"I Became a Witch, but Now Everyone's in Love with Me!"

Chapter 25: Variant Development [Focus Mode]
 

"Be more careful next time."
As the girls emerged from the third-tier area again, Instructor Vladimir passed by and offered a quiet word of warning.
"Got it~ I’ll be more careful next time!"
Lina replied with a grin.

The other two quickly lowered their heads and dragged the golden-haired loli away before anything else could be said.
They weren’t the first team to finish. Not only had they spent over an hour farming for materials in the third-tier area, but with just three people forming a pair, they weren’t exactly the strongest team in the class.
Aislyn Witch Academy had no shortage of talented students. Even for gifted witches like Lina and He Qin, it was hard to make a significant impact in such a short time—let alone for Jiang Cha, who had only enrolled three days ago.

"This one’s yours, Jiang-chan. And this is Lina-chan’s portion."
Back at the dorm, He Qin divided the collected materials into three equal shares before dinner.
"It’s too bad we can’t do this again."
She looked a little disappointed.

Witch gold had incredible purchasing power. If she didn’t need to buy magical materials and only wanted to live modestly, a hundred gold would last more than a year.
Which also made it clear just how expensive tuition at Aislyn really was.
A full three thousand witch gold per year.
"Don’t worry too much. There are other ways to make money."
He Qin offered a reassuring smile.

Lina, meanwhile, munched on an apple and looked puzzled.
"So that’s why you’re all so happy? It’s just a hundred gold..."
"I get paid a thousand just for tagging along on a Bo Qiu Feng mission. Wanna come with me next time, Cha Bao? Secondary professions are a money sink early on. Battle witches earn way faster."
Even as a first-year, Lina’s combat skills made her popular with upperclassman teams. She was already known in the battle club, and seniors were happy to help her out.

The thousand-gold reward was generous, but Jiang Cha shook her head helplessly.
"My gear’s nowhere near yours. I’d just drag everyone down."
Magical equipment made a huge difference. Lina had a full set of high-tier custom gear—crafted by a master to suit her combat style—and worth over a million witch gold. The flaming greatsword staff was just one piece of it.

With all that, Lina’s full combat power could rival even fourth- or fifth-year students.
She just didn’t usually show it—otherwise, she could have wiped out the entire third-tier area solo.
"I could lend you some? Rent’s just 100 gold."
"No thanks~"
That was just how witches were. Even if they'd been close friends for a hundred years, they’d still keep financial matters clear. Favors were rare, and prices were usually fair.

To be honest, Lina’s offer was already very generous. After expenses, Jiang Cha could probably still earn 500 gold, but she didn’t want to owe anyone—not Lina, and not the seniors helping out.
She knew exactly where her priorities lay.
Studying came first. With enough knowledge, she could earn witch gold crafting magical items.

Just like the master who made Lina’s set—he’d earned millions from that commission alone.
"Anyway! Don’t forget we’ve got a training match tomorrow!"
"Yeah, yeah~"

Jiang Cha waved her hand and headed to her room without looking back.
…
The core knowledge for most secondary professions was no joke. Even the basics were dense and time-consuming. Not even Jiang Cha could absorb it all quickly.

She figured it would take her three days just to finish reading the book Basic Alchemy. Her progress bar had only reached one-third so far.
And that didn’t even include the practice time afterward.
Resource costs were also a bottomless pit. That’s why joining a club was essential—it gave you monthly quotas, discounts on materials, and access to stable supply chains, which saved a ton of time.

He Qin was already part of the Puppet Club. She’d been the one to explain all this.
“The next brain evolution should be soon... maybe I’ll stay up late just a bit more?”
Muttering to herself while flipping through the pages, Jiang Cha felt the urge creeping in.

Once the thought took hold, she couldn’t shake it off.
She also wanted to experiment with a new way of using her inherent magic.
A faint blue glow appeared around her.

[Information Collection. Full Power] was originally a combat-oriented technique—helping her gather information while enhancing awareness, coordination, and spell precision.
Now, she wanted to try shifting the focus entirely toward knowledge acquisition.
She wasn’t sure if it would work.

"In theory, it's the same spell, just redirected... It should be fine, right?"
It still involved channeling mana into her inherent magic to maximize spell efficiency—a form of extreme casting.
Normally, inherent magic could be strengthened this way. In Full Power mode, it was built for combat—but now she wanted to adapt it for learning.

It was all a matter of focus and trade-offs.
And then—
“Hey! Cha Bao! Did you forget you were supposed to go out today?!”

Lina?
Her muddled mind barely registered the knocking at first. After a moment, she cut off the magic flow, and her thoughts slowly cleared.
Her internal clock was still accurate.

9:22 a.m.
"What the hell!!!"
The moment clarity returned, her head throbbed with pain. All 34 of her inherent thinking circuits and 54 temporary ones were pushed to near-collapse. Her mental energy was almost completely drained—barely a sliver remained. Even her mana was nearly empty, down to just a few thousand units from over 60,000.

"What the hell is this?!"
Her body control had weakened too, from the heavy magical overload. If her brain hadn’t just completed its eighth evolution, she’d probably have passed out completely.
“Cha Bao?”

Lina’s voice sounded a little worried.
She was sure Jiang Cha hadn’t left the dorm, and even for a witch, sleeping through that much knocking was strange…
“Cha Bao, are you in trouble?!”

She opened her communicator: “Requesting emergency unlock.”
“Authorization approved. Please notify a college instructor in case of emergency.”
The mechanical voice from the academy’s magical mainframe confirmed Lina’s request.

Emergency unlock was only granted when the room’s owner was incapacitated. That confirmed her suspicions.
“Something really ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) happened?! Qin Bao! Qin Bao, come quick!”
She wasn’t exactly concerned—more like excited to see something chaotic happening.

If it had been life-threatening, the academy’s mainframe would’ve called for emergency response already.
"Morning..."
He Qin arrived groggily, clearly having stayed up too. Her usual neat bun was missing—understandable, since it was a Friday night.

“Jiang-chan, you overdid it, didn’t you? Lost mobility from mental overload?”
She squinted toward the door with tired concern.
That was called entering the “infected” state—something usually seen in lunatics or overzealous witches.

It meant someone had absorbed too much information too quickly, and their brain had forcibly shut down to prevent collapse. Some shady seniors even used this state to prank or mess with first-years—though usually with mutual consent.
“Hehehe, I wonder what Cha Bao was doing all night. Her mental coefficient actually hit infection level? Gotta take a picture and save this for blackmail~ If she ever tries to attack me again, I’m uploading this to the magic net.”
“Lina-chan, you really…”

He Qin didn’t want to get involved. She yawned, turned to leave, and added, “Don’t make too much noise. Esther’s probably still sleeping. Oh, and come down for breakfast…”
Before she finished, she spotted a white-haired girl in teddy bear pajamas sleeping peacefully on the sofa. Sighing, she gently picked her up—despite being the same size as Lina, their personalities were worlds apart—and carried her back to her room.
Meanwhile, Lina pushed open Jiang Cha’s door with a mischievous grin.

Only to find Jiang Cha glaring at her with bloodshot eyes.
She nearly jumped in fright.
“Cha...Cha Bao? Uh...Mother Qin says it’s time for breakfast!”

Witches had sharp hearing. If Jiang Cha had been awake earlier, she would’ve heard everything from a floor above—even He Qin had heard Lina tattling.
"Don’t call her Mom!"
"...I’ll rest a bit longer. You two go eat first."

Jiang Cha, still recovering from the overload, couldn’t even muster the energy to argue. She just gave a blank stare and spoke flatly.
"Okay, I’m leaving! Don’t forget the Battle Club later! Teacher Carol hates being stood up!"
"...Got it."

Let’s call this state that nearly fried her brain Focus Mode.
The risk was enormous.
She felt no fatigue, no danger, could bypass self-preservation—perfect for studying. She had, in fact, finished all the low-level alchemy material in a single night.

But if she wasn't careful, it could lead to brain death. Definitely needed revision.
She already had a few ideas:
Cut off the magic supply regularly.
Pre-set the study pace.
Reduce total mana input.

Any one of those would’ve prevented what happened. Easy enough to implement.
After all, Focus Mode was really just a specialized variant of her inherent spell, [Information Collection].
“Let’s apply all three methods. Gotta save magic and brainpower for daytime.”

“Next up—Potions. I need something for mental recovery…”
Eyes red from exhaustion, Jiang Cha clutched her head, pouted, and collapsed at the desk, whispering softly through tears.