Chapter 653: Perfecting the “Wisdom Granting” Technique
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 653: Perfecting the “Wisdom Granting” Technique
"Final exams already? I see."
In the month leading up to the end of the term, I learned of this from my clone.
Since I decided to perfect the Wisdom Granting technique... nearly half a semester had already slipped away.
I hadn't stayed at the spatial rift the entire time. Instead, I continued to wander through the Expansion Realm, though much of my subsequent journey overlapped with the tracks left by my clones.
However, that didn't hinder my own travels.
Originally, I had planned to spend the journey researching Reverse Summoning, Crystallization, and the Spellbook Shelf Spellbook. In the end, however, I spent far too much time on inspirations and revelations. I barely managed to finish reading those works on Runology, leaving everything else to the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art and its two derivative techniques.
Soul Depiction.
Wisdom Granting.
The focus, of course, was on the latter: Wisdom Granting.
Using the time I had, I completed the first sequence derivation spell of the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art—the Seed of Great Wisdom Weaving.
After all, the proper name for the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art was now the Tree of Great Wisdom Enlightenment. From the moment my soul awakened and I received the Soul Blessing, I had already begun transforming this Great Spellbook.
And with this, I finally took the first step in the sequence derivation of this Great Spellbook.
The effect of this sequence derivation spell served the Wisdom Granting technique.
Yes, a sequence derivation spell serving a derivative technique. It felt a bit like putting the cart before the horse, but this was a unique approach specific to me.
During this period, I actively sought out various Alien Beasts. I experimented on all of them: the dull ones without subjective cognition, the clever ones, the spiritual ones, and even those I had previously inspired with the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art.
I used the spells and techniques I mastered to understand how the concept of a "Wisdom Seed" was formed.
I searched for the wisdom hidden deep within the soul essence.
Of course, I knew that wisdom expressed itself in different "forms" depending on its state. I didn't even spare myself; after all, I was the only sapient life form I could access whose soul served as the soil.
Soul essence could also carry wisdom. By discovering the Wisdom Seeds within soul essence, the Wisdom Granting technique entered an entirely new domain.
Subsequently, I dedicated myself to collecting Wisdom Seeds of all forms.
However, a "Wisdom Seed" is an abstract expression. In terms of surface-level imagery, the concept of a "seed" doesn't even exist for wisdom. But that didn't mean I couldn't endow it with the concept of a seed.
The key lay in how to utilize it, and utilization depended on how it was defined.
Once I defined it under the concept of a "seed," my matching techniques could exert the influence I desired. Why couldn't the abstract, comprehensive concept of "wisdom" be a "seed"?
Definition is a truly flexible tool. As long as one has a matching set of cognitions, it can transform many incomprehensible things into something understandable.
And so, the "Seed" of wisdom appeared.
The verification of this provided a powerful sense of revelation for my sequence derivation, the Seed of Great Wisdom Weaving.
When the Great Spellbook, originally intended to enlighten wisdom, encountered its most direct object of application, I felt the "growth" process of wisdom more intuitively than ever before.
And, through a bit of trial and error, I also witnessed the process of withering.
Thus, after mastering the reverse application of Wisdom Granting—Wisdom Deprivation—I mastered another reverse application: Wisdom Withering.
In principle, their effects were similar: one was a deprivation, the other a withering.
However, I didn't believe they were the same; they simply applied to different situations.
Later, after "disassembling" countless Wisdom Seeds, I welcomed the first sequence derivation of the Tree of Great Wisdom Enlightenment: the Seed of Great Wisdom Weaving.
Only by knowing how to disassemble or decompose something can one understand its raw materials and the techniques required to weave and reorganize them.
The moment the Seed of Great Wisdom Weaving sequence derivation was completed, I gained two pieces of knowledge.
One piece filled the gap of the most important "Foundation Granting" within the Wisdom Granting technique. The other allowed me to understand the primary components of wisdom: individual cognition, emotional cognition, behavioral cognition... and the construction of these cognitions relied on "consciousness" and "memory."
I admit this is a rudimentary understanding. I only learned this much by reverse-decomposing Wisdom Seeds. Yet, miraculously, through the Seed of Great Wisdom Weaving, I could perfectly rely on these elements to re-weave a Wisdom Seed.
True, this Seed of wisdom surely lacked things I could not yet perceive, but that didn't hinder the birth of wisdom.
I called it... the self-evolution of life.
As long as there is soil for wisdom to be nurtured, the growth process of wisdom will continuously perfect itself.
The self-evolution of life includes the self-perfection of wisdom. Combined with the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art, the birth of wisdom trends toward perfection.
With this, the Wisdom Granting technique was essentially complete.
But it wasn't thoroughly perfected.
There was still plenty of room for optimization. For instance, the depth of my understanding of Wisdom Seeds would directly dictate the final result of Wisdom Granting. This was an undeniable variable.
If one day my understanding of Wisdom Seeds reached Great Perfection, or if I gained a completely new understanding of wisdom itself, it would cause a revolutionary upheaval of the Wisdom Granting technique. At this stage, however, I couldn't achieve that. I lacked sufficient accumulation, cognition, and experimentation.
But the current Wisdom Granting faced another problem: the acquisition of raw materials.
If I wanted to use Wisdom Granting on the Fool's Dream creatures—who were still dream beings—to grant them true wisdom, I first had to complete Soul Depiction to provide the soil for wisdom, and only then apply Wisdom Granting.
However, I felt that Wisdom Granting didn't necessarily require external raw materials.
Because the level below wisdom is cognition—various types of cognition—and cognition is composed of... consciousness and memory.
The Fool's Dream clan happened to possess consciousness. Though it was a dream consciousness, through Soul Depiction, I could endow it with a transformation into soul essence, turning it into a real-world soul consciousness. So, that was logically sound.
Then there was memory. The Great Knowledge Seed had been helping them preserve their memories in the form of knowledge all along, so that wasn't an issue either.
Everything formed a perfect closed loop!
The endowment of life essence and the endowment of wisdom—the two connected seamlessly.
This completed the image of a "sapient life form" as I understood it.
Beyond that... I didn't have any mature ideas.
Granting them a real-world body for reincarnation? If even that couldn't make them a life form recognized by the Void, then... the only breakthroughs I could think of were the concepts of bloodline and race.
After all, of the two techniques I was currently mastering, I had only perfected one. That alone had consumed so much of my time and energy; I truly had no more time to plan further ahead.
I usually took things one step at a time. Only by experiencing something personally did I know how to take the next step. Planning without experience and testing was nothing more than armchair theorizing.
But... having completed the Wisdom Granting technique, I felt a sense of relief, as if a major chapter had finally concluded.
Coupled with the news of the final exams and their connection to my Knowledge Seed, I prepared to head back to understand the actual situation and see if my cooperation was needed.
More importantly... I really hadn't appeared before the public for quite some time.
Once I decided to return, I didn't choose to teleport directly. Instead, I rode my flying broom to wander back.
Since there was still nearly a month before the final exams, I wanted to take a look around one last time.
I also learned... that the college entrance exams in the outside world were about to begin, and they were scheduled a bit earlier than our finals.
Mm... the thought of the college entrance exams always brought certain things to mind. For example... the people participating this year...
I subconsciously tried not to think about it, but this time, my subjective mind overrode my instinct.
Wasn't my cheap brother taking the exam this year?
At his young age, he had constantly skipped grades to show off his excellence, proving he deserved better... How should I evaluate such behavior?
Hard to say...
Facing the things I once avoided is also a form of growth. Now, I can examine my former self, my past, and my family from a more objective perspective.
"And what about the subjective perspective? As Yang Yuehan, in the first person—do you dare to face it like that?" At that moment, the Shadow of Wisdom—my subconscious—dealt me a sharp blow.
"Speechless, are we? Don't let this training that cost you months of effort fall apart over this one question. The fastest way to change yourself is to do the things you fear. Want to go back and see?"
"I have no reason to go back. I'll let nature take its course. Maybe when those two die, I'll go bring them some offerings," I sighed, finally speaking aloud.
"If you do that, you'll be trapped by your youth for the rest of your life. Take that determination you had when you first entered the academy—the one driven by emotion—and bring the past to a total end. Only then can you free your heart from what was. You know this exam is a rare opportunity."
"The college entrance exam isn't something I can control. It is a massive social ritual in its own right, a ceremony that gathers the world's Luck into a single Top Scorer. Of course... it might have other functions I'm not entirely clear on."
"Hmph. Excuses."
The Shadow of Wisdom gave a light snort and, for some reason, suddenly stopped arguing with me.
Maybe she thought I was too pathetic... or maybe my heart already had the answer?
Though I had been arguing back, this was how I had been interacting with the Power of Knowledge for a long time.
This method allowed me to use a dialectical approach—analyzing whether something was feasible through both my subconscious intuition and my subjective cognition.
Just as I had rejected the Shadow of Wisdom just now, claiming I didn't intend to solve the problem, I knew deep down that I wanted to solve it. I just... didn't have a plan for execution.
But the experiences of these past months, and the experiences of my clones, told me that this idle worrying was meaningless. Going back to see them in person was the only thing that mattered. Feelings are experienced, not thought up.
As I continued my return journey, the sky turned dark.
The night posed no obstacle to me. I could have kept pushing forward, but directly ahead, I saw a human settlement brightly lit in the darkness.
Just seeing the firelight and the architectural structure, the experiences and memories of my clone here instantly flooded back. It felt no different from having been there myself.
However, this crudely built city now had a name of its own: Mercenary City.
Its predecessor was the Mercenary Shelter. It had been built by a mercenary organization from the original small world that had been constantly resisting the Abyssal Demons.
Yes, resisting the invasion of Abyssal Demons, not players.
After all, that small world had been invaded by two worlds at once: the Player Game World and the sneaky Endless Abyss. When those small demons flooded the world like grass being mowed, facing that terrifying demon tide required immense courage.
These mercenaries were the ones who had to face those creatures. They were a world apart from the mercenary bodyguards who took money to protect clients from players.
Facing those disgusting, constantly respawning monsters required them to be mentally prepared at all times and possessed a high level of resolve.
As I reached the airspace above the city, I unconsciously slowed down. A sudden urge to experience it personally made me use a Disguise Spell to blend into the nighttime bonfires.
This city, managed by mercenaries, was filled with an unbridled wildness. It was clear they were unskilled at urban management, but it also reflected their unique style, which I couldn't be bothered to interfere with.
The massive Omni-Link Main Network Tree stood in the city; one only had to look up to see its canopy blotting out the stars.
This was the foundation of their communication with the entire world, and the cornerstone and treasure I had left for the reshaping of their civilization.
I strolled through the city streets, feeling the... ordinariness of every person I passed.
After discussing the Ordinary subject with Sister Bai, I had been trying to experience various subjects. One can study multiple subjects simultaneously, and before officially choosing one's path, it's beneficial to constantly feel and experience the wonders of different fields.
Dean Mei said I had stepped onto the Great Soul Subject based on my own ideas, but that didn't mean I had to choose it. I could also experience the branch subjects under that umbrella. Naturally, I was willing to experience the Ordinary subject related to Sister Bai.
I walked past a tavern, where the boisterous noise caught my eye.
Calamity Tavern... I remembered this place. After all, it was only with my permission that they dared to use my title as the Calamity Witch for certification.
Though it was called a tavern, its main offerings were flavored fruit juices—drinks made from short-term, fast-ripening fruits accelerated by Planters.
The reason it was called a tavern was that they had found a winery and plenty of stock among the ruins, and they possessed some brewing techniques, including fruit wines and things similar to beer.
Until their first batch of brewed alcohol was ready and a production cycle was established, the existing liquor was outrageously expensive. Therefore, most people here—even the wealthy—opted for cocktail-like fruit juice blends.
Following my instincts and Heart Sense, I walked inside. Pushing open the rough wooden door, I was met with a lively, rowdy atmosphere. The smell of alcohol and sweat filled the air. I didn't use a spell to disperse it; instead, I combined my Hearing, Smell, and Heart Sense, feeling for any unintentional revelation.
However, as I entered, I spotted a figure in a corner of the tavern that looked completely out of place. Yet, she sat there so naturally that she didn't draw the slightest attention from anyone else.
The other party followed my gaze and slightly raised her head, making eye contact with me.
In an instant, I understood... she was here for me!
A Rebel Witch?
Her look was classic witch style, especially that oversized witch hat. But she held no hostility; in fact, after meeting my gaze, she offered a kind smile.
As if possessed, I didn't think too much. I walked straight over and sat down, my movements clean and decisive.
Just as I was about to speak, she reached out first. She made a light pinching motion in front of me, and a golden thread appeared between her fingertips.
In that moment, I was startled!
"Luck... it's quite wonderful, isn't it? It guided you to meet me here. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Teryx Destiny, a Luck Alchemist. What a fascinating resonance... I can feel the traces left by a Luck Seed on you."