Chapter 1101: The Splitting of Power
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1101: The Splitting of Power
Once the main forces of the other Transcendent Academies beat a dejected retreat from the Elven territory, the first Void Rift fell completely under the control of the Witches.
This was the easiest campaign they had ever fought. Of course, the members of the various Free Warband Squads and the Fourth and Sixth Combat Sequences might have begged to differ.
Aboard the Witch Warship River of Blood, a crowd of Witches discussed the dramatic shift in the expressions of the Afuhemi Academy elves with passionate intensity.
They swore that the scene would be the most talked-about moment of the year!
A single photograph had been enough to scare off the main forces of other Transcendent Academies. Without even verifying the photo's authenticity, they had fled in a trembling panic.
Those figures scurrying away in disgrace would be a topic of conversation for the Witches for a lifetime.
It was foreseeable that for Selena, the one known as the Wind Ranger, this incident of being frightened into retreat would remain a permanent stain on her record for the rest of her life.
However, it wouldn't matter for much longer; she was set to graduate next year.
* * *
Meanwhile, within the Witch Academy.
The combat command center of the United Club was also filled with an air of joy!
But amidst their celebration, I stood up. Though my movement wasn't particularly large, the meeting room fell silent instantly. Several core representatives of the United Club also snapped to their feet.
"Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, do you have any instructions?"
Facing such a transcendent existence, they had developed a reverence that was almost instinctive.
"It’s nothing. The work here is done, so I’d like to take my leave. For any follow-up matters, Cleveland or Millian can represent my will. If there’s a need for me to step in later, you can find my clone that returned from the Emerald Forest."
I phrased it politely, but essentially, my clone was back, so my main body was going to slack off. I didn't understand the inner workings of the United Club; if they had questions, they could ask Cleveland or Millian directly.
After I left, the atmosphere in the combat command center lightened considerably.
After all, anyone would feel a bit stiff sitting next to someone whose strength was nothing short of terrifying.
Now that she was gone, everyone left was "well-acquainted," so they naturally began to chat more freely.
Even though Cleveland and Millian represented Teaching Assistant Xiao Han’s will, the others were familiar with their personalities and behavioral patterns.
And now...
It was time for the United Club to continue its momentum!
The Witch Academy hadn't dispatched so many Combat Sequences and Free Warband Squads to the Elven territory just for a vacation. Nor had they used Teaching Assistant Xiao Han to scare off the top academies' main forces just for fun.
Occupying a Void Rift required many steps, but building a permanent teleportation facility between worlds required clearing an unobstructed path.
Just like with the Blood Slave Peninsula, they needed to open up the territory.
Thus, the Witch Warships and the three core Combat Sequences currently in the Dark Elf territory were the tools used to initiate an Academy War.
Not only did they need to take the Dark Elf territory, but they also needed to secure the Elven territories along the route!
And they had to move fast—fast enough that Afuhemi Academy wouldn't have time to react.
Right now, those elves were rushing back to ensure their own safety. Communicating information and then plotting for the Emerald Forest world would take time.
The Witches needed to launch this Academy War to test how the United Club's Combat Sequences performed after their streamlining and reorganization.
* * *
Soon, three days passed.
The Dark Elf Transcendent Academy vanished from the Main World. The only traces left in the outside world were rumors of filthy, bloody life-trading and black-market industries.
With the fall of a Transcendent Academy and the exposure of these dark dealings, public opinion shifted heavily against the Dark Elf Academy.
As a top-tier institution, Afuhemi Academy also issued a stern condemnation.
However... the United Club of the Witch Academy wasn't particularly happy at the moment.
They hadn't been able to secure the Dark Elf World Tree Sub-plant. They had only successfully inherited the Dark Elf territory and the surrounding lands through the shift in public opinion.
But they quickly moved past this regret. After all, they could never have obtained the World Tree Heart, the most valuable part of a World Tree anyway. The legacy of a Transcendent Academy was already enough to leave them more than satisfied.
Moreover, this was just a bonus; the main event was still the Emerald Forest world!
As the Emerald Forest world began to unveil its mysteries to the United Club, another person caught everyone's attention in the Baking House.
Or rather, an elf.
Lonafu.
The child Teaching Assistant Xiao Han had brought back from the Emerald Forest had already enrolled in the Witch Academy.
Normally, this girl wouldn't have caught the eye of the United Club representatives. Being stuffed with a Mana Source mid-way and transferring into the Witch Academy wasn't exactly a rare occurrence.
But the formidable combat power she displayed was eye-catching.
Cleveland had assigned her to the No. 0 Special Combat Sequence.
Upon entry, her first strength assessment was a duel against a senior student. Without a doubt, Lonafu won within a few moves.
The combat techniques Lonafu mastered weren't competitive skills honed in an arena; they were pure killing techniques.
Later, she fought a match against Lin Xian, which ultimately ended in a draw. It was important to note that after being handpicked by Teaching Assistant Xiao Han to become the deputy leader of the No. 0 Combat Sequence, Lin Xian had trained herself relentlessly. Combined with her already impressive combat prowess, she was among the top tier of fighters in the Combat Sequences.
Members of the Combat Sequences didn't just rest or relax during their downtime; they spent every second making themselves stronger!
The resources distributed to each member were substantial—enough to make an average student green with envy. If you didn't want to get stronger, there were plenty of people waiting to take your place.
One could say the No. 0 Combat Sequence was the most disciplined unit in the United Club. After all... who else but Xiao Han herself had originally proposed the concept of combat discipline?
If Teaching Assistant Xiao Han was the distant goal the No. 0 Combat Sequence members chased, then Lin Xian was the role model they all strove to emulate. Lin Xian was the representative of combat power in the No. 0 Combat Sequence, second only to Xiao Han.
And yet, Xiao Han had casually brought back another person of that caliber.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part. The terrifying part was that this elf named Lonafu had been a... helpless elven slave not long ago!
After living with Teaching Assistant Xiao Han for just a short period, she had been trained to this level. Xiao Han's methods had reached a truly formidable degree!
Now, Teaching Assistant Xiao Han’s clone had returned, and word was she had been training with the Combat Sequence members lately. That was what truly made them uneasy.
Such a powerful force still training relentlessly... just thinking about it made them lose sleep.
* * *
The Life Clone had emerged from the Void Rift and returned openly, naturally to let the other academies know that the "nuclear weapon" had left.
And just as expected, those academies were beginning to stir.
The Life Clone, which only possessed the powers of Spellbooks and Body Cultivation, had a much purer perception and exploration of cultivation.
For instance, the methods used to capture those people—if it were my main body, I wouldn't have instinctively used such means.
The diversity of my powers provided shortcuts for their development and application.
But shortcuts aren't always a good thing.
So, in that moment, I gave the Life Clone a brand-new purpose.
In a while, I even planned to create another Life Clone, because I intended to separate the Body Cultivation power and the Spellbooks held by the original Life Clone once again.
I would split them into "Body Cultivation" and "Spell Cultivation."
Such a division of power would be purer and more focused.
As for my main body... it would be responsible for exploring knowledge, researching dreams, and life.
* * *
Inside the Dungeon world.
Looking at the "me" who was identical to myself, I finally nodded in satisfaction.
Originally, I thought that since this Life Clone would lead the research into spells, it wouldn't need to awaken Body Cultivation. But after some thought, I added it anyway.
If for nothing else, Body Cultivation was essentially the development and utilization of one's own Life Essence. Whether it was the eventually derived Prototype Self-Generated Mana or the advanced Infinite Mana, it had a powerful promoting effect on the path of Spell Cultivation.
In the end, I handed over all the Spellbooks held by the original Life Clone and my main body to this new Life Clone. As for duplicate Spellbooks, I passed them to Cleveland and Millian.
I only retained the Mana Source, the Tree of Great Knowledge, the Land of Fool's Dream, and my Body Cultivation power.
"Xiao Han, you don't want these Spellbooks anymore?" Sister Bai asked, clearly confused by my actions.
Even if I needed to separate the cultivation of spells and physical arts, was it necessary to affect my main self?
Moreover, many Spellbooks had functional effects, like the Cleaning Spell. There was no need to sever ties with all of them at once.
"Mhm, it's only temporary. The Spellbooks seem numerous, but for me personally, there aren't many places where I actually use them. They're more like a burden I'm carrying. At this stage, they're like chicken ribs—tasteless to eat, but a pity to discard. It's better to clear the slate now," I explained.
"I see..."
"Is Sister Bai still having trouble understanding my actions?" I met her gaze. I could tell she was still confused, but she respected my choice.
"I really don't quite understand. It just feels a bit counter-intuitive."
"Because I have even greater ambitions," I said, my lips curving into a confident smile. Facing Sister Bai, I naturally explained the reasoning: "Back in the Primitive Dream Realm, you and I discussed Real Editing Technology to create a dream editing technology that could operate within dreams. But the harvest from that time wasn't just in dream editing; it was also in Real Editing Technology itself."
"I hope that after I promote to Transcendent and truly master Real Editing Technology, I can personally create every Prototype Spell and its Sequence Derivations that I'm familiar with. This process of editing and creating spells from zero will allow me to know them inside and out, making the power I command even more effortless."
"Furthermore... I feel that this understanding of spells from the ground up will help my perception of the Spell Domain."
"So that's how it is?" Sister Bai remarked with a sigh of realization after hearing my explanation.
In truth, this was just a way of being persistent. The creation of the same Spellbook did have minute differences, and the understanding of the spell would indeed slightly affect the performance of the Spellbook itself, though the impact was negligible.
However, after hearing that it would help with the perception of the Spell Domain, she truly couldn't argue. Order represented the meticulous control of power. In fact, many Witches only had a superficial understanding of Real Editing Technology. Most Witches who promoted to the Saint Realm went through a process of adapting themselves to their Spellbooks. But Xiao Han... she was personally creating the Spellbooks to adapt to herself!
It sounded like a complex and terrifying undertaking.
"Exactly~ Speaking of which... Sister Bai, have you mastered a Spell Domain yet?" I asked curiously.
"That... I haven't," Sister Bai shook her head regretfully. Her Heart State Domain, derived from her Body Cultivation Sixth Sense (Heart Sense), wasn't part of the Spellbook system, so it didn't count as a Spell Domain.
If she wanted to accumulate more power and progress further in the Saint Realm, she needed to open up other domains.
A Spell Domain was one of her goals.
However, she wasn't that kind of genius. Spell Domains related to Spellbooks weren't that easy to cultivate. If one could shape a Spell Domain in just a year or two, there wouldn't be so many Transcendent Witches in the academy who weren't even in the Saint Realm.
The most important part of a domain was the understanding and cognition of the power itself.
If you weren't an Academic Witch in that field, you could only rely on constant combat and tempering to passively increase your understanding of power. If you hit a certain turning point, you might shape a brand-new domain.
"Sister Bai, in that case, why don't you train together with my Spell Cultivation Life Clone? Although I can't guarantee we'll definitely shape a Spell Domain, we both have Sixth Sense Heart Sense Body Cultivation. We can achieve full Mindfelt Resonance with each other. That way, for spell cultivation, we can share two sets of insights!"
"What do you think of this idea? Sister Bai wouldn't be too embarrassed to train with me... right?" I said, my Life Clone and I each grabbing one of Sister Bai's arms, speaking with a hint of a spoiled tone.
"Um... well, why would I mind?" Sister Bai bit her lower lip, steadying her breath which had faltered for a moment, and agreed to the proposal. "But Xiao Han, researching the Spell Domain now... isn't it a bit..."
"A bit what?" I interrupted her doubt. "Don't forget, I'm the first Extraordinary Saint Realm Little Witch in the history of the Witch Academy~"