Chapter 943: End of the Semester
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 943: End of the Semester
There was one thing to note, however: the Game World had its reasons for arranging its population density this way.
Even though they were constantly plundering various worlds beyond their own, they were unable to settle their population within them. Aside from the restrictions of the Ley Line Shackles, the primary reason was that their technology simply hadn't reached that level.
After all... if they could facilitate inter-world migration, they would have done so long ago. The crux of the matter was that they couldn't. They could only rely on the Terminal of Myriad Worlds to allow their "characters" to cross between worlds; the main body could never pass through.
What they harvested wasn't the world itself, but Soul Essence—one of the three primal elements within a world. On one hand, the harvested Soul Essence inadvertently spurred the world to constantly develop and expand toward becoming a Large World; on the other hand, it triggered an explosive surge in the world's population.
Furthermore, because this world neglected environmental protection and the maintenance of biodiversity, it had already fallen into a semi-wasteland state. The population growth had squeezed out the habitats of other organisms to the point where concepts like potted plants or pets commanded astronomical prices. Even the development of food diversity had been snuffed out, which was why the mainstream diet of this world consisted of things like nutritional fluids.
I was honestly afraid that the sense of taste for the people of this world would eventually atrophy.
Whenever I thought about the suffering of this world, I felt an instinctive urge to reach out and help. But every time I extended my hand, I would subconsciously ask myself: Why?
Just because there were still a few people in this world struggling for a better future?
I instinctively thought of Tang En and his group, as well as those in the Reality Protection Association. Among the general populace, I didn't see people of that character. Even back when I was rescuing people in the Expansion Realm and constantly building shelters for them, I could see many such individuals. Here, I only saw a world that resembled a cake about to expire, with far too many people rushing forward to grab a slice.
"Well... even if it's spoiled, I can't let these guys divide it up."
After pondering for a while, I reached that conclusion.
Coveting what is beyond one's reach is greed. Looking back, why did this "tiny" Game World attract so many geniuses from the void? Wasn't the mastermind behind it all the races of the Main World?
Restricted by the principle of Transcendent non-interference, the Transcendents couldn't intervene directly. So, they let others step in to disrupt the layout. Ultimately, this was only because those Transcendent races in the Main World were already exhausted from dealing with the Witches; naturally, they could only resort to this method of "killing with a borrowed knife."
Facing such a situation—with my main body absent and the Dream Domain unusable—it was truly difficult to quickly harvest a world. However, my clone's strategic layout could handle this scenario. Wasn't that exactly how it went in the Expansion Realm?
But once the number of clones increased, managing them through subconscious hosting would drain my energy. If I left those beast clones in the Expansion Realm to their own devices, they would easily start performing some very bizarre maneuvers.
Who could imagine the consequences if hundreds or thousands of "me" acted on the bluntness of the subconscious without considering the fallout? Just thinking about it was terrifying.
Perhaps they’d set fire to the chaotic zones, flood the Ground Fissure Settlement Zone, create extreme temperature convection, or whip up a world-class typhoon using a typhoon eye... all of that could happen.
Just thinking about that kind of work made me feel it would be quite interesting. If my reason hadn't told me to stay calm, I might have actually done it. If even I could have such thoughts, wouldn't my subconscious be even more outrageous?
After much deliberation, the clone plan remained on my schedule. After all, one shouldn't stop eating for fear of choking, right?
I can have excess compassion, but it is only worth giving to those I deem worthy. I can't exactly go around trying to please people just because they don't like me, can I? What kind of bleeding-heart "Saint" complex would that be?
I... am an invader of this world. I should show a bit of a villain's flair!
* * *
As the core of the Glacial Throne Secret Realm was moved away from the Witch Academy, the other Transcendent academies immediately began to stir.
Previously, when the core was within the Witch Academy, it was considered the Witches' home-field advantage. Now... although it was still within the territory of the Witch Academy's faction, that home-field advantage was no longer a certainty. Moreover, they had plenty of excuses to intervene in this secret realm.
The secret realm had expelled almost everyone; those who didn't leave remained as corpses. They had to go in to investigate the situation; they couldn't let their students die without an explanation.
In truth, the Witches could have rejected their claims, but they weren't certain of the situation inside the secret realm either. They only knew from intelligence that a mountain-sized Ancient Remnant Ice had occupied the realm.
Although Nicola and Ming Xueming didn't see eye to eye, Nicola acknowledged Ming Xueming's strength. If even Ming Xueming had been forced to leave in bitter defeat, it would be reckless for the Witches to attempt a crusade alone while the enemy held the home-field advantage.
Thus, the Witch Academy tacitly accepted the other Transcendent academies' reasons for entering the secret realm. As the various Transcendent academies found themselves facing a common foe, a faint understanding began to form between them—a silent pact to jointly crusade against the Ancient Remnant Ice!
After all, this one entity had offended every single Transcendent academy! Having drawn all the aggro, it was only natural that they would unite to suppress it.
However, as the days passed, the progress of their joint crusade was pitiful. In their most humiliating attempt, they didn't even see the King of the Ancient Remnant Ice race before they were ambushed by the Ancient Remnant Ice and forced to tear through the secret realm to make a forced retreat.
They even established a temporary conquest camp there and cordoned off the entire area, preventing ordinary people from crossing. Their reasoning was perfectly legitimate: due to the instability of the secret realm, they needed a sufficiently large buffer zone to contain the burst of power should the realm collapse. Furthermore, they needed enough depth to intercept any monsters that might break through the perimeter, ensuring these Ancient Remnant Ice creatures wouldn't endanger society.
This place was called the Qunluosen Wasteland. It was an undeveloped land.
But whether it was developed or not didn't matter to the students of the Transcendent academies. What truly bothered them was their current inability to clear the enemies within the secret realm.
Meanwhile, I, who had been staying inside the secret realm all along, was methodically playing a "tower defense game."
Since the entrance and exit were fixed and "monsters" refreshed from time to time, and I could "summon" Ancient Remnant Ice to resist the enemy, what was this if not a tower defense game? It was safe to say that as subsequent crusade teams entered, it would become increasingly difficult for them to even see me!
Once I became familiar with this clone's abilities and established a systematic response plan, there would be no need for me to take the field personally. The time saved could be used to slowly research more things.
My agreement with Dean Mei was that once this clone could no longer gain anything useful from the secret realm, I would break it open. After all, I knew Life; I needed the King of the Ancient Remnant Ice race to break free from the shackles of its current Mimicry Soul and for me to personally become Life through the method of soul-mapping.
Using a Mimicry Soul as the clone's foundation was my own doing; no one expected it to turn out like this. But because of this, I was able to intuitively perceive what Life was based on and what form it ultimately bloomed into.
My understanding of power was bound to reach a brand-new level, which would inevitably tear a void rift and destroy the secret realm. Regardless, once I left the secret realm, there would be many more things I could do. The reason I hadn't broken it yet was that I was still "farming."
While breaking the secret realm would bring many benefits, it would also present other problems. The most direct one was that the impact on reality after the realm broke would give other Transcendents an excuse to intervene. Regardless of how flimsy the excuse was, they only needed an opportunity to act. Even if it wasn't strictly legal, that was something to argue about after the fact—by then, they would have already achieved their goals.
My Ancient Remnant Ice clone wouldn't be able to withstand the suppression of a Transcendent.
I felt the power within my body. Originally, those fragments were supposed to carry this power, but after losing that core energy, they had reverted to their original state as materials. I tucked them away nonetheless. Even Transcendent Witch alchemists found these materials extraordinary, which meant the materials themselves were of immense value.
Although these fragments were supposed to eventually converge into a Great Spellbook through a ritual, my actions had derailed the intended trajectory. Since I couldn't use Reality Editing Technology myself, I couldn't replicate the standard creation process for a Great Spellbook.
Therefore, I planned to replicate my Tree of Great Knowledge. I would let an existing ordinary spellbook derive into a Great Spellbook. And the carrier for this spellbook would be... the Crystal Art.
Previously, I had wondered if the Crystal Art was part of the Great Glacial Throne Technique. It wasn't. Given that this spellbook was given to me by Dean Bev Alanna, it had nothing to do with this specific Great Spellbook. After seeing the list of fragments and confirming that there were no Luck Threads on the spellbook, I had to admit there was indeed no connection between the two.
Yet, even now, I felt they shared a certain "affinity."
Every piece of [Transcendent Knowledge] has an assigned definition to describe its characteristics. The Tree of Great Knowledge is "Plant Growth," the Holy Relic is "Becoming Life"—so what about this Great Glacial Throne? It also brought forth the Ancient Remnant Ice, so could it also be about achieving life or a race?
Personally, I thought not. The Ancient Remnant Ice wasn't a life form shaped by this power; rather, the Ancient Remnant Ice was a power achieved through life. There was a confusing overlap between "Life becoming Power" and "Power becoming Life," but there was a fundamental difference. The Ancient Remnant Ice race worshipped power, so the meaning of their existence was to coexist with power by having life serve it.
But for the Fool's Dream, I didn't want them to become power. I chose to let power become the Fool's Dream—to let that power be a part of them, not their master.
Thus, the definition of the Great Glacial Throne Technique was "Condensing Life."
This was just my hypothesis, of course, but I would use my own methods to turn that hypothesis into a definition!
The Ancient Remnant Ice race became power, thereby giving life a new definition: life in service of power. So, when I exerted my power now, I could bestow the life of the Ancient Remnant Ice upon any visible ice crystals. This was the unique way the Ancient Remnant Ice race persisted: the entire race was the King!
With a wave of my hand, the entire race stood before me! Unafraid of death, unafraid of total destruction—as long as the King existed, their will would endure! This was the Ancient Remnant Ice.
So... when the Ancient Remnant Ice was created using the Crystal Art as a "base," could it take on a brand-new form? After all, I had tested the Crystal Art; it wasn't just about water turning to ice—any substance that could crystallize would work.
Would the Ancient Remnant Ice race then become the Ancient Remnant Crystal?
Well... "Ancient Remnant Crystal" sounded a bit strange, so I ultimately decided to respect the naming tradition for now. Perhaps the original race was primarily ice-based? The law that "naming cannot go wrong" only applied within the scope of the recognizable. Life cannot define concepts beyond its cognition, let alone give them the right name.
* * *
With the conclusion of the final day of the semester, the term ended amidst the wails and cheers of the students.
There was no Multi-School Joint Exam for this final; it was just a conventional theoretical test plus a combat power rating. The relationship between the Witch Academy and the other Transcendent academies was currently too strained. To avoid uncontrollable accidents, the other academies preferred not to engage in exchanges. Thus, this was the simplest final exam the students had ever experienced.
However, with the arrival of the holidays, many other things followed. For instance, the second success and the third test of the small-scale pilot for the Self-Generated Mana experiment.
The plan was to conduct a total of three small-scale promotional tests for the Self-Generated Mana experiment, after which this teachable talent technique could be officially confirmed as having entered the safe popularization stage.
Just when everyone thought this technique would be promoted school-wide after the third test—much like the school-wide promotion of the Seed of Wisdom—an academy announcement completely crushed the fantasies of those hopefuls.
The announcement stated that due to the unique and critical nature of the Self-Generated Mana shaping technique, it would not be subject to the school-wide popularization process. Instead, it would be opened periodically through mentor recommendations and academy audits...
Make no mistake: this was targeted at those family factions and groups who only wanted to master extraordinary power without any intention of ascending to become Transcendent Witches. It was also a way to filter student quality; giving this talent to someone who didn't study seriously and only wanted to coast would be a waste.
After all, the graduation rate for Witches at the Witch Academy was abysmally low.
One had to understand that the Witch race was very special. They started as Transcendent Witches, so becoming a Transcendent was the graduation point for the Witch Academy and the turning point for becoming a true Witch. Other races didn't have such a rigid requirement for transformation; they could fully transform into their respective races before ascending to the Transcendent stage. However, such students wouldn't be of much help within a Transcendent race if they hadn't reached that level.