The Betrayal and the Path to Vengeance

“Once this is over, I’m heading to Cangnan Academy. Why don’t you come with me?” Bailuan walked towards Su Han, his hands clasped behind his head. “I’ll take care of all the enrollment documents for you.”

“Huh?” Su Han blinked. “Why? Wouldn’t I just be a burden?” Su Han had, of course, heard of Cangnan Academy, though not from the closed beta game. The game had no such institution. Everything she knew about Cangnan Academy stemmed from memories that didn’t quite feel her own.

Cangnan Academy stood at the border between the Azure Heron Empire and the Cold Mist Empire. Legend claimed it was founded by a mythical Archmage, a fabled Sword Saint, and a Divine-tier expert possessing a tenth-tier bloodline, and it had existed for over a millennium. It was the most renowned academy for both magic and martial arts on the continent of Ael’ta, its formidable strength far surpassing ordinary imagination. Even a common instructor there wielded power at least at the Transcendent tier. In terms of overall might, it would likely take the combined forces of the five great empires to stand against it.

Over the past thousand years, Cangnan Academy had produced dozens of formidable experts. Among them, the least powerful were Saint-tier mages, while the strongest had reached the level of Legendary Archmages. This clearly demonstrated the academy’s profound heritage and its undeniable role as a crucible for nurturing talent.

Gaining admission to the academy was the quickest route to acquiring powerful magic spells and profound magical insights. Within a top-tier institution like Cangnan Academy, exceptional performance or catching the eye of certain instructors could even lead to receiving forbidden spells and personal guidance born from their own experiences. Armed with such advantages, one’s path to becoming a true powerhouse would be significantly shortened.

Of course, elixirs, potions, and magical equipment were all readily available. The more outstanding one’s performance and the greater their contributions to the academy, the more valuable the rewards they could obtain.

Many of Ael’ta Continent’s most precious resources were virtually monopolized by Cangnan Academy. Consequently, in the hearts of countless people across the land, simply stepping foot into Cangnan Academy was seen as a guarantee of a secure future. Every student who successfully graduated from Cangnan Academy would be eagerly sought after by various powers, their prospects undeniably brilliant.

Thus, every year, countless young people from the five great empires would fight tooth and nail, resorting to every conceivable method to gain entry into Cangnan Academy.

However, Cangnan Academy’s admission requirements were exceedingly stringent: one had to reach the rank of Archmage before the age of twenty!

This strict baseline for admission effectively barred anyone lacking sufficient talent. Therefore, those fortunate enough to enter Cangnan Academy were invariably the geniuses of various noble families or imperial houses.

In this foreign world, the unarmed Su Han’s only path to survival was to grow stronger. Thus, she yearned intensely for Cangnan Academy.

“You and I are both from that other world,” Bailuan continued, “If we go there together, we can look out for each other.”

“Alright, fine,” Su Han conceded. “But I…” She trailed off, her words caught in her throat.

Su Han had wanted to say something more, but hesitated.

“Take that black pill I gave you last time,” Bailuan instructed. “It’s an Upgrade Elixir, meant to help you break through. I only have one of them. It’ll be painful, but once you endure it, you’ll level up quite quickly. As for how high you’ll ascend, that depends entirely on your fortune!”

“This thing won’t have any side effects, will it?” Su Han asked cautiously, carefully taking out the black pill and laying it in her palm. “Like, exploding to death or something?”

“If you’re not going to eat it, give it back!” Bailuan snapped, rolling his eyes at her before delivering a playful chop to her head.

“Waaah~ You’re bullying me just because you’re taller, hmph!” Su Han whined.

Su Han’s sudden act of cuteness genuinely startled Bailuan. He clutched his chest, leaning against the wall. “Ugh~ Don’t disgust me, you wolf in sheep’s clothing!” he exclaimed. “Just eat it!”

“Hehe~!” Su Han chuckled, then placed the black pill into her mouth.

Immediately, Su Han felt as if she‘d been struck by lightning. Though there was no crackling sound, the searing pain of electricity coursing through her body, causing her eardrums to throb with a deafening ‘buzzing’ vibration, was unbearable. She collapsed to her knees, pressing her hands tightly over her ears, desperate to block out the sound. But she forgot that the ‘buzzing’ originated from the electric currents produced by the dissolving pill within her own body.

While not a hundred thousand volts of high-tension current, the spark-like electrical charges constantly surged within her, causing her muscles to spasm and even invading her brain, wreaking havoc. The direct current continuously stimulated her internal bio-electricity, and the subsequent numbness was particularly agonizing, leaving Su Han gasping for air, her chest feeling constricted.

There was no heart-wrenching pain akin to countless ants gnawing at her bones. Instead, the electric currents stimulating her nerves, brain, and muscles caused a more insidious, agonizing discomfort, a suffocating sensation. She felt that if the intensity were just a little stronger, she would die without peace.

Su Han lay sprawled on the ground, forming a ‘大’ (big) shape, her entire body drenched in sweat, truly reeking of it. Beads of perspiration, the size of peas, constantly dripped from her pale forehead.

Bailuan gazed at Su Han on the ground, a playful smile curling at the corner of his lips.

“Do you truly trust others so easily?” Bailuan began, walking over and nudging Su Han’s body with his foot. Seeing no reaction from her, he continued, “While this is an Upgrade Elixir, it’s also a poison! Anyone who takes it will ignite their life’s potential to break through their bottlenecks. But after breaking through, they’ll be nothing more than a cripple. They’ll never be able to advance another step in this lifetime!”

Indeed, what Bailuan had given Su Han was an Overdraft Potion. This potion could ignite all the potential within one’s body, allowing them to instantly break through barriers, level up rapidly, and even cross a significant threshold. However, once overdrawn, one’s progress would be halted for life, never to advance another step. Take Su Han, for instance: if she had relied on normal cultivation, even without the Scroll of Wishes, her talent alone would have allowed her to reach Saint-tier mage, or at least the peak of the Transcendent tier, over her lifetime. But now, having consumed the Overdraft Pill, her strength had soared from a Mage Apprentice all the way to Archmage, spanning four entire ranks. This meant her achievements were forever capped at this point.

From that moment on, Su Han would be nothing more than an ordinary Archmage for the rest of her life, never again dreaming of further advancement.

“It seems you’re the only one out of seventy-three who didn’t know,” Bailuan mused. “Then again, you haven’t been online these past few days, so only seventy-two of us, myself included, truly understood.”

“The seventy-two of us transmigrated from that other world into this one to engage in a deadly struggle. Only one person will survive, and that final victor will attain immortality and indestructibility!” he revealed. “Actually, the system offers two ways out: either eliminate the other seventy-two players, or cultivate one of the four cultivation systems to the Legendary tier to escape this cursed world.”

“Of course, you could also sit idly by, ignore the game rules, forgo the killing, and simply live a new life in this world. But within a few days, the system would detect your presence and mercilessly erase you from existence. If all seventy-three people remained inactive, all seventy-three would be wiped out, and none among them could resist.

However, it’s impossible for no one to act, and equally impossible for anyone to resist. The sheer power required to transfer people from that world to this one is evident. And those who refuse to die, and those who desire the power of immortality and indestructibility, are all gathered here.”

As for Bailuan, what he said wasn’t entirely false, but it couldn’t be fully trusted. How could his brother possibly be the true mastermind behind all of this? Bailuan was merely connected to it. He had discovered the thrill of killing in holographic online games and yearned to experience genuine combat in this world, which was why he had come. In this world, he truly unleashed his insidious and venomous nature.

Such was human nature! Only an ignorant, naive soul like Su Han, who understood nothing, would so easily trust others and remain oblivious to the game’s rules.

“Though I wanted to kill you, seeing how naive you are, I’ve decided to spare you,” Bailuan declared, a cruel edge to his voice. “You’ve already lost the right to compete. For the rest of your life, you’ll be nothing but a waste!”

Although Su Han appeared to have fainted, she had heard every word clearly. She merely remained silent, feigning death.

Su Han gave a bitter laugh in her heart. ‘Yes, I truly was too naive,’ she thought. ‘To actually trust someone in a world where murder isn’t a crime!’

‘How could a millionaire possibly show kindness to a farmer from the countryside?’ she mused. ‘Even if they came from the same village, their fundamental nature would have changed.’ Su Han was merely an ordinary person who had just arrived in this foreign world, her ‘cheat’ ability still locked. Before Bailuan, she was utterly defenseless. Furthermore, she was bound by game rules she didn’t even understand. After so easily trusting another, she had been utterly outmaneuvered, effectively weaving her own cocoon. Who else was to blame but herself for believing too readily?

Although Su Han knew she could no longer cultivate the magic system, and even her dantian, used for cultivating battle qi, had been shattered by the hidden force in Bailuan’s kicks, she had, at this very moment, awakened a special cultivation system: Pupil Arts!

She didn’t blame Bailuan, nor did she regret her own actions. What good would more words do now that things had come to this? There was no medicine for regret in this world.

Yet, how could Su Han not resent Bailuan? She knew she was no match for him now, so she could only pretend ignorance, burying her hatred deep within her heart and transforming it into her driving force.

‘I was wrong all along!’ Su Han thought, gritting her teeth. ‘I should have focused on getting stronger first! Only by becoming strong can I gain a foothold, can I survive! So, my goal is—to become strong!’ She bit down hard, etching this humiliation into her memory.

Su Han had no idea of the power wielded by a practitioner of Pupil Arts. Her sole objective now was to grow stronger, by any means necessary. Only by becoming strong could she survive in this world teeming with powerhouses! Since she could no longer cultivate battle qi or magic, and the Mech Master system was unattainable without magic or battle qi ranks, her only remaining option was to cultivate the bloodline system. Although she possessed the bloodline of a Destruction Dragon, she lacked any cultivation methods for it. Therefore, her current plan was to feign ignorance, continue acting as a naive simpleton by Bailuan’s side, and then seek out methods for cultivating bloodlines at Cangnan Academy, all in preparation for her future revenge!

[Each of the seventy-three players received unique system-granted benefits, so Bailuan was unaware that Su Han could cultivate all four systems.]

Once her entire plan was deeply etched into her mind, Su Han stopped feigning unconsciousness. She opened her eyes, asking weakly, “What happened to me?”

“Congratulations!” Bailuan chirped. “You’ve directly broken through four ranks, bypassing High Mage and upgrading straight to Archmage!”

“Really?” Su Han asked, though she felt utterly disgusted by Bailuan’s repulsive expression, she enthusiastically played along.

“But why is my dantian shattered~?” Su Han complained naively. “I originally wanted to cultivate both magic and martial arts!”

“Er, it’s probably because the potion was too potent and broke through it,” Bailuan replied, waving a hand dismissively. “But it’s fine! You’re already an Archmage at just fifteen years old. I’m sure breaking through to the Saint-tier will be easy enough, so battle qi isn’t really necessary anyway!”

“Is that so? It sounds amazing!”

“Of course it is! And just look who gave it to you!”

‘There’s truly nothing crueler than a woman’s heart,’ Su Han thought to herself.

“Wait, you seem to have double pupils?” Bailuan suddenly observed. “How did I not notice before?”

“Huh? I’ve always had double pupils, you just never paid attention!” Su Han replied, realizing this might be an effect of her Pupil Arts, so she didn’t elaborate to Bailuan. ‘It would be a joke to actually tell Bailuan,’ she thought. ‘I’d be a genuine idiot! This unknown, forbidden Pupil Art system could very well become my trump card against Bailuan in the end. Why would I ever reveal it?’

“Hmm, right.” Bailuan didn’t dwell on it, continuing, “Since you’ve also reached the Archmage level, let’s head to Cangnan Academy!”

“Okay!” ‘That’s what I’ve been waiting for,’ she thought. ‘If I don’t go to Cangnan Academy, how will I get stronger? How will I get my revenge?’

With that, Su Han first went to a nearby inn to shower, washing away the sticky sweat from her body, before setting off for Cangnan Academy with Bailuan.

Along the way, Bailuan remained his usual self, acting as if nothing was amiss. Su Han, being a master of forbearance, also behaved normally, avoiding any inconsistent behavior that might arouse Bailuan’s suspicion.