Chapter 962: Taking Action Against the Terminal of Myriad Worlds
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 962: Taking Action Against the Terminal of Myriad Worlds
As my words grew increasingly sharp, the character account’s silence protocol began to trigger intermittently.
The elf stood there, momentarily dazed. She could hardly believe her ears. However, being born into such a world had not gifted her with much capacity for dialectical thinking. The pride naturally bestowed upon elves, in the absence of a correspondingly advanced civilization, served only as a catalyst for arrogance.
I wasn't even sure how much of what I said actually sank in. I simply continued sketching and writing while explaining the most fundamental concepts to her. To me, this was merely my first contact with this world.
It certainly would not be my last.
"You may go." I used her own dagger to slice through the vines binding her.
She looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief, as if shocked that I was simply letting her go. I did not, however, return her dagger or her bow. I wanted to ensure she wouldn't just circle back for a sneak attack the moment she was out of sight.
Given the typical elven temperament, they likely wouldn't stoop to that, but it was better to be safe than sorry. After all, they had been tormented by players for so long; who could guarantee they wouldn't abandon their principles just to survive?
"You're just... letting me go?"
"You are the first elf I found, but you won't be the last."
"You're the one who said I could leave!" she blurted out. As soon as the words left her mouth, her figure vanished rapidly into the dense jungle.
Watching her depart, I remained seated on a massive, decaying log, planning my next move. Although that elf had been unwilling to cooperate, I hadn't come away empty-handed. At the very least, I had gained a clear understanding of just how much the natives loathed the players.
But this was only the beginning. Many things could not be rushed.
* * *
Meanwhile, the elf who had narrowly escaped with her life showed no signs of relief. Instead, her face was etched with urgency and the lingering sorrow of seeing her kin and dearest friend perish.
She wasn't heading toward the main elven settlement. Instead, she was crossing the restricted zone to find other clansmen! Players were cunning; they might have used some special means to track her location. She didn't dare return home. She could only pray to find her kin and explain the situation to them.
* * *
Back in the hotel.
The hatch of the game pod slowly hissed open, and I stepped out. I had only intended to try something new; I wasn't about to become addicted to such things.
As for the rest... I planned to leave it to another clone. If possible, I might even create more accounts. After all, each character account corresponded to an entire, intact world! Wasn't that exactly why Dean Mei and the others valued this game world so much—for the supplementary worlds attached to it?
Though they were almost certainly small worlds, the sheer quantity was staggering. The only downside was that when I logged off, the character didn't disappear; it remained in the world. I had to make sure the character's body was well-hidden during my absence. I needed to guard against not just the natives, but other players as well.
However, there was another reason I had logged out now.
I intended to use the game terminal as an "interface" to probe the power of the Terminal of Myriad Worlds!
This was not an untouchable domain. Organizations like the Association, or any resistance force with a formal name, possessed a certain technology: Banned Accounts.
This was essentially a method of stealing power from the Terminal of Myriad Worlds. Since the Terminal was defined as an external object—a tool for social control—it naturally carried the risk of being compromised.
Even my Great Knowledge Seed had faced similar concerns back then—the threat of "polluted knowledge," "cursed information," or "taboo messages." To counter this, I had developed a firewall for the Tree of Great Knowledge, an ability that was now fully integrated into my Great Spellbook. To this day, no issues had ever arisen.
I had spread so many Great Knowledge Seeds and regular Great Knowledge Seeds that it would be a miracle if other transcendent academies hadn't obtained some. How could they not try to develop techniques to counter my Great Spellbook?
In fact, they had tried. The reason their efforts were so ineffective was partly because the Knowledge Seed was a permanent spell effect—an individual entity completely severed from the main body's control. Unless it was a specially crafted seed, even I would find it difficult to destroy a seed I had sent out. Because there was little connection to me as an individual—only an interaction at the informational level—the risk of being countered was minimal.
But the Terminal of Myriad Worlds was different.
It was an extension of an extreme, dominating power. The scattered game terminals were closely linked to the Terminal of Myriad Worlds itself, and their functions were intimately tied to its source power—character data, virtual account info, the power of generated weapons, and so on.
The only restriction they had implemented was... permission.
The objective existence of permissions meant that Banned Accounts could never be fully eradicated. Of course, it was also possible that the current members of the Game Supreme Council had lost some of their grip on the Terminal. After all, they were unworthy of their positions; a genius-level power can only be mastered by a genius-level user.
According to limited records, Banned Accounts hadn't existed for very long in history. Their emergence was a direct manifestation of the internal rot within the Infinite Group's Terminal of Myriad Worlds headquarters.
"Didn't your headquarters say you didn't want to cross me? Weren't you the ones instigating those outsiders to target me? Didn't you send players from the Land of Chaos to harass me? Now, I'm going straight for your power's lifeblood. Let's see what you do then."
Muttering to myself, I walked toward the head-mounted game terminal. I still had uses for the game pod, so I decided to use this less-frequently used device instead; it wouldn't matter if it broke. Even if they tracked my location... Hah, would they even dare to come?
This was the confidence born of absolute strength.
It was like boiling a frog in a pot. If you resist, it suits me perfectly. If you stay still, I'll eventually turn you into frog soup.
The moment I extended my "observational hand" toward the terminal, far away at the Terminal of Myriad Worlds headquarters, an unprecedented emergency alarm blared at the Game Architects' defense station!
"All Architects, on alert! Terminal intrusion! Quick! Drop everything and enter combat mode!"
"This is not a drill! Enter virtual space and repel the intruder!"
* * *
While the game world was descending into chaos, the Expansion Realm of the Main World was suddenly becoming quite lively.
As Ninglan Qiuyue was performing her routine report on the Expansion Realm's progress, Dean Mei suddenly spotted something very conspicuous.
Nightmare Workshop.
The name itself wouldn't have mattered much—"Nightmare" was, after all, a disaster that Ninglan New City had once endured. But the name "Yang Yuehan" following "Nightmare Workshop" made her brow furrow.
In Mei Lind's understanding, Xiao Han should currently be on a sweet "double-row" vacation in the Expansion Realm with Bai Yu. Building a factory to make money... what exactly did a "Nightmare Workshop" do? Sell nightmares?
Mei Lind didn't believe that for a second. She immediately thought of the Nightmare Purification Method and the Dream State Soul Essence. She went to the Primitive Dream Laboratory to ask around.
And then... every witch in the laboratory knew about it.
After Dean Mei brought up the concept of the "Nightmare Workshop," several witches instantly recalled the witch who had been seen in a private conversation with Xiao Han. No one expected that Xiao Han would take action the very next second after that witch had made a casual suggestion!
Such efficiency left the witches present feeling quite ashamed of themselves.
Although the laboratory witches were excited, Dean Mei finally understood exactly what Xiao Han was up to. Xiao Han had established a large-scale assembly line for preparing Dream State Soul Essence in the Expansion Realm?
The implications were massive. Although the Expansion Realm had been forcibly reclaimed by the Witch Academy and the original city teleportation channels had been closed, its security couldn't compare to the Main World Witch Academy. The Expansion Realm was like a sieve; any news that broke there would reach other transcendent academies just as fast as it reached the Witch Academy.
Unless... the Expansion Realm's branch academy could be established quickly.
How could she feel at ease with Xiao Han conducting such a vital experiment there?
This led to a sudden influx of witches in the Expansion Realm. Led by Dean Mei Lind, a team of dozens of Transcendent Witches arrived at this "remote" location.
When they saw the massive "workshop" that had been erected in just a few days, and the clones of Xiao Han working simultaneously to hand-craft equipment... it was, admittedly, a grand sight.
"Oh~ look at that~ Sister Mei has come in person!"
When the first clone noticed the arrival of the Dean and her entourage, she immediately called out a greeting. Soon, the other clones followed suit.
"Keep working. Where is the real Xiao Han?" Dean Mei didn't stand on ceremony. She spoke directly to the clones.
These clones generally had very straightforward personalities. Not only did Mei Lind know this, but every witch who had interacted with them knew that Xiao Han's clones were often more interesting than the main body!
"She's with Sister Bai, of course~ The main body wouldn't come here to do such low-tech grunt work," one clone replied.
"That's right~ The main body is doing 'shameful things' with Sister Bai. I wouldn't recommend Sister Mei go looking for her right now~"
"Unless Sister Mei wants to be a super-bright, sparkly third wheel~"
Faced with the teasing of the clones, Dean Mei felt a bit awkward at the front of the group. Had they really come at such an inconvenient time?
Mei Lind instinctively glanced at the sky. It was broad daylight; she didn't recall Xiao Han being the type to do "those things" during the day.
"Don't try to change the subject. You all know why we're here, right? Stop playing dumb. Is the main body too afraid to come out and see us?"
"How could that be? Sister Mei, you're exaggerating..."
Just then, Dean Mei saw one figure among the busy clones finish what she was doing and walk toward them. Mei Lind knew this was the "real" Xiao Han—or rather, since every clone here was an extension of Xiao Han's will, any one of them could represent her.
"Xiao Han, tell me what's going on with this Nightmare Workshop... Sigh... We aren't here to interrogate you. It's just that the impact of this concept of yours is too great. You should have discussed it with us first. Why do you always have to pull something huge out of nowhere without a word to me or the other witch sisters?"
Mei Lind tried her best to keep her tone calm and reasonable.
"Eh? But didn't we talk about this already?"
"Talked about it?" Mei Lind was so stunned she almost laughed.
She couldn't help but remember the time in the laboratory. She really shouldn't have struck up a conversation with Xiao Han while she was focused on the dream domain! She should have asked for more details about what she was agreeing to!
"Xiao Han, tell me... is this factory really just for 'making a little bit of pocket money' like you said? Is the money this thing generates really just 'pocket money'?"
"Ahem... well... it's not like it can't make money... right?" I spoke evasively as I led the Dean and the group of witches into the workshop.
Though it was called a workshop, the interior was gargantuan—a massive indoor facility. Inside, rare materials and components were piled everywhere. There were newly built equipment frames, unfinished dream incubation rooms, theoretical-state constant dream stabilizers, root networks for interfacing, and the central hub of an unowned Great Knowledge Seed core that used consciousness crystals to carry out automated operations...
Dean Mei might not have understood everything here, relying mostly on the Ley Line Identification Art of the Great Knowledge Seed to recognize things. However, many of the witches behind her—especially those who had been involved in the purification method testing—recognized many of the facilities. Even the ones they didn't recognize, they could make educated guesses about.
Seeing the expressions on these witches' faces, Dean Mei realized she had completely lost the ability to interfere with this "Nightmare Workshop."
When she first arrived, she had harbored the hope of persuading Xiao Han to move the facility—if not to the Core World, then at least closer to Ninglan New City. But now, not only was she unable to persuade her, but the other witches were looking at the place with glowing eyes. She'd probably have to leave them all here just to guard the place for Xiao Han!
Did they really think watching the chaos was that much fun?
And as for the witch who had suggested building the factory to Xiao Han in the first place... she was going to get a serious lecture when they got back.
Xiao Han wasn't their personal wishing machine! Did they really think they could just mention something and Xiao Han would go out and fulfill it?
She had specially authorized Xiao Han to come to the Expansion Realm to relax, to relieve the stress from the laboratory, and to let her and Bai Yu bond! Not to come here and stir up more trouble!
Thinking of this, Mei Lind felt a wave of exhaustion. Managing projects involving the new gas-observation instruments was far more difficult than this, yet she never felt this drained.
As expected... no matter where a genius goes, they never let a witch have a moment's peace.