“Just indigestion, nothing to worry about.”
“She? Indigestion?”
Hearing Phantom Thorn’s diagnosis, Luo Shuangyue doubted her own ears.
That little one usually eats so greedily—could she really get indigestion just from eating two of Luo Shuangxing’s cards? What a joke!
She seriously suspected Phantom Thorn was teasing her.
“Yes, hard to understand?” But Phantom Thorn showed no sign of joking.
Instead, she tilted her head, as if thinking Luo Shuangyue didn’t quite get what she meant.
“No, no, no. What I mean is, how could she have indigestion? Didn’t she eat those monsters so happily before?”
“That’s because those monsters’ power levels were far below hers. Also, monsters devouring each other is much simpler than digesting the Magic Power of a Magical Girl,” Phantom Thorn explained calmly.
While speaking, she picked up Little Ghost Scythe and plucked a few white strands from Phantom Thorn’s head.
Originally, Little Ghost Scythe had a beautiful head of jet-black hair, but now several stark white strands had appeared unexpectedly.
Not just on her hair, but faint white threads could be seen on her face and hands too—clear signs of indigestion.
“But the main reason is still the strange stuff you fed her. Normally, a First Bloom-class Magical Girl wouldn’t have Magic Power of such quality, one that even Little Ghost Scythe—an artifact spirit transformed from the Demon Emperor—can’t digest quickly.”
“If we’re just talking about digestion difficulty, the Magic Power you gave her is harder to digest than even that of a Full Bloom-class Magical Girl.”
“Eating three cards won’t seriously harm Little Ghost Scythe, but the discomfort is very real.”
“To Little Ghost Scythe, those cards are like stones. They may be tiny stones, but would she happily swallow stones into her stomach?”
“Then why don’t I feel anything?”
“Because she can’t compare to it.” Phantom Thorn pointed first at Little Ghost Scythe, then at the giant Butterfly of Netherworld in the sky, implying that Little Ghost Scythe was just a small Demon Emperor, nowhere near the Butterfly’s level.
What Luo Shuangyue ate was basically entering the Butterfly’s mouth, and the Butterfly’s digestion ability… Phantom Thorn could only describe as bottomless.
The Demon Emperor’s Original Magic Power was like snacks to it.
The consequence was only that Luo Shuangyue’s strength surged and she couldn’t fully control the Magic Power inside her for a short time.
Is that really a consequence?
Feels more like eating too much and having an overabundance of nutrients.
“Oh, I see.” Luo Shuangyue nodded, somewhat understanding, and felt reassured.
“If she can’t eat anymore, she’ll say so herself. Don’t worry about her damaging herself.” Gently patting Little Ghost Scythe’s head, Phantom Thorn advised Luo Shuangyue to trust her a little more.
The kid is just greedy, not foolish—she wouldn’t really stuff her own belly to bursting.
“Got it.” Luo Shuangyue sighed.
She had hoped to rely on Little Ghost Scythe to slack off while mastering Luo Shuangxing’s Sealing Card ability, but in the end, she’d still have to work hard herself.
Sigh, the headache is starting again.
Though it’s a headache, it’s something she could only do in her free time.
After waking from a nap, Luo Shuangyue would have to rush to participate in Long Wen’s experiments.
In the hall, Long Wen was already waiting early by the reception, chatting casually with Singularity.
When she saw Luo Shuangyue descend from the sky, she immediately abandoned her colleague and happily greeted her.
This attitude made Singularity look at her with disdain.
“Bad woman.”
Long Wen, however, acted as if she hadn’t heard Singularity’s remark, pulling Luo Shuangyue toward the building’s exterior.
On the way to the Testing Area, Long Wen briefed Luo Shuangyue on the test procedure.
In short, it was a running test.
They had chosen a very long track, and Luo Shuangyue would run full speed along it to measure how fast she could go relying on the Sea of Magic.
“The starting point is here. You run in this direction until you reach where Soul Summoner Princess is.”
To prevent Luo Shuangyue from running off the track halfway, several Full Bloom-class Magical Girls had set up various markers before the test.
The finish line was marked by the most familiar Full Bloom-class Magical Girl to Luo Shuangyue—Soul Summoner Princess.
Once Luo Shuangyue sensed Soul Summoner Princess’s Magic Power fluctuations, she could stop.
“The test starts at 9:15. Get ready.”
Long Wen glanced at the time and reminded Luo Shuangyue she could prepare now.
“Okay.”
Luo Shuangyue nodded, closed her eyes, and began merging her body into the Sea of Magic.
Unlike before, where only her Butterfly Wings and arms had merged, this time her entire body completely merged.
In the real world, this was reflected by her body transforming into countless black-purple butterflies that disappeared into the starry sky.
Long Wen’s golden vertical pupils widened as she fixed her gaze on Luo Shuangyue’s previous position.
She could see a faint shadow still standing there—presumably Luo Shuangyue already merged into the Sea of Magic.
“Can you still hear me?” she asked.
The next moment, several butterflies in midair condensed into a hand shape, giving Long Wen an ‘OK’ sign.
So she could hear outside voices… Long Wen stroked her chin and nodded slightly. So this was some kind of invisibility technique?
“Ready? Time’s almost up.”
The hand gesture remained the same, but after this last signal, it transformed back into butterflies and vanished.
Luo Shuangyue was already preparing to set off.
Half a minute later, when the start time arrived, Luo Shuangyue disappeared completely from Long Wen’s perception.
The next moment, a shout came from Soul Summoner Princess’s side.
“Luo Shuangyue flew past the finish line!”
All the Full Bloom-class Magical Girls along the route felt ripples rise in the Sea of Magic beside them.
They also realized at the same time that this Sea of Magic was… somewhat uncanny.
Several seconds later, Luo Shuangyue turned around and flew back to Soul Summoner Princess’s side.
After just those few seconds of flight, she showed a rather uncomfortable expression.
“Feeling dizzy. Senior Bian, help me up.”
The butterflies reappeared from the void and condensed back into Luo Shuangyue’s form.
Upon appearing, she immediately called out for a hug from Soul Summoner Princess.
It was intense. Before, when she tried teleporting, it was only for an instant—any dizziness was minimal.
But when she really entered the Sea of Magic and swam within it, she realized just how terrifying this sea was.
Gigantic waves crashed everywhere, especially at full speed.
In an instant, she was hit by countless waves that could knock her far away.
But to be fair, flying in the Sea of Magic was indeed much faster than in the real world.
After all, it couldn’t really be called flying.
It was more like an extremely abstract coordinate transformation—or rather…teleportation.
“I can’t really explain what kind of feeling it is, but I definitely don’t want to experience it again.”
Supported by Soul Summoner Princess, Luo Shuangyue gagged a few times and looked pale.
Her Magic Power inside hadn’t decreased much.
After all, while other things might be scarce in the Sea of Magic, Magic Power was abundant—she could instantly restore what she consumed just by breathing.
However, the external Magic Power still needed time to be converted into the kind she could use.
It wasn’t like she could just dip in the Sea of Magic after using up her power and instantly be fully restored.
Being in the Sea of Magic only gave her a buff that accelerated recovery.
“Hmm, your speed has been recorded by the instruments. Now you can rest well.”
Soul Summoner Princess said so, but when she brought Luo Shuangyue back to Long Wen, Long Wen’s expression was clearly off.
She looked as if she had been startled by something.
The moment she saw Luo Shuangyue, she flew over and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her hard.
“Do you know how fast you just went?!”
Luo Shuangyue felt like a poor little tree battered by a dragon—shaken back and forth, she couldn’t say a word.
It was only when Soul Summoner Princess calmed down the agitated Long Wen that Luo Shuangyue got a chance to catch her breath.
“Faster than light, right?” Soul Summoner Princess seemed to have anticipated the result.
After all, Luo Shuangyue had practically passed by her side in the blink of an eye according to the clock’s numbers.
She did some quick calculations and understood just how fast Luo Shuangyue’s speed was.
Long Wen nodded solemnly, “Yes, several times faster.”
The few Magical Girls present exchanged speechless looks, and it was finally Soul Summoner Princess who sighed.
“With magic now, we can no longer cling stubbornly to old knowledge.”
These Full Bloom-class Magical Girls mostly grew up in a world where monsters hadn’t yet appeared, so their teachers taught them scientific knowledge that was once considered ironclad laws.
But unfortunately, the appearance of monsters shattered those laws.
The world now had to move forward based on the premise of magic.
“If even Luo Shuangyue, who’s trying this for the first time, can reach such speeds, then the monsters’ speed won’t be any slower,” Long Wen exhaled, her expression turning very serious.
“We probably don’t have much time left.”
These monsters had fought interstellar wars and destroyed a star civilization’s army.
Their marching speed must be even faster than Luo Shuangyue’s!
Perhaps very soon, they would arrive here and engage the Magical Girls in battle.
“Yes! Those King-class Magic Beasts must have evolved into their current forms for rapid movement in the Sea of Magic!”
Having personally experienced stealth in the Sea of Magic, Luo Shuangyue finally understood why those King-class Magic Beasts evolved such forms.
Their forms weren’t for combat but to survive and advance through the gigantic, turbulent waves of the Sea of Magic for extended periods.
“So that means we can only rely on sensing the Sea of Magic to judge if they’re coming? That’s really tough.”
A somewhat unfamiliar Full Bloom-class Magical Girl let out a sigh.
Monsters moving faster than light meant conventional detection methods no longer worked.
Sensing the Sea of Magic was a skill only some Magical Girls possessed, mostly Full Bloom-class ones.
That made warning about monster attacks very difficult.
“I’ll report these results to the surface first. Sigh, looks like they have a headache coming again.”
Clatter, clatter, slap.
A thin report was gently dropped on the table.
Monice stared at the contents with a serious expression.
The discovery in the sky had thrown the people on the ground into chaos.
Some even frantically sought her out, though she wasn’t in charge of such matters.
She specialized in human modification, after all.
“Monice, do you have any solutions?”
On the electronic screen before her was the tired face of a girl who once led the charge to drive her to Xinghai City.
Monice slowly shook her head.
“I don’t think you need to worry so much. Luo Shuangyue said it herself—things in the Sea of Magic hardly affect the real world, and real-world Magic Power can affect things in the Sea. Those monsters just march faster. When they get here, they’ll still have to fight us head-on.”
“But is our combat power really enough?”
According to Yi, the number of monsters far exceeded expectations.
Even if most were Soldier-class, sheer numbers made resistance difficult.
Most monsters were Soldier-class, but on the human side, most were ordinary people.
Those had no use in battle.
Many Magic Department weapons required some Magic Control to operate, wielded only by Magical Girls or Transhumans.
The number of Magical Girls couldn’t increase rapidly, so what options remained?
That was why this Magical Girl had come to Monice.
“How’s your research progressing?” The girl inhaled deeply, her hesitant gaze turning resolute.
Monice was silent for a moment.
She hadn’t expected this person to come to her about Transhuman matters, leaving her a bit unsure what to say.
“There’s hope, but I’m not sure if my approach is correct. Give me half a month, then I can give you an answer.”
“Half a month? Fine.”
The girl nodded as if a heavy burden had been lifted, her expression relaxing somewhat.
“Making this decision must have been hard, right?”
Monice asked coldly.
The girl’s mouth twitched downward, and she immediately ended the communication.
It was clear she wasn’t happy to make this decision.
Looking at the dark screen, Monice crossed her arms and hummed softly.
She didn’t want to receive this call now, but… they truly didn’t have much time left.
Retrieving a personnel file from the screen, Monice pondered silently for a long while before finally making up her mind and dialing the number in the file.
“Hello? Lady Monice?”
“Yes, it’s me, Jiu Ye. Your application has been approved.”