Chapter 944

"Big Miss, what's with your belly?"

Sophie Sophie Liya looked at Dorothy with an expression that said, "Whose child are you carrying?"

The Home Witch was helpless about this; she could only explain while rubbing her big belly, which still looked like she was seven or eight months pregnant.

"I went to the Imperial Kitchen this morning to exchange culinary skills with a big shot. The big shot's craftsmanship was beyond reproach, but the ingredients were a bit too high-end. With my current strength, it's still a bit hard to digest. I'm currently pondering what to do; otherwise, this big belly of mine will probably stick out for at least a year."

She was also quite troubled.

Dorothy only now realized that Lady Galahad had really gone all out to treat her just now. The grade of the unknown black dragon tail ingredient she brought out was perhaps far higher than she had anticipated. Not only was it extremely delicious, but the nutrition was really a bit too rich.

Well, during breakfast at the Long Wang Palace earlier, even the Long Wang's gaze had lingered slightly on her round, bulging belly before she made a teasing remark.

"You ate something good, huh? How was the taste?"

Tsk tsk tsk, you tell me—can an ingredient that can catch the Long Wang's attention be anything ordinary?

To this, what else could Dorothy say? She could only nod, smile along, and give a thumbs up.

"Mhm, the taste was excellent."

And then, her intuition sensed that the Long Wang before her seemed to be in a much better mood all of a sudden, as if someone had patted the Long Wang in just the right spot.

The Home Witch felt that this must be the unspoken understanding between foodies. Perhaps that unknown dragon meat was something the Long Wang loved to eat. Gourmets are like that; praising their favorite food is more effective than praising them directly. They will feel that you have good taste, identify you as a fellow enthusiast, and consequently find you much more likable.

Well, just like if someone were to praise Dorothy's favorite anime, she would also feel that this fellow otaku had great taste, and her favorability toward that person would go way up.

It's just a pity that there are no otaku friends in the Witch World who understand her, and the Home Witch hasn't watched anime in a long time. Now she has become a "magic otaku," but in the world of magic, there really aren't many people who can keep up with her pace.

"A year? Is it that hard to digest?"

Beside her, Ma De Lin also looked over with some surprise.

"How could you eat such high-end ingredients? Normally, you'd be blown up by the bloat."

She made a gesture of a balloon exploding.

In fact, that was indeed the case. Although witches can increase their magic power growth rate through dietary supplements, one must eat ingredients appropriate to one's strength. You can't have a Grand Witch gnawing on the meat of a Dragon God; that would only result in being unable to absorb the nutrients, and the massive magic power consumed would blow you up directly.

And I've heard that that way of dying is quite ugly. The whole person first becomes fat and bloated, then proliferates disorderly into a big ball of meat, and finally... boom...

Thinking of the fate of those who were too gluttonous, the Succubus Witch looked at her with some worry.

"Relax, relax, don't worry. That big shot wouldn't harm me. Her culinary skills are excellent; she has already rendered that massive magic power harmless. Aside from needing a bit more time to digest, there's no danger. And if I can digest it completely, I'll probably go straight from being a 'tail-ender' to the strongest."

Dorothy reached out and patted her belly, looking at its bouncy elasticity, and said with a smile.

Well, would you believe that in just this short while, her magic power has already grown from the 300,000 Total Mana she had before to 350,000? This is truly rocket-like speed.

Although magic power growth becomes harder the further you go, she made a rough calculation and felt that once she completely digested the inventory in her stomach, not to mention jumping straight to 700,000 or 800,000 Total Mana, at least 600,000+ was a sure thing.

Damn, a single piece of tail meat guarantees the magic power of a Peak Witch. Lady Galahad didn't really give me the meat of a Dragon God from the Dragon Realm, did she?

Dorothy thought to herself.

Then she reached out both hands and swatted away Alice and Audrey, who were poking her belly from left and right.

These two curious babies are really enough. She's just overstuffed, not actually pregnant. No matter how much you poke, there won't be any little baby responding to you.

And Senior Senior Miya, I keep feeling like your eyes have been weird since just now. Although the Radiant Dragon does indeed have maternal instincts, don't use these maternal instincts in strange places.

Dorothy sighed helplessly.

Although she had indeed encountered a huge opportunity that ordinary people couldn't ask for, it was really inconvenient to always be sticking out a big belly, especially...

"Big-mouthed crow, go die!"

She waved her hand, and a fireball blew a Black-Winged Witch who was peeping from not far away out of the sky.

She didn't hurt her much, but she directly destroyed the other party's "Image-Recording Technique" material.

Damn it, this is truly turning the world upside down. Using the Forest Witch's "Blink Image-Recording Technique" to peep at the Witch herself? And I'm truly the ancestor of your "Witch Daily," okay? Can you show a little respect for your elders?

The Home Witch complained in her heart.

But she actually wasn't sure if there were other Black-Winged Witches lurking around. She only hoped that tomorrow's "Witch Daily" headline wouldn't be something outrageous like "Shocking: Big Miss returns to her maiden home with a big belly after only three days in the palace!" or "The Overbearing Long Wang fell in love with me: The counterattack of the arrogant Big Miss."

"I'll ask Mother if she has any good ways to speed up digestion when I get back later."

That was all she could hope for.

Well, they were currently on their way back to the Ye Meng Jia De family home. After all, she had promised Long Ma last night that she would go back to visit today, and she was also looking forward to what birthday gift Mother would have prepared for her.

Very soon, the White Dragon Battleship arrived at the floating island dock of the Ye Meng Jia De family, and as soon as the hatch opened, Dorothy saw Long Ma, who seemed to have been waiting there for a long time.

Well, Yu Fei Li Ya had indeed been waiting for her daughter to come home since early in the morning. It was just that after the battleship hatch opened, the smile that had been on Long Ma's face froze. Her gaze moved down from her daughter's face and landed on her daughter's round, bulging belly.

"Uh..."

Although she had always hoped to have a "mini-me" to play with, wasn't this a bit too sudden? She didn't have any mental preparation at all, and they were perfectly fine when they parted last night. How did it get so big after just one night?

And who did it? Everything was fine last night, and then she suddenly went into the palace and ended up like this. Hiss...

It's a mess; the seniority is all messed up.

For a moment, the Dragon Queen's brain was in a bit of chaos.

"Mother, it's not what you're imagining."

Seeing the blank expressions on Long Ma and the several guard aunts beside her, Dorothy covered her face and could only explain it again.

Damn it, she shouldn't have been greedy for that bite of roasted meat. Now her reputation is truly beyond saving. The Long Wang shouldn't blame me for ruining her reputation, right?

Uh, my intuition tells me that it seems I'm the one who's suffering. Also, the scandals between the Three Kings have long been all over the place; who cares about this little bit of gossip? It's just that my reputation, which didn't exist to begin with, is going to be even more outrageous now.

However...

"Oh, Mother, there's one more thing. Although my belly is indeed just overstuffed, you do indeed have an extra granddaughter."

The Home Witch remembered Mo De Lei De, that cheap daughter of hers, and scratched her head, saying this to Long Ma.

Well, she hoped Long Ma would still be able to hold it together when she met that granddaughter who might be a few years older than herself later.

Yu Fei Li Ya: "???"

Long Ma, who had just let out a sigh of relief, was immediately filled with question marks again.

But before she could press for details, Dorothy changed the subject.

"So, Mother, do you have any good ways to speed up digestion?"

Dorothy asked with some anticipation.

And although Long Ma still had many things she wanted to ask, she answered her daughter's question first.

"This actually isn't a difficult matter, and the gift I was going to give you today is related to this. I was originally quite worried about your magic power issue, but since you've come over with a belly full of magic power reserves, that's a good thing."

She said this with a smile.

"Uh..."

Dorothy was a bit puzzled upon hearing this.

Fortunately, Long Ma didn't act like a riddle-maker and soon announced the answer.

"Dorothy, since you are already a Grand Witch, it's time to put your 'Evolution Specialization' on the agenda. Although your talent for magic spells is very good, even the best magic spells need to be combined with specific specializations to exert their greatest power."

"Have you thought about the template you want to choose later?"

Yu Fei Li Ya's expression turned serious as she asked this.

Well, as a mother, she had been absent from her daughter's childhood education, but now that her daughter had reached another watershed in her life stage, she would not be absent again.

Her daughter's magic power had been too scarce before, so there was indeed no need to care about Evolution Specialization. Before becoming a Grand Witch, she truly didn't have the qualifications to think about such things. But since she had already stepped through the gate of the Grand Witch, the choice of specialization and evolution template had to be put on the agenda.

Well, in terms of magic spells, even as a mother, Yu Fei Li Ya felt she really didn't have the ability to guide the famous Forest Witch.

But the foundation of a Witch's strength is not magic spells.

After all, how many transcendent races in the Western Universe don't use magic? This stuff is just the basics, okay?

Moreover, the magic foundation of Witches actually isn't that deep in the Western Universe. After all, their race has only existed for a mere hundred thousand years since its birth, and it really can't compare to the foundations of those ancient races that have existed for hundreds of millions of years.

The Witch race was able to truly stand out among the major groups in the Western Universe and successfully ascend to become the Fourth Calamity and a newly promoted Golden Race by relying on two other special features.

One is the Primal Magic Power that can grow infinitely as long as they are alive.

The other is this ability to evolve and freely customize the reinforcement direction they want.

These are the two powerful legs that support the Witch's great strength.

Yu Fei Li Ya admitted that her daughter's magic level was very powerful, but to be fair, in her view, her daughter had actually been "blank-slate casting" all along. She looked like nothing more than an enhanced version of a human mage who had mastered many spells.

The number of skills is large, but as for the power of the skills...

It can only be said to be satisfactory. It's fine for low-end games, but it's not quite enough for high-end ones.

To truly exert the full power of Witch magic, the necessary talent specialization system must be built completely.

And Dorothy was stunned upon hearing her mother's inquiry, then fell into deep thought.

Come to think of it, she really hadn't thought about this problem carefully. After all, her magic power had grown a bit too fast, and she hadn't even reacted to it herself.

It was clear that just over half a year ago, she was still a "noob" with only 10,000 Total Mana. At that time, where did she have the qualifications to think about Evolution Specialization? That kind of high-magic-consumption stuff wasn't something she should be thinking about at all; noobs don't deserve it.

Although she had indeed evolved a few specializations before, such as "Multiple Thinking" (SSR), "Magic Power Control" (SSR), or "Dragon's Remnant Body" (SSR).

But how should I put it? These three talents were either taking advantage of the "transmigrator bonus" or the "talent bonus." Basically, they were all bought at "cabbage prices" or gotten for free. But now that these bonuses have been mostly used up, if she wants to evolve new specializations, she'll be on the same level as other witches, and there won't be any more good deals like "steep discounts" or "promotions."

Of course, now that she is a Grand Witch, she indeed doesn't need to be as stingy as before, only able to grab discounted goods. Now she has money, especially with such a big deposit in her stomach, so she can spend freely.

Rich, willful...

Forget it, I still can't be willful.

The Witch's talent specialization system is, after all, very important. This isn't like playing a game where you can just click on a skill tree and respec later.

Although Witches do indeed have respec methods similar to "washing points," those methods often have huge side effects and aren't things you can mess around with casually.

This kind of major event concerning the future must be considered cautiously.

So, what kind of template should I choose?

Dorothy couldn't make up her mind for a moment.

And seeing her like this, Long Ma took out an old-looking ancient book and handed it to her.

"This is the template data that the Ye Meng Jia De family has accumulated over so many years. This is also one of the birthday gifts I originally wanted to give you. If you don't know how to choose, you can take a look at this to find some inspiration."

"Mhm, thank you, Mother."

Dorothy didn't act distant or polite this time.

Although this book of template data was absolutely the secret technique of the Ye Meng Jia De clan and the most important foundation they had been able to pass down through the generations—even when they were declining before, those spendthrift ancestors had sold off even the battleship workshops and the "Ruin Armor Forging Technique"—there was absolutely no one who would have had the thought of selling this book of template formulas.

And such an important thing was clearly not to be leaked to outsiders. In principle, as long as the Home Witch hadn't formally recognized her ancestors, she wasn't qualified to read this book.

But at this time, no one would jump out to say anything. After all, anyone with eyes could see that this Big Miss was definitely the future heir of the family. Plus, the Ye Meng Jia De ancestor was currently around her neck, and since the ancestor hadn't said anything, who else would dare to gossip?

And after getting the book, the Home Witch quickly scanned the formulas in it, and then her brows furrowed.

"Uh, Mother, are you sure this is a template formula? Why does it look like a manual for 'Transformation Technique' to me?"

She asked with some doubt.

Long Ma also laughed upon hearing this.

"What are you saying, child? Transformation Technique is just a magic spell; where would you need to record the detailed data of every talent specialization in such minute detail like this? When have you ever seen such a detailed Transformation Technique?"

She asked this rhetorically.

Then, she saw her daughter actually nod.

"I actually have seen this. In fact, I've only learned one high-level Transformation Technique, and I thought all high-level Transformation Techniques were like that?"

The Home Witch remembered the only Forbidden-level "Dragon Transformation Technique" she had learned—"The White Night Dragon Transformation Technique."

This Dragon Transformation Technique, created by the Long Wang herself, was excessively detailed, listing the many specializations of the White Night Dragon in an orderly fashion.

She had truly thought that was just a feature of Forbidden-level Transformation Techniques. Now, hearing Long Ma say this, she realized that what she had obtained back then wasn't just a Forbidden-level secret manual, but a set of evolution templates.

So, should I evolve in the direction of the White Night Dragon?

... Dorothy fell into deep thought...