Chapter 17: Fire-Stoking Master

Purchasing the textbooks went smoothly; not long after, Dorothy proudly carried her spellbook to the front counter to pay with her card.

Beside her, Alice sulked with a gloomy face, while the blue-haired young lady Isabella beamed with triumph.

During the book-buying process, Isabella, the top student, completely overwhelmed Alice, the slacker, with her expert opinions; the golden-haired little witch had now suffered a complete mental collapse and could not recover.

After paying, the group left the bookstore directly; outside, Dorothy glanced back at the shop’s sign, slightly disappointed she hadn’t seen the owner—the retired sage.

But it wasn’t a big deal; her disappointment was merely like a tourist missing a landmark due to bad weather. Dorothy quickly shook it off and prepared to complete the final step of her shopping mission.

Magical components.

Wizards always need to consume spiritual materials to cast spells, which is why most wizards are rich or noble, and the poor are unfit to be spellcasters—each spell requires a certain amount of spiritual material, and such materials are never cheap; this isn’t casting magic, it’s burning money.

For example, the famous Gem Magic requires various high-purity gems as components; the higher the purity, the stronger the spell’s power. Thus, a gem mage might burn through an astronomical sum in a single battle—without deep pockets, studying Gem Magic is sheer waste, and the young lady might soon be forced to manage household finances.

Of course, the necessity of components applies only to ordinary wizards of other races; their magic is too scarce and impure, so they rely on consuming spiritual materials to compensate for their insufficient magical reserves.

But for witches, the high-quality magic flowing in their veins is an all-powerful force—whether or not they use components doesn’t affect their spellcasting at all. Still, spiritual materials can significantly reduce magical expenditure during casting, and some rare materials can markedly enhance the power of corresponding spells.

Therefore, if conditions allow, buying more high-spirituality components is one way witches grow stronger—spending money really does make you stronger.

But for Dorothy, who was determined to save money for a house, spending was out of the question; free magic was free magic—why not use it? It wasn’t a non-renewable resource anyway; her mana regenerated quickly after use.

Only armed witches on the battlefield, always ready for combat, bothered to conserve mana, fearing they’d run out before the next fight—but Dorothy never fought on the front lines; she preferred to spend more mana than waste spiritual components.

That didn’t mean Dorothy was ignorant of components; on the contrary, she was an expert—because in real life, she hesitated to use them, but online, she didn’t care at all. In the Magic Net, components were just data—practically free—so she was always extravagant in her online spellcasting.

In reality, she was timid and broke; online, she unleashed heavy punches and spent like water—the epitome of a high-quality witch Zhainv .

“Sister Dorothy, I’ve studied magical components a bit—I’ll help you pick some later. I guarantee I’ll choose the best, most spiritually potent ones.”

Isabella confidently volunteered.

“Mm-hmm, thank you so much, little Bella. I don’t understand any of this—you know so much. If Alice were only as studious as you.”

Dorothy nodded like a complete novice, giving the blue-haired young lady ample face.

Then she glanced sideways at her sister, whose face had darkened to the point of radiating murderous intent, and a pleased smile curled at her lips.

Hehe... if she remembered correctly, the witch-specific component market was usually on the top floor, and right next door was the arena. To reach the market, they’d have to pass the arena first.

It was a classic design—just like how a convenience store always opens near a school gate. The arena hosted countless witch or other-race duels daily, and fighters needed components to reduce mana consumption, creating constant demand.

Sure enough, after taking the mana elevator (Mana Elevator?) to the mall’s top floor, the first thing they saw was the massive arena dominating most of the level, surrounded by numerous component shops.

The arena clearly had spatial expansion spells cast on it; from outside, the densely packed, shrunken spectators looked like tiny inhabitants of Lilliput, and the combat in the center was hard to see without magical vision enhancement—luckily, a giant screen above the arena broadcasted the fights in real time.

From the roaring cheers of the crowd, it was clear how popular arena duels were in this world.

What could you expect? This was a witch world—a race of Quanminshangwu , fiercely martial people.

The arena’s status here was like a cinema in Dorothy’s past life... hmm, no, even more so—it was everywhere.

A classic witch couple’s date routine was dinner, then watching a few duels; sometimes, if the mood struck, they’d jump into the arena themselves—and if the fight got passionate, they might spend a wonderful night together.

Besides that, dueling tournaments were held constantly—College Cup, Sage Cup, World Cup—all drew massive crowds and explosive popularity, even spawning professional dueling witches, akin to celebrities in Dorothy’s past life.

In short, in this world, dueling was a universally loved sport.

You could duel for any reason—happy? Duel to celebrate. Sad? Duel to vent. Had a grudge? Duel to settle it. If that didn’t work? Duel again.

Though this sounds exaggerated, it was true: unless it was a mortal feud, nearly every conflict could be settled by duel—even mortal feuds had Death Duels.

Now that they’d come to the arena...

“Isabella, it’s time for a fight to the death. I’ve endured you long enough.”

Alice, who had been simmering with rage all the way, finally snapped the moment she saw the arena. She yanked a pair of white gloves from her pocket and hurled them at Isabella.

The blue-haired young lady wasn’t intimidated.

“Fine, let’s fight—who’s afraid of whom? Go book me a room.”

She ordered her two attendant witches behind her.

Dorothy: “........”

The sneaky witch’s lips, hidden beneath her scarf, curled upward.

Yay, let’s get this show on the road. Time to watch the drama.