Chapter 813: Setting Up the Experimental Site
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 813: Setting Up the Experimental Site
The Academy Dean’s office.
"Come on, let me see~ Did Xiao Han stir up another big commotion? Why are you being so secretive?"
"Why have you suddenly taken such an interest in Xiao Han again?" Mei Lind asked, her gaze turning toward the witch before her with a look of impatience.
"What? Can't I be curious? I really am quite interested in her. If you won't tell me, I’ll just head over to the site and find her myself. It seems they’re about to conduct a small-scale experiment, aren't they?" Sheryl said with a smile.
"If you already know that much, there’s no need to pester me for more information, is there?" Mei Lind grumbled, yet she still pulled out a document.
Compared to telling this Rebel Witch the details, she was even less inclined to let the woman run off to meet Xiao Han alone.
She had suddenly realized that having this Rebel Witch loitering in her office might actually be a good thing—at least it kept her from causing trouble elsewhere.
"Self-generated mana, huh~ I’m familiar with that talent, of course, but who would have thought a little witch could master such a thing? If she can’t become a witch, then I’ll just have to—"
"She will certainly become a witch."
"Care to make a bet?" Sheryl asked playfully.
"I would, provided you sign a non-interference contract. Will you?" Mei Lind countered.
"You’re taking this far too seriously~ Honestly, I was just joking around." Sheryl took the document and laughed, brushing the matter aside.
The document was a summary compiled after Academy Dean Serena Politzer’s visit to the laboratory.
While it wasn't a deep dive into the underlying principles, a layperson only needed to know the data they were looking for; professional matters were best left to the professionals.
They only needed to look at key issues: the experimental method, total time elapsed, complexity, and so on—including the conceptual approach taken during the experiment, as well as the substitutability and universality of these methods.
"Are you messing with me? This is it?"
"Read it or don't. Did you expect to ask about the principles? You’re lucky to get materials you can actually understand. Did you want to learn a trick or two on the spot and try it yourself?"
"Hey, hey... that sounded like an insult. Are you saying I’m not smart enough?"
"Aren't you?" Mei Lind asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.
"As it happens~ I really am useless when it comes to academics." Sheryl admitted it quite grandly. It seemed she didn't mind having her shortcomings exposed.
Rebel Witches were used to being misunderstood by many; a jab like this wasn't enough to break her composure.
"At least you have some self-awareness," Mei Lind said, rolling her eyes before returning to her work.
What she was busy with was nothing other than the transformation of the massive Qi Observation experimental instrument in the laboratory.
The previous Qi Observation instrument had been a huge help in repairing the Expansion Realm. However, once that repair was finished, they had modified the instrument on that same foundation to be used for observing the World Navel.
As for whether they needed to continue repairing the Main World?
Of course they did!
But they had hit a snag. Without the World Navel, their progress in repairing the Main World was completely stalled.
If they didn't have control over such a vital location, even repairing the Expansion Realm would be difficult.
One had to remember that the world currently being repaired in the Expansion Realm was only a small world!
A small world was incomparable to the Main World, yet that was the limit of what they could currently repair—and even then, it was centered around the ley line breach at Ninglan New City.
Therefore, calling Ninglan New City the current center of the Expansion Realm was an entirely accurate statement.
Without the World Navel acting as a medium, repairing the ley lines was an arduous task.
After all, repairing a world was essentially about repairing and awakening its ley lines.
And since the World Navel served as the bridge between the world and the void ley lines, the Witch Academy was in a very passive position without control over it.
In fact... opening the Expansion Realm to other academies after its repair was, to some extent, a "compromise."
Even the matter of the assassination attempt on Xiao Han had been escalated by the Witch Academy until the Expansion Realm was completely sealed off, and the other transcendent academies hadn't said a word.
The witches had actually hoped they would object, but the three transcendent races were truly like tortoises, withdrawing into the Core World.
"By the way, can this big guy of yours really help you collect information and the location of the World Navel?" Sheryl finished skimming the document and tossed it onto the desk. Her gaze then fell upon the most extravagant creation in the entire laboratory.
"It’s always worth a try, isn't it?" Mei Lind replied.
"I heard Xiao Han came up with this too. Honestly, what use are the rest of you~ Why do you need Xiao Han’s help for everything?" Sheryl commented sharply.
"..."
Mei Lind was stunned by Sheryl’s words, instinctively wanting to argue.
Had they done nothing? Why judge a witch’s silent dedication based on such a narrow view?
From the moment they first entered the Main World to the present day, they had built the Witch Academy to this level. Countless academic witches were dedicated to their own research topics and projects.
Their work in completing the transcendent levels, developing spells, and innovating techniques wasn't always suitable for public fanfare, but that didn't mean they hadn't contributed.
Even a witch who had researched [Transcendent Knowledge] for a century without results—the mere fact that she stood her ground in the lab doing nothing else was a kind of miracle...
But after so many thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant, Mei Lind ultimately didn't say a word. She wanted to speak, but realized anything she said would just be sentimental venting.
"Yes, young little witches possess the most vitality and creativity. Perhaps that is the very meaning of the Witch Academy’s existence," Mei Lind sighed. She meant it from the bottom of her heart.
If a person didn't demonstrate a special advantage or ability far beyond their mentor during their time as a preparatory witch or a little witch, then even if they became a transcendent witch, they would only ever be an ordinary one.
It wasn't that the witch race looked down on such witches; the Primal Witch cared for every single witch, whether they were ordinary or extraordinary.
"How rare for you to say something like that... Oh~ you’re the Academy Dean. It seems playing this role has given you some deep insights~"
"I have indeed felt a lot. Perhaps you could try founding a Witch Academy somewhere in the void yourself. Maybe your perspective would change. Don't you Rebel Witches love 'correcting' things? Perhaps you should try making changes from the very beginning."
"A very reasonable suggestion... but I have opened Witch Academies before. I ended up ruining all of them, though, because I realized they didn't seem worthy of being witches, nor were they worthy of my guidance."
"Then perhaps you were only staring at those children’s flaws. Have you never examined yourself? Your words and your actions are somewhat contradictory," the Dean said.
However, Mei Lind knew exactly why. This Rebel Witch before her likely held a philosophy of transcendent witch racial supremacy.
She could accept a fellow transcendent witch making a mistake and would seek to correct it, even through violent means.
But for non-witch beings... she would only see them as a waste of time.
This was a common type of racial superiority within the witch race.
One could only say it was a bad habit spoiled into them by the Primal Witch.
Yet no witch ever criticized the Primal Witch for this. Besides, the Primal Witch hadn't actually done anything; she simply stood guard over the Great Library of the Witch World with absolute authority, and from that point on, no other race dared to set foot in the witches' void territory.
These were all spontaneous behaviors. After all, a witch had to stand on the side of witches to protect everything they were.
When everything was viewed from the standpoint of the witch race, the concepts of right and wrong ceased to exist.
And so, in this office, the conversation continued.
The probing and the exchange of philosophies between the witch and the Rebel Witch played out incessantly, but perhaps no one could see the sincerity hidden within the Rebel Witch.
* * *
The Witch Academy indoor training ground.
This was the site the academy had allocated to the laboratory for small-scale promotional experiments.
After some tidying up, it had become a massive experimental testing ground—a wear-resistant area capable of withstanding the rigors of magical construction.
The tasks posted on the academy system quickly attracted "volunteers" to help.
The reason for such efficiency was, naturally, the power of wealth!
In the Witch Academy, not everyone could claim to be financially independent.
Even if one knew a transcendent craft or two, like alchemy or pharmacy, those weren't rare in the Witch Academy. Consequently, the prices weren't great; after deducting material costs, there wasn't much profit to be made.
Thus, many students viewed high-paying public tasks as a form of temporary part-time work.
After all, who wouldn't want to make quick money serving a wealthy lady?
For instance, there were quite a few wealthy ladies in our lab; to them, money was truly just a number.
Of course, this only applied to general currency. When it came to Mithril or Orichalcum, everyone was short.
So, as soon as this task was posted, it drew a crowd, especially since it only involved following orders to do chores or trivial matters.
The people who usually took these tasks were mostly underclassmen, or even freshmen.
After all, newly enrolled students were all desperately short on cash. Facing a brand-new world like the Witch Academy, there were too many novelties to empty their wallets and too many things they wanted to buy.
I had no objection to posting these tasks.
Trivial matters would only waste our precious energy and time; they had more important things to do.
And I had something important to do as well.
That was to go to the Omni-Link Arena to sync permissions—specifically, the root network and power network of the Omni-Link Main Network Tree.
These were the permissions granted after our report was approved.
It was similar to the permissions used during the recent Freshman Competition, where the energy levels of the lowest-tier power network were set at the training ground.
Even though I was the one who had shaped the Omni-Link Main Network Tree, it now served the Witch Academy. The academy wasn't my personal dictatorship; if I wanted to use it, I naturally had to follow the process and apply for permissions.
Once I had these permissions, I could directly use the root network to project experimental zone boundary warnings, identity recognition, and so on at our training ground.
This included providing clearer guidance and identity marking for those participating in the experiment within the training ground.
Although the projections from the root network weren't physical, they were much more convenient for warnings and information transmission.
More importantly, they could interface with experimental instruments for temporary data storage and real-time retrieval.
Furthermore, with me here—someone who possessed a Tree of Great Knowledge—it’s safe to say my control over these permissions was the most flexible.
I could put a personal info ID over everyone’s head, or even a health and mana bar. These were all application techniques perfected during that game experiment back in the Expansion Realm.
The collection of personal information could also interface with the ley lines and Ley Line Identification Art for display.
"Yes! You there, you few~ come over here quickly." A voice rang out across the training ground, and several underclassmen were called over.
"Coming, Senior Sister~ Is there something else you need us to do?"
"Do you know how to play with sandbox simulations and the like?" This Senior Sister displayed a miniature sandbox projected via the root network beside her—a 3D holographic map of this training ground and its surroundings.
"Eh? What do you mean exactly?" the girls asked, jogging over with puzzled expressions.
"Look~ this projected sandbox in front of you is an interactive miniature of the area we’re in. It’s an interactive interface granted by the root network permissions."
As the girl spoke, she used her hand to zoom in on a specific area, entering the interior of the training ground.
"See? This is where we are, and these little projected figures are us."
"Wow... so detailed? Is this real-time motion feedback?!" The underclassmen were instantly shocked by the operation.
"There’s a bit of a delay, but it’s good enough." The girl explained casually before getting straight to the point. "I called you over to help set up the perimeter. This training ground has become our lab’s temporary testing site."
"To ensure that no one wanders in and ruins our experimental progress when nothing is happening, we need to set up warning alerts for this area. Simply put, it’s like putting up caution tape, but you’ll be doing it on this miniature sandbox."
After explaining, the girl drew a perimeter line around their location on the sandbox. Immediately, a striking red warning projection appeared in the real world, encircling them.
"This is a real-world interaction mode, so don't mess around, and definitely don't cause a scene! Although the original combat classes for this training ground have been moved, there are always little idiots who don't check their messages and barge in."
"Eh? You’re giving this task to us?"
"Mhm. I’ll transfer the permissions to your Knowledge Seeds in a moment, and I’ll teach you exactly how to operate it. You just need to be responsible for the site layout and manual monitoring." The girl smiled.
In truth, once these warnings were set up, the area could automatically identify intruders; they would just need to be asked to leave.
As for the manual monitoring~ it was just a safeguard.
"Alright then."
"Don't look so reluctant. I’ll add a bonus to your pay once the task is settled."
"Yes, Senior Sister! We guarantee the mission will be a success! Not even a fly will get in!" Hearing about the extra money, the underclassmen instantly perked up with enthusiasm.