Chapter 732: The Self-Circulating Small World Inside the World Fragment
After some explanation, I finally understood what I was about to face.
In the end, Principal Mei took out the world fragment.
Its form exceeded my expectations.
It was a massive mechanical structure, towering over me, with countless runes flowing across its surface. Just trying to comprehend it made me feel a powerful aura of sealing that captured my mind.
It presented an overall spherical shape, with a flexible structure enveloping a glowing core inside, constantly changing its form in a rhythmic manner.
“This is how the wizards seal world fragments. After all, it’s a world fragment; being able to seal and compress it to this extent speaks to their wizardry skills. The outer layer is encasing a world fragment sealing witch weapon, and just this thing alone is said to be worth an enormous amount in the hands of an extraordinary wizard.”
Principal Mei placed this massive object before everyone and explained what it was.
“Witch weapon… But if it’s a witch weapon, we wouldn’t be able to use it…” I spoke up.
After all, earlier I had snatched the fortune witch weapons from those wizards. After fiddling with them for a long time, I realized I couldn’t use them.
Moreover, at first, I didn’t want to believe it and simulated the power model of witch power and the mental power needed to leverage the extraordinary, but it was all in vain.
After half a day of trying, I found that witch weapons could only be used by wizards or those capable of wielding them. It seemed that witch weapons couldn’t be shared among different wizards either.
It was like a tech product with a password lock, fingerprint lock, voice control lock, and other authentication methods. Without the corresponding mental power amplitude and witch power fluctuations to verify the usage permissions, it simply couldn’t be used.
Additionally, some witch weapons also required corresponding knowledge reserves. After all, the wizards used knowledge to manipulate the extraordinary, and their intellect was their reliance on the arduous journey of ascending in the extraordinary path.
“Hasn’t Xiao Han encountered any witch weapons before? Open-type witch weapons can even be used by ordinary people, but generally, witch weapons aren’t designed that way unless they are items that require value exchange. However, once sold, wizards will still impose usage restrictions on them; this is a standard practice among wizards,” Principal Mei explained to me, then reached out to press on the sealing witch weapon.
Immediately, the witch weapon seemed to be activated; the sealing structure and witch runes on it began to flow rapidly. After a brief change, these outer sealing frameworks formed a shape that barely resembled a “door,” large enough for a person to pass through.
“Would you like to go inside and take a look at your private little world that belongs to you?” Principal Mei asked with a smile.
“Can we go in now?”
“Of course, entering a world fragment isn’t too difficult.”
“Then… let’s go take a look.” I nodded in agreement with the suggestion.
“Xiao Han, can you take me with you? I want to see inside too.”
“Add me in!”
“What about me? Take me too!”
As the door to the world fragment opened, the sisters of the witch academy, still lingering nearby, curiously chimed in.
“Are you all not embarrassed? Haven’t you ever seen a world fragment? Are you just like Xiao Han?” Principal Mei looked at the few who called the loudest, speaking with a bit of exasperation.
“Eh? Principal, are you joking with me? The witch race doesn’t lack world fragments, what does it have to do with this poor witch? I can’t even afford one to play with!”
“I’m just satisfying my curiosity! Xiao Han… you wouldn’t mind… would you?”
“Uh… actually… it’s not a problem…” I said from the side, as it’s just a visit.
“Xiao Han, let me teach you one more thing.” Principal Mei saw that I agreed, but she didn’t let those witches off easily. “Whether it’s a world fragment or a sealed world fragment, or a world fragment transformed into an instance realm, they are all quite fragile… Xiao Han, you shouldn’t let just anyone visit a world fragment.”
“Uh… oh…”
I nodded, even though I didn’t yet understand why, could there be a limit to what it can bear? Or perhaps a limit to how many extraordinary beings it can hold, much like the main world.
“You must be curious why, right?” This world Principal Mei asked the question I indeed wanted to know.
“Um, why is that?” I asked at the right moment.
“Have you thought about what would happen if someone or a witch enters your world fragment and leaves behind a teleportation mark or a location coordinate? Your world fragment would have a thief that enters as easily as if it were home. Even if it is transformed into an instance realm, if the other party obtains the world fragment’s coordinates and barges in violently, it would damage your instance realm itself. Do you understand?”
“No, Sister Mei, you can doubt my style, but don’t doubt my character! Would I ever do such a thing?” At this moment, the nearby witches immediately protested.
“Sister Mei, you know me! I would never do such a thing!”
“Sister Mei, I just want to see what the world fragment I can’t afford looks like!”
“I’m just using you all as educational material for Xiao Han.” Principal Mei said nonchalantly, “With me accompanying Xiao Han, you wouldn’t have the chance to leave any spatial marks.”
After being lectured by Principal Mei, the witches quieted down. They followed me and Principal Mei into the world fragment.
As soon as I entered the world fragment, I felt an unusual sensation.
There was a feeling that the “world” seemed to be dead, yet the scenery before me remained “flourishing,” lush green grass and dense trees.
Gently sensing, I could feel insects below the leaves and soil and decomposing microbial communities, with distant animal calls echoing. Looking up, I could see a simulated sun radiating light; it seemed to be a small world with a well-developed ecosystem!
But that wasn’t what shocked me most, for I discovered that this world fragment actually isolated the spell effects of the great weakening technique from the core realm of the main world!
Doesn’t this mean that it acts as a perfectly controlled experimental zone within the core realm?
The secret realm of the Witch Academy seemed unable to block such effects of the great weakening technique, right?
This was the first thought that sprang to my mind.
I subconsciously used the Earth Vein Identification Technique to gather information about the land beneath my feet… and surprisingly succeeded!
As other witches entered and joyfully experienced the wonders of the world fragment, I noticed many anomalies.
“There’s even an Earth Vein here?!” I exclaimed, looking at Principal Mei, hoping she would explain.
“Of course there’s an Earth Vein; don’t forget that every inch of land here comes from a world. Only by retaining the Earth Vein can basic world circulation occur. However, the activity of such Earth Veins is greatly reduced and will gradually decline,” Principal Mei explained to me in good time. “Do you remember your first arrival in Ninglan New City? The Earth Vein outside Ninglan New City was cut off, becoming a dead land that couldn’t be touched. An important part that a world fragment seizes is the Earth Vein; it is the proof that a world fragment is still alive. What a world fragment seizes is not just the land and soil.”
“So, what happens if a world fragment’s Earth Vein deteriorates to depletion?” I asked curiously.
“It dies, becoming akin to a large storage equipment. It would be unable to reconstruct an ecosystem like this one with living beings.”
“Is it possible to repair such an Earth Vein?”
“Well… not completely, but it’s not impossible. However, it’s not worth it unless the world fragment has a special value to someone or a witch, in which case they might go to great lengths to repair it. If it can’t be repaired, transferring the Earth Vein from another world can also revive the world fragment, but the world from which the Earth Vein is seized will become a wasteland.”
“Alright…” I didn’t ask further questions, as I felt that anything I learned could influence the development and destruction of a world.
After all, discussions related to world fragments in themselves involve various worlds.
Those worlds seemed like fruits ripe for picking, and no one would care about the parasites or microbes on the fruits. Perhaps to those extraordinary beings capable of grasping worlds, the indigenous life in this world could be seen as such…
By comparison, the people of the core realm in the main world seemed to have had better luck; at least we thought we were living with dignity in a civilized society, even if we lived in a lie of not knowing past histories—yet we did not bear the pain of past humiliations.
“Xiao Han, although this world fragment isn’t particularly large, it’s not one you can finish exploring just by walking through. Would you like me to show you around your little world?”
“Um, please, Sister Mei.” I nodded in agreement with Principal Mei’s words.
Even though I had a spellbook for flight and an alchemical flying broom, with someone leading the way, who wouldn’t want to be moved along?
With a gentle wave of Principal Mei’s hand, I began to float alongside her. It felt almost weightless, yet my robust body cultivation quickly adjusted to being carried along.
As we rose higher, the scenery below came into view.
It felt as if we were about to reach the world’s edge.
After all, this was a world with a round sky and flat earth.
“Xiao Han is very curious about what the edge of the world fragment looks like, right?” Seeing my gaze fixed on the distance, Principal Mei asked with a smile.
“Yes.” I nodded, uncertain about how to design it.
“Generally, reaching the edge of a world fragment either leads to a treacherous area or an uncrossable cliff. There’s no need to think about what happens to lives that fall—those creatures will d*e. Normally intelligent beings with some judgment would never jump off a cliff for no reason, right?”
“So that’s how it’s solved?”
“What else could be done? Every such world surely has a boundary. Generally speaking, the center of such worlds is materially abundant, while the edges are scarce, thus creating a situation where there can’t be large-scale populations at the boundaries.”
As Principal Mei shared these foundational concepts, they were mere common knowledge to the witches who had lived long and seen much.
In this moment, she acted as the most conscientious instructor, teaching me all that I didn’t understand, including but not limited to the maintenance of the ecosystem in world fragments, resource replenishment, how to intervene, and so on.
“It seems this world fragment doesn’t have any indigenous beings left, contrary to our earlier guesses?” I spoke up.
“The signs of transfer are quite obvious, indicating that this place wasn’t always like this. Perhaps it once housed something; it could have been a community of wood elemental sprites; otherwise, it wouldn’t retain such massive, undeveloped trees and forests,” Principal Mei casually remarked. It was better that nothing was here; she didn’t like dealing with messes, even if it belonged to Xiao Han.
I was busy extracting information and images of the Earth Veins.
However, retrieving this Earth Vein information was somewhat slow, which indicated that the activity of the Earth Veins in this world fragment was not high. According to the Principal, low Earth Vein activity suggested a poor resource circulation in the world.
If possible, it would be best not to make large-scale modifications to the internal ecological structure of the world fragment; otherwise, it could trigger accelerated deterioration of the Earth Veins.
As of now, the speed at which my Earth Vein Identification Technique gathered information had also slowed down.
But soon enough, I received this information.
“These… should be the wood elemental sprites you mentioned, Sister Mei, right? They were indeed taken away by the wizards.” I spread out a slice of the Earth Vein imagery and spoke.
“Indeed, they are wood elemental sprites. They can condense the essence of plants; this is a form of energy very close to nature, gentle and versatile, usable in many fields including but not limited to alchemy, spellcasting materials, forging, and ritual drawing,” Principal Mei nodded, confirming that the images contained wood elemental sprites. “Perhaps if you have time, Xiao Han, you could look for them, as a world fragment is so large. If they were to be missed, you could keep them as pets.”
“Really?” I glanced at the palm-sized wood elemental sprite in the Earth Vein imagery, feeling suddenly interested. After all, who wouldn’t like something cute?
“Of course, on the condition that they have been overlooked. To be honest, such creatures as wood elemental sprites are almost taboo in the forest elves of the Aphhemia Academy. They don’t allow anyone or any non-elf races to enslave or keep sprites. Once discovered, they would be held accountable, but the Wizard Academy isn’t worried about that,” Principal Mei said with a smile.
“Is that so?”
“You don’t need to worry; this is, after all, your world fragment.” Principal Mei smiled and added, “Oh, I forgot to tell you, just now, I have cleared out many spatial marks and other items left by wizards inside this world fragment—about over a hundred thousand of them.”
“Ah?! Over a hundred thousand?!” I was shocked by this number. What were the wizards up to?
“Don’t be surprised; they probably just left them there without cleaning up. After all, a world fragment is massive, and keeping wood elemental sprites is a burdensome task. They probably just had a luck-based mindset. If one mark remains unprocessed, they can observe what we witches do with this world fragment.”
“Well… has everything been cleaned up?” I still asked anxiously.
“Of course, even if it is just a clone, I am still the Principal. Xiao Han, why are you worried? Your Sister Mei is quite capable~”
