Chapter 1019: The Desperate Threshold of Infinite Mana
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1019: The Desperate Threshold of Infinite Mana
"It succeeded, didn't it?"
Sister Bai, who had remained by my side in the Primitive Dream Laboratory, asked softly.
"Yes, it succeeded," I replied with a nod, though I couldn't help but add, "But the Life Clone is dead. It died from... Infinite Mana."
"Why?" Sister Bai’s heart tightened the moment she heard the experimental Life Clone had perished.
She was terrified that now that I had found a successful method, I would immediately use myself as the next subject. If something went wrong, the consequences would be catastrophic.
"Don't worry—I value my life very much!" I reassured her immediately.
I wasn't joking. Without a full understanding of Resurrection Spells and the essence of life, I wouldn't touch anything related to the threshold of death. Without understanding the soul and Soul Dreams, I would never gamble with my own spirit. And without understanding Life Clones and life consciousness, I would never risk my own existence.
An unknown death was a line I would never cross, not even by half a step.
"I won't gamble with my life until Infinite Mana is perfected. As for why I say it succeeded even though the Life Clone died... well, that’s a different matter entirely."
Once she was certain I wouldn't take any reckless risks, Sister Bai visibly relaxed.
She hadn't known what she would do if I had insisted on proceeding. Theoretically, Bai Yu knew she shouldn't be a stumbling block on Xiao Han’s path forward, but she couldn't bear the thought of Xiao Han dying right in front of her.
With my promise secured, Sister Bai finally let out a breath of relief.
"Can you tell me what the reason was?" she asked.
She had been striving to understand everything I did—whether it was the Dream Domain, the Fool's Dream Life Experiment, or this Infinite Mana. She simply didn't want a precipitous gap to form between our levels of cognition.
If such a gap appeared, it would lead to a total lack of mutual understanding, so she pushed herself to keep up.
She was already facing that problem now, and it was likely to grow more severe in the future.
If she could understand the so-called Infinite Mana, the principles behind the birth of such a talent, and its inherent difficulties and dangers, she could perform risk assessments just as I did. Then, she wouldn't have to offer hollow platitudes like "be careful"; instead, she could actually lend a hand when I needed it most.
She had discussed this issue with several witches, including Dean Mei.
In this situation, Bai Yu had only two paths. The easiest was to trust Xiao Han unconditionally, believing she wouldn't cause her own downfall. The other was to climb as hard as she could—not necessarily to surpass Xiao Han, but simply to keep pace, to understand her level. That would be enough.
But both paths led to the same conclusion: if you don't understand, don't meddle. The only thing left to say was... be careful.
“Emotion is the anchor for both parties. How could Xiao Han not care about your expectations?” — Mei Lind.
“Her life was a void; you are the only accident that ever broke in.” — Also Mei Lind.
As a Dean, Mei Lind had invested a significant amount of time and energy into Bai Yu.
As Sister Bai reminisced about those words, my voice began to rise again.
"A Void Rift is the breakthrough point for the infinity of the Void itself. My conclusion was to deconstruct its characteristics and then weave them back together to better utilize them. That is the fundamental logic behind the Infinite Mana talent," I said, summarizing the results that had cost me so much time and effort.
Whether it was the conclusion that led to the creation of the Great Glacial Throne Technique to observe the Void Rifts, or using that understanding to kill a Transcendent to prove the theory, every step had been an immense drain on my inspiration.
If the value of a task were measured only by the time spent, then inspiration would be considered worthless.
As for the subsequent "deconstructing characteristics" and "weaving characteristics," those were even more difficult. It made me feel that the plan to further perfect the Tree of Great Knowledge had to be moved up the schedule.
"The essence of the Infinite Mana talent is to turn oneself into the source of mana. Theoretically, the Self-Generated Mana talent already achieves this, but for me, it’s still not enough."
"A Void Rift is never just a simple crack. The Void carries everything; therefore, it cannot be torn open by the power it carries. It’s like how matter within a material space cannot tear that space apart. At most, a massive amount of matter can warp space. To actually tear it, you must introduce a force from outside the material space."
I explained this to Sister Bai while using space spells to demonstrate. To make a complex concept clear, metaphors were essential.
As I spoke, I noticed a figure approaching. It was Dean Mei.
She gestured for me to continue, signaling that she didn't want to interrupt, and stood by quietly to listen.
"So, a Void Rift isn't actually a crack in the Void. Rather, the rift is a way of revealing the Void's true face—or rather, its characteristics."
"There is another hypothesis—or evidence, rather. The fact that the order of a Saint Realm Domain can interfere with a Void Rift proves that the rift cannot be a crack in the Void itself."
"To carry the Infinite Mana talent, I eventually need to build a series of concepts upon the essence of my soul, much like the Self-Generated Mana talent. The result is that once the foundation is built, my soul essence must withstand the impact of the Void Rift."
"I need a Domain Order intimately connected to my soul essence to protect myself from being torn apart by the rift. The Heart State Domain derived from the Body Cultivation Sixth Sense is the most compatible order for this."
Having finished the overview of the basic principles of Infinite Mana, I moved on to the question Sister Bai had asked earlier.
"The Life Clone died for two reasons. First, it exhausted too much of its life essence while trying to understand Infinite Mana, pushing itself into a desperate state. Second... the Domain I currently master is only a prototype. It can only interfere with and resist the Void Rift to a certain extent."
"Therefore, if I want to truly complete the architecture of the Infinite Mana talent, I must thoroughly master the power of a complete Domain."
"Ahem..."
At that moment, Mei Lind cleared her throat and walked over from behind.
"Hello, Sister Mei. Sorry to trouble you with that big mess earlier," I said, looking at the Dean. Since she had made herself known, she clearly had something to say.
"It’s fine. I’ll just have the witches here fix the lab later," Mei Lind said with a casual wave, pointing to the massive hole she had blasted through the ceiling of the testing room.
Looking up from below, you could see straight through to the hole in the curtain wall.
"The Academy will handle the aftermath. Xiao Han... I just heard you say that to construct Infinite Mana, you need to ascend to the Saint Realm, right?" Mei Lind asked.
"Uh... I need a complete Domain. It doesn't necessarily have to be the Saint Realm. I haven't even reached the Transcendent level yet," I explained.
"It’s essentially the same thing..."
"Actually, it’s quite different. The threshold for the Saint Realm is a complete Domain, and I have a way to meet the foundations of the Saint Realm right now," I countered.
Mei Lind paused for a moment before speaking again. "You aren't a Transcendent. How can you leap past the upper limit to reach the level of Domain self-circulation? Without that, you can't achieve Infinite Mana."
"Then I’ll start with a 'Pseudo-Infinite Mana' approach. My milestone will be perfecting the Domain, shaping a complete, self-circulating Domain Order to build the framework for Infinite Mana!"
"...So, that’s the successful method you came up with, and also how your Life Clone died?" Mei Lind fell silent again, then looked at me as the realization dawned on her.
"Yes. But don't worry! I won't risk myself. I’ll continue experimenting with a new Life Clone. Until this technique is perfected, I won't use it on my own body." I saw the Dean's concern and gave her my word.
Dean Mei wasn't Sister Bai. Sister Bai trusted my words unconditionally, but the Dean still harbored worries.
However, the project wouldn't stop just because of her concern.
Once my hypothesis was implemented, it would be a miracle: a Saint Realm expert who hadn't even ascended to Transcendent!
Though, in Dean Mei’s terms, this would be called a "Pseudo-Saint Realm." This was because the power of a Saint Realm Domain below the Transcendent threshold cannot leap across real time.
Even if I mastered a complete Saint Realm Domain, without ascending to Transcendent, it would be difficult to intervene in the layer of real time using only Spirit Vision.
To put it simply: a Saint Realm below Transcendent still cannot kill a Transcendent. But a Saint Realm above Transcendent can crush a Transcendent with a single finger.
This showed that the "Transcendent" rank held far more weight than the Saint Realm.
Even if these were man-made definitions of power levels, they could not bypass the hierarchical boundaries of the Void itself.
"Xiao Han, how do you plan to view this Infinite Mana talent? According to you... it’s derived from Self-Generated Mana. Will you promote it?"
Dean Mei asked this with great resolve, maintaining as objective an attitude as possible. Personally, she didn't want Xiao Han to spread this talent.
"How do I view it... To me, it’s just a talent, a way to increase my own foundation. As for promoting it... Sister Mei, even if I explained it, how many witches could actually pull it off?"
"So, you don't plan to promote it, right?" Hearing this, Mei Lind’s expression relaxed significantly.
Indeed, as Xiao Han’s research went deeper, its applicability became narrower.
Xiao Han wasn't stingy, but she was no saint either. The spells and techniques she had opened to the public so far were things she had found useful herself.
Perhaps if Xiao Han had started on a different path from the beginning, she would still have reached this point, but the one constant was that everything she created was perfectly tailored to herself.
Xiao Han was forging ahead step by step. Of the witches following in her footsteps, who could claim they could surpass her?
"I don't plan to promote it. The threshold and requirements are too high. Making it public would only lead people astray. Every witch has her own path. Forcing themselves to sacrifice everything just to reach a stepping stone I built... it’s not worth it."
"I agree. But the concept of Infinite Mana is far too tempting for witches. Xiao Han, are you sure you want to make the concept public?"
"Can a power like this even be hidden?" I asked back with a smile.
Hearing that, Mei Lind knew I had no intention of keeping it a secret.
Infinite Mana wasn't like the Dream Domain—it wasn't a vital strategic tool that decided the layout of the Main World. Theoretically, there was no issue with making it public.
"But if we’re going to announce it... we need to attach some 'thresholds' to make them give up entirely," Mei Lind suggested, looking at me with a grin. "Xiao Han, give me a few requirements. I’ll help spread the word. That should cut down on the number of witches coming to bother you about Infinite Mana."
"Hmm... I see." Seeing the Dean like this, I thought for a moment and summarized the barriers to entry. "First, they must be a Self-awakened Body Cultivator..."
"Self-Awakened Body Cultivation again?" Mei Lind felt a bit numb hearing that. Was Body Cultivation really that important?
However, even for Transcendent Witches whose systems were dominated by spells, the ascension process included the specific Body Cultivation component of Witchification. So, Mei Lind’s intuition wasn't wrong.
"Yes. It starts with Self-Awakened Body Cultivation. They must also abolish their existing Self-Generated Mana and use Body Cultivation as the lead to reconstruct the architecture of Primal Self-Generated Mana. To be clear, the Self-Generated Mana from my previous research project isn't Primal Self-Generated Mana; it’s a version derived from the primal form to fit the Transcendent Witch race."
"..." Mei Lind remained silent, taking mental notes. She hadn't expected the requirements to be this draconian.
"Then, they need at least a Domain. The requirement is a Domain Order highly correlated with their soul essence—ideally, the Heart State Domain derived from the Body Cultivation Sixth Sense."
"........."
"Most importantly, they must master a Root Totem. It has to be a totem they have thoroughly realized through revelation, not some half-baked totem power they learned from a book. The root of the totem should also be closely linked to their soul essence."
"Only when all these requirements are met can they be considered to have barely reached the threshold. Sister Mei, do you think that’s enough?"
"Ahem... I think that’s more than enough," Mei Lind said, snapping out of her daze and nodding quickly. "Oh, right. I came here because I received a request. You know that Sheryl person, right? She asked me to ask you if you’d mind her looking into what you’re doing."
"Her? I don't mind. Why would I? Why is she suddenly asking?"
"She doesn't have permission to enter the Experimental Zone, so she had to come to me. I’m planning to let her wait a while longer."
"Is that so?" I replied with a light laugh. I hadn't expected that the Rebel Witch Sheryl would have such a side to her, or that Dean Mei would treat her that way.