Chapter 53: A Mother’s Gaze and a Daughter’s Duel

Naturally, while Lu Zhichuan enjoyed his leisure, peace was far from reach on Su Qingyao’s side.

Truth be told, nearly twenty middle school girls—each capable of firing laser cannons—could stir up more than a little trouble.

Even during mere magical simulated battles, things could escalate quickly.

Should one powerful side press too aggressively, forcing their opponent to directly chant and unleash a ‘full-power’ magic cannon, the outcome would be messy.

The grime-covered magical girl trainees, battered by the blast, would then rely on Su Qingyao to mend their damaged spirit outfits.

‘Why treat injuries?’ one might ask.

The truth was, a Tier 2 magic cannon generally couldn’t breach a spirit outfit’s defenses.

This very fact was why spirit outfits were considered the distinct hallmark of Tier 2.

Beyond their basic functions of absorbing magic and assisting spellcasting, spirit outfits offered substantial protection.

Simply put, within the magic barrier, a spirit outfit possessed a defensive threshold.

Any damage below this level would be absorbed by the outfit, offsetting the physical harm the wearer would otherwise incur.

However, exceeding this threshold would result in injuries like the charred wounds that had appeared on Xu Yiyi a few days prior.

This was entirely due to the overwhelming suppression a Tier 4 exerted over a Tier 3.

‘Alright, remember not to bump this wound during tonight’s training,’ Su Qingyao said, half-joking and half-threatening, to the girl who was sweating profusely from the pain. ‘Skin healed by magic isn’t quite the original, you know.’

This was a rare case of a genuine injury. The girl had accidentally fallen while sneaking out of camp by climbing a wall, scraping her knee.

She hadn’t flown to avoid detection by the strict teacher, Xu Yanqing.

Su Qingyao could easily imagine how furious Xu Yanqing would be once she found out.

‘Okaaaay—’ the girl named Yan Xiaoqian drawled, her face tear-streaked as she exited the tent serving as a makeshift infirmary.

Sure enough, as Su Qingyao sat inside the tent, she saw Xu Yanqing, who had heard the news, approach the entrance with an angry expression.

‘Is this what being a teacher does to you?’

‘How had the usually aloof science student, Xu Yanqing, become so animated?’

Only the teacher herself, and the culprit, seemed rather unhappy.

Su Qingyao, ever one to enjoy a spectacle, quietly turned her head, looking towards the other window.

It wasn’t just that she couldn’t bear to watch the cruel sight of a young girl being dragged away by her collar.

It was also because her beloved daughter, Su Muxue, was currently practicing just outside the window.

Su Muxue’s spirit outfit was primarily white, interwoven with navy blue patterns and adorned with silver-white, teardrop-sized pendants nestled among the layers of her Lolita-style dress.

Yet, at this moment, those pendants seemed to hang ‘motionless’ on her spirit outfit.

Naturally, as a Tier 3 magical girl who had awakened her own magic, she was sparring with another trainee who had awakened their unique magic.

The magic staff clutched in the opponent’s hand had been forcibly drawn into a dark red magical blade, resembling a flowing stream of lava.

‘Flame Fiend,’ the magical girl wielding the fiery longsword was named Lin Xiaoxiao, a name that sounded quite demure.

Then, without hesitation, she strode forward and unleashed a horizontal slash with the blade in her hand.

A crimson sword wind swept past.

However, the sword wind appeared for only a fleeting moment, like a reflection in water, before vanishing as if extinguished by the wind.

Yet, judging by Su Muxue’s grave expression, the reality was far from simple.

In stark contrast to Lin Xiaoxiao’s method of drawing a sword from her staff, Su Muxue had almost entirely abandoned her magic staff.

Like a cane, Su Muxue propped her staff, its tip embedded in the ground, while her other small, pale hand formed a fist, extending only her index finger and thumb.

She aimed a ‘gun’ gesture at her opponent.

The next moment, both Su Muxue’s hand and the trembling air moved in unison.

‘Bang.’ ‘Boom!’

A fiery slash, indistinguishable from a blade wind, materialized and streaked over ten meters, colliding with a sudden net woven from snowy ice pillars that appeared before Su Muxue.

The result was a stalemate, with both sides claiming a victory.

Both the fiery slash and the ice net vanished without a trace.

Lin Xiaoxiao’s magic was [Hidden Flame], which allowed her to conjure flames that concealed their form before erupting with heat.

Her deliberate act of drawing a blade and conjuring a sword wind was purely to mislead others and serve as a ‘psychological cue’ for swiftly using her unique magic.

Much like Su Muxue’s gun gesture, this was a simplified, quick casting method for a unique magic with straightforward ‘calculations’.

It was something Xu Yiyi could never hope to achieve, given that casting an offensive skill merely required unleashing it, whereas a defensive shield demanded far more parameters to consider.

As for Su Muxue, her unique magic was not yet fully developed; its current effect was to create mediums that emitted ‘low temperatures’.

By itself, it was a rather lackluster magic.

However, this limited utility was merely a consequence of it not being thoroughly explored.

Su Qingyao, reading the various messages conveyed by the magic dissipating in the air, believed that Su Muxue’s sheer ‘potential’ in magic was no less than her own.

It all depended on how well Su Muxue’s ‘personality’ aligned with her innate magical talent.

‘But—hmpf, even if the compatibility wasn’t perfect, what did it matter? Her daughter had the world’s best dad and the world’s second-best mom, and that was enough.’

Su Qingyao secretly mused to herself.

Her attention to Su Muxue’s battle wasn’t focused on the magic of [Magical Girl Snow Lotus], but rather on admiring her own little white cat.

Currently, the little white cat’s fur was a bit singed and gray from the blasts.

Lin Xiaoxiao seemed to be quite wary of Su Muxue’s magic, for the effects of low-temperature contact could bypass the protection of a ‘spirit outfit’.

If caught off guard, it could instantly end a battle.

From the start of the fight, Lin Xiaoxiao continuously brandished the blade in her hand.

Naturally, she couldn’t allow every sword wind to transform into a genuinely erupting [Hidden Flame].

‘But do you, Su Muxue, dare to bet that my sword wind contains no magic?’

The crux of [Hidden Flame] lay in its ‘hidden’ nature.

Facing Lin Xiaoxiao’s onslaught, Su Muxue appeared far more disheveled.

At least on the surface, Su Muxue’s magic seemed only suitable for defense, leaving her in a passive position.

Most of her energy was consumed by discerning whether an attack was hidden, and the few active ice pillars she launched were individually neutralized by Lin Xiaoxiao.

Noticing that Su Muxue’s attention was indeed drawn to the Hidden Flame, Lin Xiaoxiao subtly adjusted her footwork.

She then concealed her movements beneath the sweeping sword winds, gradually closing the distance to Su Muxue.

‘Bang.’ Another sudden, heavy blow erupted, shattering Su Muxue’s ice net into countless fragments that exploded before her.

Covered in dust and grime, Su Muxue lightly stomped her foot, her head bowed in vexation.

‘Here I come!’

Lin Xiaoxiao raised her sword, charging forward like a meteor towards Su Muxue, who was now unexpectedly within striking distance.

Immediately after, she saw Su Muxue’s expression suddenly vanish, reverting to her usual blank facade.

Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly shivered.

She instinctively felt a chilling sensation spreading from her arm throughout her entire body.

Looking down, Lin Xiaoxiao saw countless tiny ice fragments, scattered by the previous explosion, clinging to her body and now radiating a biting cold.

—The ‘low-temperature’ fragments hadn’t fallen to the ground; instead, arranged by Su Muxue, they had transformed into colorless traps hidden beneath the fiery glow.

At first glance, Su Muxue’s magic appeared to create ‘ice pillars’ using ‘low temperatures’.

However, contrary to intuition, it was the ‘ice pillars’ that released the ‘low temperatures’; the pillars themselves were merely mediums for applying the chill.

‘I lose.’ Her magic staff clattered to the ground.

Lin Xiaoxiao, looking pitiful and innocent, cleanly admitted defeat.

Su Muxue, however, did not immediately stop her magic, choosing instead to stand her ground and await the judgment of the referee, Xu Yiyi.

Only after Xu Yiyi nodded did Su Muxue finally reveal a small smile.

‘Snap,’ the girl clicked her fingers.

And so, the ice pillars, or rather, the ice shards, transformed into a few drops of water, clinging to Lin Xiaoxiao’s arm.

They felt cool.

****

Su Qingyao rested her chin on her hand, leaning against the window.

Evidently, Su Muxue hadn’t been taking the battle very seriously at first—until she felt Su Qingyao’s gaze.