Chapter 63: Unveiling the Beast’s Genesis

Each magical girl trainee had been assigned their own window.

Should any unforeseen incident occur, they could simply leap from their windows, a height no greater than two and a half stories. Protected by their spirit gear, such a fall would inflict no damage upon a magical girl.

Once settled, Xu Yiyi approached the nearest window. Bracing herself with her elbows, she deftly propelled herself over the sill, her body gracefully swinging into the open air.

Her spirit gear, now automatically activated, allowed Xu Yiyi to descend with a graceful, almost gliding motion onto the empty ground below.

Only then did Xu Yiyi finally unstrap the elongated object from her back, an item she had meticulously carried from the camp all the way to this very spot.

Typically, a magical beast would naturally emerge from a mana accumulation point over a period of two to three days.

Such a timeframe proved far too extensive for a training session that spanned merely half a day, especially with only three to four hours allotted for the practical combat segment.

Was there, then, a method to accelerate the “generation” of these magical beasts?

The answer, quite simply, was yes.

Su Qingyao stood beside Su Muxue, calmly observing as the elongated object was plunged into the earth.

With her back to the group, Xu Yiyi was seen taking a deep breath, then forcefully tearing away the fabric strips that enveloped the object.

“RIIIP!”

As a strip of cloth flew into the air, everyone, including Su Qingyao, finally caught sight of the concealed object.

It was a cuboid, painted pure white, exhibiting a distinct plastic sheen and emitting a soft, ethereal white glow.

Aside from a single socket and a few control buttons, its only prominent feature was a striking black emblem: a pure black “magical beast” silhouette, intricately carved out by an exclamation mark within a triangle.

As the cuboid settled into the earth, it immediately extended four legs downward, while a slender tube simultaneously emerged from its top.

Simultaneously, its upper section rapidly unfurled, expanding skyward into a pointed, spire-like “umbrella.”

“Cough, cough. We still have a little time left.”

From outside the window, Xu Yanqing’s voice drifted in.

Every gaze, including Su Qingyao’s, unconsciously converged on the magical girl. She leaned casually against a dark crystal, suspended mid-air, her hands tucked into her pockets.

Even adorned in a Lolita dress, the impassive Xu Yanqing retained her characteristic cold and detached demeanor.

“First, I’d like to ask… He Baimiao! What precisely is the definition of a magical beast?”

A startled gasp echoed from the room two doors down from Su Muxue’s, followed by a flustered, hesitant reply: “Uh… I suppose it’s a very dark, very terrifying monster…”

Her voice grew increasingly faint as she stumbled through the answer.

Even Su Qingyao herself couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.

After all, this very topic had been discussed just before the evening’s supplementary lesson.

Xu Yanqing offered no immediate reaction, merely shifting her gaze ever so slightly towards Su Muxue.

“And what about you, Jiang Jiuli?”

“It, it should be—a mana polymer that defies the laws of natural aggregation and, once it gains a physical form, possesses both extraordinary traits and a fiery nature.”

Despite her nervousness, Jiang Jiuli’s answer was remarkably detailed.

“More accurately, it’s ‘activity’.”

Xu Yanqing offered calm praise. “You’ve remembered it quite accurately, especially since I only touched upon it briefly. Jiang Jiuli, your performance is truly commendable.”

As if to underscore her words, Xu Yiyi retrieved a small, battery-like square box from her pocket.

It was clear, even at a glance, that this box precisely fit the socket on the luminous white cuboid.

“So, what then is the pivotal element in the formation of a magical beast?”

Xu Yanqing hummed thoughtfully, then answered her own question. “For this particular question, you don’t need to provide a definitive answer. Feel free to speculate.”

“Lin Xiaoxiao?”

Xu Yanqing directed her gaze far above Su Muxue’s head, towards a spot that initially remained silent.

A moment later, Lin Xiaoxiao’s vibrant reply rang out, full of energy:

“I believe it might be a massive accumulation of mana. After all, to form a physical entity, it would surely require an immense amount of magical energy, wouldn’t it?”

Su Qingyao’s lips curved upward into a subtle smile.

‘What a familiar perspective,’ she mused.

‘After all, Su Qingyao herself had once followed that same line of conventional thought, speculating in that direction for days—’

‘It wasn’t until she had personally slain dozens of them and conducted controlled experiments that Su Qingyao finally uncovered the slightly more fundamental truth.’

“What about you, Fang Xiaobai?”

“I feel… it’s more as if something is disturbing the mana,” Fang Xiaobai offered, her intuition as the wielder of the [Overlooker’s Eye] leading her to subtly challenge Lin Xiaoxiao’s theory.

“From the perspective of magical beast generation, both Lin Xiaoxiao and Fang Xiaobai have presented highly reasonable hypotheses.”

Xu Yanqing nodded slowly.

Indeed, this very reasoning made the approach to such a simulated experiment—reverse-engineering the generation from the magical beast’s manifested form—exceptionally clear.

“However, if we consider the ‘key’ factor, I would contend that Fang Xiaobai’s answer aligns more closely with our current research findings.”

“The crux of magical beast formation lies in what we currently refer to as ‘unstable mana’.”

As Xu Yanqing’s words concluded, she gave a casual wave, signaling Xu Yiyi, who stood ready and waiting before the cuboid device, aptly named the “Unstable Particle Generator.”

Within Su Qingyao’s eyes, an enlarging spell took shape.

With a slight exertion of force, Xu Yiyi decisively clicked it into place on the contact point.

As if on cue, a swirling mass of pitch-black mana wrestled free from the confines of the square box, drawn inexorably towards the “umbrella tip” in Su Qingyao’s magnified vision.

Xu Yiyi rubbed her fingertips together, then, after pressing more than a dozen buttons, finally unlocked the most prominent, vibrant red one.

‘What a brutal approach,’ Su Qingyao couldn’t help but think.

Su Qingyao couldn’t help but voice her heartfelt sentiment.

As for native monsters…

Beyond the myriad of mana constructs, “magical beasts” would, in a small percentage of cases, drop something known as a “magic core” or “magic crystal.”

Yet, when dropped, these magic cores had already transformed into an inert state. They could no longer revert to the “unstable mana” required for a magical beast’s formation, nor could they replicate the beast’s creation process.

In essence, it was akin to firewood reduced to ashes.

Given this, how could humanity, in the post-apocalyptic era, artificially control the generation of magical beasts?

Su Qingyao had initially anticipated some breakthrough in reverse engineering.

Yet, the solution her device presented to Su Qingyao was unexpectedly brutal: “Capture them directly before they fully form.”

This seemingly simple statement, however, concealed a difficulty akin to wrapping “fire” in wood and attempting to preserve it.

Clearly, such an endeavor could not have been achieved solely by the Transcended from this single corner of the high tower.

Hence, Su Qingyao’s profound sentiment was entirely understandable.

Even as Su Qingyao remained lost in thought, Xu Yiyi pressed the final button with decisive speed, showing no hesitation.

“BEEP.”

Even the most sluggish trainee couldn’t remain indifferent upon hearing the alarm emitted by the “peculiar” pillar.

In that instant, over twenty pairs of eyes converged on the small device—

Or, more precisely, on the constantly wriggling, floating black orb of light hovering roughly ten meters above the small apparatus.

Gradually, countless shimmering ribbons, composed of powdered light, converged from all directions. They coiled around the glowing orb, swiftly transforming it into a nascent “egg.”

“Wow—” Even Su Muxue, usually composed, let out a gasp of utter astonishment.

This was, after all, only the second time she had witnessed a magical beast’s formation since signing her contract and becoming a magical girl.