Chapter 1014: Trampling the Academy Gates, Burning the World Tree
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1014: Trampling the Academy Gates, Burning the World Tree
The blazing fire stood in stark contrast to the descending sun, as if the flames had taken the baton from the daylight at that very moment.
Across the desolate earth, only the World Tree burned in silence.
Only the roaring inferno stood as a final farewell for the elves returning to their home.
The cheers of the witches echoed beneath the fireworks of destruction, the ruined academy serving as a mere backdrop to their glory.
Every one of them was busy capturing this unforgettable moment; the burning of a World Tree was destined to send shockwaves through the entire Core World.
The fire would last a long time—perhaps ten days, perhaps dozens...
The flames might eventually flicker out, but the image of that burning World Tree would remain etched in everyone’s hearts forever.
In a sense, this was a fitting end for the Sun Rock Elf Academy.
Small transcendent academies that perished in academy wars usually vanished into obscurity, unremembered.
But now, because it had fallen at the hands of the Witch Academy, its name was known to all.
They had sounded a clarion call for every transcendent academy—a lesson paid for in lives.
"Sisters, are the photos, short videos, and commemorative shots done? The World Tree will only burn for one day. After that... we chop it down and take it back!" I announced.
It wasn't that I didn't want the fire to completely incinerate the Sun Rock Elves' faith; it was simply that ordinary flames couldn't possibly turn a World Tree into charcoal.
Not even an offshoot.
What was burning now was mostly superficial. The parts that wouldn't burn—those were the real treasures.
The branches, the trunk, the root system... their value was incalculable.
To an extent, they were non-renewable resources.
After all, to get World Tree materials, one usually had to wipe out an entire elven race, didn't they?
Elves valued their Mother Tree more than their own lives.
In response to my question, many of the witches finally spoke up.
"Not yet! Wait! I want to start a livestream for something this big!"
"Hurry up! Do you guys have any idea how much World Tree material is worth?"
"I actually don't know much about that."
"It’s fine! World Tree materials that have been tempered by fire possess even more unique ritual properties in the field of mysticism. They might even sell for more!"
"I wonder if we’ll get a small share. Even a charred branch would do; I want to use it to make a wand."
"That depends on what the Academy says. This is at least a Restricted-grade material."
"But this is loot we won under Assistant Teacher Xiao Han’s leadership, right? It would be way too much if they didn't give us anything!"
"I hope my performance gets me a high score. I didn't hold anyone back, even if I was basically just coasting along behind Assistant Teacher Xiao Han the whole time..."
* * *
"Is it over?"
As the footage of the Sun Rock Elf Academy’s World Tree engulfed in flames spread, the entire operation—the march, the assault, the fierce battle, and the burning—was brought to a close in less than three days.
Those who hadn't participated but heard the news felt as if they were dreaming.
An entire transcendent academy, including the Dean and a total of thirty-eight transcendent elves, had been wiped out.
This meant that no matter how much time passed, a new "Sun Rock Elf Academy" would never appear in the Main World again.
More importantly, the Witch Academy’s side hadn't even deployed a single Transcendent Mentor to settle the matter.
It wasn't just the Witch Academy that was stunned; other transcendent academies were in shock as well.
During this time, the Afuhemi Academy issued more than one scathing condemnation against the Witch Academy.
In their statements, they decried the Witch Academy’s cruelty and evil deeds, demanding the immediate return of the remains of the elven World Tree offshoot to be handled internally by the elven race.
The Witch Academy, however, didn't give them the time of day.
After the Sun Rock World Tree was hauled away, roots and all, a brand-new tree took its place in the Sun Rock Territory.
An Omni-Link Main Network Tree.
The foundation for laying down the power network and the root network.
As for the families within the Sun Rock Territory, they "happily" threw themselves into the embrace of the Witch Academy.
Whether it was voluntary... no one knew. All anyone knew was that if asked, those families would definitely nod and say: "I am absolutely doing this of my own free will."
With the local transcendent academy gone, if these families didn't accept the "kindness" of the witch-aligned families, they would simply be devoured by others. Their fate would be far worse.
Families were never a monolithic bloc; families and capital followed only the creed of self-interest.
The game of big fish eating little fish played out every single day.
Once the war ended, the primary task was clearing the battlefield. With the help of the Logistics Department, this work was completed with incredible speed.
Though it was called "clearing the battlefield," it was essentially plundering the "heritage" of the Sun Rock Elf Academy.
The greatest legacy of this trip was undoubtedly that massive World Tree offshoot!
A single tree had been enough to establish a small transcendent academy; its sheer size was terrifying.
From the invaluable heartwood to the massive xylem, the unique root system, the bark, the branches, and finally, the World Tree leaves that even ordinary fire couldn't ignite.
Because it was so gargantuan, even with storage equipment, it had to be partitioned multiple times for transport.
The spoils of this operation belonged, to a certain extent, to the Witch United Club, to be distributed internally based on contribution.
However, one item did not belong to the club: the World Tree offshoot.
This wasn't unfair.
Even if some people felt the club had won it through its own strength and therefore owned it, such a thought was naive.
Why was the Afuhemi Academy’s call for all transcendent academies to condemn the witches and return the tree to the elves considered a joke?
Because this World Tree offshoot belonged to the Witch Academy!
If even one person in the Witch United Club had been foolish enough to scream at the Academy that the tree belonged to the club, the Afuhemi Academy would have been the first to cheer.
The ones demanding the return of the tree weren't just any elves; they were Transcendent Elves, even those at the Dean level!
This was a power struggle at the Academy and Transcendent level.
Ultimately, it was the Witch Academy that withstood all the pressure from the Afuhemi Forest Elves.
The moment that object belonged to the United Club, the Afuhemi Academy would have dared to come to the door to seize it by force.
As for the Transcendent Witches... at most, they would wait for the Transcendent Elves to steal it, then steal it back from the elves. At that point, it would officially become Academy property, and the club wouldn't have a damn thing to do with it.
Because they understood this fundamental relationship, they would never let the relationship between the club and the Academy deteriorate to that point.
Possessing a jade attracts crime—that was the essence of the situation.
However, after the World Tree offshoot was transported back to the Witch Academy, the Academy authorities deliberated and ultimately classified only the World Tree Heart as a Prohibited-grade transcendent material. The rest was classified as Restricted-grade or non-renewable precious tradable material.
Just when the United Club thought they would only get the scraps, another announcement from the Academy left them overjoyed.
The World Tree materials classified as Restricted-grade were authorized by the Witch Academy to be owned by the Witch United Club. The club was obligated to cooperate with the Academy in supervising the distribution of these materials, recording their destination, purpose, and depletion, as well as handling final recovery and destruction.
Furthermore, strict exchange thresholds and individual exchange caps were established.
No matter how harsh these restrictions were, the club members only saw one thing...
The World Tree belonged to the United Club!
Those exchange thresholds and caps were just another way of saying the materials couldn't be sold for profit.
But at their level, how could they possibly use Restricted-grade materials just to make money?
Vulgar things like money couldn't even be compared to such treasures!
It had to be said that while they had no right to touch the Heart, they were more than happy to consider it a "protection fee."
The massive resource pool of an entire World Tree greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the Witch United Club!
Nothing moves the heart like profit.
These clubs had never seen such a high-return investment.
And they were forced to look at "war" in a new light.
Should this behavior be heavily promoted?
It was as if they had opened a Pandora’s box, witnessing something far more lucrative than family monopolies.
As these major events settled down, the wartime report and post-war summary meeting commenced.
Though I didn't particularly enjoy such occasions, as the absolute leader of the first campaign, I had a duty to provide a summary for everyone—or rather, a post-war debrief as the leader of the No. 0 Special Combat Sequence.
Even if I didn't like reporting in front of a crowd, I knew what was important. Certain issues encountered during the trip had to be addressed.
As I stepped onto the stage, an aura of natural authority and powerful pressure instantly silenced the entire meeting hall.
Although there had been an issue with the loss of root network data later on, the witches had watched the entire live broadcast through the connection of the Seed of Wisdom and the Great Knowledge Sharing Spell.
The first-person footage had made their skin crawl. It was a completely different style of fighting compared to the "one person, one blade" incident in the Qunluosen Wasteland.
The only similarity was... the lack of use of powers from the mysterious domains.
The disaster-like spell coverage, multi-threaded spell overlapping, seamless spell transitions, and a nearly inexhaustible variety of magical techniques.
Combined with the endless supply of mana provided by her self-generated mana...
It allowed them to see a completely different side of Assistant Teacher Xiao Han from another perspective.
Thus, as I walked onto the stage, everyone instinctively gave me their highest respect.
"Next, I will present the summary report following the conclusion of this campaign. I will try to be as concise as possible regarding the various issues encountered. As for the finer details, professionals will need to extract the full combat records for individual analysis. Members of the No. 0 Special Combat Sequence will also actively cooperate with the follow-up work."
"To the main point... this campaign has exposed the United Club’s lack of experience in academy warfare. First is the issue of combat sequence discipline and command. We lack a systematic means of command and dispatch to efficiently complete combat missions, and we are unable to exert the maximum combat power envisioned for the sequences."
"Then there is the issue of student discipline within the combat sequences. I didn't want to emphasize this, but when the sequence I led faced thirty-eight Transcendent Elves, they openly showed fear, hesitation, and dread simply because of the enemy's threats. This put the overall situation into a passive state."
"This is foolish behavior. One should not show their emotions on their face. Even when facing a Transcendent Mentor, as long as they are identified as the enemy, you should not show a single hint of cowardice..."
As I continued, the people below began to whisper among themselves.
Facing thirty-eight Transcendents... only Assistant Teacher Xiao Han could say that so casually!
That’s not just a discipline issue, is it?
Regardless of what they thought, I pressed on.
"Next is the issue of combat sequence movement. Our initial concepts were too naive. Launching an academy war by riding brooms to another transcendent academy is laughable."
"The United Club needs a more formal, large-scale carrier that symbolizes both deployment and deterrence."
"Regarding this issue, I discussed it with many people on the way back. The Holy Angels have their floating islands, the elves have their Never-Landing Life Floating Trees, and the wizards have their anti-gravity airships."
"It is necessary for our Witch Academy to make strides in this area to adapt to future campaigns. Flying brooms are better suited for second-stage mobility, but they cannot be everything."
"We need a large aerial platform to serve as a long-distance alternative to single-person vehicles like brooms. We cannot allow our combat sequences to waste their energy and mana on pointless travel before they even reach the battlefield..."
As concepts like large transport vehicles and aerial combat platforms were proposed, many people immediately took the idea seriously. As I spoke with more depth and described the broad development prospects, more and more people realized the importance of this proposal.
The Transcendent Academic Section, in particular, was extremely interested in the super-large destruction weapons that could be paired with a large aerial combat platform.
It wasn't that they hadn't thought of large-scale destruction weapons before, but they were too cumbersome to use. Individual use rarely escaped the framework of personal single-unit floating support weapons.
But a super-large combat platform... that was a completely new line of thinking!
It could be said that once the concept of the "Witch Warship" was proposed, the Transcendent Academic Section gave it their full support.
After all, they had also joined the United Club. If the Academic Section had nothing to do, it meant they had no contribution. Without contribution, how could they participate in the feast of distributing the United Club’s resources?
The World Tree incident had made everyone realize the future war potential and resource acquisition potential of the United Club.
No one wanted to stand on the sidelines and watch.
"Regarding the proposal for the Witch Warship, do the representatives pass it? If more than two-thirds of the club representatives pass and none of the Eight Core Clubs veto, the proposal will be discussed separately after the summary meeting."
As soon as I finished speaking, the Eight Core Guardian Clubs, acting as representatives, all passed it. Among them, the Jack-of-all-trades Club, the Spell Research Society, and the Alchemy and Pharmacy Society were the most enthusiastic.
The hundreds of guardian clubs that followed also passed it in unison.
After all, going against the grain at a time like this would only invite retribution once the meeting was over.