Chapter 875: The Secret Realm Where the Great Glacial Throne Technique Was First Created
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 875: The Secret Realm Where the Great Glacial Throne Technique Was First Created
Following the accident during the dream experiment, the rumors that the Witch Academy had made a major breakthrough in the research of the Primitive Dream Realm were now confirmed.
However... even so, Dean Mei Lind remained tight-lipped, refusing to disclose such vital information to the outside world.
But that couldn't stop the gossiping witches. The laboratory where the incident occurred was right before their eyes; the witch who had caused such a massive commotion had to be among the few dozen present. There was no other possibility.
First, they ruled out the Dean, who had only sent a clone, then the bystander Xiao Han and her girlfriend, Bai Yu.
After all, many witches who knew a bit about Bai Yu had already categorized her as a genius in Body Cultivation, not academic research.
But then... they found that the process of elimination no longer worked.
The remaining witches all seemed to be academic witches who specialized in the Primitive Dream Realm.
Mei Lind simply let them keep guessing; they wouldn't figure it out anyway.
With the Dean stepping in, the aftermath of the experimental accident was quickly settled.
I returned to my daily routine of experiments.
As for Sister Bai, once she had completed the initial construction of her Dream Domain Order, she no longer had to work as hard as before. She only needed to further refine it to enhance her mastery over the Dream Domain.
Thus, Sister Bai ended up staying at the laboratory.
Initially, Dean Mei had suggested that Bai Yu go to the Expansion Realm, but she eventually compromised and allowed her to remain here.
Because Sister Bai had mastered a unique Dream Order, she now possessed enough capital to step into the field of Primitive Dream Realm research.
In fact, due to this advantage, even her casual research could yield some results.
This pattern was just like when I first encountered the Fireball Spell with my Floating World level Spirit Vision.
The Fireball Spell was a technique that had been researched to death by countless witches.
However, not every witch had witnessed the spell architecture and ritual framework of a Floating World level.
Of course, as a witch with zero foundation in the Primitive Dream Realm, Sister Bai didn't choose to work alone right away. She planned to use this ability to explore the essence of the Primitive Dream Realm alongside several other witches.
This research would also deepen her understanding of the order within the Primitive Dream Realm, serving as another form of self-improvement.
Meanwhile, I continued to focus my energy on the purification of the dream-state soul.
With the "Incubation Purification Method" and the "Information Deposition Method" progressing side-by-side, I could already see the possibility of ultimate success.
Once the laboratory was back on track, my clone, Moon, began to act as my will within the academy.
After all, I wouldn't be able to leave the lab for a while.
Therefore, I shifted the focus of handling trivial matters to my clone, Moon.
Millian also stopped bothering me with the [Great Knowledge Seed] and instead coordinated directly with Moon.
At this moment, Millian and I were staying at the Baking House.
Rarely, Millian hadn't chosen a place like a regular café or a witch cat café.
There were other reasons for gathering here, of course. For instance... the Baking House would soon nominally belong to the "Xiao Han Fan Club."
"Shopkeeper, did you really agree so readily? This Baking House is supposed to be your life's work, isn't it?"
"Life's work... I wouldn't really call it that. If the Baking House were gone, I just wouldn't know what to do with myself every day. I might look full of energy, but I'm actually just drifting through life."
"I agree with that," Senior Sister Ying Shiqian, who was slacking off nearby, chimed in.
The Baking House wasn't open for business today.
Following Tan Han's brilliant performance in the arena, the once-quiet Baking House had suddenly been swamped by too many people. They weren't there to buy anything.
Even if they were, Xia Li didn't really care about the money earned from selling bread.
So, the Baking House simply suspended operations, a state that had already lasted for several days.
It was a rare occasion where almost all the core members were gathered in this small shop.
The shopkeeper Xia Li, the two employees—Senior Sister Ying Shiqian and Senior Sister Tang Yihan—and another core club member, Tan Han, had also come.
Plus my clone and Millian, who represented the Xiao Han Fan Club.
The exquisite desserts and cakes were laid out like free decorations.
Since they would all be part of the same club from now on, there was no need to be stingy with these club specialties.
Today, with everyone present, there were naturally things to discuss.
The most important matter... was the transformation of the Fan Club.
From now on, the Fan Club would be renamed the Baking House. This was also a way to strip the club of the shackles named "Xiao Han."
At the very least, Millian felt that if they wanted to become followers useful to Xiao Han, they first needed to take off that self-deceiving title and face their status as followers honestly.
And those who were still willing to follow her would be Millian's original "core team."
Later, Millian would follow my instructions to gather like-minded students in the academy to expand the group.
I knew it would be difficult. Perhaps such a club would collapse or slowly lose its way after I ascended to Transcendent, but I still wanted to do this.
"Xiao Han... isn't this club philosophy a bit too idealistic?"
"So you also think this concept is meaningless?" I looked at Tan Han, who had asked the question. Compared to before, she now possessed more poise and confidence.
As expected, true strength could really change a person's temperament.
"No... I think the idea is feasible, but executing it will be very hard. The simplest problem is: how do you identify members who meet the requirements? And the nature of this club... it's more like the study clubs I joined back in high school. Can you really rely purely on self-discipline?"
Furthermore, there was something Tan Han didn't say. In a world-class top academy like the Witch Academy, there wasn't even the soil for something like a study club to exist. Wasn't that tragic?
How many of the enrolled students actually made graduation their goal?
And at what point did they abandon those ideals, blinded by the Transcendent power within their reach...
"I've thought about that, of course. But the academy has never regulated what a club should look like. Those people run clubs as tools for the academy to collect wealth and scout talent because those clubs are manifestations of family wills. Since our pursuits are different, we don't need to follow their logic. No one ever said a club is better just because it has more people, right?" Millian spoke up.
"So... the Baking House will follow an elite member route in the future?" Tan Han asked.
"More than that. If possible, the Baking House will even abandon the plan to recruit from the lower years. The academy has many stages to showcase students, from the Freshman Competition to the monthly and final exams. Those are actually the tools that help us filter candidates."
"But that leads to another problem. Why would people like that choose our club?"
"Because our club can help them achieve Transcendence," I replied to Tan Han this time.
"Just that? People are driven by profit..."
"Isn't that the second filter? If they can't see past the nature of profit, they naturally won't become the person they want to be. Our club won't help anyone get rich. We only need to build ourselves into the most brilliant platform, a ladder to help people ascend to Transcendent. Then, the people who come will naturally be the ones we expect."
"That is indeed a very good idea... but being so detached from other clubs makes it easy to be targeted. Xiao Han, I know those people don't dare target you right now, but once you have a club like this, they'll have plenty of ways to target the club itself."
"Isn't there still me? My existence is to solve these troubles for Sister Xiao Han," Millian immediately stood up and said.
"..." Tan Han looked at Millian and didn't say anything more. She knew very well how massive the problems facing this club would be.
Perhaps even Millian wouldn't be able to handle them properly, but there was no point in questioning it now.
"It seems I can't stop you from doing this. I hope you don't misunderstand; my words just now weren't meant to be nitpicking."
"It's fine. If I can't even handle your questioning, then I should give up on this naive idea sooner."
"Then... may I be so bold as to ask, what was your original intention for doing this?"
"Original intention?" I looked at Tan Han with some surprise, but quickly gave my answer. "Maybe... I just simply want to leave some of my traces behind before I go."
"Just that simple?"
"Yes, just that simple," I nodded.
Actually, the main reason was that I felt I shouldn't be like this in the Main World. It was just that I was powerless to change an entire social structure. Perhaps... only after a great reshuffling that swept the whole world would everything change.
And more importantly, I felt no sense of belonging to this Main World. As I prepared to leave, the urge to leave an "I was here" mark emerged.
After getting a general idea of my thoughts, Tan Han didn't ask anything more on the subject.
Xia Li, as the shopkeeper of the Baking House, took the opportunity to talk with Millian.
Although the shopkeeper had claimed against her heart that the Baking House wasn't her life's work, as her spiritual anchor, its significance was equally important.
Xia Li had been silently answering the questions Tan Han asked just now. If the Baking House remained in her hands, it would effectively cease to exist once she was no longer the shopkeeper.
Rather than slowly waiting for such an end, it was better to use it to gamble on a more meaningful decision.
Now, Millian began to discuss club management and other matters with the shopkeeper. Senior Sister Ying Shiqian and Senior Sister Tang Yihan also boredly drifted over to Tan Han and me.
I was chatting with Tan Han about her recent activities and her experiences with techniques like self-generated mana and body-manifested spells.
I had to admit, Tan Han was indeed a genius. Once I was out of her sight, she began to shine with her own brilliance once again.
As we talked, the conversation gradually shifted toward another important matter.
"The Jack-of-all-trades Club laid their cards on the table with me. No, that's not accurate. They never hid their determination to take that thing from me from the very beginning."
"It's just that this time, they were willing to talk to me calmly," Tan Han said.
"It seems they've realized you're not someone to be trifled with?" I replied with a smile.
"It's pretty obvious. After all, I've beaten up several teaching assistants in the arena. Now, no one dares to challenge me to an unrestricted match," Tan Han said, her gaze shifting toward me. For some reason, a hint of eager battle intent seemed to rise in her eyes.
"So, what did they tell you?" I ignored her look and continued asking.
I had no intention of fighting anyone right now.
After all, it would be effortless for me to crush anyone below the Transcendent level. Even Tan Han, who had mastered self-generated mana to a very high degree, couldn't compare.
"They told me about [Transcendent Knowledge] and revealed secrets I'd never heard before."
"They still haven't given up?" I was a bit surprised to hear Tan Han mention this again.
Time had passed so quickly that I had almost forgotten that a so-called Heart of the Cold Wave was still hidden with me.
"Of course not," Tan Han nodded.
From my tone just now, Tan Han could hear the surprise in my voice—a tone that seemed to ask, "You guys are still fighting over this junk?"
"Also... I found out the predecessor of that [Transcendent Knowledge], which is that Great Spellbook. Its name is... the Great Glacial Throne Technique."
"And then? Since they laid their cards on the table, how did things develop?" I asked curiously.
"How should I put it... when they approached me that time, it wasn't just the Jack-of-all-trades Club. There was another club called the Witch Secret Realm Club."
"Huh? You really hear about those two legendary clubs everywhere. What did they say after that?"
"The Witch Secret Realm Club manages and operates the secret realms on behalf of the Witch Academy. These secret realms are divided into many categories. Some are for students to train and challenge, while others are... research secret realms for Transcendent mentors." Tan Han's tone grew serious, as if she were bracing herself for what she was about to say next.
"And?"
"The Witch Secret Realm Club controls the experimental secret realm where the Great Glacial Throne Technique was originally shaped. This has been confirmed by the mentors. That secret realm was the experimental area where the mentor team stayed when they were developing the Great Glacial Throne Technique years ago."
After hearing Tan Han's description, the first thing I thought of was the Fool's Village secret realm created by Dean Mei when she was researching the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art.
I had heard the Dean mention the Great Glacial Throne Technique before, but I had never asked about the process of its creation.
I certainly didn't know it was born within a witch secret realm.
"Now, the academy has lifted the restrictions on this secret realm and handed it over to the Witch Secret Realm Club to handle as they see fit. Rumor has it that the complete research data for the Great Glacial Throne Technique might still be inside."
"What? Are you serious? Something that important... they just let it go? And let a club handle it?" I asked, frowning.