Chapter 1016: Infinite... Mana?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1016: Infinite... Mana?
The senior witches in the Primitive Dream Laboratory were very fond of the Fool's Dream, and they were even fonder of Xiao Han in her Fool's Dream form!
They were the first group of witches to witness Xiao Han transform into her Fool's Dream state; heaven only knows what kind of stir that had caused in the lab at the time.
However, when they reached out to pet her, their hands met nothing but air.
Their fingers passed right through her.
"Eh?"
"A dream-state Fool's Dream Xiao Han?" The witches quickly realized what was happening.
"Mm." I nodded, then canceled the effect of the Fool's Dream Transformation Spell.
Previously, the Fool's Dream Transformation Spell had been a pseudo-Great Spell that relied on a Holy Relic as a medium; to end the transformation, the relic had to be physically stripped from my body. Now, however, it had formed a near-perfect spell architecture, providing a method to cancel the effect at will. As my figure shifted from the Fool's Dream state back to my original form, the Dreamification granted by the spell also dissipated.
My entire little witch self emerged from the shallow layers of the constant Primitive Dream Realm.
"Eh?! This! This!!"
The witches present were all prominent academic witches within the academy.
With just this one change, they were able to perceive the sheer impossibility of what had just occurred!
From a dream-state Fool's Dream form with no physical body, she had suddenly become a touchable Xiao Han!
How did she do it?
Had the theorem they so staunchly defended—that the Void and Dreams could not physically interact—just collapsed?!
"This is a special talent belonging to the Fool's Dream: Dreamification. Currently, I am using this talent as a bloodline anchor for the Fool's Dream race. As for the rest, I won't say much more."
Seeing the shocked expressions on the senior witches' faces, I took the initiative to speak up.
This ability couldn't be hidden, after all. Once the Fool's Dream life sequence was established, every Fool's Dream would theoretically be born with this power.
The reason I said this was to demonstrate the value of the Fool's Dream.
I wasn't sure how the Fool's Dream would be positioned in the future, but I absolutely did not want them to become merely an "experimental race" under my command.
In truth, when I first discovered Dreamification, a few ideas had already begun to take root in my mind.
However, those ideas weren't quite mature yet.
The immaturity lay in this: the Fool's Dream could help the Witch race explore areas of the Primitive Dream Realm that even the Great Soul Subject couldn't reach, but I didn't want to use this racial ability as a mere bargaining chip to trade for the Witch race's recognition.
Simply put, I couldn't bring myself to do it.
If an ordinary Transcendent Witch had created the Fool's Dream, she would have thrown them into the Primitive Dream Realm without hesitation to squeeze out every bit of their utility.
But that would contradict the "freedom" I had promised the Fool's Dream.
Without explaining too much to the curious witches, I returned to my original form and headed toward the special explosion-proof testing room where my Life Clone had gone.
Witch experiments generally carried high risks, so the laboratories in the Experimental Zone naturally had specialized testing areas.
This was to avoid the embarrassing situation of a laboratory being blown to bits.
The reason I came here was that I needed to have face-to-face contact with my Life Clone.
The conceptualization of the Infinite Mana talent was progressing even faster than I had anticipated!
The whole process felt as natural as water flowing into a channel.
Seeing another version of myself—identical in every way—standing in the testing room was a surreal experience. It felt strange to look into my own eyes from a first-person perspective.
I reached out and touched my own cheek. I wasn't doing it to feel how soft the skin was, of course, but to feel the Void rifts crawling across my face.
These Void rifts, extending from the essence of life to the physical body, were overdrawing a being's potential every single second.
I wasn't maintaining this state for fun; I was trying to find more ways to dominate this power!
The Void rifts were the breakthrough point for Infinite Mana. If I couldn't even master the breakthrough point, then there was nothing left to discuss.
But no matter what I tried, I couldn't control the rifts. Anything that existed within the Void—matter, energy, everything—simply could not persist.
However, there was one thing that could.
A Domain.
Or rather, the Order within a Domain.
Whether it was when I had inserted Void rifts into the Tree of Great Knowledge to perfect it, or when the Academy Dean had stuffed Void rifts into the Great Spellbook, the essence was always Order "resisting" the power of the Void rifts.
This meant that as long as one reached the Transcendent Saint Realm, they would have the means to deal with Void rifts.
Of course, this didn't mean Saint Realm experts were inherently unafraid of Void rifts; without the "medium" of Order, they would still be harmed.
There was another scenario: if the level at which one's life essence was anchored in Real Time was deeper than the degree to which the Void rifts penetrated Real Time, the rifts would also be unable to kill such a Transcendent.
This principle was essentially the same as why the mundane cannot kill the Transcendent—because the mundane cannot touch the Real Time of the Transcendent.
Therefore, the starting framework for the Infinite Mana I had conceived required one to be at the Transcendent Saint Realm to even touch it.
Furthermore, this Order had to be closely linked to one's own life essence to theoretically protect the soul from all angles.
"Coincidentally," my Heart State Domain originated from the sixth sense of my awakened Body Cultivation. It was inherently tied to my life essence, which was why I could allow the Void rifts to crawl over my body without dying.
However, the flesh being annihilated by the Void rifts every second was constantly consuming my Immortality.
Maintaining this state was incredibly exhausting.
Using my own life essence as the framework for "Infinite Mana," the totems born from that essence as the "key," and the Prototype Self-Generated Mana talent as the foundation, I would derive the ultimate talent—Infinite Mana—which, like the Great Spellbook, utilized the infinity and self-circulation of the Void itself.
After a long while... I opened the Tree of Great Knowledge, found Dean Mei's private chat, and sent a message.
"Sister Mei, I've had a sudden moment of enlightenment and I'm about to do something big. I'm in the Experimental Zone. I don't know what will happen. It's Infinite Mana."
After sending that, I sent another message to Sister Bai. For something this important, I naturally had to give Sister Bai a heads-up as well.
I wouldn't die; that was enough.
I used the simplest words possible to describe my current situation. I truly didn't know what would happen when this talent was constructed. Perhaps it would cause a terrifying commotion like the Great Spellbook?
If it was just that, it would be fine.
But Infinite Mana was not the Great Spellbook. The Great Spellbook was merely a composite product of [Transcendent Knowledge] and the Void, created using "Real Editing" technology.
My Infinite Mana, however, would lead to the most direct result... Mana!
In short, energy.
And infinite energy at that!
What would infinite energy cause?
The most direct result would be an explosion!
The final sentence, revealing the concept of "Infinite Mana" to Dean Mei, was to let her know exactly what I was up to.
I had mentioned the concept of Infinite Mana to Dean Mei before; it was indeed a crazy idea.
Just after I sent that private message, I focused on a crucial talent.
Self-Generated Mana.
The talent that dominated the Witch race.
From my initial confusion about it to the stage of the Self-Generated Mana experiments, my understanding of it had grown incrementally.
It might seem like the Self-Generated Mana experiments benefited the prospective witches, but in reality, I was the one who benefited the most.
How it was born, how it became independent, how it became a talent prototype, and now, what I had to face... how it would be derived.
Everything was built upon this foundation.
At that moment, I suddenly received a message from Dean Mei. It was also very brief, but her urgency was clear in the text.
"Don't move! Wait for me!"
In the next instant, my sharp perception heard movement in the laboratory. It seemed Dean Mei had come directly here.
Bang!
As the sealed doors of the testing area were thrown open, Dean Mei's figure appeared in my sight.
Seeing that I was alright, Mei Lind subconsciously sighed with relief: I made it in time.
"Sister Mei, you got here fast. I'm so sorry for causing you trouble again."
As I spoke, several figures peeked out from behind Mei Lind.
These witches had all been drawn here by Mei Lind's sudden appearance. After all, they were curious about what could possibly drive the Academy Dean to come in person, and with such haste.
Among those figures, Bai Yu also appeared.
"Sigh..." It was as if the words of reprimand she wanted to say had been exhausted long ago; in the end, all that came out was a sigh from Dean Mei. "Xiao Han, next time you want to cause trouble, don't be in such a hurry..."
"Oh, come on~ I couldn't help it. The union of inspiration, revelation, and intent is a fleeting moment that even the Tree of Great Knowledge cannot preserve."
"By the way, what exactly is Xiao Han doing?"
"Why are there two Xiao Hans?"
"What's going on? Can one of the big-chested sisters explain?"
As I finished speaking, the witches behind Mei Lind began to whisper among themselves.
"Xiao Han, didn't you tell them?" Dean Mei asked.
"No." I shook my head and said no more. Now that things had reached this point, there was no longer any need for secrecy. I hadn't said anything earlier simply because I wasn't entirely sure I could pull off this concept.
But now that I had chosen to act, I naturally didn't believe there was any possibility of failure.
"Oho~ Sister Mei actually knows?" At that moment, a witch who was on good terms with Mei Lind teased from behind.
"How about... telling us?"
"Since you're all here, just watch closely. If Xiao Han succeeds, she can tell you herself. If... never mind." Mei Lind had originally wanted to say that if she failed, they should act as if nothing had happened, but she didn't want to voice that possibility while Xiao Han was just beginning her attempt.
The more Mei Lind spoke like this, the more the witches' curiosity grew.
Since they couldn't get any information from Mei Lind, they turned their gaze toward Xiao Han.
Many witches hadn't paid much attention before, but looking now, they saw that one of the two "Xiao Hans" had something pitch-black "crawling" over her!
The flesh and clothing it passed over were instantly repaired. They were academic witches, after all; they possessed at least this much observational power.
Once they confirmed that the "deep" substance was a so-called Void rift, many witches felt a chill run down their spines.
At the same time, they became even more curious about what Xiao Han was doing.
Many witches recalled the incident in the Qunluosen Wasteland where Xiao Han, using her Ancient Remnant Ice King clone, had dominated Void rifts to slay a Transcendent. They assumed she was creating a spell to control Void rifts.
Those were Void rifts! In the Void, it was said that no power could dominate them!
However... they were only half right.
Dominating the Void was merely a threshold for the "Infinite Mana Talent Project."
What I wanted to do was go one step further!
A Void rift was, in the end, just a Void rift. It was like a "stepping stone" to the characteristics of the Void itself. No one would use a stepping stone as their primary weapon; even if it was very effective, I couldn't lose sight of the goal... right?
To think of it pragmatically: a Void rift in my hands could kill a Transcendent, but the Great Spellbook in my hands could not. Does that mean I should discard the Great Spellbook and only keep a so-called Void rift?
The same applied to Infinite Mana.
Infinite Mana in my hands also couldn't kill a Transcendent, but its significance to me far surpassed the Void rift itself.
But in the end, it was only because I hadn't yet ascended to the Transcendent level.
After a long while... the tiny, snake-like Void rifts on the Life Clone suddenly underwent a violent change!
The thin cracks expanded, like squinting eyes suddenly snapping wide open!
The Void rifts began to "devour" my body bit by bit. This gruesome sight was merely the threshold for the experiment to begin.
The Prototype Self-Generated Mana talent acted as the foundation for everything, beginning to interface with these fine cracks just as the Great Spellbook had accepted the Void rifts.
A terrifying amount of mana condensed into a physical form, creating a massive pressure within the testing room.
This mana was so violent that even in its most basic state—without being converted into any kind of "destructive attribute" energy—it began to erode the laboratory bit by bit.
Even physical space began to warp!
This level far exceeded the mana that could be produced by ordinary Self-Generated Mana.
"Sister Mei... help me take this Life Clone away from the Experimental Zone! Get it away from the academy's curtain wall! Take it anywhere!"
Enduring the terrifying mana pressure, I made an immediate decision.
Upon hearing my words, Dean Mei stepped forward without hesitation.
But she discovered that space... physical space had completely warped and shattered under such staggering mana. No spatial spell could use this area as an anchor to jump elsewhere.
Realizing this, Mei Lind's expression tightened. She understood that the situation might have exceeded her expectations, but she chose the most direct method: she would run!
Boom!
Accompanied by a massive roar, none of the witches cared anymore that a skylight leading directly to the heavens had been blasted through the laboratory.
Mei Lind grabbed the Life Clone and shot into the sky, instantly tearing a large hole through the academy's curtain wall and continuing upward!
Further up lay the Life Forbidden Zone of the Main World's Core World. It was a vacuum where nothing existed except for physical space.
However, this was not the Void. The Void was an absolute void where even physical space did not exist!