Larkspur had told Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang during her lessons that a magical girl's Magic Armament could grow through acquired effort.
This claim was not without basis, because she herself was an example. When she had first become a magical girl, her Magic Construct had not actually looked like this.
Back then, she had neither the nearly endless number of threads she possessed now nor the Tailor's Scissors she held in her hand. All she had was a sphere made of magical threads. If she had to compare it to something, it looked like a ball of yarn.
The ball of thread could only release a limited number of magical threads when unfurled, and their strength was barely passable. They had almost no killing power and could only occasionally be used to restrict an Aberrant Beast's movements. Such a weak Magic Armament had left Lin Yun dejected for a long time. Not only Anya, but even someone as willful as Su Shengzi had offered him a few words of comfort out of humanitarian concern.
For a long time afterward, Lin Yun had used his Magic Armament as a means of controlling enemies, fighting with basic magical techniques.
This continued until he advanced to Leaf Rank. After becoming absorbed in Soul Meditation, he discovered that the strength of his magical threads had increased significantly. They could bind more powerful enemies, and he could sharpen them into blades capable of directly cutting apart weaker Aberrant Beasts.
He began specializing in a combat style centered on wielding threads. The more he used them, the more proficient he became; the more proficient he became, the more they evolved; the more they evolved, the stronger they became. The number of threads grew by the day, and their strength became as solid as stone.
But this style of fighting had its limits.
Once the reinforcement of the threads themselves had reached its limit, increasing the Magic Armament's destructive power became exceedingly difficult. Lin Yun once again felt the limits of his own abilities.
Was there any way for him to go further?
Lin Yun had once thought that way, desperately hoping to become stronger. Then, as though answering his wish, his Magic Armament changed once more—
The threads intertwined and converged, continuously changing shape under Larkspur's control. As if being pulled by a giant hand, they broke free of their half-visible form and revealed a new appearance:
Fluorescent blue magical threads wove together into an exquisitely sculpted cube. Its center was hollow, sheltering Larkspur within, while its surface was covered in dense openwork patterns. It looked like a fragile piece of art.
The fish-shaped Aberrant Beast's strongest sonic attack was stopped by that seemingly fragile work of art.
"How exaggerated. If it had been given a little more time, what I'd be facing probably wouldn't be a Pupa Stage Aberrant Beast anymore."
Larkspur released her hand, and the threads in her vision relaxed with it. The cube of threads protecting her body dispersed. Her expression was cold as she murmured, "Fortunately, I wasn't too late."
As soon as she finished speaking, all the magical threads in the sky let out a low hum.
As though responding to the Aberrant Beast's grand performance from before, their resonance rose from low to high. Then, the magical threads connecting the entire cavern began to turn.
They spun, descended, and gathered again, changing in an orderly fashion. Hollow blades formed from magical threads, seemingly devoid of any killing power, emerged one after another in the air along the inner walls. More and more blades floated in the air until the fluorescent blue overhead merged into a sea of light.
If the threads themselves were not strong enough, then use them to weave cloth. If the cloth was too soft, then make the threads hard.
When the threads forming that "cloth" reached a certain level of strength and possessed exceptional sharpness, the "cloth" itself would become indestructible.
"Masterpiece"—that was the name Larkspur had given this form of her Magic Construct.
She had used this ability on the night she saved Lin Xiaolu, but she had only been facing a Looper Tier Aberrant Beast then. There had been no need for her to fully unleash her strength.
Now, she could act without restraint.
At some point, the fish-shaped Aberrant Beast in the center of the cavern had also been completely bound. Its mouthparts opened and closed, but its heavily compressed body could only produce hoarse, "Hoo, hoo," sounds of rushing air.
Larkspur raised her hand and grasped several magical threads again. The sharp buzzing all around them ceased with that motion.
The concert was over.
The boundless fluorescent blue surged toward the Aberrant Beast at the center and the chunks of flesh around it. Swift as wind and lightning, it crossed the distance in an instant, leaving only a chorus of sizzling sounds.
The enormous fish-shaped Aberrant Beast, the Egg Rank Aberrant Beasts covering the ground, and the previously active tentacles around them all turned into fragments that filled the air beneath that strike.
The cavern shook as this space gradually collapsed.
Amid the filthy water and rotting flesh on the ground, specks of light like a nebula emerged and streamed into Larkspur's palm.
Once an Aberrant Beast reached the Pupa Stage, its Echo became more valuable. It could earn more contribution within the Kingdom, which also meant access to higher-quality resources.
Those resources were useless to Larkspur herself, but they could undoubtedly help Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang improve their strength faster and become capable of standing on their own sooner.
It seemed that someone had calculated this in the early years: under optimal resource allocation, just three Pupa Stage Echoes could provide enough exchanged resources to ensure that a magical girl with extremely poor talent could Blossom to Leaf Rank. And considering that the magical girl herself would also train her magic and practice Soul Meditation, three was actually more than enough.
Unfortunately, Moko currently had no ability to contact the Kingdom at all. If she wanted to exchange resources from the Kingdom, she would probably have to make a trip back herself.
As Larkspur thought this, magic surged beneath her feet. She intended to rush straight out of this cavern as quickly as possible.
But before she left, she suddenly seemed to sense something and lowered her head. Beside the Aberrant Beast's remains, in the middle of the pool, there appeared to be a structure resembling an altar.
An altar?
The space on the verge of collapse would not support her staying any longer, so she could only commit the image to memory. Larkspur took one more deep look at the place, then stopped lingering. She accelerated and left the cavern like wind chasing lightning.
With the Pupa Stage Aberrant Beast slain, the Nest it had created naturally vanished without a trace. Thus, once Larkspur left the cavern, she also left the complicated spatial labyrinth behind. By the time she returned to reality, she was already standing in some unknown sewer.
She continued flying and soon found an exit. Knocking open the manhole cover, she flew out and finally left the foul-smelling sewer, returning at long last to the surface and its fresh air.
But Larkspur's expression did not improve because of her return.
She drifted down to the ground and, almost without pausing, took out her phone. Once she confirmed that she had signal again, she immediately dialed a number.
"...Hello?"
Before long, a sleepy female voice came from the other end. "What is it? It's the middle of the night."
"I think I need an explanation."
Still on the phone, Larkspur kicked the manhole cover by the roadside, sending it neatly back into its original position:
"What else has your Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau been hiding from me?"
Thanks to readers 20181009082714619, Sakuyume Jiyi, Erythromycin Luo, 20230119085258913, Seal Seal, Amalur, 20220813215019968, I Must Regroup the Troops, and 20230117182813933 for their donations.
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