Chapter 367: Return to Routine and Monthly Exam
“I’m back, is anyone here?”
Looking at the familiar villa in front of me, I pushed the door open ahead of Dongli Yiren. Noticing that the lights inside were off, I instinctively called out, as it had been a while since I last saw them, and I missed them a lot.
“Logically, Guan Qiuling should also be free today, but it’s usually a bit difficult to find her. Maybe she went to find a senior for some impromptu lessons,” Dongli Yiren said after thinking for a moment. “But they should be finishing classes soon.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
I glanced around the villa, noting that there were no significant changes from before, while also observing the magic power reserves inside. To my surprise, it wasn’t at a dangerously low level yet.
“We make sure to store magic power here every day, maximizing its usage. It’s not just for the villa’s daily consumption; we also need to charge our phones,” Dongli Yiren explained as she saw my actions.
“Then, logically speaking… you guys have been quite thrifty these days, right?” I said in surprise, considering that with just a few people, it would be a challenge to use all the magic sources daily.
At this moment, the advantages of having more people in the dormitory became apparent. This villa does have quite a few guest rooms, but with just these few people, it’s hardly enough.
“No, um… I should thank Guan Qiuling. She’s currently our dorm’s… oh, except for you, the one with the most magic sources.”
“Guan Qiuling?”
In my impression, she was a rather timid person who enjoyed playing games with seniors.
“Yes, according to her, the senior looking after her is quite generous, and she already has double-digit magic sources,” Dongli Yiren said plainly.
“Don’t you envy her?” Although I was a bit surprised, I instinctively asked.
“I would never sell out my dignity, and I want to create value through my own efforts,” Dongli Yiren said as she closed her notebook. “And Xiao Han, didn’t you also mention a way to acquire magic sources from the Witch Secret Realm? Slow accumulation is fine; we’re just at the accumulation phase now. I’ve also asked my counselor about other ways to obtain magic sources. I… well, I’m just trying to amuse myself. If you want to acquire magic sources, it should be quite simple for you.”
“Well, it’s not exactly simple, but as long as there are enough magic sources, that’s good.” I nodded.
After all, magic sources are used to promote the Witch Transformation Progress. I had already achieved a “pseudo-witch physique” physically in my Witch Transformation Progress. Continued transformation would gradually enhance my physical quality, mental power, extraordinary affinity, and other abilities. However, all of this is a slow process; it often takes years to see results. So, having thousands of magic sources or a limit of ten thousand doesn’t make much difference to me.
But now, I wasn’t burdened by the Earth Vein Shackles, so theoretically, there should be no clear limit.
Moreover, I have an advantage that others at my level don’t have, which is “self-generated magic.” My foundational accumulation for transformation will be richer than that of seniors who solely rely on magic sources for their transformation.
Thus, beings like Extraordinary Witches, even if not engaged in body cultivation, can still become very powerful just from the inherent physical enhancements brought by self-generated magic.
I bent down and grasped the charging point of the villa.
Earlier, I could only wait for it to slowly draw magic power from my internal magic sources.
Now, I had begun to initially wield magic and could actively and quickly supply energy to this place.
I watched the quickly rising numbers above and felt somewhat satisfied.
However, Dongli Yiren, who was about to return to her room but glanced over, looked puzzled and shocked at the rapidly changing numbers.
“What… what’s going on? The numbers are jumping so fast; is it broken?”
“Wait until your mental power is strong enough to wield magic, then you’ll be able to actively charge it,” I explained.
However, I felt that magic shouldn’t just be activated by having strong mental power alone; it should be related to the Witch Transformation. Moreover… I had caught a concept in my earlier experiments: magic affinity seems to be linked with Witch Transformation. Therefore, merely having strong mental power does not guarantee the ability to wield magic; otherwise, magic wouldn’t be called an extraordinary power exclusive to the Witch Race.
Only by first accepting magic, undergoing transformation, and then gaining magic affinity could one qualify to wield magic.
“Wielding magic? But didn’t the teacher say in class that it takes at least several years? How can you do it now?”
“Did your teacher say that in class?” I was slightly surprised. The current curriculum theoretically shouldn’t have covered this aspect. Did they categorize this content as part of an extraordinary knowledge course?
“When discussing magic, the teacher casually mentioned it.”
“Oh, that’s the general case. I’m a special case; do you see my current appearance?” I stood up at this point, brushing back my silver hair. “This appearance is no longer just the effect of a disguise spell; this is my original form. My previous appearance is considered passé.”
“You… you, the curse of eternal sleep is so cruel, turning your hair white overnight?” Dongli Yiren asked incredulously.
“Wrong guess, it’s not much related to the eternal sleep curse. Dongli Yiren, in the extraordinary world, a change in appearance often signifies a qualitative change or enhancement of power. Maybe you can’t understand exactly what I did, but just know that I approached the eternal sleep curse voluntarily this time.”
“You’re really bold…”
After her shock, Dongli Yiren couldn’t help but sigh.
“Is that so? Now that I think about it, it wasn’t just me; quite a few others approached the eternal sleep curse voluntarily.” Those who willingly try to face the unknown are the ones who are truly bold.
“That’s downright reckless; if it were me, I’d be trying to hide.”
“Your thinking’s not wrong; that’s not something an ordinary person can participate in. If something similar happens again at the Witch Academy, consider this my advice: I hope you can stay away from such events.”
I truly admired Dongli Yiren’s mentality, but what I meant to say was that I hoped she would stay out of the script and not get caught up in it. At that point, it would be truly helpless.
Having gone through it myself, I understood how powerless cannon fodder was in the script.
Just thinking of those sacrificed in the Underground City made it clear.
“Will similar things happen at the academy next time?” Dongli Yiren asked suspiciously.
“Maybe… but who knows? This is the helplessness of the weak in the extraordinary world. The weak have no choices; a thought from the powerful can lead to a dimensional strike on us—that’s what extraordinary is.”
After finishing the conversation with Dongli Yiren, I returned to my room, lying down on the soft bed, feeling a hint of weariness rising instinctively.
Indeed, it is good to be here…
These past days have been busy, exhausting I don’t know how much energy, and the excessive use of spirit vision has indeed improved my control over it. However, let’s not forget that using spirit vision also comes with its costs.
Uninterrupted fighting, combat, thinking, and researching can be said to have made my days in Ninglan New City relatively leisurely until a few days ago when I began to get busy; the later it got, the more weighty it became. But I can’t deny that under that kind of pressure, I also gained immense rewards.
For the next two days, I planned to take a break and at most “entertain” myself by reviewing the upcoming exam content before saying a proper goodbye to Sister Bai.
Though Sister Bai said she would be back in a few days, who would believe I wasn’t worried?
I certainly don’t.
Just in time, I would also take these two days to plan out my future paths carefully. Thinking about it… there are so many things I need to do.
Daily meditation can’t be skipped, and the incense I bought from Gong Xi Huanxin should be on the agenda now. Additionally, there’s a new ongoing project, which is the ceremonial battle dance paired with the body refinement alchemy ring to improve physical strength. All of these require persistence, and care is essential.
What’s left are the runes and alchemy-related studies.
Runes are very important, no need to say more.
If I hadn’t studied those runes during my trip to Ninglan New City, I would have had no foundation to master those techniques.
And after mastering these techniques, I also realized my shortcomings. I don’t understand the runes deeply enough; whether it’s nightmare magic or the dream rewriting spell, although I successfully created them, the process was quite bumpy.
Plus, there were many questions posed by scholars that I couldn’t answer because I didn’t understand them myself.
Ultimately, it still boils down to my shallow foundation.
And then there’s alchemy.
The alchemical system is a more effective way to understand the extraordinary world than the magic system; it’s a method.
Now that I’ve started, I certainly won’t neglect it.
I opened my phone and flipped to the long-lost dormitory group, browsing through the history and finding quite a bit of lunch-related information. Just as Dongli Yiren said, it was quite uneventful.
In the dormitory group, I also wanted to make my presence felt, so I didn’t plan to stay silent and surprise them.
Yang Yuelan: I’m back.
Hong Chanyi: ?
Hong Chanyi: Xiao! Han! Sister!
Hong Chanyi: Xiao Han, you’re back! I missed you so much these past few days!
Yu Yatian: I heard that people who were under the eternal sleep curse started waking up one after another a few days ago. I didn’t hear from you, Xiao Han, so I thought something happened to you.
Hong Chanyi: What could happen to Xiao Han?
Yang Yuelan: What could happen to Xiao Han? +1
Guan Qiuling: What could happen to Xiao Han? +1
Hong Chanyi: So, Qiuling is here too? Everyone’s lurking? What about Yiren? Yiren isn’t lurking too, right?
Dongli Yiren: Yes.
Dongli Yiren: I’ve returned to the dorm with Xiao Han.
I glanced at the messages in the group, replied a few times, and then returned to my own room.
After organizing my clothes, I realized that many of them no longer fit me; most had been prepared by Sister Bai before I started school, making it even less likely for me to wear them now.
I planned to sort out these clothes to get rid of them later and then buy some nice ones.
By the way… I should also take a good shower today. This would be my first time bathing with this body; although I’m intimately familiar with my body and can ensure its cleanliness at any time, there are still some things that a shower can’t replace.
Before I knew it, two days had passed.
I looked at the fully filled exam paper in my hand and felt satisfied as I stood up to turn it in.
This was the last exam, and it was the hardest foundational energy shaping section among all the new students’ courses, testing advanced element theory.
A nearby classmate, who was biting their nails, felt a wave of pressure as they saw someone already turning in their paper.
The proctor smiled and greeted me when she saw me; she didn’t seem displeased with my early submission.
After talking with the Academy Head, I understood that my name and even my current appearance have already spread among the Extraordinary Witches in the Witch Academy, which includes the instructors.
The past two days had indeed been fulfilling. It would have been even better if those strange teachers hadn’t come looking for me.
The reason they came to find me was quite simple—they were interested in the semi-finished spells I created in Ninglan New City.
That’s right, semi-finished spells. Whether it’s my Dream Rewriting Spell or Nightmare Spell, they’re all incomplete semi-finished spells, lacking a clear system and unable to be spread or utilized, after all, these spells heavily rely on my Floating World-level spirit vision to operate so finely.
Each teacher wanted to invite me to collaborate on perfecting these spells and was even willing to create a corresponding spellbook to gift me the first book of research once the spells were completed.
However, I declined all of them because I simply didn’t have much time to spare. Once I left the special environment of Ninglan New City, the Dream Rewriting Spell would already be rendered useless; without the dream interacting with reality, what’s the point of modifying anything?
As for the Nightmare Spell, it would be just as useless. If there is no interaction between dreams and reality, then there would be no target for casting the spell, since isn’t nightmare magic about drawing people from dreams to touch reality?
Nonetheless, they were still quite persistent. But I also understood that, for Extraordinary Witches, there must always be a way to let dream invade reality. After all, Ninglan New City was a perfect example of that, right?
Now that Ninglan New City had returned to its original state, dreams were expelled from reality, and even if I returned, I wouldn’t be able to use these spells again.
In the end, I couldn’t stand the teachers’ relentless pursuits any longer, so I decided to publicly disclose those runic rituals.
I didn’t feel there was anything wrong with making them public without charge.
It wouldn’t be wise to ask for benefits in return.
Throughout the process of those teachers coming to find me, I found out that quite a few witches were interested in these spells. I couldn’t possibly ask each one for a favor, right?
Furthermore, it wouldn’t be ideal to only accept benefits from certain witches. It would be better to openly gain goodwill.
Honestly, I was just trying to avoid trouble.
After all, in order to get by at the Witch Academy, what matters most isn’t how well you know which powerful senior but rather how well you get along with those teachers since any of them could be an Extraordinary Witch; no senior would be of any use against them.
As I stepped out of the examination room and was about to leave, I spotted a familiar figure walking out of another examination room not far away.
It was Tan Han.
It seemed our completion speeds were quite similar.
