Chapter 1080: The Anomalous Change in the Emerald Forest
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1080: The Anomalous Change in the Emerald Forest
While I was busy, on the day after the lightning campaign against the Vampires ended, the Vampire Affiliated Academy dispatched representatives to the Witch Academy.
They couldn't have been more eager.
The representative sent this time was Light Milne.
As for Samuel Hudson, the Marquis representative of the Vampire Affiliated Academy, he was currently being treated for mental trauma, reduced to little more than a vegetable.
Unfortunately for them, they hadn't found a cure yet and were considering whether to turn him into a "Blood Essence Machine" to produce the essence blood required for Marquis-level Embraces.
After all, while a Vampire whose bloodline was closer to the Progenitor could dominate those of lower ranks, the essence blood of a higher-ranking Vampire was also the key to a lower-ranking one's advancement.
It wasn't just Samuel Hudson; that Vampire Grand Duke—who still remained nameless—was in the same predicament. The only difference was that Samuel Hudson had actually died once.
All the Transcendent Grand Dukes had assumed that resurrecting him would fix everything. However, after his resurrection, he had become a fool—a living dead man without consciousness.
This was undoubtedly a slap in the face to all the Transcendents. Several Transcendent Vampires were breaking into cold sweats; given the situation back then, if they had been the ones to sign that Duel Contract, they would be the ones suffering a fate worse than death now.
More importantly, they still had to pay the other party a massive amount of resources for what was essentially a Transcendent corpse!
Everyone knew that going to the Witch Academy this time was a humiliating, thankless task. No one dared to go.
In the end, Light Milne—the fellow who had appeared during the Academy War and had thrown away the original contract—became the perfect scapegoat.
After the Academy War, Light Milne had been diagnosed with PTSD. Whenever anyone mentioned names like Yang Yuehan or the Little Witch, or even if he just saw a figure with long, silver-white hair, he would be overcome by uncontrollable terror.
Though the diagnosis suggested he could recover slowly, everyone knew that Light Milne was finished.
Thus, the humiliating task fell upon him. No matter how much he resisted, he could not defy the order.
Signing a Defeat Surrender Contract wasn't as simple as showing up, bowing, and apologizing; there was a subsequent series of compensation issues to negotiate.
Exactly how much to pay, what currency to use, what assets to use as collateral, where the land cessions would begin, how the handover would be handled...
Professional matters naturally required professional people.
As soon as the Vampire representatives arrived, the Witch Academy's United Club gave them a cold reception. Since the representatives did not hold Assistant Professor Yang Yuehan’s original contract voucher, the transfer of the contract's contents was subject to renegotiation by the United Club.
Don't think for a second that "renegotiation" was a good thing. The contents of the renegotiated contract wouldn't just include reparations, land cessions, and restrictions.
When it came to bleeding someone dry, these family members representing various interests were not a bit behind the pure-blood vampires!
Furthermore, they were acting under the instructions of Assistant Xiao Han to strip them to the bone; they naturally had to showcase their capabilities.
Unfortunately, I didn't participate in the process of the Vampire representatives signing the surrender contract. Only Cleveland attended the mid-air ceremony as my representative.
This "historic tableau" was broadcast to almost every Transcendent academy.
The Witch Academy used this method to tell those overconfident Transcendent academies: You have no right to challenge us!
During this period, the Witch Academy remained in a state of feverish excitement.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion, and the United Club was busy reorganizing the combat strategies for the Combat Sequences.
Even Yi Rui’s team had achieved significant results regarding the Transcendent material known as Hexagonal Crystal Amber. This prompted a group of Transcendent Mentors to make an exception and admit them into the professional research laboratory for Hexagonal Crystal Amber.
After all, when it came to researching Transcendent materials, the Mentors stood far above average students in terms of skill, knowledge, and experience.
Even Yi Rui was no exception.
I was genuinely happy for them, knowing they could further their studies in a professional materials lab.
However, speaking of Hexagonal Crystal Amber, one couldn't ignore the Ancient Remnant Ice King, Ning.
Ning was currently in the Expansion Realm because she had encountered another Child of Destiny: Ninglan Qiuyue.
Under my special arrangements, Millian took over Ning's daily affairs in the Expansion Realm.
According to Millian’s daily reports, Ning and Ninglan Qiuyue were getting along quite well.
Because of this, I took the opportunity to push forward another matter of profound significance!
The preparation technique for Hexagonal Crystal Amber!
Through Millian, I contacted Ning and guided her transition from a "free agent" to a "worker."
She was willing to contribute her strength to the development of the Expansion Realm.
Subsequently, with Ninglan Qiuyue representing the Ninglan Territory and the Expansion Realm, Millian representing the Calamity Group and myself, and me providing the preparation technique—plus official cooperation from the Witch Academy—we worked with Ning to launch the first formal Hexagonal Crystal Amber production laboratory.
In the early stages, this lab wouldn't just teach Ning how to use the power of the Great Glacial Throne Technique combined with the preparation technique for production; it would also lay a solid research foundation for the subsequent derivative applications of Hexagonal Crystal Amber.
Lest we forget, the Expansion Realm was a nascent world teeming with extraordinary potential; Transcendent materials would always have a market. However, these batches of Hexagonal Crystal Amber remained controlled-level Transcendent materials.
The lion's share of production was allocated by the Witch Academy for strategic reserves, with only a small portion flowing into the Expansion Realm's high-end market to stimulate the development and innovation of high-end Transcendent arts within the realm.
This cooperation model was still being refined, but I believed they would work well together.
As for myself...
I spent my time teaching Fool's Dream how to master her bloodline power. In the intervals, I delved into the study of Racial Concepts.
If bloodline and life essence were closely related, then Racial Concepts were even more complex.
This was because a Racial Concept wasn't just built upon life essence; it was also intimately connected to the consciousness birthed by that essence.
Therefore, the "Racial Brand" concept I had proposed earlier had a high probability of being proven!
If I could master the Racial Brand as a "technique"... I didn't even dare to imagine how terrifying that would be!
Consider Witchification; it was an interpretation of my Racial Concept and Racial Brand. The Witch race had mastered this technique long ago.
However... they only possessed the directional transformation of other Racial Concepts into the Witch race.
The "Racial Brand Technique" I envisioned was one that could be applied broadly to all races.
Such a technique was destined to be restricted once it was born.
After all, while life itself might have no racial boundaries, individuals held racial stances.
I chose the Witch race for no other reason than the fact that it provided a brand-new turning point for my life. Everything from my past changed completely the moment that Mana Source was inserted into my body. That was why I chose to be a Witch and why I remained one.
It was simple and pure.
However, just as I was about to dive deeper into the Racial Brand technique to further Fool's Dream’s life experiment and open up a Life Sequence, an accident disturbed my peace of mind.
The Emerald Forest world.
This tragic world, which had escaped the clutches of the Game World only to fall into the fiery pit of the Main World, had met with an accident.
My Life Clone stationed in the Emerald Forest sensed the anomaly immediately.
This small world, its soul essence resources nearly depleted, let out a disaster-level warning almost instinctively.
The lifeforms on this world had found that after the players left, the world gradually returned to normal. The Elves had submitted to me, cowed by my overwhelming combat power.
After all, I had single-handedly plunged nearly half the world into a calamity. Such terrifying methods left the Elves with no choice but to submit.
Moreover, I was nominally the hero who had rescued them from their plight!
But those good days didn't last long. Before the player cities and vegetation I had destroyed could even begin to recover, an even greater disaster arrived.
It was on this day.
The Elves of the Emerald Forest looked up and saw a horrific Great Rift appearing in the sky!
An apocalyptic scene, as if the heavens themselves were collapsing, pressed down upon the borders of this small world.
Even I was shaken by the commotion, unsure of what was happening.
It wasn't until I saw the spatial rift in the Life Forbidden Zone shattered, and a "monster" so massive its full form couldn't be seen poked its head through, that I realized what was happening.
This small world was being invaded by such a colossus!
And the rift I saw was far from the whole story.
In places I couldn't see, equally terrifying scenes were unfolding.
These behemoths, even by just thrusting a portion of their bodies in, were enough to cause spatial rifts to bloom and extend continuously, as if space itself could not withstand the existence of such lifeforms.
"Sister Xiao Han! What... what is happening?"
Lonafu looked in terror at the massive shadow darkening the sky. Such a gargantuan presence triggered the deep-seated megalophobia within every living being.
Accompanied by the spatial rifts, they continued to destroy the world's stability. It was as if they had caught the scent of some fatal temptation and were desperately trying to burrow into this small world.
"Monsters descending from outside the world..." I watched the situation unfold in silence.
After comforting Lonafu and settling her into the underground space of the villa, I flew directly into the Life Forbidden Zone of this small world.
As I drew closer, I felt just how enormous these monsters were.
If the life-bearing planet of the Emerald Forest was compared to an apple or an orange, these monsters crossing the world barrier were like fish!
When I tentatively launched an attack at them, my heart sank.
The weakest of them had the aura of a Transcendent lifeform!
But how was that possible?
Dean Mei had described the situation in the Void to me. The Void was an unknown place, chaotic and blurred; finding a world drifting within it was harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
The question was, why would a world like the Emerald Forest be attacked out of the blue?
Just as I was thinking about how to efficiently kill all these invading monsters, a flash of spell-light pierced the boundary between the Void and the world.
With a single strike, the monster attempting to invade before my eyes was slain!
"Ooh~ I hit the jackpot!"
As the massive monster tumbled from the spatial rift and crashed onto the surface of the Emerald Forest, a voice drifted in from beyond the world's border.
However, the language spoken wasn't the Main World tongue.
It was... Witch Language!
I was familiar with Witch Language; I had accumulated knowledge of it within my Tree of Great Knowledge. Thus, it wasn't strange that I could speak and understand it.
Then, I saw a figure follow the monster through the Void Rift.
Facing such an unknown situation, I instinctively went on guard, as I didn't know the newcomer's background.
Even if she spoke authentic Witch Language, I couldn't afford to be careless.
"Are you the Xiao Han from the Main World?" Upon locking eyes with me, the figure looked delighted and immediately called out my name.
I swore I didn't know this Witch.
Yes, she was a Witch. Whether it was my life sense or the mana fluctuations of her spell, everything pointed to her being a Transcendent Witch.
And she was a powerful Saint Realm Witch!
Though the previous strike had been incredibly fast, I had still sensed the aura of Spell Order.
"Uh... you know me?" I asked, looking at her.
If my Sixth Sense: Heart Sense hadn't told me she harbored no malice, I wouldn't have hesitated to run. I wasn't so arrogant as to think I was invincible just because I'd killed a Vampire Grand Duke.
"Hehe~ Of course I do! I heard they speak the Main World language there. I didn't expect you to know Witch Language too, Xiao Han."
"I've... studied it a bit. Regardless, I must thank you for your help." I nodded, thanking her as was proper.
She had indeed done me a huge favor.
If I had been the one to kill such a massive monster, it would have taken considerable effort. Its hide and scales were incredibly tough.
"It's a small thing~ I was bored anyway." She spoke with a casual, self-familiar air, her tone full of easygoing freedom.
"Oh~ I almost forgot. Let me introduce myself. You can call me Greta." The Transcendent Witch seemed to remember something and began her introduction: "As you've probably guessed, I'm not a Witch from the Main World. I'm from elsewhere, drawn here by your reputation... Oh! I almost forgot to mention, I'm also a Rebel Witch~"
"A Rebel... Witch..." Hearing that title, my lip twitched instinctively.
"From your expression, it seems you have a deep misunderstanding of Rebel Witches?" Greta looked somewhat troubled.
"Not at all! I've dealt with Rebel Witches before. In my view, most of them are just Witches with very strong ideas of their own. I don't have much of a prejudice against them," I said quickly.