Chapter 215: The Cruel Means of the Fallen Academy
“Um? This… is red velvet cake? Xiao Han, you can make this too?”
“After all, it’s the signature dish of the bakery. I’ve often watched how it’s made, but I don’t know how it tastes. Help me try it.” After slicing the cake, I served each of them a piece.
“Sister Xiao Han, please give me the biggest remaining piece!” Minian immediately spoke up as she looked at the last slice after I finished cutting.
“Alright, it’s all yours. Anyway, I’m going to make more.” I watched as Minian, who just ate a big bowl of cat food, was now going to consume so many sweets. Is she trying to turn the witch tea party into a buffet?
“By the way, Tan Han, you should know the significance of red velvet cake in the bakery, right?” I whispered as I handed it to Tan Han.
“Significance? I think… I know a little.”
“Did the store manager say anything to you?”
“She told you too?”
“Looks like everyone has been informed.” I shrugged and smiled; the store manager is really generous this time.
“Sister Xiao Han, Tan Han, what are you two being all secretive about?”
“It’s nothing, just something about Holy Angel Academy. We agreed to a few requests.”
“I’ll make more red velvet cake later for you to take some. It will save time for the next ceremony. Oh, and if you run into anyone from Holy Angel Academy, remember to throw the red velvet cake at their faces. It counts as helping.” I said with a light laugh.
“Huh? It feels like things aren’t that simple. Did Holy Angel Academy provoke you?”
“I’m not too sure. It might be the grudges from the seniors’ generation. If you manage to smear red velvet cake on someone’s face, maybe you’ll get a discount when you buy desserts at the bakery.” I joked, but if the store manager is watching, she might really give a discount since there are many items in the bakery that aren’t selling well.
Is this considered indirect advertising for the store manager?
But at this moment, it’s a witch tea party, so anything goes.
After the desserts and tea were served, everyone began sharing what they’d been up to recently. I listened intently, especially when Minian was explaining their experiences with the wizards and the Truth Ceremony at the Wizard Tower; it was really thrilling.
Especially those bizarre tactics and terrifying witch weapons from the Wizard Academy. Even with two sides guarding the Wizard Tower and the Truth Ceremony, they showed no fear. They also tested the defense and attack methods of the Wizard Tower, ultimately attracting the folks from Holy Angel Academy to break their ceremony by using specific resources.
“Our experiences are done; it’s your turn, Sister Xiao Han! I want to hear about you igniting the inferno in the forest! You don’t know, even we on the other side encountered more than one randomly resurrected elf and Beast Academy folks. Sister Xiao Han, you’re currently the top scorer!”
“Alright, my turn. I’ll just say a few things.” After all, it’s the witch tea party; everyone needs to communicate or ask questions. We’re all familiar faces now, so I don’t mind much.
“Since the last witch tea party ended, I’ve gone to the Beast Academy’s forest, and there I met the cute cats from the Cute Cat Academy… Hmm? Did you hear something?”
“What sound?”
“It seems like there really is something. Could it be other academies attacking?” Minian hurriedly got up, looking around in a bit of a panic.
“Seems like it’s coming from that direction.” Tan Han discerned slightly and pointed towards the giant sword facing the Ruined Mount, beneath which a Dreadnought Troll was impaled, providing a magnificent view.
“Listening to the sound, it seems like a call for help. Why does it sound like Lan Baihui?”
“It’s not just a similarity; it’s definitely Lan Baihui.” After confirming, Tan Han headed that way.
“Lan Baihui? Over there? What an obvious spot. By the way, didn’t you notice when you arrived?”
“How could you think anyone would notice a person tied up on such a massive sword?”
When Tan Han rescued Lan Baihui, everyone gasped in shock.
At that moment, Lan Baihui was barely recognizable as a person. Her uniform was tattered, stained with dirt and bl**d, her limbs broken, and even bone was showing from her body.
Although this was in the dream world, the sensation of pain wouldn’t be blocked. At that moment, Lan Baihui’s voice sounded hoarse, and thankfully someone recognized it was her voice.
Who would guess this figure was Lan Baihui? They would even think it’s just a corpse here.
The only thing Lan Baihui was repeatedly asking for was to be killed, to be freed.
“d*mn! They! How dare they! How can they treat our Witch Academy’s students like this!” Minian, the most active one here, couldn’t help but tremble as she spoke after seeing such a scene.
Who among us didn’t live normal lives? Who had encountered such brutal torture? Even just seeing this scene made everyone’s back feel cold.
The wound’s surface on Lan Baihui wasn’t made by a sharp weapon, but by biting and tearing…
“Step aside, let me try the Flesh Healing spell.” Unable to bear it any longer, I stepped forward, knowing this spell has a high magic cost, but at this moment, I couldn’t guarantee such injuries could be healed.
But I felt this hundreds of magic power was worth trying.
“Um… Sister Xiao Han, these wounds aren’t cleaned…”
“The Flesh Healing spell’s effect will automatically remove foreign objects attached to the wound. Don’t underestimate the capability of a high-consumption spellbook.” I comforted and started healing.
“I’ll help too; missing limbs need regeneration—my healing spells are quite complete as well.” Tan Han squatted down and said.
“Mm.”
I didn’t stop her; after all, this isn’t a time for me to show off. It is indeed about Flesh Healing, but how can a missing limb be healed?
Before long, I couldn’t assist any longer; Lan Baihui’s injuries began to heal rapidly under the spell, and I supplemented her with a pain reduction from the Five-Senses Weakening spell to at least reduce some of her suffering.
“These academies in the Land of the Fallen! Undead Academy! Inferior Demon Academy! Demon Academy! I won’t spare a single one of them!”
“When I see one, I’ll take them down!”
“Just taking them down is too cheap for them! They turned Lan Baihui into this! I want them to feel this pain too!”
“Such academies shouldn’t exist!”
At this moment, I quietly sat at the tea party, with no mood to deal with the cake; the well-made cake batter hadn’t even been processed.
But the recent stimuli had turned what was once just a casual thought into something I truly wanted to fulfill.
I opened the Memory Shelf and picked one of the few books there, which recorded the maps of the exchange competition.
Previously, I had only thought about it casually without testing its feasibility. If feasible, I wouldn’t mind executing a plan similar to burning the World Tree.
The academies in the Land of the Fallen thought they could ambush our Witch Academy, believing everyone’s strength was the same as Lan Baihui’s, so they acted with such confidence…
But they touched our bottom line, so I’ll dig out their roots.
The Land of the Fallen is the foundation of these academies. The Undead Academy needs skeletons to control the undead here, which is set in the Abyss. It’s just that the path to the lower levels is blocked by trolls, but the escaping demonic power is their excellent source of strength. Whether it’s the Fallen Academy, Undead Academy, or Succubus Academy, the natural terrain here is better than any healing potion.
If this map is a continent, then my thoughts are naturally impractical, but since this is an exchange competition map, the sense of territory is heavy, which shortens the distance between regions.
I looked at the map appearing before me and calculated the distance from the Land of the Fallen to the sea.
“Sister Xiao Han, what are you doing? Wait, where did you get the map?”
“Spell effect.” I spoke plainly while holding the pen from the Memory Shelf, “Do you think the Sea Tribe can trigger a tsunami?”
“The rules state that the exchange competition map would be affected by the central Ancient Battlefield and seawater erosion. The Ancient Battlefield relies on increasingly powerful past phantoms to battle, while seawater erosion isn’t explicitly defined. So, reasonably deducing, it means either the sea level is rising slowly, or…”
“The ocean will drown the land; perhaps it’s a hidden rule of the Sea Tribe’s ceremony.”
“Sister Xiao Han, why are you asking this now? Could it be… oh!”
“Don’t you feel, from the map’s perspective, that the Land of the Fallen is pretty close to the sea?” I drew a line connecting the Land of the Fallen to the coastline.
Although that side of the Land of the Fallen has a half-high terrain mountain range, it’s not entirely so. The rift of the Abyss extends here as if it’s splitting this place apart.
It seems like it’s welcoming the inflow of seawater; it appears that during the design of the terrain, the Witch Academy was too obvious in hinting.
Did any of the witch teachers responsible for the terrain design really think of this?
“Lan Baihui, are you feeling better now?”
At this moment, Tan Han had used all the means she could, and Lan Baihui had changed dramatically from before. If it weren’t for the traces on her clothes, who would believe she had just gone through such inhumane treatment?
“I… am I finally dead…?”
“It’s okay; it’s all over. You’ll be fine.”
Tan Han comforted Lan Baihui, as she had just endured such torment, and Lan Baihui was merely a girl who had just come into contact with the extraordinary; how could she withstand such treatment?
At this moment, outside.
After witnessing the deeds done by the academies in the Land of the Fallen, everyone was outraged. Even Afumiy, who should have felt relieved, was also ashamed of the methods of those academies in the Land of the Fallen!
What kind of normal academy is this!
The sisters from the Witch Academy were already angrily shouting to disqualify the participation of those academies, but this action didn’t violate any rules, and the Witch Academy itself couldn’t show too clear favoritism.
At most… when the Witch Academy’s students were beating the audience from the Undead Academy or the Fallen Academy, the teachers as referees would symbolically intervene.
“This is too much, far too much. Our Witch Academy has never received such humiliation.”
Yet even the teachers from the Witch Academy were emotionally stirred up, as they witnessed the whole process through the live broadcast, targeting the Witch Academy!
They were slapping the face of the Witch Academy!
“How can you call yourself an Extraordinary Witch? Be quiet; after experiencing such a shock, those little ones will know what they truly face.”
“If they enter the Extraordinary Academy without being prepared for facing such situations, they’re also unqualified. They likewise represent the new generation’s perception of the Witch Academy; it’s a good thing, far better than being flayed and having bones stripped in reality.”
“Exactly, that little one boasting about burning the World Tree, haven’t they stirred up something bigger?”
“Flooding the Land of the Fallen? How daring, but it’s not impossible; who designed this map? They’re truly a genius.”
“I heard it was designed under the supervision of Lina. If the Sea Tribe can be a bit more spirited and complete their ceremony, achieving the hidden rule of sea erosion, they could flood that place in one go with the opportunity from the tsunami.”
“After all, the Dreadnought Trolls are our common enemy; it’s a pity this can’t be directly told to them.”
At this moment.
Lan Baihui had already improved quite a bit under everyone’s comfort. Her physical injuries were healed, but mentally she still had some stress responses; it seemed she might need psychological counseling even after the competition.
And I briefly shared my thoughts with Tan Han and the others.
However, this idea was still too presumptuous.
Although the terrain supported this approach, where would the tsunami come from? How to flood it?
How would the Sea Tribe listen to us? How could we be sure the Sea Tribe had the ability to trigger a tsunami?
Was it worth helping the Sea Tribe complete their ceremony out of frustration?
If they completed the ceremony, what if the hidden rule didn’t meet expectations?
Many questions rushed in, making us need to sort through our own choices.
“I’ll go negotiate with the Sea Tribe; you handle the ceremony here.”
“Wait, Sister Xiao Han, didn’t you say your relationship with the Sea Tribe is already…”
“Then let’s emulate the Land of the Fallen and force them to complete the ceremony. The Sea Tribe’s ceremony site is unlike our Witch Academy; we can ask the rest gradually.”
“Isn’t this… not very good?”
“I’m not like those people from the Land of the Fallen; I have my own bottom line. Besides, excessive sympathy might get you killed.” I replied.
“Then how about you all spread the cream on those half-finished cakes and take them with you? Maybe you’ll use them for the next ceremony.”
“Oh, I almost forgot something very important.” As I was about to leave, a thought struck me.
“What is it?”
“I have a spell, Teleportation Summoning Spell. I’ve tested it, and it can teleport people, meaning after marking you, I can use this spell to summon you all before me.”
“Huh? Huh! Sister Xiao Han, you actually have such a magical skill! I I I! Hurry, give me one! If you summon me when you’re doing big things again, I want to be on-site!” Minian quickly raised her hand to speak after hearing this.
“This mark is somewhat fragile; it will disappear upon d*ath, so everyone… be careful. Tan Han, how about you?”
“Of course! This spell is quite interesting. If we have this, our speed in holding the ceremony will be the fastest among all academies.”
“I thought so too, but if we can’t fight, summoning people quickly is also good.” I said with a smile.
“If you can’t even win, then pulling us up will only get us in trouble, right?” Tan Han joked.
“How could that be? Sometimes the number of people is justice. I’m off now; I’ll leave the tea party to you.” I took my tea party invitation and directly flew away on my broom.
Of course, before that, I also marked everyone and confirmed there were no issues before leaving.
The distance from here to the Sea Tribe isn’t far, but the problem is finding the students of the Sea Tribe once I reach the sea; asking for the information I want is even more difficult.
Before long, I arrived at the sea area, but this time, I didn’t encounter anyone from the Sea Tribe. After all, the sea is vast, but the academy count totals thirty people at most. With the two I sent away… it’s a bit like finding a needle in the haystack…
Should I create some commotion to attract their attention?
I recalled my unfinished “Resonance.” This magical alteration technique, like “Drifting,” is applicable to most basic manipulation spellbooks. However, before, I had only attempted it with the Stone Breaking spell—an earth-type element.
What if I resonate with water elements?
The sea is filled with seawater, the most abundant place of water elements, so resonating with water elements here is much easier than resonating with earth.
Currently, I only have “Raging Tide Spell” for water elements. Generally, I use it to condense water elements into a water column to deal high-pressure jet damage. Don’t underestimate the power of water; after all, there’s a type of blade made of water — as long as the pressure is sufficient, who wouldn’t have great power?
At this moment, I stretched out my hand to cast Raging Tide Spell. When Raging Tide Spell no longer exerted pressure, the flowing water would have no damage.
“Resonate… just like when I resonated with stone…”
I explored the resonance technique, and during this time, I also cast the Adaptation spell on myself; with this spell’s support, my progress sped up significantly.
But it still seemed insufficient, as I continually reinforced the idea of unity of knowledge and action.
“Blessing of the Water Elemental Sprite!”
I raised my head, thinking about what could assist me. Reviewing all my spellbooks, I almost forgot the Blessing of the Elemental Sprite.
This spell randomly summons, but thanks to my magical alterations, I was able to specify it, almost falling into cognitive bias of treating it like the Fire Elemental Sprite.
With the Blessing of the Water Elemental Sprite, my affinity with water elements dramatically increased, and the sprite granted me the power to control water elements, just as the Fire Elemental Sprite provided me with the power to control flames.
“Seawater… resonate with me!”
I called out softly as the surrounding seawater began to surge under the Blessing of the Water Elemental Sprite, combined with the Raging Tide Spell, a fully controlled manipulation spell cast a resonance, forming an astonishing wave of seawater that swelled outward from me.
In a moment, I even thought I could control the ocean, with waves resonating one after another, layers upon layers of surf stacking.
At the very center, it was easy for me to have such an illusion.
But just as I intended to exert force, I realized in the end I was still that powerless; I wasn’t one of those gifted with ocean protection like the Sea Tribe; I was merely resonating with the power provided by the Water Elemental Sprite.
While I couldn’t trigger a tsunami, my previous actions were still quite terrifying.
To some extent, this could be considered a mini-tsunami, as the waves I pushed rose towards the shore, consuming the coast and greenery, yet… this amount of seawater affecting the coast wasn’t enough, at most destroying buildings on the shore; let alone flooding the Land of the Fallen.
However, mastering this technique isn’t a bad method; it also gave me a deeper understanding and practice of “resonance.”
I wonder if it’s possible to achieve results if we collaborate with the Sea Tribe…
“The source has been found… it’s that witch again!”
“That witch… she’s coming towards me! Ah!”
