Chapter 650: The Great Witch Topic Branch — Betrayer Witch?
Expanding Realm.
Disaster Refuge
Inside the Wanlian Main Network Tree laboratory, the witches were still busy. The witches appeared relaxed, but they had many methods to help themselves, and clones were one of the most important methods.
As a result, the witches’ clones here hardly had any rest, and as for whether the originals who didn’t come here were resting, only the originals would know.
At this moment in the laboratory, the imaging projected by the Wanlian Main Network Tree had almost displayed the entire Expanding Realm, representing that the full map of the Expanding Realm had been acquired and was being updated in real-time through the Plant Network, even including population density distribution maps and so on.
This meant that the plan to plant the Wanlian Main Network Tree all over the world had been preliminarily completed.
There were still some vacant areas where the main network tree had grown more slowly, and the root network had not yet successfully connected to the interlinked root network.
However, it wouldn’t be long before this place would be completely “reclaimed” as a whole.
This was a vast world!
To achieve unification without employing some special means would be difficult. Currently, only the Wanlian Main Network Tree had completed the interconnectedness of the entire Expanding Realm relying on the Plant Network, but that didn’t mean they were really willing to submit to a single civilized consciousness.
After all, this small world had once had hundreds of countries, and although many of them were small, the language systems were the real barriers. Even experiencing disasters didn’t mean they could genuinely move towards unification.
According to the information sent back by my clones, the recent mass crossing had led to a sharp population decline by half, and this was still an incomplete statistic.
Moreover, before things were fully settled, the birth rate would plummet, and population deaths would again decrease, reducing the population to less than a third of its original size.
This was just cold numbers; reality was far more brutal, and even my clones sometimes could not help a group of people turn the tide.
Success and failure had already accompanied the experiences of most of my clones.
However, the lives and deaths of these people were not of concern to the Extraordinary Witches; they did not care about the individuals’ survival but focused on the inheritance of civilization.
From the perspective of their lifespan, as long as they saw the spark of civilization, their traces would soon spread across this world, as if the Extraordinary Witches believed their vitality far more than that of these human sparks.
In comparison, what the witches cared more about was the potential of the Wanlian Main Network Tree.
What potential?
Of course, efficiency!
There was no more convenient and expedient method than plant growth. It could help a civilization that had not yet been exposed to modern technology complete modernization at the shortest speed, including the laying of infrastructure without wasting human and material resources. Product production only needed to ensure the growth of plants.
It could be said that what the Expanding Realm was experiencing now was a rehearsal for the upcoming Core Realm.
What the witches needed was to rebuild in a more efficient manner after the upheaval of outside civilizations.
During this time, in addition to monitoring the efficiency of the Wanlian Main Network Tree covering the Expanding Realm and addressing issues of Plant Network interconnection, they were also attempting to adapt and develop the Wanlian Main Network Tree for many other fields, with one of the main projects being the connection with the Academy Network.
The Academy Network was the foundational network of the Witch Academy; it could not be completely replaced. Its mastery of Earth Vein Energy techniques was not something the Wanlian Main Network Tree could substitute. As the most widely used “non-entity carrier” in experiments, Earth Vein Energy would never be replaced.
Moreover, with the promotion of the Great Knowledge Seed within the instructor community, the Earth Vein Identification Technique was widely utilized, and new uses for Earth Vein carrying techniques within the Academy Network were developed.
The Wanlian Main Network Tree was a product under the Great Knowledge Tree system. Even the Great Knowledge Tree could not master Earth Vein Energy; it could only directly obtain Earth Vein information. The Wanlian Main Network Tree, on the other hand, could only convert Earth Vein Energy into Earth Energy for use.
So far, the performance of the Wanlian Main Network Tree had not disappointed the witches, especially regarding its self-healing ability in the face of root network damage.
Even if an area suffered a devastating blow, turning the underground into scorched earth, the root network of the Wanlian Main Network Tree could be entirely destroyed there. With just a few spells to carry out soil transformation in this area, the root network would soon spread again.
As for why we knew this so clearly… it was naturally because we had tested such an area. We had conducted many large-scale experiments like this, many of which were not known to others.
While busy in this laboratory, we sometimes also paid attention to activities in the outside world.
For example, the first established third refuge, also known as the Aphhemia Refuge, where the Aphhemia Academy had already built a stable teleportation channel, and many elf-type Extraordinary Academies had collaborated with Aphhemia Academy to open a series of portals.
The fourth refuge belonged to the Wizard Academy. After the fourth refuge was completed, just as the dream world overlap was about to engulf them, they hurriedly invited a tower master from their academy, an Extraordinary Wizard.
Subsequently, that tower master, together with several other tower masters, built a temporary Wizard Tower in the fourth refuge, mirroring the Wanlian Main Network Tree laboratory of the Witch Academy.
Then the Witch Academy paid them a “friendly” visit, without letting them actually come, instead sending over clones lacking strength, which was genuinely a case of the original collaboration contract backfiring on them.
However, the clones from the Wizard Academy… indeed opened my eyes.
For instance, the mechanical clones sent from the mechanical faction looked strange, while the flesh refinement faction’s clones seemed somewhat normal but had structures inside that were not human. Some were directly insectoid clones, not bothering to maintain human forms, just approaching humanoid shapes.
Then there were the plant beings, whose whole clones were woven from plants. This Extraordinary Wizard obviously had deep research into plant technology.
His arrival was mainly to help solve issues with plant technology development, and he was indeed quite interested in plant technology, especially the Wanlian Main Network Tree.
Seems like seeing too many of these clones would cause one to lose their sanity… then looking back at the clones of the Witch Academy’s instructors, it was clear that witches did pay more attention to appearances.
However, the presence of those Extraordinary Wizards indeed helped solve some troubles for the students. They guided them in refining a special witch weapon. Though it could not dispel the dream world, it could effectively drive away dream creatures.
However… this was a witch weapon refined under their guidance, similar to how Elena taught the Dream Demon Spell. Other academies couldn’t really say anything, and moreover, since their refuge also needed such things to dispel dream creatures, could they ask for Teaching Assistant Xiao Han to help them get rid of dreams once and for all?
Sorry, they couldn’t even find a trace of this assistant!
So they could only settle for choosing this method.
The fifth refuge represented the Holy Angel Academy.
After their construction… no, while building, they had already planned the location of the Holy Light Church within the refuge, and the entire structure of the refuge seemed like a huge pilgrimage city!
Once completed, it was unsurprising that they began vigorous evangelizing… It wouldn’t be unexpected to say so.
Disaster, refuge, and evangelism, these Holy Angels were indeed showing their old traditions.
However, it must be said that at this moment in the Core Realm, the Holy Light Churches scattered around the world were still busy cleaning up the Invaders’ Cults. However, it was clear they also did not want to give up the huge territory of the Expanding Realm.
Moreover, the fifth refuge promoted that the Holy Angel Academy would help other Extraordinary Academies of the faith in building teleportation channels and asserted that beliefs were not divided by academies…
However, it was obvious that not many small Extraordinary Academies were fooled, and those few that took the lead were all academies already inclined towards the Holy Angels.
The Holy Angel Academy’s approach precisely seized on the fact that only their three major refuges were open to other academies, while the Wizard Academy preferred to monopolize, and Aphhemia Academy collaborated with other elf academies. The main world also had many big academies that lacked this capability.
Those were the Beast Academy.
There were too many Beast Academies; although none were top-tier, the Extraordinary Academies categorized as Beast Academies were not weak. Even the seemingly frail Catman Academy had its strengths, at least stronger than those small Extraordinary Academies.
But the Holy Angels’ little schemes were soon shattered by the second refuge.
The managers of the second refuge were willing to temporarily open teleportation channels, helping them complete the construction of the sixth Beast Academy refuge…
Of course, this was not free.
However, compared to being at others’ mercy, there was still a price to pay. Whereas the price the Holy Angels would extract would be much heavier.
Beast Academies were indeed muscular types not too bright, but that did not mean they were all fools; they could naturally discern the stakes.
At this moment in the Wanlian Main Network Tree laboratory.
“By the way, I’m curious to ask, not long ago, Principal Mei suddenly contacted my original body through the Great Knowledge Sharing Technique, telling me to be cautious. Sister Agnes, do you know what’s going on?” During a rare moment of busyness, I just happened to meet Sister Agnes, who was preparing to take a break.
So I inquired.
“Principal Mei contacted you?” Sister Agnes seemed a bit surprised. “Why are you asking me suddenly? It should be a personal matter concerning you, how could I possibly know?”
“Uh… it shouldn’t be considered private? Sister Mei told me to be careful for a while, saying some formidable figures have arrived in the main world, and before I could ask, she hung up.”
“Formidable figures?” Sister Agnes raised her eyebrow, showing some interest. “You didn’t get a chance to ask?”
“Um… Sister Mei didn’t respond to me, but after resting for a while, she replied, saying she had resolved the matter and told me to treat it as if nothing had happened… not saying what happened, only piquing my curiosity. How could I treat it as if nothing had happened?”
“Since she said it’s resolved, then it’s likely that you don’t need to worry… but Mei’s actions are indeed…”
“What are you two talking about?”
“It’s Sister Naiden! We were just talking about Principal Mei contacting me recently and telling me to be cautious. Sister Naiden, do you know what major events have occurred in the main world recently, involving any major figures?”
“Cautious… major figures? That sounds a bit like that matter… Wait, did Mei Linde mention any of this to you?” Sister Naiden thought for a moment before responding with a sigh.
“Is something really going on?” I was shocked, as I inquired about this matter spontaneously.
“It seems she didn’t explain it to you, right?” Seeing my clueless expression, Sister Naiden roughly understood the situation.
“No… Sister Mei didn’t tell me; she just mentioned that she had dealt with the matter, but Sister Naiden~ could you tell me about it?” I asked with a pleading tone.
“No worries, I have a general idea of what it is. Telling Xiao Han in advance isn’t a problem.” At this moment, Sister Agnes also spoke up, and from her tone, it seemed she had thought of something.
“Then just tell me…” Sister Naiden reluctantly nodded. “But… Xiao Han, you’re not yet an Extraordinary Witch, so it’s actually unnecessary for you to know about such a level of existence. They generally only target Extraordinary Witches.”
“Is that true? I heard Sister Mei say something about knowing my deeds…”
“Fine… this time it might indeed concern Xiao Han…” After I finished, Sister Agnes put her forehead in her hand.
“So what is it?” I looked at the two “riddle witches,” feeling the pain of talking without getting to the point…
“Xiao Han, do you know what topic is mandatory for advancing to an Extraordinary Witch?”
“Uh… the Great Witch Topic?” I had learned about this before.
“Right, the Great Witch Topic is the key to advancing to an Extraordinary Witch. If you ask a typical member of a race how to distinguish whether a lifeform is of the same kin, they might respond based on whether they share the same race or sequence bloodline.”
“But if this question is asked to a witch, she would add another layer with the Great Witch Topic, which actually includes many branches, such as race, bloodline, constitution, magic power, and so on. This is the absolute manifestation of kinship recognition among witches.”
“So…” I prompted for more.
Although I didn’t understand why Sister Naiden was bringing up the Great Witch Topic, it was probably to help me comprehend what came next.
“So, what I want to tell you is that within the Great Witch Topic, there is a particularly rebellious branch called the Betrayer Witch Topic. It represents rebellious individuals within the inclusivity of races, and yet the Primordial Witch still recognized this branch, believing it to be an indispensable factor in keeping the witch race active.”
“Ah?” Upon hearing this concept, I widened my eyes slightly. The Primordial Witch was so inclusive?
“Don’t be surprised. There is even a Truth Witch within the Betrayer Witch Topic, and this Truth Witch has a solid following.”
“Ah? There’s a Truth Witch too?!”
“Of course, a Truth Witch does not necessarily represent strength but rather what she has done and been widely recognized for… but let’s set that aside for now; we’re discussing another situation.”
“The original Betrayer Witches were actually a widely accepted group. Though they did bring quite a bit of trouble to the witch race, they also sparked the vitality of the witch race until a witch emerged within the Betrayer Witches who deviated from the topic, misinterpreting it and thus straying from the right path.”
“The Betrayer Witch group originally all had their pursuits and bottom lines. They targeted the witch race but did not cross the witches’ bottom line, which means maliciously slaughtering other witches. However, those who misinterpreted the topic and strayed off course crossed the bottom line, becoming betrayers of the witch race, and the Primordial Witch also expelled those betrayers.”
“Just expelled?” I found it somewhat unbelievable.
“Yes, the Primordial Witch had the capability to crush them but chose not to. Instead, she handed it over to the other witches, to make the witches, who had been comfortable for too long, feel a sense of crisis. This aligns with the original intent of the Betrayer Witch Topic, but their individuals had gone astray; the Primordial Witch didn’t mind using their lives to illustrate the importance of the road of the Betrayer Witch Topic.”
“So… am I being targeted by the Betrayer Witches?” I asked.
“Yes, based on the information I’ve gathered, it’s still the Betrayer Witch… because you are now a Little Witch, on the verge of advancing to an Extraordinary Witch at any moment. Plus, you are the sole master of two Great Spellbooks, possessing the embryonic form of a field even before advancing, and even having mastered the technique of Void Communication. With your talent, who knows how much you will grow in the future… so… do you understand?”
“Wow… from the perspective of the Betrayer Witches… I feel like I’m so doomed…”
