Chapter 326: She Thinks I Can Do It

“My former identity as a man, along with the… features I deliberately chose to keep, will actually become a huge gimmick. They’ll help me build up a reputation as a curiosity and attract a lot of fanatical fans early on.”

She pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear and said confidently, “If I get good results in my idol debut and successfully attract investment from a major company, then as long as I sign a sufficiently ruthless contract and a high-stakes wager agreement, there’s a fifty percent chance I can take a roundabout route to get an extension and participate in the magical girl exam again the following year.”

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“By then, with another year to work hard and the bonus points I can earn, my odds of becoming a magical girl will skyrocket. I’ll be no worse than the very best students in our grade.”

The yellow-haired girl lifted her chin and puffed out her chest, her expression cold and proud. “That is the potential of my path to magic.”

What she was saying actually sounded like it might work.

In an instant, many girls with ambitions of becoming magical girls stared at that part of her with envy, jealousy, and resentment, as if they wished they could take her place.

Lin Guang: “…”

Even Vivi wore an indescribable expression.

It wasn’t envy.

It was pressure.

The odds of passing this year were only one in a thousand.

Even Xiyuji, whose score was so much higher than hers and who had bonus points, had such low expectations for herself…

She must have seen what the truly strong were like to think that way.

The students from Third, Second, and First Middle School, not to mention the private schools, were in a completely different league from the top students at an ordinary school like Fourth Middle School.

How rich were they? What kinds of resources and magical technology did they have that Vivi couldn’t even imagine? And just how strong were they?

At that moment, the joy Vivi had felt after getting rich overnight and stumbling into an extraordinary opportunity suddenly sank again.

Two and a half months…

She pressed her lips together and looked away, only to see her name appear on the screen overhead. That meant it was almost her turn.

Vivi immediately set off toward the row of gun racks not far away.

It was obvious that her weapon of choice was firearms.

She glanced over the weapon rack and fell silent for a few seconds. Then she suddenly asked inwardly, “Teresa, do you still remember how to fight?”

Lin Guang’s gentle, calm voice sounded in her ear. “Do you want me to teach you how to fight?”

“…Yeah.”

The white-haired girl’s gaze swept over the guns on the rack, but out of the corner of her eye, she kept watching the pink-haired girl.

“You seem so mysterious, and you’re somehow still lively even though you’re just a brain. You must’ve been pretty strong before, right? Private lessons at the training camps outside are ridiculously expensive. I can’t afford them.”

“Sure.”

Vivi’s face brightened.

She agreed that easily?

But in the next instant…

She saw the figure only she could see step up to the weapon rack.

“Then use this one.”

Lin Guang calmly rested her hand on a particular gun.

Vivi tilted her head slightly. When she made out the number printed on the gun’s grip, her eyes widened a little.

The number was 10.

“I’m using a Level 10 weapon? Are you serious?”

Vivi couldn’t help speaking up. “Difficulty 10 means the highest operating threshold!”

“My magic control is awful. Even handling a Difficulty 4 gun is a struggle. It jams or leaks magic power all the time.”

She gritted her teeth. “With this Level 10 gun, I probably won’t even be able to fire it. I might break it… If I do, I’ll have to pay for it. I’d have to hand over half the money I earned yesterday!”

Yet as she watched, the pink-haired girl’s angelic face remained completely unchanged. She simply spoke again.

“If you want to become a magical girl, use this.”

“……”

Vivi froze.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of a joke in the other girl’s voice, only that same matter-of-fact certainty as always.

But… there seemed to be some unspoken meaning hidden in those orange-yellow eyes.

Because she was the contractor, she wouldn’t make Vivi do something pointless and futile.

In other words…

She thinks I can do it.

Vivi hesitated.

But then.

A crisp sound, like a camera shutter, suddenly rang out behind her.

Click—

Vivi raised an eyebrow and turned around.

The snake-scaled girl who had been standing pressed up against Katsumi earlier was now behind her. No one knew when she had gotten there.

Renee.

She was Vivi’s next opponent.

It seemed she had come to choose a weapon too. The slender white-and-green snake tail behind her swished through the air, while she looked at Vivi with amused, mocking eyes. A faint golden light glimmered in her right eye.

“Oh, am I interrupting?”

Renee covered her mouth and gave a deliberately affected laugh. “This new replacement eye of mine has decent features, but it’s a little too serious about protecting privacy. There’s no way to turn off the shutter sound in the system.”

“Go ahead. Don’t mind me.”

Ding.

A notification chimed on Vivi’s lens, signaling a new message.

It was the class group chat.

The latest message was a photo Renee had just taken. In it, Vivi was hesitating in front of the Difficulty 10 magic pistol.

【Renee: [Image]】

【Renee: Look, look! This dead-last student doesn’t even have a brain-computer interface, and she’s actually thinking of using a Difficulty 10 weapon. Hilarious. At this point, does she really still think she can become a magical girl?】

【Katsumi: Quite possible… She is an idiot, after all. A frog in a well doesn’t know how high the sky is and can only talk big. I almost feel sorry for her. I’m starting to feel bad about making fun of her.】

【Renee: Liar. You haven’t stopped laughing at all.】

【Anonymous Classmate A: Difficulty 10? I’d say there’s an eighty percent chance she’d blow up even a Level 6 gun. Is she planning to use a Level 10 one to blow her own hand off so she can apply to the school for disability compensation? Damn, she’s got a trick up her sleeve after all.】

【Anonymous Classmate B: Don’t say that. Maybe she wants to use a high-difficulty weapon as a club and just swing it at people. After all, a stray dog from the slums is only suited to that kind of primitive fighting style.】

【Anonymous Classmate C: I’ll bet ten credit points that if she manages to fire even one shot, I’ll eat the energy-absorbing mat in this training ground raw today.】

One stinging message after another popped up in the chat.

【AI Instructor: Student Vivi, based on your previous practical exam results and your magic output waveform records, the risk of a Difficulty 10 weapon exploding is as high as 99 percent. For your personal safety and the order of the class, we recommend that you choose a standard weapon of Level 3 or 4 for the match.】

【AI Instructor: If you insist on choosing a Difficulty 10 weapon, please sign your name on this agreement. The school will not accept any liability, and you must be prepared to pay for damages.】

【AI Instructor: Agreement Document】

【Tian Zhiya: It’s not that you can’t use it. As your teacher, I recommend that you buy one of my specially formulated body-strengthening potions right now.】

【Tian Zhiya: One injection costs only 100 credit points. That way, when the gun explodes later, you’ll be much less injured. You might even save a considerable amount on medical expenses overall. Interested?】