Chapter 505: Perceiving the Soul, the Indescribable

After parting ways with Aiboke, Xia Duo returned to his residence in the Tower of Time. The rehearsal just now had left him feeling mentally and physically exhausted, and at this moment, he just wanted to have a good rest.

However, before falling asleep, he still needed to reflect carefully on the mistakes that occurred during the process of creating Arcane Fire just now, as well as the areas that needed improvement.

Experiencing it personally and hearing others describe it were completely different feelings. The spell 【Create Arcane Fire】 might be classified as a 5th Circle Spell, but the actual difficulty of casting it far exceeded the scope of a normal 5th Circle Spell.

It was almost equivalent to casting 20 Teleportation spells at the same time!

If it weren't for the specific, isolated, and weakened Magic Net environment, he would never have been able to achieve such a level!

Of course, looking at it from another angle, if someone could cast such a spell in the normal Magic Net environment of the outside world, perhaps they could create Arcane Fire directly without needing an Advanced Laboratory.

Carrying various speculations and thoughts, Xia Duo fell into a deep sleep.

……

When he woke up again, it was already the next day. Fortunately, the daily Meditation was not restricted to the morning; it only needed to be done during the period when one's mental state was at its best.

Creating Arcane Fire was no longer a problem; at this moment, Xia Duo was only one step away from becoming an Arcanist: perceiving the Soul.

In the next few days, Xia Duo stayed in the Tower of Time. With the critical moment approaching, he did not want to wander outside to avoid any accidents. Although the possibility was very small, one could not be too cautious at a time like this.

Since crossing over, including his time in the Projection Plane, it had been over seven years; he was finally about to become an Arcanist.

Perhaps because "good news brings a refreshed spirit," in the following days, Xia Duo's Meditation progress went very smoothly. Finally, at the end of April, when Niya reminded him not to miss the Snow Melting Competition, he reached the level of perceiving the Soul.

Although Netherese Mages did not have instruments or devices to measure the specific degree of Focus, through traditional Advanced Focus Training, as long as one could complete the ninth stage of Focus Training, it was considered to have met the standard.

These days, besides Meditation, Xia Duo would also try the Netherese Mage's Focus Training to grasp his own training progress.

When he knew that he had reached the level of perceiving the Soul, Xia Duo's heart was filled with joy—not just because of the advancement itself, but because the anticipation of over seven years had finally blossomed and borne fruit.

……

Inside the bedroom, Xia Duo lay flat on the bed, welcoming the truth of the Soul in the most comfortable posture.

On Earth, the Soul in the narrow sense is generally considered to be the activity of the brain, or in other words, the Soul is thought. And the Soul in the broad sense is an expansion and extension of the narrow Soul.

But regardless, up until Xia Duo crossed over, there was no evidence to prove the existence—or non-existence—of a 【Physical Soul】. (Physical is real and concrete, and what corresponds to it is virtual.)

The magical world can allow a Spellcaster to perceive the Soul through simple training (which is easy to achieve). And the same training, or similar training, could also completely appear on Earth.

But Xia Duo had never heard of anyone being able to perceive the Soul. If it could be verified on a large scale, then the Soul would no longer be an ethereal theory.

Xia Duo had always been curious about whether he, an Earthling, had a Soul, and if so, what his Soul looked like.

Was it a point of light? Or was it the same as his physical body? Or was it some other form? Or an indefinite form?

……

Carrying various doubts and conjectures, Xia Duo began his first attempt at perceiving the Soul.

There was no mystical contemplation or sensing; it was just perception in the literal sense, like an ordinary person tilting their head to listen—as long as one had the sense of hearing, one could hear sound.

Similarly, when his Focus reached a certain level, Xia Duo suddenly felt as if he had entered a void. Such a real experience made him feel incredibly amazed.

The first thing to be perceived was actually his consciousness.

Xia Duo had experienced many journeys to the Projection Plane before, which were actually projecting his consciousness into the Projection Plane located in the Astral Plane, and the Silver Thread he saw on his way back was actually the manifestation of the extension of his consciousness in the Astral Plane.

At this moment, the consciousness Xia Duo perceived was not a Silver Thread, nor was it silver, but his real physical body, or rather, himself in a state similar to a spiritual body.

In this state, he could be aware of all parts of his body, including the inside, as if it were transparent and very clear.

Netheril's research on the Soul was not perfect; even the book "Soul Studies" itself contained a large number of questions and speculations, with very few conclusions that had been truly verified.

Among them, the one verified earliest was probably—consciousness is the projection of the Soul on the body.

To a certain extent, consciousness is thought, just one side of the Soul, while the other side of the Soul—Will—is the true key to Spellcasting.

Arcane Fire also needs to be combined with Will.

Regarding Will, Netherese Mages did not know much; they only confirmed the existence of Will and could utilize it, but there were almost no relevant theories or anything of the sort.

Just after Xia Duo perceived his consciousness, he traced it further back and perceived a high, distant, and indescribable existence—that was his Soul.

The Soul had no form, or rather, it transcended form, but it was a real and concrete existence, not a virtual existence that only existed in imagination.

However, this was not quite the same as the Souls of other Arcanists!

When other Arcanists first perceived their Souls, although they also had no form, they would immediately transform into a form like their physical body according to their own cognition.

And not like Xia Duo, who remained indefinite!

Could it be that he was some unfathomable, indescribable entity? Or was the Soul of an Earthling just like this?

However, the indefinite form of the Soul did not affect Xia Duo's consciousness, nor did it affect his perception of Will.

Tracing back from consciousness to the Soul, and then falling back from the Soul to Will, the whole process was natural and smooth.

The feeling of perceiving Will was very wonderful, just like seeing one's own eyes without using a mirror, or similar to seeing the texture of one's skin without direct contact.

It was as if an extra sense had appeared out of thin air.

And when Xia Duo exited the perception state and then perceived again, this time he did not need to jump through the Soul, but directly perceived the existence of Will.

Consciousness and Will are not independent existences, but two different sides of the Soul. If consciousness is the projection of the Soul on the body, then Will is also the extension of the Soul in a certain direction.

Like the three primary colors of light on Earth, the forms of expression are different, but the essence is one—they are all light.

The forms of expression of consciousness and Will are different, but the essence should both be the Soul.

As for the body, it should be the dwelling place of the Soul.

……

Perceiving the Soul did not directly improve Xia Duo's combat power, but it greatly expanded his horizons and at the same time cleared the last obstacle for his advancement to Arcanist.

It was just that the extra sense derived from Will completely disappeared after exiting the state of extreme Focus.

There was no direct benefit, which was inevitably a bit disappointing.

Xia Duo lay on the bed, constantly recalling everything that had just happened; it was truly like a dream, yet it was an incomparably real existence.

Next, it was just some small techniques regarding the application of Will.

With this, the preliminary preparations for the advancement had finally come to an end.