Chapter 478: The Sudden Visit of the Aphhemia Forest Elf
The witches responsible for gathering intelligence around the islands where they were located returned one after another.
“Tan Han, I’m back. Currently, I haven’t seen signs of other academies arriving in large numbers in the direction I went, but there were indeed elf creations appearing on another island far away; that island across should be the Elf Academy.”
“Is that so?” Tan Han looked at the prepared map of the Bobapop Islands and began to mark it with a pen.
As the young girl continued her narration, she annotated more information.
Based on their location and that of the main island, she quickly understood which island was the affiliated island for the Witch Academy’s first landing.
She then numbered those affiliated islands, with theirs being number one, and promptly marked the adjacent affiliated island with the word “Elf.”
“Did you see any other academies landing?”
“No, it was too far away, and we didn’t dare to rashly cross the sea, so we didn’t even see how they arrived, let alone analyze which academy it was.”
“It’s wise to be cautious. Did you encounter any of the monsters mentioned in the rules while flying? What were they like?” Tan Han continued to ask. At this moment, as the absolute core of the largest gathering of the Witch Academy, she didn’t have to involve herself in everything personally, but she wanted to understand, so she continued to inquire, summarize intelligence, and analyze the situation.
“We encountered them, and we found that not only were there some on land, but there were also those creatures in the sky. Several of our sisters nearly got attacked by these sinister things up there.”
“Are they alright?”
“They’re all fine. The one who was in the worst shape only suffered a minor injury, and it’s almost healed with potions.”
“That’s good. Did you bring back any of those monsters’ bodies? I want to understand what they are.” Tan Han continued.
“We don’t know what those things are either, but many of the monster bodies are very large, and our storage equipment couldn’t carry them. Furthermore… those monsters feel more like patched-together creatures from animal experiments, which aligns with my understanding of the transformation techniques used by the Wizard Academy.”
“What’s their strength like? Is it easy to deal with them?”
“Quite easy. I could heavily injure them with just a spell, but their main advantage lies in their overwhelming numbers and the element of surprise, etc.”
After hearing all this, Tan Han pondered mildly in her heart. Naturally, she couldn’t believe all this subjective information; she had to think for herself. For instance, the number and strength of monsters on their island could significantly differ from those on other islands, and also… the main island would definitely be more terrifying.
“Then is the monster meat edible?” Tan Han subsequently inquired.
Currently, the island where the Witch Academy had just started didn’t have clearly identified resource points, so the scoring was temporarily irrelevant; resources were necessary, and food and water were the utmost priorities. The initial supplies of food and water they brought would surely be consumed quickly. Even though there were small alchemical items for desalination, that little bit of water was still insufficient.
However, when she asked this question, no one responded. It wasn’t their fault, as this matter hadn’t been specified clearly, and upon seeing those monsters in person, they had suddenly lost their appetite, let alone risk testing whether they were edible.
“Um… probably not… those things look so ugly…” Finally, a girl who had returned broke the awkward silence.
“We might have to stay on the Bobapop Islands for a week. We don’t know how much material there is at the resource points, so we need to confirm some things. By the way, have you interacted with the teachers supervising this patrol? Did you get any information from them?” Tan Han glanced at everyone, not blaming them, but just mildly reminding them before shifting the topic.
“Yes, we had contact, but their responses were mostly about basic issues. As for other questions, we couldn’t get anything out of them.”
“Perhaps the teachers are also restricted and can’t provide information outside the rules to the students. Regardless, give me all the information you’ve gathered so far; I’ll consolidate it all.”
Getting this answer, Tan Han was not too surprised; she accepted this setting.
After spending some time, she quickly organized the basic information she heard from others.
Once she finished these tasks, she prepared to take charge herself.
This was a joint exam; she couldn’t just sit back and command from a distance. Given that scoring could not be transferred, it was doomed that large groups sitting back to command had no future.
Tan Han’s support team was not just those in her class; it extended to other classes as well.
Seeing that Tan Han gathered so many people naturally attracted many from other classes to join. This kind of alliance was even uncontrollable; as long as she didn’t clearly state that she wouldn’t accept them, they would spontaneously group together as part of Tan Han’s support team.
After all, the idea of “many hands make light work” belonged to their habitual thinking as former ordinary people, but Tan Han knew that wasn’t always the case; many could get dealt with at once.
At this moment, she had to remain calm; she needed to invest more energy to fully utilize her current influence.
Subsequently, she took out her phone. The phones distributed by the Witch Academy had shown they could be used here, but they could not connect to the academy’s network, which was a reminder that they couldn’t log in during the joint examination.
This was not surprising; they were in a live broadcast now. If they could connect, then the Witch Academy could leverage the advantage of a god-like perspective to devise strategies for them, essentially acting as an entire think tank for the academy. No academy would allow such a significant loophole to go unaddressed.
However, regrettably, they couldn’t do this, but she could contact those who had already added her as friends, albeit… only within this island. She suspected something within the island led to this situation.
Fortunately, with this communication condition, they were not afraid of the issue of information transmission after being scattered over long distances.
“I’ll start a group chat, and you bring those people into it. Remember, divide them into small teams; let the team leaders enter the group chat, and then create a larger group to unite everyone from the Witch Academy for information sharing.”
“Information sharing? Won’t that benefit other teams?”
“But others think the same way. The group we’ve gathered cannot represent the Witch Academy; information sharing at least provides a platform. Once we have the intelligence advantage, we can exchange for other information from others.” Clearly, from Tan Han’s judgment, she believed understanding the overall situation was better than hiding information, and what she needed to offer were only known pieces of information.
After explaining some precautions, soon someone went out to execute this idea.
Tan Han was right; this support team of hers could not replace the Witch Academy in decision-making; the collective around the Child of Fortune in the Witch Academy was not just them.
Most remaining students still formed collaborative teams of three to five, beginning their push toward the periphery of the affiliated island and the other side until the island was fully captured by the Witch Academy.
However, ultimately this island wouldn’t belong to any particular group but rather to the whole of the Witch Academy. The only concern was whether resource points on this affiliated island might lead to fierce internal conflict among the Witch Academy’s students.
Though this joint examination was theoretically for individual scoring and encouraged team formations, it represented not only disputes between academies but also a personal war.
In front of interests, words like “big orange is important” were trivial.
So now the only solution was for Tan Han herself or the people in her support team to find it, which could maximize the suppression of internal strife driven by interests. After all, as things stood, no one dared to provoke her support team independently.
Of course… after taking care of these trivial matters, she also needed to personally seek out an instructor to inquire about the situation. The first person she thought of was that familiar figure; according to that riddle-like person’s speaking style… perhaps she could reveal some subtle information.
She was well-versed in rule studies, so she understood that loopholes concerning patrol teachers were indeed abundant.
Now, while no other academies were intervening, she had to seize this opportunity to learn more information; the only troublesome factor might be the live broadcast.
At least in the live broadcast, the other party would certainly not provide her with any advantageous information.
…
After accommodating hundreds of classes, our assistant teacher quartet’s task was almost completed on a phased basis.
The start time of this joint exam had completely begun once they stepped onto the Bobapop Islands; the only variable was whether they would be reckless or cautious.
However, I did not rush to leave here to explore other places but answered basic questions for the newly arrived students. Some outrageous questions, however, I simply refused to answer.
Not long ago, a student even came over to ask whether I could tell her where the resource points were, as they forgot to bring food and water.
Well… it has to be said, this is indeed outrageous. Didn’t they see that Tan Han and the others already set up tents?
But when it comes to food, besides what’s provided at resource points, the animals released are also edible. Those seem to be the handiwork of the Wizard Academy, biological witchcraft experiments; it’s not surprising. The Witch Academy has biological alchemy, and there isn’t much difference in what they do.
Food is easy to solve, but water is of utmost importance. Seawater is not drinkable; most people understand this common sense, and those who don’t will learn that lesson in reality.
In fact, the most important thing at the resource points isn’t those materials; those supplies are actually enough for a large team of a dozen people for a few days.
That’s right. By definition, a group of more than ten people gathered counts as a large team. After all, the academy encourages cooperation in teams of multiple people; two or three, at most five or six. Such configurations are the most reasonable, and having more people seems bloated.
However, Tan Han and the others came in with a big plan, leading numerous academies to understand what unity truly means!
But Tan Han quickly reacted, organizing this large group into small teams for basic tactical units, then utilizing the group chats established via phones for information exchange to achieve remote command.
Actually, there was only one resource point on the initial island, which forced everyone to move toward the main island because that was the largest place, even larger than the land area of all 13 permanent islands combined.
But you also can’t say that the resource points on these affiliated islands are useless; their locations host additional immovable desalination alchemical items that can produce enough fresh water for many people.
So, if used well, this could grant significant leverage over most discussions. If used poorly… it could lead to an internal conflict where everyone turned against each other, causing self-consumption.
“Hey, Xiao Han~ I plan to leave here and check out the other islands to see how the other academies are doing.” After being annoyed by many questions, Li Feiya was the first to give in and prepare to leave.
“Okay, be safe.” I didn’t stop her, replying casually.
“No worries~ No one dares to attack a supervising teacher. Xiao Han, want to join me? Let’s gather some intelligence on other academies and see what their situation is now.”
“Me?”
Being prompted by Li Feiya, I indeed felt tempted. After all, we had discussed pretty much everything, and I was getting tired of repeating the same questions; it would be better to let them spread the basic information out than for me to state it all gradually. Yet, I noticed a familiar figure appearing at a distance near a tent, and as she stepped out, her gaze met mine, even locking onto me for a moment.
“Actually, I do want to go, but it seems I still have things to do now; you go ahead. By the way, where are you planning to go?” I asked.
“Of course, over there. That is the tree of life of the Aphhemia Forest Elf, right? I haven’t had a close look at it yet. I’m going to see if they’re still there.”
“Is that so? Good luck; if you encounter anything, feel free to summon me, but I can’t guarantee I’ll come back.” I simply said goodbye to her.
“Well then, if you don’t come back, that’d be quite ruthless~”
Seeing Li Feiya leave just like that, riding her flying broomstick, today she was dressed in a signature witch outfit, a large witch cap paired with her broomstick, fitting the stereotype of witches perfectly.
I hope her hat doesn’t get blown away by the sea breeze.
After sending off Li Feiya, Tan Han also walked over from a distance.
As this legendary figure of the academy appeared, the surrounding students quieted down slightly. Clearly, these people had a deep fear of Tan Han, who formed a group of a thousand upon arriving at the Bobapop Islands.
But thankfully, she didn’t initiate any internal strife.
Of course, there should be an existence more terrifying than Tan Han in front of them, but I was now shackled by a so-called supervising teacher, which posed no threat to them. The difference in levels made them unconsciously overlook any possibility of me taking action against them; however, Tan Han was truly capable of doing so!
Now was just the beginning; they hadn’t even left the novice village yet, and being forced out now would only lead to waiting for a retake!
“Long time no see… Teacher Xiao Han?”
“I like this title. Is there something you want to ask me? I personally think you should have learned a lot of information from your companions.” I greeted Tan Han with a calm face, even carrying a bit of a smile.
“No, I still have many details I want to inquire about.” After a simple greeting, Tan Han roughly probed the other party’s attitude, and it could barely be considered… treating everyone equally?
Just then, a figure suddenly appeared in the distant sky; I didn’t care about Tan Han’s words but directly focused on the anomaly there, and I have to say, this figure’s arrival immediately captured my attention.
Upon seeing the unique features of the elf, the strand of blue hair at their forehead, and the badge representing the supervising teacher’s identity, I roughly knew their identity.
This badge could barely be counted as a witch weapon, but it was integrated with alchemy, enabling anyone to use it. It represented the identity of the supervising teacher and was also a credential for crossing the illusory world space of the Great Witchcraft.
“Welcome… to the Aphhemia’s World Tree Guardian team elf. What brings you so eagerly to the territory of our Witch Academy?”
“I’m just here to check if the teaching assistants of the Witch Academy have violated any joint examination patrol rules or provided your academy with information beyond the allowed scope. By the way… when did this place become your Witch Academy’s territory? Do you really think arriving here first means this affiliated island belongs to you?” The elf began speaking with a sharp tone.
“Is that so? I think so too. Your elf’s island is very close to ours, and it doesn’t bear the name of your Aphhemia Academy either.” I retorted unceremoniously, “But it’s rather impatient of you to start probing our Witch Academy’s situation. Are you planning to sneak the information back? What a coincidence, we also have one of our teaching assistants who went to your Elf Academy; judging by your appearance, it seems you didn’t encounter them? Your eyesight is really poor.”
