High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 375: Chapter 44 A Non-Famous Conjecture _1

Perhaps it truly was due to infringing upon the natural order of this universe.

From the day they first manifested in this world, wizards had to face the incessant malice of the cosmos. A shadow lurked around them like a maggot gnawing at their bones, a constant parasite on their existence.

This shadow was the Catastrophe.

According to modern philosophy of magic theory, the Catastrophe, in essence, is an information disturbance — no different, fundamentally, from the ripples after a stone is thrown into a pond — just the natural reaction of the world when a wizard interferes with its typical flow of information.

But this didn’t stop the older generation of wizards from continuing to call it the ’Catastrophe’.

Even in the ”Wizard World Encyclopedia,” compiled by the Alliance of Wizards, this ancient yet traditional term has been kept, with no so-called ’modernisation’ changes.

In the encyclopedia, under the entry of ’Catastrophe,’ the theory of ’Information Disturbance’ is just one of several that attempt to explain its essence. Other theories like ’Equivalence Principle’ and ’Rejection Reaction’ all interpret the wizards’ understanding of this phenomenon from different angles.

”You only have one chance.”

”Any information dealing with an ’Information Disturbance’, in essence, is denying the world... It’s a natural taboo, hard to articulate in words or spell out in text...”

”In a short time, I can only provide one copy of this.”

”You have only one opportunity to truly understand the treatment plan I have set up. Even if you don’t understand, it doesn’t matter, but as a professor at the best university, as a student of the best university, I hope you truly grasp the essence of it.”

Zheng Qing automatically tuned out Professor Yi’s rambling speech.

From the moment he received the notebook, his mind was entirely captivated by the slightly damp, ancient notebook.

The professor quickly noticed the young wizard’s focused demeanor.

He ceased his sermon, smiled faintly, and went back to leafing through the stack of documents on the table. Professor Yao, sitting in another corner, had his head buried in a cloud of smoke, as if his world consisted of only that pile of blue smoke.

Zheng Qing slowly flipped through the notebook in his hand.

The first few pages were similar to entries in the encyclopedia — it was unclear who copied whom — following the definition of ’Catastrophe,’ there were thousands of types of ’Catastrophes,’ ranging in severity and conditions.

Generally summarizing, there were natural disasters, man-made disasters, and self-destruction.

Minor troubles like getting angry, tripping, getting bitten by an insect, or choking on water happen countless times in a wizard’s life, perhaps tens, even hundreds, of times. It’s the price they pay for using magic in this world. Most wizards spend these catastrophes in a daze.

More serious disasters, such as a wizard spontaneously combusting, being eroded by wind, being struck by lightning, being hit by a meteorite, being hunted by a demon, and so on, always emerge when wizards are at a critical point of promotion or after casting a spell with a significant impact on the world.

There are even more severe ones; it’s the world’s backlash against the wizard community—this is also the most secretive and difficult type of catastrophe for an individual to detect.

According to speculation in the notes, each revolution in magic skills and advancement in magic knowledge is accompanied by corresponding tribulations. For instance, the emergence of demons, the arrival of alien races, the fall of witch demons—the most supportive evidence of this claim is the discovery of the new world by wizards after the birth of the dimensional theory.

This is both a challenge and an opportunity.

If they cross it, a new landscape awaits; if they can’t, all is over. There should be no more need for elaboration.

Diviners, due to the massive amount of information they seize from the world, always encounter more catastrophes than other wizards. From ancient times to the present, countless have suffered from deadly diseases, been widowed for life, or even had their spirit and body wiped out, their family exterminated because they lacked countermeasures after divination. As a result, countless divination traditions have been lost in the river of history.

This has prevented the dominant faction of diviners from ever becoming the mainstream in the wizard world.

Unique diviners, such as prophets, observers, and eyewitnesses, have to deal with catastrophes that are many times more than that of an ordinary wizard. Furthermore, the variety of catastrophes they face is so vast that even the encyclopedia cannot accurately categorize them.

Through long accumulation and exploration, wizards have gradually summed up experiences, slowly uncovering many different ways of addressing a catastrophe. Included in the notes in Zheng Qing’s hand is one of the lesser-known conjectures: any catastrophe will continue to collapse in magnitude until it is nullified, provided there is no way to trace the target life form involved.

At the end of this statement was marked in red ink, ’Subhuti’s Conjecture, Winter of the 18th year of Great Enlightenment.’

Who Subhuti was, Zheng Qing did not know; when the 9th year of Great Enlightenment was, he didn’t care to find out either.

The young wizard hastily flipped through the rest of the notes, his eyes shifting from fearful and uneasy, to surprised, then finally shocked.

Beneath this hypothesis, generations of note inheritors had tried to prove it through various means, but even today, even supported by the profound heritage of the premier university, researchers were still unable to make a definitive validation of this hypothesis through strict philosophical magic.

Perhaps, as stated at the end of the notes—

To prove or not to prove, that was indeed an issue for this world. If this hypothesis were indeed proven, that would be the world denying itself; perhaps only by transcending this world and possessing a broader perspective could one truly see the crux of the matter.

Though this hypothesis couldn’t be verified theoretically, it did not prevent wizards from adopting a ’take it or leave it’ approach. Many beneficiaries possessed the aversion methods built upon this hypothesis written in the notebook.

These methods were ’Transformations.’

Changes were made to the form of life through transformations, causing the Catastrophe to lose its target.

”So... does that mean...” Zheng Qing lifted his head, stuttering, ”The... the treatment plan you arranged for me is to transform...”

”Yes, that’s right, transformation magic.” Professor Yi once again removed his glasses, leisurely cleaning them as he looked up to reveal his slightly protuberant eyes.

His expression appeared very satisfied:

”It seems you truly understood... Now that you have gotten it, before we actually implement the relevant plan, I need to clarify some information for you.”

”Transformation magic is a type of magic that can truly change the form of a wizard’s life. It allows the wizard to metamorphose into a whole new life form in a short amount of time to avoid calamity and prolong life...this is a very profound, somewhat dangerous, yet precious magic.”

”The knowledge in the notebook you hold is something countless diviners yearn for in their dreams, willingly exchanging their lives for it... it’s the knowledge that can save countless lives.”

”But we cannot tell others... Do you know why?”

”Because of information disturbance reasons?” After a moment’s hesitation, Zheng Qing ventured his guess.

”Very good.” A heartfelt smile appeared on Professor Yi’s face. He even stood up, pacing back and forth behind his desk a few times, ”Very good... Information disturbance causes the scale of the catastrophe to grow geometrically... If your mindset is still on ’monopolizing and profiteering,’ then you’re ill-suited for the best treatment plan I have arranged...”

Zheng Qing looked bewildered.

It seemed that Professor Yi had arranged more than one treatment plan for him.

Behind him, Old Yao laughed smugly: ”I’ve told you before...”