Chapter 887: The Glacial Throne Secret Realm Opens
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 887: The Glacial Throne Secret Realm Opens
Time flew by.
Students from the various transcendent academies began arriving at the Witch Academy one after another.
Even though this wasn't an official academy-organized event, it didn't lack for pageantry, though the overall format remained semi-public. Students without a certain level of strength didn't even have the right to see where the entrance to the Witch Secret Realm was located.
After all, this dreamscape exploration was no mere livestreamed performance; there was no need to provide an explanation to a "viewer audience." From start to finish, the only thing that mattered was the battle for the [Transcendent Knowledge] fragments themselves.
It was a transparent conspiracy with no solution. The prize was right there. If you didn't bring other fragments with you, you couldn't obtain it. But if you weren't strong enough... you wouldn't even be able to keep your life!
The Glacial Throne Secret Realm was a secret realm co-organized and opened by the Witch Academy’s Jack-of-all-trades Club and the Witch Secret Realm Club. Registration for entry and exit was extremely strict.
However, they unconditionally welcomed anyone holding a fragment to use it as a "ticket" to enter the secret realm. Furthermore, they were required to sign a Witch Contract stating that they would not use force to seize fragments outside the secret realm.
Students without a "ticket" who wished to enter had to arrive at the Witch Academy early for a qualification audit. After all, the dangers of the secret realm were obvious to all. As the initiators of this expedition, the witches had to take responsibility for these people's safety.
Of course, such claims were mere pleasantries—high-sounding words that were, in essence, a disguised form of screening. This was the witches' home turf, after all; in many matters, they were the ones who called the shots.
With the "official" opening of the Glacial Throne Secret Realm, exploration teams from other academies arrived at the Witch Academy in succession. They were all sensible people who had gathered plenty of intelligence regarding that secret realm. Naturally, they didn't care about being the first to enter.
This secret realm belonged to the Witch Academy. Heaven only knew how long they had been exploring it before the others arrived. There was no point in fighting over a day or two of head-start.
As the students from other academies arrived, several familiar faces appeared.
There was Archie from the Holy Angel Academy, the apprentice Ian Garland from the Wizard Academy, Yao Beijuan and Mona from the Afuhemi Academy, and so on. The group also included Kailin from the Vampire Academy, Yvette from the Sea Clan, and Aiko from the Dwarves...
If anyone had the leisure to look into it, they would find that a significant portion of these teams consisted of lower-year students—specifically, those who had previously made appearances on the stage of the Exchange Competition.
At this moment, they were gathered here once again, transcending the differences in their school years to stand before this peril-filled secret realm.
These "Children of Destiny" were either those who held fragments and refused to give them up, or those who had obtained the qualification to come here through some stroke of luck. Their arrival seemed more like a coincidence; the main force competing for these fragments had never been these lower-year students.
"You've all been registered. I wish you the best in obtaining what you desire within the secret realm. Additionally... these are signal generators provided by the club. They can be used to call for aid should you become lost in the wind and snow."
A club staff member politely greeted the group of elves from the Afuhemi Academy and performed the routine distribution of items.
As for whether they were willing to carry the things, that was another matter entirely.
Although it was claimed these devices were for sending a life-saving signal if lost, the visitors didn't see it that way. They were more inclined to believe these were tracking devices to help the witches pinpoint their locations, making it easier to rob them of their fragments.
"No need. It's just a bit of wind and snow. If mere environmental factors could block our path, are you belittling our strength?" The elves rejected the items with blatant arrogance.
"Let's go, Beibei. It's almost time to enter." A tall male elf shielded Yao Beijuan, leaving the area under the somewhat strange gazes of the other elves.
Afterward, another guide led them toward the teleportation channel for the Glacial Throne Secret Realm.
The teleportation method for the Glacial Throne Secret Realm used fixed-point teleportation. It had actually been random at the start, but after numerous exploration teams had scouted it out, the teleportation channel had locked onto approximately thirteen relatively safe starting points on the periphery.
To dispel concerns, different teams would not be sent to the same location. This naturally prevented the ugly scenario of people camping the entrance to slaughter others the moment they entered the secret realm.
The staff member who had been rejected when offering the signal generators didn't feel embarrassed. They had long since expected this situation. The students willing to take them were mostly free explorers who didn't hold any fragments.
After seeing off the team from the Afuhemi Academy, the area fell into a brief lull.
To the side lay ledges containing detailed records of the fragments. Of course, these ledgers were mostly for show. Before the secret realm had even officially opened, the club's upper management had already prepared a registration list.
This list recorded the holders of those fragments. After all, many of the fragments hadn't originally been held by students, but for the sake of this event, deciding who would hold a fragment was merely a matter of a single command.
To the average bystander, this seemed like a game of the unknown; no one knew who would be holding a fragment to participate in the exploration at any given moment. But to those orchestrating the whole thing, who would come, what fragments they held, and the approximate combat power distribution of each academy were all "open cards."
It could be said that the Witch Academy's initiative to spearhead this event had achieved ideal results. They had gathered nearly ninety percent of the [Transcendent Knowledge] fragment holders!
Aside from the original incident, there had never been a time when this [Transcendent Knowledge] was so complete.
As for the final missing ten percent... that was simply unavoidable.
Out of the twelve total Hearts of the Cold Wave, there was the one that had been lost, plus the one rumored to be in the hands of Teaching Assistant Yang Yuehan... the Ice Sealed World.
The last time the Ice Sealed World had appeared, it was in the hands of April, and April was connected to Teaching Assistant Yang Yuehan. Thus, they reasonably guessed it was likely in the TA's possession.
They were utterly powerless against this teaching assistant, whom they understood very little about.
They both hoped she would take the initiative to find them—just as she had traded a Heart of the Cold Wave for Soul Crystals last time—to continue trading the Ice Sealed World with them, yet they also feared she would come and disrupt their plans, adding uncontrollable risks.
But in the end... they had waited for nothing.
They had even gone so far as to set a hard restriction that teaching assistants could not participate in this exploration, just so they would have the moral high ground in terms of rules. As it turned out, the other party didn't give a damn about them.
Instead, they learned from Tan Han that Teaching Assistant Xiao Han wasn't interested in the event and had no intention of participating.
As for the credibility of that... that was up for debate.
They didn't have the confidence to stop her from interfering the moment she suddenly decided to act.
Not long after, several familiar figures arrived at the scene.
"I'm glad you could come as agreed, my sister."
"Since I accepted your invitation, I naturally won't break my word." Facing Ming Xueming, Tan Han’s tone didn't sound weak in the slightest.
As the current President of the Jack-of-all-trades Club, Ming Xueming taking the initiative to come forward and welcome her was indeed giving her plenty of face. However, Ming Xueming quickly shifted her gaze to the other person beside Tan Han.
Tan Han was accompanied by two people. One was Xiao You, whom they knew well—the "lucky girl" who had inherited Tan Han's over-limit spellbook and was currently Tan Han's most loyal assistant. Perhaps the girl lacked somewhat in ability, but in terms of trust in Tan Han, she was definitely the one who would stay by her side until the very end.
As for the other one... Ming Xueming recognized her almost instantly.
Shi Ruizhi.
The central figure who had previously caused Teaching Assistant Xiao Han to fall into the center of the experimental accident controversy. It was rumored that some self-proclaimed clever person had framed her as an accomplice in that accident, but looking at it now... she had already defected to Teaching Assistant Xiao Han's side.
"This is Senior Sister Shi Ruizhi, correct?"
"Yes. It seems President Ming Xueming recognizes her?" Tan Han interjected.
"Naturally. But, little sister Tan Han... regarding the matter we discussed, I wonder why you brought her along?" Ming Xueming looked at Shi Ruizhi, a trace of helplessness appearing on her face.
Although this senior sister had lost many memories, which surely affected her combat prowess, did a "brainless spell turret" style—relying on Self-Generated Mana plus a spellbook for fire suppression—really require much of a brain?
"You're joking. I brought her along because she is also a participant in this secret realm exploration."
"Is that so? To be honest... you should have told me in advance." Ming Xueming spoke with a look of a growing headache.
The reason this secret realm exploration could gather so many participants and cooperation was that an agreement had been reached at the family level, balancing the combat power among the participants.
To them, this was a rational and fair "insider operation." After various parties had negotiated, a balance of power had been achieved.
And now Tan Han had pulled this move!
Furthermore, the person she had dragged in was a high-year senior sister whose combat power could not be underestimated!
This would make the families on the Witch Academy's side look bad, and it might even cause an imbalance in the exploration, leading to the failure of the plan to gather the fragments. It could be said that Ming Xueming found Tan Han's behavior quite distasteful.
"This matter is no joke. If Senior Sister Shi Ruizhi wishes to participate in this exploration..." Before Ming Xueming could finish her refusal, the words caught in her throat.
Because... she saw Shi Ruizhi currently toying with a crystal that radiated a bone-chilling frost.
The Ice Sealed World!
Upon recognizing the object, Ming Xueming's pupils shrank violently!
"If I'm not welcome, I can certainly leave," Shi Ruizhi said quite casually, even making a move to turn around and depart.
"Wait! Senior Sister Shi Ruizhi! It's a misunderstanding!" Ming Xueming blurted out, realizing her mistake. "This is a misunderstanding. I apologize for my rudeness just now. If you hold a fragment, we naturally welcome you with open arms!"
At this moment, Ming Xueming didn't dare to be unwelcoming. After all, what the other woman held was the Ice Sealed World, which had been missing until now!
If they let her go back and return the item to Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, their heads would truly explode!
In their view, since Shi Ruizhi had sided with Yang Yuehan, it was perfectly logical for the TA to have given this to her.
Compared to having one more terrifyingly powerful senior sister on this side, when compared to that person, any problem now... was no problem at all!
If the combat power was imbalanced, they could just supplement it with more people. This Glacial Throne Secret Realm wasn't something that could be fully explored in just a few days. But if they ultimately had to face that teaching assistant, it wouldn't be as simple as a mere power imbalance.
After stabilizing the situation, the quick-witted Ming Xueming was also thinking of other things.
Since Teaching Assistant Xiao Han had given this item to Shi Ruizhi, it meant she favored her. Therefore, if they wanted to get the Ice Sealed World from her hands, it couldn't be the Witch Academy's side that made the move.
Of course, she could also choose to screw over the families from the other academies. After all, while everyone was on a united front of families, those other families' exclusion of the Witch Academy's families had become somewhat blatant at this stage.
Who knew if this seemingly harmless senior sister held some sort of trump card that would deal a massive blow to everyone in a moment of desperation?
One had to remember that Ming Xueming had been present during that auction. She had witnessed with her own eyes how Tan Han had summoned Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, who then split that so-called dungeon apart with a single strike.
Without being there in person, it was impossible to truly comprehend the absolute nature of that power.
Shi Ruizhi didn't make things difficult for her. Making trouble for others right now wasn't a wise choice; at least for the moment, they were still on the same "front."
Once the misunderstanding was cleared, Ming Xueming arranged for Tan Han and her two companions to stay in the reception room. Entering the secret realm a bit earlier or later wouldn't make much of a difference anyway.
As one of the first clubs to come into contact with the secret realm, they were very clear about the problems they faced.
After settling Tan Han and the others, Ming Xueming had Vice President Xing Anlei take over temporarily. She needed to inform the club and the other families about this development.
Now was not the time to play tricks on others. Since everyone had agreed to play with their cards on the table, if you were caught cheating, you would be ganged up on. She needed to treat this as an unexpected accident, analyze the pros and cons, and make everyone accept it. Even if they didn't accept it, the fact had already happened, and she had fulfilled her duty by informing them.
Only after that would she think about how to use this "blade" to create a favorable situation for themselves.
After Ming Xueming left, Tan Han and the others met another acquaintance in the reception room.
Lucianne.
At this moment, Lucianne’s gaze was somewhat gloomy. As a "Child of Destiny" holding a Heart of the Cold Wave, she had naturally participated in this exploration as a matter of course.
But not long ago, she had encountered the team from the Wizard Academy. Normally, this wouldn't have mattered; she had long since lost any sense of belonging to the academy that had abandoned her.
But... in that team, she had seen... Ian Garland!
That wizard apprentice with whom she had a grudge from the Bobapus Archipelago... she had sworn to make that fellow experience the same humiliation of becoming a witch!
"I didn't expect to run into you here. It's been a long time, Lucianne." Tan Han took the initiative to speak upon seeing her.