Chapter 41: Product Upgrade

Before heading out, the girl made sure to drink a double dose of magic potion.

Not because she wanted to pull something crazy with Lina—but simply because today was going to be busy.

A month had passed, and it was time for her master to assess her progress. On top of that, she planned to use this outing to take a few entry-level certification exams for her side professions.

Professional certifications didn’t offer any rewards per se. They were more like a necessary nuisance—useful but bothersome. Passing them just meant you were officially allowed to sell certain tiered products under your name.

—Of course, there were tons of street vendors without licenses, but having a certificate did help build customer trust.

Well, mostly it kept customers from ruthlessly haggling your prices down.

Not that Jiang Cha had time to set up a stall and make money anyway.

She was only going to take the exams because she was already heading out. Might as well.

“Ugh, I’ve got dueling club again tomorrow… There’s really less and less time now. I should ask Master today if there’s a faster way to develop thinking circuits.”

Mental strength determined how quickly one could absorb knowledge, while thinking circuits dictated how well one could understand it.

Both were essential. And increasing your thinking circuits also boosted your data calculation and battle casting abilities—a highly efficient form of early-stage training.

—Much more worthwhile than simply increasing mana strength.

“Oh hey, Jiang Cha, you’re here? Great, help me watch the shop for a bit—I’m gonna go drag my mom back.”

Over the past month, Jiang Cha had been coming to Mortel’s shop on weekends to ask questions and get guidance. As a result, she’d become quite familiar with Mortel’s daughter, Molly.

So much so that as soon as Molly saw her, she didn’t even wait for Jiang Cha to say hi—just threw the shop keys at her and dashed off, clearly on her way to the red-light district to retrieve her mom again.

“Actually…”

Actually, Jiang Cha was in no rush.

Today was one of her “light days” according to her study schedule—a rare break.

But before she could finish speaking, Molly had already leapt onto her broom, teleported, and vanished.

She was probably already in the red-light district by now.

With no choice, Jiang Cha sighed and stood behind the front desk, hoping no customers showed up—she had no idea how to run a shop, much less what this shop even sold.

But unfortunately—or maybe thanks to Murphy’s Law—as soon as that thought crossed her mind, a customer walked in.

“Excuse me… is this Mortel’s Alchemy Workshop?”

“That’s right. How can I help you? The owner isn’t in at the moment, but you can tell me what you need and I’ll pass it along.”

“Or if you’d prefer to wait, she should be back in about half an hour.”

Jiang Cha gave her most professional customer-service smile and spoke politely.

“Ah, um, I won’t wait then. Here’s a request form—please take a look.”

The witch who entered looked a little shy—but not the socially anxious kind.

Kind of like a newbie buying their first R18 doujin at a comic con… Wait—Master, don’t tell me this shop actually sells that kind of stuff…?

Jiang Cha took the request form and glanced at it—mostly out of curiosity. She had no intention of fulfilling the order herself. Mortel was a high-tier in every side profession, and even Molly was a senior alchemist. The commissions they accepted weren’t something a total newbie like Jiang Cha—who hadn’t even passed her cert exam—could hope to handle.

And then, right there on the first line of the form, she saw the product name:

“Device of Love’s Connection”

Jiang Cha: “…”

“Got it. You can come pick it up this afternoon. Pricing will be standard market rate.”

…She was really going to have a long conversation with her pervy master about royalty fees.

Because this thing? This “product” was a gift she’d given her master just two weeks ago.
And now—less than a month later—her master had upgraded the formula and shamelessly turned it into one of the store’s featured products.

Yes, upgraded the formula.

After the customer left, Jiang Cha took a closer look at the request form and realized that many of the features listed weren’t even within her current skill level. The materials and techniques involved were all clearly high-tier alchemy.

It was on par with one of those legendary joke products—like the “Mystery Egg” made by a certain infamous alchemy master. Totally absurd, but technically brilliant.

“Stop staring at it—you’re not ready for that order.”

Mortel had just returned and saw Jiang Cha’s conflicted, constipated expression. One look at the form in her hand and she instantly understood. Waving her hand smugly, she chuckled proudly.

“So? Built-in humidifier and warmer, adjustable micro-shock function, and it can even spray hot slime that doubles as a nutrient! Genius design, right?”

“All I can say is… you really live up to your reputation as the woman who’s stormed the red-light district seven times and walked away unscathed.”

“It’s utterly shameless!”
Molly chimed in with an annoyed glare, snatching the form out of her mom’s hands.

“I’m warning you—do not show this stuff to little Jiang Cha! Don’t even let her look at it!”

“You’re already a lost cause, but don’t drag her down with you! She’s not even 18 yet!”

“Wait a sec—”

Mortel’s smug face instantly collapsed into a grimace, trying to explain herself, but Molly wasn’t having any of it. She took the form and stormed into the back room where the alchemy lab was.

“I swear, it was just a product upgrade!”

Mortel muttered weakly, then looked over at her sly little apprentice, who was now grinning like a mischievous fox.

“You really had her fooled, didn’t you?”

“Well, I’m not like you, Master.”

“What do you mean not like me?”

Mortel was genuinely confused. How was it that this little green-tea fox could charm everyone—her daughter, her niece—they were all wrapped around Jiang Cha’s finger.

But the girl simply shrugged and sighed dramatically.

“I’m not old enough to enter the red-light district. They won’t even let me in.”

Mortel: “…..”

So what, now she was the bad guy for giving handouts to underdressed little witches in need?

Let’s be clear: in witch society, some things were perfectly legal.

So technically, Mortel’s behavior—while definitely on the wild side—wasn’t exactly unacceptable.

“Alright, alright. Let’s talk business then… Jiang Cha, you’ve chosen to dual-path the Way of Versatility, right? How’s that working out?”

Mortel waved off the topic. Her reputation was beyond saving at this point, so why stress over it? Time to lean into the chaos.

“To be honest, I haven’t felt much of a change. Maybe it’s still too early, or maybe I’m doing something wrong. Do you have any advice?”

“Advice? Not really. You’re on the right path—Versatility just takes time to accumulate. It’s normal not to see much effect in the short term.”

“But…”

“That’s not to say there aren’t shortcuts.”