Chapter 743: The Purity of Researchers
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 743: The Purity of Researchers
After Yi Rui achieved her second successful case, she proved the generalizability of the "Demonic Remolding Rebirth Art."
However, this was still far from enough. This was merely the beginning of the Mana Source Body Cultivation Method; they needed to reach their theoretical limit—the upper bound of ten thousand Mana Sources. Only that level would suffice.
But there was no immediate rush. As I had said, the current success was enough for now. Periodic success only requires individual cases as proof. Ultimately, we all had only one goal: Self-Generated Mana.
This didn't mean I was preventing everyone else from succeeding in their experiments, just as I had handled the Fool's Dream.
I had no way of turning them into true life forms. Back when I first touched upon the "Mimicry Soul" technique, I proved that it couldn't help them take that further step into becoming living beings. Consequently, I only experimented with Mimicry Soul techniques on the few Fool's Dream spirits like Yulan who were willing to follow me; I didn't promote it on a large scale to all of them.
The situation with Yi Rui and her group was likely the same.
There was no need for all of them to rush impatiently into this physical reconstruction. Before true success was achieved, someone always had to pay the price of waiting.
Furthermore, if everyone succeeded, who would be left to define the boundaries of the spell's success through failure?
Of course, I had to phrase this delicately. If I were too blunt, it might seem as though Yi Rui, as their leader, was blocking the path to success for the rest after achieving it herself.
Even if no one said it aloud, such an atmosphere would severely hinder the progress of the experiment.
Thus, the following day, Yi Rui spoke to everyone with complete transparency.
She clearly stated the importance of defining the boundaries of success for our current experiment. She also explained the universality of the Demonic Remolding Rebirth Art, which meant that as long as they were willing, they could adopt the same constitution as Yi Rui and the other successful subject at any time, stepping onto the path of the true Mana Source Body Cultivation Method.
I watched the entire process from the side. With my Sixth Sense: Heart Sense, I could clearly feel the emotions of the crowd.
In my view, when everyone works hard together but some are asked to hold back for the greater good, there will inevitably be those who harbor resentment.
I used my Heart Sense to perceive such individuals, intending to mark them. I would not allow such people to remain in the experiment; even if it seemed heartless, I would do it anyway.
But... there were none.
Not a single person felt that way.
For a moment, I found it hard to understand. Had I spent so much time dealing with terrible people that I could no longer believe in such purity of heart?
Or was it that I always preferred to imagine the worst-case scenario, only to feel at a loss when faced with the best?
"Xiao Han? Is something wrong?"
At that moment, Yi Rui walked over to me and asked.
"Hmm? No... it's nothing," I shook my head instinctively. "Are you finished talking?"
"Yes, the arrangements are mostly made. Everyone seems to agree with the plan," Yi Rui said with a smile.
"Is... is that so?" I had been so immersed in my Heart Sense and self-reflection that I hadn't paid much attention to the solution Yi Rui had proposed.
However, the Tree of Great Knowledge had recorded and summarized what she had said.
Yi Rui had decided that everyone would continue experimenting. The proven universality of the technique guaranteed that everyone would eventually obtain this constitution.
Until then, everyone would try their best to probe the boundaries of failure based on their successes. Furthermore, they would compile a book titled Detailed Analysis of Typical Failure Cases of the Demonic Remolding Rebirth Art.
Failure is failure, after all. Perhaps our so-called exploration of boundaries wasn't about mapping every single possibility, but rather identifying failures that couldn't be avoided through conventional means—the "points of caution."
Committing a failure that could be avoided through standard procedure was just seeking death. The cases we needed to explore were the counter-intuitive, counter-common-sense, and unavoidable failure boundaries.
Yi Rui intended to compile these into a systematic set of books, clearly marking which individuals had given their lives for each failure case.
She had transformed the conflict of failure into a different kind of honor. Those who didn't want to experience failure could naturally succeed as a matter of course. Meanwhile, those who failed might pay a significant price, but the contribution they made and the honor they earned would be worth promoting.
"Exactly. Everyone is quite enthusiastic about it. Xiao Han, were you worried about something?"
"Earlier, I was. But now... not anymore," I said, shaking my head.
"Were you worried that some people wouldn't want to continue this painful experiment and experience repeated failures?"
"Something like that..."
"That's why... you still haven't truly integrated with us in this experiment, Xiao Han. None of us find failure to be a painful experiment. Failure without a sight of success is the root of pain. You were overthinking it~" Yi Rui said with a laugh.
"Is that how it is? I really envy your purity..."
"You're joking. A genius like you, Xiao Han, actually envies us?" Yi Rui countered with a smile.
"I'm not an absolutely perfect being. Why can't I envy you?" I didn't tell Yi Rui about the Heart Sense.
"I suppose that's true."
"By the way, regarding the streamlining of the Rebirth Art spellbook... how do you plan to arrange that?" After trying that spellbook yesterday, I knew that streamlining was imperative.
"Immediately, of course~ I have to admit, the current spellbook for the Demonic Remolding Rebirth Art is far too bloated. Whether for the successful experiments or the failures we're about to face, sharpening the blade doesn't delay the woodcutting~ So, we're putting all our energy into streamlining the spellbook for now. The experiments are temporarily on hold."
"Oh? Such high efficiency?" I was a bit surprised.
"Our execution has always been high. Plus, we've brought in our mentors. There are five spellbooks, and the five of us teamed up to bring in five mentors, including my own, Mentor Belica. We're aiming to finish the streamlining in the shortest time possible."
"That's wonderful~" I sighed in admiration.
"It's a great practical project, after all. To be honest, even in the past, we rarely had contact with the spell architecture related to Resurrection Spells. So, even if you strip away the shell of the Self-Generated Mana project, this Rebirth Art is very challenging for us. It's also a chance to integrate and organize our knowledge of Resurrection Spells from this period."
Yi Rui and the others were extremely serious about every practical application, and this time was no exception.
After chatting with Yi Rui a bit more, I prepared to head back.
After returning yesterday, I had dabbled in the cultivation of the Heaven-Shattering Internal Energy Body Arts under Sister Bai's guidance.
Sister Bai had also learned about the breakthrough and periodic success of the Mana Source Body Cultivation Method during our previous dinner.
So, I had mentioned the concept of Body Arts using Mana Sources as transcendent energy to her.
However, it was clearly beyond Sister Bai's current scope of knowledge.
After all, her knowledge base was still at the level of a Main World student. Even though she had become a Transcendent and was qualified to touch upon Transcendent Knowledge—even trading for previously inaccessible knowledge in the Primal Dream—the time she had been a Transcendent was still too short.
Many things required study, accumulation, refinement, and personal realization.
But... Sister Bai still took my idea to heart and prepared to act on it.
"Sister Bai, are you sure you want to do this?" That was the question I had asked her at the time.
"Of course, Xiao Han. You need to start learning to rely on others. In your plan, no one is better suited for this than me, right?"
That was her answer, and she provided her own reasoning.
She believed that using Mana Sources in the field of Body Cultivation was an entirely new subject. She wanted to use her spare time to do something meaningful, like creating a new research topic. If she could help Xiao Han while doing so, it would be even better.
Xiao Han only needed to do what she loved, even if it required twelve-tenths of her energy.
Body Arts were her specialty. Once the problem became her own, she had far more ways to solve it than Xiao Han did...
The philosophies of Spell Cultivation and Body Cultivation were fundamentally different, leading to a divergence in their paths.
The idea of the two complementing each other through dual cultivation was, in the end, nothing more than a beautiful fantasy.
The difficulty was as absurd as a "science whiz" and a "liberal arts whiz" being the same person in the ordinary world.
Even I primarily focused on Witch Spells, with Body Cultivation as a supplement. My extra reason for practicing Body Cultivation was to make full use of my self-awakened Body Cultivation talent. But that ability itself was born from a stroke of luck involving spells, the Great Spellbook, and my own unique circumstances.
So, after hesitating for a second, I accepted Sister Bai's help.
My area of expertise, after all, was Transcendent research.
* * *
In the blink of an eye, half of the holiday had passed.
The other Transcendent academies of the Main World seemed to have fallen into a strange calm after the commotion caused by the Witch Academy and the subsequent "backstab."
Beneath the calm atmosphere, undercurrents swirled. The social climate had become so oppressive that even ordinary people felt uneasy.
However, long-standing social peace had caused the people of this world to forget the meaning of global war and upheaval.
The brief silence was due to the arrival of the holidays, giving many a chance to breathe. The struggle between Transcendent academies had been downgraded; the will of the Transcendents had trickled down to the students, shifting the conflict to the recruitment of new students.
Over this long period, the battle for freshmen was gradually coming to an end. The remaining unregistered freshmen could likely wait peacefully for their normal school opening notices.
One could foresee that the start of the new term would be a brand-new battleground.
None of the Transcendents in the various academies of the Main World had expected change to come so quickly.
In just one year, an ordinary person they had never even heard of had grown into an existence capable of threatening them.
And how many foolish things had they done during this year?
This new class, and this holiday, prompted reflection not just from the students, but from the Transcendents themselves. They wondered: when exactly did things turn out like this?
It seemed... to have started when the Main World Script began.
But no Transcendent would admit to having their judgment influenced by a script controlled by a World Consciousness. If such a thing were said publicly, they would be laughed out of the room.
They were Transcendents—beings who had ascended, detached from the world, crossed worlds, and stepped into the Void.
Yet, they had to admit that the concept of Luck remained terrifying. It wasn't an interference one could completely escape just by becoming a Transcendent. As long as one remained within a world, interference was inevitable.
This coexistence was like a swimmer in a pool. Becoming a Transcendent passively gave one the ability to swim, but a person in the water could never deny one thing: while the probability of a swimmer drowning is small, it is never zero.
Similarly, the probability of a Transcendent being plotted to death by Luck within a world is small, but it is also not zero.
Moreover, they weren't dead; they had merely suffered a setback.
But compared to that level of Transcendent maneuvering...
Yi Rui and the others had perfected many things during this time.
Under their mentors' guidance, they had completed the streamlining of the spellbook and the final derived standardized spells.
One mentor even took the time to help them organize the process into a research paper, publishing this special "Rebirth Art."
Due to authorship limits, it was credited to a team, but the final acknowledgments listed every single team member's name.
Originally, a paper like this wouldn't have garnered much attention from witches. A specialized spell like the Rebirth Art would only attract those curious about that specific category.
However, the mention of Xiao Han in the acknowledgments caused several witches to take notice.
In fact, many witches were curious about what Xiao Han had been up to lately. A low-profile Xiao Han made them uneasy; every time she went quiet, she would eventually drop something massive on everyone.
So, some witches began to poke around, eventually discovering... the Self-Generated Mana project.
Furthermore, the Academy Dean had specifically allocated a fully equipped laboratory for Xiao Han in the experimental zone!
Emotions sour with envy instantly flooded the witches who had failed their own lab applications.
And when these witches truly understood what the Self-Generated Mana project was researching, they fell into a profound silence... Creating a technique to grant a non-transcendent level body the talent for self-generated mana, and achieving large-scale promotion...
Their first reaction was that it was impossible. But then they remembered that Xiao Han herself seemed to be the first practical case, and they fell silent again.
Was it really impossible?
If this were just an ordinary student team, they would have scoffed. But with Xiao Han's name attached, this unrealistic idea seemed to have been infused with the possibility of a miracle...