Chapter 598: Leaving the City
Early the next morning.
I woke up early, perhaps because I slept somewhat early the night before, and given my low need for sleep, I woke up before dawn.
However, it didn’t matter; I had already adapted to this reduced need for sleep and found ways to cope.
I just needed to extend my meditation time appropriately, but now that I had the Enlightenment Meditation Technique to use, I insisted on doing a cycle every morning, which left me feeling refreshed and significantly more alert.
However, it seemed that the Enlightenment Meditation Technique continuously provided “nutrients” for my Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell, albeit in a very subtle way. It was like an ant nibbling at a giant flatbread in a desert—continuous but with negligible effectiveness.
The only regret was that I didn’t have a better way to handle this issue yet.
With the promotion of the Enlightenment Meditation Technique, metaphorically speaking, it was just a shift from a few ants to a whole colony, but the changes remained very slight.
After one cycle of the Enlightenment Meditation Technique, I opened my eyes and saw the first rays of sunlight through the window.
I got up and washed up before heading to the dining area of the hotel.
Looking at the myriad of dishes in the dining area, I couldn’t help but use the Earth Vein Identification Technique on them.
After all, the area where Ninglan New City was located wasn’t very large. To supply an entire city’s needs naturally brought considerable pressure; however, now… the variety of dishes here was so abundant, even featuring seasonal vegetables that wouldn’t typically grow in Ninglan New City. I knew something was off.
After a brief investigation, I got my answer.
These dishes were indeed part of a food transportation agreement made after communication with the Witch Academy. Given the situation Ninglan New City was currently facing, they had also been hoarding a lot of food.
However, food in high-end places is merely standard—its value and changes aren’t fully manifested until you witness significant price fluctuations in roadside diners and the like.
It appeared that in order to prevent a riot among those allowed into the city and the refugees outside, Ninglan New City’s demand and supply of food had sharply increased. Even the most basic “relief food” needed to fill bellies adequately.
According to the information shared by Mo Le and the frontline City Guards, after resolving communication issues, they immediately contacted the people within the city. Most of them were elderly, weak, sick, or pregnant.
Or they were those who actively cooperated with them, like the individuals who assisted with language translation needed by the Literature Association.
After establishing communication with them, I pieced together their plans through the shared information about Knowledge Shadow.
They selected a group of people and required them to go outside the city to communicate and calm the refugees.
However, this was a highly dangerous undertaking.
Previously, due to inability to communicate and the emotions running high from hunger, a large-scale riot had occurred, so Ninglan New City tended to lean towards suppression through force.
If it weren’t for the relief food provided to them, they might think that the city had abandoned them. Yet even then, during the initial food distribution, some chose to refuse it, even escalating the matter.
Even with a language barrier, it was evident that those causing trouble might think Ninglan New City wanted to poison them once and for all.
Fomenting hatred and guiding emotions, those troublemakers were the most restless opportunists, so Ninglan New City had ruthlessly dealt with them, after which the refugees became “tame” under the relief food outside the city.
Now they had to re-establish communication channels with the refugees. Only through good communication could they draw them in and keep them more settled.
Last night was a peaceful night for me, but a restless one for the City Guards and those refugees.
The City Guards could choose to maintain the status quo, but the communication had to be executed. Letting the refugees sleep on the ground outside was undeniably fraught with risks.
However, if they wanted to give them a home, how could the construction proceed?
Thus, the issue needed to be resolved in another way, by providing basic disaster relief tents and essential supplies like sleeping bags or blankets.
But all of this required money!
So they needed to create a grand vision to appease the masses and buy some time to find a solution.
After all, where would Ninglan New City find so much money to help them for free?
Even if Ninglan New City printed money, it couldn’t be used within the core realm of the main world, so only items of equivalent value could be used for barter.
However, this problem was quickly resolved. Ninglan New City was located in the Expanding Realm, where it also had the right to mine the exposed extraordinary resources.
Then… they could exchange these extraordinary resources for… regular supplies like food, relief items, medical supplies, tents, and so on.
Although the area outside Ninglan New City had plenty of extraordinary energy crystal mines, unfortunately, ordinary people didn’t possess the means to exploit them.
The teaching assistants and later students fortunate enough to participate in mining often pocketed the resources, and Ninglan New City had little qualification to take a share. At most, they could provide information about detected locations for sale and rental of professional equipment, but that was still a drop in the bucket.
Moreover, these precious mines didn’t belong to Ninglan New City; the Witch Academy only granted them the mining rights, but now Ninglan New City couldn’t effectively convert this advantage into its own benefits and resource accumulation.
That was why Ninglan Qiuyue was seeking cooperation everywhere; she certainly wasn’t content with the status quo. The students of the Witch Academy completely overwhelmed ordinary workers in Ninglan New City with their capabilities.
However… whether it was Ninglan New City or the teaching assistants and students who arrived here, having such rights indicated something.
It meant that the Witch Academy looked down on these resources, even considering them as “teaching resources,” allowing them to circulate within the Witch Academy.
Because of this maneuvering by the Witch Academy, other extraordinary academies wanted to get a piece of the pie.
As for the price to share in that pie… only they truly understood. However, combined, they were certainly profiting, as other extraordinary academies weren’t pushovers.
Yet… over time, even the witches had needs. After all, they required a substantial amount of materials for various experiments. Rare goods can become valuable, and things they once disregarded might become relevant depending on the situation.
Thus, some witches within the Witch Academy did have a need for the extraordinary materials from the Expanding Realm; however, these materials would attract resources in other ways, such as spellbooks, magic sources, skills, knowledge, etc., possessed by extraordinary witches.
Breakfast was already finished.
I gently wiped the remnants from the corner of my mouth, then got up again.
It was time to go out and see the situation. I hoped nothing unexpected would happen to that Wanlian Main Network Tree not far from Ninglan New City.
This time I was officially leaving the city, and my main purpose was, of course, to inform those who had been secretly watching me that I was going out.
But I didn’t expect that the formal process of leaving the city would be somewhat cumbersome.
After signing my name, I pushed the proof of departure forward.
“To be honest, the process for leaving Ninglan New City is quite complicated.”
After a brief complaint, I arrived at the city gate.
The staff member I had just complained to took notice. After sending me off, they immediately reported to their superiors.
With the gates opening, I finally set foot on the ground outside the city.
The area around the city gate had a lot of City Guards, and there was no scene of refugees rushing in to crowd around as soon as the gates opened.
However, my appearance also alarmed the City Guards, and after some reporting, a familiar face appeared before me.
“Scholar Xiao Han, I didn’t expect you to be ready to leave this early!”
“Yeah, I’m just going out of the city; there’s no need for you, the highest-ranking officer of the City Guards, to come and welcome me, right?” I looked at Mo Le, who appeared a bit haggard. Even without using the Earth Vein Identification Technique, I could tell he hadn’t slept a wink.
“Scholar Xiao Han is certainly worth it. Yesterday you…”
“Let’s skip the formalities. If you have time, you should go get some rest.” As I said this, something seemed to come to mind.
My storage equipment contained a lot of items, including some potions I had stockpiled before.
For example… energizing potions, etc. However, I rarely used them now. I used to rely on them, but as my abilities grew rapidly and my life planning became healthier, many items became redundant.
“By the way, I’ll give you a bottle of potion to help you stay alert. But I still suggest you go get some sleep; if you need to stay awake at a crucial moment, just take a sip.” I rummaged through my storage and pulled out a delicate potion bottle.
“This! Thank you.”
“Alright, stop holding me up; I need to go now.” I interrupted him, took out my flying broomstick, and it felt a bit like I was just trying to get them to move along.
As I settled on the broomstick and soared into the sky, vanishing from their sight, the others finally regained their senses.
“Dismissed… let’s go.” Mo Le shook the potion in his hand, his gaze filled with curiosity, yet he resolutely opened the bottle and took a tiny sip.
Immediately, a refreshing sensation surged through his head, distinct from the sharpness of mint; it was a more soothing and indescribably cool feeling that revitalized him after a sleepless night.
“Indeed, witches have all the good stuff… let’s go; we still have important matters to attend to, but this trip wasn’t in vain.”
After all, with this potion, it was equivalent to catching up on a bit of sleep. Revitalized, he could then invest more energy into addressing the challenges facing Ninglan New City.
……
After leaving Ninglan New City, I quickly figured out my bearings and proceeded towards the direction they had previously indicated.
Once I reached the air, I was struck by two scenes.
The first thing that caught my eye was the lush plants in the distance, resembling a sea of greenery—primitive yet eerie.
The other sight was of the crowds encircling the outer walls of Ninglan New City. Their numbers exceeded my expectations; so many people were crammed yet seemed to maintain a distance from each other, perhaps to avoid unnecessary trouble while wanting to get closer to the city walls.
This scene reminded me of when players attacked Tan Han, leading to the devastation of a large area and subsequent disaster recovery, but here, the scale of the refugees was far more terrifying.
These people had not received aid and were unlikely to enter Ninglan New City to start a new life.
I shifted my gaze from those people, no longer focusing on them. I had to admit their suffering was not my concern, but their plight moved me. I understood it was an uncontrollable emotional response triggered by empathy. However, I wouldn’t completely abandon my capacity for empathy; I would control it instead of letting it control me.
Before I could manage it effectively… I recalled the self-awareness sealing technique, some methods of consciousness sealing I had learned from Natalie. Perhaps this could help me control my emotions better.
Leaving those crowds behind, I entered the ocean of plants.
As I got closer, I instinctively used the Earth Vein Identification Technique to gather information about these plants.
In a world where plant technology flourished, many plants coexisted with civilization in ways they could hardly imagine. Many buildings, foundations, infrastructure, etc., were fundamentally composed of plants.
In the hands of this civilization, plants had indeed became “materials” that no longer grew according to their own will, becoming the cornerstone of civilization development.
However, now, with the world having changed dramatically, after undergoing a sort of “restructuring,” the plants had broken free from their original “posts,” losing human-imposed restrictions, coupled with the “extraction” of many elemental essences of this world; extraordinary energy uncontrollably dominated the growth and mutation of the plants.
Even after such a short time, these plants were breaking through the shackles imposed by humanity, sprouting and branching out, even sending roots into the surrounding soil or buildings, seeking nutrients for their unrestricted growth.
It was predictable that in regions rich in extraordinary energy, those plants would become terrifyingly potent under its mutagenic influence.
Let’s not forget, there were also countless mutated beasts roaming the ruins of the Expanding Realm. Perhaps they too wandered through this new world.
Near Ninglan New City, I didn’t see many mutated beasts, but once I entered that botanical realm, I quickly spotted their traces.
“With so many plants… I wonder if the people from that world have taken this opportunity to research any food sources that can be provided widely to fill stomachs.”
I whispered to myself, recalling which plants were abundant, like corn, rice, wheat, and even potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Perhaps within this botanical world lay precious remnants from that past world.
However… my knowledge of plants seemed to be limited; I had only self-studied some during my studies.
But… among the people I knew, the one most knowledgeable about plants was Sofiry.
Now, she was the largest supplier of raw materials for the Witch Cat Café’s Fool Dream Drink and had apparently been working on improving certain plant characteristics and yield. With the changing recipe for Fool Dream Drink, she had also engaged in more diverse raw material cultivation and mutation, and even Dongli Yiren seemed to have followed her to learn.
By the way… it seems Dongli Yiren had already been exempted from some exams; should I let her come to Ninglan New City to see the world?
It would be best to bring Sofiry along, as I thought she would enjoy the plants here.
Though these were just ordinary plants, under the “nurturing” of extraordinary energy, perhaps they could undergo wondrous mutations.
This should pique the interest of that student who studies planting and botany.
But for now, it was just a thought; if such opportunities were to present themselves to them, it would be best, and if not, I wouldn’t force it.
Moreover, this was merely a concept of mine.
“I see it… it really is a huge tree…” Up in the air, I finally caught a faint glimpse of the enormous tree shadow in the distance.
But that tree shadow was simply too massive; perhaps, having lost human constraints, the Wanlian Main Network Tree had begun to grow wildly and freely under the influence of extraordinary energy.
