Chapter 1052: Consciousness Incubation Technique, Success!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1052: Consciousness Incubation Technique, Success!
After the United Club of the Witch Academy sounded the clarion call for revenge and counter-attack, the pressure on the Hundred Academy Alliance intensified instantly.
Faced with this situation, the Three Top Academies only provided aid in the form of transcendent materials and equipment.
As for personally entering the fray?
They didn't dare. Because that teaching assistant named Yang Yuehan had already returned from the Expansion Realm.
After resolving the issue of soul essence damage caused by the blood sacrifice incident, no one in the current Witch Academy dared to provoke their wrath!
To use the wizards' own words to describe it: the current Witch Academy was like a mad dog, biting anyone it saw.
The Witch Academy's first objective was to open a physical corridor between the Witch Academy territory and the Blood Slave Peninsula to ensure clear passage.
It should be noted that academy wars target transcendent academies, not the general public.
Ordinary society is the foundation of the Main World's population. Massacring civilians on a large scale would cause unimaginable disasters for the region.
Thus, an academy war is a struggle for interests at the student level. When an academy changes hands, the territory follows suit.
The incident at the Blood Slave Peninsula was more of an anomaly; such indiscriminate blood sacrifice behavior was loathed by all academies.
After it happened, even the transcendent wizards of the Wizard Academy only realized after the fact that their own students had actually committed such an act.
However, as the saying goes, wizards have their own set of flexible standards for good and evil and moral baselines.
The wizard apprentice who spearheaded the incident received only a symbolic reprimand and was confined to a wizard tower—clearly a move learned from the Witch Academy.
But it didn't matter. The battlefield is an unreasonable negotiating table; it doesn't care for logic, only for Truth!
What cannot be gained on the battlefield cannot be gained through negotiation.
The area separating the Witch Academy and the Blood Slave Peninsula was primarily composed of Vampire Affiliated Academies.
As for the Lord Vampire Academy, they considered themselves of noble blood and naturally didn't dare to border the Witch Academy. Thus, the affiliated academies served as a natural buffer for the Vampire Academy to some extent.
There were also some scattered small transcendent academies in the surrounding areas.
Although the academies in the Main World were numerous, they followed certain patterns.
For instance, those related to elves generally belonged to Aphra's lineage. The Beast Academy encompassed many small transcendent academies; they had originally followed the wizards, but after uniting into the Beast Academy, they became somewhat less inclined to listen to the wizards' orders.
Transcendent academies with mixed races and bloodlines—such as Orcs, Vampires, or even Wyrm-bloods—were basically related to wizards.
After all, the thing transcendent wizards did most in the Void was invade other worlds to strengthen themselves.
It wasn't strange for them to have other racial groups they had subjugated.
As for neutral-leaning races like Mermaids, Mermen, and Dwarves, they followed the Holy Angel race.
The Main World's camp divisions were so distinct that they highlighted the fact that the Witch Academy didn't have a single ally.
While targeting the Vampire Affiliated Academies, the United Club discovered many wizard methods on the battlefield.
Although the wizard system's wizard tools cannot be used by others, they can be wielded by different people after special modifications.
It wasn't just wizard tools; powerful alchemy items with a distinct wizard style also posed significant obstacles to the Witch Academy.
Even various potions—Berserk Potions, Plague Potions, Poison Mist Potions, and so on—appeared in an endless stream.
Though the witch students had many ways to counter these methods, it still greatly hindered the progress of the Witch Academy.
After the blood sacrifice ritual incident, the United Club's command had become more cautious, no longer daring to deploy in large, concentrated groups.
Otherwise, if they were wiped out in one fell swoop again, they would become a complete laughingstock.
Of course, the reason the United Club couldn't deploy on a large scale was also because they had to guard against harassment from the Hundred Academy Alliance.
To further disperse the witches' offensive, other members of the Hundred Academy Alliance, supported by "anonymous" aid, constantly harassed the Witch Academy in various locations.
In one particularly serious instance, someone even managed to sneak into the Witch City and launch a long-range attack against the curtain wall!
Subsequently, that person was directly eliminated by the Discipline Squad stationed at the academy—the kind of elimination where even the corpse was gone.
The reason such things happened was mainly because a single individual was too insignificant compared to an entire territory. After all, there was no way to guard against a thief every single day.
With a transcendent method to hide their presence, who could detect such a camper?
It was precisely these constant trivial matters that drained the energy and focus of the United Club, making every move feel severely constrained.
This also made them fully realize that not everyone has the audacity to make an enemy of the entire world.
* * *
Unlike the atmosphere of the United Club...
At this moment, I was living quite comfortably in the dungeon world. Although I didn't interfere with the United Club's affairs, Cleveland would still give me a detailed report of the day's events every day; it had almost become a routine.
Those trivial matters were neither too big nor too small, but having me step in would definitely be overkill.
So, I had been quite at leisure.
When I wasn't perfecting the Consciousness Incubation technique in the dungeon world, I was at the World-Casting Courtyard discussing the incubation of Plant Spirits with the First Generation Elder.
Coincidentally, the First Generation Elder actually had experience in incubating Plant Spirits. However, after looking into the details, I found it wasn't the kind of incubation technique I was hoping for.
What I wanted was complete creation from scratch, not following the natural reproduction of the Plant Spirit race.
To use an unflattering analogy, what was the difference between that and postpartum care for a sow?
However, even if this data wasn't exactly what I wanted, it still provided a lot of reference value on a macro level.
My exchanges with the First Generation Elder were more like a collision of different ways of thinking. According to the First Generation Elder, even she gained significant insights from talking with me.
Whether she actually gained anything or was just saying nice things to comfort me, I didn't know.
I only knew that my current progress was very smooth.
Consciousness Incubation—the technique I had high hopes for, the one that would allow me to step into the domain of consciousness—was finally perfected!
I watched as a petite figure, naturally radiating the scent of greenery, slowly stirred awake in the palm of my hand. Those misty eyes held a newborn purity as they met my gaze.
There was no fear in her eyes, only the curiosity unique to a life that has just birthed a sense of self.
Fear is an instinctive self-preservation mechanism when facing danger. Until I did something to harm her, she wouldn't know what fear was.
"Ahhh~ Ahhh! Good sister! Little sister! You're finally awake! Heh... hehe... hehehe."
Ling Yi stood by, watching the "awakened" Plant Spirit with excitement. At this moment, she could no longer suppress her emotions and let out a long-pent-up exclamation.
After venting her feelings, Ling Yi broke into a silly, doting grin that made her look like a total creep.
I, a massive existence compared to a Plant Spirit, hadn't scared the newborn spirit, but Ling Yi did.
I pushed Ling Yi aside with a look of disgust.
"Ling Yi, what's wrong with you? Why do you look like some perverted big sister seeing a pure little girl?" I didn't hesitate to roast her.
"Hehe... Eh? Do... do I?" Hearing me say that, Ling Yi quickly reined in her expression. "I do not!"
"Then stow that vibe. You're scaring her."
"Ugh... How is that possible? No way! I want to be friends with her!"
"Excessive passion can be frightening. The same goes for Plant Spirits," I explained.
Then, I turned my gaze back to the newborn Plant Spirit.
Logically, this Plant Spirit should be able to speak the language of the Main World from birth.
Because while shaping this life, I used her consciousness as a medium to instill a "Fabricated Memory." This memory originated from the contract template of the Main World's language.
Of course, this wasn't a forced modification or brainwashing.
It was a Fabricated Memory. It felt like something she could forget, yet there was always a "memory" in her mind that she could consult at any time, providing new memory anchors every second.
Only after the individual completed true linguistic memory and turned it into instinct would this mimetic memory dissipate.
This technique was inspired by the bloodline memories of the Ancient Remnant Ice, though it wasn't a true bloodline memory.
At this moment, the newborn Plant Spirit was curious about everything, and similarly interested in the highly prominent stranger's memory in her mind.
"Ugh... Who... are... you?" The Plant Spirit spoke her first words haltingly, according to her own understanding.
"I am the one who birthed you. You can call me Sister Xiao Han," I said.
The young spirit tilted her head, seemingly trying to understand what my words meant.
I wasn't in a hurry. Instead, I glanced at Ling Yi, who was still extremely excited.
"Hello~ Hello there! I'm a Plant Spirit too, my name is Ling Yi! I'm older than you, so you have to call me Big Sister Ling Yi!" Ling Yi immediately introduced herself, eager to establish her status as the "big sister."
"Ling Yi, don't be so excited. By the way, the newborn Plant Spirit doesn't have a name yet. Why don't you help think of one?" I asked.
Now it was back to the naming phase, which I hated the most.
I felt like my naming inspiration had been completely exhausted after naming another spirit "Lonafu."
"Eh? Oh right~ I need to give my new sister a name! A name... a name... what should it be?"
"You don't know either?" I asked teasingly.
"Of course I don't!" Ling Yi replied with unearned confidence. Now that she was a "big sister," her personality had become much bolder.
"If you ask me... how about Ling'er?" I chuckled and spoke casually.
Ling Yi, Ling'er... 01, 02...
"Eh? Ling'er? That's a great name!" Hearing my suggestion, Ling Yi immediately thought it sounded wonderful and made the decision on the spot. "Yay! Sister, you have a name now! From now on, Sister Xiao Han and I bestow this name upon you! From this day forward, you are Ling'er!"
"Ling'er... I... Ling'er?" At this moment, the newborn Plant Spirit captured the most crucial word amidst the chatter.
"Yes, yes! You are Ling'er! I'll call you Ling'er! I'm Ling Yi, say 'Big Sister Ling Yi'~"
"Ling Yi... Sister?"
"Ehehe~ Hahaha! I finally have a sister! A sister I'm raising myself! I'm not alone anymore!"
Watching the two Plant Spirits—one laughing "hahaha" and the other stuttering—I slapped my forehead.
The second-hand embarrassment was almost too much to bear...
Did Ling Yi not catch my teasing tone?
But... setting Ling Yi aside, the name Ling'er was actually quite good. It was just the combination that was... questionable.
After humoring Ling Yi for a while, the newborn Ling'er quickly adapted to the environment. Being a Plant Spirit, a darling of nature with a simple mind, she naturally didn't have many worries.
Ling Yi didn't even notice the strangeness of why Ling'er could speak from birth.
Plant Spirits didn't have any racial or bloodline memory inheritance.
Without language as a medium for communication, most Plant Spirits interacted through feelings and the exchange of natural auras.
Ling Yi had only scared Ling'er once at the very beginning; after that, it was fine. Goodwill between Plant Spirits didn't require many words.
After playing with the two spirits for a bit, I gave them each a transcendent fruit as a welcoming gift.
These were all resources distributed from the Sun Rock Elf Academy that I had scavenged. I had a huge pile of stuff stored in my storage equipment; fruits with short shelf lives were kept fresh inside the sealing arts of the Book in the Box.
I'd leave the celebrations to the Plant Spirits; I preferred a more pragmatic mindset.
After shaping a brand-new Plant Spirit, I had roughly mapped out the "Consciousness Incubation" technique.
But this was still just a single case. I needed a vast amount of experimentation to constantly verify and optimize the technique.
So, Ling Yi would soon have several more sisters.
However, compared to the "Consciousness Incubation" technique which still needed verification, the incubation technique for Plant Spirits was relatively more complete.
But I didn't plan to start the "Natural Spirit Servant Army Plan" just yet, because I always knew my priorities.
I created the Consciousness Incubation technique to understand consciousness, and then, through that understanding, reverse-engineer racial concepts and consciousness brands.
Everything was preparation for the Fool's Dream race.
However, the "by-products" born during this process did indeed pique my interest.
It was time to return to the Primitive Dream Laboratory and see Yulan and the others.
After all, now that I had mastered the definition of the Fool's Dream bloodline, I should have the ability to wake them up.
They had sacrificed and invested too much for the sake of the Fool's Dream race.
But the truth was... I missed the feeling of the Fool's Dream people revolving around me. Yulan and the others were special—at least, they were special to me.