Chapter 659: The Void Wandering Merchant Group Without a Home

“Yes, they are from outside our world, a group who call themselves Void Wandering Merchants.”

“And you believed them?”

“At first, we didn't, but… you know about the Earth Vein Chains.”

“Oh, they aren't Transcendent powerhouses? You asked a mentor? Otherwise, I don't think you would easily trade with them.”

I quickly reacted and interjected.

“No, for the sake of profit, clubs will choose to trade no matter who the other party is. But, Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, you guessed correctly. They are indeed not Transcendent powerhouses. We confirmed this with Mentor Elena. However… those merchants are also important rare resource traders in Ninglan New City of the Expansion Realm, and our current temporary partners.”

Fu Xinglan explained carefully to me.

“Alright… but I don't recall seeing them at the welcome ceremony?”

“They were present, and they also expressed interest in you, but you just didn't notice. Should we arrange a meeting for you to chat with them?”

“Hmm… how long will they stay here? If they aren't in a rush to leave, I won't deliberately arrange a meeting.”

I asked curiously, completely ignoring the embarrassing fact that I hadn't noticed them at the welcome ceremony.

“We don't know. Perhaps until all the inventory they brought is sold out? But as merchants who traverse the Void, we can't easily probe how much cargo is in their Storage Equipment.”

“Aren't you curious why they are selling coffee beans when they've traversed the Void? Is that enough for them to recoup their costs?”

Finally, I asked the question.

“We are curious, but… they sold it, and that is indeed the fact. And don't forget that they are not Transcendent individuals. Their strength is also not very high. They can barely defend themselves even against the average high-grade students of the Witch Academy.”

After saying this, Fu Xinglan didn't continue, but prepared to change the subject.

“Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, haven't we deviated a bit by just discussing these topics? We also prepared a Witch's Contract in advance for this meeting.”

“Hmm… alright.”

I also played along and didn't press further.

After all, the other party said they were giving me supplemental intelligence, but asking further would be prying.

The favor from the first matter hadn't been finalized by a contract yet.

If I got the intelligence and promised nothing, they would be quite distressed.

So, I very naturally accepted the contract.

It was a thick stack, with a Badge attached.

But the main content was very simple, just as they had said—a favor, a favor within my capability.

The thick stack was all supplementary content, recording names, factions, and Families.

Anyone recorded on it could come to redeem the favor, provided they had the accompanying "token," which was the Badge.

Under normal circumstances, after a Witch's Contract was signed, the contract's power would fall into the body of the signatories after the contract burned.

The current signatories were me, Fu Xinglan, and Tracy, so the contract's power would be divided into three parts.

However, this Badge acted as the token for redeeming the favor.

The contract's power would be divided into four parts, meaning only the designated redeemers on the contract, carrying the token, could come to me to redeem the favor specified in the contract.

This was not complicated.

Rather, it was a very standard contract template for redeeming favors with a token.

There were many attached clauses, such as the redeemer could not kill the other party under the pretense of not redeeming the contract.

Because there were many intricate details in these clauses, I used the Earth Vein Appraisal Spell for a long time to check and confirm that there were no issues before signing it.

As the Witch's Contract spontaneously combusted and turned to ashes, and I felt a surge of contractual power enter my body, the signing of the contract was complete.

“Alright, is it convenient now to continue talking to me about the merchant?”

I took advantage of their current joy to make a "small request."

“Naturally.”

Fu Xinglan and Tracy were clearly in the mindset that the most important thing had been accomplished.

They revealed this intelligence without any hesitation.

Perhaps they also wanted to exchange it for some goodwill.

After all, if I wasn't afraid of trouble, I could go directly to the merchant and find out the information myself right now.

So, it wasn't a loss to convey some pre-known information in exchange for some goodwill from the other party.

“What else would you like to know?”

“Since you have been in contact with that merchant and reached cooperation in trade, then you must have also conducted intelligence exchange with them, right?”

I inquired.

“Naturally. Does Teaching Assistant Xiao Han want to know about intelligence from outside the Void?”

“Yes, did you buy any?”

I asked.

“Since they are merchants, that kind of intelligence should also be a commodity, and I think you must have been very curious about it too, right?”

“That's right.”

“However… they are not Transcendent individuals, so they don't know much intelligence. How about… Teaching Assistant Xiao Han asks the questions you are curious about, and we answer selectively? We guarantee we won't conceal any information in this area.”

“That works too.”

I nodded and immediately asked a heavy question.

“Then, do you know how they cut the Earth Vein Chains?”

“We were curious about this too. If you are asking this question to imitate them… I think this method is not something we can reference, because the world where they originally resided was destroyed, so they no longer had Earth Vein Chains. Subsequently, they became Void Wandering Merchants.”

“Well, alright… that is indeed outrageous.”

Upon hearing this answer, a flash of surprise crossed my mind, but… it actually seemed quite reasonable.

It was certainly effortless, just a little world-intensive.

“Then the next question: who do they work for?”

I asked this question primarily to understand one thing: there was nothing outside the Void.

There wasn't even the foundation of Material Space.

Without advancing to Transcendent, one couldn't even survive in the Void, which was even more lethal than the vacuum of a zero-gravity universe.

So, those merchants claiming their world was destroyed must have been rescued by someone, or enslaved, or something else.

In any case, they definitely had an object of reliance.

“They call themselves merchants of the Void Wandering Merchant Group. This Merchant Group often takes in people after their world is destroyed and trains them to become merchants, traveling to various worlds open to the Void. Although they are called merchants, they are essentially just workers, at least that's what they say.” 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

“Then that Merchant Group must have many Transcendent individuals, right?”

“That's for sure. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to reach our world.”

“Besides these merchants, has anyone else arrived in our world?”

I continued to ask.

“That… we don't know. Currently, I've only come into contact with these merchants. Their arrival was permitted by the Transcendent Academies, so I estimate that even if others came to the Main World, there wouldn't be many.”

“And it's highly likely that no Transcendent-level powerhouses would descend, because, as you know, the number of Transcendent individuals in our world is kept at a stable figure.”

“Thank you for this intelligence.”

After learning a few more less-important pieces of information from them, this meeting came to an end.

However, I was very concerned about the arrival of people from outside the world in the Main World.

Of course, the merchants weren't the main concern, but learning that even non-Transcendent individuals could traverse the Void was not a total loss.

I was more concerned about the Anti-Witch, or other Transcendent powerhouses similar to the Anti-Witch.

The Transcendent level was simply too terrifying.

That was the promotion of life level to Transcendent, touching upon the existence of True Time.

My understanding of the Transcendent was also very crude, basically having the impression of being almost immortal and indestructible.

After all, just thinking about those high-grade students, whose life level hadn't even advanced to Transcendent, already possessing such terrifying immortality, wouldn't it be that no conventional means could truly kill the Transcendent?

However… if you were to ask me if I was afraid of facing such an enemy, I would still press on despite my fears.

And the source of my confidence was the power of the Domain.

Even many Witches who advanced to Transcendent had not mastered a Domain, so my Domain was my biggest trump card.

Although… my Domain was only a Domain Prototype, this didn't negate the fact of its Domain essence.

As for the Grand Spellbooks… although I had two, neither seemed to have direct offensive capability.

The only thing I could offer seemed to be the derived techniques, such as the reverse application of Wisdom Bestowal.

But I had never used this technique on a Transcendent individual, so I didn't know if it would work.

The main concern was with the soul.

The soul was only the promotion and transformation of the Soul-substance's essence, but fundamentally, the life level was the leap in life's strength.

Thinking this way, encountering a Transcendent individual truly was very dangerous for me.

This indeed brought me a strong sense of unease.

However, if I were to be forced to interrupt my current pace to research means to deal with the Transcendent now, I felt it would be putting the cart before the horse.

But not researching it also brought an uneasy feeling that my fate was not in my own hands.

This feeling of contradiction was like an underage child seeing an underage murderer and agonizing over whether to learn children's self-defense.

In fact, the answer was obvious: there was no need to learn it.

What should be learned was to accept reality and prevent it beforehand.

And Big Sis Mei also told me to rest assured that she had dealt with the crisis, so she should have truly dealt with it.

After all, there were so many Witches in the Main World.

I didn't believe a large number of Anti-Witches could force their way in.

Moreover… the Main World's Core Realm still had the Great Weakening Spell!

The original intention of this Grand Spell effect was to prevent Transcendent powerhouses from destroying the last Core Realm of the Main World.

In this situation, my simple request to only ensure the survival of my soul was still very simple.

Since I had a baseline guarantee for survival, what was there to fear?

After sorting out my feelings, I left the Expansion Realm and arrived at the Academy.

I have to say that the recent events in the Main World have been quite taxing on my emotions, especially when my life was truly threatened.

Therefore, self-emotion management sometimes truly needed to be controlled.

Perhaps I should find something to distract myself with.

For example… to study Totemology?

But I had almost finished reading the materials on Totemology.

The library only mentioned a few names regarding Totemology content, and there were no instructional books at all.

So, if I wanted to learn quickly, I could only try to find more research materials or handbooks myself.

If I was lucky, I could use them to pass the time during this period.

How about… I go ask Big Sis Mei?

I just didn't know what price I would have to pay to exchange for these materials.

Putting these thoughts aside, after returning to the Witch Academy, I immediately sought out Mentor Lina, as suggested.

Mentor Lina, as the Grade Director, was quite busy at the moment.

After all, the last Monthly Exam of the semester had passed, and the Final Exam was next.

Although it was stated that it would be held in the Expansion Realm, there were many things to consider due to the Multi-school Joint Exam.

So, she was currently gathered with several other Grade Directors, discussing the arrangements for the low-grade students' Final Exam.

“Hmm? Isn't this Xiao Han? What brings you here?”

As Lina sensed a presence that was not common but somewhat familiar, she immediately looked up and saw my figure.

Her greeting also caused the other few Witches to look up in surprise, as they were not at all unfamiliar with the name Xiao Han.

“Hello, Big Sis Lina, and hello to these Big Sisters. I came here mainly because I have something to trouble Big Sis Lina with.”

I pushed open the office door and greeted them sweetly, while also stating the purpose of my visit.

“Trouble me? Shouldn't you be busy in the Expansion Realm right now, Xiao Han? I heard your Myriad Connection Main Network Tree plan has already formed an entire laboratory. You can't be thinking of pulling me over too, can you?”

She joked, while also setting aside the work in her hands.

“How could I Big Sis Lina is so busy normally, how could I bear to ask a Clone to help? That matter is something Big Sis Lina doesn't need to worry about. I came here this time mainly to trouble you with one thing, regarding the outside world's College Entrance Examination.”

“College Entrance Examination? Xiao Han is interested in that?”

“Mm, I plan to take on the task of proctoring the College Entrance Examination. I just… wanted to ask if Big Sis Lina could help me… I want to proctor at a specific examination site.”

“Is that all? A small matter. Although I'm not in charge of this specific task, I can still help put in a word. Where do you want to go?”

“Uh…”

I was a little surprised to hear Big Sis Lina agree so quickly.

“Big Sis Lina, aren't you going to ask what I plan to do? Aren't you afraid I'll do something bad?”

“Then, Xiao Han, what are you going to do?”

Lina asked, as if just realizing, following my words.

“As for doing something bad… do you think the Witch's Contract signed for this task is just for show?”

“That's true…”

I quickly said.

As expected, the Witches' emphasis on the Witch's Contract had reached the point where they wouldn't even be suspicious.

“A cheap younger brother of mine is taking the College Entrance Examination this year. I plan to go and see him.”

“You have a younger brother?”

Lina's hand, which was about to get back to work, suddenly paused.

“Do you plan to lure him into the Witch Academy?”

“Ah?”

“Since he has a sister as outstanding as you, he shouldn't be too bad either, right?”

Lina said with a smile.

“That… still depends on the situation. He might not be as outstanding as Big Sis Lina thinks…”

“You were once the same, weren't you? But that fellow Xi Lan… I have to say, she's really good at judging people. No one knows if an unpolished stone will shine. If he's very mediocre… it doesn't matter. There are plenty of mediocre students in the Witch Academy.”

“So, Big Sis Lina, you're set on having me lure him, aren't you?”

“Just kidding. This kind of thing… is naturally up to you.”