Chapter 493: From This Point On, the Witch Academy Faces No More Obstacles!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 493: From This Point On, the Witch Academy Faces No More Obstacles!
The eruption of the Bobapus Volcano sent volcanic ash drifting slowly downward, blanketing the earth in an instant.
These fine particles of ash would cause severe damage to internal organs if inhaled.
Fortunately, the volcano was covered by restrictions. Otherwise, if a true eruption occurred, this ash might have drifted over this stretch of sea for months.
Faced with this unavoidable disaster, the candidates all conjured shields, preparing to endure the first wave of the ash fall.
Once the shields were up, they watched as the rolling clouds of ash swallowed everything. The fine, sand-like dust coated the barriers, and within moments, a thick layer of gray powder had accumulated.
It didn't take long for everyone to realize that simply hunkering down was a death sentence; they had to break out of there.
The ash carried various toxic substances, and the consequences of inhaling it were unthinkable. They couldn't even predict how long such a disaster would last.
This was their first time witnessing just how terrifying a natural disaster could be, and they felt a deep sense of lingering fear regarding their previous plan to ignite the volcano.
* * *
Meanwhile, on the other side.
To avoid being caught in the ash within the False World, the group had exited and returned to the Reality Realm. However, in the real world, the Bobapus Volcano showed not a single sign of activity.
It was as if everything indicated that the disaster in the False World was entirely man-made.
But at this moment, no one was in the mood to worry about that. Everything had its priority, and right now, I was presenting my evidence for the report.
The first piece of evidence was, naturally, the footage of the confrontation between Lifaeya and the Holy Angels.
When the abnormal behavior of the Holy Angels in the footage was cross-referenced with the information on the data sheet, the resulting coordinates pointed directly to the location where they had landed and the first resource point they had occupied. Seeing this, the faces of the Preaching Angels from the Holy Angel Academy began to turn grim.
"You... where did you get this footage...?" One of them pointed with a trembling finger at the images projected by my Tree of Knowledge, his face pale.
He remembered that scene... but the opponent hadn't even been present when it happened!
"Are you trying to suggest I faked the footage? If you're really going to say that, do you dare stake the reputation of the Holy Angel Academy on it?" I asked, looking at him provocatively without answering his question.
There was no longer any need to verify the authenticity of the evidence. The moment he failed to refute it immediately, he had already fallen into the trap of "truth."
Furthermore, if he claimed it was faked—well, sorry, the live broadcast footage from that moment also had records. He had no room to lie.
Stung by my words, the opponent didn't dare speak. Stake the reputation of the Holy Angel Academy?
He didn't have that much face, and he had actually done it. Stubbornly denying it would only lead to harsher punishment from the academy.
He might even lose his status as a Preaching Angel. No... he definitely would!
If he admitted it, the worst-case scenario would likely just be writing a review. He knew how to weigh the stakes.
Thus, he didn't argue. Lowering himself to bicker over minor details would only cause him to lose more face. He desperately needed to maintain the sanctity and dignity of a Holy Angel, even if it was just his own delusional pride; otherwise, he would collapse.
But what happened next made his eyelids twitch, and even the Transcendent Mentor from the Holy Angel Academy beside him couldn't bear to watch any longer.
With a swipe of my hand, I expanded the projected images from the Tree of Knowledge. It wasn't just that one instance, and it wasn't just that one person. Looking at the archive-like display, different scenes and different figures were revealed before everyone.
The mentors watched in stunned silence as I played through the footage like I was counting family treasures.
They had never imagined such an eccentric person existed here!
Who does things this thoroughly?
I didn't care, though. This was all within the rules. Even if I touched upon some unspoken rules, didn't I have Teacher Lina? She would protect me. After all, I was just an "ignorant child"...
However... I was reminded of what Sister Bai had told me about the duties of a Teaching Assistant. She had joked about us being battlefield reporters, and now, I really had become one!
"Where did you get all this footage?" Teacher Lina finally broke the silence, unable to resist asking.
She knew roughly what Xiao Han had been up to over the past two days. Those of them watching the "monitoring" outside generally knew that she had spent the beginning running around, seemingly researching some spell. She had basically toured the entire Bobapus Archipelago and then filled the Main Island and its surrounding islands with temporary teleportation marks.
But they hadn't seen Xiao Han recording any footage, and Xiao Han hadn't even personally visited many of the locations shown in these images.
The Witch Academy couldn't have given a Teaching Assistant the technology to extract ley line information, could they?
If so, that would be truly scandalous! The mentors from the other Transcendent academies thought to themselves.
"Oh, I was quite interested in ley line energy a while back, so I did a bit of research," I said after a moment's thought.
"You did more than just 'a bit' of research, didn't you? Wait... why did you suddenly get interested in ley line energy?" Lina instinctively started to press further, but realizing it wasn't the right time, she changed her question.
That didn't mean she wasn't curious.
If "a bit of research" into ley line energy could achieve this level, then every other Transcendent mentor present should probably go commit hara-kiri out of shame, because they weren't even as useful as a single student!
The uncertainty and regional nature of ley line energy meant that the prerequisites for studying it were extremely harsh. Even if the technology for extracting ley line information were made public, it wasn't something just anyone could do.
It was a massive project requiring an immense amount of work.
But... even if they racked their brains, they would never realize that the core of the operation was a Great Spellbook.
If they knew, they would feel the absurdity of using a nuclear power plant solely to power a single laptop.
This was a Great Spellbook!
But right now, this Great Spellbook was mine. My level determined its output, and I believed my future potential would not fail to live up to the Rank of a Great Spellbook.
Of course, I wasn't going to reveal that.
So, I brushed the question off with a random excuse. Since we were in front of mentors from other academies, Lina couldn't ask anything too private. Once she confirmed it wasn't due to the Witch Academy's own ley line technology, there was no issue.
After all the evidence was gathered, the Holy Angel Academy suffered its greatest loss since the start of the Joint Exam: they lost all their Preaching Angels and were forced to withdraw from the exam grounds.
This meant the Holy Angel Academy had completely lost the people who were backing them up.
Once the matter was settled, the faces of everyone from the Holy Angel Academy were as black as coal.
I watched as those Preaching Angels glared at me with looks that could kill, but I remained indifferent. I even met their gaze provocatively, finally raising my hand and sliding two fingers across my throat in a clear, taunting gesture.
Fuming, they huffed and looked away, refusing to glance in my direction again.
This reporting session had naturally drawn more than just the Holy Angel and Witch Academies; mentors from other schools had come to see the commotion, but they hadn't expected to see something so explosive.
At the same time, they began to feel a bit of lingering fear. Heaven knew if this girl had also recorded videos of their own TAs breaking the rules.
However, seeing that I had no intention of continuing, they breathed a small sigh of relief.
The ones who cared the least were, naturally, those from the Wizard Academy. Their Wizard Tower Floor Lords basically never interfered with anything, so they had nothing to fear. They had essentially won by doing nothing.
Of course, the main reason was the Wizard Apprentices who continued to shine even without TA assistance. If they weren't capable, they wouldn't even be worth reporting.
There was a reason I had targeted the Preaching Angels of the Holy Angel Academy.
The Wizard Academy's TAs didn't interfere, so the competition there remained at the student level. Meanwhile, the Afuhemi Academy and other elven schools had been hit hardest by the Wizard Academy; large swaths of the Bobapus Archipelago's forests had been burned, and even now, those wildfires hadn't been fully extinguished.
However, with this wave of volcanic ash, those fires would likely be smothered in a different way.
Therefore, the greatest threat to the Witch Academy was currently the Holy Angel Academy. By taking out the Preaching Angels they relied on, I could deal a massive blow to their morale.
The rest would depend on the performance of the Witch Academy candidates themselves.
Although Tan Han seemed to be suppressed when I arrived earlier, she was facing pressure from two different academies at once. Lucianne and Ninglan Qiuyue were busy holding off the rest of the opposition; otherwise, the pressure on Tan Han would have been even greater.
"Xiao Han! You're amazing! You took out all those birdmen from the Holy Angel Academy in one go!" Lifaeya was so excited she could hardly control her emotions or her actions.
"Can you show some restraint? You're a Teaching Assistant from the Witch Academy, not a gorilla in heat. I have a girlfriend!" I reached out, propping my hand against her cheek to peel her off me, finally speaking with a sigh of helplessness.
"Sorry~ I'm just so happy! I've never felt this refreshed! Do you know how satisfying it was to see those birdmen suffer? I knew you wouldn't let them off that easily." Lifaeya didn't care about containing her emotions at all, pulling at me as she continued to gush. "Xiao Han, how did you do it? That evidence, those recordings—they were so comprehensive."
"Of course. So, from now on, please refer to me as... the Battlefield Reporter. No violation escapes my eyes."
"Sure thing~ Our Battlefield Reporter, Little Sister Xiao Han~ Do you have any further thoughts on those birdmen you reported?"
"Hmm... they got what they deserved," I commented.
Everyone was doing more or less the same things, but who told them to let me catch them?
Doing things so blatantly and even provoking me—if they didn't go down, who would?
"Well said! I think they should learn from me. Before doing stuff like that, they should have their reviews written in advance! Unlike me—I've got my review ready, and I haven't even broken a rule once~" Lifaeya agreed wholeheartedly.
"Wait? You haven't broken a rule once?" I looked at Lifaeya, somewhat incredulous.
" I'm very law-abiding, okay? Although... Teacher Lina did put in a lot of effort too, hehe~"
"I can tell. Teacher Lina really has worried herself sick over you."
After a brief chat with Lifaeya, she went off to broadcast the news in our group chat. She wanted to share the good news with Lin Yi and Adalin so they could share in the joy.
Meanwhile, I returned to the exam grounds within the False World Space Great Witchcraft.
Currently, I was flying through the sky on my broom. Looking down at the erupting volcanic ash from above, the scene was magnificent yet lethal. I had no idea how Lifaeya had actually pulled it off.
The ash was now covering half the island due to the wind. It was safe to say the candidates on that half were having a terrible time.
However, based on the information I gathered from the Knowledge Shadow, the only ones from the Witch Academy side caught in the fallout seemed to be Tan Han's group. Lucianne and Ninglan Qiuyue's groups seemed to have received a warning in advance and had already avoided the affected area.
The group from the Afuhemi Elf Academy, however, was going to have to tank this wave of ash. As for why the elves were caught in it... I suspected it was a joint effort by Lifaeya and the others.
Most likely, Adalin had cooperated.
Lin Yi had previously expressed disapproval of igniting the volcano. I guessed that after Adalin learned of Lifaeya's plan, she used the opportunity to have Ninglan Qiuyue guide the elves into that position.
But this probably wasn't a deliberate, foolproof plan. Using volcanic ash to trap the elves involved too many variables; the wind on the island was unpredictable, and no one knew exactly where the ash would drift after Lifaeya triggered the eruption. It was uncontrollable.
However, a casual bit of guidance didn't take much effort. It was like a stray move in a game of Go—if it didn't work, nothing was lost; if it did, it was a massive gain.
And as things stood, it was a massive gain.
The situation for the elves was a total disaster. It was hard to say how many would be left in the end, but they certainly no longer had the capital to contend with the Witch Academy.
Now that the Holy Angel Academy's "cheat codes" in the form of the Preaching Angels had been cut, the Witch Academy only needed to worry about the Wizard Academy.
Just as I was thinking this, several figures emerged somewhat disheveled from the rising clouds of volcanic ash. They fled the covered area at high speed, trailing long plumes of dust behind them.
"They made it out?"
I murmured to myself in slight surprise. Watching them use their flying brooms in an overloaded state, carrying each other out of the desperate situation, I had to admit their courage and decisiveness were impressive.
If they had simply waited inside for the ash to settle, the exam would likely have ended before they could get out.
I wondered if, after this accident, Tan Han and the others would still be willing to ignite the volcano.
The suggestion to ignite the volcano was actually my personal idea; it wasn't a requirement for this Joint Exam.
It was a thought I had while putting myself in the shoes of a candidate.
If I hadn't become a TA, the one thing I would have done was ignite this volcano—not for any grand reason, but just to cause trouble. Especially after learning about the volcano, the urge to set it off became even stronger.
If Tan Han didn't want to continue with it, I wouldn't force her. It would just be her loss.
After all, for this volcanic eruption, I had even prepared the Ancient Remnant Ice Transformation for Tan Han to pave the way for the plan.
The restriction on that volcano was quite a headache. Since it could seal the internal pressure generated by plate tectonics, breaking it required a very high threshold of power.
The power of the Ancient Remnant Ice Transformation alone might not even be enough to break the restriction. I had even been prepared to have the Knowledge Shadow step in to personally tutor her on how to dismantle it.
The data for dismantling that restriction had already been completely cracked within the Tree of Knowledge.
But I didn't regret doing all that work only for it to potentially go unused. I would only regret it if I reached that stage and hadn't accumulated the necessary preparation.
Since I first stepped into the Transcendent world, the thing I had done most was accumulate.
Without prior planning and preparation, what right did I have to ignite a volcano? Just a heart looking for a bit of fun?
That was far from enough.
Just as I thought the Joint Exam would continue like this, I suddenly spotted a familiar figure.
"Sister Bai!"
I cried out in pleasant surprise. I immediately crossed from the False World back into the Reality Realm. The originally battered Bobapus Main Island transformed in an instant into a scenic spot crowded with people.
I suddenly appeared and walked into the crowd, coming to a stop in front of Sister Bai.
"Sister Bai, what are you doing here?"
Although I knew Sister Bai had followed us here, I hadn't seen her anywhere near the Bobapus Archipelago. I hadn't expected to run into her now!
"Xiao Han?" Sister Bai looked at me with some surprise, then let me take her arm. "I'm here for business, of course. Did you miss me these past two days?"
"I did! Of course I did!" I nodded vigorously. The emotions I had been suppressing were released in an instant, leaving me momentarily speechless.
But I felt that just being by Sister Bai's side was enough.
"I missed you too," Sister Bai replied, reaching out to pat my head.
"So... since Sister Bai is here... does that mean the Bobapus Archipelago is about to have an 'accident'?" After enjoying Sister Bai's head-patting service, I recovered and asked curiously.
"No... the Bobapus Archipelago is about to have an accident right now."