Chapter 19: Let’s talk about cultivation tomorrow

Obtaining the Grimoire, Xiadam could now step into an entirely new phase of magic.

Its name: [Magic Analysis].

She had officially entered the gateway, beginning her study of magic.

She placed her Knight Broad Sword on the tea table and, following the method taught in the Grimoire, rested her palm atop the sword blade.

“Divine Edge.”

Closing her eyes, she focused her mind and chanted the incantation.

A faint white mist spread from her palm, letting her mana seep into her weapon.

Magic Analysis—this was truly a very, very, very obscure discipline.

After mages comprehend [Feel] and [Mana Condensation], these two beginner stages, and once they’ve condensed a certain amount of mana, they generally proceed straight into practicing [Release].

In short, beginner mages start learning how to release Fireballs, Waterballs, Windballs, Thunderballs, Earthballs… and so on.

Condensing mana into spheres is the most fundamental step in magic, and also the method mages most often use to practice precise mana control.

Ordinary people assume that powerful magic must be grand in scale and explosively destructive to be impressive.

In reality, that’s not the case. Great mages are often those who can compress mana into extremely tiny forms.

Truly powerful mages can make their mana spheres even rounder and smaller.

To give a negative example, when Xiadam tried to release mana, it was like breaking wind—she couldn’t form it at all, a complete mess.

Of course, this wasn’t really her fault.

Her elemental talent simply couldn’t control or form shapes effectively.

She could control the direction of the white mist, but it just wouldn’t take shape. Mana without form has no offensive power.

So by stumbling along, Xiadam had actually found the right path.

Xiadam simply couldn’t walk the usual path of a mage—she had to carve her own way.

“Vmmm vmmm~ vmmm vmmm~”

The worn broadsword on the table vibrated, its chipped blade glowing faintly.

Xiadam had successfully performed Magic Analysis on her broadsword, infusing it with her mana.

Divine Edge, mastered.

“Too slow.”

But Xiadam shook her head, looking frustrated and dissatisfied.

Even though she’d mastered the art of Divine Edge, using this spell in real combat would be suicide.

By the time she’d finished infusing her weapon with mana, she’d have already been cut down.

But Xiadam was undaunted; she knew this wasn’t a problem with the spell, but with her own lack of skill.

“Sooner or later, I’ll be able to strengthen my weapon in a single second.”

But when she looked out the pitch-black window, she realized it was late.

Xiadam closed the Grimoire, drew the curtains, and went to bed.

She’d worry about training tomorrow.

“Ugh… I can’t breathe…”

Just as dawn broke, Xiadam was forced to wake up early for a reason she knew all too well.

She felt as if something was pressing down on her…

No, it wasn’t just a feeling—she really was being pinned to the bed!

There was only one person who would do this, only one person with such a perverse sleeping posture.

“Xis, you pighead, I was clearly sleeping on another bed—how did you still crawl over in the middle of the night?” Xiadam mumbled groggily, struggling to get up.

Her small hand reached out and grabbed a Slime.

But soon, Xiadam realized what it actually was.

She turned her head—and sure enough, Sheffield was sleeping right beside her.

This was a double guest room! There were two beds!

She’d even gone out of her way to sleep on the other bed, so why had this person squeezed over again?

Wait—no! No! No!

If Sheffield was sleeping soundly beside her, then who was the girl hanging onto her?

“Eh?” Cold sweat broke out all over Xiadam as she pried off the girl clinging to her neck.

“Ah?” One more look and sweat poured like rain, two more and she was drenched.

Because this girl…

Looked exactly like her!

She was like Xiadam’s twin.

No, it wasn’t that simple.

Her figure was completely identical.

Even the curve of her skin was exactly the same.

Arms, legs, neck—every length matched perfectly.

This was beyond just being twins—it was basically her own duplicate.

If you had to pick out one difference…

It was that Xiadam had messy, gradient demon-purple hair.

While this girl had pure, abyssal jet-black straight hair.

One had to admit, hairstyle really does change a woman’s aura.

Even though their faces and figures were completely alike, just the distinctive hairstyles made it easy to tell who was who.

“Who are you?” Xiadam shook the black-haired girl hard.

“Mom!” The black-haired girl opened her eyes and called out.

“Wha—?” Xiadam felt her scalp go numb.

The black-haired girl didn’t care about any of this, hugging Xiadam’s waist and rubbing her face back and forth on Xiadam’s little flat chest.

Xiadam sat frozen as if struck by lightning, her mind gradually piecing things together.

Because she soon noticed something odd.

The black-haired girl, with her head bowed, was hugging Xiadam, who could just see her back—and there was something there.

Xiadam brushed aside the girl’s black hair and discovered a pitch-black circular mark etched on her back.

The lines and grooves on that circular pattern—weren’t those just the dents on Little Black Dragon’s turtle-like shell?

She looked at the sofa, scanned the room—sure enough, the tiny figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Little Black?”

Xiadam instantly realized the black-haired girl’s true identity.

“Mm mm mm!” The black-haired girl responded foolishly.

This déjà vu made Xiadam’s mouth twitch.

It reminded her of the White Dragon, right after she first took human form—just as dull-witted.

“Don’t sleep! Something’s happened!” Xiadam kept slapping the double pudding beside her, trying to wake Sheffield.

Sheffield grumpily woke up, rubbing her now-reddened side, bleary-eyed and full of confusion.

“Why are you looking at me? Look at this!” Xiadam pointed at the black-haired girl clinging to her like sticky candy.

“What’s the problem?” Sheffield didn’t get it, even asking in return.

“Did you sleep yourself silly? The Little Black Dragon turned into me—wait, no, she turned into a girl!” Xiadam exclaimed.

“What’s so strange about that? She’s with us every day—it’s not weird she learned transformation magic,” Sheffield explained, then lay back down.

Makes sense! I have nothing to say to that!

Sheffield cuddled up, hugging Xiadam’s long leg, and went back to sleep.

“Tch!” Xiadam was annoyed, shaking herself hard and flinging both dragon girls off as she tried to get up.

“Don’t move around, be careful.” Suddenly, Sheffield let go of Xiadam’s long leg and rolled away.

“Wha… what is it?” Xiadam asked.

The next moment, the black-haired girl vanished with a “poof.”

She instantly turned back into the chubby Little Black Dragon and landed with a thud on Xiadam’s stomach.