Chapter 484: The Witch Academy's Numerical Deterrence
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 484: The Witch Academy's Numerical Deterrence
When Lifaeya and I returned to the Witch Academy's starting island, the first thing we sensed was more than one powerful aura. It was a display of their Life Level, carrying a faint edge of wariness that allowed one to notice their presence from a great distance.
This time, the pressure of their Life Level wasn't meant to suppress the entire area, but rather to serve as a reminder: I am here at all times.
I hadn't expected Life Level to be used this way. It was like a wild beast marking its territory to scare off natural enemies and signal that the spot was occupied.
As we drew closer, we discovered that our academy's island had been "occupied" by two strangers!
Of course, it wasn't the kind of occupation done by candidates; they were Teaching Assistants on patrol. At that moment, they stood atop the island's highest peak, looking down on everything below.
"What's the deal? Has our home base been snatched? Why didn't Lin Yi or Adalin send word?" Lifaeya was the first to notice the anomaly, and she immediately began cursing the moment she sensed them.
"Don't be impulsive. It's normal for Teaching Assistants from other academies to come here. Maybe... they think coming to the Witch Academy will prevent us from cheating," I speculated.
Once we were close enough, we saw the current standoff. Lin Yi stood alone on a side peak, while facing her were two others. The easiest one to identify was the "birdman" figure of a Holy Angel. The figure beside him, shrouded in black mist, gave me pause. Likely... a Wizard?
After all, those qualified to stand alongside a Holy Angel were either the Forest Elves of Afuhemi or Wizards. Wizards were known for their bizarre methods, and their strength was often tied to their eccentric Wizard Tools. Looking at that individual's tattered robes and strange ornaments, the Transcendent fluctuations emanating from them suggested they were various Wizard Tools.
"Are you two here to pick a fight with our Witch Academy?" Before Lifaeya even finished her sentence, they sensed our arrival. Their gazes shifted toward us, landing on the two of us.
Seeing the numbers suddenly tip against them, their expressions turned solemn.
"We wouldn't dare pick a fight. We are merely fulfilling our duty to ensure no violations or cheating occur during the Joint Exam," the Holy Angel in the standoff replied to Lifaeya's provocative question, his tone dripping with self-righteousness.
"In that case, could you please leave?" I stepped forward, placing a hand on Lifaeya's shoulder to steady her.
"You must be joking. You don't have the authority to make us leave." The angel glanced at me, sensing absolutely no momentum or pressure from my presence, before speaking in a leisurely tone.
"Is that so? We just came back from the Holy Angel Academy's side. They were quite adamant about chasing us away, claiming two of them were enough. Now that there are three of us gathered here at the Witch Academy, is that still not enough?"
"Leaving was your own choice. I believe my companions followed the rules and did not forcibly expel you. As for the rest... you must understand, what we are doing is not a violation," the Holy Angel said, shifting the blame with a straight face and washing his hands of the matter.
"Fine then~ I happened to leave a teleportation mark over there. Since you put it that way, should I record this and head back? I recall... hehe~ they're at a critical moment in capturing the main island. Even if they've temporarily gained a foothold, their losses weren't small. They could be pushed back to the shore at any moment. Hmm... I also remember seeing the Sea Clan lurking nearby. I wonder if my arrival might give them the chance to deal a fatal blow to the Holy Angel Academy?"
I toyed with my phone as I spoke. The recording I had just made played loudly, looping the part where he said he believed his companions wouldn't forcibly expel me. This caused their holy, sanctimonious facades to crack slightly.
My threat was blatant. I had described the Holy Angel Academy as being in a precarious position. Although they had gained an advantage by being the first to raid the main island, they were also the first to "eat the crab"—meaning they had to face the fiercest first wave of monsters. Their strategy relied on a time-gap between them and the other academies, using their information advantage to quickly establish a foothold before expanding.
As for the Sea Clan, they might not believe me, but would they dare gamble on the uncertainty of the intel?
With the main force of monsters blocking them in front and the Sea Clan potentially cutting off their retreat, if I added myself to the mix to stir up trouble, the situation I described made the Holy Angel's calm expression finally crumble.
"Your angels occupied the main island overnight?" The Wizard beside him spoke up, his voice cold as he glanced at the birdman.
"The actions of the Holy Angel Academy candidates are not something we Preaching Angels interfere with." Sensing the Wizard's suspicion, the Holy Angel knew that if he didn't explain, their temporary alliance against the witches would collapse.
The worst-case scenario would be the Wizards and Witches teaming up against the Holy Angel Academy!
That was the last thing he wanted to deal with.
"Really? Your Holy Angel Academy students sure are impressive~ They didn't go to the coast directly facing their island, but instead took a massive detour to attack where the monsters were weakest. And after the conquest, they just happened to occupy a resource point. If we hadn't arrived when we did, you really might have pulled it off."
"You! Do not conflate the issues!"
"It's not conflating anything. I don't care if it was good luck or if some birdman broke the rules. The fact is, you birdmen occupied the main island and found a resource point. By such a 'coincidence,' you've become the target of everyone's envy. Good luck often attracts calamity, you know."
"Hmph..." The angel let out a cold snort. The unease in his heart had reached its limit; it was as if he no longer had any reason to stay.
"Are you leaving? What's the rush? You can only watch from the sidelines if you go back; any help would be a violation. What's the point of returning?"
"That is none of your concern." As he spoke, he spread his wings. His figure turned into a streak of light, flying toward the direction we had come from, silhouetted against the rising sun.
"Hey, are Holy Angels really that easy to fool?" I nudged Lifaeya's arm and whispered.
"I don't know. Maybe he's just brain-dead."
"I heard that. You were lying to that birdman?" the Wizard, who had been left behind awkwardly, spoke up.
"There was a bit of deception involved, but they really did occupy the main island, established a foothold, and found a resource point with a fresh water supply," I said with a shrug. I hadn't expected his ears to be so sharp. However, looking at the cloak covering his entire body, I saw the faint, dark glow of mana flickering from a Wizard Tool near his ear. It was likely the effect of a spell or tool.
"Then how much of what you told me is a lie?"
"Our Witch Academy hasn't had contact with you Wizards yet. Naturally, I haven't lied to you at all~"
"Is that so? Fine then. This farce should end. I should be going as well." As he spoke, his figure faded into the black mist and vanished.
The black mist could block ordinary sight, but it couldn't stop my Spirit Vision. It was a spatial teleportation spell—quite an impressive technique.
"He just believed it and left?" Lifaeya asked, somewhat incredulous.
"If he didn't leave, was he going to stay for breakfast? Besides, I really wasn't lying."
With that, Lifaeya and I headed over to Lin Yi. After a few brief pleasantries, we began to get a handle on the situation. She summarized the events in concise terms, giving us a general understanding of what had happened.
Lifaeya immediately started complaining, asking why such a major event hadn't been announced in the group chat.
I didn't mind much. Lin Yi had been busy enough standing her ground against two Teaching Assistants from top academies; she likely hadn't had a spare moment to type out a message.
As for Adalin's whereabouts, I only learned from Lin Yi that she had gone out, though her specific destination was unknown.
After catching up, we shared the intelligence we had gathered—such as Lifaeya's exploits with the elves and what she saw at the Holy Angel Academy. It felt like Lifaeya was playing a high-stakes game, having already clashed with two top academies right out of the gate.
I gave a rough account of the situation at the Beast Academy and described the Sea Clan's miserable encounter, which drew a laugh from Lifaeya.
After all, what better entertainment is there than the misfortune of others?
While talking with them, I also took control of my Knowledge Shadow on the other side and relayed this information to Tan Han.
It was clear that Tan Han felt a flicker of anxiety over the Holy Angel Academy being the first to settle on the main island. The events of the previous night meant the witches were starting quite a bit behind. If they didn't suppress the angels soon, the latter would start snowballing uncontrollably.
During my conversation with Lin Yi, I also learned another piece of information: the number of participants in this Joint Exam.
The Witch Academy had an absolute numerical advantage. Lin Yi had looked into it and realized... only our Witch Academy treated this Joint Exam as a year-wide final exam. The other academies didn't seem to share that view; students without sufficient strength in other academies weren't even qualified to participate.
This resulted in the Witch Academy's candidate pool being somewhat... bloated.
Having many people wasn't necessarily a good thing. Sometimes it was a liability. The consumption of food and water was enormous. Even with those who had water-system spellbooks, it was a struggle to keep up.
Attacking with water spells and actually creating or condensing drinkable water were two different concepts. One was a spell effect at the Transcendent energy level that would eventually dissipate; the other was gathering water to form a drinkable resource.
The Prospective Witches, who still relied on spellbooks to cast, couldn't use spell effects so freely.
Now, having accepted the current state and intelligence of the Bobapus Archipelago, Tan Han directly scrapped her previous layout. If she had originally intended to be conservative—landing on the main island and pushing outward—the Holy Angels' desperate gamble forced her to choose an alternative plan.
"We might have to change our combat plan on the fly. Abandon the original landing point; we'll cut in from here."
"Eh? Isn't that taking the long way around?" someone asked, puzzled. With dawn approaching, such a last-minute change—and a major one at that—was unexpected.
"Yes, the original plan was good, but we were too idealistic. We don't know if any other academy suddenly landed on the main island last night. If they did, the Holy Angel Academy is the prime suspect. They have a massive innate advantage." Tan Han didn't waver in the face of their confusion. She simply chose the most convincing argument to present the facts.
"Our Witch Academy cannot be complacent. We must think of the future. Cutting in from here leads to a beach, followed by a residential area where we can acquire a large amount of supplies. You must understand that there are simply too many of us; our demand for resources is massive. Occupying this residential area will also allow the majority of our people to be temporarily settled."
"More importantly, the main road here leads to the dormant volcano sightseeing area, the highest peak on the island. Controlling this spot means we can occupy the high ground of the entire island in the most convenient way."
Of course, Tan Han left much unsaid. The route looked winding, but it connected several resource supply points.
Resource points didn't just provide food and water. After occupying the resource point they had already found, she had discovered many potions—recovery potions, strengthening potions, powerful alchemy items, and so on. She had also learned from Xiao Han that these precious resources could be replenished. They relied on the Teaching Assistants to replenish them, and the type of resources replenished depended on what the Teaching Assistants from each academy managed to seize.
As long as they had a steady stream of resources, she was confident she could compete with the Holy Angels, even if they had used their innate advantage to get there first.
Furthermore, she knew where the Holy Angels had landed. If they dared to take off in large numbers to occupy the high ground, they would definitely be swarmed by the flying monsters in the sky. They wouldn't be so foolish as to take such a thankless risk.
While those monsters were categorized as food supplies, they were extremely aggressive. The monsters on the main island were even more terrifying, with their attack power scaling up significantly, and some were even massive in size.
Thus, Tan Han quickly finalized the combat plan. Although many still had doubts, Tan Han was the absolute core of the operation. Once she finalized the plan, others could only offer suggestions.
As the leader of the largest faction within the Witch Academy, Tan Han was setting an example. Her plan also required the cooperation of other factions, such as Ninglan Qiuyue or Lucianne. As fellow Children of Destiny within the Witch Academy, they still commanded formidable forces.
Of course, there was also a very special small group: Xiao Han's die-hard supporters...
The Witch Academy's numbers were indeed bloated this time, but if used correctly, they could spread their formation wide, occupying more resource points and sweeping through more monsters to rack up points.
It was precisely because of this early numerical advantage that the Teaching Assistants from the three top academies had come one after another to check the situation. At the slightest sign of trouble, they would report back. The Holy Angel Academy's assistant had left quickly because they had already landed and held the early advantage. The Wizard Academy's assistant didn't dare face three Witch Academy Teaching Assistants alone—just like the Afuhemi Forest Elf who had arrived first.
At its core, they were truly afraid that the Witch Academy would just "gao" (rush) in and use their numbers to quickly establish dominance on the main island. That would pose a massive obstacle and threat to their own landings.
After all, the dangers in the sea were not to be underestimated either.
Now that they had all left, they would also be relaying the current information back.
Today, they needed to avoid clashing directly with the Witch Academy. This wasn't just because the witches were officially making their move, but because they had seen that almost every Witch Academy candidate was carrying disposable, large-scale destructive alchemy items. It was a daunting sight. If anyone was stubborn enough to charge in, they would definitely be the first to suffer a major loss.
Only after the witches had exhausted most of their supplies and their overall strength had dipped would a confrontation be more acceptable—perhaps even giving the other academies the advantage.
After all, even though the Witch Academy had many people, that numerical advantage came with inconsistent quality. Even students with poor combat capabilities had entered the exam, and that would be the opportunity for others to pick them off one by one. After all, who doesn't like to "pick the peaches" of someone else's hard work?