Chapter Summaries

Jiang Han returned to the Seeker's camp vehicle after riding sand panthers and learned that a rare Zero Gleam Dragon might inhabit the folded space. She and Qin Shunying considered the dragon's potential wealth and a business opportunity in yellow watermelon juice, before Jiang Han began documenting gold-associated ores.

• Jiang Han bought yellow watermelon juice, but the Cat Lamp drank it before she could taste it and glowed yellow.
• Qin Shunying told Jiang Han that Wu Yaoxin had reported sightings of a possible Zero Gleam Dragon, whose hoard could contain millions in magical materials.
• Jiang Han and Qin Shunying discussed the dragon's value but noted that they lacked reliable information about it.
• Cui Yiqi tasted the yellow watermelon juice, and Qin Shunying proposed collecting seeds to cultivate the fruit and sell its juice at the bar.
• Qin Shunying asked Jiang Han to identify and record the properties of gold-associated ores for the Witch House testing department.

Jiang Han finished identifying and recording the associated ores for Qin Shunying, then joined Qin Shunying and Cui Yiqi in a pillow fight. The chapter ended with Jiang Han pinning Qin Shunying down and striking her with a pillow.

• Jiang Han used a crystal lens to identify associated ores, recorded their compositions, and labeled them for Qin Shunying.
• Jiang Han calculated the materials needed for smelting and thought about studying Sharon Curie's alchemy and puppetcraft.
• Jiang Han delivered the finished records and ore basket to Qin Shunying and joked with her and Cui Yiqi.
• Jiang Han used Mage Hand to smack Cui Yiqi with a pillow, and the women began a pillow fight.
• Cui Yiqi knocked Qin Shunying to the floor, but Jiang Han's Mage Hand beat Cui Yiqi with pillows before Jiang Han pinned Qin Shunying and attacked her.

Jiang Han, Qin Shunying, and Cui Yiqi cleaned up after their chaotic pillow fight, then organized the expedition’s gold and supplies. As the group prepared to return with their haul, Jiang Han reflected on the witches’ gold-based economy and her transformation into a witch.

• Jiang Han and Qin Shunying woke amid feathers and wreckage, while Qin Shunying found bite marks on her hand and Jiang Han secretly touched her sharp teeth.
• Jiang Han considered changes to her combat gear, and Qin Shunying offered to hire a tailor to modify it.
• Jiang Han and Cui Yiqi unloaded supplies from the Seeker and sorted the gold and minerals into other camp vehicles.
• Qin Shunying explained that they would refine the gold into standard 400-ounce Witch Gold Bars to store and use for purchases.
• Jiang Han compared the witch world's gold-backed currency with the money in her previous life and reflected on adapting to being a witch.

Jiang Han studied for her A2 alchemy exam at the Drunken Dead Mother Elephant tea-and-wine lounge, where she met a destitute girl she recognized from the park. After inviting the girl to eat, Jiang Han listened as she admitted she needed help.

• Jiang Han claimed her reserved booth from Xuexin and ordered coffee, egg tarts, cake, and octopus Bobo ham sausage.
• Jiang Han studied at the lounge through the afternoon as she prepared to register for the A2 alchemy exam before the New Year.
• Jiang Han recognized a destitute woman who entered the lounge from a meeting in the All-Things Trade Street park a month earlier.
• Jiang Han invited the woman to sit and ordered her pork chop rice, offering to help her.
• The woman accepted the meal and quietly told Jiang Han that she needed help.

Jiang Han learned that the destitute girl, Liang Cuoyu, had been accidentally transformed into a witch and had lost her identity documents. She decided to help Liang Cuoyu recover her status and find a place to stay.

• Jiang Han offered Liang Cuoyu help with reporting a lost ID or finding shelter, and Liang Cuoyu revealed that she was a witch without A1 certification.
• Liang Cuoyu said her ID could not be used and explained that she had accidentally fallen into a Witch's transformation pool, losing her identity and wealth.
• Jiang Han asked whether Liang Cuoyu had family who could help verify her identity, and Liang Cuoyu said her father had died and she had never met her mother.
• Jiang Han decided to help Liang Cuoyu with her complicated registration and offered to take her to bathe, find clothes, and arrange temporary lodging with her family.

Jiang Han brought Liang Cuoyu to District D and introduced her to Chen Ligu’s witch agency, impressing the newcomer with its polished appearance. Chen Ligu greeted them and asked whether Jiang Han had brought her business, while the author’s closing note announced plans for a new novel with a female protagonist.

• Jiang Han took the anxious Liang Cuoyu up District D’s aerial escalator and eased her nerves by explaining the society she had formed with her friends.
• Jiang Han showed Liang Cuoyu the Past Telephone Booth and hurried her past its advertisements, including one featuring Jiang Han.
• Jiang Han brought Liang Cuoyu to the office building where Chen Ligu’s agency operated and recalled how the Wings members had furnished the office cheaply.
• Liang Cuoyu admired the agency’s impressive corridor and official-looking signs, which made her trust Jiang Han and the organization.
• Chen Ligu came out dressed in black and asked Jiang Han whether she had brought her any business.

Jiang Han brought Liang Cuoyu to Chen Ligu, who agreed to help the undocumented, untrained young witch find a solution. While Chen Ligu took Liang Cuoyu to bathe and change, Jiang Han read the annotated alchemy book she had brought along.

• Jiang Han introduced Liang Cuoyu to Chen Ligu, who handled witch affairs and offered services such as intelligence liaison and document processing.
• Jiang Han explained Liang Cuoyu's difficult circumstances, including her lack of identification and witch certification, her father's death, and her lack of magical training.
• Chen Ligu agreed to help and took Liang Cuoyu to bathe and change into spare pajamas from Jiang Han.
• Jiang Han stayed in the reception room, ate a biscuit, and read Vanishing Matter—A Brief History of Alchemy, laughing at the famous witches' arguments in its annotations.

Jiang Han and Chen Ligu arranged a way for Liang Cuoyu to obtain legal witch documents, schooling, and a place to stay. Jiang Han then detected that Liang Cuoyu had unusually high magic power that was still increasing.

• Chen Ligu said Liang Cuoyu had secrets, and Jiang Han proposed helping her obtain a witch certificate, legal identity, and work.
• Chen Ligu explained a loophole that would let Liang Cuoyu enroll in a weekly witch school and use the school records to apply for a qualification certificate.
• Jiang Han offered Liang Cuoyu a free guest room and said her younger sister could help provide identification.
• Chen Ligu arranged the paperwork for 50,000 yuan in interest-free installments and sought subsidies, tuition coverage, and meal allowances for Liang Cuoyu.
• Jiang Han scanned Liang Cuoyu and discovered that her magic power was around 3,000 to 3,100 and was slowly increasing.

Jiang Han brought Liang Cuoyu home and arranged for her to stay with the family while she recovered her identity documents. Jiang Zhenling warned Jiang Han to be cautious about her new friend, then offered her a possible magazine modeling job for a publication issued by the Southern Province police department.

• Jiang Han took Liang Cuoyu home by Griffin Carriage and introduced her to Jiang Zhenling as a friend who needed identity and residence documents.
• Jiang Zhenling welcomed Liang Cuoyu and asked Jiang Han to prepare the guest room for her stay.
• Jiang Zhenling cautioned Jiang Han about trusting someone she had known for less than eight hours, and Jiang Han said they shared a similar illness and pity.
• Jiang Zhenling asked how to arrange magazine photos, and Jiang Han directed her to contact Chen Ligu about the work.
• Jiang Zhenling offered Jiang Han a modeling opportunity for a new magazine called Deduction, published by the Provincial Capital and Territorial Waters Police Department of the Southern Province.

Jiang Han arrived at the South City Police Department to model for a magazine shoot commissioned by Major Crimes Unit 7. As preparations began, she learned that makeup artist Yan Yunfei was actually a police forensic examiner.

• A detective brought Jiang Han to the Police Department, where Chief Song Kexin and her staff joked around and struggled to maintain a formal reception.
• Jiang Han steered the meeting back to work and confirmed she could begin the magazine shoot.
• Song Kexin explained that Unit 7 wanted professional photos featuring sponsored SWAT equipment and a G-v2 armored airship.
• Jiang Han met makeup artist Yan Yunfei, who explained the magazine's Gothic styling and introduced herself as a forensic examiner.

Jiang Han took part in a police magazine photo shoot outfitted with heavy protective gear and weapons, while the police team’s unusual methods left her bewildered. After a day of staged gunfire, equipment tests, and safety notices, she glimpsed reports of witch-related crimes and escaped monsters, suggesting the world remained dangerous.

• Police forensic examiner Yan Yunfei did Jiang Han’s makeup, making her look younger while discussing the shortage of Witch forensic specialists.
• Jiang Han found a heavily armored hazmat suit instead of a police uniform, put it on, and recognized that its runes gave it powerful but mostly sealed abilities.
• At the shoot, photographer and negotiator Zheng Xiu prompted Jiang Han to fire a loaded rifle, and police officers rushed in after Zheng Xiu gave the signal.
• Jiang Han’s shoot included testing several weapons, a grenade, a police airship, and emergency kits before she posed with safety notices.
• Jiang Han saw Cheng Jiemei writing about witch fraud, illegal conversion experiments, and a bank robbery, then finished the shoot.

Jiang Han repaid Li Li the money she had borrowed and went out to lunch with her, where they discussed the expensive alchemy textbook and research documents Li Li had bought. The chapter left them enjoying a seafood meal and fishing together at Fish Delight.

• Jiang Han paid Li Li the 6,000 yuan she had borrowed, plus 100 yuan in interest, and the two teased each other about her credit.
• Li Li invited Jiang Han to celebrate with a meal, and they took a Griffin Carriage taxi to the restaurant Fish Delight.
• Jiang Han told Li Li she had borrowed hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy an old alchemy textbook containing notes and insights from Great Witches and master alchemists.
• Li Li described the research documents she had bought about dragons, witch genes, and dragon blood, explaining her interest in human scholars' perspectives.
• Jiang Han and Li Li ordered a seafood feast and began fishing in the restaurant's artificial river.

Jiang Han sampled the dishes Ye Keshu and Liang Cuoyu cooked, then asked Liang Cuoyu whether she wanted to become a witch. Liang Cuoyu agreed to start learning magic, and Jiang Han planned to have Chen Ligu register her at the school.

• Jiang Han returned home and found Ye Keshu and Liang Cuoyu dressed as witches and preparing food for her.
• Jiang Han tasted both dishes and judged Liang Cuoyu's egg-and-meat patties better than Ye Keshu's overly sweet, charred dish.
• Ye Keshu insisted on trying again, but her second batch of scrambled eggs was also charred and cloyingly sweet.
• Jiang Han asked Liang Cuoyu whether she would accept magical education and become a witch, and Liang Cuoyu firmly agreed.
• Jiang Han said she would contact Chen Ligu to arrange Liang Cuoyu's formal registration at the school.

After arranging Liang Cuoyu’s enrollment at Southern City Witch United Academy, Chen Ligu brought Jiang Han to meet the school’s mysterious principal. Jiang Han learned the principal was Kraken von Kolkraft, a powerful witch who owned the academy’s World Trees.

• Chen Ligu arranged Liang Cuoyu’s tuition subsidies and explained the academy’s course options.
• Chen Ligu told Jiang Han that the principal wanted to meet her, and Jiang Han agreed to go.
• A maid led Jiang Han and Chen Ligu through the academy’s grounds and explained the legend of its two Loren Ancient Trees.
• The maid revealed that the Doctor owned the trees and was the principal who had requested the meeting.
• Jiang Han and Chen Ligu entered the principal’s villa, where the silver-haired witch introduced herself as Kraken von Kolkraft.

Jiang Han and Chen Ligu met the Great Witch Kraken, who asked Jiang Han to model for her academic journal, Trickcraft. Jiang Han accepted for generous pay and a chance to learn from Kraken, and they left with gifts and a new connection.

• Kraken revealed that she wanted Jiang Han to pose for a photoshoot promoting Trickcraft.
• Kraken offered to pay thirty percent more than Deduction, and Jiang Han accepted while Chen Ligu agreed to handle the contract.
• Kraken made a business card for Chen Ligu and promised to send the photoshoot details by letter.
• Kraken gave Jiang Han and Chen Ligu limited-edition books before her maid escorted them out.
• In the Griffin Carriage, Chen Ligu praised Kraken, while Jiang Han reflected on Kraken's manners and the sense of closeness she felt from her Eternal Ice Eyes.

Jiang Han reviewed the shooting limits and portrait-rights contract for a Trickcraft magazine feature with Chen Ligu, agreeing to consider showing her thighs if she wore stockings. After signing, she read Kraken’s collector’s edition and learned about the editor’s practical approach to spellcraft and the origins of her work on casting speed.

• Chen Ligu explained the South City shoot, the proposed bunny-hop shot, and the clothing limits, and Jiang Han said she might show her thighs in stockings.
• Chen Ligu outlined the portrait-rights categories and Kraken’s 1,500-copy authorization, and Jiang Han accepted the terms and signed the agreement.
• Jiang Han praised Chen Ligu’s professionalism, then opened the collector’s edition Kraken had given her.
• Jiang Han read Kraken’s preface defining spell techniques as efficient ways to kill and studied the book’s casting-speed experiments.
• Jiang Han learned that Anke Gaby Jackson had nearly reached a 0.026-second casting speed before losing to Kraken, inspiring Kraken to write the book.

Jiang Han prepared for a photo shoot and a luncheon on Kraken’s behalf, then arrived at Wilhelm Pharmaceuticals’ volcanic headquarters with Chen Ligu. There she discovered that Kraken was disguised as a lookalike named Bai Enqiu and that the Sea Shepherds were working undercover as the photography crew.

• Jiang Han reflected on the unusually generous photo-shoot arrangement and learned that Kraken wanted her to attend Wilhelm Pharmaceuticals’ formal luncheon as her representative.
• After discovering she had gained 0.2 jin, Jiang Han met Liang Cuoyu in the morning and left to meet Chen Ligu.
• Jiang Han and Chen Ligu reached Wilhelm’s headquarters, a disc-shaped building suspended inside a volcano, and rode an enclosed escalator into the facility.
• At the photography room, Jiang Han greeted Qiao Rou, who introduced a new coworker named Bai Enqiu.
• Jiang Han recognized that Bai Enqiu looked exactly like Kraken except for her hair and eye color, and realized the photography crew consisted of the Sea Shepherds.

Jiang Han joined a photography crew led by Qiao Rou and accompanied by the Sea Shepherds squad to film at Wilhelm Pharmaceuticals. The crew reached Advanced Laboratory Twelve, where Jiang Han met the German witch Este Rudolf and marveled at the laboratory’s equipment.

• Jiang Han recognized Xu Wenji and Kraken among the temporary crew members, while Qiao Rou warned her not to clash with the hires.
• Kraken told Qiao Rou that she had come from Canada to join the war effort in China, and Qiao Rou asked whether she knew Great Witch Kraken.
• Xu Wenji asked whether Jiang Han could accept a maid outfit and makeup, then described the planned shoot in the pharmaceutical laboratory.
• The twenty-four-person crew passed through Wilhelm Pharmaceuticals’ tight security, where Jiang Han noticed the Sea Shepherds checking isolation doors.
• The crew arrived at Advanced Laboratory Twelve, and Jiang Han admired the expensive alchemical equipment, especially its Gamma Flame Vials.
• Este Rudolf introduced herself as the team’s company liaison, and Jiang Han’s magic-power radar ranked her eleventh in the room.

Jiang Han joined a staged photo shoot while Kraken and the Sea Shepherds secretly infiltrated the laboratory under a spell that made people speak candidly and overlook their actions. Kraken offered Jiang Han work and training in her Eternal Ice Eyes, leaving Jiang Han to weigh the mysterious offer.

• Jiang Han changed into a French maid outfit and emerged to find Sea Shepherds and the laboratory staff preparing a photo shoot.
• Jiang Han saw Kraken secretly unlock filing cabinets and copy documents while magic kept the security personnel from noticing.
• Kraken froze a concealed Burning Fire Curse in the documents and told Jiang Han that her Eternal Ice Eyes could counter such spells with training.
• Kraken asked Jiang Han to create a changing room, and the Sea Shepherds entered with combat gear while the shoot continued.
• Kraken explained the Childlike Candor spell and offered Jiang Han work, a beginner's guide to her eyes, and lessons in using them.

Jiang Han explained to Liang Cuoyu why she could not sense magic and offered to ask her friends for help. Their conversation grew warmer, leaving Liang more at ease and willing to hint at her life before becoming a witch.

• Jiang Han explained that magic was part of everyday life for witches and that Liang Cuoyu’s difficulty sensing it did not mean she lacked talent.
• Jiang Han recalled accounts of trait-type sorceresses and described a gentler training method that could help Liang learn to sense magic.
• Jiang Han promised to ask friends for advice, and Liang thanked her and Chen Ligu for helping her.
• Liang asked about the headmistress, and Jiang Han described Kraken’s silver hair and eyes like her own.
• Liang speculated about witch genetics and briefly mentioned her father and witches’ unusual reproductive traits before apologizing for getting distracted.