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"Armed Society?"

On the other side, upon hearing the invitation from the Succubus Witch, Dorothy was also slightly taken aback, and she glanced over at Madeline across from her before firmly shaking her head.

"I am flattered by your generous offer, but Chairwoman, you must be mistaken. I, a Research Witch, truly have no desire to delve into the path of armament."

What a joke. As soon as she gets through the opening ceremony tomorrow, she could start her happy life of learning. How could she possibly have a brain lapse and join some Armed Society? She wasn't even able to squeeze enough time out of each day for her studies, so where would she find the time to participate in any club activities?

Moreover...

Well, real-life battles really hurt, and even now, just thinking about the pain from when she was beaten up by the Succubus Witch in front of her during yesterday's challenge sends shivers down Dorothy's spine.

Reality is such a trashy game, with not even a hint of pain suppression. She doesn't have the Talent and specialty of a Succubus to transform pain into pleasure. Why would she fill her stomach with trouble and look for a fight when there's no need?

Whoever loves fighting can go ahead, but I shall not.

Dorothy's mind was made up.

After hearing her answer, Madeline across from her fell silent.

Miss, who are you trying to fool? With that arrogant demeanor of yours during yesterday's challenge, you expect me to believe you aspire to be a Research Witch?

And since when does a Research Witch manage to condense a Martial Warrior's Soul? That kind of martial soul, which can materialize and be seen, is a sign of achieving Martial Saint status among otherworldly races.

A martial artist who continuously refines their martial arts and sees the nature of their heart with a clear mind can condense a firm Martial Will from their originally fragile and easily shaken spirit. This step signifies that the martial artist has truly entered into the higher echelons of the Path of Martial Arts.

And afterward, it's very difficult to achieve anything with closed-door cultivation. A martial artist endowed with Martial Will who desires to progress further and become a Martial Saint needs to continually challenge others. In battle after battle, the artist must forge their Martial Will, eventually elevating that originally formless will into a tangible Soul of Martial Arts.

Once a martial artist condenses their own Soul of Martial Arts, it signifies that they have reached a unique understanding of the Path of Martial Arts, known as founding a school or reaching the Martial Arts Realm – a one-generation grandmaster, a Martial Saint of the Mortal Realm.

"Great perseverance and great fortune are needed to become a saint," is a saying that circulates among the martial artists of the otherworldly races.

However, for powerful witches, the so-called Martial Saints of the Mortal Realm aren't really all that impressive – at most, they're on the same level as an ordinary witch. While their martial arts realm might be high, the racial limitations of their attributes are there, and no matter how skilled a hunting ant is, it is still effortlessly crushed by a human.

Just any regular Elite Witch could pin those so-called otherworldly Martial Saints to the ground and beat them, and if it were a Great Witch involved, it really would be as easy as crushing them with a finger.

These battles were essentially witches bullying others by relying on their vastly superior racial attributes. If everyone had the same attribute, it might be the witches getting slaughtered by the Martial Saints.

Years ago, the Dragon King recognized the potential of the Martial Arts path, and despite being a powerful witch, she did not choose the mainstream path founded by the God King—a traditional Mage's path.

Instead, she sought out the various races' Martial Saints to learn and ask for guidance, ultimately synthesizing their strengths and creating what's known now as the Ninth System Battle Mage System, beyond the God King Eight Systems.

With an entire school left by the Dragon King to learn from, the close-combat capabilities of witches have skyrocketed. While techniques are easy to learn, the Martial Arts Realm is somewhat too idealistic.

Most little witches from the Combat Magic System could barely consolidate their Martial Will before graduating from the Witch Academy, let alone dare to dream of the further advancement of the Martial Warrior's Soul.

There's no helping it, the inherently strong racial value of witches might help them learn techniques faster, but their mentality, which is no different from humans, offers little advantage when it comes to cultivating Martial Will.

Even, due to the witches' excessively powerful strength, they are at a disadvantage in comprehending Martial Will.

After all, weaker races might nearly die climbing a mountain and then comprehend the Way at the very edge of death, but witches...

Sigh, even a little witch who has just been born has several thousand Mana worth of Magic Power, and the regular magic power of a Formal Mage from other races is also just about this amount. So, how many mountains could there be that such a Formal Mage couldn't climb?

Therefore, for witches who want to specialize in the Combat Magic System, other Talents are secondary. The most valued Talent is actually willpower—the ability to endure hardships, persistence, and never giving up. Those are the witches best suited for the Combat Magic System.

In a huge Armed Society of a million members, only a little over a hundred thousand have condensed their Martial Will, and fewer than ten have refined their Martial Warrior's Soul.

As such, the rarity of the Martial Soul is evident. Madeline is only at the same Martial Arts Realm of Martial Saint, albeit she is at the peak of Martial Saints, at the threshold of the Martial God Realm.

For the Martial Artists of other races, the Martial God is a legendary realm, just like the name of this realm suggests. Those who reach this realm are no longer mortals but deities. Their Soul of Martial Arts further transcends and can materialize, becoming corporeal.

Such martial artists could continue to exist even after the death of their physical bodies, with their corporeal Martial Soul, enduring as long as their will persists.

However, among otherworldly races, a Martial God truly emerges only once in ten thousand years, nearly reduced to legend. But after the Dragon King created the Combat Magic System, quite a few Martial Gods have emerged among the witches. Many of the current Elite Witches or Peak Witches are at this realm.

As someone personally championed by the Dragon King, Madeline naturally hopes to reach the Martial God Realm like her idol one day, but it's exceedingly difficult.

It's not that her talent is lacking, but rather the lack of opponents. The Combat Magic System at its core belongs to Martial Arts and isn't like the other Eight Mage Systems, which can stay in the lab all day to study diligently. This Faction is born for battle and can only grow through constant fighting.

To further metamorphose the Soul of Martial Arts, the best and fastest methods are only two—either grind through life-and-death experiences or what's called Dual Cultivation.

There's not much to say about life-and-death grind; it's exactly as it sounds. Constantly walking on the edge of life and death naturally grows a person's will.

As for the second method, the so-called Dual Cultivation, it involves finding an opponent similar in realm to oneself, and then sparring vigorously every day. In such a clash of wills, both parties can rapidly progress.

However, Madeline hasn't yet graduated from Witch Academy, and according to the rules of the Witch World, witches who haven't graduated are not allowed on the battlefield. Thus, the path of life-and-death grind is not an option in the short term, leaving her only with Dual Cultivation.

But Madeline couldn't find an opponent of the same realm within the Academy either. If we really had to count, only the Student Council President Sophia's strength could give her any pressure. However, the president is not from the Combat Magic System. With different paths, they have little in common, and fighting her wouldn't be very helpful for her own breakthrough.

Originally, Madeline had been considering asking the school for an early graduation to temper herself on the battlefield sooner. But just yesterday, she met an opponent whose realm of the Martial Warrior's Soul was even higher than her own.

This god-sent partner for dual cultivation, how could she let them go?

Of course not.

Heh, Miss High-and-mighty, stop pretending. You can fool others but not me. You, with your Martial Soul realm, shamelessly say you want to pursue the path of research?

Even if we take a step back and assume you truly are a Research Witch, having such a level of Martial Soul realm actually excites me even more.

The Succubus Witch looked at the missy across from her who had cold-heartedly refused her, gently biting her lower lip while writhing her voluptuous body—forcefully repressing the excitement that was nearly uncontrollable.

After all, dual cultivation with this missy was set in stone.

So, the question arises, how can she make this missy, who is hellbent on straying onto the evil path of research, succumb to her own will?

Intimidation?

Madeline looked up towards the kitchen, and then she saw the Angel Witch, who seemed to be concentrating on washing dishes but was actually stealing glances in this direction. Their eyes met, generating sparks.

Tsk, with the presence of the president, intimidating someone in the school is impossible.

What about temptation?

Well, that seems feasible.

At this moment, driven by primal hunting instincts, the Succubus Witch's brain, which was almost ossified by muscle memory in the past, started operating at high speed. The traditionally rigid and conservative, universally acknowledged Martial Fanatic Disciplinary Committee Chairwoman suddenly turned cunning.

After a while, she raised her head again and said,

"Since you put it that way, Miss, I won't insist anymore. However, your culinary skills are truly indescribable, Miss. I wonder if you would be interested in becoming our society's nutrition consultant?"

"As you know, for people like us dedicated to martial training, nutrition must keep up, but appetites often wane after excessive exercise. If we had your skills, Miss, that wouldn't be a problem at all."

"Please do consider it."

"Of course, to show our sincerity, you will enjoy treatment equal to mine as the Club President in the Armed Society, with a quota of high-level ingredients for three meals a day, access to the society's armory, where you may freely browse the Ultimate Techniques of the Combat Magic System, borrow society training facilities, and also receive this amount of stipend and subsidies every month..."

Blah blah blah...

The Succubus Witch began to extol the various society benefits with skilled pie-in-the-sky promises, leaving the other three witches in the room dumbfounded.

Audrey: "...."

Dammit, my sister is really cruelly determined to be the third wheel, vying for the older sister with the president.

Sophia: "...."

Ah, how come I, the Student Council President, didn't know that the Armed Society had such good benefits? You'd better not have made these up just now.

Dorothy: "..."

I really didn't want to go originally, but what she offered is just too much.

Just now the Homebody Witch was dead set against it; going to the Armed Society was impossible, never in her life. But as the Succubus Witch painted her promises rounder and rounder, her expression gradually thawed, then rejuvenated, until it became utterly sycophantic.

"Stop, oh Club President, when can we start working? I have no other thoughts, I just can't bear to watch the members of the Armed Society suffer from malnutrition any longer. These are our Witch World's future pillars, bearing the heavy responsibility of expanding our world's borders. It would be bad if they trained themselves into poor health due to inadequate nutrition."

"Please entrust this task to me with confidence. I, Dorothy, am proficient in more than one hundred thousand recipes, have studied the Pig-Raising Manual—oops, I mean Witch Nutrition—guaranteed that as long as you provide enough ingredients, I can nourish everyone to be plump and healthy."

The Trashy Witch spoke with the profound realization that if she did not enter hell, who would.

Madeline: "..."

Audrey: "..."

Sophia: "...."

... The Three Witches fell into speechless silence...