Chapter 154: This Strike Destroys the Match of the Same Batch
“Ancient Ice?”
I instinctively repeated this name; it was clear that I was unfamiliar with this spell.
But soon, my body understood its nature faster than my mind.
When Tan Han discarded the energy alchemy jar in her hand, a terrifying oppressive force emanated from her.
A wave of coldness centered around Tan Han struck me like a shockwave, and even though the energy shield blocked most of the impact, that coldness, like a parasite, burrowed into my body through the shield.
The icy sensation, so painfully numb, seemed to accumulate within me, making my body feel as if it had stepped into a snowfield at that moment.
In a rush, the situation seemed to reverse, and the only thing I could see was the spellbook, the most dazzling one in my Spirit Vision.
Although I knew that spellbooks were quite different from each other, this was the first time I had seen such a spellbook. Was I really that ignorant?
This was the spellbook with a power consumption reaching four digits, and even just a glance could make me feel the ancient pressure emanating from within…
While I didn’t know what this ancient pressure was, its arrival created a visual illusion, as if I were in the depths of an icefield facing an enormous unknown creature, while I myself felt as tiny as a snowflake in the snow.
Had it started exerting a mental pressure…?
I hurriedly held onto my witch hat, regardless of whether it stabilized my mental power or shielded me from the chilling wind with its wide brim; it provided me with a sliver of final security.
I realized why Tan Han said this spell was not afraid of being interrupted even if not released…
How could this be interrupted?
At that moment, the temperature in the entire open arena plummeted, and even the temporary solidification spell at the edge of Arena 1 could not prevent this strange phenomenon from enveloping the entire arena.
Previously, the magma field created by the Flame Lord had stayed contained within the arena.
Now, even the temporary solidification spell had lost its ability to obstruct.
“Lina, isn’t there a strength limit on spellbooks for the competition? Doesn’t this count as a foul?”
Seeing this scene from the teacher’s seats, some witches began to inquire.
After all, such a terrifying ice phenomenon had swept across the arena in such a short time that it might even have affected the outside.
Many snowflakes floating down even landed on the witches’ heads.
“There is indeed a limit, but as the academy develops, some regulations need to keep up with the times,” Lina replied nonchalantly while sipping milk tea.
“No, Lina, you’re an extraordinary witch; you can’t let the script affect you like this! You’re giving Tan Han this advantage? The limit for spellbooks has been below four digits!”
“I can’t help it; the academy head has many guests visiting, and, well, it won’t hurt to show you,” Lina took out several letters and placed them on a nearby table.
“What is this?”
“The New Student Exchange Competition… Huh? What’s this?”
Several witches gathered to watch the excitement, but after seeing the content, many showed confusion, though many also realized what it meant.
“Tan Han was snatched by our Witch Academy; they had no choice. Those old geezers want to speed up the plot and deliberately pushed their academy’s new students into the fray; they also want a piece of the fortune.”
“Are they sending her as cannon fodder? That’s really generous!”
“Right? Do they think they can split the fortune just like that? Tan Han’s first bl**d is not that easy to take.”
“So you let Tan Han use this spell? Wait, this spell was also negotiated by you for her, right? That’s not according to the rules.”
“But Tan Han is already using it now.”
“Tan Han’s temperament hasn’t been honed yet, so setbacks are necessary,” Lina shook her head in resignation.
“This little one named Yang Yuelan is quite interesting; the Fireball Spell can be played with so many variations. Aren’t you going to check her experimental records from a few days ago? Quite interesting.”
“Oh? Where to look?”
“In the library, with advanced permissions, you can see.”
“We can take a look.”
Soon, the focus of the witches’ conversation shifted towards the experimental records.
However, some witches couldn’t let go of Tan Han, so they approached Lina to continue chatting. After all, Lina was Tan Han’s counselor, and her opinions would greatly influence Tan Han.
“Lina, what do you think now? Are you planning to train Tan Han into a war weapon? A spell cannon?”
“Tan Han has great potential; at her current stage, she should be exposed to extraordinary laws just like Yang Yuelan, learning extraordinary knowledge, instead of wielding so many spellbooks and magic sources to massacre on the arena.”
“But you can’t deny that Tan Han is currently only at the second-tier Spirit Vision level at the imaging stage. According to the script, she should grow her power and gather the world’s fortune to elevate her, and it’s not too late to understand when she becomes an extraordinary witch.”
“Impatient, huh? So this is the academy’s decision? Afraid of being left out?”
“Who knows? This main world can be opened, but for extraordinary races, four is enough; our Witch Academy just needs to be the last.”
…
“It’s shocking! The spell phenomenon from Arena 1 has reached outside! This indicates the solidification spells at Arena 1 have also been… Ugh, a blizzard is now raging inside the arena; the view is a bit unclear, we… we’re stepping in… let me first cast a warming spell…”
The commentator on-site was also extremely excited! Even snowflakes were getting blown into her mouth.
Rumors had it that Tan Han possessed a spell that consumed over a thousand magic points; judging by this phenomenon, it was definitely a spell of that caliber. Even high-grade senior sisters in the academy might not have such a spell.
No one could believe that a new student could possess such methods. Of course, the commentator silently criticized the protective measures for this new student competition, but she didn’t dare to voice it openly.
What should be done?
Just guide others to feel that Tan Han is powerful.
“We’ve gotten into a position where we can see the enormous figure in the snow; let’s take a look at the earth vein information to see what spell Tan Han is using… Ancient Ice Transformation Spell.”
At this moment, the commentator didn’t use ‘Arena 1’ to introduce, but directly called her Tan Han; perhaps she was so excited that she didn’t even realize it.
“Just from the name of this spell, we can tell the strength of the spell…”
“Hey, classmate, hurry and evacuate! Are you trying to get yourself killed by moving forward? Quickly go back; non-participants aren’t allowed in the arena!”
“Huh? Aren’t you the referee from Arena 3? What are you doing…”
“Evacuate the students; this batch of matches is temporarily halted, and any personal losses incurred will be borne by the academy.”
“Huh? What about Arena 1?” She was still the commentator for Arena 1, and she was live-streaming now!
Would she not be penalized for this kind of event?
“What caused this incident is Arena 1. You’re the commentator for Arena 1? Great, head back; I’ll transfer the commentary rights to Arena 1’s referee.”
“Huh? But…”
“You can’t commentate in a situation like this; it’s revoked, hurry back.” With that, the referee from Arena 3 cut off her commentary rights.
At this moment, amidst the blizzard, I was enduring the bone-chilling cold.
Tan Han was indeed right.
This scene was the first I had ever seen.
I could only rub the fireball to maintain a certain temperature, feeling like the little girl selling fireballs, about to meet my grandmother…
Alright, in reality, I had no clue what my grandmother looked like.
But it was just a metaphor.
“Feel the crushing of absolute power!”
A huge voice echoed from above, swirling with ice and resounding, sweeping away the ice and snow between me and her.
At this moment, I could finally see her appearance clearly with my own eyes.
Tan Han had now turned into a towering giant, her attire formed from ice-blue solid ice.
Even so, her human shape was still discernible; her body resembled a deep ice layer, radiating a deep blue glow.
Clad in solid ice and wielding a staff, sharp spikes of ancient ice served as her loyal guardians, while hanging icicles in the sky became her wings, each movement bringing hail down to the ground.
This was a transformation spell sculpted from over a thousand magic points.
After the initial shock, I involuntarily began to speculate on the spell’s conversion ratio of magic power; after all, this kind of consumption in the thousands was far higher than the previous hundreds; it wasn’t merely a matter of stacking magic power, it definitely meant that this spellbook improved the efficiency of magic transformation.
You see, although my research on the Fireball Spell indicated that it consumed only a little magic, the conversion rate was also quite low, below 1%.
This was perhaps the reason this spellbook could not withstand a higher conversion ratio, and because the spell itself was too low-tier, its internal structure and ceremonies were outdated, restricting the conversion rate.
Though I couldn’t imagine how terrifying a 100% conversion rate Fireball Spell would be, Tan Han’s transformation spell gave me a glimpse into a terribly powerful spell with high conversion rates.
After all, even if I consumed a thousand magic points to cast a thousand Fireball Spells, I couldn’t reach that level!
At that moment, I genuinely felt a pang of envy, envying Tan Han for acquiring such a terrifying spellbook so easily.
But what can be done? She proved her worth and caught the academy’s attention.
If not for Teacher Ji giving me an opportunity, I might still be struggling over there.
Only now could I truly feel how foolish I was for previously rejecting Teacher Ji’s spellbook, but accepting those spells seemed useless anyway, at least at this stage, even if I had those spells, I couldn’t break the deadlock.
Ultimately, it was merely that the resources I had access to were too low-tier.
Yet if we delve into its value, did I not have value? Was I not deserving of such resource allocation?
How could that be!
Even though I didn’t know much about myself, what Teacher Ji told me made me understand that my value was not inferior to Tan Han’s, perhaps even surpassing hers, yet I had yet to enjoy the same treatment as Tan Han.
Just like now, I could only be pursued by icicles.
The ground of the arena had already frozen solid; the ring that was previously molten had now been completely frozen, with icicles continually falling. Any misstep could lead to being crushed.
Moreover, I had to discern the edges of the arena; stepping out would mean losing. Originally, the arena’s edge had solidification spells, but now those temporary solidification spells might have malfunctioned.
And the referee at the edge of the arena could rush over at any moment to halt the match. However, I glanced at the referee, indicating that it wasn’t necessary for now.
Yet, I vaguely heard the referee saying something.
“As Arena 1 completes the spell transformation, Contestant 14 has completely fallen into a passive state; as long as there’s a slight error with the icicles, the match will come to a definitive end.”
“Earlier, Contestant 14 gestured to me to continue the match; therefore, adhering to the spirit of competition, we will continue commentary from my end. I am the referee of Arena 1, and due to uncontrollable factors, the upcoming commentary will be conducted by myself…”
“Give up, Xiao Han; futile struggles will only make you lose more disgracefully.”
At this moment, Tan Han, transformed into the Ancient Ice, swept her gaze in my direction with the ancient ice staff in hand.
“Having fought up to this point, I have basically comprehended your methods. Before this, I was actually looking forward to battling you, but I didn’t expect everything to happen so quickly. To be pushed to this extent proves your strength, but it’s not enough!”
“I heard that you are exempt from classes just like I am. While you haven’t been in class, I have been practicing spells. During that long time, I utilized spells, and in my spare time, I constantly challenged opponents in dream devices. What about you, Xiao Han?”
Tan Han’s voice resonated like a declaration before the final battle, laced with a hint of arrogance. Perhaps it was the transformation spell altering her tone.
“Are you trying to prove something to me? Your efforts?” I replied to her with a question instead of answering, after all, Tan Han was a rich young lady. I understood such an arrogant personality, but I didn’t agree with it.
Moreover, the main point was to buy time. In my current situation, I needed to break the deadlock; failing to do so meant waiting for d*ath—hanging on could k*ll me, too.
The only thing I could rely on was Spirit Vision; what had previously been my burden was now my most practical tool!
“Such a gaze again, Xiao Han. Your eyes are truly special—is it your talent? But this time, I won’t give you a chance to pry!”
Tan Han seemed to sense my Spirit Vision checking her, a look she was fond of; it was reminiscent of what happened last time during meditation.
Just like the last time, I hoped to trigger her talent and eliminate that sense of prying!
Since then, she had realized what her awakened talent upon enrollment truly was.
Initially, she couldn’t understand how her talent worked; the content on the earth vein information was just garbled text. She had asked her counselor and inquired at the academy, but no one provided an answer.
Until that time when her talent passively activated, she gradually began to experience what it was—a seed with a vertical pupil, surrounded by an unknown force.
Finally, the name surfaced on the earth vein information: “Spirit Eye.”
The power surrounding the Spirit Eye was extraordinarily mysterious, even more terrifying than magic power, yet she could not actively harness it.
But now, it seemed almost destined; she found herself in this situation, especially after locking gazes with Xiao Han, her Spirit Eye activated, the restless power wanting to break free from her body, expelling that gaze.
So Tan Han directly guided that sensation into the core of the Ancient Ice Transformation spellbook.
At this moment, my Spirit Vision quickly pierced through the Ancient Ice Transformation Spell, every energy node derived from the spell, resembling a web structure spread throughout this enormous form.
I even saw the essence of Tan Han herself, where the source of this spellbook resided.
Saying it was a transformation spell, but abstractly, the spell was more like encasing a shell.
Hit the core, awaken the essence, interrupt the energy nodes, and detonate the transformation spell ceremony.
The method was simple, yet just knowing how to do it didn’t ensure success. After all, my means were limited, unless… I sacrificed my Fireball Spellbook to orchestrate a more powerful strike.
I had practically understood the Fireball Spellbook, including the internal magic-to-fire element conversion efficiency.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to use a more potent Fireball Spell but because that kind of Fireball Spell was my trump card, saved for delivering the final blow; why expose my trump card right at the beginning?
Moreover, higher conversion rates meant longer cooldowns for the spellbook. The spellbook itself was a highly integrated product of spells, and using it naturally incurs a cooldown; otherwise, rapid high-intensity use would damage the spellbook, leading to spell failure, and so on.
If a spell failed, nothing happening would be the best outcome; otherwise, internal damage to the spellbook was a normal phenomenon, and the worst-case scenario was the book being completely destroyed, causing mental backlash.
I previously ruined one and had it analyzed by Teacher Ji for a spellbook structure specimen.
But just as I was preparing to sacrifice this spellbook, an anomaly occurred once more.
I didn’t know what Tan Han had done; I only felt that in my Spirit Vision, a gigantic golden vertical pupil appeared above the Ancient Ice Tan Han had transformed into!
Wasn’t this the one I had seen while meditating with Tan Han?!
Just thinking back to that scene made me shiver involuntarily, as if I were under a crushing force of a higher tier, leaving me no chance to resist.
Was this cheating? It had to be cheating! Wasn’t I directly doomed by using such power?
Spirit Vision at the floating world level faced that eye, seeing through it into the deep starry sky beyond, until the void…
Such a scene was certainly not something common folks could witness; the students in the audience naturally couldn’t see this terrifying spectacle.
That golden pupil carried the Ancient Ice, traversing heaven and earth, commanding Tan Han’s form at this moment.
Meanwhile, numerous witches in the teachers’ seats suddenly stood up.
“The fortune seed has been activated? How is that possible?”
“The script has a bug; it actually judged that Tan Han would lose in the upcoming collision?”
Among them, Lina was the most shocked. As Tan Han’s counselor, she naturally knew Tan Han well, yet the spellbook inside the seemingly ordinary Yang Yuelan was merely four that could reverse this situation?
To activate a fortune seed meant a pivotal plot twist had occurred, necessitating ‘correction’. The power behind plot correction wasn’t something trivial.
It was akin to a scripted execution in a game; seemingly reasonable theatrics, but bound to conclude in d*ath. The improbability lay in the trajectory of the narrative being locked, with no possibility of the opponent’s victory…
“Tan Han’s first bl**d is given away just like that?” Many teachers couldn’t believe it.
Of course, when the witches discussed Tan Han’s first bl**d, they didn’t refer to the typical context but rather to Tan Han, a key plot character, having her fortune stripped and altered for the first time due to the plot.
“Scripted execution” was one of the means for script self-correction.
However, for those subjected to scripted execution, it wasn’t entirely negative; even if they were protagonists, they were living beings existing in the world, this process was an “equivalent exchange”.
The fortune used by the activated fortune seed wouldn’t vanish; instead, it transfers in another form to the counterpart, known as “sharing a piece of the pie”.
If one’s perspective and understanding were insufficient to perceive this layer, it might be acceptable to label those subjected to scripted execution as failed cannon fodder.
“By the way, where is Xi Lan? Her precious student is currently in combat; does she know what’s happening?”
“I haven’t seen her, but I’m still curious how Contestant 14 could reverse the situation without the script’s interference.”
“Probably don’t know yet? The magic-to-fire element conversion rate of the Fireball Spellbook; that Yang Yuelan previously even ruined a spellbook during experiments; for her, sacrificing another one won’t be too high. As long as it reaches a 10% conversion rate, she can break this transformation.”
“Wouldn’t that be overestimating it? Trying to resolve it with a single strike?”
“Yang Yuelan is the first innate Spirit Vision User, a floating world level Spirit Vision; it’s frightening to consider, that previous Flame Lord was taken down in one blow!”
“Seems that way.”
“Hey, Lina, what are you planning?”
The witches saw Lina as if realizing something and immediately stood up, heading towards the arena.
“Just now your words reminded me; this Yang Yuelan possesses a Spirit Vision level classified as floating, and this collision with the fortune seed might touch upon the world’s script theory. I’ll prepare a confidentiality contract; such information must not be spread in the main world.”
“Indeed, I almost forgot this possibility.”
And at this moment.
I looked at Tan Han in front of me, who seemed so unfamiliar at this moment, even without saying a word to me.
That enormous golden pupil seemed to lock onto me, while I found myself powerless.
“You’re cheating, aren’t you… Tan Han, then I’ll have to fight with all I’ve got!”
But Tan Han didn’t respond.
In that case, my hand pressed against my chest, a ball of light began to manifest. Since I was preparing to sacrifice this spellbook, then let this spellbook unfold around me.
Mental power disassembled; the protective layer of the spellbook became entirely useless; removing the outer protective layer would lay bare its internal structure completely.
The singular-use method of this spellbook was being utilized at that moment; I had never acted so recklessly, even in the laboratory.
Just as I was about to launch modifications on this unfolding spellbook, I suddenly felt my consciousness slip away in an instant.
Everything transitioned smoothly, and my awareness came back to life once again.
My surroundings became eerily quiet, without blizzards, without the arena, and certainly without the surrounding audience.
Only a void remained, and in the distance… a golden light.
“Tan Han…?”
I tentatively looked towards the figure within that golden light.
“Uh… Xiao Han… where is… this place?”
“Ah? Weren’t you the one who caused all this? Why are you asking me?”
“I?” At this moment, Tan Han was just as perplexed.
She only remembered seamlessly placing the seed of her talent into the spellbook, and then everything went blank. Upon waking up, she found herself here.
