Chapter 359: Issues That May Arise from Cutting the Earth Vein Shackles
“Citizens of Ninglan New City, I am honored to stand here and deliver my inauguration speech. First, I must say that Ninglan New City can stand safely atop this wasteland today thanks to those who hold ideals, who strive for them, and even sacrifice their lives. Here, I would like to take a moment of silence for those who have passed. They are martyrs who defended Ninglan New City, and their contributions are worthy of our eternal remembrance.”
As Ninglan Qiuyue’s resounding words spread through the largest square in Ninglan New City via a loudspeaker.
The usually bustling square and surrounding streets fell silent at this moment.
With the announcement and fermentation of the events from the past two days, the residents of Ninglan New City finally welcomed their overdue explanation. Faced with such dramatic changes, the residents were indeed worried for their own safety. Initially, they simply thought that the violent coup was caused by the arrival of outsiders, but they did not expect that it was a matter of the city’s very existence.
Especially since all of this happened during the energy tide period, resulting in a beast tide that inflicted heavy casualties on the City Guard and the City Defense Army.
The City Guard was not adept at resisting the mutated beasts outside the city. They were forcibly redirected by that Dream Demon, which brought considerable operational pressure to the City Defense Army. However, if not for the emergency involvement of the City Guard, the frontline of Ninglan New City might have completely fallen. During this time, many flying mutated beasts invaded the skies above Ninglan New City; after all, the Earth Vein protected Ninglan New City only against the energy tide but could not prevent the mutated beasts from entering from high above.
In the past, the stability within the city relied mainly on the City Guard and extraordinary weapons. Most threats within the city came from above; once spotted, it was like shooting live targets.
However, once the City Guard left, the city suffered significant losses for this reason.
Yet, the residents did not care about their danger; they only cared that such incidents had rarely happened before, but now were occurring on a large scale.
You cannot disregard our lives just because you want to seize power.
One could say that this is the most unstable period for Ninglan New City, yet Ninglan Qiuyue still chose today to deliver her inauguration speech.
Because she has the strongest connections in Ninglan New City or rather, a powerful backing, which is the Witch Academy.
At that time, the Academy Head took me to return the Ninglan Seed, which is the name of that extraordinary item. Upon arrival, I found out that the Witch Academy was actually preparing to incorporate Ninglan Qiuyue into the academy!
But thinking about it, Ninglan Qiuyue is a living Child of Fortune; how could she be left here unchecked? Naturally, they would want to leverage the Witch Academy’s traditional skills to bring her back.
However, Ninglan Qiuyue is the last remaining scion of the City Lord’s lineage in Ninglan New City. If she were not the City Lord, no one else could take on that role without the rightful justification, hence the need for this inauguration speech.
For the sake of Ninglan Qiuyue, the Witch Academy proposed numerous suggestions, including, but not limited to, relocating the entire Ninglan New City to the main world, which is the pure land where the Witch Academy is located.
Translocating such a large piece of land is a trivial matter for witches, or rather, most extraordinary academies have this capability, although their methods vary.
However, this was declined; not only did most officials oppose it, but even Ninglan Qiuyue did not wish for it. First, there’s the unfamiliar environment, and integration into a new world would also require adaptation, alongside numerous unforeseen problems waiting for Ninglan New City. Additionally, the current Ninglan New City simply cannot endure such a significant upheaval.
After comprehensive consideration, they had to give up.
However… Ninglan Qiuyue was not raised as a City Lord and had never been exposed to any education related to being a City Lord. So theoretically, she cannot be a good leader.
Thus, she was influenced by the witch mentors from the Witch Academy to become a student of the academy.
It should be noted that the relationship between the Witch Academy and Ninglan New City has never been an equal negotiation; this was evident when an extraordinary witch single-handedly annihilated all the mutated beasts outside the city and intimidated the lurking mutated beast hordes from a distance, causing those officials to lose their tempers. This was a one-handed crushing! Such terrifying existences, if any of them truly resisted, they would not know how many times they would have perished by the time that thought even crossed their minds.
The Witch Academy preserved the integrity of Ninglan New City instead of treating them as refugees and integrating them into the society of the main world, which is enough of a mercy.
Thus, from this moment on, Ninglan New City essentially belongs to the Witch Academy.
As for why the Witch Academy would invest in establishing a stable spatial passage to Ninglan New City, it naturally affirms the value of Ninglan New City’s existence. Additionally, the graduating seniors who promote to extraordinary witches can come here to sever the Earth Vein Shackles, making the process more convenient.
As for whether this reason is true, I believe it is valid; whether there are deeper reasons is beyond my knowledge.
As the moment of silence passed, Ninglan Qiuyue’s voice rang out again.
I sat quietly with Sister Bai in a more front-row position, listening intently.
I must say, Ninglan Qiuyue has a talent for speeches. Although a large part of what she said was scripted, it was a script she had written herself, with only slight modifications to the wording.
“Sister Bai, after seeing Ninglan Qiuyue’s inauguration speech, you should return now; after all, you have been lying in the medical room for quite a while.”
“My physical constitution is strong; it’s fine. I still want to accompany you; after all, you chose to stay here, didn’t you?”
“That’s because I still have a lot to do. These past two days… I’ve been waiting for the Academy Head and others to be busy; even the promised Earth Vein Shackles haven’t been severed for me yet, but it will be soon. The Academy Head contacted me and said that if I watched the speech here, I should go find her.”
“Well then, I have things to do as well.”
“What could you possibly need to do, Sister Bai?” I asked lazily, leaning back against the bench.
“Of course, it’s to accompany you.”
“Huh? Suddenly saying such things… Sister Bai, don’t you have anything of your own to attend to?” I straightened up suddenly, propped my hands on the seat of the bench, and looked at Sister Bai inquiringly.
After all, from a certain perspective, Sister Bai saying that her task was to accompany me is somewhat… romantic perhaps?
“Hmm… I should have nothing else left, right?”
“Is… that so?” At this moment, my fingers moved closer to Sister Bai’s hand, eventually gently resting on the back of her hand.
“Hmm?” Bai Yu naturally felt the small movement of my hand but did not actively pull away.
In the Dream World… this still counts as holding hands, right?
As time passed little by little, Ninglan Qiuyue’s speech reached its conclusion, and the remaining tasks didn’t actually require her direct involvement.
After Ninglan Qiuyue wrapped up her speech and stepped off the stage, she came to find us.
“Teacher Xiao Han, Bai Yu… Senior, it’s nice to see you again.”
“Don’t call me Teacher Xiao Han anymore. Since you’ve entered the Witch Academy and become a student of the same term as me, calling me teacher is quite inappropriate.” I waved my hand with a smile.
“Alright then… thank you for specifically staying to watch my speech.”
“It’s just pure curiosity. This is my first time seeing a City Lord’s inauguration speech, and I must say you have genuine talent in this area.”
“Really? I was so nervous on stage that I was almost shaking; thankfully, it went smoothly… at least, it seems to have gone smoothly so far.”
“Is that so? I really couldn’t tell. But… there’s really no need; being a City Lord isn’t a big deal. This world is just a huge farce. What you need isn’t to become a perfect City Lord in your heart, but to play the role of a City Lord whom others can trust; there’s no need to put so much pressure on yourself.”
“So that’s how you view this world, a huge farce… haha… that’s quite an apt description.”
It is just like that City Lord of Ninglan I met at first, appearing mature and steady, yet still an ordinary person who makes mistakes, just like he is a father who misjudged his own child, a failed parent.
Anyone can be like that; what one can see is always the splendid exterior presented by others, yet no one sees the ordinary behind it.
That’s how this world works; whether you are significant is not the key; whether others believe you is what truly matters.
After a brief chat with Ninglan Qiuyue, we bade her farewell. After all, for her to carve out a bit of time from her busy schedule to meet us was proof of many things, plus I also had my responsibilities to attend to and needed to meet the Academy Head.
“Xiao Han, I’ll accompany you there, alright?”
“Mm.” I nodded in agreement.
“Next up… what is Xiao Han going to do? Is it to sever the so-called Earth Vein Shackles?”
“Pretty much. There’s also the matter of remaking my body. The Academy Head said I haven’t yet promoted to extraordinary, and it’s best not to use resurrection spells to create a new body until I sever the Earth Vein Shackles. It’s better to just sever the shackles first and then reshape my body.”
Of course, the most important thing is that I’m in the Dream World and my soul is also within the Dream World. I have no connection to reality, so even if I used a resurrection spell, reviving in the Dream World would be meaningless.
Meanwhile, my magic source and spellbook are still reliant on my Earth Vein Shackles, but they are kept with the Academy Head.
After severing the Earth Vein Shackles, I still have a question to deal with, namely the issues concerning my magic source and spellbook.
Generally, graduating seniors would have already promoted to extraordinary witches; after reaching that tier, they could fully master their magic source and spellbook, but I can’t do that. I can’t achieve it without external help.
Moreover, there is a critical matter: the academy’s system information is based on the main world’s Earth Veins. When I sever the Earth Vein Shackles, my original student ID information would also… vanish. This doesn’t matter to the graduating seniors, but for me, it does! I haven’t even completed a full year of studies! I don’t want to graduate so soon…
But that’s a minor issue.
The most important things are still the spellbook and magic source.
This involves the reshaping of my body.
After some explanation from the Academy Head, I finally understood how the body cultivation power I inexplicably possessed at that time worked. It is known as Self-Generated Magic. I also had a slight discussion with the Academy Head about Self-Generated Magic and have a rough understanding now. I didn’t expect that I inadvertently achieved such a feat.
But… that’s just how it is.
Maybe this is what it means to remain calm.
I still care more about the spellbook and magic source.
The spellbook is actually quite easy to solve; after all, I have a spellbook called “Spellbook Rack Spellbook.” So fundamentally speaking, even without the Earth Vein Shackles to carry the spellbook, having this spellbook can perfectly resolve all problems.
The remaining issue is how to master this Spellbook Rack Spellbook.
The Academy Head proposed two solutions: one is to not use the spellbook at all and, while the effects of the great weakening spell are not covering Ninglan New City, I figure out the spell ceremony for the Spellbook Rack Spell spell and create it manually. This way, I can circumvent the shortcoming of being unable to master the spellbook. However, once I return to the academy, I will still be overwhelmed by the effects of the great weakening spell, making it extremely difficult to use the spellbook afterward.
The other option is to thoroughly master a spellbook with the Academy Head’s assistance. Using the essence of my life at the soul level, I can barely grasp a spellbook, but this would indeed require the Academy Head’s help.
As for how I’ll choose… naturally, I want both!
This time I’ll be a bit shameless; I need to trouble the Academy Head while also wanting to get to know the spellbook, especially since Teacher Ji initially used it to exchange a large amount of unnecessary resources from me, which is no small sum.
Finally, she even painted a picture for me, saying that the derived spells from this spellbook are particularly powerful, and if I can, I’ll naturally want to try it out.
As for the magic source… the Academy Head explained a concept to me, which is “Self-Generated Magic.”
Originally, witches used magic without a magic source. Back then, the magic within extraordinary witches was self-generated. The disasters caused by magic leaking from witches were extremely terrifying. Hence, the original extraordinary witches were synonymous with disaster in the Void.
Only until the concept of the magic source appeared did this state of witches come to an end.
However, the ability of Self-Generated Magic is still a talent belonging to extraordinary witches.
It is also one of the sources of magic for witches to generate their own magic, but this talent is unique to “extraordinary” witches.
Those who are not extraordinary witches, including preparatory witches and quasi-witches, cannot do this.
But I am different; my Self-Generated Body Cultivation is not restricted by d*ath or physical damage because it allows perfect control over myself.
Thus, the Academy Head came up with a bold and unprecedented attempt because self-generated body cultivation is exceedingly rare. With my cooperation, the Academy Head wants to see if it’s possible to utilize the advantages of self-generated body cultivation, along with the essence of my soul, and the witch transformation brought about by the magic source, to achieve a partial “leap” in witch constitution without reaching extraordinary witch status.
In simpler terms, it means allowing me to master the inherent talent of “Self-Generated Magic,” which is exclusive to extraordinary witches, before reaching that level.
This is undoubtedly madness, but it is feasible; otherwise, do you think the Academy Head has been busy these past few days?
Naturally, preparing for this attempt.
One could say that with my participation in this experiment, it also stirred the hearts of countless scholarly witches within the Witch Academy, for, after all, they would absolutely not miss this excellent opportunity for curiosity regarding the unknown.
