Chapter 692: The Distribution of the Seed of Knowledge

After bidding farewell to Yi Rui and her group, I re-checked Teacher Lina's text message, which contained the location and time of this Teaching Assistant meeting.

As before, I arrived here with a very normal mindset, but once I reached the location, I found that this seemed different from the final meeting of the last semester.

Last semester, there were only a few people in the meeting room, such as Lin Yi and Liffia, whom I knew.

But this time, the meeting was actually held in a Grand Conference Hall!

I was among those who arrived a short time early, but there were still people who had arrived before me.

The scale... was already close to the number of Teaching Assistants who had gathered during the opening of Ninglan New City previously.

And here, I unexpectedly met an acquaintance.

Lin Yi.

The Teaching Assistant who participated in the low-grade assessment with me during the last final exam.

“I didn't expect you to arrive so early?”

I habitually walked over to her side. After all, sitting next to someone familiar was probably the choice of most people.

“I just happened to have nothing much to do, so I came early. After all, this is quite an important matter. It's more respectful than those who arrive just in time, isn't it? Besides, didn't you arrive very early too?”

Lin Yi put down the book in her hand and said to me.

“True. But I'm very curious, you are coming again for this final exam?”

“Aren't you doing the same?”

“Mm, I came because of a favor I owed Teacher Lina for some reason.”

“A favor? Alright, I won't ask about that.”

Lin Yi was a bit surprised, but she didn't delve deeper.

Seeing that I was genuinely curious and seemed unclear, she didn't mind explaining the details.

“Actually, it's not just me. Many people will come here later. This low-grade final exam will probably be the joint exam with the largest number of Teaching Assistants gathered.”

“Why? That's completely unnecessary, isn't it?”

I was a bit surprised, but looking at the massive conference hall, I chose to believe what Lin Yi said.

“Do you really not know anything?”

“What should I know?”

I asked in confusion.

“Do you remember the last time so many Teaching Assistants gathered? It was during the opening of the Ninglan New City in the Expansion Realm.”

Lin Yi began to explain.

“What did Teacher Lina say at that time? The mentors said from the beginning that the Ninglan New City in the Expansion Realm would only be open for one semester.”

“Mm, she seems to have said that. So, this meeting is not only a final exam meeting but also the final report for this Ninglan New City trip?”

“Something like that, but many people are unwilling to leave Ninglan New City—no, the Ninglan Area—after so many people have managed it and developed it to its current state.”

“Would the mentors agree?”

“I don't know. Even we Teaching Assistants can't directly shake the mentors' decisions, but... if this is the unchangeable outcome, I believe more people will frantically and unscrupulously harvest and exploit the area for a little while before leaving at the very last moment. After all, they need to maximize their profit.”

“Would the academy agree to that?”

Hearing Lin Yi say this, I was also a bit surprised.

If they were to maximize their profit through those methods, would the original inhabitants truly be able to live normally?

Even if they could, the consequences of the harvesting might leave them unable to recover for a long time...

“I don't know that either, but that's the attitude of the various Teaching Assistants. The Witch Academy never concerns itself with external matters outside the academy, just like our Outer World society. The Expansion Realm is the same. But the Expansion Realm is currently also an experimental field for the academy. Those people want to take a gamble...”

“The Teaching Assistants are that bold?”

To put it bluntly, weren't they essentially forcing the academy's hand, hoping to stay in the Expansion Realm longer to continue profiting?

After all, the Spatial Channel between the Expansion Realm and the academy had been maintained.

Even with the Teleportation Spell, one could teleport between the academy and the Expansion Realm.

So, for the academy, whether to close the Expansion Realm Channel or not was merely a matter of words, not a limitation imposed by objective factors.

If the academy disagreed, even if they used the Teleportation Spell to go there, it would only be considered "smuggling."

It was precisely because of this reason that they felt this method could be used to communicate with the academy.

Lin Yi and I chatted for a long time.

Lin Yi indeed knew many things I didn't, and I once again realized how annoying the petty maneuvers of those Teaching Assistants were when faced with profit.

However, from the perspective of a Transcendent Witch, they were somewhat childish.

But from the perspective of those Teaching Assistants, as long as these small maneuvers could yield the slightest benefit, they were worth doing.

“Big Sis Little Han Aiya, I came so early and still saw you. It seems I was still late.”

At this moment, a slightly exaggerated voice came, and then, I saw a figure nimbly dart over and sit down beside me.

Looking at this girl with a Cat-girl appearance, she was also Liffia, the Teaching Assistant I met during the last final exam—the "Self-Criticism Warrior" who had already written her self-criticism before the invigilation!

Her commotion immediately drew the visual focus of everyone here.

Fortunately, not many people had arrived yet.

However, with Liffia's addition, Lin Yi suddenly spoke less, and Liffia dominated the conversation the entire time.

But compared to the solid information Lin Yi provided, most of what Liffia said was gossip.

As time slowly passed, the number of people gathered in the conference hall increased.

During this time, I also saw quite a few familiar faces, such as Fu Xinglan and Tracy.

And also Betsy and Winnie Baker, who represented the Witch's Secret Realm Club and the Wan Shi Wu Club.

It wasn't until Teacher Lina's figure arrived that the conference hall was nearly full in the final moments, and no one was late.

“Mm, I am very pleased that you are willing to participate in this meeting. The main focus of this meeting is to explain some issues and precautions regarding the low-grade multi-school joint exam.”

Teacher Lina's gaze swept over everyone present, and she began with a simple opening remark.

There was no unnecessary talk or formality.

She basically got straight to the point.

“The plan adopted for this multi-school joint exam is different from any previous format. And before that, I need to distribute something to each of you.”

As Teacher Lina spoke, one of the mentors accompanying her took out a pile of objects from a Storage Equipment.

And I recognized what it was at a glance.

It was Memory Crystal.

A synthetic material that simulated the environment medium of the Sea of Consciousness, and also a carrier for the Great Seed of Knowledge and the Seed of Knowledge.

Therefore, the identity of these stacked objects was self-evident.

“Let me briefly introduce this to you. This thing is called the Seed of Knowledge. It is also a necessity that we will gradually popularize throughout the entire academy. Its main function is somewhat similar to the special phones issued to each student upon enrollment, but its function is far more convenient than a phone.”

Teacher Lina spoke while asking a few people in the front row to help distribute and pass the items backward.

“Teacher Lina, since we have the Great Seed of Knowledge, we shouldn't need this Seed of Knowledge anymore, right?”

At this moment, a Teaching Assistant closer to the front row raised her hand and asked.

Her tone seemed to carry a hint of boasting and showing off.

However, her words only elicited looks of disbelief from some people, as if they were looking at an idiot, but this was indeed a question that a few Teaching Assistants wanted to ask.

After all, the Great Seed of Knowledge was currently only circulated among the mentor group.

Only a minority in the Teaching Assistant group possessed this item.

If someone truly had it, it meant either their mentor had the ability, or their relationship with their mentor was very good.

Regardless, it was something worth showing off.

“You need it. Take whatever Seed you have. Even if you have the Great Seed of Knowledge, this Seed of Knowledge is equivalent to an expansion pack.”

Teacher Lina glanced at the girl who spoke, then addressed everyone.

She naturally knew that some people present had some ability and could acquire the Great Seed of Knowledge, but this was never a reason to boast.

But... educating these individuals was not her responsibility.

The distribution of the Seed of Knowledge continued, and I, along with Lin Yi and Liffia, all received one.

Lin Yi and the others did not have the Great Seed of Knowledge.

After all, the Sequence Derivation of my Great Seed of Knowledge was only completed after the last joint exam.

At that time, constrained by production capacity and other concerns, I had no intention of distributing it at all.

For a period after, Teacher Lina and the other mentors began teaching everyone how to use the Seed of Knowledge.

The Great Seed of Knowledge back then could not be used right after being acquired.

If one didn't figure out the usage method, it could genuinely be damaged.

And this Seed of Knowledge was similarly the same.

I looked at the small Memory Crystal in my hand.

After crushing it, the Seed of Knowledge was instantly and completely "assimilated" by my Great Tree of Knowledge.

And I also understood the areas of optimization in this Seed of Knowledge.

This Seed of Knowledge continued to use my structural design of the endosperm for the Great Seed of Knowledge, providing the initial energy to catalyze the seed's "growth," so individuals no longer needed to use extra energy to catalyze its growth.

After all, for low-grade students, Mental Power could not interfere with Magic Power, and they had not yet learned to manipulate other Transcendent energy, so the energy problem indeed needed to be solved.

Then there was the issue of opening the individual's Sea of Consciousness.

If a person's Sea of Consciousness was not opened, even if the Seed of Knowledge entered a person's consciousness, that person would not be able to "perceive" the seed.

And regarding this problem, I think Lucianne had the most say back then.

And clearly, this problem also seemed to have been solved by those Witch Sisters in the laboratory.

I could feel that when this seed was placed into the consciousness, there was a strong conscious guidance, and also a trigger-based information introduction that guided an individual step by step to recognize the "existence" of the Sea of Consciousness.

Perhaps for ordinary people, the first time they perceived the Sea of Consciousness, they might find its existence extremely small, roughly the size of one Seed of Knowledge.

But as the Seed of Knowledge grew into a Secondary Seed of Knowledge, the Sea of Consciousness would also expand along with it.

Before long, everyone present had roughly completed the preliminary stage of the Seed of Knowledge.

Many people still felt very curious about this ability, continuously exploring it.

And I also tested how serious the information grading of the Seed of Knowledge was.

First, the Shadow of Knowledge, which was a hallucination projection reflecting everyone's subconscious, had now become an "Artificial Idiot" that could only answer questions one by one.

The essence of this artificial intelligence was still each person's subconscious, so it could still give surprisingly profound answers when answering questions.

Then, there was the most crucial Earth Vein Appraisal Spell.

The information grading of the appraisal spell was even more severe.

The appraisal information of many objects wouldn't even be presented.

For example, using it on a person wouldn't allow one to acquire a lot of the other person's private information; only specific information could be acquired.

And I discovered that people who possessed the Seed of Knowledge could also set the information they displayed after being appraised... hmm, this was indeed very beneficial for social interaction.

If one didn't want to display it, they could also set it as a personal private secret, which no one could acquire.

However, these restrictions seemed unable to bypass my Great Tree of Knowledge.

Of course, the Great Seed of Knowledge also seemed... not entirely effective either?

“Regarding the Seed of Knowledge, I have distributed it to each of you, and you have all completed the activation. You can explore its functions yourselves or directly ask the Shadow of Knowledge. It will give you the answer you want. Next, let's talk about the rules of this multi-school joint exam.”

“This multi-school joint exam will be conducted in the Expansion Realm. The participating academies only include those that have established stable Teleportation Channels in the Expansion Realm: currently including our Witch Academy, Aphrodite Academy, Wizard Academy...”

“The mode of this joint exam will be the Hunting Mode. The candidates will face the Mutated Beast populations of the Expansion Realm, as well as some special creatures suddenly released by the academies. They will all be marked with scores, and the score of each hunting target can be viewed through the appraisal function of the Seed of Knowledge.”

“Targets that have been hunted will be marked and cannot be stolen. The hunter has the full right to dispose of the prey and can choose to sell it directly or keep it for the biological materials, and so on. The academy will provide sales channels and waste recovery pathways.”

“This joint examination will completely prohibit the use of self-mastered abilities. The Witch Academy will provide a batch of Restraint Contracts to each candidate participating in this joint exam, and the only power the candidates can use is the special power network provided by the academy.”

“Wait, Teacher, what is the special power network provided by the academy?”

At this moment, someone raised a question.

“It is the type of power you saw the ordinary people in the Expansion Realm master—standardized and formalized Transcendent power provided through a special power network.”

Teacher Lina briefly explained to them.

“Teacher, what is the point of this?”

“Point?”

Teacher Lina stared at the Teaching Assistant who asked this foolish question with a somewhat sharp gaze.

“The point is to make you realize that some of you are already Teaching Assistants, but if you could only use a Fireball Spellbook to fight against low-grade students, you might not even be able to defeat them. That is the point.”

“I know many of you scoff at this and feel it's unnecessary, but I must remind you all again: before you advance to a Transcendent Witch, the Magic Power Sources and Spellbooks you think belong to you have fundamentally never belonged to you. They are merely very useful tools, and more crucially, some people can have even this kind of tool snatched away bare-handed.”

Teacher Lina's words instantly sent a chill down the spines of many people.

After all, this made them recall some "tragedies" that had happened before.

And taking advantage of this pause, some people subconsciously looked at Lillianna Elvira in the crowd.

Similarly, some also looked at me, and then quickly averted their gaze.

“I won't say any more unnecessary words. Educating you is the responsibility of the mentor you follow. Next, let's discuss the more detailed matters of this assessment, and at the same time, let me introduce you to the process and rules of the power network.”

As Teacher Lina spoke, she pulled up a projection of spell images.

After all, this was the Witch Academy, and the Myriad Connection Main Network Tree didn't cover this area, so if she wanted to explain, a demonstration was naturally necessary.