Chapter 485: Undyingness Is Nothing More Than Being Hard to Kill
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 485: Undyingness Is Nothing More Than Being Hard to Kill
In the reality of the Bobapus Archipelago, on the subsidiary island located to the southwest.
A fierce battle was currently unfolding, its aftershocks rippling outward across the water.
Even the tourists on the main island gathered curiously at the shore to gaze across the sea. That subsidiary island had already been cordoned off; the public notice stated it was a lockdown due to a Transcendent event. Ordinary people were strictly forbidden from inquiring about or seeking information regarding the situation, under threat of personal consequences.
The only thing they could do was watch from the main island, staring at the distant silhouette of the island as terrifying roars and booms echoed across the waves. Many secretly resolved that their children must one day get into a Transcendent academy to master such fearsome power.
On the island itself, several figures were locked in a violent clash. High in the sky, a Holy Angel stood with a solemn expression, manifesting Divine Arts. Under his prayerful chanting, Divine Power slowly coalesced into form.
Fueled by the terrifying natural power erupting from the Elves, Spirit Magic was woven into a massive ritual array. As the Elven language was chanted, Transcendent energy capable of tearing through space surged from the void runes. The Elves at the center bore the brunt of the immense energy pressure; their bodies were torn by the violent energy shocks, blood flowing from the gashes only to quickly scab and heal thanks to their powerful Undying nature.
"Witch, it's just some insignificant resources. Is it really necessary to take things this far?"
High above, the Holy Angel, his Divine Art complete, was clad in Holy Light armor. The Angel Halo above him showed slight cracks from releasing this strike, indicating he would likely have no second chance to attack. However, he aimed to use this single blow to utterly crush his opponent's offensive and break the current deadlock.
"It's just reasonable competition. You know very well it's hard for this strike to hit me. Even with these Elves' spells trapping me, it doesn't mean you can kill me." Watching the display, I wiped a trace of blood from the corner of my mouth.
I was surrounded by the leaves of the Tree of Great Knowledge, visible only to me. Information flowing from countless Ley Lines allowed me to master every movement and undercurrent of this battlefield. The Knowledge Shadow processed the vast influx of data and information for me, allowing me to maintain the rhythm of the fight even within this unpredictable siege.
"Your life level hasn't even touched the Undying level yet, and you dare speak such words?"
"Why wouldn't I? You've shown me through your actions that your increase in strength is nothing more than a stacking of power. The elevation of your life level has merely made you harder to kill. And then what?" I mocked them back without hesitation. "I gave you a chance, and you're just useless!"
Though this battle had shown me the strength of my opponents—even with my awakened Body Cultivation power, my body had taken damage, and I was even spitting a bit of blood (though it was just oral bleeding from the terrifying impact)—it had also dispelled my lingering dread regarding the unknown strength of the senior sisters who were about to graduate.
At the same time, it verified one thing for me... Life level does not equate to combat power. While a qualitative change in life level represents a dimensional strike, that change only truly begins upon becoming a Transcendent. Therefore, I reached a conclusion: below the Transcendent level, theoretically, no one should fear anyone else.
From my perspective, below the Transcendent level, so-called "strength" is simply a matter of who can grasp more power.
Of course, one couldn't ignore the superiority of the Witch power system, which provided the foundation for this philosophy.
My mockery immediately caused their expressions to sour. As a figure quietly crept up behind me, a burst of violent Qi and Blood power suddenly erupted.
"Die!"
"You guys from the Beast Academy, stay out of this!"
This teaching assistant from the Beast Academy was known as the Little Beast King. His stealth and hunting instincts were naturally within my control. This Qi and Blood originated from the power of his beast-like bloodline, a branch of the Body Cultivation system they had developed.
Although I hadn't yet systematically studied Body Cultivation power, using Spirit Vision and Ley Line Identification Art to dismantle his offensive was child's play.
"Weakness... marked."
"Knowledge Shadow, you were a step slow this time." Before the Knowledge Shadow could even make a judgment, I had already reacted. I delivered a heavy kick to the side of the charging orc's waist. Terrifying internal energy surged through him, causing his erupting Qi and Blood to suddenly stagnate. In the next instant, a massive force slammed into his head, and his vision plummeted until it was level with the ground.
"Tsk~ why are you competing with yourself~" A voice only I could hear drifted from beside me.
In an instant, I had turned the tables on his terrifying offensive, achieving a dimensional strike of my own by striking his physical weakness and leaving him incapacitated on the ground.
Though this wasn't the first Little Beast King from the Beast Academy I had heavily injured, the fact that I had easily counter-killed him again under these circumstances made their pupils shrink.
And I wasn't finished. After all, those from the Beast Academy were famous for being thick-skinned and durable.
I followed up with a spell that pierced through his body, pinning him to the ground. His shrill screams echoed through the area as the terrifying spell effects continuously ground down his body's Undying nature in the most primitive fashion.
This scene continuously stimulated everyone present, including those "watching the show" from the sidelines.
Even the Holy Angel and the Elves, who had finished charging their attacks, were extremely wary.
They were truly bewildered.
They could clearly perceive that the opponent's life level was far lower than theirs, and the power of her spells was nowhere near their strongest techniques. Yet, her confidence in battle and absolute control over the situation were giving them a massive headache.
It was as if they held a winning hand but were somehow playing it into a disaster. Their confident, even arrogant, power failed to give them even a shred of superiority over her.
In fact... it gave them an illusion. It was as if they were playing a game where they focused on stats while researching a few techniques, whereas she was playing with pure technique while also mastering the rhythm of the battle. More fatally, she wasn't playing a game of stats against them; she was crushing them with mechanics.
Finally, they looked toward the other two Witches who were standing by, doing nothing but ready to intervene at any moment. They lacked the confidence to fight those two Witches for more resources after exhausting themselves on this strike.
Thus, the angels of the Holy Angel Academy were the first to make a decision.
"On behalf of the Holy Angel Academy, we agree to your previous resource distribution."
"You!"
When the Preaching Angel of the Holy Angel Academy finally relented, the most frustrated party was the Afuhemi Academy. The ancient Elven magic their several Elves had joined forces to release was meant to trap the Witch before them. Now, the party meant to do the harvesting had suddenly quit, leaving them standing there like clowns.
Though they were unwilling, their "ally" had already backed down, making it inevitable. They had no choice but to dissipate their magic.
Maintaining such magic was an immense drain and a heavy burden. Releasing magic of this level required a powerful Undying nature as a foundation; otherwise, an ordinary Elf using such means would likely have their body torn apart by the power, dying on the spot.
Seeing everyone compromise, Lin Yi silently tucked away the summoning business card in her hand. I had intended to use that to counter the Elves' magic; if there were truly no way to break it, the Reverse Summoning Spell could at least guarantee my safety. After all, that spell could even traverse between worlds across the void.
How could the magic released by these "natives," who hadn't even severed their Ley Line Shackles, possibly reach that level of power?
However, I was also a bit disappointed that they had stopped. Competing for resources at replenishment points was one of the few opportunities for teaching assistants to actively take action during this Joint Exam.
Battles of this level were rare for me and had significant testing value. If they had forced the issue, I could have used the pressure to update my spells once again.
Even more regrettable was that the battle hadn't evolved into a free-for-all. It seemed my fight against the top academies had intimidated the teaching assistants from other schools, leaving them to wait on the sidelines for the "poverty-relief" resources.
Otherwise, I could have started trying to derive the Spellbook Shelf Spellbook and even attempted to merge it into the Tree of Great Knowledge.
To be honest, I already had some inspiration in that regard, but the interruption had cut off my train of thought.
Still, stopping here wasn't a bad outcome. After all, my mana source was only in the four-digit range. Even though my innate talent for a self-generating mana body had been pushed to the limit by the battle, constantly increasing my endurance, I might have eventually been forced to ask Lin Yi and Lifaeya for help due to excessive consumption.
While we likely wouldn't have lost, I might have been exhausted and unable to match them, even though I knew that if I could survive that wave, they would have been at their wits' end as well.
Since the final result was favorable, I didn't mind how messy things got.
"Xiao Han! You're too strong~" Lifaeya suddenly rushed over and threw her arms around my neck, celebrating excitedly. The thrill and excitement in her voice were completely undisguised.
The people on the opposite side didn't feel the same way; their faces were as black as thunder.
"Not really. It was just a fight over some optional resources. They weren't going to go all out and make things difficult for themselves for something like this. I just got a bit lucky~" I decisively reached up and pried Lifaeya's arms off me. I still felt a bit of resistance toward intimate contact with anyone other than Sister Bai, even if the other person was a girl like me.
"Haha~ stop being so modest. I admit it now! You're even better at causing trouble than I am."
"No, you're being too modest. You're the real troublemaker." I politely declined Lifaeya's praise.
What I was doing wasn't even on the same level as her; this was the girl who had dared to blow up the Elves' Tree of Life and Floating.
"Fine, fine~ You should have seen it; those Elves' faces turned green. Let's go, we need to go meet up with Adalin."
"Yes, it was a brilliant battle. I've already secured the resources; it's time to leave." At that moment, Lin Yi spoke to us while fiddling with a storage item.
She also found the battle just now to be quite spectacular. If she were to judge it, it was a perfect example of the weak defeating the strong and the few defeating the many. The primary reason was that unnatural control over the battlefield, though her combat power had also played a decisive role.
That was Lin Yi's evaluation. Even she could only have been more composed in certain details; she couldn't have done any better than this. She had actually learned a lot just by watching, which was what truly made her marvel.
After bidding farewell to the Transcendent mentors here, we quickly headed back.
As Transcendent mentors, they were only responsible for providing necessary supplies for the Joint Exam and would not participate in the competition. Teacher Lina from the Witch Academy was also there.
Her satisfied expression also betrayed a hint of surprise. From time to time, the other academies' Transcendent mentors would offer praise tinged with bitterness, all of which Lina accepted graciously.
This was also the first time Lina had witnessed Xiao Han's terrifying combat power. It seemed completely inconsistent with the data recorded in the dreamscape last time; this rate of growth shocked even her.
But it was only shock. After all, this was combat power below the Transcendent level. It was like watching elementary schoolers fight and suddenly seeing a younger child beat up all the older kids one by one.
However, the side that got beaten clearly hadn't gone all out. Their life levels had already reached the Pseudo-Transcendent stage, touching the boundary of Real Time. If it were a true life-and-death struggle, their rudimentary understanding of Real Time would have allowed them to exert even more terrifying power.
But Xiao Han was no pushover either. After all, she possessed Floating World level Spirit Vision... even if she only had the advantage in one of the Real Five Senses, it was enough to deal with power that transcended those boundaries.
"Is that girl named Xiao Han? Could she be the one from that Dream Exchange Competition? Her life level looks very low."
"Of course it's her. But she became a teaching assistant at the Dean's strong insistence. You should be grateful for our Dean's decision; otherwise, this Joint Exam would have been a boring landslide." Lina said with a beaming smile.
"This Joint Exam has changed flavor a bit..."
"Has it? From the beginning, this has been a contest of Luck. The farce is over; let's focus back on our protagonists."
As Lina finished speaking, the various figures vanished. As for those from the Beast Academy, they were simply left stranded, and the Sea Clan hadn't come at all—after all, showing up would have just been embarrassing.
It was now noon.
"You're back. Did you run into any trouble?"
On the main island, Adalin, acting as the most steadfast guard for the Witch Academy, waited for her companions to return.
"Adalin~ you have no idea what just happened... mgh!"
"No trouble at all. We've brought the resources back." I clapped a hand over Lifaeya's big mouth and handed over the supplies first.
"Is there something you don't want to say? It's fine; I didn't want to know anyway." Adalin took the storage equipment and spoke with a tsundere huff after seeing my behavior. "I'll go distribute the second round of resources and the scoring. You guys take a break for now."
"Thanks for the trouble." I nodded and didn't refuse. I found a random spot to sit down. I had just gone through a battle and then rushed back without stopping; if I'd known, I would have just teleported back.
"Xiao Han? You're just going to rest here? Aren't you going to see how Tan Han and the others are doing?"
"Is there even a need to look?" I leaned back against a rock. My Spirit Vision scanned the deep-seated fluctuations of Luck, and I activated my Qi Observation Art. "Lifaeya, how about we play a game? I'll guess the current state of the situation. If you have the energy, why don't you go verify my guesses for me?"
"You... really know prophecy?" Lifaeya covered her mouth, asking in disbelief. Mysticism was the rarest and most difficult skill to learn, and it relied heavily on talent. Furthermore, no powerful spellbooks related to Mysticism had ever circulated in the academy, so Lifaeya knew that if Xiao Han had mastered such a method, it certainly wasn't through a spellbook.
"It's not exactly prophecy. I'm just asking if you want to play. Or... just consider it doing me a favor."
"I'm in! Of course I'm in! Tell me, I'll go check it out right now!"