Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Book 2: Chapter 65: Round 1

Vol 2 Chapter 65: Round 1

"You’ve transformed. You can continue whenever you’re ready."

It seemed Mimosa had noticed Xia Liang’s momentary hesitation. After completing her transformation, she didn’t make any aggressive move. Instead, she simply held her wand behind her back and calmly informed Xia Liang.

Xia Liang didn’t say anything else. She simply swung her own wand and sent out a few probing Magic Beams.

As one of the most fundamental attack methods for a Magical Girl, the Magic Beam was reasonably powerful without taking up much mental focus—perfect for testing an opponent.

She didn’t start off with any rituals or Magical Armor—those would’ve revealed her hand too early. It might have forced her opponent to expose their strength faster, but that wasn’t the point of this match. This was a sparring match, not a life-or-death fight. Winning was important, sure, but leaving space for both sides to show their abilities was even more fitting for the spirit of a "friendly match."

So, how would Mimosa handle a basic attack like this? As Xia Liang released the Magic Beams, she kept a close eye on her.

In her mind, there were only a few standard reactions: most would dodge with pure reflexes, some would put up a barrier, and the daring ones might even counter with their own Magic Beams. Xia Liang had already prepared countermeasures for all those scenarios—ready to strike back based on what Mimosa chose to do.

Unfortunately for her, the moment Mimosa made her move, Xia Liang realized none of her plans were going to work.

She saw something that left a deep impression—something she didn’t even know how she’d describe to someone else afterward.

From her perspective, it was clear: her Magic Beams were shattered—caught and crushed by some invisible force she couldn't even see.

Let’s get one thing straight: the Magic Beam, as a basic attack method, is one of the "four fundamental abilities" Magical Girls learn once they reach Seed-tier. It’s an extension of the "Magic Release" technique.

Flight, Enhancement, Magic Release, and Magic Perception—these four are the foundation. Every Magical Girl, regardless of what stage of Ability Blooming they're at, trains in these core skills first, and they become second nature.

And second nature is no exaggeration. Once trained, it’s as effortless as breathing—you don’t think about how to fly or release magic anymore. You just do it.

For humans, walking is similar. Most people never consciously consider how to move their muscles or shift their weight when they walk. They just walk. Sure, there are better and worse ways to walk, but for most, "good enough" is enough.

However, for Magical Girls, using magic incorrectly can have far worse consequences than walking awkwardly. Unlike human bodies, which are fixed structures, a Magical Girl’s True Form is highly malleable. This means that magic use can vary wildly—far more than how humans move their legs.

If you imagined a person trying to walk on two fingers, or by shuffling their hips, or even letting their guts walk for them—it’s ridiculous. But for magic? That’s reality. Magical Girls can wield magic in ways that are wildly different from one another.

And because of that, there’s no single "correct" way to use magic. Some girls might be totally "wrong" by standard logic, but still perform better because their way just works for them.

That’s why the Magic Beam was such a great invention. It's a balanced, stable attack—easy to use no matter how you channel magic. Wand, hands, mouth—you name it. As long as the magic output is similar, the result is about the same.

At least, that’s what Xia Liang would’ve confidently said—until now.

Facing Mimosa, all her assumptions crumbled.

She was sure—absolutely sure—that Mimosa had used Magic Release to counter her Magic Beams. The flow and structure of the magic were almost identical. She had no doubts.

And yet... in the next instant, her own Magic Beams were utterly crushed.

"It’s my turn."

Before Xia Liang could even process what had happened, Mimosa had already moved. In the same motion, she casually swung her wand and fired a few pale red Magic Beams straight back.

Xia Liang instinctively tensed—and so did Lin Xiaolu, who was watching from the sidelines.

Unlike Xia Liang, Lin Xiaolu had seen something like this before. A week ago, she’d sparred with Bai Ji—and had been similarly demolished. They hadn’t even used big attacks—just magic-charged orbs—but Lin Xiaolu had been completely overwhelmed.

Now, it was Xia Liang’s turn.

Could she handle it? Lin Xiaolu clenched her sleeves tightly, worried.

Truth be told, Xia Liang herself didn’t have an answer either.

As Mimosa’s Magic Beams flew toward her, Xia Liang realized something: this magic was just like a Ravager’s magic.

Ravagers’ magic had a corrosive effect on a Magical Girl’s magic. That’s why when fighting them, Magical Girls avoided direct clashes when possible—even relying on barriers sparingly.

Instinct kicking in, Xia Liang immediately threw up a rune-based Magic Barrier while dodging sideways in a sharp, low jump.

It looked awkward at first glance, but if you thought about it, it made perfect sense: she wasn’t relying on the barrier—she was testing the strength of the attack while also making sure she wasn’t pinned down if the barrier failed.

Which... it did.

The moment the Magic Beams hit, her barrier shattered with a sharp crack, spraying fragments everywhere.

And the Magic Beams? They didn’t even lose all their power—they slammed into the training room wall, leaving charred pits behind.

"Smart defense. Very calm under pressure."

Off to the side, Veronica raised an eyebrow, tilting her head toward Asou Madoka. "Is this your squad’s secret weapon?"

Madoka just smiled without answering.

On the battlefield, Mimosa also lifted the corners of her lips slightly—an almost imperceptible smile.

"Satisfied?"
She looked at Xia Liang. "You can go all out now."

Xia Liang was breathing a little harder now.

Even though she hadn’t burned much magic in that last exchange, the tension in her mind was real. Even without a human heart or lungs, her True Form instinctively gasped for air to try and shake off the pressure.

Her opponent was strong.

In just one round, Xia Liang realized it.
It wasn’t just that Mimosa had more magic from being a Magical Girl longer—her techniques were also simply more refined and varied.

Xia Liang didn’t have much experience fighting other Magical Girls, but logically, it was easy to see: how many ways you could fight mattered. A lot.

Even a Flower-tier Magical Girl’s core abilities could be broken down into major chunks: magic capacity, stamina, skill, rituals, Domains, and Magical Armor. And the Domains and Armors—their biggest trump cards—were things you were supposed to save for emergencies.

Now, after just one round with Mimosa, and with her opponent only using basic skills, Xia Liang had already been forced to consider pulling out her bigger tricks just to keep up.

Meaning... in the next clash, she’d have to use rituals—and maybe even her Magical Armor.

Should she use it?

Xia Liang quickly evaluated.

If she manifested her Magical Armor—Guiding Departure—right now, she could probably catch Mimosa off guard. She could even turn Mimosa’s own magic against her, possibly swinging the fight in her favor.

But if all she did was use her Magical Armor to bridge their gap in magic, would that really be enough to win?

Mimosa was also Leaf-tier. There was no doubt she had both rituals and Magical Armor at her disposal. And given her longer experience, she’d surely be even more skilled at using them than Xia Liang.

If Xia Liang burned her best card just to close the gap... she’d have nothing left when Mimosa counterattacked.

That’s why Mimosa said, "Use all your strength."

She wasn’t bluffing. After just one round, Xia Liang had already been cornered.

Her fundamentals were suppressed. Her range of techniques couldn’t match up. If she kept playing it safe, she’d just end up using everything she had and still lose.

If this were a card game, Xia Liang’s hand was simply worse.

And if you had a worse hand, you couldn’t play by the rules—you had to make a move that broke the rhythm.

In other words, she only had one real path to victory left:

Burn through everything she had and steal the win in one decisive strike—before Mimosa could react.

And that one opening—the information gap—was her only advantage.

She remembered what Veronica had taught her just a few nights ago.

---

"That's enough about barrier techniques for now. Just focus on understanding the basics."

Veronica tucked away the glowing Favored Runes she had been using to demonstrate, running her fingers through her hair as she spoke.

"If you want to win the upcoming matches, we’ll have to change your study plan a bit. You’ll need to learn something else first."

"Something else? Like what?" Xia Liang tilted her head.

"Remember when you first awakened your Magical Armor? I promised you something back then."

Veronica leaned back against her chair.

"Your Magical Armor, Guiding Departure, doesn't really have offensive power at Bud-tier. But once you reach Leaf-tier, certain rituals can make it lethal. I’ll teach you one of those now."

"Really? So I can learn them already?" Xia Liang’s eyes lit up.

"Yes... and no."

Veronica sighed a little.

"The problem is, your Magical Armor is too compatible with some of these rituals. If you rush it, you'll gain a lot of fighting power fast—but it’ll cost you time you should be spending building up your core magic training."

"But isn’t it a good thing to get stronger?"

"Even if you boost your fighting power now, it won't compare to what you'll get after you awaken your Domain."

Veronica drooped her eyelids lazily.

"Don’t drop the watermelon to pick up a sesame seed, Xia Liang. You get what I’m saying, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Focus on building up my magic properly," Xia Liang chuckled dryly.
"I'm not a kid anymore, you know. You only have to say it once."

Veronica stared at her for a long moment before finally pulling her gaze away.

"Alright then. Let’s start with the simplest ritual first. In the overall system of rituals, there are categories based on functionality—similar techniques are grouped together..."

---

Ritual classification.

It was a deep field of study.

In the Magic Kingdom’s Academy of Research, there was a famous classic exam question:

"Fireball and Firewall are both Fire-element rituals, so they belong to the same category (True/False)."

This question had been written centuries ago by Emerald herself—and later removed for being too easy.
But it still pointed out a basic principle:

The answer was False.

First, because rituals weren’t categorized by surface elements like "fire" or "water"—those were just appearances.
And second, because despite both involving fire imagery, Fireball and Firewall had totally different underlying rune structures.

In short, classifying rituals wasn’t based on what they looked like—it was about their deeper magical architecture.

Except for one special category.

Unlike the others, this category was almost self-evident at a glance—because its common trait was high compression and high energy density.

Officially, it was called the "High-Energy, High-Density" class.

But in actual combat? Magical Girls had a much more straightforward nickname for it:

"Explosion-type rituals."

---

Back in the training hall, Xia Liang stood ready.

She had combined her Magical Armor, her magic, and her newly-learned ritual into a single strike, gambling everything on the next clash.

Her Magical Armor—Guiding Departure—had fully materialized.
Instead of spreading out, its mirrored surfaces stacked into a single long cylinder, suspended vertically above the training ground, aimed straight down.

In her hand, the ritual’s rune array glowed, targeted precisely at one of the mirrors.

The setup was complete.

The ritual itself was pretty niche—normally very impractical.
Its range barely reached ten meters, and it was extremely easy to get caught in its own blast.

But with Guiding Departure's magic-transmission ability?

She could extend the blast across the entire battlefield, maintain its destructive power, and still stay completely safe.

And the category this ritual belonged to?

It had a name that said it all:

"Explosion-type."