43: Chapter 43 Job Change: Choosing Magical Girl with Tears in My Eyes

The next day.

Su Bai slept for a full ten hours in his dormitory before waking up.

After waking up, he spent another three hours spacing out, eating, and confirming he wasn't dreaming—and then he finally remembered something he had put aside.

That gold card.

The moment the Monthly Exam ended, a gold card flew out from within his body, stating that he had reached the level 19 cap and needed to complete a job change quest.

At the time, he was exhausted, so he just shoved the card into his pocket and went back to sleep.

Now, he finally had time to take a good look at it.

Su Bai fished the gold card out of his card bag.

The card's surface was iridescent, and the text on it was clearer than yesterday—

[Name: Su Bai]

[Rank: 19 (max)]

[Class: Card Creator (Blank)]

[Card: Contractor · Incubator Kyubey]

[Job Change Quest: Please choose one of the following options to complete your job change—]

Below was a row of options.

Su Bai looked down them one by one.

[Weapon Expert]—Rarity: SS. Specializes in physical armament cards, card creation success rate +15%, physical card quality cap +2. Strength growth significantly increased.

[Archmage]—Rarity: SS. Specializes in elemental cards, mana pool cap doubled, elemental card mana conductivity +30%. Intelligence growth significantly increased.

[Spatial Warlock]—Rarity: SS. Specializes in spatial cards, Spatial Circuit complexity cap significantly increased, capable of constructing spatial matrices with more than six axes. Mental Power growth significantly increased.

Su Bai raised an eyebrow.

SS rank. All three were SS rank.

You have to know, according to the Card Creator Association's public data, for 99% of Card Creators, getting a single S-rank job change in their lifetime would be a miracle.

SS rank is something you can barely touch only after top-tier wealthy families pour in an unknown amount of resources.

And before him, three were laid out all at once.

"...System, did you mess something up?"

[No mistake. The host produced an SSS-rank Rainbow Card on their first card creation, and the job change options are generated based on the host's actual abilities.]

"That's pretty fair then."

Su Bai continued to scroll down.

Then his finger stopped.

At the very bottom.

Below all the SS-rank options, there was a line of text surrounded by a ring of pink starlight.

That ring of starlight was very subtle—at first glance, it was a cute girlish pink, but looking closely, it was mixed with wisps of dark aura, like strawberry milkshake that had been secretly spiked with squid ink.

[Magical Girl · Miracle Magic User]—Rarity: SSS.

[Description: You are the synonym for miracles and magic. You possess a unique causality contract aptitude in this world, able to sublimate the soul of any volunteer into a Magical Girl, and receive a full Critical Refund of their combat stats. Your existence itself is a beacon against despair—even if this beacon is pink.]

[This class cannot be read by any appraisal technique. This class is independent of all existing combat systems.]

[Exclusive Trait ①: Miracle Gift—The host and the Contractor will share a Miracle Law. The Miracle Law depends on the host's wish; currently unawakened.]

[Exclusive Trait ②: Causality Chain Critical—The Critical Refund mechanism is fully upgraded. When the Contractor fights, the host not only gains their combat power but also gains additional passive growth in their combat experience, skill proficiency, and mana cap. Simply put, the stronger and more numerous the Magical Girls you contract, the stronger you become. There is no limit.]

[Exclusive Trait ③: Magical Girl Summoning—The host can summon any Contractor to their side in their Magical Girl form without any card medium. Summoning ignores spatial distance.]

[Exclusive Trait ④: Never Despair—For all Magical Girls contracted with the host, the corruption speed of their soul gem is reduced by 90%. The host is completely immune to soul gem corruption.]

[Note: This class is one of a kind. It cannot be changed after selection.]

—Rarity: SSS.

Su Bai stared at that "Magical Girl · Miracle Magic User" for a long time.

Then he opened Penguin.

[Three-Person Card-Making Mutual Aid Group].

[Su Bai]: [@Lin Xiao Are you there? Ask you something.]

[Lin Xiao]: [Speak.]

[Su Bai]: [What's the situation with job changes usually? Is there anything specific to watch out for?]

Lin Xiao did not reply immediately.

About thirty seconds passed.

[Lin Xiao]: [???]

[Lin Xiao]: [You're level 19?]

[Su Bai]: [Yeah.]

[Lin Xiao]: [You were still taking the Monthly Exam yesterday!! Today you tell me you're level 19?!]

[Su Bai]: [To be precise, it was level 19 the moment the Monthly Exam ended yesterday. I haven't had time to look until now.]

[Lin Xiao]: [...Are you even human?]

[Su Bai]: [Theoretically, yes. What's the situation with job changes?]

Lin Xiao spent about ten seconds digesting this information, then started typing, nearly twice as fast as usual.

[Lin Xiao]: [Card Creators are a blank class at the initial stage, with no specialization direction. After the job change, you will gain corresponding class specializations based on the types of cards you have created. The job change rarity depends on the highest quality of cards you have previously made—you made an SSS card, so your job change rarity should be very high.]

[Lin Xiao]: [A job change won't directly improve your card creation level, but it will affect your strength growth curve and card creation direction. For a simple example, if you change to [Weapon Expert], you will be more adept at making swords, blades, and shields in the future, but your Element Card will be a cut below others. Conversely, if you change to [Archmage], your Element Card will be very strong, but physical armaments will be relatively mediocre.]

[Lin Xiao]: [Most importantly, class rarity determines your attribute growth every time you level up. When leveling up, an A-rank class might add 5 to Strength, while an SS-rank might add 15. The gap gets bigger the further you go; at high ranks, the difference could be dozens of times.]

[Lin Xiao]: [So. What job change options do you have?]

Su Bai looked at that gold card.

[Su Bai]: [Weapon Expert. SS rank.]

[Lin Xiao]: [...Huh?]

[Su Bai]: [Archmage. SS rank.]

[Lin Xiao]: [...Wait, hold on—you're joking, right?]

[Su Bai]: [Spatial Warlock. SS rank.]

The group chat went quiet.

It was quiet for a full ten seconds.

Then.

[Lin Xiao]: [Three SS ranks??????]

[Lin Xiao]: [Su Bai, do you know what SS rank means? My cousin Lin Weiwei, a Rank 4 intermediate Card Creator, has specialized in the spatial field for five years and published three papers, yet her job change to [Spatial Warlock] was only S rank! S rank! You, a blank slate who hasn't even changed jobs yet, have three SS-rank options???]

[Su Bai]: [I haven't finished.]

[Lin Xiao]: [There's more?!]

[Su Bai]: [Magical Girl · Miracle Magic User. SSS rank.]

This time the group chat was quiet for twenty seconds.

Then Zhao Dahai suddenly popped up.

[Zhao Dahai]: [I've been lurking this whole time. Now I feel like I need to wash my face. Su Bai, are you saying SSS? Three S's?]

[Su Bai]: [Yes.]

[Zhao Dahai]: [Magical Girl.]

[Su Bai]: [Yes.]

[Zhao Dahai]: [You have to choose one from three SS's and one SSS.]

[Su Bai]: [Yes.]

[Zhao Dahai]: [And that sole SSS is Magical Girl.]

[Su Bai]: [...Can you not keep emphasizing this point?]

[Zhao Dahai]: [Hahahahahaha I knew it!! I knew it!! How could someone who made a Kyubey Card escape a Magical Girl!! This is karma!! This is equivalent exchange!!]

[Lin Xiao]: [Stop laughing. Talk about serious business.]

Lin Xiao sent a voice message.

Su Bai tapped on it.

Her voice was nearly twice as fast as usual, clearly somewhat excited.

"Su Bai, listen well, rarity doesn't just represent attribute growth. More importantly, high-rarity classes come with exclusive traits—SS rank usually has two exclusive traits, SSS rank has at least three or even four. These exclusive traits will fundamentally change your combat style."

"And you mentioned Magical Girl... this fits perfectly with the Kyubey Card you made. Didn't you say Kyubey can let Magical Girls sign contracts? Then after you become a Magical Girl yourself, the whole system is closed-loop. You can sign yourself, give yourself Critical Refund stats, summon yourself—no, that seems a bit weird—but logically, it works!"

"In short."

She paused.

"SSS is a must-pick. No exceptions. Among all the 9th-tier Supremes in the world, there are no more than five with SSS-rank job changes. If you choose SS rank, you will definitely regret it later."

Su Bai looked at the phone screen.

Then he looked again at the [Magical Girl · Miracle Magic User] line on the gold card.

[Exclusive Trait ④: Never Despair—For all contracted Magical Girls, the corruption speed of their soul gem is reduced by 90%. The host is completely immune.]

[Causality Chain Critical: No limit.]

He imagined that scene.

Himself wearing a Magical Girl battle suit, standing on the battlefield of the Abyss Front, with an entire legion of Magical Girls behind him. Pink lace skirts fluttering in the mana storm, ribbons sparkling amidst the smoke of war.

He imagined Li Haoran's expression upon seeing this scene.

He imagined Deputy Commander Zhou Mu's expression upon seeing this scene.

He imagined Li Qingyue's expression upon seeing this scene—

"It seems."

Su Bai muttered to himself.

"It's not that bad... as if!"

This damn art style has changed, okay? It's clearly a high-martial arts card world, so what's the deal with a bunch of Magical Girls standing on the battlefield?

But, fine, have to admit, this Magical Girl job change is indeed terrifyingly strong.

...Who told him his first card was a Magical Girl? It has to be this...

Su Bai took a deep breath.

Reached out a finger.

Pressed that option.

The gold card instantly erupted with a blinding light. Not ordinary gold—it was a light interwoven with pink and gold, like strawberry milkshake that had been sprinkled with a whole jar of gold dust.

[Selection Confirmed: Magical Girl · Miracle Magic User (SSS)]

[Job Change Quest Released—]

[Job Change Quest: The Starting Point of Miracles]

[Quest Objective: Make 10 different class users become Magical Girls. Requirement: The Contractor must be completely voluntary and have full awareness of the contract content.]

[Current Progress: 0/10]

[Quest Reward: Officially change class to [Magical Girl · Miracle Magic User]]

[Note ①: The Contractor's "willingness" will directly affect the Critical Refund multiplier the host receives. For Contractors who are resistant or forced into the contract, their combat power refund will be significantly attenuated.]

[Note ②: The Contractor's soul strength and willpower quality will determine the purity of the soul gem. Those with firm willpower provide attribute bonuses far higher than those with weak willpower.]

[Note ③: For extremely manic, bloodthirsty, or mentally unstable Contractors, the soul gem will rapidly corrupt. A corrupted soul gem not only fails to provide a refund but may also cause reverse erosion of the host's mana circuits. Please choose contract subjects carefully.]

Su Bai looked at the last line of notes.

A message popped up.

[System Prompt: Detected that the soul gem (battle-damaged version) of the already contracted Magical Girl · Dark Clone · Blood Abyss Prisoner is rising in corruption. The Contractor's core emotions are: deep-seated hatred for Li Qingyue, resentment from being imprisoned for fourteen years, and indiscriminate desire for destruction.]

[Current corruption: 12%.]

[The Critical Refund provided by this Contractor has attenuated to 27% of the normal value.]

[Expected to be completely corrupted within 30 natural days. At that time, the Contractor will—]

[Permanently Ineffective.]

Su Bai's smile froze.

"...Wait. That Rank 8 puppet, the one Li Qingyue used to test cards earlier, also counts towards my contract?"

[Yes. Contracts completed by Kyubey during testing are attributed to the host.]

"Then its refund—has already attenuated to 27%?"

[Yes.]

"Because she's full of hatred?"

[Yes. Hatred and desire for destruction belong to the most inefficient negative emotions—the energy conversion is not large enough, and it will accelerate soul gem corruption. High-quality emotional energy includes but is not limited to: determination to protect, desire for self-transcendence, pure sense of justice, and cherishing beautiful things. The core of Magical Girl conversion is from hope to despair, that is, from positive to negative. Since the puppet has always had negative attributes, the amount it can provide is minimal.]

Su Bai fell silent.

Then he slowly leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling.

In other words.

Can't just bind people randomly.

Binding a lunatic full of hatred not only won't give many stats, but will also be directly scrapped in the short term. But the upside is, he seems to be able to summon that Rank 8 puppet directly? But she doesn't seem to listen... if he summons something like this, it would probably kill him too, right?

Hmm, it's not like it can't be used as a trump card...

It's just that, if he wants to get top-tier stats for free—

It must be high-end combat power with a firm mind.

And it must be the kind of "good person" in the true sense, with not too many dark sides in their heart.

"...System. Are you forcing me to go find a bunch of moral models to be Magical Girls?"

[This system only states objective facts. How the host interprets it is not within the scope of this system's responsibilities.]

Su Bai buried his face in his palms.