Chapter 977: The "Invincible" Buffs Were Truly Stacked to the Limit
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 977: The "Invincible" Buffs Were Truly Stacked to the Limit
"Hmm? Are you starving for cash? You even want stuff like this?"
Several people stepped forward, naturally drawn by the man's words. However, when they saw the traces left behind by the monster's attacks, they instinctively chose to ignore them.
After all, most of these effects were merely the results of spells. Once the spell ended, the form of the attack would naturally dissipate, leaving behind nothing more than some natural phenomena at most.
For instance, fire might leave behind charring or carbonization, while ice might leave behind frozen vapor or water stains.
"No, this isn't a lingering spell effect. It's matter shaped by a spell effect!" The person picking up the ice crystals was an apprentice from the Wizard Academy.
Those from the Wizard Academy were characterized by an intense curiosity about almost everything. In a wizard's worldview, "knowledge" literally came with a price tag, so the habit of self-discovery was a passive skill every wizard had leveled up.
Originally, he had picked the object up to analyze the form of the attack and see if he could utilize the method, perhaps incorporating it into his own witchcraft.
As flames flickered in the wizard apprentice's hand, the ice crystal's structure didn't become unstable on an elemental level. In the end, he simply crushed it into frozen shards.
"It's physical matter! That Ancient Remnant Ice's attack wasn't just a spell effect; it was matter shaped by a special spell technique, with spell effects grafted onto it to create lethality."
"And? That's a pretty common method, isn't it? It's just material shaping. Who at our level hasn't encountered that?" an elf from Afuhemi Academy asked, walking over.
Elves naturally had their own spirit magic. Their nature-based plant magic involved both magically shaped plants and plants accelerated by true nature. These plants, combined with plant affinity and plant manipulation, formed an effective combat force.
"No... didn't you notice? This is an excellent energy-conducting material," the wizard apprentice said.
Initially, he had considered keeping it for himself or taking the initiative to develop and utilize the material.
However, after a few simple tests, he realized the material wasn't worth that much of his effort. Its value was roughly on par with typical high-end materials—a bit pricey, but there were plenty of channels to buy it if one wanted.
The main issue was the unstable supply. It was better to go public with it; even if he only made a bit of extra cash, he couldn't monopolize it anyway.
Once he said that, the others began to take it seriously.
They had all been told at the start that this was a Secret Realm that produced almost no transcendent materials. However, its vast internal space was sufficient for the large-scale breeding of special ice-and-snow attribute creatures. Periodically harvesting them would count as a stable source of materials.
But if the Ancient Remnant Ice within this Secret Realm could produce materials itself, the value changed entirely!
One had to remember that this was a combat situation—these were spells cast casually during an intense battle! This proved that the production volume of such material was astronomical.
As long as they had a Transcendent Mentor enslave this Ancient Remnant Ice, it would become a perfect material production machine.
As for the "upkeep," they just needed to find out what the Ancient Remnant Ice ate and feed it regularly.
The wizards weren't the only ones with this thought; the others naturally realized it too.
Even though they still couldn't defeat the monster head-on, they felt they were already qualified to plan the distribution of these future profits!
"Everyone! This Secret Realm is nominally our shared property for now. Could you at least try to hide those 'I want to keep it all for myself' looks?" a member of the Holy Angels spoke up first, calling out the group that was beginning to fear an unfair distribution of spoils.
However, as soon as the Holy Angel finished speaking, everyone turned to look at him.
The other Transcendent Academies were well-acquainted with the Holy Angels' character. His words sounded noble, but in reality, he just wanted a piece of the pie himself.
After this atmosphere persisted for a while, one of the wizard apprentices raised his hand and shook the communication wizard tool in his grip.
"Let's just report this first. You don't actually think a matter like this is something we few can decide privately, do you? We're all just cogs in the machine. How much of the Secret Realm's profits do you think we'll actually see?"
These words instantly struck a chord with everyone present.
Their greedy thoughts were suppressed. It was better to report it; they might even get a decent reward. While the higher-ups hadn't arrived yet, they could take the opportunity to collect some materials now.
Making a bit of extra cash or keeping some for personal use wouldn't hurt.
* * *
Several days passed.
The clubs of the Witch Academy soon received news from the Myriad Forest Wasteland.
Even though they had let go of this Secret Realm, it didn't mean they didn't care about what happened to it.
When they learned that those people had excavated a brand-new, high-value material in the Secret Realm, they were completely stunned.
High-value? Materials?
How come they didn't know there was such a thing in that Secret Realm?
Back when they were exploring it, they had exhausted themselves and found almost nothing useful. Even when they did find something, it was just low-grade material naturally formed under the effects of Great Spells, with plenty of cheap substitutes available on the market.
Why was it that just a few days after they let go, these guys discovered something?
Could it be that they had discovered it from the start and kept it hidden, only to start large-scale development once the witches backed off?
To resolve this sense of injustice, the clubs sent several members to test the waters, but they were driven back every time by the others' mocking laughter.
Those people already treated the Secret Realm as their own home. The only reason the Secret Realm hadn't been moved yet was that they hadn't finished planning how to distribute the realm itself and the deeper interests involved.
This was enough to drive the witches mad with rage!
Arguments broke out within the clubs. After all, the decision to abandon the Secret Realm hadn't been unanimous; they had only let go in a moment of impulse, intimidated by that Little Witch's reputation.
Now that profit was stirring their hearts, people began playing Monday morning quarterback, attacking the competence of those in charge.
Sending people over resulted in them being ganged up on; sending more people resulted in being mocked. But if they didn't go, watching those people make money felt more painful than suffering a loss themselves.
In this dilemma, some people quickly found the source of the conflict: the Little Witch who had declared the Secret Realm "scrap."
After all, the choice to abandon the Secret Realm had been her suggestion.
They had to admit that this Little Witch was now an existence that could ignore a colossus like the club system.
Furthermore, she was a Little Witch in name, but more than a Transcendent Witch in reality. She could influence Academy decisions and interfere with the Academy's landscape at will. The students couldn't even dream of bullying such a freak.
How could they not feel miserable?
Therefore, testing her attitude now was indeed vital. If possible, it would be even better if they could get her to take action.
They wanted the other academies to experience the same frustration the Witch Academy's clubs had felt!
The students couldn't beat her, and if a Mentor stepped in, it would look like bullying—and she might just call over more witches to give the opponent a beating. Not to mention, she had a Transcendent Witch for a girlfriend! Rumor had it that her girlfriend had cut down all the Transcendent Mentors of the Dragon Blood Academy...
It could be said that her "invincible" buffs were truly stacked to the limit.
Truly, no one could touch her.
Of course, that was only from the students' perspective.
If they were ordinary Transcendent Witches, they would see even more.
Countless witches worked for her, and her laboratories had already expanded into the Expansion Realms. A single Little Witch had spearheaded the field of Dream State Soul Essence, and too many witches were trying to pull strings just to get a lead on Dream State Soul Essence materials.
She was usually elusive, with many clones, while her main body stayed in the Experimental Zone, where they didn't even have access permissions. Even the Deans were on very intimate terms with her...
And from the Deans' perspective...
She possessed a bizarre, nearly irresistible Dream Domain that could cause dozens of Transcendents to lose themselves in the blink of an eye. Even a certain Rebel Witch stood by her side to protect her.
It could be said that different perspectives truly revealed different landscapes.
It was just a pity that those who were only willing to stay within the perspective of their families were ultimately unqualified to witness such splendor.
At this moment, they were debating who should be the one to contact her.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the edge of the Lake Heart Island within the Dungeon World.
A wooden house stood on the shore, built over the water. It didn't look cheap; rather, it had the charm of a scenic boutique inn with a unique natural style.
I tucked the slightly cluttered items into my storage space while Sister Bai finished the interior decorations.
Along the edge of the house were rows of handcrafted plants, all of which Sister Bai and I had planted together.
"Hmm? Ah~ Sister Bai, you moved this here too?" I looked at the grill that was supposed to be at the old wooden house, feeling a bit surprised.
"Mhm. I had a lot of fun having a barbecue with you last time, Xiao Han. Now that we're by the lake, I brought it along. If you like fishing, how about grilled fish tonight?"
"Fishing..." I looked at the lake surface behind me, feeling a bit tempted.
I didn't think I had ever really gone fishing, but I had seen many others do it. It seemed interesting.
"Sure~" I agreed readily. "But I heard fishing requires a lot of gear... I don't really know much about that."
"You're actually worrying about that, Xiao Han? Given your personality, shouldn't you be able to fish with just a wooden stick and some line?" Sister Bai blinked at my words, then responded with a smile.
"I guess that's true~"
Hearing Sister Bai say that, fishing suddenly didn't seem so difficult.
"By the way, Sister Bai, there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it? Are we finally going to make a move?" Sister Bai asked.
"Mhm. Regarding that matter from a few days ago—it's about time to pull in the net."
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"Of course~ In the Main World, there's no such thing as a 'Transcendent Non-Interference' contract. At most, there are just some unspoken rules. You're my most important other half, Sister Bai; it's only natural for you to come along, right?"
"I suppose so!"
"Mhm. Before we go, I need to meet some people. The people in the Academy clubs must be dying of frustration these past few days, right?"
* * *
I arrived at the Baking House once again.
As the Baking House had quietly grown, the bakery here had expanded as well. Originally, this was just the site for a small club, but everything was different now.
The storefront naturally needed some decoration. Moreover, since it was the holidays and there were few customers, it was the perfect time for construction.
Those who chose to stay at the Academy during the break would occasionally be surprised to find that several new Baking House branches had suddenly appeared throughout the Academy.
Furthermore, many of the baked goods inside were things they had never seen before. Out of curiosity, some people would try them, refusing to believe the hype.
How should I put it?
Senior Sister Tang Yihan's creativity in the Baking House had finally left the shop she had stayed in for so long... to plague even more people.
The person who contacted me this time was Xing Anlei, the Vice President of the Jack-of-all-trades Club.
I didn't know many people in the Jack-of-all-trades Club; even Xing Anlei was someone I had met during the holiday auction.
The same went for the Witch Secret Realm Club. They were a club even more stable than the Jack-of-all-trades Club, and I didn't have much contact with them.
If I had to say I knew someone... it would probably be Renata, a veteran of the club. She was someone from a long time ago who had treated me to a meal. The process hadn't been very pleasant, but there wasn't any real conflict. She was someone I had almost forgotten; how could there be any lingering grudge?
At this time, Xing Anlei had already brought another girl to the Baking House to meet me.
The girl she brought was also someone I knew: Jiao Xiaoshuang, the receptionist who had followed me during the auction. The Jack-of-all-trades Club was truly utilizing everyone I knew.
It really proved Tan Han's words: In the Witch Academy, even someone whose name Xiao Han remembers can be considered to have "connections."
"Once again, the Jack-of-all-trades Club takes the liberty of disturbing Teaching Assistant Xiao Han. Please, you must accept these small gifts." Xing Anlei's attitude was extremely sincere.
She was on good terms with Ming Xueming, the former President, so she naturally understood the situation of the Teaching Assistant before her.
"Thanks~"
I took the card she handed over. Without even looking at what was inside, I tucked it directly into my storage equipment. In terms of social etiquette, the Jack-of-all-trades Club really knew how to handle things.
"Let's go. We can talk inside. There's no need for formalities with me," I said.
By accepting her gift, I was giving her an early signal: I would give her a satisfactory response to whatever she wanted to ask.
The Baking House hadn't originally needed a reception room, but it had one now after the expansion.
Although the Baking House's headquarters wouldn't be here in the future, this place was where it all started, so it held great commemorative value. Naturally, a reception room had been included.
There weren't many people in the room. Tan Han, Shi Ruizhi, and the others couldn't stay at the club all the time. Even during the holidays, they usually had their own plans.
For example, Lucianne had been agonizing over her holiday plans, but she was eventually persuaded by Tan Han to go home. She said she wanted to face her former family the way I had.
If I remember correctly, Ming Xueming had protected Lucianne's parents. In any case... I hoped Lucianne's parents weren't like my original family.
There weren't many people in the reception room. Aside from the newly arrived Xing Anlei and Jiao Xiaoshuang, there was only me and Sister Bai, who had already been inside.
This time, I happened to be free, so my main body had come in person.
As for the Shopkeeper, Ying Shiqian, and Senior Sister Tang Yihan, they didn't come in.