High Above

"go to sleep."

Stepping forward and patting the little girl's soul on the head, Ian whispered: "Have a good rest... If you don't want to wake up, just sleep in this virtual Hades."

"This is one of the few things I can do for you."

【It is...our dead king】

The shadowy white souls surrounding Ian bowed to Ian: [Thank you for finding us a brand new home]

Then, under the guidance of the two leading souls, they submerged into the source material computing chip.

The long-lost ‘rest’ begins.

"This is the idea of ​​Feiyan Land's Constructing Knights. They use man-made artifacts to store human souls instead of the physical body."

Ian watched as the souls that made up the Mark of the Dead Lord disappeared into the computing center, with a faint smile on his face: "What we talked about before, the artificial Hades. The shelter facilities for residents matching the artificial souls."

"At that time, we also said that we would build huge man-made Hades around the energy furnace to ensure the safety of the Hades... But that was only a temporary shelter. The artificial Hades there were not comprehensive, and the calculation center in my hand was the theory The most complete one.”

"Adlbert, this is where the soul can rest."

With his back facing the red center of Hades, Ian spread his arms to the white-haired dead king and said calmly: "What do you want to do?"

"finally……"

Facing Ian's explanation, apart from the initial shock, the expression on Adlbert's face was full of relief: "I can finally let go..."

"It's not that I don't want to bear the burden, I just know that this is not the ending they should have."

Slowly walking forward, the young researcher unknowingly had tears in his eyes: "Finally, I can let them rest in peace..."

Without any hesitation, Adlbert reached out his hand and peeled off the Mark of the Dead King on his forehead!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It was as if the roots of the tree had been torn off, as if the vines had been picked off, and the chains entangled in the dead king and the souls were torn apart in an extremely violent pain that could be described as life worse than death.

But the thin researcher was not slow at all. He gritted his teeth and used his best strength to remove the mark that gave him divine power and allowed him to ascend to the third level in one step.

Click.

He succeeded.

The dead king, who was half-kneeling on the ground and trembling all over, suddenly paused and then slowly lowered his hand.

The mark of the dead king, which exuded pale light, was peeled off and placed in the palm of his hand.

The dead souls bound within began to spread and turned into many white souls surrounding Adelbert.

【Dead Lord...】

【Why release us...】

【Is there another battle? We will act for your will...]

The dead souls surrounded the weak young man, and the young man stood up unsteadily. He smiled and explained the current situation to the dead souls.

【but】

Hearing that Adalbert wanted to set them free, the dead souls were not only happy but also worried: [Without our help, king, wouldn't you be in danger? 】

[There are too many horrors in this world, can you handle it alone? 】

Unlike Ian, after detaching the Dead King, Adbot's combat effectiveness in a short period of time may not be as good as ordinary people.

His soul was too deeply entangled with the Mark of the Dead King, and even his spirit was a little unstable after breaking away.

The dead souls under Ian's command don't mind leaving Ian, because they know that they may be a burden to Ian.

Adlbert, on the other hand, was concerned about the dead souls under his command.

The contrast is strong.

"Don't worry."

But Adalbert just shook his head gently, and he said softly to the dead souls who cared about him: "As long as my mind is still there, I will eventually get the power I deserve, and it will not be based on your pain and suffering. Power over oppression.”

"The Dead Lord is a despicable source of power. Holding it will make me restless."

[If this is your wish, my king...]

【Then we will comply】

After hearing what Adalbert said, his people also went to the source material computing chip with doubts.

Ian watched the scene.

After all the souls in Adlbert's Mark of the Dead Lord entered the red computing center, Ian slowly said: "You are more decisive than I thought."

"Of course." Adalbert smiled and looked at Ian: "I also learned a lot from you... I will not hesitate for this temporary power, even if the price is to return to this weak mortal body."

"Really?"

But Ian raised his brows and raised the corners of his mouth: "Are you really weak? Adlbert?"

"If you are really so weak that you are not as good as a first-level ascendant after leaving the Dead King...then why are you still standing here instead of being expelled from your own virtual realm?"

The young researcher was slightly stunned, and Ian continued: "Actually, Adlbert, you are a real genius in meditation. Your soul is actually very powerful..."

"It's just because the power of the dead king covered up your own power, that's why you didn't notice it."

"Exactly, now, it's up to me to lead you into the true 'arcane path'."

After speaking, Ian opened his hands.

Then, darkness began to spread in the virtual realm, engulfing his body.

dark. Pure darkness.

The darkness like an abyss takes away the light of the virtual realm. This is a strange phenomenon caused by the powerful soul beginning to absorb the surrounding spiritual essence and manifesting it, just like the powerful machine god of the virtual realm always 'opens a dark crack' to appear. , that dark crack is the abyss of the virtual realm, and the majestic natural spiritual energy rushes towards them, eventually forming their bodies.

And now, it's the same.

In the darkness, a silver-blue star suddenly lit up, a geometric body made entirely of light, crystal and silver metal. They intertwined and spiraled to form a huge Metatron Cube.

A stream of silver-blue radiation radiated outward from the bulges of the geometric body, making it look as bright as a star, completely penetrating the dark abyss.

This……

It's Ian's soul.

A nearly physical soul shaped by the 'meditation method'!

Use your own will to polish your soul bit by bit and change its structure.

The original ball of light was carved into edges and corners, and countless calculation units for calculations were built inside it.

The difficulty of this is no less than carving an entire chip integrated circuit on a piece of stone.

Ian succeeded - and so he gained power over everyone else.

Around the stars' souls, the cyan light seems to penetrate time and cause and effect, penetrate deeply into the entire virtual realm, and even penetrate into more distant things. This is the power of 'precognitive vision'.

And in the center of the Metatron Cube, a little Ian in the form of a fairy seems to be sleeping...

"You are not weak."

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Albert.

Under the gaze of this gaze, the white-haired and red-eyed researcher disappeared where Adebert was, and what appeared was a pure white octahedron with a scarlet core.

Blood and fire burn in the pure white soul, releasing a faint brilliance.

This is the ‘true appearance’ of Ian’s soul and Adelbert’s soul in the virtual realm.

"look."

Ian's voice became ethereal and vibrating: "You thought you had lost all your power, but you didn't know that the Lord of Death's subtle transformation of you, as well as the meditation method you have practiced recently, have raised your soul to almost The third level of energy.”

"Compared to mine, your soul just lacks the tempering of time. In a year or two, Adlbert, with your foundation and talent, you will be able to regenerate your soul without any 'magic potion'." Practice and regain power comparable to the 'Dead King'."

"And then, your power will no longer be a gathering of dead souls, but will be forged by your own soul!"

"this……"

And Adalbert spun his soul body and watched in amazement.

He also didn't expect that his soul was already so powerful.

But he keenly discovered a very important point: "Isn't our current appearance the machine god of the virtual realm?"

After noticing the goblin body at the core of Ian's soul, he couldn't help but muttered: "Oh, you still have goblins..."

"Yes."

Ian smiled and said: "You also know that the system of the civilization of the previous era is biased toward spiritual cultivation. Their highest point is the third-level mental light body - but they have created a large number of fourth-level virtual realms. Mecha', it's obviously not just about creating tools."

"I think the virtual realm machine god is the ladder of advancement created by them using technological means. If my guess is correct, the next step should be the third level of spiritual practice, combining one's own mind light body with specialized Create and merge with the virtual realm machine god that is completely compatible with your own soul, and use technological means to upgrade yourself to the 'fourth energy level'."

"This should be the 'spiritual path' they wanted to take but have not completed... It is precisely because this orthodox spiritual path disappeared due to the collapse of Terran civilization that Terran people will embark on the current path. The way to sublime the magic potion.”

"In contrast, on the path of magic medicine, the highest level of spiritual cultivation is the heart-light body. After the heart-light body, life spiritual energy is mixed with source matter to create the etheric true body. The heart-light body is what controls the etheric true body. The core - it has indeed become stronger, but there has been no fundamental transformation."

"Ether is a power that far exceeds spiritual energy and source matter. If it is controlled by the mind-light body, it will naturally suffer losses. This is one of the reasons why life is shortened in battle."

"But my arcane path has made up for this missing link - the soul must learn the virtual realm machine god, use meditation to strengthen the heart, and finally transform into something like a 'goblin' and a 'virtual realm machine god' Such a Nascent Soul...spiritual god."

"The body must learn from the major sublimated monsters, reshape it with the help of spiritual gods, completely reborn, and shape its true body."

"As the myth of the Heavenly Father's ladder to heaven says, the soul and body are one, and the 'fruit of wisdom' and the 'fruit of life' are one."

"When the spirit god and the true body are united, the power of 'near god' can truly be exerted."

"By completely improving your life essence from the inside out, you can become a truly complete 'fourth level', instead of the current 'fourth level' where you will lose your lifespan as long as you fight with all your strength!"

This is the path Ian is taking now - his soul has turned into a goblin, and his body will also find its way to the future on Dragon Island.

When one day, both of his bodies break through their current limits, and then merge into one body, returning to completeness, that will be the time when he truly breaks through to the fourth level of arcana!

"Wait!" Although Adalbert was shocked by Ian's ambition and future path, he keenly discovered the problem of the arcane path.

He said solemnly: "Although it is a good idea, the meditation method requires a long time and countless repetitions of work. The arcane path has too high requirements for talent and personal qualities, and is far less popular than the potion system - This is also the reason why the orthodox spiritual practice of the civilization of the previous era was lost!"

"On the path of potions, as long as you have enough potions and good talent, you may be able to reach the peak of the fourth level or even the fifth level in your thirties or forties."

"But on the arcane path, even if you have superior talent, but if you can't calm down and insist on meditating, it's normal for you to still be at level one or two after practicing for twenty or thirty years!"

"You said it only takes me a year or two to return to the third level? That's impossible. According to my estimate, it will take at least five or six years for me to return to the third level!"

"So, we need assistance." Ian said calmly.

His soul pulled Adelbert's soul towards the source of matter computing chip: "Because of this, I want to create an extremely powerful AI - not only to assist in the management of the territory, but also to assist everyone. Practice!”

"And now, I'm going to start laying the foundation for this AI."

"Create the 'Heart of Terra'!"

"Heart of Terra?"

As Ian entered the source material computing chip together, Adlbert couldn't help asking: "What is that?"

Ian replied calmly: "The name of the 'artificial intelligence' I am going to create."

"It is also the real 'core' and 'heart' of Terran society in my vision of the future."