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"This is... Heart Leaf?"
Larkspur can naturally distinguish the appearance of the Heart Gem at different stages of its Blossoming. She had seen Bai Jingxuan's Heart Gem a few days ago when it was still a Heart Bud, which means that its Blossoming again is only a matter of the last two days.
"It only became like this today."
Bai Jingxuan nodded, undoubtedly confirming Larkspur's thoughts. "Although I felt a few days ago that it was almost time for Blossoming, I still wanted to wait until it was actually done before telling the teacher."
Her explanation made Xia Liang, who was standing to the side, nod in understanding:
"I see. No wonder you didn't want to go shopping with us this morning. You were secretly cramming behind our backs."
Having figured out the key point, a smile tinged with affection appeared on her face. She reached out and gently rubbed Bai Jingxuan's cheek. "You could have just told us directly. It would have been safer for you to have someone look after you when Blossoming. Why were you so impulsive?"
She was indeed somewhat surprised by this, but not to the point of being astonished. In fact, Bai Jingxuan had already reached the Bud Rank five months ago. And she herself had progressed from the Bud Rank to the Leaf Rank even faster than that.
Unfortunately, she was indeed judging others by her own standards in this matter. Little did she know that for a normal magical girl to accumulate experience and grow step by step from the extraction of Magic Armament to eventually reach the Leaf Rank, it takes years. Anyone who can advance from the Bud Rank to the Leaf Rank within a year can be considered a rare genius, let alone someone like her and Bai Jingxuan who reached the Leaf Rank in just five months. If you told people that, probably few would believe it.
Of course, this is partly due to their outstanding individual talent, but also because of the saturated, close guidance they received from the Flower Card magical girls, and even later, multiple Flower Card magical girls.
When Lin Xiaolu first became a magical girl, Larkspur taught her juniors techniques for increasing the total amount of magical power: two methods called "Soul Meditation" and "Force Tempering." One method could increase both the total amount of magical power and the size of the soul in a balanced way, but it was slower; the other method could increase the total amount of magical power quickly, but it did not improve the soul at all.
This method of differentiation is relatively objective and accurate, and it was more than sufficient for the two juniors who were only at the species level at that time and still needed to learn a lot of basic skills and common sense.
Most magical girls progress from Blossoming -level to Bud Rank over a period of six months to a year, becoming standard combatants for a magical girl. Afterward, they spend three to four years, under the guidance of their seniors, slowly working their way up to Leaf Rank. If they still possess considerable combat talent at this stage, they can try hunting more Aberrant Beast to accumulate the resources needed to advance to Blossom Rank. However, if they lack talent and don't particularly enjoy combat, they often learn some basic Spell Formula and serve as solid Leaf Rank combatants, contributing to the security of their city for five years. After completing their ten-year term, they can then enjoy a worry-free later life.
Among these resources, one that is repeatedly mentioned is the "Echo" from the Aberrant Beast.
The magical girl Echo to the Seeder, who then passes it on to the Kingdom. This allows the Seeder to assess the girl's merits and award her a prize. Among these prizes, the most crucial items are the "Love Crystal" and the "Heart Honey."
The so-called "Love Crystal," as the name suggests, is indeed intricately related to the "Love Source." This item is typically Rule pink crystal, a perfect complement to a magical girl's Mana Source. By harnessing the power of the Love Crystal, a magical girl can rapidly increase her total magical power, even nourishing her soul. However, this increased power is often temporary and requires the magical girl to practice diligently and adapt to the boost before she can continue using it.
As for "Heart Honey," it is a different resource entirely produced by the Garden. It plays a significant role in enhancing the soul of magical girls. Although it cannot directly increase the soul's mass, it can make the enhancement of the soul during a magical girl's Soul Meditation twice as effective. The advantage of this resource compared to Love Crystal is that it can be used continuously to maintain this rapid growth.
When Larkspur first became a magical girl, her peers referred to the process of increasing her strength by exchanging resources through Echo as "hunting" or "taking drugs." But now, unbeknownst to her, the new generation of magical girls has begun to jokingly call this behavior "spending money."
To advance from the Bud Rank to the Leaf Rank by spending money or using consumables, one needs three Pupa Stage Echo. However, to advance from the Leaf Rank to the Blossom Rank, one needs 20 Pupa Stage or two Half-Molt Echo. This exorbitant exchange rate makes it virtually impossible for most magical girls to become stronger through spending money. Unless a magical girl possesses exceptional combat skills, capable of participating in the siege of pupae at the Bud Rank and then soloing pupae at the Leaf Rank, she simply cannot accumulate the necessary merits.
However, there is no doubt that the Fangting City Squad has unique advantages in this regard.
Lark's own Heart Gem has already reached the Flower level of awakening. As for whether there is any possibility of further awakening at the Flower level, the millennia-long history of the Magic Kingdom has proven that "there is none." She herself can also feel that her abilities have almost reached the limit of what she can control, and there is no way to go any further.
So, ever since the Full Moon Festival last year, she has been connected with Chrysoberyl Cat's Eye and even Emerald, and has also made Moko, who was originally a smuggler, a legitimate Seeder. She has been using all the Echo she has accumulated to feed her descendants.
With such rapid training and close observation from Flower Card, and a training plan designed to minimize side effects, it's no surprise that the younger generation improves faster than their peers in magical girl magic. Of course, reaching Leaf Rank in just five months is still an exaggerated achievement.
As for Asō Madoka, she invested a great deal in training the Bai'an City Squad, which is why the magical girls of Bai'an City possess such impressive strength at a relatively young age. This kind of training is destined to enable those children to grow into practical combatants in the future, thus becoming an asset to the Kingdom. The children and Asō Madoka themselves are well aware of this, and they keep it to themselves.
Whenever this topic comes up, Larkspur can't help but think of Anya, because even after becoming Flower Card, Anya never gave up on the idea of continuing to improve her strength. With Lin Yun's support, and even his curiosity about the limits of magical girl abilities, the couple agreed to Anya's plan to continue exploring the path of magical girls. Lin Yun was responsible for all the expenses of the family of three. A small portion of the Echo Anya obtained from defeating the Aberrant Beast would be converted into savings to prepare for emergencies, while the rest would all be converted into Love Crystal and Heart Honey.
Anya's own formidable strength, along with her willingness to continuously undertake missions to hunt Aberrant Beast and improve herself, gradually made her known as the Strong Flower in the world. However, even so, her Heart Gem has never shown any sign of Blossoming again.
Until his death.
Therefore, since her comeback, Larkspur has basically given up on spending money on herself and has instead focused all her resources on her juniors.