"Hi, miss. I'd like a pudding milk tea, without the pudding. I'm trying to lose weight."
The cool, newly opened milk tea shop still carried a faint smell of paint from its brand-new renovations.
It was the middle of the afternoon, still during school hours, so naturally there were hardly any customers.
Hearing the voice, the server lowered her head before she spotted the girl struggling to stand on tiptoe, with only a pair of pretty eyes visible above the counter. She nearly lost her composure, then said gently, "Little one, eating more pudding at your age will help you grow taller."
The little girl looked conflicted. Only after a long while did she mumble, "...Then half the pudding. Also, I'm sixteen."
Behind the little girl, Jiang Keke, who had followed her here, was also staring blankly at the tiny girl in front of her...
Yes, this little girl was the pink magical girl who had seemed like a battle-hardened veteran earlier.
Jiang Keke had expected her to be a bit more... serious.
"One lemonade." Jiang Keke searched her pockets and let out a relieved breath when she found that her discount coupon was still there.
She didn't have much pocket money.
Clinging to the counter, the little girl tilted her head to glance at her. "Lemonade doesn't taste good."
"But it's cheap."
The server smiled and said, "As the big sister, you should take better care of your little sister."
"We're not sisters," Jiang Keke denied. "And she's older than me."
"Ahaha, I see..." The server gave an awkward laugh. "They'll be ready in a moment. Just wait a little."
This was a newly opened milk tea shop near a school. Competition along this street was fierce, and new shops generally offered steep discounts to attract customers.
With her earlier discount coupon, the lemonade cost only eighty cents, already the cheapest price on the entire street.
It wasn't long before the pudding milk tea and lemonade were served. Seeing that her tiny senior had to stand on tiptoe and raise her hands to pick up her milk tea, Jiang Keke simply took it for her as well.
Only this tall at sixteen. There's really no hope, is there...?
Along with that rather rude thought, she was also a little amazed that transforming into a magical girl could make someone taller.
Although she knew a certain amount about magical girls, she certainly hadn't known details like this.
The two found a secluded window seat and sat down. After setting down her schoolbag, Jiang Keke didn't hurry to drink her lemonade, instead looking at the senior magical girl across from her.
Her feet didn't even touch the ground when she sat on the stool...
Her clothes were actually quite mature: a black turtleneck tucked into an extremely high-waisted black miniskirt, emphasizing her slender waist while also making her legs look somewhat longer.
Though it was rather like trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood with a cup of water.
The skirt ended above her knees, paired with thick-soled, lace-up combat boots that maintained a mature, cool style while also adding height...
Unfortunately, the blissful way she narrowed her eyes and bit her straw as she drank her milk tea was so childish that it completely nullified the effect of her outfit.
Noticing the stare, Yinlian spoke first without any embarrassment. "Jiang Keke, congratulations on becoming a magical girl."
Jiang Keke gave a wry smile. "Thank you, but I don't think this is anything worth congratulating me for..."
"All right." Yinlian's loose, languid expression finally grew a little more serious.
"In that case, I'll be direct. Jiang Keke, would you like to join our Disaster Countermeasures Bureau?"
Jiang Keke asked carefully, "Can I choose not to?"
"Of course you can, but you'll still have to accept the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau's oversight. Every transformation requires reports and records, and leaving BH City involves even more complicated procedures..."
Although she'd somewhat expected it, Jiang Keke still felt disappointed.
Unwilling to give up, she asked, "Even independent magical girls have to be regulated...?"
Yinlian nodded very seriously. "Of course. There's no future in being an independent. You don't get paid for defeating Calamity Beasts, either, and some criminals have their eyes on magical girls' powers. Without transforming, magical girls are very vulnerable too, and easily ambushed. It's extremely dangerous, so think it through."
"Aren't there independent magical girl organizations...?"
"Listen." Yinlian's voice abruptly turned stern. "Those are illegal organizations! If you're caught, you'll face prosecution and imprisonment. Don't go down the wrong path!"
Jiang Keke immediately jumped.
She did know that the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau was extremely cautious about magical girls' powers and regulated them strictly, but such a hostile attitude still exceeded her expectations.
"You don't know anything about them. BH City's only illegal magical girl organization, the Azure Cloud Sect! Do you know how awful that organization is?"
Jiang Keke shrank back. Though short, Yinlian had the commanding presence of a teacher when she became stern. Jiang Keke only argued in a small voice, "But the Azure Cloud Sect hasn't hurt civilians, right? They've been fighting Calamity Beasts all along..."
"Fighting?" Yinlian scoffed. "What they do isn't fighting. It's hunting! They see Calamity Beasts as their prey, compete with official magical girls for them everywhere, and even attack magical girls over them!"
"Healthy market competition..."
Yinlian glared at her, and Jiang Keke didn't dare speak again.
Only after taking a fierce pull of milk tea did the official magical girl continue. "The most frightening thing about the Azure Cloud Sect isn't just that they hunt Calamity Beasts. They raise them, too. Their members claim Calamity Beasts can be tamed into sect-guardian spirit beasts. It's utterly absurd. If large numbers of Calamity Beasts gather and then get out of control, the consequences would be unimaginable."
"What's a sect-guardian spirit beast?"
"How should I know?" Yinlian snorted. "Anyway, they're a bunch of lunatics, and sooner or later the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau will deal with them. I'm not trying to scare you. It's just that a junior has finally appeared, and I can't let you stray down the wrong path. They don't just steal Calamity Beasts. They steal magical girls' Miracle Seeds too, taming magical girls into their tools."
"Oh. Oh." Left rather stunned by all this, Jiang Keke rubbed the cold lemonade in her hands. "Has the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau still not found any trace of the Azure... Azure Cloud Sect?"
Noticing that her earlier agitation had made the atmosphere somewhat tense, Yinlian softened her tone. "Not yet. The Azure Cloud Sect has always hidden itself well."
"But the Winter Lord operates openly, doesn't she? Is she hard to find?"
"The Winter Lord isn't the main concern." Yinlian shook her head. "The Azure Cloud Sect's leader-oh, the person they call their sect master-is a purple magical girl, the Azure Cloud Sect's only Full Blossom-level magical girl. She's the one the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau fears most. Not only is she powerful, but her whereabouts are also elusive..."
"A purple... magical girl?"
Jiang Keke murmured, naturally thinking at once of the one who had taught her how to transform today.
So she's the leader of an independent magical girl organization?
Amazing.
A sense of shared pride rose in her heart.
"The purple magical girl is extremely dangerous." Yinlian's expression darkened. "She really has killed magical girls."
Jiang Keke froze and stammered, "That doesn't... doesn't seem possible. Killing magical girls..."
"The Disaster Countermeasures Bureau has records. If you see a purple magical girl, you'd better stay away. But you don't need to worry too much. She rarely appears, so you generally won't encounter her."
But I really did encounter her...
Jiang Keke thought this, but ultimately didn't say it.
Compared with this girl she had only just met, she was more willing to trust Ziyuan, who had saved her.
She definitely isn't a bad person.
A Grief Seed.
Holding up the black seed, Jiang Si, who had yet to end his transformation, watched the black mist churning inside it beneath the sunlight.
As magical power passed through the Grief Seed, that black mist melted and broke down into multicolored light.
Jiang Si called this a magic crystal.
Although his first thought had been a demon core, Calamity Beasts seemed more like magical beasts than demon beasts, no matter how he looked at them.
So, in the end, he still felt that Grief Seeds were closer to magic crystals.
Going by experience, magic crystals could be used for cultivation, and also as currency.
Unfortunately, BH City had no mercenary guild offering bounties for magic crystals. It lacked a little of the flavor.
The early cultivation methods of magical worlds differed somewhat from immortal cultivation, but in the end, they were actually much the same: comprehending laws and opening up a Great Dao.
This was what they called different paths leading to the same destination.
Jiang Si had tried many cultivation methods. Physical training alone could hardly improve a magical girl's strength; after all, their strength was already quite terrifying.
Meditation and comprehending the Dao were somewhat premature, and weren't very suitable for his current level.
Absorbing spiritual energy-it was difficult to sense any spiritual energy in this world, though there was plenty of pollution. Magical girls probably couldn't absorb spiritual energy, either.
Besides, anyone who could sense spiritual energy and begin refining it already had considerable aptitude for immortal cultivation. Jiang Si clearly didn't, even after transforming into a magical girl, though he probably counted as having a spiritual root after transforming.
Because his magical power resembled fire, he guessed it was probably a fire spiritual root.
As for other cultivation methods-battle qi, fruition, sequences, acting, potions, and the like-those were even less feasible.
Apart from magical girls, this world didn't have that many strange and unusual things. Of course, perhaps he simply hadn't encountered them yet, just as he hadn't encountered magical girls before.
The cultivation method he eventually found was absorbing magic crystals and accumulating magical power.
It was extremely primitive, yet very widespread. Whether in magic or immortal cultivation, there were generally similar methods.
Reality also proved that there was nothing wrong with the wisdom of those who came before. Webnovels weren't just making things up. They had foundations and theories.
The power within magic crystals came from Calamity Beasts and was essentially much the same as that of magical girls, with perhaps some slight differences in nature.
But to Jiang Si, it didn't matter. He absorbed it all the same.
Once he had drawn all of it into his body, that magic crystal-the so-called Grief Seed-shattered like glass, scattering across the ground.
Jiang Si flicked a finger, and a small tongue of purple flame landed on the fragments, turning them to ashes that scattered on the wind.
His strength hadn't increased by much.
About half a year ago, after growing stronger by absorbing the power of magic crystals and entering the realm of Full Blossom, the returns from absorbing them had begun to diminish.
This, too, had been recorded in novels: there was a limit to the accumulation of power alone.
Next, he would probably have to rely on his own comprehension, or fortuitous encounters involving heavenly treasures, to break through.
The purple flames gradually receded from his body. As his transformation ended, Jiang Si distinctly felt his field of vision rise a little.
The fact that transforming made him shorter was somewhat hard to stomach. In combat, even a slight difference could create a fatal opening.
To ensure he wouldn't expose any openings with either build or height, he had also spent a great deal of time training to adapt.
The purple Miracle Seed fell into his hand, and Jiang Si wiped it.
The pure purple flames that had originally churned inside were now stained with a little grime.
Spot-like patches of black covered the Miracle Seed's surface.
Absorbing magic crystals polluted his magical power. To think he could still encounter a setting discarded so long ago...
All he could say was that this place might be a little behind the times.
Jiang Si didn't take it to heart and casually put it away.
The so-called pollution could be cleared away simply by advancing further. There was no need to worry about it.
Just a little wind and frost.
By the time he returned to the factory, Bingtang had already left. She was a model student; even when she skipped classes, she would only skip half a day.
Jiang Si continued working out.
Having just absorbed the magical power from a magic crystal, he wanted to try extending its effects to his physical body.
Ever since becoming a magical girl three years ago, he had discovered that the limits of his physical body had been released.
Previously, once his training reached his limits, he could no longer increase his strength in the slightest.
But after gaining the power to transform into a magical girl, he had never encountered that bottleneck again.
Clearly, this was an effect of his magical girl powers.
So, if he could transfer the magical power inside a magic crystal to this physical body, perhaps he could achieve a greater breakthrough.
He tried lifting weights and doing pull-ups.
The results weren't ideal.
Magical power was something ordinary humans couldn't withstand. An influx of large amounts would directly cause death.
One of the dangers of Calamity Beasts was their constant, unconscious dispersal of magical power. Ordinary people who stayed near them too long would become polluted by it, causing their bodily functions to decline.
But small amounts of magical power couldn't even gather inside the human body and would quickly dissipate.
He needed to find another way.
He had heard that the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau had a method of passing on power through Miracle Seeds.
However, once this inheritance was used, the Miracle Seed's original owner would not only lose the power to transform, but also lose all memories related to magical girls. It could be called quite cruel.
Besides, directly stealing magical girls' Miracle Seeds was not only troublesome, but also out of keeping with the Azure Cloud Sect's style. Webnovel protagonists generally needed upright values-though sometimes that meant the three coffins at home were lined up upright-but Jiang Si wasn't an audience for indiscriminate slaughter.
In any case, stealing unclaimed Miracle Seeds from the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau would be much easier than stealing them directly from magical girls.
Bingtang had also been laying the groundwork for this for a long time. They should see results soon...
After finishing his workout, he dropped down from the pull-up bar, wiped off his sweat, and checked the time. It was about time to head back.
A bird flew in from somewhere.
Only upon closer inspection did it become clear that the bird was woven from strands of thread. Flowing lines of magical power formed a lifelike little bird, which finally settled on Jiang Si's shoulder.
"Lord Sect Master."
Its voice was shrill, like birdsong, but just barely intelligible.
"The Disaster Countermeasures Bureau has contacted your younger sister. Should we stop them?"
Jiang Si rinsed off his sweat beneath the water curtain in the Illusory Moon Cave Abode and shook his head. "Leave her be."
Her joining the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau would actually benefit them.