Chapter 491: Tan Han’s Followers
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 491: Tan Han’s Followers
"Get the detoxification potions ready! That’s toxic smoke up ahead... Damn that Wizard Academy!"
Several people watched as the distant, drifting smog was swept toward them by an unnatural wind.
The group led by Tan Han immediately went on high alert. Many of them uncorked their potion bottles and held a mouthful of the liquid ready, while others drew their spellbooks to cast.
"Don't waste your mana. Unless it's a wide-range wind-based Evocative Magic, don't use it recklessly. Watch out for toxic residue," Tan Han commanded. With a wave of her hand, she released a Gale Spell from her spellbook, the wind swirling around the group to propel them forward. Part of the toxic smoke was blown aside, and the subsequent spells from the others cleared the rest of the smog entirely.
However, it was impossible to tell how many invisible toxins remained in the air, still drifting toward them despite the smoke being cleared.
But this wouldn't stop them.
The girls following Tan Han had lost track of how many times the Wizard Academy had ambushed them. Tan Han, however, remembered perfectly: six times in total. She wouldn't forget a single one.
Their methods were disgusting, but their individual combat strength was somewhat lacking compared to her group. Consequently, Tan Han’s primary focus was finding the Wizard's main body; she was confident that if she found them, she could eliminate them from the exam immediately.
Yet, at this moment, Tan Han understood deeply that power—or rather, brute force—wasn't everything. The strength she pursued seemed so powerless on this volatile Joint Exam battlefield.
This was the predicament she had to face. The enemy refused to engage her in a direct confrontation, and Tan Han, in turn, didn't want to waste time on them either.
In her eyes, this Joint Exam wasn't just a simple free-for-all where students were dumped onto the Bobapus Archipelago.
She had learned one thing from Xiao Han: the weak long to win the match, while the strong choose to end it.
In this Joint Exam, everyone was chasing Points.
Killing an opponent didn't grant points, nor could you steal their score. The most stable and substantial way to gain Points was, naturally, by killing monsters.
Two days had passed, and by now, the monsters had been mostly wiped out.
Initially, she thought Lucianne’s massive fire had destroyed too many potential Points, as the countless monsters burned to death didn't count toward anyone's personal score.
But the students from the Wizard Academy were even more ruthless.
They set fires everywhere to create small-scale stampedes, then hunted the fleeing beasts to accumulate massive amounts of Points. However, the Wizards didn't like large-scale cooperation, which meant that while individual scores were high, even more monsters perished in the wildfires.
Through these methods, they were frantically lowering the ceiling for Point acquisition.
This was also a way to end the match.
Now, the only monsters left were the flying creatures and the sea beasts, which were the hardest to kill.
Normally, once the monsters were gone, the next step would be to occupy resource points and turn the exam into a defensive war of attrition.
But Tan Han had seen another "shortcut"—a way to end the match with overwhelming finality.
Taking advantage of her current lead, she would kill everyone else, freezing their Points exactly where they were... That would be the true end of this Joint Exam.
As for how to accomplish this, Tan Han knew that Xiao Han had already pointed the way.
Wasn't that exactly where they were heading?
What more convenient way was there to wipe out an entire archipelago than a volcanic eruption?
Although accomplishing such a feat was incredibly difficult, Tan Han had voiced the idea anyway.
Naturally, the proposal received support from her closest adherents and friends.
However, a very realistic problem remained... not everyone supported her plan.
Those who opposed the suggestion had very practical concerns. If she triggered the volcano, they would suffer as well. They couldn't follow a leader who intended to drag everyone down with her just to secure a victory.
Some even kicked up a fuss about leaving the moment they heard the plan. Tan Han didn't try to make them stay; she even held back her companions who wanted to teach the dissenters a lesson.
After all, no one considered a volcanic eruption a trivial matter. Once the volcanoes on these islands became active, everyone would be in trouble!
The Teaching Assistants might not be able to save them in time, and they would die in the lava!
Even if they ran far away, the terrifying volcanic ash and the flying debris from the eruption could make survival impossible for everyone.
Even with Tan Han’s talk of Resurrection Spells... not everyone was willing to join her in this "recklessness."
The mere thought of the pain of death was enough to keep them from seeking out such suffering, let alone the sensation of lava consuming their bodies as they slowly watched themselves drift toward death... Just thinking about it made their scalps tingle.
What if a death that left no corpse behind couldn't be reversed by a Resurrection Spell?
No one liked to gamble with their life.
Of course, some felt Tan Han’s plan was simply unrealistic. A Joint Exam should be treated like a Joint Exam; she was always looking to cause trouble—who did she think she was? Xiao Han?
Tan Han didn't offer any opinions or rebuttals to this. She saw the situation with exceptional clarity; she was merely giving them an excuse to leave.
After spending these two days together, she had realized one thing: the Tan Han Fan Club didn't actually belong to her.
She should have realized it long ago, but she had been lying to herself. She also understood that the human heart cannot withstand testing. Once she had the thought of testing them, there was no turning back—much like testing the hardness of glass; the piece being tested is destined to shatter.
So, she never made things difficult for those who had gathered around her voluntarily. But while she didn't trouble them, they had brought her a great deal of trouble.
Tan Han finally understood. She didn't have loyal fans and followers who would obey her every word; she had an interest-based collective that had formed spontaneously, attracted by her personal value.
The reason she had hesitated was that when she asked herself if she needed such a group, she couldn't give a definitive answer.
This group they had gathered seemed useful, yet it was uncontrollable. No one stays at their peak forever; even the Xiao Han she knew had experienced low points in the past.
Suddenly, Tan Han began to understand those who called themselves the Xiao Han Fan Club. Even though Xiao Han claimed she wasn't a Child of Destiny, even though Xiao Han never responded to them, and no matter what happened, there was still a steadfast group of people who silently identified as her fan club.
Because ever since Xiao Han hit rock bottom that one time, she had never lost again.
Tan Han really wanted to tell her own fan club members that Xiao Han was the one they should be supporting, because only Xiao Han could achieve the things they expected. But Xiao Han would never respond to them.
Thus... it was clear that some people didn't even have the qualification to follow the truly strong.
Fortunately... she still had a group of people by her side who were willing to follow her.
However, they now faced a problem: it seemed Tan Han’s plan had leaked. The other academies appeared to know about it... She didn't care how it leaked or who did it, because she knew the truth would only make her feel worse.
"Follow me. We can't let him keep us pinned here any longer. If the Holy Angel Academy intervenes, we'll be in even more trouble," Tan Han said urgently.
Her current objective was the nearest resource point.
As they traveled, she prayed that the resource point hadn't been found and poisoned by the Wizard Academy. That place was her final stop before the crater and her source of supplies. As the exam reached its later stages, the supplies at these resource points became increasingly precious.
And her mention of the Holy Angel Academy’s intervention wasn't just talk; based on the intelligence they had gathered, those Holy Angels really were coming.
The pressure on her was anything but light.
* * *
On the beach.
"So, you think that dormant volcano can actually be ignited?"
"Why couldn't it?" I replied with a smile.
"Xiao Han, a volcanic eruption isn't something you can just make happen on a whim. According to the records I've read, the last time the volcano on the Bobapus Archipelago erupted was hundreds of years ago, back before the concept of tourist beaches even existed here. There are many reasons for a volcano to go dormant; crustal movements can cause the crater to be completely sealed off. Given the frequency of earthquakes in recent years, the underground magma pressure is clearly insufficient, and there haven't been any recent seismic factors..."
"Thank you. I actually didn't know some of those details," I said, thanking her before asking a question of my own. "But have you personally been to the crater?"
"I haven't, no. But I understand your thinking. You want to use spells to violently force an eruption, right? But that's essentially just blasting rock layers. If you actually managed to make it erupt that way, you'd have to level the entire mountain peak first. There's no point in doing that, and the students don't have spells that powerful. Even Tan Han couldn't do it. Besides... I heard she gave all her spellbooks to you? Including that Ancient Remnant Ice Over-Consumption Spellbook..."
"I envy your knowledge of these things. It's much deeper than mine," I said with a smile.
"I just read a lot in my spare time. I only have a passing impression of these topics," Lin Yi said.
"Right, you only have a passing understanding," I echoed, my response making Lin Yi pause for a moment.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just stating a fact. If you had looked deeper into the Bobapus Archipelago, you would have discovered that the Bobapus volcanic group has actually always been active. it has many craters, and we only focus on the largest one. In fact, there are also submarine craters in the ocean. While many of the submarine volcanoes in the False World were added temporarily, not all of them are new additions."
"By all rights, the Bobapus volcano should have erupted long ago, but it didn't. It has remained silent like this for centuries. As you said, the concept of beach tourism didn't exist back then, but even after that concept was born, the volcano hasn't moved. Why?"
I didn't wait for Lin Yi to respond before continuing.
"Because... it was artificially blocked. This Bobapus living volcano was sealed by a terrifying spell restriction."
"Sealed? How is that possible? Why are there no records of it?"
"Because the records concerning this are all meant to deceive tourists. If you were an ordinary person and you searched for information that said Bobapus was an active volcano but was sealed by a Transcendent Academy, would you still dare to come here?" I asked.
"My apologies. I was inconsiderate. I also jumped to conclusions without practical experience. That is a failing on my part."
"It's fine. No one is going to go through the trouble of finding the truth for a minor matter. Just like you didn't know that Tan Han’s spellbooks never actually reached my hands—including that Ancient Remnant Ice Over-Consumption Spellbook."
"..." Lin Yi fell silent. She seemed to have made two mistakes in a single conversation, each one pointing directly to her flaws. As someone governed by rationality, she couldn't allow herself to make such errors.
It was equivalent to telling her that she was outputting answers without thinking. These unintentional lapses were what truly frightened her.
When facing a junior, she had subconsciously looked down on her.
But no one should look down on anyone else. Who could become a Teaching Assistant without having some skill of their own?
Previously, she had heard rumors that this new Teaching Assistant had only gotten the position through an improper relationship with a Transcendent Mentor, a claim she had once scoffed at. It turned out she had been wrong from the start; it was all just hearsay. She had never truly sought out the truth.
"Why the sudden silence?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I just realized a few things. Heh... chatting with you has been very enlightening." Lin Yi shuddered slightly after speaking. Those words felt strangely familiar... only now, the roles were reversed.
"Then I should congratulate you," I said beamingly. "What are your plans for the remaining time? Just waiting for this Joint Exam to end?"
"Isn't everyone just waiting for this boring exam to be over? Otherwise, I wouldn't be here keeping you company."
"That's why... when I said earlier that this Joint Exam was as dull as dishwater, that's roughly what I meant. If this were a play directed from a script, what do you think the director would do when a scene gets boring?"
"Add some drama," Lin Yi replied simply.
"Exactly."
"You seem to see through a lot of things. Do you think something unexpected is going to happen in this exam?"
"It's not that I see through things; I just happen to know a bit more than most. But I still don't have the ability to digest all that information and make it my own in such a short time. So, many things are still blurry to me, and I do some things based on assumptions. I don't know why, but I've managed to pull it off." It was foreseeable that because of this, I would have to spend much more time in the future making up for this missing piece of myself.
"Are you... confiding in me?"
"I just had to get a few things off my chest." I stretched, then stood up. "I've rested enough. Time for me to go find some trouble for the others."
"Find trouble?" Lin Yi looked up at me, seemingly having no intention of getting up herself.
"Yeah. The Joint Exam chessboard is about to be smashed. I want to take this chance to find trouble for the Teaching Assistants from other academies. I'll try to get them all into the Review Meeting after the exam—especially that Preaching Angel from the Holy Angel Academy and the Guardian Team from the Afuhemi Academy. They're the types who love to cause trouble for me the moment they show up."
"Then I wish you luck," Lin Yi said with a smile.
Just as I was about to say goodbye, the Bobapus Archipelago suddenly shuddered. A tremor, like an earthquake, rippled through the ground.
My Spirit Vision pierced through the False World Space Great Witchcraft. There were no signs of an earthquake in the real world outside, so I reacted quickly.
Soon, a plume of black smoke rose in the distance, drifting toward the sky with terrifying momentum.
That direction... was the Bobapus crater.
"It really was ignited?!" Lin Yi could no longer maintain her composure. she scrambled to her feet.
"Calm down. It wasn't. It's just an appetizer. They touched the volcano's restriction, but they're still a long way from breaking it." After receiving the information, I quickly understood the current situation and offered some comfort.
However, I was also a bit surprised. Had they already started causing trouble at the summit so soon?
But things should still be within expectations. It looks like I'll have to personally go and back Tan Han up, just to make sure she doesn't get bullied by the Teaching Assistants from the other academies.
After all, I'm currently a Patrol Teacher with zero violations and a perfect credit score. They should be very happy to see me.