Chapter 565: An Attempt at Soul Mimicry
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 565: An Attempt at Soul Mimicry
"Beibei, are you alright?"
As soon as my figure completely vanished from the area, the Elven Senior Sister standing beside Yao Beijuan immediately stepped forward to comfort her.
"I'm fine... I—I'm not as fragile as you all think," Yao Beijuan said, though her emotional turbulence was still plain to see.
The group quickly left the area, offering her words of comfort along the way. Orion, in particular, was quite persistent.
"It’s fine. Didn't we agree you'd already let it go? Don't overthink it; just try to move on."
Word of Yao Beijuan’s encounter soon spread among the other elves once they returned, and many rushed over to greet her.
Seeing the sisters showering Beibei with such care—to the point where she couldn't even get a word in—Aila stopped her approach. Instead, she turned her gaze toward Orion, who had also paused nearby.
"Stop right there, Orion. Get over here," Aila called out in a low voice. It wasn't loud, but it was enough for the other girl to hear.
She then pulled Orion into a secluded corner.
"Orion, you knew, didn't you? I know you; you're the best at digging up information. There's no way you didn't know that Yang Yuehan was the boyfriend Beibei kept talking about!"
"Correction... girlfriend. Oh, wait, ex-girlfriend." Orion seemed unfazed by being pinned against the wall, even finding the leisure to correct her friend's terminology.
"I'm not joking with you!" Aila’s tone flared with anger. "What exactly are you playing at?"
"Nothing, really." Orion seemed to be weighing her words, deciding how much to confess—or perhaps she never intended to hide it in the first place. "Do you have any idea how shocked I was when I first found out?"
"So you did know!"
"Yes, but so what? Did you have a way to keep Beibei from finding out? Besides... what's the point of hiding it?"
"What does that have to do with you keeping it a secret? You were the one who egged me on to go talk to her just now. Was this all part of your plan?" Aila ignored Orion's string of rhetorical questions and demanded an answer.
The more she thought about her behavior earlier, the more she regretted it. If she had known it would end like this, she never would have approached that person!
"What do you mean, 'my plan'? I'm not admitting to that. Didn't it turn out fine in the end? We played the fools for a bit and let her have a laugh at our expense. We didn't lose anything, but we managed to diffuse a potential conflict." Orion spoke with an air of indifference before her expression turned serious. "You know how terrifying the Witch Academy is! You're not a child anymore; haven't you realized the truth of things yet at Afuhemi Academy?"
"You..."
"Am I wrong? We should be past the stage of acting on impulse." Seeing Aila’s resolve weaken, Orion gently took hold of the forearm Aila was using to brace herself against the wall, sighing with a look of lament. "From our contact with Teaching Assistant Xiao Han today, I’ve realized we were overthinking things. She is far more perceptive than we imagined."
"What do you mean?"
"You're still trapped by the image of the person Beibei described. You refuse to open your eyes and see who she really is. Any powerhouse who can rise to prominence in such a short time is a monster with a powerful, unwavering heart. Of everything Beibei said, 'monster' is probably the only word you can actually believe. Opportunities and resources are important, sure, but they aren't the deciding factors."
"So you're saying Beibei lied to us?" Aila asked. Though it was a question, she already had the answer in her heart; she had simply been blinded by emotion and unwilling to face it.
"Heh~" Orion looked at Aila and chuckled. She didn't answer directly, instead continuing with her own thoughts. "I've seen many men, and I understand them well. I have a pretty good idea of what kind of man is most likely to succeed. The most terrifying thing about Xiao Han is that she was lucky enough to enter the Witch Academy while possessing the awakened mindset of a man."
"The issue isn't whether Beibei lied. She can accept that this relationship is long dead, but she can't let go of the psychological gap. It's a common trait among young girls... a sort of competitive vanity. They can't stand seeing an ex doing better than them after they've left, because it leads to the subconscious conclusion that they were the dead weight—and they can't accept that answer."
"Then what was the point of doing all this?"
"I told you the point: to resolve the potential trouble that is Yang Yuehan! That's the greatest benefit. As for Beibei, that's her own problem. She needs to figure it out herself!"
"But did you even consider Beibei's feelings?"
"Beibei is a Child of Destiny! Don't forget why we approached her in the first place. You're raising her to be a useless—sigh... sorry, that was too harsh." Orion took a deep breath at the end, finally admitting she had crossed a line.
Of course, Orion knew she wasn't actually wrong; she just wanted to de-escalate the tension.
After a moment of silence, once both had calmed down, Aila was the first to break the quiet.
"No... maybe... you're right... but I still feel like it wasn't necessary to put Beibei through that just for Yang Yuehan..."
"You still don't see it. Perhaps you just don't have a standard for judgment in your heart yet. Let me ask you this... if you were given the chance to become a Child of Destiny, would you dare to destroy your own Luck Seed?"
"Destroy a Luck Seed? Why would anyone...? That's—"
"Yang Yuehan dared to," Orion interrupted, cutting Aila off. She continued her explanation, "And... she actually did it. Before, I would have thought she was a fool. But then I heard the teachers at our Afuhemi Academy expressing their awe at Teaching Assistant Xiao Han's actions. That's when I realized we are the fools. She stands on a much higher level than us."
"A higher level? What level, exactly?" Aila asked, still unwilling to concede.
"How should I know? If I knew that, I'd probably be as impressive as Xiao Han by now~"
"Tch~"
"What's that supposed to mean? You're the one who dragged me here, I ended up lecturing you, and now you're mocking me?"
"Who knows what's going on in that head of yours? You're full of grand theories—it's almost on par with your ability to hook up with men!"
"Well, thank you for the compliment~ Since you put it that way, I think I'll go see how that little handsome guy is doing. I'm sure if I go apologize, he'll forgive me for neglecting him earlier~"
* * *
A short while ago, after leaving the restaurant, I ran into Jiao Xiaoshuang outside. It looked like she had finally woken up. According to my Ley Line Identification Art, she had rushed over after receiving a call—likely from the restaurant manager. I didn't care enough to dig into the trivial details.
She didn't dare complain about me leaving without her; instead, she spent the whole time apologizing profusely.
"Alright, I don't mind. The auction starts today, right? What's the actual schedule?" I interrupted her.
I knew the scheduled start time, but there were bound to be some discrepancies.
"The preview will end around 11:30 AM. After that, there's a break for lunch. The formal auction proceedings begin at 1:30 PM, and the bidding starts officially at 2:00 PM. During the transition, the items in the exhibition area will be removed and placed into secure storage. The auction itself is not a physical-item auction. Before the 2:00 PM start, guests have the right to confirm the item categories, auction rules, or detailed information on specific lots with the receptionists or staff."
"So it looks like I still have plenty of time."
"Yes. For every auction, many guests only arrive on the day of. they spend the morning researching the items they need and leave immediately after winning the bid in the afternoon."
"No wonder they leave a half-day gap. One more question: once the items are removed, is there any other way to interact with the more valuable lots besides winning the bid?"
Since it was a non-physical auction, they would likely just show images and follow the bidding process. The items had already been displayed during the preview; if a buyer was still uneasy, they simply wouldn't bid. No one was forcing them.
At the very least, the auction house had done its best. A preview like this required constant vigilance against theft or robbery, not to mention the logistics of moving the items. The more steps in a process, the easier it is for things to go wrong.
One could say that by going to these lengths, the auction house was showing the utmost sincerity.
However, in my view, this process was likely built upon the absolute power of the Witch Academy. It was just that now... a few Players had been added to the mix.
After getting the details, I found an excuse to dismiss Jiao Xiaoshuang. She wasn't much use to me anyway, and I naturally disliked having a tail following me around.
Jiao Xiaoshuang didn't push back or insist on staying by my side. I was the guest, after all. If she refused to listen to me, it would be tantamount to confirming the fact that she had been sent specifically to keep an eye on me.
Before she left, I learned a few more things from her. As the holder of Bidding Number Plate No. 1, I had a private auction booth.
Essentially, I didn't have to sit on a small stool in a massive auction hall with everyone else.
The booth had another advantage: I wouldn't have to run between different halls.
Because there were so many items, the auction was split across multiple halls, with some halls even running several sessions for different categories.
If the items I wanted were in different halls, I would normally have to plan my time carefully to move between them. If the times overlapped and I didn't want to miss out, I'd have to hire a professional proxy bidder from the staff, which involved a lot of tedious communication regarding price limits and other details.
My booth, however, provided real-time feeds from every auction hall. Since it was a non-physical auction anyway, being there in person was no different from watching a live stream; it was just a matter of following the procedure.
With that settled, I had originally planned to head back to the Book Gallery to kill some time.
However, a message immediately derailed that simple plan.
It was a reply from the Two Witches I had sent my compiled data on the Enlightenment Meditation Art to.
They had taken over the data immediately and had Yulan and Yu Yun assist with testing.
The initial data set was already complete and had been shared via the Tree of Knowledge. Further testing across more variables would follow.
Furthermore... they expressed their intention to participate in the experiments themselves—specifically regarding the unverified hypothesis I had mentioned: whether witches and ordinary people could learn a spell like the Enlightenment Meditation Art.
They also asked for my authorization to turn it into a standardized spellbook if the results were promising.
I didn't particularly care about that.
What I cared about was the effectiveness of the Enlightenment Meditation Art. Based on the information they shared, they must have discovered something valuable to have sent the test data back so urgently.
After all, how long had it been since I sent it?
In that time, I had only meditated for a bit and grabbed some breakfast. Strictly speaking, it was still morning.
So, I returned to my suite. For some reason, the Book Gallery was starting to feel a bit crowded.
Back in my room, I lay down on the comfortable, oversized bed, found a cozy position, and began reviewing the information.
The current experimental data was provided by the cooperation of three Fool's Dream spirits: Yulan, Yu Yun, and Yu Guo.
First was the difficulty of learning. For the Fool's Dream race, the barrier to entry was low. Even though it was a spell, they could still learn it.
Second was the use of the Enlightenment Meditation Art. It was more convenient than the "rest" required by the Fool's Dream Meditation Method, allowing them to easily enter the specific state required for that cultivation.
It seemed all roads led to Rome. The Fool's Dream Meditation Method relied on rest to reach a certain state, while the Enlightenment Meditation Art used the power of magic to enter a similar state directly.
Then, they tested the spell itself.
The conclusion was that this spell was a special type where the caster and the target overlapped. It could not be cast externally; only by learning the spell could one experience its effects.
And once a Fool's Dream spirit entered that special meditative state, they could cooperate with my experiments much more efficiently.
If the Enlightenment Meditation Art only achieved this much... it would be a modification that was neither a total success nor a complete failure.
However, other data hadn't been tested yet, and I was quite looking forward to the final results.
Back when it was just the basic Meditation Art, it could develop one's wisdom during use. I didn't believe the Enlightenment Meditation Art's only effect was to replicate a cultivation state in spell form.
At the very least... it should match the effects of the original Meditation Art.
Perhaps this spell could even be promoted throughout the entire Witch Academy. After all, a method to develop wisdom... was a terrifying prospect.
But that was just a passing thought.
With that in mind, I sank my consciousness into the Sea of Consciousness. I planned to try again. With my current, albeit preliminary, understanding of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art, I might make some progress this time.
Once again, I let my form tilt, passing from the Sea of Consciousness into the Dream Sea, and called out to Yulan and Yu Yun.
According to the message from earlier, they should still be experimenting with the Enlightenment Meditation Art.
As I called out, I could faintly hear the voices of the Fool's Dream spirits. I acted again without a moment's hesitation.
"Sister Xiao Han~"
The first figure to appear was, as expected, Yu Yun. As the phantom power of the Tree of Great Wisdom Enlightenment manifested, a spectral image of Yu Yun's body appeared once more. This time, the figure—which had previously only lasted a few seconds due to a fluke—persisted. However, in the end, Yu Yun's body still dissolved into bubbles within my Dream Sea.
"It looks like my line of thinking is correct..."
I looked at my empty hands and muttered to myself, my expression calm.
What I was facing now was merely failure. But even though it was a failure, there was progress.
This proved that my idea of retaining the consciousness of the Fool's Dream spirits within my own Dream Sea was feasible.
And that idea was to use the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art to complete an attempt at "Soul Mimicry" for the Fool's Dream spirits.