Chapter 785: Information on the Fragment of Extraordinary Knowledge
“I’m disappointed to see you return alive. What significance does your return hold? You have brought trouble to the family, a significant trouble. I can’t understand what mood you have in coming back here and how you intend to face me.” The man’s voice bore a commanding tone laced with repressed anger, though it was skillfully masked by its deep timbre.
Before the man stood a young girl… no, a woman, who lowered her head, completely afraid to utter a word.
“What we need you to do is to thoroughly k*ll Tan Han. The unrestricted tournament is the best opportunity for the opponent to d*e. You didn’t do it, and you failed to deliver the things promised to the All-purpose Association. You’re putting us in a very passive situation right now; that thing, you should not have discarded it.”
The woman wanted to argue, but as she opened her mouth, she didn’t know what to say.
“Do you want to give your explanation for these matters? Explanations after the fact are the weakest. What has made you so indecisive? Or do you think that after ten years in the Witch Academy, you can act wantonly as a witch? You should understand the education the family has given you since childhood; tell me what you’ve been following!”
“What we follow is the great… will of the Wizard!”
As the woman spoke, the image of the Earth Vein gradually froze at that moment.
“How interesting~ So, Aipuli’s real goal is actually to k*ll Tan Han? I didn’t notice it at all back then.” My voice echoed in the study.
Then, the figure seated in the chair gradually became blurred.
Currently, we were inside a study in the Hothorn Family’s castle.
No need to ask how we got in; under extraordinary means, any precaution is essentially futile.
“I never expected that the family’s current situation had become so bold as to dare to conduct student killings within the Extraordinary Academy.” Sister Bai lamented.
Moreover, even the Witch Academy’s regulations dictate that mutual killings, unless signed under a contract in the arena, are subject to penalties, with the lightest punishment being the confiscation of all extraordinary means and expulsion from the academy.
Judging by that man’s tone, they intended to thoroughly exterminate Tan Han in a manner that obliterates her soul material.
This behavior is something both Sister Bai and I profoundly misunderstand. Do they really think that the family is safe within the Wizard Academy’s sphere of influence?
Or… does the Wizard Academy promise to protect the Hothorn Family?
After all, that thing they referred to is likely the fragment of Extraordinary Knowledge, the Frozen World.
This should be something owned by the Extraordinary Academy, right?
Yet they planned to give it to the All-purpose Association… I never expected that.
“However, not doing so in the end might be due to my interference, which ultimately made Aipuli see Witch Chris in the stands… I can sense her instinctual fear of Chris.”
“So you can be considered as having indirectly saved Tan Han’s life?” Sister Bai joked.
“Not necessarily. Tan Han is the Child of Fortune; even without me, it would be very difficult for the opponent to mount a successful attack.” I said casually, as at this moment, I didn’t feel the need to dwell on whether or not I had saved Tan Han’s life.
It was clear that more secrets lay hidden here.
“That’s true～” Sister Bai didn’t dwell too much on this question, “But Xiao Han, aren’t you going to keep watching?”
“It’s just a reenactment. The following plot doesn’t hold much content; it’s meaningless.” I casually flipped through the information presented by the Earth Vein Identification Technique, which was text extracted from Earth Vein information.
Glancing down the overview, there really seemed to be no interesting developments left.
“I’m still very curious about what kind of childhood experiences would lead a person to feel that at the last moment in the academy, ending their life is an acceptable outcome… Is this really nurturing children?” Sister Bai ultimately raised such a question.
“Sister Bai… there are countless children with tragic childhoods in this world. Looking at it this way, my past experiences seem trivial in comparison.”
“Don’t say that, Xiao Han… Just because many people have similarly tragic childhoods doesn’t mean your past isn’t worth mentioning. The trauma you’ve suffered can’t be brushed aside simply by comparison.”
“Sister Bai, don’t be so quick to lecture me~ I can’t take it in.”
“Alright～” Sister Bai paused, realizing she might have said too much. Moreover, for Xiao Han, this matter seemed to already be a thing of the past, and she shouldn’t bring it up.
Then we continued to delve into past events through the threads of Earth Vein information, during which we stumbled upon many other unexpected gains, though I wasn’t too concerned about those.
After all, I wasn’t collecting this information to sabotage this family; I could only view their despicable acts as entertainment. I was more curious about where they got the fragments of the Frozen World and… why they wanted to give it to the All-purpose Association.
Surely the All-purpose Association and the Wizard Academy couldn’t be colluding, right?
During the data collection, I was also organizing the information I had obtained so far.
First, the player clones learned that those players were still secretly collecting fragments of Extraordinary Knowledge.
Then, the players were getting close to the Extraordinary Academy, and my player clone could even contact family members, indicating that the family’s influence was currently accepting the presence of players.
Even if they had previously “seized” and killed their family’s high-ranking members, it seemed to matter little.
The All-purpose Association was also collecting fragments of Extraordinary Knowledge, ostensibly to engage in the Struggle of Fortune for Luxien, the Child of Fortune.
Hmm… It can’t be that the Hothorn Family is backing Luxien across academies, right?
I shared this information with Sister Bai. I wasn’t very adept at analyzing these matters, or rather, I lacked confidence in my reasoning ability.
I couldn’t comprehend the current situation of the All-purpose Association. If they had dissenting intentions, I had encountered Fu Xinglan and Tracy, both of whom had shown goodwill towards me, even securing a promise in the form of information; that was a Witch Contract as a guarantee, so it couldn’t be fake.
But to say they have good intentions… The assistants who designed to k*ll me, whether from the All-purpose Association or the Witch Secret Realm Association, had fallen.
“How about we boldly hypothesize? Suppose the All-purpose Association is in a wavering state, wanting to use this fragment of the Frozen World to win over those with opposing ideologies. After all, you’re well aware that the current main world situation is the Witch Academy against other Extraordinary Academies, and the actions of the Witch Academy are making many families uneasy.”
“Is that possible?” I instinctively retorted.
Just then, I received another piece of information: the Frozen World fragment was held by the family and not by the Wizard Academy.
Moreover, the Great Illusion Space Magic was indeed created based on this fragment, which originated from Extraordinary Knowledge; that’s why they had the audacity to add a “Great” to it, calling it “Great Magic.”
This was meant to rival the Great Spellbook of witches.
This Frozen World fragment was entirely in the family’s hands, while the Wizard Academy was merely researching it in name, inviting the Wizard Tower’s Principal to assist in the study.
“Really strange… this fragment of Extraordinary Knowledge is being collected by the family, players are also collecting it, and it can be seen that the Wizard Academy is recently sending students to collect it. Yet the Wizard Academy has never actually taken this thing.”
“Xiao Han, do you think there’s something shady about this?” Sister Bai timely asked.
“Very strange, why? Extraordinary Knowledge should be precious, right?”
“Indeed very precious. In the past, I didn’t have much concept of it, but after advancing to Extraordinary, I realized its value, especially the Extraordinary Knowledge that can be utilized is even more precious.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘can be utilized’? Are there ones that cannot?” I asked curiously.
According to my understanding of Extraordinary Knowledge, even rootless Extraordinary Knowledge should take hundreds of years to slowly research its characteristics and then be utilized, right?
“You don’t know? Not all Extraordinary Knowledge is utilizable. Oh, I see.” Sister Bai seemed to suddenly remember something and explained it to me from my perspective.
“Xiao Han, you think it just needs time to fully comprehend, right? But that’s only in theory; in practice, for a piece of Extraordinary Knowledge, during its initial research phase, it’s usually evident whether it can be utilized or not.”
“However, even if it cannot be utilized to create a Great Spellbook, it still has research value, as it can derive many spells just below the level of a Great Spellbook.”
“Uh…” I lightly exhaled, this was the first time I had heard…
Maybe I just didn’t understand it clearly before…
I thought those witches who spent hundreds of years researching without results were merely laying groundwork in the early stages… but it turned out that the reality is they knew from the start that this was an impossible experiment…
“So… does Sister Bai believe this is a piece of Extraordinary Knowledge that cannot be utilized?” I asked.
“I can’t give a professional answer, as I’ve only discussed this knowledge with a few sisters and have a rough understanding of some things, but I don’t know much.” Sister Bai regretfully shook her head.
“Is that so…”
“However, I know this piece of Extraordinary Knowledge was once made into a Great Spellbook.” Sister Bai suddenly cut in urgently.
“Huh? What?” Initially, I had no hope and was about to look for other information, but I suddenly looked at Sister Bai.
“It was made into a Great Spellbook called the Great Ice and Snow Throne Spell, but as you can see, it shattered into such fragments.”
“The Great Ice and Snow Throne Spell… oh man… it really was a Great Spellbook!” I exclaimed.
“Oh? From your tone, Xiao Han, you had some suspicions about this before?”
“I guess so～” I nodded but didn’t describe it as anything to be proud of, “Since it was made into a Great Spellbook, then this must be the work of the Witch Academy. Why did it become like this? Given the value of a Great Spellbook, many witches should be scrambling for it… why is it so wasteful?”
“Perhaps… it was for something more precious or important than the Great Spellbook…” Sister Bai lamented.
“But it’s evident that this failed, right? It ultimately shattered… conducting an experiment with a Great Spellbook is indeed a big gamble.” This was the second time I had heard of a “ruined” Great Spellbook.
Although… the Great Spellbook called the Great Ice and Snow Throne Spell didn’t seem to be ruined, but Principal Mei admitted she ruined her Great Weakened Spell.
The Great Weakened Spell, before it was ruined, even left a long-lasting magic effect that suppressed everyone in the Core Realm. But what about the Great Ice and Snow Throne Spell?
It seemed… it hadn’t left any traces.
After expressing these sentiments, we continued searching for new intelligence.
The current means I use to obtain information is a dimensional strike against the family; there are almost no secrets in front of the Earth Vein Identification Technique.
However, it’s a pity that they are still just a family; they haven’t reached the level of the Extraordinary Academy yet, so much of their intelligence is not very valuable. Moreover, they cannot share everything; real secrets are always kept deep within.
This led me to organize information for half a day without yielding significant results.
But… once there is a gain, the value of this information will be very high.
For example… I just found information regarding this fragment of Extraordinary Knowledge.
This detailed the general information about the fragments of Extraordinary Knowledge.
First, the Crown of Absolute Zero is currently in the hands of the Child of Fortune Tan Han at the Witch Academy, and it has been made into the Absolute Cold Wand.
Then, there are 12 Hearts of Cold Wave; it has been confirmed that two are in the Witch Academy—one is held by Luxien, the Child of Fortune of the All-purpose Association, and the other is in “Yang Yuelan’s” possession. The other nine have been confirmed in various Extraordinary Academies or families… one has appeared but was stolen, and its situation is unknown…
These materials are recorded in great detail, and it seems many families are paying attention to the movements of the fragments.
Just as I previously thought, they may not want to hold these fragments in their hands, but they must be aware of their existence.
However, what they are unaware of is that I have two Hearts of Cold Wave… which means the quantity of Hearts of Cold Wave is actually already complete.
The Frozen World… this fragment was lost by Aipuli; it’s unexpected. Aipuli claimed it was lost, rather than taken by the Betrayer Witch.
It seems… I already have two “tainted items” in my possession.
The next piece of information is of a type I am also learning about for the first time.
“The Protection of the Ice and Snow Elf”
Held by Yao Beijuan, the Child of Fortune of Aphhemia Academy, as her life-saving trump card; it can be activated in dangerous situations to protect herself and her companions.
The information came from last year’s auction, when players raided the ranking event at the hotel…
I had really not paid attention to that; after all, I was only slicing it once back then, without caring what others used.
Then the next piece of intelligence is… “Ancient Relic Ice Transformation Spellbook.”
Currently held by Xiao You, a common student at the Witch Academy, closely related to Tan Han, the Child of Fortune.
Moreover… the Ancient Relic Ice is a series.
In addition to the Ancient Relic Ice Transformation Spellbook, there are also the “Ancient Relic Ice Transformation Great Magic” and the “Frost Angel Divine Fall Spell.”
Seeing this, I couldn’t help but take a breath!
This is the state of the fragments split after the fragment of Extraordinary Knowledge shattered.
Some are preserved unchanged, the Crown of Absolute Zero, but ultimately cannot escape being made into a wand.
Some have scattered, with 12 beads not yet fully collected.
Some have been turned into spellbooks or Great Magic, and divine spells, no longer in their original form.
So… now the Hearts of Cold Wave and the Frozen World in my possession have completely become the fuse for this matter. Once the news leaks, if all fragment information is complete, this will lead to yet another storm.
And the cause of this situation is that Betrayer Witch… after all, that Betrayer Witch is indeed plotting against me!
