Chapter 660: Wait, you got into Totem Studies?!
After leaving Teacher Lina’s office, the preliminary preparations for the invigilation matter were finally completed.
I successfully landed myself in a troublesome situation, at least that’s how it appeared to others.
I took out a coin; this was what the Fortune Alchemist had transformed my Fortune Seed into.
However, through the Earth Vein Identification Technique, I found that there wasn’t much information about it.
Of course, I was not concerned about the information being “not much,” but that there was… information about it!
And it was more detailed than the brief description given by Sister Trix, which indicated something: this creation had once appeared in the Main World.
This coin belongs to the prototype of a Fortune alchemical item.
The method to refine it requires a Child of Fortune to sacrifice one of their own Fortune Seeds and all of their Fortune as part of the preliminary refining ceremony.
So, for now, it’s still considered a type of embryo before refinement.
Thus… Sister Trix, the Fortune Alchemist, was not wrong; she could indeed help me completely remove the endowment of the Fortune Seed. There is nothing cleaner than a sacrifice, but I just wonder what additional effects this might have on me.
Perhaps I could ask Sister Mei about the Fortune Alchemist, and while I’m at it, also inquire about the Betrayer Witch.
Since that one time we contacted each other, Sister Mei had not explained anything to me regarding this matter, or rather, she hadn’t mentioned the concept of the Betrayer Witch to me; I gathered it myself.
Just in time, taking advantage of these two issues, I would also ask if there are any materials available on Totem Studies, as I increasingly felt I had some thoughts regarding totems; I was merely lacking foundational knowledge to help me understand it.
With these thoughts in mind, I also hadn’t contacted Principal Mei for quite some time, so I activated the communication and found myself already at the teleportation landmark near her office.
“Hey~ Sister Mei, are you busy right now?”
“Xiao Han? Why did you suddenly call me? Well, I am quite busy at the moment; my main body isn’t in the academy, but I did leave a clone in my office, and it’s pretty idle right now.”
“Oh, I’m at your office. I just have some things I want to ask you in person.”
“Hmm, come on in.” Mei nodded simply in agreement with my request, and since I chose to talk face-to-face, there was no need to say too much over the communication.
Moreover, I was already very familiar with the way to Principal Mei’s office. However, upon arriving, I found it seemed much more… desolate than in the past visits?
Because there was only Sister Mei, no, this one was just a clone left to guard the Witch Academy!
Normally, Principal Mei’s office should have other witches present. For example, the last time I came here because of Fool Dream, there were several witch sisters here.
Even so, the large auxiliary device for Observing Qi in the office was still operational and constantly transmitting various information in real time through the Great Knowledge Sharing Technique.
It seemed like the equipment had been upgraded.
“Xiao Han~ What brings you to my office again? Or are you just looking to catch up since you’ve been in the Expanding Realm for so long?” Sister Mei greeted me first, and I indeed hadn’t been here for a while.
“Well, I don’t have much to trouble Sister Mei about this time; I just have a few questions I’d like to consult you on.”
“Questions? What on earth could be bothering you, Xiao Han?” Hearing this, Principal Mei became interested.
“Well, it’s related to you, and it’s about that last time you contacted me voluntarily.”
“That time you reached out to you… oh!” Upon this mention, Principal Mei quickly recalled, and from her expression… it seemed she might have forgotten that little matter?
“About that, Xiao Han, are you still concerned?”
“Yeah, I am very concerned. I kept thinking about what happened, and I’ve even lost my appetite for meals these days…”
“Is it that serious?!” Principal Mei was surprised by my description; she could indeed see that I looked a bit “complaining.” “Fine, fine… it’s indeed my fault; I originally didn’t plan to tell you about this matter, but it was resolved later…”
“Is it related to the Betrayer Witch?” I directly asked.
“The Betrayer Witch? You even know about this?”
“Yeah, I’ve inquired about this information, but I don’t know much.”
“Okay… it’s indeed been a bit chaotic in the Main World lately, but it’s not just the Betrayer Witch who has come.”
“Are there other extraordinary powerhouses… and they shouldn’t target me, right?”
“Unfortunately, you are indeed their target, but compared to the Main World, you are merely one target they brought along this time.”
“Brought along… okay…”
“Are you disappointed to hear that?” Principal Mei asked with a light laugh. “If you had really become a primary target, you’d have reason to be worried. But you mentioned the Betrayer Witch—what do you know about her?”
“The Betrayer Witch… I’ve heard it’s a subtopic under the Great Witch Topic, the Betrayer Witch Topic, and within the group of Betrayer Witches, there’s a faction of betrayers.”
“Pretty detailed understanding there. I thought you would just categorize them broadly as villains after hearing the name. In fact, the Betrayer Witches are good witches; they just have rebellious personalities. Or should I say, the Betrayer Witch concept is more like a stereotype that all races in the Void have towards witches.”
“Ehh… really?” Hearing Sister Mei’s words, I gained a deeper understanding of the Betrayer Witch group. I always thought they were in constant conflict with the mainstream group; I didn’t expect Sister Mei to hold them in such high regard.
She even represented the stereotype of witches in the Void?
“Yes, they are also witches, aren’t they? Only the witches who deviate from the topic path, trample on the limits of witches, and go against the Witch Contract are called Betrayer Witches. This is fundamentally different from simply being a Betrayer Witch,” Sister Mei seemed to be very intent on explaining the differences between the two to prevent me from getting them mixed up.
“And there’s one more thing you need to remember: the Betrayer Witches are also the main organization within the witch race that hunts the Betrayers! They actively take on the responsibility of hunting down the rebellious traitors under their topic to showcase their glory, which means you can’t equate Betrayer Witches with traitors. To join the group of Betrayer Witches, one must k*ll a traitor.”
“Wait… I’m a bit confused… Isn’t the Betrayer Witch a topic on its own? Why must one k*ll a traitor to be considered one?” I spoke in confusion.
“Yes, the Betrayer Witch is indeed just a topic; you can step on this path at any time, but the requirement to join the group of Betrayer Witches is to k*ll a traitor. Moreover… the Betrayer Witches are not necessarily those who have deviated from the Betrayer Witch topic; that’s only one way. There are also those who trample on the witch race’s bottom line, such as maliciously killing fellow witches, as well as abandoning the Witch Contract, etc. All of these are seen as being forced onto the path of Betrayer Witches.”
“Oh… I understand!” I quickly nodded to indicate that I understood. The Betrayer Witch group wasn’t dangerous for me; it was even quite safe. They actively took on the responsibility of hunting those who had gone astray under their topic of study.
So there was no need for me to fear the presence of the Betrayer Witch group in the Main World, “Then… Sister Mei, was that last contact with me resolved with the help of the Betrayer Witches?”
“Indeed, the Betrayer Witches lent a small hand, so you can rest assured~ There won’t be any Betrayer Witches appearing within the Main World. Of course, if they do show up and I can’t stop them, I will notify you as soon as possible.” Principal Mei also gave me a promise at this moment.
This was enough to show Principal Mei’s confidence in this regard, but there was one more point she didn’t mention: why the Betrayer Witches had come here.
“Then I’ll thank you, Sister Mei~ I feel completely reassured this time.” I spoke to Sister Mei, but… that was just a formality. Without the Betrayer Witches, I might still face other extraordinary powerhouses from other extraordinary academies!
So I simply couldn’t relax.
However, this topic could only be grudgingly concluded for now, as I had another matter I wanted to ask.
“By the way, Sister Mei~ Do you have any understanding of the concept of Fortune Alchemists?”
“Fortune Alchemist? Wait… Xiao Han, what have you been doing lately? Why do I feel like you’ve been getting involved with some pretty strange things?”
“Uhh… what’s wrong with Fortune Alchemists?” I cautiously inquired.
“Have you encountered them… or did they approach you? Who was it? Osmon Cumberland? Or… Lorial?” Principal Mei looked somewhat complicated at this moment, not overly serious, but somewhat… helpless?
“Ah? The Witch Academy has so many Fortune Alchemists?” I asked in shock, yet none of the names that Mei mentioned matched!
“Indeed, there are quite a few, but most are amateurs. They are simply a bunch of folks very interested in Fortune, dabbling in experiments or something similar when they have the chance.” Principal Mei put her hand to her forehead.
“Is that so? But I met Sister Trix, Trix Destinee.” I replied.
At this moment, I recalled the description of the Fortune Alchemist given by Sister Agnes… and the image Mei described was… completely the opposite?
I really couldn’t tell them apart anymore!
“Trix…” Upon hearing this name, Sister Mei again put her hand to her forehead. “You didn’t make any strange deals with her, did you?”
“Uhh… seems too late, I already…”
“Care to share?” Once she knew I was too late, Mei could only let out a sigh.
“Well… she said my Fortune Seed hasn’t been completely shattered and that the world investing in me has nothing to do with me, wanting to help me remove the Fortune Seed, or something like that.” I answered truthfully, “Uh… she also said you don’t quite understand Fortune and that severing the Earth Vein Shackles is of no use…”
“She said that?” At this moment, I could feel Sister Mei seemed to be laughing, somewhat exasperated, “The Fortune Seed hasn’t been completely shattered?”
“Uh… pretty much?”
“Your Fortune Seed has already been shattered by you; what she showed you was probably just an illusion of a Fortune Seed. That isn’t really a Fortune Seed, but a kind of qualification in Fortune—one that allows you to become a Child of Fortune anytime. If you sever the Earth Vein Shackles now, it would be equivalent to cutting off your chance to pick it up.”
“Uh… I was fooled?”
“Eh… it’s not exactly being fooled. She probably just valued that qualification and wanted to make some use of it by finding you. Although I’m not a Fortune Alchemist, I have studied some theoretical knowledge; did she refine your Fortune Seed into something?”
“Yeah… a coin. I found out through the Earth Vein Identification Technique that this was a prototype of an alchemical item made by sacrificing a Fortune Seed…” I took out a coin.
“Lucky coin, hehe… looks like it’s pretty much as I expected.” Sister Mei didn’t even take the coin when she saw it; she already knew what it was.
“So, I…”
“Since it’s already become this way, how you choose is up to you. She should have told you this coin is called something like the ‘Fate’s Choice,’ right?”
“Yeah…”
“If you won’t regret not being able to become a Child of Fortune again in the future, then it doesn’t really matter how you choose. The main thing is… did she take advantage of you?”
“Uh… sort of, she didn’t give me anything…” I hesitated to reply, and it seemed my intuition during our conversation hadn’t betrayed me; she was indeed a merchant, a shady one! A merchant who enjoyed freeloading!
“Alright, when I have time, I’ll help you demand some benefits from her. Next time, don’t casually agree to requests from witches you’re not familiar with; be careful not to be sold and still count the money for them. Although you’re now a Little Witch, you should still be cautious.”
“Oh… I understand.” I nodded repeatedly, like a child who had just been scammed and realized their mistake.
“Good to know.” At this moment, Sister Mei seemed to relax, then asked, “Xiao Han, do you have anything else? If not, I’d like to talk to you about the Wanlian Main Network Tree and the Knowledge Seed, as it seems you’re not too concerned about this, but I think it’s necessary to discuss it with you.”
“Oh… about that… but I actually still have something else I wanted to trouble Sister Mei with…”
“Don’t worry, go ahead and say it, let’s see what else is up.” After experiencing the strange occurrences with the Betrayer Witch and the Fortune Alchemist, Mei Linde was curious about what kind of absurdity could emerge next.
“Oh, it’s about learning. Recently, some of my research has come to a close, so I’ve found some materials and notes to self-study some Totem Studies. I’m quite interested in this; it’s just that there’s simply too little information on Totem Studies, and I wanted to see if you have any materials on this?”
“Totem Studies… wait, you got into Totem Studies?!”
“Ah? Got into? What a strange description?” I was stunned, looking at Sister Mei with surprise.
“Totem Studies is a one-way path, Xiao Han. You’re young; how are you thinking about Totem Studies?” Mei Linde asked in confusion.
She thought it was outrageous enough that Xiao Han had an interest in Rune Literature upon entering school, but now she had even started studying Totem Studies! This was simply… as absurd as kindergarten students liking world classics!
