Chapter 204: A Witch Tea Party for Two
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 204: A Witch Tea Party for Two
"Thank you for the inspiration. Now, I shall grant you release."
I grabbed the fellow—whose name I still didn't know—and tossed him to the ground. Before he could let out another scream, I snapped his spine.
The tenacious vitality that dragon blood granted these Wyrmkin was truly surprising. I hadn't paid much attention when I'd ambushed and killed the first two quickly, but now that I’d switched tactics, I finally understood how troublesome they could be.
However, if we were talking about what I’d learned from the shock I’d just given them, that was something truly worth discussing.
I had many basic spells. Aside from basic evocation spells, there were many other categories, such as Sensory Weakening and Perception Enhancement.
Spells that acted upon physical perception were truly fascinating. Their effects were obvious from their names: one reduced, the other amplified.
Spells weren't some abstract, conceptual skills; rather, they were named precisely because they produced a specific effect. You couldn't analyze whether a spell had other functions just by parsing its name.
For instance, Sensory Weakening was a curse-type spell that required locking onto a target, whereas Perception Enhancement was a type of blessing or protection cast upon oneself.
At their core, they were different things.
Originally, I thought that if perception could be enhanced, it could also be weakened, and thus the logic should work in reverse. If I amplified the opponent's sense of touch several times over, their sense of pain would increase by the same margin.
If an attack couldn't deal effective physical damage, I could use this method to convert physical strikes into mental trauma.
To a certain extent, pain was a negative status effect just as terrifying as an actual wound.
But I had only just realized that achieving the effect I’d envisioned was quite difficult. It required a complete understanding of the spellbook's structure—no less than what was needed to master the Fireball Spell—and a massive amount of theoretical knowledge for support.
Currently, I was forced to perform a "magic modification" by hand, without any theoretical foundation.
But wasn't this a stroke of luck?
I had a test subject right in front of me, a guy I didn't have to worry about "breaking." And since this was a dream, I wasn't afraid of breaking the spellbook either.
So, I began experimenting directly with the Sensory Weakening spell. As for why I chose that specific spellbook, it was because Perception Enhancement affected the caster, while Sensory Weakening affected the opponent. To prevent accidents, I naturally had to prioritize my own safety.
I suppose this was the first time I’d ever looked forward to a spell failing so much—ideally, a failure that would torment the opponent to death.
Clearly, the victim's final performance before dying proved my success. This was one of the reasons my tone had carried a hint of genuine pleasure just now.
Sensory Weakening fell under the category of curses, but who was to say that amplification couldn't be a curse as well?
Turning Sensory Weakening into Sensory Enhancement was a brilliant tactic, but it was agonizing for the one on the receiving end. For example, pair visual enhancement with blindness, or auditory enhancement with the Dragon Roars of the Dragon Blood Academy. Enhancing the sense of touch to amplify pain, combined with the continuous agony of a burn, was simply perfect. Eventually, if the pain lasted long enough, the body would even go numb.
Now, I still had to deal with the small fry watching from the sidelines.
"You don't actually think I'm easy to get along with, do you? If you keep coming at me, I'll consider not killing you. Instead, I'll chop off your limbs, hang you up, and wait for your academy to come and claim you."
I looked at the group in the distance. The people from the Dragon Blood Academy had hit a brick wall and finally learned the meaning of restraint. However, they weren't the only ones here. If other academies were incited to join in, it would indeed cause me considerable trouble.
After all, the best way to stop a ritual was to create a stalemate, causing the preparation progress to grind to a halt.
So, when it came to threats, I said whatever would scare them most. The Witch Academy didn't exactly have a sterling reputation anyway; I was just upholding tradition.
I wondered how Tan Han was doing. Given her speed, she had probably just arrived.
The current situation was a state of mutual deterrence. If they were hell-bent on obstructing me, I’d be stuck. But if I went on the offensive, I’d have to worry about the tea party being destroyed.
The best approach was to use Illusion Clones as a deterrent. They might know that only one of the many figures was real, but they didn't dare gamble on which one it was.
That didn't stop them from running their mouths, though. They accepted that they were being crushed in terms of raw power, but they refused to admit defeat verbally.
Everyone here was a freshman. When the gap in strength was this obvious, it directly reflected the hierarchy between the academies.
"Oh? Looks like someone's coming."
Under the effects of Perception Enhancement, I spotted a figure appearing in the distance, flying toward us on a broom. That meant it was someone from the Witch Academy.
Logically, I should have gone to greet them personally, but I couldn't leave. If I did, this place would be overrun. However, I could still act as backup.
Just as I prepared to receive them, I realized that the witch student was being followed by another person!
As they drew closer, I barely recognized the first one—it was Su Ningmu from Class 45. I didn't know the person behind her, but their uniform marked them as being from the Wizard Academy.
I recalled that the Wizard Tower was quite far from here. How did they make it all the way across?
Facing someone from the Wizard Academy, I immediately remembered what Sister Bai had told me. Though she’d only mentioned it briefly, I’d taken it to heart.
Those guys from the Wizard Academy had bizarre methods. They specialized in curses and even direct body modification.
They reminded me of cockroaches—not particularly aggressive, but incredibly disgusting.
Skin flakes, hair—anything could be used as material for a curse. How could that not be disgusting?
I didn't know if this person was like that, but they were a freshman regardless. They wouldn't have mastered many techniques yet, but I couldn't afford to leave things to chance.
At this moment, I wasn't worried about raw power, but rather their unknown methods.
Therefore, I met this potential conflict with my highest level of readiness.
Blessing of the Fire Element Spirit!
Fire was an excellent tool. It could eliminate many troubles and prevent the opponent from collecting any of my biological data. The heat waves from the flames could destroy any unnoticed nuisances.
The sudden explosion of fire atop the Head of the Ancient Dragon naturally drew everyone's attention. Such a massive disturbance looked as if it would turn the entire area into a sea of flames.
With the blessing of fire surrounding me, the Fire Element Spirits hovered by my side.
"Over here!"
I called out. Su Ningmu quickly recognized me; after all, this signature Blessing of the Fire Element Spirit was very distinctive, and she had witnessed my methods before.
As she got closer, I saw that Su Ningmu was heavily injured. Her clothes were shredded, and a large portion of her body was damaged.
"Good work. I'll take it from here."
I cast a Shield Blessing on Su Ningmu and pushed her behind me to give her some breathing room.
The guy from the Wizard Academy didn't care about any of that. His first choice upon arriving was to clash with me to test our relative strengths.
People who did this were usually those with supreme confidence in their own power.
Boom!
As the first blow collided, I maintained my fire blessing and met his attack head-on.
The object in his hand was clearly a Wizard Tool—one of the weapons they crafted using Wizard Power. It was a manifestation of their strength. These weren't exactly alchemy items, as Wizard Tools were usually integrated into their own power system, similar to a refined weapon or even an extension of their own body.
From that single clash, neither of us gained the upper hand. However, in addition to my blessing, I had the spirits assisting my attacks. The opponent decisively retreated.
"I say, shouldn't you Wizards be guarding your Wizard Tower? What are you doing out here?"
"Yang Yuehan? I know you. I didn't expect you to be the one to start the ritual."
The opponent didn't give his name but identified me immediately. It seemed his knowledge of me exceeded my expectations.
The next moment, he pulled out a crude object—one that clearly showed signs of being hand-bound—and whispered a few words into it.
"Wait, a communication device? You Wizards really are something."
My eyes narrowed. I knew their power relied on external objects and the Wizard Tower, but having a means of communication right now felt like cheating.
After a brief thought, I decisively went on the offensive. He was transmitting information; whatever it was, I had to interrupt it.
After several exchanges, he realized my goal was to destroy his communication tool.
"Since you're the one guarding this, I suppose I can't destroy your ritual alone. But no matter. Since we've lost the initiative here, we'll just wait for the second batch of rituals."
As he spoke, he abandoned the Wizard Tool to buy himself a chance to escape. However, I didn't follow his script. I stayed locked onto him.
"Wait! You should be destroying the Wizard Tool!"
"Killing you solves the problem at its root. You didn't actually think I cared that much about that trinket just because I acted like it, did you?"
"Fuck!"
The guy cursed, but in the end, he took a heavy blow from me.
Those bizarre methods and Wizard Tools of theirs were indeed quite troublesome.
Is this the strength of students from the Three Top Academies?
To be able to escape from me alive...
I watched him fly away. The wings on his back were clearly not natural; likely another Wizard Tool.
It was a pity he escaped, but while I’d heavily injured him, I’d also slapped a curse on him—an Acid Erosion Curse. Weren't Wizards supposed to be experts in curses?
Since he was running away wounded, I certainly wasn't going to let him leave comfortably.
This encounter also made me realize I lacked pursuit methods. It would be great if my fireballs could lock onto and chase targets after leaving my control, but that was unrealistic. Over-the-horizon strikes were still too advanced for me at this stage.
However, the Witch Tea Party and the heavily injured Su Ningmu were also major concerns, so I couldn't leave.
"He got away. If you don't want my rage vented on you, you'd better get out of my sight right now!"
I took the opportunity to threaten the others who were thinking of causing trouble.
With the Blessing of the Fire Element Spirit still active, my fire affinity was boosted. My modified Fireball Spell, combined with this blessing and affinity, would be even more terrifying.
This was why I took that Wizard Academy student so seriously—he’d managed to escape with his life despite such overwhelming force.
"Su Ningmu, how are you? Can you hold on?"
"I... I can... hiss..." Su Ningmu was pushing herself, but looking at her condition, things were not optimistic.
"Are these wounds from those Wizard Tools? Bear with it; this is my first time using this spell." I comforted her softly. If I didn't act quickly, I felt like she would pass out any second.
The spell I was referring to was, of course, Flesh Healing. Healing spells actually had very high floors and entry requirements. Low-level healing spells were quite poor, mostly just stimulating the body's natural recovery, and required careful attention to disinfection, necrotic tissue, and foreign objects in the wound.
Those low-requirement, high-effect, low-cost "brainless" healing spells only existed in games.
My Flesh Healing spell required a hundred points of mana just to cast. That alone said a lot.
But because of the high cost, it was actually perfect for a novice like me who didn't know the finer details.
While its visual effects couldn't compare to the Blessing of the Fire Element Spirit, its results were guaranteed to satisfy.
"The wounds have closed, but there seems to be some lingering corrosive curse effect... and poison? Wait, what kind of infection is this? A fungal infection?"
After finishing the spell, I looked at Su Ningmu. She was still in bad shape. Upon closer inspection with Spirit Vision, I confirmed the results.
Even I subconsciously swallowed hard at the sight.
"Is that so... I didn't realize I’d been hit by so many of his tricks." Su Ningmu was still weak, but she looked much better than before.
"The guys from the Wizard Academy are known for their bizarre methods. It's not your fault. Do you want to resolve all of this?" I asked seriously as she insisted on standing up.
"What do you mean? You can fix it?"
"I can't guarantee it, but your wounds are mostly healed, so you can withstand some secondary damage. The curse is a spell effect; I'm confident I can clear that. The toxin hasn't spread far yet, mostly concentrated in your lower limbs. That unknown fungal infection is spreading slowly. We can solve this with a 'brute force' method: high-temperature sterilization, followed by another healing spell."
"Huh? Then wouldn't I..."
"It's just a dream. If you're afraid of the pain, I can cast Sensory Weakening on you," I said with a shrug. My current means were limited, so I had to use the most primitive methods to purge the issues.
"This... I need to think about it..."
"No rush. Since you're here, we can begin the Witch Tea Party."
I didn't interfere with her choice. After all, casting Flesh Healing once was expensive. If she didn't mind the infection, I wouldn't either.
Compared to that, I was more concerned with whether the Witch Tea Party could actually get started.
Theoretically, all the conditions for the ritual had been met, but subjectively, I felt that a Witch Tea Party with only two witches might be a bit sparse.
But time waited for no one. If I didn't act, the other academies would. Tan Han had gone off alone to interfere with the academy that was faster than us, but she might not be able to stop them. I couldn't hesitate.
"Has it already started?"
"Of course. Please, enjoy the desserts I made myself. Though, I must apologize—originally, Tan Han was supposed to hand-grind the coffee, but it looks like I'll have to do it. Don't mind me; I don't have much experience, so I can only brew you a cup of tea."
"Tan Han? She's here too?"
"Yeah, but she went back out because she was worried someone would finish their ritual before us. We should thank her for buying us this time."
As I spoke, I began brewing the black tea. I wasn't entirely sure of the proper process, but as long as it was drinkable, it was fine.
"I see... Oh, right, there's also this." After hearing my explanation, Su Ningmu understood the situation. She suddenly remembered something and pulled out an item.
"This is..."
"A Witch Tea Party Invitation. It suddenly appeared in front of me while you were preparing the ritual. I assume it's part of the process."
"There's actually a setting like that? I thought Teacher Lina's background story about sending out invitations was just flavor text."
I grumbled a bit but quickly realized that the invitation might be a sort of credential given to witches who met the criteria for being invited.
The moment I, as the host of the Witch Tea Party, accepted the invitation, the pillar of light enveloping the entire ritual seemed to sublimate.
Immediately following that, the other glowing ritual pillars across the map shattered. The rituals of the various academies that were racing against time were instantly aborted.
Their ritual tools broke. Even if they didn't, their rituals were no longer recognized.
For a moment, a chorus of wails and howls rose from the various academies. After venting their emotions, their attention turned toward the only remaining ritual on the map.
However, the Witch Tea Party had only just begun. An academy would only receive points once the ritual was completed. Thus, many academies still didn't know exactly who had finished their preparations so early.
"It seems the Goddess of Luck is on our side."
I leisurely pulled out a chair and sat down, taking a sip of the black tea I’d brewed myself.
"Hmm... I'm not used to this. Did I mess up the process? The taste is off."
"Actually, the taste is quite good... and the desserts are nice. But is it really okay for us to be this relaxed?" Su Ningmu asked, still looking worried.
"What, are you afraid they'll all charge us at once?"
"Yes. We've become the target of everyone here. I know those guys are no match for you right now, but if they swarm us, it'll be trouble. And those academies whose rituals were destroyed... they'll likely..."
"Just relax. Do you remember the contents of the Witch Tea Party ritual?"
"Well, I remember. 'Each witch who answers the call presents her invitation. The witches bring stories of their experiences or their confusion, pouring out their sorrows at the tea party. Let sugar and cake fill the heart, and let joy wash away the gloom.'"
"That sounds about right. Then, let's begin."
"Uh... just like that?"
"Yes. Tell me your story. Tell me about what you've encountered since entering the Ancient Battlefield. I'll summarize and analyze the situation."
"Um, okay."
Su Ningmu knew she didn't have much of a choice, so to finish the ritual quickly, she began to speak. It was just her experiences, after all.
Although she and I hadn't been close before—having only spoken a few words at the dinner Tan Han hosted—it didn't stop us from talking like friends under these circumstances.
During this time, my attention remained on the people below. If any fools tried anything, I would suppress them with thunderous force to maintain the deterrent.
However, the only academy currently holding a ritual was right before their eyes. As time passed, more and more people would gather here. Eventually, I wouldn't be able to keep them all down.
"After meeting that guy, I thought I could negotiate with him... but... but, um, Sister Xiao Han, are we really not going to do anything about the people down there?"
"Leave it to me."
I stood up from my seat, my expression darkening. I knew I couldn't remain passive any longer.
I stood atop the Head of the Ancient Dragon on the living volcano, looking down at the crowd. They were gathering in even greater numbers now. Although most were just padding from smaller academies, I recognized students from several prominent ones.
As expected, the strength I’d displayed was no longer enough to suppress this many people. They weren't going to let the Witch Tea Party continue.
Just as I was facing the jeers and curses from below, a sudden tremor in the distance made everyone freeze.
The disturbance felt like an earthquake; the ground trembled slightly, accompanied by a strange sound. The living volcanoes in the area became much more active because of it. Even the massive volcano behind me reacted violently. It hadn't reached the point of eruption yet, but lava began to spill from the fissures, a terrifying sight to behold.
Though the tremor was widespread, I could sense its source.
That direction... isn't that the Central Ancient Battlefield?