Chapter 590: Civilization Reconstruction or Bandit Invasion?
The meeting lasted for a long time.
After all, regarding the matters of Ninglan New City, the academy had not made many official announcements, and those present who were aware mostly learned through their own inquiries.
Therefore, Lina naturally had to explain in detail.
I listened attentively, as it had been a while since I last visited, so my understanding of that place and the people present was similar.
Perhaps the Knowledge Tree of Ninglan Qiuyue records a lot of relevant information, but in general, I would not invade others’ privacy like that. At most, I would check the transcribed information observed from the Great Knowledge Tree, as this is a matter of principle.
Teacher Lina described the location of Ninglan New City not as another world, but as another spatial level within our world, directly referring to it as the “Expanding Realm.” However, Lina did not elaborate much on the hierarchical structure of this world, nor did she explain the origins of the Expanding Realm.
So after describing the location, she moved on to the unfolding of events.
In the Expanding Realm, a small world outside our world fused with it and became part of the Expanding Realm.
The merger was briefly mentioned, with no further explanation provided.
Human beings from the newly emerged world found themselves in the Expanding Realm due to the destruction of their original world. This is the current situation as described by Teacher Lina.
Our mission is to reach the Expanding Realm and assist those ordinary people in reconstructing their civilization.
This long-term mission will last until the end of this semester, and aside from the prohibition of large-scale indiscriminate killings, there are no other mandatory task requirements. Even if you go in just to wander around, it’s fine.
At that time, we will reach Ninglan New City through the academy’s teleportation portal.
Ninglan New City is currently under the jurisdiction of the Witch Academy, and the city lord has also joined the Witch Academy. This is one of the reasons why various extraordinary academies are so keen to exchange ideas.
Although all extraordinary academies have means to reach the Expanding Realm, and the destruction of the Expanding Realm is closely related to them, it does seem somewhat paltry to just go there. Aside from Ninglan New City, the rest of the Expanding Realm is in a state of disarray.
Being born with a starting point less than others really isn’t necessary.
The Expanding Realm, a brand new territory for the Main World, after the connection and restoration of the Earth Veins are completed, will be incorporated into the Main World, and what follows is the revival of the Main World’s fortune.
This long-term mission also briefly listed many tasks. Although there are no mandatory tasks, if someone really just wanders around, they might as well slack off in the academy.
A quick glance at these tasks revealed that most are quite simple.
The main task is to clear out the mutated beasts that are rampant in the Expanding Realm. I do have some memories of this; originally the Expanding Realm was exposed to the Void environment, with massive energy radiation and tides contaminating the areas outside the protective endpoints of the Earth Veins.
Terrifying mutated beasts were born amidst the ruins there, but… their strength is quite average, and there isn’t a clear division of levels among mutated beasts.
Most of their strength is proportional to their size, with some mutated organs adapting to these primal energy characteristics, enabling them to perform extraordinary attacks using this energy.
Additionally, as the teaching assistants present, if we encounter any distressed students during this mission, we are obligated to assist them. If we come across a student’s corpse, we have the duty to bring it back to Ninglan New City, where a teacher knowledgeable in resurrection spells will perform a revival.
Then there are the signals for help marked by some academies; if possible, we should hurry to provide assistance.
After discussing these points, we moved on to the next key focus.
That is, the benefits we can gain upon reaching the Expanding Realm.
This trip allows for the acquisition of many precious extraordinary materials from the Expanding Realm. For this purpose, Teacher Lina even presented some samples for us to see, many of which those present had never encountered before.
However, I acquired more information through the Earth Vein Identification Technique, as the generation of these materials is fundamentally derived from the “World Element Soil.”
Seeing the World Element Soil, I understood that this is one of the “Three Source Elements of the World” mentioned earlier, produced as a rare extraordinary material following drastic changes in the world.
Not just these extraordinary materials, the Expanding Realm also offers numerous opportunities, such as crystals formed from high concentrations of extraordinary energy, which are classified differently.
If encountered, the academy will also temporarily issue tasks to assist in the extraction of these crystals.
Of course, these tasks are well-compensated paid tasks.
Generally, the appearance of these extraordinary crystals is also related to the Three Source Elements of the World, particularly the “Extraordinary Crystal.”
Extraordinary Crystals, when formed under uncontrolled high energy levels, result in a variety of extraordinary crystals as the energy levels decline. Typically, this situation radiates across a large area; this explains why these extraordinary crystal mines are formed, and these also belong to the category of extraordinary materials.
When discussing these extraordinary crystals, Teacher Lina also reminded us to be cautious of the surrounding mutated beasts, as they too are attracted by this high concentration of extraordinary energy, which may lead to uncontrollable mutations.
Moreover, if ordinary people are exposed to the radiation from these mines, they will also experience mutations. Such individuals can be killed on sight, as these sudden mutations disrupt cognition, turning them into mindless crazies.
She also cautioned us to prepare for protection upon arrival.
This type of energy radiation can generally be shielded with energy protection spells of the same origin, which can absorb the uncontrolled energy radiation due to their characteristics.
Lastly, a resource that Lina left for the end was introduced to us.
In the Expanding Realm, we might encounter some special crystals, provisionally named unstable state soul crystals. These soul crystals can be cultivated through special methods to be absorbed by life forms, thereby enhancing their own level of life.
Hearing about this effect instantly excited everyone!
Including me!
This is a great opportunity to elevate one’s life level!
However… after inspecting the samples in Lina’s possession, I instantly felt a chill run down my spine and calmed myself.
The so-called unstable state soul crystals are essentially the condensed form of “soul material,” one of the Three Source Elements of the World.
What is soul material?
Soul material is the foundation for the birth of life consciousness in the world; every unit of soul material might have once belonged to a person in history…
Thus, absorbing soul material is essentially akin to “devouring humans,” especially since everyone present here, as assistants, has a life essence that is soul material.
Only I and a few of the witches present have souls as our life essence.
Even so, soul material can transform into a soul; perhaps those who know the truth can hardly overcome that mental barrier.
But… I won’t.
It’s just soul material. Once a person dies, everything about them becomes meaningless. Perhaps… this is one reason why extraordinary beings view non-extraordinary beings as lacking humanity?
Once you step onto this path, drawing on soul material to enhance your own life level, then… the soul material flowing through the Earth Veins and the lives living in the world are indistinguishable.
Because… they are all resources to be utilized!
Only by severing the Earth Vein Shackles and breaking free from the world’s operational rules can one be conceptually recognized as an independent individual; otherwise, life bound by the Earth Vein Shackles is merely a resource for consciousness arising from within a vast reservoir of soul material.
The soul material in the Expanding Realm is perhaps the soul material still circulating in the Earth Veins of that original small world.
However, a considerable portion of the soul material in that small world seems to have been harvested by players.
But the players’ harvesting methods are very crude; they seem unable to extract soul material directly from the Earth Veins but instead resort to killing to seize soul material from the Earth Veins.
Returning to this meeting.
What Teacher Lina mentioned is the resource attracting everyone to the Expanding Realm. Such opportunities are rare; any bit of fortune can lead to an overnight windfall!
And the benefits are naturally not limited to these; there are also Earth Vein crystals and so on, which is another reason why regular students are encouraged to enter. As long as they have some abilities, they won’t return empty-handed from the Expanding Realm.
It is a treasure trove waiting to be developed!
However… sitting down below, hearing Teacher Lina emphasize these resources, I was not as excited as others.
I was only interested in the soul crystals, so I wasn’t overly enthusiastic.
I clearly knew my goal: in the Witch Academy, my goal is to become an Extraordinary Witch, not to establish a money-making machine. Soul crystals can help me advance to become a witch faster, after all, the level of life is my Achilles’ heel; as for everything else… I can discuss it later.
But I am somewhat curious, does Teacher Lina really mean for us to help those people reconstruct their civilization?
This makes it sound like we are sending a group of bandits in!
Sighing for the people of that world, I decided not to think too much about it.
This matter does not require my concern. Since the academy has arranged it this way, I shall follow the arrangement.
Afterwards, Teacher Lina also discussed some other precautions as she reached the end.
Finally, all the teaching assistants present signed a Witch Contract. This contract is comprehensive and can record the information of this operation directly into our minds, just like a language Witch Contract. Once signed, we can comprehend the information of this language. Many witches who have just arrived in the Main World choose to sign one.
Within this contract are many mandatory requirements, such as prohibiting mutual killings leading to d*ath and maliciously killing students, including those from other extraordinary academies.
It also emphasizes that we must not supply Magic Sources to students from other extraordinary academies.
Sure enough, this point was not overlooked.
Not only do we teaching assistants who enter the Expanding Realm need to sign this Witch Contract, but everyone applying to enter must also sign it, adhere to certain rules, and understand some basic information. However, the contents of their contracts differ slightly from ours.
After all, teaching assistants either possess strength more terrifying than regular students or have mastered more profound skills, such as alchemy, potions, or even magic potions, so our contract restrictions are somewhat stricter.
As the contracts were signed, the meeting finally came to an end.
Ultimately, with Teacher Lina’s announcement of adjournment, this meeting officially concluded, and everyone began to leave their seats, discussing amongst themselves.
After all, the information disclosed in this meeting was truly explosive. The saturated information triggered a strong desire to share, and as soon as they left their seats, they eagerly discussed with nearby friends and companions.
“Hey~ Sister Xiao Han, Sister Xiao Han~ I heard you were one of the experiencers of the sleeping curse back then. Could you share your experience with us?”
“Yeah, this time I want to start with Ninglan New City and hear about your observations back then!”
“Huh? Wasn’t this incident widely circulated at the time? So many experiencers shared their stories on the academy’s website; you can find a ton of them just by searching!” I interjected.
“Ah~ It’s boring to listen to others brag; I’m more curious about your story, Sister Xiao Han! It must be more representative! I heard you shined brightly back then! You had an important impact on the situation in Ninglan New City!”
“Yeah, yeah! So I’m still curious about what you actually did back then.”
“Well, I didn’t do much… to be honest… the old city lord of Ninglan New City was deceived by a Dream Demon, and then his son tried to violently overthrow his rule, but in the end, that son was secretly also being… hmm?”
Just as I was about to briefly recount what had happened in Ninglan New City, a figure stepped through the crowd and approached me from behind.
“Yang Yuelan…”
“Who’s calling me?” I instinctively turned around, only to see a figure right behind me.
The surrounding crowd made way, pausing to watch with a look of amusement.
“Oh… it’s you. What do you want?”
I looked at Liliana, who no longer bore the arrogant demeanor she had when she first encountered me, and had become somewhat subdued instead.
Liliana took a deep breath, then spoke heavily, “Yang Yuelan… I want to challenge you… to a rematch in the arena!”
“Is that it? Boring.” Upon hearing her words, I frowned and summarily dismissed her with a single word: boring.
After all, fighting her again holds no meaning for me. Perhaps I could test my new Box of Books through her, but clearly, it would be much more convenient to test in the Expanding Realm, so I didn’t see the need to fight her again.
And besides… fighting her yields no benefits!
When I first fought her, I learned a lot, including but not limited to her fighting styles and such. But asking me to battle her again in the arena in front of so many people is simply unnecessary.
“You! Wait… hold on!” Upon seeing that I was ignoring her, Liliana immediately called out.
And the nearby teaching assistants couldn’t help but chuckle at the spectacle. After all, she had issued a challenge and was met with a mere “boring” in response; how amusing is that?
Liliana’s name is quite well-known among the teaching assistants; how can she bear such treatment?
“Is there anything else? If you want revenge for the previous match, you don’t need to.”
“Exactly. You just recovered and want to challenge me again? You sure are bold!”
The people beside me retorted without holding back. We are all teaching assistants at this level; no one fears anyone. Liliana finds no superiority in her status here.
“Are you being used as a pawn by someone again? Weren’t you rumored to be sulking in some corner a few days ago?”
“Li Feiya…! You were merely my defeated opponent. What are you bragging about? I’m challenging Yang Yuelan, not you; step aside.”
Liliana stepped forward, shoving the provocateur Li Feiya aside as she stood in front of me. She is taller than me, looking down on me in hopes of creating some semblance of pressure.
“I challenge you; will you accept the duel?”
“I ask you, have you grown during this time? Have you become stronger? What gives you the courage to provoke me again?” I asked back without reservation.
“Of course… you won by a fluke; I need to fight you again!”
“Then do you know the power of that final blow I gave you?”
“It… it was just a spellbook I had never seen before.” Liliana, stumped by my question, hesitated but still managed to blurt out an incorrect answer.
“Spellbook? Is that how you understand it? Well, until you comprehend what that power truly is, you are not qualified to duel with me.” Hearing her act all know-it-all, I almost laughed.
You’re already a teaching assistant; you should have some intelligence, right?
“Unqualified… are you implying that most people here are unqualified?” After I said this, Liliana was left speechless, which was nothing short of humiliation!
We’re all teaching assistants. If you say I’m unqualified to duel, you’re basically asserting the others present here are above me.
Even… most of those present were encompassed by this one verbal broadside!
Because they, too, don’t know what that power fully is; they only heard that decisive blow that severed the instance was terrifying.
Only a few in this room might have inquired their instructors about it, but after learning the truth, they were again struck down. Their only comfort now is that they have never fought against the opponent, so it doesn’t count as defeat.
At this moment, while they know the situation, they quietly hold their tongues, all internally unwilling.
Those in high positions often carry burdens they cannot let go of; not everyone can graciously admit they are inferior to others.
