Chapter 1014: Breaching the Academy’s Door, Burning the World Tree
The blazing flames created a striking contrast against the setting sun, as if, at that moment, the fire’s burning had taken over the baton from the sun.
Above the desolate land, the only World Tree quietly burned.
Only the fierce flames bid farewell to the elves returning home.
The cheers of the witches echoed beneath the flames, and the failed academy became a glory’s adornment.
They all left unforgettable moments of this scene, and the burning World Tree was destined to cause a stir throughout the entire Core Realm.
The great fire would last long, perhaps burning for days or even weeks…
While the flames might eventually extinguish, in everyone’s hearts, the blazing World Tree would never be forgotten.
In a sense, this was also a good ending for the Dayrock Elf Academy.
The once-small Extraordinary Academy that had perished in academic battles was unknown to anyone.
Now, its demise at the hands of the Witch Academy was already common knowledge.
They rang the alarm bell for all Extraordinary Academies; this was a life-costing lesson.
“Ladies, have we got photos, short videos, and commemorative moments ready?”
The World Tree only burns for a day, and after that… chop down the tree! Bring it back! I said.
It’s not that I want to let the flames carry away the faith of the Dayrock Elves; it’s just that common flames cannot completely burn the World Tree into charcoal.
Not even its branches.
What’s burning now are essentially inconsequential things; the rest that does not burn away are the good things.
The branches, trunk, and root system of the World Tree… their value is immeasurable.
They are even, to some extent, irreplaceable.
After all, the materials of the Elf World Tree can only be obtained by annihilating an entire elf race, right?
Elves regard their mother tree as more important than their own lives.
In response to my inquiry, many finally spoke up.
“No! Wait! I want to do a live broadcast for such a significant event!”
“Let’s hurry! Don’t you realize how valuable the World Tree is?”
“I actually haven’t looked into it.”
“It’s okay~ The materials from the burnt World Tree have more special ritual characteristics in the mysterious domain; perhaps they can be sold for an even higher price!!”
“I wonder if we can get a small share, even if it’s just the burnt branches. I want to use this to create a magic wand.”
“That depends on what the academy says; this is classified as high-regulation material.”
“But this is the loot we obtained by breaking through with Assistant Xiao Lian, right? Not giving us anything would be really unfair!”
“I hope my performance can earn me more points; I didn’t hold us back, even though I just followed Assistant Xiao Lian around…”
“Is it over?”
As the scene of the burning World Tree of the Dayrock Elf Academy spread, accompanied by coordinated movements, fierce attacks, and the flaming World Tree… within less than three days, it reached a conclusion.
Those who did not participate in the war but learned of the news felt as if it were a dream.
—The entire Extraordinary Academy, along with the academy head, a total of 38 Extraordinary Elves, all ended their lives.
This also meant that no matter how much time passed, there would never be a new “Dayrock Elf Academy” appearing in the Main World.
What’s more critical is that the Witch Academy didn’t even send out an Extraordinary Mentor; everything had already been settled.
It wasn’t just the Witch Academy; other Extraordinary Academies were equally shocked!
During this period.
Aphhemia Academy issued strong condemnation statements against the Witch Academy on multiple occasions.
In the statements, they mournfully expressed the cruelty and evil deeds of the Witch Academy, demanding the Witch Academy return the remnants of the World Tree to the Elf race for internal handling.
However, the Witch Academy ignored all of this.
After the Dayrock World Tree was taken away along with its root system, a brand new tree took the place of the World Tree in Dayrock.
The Wanlian Main Network Tree.
Laying the foundation for a power network and root system network.
Some families in the Dayrock World also “gladly” sided with the Witch Academy.
As for whether it was voluntary… no one knew; everyone knew that if someone asked, these families would definitely nod and say: “I absolutely chose this myself.”
After all, when the Extraordinary Academy in the Dayrock World fell, if the families did not accept the Witch side’s “kindness,” they would only be picked apart by other families, and their decline would be even worse!
Family relationships are not as solid as iron; families and capital will only adhere to the principle of profit first.
The game of big fish eating small fish plays out every day.
After the battle ended, the main battlefield served as the cleanup area, completed rapidly with logistical support.
Though it was called clearing the battlefield, it essentially meant scavenging the “inheritance” of the Dayrock Elf Academy.
If anything, the biggest inheritance was the massive fragment of the World Tree!
Just one full tree could establish a small Extraordinary Academy, showcasing its terrifying size!
From the most valuable heart of the tree, to the bulk of the tree, and then to the most unique root sections, and finally, the bark, branch tips, and so on, concluding with the leaves of the World Tree that common flames cannot ignite.
Due to its sheer enormity, even storing it in storage equipment would require multiple sections.
The gains from this operation were largely attributed to the Witch Union Society and then distributed internally based on contributions.
However, one aspect did not belong to the society, which was… the World Tree fragment.
This was not up for division.
Even if someone felt this was the society relying on its own power, it belonged to the society.
It’s not surprising to have such an idea.
However, this still seemed too naive.
Aphhemia Academy previously called on all Extraordinary Academies to condemn the Witch Academy, demanding the return of the World Tree to the elves; why was this behavior considered a joke?
Because this fragment of the World Tree belonged to the Witch Academy!
If the Witch Union Society had even one confused brain, shouting that this belonged to the society, Aphhemia Academy would be the first to applaud.
Because it wasn’t the academy calling for the return of the World Tree’s fragments but the Extraordinary Elves! Even the level of the academy head!
This was a game between the academy and the Extraordinary level.
In the end, it was the Witch Academy resisting all pressure from the Aphhemia Forest Elves!
Once this belonged to the union society, Aphhemia Academy would dare to come knocking and forcibly seize the World Tree fragments.
As for the Extraordinary Witch… at most, they would intervene after the Extraordinary Elves made a move, then rob it from the elves, and thus it would wholly become the academy’s possession, having nothing to do with the society.
Precisely because they grasped this fundamental relationship, they would absolutely not evolve the relationship between the society and the academy into such a state.
Possessing something precious brings trouble, that’s essentially it.
However, after the World Tree fragments were returned to the Witch Academy, following discussions within the academy, they ultimately only listed the heart of the World Tree as a restricted-level Extraordinary material, while everything else was categorized as regulated-level materials and other non-renewable, precious and tradable materials.
When the union society believed the World Tree could ultimately only yield some scraps, another declaration from the academy made them extremely delighted!
The materials of the World Tree, classified as regulated-level, were authorized to belong to the Witch Union Society, which had the obligation to cooperate with the academy in supervising the distribution of regulated-level materials and must record the materials’ whereabouts, usage, consumption, and final recovery and destruction.
Additionally, they established strict barriers for exchange and individual exchange limits along with a series of demands.
No matter how harsh these restrictions were, everyone in the society only saw one…
That is, the World Tree belonged to the Union Society!
Regardless of the exchange barriers and limits, those were merely different forms of prohibitive statements.
But at this level, how could they profit from regulated-level materials?
Money is something that cannot be equated with these materials!
It must be said that, while they did not qualify to interfere with the heart of the tree, it served as a very suitable trading tool.
If you don’t believe me, even though they did not qualify to interfere with the heart, it served as a very suitable trading tool.
You don’t have to believe me; even though they did not qualify to interfere with the heart, it served as a very suitable trading tool.
“Protection fees,” they also enjoyed immensely.
Such a colossal resource from a World Tree greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the Witch Union Society!
Profit is the most captivating.
These societies had never witnessed such exorbitant investment returns.
And they had to reconsider… war.
Was this behavior being actively promoted?
They seemed to have opened a Pandora’s box, witnessing something more profitable than family monopolization.
As these significant issues gradually calmed down, meetings about wartime reports and post-war summaries began.
Although I don’t particularly like such occasions, as the absolute leader of the first battle, I also have the obligation to provide a post-war summary for everyone, or rather… as the leader of the Zero Special Operations Sequence, a report on the aftermath?
Even though I don’t really enjoy reporting in front of many people, I had to acknowledge the weight of the matter; some issues I encountered during this mission needed to be fed back.
As I stood on the stage, the imposing presence and strong pressure instantly quieted the entire conference hall.
In this battle, although issues regarding the loss of root network information arose later, under the connection of the Knowledge Seed’s knowledge-sharing technique, they watched the live broadcast throughout.
The entire first-person perspective left them with goosebumps; it was utterly different from the combat style back in the Glen Forsaken Lands.
The only similarity was… the absence of using that mysterious domain’s power.
The spells, akin to natural disasters, covered the area, multiple-line spellcasting overlaps, and endlessly connected spells, plus almost no repeating spell methods.
And the ever-renewing magical power provided by self-generating magic…
Allowed them to see a completely different Assistant Xiao Lian from another perspective.
Thus, when everyone saw me take the stage, they instinctively gave the utmost respect.
“Next, I will provide a summary report following the end of this battle; I will try to be as concise as possible regarding the issues encountered in this campaign. As for detailed issues, professional individuals will need to retrieve the entire battle records for analysis. Members of the Zero Special Operations Sequence will also actively cooperate in the subsequent work.”
“Getting to the point… This campaign exposed our union society’s lack of experience regarding academy warfare, primarily concerning operational discipline and command. We lacked a systematic command and scheduling method to efficiently accomplish operational tasks and could not unleash the maximum combat strength envisioned by our operational sequence.”
“Then, there was the discipline issue among the students within the operational sequence. Originally, I did not want to reiterate this point, but in this instance, when my operational sequence faced the 38 Extraordinary Elves, it was just because of the other party’s threatening words that they openly revealed—
nervousness, hesitation, and fear, which left the entire situation in a passive state.”
“This is a foolish behavior; one should not express emotions of joy or anger. Even when facing an Extraordinary Mentor, as long as it is clear that the other party is our enemy, one should not show any signs of cowardice…”
As I continued speaking, those below began to murmur in discussion.
Facing 38 Extraordinary… this Assistant Xiao Lian really said that!
This wasn’t merely a discipline issue concerning the operational sequence, right?
However, regardless of their inner thoughts, I continued.
“Next is regarding the issues of the operational sequence’s progress. On this, our initial concept was still too naive, to ride brooms to launch academy warfare against other Extraordinary Academies—saying it out loud could invite laughter.”
“Our union society needs a more formal, larger carrier tool symbolic of expedition and deterrence.”
“On this issue, I also discussed with many people along the way; the Holy Angels have their floating islands, the elves have their lifebloom trees that rise without needing to touch the ground, and the wizards have their anti-gravity floating airships.”
“Our Witch Academy also needs to establish something in this regard to adapt to future battles; flying brooms tend toward late-phase mobility, but they cannot be the entirety.”
“We need a large aerial platform, serving as a long-term replacement for single-person vehicles like flying brooms, to prevent the operational sequence from wasting energy and magic power on unnecessary travel before reaching the combat location…”
With the concepts of large transport vehicles and aerial combat platforms brought up, many began to take this area seriously.
As I spoke deeper, my extensive vision of development made several people realize the importance of this proposal.
Especially the Extraordinary Academic Department, they were very interested in the combination of large aerial combat platforms with ultra-large destructive weapons.
The idea of large destructive weapons was not unfamiliar to them, but their implementation was often too troublesome, hardly allowing anyone to step out of the personal floating and following weapon framework.
But ultra-large operational platforms… isn’t that a completely new idea?
After the conception of the Witch battleship had been proposed, the Extraordinary Academic Department vigorously supported this suggestion.
After all, they had also joined the Union Society; if the Academic Department had nothing to do, it would equate to having no contributions, and without contributions, how could they participate in the sharing of resources from the Union Society’s revelry?
This incident involving the World Tree made everyone realize the fighting potential and resource acquisition potential of the Union Society in the future.
No one wanted to stand aside.
“Regarding the proposal for the conception of the Witch battleship, have you all agreed? If more than two-thirds of the society representatives approve, and none of the eight major core societies oppose it, this project will be discussed separately after the post-war summary meeting.
After I finished speaking, all representatives from the eight major core guardian societies approved, with the All-purpose Workshop, Spell Research Society, and Alchemy and Pharmacy Society among the most proactive.
Subsequently, over a hundred guardian societies also unanimously approved.
After all, at this moment, going against everyone would invite retribution after the meeting.
