Dorothy quietly waited in the Gladiator Arena for her next opponent.
Although strictly speaking, her assessment could have ended by now, and she could have completely stopped and fled, she had already placed her bets on the dark web, so stopping now was impossible.
Having been almost eaten into bankruptcy by the two Little Atis at home these days, she had been searching for good ways to make money in Witch Academy, preferably something that could make her rich overnight.
After searching around, she really found one: accepting tasks and doing bounties on the Academy Forum.
Not all Little Witches were like her, knowing a little about everything and basically not needing to ask for help with anything.
Most normal Little Witches were only good at their major subjects; for example, those from the Potion Department only knew how to brew potions, and those from the Alchemy Department were good at smithing. Being still young, they couldn't be proficient in everything.
This made it awkward when a Potion Department student needed a new alchemy cauldron, or an Alchemy Department student needed some potions to replenish stamina and magic.
Normally, in such situations, the first reaction of most adult Demonesses would be to buy from the market, but in Witch Academy, students often first thought of taking out their spellbooks, logging onto the Academy Forum, and then posting a bounty task, waiting for an upperclassman or underclassman from the corresponding department to help out.
After all, shopping at a supermarket meant the middleman earned a price difference. How could that compare to the cost-effectiveness of direct sales from the manufacturer? Everyone was still a student, and their financial independence was generally limited, so they would save every bit they could.
Moreover, this was Witch Academy! All basic subject training for various industries in the entire Witch World was available here. Whatever you wanted to buy, whatever you wanted to customize, no matter how obscure, as long as you called out on the campus forum, a classmate from the corresponding department would soon come knocking.
After all, which Alchemy Department student didn't have a few practice pieces accumulated, and which Potion Department student's bag wasn't a full warehouse of potions?
They couldn't use all these things themselves, so being able to exchange them was ideal, and it could also expand their social circle and help them get to know more classmates.
Going to school wasn't just for learning knowledge; expanding friendships and accumulating connections were also important parts of a student's life.
If they could meet some compatible and capable classmates and friends through this kind of mutual help, then it would be a huge profit.
After all, the camaraderie accumulated when everyone was still a novice was very precious. It would be very difficult to have such pure friendships after graduation.
Of course, these bounties also carried risks. After all, the quality of student works was definitely not as stable as commercially sold, quality-inspected goods. This required personal discernment to check.
Bad luck could lead to failure, while good luck might even lead to acquiring a future master's practice piece.
But no matter what, overall, the Academy Forum was very lively, and the school encouraged such student mutual aid bounties.
However, Dorothy currently had no plans to undertake those ordinary mutual aid bounties. Those small-scale tasks wouldn't earn much even if she worked herself to death.
What she had her eyes on was the hell-difficulty task that had long topped the bounty list but had remained uncompleted for many years: challenging the Armed Society.
Those battle maniacs had once boasted on the campus forum, welcoming everyone to challenge them. As long as one succeeded, they would receive a large sum of money at once, but if they failed, they would also need to leave a certain penalty fee to fill the prize pool.
And to this day, this bounty has not been completed by anyone, causing the already generous prize money to become increasingly substantial due to the continuous addition of penalty fees.
And it wasn't just this prize money. Those challengers who failed to challenge the Armed Society also became angrier the more they thought about it afterwards, so they separately opened another bounty post, offering a huge reward for a brave soul to challenge the Armed Society. As long as the challenge succeeded, all the prize money would be hers.
Even the guys on the Academy's dark web couldn't sit still; someone publicly set up a gambling ring, betting on whether the Armed Societywould be successfully challenged.
Hmm, do one job, get three payments. This business is profitable. If it succeeds, becoming rich overnight isn't a dream.
Anyway, after Dorothy saw this, she couldn't take her eyes off it. She felt that she might be able to try it. If this deal succeeded, her family of three's future...
Well, okay, the total prize money from these three combined is actually only about five million Witch Gold. This indeed seems like a lot, enough for Dorothy to fulfill her previous life's dream—buying a small floating island.
But then considering what kind of food her family of three was eating now, if every meal was at the highest standard, this amount of money would barely be enough for about a year's worth of food.
This was only according to current standards. If they were to break through and grow a little, their appetite would increase, and the demands for food would also be adjusted accordingly, so this amount of money might not even be enough for a year.
Tsk, eating a house in a year. Truly, three gold-devouring beasts.
Of course, with Dorothy's small physique, if she were to challenge them through conventional means, she would probably be easily abused by any senior member who came out, relying on their deep magic. But wasn't she just about to undergo a practical assessment?
Hehehe, as long as she acts a bit arrogant then and ignites the anger of those already belligerent Demonesses of the Armed Society, those guys, who are clearly battle-hungry but also strangely adhere to martial ethics, will definitely not demean themselves by demanding a change in the duel rules, but will continue to fight her according to the assessment standards.
And Dorothy was confident that with equal magic, even if she wasn't absolutely invincible, she would have few opponents. Looking at it this way, it seemed there was indeed some hope of successfully challenging them.
Although doing this felt a bit like bullying the honest martial arts fanatics of the Armed Society, I'm sorry, but for the sake of the two hungry children at home, I, Dorothy, can't be gentle today.
However, while the plan was beautiful, she wasn't entirely confident whether it could be smoothly realized. After all, bullying honest people depended on whether they were genuinely honest or just pretending.
And to think, as soon as she was ready to challenge the academy, the first opponent she faced was her own sister. This was truly not a good sign.
"I'm sorry, Alice, I was a bit too rough just now, but once your sister finishes this job, our family will have money, and I'll definitely treat you to something delicious."
Dorothy silently apologized to her sister, who she had instantly defeated.
But speaking of which, the roasted Wyvern wings she promised to make for her a few days ago during their shopping trip still hadn't been made because of their mother's interruption…
Hmm, next time for sure. I'll make it up to you then.
In any case, she had just been ruthless enough to punch her own sister's head in. That was my dear sister, not by blood, and her sacrifice definitely couldn't be in vain. I had to earn this money today.
But honestly, Alice's strength had indeed improved a lot over the years. She was no longer the little weakling from childhood who she could tease casually. The momentum when she charged over just now truly startled Dorothy.
That's why, out of fright, she subconsciously threw a full-force punch, habitually smashing the Little Witch's head.
Alas, she had originally intended to be gentler with her own sister, not so cruel in her methods.
It's just that while this Little Ati had indeed made significant progress in strength, her brain…
Almost all of your tactics were personally designed by me. Now you're using what I taught you to deal with me? What on earth is in that little brain of yours?
Did you never consider that when I was designing tactics for you, I must have also studied how to counter you?
Yes, yes, your wild intuition is indeed powerful, but Alice, killing intent can be deceptive. I can completely use a false killing intent to trick you, guiding you to dodge in the direction I want.
Then, I'll punch the air in your dodging direction, and a punch aimed at the air won't carry any killing intent.
Your self-healing ability is indeed tricky, but I know you too well. As long as you haven't fully inherited your stepmother's "River of Dying Words," your so-called immortal body is ultimately fake, with fatal flaws.
Your self-healing is entirely based on your blood core being intact. For a Vampire, the location of their blood core is a secret, but I know you too well. I know your blood core isn't in your heart, but hidden in your lower abdomen.
Alas, who told you to be my dear sister? Exposing my cute sister's weakness is really not something a sister should do.
Fortunately, I finally researched the internal force techniques from the novels of my previous life recently. This punch seemed to be a headshot, but in reality, the internal force, simulated with magic, could directly shatter your heart core.
Alice, my foolish sister, everything about you is as clear as if you were naked in my eyes. And you, how much do you know about me?
I had clearly taught you before that when facing an unfamiliar opponent, you should cautiously probe, and then look for an opportunity to strike.
Dorothy shook her head, suddenly feeling that her punch just now was indeed the right move.
Anyway, the brain matter in this silly sister's head had already solidified into reckless muscle, forgetting how to think. Hopefully, this punch will make her muscle-brain start moving again and become a bit smarter.
However, she quickly lost the mood to indulge in these random thoughts, because her next opponent had arrived.
When her opponent, who didn't use the combat room but instead jumped directly from the VIP stands onto the arena, descended with a classic superhero landing pose, raising a cloud of dust in the desert-themed arena, Dorothy's gaze sharpened.
She was initially happy because the Armed Society was indeed as honest as she had planned, truly not changing the rules of the match and directly sending someone else down. This greatly increased her hopes of successfully earning money today.
But when she clearly saw the newcomer's face, she couldn't help but gasp slightly.
"Hiss, why aren't you playing by the rules? After fighting the Thirteenth Seat, shouldn't the Twelfth Seat be next? Why did you just skip the ten?"
Dorothy complained inwardly.
Because Alice often cried to her when she got beaten up in the academy, asking her to help design tactics, even though Dorothy was visiting the Armed Society for the first time, she probably knew more about the strong individuals within the Armed Society than most regular members.
Hmm, dark skin (tanned bronze), cat ears, tiger stripes, long tail. This is modeled after a tiger-person among the beastmen.
Yay, another big cat-girl I really like. I want to pet her tail and stroke her ears.
Cough cough…
And considering the opponent came from the Second Seat position, her strength must be greater than Alice's, and she probably beat her up a lot in the past. So, searching through the big cat-girls Alice mentioned who had beaten her up before…
Hmm, got it. This should be Sister Lena, the one the Little Witch often mentions.
After a brief assessment of the newcomer's appearance, Dorothyroughly confirmed her identity.
And after recognizing the person, the information Alice had provided in the past naturally surfaced in her mind.
Little Witch retrieving data.
3500 words. There was a minor car accident at home these past two days. Although no one was hurt, it will take a few days to deal with. I don't have much time to write. If I hadn't started preparing drafts earlier, I would probably have to ask for leave. Tsk, it's tough. My path to saving drafts is full of tribulations. Currently, my draft progress is still 1. Giving up.