Chapter 580: Enlightenment Meditation Art, the Most Useless Spell?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 580: Enlightenment Meditation Art, the Most Useless Spell?
During my discussions with Natalie regarding suggestions for modifying the Book in the Box, the minor issues didn't actually take up much of her time.
The bulk of our long conversation was spent testing the order and transcendent properties of the "Power of Knowledge."
From the initial design to the completion of the Book in the Box, I hadn't offered many constructive suggestions. At the time, I didn't have an urgent need or a clear purpose; I only sought the weapon because I was in a position to obtain it.
But now, my goal was clear.
The "Annotation" technique Natalie designed for the Book in the Box was a form of revelation regarding the development of the Power of Knowledge.
I wanted to follow this path, using the Book in the Box as a medium to perfect this technique. This wasn't just about the application and development of the Power of Knowledge; it was an attempt to refine the cross-domain application of the powers I already possessed.
Because of this, the communication process consumed a great deal of my time.
Fortunately, the one thing I didn't lack right now was time.
Earlier, while discussing the continued refinement of the Book in the Box, Natalie mentioned the Heart of the Cold Wave I held. She asked if I intended to use inlaying techniques to augment the Book in the Box with it.
I refused immediately.
What a joke. The Heart of the Cold Wave was nothing but a massive headache.
If it got tied up with my Book in the Box, I’d probably end up wanting to throw the weapon away.
The only reason I still had it was because, after that unfinished auction, the Vice President of the Jack-of-all-trades Club had found me to discuss the item.
Throughout the entire conversation, they never used words like "return" or "gift."
Since the Heart of the Cold Wave was my spoil of war—seized from an enemy they couldn't defeat—there was no question of "returning" it. And since it was already mine, they had no right to "gift" it to me.
I have to admit, the people from the Jack-of-all-trades Club see things very clearly. They truly do not provoke those they cannot afford to offend; this philosophy is evident in every small detail.
Of course, the Jack-of-all-trades Club is hardly a charity. When they wanted to probe my strength and gather intelligence, they hadn't hesitated to support Liliana’s arrival.
In the end, the Jack-of-all-trades Club tried their best to secure the Heart of the Cold Wave, but I didn't agree immediately.
However, they did manage to get a promise from me that I wouldn't just give the thing away to someone else—like Tan Han and her group.
Perhaps in their eyes, it would be easier to eventually acquire the item from me than from someone like Tan Han.
What they thought didn't matter to me.
I was simply interested in the thing, and I figured I could use it as a free air conditioner when the weather got hot.
As for researching it?
Please. Between my two Great Spellbooks, my Body Cultivation Power, and my usual spell derivations, I was busy enough to die. Where would I find the energy to study this?
Unless I hit a bottleneck in every other area and could no longer progress, I might look into it to see if I could find some cross-disciplinary inspiration. But the probability of that was low, and it certainly wouldn't happen anytime soon.
After bidding farewell to Natalie, I prepared to plan the perfection of my Tree of Great Knowledge.
As for the Book in the Box, it stayed with Natalie for its "major overhaul." Adapting it to fit a completely new power system was no small undertaking.
After informing Dean Mei, I officially began the Tree of Great Knowledge Perfection Plan.
Before starting in earnest, I took some time to rest and reorganize. I had planned to get myself into the right state of mind, but the reality was... plans never keep up with changes.
The cause was... I had decided to look into the matter of the Enlightenment Meditation Art.
The Enlightenment Meditation Art was a spell I had perfected based on a sudden spark of inspiration. It had been undergoing testing until now; through the constant trials by the Fool's Dream and the cooperation of the Witch Sisters, its capabilities had been mostly mapped out.
The reason I touched upon a derivative of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art—which wasn't closely related to the Tree of Great Knowledge—right before my big project was primarily because of the "Power of Knowledge."
The Power of Knowledge wasn't purely a product of the Tree of Great Knowledge; it was the result of the two Great Spellbooks perfecting their "Dual Tree Structure."
Previously, I had viewed the Power of Knowledge in isolation. Now, I viewed it in conjunction with the two Great Spellbooks and my Body Cultivation Power, because it was the manifestation of order within the prototype domain formed by the union of all three.
Understanding this concept allowed the "notion" of using the Power of Knowledge to perfect the Tree of Great Knowledge to transform into a tangible "strategy."
Therefore, attempting to gain a deeper understanding of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art would help push the perfection of the Tree of Great Knowledge forward.
By now, the test data regarding the Enlightenment Meditation Art was mostly organized.
Simply put, based on the tests with the Fool's Dream, the Enlightenment Meditation Art had completely replaced the "Fool's Dream Drink Meditation Method" in terms of utility, and in some ways, it was even more convenient.
After all, a castable spell is always easier to pick up than a cultivation technique.
During the tests where the witches assisted, the Enlightenment Meditation Art showed no signs of creating an intersection with my Dream Sea. Even though they possessed the Dual Tree Structure of the Great Knowledge Seed and the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art, they didn't experience the special situation the Fool's Dream did.
Ultimately, that could only be attributed to the unique nature of the Fool's Dream race.
Of course, as for the prerequisite for learning the Enlightenment Meditation Art—"learning to brew the Fool's Dream Drink" to acquire specific runes—the witches, who had nothing better to do, had already researched a simplified method.
To that end, they used the Fool's Dream Drink brewing method, centered on runes and rituals, to launch various new flavors of the drink. They even started a collaboration with Dinah from the Witch Cat Café.
Crucially, these strange Fool's Dream Drinks were very attractive to the Fool's Dream race. Thinking about it... it wasn't that surprising. The Fool's Dream didn't actually care about the taste; they were after the transcendent rituals contained within the drink.
Back to the point.
Multiple trials of the Enlightenment Meditation Art had revealed a very peculiar "trait."
As a spell, its effects were periodic, and the mental strength it consumed... was a permanent consumption.
When I saw these test results, I was stunned!
Within the vast stores of information in my Tree of Great Knowledge, I had read about some very strange spells where the mental strength consumed was permanent, but the resulting effects were incredibly powerful or unique.
However, while the Enlightenment Meditation Art consumed permanent mental strength, it required no additional transcendent energy to cast.
This meant the spell had no threshold for use. Because it didn't consume transcendent energy, it could be used even in special environments where such energy was completely absent.
But that was useless!
Looking at the effect after casting... it was to restore mental strength, and the restored mental strength was also permanent...
The spell's effect was periodic. If the spell was maintained for one cycle, and the mental strength consumed was defined as Unit One, then the mental strength restored during that cycle was also exactly one!
It was as if there was no middleman taking a cut!
Looking at this spell effect, I was completely bewildered.
Since the incident at Ninglan New City, my self-created "Dream Rewriting Spell"—previously the most useless spell—was about to be dethroned. At least that spell could be useful in specific environments where dreams and reality overlapped.
But this Enlightenment Meditation Art... it seemed useless under any circumstances, didn't it?
If you wrote out the description of this spell's effects, you probably couldn't even give it away.
I felt like it could enter a contest for the "Most Useless Spell of the Year."
If such a contest existed, this spell might actually take the championship...
Upon learning the test results, the group of witches was also profoundly shocked!
Of course, they weren't shocked by how useless the spell was. They were shocked because they had witnessed a spell that could actually increase the upper limit of mental strength!
Even if the prerequisite for using it was consuming that same upper limit... it shattered their understanding of spells and cultivation.
"Permanent increase" was a term reserved for cultivation, not a trait of a spell or a spell technique.
If this spell could be derived—even if it produced the slightest difference between the permanent gain and loss of mental strength—its lack of a usage threshold would mean it could be popularized, effectively shattering everyone's perception of the boundaries of cultivation!
This discovery undoubtedly caused a massive stir throughout the entire Witch Academy.
This was one of the reasons why I had to look into the Enlightenment Meditation Art before perfecting the Tree of Great Knowledge; the matter had reached a level of importance I could no longer ignore.
The implications were too sensational. If I didn't resolve this, I couldn't even begin my plan for the Tree of Great Knowledge.
However, so far, the derivation of the Enlightenment Meditation Art had been anything but smooth.
Even though I had authorized its free sharing with all Transcendent Witches for research, no one had reported any good news yet.
While everyone had come up empty-handed regarding a shortcut for cultivating mental strength, the testing of this spell had yielded an unexpected surprise.
It turned out that after casting the Enlightenment Meditation Art, there was a possibility of "Enlightening Wisdom"!
Initially, none of the witches had cared about what benefits the spell brought between the consumption and recovery. But for those powerful Transcendent Witches, any minute improvement could not escape their perception.
It wasn't until one witch noticed a slight anomaly while using the spell that she began to pay attention.
Although the essence of her mental strength hadn't changed much, it had brought about a slight transformation on another level.
So, it seemed the Enlightenment Meditation Art wasn't a useless spell after all, but a permanent buff spell that yielded results through long-term accumulation.
According to the witch who reported the news, although they hadn't yet tested the upper limit of the improvement, the current results showed that the Enlightenment Meditation Art's boost to wisdom was significant.
Specifically, it manifested as increased mental agility, providing a vital mitigating effect against cognitive ossification.
This single point alone caused many witches to flock to it.
One must not forget that witches have eternal lifespans. The longer a witch lives, the more likely they are to suffer from rigid thinking due to excessive knowledge or outdated information. Mental agility was indeed a "miracle cure" to restore one's vitality.
Not to mention that practicing the Enlightenment Meditation Art slightly improved learning ability, communication skills, decision-making, and comprehension. All these could be considered side effects of increased mental agility.
Because of the Enlightenment Meditation Art, the time I had set aside for rest before perfecting the Tree of Great Knowledge was stretched out by several days.
Due to this matter, my villa was constantly "visited" by all sorts of witches.
Even Dean Mei came by for it.
The plan to turn this spell into a spellbook had been finalized, and its promotion at the witch level was inevitable. As for its promotion among the students of the Witch Academy... that likely wouldn't take much longer.
"I wonder how that little head of yours is wired," Dean Mei said, rubbing my head. Her tone was filled with undisguised praise and wonder.
"I... I didn't really do much... Didn't you give me all the research materials for the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art, Dean? I just added some new inspiration on top of that foundation."
"Xiao Han, you're still so humble. Too much humility can be a form of arrogance, you know?"
"That's not it..."
"Xiao Han, do you think you were able to achieve such a feat because of inspiration, or because of something else?"
"Uh..." Caught off guard by the Dean's question, I blinked. Eventually, I gave my own answer. "It should be... inspiration. After all, inspiration and ways of thinking really do determine a lot."
"Is that so? Is that what you think, Xiao Han?"
"Is something wrong?" I asked tentatively.
"I don't deny your viewpoint," Dean Mei said with a smile. Usually, when she started a sentence like that, it meant she was about to share her own opinion. "However... looking at it from another angle, the void is vast, and there are just as many geniuses."
"The abundance of geniuses means that in an era where the Heavenly Chosen compete, inspiration isn't a rare commodity. Perhaps in this field, there are many inspirations more transparent and advanced than what you're thinking now. I could even say that the inspiration for the achievement you've reached was proposed long ago. There are likely even more unimaginable ideas out there—wild, unrestrained thoughts that would make you feel inferior just by looking at them."
"..."
"Xiao Han, do you think I'm lecturing you? Trying to make you face reality and tell you that you aren't a genius?" Mei Lind asked again, seeing my silence.
"Isn't that what you're doing...?"
"No. Quite the opposite. You are a true genius!" Mei Lind shook her head and spoke firmly. "I only want to tell you that this world never lacks inspiration; it lacks people with the ability to make it happen. The gap between 'inspiration' and 'doing' is a chasm that separates the mediocre from the genius. To take action and realize it!"
"The witch race never lacks witches who call themselves geniuses. Their ideas are infinite, and their inspirations are breathtaking. But they remain ordinary witches."
"The footprints of the witch race span the entire void. Our numbers are vast beyond your imagination, yet the witches who can be crowned with the title of Truth Witch are few and far between. Why? Because amidst inspirations that are like castles in the air, they actually built a floating palace. They are the greats who crossed the gorge between 'thinking' and 'doing.'"
Mei Lind paused. The witches working nearby stopped what they were doing, turning to look at the Dean and me, listening to her words.
"Look at these witches who are willing to work with you. They follow you not simply because they were won over by the inspiration you proposed."
"During your time with them, you must have occasionally felt that they can propose many wonderful ideas, right? The game platform, the live streaming platform, and so on. They didn't even tell you many of their wilder thoughts because they couldn't achieve them, and they feared these divergent paths would interfere with your thinking. Though they cannot realize them, they can use the existing Academy Network to frame their inspirations, but none of that is truly significant."
At this, some witches lowered their heads with awkward smiles, while others looked away to hide their embarrassment.
How could their inspirations and ambitions be described by mere words like "game platform" or "live streaming platform"?
It was simply that their abilities couldn't support their ideas.
"They simply lack the ability to realize such inspirations. But they can see that you have the ability to realize the inspirations you propose. Even if your inspiration isn't the 'best' in their eyes, it is the one most likely to be acted upon and realized by you!"
"Is... is that how it is?" I scratched my head. Being praised like this by the Dean made me feel a bit overwhelmed.
"Of course. Take the Enlightenment Meditation Art, for example. The concept of such a spell was proposed by witches long ago, but they lacked the theoretical foundation and the ability to realize it. But you did it..."
"But this was all built on your—"
"Yes, those were my research materials. But I didn't do it; you did. That is your ability, not mine. Without you, I wouldn't have known the research materials for the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art could achieve such a thing." Dean Mei cut off my question forcefully. "Discovery and the spark of inspiration go hand in hand. To have a spark of inspiration while ignoring foundational ability—that is mere delusion. Or rather... a dream."
"In any case, you've already helped take a solid first step regarding the Enlightenment Meditation Art. Countless witches will follow in your footsteps, advancing, perfecting, and deriving along the path you've opened. You no longer need to spend your energy on the subsequent trivialities."
"It's time for your planning to get back on track. Don't you have other plans? I'm looking forward to your upcoming plan to perfect the Tree of Great Knowledge. Don't let me down... actually, forget that. I won't add to your pressure. Just get your mindset right."
As Mei Lind finished, she pulled out something that looked like an access card and handed it to me. "This clone of mine has other things to attend to shortly. Before I go, take this."
"After all, Xiao Han, you're now a famous figure who has made outstanding contributions to the Witch Academy. It's not good to always be cooped up in a villa doing research. This is a laboratory I've applied for on your behalf. I don't care if you blow the whole place up while you're in there. Good luck~"