Chapter 309: Cooperation and Win-Win
“Sister Bai, what do you think of that City Lord we met earlier?” As I was preparing to find the association president, I casually went to Bai Yu and asked.
“Hmm? Why are you suddenly mentioning him, Xiao Han?”
“Just curious.”
“Hmm… that City Lord is quite a powerful person.” Bai Yu finally offered this answer.
“Powerful? From my impression, he seemed very approachable and polite when he spoke. Although there might be reasons he doesn’t want to provoke us, he still seems quite good overall, doesn’t he?”
“But you can’t deny that he is the City Lord who controls the entire Ninglan New City, can you? Someone like him usually carries an aura of a superior. Such a temperament is hard to conceal, yet he… well, I wouldn’t say he is very reserved, but someone who can hide themselves shouldn’t be underestimated,” Bai Yu simply explained.
“From this perspective, you are right,” I nodded in agreement.
Of course, I mainly wanted to see Bai Yu’s opinion on that City Lord. We wanted to study basic extraordinary knowledge here, even forming a circle for extraordinary learning to promote and learn from each other, which might touch upon that City Lord’s bottom line.
After all, the extraordinary skills we wanted to research all belong to the realm of offensive restricted categories.
But… what does that have to do with me?
Do we have a profound friendship with Ninglan New City? On a macro scale, I am promoting the development of their extraordinary field, so they should be thanking me.
After we inquired about the president’s office, we politely went to visit.
“Hmm?”
“Hello, is there something I can help you with?”
After opening the office door, a familiar figure appeared before us; it was the man from the earlier encounter at the history museum.
“I’m looking for the president of the Extraordinary Skill Research Association,” I said.
“Oh? What a coincidence, I’m the president of the association. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself earlier. My name is Wumali, and I’m the current president of the Extraordinary Skill Research Association. May I ask the names of you two visitors?”
“Yang Yuelan, Bai Yu,” I briefly pointed out our names.
“Oh, Miss Yang Yuelan, Miss Bai Yu, may I ask what you would like to see me about?”
“Well, I was wondering if we could have some cooperation. After all, we are very interested in the extraordinary power you currently possess. Likewise, we also have extraordinary powers, and I wonder if you might be interested?”
“Oh? So you also possess extraordinary… extraordinary powers?” Upon hearing my words, he visibly became interested, “Could you show me a bit… oh, I need to prepare materials for that… wait, that might not work… sorry…”
At this moment, Wumali, upon hearing these words, obviously understood what it represented, something that exceeded his knowledge of extraordinary skills!
So much so that he almost overlooked that we are not from the same world.
“It’s fine. For us, extraordinary power doesn’t require too much external items, because we refer to it as… magic.”
Then, I snapped my fingers, runes flashed to compose a spell ceremony, and then, with a bang, a fireball appeared out of thin air before me.
This fireball was a pure magical structure, conjured by hand, free from the spellbook’s dependency, and its power seemed to be no less than when I cast it from the spellbook at the Witch Academy.
That’s why I said this place is a paradise for learning and studying spells!
With the constraints of the spellbook removed, the direct understanding of the spell at this moment became even more intuitive.
I admit that the spellbook is a higher artistic representation of the concept of magic, but that’s lofty enough for me to only look up to. Now this method is more suited for me to understand the essence of magic.
“This… this!” At this moment, Wumali’s eyes widened, staring at the unexpectedly appearing fireball, excitedly stepping forward to touch it.
I naturally didn’t stop him; after all, how could something from the dream realm hurt reality?
“This… it’s amazing!”
At this point, he could no longer put into words the technique he was witnessing.
“Just now… could you show me that combination of extraordinary runes again?”
“Of course, but you should understand that we are currently discussing more important matters, and we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture because of small details.” After dispersing the fireball spell, I replied.
As for them calling the rune ceremony extraordinary runes, there is really no problem with that; it’s just a term. I had noticed this when flipping through the introductory books they arranged earlier.
Harnessing extraordinary power, the special characters inscribed on objects are indeed called extraordinary runes, which makes sense.
Moreover, these have evolved through borrowing from established runes, belonging to their own unique inscriptions.
They possess quite a few runes, some of which are even rare runes or complex rune combinations that I have had very little contact with.
They have also discovered that runes have compound characteristics, where some can be decomposed into two or more runes, and have even become a part of their system. However, compared to the rune system, it seems quite rudimentary.
“Oh, sorry, sorry! I got too excited. I didn’t know what way you would like to cooperate with us. Also, this matter seems quite significant, so I’ll need to test the City Lord’s attitude on this.”
“I’m not concerned about that. I only care about the results. What I want is for everyone to explore our extraordinary system, whether through study groups or any other form. I need to create an environment for mutual exchange and learning, and I think your Extraordinary Skill Research Association is quite suitable for it, don’t you think?”
“Wait… do you mean you want to share this for us to learn and discuss?” he asked cautiously.
“It’s not entirely for free; after all, I need all the research materials related to this aspect shared with me during this period.”
After all, I have the Memory Shelf spellbook, making it extremely easy to record these, whether I need it or not is another question, but this material will turn into my most valuable asset, becoming part of my foundation.
Moreover, this is basic knowledge related to runes, and it contains conclusions and results drawn from different individuals. Doesn’t that in a sense count as free access?
After all, rather than struggling to fight for trivial benefits here, I’d rather make a concession to get the most important things.
“Of course! Our research association advocates knowledge sharing, which benefits our exploration of extraordinary power. Is there anything else you require?”
“I need people who truly love extraordinary powers, who have a spirit of exploration and discovery, and not just lazy people who rely on others. This requirement is not limited to how much extraordinary knowledge one possesses; regarding the extraordinary power system I described, all of you are on the same starting line newbies. I don’t want anyone who takes advantage of experience and talks about their past glories; do you understand my point?”
“I understand. I will strictly control these aspects. Is that all for now?”
“Yes, that seems to be it for now. Of course, once everything is ready, I will personally explain the extraordinary system and rune literature we possess, which corresponds to your extraordinary system and inscription literature. In fact, they’re quite similar; you call them extraordinary runes, and we call them rune ceremonies.”
“The extraordinary system… rune ceremony…” Although Wumali couldn’t completely grasp these new terms and concepts, he understood that this was a more systematic thing than what they had mastered. Why not learn from good things?
He certainly has to learn this!
“I understand, I will arrange it as soon as possible. I will negotiate with the City Lord on this.”
“Hmm.” I nodded, tentatively reaching a cooperation agreement with him.
As for why I put in the effort to personally teach, that is naturally because teaching others is also a method of self-examination, a clearer way to recognize oneself.
This can also help clarify my understanding of how these things can be interpreted in different ways, which is crucial.
In the past, I might not have understood, but now I realize how important the phrase ‘opening one’s mind’ truly is.
Some things are genuinely important and cannot even be measured in value, just as I previously valued knowledge, I now value thought processes, and the academy head values insights, etc.
Such cooperation is not about who gains an advantage; it should be seen as a win-win, and I can’t think of a reason not to do so.
After discussing some details with the president, I planned to prepare to leave since I didn’t want to linger here once the matters were settled.
“By the way, may I ask what purpose you had for going to the history museum today?” After all, he had only gone for a while and then returned to talk with us.
“Oh, mainly to visit the old curator. When I was younger, he took good care of me, and he was also the teacher who guided me to develop an interest in extraordinary skills. When I feel troubled, I go there to contemplate since it’s a quiet place.”
“Oh, I see.” It’s indeed quiet there, and looking at those exhibits will unconsciously lead to reflections on life, “By the way, what about the young girl who accompanied you earlier…”
“Oh, you mean her? Her name is Ninglan Qiuyue, and I believe you should know her status just by hearing her name. She is also one of the most important members of our research association, and Qiuyue is very interested in extraordinary powers. Would you mind if she came to learn your extraordinary knowledge?”
“I wouldn’t mind, as long as she’s not just a decoration.”
“That’s good to hear! Qiuyue has many unique insights into the current extraordinary system; she is definitely not just a decorative figure.”
“Well then, we’ll take our leave now. If everything is ready, you can find us at the Ninglan Xiang Hotel, although I won’t be at the hotel during the day most of the time.”
“Understood, safe travels.”
“Hmm.” I waved my hand to indicate no need to see us off. This conversation was quite pleasant, and I didn’t encounter any issues, so there was no need for me to stay any longer.
As soon as I stepped out, I nearly bumped into a figure—a familiar silhouette, of course, it was the Ninglan Qiuyue I met earlier. Unsurprisingly, she is the City Lord’s daughter.
“I’m so sorry…” At this moment, Ninglan Qiuyue also expressed her apologies.
“It’s fine.” Bai Yu and I stepped aside to let her pass, and she then entered the office of the president.
“Qiuyue has been outside listening for a while,” Bai Yu whispered beside me.
“I know; it’s nothing serious.” I replied.
After all, a big figure just standing there, the information presented by my spirit vision was too noticeable, so I only mentioned Qiuyue’s matter at the end.
“Let’s head back; I have some more important things to do.”
“Oh? What important things does our genius Xiao Han have to attend to?”
“Of course, it’s to explore the boundary between dream and reality. Just as you mentioned earlier, Sister Bai, what we see is the real world, but our form of existence is a consciousness body from a dream. We can’t interact with the reality, but… it seems there are many things we can touch in dreams, such as… this solid ground, the thick walls, and the stones on the ground… don’t you find it intriguing, Sister Bai?”
As I spoke, I stomped my foot and rubbed my fingers against the wall, sensing that these things seemed to truly exist within the dream.
Actually, I have been thinking about this: my guess is that dreams invade reality, where the information from many items in reality is laden by dreams, generating equal existence in dreams.
So, in principle, there is still some connection between dreams and reality, perhaps in terms of the exchange of information?
“Indeed, but these…”
“How would we know if we don’t try? Come on, Sister Bai, please accompany me for an experiment. Don’t you want to know what you can do here?”
I playfully shook Bai Yu’s arm, discovering that she seemed to genuinely respond well to this.
“Alright… fine, there’s nothing else to do anyway.”
“Great! Let’s return to the hotel and try in a place where there are not many people; I don’t want to be a spectacle in front of others.”
Actually, I also have some thoughts about testing this boundary between dreams and reality. Moreover, there’s another thing I’m quite curious about: what kind of relationship does my current self have with my original body?
I can’t exist independently outside my body; even my soul, without the material form, would likely have the possibility of dissipating, right?
And then there are the inspirations from those dream demons.
Don’t they consume our essence, energy, and soul material?
But right now, we are merely consciousness bodies, and the things she needs to consume are closely related to our original bodies, so the dream demons must have some means to achieve a connection between us and our bodies; it’s just that I haven’t discovered it yet.
Maybe… I need to capture a dream demon to see how she drains a person; this most direct observation of energy transfer will allow me to intuitively feel where the connection between different existences lies.
Perhaps the secrets within the boundary between dreams and reality lie right there.
However, considering that the issue of the boundary between dreams and reality has troubled the entire void for so long and still remains unresolved, I naturally don’t think I possess the talent or luck to solve it. I only need to understand this special environment of dreams invading reality and how to navigate the boundary between dreams and reality.
After all, we, within the dream, remain too passive when it comes to dealing with dream demons.
