Chapter 37: A Pain the Witch Can’t Understand

The Witch Reads Knowledge, Sharpens the Mind.

As their power grows, witches also become faster and faster at absorbing knowledge.

Right now, Jiang Cha gets a headache just trying to read an academic book, while Mottel can treat them like light reading to pass the time—that’s the gap between them.

“If you want to be my apprentice, your mind needs to be sharp. Keep working at it, little one.”

After throwing out that one-liner, the girl found herself flung out of the alchemy shop, bewildered, hugging a book list at least thirty centimeters thick.

For the journey home, she chose the most convenient (and more importantly, free) public transport.

But compared to the pay-per-distance Pegasus Carts, these so-called public shuttles were far less comfortable.

“It’s like a subway… and makes me nauseous.”

Although she no longer remembered exactly what riding a “subway” felt like, fragments of the experience still lingered in her brain.

Crowded, stuffy, noisy.

And the witches’ public transit system—something even lower-end than the academy’s commuter cars, known as subspace railcars that could only stop at fixed locations—offered a nearly identical experience.

Especially the low-end part—that was the hardest for her to accept.

The subspace rail lines these cars used were unstable. At least the academy’s commuter cars let you vaguely see the outside world, like a projection. But here, it was a chaotic hellscape of warped colors.

“Yo~ First time on public transport, Miss Rich Girl?”

Surrounded by commuting witches and their snarky comments, the overwhelming dizziness made her too nauseous to even respond.

At least there was one upside—since Aislen Academy was a top-tier witch academy, it was one of the direct stops on the circular transit line. No need to transfer.

“Ugh… I need money… I have to make money…”

The beautiful black-haired, red-eyed girl moved like a zombie, muttering her future goal under her breath.

It was just too painful.

If it were only motion sickness, she could tolerate it—but the unstable subspace tunnel was flooded with useless magical data. Her brain began auto-processing it, and within two minutes, 30 of her 34 thought circuits were overloaded.

No choice.

She had to activate her innate magic to its full capacity, entering a perfectly rational state to block out the suffering.

“Another new use for this magic… though I really wish I didn’t have to use it like this.”

The changes brought by her innate magic went far beyond the surface.

The magic of absolute rationality was no joke. Jiang Cha could truly enter a hyper-logical mental state at any moment, completely shutting out external interference.

Even in daily life, her brain maintained this rationality constantly.

To others, she looked just like a normal witch—she could cry, laugh, and even get all flirty. Fall in love with someone at first sight, even. But that was only because her brain had calculated that such emotions posed no harm.

In truth, Jiang Cha could no longer fall into panic, fear, or lovestruck stupidity. Bridge effect? Emotional manipulation? Totally useless on her.

“Wait… doesn’t this mean I’ll never find a girlfriend?!”

Emotional Jiang Cha was panicking, but Rational Jiang Cha silenced her with a single sentence:

“Do you even want a girlfriend right now?”

“…”

Think about it. Do gacha addicts not know they’re spending their food money? Do they not understand the regrets that follow?

They do. They’re just swept up in the moment.

But Jiang Cha isn’t like that. She’s like the free-to-play master who calculates every in-game event, only pulling for characters she actually wants. No bait banners or shady deals can tempt her.

And when she really needs something, she invests resources without hesitation.

That’s her current day-to-day mindset.

“Holy crap, Cha-bao, where’d you get all these magic books? Did you rob a library?!”

The blonde loli’s eyes went wide as she watched Jiang Cha pull a huge pile of books from her spatial ring.

Even her own mom wasn’t that generous!

But Jiang Cha just smiled sweetly and nodded shyly:

“Mm, I found myself a sugar mommy~”

“Where the hell did you find a sugar mommy who gives you sixty magic books in half a day?! Can you introduce me?”

“…The red-light district.”

“Pffft—!”

Lina nearly spit her cola onto the couch.

“Jiang Cha-chan, stop joking around…”

He Qin said helplessly.

She wasn’t worried Jiang Cha would be tricked. After spending a few days together, she already knew that this girl who looked innocent was actually full of tricks.

What she worried about was… Jiang Cha tricking others.

“It was Senior Mephisto who introduced me to a mentor. He Qin, you might’ve heard of her—Master Mottel.”

“Mottel Karell? Wow, now that’s a legendary witch.”

He Qin nodded and sighed in relief.

With Jiang Cha’s talent, it wasn’t surprising someone would want to take her as an apprentice. And she’d heard of Mottel before, so at least this wasn’t some shady scam.

“You’ve got great luck, Cha-bao~”

“These are Enchantment magic books—you can borrow them, He Qin. This stack is Psychic magic. Need any?”

“You sure that’s okay?”

The academy allowed them to study low-level magic freely since they paid license fees for it. But most witches who buy magic books don’t buy the rights to distribute them—just personal usage.

“These were all created by my master. She won’t mind me sharing with friends.”

“Of course, you guys can’t pass them on to anyone else, okay?”

“Obviously.”

A witch’s master-apprentice relationship might not be as intimate as lovers, but it’s almost like an adopted daughter, with even potential inheritance rights under certain conditions.

—No, not the kind of “adopted daughter” you can do stuff with! Go to the wall and reflect, you pervs!

So Jiang Cha sharing Mottel’s books wasn’t a breach of any rules. In fact, leveraging a mentor’s resources and connections to expand your own social network was practically an unspoken law in witch society.

Some witches might frown on it, but Mottel clearly didn’t mind.

“Love you, Cha-bao! But forget the books—I’m swamped already. Can I check your reading list, though? I wanna see what unique insights Master Mottel has.”

The golden-haired loli’s eyes teared up with gratitude—and then she planted a kiss on Jiang Cha’s cheek.

…Though it wasn’t clear if she was just being grateful.

“Of course. Honestly, I’m struggling with how to study all this too. Monthly progress checks and all that… It’s like I’m back in high school, with quizzes every three days and big tests every seven.”

“Senior year?”

“Don’t worry about it.”