Chapter 34

This duel, which everyone had eagerly anticipated, ended so unexpectedly that no one reacted in time—the entire event unfolded too swiftly; from the final countdown to the match’s conclusion, less than five seconds had passed, and when the massive, illusory text “MATCH OVER” appeared above the arena, everyone was momentarily stunned.

What the hell was that? What just happened? What did I even watch?

But these three adults quickly recovered—Annie and Adam both flashed a hint of surprise; they had always suspected Dorothy was extraordinary, having watched her grow up, yet even they hadn’t imagined she was this powerful.

Euphelia, however, was stunned and ecstatic—the fortune-teller from years ago hadn’t lied to her after all; her daughter’s talent far exceeded her expectations.

“Could it be that, besides the Dragon’s Core Talent—Dragon’s Breath—this child also possesses talents in time and space?”

Even though this was her own biological daughter, the Dragon Witch couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath, finding it almost unbelievable.

When did high-tier talents become so common?

The witch's talent inheritance mechanism has long been jokingly called a lottery in the womb—and in truth, it really is a lottery.

All the talents and specialties of both parents are pooled into a vast ability reservoir, and the child simply draws randomly from this pool to inherit several abilities as their innate talents.

The number of draws depends on the child’s innate quality—the higher the quality, the more draws; the lower, the fewer.

Normally, most young witches get around three to six draws.

That might sound like a lot, but when you consider the total number of abilities in the pool, it becomes heartbreaking.

According to the latest research in witch talent genetics, the talent pool isn’t just a second-generation pool—it’s a third-generation pool, potentially involving not only the parents but also their recessive genes, meaning the grandparents’ talents and specialties must also be thrown into the pool.

Thus, the combined pool of six adult witches’ talents and specialties becomes enormous, possibly exceeding two hundred abilities.

Yet among these two hundred-plus abilities, truly powerful talents are few—only a handful.

After all, the stronger the talent or specialty, the more mana it requires to evolve; ordinary witches don’t have enough mana to waste, so they can only evolve a few core high-tier abilities and settle for mediocre mid- and low-tier ones.

This creates a wildly uneven, chaotic pool.

Thus, comparing it to today’s popular mana-network gacha games, it’s like a giant wheel divided into over two hundred sections, with fewer than five SSRs, fewer than ten SRs, and the rest all Rs and Ns—and you only get three to six spins.

So, how likely are you to pull an S-tier ability?

You might think this pool is generous, with decent drop rates—but can an ordinary witch family even provide such a pool?

SSR-level talents and specialties aren’t easily accumulated; a normal great witch typically possesses only one or two SSR-ranked talents, and only if both parents—and even their own parents—are great witches might you barely assemble a pool like the one above.

Moreover, considering the high overlap between a witch child’s core abilities and her parents’, most great witch families likely can’t even muster five SSRs.

Yet across the entire witch world, great witches number less than five percent of the total population—they’re elite, rare talents.

Thus, ordinary witch couples might not have a single SSR in their pool; if they can offer a few SRs for their child to gamble on, that’s already lucky.

Conversely, peak witch couples could provide a far more luxurious pool—but how common are peak witches? Excluding retired ancient witches, fewer than two hundred active peak witches exist worldwide, and among these two hundred, how many couples could possibly form?

As the saying goes, one mountain cannot hold two tigers; among peak witches, friendships and rivalries abound, but romantic partnerships are exceedingly rare.

Could someone force peak witches to breed like animals? That would be asking for death faster than you can blink.

In summary, if an ordinary young witch luckily inherits one or two SR talents, she’s already a top-one-in-a-hundred prodigy; if she inherits even one SSR, she’s an unparalleled genius—one-in-ten-thousand; if she’s even luckier and gets an SSR plus several SRs, others will envy her and call her a monster.

What about two or more SSRs? That’s already beyond human—she’d be enshrined in the annals of witch talent history.

Euphelia herself was a monster—born with ten innate talents, she drew ten times: one SSR, four SRs, five Rs, plus her innate mana exceeding ten thousand; from birth, she shook the Dragon Kingdom, basking in global attention, and her family unanimously saw her as the hope of restoring their lineage—so much so that, upon reaching adulthood, she directly assumed the position of clan leader without a single soul daring to object.

Exceptional talent means you can do whatever you want.

But now, her daughter was even better—this was almost certainly two SSR talents, both among the strongest in the SSR tier, and this was absurd.

No wonder Euphelia couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with excitement and joy.

No, she couldn’t let this child waste her talent—even if the child’s mana quality was mediocre, that wasn’t a problem; mana could be accelerated with investment.

Ordinary witch families might not afford it, but the Dragon Witch had no shortage of gold; after years of development, her family had little else, but plenty of money—if she fed Dorothy nothing but heavenly treasures and earthly essences, her low-mana issue would be swiftly resolved.

Even if such investment only worked in the early stages—rare artifacts capable of aiding great witches and above were nearly impossible to find, priced beyond market value—it was enough; first, get her to great witch level.

As if already seeing her daughter shining brilliantly, dominating the age, the Dragon Mom’s spirit surged with energy—she now longed to drag her daughter home and begin intensive nourishment and training immediately.

But…

She’d just promised her daughter freedom if she defeated Sophilia—how could she go back on her word? Their relationship was already fragile; if she broke this promise, the girl might sever their mother-daughter bond entirely.

Euphelia was torn.

Ugh, blame this disgraceful disciple—290,000 mana, defeated by a newbie with 10,000? Sophilia, are you ashamed? When you return, your training will be doubled for a full year.

On the other side, Adam and Annie had also recognized the terrifying nature of Dorothy’s talent; they exchanged glances, and Annie tiptoed to pat her husband’s back reassuringly.

“Don’t think about it—neither you nor I can raise this child. Give her to her real mother; only a peak witch can provide the best education and sufficient growth resources.”

The petite vampire witch voiced this conviction, and Adam sighed, silently accepting the truth.

Thus, in the audience seats, the three adults fell into an odd silence—only Alice, lacking experience and having understood nothing, finally snapped out of her daze and began cheering.

Though she had no idea what had happened, it looked like her sister had won—and that was enough.

“Wuhu! Sister, so cool, yyds.”

The young witch cheered wildly, using phrases she’d learned from her sister.

But such a swift conclusion stunned not just the spectators—indeed, even the duelists themselves hadn’t yet recovered.

In the arena, Dorothy stared suspiciously around, wondering if she’d been ensnared by an illusion—but that made no sense; she’d never heard of angels possessing illusion talents; she wasn’t a succubus or a fox-person.

Could it be… she’d actually won?

That was even less possible—this felt wrong. This wasn’t fighting a 290,000-mana angel witch; the sensation was as fragile as a newbie with only 10,000 mana.

So what the hell just happened?

She cautiously scanned her surroundings, utterly wary—even the “MATCH OVER” text above her head she suspected was an illusion meant to deceive her.

She was draining her last sliver of mana, preparing a spell to break the illusion.

On the other side, Sophilia, the angel witch, had already been teleported back to the resting room, restored to perfect condition—and now she too was lost in thought.

Who am I? Where am I? What did I just do?