Chapter 884: Shi Ruizhi: I Can Be a Little Witch Too?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 884: Shi Ruizhi: I Can Be a Little Witch Too?
My words plunged Shi Ruizhi into silence once more. It wasn't that my words possessed some magical power that suddenly made her see the light.
A person cannot grow simply by relying on so-called "chicken soup" or the wisdom of others.
In the past, I understood many things, yet I still couldn't change much. Those resonant, inspirational platitudes ultimately served as nothing more than words to comfort myself.
They are linguistic tricks used to soothe one's emotions, not philosophies that guide one's thinking.
"Alright, time's up for the inspirational fluff. Whether you've figured it out or not, you're already here, aren't you?" I clapped my hands, the crisp sound shattering the quiet atmosphere.
"It's too late to regret it now anyway. Oh—and you even brought your roommate along." I looked at the two of them with a hint of firmness and playfulness in my voice.
"Eh? Me? I count too?" Fang Zhi froze, pointing a finger at herself.
"Of course. Shi Ruizhi is already on this sinking ship; did you think you could just run away? Though, you're just an add-on. The main focus... is naturally Shi Ruizhi."
"Me?" Shi Ruizhi pointed at herself, confused.
"Yes. Weren't you curious before about why I pay so much attention to you? I'm not sure about the others—maybe they just value your abilities, like your self-generated mana—but for me, it's not just that. To be precise, it's more than that." I spoke plainly, intending to lay my cards on the table.
It was like the saying: If you suspect someone, don't use them; if you use them, don't suspect them. Since she had made this decision, there was no turning back. This was a form of internal recognition, a point of no return.
Otherwise, why would people in this world continue to make mistake after mistake even when they know they are wrong?
Perhaps that is the significance of a choice to an individual.
"Then you are..." Shi Ruizhi asked curiously.
She had asked this question before but hadn't received a clear answer. She hadn't expected me to bring it up voluntarily now.
"Because of another reason, of course." I shifted my sitting position and met Shi Ruizhi's gaze. This time, she didn't look away. "Are you curious about what exactly happened during that accident in the experiment? You probably only know that the injury affected your life essence, but you might not know how it was damaged or to what extent."
"I am curious. The stuff posted on the Academy Network... most of it is censored. But even so, it looked very bloody..." Shi Ruizhi said.
She had naturally searched for information regarding her own injuries. It was a major matter concerning her life; how could she not care?
"It was indeed bloody. Because of that accident, your life essence was completely deconstructed. In other words, at the soul essence level, you were no longer yourself, but a mass of indistinguishable soul essence. Your consciousness was struck by the chaotic perceptions and power of that soul essence, causing it to collapse into an indescribable state. This, in turn, triggered a high-intensity loss of control over your physical immortality—resulting in the bloody scenes and the inhuman form you saw."
Hearing my description, Shi Ruizhi subconsciously shuddered. A fear originating from the depths of her soul made her instinctively want to stop visualizing it.
"The principle of immortality relies on the life level of the soul essence. You are humanoid; as long as your cognition, information, and self-identity still recognize you as yourself, you can use that immortality to complete physical self-repair no matter how heavy the injury. Once you are no longer 'you,' your flesh and blood lose control. In truth, at that moment, you could have been considered... completely dead."
"Your only end would have been to wait—wait for your soul essence to enter the Ley Line Cycle and become material for new life."
"But I'm still alive... It was the Academy Dean, right? The Academy Dean stepped in?" Shi Ruizhi asked. No matter how terrifying I made it sound, the fact remained: she was alive.
"Hmm... you can think that if you like. I was at the scene too, and I witnessed the entire process from your pronouncement of death to your revival." I slowly explained it to her. I didn't correct her mistake; after all, I was there and did witness everything.
"You could say your resurrection was an unverified miracle, and fortunately, that miracle succeeded. Do any of you know about the Great Soul Subject?"
"The Great Soul Subject? I know that!" Fang Zhi chimed in, finally finding a chance to speak. "The Soul Great Witch Subject refers to the process where, after promoting to a Transcendent Witch, one's life essence metamorphoses from soul essence into a Soul!"
"That's... one way to put it," I said, nodding reluctantly.
It was like saying the Great Witch Subject is for promoting to a Transcendent Witch, and the Great Soul Subject is for elevating the soul. From a utilitarian perspective, there was nothing wrong with that, as it was the minimum requirement and goal of the Witch Academy.
However, that was merely the most basic pursuit of a witch. I had long since moved past that.
"The miracle within Shi Ruizhi is also related to the Great Soul Subject. To save her life..." At this point, I turned to look at Shi Ruizhi. "Without having promoted to a Transcendent Witch, you forcibly metamorphosed your soul essence and elevated it to the essence of a Soul. Therefore... you can already be considered a Soul Life."
"What?" Hearing this, Shi Ruizhi was stunned. Even she had never imagined she had somehow muddled her way into becoming... a Soul Life?
"Do you know what this represents?"
"What does it represent?" At this moment, the thoughts of everyone present were being guided by my words, all of them waiting for me to reveal the answer.
"To give a simple example: Transcendent Witches are a group of transcendent beings who possess self-generated mana and a Soul essence. So... do you understand now why I value you so much?"
As soon as I said this, Tan Han and the others reacted immediately!
Self-generated mana!
Soul essence!
Didn't that mean Shi Ruizhi was only one step away from being a true Transcendent Witch—the threshold called "Transcendent" itself?!
Beside her, Fang Zhi gasped!
"Coincidentally... I am also a Soul Life who possesses self-generated mana. That's why many Witch Sisters like to call me a 'Little Witch,' because I haven't promoted to Transcendent yet."
"Then wouldn't I be a Little Witch too? Wait... no! You're also a Soul essence? You've died too?!" Shi Ruizhi wanted to ask more, but she suddenly realized what I'd implied and blurted it out.
"In principle... I am an Honorary Little Witch recognized by the Witch race, having signed a Little Witch Contract. However, your current state... could grudgingly be called a Little Witch as well. Though, I wouldn't suggest you call yourself that, as other Transcendent Witches might not acknowledge it."
"As for the question of whether I've died... Heh heh~ Of course I have. Haven't I died many times?"
"Oh... I remember now... that time it was posted on the Academy Network!" Ying Shiqian suddenly thought of that final exam hunting incident.
"Mm-hmm~" I didn't deny it, only responding with a smile. As for the truth, it wasn't really important.
"That's not the point. The point has always been Shi Ruizhi. The fact that another student with a configuration similar to mine has appeared in the Witch Academy... it's going to scare them."
"But... I'm already in the ninth grade..." Shi Ruizhi said weakly.
"What's ninth grade? There's still over a year and a half until graduation. Even graduation isn't the end. Don't forget, from my enrollment until now, only this much time has passed."
"That... that's different, isn't it?"
"Of course it's different. I could say that I represent the upper limit of a person's growth efficiency, but you must believe in yourself. At the very least, this will ensure the gap between us isn't too vast."
"Then... I'll do my best..." Shi Ruizhi said, sounding a bit overwhelmed and forced.
She had learned a lot these past few days. Although she hadn't made much progress in her studies, she had caught up on recent current events.
Naturally, that included the rise of the teaching assistant standing before her.
Nowadays, many discerning people no longer used the ambiguous term "genius" to describe this assistant.
Instead, they said: "I don't understand her; I won't comment."
Because they had never seen Xiao Han go all out.
One had to realize that Tan Han, who had been defeated by this assistant, was now capable of suppressing most people in the Witch Academy. How could the assistant herself be weak?
Furthermore, there were the clones this assistant left in the Arena. Yes, this was the first time Shi Ruizhi realized the girl before her had so many clones!
And those clones, even in an "AFK state," were enough to act as gatekeepers for the Arena's Ladder rankings... That wasn't just a display of combat power, but a manifestation of combat insight!
Without reaching the top tiers of the Power Network rankings, one wasn't even qualified to face this assistant.
Otherwise, she could shut down a whole crowd of people just by saying, "You can't even beat my clone; what are you even worth?"
"Um... I have a question I'd like to ask..."
"Sure~ go ahead. What is it?" I asked with a smile.
"If... I mean if, I hadn't chosen to look for you, would you have never told me about this?"
"Naturally~ Since you didn't plan to walk this path, the more you knew, the less happy you'd be. It would only cause trouble in your daily life. It's a simple logic, isn't it?"
"I suppose..."
"Actually, even if you had returned to a normal life, if you showed talent that stood out from the rest, you wouldn't have been buried forever. Who knows, you might have even experienced the same suppression I've faced since I enrolled."
"Okay... I think I'll pass on that..." Shi Ruizhi gave a bitter smile. She certainly didn't hope for a legendary rise like this assistant's.
Sometimes, inferiority is deeply ingrained; even if one achieves something, they instinctively shy away from it.
In this regard, Shi Ruizhi was just like I used to be.
Even now, I haven't quite fixed that bad habit. It's just called by a different name now: "modesty."
After finishing the heavy topic regarding the soul, the atmosphere became more harmonious as we chatted about other things.
Midway through, the Shopkeeper arrived at the front of the Baking House with several new club members.
These members were the ones from the Fan Club. They immediately recognized Millian, their "Big Sister."
Only after being introduced did they recognize my clone.
I must admit, I'm not very good at dealing with religious fanatics. However, one thing worth praising was that they were truly willing to listen to me; no matter how excited they got, they could still keep their cool.
Thus, the meeting suddenly turned into a Fan Club gathering... with more people, the scene became a bit chaotic.
But as time passed, they gradually became less frenzied.
Our conversation eventually shifted to the Secret Realm that Tan Han was about to enter.
Tan Han had already agreed to the cooperation request from the Jack-of-all-trades Club and the Witch Secret Realm Club, forming a preliminary alliance within the Witch Academy.
Consequently, she had obtained first-hand data regarding this Secret Realm.
As for whether the clubs were holding anything back... that was impossible to know.
However, based on the information provided, this Secret Realm was not comparable to the ones in the academy that anyone could enter for a fee.
The situation in this Secret Realm was extremely dangerous; there were even rescue missions!
Yes, rescue missions!
A vanguard exploration squad had lost contact, missing amidst the wind and snow of the Secret Realm. If no one rescued them, they couldn't even be resurrected!
They had applied for a rescue from the academy mentors, but were heartlessly rejected and told to handle it themselves.
After all, they had died inside a Secret Realm as a result of their own recklessness. Since they could be resurrected once brought out, there was no real "danger," so the academy let the students handle it.
But what Tan Han wanted to discuss with me was something else.
It seemed that for this Secret Realm, the Witch Secret Realm Club and the Jack-of-all-trades Club intended to abandon the previous fragment-ticket system.
In other words, the clubs planned to lower the entry threshold to let more people in, though these people would still be vetted.
"So, why do you think they're doing this?" I asked curiously.
"Cannon fodder... They need a large number of people to quickly map out the early exploration areas. They're also buying back useful information at high prices and have updated the exploration equipment's positioning. If someone gets lost in the snow, they provide rescue services—but not for free."
"I see~ And I bet that buy-back is mandatory, requires a Witch Contract, and the rescue fees aren't cheap?"
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. They're spreading the risk and getting more people to work for them. If someone's unlucky, the rescue fee might even cancel out the buy-back payment."
"They've got it all calculated~ So, why are you entering this Secret Realm?" I asked.
"For the other fragments, of course. That place is a closed colosseum. As long as the Secret Realm isn't destroyed, a corpse hidden under the snow will never be found." Surprisingly, Tan Han suddenly said this.
She had seen through the risks she was about to face. Forget resurrection or the rule about students not killing each other.
In a place where the mentors explicitly stated they wouldn't interfere, even if someone died, the mentors wouldn't care.
I suspect... this is another script guided by the academy, using the luck associated with the [Transcendent Knowledge] fragments to draw them together... I didn't want to think too deeply into it. Since this was likely a node in the script, it was right for me not to get involved.
I remembered the intelligence I'd seen before—quite a few of those fragments were in the hands of those Children of Destiny.