"It's been a while since I came to the city—it's quite lively."
After the sisters landed at the port of the huge floating city known as Sea Moon Island and stuffed the flying broomstick into the spatial side bag worn around their waists, Dorothy looked around at the bustling scene and reflected.
Powerful creatures seldom have the habit of living in groups; they always possess, more or less, a certain territorial awareness, and witches are no exception.
Therefore, even though her beloved stepmother was among the higher echelons of witches, their family's floating island was located far from the city center, in the suburbs instead.
As her stepmother always said, a fierce tiger never fears walking alone; only lambs gather under the wings of the powerful for protection.
The living habits of witches indeed resembled this: most witches' islands floated on the outskirts of the city, while those living in the city center tended to be the subordinates or servant races of the witches.
Having stayed at home for a long time, Dorothy hadn't seen so many people in a while and found the experience rather novel. She curiously surveyed this magical city, which was quite different from the city she remembered from her previous life.
First and foremost were the pedestrians on the roads—unlike in her previous life where streets were filled only with humans, differing perhaps only in skin color, the variety of races in this world was dazzling: giants, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, and even tiny fairies the size of a finger with wings could be seen on the streets here.
Beyond these humanoid races, there were also many non-human but equally intelligent otherworldly races. For instance, not far off at a snack stall, a pig was protesting why there was pork in his meal—a heart-wrenchingly pitiful tirade. However, as Dorothy looked at the pig's swollen red eyes, she could almost read three words in his gaze.
Compensation required.
This dispute also caught the attention of the bystanders nearby, among them a scorpion tail lion and a three-headed dog seemed somewhat eager to join in. However, the city's law enforcement team quickly arrived on their brooms. They took away the still protesting pig, and once there was no more spectacle, the onlookers quickly dispersed.
"Let's go, sister, the witches' specialty store is this way. We'll take the portal over there," Alice said.
With no more spectacle to watch, the sisters turned and headed towards the city center, with Alice leading the way.
The transportation system in Witch City was quite diverse. The most common mode was, of course, the flying broomsticks seen throughout the streets, but there were also more upscale and comfortable options like flying magic carpets and magical beast carriages. These were somewhat similar to personal cars from Dorothy's previous life: much more expensive and maintenance-heavy compared to the cheaper and more practical brooms, but they certainly had a more prestigious appearance.
However, the city center generally had a flight restriction order, and only locals with flying permits could fly freely. Although the sisters were witches and could easily obtain flying permits, Dorothy was too lazy to bother, having not registered at the city hall even now, especially since she hardly ever left home during the past year.
Alice did have a flying permit; however, the sweet younger sister naturally wouldn't leave her silly elder sister behind. Thus, the two had to resort to using the city's public transport.
Although Witch City's public transportation system did include something akin to buses, those were somewhat bourgeois—expensive and slow, not really cost-effective. Generally, only those, who were either too rich, foolishly leisurely, or part of sightseeing tour groups, would use them. The most popular and widely used means of public transport were actually the portals.
Dorothy's gaze turned towards a large bronze gate not far down the road. Well, the gate was actually just a decoration; the truly useful part was the energy vortex-like thing under the gate frame—it was the entrance to the portal.
"beep, witch card—welcome to Sea Moon City. It's a pleasure to serve you, esteemed Madam Witch," said the gate as Alice ran towards it and swiped a card across the frame. Instantly, the doors of the bronze gate sprang open, and mouths and eyes appeared on the door panels, spewing obsequious words.
Dorothy was already accustomed to this, for in this world, witches were the highest nobility and were fawned over by other races everywhere.
She calmly pulled out her own identity card and swiped it across the gate frame.
This card was essentially the identity card of the Witch World, issued by the official organization of witches, the Witches' Council. Every witch received one at birth. The card consistently applied Advanced Appraisal Magic to faithfully detect and record the bound witch's various attributes and updated them in real-time on the card itself.
Well, it was somewhat akin to a character's stats page in a game.
Beyond that, this identity card also functioned like a public transportation card, bank card, among other utilities—quite handy, actually.
Dorothy glanced at her own identity card, and instantly magical patterns unfolded upon the card, which was the size of a bank card. These seemingly meaningless patterns, after a special compilation process, projected a virtual information panel within her view.
First, a photo of her face appeared, and below the photo were some basic details.
[True Name: Dorothy*******]
[Age: 16]
[Races: Half-Witch (Human Hybrid)]
[Rank: Elite Witch]
[Talent: Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Skill (sr), ***** (ssr), Otherworldly Soul (ssr)]
[Specialty: Control of Magical Power (ssr), Multitasking (ssr), ****** (ssr)]
[Skills: ***** (ssr), New Era Wizard's Sixth Edition General Spell Manual (r), Self-Created Witch Series Spells (sr)…]
[Total Magical Power: 10,000 Mana]
Beside that large portrait photo, there was a hexagonal attribute growth panel.
[Strength: A]
[Speed: A]
[Physique: A]
[Spirit: S]
[Inspiration: S]
[Precision: S]
Dorothy nodded in satisfaction at this, her sixteen years of diligent practice had not been in vain, just look at these luxurious stats.
However, as her gaze swept over the asterisks that censored parts of the identity card, her previously content mood suddenly sank, feeling somewhat bland.
She had chosen to block those herself, considering all that strength came from her overly free-spirited mother who had decided to abandon her and her father long ago, Dorothy chose to ignore those inherited talents.
Out of sight, out of mind.
"Sister, let me have a look, show me how much you've grown!"
At her side, Alice's head suddenly popped up, seemingly trying to sneak a peek at her sister's identity card details, but unfortunately, identity cards were locked with information locks, accessible only by the owner or someone whom the owner permitted, the little girl could only peek in loneliness.
"What's there to see? I'm just a lousy half-witch, not as splendid as your attributes, let's go, let's go."
Dorothy silently stowed away her identity card, rubbed her sister's head, and ignoring the flattery of the bronze gate, stepped first into the swirling energy vortex that served as the portal entrance.
"Ah, sister, wait for me!"
As they stepped forward, darkness enveloped them briefly, then a brand-new vista appeared before the sisters.
However...
"Ugh..."
As soon as they stepped out of the teleportation passage, Dorothy skillfully located a roadside trash can and began to spew rainbows.
"Sister, are you okay? You still haven't gotten over your teleportation dizziness?"
Alice proficiently pulled out water and tissues from her bag, handing them to her feeble sister, her eyes filled with pity.
Alas, in such a world where portals were everywhere, being prone to teleportation sickness was indeed pitiful.
"I don't want this either, it's just my space-time sensitive physique, it will get better once I master some space-time spells in the future."
Dorothy argued defiantly.
"Yes, yes, sister, I believe in you."
Alice responded nonchalantly.