The Natives of This World Are So Fierce - Chapter 17: Magic Power Awakening
The sensation was rather uncanny, and Qin Xiaoxia couldn't help trying to get a clearer grasp of it.
The wind around him and the stench rising from the river seemed to help sharpen that sensation.
In his mind, information in a different palette, perspective, and style gradually began to appear alongside his normal vision.
Doudou was holding Qin Xiaoxia's hand, watching the river from a distance. To him, the large workboat with its mechanical arm looked like a monster, too.
Suddenly, a heart-stopping sensation came from beside him. Doudou couldn't help jumping several steps away before turning to stare at Qin Xiaoxia in shock.
Through Doudou's eyes, a hazy, transparent distortion, like the shimmer of hot air, enveloped Qin Xiaoxia, and it was gradually growing denser.
Magic power! A kind I've never seen before!
In all his time in this world, this was the first time Doudou had seen genuine "magic power" in one of its native creatures.
At one point, he had thought the creatures of this world had no innate affinity for the laws of magic power.
Qin Xiaoxia's current state felt completely unfamiliar to Doudou. Until he knew what sort of power this was, he didn't dare approach.
Qin Xiaoxia hadn't noticed Doudou's reaction. He was immersed in that peculiar perception, which gave him the illusion that he could control everything around him.
The images resembled vision, yet weren't quite vision. The surrounding wind and water seemed to be helping him, allowing him to "see" that patch of black filth covering roughly a twelfth of an acre.
Within that strange state, his consciousness enveloped the short stretch of river where the Dread Marsh lurked, pinpointing its location.
Right here! Beside the Minghua Dyeing Factory!
As soon as he reached that conclusion, his legs suddenly went weak, and he nearly fell.
"Am I really that weak?"
Qin Xiaoxia was about to attribute it to the energy he'd burned through during the fright he'd received while making his wish, when he suddenly noticed Doudou several yards away, looking him up and down as though he were a stranger.
"What are you doing?"
Only after seeing the fluctuations of magic power around Qin Xiaoxia disappear did Doudou cautiously take a few steps closer.
"B-big cousin, when did your magic power awaken? What type is it?"
Before, Doudou had obeyed because Qin Xiaoxia's threats had made him afraid of the world outside on Earth. Now, however, he had begun to feel a certain awe toward Qin Xiaoxia himself.
Although they had grown much closer over this period, that couldn't dispel the heart-stopping dread the magic power had just stirred in Doudou.
This was definitely not "harmless magic power" like his innate wish power.
The question caught Qin Xiaoxia off guard.
"Magic power? You mean that feeling just now?"
Qin Xiaoxia quickly caught on. That sensory experience had been extraordinary, and he was especially captivated by the feeling that "everything" around him was under his control and willing to help him.
"Come on. Let's talk at home."
With something like this happening, he needed Doudou to explain exactly what magic power was.
On the way back, Qin Xiaoxia's muscles ached, as though he'd just gotten out of bed the morning after a fifteen-hundred-meter run.
Qin Xiaoxia was undoubtedly eager to learn what had happened to him. The moment they got home, he shut the door securely and dragged Doudou into the living room.
"First question: what is magic power? Is it like the magic or mana we read about online?"
He had spent some time with Doudou already, but what he'd learned so far hadn't touched on this subject.
Doudou frowned, trying to find the right words.
"How should I put it? It can certainly produce the effects in your movies, but that's far too narrow a view. Magic power isn't that simple."
"Magic power is the sign of a magical creature's awakening. The power it contains affects both the soul and the body. Likewise, it originates in and resides within both the soul and the body, and it's closely connected to vitality. There are also many different types of magic power. Mine, for example, is wish power."
Qin Xiaoxia nodded beside him. He understood Doudou's abilities quite well.
Doudou folded his arms and walked over to sit on the couch, looking comically like an old scholar.
"But I can also turn invisible. That's another ability my magic power gives me. It looks a lot like what you call a spell here, but you should know that when I use up too much magic power, I barely have the strength to walk. By the same token, when my body is full of magic power, I can be much stronger!"
Hearing this, Qin Xiaoxia couldn't help looking Doudou up and down skeptically.
"Much stronger?"
Doudou's face flushed.
"I'm very weak to begin with, so to you, the difference between my normal strength and twice my strength probably doesn't seem very big...
"Besides, wish power is the Saroba Sprites' magical innate gift. A type of magic power with such a specific purpose naturally has its other properties diminished."
"Oh!"
Qin Xiaoxia nodded with a smile, settled into a comfortable position on the couch himself, and motioned for Doudou to continue.
"Back by the river, I saw a fluctuation suddenly emerge around you that made my heart shudder. I couldn't identify its type, but it was definitely magic power."
"Any creature whose magic power awakens can be classified as a magical creature, whether in Margeson or any other world."
Qin Xiaoxia had the feeling he'd finally been assigned a place in a zoo...
"So what comes next? What can my magic power do?"
Doudou looked at him curiously.
"I was going to ask you that. What did you use your magic power to do just now?"
What did I do?
Qin Xiaoxia thought for a moment.
"I think I found the Dread Marsh's location. Doesn't seem very useful. We already knew it was in the river..."
Doudou was a little disappointed to hear that, too.
"Could it just be a perception-type magic power? I thought I'd get to see some new, unique kind."
Then he made sure to offer Qin Xiaoxia some consolation.
"Even if its defining ability isn't very strong, magic power still has other uses. If you went to haul bricks now, you could carry several times as many as other people!"
Qin Xiaoxia's mouth twitched. What had this little guy been reading online? That attempt at consolation made him want to smack him.
Is it really just perception?
Qin Xiaoxia drew up his knees and rested his chin on his hand, narrowing his eyes as he recalled the sensation from earlier.
"All right, next topic! How do we deal with the Dread Marsh? Do you remember any specific accounts of a Dread Marsh being destroyed?"
At that question, Doudou actually did recall a legend.
It was the legend of the Child of the Flame Star falling and striking a mysterious Dread Marsh deep within the Black Feather Forest, one that had devoured countless people, reducing the entire forest to scorched earth and ash.
To Doudou, this legend was essentially useless. There was no way the Child of the Flame Star would happen to fall right here. Even if he did, a place as small as Qing Town would definitely be gone, too.
But Qin Xiaoxia immediately grasped the crucial point.
Child of the Flame Star? It was probably a meteorite.
It seemed fire could work against the Dread Marsh.
Of course. Burn something that wet until it dries out, cracks, and turns to ash-let's see it survive that!
"Damn it! That still doesn't solve anything. How am I supposed to burn it? It's not like it'll catch fire the moment I light it..."
Hmm?! Maybe it really could catch fire...