Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 748 - 690 NPC Reinforcements
The withered "Fruit" fell from the bud, and Lyle swept them aside, finally quelling the malevolence in his heart. It seemed that even the souls of Liches had their limits; after absorbing a deluge of memories, they too would succumb to a mental stupor. The focus was no longer on them now, as Lyle looked up at the wilting creation; the Dream-making Flower had gathered enough information and was entering the next phase as programmed, it was in "the result."
Raymond’s pedestal would become the fruit of the fusion of soul memories. The mental impulses collected from all members of the literature club would materialize as the material for Raymond’s virtual replica, a mental clone that perfectly displayed a thousand killing methods of the Angel of Light. Lyle was still pondering if it was a waste to let such precious data become an NPC in the dream game.
A databody born from the combined fears of the literature club members, advocating for the justice of holy light, gave Lyle a lingering premonition that something might go wrong. Regrets were futile now, and besides, the dream experimentation had gone flawlessly, even the extreme experiments fell within his planned scope, leaving him a bit smug.
Ha, I had planned everything perfectly; there will be no disaster of the Liches.
Andrey had a complete set of solutions for soul correction, adept at resolving various mental symptoms of Liches. The Executive Committee held the knowledge of tormenting souls for punishment, and they also cooperated with the Tower of Souls.
According to Andrey’s code of law, when the same soul exhibited severe mental abnormalities, legally it must be considered as two separate conscious entities from its predecessor, and a series of debts and crimes would not be inherited. This regulation was initially added as a protective measure after some repentant Liches, but some heartless Undead cunningly exploited it. They tore their souls apart or incited various forms of mental madness to escape punishment and debts, leaving law enforcers utterly speechless.
Fortunately, Andrey boasted a leading group of specialists in Spirit Summoning Studies who were experts at resolving mental disorders. Moreover, the Tower of Souls held a repository of the mental states of habitual offenders. Whenever these offenders attempted to evade responsibility through soul anomalies, the Tower of Souls would step in, reset their mental states to the normal preserved status, ensuring they were absolutely capable of bearing legal responsibilities. The only cost was the loss of some recent memories and material possessions.
Lyle had already confirmed with Troy that all members of the literature club had their normal mental states backed up in the Tower of Souls. So, even if he drove them mad, Andrey had ways to restore them completely, making them pay for their misconduct. As per the custom of the literature club, their madness wouldn’t last long.
And now, it was merely the most extreme situation created by his own limit experiment, a controllable mistake.
The experiment with the Dream-making Flower ended perfectly, and this Spirit Summoning creation that could send Liches into dreams received applause and praise.
Mr. Raymond emerged from the fruit, his bearing noble and his stride powerful—this was the truest state of the dream experience participants.
Raymond nodded, slapped Lyle’s shoulder, and left with a graceful air.
"I had a good dream," he said.
The approval of the Calamity of Holy Light evoked applause from the audience as the people of Andrey looked at Lyle and the Demon Flower regrowing behind him, filled with anticipation.
"Now is the time for everyone’s dream experience! Please line up, one by one!"
Having acquired the precious data from Raymond, Lyle made some final adjustments to the script of the Dream-making Flower, ensuring no Lich would endure the same torment as the literature club. Though the fixed plot was somewhat monotonous, it was enough to moisten the dry souls of the Liches. As they awoke from their dreams, some mental haze and light-headedness would linger, side effects that were acceptable.
They wouldn’t go berserk, nor would they adversely affect Andrey; this was Lyle’s promise to the Dean, to the Senior Law.
To control, even eliminate the creation of disasters like the Liches, was the responsibility of every member of the Salvation Association.
Lyle felt he was a competent citizen of Andrey.
As for those who inadvertently fueled the chaos of the Liches, please, they were piled up like corpses on one side.
Even if they were to wake up, it would only be to rant and rave with mad words and phrases concocted by Lyle.
As everyone knows, Lyle is a good person.
After transferring control of the Dream-making Flower to Mr. Crimson, Lyle stepped into a silver-blue portal, holding the "Fruit" in hand.
In the Dreamland forest, within Susanna’s Druid Cave.
Colorful, shimmering crystals hovered beside Kristo, embedded with models of spells. Blue Dragon maintained his human form, his handsome face marked by two clear dark circles under his eyes. Upon seeing Lyle enter, his tone was laced with resentment and relief.
"So you remember how to come back," Kristo leaned back, resting against his sister Claudia’s belly, where the scales were softer, feeling like slightly hard feathers.
Lyle walked into the circle surrounding the sleeping green dragon and raised the glowing orb in his hand to Kristo.
"I’m back, and I’ve brought what I promised. Haven’t seen you in weeks, you’ve aged quite a bit, why not take a break?"
Kristo clenched his teeth as he looked at Lyle’s smiling face.
"You’ve got the nerve to say that? I’ve been developing this damned dream game for you, and you just take off as a hands-off manager. While I’m awake, I tweak the spell model, program it, and even when I’m asleep, I have to keep a server for over ten thousand people running smoothly in the dream. You beast who uses dragons as beasts of burden, I wasn’t this busy even when I had multiple duties in the City of Wandering!!"
The Blue Dragon glanced at the sleeping green dragon, and the roar that was about to erupt got choked back.
Lyle patted the irritable Kristo on the back and shook the orb in his hand.
"Here I am, aren’t I? Kristo, I’m bringing a turnabout for you and the Dreamland, this is the result created by the academic meeting I’ve just left, I came straight here even before the meeting was over."
Kristo stared at the orb, sensing that magic was repelled.
"What’s that?"
"The character data snatched from the dreams of a bunch of Liches, a self-aware NPC, he’ll be the first NPC to arrive in Dreamland. After that, there’ll be a constant stream of NPCs arriving. They will share your workload and maintain the world we’ve created together."
"What the hell? You developed this? What are their operational logic? Are you sure you’ve got dialogue information transmission and feedback sorted out, and the language database integrated too?" The Blue Dragon suddenly spewed a bunch of jargon that Lyle didn’t understand, leaving the spiritual developer of Dreamland perplexed.
"What are you talking about, Kristo, is building an NPC that complicated?"
The Blue Dragon looked at him as if he were an idiot.
"You didn’t pay attention at all when I was programming, did you? To create a lifelike NPC, you need a database to support it. It requires a series of complex constructs in thinking logic and spell models. Oh, now I get it, you’re not using the Arcanists’ spell set, right? You’re a Spirit Summoner. So how does a Spirit Summoner create NPC modules?"
"Find a living person, copy their soul personality, and inject it into a fixed ability character module. Done."
"You can fill in the character information?"
"Nope, that’s your job next."
"...Fine, you’ve also spared me a lot of trouble. Soul studies really are convenient. Maybe I should ask my father about Spirit Summoning Studies."
"Better not, old Dragon Teacher is a hands-on practitioner of White Bone Spirit Summoning Studies. He only pursues strength, even with souls. I reckon you’ll probably get beat under the guise of teaching if you go to him."
"The path to learning is long and full of obstacles."
With the help of the Dream Druid, Kristo and Lyle delved deeper into Dreamland.
Before closing his eyes, the Blue Dragon asked Lyle one last question.
"The NPC module you mentioned is created by copying a living person, right? So, who’s the source of this first NPC of the Dreamland? Hopefully, it’s someone strong, with lots of uses..."
"Oh, this is a dream replica of Raymond Mellock, the Calamity of Holy Light, Crusader leader, King of the Era... and also Dragon Scourge."
The Blue Dragon almost woke up immediately.
"...A battle royale?"
