Chapter 310: Magical Girl Qualification Exam

Five thousand credit points!

If she could fork out that much money in one go, why would she need to take out that damned student loan and borrow from the Black Snake Gang's loan sharks?

And without a chip's direct infusion, even if Vivi paid the copyright fees to purchase spells and meditation techniques, she'd still have to memorize them by rote like some primitive.

On top of that, the AI teacher couldn't detect her internal magic power flow through the magic interface, so it couldn't intuitively offer suggestions. Vivi could only summarize problems herself and ask questions, which was extremely inefficient.

Ever since she'd gained consciousness, Vivi had scrimped and saved, and through some underground means she'd riskily obtained illegal potions with relatively mild side effects, which was how she'd forcefully drug-boosted her magic power to third-grade.

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This was already a demonstration of her talent in this area.

After all, just having level 1 magic power was enough to qualify as an E- superhuman, and at least a third of Neon City's population would remain mere mortals who couldn't even reach E- their entire lives.

By that math, she was already stronger than at least half the people out there.

Normally speaking, with talent like hers, she might even have a sliver of a chance at awakening an Innate Technique.

But...

To become a magical girl, this level of progress wasn't enough. Far, far from enough.

Reaching level 4 magic power (E) or above before graduating middle school was required to transfer into some of the more decent caster professions.

And at Fourth Middle School, achieving level 7 magic power (E+) meant you could skip the tedious preliminary tests and written exams, and you wouldn't need to fight tooth and nail against countless people in a lottery and hand-speed contest for a slot, instead directly entering the preliminary round of the magical girl qualification certificate.

This was the reason Vivi was taking out loans to attend Fourth Middle School.

But even this only earned her the qualification for the preliminary round.

According to statistics, even if you crossed the single-plank bridge through the preliminary round like thousands of soldiers and horses, in the final round where you could meet contract beasts face-to-face, only an extremely small number... less than 1%... could actually become magical girls.

And even the mere qualification to step into the exam hall was still far, far beyond Vivi's reach.

But to put it plainly... it was just a matter of not having enough money.

If she could get enough money to drink hundred-credit-point potions like water the same way the top-ranked students in her class did, and use meditation techniques costing tens of thousands of credit points, charging to level 7 within two and a half months wasn't impossible.

This was also one of the reasons Vivi still hadn't given up.

Yet conversely, having no money was the greatest chasm of all.

No matter how she struggled, without money, her chances of becoming a magical girl were less than one in ten thousand.

If she'd been born with a brain-computer interface, maybe she'd already be level 5, at the E-grade standard, able to take better-paying part-time jobs, snowballing her way one step closer to that dream.

But...

There was no "if."

No matter how jealous she was, there was no way to change the fact that she was now backed into a corner.

............

A day of classes ended quickly.

Face grim, Vivi slung her messenger bag over her shoulder and hurried out of school, boarding the crowded tram once again. This time there were no seats, so she could only find a spot by the window and stand.

But time was still on her side for what she needed to do next, with even about half an hour to spare, which let her exhale slightly in relief.

The next moment, the news on the tram's television screen caught Vivi's attention.

"Good afternoon, citizens."

"The malicious explosion incident that occurred in Helta District B a few days ago has now essentially entered the final stage of on-site cleanup and damage assessment."

The rabbit-eared female anchor reported in an extremely official and somber tone: "Following in-depth investigation and evidence gathering by the NCPD, it has now been determined that this incident was deliberately carried out by the extremist terrorist organization [Witches' Guild]. Wanted notices and manhunt operations for the suspects at large are currently in full swing."

"Municipal authorities sternly condemn this terrorist act that endangered public safety."

"Looking back at history, a hundred years ago, H Company's headquarters dispatched directors to station in this wasteland once contaminated by the Abyss, establishing a branch, clearing contamination, and leading the construction of the magnificent protective dome that shelters the entire city."

"This act not only laid the cornerstone of Neon City's development, but directly or indirectly created tens of millions of jobs, and built a comprehensive public livelihood security system."

"Although the explosion attack carried out by the [Witches' Guild] in the Helta District caused no direct casualties, preliminary assessments show it has resulted in at least tens of millions of credit points in major property damage, with extremely severe social impact."

"In order to bring the criminals to justice as quickly as possible, the NCPD is now issuing a bounty notice to the entire society: any citizen who provides key clues and assists the police in capturing the suspects will receive a bounty of five hundred thousand credit points in accordance with the law."

Hearing that number, Vivi's heart suddenly began pounding uncontrollably as she started fantasizing.

Five hundred thousand credit points!

Enough to pay off all her debts.

Enough to find the best doctor for interface surgery.

Even enough to drug-and-tech her way all the way up to becoming a magical girl!

What if...

The excitement lasted only three seconds before cooling off. Never mind that she only had a pitiful level 3 magic power, Vivi didn't even know what the Witches' Guild people looked like.

Were the Witches' Guild all witches?

Speaking of which, what exactly was a witch? Judging by the name, they must be something as terrifying as demons and demon-people.

When she was little, she'd seen a D-grade demon launch a terrorist attack from a distance in the outskirts, and she still couldn't forget it to this day.

And besides, there was something more urgent right now...

Vivi unconsciously turned to the tram window, looking upward.

There, among the towering clouds, a massive floating tower loomed faintly within a pillar of light.

That tower looked like a colossal structure assembled from countless building blocks, with one architectural module after another slowly drifting up, down, left, and right in midair, yet constrained by some invisible and enormous force, never separating or colliding, like a god overlooking all beings within the light.

, The sunlight outside was poisonous, so it had to be filtered through the dome before being let in.

Naturally, the best sunlight was supplied to the most important and wealthiest places, so the closer to the city center, the brighter and more comfortable the sunlight became.

And H Company's branch, where Helta Tower stood, was located at the very core.

Just then.

A section at the top of the tower happened to reflect sunlight down due to its movement, illuminating the faces of everyone in the tram carriage.

Vivi's orange-yellow eyes reflected the radiance shining down, and her right hand unconsciously tightened its grip on her messenger bag's strap.

Today was the day.

Today was the day for unified garbage disposal and dumping.

That explosion must have blown plenty of good stuff off Helta Tower.

The landfill outside the West District... that was where she was going to gamble everything she had.

How ironic, that landfill might just be the place where the gap between rich and poor, mortals and lofty superhumans, was smallest.

After all, regardless of status, in the end all that garbage got mixed together anyway.

And if she could just pick up some valuable rare metals or undamaged high-grade magitech components from the landfill, not only could she repay this month's loan to the Black Snake Gang, she might even be able to cover this month's exorbitant student aid interest as well.

As long as she paid back the money, her life would be safe.

As long as she paid back the money, she'd still have hope and time, and the possibility of continuing to climb higher!