Chapter 860: Dean: Do You Know How Many Papers This Could Write?!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 860: Dean: Do You Know How Many Papers This Could Write?!
"Xiao Han, not every witch has conducted research into the Great Soul Subject or the nature of soul essence lifeforms."
At that moment, Sister Bai leaned in, her voice a low whisper meant only for my ears.
"Ugh... that was my mistake..."
After all, my research into soul essence... admittedly wasn't that extensive. I had spent far more time studying my own soul.
I really hadn't considered how fragile the soul essence of a living person could be.
I had seen the way ordinary people looked when they died, and I’d even used that method to snatch soul essence back from the ley line cycle. But not everyone possessed techniques like "Mimicry Soul" or "Soul Depiction."
Even for me, deriving those techniques required borrowing the power of the Great Spellbook.
Although I had currently dismantled my Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art, the [Transcendent Knowledge] represented by that power was still linked to me in some way, allowing me to use the related skills.
"Sisters~ could I give it a try? I have a few methods that might give us a more direct look at this student's condition." I stepped forward and addressed the two witches as "sisters." The honorific proved quite effective.
"Fine... but don't do anything reckless."
"Mhm! I promise I won't!" I immediately guaranteed.
When it came to extracting soul essence from a body, the "Incubation Rebirth" spell I mastered—along with its various derived applications—was more than enough.
Mimicry Soul and Soul Depiction were techniques used on soul essence after the fact. Since the situation was still unclear, I couldn't jump to conclusions yet.
Taking over the experimental table, I instantly displayed a level of professional poise. I was, after all, a little witch who had spent plenty of time in various laboratories. Even if I usually did things my own way, I had absorbed that professional aura through osmosis over time.
Once I took charge, the power of the Incubation Rebirth spell quickly stripped away Shi Ruizhi’s soul essence. Her body on the operating table immediately went still, left with only a few instinctive physical reactions. The physical mutations driven by her life essence halted abruptly, leaving only the lingering echoes of immortality to torment her flesh.
As my technique succeeded, the two witches' eyes widened with pure astonishment.
For a moment, they couldn't even process what method I had used.
After all, the Incubation Rebirth spellbook was something even Dean Mei didn't possess, so its derived techniques were naturally unrecognizable to them.
However... what was even more shocking was Shi Ruizhi’s current state as soul essence!
Generally speaking, the form of soul essence reflects the original form of the living body. It is an inertial state held within one's self-perception—an instinct. Even subjective consciousness finds it difficult to alter the shape of one's soul essence.
But Shi Ruizhi’s soul essence had completely lost the concept of being "human"!
It was a mass of near-chaos. Limbs, head, torso... one could only vaguely discern "humanoid" features, and her face was a total blur of static.
"This is... Shi Ruizhi’s soul essence? What a twisted form!" Seeing the essence in this state, the two witch sisters couldn't help but gasp.
"There is absolutely no way my Self-Generated Mana experiment could turn someone's soul essence into this!" Seeing this, I became even more certain.
"So... is someone actually trying to frame you, Xiao Han? Who would have the nerve to sabotage your experiment? I recall even the Dean was very invested in this..."
"I don't know... whether it's a frame-up or not... the victim is still just a student..." I sighed helplessly.
"It's alright. If this really wasn't your mistake, we'll help you when the investigation starts!"
Suddenly, the two witches had flipped to my side, offering their support.
"Thank you, sisters," I thanked them politely.
But... a massive problem still loomed over everyone in the room.
What were we supposed to do with Shi Ruizhi’s soul essence?
The room fell into a heavy silence. The two witches didn't have much expertise in the field of life essence; they were only there to lend a hand. And as for Xiao Han in their eyes... she was just a little witch. What could she possibly do?
"Should we... call in some more witches? I know some sisters who have made great strides in the Great Soul Subject."
"But the student is in a soul essence state. The parts of the Great Soul Subject related to soul essence are only in the early stages of soul sublimation. Everything after that branches into subjects exploring the nature of the soul," the other witch pointed out.
"Well, that's still better than just standing here staring at her, isn't it?"
"Maybe I should try. I have... some research regarding soul essence..." I spoke up.
"Xiao Han, if you aren't certain, it's best not to touch her. If you accidentally kill this student... you might never be able to clear your name. From a third-party perspective, it would look like you were silencing a witness..."
"She's right. There might be people in the academy administration who won't let this go."
"Thank you for the warning, sisters, but I have a lot of confidence in my techniques. At the very least, I won't let her die..." I still had my Soul Depiction technique as a safety net. However... I had only ever tested that technique on experimental animals. I hadn't really tried it on a real person yet.
Back in the dungeon world, a vast number of lab rats had sacrificed their lives for that research.
"I hope... so. If it really doesn't work, I can take the fall for you, Xiao Han. Mmm... you'll just owe me a favor later~"
Just as the witch said this, a figure suddenly appeared in the infirmary. She arrived so silently that, for a moment, no one even noticed her presence.
"Ahem... plotting such things right in front of the Dean isn't exactly proper, is it?"
"Huh? De... Dean!" That voice sent a jolt of shock through most of the people present, especially the two witches.
"Sister Mei?" I turned around in surprise, only then noticing the figure. "A... clone?"
"Of course. Did you expect me to come in person? Xiao Han... can't you give me a moment's peace?" Dean Mei’s voice carried a hint of weary resignation.
"Sister Mei~ this really isn't my fault. You know my techniques. There's no way this experimental accident was caused by my skills, right?" I put on a look of aggrieved innocence.
"But you cannot deny that this happened during your experiment, can you?" Dean Mei replied with a "strictly business" attitude.
"That... I really can't argue with..." I muttered.
While I could try to excuse myself by saying I wasn't there, that argument was meaningless. It would also be equivalent to throwing Yi Rui under the bus.
I couldn't bring myself to do that. Yi Rui was one of my few actual friends.
"I will handle the investigation. Xiao Han, stay on your best behavior lately. Don't cause any more trouble." This time, Dean Mei’s warning tone was laced with another emotion.
Others might not have caught it—they might have even found it strange—but Sister Bai and I, possessing Heart Sense, understood the true meaning behind her words.
The Dean "handling it" meant she was taking full responsibility for the investigation. For a Dean to personally investigate a "minor" incident within the academy showed just how much importance she placed on it.
Simultaneously, it meant something else: the Dean believed this wasn't our fault. She was willing to find the truth for us and was telling me to stay calm and not do anything reckless.
Of course, "stay on your best behavior" was also a genuine warning. After causing such a massive scene in the Expansion Realm, coming back to the academy and causing more trouble would be considered quite tactless.
As the Dean, she was practically becoming a "tool witch" dedicated solely to cleaning up after me.
"Ugh... I understand..." I lowered my head cooperatively, "admitting" my mistake. "But... what about student Shi Ruizhi? What do we do with her?"
"She... is indeed a problem." Mei Lind looked at the girl whose soul essence had been separated from her shell, then at the state of that essence. It was a mess.
In the past, research involving the essence of life was called "forbidden experimentation," and even today, that wasn't a joke.
If it were a simple case of missing soul essence, it could be compensated for. But this was a targeted strike against the very nature of the soul essence itself, erasing the traits that made the essence "human." That was incredibly difficult to repair.
As the saying goes, destruction is always much easier than reconstruction. That applied perfectly here.
"You two have worked hard. I'll take over from here. And... the rest of you, if you have nothing else to do, you may leave early," Mei Lind said, looking at the two witches and then at Yi Rui and her group.
"Alright~ Since the Dean is here in person, I suppose there's nothing left for us to do~"
The two witches were very "sensible" and left immediately. Staying wouldn't help anyway; they had really just been passing by to watch the commotion and lend a hand.
"Then... goodbye, Dean..." Yi Rui clearly had things she wanted to say, but she held them back. She said her goodbyes and prepared to leave.
"Yes, goodbye... Wait, Xiao Han! You stay." Dean Mei wore a gentle, kind smile for the departing students, but her tone shifted instantly when she saw me trying to slip away with them.
"Ugh... okay."
I stopped in my tracks and turned around. I thought I was off the hook too...
As I stayed behind, Sister Bai also lingered, and the Dean didn't shoo Bai Yu away.
After the door was closed, Mei Lind snapped her fingers. The entire special care unit was sealed off in every sense of the word, though from the outside, nothing looked out of the ordinary.
"Xiao Han, do you know why I kept you here?"
"Uh... to scold me?"
"Scold you? Don't tell me you're going to claim this mess is actually yours?" Mei Lind said irritably.
"Ab... absolutely not! This is definitely not my fault! Uh... so... what is it?" I asked curiously.
"Even though I also study a branch of the Great Soul Subject, I'm not quite sure how to handle this state of soul essence..."
"Sister Mei, you're also studying the Great Soul Subject?" My eyes widened, my focus entirely on the wrong thing.
"That's not the point..." Mei Lind shook her head. "This girl, Shi Ruizhi—you were the one who extracted her soul essence, right? If I hadn't shown up just now... were you about to start trying to fix her?"
"Uh..."
"Speak freely, it's fine. I kept you here specifically to ask you that. If you really have no way, then I'll have to use my method." Mei Lind shook her head helplessly. "My method... which is Metamorphic Incubation..."
"Metamorphic Incubation can heal problems at the level of life essence?!"
"Of course not." Mei Lind shook her head. "But I can keep her in a permanent state of incubation. That state will prevent her condition from worsening. If I make a breakthrough in deriving new applications for that spell later, I might be able to save her. But not now."
"Uh..."
"Xiao Han, didn't you master a lot of other methods before? Incubation Rebirth, Mimicry Soul, Soul Depiction... that's about it, right? If there are methods you aren't comfortable making public, I can step out."
"Huh?" I looked at the Dean in disbelief. It was hard to imagine such words coming out of her mouth!
"Does that mean none of them will work?"
"Ah? Oh! No... that's not it." I quickly snapped out of it. "I think in her current state, the only hope is probably Soul Depiction... but... I haven't perfected that technique for very long. I haven't even really used it on a human. If I use it on her... I can't be sure if she'll still be 'her' afterward. And... if I do that, her soul essence might actually sublimate into a true soul."
"..." Mei Lind turned around, her gaze fixing directly on me. "Do you realize how many shocking things you just said in one breath?"
"Huh? Did I say something?"
"First of all, there is no doubt that for me, Shi Ruizhi is beyond saving. You say you can bring her back, but the price is being unsure if she's still 'her.' I can tell you clearly from the perspective of Life Interpretation: if the soul essence hasn't changed, it's her. She would just be a version of herself with no memories or scrambled memories."
At this point, Mei Lind took a deep breath before continuing: "And then... you said you would sublimate her life essence into a soul. You would be bypassing the soul sublimation rules of the Great Soul Subject, directly elevating her from a non-transcendent state into a soul..."
"So...?"
"You... do you have any idea?! Any single one of those points is enough for me to write dozens of papers worthy of being archived in the Great Library of the Witch World!"
Looking at my completely clueless expression, Dean Mei truly didn't know whether to be angry or laugh.