Chapter 535: Shortcut to the Great Spellbook
Mei Linde’s office & laboratory.
The layout here is completely different from before. In the central experimental area of the office, a gigantic alchemical construct stands, its intricate structure interlocking and driving the runes to operate. The movable alchemical alloy continuously flickers and alternates between two established forms in a rhythmic manner.
This is the instrument for auxiliary fortune observation that Mei Linde and several extraordinary academic witches crafted based on the principles of Qi Observation Technique.
Don’t underestimate the capabilities of instruments handcrafted by witches; after all, when Teacher Ji and I first encountered the concept of “Extraordinary Knowledge,” she began teaching me how to handcraft the key components of precise instruments.
So this method can only be described as a traditional craft.
Thanks to the witches’ craftsmanship, their resource consumption in research is quite economical, generally operating on a “save when possible” principle, and none of the witches working with me on the Great Spellbook have ever asked me for funding. Truly, it’s… very conscientious of them; I even feel a bit guilty.
At this moment, the instrument located in the center of Mei Linde’s office is not just precise.
In fact, in the center of this instrument lies something resembling a crystal, containing a Knowledge Tree sprouted from a Great Knowledge Seed, specifically intended to assist with the operation of the Qi Observation Technique instrument.
This crystal, capable of sustaining separation from the Sea of Consciousness while allowing the Great Knowledge Seed to sprout, is the same crystal that once represented a rather lackluster Great Knowledge Seed’s carrier; I had even given this crystal to other witches before.
Now, it seems that the witch successfully completed the simulation of the Sea of Consciousness environment and medium, allowing the Great Knowledge Seed to sprout outside of life’s Sea of Consciousness.
Unexpectedly, the first place it was utilized turned out to be here.
“Xiao Han? I didn’t expect you to come here personally. I just heard from the sisters that you’ll be using Knowledge Shadow for a descent later.” Upon noticing my arrival, a witch with whom I am quite familiar took the initiative and warmly greeted me.
At that moment, Mei Linde was still busy, hardly able to spare any attention for my situation.
“Well… I just came over for some things, it’s no trouble.” I said simply, then greeted the several sisters nearby.
I found that addressing these extraordinary witches as “sisters” has become quite natural for me. Being a bit sweet-tongued isn’t a bad thing; after all, I am not good at socializing, so I can only use this method to maintain a good image in the eyes of my mentors.
After scanning my surroundings, I suddenly spotted a witch whose presence felt out of place in one corner of the room.
It wasn’t her clothing style but rather her behavior and motivations that made it clear she shouldn’t be here.
She is Natalie, the alchemical master who helped me customize my weapon.
I quietly approached her, and at this moment, she was gesturing toward the air, but as the owner of the Great Knowledge Tree, I easily recognized that this was the effect of the Great Knowledge Seed. Currently, several design light curtains surrounded her, recording intricate annotations.
At this moment, Natalie was modifying the design blueprint in front of her. Even if I hadn’t deliberately looked, the information on it was already visible.
It was indeed a modification plan concerning the Box of Books.
“Sister Natalie, I didn’t expect to find you here.” I approached her with a hint of surprise.
“Huh? Oh, Xiao, Xiao Han, what are you doing here?” Natalie, suddenly called out, froze for a moment, then looked up to see me smiling at her. She hurriedly pushed away the design draft in front of her, almost as if afraid I would see it.
“The task that the headmaster is currently busy with is somewhat related to me, so I came over. Were you just modifying the design draft for the Box of Books, Sister Natalie?”
“You saw it?” Natalie instinctively spoke. She clearly remembered that this display was supposed to be visible only to herself, right?
“Yeah, after all, the Great Knowledge Seed originates from me, so I subconsciously saw it. It’s not an issue with the Great Knowledge Seed; I’m really sorry about that.” I quickly explained.
“Oh, almost forgot. This Great Knowledge Seed… It was something I asked from Mei Linde, I should say she provided it to me…”
“You don’t need to explicitly explain the source to me, Sister Natalie. After all, I almost promoted it for free. As long as it’s not wasted, I don’t mind. But you, Sister Natalie, were you just perfecting the design draft?” I continued to ask since this was my second time inquiring about it, and I felt that Natalie seemed a bit afraid for me to see her design draft.
“Yeah… I came over to discuss material matters, but I didn’t expect Mei to be busy; she won’t let a witch like me take her treasured materials, fearing I’d take them all. You mention trust between witches!” Natalie complained to me with a slightly lamenting tone.
Hearing this did leave me somewhat speechless; I didn’t expect Natalie’s reputation to be so low in Mei Linde’s eyes?
However, I still comforted Natalie a bit and ended up chatting about her design plans for the Box of Books.
Now I understood a bit why she had been avoiding letting me see her design draft; it stemmed from her professional habits. Before the final design draft is completed, she doesn’t like others to see it because she despises being interrupted by unprofessional people during the process. She prefers to quietly work alone on multiple design drafts rather than having others break her flow of thought.
She has indeed been traumatized by this.
From Natalie, I also learned about the progress of my weapon. Although it has only been a few days since we last discussed it, she had already prepared at least three design versions based on the estimated materials she could gather, which genuinely shocked me.
Since my demands for the weapon weren’t very high, I had given Natalie a lot of freedom when we originally discussed weapon design and proposals. After all, weapon design is also heavily dependent on materials, and objective limitations mean that the final product can’t undergo designs based solely on all my ideas.
Just as Natalie was sharing her design philosophy with me, several witches suddenly appeared as the space was torn apart, immediately capturing the attention of the other witches.
Even Natalie’s focus was drawn toward them, as these witches were the ones sent to collect data on-site, and their arrival indicated that the data gathering for this event was complete, allowing further updates on the Qi Observation Technique to continue.
Natalie also paused at this point. Although she enjoyed having a quiet listener like Xiao Han, she hoped that things could wrap up quickly so she could get some materials back to complete her creative construction!
In the meantime, I took the opportunity to understand more about the technologies related to Qi Observation Technique shared by the headmaster.
Looking over these specialized terminologies, I felt the terrifying cognitive dimensionality reduction from the headmaster.
While I couldn’t quickly comprehend the extent to which the headmaster applied Qi Observation Technique, I understood roughly what this instrument could do.
If my earlier understanding of Qi Observation Technique was to record and comprehend events that had already happened, then right now, with this precise instrument, Principal Mei could predict the future trends of fortune!
Moreover, short-term predictions could virtually avoid any surprises!
The most crucial role of this Qi Observation instrument is still its prediction of future fortune trajectories; that is the core focus. While accurate short-term predictions of future scripts don’t carry much weight, more significant effects arise from extrapolating possible futures. As long as the projection reaches a desirable phase outcome, one can intervene in the script’s direction to achieve the planned result.
This is the most important aspect—it signifies that mastering this technology will greatly enhance control over the script!
Compared to the previous practices of observing the flow of fortune to consider various possibilities for layout, this is indeed a leap into modernization!
This was clearly annotated intentionally by Mei Linde, and there’s no doubt it was meant for my eyes.
At this moment, as the data was entered, the instrument was activated, and that Great Knowledge Seed began making noises I could not ignore.
As time passed, I could feel this Knowledge Tree engaging in terrifying information exchanges with my Great Knowledge Tree. I didn’t know what the headmaster was doing, but such horrifying information integration very likely indicated that they were reviewing the details of this script.
Through the instrument’s description, distorted yet continually corrected images unfolded; these images resembled products of Earth Vein Identification Technique, but I knew for sure that they were not.
This is a reproduction of the script scene based on Qi Observation Technique and the Great Knowledge Tree!
Although one could directly retrieve Earth Vein information to obtain such scenes, the essence of these images is fundamentally different, carrying different meanings.
When the scene developed through Qi Observation Technique matched the retrieved data, a round of applause erupted on-site, indicating that the current test had met their expectations.
Even I joined in the applause, as despite appearing not to participate throughout the process, my Great Knowledge Tree contributed significantly.
After all, the Qi Observation Technique is built upon the Knowledge Tree, and obtaining this surface-level information of fortune “Floating World” also required my efforts to collect.
Following the test, the witches promptly began organizing the subsequent data, and such trivial matters naturally wouldn’t require troubling Principal Mei Linde.
Just as I prepared to step forward, Natalie preempted me and directly went ahead. Upon seeing the arriving witches, Principal Mei Linde immediately felt a headache coming on.
“You’ve been lurking here this whole time?”
“Yeah, didn’t you tell me to wait here? Look, Xiao Han is here; the main character is right here, you can’t backtrack now, can you?”
“No, did you fool Xiao Han? Normally, making a weapon doesn’t require rushing to wipe out my inventory, does it? Are you hoarding materials?”
“Uh… Sister Mei, are these consumables really that numerous?” I timidly asked when pushed forth by Natalie as a bargaining chip; I genuinely didn’t know much about this and certainly wouldn’t want Natalie to wipe out the headmaster’s supplies!
“It’s fine, I’m just preventing a certain guy from robbing wool and dumping the debt on you. Although I did say…”
“If you don’t believe me, just say so. I can sign a Witch Contract to prove I won’t hide anything!” Natalie retorted from the side.
“I know what kind of person you are, but don’t act too unseemly. Xiao Han’s contributions deserve my investment, but I don’t have to give you discounts, understand?”
“Ugh…”
“Don’t give me that look. We’ll talk about materials after I finish up; you’ve waited so long anyway, it’s no rush right now.”
After saying this, Mei Linde left her behind with just a parting glance and took me away, casually chatting with me, showing no concern about leaving the other party behind.
After chatting with me for a bit, the headmaster expressed curiosity as to why I would make a special trip here since she had recently learned that I wouldn’t come personally.
“Oh, mainly because I have some matters I want to ask the headmaster about in person.”
“Oh? Asking for my help? Have you encountered any problems again?” Mei Linde asked with some interest, as the last time I said this was when I came to inquire about Ignorant Dreams and Dream Creatures.
“Yes, it’s about… I would like research materials related to the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell…” I began to speak.
And this is the true purpose of my visit. Now I have reasons that necessitate a thorough dove into understanding the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell, so to save time, I chose to “request a shortcut.”
After all, the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell is also the headmaster’s achievement, and she must have a profound understanding of it.
“Oh— so you’re starting to want to research this Grand Spellbook? Not going to ponder on your own anymore?” Mei Linde smiled lightly upon hearing my request. This request is certainly not excessive; in fact, she had promised this previously, but Xiao Han had never taken it seriously.
“Mm…” I nodded; taking my time to figure it out myself is indeed too slow, and I almost forgot that there’s a shortcut I can take.
Now I feel I’m qualified to access the systematic research related to the Grand Spellbook and “Extraordinary Knowledge.”
Of course, the main point is still that I want to further understand the essence of the Grand Spellbook and see whether my so-called derivation is truly “deluded dreaming.”
“Alright then, the research materials related to the Great Spellbook might be quite a lot. I will organize and send them over at the right time. It will take some time to compile these materials, but you’d best be mentally prepared, as there will indeed be quite a bit.”
“No problem, I don’t mind that.” I casually replied, it’s only natural that there would be a lot since it’s accumulated over a hundred years, so these data and research materials will certainly be plentiful.
“That’s good to hear. But I must warn you in advance— how should I put it? Because of your help, it has been completed early, so the materials I send over will be missing a portion compared to the complete Grand Spellbook. However, even so, it should still be enough for you to study for a long time, but I still wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“Oh, is that so? Thanks for the reminder, Sister Mei, but I really don’t mind.”
“Then may I ask, to what extent have you developed in using the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell so far?”
“Uh… just starting out, at the level where I can only release it…” I humbly replied, “By the way, I have another question I’d like to ask.”
“Mm, go ahead.”
“It’s also related to this Grand Spellbook… Although it’s called the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell, this… shouldn’t be the most accurate description of this Grand Spellbook, right?” I cautiously asked, after all, this question essentially challenges the authority of the Grand Spellbook defined by the headmaster, so I naturally phrased it more delicately.
“Oh? Have you reached such an understanding of the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell? Since you asked, I’ll be straightforward. Objectively, I do understand that this name doesn’t adequately describe this Grand Spellbook, but in my perception, this name indeed fits it and is the most fluent term for it.”
“Thank you…”
“You’re welcome.”