Chapter 504
My first impression of the current Timlad was: a familiar face, a slightly familiar voice, and a completely unfamiliar physical body .
"You received the letter directly? You didn't reveal that I was here, did you?"
"Of course, I came immediately when I received the letter . There's really the Halet… the scholars' generation's ruins here?"
"Of course, why else would I have you come here? The maid that's currently with me should be a pure artificial soul . You didn't notice?"
"For real? Back in the day… My current research topic isn't related to this anymore . I've heard that pure artificial soul research has been unsuccessful all this time . There's results now?"
"Unsuccessful?"
It would be strange if Timlad didn't have his own secrets with all his accomplishments . He wouldn't be able to conceal what his soul was truly like from me, but it wasn't necessary to pry so deeply for everything . This was especially so after the Hell Faction successfully signed a contract with Kalumandas the God of Wisdom . Our cooperation was on yet another level now .
And with certain things brought to the surface, little Timlad's real identity wasn't much of an issue anymore . But, since I knew his real identity, I found it rather strange that he actually didn't know about artificial soul research .
According to my knowledge, in the greatest ruins from the scholars' generation, the Spiral Tower, there was a gigantic gravestone erected there which stated the three greatest "crimes" of the Haletdam scholars . Of course, you could also call those crimes their "achievements"—"Eternal life for the entire race, artificial souls, and the creation of life . "
But now, Timlad was actually mentioning that artificial soul research had been unsuccessful all this time? Of course, this piqued my curiosity .
"Yep, it's always been unsuccessful . Actually, it's still an issue with the foundational nature of the soul . Apart from the Creator, not a single person is capable of creating the essence of a soul from nothing . Pure calculations are still unable to arrive at the nature of a soul . If you want to create an artificial soul and activate it so that the artificial soul becomes like a living one and has the abilities to evolve and feel emotions, you can only combine it with natural souls . This is obviously taking the wrong path . "
"…Isn't that the same as undead mages, then?"
Wasn't that the field of undead mages, using souls as materials to create new soul products, along with toying with the structure of souls and physical bodies?
"Yep, the revolutionary technology we came up with was actually something left behind by others already . It was basically an insult to the researchers of the scholars' generation . But, to my knowledge, at least when the scholars' generation ended, there shouldn't have been any major breakthroughs in the field of artificial souls . "
I nodded at this . I could sort of count myself as an expert on soul research, and I could also guess at the artificial soul research from the scholars' generation . It could easily be analyzed from Timlad's words that their artificial souls utilized pure calculations to simulate logic . But, just like computers from my original world, no matter how skilled at calculations a computer was, a computer could never be called a complete "person" unless there was some sort of foundational change or breakthrough .
"In that case, it's similar to mage tower spirits . Your artificial souls were capable of making logical decisions, but lacked self's will and emotions . "
"It's not similar, it's basically the same technology . Did you really think that mages wouldn't stoop to grave robbing?"
"Ptui!"
I instantly spat and laughed at this as I imagined the wise image of a mage with gold-rimmed eyeglasses and a robe being replaced by a muscular man carrying a shovel .
Actually, many ancient technologies and magic spells had been unearthed by grave robbing . It wasn't wrong at all to call mages skilled graverobbers . If some lucky bandit, villager, or farmer coincidentally discovered some ruins, and the news started spreading, mages would come running faster than anyone . Oh, right, the Sala Dukedom wasn't that far from the Mage Country . I wondered if the Mage Country would be sending someone soon?
"But if that was all there was to it, that wouldn't have broken the Gods' taboos?"
What I recalled was that the scholars' generation had been destroyed due to divine punishment . And since there was the Holy War as a cleansing mechanism at fixed periods, the Gods were actually quite tolerant of mortals treading upon their taboos . A normal level of anti-divine actions still wouldn't lead to something as drastic as divine punishment .
"This technology alone would have been fine, but they just happened to invent human-created physical bodies and soul-saving technology . You know the Sky Tower, right, yep, that Sky Tower at some corner of the sea . Actually, that's a soul-saving center . Each of the countless rooms within it contains the brain and soul of a wise scholar . They're still performing their research within that tower, while simply waiting for their rebirth program so they can be reborn .
Rebirth program? I heard an interesting phrase just now . After Timlad explained, I finally learned what the great engineers from that day had accomplished .
Unlike what the mages of today called the scholars of that generation, since they were called scholars, those great engineers were no fools who didn't foresee their own demise at all, nor had they done something so foolish as to give their entire race eternal life . After all, anyone with even the slightest intelligence would know that there was such a thing as a carrying capacity for the world .
However, the scholars had indeed gone quite overboard . They assessed the value of every "human", and every human deemed as valuable according to their standards would be given eternal life . The others would await their turn to be reborn within the Sky Tower . The value assigned to each individual would determine the time of their rebirth and how long they could live . Population would be controlled and increased or decreased by societal needs . This way, the scholars could indeed control population growth even with eternal life . However, there was one part that they hadn't realized .
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login