Chapter 909: The Dying Lucianne
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 909: The Dying Lucianne
The ice tunnel wasn't particularly wide, but it was just enough to manage a vertical takeoff and landing on a broom.
Of course, Tan Han and the others didn't need to resort to such an awkward method to get up.
Whether it was flight spells or minor tricks to create temporary footholds in the air, they had plenty of options—these were basic techniques used in combat. Even Xiao You possessed spells of this nature.
Only Shi Ruizhi found the ascent somewhat difficult.
Although she had familiarized herself with her spellbooks, knowing of a spell didn't mean she knew how to apply it fluidly. The only reason she could keep up with Tan Han’s group was thanks to her formidable physical stats.
Once they reached the surface, they immediately sank into the soft, powdery snow of the upper layer.
This was one of the reasons travel was so difficult in the upper levels of the Secret Realm. Without spells or alchemy items, moving on foot meant trudging through snow that nearly reached their necks.
However, not far from them, the signs of a battle were clearly visible.
Snow had been blasted away by spells, leaving deep craters in the drifts that reached down to the ice layer. There were even spatters of blood...
Though the battle hadn't happened long ago, these marks were already being covered by a thin layer of fresh flakes.
"Phew—pah! As I thought, traveling underground is way more convenient. The environment up here is truly wretched." Shi Ruizhi stomped on the ground, the pressure of her step compacting the soft snow around her.
"I don't see anyone fighting. Looks like they moved on. Aside from the battle scars, there’s basically nothing left, is there? I don't even see a single corpse."
"No... there is one." It was Tan Han who spoke. Her sharp eyes had caught sight of a figure partially buried in the distance.
"Eh? Where?" Shi Ruizhi asked bluntly, showing none of the dignified awareness expected of a senior sister.
"Over there," Xiao You said, pointing toward Tan Han, who was already heading that way.
When Tan Han reached the "corpse," she froze for a moment.
She hadn't expected to run into an "acquaintance" here, let alone find her in this state!
"Who is it?" Shi Ruizhi caught up, asking with the tone of someone looking for a bit of drama.
She knew full well that in this Secret Realm, anyone could die, and frankly, very few of them were "good" people anyway.
"It's Lucianne."
"Who?" The name sounded familiar to Shi Ruizhi.
"Lucianne. The girl we met before entering, who was in our group for a while. The one with the very weak presence."
"Oh—I remember now! That girl. How'd she end up dead?"
"To be precise, she isn't dead yet. She's critically injured and on the verge of death. If we leave her, she really will die soon," Tan Han explained as she began casting healing spells.
She had plenty of healing spells at her disposal. While the mana consumption for such spells wasn't low, for her current self, it was a drop in the bucket.
Tan Han finally understood what that strange sense of intuition had been. It was because... Lucianne was also a Child of Destiny.
Logically, if a Child of Destiny died, their Luck would become more concentrated among the survivors, but Tan Han didn't want to claim this girl's Luck just yet.
After all, they were... acquaintances?
She knew Lucianne had a connection to Xiao Han. In fact, the very first [Transcendent Knowledge] Fragment tested had been given to her.
The only thing that gave Tan Han pause was the girl's affiliation: she was a member of the Jack-of-all-trades Club.
"Tan Han, you're actually saving her?"
"Yes."
"If I recall correctly, she's with the Jack-of-all-trades Club, right? Are you sure about this?"
"I know, but she has a connection to Xiao Han."
"Uh... is she Xiao Han's inside agent?" Shi Ruizhi speculated.
"Not exactly. At most, you could call her... a pitiful soul?" Tan Han didn't quite know how to describe it. Her relationship with Xiao Han seemed ordinary, yet it carried a certain special significance.
In the Witch Academy, being able to show one's face before Xiao Han and have her remember your name was already considered a significant "connection." Xiao Han's social circle was so small you could count her friends on one hand.
"Pitiful? What do you mean by that?"
"She was abducted from a Wizard Academy by a senior sister and subsequently bound to the Jack-of-all-trades Club. You could say the club has ruined her."
"If they're ruining her, why doesn't she just quit?"
"If only it were that simple. If she could have left, she would have long ago. In her early days, she accepted funding from the Jack-of-all-trades Club—that's a resource bond. Her parents... her family likely has a hand in it too—that's a bloodline bond. Her spellbooks, mana sources, and so on... she probably signed Witch Contracts for them—that's a resource bond. Even her social circle is controlled. There are far too many ways to dominate a person."
"Huh?!" Hearing Tan Han's description, Shi Ruizhi felt a headache coming on. Just hearing about it was terrifying!
She immediately thought of Ji An’s previous attempt to recruit her...
If they used so many schemes for someone like Lucianne, wouldn't the methods the families used to deal with someone like her be even more excessive?
"I'll give her some emergency treatment first. Xiao You, Senior Sister Shi Ruizhi, please scout the battlefield. See if there are any other traces or bodies," Tan Han requested.
She couldn't move while focusing on the healing spells, so she had to rely on the other two for everything else.
"Easy enough~"
While Shi Ruizhi and Xiao You went to work, Tan Han didn't stay idle. She took out an alchemy item—a Constant Temperature Candle—and lit it after applying an external stabilization spell.
The candle could create an area that maintained a specific temperature range. The stabilization spell ensured the flame wouldn't be affected by the environment, which was a crucial step for the item to function.
Tan Han then gently lifted Lucianne into her arms. If the girl's body remained in contact with the ice and snow, she would lose heat rapidly; after all, Lucianne wasn't capable of hibernation.
Even so, Lucianne didn't wake up. She seemed to have fallen into a deep coma.
After a while, Xiao You and Shi Ruizhi returned.
"No second corpse found," Shi Ruizhi said bluntly. "It's all combat marks and bloodstains. I could use Ley Line Identification Art on the blood to track the wounded, but there are also some shattered crystals from Ancient Remnant Ice. I almost missed them."
"Same here. No other bodies," Xiao You added.
"Is that so? Alright... Also, to correct you, Lucianne isn't dead yet, so technically there are zero corpses. That makes Lucianne the only victim of this battle... but why?"
"Maybe because she was too weak?"
"That's possible. Aside from us, Lucianne was the only junior student in that squad," Tan Han agreed. Furthermore, she knew very well that Lucianne held a Heart of the Cold Wave.
The Jack-of-all-trades Club probably hadn't expected to need that fragment so soon, so the most likely reason they brought Lucianne along was because the Heart of the Cold Wave was in her possession.
"Regardless, let's take her with us and head back underground. If possible, we should seal this ice tunnel."
Tan Han made a quick decision. The three of them, carrying Lucianne and accompanied by the Ancient Remnant Ice King, returned to the depths. Sealing the tunnel was easy; whether it was Tan Han using ice spells or the Ancient Remnant Ice King manipulating wind and snow, it was a simple task.
Soon, they were back underground.
"Are we really keeping her with us?" Shi Ruizhi asked, still a bit uneasy.
"We'll decide after she wakes up."
Tan Han took out a potion. She had waited until they were back down here to feed it to her, as it would have been inconvenient on the surface.
In the deep, dark ice tunnel, the warm yellow glow of the Constant Temperature Candle illuminated their small area. Aside from the Ancient Remnant Ice King, who didn't much care for this "warmth," Shi Ruizhi and the others felt a rare sense of comfort.
Under the effects of the potion, Lucianne finally showed some movement. However, she didn't wake up; instead, she drifted into a deep, restorative sleep.
"It looks like she won't be waking up anytime soon. Let's rest for a bit to recover our strength and stamina, then head straight for our intended target."
* * *
While Tan Han was making her decision, the people outside the Secret Realm were locked in a heated argument.
Due to the events within the Secret Realm, many students from other academies had already emerged heavily injured, and many more were missing.
In truth, these were minor issues—the kind of things people argued about on the surface without touching core interests.
However, at this emergency meeting of the various academy representatives, the numerous academies were united in their target: the ice crystal monsters within the Secret Realm.
"We do not agree to your proposal! This is an unreasonable demand! We already reached an agreement; how can you change it on a whim? The Jack-of-all-trades Club absolutely refuses!"
Everyone present understood what the Secret Realm was currently facing: the overwhelming power of the ice crystal monsters.
Consequently, the student representatives from the various academies proposed allowing more people into the Secret Realm to thoroughly suppress the monsters' arrogance.
But how could the Witch faction agree?
If more personnel were sent in, the Witches would inevitably be the disadvantaged party. How could they compete?
"Miss Ming Xueming, we understand your concerns, but perhaps you could understand our predicament. It may be that your information is too outdated, and you don't realize that those ice crystal monsters actually have another name."
"Another name? What is it?" Ming Xueming, as the President of the Jack-of-all-trades Club, frowned, unsure of the speaker's intent.
But for the opposition to be so coordinated, for the family forces to be so "of one mind," it was likely that the Transcendent Academies themselves had intervened.
"Ancient Remnant Ice. They are not ordinary monsters, but an ancient race resurrected by a Witch."
"Ancient Remnant Ice?!" Hearing that name, she immediately thought of Tan Han's previous over-limit consumption spellbook.
As for Xiao You, who currently held it? She wasn't even worth mentioning.
"How come we weren't informed of this? The Secret Realm belongs to our Witch Academy. Do you think you can pressure us just by colluding? And even if it is an ancient race, so what? It's not like they can't be killed."
"How pathetic. Your Witch Mentors haven't told you anything at all... The relationship between the Ancient Remnant Ice and the Great Glacial Throne is the very culprit behind the instability of your Secret Realm."
"..." Ming Xueming remained silent.
She truly didn't know.
She only knew the intelligence that had been sent out: the strength of those ice monsters had jumped by an entire tier, their combat power was terrifying, and they were actively seizing fragments to exert even greater power.
Initially, they thought this was just a mechanic of the Secret Realm, never considering a deeper connection between the monsters and the fragments of the Glacial Throne.
"So, our proposal to exterminate the Ancient Remnant Ice is actually helping you. Those population limits you've set will only push the Secret Realm to the brink of destruction, step by step!"
"Indeed. So, think it over carefully. I have already contacted my academy; our reinforcements will be arriving shortly. I hope you don't do anything foolish."
As these words were spoken, several people stood up to leave, making it clear there was no further room for negotiation.
After all, this was just an emergency meeting; saying what needed to be said was enough.
Their goal was to follow their academies' orders and crush the Ancient Remnant Ice within the Witch Academy's territory—regardless of whether they were their own people or the Witches'.
They only cared about the result. Even if they provoked the Witch Academy into breaking the treaty, it didn't matter. If the Witch Secret Realm Club and the Jack-of-all-trades Club wanted to save the Secret Realm, they had to deal with the Ancient Remnant Ice.
The families on the Witch side wanted to be the Witches' dogs but couldn't even manage that; it didn't mean the families on the other side felt the same about being dogs for the Transcendent Academies.
That was the difference. At least, that was what they believed, and they were even proud of it.
Thus, the situation regarding the Secret Realm fell into a deadlock. But they had to break it—at the very least, they needed more information.
Immediately, they sought out the Witch Mentor who was assisting them in maintaining the Secret Realm.
"Mentor, we have come to ask about a few matters."
"Ask." Seeing the presidents of the two major clubs and several veterans, the Witch didn't give them much face, her response curt.
To her, it didn't matter how "important" their business was. Club presidents, veterans—they were nothing more than parasites who wasted academy resources, unwilling to become Transcendent Witches and join the ranks of their sisters.
Seeing the mentor's cold reception, they couldn't do much, but the questions still had to be asked.
"We wish to know the name of the ice crystal monsters in the Secret Realm. Are they called Ancient Remnant Ice?"
"Oh? You found out already?"
"Yes... the other academies told us..." The one who spoke sounded a bit resentful, though she tried to hide it. Her meaning was clear: if the other academies knew, why didn't they? Shouldn't that have been part of the intelligence provided?
"Hmph. That information is considered basic data within the ruins of the laboratories inside the Secret Realm. You mean to tell me you haven't discovered it yet?" the mentor mocked mercilessly.
"Forgive us, Mentor. The Secret Realm is covered in snow. Trying to find the ruins of underground laboratories buried beneath the drifts is like looking for a needle in a haystack..."
"Incompetent people always find something to blame. And you even restricted the number of explorers. If that's all you wanted to ask, then leave."
"No... wait! Mentor, we have another question. Regarding the relationship between the Ancient Remnant Ice and the fragments of the Great Glacial Throne... is there some connection we aren't aware of?"
"That... if you look in the Secret Realm, you can find records of it. You really want to know?"
"Yes!"
"Fine, I'll tell you. These were things you were supposed to dig up yourselves, but you've insisted on making such a mess of things..."