Chapter 977: Dorothy's Evolution Template

“Miss, your belly?”

Sophilia stared at Dorothy with an expression that said, “Who got you pregnant?”

The Zhaimonv could only sigh, patting her still swollen belly that looked as if she were seven or eight months pregnant, and explained.

“This morning I sparred with a master in the imperial kitchen—his cooking is unmatched, but the ingredients were a bit too high-grade; my current strength still struggles to digest them. I’m still figuring out what to do, otherwise this belly of mine will stick out for at least a year.”

She was genuinely troubled.

Only now did Dorothy realize how seriously Galahad had gone all out to entertain her—the unknown black dragon tail she’d been served was far more potent than she’d imagined, not only delicious but absurdly nutrient-rich.

Indeed, during breakfast at the Dragon King’s Palace, even the Dragon King’s gaze had lingered briefly on her round belly before teasing her.

“You’ve eaten something good, huh? How was the flavor?”

Hmm, anything that catches the Dragon King’s attention can’t be ordinary fare.

What could Dorothy say? She nodded, smiled politely, and gave a thumbs-up.

“Yeah, the taste was incredible.”

Then her intuition sensed the Dragon King’s mood had suddenly improved—as if someone had just scratched her exactly where it itched.

The Zhaimonv figured this must be the shared understanding of foodies—the unknown dragon meat was probably one of the Dragon King’s favorites. Gourmets are like that: praising their favorite dish works better than praising them personally; they’ll think you have refined taste, recognize you as a kindred spirit, and warm up to you instantly.

Like if someone complimented Dorothy on her favorite anime, she’d instantly think, “This fellow has great taste,” and her Haogandu would skyrocket.

Too bad, there were no fellow otaku in the witch world. The Zhaimonv hadn’t watched an anime in ages—she’d become a magic otaku, yet in this magical world, few could keep up with her.

“A year? Is it really that hard to digest?”

Nearby, Madeline looked over in surprise.

“How did you even swallow something this high-grade? You’d normally explode from overfilling.”

She made a balloon-explosion gesture.

In truth, that was exactly what happened. Though witches could boost magic growth through dietary supplements, you had to eat ingredients suited to your level—you couldn’t have a Grand Witch gnawing on a Dragon God’s flesh. That would only cause spiritual deficiency and overloading, killing her outright with the sheer magical energy.

And reportedly, the death was grotesque: the person would first swell into obesity, then undergo chaotic proliferation into a giant meatball, finally—boom.

Thinking of the fate of gluttons, the succubus witch looked at Dorothy with concern.

“Relax, relax, don’t worry—the master wouldn’t harm me. Her cooking skill has neutralized the massive magic; the only downside is it takes longer to digest. No real danger. And if I fully digest it, I’ll leap straight from the bottom to the top.”

Dorothy patted her belly, watching it jiggle, and grinned.

Seriously, you’d believe it? In just a short while, her magic had surged from 300,000 Mana to 350,000—rocket speed.

Though magic growth becomes harder the higher you go, she roughly calculated that after fully digesting the stored energy inside her, she’d surely hit 600,000 Mana, if not higher.

Damn, one tail of meat guarantees peak-witch magic. Galahad didn’t actually serve me Dragon God flesh from the Dragon Realm, did she?

Dorothy thought to herself.

Then she reached out and swatted away Alice and Audrey, who were poking her belly from either side.

These two curious little brats had had enough—she was bloated from eating, not actually pregnant. No matter how much you prod, no baby will answer you.

And Mia, ever since earlier, your gaze has been weird. Sure, the Radiant Dragon has maternal instincts, but don’t apply them to weird places.

Dorothy sighed helplessly.

Though she’d indeed stumbled upon a fortune no ordinary person could dream of, constantly carrying this swollen belly was incredibly inconvenient—especially...

“Big-mouth crow, die.”

She waved her hand, and a fireball exploded the black-winged witch spying on her from afar.

She didn’t seriously injure anyone, but she destroyed the witch’s recording spell material.

Damn it, this is backwards—the Forest Witch’s blink-recording spell was used to spy on the Witch herself? And I’m literally the founding ancestor of the Witch Daily, can’t you show some respect to your elders?

The Zhaimonv grumbled inwardly.

But she wasn’t sure if other black-winged witches were still lurking nearby—she just hoped tomorrow’s Witch Daily headline wouldn’t be something absurd like, “Shocking: Miss Returns Home Pregnant After Just Three Days in the Palace!” or “The Tyrannical Dragon King Loves Me: The Rebellious Miss’s Comeback.”

“I’ll ask Mother when I get back if she knows any way to speed up digestion.”

That was all she could hope for.

They were currently on their way back to Ye Meng’s home—after all, she’d promised Long Ma last night she’d visit today, and she was eager to see what birthday gift her mother had prepared.

Soon, the White Dragon warship arrived at Ye Meng’s floating island dock. As the hatch opened, Dorothy saw Long Ma waiting for her, as if she’d been there all along.

Indeed, Euphelia had been waiting for her daughter since early morning. But as soon as the hatch opened, Long Ma’s smile froze. Her gaze slid from her daughter’s face down to the round, swollen belly.

“Uh...”

Though she’d always hoped for a little one to play with, this was too sudden—she had zero preparation. Last night they’d parted fine; how could it have grown this big overnight?

And who did this? Everything was fine last night, then she went to the palace and came back like this... Huh...

The generational order is messed up.

For a moment, the Queen of the Ye Mends’ mind spun.

“Mother, it’s not what you think.”

Seeing Long Ma and the nearby bodyguards’ stunned expressions, Dorothy covered her face and had to explain again.

Damn it, she shouldn’t have been greedy for that one bite of roasted meat—her reputation was ruined now. Would the Dragon King blame her for tarnishing her name?

Uh, my intuition tells me I’m the one who’s actually getting the short end here. The rumors between the Three Queens have been flying for ages—who cares about this little gossip? It’s just that my already nonexistent reputation is about to become even more outrageous.

But...

“Oh, Mother, one more thing—yes, my belly is bloated from eating, but you’ve gained a granddaughter.”

The Zhaimonv remembered her adoptive daughter, Mo De, scratched her head, and told Long Ma.

Hopefully, Long Ma could still handle meeting a granddaughter who might be several years older than herself.

Euphelia: “???”

The Dragon Mother, who had just sighed in relief, immediately wore another expression of confusion.

But before she could ask, Dorothy changed the subject.

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

Dorothy asked hopefully.

Though Long Ma still had many questions, she answered her daughter’s first.

“Actually, it’s not difficult at all. The gift I planned to give you today is related to this. I was worried about your magic levels, but now you’ve arrived with a full belly of stored magic—this is perfect.”

She smiled.

“Uh...”

Dorothy looked puzzled.

Fortunately, Long Ma didn’t play riddles—she revealed the answer quickly.

“Dorothy, since you’ve become a Grand Witch, it’s time to start planning your Evolution Specialization. Your magical talent is excellent, but even the best spells need the right specialization to unleash their full power.”

“Have you decided which template you want to choose?”

Euphelia’s expression turned serious.

As a mother, she’d missed her daughter’s childhood education—but now her daughter had reached another pivotal stage in life, and she wouldn’t miss it again.

Previously, her magic was too low to matter—before becoming a Grand Witch, she had no right to even consider such things. But now that she’d crossed into the Grand Witch threshold, choosing a specialization and evolution template was urgent.

In magic spells, even as her mother, Euphelia admitted she had no authority to guide the famed Forest Witch.

But a witch’s true strength doesn’t lie in spells.

After all, how many supernatural races in the West Universe can’t use magic? It’s just basic.

Moreover, witches’ magical foundations aren’t particularly deep—this race has only existed for a few hundred thousand years, nothing compared to ancient races that span billions of years.

What truly allowed witches to rise above all other races in the West Universe and become the Fourth Catastrophe, a newly crowned Golden Race, were two unique traits.

One: primal magic that grows infinitely as long as they live.

The other: the ability to freely customize their own enhancement path through Evolution Templates.

These were the two powerful legs supporting the witch’s strength.

Euphelia admitted her daughter’s magical skill was impressive, but frankly, in her view, Dorothy had been casting spells on a blank slate—she was merely a human mage with a lot more spells, nothing more.

Many skills, yes—but their power?

Mediocre at best. Fine in low-tier battles, insufficient in high-tier ones.

To truly unleash the full potential of witch magic, a complete specialization system was mandatory.

Hearing her mother’s question, Dorothy froze, then fell into deep thought.

To be honest, she’d never seriously considered this—her magic had grown too fast; she hadn’t even noticed.

Just half a year ago, she’d been a weakling with only 10,000 Mana. Back then, how could she even think about Evolution Specializations? Those high-magic-cost things weren’t for someone like her—noobs didn’t deserve to dream.

Though she had evolved a few specializations before—like Multiple Thinking (SSR), Magic Control (SSR), and Dragon’s Remnant Body (SSR).

But honestly, those three talents either came from her transmigrator perks or innate talent—basically freebies. Now those perks were nearly exhausted; any new specialization she wanted would put her on equal footing with other witches—no more discounted deals.

Of course, now that she was a Grand Witch, she no longer needed to scrimp and scavenge for bargain deals. She had money now—especially with that massive stash of magic stored in her belly—she could finally splurge.

Money, freedom...

Nah, she couldn’t afford to be reckless.

Witch Evolution Specializations were still critically important—this wasn’t a game where you could just respec later.

Though witches did have methods to reset their specializations, they always came with massive side effects—not something to play around with.

This decision concerned her entire future—she had to be cautious.

So, which template should she choose?

Dorothy couldn’t decide.

Seeing her hesitation, Long Ma pulled out an ancient-looking book and handed it to her.

“This is the collection of Evolution Template data accumulated by the Ye Mends over generations—it’s one of the gifts I planned to give you for your birthday. If you’re unsure what to pick, look through it for inspiration.”

“Mm, thank you, Mother.”

This time, Dorothy didn’t bother with any more formalities.

Although this template was undoubtedly the ancestral secret technique of the Ye Meng Jia De clan, the most vital foundation for their lineage’s survival—even during their decline, when their wastrel ancestors had sold off starship foundries and Annihilation Armor forging arts—they would never have considered selling this template recipe.

Such a crucial artifact was clearly not to be revealed to outsiders; by principle, a House Witch who had not formally returned to her ancestral roots had no right to view this book.

But no one would dare speak up now—anyone with eyes could see this young lady was unquestionably the family’s future heir, and besides, the ancestral Ye Meng Jia De herself now rested on the girl’s neck; if the ancestor said nothing, who would dare utter a word?

After receiving the book, the House Witch quickly skimmed its recipes, then frowned.

“Uh, Mother, are you sure this is a template recipe? It looks more like a transformation spell manual to me.”

She asked, puzzled.

Long Ma laughed at this.

“What are you talking about? Transformation spells are just incantations—why would you need such exhaustive, minute records of every single talent and specialty? When have you ever seen a transformation spell this detailed?”

She asked in return.

Then she saw her daughter actually nodding.

“I’ve actually seen one like this. In fact, the only high-level transformation spell I ever learned was exactly like this—I thought all high-level transformation spells were like this.”

The House Witch recalled the only forbidden-grade dragon transformation spell she had studied—the “White Night Dragon Transformation Art.”

In this spell, created personally by Long Wang, the details were absurdly thorough, listing every single specialty of the White Night Dragon in neat order.

She had assumed this was simply the hallmark of forbidden-grade transformation spells; now, hearing Long Ma’s words, she realized she hadn’t just received a forbidden spell manual—she’d received an entire evolutionary template.

So, should she evolve toward the White Night Dragon?

...Dorothy fell into deep thought...