Chapter 258: Beholding the True Spirit
The feeling was marvelous. Ace felt not a gaze, but a reunion—a sense of joy.
‘So this is the true self, the most important part of the soul, the True Spirit.’
The moment the giant opened its eyes, Ace’s Mental Power was completely absorbed by it. He instantly became the giant, and the giant became him.
Or rather, he had always been this giant, for this was his True Spirit.
“The Soul Sanctuary appears vast, but it is actually filled with illusions. The entire space is actually extremely microscopic. That is why the True Spirit, which looks tiny from the outside, becomes a giant here,” the giant hummed.
He sat upon hundreds of Level 0 Runes, surrounded by six 1-Ring Spell Models and dozens of 0-Ring Spell Models. They vibrated slightly, seemingly welcoming his descent.
He looked up at the chaos overhead and gradually gained enlightenment regarding the True Spirit’s experiences.
“The so-called Path of the Mind is actually the path of the True Spirit. The Soul Sanctuary is a tiny, independent, illusory space carved out between reality and illusion by the True Spirit throwing itself into the soul’s treasure trove at the moment of advancing to Advanced Wizard Apprentice.
“When I advanced to Level 1 Life and injected vitality into the illusion, the illusion began to turn real. My True Spirit is the creator of this space.
“This is the Mental Imagery World Embryo. If I can reach the level of a Deity in the future, this will be the prototype of a future Demi-Plane or Sub-Plane.
“The True Spirit is the Creator God of this embryonic form. Only when I clearly behold the True Spirit and merge into true oneness do I truly and completely understand and master the Soul Sanctuary.”
If the crystalline giant dragon knew that Ace had stumbled upon beholding the True Spirit and achieving the state of “merging into true one” while only at the Level 1 Life stage, It would probably roll around on the ground in envy.
It had barely survived a near-death experience to behold Its True Spirit and advance to Demigod, yet Ace had achieved it at the Level 1 Life stage.
Before the birth of the Mental Imagery World Embryo or Mental Imagery World, the True Spirit is manifest, but it has no special use at that time.
When the Mental Imagery World Embryo or Mental Imagery World is born, the True Spirit effectively acts as the Creator God of the Mental Imagery World, possessing all authority while remaining hidden.
As the Mental Imagery World advances, this concealment becomes deeper. Whoever can behold the True Spirit is more likely to reach the Demigod realm.
The Wizard path and magic path Ace forged were too unique. At the peak of the Level 0 Life stage, he utilized the external manifestation of this world’s rules to give birth to the Soul Sanctuary, an incomplete Mental Imagery World Embryo (possessing illusion but lacking vitality).
He then used the Chains of Rules manifested by this world to find the unknowable True Spirit hidden within the Soul Sanctuary. All of this was a coincidence of fate.
If the rules of this world weren’t externally manifest, a Level 0 Life would have no chance to touch the traces of rules. If this world weren’t so young and abundant in mana, simply tracing the tracks of rules wouldn’t have been enough to stir the mana.
More critically, Ace had undergone an epiphany. Amidst these coincidences, the Soul Sanctuary was born, and he stepped onto the Path of the Mind ahead of time.
Even if one looked across the neighboring world clusters, this was an event of extremely low probability.
Having behold the True Spirit, the vitality-filled Soul Sanctuary seemed to cheer and jump for joy. Ace controlled the True Spirit to enter the chaos at the very top of the Soul Sanctuary.
This was where the small soul Sanctuary communicated with the external great world. This was where the Soul Sanctuary communicated with the human body. Three bodies intersecting as one, transforming between virtual and real—this was the mezzanine.
The True Spirit hid within it once more, but as long as Ace wished, he could make the True Spirit descend into the Soul Sanctuary at any time, controlling it as he pleased.
The current Ace couldn’t yet deeply understand the benefits of freely manipulating the Mental Imagery World Embryo. He opened his eyes, feeling as though he was vastly different, yet unable to pinpoint exactly where that difference lay.
‘In any case, I found my True Spirit and understood how the Soul Sanctuary—the Mental Imagery World Embryo—is born. That answers another question on the path of magic.’
He stood up and walked to the storage room, taking out the sealed Pain Mask. Observing it under the magified microscope, he found that the tiny Bent had disappeared, leaving only a weak fire of pain that could go out at any moment.
‘Was it completely burned away by the fire of emotion, vanishing without a trace?’
Filled with doubts, Ace went to the confinement room, picked up the dying Faceless Man, and brought him to the laboratory for research.
After beholding the True Spirit, Ace’s perception had improved tremendously. He keenly discovered the difference between the Faceless Man and ordinary people.
In his field of perception, the Faceless Man’s soul was tattered. Ace couldn’t find the location of a True Spirit, only a ball of weak pain fire.
‘A life without a True Spirit? Is his soul complete in this state? Is he still himself?’
After beholding the True Spirit, Ace knew its importance. The True Spirit was the key to the soul. A soul without a True Spirit was just incomplete residual soul and obsession; it would be hard for it to exist for long.
‘The fire of pain seems to substitute for part of the True Spirit’s function, but how can this fire of emotion provide a steady stream of support like the True Spirit without firewood?
Firewood!?’
Holding the Pain Mask, Ace glanced at the mask, then at the Faceless Man. He seemed to think of something.
He pressed the mask onto the weak Faceless Man’s face. The mask’s expression was like a stone carving, having lost its former liveliness. Even when attached to the Faceless Man’s face, the believer of Pain remained incredibly weak.
In Ace’s perception field, the weak flame in the Pain Mask and the weak flame in the believer’s residual soul seemed to resonate.
As this resonance continued, Ace saw an unclear trajectory flash by. The flame inside the mask and the flame of the residual soul gradually synchronized.
Ace turned back and took out the Sin-bearing Slave’s True Spirit he had just sealed. Using the Spell Hand, he held it close to the weak believer’s Pain Mask.
A sudden change occurred. The two weak fires of pain suddenly blazed brightly, as if they had encountered a delicacy. The Pain Mask suddenly sprouted claws of wailing, snatching the True Spirit held by the Spell Hand.
In an instant, the True Spirit, carrying a faint holy light, appeared within the Pain Mask’s prison. The tiny holy Fish-Merfolk was firmly bound by ropes formed from the Touch of Pain. The fire of pain roasted the True Spirit, and the Pain Mask gradually displayed the pained expression of the Fish-Merfolk.
The weakness of the believer of Pain imprisoned by Ace gradually disappeared, and his soul became solid. Ace’s eyes slowly narrowed.
‘So that’s it. Residual souls that have lost their True Spirit rely on burning the True Spirits of other creatures to strengthen the fire of pain, maintaining the existence of the residual soul through the burning of that fire.
‘Legend has it that those who worship Devils sell their souls to the Devil in exchange for Supernatural power.
‘Mortals do not understand the true meaning. In reality, what they sell in the transaction with the Devil is the True Spirit. From the moment they trade with the Devil, the self of the Devil worshiper has already died, leaving behind only a shell toyed with by the Devil.’
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