Chapter 7275: Ethereal Plane of Existence
Chapter 7275: Ethereal Plane of Existence
The ace pilot nodded. "I think I understand."
Ves proceeded to erase the line between the Promethea and the Artificial Fire Heart.
He then drew a new line between the artifact and Saint Isobel Kotin. "This is what I ideally want to establish. You can already produce this connection by holding the object in your hand and trying to interact with it. However, you can form a much stronger connection by installing the Artificial Fire Heart into your cybernetic body. This is a ritual that will empower the connection and power greater commitment from you. So long as you do not repel it entirely, you can engage in a form of artifact cultivation."
“Artifact cultivation?”
“Piloting mechs can also be described as a form of artifact cultivation." Ves said with a smile. "The more you pilot your machine, the more it will contaminate you in deliberate and indeliberate ways. At the end, you are even expected to merge with your ace mech, which is one of the ultimate outcomes of artifact cultivation. I am not expecting you to do this with the Artificial Fire Heart. What I truly want from you is to let it contaminate you in a controlled manner."
Isobel finally gained a greater understanding of what Ves was getting at. "You want me to “absorb’ the good traits of the Artificial Fire Heart? How can this be done? Do I just let it contaminate me through proximity and hope that it is not all bad?"
“Control is important." Ves responded. "Uncontrolled cultivation is usually no different from contamination. I cannot help you with this. Once I implant the Artificial Fire Heart into your artificial body, it is up to you to figure out how to harness its power and allow it to strengthen you in a safe and effective manner. This can be considered a personal challenge that you must overcome in order to build up your qualifications for your ultimate b What Ves just mentioned was the encapsulation of his journey to understand the phenomenon of systematic cultivation.
Ves did not believe it was a big or profound secret. True Gods should most certainly understand the essence of what allowed weak human beings to gain god-like abilities over time.
However, just mentioning it to ordinary people did not create a profound enough impact. They had yet to undergo a struggle to grow their power. They did not comprehend how hard it was to shed their mortality and gain greater strength. They had yet to learn how difficult it was to overcome their future bottlenecks.
Ves wouldn't bother to mention this theory to most people, but Saint Isobel Kotin was different. She had struggled harder than most of her peers. Even if she was just a fresh junior ace pilot, the loss of her original body inflicted great trauma on her. She could no longer pretend to live out her life as a relatively normal human. If she wanted to conquer her fears, she could only go forward and do her best to ascend to godhood.
Compared to other saints, Isobel's situation was actually a lot easier to deduce. Ves could pretty much figure out that if she wanted to become a god pilot, she needed to master the power of fire to an extremely deep level. With this clear goal in mind, Ves was able to build a roadmap for her to steadily accumulate her strength and raise her breakthrough qualifications as much as possible.
Saint Isobel clearly felt his confidence in his theory and sincerity towards her. This was why she had to take his lecture seriously. What Ves just mentioned sounded simple, but contained an incredible amount of depth. Truth resonated in his words.
The intuition of an ace pilot was sharp. Even outside her cockpit, her judgment as a battle-hardened ace pilot could not be easily dismissed. Ves had entered well within the range of her diminished domain field. Though she preferred to hold this kind of conversation when she was piloting a mech, the Promethea Mark II Project was still stuck at an early stage.
"Please explain to me what you mean by transference."
Ves smiled. "The word transference is easy to understand. What is important is that as long as you figure out the right method, you can create a controlled situation where you can transfer a trait from one subject to another. This transference is often imperfect in many different ways. The transfer may be incomplete. The target subject may not be able to digest what it has gained. A complete transfer may take many years. The cost of performing this process may exceed your budget. However, no matter how imperfect the method, you can turn the impossible into the possible by acquiring traits that you normally should not possess."
"How does that relate to my needs?" Isobel asked.
Ves gestured towards the Artificial Fire Heart. "This variable has a small collection of very powerful traits. It would be great if you can inherit them. In my opinion, artifact cultivation is one of the means to do so. A very simplified explanation on how this is possible is if you take the imaginary realm into account.”
"What is the imaginary realm?"
“Normal life forms are only aware of the material realm, which the Red Collective refers to as the physical plane of existence. No matter how you label it, the material realm is the physical side of reality that we can touch and experience using our normal senses. What many people are unaware of is that there exists a deeper layer of reality where conventional matter and energy does not exist. I call it the imaginary realm, though apparently the Red Collective has named it the ethereal plane of existence. It is largely empty, but it just so happens that E energy as well as extraordinary willpower has a footprint in this realm. I believe that the imaginary realm is where E energy and other Stuff truly belongs."
During the time when Ves was still the chief councilor of the Upper Council of the Red Collective, he had submitted a proposal to adopt his terminology for the two realms. The academics and nerds of the Red Collective roundly rejected him and stuck to their own language!
“I think I am following you so far, Ves."
“Now if you are aware of the imaginary realm, then the transference of concepts doesn't sound impossible anymore. The ethereal plane of existence is a place where meaning, emotion and other intangibles exist. Part of it is anchored to physical beings and objects, and another part of it flows freely such as E energy radiation. As long as you can access the right stuff, there is a possibility for you to take the concepts that you desire and attach them to yourself."
Saint Isobel began to frown again. "You make it sound too easy, which is definitely not the case."
Ves nodded. "That is true. This is why contamination is such a big deal. If you practice the wrong methods or fail to execute them properly, a large amount of contamination will occur. You will absorb concepts that are not desirable, causing your personality and your spirituality to deviate in an undesirable direction. Saint Rosa Orfan's latest breakthrough has polluted her so much that it will be a wonder if she can still retain a semblance of her original self. However, do not forget what I told you earlier. As long as you can bear the price, the massive amount of power that you have gained may be worth it. Compared to other cultivators, high-ranking mech pilots such as yourself are better equipped to suppress contamination by relying on your supernatural willpower. Your confidence and belief in yourself is your strongest weapon against any form of distortion."
This was one of the reasons why Ves remained cautiously optimistic that Rosa Orfan would wake up and not sound like a degenerate demon. A saint should not be that easy to corrupt!
“What about those who lack the willpower to protect themselves?" Isobel quietly asked. “Then they better make sure they practice one of the safe and certified methods that they can redeem from the Repository." Ves responded. "This is the principal reason why the Red Collective exists. The transference of concepts is a dangerous activity that always produces contamination. You need to use the right techniques and methods to minimize the side effects as much as possible. Most of the more basic certified cultivation methods happen to excel in this area, but all of that stability does not come without a cost. Their yields are low and their ceilings are also limited. If you want to obtain true power, then you need to resort to more drastic measures."
“What sort of measures are we talking about?"
"Stuff like opening yourself up to greater contamination. Alternatively, you can leverage the power of powerful hyper materials or special elixirs. They can help you absorb specific concepts easier, though they are not cheap. What is important is that you must select the right concepts and try to absorb them without taking in too much undesirable baggage in the process. In your case, that means that you must take targeted measures. Artifact cultivation has its own dangers."
Isobel glanced at the Artificial Fire Heart once again.
“What specific concepts should I take from this device?"
Ves did not immediately respond. Instead, he reached into his toolbelt and retrieved a small and delicate hammer. Unlike the larger and more masculine-looking Hammer of Brilliance, the Hammer of Melody did not look like a serious tool at all. From its appearance alone, maybe its only use was to crack a boiled egg. Yet this delicate little hammer was in fact an artifact that also served as a totem of Vulcan.
Ves had not made frequent use of it, but that did not mean he had forgotten about it, unlike many of his other gadgets and personal possessions. As his understanding of cultivation science, creation cultivation and artifacts increased, he found a new use for this little hammer.
He briefly channeled a bit of metal energy into his tool before using it to gently tap the Artificial Fire Heart. The metal-on-metal contact produced a surprisingly loud, clear and melodic tone. Ves struck the artifact with just the right force and at a very deliberate angle. The infusion of metal energy enhanced the effects even further, causing the Artificial Fire Heart to briefly sing with joy.
The beautiful resonating sound was a mark of excellent craftsmanship. The Artificial Fire Heart had clearly been made with great care and exacting precision.
That was not all. The hammer strike also lit up hundreds of tiny runes, each of them lighting up in red to denote their dominant elemental associations.
“These runes." The ace pilot whispered in half-recognition. "Some of them look or feel familiar."
“They are the same kind of runes as the Ascension Runes in all of my third order living mechs." Ves explained to her. "The presence of runes, whether openly or covertly, is one of the defining characteristics of an artifact. Any object that is marked by runes is essentially a vessel that contains concepts that are strong enough to make a huge difference when you attempt transference. Look at the quantity of runes. Even if you don't understand their meaning, the fact that this artifact has so many of them means you can derive a lot of benefits from it. The sequences of runes are also important. Just lie how letters can combine into words, stringing multiple concepts together can form a more specialized and powerful concept or effect.”
Isobel looked at the Artificial Fire Heart with a small sense of wonder. The Hammer of Melody had briefly lifted the veil and exposed a portion of the extraordinary nature of this device.
"How can it have so many more runes?"
“I can't explain that to you due to confidentiality reasons." Ves responded. "However, as long as you play around with it long enough, you may be able to figure out the answer yourself. Let us focus more on practical matters. Now that you have taken a glimpse of all of the runes of this artifact, do you understand what you must do as a prospective artifact cultivator?"
Though Isobel had yet to agree with the proposal, she was already engrossed by all of the revelations and possibilities. The narrative constructed by Ves had sucked her into a different world, one where she could gain lots of power from communing with potent artifacts.
Yet as much as her desire grew, her caution and rationality had not disappeared.
“You want me to cultivate with this Artificial Fire Heart and figure out how to copy these runes and imprint them on me, is that right?"
Ves nodded.
"How do I know which runes I should copy first?"
“That is for you to figure out." He said in a soft tone. The runes do not represent power in themselves. It is the concepts that they are associated with that are truly powerful. Remember what I said before. Individual runes tied to simple concepts can be combined to form a more complicated concept. The danger in artifact cultivation is that it is simple to contaminate yourself with undesirable concepts. Just like how a word can have a completely different meaning by adding a few letters, the wrong string of runes can produce harmful concepts. You will need to rely on your own judgment, knowledge and intuition to pass this challenge.”
Saint Isobel Kotin finally gained greater clarity. She was no longer shrouded in as much fog as before. Though the explanation given by Ves was still sorely lacking in specifics, understanding the broad strokes of what she was dealing with already helped her immensely!
“When you put it this way, I find it hard to refuse your offer." The ace pilot eventually responded while staring directly into his eyes. "However, I cannot help but think you are understating the risks and dangers too much. I am not as easily convinced as others, Ves. I need a real plan." (More chapters in Buyers club for TMT)