Within the Magic Alliance, the most mainstream way to judge the strength of a magical girl is by the strength of her Inherent Magic.
Because magic is something anyone can learn, everyone is basically the same, and its effects are the same.
No one can make the same kind of magic bloom into something unique—it all comes down to who uses it better.
But Inherent Magic is unique to the individual.
Others can’t learn it.
Having a powerful Inherent Magic is enough to leave other magical girls, who’ve trained for years, in the dust.
However…
“You really don’t have any Inherent Magic?!”
Luo Zining asked, her heart pounding.
“No, my Inherent Magic causes large-scale anomalies, so I generally avoid using it.”
Manjusaka’s fingertips swirled with the glow of magic, pointing toward Luo Zining.
“Continue. This is also a live training session. You’re severely lacking in combat experience. Remember, magical girls don’t only face dimensional beasts.”
Sometimes magical girls take on criminals, and sometimes they attract bad guys’ attention.
If you only fight dimensional beasts, you’ll suffer greatly in the future.
Besides, the Ten Seats face enemies that are all king-level intelligences, some even dragon-level dimensional beasts possessing human-level intellect.
Battling these foes means even a slight slip-up could lead to a humiliating death.
“I’ll do my best!”
Luo Zining’s face was bitter.
Just now, Manjusaka only used ordinary low-level magic to spar, but she lost badly—she was utterly dominated.
It was hard to imagine that she was to become one of the Ten Seats’ magical girls. Their strength gap was enormous.
She felt a blow to her confidence…
“Use the new ability you’ve gained. I want to see what effect it has.”
Magic lines formed orderly patterns around Manjusaka, fluttering like spirits.
In any case, the fundamental goal was to test the power of the Divinity Particles.
Manjusaka also needed to use Little Red Riding Hood as a reference—just how miraculous could Divinity Particles be?
If in the future she faced Elira head-on, at least she’d have an idea.
Luo Zining didn’t dare be careless.
The Divinity Particles transformed into silver and formed a silver halo behind her.
Manjusaka’s eyes opened slightly, revealing half-contracted pupils filled with clear surprise.
This was…
“Provocation?” she murmured.
At that moment, Manjusaka’s vision was blocked from seeing anything else.
Everything other than Luo Zining was wrapped in silver light, and an urge surged in her mind—to rush forward and punish Luo Zining harshly, to explode her!
This strange impulse was so strong it almost threatened to override her normal judgment.
“Did you use your full strength?”
Manjusaka asked.
“Eh? Uh, no.”
Luo Zining didn’t fully understand either.
She had only used about a third of her Divinity Particles for this ability.
Two-thirds remained unused.
“You want me to use full power?”
Manjusaka’s index finger trembled slightly.
She rubbed her ear and whispered, “Not just visually, but even what you hear will change?”
So provocative.
Just by casually asking if she should go all out, Manjusaka felt her blood rush to her forehead, like some mischievous little demon was whispering in her ear—she couldn’t help but feel she deserved a scolding.
She’d had a similar feeling recently meeting someone… but nothing compared to this intensity.
After some thought, Manjusaka said, “Try using full power.”
“Alright, here I go!”
The silver halo behind Luo Zining radiated light like the sun—
Boom—!
An explosion suddenly ripped through the top floor of the Huahai Entertainment Center building.
The entire glass wall shattered and flew outward.
But the shards were immediately swept up by magical energy; not a single piece fell to the ground.
“U-uhhhhhh… (trembling),” Luo Zining looked at the mess behind her, her tongue trembling.
“Sorry, I almost lost control.”
Manjusaka rubbed her brow.
Her pursed lips made her look deeply troubled.
Luo Zining was so frightened she wanted to curse.
“You just used second-tier magic, right!? Is this the kind of magic you use indoors??”
“Little Red Riding Hood.”
“Y-Yes!”
“You have the talent to become one of the Ten Seats. This skill will be tremendously useful to a team built around you.”
“Huh… huh?”
Luo Zining was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly awakened, excitedly asking, “You figured out its purpose?”
Manjusaka nodded.
“This is based on my personal experience, so it shouldn’t be wrong. Your ability is more of a support skill. Its effect is… provocation. And it’s very strong—it caused my actions to lose rationality for a moment. Against king-level or dragon-level dimensional beasts, your skill will be extremely valuable.”
After hearing this, the joy on Luo Zining’s face slowly faded.
She said nothing and quietly crouched down, lost in deep thought.
Why provocation?! she shouted inside.
It wasn’t that the skill was bad.
In games, there are plenty of provocation skills that draw aggro and are very useful.
But what did ‘silver’ have to do with ‘provocation’?
[Wait?! That old Dun—!]
Luo Zining gritted her teeth.
Her family’s old Dun was just like this, always provoking others to anger, looking nothing like an adult and more like a mischievous brat who tempted crime!
[I actually… got a skill like this…!]
Tears almost welled in Luo Zining’s eyes.
Again, it was a good skill, but the reason she got it felt like a mockery of her unusual mindset—as if her brain was inherently broken.
It was all that old Dun’s fault!
“Little Red Riding Hood.”
“…Yes?”
“Next, you need to focus on learning defensive magic. Otherwise, if you use this ability in battle, you might get provoked into a deadly encounter with a furious dimensional beast.”
Luo Zining covered her face and cried.
Her Inherent Magic—Dazzling Light Ant—was best suited for ranged fire support, but… but!!
Why had she turned from a rear guard into a meat shield?!
And she wasn’t even tough! In fact, she was fragile!
“If your future awakened abilities can synergize with this one, that’d be even better.” Manjusaka said suddenly.
“…That’s true.”
Luo Zining felt somewhat comforted.
The future looked promising.
Even if it was just an empty hope, it still gave her some light to cling to.
Maybe she’d get addicted to being a meat shield after trying it.
“Thank you very much for your guidance. It’s getting late, so I’ll take my leave.”
“Actually, I’m really curious—what’s your definition of silver?”
Manjusaka called after her.
“Huh?”
“I just want to know what ideas about silver you had that caused you to awaken this ability.”
“I-I don’t know!”
Luo Zining hurriedly left.
Though uncertain, she was pretty sure it was because of old Dun!
She had to go back and kiss that face of his to pieces!
Half an hour later—
“Ahhh! Dad, I love you! I love you, tiger oil! There’s no better dad in the world, so let go, okay? Ahhh! It hurts, it hurts! It’s about to dislocate! I’m giving you face, you stinky old Dun!”
“Hmph.”
Luo You finally let go.
That rebellious girl came back in some strange mood, yelling at him and saying she wanted to make up by kissing his face.
He knocked her down in two shakes.
What a complete weakling.