Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

On the first night of the assessment, on a certain Sky Island in the Cloud Realm, Lin Xiaolu and her team were lying scattered among the solid cloud clusters, nursing their wounds.

Though they said they were nursing wounds, in essence, they were recuperating Magic Power, as all three of them were nearly depleted of it, and could only recover slowly.

After being successfully ambushed by Arrowroot's Great Imprisonment Technique, the outcome of the battle had nearly lost suspense. Unable to evade the Blood Bat's drain of Magic Power, their Magic Power was swiftly plundered entirely by the opponents. Once they lost their combat ability, Arrowroot snatched their number badges and left.

Among them, Lin Xiaolu, with an "SS rating", was targeted the worst.

Her Magic Armor King's Key, which currently possesses two forms, each with different abilities. The basic form, resembling a white scepter, has the ability to instantly replenish previously depleted Magic Power. Although each time it manifests can only be used once, subsequent recovery requires the Magic Armor to recharge on its own, meaning each battle contains a reserve Magic Power battery.

Upon realizing Arrowroot's abilities, she had intended to keep this "ace in the hole," pretending to be restrained by the opponent, and only reverse the situation when both parties were drained to the limit. Sadly, Arrowroot seemed to have a prophetic intuition and gave her no chance.

"Stasis Magic", upon hearing its name, often reminds one of "Magic-Sealing Arts". In fact, this magic is a lesser or unconventional version of Magic-Sealing Arts.

Unlike Magic-Sealing Arts, which can directly seal a Magical Girl's Magic Power and prevent transformation, Stasis Magic cannot achieve such domineering effects, but can only "reduce the efficiency of mobilizing Magic Power, making it difficult for the subject to finely or massively deploy Magic Power."

However, even so, if this technique is used in battle, it can still massively weaken the opponent's combat strength. Most Magic Girls hit by this technique struggle to use other techniques or Magic Armor abilities, and even releasing some Magic Power is considered a deep accumulation. As for the Miracle Realm or flourishing abilities which consume even more Magic Power, forget about using those.

It sounds like this technique is a powerful control and weakening technique, which wouldn't logically be considered "niche." But in reality, the technique has a major flaw, appearing in the method of its execution.

Stasis Magic has two casting methods; the first, like the full Magic-Sealing Arts, can only be used on opponents who have completely lost the ability to resist. The second can be used in battle but is only executed as a "curse."

So-called curse-type techniques require the caster to pay an equivalent "price" for weakening an enemy. This concept aside, for Magical Girls, the price can often be compensated with Magic Power. But this means casting curse-type techniques requires an additional Magic Power expense after forming the technique model.

Then, as a "curse," after paying the necessary casting Magic Power, what's the additional "price" for Stasis Magic?

—It's having an equal amount of Magic Power within the caster's body also inflicted with the effects of Stasis Magic. If the target has 10 units of Magic Power, then the caster would also find 10 units of their own Magic Power difficult to wield.

Yes, the cost of this technique is exaggerated. It means unless the caster is far superior to the target, the effect of this technique seems like mutual destruction.

Such a price naturally labels the technique as "impractical," unlike Magic-Sealing Arts, which are restricted for learning only within the Investigation Bureau.

But, for Arrowroot, who possesses the ability to seize Magic Power, she could recklessly use high-consumption techniques. In today's battle, this technique undoubtedly served a vital role.

Using nearly all her Magic Power as the casting price to use Stasis Magic on Lin Xiaolu; when their internal Magic Power was sealed, the Blood Bats freely outside transported seized Magic Power back to their bodies—this Magic Power from the Magic Armor wouldn't be limited by Stasis Magic and could be used to continue fighting.

Then what happened afterward was as Mint knew: Stasis Magic sealed Lin Xiaolu, Great Imprisonment Technique immobilized everyone, and the Magic Armor with its autonomous consciousness completed the harvest. Arrowroot calculated every detail precisely, completing a very successful three-against-one.

It could even be said, even if Mint and Bai Jingxuan were to use Remnant Beasts' Magic Power at that time, the battle's outcome would still not have been optimistic. Because it didn't relate too much to technique, Magic Power levels, or abilities, it was a failure in strategy.

Even now, Lin Xiaolu's Stasis Magic effect hasn't been completely offset, thus she can't even use the King's Key abilities; she can only lie there waiting for her Magic Power to recover.

"What's wrong? Depressed again?" Mint, sitting beside her, asked lightly as she noticed Lin Xiaolu was quietly silent: "In fact, you don't have to feel so bad, the primary mistake in this battle was mine. I'm the one who knows Arrowroot best, yet I fell for her tricks with you guys. You should scold me for being a fool."

Lin Xiaolu glanced sideways at her for two seconds without saying a word, then turned her gaze to the sky.

"Hey, I kind of admitted my mistake, responding would be nice."

Mint puffed her cheeks in slight dissatisfaction: "Otherwise, it'll be awkward for me."

"I don't feel like talking now."

Lin Xiaolu gazed at the blue-purple night sky: "It's not about blaming you, it's that I'm thinking about some things."

"Thinking about stuff? You?" Mint was surprised: "You're not just crying inside, feeling abandoned, and wanting to find mom, are you?"

"Ugh, I told you to be quiet." Lin Xiaolu glared at her: "It's a critical moment now."

"Alright, alright, alright, Lady Bai Mei is always right, me, a war criminal, I've trespassed." Mint posed in surrender: "I just wanted to confirm, don't let me sleep with closed eyes soon, waking up to find my teammate jumped off the Sky Island to suicide."

"Who would?" Lin Xiaolu snapped.

"It's so noisy..." nearby Bai Jingxuan, exhausted, also opened her eyes: "Let me sleep a little longer..."

"Alright, my bad." Mint obediently shut her mouth.

The three fell silent again.

On the completely deserted Sky Island, only Mint's Lighting Technique emitted a faint glow.

Having lost so badly, the team's number badges were stolen; saying Lin Xiaolu's team morale had anything remaining would be exaggerating. The three could be said to be at the lowest emotional point ever since the assessment began.

Honestly, what Mint mentioned earlier about "finding mom" wasn't entirely wrong, as for Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan, since becoming Magical Girls, most of their setbacks have been comforted and encouraged by Emerald Sparrow. Right now, after a humiliating defeat, Emerald Sparrow is absent, and they face their failure more directly than ever.

As for Bai Jingxuan's thoughts being simpler, feeling purely uncomfortable and unwilling; Lin Xiaolu's emotions can only be described by four words: "chaotic as a tangled skein."

Her mind was filled with a variety of thoughts.

There was the shame and frustration of "losing again"; the anger and resentment of "being outsmarted"; the ostrich mentality of "wanting to escape to someplace unseen"; the habitual reliance of "wanting to find Emerald Sparrow"; the guilty hesitation of "not daring to find Emerald Sparrow"; and the numbness of "wondering if I might truly just be at this level."

Amongst all these chaotic thoughts, there was also a flash of inspiration.

If someone gets swiftly defeated by a far superior opponent, they usually won't learn much from it. For Lin Xiaolu, the battle against Mu Mian was like that—being defeated too crisply, too effortlessly, leaving her unable to understand how Mu Mian won and how she lost.

Undoubtedly, there were countless strategic moves involved, but because her own skills were so lacking, she didn't even notice those strategic moves' existence, hence she couldn't clearly see the reasons for her defeat.

But this time, being defeated by Arrowroot did not feel the same to Lin Xiaolu.

Not that Arrowroot was weaker than Mu Mian, but rather, compared to facing Mu Mian solo, this time, Lin Xiaolu saw much more.

After Mint's explanation, she somewhat understood where her team began to fall into Arrowroot's trap, and which strategic moves were lost resulting in today's outcome.

Every Magical Girl faces a fundamental question throughout their lifetime, necessitating an entire career to answer.

This question is called "how to win a battle."

Over the past year, Lin Xiaolu learned many things from Emerald Sparrow, but they were merely simple imitations, rough copies; even though Emerald Sparrow explained much of the thought process to her, she could only recount it verbally without turning it into her own knowledge.

It's like studying example problems, no matter how many standard solutions are reviewed, without personally solving one, the mysteries within remain inaccessible.

The past Lin Xiaolu never had the opportunity to "personally solve problems," as the enemies she faced were either unintelligent Remnant Beasts, or overwhelmingly beyond her capability, where effort wouldn't suffice against such extraordinary foes.

Now, after losing to two exemplary peers, Lin Xiaolu, facing the question of "how to win a battle," for the first time, picked up her pen.