Chapter 641: Thoughts on Mimetic Soul and Soul Drawing
However, ordinary clone spells can’t meet my needs.
Naturally, I possess classic spellbooks such as the clone spell.
After usage, it creates a duplicate that looks exactly like me; it is similar to many summoning spells, except that the clone spell “summons” myself.
Another difference between clone spells and summoning spells is that clone spells can share visual and body control with the main body. The pain of the clone can be shared or blocked, but the summoned entities from summoning spells cannot do this.
However, using some sensory sharing and visual synchronization spellbooks can achieve similar results.
The existence of a clone is a form of spell effect, and the physical effect is also a manifestation of spell effects. Once the magic power is exhausted, it will dissipate.
Furthermore, it cannot be too far from me; otherwise, the clone will lose control and, along with it, lose perception, and the connection to maintain magic power will be severed, ultimately leading to its dissipation.
This is far from what I expected; it cannot help me share worries or efficiently acquire knowledge.
In fact, my other idea for using clones is to have them plant trees throughout the Expanding Realm.
It would be even better if they could guide the rebuilding of civilization in the city as well.
However, the casting range and multi-threading limit the distance and flexibility of the clones.
But!
Since I am prepared to do something, I naturally have some foundational ideas for doing it.
Say and do!
The main reason for this idea is related to the spell “Reincarnation Rebirth.”
This spell is no longer just a simple Resurrection Spell.
Because it can also resurrect beings that are not alive, the most straightforward example being Fool Dreams.
Then there is the technique of Mimetic Soul derived from the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell, which can endow meaningless Dream Creatures with real concepts, consuming only Soul Material.
But Soul Material is not life; if a piece of Soul Material became conscious, would that be considered life?
Or if Soul Material is used for mechanical drive, coupled with intelligence, is that life?
These are definitely not, which oddly reminds me of what the Academy Head explained about Life Interpretation.
My Mimetic Soul is merely a technique or a semi-finished product.
So… I am wondering, since I am recognized as a soul life, when I use Mimetic Soul on myself, am I still considered life at that time?
According to the essence of life as interpreted in Life Interpretation, I seem not to be, existing independently between Soul Material and Soul Life… I must be missing something…
Missing Mimetic Soul Material… but the raw material for my Mimetic Soul is Soul Material! Using Soul Material to mimic Soul Material?
No, no, no… it’s a promotion issue!
It’s akin to the Soul Great Topic, where Soul Material promotes to Soul; thus, organisms advance to true life, surely there is a certain process.
What promotes to Soul Material?
So, does this mean that Soul Material is actually a renewable resource?
Or is the transformation into life for organisms essentially a gradual acceptance of Soul Material?
I find that the more I think, the more questions arise, and these questions are unsolvable without anyone providing me with answers.
But this does not hinder my experimentation and attempts.
Because reality will give me answers.
“Knowledge Shadow, do you think using Mimetic Soul on you will be successful?” I summoned Knowledge Shadow and asked.
“Why not just try and see?” Knowledge Shadow shrugged and said.
“That’s true.”
Then I immediately used the Mimetic Soul technique on Knowledge Shadow, and then… I found that I succeeded.
“As expected, if Dream Creatures can do it, why can’t I? But you must understand, I am still not life, nor am I a mimetic life. I am merely your subconscious.” Knowledge Shadow moved slightly, feeling quite novel, and then spoke to me.
“So it’s quite miraculous… But facts will provide answers. So I am wondering… is the definition between life and individual too rigid? I think it’s unnecessary to distinguish what is life and what is not.”
“There is a necessity, but you can’t articulate it. Perhaps anyone who can recognize themselves as life could be defined as life?” Knowledge Shadow smiled and said, “It’s akin to whether an entity simulated with emotions or hypno-trained to believe they are intelligent life that can run programs is truly life?”
“It’s intelligence… no, it’s that life! You nearly got me tangled up!”
“Your brain is working quite well, so why?”
“Fundamentals. Life has its fundamentals; the fundamentals are the most important. Life does not become non-life due to individual will, unless they choose d*ath.”
“What if a person crosses over and possesses human consciousness in a machine? Does that machine count as life?”
“That should… wait! No, it doesn’t! Are you trying to stump me? This is just a hypothetical! But the fact is that machinery cannot bear consciousness; it’s merely scaring itself. Even if it did happen, the one carrying the consciousness would be that person’s soul; the machine bears the soul. Your question is akin to asking whether a hunk of meat is life.”
“…” After answering my subconscious’s two questions, I fell silent, as if I thought of something…
“Life has foundations; with a foundation, consciousness can be born. With cognitive awareness, one can recognize themselves as life!”
I looked at Knowledge Shadow and said.
“Right, I am part of your consciousness, or your subconscious. Your actions are merely piling up Soul Material on your own consciousness, and the role of this Soul Material is to adapt to a physical body, so I can never become life!”
“Are you dispelling my fear of creating another me?”
“I am helping you dispel illusions! You fool! Saying I am part of you, yet secretly fearing and fantasizing about what happens if something goes wrong. Isn’t that the same as someone with low cognition thinking WIFI causes cancer?”
“Ugh… I admit I was wrong…” After hearing this, I indeed felt a bit wronged; the only one who could make me feel like crying in this world was probably myself.
Even Sister Bai probably didn’t have that ability…
However, after pausing for a while, I reorganized my thoughts from earlier.
If Mimetic Soul really only builds upon existing consciousness with Soul Material, then this indicates one thing: Mimetic Soul is utterly meaningless!
“You really are an idiot! How could the Mimetic Soul technique possibly be meaningless? What about your upcoming Soul Drawing concept! If there’s a problem, it just indicates a way to solve it!”
“But… the Soul Drawing ultimately allows Mimetic Souls to become true life, and it is the consciousness born from those Mimetic Souls that replaces the original consciousness. How is that different from the Ship of Theseus?”
“So you are still thinking within the realm of Mimetic Soul; this development has always been about perfecting the Mimetic Soul technique. Mimetic Soul gives rise to consciousness, so what about Soul Drawing? Isn’t that what it’s for at this time? Isn’t it simply the technique of depicting the soul?”
“Then what should be done…”
“Let the unknown being with a void consciousness be depicted as a soul, meaning make that consciousness accept the fact that it has become a soul—get on the ship and then buy the ticket! That is Soul Drawing!”
“Weren’t you just thinking about it? Organisms becoming life is a gradual process of accepting Soul Material; this is an inadvertent revelation. You don’t realize what a brilliant insight you had earlier!”
“Consciousness cannot be born directly, much like Dream Creatures—their consciousness was birthed by the coincidence of the dream itself. Your current idea is to build a ship to invite it to be the master of that ship, but it already has a ship; it’s just not the ship in your understanding. The Mimetic Soul is you forcibly giving it a ship; they can still use it, but that ship does not belong to them.”
“So I need to help them transform their original ship into a ship that I recognize. This is Soul Drawing…”
“And one prerequisite is that they need to have the awareness to want to become that ship. The name Ship of Theseus represents a life consciousness; the constantly changing materials are its original dream essence, while the brand-new ship will be the soul you mold for it. It’s that simple.”
“So… Soul Drawing and Mimetic Soul are two entirely different techniques!” I finally seemed to grasp something.
“No, it’s a technique of the same origin in your consciousness; it’s simply the outcome that leads to different results. Mimetic Soul is a technique that can never break through to become life, so it is an absolutely safe choice for creating clones. Soul Drawing is a seedling for creating life, which has infinite potential to become life!”
“Both are a kind of technique that utilizes Soul Material.”
Seeing me attain this understanding, Knowledge Shadow showed a look of satisfaction.
And I felt as if I were transparent all over… I figured it out! I finally figured it out!
Endless joy and a sense of achievement surged in my heart, making me immensely excited!
Is this “thinking”?
This feeling is simply wonderful…
And now… I just lack the “doing”.
But can I do it now?
At this moment, I calmed down, still lingering with some residual emotions.
After calm contemplation, I found that Mimetic Soul could work, but Soul Drawing could not, because Soul Drawing only has guiding ideas, but lacks a hard requirement that I do not satisfy, which is how to promote Soul Material to soul!
As long as I can achieve the promotion of Soul Material to soul, which is the foundational project of the Soul Great Topic, then my Soul Drawing technique would be complete.
Now, all I can do is Mimetic Soul, which truly is an excellent ability to shape clones!
And I seem to have that foundation as well—Knowledge Shadow! My subconscious does not require me to control it or engage in multi-threading; it will only do what I “truly” need to do.
The subconscious is so easy to control, yet also very difficult, because it only aligns with my subjective consciousness when I truly want to do something.
For example, if someone annoys me, both my subconscious and subjective consciousness will step forward to beat the other person up.
“If it were only that, it still seems insufficient; don’t forget that I am merely your subconscious. If you try to control the clone using me as subjective consciousness… that would be self-destructive, after all, the subconscious needs to discard many things—emotions, public recognition, and all external attachments. It is the most essential self. Such a self is difficult to distinguish between good and evil, and one cannot measure actions with moral standards.”
“But isn’t that very…”
“That is because I am conversing with your subjective consciousness, engaging in consciousness exchange, and making subjective expressions. Therefore, you have assigned emotions, recognition, and corrections of right and wrong in a way you can understand. I remember I explained this to you, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did explain it once.”
“You idiot… then why are you asking?”
“So… what should I do?”
“Are you not asking yourself by asking me?”
“You should have some ideas, right? Don’t hide them now! I’m too lazy to think…”
“Blank consciousness! And the Great Knowledge Seed! The rest is for you to think… no slacking!”
“Ugh!” I wanted to continue asking, but Knowledge Shadow had already disappeared.
Leaving only the Mimetic Soul I created for her using Soul Material.
Looking at the Soul Material that had changed back, waiting to enter the Earth Vein cycle, I instinctively felt a twinge of regret.
Then I suddenly thought of a spark of inspiration—Soul Crystal… seems to be a type of crystal too?
I used crystallization on this Soul Material, but soon found… it didn’t work.
After all, crystallization is just a spell, not a conceptual deity.
But I still felt somewhat unwilling, thinking of the concept of “Crystal Nucleus.”
The concept of Crystal Nucleus is like this: take water as an example. When water reaches the freezing conditions, it still hasn’t frozen, but at this time, if you throw in a piece of ice as a “crystal nucleus,” the crystallization reaction can proceed rapidly.
So I took out a Soul Crystal again and cast crystallization on it… then the Soul Crystal actually began to “absorb” the Soul Material and slowly grew larger!
“Tsk… Amazing.”
At that moment, I suddenly realized that I might have underestimated this spell called crystallization; Soul Material can be used, and currently known material crystals I have tried can work, then… can energy crystals work?
Even… spatial crystals?
After fully recovering this Soul Material, the Soul Crystal in my hand had suddenly grown larger.
However, this is not the time to think about crystallization, but rather the hints left for me by Knowledge Shadow.
Blank consciousness.
And the Great Knowledge Seed?
Thinking of this, I seemed to understand something, but there was still a final layer of glass paper I couldn’t tear through.
But that’s okay; as long as I think, if I can’t think of it, then I’ll make it myself!
Isn’t it just the Great Knowledge Seed?
Although I used up the materials during the knowledge seed mass production plan, now, with my improvements on the Great Knowledge Seed, the condensation efficiency has significantly increased.
After condensing one seed, I found myself in a dilemma; what is the blank consciousness?
Is it the Great Knowledge Seed and that crystal consciousness simulating the Sea of Consciousness, using this whole as the consciousness to perform Mimetic Soul?
I extended my hand, using crystallization to condense a piece of consciousness crystal that can carry the Great Knowledge Seed. No matter what, let’s try and see.
After all, I am also very curious about what it would be like to have a creation without consciousness but sharing all my knowledge, using Mimetic Soul…
