremoniously evaluated.
Otherwise, why wouldn’t she come to school? Isn’t it obvious she was scared that her abnormality had been discovered and ran away?
If there wasn’t a time constraint, Luo Shuangyue would seriously consider searching for this mysterious girl; after all, she was a born superpower user.
It seemed she might be the first one of those she encountered?
In today’s world, there were actually quite a few people with superpowers, but many were weak, almost incapable of affecting ordinary people.
And the sources of these superpowers were uniform, coming from the magical energy of magical beasts.
In a sense, these people with weak superpowers were somewhat like slightly modified magical beasts.
Xiao Yi should also be in that situation. After all, she mentioned her residence was destroyed in a magical beast attack, and as the sole survivor, she had absorbed some magical energy to some extent.
Thus, awakening some special abilities wasn’t surprising.
“Let’s train first; this girl’s matter isn’t that important.”
“Got it.”
Luo Shuangxing walked to the center of the training ground, beginning to practice morphing magical power into various weapons.
Her progress was a bit slow; it took her quite a bit of time to successfully form magical power into the shape of a spear.
Testing the attack power, this spear indeed had more penetration compared to the magic cannon she used before, but the time spent to form it meant she could have launched ten magic cannon shots in that timeframe.
It felt rather unworthy.
Luo Shuangxing practiced earnestly, but even if she pushed the time taken to condense the spear to the limit, the efficiency of the output was far lower than that of the magic cannon.
Was there a way to shorten this time? If only she could prepare the spear in advance and use it whenever needed.
However, once she exited the transformation state, the spear she had condensed would lose its stable form due to the lack of a sustained magical energy supply. What to do then?
Hmm… Luo Shuangxing pondered intensely; she felt like she had touched upon a hint of inspiration.
Leaning on her magic wand and deep in thought, Luo Shuangxing recalled seeing something similar; what could it be…
Her gaze drifted past Luo Shuangyue, and a white figure flashed through her mind.
Bai Ye… right! Bai Ye’s Sealing Card!
She remembered that Longwen had mentioned an idea about sealing her Dragon Breath in a card made by Luo Shuangyue, but Luo Shuangyue expressed that her cards couldn’t contain such powerful attacks.
This meant that sealing cards could hold low-power attacks!
So, could she also create sealing cards to seal her morphed weapons?
These morphed weapons would unleash their mighty power only when they made contact with the enemy, so using sealing cards for sealing shouldn’t be too difficult.
Following this train of thought, Luo Shuangxing suddenly felt clarity ahead.
“Dark Butterfly! I’ve got an idea!” She immediately turned and shouted at Luo Shuangyue.
Hearing her sister’s words, Luo Shuangyue, who was currently bracing herself against the magic cannon to test its power, quickly summoned You Lian to help her hold the magic cannon, rushing over to Luo Shuangxing’s side.
What new crazy idea does her little sister have now?
“I want to try sealing these weapons since my speed at condensing them is too slow. When I need them, I could just summon them directly.” Luo Shuangxing concisely shared her thoughts. “Please teach me how to make sealing cards!”
You can’t say it doesn’t sound somewhat feasible, but there’s one problem before Luo Shuangyue: Sealing cards are a unique product of Bai Ye’s magic. She wasn’t sure if Luo Shuangxing could create something similar.
Other magical girls couldn’t make sealing cards; only Bai Ye and those who could mimic Bai Ye’s magic could create them.
And as for Luo Shuangxing… she was indeed the biological daughter of their mother, but whether she could accomplish such a feat was still uncertain for Luo Shuangyue.
“Alright, but making sealing cards requires very special magical power. You might not possess such magical power.” Luo Shuangyue spread her hands, and pure white light gradually flowed out from within her.
This was the Bai Ye magic she had mimicked, slowly solidifying at an extremely slow rate before forming into the shape of a card after a series of complex transformations.
This pace was intentionally slowed by Luo Shuangyue to demonstrate the card-making process to Luo Shuangxing, but even so, by the time Luo Shuangxing finished watching once, she was still left in the dark.
After the second and third iterations, Luo Shuangxing finally gained a hint of understanding.
By the seventh iteration, Luo Shuangxing began to unleash her own magical power, imitating Luo Shuangyue’s actions.
After failing seven or eight times, she finally created a rather odd-looking card.
To call it a card wouldn’t be entirely accurate; it looked more like an indeterminate gel. It should be fine to use for wrapping things, but it certainly wasn’t as stable as a card.
Nonetheless, it was still a great start. At least Luo Shuangxing proved she lived up to being Bai Ye’s daughter; her magical power truly resembled Bai Ye’s and had the ability to form sealing cards.
“I’m getting close!” Multiple failures didn’t discourage Luo Shuangxing; each time she made progress brought the feeling of impending success that energized her heart.
Now, she felt her mind was extremely focused, processing ideas several times faster than usual, and no detail could escape her eyes.
Her brain continuously replayed the image of Luo Shuangyue making sealing cards as Luo Shuangxing meticulously broke down those movements, exploring their meanings.
She wasn’t merely imitating; she was genuinely transforming this power into her knowledge.
Her magical power was different from Luo Shuangyue’s, so she couldn’t just copy her card-making process. The sealing cards she required wouldn’t be for sealing magical energy, thus the approach needed to be changed.
While thinking this, Luo Shuangxing unconsciously unleashed her magical power, creating one sealing card after another. These cards were erased halfway through because, in her view, their production methods were incorrect.
As time slowly passed, the cards Luo Shuangxing produced began to resemble actual cards more and more. Her eyes sparkled brighter, and a hazy feeling emerged in her heart; she realized she was just a step away from success.
“It’s getting late.” From a hundred meters away from Luo Shuangxing, Xia Mo quietly spoke to Luo Shuangyue.
After Luo Shuangxing entered that state of concentration, Luo Shuangyue had slipped away to a remote spot with Xia Mo to avoid disturbing Luo Shuangxing’s insight.
And this insight lasted nearly half the night.
When they had started training, the sun was still hanging in the sky; now, it was a starry night, even the director had come over out of curiosity to take a look.
“She probably will succeed soon. Honestly, sometimes I really envy this girl.” Luo Shuangyue also replied in a low voice.
Her intuition told her that Luo Shuangxing’s achievement this time was undoubtedly more than just obtaining a means to use magical power. She was likely to directly shatter the bottleneck between budding and initial blooming level magical girls.
Because the path Luo Shuangxing was currently walking was one different from any other magical girl’s past path—this was a path uniquely hers.
This girl was simply a born magical girl!
“It won’t be long before she probably surpasses us…”
“Surpassing you should be easy, but surpassing me isn’t so simple.” Luo Shuangyue pursed her lips.
Luo Shuangxing was a genius; was she not as well? The blood they shared was the same; how could she possibly be inferior to Luo Shuangxing?
This made Xia Mo unable to help but roll her eyes at Luo Shuangyue. Trying to show off, huh? You think I lack talent, huh? Just wait; don’t sleep too soundly tonight!
While the two were talking, there was finally a huge breakthrough on Luo Shuangxing’s side. She had fully created her own sealing card for the first time.
The milky-white card floated quietly in her palm, the card surface blank, seemingly waiting for its creator to inscribe something on it.
Cradling this hard-earned card in her hands, Luo Shuangxing revealed a brilliant smile.
“I did it!”
Even without testing it, she already knew she had succeeded; this was exactly what she had wanted!
Picking up the magic spear she had just condensed and tapping it gently against the card, the spear immediately transformed into a stream of white light and entered the card, leaving a simple sketch of the spear on the blank card.
Then, Luo Shuangxing forcefully crushed the card in her hands, and the spear that had been absorbed by the card reappeared in her grip.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Upon seeing this scene, Luo Shuangyue finally applauded, knowing that her sister had succeeded.
“Sister Xia Mo, Sister… Dark Butterfly, I did it!” Luo Shuangxing exclaimed in excitement, almost letting slip the word ‘sister,’ but thankfully adjusted in time.
Yet, she expressed her success, and her inner excitement still needed some way to release.
So, first, she gave Xia Mo a big hug, then turned to look at Luo Shuangyue, who stood beside Xia Mo with a proud expression, and also gave her a bear hug while Luo Shuangyue looked on in surprise.
“Thank you so much!” Hugging her sister tightly, Luo Shuangxing didn’t care whether her actions seemed strange; she was just incredibly happy right now, so being a bit exaggerated was fine.
After hugging her Dark Butterfly version of sister, Luo Shuangxing turned to Xiaomimi, who had been practicing beside them, and gave her an enthusiastic hug as well.
After that, in her excitement, she ran to the side to test if the sealing cards she crafted could remain stable after she de-transformed.
“She’s genuinely over the moon.” After receiving a love-filled hug from her younger sister, Luo Shuangyue muttered quietly.
This was the first time she was treated so warmly by Luo Shuangxing while in her Dark Butterfly form.
“Indeed!” Xiaomimi nodded in agreement, noting that Luo Shuangxing hadn’t been this nice to her on other days.
Just as the two finished speaking, they heard Luo Shuangxing’s more excited voice from over there, “I really did it! This is amazing!”
At that moment, Luo Shuangxing had changed back to her original state, but in her hands, the milky-white sealing card remained unchanged, showing no signs of alteration.
However, in her original state, Luo Shuangxing obviously couldn’t crush the sealing card. She twisted and bit at it, realizing that the card needed magical power to be activated.
“Unfortunately, I can’t use it in this state,” she sighed regretfully.
“If ordinary people could use something like this… then you’d immediately be taken to the Magic Department Headquarters by Feiqin for strict protection and spend your life in a little black room making these things,” Luo Shuangyue said helplessly to her sister.
This girl was entirely unaware of how astonishing what she had created was; the card contained the weapons that magical girls aggregated using magical power!
If this thing could be utilized by ordinary people, the problem of ordinary people being unable to counter magical beasts that plagued the Magic Department would be promptly resolved.
For instance, allowing magical girls to use their magical power to create arrows or similar weapons, which Luo Shuangxing could then seal and hand over to ordinary members of the Magic Department. When those members encountered magical beasts, they could unseal the arrows and directly shoot the magical beasts down.
Even if the sealed weapons were slightly weaker than normal attacks, they would be far more effective than the weapons that merely scratched the surface of magical beasts.
Right now, even facing soldier-level magical beasts, the Magic Department had to exert a tremendous effort to deal with them, and sometimes it didn’t lead to a complete solution. Still, if they had Luo Shuangxing’s cards at hand, even just one could pose sufficient threat to general-level magical beasts.
This would be a transformative advancement for the Magic Department!
“Not a chance! Don’t think that all the seniors in the Magic Department are as bad as you all are.” Luo Shuangxing bared her teeth at Luo Shuangyue.
“Believe it or not, just hand over the card to me.” Seeing her sister’s disbelief, Luo Shuangyue couldn’t be bothered to argue; she just didn’t believe that every person at the Magic Department was altruistic.
Besides, tightly protecting Luo Shuangxing and demanding her to produce sealing cards seemed quite beneficial for humanity; it was preferable to letting this treasure factory be threatened on the battlefield.
“What are you going to do?” Luo Shuangxing unwillingly handed the card to Luo Shuangyue.
“Let’s see if I can use it.” Accepting the card from Luo Shuangxing, Luo Shuangyue stepped back a bit, intending to crush the card, but she had to put in considerable effort as the card only cracked a few times.
Afterwards, she channeled magical power, using both hands to exert force, before successfully breaking Luo Shuangxing’s sealing card.
Boom!
The card then exploded, flipping her onto the ground.
“So it’s bound equipment; others can’t use it.”
