The Dagger is Revealed

"Senior, if you don't understand, I can give you an example."

"There used to be a very influential fire-type magical girl in the neighboring city—"

"...Is it a guillotine?" Li Jiangqun suddenly asked.

Jiang Qing remained silent for a moment.

"...Senior, tell me honestly, did you memorize all the magical girls in China?"

"Ahem." Li Jiangqun was a little embarrassed.

In fact, she has basically memorized all the magical girls, not just those from China, but also those from abroad, that are documented online.

"Since you already know, senior, I'll get to the point. This magical girl senior is very strong, but her personality is terrible. Although there's nothing about her online, her reputation in real life is very bad."

"Yes, I know, because the ospreys never care about anything when they fight, and sometimes the damage they cause is even greater than that of inferior beasts."

Jiang Qing snapped her fingers.

"That's right, but this magical girl senior, who isn't exactly KiraKira in any way, has improved her strength from glimmer to luminosity in less than two months!"

"After being upgraded to Brightness, this senior Guo'e seemed to realize that his behavior was wrong, so he changed his usual style and showed a rather gentle side during the subsequent beast disasters."

"Logically, this kind of magical girl behavior should have boosted this senior's power again. But on the contrary, this senior's power stagnated after changing her style, and remained at the Bright level until her retirement."

The girl hesitated for a moment.

"So, does that mean that simply maintaining your own personality will increase compatibility?"

"...Not entirely."

"As far as I know, many magical girls' personalities and strengths have never changed. Senior Guo'e's story is just an isolated case."

"The Extraordinary Society, the Countermeasures Division, and other magical girl organizations have all studied these, but none of them have reached a definitive conclusion."

Jiang Qing tiptoed and sat on the swing next to her, swinging her fair legs.

"Even the great sages of the magic kingdom don't know how to properly increase compatibility, how could I possibly know?"

"But that's precisely what makes the 'Soul Gem' of the Heretical Society unique!"

She displayed the pure black gemstone in its entirety in front of Li Jiangqun.

"As long as we continuously fuse the Soul Gem into the Seed of Hope, then without any miracles, we can steadily increase the compatibility between the magical girl and the Seed of Hope!"

"This is a precious resource unique to our Otherworldly Society. Even I don't have many, since it's traded for the negative cores of inferior beasts..."

Before the girl could react, she jumped off the swing and moved closer to Li Jiangqun, gazing at her expectantly.

"How was it? Senior, look how much I've told you about magical girls and the Otherworld."

"Why don't you join too? And if you become a magical girl someday, you'll find these Soul Gems useful!"

"..."

Well, so that's where you were waiting for her.

Seeing that the girl didn't react, Jiang Qing ran to the blue-haired magical girl's side, stretched out her small hand, and made that classic sales pitch.

"Join the Extraordinary Society now, and you can even feed it free magical girls!"

"Senior, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

The magical girl looked up blankly, her small eyes filled with great confusion.

"Ah-Qing is acting strange today."

Looking at the enthusiastic twin-tailed girl in front of her, who was trying hard to maintain her figure, Li Jiangqun hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

"good!"

This was certainly not because she was lustful at first sight.

Although she doesn't need the Soul Gem of the Otherworld now, what about after she becomes a magical girl?

She knew that a good magical girl should start thinking about the future from the present moment.

"but..."

These two words made Jiang Qing, who was almost jumping for joy, freeze again.

"However, Ah Qing, before I join the Supernatural Society, I'd like to ask you for a favor."

Phew, so it was to help out. You scared me!

The girl with pigtails secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and a bright smile returned to her face.

"Senior, just say the word! As long as it's something I, Jiang Qing, can do, I'll help you with anything!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jiangqun silently took out a stack of draft paper from her schoolbag.

"...Ah Qing, I'd like you to take a look at these things for me and then make a list..."

Jiang Qing stared blankly at the densely written list of medicinal properties on the paper.

"What is this?" she asked, puzzled.

Li Jiangqun, however, answered with a straight face.

"A formula for pills used to aid in cultivation."

"???"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Linjiang Magic Disaster Tactics Countermeasures Building.

meeting room.

Si Baixiu sat in the main seat, with Wang Fanfan sitting next to her, her face expressionless.

The huge conference room now only contained the two of them. Several windows were displayed on the screen in front of them, and a steady voice came from the largest window.

"...Based on the report from the Linjiang City Magic Disaster Tactical Countermeasures Section, the General Section has compared the data with previous beast disasters and can preliminarily determine that there is a possibility of a major beast disaster incident occurring in Linjiang City."

"However, due to the uncertainty of this disaster, Section Chief, I'm sorry that headquarters cannot adjust the combat readiness status of Linjiang City to Level 1."

Si Baixiu frowned deeply.

"What about reinforcements from the main division?"

It was still that steady voice:

"Headquarters can transfer a dazzling-level magical girl to Linjiang City from another second-level war preparedness city."

Si Baixiu took a deep breath.

"I appreciate the General Manager's kindness, but Linjiang doesn't need Shining-level units right now. Please assign at least three Bright-level units instead!"

"..."

"Sorry, that's impossible."

"The main course can be upgraded to the Shining level! Why can't it be upgraded to the Bright level?"

Faced with the woman's questioning, the largest window fell silent, while the side window was enlarged to the main position.

This time, a firm, adult female voice came from the window.

"Section Chief, your plan is extremely risky in the eyes of the General Section. We will not put our magical girls in danger just to deal with an unidentified near-Level 3 inferior beast."

Upon hearing this, Si Baixiu could no longer contain herself and suppressed her anger.

"Have you even read the documents I submitted?"

"That's not a near-Level 3! Nor is it a substandard beast! Your headquarters' materials are far more detailed than ours; a simple comparison will tell you the difference!"

It was the same female voice:

"Section Chief, please calm down. Our department has already compared the data twice, but we still believe your concerns are unnecessary."

"Since the War of the Inferior Beasts, all Level 3 Inferior Beasts, or rather, the complete forms of Inferior Beasts, have been confirmed to have disappeared under the world miracle of Magic Aurora."

"In the fifteen years since then, the only inferior beasts that have appeared have reached the near-level three. As you know, near-level three inferior beasts are beings that require a Shining-level magical girl to fight against."

"According to your plan, if the individual that appears is not a Level 3 inferior beast, but a near-Level 3, then sending out only three Bright-level magical girls would be extremely dangerous."

"Furthermore, your unauthorized sealing of the Magic Blaze violated the General Affairs Regulations. However, considering your significant contributions to resisting the threat of the inferior beasts, the General Affairs Regulations have decided not to punish you."

"But if your guess is wrong, it will bring irreparable losses to the people of Linjiang City."

"But please remember that the core objective of the Magic Disaster Tactics Countermeasures Division is to protect the lives and property of the people."

Therefore, the General Office will maintain its original decision.