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

Chapter 51: The Magical Witch World
 
The world of witches was truly... magical.

Their civilization constantly wavered between sci-fi and fantasy, shattering Jiang Cha’s once-materialistic worldview over and over again.
And not just once or twice.
Every time she felt like she had finally grasped the rules of this strange world—after madly absorbing knowledge and memorizing common sense—something new would suddenly show up, slap her in the face with a loud smack, and tell her:

"You think you understand witch civilization? Not even close."
From the automatic book-copying machine to the bionic pegasus carriage, from alchemical nipple patches to high-tech cities—her worldview had been smashed again and again. By now, she'd completely given up resisting.
Take this morning, for example.

She knew something was off the moment Myrtle, sunglasses on, rolled up in a sleek black luxury car and casually told her to get in.
I mean, really? Were they going to find a world fragment in a building fifty meters down the road? Impossible.
A world fragment wasn't some compact, glass marble-shaped planet bead that operated smoothly in miniature. It was part of a dying world, chaotic and dangerous.

Then Myrtle simply drove the car straight up—into the sky.
Yes, up a cross-sea bridge that sloped toward the heavens. And not just any bridge: this one was so transparent it was practically invisible, lit only by a soft magical glow guiding them forward.
It was completely unnecessary, totally ridiculous, and unmistakably witch-like.

Wasteful. Impractical. Fun.
Well, they already had sightseeing bionic carriages—why not a transparent sky bridge over the ocean? Just because they could.
Then Myrtle floored it, and with a nitrogen-fueled boost, blasted out of the atmosphere.

Jiang Cha: "...."
"Oh, that?" Myrtle said, as if they weren't breaking every law of physics, casually adjusting her sunglasses. "It's a neural interface. You control the car with your thoughts. You'll understand once you study higher-level alchemy."
Jiang Cha opened her mouth to argue—how could this thing drift through space?! There's no road!—but gave up halfway. Honestly, with witches, anything was possible.
Maybe it used vector nozzles to simulate steering. Or maybe it created temporary, invisible roads with magic. Either way, it wasn't even the most unbelievable thing she'd seen.

So she stopped complaining.
Myrtle had only explained the steering mechanism because Jiang Cha could figure out the rest on her own. Explaining more would just be a waste of time.
"Cool, right?" Myrtle grinned. "Let me tell you, Jiang Cha, this car's my shop’s flagship model. It sells like hotcakes."

"Haha… yeah. Very cool."
Sure, driving through space and drifting around meteor swarms looked awesome.
But Jiang Cha wasn't in the mood to appreciate the aesthetics. She was too busy picking up the shattered remains of her worldview off the metaphorical floor.

Although the space car was undeniably cool—and after Myrtle’s extensive modifications, could even hit sixty light-years per hour—it still wasn’t enough.
Their destination was tens of thousands of light-years from Earth.
A transfer was unavoidable.

They soon arrived at a space station—or rather, what could only be described as a witch-style floating island.
Smaller than the City of Technology, this spaceport resembled a massive ship floating in orbit. A literal island in space.
"Get out~" Myrtle chimed.

"Where are we?"
Having already seen the floating techno-city, Jiang Cha wasn't too impressed by the floating island. She blinked, curious but calm.
"Moscow Space Station," Myrtle said casually. "Because of the Witch Space Development Treaty, we're not allowed to build massive stations in Earth’s solar system. Gotta protect the homeworld’s environment, so we transit here and register."

Point-to-point teleportation—like the kind used to connect the City of Technology with Witch Island—was brutally expensive. Even witches hesitated to use it except at major nodes.
And even then, it only worked for small objects. Larger lifeforms couldn’t pass through.
This place, however, had a supermassive space gate currently servicing a starship 100,000 meters long and 20,000 meters wide.

Yes. A starship.
"How is it? Pretty good, right?" Myrtle said proudly. "As your master, I don’t ask for much. Just gift me a Guardian-class starship someday, and I’ll be satisfied."
"Master… is it still nighttime in your head?"

Jiang Cha stared at her with deadpan eyes. A Guardian-class starship was the witches’ elite combat cruiser. One shot could level a galaxy, two could snap off an entire spiral arm. It was on a completely different scale from the cargo ship in front of them.
Cost-wise? Well…
Even if the top-ranked witch, Myrtle herself, worked nonstop for 500 years, she probably still couldn't afford one.

Jiang Cha had never even considered the possibility.
"And Master," she added, "don’t you think you should aim higher? You're a grandmaster in every auxiliary profession. Why not just build one yourself?"
"You little brat," Myrtle scowled, "You want me arrested by the Inquisition so you can inherit my assets, don’t you?"

"I’m not taking over your brothel debts, okay?"
"...."
Civilian ships were one thing. Even if modified into battlecraft, it was technically just an infraction—fines, warnings, maybe confiscation.

But military starship tech? That was a whole different league.
Even if someone could build one from scratch, the design itself was classified. Only the Council of Sages had approval authority. And in this age of peace, they’d become incredibly strict.
Most of the fleet was still using outdated war-era models.

And the Guardian-class? The very latest version. Just producing one illegally would net you a much harsher sentence. Probably a few extra centuries in prison.
With Myrtle’s skill, she'd likely be slapped with 500 years of forced magical labor.
"Tsk. You /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ rascal," Myrtle muttered, half amused.

She didn’t take Jiang Cha’s mockery personally.
She was just killing time in line while their travel approval came through. If she really cared that much, she wouldn’t be Myrtle.
In fact, she quite liked this dynamic with her apprentice.

Jiang Cha wasn’t just unusually gifted and magically compatible—her personality made every day interesting. Myrtle’s colleagues were insanely jealous.
Especially Armand, poor guy, who ended up with a socially anxious apprentice who only communicated through text.
What a miserable life.

"Keep working hard," Myrtle said suddenly.
"Huh?"
"Hurry up and become a great witch and develop some wisdom magic. Otherwise, we’ll have to keep waiting in line for magic gas rations~ and won’t even be able to afford the fast-pass."

"Excuse me, Master, you are the one who eats dirt. I have passive income from my IP rights, remember?"
"..."