True Form and Magic Constructs

The nights in the center of Fangting City were always brightly lit, and viewed from above, the interwoven neon and streetlights formed a river of light.

Larkspur leaned against the safety net of the high-rise rooftop, gazing blankly at the incomplete blue disc in her hand.

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

But normally, that was impossible. Given the massive size of a Cavity-Melting Aberrant Beast, there were not many areas in the city sewers it could smoothly pass through, and foraging there was obviously quite difficult for it, let alone lurking constantly and completely unnoticed.

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

For instance, a Pupa-stage Aberrant Beast.

In the two years since Tea Rose and the others left, what on earth had happened in Fangting City, to the extent that even a Pupa-stage Aberrant Beast could take root and build a nest?

Larkspur had to take this issue seriously. Combined with the urban legend of the "Sewer Song" she had previously looked up online, for the past few nights she had been searching everywhere for that potentially existing Pupa-stage Aberrant Beast.

Regrettably, there were still no results.

--"Larkspur?"

A girl's voice came from not far away.

Larkspur raised her head, seeing Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang watching her from the side, and only then realized she seemed to have zoned out somewhat, as it was already class time.

The same roof and rooftop, which had almost become her permanent teaching location; she only needed to send out a notification via phone when getting off work, and once both "students" arrived, today's lesson could begin.

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

Simply explaining the reason for her distraction, Larkspur straightened up and walked toward the center of the rooftop: "If you've both arrived, then let's begin. Tonight I'm going to teach you some advanced things."

"Advanced?" Lin Xiaolu revealed a somewhat interested expression. "Are you going to talk about how to deal with Loopers?"

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

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

The two of them started bickering the moment they met, repeating meaningless banter as they walked a distance with Larkspur, until they saw her turn around, sweep her gaze in a circle, and give two light coughs to signal them to stop and get down to business:

"Let's start right away. What we are going to talk about tonight is an ability that is very important to every Magical Girl: Magic Constructs, referred to as Magic Armaments."

"Oh!" The two Magical Girls reacted intensely, each clapping their hands, accompanied by supporting remarks like "Finally" and "It's this."

Larkspur paused for a moment, waiting until the applause of the two ended, before continuing: "Regarding Magic Armaments, I briefly introduced them to you before, but this time I'll explain them in more detail."

"First, to help you review, every Magical Girl will master her own Magic Armament when her Blossoming reaches the Bud stage. Magic Armaments are the manifestation of a Magical Girl's True Form, so everyone's Magic Armament is different and unique. You should all remember this point."

"As for the True Form, it is the collection of a Magical Girl's magic power and soul. By exercising to enhance magic power, strengthening inspiration through Soul Meditation, and finally developing the Heart Seed to make the two merge into one, one forms her own True Form."

"When a Magical Girl forms her True Form, her Blossoming stage also reaches the Bud stage. Starting from this stage, the appearance of the Magical Girl state will be permanently fixed and never change again, while simultaneously welcoming an explosive growth in magic power. Therefore, the Bud stage is quite an important step for a Magical Girl; once Blossoming reaches the Bud stage, combat power is vastly different from before."

At this point, Xia Liang couldn't help raising her eyes in thought, and then displayed quite strong initiative by raising her hand to indicate she wanted to ask a question.

"Go ahead and ask." Larkspur always felt she wasn't thinking of anything good, but she still reached out to gesture.

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

Just as expected.

Larkspur couldn't help pulling down her eyelids, feeling she had already adapted to Xia Liang's style.

"What kind of strange question are you asking during class?!"

Before she could even give an answer, Lin Xiaolu stepped forward instead: "Show a little respect to Senior Larkspur!"

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

"You're obviously making fun of her height..."

Lin Xiaolu wanted to expose Xia Liang's disguise, but halfway through her words she realized it was inappropriate and turned to look at Larkspur, discovering that Larkspur was indeed staring at her with a blank expression as well.

For a moment, she could neither advance nor retreat, and actually didn't know what to say.

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

Xia Liang squeezed her eyes shut and forced a smile: "After all, if you really entered the Bud stage at 10 years old, you'd actually be considered a pretty amazing genius, right?"

"Ah, speaking of which..." Lin Xiaolu, who had previously frozen, only then reacted belatedly and also looked at Larkspur with curiosity.

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

Faced with the doubts of the two, Larkspur still maintained a blank expression and answered rigidly: "As for the age I became a Magical Girl, I'm actually about the same as you."

Such a rather cold reply clearly could not satisfy the other two Magical Girls, but she ignored the expressions of disappointment on their faces and directly stopped this topic about age and height.

"Let's get back to Magic Armaments."

She clapped her hands, signaling a return to the main topic: "Once a Magical Girl has her True Form, the Magic Armament will naturally be born as the manifestation of that True Form. It will turn into the most suitable weapon for you, even if you don't even know how to use it when you acquire it."

"The innate potential of Magic Armaments is differentiated; some Magical Girls' Magic Armaments are born stronger than others. This point will have special evaluation items during the Kingdom Assessment, so I won't expand on it here."

"But even with innate deficiencies, Magic Armaments can grow through the acquired efforts of the Magical Girl."

"When the magic power and soul that compose your True Form are greatly enhanced, the Magic Armament will also evolve accordingly, becoming stronger than its initial state. And what ultimately determines the power is also magic power, soul, and mastery; these three are the basics when using Magic Armaments."

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

The lesson proceeded as usual.

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

From the initial basic common sense, to subsequent combat skills, and now to the advanced abilities.

Lin Xiaolu's talent was neither good nor bad, but fortunately her attitude was still earnest, and she managed to write down what she learned.

Xia Liang was an unadulterated genius; although she always looked somewhat absent-minded, she could actually quickly master everything Larkspur taught.

In the past, Larkspur hadn't really mentored newcomers much. The only Magical Girl junior she had interacted with before her retirement, code-named Morning Glory, which was Hong Siyu, actually had less than half a year of time working with her.

Now watching the two newcomers grow step by step under her personal guidance, with one of them also being her own daughter, there was an indescribable sense of relief in her heart.

Just like that, about two hours later, Larkspur, who had finished explaining various fragmented knowledge, stood on the rooftop and watched the two Magical Girls wave goodbye and leave.

They needed a safer environment to grow in.

Flashing across her mind was that shattered blue disc. Larkspur waved goodbye with a calm expression while secretly making up her mind in her heart.