Chapter 662: Rote Memorization

Chapter 662: Rote Memorization

Im back!

Were all back. You arent special.

Hey, everyone! Good to see you.

Technically, we see each other every day in the mirror. In the end, were all one person.

Thats true, but its boring.

One person? More like one dumbass.

Hey! Who was that? Mortal? Calm yourselves, everyone. We need to behave, or hes going to dismiss us again.

Hes going to do that anyways.

Yeah, but well be out for longer if we behave. Im with Sectgoer on this one.

Why does First get to set the rules for all of us?

Because hes the original. Obviously.

Yeah, yeah. Democracy! Im starting a revolution!

Hey now. Are we really going to become evil clones? I mean, its such a clich.

First can totally kill us now, you know. I dont want to die for real. I already did that once, and I didnt like it.

Viva la revolution! Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

Hui put a hand to his brow. Mortal, can you calm down for ten seconds?

Hmm? Yeah, Im just joking.

I know, but we need to study, not joke around.

Haaaa, fine. So boring. Youre almost as bad as Sectgoer.

Hey! Whats that mean?

You know what that means.

Whoa, whoa, First. What are you thinking? A hundred clones? Imagine a hundred Mortals. Wed all get pestered to death!

Hey, what does that mean?

As if you dont know. First, dont do it! We wouldnt survive a hundred Mortals!

Drawn back from the brink, Hui physically stepped back, startled. What was I thinking? Theyre right. Risking a hundred Mortals? While its true that were incredibly mentally stable and wouldnt do anything stupid like killing one another, dealing with a hundred copies of Mortal might make even me unstable enough to consider it!

Oh, hey. Im not that bad.

Not usually. But when you put your mind to it

Mortal sighed. I have this weird, lingering feeling that I got shafted somehow. Its making me antsy.

Ah, yes, well, thats because I let you get your mind wiped so that I could avoid getting my mind wiped. Er, my apologies, Elder Brother.

Well, Im glad you came out and said it, though.

Right, right. Of course. I wouldnt keep something like that from you. Thats the kind of foolishness that leads to the destruction of all of us! No drama, none at all. After all, we absolutely do not want to end up killing ourselves. It would be the peak of foolishness! Ah, I did promise to let you out in the future in return. Should we consider this my repayment, or do you want to be more free to do your own thing?

Hey now. Dont turn my repayment into work for me!

Fine, fine. Ill let you out later. For now, lets focus! Falling silent, Hui turned his full attention to the herbs, and within him, the rest of the clones did as well. The wall blurred past. Between Hui and his clones, he absorbed thousands of individual pieces of information and quickly stored them away. On and on, hurtling down the line, his mind completely focused on the task at hand.

Except for one.

Mortal hung back a bit, his arms crossed, only paying half-attention to the herbs. So boring. I understand why were after this, but it doesnt change that its super boring. Who wants to sit back and memorize boring shit all day? Not me. I need more excitement in my life. I mean, hell, so do the rest of them. No idea why theyre all falling in line eh, I guess theyre just grateful to First for letting them out. Or they actually believe his schtick I mean, its valuable, sure, but boring. So damn boring!

If Im not going to focus on the plants themselves Mortal looked over his shoulder, where the information lined up in their mental space as golden words in a black void. Right now, its just data. Nothing more than a big, useless pile of information. One of us might as well try to use it. I know we always say we have no karma with pill cultivation, but what the hell? It cant hurt to try. Even if I totally fail, we havent lost anything.

Inside the metal space, he folded his legs and assumed a meditative state. Rather than closing his eyes, he stared directly at the list, absorbing all the information as the others memorized it. Whereas they took the words and burned them into their brains without thinking deeply about them, he processed the information, considering it, digesting it. One by one, he stacked similar pieces together, healing herbs with healing herbs, wind-elemental herbs with wind-elemental herbs. Instead of lining up neatly in their mental space, the words shifted around, settling into place. A glittering gold network appeared. Similar herbs sat near one another, while tenuous threads crossed the gap to connect herbs with interactive effects. Black lines marked herbs that fought or canceled one another out.

As he went, he adjusted the network constantly. Herbs that worked together drifted towards one another, while those in opposition drifted away. Even so, some clashed. Huis brows furrowed. Dammit. The Ice-White Blossom can, under the right conditions, enhance the effect of the Moonlit Black Thorn, but under the wrong conditions, the Moonlit Black Thorn suppresses the Ice-White Blossom. Do I place it near the blossom, or far away from it?

He bit his lip. For a moment, his brows furrowed, but in the next, his eyes widened. He threw his hand out, and the diagram grew, bursting out into the third dimension. Hui nodded to himself, placing the Moonlit Black Thorn over the Ice-White Blossom, in such a way that the blossom couldnt be seen from his current viewing standpoint, but so that the two remained close to one another. There we go. I just needed a little more space!

Stepping back, Mortal paused for a moment. More information rushed in at every moment, piling up outside the network hed created. He looked the network up and down, his arms crossed.

What we really need is an automatic script. Something that can put the herbs almost where they should be. Obviously, Ill need to watch it and step in every now and again to correct it, but if we could create an automatic script, I wouldnt need to put all my effort into building the network and still fail to keep up with the other clones.

Hmm but how to accomplish that? Mortal put a hand on his chin, thinking to himself.