Chapter 38: The Choice Between Omniscience and Omnipotence

What exactly does “mid-tier magic” represent?
Low-tier, mid-tier, high-tier… forbidden spells.

Why do witches still use these vague, traditional labels when there’s already a clear tier system from Level 1 through 9, all the way up to Legendary?

It wasn’t until Jiang Cha opened her first book on mid-tier magic that she finally understood the answer.

Low-tier magic—whether it’s Level 1, 2, or 3—has simple spell models. There’s almost no room for refinement or development.

The caster doesn’t even need to understand the meaning or the underlying principles. As long as they can draw the spell model in the void and inject mana, the spell activates.

But mid-tier magic? That’s a different story.

If low-tier spells are like basic physics problems—memorize the formula, follow the steps, and even if you don’t get the theory, you can still score full marks…

Then mid-tier magic is advanced calculus, quantum physics.

You need to understand where the spell comes from, which formulas it uses, why it uses them, and most importantly—what effect you want to achieve.

Only then can you cast with clarity and precision.

Why is that?

Because once you reach mid-tier spells, the connection to the natural laws and environmental factors grows immensely.
It’s no longer just about pouring mana in. You must now draw from the rules of the world, from the environment itself.

Instead of just the witch and the spell, it becomes a harmony between environment, caster, and spell model—a triad casting system.

That’s the difference.

“Mid-tier magic is this hard? Then how the heck did you learn it, Lina?”

The question popped into Jiang Cha’s head the moment she closed the book.

Let’s be real.

Lina couldn’t even be bothered to memorize basic runes—equivalent to a student who never learned the formulas.
So how was she even solving the problems!?

“Cha-bao, that look in your eyes is dripping with judgment…”

The blonde loli lay sprawled on the sofa, licking her popsicle with her small, pink tongue—up and down, slowly in and out. He Qin watched with a dark expression.

Surprisingly, she didn’t say much—just sighed helplessly.

Sure, if she had brains, she’d go dual-path too… but she didn’t, okay!?

“I honestly don’t get what all those complex diagrams mean.
But Cha-bao, you’re the disciple of Master Mottel now.
Don’t tell me you still can’t guess how Omnipotent-path battle witches do things?”

“Fair enough.”

What’s an Omnipotent-path battle witch, you ask?

Basically, muscle over mind. No thinking—just grind.

These witches, to a fault, all rely on brute instinct.
Don’t get the spell model? No problem.
Just practice the same spell tens of thousands of times, until your mana instinctively learns the casting rhythm.

Yes—it’s exactly that crude and simple.

They let their mana move on its own.

Compared to intellectual casters, these witches are more like bloodline sorcerers—casting purely on instinct.

“By the way, Jiang Cha-chan, how much mana do you have?”
He Qin suddenly picked up on a blind spot.

Until now, she’d assumed Jiang Cha’s rapid learning came from her innate magic.
But magic learning is, at its core, about resisting mental corruption—and mental resilience is tied to mana capacity.

At the speed Jiang Cha was learning?
She’d only been studying magic for a few days and was already reading mid-tier spellbooks with ease.
Her mana pool had to be impressive.

Besides, although no one said it outright, their dorm was effectively an elite squad.

There were four such squads in the first-year class—but theirs was easily the strongest.

“My mana’s around 30,000. Seems to be growing a bit lately. Estelle-chan’s about the same. What about you, Lina-chan?”

“Broke 40,000 the other day~”

Lina raised her hand proudly, sticking out her tongue in playful boast.

“What about you, Cha-bao? You’ve got a mysterious-type innate magic. Your mana probably isn’t that high, right?
Plus yours is a permanently active spell.”

“My reading the other day was… 68,430.”

The moment those words left her mouth, the room fell into dead silence.

“How much?”

Lina blinked blankly.

“Sixty-thou—”

“AAAHHHHH!! CHA-BAO, I’M GONNA KILL YOU!!!”

Before Jiang Cha could even finish, she was tackled to the ground by Lina.

The little blonde loli grabbed her by the neck and actually used force—leaving two red handprints on Jiang Cha’s pale skin.

…It looked a little suggestive.

“Alright, alright! Lina-chan, enough!”

He Qin quickly rescued the confused girl from Lina’s claws and sighed at Jiang Cha, who still didn’t understand what she’d said wrong.

“If your mana’s that high, have you considered pursuing both the Omniscient and Omnipotent paths?”

“It’s a slower journey, but the rewards are much greater than choosing just one.”

To be honest, for most witches, choosing between Omniscience and Omnipotence is more about emphasis than exclusion.

It’s not like knowledge-focused witches neglect mana training—or that power-focused ones skip magic theory entirely.

Lina was just a rare exception.
Most witches did both, to some degree.

For example, He Qin had a clear plan:
70% of her time went to study, 20% to training. A textbook Omniscient-type witch.

Lina did the opposite—90% training, 10% study.
Which basically meant aside from her forced class time, every moment was spent on mana workouts.

That’s why, even though Jiang Cha technically had 20,000 more mana than Lina, in an actual fight, due to efficiency, Lina could spend half a bar of mana and completely drain Jiang Cha.

But the reverse was also true.
Jiang Cha’s extensive spell library and tactical toolset could easily outmaneuver Lina’s brute-force style.

Which path was stronger?
The debate between Omniscient and Omnipotent factions had raged on since the 21st century—for over a hundred years—and still no consensus.

In the end, it all came down to how far you walked down your chosen path.

Fun fact:
The First Sage mastered both paths.
The Second and Third Sages dueled for 50 years—final score: 51 to 50.
The Second Sage barely won.

That’s the real reason this debate remains unsolved to this day.

“Dual-path… Feels like something a novel’s protagonist would do~”

There were novels in the witch world too, so Lina had no trouble understanding—and she giggled as she teased.

“If anything, it’s more like a second female lead setup. Super genius, y’know~
Main characters usually have cheats—like infinite mana from some multiverse sea or whatever.
They just brute-force their way down the Omnipotent path to the finish line.”

“I’ll give it a try… I mean…”

Jiang Cha hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly made up her mind.

It’s not that she didn’t want to go dual-path. But…

She glanced at that 30-centimeter-thick reading list—and instantly got a headache.