Chapter 459: The Predicament of the Knowledge Tree, Sister Bai’s Arrival
Although the things the Principal discussed with me seemed simple, executing them was anything but.
Especially since this matter involved scripts and Extraordinary Knowledge, it became quite troublesome. Moreover, the Principal didn’t have me as the only alternative; for now, she referenced Qiu Ruxin’s ideas, placing my weight at the forefront. Another reason was that… I was relatively controllable and adaptable in the face of unknown risks.
It was realistic, but the fact remained.
And I had no objections to it whatsoever.
What a joke! If there was a chance to get a piece of Extraordinary Knowledge, why wouldn’t I take a gamble?
However, I had indeed encountered too much Extraordinary Knowledge recently. I surely wouldn’t have some kind of attraction to it, would I…
Putting aside such impractical thoughts, I was also preparing to cut off Qiu Ruxin’s identity as the Child of Fortune. Simply sending her to the Main World wasn’t enough; after all, I could still encounter the Thread of Fortune of this Small World while I was in the Main World. It wouldn’t be that simple for Qiu Ruxin to lose her identity as the Child of Fortune after leaving her original world, so other means would be needed for assistance.
Of course, Qiu Ruxin could completely retain her identity as the Child of Fortune upon arriving in the Main World and wait for the Small World to integrate into it. Although this would cause a temporary conflict with the Child of Fortune of the Main World, which was an unavoidable script-level conflict, it was not unacceptable.
However, Qiu Ruxin was very resistant to her identity as the Child of Fortune; she had already made her attitude clear.
Of course… there was another important matter that the Principal told me in private: after the absence of the Child of Fortune, the script of this Small World would take action to suppress the birth of a substitute Child of Fortune. If the script was completely destroyed, the world’s origin would suffer a severe blow, and at that time, the world’s will would weaken its resistance, thus accelerating integration into the Main World.
The main thing was to wait until Extraordinary Knowledge broke free from the control of the world’s will; then the world’s will would not have the resources to choose another substitute Child of Fortune.
Whether it was the Child of Fortune, the script, or fortune, everything served Extraordinary Knowledge.
If the most core elements were gone, what was there to play with?
“By the way, Principal, may I ask how many days this matter might delay?” This time, I sought out the Principal again to ask this question.
This was indeed important to me, as the matter concerning the interview had not been finalized. After all, the teachers needed to be available to gather for our interview. Although most of them were new instructors with not much to do, we should not forget that there were other instructors among them!
Those instructors were quite busy; if they weren’t, why would they need a teaching assistant? Did they want someone to come and play?
They weren’t that bored, and aside from the curious witches, most witches would only be interested in interacting with fellow witches.
“Well, it won’t be urgent; at most it might delay you for a day or two. We are studying how to destroy Qiu Ruxin’s Fortune Seed without harming her. It feels like it could be a small topic to experiment with. It would be even better if we could fully separate it.”
“Uh… isn’t there any precedent for this?” I scratched my head and asked.
“Naturally, there are precedents, but such opportunities are rare. When you encounter a problem you enjoy, do you really want to look at the answer first?”
“Alright…” I didn’t argue further; in most cases, I wouldn’t have any fondness for difficult problems, just wanting to find the answer quickly.
Maybe it was a habit from my past life?
“Xiao Han, are you asking this because there’s something urgent at the academy? When Qiu Ruxin summoned you before, she didn’t respond to the summons.”
“Ah, well… I do have things to do, specifically in a couple of days. Maybe tomorrow or the day after, I need to participate in the teaching assistant interview.”
“Oh, a teaching assistant… we’re already at the new round of witches testing… wait!” Upon hearing my words, Principal Beif reacted. Calculating the time, it indeed was around that time, but…
“Wait, hold on! Xiao Han, you’re participating in the teaching assistant test? Didn’t you just enroll?”
“Um… yes, is there a problem?”
“Is there not a problem?” Beif stood up directly, “The Witch Academy doesn’t have a precedent of students from the first three years taking the teaching assistant test! Did that old Mei suggest you apply?”
“Ah?”
I feigned confusion, but internally I was quite shocked. What was “old Mei”? It couldn’t be a nickname for Principal Mei, could it? Thinking this, I almost couldn’t help but laugh, but as I looked at Principal Beif, I managed to hold it in.
“Alright, alright, it really was her, wasn’t it? She’s truly reckless! Doesn’t she know you… you…” Principal Beif looked at me, intending to discuss the review process. However, being a Principal, she had some understanding of Xiao Han’s situation. Even if Xiao Han did nothing, the first place in the Dream Exchange Competition formed by many academies was a significant credential, and coupled with some peculiar achievements, it was enough for her to pass the review without any additional merit.
“Does she not know you just enrolled half a year ago? The written exam covers a lot of knowledge points, let alone the advanced questions.”
“The written exam scores are already out; I missed a perfect score by one point,” I said, as the Principal hit the nail on the head with her comment—it was based on my abilities!
“Missed by one… tsk… would a mentor even take in a freshman like you?” Principal Beif was momentarily stunned by my words, making it clear that this question was no longer an inquiry, but rather out of disbelief.
“I know a senior who has graduated; she came back among this batch of new mentors, and she is willing to take me in.”
“Pfft… hahaha, huh…”
Just after I finished speaking, having made the Principal speechless, before she could respond, laughter came from around the corner nearby.
“Hey! You all eavesdropping on me? And laughing out loud? Do you find this amusing?” Principal Beif seemed to have found an outlet for her frustration and turned to walk toward the laughter.
I stood in place; given the Principal’s strong perceptive abilities, how could she not know there were witches eavesdropping?
She just chose to ignore it. Now that someone had laughed at her in this embarrassing moment, well, I’m sorry, they were going to suffer.
With a wave of screams, as if deliberately to let me hear, Principal Beif walked out, clapping her hands and smiling.
“Xiao Han, where were we?”
“Uh… about the teaching assistant?”
“Oh right, since you’ve made your own arrangements, that’s fine. I like students with plans and opinions. You can focus on this for now; if it gets delayed, I’ll help you speak to them. Xiao Han, do you have any other matters aside from this?”
“No… nothing else, Principal, I’ll head back now…”
“Mm, go back. I’ll notify you once we’re ready.”
Principal Beif waved her hand, not wanting to dwell further on the topic—it was just a teaching assistant after all.
She wasn’t overly concerned about it.
However, as Principal Beif watched my departing figure, she began to contemplate other things, like how Xiao Han had only enrolled half a year ago yet had met a senior. Did they know each other before enrollment?
Realizing that these thoughts were meaningless, she returned to her own work.
After leaving the Principal’s side, I turned to find Qiu Ruxin. Yet, the large palace was somewhat overwhelming; I wandered around for a while before attempting to connect with the Earth Veins information of the Knowledge Tree, and finally found it.
At this moment, Qiu Ruxin was collaborating with several mentors on some sort of attempt—presumably the attempt to separate or destroy the Fortune Seed the Principal mentioned.
However, they welcomed my arrival warmly, enthusiastically ushering me in.
“Sister Xiao Han! I didn’t expect you to find your way here…”
“Mm, mainly because I didn’t have anything else to do, so I happened to pass by.” I replied briefly, and then my gaze shifted to the two mentors, “May I ask how the progress is on cutting off the connection to Qiu Ruxin’s Fortune Seed?”
“Soon, soon! Xiao Han, we might even finish today.” One of the mentors spoke up at that moment.
“So soon?”
“Of course! It’s just that our understanding of fortune isn’t deep enough; otherwise, we could do it faster, but it’s good to gain some knowledge on this topic, as it’s a rare opportunity.”
“Is that so…” I hadn’t expected that those doing this weren’t professionals, but judging by the confidence of these two mentors, it seemed that fortune was no longer a mysterious concept for the extraordinary.
During this time, Qiu Ruxin also took the opportunity to tell me about what happened here after my hurried departure.
Mainly, it was a tale of the Principal and mentors demonstrating their absolute power to suppress this world—a rather satisfying narrative.
However, I listened with great interest. It was primarily to learn how the Principal and the others conquered a world in a short time. After all, I might need this in the future.
Who knows what might come in handy, right?
Listening to Qiu Ruxin’s stories, I reached a conceptual agreement with the Principal and the others: don’t get into arguments with the people of this world. As long as you lower your status to communicate with them, they would try to argue with us, seeking any opportunity or possibility.
Only extreme power and the unknown strength could instill absolute fear in others; after all, who wouldn’t fear an unknown and powerful enemy?
Time passed quickly. Aside from listening to Qiu Ruxin recount the events of these days, I was also working on perfecting the Knowledge Tree.
Since I had previously attempted to connect with the Earth Veins and was dealing with two worlds, I needed to gather data to see if there were any differences. This would help me quickly adapt to querying Earth Vein information if I traveled to other worlds in the future.
Of course, I also indirectly got involved with the Plant Network, trying to see if there were any new theories related to Earth Energy conversion to help update my findings on that aspect.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the Earth Energy conversion technology had not seen any new breakthroughs in a long time; it appeared there were no shortcuts.
Even without shortcuts in that area, I was still absorbing the information emanating from Qiu Ruxin’s Tears of Wild Plants. My Knowledge Tree was based on the Memory Shelf, and the insights gained from this aspect, along with the Plant Network framework, fashioned it. Therefore, in essence, the Knowledge Tree was related to “Plant Technology.”
Although much time had passed without any significant breakthroughs, many smaller issues within the realm of this Extraordinary Item were continuously optimized. I felt that the developments concerning the Knowledge Tree were progressing smoothly; given time—months, even just a month—I could make further advancements.
It was a pity that if I had realized this earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time.
However, even if I could start over, I wouldn’t have regrets because I would still do the same. The journey ahead, filled with its feelings, changes, and insights, would be a completely different experience.
Right now, I was breaking through the storage limits of knowledge within the Knowledge Tree. As I used the Knowledge Tree more frequently, the things I needed to learn increased, and the knowledge and memories within the Knowledge Tree were continuously escalating.
This speed was so swift that it instilled fear in me. Even though I had subconscious clones sorting and refining knowledge and memories and conducting deletions of the useless portions, the accumulation of knowledge and memories was still rising too rapidly, while the increase in limits barely made any significant leap, failing to keep pace with the growth speed.
At this point, after I paused my tasks, I realized a lesson: there was an issue with the framework of the Knowledge Tree. This spell seemed to be functioning quite well, but it was filled with an innocent sense of “overly taken for granted.”
It was a hybrid spell mixing many functions, ideas, and frameworks together rather than a truly systematic spell.
It felt like I was in an automotive wrecking yard, piecing together those seemingly decent parts to eventually create a bicycle. At first, it seemed quite usable, but now that I foresaw the problems, upon reflection, I noticed its construction was too absurd.
Ultimately, it came down to my insufficient foundation, my lack of understanding of spells, and even… my inadequate knowledge of spellbooks. After all, the Knowledge Tree was still a major revision built upon the Memory Shelf spellbook—the essence was still that of the Memory Shelf spellbook with the Knowledge Tree as its sequence derivative.
“It’s getting late; I’ll head back now. By the way, is there a place to sleep here?”
“Of course! This is the most luxurious palace in this country—how could there not be a place to sleep? Feel free to ask around; let the servants here guide you to an empty guest room.” One of the mentors said.
“Is that so? Then fine,” I nodded, not intending to ask anyone. I could try communicating with the Earth Veins; perhaps I could receive a schematic of the palace’s area divisions.
However, just as I turned to leave, the door I was about to exit was pushed open at that moment. Initially, I thought it was a mentor coming to check on things, but when I saw the person entering, I froze in place.
“Is this where you are? I finally found you.”
“Sister Bai? You really came here!” I widened my eyes in disbelief; I had only casually mentioned it to Sister Bai.
At this moment, not only was I surprised, but the nearby mentors were also curious, and… so was Qiu Ruxin.
She had never seen Xiao Han address anyone with such excited tone, as if the arrival of this figure signified a person more qualified than her to protect Xiao Han had come…
