Chapter 761: A Dimensional Strike from a Transcendent Mentor
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 761: A Dimensional Strike from a Transcendent Mentor
"Eh? You are..."
Suddenly pulled into a hug by a figure from behind, I heard a voice that was both strange and familiar. I couldn't quite place who it was.
However, just from the sound and the tone of her voice, I was certain of one thing... this person teasing me was definitely a Transcendent Witch!
"You really did forget, didn't you? Don't you remember your Sister Chris?" As the witch calling herself Chris spoke in a dejected tone, she finally let go.
"Eh? Sister Chris?" Hearing the name, a somewhat distant memory surfaced.
I say "distant," but in reality, it had only been a little over a semester. We had met back when I first became famous.
I turned my head to look at her, only to be immediately met by two wicked hands pinching my cheeks.
"Aww~ It looks like you haven't forgotten after all~" Chris said with a laugh.
Back when I first became famous among the Transcendent Witch mentors, Chris was one of the idlest among them.
She was also the one who made me realize that as long as they were witches, they all loved being called "Sister." She was the familiar type who would pinch my cheeks every time we met...
"Sister Chris, what are you doing at the Arena?" I asked curiously after letting her finish fussing over me.
I really hadn't expected a competitive event between students to attract the attention of the witch mentors.
But then I remembered she was one of the Academy's biggest loafers—a "street-wandering" witch—and suddenly it didn't seem so strange.
"Of course~ Even Transcendent Witches come to the Arena sometimes~ It's just that many of them care too much about their image to show up in public. But I'm different~"
"Different? So, Sister Chris, you're showing up here fair and square, right?"
"Why do you make it sound like I have no shame? I actually rarely come to the Arena. I only came this time because of an accident." Chris sat down beside me with a smile, completely disregarding her status as a mentor.
"An accident?"
"That's right. Are you curious, Xiao Han? If you can guess why I'm here, I'll take you to see a good show~"
"This... how am I supposed to guess that?" I looked at Chris's expectant smile, feeling a bit put on the spot.
However, I began to think calmly.
Chris wouldn't come to the Arena for no reason. If she had business to attend to, there was no need to come here. The fact that she saw me and could silently approach while shielding my perception suggested it might be related to me. Otherwise... she couldn't have come all this way just to pinch my cheeks, right?
A clue quickly flashed through my mind because my Knowledge Shadow instinctively retrieved keywords for "Chris" within the Tree of Great Knowledge.
Tracing the source, I found the information originated from the data shared with Tan Han's Identification Art.
"Wait... Sister Chris, you... uh... your teaching assistant wouldn't happen to be the one on the field, would she?"
"Eh? You even found such an obscure connection? Did you cheat using the Tree of Great Knowledge?" Chris spoke in surprise, her tone confirming my suspicion.
"You didn't say I couldn't use other means to cheat, Sister Chris," I said with a grin, acting as if I were making an excuse.
"Fine, fine~ I'll count that as a correct guess. Sigh~ My little assistant went behind my back to the Arena to challenge a lower-year student. As her mentor, I naturally had to come and watch the fun... I mean, supervise her. She doesn't do her proper work and spends her time making things difficult for a junior. She's really forgotten everything I taught her."
"Uh..."
I was somewhat speechless at Chris's motivation, but I truly hadn't expected Tan Han's duel to draw out a mentor.
"Aww~ Look at my worthless little assistant. Both of you are teaching assistants..." Chris said, her gaze shifting back and forth between me and the field. "Why is the gap so huge?"
"Uh... don't look at me, I'm not sure either..."
"Alright, I'll stop teasing~ Although little April didn't end up meeting my expectations, she's usually quite useful. It's just a pity... in the end, she chose her family..."
"So... she failed to cross the Ley Line Shackles?" I asked tentatively.
"You could say that~ Since she's chosen this outcome, she has to face the price of that choice. That's why I'm here." As Chris spoke, the lightheartedness vanished from her tone.
While there were no explicit rules stating what a teaching assistant had to achieve by a certain time, since the choice of a teaching assistant was subjective, once you could no longer meet a mentor's expectations, the final outcome left no room for negotiation.
"It looks like I'll need to scout for a new teaching assistant. Xiao Han~ do you have any recommendations?"
"Me? I don't know many people..."
"That's true. You're so busy, Xiao Han, you really wouldn't have time to help me find a new little assistant. What a pity~" Chris sighed, then shifted the topic. "Xiao Han, do you think I should go down now and drag my little assistant away, or wait until the match is over? Honestly, for a teaching assistant to bully a lower-year student... I feel ashamed for her."
"Um... let's wait until after the match."
"I think after the match would be good too. After all, the audience is so enthusiastic; it wouldn't be right to ruin their fun. The other girl on the field is Tan Han, right?"
"Yes."
"The wand in her hand is quite interesting."
"The wand Tan Han is holding is called the Staff of Absolute Cold. It was crafted from a [Transcendent Knowledge] Fragment. By the way, Sister Chris, do you know any inside information about that?" I asked.
"Eh? You're asking me? Do I look like someone who would know?"
"Well, I was just asking on the off-chance. After all, quite a few students in the academy have been cracking their heads and using every means possible for that [Transcendent Knowledge]."
"Is that so? How interesting."
I didn't pursue the topic further.
Since Sister Chris didn't say it outright, then regardless of whether she knew the inside story, she wouldn't say anything—especially since I wasn't the only one present.
However, I had to admit that Chris's arrival had disrupted some of my plans. Specifically, her relationship with that teaching assistant would make the development of many future events quite dramatic.
Originally, I had planned to give Tan Han a simple hand after the match. If Tan Han still won, many troubles could be avoided.
I could use my status as a teaching assistant to request Tan Han's cooperation for an experiment. While not mandatory, as long as I offered conditions Tan Han couldn't refuse, I could forcibly remove her from those people's sights.
This would effectively transfer Tan Han's troubles to me, and I was betting they wouldn't dare move against me.
If Tan Han lost this challenge, those people would take the opportunity to move to the next phase of their plan—whether it was plotting to seize the Staff of Absolute Cold or targeting Tan Han's Luck for a Luck struggle. That would also be my time to step in.
They could conduct a Luck struggle openly, but they couldn't just snatch the Staff of Absolute Cold using a lame excuse like "your strength isn't worthy of such a weapon."
If they really held that mindset, it would actually be simpler. I could use the very excuse they provided to legitimately seize everything they owned.
Unfortunately, those people likely had some brains, and they definitely knew I was on-site. To do something like that, they would have to be completely out of their minds.
So, even if Tan Han ultimately failed, I could still protect her and her Staff of Absolute Cold, and reasonably extract her from this situation, denying them a chance for their next move. However, Tan Han would still be unable to recover many things lost in defeat.
Even if her opponent was a teaching assistant, there was no leeway.
But it didn't matter. When I decided to help Tan Han, I had already thought of a series of arrangements.
The reason for taking Tan Han away wasn't fabricated; it was real: the experiment for the Self-Generated Mana subject.
Even if Tan Han ended in failure, once she reappeared with Self-Generated Mana, she would still have a chance to win everything back.
This experiment eventually needed to be promoted. Relying on me alone, or Yi Rui and the others, wouldn't be enough.
Initially, I had planned to have Millian select some representative students from my fan club to try it out.
But I was truly worried about the quality of the fan club, and more importantly, I wasn't familiar with them. So, the idea of promoting Self-Generated Mana was still in its infancy.
Furthermore, Millian herself wasn't suitable to be the main subject for promotion and publicity—at least compared to Tan Han.
At the very least, in the beginning, no one from the fan club was suitable.
But... what about Tan Han?
As a lower-year student who had just started her second year this semester, she had reached the level of fighting a teaching-assistant-tier enemy thanks to the Staff of Absolute Cold.
If she were used to promote Self-Generated Mana, she would naturally be a living advertisement, and it would also give her a chance to shed the "Staff of Absolute Cold" label.
Moreover... I looked around. Although Tan Han's fan club had disbanded after a setback, there were still many people truly supporting her.
While the physical talent of Self-Generated Mana sounded powerful, many people had no concept of it without a concrete example.
Although I was an example myself, I didn't want to use myself for promotion; it would cause a lot of unnecessary misunderstandings.
I believed that if Tan Han possessed Self-Generated Mana, with a mana source limit far exceeding ten thousand and the powerful mana affinity granted by the physical talent, she could bridge the gap even without an over-consumption spellbook.
Of course, the main benefits of the Self-Generated Mana physical talent were the removal of the ten thousand mana source limit and the ability to learn and use mana source condensation techniques.
This meant she could become stronger on her own.
At this stage, that was the greatest and most direct advantage of Self-Generated Mana. Furthermore, the more mana sources one had, the more terrifying the mana recovery effect became.
A magic turret that didn't have to worry about mana consumption was the purest form of battlefield suppression!
And now... Sister Chris's appearance had indeed added many extra variables to the final outcome.
Regardless of the end result, based on Sister Chris's appearance and our conversation, things seemed to be developing in my favor.
And that was indeed the case.
Somewhere in the Arena, the students who were constantly monitoring my section of the stands were practically dumbfounded.
This unrestricted match between Tan Han and the teaching assistant named April was being watched by many clubs and groups within the academy. The reason they were watching Tan Han was, naturally, because she was the "tall poppy" in this Luck struggle.
Add to that the fact that she currently held the Staff of Absolute Cold, and it was full of hype. No one liked to see a genius rising; they only liked to see a genius fall.
Whether Tan Han won or lost, it would create a wave of heat on the academy network, but the ultimate goal was to suppress her.
If she failed, they would trample her; if she succeeded, they would praise her to the skies, and then when she finally failed, the higher she had been praised, the harder she would fall.
Why were there so many people cheering for Tan Han in the Arena right now?
Aside from those who genuinely supported her, many were influenced by the victory she had achieved after actively challenging that teaching assistant.
Right now, Tan Han was being held aloft. Once she failed, she would suffer the backlash of her previous victory.
Originally, this was their plan, and they were long accustomed to using such methods.
So now they were all waiting for such a result. Whether she won or lost, Tan Han had no room for error.
In fact, many people didn't have high hopes for Tan Han in this battle. After all, her opponent was a teaching assistant named April.
If the previous teaching assistant had merely been egged on to target Tan Han—much like how Liliana had been arranged to provoke the teaching assistant "Yang Yuehan" back then—then this second match was a meticulously prepared trap.
Teaching Assistant April's strength was unquestionable. As a veteran teaching assistant, she wasn't one of those fools who would be egged on to throw their lives away in a moment of heat. Moreover, she was willing to act for her family, as a final act of devotion.
Her status as a teaching assistant was nearing its end. That was the main reason she agreed to lower herself to target Tan Han—she no longer had any concerns.
The plot should have developed this way, and many didn't expect Tan Han to win—until the teaching assistant named "Yang Yuehan" appeared at the Arena.
Her appearance immediately put many people on high alert!
Consequently, those who were originally there just to monitor the situation were given an additional task after reporting this: to keep a constant eye on the movements of this "Yang Yuehan."
After calming down, many realized they were overreacting.
Even if this legendary little witch teaching assistant was famous, what could she do alone?
They were targeting Tan Han, not her. Even if this teaching assistant wanted to help, how could she?
By causing a scene in the Arena?
That would be meaningless!
But before they could relax, they received another piece of bad news!
This "Yang Yuehan" had actually "invited" the mentor whom April followed!
They didn't know why Mentor Chris had come, but regardless of the reason, the fact was that she was here.
And she was chatting and laughing with "Yang Yuehan"...
This overwhelming sense of intimidation seemed to mock their incompetence. No matter how they plotted or calculated, such a dimensional strike made all their efforts utterly meaningless!