Chapter 1091: The Dire Situation of the Main World
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1091: The Dire Situation of the Main World
Sister Bai and I continued our exploration for a long time.
Through this experiment, she and I mastered two new abilities.
One was a contract: the Fool's Dream Contract.
The other was a skill: Dream Editing Technology.
The Fool's Dream Contract was a product Sister Bai and I had developed by using the Witch Contract as a framework and philosophy, then refining it with the power of the Fool's Dream bloodline.
It possessed two distinct characteristics.
First, because of the Witch's intervention, it carried the specific binding force of a Witch Contract, providing a powerful, mandatory obligation to fulfill the terms.
Second, because it was composed of the Fool's Dream bloodline power, it possessed a nature of voluntary and equal sharing, which formed the core theme of the contract.
According to Sister Bai’s description of contractual power, Witch Contracts come in many forms. Generally, they are structured with the Witch as the absolute dominant party, but there are exceptions.
For instance, the Witch race once established a special contract with the Transcendent Wizards.
That contract was a unique product formed by combining a "Witch Contract" with "Wizardly Equivalent Exchange." Usually, such cases are considered "cooperation" between two different systems and frameworks.
Both sides held the right to interpret this unique contractual product. Its birth was entirely voluntary and equal, involving a complex series of obligations.
It was an interpretation of the "might makes right" rule under specific circumstances—a product born when neither side could overcome the other.
It served as a double guarantee, a means to secure one's own interests, and a commitment to fulfill duties and responsibilities.
The fairness of a contract stems from the absolute impartiality and authority of the power at the contract's source, rather than the users who borrow the framework to achieve their own ends.
Deception, oppression, and forced submission can all utilize a contract's binding force to achieve a goal.
The most typical example is... the Slave Contract.
I have the power to kill the other person, but I choose not to. Instead, I use that power to establish a contractual framework, resulting in their enslavement. This is a rule of how contracts transform raw power.
Now, Sister Bai, acting as a Witch, initiated a Witch Contract, while I used the power of the Fool's Dream bloodline to establish specific content and form, allowing Sister Bai to achieve the ability of Dreamification with my help.
This was the effect of the "Fool's Dream Contract."
It is worth noting that the Fool's Dream Contract is not a general framework or system; rather, it refers to a specific contract template composed of the Fool's Dream bloodline and the Witch Contract framework to achieve a particular purpose and effect.
To use an analogy, it’s like a labor contract for a monthly salary of ten thousand credits. It cannot evolve into a service contract, nor can it become a deed of sale. It is a specific labor contract for ten thousand credits; the only things that can be changed are the names of Party A and Party B.
With this rudimentary Fool's Dream Contract in place, Sister Bai could use it to employ the "Dream Editing Technology" we had completed together.
The only slight flaw was that the Fool's Dream Contract still required constant optimization. Otherwise, Sister Bai would find it difficult to exercise much autonomy over the Dreamification process.
It was as if I had handed her a credit card with an unlimited limit, but she didn't have the PIN and couldn't use it.
However, this wasn't a problem. If something isn't perfect, you simply fix it until it is.
The main reason Sister Bai and I stopped was because... the new semester had begun.
We had spent the entire holiday working on these two things!
Looking back, time really does fly.
In the past, when I researched things, it would take half a day, a day, or maybe two or three.
Now, in the blink of an eye, an entire long break of nearly two months had vanished.
Of course, it wasn't the holiday itself that reminded me how much time had passed—I had long since lost track of concepts like "school" or "vacation." What truly alerted me was my Life Clone far away in the Emerald Forest.
This world was about to plunge into the Core World. The disturbance between world rules was a catastrophic feedback loop for that small world.
This was a rule-level disturbance between worlds. Its scale was even more terrifying than the commotion caused by the Void Beast invasion.
First came the most basic energy disturbances. On an invisible energy level, oscillations surged like a tide.
Then came the disturbance of material space, which further affected all matter within the world, bringing calamities in its wake.
But looking at the Main World... although it was left with only a Core World and an Expansion Realm that was newly repaired and not even as large as a small world, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Those unaware of the situation still hadn't realized that on the void level, a small world had already approached the point of overlapping and colliding.
Having just emerged from the dungeon world, I wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but I felt a certain mental sweep at that moment.
The Fool's Dream Meditation Method is an effective way to train a Witch's mental strength, but it essentially utilizes the Primitive Dream Realm. Having stayed in the Primitive Dream Realm for so long, even if I did nothing, it served as a form of tempering for my mind.
Consequently, even I wasn't entirely sure how dense and powerful my mental strength had become.
So, I was certain it wasn't an illusion.
Soon enough, the facts proved me right.
Dean Mei had come looking for us.
"Sister Mei, I have to say, were you just camping outside the office waiting for us to come out? If there's something wrong, couldn't you just contact us through the Great Knowledge Seed?"
I looked at the somewhat travel-worn Dean Mei and complained without reservation.
I knew that the mental strength of a Saint Realm expert, bolstered by their life level, could easily cover an entire world, but scanning the whole academy just to wait for me? What kind of move was that?
It hadn't been long since I came out and felt that mental sweep. What normal Witch keeps their mental strength spread that wide?
"If I said I just happened to run into you, would you believe me?"
"No," I said, shaking my head.
"You don't? Well, fine. Forget it. I actually do have something to discuss with you. Are you... busy right now?" Dean Mei looked at Bai Yu, then at me, her tone slightly hesitant.
"If you're busy, go ahead and finish up first. I'll just return this to you for now."
"Hmm?"
Confused, I reached out and took a well-sealed small vial from Dean Mei.
"This is... the Primitive Bloodline?" I quickly recognized the contents.
"Yes. I asked for you. The Wizards won't take it."
"Huh? They won't take it? Are they tired of living?" I asked, completely bewildered.
"They certainly seem to be. Do you have time? If so, let's go back and talk. It's not convenient here."
"Of course we have time." Sister Bai and I exchanged a look, and then I spoke.
"Then come with me. There are some matters I need to discuss with you, Xiao Han." As Dean Mei spoke, she reached out and opened a teleportation portal leading to her office.
I looked at this refined teleportation portal with curiosity. It was more than a little more advanced than a standard teleportation channel or a torn spatial rift.
However, it was just curiosity. I simply recorded the inspiration into the Tree of Great Knowledge, planning to see if I could derive and replicate such a method when I had the time.
Once inside the office, I habitually sat on the sofa. I began fiddling with the tea set on the coffee table and found that a pot of tea seemed to have just been brewed.
"Sister Mei was specifically waiting for us? The tea is already made." I set out three cups and poured one for both Sister Mei and Sister Bai.
To be honest, I couldn't really appreciate tea, but the five senses of a Body Cultivation practitioner allowed me to instinctively notice subtle differences.
"If you want to think of it that way, then consider that I was waiting for you. You two disappeared for an entire holiday; I didn't expect that. Did you just get back from a vacation in a dungeon world?"
"Vacation? If Sister Mei wants to think of it that way, then sure, we were on vacation~ Sister Bai and I did some things that went beyond the boundaries of physical touch..."
"Ahem!" Sister Bai suddenly coughed, interrupting me.
"Oh, I mean—we were just doing some small experiments in the Primitive Dream Realm. We didn't cause any big commotions!" I quickly explained.
"Do I need to praise you for that?"
"No need, it's just what I should do." I declined with a smile, then returned to the previous topic: "By the way, Sister Mei, you haven't said why those Wizards don't want the Primitive Bloodline anymore. Didn't you say with absolute certainty that they would want it? Are they not afraid of you using this to cause trouble anymore?"
"I didn't expect them to stop playing by the rules." Dean Mei rubbed her temples, looking quite troubled. "They don't care anymore. The situation changed too quickly. They've transformed from desperate people pushed to a cliff into suicidal fighters who are going to die either way."
"What happened?" I turned serious and asked, "Our Witch Academy hasn't made any big moves lately, has it?"
"The Void Transcendent races represented by the three great transcendent academies learned about the situation in the Main World. They have transformed from garrisoned residents of the Main World into those prepared to die just to contain the development of the Witch race."
Dean Mei's explanation left us in thought for a good while. The topic had been broached quite abruptly, but I understood what she meant.
"Is that... right?"
"Is there something else you don't understand?" Dean Mei asked directly.
"No... it's nothing. I think I get it." I shook my head, then spoke again. "To contain the development of the Witch race, they should have immediately tried to perish along with us and destroy the Main World. That would fit the description of 'those prepared to die.' But the Main World is still perfectly fine."
"Correct."
"So, Sister Mei, what means did you use to restrain them so they couldn't immediately activate the Staff of World Destruction?"
"None. It was themselves. Wizards and Elves aren't as crazy as you think. At the very least, most of them wouldn't be willing to die for their race just because of a few light words."
"Uh... so?"
"So, they are currently executing something called the Spark Migration Plan. They want to ensure that the 'sparks' they've pinned their hopes on won't die in this self-destructive disaster. These sparks might be apprentice seeds so talented they move even the Transcendents, or the partners and children of the academy's upper echelon, or even students and disciples who have inherited their legacy."
"Only with something to leave behind can one face death calmly, right?" I interjected.
"Exactly. At the very least, by doing this, they truly can face death."
"The reason they haven't destroyed the Main World yet is because they haven't finished evacuating all these sparks, right? How are they transferring them? Void teleportation? Can Wizards do that?" I continued following the thread.
"Yes, there are simply too many people to move," Dean Mei nodded. "As for how they're evacuating... they are leaving by drifting through the void, using the most primitive void vehicles."
"Uh... Sister Mei, you didn't stop them? You're just watching them leave?"
"Stopping them would be crossing their bottom line. We don't want the Main World destroyed, and they don't want the sparks they've pinned their hopes on to be destroyed along with it. Our interests are aligned. What we can do is slow down their transfer efficiency without triggering their nerves, buying ourselves more time."
"But for us, that's just a chronic death," I remarked.
"I know that, of course. That's why I said the situation in the Main World is changing too fast. We can't afford much more delay."
"..." I fell silent for a moment, then looked up at Dean Mei. "Sister Mei, so what are you waiting for? Use your supreme Dean-level wisdom to think of a way!"
Dean Mei met my gaze. Ignoring my teasing tone, she said seriously, "I'm waiting for you."
"Me?"
I tilted my head, squinting my eyes in confusion as I looked at her.
"Am I... some kind of ultimate weapon?"
"Aren't you?" Dean Mei picked up the black tea I had poured for her, took a light sip, and spoke again. "Xiao Han, how do you view the Main World?"
"Why ask that all of a sudden?" I was puzzled.
"I want to see what kind of place the Main World holds in your heart."
"Before, or now?"
"I want to hear both." Dean Mei set down her tea, adopting the posture of a listener.
"Before... I thought the Main World was a truly magical place. It had transcendent powers, Spirit Vision... even though I had many unpleasant memories, overall, it was full of hope."
"An unexpected answer. And now?" Dean Mei said, somewhat surprised.
After all, this was far from her guess. She had looked into Xiao Han's past in detail; the influence of her original family seemed to reach into her very marrow. Even now, one could see those inescapable habits.
"Now, I view it with equanimity. Although I had some misunderstandings about the Main World along the way, I now respect the rules by which the world operates."
After all, in the past, the world played me. Now that I have the power, it's my turn to play with the world.
Of course, I wouldn't say that out loud. Who knows if the Main World Consciousness is listening somewhere, right?