Chapter 762: [Transcendent Knowledge] Fragment—Ice Sealed World
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 762: [Transcendent Knowledge] Fragment—Ice Sealed World
"Quick! Abort the operation! That brat Yang Yuehan has actually stepped in to interfere!"
"But... we're just giving up like this? What do we do afterward? What about April?"
"You're still worried about her? She can't even save herself, don't you get it? Yang Yuehan even dragged her mentor here! Do you really want to wait and see what else she’s capable of?"
Amidst a flurry of frustrated whispers, those with ulterior motives in the spectator stands began to slip away in silence.
Previously, they had thought, She’s just a teaching assistant. What could she possibly do to interfere?
Victory or defeat didn't matter for the two in the arena. If things really turned into a riot, even Yang Yuehan would be flayed alive by public opinion—at least, they were confident they could use their fan clubs to ignite a fierce flame war on the Academy Network. Either way, they would have benefited.
But no one expected that the other side didn't care about winning or losing either!
After this match, no one would remember the score. They would only remember a teaching assistant who entered an Unrestricted Match against a lower-year student, only to be hauled away by her own mentor and stripped of her position.
Since they could no longer control the situation, there was no point in wallowing in the mud with their opponent. It was better to cut their losses and wait for the next opportunity.
That was their consensus.
* * *
Down in the arena.
After a series of exchanges and tactical probing, both sides were nearing their critical limits.
April had seen almost all of Tan Han’s tricks, and Tan Han had grown familiar with April’s combat style, which relied on the massive output of her Medium Consumption Spellbook.
Though this was only Tan Han's second time fighting a teaching assistant, in terms of skill, the high-year students she had faced previously were already approaching this level. The only real difference between those seniors and a teaching assistant was the title.
"Tan Han, don't you have that one last move? Why haven't you used it yet! If you don't act now... you won't get another chance!"
"Don't you have other tricks up your sleeve as well? You're the one who's losing her cool first, aren't you?" Tan Han shot back, refusing to yield an inch.
While the current situation didn't clearly favor either side, the psychological warfare was still necessary.
After all, this was an Unrestricted Match.
"Then... witness this!" After the verbal sparring, April suddenly chose to take the initiative, revealing her trump card.
However, April’s ace was neither a second spellbook nor a powerful alchemical tool.
She pulled out a crystal-like object. Inside, patterns resembling ice-blue runes seemed to be frozen in time.
"Ice element? Are you sure you want to use that to go head-to-head with my Staff of Absolute Cold?" Tan Han relaxed slightly upon seeing the "trump card." Her Staff of Absolute Cold was a fragment of [Transcendent Knowledge]; she believed nothing could compare to it.
"Is that so? Then let me teach you one more lesson... in battle, the power of a technique is never the only thing that matters!" April abruptly activated the crystal, and an invisible force enveloped the entire arena.
A bone-chilling cold seemed to freeze the very air. The hum of freezing ice and the harsh creaking of expanding frost echoed in their ears.
This eerie phenomenon caused Tan Han’s spellcasting hand to hesitate for a split second, but her physical instincts quickly told her it was an illusion. There was no ice; she could still move freely. She was still the master of this world of ice and snow.
"You're not even going to dodge?"
Tan Han regained her composure, her spell already formed. But her opponent seemed to be dazed, standing still, her gaze fixed on Tan Han.
Is it over?
The opponent wasn't defending, and Tan Han's ice spell was about to pierce through her. Even with Immortality, an attack of this magnitude would shatter and freeze the body instantly. Even if it didn't kill her, she wouldn't be able to use self-healing to resist the freezing cold!
Squelch!
As the winning ice spell pierced through the body, Tan Han’s smile vanished. The opponent’s body ignored the spell entirely, passing through it like a ghost.
"How does it feel to be deceived by your own habitual perception?"
April didn't waste her advantage. Ignoring the incoming ice spells, she quickly repositioned herself.
"Ice spell immunity? No... Spatial Magic?"
"Do you really think I'd tell you?"
"Spatial Magic..." Tan Han made a swift judgment.
Even though she couldn't feel the spatial influence, as far as her eyes could see, the entire arena was covered in a frozen vision.
This situation exceeded her understanding. Perhaps it was an overlapping Ice Sealed Space, or some other method...
"Even if I can't hit you, the moment you try to attack me will be your opening!"
"So what? I still hold the initiative!" April said disdainfully.
She was surprised that Tan Han had linked this power to space so quickly and identified the weakness, but she had already established total dominance. For Tan Han to land a hit, she would have to pay a much higher price.
April even controlled the timing of when Tan Han could attempt an attack!
Tan Han, having processed the shock and accepted reality, wasn't about to sit and wait for death.
Space... the power of space seemed invincible, but that was a form of self-inflicted panic born from a lack of understanding.
Tan Han had read descriptions of space. Ever since she obtained the Great Knowledge Seed, she had loved constantly accumulating knowledge as a reserve.
Space... was actually a very fragile attribute.
Any transcendent energy, once it reached a certain level, could interfere with space. Transcendents could even tear space apart with their bare hands.
At least, that was how the books described "Material Space" within a world.
Did she have any means to affect space?
Yes, she did.
The Staff of Absolute Cold.
Back when the staff was still the Crown of Absolute Zero, it could emit a chill even when stored inside a spatial equipment.
This Absolute Zero, which transcended Material Space and non-transcendent physical laws, seemed capable of interfering with space.
Tan Han didn't hesitate.
"Finally unleashing the ultimate move of that wand? It seems you really are at your wit's end! But what's the point? You can't hit me."
"We'll see about that!" Tan Han gripped the staff with both hands, wielding it like a melee weapon.
As the Absolute Zero was unleashed, Tan Han had to layer defensive spells on herself. This power didn't truly belong to her, and the aftershocks of Absolute Zero wouldn't spare even the wielder.
Although the staff had been designed with a "blind spot" for the holder, the activated state of Absolute Zero was far beyond what a simple blind spot could protect against!
Theoretically, this power had no blind spots; the chill was everywhere.
As Tan Han swung the staff, the space the head passed through seemed to create ripples of shattering ice crystals.
The crisp sound of ice breaking echoed across the arena.
Even April instinctively dodged when she saw Tan Han’s attack.
"You aren't sure if you'll get hurt either... are you!" Tan Han immediately called out her opponent's lack of confidence.
"So what!" April huffed. She cast a summoning spell she wasn't particularly skilled in, and a golem made of earth gradually coalesced.
"Trying to test me on the fly? Fine, I'll give you the chance!" Tan Han charged the earth golem. Its sluggish movements and the caster's clumsy control were proof enough that April wasn't skilled in coordinated combat with summons.
With a single strike of Absolute Zero, the earth golem was instantly frozen solid. With a heavy thud from the Staff of Absolute Cold, the golem shattered into ice shards and vanished completely. The freezing effect had even reached the core of the summon's spell—a testament to its terrifying power.
"It looks like your tricks are useless now!" Tan Han shouted excitedly.
The Staff of Absolute Cold could cross the layer of spatial magic and deal direct damage!
That was the attitude Tan Han projected for April to see.
However, Tan Han had discovered a deeper effect during that strike, one she didn't show.
How did the Staff of Absolute Cold manage to hit something in another Ice Sealed Space?
It was by tearing through the boundary between Material Space and the Ice Sealed Space. The attack wasn't just energy crossing spatial layers.
The fact that her "physical attack" just now had shattered the summon's ice crystals proved many things.
She could personally cross from Material Space into the Ice Sealed Space to deal damage to April!
It was a brilliant information gap, but... she would only have one chance for a sneak attack.
Once the opponent realized this, she would be on guard.
Furthermore, the fact that April had to use an unfamiliar summoning spell to test if she would take damage proved she didn't fully understand her own tool.
Thus, Tan Han judged that this tool had been given to April by someone specifically to counter her.
Precisely because the opponent lacked understanding of her own power, Tan Han believed the sneak attack would work.
Now... Tan Han needed to reinforce the impression that "her spells" couldn't hurt April.
April had mentioned being deceived by habitual perception, hadn't she? Then let her feel what it was like to be deceived herself!
"Again?"
April saw Tan Han casting another spell at her and instinctively dodged. Since the staff could directly damage her summons within the Ice Sealed World, it could damage her too!
She had to maintain her distance.
The opponent was trying spells again... April judged that Tan Han was testing if she could imbue that space-crossing lethality into her spells.
But... was that even possible?
Her understanding of magic was far deeper than Tan Han’s!
No imbued power could cross space to apply to a spell's effect.
Unless the spell itself was a part of that staff, or the attack reached a level of intensity that could break space, no amount of amplification would matter. They were in different spaces; she couldn't be touched while inside the Ice Sealed World.
She just had to watch out for the opponent throwing the staff itself... In an instant, April had made her judgment and prepared her defenses.
In April's view, the overwhelming barrage of low-consumption spells, even with the staff's buff, still couldn't hurt her.
This match was still her home field!
For a time, the momentum on the field shifted. Tan Han was being suppressed continuously; the method April employed seemed truly invincible.
* * *
In the stands.
"Sister Chris, what kind of technique is that?" I asked, pointing at the Ice Sealed Space April was using.
"I'm not quite sure~ But seeing how unfamiliar April is with it, it doesn't look like her own thing at all," Sister Chris said with a helpless wave of her hand, indicating it wasn't hers either.
"I see..." I activated my Ley Line Identification Art to analyze the object.
"Well? Did you find anything, Xiao Han?" Chris asked expectantly.
"I have... It's called 'Ice Sealed World.' It's not a spellbook, nor is it an alchemical item..." I looked at the object. The Luck clinging to it further corroborated its identity. "Ice Sealed World... that's its name. It's similar to Absolute Zero... they are fragments belonging to the same piece of [Transcendent Knowledge]."
"Interesting~ Where did April get such a thing?" Chris muttered, watching April with genuine curiosity.
"The Wizard Academy... she seems to have ties with them... Wait... is her family in the Wizard Academy's sphere of influence? So... she was brought into the Witch Academy?"
"That's right. She was brought into the Witch Academy. When I chose her as my teaching assistant, I thought that since she wasn't from a local family, she could let go of the past and fly higher... but I didn't expect her to still be trapped by her family's ideology... Sigh, what a waste..."
"..."
I didn't respond. The issue was far too strange. If the Ice Sealed World April held was obtained from the Wizard Academy... why?
This was a [Transcendent Knowledge] fragment!
It was incredibly precious. Why give it away?
Moreover, in the transcendent properties of this "Ice Sealed World," I saw shadows of the Wizard Academy's "False World Spatial Great Witchcraft."
I recalled rumors that the Great Witchcraft was a byproduct of researching [Transcendent Knowledge]... It couldn't be this "Ice Sealed World" fragment, could it?
* * *
Back in the arena.
April’s dominance had pushed Tan Han to the brink. The advantage gained from constantly switching between Material Space and the Ice Sealed Space was growing.
Tan Han could only use her lowest-consumption Blizzard spells to shroud the entire arena.
As long as the opponent appeared in Material Space, she could use the displacement of the snow to detect her and counterattack immediately.
Though it caused April some trouble, it was ultimately negligible.
"April! You think you've won just like this!" Tan Han could no longer maintain her previous composure; even shouting seemed difficult.
To April, that roar—the symbol of final resistance—was nothing more than a futile struggle.
"Can't hold on anymore? Your spells are useless against me!"
"Die!" Tan Han gripped the Staff of Absolute Cold and seized another chance to close the distance.
"You think I'll give you the chance to get close?" April used a pre-charged Blink to instantly pull away.
And that was exactly the opportunity Tan Han had been waiting for.
She had led her opponent to believe that "Distance = Safety."
That was the equivalence Tan Han wanted April to hold in her heart. It would be the very thing that killed her.
"Damn it! How do you still have the energy to Blink..." Tan Han roared as if driven to madness by the failed strike. No one noticed the ripples of shattered ice crystals left behind by the swinging Staff of Absolute Cold.
In that moment, Tan Han charged her strongest spell once more.
"Extreme Cold Light!"
Terrifying mana poured into the spell. The beam of absolute cold converged into a blinding spot of light, shrouding Tan Han’s figure. No one noticed that the blizzard covering the arena was now passing through Tan Han’s body without resistance.
She had already used the path carved by the Staff of Absolute Cold to cross from Material Space into the Ice Sealed World. She did this to deliver a fatal blow to the coward hiding there!
The next instant...
"Extreme... Burst!"
The energy beam she had been charging for so long erupted!
Buffed by the power of the Staff of Absolute Cold, it shattered the ice crystals within the Ice Sealed World, surging toward April at a speed she couldn't possibly escape.
April couldn't use Blink twice in such short succession. Her fate was sealed!
The beam of extreme cold instantly engulfed April’s form.
Only the terrifying sound of shattering ice crystals echoed through the arena.
For a moment, it was as if someone had pressed the pause button on the match.
But in the next second, the entire arena erupted in cheers for Tan Han’s impending victory!