Chapter 51: My Younger Sister’s Talent

In the classroom, Bai Yuze sat at the podium, his gaze sweeping across the students.

They say senior year is an endless cycle of exams, and that is absolute truth. Weekly exams, monthly exams, midterms, mock exams—testing to the point where students felt like vomiting and teachers got hand cramps.

Yet, Bai Yuze felt the pressure on this generation of students was likely much lighter compared to students of the past.

Ever since the Black Tide crisis erupted, the course load for high school students at Qiuquan No. 1 High School had been drastically reduced. They no longer had to stay at school on Saturdays and Sundays, and every afternoon was reserved for club activities.

Back when he was in high school, such a thing was utterly unimaginable.

However, this was limited solely to Qiuquan No. 1 High School; other schools operated just as they always had.

"Ring-ring-ring~"

As the end-of-class bell rang, the student at the back of each row placed their test papers on the podium, and Bai Yuze gathered the stack and walked back to the office.

"So annoying, grading papers again..."

He happened to run into the cute-faced Hoshino Seri, who was also walking in with a stack of test papers.

"Teacher Bai, every time you grade papers, you get this decadent look in your eyes, exactly like Garfield the cat being lazy."

"It's leisurely, not lazy, Teacher Hoshino."

Following that, Bai Yuze retrieved a small white gift box from his drawer and handed it to Hoshino Seri.

"Thank you for covering my class yesterday, Teacher Hoshino. This is just a small token of my appreciation."

"Teacher Bai is too polite." Hoshino Seri accepted it with both hands, looking somewhat pleasantly surprised.

"Haha, but don't hold your expectations too high, it's just a little gift."

As she inspected the small gift box, Hoshino Seri smiled and said, "A goose feather sent from afar, the gift is small but the sentiment is deep. Even if there's just a goose feather inside, I'll still be very happy."

"Eh, how did you know there was a goose feather inside?" A look of shock and confusion appeared on Bai Yuze's face.

"......Uh." Hoshino Seri paused while holding the gift box, blinking her cute eyes. "Then Teacher Bai's personality is truly awful!"

"So awful, how could there be such a bad person?" Bai Yuze wore an expression of grievance.

"Teacher Bai, can I open it?" Hoshino Seri smiled, giving him a fierce little sideways glare.

"Of course, I bought it specifically for you."

After untying the ribbon, Hoshino Seri opened the small gift box, revealing the item inside.

It was a black-and-white, endearing little panda doll keychain.

"Wow... Such a cute little panda doll. Pandas are my absolute favorite animal."

Hoshino Seri immediately took out her keys and attached the panda keychain to them.

"I really love Teacher Bai's gift. Thank you."

"Wow, to receive praise from Teacher Hoshino, I'm suddenly filled with motivation to grade these papers." Bai Yuze smiled.

"Really? Then I'll praise Teacher Bai more often in the future, so you'll be full of motivation every day."

Hoshino Seri covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Cough, cough~ Next time you two are showing off your affection, you should check if there's still anyone else in the office!"

After a moment, Teacher Zhang Yuhuan's head slowly rose from behind the books on her desk. Watching the two of them looking all shy, she let out a satisfied, mischievous smirk.

Hehehe, lurking here this time totally paid off...

At the Yejiu City No. 1 High School Library,

This wasn't Violet's first time here, but the last time she came, this place had been a dilapidated, abandoned old factory.

A bunch of magical girls had been blowing things up left and right inside, calling it magical practice.

Stepping into the library,

There were quite a few students on the first floor, mostly those who remained at school for rigorous studying after classes ended.

Though there were many people, there was no chaotic noise; there was only the rustling of pens on paper and the turning of pages.

Entering the second and third floors, the crowd thinned out somewhat, and the seats were occupied entirely by senior high school students.

Upon reaching the fourth floor, Violet deactivated her invisibility magic.

The surveillance camera in the stairwell captured a one-meter-forty-five flat-chested petite loli dressed in a light purple, exquisite magical dress.

"Clang!"

The alloy-style heavy door in front of Violet slowly slid open.

"Senior Xiaolan, you're here."

As the door opened, three youthful and radiant magical girls stepped out.

Han Xue, who hadn't come yesterday, had also arrived today, standing off to the side with an aloof expression.

Today, Violet could finally consider herself acquainted with all the magical girls of Qiuquan No. 1 High School.

Upon this first meeting, she had gained a basic understanding of the Orchid Magical Girl Squad.

The decisive and efficient captain Chen Yuyi, the lively socialite Xia Qing, the cold yet formidable Han Xue, and the utterly clueless newcomer Bai Youqing.

Next came analyzing each of their abilities and combat styles, and then forging them from a scattered group into a unified fist to strike a heavy blow.

On the way to the training room, Xia Qing briefed Violet on the situation of each magical girl.

"Sister Yuyi—you met her yesterday. She's our captain and a genuinely good person. Although she might seem careless, outspoken, and unreliable on the surface, on the battlefield she is extremely dependable and deeply responsible."

"Mm, I've heard about her. Your captain has quite a high reputation on CCSA."

At Violet's remark, Xia Qing's expression twitched slightly. If Violet hadn't shown up yesterday, perhaps they never would have known there was a dedicated communication app for magical girls.

Composing herself back to calm, Xia Qing continued, "My name is Xia Qing. I currently study at Qiuquan Middle School and have been a magical girl for two years now. My strength is still in the budding stage, and my talent isn't very great—I haven't even been able to summon my Magical Armament yet, but I'll keep trying."

"It's fine, Magical Armaments aren't that hard to get. Just find a few Grief Seeds, no big deal."

"What's a Grief Seed?"

"Uh... nothing. Go ahead and introduce the others." Violet hesitated for a moment before remembering that this was no longer the extraordinary era of the Black Tide crisis.

Faltering slightly, she chose to change the subject.

The reason she used the name "Grief Seed" was purely because of how they looked after being extracted from a magical core—the two were extremely similar.

They took the shape of black objects of varying sizes, consisting of a spherical main body pierced from top to bottom by a needle-like spike, bearing characteristic patterns related to the magical girl to whom they belonged.

Only, compared to the former, this world was much simpler and more direct: when a magical girl defeated another magical girl and extracted her magical core, there was a chance to obtain a Grief Seed.

When a Grief Seed was brought close to a magical girl's magical core,

The magical core could absorb the holy power within the Grief Seed. Once the accumulated holy power reached a certain threshold, it would nurture the birth of a Magical Armament, at which point the magical girl would no longer have to worry about reverting to an ordinary human.

It was worth mentioning that the Grief Seeds extracted from defeated magical girls also varied by talent grade.

The higher the talent grade, the richer the holy power contained within the Grief Seed, and the greater the probability of successfully nurturing a Magical Armament.

This was precisely why magical girl newcomers with high talent grades were extremely susceptible to being stalked and hunted.

Violet's plan was simple: if Xia Qing and the others failed to nurture their Magical Armaments by themselves, she would just dash into a witch's nest and slaughter a few.

Survival of the fittest; back when she became a magical girl, she had been hunted down by witches on multiple occasions.

Acquiring Grief Seeds was exceedingly easy, but the problems they generated could not be ignored.

The issues were primarily threefold:

First, absorbing Grief Seeds came with massive side effects. It would induce significant emotional fluctuations, drastically altering a magical girl's personality.

Second, absorbing Grief Seeds was strictly cracked down upon and prohibited by official authorities. During the Black Tide crisis, the higher-ups turned a blind eye to fight the disaster beasts, but that was no longer permitted.

Third, the Orchid Magical Girl Squad might not necessarily be willing to accept Grief Seeds, even those originating from witches.

Never mind, perhaps she was just worrying over nothing. What if these few newcomers had great talent and managed to nurture them on their own?

"......Han Xue has a somewhat reclusive personality and isn't very good at socializing. She usually looks ice-cold, but her heart is actually very gentle. Furthermore, her strength is greater than mine; she should be able to nurture her Magical Armament very soon."

While Violet was lost in thought and daydreaming, Xia Qing was still earnestly introducing the members of the team. Finally, she turned her gaze toward Bai Youqing and introduced her.

"Sister Yuyi said that among all the newly awakened magical girls in Yejiu City, Bai Youqing has the best talent—she's an S-rank magical girl.

However, considering she only joined recently and her actual combat capability isn't strong yet, we temporarily won't be bringing her along for external missions."

"S-rank?!"

Violet's gaze froze for a second before instantly locking onto her own younger sister with absolute disbelief.

An S-rank magical girl, let alone in Yejiu City, was an exceptionally precious seed anywhere on the globe. Generally speaking, as long as an S-rank magical girl wasn't hunted down during her growth phase and was given normal time to develop, she could eventually become a high-level magic user of the Blooming rank.

They were equivalent to national strategic nuclear weapons.

To the Abyss, they served as accelerators to hasten the opening of the Abyss Gates.

And to those witches, they were nothing short of immortal flesh; as long as one captured her, would they ever have to worry about failing to nurture a Magical Armament?

"How many people know about this?" Violet's expression grew solemn as she turned to question Bai Youqing.

Startled by Violet's abruptly serious expression, Bai Youqing answered timidly.

"Sister Xiaolan, this... well, after I became a magical girl, the magical sprite Xia'ai told me, and then I told Senior Xia Qing, Senior Han Xue, and Sister Yuyi."

"You must keep Bai Youqing's S-rank talent an absolute secret. Seal your lips and say nothing to anyone, otherwise Bai Youqing will face endless hunting everywhere in the future."

To be honest, the moment she heard this news, an instinctive flash of killing intent toward Xia Qing and Han Xue arose within Violet—only the dead could truly keep a secret.

Suddenly, she was startled by her own sudden thought. It was all those damn Abyss sprites' fault for being so pernicious that they actually dared to influence her state of mind.

Abyss Sprite: "......"

"Understood!" Xia Qing suddenly remembered that Sister Yuyi had worn that exact same expression when she learned the news, ordering them to keep their mouths shut without explaining the specific reason.

"Got it," Han Xue nodded from the side to indicate she understood.

Turning her head back to look at her younger sister's dazed expression, Violet felt she was breaking her heart over her.

She honestly didn't know whether Bai Youqing becoming a magical girl was a blessing or a curse.

For a moment, she felt the heavy burden on her shoulders grow even heavier.

Guiding her sister's combat skills had become an urgent priority.