Chapter 641: Thoughts on Soul Mimicry and Soul Depiction

However, a general Clone Spell wouldn't meet my requirements.

And I naturally possessed the Spellbook for the classic Clone Spell.

After using it, it created a Spell-created duplicate that looked exactly like me, similar to many summoning Spells, only the Clone Spell "summoned" a copy of myself.

Another difference between a Clone Spell and a Summoning Spell was that the Clone Spell could share vision and body control with the main body.

The Clone's pain could be shared or blocked, but a summoned creature could not do that.

However, using Spells like sensory sharing and visual synchronization could achieve the same thing.

A clone's existence was a Spell effect, and the physical effect was also a manifestation of the Spell effect.

Once the Magic Power was exhausted, it would dissipate.

Furthermore, it could not be too far from me; otherwise, the clone would lose control, and the connection for maintaining Magic Power would also be severed, eventually just dissipating.

This was too far from my expectation.

It couldn't help me share the burden, nor could it efficiently acquire knowledge for me.

Actually, one of the main reasons I wanted to use a clone was to have it plant trees throughout the Expansion Realm for me.

If it could also guide them in rebuilding a civilized city, that would be even better.

But the casting distance and the limitation of multi-threading operations restricted the clone's distance and flexibility.

However!

Since I was preparing to do something, I naturally had some foundational ideas for doing it.

Act on the idea immediately!

The main reason I had this idea was actually related to the "Reincarnation" Spell.

This Spell was no longer just a simple Resurrection Spell.

Because it could also resurrect things that were not life forms, the most straightforward example being Fool's Dream.

Then there was the Soul Mimicry technique derived from the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Spell, which could grant the meaningless Dream State creature a concept of reality, and the only cost was Soul-substance.

But Soul-substance was not life.

If a handful of Soul-substance were to suddenly gain consciousness, would that be considered life?

Or, if Soul-substance were used to drive a machine and installed with artificial intelligence, would that be life?

These were certainly not.

This strangely reminded me of the life interpretations that the Academy Head had explained to me before.

My Soul Mimicry was also merely a technique, or a semi-finished technique.

So... I was thinking, since I am an acknowledged soul life form, if I use Soul Mimicry on myself, then would I still be considered a life form?

According to the life essence explanation of life, I seemed not to be.

I would be an existence independent of Soul-substance life and soul life... I must be missing something...

Missing a mimicked Soul-substance... but the raw material for my Soul Mimicry was Soul-substance.

Mimicking Soul-substance with Soul-substance?

No, no, no... it was a problem of advancement!

This was similar to the Great Project of the Soul, where Soul-substance advances to a soul.

Similarly, for a creature to advance to a true life form, there must be a process.

Advancing from what to Soul-substance!

So, did this mean that Soul-substance was a renewable resource?

Or was the creature's metamorphosis into life actually a process of the creature gradually accepting Soul-substance?

I found that the more I thought, the more problems arose, and these were all unsolvable problems that no one could give me answers to.

But this did not hinder me from experimenting and attempting.

Because reality would give me the answer.

“Shadow of Knowledge, do you think I would succeed if I used Soul Mimicry on you?”

I summoned the Shadow of Knowledge and asked.

“Why don't you try and find out?”

The Shadow of Knowledge shrugged and said.

“Fair enough.”

I immediately used the Soul Mimicry technique on the Shadow of Knowledge, and then... I found that I succeeded.

“Expected. If a Dream State creature can do it, why couldn't I? But you must understand that I am still not a life form, nor am I a mimicked life form. I am merely your subconsciousness.”

The Shadow of Knowledge moved around, feeling novel, then spoke to me.

“So it's still very magical... But the facts will provide the answer, so I'm wondering... is the definition between life and the individual too rigid? I actually think there's no need to differentiate between what is life and what is not.”

“There actually is a need. You just can't articulate it. Perhaps anything that can realize it is life can be defined as life?”

The Shadow of Knowledge said with a smile.

“This is like: which one is the true life form, the AI that is completely endowed with simulated emotions, or the life form that is hypnotically conditioned and believes itself to be an AI that can run programs?”

“It's the AI... no! It's the life form. I almost got tricked by you!”

“Your brain is working quite well! So why is that?”

“Foundation. Life has a foundation for life. The foundation is the most important. Life does not become non-life because of personal will, unless it chooses death.”

“Then if a person transmigrates, and their human consciousness possesses a machine, is that machine considered life?”

“This should... Wait! No! Are you giving me a brain teaser? This is just a hypothetical 'if'! But the fact is that a machine cannot hold consciousness. It's just a self-scaring notion. Even if it truly happened, the thing holding the consciousness is that person's soul, and the machine is just the carrier of the soul. Your question is like asking if a lump of meat is a life form.”

“...”

After answering the two questions from my subconsciousness, I fell silent.

I seemed to have realized something...

“Life has a foundation. Only with a foundation is it possible for consciousness to be born. Only with cognitive consciousness can it realize that it is life!”

I said, looking at the Shadow of Knowledge.

“Yes. I am a part of your consciousness, or rather, your subconsciousness. Your action was just piling up some Soul-substance on your own consciousness, and the purpose of this Soul-substance is to be compatible with a material body. Therefore, I can never become a life form!”

“Are you trying to eliminate my fear of accidentally creating another me?”

“I am helping you demystify the process! You idiot! You say I'm part of you, but deep down, you're thinking and fearing that if you really mess up and create a problem, how is that any different from a person with low cognition thinking that WiFi causes cancer!”

“Ugh... I was wrong...”

Being told that, I did feel a bit wronged.

I was probably the only person in this world who could make myself feel like crying, right?

Even Big Sis Bai probably didn't have that ability...

But after recovering for a while, I reorganized my thoughts from before.

If Soul Mimicry was truly just piling up Soul-substance on an existing consciousness, then that meant one thing: Soul Mimicry was meaningless!

“You really are an idiot! How can the Soul Mimicry technique be meaningless! What about your later concept of Soul Depiction! The appearance of a problem is just a different way of saying it can be solved, isn't it!”

“But... even if Soul Depiction ultimately makes the mimicked soul a true life form, it would be the consciousness born in those mimicked souls replacing the original consciousness. How is this different from the Ship of Theseus?”

“So you are still stuck in the Soul Mimicry mindset! This development, from beginning to end, is the perfection of the Soul Mimicry technique. Soul Mimicry, making it give birth to consciousness—all of it is like this. So what about Soul Depiction? Isn't that what it's for! Isn't it the technique of depicting the soul!”

“Then how do I do that...”

“Depicting the unknown construct that gives birth to that void consciousness into a soul! That is, making that consciousness accept the fact that it has become a soul. Get on the boat first, then pay for the ticket! This is Soul Depiction!”

“Didn't you think of it earlier? A creature becoming life is the process of the creature gradually accepting Soul-substance. This is an unintentional revelation. You don't understand how profound a revelation you had just now!”

“Consciousness cannot be born directly, just like Dream State creatures. The birth of their consciousness was a random chance event of the Dream State itself. Your current idea is to build a boat and invite it to become the owner of the boat, but it already has a boat, it's just not the boat you recognize. Soul Mimicry is you forcefully giving them a boat. They can still use it, but the boat doesn't belong to them.”

“So I need to help them transform their original boat into the boat I recognize. This is Soul Depiction...”

“And there is another prerequisite: they need to have the consciousness to want to become the owner of that boat. The name Ship of Theseus represents the consciousness of a life form. The constantly replaced material is its original Dream State essence, and the brand new boat will be the soul you shape for it. It's that simple.”

“So... Soul Depiction and Soul Mimicry are two entirely different techniques!”

I finally seemed to understand something.

“No, they are techniques of the same origin in your consciousness; it's just that the guided results are different. Soul Mimicry is a technique that is absolutely incapable of breaking through to become a life form, so it is the absolutely safe choice for creating a clone. Soul Depiction is a seedling for creating life. It has the infinite potential to become life!”

“Both are techniques that utilize Soul-substance.”

Seeing me achieve this breakthrough, the Shadow of Knowledge showed a relieved smile.

And I felt completely enlightened... I understood! 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

I finally understood!

An endless joy and sense of accomplishment surged into my heart, making me incredibly excited!

Was this "realizing"?

This feeling was simply amazing...

And now... I only lacked the "doing."

But could I do it now?

At this moment, I calmed down, though the afterglow of emotion still lingered.

After calmly thinking, I found that Soul Mimicry was possible, but Soul Depiction was not, because Soul Depiction only had a guiding idea, but there was one rigid condition I did not meet: how to make Soul-substance advance to a soul!

As long as I could achieve the advancement of Soul-substance to a soul, which was the foundational project of the Great Project of the Soul, then my Soul Depiction technique would be perfected.

And for now, all I could do was Soul Mimicry, which was a very excellent ability to shape a clone!

And I seemed to have the foundation for it: the Shadow of Knowledge!

My subconsciousness wouldn't need me to control it, nor would it require multi-threading operations.

It would only do what I truly needed to do.

The subconsciousness was so easy to control, but also very hard to control, because only when I genuinely wanted to do something did my subconsciousness and subjective consciousness align.

For example, if someone made me angry, both my subconsciousness and subjective consciousness would move forward to beat them up.

“If it's just like this, it still doesn't seem quite enough. Don't forget, I'm just your subconsciousness. If you try to control a clone by treating me as the subjective consciousness... you are truly courting death. After all, the subconsciousness needs to discard many things—emotions, public cognition, everything external—it is the most essential self. Such a self is difficult to distinguish between good and evil and cannot even be measured by moral standards.”

“But you are already very...”

“That's because I'm talking to you, the subjective consciousness. We are exchanging consciousness, and I am expressing myself subjectively. So you endowed me with emotions, cognition, and correction of right and wrong in a way you can understand. I remember I explained this to you, didn't I?”

“Mhm, you did explain it once.”

“Idiot... then why are you still asking?”

“So... what should I do?”

“Asking me isn't asking yourself!”

“You must have a plan, right? Don't hide it now! I'm too lazy to think...”

“Blank Consciousness! And the Seed of Great Knowledge! Figure out the rest yourself... No slacking!”

“Aiya!”

I wanted to ask more, but the Shadow of Knowledge had already vanished.

It only left behind the mimicked soul I had created for her using Soul-substance.

Looking at the Soul-substance, which couldn't transform back and was waiting to enter the Earth Vein cycle, I subconsciously felt a pang of pity.

Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration struck me.

A Soul Crystal... wasn't it also a crystal?

I used the Crystallization Spell on this Soul-substance, but I quickly discovered... it didn't work.

After all, the Crystallization Spell was just a Spell, not a conceptual god.

But I was still unwilling to give up and thought of the concept of a "crystal core."

The concept of a crystal core is, taking water as an example: the water reaches the freezing point but hasn't frozen yet, but if a piece of ice is thrown in as a "crystal core," the crystallization reaction can proceed quickly.

So I took out another Soul Crystal and used the Crystallization Spell on it... and this Soul Crystal actually started to slowly grow larger by "absorbing" the Soul-substance!

“Tsk... amazing.”

At this moment, I suddenly realized that I might have underestimated the Spell called the Crystallization Spell.

Soul-substance worked, and the currently known material crystals I had tried all worked, so... what about energy crystals?

And even... spatial crystals?

After completely recovering this bit of Soul-substance, the Soul Crystal in my hand became noticeably larger.

But this was not the time to think about the Crystallization Spell, but the hint left by the disappearing Shadow of Knowledge.

Blank Consciousness.

And the Seed of Great Knowledge?

Thinking this, I seemed to have figured out some things, but there was still a final layer of window paper that I couldn't poke through.

But it didn't matter.

If I couldn't figure it out by just thinking, then I would create it myself!

Wasn't it just the Seed of Great Knowledge?

Although they were used up during the mass production plan for the Seed of Knowledge, now, with my improvements to the Seed of Great Knowledge, the current condensation efficiency had greatly increased.

After condensing a seed, I was stumped again.

What was Blank Consciousness?

Was it the Soul Mimicry of the overall entity formed by the Seed of Great Knowledge and the Memory Crystal simulating the Sea of Consciousness...

I reached out and condensed a Memory Crystal with the Crystallization Spell that could carry the Seed of Great Knowledge.

No matter what, trying it out would give me the answer.

After all, I was very curious about what it would be like to use Soul Mimicry on an unconscious construct that still shared all my knowledge...