Chapter 26: The Launchpad Elevator

Led by Xu Yanqing, the trio once again stepped into the familiar elevator.

Surrounded by the elevator’s antiquated decor, Su Qingyao instinctively reached for the first-floor button. However, Xu Yanqing was a step ahead, her finger already pressing for the very top floor.

Ding-dong.

The elevator responded with a normal chime, just as it had when Su Qingyao and Xu Yiyi used it earlier.

Neither of the women gave it much thought.

Yet, Su Qingyao sensed something profound: the moment the top-floor button was pressed, a surge of magic abruptly permeated their surroundings.

“The source is…”

Su Qingyao slowly raised her head, her gaze drawn to a specific spot on the ceiling. Just as she began to discern its nature, the source of magic abruptly shifted.

In a fleeting moment, the magical essence plummeted from the ceiling to settle beneath their feet—all before the elevator even truly began its ascent.

A profound sense of hypergravity immediately washed over them as the elevator began to rise.

However, this sensation was fleeting, swiftly replaced by an abrupt, intense acceleration.

Caught entirely off guard, Xu Yiyi stumbled, nearly collapsing into Su Qingyao.

Fortunately, Xu Yanqing, who seemed to have anticipated the jolt, swiftly caught Xu Yiyi, saving Su Qingyao from being ‘plastered’ against the elevator wall.

In that brief interval, Su Qingyao felt as though she had been skipped like a stone across a pond.

The young woman’s lips twitched.

‘Why does it feel like the elevator was launched like a cannonball?’

Throughout the brief, projectile-like journey, no one uttered a sound. They remained rooted, bracing themselves against the myriad discomforts induced by the immense speed.

Finally, amidst a sharp, almost grating screech of friction, the elevator, its ‘recoil’ palpable, settled into silence.

After a prolonged moment of hesitation, Su Qingyao cautiously turned to Xu Yanqing, her voice hushed.

“We haven’t already reached outside the city walls, have we?”

Predictably, and quite unfortunately.

Xu Yanqing nodded proudly. “We are already in the suburbs, beyond the city walls,” she announced.

Xu Yiyi and Su Qingyao simultaneously drew a sharp breath.

“May I ask what this elevator is made of?”

Xu Yiyi swallowed hard, her question tinged with caution.

Su Qingyao, however, had a nascent suspicion, having keenly observed the fluctuations in magic.

This elevator, she theorized, likely utilized the fragment atop the tower, employing a ‘spatial skipping’ method to leap through coordinates—

Their proximity to that fragment moments ago might have been unexpectedly close.

“The principle is confidential,” Xu Yanqing explained with a hint of regret. “Even I was kept largely in the dark regarding this particular elevator’s workings.”

Xu Yiyi was about to offer another comment.

However, the ‘ding-dong’ chime from the elevator door abruptly cut short their conversation.

As the sound faded, the elevator doors slowly creaked open, just as they would under normal circumstances.

This time, however, the view outside was no longer the high tower’s interior. Su Qingyao’s gaze immediately fell upon the distinct boundary line where the earth met the sky.

They had materialized on a derelict highway. The sleek, elegant elevator now stood incongruously amidst a desolate landscape, resting heavily upon tangled vines and withered grass.

Old-era vehicles, hastily abandoned and subsequently ravaged, lay haphazardly strewn across the verdant asphalt. They appeared like scattered grey pebbles upon a dark green stream, stretching as far as Su Qingyao’s eyes could discern.

The elevator, and the three figures emerging from it, seemed to exist on an entirely different plane from the desolate scene before them.

“Ah, it seems our luck is favorable this time,” Xu Yanqing commented.

Xu Yanqing merely cast a casual glance, appearing entirely unfazed by the sight.

“During the formal training, we’ll utilize a more conventional vehicle—though the underlying principle remains the same.”

“Moreover, the landing point will consistently be the predetermined location, and the sensation won’t be nearly as jarring.”

As she spoke, Xu Yanqing tapped the bridge of her glasses with her index finger, a faint note of regret in her tone.

“That’s a relief then,” Su Qingyao replied.

Su Qingyao nodded in agreement. She certainly had no desire for her precious daughter to endure such an ordeal again.

She would sooner fully unleash her Spirit Armor and fly over with Su Muxue directly.

The time commitment would be roughly the same, after all.

Su Qingyao’s Spirit Armor offered magical protection, an experience that would undoubtedly be far superior to being launched by an elevator.

“The next matters can only be discussed once we reach the designated location,”

As she spoke, Xu Yanqing silently summoned her Magical Girl Spirit Armor—a technique, its origin unknown, that allowed modern Magical Girls to largely forgo ‘traditional’ transformation methods.

The notoriously ‘evil’ witch nodded, and Xu Yiyi, standing beside her, likewise summoned her own Spirit Armor, following Xu Yanqing as she floated effortlessly in mid-air.

****

The designated location was a temporary camp, erected in advance. Though rudimentary, it was fully equipped with all essential facilities:

While it was dubbed simulated combat, it was ultimately training; there was no need to deliberately complicate the basic conditions.

Upon reaching the site, Xu Yanqing remained in her transformed state, standing resolutely as she waited for the two following her to descend.

Once she was firmly on the ground, Xu Yanqing glanced at the portable tablet in her hand before addressing Xu Yiyi.

“Although you may already be aware, certain points must still be clarified upfront.”

“Miss Su Qingyao and I are both Fourth-tier Magical Girls, a rank that signifies the ‘skillful application of Spirit Armor to augment magic,'”

“However, Ms. Xu Yiyi, you are presently at Third-tier. Therefore, it is theoretically necessary for me to assess and refine your proficiency in magic casting.”

“Oh, but I have solo kill records too!”

Though she didn’t deny the assertion, Xu Yiyi still pouted, attempting to defend herself—

Incidentally, Xu Yiyi, in her transformed state, had shifted from the mature ‘Ms.’ to a petite young woman.

Her appearance had become remarkably deceptive.

She now appeared to be the youngest of the group.

“You yourself know it’s ‘solo’ combat experience,” Xu Yanqing remarked with a sigh.

“While Miss Su Qingyao’s magic is undeniably potent, with documented rank verification to attest to it,”

“our trainees are children. I doubt Miss Su Qingyao would wish for her daughter to be harmed, would she?”

Her tone, Su Qingyao noted, sounded rather peculiar.

Even so, Su Qingyao nodded in agreement.

Her ‘healing,’ no matter how swift, was ultimately ‘delayed.’ The pain preceding true recovery remained very real.

For children, it was truly imperative that—

“My expectation for you, Xu Yiyi, is that ideally, not a single one gets injured,” Xu Yanqing stated earnestly. “Therefore, this will be the paramount focus of the upcoming training.”

“Qingyao, do you see those sandbags at your feet?”

Only after the young woman lowered her gaze, scanned her surroundings, and nodded, did Xu Yanqing allow a faint smile to grace her lips.

“Now, they represent our nascent Magical Girls. Xu Yiyi, you must protect them without fail.”

“Wait, no!”

Xu Yiyi appeared poised to protest further, but Xu Yanqing had already raised her magic wand, wielding it like a conductor’s baton.

“Zzz!” A laser briefly coalesced in mid-air. Before Xu Yiyi could even react, it violently burst forth, narrowly grazing past Su Qingyao.

“Poof.” A dull thud followed, and from the newly formed hole, a spray of sand grains scattered across the young woman’s leather shoes.

The first shot: a direct hit.