Chapter 346: A Whole New Realm
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 346: A Whole New Realm
Ninglan New City, on the surface.
"Boss Ian, there’s movement over there!"
Among the group from the Wizard Academy standing guard on the surface, the student responsible for monitoring the passage to the underground district immediately spoke up to alert the others.
"What happened?" Ian Garland stood up and walked to the observation area. He saw Ninglan Qiuyu emerging from the passage, followed by his panicked personal guards.
"Why are there so many fewer people coming up?"
"Not sure. Something might have happened in the underground district that forced them back. After all, he is the new City Lord of Ninglan New City. He’s of noble status; it’s only natural he wouldn't want to take unnecessary risks."
"True. It’s already impressive enough that he was willing to risk going down there personally to provide support."
The wizards nodded, reaching a general consensus. However, it wasn't long before they noticed that the City Guard stationed at the entrance was being completely redeployed, leaving Ninglan Qiuyu standing there alone.
"That direction... are they leaving the city?"
"Stupid. Something must have gone wrong at the frontline outside the city. They’re going to provide support. Don't forget the beast tide."
"Wait, stop looking at the City Guard. Ninglan Qiuyu is moving."
"Where is he going?"
"I’ll go check it out. You guys stay put for now. If I need backup, I’ll contact you through the wizard tool." Ian Garland picked up a mask-style wizard tool. Once he placed it over his face, his figure vanished.
He wanted to see exactly what this new City Lord was up to at a time like this.
Of course, his primary goal was protection. After all, the man had sent everyone else away and was now alone. What if a Dream Demon tried to assassinate him?
* * *
Meanwhile, in the underground district.
"Heh... hehehe, Hahaha!"
"You can still laugh?" I looked at the Dream Demon, wondering what she was thinking. Did she still have a trump card?
At the thought, my heart tightened instinctively. I carefully mentally reviewed every detail, searching for any oversight I might have missed.
"This is... a body of flesh and blood... isn't it?" One of the Dream Demon's hands rested on the wrist I was using to choke her.
"Experience it for yourself... become nourishment for a sacrifice ritual driven by the Ley Lines!"
"Oh..." Reminded by her words, I instantly understood her intent.
If I set aside my Mana Source and spellbooks, I was essentially just an ordinary person with decent mental power. So... I truly had no inherent ability to resist the flesh-and-blood extraction of such a sacrifice ritual.
As soon as the Dream Demon finished speaking, the sacrifice ritual erupted with a brilliant blood-red light. A strange power surged, as if trying to seize control of my body.
Sensing carefully, I could feel every muscle in my body... writhing.
It was as if they were no longer a part of me, seeking to tear themselves away from my main body to merge into that massive sphere of blood.
"Haha... Just as I thought... A frail husk that can't even stop a sacrifice ritual. To think I let someone of this level worry me for so long. You! You are nothing but a bug as well!"
"It’s always 'bug' this and 'bug' that with you. I bet you’re the bug in your own world..."
I remained exceptionally calm. I activated my Practical Learning spell and my Spirit Spell · Unity of Knowledge and Action, maintaining absolute composure as I continuously brainstormed a solution.
But time would not grant me a single opening. In that moment, my arm began to dissolve into strands of flesh, tearing away from my body. The agonizing pain—like sticking my hand into a meat grinder—constantly battered my sanity.
"Flesh Healing..." I whispered.
The Flesh Healing spellbook immediately began to operate. Even as my flesh flew apart, it began to knit back together. The two forces reached a state of dynamic equilibrium.
"You have some tricks, but how long can you maintain the consumption of such a method?"
"And how long can you keep this up? You sacrificed so many people just to open a portal and summon your sisters, didn't you?" Though I didn't want to admit it, the Flesh Healing spellbook was a high-consumption item. I truly couldn't maintain it for long.
"Long enough to slaughter you! I will use your flesh and soul essence as the foundation to summon them, and then we will butcher you all!"
"Xiao Han! Watch out! Get out of there! Don't try to fight the ritual head-on!"
"Sister Xiao Han, don't just stand there! Run!"
In the distance, the others were shouting at me in desperation.
The sacrifice ritual, which covered such a vast area, began to contract. The entire blood-red radiance converged on the area where I stood. I could feel the ritual’s erosion accelerating.
"Haha... What will you do now? If you run, I’ll open the summoning channel immediately. Prepare to be swallowed by us Dream Demons! If you stay here and try to fight me, you’ll die sooner or later!"
"You’re a quick thinker," I remarked casually.
However, I noticed that the sacrifice ritual was purely extracting my flesh. Or rather, the ritual was converting pure blood and meat into a concentrated blood-colored energy. The massive sphere of flesh above my head wasn't actually meat; it was an energy aggregate.
But my soul... was completely unaffected.
So... this was the confidence the Academy Dean had when she told me to be the backup. If the ritual extracted soul essence... what did that have to do with my soul?
"So that’s how it is... This is actually a great place to explore the limits and the connection between the soul and the body... though the consumption is a bit much for me to handle."
I sighed softly, but quickly realized I had almost let my own thinking limit me.
I had assumed my Mana Source was the only energy I could use. But... who said that was the case?
When I hand-cast spells, I always used the transcendent energy from the environment because my mental power couldn't directly interfere with mana.
Looking at the environment here... was I lacking energy?
Not at all. The only problem was how to snatch energy away from that giant blood sphere.
Once the limitation of energy was resolved, my mind opened up instantly.
Why did I have to limit myself to the Flesh Healing spell?
Didn't I have better methods? For instance... the Resurrection spell.
I had violently deconstructed the Resurrection spell in a dream before. I had also studied the rune structure within it, so I was fully capable of hand-casting a Resurrection spell.
Even if my research into the Resurrection spell wasn't deep enough, I could simply deconstruct it again on the spot—in a dream, of course.
"You! You don't plan on leaving?!"
Now it was the Dream Demon's turn to be shocked. Her plan was to use this method to force me away so she could use the energy to summon reinforcements. As a Dream Demon, she felt incredibly insecure fighting alone. Even in the worst-case scenario where she had to die... she wanted to drag her sisters down with her.
"Of course. Why would I leave?" I asked the Dream Demon with a smile.
Every part of my body was leaking flesh-and-blood energy, only to be repaired by the Flesh Healing spell. The sight was enough to make anyone's skin crawl.
This person is a lunatic!
That was the Dream Demon's reaction.
It was also the thought in the minds of the Transcendent Academy students who were now closing in.
This was practically a suicide mission.
But they also had to admit that as long as I stood there, the Dream Demon didn't even dare to take a step forward. Her confidence relied entirely on the sacrifice ritual she had painstakingly set up throughout the underground district.
She was in the home stretch, yet so many accidents had occurred. She was on the verge of a breakdown.
"You know, when people encounter something happy, they always want to share it. Just like me right now. Guess what I’m going to do next?"
I raised my right hand. In my palm was a sphere of light. The people from the Witch Academy knew exactly what it was—a spellbook!
Many from the other academies had seen them before as well. After a moment of thought, they realized what it was, but that didn't mean they could guess what I was about to do.
My gaze swept over everyone present, including the one who wasn't human.
The Dream Demon... Tan Han... Archie... Lucianne... Minian... and even Sister Bai?
I saw a figure standing in the corner and smiled back at her, signaling for her not to worry.
Then, I gripped the spellbook. My mental power began to deconstruct it. In the next moment, its outer shell shattered. To the onlookers, it looked as if I had crushed the spellbook with my bare hands.
The crowd watched the shattered spellbook in my hand, their confusion deepening. Many looked pained—that was a spellbook!
If I didn't want it, I could have given it to them.
I didn't respond to their thoughts. Instead, I continued my experiment. With a wave of my hand, the spellbook disintegrated, and the internal magic ritual runes were revealed. After I stripped away the redundant structures of the spellbook, only the purest rune ritual remained. This wasn't the first time I had done this. Though it was only the second, I was becoming quite proficient.
In reality, I followed those runes to construct the spell, hand-casting the rune combinations. In an instant, the runes began to flow, circling around my body.
This was the form the Resurrection spell took when it was freed from the framework of a spellbook.
While this version of the Resurrection spell lacked the developmental framework of a spellbook, it didn't bother me. It was enough for my needs. Besides, if my Mana Source wasn't so easily depleted, would I have chosen this?
More importantly, this allowed me to see the operation of the spell more clearly, especially under my Floating World level Spirit Vision, where the flow of energy had nowhere to hide.
At that moment, I stopped using the Flesh Healing spellbook.
Immediately, my body stopped recovering. Massive amounts of flesh were converted into energy and began to dissipate from my frame.
From the outside, it looked as if I had given up and was self-destructing, no different from the ordinary people whose lives were being drained away.
"Hahaha! I thought you had some grand plan! It was all just a bluff! Hahaha! Good riddance!"
Seeing this, the Dream Demon laughed so hard her stomach hurt. She thought she was finished, but her opponent had committed suicide. How could she not be overjoyed?
"Xiao Han!"
"Sister Xiao Han!"
The people from the Transcendent Academy were stunned by the sudden turn of events. The contrast was simply too great. One moment I was full of confidence, and the next, after crushing a spellbook, I was literally falling apart. Who could have expected such a reversal?
In the midst of this, a figure rushed toward me like a madwoman. Her speed exceeded everyone's comprehension. It was Bai Yu.
"Xiao Han!"
"Don't worry..."
"Xiao Han" was the last thing I heard, but I used my final shred of consciousness to tell Sister Bai not to worry.
I admitted this was risky, but I had at least two and a half layers of insurance.
The first was the Academy Dean, who was backing me up. She had invested a Great Spellbook in me. Only upon my total death would it return to the Great Library of the Witch World. So, what if I didn't die completely? I’d just owe another favor... consider it a lesson for my own recklessness.
The second layer of insurance was...
As my body dissipated, a strand of golden Luck that no one else could see remained steadfast. This was my second layer of insurance—the Luck that protected all of Ninglan New City. It had chosen me, not to be a City Lord, but to choose a City Lord.
As for the remaining "half," it was naturally my own self-confidence.
If I didn't have confidence in my own actions and relied entirely on insurance, then my behavior would be nothing short of brain-dead.
In that final moment, I released the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art. Naturally... I used it on myself.
I wondered what kind of sparks would fly when I combined the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art with Practical Learning and the Unity of Knowledge and Action.
The answer would be revealed the moment the Resurrection spell brought me back.
In an instant, the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art was cast. There were no grand phenomena; no one even noticed I had released the spell.
But my Mana Source was completely drained. It wasn't even enough; it began to suck energy from the surrounding environment.
"Wha... What is this?"
Whether it was the gossiping students or the Dream Demon, everyone froze. The energy consumed by the Great Spellbook exceeded my expectations, instantly creating an energy vacuum in the surrounding area before it was refilled a moment later.
That momentary sensation of energy suffocation made everyone pause. Meanwhile, the Resurrection runes circling me erupted in a brilliant light.
Even Bai Yu stopped in her tracks. She seemed to realize she had been too hasty. If her impulsive actions ruined Xiao Han's plan, she would never forgive herself!
But... she could protect Xiao Han in the meantime.
At that moment, I lost all perception. It was as if I were in a void. I hadn't passed out; I still had my thoughts. I could prove I could still think and that I still existed. It was as if I had escaped the shackles of the material plane and ascended to a higher level. Any thought I had seemed to find an answer instantly. Even when I wondered why I had become like this, I received the answer. It was like a sudden epiphany... the effect of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art.
Before long, I seemed to be able to "see" again... this was my Spirit Vision talent.
I sensed the Mana Source... the Mana Source as seen through Spirit Vision.
Its internal mana was exhausted. This was the first time I had viewed a Mana Source this way. It was like a singularity. Its recovery didn't seem to come from absorbing mana from the outside, but rather from "manifesting" mana from an unknown place.
I saw the spellbooks. They were neatly arranged on rows of bookshelves... the effect generated by the Spellbook Shelf spellbook.
And what was the Spellbook Shelf spellbook... anchored to?
My body.
That was the answer I had always believed, but now I felt I needed to correct that thought.
Spellbooks didn't seem to be carried by my physical body.
Yet, they were undeniably inside me.
I recalled what Teacher Ji Niang had told me. There was likely one medium for carrying non-physical spellbooks... combined with the concept of spell slots...
Ley Line energy.
That was the answer I arrived at.
But I had checked my body before and found no surge of Ley Line energy. The Ley Line energy bound to a student card wasn't enough to carry a spellbook.
There could only be one answer... the abstract concept of Ley Line energy that everyone possessed... the Ley Line Shackles!
The Academy Dean had told me not to be fooled by the word "shackles." If I ignored the downsides, didn't they have benefits?
Yes, many.
Just then, I captured the first hint of something discordant.
Was that... sound?
Once the concept of sound was confirmed, the concept of hearing flooded my consciousness. I heard a cacophony of noise.
Next, I smelled a pungent scent of blood. My sense of smell was returning.
Then came touch. Sharp pain and itching began to stimulate my consciousness...
The Resurrection spell seemed to be proceeding according to my preset process. My flesh was being reconstructed; my body was becoming a vessel for my soul.
Never had I wished to stay in a state longer than this. I felt as if I had touched the truth of the Ley Line Shackles. This was a miracle that might never be repeated. I didn't even know if I could replicate this situation again. It was a perception created by a series of complex procedures occurring by chance...
I was forced to feel my five senses return one by one... but as time passed, I realized this was also a wondrous experience.
Under Spirit Vision, I watched my body being reconstructed.
Under the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art, I understood the Resurrection spell's manipulation of life and its rewriting of death.
Under the Unity of Knowledge and Action, I was perfectly controlling every part of my body.
Under Practical Learning, every attempt I made turned into experience, merging into my body's memory and pushing me to master my new body at the fastest possible speed.
This bit-by-bit recovery, bit-by-bit control, bit-by-bit mastery... it was like feeding an infant, chewing carefully and swallowing slowly. It was a gradual process of self-learning.
I... was learning to completely master my own life, to dominate every cell in my body, to command every part of my frame, and to expand the limits of my five senses... I felt something within my life being broken through. My understanding and form of life had reached a whole new realm!