Chapter 727: Heart of the Central Brain

Lei En carefully observed and found that the icon had no progress bar beneath it, meaning the Augulevi Creation Technique can only reach eight rings at most and cannot be upgraded further.

He was not surprised by this.

Augulevi Master's magical notes state that the Creation Technique is an Element of legend. Like most legendary Elements, its potential has been fully mined; aside from certain modifications, there is little room for improvement.

The Creation Technique is a very unique Arcane art; it has no direct killing power nor can it be used for protection, its focus lies in creation.

It merely provides a basic framework.

How to wield the spell's power hinges on how the created duplicate is utilized.

The term "duplicate" is Augulevi Master's wording.

Lei En prefers to call it a "clone," which is easier for him to understand and adapt to.

He was about to use the Creation Technique, but thought that placing the clone in Gral Morgan Castle might be seen by others and be hard to explain, so he swapped positions with Reslin and appeared on the fourth floor of the Obsidian Tower, where a magical laboratory sits beside an alchemy room and material warehouse—perfect for cultivating clones.

Selecting a clean, dust‑free alchemy room, Lei En walked to the central platform.

The platform resembled an operating table, fitting the purpose.

He transformed his right palm into a blade, activated "Ignore Pain," and sliced a piece of flesh from his own left arm, about the size of a fingertip. Once separated, the flesh became extremely hard, shimmering with metallic luster; the blood turned golden and very viscous.

Unless he had seen the flesh cut from his own body, Lei En would find it hard to believe it was human flesh.

The wound on his left arm shed no blood and healed in an instant.

He placed the flesh on the platform; with a "clack," a metallic sound rang out, and Lei En began to cast the Creation Technique.

The World Tree swayed, the Creation Technique's leaves glittered, drawing in massive spiritual energy.

The entire soul space trembled.

Hoo!

Half a minute later, a massive surge of spiritual energy burst from Lei En, a rumbling "boom" as the energy pulled the surrounding void like opening a valve. Countless mysterious energies spewed from the void, converging into a visible torrent that formed hundreds of runes in mid‑air, emitting a dreamlike glow; the energy and runes poured into the flesh on the operating table.

Instantly, the flesh reacted wondrously.

It proliferated rapidly like a nourished living thing, swelling in volume, growing dozens of times within seconds to a fist‑sized chunk.

Lei En maintained the casting, guiding a continuous flow of mysterious energy.

The flesh kept expanding—first fist‑sized, then head‑sized; with more energy it elongated, taking the shape of a human body, torso, limbs, and head forming step by step.

At this stage, the clone had only completed shaping; it lacked skin on the surface and had no bones or organs inside—just an empty shell.

Yet Lei En was still shocked.

In his past life, this would have been an achievement that could astonish the whole world, comparable to alien technology!

He continued the casting.

As endless mysterious energy flooded the clone, a layer of healthy skin gradually covered the blood‑soaked muscle, pores appeared, hair and fur grew, and facial features sharpened, outlining Lei En's appearance.

The magical notes say the clone's appearance can be adjusted.

However, this was Lei En's first time creating a clone, and he was not yet proficient, so he did not attempt to modify its looks, letting it develop on its own.

The All‑Seeing Eye pierced the clone's interior, where bones and organs formed in sync.

Blood vessels, subcutaneous tissue, membranes, reproductive system, and everything a normal human possesses were present in the clone.

Even Lei En, the caster, could not observe the entire birth process of human anatomy; by the time he saw them, they were already complete.

His spiritual energy burst forth like a broken dam, spilling for miles.

A moment later.

Lei En's mind trembled slightly; the mysterious energy rising from the void rapidly waned, and the casting ended.

He kept monitoring his energy charge.

He was just a little short— the Creation Technique consumed about a hundred units of energy. He is a Level 17 Wizard; after his last promotion to Legendary High-rank, his phone rebooted, and now he has two circles of energy: the outer circle full, the inner circle only about twenty units, now down to just the inner circle's twenty‑something units.

Casting the Creation Technique is equivalent to a Nine-ring Technique.

Lei En is a perfect Soul Transformation; his spiritual energy cap is slightly higher than Reslin's, so when he reaches Legendary Peak, with four circles of energy he can release the Nine-ring Technique four times, one more than Reslin.

The Creation Technique's consumption, like the Wish Spell, cannot be restored.

Nonetheless, it is all completely worth it.

On the operating table lay a perfect human male body, naked, nearly 1.9 m tall, very robust, with evenly proportioned muscles, and a handsome three‑dimensional face identical to Lei En's.

Lei En observed the clone's form, and a strange feeling rose in his heart.

It was like looking into a mirror.

The clone's eyes were closed, its chest rose and fell rhythmically, its nostrils breathed, as if asleep. The soul eye looked at the clone's head and found no soul inside.

It was merely an empty shell, essentially akin to a vegetative state.

Lei En couldn't help but shake his head.

A living human created within ten minutes, and by his own hands; at this moment his emotions were very complex.

After a long while, he finally cast aside the ethical constraints of his past life and continued his observation.

The clone has no soul, and thus no Element.

Its bodily qualities far exceed those of ordinary humans, especially strength and defense, derived from Lei En's gene replication; even without any training, it rivals a Mid-stage melee transcendent.

Augulevi Master's magical notes say the Creation Technique is an excellent means of self‑preservation.

As long as one leaves one's own soul imprint in the clone, when the original body nears death, if it shares the same plane with the clone, the soul can instantly transfer into the clone for rebirth.

The mere ability to resurrect makes the Creation Technique's value incalculable.

However, the clone also needs to ingest energy to survive; once created, it must regularly sustain life through spells, otherwise it will die like a normal person and soon become a corpse.

If one has the stamina to maintain multiple clones, it is equivalent to having multiple chances at resurrection.

Each death results in rebirth within the nearest clone.

This resembles a Lich's Soul Box, faster than a Soul Box for revival, but maintenance is cumbersome. If the two are combined—having both a Soul Box and clone backups—one becomes almost impossible to kill, only a Soul‑binding spell could imprison the soul.

Lei En believes Augulevi Master must think the same way.

"First, let him lie here."

He gave the clone one last glance, Lei En exited the alchemy chamber, entered the adjacent meditation room and sat down, and the phone interface opened in his view.

His Wizard level dropped to sixteen, and the battery showed over twenty units.

The soul power pool was eighty percent full, with more than 2,400 units of battery. The last time he eradicated the Eye Demon elder and the slave army beneath the Obsidian Tower, he harvested a huge wave of battery, leaving over 1,600 units after most were consumed; later, in Mosuobulai, he killed a batch of dark elves, and all their souls were absorbed.

On the way to Thus Place: Yilaientu, he killed many subterranean creatures and the souls of those ten‑plus Spirit-absorbing Monsters, all of which were converted into battery.

More than 2,400 units of battery should be sufficient.

Lei En first poured in eighty units of battery to refill it, then his soul ascended again, reaching Wizard level seventeen.

Then he took out the Soul Stone.

The demonic soul of the Spirit-absorbing Monster's master brain roamed inside the Soul Stone, and eighteen Elements floated before his eyes; Lei En examined each one carefully.

The Core of the Master Brain and the Mind Hyper‑senses need no further introduction.

That ultra‑exceptional Element that can devour brains to strengthen itself is mentioned in Augulevi Master's magical notes, which he named the "Brain Devourer." There are also three physical Elements: Level 4 Strength, Level 5 Toughness, and Level 8 Self‑Heal. Thus the Master Brain's close‑combat capability is extremely weak; it mainly relies on the Spirit-absorbing Monsters it controls to eliminate foes.

The remaining ones are all Arcane Elements, and they are all Mind spells.

What intrigued Lei En most were "Mind Blast" and "Mind Force Field," both Seven‑Ring Spells. He had already witnessed Mind Blast; its power is tremendous, delivering a terrifying psychic shock to the target in an instant, combining both mental and physical damage, and can even explode an enemy's head outright.

Mind Blast casts at blinding speed, often completed with a single glance, making it impossible to defend against.

In the words of his past life, that's a glance that kills.

The potency of the Mind Force Field is less than that of Mind Blast; it is a sustained area spell that creates a spherical force field centered on the caster, manipulating anything within.

Within the field, one can act at will.

Remote object retrieval, flight, precognition, telepathy, psychic attack, physical bind, spell resistance, energy control, and so on… the spell effects are numerous and formidable, achievable with a mere thought, offering great potential.

In short, the Mind Force Field is a form of psychokinesis.

Next comes the Five‑Ring "Mind Leap," a Mind‑type teleportation spell whose effect is similar to the Arcane‑type "Blink," but with the advantage that Mind Leap does not collide with walls; as long as the destination is within detectable range, it can jump there regardless of obstacles.

"Mind Freeze" slows an enemy's thought speed, thereby reducing their casting speed.

If the enemy's Willpower is insufficient and they lack adequate Mind protection, Mind Freeze renders them unable to think, losing control of their body, immobilized as if truly frozen by ice.

"Thought Theft" does exactly what its name suggests: it steals the target's current thoughts, causing the target to suddenly forget them.

"Mind Link" enables mental communication with targets within range.

"Brainwashing Technique" is a weakened version of Mind Control; after repeated use on a target, it brings them under control, making them obey, but its effect is far weaker than Mind Control and is relatively easy to dispel.

"Silence Technique" can interrupt casting.

Its principle is to sever the Mind, causing an instant loss of speech and thus impairing thought, preventing spell completion. However, Silence Technique can only be used while the target is casting; using it beforehand or afterward has little effect.

"Fear Technique" and "Mass Fear Technique" are relatively common.

"Spirit Energy Shield" is only a marginal benefit for Lei En; he rarely even uses the more powerful "Prismatic Shield."

The only Eight‑Ring Spell mastered by the Spirit-absorbing Monster's master brain is "Spirit Energy Storm," which has an enormous range; any enemy within its area suffers continuous psychic shock and physical damage, requiring the caster's guidance and consuming a great deal of soul power.

Lei En, having fused the Blue Dragon Soul, already possesses Thundercloud Storm; the two spells are roughly equivalent in power, so he is not overly concerned.

He only wants the Core of the Master Brain; removing all other Elements is fine.

At this point, the soul ascent ends.

Lei En, without hesitation, pressed the Soul Stone to his forehead, drawing the demonic soul of the Spirit-absorbing Monster's master brain into his own soul space.

The World Tree trembles and sways.

The fusion begins.

This is the second demonic‑soul fusion after Soul Transformation; the Master Brain clashes violently with the Blue Dragon, and Lei En repeatedly triggers soul vibrations to suppress the conflict between the two demonic souls.

The Master Brain's demonic soul ascends step by step along the World Tree's trunk.

Seated in lotus posture in the meditation room, Lei En's expression twisted intermittently as if enduring pain; after ten‑plus minutes, his demeanor calmed, and he opened his eyes.

The fusion succeeded.

At the highest tier of the World Tree, a new branch sprouted beside the Blue Dragon Soul, bearing thirteen leaves—five fewer Elements than the original Spirit-absorbing Monster Master Brain possessed.

Lei En exhaled, his eyes full of luck.

The Master Brain's demonic‑soul fusion proved far more difficult than imagined; the pre‑conflict intensity was extreme, resulting in a low fusion rate and the loss of five Elements: "Fear Technique," "Mass Fear Technique," "Thought Theft," "Spirit Energy Shield," and Level 8 "Self‑Heal."

Fortunately, those five Elements are unimportant, so their loss matters not.

If the Core of the Master Brain were gone, he'd be at a loss; he certainly wouldn't dare ask Augulevi Master for another, and would have to return to the Dark Realm to seek another Spirit-absorbing Monster community.

The wasted time is secondary; the key issue is losing a chance to fuse demonic souls.

Lei En opened the phone interface.

His gaze landed on the Core of the Master Brain icon—a brain illustration—with the progress bar's right side showing the number "1," indicating it is only at level one.

Sensing the Element runes on the World Tree, a flash of information passed through his mind.

A level‑one Core of the Master Brain can create and control eight sub‑brains; upon reaching level two, the number of sub‑brains doubles, but it must devour at least fifty ordinary Spirit-absorbing Monster brains. The higher the Core's level, the more brains are required for upgrade, with the quantity skyrocketing as if a bottomless pit.

Since the Spirit-absorbing Monsters in Thus Place: Yilaientu number fewer than one hundred, Lei En deduced that Augulevi Master's Core of the Master Brain should be at level five, with a maximum of 128 sub‑brains.

Augulevi Master has spent centuries in the Dark Realm, hunting countless Spirit-absorbing Monsters, yet only reached level five, illustrating how arduous it is to advance the Core of the Master Brain.

Perhaps even consuming all the Spirit-absorbing Monsters and Master Brains in the world would not suffice.

But for Lei En, that is no problem at all.

He immediately selected the Core of the Master Brain icon, the progress bar lit up, and he thought to himself, "Hehe! Upgrade!"

(End of Chapter)