On the bustling Community Square, Dorothy and Audrey were navigating through the dense crowd.
There were many people around, but no one seemed to notice the two Little Witches; almost everyone treated them as invisible, non-existent individuals.
While this feeling of not being noticed was quite pleasant, it wasn't without its drawbacks; sometimes, there were minor inconveniences, for example—
"Be careful, don't get bumped into."
Dorothy reached out and tugged at her Fox junior sister beside her, who was completely captivated by the diverse and colorful displays of the various clubs, much like a country girl entering the city, finding everything new and exciting.
Because their presence was so low, others didn't notice them, and naturally, no one would specifically avoid them, making it quite easy to be bumped into if they weren't careful.
Just now, Audrey was almost hit by an exceptionally tall Elite Witch.
"Hmm, thank you, Senior Sister."
The Little Fox, realizing her absentmindedness, thanked her somewhat shamefully.
She still couldn't contain her excitement, having come to such a lively place for the first time in her life.
While social phobics fear social interaction, it doesn't mean they genuinely enjoy solitude.
Witches evolved from humans, and the inherent gregarious nature of humans still persists to some extent in Witches.
Audrey wasn't truly unwilling to socialize; she simply dared not socialize because she feared others' desires for her.
If she could, she also wished she could be like other ordinary Witches, able to make good friends, happily eat, drink, and play with them, go shopping and travel together, and leisurely spend every day.
Unfortunately, this simple wish became difficult to achieve due to her exceptionally outstanding beauty.
Alas, she considered others as friends, but it was hard for others to think the same way; most people, after seeing her face, no longer wanted to be just friends with her.
Being as beautiful as her basically meant bidding farewell to pure friendship.
Therefore, this was the first time Audrey had ever experienced going out and shopping with a peer.
In the past, when she was at home, her family's protection was simply too excessive.
Her mothers and sisters loved her very much, but because they loved her too much and feared she would be harmed, they never took her to places with many people like this; they were unwilling to let her take such risks.
"Are you alright? If you can't handle it, you can go back first; I can go by myself from now on."
Dorothy looked at her junior sister, whose excited little face was flushed, and asked with some concern.
Judging from her own experience with social phobia, children who have been lonely for a long time are generally like caged birds, always curious about and longing for the outside world.
However, for various reasons, they find it difficult to break free from the birdcage that binds and confines them.
Therefore, at this time, a little external force, a hero, is needed to lead them to take that first step.
The birdcage that bound Dorothy herself was called laziness; she was genuinely too lazy to go out, too lazy to socialize, finding such things meaningless and troublesome.
Therefore, leading her out of the birdcage wasn't difficult; someone just needed to pull her out the door.
In the past, this "hero" role was filled by her younger sister, Alice, the lively Little Witch who would soon drag her reluctant older sister out for a stroll.
And now, she had uncharacteristically transformed from a caged bird into a hero; this junior sister's social phobia was far more severe than hers.
Dorothy's own social phobia was merely a dislike for the trouble of socializing, but she wasn't afraid of people.
However, this junior sister seemed genuinely afraid of people.
Therefore, now that she had brought her junior sister to this bustling Community Square, she wasn't sure whether what she was doing was right or wrong.
She thought that taking this junior sister out more often and letting her meet more people would be beneficial to her, effectively alleviating her symptoms.
But now, looking at Audrey's flushed, delicate little face, Dorothyworried if she had overdone the "medicine."
This was like taking a timid person to challenge the highest difficulty haunted house; instead of building courage, it might scare her into illness.
Perhaps she should take it slower, with smaller steps.
"Ah, no need, Senior Sister, I feel fine.
I'm just a little excited, really, it's nothing."
Having such a rare opportunity to go shopping with a peer, Audreynaturally didn't want to give it up.
The birdcage that confined her was the fear of human desires, but now that others couldn't notice her, they naturally wouldn't have any desires for her.
Therefore, she truly felt very good at this moment, not feeling much fear, but rather more of a rare sense of freedom, happiness, and excitement.
Hmm, meeting a peer who had no desires for her for the first time in her life, and going shopping with a peer for the first time—two beautiful things combined were bound to breed more happiness; how could she possibly give up now?
Besides, she hadn't asked about the puppet's secret yet; she needed to find a way to get closer to this Senior Sister.
"Alright then, I'll slightly reduce the spell's effect, from no presence to weak presence."
After carefully observing her junior sister and confirming that she was truly fine, Dorothy nodded.
She snapped her fingers, and the spell's effect on both of them began to weaken.
Well, it was roughly the equivalent of changing from being transparent people to mere background characters; others could notice them, but they would directly ignore them due to their extremely weak presence.
This way, they wouldn't attract too much attention, nor would they be bumped into because their presence was too low and they were treated as non-existent.
However, the Little Fox beside her immediately widened her eyes upon seeing this effect.
As a loyal fan of the Forest Witch, Audrey had naturally purchased and studied this "Witch's Akalin Technique."
When she bought it, she had fantasized about being able to sneak out using this spell and become an invisible person to explore the city.
However, ideals were full, but reality was bony.
Currently, the Forest Witch's series of spells only ranged from 0 to 9 rings; there were no Forbidden Spells above 9 rings.
And this spell belonged to the more difficult type within the Witch series, with a difficulty coefficient of 8 rings, ranking as a High-Level Spell.
The official recommended learning threshold was Great Witch or an Elite Witch with high precision talent.
As an auxiliary spell, this spell actually didn't consume much magic power, one could even say very little.
Even a Little Witch with only a few thousand mana could afford to use it.
Its main difficulty lay entirely in magic power control; the more precise one's control over their own magic power, the better the spell's casting effect.
Theoretically, only the magic control precision of a Great Witch level was sufficient to unleash the full power of this spell.
Audrey had always been quite confident in her magic control; her precision talent on her talent panel was rated A.
After all, whether it was the Succubus's Dream Invasion or the Nine-tailed Fox's Illusion, both required meticulous work; without some precision, it wouldn't work.
But even so, as an Elite Witch, Audrey found it very difficult to learn this spell.
She eventually learned it, but controlling it was quite strenuous.
She could completely cancel out her own presence to achieve invisibility, but it was very difficult to precisely adjust the strength of her presence to that level where she could be perceived but not be conspicuous.
No wonder, it was still because of her annoying beauty.
If her presence was weak, others wouldn't notice her, but if her presence was strong, once others saw her, they would find it hard to ignore her charm, which directly led to the spell failing.
Therefore, finding a precise balance between being present and being inconspicuous was something she currently found very difficult to do; she probably wouldn't be able to achieve it until she became a Great Witch.
But now, seeing her cheap Senior Sister accomplish what she had dreamed of with a casual snap of her fingers, the Little Fox was utterly shocked.
Wow, how high must this Senior Sister's precision talent be to do something like this?
And it's not just precision; her mastery of spells is also something I can't compare to.
Senior Sister! You still say you're not a fan of the Forest Witch?
If it wasn't love, how could your spell mastery be so far above mine?
Never expecting that she would lose to this Senior Sister even in her admiration for her idol, Audrey's mood instantly became complicated.
Hmm, this alone is unbearable.
Audrey, Audrey, go back and practice more.
If this continues, how can you firmly hold your position as the president of the Witch Fan Club?
The Little Fox clenched her small fists, encouraging herself.
"Let's go, let's get this done early and go home early."
In front, Dorothy turned and called out to her junior sister, who had inexplicably become fired up.
"Oh, oh, coming, coming."
The Little Fox quickly followed.
Two Witches shopping...
My thoughts are still a bit messy; I'm going to write a fairy tale to find inspiration.