Chapter 48: Awakening? (Third Update, Sobbing)

Unable to sense Chubi anymore—in other words, Wanda could no longer perceive the power of chaos? That shouldn’t be possible. Zhong Shenxiu immediately employed the True Sight to examine Wanda’s condition.

[Name: Wanda Django Maximoff]
[Combat Power: 3]
[Acquirable Ability: Scarlet Chaos Magic (Acquisition Probability: 0%)]
[Combat Suggestion: So weak...]

What on earth? Where had the Wanda with a combat power cap of 9999 gone? Seeing that glaring “3,” Zhong Shenxiu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

But the acquirable ability, Scarlet Chaos Magic, was still listed. That meant Wanda still possessed her latent potential as the Scarlet Witch. Yet, with a combat power of 3, she was no more than an ordinary, frail young woman!

“Did something happen?” Zhong Shenxiu asked.

“At the time, didn’t you message me, Lu Su, to absorb all the Chubi from outside back into my body?” Wanda’s large, beautiful eyes drifted thoughtfully for a moment before she continued softly, “And then?”

“Once all the Chubi returned to my body, I suddenly realized they stopped responding to me, and gradually, I couldn’t even sense their presence at all...” As she spoke, Wanda’s little feet swung and crossed restlessly, her anxiety plain to see.

Hearing this, Zhong Shenxiu didn’t respond right away; instead, he fell into deep thought. In other words: ever since Wanda had reabsorbed all the chaos magic from outside, she had lost control over it.

But why? According to the True Sight, Scarlet Chaos Magic was still an acquirable ability, which meant Wanda was still a magic mutant. So, why had she lost her powers?

This sort of thing shouldn’t happen—unless the explosive surge of chaos magic had damaged her foundation or drained her vital energy?

...Impossible. Come on, this wasn’t some xianxia cultivation world.

No matter how he turned it over in his mind, Zhong Shenxiu couldn’t figure it out for now. He recalled that, in the movies, Wanda’s mutant magic powers had always lain dormant until awakened by the Mind Stone. The current situation actually resembled that.

But that shouldn’t be—when have powers ever awakened only to vanish again? Unless—

A sharp gleam flashed in Zhong Shenxiu’s eyes, startling Wanda into asking, “What is it, Lu Su? Did you think of something?”

He nodded but didn’t answer directly. Instead, he said to Wanda, “Come with me. I want to test something before drawing any conclusions.”

“Alright.” Wanda nodded obediently, not bothering to put on shoes, her bare feet padding after Zhong Shenxiu.

He led her to the room where she’d previously been held—the glass cell. Shards of glass littered the floor. Zhong Shenxiu glanced at Wanda’s bare feet and said, “Wait for me out here. Don’t go in.”

“Okay!” Wanda agreed readily.

Only then did Zhong Shenxiu approach the glass cell, carefully surveying the surroundings. After confirming there was no danger, he stepped inside, reaching the spot where Wanda had been held. Closing his eyes, he focused on the changes in his own chaos magic.

Outside, Wanda twisted a lock of her wavy hair around her finger, watching Zhong Shenxiu’s every move with curious, pale gray eyes.

After a moment, Zhong Shenxiu’s eyes snapped open, a look of sudden understanding in them.

As he suspected! This uniquely constructed glass cell was not only tough—it actively absorbed chaos magic!

In just half a minute inside, he sensed 0.1 units of chaos magic being drawn from him. Subtle, but unmistakable.

That explained everything. Normally, once superpowers awaken, they don’t simply vanish. So why had Wanda’s powers disappeared?

Because—her mutant magical abilities had never truly awakened!

From start to finish, Wanda had only ever been a mutant with chaos magic latent in her body. She was merely forced, by some unknown mechanism of Hydra’s machine, to have chaos magic forcibly extracted from within her.

After releasing enough chaos magic to blanket all of Ingram Street, she became gaunt and skeletal; when that magic returned, she returned to normal—clear evidence. It now appeared that, once that magic was back inside her, she was utterly unable to summon it out at will.

In essence, Wanda had not yet awakened—she lacked the ability to freely control chaos magic. Why could she manipulate it before? Because the machine had forcibly drawn the magic out of her body; once outside, it was hers to command.

Now, unable to call forth the magic within, she was trapped in a vicious cycle.

But Hydra was a small organization—where had they gotten that machine? And how had they known Wanda was a magic mutant? Before awakening, mutants were nearly indistinguishable from ordinary humans. These were huge mysteries...

After pondering a while, Zhong Shenxiu suspected that behind the rotund Hydra leader lurked a far more formidable organization.

But for now, that had little to do with him. No matter how big they were, as long as they didn’t provoke him or possess something he needed, Zhong Shenxiu had no reason to trouble them.

His immediate priority was to help Wanda awaken. He had plans that required her participation.

The canonical awakening method from the previous world—the Mind Stone—was currently beyond his reach. That option was out.

Other methods? Most mutant awakenings reportedly occurred after massive psychological shocks—but such stimulation was risky. What if he drove Wanda into madness?

Suddenly, inspiration struck Zhong Shenxiu.

Wanda’s current state was essentially that of a magic user with power she couldn’t control. And how do mages control magic? Mental strength!

Her inability to command her internal magic was, at its core, a manifestation of insufficient mental power. If she could strengthen her mind, perhaps she could then wield her chaos magic freely.

As a master of the arcane, Zhong Shenxiu knew many ways to hone mental strength. He might not practice them himself, but teaching Wanda should pose no problem.

The simplest, most fundamental method among mages was meditation.

However, meditation took time to yield results, and Zhong Shenxiu had little time to spare. He needed Wanda to master her chaos magic quickly, to help carry out his plans.

Wait—the headband.

Hydra’s ugly headband had been able to control chaos magic, hadn’t it?

Satisfied that the glass cell had absorbed enough, Zhong Shenxiu followed the pipes and, sure enough, found a container with alloy ends and a glass middle, inside which flowed a blood-red liquid.

That was his own chaos magic, altered by the machine’s extraction process into this form. His was a pale gray, while Wanda’s was scarlet.

Which meant the chaos magic in this vessel was closer to Wanda’s.

Curious—chaos magic drawn from him, after passing through the machine, now resembled Wanda’s magic. Taking the headband, Zhong Shenxiu walked to the door and handed it to Wanda.

“Put this on,” he instructed, “and try to manipulate the Chubi in that container.”