Above The Sky
Chapter 966 - 966 88 Slightly Wicked Ian 6900_3

966: Chapter 88: Slightly Wicked Ian (6900)_3 966: Chapter 88: Slightly Wicked Ian (6900)_3 This is the result of Ian and Adalbert working overtime for two weeks, almost without rest.

It must be said, having a live entity like Miles as an observation subject, is like placing an advanced engine in front of a group of mechanical engineers while having one of the developers of that engine among them with a complete set of design drawings in hand.

In this way, the efficiency of replicative learning is unavoidably high.

The essence of an Artificial Soul is to bear a portion of Spirit Substance directly through an ‘Attached Brain Structure’ acting as a ‘Soul Seed’, which is nurtured continuously by the holder’s thoughts until it fosters a soul unique to the holder.

It’s not a difficult technology; the challenge is how to keep the soul stable and intact, and also equipped with various functions.

In the laboratory, the subjects of the experiments are not humans, but several Magical Beasts that were captured.

The Magical Beasts below the Second Energy Level have no apparent wisdom, even those on the Second Energy Level have primitive intelligence which only approaches that of humans after prolonged exercise and learning.

In other words, implanting them with Artificial Souls allows for rapid observation of feedback.

The first Magical Beast implanted with an Artificial Soul, the ‘Iron Arm Ape,’ which already had intelligence close to that of a human child, showed decidedly sharper thought after a week of receiving the Artificial Soul, and did not shrink back instinctively out of fear when it saw Ian and others coming to examine it, but instead complied very well with all kinds of measurements.

A hallmark of intelligence, after all, is ‘awareness of circumstance.’ It isn’t just about fleeing upon seeing someone strong, but about trying to integrate, learn, and become one of them upon spotting a powerful entity.

This Iron Arm Ape clearly possessed intelligence; it even began to learn the humans’ usual upright walking style and tried to tidy its own nest in the lab to make it more orderly.

But don’t misunderstand—being wise does not make one fond of cleanliness.

The Iron Arm Ape simply discovered that keeping its nest tidy made the other researchers happier.

“A week, and the Artificial Soul was just showing the beginnings of assisting the brain in thinking, linking various thought regions, and it could bring such a noticeable impact to the Magical Beasts.”

Ian watched every move of the Iron Arm Ape and said to Adalbert beside him: “I have a speculation that’s not just a guess, but let me ask a question first—why did the precivilization design Magical Beasts?”

“Ah?

Well, I think maybe it was the result of some biological tool gone feral?”

Adalbert blanked a moment, he knew about the information regarding Magical Beasts and the Spark from Ian’s adventures in the South Sea Great Labyrinth, thus he gave a relatively normal conjecture: “Like the Crystal Dragons, they are clearly protective creatures created by the precivilization to survive in harsh environments, mimicking True Dragons.

But interestingly, no known True Dragons share the same structure as the Crystal Dragons.”

“Hmm.

My guess, these Crystal Dragons were likely mimicking some kind of more Ancient Dragons, at the very least a second-generation True Dragon, not the third or later generations of True Dragons familiar to our Terra civilization.”

Ian nodded slightly, he gazed at the Iron Arm Ape and whispered softly: “But not all Magical Beasts are tools… Some of them, evidently possess some form of intelligential structure innately, but require a soul to fully function.”

“Adalbert… I’m just stating a possibility.”

“If say, a planet, a continent, possessed such abundant Spirit Essence in its land, all creatures living there naturally have souls.”

“Would the intelligent beings of this planet still possess wisdom after departing from such an environment?”

“That so-called ‘intelligent being’…”

“Would it turn into a Magical Beast?”

Adalbert blinked, then startled.

“Ian, are you suggesting…” he swallowed, seemingly incredulous, “are you saying, many of the Magical Beasts on Terra might actually be… extraterrestrial intelligent life forms that came with the Spark?!”

“Just a speculation.”

Ian closed his eyes; he neither denied nor confirmed.

He was merely thinking, speculating: “If we say, the countless varieties of Magical Beasts on Terra Continent, all originated from Terra alone, that’s utterly impossible.”

“Some lower level Magical Beasts might have originated from Terra itself, as recorded in the documents of the precivilization, but some Magical Beasts are powerful and perfect, without such ancient accounts, and they don’t possess characteristics of tools, clearly not created by the precivilization.”

“And the Spark facilitating the emergence of such apparently ancient-evolved creatures is also very difficult.”

“After all, if it isn’t a crucial creature, what need is there to engrave it within the Spark and design its prioritized facilitation?”

Thus, there’s only one answer.

Many of the powerful potential Wise Magical Beasts might just be those extraterrestrials who lost their souls, lacked intelligence, and thus degenerated into beasts.

It also matches what Ian has been searching for in the past, after knowing the truth about the Spark and extraterrestrials—those ‘Extraterrestrial Beings’.

Ian had always wondered, if there really are Sparks like Carlin’s Flower attempting to integrate, or even overrun the Terra World, then surely there are gentler Sparks that simply wish to recreate their own civilizations on another planet.