Chapter 968: Moving Up in the World! Joining Xiao Han’s Official Roster!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 968: Moving Up in the World! Joining Xiao Han’s Official Roster!
The Calamity Witch Hotel—this building, now named after my title, belonged entirely to me.
Operations continued as usual, but the top floor was my private sanctuary. Aside from Tang En, no one else was permitted to set foot here.
However, ever since Tang En became the chairman of the Reality Protection Association, his schedule had become visibly packed. That was only to be expected.
I had just finished an intrusion into the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, and the harvest was even greater than I had anticipated.
The moment I swung that blade, I understood many things. It was an elevation in my perception of Order itself.
As my blade struck the Supreme Authority, the Terminal of Myriad Worlds' self-diagnostic system ground to a halt. The backdoors I had planted within their permissions remained largely intact.
A significant amount of time had passed since the Terminal incident, yet the repairs I expected from the other side had never begun. This caused a considerable discrepancy in my initial assessment of them.
Why weren't they repairing the Terminal?
Why weren't they reorganizing the permissions?
Why weren't they running new diagnostics?
Why...
I had too many questions that needed answers, but it was as if the opposition had simply given up, letting things slide. Currently, they were only performing the most basic emergency repairs.
I didn't get a reaction from the Supreme Council, but I did receive a message from Tang En. He sent me all the data from the Association’s hacker teams, seeking clarification on the situation.
I didn't hide much from him. I polished the details slightly and informed him of the process, the impact, and my conjectures regarding this probe. Letting them see a glimpse of my methods from time to time would make them more cooperative.
After finishing the description, I told them to be careful. I needed to dive back into the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, which meant I would inevitably neglect the situation in reality.
However, now that the peacekeepers were organized around the Power Network, the Igesuo Surface City would at least have time to react. If they encountered an invincible invader, they could theoretically hold out under the protection of the Power Network until I arrived.
While the strength of the Power Network couldn't compare to a formal Transcendent advancement system, it had the advantage of sheer numbers. Before reaching the Transcendent stage, numbers were always a variable that had to be considered.
It reminded me of the battles during the Final Joint Exam, where I was chased around by a massive mob of students.
After handling Tang En’s concerns, I glanced at the completely fried head-mounted game device beside me. I didn't feel much heartache; I’d just have Tang En send over a few more when I had the time.
Then, I lay back down into the game pod.
Since I had given the people of the Supreme Council a chance and they hadn't taken it, they couldn't blame me for pressing my advantage.
While I couldn't seize the Supreme Authority within the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, I had left several backdoors specifically to make things easier during regular gameplay. After all, while they were wary of my strength, I was eyeing their worlds.
Once I logged back into the account, I opened the redemption code tab.
For a game, this was how the value of "permissions" manifested.
As I entered several specific redemption codes and watched the various resources pour into my inventory, my expression remained flat. I had only ever seen such ridiculous resource acquisition in low-quality, cash-grab game advertisements.
The resources within the Terminal of Myriad Worlds were a chaotic mess, but to me, they fell into two categories.
The first were "Real Resources," such as character weapons and equipment. Once bound to a corresponding character, these could be "pulled out" into reality. Consequently, the management of these resources was extremely strict. If they became too common and the Terminal's power and resource reserves couldn't back them up, the entire system would collapse.
The second category consisted of "Virtual Resources"—game currency, gacha tickets, various vouchers, discount coupons, and so on. Because they were virtual, they didn't easily cause a system collapse.
Take gacha tickets, which had a chance to be converted into real goods, for example. An over-issuance of virtual resources would be recouped through other means. For instance: a ten-pull with no pity, or getting nothing but "Thank you for playing" messages. Or perhaps equipment protection scrolls that lowered the chance of breaking an item during enhancement—these served as a sink for real resources.
The bottom-layer people bore all the costs. Under the information cocoon, everyone was led to believe they were just uniquely unlucky while everyone around them was a favorite of the RNG gods.
However, the Terminal of Myriad Worlds hadn't reached that level of exploitation yet, so these virtual goods still maintained a certain degree of value.
What I obtained through the redemption codes were these virtual materials. After all, the risk of fabricating virtual goods was very low. With these resources in hand, I had enough to fully arm myself.
Once a character had sufficient strength, things wouldn't be like my first entry into the Emerald Forest game world. Now, I had enough power to push forward directly. I could even make those elves "voluntarily" cooperate with me to complete the summoning ritual.
If the Forest Elves I encountered were unreasonable, I wouldn't mind doing exactly that.
While I had plenty of patience for them, even my patience had its limits. Especially now, when I had mastered a permission loophole and was about to manage multiple worlds simultaneously. My total pool of patience was finite, after all~
"Alright~ time to experience the unique features of this game world. I wonder just how inhuman the game architects of this world were when they designed the gacha rates..."
Humming a little tune, I started... pulling!
* * *
Expansion Realm.
By the time the Nightmare Workshop began operations, many days had passed since I had manually crafted the core equipment.
The full process of the Incubation Purification Method was very long. Continuous output was only possible with a complete, seamless workflow.
The expected time for calibration and adjustment of the Nightmare Workshop was about three months. This felt a bit long, but one had to account for the cycle of the Incubation Purification Method. If a single step in the process failed, a large-scale reorganization would be required, and most of the time and semi-finished products would be wasted.
Three months was actually a relatively optimistic estimate. By then, a good portion of the next semester would have already passed.
While it felt long to me, other witches thought it was incredibly fast!
Three months!
If they were researching a purification method that didn't involve the derivative skills of a Great Spellbook, they might not even progress by a single percentage point in that time.
In fact, with the establishment of the Nightmare Workshop, some witches simply gave up on their own purification research. In their eyes, since the Nightmare Workshop could be built once, Xiao Han could create a second one now that she had the template!
So what if it required Xiao Han’s special skills? At worst, they would just invite Xiao Han over every time they needed to build one. The workshop belonged to Xiao Han; they would just pay to buy the products.
Dream State Soul Essence wasn't a high-demand material that needed to be popularized; it was only used in research involving the level of Dream Life. This technique hadn't even left the Main World yet, so one Nightmare Workshop was certainly enough for the current stage.
I couldn't really blame the witches for thinking this way. While they weren't wrong, I still preferred a purification method that didn't have such limitations.
As I watched the massive workshop in constant operation, a small sense of accomplishment welled up within me. After all, every piece of equipment running here had been hand-crafted by me and my clones.
So far, the workshop's operation hadn't encountered any issues. The first batch of Dream State Soul Essence would be finished in a few days.
I watched the simulated operation process through the Tree of Great Knowledge, running simulations over and over to catch any potential problems. Only when everything came up clear did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
I finally understood why witches' experiments often took years. When dealing with large-scale equipment in reality, there were simply too many variables to consider. One mistake could mean starting from scratch.
Right now, I was merely scaling up the "Incubation Purification Method" from a laboratory setting to standard equipment manufacturing, and it was already taking months. Even accounting for normal adjustments, the time consumption far exceeded my expectations.
And this was just for one purification method.
Looking at it this way, the birth of a Great Spellbook—requiring decades or even centuries of repeated experimentation and integration—didn't seem exaggerated at all.
The reason I had achieved so many miracles in such a short time seemed to follow a traceable path, with the most important turning point being the birth of the Tree of Great Knowledge.
But the Tree of Great Knowledge wasn't strictly indispensable. Even without it, I still had the Memory Bookshelf, Illusion Clones, Practical Learning, the Unity of Knowledge and Action, and so on. When a person truly wants to learn something, nothing can stop them.
"Xiao Han~ honestly, it's just one workshop. Is there really a need to be this cautious? Didn't you already plan for a three-month adjustment period? There's really no need to chase a perfect run on the first try, right?"
At that moment, a witch sister walked over. Watching my current simulation of the workshop's operation, she couldn't help but sigh.
The witch talking to me was the same one who had first mentioned the concept of a Nightmare Workshop to me back at the Primitive Dream Laboratory. Her name was Heidi. Privately, other witches joked that she deserved at least half the credit for the workshop's existence.
Of course, that was just banter.
"Heidi-jie, three months is enough for me to do a lot of things!" I replied.
"Exactly~ Xiao Han's time is precious. You're the only slacker who only knows how to enjoy life!" Another witch walked over and swatted Heidi’s backside.
"Is enjoying life a bad thing?" Heidi rubbed her cheek and glared playfully at the witch who had taken liberties with her. "Don't forget why Xiao Han came to the Expansion Realm. This already counts as serious overtime! If the Academy Dean tried to assign me work like this, I'd just lie down in front of her and throw a tantrum!"
"Right, Xiao Han?" After saying that, Heidi turned to ask for my opinion.
"I think it's... manageable," I said, shrugging.
"Don't be like that~ If you're like this, what about Bai Yu? Are you just going to neglect your girlfriend?"
"Sister Bai understands and supports what I'm doing," I said. "Besides, I have a schedule. See, I'm free right now, aren't I? When I'm free, I usually don't stay here."
Since the workshop was currently running without issues and the repeated simulations through the Tree of Great Knowledge hadn't flagged any problems—and any potential issues had been nipped in the bud—I could leave with a clear conscience.
As for where I was going...
I had already planned that out.
I would regularly check in on the Fool's Dream life experiments. Although I communicated with them through the Tree of Great Knowledge whenever I had time, I certainly wouldn't neglect Fool's Dream and the others. Even when I wasn't there in person, I had clones staying with them in the Primitive Dream Laboratory.
Then there was learning gardening with Sister Bai in the dungeon world—or rather, completely renovating that dungeon world. Ever since that world came into my possession, it had remained in an undeveloped state, serving as a secret base for Sister Bai and me. Even though we had planted a Heya Tree, I hadn't looked after it for a while, letting it grow wild.
So, while I was learning gardening and cultivating a hobby, I planned to give the dungeon world a proper makeover. In a way that wouldn't harm the world itself, of course.
Then there was the matter of fulfilling my promise to Ling Yi. This was the perfect time to use my free hours to research the life-science topic of incubating plant spirits.
Without realizing it... I seemed to have filled my schedule to the brim again.
Perhaps... this was what they called the life of a "normie"?
I didn't find this lifestyle cramped or oppressive; I enjoyed every step of the process. Since I didn't hate it, I wanted to experience it fully before everything became tedious. After all... this was life. A fulfilling life.
After leaving the Expansion Realm, I planned to head back to the Primitive Dream Laboratory in person.
It had been many days since I handed things over to the three Body Cultivation witches. Sister Long had already finished constructing the prototype of her Dream Domain and had joined the three-witch rotation.
Going there now was naturally to thank these sisters and to share the insights we had gained within the Primitive Dream Realm.
Then, I would personally go see Yulan, Yu Yun, Yu Guo, and Yuxing.
The time span required for Fool's Dream’s life experiment had exceeded my expectations, but I didn't want to interfere and rush this unique process. Under my "Life Evolution" technique, they were steadily crossing into the realm of living beings.
I believed it wouldn't take much longer. I was only missing one key—a key to shaping life!
It was just like the final catalyst for my Soul Depiction technique. The moment April advanced to the Transcendent stage and her soul essence transformed into a true soul, my Soul Depiction technique was perfected!
The Ancient Remnant Ice King, currently gathering dust in the Glacial Throne Secret Realm, was exactly that kind of catalyst.
When I used Soul Depiction to free it from the shackles of a mimicry soul, the Ancient Remnant Ice Clan would reappear in the Main World in the new form of soul-based life!
"Heidi-jie, and the rest of you, I'll leave the Nightmare Workshop in your hands. If there's a problem, just call me. I'll teleport over immediately," I said, pointing to the spatial marker I had left near the workshop.
"Oh, stop worrying! we've got this! Though we'd prefer if the workshop didn't have any problems to begin with~"
After the witches gave me their repeated assurances, they watched me leave.
Once I was gone, one of the witches seemed to think of something amusing and spoke up. "Come to think of it... does this mean we've officially joined Xiao Han's roster?"
"Xiao Han's roster? What kind of weird term is that?"
"I mean... every witch who helps Xiao Han eventually ends up with a long-term, worthwhile project or assignment~"
"Now that you mention it... that seems true? Just off the top of my head, there's the Great Knowledge Seed Laboratory derived from the Tree of Great Knowledge, the Omni-Link Main Network Tree Laboratory in the Expansion Realm, the Primitive Dream Laboratory in the Experimental Zone..."