Chapter 588: The Void’s Reaction
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 588: The Void’s Reaction
The Void region of the Main World.
As the only world in this entire stretch of the Void, the Main World’s existence—once discovered—shone with a brilliance that drew the gazes of countless sentient races.
To eliminate the prying eyes of those who coveted it, the three great transcendent races that first settled there had continuously slashed the quotas for transcendent lifeforms allowed to remain in the Main World.
Their method of reduction was... to destroy the Main World’s fundamental framework.
This "scorched earth" approach—hurting the enemy a little while devastating oneself—was indeed foolish. However, under the circumstances of that early era, the three races felt they had no choice. They refused to let anyone else seize the interests they had fought to secure.
If they couldn't have it, no one would.
If an invader brought few forces, they couldn't defeat the alliance of the three great transcendent races. If they brought many, the three races would simply drag the Main World down with them into mutual destruction, daring the invaders to see if they were willing to lose such a massive force.
It could be said that the "gatekeepers" of the three races back then possessed a terrifying, bloody resolve.
Consequently, no other races invaded. After all, invasion was driven by profit; doing something thankless and difficult was never a popular choice. To end up with nothing while drawing the ire and targeted retaliation of the three great transcendent races' home worlds simply wasn't worth it.
Of course, the primary reason was the sheer impossibility of an invasion. The expeditionary legions of the three races occupied the only world in this Void region. Without a transit world to serve as a foothold and supply line, other races couldn't even launch an offensive. After considering all factors, the situation had abruptly turned into a stalemate.
This deadlock persisted for a time. Aside from the occasional individual lifeform wandering nearby to cause constant harassment, there were no major movements.
That was, until they encountered a new enemy... a group of Witches.
And then, the three races were taught a hard lesson.
Afterward, the Great Weakening Spell was cast over the entire Core World of the Main World. Its primary purpose was to prevent the three great transcendent races from destroying the Main World in a fit of desperate spite.
But later, the Witches discovered that after so much time had passed, the individuals occupying the Main World had been replaced several times over. These newcomers didn't have the courage to play the "mutual destruction" card against Witches.
Furthermore, the Great Weakening Spell covering the Core World ensured a baseline for the Main World’s continued existence.
Thus, they were forced to accept the Witches' presence, a situation that had lasted until the present day.
And now.
The Witch race was making big moves again. Naturally, this attracted the many observers wandering outside the Main World. they transmitted this information and intelligence back to their respective home worlds. After all, when Transcendent Witches made a move, it was bound to be something massive!
The reality was exactly as they suspected.
The Witches had crushed a small world into its most basic form, "World Origin Soil," and integrated it into the Main World, turning it into the cornerstone for the reconstruction of the Main World’s Expansion Realm!
Keener observers learned that this small world had arrived in the Main World’s Void region seemingly by the hand of an Abyssal Demon. This, combined with the demon’s blatant proclamations about settling in the Main World, provided a clear picture.
Once the observers sent this back, many races understood the underlying hint.
After an untold amount of time, the group of Witches occupying the Main World was finally exerting their power. They had mastered the key techniques to repair the Main World and were revealing their ambitions.
Once the Main World was repaired, its carrying capacity would increase. The "cake" that was the Main World was being enlarged once more, and the settlement of the Abyssal Demon proved this.
This also signaled an implicit rule: if you wanted to settle in the Main World, you needed an entry ticket.
The Abyssal Demon had delivered a small world. What about them?
It must be said that the Abyssal Demon had provided an excellent example for all the races still eyeing the Main World region.
Transporting a small world to this empty Void region was an exhausting task!
The fact that the Abyssal Demon could do it so quickly led other races to believe the demon must have received advance warning. After all, before settling in, the Abyssal Demon had been a well-known "nuisance" outside the Main World—always trying to get in but never succeeding, only able to linger on the outskirts.
Perhaps its persistence, or some accidental gesture, had led the Witches to choose it as a representative.
However, the Abyssal Demon would never tell the other races that their primary reason for pushing this small world over was to use it as a bridgehead for an invasion!
Only with a bridgehead world—a transit station and a support supply point—could they initiate a standard world invasion process. Abyssal Demons loved legion invasions because their "cannon fodder" was truly inexhaustible; Little Demons grew like weeds, crop after crop. Regardless of the outcome, it was never a bad idea to go for a wild offensive.
Later... they were pinned down and thrashed by the Witches. A Witch even invaded the Abyssal Demon world and brazenly slaughtered a Demon Lord while they watched, unable to do a thing. After that, they decisively abandoned their invasion plans.
They switched to fawning instead.
And look at them now—haven't the Abyssal Demons successfully settled in the Main World?
Setting aside the deeper interests and power plays behind the scenes, just look at whether this "vote of loyalty" was worth it!
One could say the Abyssal Demon's success was filled with coincidences. They coincidentally encountered the Witches' nearly perfected World Repair Technique; they coincidentally possessed a small world; and they coincidentally fit the broad policy the Witches had decided upon...
If the Witches wanted to continue perfecting their plan, they needed the cooperation of other races. They weren't going to slave away "transporting" so many worlds to the Main World’s Void region themselves. Why not let other races do the heavy lifting?
The Abyssal Demon was a perfect "billboard." Otherwise, why would the Witches allow the Abyssal Demon to boast so loudly about settling in the Main World?
As for whether this would draw a second siege from other races?
The Witches in the Main World weren't afraid at all. The most terrifying thing about Witches was their sheer power and their ability to call for backup at any moment.
Moreover, the Witches of the Main World now held the World Repair Technique!
Once the first repair case was completed and the technical feedback reached the Great Library of the Witch world, it would cause a sensation!
If other races ever teamed up to invade with a force so large that the local Witches couldn't handle it, a massive number of Witches would surely rush to their aid.
One only had to imagine what kind of beings would be interested in "World Repair Techniques."
However, such a scenario was highly unlikely. To make a Witch call for backup, the enemy would need the strength to suppress her first, wouldn't they?
"It looks like a portion of the Expansion Realm has been repaired. Now... let's deploy the indigenous people of that small world."
With those words from Mei Lind, the fate of an entire world's worth of humans was decided.
The fact that the humans from that small world could survive was thanks to the "kind-hearted" Witches, though it was mostly due to other considerations.
If the repaired world had no human presence and the Expansion Realm relied solely on the original Ninglan New City to expand outward and grow its population, the process would be incredibly slow. Even if human Soul Essence flowed into the Ley Line cycle, the birth of a new population required time.
Therefore, preserving the original humans of the small world was primarily about keeping the "human spark" alive, providing a foundation for human breeding in the repaired territory.
To the people of that small world, it felt as if they had experienced a "Global Transmigration."
Everyone entered the "Transmigration Era."
They arrived in a world both familiar and strange, forced to survive while the Witches provided only the bare minimum of supplies for their survival.
They would discard their original nations, their original laws, and their original order, building a brand-new social system amidst the chaos!
Of course, the main goal was to make these people strive and undergo human iteration. They were the afterglow of the "Old World," struggling for the construction of the New World. They did not belong to this world, yet they were its connectors.
Since their original world had been integrated into the Main World, they were only considered half-Main Worlders. They weren't truly accepted by the Main World, but the next generation they birthed would be.
Everyone would suffer from varying degrees of a "Bad Luck Curse" until the new generation was born, rose up, and assimilated...
For humans, this was a long process, but for transcendent lifeforms, it was merely an observation experiment.
Furthermore, the Expansion Realm still had its original order. Ninglan New City would become the lighthouse guiding this era, accelerating the construction of their civilization.
And as the City Lord of Ninglan New City, the first Queen to experience this era of change, Ninglan Qiuyue would become a brand-new page in the city's future history!
With this, the Witches finished writing the new script for the Child of Destiny, Ninglan Qiuyue—the continuation of the Main World Expansion Realm chapter.
Meanwhile, the reconstruction of the Main World’s Core World had only just begun. Using the power of that Game World to reshape the social order of the Core World, the development of the era would not allow transcendents to raise "parasites."
It was time to break the social order established by those three great transcendent races that had persisted until now.
Since they had chosen to assimilate the people of the Main World into candidates for their own race, the existing "Transcendent Academy Plan" seemed like small-time play. With the repair of the Main World, the world was ready to enter an era of "Universal Transcendence," establishing a hierarchy of transcendent levels rather than allowing resources to be wasted on those who were capable of ascending but refused to do so because of the Ley Line Shackles.
Since they were bound to the Main World for various reasons and could not sever the Ley Line Shackles, they might as well enjoy the kindness the world offered them from the start and leave the opportunities to those who were better prepared.
* * *
As the new semester progressed, many lower-year students noticed that more and more people were applying for course exemptions.
It was as if more and more people had seen through the essence of the Transcendent Academy's curriculum. They understood what a Prospective Witch should be doing and had clear goals, refusing to waste energy on the redundancies of life.
As for who started this trend, it was impossible to confirm. Everyone only knew that the students who were once famous in the academy seemed to have undergone a massive change. It was as if they had grown significantly over the course of a single break.
Currently, a wave of studiousness had taken over the academy. Yes, a wave of studiousness.
The clever ones rode this tide to keep learning, while the foolish ones used the opportunity for pointless "involution," and those who thought they were clever engaged in constant "fake effort" under the social pressure.
This craze provided unprecedented assistance to those truly seeking transcendence, while offering a wall of self-consolation for those seeking pleasure.
At the student dormitory.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Who is it?"
A somewhat lazy voice drifted from inside, and the villa's front door opened.
"Hi~ Long time no see, Hong Chenyi."
Looking at the girl standing at the door, her originally bright pink wavy hair had faded slightly in brilliance.
"Xiao... Xiao, Sister Xiao Han!"
Hong Chenyi’s lazy expression vanished instantly, replaced by shock. "Sister Xiao Han! You! Why are you back? You didn't even give us a heads-up!"
"What? I'm not allowed to come back? I'm a member of this dorm too, after all. You guys haven't forgotten me already, have you?" I said with a smile, walking straight through the door.
I had timed my visit today. All of them were in the villa and hadn't gone out, so I chose this moment to drop by.
"How could we? No way! I'm just too surprised! It's been a while since we saw you, Sister Xiao Han! Even if we don't see you in person, your legend is with us every second of the day!"
"Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"
Walking into the villa, I saw a figure sitting on the sofa.
"Yi, who is it?" Guan Qiuling asked curiously, leaning over the back of the sofa.
"It's your Sister Xiao Han," I said, resting a hand on the sofa's armrest before plopping down next to Guan Qiuling.
"Huh?" Guan Qiuling grunted subconsciously, not processing it at first. But when she saw me, she jumped up from the sofa in fright! "Xiao! Sister Xiao Han!"
"No need to be so excited, right?" I greeted them with a light laugh. "So, how is it? Are you adjusting to the new semester?"
"It's... it's alright..." Guan Qiuling sat back down after calming herself. "Um, Sister Xiao Han, why did you suddenly come back?"
"Well... I've been too busy to visit, but I had some time now and wanted to see how you guys were doing. It looks like things are pretty much the same as before~ Do you want me to give you a hand?"
"Eh?"
Hearing my words, both Hong Chenyi and Guan Qiuling froze for a second. They knew Sister Xiao Han was already a Teaching Assistant now. They hadn't expected her to make a special trip back, let alone offer to help them!
"Really, Sister Xiao Han! Ahhh..." Hong Chenyi, always the most expressive, rushed over immediately. "You are my second parent! Sister Xiao Han, please accept my bow! From now on, you are my Godfather! No... Godmother! As long as you don't abandon me, I am willing to..."
"You really never change, do you?" I looked at Hong Chenyi, who was currently hugging my leg, and couldn't help but feel both amused and exasperated.
As Hong Chenyi was making a scene, a voice came from upstairs.
"Hmm? Sister Xiao Han?"
"Yiren, hurry downstairs and grab Sister Xiao Han's leg!"
"What do you mean? Though it's rare for Sister Xiao Han to be back, you don't have to literally hug her leg, do you?" Dongli Yiren came down the stairs, though the surprise in her eyes was plain to see.
"Hi~ Yiren. It's been a while. I feel like... compared to before, your spirit has improved quite a bit." I gave a warm greeting to the figure coming down.
"I suppose it's thanks to your guidance, Sister Xiao Han... I've already obtained a course exemption from Teacher Ji Niang this semester. I plan to focus more of my energy on studying magic potion cultivation."
"Sister Xiao Han, you have no idea how hard Yiren worked. I came back from the break and she told me she already applied for the exemption... It's too much! She didn't even tell me... Wuwu."
"If Yiren can do it, you should be able to as well, right?" I asked back with a smile. I could tell Hong Chenyi was just being dramatic; she was simply marveling at Dongli Yiren's hard work.
"I guess... so. I'll work hard this semester and try to get an exemption next semester!"
"Then I wish you success. By the way, is Yu Yuetian here? I haven't seen her." I asked curiously.
"Her? She's probably in her room. She usually likes to use soundproofing spells, so she probably didn't hear the commotion. Should I go call her?"
"Yes. I have something to tell all of you. Let's disturb Yu Yuetian for a bit. I happen to have something to give you—you could call it a stroke of luck? You know I'm very busy now, and I probably won't be back very often in the future. You guys are among my few friends at the Witch Academy..."
"A stroke of luck?! Sister Xiao Han, what is it exactly?"
"The 'luck' is... this! Its name is the Great Knowledge Seed. It's a good item that will help you compete for the top spots in the academy in the coming days."
"Great Knowledge Seed? What's that? I've heard of the Great Knowledge... Tree... Oh! It couldn't be what I think it is, could it?"
"Yes. It's a seed condensed from that Tree of Great Knowledge you're familiar with. I'll teach you how to use it."