Chapter 7 Soul Fragments (Thanks to the leader of Dolphin Meow for the reward)

Chapter 7 Soul Fragments (Thanks to the leader of Dolphin Meow for the reward)

"Activate, soul resonates."

As Duanmuhuai's voice fell, the scenery in front of him suddenly changed. The ruins that originally had only broken walls began to become blurry in Duanmu Huai's eyes, replaced by broken phantoms.

This is not the scenery of this world. In fact, this is the power of the Soul Walker. At this moment, Duanmu Huai's soul has sensed and come into contact with the existence of subspace.

As mentioned before, subspace is a reflection of the past, present, and future of everything in the world. Most of the time, when the existence in reality is destroyed and eliminated, the reflection naturally disappears. But there are also some reflections that have not disappeared, perhaps due to some persistence, some resentment, or simply luck. When reality was eliminated, their bodies remained in the subspace. A solidified fragment is formed.

To put it simply, this is like a game BUG. When you kill an enemy, you will find that his shadow is fixed in place, or the body will not disappear. It is almost a similar situation. Of course, if it were a game, it would be enough to load files or refresh, but obviously there is no such good thing in the real world.

And this is not completely harmless. Game bugs can cause the game to crash, or the task to be stuck, or to refresh infinitely. These reflections that are "stuck" in subspace will also have problems. For example, in many worlds, they will affect the real world in the form of ghosts and ghosts, which is one of the manifestations.

These fragments are of little use to most people, but not Soulwalkers.

Not only can they find these fragments and go deep into them, they can even control them and use them for their own purposes!

This is quite a powerful ability!

You know, many ancient civilizations had different, powerful powers and knowledge. But many times, their knowledge and power have been buried in the dust of history, and even artifacts will be destroyed - but the projection scene in subspace is different!

They will exist forever and never die!

Of course, summoning them to the real world also requires strength.

But if nothing else, just by summoning the disappeared existence to reality, you can imagine how powerful this power is.

However, the benefits of these fragments don’t stop there.

As just described, these fragments belong to the collection of bugs, that is to say, they are self-contained, which means that although they are in subspace, these fragments will not be attacked by demons. ! This is simply the best refuge for psykers!

As long as he can possess these fragmentary projections, then the psyker is equivalent to hiding his soul projection in the subspace in the safe. No matter how much he uses his psychic powers, it will be difficult for the demons outside to discover him.

This is equivalent to putting a mouse in a safe. Even if you put hundreds of cats outside, the cat will not notice the rat making trouble in the safe.

Different fragments have different sizes. The smallest fragment may be just a house, and the largest...maybe a universe.

One can imagine how powerful the Soul Walker would be if he owned a universe.

When he discovered this ability through the front-end Mu Huai, it was already in the middle stage, which also made him regret it, because Xinghai OL is a dynamic and real-time changing game, which means that some places you have gone to before may change later due to various reasons. It is gone or rebuilt. Some ruins copies may disappear after being beaten. If you discover the true use of this skill when you first awaken, your upgrade path will only be smoother. By then, you may be The strongest player in Xinghai OL——no one.

Of course, for Duanmu Huai, this title means nothing now. He might be the only player in the world now.

The most important thing now is to find the complete fragments.

While thinking, Duanmuhuai walked among the ruins. Looking around, the nearby scene was similar to the ruins he had seen before, but without the layer of sand covering it, the appearance of the entire city became clearer.

"Huh?"

At this moment, Duanmu Huai suddenly saw a light on the hillside not far outside the city... This immediately made him interested, and he quickly quickened his pace and walked towards his destination.

It didn't take long for Duanmu Huai to arrive on the hillside. In front of him was a small wooden house that looked very simple and plain. Duanmuhuai reached out without hesitation, pushed open the door, and walked into the house.

"Squeak...!"

The wooden door slowly opened, and Duanmu Huai walked into the house. The first thing he saw was a pile of arms hanging from the ceiling.

“…………It turned out to be a fake, I was shocked.”

Duanmuhuai was stunned for a moment when he saw these arms. Then he looked carefully and realized that these arms were all prostheses carved from wood.

But hanging so densely on the ceiling, under the light of candlelight... it is indeed quite scary.

At this moment, suddenly, a voice sounded.

"Finally, the day has come when I can use my power to protect my country."

Along with these words, suddenly, a translucent, ghost-like figure of a man quietly appeared in front of Duanmuhuai. He looked excited and excited, waving his hands.

"As long as I have this power, my country will no longer have to worry about the pain of war or invasion, and everyone will be able to live a peaceful and tranquil life!!"

Duanmu Huai just stood there and watched quietly. He was no stranger to this scene. Any fragment that was lucky enough to be preserved contained the strong thoughts and ideas of the maker. Obviously, this young man should be the owner of this house.

After saying these words, the man disappeared and Duanmuhuai continued to move forward. Soon, he walked through the entrance hall and came into the house. The first thing he saw was a wooden workbench. Judging from the prosthetic limbs placed next to it, this man should be a puppet master.

"Dolls are wonderful existences..."

At this moment, the man's figure appeared again. He was sitting on a chair and seemed to be carefully making something.

"An existence born by human hands, imitating human beings, but not human beings. Beautiful, pure, perfect...this is what I expect..."

The sound gradually faded away, and the man's phantom also shattered.

Duanmuhuai glanced at the work table in front of him and walked forward again. However, just as he walked to the next room...

“Bang!!”

Suddenly, a cup flew out and hit the ground heavily. Duanmu Huai stuck his head out and looked into the room. He saw that the place that should have been a study was now in a mess. The table was overturned, and teacups and teapots were thrown over. It was smashed to pieces, and the man was sitting on a chair, breathing heavily. His face looked extremely old, I don't know if it was due to time or mental reasons.

"He lied to me! That liar! He lied to me! Those dolls are used to defend the country, not to invade other countries! He turned me into an invader with bloody hands, an executioner!!"

The man roared like a wild beast, holding his head in his hands, his whole body trembling and shaking. Then, seemingly determined, he stood up.

"I will never let him succeed. I want to stop all this. I want to completely destroy his ambition. I'm sorry, it seems... I am too naive."

After saying this, the man stretched out his hand, put something in his pocket on the table, and then sighed.

"I hope you can find the meaning of your existence, my child."

After saying this, the man turned his head, walked out of the room with an expression as if he was looking forward to death, and disappeared without a trace.

I see.

After watching all this, Duanmu Huai almost understood what was going on. Judging from what Alyssa said before, it is obvious that the owner of this house should be a very powerful puppet master. It was he who created the army of demon dolls that this country once had, but the original intention of this puppet master was just to protect the country. He did not expect that the king would use the army of dolls he created to invade. I heard Alyssa say that the king finally It expanded to the point where he planned to create a demon doll that would conquer the world. This is probably what made the man finally Make up your mind to completely destroy him and his ambitions... If your guess is correct, it was the man who finally succeeded in making the devil doll, and used the powerful devil doll to attack the palace, kill the king, and finally self-destruct. If it destroys the entire country, then his will and belief will indeed easily solidify the fragments of the world.

Now let's see what he left here.

Duanmuhuai walked forward and saw a key inlaid with green gems lying alone on the table in the room. At this moment, a line of system prompts appeared in front of Duanmuhuai.

[Activate the mission "Legacy of the Puppet Master"]

[Mission goal: Obtain inheritance]

[Task introduction: Get recognition of the puppet master’s will and obtain his inheritance! 】

"Tsk, that's a bit troublesome."

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai frowned.

To obtain these fragments, you need to pass various tests, which can basically be divided into three types.

One is to help the will within the fragment achieve its wish.

One is to defeat the challenges within the fragments and prove your strength.

The last one is simpler, but also more troublesome, that is, you must be like-minded with the will within the fragment.

To put it simply, if two people are of the same mind and like each other, he will give it to you directly. If it's different——then there's no choice but to start fighting.

At this time, the player has to ask, isn’t it just dialogue options to add favorability? Can't I just choose according to his preferences?

Well, of course not.

Because of this kind of communication, the other party will read the first thought in your mind.

For example, if you enter the world of a certain paladin's will and want to obtain his holy sword, then the other party asks you if you can abide by the knight's virtues.

At this time, it is useless no matter what the players say verbally. If they have other thoughts deep down in their hearts, such as "Take it and sell it for money" or "You can use this to gain stronger power for PK", Then the knight will directly refuse, and then the player will either directly grab it or get out.

However, there is a third way, which is persuasion.

Thoughts can be changed, but if the player can persuade his will to change his mind and admit that he is more reasonable, then it is not impossible.

By the way, leverage is not acceptable.

Now, what Duanmuhuai has to face is this test mode.

"I sense your presence, visitor."

Accompanied by a cold, hoarse voice, various parts hanging on the walls began to tremble, and then they flew over and combined together. In the blink of an eye, they formed a figure that was seventy or eighty similar to the man before. The doll's head was staring at him.

"You've seen my past, so what do you think about it?"

"You made a mistake and you made up for it, that's all I can say."

Duanmu Huai quickly gave his opinion. He knew that on a conscious level, lying was useless, only telling the truth would work.

"Yes, I think so too. I'm just making up for the mistakes I made... Then, young man..."

Speaking of this, the puppet master's tone became serious.

"Since you want to obtain this power, what do you want to do with it?"

"Of course it's a fight."

Duanmuhuai gave the answer without hesitation.

Just kidding, why am I here if I don't fight? Do you want to imitate the Spring and Autumn Sculpture Figure that makes you sad at home every day?

"It's fighting again!"

Hearing this, the puppet master was furious.

"Don't you have any other ideas besides fighting?"

"Then I'd like to hear what other ideas you have."

Duanmu Huai crossed his arms and looked at the puppet master in front of him. Basically, these people are artists, and most artists are mentally ill, and their outlook on life is completely different from that of ordinary people. He wanted to see what this puppet master had to say.

"Dolls are existences that imitate humans, but they will be more perfect than humans. Once they have souls, they will become even more wonderful existences..."

"Uh, sorry if I interrupt."

Seeing how excited the puppet master was, Duanmu Huai decisively interrupted his speech.

"To put it simply, you just want the dolls to have souls and make them more perfect beings than humans?"

"That's right!"

"Then what?"

"…………Then???"

Hearing this, the puppet master was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't understand what Duanmu Huai meant.

"Yes, since you said it has a soul, it means that it is a living body. It is not like the puppets you created before. The moment you finish carving it, it is considered complete. It will Grow, grow up, think, and observe just like a child. Like this, but one day it will find that it is not a human being, or even a living thing. It may even be the only unique existence in the world, and it is different from everyone else. What will it do at that time? Do you have arrangements and? Planning? ”

“This………………”

Facing Duanmu Huai's inquiry, the puppet master was stunned and speechless for a moment.

Indeed, as Duanmuhuai said, a doll with a soul is no longer just a simple work of art, but a life that will grow.

So, what is the purpose of its existence? What's the point?

It was only then that the puppet master was surprised to find out what he had done.

"I...what the hell am I doing..."

"………………"

Looking at the puppet master who lowered his head, Duanmuhuai shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. In fact, as a judge, he also has taboos. When players choose the Inquisitor profession, several taboos will appear. One of them is that the Inquisitor is not allowed to create any self-aware artificial AI, nor is he allowed to create any similar soul race. Once the taboo is violated, all skills and attributes of the entire profession will be sealed, which is basically equivalent to asking the player to delete their account and start over.

It is not that there were no players who were frustrated in the past, and the results were the same. This has caused a lot of controversy on the forum. Some players think that it is my business to create life, but there are also players who think that irresponsibly creating a life is indeed not a thing. A good thing. Relatively speaking, Duanmuhuai prefers the latter. He feels that something must have a beginning and an end. This irresponsible approach is very unpleasant.

Therefore, although Duanmu Huai likes kittens and puppies very much, he has never raised one, because Duanmu Huai knows that whether it is a cat or a dog, their life span is shorter than his own. No matter how hard he tries, he will eventually die earlier than himself. Instead of being sad when the time comes Sadly, I might as well just smoke cats online.

So he looked down on artists like puppet masters from the bottom of his heart. They were the kind of people who got caught up in the three-minute heat and just wanted to be happy. They never care or care about the consequences of having fun. Just like those irresponsible people, they buy cats and dogs and keep them because they think they are cute, but they find feeding them too troublesome and abandon them after keeping them for a while. This is a sign of irresponsibility.

Therefore, Duanmu Huai did not hide his thoughts. He also knew that in this kind of confrontation at the consciousness level, the other party would definitely understand his thoughts, and there was no point in hiding this.

"Perhaps, I did do something wrong."

The puppet master was depressed for a moment and then raised his head.

"I know what you are thinking. Indeed, I am not a qualified father. Maybe I didn't think about this issue when I brought her into this world... So... I hope you can promise me , no matter what, take care of her ”

Facing the puppet master's request, Duanmu Huai frowned.

"This is hard to say. You should know that I will face countless battles next, which is risky."

"I understand, I hope you can guide her true heart, let her understand human beings, feel human beings, feel herself..."

Speaking of this, the puppet master looked a little bitter.

"I'm sorry, this was originally what I was supposed to do, but...I'm afraid I no longer have this opportunity."

"...Okay, I don't know if I'm sure, but I will try my best."

Duanmu Huai could only say so much. After all, he had never raised a child, right?

After listening to Duanmu Huai's answer, the puppet master nodded, and then the parts scattered on the ground. Then Duanmu Huai stepped forward, stretched out his hand, and grabbed the key.

The next moment, the whole room began to tremble.

When Duanmuhuai opened his eyes again, he had returned to reality.

"Very good, done..."

Duanmuhuai lowered his head, looked at the thing in his hand, and smiled.

Finally succeeded!

I did a backflip excitedly here, but I didn’t expect that the leader of the alliance would reward me as soon as I opened the book...

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(End of chapter)