Chapter 888: The Transcendent Witches' Academic (?) Tea Party
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 888: The Transcendent Witches' Academic (?) Tea Party
"It’s you."
Lucianne stood up hurriedly. Although she had heard beforehand that she would be joining forces with Tan Han and the others, she found herself unable to look them in the eye now that they were actually face-to-face.
As students of the same year, many were aware of the history between her and Tan Han. However, as Tan Han’s fame and strength within the academy reached their zenith, Lucianne’s position had become particularly awkward.
"Since you’re all friends and already know each other, I won’t bother with lengthy introductions. Shall we get straight to the point?" Xing Anlei, the Vice President acting as the receptionist, spoke up. She could clearly sense Lucianne’s emotional distress and intended to steer the conversation toward official business.
"Naturally." Tan Han had no desire for idle chatter. Her primary goal in coming here was to snag some intelligence and borrow some professional exploration equipment.
She didn't care what the other side thought. Even if they turned hostile the moment they entered the secret realm, it wouldn't matter; she was only after the fragments those people carried.
* * *
Meanwhile.
While the students were pouring all their energy into the Glacial Throne Secret Realm, the Transcendent Witches were occupied with their own daily routines.
Specifically, a large-scale academic tea party.
The addition of the word "tea party" meant this wasn't a particularly solemn affair. Besides, witches generally detested a stiff, formal atmosphere.
In fact, even before the meeting began, some witches had been unable to contain their urge to share, leaking concepts related to "Dream State Soul Essence."
After all, it wasn't as if the Academy Dean had forbidden them from speaking about it.
The academy had only recently announced a major breakthrough regarding the Primitive Dream Realm. Following that up with the discovery of Dream State Soul Essence was a perfectly normal progression, wasn't it?
The expansion of a brand-new field would always trigger a burst of vitality within that domain in a short period; this was a truth proven by history.
It was just that this time, the interval between breakthroughs was a little... fast.
"...And that concludes our team's results for this period. We haven't had time to verify the theory yet, but we've completed experiments on this nested-style ritual. Anyone interested is welcome to help us with the theoretical verification. Just send it to my Primal Dream account, and we'll credit you in the acknowledgments of our team's paper..."
The witch at the visual center of the tea party waved her hand, dispersing the dizzyingly complex spell framework before her. As for the manuscript she was supposed to read from, it had already been reduced to a pile of trash at her feet.
This was the style of a witch. Once they got into the swing of things, who cared about a script?
My word is the yardstick!
Wasn't a Witch Tea Party exactly the place for such free speech?
Witches with differing opinions could stand up and voice their views directly or refute someone else's hypothesis. They would even clear some space to give them room to settle things through force if necessary.
Everyone present was a witch who wielded transcendent power. If they could just run an experiment, who would want to waste time calculating theoretical verifications? If you could manifest an idea in reality, then you had everything you needed.
Shoot the arrow first, then draw the target—practice was the best way to ensure a theory didn't deviate.
If I've made it work in practice and you can't derive the theory, then there's something wrong with your theoretical framework, not with me.
However, the witches stepping up to showcase their or their team's results today were clearly lacking in enthusiasm.
Because...
"That’s all for our team's presentation. I won't waste any more time; I know what the main event is today. Come on! Start your performance~"
This witch stepped down with great bravado and pointed toward a group of witches who had subtly become the focal point of the tea party.
In the next moment, the previous vacancy at the center was filled, and another tea table became the heart of the gathering!
This group was the temporary team led by Doreen and Aina.
They were old acquaintances in the field of Primitive Dream Realm research. Although they all studied the Primitive Dream Realm, their specific subjects and projects differed. They had come today solely to demonstrate and prove that "Dream State Soul Essence" had been discovered and could potentially be purified and extracted.
"Ahem... This is the first time I've received this kind of treatment." Doreen coughed instinctively. She knew exactly why the rhythm of this tea party had suddenly become so brisk.
It was, of course, because they had brought something monumental!
Witches usually researched for long periods without necessarily gaining anything, and since these tea parties were held frequently, most people just talked about the progress of their projects or discussed problems they had encountered.
Now that rumors were flying that some witches had hit the jackpot, many others felt there was no need to go up and make fools of themselves. Of course, some still went up to warm up the crowd, like the witch from the previous team.
"Bring out the goods~"
Doreen spoke to the witches beside her, and they produced a very peculiar alchemy item.
This alchemy item was a device used to create a Dream Overlap. After all... not every Transcendent Witch possessed a specialized domain that could resonate with the Primitive Dream Realm to create a secondary overlap between the dream and reality, which normally had no intersection.
"First, let me clarify for everyone: the Dream State Soul Essence we are about to show you is a special Primal Element found within the Primitive Dream Realm."
Since soul essence was known as one of the World Three Source Elements in reality, it was perfectly fine to categorize Dream State Soul Essence as a special Primal Element within the Primitive Dream Realm.
"The emergence of Dream State Soul Essence perfectly answers the question of where the soul essence 'eaten' by the Primitive Dream Realm goes. At the same time, it punctures that ridiculous 'Void Dream Desolation Hypothesis'..."
The Void Dream Desolation Hypothesis was a theory proposed by some rather dim-witted individuals in the Void. It was a theory about the end of the Void that currently couldn't be disproven.
The general idea was that because the Primitive Dream Realm constantly consumed soul essence, and there was no evidence of a soul essence balance between the Primitive Dream Realm and reality, the ultimate fate of the Void would be the extinction of all life.
This theory had many branches and was quite varied.
While some suggested that there were ley lines within the Primitive Dream Realm and that the balance of soul essence between reality and the dream was maintained through them, no one could directly prove it, so those people naturally refused to accept it.
"Next, we need to spread a Dream Overlap region here. Only in this state can the Dream State Soul Essence be manifested..."
"Question! Since there is no Dream Overlap right now, how are you preserving the Dream State Soul Essence, or rather, how are you carrying it?" a blunt witch suddenly asked.
This was a question that piqued the curiosity of all the other witches as well.
"The Soul Dream. The Soul Dream, a blessing derived from the Great Soul Subject, can retain Dream State Soul Essence," Doreen answered quite simply.
"Ohhh~~"
Hearing such a straightforward answer, the eyes of many witches lit up!
If Dream State Soul Essence could exist within a Soul Dream, then once the essence was developed and utilized, the Soul Dream would be the best "storage space" to carry this technique around!
"In that case, does that mean we can also see this Dream State Soul Essence within the Primal Dream?" another witch suddenly asked.
"Exactly! Theoretically, it should be possible in the Primal Dream too, right? Doesn't that mean the Primal Dream could facilitate long-distance trading of Dream State Soul Essence, ignoring Void distances?"
In an instant, the witches' minds raced! All sorts of wild ideas were voiced without any regard for the consequences.
Some even began conceptualizing Dream State Soul Essence as a trading currency.
However... this wasn't particularly far-fetched.
Since the World Three Source Elements were already the hard currency of the Void, Dream State Soul Essence within the Primal Dream could theoretically serve the same purpose.
Now, they only needed to build a value system around Dream State Soul Essence for it to become the equivalent for cross-Void currency transactions within the Primal Dream!
Of course, these were just flashes of inspiration—impractical and ignoring the consequences. They didn't even know the properties of Dream State Soul Essence yet; anyone could indulge in blind speculation.
"We haven't tried taking it out within the Primal Dream. Mainly because... the Primal Dream doesn't have a dedicated channel for it. How would you take it out?" Doreen shook her head, rejecting the idea of viewing Dream State Soul Essence within the Primitive Dream Realm.
At least, they couldn't do it right now.
After all, the Primal Dream was a section of the Primal Dream refined by the Primal Witch herself. It possessed absolute order, so one couldn't simply do whatever they pleased.
If the Primal Dream lacked order, how could it withstand so many Transcendent Witches messing around inside? If anyone could just cause trouble, the Primal Dream would be plagued by constant tides of dream creatures, leaving no peace. One of the most basic functions of the Primal Dream was to filter out those dream creatures to prevent them from disrupting the internal order.
At that moment, a peculiar fluctuation covered the entire area of the tea party hall. Every witch knew that the Dream Overlap had been completed.
"Alright, the scene is set. Now, it's time for you to see the true Dream State Soul Essence!"
As Doreen's voice echoed through the tea party, every witch focused intently on her every move.
When Doreen finally extracted a small clump of very special Primal Element from her opened Soul Dream, all the witches instinctively held their breath, as if fearing that even a breath might blow the tiny clump of Dream State Soul Essence away.
"Alright~ you can breathe now. You are separated from this clump of Dream State Soul Essence by the barrier between reality and dream. Furthermore, this clump has been encapsulated using a special technique; it's essentially a collector's specimen and won't be damaged that easily."
Following Doreen's words, many witches instinctively gasped for fresh air.
"Currently, the Primitive Dream Laboratory has successfully implemented a special purification method, a technique to refine Nightmares into Dream State Soul Essence. There are twenty-seven other methods awaiting verification. Unfortunately, we don't yet have a definitive large-scale preparation technique, so the output is extremely scarce..."
"May I ask which senior witch led this experiment?"
"I'm sorry, but that information is still confidential. Being able to take this opportunity to show everyone this Dream State Soul Essence is already the limit of what we can do..." Doreen did not answer the witch's question.
Because... she remembered what Dean Mei had said when she found them not long ago.
Even now, her heart was filled with emotion.
She could understand the Dean's desire to protect Xiao Han. It wasn't that she didn't trust the other witches, but rather that she didn't want Xiao Han to become a primary target for those other Transcendent Academies during this sensitive period.
"Huh? Is there really something that can't be said?"
Many witches found this difficult to understand. None among the witches were cowards, especially not a leading witch capable of spearheading the opening of a brand-new field. Such a person should fear nothing!
"The situation is much more complicated than you think, but this will be announced sooner or later... Yes, it won't be long."
Doreen estimated Xiao Han's situation. She believed it wouldn't be long—at most a few years—before he ascended to the Transcendent level. She believed that by then, there would be no need for such secrecy.
The tea party continued.
Although not every witch had achievements in the Primitive Dream Realm or related fields, the Great Soul Subject was relevant to every single one of them. If there was a new technical breakthrough in Dream State Soul Essence, they, as witches of the Main World, would naturally be the first to benefit!
Perhaps they might even be the first to witness the birth of dream life?
After all, now that they had soul essence, the distance to so-called "life" wasn't actually that far, was it?
* * *
While the academic tea party was reaching its climax, I was back at the laboratory, busy and overwhelmed.
Because lately, something had gone wrong with Yu Yun.
As the four little Fool's Dreams and I were preparing Dream State Soul Essence, we were also undertaking the grand project of building the Fool's Dream race framework. We were steadily advancing the perfection of the "Life Evolution" technique.
During this process, Yu Yun would occasionally fall into a "coma."
And it wasn't a normal coma.
It wasn't sleep either; at least, I couldn't find any evidence of Yu Yun's consciousness sleeping in the deeper layers of the Primitive Dream Realm.
Since it wasn't sleep, yet Yu Yun was objectively comatose, a very real question arose: what exactly was Yu Yun's consciousness experiencing?
During the intervals when Yu Yun was awake, I asked her about it, but... she couldn't describe what kind of state it was.
It seemed to have exceeded the scope of what a Fool's Dream could understand or describe. However, the things Yu Yun did say revealed a bit of good news amidst the bad: at least Yu Yun wouldn't be in any danger in the short term.
"Could this... be related to the process of becoming a true life form?" I rummaged through my Tree of Great Knowledge, but the knowledge regarding the creation of life was sparse, and there were no records of such occurrences.
But as I searched, I remembered the conversation I'd had with the Academy Dean.
Life... exists because it is recognized by the Void.
Therefore... if I understood the concept of life as a "Sequence," it became much simpler. When an existence drew close to the concept of that Sequence, it would be recognized as life.
It was just that some lives belonged to existing Sequences, while others were Sequences that had yet to be opened within the Void...
With that shift in perspective, many concepts seemed easier to grasp.
What concept in the Void would constantly nurture and recognize life?
Without a doubt... a World!
So, if a brand-new life was truly created within the Main World, there was a high probability it would touch upon the World Consciousness, right?
Wait... creating a new life to gain the possibility of communicating with the World Consciousness... could this also be one of the Dean's underlying plans?
Thinking of this, I suddenly realized I might need to go find the Dean and ask for some clarification.