Chapter 8: A Witch’s New Reality

“Pajamas, what are those?”

Turning to look, Bai Yu saw Lu Xingyao holding out a white dress for her.

“What is this? I’m not wearing a dress!”

Bai Yu quickly retreated two steps, utterly unable to accept wearing a skirt.

This was her absolute bottom line.

“What dress? This is a nightgown. How will you sleep if you don’t wear it? Naked?”

“Well, aren’t there still undergarments?”

Bai Yu attempted to argue, but Lu Xingyao gave her no chance to resist, pulling her over directly.

In a single swift motion, she slipped the white dress onto Bai Yu.

With that, Bai Yu found herself unable to struggle further, able only to gaze with disdain at the garment on her body, and thus, she conceded.

“Ah, ah, ah, Xiao Yu is just too adorable!”

Gazing at Bai Yu’s disgruntled expression, Lu Xingyao found herself utterly unable to control her hands, which began to gently knead that cute little face.

“Come here, let’s snuggle.”

Lu Xingyao pressed her own face close, savoring the girl’s warm body.

“Xingyao, don’t lean so close, it’s really hot.”

Bai Yu, unsure of what else to do, could only allow herself to be indulged by Lu Xingyao.

“Alright then, Xiao Yu, will you sleep with me?”

“Sleep together? That’s absolutely out of the question!”

‘A lone man and a lone woman,’ no, ‘a lone woman and a lone woman.’ Although Bai Yu had transformed into this, if she were to gaze upon Lu Xingyao’s beautiful sleeping face, she couldn’t guarantee she could control the stirrings within her heart.

At least for now, sleeping together was definitely impossible; she wouldn’t get a wink of sleep all night.

“Alright, alright, look how scared you are. I’ve already prepared a room for you, so don’t worry.”

Lu Xingyao had merely been teasing Bai Yu; after all, Bai Yu hadn’t fully adapted yet, and while Lu Xingyao wouldn’t mind, she still needed to consider Bai Yu’s feelings.

At the same time, she wanted to see Bai Yu’s reaction, for every time she witnessed that adorable, bewildered expression, Lu Xingyao couldn’t help but want to draw closer.

Leading Bai Yu to the room, it was then that Bai Yu finally had a moment to ponder her current situation.

“Sigh.”

Sitting on the bed, Bai Yu sighed deeply; everything today had unfolded too rapidly, leaving her, someone unaccustomed to such a fast pace, feeling utterly disoriented.

[You’ve done well. Tomorrow, go to that academy, but do not reveal my existence.]

The voice in her mind suddenly echoed, startling her.

“What was that? You scared me to death!”

Bai Yu puffed out her cheeks, looking quite indignant.

[Heh, it seems the witch transformation ritual was a success. You are a born witch.]

“What witch or no witch? Who exactly are you?”

Bai Yu felt a surge of displeasure; this woman had been directing her to do this and that from the very beginning, and it truly annoyed her!

[Who am I? Hmph, do you know about the last epoch?]

The woman’s voice seemed imbued with a certain magic, piercing through Bai Yu’s heartstrings, each word reverberating within her consciousness.

“The last epoch? Do you mean the last century?”

Bai Yu was a little bewildered, utterly ignorant of anything mystical, knowing only the most basic history.

[No, it was a time much, much further back, before humanity was even born. That was the most prosperous era.]

The woman’s voice seemed to be reminiscing, recalling the grandeur and turbulence of that age.

However, Bai Yu understood none of it, having never witnessed such things herself.

“Before humanity was born?”

This question directly struck a blind spot in Bai Yu’s knowledge, completely overturning the theory of evolution in her mind.

It seemed she still knew far too little.

[Never mind, you will understand everything one day. For now, you only need to know that it was an era of myriad races, and humanity was merely one of the weaker ones. It was only after a drastic shift in the world’s order that humans successfully preserved their spark, allowing them to endure until today.]

“What?”

Bai Yu’s worldview was profoundly shaken; there were other races?

[Witches were one of those races that perished, and I am the last witch, the Witch of Terminus.]

[My purpose is to perpetuate the legacy of witches, to ensure this race survives. That is why, before my death, I sealed my soul within that book.]

“So you just turned me into a witch?”

Bai Yu instantly grew displeased. So, for the sake of her race’s legacy, she was arbitrarily victimized, was she?

[No, I did not turn you into a witch; rather, you were destined to become one.]

The woman’s voice was unhurried, giving no impression of deceit.

[The method of succession for witches differs from other races. Since there are no males among witches, the only way to perpetuate the lineage is by transforming females of other races.]

“Then why did I change? I was a man!”

[That is precisely what makes you special. You are different; you are a born witch. I have never encountered a being capable of adapting to this legacy so perfectly.]

….

Bai Yu fell silent, feeling utterly unable to communicate with this woman.

“So, there’s really no way for me to change back?”

[I stake my soul on it: absolutely none.]

“6.”

Bai Yu was truly convinced now, and simply stopped caring. If she couldn’t change back, then so be it; after all, this appearance was quite pleasing.

It was just a shame about her ‘little brother’; she probably wouldn’t be able to have descendants either, as she couldn’t possibly be interested in men.

[Not so. The witch race inherently detests males, and thus can reproduce through same-s*x means.]

“That’s possible? Well, that’s rather interesting.”

Bai Yu was somewhat surprised, yet even so, she harbored no desire for descendants. She hadn’t even experienced romance, and she could barely support herself, let alone raise children.

‘Thinking too much,’ she mused.

Lying on the bed, she then addressed the Witch of Terminus in her mind.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

Though this entire situation was undeniably the witch’s fault, Bai Yu also felt a pang of pity for her, reduced to just a soul with her race extinct; she decided to consider it an act of charity.

[Moweila.]

The woman’s tone remained steady.

“Moweila, huh? That’s a rather nice name. But since you said the witch race has vanished, what about those ‘witch spiritual cores’ that Xingyao mentioned today?”

This had been a persistent point of confusion for Bai Yu, who sensed a significant divergence between Moweila’s era and the current system of mystical powers.

[Those are merely part of this era’s power system. They might be projections of space-time that formed those spiritual cores, but they are fundamentally different from a true witch like you.]

“Uh, I don’t understand. By the way, why do I have two spiritual cores?”

She had observed her own spiritual cores today: one was [Eternal Night] and the other [Constellations]. They were enigmatic, and she couldn’t fathom how to use them.

[Constellations is the spiritual core you were originally meant to awaken, while Eternal Night is the one you awakened upon becoming a witch. However, you can now use both.]

“I can use both? Doesn’t that make me super powerful? Others have one, but I have two!”

Bai Yu instantly perked up; this was something she understood. With such an advantage, becoming a girl didn’t seem quite so unacceptable after all.

[Indeed, but having two spiritual cores will also double the difficulty of advancement. You may need to maintain both spiritual cores at ranks no more than one tier apart, otherwise, there could be danger.]

“Got it, got it. That’s much better.”

Bai Yu breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that her ‘little brother’ hadn’t been lost in vain, and only then did she comfortably drift off to sleep.