Chapter 638: “Friendly Communication” Achieves “Friendly Cooperation”
This meeting was quite difficult.
Until the halftime break, neither party had met their demands, at most they had just “fully exchanged opinions” at this stage.
Under Ninglan Qiuyue’s request, I did not turn this halftime break into an end.
After all… I hate trouble and bickering.
However, I conveyed a message to them: I was willing to give Ninglan Qiuyue some face, but others were not qualified.
During the halftime break, those officials temporarily left this place to prepare for the next segment, while I continued to stay here with the Box of Books, looking at the runic texts I obtained from Sister Belika.
Learning makes me happy.
Once I began to delve into the field of runes that Sister Belika studied, I understood why no one can learn runes in all areas.
Using Sister Belika’s metaphor, if we compare runes to a phonetic writing system, then taking certain examples from those systems—just 26 letters (runes) can form a multitude of words (composite runes), and these words can create countless sentences (spells or extraordinary techniques) through grammar (rune rituals, ritual frameworks).
But what about the runes themselves?
There are hundreds of common basic runes, and many more rare runes, with new basic rune rituals still being discovered continuously.
Their boundaries present completely counterintuitive rune effects due to the division of fields, and the total number of combinations is terrifyingly vast!
This was my first impression after viewing Sister Belika’s research on rune literature, allowing me to grasp what “endless learning” means, and to comprehend the significance of choosing field classifications.
However… I have the Great Knowledge Tree.
Why am I learning runes?
To assist me in better understanding the extraordinary. Sister Belika’s words were indeed not wrong; runes are the writing system through which the void allows life to comprehend—they can help me understand many things.
Thus, rune literature feels more like a… “tool” to me. I will utilize this tool well, but I won’t delve into how to refine the tool unless I truly reach the boundary of exploring the extraordinary. Without sharpening the tool, I cannot understand the degree of the extraordinary.
But that’s still early for me. Walking the path forged by others, I need to learn to accept my identity as a student walking in the footsteps of my predecessors. Learning is my task at this stage, while transcending… is my task for the future.
For now, I will appreciate the scenery around the people who forged this path, recording the breathtaking views they did not have time to admire, and then… sharing them.
This is not regrettable, because I know the scenery ahead will be even better.
Perhaps this is the charm of continuous learning.
Meanwhile, the discussion among those officials continued, but I received a private message from Ninglan Qiuyue, expressing some words of thanks.
I glanced at it and didn’t even reply, because at that moment, she should be doing something more meaningful rather than sending me a message of thanks. However, I wouldn’t mind if she took the time to send it.
But at this moment of halftime break, a figure that no one expected appeared here.
“Teacher Elena, I didn’t expect you to come!” I immediately stood up to greet her.
“Of course, just take a seat.” Teacher Elena had no airs about her, coming to my side, pulling out a chair, and sitting down. “Do you know why I came?”
“Well… Is it about the dream overlap? Otherwise, I can’t think of any other reason,” I replied.
“Indeed, it’s because of that. Xiao Han, I personally went to see the second refuge you planned. The dream overlap area there has indeed calmed down. Although I didn’t witness how you did it with my own eyes, I know you’ve found the method.”
“So… Teacher Elena wants me not to assist Ninglan New City?” I asked curiously. After all, since Teacher Elena knew I could do it, there wouldn’t be many reasons for her to come find me.
“This is your own ability. Whether to help or not is your choice.” Elena smiled lightly, her gaze turning to those who remained nearby.
After all, Teacher Elena’s sudden visit here was a significant matter!
What she said to Teaching Assistant Xiao Han could potentially influence the negotiation process for Ninglan New City.
“However, my research on the relationship between reality and dreams is quite profound, or else I wouldn’t stay in Ninglan New City for monitoring.” Elena explained with a smile, noting that her staying in Ninglan New City and resurrecting students was just incidental; her main purpose was still to monitor the dreams.
As a complete and repaired world, dreams are an essential special existence. Even for the complete restoration of the Earth Veins, they need the veins of dreams to complete the last piece of the puzzle.
“But Xiao Han, the methods you used to repair the situation are really hard to mimic. Even though you mentioned your plans and ideas at the time… it still exceeded our expectations. We initially thought no one could solve this problem, but you accomplished it relying on your own strength, just like when you created the Dream Rewriting Spell—it’s equally astonishing.”
“Uh… Is Teacher Elena trying to express something?” I instinctively inquired.
Elena coming here surely wasn’t just to praise me briefly, right?
But this side note also indicated that it seemed I had once again broken their expectations?
“The act of reclaiming the expanding realm of dreams is irreversible and unstoppable. I came to understand what you meant by the dream dispelling—just how extensive is this dispelling?”
“Uh…” Upon hearing Elena’s words, I seemed to connect the dots. “Is Teacher Elena afraid I might disrupt the connection between dreams and reality?”
“That’s about the gist of it.” Elena nodded. Although she learned that the relationship between dreams and reality had seemed to stabilize after the second refuge, for precautionary measures she still wanted to come and inquire personally.
“It’s fine. The method I used is quite simple.” As I spoke, a composite original rune I obtained from a dream creature emerged in my hand. “With this, Teacher Elena can envision me as a large dream creature. I first stirred up the dream overlap and then smoothed it out afterward.”
“Smooth out… Oh, I see! You mastered the ability to create an environment suitable for using the Dream Rewriting Spell and then reverse-engineered it to smooth the relationship between dreams and reality!” Elena quickly grasped my meaning. After all, in the previous live stream, I merely mentioned wanting to create an artificial environment suited for the Dream Rewriting Spell in a special way.
They naturally understood how to achieve such a thing.
That is, to alter the relationship between dreams and reality, adding to the field resonance, the boundary between reality and dreams, and research on spatial resonance, etc…
This started to become quite understandable.
“I see… Then I suppose I’ve disturbed you…” Just as Elena was about to get up, a door to the side suddenly opened, revealing officials who were caught off guard upon hearing about Teacher Elena’s unexpected visit.
Upon learning this news, they quickly straightened their demeanor and rushed over to greet her.
“I came here only to confirm one thing, with no other intentions. The act of reclaiming the expanding realm of dreams is irreversible; it’s merely a matter of sooner or later. Xiao Han’s methods are within the normal flow; I won’t stop her from doing what she wants, and our Witch Academy also won’t interfere with the personal actions of teaching assistants that do not violate the contract.”
Seeing them, Elena directly stated the purpose and outcome of her visit.
With Teacher Elena definitively classifying this matter, it doomed them to have no opportunity to gain any advantage, although they hadn’t really had any from the beginning, but who hasn’t had a bit of fantasy and psychological comfort?
After sending off Teacher Elena, I turned my gaze back to everyone.
“Since you’re all gathered here, are we ready to end the halftime break?” I knew they hadn’t finished their discussions yet, but I was more than happy to break their rhythm.
“I’ve thought of a brand new proposal. You Ninglan New City should abandon that tedious modern network construction and instead adopt the plant network system as a substitute.” I spoke once more.
I am well aware of what those teaching assistants have done, and they are equally well-informed.
Transitioning the interconnected network system built by external society to Ninglan New City superficially seemed to aid them in completing modernization, but more importantly, it was a means to grasp the network of Ninglan New City.
Establishing an entirely new platform and then controlling it is tantamount to an invasion of Ninglan New City, as cybersecurity is one of the crucial tasks for maintaining sovereignty.
Although there is something called the academy network within Ninglan New City, it’s a temporary measure, primarily structured to provide internet access for the students here.
However, the academy network is a network system that cannot be controlled or dominated by students or even teaching assistants; Ninglan New City is not a part of the Witch Academy, so the academy network doesn’t have a “legitimate” standing there and will sooner or later be withdrawn.
In fact, I had already mentioned this concept to Ninglan Qiuyue during our last meeting, but it seems that progress is not going well now.
“This… this is impossible. Suddenly letting us abandon something we’ve worked on for so long…” Upon hearing my words, one person immediately took the lead in rebutting.
“Shut up! How dare you discourse in front of me, thinking only about your own benefits while selling out others? What qualifications do you have?” I directly silenced the first person to rebut, with a spell-like effect on the silence.
Then, an image composed of the Great Knowledge Tree was projected, revealing a scene of this guy discussing with a student about leveraging the construction of the network to seize the public opinion of Ninglan New City. Unfortunately, there was no appearance of the teaching assistant, which implied that such trivial matters shouldn’t trouble her personally, as many people would do it for them.
This footage brought significant visual impact to everyone and showcased the means I possess as a teaching assistant. However, my subsequent remarks turned what could have been an extensive debate on this evidence into a side note.
“Did you think I came here to bicker with you? What I said is my bottom line, and I won’t concede a step. This isn’t a negotiation, but a notification. You have no qualifications to speak to me from a position of strength. Don’t think that just because some of you are cozying up to a few teaching assistants, you’re safe. My words stand here: even if you regroup those teaching assistants, it won’t be enough!”
“Even if there isn’t anything to discuss, that’s fine. Anyway, the dream creatures lack the capacity to k*ll. You just need to endure; without special means of intervention, it’s merely a matter of hanging on for a few decades.”
……
Night.
An all-city announcement relayed directly from Ninglan Township Fort shook everyone.
Not only was there the citywide announcement, but the City Guard also enforced a citywide curfew at night, with their presence notably concentrated in the main urban area.
But such large-scale actions brought great news to the residents of the city.
The ominous cloud that had overshadowed them was about to dissipate!
The matter of dream overlap could not be hidden in Ninglan New City, with those soaring dream creatures almost face to face yet again; they were not blind, were they?
Adding to this, such areas would also spread. Who knew if they would wake up one day and find themselves affected?
But now, they learned that their city lord had successfully achieved “friendly communication” with a teaching assistant from the Witch Academy, and after “fully exchanging opinions,” they had come to a satisfactory “friendly cooperation” through “intense negotiations.”
The threats to Ninglan New City would ultimately recede.
And tonight, the teaching assistant would take action to dispel those dream creatures, restoring safety to Ninglan New City.
To prevent this event from having too great an impact on the residents, the dispelling of dreams was scheduled for nighttime, hoping every resident would have a good dream tonight.
However, even so, many residents would probably have trouble sleeping, as the more they were told not to do something, the more they wanted to do it. This was the rebellious psychology of the masses; they wanted to witness the scene of dreams being dispelled.
At that moment, I was preparing for the preparations before the dispelling.
In fact, I had no need to prepare; I was just finding an excuse to dismiss those people from bothering me.
Now, with plenty of time until late at night, I continued to read.
I remembered that in the past, I wasn’t particularly fond of reading, or perhaps I just couldn’t persist, but now… it had become my interest to pass the time. Indeed, is this the power of “habits” for a person?
Now, when I read, I no longer felt the pressure I once forced myself to endure.
Reading even brought me a sense of… spiritual comfort. Coupled with my sense of time, I could read for a very long time and ponder many things.
For instance, I was contemplating the five senses of body cultivation as basic sensory perceptions of species; the sixth sense of body cultivation didn’t seem to be mere perception, and by the time of the seventh sense, this sensation became increasingly intense, surpassing ordinary five senses, seemingly no longer a matter of simple perception.
I was reflecting on whether I had made a preconceived error from the start.
Perhaps the sixth sense, seventh sense, or even the eighth sense that I had yet to touch represented some new connotation rather than just simple perception.
However, clearly, pondering aimlessly held no significance, and I wouldn’t gain answers from thin air.
Continuing to think in this way, I also read.
However… I wasn’t studying new knowledge; instead, I was reviewing old knowledge because my current state wasn’t very suitable for fully immersing myself in the exploration of new fields, so I chose to review and gain new insights.
As time ticked by, the nightlife of Ninglan New City gradually came to an end, and the night returned to calm and tranquility.
I knew it was time.
I pushed open the door and walked out. It was already deep in the night, and Ninglan Qiuyue along with several officials were still steadfastly remaining here.
“Sister Xiao Han, how is it?”
“Teaching Assistant Yang Yuelan, are you ready?”
My appearance prompted a flurry of inquiries from everyone, afraid of unexpected events.
“About ready; let’s just begin.” I replied, and without any hesitation, my Heart Realm Field unfolded…
Immediately, above Ninglan New City, a phantom Great Knowledge Tree stood tall in the sky, with countless streams of Knowledge Power flowing within its canopy.
And those who had persisted up to this point without sleeping saw an unforgettable scene in their lives.
