Chapter 386: A Rune with Spell-like Properties
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 386: A Rune with Spell-like Properties
After a long period of deconstruction by Teacher Ji Niang and myself, we confirmed that the rune had only established a fragile connection with me and nothing more. I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"It seems to be a normal transcendent-level link. This relationship is somewhat similar to the connection between a spell effect and its target. It's very fragile; a simple purification or Dispel Magic spell could break it. Don't you have those kinds of spells?"
Ji Niang was also a bit bewildered after confirming the nature of the link. It felt like a frustratingly simple misunderstanding.
However, Ji Niang noticed something else that piqued her interest: this composite rune had spontaneously manifested a spell effect despite not being a complete spell.
This meant that either this single composite rune already possessed spell-like properties, or the rune was a self-contained spell.
When a single composite rune possesses most of the characteristics of a spell concept, it is called a self-contained spell. These are extremely rare and unique cases, but they do exist.
Looking across the entire Void, no matter how small the probability, the sheer scale of existence meant there was a massive baseline. Thus, within the classification of spells, there was a tiny niche known as "self-contained spells."
The reason for this classification was that there had been cases in the Void where an entire piece of [Transcendent Knowledge] was itself a spell.
As long as one obtained that [Transcendent Knowledge], they could directly acquire a Great Spell!
Because of such cases involving Great Spells, the concept of a self-contained spell held a recognized place, even if they weren't often categorized separately.
Ji Niang briefly explained this concept to me.
Furthermore, the concept of [Transcendent Knowledge] didn't just produce miracles like self-contained spells. Some [Transcendent Knowledge] was born as a "transcendent item"—meaning it met all the definitions of a transcendent item: pay a price, produce an effect.
"Dispel Magic... I think I have that..." I scratched my head awkwardly. I hadn't expected it to be that simple. Dispel Magic was definitely in the spellbooks Tan Han had given me, but who would have thought of that in this situation?
"So... what is this rune? A spell? A spell that creates malicious dreams for me?"
"Theoretically, it only has spell-like properties; it isn't a complete spell. It's somewhat similar to the Nightmare Spell you created earlier, but the completion rate of this rune's spell structure is even lower than your Nightmare Spell," Ji Niang explained.
"Then... is this one of those spells that might be derived during the research of [Transcendent Knowledge]?"
"Yes, that's essentially it." Ji Niang nodded in confirmation.
"That was too easy, wasn't it?"
"Easy? You just stumbled into this by sheer luck, understand? Self-contained spells are incredibly rare, even if this rune only has partial spell-like properties. And... do you think just anyone can rub off a composite rune from a systematic block of [Transcendent Knowledge] as easily as you? I sent you to gather materials, and you bring me this?"
Faced with Teacher Ji Niang's string of questions, I immediately lowered my head like an ostrich, taking the scolding in silence.
When Ji Niang finally grew tired and her throat went dry from lecturing me, I hurriedly handed her a cup of water.
"At least you have a bit of a conscience." Ji Niang took the disposable cup and drank.
Meanwhile, I carefully studied the rune. A single rune... it reminded me of my "Illusion Clone" spellbook. When casting that, it also manifested as a "single" rune, though it was also a composite rune. I wondered if the Illusion Clone spell was one of those "self-contained spells" Ji Niang had just described.
However, in Ji Niang's words, there wasn't much difference between a self-contained spell and a regular one. Sometimes, self-contained spells were even more cumbersome to use. Thinking about my Illusion Clone... it was controlled by my subconscious. Using it was indeed quite a hassle.
Who could have imagined being teased by their own spell effect?
That effect was simply too ridiculous.
"Um... since this was all a misunderstanding, I'll just dispel it," I said tentatively.
After all, given the nature of the link between a spell effect and its target, who would have thought it could be broken directly with Dispel Magic without knowing the specifics?
Looking at it this way, although spells like Dispel Magic didn't consume much mana, they could achieve effects I couldn't. Such spells could indeed become useful tools in my arsenal.
"Are you in such a hurry to break the connection? Although deriving spells from [Transcendent Knowledge] wasn't our original intent, any spell that might emerge must be treated seriously. This spell likely represents a certain part of the concept of the entire [Transcendent Knowledge], providing vital guidance for the whole."
"Uh... so, I can't dispel it yet?" I asked cautiously.
"You can, but aren't you curious about what's going on with this spell? You should know that for a team researching a Great Spellbook, dozens or even hundreds of scholars work together. Once a potential derived spell appears, at least several—or even a dozen—Witches will join in a temporary research project."
"Alright, alright, I get what you're saying..." Hearing Teacher Ji Niang's heavy hints, it was obvious she wanted to use this to understand the traits of this [Transcendent Knowledge].
"Smart. When the time comes, we can organize the process of how this rune's properties were derived into a paper and publish it. It'll attract more Witches to join our team, even if they're just temporary scholars."
"Temporary scholars?"
"Those are Transcendent Witches within this laboratory base who don't have a fixed research group. They are only interested in specific things. They'll join a group based on their interests and leave without hesitation once the thing that interested them is finished."
"Huh? There are Witches like that?" I asked, somewhat incredulous.
"Of course. But you must understand, these temporary scholars usually have an enormous reserve of knowledge and experience. Not just anyone is qualified to be one. Rather than saying they join temporarily, it's more like they provide guidance. Because they've seen so much, many of the barriers and difficulties we face are trivial to them. You understand the logic, right?"
"Oh... I see." I nodded quickly.
According to Teacher Ji Niang, wouldn't these free-agent scholars be highly sought-after prizes?
Could such a Witch really be attracted by a single spell derived from [Transcendent Knowledge]?
Wait... there was another question!
"Um, Teacher Ji Niang, I have one more question."
"What is it? Ask away."
"Since there are so many labs, groups, and teams researching [Transcendent Knowledge] here, they must derive a lot of spells, right? Wouldn't the Academy's academic section be rotating through them every day?"
"Do you think deriving a spell from [Transcendent Knowledge] is easy? Xiao Han, are you getting ahead of yourself? Have you forgotten what we were doing these past few days? This tedious, repetitive process is a necessity. It can take anywhere from a few years to decades or even a century before a stage-wise summary is reached. Only during such summaries is it possible to spark the prototype or inspiration for a derived spell. Besides... not every team has a flashy personality; many don't like organizing their findings into papers or uploading them."
"Oh, right..." I nodded repeatedly.
No wonder when I reconstructed the spellbook models through Spirit Vision earlier, the papers Ji Niang organized could make it onto the Academy's paper section.
It was because the output of major results from the Academy was so slow. But because of that, those papers were almost entirely free of "fluff."
Having learned all this, my curiosity was satisfied. With the fear of the unknown gone, the exhaustion of the night began to creep back. Fortunately, I had napped for half the afternoon, so I wasn't completely exhausted.
Though the latter half of that nap hadn't been very peaceful.
After giving myself a little mental boost, I was ready to continue.
The problem we faced now was... the [Transcendent Knowledge] we were researching earlier had a large number of runes that disturbed spatial attributes in its early stages. Both Ji Niang and I suspected it was related to space. Although Ji Niang said not to jump to conclusions before seeing the whole picture, research required bold hypotheses.
But now, this rune I had produced could affect my dreams and emotions... this significantly impacted our previous judgments and hypotheses.
It was like the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art created by the Academy Dean. During its initial creation, the Dean certainly didn't just derive a "Meditation Art"; there must have been other spells. After all, a concept like Wisdom Enlightenment requires an immense number of other concepts to be "pieced together." Perhaps "pieced together" was a bit crude, but that was the gist of it.
As the sky over the Witch Academy gradually brightened, the night quietly passed.
Absorbed in the lab, we naturally didn't notice the passage of time. Just like that, a whole night was gone.
All I knew was that even if this composite rune wasn't a spellbook, researching it made me feel the same way I did when Ji Niang and I spent those two days magic-modifying the Memory Bookshelf spellbook.
The difficulty was no less than it had been then.
"Hmm... how strange. There are underlying runes here that stir space, but what does that have to do with me having nightmares?"
"Maybe you weren't the one having the nightmare?" Ji Niang suggested.
"If it wasn't my nightmare, could it be someone else's?"
"Who knows?" Ji Niang smiled as she operated the equipment. Soon, the information generated by the machine was printed into a report.
Ji Niang stood up and took the report. The smile on her face gradually faded, replaced by a look of oddity.
"What's wrong?" I was curious now. This machine was actually a device used to determine spell types. Because spell classifications were so complex and constantly expanding as magic developed, this was essential.
With this, one could determine the components and leanings of an unknown rune or spell, making it easier to perform targeted operations.
"This is a... rune structure leaning toward a summoning spell."
"A summoning spell?" Even I found that answer unbelievable. How could a summoning spell give me nightmares? "Did the summoning spell summon someone else's nightmare into my dream?"
"Do you mean a Dream Summoning Spell? Interesting. Actually, there are similar spells called Dream Link, Shared Dream, and so on, which are much more efficient. But we can't jump to conclusions yet; there are still many strange things about this rune." As Ji Niang spoke, she burned the data. After all, this was only for reference; there was no need to treat it as a definitive guide.
"How about we try to turn it into a complete spell and see?" I suggested. After all, nothing was more direct than seeing the spell effect for oneself.
"Easier said than done. Turning this into a complete spell isn't as simple as those rune combinations I let you try before. Speaking of which, your 'wild' way of hand-casting spells without systematic study... is indeed efficient, but that's built upon basic runes. Crafting this spell would be no less difficult than the high-consumption spellbooks you usually use."
"High-consumption spellbooks?" That reminded me of when I was magic-modifying the Blessing of Elemental Spirits. I hit so many walls back then that I almost became a shut-in.
But I was no longer the person I was then. I couldn't let past failures pressure me now.
"Then isn't it worth a try?" I said with a smile.
"Creation isn't magic-modifying. Right now, you don't even have a template to compare it to. You'll have to figure out many things on your own, you understand?"
"I know... Um... Teacher Ji Niang... can I ask you for one more favor?" I rubbed my hands together, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"What is it? Out with it." Ji Niang's face dropped. Seeing me like this, she knew I was up to no good. For a moment, she almost missed the old Xiao Han who would hesitate even when offered a Fireball Spell. But... this version of Xiao Han wasn't bad either.
"Can I borrow your permissions to access the research literature? And can I lead the modification of this rune into a spell? I want to try it myself. If I really can't do it, I'll ask you for help, okay?"
"You've got quite the ambition, don't you?" A flash of realization crossed Ji Niang's eyes. I was after her data permissions. Did I feel my current permissions weren't enough?
"Haha... my ambition is nothing compared to yours, Teacher. You're the one who wants to create a Great Spellbook."
"You little brat, learning how to mock me now? The permissions can only be used here. I'll share them with you in a moment, but don't you dare take anything out, understand?" Ji Niang scolded me with a laugh but agreed nonetheless.
"Understood, understood!" I nodded repeatedly.
However, Ji Niang's comment about "taking it out" made me instinctively check the time. It was... already morning!
"Um... Teacher Ji Niang, can you wait a moment?"
"What? Regretting it?"
"No... it's morning. I think I might have set my alarm to vibrate. I still have to do my meditation and body tempering..."
"Go on, then. Those things require persistence. I'll wait for you here."
"Mhm!"
I nodded, tidied my things, checked my meditation incense and my workout clothes for body tempering, and left once everything was confirmed.
Not long after I left, the laboratory door was struck by a powerful knock. The sound penetrated the lab's isolation spells and the partitioned space, reaching the interior. This anomaly caused Ji Niang's expression to change instantly!
But she quickly calmed herself, remembering that this was the Witch Academy. Nothing truly dangerous should happen here.