Chapter 695: If You Ever Fall Into a Trap…
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 695: If You Ever Fall Into a Trap…
Meanwhile, on the other side.
"Whoa... so... Sister Xiao Han, are you sure even that domain is off-limits? You can't use anything at all? Then why did you sign that contract so fast?"
Lifaeya looked at me in shock, seeking confirmation after hearing my explanation.
"I thought it was just sealing Mana Sources and spellbooks. If that domain of yours wasn't sealed, wouldn't you be able to kill everyone with a snap of your fingers?"
"Exactly. Any transcendent power that exceeds the game rules gets sealed. Is there a problem with that?" I shrugged and continued, "Don't forget, if our innate abilities weren't restricted, what would they seal for the other academies? Would they just seal Mana Sources and spellbooks like they do for the Witch Academy? Obviously not, right?"
"I guess that makes sense... but in that case, wouldn't those orc guys have a huge advantage?" Lifaeya suddenly realized. "Even without transcendent power, their physical stats are terrifying. There's no way they can restrict that, right?"
"True... but that's the benefit of training their muscles. One's body is their own capital. However, a witch's physical stats aren't exactly weak either." After all, I knew very well that the essence of Witchification was a unique form of "passive Body Cultivation," even if it was much weaker than a dedicated Body Cultivation system.
"Fair point. Those of us who qualify as teaching assistants do have impressive physical stats. And even if we lose our original powers, our Undying nature alone should be enough to keep us undefeated, right?"
"Undying nature..." Hearing Lifaeya mention this, I quickly considered the point.
Indeed, the Undying trait was a powerful trump card for a teaching assistant. I had researched the essence of life; while I hadn't studied life levels in great detail, I at least had a general understanding.
The Undying trait was also excellent proof that the physical body was merely a derivation of the essence of life.
The "level" of one's life essence determined the various "self-healing" characteristics of the body, such as healing speed, efficiency, and so on. Even the "aura" emanating from one's life essence was a simple "attack method" of that essence.
No wonder I could use the power of my self-awakened Body Cultivation to withstand the pressure of such a life-level aura back then. In essence, it was a clash between powers of the same nature.
"Sorry, Xiao Han... are you not at the Undying level yet?" Lifaeya suddenly realized something and hurried to whisper in my ear.
"It's fine. I really haven't reached the level of possessing the Undying trait yet," I said with a dismissive wave of my hand.
To achieve the effects of that level, I only needed to use Soul Essence.
Others might use special methods to absorb Soul Essence to directly strengthen the life level of their own soul, but since I was a soul, I couldn't do it that way.
However... I had Mimicry Soul techniques. I didn't use Mimicry Soul to "rewrite" my own soul, but rather to "augment" it. By doing so, I could immediately possess a life level approaching the Pseudo-Transcendent level!
Life levels were simply a matter of accumulation. My Mimicry Soul could provide me with an extra, temporary accumulation of my own. But it was only temporary; for me, it served no purpose other than making me hard to kill or defeat in battle.
My current state was actually for the best.
I could feel the essence of my life steadily improving bit by bit. I didn't want to use immature methods to force its growth.
Unless I perfected my Soul Depiction—but by the time I reached that stage, I might have already advanced to the Transcendent level anyway.
"Um... Xiao Han, is it okay to just say that out loud? Teacher Lina didn't say that teaching assistants couldn't... you know, target each other..."
"Are you worried those other teaching assistants will cause trouble for me while I'm in this special state?" I turned to Lifaeya and asked with a smile.
"Exactly! You have no idea how high your reputation was in the Expansion Realm. This Power Network restriction definitely weakened them, but it hit you the hardest. You had that Great Spellbook, and a lot of people complained that you only got strong because of it. Now it's sealed, and you don't even have your domain to deal with them. If they don't try to settle the score now, when will they?"
"If they really think that way, then that's all they'll ever amount to," I said with a light laugh, my gaze drifting toward the people walking out around us.
They looked like they were leaving, but as we walked, quite a few "happened" to be going the same way as me. In reality, they were trying to fish for information.
"Besides, I'm still a Body Cultivator. Even if my transcendent powers are sealed, don't forget I can still punch with Internal Energy."
"Whoa... I almost forgot! Xiao Han, you're a Body Cultivator too! Doesn't that mean you'll still crush them?"
"I wouldn't go so far as to say 'crush'..." I said, waving my hand modestly.
"Then do you plan to choose a melee profession to play to your strengths? They showed a lot of professions during the demonstration earlier," Lifaeya continued to ask.
"Why? I'll just choose Witch Mage. We're witches; using spells is what we're best at, isn't it?"
"Eh?"
"If you don't get it, just assume I like using spells. What about you? What will you choose?"
"Me? I'm choosing Witch Mage too, obviously~"
"Well, there you go. It's just a choice. You choose based on your situation, your preferences, and your will. It's just a single choice."
I chatted with Lifaeya as we walked. We planned to head straight to the Expansion Realm to familiarize ourselves with the current situation.
After all, the official start time was tomorrow morning.
Right now, it was just about the time the theory exams would have ended.
As we were chatting and laughing, a figure joined our conversation.
"This witch sister... um, have you introduced yourself yet?" I looked at this somewhat over-familiar "girl." If I hadn't felt that terrifying life level reaching straight into the Transcendent realm for a split second, I would have mistaken her for just another senior sister.
"Sheryl. You can call me Sister Sheryl. I've heard your name, Xiao Han. I've heard it almost every day lately," the mentor calling herself Sheryl joined in with a perfectly natural tone.
"You! You're actually a mentor? Hello! My name is Lifaeya~"
"Oh, Lifaeya." Sheryl was clearly uninterested in Lifaeya. Her attitude toward me and her was like two extremes; she sounded like she barely wanted to acknowledge Lifaeya's existence.
"Uh, Mentor, if I'm bothering you, you can just pretend I'm not here... or should I leave?"
"That won't be necessary. I mainly came over to see Xiao Han." Sheryl didn't heartlessly drive Lifaeya away, but she implicitly admitted she wasn't very interested in talking to her.
"I wonder why Sister Sheryl suddenly came to find me?" I asked curiously. I had a pretty good feeling about her, even if... she was only being nice to me.
However, I searched my memory and had absolutely no recollection of her. I didn't remember seeing her anywhere before, so this visit was definitely unexpected.
I didn't quite dare to use the Ley Line Identification Art on her. She was a Transcendent Witch, after all. If I could, many things would become clear.
"I just saw you and wanted to chat. We can talk about anything. For example... this Joint Exam you're about to participate in. Are you afraid? It's basically no different from having the whole world as your enemy~"
"Afraid? I'm doing alright. I'll just take whatever comes my way."
"Then aren't you afraid of being besieged? If you ever fall into a trap, how will you respond then?"
"Then I'll just make sure I don't fall into a disadvantageous situation in the first place. It's unwise to do something when you know it's bad for you," I replied.
"But what if you fall into an ambush that you couldn't have predicted? That's not something you can avoid just because you want to. What would you do then?" Sheryl continued to press.
"Hmm... I'll just fight my way out," I said after a moment of thought.
"Fight your way out? You're quite confident." Sheryl seemed surprised by my answer.
She knew very well that when facing a "dead-end" question, there was no single correct answer. Any answer was meaningful, representing the respondent's personal thoughts, philosophy, and attitude toward desperate situations.
"Of course. If they've already used such foul means against me, then I naturally have to pay them back in kind. Sister Sheryl, your next question isn't going to be 'how would I respond if their strength completely crushed mine,' is it?"
"I hadn't planned on continuing with such a pointless question, but since you brought it up, I'm actually curious about your answer." Sheryl smiled. "Of course, you can choose not to answer."
"My answer is... what have I ever done to deserve a group of people stronger than me ganging up on me?~"
"Oh? That doesn't sound like a solution. What if it's because you're too valuable?" Sheryl asked.
"If I'm that valuable, then the situation definitely wouldn't be as simple as a group of experts besieging me. There would surely be another group of people trying to protect me, right?"
"That actually makes sense. I find myself unable to refute that." A trace of a smile appeared on Sheryl's face, but it was hard to tell if she was satisfied with the answer or not.
"So, is Sister Sheryl satisfied with that answer?"
"It's alright~" Sheryl didn't give a definitive response. "But I hope you enjoy this hunting test. Perhaps answering a question only requires moving your lips, but when you truly face a choice, that is when you give your real answer."
"True enough~"
"Let's end the conversation here. I'm leaving."
"Eh? You're leaving already?" I asked, a bit surprised. She said she wanted to chat, but she left after asking only a few questions. It was very strange.
"Yes, I'm ready to go. We'll meet again if fate allows."
As soon as Sheryl finished speaking, her figure vanished.
"Whoa... that teacher just now felt really intense." Lifaeya hurried back over from the small distance she had maintained.
"Intense? I thought she was quite easy to talk to."
"That's because she was talking to you! Did you see how she acted toward me? Whoa... it was unbelievable!" Lifaeya immediately started venting, as if she had just suffered a great grievance.
The cat ears on her head were twitching.
"Were you being targeted just now?" Looking at her, I didn't think she'd get this worked up just from being ignored.
"No, but I don't think I'm that bad, right? I run into mentors I don't know every day, and even if we aren't friends, they aren't usually so... ugh, I can't explain it. Anyway, those questions she asked you were super weird too."
Lifaeya sighed at the end, her unidentifiable feeling finally turning into annoyance.
She dropped the subject immediately.
But Lifaeya was Lifaeya; she moved past it quickly. On the way to the Expansion Realm, she told me about many other things.
Eventually, we arrived at the plaza of Ninglan New City in the Expansion Realm.
"Back in the Expansion Realm again. Feels good~"
"Back again? Come to think of it, I don't think I saw you around the Expansion Realm before," I said, looking at Lifaeya.
"Aww~ I'm not as capable as you. Your name is famous throughout the Expansion Realm. Me? I'm just a nobody."
"Really? You managed to be a 'nobody' even with a teaching assistant's status? That's a talent in itself. But based on my brief understanding of you, how did you not blow up the Third Sanctuary?"
The Third Sanctuary was the sanctuary for Aphra's elves. I remembered Lifaeya had seemingly blown up the elves' tree during the last final exam.
"I wanted to! But back then, 'Contract Correctness' was all the rage... though, care to guess why those guys had such a hard time building their sanctuary in the early stages?"
"Got it. Say no more."
I recalled the information I'd gathered back then. Other academies wanted to use the Witch Academy as a springboard to quickly build stable channels for their own schools.
As a result, while they were busy, I had already built the Calamity Shelter, and the Second Shelter was the same. Meanwhile, their sanctuaries were still just prototypes.
I'd heard they had to keep moving for various reasons. It seemed it wasn't just a matter of location.
"As long as you understand, Sister Xiao Han. So, do you want to team up with me this time and do something big?" Lifaeya took the opportunity to invite me.
For the candidates, there were no restrictions on teaming up for this Joint Exam. Likewise, there were no restrictions for the teaching assistants acting as special hunting targets.
"Are you sure? If you team up with me, watch out for being mobbed. I don't just mean by the candidates, but by the other teaching assistants too."
"What's there to be afraid of? I'll stick with you~ Or should we go find Lin Yi? Or maybe Adalin? Do you remember Adalin? The one who was with us during the last finals."
"Of course I remember. But I think I'll pass. I want to try going solo."
"Uh... okay~ I respect your choice. If you regret it, you can find me. I'll be coming back to this Ninglan New City safe zone from time to time. Maybe you'll run into me. You're always welcome to team up then~"
"Thanks for leaving me a way out. But I probably won't take it. If you want to team up, you should go find Lin Yi."
"Fine, fine~ I'll go give it a shot. Actually, now that you mention it, I kind of want to try going solo too. After all, being a loner is a cat trait, right? Meow~" As she spoke, Lifaeya struck a cat-like pose.
"Ugh~ Don't do that. Be normal. I can't watch this."
"Fine~ I'll stop. But the official exam doesn't start until tomorrow. How about... we familiarize ourselves with the Power Network first, and check out the resources available at the resource points?"
"And Sister Xiao Han~ I heard this Power Network thing has something to do with you. You must be an expert, right? Oh Great One~ Guide me~ Carry me~"
"Ugh~ Can you please talk normally?"