Morning.
After Master Mu worked busily all night, she finally completed her work and returned fully loaded. Along the way, she didn't forget to buy fried dough sticks and soy milk for a satisfying meal, then returned home and turned on the TV:
"According to our station's news, a gunfight broke out in the Black Dock district last night. The gang suffered heavy losses for unknown reasons. Citizens are reminded to pay attention to safety."
The Storm Gang must have received the news too, so there would be business to discuss.
The awakening triggered by Disaster Beast remains was what Hibiscus anticipated—everything else could wait.
The Black Dock battle made her understand that the supernatural world had arrived, and she was part of it. What was money? As long as she was willing, she could find gang ATMs anytime. Financial crisis was nothing in the face of power transcending the mundane. When you're strong enough, troubles automatically disappear. In a sense, the money problem was solved.
But the plan remained unchanged.
According to the netizens' tone, supernatural powers would emerge like bamboo shoots after rain, eventually forming a new order where strength would definitely be supreme, just with different forms of exploitation.
Having gained first-mover advantage, she should continue maintaining it. From another perspective, a new wealth creation myth was about to begin.
Hibiscus concentrated on continuing to follow the news.
Fortunately, from the TV station's tone, no one was investigating the truth of last night's events. Even if they planned to investigate, there was nothing to go on—what connection could a high school graduate have to the dock case? With that tightly wrapped disguise, there were simply no clues. Even the clothes had been burned to ash, and that wasn't all—for safety, she had scattered the ashes too, absolutely clean.
The news reports leaned toward good news. After all, the destruction of a notorious criminal area was deeply satisfying, with interviewed passersby basically giving rave reviews.
Eyewitnesses claimed a night-clad hero moved through enemy ranks with flashing blades, unmatched in breaking formations. Unfortunately, no one cared—destined to become another urban legend.
Beep!
[You have completed the advice: Clear the Dock Gang Dungeon. Rewards: 30 free attribute points, Origin Advancement Stone Fragment ×1 distributed]
The system notification arrived late but never missed. With a thought, she distributed points evenly to relatively low attributes—Constitution to 100 points, Speed to 100, the rest to Strength reaching 85 points. Only this one item hadn't broken a hundred.
Simultaneously, her bones cracked throughout her body, spirits lifted, strength abundant.
Despite not sleeping all night and fighting continuously, Hibiscus wasn't tired but felt a surge of hot blood, energy surging as if about to break through some shackles—regrettably stopping just short of the goal.
When the last attribute reached one hundred, a qualitative change would definitely occur. Methods to increase it included the system and training itself, but required persistence—short-term sprints were meaningless.
With this thought, Hibiscus did a set of exercises as usual, maintaining daily training to keep attributes growing bit by bit.
After light exercise, the burning sensation from free attribute point allocation gradually faded.
The effect was as good as ever.
She was now certain the "Magical Girl Fitness Routine" shared by netizens was actually more like martial arts, designed for superhumans. For instance, some incredible joint changes even considered arms rotating 360 degrees. Also, there were no grappling or ground techniques.
When Hibiscus had asked about this, netizens answered: "When you can punch through concrete floors and flip over, ground techniques become meaningless"—quite reasonable.
Magical girl combat style was probably high-intensity confrontation, emphasizing direct damage over technique.
But some reference points remained unclear.
The system rewards of Magic Advancement Stone Fragment and Origin Advancement Stone Fragment sounded significant, probably related to future upgrade paths—could they be the legendary awakening?
She didn't investigate further, since even magic itself was still up in the air. So far the plan was progressing well—time to compare notes with netizens and share progress. Several attempts taught the girl that frequent posting had a chance to trigger quality answers, treating it as repayment to helpful netizens.
"Thread update: Successfully destroyed criminal organization Dock Gang. Video 'Black Dock Night Battle' uploaded."
Thanks to the photography function being active throughout, recording the entire battle, after editing it became excellent material, even with system-provided soundtrack. Despite being a first attempt, it had some success. Content-wise, Hibiscus cut out bloody scenes and conversations with Jin Ruochu—that unlucky child's troubles were over, no need to mention them again. She felt getting involved would be very troublesome.
Though amateur editing, it excelled in immersive atmosphere. The short 3-minute video from infiltration to warehouse battle was concise and fluid.
View count skyrocketed visibly—clearly very popular, with increasingly lively comments:
【These effects, this explosion, super exciting. OP struck unexpectedly and surprisingly. Arrows pierce gold and stone, strength crowns three armies】
【Just as a gunfight video it's already high quality, plus supernatural elements. Stitched together quite a bit, but stitched well. Worthy of a high-quality trending post】
【Blow up those damn small-time thugs, I'll scatter you all】
【Shocked! Looking at the history, this is role-playing simulation? The answerer gave advice and you really went after the Dock Gang. Well done, eliminating evil and promoting good, Hyacinth. Now you've transformed into the righteous side】
【Speaking of evil deeds that aren't human, original Hyacinth never did any. The opposing sides are just route disputes. I acknowledge Boss Mu's private virtue】
【Supplementing above: Only toward the same species】
The video had more heat than expected, almost single-handedly pushing the main thread to trending heights, about to break out of the Magical Girl Hyacinth topic circle.
Obviously the correct approach was making the main thread more influential to harvest more advice, like the system constantly prompting advice about video filming—temporarily ignored. What Hibiscus needed was quantitative change leading to qualitative change. With this thought, she obliquely asked about advancement stones but got no answers.
Netizens weren't omnipotent. System rewards belonged to another kind of power requiring self-research.
"In the Dock Gang battle I felt relatively relaxed, but the Levitation Technique's effectiveness was limited. If I encounter higher kinetic energy weapons, I probably can't block them. What then?"
Hibiscus voiced her concern. Honestly, if Dock Gang manager Wang Dahai had brought out machine guns, rocket launchers, or grenade barrages, she probably couldn't have withstood it. The key was her preemptive strike creating momentum to suppress the opposition—otherwise the outcome would be uncertain.
Luck factors had to be eliminated—there wouldn't be chances next time.
【Techniques are just castrated versions of fairy magic, by-products of by-products among magical girl abilities, not worth mentioning】
【Early-stage newbie skills—what upper limit do you expect? Techniques are more about improving life quality, impossible for warfare. Don't make unreasonable demands—can't fight at all】
【In the original, some magical girls with good talent start with multiple techniques and act recklessly, but showing off too much leads to disaster. Not mentioning poison, tear gas and such methods, even direct combat with just techniques can't withstand heavy firepower. Without awakening, facing conventional light weapons is too weak. Must keep low profile early on, focus on building up. Build high walls, store grain widely, slowly claim kingship】
【When will the great villain secretly imprison magical girls? I can't wait】
【The simulation worldline is so beautiful. If possible, Hyacinth shouldn't bear so much responsibility—she went bad later】
Hibiscus raised an eyebrow, thinking she should indeed be cautious.
Listen to advice, eat your fill. Originally she thought techniques alone were enough to accomplish something, but now it seemed more training was needed.