"Just as I said before, while the existence of a Mana Source makes a magical girl's use of mana almost instinctive, that doesn't mean we can't control it precisely. Aside from your own lack of mana, the reason you're burning through it so quickly is fundamentally because you use it without any restraint."
It had been two days since the parent-teacher conference. That night, at Lin Xiaolu's home.
Larkspur sat on the sofa, teaching the two newcomers.
Because of today's special arrangements, she had deliberately informed her daughter two days in advance under Lin Yun's identity that she would be away on business in a neighboring city for the day and would not be coming home that night.
Afterward, she had contacted the two newcomers as Larkspur, telling them that the next lesson might be held indoors. She would ask the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau for a venue and wanted to know whether they had any objections.
She had not considered what sort of reaction those two messages might cause together, but the result was that Lin Xiaolu volunteered her own home as the location for their first indoor lesson.
After thinking it over and finding nothing inappropriate about it, Larkspur simply went along with the arrangement.
That day's lesson concerned precise control over their basic abilities and how to plan their mana usage.
The four fundamental abilities of Seed Stage magical girls were flight, enhancement, Mana Release, and Mana Perception. After all, they were only in the initial stage of ability Blossoming, so the means at their disposal were extremely limited.
Once they entered Bud Rank and gained Magic Constructs, then reached Leaf Rank and learned to use Spell Formulas, magical girls' combat methods would gradually diversify, and the differences in their fighting styles would become increasingly apparent.
But regardless of stage, the fundamental abilities they had possessed since Seed Stage were still the ones used most often. Many advanced techniques had therefore been developed from them.
Flight, for example, had given rise to numerous techniques such as "Hover," "Mana Breakfall," "Cannonball Launch," "Perpetual Flight," and "Superspeed Blink." These techniques could alter the effects of flight and allow for more precise control over mana consumption.
Lin Xiaolu's mana control techniques, meanwhile, were utterly dreadful. Whenever she flew, she squandered mana endlessly. Not only did she consume it far too quickly, but she was not particularly fast either. The excess mana she wasted even created an effect like setting off fireworks—impressive in spectacle, but lacking practicality.
Larkspur's lesson today was intended to correct that weakness, or at least make Lin Xiaolu's future goal clear.
After talking continuously for two hours, even with a magical girl's physique, Larkspur felt thirsty. She raised the teacup before her and took a light sip to moisten her throat before speaking again.
"Anyway, that's enough about techniques for now. But you still need a solid foundation. Aside from consciously controlling mana consumption in battle, your own mana reserves are also extremely important."
Setting down her cup, she extended her right hand. "You mentioned that your school had final exams before, so I didn't ask about it. But today, I need to inspect your progress in mana growth."
Several Fawo Runes spread from her palm, forming a halo around her arm. The patterns within flickered in and out of brightness, making it look like a magic circle from some fictional tale.
Clearly, this was some kind of special Spell Formula.
With a calm expression, Larkspur gestured to the two newcomers. "Transform now, then release your mana toward my rune array. This will be your stage assessment for mana training."
As early as their first lesson, she had emphasized to Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang the importance of daily training and taught them the methods magical girls used to improve themselves.
The core powers of a magical girl were mana and the soul. A magical girl's talent for training depended on her soul's sensitivity to mana, as well as the amount of mana she possessed naturally.
However, the power of the soul and will only became evident in the later stages of ability Blossoming. Thus, in the early stages, mana was the more important metric.
A magical girl's total mana was not fixed, because mana could increase through effort. Even a genius content with her current state and unwilling to advance could eventually be surpassed in mana reserves by an ordinary girl who trained diligently.
There were two primary methods of achieving growth through personal effort, known among magical girls as "Force Tempering" and "Soul Meditation."
Force Tempering focused on rapidly increasing mana.
Just as its name implied, it increased mana through continual use. This was not limited to combat; even in daily life, one could actively release mana and practice with it.
Though Force Tempering had obvious effects on mana growth, it did almost nothing for the soul. Furthermore, improving mana through this method was more exhausting, and maintaining it over the long term required tremendous willpower and perseverance.
Soul Meditation, on the other hand, could improve both mana and the soul, making it a more balanced method.
Its principle was to use the Mana Source within the Heart Seed to stir one's own soul, allowing the soul to drive the mana as the two fused and refined one another, thereby achieving simultaneous growth in both powers.
Of course, in terms of mana growth efficiency, Soul Meditation was far inferior to Force Tempering. Its strength lay in its steady, gradual progress.
Neither method was superior to the other, nor were they mutually exclusive. They simply served different purposes. Force Tempering was better suited for magical girls who wanted to rapidly increase their mana in the short term, while Soul Meditation was for daily training.
Only through accumulated Soul Meditation, allowing both mana and soul to meet the requirements for advancement and their fusion to become sufficient to form a True Form, could a Seed Stage magical girl undergo further ability Blossoming and reach Bud Rank.
Under Larkspur's gaze, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang transformed one after another, then hesitantly released their mana.
Pale blue and Hibiscus Purple mana formed two streams of light that connected to Larkspur's rune array. As its radiance shifted between bright and dim, Larkspur learned a great deal of information.
Honestly, it was somewhat better than she had expected.
If she had to assign specific numbers, taking the smallest expenditure for a single Mana Release as one unit, Lin Xiaolu could probably release mana fifty times, while Xia Liang could do so ninety times. By comparison, when they had faced the Cavity-Melting Aberrant Beast, those figures had been around forty and seventy-five respectively.
To balance daily life and mana training for less than a month while still making such obvious progress was already enough to surprise her.
"Mm. You pass."
Retracting the Spell Formula array before her, Larkspur folded her arms, a trace of satisfaction appearing on her face. "You both performed very well."
The moment she said that, the two nervous newcomers both let out long breaths.
For children like them, who disliked studying, Larkspur's assessment was in fact more nerve-racking than their final exams at school.
Lin Xiaolu understood even better that earning the satisfaction of the ever-demanding Larkspur was already something to be proud of.
But for her, this was not enough. Merely satisfying Larkspur was not her true wish.
So after passing this assessment, she hesitated several times before finally speaking. "Larkspur."
"What is it?" Larkspur looked at her.
Meeting those calm, crystalline eyes, like blue gemstones, Lin Xiaolu felt an indescribable pressure. The words she wanted to say caught in her throat.
Would what I say next make me seem overconfident? Would she think I was someone with unrealistic ambitions?
Countless distracting thoughts arose in her mind, making her regret her impulsiveness and instinctively want to retreat.
But just as that urge to back down surfaced, she remembered the man standing in the rain several days ago, and the realization she had felt upon seeing him:
Adults were not always as composed as they appeared.
Was Larkspur, who had always carried herself as a senior and an adult, truly as relaxed as she seemed?
So Lin Xiaolu clenched her fists, made up her mind again, met Larkspur's gaze, and said firmly:
"How strong do I need to become before I can fight alongside you when a crisis appears?"
Before you continue