312 This Is A Good Location

Baiyi began to explain the details of his sudden epiphany to the curious Voidwalkers.

His theory was not without a foundation. A complete soul is said to exist when a soul container holds the consciousness of a particular being. If either the soul container or the consciousness is missing, a soul is said to be incomplete; that was the case they had on their hands: a container without any consciousness. To someone from earth, this analogy would be "a new computer without an operating system".

Therefore, Baiyi decided to utilize a secret spell on the soul container; something similar to the secret spell he used regularly on the Hammerhead Shark Plushie. This secret spell would allow him to infuse some of his consciousness into the soul container. This was just like installing an operating system onto a PC. When the consciousness fused with the soul container — becoming a complete soul — Baiyi would place it into a complete armor set. This would be the best test for the new Descent spell!

In the past, Baiyi had only been able to place a single Voidwalker into an animal plushie because he could only split off a limited amount of his consciousness and soul into the plushie for the Voidwalker to assume control of. This was one of the reasons why he was unable to place a Voidwalker into a complete set of armor, or at least, something bigger than a plushie. The other reason was that it was quite demanding to pilot an armor set.

However, now, he could circumvent these problems! The soul container left behind by the Northern Warrior was so powerful, all it required was a wisp of consciousness — as small as the amount placed into the plushie — for the soul to become complete and fit to be placed into an armor set and pilot it; a scene akin to a chuunibyo middle school boy piloting a gigantic mecha!

Furthermore, the mana, combat chi, and other powers of deceased beings were always stored in their soul containers. While the beings were alive, these powers would be stored in the body, but when they kick the bucket, their powers move into the soul container; they do not pass away with the corporeal body. This was the reason why whenever Soul Armatures were summoned, they arrived with their powers still intact.

Since soul containers were able to store powers, it did not dissipate easily and quickly after the death of the corporeal body, except the soul is destroyed.

Once Baiyi transferred some of his powers into the complete soul and places it into a complete armor set, the resulting 'Soul Armature' would possess superb fighting capabilities. Even non-battle actions, such as movement, would be no problem for the created soul armature, even if it is not subjected to the constant optimizations and power support maintenance that the plushie was constantly given. This just amps up the overall convenience.

There were more to like about Baiyi's idea. For example, because the soul container in their possession came from a Holy-level warrior, it had more than enough strength to pilot a complete armor set. This meant that the soul container could be further split into smaller soul containers and infused into more armor sets. This way, even more Voidwalkers would be able to descend to the real world! 

There was a constraint, though — one that existed because of the technical limitation of Baiyi's method. In order to have the any Voidwalker descend to this universe, Baiyi actually had to split a little bit of consciousness from himself for the Voidwalker to take charge of. However, the amount of power that a soul could exert correlates with the amount of consciousness inside that soul; to put it simply, the higher the amount of consciousness in a soul, the more power the soul could exert.

If Baiyi needed only soul armatures that could move around and perform basic activities, then a little consciousness would suffice. However, when the occasion called for a battle, the consciousness required would spike, and so Baiyi would be left thinking of how much of his own consciousness he could afford to split.

One could perform a simple educated estimation: if Baiyi divided his current consciousness into half and placed into a soul container for a Voidwalker to control, then the Voidwalker would possess battle powers higher than an average Immortal-level fighter. If Bayi was to divide it into three parts, each part could grant a Voidwalker Legendary-level power in the real world. If Baiyi was to divide it into five parts, then the five Voidwalkers would only be able to move around, perform evasive maneuvers, and attack physically. Anything more than that would be impossible to perform because the amount of consciousness would not be enough.

The Holy-level soul container in Baiyi's possession could be divided into more than five parts, but his consciousness, the 'operating system', could not. This was because the amount of consciousness Baiyi had in this universe was only a very small fraction of the total amount of consciousness he had in the Void, so splitting his current consciousness in half was all he could muster.

However, Baiyi knew that this limitation was far from permanent. He was pretty optimistic that in the future, he would find some other ways to jack up the amount of consciousness he could utilize in this world, which in turn would allow even more of the Voidwalkers to descend.

As for his security, there was even less for him to worry about. Only Baiyi alone would exercise complete control over the soul container and its consciousness, so he could improve, or even cut off, the soul in an instant, should any of the Voidwalkers who descend suddenly turns on him.

Yes, Baiyi was aware of that possibility and prepared for it. The Voidwalkers had different natures and ideologies; the only reason they all worked together — and reached similar conclusions on different issues — was purely because they had a shared goal. Therefore, he could not possibly discard the idea that at least a few of them might harbor ulterior motives.

Baiyi's suggestion for the usage of the empty soul container had struck a chord in almost all the Voidwalkers. Even if a Voidwalker was not able to fully descend to the real world, they would still be able to control a complete armor set for a short amount of time, and that would be much better than possessing fluffy plushies.

Now that the Voidwalkers had approved of Baiyi's suggestion, they were ready to start working out the specifics of the spells involved. They needed to create a spell that would allow them to split the soul container and a spell that would allow them to infuse the soul container into an armor set. They also needed to work on the secret spell that would allow Voidwalkers to descend to the real world. In conclusion, the Voidwalkers had a ton of work to do. 

Fortunately, technical issues like these had always been the forte of the Voidwalkers. In fact, even the Lich Walker, who was depressed only moments before, got excited and lead a team of Voidwalkers to tackle the problems associated with the soul container. His team included the Devil Walker, the Apprentice Walker, and some other Voidwalkers who had a reasonable amount of knowledge on the subject.

The Archmage led another team, which was tasked with solving any magical difficulties the Voidwalkers may encounter. This team consisted of the Voidwalkers that had expertise in the field of magic, so they had the additional task of working on the secret Descent spell.

The Void soon began to bustle with a level of activity that could only be found at busy universities. 

'But, then again, what if… instead of using the soul as a vessel for another Walker, I use it for myself?' Baiyi thought quietly to himself, pondering on the other, more… self-centered way he could use the soul container.

The soul container of a Holy-level fighter was just the warehouse that Baiyi needed to store some of his immense power. With his newly-acquired leather suit and the domineering ability that Void Energy had, Baiyi was sure that his own battle prowess would increase by leaps and bounds; it would even be enough for him to mitigate the constraint he currently had on his power output. He would be able to properly make use of the twenty percent power he had floating in the cracks between realms. He was completely positive that he would be able to contain all that power in a combination of the leather suit and the Northern Warrior's soul container.

However, despite the possibilities, Baiyi did not think to suggest this to the other Voidwalkers. After all, he was already capable of defeating cheap villains with only his punches. What he needed the most was a couple of extra hands. No matter the challenges that lay ahead — which could be other battles or the human resource constraint that his future academy had — Baiyi was sure that he would benefit more if he invested on his pals in the Void, rather than if he improved his own battle prowess. He believed that it was not likely for him to battle another famous enemy anytime soon.

Once the Lich's unit began to make significant headways in their task, it would not take too long a time before they could optimize the soul fission and soul fusion spells, to the point that both could be executed instantly. At that time, his options would be open; Baiyi would split the soul whenever he needed more hands, and fuse the soul back together when he needed more power. Two stones, one bird; both would benefit him anyway!

"Huh. Come to think of it, the rewards I got from this incident are all really great. Almost as if they were tailor-made just for me. As if everything had happened by design — and by design, I mean the type of design that focuses on usability and user experience!" Baiyi concluded quietly.

He had to admit that he was incredibly jubilant that all the rewards he had reaped were beneficial to his current needs and future plans; however, the ease at which the rewards made his plans come together made him feel confused.

'That collective consciousness thing called itself the 'Sextant'…'

Back then, not only had it said that Baiyi had inherited its legacy, but it had also pledged allegiance to the Fifth Walker himself. This part, at least, strongly suggested that all this was a set-up.

Was it the War God's doing? Does the War God really think Baiyi to be his messenger? Could it be that the Godsfall cult was onto something, even though they probably got it right accidentally?

Questions just kept flashing through Baiyi's mind.

Using Little Mia's internal injury as an excuse, Baiyi decided to settle down in this small realm for three more days — a time period that he used to heal her. However, the real purpose of his extended stay was to try to uncover more secrets of the Forest Fairies.

He did not succeed. That strange and solemn persona in the forest fairy leader did not appear again.

Nevertheless, Baiyi did gain something helpful in other aspects. For starters, he deduced that the Ants were, in fact, very friendly to him, and their allegiance, which they declared to him back then, was not feigned. Their earnestness had not only moved the soul armature, but it had also given him another idea.

He asked the forest fairies if they minded him opening his school in their realm.

He asked the question to test the forest fairies' willingness to accept him, and to his surprise, the bull-sized ants were almost prancing about as they immediately constantly. They even told Baiyi that they would enjoy the influx of "new friends"!

"I thought you guys were against aliens!" Baiyi asked in, feeling befuddled.

"The Test is over, and so our previous mission is accomplished. The next mission is to help you," the Ants replied.

'That means I also automatically gain a bunch of mooks for myself! Man, the rewards I gained for passing this test are starting to become disproportionate,' Baiyi thought. 'Or were these rewards given to me for something I have yet to do, like a prepaid service? … Honestly, though, could anyone be this generous? '

It did not take long before thoughts began to run through his head again. For some reasons, Baiyi felt quite uneasy about the shower of gifts. According to the aged barter system, one would give the equivalent of what they got. Hence, if the rewards shoved his way was this big, then one could only imagine what he would have to do. Whatever that unfathomable legacy was, it would definitely be a pretty heavy burden to bear.

There was also the fact that the leather suit's owner was a god, who died. What if the god wanted Baiyi to start a war between the divine, in the name of vengeance?

'…Whatever. I'm taking the good stuff, either way. After all, I'm not exactly an average joe who would easily be defeated by some gods. We'll see,' Baiyi concluded.

To him, it was certain that the forest fairy ants would be of great aid to the founding of his academy. They were extra hands he needed, and they would do well undertaking the role of security guards. One just needed to look at their claws and stinger to know that they were, first and foremost, a fighting-savvy species.

Baiyi had good reasons why he wanted to build his academy within this realm. The scenery was breathtaking, the temperature was optimal, and most importantly, the land was free; no rental fees were required! He could at least save more of his modal.

The more important factor, however, was the fact that there were no external ideologies and beliefs in this realm — especially the Church's. Baiyi's ideas and ideologies would remain unopposed here, which served his agenda to inculcate radical, non-mainstream ideas. Other than the minor problem of accessibility, this place was nothing but perfect!

Now that Baiyi had decided to build his Academy in this realm, he wanted to stay here and observed a little longer. However, his students had to revolt against his idea and nag him, at any chance they had, about their Grace Day celebrations. There was also the fact that Mia had already completely recovered from her injury, as a result of Baiyi's advanced theurgical healing spells, which Laeticia had yet to learn. The girl was going about her usual adorable shenanigans. Baiyi really had no real reason to stay any longer.

'Seriously! What's so fun about this Grace Day anyway?' Baiyi thought unhappily as he reluctantly bid the forest fairies farewell. He stepped into his new trans-realm portal and returned to Isythre.And it doesn't require a pair of boy-and-girl-who-trusts-each-other pilots placed in seriously Jungian bait of a position to operate mechas with moe factor ramped up! /winksIt's true! That's why cults pick the place where there are very few people to establish their little town. Outlast 2 even had three sorts of cults in the same place!