Otaku Witch

"Wow, it's so big."

As soon as Dorothy entered, this was her first impression of the bookstore.

This was a standard witch's shop, which looked tiny from the outside but was actually immense inside. A clever Space Extension Spell expanded the internal space nearly a hundredfold. The neatly arranged bookshelves were like a forest, especially the ones that reached up the high walls, creating the feel of a library.

No, it would be more accurate to say that this was a library masquerading as a bookstore, as the collection of books here surpassed that of any ordinary bookstore.

Although the space was large and there were quite a few customers, the overall environment was very quiet. There was no noise inside, and even when there was a conversation, customers would draw close to each other and whisper softly.

This was certainly due to the witches' innate respect for knowledge, but perhaps even more so for the awe of the wise store owner's reputation.

Dorothy liked this kind of environment. She was naturally a homebody who preferred quiet over action, and as a witch on the Path of Omniscience, being surrounded by an ocean of knowledge felt incredibly wonderful.

"Maybe I shouldn't get into real estate after all. Opening a bookstore doesn't seem too bad either," she thought to herself.

"Sister, let's go over there. The textbooks are all in that direction," said Alice softly, tugging on her sleeve and pointing towards a section on the second floor.

As a witch on the Path of Omnipotence, Alice was never too keen on reading or studying. In her opinion, all she needed was to know how to use the necessary spells, and as for the principles behind the spells, who cares, as long as they work.

Thus, Alice's interest in the bookstore was merely average, similar to the way Dorothy lacked interest in picking out clothes. The little witch wished nothing more than to head straight for her target, grab the textbooks, and leave.

She was someone who loved lively environments and didn't really enjoy the somber and oppressive atmosphere of the library.

However, Dorothy wasn't in any hurry. While Alice headed straight for their goal, she leisurely walked along, eyeing the bookshelves on both sides, looking for books that caught her interest.

"Huh..."

Her gaze swept past the shelves beside her and she stopped in her tracks. A book on the shelf had captured her attention.

The Witch Bloodline Talent Specialty Evolution Chart Detailed Explanation.

What has enabled witches to achieve their current status was largely their powerful capability of evolution. They were always able to evolve themselves based on needs. For instance, if burned by fire today, fire resistance would evolve. If nearly drowned by water the next day, they might soon grasp the ability to breathe underwater like fish.

Even if they envied birds for flying and wished they too had wings to soar through the skies, so long as this belief was strong enough, a witch might one day actually sprout a pair of avian wings.

In the early days, witches relied on this power of evolution to survive tough times and gradually grew stronger.

However, back then, the evolution of witches, if put nicely, was called learning from nature. If not so nicely, it was blind random evolution, evolving as they wished without a pattern or system. But today, this capability had been thoroughly researched by the witches and brought under their control.

This kind of cheat-like evolution ability also requires the consumption of magic power as a price, or rather, this is just one of the many manifestations of the omnipotence of magic power; however, the evolution consumed here is not just simple magic power but the upper limit of the magic power.

In the terms of common gaming parlance, this means that it's not the mana that's being burned, but the length of the mana bar.

However, the growth of the magic power limit is quite difficult, so the number of times that a witch can evolve over a period is actually limited.

Therefore, upon closer inspection, there's absolutely no need to evolve specifically for things like underwater breathing, which can be handled by a simple spell. Such low-value evolutions are a tremendous waste.

This is an unavoidable issue. In their early days, witches were limited by their horizons, and all they could learn from nature were some abilities of wild beasts, like a bear's strength, a leopard's speed, or an eagle's eyes, which had limited potential.

But now, the witches have a much broader vision. In the multiverse, every supernatural race has become a target for their learning and imitation, especially those of the old and established Three Great Calamity Races.

Angels, Demons, Great Dragons—these Calamity Races are simply the best templates for the witches' evolutionary path, and many witches are specifically evolving in the direction of these three races.

Of course, as races almost divine, these Three Great Calamity Races are not that easy to emulate. A witch seeking to evolve into one of these races from scratch would need to consume a massive amount of magic power; generally, only witches on the Path of Omnipotence can afford such consumption. This ongoing process of self-evolution is the primary way witches on the Path of Omnipotence gain strength.

Fortunately, the power of evolution isn't a one-time thing. The results of the evolution can be passed down through bloodlines, so if an ordinary witch fails to complete an evolution, they can pass the goal onto their offspring, striving generation after generation until one day they can reach that goal.

Many traditional and secluded witch families walk this path.

Generally, the evolution abilities inherited from witch parents are referred to as talents. A witch will at least inherit one talent from each parent, and witches with excellent talents may inherit multiple talents from their parents.

As for abilities that witches evolve later on by themselves, these are referred to as specialties.

Apart from the different naming, there is no real difference between talents and specialties. If anything, as talents are inherent from birth, they tend to fit the witch better, and thus their effects might be slightly stronger.

In any case, modern witches have thoroughly researched the evolutionary abilities of their own races. They have even developed dedicated evolution charts, comprehensively studying and cataloging the supernatural powers they encountered during their battles over the years with various supernatural races.

They have also categorized these powers into different levels based on their strength, from low to high: N, R, SR, SSR. Higher-level abilities are naturally more powerful, but correspondingly, evolving them requires consuming more of the magic power limit.

And the name of that book is "Witch Bloodline Talent Specialty Evolution Chart Detailed Explanation."

This knowledge is essential for witches on the Path of Omnipotence. For witches like Dorothy on the Path of Omniscience, it doesn't matter as much.

After all, witches on the Path of Omnipotence grow strong through talents and specialties with magic as just an aid, whereas witches on the Path of Omniscience rely more on knowledge and magic, with talents and specialties being secondary.

She had heard the name of the book before but had never actually looked at it. And now, having just encountered it, she seemed to sense a hint of fate guiding her, her hand involuntarily reaching out for it.

Then her hand touched another hand that had also reached out for the book. It seemed she wasn't the only one interested in it.

Dorothy immediately woke from her trance-like state and turned to look beside her.

A pure white girl had entered her sight.