"I Became a Witch, but Now Everyone's in Love with Me!"

Chapter 38: The Choice Between Omniscience and Omnipotence
 
What exactly is intermediate magic? There are spell classifications: low-level, intermediate, high-level, and forbidden. But when witches already use levels one through nine—and even legendary tier—to classify magic, why does this vague "intermediate" category still exist?

Jiang Cha found the answer the moment she opened her first intermediate-level spellbook.
Low-level magic—be it first, second, or third-level—is extremely simple in structure. ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ The spell models are straightforward, offering almost no room for variation. The caster doesn't even need to understand the spell’s meaning or how it works. All that's required is to draw the model in the air and inject it with magic power. That alone is enough to cast the spell.
Intermediate magic is another matter entirely.

If low-level magic is like solving a basic physics problem—plug in the formula, follow the steps, and get the answer even if you don’t really understand the why—then intermediate magic is more like advanced mathematics or quantum mechanics.
You must understand where the magic originates, which formulas are being used and why, and most importantly, what effect you're aiming to achieve. Only with this understanding can you refine your spellcasting for maximum clarity and efficiency.
Why is that?

Because intermediate magic interacts much more deeply with the natural laws of the world. It’s no longer just about the witch’s internal mana—it begins to draw upon external forces, weaving together the caster, the environment, and the structure of the spell itself into one resonant system.
That’s the true difference.
“Intermediate magic is so hard… Lina, how did you even manage to learn it?”

As soon as Jiang Cha set the book down, this question sprang to mind.
It was a valid point. How did Lina—a girl who couldn’t even be bothered to memorize basic runes—manage to grasp such complex magic?
“Chabao, are you looking at me with contempt right now?”

The blonde loli sprawled across the sofa, licking a popsicle with her little pink tongue—up and down, sucking and smacking—much to He Qin’s visible annoyance.
But surprisingly, He Qin didn’t explode. She only sighed in resignation.
If Lina had even a shred of common sense, she’d be trying dual cultivation right away. But alas, that wasn’t the case.

“I really don’t get all those complex patterns,” Lina admitted, “but Chabao, you’re Myrtle’s apprentice now. Can’t you guess how an omnipotent battle witch handles it?”
“…Fine.”
What does it mean to be an omnipotent battle witch?
It means not relying on intellect—just raw instinct and stubborn repetition.

These witches might be dense, sure—but they don’t need to understand the spell model. They just practice casting it thousands of times until their magic adapts to the flow and rhythm on its own.
It’s a simple, brutish method.
They let their magic work on instinct.

Compared to spell-focused casters, these all-rounder witches are more like blood sorcerers—casting magic with muscle memory rather than theory.
“Wait a second—how much mana do you even have, Jiang Cha-chan?”
He Qin suddenly realized something.

Until now, she’d assumed Jiang Cha’s fast learning was due to some inherent magical bonus. But becoming a witch means constantly struggling against infection, and mental stability is closely tied to one’s magical strength.
If Jiang Cha could pick up intermediate magic after only a few days of study, her mana must be unusually high.
Not to mention—their dorm group was secretly elite.

There were four such groups in the first-year class, but theirs was arguably the strongest.
“My magic power is around 30,000 now. It’s increased recently. Estel-chan’s around the same… What about you, Lina?”
“Just passed 40,000 two days ago~” Lina said proudly, holding up a finger and sticking out her tongue.

“And you, Chabao? Since your magic is a mystical-type innate spell, your mana shouldn’t be that high, right? Especially since it's permanently solidified…”
“The test a few days ago showed 68,430.”
Dead silence.

You could hear a pin drop in the living room.
“…How much?” Lina blinked in disbelief.
“Sixty thousand—”

“Aaahhh!! Chabao, I’m going to strangle you!!!”
Before Jiang Cha could finish, Lina lunged at her, grabbing her neck with both hands. The golden-haired loli looked genuinely murderous, and red finger marks appeared on Jiang Cha’s pale skin.
It looked… vaguely suggestive.

“Alright, alright, Lina-chan.” He Qin quickly rescued the dazed Jiang Cha from Lina’s grasp and turned toward her with a soft sigh.
“With magic power that high… have you considered walking both the omniscient and omnipotent paths?”
“It’s slower, sure, but the payoff is far greater than focusing on just one.”

In truth, omniscience and omnipotence aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re simply tendencies—focus points—for most witches. A witch on the omniscience path still trains her mana, and an omnipotent witch still studies theory.
Lina was a rare extreme case. Most witches pursued both.
He Qin herself followed a balanced approach—70% study, 20% mana training. That was a textbook omniscient ratio.

For Lina, it was the reverse. In fact, her split was more like 90% mana training and 10% study. Which meant she spent nearly all her time training, with only a little time for studying magic.
That’s why, despite Jiang Cha having 20,000 more mana than Lina, if they fought, Lina could still potentially win—because her magic cost-efficiency was so much better.
On the flip side, Jiang Cha had a vast mental library and a whole arsenal of magical items to counter Lina’s simple, brute-force approach.

The debate over omniscience versus omnipotence had been raging for more than a century—from the 21st century to the present—and still hadn’t reached a conclusion. It wasn’t about which path was superior. The only thing that mattered was how far a witch could go down her chosen path.
For reference: the First Sage practiced both paths. The Second and Third Sages had been dueling for fifty years, and the current record was 51 to 50—Second Sage in the lead by just one match.
That was the main reason no one could declare a definitive winner.

“Dual cultivation… sounds like something out of a fantasy novel.”
Even the witch world had its fiction. Lina caught the reference immediately and joked with a smile.
“Actually,” she added, “you’d be more like the second heroine than the protagonist. Super genius type~ The protagonist would have some ridiculous cheat—like a magic link to the multiverse and unlimited mana—so she’d just skip to the end of the omnipotence path.”

“…I guess I’ll try both paths,” Jiang Cha said after a long pause.
She didn’t sound confident—just resigned.
It’s not that she didn’t want to dual cultivate. But...

Her eyes wandered to the thirty-centimeter-thick “reading list.”
And her soul visibly left her body.