Chapter 679: The Synonym for Genius—Transcendent and Saintly!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 679: The Synonym for Genius—Transcendent and Saintly!
After a round of congratulations from the witches and invitations from several others who wanted to discuss Time Sense together, the atmosphere had become quite lively.
As a Transcendent Witch who hadn't been in the Main World for long—and who had previously been a relatively obscure Reserve Student—Bai Yu didn't know many witches yet. Witches were social creatures by nature, and many took this opportunity to come forward with the intention of "making a new sister-friend."
Even if they just made a brief appearance to become a familiar face, they could naturally address each other as sisters if they crossed paths in the future.
"Oh, look who’s here~ A cute little witch."
"Looks like we picked a bad time. I won't stay here and be a third wheel~"
"Is this Sister Bai Yu’s little girlfriend? What a cute little thing."
"Here is my business card. Let's exchange some professional knowledge when you have the time."
Soon, some sharp-eyed witches noticed my presence. Combined with a few troublemakers who loved to stir the pot, they immediately categorized everyone else present as "light bulbs" getting in the way.
However... every witch who had come here naturally had her own little motives. Having made themselves known, seen what happened, and even heard some gossip, many of them left quite satisfied.
As for those who actually wanted to "exchange knowledge," they were a minority. There weren't many Body Cultivation Witches in the Witch Academy to begin with, and for most, their understanding of Time Sense was limited to the display Bai Yu had just shown. Thus, leaving contact information, becoming a familiar face, and building a bit of rapport was enough to achieve their goals.
If there were tea parties or gatherings in the future, they could simply add another witch to the invitation list. The current situation was a bit too rushed.
Witches were quite easygoing in this regard. After all, this was the Main World; they were bound to see each other sooner or later. It wasn't like the Void, where meeting someone was a rare difficulty. Consequently, the witches of the Main World were very relaxed.
"Um, Sister Bai, I hope I didn't interrupt you making friends..." I asked softly as I watched many of the witches leave after offering their congratulations.
"It’s fine, Xiao Han. Don't think of making friends as something so difficult or forced. If people are meant to be friends, they will eventually become true friends; they won't be restricted to this single moment." Sister Bai patted my head dotingly. "But Xiao Han, why are you back so soon? Did you come back the moment the college entrance exams outside ended?"
"Yeah, there's nothing fun out there anyway." I shrugged and followed Sister Bai into her villa.
Once inside, I pointedly glanced at the wall that had once been shattered. There wasn't a single crack left; only the Ley Lines had recorded their previous state of destruction.
"Is Xiao Han curious about the technique I just showed?" Seeing my expression, Sister Bai understood what I was thinking and brought it up directly.
"Um... was that... really Time Sense?" I asked curiously.
It looked exactly like time reversal!
However, possessing a prototype of Time Sense myself, I understood that "reversing time" was a concept that didn't truly exist. Even when I regressed the Ley Line timeline, it was merely an "illusion" constructed from Ley Line Information. In reality... time cannot locally reverse.
"That is indeed Time Sense. Or rather, it's a technique derived from a complete Time Sense. You were right, Xiao Han—Time Sense is built upon Heart Sense. It is a form of control and application based on a level of understanding."
I listened quietly as Sister Bai explained, offering no rebuttal. Now was the time for Sister Bai to teach me the knowledge I had yet to master.
"Saying it like that isn't very intuitive." As Sister Bai spoke, she raised her hand, and a small fireball manifested. "Let's use this little fireball as an example. It's much more intuitive than using our villa for a demonstration."
"Okay."
"Watch closely." As Sister Bai spoke, she controlled the fireball to explode with the minimum possible force. The condensed fireball instantly turned into pure flames that swept outward, emitting a brilliant light.
"That is the explosion process of a small fireball. Now, if we use that technique to backtrack to the past, can the residues and derivatives of the explosion return to being an unexploded fireball?"
Sister Bai asked the question rhetorically, but at that moment, within the radius of the previous explosion, the extinguished flames ignited once more. Then, as if the world were being played in reverse, they coalesced back into a Fireball Spell!
Sister Bai answered her own question with action.
"Do you understand?"
"This..." I was shocked, but I also understood the implication. However... I couldn't do it.
"Time Sense is that kind of ability. It is built upon using Heart Sense to understand the essence of an object, which then derives a dominant power to control it. It isn't the reversal of time, but the backtracking—or deduction—of the object itself."
Sister Bai held the Fireball Spell in one hand while her other hand seemed to pluck at the strings of time. The fireball and the dancing flames in her hand would sometimes stop, sometimes reverse, and sometimes display various forms of explosions—all of which were potential ways this small fireball could have detonated.
Sister Bai had already used Heart Sense to construct the essence and operational framework of this Fireball Spell. How it exploded, when it exploded, and even its re-condensation after exploding... these were all backtracks and deductions of the fireball's own structure. From an objective perspective, the macro-time of the fireball itself was always "now," but the state "now" displayed was entirely a state from the "past" or the "future"!
"This... this kind of dominance over objects! How much terrifying energy must be involved?!" After understanding the general principle, I still found it somewhat unbelievable.
"If one were to rely solely on brute force and conventional ideas to change the state of an object, it would naturally be a thankless task, and one could never achieve the perfection I just showed. But this is an application technique derived from Time Sense. Technique is the lever that plys consumption against the resulting effect. So, while it seems impossible and not worth the cost, it is something I can do easily." Sister Bai continued her explanation.
"I see. It's like how I've mastered Ley Energy Conversion Technique. If I release a Fireball Spell the size of a building, it would be a waste for anyone else, but for me, the cost is just a bit of normal consumption. Whereas for others, it might take a hundred or even a thousand times more. Is that it?" I asked curiously.
"Hmm... in terms of understanding, that's roughly the idea..." Sister Bai said with a slight hesitation. "Seeing as you aren't asking about the main point but are instead concerned with these minor details, you've actually understood it for a long time, haven't you, Xiao Han?"
"I understand it... but there's a chasm between knowing and doing." I said with a bit of difficulty. In truth, I did understand. Even if Sister Bai hadn't said anything, having the prototype of Time Sense gave me the foundation to understand. But... I couldn't do it.
I could use Heart Sense and my Five Senses to understand the construction of a Fireball Spell, but I couldn't use Time Sense to dominate it.
I finally realized why my Time Sense was still just a prototype: it lacked the most important thing—the foundation, the energy, to drive that "dominance."
The permanent effect of the Great Spellbook was already at its limit just supporting the effects directly related to the Domain itself. It was impossible for it to "provide power" to an ability like Time Sense, which had no connection to the Great Spellbook.
"I understand, Xiao Han. I know your predicament."
Upon hearing my response, Sister Bai believed me. She didn't doubt that I would lie to her. After all, her own mastery of Time Sense was inextricably linked to me. She believed that if I had the same Transcendent foundation as her, I would surely do even better!
"Really? You know, Sister Bai?" I looked at her, a bit surprised. "Then don't say it yet. Let me guess... is it because my Domain itself lacks energy?"
"Yes, it lacks energy. Actually... we were quite shocked at how your Domain could even unfold without energy support. But after learning that your Domain isn't a simple Spell Domain or a Body Cultivation Heart State Domain, we figured out the reason."
"Because of... the Great Spellbooks, right?" I asked. Although this was the answer in my heart, no one had ever confirmed it for me.
"Yes. So, your current state, Xiao Han, is nothing short of a miracle!"
"A miracle? Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?" I said modestly.
"It's not an exaggeration. Think about the conditions of your current Domain—which one of them isn't a miracle?"
"As a Self-Awakened Body Cultivation practitioner who hasn't even promoted to Transcendent, you already have the Sixth Sense, Heart Sense, to lay your foundation. You used that to construct a Heart State Domain, and that Domain is even linked with two Great Spellbooks. Great Spellbooks aren't easy to get; even among Transcendent Witches, plenty don't have one. Yet you aren't even Transcendent, and you already have two."
"In the end, you didn't have enough energy to unfold the Domain, but because you completely mastered one Great Spellbook, you utilized the Permanent Solidification effect of the Void Rift within it to unfold your Domain's effects... If that isn't a miracle, what is?"
"A special case like you—just the balance of these abilities alone is enough to produce several research papers. Do you know that?" Sister Bai said with a smile.
"Uh... when you put it that way, I guess it is?" I scratched my head. "Anyway... let's stop praising that for now, Sister Bai. Since you mentioned the Domain and energy, that's actually why I came here this time."
"Xiao Han, are you finally unable to resist asking?" Seeing me lead the conversation there, Sister Bai couldn't help but ask with a smile.
"Huh? Sister Bai, were you waiting for me to ask you of my own accord?"
"Not exactly. It's just that these are levels you can't reach yet. Telling you early would just be a waste of energy. But it's not like I can't tell you; as long as you ask, I will." Sister Bai shook her head.
"Then I want to ask now. My Domain is just lacking energy, right? A lot, a lot of energy!"
"Yes. Your Domain simply lacks an energy supply. It's a very direct, yet very desperate condition."
"Desperate?" I was a bit confused. I didn't know what level of difficulty qualified as "desperate."
"Yes. But before we talk about that, you need to understand a concept."
"What concept?"
"The concept of rank classification," Sister Bai said.
"Rank... classification?" I frowned as I asked. "I heard Dean Mei say that the only rank the Void truly recognizes is the boundary of Transcendent. It divides everything into non-Transcendent and Transcendent levels."
"True, Transcendent is indeed the only rank classification currently recognized by the Void. But Xiao Han, don't you think the span of that level is too large? Some lives spend their entire existence unable to even touch the Transcendent level."
"So... rank classification... you mean man-made ranks?" I asked tentatively. "Didn't they say those were meaningless?"
"Meaningless? How could they be? It's true that humans cannot define rank divisions on the macro 'Transcendent' level, but we can divide ranks based on 'Energy Levels.' This Energy Level classification refers to the amount of energy one possesses. It doesn't represent combat power, but it provides a descriptive reference for a being's strength. Energy Level classification is a compromise for rank classification."
"Oh, so it ignores combat power and ranks based on the amount of energy, right? And for people at an average level, the amount of energy is basically equal to their combat rank anyway, which is why it's called a compromise..." I nodded in understanding.
"Exactly. Actually, we could do combat power rankings, but it's too troublesome and impossible to popularize in the Void. The main issue is that it can't be unified; none of the various races in the Void will submit to another's standards."
"After all, as you know, Xiao Han, different energies have their differences. Take the common ones in our Main World: Mana, Witch Power, Holy Light Power, Elements... trying to unify them is just too much trouble. So, we use Energy Levels to divide ranks."
"Then can you tell me how they are divided, Sister Bai? Since it's popularized, it should be easy to distinguish, right?" I asked curiously.
"Yes. Let's use our Witch race's Mana Source as the unit. One Mana Source of ours represents one standard Energy Level unit. Possessing 1 to 9 Mana Sources is called an Entry-level Apprentice."
"Then, 10 units and up is a Junior Apprentice. It increases by tenfold increments from there: Intermediate, then Senior Apprentice. Starting at 10,000 units, you are an Entry-level Official Mage—or Official Caster, whichever you prefer. Increasing by tenfold again gives you Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Casters. This is the rank division below Transcendent. The threshold for the highest rank, Senior Caster, is exactly 10 million, and the upper limit is just under 100 million. It cannot exceed 100 million."
"One hundred million!?" I was stunned by the number!
"It's less than 100 million. Below Transcendent, one cannot exceed 100 million. That is the limit a non-Transcendent life can carry," Sister Bai corrected.
"And 100 million is the threshold for those at the Transcendent level and above. The corresponding Energy Level classification is... the Saint Realm. Therefore, 'Transcendent and Saintly' is the term used to describe this level. A Transcendent who achieves that status with less than 100 million Energy Level is merely a Transcendent, not Transcendent and Saintly."
"Uh... so... what does this have to do with my Domain?" I asked, weakly raising my hand.
"That brings us to the concept of the Saint Realm. It is a threshold. It's not just about reaching 100 million energy; rather, without the corresponding method to promote to the Saint Realm, a life—even a Transcendent one—cannot exceed the 100 million Energy Level limit."
"Then may I ask why?" I spoke up again.
"Because the threshold for the Saint Realm is... shaping your own Domain. And the most basic energy threshold required for a Domain to form is an Energy Level of 100 million standard units! Only 100 million units can satisfy the self-circulation of a complete Domain." As Bai Yu said this... she couldn't help but think of herself.
She understood very well that energy wasn't the key to promoting to the Saint Realm; realizing one's Domain was the key.
When she promoted to Transcendent and realized Body Cultivation Heart Sense, shaping her Heart State Domain, energy was not an issue at all. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to finish shaping her Domain in such a short time.
Furthermore, by using Dean Mei’s recommendation letter to return to the Main World so quickly—if she hadn't shaped this Domain and promoted to the Saint Realm, the difficulty, obstacles, and time wasted in returning to the Main World would have been far greater!
But it was all worth it.
And the Xiao Han she had high hopes for was even more so. Her Xiao Han had mastered a Domain prototype before even promoting to Transcendent. That meant Xiao Han could definitely reach the heavens in a single bound when she promoted—becoming Transcendent and Saintly!
The term "Transcendent and Saintly" was the very definition of a genius! Even she, who had promoted to Transcendent first and shaped her Domain immediately after—failing to achieve the feat of becoming Transcendent and Saintly in a single step—could still be called a genius. One could only imagine what it meant for someone who did!
But at this moment, I was already reeling from Sister Bai’s words. A single number was echoing in my ears... 100 million!
Shaping a complete Domain actually requires 100 million Mana Sources!
Even if I packed myself up and sold myself, I wouldn't be able to scrape that together, right?