Emerald Sparrow had already attempted both rhythms for her, and they were double-edged swords. The former could indeed boost morale, but if it affected her too deeply, she would act more recklessly in battle, increasing the consumption of magic power and physical energy; the latter, though it could make someone more focused, would, similarly, if too profound, cause one to forget oneself while completely ignoring the dangers in battle, often getting injured without realizing it.
In other words, these rhythms could either enhance the allies' capabilities as support tools, or become demonic weapons leading the enemies to self-destruction.
However, these were not the focus of Emerald Sparrow's attention right now.
She was concerned about the base of Bai Jingxuan's Music Box Magic Armor, which had appeared under it at an unknown time.
The initial form of the Magic Armor, Heavenly Sound, was just a music box without any external accessories. However, there was now a base about ten centimeters long, about the same diameter as a magic staff, attached to the bottom of the box.
It was this base that was upright in mid-air, elevating the music box.
Emerald Sparrow felt a twitch in her eyelid.
As she had mentioned earlier, the ideas of a Magical Girl about her own Magic Armor could somewhat interfere with the growth path of the Magic Armor. The additional base of Bai Jingxuan's Magic Armor was undoubtedly unrelated to the intrinsic growth path of the Magic Armor and was merely a reflection of her personal desires.
—Holding a rectangular box to fight Remnant Beasts is very inconvenient; I want to add a handle to this box.
Emerald Sparrow felt as if she could hear Bai Jingxuan's mental voice during battle.
Indeed, the current form of Heavenly Sound, rather than being a music box, it was more akin to a hammer.
The edges of the box, at some unknown time, had taken on a sinister shade of dark green, becoming sharp and dangerous instead of smooth; this eerie dark green also stained the originally golden body of the box, irregularly patching it as if it were bloodstains if it had been another color.
Emerald Sparrow pursed her lips, finding herself at a loss for words on how to comment on the Magic Armor in front of her. When she looked up and met Bai Jingxuan's gaze, she saw Bai Jingxuan looking back at her with a gaze full of anticipation and pride, like a puppy believing it had done something good and waiting for praise.
Objectively, the current state of the Magic Armor certainly deserved Emerald Sparrow's approval.
After all, what she had just mentioned, "Magical Girls can influence the growth direction of their Magic Armor with their will," had been realistically reflected in this piece of Magic Armor.
Even though the direction this interference had taken was quite unreliable.
The problem was, if she affirmed Bai Jingxuan's actions now, what would happen if the child continued down this path to the end? The next time she saw this Magic Armor, might it really become a hammer?
But if she criticized the other party's efforts here, even in front of the other team members, would it hurt the child's self-esteem...
The wavering in Emerald Sparrow's heart was known to no one.
Instead, it was Lin Xiaolu who glanced at Bai Jingxuan's Magic Armor, crouched down, moved a couple of steps closer this side, observed the "dark green bloodstains" on the Magic Armor for a while, and suddenly looked up and said,
"Speaking of which, Bai Jingxuan, what was up with that transformation that looked like claw marks a few days ago?"
The training ground suddenly fell into a deathly silence.
As for Bai Jingxuan, the subject of the question, the other two people, whether it was Emerald Sparrow, who had just been looking troubled, or Xia Liang, who had been enjoying the show, were now looking at Lin Xiaolu with somewhat inexplicable expressions.
"What's wrong? Did I say something incorrect?" Lin Xiaolu blinked and asked belatedly.
In the end, it was Xia Liang who opened his mouth with some resignation, "I'm not going to comment on how you pick your topics, but mentioning what shouldn't be mentioned at such a time is one thing; don't you think you're asking this question a bit late?"
Bai Jingxuan also looked a bit aggrieved: "You already told me you were going to ask me when you got back; I've been waiting for you for several days."
The strong sense of guilt made Lin Xiaolu look away.
It wasn't that Lin Xiaolu was particularly forgetful, but because the events of that night had been too many, and the density of information too high; as a result, Bai Jingxuan's issue had become relatively trivial compared to everything else.
At that time, Lin Xiaolu did remember the issue when she returned to the base, but as things escalated with Emerald Sparrow, she temporarily pushed other matters aside.
After that, when she woke up from a night's sleep, the events of the previous night were a muddled mess in Lin Xiaolu's mind; the clearest thing she remembered was "having gained the 'right to act spoiled' with Emerald Sparrow," and thus she followed Emerald Sparrow around every day like a clingy bug, occasionally fighting with Bai Jingxuan for position. Giving Bai Jingxuan any good face was already a stretch, so how could she go and show warmth to her "enemy"?
As a result, a conversation that was supposed to have happened on the battlefield got dragged on for several days.
What Lin Xiaolu hadn't expected was that Bai Jingxuan herself hadn't forgotten this matter.
Originally, Bai Jingxuan had been prepared, with Emerald Sparrow's help, to have a ready response, rehearsing it privately several times, just waiting for Lin Xiaolu to come asking. However, while the words had been rehearsed, the person hadn't shown up.