Otaku Witch

The duel that everyone had been looking forward to ended so abruptly and unexpectedly that it was somewhat disconcerting; the whole event had transpired incredibly fast. From the countdown's end to the match's conclusion, it hadn't even been five seconds, so when the large, translucent words "Match Over" appeared above the arena, it took a moment for everyone to process what had happened.

What the heck? What just happened? What did I even watch?

However, these three adults quickly regained their composure. A hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of Annie and Adam, who had always suspected that Dorothy was no ordinary child. After all, they had watched her grow up. But even they hadn't expected her to be this powerful.

And Euphilia was both shocked and ecstatic. The Fortune Teller from those years ago had not deceived her—her daughter's talent far exceeded her expectations.

"In addition to the core Talent of the Great Dragon, 'Dragon's Breath', this child has also inherited the talents of time and space?"

Even though she was her own flesh and blood, the Dragon Witch couldn't help but gasp in astonishment, finding the thought incredible.

After all, when did high-tier talents become so inexpensive?

The mechanism of inheritance for a witch's talent has often been jokingly referred to as the 'genetic lottery' from the womb. In fact, it indeed resembles a lottery.

The talents and specialties of both parents combine to form a vast card pool, and the child's role is to randomly draw several abilities from this pool as inherited talents.

As for the number of draws, that depends on the young witch's aptitude—the better the aptitude, the more draws they have, and vice versa.

Normally, most little witches would have about 3 to 6 draws.

This may seem plenty, but if you consider the total number of abilities in the card pool, you'd be less optimistic.

According to the latest research in the field of witch talent heredity, the pool for such inheritance appears not to be limited to the immediate generation but includes three generations.

This suggests that not only the parents' overt genes play a role but possibly also the recessive genes from both sets of grandparents, which means that the talents and specialties of grandmothers, grandfathers, and both sets of grandparents are thrown into this pool.

Therefore, when combining the talents and specialties of six adult witches, the resulting card pool becomes extremely vast, with potentially over 200 abilities.

And within these 200-plus abilities, the truly powerful talents might be scarce, amounting to just a handful.

Stronger talents and specialties require more Magic Power to evolve, after all. How could an ordinary witch have so much Magic Power to squander? They could only select a few core high-level abilities to evolve; as for the rest, they would compromise and choose whatever abilities they could, focusing on those that offer high cost-effectiveness from the mid to low tiers.

This is what leads to a heterogenous and complex vast card pool, rife with a mix of the good and the mediocre.

Using the comparison of the card pools from the popular games on the Magic Network, imagine a huge wheel divided into more than 200 segments, with fewer than 5 SSRs and fewer than 10 SRs placed in specific areas; the rest are R and N cards, and you only have 3 to 6 spins.

So, what do you think your chances are of drawing a top-tier ability?

Perhaps you might consider this card pool to be quite generous, and the odds of a payout don't seem low, but is such a premium card pool something that an ordinary witch family can offer?

SSR-level talent and specialties are not easy to cultivate. A usual Great Witch may have only one or two SSR-grade talents, which would require both parents and even the grandparents on both sides to be Great Witches for a sufficiently luxurious card pool like the one described above.

Moreover, considering the high degree of overlap between the core abilities of witch family offspring and their parents, a typical Great Witch family would likely find it difficult to provide even 5 SSRs.

Great Witches represent less than five percent of the total population in the Witch World, constituting rare, high-end talent.

Thus, the talent pool offered by a regular witch couple might not even have a single SSR, and a few SR abilities for their children to try their luck would be considered quite fortunate.

Of course, conversely, the pool offered by Peak Witch couples could be much more luxurious. But how common are Peak Witches? Not counting those ancient witches who have retired into seclusion, there are fewer than 200 Peak Witches still active in the modern world. And how many romantic couples can there be among these less than 200 Peak Witches?

Just as a mountain cannot harbor two tigers, there are many friends or arch-enemies among the Peak Witches, but romantic relationships are much rarer.

Or is someone going to force Peak Witches to mate like animals? That would be a death wish, wouldn't it?

Therefore, if a typical little witch is fortunate enough to inherit one or two SR talents, she is already a one-in-a-hundred genius. And if she's lucky enough to inherit an SSR talent, she is a once-in-a-thousand prodigy, let alone having SSR talent paired with several SR talents—she would be the envy of others and branded a 'Monster'.

As for two or even more SSR talents? That's just beyond human—worthy of being recorded in the annals of witch talent history.

Euphilia was a prodigy, born with 10 talents. She drew 10 times: 1 SSR, 4 SRs, and 5 Rs, and with her innate mana value over ten thousand, her birth shook the Dragon Kingdom. She became the focus of much attention, and everyone in her family unreservedly saw her as their hope for restoring their legacy.

She took on the Clan Leader position as soon as she came of age, and not a single foolish individual dared to voice any dissent.

If she has great talent, then she can do as she pleases.

But now, her daughter surpassed her, nearly confirmed to have not just one, but two SSR talents, and not just any SSRs, but the strongest among them, which was simply outrageous.

This left Euphilia unable to contain her excitement and ecstasy.

No way, she couldn't let her daughter waste her talent any longer. Although the girl's mana aptitude was average, it wasn't a big issue, since apart from natural growth, mana could also be boosted by spending money.

A typical witch family might not be able to afford the cost, but the Dragon Witch was not short on cash. Euphilia had built up the family fortune over many years, and if there was one thing they had plenty of, it was money. Just shower Dorothy with a constant supply of heavenly and earth-shattering treasures, and her daughter's weak mana issue would soon be resolved.

Even though this method of spending money to speed up progress was only feasible in the early stages and treasures that could affect witches of the Great Witch level and beyond were scarce and priceless, it was enough. She planned to spend until Dorothy reached the Great Witch rank and go from there.

It was as if she could already see her daughter shining brightly, commanding respect as the Mother Dragon. At this moment, Euphilia felt an extraordinary surge in her spirit. She wished she could immediately take her daughter home and begin an intensive nourishing training routine.

Only...

How was she supposed to deal with the promise she had just made to her daughter about granting her freedom if she defeated Sophia? She couldn't possibly go back on her word; their mother-daughter relationship was already not the closest, and reneging now could very well lead to her daughter severing ties with her.

Euphilia was caught in a dilemma.

Tsk, all because of that disgraceful disciple who couldn't keep up. Sophia, with 29w mana, being defeated by a newbie with just 1w mana? How embarrassing. After returning, you'd better double your training efforts for the next year.

On the other side, Adam and Annie naturally noticed the terrifying talent that Dorothy possessed. After exchanging a glance, Annie tiptoed and soothingly patted her husband's back.

"Stop dreaming. We can't afford to raise this child, and neither can you. Let's leave her to her real mother. Only the Peak Witch can provide her with the best educational environment and sufficient resources for her growth."

The petite Vampire Sorceress conveyed such a belief, and Adam sighed, conceding to this reality.

Therefore, in the spectator seats, all three adults fell into a mysterious silence, while the less-experienced Alice, who had not noticed anything amiss, started cheering once she regained her senses.

Although she did not understand what had happened, it seemed her sister had won, and that was enough for her.

"Woohoo, sister is awesome, yyds."

The little witch joyously shouted the words she had learned from her sister.

........

But the fact that the match had ended so quickly was not just surprising for the audience. In truth, even the duelists themselves had not yet recovered.

On the field, Dorothy looked around suspiciously, wondering if she had fallen under an Illusion Technique, but that didn't make sense. Angels weren't known for illusion talents, and she wasn't a Succubus or Foxfolk.

Could it be that she had actually won?

That seemed even less likely. The feeling just wasn't right. This didn't feel like fighting an Angel Witch with 29w mana; rather, it felt like a new witch with about 1w mana, similar to her.

So what was going on?

She cautiously surveyed her surroundings, not daring to let down her guard, even treating the message about the end of the match above her head as an illusion intended to deceive her.

She was about to exhaust the last bit of her mana to cast a spell to break the illusion.

......

Meanwhile, Sophia, the Angel Witch who had been teleported back to the rest area and was unharmed once again, was deep in thought.

Who am I? Where am I? What have I done?