Chapter 785: Intelligence on the [Transcendent Knowledge] Fragments
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 785: Intelligence on the [Transcendent Knowledge] Fragments
"I am deeply disappointed to see you back alive. What was the point of your return? You have brought trouble upon the family—a very great trouble. I cannot fathom what you were thinking coming back here, or how you intend to face me." The man’s voice carried an air of majesty laced with suppressed fury, perfectly masked by his low, resonant tone.
Before him, the young girl... no, the woman, kept her head bowed, not daring to utter a single word in response.
"What we required of you was the total elimination of Tan Han. The Unrestricted Match was the perfect opportunity to ensure her death. You failed to act. Furthermore, you failed to deliver the item to the Jack-of-all-trades Club as planned. You have put us in a very difficult position. You should never have lost that item."
The woman desperately wanted to defend herself, but as she opened her mouth, the words failed her.
"Do you wish to offer an explanation? Explanations after the fact are the most pathetic of all. What has made you so indecisive? Or did you start believing you were a witch who could act with impunity just because you spent ten years at the Witch Academy? You should understand the education the family provided since your childhood. Tell me, what is it that you follow?"
"We follow the great... Wizard Will!"
As the woman spoke, the image projected from the ley lines froze on that frame.
"How truly interesting... April’s real goal was actually to kill Tan Han? I didn't notice that at all back then," I remarked, my voice echoing in the study.
The image seated in the chair gradually blurred and faded.
We were currently inside a study within the Hawthorne family's castle. There was no need to ask how we got in; against Transcendent-level methods, any conventional security was utterly futile.
"I never imagined the families had become so arrogant that they would dare attempt to assassinate a student within a Transcendent Academy," Sister Bai sighed from beside me.
According to the Witch Academy's regulations, even if students killed one another, they would be severely punished unless it happened under a contract in the Arena. At the very least, they would have all their Transcendent means confiscated and be expelled.
Judging by that man's tone, however, they intended a total erasure—killing Tan Han in a way that would annihilate her soul essence.
Neither Sister Bai nor I could understand their behavior. Did they truly believe the family was safe just because they were within the Wizard Academy's sphere of influence?
Or perhaps... the Wizard Academy had given the Hawthorne family a promise of protection...
After all, the "item" they mentioned was likely a fragment of [Transcendent Knowledge]: Ice Sealed World.
Shouldn't something like that be held by the Transcendent Academy?
Yet, they intended to give it to the Jack-of-all-trades Club... that was another development I hadn't expected.
"But in the end, she didn't go through with it. It might have been because of my interference; April must have seen the Great Witch Chris in the stands... I could feel her instinctive terror toward Chris."
"So, in a way, you indirectly saved Tan Han's life?" Sister Bai said with a smile.
"Not necessarily. Tan Han is a Child of Destiny. Even without me, it would have been very difficult for them to assassinate her," I replied casually. There was no point in dwelling on whether I had saved her life or not.
Clearly, there were far deeper secrets buried here.
"True enough," Sister Bai didn't press the issue. "But Xiao Han, aren't you going to keep watching?"
"It's just a reconstruction of the scene. There isn't much content left in the upcoming 'plot.' It's boring." I casually flipped through the "textual information" extracted from the ley line data by the Ley Line Identification Art.
Scanning through the summaries, I really couldn't see any more interesting developments.
"I'm still curious... what kind of childhood must one endure to reach a point where they accept ending their life at the final moment of their academy career as a valid conclusion? Is this really how one raises a child?" Sister Bai finally asked.
"Sister Bai... I'm hardly the only person in this world with a miserable childhood. Looking at this, my past experiences seem almost trivial."
"Don't say that, Xiao Han... Just because many others have suffered doesn't mean your own past is insignificant. How can the trauma you endured be brushed aside simply by comparison?"
"Sister Bai, don't be so quick to lecture me. I'm not in the mood to listen."
"Alright then." Sister Bai paused, realizing she had overstepped. Besides, for Xiao Han, this matter was already in the past; she shouldn't have brought it up.
We continued to use this incident as a thread to sift through the ley line information, searching for past events. We stumbled upon many other unexpected findings along the way, but I didn't care much for them.
I wasn't gathering this information to topple the family, after all. I viewed their sordid deeds as mere entertainment. I was far more curious about where they got the Ice Sealed World fragment and why they wanted to give it to the Jack-of-all-trades Club.
Surely the Jack-of-all-trades Club and the Wizard Academy weren't in league?
While gathering data, I also began organizing the intelligence I currently possessed.
First, my player clone had learned that those players were still secretly and continuously collecting [Transcendent Knowledge] fragments.
Furthermore, the players were very close to the Transcendent Academy. Given that my player clone could even establish contact with the families, it was clear that the family factions were currently embracing the presence of players. It was as if they didn't care that the players had once "possessed" and killed high-ranking members of their families.
The Jack-of-all-trades Club was also collecting [Transcendent Knowledge] fragments, ostensibly to support Lucianne, a Child of Destiny, in her struggle for luck.
Hmm... surely the Hawthorne family wasn't supporting Lucianne across different academies?
I shared this information with Sister Bai. I wasn't particularly good at analyzing these things—or rather, I lacked confidence in my deductive reasoning.
I couldn't wrap my head around the Jack-of-all-trades Club's current situation. If they were rebellious, why had Fu Xinglan and Tracy shown me goodwill? They had even given me intelligence in exchange for a promise from me, backed by a Witch Contract. That couldn't be faked.
But if they were well-intentioned... when the teaching assistants were set up to kill me, assistants from both the Jack-of-all-trades Club and the Witch Secret Realm Club had been "implicated."
"Let's make a bold assumption. Suppose the Jack-of-all-trades Club is in a state of flux. They might want to use the Ice Sealed World fragment to win over those with opposing ideologies. After all, you know the current situation in the Main World, Xiao Han—it's the Witch Academy against the other Transcendent Academies, and the Witch Academy's actions have made many families uneasy."
"Is that possible?" I asked instinctively.
Just now, I had acquired another piece of news: the Ice Sealed World fragment was held by the family, not the Wizard Academy.
Furthermore, the False World Space Great Witchcraft was indeed a spell created using that fragment as a prototype. Because it originated from [Transcendent Knowledge], they had overconfidently added the word "Great" and called it a "Great Witchcraft."
They intended for it to rival a witch's Great Spellbook.
The Ice Sealed World fragment had been held by the family from start to finish. The Wizard Academy only studied it in name, inviting the Tower Lord of the Wizard Tower to assist with research in their capacity as a mentor.
"It's very strange... the families are collecting these [Transcendent Knowledge] fragments, the players are collecting them, and it's clear that the Wizard Academy has recently been sending students to collect them as well. Yet, the Wizard Academy has never actually tried to seize the items for themselves."
"You think there's something fishy going on, Xiao Han?" Sister Bai asked at the right moment.
"It's weird. Why? [Transcendent Knowledge] should be extremely precious, right?"
"It is indeed precious. I didn't have much of a concept of it before, but after ascending to the Transcendent level, I can recognize its value—especially [Transcendent Knowledge] that can be utilized."
"Wait, 'that can be utilized'? Are there some that can't be?" I asked curiously.
Based on my understanding, even [Transcendent Knowledge] without a source could be studied over centuries to gradually uncover its properties and put it to use, right?
"You didn't know, Xiao Han? Not every piece of [Transcendent Knowledge] can be utilized. Oh, I see." Sister Bai seemed to realize something and began explaining from my perspective.
"You think that as long as you spend enough time, you can master it, right? But that's only in theory. In reality, during the initial stages of researching a piece of [Transcendent Knowledge], one can generally tell whether it can be utilized or not."
"However, even if it can't be used to create a Great Spellbook, it still has research value. After all, it can derive many spells that are second only to a Great Spellbook."
"Hmm..." I let out a soft hum. This was the first time I had heard of this.
Perhaps I hadn't understood it correctly before...
I had thought those witch sisters who studied for centuries without results were just doing preliminary groundwork... It turned out the reality was that they knew from the start the experiment was destined to fail.
"So... you think this is a piece of [Transcendent Knowledge] that can't be utilized?" I asked.
"I can't give you a professional answer. I've only chatted about this with a few sisters and have a general understanding, but I don't know much about the specifics," Sister Bai said, shaking her head regretfully.
"I see..."
"However, I do know that this piece of [Transcendent Knowledge] was once made into a Great Spellbook," Sister Bai added suddenly.
"Eh? What?" I had given up hope and was about to look for other information when I snapped my gaze toward her.
"It was made into a Great Spellbook called the Great Glacial Throne Technique. But as you can see, it shattered into these fragments."
"The Great Glacial Throne Technique... Good grief... so it really was a Great Spellbook!" I exclaimed in awe.
"Oh? Judging by your tone, did you already suspect as much?"
"In a way." I nodded, not making it sound like a grand achievement. "Since it was once a Great Spellbook, it must have been the work of the Witch Academy. Why did it end up like this? Given the value of a Great Spellbook, many witches should have been fighting over it... Why such a waste?"
"Perhaps... it was for something even more precious or important than a Great Spellbook..." Sister Bai mused.
"But clearly, it was a failure, wasn't it? It ended up shattered... Using a Great Spellbook for a single attempt—that's quite the gamble." This was the second "broken" Great Spellbook I had heard of.
Though... while the Great Glacial Throne Technique didn't seem to have been "broken" in the same way, Dean Mei had personally admitted to breaking her Main World Great Weakening Spell.
Before the Great Weakening Spell was broken, it had left a permanent Great Spellbook effect in the Core World that suppressed everyone. What about the Great Glacial Throne Technique?
It seemed... to have left no trace at all.
After reflecting on this, we continued our search for new intelligence.
The method I currently possessed for gathering information was a total "dimensional strike" against the family. Before the Ley Line Identification Art, they had almost no secrets left.
Unfortunately, they were still just a family and hadn't reached the level of a Transcendent Academy. Consequently, much of the intelligence wasn't very valuable. Moreover, they wouldn't say everything out loud; true secrets are always buried deep in the heart.
This meant that despite my busy efforts in organizing the data, I hadn't gained much.
However... once a discovery was made, the value of that intelligence would be immense.
For instance... I had just found information regarding the fragments of this [Transcendent Knowledge].
It recorded the general intelligence on the fragments.
First was the Crown of Absolute Zero, currently in the hands of the Witch Academy's Child of Destiny, Tan Han, and crafted into the Staff of Absolute Cold.
Next were the twelve Hearts of the Cold Wave. Two have been confirmed to be at the Witch Academy. Of those two, one is held by the Jack-of-all-trades Club's Child of Destiny, Lucianne, and the other is held by "Yang Yuehan." The specific locations and details of the other nine have been confirmed; they are in the hands of various Transcendent Academies or families... One had appeared but was stolen, and its current status is unknown...
These records were very detailed. It seemed many families were tracking the movement of the fragments.
Just as I had thought before, they might not hold the fragments themselves, but they made sure to have intelligence on their existence.
What they didn't know, however, was that I had two Hearts of the Cold Wave... which meant that all the Hearts of the Cold Wave had actually been accounted for.
Ice Sealed World... this fragment was lost by April. It was a bit surprising; April's claim was that she lost it, rather than it being taken by that Rebel Witch.
It looked like... I already had two pieces of "stolen goods" on me.
The next piece of intelligence was of a type I was learning about for the first time.
"Snow Spirit's Blessing"
Held by Yao Beijuan, the Child of Destiny of the Afuhemi Academy. It serves as her life-saving trump card, capable of being triggered in dangerous situations to protect herself and her companions.
The source of the information was the time players raided the hotel during last year's auction...
I really hadn't paid attention to that. After all, I had only swung my blade once back then; I hadn't cared what methods others were using.
The next one was... "Ancient Remnant Ice Transformation Spellbook."
Currently held by Xiao You, an ordinary student at the Witch Academy who is close to the Child of Destiny, Tan Han.
Furthermore... the Ancient Remnant Ice was actually a series.
In addition to the Ancient Remnant Ice Transformation Spellbook, there was also the "Ancient Remnant Ice Transformation Great Witchcraft" and the "Frost Angel God Descent Technique."
Seeing this, I gasped!
This was the current state of the fragments after that [Transcendent Knowledge] had shattered and dispersed.
Some were treasured, remaining in their original form like the Crown of Absolute Zero, though it ultimately couldn't escape being turned into a wand.
Some were scattered everywhere; no one had managed to collect all twelve beads yet.
Some had been crafted into spellbooks, Great Witchcraft, or Divine Arts, no longer resembling their original forms.
So... now, the Heart of the Cold Wave and the Ice Sealed World fragment in my possession had become the fuse for this entire situation. Once the news leaked and all the fragment information was complete, it would spark another storm.
And the one who had created this situation was that Rebel Witch... As I thought, that Rebel Witch was actually plotting against me!