Chapter 773: Plans and Preparations for Transcendent Promotion
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 773: Plans and Preparations for Transcendent Promotion
The large training ground of the Witch Academy.
Perhaps this was the first time this particular training ground had ever seen such a massive gathering.
In just a few days, the vast space had been partitioned into various match zones, with tiered spectator stands erected along the perimeters and intersecting walkways.
For the foreseeable future, this training ground would be the focal point for the entire freshman class!
The boisterous venue and the enthusiastic students marked the first time these freshmen had ever witnessed a scene of such scale.
From the perspective of the mentors, this Freshman Competition might have seemed somewhat meager. But for the freshmen themselves, this was their very first tournament involving the use of Transcendent power!
As ordinary people who had only recently come into contact with Transcendent forces, how could they not be excited?
After their first practical combat class, where they experienced firsthand the shock brought by the Power Network, the bellicose instincts latent within the Witch Race Concept were fully ignited.
In this Freshman Competition, they finally had a practical combat stage to call their own!
Of course, not everyone in a class was the type to be interested in fighting. The Witch Academy didn't intend to raise a flock of "magic artillery girls" who knew nothing but how to squander power; the witches simply used this method to stimulate everyone's curiosity toward the Transcendent.
Even if... not everyone’s curiosity toward the Transcendent was directed at combat.
However, combat was often the most direct manifestation of Transcendent power. Peace maintained without the strength to back it up was nothing more than a reflection of the moon in water—it would shatter at the slightest touch.
The sheer volume of this competition, encompassing the entire freshman body, was immense. Consequently, the initial matches were essentially class warm-up matches—screening rounds conducted on a class-by-class basis.
In these matches, you could see students surrendering without a fight, comical defeats, frequent accidents, and, occasionally, genuine back-and-forth practical combat.
The edges of the partitioned arenas within the training ground were reinforced with simple, solidified protection spells to prevent injury to the spectating students. Those who were injured or defeated on the field were treated on-site by their respective class counselors.
After all, no matter how weak the Power Network was, the skills it facilitated were genuine Beyonder powers.
However, precisely because it was a Freshman Competition, the Power Network's output permissions for this training ground were set to a low energy level, greatly reducing the risk of fatalities.
While the class warm-up matches were in full swing, many senior sisters had gathered on the high-altitude walkways above the training ground to watch.
Although this year's Freshman Competition had been "reduced" to being held here compared to the previous year, the senior sisters—who made it a habit to watch the freshmen's antics every year—wouldn't miss a chance to be there in person.
Moreover, the area wasn't cordoned off by mentors; if anything, they welcomed more students to come and watch.
"I didn't expect this year's Freshman Competition to fall to the level of being held here," Tan Han remarked, leaning over the edge of the high-altitude walkway and looking down at the fields below.
"It couldn't be helped. The Arena is currently hosting the first season of the Power Network Competitive Ranking Tournament, and no one's willing to give up their slot."
Since the Freshman Competition had begun, our laboratory had taken another break.
As the saying goes, life isn't just about experiments; it's also about competitions and fun.
The hype for the Arena's ranking tournament was burning white-hot across the Witch Academy. Headlines about clashes between titans or shocking upsets constantly flooded the Academy Network, to the point that the Freshman Competition's popularity had been significantly overshadowed.
Currently, the Academy Network was filled with discussions about who had what combat power, or who was just acting tough with an over-limit spellbook only to be exposed the moment they stepped into the Power Network competition.
It was as if the senior sisters who had once shone brightly in the Arena were suddenly being held over the fire.
This was a brand-new tournament, a chance for those with genuine ability to completely overturn the status quo, bypassing obstacles like Mana Sources and spellbooks.
While most eyes were fixed on the Arena, I did the opposite and came to the training ground to watch the Freshman Competition.
This massive training ground was a place I had never visited before. Passing by, it looked like a vast, sunken basin.
Looking down, the depth was nearly a dozen stories high. The overall framework resembled an inverted trapezoid, with the perimeter walls tapering inward at an angle.
This downward-extending design was primarily to accommodate the depth requirements and three-dimensional mobility needed during combat, ensuring that students wouldn't accidentally wander out of bounds in the heat of the moment.
The primary way to enter the training ground was via the massive elevator platforms at the corners.
Of course, that was only for the lower-classmen. Senior sisters who had passed their flight licenses and mastered flight spells simply chose to fly down.
The training ground was truly enormous.
Including the underground indoor training areas, it was even larger than the Arena and its spectator zones combined. Thus, it had no trouble accommodating tens of thousands of freshmen for spectating and competing.
Because it had attracted so many senior sisters, they were flying overhead on their brooms, showing off and performing various aerial stunts, drawing cheers from the underclassmen.
This added a new layer of enjoyment to this unique Freshman Competition.
Naturally, I wasn't the only one who had come.
I arrived accompanied by Sister Bai, and we happened to run into Tan Han.
Additionally, several senior sisters from the Baking House had mentioned they were coming to watch.
Specifically, Senior Sister Ying Shiqian, who was in charge of snagging tickets for the Arena, had been too slow and failed to get seats, so they had no choice but to come here instead.
If we were lucky, we might run into them.
The girls in my dorm, having been granted course exemptions, wanted to take advantage of the academy's festivities to relax and see the caliber of their juniors.
In the group chat, Hong Chenyi had been clamoring about how she wanted to hear those juniors call her "Senior Sister."
After all, with this year passing, she would officially be a senior sister to the incoming class.
A "course-exempt" senior sister, at that.
"Shall we go down and take a look?" I suggested.
The area below was vast. Although most of it was partitioned for matches, there were still plenty of empty seats in the temporary spectator stands.
"Sure~" Sister Bai followed my lead, agreeing readily.
Tan Han nodded as well, though she seemed to be considering whether to find an excuse to leave so as not to play third wheel.
"Oh, right, I have plans to meet some friends over there, so... please excuse me."
"Is that so? Well, I hope you have a good time~"
After bidding farewell to Tan Han, who left for her "special reason," Sister Bai and I rode our brooms down to the field below.
The voices of volunteers maintaining order echoed across the grounds.
"Um... please maintain order... don't run around like that..."
"Those who haven't participated in the class warm-ups yet, please step forward and line up... otherwise, it will be treated as a forfeit..."
"Make way for the injured! Her arm is hurt, someone give her a hand!"
In such a boisterous scene, these volunteers were students who had voluntarily forfeited their matches to help maintain order.
But in the face of such overwhelming enthusiasm... what was order?
Sorry, but here, there was only blood and passion!
The injuries and tears hidden beneath that enthusiasm served as another lesson for the freshmen: in the Transcendent world, getting hurt was inevitable.
For many ordinary people, combat seemed distant, leading them to perceive combat as something where they should remain unscathed.
But in Transcendent combat, injuries were commonplace. The academy was fostering this mindset; from the very first practical class, the mentors had been instilling this concept.
The simplest way to cultivate this awareness was to make them clearly realize that so-called injuries were trivial in the face of magic.
Whether it was pain, wounds, poison, or infection, spells could eliminate those concerns.
Breaking through these cognitive barriers was the true way to engage in combat.
"I have to say, the combat of these freshmen is still a bit green~" I said, leaning casually against Sister Bai's arm as I offered my opinion—without any malice, of course.
"At this time last year, Xiao Han was probably much like them, wasn't she? Back then, what was your mindset when you went into battle?"
"Hmm... I think I fought with the mindset that I just shouldn't lose too embarrassingly..." I recalled my past self, forced into fame by Teacher Ji Niang's "encouragement" and pushed onto a path of self-driven rise.
Back then, under Teacher Ji Niang's guidance and my own exploration, I was at my most confident—and my peak—regarding the modification of spellbooks.
And that was also the only time I was ever suppressed so heavily by Luck that I couldn't even lift my head.
Of course, that was also the catalyst for me to touch upon the truth of the world. I suppose it could be called a blessing in disguise?
Looking back, many things seemed as though they had been pre-arranged.
But now, I no longer cared to dwell on that.
Because I had already shifted all the blame onto another entity—the so-called World Consciousness.
I would use my own methods to remodel this Main World, turning it into my own image!
But for now~ there was no rush.
I would wait until I had sufficient power.
For instance... planning my promotion to Transcendent?
After I had grasped the underlying mechanisms of how a witch promotes to the Transcendent level, my future arrangements and life plans had gradually become clear.
With the conclusion of the Self-Generated Mana project, I had gained a deeper understanding and foundation of the concept. The byproduct of that project—the "Technique for Birthing a Self-Generated Mana Body Talent"—could also help me reshape the atmosphere of the Witch Academy and create a stable environment for myself.
I would leave that heavy responsibility to Millian.
After that, I should begin preparing for my Transcendent promotion, just as Sister Bai expected.
The reason a Transcendent promotion for a witch requires a "Subject" is that a Witch Subject is the foundation for the development of Transcendent power.
It is the path one practices after their life essence touches the Transcendent.
The promotion of one's power level relies on a specific Transcendent system and path.
Take the basic Evocation system as an example: if a witch chooses a subject specializing in the Fire Element, then the path she walks thereafter will be that of Flame.
As for the refinement, specialization, difficulty, goals, and inclinations of the subject—these all require comprehensive consideration.
Every witch might make trade-offs based on personal preference, as well as their own comprehension and learning abilities.
A subject specializing in all elements of the Evocation system isn't necessarily stronger than one specializing in a single fire element; the dispersion of research energy could result in strength far inferior to a single-specialization subject.
As the saying goes, what fits you best is best. Matching one's ability to the right subject is key; overestimating oneself is simply being irresponsible to one's own future.
Therefore, I also needed to make my own choices and define the positioning of my future subjects.
My preliminary positioning for myself was a Great Soul Subject, upon which I would branch out into my own sub-subjects. Using the Tree of Great Knowledge as the core of my abilities, I would construct my own power system.
The two Great Spellbooks, the Body Cultivation system, and the numerous spellbooks I currently possessed were honestly a bit too "bloated." But once I distinguished between the primary and the secondary, I realized these were all merely means for me to achieve a desired concept.
Even the Tree of Great Knowledge, which I had always considered my core system, was originally born from the simple desire to help me remember things.
The things I was chasing were too broad, to the point that even the concept of a "Myriad Methods Witch" wasn't enough to encompass my ambition.
So, the question had to return to the essence.
How did I originally view the Transcendent?
When I first encountered it, the Transcendent was a brand-new concept.
Back then, I arrogantly rejected the concept of spellbooks, believing that the Transcendent shouldn't be confined to such fixed forms, but should be something more free.
Looking back, that thought was naive and quite incorrect, but that was limited by my understanding at the time. However, the core idea expressed by that view was worth reflecting on.
Before I had even touched the Transcendent, I had already given it my own definition.
As Teacher Ji Niang said, the concept of the Transcendent responds to a person in the same way they choose to explore it.
Any definition given to the concept of the Transcendent is a form of prejudice, yet everyone understands the Transcendent through their own prejudices.
This was what I had envisioned before.
When you think too much, there is no perfect choice, because I had linked my subject to my perfect ideal.
But a Witch Subject is essentially just a pillar that supports a witch so she can continue to explore upward after reaching the Transcendent level.
Therefore, it can also be viewed by me as... a tool for exploring the Transcendent, rather than a framework that defines my lifelong pursuit.
Thus, my subject will still use the Tree of Great Knowledge as its core framework to eventually promote me to a Transcendent Witch, and from there, I will build a platform that perfectly matches my expectations.
The problem that had troubled me for so long—the issue regarding my Witch Subject—was ultimately resolved in this manner. I truly... hadn't expected it.
Indeed, only when one's vision and level increase can one see through to the essence of a thing.
It was true for Death, and it was true for my subject.
"Xiao Han~ did you think of something happy? You're smiling so brightly."
"Of course~ I've figured some things out. After this... some witches are going to be very lucky~"