Chapter 449: Preliminary Completion of the Ley Line Information Identification Art
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 449: Preliminary Completion of the Ley Line Information Identification Art
"Hmm..."
After leaving Teacher Ji Niang, my expression shifted through a series of complex emotions. Although I had been researching the Ley Lines recently, I hadn't realized they were quite this terrifying. It was only because I had severed my Ley Line Shackles that I could obstruct their recording to some extent; for the natives of this world, they held no secrets whatsoever in the face of the Ley Lines.
I knew Teacher Ji Niang was partly trying to scare me, but I felt it was necessary to master some means of clearing Ley Line information in the future.
Of course, what Teacher Ji Niang didn't know was that her "unintentional" reminder only served to heighten my expectations for the sheer volume of information the Ley Lines could carry.
Still... I should be glad I didn't do anything too excessive with Sister Bai back there.
Now that we had been interrupted, Sister Bai had likely headed back, probably to her own office.
It was a pity Teacher Ji Niang had summoned me so abruptly. I hadn't even had the chance to give Sister Bai the Mithril Figurine I’d prepared for her.
But since Sister Bai was already at the Witch Academy, I wasn't in much of a hurry. After all, the biggest weight on my mind had finally been lifted, and no external interference could disturb my composure now.
I pulled out my phone and sent Sister Bai a message. I planned to settle down and focus on one specific task for a while, which I hoped to finish before the Teaching Assistant test.
Teacher Ji Niang calling me over was, naturally, partly about the TA test.
The first round of the Teaching Assistant test was a screening process to see if the recommended students were qualified. This didn't just look at personal contributions but also personal reputation. If someone had a stained record, the academy certainly wouldn't let them pass the initial screening.
Regarding this part, Teacher Ji Niang told me not to worry. Barring any accidents, I was a shoe-in. Ji Niang knew very well that I had the Dean's backing; there was no way I’d be stopped here.
The subsequent written exam would test general knowledge and academic proficiency. After all, it would be absurd if a TA’s academic level was lower than that of an average student.
As for the final interview, it was less of an interview and more of a simulation to test one's teaching ability. If you knew your subject but couldn't teach it to others, that was also a major problem.
These three rounds of testing would filter out a significant number of candidates. After that came the mentor selection. Generally, mentors would conduct a final selective test based on the students who chose them, ultimately picking one to be their TA—or picking no one at all.
At that point, the TA test cycle would be considered "tentatively" over.
The reason it was only "tentative" was that if a TA performed poorly during their tenure, their mentor could dismiss them at any time.
Thus, being a TA wasn't a "safe harbor" where one could rest easy after getting the job. It was precisely because of this uncertainty that many qualified students at the Witch Academy didn't even consider becoming TAs.
However, the privileges of the position—despite the high risks—continued to attract a steady stream of students. As long as one didn't make any major mistakes and maintained a good relationship with their mentor, few would ever actually face dismissal.
Although Sister Bai had switched to a new phone, she still used her old contact information from her student days. This was a special privilege once held by Main World students, so she chose to keep it, though her status had changed from student to teacher.
Not long after I sent my message, Sister Bai replied. Looking at the text, a slight smile tugged at the corners of my mouth before I turned off the phone, satisfied.
For the period that followed, I threw myself entirely into researching the Ley Energy conversion ritual.
In the process of converting Ley Line energy into Ley Energy, the loss of information was much lower than before, but it still required constant updates. The good news was that I had already planned out the iterations; all that was left was to put in the time and grind through it step-by-step.
And so, many days passed in that focused grind. Time flew by. Although I hadn't reached my ultimate goal yet, I had already begun trying to apply the technique to the Tree of Knowledge.
Even if it wasn't perfect, if it was functional enough for practice, I had to try. Only through practice could I understand the problems I needed to face.
Furthermore, I discovered during testing that as long as the information loss during the Ley Energy conversion process was kept under one-third, the Ley Line information could be roughly deciphered.
Once deciphered, I faced another issue: the information was too "vast" and "chaotic." I needed to organize and filter it. By utilizing the subconscious cognition of my Knowledge Clones, I managed to solve the filtering problem and even gained the ability to partially reconstruct missing data.
While this seemed impressive, to put it bluntly, I was still using my own brain for primitive "sorting." It was just that using my subconscious prevented me from feeling the "boredom" that my subjective consciousness would normally experience during such a tedious process.
Therefore, this processing power and efficiency were essentially tied to my own mental power, comprehension, and reaction speed, placing extremely high demands on them.
Fortunately, I had the linkage between the Practical Learning Spell and the Tree of Knowledge, which gave my reaction speed and associative abilities a qualitative leap. However, mental power and comprehension could only be improved through my own meditation and training.
Now, the "Ley Line Information Identification Art," derived from the framework of the Tree of Knowledge spell, was more or less a success.
Its success had come more easily than I had anticipated.
Nevertheless, I didn't slack off on iterating and updating this derivative ability. Currently, there were several areas where this Identification Art could be improved.
First was to continue reducing the information loss rate during the conversion of Ley Line energy to Ley Energy. In my understanding, this loss rate could theoretically approach zero, though it would never reach it. As long as there was a process, there would be loss; that was unavoidable.
Second was to increase the knowledge reserves within the Tree of Knowledge. With a massive reserve, the interpretation of Ley Line information would be more complete. However, this was a long-term project that couldn't be achieved overnight. I could even foresee that future improvements in this area would be marginal. Moreover, I faced a new problem: the storage limit of the Tree of Knowledge. Its capacity could no longer keep up with my learning speed. Unless I slowed down my learning—which I wouldn't do—reaching the limit of the Tree of Knowledge was a foreseeable future.
Third was the optimization of the deciphered information. This had two directions: one was exhaustive interpretation for deep understanding, and the other was concise summarization. These clearly corresponded to two different scenarios. One was for in-depth research on a specific subject, while the other was to let me recognize various pieces of information about an identified target as quickly and briefly as possible.
The fourth aspect was to allow the identified information to transcend the medium of text and bypass my linguistic interpretation, reaching the level of direct understanding. The advantage of this was that it ignored the distortion that occurs when information is translated into language. I had encountered this concept when Teacher Ji Niang had me learn about my own Spirit Vision—communication that bypasses language to reach the level of direct understanding is the most efficient.
Currently, this idea was still in the theoretical stage, but I wasn't without clues. Don't forget that to solve the problem of me communicating with that small world, the Dean had given me a consciousness communication spell. I wanted to borrow the principles of that spell to realize this fourth objective.
The reason I hadn't started yet was that I hadn't reached the point where I needed such measures. Since my information loss rate wasn't near zero yet, there was no need to rush. Time is a cost, after all. More importantly, that spell involved communication between consciousness and rituals; I didn't understand it well enough yet to achieve seamless information flow between my consciousness and Ley Line data.
But it was foreseeable that if I truly reached that step, I would be close to possessing "Pseudo-Omniscience" within a world!
Whatever the Ley Lines recorded, I would know.
Whether it was the buried history of the past, the surrounding information of the present, or even future scenes extrapolated from the flow of the Ley Lines... would those predicted scenes be the "World Script" pre-set by the entire world?
I had no way of knowing, but the mere thought was enough to make my desire for this power even stronger.
Even though I knew this method wouldn't provide any substantial boost to my offensive power, raw strength had never been what I pursued from the beginning. Compared to that, I preferred... the Transcendent and the exploration of the Transcendent itself.
This perspective was built upon my earliest fantasies of the Transcendent, and my curiosity was the foundation that drove everything.
At this moment, I finished the phased construction of the Ley Line Information Identification Art. My phone, which I had kept on, chimed with a notification.
I kept it on to receive messages promptly, lest I miss any information regarding the TA assessment.
According to Teacher Ji Niang, the TA test would be completed within a month—essentially by the end of this semester—allowing for a seamless transition into the next.
With this notification popping up, I guessed the written exam was likely about to begin.
I checked the message. As I expected, the time for the written exam had been set. The background check from a few days ago had indeed gone off without a hitch, just as Teacher Ji Niang said. As for the written exam itself, I wasn't particularly worried.
I picked up my phone and instinctively used the Identification Art on it. Soon, a data panel appeared before my eyes.
The identified information began to manifest.
Currently, using the Identification Art worked best with physical contact, as the information from Ley Energy conversion wasn't perfect yet. For now, "functional" was enough.
However... the UI for the information display and the panel could definitely be optimized.
But those were just finishing touches; the important part was the data it presented.
* * *
[Name: Mana-driven Multi-function Communicator (Phone)]
[Description: A mass-produced semi-alchemical item from an assembly line.]
[Attributes: A pure technological creation with a Transcendent exterior. Linked to the Witch Academy's internal network, it enables instant communication and data exchange but cannot transmit information across isolated spaces.]
[Summary of Features and Functions:]
1. Communication: As long as it is within the coverage of the Witch Academy network, it guarantees a stable signal under various conditions.
2. Mana Interface: A mana-driven creation; its display interface can be reshaped at will.
3. Friend List: You have specifically pinned one friend, "Sister Bai." Her contact number is... (Expand to view).
4. Academy System: An internal software directly linked to the Witch Academy's teaching system. It cannot be deleted through normal means. If deletion is desired, the process is: ... (Expand to view); it integrates multiple functions... (Expand to view).
5. ...
[Remarks: A brick that easily breeds phone addiction. It hurts quite a bit if you hit someone with it. (Unreliable Version)]
* * *
Looking at the identified information, I could make the display even more detailed if I wanted—such as the phone's dimensions, design blueprints, or the technologies used. As long as it was recorded in the Ley Lines and I could decipher it with the Tree of Knowledge, it could be presented for me to understand.
The data presented after identification was truly addictive. Mastering this ability would likely cause a strange side effect.
I’d probably want to identify every pebble I saw on the side of the road just to see where it came from.
It had the beauty of playing "Reality Online."
Indeed, the way I chose to understand the world was the way the world would present itself to my eyes.
If this ability were given to an ordinary person, they would surely start doubting if they were living in a game world, wouldn't they?
Just like those Secret Diggers back then; they thought they were playing a game, but they were actually in a real world. The world is just that magical—it becomes whatever kind of existence you use to open it.
The Transcendent was the same. The way you chose to understand it was the way it would reward you.
As for the absolute truth... even if it truly existed, we might not be capable of perceiving it at our current level.
With a wave of my hand, I wiped away the identified information. This form of data existence was identical to my Illusion Clones, so only I could see the results of the identification.
For now, I’d set the Identification Art aside and start preparing for the upcoming written exam. Although I was confident my foundation was enough to pass, I chose to look into it further just to be safe.
Not long after I made this decision, my phone rang again.
"Hmm... Sister Bai?"
I picked up the phone, a bit surprised that she was contacting me at this time.
"Hello~ Sister Bai, is there something you need?~" I asked in a playful tone as soon as I picked up.
"Yes, a notification regarding the TA written exam," Sister Bai's characteristically caring voice came from the other end.
"That? Of course I saw it. Why are you more concerned about this than I am, Sister Bai?" I asked with a grin. "Are you afraid that if I don't become a TA, you won't be able to—ahem—"
"No, I'm just worried you'd forget. How is it? You've been busy lately. Any progress?" Bai Yu naturally didn't admit to anything, simply steering the conversation.
"Huge progress, actually. It's a leap forward. Are you free right now, Sister Bai?~" I said simply.
"Yes, I'm currently familiarizing myself with the teaching materials. But if you're asking if I'm free, the answer is always yes."
"Then... would you be interested in tutoring me on the review materials for the written exam?"
"Of course," Bai Yu agreed readily, without even questioning why I was only starting to review now.