Chapter 524: Sign This Contract and You’ll Be a Little Witch~
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 524: Sign This Contract and You’ll Be a Little Witch~
With this latest refinement of the Tree of Great Knowledge, I successfully triggered the derivation of the "Dual Tree Structure" for the tree's main body, utilizing the effects of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art.
I developed the Tree of Great Knowledge’s ability to utilize [Transcendent Knowledge], promoted a balance between the Sea of Consciousness and the Sea of Dreams, and linked them to facilitate the birth of the Body Cultivation Sixth Sense.
As for the specific improvements... to put it simply, first, I made a preliminary attempt at developing the effects of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art, taking a solid first step toward mastering this Great Spellbook.
Secondly, I refined the Tree of Great Knowledge itself. This refinement manifests in various subtle ways—for instance, when using the Ley Line Identification Art, the information regarding ley energy conversion is much clearer, and the tree’s overall information-processing capacity has significantly increased.
Of course, the most important development is that the Tree of Great Knowledge has achieved "domination" over the Sea of Dreams through the Dual Tree Structure. This means that as long as it is paired with the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art, I can use the Great Knowledge Seed independently within the Sea of Dreams, completely resolving the awkward situation where Fool's Dream was previously unable to use it.
Finally, there is the Body Cultivation Sixth Sense. After the Academy Dean shared some basic Body Cultivation common sense, Sister Bai also shared her related knowledge with me. Consequently, I now have a brand-new understanding of the perception known as the "Mindscape."
If the five senses are concrete physical perceptions, then Heart Sense is an abstract perception of Body Cultivation. It doesn't mean the heart itself has gained sensory organs; rather, once Heart Sense is cultivated step-by-step, the first sensation one gains is the ability to perceive an opponent's heartbeat. This isn't "hearing" in the traditional sense, but rather a "heartbeat resonance"—a shallow manifestation used to sense an opponent's state.
Beyond that lies the Mindscape. Many say that a Body Cultivator's Mindscape is simply the application of consciousness and mental power, but that isn't entirely accurate.
The power of the Mindscape is far more complex than mere mental power. It is the subjective manifestation of a Body Cultivator's personal will and inner realm; they prefer to call it the power of the soul. Because of the complexity of this power, the subjective externalization of Heart Sense is referred to as a "Domain Prototype."
This is because it already touches upon the "Domain Domination" stage found in standard cultivation systems.
In Body Cultivation, aside from the training of the basic five senses, there is the Sixth Sense (Heart Sense), the Seventh Sense (Time Sense), and the Eighth Sense (Space Sense). As for the Ninth Sense... it might exist, but even Sister Bai isn't quite sure about it yet.
Even for someone as powerful as Sister Bai, it was only when she ascended to become a Transcendent Witch—and her five senses metamorphosed into the Real Five Senses—that her accumulated foundation triggered the birth and subsequent cultivation of the Sixth Sense, Heart Sense.
Therefore, her understanding of the Seventh and Eighth Senses remains purely theoretical.
These are the achievements I attained during this "lethargy." It feels somewhat incredible. If I could... I’d want to reach this level of progress every single day.
Even though I know that’s impossible, I can still take it one step at a time.
Just like right now.
After completing the derivation of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art's effects for Fool's Dream, the two spell effects are now interdependent, completely solving the problems we encountered before. The Tree of Great Wisdom Enlightenment formed by the spell is now like the water in my previous "soilless cultivation" experiments, allowing the Great Knowledge Seed to take root and sprout within the Sea of Dreams. Furthermore, Fool's Dream’s Tree of Great Knowledge is different from others; it possesses a "Dual Tree Structure" nearly identical to mine.
However, my Dual Tree Structure differs slightly from Fool's Dream’s. In my case, one of the trees is the actual body of the Great Spellbook. My ambition is to eventually evolve the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art into a Tree of Great Wisdom Enlightenment as well, allowing the two to become Great Spellbooks that are completely linked—a unification of two Great Spellbooks into one.
While this is still just an ambition and not yet reality, there is another discovery I cannot ignore: after the effects of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art combined with the Tree of Great Knowledge, a mysterious "Transcendent Energy" was produced.
With a wave of my hand, the energy surged forth. It was a highly complex, hybrid energy with very peculiar properties. Even its manifestation in material space was fascinating.
The surge of energy caused it to flow through material space in the most optimal way possible, but the way it flowed... mirrored the deduction process of knowledge and information.
It was bizarre, as if its very existence was parasitic upon the existence of knowledge. Moreover... I was certain that these knowledge deductions all originated from the Tree of Great Knowledge.
This meant that as the foundation of knowledge within my Tree of Great Knowledge grew, the manifestations of this strange energy would become even richer.
Clearly, the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art possesses a method of utilization I haven't yet explored, but for now, it has revealed a mere tip of the iceberg by borrowing the form of the Tree of Great Knowledge.
The appearance of this energy granted the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art the characteristics of "Evocative Magic." The explosive nature of this energy alone is enough to cause considerable destructive force in the material world.
This was the data I gathered after testing.
It’s interesting, but only slightly, so for the time being, I’ve named this transcendent energy "Power of Knowledge."
Now, knowledge truly is power.
This energy is a byproduct of the total integration of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art and the Tree of Great Knowledge, though its more detailed source remains unknown.
Investigating it further would require too much time and energy, so I’ve set it aside for now. I have many other things to do; testing this power in passing was already my limit.
* * *
While I was busy with various matters in my private laboratory, the outside world had already erupted into a chaotic celebration.
With the completion of a new Great Spellbook, even though it had nothing to do with most of them, the witches were eager for the Great Spellbook test—an event they loved most—yet no one had stepped up to lead the opening.
This led many idle witches to seek out the person in charge of the event: Dean Mei.
However, Dean Mei did not dodge the gossip this time. She explicitly stated that she was not the creator of this Great Spellbook; she was merely a witness to its creation and refinement.
The true creator was someone else. Under the persistent questioning of several witches, Dean Mei unhesitatingly sold Xiao Han out.
Of course, she didn't reveal Xiao Han's name in a public forum. Instead, she told the truth privately to some of her close sisters when they came to ask.
Publicly, she only stated that she would use her own guarantee to apply to the Little Witch Club and the Primal Witch for Xiao Han’s Little Witch identity certification and contract. This would ensure that all Transcendent Witches recognized Xiao Han’s status as a "Little Witch" and accepted her.
As for any doubts or questions as to why... she would let those gossip-loving witches figure it out for themselves. Since there wasn't much to do during the holidays anyway, it was better to give them something to investigate rather than letting them run around causing trouble.
Consequently, the witch Dinah suddenly became the head of the gossip mill, simply because she knew far too much.
Many of the rumors were being leaked through her.
Soon, topics related to the "Great Knowledge Seed" were exposed.
Although most of them had some prior knowledge of the matter, the confirmation that the so-called Great Knowledge Seed was actually a test for this new Great Spellbook sent many witches into a frenzy of excitement.
Though... the timing didn't seem to quite match up, an explanation soon circulated.
The recent disturbance in the void rift wasn't particularly large; it was merely a further refinement of the Great Spellbook. The spellbook itself had actually been completed some time ago.
As for the disturbance following its initial completion... that had occurred within a small world—specifically, the small world that was about to collide with the Main World. Dean Bev Alanna, who had been part of the previous void exploration team, could testify to this.
One could say that for the sake of "watching the fun," these witches spent the last few days scouring every corner to piece together the history of this Great Spellbook’s creation.
Even Teacher Ji Niang, located at the academic research base, was harassed more than once. Consequently, the Reverse Summoning Spell also entered the vision of the witches and was being played with in countless creative ways.
A witch's happiness is probably just that simple.
Of course!
Over the past few days, I had also been "harassed" by several groups of Transcendent Witches. They had somehow found the villa I was assigned after becoming a teaching assistant and had accurately pinpointed me as the "culprit" behind everything.
Going straight to the source—is there any problem that can't be solved by dealing with the source?
Thus, my home became a "holy land" frequently visited by idle witches.
Most who came claimed they were there to "pay homage" and see this "genius teaching assistant" for themselves.
Naturally, there were also Academic Witches who came to exchange experiences. Some even came because of my reputation, offering to spontaneously help me test and refine the Great Spellbook.
After all, many witches understood that this little kid, who hadn't even ascended to Transcendent status yet, was currently carrying two Great Spellbooks!
One was the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art that Dean Mei had "invested" in me. However, the tests for that spell had left most witches disappointed. Even the results from the Ninglan New City trip left them confused; all they knew was that the test had allowed Fool's Dream to walk into reality, as Fool's Dream was a revelation bearer strongly linked to that [Transcendent Knowledge].
Furthermore, the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art had triggered my Body Cultivation awakening, but in that case... the Great Spellbook had merely served as a catalyst.
Combined with the fact that Dean Mei had unhesitatingly given the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art to someone else, many witches didn't think highly of the spell. After all, as its creator, Dean Mei knew it best; if it were truly powerful, she wouldn't have just handed it off.
What they cared about more was the Tree of Knowledge—a Great Spellbook that could produce such effects even while still in its refinement stage. How could they not look forward to it?
Because the effect of this spellbook could be "shared"! No one can refuse a "benefit," and witches are no exception.
Especially the first group of witches who had obtained the Great Knowledge Seed from Dean Mei; the effects they tested from their Trees of Knowledge made many other witches want one for themselves. Even if it wasn't for the photographic memory, having a little Xiao Han to accompany them at all times was wonderful.
Those who had previously wondered why the image of the Knowledge Shadow was Xiao Han finally understood: it was because the Great Spellbook belonged to her.
Through the interactions of the past few days, I established cooperative relationships with several Academic Witches. They even spontaneously formed a research group for the Tree of Great Knowledge. They asked for nothing in return; they simply wished to participate and gain related research and insights.
A Great Spellbook like the Tree of Great Knowledge was a conceptual approach that even they rarely saw, especially considering the original revelation of that [Transcendent Knowledge]. They had never imagined it could be approached from such an angle.
They even admitted that if they had handled that Transcendent Knowledge, the resulting Great Spellbook would likely have been a massive botanical-type spell.
This was a microcosm of Transcendent inclusivity: whatever angle you choose for your research, the result will become what the researcher expects it to be.
Though only a few days had passed, the Academic Witches willing to study this Great Spellbook alongside me had roughly divided into three research directions.
The first was the study of the Knowledge Shadow. The Knowledge Shadow wasn't just a simple subconscious clone; it was the manager and retriever of knowledge and memories within the Tree of Great Knowledge. By integrating the Practical Learning Spell and the Plant Network architecture, the application of the Knowledge Shadow already permeated every aspect of the Tree of Great Knowledge.
Therefore, research and iterative updates in this area were extremely difficult and tedious. Naturally, such things had to be done step-by-step—for example, current attempts were focused on trying to change the appearance of the Knowledge Shadow.
The second research direction was the study of the Ley Line Information Identification Art. This was equally difficult.
However, the technology involved wasn't extensive; its essence was largely a matter of ley energy conversion rates. Of course, there was also the classification of the identification information, which was a massive undertaking.
The third research direction... was the issue of linking the Tree of Great Knowledge with the Witch Academy's network.
This had been decided long ago, and the Academy Dean had already pulled some strings for me. When I proactively contacted the other party and they learned of the situation—and that I was inviting them to join the research for a Great Spellbook—they agreed instantly without hesitation. They even brought several of their sisters along.
Transcendent Witches seem to have a mysterious obsession with Great Spellbooks, especially after hearing that I was the "Xiao Han" who had been the talk of the town lately.
Actually, interfacing with the academy network's ley line system wasn't hard; it was just a matter of constantly adjusting the synchronization and matching.
The main reason I specifically invited these teachers was to leverage their extensive experience in academy network development to help me construct a cognitive firewall for the Tree of Great Knowledge.
One could say these past few days were my busiest, yet also my most relaxed. This was because most of what I did was "assigning tasks"—letting others work for me to save myself time.
While I appeared busier from a macro perspective, my efficiency during this period was countless times higher than my original plan!
I admit, this is indeed a hassle, but it’s a happy kind of hassle. This was the first time I realized just how satisfying it is to have others help you.
Just as I was deep in conversation with a teacher about the inspiration for ley energy conversion in the identification art, a sudden commotion interrupted us.
"Eh? Dean Mei? Why have you come here so suddenly? You didn't even give me a heads-up..."
Seeing Dean Mei arrive in person, many witches stopped what they were doing and looked over.
"Well, it was a bit sudden. I’ve finished the application for your Witch Contract as a Little Witch. From now on, we can officially call each other sisters~" Mei Lind smiled as she produced a Witch Contract. The contents were clearly written on a piece of slightly ancient-looking parchment.
Many witches were astonished. The application had been approved that quickly?
But the witches standing closer took a sharp breath when they saw the contents of the contract!
"It... it’s actually! Mei Lind, Lilith... Huh? This is the signature of the Primal Witch! The Primal Witch is actually getting involved in this? She’s acting as a guarantor for Xiao Han too?!"
"Naturally. Otherwise, why do you think this contract came down so fast? Perhaps you didn't know, but when one of Lady Lilith’s clones came to guide a sister to the Great Library for registration, she saw Xiao Han and spoke very highly of her~" Amidst the surprised exclamations of the witches, Mei Lind smiled and explained to everyone as she gradually approached me.
"Xiao Han~ sign it quickly. Under our witness, once you sign... I’ll have to start calling you Little Sister Xiao Han~"
"Okay..." Surrounded by the crowd of witches, I nodded heavily and made my firm commitment to the witch race.