Chapter 512: Planting the Great Knowledge Seed Inside Luxien
“This… is that so-called Knowledge Seed?”
At this moment, I had brought Luxien to the upper deck of the yacht. The yacht had already left the original dock, and the sea breeze was blowing, tousling our hair. Looking at the gradually receding island, I turned to Luxien to respond to her question.
“Of course! You still have the chance to give up before it takes root in your Sea of Consciousness. Even if it has already grown, you can still choose to destroy it. Its risks are manageable so far,” I explained with a smile.
Then, the shiny Great Knowledge Seed floating in the palm of my hand was presented before Luxien. The “cultivation” of the Great Knowledge Seed requires considerable time and nutrients. Without a substantial source of nutrients, its growth speed cannot be accelerated. Even a technological breakthrough cannot compensate for the lack of nutrients.
I had already thought it through: once the first batch of information and repetitive memories from the Knowledge Trees returned, or when nearly useless information was transformed into knowledge nutrients, I would use it to cultivate the Great Knowledge Seed.
Luxien subconsciously reached out to take it, but her hand grasped at nothing.
“The Knowledge Seed doesn’t have a physical form, so it essentially needs to be held with mental power,” I reminded her.
“I understand…” Luxien wasn’t too surprised; after all, she was familiar with such existences. For example, spellbooks also required similar means to take out or put inside one’s body, which she was quite adept at. “So, what next? Do I just place it on my forehead?”
“What else do you expect? Then you must let your consciousness sink into the Sea of Consciousness to proceed to the next step.”
Following my instructions, Luxien placed the Knowledge Seed onto her forehead and then closed her eyes as if wanting to follow the Knowledge Seed into the Sea of Consciousness.
After a moment, Luxien opened her eyes again.
“Did it work?” I raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, but why did I feel nothing at all?
“How does consciousness enter the Sea of Consciousness?”
“Huh?”
With Luxien’s remark, I stared at her in disbelief, momentarily taken aback.
“You’ve been in touch with the extraordinary for about half a year; you don’t know how to mentally enter the Sea of Consciousness?” After I said this, I suddenly realized something.
Recalling my first experience with the Sea of Consciousness—not exactly entering it, but even perceiving it—I realized I had done so when deriving the Knowledge Tree. Then there was that one unexpected incident with Extraordinary Knowledge when I had grasped the approach to deeply enter my own Sea of Consciousness using body cultivation…
Suddenly… I recognized a problem: the concept of the Sea of Consciousness seems to require human initiation because it is an abstract concept. There cannot be such an actual existing “space” in the human brain; perhaps there could be, but it shouldn’t be called that way or used that way. When a person begins subjectively constructing this concept, the Sea of Consciousness can be abstractly “perceived,” then developed subjectively, discovered, and utilized.
This requires external stimuli as an anchor, much like a blind person cannot comprehend the concept of color. No matter how it is described with language or how the consciousness communicates, a blind person cannot imagine the splendor of color. But a blind person also has eyes, and if through external force, their eyes are restored, allowing them to see light, then this opens the door to a new world for them.
Luxien is currently in this situation; she has never understood the Sea of Consciousness, has not been in contact with such things, and has no relevant enlightenment means.
If it were me, my enlightenment phase was somewhat similar to the Memory Shelf, but the space created for the Memory Shelf is not the Sea of Consciousness. However, it paved the way for my conscious awareness of this mental state.
“I’m sorry; I was presumptuous. The Sea of Consciousness is a subjectively constructed abstract concept…” I touched my forehead, feeling somewhat helpless but felt compelled to explain.
At this moment, Luxien looked even more helpless, especially in her eyes. The way the other party spoke assumedly seemed to marvel at her incompetence… This sense of powerlessness made her feel unable to refute because this was a tangible gap.
“Then, if I don’t have a Sea of Consciousness, are there other ways?” Luxien didn’t want to give up on this Knowledge Seed. Its effect was incredibly extraordinary; if she were eliminated because of such a basic usage threshold, she would regret it every morning when she woke up!
She had heard of similar things, such as spellbooks. Not every spellbook circulated in the Witch Academy could be used immediately; some spellbooks had difficult thresholds even to use, and this might just be one of those cases…
“If there’s no Sea of Consciousness, just create one; it’s a simple concept! Since you’ve grasped this idea, haven’t you thought about overcoming it?”
“Overcoming…” Luxien was momentarily stunned by my statement. This felt like a blow to her way of thinking. When encountering difficulties, she would consider finding alternative solutions, while the other party was thinking of overcoming…
“Yes, the Sea of Consciousness is a very abstract concept. If you can be aware of its existence, you can do many things. In fact, meditation is a method to enlighten the Sea of Consciousness, but we don’t need to use such a slow method now; we’ll use the most direct way,” I said directly pulling out the seed that Luxien had placed inside her body, leaving her in a daze.
So… it was taken out again?
She had just placed it on her forehead, and afterward, it had disappeared from her perception.
“Now concentrate your mental power on this seed. I will guide you to anchor off this Knowledge Seed and construct your Sea of Consciousness.”
As I spoke, I was also feeling a deep sense of reflection. The difficulty of promoting the Knowledge Seed seemed to be more challenging than I had anticipated. It is not like the Knowledge Leaf because the Knowledge Leaf does not belong to the person carrying it. Its ownership is entirely mine; the person carrying it or the Fool Dream merely has temporary usage rights.
However, the Knowledge Seed establishes a deep connection with a person, almost becoming a part of them. Even I, the caster, cannot interfere with it but can only “observe.” Though I personally feel this connection seems to be more than mere observation, I need to look deeper to understand what other abilities it possesses.
At this moment, Luxien obediently released the mental power threads from the Witch Meditation Method, firmly anchoring onto this Knowledge Seed.
Previously, she had felt inclined to do this but had not been fully prepared, leading the seed to reach an area beyond her understanding in an incomprehensible way.
I didn’t say anything more, observing Luxien’s somewhat “weak” mental power, still worried and surrounded her mental power with my own.
As the Knowledge Seed slowly embedded into her forehead, this time, I moved very slowly to let her adapt to the entire process of exploring the unknown. The Sea of Consciousness isn’t such a mysterious thing; it’s merely that the unknown amplifies the difficulty of constructing it. It is like the first time one engages with the Witch Meditation Method; it seems challenging, but the difficulty is only the threshold to get started.
At this moment, Luxien, under my meticulous guidance, found that her spirit and consciousness had seemingly opened a whole new perspective. It was a place of chaotic consciousness; when the subjective awareness realized its presence, the Sea of Consciousness gained order. Here, she finally, from this peculiar perspective, saw the existence of that seed.
“This! This is the Sea of Consciousness!”
Luxien was also surprised as though she had received a new toy, but I could also see that she was somewhat restrained. However, the small movements she could not conceal due to her excitement gave away her thrilled heart.
“Yes, it’s that simple. Don’t think too much; this has no direct relation to your so-called talent. It’s just that your understanding hasn’t yet expanded to this step. When you grasp the concept of the Sea of Consciousness, you could probably learn this concept on your own quite quickly, even without me,” I comforted her.
“Is that so? I get it.” Luxien accepted my explanation but felt even more unwilling. She needed to work even harder!
As long as she attains this photographic memory ability, freeing up time from tedious textbooks, she would have more time to understand more things, broadening her cognitive limits. This was merely a qualifying threshold that had already prepared her for the lesson.
“Then use magic power to nourish it, allowing it to take root and sprout in your Sea of Consciousness, growing into a Knowledge Tree; that will finish the initial step of mastering it. Afterwards, its growth will depend on yourself.”
“Use magic power?” Luxien paused, subconsciously preparing to use it. Yet no matter how she exerted herself, the seed could not absorb magic power the way a spellbook could.
The technique she used for the spellbook was now completely ineffective. “I… can’t channel my magic power…”
“Oh!”
At this moment, I also realized she was still a new student!
She lacked the qualifications for mental power to interfere with magic power, while I had already undergone a qualitative transformation of mental power through numerous accidents…
“I’m sorry… I’m not well-versed enough in this area; I forgot these basics,” I said, covering my forehead with my right hand, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Mainly, the only experimental subject, Sister Bai, was so strong that both she and I overlooked certain “common knowledge” we hadn’t considered.
Now that I tried to promote the method, I suddenly encountered many problems.
“Do you have other types of energy? Any power your mental power can control will work—elements, spirits, etc.”
“Can Witch Power work?” Luxien’s mouth trembled slightly before she asked.
“Witch Power? I haven’t tried it. Let’s give it a go. Don’t worry; if it breaks, I’ll give you another one.” Upon hearing her suggestion, I became curious. I had only tested common extraordinary powers like elements that I could access, but I had never tried anything else. I didn’t expect she could wield Witch Power, but it didn’t seem too hard to understand.
“Okay…” Luxien hesitated for a moment before nodding, as she hadn’t forgotten her role as the experimental “little white mouse.”
Luxien rummaged through her storage equipment for a long time, then brought out a crystal-like Witch Tool that had been refined. This was one of the basics for wizard apprentices to control Witch Power.
After all, wizards were humans, and they didn’t have something like extraordinary bloodlines as support.
Of course, excluding those madmen who integrated other races’ bloodlines into themselves, fusion was not uncommon in the Wizard Academy.
However, Luxien clearly had not been exposed to such means of transformation.
At this moment, as Witch Power surged in, the Knowledge Seed began to stir. From my observation, this process of growth was much slower than Sister Bai’s, likely a matter of energy level…
But indeed, the seed in Luxien’s Sea of Consciousness was “growing.”
It was a long process, but Luxien was the first person I was promoting apart from Sister Bai, so I had ample patience to accompany her in completing the initial steps. Furthermore, this was also a very precious chance to collect experimental data!
Though this attempt encountered several setbacks, it provided a significant insight: if I want to teach someone, it cannot be only what I think; it must be what they think. Never assume that explaining common knowledge is unnecessary, for it ensures the quality of education.
At this moment, I, as the teaching assistant, was completely immersed in the teacher’s mindset. Teaching others is also one of the fastest ways to learn oneself.
I am unafraid of mistakes, unafraid of accidents, as these mistakes represent problems, and solving problems symbolizes personal progress!
At this moment, Luxien was also in a fascinating state. She felt her Sea of Consciousness expanding passively with the growth of the Knowledge Seed, extending the subjective awareness order. In plain terms, her Sea of Consciousness was gradually growing with the help of the Knowledge Seed. As the Sea of Consciousness was constructed, her understanding of mental power was also deepening, as if even meditation had a kind of enlightening illusion…
“Huh? Is the growth stopping?”
Luxien instinctively provided more Witch Power, but once the Knowledge Seed reached a certain level, it could not grow any further.
When Luxien opened her eyes, she found me sitting on a nearby lounge chair with a glass of juice in hand, which I had somehow acquired.
“You encountered a problem, right? The Knowledge Tree cannot continue to grow?”
“Yes,” Luxien nodded and said.
“Congratulations! The entry phase of cultivating the Knowledge Tree has been completed. What I can teach you is about to come to an end; the growth of the Knowledge Tree will now require you to turn your own memories or acquired information into nutrients for it to grow,” I said with a smile, then stood up and took a sip of juice before continuing to explain to her.
“This is a long process. If you encounter anything you don’t understand, you can try asking the Knowledge Shadow. Remember, the Knowledge Shadow is me in your subconscious; it’s not that I, the real one, have a bad attitude towards you. It’s your perception of me that paints that picture. Perhaps you should slightly adjust your view of me; otherwise, your thinking will become your greatest obstacle moving forward.”
