Chapter 982: The Sequence of Life; Are You Life?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 982: The Sequence of Life; Are You Life?
In just a brief moment, the Transcendents who had arrived on the scene had already grasped the gist of what was happening.
This included everything regarding the struggle for the Glacial Throne Secret Realm.
Not every Transcendent had been aware of this matter; at least before it unfolded, not everyone had been interested. Even the proposal to use the Great Glacial Throne Technique as a bargaining chip—leveraging the principle of equivalent exchange to pry into the Terminal of Myriad Worlds within the game world—was merely the ambition of a specific faction of Transcendent Wizards.
Any organization, even a team of two, will have its share of competition and friction, let alone a massive Transcendent Academy.
As for why the revival of the Ancient Remnant Ice King’s clan had attracted so many Transcendents indiscriminately...
It was, of course, because the losses caused by the Ancient Remnant Ice incident had affected every Transcendent except for the Transcendent Witches!
Naturally, this drew widespread attention.
However, it was only attention. The reason they remained hidden within the folds of space was that they did not wish to officially intervene. Once they stepped forward, the matter would escalate to the Transcendent level, making it far too easy to get dragged into the quagmire themselves.
For now, the commotion was still confined to the student level, which remained within the bounds of acceptability. Even the students dying outside the Secret Realm were, in the end, just students.
The Main World never lacked for people.
If a Transcendent were to lose their composure and strike, they would likely be falling right into the Witches' trap. After all, once they understood the context of this Secret Realm incident, they realized the root of the conflict.
This whole affair had actually been triggered by people from their own academy encroaching upon a Secret Realm belonging to the Witch Academy.
It was an embarrassing thing to admit. Had the theft been successful, they might have stepped in to offer some protection. But seeing as these people had died so miserably, even their own seniors felt a surge of irritation at their incompetence!
To bicker for days over such petty gains—was it not laughable?
While these Transcendents didn't want to escalate the situation by appearing in person, they could still direct other students to intervene. However, those students were still in the dark about the situation; they only knew that they had completely lost contact with the group far off in the Qunluosen Wasteland.
It was only when their Mentors contacted them that they realized the gravity of the situation. Though they didn't quite understand why a Mentor was taking such an active interest, they knew that with a Mentor's involvement, the matter would likely reach a conclusion soon.
Based on proximity, the students from the Sun Rock Elf Academy were the first to arrive.
The Sun Rock Elf Academy's current operation in the Qunluosen Wasteland was entirely under the command of Afuhemi Academy. The group that arrived at top speed had no idea what was happening; they had simply been ordered to come here.
Upon seeing the people guarding the perimeter of the Secret Realm core, these elves immediately identified individuals who bore the distinct features of the Afuhemi Forest Elves. As subordinates of the Afuhemi Transcendent Academy, they naturally only took orders from their elven kin.
However, as they drew closer, they realized the atmosphere was incredibly eerie. It was as if no one was busy; they were all simply standing guard, waiting for something.
"Senior! The main academy ordered me to rush here as quickly as possible. May I ask what has happened?"
The leader of the group, a tall, brown-skinned Sun Rock Elf, stepped forward and addressed the elven senior with a tone of humble inquiry.
"Oh, so they didn't tell you?" The elf he addressed looked at the eight-member elven squad, a strange smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
It was a smile that seemed to mock their naivety.
By the time they realized something was wrong, looks of terror had already frozen permanently onto their faces.
The eight people guarding the area struck simultaneously, finishing the squad in an instant, leaving them no room for maneuver. As their immortality drained away at a frantic pace, they could only collapse to the ground in bewilderment.
Afterward, the killers returned to their business as if nothing had happened.
At that moment, the Transcendent Elves watching this scene from the shadows could only press their hands to their foreheads. This was the first time they had seen such foolish elves throw their lives away so quickly. No... these fellows couldn't even be considered half-elves!
As expected of the Sun Rock Elves with their diluted, inferior bloodlines—utterly moronic.
But there was nothing they could do. At most... later on, they would demand compensation for the killing of their academy's students.
However, that wasn't what these Transcendents truly cared about. They were more concerned with what the Witch Academy was actually plotting. If their perceptions were correct, among the Witches hidden in the space opposite them, there were definitely some exceptionally powerful Transcendent Witches... it was even possible that a certain Dean was present.
Surely it wasn't just a case of those Transcendent Witches' bloodlust acting up again... finding a random excuse to slaughter people?
If that were the case, did they really think the other Transcendents had no spine?
Meanwhile, more teams were still streaming toward the Qunluosen Wasteland.
Inside the Secret Realm, however, the situation was clear to very few. The Transcendents present only saw that the Secret Realm core was on the verge of shattering.
* * *
"Is this... the Sequence of Life?"
Throughout the entire process—experiencing it in the first person while observing from the third—I had finally seen clearly the things I once ignored.
But it wasn't the Tree of Great Knowledge or any other method that helped me see through it all.
It was... Spirit Vision.
A talent that people of the Main World have a chance of awakening at birth. A talent that does not need to be returned even after ascending to Transcendent status and severing the Main World Ley Line Shackles.
Spirit Vision has no special physical characteristics; it seems like a very ordinary ability, yet it allows one to witness the existence of Real Time.
When I realized that the consciousness of the world exists within the deep layers of Real Time, I made the decision to actively adapt to this talent.
When the guidance of the Script actively led my clone's consciousness into the Ancient Remnant Ice King, I felt a powerful surge of intuition.
It seemed... it wasn't that I wanted to see the world consciousness I had once resented, but rather that the world consciousness I was gradually beginning to understand was guiding me to meet "Them."
The Floating World level Spirit Vision I had been endowed with since birth experienced its first true tremor at this moment. Because this talent was a Divine Blessing bestowed by the world itself.
I saw the King of the Ancient Remnant Ice clan before me laying down a path that reached toward the heavens, as if reconnecting the road it had once traveled.
This was the Sequence of Life.
Following the path carved out by the Primal, it let out the first cry of the Ancient Remnant Ice clan returning from the Void.
An invisible will gently connected it to a place I could not see clearly—a place that seemed to be outside the world.
I didn't know what it was, but through the perspective of the Ancient Remnant Ice King, I felt it... those were the Ley Line Shackles binding oneself, or perhaps the shackles of the Main World.
Once "I" ascended to Transcendent, I would be free, because the Primal Ancient Remnant Ice belonged to the Void.
And yet "I"... am still the Ancient Remnant Ice... so who is Yang Yuehan?
Also me.
Am I an independent consciousness?
No... I am not.
It is like role-playing. Objectively, I am the Ancient Remnant Ice King, but my cognition is Yang Yuehan—my self. The extension of will is not the cutting of consciousness.
Does anyone argue with themselves because the character they are playing isn't "them"?
No. Only in a hypothetical, pedantic state would that happen.
At this moment, I finally understood the concept of race. It was exactly what I was seeing now... the Sequence of Life.
A unique, unchangeable path belonging to a race—that is the concept of race.
As for the so-called "severing of racial ties" or "refusing to acknowledge ancestry" in the Void... those are subjective cuts made by a living being's consciousness. They are survival frameworks for life within the Void, not a severance within the racial sequence itself.
Once I realized this, I also completely understood the hard requirement for the Fool's Dream to become "Life."
The Fool's Dream lacked an anchor to carve out a Sequence of Life for themselves!
The Fool's Dream cannot simply become cat-girls, nor can they become elves or angels... they can only become Fool's Dream.
Theoretically, before life becomes "life," if no concept of race has been inscribed, it possesses infinite possibilities. Much like the soul essence circulating within a world, it can become a member of any existing Sequence of Life within that world.
But the Fool's Dream are different. They are a group of dream consciousnesses lost in the Primitive Dream Realm. With the help of a Holy Relic, they became the Fool's Dream, and for the first time, they inscribed a non-existent "Sequence of Life" for themselves—the Fool's Dream.
The power of the Holy Relic inscribed the concept of "Creating Life." They cannot be compatible with any existing Sequence of Life.
But this is not a pity. Without the Holy Relic, they wouldn't even have had the chance to become the Fool's Dream. With it, they gained this sliver of possibility.
Thus, from the very beginning, Fate had inscribed the price the Fool's Dream must pay to become life. But it also pointed toward a path to the heavens.
Before, I would have been lost on how to make the Fool's Dream become life, or how to perform the act of carving upon that unknowable Sequence of Life.
But now... I understand.
The Holy Relic. The Holy Relic of the Fool's Dream, the former Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art. It will become the carving knife for the Fool's Dream's Sequence of Life, etching their own path to the heavens upon the unknowable sequence!
Once I understood this, I no longer hesitated.
On the contrary, both my main body and my Ancient Remnant Ice clone closed their eyes.
The King of the Ancient Remnant Ice clan seemed to fall into a deep silence at that moment, but I... suddenly snapped my eyes open!
My Floating World level Spirit Vision seemed to touch an invisible boundary.
Everything before me was no longer limited to the Secret Realm; everything returned to its most fundamental form.
Energy and order, rules and luck, laws and theorems—all things invisible to the naked eye were presented to my vision in an indescribable way.
The giant hand that had reconnected the Sequence of Life for the Ancient Remnant Ice clan gradually began to manifest from the abstract... what kind of hand was it?
I cannot describe it. It was as if shattered concepts pierced through the Entity itself.
I felt as though I were in a sealed room, where everything I touched was an insurmountable barrier. I felt so clearly that this was not my limit... but the limit of the talent.
Floating World level Spirit Vision separated me from the concept of those hands...
"After Floating World... what was it again... the Void doesn't give names by mistake... so this is... the Real World...?"
As I focused my entire will solely on breaking through this isolating boundary... I felt my vision shatter. Everything before me lost its focus.
It was as if reality were a photograph, losing its original color as time flowed visibly away.
Black and white completely illustrated the meaning of all colors, forming a brand-new world.
Until I... barged in.
I was like a naughty kitten accidentally falling from a ceiling. Under the concept of falling, an unguarded fear welled up in my heart.
In my inverted vision, I saw a figure.
They were so shattered... so illusory... so fragile.
[You have finally come.]
A grand voice—one that sounded like destiny itself even just to hear—echoed in my ears.
It didn't sound like a voice, yet it was heard by me in a voice I recognized... and then understood.
The last time I heard this voice... was when the Entity wanted to embrace me as its child.
"You are... the Main World Consciousness!"
I forced myself to speak, wanting to ask the question to which I already had an answer.
I had met them so easily... without using a Luck Summoning Spell, without using the Misfortune Coin anchored by a Luck Seed, and without using any means anchored by the racial luck of the Ancient Remnant Ice clan.
Simply... Spirit Vision?
Floating World... no, Real World level Spirit Vision had allowed me to see this majestic figure as I wished.
Even without the restraint of the Ley Line Shackles, I felt a sense of inclusion from the bottom of my heart that I had never felt before.
[To be precise... I am the Main World Consciousness as you perceive it.]
At this moment, that voice no longer carried that distant weight. It was as if the tone had gained humanity; in the next second, it could have been chatting with me about domestic trifles... so casual.
"As I perceive it..."
I chewed on those words repeatedly. I seemed to understand many things. Language and expression are skills that only life can master. This meant that everything I saw and heard was not the true concept, but the concept as I recognized it could be an interpretation of the world consciousness itself.
No wonder the precision of these words had a hint of my own speaking style.
"So... communication is just a form. Because I personified the world consciousness, my so-called 'meeting' was synesthetically translated into communication as I understand it."
[Yes.]
"Will you answer every question I ask?"
[Yes. Including those I do not know; I will say I do not know.]
"You have a bit of a sense of humor?"
[I do not. But you do.]
"Heh... hehe... how very interesting."
[Real World level Spirit Vision has not left you much time. I hope you cherish it.]
"Are you reminding me?"
[You are reminding yourself. You noticed the issue of wasting time, and I provided the answer. Nothing more.]
"I see... so this is what it feels like to talk to you? It's exactly like talking to my subconscious clone..."
[You have wasted more time. You should have a very important question you wish to ask.]
"Right! Yes~ I do indeed have a question about a specific obsession I want to ask you." I composed myself for a moment before finally speaking: "The question is... are you life?"