Chapter 479: Openly… Cheating
“Poor eyesight… Hehe, can I take that as a provocation?” The elf, displeased by my retort, asked in a low voice.
“Is that what you think? But I’m curious… Was your Aphhemia World Tree burned by someone, or are you just going through menopause, coming at me with such a confrontational tone?” I continued, my aggressive words making the furrow between her brows deepen.
Suddenly, a terrifying pressure radiated outward, a force I had never encountered before that seemed to suppress everything around us as if it was about to solidify.
Even I felt greatly affected in that moment, my body struggling to move under the invisible oppressive force… This was a power beyond my comprehension!
I found it hard to believe, but the strength from body cultivation allowed me to instantly break free from this force’s intimidation, though the heart-pounding sensation lingering in my chest was hard to shake off.
“Alright, alright, so you’re going to attack my school’s students!”
I glanced over at the students who had been preparing to question me earlier; although they had distanced themselves a bit due to the elf’s arrival, the technique she had just displayed had significantly impacted the nearby candidates.
One even fell to the ground because she couldn’t stand steady, while another dropped her alchemical item.
Seizing the opportunity, I made the first move, casting the fireball spell derivative “Concentrated Fireball Spell.”
With the enhancement of the Knowledge Tree, this derivative spell had been iterated several times. Initially, during my battle with myself in the Primordial Dream World, many spells were continually updated in order to defeat an equally matched opponent, with each iteration precisely targeting my weaknesses.
This strike of the Concentrated Fireball Spell traveled through her body at the limit of visible reaction speed, and even her instinctive response couldn’t evade it, hitting her in the side.
At the moment of impact, her elven light armor absorbed the initial shock, and numerous densely packed runes flared up, instantly diminishing the force of my attack.
With a deafening clash of energy, the elf could no longer maintain her lofty posture and stumbled back, attempting to negate the impact.
Her face was filled with shock, as if surprised by my decisive action, but what startled her even more was the sheer power of my strike!
She instinctively touched the light armor at her waist, realizing the protective runes there had completely shattered from my blow, leaving behind a very ordinary non-enchanted outer armor.
“You!” She was about to lift her head to say something but caught sight of several unknown objects floating behind me.
In a short span of time, she could only discern that they seemed to be some kind of spell effect, but she could sense that each of those spell effects had a power level similar to my earlier strike!
Trouble… The opponent was serious!
“You! You’ve violated the rules! You attacked the inspection teacher for no reason…”
“For no reason? You were the one who attacked my school’s student first! Trying to pull something on me? I see you’re looking for trouble, thinking we Witches Academy is an easy target?” I bluntly accused her, and at that moment, Lin Yi and Aidalin had also noticed the situation and quickly approached me.
“Are you clear on this? When did I attack your students! It was you! You destroyed one of my enchanted light armors as soon as you struck!” She angrily pointed at the candidates behind her, then turned to me in fury, “I will report your violation! You…”
“I told you your eyesight really is bad! You scared that student of ours! Your earlier tactic left her unable to stand steady, and such behavior has affected our students’ mindset and physical condition—do you even have a reason for that?”
“Do you want me to try your elven side too? And hey, do you know what alchemical item she dropped because you frightened her? It’s an alchemical explosive, and it’s a defective product; what if it explodes on the ground? I ask you, what will happen? This is a serious incident in the joint examination, all thanks to your Aphhemia Academy’s protective team!” With every word, I stepped closer to her, the dual pressure of my words and spell making her face look as though she might burst from anger.
Of course, it helped that I had two teaching assistants behind me, blocking her escape route.
At this moment, she finally realized… where she was was Witches Academy, and worse, she was in the wrong, even if the reason was just due to her instinctively releasing a life-level suppression that frightened two students!
After I finished speaking, the candidates around the girl who had dropped the alchemical bomb soon distanced themselves from her, as if genuinely afraid of an explosion.
“Alright… I was in the wrong… but you destroyed one of my enchanted light armors, so that should make us even!” She said begrudgingly, clearly unsatisfied.
“How you decide to settle that is your problem. I’m fulfilling my responsibilities, and I’ll make sure this gets reported, even if I don’t remember your violation—believe it or not, I’ll make sure you get a taste of your own medicine.”
“What else do you want?” At this point, she acknowledged that she was indeed caught off-guard, but to maintain her composure in case there were any live recordings, she managed to keep a proper demeanor.
“Of course, an apology! Do I need to teach you etiquette? Doesn’t your noble elven schooling cover manners? You caused quite a bit of trouble for our students, can’t you just say sorry?” I said, as a matter of course.
Ultimately, this farce ended with the elf apologizing to the candidates, which was quite satisfying.
Watching her leave with a dejected demeanor, I didn’t hold back.
“Take care on your way back, come visit Witches Academy more often~” I smiled as I saw her walk away without looking back, her smile fading completely; I felt a bit disdainful inside, clearly she didn’t realize she had just played the role of a tool.
It seemed that all of her attention had been drawn into this spectacle; I glanced at Tan Han, catching her eye, and she returned my gaze with a knowing smile.
Then, I turned to the two teaching assistants, Lin Yi and Aidalin.
“Thank you, if it weren’t for both of you holding the fort, I might not have been able to subdue that elf.” I said politely.
“Not at all, you could handle it by yourself.” Lin Yi replied casually; she had only stood there, watching the drama unfold, without actively intervening.
“Tsk—such shoddy enchanted garbage. Is elven equipment so subpar?” Aidalin scoffed, clearly having been attentive to that light armor earlier, “Now that there’s nothing else going on, I’m heading out.”
“Okay.” I nodded, indicating I was taking over here, then turned to the candidates who had been watching, “Alright, I truly apologize for the disruption. The trouble has been resolved, and you should all get back to what you were doing. Don’t forget you’re in a joint examination—if you’re feeling upset, just remember, the direction to Elf Academy is over there.”
After comforting the nearby candidates a bit, I began dispersing them.
Honestly, do they love watching drama that much? They should realize this is a joint examination!
And it’s being live-streamed too.
My gaze suddenly turned to a specific direction, where there was an abnormal reception point for earth vein information. Through Spirit Vision, I could clearly see the data anomalies at that viewpoint.
This was likely the live-stream perspective; it seemed similar to the one in the Primordial Dream World but with some differences, as this was the reality.
However, by mastering the camera’s direction, even if I couldn’t control this so-called camera, I could gain too many conveniences. At the very least, I knew when I could openly cheat and when I needed to be more cautious.
After all, this earth vein perspective live stream was not visible to others, so the advantage lay with me.
After everything here was concluded, I left without caring about other matters.
After all, I needed to trust in others’ abilities; there was no need for me to worry about it. Moreover, I officially couldn’t interfere in this joint examination, so my presence or absence didn’t make much difference.
And after Tan Han came to find me, it felt as if she really had nothing to say. Even after the incident was resolved, I left without exchanging a word with her.
But was that really the case?
While all attention was focused on me and that elf, the conversation between Tan Han and me was actually just beginning.
The elf hadn’t seen my little actions, which was my true goal.
In principle, even the Illusionary Clone spell cast wouldn’t be noticed, especially since it had already developed into an insight of the Wisdom Shadow derived from the Great Knowledge Tree.
Although I had wanted to develop a permanent Knowledge Shadow as a companion, the spell hadn’t succeeded at this stage—after all, the mark on the Fool Dream’s hand was merely an experimental stage.
However, simply conveying information was easy.
This violation in the joint examination needed to be reported; not reporting it would be considered a tacit understanding. As long as this matter wasn’t disclosed, wasn’t live-streamed through earth vein information, and wasn’t known by teaching assistants from other academies, then I’d have done nothing.
Any planning could be viewed as Tan Han’s plan.
Any information could have come from Tan Han and the collective information exchange group of the entire Witches Academy.
The live stream visuals of this joint examination were limited, and the source of intelligence couldn’t be precisely verified; you need to use earth vein information to accurately investigate my violations?
Sorry, that technology belongs to Witches Academy.
Closed the loop, didn’t I?
And… Tan Han also had my Reverse Summoning Spell’s rune ritual alchemical item. Although it wasn’t the card version I had afterward, it was usable.
If she encountered a situation requiring our inspection teachers’ intervention, I could arrive promptly to uphold justice for her!
Given Tan Han’s temperament, the probability of her being cornered was higher than that of her being caught in wrongdoing.
I transmitted all this information to Tan Han through the Knowledge Shadow, meaning at this moment, Tan Han would have a perspective comparable to that of an inspection teacher. Although I couldn’t relay information over long distances through the Knowledge Shadow, as long as I was within a certain range and maintained control over the spell effects of the Knowledge Shadow, information could be instantly exchanged.
This limitation was one of the issues I had always aimed to overcome.
After all, this was just a spell effect; those on my Fool Dreams were not merely simple spell effects, but the Knowledge Leaves I had dissected from the Great Knowledge Tree.
However, this method was ultimately limited; I couldn’t keep dividing my Knowledge Tree’s leaves as anchors for such major spell effects. I needed to find another approach, though this path was a bit arduous.
But I wasn’t afraid of difficulties; I only feared being knocked down by them. I didn’t envy others’ intelligence; I merely blamed myself for not having the ability to solve issues at all times.
I didn’t know how intelligence or wisdom was measured, but I understood that those with constant problem-solving abilities would surely be labeled as clever or genius.
For the Great Knowledge Tree to achieve the capabilities I envisioned, it must be lacking something. It’s all in the human endeavor; there must be a solution, I just hadn’t found it yet.
And now I had some ideas; the inspiration for these ideas stemmed from… the Wanlian Main Network Tree in that Small World.
If I take the Great Knowledge Tree in my consciousness as the first Wanlian Main Network Tree, what I wanted to do was derive more controllable sub-branches of the Wanlian Main Network Tree.
And the characteristic of “control” brought to mind Earth Vein Shackles and… Fortune Seeds.
Thus, I named this embryonic plan the “Knowledge Seed” scheme.
……
“It seems I need to leave now. I can’t keep providing you with information, but I will return regularly to update you on what I have acquired.”
“I will still follow you, but my presence will take the form of your subconscious recognition of my image. You can ask me anytime if you encounter a problem; though it may not be of use, it’s also asking yourself in another way. What I want to tell you is… the power of one’s subconscious is incredibly mighty.”
At this moment, on the affiliated island where the Witches Academy is located, Tan Han was making her final preparations for an active approach. In her field of vision, a white-haired girl was beside her, speaking to her in this manner.
However, Tan Han did not react at all, seemingly oblivious to the presence of someone right next to her, just like the other few girls nearby.
Tan Han didn’t dare to make any responsive actions, nor did she even glance over.
In a brief encounter, Tan Han had already gleaned too much information from this so-called Knowledge Avatar; she knew Xiao Han was quite bold, but she hadn’t expected her audacity to reach such heights.
However, from the brief interaction with the protective team from the Elf Academy, it seemed those elves were not friendly. The competitive pressure for this joint examination was significant. Although she was confident in her abilities to yield good results, she lacked confidence in controlling the overall situation, akin to during the dream exchange match that took place shortly after the semester began, where the Witches Academy achieved an absolute advantage.
That dream exchange match had become a thing of the past for the semester; it served as a magnificent prologue for the Witches Academy at the start and planted a seed in everyone.
That is, the Witches Academy should exhibit such grace in competitions and exchanges with other academies, being able to confront any academy head-on, even the three top-tier academies would seem like ants crushed under the feet of witches.
Tan Han could sense from her support group that as long as there were competent students, they all had the absolute confidence and determination to go all out.
However, as someone who personally experienced that dream exchange match, she could see through everything. She couldn’t afford to become mediocre—even becoming a budding genius wasn’t an option—too many around her were eager to advance.
Just as Tan Han got ready, someone suddenly entered the tent.
“Um? Who are you?” Tan Han asked curiously upon seeing a girl she didn’t recognize very well enter, as she often had impressions of individuals her support team interacted with frequently, but this one was unfamiliar.
Upon seeing Tan Han, the girl also spoke astonishingly.
“Tan Han, I hope we can collaborate. Our team has found a resource point, but in order for me to take you there, you have to guarantee our interests!”
“What?” Tan Han was a bit surprised; she hadn’t expected that a resource point would be found so quickly, and the finder would come to her!
“Sorry, I’m a bit taken aback, but can you tell me the specifics?”
“We found a resource point. We know you’ll eventually find it too, but there’s a time difference, and my companion didn’t accompany me here. If you can’t guarantee our interests, I can’t assure that she won’t leak the news, for instance… to Luxien… or perhaps… Ninglan Qiuyue.”
“I can agree, but at least you should reveal some bottom line first.” Tan Han quickly adapted, ignoring the unnecessary threat and carefully analyzing the other party’s intentions.
First and foremost, the other party was part of a team, and now they had come to her, indicating there was something within the resource point that one team couldn’t monopolize.
“No, I need to sign a Witch Contract first,” the other party insisted.
“The resource point… oh, I forgot to mention this, within the resource point, there’s an unmovable desalination alchemical item, which will also be your most crucial water resource supply point in the future.”
Upon hearing the words of the Knowledge Shadow, Tan Han’s pupils involuntarily constricted, knowing that this thing was far too important.
