Chapter 419 - 408: Reverse Engineering
Allen stood before the control console, his body perfectly still. Only in the depths of his pupils did a data stream, like a river of stars flowing in reverse, refresh at a frantic pace.
In the center of the light screen, the three-dimensional Star Map representing Rhine’s soul was magnified tens of thousands of times.
At the core of the orange points of light, a nascent, dazzling "seed" of extreme structural complexity was slowly and steadily absorbing the surrounding, dissipated Spiritual Power at a constant frequency, perfecting its own structure.
[Deep scan complete.]
[Structural Analysis: The model contains 17 core logic loops and 329 Rune nodes. Its Magic Flow pathways are highly consistent with the theoretical model of a Will Rune.]
[Conclusion: The target is autonomously inscribing a Will Rune. Probability of success... exceeds calculation limits.]
Jarvis had reached an incredibly shocking conclusion.
’A soul without a Sea of Spirit is creating its own Will Rune?’
This was like claiming a car without an engine had grown its own turbocharger!
Allen’s breath hitched.
But in the next moment, the trace of astonishment in his eyes was replaced by absolute calm.
’An anomaly? No.’
In Allen’s worldview, there were no unexplainable anomalies, only laws that were not yet understood.
"Jarvis," his voice was terrifyingly steady, "access knowledge base document, designation: K-7741-B."
[Command confirmed. Accessing "An Analysis of the Three Paths of Artificial Soul Technology".]
Allen’s gaze skipped directly past the "Biological Manufacturing Method" and the humanity-twisting "Soul Cultivation Method," landing on the third path.
[Path Three: The Pure Construction Method.]
[Description: Starting from zero, using a Rune Matrix to simulate a neural network, a logic chain to build a cognitive framework, and emotional algorithms to induce the "emergence" of a true personality...]
Allen’s eyes fixated on the word "emergence."
A complex system, after meeting specific conditions, will spontaneously generate entirely new macroscopic properties that its basic components do not possess.
In the artificial intelligence research of his previous life, this was considered the holy grail on the path to strong AI.
But here in the Wizarding World, it pointed to the secret of creation "from nothing."
Allen’s ten mental sub-threads began operating at an unprecedented speed, cross-referencing Rhine’s case with the theory of the "Pure Construction Method."
A hypothesis so bold it bordered on madness began to take shape in his mind.
’The Pure Construction Method uses an "artificial structure" to bring a "soul" into existence out of thin air...’
’And what did I do to Rhine?’
Allen muttered to himself, as if questioning Jarvis, yet also as if interrogating himself.
"I stuffed a ’complete soul’ into an ’artificial structure’."
He had performed the reverse process!
’What is Puppet Zero’s incantation hub?’
’It’s a Control Core made of a Rune Matrix, a behavioral model built from logic chains, a sensory system governed by precise algorithms.’
It was, in itself, a dwelling made for a soul—a manufacturing technique Allen had mastered back in his apprentice days.
Rhine’s soul, stripped from its body, had lost its natural "operating environment."
It was like a powerful piece of software forcibly installed onto completely unfamiliar hardware.
Over the past year, in order to survive, to control this unfamiliar shell, to complete the tasks Allen gave it, to earn a better future for his little sister... what had it been doing?
It was learning.
It was adapting.
It was using its own will to analyze, to become compatible with, and to overwrite the Puppet’s base protocols!
Rhine’s every battle, every thought, every pang of longing for his sister, every jolt of fear upon waking from a deadly nightmare...
All these intense emotions and acts of will were driving his soul to perform billions of microscopic data exchanges and adjustments with this steel body.
The soul was trying to transform this cold machine into its new "body."
And the inscription of a Will Rune required a vessel—a Sea of Spirit.
Rhine didn’t have one.
"So..." Allen’s fingertip slid across the light screen, overlapping the structural diagram of the "Incantation Hub" with the model of the "Will Rune."
"...it adapted to the Incantation Hub and treated it as its own Sea of Spirit."
The truth lay bare before him.
Rhine’s soul was using the Incantation Hub’s Rune Matrix as its "foundation," his own memories and will as its "blueprint," and the daily data exchanges as its "bricks and mortar," to forcibly... rebuild a ladder to the transcendent for itself!
This wasn’t a miracle.
This was the soul’s most instinctual and magnificent act of self-preservation, erupting from a desperate situation in order to continue its existence!
Allen leaned back slowly in his chair and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, only one emotion remained in his eyes—an ultimate calm, mixed with greed and fervor.
He understood.
He completely understood.
The core mystery of "The Basic Method for Constructing a Personality Matrix"—the paper that required 500 Credit Points and Dawn Star Level clearance to unlock—was perhaps now displaying itself before him, alive, in another form.
At this moment, the value of this test subject, Rhine Hart, had already surpassed anything that could be measured by money.
This was a living "paradigm."
A precious test subject that had, by sheer accident, reverse-engineered the theory of the "Pure Construction Method"!
"Jarvis."
"Establish a new project. Project codename: ’Prometheus’."
Allen stood up, walked over to Rhine, and looked down at the calm face, indistinguishable from a real person’s.
"Objective: To create a brand new, perfect vessel for ’Subject Zero’, one sufficient to carry its soul through the completion of its ’reverse construction’."
His tone was like that of someone announcing a sacred mission.
"The V2.0 power core isn’t enough. I’m going to use this year’s allocated Credit Points to purchase small-scale Magic Engine technology. I need to ensure there’s enough redundant energy to support the soul’s metamorphosis."
"Most importantly, the Incantation Hub." Allen’s fingertip hovered over the space between Rhine’s brows. "It needs another upgrade. I want a new, expandable ’Palace of Thought’. It must not only be able to cast Magic, but also monitor, record, and even guide every subtle change in the soul in real time."
"Turn it into... a ’petri dish’ for the soul."
[Generating ’Prometheus’ protocol based on new directives... Preliminary estimate: Required technology involves several High-tier knowledge base entries. Total projected cost will exceed 300 Credit Points and 5 million Magic Stones.]
"Buy the most critical technologies first. Artificial souls are a Dawn Star Level Golem technology. If I can develop it from this, this small cost is nothing." Allen’s tone left no room for doubt.
Besides, this was also a complete, mass-producible manufacturing process for "mechanical Wizards."
If he could uncover the secrets behind it, he would completely shatter the boundary between Alchemy Golems and individual Wizards.
As long as his employees’ souls could be preserved, he could resurrect them, and even allow them to continue cultivating.
The value behind this... forget a mere 5 million Magic Stones; even fifty million, or five hundred million, couldn’t measure it.
The mechanical arms stopped their disassembly, shifting instead to perform a more precise scan, collecting the final data before the upgrade.
Allen watched Rhine quietly.
A year of high-intensity corporate drone life had indeed provided this body with a massive amount of data, and had also given him a huge surprise.
But whether this artificial soul technology would succeed still required much longer observation.
And a Second-level Wizard-grade Puppet couldn’t be built overnight.
Both of these things required time, and he, Allen Wesren, in the Aiselan Kingdom, had nothing but time.