Chapter 481: The Unlucky Sea Clan Academy
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 481: The Unlucky Sea Clan Academy
The Beast Academies moved in packs, huddling together for warmth. It was a world of the law of the jungle, where only the strong survived—perhaps that was the defining image I saw on their side.
After a semester of study... no, for the Beast Academies, I’d prefer to call it "domestication." After a semester of domestication, those academies had successfully broken their students, turning them into beasts that belonged to the collective. Their animalistic nature was gradually being stimulated, and the "might makes right" instinct inherent to beasts meant they couldn't even fathom the idea of resisting the truly powerful.
Of course, there were significant differences between the various Beast Academies. If I put myself in their shoes, I would find such a transformation utterly unacceptable.
However... I didn't dwell on it. There was no point. As most people would say, this was simply the small price one paid for obtaining power.
I was more curious about the power systems the Beast Academies employed. I saw deep shadows of the Body Cultivation system within them, but it wasn't pure Body Cultivation; rather, it was a specialized system forged by combining those techniques with their own racial traits.
Naturally, not all Beast Academies followed this Body Cultivation derivative. For instance, the Charm Fox Academy focused primarily on a unique spiritual Illusion Spell system.
During this time, I made a deliberate trip to the Moe Cat Academy to check on Yu Mengrui—the cat-girl, the Child of Destiny who had once treated me to cat rice.
However, she no longer recognized me. Or rather, most students from other academies who once had a deep impression of me could no longer recognize me. The news of my current appearance hadn't spread to the other schools.
Yu Mengrui seemed to have changed a lot as well. Compared to her former innocent and timid self, she had become much colder. She had become a leader-level figure within the Cat-people Academy, and the innocence in her eyes had vanished.
When she saw me, she greeted me with a tone that carried the flattery one might show a teacher. After all, the Witch Academy was a far greater entity than their Cat-people Academy; it was an instinctive fear and fawning toward the strong.
Compared to the Yu Mengrui who used to look like a "cat-girl," I felt more inclined to call her a "cat-person" now.
Suddenly, I realized that if a race isn't strong enough, they can't even afford to decorate themselves with adjectives like "cute" or "moe." Once associated with such traits, disaster follows.
The witches of the Witch Academy can love beauty, be eccentric, be enchanting, or be cute and playful—it is their absolute strength that gives them the confidence to pursue these additional personal aesthetics.
But the Cat-people Academy... they were training beasts and warriors, not pets.
While I wished the Cat-people Academy could be the "Moe Cat Academy" people joked about, raising cute things, my personal feelings couldn't change reality. Perhaps... there was no need to force it.
I simply recorded Yu Mengrui’s Luck fluctuations and the observed data, letting it become part of my work in perfecting the Qi Observation Art.
* * *
The Cat-people Academy's start wasn't very smooth, as there was another academy on their island.
Late into the night, very few people closed their eyes to sleep. The dim environment made the surroundings dangerous. Islands that hadn't been cleared of monsters during the day became exceptionally perilous at night.
Earlier, during the day, everyone was in a strange new place, alert to dangers from the outside and the sky, their nerves constantly taut. Now, with the campfires lit and people gathered, the night had ironically become a time when they could finally rest.
After thoroughly scouting the nearby terrain, most academies tacitly chose the night—when they had plenty of time—to discuss how to reach the Main Island.
For the Sea Clan and the Angels, this didn't seem like a difficult problem. One was the natural darling of the ocean, and the other was an Angel who reigned over the sky. Mere geographical restrictions were no obstacle for them.
Initially, I thought the Sea Clan would be the first to reach the Main Island. Based on my few interactions with them, they were quite reckless. Meanwhile, Archie from the Holy Angel Academy, who had left a deep impression on me, felt very steady; I didn't think he would just charge blindly toward the Main Island right at the start.
But everything turned out the opposite of my expectations.
The Sea Clan Academy encountered swarms of sea beasts early on and was forced back to the reefs. Now, affected by the tides, the reefs were submerged at night, and they were on high alert for approaching danger.
Those sea beasts were also the handiwork of the Transcendent Wizards from the Wizard Academy. Along with the False World Space Great Witchcraft, the environment was practically hostile toward the Sea Clan. The protection and blessings of the sea that the Sea Clan enjoyed didn't mean the sea beasts would simply ignore them.
Yet, relying on those blessings, they had charged headlong into the beast swarms. They suffered heavy casualties in the first encounter, and the scent of blood from the fleeing Sea Clan candidates drew the beasts right back to the main force.
The Sea Clan truly showed me the meaning of the saying: "I don't fear a god-like opponent, I only fear a pig-like teammate."
The fear of death had coiled around the Sea Clan Academy from the very start of the Joint Exam. Severed limbs torn by sea beasts dyed the water red, and the stench of blood filled their senses, leaving deep psychological scars on many ordinary Sea Clan students.
Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, it was nearly over. I learned about the situation from a Wave Patrolman of the Sea Clan.
Wave Patrolmen were the equivalent of teaching assistants in the Sea Clan Academy—potential candidates on the verge of ascending to the Transcendent level.
I was curious, though. We were all in similar teaching assistant roles, so why did the titles in other academies have so much "flavor"? Weren't we all Transcendent Academies?
But complaints aside, I was here for the entertainment.
After interacting with the Wave Patrolman here, I discovered that not every academy sent only three or four assistants. For example, the Sea Clan had sent nearly ten Wave Patrolmen.
After recognizing my identity as a member of the Witch Academy, the guy instinctively tried to avoid me—a completely different attitude from that fellow from the Elf Academy. However, I didn't let him go. Under my "repeated persistence," he finally recounted the whole story.
I could tell he was hiding a few things, though.
I had to admit, as Wave Patrolmen, seeing their own academy and its affiliates perform so poorly was a massive blow to their pride.
In the end, they practically escorted me away with "kindness," as if I were a god of plague.
The reason I had lingered was for my own reasons: cases of people sabotaging their own Luck through sheer stupidity were far too rare to miss!
They thought they had persuaded me to leave with their polite words, but in reality, I left satisfied after collecting all the data I needed.
As for whether I was worried these Wave Patrolmen would secretly help the Sea Clan students... I wasn't worried at all, because they definitely had.
After leaving the Sea Clan's waters, I looked around. Once I confirmed I wasn't being broadcast, I took out a translucent Leaf of Knowledge.
I checked for live streams not because I was afraid of my ability leaking, but because I didn't want the upcoming "explosive" footage to get out just yet.
With a wave of my hand, the Leaf of Knowledge transformed into an image floating before me.
The image was a bit distorted; this was an extended application of my Ley Line Identification Art that I had developed through experimentation. Ley Line Information recorded data—images, sounds... these were all information. I wasn't satisfied with the Identification Art only showing me organized text; images and sounds provided a much more intuitive view of what I wanted.
Clearly, because I hadn't perfected this derived spell, the image was warped, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the events I had missed.
At that moment, the information identified from that Wave Patrolman replayed the scene.
Witnessing it with my own eyes, I realized it was far more tragic than the Wave Patrolman had described. He had been far too modest.
Furthermore... several of those Wave Patrolmen had directly violated the rules by intervening to help, which was the only reason many candidates "survived."
Because of this, they were caught directly by the live broadcast cameras, counting as a collective violation. They hadn't breathed a word of this important information to me. But then again... I hadn't expected them to break the rules so blatantly. I suppose you could say they set a "great" example for this Joint Exam.
It was a bit of a shame that this footage didn't have much value now. I had planned to report them at a critical moment, but they had already been flagged for the violation.
They really were pathetic...
But you can't force these things. Watching others trip up was satisfying, but I had to make sure I didn't trip up myself. I wondered how the Witch Academy was doing and how they planned to reach the Main Island.
The Sea Clan's plan to reach the Main Island had failed. Having suffered such a heavy blow, all they wanted now was to survive the night and make new plans tomorrow.
As for the Beast Academies, they hadn't even moved past the shadow of their internal friction yet.
I hadn't had time to visit the other islands, only catching brief glimpses. The Bobapus Archipelago was simply too large, and the distances between the affiliated islands were even greater. The entire map was on a completely different scale compared to the one we used in the Dream Exchange Competition.
Just as I was about to head back and check on the Witch Academy, I suddenly felt a summoning sensation.
"Hmm?" I was slightly surprised because the person summoning me was marked as Lifaeya.
Although I had said I was going to put her on my blacklist, I was curious about why she was calling me at this hour.
It was already the middle of the night; in a little while, the sun would be rising from the horizon.
But since I happened to be free...
I just hoped she was at the Witch Academy's location and wasn't summoning me to some weird place to take a hit for her.
She had mentioned earlier that she was going to check on the Elves and had tried summoning me a few times mid-way, but I had ignored her. I didn't know what intel she had gathered, as she hadn't posted anything in our four-person teaching assistant group.
Because Lifaeya said she was going there, I hadn't visited the Elven islands.
Following the summoning spell, my figure vanished from the sky above the sea.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the border of the Main Island.
"You birdmen! You've violated the rules, do you understand? Don't think we didn't see it just because you tried to be sneaky!" Lifaeya pointed angrily at the group of Holy Angels.
"Miss Witch, accusations against the Holy Angel Academy require evidence. Our early landing on the Main Island, achieved by utilizing our racial advantages, was completed under the witness of the live broadcast."
Facing Lifaeya's accusation, the Preaching Angel stood under his holy radiance without a hint of embarrassment, acting as if they had never done anything wrong.
At this moment, the area where the Holy Angels stood was bathed in Holy Light. Before the dawn, their own light illuminated the world, as if seeking to replace the rising sun.
"Do you take me for an idiot? There are only a few resource points near the edge of the Main Island, and none of them are directly opposite the Holy Angel Academy. You took a massive detour, going the long way around, and just happened to strike the area with the fewest monsters? And you just happened to occupy a Main Island resource point? Do you think I'm stupid?" Lifaeya refused to back down.
She couldn't produce any evidence, but such an obvious anomaly clearly pointed to a major problem. Moreover... she couldn't stand watching them land on the island just like that. She really wanted to teach them a lesson, but she couldn't afford to be reckless again.
"This only proves that the Holy Light protects every believer who has faith. Do not let your dirty thoughts defile the purity of the Holy Light."
"Purity my foot! How can you say something so disgusting with a straight face?" Lifaeya had completely abandoned her previous image. She was truly revolted by these Holy Angels. Why hadn't she noticed how nauseating these guys were before?
"Leave now, Witch. Dragging this out will benefit neither of us..."
"No, I have all the time in the world to waste with you."
"If you intend to continue obstructing our academy's candidates from advancing, we will take necessary measures. I must remind you: the fact that the Holy Angel Academy is currently in the lead is an unchangeable reality. If you lay a hand on our candidates, we won't just sit idly by."
"You... fine. Relying on numbers, are we? As if I don't know how to call for backup." Lifaeya felt a mountain of pressure facing two Preaching Angels. Furthermore, she could sense that their life levels were faintly more terrifying than her own. She probably couldn't stir up enough trouble here on her own.
Immediately, she took out her phone and indignantly posted a help request in the group, hoping Lin Yi or Adalin were nearby. Then, feeling that wasn't enough, she pulled out a business card.
"Xiao Han, don't blame me. There are two of them and only one of me. It's better to have someone with me... you just need to come over and help me trash-talk them..." Lifaeya muttered to herself as she triggered the summoning ritual on the card.
Instantly, the summoning ritual erupted in brilliant light. The flashing colors immediately put the two Holy Angels on high alert, guarding against a sneak attack.
It wasn't until a figure emerged from the ritual that they realized it was a summoning spell.
"Lifaeya, why did you summon me... huh?"
Emerging from the ritual, I was about to ask Lifaeya a few questions, but I was immediately distracted by the light behind me. After all, before being summoned, I was over the pitch-black sea. The current daylight-like brightness was a massive contrast.
"Xiao Han! Quick, help me curse them out! Use that same energy you used on that Elf! These two guys cheated by giving their students info on the Main Island, and they might even be directing them to seize it and leaking resource point locations!" Lifaeya was pleasantly surprised that I had actually answered the summons on the first try.
She had tried summoning me when she was with the Elves, but Xiao Han had completely ignored her then.
"Then report them," I said instinctively. Then I turned to look at the situation behind me. "Wait... this is the Main Island? And... Holy Angels?"
"I'd report them if I had evidence! Xiao Han, help me yell at them. I'm telling you, they've gone way too far..."
"Stop." I waved my hand to cut off Lifaeya's string of complaints. I understood one thing: Lifaeya knew they were cheating but had no proof.
But... wasn't this exactly my specialty?
I instinctively cast a Ley Line Information Identification Art on them. The rest was just... stalling for time.
The moment I had evidence, I would report them immediately.
Having done this in an instant, I looked at the students of the Holy Angel Academy and quickly grasped the situation. So, they had already seized the initiative on the Main Island...
"Miss Witch, you seem much easier to talk to than this unreasonable witch. We hope you can take her away as soon as possible to prevent her from doing anything drastic. It would be better for both parties," one of the Preaching Angels said to me.
"We are all patrol teachers. It is our duty to report violations, and we also have the authority to inspect the status of your candidates. If you have a clear conscience, you should have nothing to fear. Or is it that you're only holy in speech, while your private dealings are darker than anyone else's?" I turned to face the Holy Angel and replied directly.