Otaku Witch

The "Miss Phantom of the Opera" in the puppet show section of the Magic Network is currently the most popular, with only a million fans, barely qualifying as a mini-internet celebrity. And to be honest, those fans aren't paying attention to Miss because of the puppet shows; they're simply captivated by the allure of her beautiful voice.

Yeah, don't ask how Dorothy knows, because she's also smitten.

She's the die-hard fan of Miss Phantom, the very first follower. When she was doing market research, she happened to come across Miss's newly started live stream, and if Dorothy hadn't been checking each room, she probably wouldn't have found that obscure live stream among the myriad of others on the Magic Network.

But to be honest, the puppet shows that Miss Phantom livestreams are truly boring. The puppets are hard to look at, stiff and lifeless, and the stories they act out are the same old clichés meant for children's fairy tales—it would be a miracle if they became popular.

Initially, Dorothy intended to skip it after a glance, but then, there's no helping it—Miss started speaking just as she was about to exit, right?

Yes, really, it's not just about whether Miss Phantom's voice sounds nice or not; it's that indescribable kind.

At first listen, her voice resembles that of an Angel, pure and moving, making one feel as if they've ascended to heaven, calming the mind without realizing it.

But upon closer reflection, it's as if the Angel is actually a Demon in disguise; beneath that purity lies endless seduction and enchantment, clawing at your heart and becoming addictive, filling your head with Miss's voice as you fall asleep, making you restless if you go a day without hearing it.

Unfortunately, Dorothy has a Mental attribute of S, meaning her resistance is too high to fully experience what being enchanted by Miss's voice feels like.

Nonetheless, it didn't stop her from hitting the follow button right there and then, becoming Miss Phantom's first fan, and later on using her various Magic Network alts to smoothly promote her, causing Miss to gain a million fans overnight.

Well, it can be said that a good number of Miss's nearly a million fans were brought in by her; this little internet celebrity is someone Dorothy cultivated from the ground up.

Every time Dorothy thinks about this, there's a peculiar sense of pride in her heart, like that of an old father.

But this also indirectly reflects how lousy the puppet show market is; even with a voice as beautiful as Miss's, she still can't draw a big audience. Really, if Miss Phantom gave up her lackluster puppet shows and went next door to the music section to sing, she could easily amass a billion fans in minutes.

In short, Dorothy's original plan to become a circus supplier was not feasible, and just then, she discovered the major in automatic mechanical civil engineering on the Magic Network, with a simple and straightforward description in the course overview: constructing houses with Puppetry Skills.

This immediately thrilled the Homebody Witch, who proclaimed it was the major she had always dreamed of.

After all, though she's known as the National Father-in-Law, are those she molds daughters? They're actually her "wives." If not for the love she poured into those beautiful girls, how could her figurines be so full of Life Force and so delicately crafted that they seemed almost alive?

But in her past life, it was a necessity; after all, one needs to eat, right? As a homebody guy, working a job wasn't an option, and she didn't know how to do business, so she could only barely get by with her craft of hand-molding figures.

But this life, she's surely not going to starve to death, so why impose such a restriction on herself? She could totally strive to prosper alongside her "wives."

Right, who said that aside from doting on and admiring your beautiful wives, you can't also fight the dust with them?

A real couple should share both sweet times and hardships. Rather than having a bunch of puppets that can only be admired as home decorations, she'd rather work alongside her wives to support the family.

So, let's go work on construction together, my Puppet wives.

It was with this belief that Dorothy resolutely applied for this major.

Right, a family should be neatly together, don't you think?

Just thinking of walking behind a group of Puppets who are irresistibly charming but strong enough to wow anyone, Dorothy felt a surge of excitement.

That's what a good wife Puppet should be like—pleasing to the eye, capable of contributing to the household, and ready to protect you in danger. After all, imagine having a girlfriend with the arm strength of a heavy crane; doesn't it just scream security?

So, Teacher, let's cut the chatter and teach me how to make a Puppet as lifelike as your incarnation here. That's the whole reason I came.

The Homebody Witch stared eagerly at the Spider Teacher who was playing coy, feeling quite anxious inside.

Too bad she's in a hurry, but Spider Teacher isn't anymore; Noelle Rose simply nodded in response to Dorothy's answer and then turned to look at Audrey beside her.

Yeah, she finally remembered that this was indeed her own niece.

Unfortunately, giving her niece an opportunity proved to be futile.

"I agree with my senior sister."

Without her second aunt's influence, Little Fox stated her firm support for her senior sister's opinion, as if her Little Puppet replied similarly, short of adding "me too."

Spider Teacher: "..."

Tsk, my little niece is a lost cause. How can she lack even a sliver of her own thoughts? Indeed, disciples are better.

At that moment, Noelle Rose revealed a smile and began explaining to her precious disciple.

"Dorothy, your thought is both correct and incorrect. Although I originally planned to teach outsiders the puppetry technique for commanding Puppets to build houses that you spoke of, as my personal disciple, you naturally can't learn just those kinds of superficial tricks. I will pass down my unique, secret technique to you."

"So, to reveal the answer, the so-called automaton civil engineering doesn't need separation at all but combines both aspects. The final product is both an automated Mechanical Puppet and a civil engineering structure."

"The Puppet is the building, and the building is the Puppet. This is my Puppetry Technique, which I call the Fortress Puppetry Technique."

After stating this with pride, Spider Teacher's desire to show off also surged. She immediately began to reveal her own creation.

"Hm, let me open your eyes. For instance, this courtyard you're in now, do you think it's a building? Wrong. In fact, it's my Puppet, and the external courtyard is merely a disguise. Her true form is like this."

Spider Teacher took out a small courtyard model from beside her and snapped her fingers; instantly, the model began to move, countless gears began to roll and transform, and what was once a cottage turned into a huge iron spider Puppet on the spot.

"See that? This is the moving fortress form. How cool is that? Who said buildings have to be fixed in place? I just love the feeling of my home moving along wherever I go," said the true homebody, Spider Teacher, with pride.

Dorothy: "....."

Ah, this isn't quite what I had in mind.

The homebody witch's eyes widened as she looked at the shrunken form of the steel spider fortress, feeling like she had been thoroughly deceived.

Spider Teacher, how could you scam me like that? I'm going to report you for bait and switch.

Boo-hoo-hoo, I really just wanted some dog meat, and there goes my dream of a beautiful doll construction crew.

But thinking about it, based solely on strength and technical content, what Spider Teacher is selling isn't dog meat; it's Dragon Meat.

Her architectural concept, in a nutshell, is that you're already a fully-developed house, and you should learn to build yourself."

Isn't that just using the technique of refining intelligent puppets to construct buildings? Stay tuned with empire

Tsk, that's a truly bold and ingenious idea. After all, the battle Puppets of general Puppet Masters are limited by size, and no matter how many weapons they're equipped with, the power is just so-so. But your creation, Teacher—

Dorothy couldn't help but think of her homebody, invincible teacher discussing Puppetry Skills with others. Others would boast about how powerful their Puppets were and then ask about her teacher's Puppet. Her teacher would calmly reply, "You're already on top of my Puppet," and amidst earth-shaking tumult, a giant moving fortress would suddenly appear...

Friggin' A, so that's how you earned the title of the moving Calamity fortress.

Dorothy's feelings were mixed at the moment.

Now, looking at the spider fortress model before her, everything seemed to darken before her eyes.

Damn it, who would play with this? This thing is a lot more expensive than my doll wife, and a fortress, can I even afford that?

..... The homebody witch is in poverty...