Chapter 427: The Terrifying Development Prospects of the Tree of Knowledge
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 427: The Terrifying Development Prospects of the Tree of Knowledge
As my journey continued, I visited various famous locations across this world.
Perhaps when I first heard the term "Small World," I subconsciously looked down on it. However, such a world truly exists, possessing the potential to nurture a civilization and the great power to create magnificent natural wonders.
On the Plant Network, those places were merely names with brief introductions and a few illustrations. The strategy guides described those landscapes so effortlessly, yet they were places the vast majority of people in this world would never visit in their entire lives. Even if they were born and raised in this world, many never stepped outside the region where they lived.
A sense of melancholy welled up within me. Hadn't I been the same before? Because of that, I could empathize all the more.
Only when I truly arrived here did I understand. Though labeled a "Small World," the fact that it bore the title of "World" meant it possessed such magnificent mountains and rivers. It was a world unto itself; the insignificance of an individual formed a stark contrast against it. Even standing at the peak, I still felt that this was not a conquest of nature.
I left my footprints across various wonders—some hailed as tourist attractions, others remote and rarely visited by man.
At the equator stood Behrk's Peak Mount Goraochu, a spectacle of snow-capped mountains right on the equatorial line.
There was the Bedi Great Rift Valley, the largest fracture zone connecting the northern and southern hemispheres. The root system of the Plant Network spanned across it, forming the most spectacular "Sky Garden."
Then there was the maritime Death Corridor, swept by hurricanes and wild waves. Due to its unique Ley Line resources, the roots of the Plant Network beneath the seabed were intricately intertwined. Roots floating on the sea surface were tossed high into the air by the giant waves.
This place was a graveyard for all ships. There was also a famous "check-in" spot on the Plant Network there. A man had used his life to prove that one could actually log into the Plant Network in such a perilous place. In his final moment, he posted a photo of himself with a giant wave, captioned: "Save me." In the picture was a middle-aged plump uncle, smiling calmly in the face of his impending death.
...
These landscapes constantly refreshed my horizons. It reminded me of a comment I had accidentally seen on the Plant Network. To put it in terms I could understand: "Only when a person quiets their heart to observe the world can they establish a worldview of their own."
At this moment, I had to admit that those words were absolutely right. The scenery here came with no text, yet it brought a shock that language could not describe.
The harvest from this trip was immense, yet impossible to put into words. It was the settling of my own foundation, the expansion of my experience, the tempering of my patience, and the ability to maintain control in grand situations. These were things that could not be learned within the academy.
However, I ended this world tour prematurely. It wasn't because I had circled the entire globe, but because I knew that continuing would be meaningless.
There is a limit to everything; once you cross it, going beyond is as bad as falling short.
Halfway through, I sent Qiu Ruxin back to the guesthouse from before. It had already become a temporary residence for the Dean and the mentors, so I was naturally at ease leaving her there.
Qiu Ruxin chose to leave because, as the journey progressed, I pushed the limits of my physical body more and more. I am a Body Cultivator with powerful physical attributes, but Qiu Ruxin is not. Her slightly enhanced body was only stronger than an average person's, and that was the extent of it.
I wasn't surprised by her withdrawal. Her physical strength and energy had reached their limits. I had warned her before she left that following me further would serve no purpose for her.
Of course... there was another important point. During this journey, I had initially perfected the linkage between my Illusion Clone and the Tree of Knowledge.
After Qiu Ruxin left, although I was alone, I still had my Illusion Clone by my side... No, she should now be called the "Administrator of the Tree of Knowledge" or the "Subconscious Me." She remained by my side, unchanged. Or rather, my subconscious had never changed.
With the addition of the Illusion Clone, the Tree of Knowledge also underwent massive changes.
This transformation was no less significant than the linkage between the Practical Learning Spell and the Tree of Knowledge back then.
Once my subconscious established an unbreakable connection with Practical Learning within the Tree of Knowledge, my application of knowledge became entirely seamless.
Furthermore... with the addition of the Illusion Clone's traits, the knowledge within the Tree of Knowledge could now be "projected" into reality.
With a wave of my hand, an emerald-green leaf manifested in my palm, countless images flickering across its surface. I tossed it out, and those images instantly unfolded before me.
This was the projection of my memory, similar to an illusion, possessing a detection mechanism like that of the Illusion Clone.
The Tree of Knowledge had already broken free from the shackles of the initial Memory Bookshelf, which could only record text. At this moment, the Tree of Knowledge had formed image nodes just like actual memories, even including the sounds I heard, my thoughts at the time, and the fluctuations of my emotions.
It was as if I were experiencing it all over again, leaving me with an endless aftertaste.
And this was just one of its abilities. The things the Tree of Knowledge could do went far beyond this. Its roots delved into my memory, becoming a part of me that I could thoroughly command.
With the initial completion of the plan for the Illusion Clone and the Tree of Knowledge, the path of the Tree of Knowledge's derivation and perfection should have stalled. However, during this journey, I gained a certain revelation.
I wanted the roots of the Tree of Knowledge to plunge into the Ley Lines. I wanted to use the Tree of Knowledge as a springboard to witness the history and the past precipitated within the Ley Lines of this land.
Once this thought arose, it became unstoppable. If possible, the Tree of Knowledge itself could function similarly to a Portable Ley Line Operating System!
No, it would be even more heaven-defying than the capabilities of a Ley Line system. It could do much more, and the functions of a Ley Line system would merely be a single branch of this power.
As expected... as long as one's thinking doesn't stagnate, no idea is too much. The people of this world could construct such a massive Plant Network root system based on just a tiny bit of revelation. I could use the Tree of Knowledge to accomplish the same. Isn't it just a computer?
Once successfully constructed, I could do it easily!
But what I wanted even more was to establish a connection with the Ley Lines.
Unfortunately, my initial attempt to establish an information exchange with the Ley Lines ended in complete failure.
The several subsequent attempts were also failures.
But intuition told me that my failure wasn't due to a flaw in my logic, but a problem with the Ley Lines. I could not establish a connection with this world on an informational level.
Repeated failures finally broke my unstoppable momentum. I had no choice but to sheepishly go and ask the Witch mentors. I didn't directly reveal information about my Tree of Knowledge; instead, I used the Ley Line Operating System as a cover to learn about the characteristics of Ley Lines. My understanding of Ley Lines had only been at a preliminary level.
Through persistent effort, I finally understood the situation. It was... because I didn't have Ley Line Shackles.
A very plain and simple reason.
Ley Line energy is a very mysterious Transcendent energy. Its energy level isn't high, but it is the foundation of a world.
In fact, after a world is born, Ley Line energy even possesses "regionality." Only life born within the world formed by these Ley Lines—that is, those with Ley Line Shackles—is qualified to command Ley Line energy. Note that this is only being qualified, not a guarantee.
Since I have no Ley Line Shackles and am not from this world, I am almost unable to produce any connection with this world's Ley Lines. For example, the Ley Line Operating System, a creation of the Main World, can only barely use Ley Line energy for basic operations in this world; it cannot integrate into this world's Ley Lines.
Receiving this answer made me feel quite miserable for a time. If this was confirmed, then my previous hypothesis could be directly overturned.
Even the "Ley Line Information Identification Art" I had envisioned, based on the architecture of accessing Ley Lines for information linkage, became a joke.
The Ley Line Information Identification Art was a temporary concept of mine. It was an extended application of the Tree of Knowledge based on the premise that its roots could plunge into the Ley Lines to obtain Ley Line information and data. It was similar to the basic "Appraisal" skill in games. While this ability is common in games, this was reality!
So, wouldn't its effect be more than just powerful?
It could be described as "terrifyingly formidable"!
The effect of this ability was based on the theory that the Ley Lines faithfully recorded the information and data of everything flowing through this world.
Therefore, I could look up the information of any item within this world through the Ley Line data.
The concept of this ability was actually identical to the Dream Rewriting Spell back in Ninglan New City. It wasn't a specific, systematic spell; it simply utilized the rules of the environment to achieve what I wanted.
If the plan succeeded, the scope of this Ley Line Information Identification Art would cover all worlds with perfected Ley Lines, or anywhere Ley Lines existed.
It would be applicable in all such places. Its prospects for application would be even broader than the Dream Rewriting Spell!
But!
Now, a thick barrier stood before me: the incompatibility of the Ley Lines...
However, I still didn't regret choosing to sever my Ley Line Shackles. Otherwise, I wouldn't even have the qualification to step out of the Main World.
And now, I needed to know how to utilize Ley Line energy. That's right, I hadn't given up. If I retreated after encountering just this little setback, I would look down on myself.
Besides, I didn't believe there was no way to utilize Ley Line information in this world. Moreover... wasn't my Spirit Vision a most "primitive" means of obtaining Ley Line information?
The simpler and more direct the method, the fewer the restrictions. Perhaps I could use Spirit Vision to construct a prototype of the "Identification Art" before I learned how to utilize Ley Line information.
In a way, Spirit Vision seemed to be a type of "Identification Art" itself, but it was harder to control and lacked the convenience of an Appraisal skill.
If I added the Tree of Knowledge spell, I could use the "database" constructed by the Tree of Knowledge and my knowledge to perform "appraisals." This would be another way for me to develop the use of Spirit Vision!
So, theoretically, the more I knew, the more information I could "appraise" when facing unknown things.
And since I had Spirit Vision, an Identification Art built on the framework of the Tree of Knowledge would be a means to maximize the effects of Spirit Vision!
And if this means could be "authorized" to others through my Tree of Knowledge as a link, and I could use their hands to collect more experiences and knowledge, then even if I never left my house, my horizons would...
Thinking of this, I subconsciously didn't dare to think further. This ability was simply too terrifying and heaven-defying.
But similarly... there were many difficulties to overcome in this hypothesis. For instance, the most urgent one: how to solve the communication between this spell and Ley Line information.
Then, how to "authorize" this ability to others; how the data, information, and knowledge would be received by my Tree of Knowledge after others used it; what to do if the Tree of Knowledge's storage for knowledge and memory reached its limit; how to break through the increased reaction and calculation power needed as knowledge grew, and so on.
These were all problems, but fortunately... they were problems for the future me to solve.
The current me only needed to solve the problems of the present.
...
After finishing the tour, I planned to return to that guesthouse to rest for a while. I had booked it for so long that the owner must have made a fortune from me.
Such a long journey had left me feeling very exhausted. I truly needed a good rest.
Of course, this fatigue wasn't physical, but mental.
Along the way, I hadn't just been admiring various magnificent landscapes; in the intervals, I had been busy with the Tree of Knowledge. You could say I had lived a very full life during this time, truly being a "normie" for once.
The price was the consumption of my energy. I had to admit that this lifestyle didn't suit me. Maybe once in a while was fine, but it wouldn't become my norm.
"Huh? Ah?! Sister Xiao Han, you're back? Is the world tour over?" Qiu Ruxin stood up in surprise when she saw my figure suddenly appear.
"Pretty much. The trip is over," I explained with a smile. As for what to do next, it was naturally a return to the norm.
At this point, I had already developed the desire to return to the Witch Academy. Of course, this was mainly because I wanted to go to the library to learn more about Ley Lines.
The mentors in the guesthouse were all very busy. I had asked the occasionally free mentors, but unfortunately, their research on Ley Lines wasn't very deep. After all, even being a Transcendent Witch didn't mean being omniscient and omnipotent.
They had their own subjects, their own paths, and their own research directions. They might dabble in other things at most, but wouldn't go deep.
For the next two days, I indeed rested as planned. Aside from the daily essential meditation and body arts, I didn't do anything else.
I even temporarily set aside my research on the Tree of Knowledge.
Some things don't yield results just by constant research. Occasionally, one needs to stop and give oneself time to settle. This was also a lesson I learned during the trip.
But that didn't mean I was wasting time, just eating and sleeping.
I used my permissions on the Plant Network to collect all the results related to plant technology. Although I knew the true achievements of this world couldn't possibly be uploaded to the Plant Network, I wasn't actually trying to learn those plant technologies.
I was using these novel things to spark my most primitive interest. By not going too deep into understanding them, it was possible to collide with unrealistic ideas.
Sometimes, inspiration is just that unreasonable. It doesn't need to conform to logic; it only needs to provide guidance. My own skills would fill in the logic for the rest.
I had to say, the plant technology creations of this world were indeed excellent, and some fictional works also opened my eyes.
But obviously, it was impossible for me to finish looking through the achievements and masterpieces born of this entire world in just two days.
And I was well aware that I wasn't looking at these things with the goal of understanding them thoroughly.
So, I packed up a lot of things from the Plant Network as souvenirs. For this, I specifically went back to the main tree of the Omni-Link Main Network Tree to perform the operation.
Once again, there were many people guarding the place, but I was no longer the timid coward who had been looking over her shoulder during her first visit.
Just as I finished everything, at that very moment, I suddenly felt a trace of a Summoning Ritual's aura. But after sensing it for a moment, the light in my eyes dimmed again.
"So it's the Main World? I wonder who it is. I thought it was those Secret Diggers... Sigh, their server has been down for a while now... What a pity..."