Chapter 545: The State of the Main World and the Breakthrough in Qi Observation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 545: The State of the Main World and the Breakthrough in Qi Observation
Several days had passed.
The terrorist attack that had struck Tan Han’s city had drawn the attention of the entire world.
For the ordinary people who had lived in peace for so long, this was the first time they had witnessed the true horror brought by Transcendents. Compared to this, previous incidents seemed like mere child's play.
Shortly after the explosion, various Transcendent academies voiced their stances, issued strong condemnations against the perpetrators, and began dispatching Transcendents to provide emergency aid and post-disaster reconstruction.
However, the impact of the event was far from over.
Coupled with the current social unrest and the rampant spread of doomsday theories, a mysterious wave of online manipulation targeting Transcendents had triggered anti-Transcendent protests across the globe.
Even in a place like Magic City, small-scale protests broke out to boycott the Witch Academy. Ultimately, these came to nothing, as the protesters didn't even know where the academy was located—only that it was somewhere within the city.
As for why anyone in Magic City would have the audacity to brazenly provoke the Witch Academy, one had to look at the attitudes and statements released by the various Transcendent academies regarding the disaster.
While the general content of their messages was similar, each spoke from their own perspective and interests.
More importantly, a student from the Holy Angel Academy who lived in that city had come forward as an eyewitness. In an interview, he shared his "truth" of the events, ultimately pointing the finger at a graduated student of the Witch Academy.
He claimed the disaster could have been avoided and that it was the Witch Academy’s recklessness that had allowed it to happen.
This report pushed the Witch Academy to the peak of public controversy once again. It was perhaps the most malicious attempt to smear their reputation yet.
Even the Witch Academy, which had always suffered from a poor reputation—often mocked as a place where girls went to become "delinquent girls"—hadn't expected to be caught in the crossfire like this.
To be disgusted by the "birdmen" of the Holy Angel Academy in such a manner was a new low.
Though, in a sense, they weren't entirely wrong to blame the academy. After all, the true culprits—those Players—had been drawn here by one of the Witch Academy’s own Deans.
However, the average student knew nothing of the high-level machinations. Being insulted for no reason naturally left them feeling incredibly frustrated.
The online flame war lasted a long time; in fact, it was currently reaching its climax. Consequently, the masterminds behind it all—the Players—were still being referred to as "civilian Transcendent terrorists" active across the world.
Of course, this was also because the matter of the nuclear bomb had not been leaked. Had it been, the panic would have been far greater.
Just as the heat surrounding the Witch Academy reached its peak, another event pushed the world's malice to an even higher level!
The "Abyss Lesser Demon Academy" was suddenly exposed. During the disaster, they had allegedly stolen a massive number of corpses and flesh from ordinary people. The leaked videos and photos were so gruesome that they incited a profound sense of loathing among the general public.
The Abyss Lesser Demon Academy was a Transcendent academy that had only recently been established—or rather, it was a recent merger.
The Lesser Demon Academy, Lesser Demon Academy, Succubus Academy, and the Fallen, Undying, and Necromancy academies had all joined forces to form what they called the "Fourth Top Academy."
This institution had recently gained notoriety. Perhaps because their high-level Transcendents hadn't yet adapted to the culture of the Main World, their promotional materials were incredibly "tacky." Combined with their claim of being the Fourth Top Academy, they had become a bit of a "meme" online.
Ordinary people began calling the Abyss Lesser Demon Academy a "mishmash of bottom-tier schools." This even prompted mockery from the likes of the Tiger-kin Academy and Minotaur Academy, who joked, "If we half-beast academies united to form a true Beast Academy, we could become the fifth top academy."
Did they really think no one had tried to form a "Comprehensive Beast Academy" before?
They had tried, of course, but they had ultimately failed.
Nevertheless, these orc academies were still collectively referred to as the "Beast Academy," serving as a sort of hopeful aspiration. The current state of the various beast academies was rooted in specific historical reasons.
The key issue was that these academies were a disorganized mess, lacking a single Transcendent Race strong enough to lead them.
Regarding the concept of a Transcendent Race, one must understand that having Transcendent experts within a race does not automatically make it a Transcendent Race.
Without a Transcendent Race at the helm, the gathered Beast Academy would never be recognized as a top-tier academy by the Main World. As for the Abyssal Demon Academy... though they were currently a laughingstock, they had already been tacitly accepted by the top academies because they were backed by the Abyssal Demon Transcendent Race.
It was clear that if the mockery continued, the guys from the Beast Academy would be the ones ending up as the clowns.
But before that could happen, the Abyssal Demon Academy had become the most reviled institution in existence!
It had consolidated nearly all the most despised bottom-tier academies into one, inheriting all their infamy. Now, with the heinous act of stealing the bodies of the deceased, the academy had transformed from a joke into an object of pure loathing.
Following this, even more scandalous information was unearthed. The Abyssal Demon Academy had reportedly kidnapped students from multiple schools. Their audacity in forcibly taking young adults who had just come of age and hadn't even applied for academies—and doing so outside of the recruitment season—was a testament to their arrogance.
Cases of missing students had appeared in schools all over the world. These incidents had been suppressed, only to be dug up now that the situation had exploded.
With the arrival of this holiday break, the entire world was suddenly flooded with "tea" to spill. A person might experience more excitement in this one break than in several lifetimes.
For some reason, ever since the explosion that leveled a city, the Players seemed to have suddenly lowered their profile.
However... only a few people, or rather, a few Witches, knew the actual cause and effect.
Because of the recklessness and greed of the Game Architects, their risky gamble had yielded no substantial benefits for the Players. In fact, it had directly resulted in the deaths of four Vanguard Pioneers!
Combined with the normal "attrition" of Players across the world, they were forced to set aside their contemptuous attitude.
The waters of this world’s Transcendence seemed deeper than any small-scale world they had ever encountered!
As they stopped causing trouble and focused their energy on gathering intelligence, they discovered even more shocking facts.
First was the anomaly that had been a hot topic online: the spatial rift above the Horasso Swamp. A Player had risked their life to approach the rift and managed to measure a piece of vital information.
The other side of that spatial rift contained data samples for qualifications to Sin Star, a world the Terminal of Myriad Worlds had once linked to!
Ultimately, that Player was hunted down by the Transcendents guarding the rift while trying to enter it to verify the theory. This was a great pity for the Players, but they were forced to watch from the sidelines for now.
According to their deductions, obtaining the qualifications for this world so quickly and invading it might not have been a coincidence. The small-scale world they had recently abandoned was too close to this one, and now the two worlds were on a collision course.
This deduction filled them with joy, as they were still thinking about the Tech Core that seemed to remain in that world!
Of course, everything had to be done one step at a time.
And as they took those steps, they suddenly discovered something else: there was more than one special individual in this world who possessed game qualifications!
They had felt a great deal of regret after losing track of the girl they had found previously. After all, to deploy a large number of Players into this world, they needed a vast amount of game qualification resources. These resources were obtained through gradual plunder. Without a target, what the hell were they supposed to plunder?
But now, another piece of incredible news told them that such special individuals were not unique in this world!
This greatly increased their margin for error. They were exactly in need of more game qualifications!
* * *
Mei Lind’s office.
I was currently standing there, surrounded by many Witches. Normally, so many Witches wouldn't gather in Dean Mei’s office.
But today, we had encountered some new issues.
I looked at the massive Qi Observation Instrument in the center, which had been further refined. Within the giant crystal ball, a shadow that was gradually being reduced to a tree-like silhouette emerged.
Upon it, the underlying flow of Luck was presented in an extremely abstract manner. While other Witches might find the surface information confusing, I could see it with perfect clarity.
I saw the undercurrents of Luck shifting within. As time passed, the holiday was already more than half over.
Luck was indeed as calm as predicted, but now it looked as though it were gestating a grand conspiracy.
The foundation of Luck representing the Players was gradually weaving into a small net, slowly closing in on the prey they had discovered.
This matched our predictions for the Players. Once they realized the Main World had more than one Child of Destiny, they immediately shifted their targets and gave up on searching for Tan Han.
After all, after experiencing such a severe incident, Tan Han had chosen to remain within the Witch Academy. To ensure her safety, she decided not to return home. Although she had only spent a few days with her family, plans couldn't keep up with changes.
Her family also wanted her to stay safely at the academy; that incident had truly terrified them.
those Players desperately needed to hunt down a Child of Destiny to obtain Luck. By using the power of Luck, they could bring in more high-end Players. According to my estimates, if they succeeded this time, the Players they sent would still be of the "pro" variety. The bottom-layer Players, who didn't even know the truth of their situation, likely wouldn't be coming to the Main World anytime soon.
Unless... they suddenly acquired a massive amount of Luck, to the point where they lacked enough high-end Players. Only then might they send ordinary Players to harvest in numbers, but that possibility was slim.
As I looked at the information presented by the Qi Observation Art, I began to feel curious about which "lucky soul" the Players had set their sights on. For now, the convergence of Luck did not represent a Child of Destiny from the Witch Academy’s side.
Suddenly, I caught a whiff of "fun" in the air. Perhaps I really should head out and find something to do. I didn't need to do much—just enough to annoy those Players a little.
However, it was clear that the Witches gathered here today weren't just here to look at the current state of Luck in the Main World.
They were here for something more important: the progress of merging the small-scale world into the Main World’s Expansion Realm.
I had a general understanding of the world fusion situation. Some problems had arisen during the merger of that small world and the Main World. This was evident from the spatial rift that had pierced through the sky above the Horasso Swamp; the issue was quite significant.
The reason the rift was no longer expanding was that the Witches had halted the progress.
If they had continued according to the original plan, the rift would have opened even wider, and there would have been more than just one rift over the Horasso Swamp.
Most of the Witches currently responsible for the integration of this small world were gathered here.
The reason... was naturally the breakthrough in Qi Observation technology, which provided them with a more convenient tool to monitor the progress of the world fusion.
The essence of Luck reflects the state of the world itself. With the breakthrough in Qi Observation Art, the control over Luck had gradually shifted from observing the situation of a Child of Destiny within a Script to a more detailed reflection of the world's condition.
Based on the premise that "Children of Destiny," "Scripts," and "Luck" are all parts of the world, the application of Qi Observation Art could no longer be limited to a mere auxiliary tool for observing and plotting around a Child of Destiny. It possessed a far more vital capability...
Observation for the interface and fusion of two worlds!
Using Luck as an observational medium to determine the actual situation occurring between worlds was far more efficient than relying solely on experience and common sense to make predictions!
Before this proposal was made, no one had imagined that Qi Observation Art could achieve such a thing.
Naturally... as the original innovator of the Qi Observation Art, my status had mysteriously risen.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have access to something as high-level as world fusion, so I wouldn't have been qualified to propose such an idea.
However, after the idea was suggested, I participated in the entire modification project of the Qi Observation Art as a technical and conceptual guide.
Being able to participate in an event significant enough to be recorded in history was something I was more than happy to do.
Of course, after joining this project, I also felt the efficiency of communication within a project group at the Dean's level. Compared to my research on the Tree of Great Knowledge back at the villa, those projects felt a bit like playing house.
But I wasn't discouraged. I studied humbly, and the Witch sisters involved in the project were very patient with me. They even took the initiative to use the Tree of Great Knowledge as a communication medium to improve efficiency—a trick they had learned from Dean Mei Lind.
At that moment, Mei Lind arrived at the center, seemingly having just finished some debugging. Her movements immediately drew the attention of all the Witches. Once most eyes were on her, she spoke.
"Alright, we will now use the Qi Observation Art to begin our first periodic review of the world fusion project."
"This is our first experiment in merging a small-scale world into the Main World’s Expansion Realm. If we succeed, this feat will be recorded in the Great Library! It will serve as the first successful case for the juniors who attempt the same in the future!"
As Mei Lind finished speaking, the expressions on many Witches' faces became quite vivid.
I also understood what the "Great Library" referred to. It was the Great Library of the Witch World guarded by the Primal Witch—the library built upon the foundation of the Witch race's native world, gathering everything related to their kind!
Any deed recognized by the Primal Witch would be included in the Great Library. This was an honor that no Transcendent Witch could possibly refuse!
"Then, without further ado, let us begin."