Chapter 423: Journey and Harvest
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 423: Journey and Harvest
With that single thought, a spontaneous journey began.
For this trip, I didn't use a flying broom to rush along, nor did I use teleportation. Instead, I took a more grounded approach, traveling via this world's unique modes of transportation.
Although this wasn't a world I was familiar with, its development in terms of transportation shared certain similarities with my old world. After all, the functions were essentially the same, and designs couldn't afford to be overly flamboyant. Every design had to account for one crucial factor: the budget.
Almost all technological creations in this world were powered by Ley Energy, including the Ley Energy engine in the vehicle I was currently riding.
Based on my understanding of this world's history, they had initially discovered Ley Line Energy—a form of Transcendent energy—but they had chosen the wrong direction. They were unable to utilize it in its raw state during the early stages. Later, they developed the Ley Energy Conversion Technique, transforming it into "Ley Energy," which finally allowed for large-scale development.
Once I understood the characteristics of Ley Energy, I lost much of my interest. The birth of Ley Energy meant they had used a specific technique to lower the threshold for utilizing Ley Line Energy. This world followed the tech-side; had they veered even slightly toward the magic-side, they wouldn't have found utilizing Ley Line Energy so difficult.
However, with technology developed to its current state, many things were already set in stone. The continued use of Ley Energy wouldn't be easily changed. A civilization cannot undergo a massive overhaul based on the theories of a few individuals; that would be a disaster for the entire population.
In the beginning, as Ley Energy was fully utilized, the prototype of the Plant Network was born. The speed at which the concept of the Plant Network emerged was almost unbelievable to me, leading me to suspect that the Ley Energy Conversion Technique might be related to the Tears of the Mad Plant.
Yet, I cannot deny one thing: the geniuses of history were all celestial talents who "created" these techniques from nothing.
While the emergence of Ley Energy propelled the birth and development of the Plant Network, its applications went far beyond that. However, compared to the Plant Network, the development of other technological creations felt as if they were lagging an entire era behind.
One couldn't really blame them. If not for the Secret Diggers, this world's technology might have advanced even faster.
After all, you can't expect a group of people who treat "gaming" as their job to release inspiration, create art, drive social progress, lead a Renaissance, or spread scientific skills within that game.
They only project the resentment from their work into the game. The moment a game becomes a job, it loses its inherent joy. Consequently, the Secret Diggers have become extremely dangerous, constantly needing to vent their emotions.
But none of that had much to do with me. I sat in the vehicle, feeling the ruggedness of the road and watching the scenery flash past the window.
I realized that although I had been in this world for a long time, I had never truly tried to understand it. This world didn't just consist of violence and darkness; it also held novelty and beauty.
Even with the existence of the Secret Diggers, ordinary people still lived on tenaciously. Perhaps... spending two lifetimes in peaceful societies had made me take all of this for granted.
Yet, it is precisely at the bottom of society that unexpected beauty can be created, for those who cannot adapt to such an environment simply perish.
The first stop of our journey required us to go abroad. This wasn't just because Lanas Island was a small nation, but also because it only housed that one primary tree of the Omni-Link Main Network Tree.
Even for a local like Qiu Ruxin, the mention of worthwhile tourist attractions left her with a blank stare. She might know a few bustling commercial districts, but those didn't meet my expectations.
Lanas Island was a peninsula located in a corner of the continent. The surrounding national powers were quite singular; it wasn't a strategic territory worth fighting over, nor was it a major producer of Ley Line Energy. Thus, its geographical environment was quite "peaceful." Setting aside the issue of the Secret Diggers, this country hadn't experienced the baptism of war in a long time. So, our first stop wasn't to head out to sea, but to start our journey from the interior.
During this journey, I also began trying to learn the other languages of this world. Of course, fluency wasn't the ultimate goal. I was learning the other common languages here simply to study the connections between different tongues.
Language is a tool for communication. Different languages have their own unique characteristics, but they also share commonalities. I was attempting to summarize a method for rapid language acquisition—and, of course, using this method to quickly adapt to and practice the effects of the "Tree of Knowledge" spell.
It was also preparation for the possibility of visiting other worlds in the future. Hadn't I already crossed worlds for "friendly" exchanges before my first year at the Witch Academy was even over?
This was simply planning ahead.
In truth, the most important part of learning multiple languages was summarizing the learning methods themselves. Languages have their methods, and knowledge in other fields requires corresponding methods as well. It was a way to learn by analogy and accumulate my own cognitive depth.
The journey proceeded step-by-step, and my research into the Omni-Link Main Network Tree never stopped. Originally, I had hoped to find some related Revelation within it.
In the end, however, I discovered it was nothing more than a low-quality replica of the Omni-Link Main Network Tree's main trunk, devoid of any innovation.
As expected, once I moved away from the radiation range of the Transcendent items owned by Qiu Ruxin, there were no more Revelations related to that [Transcendent Knowledge], and naturally, no surprising windfall to delight me.
But I didn't lose heart, nor did I change my plans. This time, I truly wanted to relax.
There wasn't much I needed to consider on this trip; it could be summarized as a process of playing and learning.
Playing was to release my body and mind; learning was to broaden my horizons and accumulate cognition.
Naturally, the incidental derivation and perfection of the Tree of Knowledge was part of that learning. However, my utilization of [Transcendent Knowledge] had already deviated from its original purpose. From the start, I wasn't researching it solely for its own sake. Therefore, the fact that the derivation progress of the Tree of Knowledge was stuck didn't come as a surprise.
I was simply making various attempts as the mood struck me.
To my surprise, I found that even these occasional attempts—these ideas that collided by chance—actually progressed faster than when I was racking my brains in deep thought.
At this point, I had to take my own condition seriously.
It seemed that only when the body and mind are completely relaxed can one achieve more.
Having experienced this, I finally understood the meaning behind the phrase: "I already possessed the ability to do anything, but I was the one limiting myself."
Perhaps that's just how I am. I had always been coerced by a faint, lingering pressure, delayed by various trifles, and had painstakingly suffered for my own lack of confidence.
But now, I truly grasped the meaning of "the more you think, the more you err; the more you do, the more you're right."
Action itself has no right or wrong, but my mind would categorize it as such.
The brain's ability to predict things that haven't happened yet is an instinctive power, but it is also a shackle that binds oneself.
Perhaps I had long ago severed the Main World Ley Line Shackles, but I had yet to sever the shackles on my thoughts.
This was the true meaning behind what Sister Bai had told me: that I thought too much.
I had used two lifetimes to prove that my way of doing things was simply burrowing into a massive dead end. And now... I was using this method to tell myself it was time to stop.
Letting go of all this—that was my transformation, and it would be the turning point of my life.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.
In this relatively long stretch of time, I visited more places than I had in my two lives combined. Yet, in the context of my entire plan for a global tour, it was still only the beginning.
During this time, I witnessed many magnificent scenes and exquisite landscapes. I saw the great power of nature, but I also passed through countries still embroiled in war, with flames soaring and casualties beyond count... and the Secret Diggers were everywhere, fanning the flames.
Or rather, along this entire route, those Secret Diggers could be seen everywhere. They were even more crazed than the ones I had encountered before, acting with utter lack of restraint.
Though I was physically on a journey, through the Plant Network I controlled, I could see the international situation growing tense due to the madness of these Secret Diggers.
It wasn't my imagination that the Secret Diggers were becoming more rampant; it felt as if they were holding a final carnival. And the facts aligned with my guess.
Moreover, it wasn't as if those Secret Diggers didn't use the internet. After filtering through the information, I realized those players might be facing one thing... a "server shutdown."
This truly piqued my curiosity. Were they really just going to abandon this world?
Or did they feel this world no longer had any value left to excavate?
They hadn't even discovered the most critical [Transcendent Knowledge]. To this day, I still didn't know what they had come to this world for.
Invading a world is usually about plundering resources, yet among so many Secret Digger players, I had yet to discover if they were transporting this world's resources away through some channel.
Aside from this [Transcendent Knowledge], nothing else in this world was inherently valuable. Transporting a batch of materials from here to their world might not even cover the shipping costs.
Surely they weren't doing this just for fun?
And... I discovered a problem, one I hadn't paid attention to before, until it happened right in front of me during my journey.
Initially, I thought those players controlled a body through Luck. Therefore, anyone with Luck Threads was a Secret Digger. But reality told me that wasn't entirely true. People with Luck Threads might not be Secret Diggers, but "vessels"—containers for those players to descend into.
Before their consciousness was seized by a Secret Digger, they were no different from ordinary people. But once a player logged in, that person died completely. Even if the player "logged out," the person would never recover.
They could only become a living shell with biological activity but no consciousness.
I came to realize this through a coincidence.
At the time, I was on a vehicle. The person in front of me had seemed utterly unremarkable, even excessively ordinary, yet I saw a trace of a Luck Thread on him.
Until a certain moment, he seemed to become a different person entirely. After a brief period of adaptation, he stepped directly into the role.
Then... then he completely blew up the carriage I was in. Like the most ruthless executioner, he slaughtered everyone in the vehicle in the most violent manner. As for his end, I naturally executed him on the spot.
I didn't know why they killed. Perhaps they did it for amusement, or perhaps for some other reason.
I only know that the end of that leg of the journey involved me riding my broom, carrying Qiu Ruxin to a place with a station before continuing the trip.
Yes, continuing. This incident didn't dampen my good mood.
Nothing could obstruct my journey or dampen my enthusiasm. Because once I stopped viewing them as enemies, nothing they did could cause my emotions to fluctuate violently.
Thus, their existence became a mere interlude in my travels, adding a bit of flavor to an otherwise quiet journey.
"A server-shutdown carnival... how boring," I sighed softly. They were going to wreck this world and then pat their butts and leave. Their style was somewhat similar to mine, but I had the strength to withdraw unscathed. These guys... might not be so lucky.
I felt it was time to spice things up for them. Previously, a Reverse Summoning Ritual belonging to me had appeared on that Omni-Link Main Network Tree.
That phenomenon had immediately attracted those Secret Diggers, who scrambled to uncover its secrets.
In the end, they discovered that the so-called secret was merely the Unknown Runes I had given to the survivors. This caused many Secret Diggers to believe in it implicitly. Over the following period, instances of successfully replicating my summoning ritual began to appear one after another. However, so far, none had appeared in the Unknown regions; they were all within the scope of this small world.
Therefore, using this method to reverse-invade their world would be difficult. They wouldn't attempt this rune ritual in their reality.
Perhaps I should use a more direct method—breaking the players' "fourth wall" and making the Secret Diggers study this Reverse Summoning Ritual in their own reality as well.
After a bit of thought, a general plan formed in my mind.
Based on my current understanding of that unknown civilization, they seemed to possess Transcendent arts, but most likely achieved them through [Transcendent Knowledge]. Overall, they presented as a technological civilization with some understanding of spells, though not much.
The fact that they would be surprised by a simple Fireball Spell allowed me to analyze a great many things.
Perhaps... I could try releasing some research regarding spells to test the waters?
I could disguise it as a hidden secret of this world. Although this method lacked technical sophistication, I didn't need it to be perfect.
Cast a wide net to catch many fish. They could miss a thousand times, but I only needed one little idiot to complete the drawing of the ritual according to my design to completely expose that world.
As for how to spread this news... naturally, it would be through targeted dissemination via the Plant Network. With my control over the Plant Network, guiding public opinion was child's play.
As long as I tested their interest in spells and runes, and then linked it to the Reverse Summoning Ritual I had released earlier, someone would eventually try it. Curiosity is the easiest thing to exploit.
Perhaps... I could also try looking for the Real Protection Association.
It was worth a shot. I had nothing to lose, after all.
* * *
But right now, what I cared about more was the arrival of the Witch Academy's exploration team.
According to the Academy Dean, the exploration team should be arriving around this time. Once they arrived, information about this place could be transmitted back to the Witch Academy. If not for an anomaly like me, that is likely how things would have unfolded.
I wondered if this exploration team had brought along any of those fellows from the other Transcendent academies.
Probably... not.
I shook my head with a smile, tossing these baseless speculations to the back of my mind as I continued to enjoy the comfort of the journey.
In passing, I also began the systematic guidance of public opinion, targeting those Secret Diggers.
And... I needed to speed up. From the intelligence I had squeezed out of them, the "server shutdown" node was fast approaching.
If I didn't strike now, it really would be too late. If I let them escape, I'd be annoyed to death.
If only the mentors and Deans of the Witch Academy would arrive now. Then I wouldn't have to go to all this trouble; I could just "tattle" to the Deans and mentors. I had no doubt in the power of the Transcendent Witches. They surely possessed means powerful enough to completely crush that civilization.
That would count as achieving the feat of wiping out that disgusting civilization.