Creation magic isn't something a first-year Little Witch should be doing.

Whether you're modifying an existing spell model or working one out from scratch, it's frighteningly difficult—and not something the girl could manage in a short time.

Even among Aislen's graduates, the witches who could create their own magic and truly integrate it into their combat systems were the best of the best—the kind who ranked in the top few of their year.

Jiang Cha had only borrowed five more books, but the knowledge and contamination levels contained in those five books were frighteningly high.

If she activated Focus Mode and sacrificed the next week of studying, the girl could finish all the basic potion-making textbooks in one night. But with these five books, even getting through five pages would be a problem.

Fortunately, developing an innate magic-construction trait was a long-term project that accompanied every Grand Witch throughout her life. Jiang Cha wasn't in any hurry.

For now, all she had to do was train her magical strength step by step and change the nature of her magic.

Most of her energy still went into the various secondary professions and magic books.

After one combat class, Jiang Cha had indeed discovered her current weakness.

Her spell library was seriously lacking.

With over sixty thousand units of magic power, as long as she improved the quality of the spells she learned, neither her offense nor her defense would really be an issue.

“So this is what a magic book is for.”

The girl flipped open the ancient parchment book, its pages filled with glowing motes of magic, and scratched her head. Another mystery solved.

She'd always wondered why textbooks for secondary professions were ordinary printed books, while magic books had to be made from materials that could store magic.

Now she understood.

In principle, a magic book was much like a spell scroll. The difference was that a spell scroll was single-use and didn't require the witch's own magic, while a magic book could be reused—but needed the witch to supply magic.

Both worked by guiding the user through constructing a spell model, allowing the magic to be reproduced.

“The principle behind the Transformation-type Might Spell is to use magic to build virtual muscles and increase output... So why not just use the principles behind a hydraulic piston?”

Building muscles was much more complicated than building a hydraulic piston. With a few tweaks to the spell model, this spell's output could jump up a whole level, while its magic consumption dropped considerably.

“Let me see... The third and eighth parts of the spell-model construction apply the fourth principle. So the outer runes mean [Simulation], the middle one is [Muscle], and the core is [Enhancement]? What does that section of runes mean?”

Of course, magic books didn't just guide spellcasting. They also contained a detailed breakdown of the spell model, along with some standard usage examples and ways to modify it yourself.

Jiang Cha wasn't breaking down the model herself just by reading the book. She was actually training her ability to analyze spell models. It was just like doing math problems—you had to practice.

Spell-model principles and rules were far more numerous than mathematical formulas, and the higher the level of the magic, the more of them it used. Without working your way up from low-level spells, you couldn't solve the problems even if you memorized every formula.

“So it's [Protection] and [Adaptation]. Wait, if I change it to a hydraulic piston...”

A classic Mentalism prompt was a step faster than conscious thought. The Research Witches' high accident rate was all thanks to this combat talent. Yes, a combat talent.

Of course, faster spellcasting was always better. So, over the course of countless wars, the Witch species evolved all kinds of odd talents. They weren't strong enough to count as traits, their effects weren't that powerful, and almost everyone had them—so they could only be called talents.

Even Jiang Cha, completely absorbed in what she was doing, couldn't escape this. The moment she realized how unreliable this 'genius' idea she'd come up with using her boobs was, the spell model was already complete, and the magic had been filled.

Spellcasting... successful!

BOOM!!!

“What, what!? Cha Bao, did you mess something up again!?”

The blonde-haired loli was the first to rush out of her room to 'check on' (and enjoy the show) her, barging in after requesting permission to open the door.

“...There was a little problem with modifying the spell model.”

The girl looked at the desk, now completely wrecked, then at her right hand. Its muscles had ruptured, its capillaries had burst completely, and blood was still seeping out. She wiped her face with her left hand.

Well, now she knew why the senior witch who'd created this spell had packed so many protective runes into it.

I mean, give an ordinary human arm the output of a hydraulic piston and even moving a finger would break a bone—and that would be getting off lightly. You couldn't control it at all. The brain's electrical signals just weren't compatible with those parts!

A Witch's body was certainly much stronger than an ordinary human's. But among a species where the average combatant could wipe a planet's surface clean, just what kind of output would a usable hydraulic transmission need...

Even Optimus Prime would be knocked to his knees by that punch!

“Pfft! Hahahahahaha!!”

The blonde-haired loli couldn't hold it in any longer. Jiang Cha's succession of crestfallen expressions was just too funny. She was a professional Witch, but even she couldn't keep a straight face.

“Honestly, Jiang Cha-chan, you need to be more careful next time.”

He Qin tapped Lina on the top of her head, exasperated, then used healing magic to reconstruct the girl's muscles.

The Witches' healing system was actually rather strange. Most healing magic belonged to Creation magic, because the essence of healing was simply to rebuild whatever had been damaged.

So the subject healing Witches were best at was, without exception, anatomy.

For example, He Qin was now reconstructing the girl's muscles and blood vessels and replenishing the blood she'd lost. It didn't need to be too precise; a Witch's self-healing ability was enough to adjust anything that wasn't quite right.

“Thanks~”

The girl didn't mind. Aside from hurting a little, this little accident wouldn't affect her much.

Oh, Jiang Cha had cut off the sensation in her right arm as soon as the accident happened. The pain she felt was heartache—she'd have to replace this desk!

Another expense...

.....

After a chaotic morning, the three girls went off to do their own things.

Lina still headed straight for the Battle Club, while He Qin went to the Automaton Club. They had better tools there than in her room, so she could make a new automaton quickly.

Jiang Cha, meanwhile, went to the Alchemy Club.

While developing [Focus Mode], she'd gotten lucky in the midst of a disaster. A whole night of overloaded studying had seared all the basics of alchemy into her brain, but she couldn't improve any further by jumping straight into intermediate alchemy.

After all, it was a practical subject. Theory alone was worse than not studying it at all.

Besides, the girl needed money.

“Hi there, miss~ I'd like to join the Alchemy Club. Is there anything I need to do?”

Without a moment's hesitation, the social menace Cha Bao headed straight for the front desk as soon as she walked in.

The Alchemy Club's hall looked much like the Battle Club's: spacious, bright, and decorated in a vintage style. Not far from the girl, they'd also set aside a space for afternoon tea, with more than a dozen solid-wood round tables. A few Witches sat scattered around, chatting and leisurely sipping tea.

'What is this, dim sum in Guangdong?'”

Jiang Cha glanced at the time and quietly made fun of it to herself. On the outside, she still looked like an adorable new student, gazing at the girl at the front desk with big, dewy eyes.

“Xingzi, the little girl is calling you. Go help her~”

After there'd been no response for a while, the girl took a closer look at the receptionist. Her head was lowered, her body trembled slightly, and her face was hard to make out; her figure was completely hidden beneath her mage's robe. Then a Witch beside her spoke in a somewhat gleeful voice.

“Don't mind her, junior. Xingzi's an extreme introvert. You can just talk to me if you need anything.”

Seeing that Xingzi probably wasn't going to manage, the Witch who'd teased her sighed and took over the job herself.

“Making an introvert work reception... The Alchemy Club seniors sure have some wild ideas~”

The girl blinked, a mischievous smile curling at the corner of her lips. Then she leaned halfway over the desk and ducked down to get a look at Xingzi's face. Purple eyes, pink hair, a very cute face—and she looked like an easy target.

The only downside was that she wasn't wearing makeup.

“Hmm, eighty-five points! With the special scenario, ninety-two! Excellent!”

“Junior, you really know your stuff~”

The Witch couldn't help chuckling. “I'm Shi Lan, a Chinese Witch, third-year.”

“Oh~ So you really are a senior.”

The girl grinned at Shi Lan's ample chest. “I'm Jiang Cha, a first-year—and a Chinese Witch too. We're from the same hometown~”

As if.

Only the dean who'd pulled Jiang Cha out of the Rift knew where she really came from. Even the dean might not know—perhaps she'd just picked her up on a whim. But odds were, Jiang Cha wasn't a native species from this world's Earth.

After all, the common knowledge in her head differed in plenty of subtle ways from this world's human history.

But they'd have to wait until the dean, who'd been missing in the Rift for years, came back to learn the truth.

“Then I should be the one to help you. You want to join the Alchemy Club, right?”

“Of course~ I heard the benefits are pretty good?”

“They are, as long as you meet the basic requirements. Fill this out first.”

Shi Lan looked at the mischievous girl, then at Xingzi, who stood beside her, frozen solid and looking terrified, who knew what she'd imagined. She sighed helplessly.

“Xingzi, when are you going to become a little more outgoing...? The Alchemy Club isn't a gathering place for shut-in introverts. Academic exchange is important too.”

“I... I'll try.”

Xingzi's voice was so quiet it was almost inaudible. Standing behind the front desk, every cell in her body seemed to be screaming, 'I want to run away.'

The girl kept snickering as she watched.

Compared with the Battle Club's casual form, the Alchemy Club's was much stricter. Just as Senior Shi Lan had said, they didn't accept Alchemists who weren't up to standard.

So what Jiang Cha got was an exam paper.

But for a top student like her, who could memorize an entire book word for word, a written exam was no challenge at all. Only the last two questions, which required her to work out an approach, made her think for a moment.

The earlier knowledge-check questions hadn't slowed her down at all.

“I'm handing it in now, Senior Xingzi~”

But when she'd finished writing, the girl glanced at Shi Lan, who was sitting in front of her, picked up the 'exam paper,' and trotted over to the introvert.

Seeing Xingzi jump in fright, wanting to run but not daring to, put her in a very good mood.

“Jiang Cha, stop teasing her. Hand it over and let me take a look.”