**Chapter 990: Yes, This is a Transaction**
Accompanied by countless phantoms of Ancient Ice Remains swirling around the massive throne.
The Ancient Ice Remains as a race have already become a symbol of this power, embodying the absolute and extreme orthodoxy of this race.
Commanded by heaven.
The greed-invading fortune influences the heavens and the earth, resonating with celestial phenomena, tearing apart the sky.
At this moment, the fortune of the floating world’s thousand real times became substantial, protecting the life that the world’s consciousness was concerned with.
The world consciousness did not grant it a Fortune Seed.
After all, the Fortune Seed is a means of fortune intervention, while the Ancient Ice Remains, which traverse the world’s will from power to life, inherently belong to the world.
…
Qi Observation Technique subject’s specialized experimental area.
This was the first time Mei Linde saw Xiao Jian create the Great Spellbook.
The great Knowledge Tree initially appeared in the small world and was showcased by Bei Alanna, and now… she has once again witnessed it.
Although this time it is a result built upon the shoulders of those senior witches, it still cannot conceal Xiao Jian’s talent.
Moreover, this was still created by Xiao Jian in the form of a clone!
“Oh my~ what a memorable scene, I really want to see it live,” Mei Linde sighed as she looked at the scene before her, then glanced at the figure next to her who seemed to be indifferent to the matter.
“Xiao Han, I remember you previously—rejecting the Great Ice and Snow Throne Technique Great Spellbook, but now you’ve personally created it… what~ changed your mind?”
“It never belonged to me~” I said beside her.
“Really? Based on your description of the fundamental concept of Life Clones, that King of Ancient Ice Remains is you, and since the Ancient Ice Remains have racial powers, it should be a part of you, right?” Mei Linde asked, somewhat puzzled.
“Do you know what the death and inheritance of life mean, Sister Mei?” I laughed and asked Principal Mei.
Initially, I hadn’t thought of this, but… after making a transaction with the world consciousness, my understanding of life has deepened.
“What do you mean?”
“Life dies, and a new life is born within the old shell, inheriting everything original, but it is no longer itself.” I spoke to myself.
These statements are somewhat abstract, but speaking about friends reliant on Instance Realms.
The deceased shell is revitalized, birthing new consciousness, inheriting everything original.
“Life Clones can be inherited by newly born lives, as long as I am willing to do so.”
“Then… after such a clone, are you still you?”
“She is no longer an extension of my will, but a whole new life that has inherited everything from this clone. For such a life, what she needs to do most is to step out of everything that is me, including the memories, and recognize herself.”
“Your way of saying it seems… very dangerous,” Mei Linde thought of too many accidents upon hearing my words.
“Generally speaking, I wouldn’t do that. It would be irresponsible to create a brand new life that doesn’t share my consciousness; it somewhat contradicts my philosophy. Even if I were to truly do it, I would erase my own memories,” I explained.
A new life disconnected from my consciousness is like a newborn child, while a Life Clone derived from my will is still my responsibility. Death and sacrifice are a sort of game of strategy and trade-offs for the self, but this philosophy is not suited for a child unrelated to me.
“Even so, you still have to do something about the Ancient Ice Remains, right?” Mei Linde reminded.
“Yes, but this is a transaction.” I turned around, facing Principal Mei directly and said.
“A transaction?” Mei Linde became serious, especially after noticing my change in expression.
She understood that I do not joke in important matters.
“Well, Sister Mei should know what I was doing in the secret realm, right? For a period, right after making the Ancient Ice Remains into a real life, I was in a peculiar state.”
“Hmm, I remember that,” Principal Mei nodded.
She recalled this time segment clearly because during the Qi Observation task, Xiao Han’s actions somewhat coincided with a specific abnormal observation data time point.
“What did you do during that time?”
“During that period, after connecting the life sequence of the Ancient Ice Remains, I received an invitation from the Main World’s consciousness,” I stated.
After all, the Ancient Ice Remains becoming my clone under the push of the script was like receiving an invitation, and everything that followed was a test of my foundational abilities.
Although this test was trivial for me.
“An invitation from the Main World’s consciousness?” Mei Linde raised her brows; she had never gone through such an experience. She had invaded some small worlds in her youth and witnessed the embodiment of the world’s will, but she had never been “invited.”
Mei Linde continued to ask and quickly recalled an incident from when she was in Ninglan New City: “How was the invitation made? Was it like how the Fortune Seed responded to your inquiries directly when you were faint?”
“No, it was through innate Spirit Vision, the innate gift bestowed upon us by the Main World as a medium.”
At that time, my Spirit Vision registered, guided across the boundaries of floating world levels, and reached the real world, where I “saw” the consciousness of the Main World.
Even now, recalling that deeply profound real world level requires an extreme Spirit Vision.
That encounter felt like a silent drama.
All other senses were derived from the empathic perceptions and mental supplements granted by Spirit Vision.
“Real World!” Hearing this concept, Mei Linde almost lost her composure!
That was the theoretical pinnacle of Spirit Vision!
“Temporarily, the level of the real world is far too grand for me. In my estimation, I at least need to transcend the extraordinary to have the qualifications to control this ability.” After all, I still need to undergo soul-level enhancement to fully adapt to the floating world level of Spirit Vision. Going up another level would be a burden for me.
“So… what kind of scene did you witness at that level?” Mei Linde eagerly asked.
After all, vision is the most intuitive perception channel among the five senses of life, a level she might never reach.
After all… didn’t she need so many witches to collaborate to establish the Qi Observation project based on floating world level Spirit Vision?
She simply couldn’t imagine what kind of visual impact the level of the real world must have!
“How to describe it? It felt like everything returned to the beginning, transitioning from the level of seeing mountains as not mountains and water as not water back to seeing mountains as mountains and water as water, perhaps?” I described, half in reminiscence, half in association.
“Is that so? Well… Mei Linde could only speak seemingly disinterestedly. Such a description can never replace the experience of being there.
In her view, Xiao Jian’s ability to provide such a description at least indicates her self-understanding as an anchor.”
“It seems that it was pointless to ask, so… let’s return to the previous topic. Transaction, what did you trade?” Mei Linde returned to the main topic, asking.
She could already foresee that the transaction Xiao Jian spoke of was likely a transaction with the world’s consciousness, one party likely using the Ancient Ice Remains as leverage.
After all, the Ancient Ice Remains are the very essence of the power of the Great Ice and Snow Throne, deeply connected with fortune, and it is not as simple as the wizards think to sever that connection by just taking them out of the Main World.
However, if a wizard truly wanted to sever that connection, it wouldn’t be too difficult; to maintain the rules of equivalent exchange, the fairness of that transaction could be assured.
“Actually, initially, I didn’t realize this was a transaction. At first, my inquiry with the world consciousness was approached in the form of a question. This transaction originated from my final question… I asked her: Where is the spine of the world?”
“You asked that?!” Mei Linde’s eyes widened again, even stumbling over her words: “What… what was the result? Did it respond?”
“No.” I shook my head.
“Is that so?” Hearing this answer, Mei Linde frowned; the spine of the world is like a lifeline for the world’s consciousness. Could it possibly just tell someone?
“Didn’t Sister Mei forget? This is a wait-for-fair transaction. I asked a question, but this was no longer a gratuitous question, so she proposed this transaction, wanting me to grant the Ancient Ice Remains freedom, and in return, the Ancient Ice Remains would become the destined guardian of the Main World. Sister Mei, what does the concept of destined guardian mean?”
“Destined guardian…” Mei Linde thought briefly about this concept; she indeed knew of such a being or thought that those who have invaded other worlds somewhat encountered it. “A destined guardian is typically a role tasked with protecting its own world and hardly ever leaves their native world.”
“Similarly, they are almost always the pinnacle of combat strength in that world, serving to guard the fated ethnic group against external strong enemies, maintaining the world’s narrative, guiding its operation, and mitigating large-scale events related to the world’s earth veins, among other responsibilities.”
“Destined guardians probably exist in such forms.”
“So that’s how it is,” I nodded, similar to what I tested, but this role has a lot of responsibilities, almost a labor model working harder than the Child of Fortune in this world!
To give an analogy, if the Child of Fortune is like a little princess of the world, then the destined guardian is a bodyguard and a full-time steward.
“So, you exchanged the Ancient Ice Remains for the position of the world’s navel? The value here is completely unequal.” Mei Linde inquired.
That’s like telling someone on the brink of death in bed the location of the power source switch of a ventilator, which is vital for their own life, just for a bodyguard who hasn’t even matured yet.
How is that possible?
“Certainly not.” I quickly shook my head, “When the Main World’s consciousness made the transaction, it also asked of me, and here ‘I’ represents the entire Witch Race, under no circumstances, directly or indirectly, may we damage the world’s navel, and the Witch Race must repair the Main World with world restoration techniques.”
“You agreed?” Principal Mei asked, “That condition is too excessive. Even if the Main World’s consciousness doesn’t grant it, we could still find the world’s navel ourselves; it may take a lot of time to plan, but witches never lack time.”
“I did not agree. It’s as if they are treating us like laborers.” I shook my head, “So the Main World’s consciousness took a step back. It hoped to establish a cooperative relationship without harming the world’s navel, and the specific contents and direction of cooperation would be determined as per the situation.”
“This proposal…” After hearing this, Mei Linde fell into contemplation.
“I feel that the Main World’s step back is quite large,” I said. “Determining things based on circumstances means that when the Witch Race grows powerful enough, the Main World might actively rely on us. This is quite perceptive, at least allowing me to clear the situation and fend off the threat posed by that extraordinary race, while the Main World still falls under the witches’ jurisdiction. The Main World itself only needs to guard its fundamental bottom line; I think the Witch Academy wouldn’t do something so foolish as to kill the hen that lays the eggs, depleting the Main World’s foundation, right?”
“From this perspective, it does sound like an enticing transaction.” Mei Linde commented, as there would be no restrictions if the Witch Race did not touch upon the Main World’s bottom line.
Hearing such a concession, Mei Linde could also guess why; the Main World had no other choices.
It could not choose those three extraordinary races, as those fellows could threaten it at any time using its own world as leverage, aiming to destroy it.
And the witches are its only hope, especially when the witches demonstrated the ability to restore the Main World.
The reason the Main World consciousness positioned the witches at the world’s navel is that the witches need the world’s navel to restore the Main World.
The current Expanding Realm is still not a complete Expanding Realm, but the witches can no longer continue with their restorations.
Without cooperation from the world’s navel, the witches can only rely on the earth vein breach in Ninglan New City as an anchor for partial repairs.
It can be considered that the Main World has tasted a bit of sweetness.
“Since that’s the case… then I will take the opportunity to return the Ancient Ice Remains to you, and you and the academy will negotiate with the Main World consciousness, right? After all, only you can represent the will of the Witch Race.” “Xiao Zao…” “Hmm? What is it?” “You’re still so humble.” Mei Linde shook her head with a smile, “You also represent the will of the witches in the Main World; you have that qualification, understand?”
Mei Linde spoke very solemnly. She realized that some things would be detrimental if not told to Xiao Zao, as her understanding of these interpersonal relationships and status presented an extreme contrast to her comprehension capabilities at the extraordinary level!
“Um… too troublesome; I think I’ll leave such matters to you, the highly respected Principal of the Witch Academy!”
