Chapter 892 Hmm… Huh? Is she Little Zioni?!
Inside the Ice Snow Throne Secret Realm.
Snowflakes mixed with ice crystals roared against the protective shields raised by the pedestrians under the wild wind.
Here, the storm seems to have no intention of stopping, with snow continuously accumulating on the ground, leaving only a desperate expanse of white behind.
At this moment, Tan Jing and her companions struggled to walk here, their footprints stretching far into the distance, already covered by the snow before even escaping the limit of visibility.
This secret realm, the Witch Secret Realm Association estimated its size to far exceed that of the Witch Academy, meaning it is even larger than the entire Magic Capital!
It’s not that they don’t want to ride brooms or use alchemical items for travel, but moving at the speed of descending brooms makes it easy to get lost and fall behind.
Visibility in the secret realm is very low; they had only heard about it before, but after experiencing it firsthand, they understood the difficulties involved.
Moreover… there is a strange force in the secret realm suppressing their spells.
Unlike the great weakening technique in the core realm, the suppression in the secret realm is more akin to an attacking form of suppression directly originating from the source of spells.
This means that as long as they are in the storm, they will be subjected to force suppression. During this process of casting spells, every moment is interrupted by the force, and any mistake could lead to a backfire from their own magic, so casting requires extreme caution.
Additionally, the broom, as an alchemical item, suffers the same treatment under the prolonged exposure to the storm, and the runes in the alchemical formations will also be affected in the same way as spellcasting.
If they cannot withstand it, the alchemical item will develop flaws at the rune level, leading to internal energy circulation damage.
Therefore, high-mobility equipment like flying brooms is meant to be used in critical moments.
When is the critical moment… that would naturally be during an escape.
After all… this is a true life-and-death battlefield!
Once the group adapted to this environment, the hunt practically began.
As for the research base regarding the Great Spellbook and related data in this secret realm?
Actually, until now, they haven’t found anything.
Preliminary judgment indicates that those research bases and laboratories have long been buried under the ice and snow.
Yes, the heavy snow continuously covers, compresses, and sediments everything; everything that once existed has long since vanished without a trace.
And wanting to find such places across such a vast area is akin to looking for a needle in a haystack!
Thus, those data are merely a nightmare, at least until they find that place; this is merely a battlefield fraught with danger.
Because… this place not only faces the covetous eyes of other explorers but also hosts very special monsters within the secret realm!
“Quick, dodge!” Tan Jun, who is instinctively sensitive to danger, exclaimed.
Yuan—!
Accompanied by a rumbling sound akin to a colossal avalanche, the ground formed of accumulated snow shattered.
The uprooted snow blocks splattered on the ground, stirring up a large cloud of icy mist.
“It’s those ice crystal monsters!”
As the voice rang out, the snow and ice dust dispersed, revealing the massive creature before them.
This “ice crystal monster” presented a water blue color, its body composed entirely of dense ice crystals, with razor-sharp facets shining brilliantly under the simulated light of the secret realm.
Its height reached at least two to three stories, and its somewhat cumbersome body seemed partially buried beneath the snow and ice.
This indicates that its size is far larger than it appears.
After everyone reacted, they immediately launched a counterattack, unleashing a barrage of spells at the giant monster.
Although it was enormous, it possessed only basic mobility, relying on its heavy body for physical strikes.
Even so, the destruction caused by such a large figure is still formidable; to withstand one of its strikes could easily shatter bones into dust.
Just a few rounds of fire spells covered this monster, causing it to collapse under the weight, but everyone didn’t feel relieved by this.
Because… these ice crystal monsters appear in groups, and are not singular!
Reports indicate that wherever there is snow and ice, such monsters may emerge.
Moreover, before these monsters activate, normal life detection spells can’t even sense the life activity beneath the snow!
Sure enough, after the monster fell, cracks resembling carved ice appeared not far from them on what seemed like a glacier, soon followed by such monsters bursting forth from the glacier…
The wind and snow obstructed their vision, making it hard to see too far, yet they could still deduce from the massive silhouettes that they were indeed ice crystal monsters.
Not only those glaciers but also the ground beneath their feet.
It was as if the monster they had just slain acted as a fuse, igniting the fury of the others!
“Why didn’t your intel mention such things? If they had known that slaying monsters would trigger a chain reaction, they should have directly chosen to flee earlier!
“Are you still expecting those who collected intel to slay these creatures? Just returning with their experiences from the realm is already a stroke of luck.”
No matter how the situation is now, it cannot alter the current reality.
It’s not that this group cannot deal with so many monsters, but wasting such considerable stamina here is decidedly unwise.
Even though Tan Wei and others possess self-generated magic power and need not worry about magic issues, their stamina and energy cannot withstand such consumption.
Let’s not forget that while their physical capabilities far exceed ordinary people, simply enduring the harsh environment requires balancing stamina and energy; any unforeseen battle disrupts this recovery balance, plunging them into prolonged fatigue.
Thus, facing this imminent situation, they tacitly chose to retreat quickly from the battlefield.
These monsters are heavy, and the sky is not an area they can stomp into.
However, Tan Wei looked at the thick cloud of snow in the sky and felt instinctively that something bad might happen.
Because she had seen in the intel about flying ice crystal monsters, and while the intel mentioned they were few in number, so many exploration teams had only encountered one, if they were to face one now… it could disrupt their coordination in the air, very likely leading to them getting lost in the storm.
Even their positional alchemicals might not help them return to a team.
Yet Tan Qiang still chose to do so; at least they needed to leave this place of strife to conserve their strength.
As for getting lost?
Tan Qiang knew well that their temporary alliance would wish to split at this moment.
As Tan Qiang rode her broom directly into the low-hanging clouds, she heard a series of ice crystals colliding within the cloud.
These sounds gradually took on a rhythm, as the ice crystals formed transparent wings, folding into a sharp wind falcon amidst the dark clouds.
Roar—!
With the raging wind and fine ice spikes, Tan Qiang finally realized that the low clouds overhead were also the “nests” of these ice crystal monsters.
This was not ordinary dark clouds at all!
How could normal dark clouds continuously disperse snowflakes without end? Only a great spell could create such miracles!
This was also the first lesson Tan Qiang and the others learned shortly after entering the secret domain.
Their greatest enemies were not those fellow explorers who entered with them, but the relentless natural disasters within the secret realm!
……
Two days since the Ice Snow Throne Secret Realm opened, and not all explorers have yet entered; some had cunningly found ways to leave this disaster-stricken secret realm.
“Buzz Gray…a descendant of the Gray family, a wizard apprentice, holding the shard being the Heart of Cold Wave.”
Looking at the battered boy emerging outside the secret realm, Ming Xueming briefly flashed this person’s information in her mind.
Then a smile crossed her lips; at least this boy had completed his mission—he left the shard…in the Ice Snow Throne Secret Realm.
“I… my shard… it’s gone! Let me down! I want to go in!” The boy nervously rummaged through his pockets, completely ignoring the wounds that still bore ice shards, panickedly exclaiming such a reassurance.
Ming Xueming smiled without saying a word, and others from the Extraordinary Academy merely thought that this boy had lost that fragment.
Only she knew that the shards entering the secret realm could not be taken away.
You could desperately leave the secret realm through space means, but the shards would remain.
Only those who left through the normal transportation channels could do so.
And the ones able to take the shards and walk out this path would be the ultimate victors.
Those holding shards are all “desperados” in the secret realm; how could they have the habit of knowing when to stop?
They would either rob or be robbed; there’s no third option.
Just as these people were discussing the risks of the secret realm, three witches also arrived at the experiment zone.
A few days ago, my clone had left the Headmaster’s office, and the experimental procedures related to dream realms had been arranged into the workflow.
Today, after these three witches of body cultivation received permission in the experiment zone, they followed the Headmaster to the laboratory.
After all, Mei Linde highly valued this experiment.
This time, they were mainly here to familiarize these three with the environment and processes.
There was still some time until the official experiment began.
“Is this the place? Seems like your academy has reserved a pretty large experimentation zone.”
“Of course, after all, our Witch Academy is a school led by scholarly witches… Please note that we are about to enter the Dream Overlap Area.”
“Dream Overlap Area? Will there be any effects?”
“The Dream Overlap Area is quite dangerous for those with weak willpower; their bodies will instinctively be influenced by the dreams, their consciousness entering the dreams, but for Extraordinary Witches, it generally has minimal impact.”
“Indeed, I can feel that.”
Once they entered the secret realm’s overlap area, they carefully sensed it; as body cultivators, their sensitivity to their physical condition was quite keen.
However, no matter how the dreams and reality overlap, it wouldn’t affect the material of reality in the slightest.
What they felt as abnormal was largely the dream’s disturbance of their consciousness.
Moreover, they felt that the closer they got to the laboratory, the more severe this dream disturbance became on their consciousness.
“Once we enter the laboratory, I need to clarify something in advance as it relates to your safety.”
“Is it because the equipment inside the lab is too expensive, and you’re worried we might break it and wouldn’t be able to afford it? I was warned like that last time.” Huangsao boldly shouted.
“That is indeed part of it; the equipment in the lab is truly very expensive.” When Mei thought of this, she recalled Xiao Run’s skill with hand-held devices, along with the research style of primitive methods; she instinctively felt there was no need to fear such things.
The most expensive thing in Xiao Run’s laboratory… feels like Xiao Run herself; nothing could be of higher value than her.
“But mainly, you should pay attention to safety. Earlier, when I told you about the horrors of the Primordial Dream, the center of the lab is a controllable artificial Primordial Dream. Unless it’s for the experiment, don’t touch it casually, and especially don’t approach that area.”
“Is that the only thing to be cautious about?”
“Hmm… Don’t go looking for trouble by damaging experimental materials. I trust your self-control, and I hope you can set aside your curiosity; feel free to ask if you don’t understand, but don’t touch…” Mei Linde detailed a long list of precautions.
Facing such prudent witches, those who didn’t understand the experimental norms felt like a ten-level hurricane had passed through the laboratory.
“There seem to be quite a few precautions. Are there really so many rules in the laboratory?”
“Actually, most of the rules are to restrain kindly-spirited witches who know nothing. Forgive me for being so straightforward, but I believe you can sense my seriousness; this is no joke.”
“I feel like Headmaster, you seem to equate us body cultivation witches with savage witches, which is really unnecessary to have such a stereotype about us.” Mu Li spoke up from the side.
“Do you know what this is?” At this moment, Headmaster Mei suddenly took out something resembling a feather.
“What is this?” The face closest to Mei unconsciously reached out, but upon contact with the feather’s tip, it instantly ignited into flames in Mei’s fingers.
Until nothing remained.
“This is unstable-phase feather flame, a solidified flame encapsulated product, a versatile material used in the field of alchemy, and contact requires forming a protective layer with specific spells on your hand; otherwise, it will instantly disrupt the elemental balance and cause an explosive reaction.” Mei patted her hands and glanced at Mu Li, saying: “It’s not that I have to have such stereotypes; curiosity often arises inadvertently in every witch; I hope this gives you a reminder this time.”
“……I understand.” Mu Li fell silent for a moment, then glanced at the dragon witch beside her, knowing that Mei was speaking this for whom.
Afterward, Mei Linde led them to the laboratory.
Upon pushing the door open to its limit, the pressure from the Primordial Dream within the laboratory increasingly forced against their consciousness.
“Xiao Han~ I messaged you in advance; you’re not busy, right?”
“Hmm? Sister Mei, you arrived so quickly? I didn’t expect to see those three body cultivation witches again at the laboratory door.”
“Hmm… is she Little Han?! How come she’s a little witch?”
