Chapter 722: Don't You Understand? Your Choice is Meaningless!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 722: Don't You Understand? Your Choice is Meaningless!
"Who? Xia Li?!"
At the mention of that name, many over at the Holy Angel Academy reacted instinctively, their hackles rising.
Xia Li might not have been the most famous name within the Witch Academy, and her strength wasn't necessarily top-tier, but the fact that she could single-handedly prop up a leisure club and even establish her own private stash was proof enough that she was no simpleton.
As for why the students of the Holy Angel Academy were so familiar with her, that was another story entirely.
Xia Li harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Holy Angel Academy. She was willing to do anything as long as it made them miserable.
During the previous term, Xia Li had led a group of Witches in a direct raid on their territory to snatch Tan Han away. The Holy Angels had pursued them all the way to the Magic City, only to have her "corpse" sent back to them as a final insult.
At this time last year, it had taken many days from the start of the application process until Tan Han was finally brought to the Witch Academy.
But this year, to snatch this boy named Yang Yunhan, no one expected the various academies to go to such extremes!
It was easy to foresee that this would be another war of attrition. Although this area fell within the Witch Academy's sphere of influence, it was still a long way from the Magic City.
Even by high-speed rail, the journey would take a considerable amount of time, and the other academies had no intention of letting the Witches return home peacefully.
However, with Xia Li’s sudden intervention and the subsequent blockade, the Holy Angels' plan to simply cut and run was shattered.
With the Holy Angels delayed, the other academies—who had formed a temporary united front—caught up.
After a coordinated assault, they made quick work of "eliminating" these birdmen who had tried to take advantage of the chaos.
After all, the other academies were trying to snatch the boy out in the open; these birdmen were trying to sneak him away in the shadows. If Xia Li hadn't blocked their path, they might have actually succeeded.
If Yang Yunhan were truly taken to the Holy Angel Academy, getting him back would be a nightmare. While perhaps not as difficult as breaching the curtain wall of the Witch Academy, trying to break through the blockade of so many Holy Angels at their home base was still a task as difficult as ascending to heaven.
"You! You people... so many of you ganging up on us Holy Angels, where is the justice in this?!"
"Might makes right! What, you want to talk logic with us now?" A male wizard from the Wizard Academy stepped forward, extending his hand. His right arm had been completely replaced by a mechanical limb; it was obvious at a glance that he followed the Mechanical Wizard path.
Without a shred of mercy, he threw a punch straight into the birdman's eye, as if venting his frustration over their earlier "dishonorable" attempt to steal the boy.
As the lead Holy Angel let out a pathetic scream, Xia Li watched from the sidelines, looking eager to join in.
These Holy Angels really never learned their lesson.
Last year, they had tried to take Tan Han away using the same method, and it was Xia Li who had snatched her back from them.
However... Tan Han seemed to have applied to the Holy Angel Academy of her own volition, likely influenced by her family.
After all, the Holy Angels possessed the largest faith system in the Main World, with Holy Light churches scattered everywhere. These churches weren't just for cultivating believers and gathering faith; they were also used to scout talented children, focusing on them early to groom them into followers of the Holy Light.
While the allocation of Luck during the College Entrance Exam allowed the World Consciousness and Luck representatives to identify valued geniuses, there was another level of talent that existed beyond the scope of general detection.
Looking back at history, such geniuses were not few in number, proving that even the World Consciousness and Luck representatives could occasionally misjudge someone.
Therefore, mentors within the academies were authorized to grant extra admissions if they discovered a child they deemed a genius.
Otherwise, what would be the point of those extra admission slots in the various Transcendent Academies?
However, most Transcendent Mentors rarely bothered with it because... it was a hassle.
But over the past year, after the Witch Ji Niang discovered "Yang Yuehan," her reputation had skyrocketed. One could say Ji Niang had suddenly become the Witch with the best eye and the best luck in recent years.
Perhaps even the best, period.
At that moment, the already heavily injured Holy Angel was knocked to the ground by another punch. His already pathetic state worsened as his broken angel wings folded behind him at a grotesque angle.
"Agh... you... ugh... you'll get what's coming to you! Hiss..."
"We'll be waiting for the Holy Angels' retribution. If there really is such a thing, you birdmen should be the first to die." Xia Li shot back at the stubborn Holy Angel, adding a spiteful kick for good measure.
"You Witch Academy people are always like this, forcibly kidnapping people into your ranks. Is there any point? Is a forced union ever truly sweet? Have you even considered the student's feelings! We are Transcendent Academies, yet what you're doing is worse than those savages from the Beast Academy!"
"Are all you Holy Angels this stubborn? We just finished with one, and now it's your turn to start preaching? If you don't have the strength, talk less logic. Strength is the only logic that matters!"
"Am I wrong?! How many geniuses has your Witch Academy ruined? How many boys have you corrupted? You know full well—mph! Mmph!"
Faced with these birdmen who wouldn't stop chattering even in defeat, the Witches chose the most direct method: a Silence Spell.
If they continued to cause trouble, the Witches wouldn't mind using a High-level Silence Spell and then shipping their corpses back to the Holy Angel Academy. Anyway, those guys were experts at Resurrection Spells; what was a little death between rivals?
But no matter how powerful a Resurrection Spell was, it couldn't bring back a Xiao Han who had been collectively killed by them.
"Now, it's time for the struggle between us," the Mechanical Wizard from the Wizard Academy spoke up.
Everyone understood the situation. Now that the Holy Angels had been dealt with, they could finally have a "calm" conversation.
But as things stood... no one could simply walk away with the boy. No academy would stand by and watch someone else run off with the prize.
Therefore, the only way forward was battle!
The losers would stay down, losing their right to compete, while the winner would take everything and bring the boy back to their academy.
"Let's stop holding back, shall we? Everyone in ambush, come out. It's time for a head-on clash."
After all, this was a test of how much each academy valued this "Yang Yunhan." The number of people sent would play a key role.
At this suggestion, the members of the various academies stopped hiding. However, the number of people who stepped out wasn't as large as one might have imagined.
Technically, this was a mission to escort a genius student back to school, but not many upperclassmen were willing to take on such a thankless and exhausting task.
Moreover... this didn't mean other students weren't important.
The number of freshmen in the Transcendent Academies every year was at least in the tens of thousands, or at the very least, in the thousands, depending on the academy's faculty and resources.
So, for the various academies to send dozens of people for a single freshman, resulting in a grand melee of over a hundred people... it was already terrifying.
Even Tan Han hadn't received this kind of treatment back then.
Though, that was partly because she had been kidnapped by the Holy Angel Academy first...
But what would happen when over a hundred upperclassmen gathered?
Given enough time, the aftershocks of their battle would be enough to bring a city to a standstill!
Of course, that was only if they went all out. Because of the "you break it, you pay for it" principle, most people were quite restrained.
Even with the academy's subsidies for damages caused during recruitment, there was a limit to how much they would cover if large-scale infrastructure was destroyed.
"Wait! Don't you care about my feelings at all?! I'm the student! Shouldn't I be the one to decide which academy I go to?!"
Suddenly, amidst the tense atmosphere, a youthful roar caused many of those present to freeze in surprise.
This was the second time Yang Yunhan had shouted his thoughts at the top of his lungs. Compared to the first time, he had improved significantly; at least his speech was clear, and his voice didn't crack from over-excitement.
The first time he had expressed his thoughts this way was at home, the last time he saw his parents... That time, his parents had slapped him across the face, knocking him to the ground.
But this time... no one slapped him. Because the reality of society would educate him in a much more aggressive manner.
"Then, which academy do you want to choose?"
In the heavy silence, Xia Li was the first to step forward and break the stillness caused by the boy's anger.
"I... I..." Yang Yunhan was suddenly at a loss for words.
He hadn't actually thought it through. During this time, his mind had been ravaged by those words, constantly belittling himself to the point where he had no real goal.
It wasn't until he saw his score that he gained some confidence, realizing he was a genius. Only then did he wake up.
He had been immersed in the idea that he was entitled to choose his favorite Transcendent Academy, but he had never considered that this "freedom" of choice was exactly like the "freedom" of leaving his parents.
When it came down to making a specific choice, he had no basis, no plan—only a vacant stare.
Objectively speaking, one couldn't blame Yang Yunhan.
He didn't come from a Transcendent Family; he was from an ordinary household. Such families had no way of knowing about the Transcendent Academies. Even if a child from an ordinary family wanted to make a plan, they had no access to information.
Everything they knew about the Transcendent Academies was exactly what the academies wanted them to know. There was no room for regret.
This was why most Transcendent Academies didn't allow freshmen to leave the campus after enrollment—because most students from ordinary families found that the reality of the academy was vastly different from what they had imagined.
After being "hard-crowd-controlled" for dozens of seconds by the question "Which academy do you want to choose?", Yang Yunhan looked toward the Mechanical Wizard not far away.
Since he was a child, he had been interested in mechanical things, but he had little contact with them in real life. His home used to be filled with broken toys...
So, for this crucial turning point in his life, he relied on those few dozen seconds to decide the rest of his future.
"I choose you! You're from the Wizard Academy, right?! You called me a few days ago and said you wanted to admit me!"
As Yang Yunhan boldly announced his choice, the Holy Angel Academy students lying like corpses on the ground took another hit—a psychological one.
They had thought Yang Yunhan would choose them!
Even if they were in a pathetic state, even a single mention of them would have been a comfort. At least it would have shown that their failure to take him back was a matter of ability, not a lack of appeal.
But now... Yang Yunhan didn't even want to give them a second glance!
The Holy Light Church's financial support for his family, their care, their help in driving away the harassment from the Lesser Demon Academy a year ago... it had all become a joke!
"Good! Good! You have a great eye! A real man should choose to be a Wizard!"
The people from the Wizard Academy burst into joyful laughter upon hearing his decision.
They weren't worried that Yang Yunhan's choice would make them a target for everyone else.
Because the choice Yang Yunhan thought he could make for himself was... worthless to the upperclassmen of the various Transcendent Academies present!
If Yang Yunhan could decide his own path just by talking, then why had so many of them come here?
In the end, everything depended on who was more capable.
However, Xia Li from the Witch Academy was infuriated by Yang Yunhan's choice.
"You! Yang Yunhan, you actually chose the Wizard Academy? Don't you know your sister is at the Witch Academy?!"
"My sister... my sister... don't you dare mention her! What is she even supposed to be? Isn't she already dead?!"
Yang Yunhan repeated the title "sister," and it seemed to ignite a fire of rebellion in his heart. He had finally managed to step out from the shadow that figure had cast over him...
Why on earth... would he go to the Witch Academy where that person had gone!
Besides, that academy would turn him into a girl... how disgusting.
"Do you even know what you're saying... Yang Yuehan is your sister! Don't you know that?! I've never seen someone as cold-hearted as you. She's dead, and yet you're here gloating?!"
"That person deserved to die. I don't want a sister like that. Only with her gone can I finally have my day in the sun! That person only scored in the 500s... but I scored over 700! I am the true genius."
"You... you... scores... what do scores even matter..." Xia Li was nearly driven mad with rage by Yang Yunhan. She couldn't see a single trace of the former Yang Yuehan in this person.
When she heard that Yang Yuehan had fallen, persecuted and plotted against by the other academies, she had been heartbroken for a long time.
Her appearance here today wasn't at anyone's request; she had come of her own accord.
But now it seemed... this person wasn't worth her effort.
And so, fuming with rage, Xia Li turned and left without a single look back.
With Xia Li's departure, the people from the Witch Academy were also shocked. Many of the students who had come here were members of the Xiao Han Fan Club.
But if Xiao Han's brother was this kind of person... honestly, many of them felt the same way as Xia Li and wanted to turn around and leave.
This kind of person didn't deserve to enter the Witch Academy!
The other half, however... were thinking about how to kidnap this arrogant Yang Yunhan to the Witch Academy and show him exactly what Witches were capable of.
Such a disobedient younger brother... the members of the Xiao Han Fan Club would have to educate him properly on Xiao Han's behalf!
"I've already chosen the Wizard Academy, haven't I? Why aren't you taking me away?"
At this point, Yang Yunhan saw the person he had driven away and didn't care. Instead, he looked at the people from the Wizard Academy.
"You've made your choice, but we haven't made ours. We're glad you chose the Wizard Academy, but go stand to the side. Don't get in the way of our performance."
"Wha... what do you mean?" Yang Yunhan was confused by the situation.
"Don't you understand? Your choice is meaningless. Which academy you ultimately end up in is still decided by our strength!" someone from the other side explained to Yang Yunhan in a condescending tone.
"Scores? Genius? Who here wasn't a genius back in the day? You're proud of a 700? I was only eight points away from a perfect score! And even I didn't get this kind of treatment!"
"Let the battle begin! Don't hold back, everyone. Let's show this uninitiated newbie the cruelty of the Transcendent world!"
Accompanied by these piercing mocks, a grand melee officially began before Yang Yunhan's naive eyes!