Magic Is Full

Chapter 38: Magic = Being Full

In the early morning, the once lush forest had turned into a wasteland. Black flames burned fiercely on the dark earth, and in the center of the sea of black fire, a figure lay sleeping. Countless flames surrounded her, her long, straight black hair spread across the ground, her pale skin as cold and white as the snow on a ten-thousand-year-old mountain.

Within the flames, the girl's tightly shut eyes slowly opened. Her black pupils burned with a dark flame. Her exquisite and beautiful face was filled with coldness and deathly stillness. Instead of finding her appearance cute, she exuded hatred.

It was a hatred that seemed capable of burning the entire world to ashes.

In the sea of black fire, Nina slowly raised her palm. Dark flames flowed obediently upon it, as if they were a part of her body. At this moment, Nina understood the essence of the power she had gained: it was the flame born from the endless hatred in her soul.

The former her was already dead. All that remained was an empty shell that had lost everything. Her soul had transformed into the flames of vengeance.

"Kainas."

The next second, Nina turned her head to look at Kainas's corpse not far away. A hint of sadness appeared on her cold face. She slowly walked forward and picked up Kainas's body. Black flames ignited in Nina's hands.

Within the flames, Kainas's young body gradually turned into ashes.

"Tears. So, I've already lost the right to cry."

Watching the ashes slowly dissipate, Nina raised her hand and touched her cheek. Her smooth skin was completely dry, not a single trace of moisture. At this moment, she had even forgotten how to cry; all that remained was the endless hatred in her heart.

"If that's the case, from this moment on, I am the Witch of Vengeance. The flames of vengeance will burn everything!"

As Nina spoke, the sea of black fire began to boil. Endless flames converged around her, as if celebrating the birth of their queen. The flames transformed into black armor, leaving only the desolate land behind. From then on, the human Nina had completely vanished, replaced by a vengeful witch named Nina.

Under the golden sunlight, the Witch of Vengeance stepped out of the desolate land. Ahead lay a vibrant forest, and behind her was the dark, dead land.

Meanwhile, in a small wooden house deep within the forest of the Kingdom of Blooms.

The morning sun streamed through the gaps in the wooden house, illuminating the entire room. A little girl sleeping on a worn wooden bed had a happy smile on her face. Her small mouth moved as if she were saying something, and she tightly hugged a sky-blue slime in her arms.

"Hey, hey! Sally, drool, drool! It's dripping!"

Lu Minghao opened his eyes and immediately saw a crystal drop falling from Sally's mouth. She was mumbling in her sleep that she couldn't eat anymore of something. Seeing the drool getting closer and closer and with no sign of Sally waking up, Lu Minghao quickly wriggled out of her embrace.

"Minghao, what are you doing?"

On the bed, after Lu Minghao left her arms, Sally groggily opened her eyes. She rubbed her big eyes and looked at the round slime beside her. A shy smile appeared on her small face as she picked Lu Minghao up and held him in the air, asking, "What are you doing?"

"Of course, I'm dodging that thing."

Lu Minghao extended a small finger and pointed to the lingering crystal on Sally's lips and the pillow that was clearly damp. Sally blinked her big eyes and looked where Lu Minghao was pointing. Her small face instantly turned bright red, and she buried her face into Lu Minghao's body.

The soft, elastic body made Sally instinctively nuzzle him. But halfway through, Sally remembered that Lu Minghao had pointed to her mouth earlier. She quickly put Lu Minghao down and lowered her head, not daring to look at him again.

"...Alright, it's time to find today's food."

Lu Minghao looked helplessly at Sally, who was lowering her head and only daring to sneak glances at him. Faced with this situation, what else could Lu Minghao do? He could only forgive her. After all, he had come into contact with all sorts of things in the sewers back then.

"Hehe, Minghao, you're the best."

Hearing Lu Minghao's words, Sally quickly lifted her small head, picked up Lu Minghao, and rubbed her face against him repeatedly. Her small face was covered in a silly smile. If the villagers in the nearby village saw Sally like this, they would surely wonder if they were dreaming.

Lu Minghao looked at the smiling Sally. A smile also appeared on his round body. Since yesterday, Sally had suddenly become very dependent on him for some reason, but Lu Minghao didn't dislike the feeling.

They were similar beings.

Under the warm sunlight, deep in the forest, a girl not yet ten years old walked, holding a slime in her arms and a tattered wooden basket slung over her arm. Her short legs bounced along the grass. Occasionally, she would pick up a butterfly, show it to the slime in her arms, and then directly stuff it into the slime's body, watching as the butterfly was gradually dissolved.

"So amazing, it can really eat it."

Sally blinked her big eyes, filled with curiosity and envy, watching the butterfly disappear into Lu Minghao's body. Last night at dinner, Sally, worried that Lu Minghao wouldn't eat enough, wanted to share her food with him. But Lu Minghao said he didn't need it, and that if he really needed it, this little bit of food wouldn't be enough.

At that time, after hearing that this little bit of food wasn't enough, Sally almost cried. With red eyes, she promised Lu Minghao that she would work hard in the future so he could eat his fill.

Seeing Sally on the verge of tears, Lu Minghao realized he had said the wrong thing. He quickly said that he wasn't hungry and could digest anything. He even performed an act of eating dirt for Sally on the spot. This was precisely why Sally was now feeding Lu Minghao butterflies.

In her words, since she had caught it, it would be a waste not to eat it.

"Oh right, Minghao, do you want to eat this?"

The next second, Sally grinned and pulled out a half-meter-long snake from behind her. She dangled it in front of Lu Minghao. In fact, this was what Sally had originally wanted to catch; the butterfly was just an afterthought.

"We'll save it for your extra meal later."

Lu Minghao looked at the wriggling snake in Sally's hand. A thin, sharp ice spike appeared out of thin air, freezing the snake's contorted body. The sudden change startled Sally, and she instinctively let go of the now rigid snake.

"Is this magic?"

The next second, realizing it was Lu Minghao who had done it, Sally's big eyes blinked rapidly as she looked at the slime in her arms. Having grown up scavenging in garbage heaps, she had also seen adventurers in armor or robes, wielding various weapons, on the streets.

She had especially envied the magic used by adventurers, fantasizing about being able to use magic herself. Because if she had such power, she would never have to worry about her hard-earned food being snatched away by wild dogs, or she could hunt for herself to fill her stomach.

In short, for Sally, magic was the power that would prevent her from ever going hungry.

To put it simply, magic = being full.