"Sister, hello, I want a pudding milk tea, but without the pudding. I'm trying to lose weight."

The newly opened milk tea shop felt refreshingly cool, its brand-new decor still carrying faint traces of paint smell.

It was mid-afternoon, still during class hours, so naturally there weren't many customers.

The server lowered her gaze upon hearing the voice, finally spotting the little girl who was straining on tiptoes yet only revealing a pair of beautiful eyes above the counter. She couldn't help but suppress a laugh, then said gently, "Little one, eating more pudding at your age can help you grow taller."

The little girl immediately made a conflicted expression, mumbling after a long pause, "...Then just half the pudding. Also, I'm sixteen years old."

Behind the little girl, Jiang Keke who had followed along stared blankly at the petite girl in front of her...

That's right, this little girl was the same pink magical girl who had seemed like a seasoned veteran earlier.

Jiang Keke had thought she would be more... serious.

"I'll have a lemon water." Jiang Keke searched her pockets and found the discount coupon from before, immediately sighing in relief.

The little girl clinging to the counter tilted her head to look at her. "Lemon water doesn't taste good."

"But it's cheap."

The server smiled and said, "As the older sister, you should take good care of your younger sister."

"We're not sisters." Jiang Keke denied it. "Also, she's older than me."

"Ahaha, I see..." The server immediately laughed awkwardly. "They'll be ready soon, please wait a moment."

This was a newly opened milk tea shop near the school, and competition on this street was quite fierce. To attract customers, new shops usually offered big discounts.

With the lemon water plus the previous discount coupon, it only cost eighty cents—already the cheapest price on the entire street.

They didn't wait long before the pudding milk tea and lemon water were served. Watching the petite senior needing to stand on tiptoes and raise her hands to hold the milk tea, Jiang Keke conveniently helped her carry it.

Still this short at sixteen years old... there's really no hope left...

Thinking somewhat rudely, she also marveled at how magical girl transformations could actually increase height.

Although she had some understanding of magical girls, she definitely didn't know about such details.

The two found a secluded window seat. After putting down her backpack, Jiang Keke wasn't in a hurry to drink her lemon water, instead watching the magical girl senior across from her.

Sitting on the stool, her legs didn't even reach the ground...

Her clothing was actually quite mature—a black high-neck top tucked into an ultra-high-waisted black miniskirt, emphasizing her slender waist while actually elongating her leg proportions somewhat.

Though it was a bit like using a cup of water to put out a cartload of burning wood.

The skirt hem ended above her knees, paired with thick-soled lace-up martens boots, maintaining a mature and cool style while also adding height...

Unfortunately, her blissful expression of squinting eyes and biting the straw while drinking milk tea was rather childish, completely negating the effect of her outfit.

Noticing she was being stared at, Silver Lotus openly spoke first: "Jiang Keke, congratulations on becoming a magical girl."

Jiang Keke smiled wryly. "Thank you, but I don't think this is something worth congratulating..."

"Alright." Silver Lotus's lazy, relaxed expression finally turned somewhat serious.

"In that case, I'll be direct. Jiang Keke, would you like to join our Disaster Control Bureau?"

Jiang Keke considered her words carefully. "Can I choose not to join?"

"Of course you can choose not to join, but you'll still need to accept the Disaster Control Bureau's control. Every transformation requires writing reports and records, and if you leave BH City, you'll need more complicated procedures..."

Although she had some expectations in her heart, Jiang Keke still felt somewhat disappointed.

So she asked unwillingly, "Even free magical girls are subject to control..."

Silver Lotus nodded very seriously: "Of course, individual practitioners have no future. Defeating Disaster Beasts doesn't pay any salary, and there are some lawless elements targeting magical girls' power. If not transformed, magical girls are actually quite fragile, easily ambushed—it's very dangerous. You need to think carefully."

"But there are free magical girl organizations..."

"Listen." Silver Lotus's voice suddenly turned serious. "Those are illegal organizations! Once caught, you'll face prosecution and imprisonment. Don't go down the wrong path!"

Jiang Keke was immediately frightened.

She did know the Disaster Control Bureau was very cautious about magical girls' power and maintained strict control, but such a harsh attitude still somewhat exceeded her expectations.

"You know nothing about them. The only illegal magical girl organization in BH City—the Azure Cloud Sect! Do you know what a terrible organization that is?"

Jiang Keke shrank her neck. Although she was short, when serious, her imposing manner was quite teacher-like. She only whispered in rebuttal, "But, the Azure Cloud Sect hasn't harmed civilians, right? They've been fighting Disaster Beasts all along..."

"Fighting?" Silver Lotus sneered. "What they do isn't fighting, it's hunting! They treat Disaster Beasts as their prey, everywhere competing with official magical girls for Disaster Beasts, even attacking magical girls for this purpose!"

"It's just healthy market competition..."

After Silver Lotus glared at her, Jiang Keke didn't dare speak anymore.

Taking a fierce sip of milk tea, this official magical girl continued: "The most terrifying thing about the Azure Cloud Sect isn't just their hunting of Disaster Beasts, but that they raise Disaster Beasts. Their members claim Disaster Beasts can be tamed into guardian spirit beasts—completely unreasonable. With large numbers of Disaster Beasts gathered, the consequences would be unimaginable if they lost control."

"What are guardian spirit beasts?"

"How should I know." Silver Lotus snorted. "Anyway, they're a bunch of lunatics who will be dealt with by the Disaster Control Bureau sooner or later. I'm not trying to scare you, but with a junior finally appearing, I can't let you go astray. They not only steal Disaster Beasts, but also seize magical girls' Miracle Seeds, taming magical girls into their tools."

"Oh, oh." Jiang Keke was stunned by what she heard, rubbing the cold lemon water in her hands. "Hasn't the Disaster Control Bureau found any traces of the Az, Azure Cloud Sect yet?"

Also realizing she had gotten somewhat excited earlier, making the atmosphere a bit stiff, Silver Lotus softened her tone. "Not yet. The Azure Cloud Sect has been hiding very well."

"Winter has been active openly, right? Is it that hard to find?"

"Winter isn't the main focus." Silver Lotus shook her head. "The Azure Cloud Sect's leader—oh, the person they call the Sect Master—is a purple magical girl, possibly the only Blooming-level magical girl in the Azure Cloud Sect, but the Bureau can't confirm this. She's the one the Disaster Control Bureau fears most—not only incredibly powerful, but also extremely secretive in her movements..."

"A purple magical girl?"

Jiang Keke murmured to herself, naturally immediately thinking of the one who had taught her transformation today.

So she was the leader of a free magical girl organization?

So impressive.

A sense of shared pride rose in her heart.

"Purple magical girls are very dangerous." Silver Lotus's expression darkened. "She has actually killed magical girls."

Jiang Keke's movements froze, stammering, "That's not, not very likely, right? Killing magical girls..."

"The Disaster Control Bureau has records. If you see a purple magical girl, it's best to stay away. But don't worry too much—she rarely appears, so you generally won't encounter her."

But I actually did encounter her...

Jiang Keke thought to herself, but ultimately didn't say it.

Compared to this girl she was meeting for the first time, she preferred to believe in Shion who had saved her.

Definitely not a bad person.

...

Grief Seed.

Holding the black seed, Jiang Si who hadn't ended his transformation yet watched the black energy churning within the seed under the sunlight.

When magical power passed through the Grief Seed, the black energy melted, decomposed, becoming colorful lights.

Jiang Si called this magic crystal.

Although his first thought was demon core, no matter how you looked at it, Disaster Beasts resembled magical beasts more than demonic beasts.

So he eventually decided Grief Seeds were closer to magic crystals.

According to experience, magic crystals could be used for cultivation and could also serve as currency.

Unfortunately, BH City didn't have any mercenary guilds offering bounties for magic crystals—missing that classic flavor.

The early cultivation methods in the magical world were somewhat different from immortal cultivation, but in the end they were actually quite similar—comprehending laws, opening up great paths.

This was called different paths leading to the same destination.

Jiang Si had tried many cultivation methods. Pure physical training was difficult for improving magical girl power, since the inherent power was already quite terrifying.

Meditation and enlightenment were somewhat advanced and not really suitable for his current level.

Absorbing spiritual energy—this world made it hard to sense any spiritual energy, though there was plenty of pollution. Magical girls probably couldn't absorb spiritual energy either.

Moreover, being able to sense spiritual energy and begin refining it indicated significant immortal cultivation aptitude, which Jiang Si clearly didn't have—not even when transformed into a magical girl, though after transformation he should count as having spiritual roots.

Since his magical power resembled fire, he guessed he probably had fire spiritual roots.

As for other cultivation methods—things like battle energy, fruit positions, sequences, acting, magical potions, and the like—were even less possible.

This world didn't have many strange and peculiar things besides magical girls, though it was also possible he just hadn't encountered them yet, just like how he hadn't encountered magical girls before.

The cultivation method he finally found was absorbing magic crystals to accumulate magical power.

Very primitive yet widespread—whether in magic or immortal cultivation, there were generally similar cultivation methods.

Facts also proved that the wisdom of predecessors wasn't flawed—web novels weren't written randomly; they had basis and theory.

The power from Disaster Beasts in magic crystals was basically similar to that of magical girls, though there might be slight differences in nature.

But for Jiang Si, it didn't matter—he absorbed them the same way.

After completely drawing it into his body, that magic crystal—the so-called Grief Seed—shattered like glass, scattering across the ground.

Jiang Si flicked his fingers slightly, and a wisp of purple flame landed on the fragments, turning them to ashes that scattered with the wind.

The power increase wasn't too significant.

About half a year ago, when he broke through into the Blooming realm by absorbing magic crystal power to become stronger, the benefits from absorbing magic crystals started becoming lower and lower.

This matter was also recorded in novels—pure power accumulation had limits.

Next, he would probably need to rely on his own comprehension, or depend on fortuitous encounters with heavenly treasures and the like to break through.

The purple flames gradually receded from his body. After ending his transformation, Jiang Si clearly felt his vision was slightly higher.

The fact that height decreased after transformation was somewhat hard to accept. During combat, even slight differences could create fatal flaws.

To ensure neither body type's height would reveal flaws, he had spent considerable time training to adapt.

The purple Miracle Seed fell into his hand, and Jiang Si wiped it.

The originally pure purple flames churning inside had now been stained with some impurities.

Black spots like freckles covered the surface of the Miracle Seed.

Absorbing magic crystals would pollute his magical power—this long-outdated setting could actually still be encountered...

One could only say this place might be somewhat behind the times.

Jiang Si didn't take it to heart, casually putting it away.

The so-called pollution could be cleared away by continuing to advance—no need to worry about it.

Just a bit of weathering and frost.

When he returned to the factory, Bingtang had already left. She was a model student—even if skipping class, she would only skip half a day.

Jiang Si continued training.

Having just absorbed the magical power from the magic crystal, he wanted to test whether he could extend the magical power effects to his physical body.

Ever since transforming into a magical girl three years ago, he had discovered that his physical body's limits had been unlocked.

Before, once he trained to his limits, he could no longer improve his strength at all.

But after gaining the power to transform into a magical girl, he never encountered such bottlenecks again.

Clearly, this was an effect brought by the magical girl's power.

So, if he could transfer the magical power from magic crystals to this physical body, perhaps he could achieve greater breakthroughs.

He tried lifting barbells and doing pull-ups.

The results weren't ideal.

For ordinary humans, magical power was something unbearable—pouring large amounts of magical power would directly cause death.

One of the hazards of Disaster Beasts was their unconscious continuous emission of magical power. Staying near Disaster Beasts too long would cause ordinary people to be polluted by magical power, leading to decreased physical function.

But small amounts of magical power couldn't even condense within the human body—they would quickly dissipate.

He needed to find other methods.

He heard that within the Disaster Control Bureau, there was talk of using Miracle Seeds to inherit power.

But once inheritance was used, not only would the Miracle Seed's original owner lose the power to transform, but even memories related to magical girls would disappear—quite cruel indeed.

Moreover, directly seizing magical girls' Miracle Seeds was not only troublesome but didn't suit the Azure Cloud Sect's style. Web novel protagonists generally needed proper morals, though sometimes it meant having three coffins at home arranged very properly, but Jiang Si wasn't the type to kill innocents indiscriminately.

Anyway, seizing vacant Miracle Seeds from the Disaster Control Bureau would be much more convenient than directly seizing them from magical girls.

Bingtang had already been planning this for a long time, and results should be visible soon...

After finishing his workout, he got down from the pull-up bar and wiped his sweat, checking the time—about time to head back.

A bird flew in from somewhere.

Looking carefully, he realized the bird was woven from strands of threads—flowing magical power lines knitting together to form a lifelike little bird, which finally landed on Jiang Si's shoulder.

"Sect Master."

The voice was sharp, like a bird's cry, but barely understandable.

"Disaster Control Bureau personnel have made contact with your younger sister. Should we intervene?"

Jiang Si rinsed off his sweat under the water curtain in the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling, shaking his head. "Don't bother with her."

Joining the Disaster Control Bureau would actually benefit them.