Chapter 284: Meeting the Dean
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 284: Meeting the Dean
"Mm, alright."
I hung up the phone, the leisure in my eyes vanishing instantly. I packed my things, intending to slip out.
"Xiao Han, is something wrong?" Bai Yu asked from beside me.
"I have to go. The Dean is looking for me." I sighed, glancing at the Transcendent Mentor at the front of the room explaining alchemy, then back at Sister Bai with a touch of helplessness.
The class I was currently attending wasn't a standard one; it was a lecture series hosted by a Transcendent Witch.
I knew all too well that studying behind closed doors wouldn't get me anywhere, especially in a field like alchemy. That was why I had come here, accompanied by Sister Bai.
Since these weren't part of the academy's scheduled curriculum, there was a barrier to entry—specifically, a fee. The cheaper courses started at Red Copper, while the expensive ones required Orichalcum upfront.
These earnings went directly into the pockets of the Transcendent Witches giving the lectures.
This also meant that even at the level of a Transcendent Witch, materials like Orichalcum still held significant value.
"Then hurry along. I'll take notes on the rest of the lecture for you and give you a copy later." Sister Bai didn't seem to mind, though she was slightly surprised that Xiao Han was held in such high regard by the Dean that she was being summoned personally.
"Thanks, Sister Bai. I'll head out then. Oh... if the lecture covers anything regarding the refining ritual... please record it for me. I'm very interested in that part."
"Mm." Bai Yu nodded in agreement.
My departure didn't draw much attention, not even from the teacher at the front. Leaving early was simply considered being irresponsible to oneself, and the fees wouldn't be refunded anyway.
Once outside, I pulled out my broom and headed straight for Teacher Ji Niang's office.
Deep down, my heart was pounding. After all, I was about to meet the real Dean. The one I had met before was just a clone; I could only hope the Dean herself was as kind and approachable as her double.
"Xiao Han, you're finally here. What took you so long?" As soon as I pushed open the door to the office, Ji Niang began to scold me.
It seemed that even Teacher Ji Niang had many reservations when facing the Dean.
"Um... Teacher, I was in an alchemy lecture. I rushed over the second you called. I've already lost several pieces of Orichalcum on that tuition."
"Alchemy? Why are you studying alchemy now?"
"Uh... it's never a bad thing to master another skill... right?"
"Suit yourself. If you're interested in alchemy, learn it. In the Witch Academy, you can study whatever you want; no one will stop you. Just don't bite off more than you can chew." Teacher Ji Niang waved her hand and stood up, looking ready to lead me out.
However, she didn't take out a flying broom. Instead, she grabbed me. In the next instant, the world spun around me. I felt weightless and unsteady until my feet hit solid ground again, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.
"This... is this space teleportation?!" I was stunned. With a method like this, who would ever need a flying broom?
"It's just a teleportation method. 'Space' is a synonym for fragility; there are far too many ways to break it. Even powers or techniques without spatial attributes can achieve this easily. Don't be so surprised. Follow me."
"Oh... okay." I followed closely behind Teacher Ji Niang, my eyes constantly scanning our surroundings.
This was the most distinctive hallway I had seen in the Witch Academy. It featured vintage patterns and relief carvings of unknown plants, carrying a heavy atmosphere of the Old Era.
The hallway led to a hall at the far end. Even before reaching it, I saw a massive, prominent stone statue in the center. The figure held a long staff, frozen in a gesture as if lightly tapping the air. Judging by the fluid, ethereal skirt and the exquisitely carved face, it was undoubtedly Dean Mei Lind.
"I'm taking you to Mei Lind's office. You've met the Dean before, haven't you?" Ji Niang suddenly asked.
"Um... sort of? I've only met the Dean's clone," I explained.
"Is that so? Well, since it was a clone, she must have spoken with you. What did the Dean say?"
"Uh... am I allowed to say?"
"It's nothing more than the matter of the Great Spellbook. Among us teachers, that's hardly a secret. Just speak freely. You must have helped the Dean solve some kind of difficult problem; otherwise, she wouldn't go out of her way to summon a student."
"Uh... something like that..."
"Good enough." Ji Niang felt a slight sense of relief at this answer, though she didn't show it. "By the way, if you were faced with two choices—one being a reward you couldn't refuse, and the other being help to escape the Script—which would you choose?"
"Escaping the Script," I replied without hesitation.
"Good! Just stick to that when the time comes." Ji Niang nodded, satisfied. Her efforts hadn't been in vain.
"Uh... but the Dean already promised to help me escape the Script... I think..." Though it required me to pay the price of accepting a trial mission.
"What! She agreed directly?"
Even Teacher Ji Niang was surprised by this answer, but she quickly composed herself. It seemed that for this meeting, escaping the Script was no longer the main point...
By now, I had reached the final hall with Teacher Ji Niang. Standing beneath the massive stone statue, I felt as if an inexplicable power was washing over my soul.
There were no further hallways leading out of here. There was only a towering bookshelf on one side of the hall that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, packed with books. Some of the books seemed to shimmer with strange transcendent energy, while others gave off a sense of extreme danger.
It seemed the books here weren't meant to be browsed casually.
"Um, Teacher Ji Niang, where do we go next?" I asked curiously.
"Waiting for the elevator."
"Huh? The elevator?" I looked around for an entrance at this surprisingly mundane answer, but found nothing.
Until... a platform slowly descended from above. I watched Teacher Ji Niang step onto it and followed suit.
This was the so-called elevator?
Just a platform?
I looked at Teacher Ji Niang, but she didn't seem inclined to explain. After all, there was no rule saying an elevator had to be a box pulled by a rope, was there?
I looked at the platform beneath my feet. The runes were simple and clear—exactly the kind I recognized. This meant that achieving this level of functionality only required the most basic runes.
The platform rose slowly, bringing me to the top floor.
Before even reaching the Dean's office, I caught a scent that instantly sharpened my consciousness. It felt similar to meditation incense. Was this the kind of incense used at the Dean's level?
I wondered how expensive it must be.
As we emerged, I finally saw what the Dean's office looked like.
If someone told me this was an office, I'd find it hard to believe. It looked more like a... laboratory, one that perfectly matched my perception of a witch.
In the center stood a massive experimental table where Ley Line energy surged, supporting many spell structures that were both familiar and alien to me.
On one side of the office were numerous materials and items sealed in specialized containers.
Something resembling a dragon's skull hung from the ceiling like a decoration, and a single feather burning with crimson flames was sealed within a piece of transparent crystal.
There were also many windows that looked like decorative paintings on the walls, but inside, they seemed to encapsulate small fragments of time.
Runes flashed in various combinations across the office floor. As I looked closer, they seemed increasingly familiar—this was very much like an alchemy refining ritual. The entire office had been solidified into one giant refining ritual!
It seemed the Dean was performing some kind of alchemical process here.
Energy surged through the crystals embedded in the ritual nodes on the floor—the unique mana of a witch.
"Dean, I've brought Xiao Han to you." Teacher Ji Niang's voice finally pulled me back from my state of intense curiosity.
I immediately composed myself and looked toward the busy figure ahead. This was the Dean herself—the original, not a clone.
"Oh? Is Xiao Han here? Come, come over here." Hearing Ji Niang, Mei Lind stopped what she was doing and looked toward us. Then, with a warm smile, she beckoned for me to approach.
"Go on." Teacher Ji Niang gave me a gentle push from behind. "Dean, if you don't need anything else from me, I'll take my leave."
"It's alright, Xi Lan. I know you're curious. Just don't spread what I'm about to say. You can stay and listen." Mei Lind looked at Ji Niang, still smiling.
"I understand." Ji Niang nodded, abandoning her plan to leave. She was indeed very curious. After all, seeking amusement was a top priority for witches, and what amusement was better than gossip?
With the push from Teacher Ji Niang, I slowly walked toward the Dean.
Today, the Dean wasn't wearing her previous outfit. Instead, she wore a deep purple robe that looked like the night sky, with a form-fitting undergarment that hugged her ample chest.
"So? Have you decided what kind of shells you want to customize for those Fool's Dreams?" As Mei Lind spoke, she walked to a wall where a beautifully framed painting hung. When I looked closely at it, I was shocked.
Setting aside the fact that the painting was alive and moving, it gave me the distinct impression of being a miniature world!
And those floating, formless things—weren't those the Fool's Dreams?
"I... I've mostly decided..."
"Mostly? What is it? If you haven't fully decided, I can give you more time. They're just shells; you don't need to worry too much about what they are. They don't even have to be physical shells. After all, they aren't truly 'life' yet; they just want a vessel to exist in reality."
Dean Mei Lind brought the "painting" over to me to show me.
"See... isn't it miraculous? These are dream creatures—the ones you know as the Fool's Dreams."
I looked at them. They were no longer the Fool's Dreams I recognized. Now that the Nightmares and Fool's Dreams had merged, they were naturally dream creatures.
"Once you decide, I will strip away the Nightmare portion. And you—you understand what you need to do, right?"
"Yes... but afterward, how will the Nightmares of the Fool's Dreams be handled?"
"Nightmares are a part of the Fool's Dreams. Handling them is indeed troublesome, but where there's a will, there's a way. You might be able to use something."
"Huh?" I looked at the Dean, slightly dazed. My mind was struggling to keep up. Was there something I could use?
"The Script. The Script is an incredibly irrational driving force. If you hadn't been involved in the creation of this Great Spellbook, I probably would have used the power of the Script to brute-force its creation through the normal process."
"The Script... can separate the Fool's Dreams from the Nightmares?" I looked at the Dean in surprise, still finding it hard to believe.
But I still didn't know how to operate it... the Script wasn't something I could play with, especially since I was currently just cannon fodder in it... wait, if things kept developing, maybe I'd end up as the final boss?
"That depends on the operation. It involves the deeper principles of how the Script functions. You only need to understand one word: Separation."
"Separation. Meaning, conceptually, taking one existence and splitting it into two distinct ones, severing the connection between them. The development of the Script is like a massive, rolling wheel. This requires two preparations."
"What preparations?" I asked. It sounded complicated, but I would do my best to see it through.
"First, tie the unwanted Nightmare portion strongly to the Script, while the Fool's Dream portion completely detaches from it. As for how to detach... that's up to you. Don't you want to escape the Script? There is a way to sever your connection to the Script once and for all, and it can even let you experience it in advance..."
"Wait, Dean, are you going to let Xiao Han sever it early—"
"Xi Lan." The Dean addressed Teacher Ji Niang by her Transcendent Witch name, cutting her off.
"It seems your teacher cares for you quite a bit. Let me finish what she was going to say. You understand the power of Ley Lines, right?"
"I only know the name and some very basic applications of Ley Line energy..."
"That's fine. You only need to know that Ley Lines are the foundation of a world. They record all information in the world and control its rise and fall. Their existence has long surpassed mere Ley Line energy or branches; they have become an abstract existence. And within that abstract existence, there is a branch... the Ley Line Shackles."
"Ley Line Shackles?" I looked at the Dean, waiting for her to enlighten me.
"You just need to understand that you are a part of the Main World. Do you know why the Witch Academy sets ascending to Transcendent as the condition for graduation? Because after graduation, most people choose to leave this world. And the reason we strictly mandate reaching Transcendent before leaving is because only then do they have the ability to break the Ley Line Shackles themselves. That is the only way to leave this world."
"Leave... the world?" My eyes widened. I yearned for the stars and the "Void" Ji Niang had described. Wasn't that exactly what I was pursuing?
I hadn't realized that even leaving this world... had conditions.
"Yes. Once the Ley Line Shackles are severed, strictly speaking, you are no longer recognized by the Main World. The Main World will naturally excise you from the Script. Unless you insist on interfering with the Script, the World Consciousness won't give a damn about you."
"World Consciousness?" I caught another key term.
However, I also noted the phrase "not a person of this world." I didn't know what the consequences of that were, but there would certainly be a difference. It made me think of Isha; she had actively chosen not to ascend to Transcendent... but that didn't quite add up. No one said you had to leave or break the Ley Line Shackles just because you became Transcendent.
"Yes, but I won't explain those things to you. They aren't very relevant to you right now. You'll be able to learn about them easily later on."
"So, you will escape the Script this way. When you perform Wisdom Enlightenment on the Fool's Dreams, the spell effect will remain on them permanently, allowing them to take the first step toward becoming true life. The world will then wash its hands of both you and the Fool's Dreams. But before that, you need to create a strong correlation between the Nightmares and the Script."
"How do I do that?"
"It's simple. Don't you have a massive amount of Luck from the exchange competition? We will manipulate things to transfer that Luck onto the Nightmares, creating a deep-seated connection. Then, we'll push the Nightmares into the Script and let them develop on their own. However... the method of operation... requires your cooperation. It's a sort of ritual for Luck transfer. You know how to act, right?"
"Act... as in acting?"
"Yes. It's a Script, after all. What needs a script? A play. The Script itself is a massive screening ritual. As long as you understand that, the method is more or less clear. We'll discuss the details later. Do you have any other questions?"
"Uh... is it worth it? Making such a huge fuss just for these Fool's Dreams?" I looked up into the Dean's eyes.
"Of course it's worth it. You care too much about how others see things. You are standing before me now; why look at this matter with the perspective of a minor character?"
"I... I understand..." I thought about it for a moment. It wasn't that I couldn't grasp the concept, but rather that I was thinking about the execution. Thinking it and doing it were two different things. I hadn't reached the spiritual state of the "Unity of Knowledge and Action," and even having a spell by that name didn't mean I could achieve it.
"Good. Perhaps you should try the Unity of Knowledge and Action spellbook. It's not as simple as it appears on the surface."
"Mm." I reacted quickly, nodding heavily. That was a clear hint from the Dean.
"Any other questions? If so, I'll allow one last one. After that, we move on to the next topic."
"Um... I... I want to know why dream creatures aren't considered 'life'? What... is the definition of life?"