How the Magic System Works in This Story

While I'll do my best to make the magic system understandable within the context of the web novel, it's a lot to take in, and some readers may find a reference guide helpful. This guide will also include fun facts that may not end up in the story. 

97% of all women have magic powers. 

All women fall into one of five categories:

• Duds, who have either no powers at all or have useless powers. 
• Flyers, who fly and do nothing else. 
• Empaths, who have "empathetic" abilities which originate from the mind. ("Empathetic" does not have to mean "emotion-based;" it also includes things like telekinesis, mind-reading, material manipulation, etc.)
• Supers, who have "Core Abilities" that are personality-based. 
• Magical Girls, who can fly, have an Empathetic Ability, and a Core Ability. 

Approximately one in every 500,000 (0.0002%) women is a Magical Girl. There are 667 Magical Girls in the United States, 52 in Florida, and 8 in Alabama. There are 28 Magical Girls in Tokyo and 214 in Taketera. Ursula is the only Magical Girl who has ever lived in Claycomb County in the past 100 years. 

In order to use all three of their abilities at the same time, Magical Girls must transform. 

Some Magical Girls, such as Tang Mingju, can only use their Core Ability once transformed. 

Transforming takes a lot of psychic energy. The stronger you are, the longer you can stay transformed. 

Core Abilities can manifest themselves as Spirit Weapons or Magical Items, such as a sword or a magic doll. 

A Magical Item can take on the form of an animal companion who behaves like a normal animal when the girl is not transformed, but is able to speak when the girl is transformed. They are referred to as Magical Animals. 

If your Core or Empathetic Ability affects other people, it will not work on about 1-10% of people, depending on who they are. 

You are more likely to be immune to a person's power if you are completely a Dud. 

You are more likely to be immune to a person's power if it is the same type as yours. For example, Ursula Hidalgo, who has a sonic ability, is immune to another character’s hypnotic singing.

Rarely, a Core Ability can come with a hindrance, or even be a hindrance itself, such as a character needing to eat human flesh to survive. 

Superpowers are thought to originate from female hormones. This means that trans women who take hormone replacement therapy medications can develop powers and even become Magical Girls. 

Trans men who have powers will lose their powers if they take HRT. Many trans men are okay with this, though, because they see having powers as an effeminate quality and having powers does not match their self-perception as men (but not always.) 

Some intersex men and non-binary people have powers. How this affects their gender identity depends on the individual.

🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍 ("Zero-Heart Power") - Completely powerless (applies to Duds and older women who have aged out of their powers)

❤🤍🤍🤍🤍 ("One-Heart Power") - Undeveloped and/or borderline useless power 

❤❤🤍🤍🤍 ("Two-Heart Power") - Average 

❤❤❤🤍🤍 ("Three-Heart Power") - Above Average 

❤❤❤❤🤍 ("Four-Heart Power") - Exceptional 

❤❤❤❤❤ ("Five-Heart Power") - Superior

💛💛💛💛💛💛 ( literally just Haruko Kobayashi) - Unmatched in history

Whether a girl develops powers, and what type of power she gets, is solely determined by genetics that are not fully understood. Japanese folk wisdom posits that a girl's personality and outlook on life determines whether she'll be a Magical Girl, a Super, etc, but this is not necessarily supported by empirical evidence. It's quite similar to horoscopes or blood type compatibility beliefs. However, the folk wisdom about powers is still believed by a lot of people in Japan due to personal experiences. 

• A Super or Magical Girl's Core Ability is intrinsically tied to her personality. It is called a "Core Ability" because it is a reflection of a girl's core essence. (This part does have empirical, scientifically documented proof.) The folk wisdom says that a girl who gains a Core Ability has a strong sense of self and knows what she wants in life. This is why Core Abilities tend to appear later than other types of powers. Such girls are said to become Magical Girls because they care more about the well-being of others than themselves, and others in this group become Supers because they put themselves first. Unfortunately, this belief has led to mild mistreatment and bullying of Supers in Japanese society because they are seen as selfish. 
• A girl is thought to become an Empath if she is introverted and would rather engage in academic pursuits than socialize. Empaths are unsure of themselves and lack the strong sense of self that people with Core Abilities have. They would rather read and study than work on themselves. These beliefs do not mean they are perceived as bad people, though. Empaths are thought to often form very strong bonds with specific people and derive joy from helping others who seek out their skills and knowledge. 
• A girl is thought to become a Flyer if she barely ever spends time thinking about herself and is mostly concerned about other people. Flyers have a calm, peaceful mind, and they are very extroverted. Mental illness is supposedly rare among Flyers. However, a flyer will completely lose it if she is away from other people for too long. Flyers do not have a strong sense of self and tend to base their personalities around their loved ones, their career, or their passion. Flyers lack curiosity and do not question what others tell them. 
• Duds are thought to be the absolute worst of the bunch. They have no strong convictions, no identity, and do not care about the well-being of others. They are weak in body and spirit and often commit crimes. Becoming a Dud is a punishment from God for being born with a wicked soul. These beliefs about Duds are common among almost all cultures throughout history and are responsible for horrific discrimination, including unpunished murders across the world, extermination efforts in the Soviet Union, and forced sterilizations in the United States that only stopped in the late 1970s. 

At least, this is the folk wisdom. Several characters in this story prove these stereotypes to be completely wrong.

The first definitive work of literature on the history and culture of magical abilities in women was An Account of Magickal Powers in Girls and Young Women by Baroness Juliette Waverly, written in 1784. Baroness Waverly spent nearly a decade traveling Europe and interviewing girls and women from all walks of life in order to learn everything she could about the phenomenon of powers. This research and the resulting book garnered her a great amount of respect among Enlightenment scholars throughout the Continent and in the New World. 

There was just one problem- Juliette Waverly was a Frenchwoman who had married into British nobility, and she was not a master of the English language. Magickal Powers had many linguistic problems, most notably the word "Empathetic" being used instead of "Empathic." However, the Baroness was so influential and respected that no one within her circle dared to correct her, so the errors were printed. The book would go on to be a highly influential work even after the Baroness' death, and the language around magical abilities changed due to it. 

It is appropriate to compare this moment in history to any number of original words that Shakespeare coined which gained mainstream use and acceptance due to his influence (though in his case, this was no accident.) 

In real life, I use this word because that’s the one that appeared to me in the dream I had that inspired this story.

A woman must be able to see and quickly access her Item at all times when it is manifested. If she can't see where it is, she will feel overwhelming, intense anxiety. If a woman is more than about ten feet away from her Item (even if she can see it) for more than one hour, different things will happen depending on her power level. 

For a woman with an average power level, she will de-transform and the Item will disappear back into her soul. But for exceptionally powerful women, the Item can remain manifested indefinitely no matter the time and distance. However, the woman will not be able to transform again until she is reunited with her Item. 

Exceptionally powerful women have indestructible Items. However, the same can't be said for the average woman. If her Item is destroyed, she feels unimaginable pain all over her body. It has been described as feeling like every inch of your body being shot at the same time. Fortunately, this pain is temporary, and a new, identical item will eventually regenerate. This can take anywhere from five minutes to five weeks, and the woman will unfortunately be in inconsolable pain the whole time. 

As usual, there are exceptions. Some women's Items stay manifested indefinitely. Some women have multiple Items that work in tandem. And yet other women have Items that are specifically meant to function over long distances. Still others have permanently manifested Items that are alive and sentient and serve as familiars. 

Note that it is not a feasible battle strategy to disable an opponent by taking and/or destroying her Item. Women with Items have a deep, instinctual drive to protect them at all costs. In defending their item, they will usually experience a temporary but significant boost in power level that far exceeds their adversary. The Japanese term for this is tenki no chikara- Heaven Power. 

What happens if you try to remove a transformed Magical Girl's clothes? 

It is almost always physically impossible for another person to remove a transformed Magical Girl's clothes. When one tries to do so, it feels as if the clothing is glued on. Her clothes can be ripped and damaged during battle, but they cannot be ripped all the way off. Additionally, it is usually impossible to see up a Magical Girl's skirt. The skirt will contour around her body to prevent this from occurring. 

However, a Magical Girl is perfectly capable of removing her own magical clothes. When this occurs, the phenomena that apply to Spirit Weapons/ Magical Items are also applied to them.

Can a Magical Girl have sex while transformed?

Yes. Additionally, Magical Girls often transform accidentally while climaxing.