Chapter 508: Knowledge Seed, Interconnected Memories
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 508: Knowledge Seed, Interconnected Memories
The moment she heard the word "Great" preceding "Great Knowledge Seed," Sister Bai flinched and instantly cast a soundproofing spell.
"Xiao Han, it’s best not to speak directly about matters concerning the Great Spellbook in public places like this," Sister Bai mentioned softly.
"Oh." I nodded obediently, realizing my mistake.
"At the very least, use a soundproofing spell for protection when discussing it. Now, back to the topic—what exactly did you want me to help you with for your experiment?" Sister Bai asked, her tone tinged with anticipation. After all, she had just heard the term "Great Knowledge Seed." She had heard Xiao Han mention experimenting with Knowledge Seeds before; had she actually succeeded?
"Mhm, the Knowledge Seed is pretty much a success! Originally, I wanted to create the concept of a 'Knowledge Seed' to replace the 'Leaf of Knowledge,' making it more transmissible." As I spoke, a successfully formed Great Knowledge Seed manifested in my hand, and I held it out for Sister Bai to see.
"I’ve mostly succeeded now, and the concept of the Knowledge Seed has officially become one of the derivative sequence spells of the Tree of Great Knowledge."
"You’re truly incredible, Xiao Han. So, how do you plan to use it? Have you thought about that?" Sister Bai praised me first before asking seriously. "For instance, what are its effects? What do you need me to do? And what are the risks?"
Internally, she was deeply shocked. Deriving a spell is usually extremely difficult. Typically, those below the Transcendent level who haven't truly mastered their spellbook must rely entirely on their own skill and talent to attempt any derivation.
Only after reaching the Transcendent level and fully mastering the spellbook—turning it from a mere tool into an ability fully integrated into oneself—can one skip the pure theory and complex structures. That is the stage where one derives spells based solely on their own understanding.
"Well... the Knowledge Seed spell, as the name suggests, involves planting a seed into a target. This seed is called a Knowledge Seed, and theoretically, it will grow into a Tree of Knowledge. As for the difference between this tree and my own Tree of Knowledge... I’m not entirely sure yet," I said, scratching my head.
"I’m also not quite clear on its specific functions, but I think it should be similar to my previous Tree of Knowledge. That’s why I need you to help me study the spell's effects after the seed is planted. The main risks are... well, I don't know if it will forcibly read your memories or something like that. As for life-threatening danger, it’s unlikely... I just don't know if the seed's growth will absorb anything strange. It would be bad if it started absorbing your memories, Sister Bai..."
"So the risk is actually quite high, isn't it?" Sister Bai asked with a beaming smile.
"Uh... yeah..." My voice trailed off as I felt a pang of guilt. After all, bringing such a risky request to Sister Bai...
"Um... maybe you could help me think of another way?" I asked tentatively.
"Xiao Han, do you have a way to interrupt the experiment if a risk occurs?"
"Interrupt? Oh! Of course I do!" Since the Knowledge Seed is a cast-type spell, the seed itself is just a spell effect. As long as it's a spell effect, there's a way to terminate it.
I was no longer the novice I was when I first touched a spellbook. Back then, if I cast a Fireball Spell, the fireball would inevitably explode.
But now, as long as the fireball is under my control, I can make it vanish even a split second before it hits the target.
This was the level of extreme control I had achieved by constantly iterating and deriving basic Evocative Magic through the Tree of Great Knowledge.
Normally, this level of control would consume a terrifying amount of mental power, but that was also within my scope of optimization. I defined this technique as a "standard method," which meant it needed a matching consumption rate. Thus, I was still constantly working to reduce the mental power cost of spell control.
Even facing a Great Spellbook, I had the confidence to interrupt the spell effect. This was one of the reasons I felt comfortable coming to Sister Bai for the experiment.
If I interrupted a Great Spellbook, I would at most suffer some mental backlash. The one thing I didn't lack was time; if I suffered backlash, I could just take my time to recover.
"Looking at it that way, it seems I have no reason to refuse. Besides, even if my memories are absorbed, you wouldn't stop loving me, would you, Xiao Han?" Sister Bai asked me half-jokingly.
"Oh, stop it—of course not!" I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. If Sister Bai lost her memory, I’d just win her over all over again!
Furthermore, my mention of memory absorption was just a possibility I’d deduced from the fact that the "seed condensation" process consumes information. Naturally, that information includes the "nutrients" derived from memories.
However, I had used useless memories and information as nutrients to cultivate this seed. Once the Knowledge Seed completed its "condensation," it underwent a complete metamorphosis from nothingness to existence. Therefore, its growth wouldn't necessarily require devouring memories. If it did, I would destroy the seed immediately to prevent further harm to Sister Bai. Otherwise, my heart would ache for her...
"With those words, I’m at ease." Sister Bai smiled slightly, her concerns vanishing.
Of course, she also had confidence in her own Transcendent life level. As a Body Cultivator, the memories formed by the feedback of her Five Senses wouldn't be lost so easily. Even if there were gaps or losses, she could use her sensory traces to reverse-engineer the memory nodes and retrieve them. As long as the life level and body weren't permanently destroyed, Body Cultivators had a significant advantage in recovering memories.
It would just be a bit of a hassle for her, but she wasn't afraid of hassle anymore.
"Xiao Han, let’s begin. I feel it’s an honor to be your first test subject." Sister Bai reached out and pinched my cheek encouragingly. "Good luck. Since we’ve decided to do this, don't even think about failure."
"Mhm!"
I nodded heavily, feeling the weight of her encouragement. I no longer hesitated and brought the condensed seed before Sister Bai. It had a phantom-like appearance, much like the old Leaves of Knowledge, shaped like a seed. Its edges were blurred, as if it existed on the boundary of reality—a phantom existence with no physical form.
"Is this the Great Knowledge Seed you derived?" Sister Bai looked at the seed, a flash of wonder in her eyes. She had been surprised earlier, but looking closely now, the flowing ritual runes on its surface indeed carried a sense of high-level sophistication.
"Yes!" I nodded, but my mind was racing through various critical pieces of information.
Even though Sister Bai told me not to think about failure, she was the one I was facing. Accidents always happen when you least expect them. How could I be at peace without being prepared?
"I’m starting now..." I said, pushing the seed into the center of Sister Bai's brow.
Since it was a spell effect, the moment it touched the target, I sensed the feedback information.
Sister Bai closed her eyes, her mind sinking into her consciousness, following the seed as it descended into her sea of consciousness.
Once the seed entered, I felt its urgent desire to "take root and sprout" upon finding a suitable environment.
But after waiting for a while, I noticed that the seed submerged in Sister Bai's consciousness showed no signs of sprouting at all.
Just then, Sister Bai suddenly opened her eyes.
"This is interesting. Xiao Han, the seed entered my sea of consciousness without any resistance, but if one's mental power is strong enough, they can actively expel it."
"Eh?" Hearing Sister Bai speak, I immediately listened intently. "So it can't be forcibly cast on someone?"
"Correct. At least from my current situation, that seems to be the case. However, I suspect those with mental power weaker than yours wouldn't be able to dispel it actively," Sister Bai deduced. "Also, after entering my sea of consciousness, it has been signaling a desire to interface with my mental power. Hmm... let me try..."
"Wait! Don't be so reckless!" Hearing Sister Bai say she was going to "try" so casually, I hurriedly spoke up, ready to destroy the Knowledge Seed at a moment's notice.
"It’s fine... the sensation is very faint. With my mental power, I can even forcibly break the connection... Oh, so that’s how it is..."
"Huh? How is what?" I asked in confusion, because I realized I was gradually losing absolute control over the Knowledge Seed.
It felt like trying to scratch an itch through a boot; I could sense it, but it remained with Sister Bai, subject to her whims. If I tried to intervene forcibly, something bad would likely happen—at worst, the seed would be destroyed.
"I seem to have gained some degree of control over it," Sister Bai suddenly said.
"Control?" I was slightly surprised, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. I recorded all this feedback; this was all experimental data!
"Yes. It’s constantly sending me signals that it wants to grow and craves nutrients. Otherwise, it can't do much else."
"Then, Sister Bai, can you sense what these so-called 'nutrients' are?" I asked tentatively.
"I’m not sure. What do you think, Xiao Han?"
"Maybe try using mana?" I suggested.
"I’ll give it a try." Sister Bai nodded and began the attempt.
So far, nothing had spiraled out of control. The biggest issue was simply that everything we faced was unknown, and we had to slowly grope our way through to summarize the rules and information.
Sister Bai tried using mana to stimulate the seed's growth. As she nourished it—especially after it interfaced with her mental power—a look of realization dawned on her face.
"It seems to work... as the mana flows in, it’s starting to grow. The seed is changing... are these... roots? And now a sprout... it’s actually sprouting..."
Sister Bai observed and narrated her current state, providing me with first-hand data.
She herself found it quite miraculous. A plant that could grow within the sea of consciousness or the mental sea—how fascinating.
But the moment that Knowledge Seed sprouted, I felt a connection!
I could follow this link to sense the seed's current state. Just as Sister Bai said, it had taken root and sprouted. I could observe its status clearly, but I found I could no longer interfere much. I realized I had even lost the authority to destroy the seed.
It felt like... a child growing up and leaving the nest; a sense of helplessness as it flew away from the mother body. I could still watch it, but its life and death now depended entirely on the host it grew within—Sister Bai.
If Sister Bai had a single thought, it seemed it would die. It had broken through its shell and could no longer turn back; it could only keep growing. If it stalled before it was strong enough to handle risks, any setback could plunge it into an irreversible self-destruction.
As the Knowledge Seed unfurled its tender leaves, I felt its signal for nutrients. This time, the nutrients weren't just mana or other transcendent energies—though those couldn't be stopped—its needs had simply increased.
"Is this the end of the first stage of growth? I feel a bit of a plateau, like something is missing... and... is it absorbing my memories?"
"Yes, it might not be absorbing pure memories, but rather the information or data carried by the memories," I said at the right moment. At this point, no one understood the Knowledge Seed—or rather, the sapling-state Tree of Knowledge—better than I did.
"Sister Bai, why don't you try feeding it some useless memories?" I recalled that when my Tree of Knowledge was formed, I converted all memories and information into storage within the tree. This tree should be the same. But to be safe, I had her try with unimportant ones first.
"Okay."
Without further ado, Sister Bai began the attempt. She knew about the predecessor of the Tree of Knowledge from me—the Memory Bookshelf. It was a spell to assist memory, so "feeding" it memories here should be equivalent to "storing" them.
When Sister Bai tried, she suddenly realized it wasn't storage—it was a backup!
The "dark history" memory she had chosen to discard didn't disappear. Instead, the memory fed to the Tree of Knowledge became its nutrient, and since the tree was linked to her, she could also access the information within it!
Right now, her mind was filled with the memory she had just used for the experiment... It was a strange feeling, like the more she tried not to care, the more impossible it was to forget.
It was a short snippet of embarrassing history she had wanted to forget. She had almost succeeded, but now that it was "backed up" by the Tree of Knowledge, her head was full of it!
It felt like even if she did forget it, the Tree of Knowledge would make her remember it instantly...
"Eh? Wait, Sister Bai, did you use some weird memory for the experiment? Um... sorry, on my end... uh... I think I can see it. Wait, I—I’m not looking! I’m really not looking!" I had intended to warn her, but as I was actively observing, things started looking... wrong.
This! This was actually Sister Bai's... cough... I’m dead...
"Xiao Han~ did you just see that?" Sister Bai suddenly snapped her eyes open. A flush of crimson flashed across her face, and then, with a slightly yandere aura, she suddenly pinned me down.
"No... I didn't... I didn't see you self-... um... I’m sorry!"
"You definitely saw it, didn't you? It looks like I’ll have to punish you properly, Xiao Han..." Although Sister Bai said this, the hint of mischief at the corner of her mouth betrayed her. This "retaliation" definitely carried a bit of personal desire...