Chapter 1125: The Stupid and Clumsy Witch
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1125: The Stupid and Clumsy Witch
Meanwhile, within the Witch Academy, news of the theft of Fool's Dream’s shells spread like wildfire. Many witches immediately shifted into "spectator mode," eager to watch the drama unfold.
The impact of the incident itself wasn't necessarily massive, but it was inextricably linked to the application of the new Dream State Soul Essence preparation technique. Many witches had already read between the lines: some witch had let her sticky fingers wander onto a Little Witch’s property.
Was this not the perfect setup for a show?
A Little Witch pitted against a Transcendent Witch—yet, surprisingly, many witches were placing their bets on the Little Witch.
After all, the prerequisite for a witch to do anything she pleased was... being able to pay the price for doing it.
From a racial perspective, if you acted this way toward outsiders, the entire Witch race would be your ironclad support. But if you were a spoiled brat acting out within the race, your standing remained dictated by your actual ability and background.
To talk sense, you first needed sense to be on your side.
Many Transcendent Witches could empathize with the culprits. Fool's Dream’s talent was powerful enough to touch upon the capabilities of the Primitive Dream Realm; there was no way a witch could just sit idly by and watch.
Witches had never been cast in the role of the "righteous side."
One only had to ask the Elves to know exactly where those Elf spellbooks—modified from Elven magic—actually came from. Was that not enough to understand the true nature of a Transcendent Witch?
However, empathy was one thing; the reason so many witches hadn't acted was that they still possessed basic judgment.
Why go out of your way to trouble that Little Witch over something like this?
Witches without ability had no business researching the Primitive Dream Realm anyway, and those with ability could have simply approached the Dean of the Witch Academy to mediate. If you were capable enough to volunteer for that Little Witch’s dream-state life experiment, that was your own merit.
But if you used shady tactics, you had to be prepared to face the consequences.
No witch cared what happened to the one who did it; this was destined to be a one-sided conclusion.
On the surface, everyone in the Witch Academy acted like sisters, but those without ability were destined to never break into the inner circles.
Capable witches had their own methods. Xiao Han had already constructed the framework for the Dream State Soul Essence life domain research in a nearly pro bono fashion. Witches without ability at least had enough self-awareness to stay out of it.
Only the half-baked ones—those lacking ability yet clutching onto "the greater good"—would cling to their crazed ideologies, fueled by a sense of fluke.
In the Witch race, there was no such thing as "unrecognized talent." To say you had ability but lacked resources was an even greater absurdity. As the top-tier "predators" of the Void, a lack of resources was synonymous with a lack of ability. Even those mockingly called "brick-movers"—the manual laborers—were out there pioneering the Void. What could possibly earn more resources than developing a world?
Perhaps something did, but it certainly wasn't as simple as Void pioneering. Witches who relied on sucking the blood of their own kin were the most despised. Even a Rebel Witch wouldn't have the gall to say that for the sake of the Witch race, another sister should be forced to hand over a race she had created.
If you truly wanted to practice the ideology of contributing everything to the Witch race, why weren't you out there in the Primal Witches' servant armies, expanding the race's territory?
Oh, it turns out the Primal Witch didn't want you and told you to get lost and play by yourself... so why are you barking here?
The ideological battles between witches were fierce; the conflict between Witches and Rebel Witches was merely the most representative example.
Witches had their own thoughts and selfish desires, as well as their own envy and jealousy. Racial identity didn't cover the entirety of the relationships between them.
It was as if racial identity only peaked during that first encounter in the vastness of the Void, when everything was fresh.
* * *
The Witch Villa Area.
This was the residential area arranged for every Transcendent Witch Mentor who entered the Main World.
Not every Transcendent Witch had the financial power to carry a dungeon world around as a private residence. For many, a villa of their own served as their laboratory. They would pursue their research projects there, constantly seeking their own path.
In a secret underground laboratory carved out beneath one of the villas, a voice—partly provocative, partly toy-like, as if playing with prey—pieced together a name.
"Da~ni~elle~"
"Who! Who let you in!" Danielle, stripped of her usual calm and composure, spun around. Her eyes met a gaze that made her heart recoil in instinctive fear.
The interrogation she intended to continue died in her throat; the hysterical emotions she wanted to vent were instantly extinguished.
"Danielle... what should I say about you?" Sheryl tilted her head slightly, her gaze sweeping over the objects Danielle was trying to hide behind her. "Are you stupid and wicked? Or just... brainless?"
"I was certain I left no openings. I don't understand... why would a Rebel Witch like you get involved in this? Don't you understand what I'm doing?" Danielle took a deep breath, using the last of her sanity to speak.
"Understand what you're doing... stealing? To be honest, I don't have any evidence. But a Rebel Witch acts solely on feeling and suspicion."
"You came after me just based on suspicion? What kind of logic is that!" Hearing Sheryl’s words, Danielle’s remaining sanity and her fear of facing a Rebel Witch were instantly blown away by rage.
"That's it?" Sheryl’s tone was mocking, as if the person before her wasn't a Transcendent Witch feared by other races, but a mere clown. "A single sentence was enough to expose your stupidity. It seems you don't even need to bother with excuses."
"I'm stupid? You, a Rebel Witch, are the last person qualified to say that to me! What do you think I'm doing this for? Do you have any idea how valuable Fool's Dream is? Leaving her to be researched by a Little Witch... she's just a Little Witch! What does she know!"
"And what do you know?" Sheryl replied flatly.
"Fine, I don't know... but there are plenty of Transcendent Witches more qualified than me! More qualified than that Little Witch! If you Main World witches want to play house here, then I won't be joining you."
"Very spirited! That tone... it's almost exactly what I predicted you'd say."
Stung by Sheryl’s words, Danielle fell silent. Never had she hated a Rebel Witch as much as she did in this moment.
"...I hate that look on your face... that 'everything is within my expectations' look makes me sick. Is it really that fun for you to toy with other witches?"
"And is it really that fun for you to act as if the entire world should revolve around your ideas?" Sheryl stepped forward and waved her hand. Danielle felt an irresistible force wrap around her, shoving her aside.
The three Fool's Dream shells, sealed in capsule-like containers, were now fully exposed.
"I was wondering why so many witches in the Academy couldn't find a single trace of the three stolen Fool's Dreams after searching for so long. It turns out all three 'idiots' were just you."
"Let go! Let me go... they're just three Fool's Dreams! She has so many, what does it matter if a few go missing... How about this! You take two back, and let me keep one! Is even one too much?"
"Do you know why the first thing I said to you was that you were stupid and wicked?" Sheryl flicked her wrist, and the three capsules holding the Fool's Dream shells shattered instantly.
"Because you understand nothing, yet you insist on acting... Let’s be blunt: these three Fool's Dreams are just shells. They are husks molded from the most ordinary biological materials. Researching these... is utterly worthless."
"Impossible! How can that be? You're lying to me!" Danielle’s pupils contracted sharply. She instinctively tried to argue, "If they're worthless, why would that Little Witch bother with them! The entire Witch Academy is in an uproar because of this..."
"Oh, so you do know? Heh~ It's because you touched her things. She has to take a stand, otherwise witches like you would never stop. Perhaps her usual kindness made you forget that Little Witch’s true nature. Back then, she was the ruthless one who dared to shove a Fireball Spell into an overloaded spellbook. I suppose a witch with her nose as high in the air as yours wouldn't have bothered to notice what Xiao Han did in the past, would you? What a pity..."
"To be honest, if you were an Elder of the World-Casting Courtyard and you demanded Xiao Han hand over Fool's Dream, the old me might not have necessarily stopped you. But... things are different now, and you are certainly no such Elder."
"World-Casting Courtyard?" Danielle struggled for a moment, realizing she couldn't break free from the Rebel Witch’s restraints. But she also realized she had no idea what Sheryl was talking about.
"I overestimated your level. If you don't even know of the Elders of the World-Casting Courtyard, then where did you get the courage to make decisions for the Witch race? Decisions that even the Elders wouldn't interfere with... who do you think you are?"
"...I see... haha... so that's it... So I'm the only clown kept in the dark? The dream life is the work of the World-Casting Elders, and you're all just building momentum for that Little Witch, aren't you! A Little Witch... what right does she have?"
"..." Sheryl looked at the figure who seemed brain-dead. Though she had seen many obsessive witches, she had once again expanded her knowledge of witch biodiversity. "Your head is only fit to hold such prejudices. If you want to think that way, be my guest."
Sheryl didn't offer further explanation. She didn't want to drive a witch insane, nor did she want to induce a witch attempting the Rebel Witch path to end up as a Betrayer Rebel Witch.
"I see... heh... there's no place for me in this Main World, is there? I should have left with my sisters back then."
"It's not too late to leave now." Upon learning that Danielle didn't intend to sell Fool's Dream to other races, Sheryl had essentially passed judgment.
The Witch race could tolerate a stupid and clumsy witch, but it could not tolerate one who was malicious and loved using the betrayal of the race's interests as her bargaining chip!
"Is this your goal?"
"It's better than staying here, slowly being corroded by jealousy until you eventually become a Betrayer."
"A Betrayer... is that how you see me?" Danielle felt both furious and hysterical, but her expression eventually settled into a sneer. "I am a Transcendent Witch with an eternal lifespan. Do you think it's worth it to spend the rest of my days like a rat in the gutter just because of one Little Witch?"
"It's not worth it. For once, we've reached a consensus," Sheryl said with a smile.
In truth, Sheryl had heard this argument many times, just as she had heard many opposing views. If an eternal life was spent in such a pathetic manner every single day, what was the point of living?
The reason Sheryl had been watching Danielle was that the path Danielle practiced was nowhere near as firm as the path she despised. Danielle’s loathing of the "Ordinary" had sustained her journey thus far. Her so-called "Rebel Witch path" was merely a superficial manifestation of her resistance to being ordinary; in essence, she wasn't walking any witch path at all.
Within the Witch race, there were many who didn't understand the point of research projects. They pursued power—any power—because power was more visible than a project. It was more intoxicating, eventually turning them into "slaves to power."
A witch's research project was meant to establish a goal to pursue, preventing them from becoming such slaves.
Danielle was different. She wasn't necessarily a slave to power; she was someone who loathed the ordinary. Because she hated being ordinary, she sought to be different. But she likely didn't realize that she was already walking a path of an "Ordinary Subject," striving constantly toward the goal of transforming from the ordinary.
Sheryl told Danielle none of this.
If Danielle produced no results, she would remain trapped in this cycle of self-loathing. If she achieved a personal breakthrough... that would be a brand-new beginning.
"Go. Leave the Main World. I'll speak to Xiao Han," Sheryl said.
Based on her understanding of Xiao Han, the girl likely wouldn't do much to Danielle anyway. Sheryl couldn't exactly watch Xiao Han kill Danielle, and a mere reprimand would be water off a duck's back to someone like her. If Xiao Han was dissatisfied, Sheryl could compensate her, but this woman had to be sent out of the Main World.
Since she valued her eternal lifespan so much, there was no need for her to suffer setbacks here. She could go to some corner of the Void, settle down as a "Forest Witch," and have plenty of locals worship her. There were many witches who chose such a "retirement life."
But Danielle certainly wouldn't be content with that.
After watching Danielle be retrieved by the Primal Witch’s great power and sent back to the Great Library, Sheryl stopped worrying about it. She prepared to take the three little Fool's Dreams back to Xiao Han and chat about the whole ordeal.
However, as soon as she left the villa and appeared outside...
"Wait! You! What's that in your hand!"
Sheryl: "?"
"Aha! So you're the one who stole Xiao Han’s Fool's Dreams! Don't run! Stop right there, you damn Rebel Witch!"
"What? It really was the work of a Rebel Witch? Don't you run! Eat my Explosive Spell, yah!"