Chapter 963: The Witch Academy Branch in the Expansion Realm
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 963: The Witch Academy Branch in the Expansion Realm
"Since you all care so much about Xiao Han's Nightmare Workshop, why don't you just stay here and look after the place for her? How about that?" Dean Mei suggested.
Mei Lind then turned her gaze toward the group of witches. She might find it hard to lecture Xiao Han, but she had no problem dealing with these characters.
However, when she saw that some of the witches actually looked eager at the prospect, she fell silent...
Are there really witches who want to stay here?
Was the equipment in the Experimental Zone not good enough, or was the atmosphere there lacking? Why were they so insistent on staying here?
There was one thing Mei Lind hadn't quite noticed, though.
Most witches researching dream-related subjects hadn't had an ideal research environment before the Primitive Dream Laboratory appeared. Naturally, they hadn't been able to apply for a lab in the Experimental Zone.
Furthermore, if they stayed here as guards, they would be the first to get their hands on a massive amount of Dream State Soul Essence!
Even if Xiao Han had to set aside more than half for her Fool's Dream life experiments, there would surely be leftovers, wouldn't there?
With a stable production of Dream State Soul Essence, they could skip the preparation techniques of the purification method and dive straight into experimenting with the possibilities of dream life.
How wonderful would that be?
And so, ten witches remained behind to guard the Nightmare Workshop.
Ten—that was no small number.
While it wasn't enough to form a full large-scale laboratory team, from another perspective, it was more than sufficient.
Ten Transcendent Witches volunteering to guard a workshop for one little witch—by any measure, it seemed like a massive overkill.
* * *
After Dean Mei left the Expansion Realm, an academy-wide meeting was swiftly convened.
This meeting gathered every Transcendent Witch who held any sway within the academy.
The topic of discussion: the establishment of a Witch Academy Branch in the Expansion Realm.
Building a branch in the Expansion Realm had been a hot topic in many previous meetings. Many witches felt that with Dean Mei Lind leading the charge this time, the discussion would finally reach a definitive conclusion.
And indeed, it did.
Only by finalizing the branch could they officially demarcate their territory.
Even if the Expansion Realm was a "leaky sieve" in terms of security, she intended to fence in the Nightmare Workshop and make it impregnable.
The purpose was to issue a clear declaration: any infiltration, sabotage, theft, or assassination attempt against the Nightmare Workshop would be treated as an invasion of the Witch Academy! It would be equivalent to starting a Transcendent War!
This was to prevent certain reckless fools from getting "itchy fingers." If a witch ended up chopping off one of their hooves, she didn't want them coming back to complain.
Making them realize the gravity of the situation was a way to make them "hesitate to pelt the rat for fear of breaking the vase."
By making an example of anyone who still dared to test the waters, the other Transcendent academies would eventually lose their nerve. After all, those academies didn't dare to trigger a full-scale Transcendent War.
That was the result the witches wanted. It was the necessary prerequisite for the upcoming Academy War.
The first point to confirm was the method of construction. Since the Nightmare Workshop was located in the Ninglan territory, it wasn't practical to build an entirely new, physical Witch Academy there.
Therefore, the new branch would be constructed using a Curtain Wall, layered over the spatial fabric of the entire Ninglan territory.
As for the areas surrounding the Nightmare Workshop that hadn't seen much development, the academy hoped to establish an academy zone within the Ninglan territory outside the Curtain Wall.
This external zone would serve as a spatial gateway between the Expansion Realm and the Curtain Wall.
In fact, Magic City had a similar area, though it wasn't very large. It primarily connected to the main gate of the Witch Academy. However, due to the special design of the admission letters, that place was mostly for show; its practical application was negligible.
During the planning of the branch, some witches proposed the concept of an experimental affiliated school.
It would serve as a form of preschool education before students officially entered the Witch Academy, allowing them to select top-tier students for guaranteed admission.
After all, the awakening of Spirit Vision in the Main World happened at different ages. Those who awakened early often possessed superior talent, and that time shouldn't be wasted.
Thus, the idea for a Witch Academy Affiliated School was born.
Furthermore, once the humans of the restored Expansion Realm integrated into the Main World, the new generation born a decade or so from now would likely possess the trait for Spirit Vision awakening.
As the meeting concluded, the matter of the branch was settled.
Before long, an announcement was posted within the Witch Academy.
The Witch Academy is about to establish a brand-new branch in the Expansion Realm!
This news left the students still at the academy in a state of shock!
On second thought, however, it made sense. The Expansion Realm was so vast; wasn't it normal for the Witch Academy to recruit students there?
Wasn't Ninglan Qiuyue—the representative figure of the Expansion Realm and the City Lord of Ninglan New City—also a student of the Witch Academy?
The academy clubs were now itching with anticipation. This was especially true for the clubs that had learned Yang Yuehan had snuck into the Expansion Realm with Ming Xueming; they were practically frantic.
Some students even went directly to their mentors, asking if they could be taken to the Expansion Realm.
The result was almost always the same: they were harshly lectured by their mentors and kicked out.
In the Witch Academy, it was nearly impossible for a student to sway a Transcendent Witch. A massive chasm existed between the two. Unless a student used their talent as leverage to earn a mentor's favor, there was essentially no other way.
If Yi Rui told her mentor she wanted to go to the Expansion Realm for a field study, her mentor might agree. But if any other student or teaching assistant with ulterior motives wanted to go, it was out of the question.
To use an imperfect metaphor: the Expansion Realm was like a pristine new environment. The witches wouldn't bring in a "toxic invasive species" and let them run wild.
Wouldn't that be self-destructive? They would become the laughingstock of the other witches.
* * *
As the announcement from the Witch Academy continued to ferment, the high-ranking officials of other Transcendent academies soon caught wind of it.
The fact that the Witch Academy had acted so decisively to establish a branch in the Expansion Realm far exceeded their expectations.
Moreover, for the construction of the branch, the witches planned to complete the initial phase during this break. They would fix certain courses in place and transfer lower-year students who hadn't yet chosen a mentor to the Expansion Realm to begin building the academy's framework.
Building an academy framework in a single holiday.
While it seemed rushed, it made sense when viewed in light of the Academy War the witches were secretly instigating.
The combat power of lower-year students was negligible. Even though they were starting practical combat courses, they hadn't yet become a true fighting force.
Transferring them to the Expansion Realm to avoid direct confrontation was a way of looking out for the freshmen.
An Academy War was fought with students!
Even though every academy had some means of resurrection, the battlefield was unpredictable. No one knew how to resurrect someone if they were blasted into nothingness by a spell.
Regardless, the other Transcendent academies were still unaware that the Witch Academy intended to provoke an Academy War.
Faced with such a major move by the witches, the other academies couldn't possibly remain idle.
The Witch Academy had been making too many moves lately.
First, there was the Dreamscape Calamity in the Expansion Realm, which had trapped and killed so many Transcendents that they still hadn't recovered. The Witch Academy had used that incident to completely cut off all official entry channels for other academies.
Then there was the Glacial Throne Secret Realm, where they had proactively triggered a Main World Luck Script, only to mess it up themselves and unleash an Ancient Remnant Ice King that had been dormant for ages!
The witches had used that as an excuse to reclaim almost all [Transcendent Knowledge] fragments, ending any hopes the other academies had of using them to trade for Myriad World Terminals.
The wizard apprentices currently in the Game World had a very awkward relationship with that "Supreme Council." Fortunately, that little witch Yang Yuehan, who called herself the Calamity Witch, had overconfidently descended into that world!
They could use this opportunity to help the Council eliminate her! After all, this little witch was far too "sinister," and her genius was reaching a level that made them wary.
If they could nip her in the bud, they had to do it now!
Just recently, they had also learned that the witches had launched an "Omni-Link Main Network Tree" pilot program in Magic City.
They were attempting to win over family factions sympathetic to the witches, brazenly trying to recreate an era of "Universal Transcendence" in the Core World!
This move was a direct strike at their foundation. How would the families view the Witch Academy now?
If the witches could grant the families extraordinary power, what could the other Transcendent academies say?
Would they continue to refuse?
If so, how could they guarantee loyalty? Even if the families didn't dare say anything on the surface, what about in the shadows?
Once they tasted the sweetness of extraordinary power, those families wouldn't care if that power came from the witches.
A dog accustomed to a collar doesn't see the collar as a restriction on its freedom, but as the very thing that protects its survival.
No one expected the Witch Academy to strike so ruthlessly.
However, the usual slander still had to be employed.
They want to promote Universal Transcendence?
Someone had to be willing to accept it first. The "discourse hegemony" in the Core World was still in their hands.
As long as they promoted extraordinary power, they only needed the commoners to know one thing: doing this would only allow the wealthy, the families, and the aristocrats to oppress them even more harshly. That would be enough to lose the support of the bottom-layer people.
The witches were powerful, but if they wanted to interfere with the thoughts of the people at the bottom of a world, brute force wouldn't be enough.
If the Witch Academy wanted to clear its name, it would need to suppress the family factions. But in the early stages, the academy also needed to use the influence of those families to drive the movement for Universal Transcendence.
That was the general logic of the situation.
Before the other Transcendent races understood the blueprint the witches had envisioned, they were still confident they could go toe-to-toe with them.
* * *
But until the situation escalated into an Academy War, these so-called power plays and pressures couldn't affect us.
Even if the sky fell, the witches would be there to hold it up, and Dean Mei and the others would be there to manage the big picture.
Right now, Sister Bai and I were enjoying our holiday in the Expansion Realm, lazily soaking up the sun without a care in the world.
The restored Expansion Realm didn't just have land; it had vast oceans as well.
For convenience, the continents had been merged during the restoration. Naturally, there wouldn't be a situation where the ocean split several continents with people living on them.
Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?
Currently, Sister Bai and I were lying on a natural beach.
The waves washed over the sand, giving it a beautiful luster. This sand was mostly composed of fine World Origin Soil.
With the passage of time, other substances would gradually form here, creating breathtaking landscapes.
There were still so many undeveloped areas in the Expansion Realm. These riches would serve as the reserve resources for the people of the Expansion Realm for decades, or even centuries, to come.
I filled a thumb-sized glass bottle with some of the fine, crystalline sand. Without outside interference, such a decorative bottle could last a very long time.
I tied it with a thin red string and added some decorative little seashells. A handmade souvenir was complete.
"Here, Sister Bai! I made this for you!" I dangled the little bottle. The shells and the glass made a crisp clinking sound. As I held it up against the sunlight, the "sand" inside shimmered with a rainbow-colored iridescence!
"Thank you, Xiao Han! I love it!" Sister Bai sat up from her beach chair, taking it with a look of pure joy.
Even if it wasn't as refined as professional crafts, every mark on it was a memory we shared.
"I'm glad you like it, Sister Bai." I adjusted my position on the beach chair and reached out to nudge the parasol standing beside me.
"Whoa—ah..." I watched the parasol start to tip over and instinctively kicked it back into place with my bare foot.
"Hmm... say, Sister Bai... how long have we been sunbathing?"
"For a while now, I think. Getting plenty of sun helps you grow taller!"
"Grow taller? Well, okay." Even though I knew Sister Bai was just teasing, I was happy to play along.
Having mastered Perception Awakening Body Cultivation, control over my own form, and the derivative applications of the Rebirth Spell, my physical condition was entirely subject to my own will.
As long as Sister Bai liked it, I could be a little girl today, a young lady tomorrow, a mature woman like Sister Bai the day after, and a toddler the day after that... I could satisfy any of Sister Bai's preferences.
Who cared about sunbathing for that tiny bit of natural growth?
All I cared about was being with Sister Bai.
Since this was a deserted beach, I had followed Sister Bai's suggestion and put on a beach bikini according to her tastes.
All those daringly designed clothes Sister Bai had piled up for me in the past finally... had a use?
I hooked a finger under the sparse fabric of the top. The slightly elastic string pressed into the skin of my chest, leaving a faint indentation.
Under the sunlight, there seemed to be a slight change in my skin tone; the shape of the bikini was being etched onto my body in this way.
Over the past few days, the basic equipment for the Nightmare Workshop had been manually crafted. With my clones on the job, the efficiency was naturally top-notch.
The rest required me, the little witch, to step in personally. I needed to use the derivative techniques of the Great Spellbook's permanent trait to create the core components of the Nightmare Workshop.
But... what was the rush?
Even the Nightmare Workshop wasn't as important as being with Sister Bai right now.
I had promised to wear a bikini and sunbathe with her on the beach, and I intended to see it through to the end!
The Nightmare Workshop?
I'll deal with it tomorrow.