“Oh, right, if you don’t want to face those classmates, I’ve already got some ideas for a solution.”
Ye Xingyao watched her younger sister lying on the bed without any dignity, her butt sticking up as she looked at her phone. After thinking for a moment, she finally remembered what she actually wanted to say.
“Really?”
Ye Xingling turned her head, eyes sparkling as she looked at her, as if hearing some incredible good news.
“Really. When have I ever lied to you? It’s just that the stuff you’d learn might be a bit out of sync with what you’d learn in a normal high school… Of course, this isn’t set in stone yet. I don’t know how it’ll turn out in the end, so don’t get your hopes up too high.”
“Also, whether it’s new classmates or old ones, always remember one thing: ‘Strike once to avoid a hundred strikes.’ When it’s time to show your edge, don’t hesitate. And don’t take it literally and actually hit your classmates.”
Ye Xingyao explained, waving her hand and making a joke.
“Anyway, just rest well today. Your sister Shiyue and I are a bit tired too. We’ll call you when dinner is ready.”
After that final instruction, Ye Xingyao thought to herself, making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. She turned and closed the door for her sister, letting her play on her phone or rest.
She had always followed a hands-off policy with her sister.
There were two reasons. First, when she worked as a cross-dressing Hunter, she also had to balance Xiaoyue and classes. She didn’t have time to look after her. Even parent-teacher meetings were handled by Yi Shiyue. This made the image of Ye Xingling’s brother—the one who “shows his head but not his tail”—extremely mysterious, to the point where even his existence was questionable.
Ha… now the “brother” really doesn’t exist anymore. “Brother” has become “sister”…
Second, she felt that giving her sister some personal space would help her grow. Her sister couldn’t live under her protection forever. Their parents’ matters still needed to be dealt with, and Satellite City wasn’t without danger. She hoped her sister would know how to protect herself.
On that point… she didn’t know if her little sister’s identity as a Magical Girl was a blessing or a curse. She was the one who understood best that “growth also means endless risks.” Supernatural events—the stronger you are, the deeper you get dragged in.
But judging from the time since she became a Star Elf, it was as if she had been equipped with a fully automatic trouble-making machine. If you didn’t have some skill to stay by her side, you might really encounter misfortune.
‘Is this the fate of a Star Elf…’ Ye Xingyao sighed inwardly.
Improving her strength… that was an urgent matter.
Her research into the connection between the Elven language and Magic Power had never stopped. Transforming into a Star Elf had indeed given her a more intuitive way to feel Magic Power. But with her somewhat limited vocabulary, she had hit a bottleneck in this area.
The path before her wasn’t just one. As a Star Elf, she could perform rituals to advance to higher levels.
This incident had allowed her to successfully test her limits. Even though she had relied on external help to solve it, given the pitiful capacity of her Starlight Magic Power, if her opponent had been even a little stronger, or if there had been one more enemy like that, she would have had no way to fight back except for those fixed Elven language spells.
The ability of Starlight Magic Power to merge with Magic Power and change the way spells were cast was far too useful for her.
“Xiaoyao? What are you thinking about over there?”
Yi Shiyue had cleaned up the dishes, untied her apron and set it aside. Curious, she saw the girl standing in front of her sister’s door, head down, looking lost in thought. She spoke up to remind her.
“Eh… I was thinking about how I could become stronger. Like, a Star Elf ritual?”
Ye Xingyao honestly sought help from Yi Shiyue. She was steady, and a bit withdrawn about these things, but she wasn’t stupid. Having someone else help find clues for a problem she had no leads on was much easier than racking her brains alone.
She had already asked Xiaoyue for help many times on this, and they had even checked the Elven language vocabulary together. Unfortunately, they hadn’t found any new language that could activate the Magic Stone’s power…
Or maybe their usage didn’t match the corresponding types of Magic Stones? But then they had no way to verify that. Not only did they lack samples, but they also didn’t have much time. Most of it was spent developing her Starlight Magic Power.
“Mm…”
Yi Shiyue came over to her and fell into thought alongside her.
“Right now, I only have a general direction…”
Seeing how seriously her lover was taking her question, Ye Xingyao quickly put an arm around her shoulders and they walked into their room, discussing in hushed voices.
What she thought of was simple. Didn’t that damn prophecy say she was the savior? That she held an important position among the Elves. There were quite a few people who knew about the prophecy, but almost no one knew the original text.
If they could find the original text of the prophecy, could they piece together the information omitted from the general meaning and detect clues about the Star Elf ritual?
Similarly, Ye Xingyao explained to her the voice she had heard after passing out in that big battle. If that was the preparation or framework needed for the ritual, then with some necessary information, they could match the pieces, and the problem might be solved.
“That might work.”
After hearing Ye Xingyao’s explanation, Yi Shiyue nodded. She had to admit, when it came to sensitivity to information gaps, Xiaoyao’s performance shocked her time and again, and also made her a bit sad.
‘What did she go through when she was acting alone as a Hunter, that made her so withdrawn in combat, yet so sharp?’
“Right? I think this direction is fine too, but where can we find the original text of the prophecy?”
Seeing that she had no objections, Ye Xingyao pushed the problem further.
“Those people from the Human Alliance?”
Yi Shiyue recalled the old and young pair she had met today, who were high-level members of the Human Alliance. If they had no hostile intentions, they could probably try asking them.
“Let’s keep that as a backup option. Sister Hongye can help us relay messages, but dealing with the Human Alliance always comes at some cost. Their information isn’t cheap. Sometimes it’s even more expensive than the info brokers among Hunters.”
Ye Xingyao shook her head. She had no special feelings toward the Human Alliance, but precisely because of that, it wasn’t a good choice.
“That Hongye Qiu…”
“I already asked her a long time ago. She’ll definitely tell me everything she knows.”
Ye Xingyao clearly saw the girl beside her roll her eyes. She quickly shrank her neck and signaled her surrender.