Chapter Seventy-One: Mikoto Misaka, Level Five Esper

Qi’s face was covered in black lines, and he said calmly, “I wonder if you’ll still be so happy after hearing you need to stay here for more than a hundred days.”

As expected, the infant girl could not remain cheerful. She forced a smile and replied stiffly, “You can’t be serious. This experiment takes that long? I need to go back to school, read comics, play video games, feed my cat. How could I possibly stay here for so long? I won’t participate in this experiment. No one asked my permission before dragging me here, and you even used that giant frog to lure me in...”

“For the last time, this isn’t your original world. Whether you believe it or not, this is a harsh cultivation realm. Don’t display your kindness or foolishness here, or death will come for you at any moment. Here, strength determines everything.” Qi put away his Codex, turned, and walked away.

The infant girl followed, incredulous, her silence prompting her to explore the surroundings—testing her senses, manipulating electricity, using iron sand to fell a tree and inspect it. In the end, shoulders slumped, she found not a trace of science, not even the usual cacophony of electromagnetic waves.

“Wait, how do you know all this? And how can you send me back?” she finally found something amiss.

Qi continued walking, narrating the reason in a calm voice. “That’s the basic situation,” he finished just as they reached the brook again. The frog prince was once more lying on his back, belly up and legs splayed.

“Let’s say I trust you for now. So, we have to hold hands for a hundred days before I can go back? This isn’t just some weird fetish of yours, is it?” She eyed the boy suspiciously as he moved toward the frog.

Qi’s eye twitched at her back. If she weren’t a little demon with erratic electric powers, he’d have spanked her hard. “The previous girl who crossed over was just an ordinary person, and her world barely had any mystery to it. So, after three days of skin contact with me, she could return.

Your abilities are impressive, so I suspect your world’s mystery level is higher. That means the time must be longer. Also, it needs to be actual skin contact for a hundred days—not just a hundred days passing. So don’t run off. I have no intention of being your babysitter.”

After flipping the frog prince over, Qi raised his hand, summoning a diamond blade, ready to strike. Suddenly, his body shuddered, hair bristling skyward. “What are you doing? Why are you electrocuting me again?”

“You’re the one! How could you attack the frog prince? Unbelievable! Don’t you think he’s adorable?” The infant girl’s face was a mix of shock and fury, even more so than at her own crossing.

“Even if it were a female frog, I wouldn’t find it cute. It’s the culprit behind your crossing, and it swallowed you whole. Yet you still protect it. Serves you right for ending up here.” Qi recovered and once again raised his blade.

With a crackle, he used lightning to block her electric attack, but in the next moment, he dodged aside as a whip of metallic sand swept past where he’d stood. A tree nearby was struck, instantly severed at the trunk.

This was no ordinary metal sand whip; each grain of sand was grinding at high speed, making it more like an electric saw in the shape of a whip.

“Even if you don’t like the frog prince, you can’t just cut him down. Anyway, I won’t let you succeed.” The infant girl stared stubbornly, eyes wide.

“If my deduction is correct, this adorable frog prince was struck dead by lightning after he swallowed you, right? Which means, you killed him.” Qi stated the fact she had been avoiding, expressionless.

The infant girl looked devastated, her face contorted in pain and regret. After all this, Qi lost his appetite for frog meat and instead took some raw meat from his storage pouch to roast.

The aroma of roasting meat eventually brought her back to herself. Seeing the roast, her expression changed.

“It’s pork, not your frog prince,” Qi said blandly, to avoid another electric shock.

She ran over to check the frog prince, finally sighing in relief. After a moment’s hesitation, she used metal sand to dig a large pit in the forest, solemnly buried him, and after knocking her head three times on the ground, she ran to the fire and sat down, as if letting go of a burden.

Qi wanted to say the prince’s corpse would eventually be dug up and eaten by other beasts, but seeing her sad little face, he let it go.

“Let’s officially get acquainted. I’m Qi. We’ll be spending some time together, so please take care of me.” Qi sat up straight, his expression calm.

“Hmph. Hello, I’m Mikoto Misaka, and—”

Qi’s expression changed dramatically. “Mikoto Misaka? Your name is Mikoto Misaka?”

She raised an eyebrow. “What? Have you heard of me?”

“Do you know Misaki Misaka?” Qi narrowed his eyes and asked softly.

“I don’t. Was the last person who crossed over named Misaki Misaka?” Mikoto Misaka asked in surprise.

Qi shook his head, gazing at her deeply. “She’s a friend of mine. Go on.”

“I hate people who only tell half the story. Hmph. I’m fourteen years old, a student at Tokiwadai Girls’ School, ranked third in Academy City as a Level Five esper,” Mikoto Misaka said, puffing her cheeks.

“Academy City? Espers? Level Five?” Qi handed her a piece of roast meat, hoping she’d elaborate.

Mikoto Misaka hesitated. “Do you have something lighter? I don’t really like greasy food, and in this child’s body, my digestion isn’t great.”

Qi apologized with a smile, realizing he’d forgotten that detail. “I’ll make you a bowl of lean meat and vegetable porridge.”

“Thank you. The Academy City I come from is a city composed entirely of schools. There are dozens of universities and primary and secondary schools, covering an area one-third the size of Tokyo. The population is 2.3 million, eighty percent of whom are students. Academy City was founded to research esper abilities. Sixty percent of the students are considered Level Zero, powerless. They struggle to bend a spoon at best—completely useless.

Above that are Level One, the low-level espers. Different abilities have different effects, but overall they aren’t very useful. For example, someone who manipulates flames can only produce a flame about the size of half a fist, which could easily be extinguished by a strong breath.

Level Two are the abnormal espers. Their fireballs can reach the size of a basketball, and their attack power is tangible.

Level Three are strong espers. At this stage, they can release flames as large as a person, and of course, can manipulate them into shapes like fire dragons.

Level Four are powerful espers. My roommate is a Level Four spatial teleporter, able to teleport dozens of meters without pause.”