Chapter 754: The New Semester Begins
“I’m back~ It shouldn’t be too late, right? I ran into some things on the way back.”
At this moment, I couldn’t care less about the inconvenience of teleporting back from the experimental area. After solving the permission issues, I directly approached everyone.
“Ah… Xiao Han is finally back? I feel like I’m starving…”
“Let’s go, let’s go~ to the dining area.”
The dining area is a small space set aside from the laboratory, chosen because it’s convenient for “one-click cleaning,” so we all treat it as the dining area.
After distributing the takeout I brought, everyone took the rare opportunity to chat.
However, the main topic of conversation for most of them was still the issue regarding the upper limit of the magic source resonance for the Demon Transformation Transmutation Technique.
For most of the people present, the holiday or the start of the school year felt pretty much the same.
Basically, they would follow their instructors to learn knowledge, collaborate with friends, and research their topics, preparing to advance to the extraordinary.
Many of them didn’t even realize that school was starting soon. When they found out, they felt that time had flown by too quickly.
Regarding advancing to extraordinary, not everyone was confident about this matter.
Many actually held the mindset of completing their studies normally first, then slowly accumulating experience.
A year had passed again, which meant that many here were getting closer to graduation.
After all, in the Witch Academy, achieving graduation during school is a feat reserved for the utmost geniuses. A significant portion of the students who advance to extraordinary witches do so after graduation.
After all… for an individual, ten years in school can be seen as long or short.
The vibrant colors of the extraordinary world always attract the youth in their prime to unleash their youthful vigor. Perhaps by the time one awakens to reality, a decade has already passed.
Moreover, during those ten years, three of them are in the lower grades, which is not only a foundational phase but also a phase where one chooses their life path.
From confusion to determination, the time spent varies for each person. Achieving clarity about one’s goals leading to accomplishments cannot merely be a matter of length of service; after all, advancing to extraordinary depends entirely on one’s ability, not on experience.
Generally, people spend even longer due to another factor, which is overcoming the Earth Vein Shackles.
The Earth Vein Shackles can only be severed after advancing to extraordinary, so during the period leading to this advancement, the impact of these shackles is all-encompassing—affecting one’s family, relatives, friends, familiar juniors, or even cherished love and partners…
These are all normal relationships, yet they can transform into the most fatal shackles at the most critical moments, psychologically crushing anyone trying to break free from the cycle of the world, preventing them from becoming a true “individual.”
Only by first overcoming these can they be severed. This is the insidious nature of the Earth Vein Shackles.
There is a shortcut to conquering them: complete understanding.
When a person realizes that breaking the Earth Vein Shackles does not mean completely severing these relationships, the impact of the shackles diminishes. People only need to suppress their instinctual fears with subjective awareness to ignore the shackles and advance to extraordinary.
So… the young girls present are actually very aware of the Earth Vein Shackles. They analyze the causes of the shackles, understand their principles, and some even study psychology to continuously explain why.
In fact, severing the Earth Vein Shackles does not require ruthless detachment or cold-heartedness, but no one can manage to separate the two.
Thus, those who advance from an extraordinary body to extraordinary prowess often acquire some issues with locking hearts and love. They may become silent or indifferent, but in any case… their faces will carry countless stories.
“By the way, Xiao Han, I recently saw someone on the academy forum saying that someone witnessed your clone slaughtering freshmen.” At that moment, Yi Rui brought this up beside me.
With Yi Rui mentioning it, the others who frequently pay attention to the academy forum quickly chimed in.
“Yeah, yeah, I saw it too; it’s been spreading quite fiercely lately, and there are even photos for proof!”
“But it seems like your support team managed to suppress it on the academy forum.”
“I really don’t understand what those people are thinking. Do they harbor so much malice towards you, Xiao Han? Saying things like… the academy is covering for you and ignoring the inhumane slaughter of freshmen.”
As they spoke, the debate intensified, but in any case, they all seemed to be supportive of me. Whether it was blind trust or some other reason… I actually felt quite happy about it.
However, I wanted to say that those things circulating on the academy forum weren’t entirely false.
“Huh? Do you all believe I didn’t take action?” I seized the opportunity to pose my question.
“Of course! We’ve spent so much time with you, Xiao Han; we definitely know what kind of person you are~”
“Right~ Letting those people smear your name is just too awful; it feels like the ones responsible for deleting posts on the academy forum are just slacking off, right?”
“Don’t get so worked up; what if I say the academy forum isn’t wrong? What if I really did take action against the freshmen?” As soon as I said this, the voices around us immediately quieted down, some even showing disbelief!
“Okay… I’m not joking anymore; I did k*ll those people, but they weren’t just ordinary freshmen; they were players. You all should remember what the concept of a player is, right? Players enter the Witch Academy under the guise of freshmen, and I naturally had to wipe them out completely.”
“Oh! I knew Xiao Han was definitely wronged!”
“Exactly! Xiao Han’s behavior doesn’t require explanation to anyone; I apologize for my momentary hesitation just now!”
“When apologizing, remember to show a bit of your chest! You didn’t show any sincerity!” One girl put down her lunch box, her restless little hand sneaking behind her, suddenly lifting it!
“Mind your own business; after all, Xiao Han is a woman with a family!” The one who was lifted immediately blushed, one hand gripping her clothing while the other swatted the instigator’s head!
Don’t think the strikes were harsh; everyone here possesses extraordinary power, and this level of force is merely playful.
However, amid the playfulness, many also realized a significant issue.
That is, players are actually allowed to directly enter the Witch Academy as the new batch of freshmen!
What kind of existence players are, many in the extraordinary academy are still somewhat aware; they are invaders from outside the world, occupying the bodies of the inhabitants of our world and running amok here.
Though their power forms are quite peculiar, their strength isn’t very formidable.
Only that incident at the hotel in the Magic Capital caused significant disruption; otherwise, even when explosions occurred, they could easily be dealt with by extraordinary means.
In some sense, these powerful players are roughly comparable opponents to the students at the Witch Academy who can only cast spells.
However… in the end, they reached a conclusion about players that was hardly concerning.
Leaving aside the fact that players have been increasingly rare lately, more importantly, they clearly understood one thing: this so-called “world invasion,” which is tolerated by the instructors, has always been a joke.
This means that the matter has the final guarantee from the instructors. Although it is just a guess, they felt it was highly likely, or that the instructors wanted to leverage these players for certain purposes.
But all of this had little to do with them; it is only the outsiders—the ones who keep jumping around—who are affected.
In fact, I wasn’t particularly interested in the topic of players either. The more one knows, the less interest they have in shallow topics like this.
So their discussion quickly shifted back to the upcoming new student welcome.
After all, it’s a yearly event.
Welcoming the new little sisters into the school is indeed wonderful, and it’s also the perfect moment for senior girls to seek new romances!
Providing first-year students with a shock that belongs to the Witch Academy, letting them know clearly that even though everyone is a girl here, they need to stay alert.
Many girls naively lose their virginity on their first day in the Witch Academy, and this is no joke.
You can’t possibly know how eager those senior girls are among an all-girls student body, and how playfully they indulge in their escapades.
But here… they were actually discussing the welcome ceremony for new students, particularly topics about club recruitment.
They belong to a particular club.
However, they rarely directly recruit new freshmen; they take the elite route in their club.
Although they do not recruit outsiders, as one of the few grand events at the Witch Academy, many girls still want to join in the fun.
Moreover, during this time, they also usually take the opportunity to set up stalls at the new freshmen market and earn some side income.
Not everyone among them is a little rich girl. Although the funds gathered for the club due to interest come from the club’s little rich girls, every individual doesn’t live solely for their club; they also have their own topics to research.
Furthermore, if anyone has some expensive skills as a side profession or their own topic requires a large amount of precious experimental materials that constantly consume resources, no amount of money is enough.
For the senior girls, setting up stalls serves another purpose: cleaning out some experimental products or by-products they’ve developed during this period. After all, throwing them away as garbage would be too much of a waste. Selling them to those in need can even help them recoup some losses.
Of course, more importantly, it offers them an opportunity to relax and connect with the outside world. After all, humans are ultimately social beings. In crowded and lively places, they instinctively attract more people to join the fun.
At least that’s how they feel.
“Since we can’t complete the theoretical upper limit of the magic source quantity for the Demon Transformation Transmutation Technique before school starts, we shouldn’t rush for it now, right?”
“Of course, there’s no need to rush. I never set a specific time or limit on this experimental project; it seems like you all are busy treating the laboratory as your home,” I smiled in accordance with their expectations.
“Then let’s take a break during those few days right before school starts. What do you think, Xiao Han?” Yi Rui proposed, “After all, occasionally giving your brain a break might yield different inspirations.”
“I’m fine with that; do you have any plans?”
“Of course we do~ Just don’t appear in the laboratory to backstab us, Xiao Han.”
“Rest assured, I won’t this time,” I said with a smile, even though if I really went to the laboratory and someone caught me, nobody could say anything.
But I did definitely need to take a good break for myself.
It’s a bit unfortunate that the Expanding Realm has almost closed; otherwise, the fresh developments there would have been great for me and Sister Bai to explore a bit.
……
Time passed quickly.
Before I knew it, the day for the new semester had arrived.
On this day, the Witch Academy once again held the grandest welcoming ceremony for the new students, just like the same time last year.
However, this time the technique for the Earth Vein manifestation had transformed into another style.
The Wanlian Main Network Tree’s root network operating system.
Although only a holiday had passed, that Wanlian Main Network Tree in the Witch Academy had already thrived in the hands of countless witches, changing day by day.
Moreover, in just one holiday, it had grown to a vast size, becoming a landmark within the Witch Academy. Its root network spread throughout the primary roadways of the academy.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before the Witch Academy would incorporate plant technology to renovate its buildings.
After all, alchemical items powered by magical energy are still not very easy to popularize, and the consumption of magic isn’t very friendly for freshmen.
Furthermore, the root network of the Wanlian Main Network Tree can integrate effectively with the landscaping designs in the academy. Perhaps soon, if a freshman gets lost in the Witch Academy, they could simply see a blade of grass by the side of the road, connect to the root network, and obtain route information.
Such a scene is the kind of fantastical demeanor that an extraordinary academy should embody, transcending conventional society.
Moreover, this does not require excessive use of the Earth Vein like the Earth Vein Operating System and academy network, which could lead to a subsequent period of Earth Vein stagnation.
The Wanlian Main Network Tree only needs to convert Earth Vein energy into Earth Energy on its own to effectively cover its root network. At most… it can create an additional backup station for Earth Energy conversion, which can be considered very high tolerance.
During the new students’ enrollment period.
I was wandering around the temporary market set up for new students.
Although it’s called the new student market, this place isn’t exclusively for the new students, because they just arrived at the extraordinary academy, and know nothing. They usually have only a small amount of common currency, making it difficult for them to be consumers here, so the main force remains the returning senior sisters.
Thus, every time at this point, the hustle and bustle here is extraordinary, second only to the club recruitment area.
After all, the clubs in the Witch Academy are diverse and varied; many clubs find all sorts of ways to attract attention for recruitment—some showcase talents while others distribute interesting little items.
The most eye-catching would have to be the alchemy club; those fascinating alchemical trinkets really draw people’s eyes.
Of course, there are also notable alchemy stalls in this market.
Because those are usually where alchemists process their potions and alchemical items, and you might even find some deals.
I glanced past these stalls one by one, as I wasn’t interested in alchemical items or potions.
Instead, I preferred to roam here casually. Rather than buying things, I looked forward to randomly encountering people I knew and seeing what they were doing.
After all, that in itself is quite interesting, isn’t it?
