Chapter 1063: The Elemental Elf Servant Army Plan
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1063: The Elemental Elf Servant Army Plan
Outside the Arena’s dueling chamber.
The reception staff stood guard dutifully. During this time slot, the fact that Teaching Assistant Yang Yuehan had come to the Arena was a major event for them.
However, by the time the news reached the upper management of the Arena Management Club, the "VIP" they so desperately wanted to meet had already shut them out.
"Hey... tell me, what kind of battle lasts this long?"
"No idea. I heard that as soon as they went in, the cameras in the indoor dueling field couldn't even be turned on. The monitoring room in the back has no clue what's happening inside."
"Is this what private tutoring is like? One-on-one instruction from a mentor... Sigh, I heard this mentor and that teaching assistant are in... that kind of relationship. Doesn't this seem a bit..."
"Shh! Don't talk nonsense! Just because we don't know what's happening inside doesn't mean they don't know we're gossiping out here. Do you have a death wish?"
"Phew... thanks for the reminder. But it’s not exactly a secret anymore, is it? I wish I had a mentor for a girlfriend... too bad none of them would look twice at me."
"With your looks, you probably can't even find a girlfriend among the students, let alone the faculty."
"Don't poke my sore spots! Otherwise, I might start thinking you look quite pretty today... (licks lips)."
"Eww! Get away from me, you yuri-fiend! I only want a normal junior sister!"
* * *
While the group outside the sealed dueling field gossiped, I—just as they suspected—could indeed hear their conversation.
In the middle of my "hands-on teaching," I suddenly snapped back to reality. I realized I was in an Arena dueling chamber, not a sealed experimental testing ground.
To be honest, Sister Bai and I had originally come here just to test out some equipment in combat... No one expected things to escalate like this.
Plans, after all, rarely keep pace with changes.
Reverting from my Fool's Dream Transformation back to my original form, I looked at Sister Bai.
"Sister Bai, maybe we should head out? This is Arena property. Even if we don't care about the fees, it’s not right to hog this place for our own cultivation."
"It’s fine. They’d love for you to stay a while longer," Sister Bai said nonchalantly. "As you know, the Arena has been much quieter lately than it used to be. You can guess why, right?"
"Because of the friction between the Academy War and the Hundred Academy Alliance?" I quickly realized the reason.
Friction between academies required a large number of students to head to the borders of the Witch Territory to handle small-scale conflicts. The United Clubs had been mobilizing the enthusiasm of unaffiliated members by posting tasks, opening up the War Merit Exchange Library, and offering high-tier items that were usually inaccessible. Naturally, that was far more interesting than dueling in the Arena.
Although the Witch Academy had recently suffered a bloody sacrificial incident, a thousand casualties was a small percentage of the total population. Combined with some intentional PR management, most people simply felt a bit more disgusted toward the top academies that orchestrated the tragedy, but life went on.
With Sister Bai’s explanation, I felt comfortable enough to continue my trials here.
After all, things hadn't reached the point where I absolutely needed a professional laboratory. Constantly switching locations would also be a minor blow to the enthusiasm of the Fool's Dream creatures.
At this moment, the four little Fool's Dreamlings were beginning to gain a preliminary grasp of the power of Dreamification, rather than just treating it as an instinct.
Led by Yu Xing, who was making the fastest progress, she had gradually mastered a "semi-dreamification" ability.
This was a massive milestone in the mastery of one's own power! In her semi-dreamified state, Yu Xing still maintained specific material physical characteristics in reality.
Compared to the previous extreme states—where they were either entirely in reality or entirely in the dream—this "halfway" effect held immense research value!
It was similar to how someone with Elemental Life bloodline could transform their body from flesh and blood into intangible elements after mastering Elementalization.
However, the Fool's Dream bloodline was even more unique. It wasn't a conversion between matter and energy, but a conversion of matter and energy from reality to the dream!
The source of this characteristic lay in the "Dream-state Soul" essence of the Fool's Dream race, using soul traits to bridge the gap between dreams and reality.
It is known that a general soul can cross the boundary from reality into the Primitive Dream Realm; this is one of the basic derivations of the Great Soul Subject.
However, such a soul cannot bring its physical body into the dream. Once the soul enters the dream, it can gradually "adapt" to the environment of the Primitive Dream Realm, provided it doesn't get lost.
As for a Dream-state Soul crossing the boundary from the Primitive Dream Realm into reality, the Fool's Dreamlings had already provided the answer: they also needed to adapt to reality.
In reality, using the "Dream-state Soul" as a foundation, I employed Life Evolution techniques to mold a "Reality Body." The body is the derivative and carrier of the life essence, so Dreamification is essentially the "dream-like" nature of the Dream-state Soul influencing the physical shell.
It solved a problem that countless witches had found insurmountable through a unique method: how to bring matter into a dream.
It seemed that dreams and reality weren't inherently incompatible; there was simply a threshold between them.
This threshold reminded me of the moment I touched Real Time.
Perhaps in the era before the Void birthed the transcendent, Real Time was a domain unreachable by mortals. Yet, transcendents could reach it easily because their life level had crossed that specific hurdle.
The Primitive Dream Realm seemed to be a similar case.
So, what was the hurdle between reality and dreams?
Was it a level of power?
Race?
Bloodline?
Or... the Dream-state Soul?
None of those seemed complete. It should be called... Dream-state Life!
A form of life that had never even existed within the Void's life sequences!
And I was currently pioneering such an impossible thing.
I stayed by the Fool's Dreamlings, constantly practicing, trying, failing, and offering encouragement. This was a hurdle; once they crossed it, everything would change.
I understood now. If they weren't Dream-state Life, their current form would already be recognized by the Void as a brand-new race.
But they weren't. Their unique existence carried the characteristics of both the Void and the Dream. The Void could not accommodate a species stuck in the conceptual gap of "is it life or not," but the Holy Relics—the [Transcendent Knowledge] of the Void—connected reality and dreams. They were the catalyst for the Fool's Dreamlings to carve out their own unique life sequence.
No life is required to exist according to a specific template. Some are made of soul essence, some are pure souls, some are pure memories, and some are pure energy. The endless variety of life in the Void made the "Life Elucidation" theories look like a joke.
Therefore, Life Elucidation only explained the essence of life, not life itself.
"Keep it up, Yu Guo! You can do it! If you succeed, I'll treat you all to a big feast tonight! I'll personally mix some Fool's Dream Drink for you!"
Of the four little ones, three had already achieved "semi-dreamification." Yu Guo was the last. Having always been the one with the lowest sense of presence among the original three, she was now trailing behind.
But I knew very well that all Fool's Dreamlings were essentially the same, as were their talents. So, what was the factor affecting the speed at which they mastered their bloodline power?
There seemed to be only one: self-identity.
Yu Guo wasn't as "erudite" as Yu Xing, didn't have the "responsibility" of a big sister like Yulan, and lacked the "bouncy" energy of Yu Yun. She seemed content to play the role of the "invisible one" among the four.
Mindset truly affects success.
I realized Yu Guo was very much like the old me—the me before I revealed my talent.
Back when I first enrolled.
When I felt inferior to Tan Han, I truly felt small whenever we met.
But when I decided Tan Han wasn't all that special, I was able to use a single Fireball Spell to go head-to-head with her Ancient Remnant Ice Transformation.
Back then, the one who inspired me was Teacher Ji Niang. Yu Guo also needed a "Teacher Ji Niang" to encourage her, to help her succeed, and to help her de-mystify the concept of "geniuses."
However, Yu Guo was more simple-minded than I had been. A few words wouldn't be enough to wake her up. In the beginning, simple encouragement was enough; anything more might be counterproductive.
"Ugh... mm... Nngh! Haaah!"
Yu Guo let out her most determined cry. After repeated failures, she finally succeeded.
Her success was no different from Yulan’s or Yu Yun’s. Their innate gifts were identical; only their thoughts differed.
The power of the Dreamification bloodline wasn't achieved through brute force. Yu Guo’s shouting was actually a hindrance to her success, yet... she succeeded anyway.
That was the point.
Yu Guo could always do it, but it was only after the other three succeeded that she felt "worthy of success," and thus, she succeeded.
I stepped forward, picked up the semi-dreamified Yu Guo, and rubbed her little head.
"I knew you could do it, Yu Guo. Come on! Let's go get that feast."
I led Sister Bai and the Fool's Dreamlings out of the chamber. As soon as the door opened, we were met by the reception staff.
I flatly refused their attempts to linger or invite me to further meetings. No matter why they were looking for me, unless it was Cleveland or Millian, it was a trivial matter.
I couldn't be bothered to get tangled up in family interests and politics.
After satisfying our appetites, I took the Fool's Dreamlings and Sister Bai directly back to the Dungeon World.
If there was any place where one could be truly undisturbed, it was a Dungeon World with the properties of a World Fragment.
In the Dungeon World, the Fool's Dreamlings could practice their Dreamification powers as much as they wanted, and I could simultaneously begin the "Elemental Elf Servant Army Plan."
Ling Yi and Ling Er probably didn't know yet, but they were about to have a whole lot of sisters joining them.
However, the Dungeon World was, after all, the cozy nest I shared with Sister Bai. I had to make sure the created elves followed certain rules.
The Dungeon World was far larger than I had initially realized. I had simply occupied the Lake Heart Island because it had the best scenery, but that area didn't even account for one percent of the entire world's potential.
The sheer scale of the Dungeon World was more than enough for a group of elemental elves to live in for my envisioned servant army.
However, they would not be allowed to enter the Lake Heart Island without my permission.
After contacting Millian to help me prepare some elemental essence materials, I turned my focus back to the Fool's Dreamlings.
Currently, the main resource operations of the Baking House were handled by Millian. Creating life required a massive amount of materials; otherwise, they would be like spell-based lifeforms—existing for only a fleeting moment.
As for the soul essence required for life creation, I didn't plan to use the soul crystals I had stored. Instead, I would use them only as a catalyst to let life gestate naturally. While this would take more time, I wasn't in a rush for this servant army; it was merely a preparatory measure.
Furthermore, once the Emerald Forest world merged into the Main World, I could harvest another wave of resources. There would surely be plenty of soul crystals there. Even if the Game World had harvested a lot, there were bound to be many it couldn't touch.
After all, the Game World in its current state didn't have the power to completely drain a world. Even in the Emerald Forest world, which the Game World evaluated as "depleted of value," the Forest Elves still had a relatively stable birth rate, though weak or stillborn children appeared more frequently.
This was merely a side effect of the sharp decline in the world's soul essence reserves. If a world's soul essence were truly sucked dry, the soul essence cycle beneath the ley lines would suffer irreversible damage. Newborns would never survive to adulthood, and the entire world would gradually sink into a deathly silence.
After adding the Elemental Elf Servant Army Plan to my memos, I threw myself fully into the Fool's Dream project. While the four little ones explored their bloodline powers, I used the Consciousness Incubation technique and the power of the Holy Relics to try and understand the composition of racial concepts within life.
Everything was finally back on track.
Before officially researching these things, I followed my habit of using Soul Evolution techniques to gradually elevate my soul essence. By doing it in small, frequent increments, I could slowly improve—a rhythm I had discovered was best suited for me.
This method of improvement had, to some extent, replaced my practice of the Witch Meditation Method.
After all, the Witch Meditation Method relied on the tempering of the Primal Dream. Any random experiment I did involving the soul and dreams yielded far better results than the meditation method. The same applied to the Five Senses Body Cultivation; it was essentially an elevation of the life level.
I was simply using "purer power" to directly boost my life level, which in turn drove my cultivation process. This wasn't something just anyone could replicate.
Whether it was the Witch Meditation Method or body cultivation techniques, these were all simplified paths designed to make the transcendent system easier to promote, not rules that had to be followed. What fits you best is what is best.
It’s like climbing a mountain. Those who came before carved out a winding path for those who followed. While it looks difficult, it is convenient, simple, low-risk, and has a low barrier to entry. But that doesn't mean it's the only way to reach the summit.
I have my own abilities. I can take a plane and fly straight to the top. Yes, I get to enjoy the view from the summit much sooner than others, but I also miss out on the exhaustion they experienced along the way.