Chapter 724: Luck Wizard Tools, Fool's Dream, and the Reverse Summoning Spell
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 724: Luck Wizard Tools, Fool's Dream, and the Reverse Summoning Spell
"What is that?!"
The moment the people from the Wizard Academy pulled that object out, a wave of palpitations washed over everyone present.
It was a crystal ball, not particularly large—only about the size of a palm. It was transparent, and something appeared to be sealed within its core.
Most of the students from the Witch Academy present were upperclassmen, but they weren't necessarily high-ranking members of major organizations like the Jack-of-all-trades Club. Consequently, they didn't recognize the presence of "Luck" immediately.
Even their Spirit Vision couldn't help them see the threads of Luck, and they were even less familiar with the concept of "Luck Items."
However, the fact that the Wizard Academy had produced such a thing proved several points.
For one, it meant the Wizard Academy possessed figures capable of manipulating Luck, similar to the "Luck Alchemists" of the Witch Academy.
Furthermore, it proved that Transcendent Wizards had already intervened in this kidnapping operation!
"Do you really think we'd be kind enough to tell you?" The wizards cackled, as if the witches' confusion was a source of immense mockery.
To them, these people were merely ignorant of the truth. They didn't understand why this "scramble" had been orchestrated in the first place.
Their gathering here was driven by the flow of Luck. By accepting this mission, they had voluntarily stepped into the web woven by Luck. Now that they had produced a Wizard Tool capable of manipulating and bestowing Luck, they were the ones in control!
In their eyes, the two sides were on entirely different levels. Everyone across from them was a puppet of Luck, while they were the masters who had entered the game to seize the board!
"By the way, does this thing actually work?"
At that moment, someone on the Wizard Academy's side whispered a question. Not every wizard in the operation was aware of the Luck crystal ball.
However, this was a mission from a Transcendent Wizard, and they had to complete it. That wizard intended to use this opportunity to harvest Luck.
Under deliberate guidance, a massive amount of Luck had gathered around Yang Yunhan. In particular, the connections he had inadvertently formed were influencing the very direction of the world.
This guidance had intensified after the College Entrance Exam, but even before then, a significant amount of Luck had already converged on him. This was what had allowed him to tap into the Luck distribution of the College Entrance Exam Ritual, resulting in his extraordinary performance.
The purpose of the exam was to select Transcendent talent, and hard work was not the only path. Those with Luck were like darlings of fortune; luck was considered a part of one's strength. The exam's Luck Ritual simply incorporated a person's Luck into their final score.
Even those without Luck could change their destiny through sheer academic ability—provided they considered getting into a top Transcendent academy to be "changing their destiny."
Thus, the wizards knew perfectly well that Yang Yunhan's score was problematic. While the exam recognized hidden "Luck bonuses," such scores were generally not respected by the participants. No one liked a "privilege" that wasn't their own.
Moreover, they had learned that even with the Luck bonus, Yang Yunhan had only scored in the low seven hundreds, which was the source of their earlier mockery.
Genius? Anyone capable of entering a top academy was a genius!
This only made the wizards more certain: if Yang Yunhan were brought to the Wizard Academy, he would face only one end. A Transcendent Wizard from a Wizard Tower would strip away that massive power of Luck and refine it into a Luck Wizard Tool!
In truth, there was a second path for those blessed by Luck at the Wizard Academy: being favored and invested in.
For instance, Ian Garland of the Wizard Academy was a Child of Destiny who was highly regarded. During his first Exchange Competition after enrollment, he had been kept in reserve, and Lucianne Politt had been sent to the Witch Academy instead.
Lucianne Politt was a Child of Destiny who hadn't been favored. In the end, he had turned into... Lucianne at the Witch Academy.
Even if he hadn't been snatched away by the Witch Academy, upon returning to his own academy, the Luck Seed and all the Luck he held would have been stripped by a Transcendent Wizard who had his eye on them.
His fate would have been predictable.
Perhaps, without realizing it, Lucianne Politt's Luck Seed had led him to make the most correct choice at the Witch Academy, becoming Lucianne and escaping the tragic fate of becoming a research specimen.
Based on their brief contact, the wizards believed that if this naive, common-sense-lacking brat actually made it to the Wizard Academy, merely surviving would be his best-case scenario. And yet, at the start, he had been shouting about wanting to join them.
The wizards had nearly burst out laughing at the time.
But now... the wizards knew they had to show their real strength!
Luck was truly a miraculous thing.
If Ley Line energy represented "Bearing"—the idea that the life and soul essence of everyone within the world is carried upon the Ley Lines, born to die and dying to be reborn, a relationship known as the "Ley Line Shackles"—then the power of Luck represented "Pushing" and "Empowerment."
Everyone within the world is pushed by Luck, and those favored and empowered by it can obtain unimaginable power! These moments are known as the dramatic turning points or event nodes within the World Script.
A Luck Wizard Tool was an artificial "event node." This was the wisdom of the wizards: a product that leveraged the rules of the World Script for their own use.
Thus, once the Luck Wizard Tool was activated, the Luck empowerment didn't go to the Child of Destiny it favored, but to the holder of the Luck Item.
However, precisely because its effects were so heaven-defying, its restrictions were numerous.
For example, a Luck Wizard Tool could not generate Luck out of thin air. Its use required it to be within the range of an ongoing Luck event.
Furthermore, the influence it generated had to have a positive effect on the world. If it didn't, once the item left the holder's possession, the holder would suffer a backlash similar to the "World Curse" that follows the severing of Ley Line Shackles. Their luck would become extremely abysmal until the Luck affected by the event stabilized.
So, what exactly was the empowerment provided by this Luck Wizard Tool?
The most direct effect was an increase in strength. The power of Luck could not directly participate in concepts like "attack power" or "destructive force," but its empowerment could ensure that the user's Transcendent power was utilized to its absolute maximum!
Even one's consciousness, combat reactions, and probability of success would be enhanced. This kind of all-encompassing empowerment usually only appeared on a Child of Destiny, and even then, only at critical turning points.
This "irresistible" power was jokingly referred to as the power of a "Script-kill." At the very least, those who had not broken through the limitations of the Script could not defy the absolute correctness dictated by these Script rules.
Even those who barely managed to break through but had not reached the Transcendent boundary would still face immense suppression. After all, they were essentially fighting against the world itself!
This was the unreasonable nature of Luck. Those under its rules could not defy the established Script. To break this "predestination," one had to obtain power from outside the rules.
For instance... the power systems of the various Transcendent academies.
The power systems of Transcendent races were forces that existed outside the rules of the Main World's Luck Script. The more one practiced such power, the more they could escape the shackles of those rules.
Originally, this was meant to be the path toward severing the Ley Line Shackles—the original intention behind the various academies spreading their respective Transcendent race power systems.
However, more and more people in the Witch Academy focused only on Mana Sources and spellbooks themselves, neglecting the development of the Witch power system. They allowed their Mana Sources to slowly push the growth of their life tier, which led to a yearly decrease in the number of witches ascending to the Transcendent level and an increasing number of people trapped by the Ley Line Shackles.
Of course, there were also issues with teaching methods, which was why the Witch Academy was seeking reform.
This wasn't unique to the Witch Academy; all Transcendent academies faced similar issues, though the manifestation was more obvious in the Witch Academy.
"Enough talk. Since things have reached this point, there's nothing left to say!"
The wizards struck first. Under the empowerment of the Luck crystal ball, a golden radiance unique to Luck resonated with every thread of Luck attached to every person present.
In just the first wave of engagement, the Witch Academy's side felt a pressure entirely different from before!
"Millian! Help us, quick! Their strength isn't right!"
"Haha! Realizing how weak you are now? Did you really think we were serious when we were playing with you earlier? This is our true strength!"
The wizards were all empowered by Luck. This sensation of "the world moving in harmony with one's will" and the omnipresent good fortune manifested in every aspect of their spellcasting.
At this moment, they were like players in a game with a massive buff. They only needed to enjoy the thrill of the fight; everything in combat relied on Luck, because Luck would push them to make choices even more correct than their subjective consciousness!
Even as Millian joined the fray, the tide of battle did not improve.
"Yes! Come on... come on! The more people, the better!"
After Millian joined, the wizards felt their power climb to another level. This vortex of Luck was sweeping everyone in; Millian and her companions also represented a push of Luck, so her entry did not break the balance of Luck.
Millian herself was not particularly combat-oriented. Even with the Book in the Box in hand, she could only gain a slight advantage.
She couldn't truly "use" the Book in the Box, but she could utilize it superficially. For instance, when she had shattered the three layers of protection earlier, the Book in the Box had erupted with the power of the knowledge within and Annotation Techniques she didn't even understand.
She didn't need to understand them; knowing how to trigger them was enough.
As the battle between the Witch Academy and the Wizard Academy reached its peak, a certain figure was already terrified by the horrific aftershocks of the combat. He had no choice but to flee immediately!
No matter what, this was a very dangerous place...
"Dammit, that guy is trying to run!"
How could Yang Yunhan's fleeing figure escape the notice of Transcendent students? Both sides spotted him the moment he tried to bolt.
The one-sided pressure on the battlefield eased instantly.
"Dammit! Why can't we crush you even with Luck empowerment!" a wizard roared in frustration. Glaring at Millian and that irritating Book in the Box, he unleashed a burst of energy that knocked Millian back.
Seeing Yang Yunhan flee, they had originally intended to suppress the Witch Academy first and then retrieve him. But the reality was that while they were suppressing the witches, it wasn't thorough enough. If they waited until they defeated everyone from the Witch Academy, Yang Yunhan might have disappeared to who-knows-where.
Although they had tracking Wizard Tools and Yang Yunhan couldn't have gone far, they feared the idiot might be picked up by another Transcendent academy along the way!
"Luck?"
Millian was also startled. She was sent flying by the wizard's sudden burst of momentum, but that was all; she didn't sustain any serious injuries.
By now, the other witches had also realized what was happening.
They were familiar with the concept of Luck, after all. They just hadn't imagined that the Wizard Academy could actually empower themselves with it.
No wonder the wizards' strength felt so bizarre. The combat seemed the same as before, but it was incredibly frustrating to fight against!
"What should we do?"
"Stop them! We can't let them just run off with Yang Yunhan!"
With those few words, a clear objective was set, and the witches surged forward.
However, they still couldn't match the rapid reaction speed of the wizards, who had already caught up to the fleeing Yang Yunhan.
But it wasn't realistic for the wizards to just leave, either.
The flight speed of the Wizard Tools they possessed couldn't compare to the brooms of the Witch Academy. If they tried to outrun them, they would surely be caught.
As the leader of the Wizard Academy group, he knew that the witches across from them were all vulnerable under their Luck empowerment.
Except for one.
That was Millian, who held the Book in the Box. When fighting her, the empowerment brought by Luck didn't seem as "smooth" as it was against the others.
If they wanted to leave, they had to deal with Millian first.
"Millian, you said earlier that you didn't come here to bring Yang Yunhan back to the Witch Academy, didn't you?"
"I did come for Yang Yunhan, but... I won't necessarily take him away," Millian said. Since the opponent was willing to communicate, she wasn't going to just charge in blindly.
After all, the clash of strength had just proven they couldn't suppress the wizards while they were empowered by Luck!
"Then if you came for Yang Yunhan, what exactly is your purpose?"
"Naturally, it's for a promise. Yang Yuehan once said personally that when the scores came out, she would come to see her brother."
"That Yang Yuehan is already dead! Are you really going to oppose our Wizard Academy for such a pointless reason?!"
"It's you who are opposing me. Your Wizard Academy was involved in the plot to kill Sister Xiao Han, wasn't it?" Millian said. If these people hadn't targeted Sister Xiao Han, she wouldn't be running around like this.
"Don't talk nonsense. Those were individual actions. What does that have to do with our Wizard Academy?"
"It has everything to do with it. Do you really think Sister Xiao Han was killed by you just like that?"
"You! What do you mean by that!" Hearing Millian's words, the leader's heart instinctively skipped a beat.
That Yang Yuehan... isn't dead?!
Even if they firmly believed the fact of her death was unchangeable, the human instinct to fear the "what if" remained.
"What I mean is..."
Millian raised the Book in the Box. She could feel its power erupting. She wasn't the one controlling it, and if it wasn't her, who else could it be?
Its master, of course!
"I am waiting for someone. And what are you doing?"
Just as Millian finished speaking, a petite figure leaped out from the Book in the Box!
The figure was none other than Yulan, who had been shaped into a Mimicry Soul!
"Fool's Dream?!" This sudden, unexpected development caught even Millian off guard.
How could it be Fool's Dream?
Where was Xiao Han?!
But at that moment, Yulan, who had no physical body and existed only as a Mimicry Soul, stood atop the Book in the Box as if she had just remembered something.
"Oh! Sister Xiao Han's hypothesis was a success? Then next is this..."
Accompanied by Yulan's muttering, the Reverse Summoning Spell ritual engraved upon her Mimicry Soul instantly unfolded.