Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva-Chapter 478 - 187: The Star Children Who Inherit the Will of the ’Retrospective Cloud
"Is this Crystal Lattice Academy?"
Walking through the campus so different in style from Edith Academy, Tilan couldn’t help but look around, observing her surroundings.
In contrast to the classical style of Edith Academy, everything here was imbued with a technological industrial aesthetic.
The great hall of the academy looked like heat sinks inserted one by one into the ground and then interconnected, with sharp edges cut into uniform 120° obtuse angles, giving the whole an extraordinarily regular shape.
When she entered the towering hall, the world seemed to be segmented into fence-like grids, with the sides and the high dome above connected like the frames of a picture, looping one after another, connected by pale blue glass. Walking in this silent hall, she could hear the echo of her footsteps.
"How does it feel, Tilan? I was amazed by this hall too when I first entered the academy as a freshman," the boy walking in front of her explained.
Accepting Deloris’s suggestion to visit other academies, Tilan’s first stop was the Crystal Lattice Academy, a choice made due to the recent close relationship and frequent exchanges between the two academies.
The black-haired boy walking in front at that moment was also the current student council president of Crystal Lattice Academy and the valedictorian of the third year, Ed.
"It feels huge, even somewhat empty." The two were walking one behind the other in the hall, like tiny ants inside a giant’s structure, surrounded by buildings approximately sixty meters tall. This spacious hall, she estimated, could probably accommodate a large aircraft.
"Exactly, the public buildings within Crystal Lattice Academy all share that feeling," Ed said, as if he had found someone who shared his sentiment, sharing his own feelings.
"Later, I’ll take Tilan to the academy’s library; the feeling is even more pronounced there."
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As they continued forward, Ed began to introduce the rows of black numerical symbols at the bottom of the frame-like structures on both sides. Typically, these consisted of lines or multiple lines of formulas carved into the building walls in black print, accompanied by names and birth years underneath.
These black print carvings at the base of the buildings had a stele-like style. Compared to the giant structures, they were quite unremarkable—easily lost against the gray walls if one were too far away. They were only noticeable when passing by closely, observing the commemorative formulas and the names.
’These simple or complex formulas once brought revolutionary changes to the study and application of the Transcendent Sequence, and the scholars who invented them deserved to be remembered by the world.’
"That’s what the upperclassman told me when I entered the academy."
"If the building of civilization is constructed of bricks and mortar, then the changes and breakthroughs that these formulas and theories bring are the foundation stones of the building."
"Because we stand on the shoulders of giants, we are able to gaze at the starry sky, so we should be grateful and remember those who laid the foundation."
Tilan gently brushed the rough gray wall with one hand, her fingertips feeling the coolness that seeped in and the indentations of the numerical symbols.
"It’s completely different from Edith Academy’s style," she said, looking up at Ed’s uniform, which was mostly white, with mostly right angles, triangles, and diamonds at the edges, and hardly any curves or round edges.
"The differences in style do exist. In Crystal Lattice Academy, it’s rare to come across traditional classical things like brown teaware, wooden decorations, or elaborate ancient-style clothing, and so on."
"What the academy advocates for are orderly, reusable, communicative, concise, and efficient things. As for the cultural products of the old times, we always adhere to the philosophy of ’if not necessary, do not add to the entity.’
Making their way through the hall, after more than ten minutes, they finally arrived at the podium at the far end of the hall. Behind the small, square podium was a straight and magnificent wall, embedded with a large grid of lattice patterns composed of countless crystalline squares, forming a twisted and tilted square, presenting a mathematical and chemical clarity and beauty.
Standing below, they looked up at the huge and dreamy blue crystal pattern. After a moment of silence, Ed stepped forward, ascending the steps, and then turned around.
"Welcome to Crystal Lattice Academy, Tilan. We are the successors of the ’Forward Era,’ the admirers of ’Sublime Truth,’ the spiritual inheritors of the ’Tracing Clouds’ faction."
——————
After the tour of the academy’s great hall, Ed then led Tilan to dine in the academy’s circular restaurant.
To call it a circular restaurant naturally stemmed from the design of the restaurant, shaped in a circle. The inner ring was the area for processing and preparation, while the outer ring consisted of individual service windows. When a student finished ordering, the window would display a countdown to the meal preparation; then, when the time was up, the freshly prepared dishes would be served on plates, automatically presented.
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All the windows were not manually serviced; it was all AI service. If a student had special needs, they would simply indicate them while ordering: add a few grams of salt, or request another specific amount of ingredients or extra cooking time of about ten seconds.
"Descriptions that simulate possibilities only cause confusion, thereby wasting a lot of energy on communication, and they are also not conducive to later replication, making it hard to save time and reduce consumption," Ed had explained to Tilan.
After they finished ordering, they arrived at the meeting spot agreed upon by the exchange team. Ruby, Yalian, and others had already arrived early.
"Tilan, over here~" they waved and beckoned the two of them, then burst into lively discussion again.
Although they were all exchange students from the Edith Faction, they did not act together as was customary. Instead, each of them was led on a one-on-one tour of the Crystal Lattice Academy by its members.
When asked why it was arranged this way, the Crystal Lattice Academy replied that one-on-one communication was more efficient, it ensured no member was overlooked, and it also allowed each guide to individually develop their abilities.
As for such arrangements at the Crystal Lattice Academy, those from Edith Academy were no longer surprised. This style of doing things was not formed in the past couple of years but had been systematically implemented for hundreds of years.
"Tilan, let me tell you, just now Sasha and I visited the library. This library is especially tall; if there were students with acrophobia, I’m afraid they would find it difficult to use."
Ruby described their recent visit to the library to Tilan. The library’s exterior was built with huge, transparent glass, while inside were crystal walls about fifty meters high, embedded with various classic writings, books, Memory Core Cards, and specimen books, all placed within crystalline cubbies in the wall.
There were trapezoidal steps set onto the walls, allowing one to move up and down in a ’Z’ formation. However, these steps had no handrails, meaning if one were to miss a step at tens of meters up, they would fall down.
"Of course, falling down wouldn’t happen," Sasha, who was guiding Ruby, said with a smile.
"Because all the student uniforms of the Crystal Lattice Academy are embedded with magnetic materials. Inside any public building within the academy, one can freely fly and land using the magnetic field, as if in space."
"Playing with magnetism and gravity is a mandatory course for every student of the Crystal Lattice Academy, and it’s also in preparation for future life and work in space."
The founders of the Crystal Lattice Academy, or rather the group that held the same concept as the Crystal Lattice School, were greatly influenced by the ’Forward Era’ mindset, while also integrating the ideology of the ’Retrospective Cloud’ faction from the Twilight Era.
This group believed that it was the mode of production that created life concepts, as well as culture and so on.
For example, in the agrarian civilization, literary works and lifestyle decorations often exhibited a fondness for the land, flowers, birds, and beasts. Civilizations living by the sea commonly mentioned voyages and adventures in their literary works. Fishing and sailing often involved an element of the unknown. One might encounter storms or calm seas, come back empty-handed or catch a big fish, similar to drawing cards or opening blind boxes.
Such modes of production and living shaped the character of a civilization, making it familiar with and fond of adventure. Additionally, the frequent contact with certain elements led to the common use of waves, spray, seashells, and similar patterns in their architecture.
However, in the Interstellar Era, people hardly ever touched the earth or seawater, and their impression of plants mainly involved delicate flowers and grass grown in cultivation boxes. Their childhood memories were not of flowers, fish, or insects, but rather of the now somewhat distorted music player card boxes they used as children, those space station corridors facing gaseous planets and cold stellar rivers, and the zero-gravity playgrounds where they played with small planes alongside their peers.
’The mode of production and living environment is like a stone in the sunlight, and the so-called culture and customs are the shadow behind the stone.’
"We must always move forward, continuously building the edifice of civilization with theories and formulas, step by step reaching for the stars above us. As for these ’shadows’ behind us, there’s no need to be nostalgic; they will naturally change as we do."
After humanity broke free from the constraints of Earth in the third epoch, civilization once again turned forward to the stars. Thanks to the vast amount of material and theories left behind by the ’Retrospective Cloud’ faction, civilization swiftly revived. The early phase of the fourth epoch, this era of continuous expansion and radical innovation, was called by later generations the ’Forward Era’.
When humans cracked the mysteries of life, capable of freely modifying the genetic Sequence with a scalpel, the sacred aura of bloodline theories shattered to the ground. The constant iterations and changes in genes made the pursuit of so-called bloodline consistency meaningless.
As for common culture and customary notions, some people deemed them unimportant too. As long as one kept moving forward, new cultures would emerge, and there was no need to constantly reminisce about the past.
’They advocate for knowledge, formulas, theories—these memes far more than genes represent the civilization’s intellectual legacy, and in fact, they are not even concerned whether their successors belong to the same Species.’—Some scholars’ views on the ’Retrospective Cloud’ faction.
Compared to inhabitants living on the ground and within the natural environment, humans raised in space stations and on long-haul flight ships clearly identified more with the ideology of the ’Retrospective Cloud’ faction.
"We are the successors of the ’Forward Era,’ the Star Children who admire the ’Noble Truth,’ the spiritual heirs of the ’Retrospective Cloud’ faction," Ed had introduced to Tilan. And the Crystal Lattice Academy was the collective product of this faction.
