Is It Weird for a Guy to Apply to a Witch School?

Chapter 164: True Editing and the Spellbook

Did I win just like that?

I looked down at my hands, seeming to hardly believe it, how many spells did it take?

The other party actually cried out and conceded just because her clothes and hair started to smolder from the high temperature?

As expected.

I’m not a normal girl, am I?

“Um, are you okay? The seniors in the infirmary know healing spells, and there’s also stuff like hair growth spells, you won’t be disfigured or anything, you’ll be fine.”

I went forward to comfort her.

Although I didn’t know if such spells actually existed, to ensure the safety of the contestants, these should be available, right?

“I know this is also considered showing mercy!”

The girl was crying rather miserably at this point, and it was accompanied by her accusations towards me, but with the addition of the high-temperature burns, her crying couldn’t be considered as beautiful as a pear blossom in the rain.

“Um, I only used about three or four spells in total. It should count as showing mercy okay.”

I was about to explain, but this explanation seemed to make the other party even sadder.

With my shallow knowledge of comforting people, it took me a moment to understand, defeating the opponent with four spells should be considered a taunt, right?

“Er sorry.”

In the end, this girl named Chen Yu was led away by the referee.

Such injuries were very common for contestants, not to mention these were just burns.

This match didn’t last long at all, making it my easiest match so far.

And what I gained even more from it was naturally my understanding of the Spellbook.

If the converted magic power can be of any element, then with one Spellbook, wouldn’t I theoretically possess all the spellbooks of that type?

And that’s just distinguishing by different elements, what if it’s by spell type?

Similar to Fireball, it could also be Fire Blade, or something else.

This discovery was simply too brilliant, it even made me a little eager to try new spells!

Hehe! Once I have mastered the runes in this area, the so-called Spellbook limitations will be just a small hurdle for me, and my methods will be even more abundant than before.

At this time, in the teachers’ viewing stands.

Because it was all newcomer competitions, after the baptism of the first day, many teachers simply didn’t come.

Of course, there were also many teachers who came to watch for the sake of their students, like Ji Niang.

“Xi Lan, that student of yours is not simple, you even gave her a dual-element evocation spell?”

“Why can’t it be something my student figured out herself? It’s not like it’s impossible.”

Ji Niang leisurely crossed her legs and leaned back in her seat, retorting.

“Not like it’s impossible, what’s with you? Did you give your student extra lessons again?”

A teacher on the side said in a passive-aggressive tone, as she was truly humbled by Ji Niang’s words.

“No, I have it easy as a teacher. I just gave my student a book on runes, I guess she figured it out herself.”

“Huh? You let a newcomer learn runes on her own? Hey! Wait, where are you going?”

“Of course I’m leaving, my student’s match is over, what else is there to see? I need to go back and lecture Little Han, can’t have her wasting all the spellbooks. After all, I’m a teacher, I still have to educate my students.”

“Hehe, I hope your Little Han gets poached by someone else!”

Ji Niang left, facing the malicious curse from the side.

She also hadn’t expected that Little Han would have already started modding runes.

Originally, she had intended for Little Han to get a feel for it first, but she didn’t expect her to use it so quickly.

She needed to go and urgently explain the precautions, as well as the taboos, otherwise no amount of spellbooks would be enough for Little Han’s squandering.

Of course, she would also transfer the resources she had fought for from the academy to Little Han along the way.

She didn’t know what was wrong with the academy heads, they suddenly had a change of heart and relented so quickly.

She hadn’t even used the speech she had prepared, and the resources she fought for were even more than she had expected!

Although this was a good thing, it also indicated something.

Something must have happened to prompt the current situation.

It was believed that it wouldn’t be long before an announcement was made, the academy heads wouldn’t conceal it from their fellow Transcendent Witches for too long.

At this moment.

I leisurely returned to my resting room to adjust my state a bit, then checked the time.

There was still a long while until the afternoon.

So I returned to the spectator stands.

This period of time was undoubtedly too wasteful to go back to the laboratory to conduct research, it was better to study runes.

I wanted to see what the specific function of that previous rune ritual was.

But just as I was searching through the contents of those combined runes, I was called out by Ji Niang who had suddenly arrived.

It was only then that I realized Teacher Ji Niang had come here.

In the time I had spent with Teacher Ji Niang, I felt that she wasn’t the kind of witch who would wander around with nothing to do.

Her calling me at this time probably meant something was up, so I quickly closed the book and jogged over.

“Teacher Ji Niang, is something the matter?”

I asked curiously.

I seemed to have seen Teacher Ji Niang in the teachers viewing stands during the match earlier.

For her to come over as soon as my match was over, could it be related to the match?

“There are too many people here, let’s go to your resting room to talk.”

Ji Niang didn’t rush to speak, instead, she directly led me towards my resting room.

Each contestant has a resting room, which counts as a personal space where one can do some private things, but after Teacher Ji Niang brought me in and closed the door, she even cast an isolation spell that enveloped the entire room.

“Um, Teacher Ji Niang, is there something important?”

I asked carefully.

An isolation spell was used, the last time I received such treatment was when I signed the secrecy contract.

“I watched your match just now, have you started to get into runes?”

Ji Niang casually found a place to sit down, then got straight to the point.

“Yes, didn’t you give me that book on runes, Teacher Ji Niang? Is… there a problem?”

I responded naturally.

Could it be that Teacher Ji Niang felt my progress was too fast, a case of harming by haste?

“Nothing, I’m just very pleased with your free exploration. Sometimes I have to admire your talent, the things you figure out on your own can always bring about amazing results.”

“Hehe um, thank you for the praise, teacher.”

Being praised like this by Teacher Ji Niang made me a little embarrassed, but I still responded politely.

“I’m not praising you, do you think ‘figuring it out on your own’ is a good description? At this rate, no amount of spellbooks would be enough for you to squander. Do you know what it means to proceed step-by-step?”

“Huh? I… I know.”

Teacher Ji Niang’s tone suddenly did a one-eighty, which left me a bit stunned.

Okay, I admit that modding a spellbook like this is indeed very metaphysical, but as long as you have an idea and a line of thought, you should try it.

Isn’t that how it should be?

Or is there even a standardized teaching schedule for learning how to mod spellbooks?

“I can let you play around with randomly modifying the internal structure of a spellbook, but it’s different when it comes to runes. Runes are not something you can mess with randomly. Since you already have some understanding of runes, let me ask you, what are runes?”

“Um runes are rituals, and also the most basic ritual units. It is precisely because of this characteristic that runes can be combined to form more complex rituals. It seems all rituals in the world can be expressed with runes, and rituals that cannot be expressed have undiscovered runes participating in them.”

I recalled the information from the book’s preface and roughly stated it.

“Correct, that is what runes are, one of the most important discoveries in the transcendent world. They are an important component of transcendent power. So, do you know what the essence of a spellbook is?”

Ji Niang nodded, then continued to ask.

“Er…”

Faced with Ji Niang’s question, I was a bit at a loss for words.

It was obvious that this question was way beyond the scope, but Teacher Ji Niang still asked it.

This in itself explained many things, so I tentatively gave my own thought.

“A spellbook is a collection of runes?”

“If you insist on understanding it that way, there’s nothing wrong with it. A spellbook indeed has traces of runes from the inside out, I believe you can definitely see this point.”

Ji Niang didn’t deny my guess, it seemed she wasn’t too surprised that I could guess this possibility.

After all, Spirit Vision was no joke.

“Mhm.”

I nodded silently in agreement.

“What you said isn’t a major issue, but here I must introduce a concept to you, and that is ‘True Editing’ technology.”

Speaking of this, Ji Niang paused, as if to make me realize the importance of what she was saying.

“For example, you’ve used a computer, right? Then do you have any understanding of programming? It doesn’t have to be too deep, I’m asking if you have an understanding of this concept.”

“Mhm, I understand.”

When Ji Niang said ”True Editing,” I should have realized.

If the end of the world is coding isn’t this truth a bit hair-losing?

“True Editing is more or less like that. If you think of the world as a computer, then runes are the code, and a spellbook is a product edited this way, just like software. But this is just a vivid analogy, you can’t directly substitute it for understanding, do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“Good that you understand. I’ll take this opportunity to tell you all the related knowledge. Even if you don’t understand it now, you must remember it, you will slowly understand in the future.”

At this moment, Ji Niang’s tone became solemn, it seemed that what she was about to say next was extremely important.

“This concept is still very vivid if we continue to use the computer as an example. First, you need to understand a concept, the Void.”

“There are countless worlds within the Void, and the world you are in now is one of them. Comparing the entire Void to a computer, it is the most primitive computer.”

“Runes are analogous to code. Because the essence of runes is ritual, rituals are an important component of the Void. Life that explores the transcendent was the first to use runes to utilize and control transcendent power. The earliest life forms did not know the concept of runes, they only knew that performing specific actions could trigger marvelous phenomena, eventually abstracting and summarizing the concept of ritual, and then through continuous evolution, the clear concept of runes came to be.”

“Utilizing the power of runes, through the evolution of time, it has been continuously summarized and categorized, becoming a very common technology now, True Editing.”

“True Editing is divided into two concepts, one is ‘true,’ and the other is ‘editing.’ The concept of ‘editing’ should be very easy for you to understand, right?”

Ji Niang looked at me and asked.

“Mhm, I roughly understand.”

I nodded in response.

“Then the concept of ‘true’ is a bit more complex, but I will try to describe it as simply as possible. Little Han, I heard that in the society outside the academy, regarding the analysis of the ability of Spirit Vision, a bold fellow proposed the concept of an Outer and Inner World. You should have read about it, right?”

“I have…”

I nodded and said, this concept would inexplicably gain some heat and hype every once in a while.

Ordinary people yearned for the transcendent, so they were naturally very interested in these conjectures.

“Actually, what that fellow said wasn’t a major mistake. His only mistake was his own lack of knowledge, but this concept is very interesting, viewing a world from two sides.”

“So this world really has an inner and outer aspect?”

I asked tentatively.

“That’s not entirely accurate. It’s not just this world, but the entire Void can be seen from two sides. The world we are in is generally the normal world. What we see, hear, and feel with our senses, this world is the normal world. So do you think there is another side to this world?”

“…There is!”

I said firmly.

If the world perceived by all senses is the normal world, then what about Spirit Vision!

The world seen by Spirit Vision must be the other side of this world!

“It seems you’ve thought of it. Your Spirit Vision, Spirit Vision has led you into the other side of the world. That world also has its name, it’s called True Time.”

“Because of some arrogant fellows, our normal world also has another name, called False Time. But don’t be deceived by the names. True and false? It is foolish to so arrogantly divide the world into true and false. That is to highlight their own nobility, and their contempt for beings who cannot perceive True Time.”

To prevent Little Han from falling into a philosophical vortex of self-doubt about truth and falsehood, Ji Niang quickly explained.

Because it is easy for life to fall into self-doubt of falsehood, she didn’t want Little Han to suddenly say something like ’none of this has any meaning.’

“How is it? Can you still accept it?”

Ji Niang looked at me and asked tentatively.

“Mhm, of course I can.”

I nodded and said, it’s just a supplement to my worldview, how could I be afraid of this kind of thing?

I’m someone who has lived two lives.

I see this kind of talk in novels and anime all the time.

I can accept all kinds of settings even more ridiculous than this, even if this is reality.

Which attention seeking teenager hasn’t fantasized about the transcendent descending upon reality?

“Good.”

Seeing me accept it so calmly, Ji Niang also breathed a sigh of relief.

She was really afraid that Little Han’s worldview would shatter or something, that would be too troublesome.

“Then let’s continue explaining the true world. You know about your Spirit Vision, right? This ability is a blessing given to us by the world, note, it is this world, not the Void. So, life outside of this world may not be like us, having eyes to see True Time before even stepping into it.”

“I’m getting a bit off-topic, let’s get back to True Editing. The word ‘true’ in True Editing is taken from True Time. True Editing is a technology and also a method, but it cannot appear out of thin air. The emergence of a technology must be attached to an actual existence, just like code. To edit code, you need a platform that provides code editing and operation.”

“So the platform for True Editing is True Time. True Time is the other side of the concept of the Void, so the technology of True Editing is actually a means used within the Void, a means of using transcendent power!”

“Just like the various software programs in a computer, they can achieve various functions and effects. This is the most direct result of True Editing the Spellbook.”

“You can mod a spellbook now because you have Spirit Vision and can see True Time. You can mod an existing spellbook, but you cannot master the means of True Editing to create a spellbook. This is like a game you play, you can cheat on it, install mods, but you don’t know how to develop software and games.”

“This is the computer behavior corresponding to what you were doing when you first explored spellbooks, so I won’t restrict your attempts.”

“But now you want to mess with the runes in the spellbook, that’s messing with the running code of the game software! I am very fortunate that your modification of the runes for that Wind Blade spell was successful, that was simply a miracle, but miracles don’t happen all the time, so do you understand?”

“You have no research or study of True Editing and runes, is it enough to just understand what runes are and which ones there are? For you to try so recklessly is a spendthrift act! I don’t deny that active experimentation is a good quality, but you have to think about the cost, you can’t afford it! Not just you, with your line of thinking, even I couldn’t bear it.”

“So I should stop now?”

I was a bit at a loss from being lectured by Teacher Ji Niang, but I still asked in a small voice.

“You should indeed stop. I won’t restrict your modding of the spellbook that doesn’t involve runes, but you need to learn the theoretical knowledge of runes and True Editing as soon as possible. Even if you can’t use this technology before becoming transcendent, it can help you better understand the structure of a spellbook.”

As Ji Niang spoke, she handed over a card.

“What is this?”

I took the card, a little puzzled.

“This is a high-level permission for the library. I got it for you when I went to fight for resources and benefits for you. With this, you can find good things in the academy library that you couldn’t access before. In the future, you won’t have to ask me for materials for everything, you can rely on this permission card to find them yourself.”

Ji Niang smiled and explained to me.

This was something she had wanted to do for a while, and she took care of it this time while asking for Little Han’s benefits.

“Huh? Thank you, teacher.”

I looked at this permission card.

With this, it would indeed be much more convenient.

Given my personality of not liking to trouble others, spending more time looking for things myself was much better than always troubling Teacher Ji Niang.

Although it was convenient to ask Teacher Ji Niang, I should also have my own way of doing things.

At most, I would just ask Teacher Ji Niang for book keywords when I couldn’t find a book.

“It’s nothing, it’s what I should do. I also mentioned fighting for resources and benefits for you just now, right? That’s what we’re going to talk about next. The academy heads seem to be very efficient, I should say exceptionally fast. The resources were in place very quickly. I can only say there are a lot of resources, but still not enough for you to squander, especially if you mess with runes. Anyway, you can slowly digest it yourself.”

As Teacher Ji Niang spoke, she took out a pendant with a metal clasp.

“This pendant is a piece of storage equipment, the space inside is not small, I’ll give it to you as well. Stop using that thigh strap of yours, that thing… tsk, I don’t know what to say about you. Anyway, as long as you like it, just don’t play around too much with it.”

“Huh?”

I took this fluffy pendant, a little dazed.

What does she mean by don’t play around too much?

This is a normal kink, okay?

It’s what Big Sis Bai likes.

So there’s a gap between me and Teacher Ji Niang? But this pendant, like a fluffy rabbit, is also quite cute. It’s small enough to be held in my hand, and more importantly, it’s a piece of storage equipment!

It’s quite convenient to hang on my body.

Hehe, I’ll show it to Big Sis Bai later.

I remember storage equipment is very expensive, and I just got one for free.

As expected, it was right not to let Big Sis Bai spend the money before.

“Anyway, I’ll be going now. Don’t forget the competition in the afternoon, but I probably won’t be coming to watch.”

“Mhm, goodbye teacher.”