Chapter 461: The Great Knowledge Tree?
“Um… can I not come?” I looked around the void I was in, and finally turned to the identical figure next to me.
Even if I thought about it with my knee, I could probably guess what was going on at this moment.
My consciousness had lost control over my body, but my consciousness was not fragmented; the Knowledge Tree Spellbook was the final temporary refuge of my spiritual awareness at this moment.
After all, the Knowledge Tree carried my memories and knowledge, and as it continued to evolve, it vaguely became a part of me. I didn’t know why this spellbook was so special—perhaps this is the true form of coexistence between a spellbook and its holder at the end.
After all, Teacher Ji had emphasized to me multiple times that, as someone who had not reached the extraordinary, I had never truly possessed a spellbook.
But the Knowledge Tree felt like a part of me; it was the extension of my own possession, my true magic, and the extraordinary powers.
“No, what nonsense are you imagining?” At this moment, the Illusionary Clone suddenly interrupted my thoughts.
“Am I not allowed to think? Are you here to welcome me?”
“You have quite the ego~ Have you ever seen yourself welcoming yourself? Don’t ask me why I’m here. I don’t know either…”
“Really don’t know?” I cautiously asked.
“Aren’t I you? Are you expecting me to be your personal grandfather?”
“Isn’t that so?”
“Then I might just have a mental breakdown for you to see?”
“Let’s skip that.” I waved my hand.
Just as I wanted to say something, a commotion broke the calm of the void, and countless runic ceremonies suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Such phenomena made me look up to once again see the enormous Knowledge Tree and the falling Extraordinary Knowledge from the void.
The Knowledge Tree stood in the void, its lush branches reaching for the sky, its massive trunk radiating the light of knowledge, with the flowing memories clearly visible inside, and the intricate and complex veins forming this vast Knowledge Tree.
And beneath my feet, extending downwards were its roots, penetrating the void. From a distance, the entire Knowledge Tree looked like a rootless drifting duckweed… floating in the void.
“What is happening?”
“You know the answer, right? The Extraordinary Knowledge is invading~ You already know this, don’t you?”
“Okay…” I shrugged, feeling a bit helpless at being so ruthlessly exposed.
“Are you just planning to continue watching the situation unfold like this?” At this moment, my clone turned away from me to face the spectacle ahead.
“What… else can I do?”
“Still pretending? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You always find excuses to comfort yourself that this Extraordinary Knowledge isn’t yours. You just want to reassure yourself that when you ultimately lose it, it won’t be so painful. Now it’s right at your mouth!” At this moment, the Clone seemed to have emotions, morphing into my truest self, lamenting my own hesitation, the voice and tone rising as she finished speaking.
“Don’t make me slap you! Don’t you want to explore the truth of the Great Spellbook? Come! The Knowledge Tree lacks the most important thing. We don’t know what it lacks, but we know that without that thing, the Knowledge Tree is just rootless duckweed!”
“…” This was the first time I saw myself so angry. Though her words had tempered somewhat, they struck deep.
“Go! Install that Extraordinary Knowledge onto the Knowledge Tree!” At this moment, the appearance of the clone grew blurry, and the next moment, she had taken on a new face.
“Xiao Han, hurry up, or I’ll spank you!”
“You! Don’t scare me by looking like Sister Bai!” I hurriedly exclaimed.
“Xiao Han, don’t blame me; this only shows that you are harsher on yourself than on others. You wouldn’t want to disappoint Sister Bai, would you?” At this moment, the Illusionary Clone, wearing Sister Bai’s face, continued to provoke me.
“I won’t let Sister Bai down, but… isn’t this quite risky?” In the end, I was still a bit hesitant.
The other person was me; understanding my thoughts, the Clone presented what I was internally contemplating, but I had never really expressed it.
When the Knowledge Tree Spellbook faced a bottleneck, how could I not have thought of using its source, the Extraordinary Knowledge, to break the dilemma?
I had thought about it, I had obsessively considered it, but it had been suppressed by my instincts because a voice always echoed in my mind—that it didn’t belong to me. Yet I had also responded; it could belong to me, and… easily.
And a reality had quelled both of those voices because this Small World belonged to the Main World; it didn’t solely belong to the Witch Academy, nor to the Academy Head, and it wouldn’t belong to me.
But now, Principal Beif Alanna had given me the opportunity to acquire it.
This was one of the fundamental reasons why the subconscious me repeated this thought.
Whether this gift was charity, investment, looking out for me, or doing so casually, the opportunity had landed in my hands.
In fact, many prior indications had told me that this Extraordinary Knowledge would belong to me, but as someone who was extremely conservative internally, I had ignored them all.
Now, it seemed that my subconscious was forcing me to make a choice, urging me not to hesitate, but in reality, I was merely finding a rational thought to comfort myself.
And my concerns about the danger of doing so.
Incorporating the Extraordinary Knowledge into my body, into the framework of the Knowledge Tree, I couldn’t predict the consequences of such action. Perhaps everything would go smoothly, and the Extraordinary Knowledge would integrate into the Knowledge Tree as I imagined; maybe everything would be wrong, all based on my assumptions, and then I would lose everything.
“What’s there to fear? If you lose everything, will you despair? Don’t forget how long it took you to develop to this point! You’ve gained experience and managed to evolve to this level; isn’t that more challenging than before? If momentary downfall leads others to look down on you, will you also look down on yourself? You know you will rise again!” The Clone’s words were highly motivational; even though I said nothing, she could hit the nail on the head.
“Break free from those boring concerns, let go of the hypocritical façade, and don’t care about others’ opinions! Isn’t that how you usually do it? Or is this just you putting on a show to comfort yourself?”
“Stop talking; you’re being really noisy.” I sighed, reaching out to hold one side of the Clone’s face, and without hesitation, I flung it away, the Clone’s form shattering into broken memories dissipating in the void.
At the last moment of the Clone’s disappearance, her lips still curled into a smile, a smile of satisfaction and relief.
Because I knew I had made a choice.
“So what should I do now?” I sighed softly, seemingly asking myself, or perhaps thinking for a solution.
But no matter what, let’s approach that Knowledge Tree first.
I walked slowly forward. With each step, ripples rose beneath my feet, stirring memories of the past, as I moved ahead, knowledge sparking with inspiration brushed past me.
The Extraordinary Knowledge transformed into a sky full of stars, points of starlight shining with runic brilliance. It was different from the Extraordinary Knowledge I had encountered before; it was more fragmented, as if turned into nourishment thrown into this space, falling at my feet, with the roots of the Knowledge Tree absorbing it as nutrients.
The Knowledge Tree slowly began to evolve itself, as if even without me, it could flourish.
Unconsciously, I had reached the very bottom of the Knowledge Tree, and looking up, I saw the canopy that blocked my vision. A strong sense of déjà vu made me instinctively reach out, until my palm pressed against the trunk that symbolized the Knowledge Tree…
In that instant, my consciousness seemed to merge into the ocean woven from memories and knowledge. My awareness seemed to form an indescribable connection with the Knowledge Tree; I felt like I was drifting in the stream where memories and knowledge converged, flowing downstream.
“What are you still thinking about? Just as you imagined, the Knowledge Tree is already different from the other spellbooks. It’s even more thorough than the Spellbook Rack Spellbook we grasped through special means. Use your brain to think properly! How should those fragmented Extraordinary Knowledge fill its deficiencies? What do you most need the Knowledge Tree to become!”
“I…”
I looked at the suddenly appearing subconscious and quickly realized. I understood that my main consciousness had been filled with these memories and knowledge, while my subconscious still firmly knew what to do, thus reappearing to correct my current self-drowning, “I… need the Knowledge Tree… to grow infinitely!” As I shouted out those words, the Clone also revealed a satisfied smile.
“Yes! Go and absorb that Extraordinary Knowledge, allow the Knowledge Tree to assimilate it! Let it thoroughly merge into the Knowledge Tree… We have no understanding or experience of the structure of the Great Spellbook, we can only use this simplest method to retain this Extraordinary Knowledge… You know if we can’t hold onto it now, it will be completely lost, right? Go for it! Anything is better than having nothing.”
Yes… anything is better than doing nothing!
At this moment, the roots of the Knowledge Tree expanded under my will, just to absorb all the Extraordinary Knowledge.
The Knowledge Tree seemed to grow larger than ever before, yet it continued to expand, the Extraordinary Knowledge surged into the trunk through the roots, and those terrifying and incomprehensible runic ceremonies fiercely impacted the existing framework of the Knowledge Tree.
And in a moment, I suddenly realized I was facing the extraordinary knowledge and extraordinary rituals, which previously appeared as an abstract mosaic…
Spirit Vision… have I made some progress…?
At this moment, the Knowledge Tree became my strongest support, and I was desperately squeezing every ounce of power from the Knowledge Tree.
The memories I possessed, the knowledge I grasped, they furiously deconstructed the unknown runes that I couldn’t reach.
At this moment, I felt an unprecedented madness, slowly devouring the fragmented Extraordinary Knowledge. Each time I deconstructed a piece, it would transform into the fundamental nourishment of the Knowledge Tree, becoming the power I wielded to counter the violent impact of the Extraordinary Knowledge.
In this moment, I felt terrifyingly strong—not the strength of power, but the strength of deconstructing the extraordinary.
My brain and thought process had never been so clear and lucid; my calculations had never been so easy and smooth. The knowledge that had been recorded and piled in the corners of the Knowledge Tree became lively at this moment.
You could say that from this moment on, I had truly broken the barrier between “the Knowledge Tree and me.”
When this solid barrier was shattered, my cognition and consciousness seemed to be sublimated; the Knowledge Tree was no longer merely a spellbook; it had become a part of me.
Just like I mentioned before, that unintentional guess turned into a prophecy, foretelling everything that was happening at this moment.
Though the “invasion” of Extraordinary Knowledge was far from over, I knew that this was no longer something I needed to worry about.
I didn’t know when, but I suddenly had an epiphany. I didn’t need to ponder deeply about how to achieve it. Instead, I should implement my own philosophy… I can do it… because power adapts to the strong, not the strong adapting to power.
The moment I understood that I needed power, the distance between it and me was merely the extent of my reach.
Because the strong do not merely refer to those who possess great power, but rather those who can grasp power whenever needed.
Inner strength must match external power; otherwise, even if that person is terrifyingly strong, they are just a slave to power. You will realize that it’s not power that cannot do without people, but people that cannot do without power. With such a clear relationship, how can such a person be referred to as strong?
In this moment, my mindset also shifted. If previously I faced Extraordinary Knowledge with insecurity and fear, hesitant about how to act, now I felt confident, curious, and eager to try, even if I didn’t know how to proceed, I would bravely attempt.
“The Knowledge Tree cannot allow this Extraordinary Knowledge to continue ravaging it. It seems I need to find a different way to retain it rather than simply stuffing it into the Knowledge Tree.” I casually muttered to myself at this moment, as if the situation that once seemed disastrous had now become trivial.
“Knowledge Tree, rootless duckweed, I think since it’s a tree, it should take root in the soil rather than float in this sea of consciousness.”
“Good idea~” I glanced at the Clone. Indeed, my brain moved quickly; the Clone was me, so her cleverness equaled mine.
I turned to gaze at the now damaged and ravaged Knowledge Tree by the Extraordinary Knowledge. Memories were shattered, knowledge withered, but they turned into withered leaves that fell to the ground, absorbed by the Knowledge Tree and transformed back into nourishment, sprouting new branches on the trunk.
Destruction also signifies rebirth; the Extraordinary Knowledge broke the original framework of the Knowledge Tree, but it also led to its reconstruction over the Extraordinary Knowledge.
I casually picked up a fallen leaf; knowledge and memories made up both sides of the leaf, intertwining to form the most basic unit of the Knowledge Tree.
What I needed to do next was to capture the Extraordinary Knowledge that the Knowledge Tree could not “digest” and precipitate it. They would become the soil for the Knowledge Tree, allowing its roots to have a foundation and securing the soil, thereby providing the Knowledge Tree with a stable source of “nourishment.”
This absorption process might take a long time, but it would sustain a more lasting development compared to the previous violent approach.
Perhaps by the time the Knowledge Tree completely absorbed the Extraordinary Knowledge, it might truly become the Great Spellbook?
However, no one could say for sure, could they?
Moreover, the Great Spellbook was not the only destination for the Extraordinary Knowledge.
Compared to pushing the Extraordinary Knowledge to the extreme, I was more inclined to thoroughly develop and refine the Knowledge Tree.
This order of priority was what I should focus on.
It’s not that the Extraordinary Knowledge itself was more important than the Knowledge Tree, but for the sake of the Knowledge Tree’s growth, I was willing to transform the Extraordinary Knowledge into nutrition to nourish it.
Because of this clear understanding, the Knowledge Tree had become a part of my life, and even the Extraordinary Knowledge was merely nourishment for its growth.
Although I understood that the Knowledge Tree’s development largely stemmed from this Extraordinary Knowledge, I clearly recognized that the Knowledge Tree was not a mere embodiment of the Extraordinary Knowledge.
And now, the Knowledge Tree had become the vessel for this Extraordinary Knowledge.
Everything was already within my plan.
As the impact brought by the Extraordinary Knowledge had calmed down, I also felt the sensations in my body slowly returning.
I had no nostalgia for this place because I knew that after experiencing this, I had mastered the tricks to return here again. Perhaps next time I wouldn’t need to faint.
When the bodily sensations returned to the void, my consciousness would be presented in the Sea of Consciousness that this Knowledge Tree had opened for me.
Unfortunately, this Sea of Consciousness, or Sea of Spirit, aside from this Knowledge Tree, everything else seemed too void.
I glanced back at the only tree in this void and the land formed from the Extraordinary Knowledge, then chose to embrace reality without hesitation…
