Ch. 125 - How Much a Witch's Thesis Is Worth (Part 1)

Time operates on a different scale inside the Genesis Dream Realm.

Even though I was only analyzing a virtual construct of a Spell Book, I had never experienced the sheer convenience of Psi-vision like this before. It was effortless. The mysteries of the Spell Book were laid bare, sprawling open like an anatomy textbook waiting for me to dissect it.

Since this was the Dream Realm, physics was more of a suggestion. If I hit a detail that was too small to see, I didn't have to strain my eyes—I simply willed the model to expand.

Ji Niang watched from the sidelines, acting as a safety net. But when she saw me casually swipe my hand and scale the Spell Book up until it was the size of a master bedroom, her eyes widened in a mix of confusion and pure shock.

She stared at the management terminal in her hand, her brain clearly buffering.

Wait... shouldn't she be the one with admin privileges over this sector?

She glanced back and forth between her controls and me. I had somehow seized control of the Dream's environment without even trying. This shouldn't have been possible—she hadn't taught me a single command, I wasn't even a registered Transcendence Witch yet, and I didn't even have a basic Dream UI enabled.

But she quickly forced herself to move past it. The Dream Realm was the handiwork of the Genesis herself; in this world, no witch, no matter how powerful, could claim to truly understand all the secrets.

Maybe it was just a "prodigy perk." For a girl who could master Witch Meditation on her own, the usual rules of reality didn't seem to apply. She couldn't even bring herself to be jealous.

"Alright, that’s enough. Your vitals are redlining. Pull out of the Psi-vision state, now!"

Ji Niang checked the real-world biometric data on her screen and immediately moved to shut me down. I was too deep in a research-high to notice I was killing myself.

"Huh?"

I looked up, my eyes unfocused and swimming with data. I felt fine—better than fine, actually.

I felt like I could stay in here forever... Wait. No. This is a dream.

The moment I remembered my physical body, the artificial adrenaline evaporated. My mental energy, which had felt bottomless seconds ago, suddenly bottomed out like a dying battery.

"Don't 'huh' me. If I weren't watching you, you would’ve worked yourself into a coma," she teased, though her voice had a sharp edge of concern. "You don't have a way to force yourself out yet. Next time you go under alone, you'd better set a hard-coded alarm for a forced wake-up."

Before I could process that, she wrapped an arm around my waist. The world turned to static. My vision fractured like a broken mirror, and my mind dissolved into a chaotic blur.

When I finally regained consciousness, I was back in the Dream Pod.

"Ugh... I... where..." I struggled to pry my eyelids open. Every bone in my body felt like it had been systematically crushed by a freight train. Even my fingernails felt tired.

"Welcome back to reality. How was the maiden voyage?" Ji Niang’s silhouette drifted into my field of vision.

Her voice acted like a trigger, bringing the memories of the Dream flooding back. I remembered dissecting the Spell Book... I remembered that God-like clarity...

But it was slipping away. I could feel the details fading like smoke in the wind. I instinctively pressed a hand to my forehead, trying to physically hold the knowledge in place.

"Struggling to hold onto it?" she asked. "That’s normal. You pushed your Psi-vision to the limit in there. Did you think your body wouldn't have to pay the bill just because your mind was in a different realm? That’s called a psychic overdraft."

"Sorry... I got carried away."

"Don't apologize to me. Just get it down on paper—or glass, in this case. How much do you actually remember?"

"Honestly? I’ve probably lost more than half of it already," I admitted, feeling a flush of shame. After all that effort, I was coming back with fragments.

"You kept a little less than half? That's actually impressive. Keep that momentum." She gave me a rare nod of genuine encouragement before sliding the Earthvein holographic display in front of me. "Write it down while you still remember."

"Okay..." I managed a weak nod.

I was exhausted, but the gel-padded chair of the Dream Pod was surprisingly comfortable. I stayed right where I was, took control of the interface, and picked up where I’d left off this morning.

It was time for the main event.

The memories from the Dream Realm were still there, flickering like embers. These new insights were radically expanding my pathetic excuse for a knowledge base.

Looking back at the notes I’d scribbled this morning, I cringed; the phrasing was clunky, and I’d missed so much.

I didn't have time for a full rewrite, so I just started dumping everything I still remembered onto the screen.

I lost myself in the work for hours.

Brainstorming while your head is throbbing is a special kind of torture. Even though I was physically sitting down, I wasn't getting any real rest. It was a constant, grueling tug-of-war against the urge to just pass out.

Surprisingly, Ji Niang didn't leave. She stayed right by my side, explaining that this crushing fatigue was a common "hangover" from visiting the Dream Realm.

She stayed quiet during my first pass, letting me get the raw keywords and concepts down without interruption.

But once I started my second pass, fleshing out the descriptions and connecting the dots, she stepped in.

We started "discussing" the findings, though it was really more of a lecture. She listened to my theories and gently corrected my terminology.

Even if her Psi-vision wasn't as high-level as mine, she was a seasoned Transcendence Witch. Her understanding of Spell Books wasn't just superior to mine; it was on a completely different planet.

She didn't need to see every secret hidden in the mana-ink as I did. She was standing on the shoulders of giants.

The collective research of the entire witch world was at her fingertips—she could probably pull up the original blueprints and the step-by-step derivation for how the very first Spell Book was ever created.

That was the power of her perspective. The world was her shield and her library.

And we were only talking about a basic Fireball spell.

Still, I was seeing Spell Books in a whole new light. I had lost that "limited omniscience" I felt inside the Dream, but once you’ve seen behind the curtain, you can't unsee it. Understanding the theory was just the first step; the second was figuring out the practical application.

Theory is the foundation, sure, the key that unlocks the door, but if you just start fumbling around with raw power without it, you're asking for a magical meltdown.

"Perfect," Ji Ma'am said, finally breaking the silence. "I have to admit, if you ignore the messy formatting and the occasional grammatical trainwreck, the actual research here is on par with a formal thesis from a practicing Transcendence Witch."

She actually started clapping as I finalized the entry. She didn't say it out loud, but she knew that parts of my log were actually more insightful than the fluff-filled papers some professionals published just to keep their grants.

Is this really the power of a Supra-level Psi-vision? she wondered. A few hours of looking at a model and she’s already reaching conclusions that take most witches months of lab work.

"Thank you, Ma'am. I couldn't have done it without your—"

"Stop right there," she interrupted, cutting off my humble routine. "If it's your achievement, own it. Don't hide behind me."

She shook her head, a genuine smile playing on her lips. "I honestly thought analyzing a full Spell Book would take you weeks." She glanced at the clock; the sun was already starting to dip below the horizon.

Translator's note: Well... In reality, most of the students' academic achievements will be claimed by 

Editor’s note: claimed by what?

Translator's note: their professors!

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