Chapter 3169: Remains of the First Mentor

To Luodasi, the weight of the School was even closer than his own descendants, because descendants might still join other schools due to differences in philosophy.

But the school he belonged to was entirely composed of like-minded companions; situations like Kalishi's—joining first and then breaking away—were actually extremely rare.

This also filled Luodasi with resentment toward Kalishi; otherwise, he would not have voluntarily chosen to participate in this Northland investigation operation.

Hesitating for a moment, Luodasi took the initiative to speak again:

"I can tell you some intelligence about Kalishi, but what can you give me? As you said, I am merely a Consciousness Copy created by you at will. What meaning does your current promise have for me?"

"Luodasi, you don't need to test me. What I promise is something you cannot imagine—it is Reality, a possibility for you, this virtual Consciousness Copy, to return to reality!"

"Return to the real world?"

Although Luodasi could not distinguish the truth of his current environment, Xia Duo's repeated mentions of a Consciousness Copy still made him yearn for that so-called reality.

"Is it enough to just tell you the intelligence regarding Kalishi?"

"If I said yes, I would only be lying to you, so my answer is: as long as the information you provide satisfies me, I will find a way to let you enter reality from the virtual."

"What Kalishi stole was the Primary Mentor's Glabella Bone kept in the School's Meditation Room. The School was so bad to me that even when conflicts arose, they did not strip me of the right to enter the Meditation Room. I didn't expect that he had long harbored evil intentions and stolen the Remains of the First Mentor."

There are so many Projection Planes, and the intelligent beings within them are countless; if one were to only bring back knowledge from them, it would be too wasteful.

"So what exactly happened seventy years ago? And what treasure did I actually steal now?"

Experiments cannot be equated with punishment, nor can they be equated with learning; an experiment is just an experiment, unrelated to good or evil, and carries no bias.

Because the virtual consciousnesses he knew were not just Luodasi; so many seemingly real characters in the Projection Planes were actually virtual, at least relative to the Material Plane.

Thinking for a moment, Xia Duo continued to ask: "Why exactly did Kalishi have a conflict with the Anti School and eventually break away? As a Lingneng Dashi in the school, you shouldn't be unaware, right?"

"I am also unclear about what happened seventy years ago, but it was from that time that Kalishi's true body began to appear frequently in the school, and it was also then that I had contact with him."

"What aspect of information about Kalishi do you want to know?"

"As far as I know, Kalishi went through two Artifact Baptisms before successfully Awakening Psionics. His talent could not be considered good, nor could it be considered bad; in Zhamu Dasi, it could only be considered average."

Once he decided to speak, Luodasi had no psychological burden; anyway, he was telling intelligence about the traitor Kalishi, and he didn't care at all what consequences this would bring.

"Afterward, until seventy years ago, Kalishi did not show anything abnormal. Just like other outsiders, after learning Psionic Magic, he quickly returned to his hometown, leaving only a Psionic Avatar in Zhamu Dasi."

Such a promise could not be considered light, especially for the virtual Luodasi, but Xia Duo was not overflowing with love, treating a prisoner with such favor; rather, he was acting on the principle of waste utilization, starting a new project of Turning False into Real.

If virtual characters from the Projection Planes could be transformed into the Main Plane, that would be a very, very large gain for Xia Duo's future plans.

This time, Luodasi's expression was even more ferocious; clearly, that so-called "Primary Mentor's Glabella Bone" must be an indispensable treasure for a Psionic Mage.

When Luodasi spoke of Kalishi's act of stealing the treasure, he couldn't help but grit his teeth; it seemed he truly hated the other party very much. Xia Duo nodded to show he understood and asked again for details about the treasure.

If there were criminals in the Territory, in some people's eyes, those might be better experimental materials, but in Xia Duo's view, what criminals most need to do is accept punishment and undergo reform, not participate in experiments.

"Later, he completely broke away from the school. We originally thought Kalishi might join the Zeqi School afterward, because in recent years our school and the Zeqi School have had somewhat worsening relations, and the best choice for Kalishi after breaking with us would be to join the Zeqi School. But no one expected that Kalishi actually stole a School Treasure and then fled back to the Northland!"

Seeing that he couldn't fool his way through, Luodasi could only reveal the matter. On one hand, he was not his own master, but more importantly, Kalishi had fled back to the Northland, and the situation of that treasure had likely already been known by the Northland Alliance; him saying it now didn't count as leaking secrets.

"Let's just briefly talk about his experience learning Psionic Magic in Zhamu Dasi first!"

Of course, these were all excuses he used to convince himself; in reality, Xia Duo had not heard of any treasure from the Northland Alliance, and he wasn't even sure if Kalishi's theft was true, otherwise he wouldn't have kept questioning.

It was not just Luodasi; in the future, if other enemies were caught by him, they could also be handled according to this precedent. Of course, this was only aimed at enemies, because enemies are a matter of stance, unrelated to good or evil, so handling them this way is also unrelated to good or evil.

In the Consciousness Cage.

"Kalishi came to Zhamu Dasi about two hundred years ago. I hadn't been born then, so my understanding of that time is limited; I heard more from others, so whether it is true or false cannot be determined."

Although Xia Duo was not sure if this was a play directed by Zhamu Dasi, he figured they wouldn't use a fake treasure as a prop.

So starting with enemies might be a not-bad choice.

Luodasi ultimately chose to gamble, because he had no other choice. He dared not gamble on whether other copies would gamble; in fact, from the moment he had this thought, he had already compromised with Xia Duo.

Moreover, involving the First Generation Psionic Mentor, that so-called remains had an even more extraordinary symbolic significance. If this matter were true, the pressure the Anti School faced would likely be immense.

"Originally, I always thought Kalishi was a respectable elder, and I never even doubted his identity, until a few years ago when he suddenly had a dispute with the school, and I only then realized he was actually an Elf!"

Xia Duo had always wanted to conduct attempts in this area in the past, but because the characters in the Projection Planes possessed real Wisdom and real self, it was impossible for Xia Duo to truly treat them like objects.

With so much real, non-virtual Wisdom, if it couldn't transcend the virtual and enter reality, it would be too much of a pity!

This question was very key; Xia Duo wanted to hear Luodasi's explanation.

……

"Because Kalishi was an Elf, he was not well-received in Zhamu Dasi at first. It wasn't until he transformed himself into a human and changed his name to Airi that he gained the school's recognition and was granted an Artifact Baptism."