Versatile Mage: Get the Desert Emperor clone at the start

Chapter 48: Transformation in Advance
The mermaid was standing nearby, and seeing Qingning's panicked expression, a hint of pleasure flashed in her purple eyes. She quickly lowered her head to hide the corners of her mouth that were curled up, but her shoulders couldn't help but tremble slightly.

(Serves you right! You slept with your tail wrapped around me last night.)

(They also say, "Mermaid pillows are the most comfortable.")

(Are you scared now?)
Qin Xiaonan took in the entire scene.

He walked slowly closer and said, "It seems like you guys are getting along well?"

Qin Xiaonan then changed into casual clothes and prepared to go downstairs, saying, "Qingning, what do you want to eat? I'll go buy breakfast."

Qingning is still very interested in the food in the human world and often asks Qin Xiaonan to buy some for her.

Now that he knew his identity, he was a little at a loss when he heard Qin Xiaonan ask this again.

Qin Xiaonan said, "Then I'll buy it as I see fit."

Qingning nodded woodenly.

He bought soy milk and fried dough sticks from the breakfast stand at the entrance of the community. When he came back, Qingning had already set the table and looked eagerly at the food bag.

She took the hot soy milk, tore the fried dough sticks into small pieces with her claws, soaked them in the soy milk and sipped them, licking the corners of her mouth with satisfaction from time to time.

The mermaid was placed on a special chair next to the fish tank—a cushion of seaweed Qingning had woven overnight with her tail. She poked the fried dough sticks with her fingertips in disdain, and golden oil stains immediately stained her pearly nails.

"Ugh, it's so greasy." She wrinkled her delicate nose. "Is this what you land creatures eat?" She pushed the plate away as if it were poison.

Qin Xiaonan ate slowly, then picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.

Qin Xiaonan chewed the fried dough sticks slowly and turned on the TV with the remote control. The morning news was reporting on the disappearance of the fishing boat in the East China Sea. When the camera swept across the rough sea, the mermaid turned her head unnaturally, and her tail slapped the water grass mat anxiously.

After the news ended, the program turned into a music segment.

The melodious violin concerto poured out like flowing water, and the mermaid's ear fins instantly stretched out completely, appearing translucent in the sunlight.

The hostility in her amethyst eyes gradually melted, and as the soprano sang the aria, her slender fingertips unconsciously tapped out a precise triplet rhythm on the glass coffee table.

"Sure enough." Qin Xiaonan put down the soy milk cup thoughtfully, seeing that the legend that mermaids are proficient in music is true.

But then he remembered Qingning's comments last night, and he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and look at the little fox who was wolfing down his food: "What do you think of this music?"

"It's so ugly!" Qingning said without raising his head.

Qin Xiaonan immediately understood - it turned out that it was not that the mermaid sang badly, but that this native desert fox did not understand music at all.

"The Blue Danube" is playing on TV at this moment. The mermaid's tail has begun to sway to the rhythm of the waltz. The pearl-like scales are changing with the dreamy blue light along with the melody, as if the entire tail has become part of the instrument.

What’s even more amazing is that when the music reached its climax, the water droplets condensed on her fingertips automatically arranged themselves into miniature musical notes, reflecting a rainbow-like luster in the sunlight.

These water drop notes dance with the melody, forming a flowing musical score above the coffee table.

Qin Xiaonan knew that the mermaid's singing should be even more beautiful, but it was a pity that she couldn't hear her voice.

After successfully handling the bounty of the Sea Whirlpool, his hunter level may be directly upgraded to Hunter Master.

However, Qin Xiaonan did not go immediately. He wanted to wait a few days.

After a few days when the vortex stopped occurring, this mission would naturally attract people's attention. However, during this period, the mermaid underwent an unexpected change.

As night fell on the third day, the mermaid curled up in front of the TV as usual, her slender fingers dancing gently to the rhythm of the symphony.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the neon lights of the Magic City made her profile flicker.

Suddenly, she trembled all over.

“Woo—”

A heart-wrenching sob suddenly erupted from the mermaid's throat, and her entire body was instantly engulfed by a dazzling azure light. The light was like the most blazing phosphorescence in the deep sea, illuminating the entire living room like an underwater fantasy.

“Aa ...

She curled up in pain on the wool carpet, her pearly nails digging deep into the pile, leaving several shocking cracks on the beige carpet.

The slender neck was tilted back, forming a fragile curve, and dark blue blood vessels appeared under the snow-white skin.

I saw that the graceful fish tail was undergoing a terrifying transformation——

The crystal scales were like withered petals, peeling off and dissipating one by one, turning into blue spots of light in the air;
The membrane of the tail fin splits from the end, as if precisely cut open by an invisible scalpel;

The exposed flesh and bones squirmed violently in the blue light, making a creepy "cracking" sound.
"Is this... transformation?" Qing Ning exclaimed.

When the last scale fell off, a peerless girl was curled up on the carpet.

Her black hair cascaded down to her waist, the ends still shimmering with the deep blue sheen of the ocean. Her already delicate face now took on a more earthly air—her amethyst eyes had transformed into a clear, inky black, yet tiny pearl-colored sequins lingered at the ends, twinkling like stars when she blinked.

She raised her new arm tremblingly. Her skin was as smooth as mutton-fat jade, and on her right wrist was a vivid tattoo of a silver-blue snake.

The slender legs were curled up on the carpet, and there were still a few scaly patterns on the ankles that had not completely faded, glowing an eerie blue light in the moonlight.

The arch of her foot was as perfect as a crescent moon, and her nails still retained the iridescent mother-of-pearl she wore during her mermaid days.

The mermaid stared at her changes in a daze, and suddenly burst into tears.

The cry was heart-wrenching, nothing like the proud siren of the past, but more like a lost child.

"My...my singing voice..." She stroked her throat tremblingly, her voice full of fear, "I can't sense the tide anymore."

When she said this, Qin Xiaonan could also hear her voice clearly, which was no longer the ultrasonic sound that Qingning could only hear.

Qin Xiaonan did not expect such a sudden change.

"What's going on?" he asked in a deep voice, his eyes sweeping over the mermaid's human-like legs.

The mermaid just hugged her knees and sobbed, her crystal tears dripping onto the carpet and soon formed a small puddle.

She trembled and touched her legs, her voice full of fear and helplessness:

"I've transformed and I can't change back."

She raised her head, her dark eyes filled with panic. "This shouldn't be happening! Normally, it takes at least a month to be forced to transform after being out of the sea. How could this happen in just three days?"

(End of this chapter)