“What is inherent magic?”
Zhizhi was at it again with those deep, unfathomable questions.
“It’s the magic that belongs only to you! Magic that no one else can learn!”
“The strength of your inherent magic determines your upper limit!”
“The inherent magic possessed by the Ten Seats is all a secret, so I won’t go into mine in detail. Anyway, no matter what, Youyou, you’ll never be as strong as me~”
That little brat.
Luo You now showed an o_O expression.
If it didn’t work out, she could just use the power of the divine particles to substitute.
At worst, she could at least give that brat a good scare.
Wind!
“Hurry up and tell me how to awaken it.”
“Hmph, such a typical layman’s question.”
Zhizhi smiled proudly, then placed a hand on her waist and said:
“Inherent magic, after all, has the word ‘magic’ in it. It’s not something you can achieve overnight. At the very least, you need to first understand some basic magic and the flow of mana before you can possibly create your own inherent magic. You should get familiar with those first.”
Tch, I’ve been familiar with them for a long time, Luo You thought.
When she used Mu Shuang’s Miracle: Responding Method by borrowing Akabane’s inherent magic, she was already familiar with magic operations and could even smoothly use that so-called First Rank magic.
Well, it wouldn’t do to appear too much of a prodigy here, so she decided to hold back a little for a few days.
Luo You really feared that if she performed too well by accident, she might end up becoming one of the Ten Seats!
Becoming a Ten Seat meant having to work alongside that rebellious girl.
That would easily blow her cover!
But if she could catch Manjusaka, that would be pretty good.
[Take it one step at a time.]
At that moment, Zhizhi received a private message and excused herself for a while.
Luo You took the opportunity to stand before the mirror and look at her current appearance.
“Oh~ not bad at all. Let’s see who dares call me a reckless brat now.”
She looked exactly like a top-tier Holy Angel Cleric straight out of a Western fantasy world, her robes rich and majestic.
If she added a more fitting mask to this outfit, the sense of oppression would be overwhelming.
Appearance-wise, she was fully on the Ten Seat level!
There’s a certain aura called leadership style; someone like this, just by putting on a business jacket and walking into a local company, would have managers and bosses at their beck and call.
Senior.
Luo You thought if she toured a branch of the Magic Alliance, many magical girls would probably mistake her for—
“Hmm~~~”
Luo You yawned.
She was tired.
After being fired, she couldn’t understand why.
When she asked the manager, he wouldn’t say anything.
So when she got home, Luo You angrily worked out all night, but not even half a gram of muscle mass was gained.
Zhizhi, who had just finished the call, saw her yawning and asked, “Tired? Then just go sleep at the Xingyue dorm.”
“Hmm… okay.”
Luo You glanced at Zhizhi and spread her arms, “Then… sleep with mom?”
“Wh-!? Don’t get too cocky! You have to know, here you’re my subordinate, and I’m your superior! Subordinates can’t kiss their superiors!”
“Eh~~”
“Unlike you little newbies, I’m really busy! Unlike you little newbies!”
“No need to repeat twice. What happened?”
Zhizhi’s energy seemed to drop after the call.
She looked up and down at Luo You, “Well, there’s no harm in telling you. As my sub— subordinate, you’re bound to find out eventually.”
She spoke seriously: “In the Dimensional Border I’m responsible for, some of the dimensional beasts we’ve recently been hunting have parts of their bodies covered with black stuff, which caught my attention. So far, no harm from this black substance has been discovered. We speculate that they probably passed through some place in the Dimensional Border and got tainted by this black stuff.”
“Hmm.”
Luo You suddenly had a brilliant idea.
Could it be they discovered oil in the Dimensional Border?
But if she said that out loud, Zhizhi would definitely scold her.
“Youyou, when you hear ‘black,’ what do you think of?”
“Um.”
Luo You pursed her lips.
If she had to say what she thought of when hearing black, it would probably be… “Intermediaries?”
“I’m hammering you.”
Zhizhi shook her head in disappointment.
To think she would ask this reckless brat.
Maybe her brain was starting to degrade.
“Just kidding. But that’s more or less what I meant.”
“How so?”
“‘Black-hearted intermediaries’ means the countless evils in human hearts—terrifying and ugly, black and viscous. That’s what I associate with it.”
“… That’s a unique way of thinking.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t inspire Zhizhi, so she quickly left and instructed the Huahai City branch to make magical resources available to Luo You.
Luo You didn’t need to learn magic anyway; she already knew it.
She went straight to the Xingyue dorm, ready for a deep sleep.
“Hm? Someone’s been here.”
Some things were not where she left them.
The cup on the dining table had water droplets, and the bed was somewhat messy.
Besides her, only Xingyue could have entered the dorm, or maybe that rule-breaking Zhizhi guy.
It was simple: just do this—
Luo You flopped onto the bed and took a deep breath.
“Hmph, it’s Xingyue, huh? She came back? And just left not long ago?”
She could tell this magical girl’s scent immediately—a sort of self-righteous arrogance!
Even though she had already rolled around in the mud for several nights, she still acted all high and mighty!
But Luo You didn’t think much and just lay down to sleep.
She was genuinely tired.
While drifting off, Luo You involuntarily thought about Zhizhi’s earlier question.
[What do you associate with the color gray…]
Although she answered differently before, Luo You felt the most honest answer inside was that.
Stockings.
***
Jiǔmíng Sea –
Luo Zining was stuck between two waves of teammates, unable to break free.
The root cause was still Manjusaka’s tough attitude.
“Little Red Riding Hood, whose side are you on?!”
“Definitely mine!”
Huahua and Jellyfish shouted loudly.
This was no longer just a personal conflict between the two; each had a group backing them, representing two ideologies.
If handled poorly, it could damage the weapon most treasured by magical girls—their bonds.
Luo Zining felt her brain about to overload and tried to calm them down.
“Uh, you’re only saying that much, I don’t get it. Can you explain one by one? One by one, please?”
She pointed at Huahua, “You first!”
“My older sister was driven away abroad.”
Huahua said quietly.
“Oh, right, your elder sister is a foreigner.”
Luo Zining suddenly understood.
No need to guess; it was definitely because of what Manjusaka said.
“My sister… has always loved her homeland, but given the current situation… even if I contact her, I get no response. I’ve never seen my sister so lost.”
Huahua’s voice carried a slight sob.
“So? How did the argument start?”
Luo Zining looked at the other party, Jellyfish.
Jellyfish sighed helplessly, “I just said ‘I think Lady Manjusaka was right,’ and she immediately started arguing aggressively with me.”