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Chapter 286 What Kind of Transcendence is This

"...What a transcendence this is."

Aiwass murmured softly.

There were numerous resurrection techniques in this world.

In the past, even the Supreme Heaven could create a Magic Cauldron to resurrect mortals, and the Shadow of Avalon was essentially a large-scale resurrection ritual. Moreover, when Celestial Marshals and Pillar Gods transformed the souls of mortals into Angels Envoys capable of descending into the Material Realm, it too could be considered a kind of resurrection.

Apart from the powers involving Celestial Marshals and Pillar Gods... According to Aiwass's understanding, the masters of the Path of Dusk and their "Insect Amber" possessed a technique for harm-free resurrection; the Path feature, "Silent Undead," could also grant a second life, and the Path of Devotion could trade a life for another.

Even Aiwass's "sister," who didn't exist in his memories, was recorded in the Hall of Silver and Tin of Avalon for her achievement—she invented an unstable resurrection concoction.

However, any resurrection came at a cost.

Birth, aging, sickness, and death were laws of the world and the foundation that allowed the world to achieve an eternal cycle.

Humans are born with a soul which gradually develops and grows in the process of maturing. Then, when death arrives, like fruit falling to the ground, souls return to the world... after which seeds sprout and new life is born.

Within this process, the total amount of souls increases. The total population of all beings also increases, which is a positive cycle that can compensate each other. From this perspective, the world is like a bank, continuously offering loan services. The slow growth of souls in the Material Realm is the interest it gains.

But if, during this process, a large number of people no longer participate in this cycle—such as becoming Angel Envoys or turning into Undead, or being resurrected—then, in the end, the world would face a deficit.

—If one day everyone attained eternal life, and the supply of souls in the world was completely depleted, then children would be unable to be born. Even if new children are forcibly born, they would not have souls.

This is not an unfounded worry.

It is the actual existing "Soullessness Disorder."

In the Parthian Ancient Country, due to a large number of soul-related rituals being performed everywhere at once, pregnant women who conceived or gave birth in the wrong places sometimes bore children without souls.

They were like born vegetative, but it was slightly different. Their brains were normal, just unable to be activated... it was as if the hardware of a computer was intact, but no operating system was installed.

Scholars from Parthian also studied this phenomenon.

Some have tried various methods to awaken the brains of these soulless infants, but they could never bring forth their human intellect—the best they could achieve was to reduce a human being to an animal.

Without a soul, one cannot remember one's own name... or rather, one cannot differentiate oneself from the world. Thus, a distinct personality cannot emerge... Even if through rigorous domestication methods, they managed to make those with Soullessness Disorder move and talk autonomously, they still lacked personality. The most complete solution to date involves using a faux soul to drive, treating the body of the soulless as if it were an animated golem.

Jacob's research could solve this problem from the ground up.

In this village frozen by Dusk Power, there were originally no newborns. It was essentially a natural "Soulless Environment," incapable of producing new life.

When Jacob was in his twenties, he developed a technique to create the "Swampfolk."

By some means, he duplicated the soul—technically, this was a one-time resurrection technique that relied on unique geographical conditions, which wasn't too outrageous in itself.

Following the chronological order, the clues were rapidly piecing together in Aiwass's mind—

In the beginning, Jacob must have stumbled into Eagle Cape Village in his twenties.

By chance, he discovered this village filled with Dusk Power and hidden in the crevices by Fairy Strength, along with the Fairy Hole brimming with pure earth elemental strength. Thereafter, with his genius, he developed the incomplete resurrection ritual... Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire

But his research failed.

The resurrection ritual hadn't operated normally because the original souls hadn't been destroyed by the ritual. Thus, Jacob stopped or suspended the ritual and left Eagle Cape Village.

More than forty years later, Jacob, who by then had two sons and whose Hand of the Scaleless was about to exit the stage of history, returned to Eagle Cape Village again.

This time he had no intention of leaving.

And with more advanced technology... through some means, he enabled Eagle Cape Village, sealed by the power of Dusk, to give birth to newborns again.

Therefore, he became the "benefactor" of Eagle Cape Village as referred to by the village elders.

Hayna was one of the specimens he cultivated.

She not only conformed to humans in general but also possessed adaptability to paths beyond Dusk; besides being insensitive to time perception, there were no traces of Eagle Cape Village's legacy to be seen in her. She could even leave Eagle Cape Village normally without any issues—although the natives could leave, the "Swampfolk" couldn't.

Then, for some reason, Hayna's father suddenly fled from Eagle Cape Village.

Right after that, the Swamp Man Ritual was activated once again.

He certainly didn't resume it for resurrection technology at that time. He had long been capable of perfecting a far superior resurrection technique.

At this time, the only reason for starting the Swamp Man Ritual was for its original byproduct—the artificially replicated souls.

And what followed was... his death.

Aiwass suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

Jacob, who had invented resurrection technology and even artificial souls in his twenties, his own grandfather...

Had he truly died?

And why did he synchronously succumb to "typhus" like himself?

Was it really typhus?

And...

"I... who am I?"

Aiwass murmured softly to himself.