Her research on that captive had reached a critical juncture. If she could just break through, maybe she could help Jiu Ye and the others achieve new levels of power.
Yet right at this key moment, Dark Moth called to say she had something extremely urgent.
Monice had almost thought the Eternal Night Base had been blown up—but when she got back and found everything peaceful, how could she not be annoyed?
“I think my issue is more critical than your research… ahem, boss, you know about yesterday’s incident, right?” Luo Shuangyue muttered softly, and when Monice shot her a glare that said, “Say one more useless word and see what happens,” she quickly straightened up.
“Yeah, that Royal-Class Magic Beast got taken down by White Night. Pretty normal—nothing survives once White Night gets serious.” Although Monice was always doing research for the Magic Department, she’d still heard about something this big.
So what did this have to do with Dark Moth’s so-called urgent matter?
“Actually, that beast was here to attack me. I got knocked into the ruins… When I crawled out, the beast had already been taken care of by White Night, and then I saw a few black, smoky little stones on the ground…”
“Original Magic Power? Where are they now? That’s a very dangerous thing.” Monice instantly named the stuff.
In matters like this, she was leagues ahead of Xia Mo and Luo Shuangyue.
After saying “Original Magic Power,” she couldn’t help but wonder why White Night hadn’t taken care of them as a matter of course.
White Night shouldn’t have made such a mistake.
“I picked them up.” Luo Shuangyue’s voice got smaller and smaller.
“Oh, then you must have put them somewhere safe, right? Actually, they aren’t that scary—even if they’re exposed to abundant magic energy, it would take a long time for them to recover…”
Monice trailed off, noticing Luo Shuangyue’s guilty and evasive expression.
This was the look of a dog who’d secretly eaten something forbidden.
“Wait… you didn’t eat them, did you?” Thinking of Dark Moth’s odd habits, Monice began to suspect the worst.
In theory, these things could be eaten, but for a First Bloom-Class Magical Girl like Dark Moth, could she really digest the Original Magic Power of a Royal-Class Magic Beast?
“I didn’t eat them! Who would eat such mysterious stuff outright!” Luo Shuangyue protested, “But when I touched those things, they just melted straight into my body!” “And now I feel like something’s changed about me. Look, like this.”
Luo Shuangyue focused, imagining a thorn growing from her palm.
And a thorn really did grow out of her palm.
It was slow, but the spike was real.
“Whoa.” Monice let out a gasp. “You really know how to create strange situations, don’t you, Lord Dark Moth?”
“So, will I be okay? The beast’s spirit isn’t hiding in me somewhere, ready to take over, is it?” Luo Shuangyue asked anxiously.
“I can’t say for sure, but I guarantee you’ve got a serious problem—no Magical Girl has ever absorbed the Original Magic Power of a Magic Beast before. I’ve never seen this happen.” Monice rubbed her chin, face full of conflict.
Forget it. First, give Dark Moth a full check-up!
After all, Eternal Night had all the necessary instruments—no need to go anywhere else.
She gave Luo Shuangyue a heavy slap on the shoulder, about to suggest a check-up, when suddenly a ten-centimeter black spike shot out from the very spot she’d just slapped.
If Monice hadn’t pulled her hand back quickly, she would’ve been stabbed.
“Hmm?”
That day, Luo Shuangyue saw the extent of Monice’s connections for the first time.
She swaggered in behind Monice into the Magic Department’s main building, jaw dropping as Monice swiped a card to open a series of doors, eventually leading her to a lab filled with people in white coats.
On the other side of a transparent barrier, Luo Shuangyue saw someone strapped to a bed, completely unconscious—it was Mo Four, the one she’d defeated before.
On their side of the barrier, a silver-haired girl sat in a chair, idly playing on her phone.
“Long Wen, come here,” Monice called out.
Judging by Monice’s tone, Luo Shuangyue felt the two must be fairly familiar—not a recent acquaintance.
Long Wen looked up at Monice and Luo Shuangyue, put away her phone, and walked over.
“Do you know how much trouble it took to get you in here? And then you come and go as you please, even bringing this little one in with you. Don’t tell me she knows about this stuff too.”
Long Wen’s words had a trace of complaint, but little reproach—more like a friend’s mild grumbling.
“It’s urgent. See, this is the one you mentioned—she ate the Original Magic Power of a Royal-Class Magic Beast.” Monice helplessly pointed at Luo Shuangyue, laying out the situation.
Long Wen blinked.
Then she let out a shrill explosion of sound.
“She ate it?! Can she spit it out? That’s not something you can just eat!”
“No way, I just ran some tests on her. We couldn’t find any trace of the Original Magic Power at all.” Monice pulled several reports from her bag and handed them to Long Wen.
Long Wen glanced over them, then handed them right back. “I can’t read these. So what’s your conclusion?”
She was a fighter, not a scholar.
She only knew that the Original Magic Power of a Magic Beast was a big deal—and definitely not for eating.
Especially the Original Magic Power of a Royal-Class Magic Beast—it required extreme caution. There had even been Magic Department members in the past who were corrupted by handling it.
And now Luo Shuangyue had simply eaten it…
“Let me ask: she’s still herself, right?” Long Wen eyed Luo Shuangyue with suspicion.
“That much I can guarantee—she’s still herself. You know that those affected by magic energy often show all sorts of physical mutations, but she hasn’t.” Monice answered before Luo Shuangyue could.
The black spike from Luo Shuangyue’s hand wasn’t a mutation, but rather a result of her decreased control over her Magic Power.
Put simply, Luo Shuangyue’s Magic Power had suddenly increased, with new abilities, far beyond what she could stably manage—so she couldn’t control it properly.
The Magic Power she couldn’t control simply acted on her subconscious—hence the spikes that attacked Monice and Xia Mo.
Their actions had made Luo Shuangyue uncomfortable, which caused her body to react defensively—a black spike shooting out suddenly.
“If I wasn’t myself, I wouldn’t be telling you this secret at all…” Luo Shuangyue mumbled in her own defense.
“That makes sense. So, why did you bring her to me? Just to let me know she ate something bad?” “Not exactly.
Even though all her test results are normal, I’m still uneasy. After all, the Magic Beast’s consciousness is attached to the Original Magic Power.” Monice shook her head.
It was better to be cautious—double insurance was always wise.
“You get along well with the Soul Summoner Princess from Jidong City, right?”
Yes, Monice had brought Luo Shuangyue to Long Wen for a favor.
Monice herself wasn’t close with the Soul Summoner Princess, but Long Wen was!
With Long Wen’s introduction, that Magical Girl could examine Luo Shuangyue and help remove any lingering beast consciousness from her body.
“You want her to go to Jidong City to see the Soul Summoner Princess? That’s a good idea.” Long Wen nodded after a moment of thought.
That Magical Girl was most skilled in soul matters. If she couldn’t find any problem with Luo Shuangyue, then it meant Luo Shuangyue truly was fine.
“Alright, I’ll message her now, then you can head straight to Jidong City…” Halfway through, Long Wen hesitated. Letting Dark Moth go off alone didn’t seem wise.
After all, she’d eaten the Original Magic Power of a Royal-Class Magic Beast—no one knew if Dark Moth was really still herself.
If the beast had already taken over, letting her go off alone would be like letting a tiger roam free.
Someone needed to keep an eye on her—and that someone couldn’t be weak…
Theoretically, it should be Monice or Long Wen, but both had things to handle and couldn’t leave. So they had to pick among the First Bloom-Class Magical Girls.
Most of Xinghai City’s First Bloom-Class Magical Girls were on assignment from elsewhere, so sending them along wouldn’t be appropriate.
Which meant they should send a local Xinghai City Magical Girl.
Hey, perfect—Xinghai City’s only local First Bloom-Class Magical Girl happened to get along quite well with Dark Moth. Sending the two of them together wouldn’t be a problem.
“Let Rosemary go with you to Jidong City. Any objections?” Long Wen looked at Luo Shuangyue.
Ah? Xia Mo? Luo Shuangyue was stunned at first, then quickly understood Long Wen’s thinking.
They were still wary of her. That was only natural—even she couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t suddenly go out of control.
Having someone familiar go along wasn’t a bad thing.
At a Magical Girl’s flying speed, the trip between Xinghai and Jidong was just a day. Counting the time to find people and get checked, four or five days should be enough.
“No objections,” Luo Shuangyue replied.
Seeing Luo Shuangyue agree so decisively, Long Wen’s eyes showed a trace of satisfaction.
Ah, Dark Moth really was a reasonable girl—if only she could control her impulses.
Did the Original Magic Power look delicious or something? Why did she have to put everything in her mouth? See what happened now?
“Alright, come with me. Rosemary’s here too—you two can talk it over, the sooner you leave the better.” With that, Long Wen turned and led Luo Shuangyue out.
As for Monice, after handing Luo Shuangyue off to Long Wen, she went right back to researching those precious cyborg materials.