Hate Me, Witch!-Chapter 182: Naïve Children: Only Through Pain Can They Grow

Hathaway lifted her pale golden eyes.

“Light… a new sun?”

She spoke softly, her voice tinged with confusion—and a bit of yearning.

Because that really was her own wish.

As a High Elf who had grown up on the Lost Isle since childhood, this tiny island and the Royal Court were her entire world.

She didn’t share the same ambition as the Council Elders—to return to the Western Continent and restore the Elven Race to its glory days under the Elven Royal Court, standing once more at the pinnacle of the continent.

From beginning to end, Hathaway’s wish—

Was simply to make this dark island… a little brighter.

To let her kin on the Lost Isle, those eyes long accustomed to darkness, truly see the vast, rolling sea… to see the grandeur of the Royal Court in full… and to see each other’s faces clearly.

That was all she wanted—and she would be content.

But soon, the Golden Elf lowered her head again, looking a little downcast.

“Teacher Xia Ya, you really know how to joke.”

She could understand that Xia Ya was just trying to comfort her.

After all—

If one were to spread Arcana and Magic throughout the Elven Race on the Lost Isle, to get them to abandon their corrupted bloodline powers…

To grant them the strength to face the Fallen Sun and walk out of the Lost Isle—

It was destined to be a long, arduous journey.

Bloodline power was the very foundation the Elven Race had relied upon for survival. To willingly abandon that, to step into a completely unknown future, who knew how many obstacles they would face… how much opposition.

Hathaway had already resolved to spend her whole life on this.

Even if that long wait ended up disappointing Xia Ya—causing him to eventually leave.

But still…

Compared to her own ideas, what Xia Ya said just now—that was the real fantasy.

“To light… a new sun.”

That was the authority of a being beyond even the gods—

In the Age of Radiance, the Supreme Creator had been known by the title of the Sun God.

Even though the Age of Radiance had long faded, its aftershocks still rippled through the entire Material Plane, not dispersing even after a thousand years.

No matter how much faith Hathaway had in the boy beside her—no matter how well she understood that the Xia Ya she saw as a Wizard was far from his whole self—she still couldn’t believe that he could possess power beyond that of the Creator.

“Which is why,”

“You really ought to have more faith in your teacher, Hathaway.”

Without changing his expression, Xia Ya reached out and patted his Shī-chan’s head again, the corners of his mouth curling into the kind of grin you'd expect from someone luring a naive underage girl.

Opportunities to take advantage of his dear Shī-chan were rare. Every time he snuck one in, it was one less chance in the future—he had to cherish them.

“There was once someone who told me—”

“If you choose to walk the path of the Wizard, then you must cast aside all reverence for the past, leaving only a heart that seeks pure truth.”

“To use Arcana, to use the known rules and laws, to analyze all phenomena in this world.”

“Be it lifeless matter, living beings… or even gods, it’s all the same.”

Xia Ya paused for a moment.

“That authority we call ‘the sun’—it doesn’t solely belong to that ancient Creator.”

“As long as we understand the underlying principles, then whether it’s you, me, or any Wizard out there, there’s no reason we can’t reach it.”

“At our current level, sure—we’re nowhere near the scale of the Sun God, and we definitely can’t create a star that lights up the entire Western Continent.”

“But to light up just this one Lost Isle… that, we can do.”

As he spoke, Xia Ya pulled out a small core from his chest pocket.

Hathaway could tell—it was some sort of magical tool crafted from metal and inscribed with spell arrays.

Inside it was sealed and solidified a spell model of such intricate mystery—one she had neither heard of nor seen before.

“This is the result of analyzing the principles behind the sun’s operation and then manifesting them into a concrete spell model.”

“I’ve named it—the ‘Solar Furnace.’”

Xia Ya held out the dull, lightless little core to the girl in front of him.

“My mental energy is restricted on the Lost Isle—I can’t channel mana on a large scale.”

“Try channeling some mana into it, Hathaway.”

The Golden Elf took the tiny Magitech reactor from Xia Ya, examining it closely.

It seemed… entirely ordinary.

Could the authority to move a star really be housed inside something this small?

A hint of doubt surfaced in her heart.

Still, out of trust in Xia Ya, Hathaway obediently nodded and extended her fair fingers.

A formless, intangible radiance gathered at her fingertips.

It was a power drawn from the Starrealm—one she had spent months adapting to, and could now control at will. The energy known as mana—

She channeled it into that dim Magitech core.

The next instant—

Boom.

The Golden Elf’s pale golden eyes flew wide open.

In that split second, she heard the explosive resonance of mana particles echoing within the core.

It wasn’t the flicker of some low-tier cantrip like Flash.

It was… a miniature blazing sun, igniting suddenly within that alloy-and-Magitech-carved core.

And yet, the amount of mana she had poured in—

Wasn’t even enough to cast a Greater Fireball spell.

And yet, in that moment—

It lit.

Yet what burst forth from that Magitech core was light and heat far beyond what any Second- or Third-Ring spell could possibly bear.

Brilliant, dazzling radiance surged out of the Magitech core, flooding into her vision like a tidal wave.

It lit up the still, shadowy beach—and even the pitch-black sea.

Though Hathaway had lived on the Lost Isle for centuries, this was the first time she had seen the beach and ocean in full.

Under the core’s glow, the vast and endless sea shimmered with waves of light.

Tens of millions of tons of seawater gently rippled in that glow, like a dusky star-sea—rising and falling, ebbing and flowing.

The shadows of the Golden Elf and the human boy stretched long behind them on the beach, intertwined under that slanted light.

For several minutes, Hathaway didn’t speak.

She simply stood there in silence, lost in the scene before her—like the glow of a setting sun.

Until, eventually, the mana she had poured into the core burned out, and the Magitech core went dark.

The veil of Eternal Night returned, once more draping the beach and sea in darkness.

“Teacher Xia Ya… was that what you meant…”

“A new sun?”

Her golden eyes were still fixed on the sea, even though darkness had returned.

“Yeah.”

Xia Ya toyed with the now-dim Magitech core in his hand.

“The core you just used is a miniaturized, portable Solar Furnace I originally designed to power the Black Knight Mech.”

“But if we follow a similar principle and scale it up…”

“Then it can become a new light source—one strong enough to shine through the Eternal Night and illuminate this entire island.”

In Hathaway’s once-dim eyes— freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

A faint spark of light gradually returned, stirred by Xia Ya’s words.

Her spiritual intuition told her—

This wasn’t some empty promise.

It was something real. Tangible.

That one day, this island of eternal darkness… really could be lit by sunlight again.

…

Xia Ya stood nearby, quietly watching the joy lighting up the Golden Elf’s eyes.

He hadn’t spoken during those few minutes, but it wasn’t because he was awestruck by the light.

After all, since the day he was born, Xia Ya had lived beneath the sun—he could understand Hathaway’s emotions, but he hadn’t experienced centuries of darkness. He couldn’t truly empathize.

But just now, at the exact moment the Solar Furnace ignited—

He’d sensed something.

At the heart of the Lost Isle, atop that towering ancient tree—

An ancient, lofty will had briefly cast its gaze downward.

Nothing else stirred. No other ripples followed. But Xia Ya was sure of it:

His arrival—and the ignition of this Magitech core—had been noticed by that ancient will.

“So you sensed a power similar to your own… maybe even identical… and finally couldn’t sit still anymore, huh.”

“Still bound by enormous restrictions, so instead of acting directly, you plan to move your pawns?”

Xia Ya steadied the ripple in his heart.

He had known about the will slumbering within the World Tree’s branches from the very beginning.

And everything he’d done up until now had been to attract its attention.

He wasn’t afraid of its interference—what he feared was no response.

Xia Ya didn’t know how long he’d be allowed to remain within this Historical Echo of the First Era. He couldn’t afford to waste time.

The Lost Isle had already languished in darkness for too long. It couldn’t withstand further delay.

The only way forward—

Was to fully ignite every dormant conflict and issue on this island.

Then, cut through the chaos in one decisive strike.

But that kind of future—

Might not unfold the way the Golden Elf girl in front of him hoped.

“Let’s go, Teacher Xia Ya. I’ll take you to the Royal Court.”

“To build a scaled-up Magitech core powerful enough to light the entire Lost Isle… we’ll need the support of the rest of the clan.”

“I think everyone at the Royal Court will be very happy to welcome you.”

Her voice was sweet and lively, tinged with a hint of excitement and impatience as it reached Xia Ya’s ears.

He looked at the Golden Elf standing before him.

This was a far cry from the future Eternal Page Hathaway. There was still some girlish innocence lingering in her expression.

“Innocent children… only by enduring pain can they truly grow up, huh.”

Xia Ya sighed inwardly and gently took her pale hand.

“Lead the way.”