Chapter 705: Liffia and Her Family Relations

"Not qualified to enter the Witch Academy?"

I repeated, word for word, then looked at Liffia.

This was actually the statement I had the least regard for, as it sounded as if I had been qualified to enter the Witch Academy back then.

But… I got in.

Liffia was not qualified, but!

She also got in, and even became a teaching assistant.

"Yes."

"Who said that? Who determined you were unqualified to enter the Witch Academy? I trust that statement the least."

"It's the family."

Liffia explained, "Perhaps you don't know, but not every child in a family has the qualification to enter the Witch Academy. Especially an academy like the Witch Academy, where students lose their reproductive ability upon enrollment, the family restrictions are even more severe, because the family needs to continue its bloodline."

"Because of that reason… I've learned a bit about it."

After Liffia's explanation, I recalled the information I had previously learned.

"It's just because the family didn't allow it… but you still entered the Witch Academy."

"Yes, I still entered the Witch Academy. I entered it behind my family's back. The academy opens its doors to welcome everyone who meets the qualifications for enrollment."

"Then how did your family deal with you?"

I was now more curious about Liffia's story.

Since Liffia was willing to tell me all this at this moment, I was naturally willing to be a listener.

"Because I secretly changed my college application preference at the time, but this matter couldn't be kept secret for too long. The punishment for those who defy the family's arrangement is very severe, especially for this kind of family rule that goes against the academy's will…"

"So… they couldn't stop you from entering the Witch Academy, but they punished your immediate family line?"

"No, they have many ways to prevent a person from entering a Transcendent Academy. The excuses are numerous: being abducted by another Transcendent Academy, or giving up on their own… these are very basic tactics. The family's influence in the outside world is absolute; they can easily make a person who hasn't stepped into the Transcendent level disappear from this world."

"Good, good. I've gained a deeper understanding of families."

I initially thought that families wouldn't dare to go against the Witch Academy.

I didn't expect them to act as local tyrants in the areas the Witch Academy didn't bother with.

"Judging by your tone, you also really dislike families, but you are not a family member."

"You don't need a reason to dislike a person, a power, or a family; all you need is a bad first impression."

This was similar to the world of the game players.

My first impression of them was very poor, and at a certain point, I even spoke of wanting them to be completely wiped out…

"Is that so? You truly act as you please… that's wonderful."

"But I'm curious about how you managed to get to the Witch Academy. According to what you said, you shouldn't even have had the chance to go to the Witch Academy."

I returned to the previous topic.

"Alright…"

Liffia took a moment to gather her thoughts, then picked up a spicy dried little fish I handed her and ate it.

"Actually, after my parents learned of my rebellious act, they immediately dragged me to the main family to confess my sin."

"As long as I gave up the thought of going to a Transcendent Academy, I would still be a good daughter to my parents… Perhaps you wouldn't understand what it felt like to be their beloved daughter one moment, and then have them slap me in the face the next, and say those words in a tone implying it was for my own good."

"So you resisted?" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

I guessed.

"No, I obeyed. At that time, I was still clinging to the hope of being my parents' darling, and for that, I could ignore the fact that they had once slapped me."

"But many things cannot be had both ways, and many willful acts require a price to be paid…"

"Because of my willfulness, within the short time span from the issuance of the admission notice until just before the enrollment deadline, my life went from its former abundance to utter destitution. The family's businesses handed over to my parents were greatly affected… I heard that it was from… I don't really understand the family's business classification, but anyway, the family was completely disappointed with my parents' lineage, revoked their original authority, and they became a branch family in name and in fact…"

"Then how did your parents treat you?"

"They blamed me, of course. Could they have continued to dote on me? My parents don't just have me as a child."

"I will always remember them locking me in a small room until the enrollment ceremony was over before they would consider letting me out as appropriate. The food I ate during that time… hehe, it was countless times worse than what we are eating now."

Liffia picked up another dried little fish and put it into her mouth.

Although she was eating very ordinary dried little fish, she looked very much like she was enjoying it.

"Confined? What did you do after that?"

"Then I called for help, and it was at that time that I learned my phone had been monitored all along."

"Dedicated monitoring? That's too outrageous?"

"Of course not. Thinking about it now… it should have been based on keywords. I made many calls in that room without issue, until I called my deskmate from my school days. I knew she had also been admitted to a Transcendent Academy…"

"And then you were found?"

"Mhm… At that time, my door was heavily kicked open. I naively thought my dad was letting me out, but what followed was a beating. While beating me, they kept saying it was for my own good, and to quickly give up the idea of going to a Transcendent Academy…"

"That atmosphere must have been really suffocating."

"It was… the family I belonged to meant that there were many things I couldn't do, and if I did them, I had to pay a price."

"And then? What did you do then?"

"Then, after being beaten, I behaved myself. I cried and begged them not to take away my phone. Perhaps they thought that since the phone was monitored, it was fine, and eventually, they relented and let me keep it. Then, the obedient days continued until the very end."

"But in the end… you still made a call for help? Who did you call?"

I asked.

At that time, Liffia's only chance to break out would have been the phone, so I logically guessed that she eventually used the phone to call someone.

"Still my deskmate, and that was the turning point in my life. At that time… the one who answered the phone wasn't my deskmate, but a stranger. Only after understanding the situation did I find out that my deskmate had been abducted in the final few days… abducted to another Transcendent Academy. I heard she was taken to the Wizard Academy…"

"Oh? It developed that way? And then?"

"Then the person heard my plea for help and became very interested after learning that I was a student admitted to the Witch Academy. What truly made the other party decide to take me away was my score…"

"Your score must have been very high, right? I imagine you must have been very grateful to your past self for studying so hard at that time."

"Yes. I was excellent, and I deserved to be in a Transcendent Academy. Isn't that one of the fundamental reasons why I longed for a Transcendent Academy? If I were a good-for-nothing, a poor student, I wouldn't have had the determination to defy the family's will."

Liffia's voice was very emotional when she spoke these words.

Perhaps even she hadn't noticed this change.

"But if that's the case, then you should be a student of the Wizard Academy, right?"

"Yes… but guess… which academy in our world is the most notorious for abducting new students?"

"The Witch Academy!"

I blurted out.

"Yes. My deskmate and I were eventually abducted to the Witch Academy…"

"The drama is through the roof."

I said with a smile.

"Mhm. Every time I recall this story, I also find it unbelievable… Only by entering the Witch Academy could I truly recognize the essence of this world, you know? In the first few years after entering the Witch Academy, I was constantly afraid that my family would come to find me and strip me of my status as a Transcendent Academy student…"

"But some things the family can't even interfere with, such as the status of a currently enrolled Transcendent Academy student."

I chimed in.

"Yes, that's right. The deeper my understanding of the Transcendent Academy became, the firmer I was in believing how correct my resistance was, and how lucky that coincidence was!"

"So what about now? Now you've achieved the status of a teaching assistant. You should have enough qualification to cut ties with your original family, right?"

I continued to ask.

"Cut ties…"

Hearing my question, Liffia seemed to think of something, and then a bitter expression appeared on her face.

"I once heard someone say that a family is an eternal, inextinguishable chain carved onto a person. No matter what I become, or where I go… this chain will follow me like a shadow…"

"……"

I listened quietly, without speaking.

Perhaps this was somewhat difficult for me to understand, but I respected Liffia's statement.

It was similar to how a person who hadn't experienced my hardships also wouldn't understand what my past meant, nor could they empathize with how much was relinquished in that seemingly simple act of "letting go."

"That chain… whether I fall into the bottom of a valley or reach the peak of a mountain, it will always find me and turn me into the helpless little girl who was once locked in that small room… It is a subtle, pervasive obedience instilled in my bones since birth, the discipline infused into my mind by the family's education… the ideology of obedience, the philosophy of compliance, and the supremacy of the family… these things are never chains that can simply be removed just by understanding them…"

"I see…"

As Liffia spoke up to this point, I somewhat understood, and also felt a certain sense of shared experience.

That mode of thinking, ingrained in one's cognition since childhood, was something both poor and rich families achieved uniformity in at this moment, it was just that the instilled philosophies were different…

"Can you understand that feeling of mine?"

Liffia was already affected by her own emotions at this point, but she still managed to hold on, not losing her composure too much.

"I can understand. Family and education are hurdles that both the poor and the rich cannot bypass."

"I heard your past was also quite difficult, and the submission of your college application was full of twists and turns. I also heard that this time, during the college entrance examination… you also resolved the issue of your original family…"

"Yes, that is true."

"I truly envy how resolutely you could do that…"

"Resolutely… Do you truly envy that kind of resoluteness? Even if it means never having experienced the feeling of being connected by blood with someone since birth? If that is acceptable, then you can also be that resolute, but… a bad childhood may require the rest of your life to heal."

"This… alright. It seems I was thinking too simply…"

Liffia chuckled lightly, then shook her head. "This damned and awful world…"

"Try to be more optimistic. At least you became a teaching assistant through your own efforts, didn't you? At least you hold your destiny in your own hands."

I continued to comfort her.

"Effort… teaching assistant… hehe… actually, neither is true, Xiao Han. You have also been a teaching assistant. You should understand that becoming a teaching assistant is always more about luck and opportunity than about one's own ability and effort."

"Is there a story behind this too?"

My curiosity was piqued again.

However, regarding what she said, I was very clear.

Teaching assistants were indeed such a group.

They didn't have the qualification to represent the peak of power of the Witch Academy's non-Transcendent group.

Their existence served only two purposes.

One… to reduce unnecessary trivial matters for the Transcendent Mentors.

The other was the hope and expectation the mentors held for this student to achieve Transcendent status.

"It's not really a story. The process of me becoming a teaching assistant was simply… more dramatic. It was because of my experiences, the experience of enrollment and the experience of resistance…"

"My family didn't give me the qualification, so I fought for it myself. My family became my chain, and I will personally break it… Because of my experience, the mentor I currently follow is very certain that I can resist the sense of belonging bestowed by the Earth Vein Chains, and she also promised to be my most solid backer before I advance to Transcendent Witch…"

"So that's why you cause trouble everywhere in the academy, but your mentor is still happy to clean up everything for you?"

I also roughly understood at this moment…

If, due to the problem of the sense of belonging from the Earth Vein Chains, a student who is very likely not to be blocked by the Earth Vein Chains is nurtured, her probability of achieving Transcendent Witch status is very high, second only to me, who has already severed the Earth Vein Chains…

"Actually, it's not really causing trouble… You should also understand that many students and teaching assistants in the academy are actually representatives of their respective family interests in miniature. Acting in the academy inevitably brings contact with them… If I don't want to integrate into their group, then I will be excluded by them…"

"I can relate. People from different groups don't play well together."

This kind of conversational atmosphere continued with Liffia and me taking turns narrating.

Although I could feel that the topic seemed to have strayed from the original question, by understanding a person's past, one could predict her future and know more clearly what the underlying logic driving her to make these choices was.

***

"So they gave you a chance… a chance to completely cut ties with your family in name, provided you cooperate with this ambush on me?"

"Yes…"

"Why?"

I looked at Liffia.

This "why" was asking why she gave up the chance.

"Because… your practical actions told me, and also made me realize… that cutting ties with the past and my bloodline doesn't require the charity of others."

"……"

"Actually, I should have seen through their true colors long ago, and you were the turning point that made me change and make this decision."

"The one who made this decision from start to finish was yourself."

I was very clear that what I did didn't provide too much inspiration to Liffia.

Whatever she wanted to do in her heart, no matter how unreasonable the excuse, it could become a firm anchor for her heart.

I just happened to be the excuse she spoke of…

"No, I am very certain that you gave me the courage to make a change… but I am very sorry that I cannot give you an equivalent return."

Liffia sighed, a look of hesitation on her face, as if struggling over whether to say something.

"What? By your look, you don't seem to have finished speaking. If it's some kind of so-called return, then forget it."

"No… I don't know how to say it, because I can't be sure either, but I hope you don't take too many risks in the next few days, and don't get into conflicts with those teaching assistants, and even more so… don't think that dying by their hands is no big deal."

"What do you mean?"

"How should I put it… when I listened to their plan, although they didn't say it explicitly, I heard that their mission would be complete once they killed you once… Perhaps, they possess a method of killing that even the Resurrection Spell can't revive…"

As Liffia said this, she seemed to think of something else:

"Do you remember the issue of the contract before this joint exam that we talked about? The powers in the world can't all be forbidden. Perhaps there is some unknown power that can bypass the loophole of the contract…"

"Is that so? Thank you for the reminder, anyway."

I quietly filed Liffia's words away in my heart, then changed the subject, "Let's not talk about such heavy topics for now. Let's resume the live broadcast. Since we have so much delicious food now, it would be a waste not to make the people watching the live broadcast envious."

"Hmm? Okay."

Liffia was stunned for a moment, then followed my rhythm, saying nothing more and turning on the live broadcast.