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

Chapter 48: Magic Development…Success!

 
Once Jiang Cha solved the conceptual bottleneck, the rest was just a matter of endless experimentation and refinement.
Nothing that could be done overnight.

Anyone who’s ever coded would understand.
Once you’ve nailed the idea, drafting the program structure is easy. But what comes next—bug fixing and optimization—is what really drains your soul.
Magic development is the same.
Now that the core principle was figured out, constructing a working model in her body was fairly straightforward using precise magical control. The challenge lay in optimizing its efficiency and resolving the chaotic magical conflicts when translating it into a stable spell model.
The first working version of Jiang Cha’s spell had roughly the same effect as her two original circuits—but with sky-high mana consumption. A clear semi-finished product: functional but far from refined.

Once fully polished, she estimated it would consume 50 to 60 mana per second and support around 40 temporary thinking circuits. Not even close to a real witch’s brain, of course—this was just a streamlined imitation.
In fact, it wasn’t even a brain.
What she had created was merely a carrier for thought circuits. Like carving inscriptions onto a single brain slice and running it on pure magic.

But magic came with a hidden advantage: multicast.
With magic, the “brain” didn’t need to be centralized. The entire body could become a thought-processing hub.
Ignoring mana cost for a moment, her model could theoretically support anywhere from 34 to over 1,000 simultaneous thought circuits—turning a witch into a bona fide humanoid computer.

Thanks to her unique magical nature, Jiang Cha’s processing power was terrifying.
Of course, that was just on paper.
In practice, the soul’s endurance was far more limited than the body’s. For any witch under the level of magical sage, the upper cap for simultaneous circuits was five. Go beyond that, and soul collapse was a real risk.

Still, five magic brains meant about 200 temporary circuits, more than double her current mental throughput.
This wasn't just a personal breakthrough—it was a major leap for the entire witch race.
“Master, do you think this is enough to win the Witch Star Medal?”
Jiang Cha finally had time to breathe. Looking up at Myrtle with shining red eyes, she even used magic to draw sparkling little hearts in them.

“That’s pathetic,” Myrtle said, deadpan.
The sly, seductive older witch didn’t flinch at Jiang Cha’s puppy-eyed performance. She just shrugged.
“You think this magic was difficult to develop?”
“Not exactly...”
Jiang Cha scratched her head. “[Overlapping Thoughts] is probably what, fifth-tier magic? Mid-level at best. Nothing the big names would struggle with.”

It was true.
Without Myrtle’s help, she might never have even found the right starting point. For all her effort, this spell still fell short of high-level magic.
Researchers can’t create beyond their level of understanding.
And she’d barely gotten here thanks to outside guidance.

“Exactly. So why do you think no one else bothered doing this?”
“Because all the big names are working on deeper, more fundamental magic…?”
Jiang Cha blinked. Suddenly, she understood.
Witches were researchers and warriors both. But their civilization wasn't currently in crisis. Sure, they were always fighting somewhere—for resources, territory, even emotional catharsis—but back home?

The Academy Islands and the City of Science were peaceful and thriving.
They were in an era of peace.
And a peaceful civilization with no urgent shortage of anything does what?
They live well, grow slowly, and pursue long-term development.

“You can forget the Witch Star Medal. Wisdom Magic isn’t even recognized academically. Even if you submitted it to a contest, no one would care.”
The Witch Star Medal was awarded to those who made great contributions to the witch race.
It was given every five years, with ten winners each round—each one a top-tier scholar or magical sage. Most had made groundbreaking advances in their fields. At minimum, they were all sages.

Jiang Cha?
Dream on. She wasn’t even close.
“Then, Master… when will our magic get official recognition?”
“Pfft. What are you even thinking? You think I’m gonna spend my own money to make that happen?”

Magic development wasn’t just time and effort—it was expensive.
Jiang Cha had already blown through nearly 10,000 gold in magic resource costs and paid paper downloads. If they wanted Wisdom Magic to be recognized, they’d have to build out a whole system—a magic tree to rival the big six: Time, Space, Fate, Creation, Destruction, and Mind.
Want Wisdom to stand beside them?

Easy. Just produce three or more Great Sages specializing in it.
Not a joke. That’s how the Path of Omniscience got Creative Magic accepted—by fielding enough top-tier scholars.
Of course, Creation had the fewest Great Sages. It was a new school of thought, after all.

“Ahahaha~ I’m not wasting money on this. That’s your business, Master~”
Jiang Cha chuckled nervously and swerved out of the conversation.
But then her eyes lit up with mischief.
“Our school’s spring break starts next week.”
“So soon?”
Myrtle looked surprised. Her sense of time had been deteriorating lately. One month felt like a day.

“Yeah, it’s weird. I didn’t even realize I’ve been awake almost three months already…”
Jiang Cha sighed.
But the difference between them was stark. Myrtle’s fading sense of time ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ came with age and the creeping stillness of an immortal’s soul.

Jiang Cha’s time blur came from the sheer intensity of her schedule.
Insomnia? What was that?
These days, she passed out the moment she put her books down.
“Alright. Then start preparing. Get your supplies and magic tools in order. We leave on your first day off.”

Myrtle didn’t like teasing people too long. She simply made the call.
“A fragmented world…”
Jiang Cha looked up at the sky and muttered.

But you couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
—Because she wasn’t thinking at all.