Chapter 1008: The Ambition of Families—Transcendent Families
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1008: The Ambition of Families—Transcendent Families
After leaving Dean Mei’s place, Sister Bai and I planned to take a good rest during the final days of the holiday.
When it came to the most convenient place to rest without being disturbed, the Dungeon World was the obvious choice.
"Sister Bai~ Speaking of which, didn't we say we were going to fish and grill them at our new lakeside cabin? Why don't we try that out over the next few days?" I suggested.
"Alright!" Sister Bai thought of the house they had already built and the grill that had been gathering dust there for days, nodding her agreement without hesitation.
As soon as we entered the Dungeon World, we ran into Ling Yi. After greeting her and explaining why I looked the way I did, we headed straight for the lakeside cabin.
Regarding Ling Yi’s "friend" who had never existed, I now had some clues. The essence of that situation was actually the same as the predicament of the Ancient Remnant Ice King.
The incubation of consciousness marks the beginning of life; the soul is the cornerstone that constructs life, while the body represents life's initial exploration of the world.
This time, I didn't set aside time to attempt any experiments.
When the hierarchy of cognition is no longer bound by those frameworks, I can know what I truly want to do.
Arriving at the platform extending into the lake, Sister Bai took out two fishing rods.
She had prepared these long ago; shortly after the suggestion was first made, she had them ready.
"Xiao Han, the rod I prepared for you seems a bit large." Sister Bai gestured with the rod in front of me.
She was pointing out how my tiny arms and legs were supposed to hold it.
"Don't look down on me! Only my body has shrunk; my strength hasn't weakened much! Even against an adult, I could grab them and pull off an over-the-shoulder throw!" I immediately defended myself.
"Of course~ I naturally believe in Xiao Han’s strength, but... since Xiao Han has become small, we should still prepare a small fishing rod~"
As Sister Bai spoke, the fishing rod in her hand dissolved into basic particles, finally reorganizing into a much smaller, more delicate rod. If other witches saw this move, they would certainly be astonished.
After all, any witch can destroy matter, but whether it's reorganizing it or reshaping it into another form, the difficulty is on a completely different level—it was a pure display of skill.
While there are some reshaping-type spells, they usually involve restoration within a spell framework, such as repairing a shattered cup or a damaged sculpture.
To go a step further belonged to the level of restorative alchemy.
Sister Bai’s Time Sense, however, was an even deeper method.
"This size is just right for Xiao Han~" Sister Bai handed the rod over.
"It really is quite handy~" I remarked.
"When the time comes, don't let the fish drag you into the lake, okay? After all, Xiao Han in her Fool's Dream Stance is already very light. If you're not careful, you might fall in and feed the fish~"
"How is that possible? I haven't even started fishing yet! There's no way I'll be pulled into the water by a fish!"
* * *
Unlike the leisurely and cozy atmosphere of the Dungeon World, the situation among the Witch Academy clubs was currently far from optimistic.
Initially, they thought this was merely an opportunity to cooperate with that Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, but no one expected it to be the direct fuse leading to an Academy War!
They had already obtained certain information from the academy: the Witch Academy encouraged its clubs to be aggressive.
If in the past the academy only released information about outstanding students to encourage current students to "snatch" freshmen, then now... the academy was directly encouraging students to charge into the Sun Rock Elf Transcendent Academy.
After all, the Sun Rock Elf Academy had killed a student of the Witch Academy; that debt had to be repaid.
Although the academy had taken action intermittently during this period, making many from the Sun Rock Elf Academy pay with their lives, it wasn't nearly enough to vent their anger!
Of course, those who felt the anger wasn't satiated were mostly the average students who were easily swayed by emotions.
Meanwhile, the clubs primarily composed of family members were currently extremely irritable.
This was because armed conflicts had broken out between families in the border regions!
The sequence of events was actually quite simple. Regarding the Witch Academy's promotion of the Power Network, families outside the Witch Academy's territory were extremely envious. Consequently, a family in the border region decided to throw themselves into the embrace of the Witch territory.
To other families, this act was nothing short of betrayal!
As news leaked, this family faced a siege from surrounding families. Ultimately, they sought help from the families within the Witch Academy's sphere, triggering a war for territorial control and protection!
Even though families usually secretly hoarded transcendent items to enrich their heritage, this private transcendent power and armed force naturally couldn't withstand the "dimensional strike" brought by the deployment of the Power Network!
Now, various families were taking sides, making proclamations, and hurling insults at each other.
With the outbreak of armed conflict and the shifting of territories and family allegiances, the war had spread across the board to include trade wars and financial wars between families. Strategic material imports and exports were also placed under family control.
This maneuver put the families on the side of the Witch Academy—which was single-handedly resisting all other transcendent academies—in a very passive position.
After all, the impact on the price of basic goods would directly reflect in the living costs of ordinary households!
Furthermore, the families within the Witch territory were not a monolithic block; there were always those who opposed the consensus or hoped to profiteer from the war. Thus, the various families were currently negotiating and coordinating.
However, they had yet to reach a consensus.
The only thing they agreed on was that they had finally tasted the sweetness of the extraordinary power they now possessed, and they would absolutely never let it go.
Moreover, this extraordinary power didn't force them to become female like the Witch Academy's methods, nor did it affect their ability to produce the next generation!
With such a great opportunity, they could unleash power far beyond their expectations!
They seemed to have already foreseen the future world and the scenes where extraordinary power was everywhere.
Perhaps this would bring greater competition, but they believed that with their family heritage, they could surely become... Transcendent Families under such a grand trend!
Transcendent Families—this was their ambition!
Since the birth of families, transcendent academies had stood above them all. Countless families hoped to change this situation where transcendent power was monopolized by the academies.
Their logic was simple: if an academy could become a transcendent power that monopolized the extraordinary, then a family could too!
But they had underestimated the academies.
Behind the transcendent academies were the outposts of transcendent races from outside the world. This suppressed all families, preventing even one from becoming a so-called "Transcendent Family" over the past millennium.
The transcendent academies did not allow anything related to the transcendent to leak out. For example, at the Witch Academy, if a student had no intention of continuing their studies to advance in the transcendent after graduation, everything related to the transcendent would be stripped away.
Even if they claimed they still intended to advance and wanted to use their transcendent power to serve their family after graduation, it wouldn't work; the binding force of the Witch Contract left them no chance.
Other transcendent academies had their own methods, even without a Witch Contract.
Even for an advancement system like the Wizards, which centered on knowledge, one could forget about any improvement without the help of corresponding transcendent materials and various resources.
Furthermore, the Wizard territory was the region with the strictest regulation of transcendent materials. Being caught meant death; the cold-bloodedness and ruthlessness of Wizards were built upon the lives of those who thought they could get lucky.
Thus, families could at most scour the world for a few transcendent items.
The birth of transcendent items was filled with endless coincidences and mystery; they were the only transcendent power one could encounter in the outside society where transcendent materials were unobtainable.
However, using a transcendent item also required paying a price.
For a family to rely on transcendent items to accumulate enough to become a Transcendent Family was nothing but a pipe dream!
But now... the Witch Academy had taken the initiative to promote the Power Network, which meant the Witch Academy had made the first move!
Every family was salivating over this, but not all of them wanted to be integrated into the framework of the Power Network system.
Because they knew the Power Network was a trap set by the Witch Academy. This power belonged entirely to the Witch Academy; if a family stopped being obedient, cutting off your power would be as simple as cutting off your internet.
What kind of Transcendent Family would one built on such power be?
Therefore, the reason other families were holding out was naturally to see if other transcendent academies would follow the Witch Academy's lead and open a gap for transcendent power.
They didn't believe that the other transcendent academies would only offer power whose source was controlled by the academy!
In essence, the other families were gambling.
As long as one transcendent academy truly spread unrestricted transcendent power, then all... no, most families would support that academy!
Thus, the hardest part of this matter was that breakthrough point.
It was the broken windows theory: once there was a beginning, the persistence of the other academies would become meaningless!
When transcendent power spread throughout the entire world, the golden age of families would arrive!
And families would have transcendents belonging to the family, rather than transcendents belonging to the academy.
Too many families had waited far too long for such an opportunity.
So long that their ambition had almost been ground away, and they had gradually taken on the appearance of academy lackeys.
Precisely because the families had such demands, the family conflicts occurring at the borders of the Witch territory were actually being fueled by the hands of many other families.
Small families became sacrifices, serving as the kindling for the rise of the Main World families and the escalation of conflict.
Only by fighting, by making the world no longer stable so that no one could sit back and enjoy the fruits of others' labor, would someone eventually get anxious.
The families were operating on the idea that the academies would be more anxious than the families, pushing small families into the fire of conflict.
Then they would go to the academies to cry about their misery. After all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease; if they cried long enough, the academies would eventually step in to appease them.
They portrayed the dangers of the Power Network as an invincible existence, and they claimed they needed equivalent means to counter it—this was their demand.
One could say that the families' demands and the Witch Academy's ideas had collided perfectly.
The Witch Academy needed a major reshuffle to reorganize the landscape of the Main World.
And the families needed a breakthrough to obtain the foundation for becoming Transcendent Families.
Perhaps the Power Network wasn't what all families wanted, but the Power Network could threaten other transcendent academies, allowing the families to get what they desired.
However, it was clear that most families within the Witch Academy's territory didn't think this way.
They had already accepted the Witches' favor, so they had to share the external pressure for the Witch Academy.
Furthermore, some of the more patient factions felt that they might be able to fight for the right to autonomous extraordinary power in the future.
They also hoped the conflict would grow larger; once chaos ensued, they could fight for more benefits and perhaps even talk to the Witch Academy as equals!
After all, the Witch Academy needed people—a continuous stream of new population to provide a continuous stream of high-quality students.
Thus, they felt they were qualified to negotiate terms with the transcendent academy.
When these thoughts from within the families reached the club members inside the academy, this baseless confidence and ambition were what left them most speechless.
Only by entering the academy could one understand that sense of despair and the impossibility of defiance.
To put it specifically: "Before you enter the Transcendent Academy, you see me as a frog at the bottom of a well sees the moon; once you enter, you see me as a mayfly sees the vast sky."
The gap... was simply too large.
This time, led by the Jack-of-all-trades Club, representatives from the Witch Secret Realm Academy, the Stunt Flight License Training Club, the Nest of Explosive Witches, and a host of small clubs gathered for a discussion meeting.
Although these students were merely club representatives within the Witch Academy, the families behind them were giants capable of stirring up storms outside the academy!
The topic of their meeting was, naturally, a discussion on the subsequent impact of the various family forces promoting the Power Network externally, with the issue of the "Academy War" serving as the final centerpiece.
Regarding the promotion of the Power Network, they naturally couldn't interfere with the academy's arrangements; they could only seek to understand the follow-up effects of such events.
As if there were another very important topic that occupied everyone's minds, the discussion on the Power Network ended very quickly.
Regarding the concept of an Academy War, many hadn't even thought about it until they made a conscious effort to look into it.
But now they knew, and they showed a decent level of acceptance—mainly because many among them actually supported an Academy War.
After all... those people on the Academy Network shouting "I want to see blood flow like a river" every day weren't all just talk.
More than that, it was the result of long-accumulated grievances.
Currently, the Academy War was still in the theoretical stage. With the current small-scale conflicts, the vast majority... no, all students felt that it would be far too easy for the Witch Academy to wipe out a small academy.
For instance, taking the Sun Rock Elf Academy that had provoked the witches' collective wrath—destroying them was a sure thing!
Confidence is the best catalyst for war, and provocation from the outside is the match that lights the final fuse.
As soon as this meeting of club representatives ended, the calls for an Academy War began to appear openly on the Witch Academy's network.
It was foreseeable that once the new semester began and students returned to school, the public sentiment for this Academy War would reach a fever pitch!