Chapter 983: The Life Sequence Carved by the Path of Fool's Dream
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 983: The Life Sequence Carved by the Path of Fool's Dream
Once I realized that consciousness is an indispensable part of life, an ambition took root in my heart—one I have yet to share with any other witch.
That is: Is the Main World Consciousness... a form of life?
I had asked Dean Mei Lind about this indirectly, but based on her response, she clearly didn't know the answer. Or rather, she might have known of a conclusion, but it wasn't one she had reached herself.
Asking the question now made me look back on my past ignorance—how I had once arrogantly plotted to make this world that toyed with me "fit my mold."
Ignorance is simply a lack of understanding, but such ambition is undeniably terrifying.
[No.]
"Then, is it possible for you to become life?" I asked immediately, dissatisfied with the answer.
[Unknown. There is no precedent.]
"Unknown... no precedent. Heh..."
That single sentence clarified a great deal. The Main World Consciousness hadn't denied the possibility; it simply stated there was no record of it happening.
But then again... the birth of any entirely new life form has no precedent!
With the existence of the Life Sequence, the World Consciousness could be certain of one thing: different forms of life can undoubtedly be created. All that is missing is the method.
What about the world itself, then?
If that were the case... the world did not seem to be included within the Life Sequence.
Though it was a bit of a pity, I had received a satisfying answer. Even if the question seemed entirely unrelated to my current situation, it allowed me to perceive the world from a much broader perspective.
With my internal confusion thoroughly resolved, the next question rose to my lips.
But just as I was about to speak, the World Consciousness responded again.
[I do not recommend asking broad, generalized questions. Otherwise, the time you can sustain here will not even last long enough to hear a single complete answer. For example... how to make Fool's Dream become life.]
"Is that so? Heh, fair enough. Then I wish to ask: since the Ancient Remnant Ice King can transform a race into power, can I transform the power of a Holy Relic into Fool's Dream?"
Following the reminder, I quickly shifted my train of thought. I had indeed been planning to ask how to turn Fool's Dream into a life form.
But that question was indeed too broad.
In that case, I would simply trust in my own path and use the World Consciousness as my predictive engine. I already had a conceptual framework for turning Fool's Dream into life; all I needed now was to avoid unnecessary detours!
[Grant life meaning; a compatible Life Sequence.]
"Then... is the power of the Life Sequence what is known as 'Primal'?" I asked again.
This time, I was probing the issue of racial Primals.
From the perspective of life, every race is led by a Primal race at its inception. So, what exactly is a "Primal"?
Is it still the original race?
Surely it is... but if it's the same race, why is it called Primal? Why is it that when an extinct race is revived, the Primal status is gone?
Therefore, I made a bold guess: Is "Primal" a form of power, or perhaps a Sequence in itself?
After all, back at the beginning, I had learned about Primal Transformation and Primal Summoning. Though these were spells, the essence of a spell is power.
Primal spells are unique, specialized magics. This suggested that "Primal" was a unique "power" or a concept.
[You may understand it as such.]
"Which means: yes, but incomplete," I remarked.
[To describe it in terms you understand: however you perceive the Transcendent, the Transcendent shall respond to you in kind.]
"I was overthinking it..."
"Is the power of the Holy Relic the key to Fool's Dream becoming life?"
[Yes.]
The expected answer confirmed my suspicion. From the moment Fool's Dream became Fool's Dream, it had been deeply bound to the Holy Relic.
"Are Soul Essence and Dream State Soul Essence—or Soul and Dream-state Soul—homologous concepts?" I asked, posing another hypothesis. The answer to this would determine the mutual transformation between the two.
[No.]
"No... Wait! No?!" The answer caught me off guard. When the realization hit, my pupils constricted in shock. "How can they not be homologous? Can't Fool's Dream become life?"
[The inclusivity of life far exceeds your imagination. There is Soul Essence life, Soul life, and naturally, there is Dream life.]
[The so-called 'culling of life' is a concept understood by living beings, but the Void always reserves a place for these forms of existence. To attempt to unify life under a single conceptual understanding is, in itself, a prejudice against life.]
"Phew... I've calmed down. Thank you."
[There is no need to thank me.]
"Thanking you is my habit; it has nothing to do with you."
Seeing the World Consciousness acting polite, I couldn't help but shut it down. I was likely just venting my own frustration, but my curiosity about the unknown drove the words out.
Unfortunately, there was no further response, so I moved on to my next question.
"I want to ask... is Fool's Dream a form of life that exists independently of all known life concepts?"
[Yes.]
"That's why it's so difficult for Fool's Dream to become life, isn't it?"
[Correct.]
With just those two questions, I roughly understood the composition of the Life Sequence. Since there were variations in difficulty and category, its structure had to be like the branches of a tree.
Since the birth of Fool's Dream was independent of all other life forms, it meant that the life form of Fool's Dream was close to the source of the Life Sequence itself.
If the Life Sequence were a tree, then Fool's Dream was a new sprout branching directly from the main trunk. Even if it was currently weak, it possessed the potential to grow into something no less significant than the trunk itself!
Perhaps the "Fool's Dream Genus" that Sister Bai and I had joked about was actually going to become a reality.
At this point, the path for Fool's Dream to become life was clear of obstacles. Or rather, even if I didn't ask for the specific steps, nothing would stop me from moving forward.
I didn't need anyone to spoon-feed me.
I wasn't so useless that I couldn't walk the rest of the way myself.
Perhaps this entire event was just an accident, or even a bizarre dream, but it didn't matter. There is no perfect wish-granting machine in this world that gives a straight answer to every "why." What I sought wasn't an answer, but a confirmation.
After all!
Success or failure depends on human effort!
It doesn't depend on some ethereal World Consciousness.
What the World Consciousness reflected was merely a dialogue between me and my inner self. Humans cannot comprehend concepts beyond their own cognition, which is why this form of communication existed in the first place.
Now, my questions were finished. My hypotheses regarding Fool's Dream were answered. As for the rest...
I felt my cognition beginning to lag. The voice of the World Consciousness echoed once more.
[You are reaching your limit.]
"Yeah, I know. So, for my final question... where is the Main World's World Navel?"
* * *
Qi Observation Art Special Experimental Observation Zone.
Mei Lind kept a constant watch on the situation in the Qunluosen Wasteland, not daring to be the least bit careless.
To her surprise, the other academies were being remarkably disciplined.
It seemed the confidence they had built up over the years had been thoroughly beaten out of them over the last year or two; they didn't dare to make a move. Had this been a couple of years ago, they would have been jumping at the chance to interfere.
But regardless of how quiet the Qunluosen Wasteland appeared, the data on the Qi Observation instruments was refreshing at a frantic pace.
The generated data was so massive that the Academy's Ley Line System had been specifically diverted to assist with the calculations.
Any observant students still in the academy might have noticed that the Academy Network had become somewhat laggy. It wasn't just the internal network; the Root Network and Plant Network interfaced with it were also affected.
Because the situation was rushed and the Qi Observation project was of critical importance, the data from the instruments was being processed via a three-way distributed calculation:
Because it was a joint effort between three parties, it required a large number of witches to manually integrate key data and information.
Even so, one should never underestimate the power of Transcendent Witches!
Soon, the Luck distribution map and the Luck observation charts for the Qunluosen Wasteland were presented.
However, this was only the surface-level reference.
The calculations of Luck trends that supported the macro-distribution could also reveal vital information on a local, microscopic level.
"Luck dynamic lock-on complete. Generating consciousness interference traces."
The "consciousness interference" the reporting witch mentioned referred to the Main World Consciousness's interference with Luck. By using Luck as a medium, they could capture the dynamic traces of the World Consciousness within Real Time.
This was the cross-positioning method using Real Time and the River of Luck, a result perfectly manifested by the new generation of Qi Observation instruments.
Before long, many witches paused their work and began to quietly watch the data display.
Mei Lind did the same.
Until a certain moment...
"It succeeded?"
"No way? Success on the first try?! For real?"
Amidst the cheers of the witches, Mei Lind watched the screen calmly.
Success was within her expectations. As the Dean, she knew more of the inside story and understood the key reason why this attempt had been so smooth.
It was the cooperation of the Main World Consciousness.
If the Main World had initially felt nothing but loathing for all outsiders, enough time had passed for it to cool down. The reason the Main World Consciousness was now "willing" to make contact with the witches stemmed from the Witches' World Repair Technique.
Now, with the Qi Observation instruments, she could more intuitively sense the shift in the World Consciousness's "attitude."
Logically, a World Consciousness shouldn't possess human emotions like gratitude, a desire to recruit, or goodwill. It always acted on a primal instinct to seek benefit and avoid harm; it wouldn't "remember" someone's kindness.
Perhaps this was the nature of a "Main World."
A world born upon a major branch of the Void's Ley Line trunk always held secrets that life forms could never fully probe.
She shouldn't be marveling at the wonder of it right now; instead, she needed to use this unrepeatable opportunity to do as much as possible.
"Traces of the World Consciousness confirmed!"
"Can we track it?" Mei Lind asked immediately.
"We're trying... No? You guys send the data over... Integration complete... Still no..." The witch speaking muttered to herself in disjointed sentences before finally confirming the failure.
This specific task force used the [Transcendent Knowledge] Seed as a medium, combined with Consciousness Communication Spells and the Great Knowledge Sharing Spell, to form a temporary collective information-sharing cluster.
Even so, they could not provide an answer to Mei Lind's question.
"Reason?" Mei Lind asked succinctly.
"The Qi Observation has reached the Floating World level observation limit. Forcing the observation will result in a flood of redundant data, which will completely destroy the analysis results."
"Even at the Floating World level, we can't observe the Main World Consciousness..." Mei Lind sighed, letting the thought trail off.
No wonder the difference between the Main World and other worlds was so vast.
In other worlds—especially small worlds or those that hadn't even reached that threshold—any Transcendent could potentially break through the world's defenses, lock onto the World Will with professional techniques, and directly dominate the World Navel.
Once that happened, the world was completely enslaved.
A dominated small world could be used for many things. For instance, one could arbitrarily designate a Destined Race, using Luck to guide a specific race toward prosperity or ruin. One could even adjust the time dilation relative to the outside world, though doing so would consume massive resources and drain the world's foundation. If all else failed, one could simply erase the World Will and turn the world into a Dead World.
But the Main World was different. Although the three great Transcendent races "dominated" the World Navel...
If one thought about it carefully, that wasn't strictly true.
If they truly dominated the Main World's World Navel in the absolute sense, the Transcendent Witches wouldn't even have the right to set foot in the Main World. The fact that those Transcendent races constantly resorted to threatening to destroy the World Navel was proof enough that they couldn't truly control it.
However, they did possess some means to destroy it indiscriminately.
That was the leverage the witches feared.
The Great Weakening Spell covering the Core World was also the Main World's final insurance policy—a "mutually assured destruction" failsafe. Once that insurance was triggered, the witches would lose their right to the Main World entirely, and the culprits would die.
It was a lose-lose scenario that no one wanted to see.
Now, bringing her focus back to the present, Mei Lind spoke again: "What's the current progress? Give me a direct report. If this is the final limit, we'll wait for the event to end, gather everyone's data, and hold a comprehensive analysis meeting."
"Progress is only fluctuating within the expected range. No special breakthroughs have occurred."
"No anomalies at all?" Mei Lind asked. If there were no issues and no anomalies, then this venture was essentially a wash. As for reaching the "expected range," wasn't that just normal progress?
"If you put it that way... there is one thing worth noting."
"Oh? What is it?"
"We found that the volume of information released by the Main World Consciousness this time far exceeds our estimated magnitude. It started suddenly at a specific point in time, but it's all within an undecipherable 'unknown' range—meaningless data. It's only being recorded as an information statistical anomaly."
"Give me the timestamp," Mei Lind said after a moment of thought.
Simultaneously, she pulled up the tracking footage Xiao Han had specifically authorized for her and adjusted the progress bar to that exact time segment.
"I hope it's not Xiao Han... actually, I hope it is her doing."