Chapter 1762: Psionic Hypothesis, Beginning

Next, whether Xia Duo wanted to verify his hypothesis or cut out more basic forms of the Spirit Core, he needed to continue cutting downward.

Of course, he would not perform large-scale cutting until actual tests confirmed that these basic forms of the Spirit Core could become qualified components for an Intellect Brain.

The smallest Spirit Core he had picked out earlier hadn't even been half consumed, so Xia Duo began testing with it. After continuing to cut out a regular tetrahedron Spirit Core, he took out a prepared first-generation Communication Magic Tool.

——【Enlightenment Spell】!

The Artifact Spirit formed smoothly. Although it was only a basic form of a Spirit Core, one had to know that something as large as a Mage Tower only required three complete Spirit Cores, and there should even be a surplus.

It was not hard to understand that something as small as a Communication Magic Tool would only need a tiny bit of a Spirit Core.

However, what surprised Xia Duo was that even the basic form of a Spirit Core could carry his Consciousness Copy.

He had previously thought that if a Spirit Core were divided to this extent, it would be unable to carry a Consciousness Copy; he hadn't expected this thing to be much stronger than he had anticipated.

From this, one could see how powerful the consciousness of those Twisted Phantoms was, even producing innate Psionic Ability. But unfortunately, their consciousness structure was singular; once their mental defenses were breached, it was as if they were completely undefended.

Humans do not have such powerful innate consciousness, but human consciousness is divided into the Conscious Mind and the Subconscious. Even without any protection, the Subconscious is a natural defense.

Psionic Magic generally can only breach the Conscious Mind, and usually, one must first control the Conscious Mind before being able to further influence the Subconscious.

Is it better to have powerful Psionic Ability, or to have mental protection "installed" on every individual?

This question was not easy for Xia Duo to answer. Now that he was no longer a weak individual, he naturally hoped to obtain Psionic Ability, but if he were still in a weak state, he would of course want natural mental protection.

Or perhaps, compared to those truly powerful existences, he was still very weak. In that sense, seeking a state of consciousness similar to the Twisted Phantoms as a human to obtain Psionic Ability might be going down the wrong path.

Xia Duo guessed that so-called Psionic Enlightenment might be the conversion of consciousness into something similar to that of the Twisted Phantoms, thereby giving birth to Psionic Ability, and then strengthening or amplifying it through some special means—perhaps that was Psionic Magic.

Of course, this was merely Xia Duo's guess. As for the specifics, he would still need to find a real Psionic Mage to cooperate in conducting a few experiments.

……

After confirming that the regular polyhedron basic form of the Spirit Core could be combined with a first-generation Communication Magic Tool to become an Intellect Brain component, Xia Duo began to continuously divide the large Spirit Cores.

Soon, those eight cut Spirit Cores were completely decomposed. Excluding the two that had been cut away previously, there remained 12 Spirit Cores in basic regular polyhedron forms.

And those eight actually originated from two complete Twisted Phantom Cores; that is to say, one complete Twisted Phantom Core could be decomposed into about 7 basic forms.

Because he had done so much cutting, Xia Duo also discovered a problem that might affect his previous hypothesis regarding the basic forms of the Spirit Core—

He had not discovered a regular icosahedron Spirit Core; at most, there was only a regular dodecahedron, and there was only one, which he had even cut "to pieces."

Xia Duo was not sure if a regular icosahedron basic form of the Spirit Core truly did not exist, or if he just hadn't cut enough yet.

Thus, without a doubt, he picked up the 【Blade of Spiritual Closure】 again and directly cut through six complete Spirit Cores, "bursting" a total of 50 basic forms.

This was an improvement over his previous estimate—that 1 complete Spirit Core could be decomposed into about 7 basic forms.

8 Spirit Cores ==> 62 basic forms. Adding the two that were destroyed, that made exactly eight times the amount. If he didn't have the 【Blade of Spiritual Closure】, he would have needed that many complete Spirit Cores.

Not to mention the cost, even if one had the money, and even if others were willing to sell, one might not necessarily be able to buy them; it would also depend on the harvest from the Seven Towers or the Ether Forward Base.

Xia Duo subconsciously tightened his grip on the jade-textured small knife in his hand, sighing in his heart that technology was indeed the primary productive force.

……

Next, Xia Duo did not continue to divide the complete Spirit Cores. With 62 basic forms of Spirit Cores, it was enough for him to start the Intellect Brain project.

He could divide and add more when needed later; there was no need to cut them all. If he happened to need a complete Spirit Core one day, he would be in a bind.

However, Xia Duo might not have time to build the Intellect Brain today; he could only first cooperate with these basic forms of Spirit Cores to give birth to an Artifact Spirit for the first-generation Communication Magic Tool.

For him now, this was almost purely manual labor.

By dusk, when Niya returned from the Blue Crystal Plane, he hadn't finished everything, but the steady progress of the project still made him very satisfied.

At least it had begun.

After returning from Seventon tomorrow, Xia Duo would continue. As long as he could build an Intellect Brain Prototype that met his expectations, it would also be a huge boost for the upcoming Floating City Mythallar project.

This would be equivalent to having N versions of himself researching together. Aside from a lack of inspiration, other aspects like theoretical derivation, calculation, and organization would far exceed his original body.

……

That night, perhaps stimulated by the events before, Niya's passion exceeded Xia Duo's imagination, to the point that he didn't want to leave Niya's side the next day.

But he had already delayed the Seventon side once; if he delayed it again, he feared that even Huo En would think he was playing games with others.

Giving Niya a gentle kiss on the forehead, Xia Duo resolutely got up. Normally, with such a large movement, Niya might have already woken up, but she had been too tired last night; Niya still breathed steadily, and she was not pretending to sleep.

He went to Linshui Village to find something simple to eat, brought a portion for Niya along the way, and only then did he step onto the Teleportation Array heading to Seventon.

……

Arcane Union.

It was still that familiar high-domed Huanxingdating.

In the center of the hall was a huge round table, surrounded by nineteen seats evenly arranged, corresponding to the nineteen Great Arcanists currently made public in Netheril, also signifying that everyone was equal.

In the center of the round table was a pool of swimming blue radiance, within which mysterious symbols occasionally emerged, serving both as a decoration and for Projection displays.

Before Xia Duo came, he met with Iolum first and obtained the official agenda for the meeting later. As the convener of this meeting, Xia Duo was naturally the first to arrive.

He waited patiently while reviewing the meeting agenda.

After about an hour, Iolum was the second to appear at the venue, followed by the observers who filed in one after another.

In addition to Arcane Union Councilors like Bulundesi and Olong, there were also Senior Arcanists who had the Permission Level to come and observe on their own, or anyone brought by someone else.

Theoretically, even an ordinary person could be brought in, but doing so would be too foolish.

Although Xia Duo could not tell the specific levels of these Mages who arrived, he could roughly judge from their clothing, demeanor, and accessories that they were at least at the Advanced Rank.

These people sat on the chairs near the walls on the periphery of the Huanxingdating. As the seats around the periphery of the hall were gradually filled, the other Great Arcanists also began to appear one after another.