Otaku Witch

Chapter 247 220. Witch's Lover's Curse

[Current Favorability: 65]

Dorothy blinked her eyes, gazing at the Centaur Lady opposite her. A favorability prompt like this one popped up in her line of sight.

However, this certainly wasn't a result of her suddenly awakening some charmer's "Golden Finger" system. In fact, this favorability prompt was a Spell she'd handcrafted. It was a magic effect.

The Homebody Witch's Social Anxiety Rescue Spell, that was the true nature of this favorability indicator.

The reason people suffer from social anxiety isn't just because they genuinely can't be bothered with insincere interactions; more often, it stems from not knowing what others truly think. Those with social anxiety care too much about others' opinions of them. They're afraid that something they say, or something they do might upset someone. But without the ability to get immediate feedback, they can only worry pointlessly, which naturally becomes exhausting and leads to them shunning further interaction.

So, if there were indeed a real-time favorability indicator that could display how much someone likes you, it would make speaking and acting a lot more reassuring. After all, even if you made a mistake, you'd know right away and be able to rectify it promptly. This sense of control can really boost one's confidence, and confident people rarely experience social anxiety.

Unfortunately, a favorability indicator like this didn't exist in Dorothy's past life, remaining only in novels, anime, and other works of fantasy. But in this life, in this amazing magic world where everything was possible, such a thing had become a reality.

Well, in the end, it was just a special utilization of sensing emotional states, simpler to engineer than an intricate Mind Reading Technique.

With Dorothy's proficiency in the Spiritual School, she certainly knew how to read minds but rarely used the skill. After all, knowing too much can be detrimental, affecting one's mood adversely. Audrey, the poor child, was the perfect example.

Humans find it difficult to completely control their hearts. Interactions should be based on actions, not thoughts, for if we judged by thoughts, no Saint would exist. Even the best of people occasionally harbour dark thoughts, and if mind reading exposed these, the good image of a person would collapse in your mind.

If that happened, you'd end up unable to face that person again, and eventually, you'd be friendless.

Moreover, it's unlikely that anyone would want to be friends with someone who reads minds all the time, as everyone has their privacy. Reading a friend's mind is simply impolite.

Therefore, Dorothy specifically designed this fuzzy version of a Mind Reading Technique based on the original, displaying only favorability levels without fear of accidentally seeing something too disturbing. That seemed pretty good.

Of course, this was just a Spell, not some bug-like system, so naturally, it wasn't that powerful. The Spell could only be successfully cast if your spiritual power was stronger than the other person's, so don't even think about using it to pursue some mighty and wealthy person for an easy life.

After all, you would need to be stronger than the wealthy individual to see their favorability towards you, but if you were stronger, why would you need an easy life? You could just as well earn it effectively.

Sigh, Dorothy had originally created this Spell with the thought of helping little witches who were socially anxious like herself, but for some reason, the Spell now seemed to have become the favorite of the unscrupulous witches.

Luckily, the threshold for learning this Spell is quite high, very similar to the original Mind Reading Technique, so it hasn't created much of a negative impact. After all, the witches capable of learning it are generally adept at mind reading anyway, which they could use for dubious purposes just the same.

It seems that the unscrupulous witches of this era have grown tired of the blatant use of the Mind Reading Technique, like using a Perspective Cheat in an open-book exam. They find it dull and less fun, so now, when flirting, they prefer using the Homebody Witch's Social Anxiety Rescue Spell, claiming it feels more like being in love. Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

Alas, this has led the spell to also be nicknamed "The Witch's Lover's Curse," and even in the comment section of the spell, those shameless women are saying things like, "Lady Witch is so understanding, she must be one of us," or "Lady Witch in real life must be a real Saint of romance" and stuff.

As for this, the sentimentally slandered Dorothy just felt a cold shiver run down her spine in broad daylight. How could these guys smear her innocence out of thin air? Can this world even get better?

She, Dorothy, through two lifetimes combined, has been a pure and good child; she's nothing like those shameless women. She would never use such a spell to deceive little witches, okay?

Well, to be honest, even if she wanted to, she couldn't deceive them. After all, the witches around her are either geniuses or big shots, and she, being so weak, couldn't even if she wanted to.

However, while Dorothy is meek and compliant towards witches, she can strike with heavy blows when dealing with otherworldly races.

After all, although her Magic Power is subpar, her Mental attribute rating is high, and with an S-level Mental attribute, she can indeed do as she pleases.

Centaur's aren't exactly the race known for their spiritual power. Dorothy estimates that Miss Nina's Mental attribute rating won't exceed C, and there's at least an eightfold difference between C and S. If the Centaur Lady wants to catch up to Dorothy's 30,000 Mana spiritual power, she would need at least eight times more Magic Power, which would be 240,000 Mana.

It's a pity, though, that Miss Nina on the other side, although not weak, with Dorothy's rough sensing, seems to have the strength of a few hundred thousand Mana. But when it comes to spiritual power, you can't compete with me.

Frankly, it's also sad that this spell, since its development, is being used for the first time in practice, which makes the homebody witch feel a guilty pang of having a Perspective Cheat. She feels like she's learned to be bad.

Especially since the Centaur Lady opposite her really has no ill will towards her.

According to the Favorability levels set by Dorothy herself, with 50 as the average, representing normal: 0-10 mortal enemy, 10-20 hatred, 20-30 disgust, 30-40 disdain, 40-50 indifference, 50-60 friendly, 60-70 warm, 70-80 close, 80-90 fond, 90-100 deeply loved.

So, for a stranger meeting for the first time, the Centaur Lady's 65 points of Favorability towards her is genuinely not low; it's as if she really considers her a friend. After all, normally scores over 70 would signify a best girl friend, and 80 would imply activities tonight that cannot be conveniently mentioned to others.

In that light, Miss Nina's previous comment about taking a liking to her was genuinely true; Dorothy suspects it might be because her outfit today just struck a chord with the Centaur Lady, or hit some other sweet spot because, otherwise, this initial Favorability seems a bit too high.

It has to be said, although this bar might be a little shady, the service is indeed very good. As soon as orders are placed, the drinks arrive quickly and come with some snacks, which is very comfortable.

Meanwhile, Dorothy, gaming the system, is drinking and casually chatting with Miss Nina, and the Centaur Lady, true to her profession of working in such a place, is really enjoyable to talk to.

Anyway, it's completely different from the girls Dorothy, as a homebody witch in her previous blind dates, met – those who would barely speak a word, who would suddenly say, "I'm going to take a shower," and then disappear for the entire night without replying. There's no need for Dorothy to rack her brains for topics; the Centaur Lady has countless of them, with the Big Sister guiding her throughout the conversation.

Alas, the Centaur Lady's Favorability towards her is slow to progress, just +1+1 incrementally increasing. On the other hand, Dorothy's own Favorability towards Miss Nina's skyrockets; the homebody witch always feels like she's activated an emotional cheat for solitude.

...Dorothy is getting charmed...