Chapter 96

Three days later, Zhuochuan finally emerged from White Rabbit's room. Although his expression appeared calm, he could not hide the excitement and thrill in his heart. A long-standing inconvenience that had troubled him was about to be resolved. The soul fragment within his body now possessed intelligence and could continue to grow, effectively becoming a soul avatar of his own.

He grabbed Dahu, placing him on his shoulder.

"This time, I owe it all to you. If it weren't for the month you spent helping me systematically study soul knowledge, I might not have succeeded on the first try," Zhuochuan said with deep gratitude. Over the past three days, White Rabbit had taught him a method for deeply cultivating soul fragments, from sensing to controlling, and finally processing them like intelligent programming.

In the room, the god of wisdom, whom Dahu called Xiaobai, had personally guided Zhuochuan through the process of creating this soul avatar and watched him succeed.

This involved a great deal of deep soul knowledge. If he hadn't studied with Dahu for nearly a month, he would have certainly failed. Many steps had to be completed in one go without delay.

He couldn't help but recall White Rabbit's final words, which were no longer in the martial arts style, as those terms were no longer appropriate.

"Those advanced robots, and even super robots, operate on a similar principle. They are created using soul fragments separated from humans, which gives them human-like intelligence. However, no matter how strong they become or how much their external performance improves, they will never have the potential for soul advancement."

"Only by following my method can you not only make a soul fragment intelligent but also ensure it continues to grow. It will always remain under your main soul's control, making it your soul avatar. When you face a life-threatening crisis, your soul can be reborn in this avatar, giving you an extra life. This is its true value in this world."

After creating the soul avatar for the new world, Zhuochuan thought of something else.

He turned to Dahu on his shoulder and asked, "Xiaobai said you know why only I can create a soul avatar and no one else can. Why is that?"

Dahu, standing on Zhuochuan's shoulder for the first time, looked around curiously.

When Zhuochuan asked, Dahu immediately replied, "It's very simple. Each person's soul comes from the temporal origin and has a unique imprint. With this imprint, one can receive support and recognition from the origin, allowing continued growth. Others can separate soul fragments, but they cannot continue to grow. They cannot receive recognition from the temporal origin, so they can exist but not receive support. As a result, they cannot use any soul skills in the future."

Zhuochuan understood. The imprint can be seen as a unique identity number for each soul in the temporal origin. If you create another one, it becomes an unregistered entity, and the temporal origin will not respond to its requests.

"It's like a citizen ID and a backup citizen ID. Without it, people in the lost lands won't receive any resources or benefits from the Earth Mother," he added.

Dahu nodded and continued, "Your analogy is correct, Master. Your current soul is a result of soul reincarnation, equivalent to a new soul with a new imprint in the origin, giving you a new, recognized identity. However, the soul fragment left in your body from the previous soul still has the original imprint and is recognized by the origin."

"So when you refine it into your avatar, the origin still recognizes its existence, and it can grow normally like a regular soul, but under your complete control. It cannot develop its own consciousness due to its incompleteness, and its maximum potential will only be one-third of yours."

Zhuochuan fully understood. However, while Dahu's explanation was clear, he didn't know the true situation. In reality, Zhuochuan had come to this world after merging with the soul of B47995, who had traveled to the modern world.

His soul was not from this temporal plane, so the soul fragment left by B47995 in his body still had the original imprint and was recognized by the origin, allowing independent growth.

Moreover, he had merged with most of B47995's soul, making him a new soul recognized by the origin.

Dahu's explanation, though coincidental, perfectly matched his true situation.

However, Zhuochuan still wanted to confirm one thing: why others couldn't do it.

"Big Black, if, according to your explanation, other citizens, after separating their soul fragments and experiencing soul death, produce soul successors, who are new souls with new imprints, wouldn't they also be able to create their own soul avatars?" Zhuochuan thought carefully and found another possibility.

"Ha ha ha, Master, you're overthinking it. Unless they want to die, no fool would dare to do that," Dahu laughed on Zhuochuan's shoulder, accidentally falling to the ground and landing on his back.

"Ha ha, Big Black, don't get too carried away," Zhuochuan rarely saw Dahu act so comically and couldn't help but laugh.

"Ouch, I'm glad Xiaobai didn't give me 100% pain sensation, or I would have died of pain," Dahu groaned in pain.

"Don't waste time, just explain," Zhuochuan quickened his pace.

"Their situation is different from yours. You are a soul reincarnated and still have a deep connection with the previous soul fragment, allowing you to control it completely and prevent it from developing consciousness. However, soul successors are entirely new souls born from the previous body, inheriting only memories and wealth. They have no deep connection with the previous soul and cannot control the soul fragments left behind. If they try to create a soul avatar like Xiaobai's method, the avatar will definitely develop new consciousness," Dahu explained, and Zhuochuan fully understood.

"That's not just an additional heir to the previous wealth. The avatar will not submit and will certainly fight for control of the body. If they do that, they are essentially courting death," Dahu rubbed his stomach and added with a frown.

"Oh, I see," Zhuochuan felt relieved. After asking so many questions, he finally confirmed that he had an additional advantage compared to others in the new world. Xiaobai's method was indeed worth it.

But soon, Dahu mentioned a downside.

"However, Master, there is a drawback,"

"What drawback?" Zhuochuan was taken aback. He knew things couldn't be all good, but he hoped the drawback wouldn't be too severe.

"Of course, it's the consumption of soul crystals. Your soul avatar has an incomplete foundation and can only grow to one-third of your main soul's power. However, the soul crystals consumed during its growth will not be one-third but equal to yours. This means you will need to prepare double the soul crystals. If you can't supplement from the outside, your body will have to supply the additional need, doubling the burden to support two souls. This could be fatal for your body, as the soul power supply will be insufficient, leading to degeneration over time."

Dahu began to worry, realizing they needed to gather more soul crystals quickly.

Zhuochuan, however, breathed a sigh of relief. Dahu's concern was about this.

Indeed, for others, obtaining enough soul crystals for their own growth was already difficult. Supporting another soul would be even harder, significantly slowing their growth. But his situation was different.