Chapter 625: Visitors from the Jack-of-all-trades Club
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 625: Visitors from the Jack-of-all-trades Club
After explaining the process clearly to these eighteen people, I began attending to my own affairs.
In truth, they didn't really need me to lecture them. After suffering the harsh beatings of reality, most people would do everything in their power to understand any form of strength they could grasp.
Back at the Calamity Shelter, those seven people had already proven that even if I taught them nothing, they would pick things up very quickly.
However, when it came to meditation... the fastest of those seven had still taken several days.
As for this group, even if they did nothing but spend all their time meditating, it would likely take them a day or two to succeed.
Thus, I had plenty of time to focus on my own work.
The first thing I did was clear a plot of land nearby for cultivation. Then, I began organizing various professional knowledge related to planting.
The deeper I delved into this specialized knowledge, the more I felt it could all be integrated into the "Planter" sub-profession for decoding.
With these ideas in mind, I wasn't just doing simple farming; I was also categorizing knowledge and organizing spells. These elements would eventually be arranged into the sub-profession's skill tree.
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, three days had gone by.
Beneath this Omni-Link Main Network Tree, a village had begun to take shape, and the number of residents was gradually increasing.
Of the original eighteen people I had granted game qualifications to, fewer than ten remained; many had successfully changed classes and left, not yet having returned.
The third day was also the point when everyone in this group had finally completed their meditation.
Of course, they had only managed to produce a faint, wispy trace of mental power, rather than the mental power threads characteristic of the Witch Meditation Method.
Three days... their aptitude was indeed somewhat concerning. After all, they hadn't slacked off for a single moment, remaining in a state of meditation except when sleeping. This amount of time would have been enough for most freshmen at a Witch Academy to complete the condensation of a mental power thread.
The one with the best aptitude among them had finished meditating in half a day, making them a paragon of talent for this batch. It was a pity they weren't mastering an orthodox Transcendent system; otherwise, they would have been a minor genius at the very least.
Setting these trifles aside.
I had been extremely busy these past few days as well. For instance, I had completed the synthesis and development of two sub-professions: "Planter" and "Architect."
I had also finished the accompanying sub-profession platforms.
One must understand that a sub-profession cannot be added on a whim; it involves adding an entirely new skill tree. If not for the current limitations of my arts, I wouldn't have bothered with professional classifications at all. To increase the upper limit, I naturally had to optimize my techniques.
Furthermore, considering the environmental issues of this shelter's current location, I was developing a third sub-profession: "Miner."
Since there were many exposed Transcendent mine zones in the vicinity, I couldn't let them go to waste.
While I had promised not to lay a hand on these Transcendent materials myself, it had nothing to do with me if the indigenous people reached for them.
Aside from sub-profession development, the Omni-Link Main Network Tree had finally completed its root network connection with the one at the Calamity Shelter.
I was once again able to obtain information from the Calamity Shelter. The infrastructure in certain areas there was basically complete.
I had to admit, the efficiency of the Witch Academy's Infrastructure Society was truly terrifying.
Some of the refugees outside Ninglan New City had also been relocated, greatly easing the relief pressure on the city.
Sister Agnes was still refining the design of the health bars. I heard she hadn't finished yet because she was struggling with real-time data feedback issues, compounded by her own perfectionism.
However, the Transcendent Witch group led by Agnes gave me another surprise: in their spare time, they had used the Omni-Link Main Network Tree to implement information exchange between player accounts!
In other words, the players now had a chat channel! Private messages, area chat, world chat... all of it could be communicated through this channel.
In the Calamity Shelter, those seven people had already completed this information exchange and officially integrated it.
Those seven had also long since completed their class changes, becoming professionals who had begun to take over the actual management of the Calamity Shelter.
Furthermore, they were secretly promoting those basic meditation methods within the Calamity Shelter. This was Agnes's suggestion, intended to lay the groundwork for the large-scale rollout of game qualifications later.
When the time came, ordinary people who already possessed mental power could simply eat a fruit to complete their class change and immediately become a viable combat force.
It had to be said that this development was undoubtedly rapid.
I estimated that this shelter would adopt a similar model, especially regarding the promotion of meditation methods.
When that time came, it wasn't impossible for the entire population to become players.
However, once that stage was reached, new problems would likely arise—specifically, the instability of mindset brought about by the increase in power. I had to acknowledge that within a massive population, there would always be some who were born wicked.
I needed to find a way to keep these individuals in check. Many problems cannot wait until they happen to be solved; some things should have their sparks extinguished from the very beginning.
Perhaps... I also needed to implement a ranking system for the strength of these player accounts.
After recording all these thoughts in my Tree of Great Knowledge memo, I temporarily pushed them to the back of my mind.
I had another problem to solve right now.
With that thought, I looked toward a natural cave formed by the roots beneath the Omni-Link Main Network Tree. This was where I had been living these past few days.
I strictly forbade anyone from entering the area near the trunk of the Omni-Link Main Network Tree. This was my residence, and I couldn't allow people to approach without reason. The houses the others lived in were all adobe structures shaped by magic in the peripheral areas; they looked a bit crude, but they were at least better than where they had lived before.
The reason I didn't let them near my dwelling was that the interior of this root cave was a Dream Overlap region.
Though I hated to admit it, that massive dream creature had opened another Dream Overlap region in the reality I had already smoothed over.
As the saying goes, you can't guard against a thief forever. While I could drive it away again, I couldn't afford to split my focus at all times to see if the fellow was creating another Dream Overlap region elsewhere.
So, I simply accepted its presence in my area.
To manage this, I had to frequently step in to restrict this Dream Overlap space, preventing the special dream region from spreading to other parts of the shelter.
I had kept this dream creature for two reasons. One was fate; I hadn't expected this fellow to be able to find this place again from the Primitive Dream Realm. The other was... I wanted to learn more about the knowledge of its essence from this creature.
I had realized that my understanding of dream creatures was still too shallow, which was insufficient for me to gain a deeper insight into them.
My persistent curiosity regarding dream creatures was primarily due to my concern for Fool's Dream.
After all, I had promised to turn Fool's Dream into a true life form.
But many things cannot be rushed; they must be taken step by step. Just like now, I needed to continue perfecting the Omni-Link Main Network Tree and constantly refine the players' professional skill trees.
As for researching dream creatures... that was temporarily shelved. This oversized dream creature in my temporary residence was like a pet I was raising.
It added a bit of flavor to my otherwise somewhat dull life.
Just as I finished updating the Planter and Architect sub-professions and handed the tasks of growing food and building houses to the people, the place welcomed a group of "guests" who were unexpected yet within the realm of reason.
"Hello, Teaching Assistant Xiao Han. I've heard of your deeds for a long time, and I've finally managed to meet you. I am Millian Baker, a member of the Jack-of-all-trades Club. You can just call me Millian, Teaching Assistant Xiao Han." The girl named Millian looked excited the moment she saw me.
"Millian... Baker. Hello." I nodded and responded politely. This girl also seemed to have dyed her hair white. As for her surname, Baker, I had some impression of it; the previous teaching assistant from the Jack-of-all-trades Club shared that name.
Then, my gaze shifted to the group following behind her before I spoke. "Since you're from the Jack-of-all-trades Club, then your visit this time..."
"Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, have you forgotten? Just a few days ago, Teaching Assistant Winnie reached an agreement with you to co-build the Second Shelter. I am the club member sent to communicate with you directly," Millian continued with a smile.
However, inwardly, she was still profoundly shocked.
She had come here primarily to negotiate some ambiguous issues, originally intending to discuss the construction of the shelter and how to solve the problem of Dream Overlap.
After all, she had reviewed very detailed intelligence reports beforehand and knew this was a Dream Overlap region. She had even specifically gone to learn that Dream Magic spell just in case.
But she had already stepped into the area reported to be overlapped by dreams, and had even walked all the way here to meet the legendary Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, yet she hadn't seen a single dream...
This undoubtedly corresponded to that one unconfirmed piece of information in the reports.
Teaching Assistant Xiao Han said she would solve the Dream Overlap problem... and she actually did it!
And in such a short amount of time.
If one analyzed the gathered crowds and the traces of construction nearby more closely, the timeline might even be pushed back further.
This... this was a monumental matter!
The Dream Overlap regions erupting around Ninglan New City would soon reach the city's borders. When that happened, the calamity of dream creatures would once again sweep through the entire city, and such a troublesome matter was unavoidable.
But now, someone was showing her through reality that this problem could be solved.
This... this was simply too important!
"Oh, so what you people said was true. When your club members ran off so quickly back then, I thought you were just joking," I said with a light chuckle.
"How could that be? The reputation of our Jack-of-all-trades Club is guaranteed. That time, Teaching Assistant Winnie probably just had an emergency. I heard she returned to the Witch Academy as soon as she reached Ninglan New City," Millian explained quickly to smooth over the awkwardness.
"Oh? She actually went back to the Witch Academy? Do you mind if I ask why?"
"I heard it's an issue with the society outside. I'm not entirely sure of the specifics, I'm truly sorry," Millian apologized sincerely, her attitude very earnest.
"I see." Hearing what she said, I could more or less guess. It was likely that the players in the outside world had caused some major incident again. It was just a pity I wasn't there to see it.
However, for things in the outside world to be so urgent that they had to recall a teaching assistant assigned to the Expansion Realm... what that represented was quite interesting.
"Come, this isn't a good place to talk. Let's go somewhere else." I reached out and guided them from our meeting spot to my residence.
Millian led her group beneath the giant tree. They had seen the shadow of this tree from far away, but standing at its base now, it was truly breathtaking.
However, just as their full attention was focused on the Omni-Link Main Network Tree, a swift figure suddenly lunged out!
"What is that!"
"Watch out!"
Before they could even react, their consciousnesses were instantly pulled into a dream.
With such incredible speed, there was a reason these dream creatures were the number one enemy of the students.
"Stop!"
I gave a cold shout, and the figure froze.
Only then did everyone see the illusory figure. It was a dream creature much larger than the biggest ones they had seen so far!
"My apologies. There's a dream creature that's grown attached to me at my temporary residence. I had it guard this area and forgot to tell it about you."
"It's... it's fine..."
Millian, having returned from the dream, was still a bit shaken.
Looking at this massive dream creature, her eyes were full of shock. This was the first time she had experienced the "service" of having her consciousness sent back to her body by a dream creature.
"Our visit was sudden, but I didn't expect Teaching Assistant Xiao Han to have such... unique tastes, to actually have a way to keep a... dream creature?"
Millian spoke somewhat stutteringly, as she found that what she was seeing was challenging her common sense! Hadn't the Dream Overlap here been solved? Where did this dream creature come from?
And... could dream creatures actually be kept as pets?
"Oh, it's just that it's stuck to me. My dwelling is a small, special Dream Overlap region. They can only move within this area, so you don't need to worry about being attacked by dream creatures elsewhere."
I explained it to her. After all, she was here to help; it wouldn't be good if she misunderstood this as me trying to intimidate them.
"I see... If I may ask, Teaching Assistant Xiao Han, have you mastered... a method to dispel dreams?"
Millian observed the surroundings as she spoke. This place did indeed seem to be a special Dream Overlap region. Such miraculous means made her increasingly certain that Teaching Assistant Xiao Han possessed a mature, unknown method to dispel dreams from reality.
"Yes," I nodded.
"Really? Then... may I ask... can we learn this method?" Millian asked instinctively. After all, she knew that the Dream Magic used to counter dream creature attacks also came from this person.
"It is a technique. Since it is a technique, it can naturally be learned," I said with a smile.
"Really? Then... I mean, what kind of price would we have to pay for such a technique..."
"There is no price. If you want to learn, I can teach you for free, provided... you meet the prerequisite conditions for learning this technique," I continued, still smiling.
Looking at my smile, Millian felt a wave of unease, especially when I said there was no price and it could be learned for free... it made her feel that something was very wrong!
"Is it... is it a model like the Dream Magic?" Millian asked tentatively.
Even learning Dream Magic had conditions—one had to unconditionally rescue victims who had been dragged into dreams by dream creatures.
"It could be like that, but I think you should pay more attention to the prerequisites for learning this technique."
Hearing my reminder, Millian quickly understood where the problem lay. But out of a final sliver of hope, she still asked, "Then... could Teaching Assistant Xiao Han explain the prerequisites to us?"
"Master a Domain, and the Order of that Domain must be capable of deducing a Primitive Rune. As long as you meet those conditions, I can teach you the subsequent theories for free, personally," I said with a smile, stating the conditions that completely crushed their hopes.