Chapter 486: Preliminary Joint Examination Tactics from the Witch Academy
In just half a day, the teaching assistants were fiercely competing for resources that could influence their candidates, while the candidates themselves were busy as well.
As the witches from the Witch Academy burst out of the “Newborn Island,” they violently invaded the main island with overwhelming force.
The method of crossing the sea required a lot of “vehicles” to transport the numerous ordinary students with almost no means from the surface of the sea.
Instead of crafting boats from the wood available on the island, which would have been quite cumbersome, it was much simpler and more effective to use the ice floats on the sea.
Creating floating ice that wouldn’t easily roll over didn’t require high technical skill; it simply needed powerful ice manipulation spells. Tan Han, having once been a master of fire and ice manipulation, had a deep affection for ice spells due to her combat system based on the ancient ice left behind and the Excessive Consumption Spellbook.
She also discovered that several of her supporters following her had numerous ice manipulation spellbooks, which made the implementation of the floating ice plan very smooth.
Tan Han learned from intelligence about the troublesome and powerful air monsters, as well as the precedent of sea beasts almost completely wiping out the Sea Tribe Academy, prompting her to be quite cautious.
Thus, during the crossing of this sea area, flying students required to be on alert from above, while those skilled in underwater activity spells monitored the movements of the sea beasts.
Students with strong one-time alchemical items needed to be vigilant and provide fire support from below and above.
Although some deemed this arrangement overly cautious, Tan Han resolutely executed it.
After all, they did not know how terrifying those giant monsters in the sky were, nor did they understand how powerful the sea beasts that could annihilate a small Sea Tribe Academy were!
The sea crossing was nearly without incidents, with a grand array of floating ice and the preparatory witches flying on brooms overhead treating this joint examination like a spring outing. Only a few reckless individuals fell into the sea and sustained minor injuries; it seemed they were not affected by anything else.
The greatest casualties occurred during the initial contact with the monsters on the main island’s beach after arriving.
However, those monsters were soon covered by an overwhelming number of alchemical bombs, the explosions echoing across the main island, the terrifying blasts vibrating even the Holy Angel Academy, which had already landed on the island in the distance.
The missionary angels from the distant Holy Angel Academy rushed over upon hearing the news and witnessed a horrifying scene that made their pupils constrict. The relentless bombardment, akin to artillery fire, left no intact monster corpses on the main island’s beach, not even any bloodstains on the sand, as the extreme heat from the explosions reduced everything flammable to scorched earth.
The gigantic monsters that couldn’t be killed by the alchemical bombs were exterminated by the squad led by Tan Han.
When the main forces of the Witch Academy reached the main island, the collective led by Tan Han cooperated with her supporters up to that point.
Collaborating to cross the sea was the best option in the short term, and upon arriving at the main island, they would act independently; the sky was high, and birds could fly freely.
The end of cooperation was inevitable, as the main island was about to welcome thousands of preparatory witches advancing like “mad dogs unleashed.”
At this moment, Tan Han was advancing according to her own plan, “coincidentally” occupying multiple resource points to gather supplies, seize houses, and sweep away food and resources.
However, was the termination of this cooperation really due to discord among people as Tan Han thought?
Not at all; everyone was simply on a mission.
Ninglan Qiuyue watched the crowd, misled by her words, choosing to deepen their route along the northwestern coast. She glanced at Luxien, who also sensed her gaze, and their eyes met as if they understood something.
Because both of them found their goals aligned closely, guiding the remaining free group’s direction.
Among the witches in the Witch Academy, there were roughly three notable ‘Children of Fortune’—Tan Han, the most famous one, Ninglan Qiuyue, the city lord from the mysterious Dream World Ninglan New City, whose presence in the Witch Academy had sparked numerous discussions, making her memorable to many.
The remaining one was Luxien, who garnered support from the All-purpose Association and was among the top-tier in practical strength within her cohort, thus having her own admirers.
The Children of Fortune in the Witch Academy were certainly not limited to these three, but with a triad of power established, others aspiring to influence found it considerably more challenging to achieve the same impact, as the alignment of three factions had drained the pool of candidates seeking to pursue and please the Children of Fortune. The remaining majority either scorned joining factions or lacked the qualifications to do so, while the dissatisfied part chose to follow those Children of Fortune, hoping to be a head among chickens rather than a tail among phoenixes—after all, what if the one they followed turned out to be truly capable?
Everyone had their fantasies.
Ninglan Qiuyue, while leaving, unconsciously glanced at an empty space as if a person stood there. She led her followers toward another direction with a clear purpose: to seize the few remaining resource points along the southeastern coast and push outward. Most of the islands on this side faced the Beast Academy, making their crossing much more difficult than that of the Witch Academy, as they hardly knew any spells. Their only means to cross was relying on the wood resources from the island and their sheer physical strength, with barely any other options.
Thus, their strategy was to strike fast, enforcing suppression of the Beast Academy’s landing. There were dozens of academies participating in this joint examination, but not every academy had the qualifications to land on the main island to compete.
Ninglan Qiuyue’s decision required solid reasoning to persuade others. After all, she was leading classmates, not an order-following city guard. For her supporters, her actions needed to be backed by benefits; and what benefits? Naturally, it was about points.
Her rationale was straightforward—while merely sweeping monsters for points might seem trivial, reframing it as forcefully taking points from other academies landing, suppressing the islands in the southeast, and overwhelming many Beast Academies on their own, would create significant enthusiasm and a sense of strategic honor.
Along with the gradually discovered resource points, her decision would gain wider support, thus establishing a benefits group smoothly.
…
On Luxien’s side, although she greatly feared the current individual, she realized through Daphne’s insights that she would never reach the other’s height.
Initially hesitant to heed the advice of the other, as it felt like outright cheating, she soon understood that both Tan Han and Ninglan Qiuyue were executing their plans according to the blueprint drawn by Xiao Han, leaving her no room for hesitation.
Even though the Witch Academy had over ten thousand individuals, the group was primarily directed by four parties. Besides the three Children of Fortune, another group consisted of the remaining Children of Fortune banding together as a free collective. They seemed to be the largest in number and base, but were a weak, scattered organization often defined by Xiao Han as “sacrificial.”
Luxien was clear about the direction she needed to face—namely, the Holy Angel Academy, another top-tier academy!
Those bird-people had stealthily entered the main island last night, almost at dawn, and managed to settle on the main island and discover a resource point thanks to a leak from the other side’s teaching assistants.
That news significantly pressured her to accept the arrangement; if they played dirty, then cheating in return seemed reasonable.
But the thought of facing the Holy Angel Academy still made her uneasy.
However, her destination was an area rich in resources, and her primary goal was to be the first to suppress the Holy Angel Academy’s expansion and progress on the main island.
It sounded unbelievable; neither she nor her supporters could achieve such a feat. Even if they asked Tan Han to handle this task, she wouldn’t manage it either.
But Tan Han needed to occupy high ground; her task was even more critical, an attempt to secure the Witch Academy’s invincibility, which served as a deterrent!
After all, the volcano on the main island was a dormant volcano, not a dead one.
That was the greatest intimidation!
What Luxien needed to do was to do her best, and she indeed had her means.
The vegetation on the main island was lush, concealing visibility and giving her the advantage of knowing where the enemy was while remaining hidden herself.
When necessary, she also had her last means.
In Luxien’s evaluation, it was akin to a poor imitation of the Catastrophe Witch from that dream exchange match.
A forest fire, a natural barrier, could effectively block most advances from the Holy Angels outward; as long as they didn’t encounter relentless storms, this barrier would allow them to achieve most of their objectives, preventing those bird-people from invading the areas the Witch Academy had planned.
However, these unforeseen events didn’t require her to worry; she knew very well that the one orchestrating this was not her; she was merely a pawn cast on the board, visibly pushing the battle towards victory.
As for the direction of those free groups, that was the last hole in the plan.
The Holy Angel Academy’s decision to land also needed to consider the subsequent expansion routes. If they sacrificed their future paths for a good beginning, they were better off cutting their way through a bloody path from the start.
The expansion of the Holy Angel Academy, due to leaks from their missionary angels, would incline them to expand towards regions occupied by the witches for resource points—it’s unavoidable.
Among the two directions pushing towards the Witch Academy, one had already been preemptively taken, ready to obstruct their advance by any means, even using the forest fire as a natural barrier to stop their progress.
The other direction lacked the natural advantage of forests; flames couldn’t spread, and it was mixed with residential and planned areas, allowing free passage. Yet this terrain was suitable for preemptively occupying advantageous positions and engaging in guerrilla warfare to hinder the Holy Angel Academy’s advance, though it would undoubtedly become the site of the most casualties during direct confrontations.
Coupled with the enormous disparity in strength between those people and the Holy Angel Academy, failure was inevitable.
However, these individuals would also play another role—consuming resources from the planned areas among humans. Yes, it was that simple.
Earlier, at the Newborn Island, this free group was the least prepared and had minimal food supplies; this would trigger their obsession with sweeping resources and seeking shelter for the night. After all, having spent one night around the campfire in the wild while watching the well-prepared individuals sleep in tents showcased their stark contrast, hinting that they would avenge themselves fiercely when presented with opportunities.
Of course, if their advancement pace didn’t meet expectations and they failed to reach the planned location in time…
Luxien, as the adjacent advancing group to these individuals, could leak them coordinates of some resource points ahead and entice them forward with the allocation of scoring based on the numerous resource points.
All these preliminary plans were progressing according to schedule, but that didn’t guarantee everything would go smoothly, as two uncontrollable factors continued to interfere with the strategic advance.
One of them was the Aphhemia Forest Elf Academy.
Although the Witch Academy had intentionally distanced themselves from direct contact with the elves in their approach to the mainland, being on the side close to the elves made them susceptible to being blocked by those elves at any time.
Fortunately, they had the free group as a strategic buffer, buying them time; hence, this free group was termed the “sacrificial” group because they would indeed be sacrificed at any moment to contribute to their strategic buffer.
Should such a conflict arise, it would evolve into a major battlefield involving the Aphhemia Forest Elf Academy, the Holy Angel Academy, and the Witch Academy.
Thus, Luxien felt immense pressure.
The only fortunate aspect was that for the elves of the Aphhemia Academy, crossing the sea was extremely challenging. Their elven magic wasn’t as versatile and powerful as the spellbooks of the Witch Academy. They lacked the innate advantages that the Holy Angel Academy had for flying; their only method was to use the plant magic, best suited for constructing wooden vessels to cross the sea, albeit still falling behind the Witch Academy by at least a step.
Making the elves engage in a landing battle was laughable—the alchemical items prepared by the Witch Academy could instantaneously set up a “minefield.” It didn’t even need a large area; just enough to blast or injure some elves and let them realize that ahead lay unknown danger would significantly hinder their advance.
After all, recognizing the existence of a minefield due to the asymmetric information would deter them from recklessly proceeding; even if they attempted a violent mine-clearing operation, it would deplete a significant portion of their combat strength.
As for the other uncontrollable factor… that was the Wizard Academy.
However, intelligence indicated that the Wizard Academy shouldn’t engage with the Witch Academy at this stage; their landing direction was on the opposite side of the main island, and even if there were deviations, they wouldn’t go to the trouble of making such a large detour to end up there.
Even if they eventually made contact, the most probable encounter would be with Tan Han.
That’s because the Wizard Academy might also aim to occupy the high ground on the main island swiftly, and they had the actual conditions to implement that.
Thus, the pressure of this joint examination was immense, but the advantages of the Witch Academy were likewise significant. Understanding all these, she proceeded according to her plan and set off toward the first resource point.
