High Above

It was hard for Miles to imagine that he, who originally escaped from the Avak Territory, actually gained the attention of the local lord through his outstanding psychic powers after arriving in the new territory.

And this lord was still the kind person who had helped him before, and even invited himself to join the mysterious scientific research project, making him an important member of the Chongling Religion, a new faith organization.

"I was originally so unlucky that my luck changed after I came to Nanling. Not only did I make like-minded friends, but I also found the meaning of life in my work. Now it is indispensable for me to find a job at Xiahui Ling Psychic Research Laboratory. There are few important positions.”

"As for responsibilities..."

"It's being studied."

Ever since Miles manifested his psychic powers in the Black Swamp area in order to save his co-workers, he has become a popular figure in the local gathering area - the leaders of the local gathering area are smiling, and this selection is excellent no matter what. , and other pioneers also have more bragging rights. After all, there is a psyker in our district. Are there any in other districts?

For Miles himself, being the research subject of Xia Hui Ling is actually quite comfortable.

He did not leave the area where the pioneers gathered, and he was still working normally with everyone to open up wasteland. However, sometimes, people from the research institute would take him to Xiahui Ling to conduct various data measurements, and Miles was at that time He would also buy some specialties from Xia Hui Ling for his fellow workers, as well as tools that were hard to find in the gathering place. This move made him the most famous person in the entire gathering place besides the person in charge.

The process of being studied is not painful. It is nothing more than being swept around by a few lights, lying on a metal bed and being poked here and there like a piece of pork, and undergoing various hypnotic guidance to try to use psychic powers - it sounds like Troublesome, and vaguely inhumane, but in fact, compared to the hard work of opening up wasteland and sleeping rough in the wilderness, Miles would rather be studied by others all his life.

At least the food is good!

Of course, as a person from Azure City, Miles also knows very well how horrific those truly 'inhumane' experiments are...

When thinking about this, Miles always inexplicably thinks of the white supervisor of Xiahui Ling Laboratory.

It is not the Lord of Silver Peak, but a young researcher who calls himself "Old Shadow". He looks very immature. Although he is older than himself, he gives people the impression that he is younger than the Lord.

At first, Miles thought that the other party was the elder brother or elder of the Silver Peak Lord, who was too focused on technology and not familiar with the world, but in the end he discovered that the two parties were not the same kind of people at all.

Although the old shadow's skin is paler and looks like a revenant, in fact, he is a much gentler and kinder person than the lord, and he is also quite kind to himself.

Simply put, he is a great person.

No, not just for himself... Miles even saw it in the institute. The old shadow would talk to himself about the radish in the water dish, cheering for its growth with joy. It didn't look like a person at all. The person in charge of a large laboratory looks like a little boy growing plants for the first time.

And Lord Yinfeng, who is also a high-level alchemist...

The feeling he gave Miles was completely different.

That young man with outstanding appearance, who usually smiles when facing his subjects and is very approachable, but in private in the research room, he always frowns slightly and is always thinking about something.

The look he looked at himself was very intriguing, with anticipation mixed with a hint of cold, almost cold scrutiny, and he never concealed this.

It has not been long since he came to Xiahui Territory. Miles can be sure that as a lord, Ian undoubtedly loves his territory and everyone in it. He has gone through many twists and turns and made a lot of efforts to develop the territory, not only In order to attract investment, he also proposed various new technologies and invested a lot of money in the construction of the territory that other lords could use for their enjoyment.

For this reason, he lives a very simple life. He spends almost the whole day in the research institute except dealing with government affairs, and has almost no private life.

Compared to this, even the Old Shadow researcher can only follow his footsteps - the Old Shadow will still look at the radish seedlings in a daze, and occasionally giggle at the water petri dish, but the lord has no time to stop at all.

This is undoubtedly love.

But this kind of love is different... It feels like a cold sun, clearly shining on everyone, but it is difficult to give people a warm feeling.

In the words of his sister Cynthia, this lord made him feel like the Archduke Thorin they had been lucky enough to meet once.

even……

"More daunting. More terrifying."

Afraid, terrible.

Miles chewed on the word.

In the continent of Terra, if a lord can be feared and feared, it is actually a blessing. At least it will avoid a lot of unnecessary troubles and the territory can maintain stability.

If the lord is just amiable and beloved, it will cause great trouble.

Just like a person, if he only has a smile, he will eventually be unable to smile. Only when he is wearing armor and holding an 88mm anti-aircraft gun in his hand, can he fly into the sky and escape from the earth, making people fearful, can he and the People around me laughed for a long time.

Moreover, a character like Ian is also quite popular for people who like to understand that they have to die.

On the first day he participated in the 'Experimented Project', Miles knew that the reason why he was being studied was because he, as a resident of the Grand Duchy, had an 'artificial soul' in his body.

His artificial soul also caused his psychic powers to not work.

And one's own spiritual energy is very crucial. It has an inspiring effect on some key spiritual energy facilities in the territory and is of great reference value.

That’s why we need to study. And the Lord also told him clearly that whether he agreed or not, he would use various methods to study it.

Miles knew all this from the beginning.

He accepted this.

There's no need for a determined leader to resort to dishonorable means, is there? Not polite to himself, not polite to the other party, not to mention that the other party did show kindness to him, and he still remembers this kindness.

Grand Duke Thorin and Viscount Avak are both conducting experiments on the people, and Ian is no different from them in this regard. Even the technology he uses for experiments may have come from the Azure City Laboratory.

But at the very least, Ian would tell people in advance, or even try it on himself first.

Miles couldn't refuse, and he was compensated.

"The experiment is over? Miles, come here and learn the sword from me!"

After leaving the institute, the young swordsman heard a hearty voice. The person who came was none other than Qingchao, the 'teacher' appointed by the lord.

According to Qingchao, his swordsmanship talent is quite good. Although he is not as good as him, he can still be regarded as a genius. If he can be taught some lessons, he will definitely have great achievements in the future.

Not to mention, paired with psychic powers, Miles' swordsmanship and defensive capabilities will far exceed his.

Of course, the most important thing is that Qingchao admires him very much - a person who is willing to stand up for his comrades and even awaken his spiritual power is undoubtedly a trustworthy person. Who wouldn't appreciate him?

For such a second-level teacher, in the outside world, tuition fees of more than 1,000 thalers a year are indispensable. As compensation, they are completely qualified.

However, although he is said to be a teacher, he is actually barely half a classmate.

After Miles finished learning the sword from Qingchao, he had to go to the recently opened school in Xiahui Ling to learn some basic knowledge.

——You call me teacher! I call you a classmate! Let’s talk about our own things!

In fact, in terms of mathematics, Miles is obviously more talented than Qingchao. It is estimated that in a month or two, Qingchao will teach Miles swordsmanship and Miles will teach Qingchao mathematics.

Putting aside literacy and basic mathematics, the most interesting thing for Xiahui Ling was actually the ‘miscellaneous courses’ in history and geography.

Knowing how big the world is and the history of your own world cannot improve people's actual abilities, but it can broaden their horizons.

When Miles knew that the South Ridge and the West Territory where he was located were just a corner of the entire continent of Terra, he felt the inexplicable shock in his heart and the feeling that he was extremely small compared to the world. This was the first time in his life. appeared.

During that time, Miles even spent money to buy a map of the world. He looked at the names and terrain on the map, imagined the customs and customs in the far reaches of the world, and wondered whether there would be people living there. What kind of Warcraft and ecology are there.

That was exactly his dream, the reason why he wanted to use the sword to earn a living and go to the world outside Azure City - in Azure City, he just had a vague idea, but in Xiahui Territory, this idea gradually turned into something Reality gradually becomes clear.

Imagine. Imagination and curiosity are the most important things for human beings.

"In the future, I will consider making a Terra globe and make it into a toy, half sold and half given to everyone in the territory. Or maybe popularize a rough world map, and strive to let Xiahui lead every child, and every family will have one one."

After seeing that Miles was interested in the world map, the lord rarely showed a heartfelt smile. He explained his next plan to Miles in detail: "Looking at the map and thinking about the distance is the beginning of curiosity. What if? Being able to have a desire for the land on the other side of the world is the foundation of dreams.”

"Children will imagine how to conquer distant and unknown places, and imagine the beautiful and beautiful scenery in the distance. You can call it ambition, or desire, but what I want to cultivate is this kind of thing. No matter good or bad, it is better than Insensitivity is the result of ignorance."

"Miles, do you want to go to the Holy Mountain? Do you want to go to the Jiuhan Silent Mountain? You can do it. You can do it as long as you think about it. The premise is that you really want it."

True, of course it is true.

Will he get there one day?

Although the cold sun is not warm, it clearly points out the road ahead.

The young swordsman stared at the map in his hand, and his heart was filled with something called 'confidence' and 'expectation'.

Incomparably beautiful stuff.

…

"The new version of the artificial soul is made by comparing, correcting and optimizing the 'grand ducal version of the artificial soul' like Miles and the 'original possessed brain' of the Sequoia natives. In addition to the original functions, it also adds an additional part of the 'psychic network' , part of the 'meditation method foundation', part of the 'spiritual core adaptability' and part of the 'all souls' structure."

"In addition, the new version of the artificial soul has eliminated the original 'Death King' function with a strong sublimator as the core, and revised it to the 'Temporary Hades' function with the 'Spiritual Machine Core' as the core. Functions in this area It is still being studied, and the current energy source in the territory cannot support it. It is currently only an experimental version, and we will wait for the new energy furnace core to be developed before considering actual operations."

This is the result of two weeks of overtime work by Ian and Adlbert, almost day and night.

It has to be said that with a living entity like Miles as the object of observation, it is like putting an advanced engine in front of a group of mechanical engineers, and among them there is a former developer of this engine who still has There is a complete set of design drawings.

In this way, it is difficult to achieve high efficiency in replicating learning.

The essence of the artificial soul is to directly carry a part of the spiritual essence through the 'brain-attached structure'. As a 'soul seed', it is continuously nourished by the holder's thinking, and finally breeds a soul that is unique to the holder.

This is not a difficult technique. What is difficult is how to make this soul stable and unbreakable, and have various functions.

In the laboratory, the experimental subjects were not humans, but several captured monsters.

Warcraft below the second energy level have no obvious intelligence. Even at the second energy level, their intelligence is relatively primitive and requires long-term training and learning before they can barely approach humans.

In other words, by implanting artificial souls into them, feedback can be quickly observed.

The first Warcraft with an artificial soul implanted into it, the Steel Arm Ape, originally had intelligence close to that of a human child. After receiving the artificial soul for a week, its thinking was obviously much sharper. When it saw Ian and others coming to observe it, He didn't cower out of instinctive fear, but was very cooperative in taking various measurements.

One of the standards of wisdom is ‘knowing current affairs’. It's not just that you will run away when you see a strong person, but you will try to integrate, try to learn, and try to become one of them when you see a strong person.

This steel-armed ape obviously has intelligence. It even began to learn how humans usually walk upright, and tried to tidy up its nest in the laboratory to make it tidier.

Don’t get me wrong—wisdom doesn’t make people like cleanliness.

The Cyborg just found out and cleaned up his nest, and other researchers would be happier.

"In one week, the artificial soul just showed signs of assisting the brain in thinking and connecting various thinking areas. It can have such an obvious impact on Warcraft."

Ian watched every move of the Steel Arm Ape, and he said to Adebert beside him: "I have a guess that is not a guess, but let me ask a question first - why did the pre-era civilization design Warcraft?"

"Ah? Hmm... I think it may be the result of some kind of biological tool becoming feral, right?"

Adlbert was stunned. After learning about Ian's adventure in the Great Maze of the South China Sea, he also knew some information about Warcraft and Fire from the pre-era civilization, so he gave a more normal guess: "It's like crystallization Dragons are obviously shelter creatures created by pre-epoch civilizations to imitate real dragons in order to survive in extreme environments. But the strange thing is that any real dragon known so far has a different structure from the crystal dragon."

"Yeah. I guess this is because the crystal dragon should be imitating some kind of more ancient dragon, at least a second-generation true dragon, rather than the third-generation and subsequent true dragons that our Terran civilization is familiar with."

Ian nodded slightly, stared at the Steel Arm Ape, and said softly: "But not all Warcraft are tools... Some Warcraft are obviously born with some kind of intelligent structure, but they need a soul to function perfectly."

"Adlbert...I'm just saying a possibility."

"If we say that there is a planet or a continent, the richness of the source of spiritual matter on it can make all the creatures on it naturally have souls."

"So, can the intelligent creatures on this planet still have intelligence after being separated from such an environment?"

"The so-called 'intelligent creatures'..."

"Will it turn into a monster?"

Albert blinked, then horrified.

"Ian, you mean..." He swallowed and said in confusion: "You mean, there are many magical beasts on Terra, which are probably... the alien intelligence that came with the fire. life'?!"

"Just a guess."

Closing his eyes, Ian neither denied nor confirmed.

He just thought and speculated: "It is completely impossible to say that all the billions of monsters on the continent of Terra are derived from Terra."

"Some low-level monsters may have been born in Terra, and are also recorded in the documents of the pre-epoch civilization. However, some monsters are powerful and perfect, but there are no such ancient legends. They do not have some tool characteristics, and they are obviously not adopted by the pre-epoch civilization. manufacture."

"And it is extremely difficult for fire to catalyze the creation of such a creature that obviously has an ancient evolutionary history."

"After all, if it is not an important creature, why is it necessary to engrave it in the fire and design it to catalyze it first?"

In this case, there is only one answer.

Many intelligent monsters with powerful potential are probably aliens who have lost their souls and lost their wisdom, so they have fallen into beasts.

It was also the 'alien' that Ian had always wanted to find after learning the truth about fire and aliens.

Ian has always been curious. If there are really fires like the Flower of Karin that try to integrate into or even invade the world of Terra, then there must be more gentle fires that just want to reappear their own civilization on the alien planet.

In that case, given the tolerance of Terran civilization (mainly because it is too chaotic and the sublimates are too strong, no one can discriminate against others), how many alien tribes should exist?

Just like goblins and real dragons... Although goblins are real local life forms, their existence is very alien.

But the results of research over the years have pointed out an incredible possibility for Ian.

——Alien intelligent life, those aliens, have long been integrated with the Terra Ascendant system.

However, it is in the capacity of ‘material’.

Of course, from the perspective of genetic inheritance, the sublimated person who carries part of the genes of alien creatures may also be called half-alien in terms of blood... From this aspect, the blood of aliens, I think It is impossible to cut off.

But from a civilized perspective... it's really a great sadness.

"We can't let the monsters get artificial souls."

Ian said this in a calm tone: "There are enough intelligent races in this world, and there are also intelligent beings among Warcraft. For example, the White Governor of Icewind Valley, as the fifth energy level, he has his own His lair is still cultivating the intelligent species of 'Butterfly Man'... He must have noticed the source of the huge potential behind him."

"His existence itself is the last remnant of an alien world in another world."

"So, he very wisely chose to integrate into humans. After all, this is not their hometown, and they can never create a second hometown. This is the path that Terra's monsters should take, to integrate into humans, rather than to Create more independent factions."

Otherwise, the process of unifying Terra would be a lot more troublesome.

"Um."

Even Adlbert would not express any objection at this time. He would just stare at the intelligent steel-armed ape in front of him quietly, showing a complicated look in his eyes.

"If one day we have to flee and leave our homeland..."

He whispered to himself: "Then, will we on the alien planet also become such beasts?"

"do not think too much."

Ian shook his head and said: "It seems that there are no human-faced beasts on Terra now. Don't think too highly of intelligent life, and don't think too low of it. Some people have brains that are worse than beasts."

"Compared to this, who are the first batch of artificial souls for?"

This is indeed a problem.

Obviously, the sooner artificial souls are popularized, the better. If nothing else, even if the soul has a lifespan, it can at least allow the human soul to be stored in the core of the spiritual weapon for a longer period of time.

Before there were artificial souls, people were dead when they died. After there are artificial souls, there is still some chance after death.

What a pity it is that this technology obviously exists, but it dies before it becomes popular.

"Give it to the old man first?"

Adlbert also had the same idea, and Ian nodded: "Then give it to those who are old and about to die, and let them cultivate artificial souls before they die. In this case, we can also observe whether the new version of the artificial soul It has the stability of a Grand Duke’s version.”

"Moreover, in this way, there will be many cases that can be publicized within the Chongling Sect, which can greatly increase the cohesion of the sect."

"This has the best effect... It is up to you to decide on the specific candidates. After all, this is a research conducted by you, and I will not interfere."

Adlbert took a deep look at Ian.

The young man's tone at this time did not have the slightest awe of life and death, only the arrogance and overlooking of treating it as a tool for manipulation. The aging citizens were like experimental subjects in his mouth. He gave them hope after death, but In order to observe your own purposes and whether your tools are easy to use.

But Ian really brought hope. This is a fact that cannot be changed by any ‘attitude’.

The young lord's eyes flashed with an almost cold light, but deep in his eyes, there was a burning desire for the new future brought by artificial soul technology.

He had seen this kind of desire in Archduke Thorin before.

But Ian is different from Archduke Thorin.

"He always looks to the future, while the Archduke just wants to prove the past right."

After Ian left, he sat in front of the radish seedlings he had planted himself. The white-haired researcher of the dead king lay in front of the petri dish and stared at the green leaves in front of him.

Adebert murmured: "The Grand Duke just wanted to prove that his teacher, Inaga II's research direction was correct - they once had the hope of changing the entire Terran civilization, but it was the Empire themselves who gave up on this gift. The savior. He is not trying to make people live a better life, he just wants to make the people of the empire regret, the emperor regret, and everyone regret like him for the rest of their lives."

"And Ian, although he is the successor of the First Knight, he doesn't care about this at all. He has his own goal, although it is incomprehensible to me, to go to the sky and break the Star Prison, but for this goal, He can do anything and take advantage of anything.”

【Souls...】

The Dead Lord asked softly about the soul in his body: [Do you think it is good for me to help Ian, recreate the artificial soul, and create a different Hades from the Grand Duke... Is this really good? 】

The souls didn't answer. The souls couldn't understand Ian either.

They just believed in Adlbert. If Albert believed it, they believed it too.

"Forget it." Adlbert sighed and stood up: "Just looking at the petri dish and the agricultural building... I believe in Ian too."

"Although he is a bit bad, in the world of Terra..."

"A little bit bad, but he is already a relatively good person."

…

During the recent period, Roland, who had been exploring at the mouth of the gorge, finally ended his work. He even led a group of dwarf brothers to build a prototype park in the mouth of the gorge. With the help of Xio , a lot of foundations inside the park have been laid.

He returned to Xiahui Territory and received another award from Ian - not only because he completed the task, but also because Roland connected Ian with the dwarves of Fallen Star Hills.

This was the true meaning of Ian's assessment for him: if he really wanted to find a technician, there were still many substitutes. If Roland couldn't even use his own connections, it proved that as a researcher, he was destined to be at the bottom.

What is a researcher like this going to do if he has no ability to organize his own team, no personal connections, and even a lack of senior brothers?

He only eats the funds!

Now, Roland has successfully proved his ability and wisdom.

He was preparing to go home to show off to his father Moda and prove his ability.

But just after he returned home, he learned a piece of news that frightened him beyond measure.

——His father fell into critical illness just a few days ago. Now he is unconscious and is receiving urgent treatment in the ward.