Chapter 26: True Form and Magic Constructs

The night in the center of Fang Ting is always brightly lit; looking down from a height, the intertwined neon lights and streetlamps form a river of light.

Cuique leaned against the safety netting of the high-rise rooftop, looking at the broken blue disc in her hand, her expression dazed.

After several days of investigation, she had basically confirmed that this object was some kind of pipe valve from the sewer. Without a doubt, since this object was found inside the body of a Cavity-type Residual Beast, it meant that it had once lived in the city's sewers.

But normally, this would be impossible. Given the massive size of a Cavity-type Residual Beast, there are few areas in the city sewers it could pass through smoothly; clearly, foraging for food inside would be quite difficult for it, let alone hiding there constantly without being noticed at all.

Unless there was some kind of existence in the sewers that provided it with food while also concealing its tracks.

For example, a Pupa-stage Residual Beast.

In the two years since Tu Mi and the others left, what exactly happened in Fang Ting that even a Pupa-stage Residual Beast could take root and build a nest?

Cuique had to take this problem seriously. Combining this with the urban legend of "the singing in the sewers" she had previously found online, she had been searching everywhere for that potentially existing Pupa-stage Residual Beast for the past few nights.

Regrettably, there were no results yet.

——"Cuique?"

A girl's voice came from not far away.

Cuique looked up and saw Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang watching her from the side, only then realizing she seemed to have been lost in thought, and that it was already time for class.

On the same building and rooftop, this place had almost become her permanent teaching location; she only needed to send a notification on her phone after work, and once both "students" arrived, she could begin the day's lesson.

"It's nothing, just thinking about something."

After briefly explaining the reason for her distraction, Cuique straightened up and walked toward the center of the rooftop: "If you're both here, let's begin. Tonight, I should teach you some advanced things."

"Advanced?" Lin Xiaolu showed an interested expression, "Are you going to talk about how to deal with a Looper?"

"I think your idea of 'advanced' is a bit too ambitious," Xia Liang laughed helplessly.

"What I think has nothing to do with you, right?" Lin Xiaolu curled her lips.

The two started bickering the moment they met; after repeating some meaningless squabbling while walking a distance with Cuique, they saw her turn around, scan the area, and cough twice to signal them to stop and get to the point:

"Let's start directly. What we are going to talk about tonight is an ability that is very important for every Magical Girl: Magic Construct, or Magic Gear for short."

"Oh!" The two Magical Girls responded enthusiastically, clapping their hands, accompanied by supportive comments like "Finally" and "So it's this."

Cuique paused for a moment, waiting for their applause to end, before continuing: "Regarding Magic Gear, I have briefly introduced it to you before, but this time I will speak about it in more detail."

"First, let me help you review: every Magical Girl will master her own Magic Gear when her ability blooming reaches the Bud stage. Magic Gear is the manifestation of a Magical Girl's True Form, so everyone's Magic Gear is different and unique. You should both remember this."

"As for the True Form, it is the collective body of a Magical Girl's magic power and soul. By exercising to increase magic power and strengthening inspiration through spiritual thought, one eventually develops the Seed of the Heart to fuse the two together, forming one's own True Form."

"When a Magical Girl forms her True Form, her ability blooming stage reaches the Bud stage. From this stage on, the appearance of her Magical Girl state will remain constant forever and will never change again, while simultaneously ushering in an explosive growth of magic power. Therefore, the Bud stage is a very important threshold for a Magical Girl; once ability blooming reaches the Bud stage, combat power is worlds apart from before."

As Cuique said this, Xia Liang couldn't help but raise her eyes in thought, then showed quite a bit of initiative by raising her hand to indicate she wanted to ask a question.

"Ask." Cuique always felt she wasn't thinking of anything good, but still gestured for her to proceed.

Xia Liang received permission and immediately asked with a grin: "So, little senior, did you reach the Bud stage at 10 years old?"

As expected.

Cuique couldn't help but lower her eyelids, feeling that she had already adapted to Xia Liang's style.

"Why are you asking such strange questions during class!"

Before she could give an answer, Lin Xiaolu stood up first: "Show some respect to Senior Cuique!"

"Is this question strange?" Xia Liang looked innocent.

"You're clearly just teasing her height..."

Lin Xiaolu wanted to expose Xia Liang's facade, but realized it was inappropriate halfway through and turned to look at Cuique, only to find that Cuique was indeed looking at her expressionlessly.

For a moment, she didn't know whether to advance or retreat, and actually didn't know what to say.

"Hmm? Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I was just curious."

Xia Liang squeezed her eyes and laughed along: "After all, if you really entered the Bud stage at 10, that would actually count as a very impressive genius, right?"

"Ah, come to think of it..." The originally frozen Lin Xiaolu realized belatedly and also looked at Cuique with curiosity.

"No, my appearance just looks young after transforming."

Facing the two's confusion, Cuique remained expressionless and answered stiffly: "In terms of the age at which I became a Magical Girl, I'm actually about the same as you."

The rather cold reply clearly could not satisfy the other two Magical Girls, but she ignored the disappointment on their faces and stopped the topic about age and height.

"Back to Magic Gear."

She clapped her hands to signal a return to the main topic: "After a Magical Girl has a True Form, the Magic Gear will be born naturally as the manifestation of the True Form. It will become the most suitable weapon for you, even if you didn't know how to use it when you first obtained it."

"There are distinctions in the innate potential of Magic Gear; some Magical Girls' Magic Gear is naturally stronger than others. There will be special evaluation items for this during the national assessment, so I won't elaborate on it here."

"But even if the innate potential is insufficient, Magic Gear can grow through the Magical Girl's acquired efforts."

"When the magic power and soul that make up your True Form are greatly improved, the Magic Gear will also evolve accordingly, becoming stronger than its initial state. And what ultimately determines power is magic power, soul, and the degree of mastery; these three are the basics when using Magic Gear."

"Next, I will use my own Magic Gear to demonstrate for you..."

The lesson proceeded as usual.

Two weeks had passed since Lin Xiaolu became a Magical Girl, and it had been over a week since Xia Liang became one; the basic knowledge Cuique instilled in them grew day by day.

From the initial basic common sense to the later combat techniques, and now to advanced abilities.

Lin Xiaolu's talent was neither good nor bad, but fortunately, her attitude was earnest enough that she managed to remember what she was taught.

Xia Liang was an out-and-out genius; although she always seemed a bit absent-minded, she could actually master what Cuique taught very quickly.

In the past, Cuique hadn't really mentored newcomers; the only Magical Girl junior she had any interaction with before retiring, codenamed Morning Glory, or Hong Siyu, had actually worked with her for less than half a year.

Now, watching two newcomers grow bit by bit under her personal guidance, with one of them being her own daughter, she felt an indescribable sense of gratification.

Just like that, after about two hours, Cuique, having finished explaining various bits of knowledge, stood on the rooftop and watched the two Magical Girls say goodbye and leave.

She had to provide them with a safer environment to grow.

With that broken blue disc flashing through her mind, Cuique waved goodbye with a calm expression, while secretly making a resolution in her heart.