Magic Output and Mana Consumption

After a long day, Larkspur finally had time to relax with a good bath at the bathhouse. Then, close to midnight, she lay in bed and stared blankly for a while.

A gentle evening breeze occasionally swept through the well-ventilated cabin, carrying the slightly damp scent of grass, which could quickly relax anyone lying in bed. Thus, Lin Xiaolu's even breathing could be heard from the next bed, while Xia Liang, who was further away, had long since fallen silent.

Larkspur felt she should relax a bit, but too many things had happened today, leaving her with too many worries. She was concerned about the potential problems behind the fact that "Larkspur" and "Lin Yun" shared the same birthday, and the things they discussed during her meeting with Ink Lotus He also troubled her.

But she knew that continuing to overthink wouldn't solve the problem; what she needed was rest. So she closed her eyes, cleared her mind, and tried to stop thinking.

This method did indeed have some effect; once the chaotic thoughts were blocked, mental and physical exhaustion quickly overwhelmed her, bringing her into a deep sleep.

Yes, slumber.

Perhaps because the gem was repaired, Larkspur has been able to sleep in the form of a magical girl for the past two days, instead of having to rely on severing her thoughts to put her mind into hibernation as before.

Whether this was good or bad for her, Larkspur didn't know yet, but for now, it certainly eased her mind. Therefore, she didn't resist this feeling and let herself slowly sink into it.

Then, the Larkspur had another dream.

"Maintain a balance in the output of magic. Use your soul and True Form to control it properly and maintain this state. Okay, that's fine. Just keep floating like this."

Cornflower gestured for Nim to stop in mid-air, indicating "pause": "Can you feel it? The state of the magic within your body?"

A gentle breeze swept across the hillside south of Luen Nore, rippling the vast grassland in waves of green. As the newly appointed squad leader of the City Defense Army, Cornflower was instructing the youngest magical girl in her unit— Nim Cregios.

Although she didn't like the feeling of having all the troublesome things pushed onto her, Cornflower tried her best to fulfill her role as a teacher, and Nim was a relatively obedient magical girl, so the process went fairly smoothly.

"The state of magic?"

As a mere Seed-level magical girl, Nim naturally couldn't learn any advanced combat techniques. So, at this moment, she was only learning the most basic magic control from Cornflower: "It feels... like I'm always holding something up?"

What she is learning now is a compulsory course for magical girls on the battlefield, called "Magic Output and Consumption".

"Your feeling is correct. That's because in this situation, you're using magic to maintain your 'flying' state, so some of your magic power is being used."

Nim's answer pleased Cornflower, so she nodded and continued the explanation, "Keep it up. You can fire a few magic bullets in this state, use all your strength, and try to land as many attacks as possible."

"Hold on, launch it like this?"

Nim paused upon hearing this, then took a breath, silently chanted an incantation, raised her wand, and pointed it forward. Several streaks of cyan magic immediately swirled at the tip of her wand, then transformed into bullets and shot forward.

Whoosh!

The sheer number of beams was impossible to count, but at first glance, there were more than a dozen beams piercing through the air, striking several falling leaves straight through, shattering them without even leaving a trace.

"Is this... alright, Captain?"

After doing all this, Nim swayed and almost lost her balance while floating in the air, but she still turned around and looked at Cornflower with hopeful eyes.

--"very nice."

This is the evaluation given by Cornflower.

While clapping to acknowledge the team's performance, Cornflower further elaborated, "At the seed level, your use of magic bullets is undoubtedly quite mature, with excellent power and speed. I can see the effort you've put in."

"Oh, hehe, it's not that amazing."

Nim smiled a little sheepishly, "It's just that we were learning this at the Silver Gallery, and if we didn't do it well, the nannies would scold us... so we learned it."

"Whatever the reason, this is your hard work, and we should believe that your efforts will not be in vain."

Cornflower interrupted her modesty and continued, "However, do you have any further feelings? For example, is it the same to use a magic bullet while floating in the air like this as it is to use one while standing on the ground?"

"Standing on the ground?"

Nim thought for a moment, "It seems different?"

"What's different?" Cornflower coaxed patiently.

"It feels like... fewer magic bullets were fired this time compared to usual, and they were also a bit weaker," Nim concluded.

"Very good, then let's remember this pattern. Now I ask you, if I were to ask you to keep flying while activating a wide range of Mana Perception, maintaining a sense of the surrounding 500 meters, what do you think would happen if you were then asked to fire a magic bullet under such conditions?" Cornflower asked.

"Hmm, will it become weaker?" Nim answered without hesitation.

"That's right, it seems you've fully grasped it. This is what we call 'mana manipulation'."

Cornflower swung her wand, drawing a circle in the air. "To understand the concept of magic usage, we first need to explain what 'magic output' means. For example, let's assume you have 100 units of magic in your body. Then, if you exert all your strength to release magic outwards, how long would it take you to use up all 100 units of magic? Would it be used up in an instant?"

"This definitely won't work, right?"

Nim, who comes from the Silver Gallery, undoubtedly has a richer reserve of basic knowledge than other types of magical girls. "I've had a similar experience before. It feels like it would take at least 30 seconds to use up all the magic power in my body."

"30 seconds... that's not bad, but have you ever thought about why it has to be 30 seconds?"

Cornflower tapped her wand on the circle she had just drawn, then cut off one-thirtieth of it as a small piece. "Is it because you didn't use your full strength? Or is it that your magic is fragmented and cannot be used in its entirety?"

"That doesn't feel right, does it? I definitely used all my strength, and I can also feel that the magic is within its True Form."

Nim pondered for a moment and said, "So, it's because of the 'magic output' you mentioned, Captain?"

"Great reasoning! Your learning ability truly amazes me."

Cornflower promptly praised, "That's right. You can't use up all your magic power at once because your body has a limitation called 'magic output.' Let's say you have 100 magic power in your body, and it takes you 30 seconds to use it all up. If we do a little calculation, we can conclude that your magic output is 3.3."

Pulling out the small piece from the large circle to form a smaller circle, Cornflower continued to cut this smaller circle, "So, let's continue our deduction. When you can only use 3.3 magic per second, maintaining flight will consume 1 magic. Therefore, if you were to fire a magic bullet at this point, you would actually only be able to use 2.3 magic. So, what should we call this consumed 1?"

"...Mana usage," Nim replied, blinking.

"Yes, this '1' represents the magic power you expend when flying."

Cornflower nodded. "That's also why your magic bullets become weaker."

"I see."

Nim seemed to understand something. "So, if I want to attack the enemy with all my might in actual combat, then I should stop flying, even stop sensing, and use all my magic power for offense?"

That's certainly true.

Cornflower remained noncommittal. "However, in actual combat, we usually apply it the other way around."

"The other way around?" Nim was a little confused.

"When you're about to attack an enemy, it's best to use only 2.3 of your magic power, leaving the 1 as a reserve."

Cornflower lightly tapped the circle in front of her, then pushed out a small ring from it. "Only in this way can you have the strength to dodge when attacked by the enemy; otherwise, you will only be hit head-on."

"I see..." Nim's expression was as if a new world had been opened for her. "I understand!"

"Yes, you understand, but understanding isn't enough."

Cornflower shook her wand. "You're only at the Seed level now, but as you continue to Blossoming, you'll get Magic Armament at the Bud Rank, Spell Formula at the Leaf Rank, and even Wonderland later on... As your abilities increase, your mana usage in battle will become increasingly complex. Many times, you'll even have to stop using one or two abilities to ensure your safety. And how to combine these abilities and plan your mana usage is a never-ending learning process."

"I can ask you a question now. If you reach the Blossom Rank, your magic output is 5. And the Wonderland you possess must be combined with the Magic Armament ability. If these two abilities are used together, the magic consumption is 4. Now, you only have 1 spare output left, and your enemy is fleeing away from you. Should you use this 1 to accelerate your flight, or save this 1 to guard against the enemy's sneak attack?" Cornflower looked at Nim.

"Uh... catch up?" Nim replied after a moment's thought.

"If I were your enemy, and we had been fighting for a long time, and I had figured out the range of your magic usage, then I would try to ambush you at this moment." Cornflower crossed her arms. "Then you would be turned around by me and put at a disadvantage."

"Should I leave one unit of strength behind and slowly approach the enemy?" Nim herself seemed to have doubts about this answer.

"Wouldn't that mean letting them escape?"

Cornflower sighed, "The answer is to directly interrupt the use of the ability and chase after the person first."

"Ah, I see..." Nim bit her lip somewhat awkwardly.

"So, this leads to a new question: should we frequently use our full strength in battle?"

Like a true teacher, Cornflower continued to ask questions, "You don't need to consider these things when fighting the Aberrant Beast, because the Aberrant Beast are monsters without intelligence. But when you are on the battlefield, and your enemies are experienced Interrealm soldiers, frequently unleashing your full power will allow them to predict your magic output, causing you to be at a disadvantage in the battle."

"Ah, ha..." Nim was starting to get a little confused.

"Plan your own occupation, conceal your own output, while anticipating the enemy's output, and finally judge their possible actions based on the enemy's occupation."

Knowing that what she was imparting was somewhat beyond the scope of her lecturing, Cornflower finally stopped her narration in time. "This is the behavior a mature soldier should exhibit. Rather, it's about doing these things when the enemy transforms from Aberrant Beast into a living adversary; only by doing these things can you survive on the battlefield."

"Um... I'll try my best." Nim could only nod obediently.

"Don't worry too much, because the battle lines haven't reached us yet, and you have plenty of time to learn."

Cornflower reassured her, "You have a great talent; I believe you'll learn these things very quickly."

"Yes, sir!" Nim gave a proper military salute. "I will become a magical girl as powerful as the captain!"

"Actually, you could choose a more challenging target."

Cornflower somewhat helplessly, "I'm just a newbie myself, and what I say might not always be right."

"It's okay, in my heart, the captain is the strongest!"

Nim flashed a bright smile, "Even if it's not now, it will be in the future!"

Stop trying to flatter others.

Cornflower rolled her eyes at her. "You're in charge of cleaning the second floor of the camp this afternoon, there's no escaping it."

"I know, I wasn't planning on saying that."

Nim stuck out her tongue. "And I wasn't flattering you, that's the truth."

It must be said that Nim is indeed a very qualified player.

Although she is still young and lacks both strength and experience, she has a very cheerful personality and a precocious ability to think. Often, when Cornflower and Nim are talking, they subconsciously forget that they are talking to a child who is only ten years old.

Unlike her older sister, who always seemed timid and hesitant, this ten-year-old magical girl maintained an optimistic attitude towards most things, yet was humble enough to be humble towards her seniors in the same team. Therefore, although many members were somewhat dissatisfied when she first joined the team, they gradually accepted Nim as they spent more time together.

It's not about sympathy or pity for young children, but simply about equal recognition.

However, Nim also has many childlike traits. For example, in front of Cornflower, she always shows an exaggerated kind of worship and often regards what her captain said as the only truth.

That would have been fine, but she would also frequently promote so-called "Cornflower quotes" to other team members and even outsiders, which quickly earned her the nickname "Little Cornflower Guardian".