Chapter 9: Omniscience and Omnipotence

“Sister, where did you get so much money?”

Alice asked, startled yet curious.

“Of course it’s from years of saving—allowance, scholarships, and a bit of extra cash from writing random stuff on the Magic Web. Before I knew it, it added up.”

Dorothy shrugged. Even though her heart ached at the thought, she couldn’t show such weakness in front of her sister, so she put on a casual “Earning money? Just have hands” expression.

“Whoa, what on the Magic Web makes that much? Next time, take me with you!”

Alice glanced at her empty wallet, then at her sister’s identity card, and shed a tear of poverty.

“Take you along? Fine. First, go get your Magic Theory certification, then Magical Pharmacology, Alchemy, Advanced Enchanting Theory...”

Dorothy glanced at her sister beside her and laid out the basic thresholds for this overconfident girl.

Hehehe, my foolish little Dorothy, experience the fear of being dominated by endless certifications.

“Stop, stop, sister, spare me! Don’t keep going—I give up. I’ve had it with you all, you Full-Knowledge types. I’ll stick to my Full-Power path.”

The slacker Alice surrendered instantly, clutching her head and covering her ears, refusing to listen.

Dorothy fell silent, glancing at her sister with a tinge of envy, her heart souring.

It sounded like she wanted the Full-Knowledge path—but if not for her talent, who wouldn’t choose the simple, brute-force Full-Power path?

Just as cultivators all aim for ascension to immortality, every being in the witch world has one ultimate goal: to become a god.

This god isn’t the idol deities worshipped by cults, nor the primordial gods born from world rules—these gods are too weak in witches’ eyes, mere false deities.

The god witches pursue is more like a creator: omniscient and omnipotent, bringing all things into being with a thought, and ending worlds with a thought.

Even mighty witches have yet to reach this state, but as the universally recognized near-divine race, witches have made some progress on this path to godhood.

Omniscience and omnipotence are too hard—why not be practical? Let’s just achieve one first. That cuts the difficulty down a lot.

Following this simple, humble value system, witches evolved into today’s two dominant paths: the Full-Knowledge Path and the Full-Power Path.

The Full-Knowledge Path believes knowledge is power; witches on this path seek to master the laws governing all things through study and research, ultimately attaining omniscience.

Once the world holds no secrets for you, omnipotence naturally becomes within reach.

The Full-Power Path believes magic energy is omnipotent. As the source of spells, magic energy is the force of miracles—so long as you expend enough of it, natural laws and world rules must yield to you. Theoretically, once magic energy reaches a certain threshold, a witch attains omnipotence, making the world obey her will.

Once the world bows to you, nothing remains secret in your eyes.

Both paths ultimately converge, so there should be no hierarchy—but in reality...

Holding the nuclear launch button versus becoming a walking natural disaster—which is cooler? At the same level, Full-Power witches are slightly stronger than Full-Knowledge ones.

But then you look at the highest institution in the witch world today—the Council of Sages—and you know which faction holds power.

No choice: Full-Power witches are strong, yes, but they demand extreme talent. Top-tier practitioners are far fewer than those on the Full-Knowledge Path. Sure, you’re strong in one-on-one, but only marginally so, while the enemy’s numerical advantage is overwhelming.

Thus, the Full-Knowledge Path is truly the mainstream in today’s witch world: the true witch path is Full-Knowledge; mages must be learned, know everything, just a bit of everything.

Of course, that’s the slogan—but secretly, everyone’s jealous, dying to switch sides. Who in their right mind wants to spend their days memorizing books and losing hair in labs, if not for being utterly talentless like the others?

Dorothy is a member of the lemon squad. She, a slacker in her past life, was forced into becoming a top student—what a cruel fate, all because as a half-witch, her talent was inherently lacking.

You might think her identity card’s list of talents looks impressive, but in reality...

Okay, it’s actually pretty impressive.

But that’s not the point—those flashy talents and specializations are just decorations, side paths. The true path for a witch has always been, and will always be, one: stacking magic energy.

The only true standard for judging a witch’s talent is her magic energy aptitude.

After all, magic energy—a miraculous force—has a bizarre trait: quantity changes quality. When enough magic energy accumulates, it naturally evolves, refines, and becomes purer and stronger.

For example, the same spell: a witch with 100 mana consumes 10 mana to cast it, but a witch with 1000 mana needs only 1 mana—because their magic energy’s intensity is entirely different.

Moreover, magic energy volume affects recovery speed, spell strength, and countless other effects.

Thus, those flashy talents and specializations may seem powerful, but the true measure of a witch’s strength is ultimately her total magic energy.

And the later you go, the truer this becomes. For peak witches, even a one-mana difference in magic energy can mean a chasm in power.

Whether a witch has talent in magic energy growth is easy to judge: just look at her innate magic energy. Generally, the higher the innate magic energy, the faster her growth later on.

Alice, as a pure-blood witch, had 9888 mana at birth—just shy of the prodigious threshold of 10,000, making her a genius among geniuses, fully qualified to pursue the Full-Power Path.

Dorothy’s innate magic energy, however, was only 2333 mana—a perfectly average level, matching the latest survey’s average for half-witches: 2324 mana. In this regard, she was just an ordinary, utterly unremarkable half-witch.

Now sixteen, her magic energy has barely reached the Witch Academy’s admission standard of 10,000 mana. Alice met that threshold at half a month old—if the academy hadn’t required a minimum age of three, she could’ve enrolled at just half a month old.

Sigh. Comparing people kills you.

Dorothy sighed helplessly.

Yet while she envied, she didn’t resent—after all, as Alice had said, half-witches aren’t necessarily inferior to pure-bloods. As long as you’re a witch, your future remains bright.

One of the witch race’s traits is unlimited magic energy growth—there are no magic energy bottlenecks, no ceilings. As long as a witch lives, her magic energy grows endlessly.

Of course, growth slows dramatically over time—otherwise, in ten thousand years of witch history, not a single true god of omnipotence would have emerged.

Thus, pure-blood witches with outstanding talent are merely faster starters. They grow quickly at first, but after a thousand or ten thousand years, when all are peak witches, the gap narrows considerably.

In short, everyone has a bright future—endlessly promising.

Provided you live long enough to reach that late stage.

“Without being a peak witch, a typical witch lives about a thousand years. Not much future to speak of.”

Dorothy sighed, her heart still souring.

But soon she had no time to dwell on it—the wand shopkeeper returned.