Magical girls also have intensity anxiety

As they left the coffee shop, it was nearly nightfall. Li Huanhuan softly suggested:

"Shall I take you home?"

"Need not."

Mu Ming had heard people say that when a member of the opposite sex says "I'll take you home," it usually means they have ulterior motives.

It's best not to let her know your address.

Although Li Huanhuan seemed to have no ill intentions towards him, you can't judge a book by its cover, so it's best to wait and see how things go before making a judgment.

"My car is very spacious and comfortable."

"The road back to my house is quite narrow; it might not be big enough for a large truck."

Mu Ming waved his hand lightly, ignoring Li Huanhuan's astonished gaze, and took a step forward.

"Hmm..." the girl murmured, unsure whether he was truly indifferent or just shy.

"Forget it, there's no need to rush things." She shook her head, and thinking that she was the only one who knew his secret, she stopped worrying about it.

After parting ways with Li Huanhuan, Mu Ming walked into a secluded alley. After confirming that no one was around, he transformed and flew towards his residence.

Under the dark night sky, the black magical girl flew by without making any visual difference.

Newly transformed magical girls are not very good at flying; they need to reach at least the second stage to have enough magic power and skill to fly freely.

But Mu Ming not only flew without stuttering, but flew faster and faster, as if enjoying the flight, and his heart pounded violently, beating faster and faster.

She stopped on the top floor of her apartment building and deactivated her transformation.

Thump thump!!

Even though I was walking on flat ground, my heart was still pounding, even stronger than before.

A sense of tension had unknowingly taken hold of my heart.

There was no time to go home. Mu Ming looked at the source of her anxiety—[???]

To investigate this area, you need to be alone, preferably when there are few people around.

However, when Mu Mingzhen found himself in such an environment, the originally clean white lettering was now completely crimson, so vivid it looked as if it were dripping blood.

Unknown.

This was Mu Ming's first impression. He reached out towards the [?], finally stopping just short of it.

He had a premonition that if he pressed the button, the sense of security he had finally gained might be gone again.

But then I thought, now I not only have the qualifications to become stronger, but also the path to become stronger, so why should I worry?

Rather, he should be more confident than before.

With that thought in mind, he pressed the button.

Crunch, crunch—

The sound of silver knives and forks scraping against his ear abruptly arose, instinctively eliciting disgust and causing Mu Ming to tremble.

Looking at the [？ ？ ？] again, it has changed.

【2399:59:59】

【2399:59:58】

The scarlet countdown, starting now, is exactly one hundred days.

Mu Ming's face showed displeasure. The red words were really ominous, making it seem like a countdown to the end of the world. Just looking at them made people feel uncomfortable.

Add to that the sound of friction, which flashed by but was deeply ingrained in my mind, and the more I tried to forget it, the clearer it became.

His gaze shifted downwards, where several clues appeared:

[Tip 1: (Highly recommended) Before the countdown ends, raise your rank to at least level four, or higher.]

[Tip 2: (Recommended) During the countdown, unlock the "Leader" module and upgrade it as much as possible.]

[Hint 3: (Risk involved) You can try to obtain information about "■■" from high-ranking (rank 5 and above) magical girls.]

[Tip 4: The "???" module will unlock after you recognize "■■".]

"What's going on...?"

Mu Ming's face darkened. None of the four messages directly stated danger, and the countdown offered no explanation. Yet, they stood together, creating an indescribable sense of crisis that brutally pressed down on him.

When the word "crisis" is mentioned in this world, the first thing that comes to Mu Ming's mind is "disaster beasts".

If you look at the characters alone, "■■" is a two-character name, and he subconsciously wanted to match it with the calamity beast.

However, "Disaster Beast" is not a censored word in the system...

Furthermore, the system's recommendation for him to inquire about the situation from magical girls of the fifth rank or higher indicates that someone in the world knows about "■■", but the existence of this person is highly confidential.

A fifth-tier magical girl is the person in charge of magical girls in a city. Among the hundreds of cities inhabited by humans, some remote and sparsely populated cities are not even worthy of a fifth-tier magical girl.

Therefore, a fifth-tier magical girl is already considered one of the strongest in the world; as for a sixth-tier magical girl, she can only be found in news from a long time ago.

Mu Ming took a deep breath and temporarily turned off the panel.

He returned to his rented room, where the door creaked open in welcome. When the light was turned on, the first thing he saw was a set of traditional Chinese dresses hanging on the wall.

Seeing it dispelled some of the gloom in Mu Ming's heart; at least now she didn't need to wear a skirt to dress up as a magical girl.

Although the countdown spoiled his mood, he couldn't contact high-level magical girls for the time being, so what he needed to do was actually the same as before—become stronger.

......

In the morning, sunlight streams through the windows, filling the room with the first rays of dawn.

Mu Ming studied the Seed of Hearts for half the night and found that his Seed of Hearts was very dark, unlike other magical girls that would glow, and it also had a strong ability to hide its magic power.

I was initially worried about being discovered by a high-ranking magical girl, but now I'm much less concerned about that.

Right now, he's fiddling with the panel.

While magical girls can have their own emotional outbursts, the growth of their power cannot rely solely on intense emotional impacts; such things are rare and unpredictable, and are not suitable for Mu Ming.

The mind determines the upper limit of power, but how much power can be used is determined by the body.

The system provided three improvement methods, the first two of which are relatively basic:

[Natural Enhancement: 1 point of magic power / 198 hours]

This is a method where you can level up simply by sitting and doing nothing, but it's too slow.

[Cultivation: 1 points of magic power / 4 hours]

This involves actively manipulating magical energy to circulate within the body.

Compared to lying down, it is fifty times more efficient, but if you calculate it, even if Mu Ming cultivates without sleep, he will not reach the minimum requirement of the third level when the countdown ends, let alone the fourth level.

The main function of the [Action] module is to improve the efficiency of these two methods.

As for the third type...

[Devour: Gain magic power by devouring the core of a calamity beast; the amount depends on the calamity beast's level.]

The core of a calamity beast should generally be destroyed on the spot; leaving it unattended will cause the calamity beast to regenerate.

However, Mu Ming had seen a lot and knew that magical girls avoided this thing like the plague, and their becoming stronger had nothing to do with [devouring].

"It's probably the power of the system." He couldn't find any other explanation for the time being.

"It seems we still have to go out and take action. If we can run into a calamity beast, that would be a good thing."

Without the aid of [devouring], it is difficult to reach the fourth rank within a hundred days.

One of the "Actions" is "Guardian," which relies entirely on hunting disaster beasts. Hunting a certain number of disaster beasts will bring an efficiency bonus.

As long as you can win, everything will be fine.

Mu Ming used to hope every day that he wouldn't encounter the calamity beast, but now the roles have reversed.

ding dong~

A ringing bell interrupted Mu Ming's thoughts. He frowned slightly, wondering why someone would come to visit. He lived alone, and apart from the deliveryman, no one knew where he lived. He hadn't ordered anything online recently.

Mu Ming put on his upper pajamas, walked to the door, first peeked through the peephole, and then met the eyes of a pair of fiery pupils as bright as the sun.

The person behind the door clearly noticed that Mu Ming was spying on her and nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

A blush appeared on Mu Ming's face, and he could hardly suppress the smile on his lips, but he quickly composed himself and opened the door.

Outside the door stood a beautiful woman, older than Mu Ming, in the prime of her youth.

The hallway was in shadow and rather dark, but the woman standing there, even though she was only wearing a simple beige dress, was like a little sun. Her eyes, which were a mix of gold and red, her slightly wavy blonde hair that was half tied up in a princess style, and her subtle air of nobility all emphasized this point.

"Is it... Mu Ming?" she asked uncertainly, though she was smiling, there was a sense that she was about to burst out laughing.

Mu Mingchao nodded to her, "Long time no see, Miss Jin Yu."

Jin Yu, the head of Changming City, a fifth-tier magical girl, and the nominal guardian of Mu Ming—the welfare home in Changming City is basically funded by her family, so many minors who lost their families due to attacks by disaster beasts are under her guardianship.

Every now and then, Jin Yu would take some time to visit the people under her guardianship.

However, Mu Ming hasn't seen her much since he left the orphanage.

Mu Ming and she were not actually close; he only knew her name.

"Long time no see. I heard... you scheduled your gender reassignment surgery at the hospital, so I came over. Could you tell me why?"

Mu Ming noticed that Jin Yu's gaze couldn't help but drift to the left. Mu Ming turned slightly to the side and realized that she was looking at the Luo skirt hanging on the wall, as if she cared about it a lot.

"I want to become a magical girl, so I made an appointment."

"Uh... even if a boy turns into a girl, he can't become a magical girl... at least in my experience, I've never seen such a case." Jin Yu didn't expect Mu Ming to be so frank, and her face showed a bit of embarrassment.

Although the reason was perfectly valid, the fact that she said it so without batting an eye, and even had women's clothing prepared at home...

It's normal to admire magical girls, but there's no need to harm your body for it. Originally, Jin Yu's meeting with Mu Ming was scheduled for a later date, but she specifically adjusted her schedule.

Now that she had a slight understanding of Mu Ming's determination, Jin Yu couldn't help but feel a little pity for him, even though they weren't that close.

"Well, I'm not planning to go for the surgery either."

"That's good." Jin Yu's expression softened. "Can you tell me why? Have you figured it out?"

The reason is...

Mu Ming shifted his gaze to the panel:

[True Name Revealed: A magical girl destined for supreme power disdains concealing her identity; proclaiming your existence to others is also part of your strength.]

[Effect: You will receive a bonus when you tell a magical girl you've established a relationship with, "Actually, I'm a magical girl."]

[Tip: When displaying your real name, it's best to use a title or form of address.]

[Target: Golden Language (Mom/Guardian)]

"Mom," Mu Ming called softly.

"?" Jin Yu felt her mind go a beat slow. She was about to speak when Mu Ming's next words made her take a step back:

"Actually, I'm a magical girl."

"???" Jin Yu's pupils suddenly widened.

Since it's already there, there's no need for surgery.

Although he had to conceal his identity, he dared to say it, but others didn't dare to believe him.

[Real name has been shown to "Golden Language (Mom/Only Relationship)," resulting in a 10% increase in efficiency]

Upon seeing the reward, Mu Ming's smile widened.

It's a bit of a shame that he doesn't have a magical girl dad.