Chapter 61: Essence

“Whew!” Su Chen let out a long sigh. “This is their story.”

“I never would have expected the situation to be like this. How unimaginable, how unimaginable!” Patelocke said, deeply moved.

Messages were only messages, after all. No one could have anticipated that such a story was hidden behind the awakening of an Origin Beast.

The first artificial intelligence had actually been created under these kinds of circumstances, but had also disappeared without a trace. Su Chen and Patelocke were both rendered speechless.

The secret of how the puppet had managed to preserve itself until now had also been resolved. So it wasn’t some kind of incredible invention, but the dregs of an Origin Beast’s power.

This Origin Beast had been so powerful that even its dying breath was enough to protect this puppet for tens of thousands of years, ensuring that time would not corrode it for tens of thousands of years.

It was obvious that the puppet was trying to ensure that its story would be passed on to future generations. Su Chen’s discovery had made it so that Sbasse’s actions had not been in vain.

The defensive barrier was gradually weakening, and eventually the screen of light had disappeared completely, leaving behind the transmission puppet.

Because time had not eroded away the puppet, it still appeared brand new. Of course, the Origin Beast had not awakened because of its skin being mined away. That was merely a lie Donna had made up.

“It seems to suit you quite well,” Su Chen said.

“That it does!” Patelocke was extremely excited.

How could it not suit him?

This puppet was able to be controlled by two consciousnesses at the same time. Its body had already been altered for this purpose, making it a perfect dwelling place for Patelocke. The transfer process might not have been as smooth even for an ancient puppet coming from Patelocke’s era.

A moment later, Patelocke had immersed himself in the puppet. The puppet began to stand as its joints clattered mechanically. The entire process was extremely simple.

“Haha, I finally have my own body!” Patelocke yelled loudly. “How interesting! I can actually feel some lifeforce in this body.”

“Perhaps that’s a misperception, or perhaps it’s the final gift Sbasse left behind for this body. Who knows,” Su Chen said as he shrugged.

“You’re not planning on researching it?” Patelocke was stunned.

With Su Chen’s personality, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had suggested cutting up Patelocke into pieces to get a better look at him.

“It’s your body now. I will never do anything to any of my subordinates. Of course, if you are willing to volunteer yourself, that’s a different matter entirely,” Su Chen replied.

“I like your principles.” Patelocke rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. “If you don’t harm my body, I can let you use it, with certain limitations. As long as I am given the right kind of compensation, I can give you more control over my body as well.”

Su Chen chuckled. “That last sentence is the most important, isn’t it? What kind of compensation do you want?”

“A lot of different things. I am still an Arcana Master, after all, and I have my own research interests. Your research interests don’t necessarily overlap with mine,” Patelocke said.

With a physical body, Patelocke was free to do as he pleased.

Su Chen could do research, and Patelocke could as well.

Su Chen welcomed this idea.

The path of research was not something a single person could do. The bloodline-less techniques were the result of Shi Kaihuang and Su Chen’s joint efforts. It was just that su Chen was the one who had received all the glory. Having an extra Patelocke was naturally a good thing.

“Unfortunately, the story doesn’t tell us where the Lightless Ring is,” Su Chen said.

“Oh, that’s not a problem,” Patelocke said. “Actually, I know where it is.”

As he spoke, he raised his hand and smashed the throne behind him into pieces. A plain-looking ring appeared before Su Chen’s eyes.

“This is the Lightless Ring?” Su Chen was stunned.

The ring seemed quite unremarkable and plain. The name of Lightless Ring, in that sense, was quite fitting.

There were a number of other items behind the throne as well that Su Chen couldn’t identify. Patelocke, on the other hand, was able to do so at a single glance. “Kambada’s Mechanical Shell, Lunbolang’s Gelatinous Organism Essence, Fidel’s gear, Fiyana’s Consciousness Core, and Biha’s Water Crystal and Energy Hub. There’s quite a few valuable items here, but they are all used to construct puppets. Including the Lightless Ring that belonged to the Puppet in the first place, it appears that these were the items it had gathered to create its new body.

Sbasse had wanted to create a new body for himself, but the discovery of the Origin Beast had caused him to give up on this plan.

The items stored inside the throne were probably all the materials he had managed to gather.

Even though Sbasse didn’t belong to the Intelligent Race, he had become selfish once he gained intelligence. As a result, Sbasse hadn’t tossed out these items. Instead, he had placed them inside a throne along with the Lightless Ring as a kind of memorial.

This was to Su Chen’s benefit. Because of the light barrier, these items had been untouched by time as well and could absolutely be used.

However, the truly shocking discovery was yet to come.

“Heavens! This is the essence of an Origin Beast!” Patelocke suddenly began to yell.

He lifted up a fist-sized golden crystal. It glowed in Patelocke’s hand, its form similar to that of a water droplet.

The essence of an Origin Beast was actually a fragment of its Origin Crystal. An Origin Beast’s Origin Crystal was too powerful, so it usually could not remain in existence for too long. Most of it would dissipate back into nature, but a small fragment could be left behind. That fragment made up the essence of an Origin Beast.

Gu Youhuang’s extraction of the Shining Dragon Bloodline was actually due to the Origin Beast’s blood essence that was mixed inside this crystal fragment. Otherwise, the Shining Dragon bloodline wouldn’t have been nearly as powerful as it was.

However, the essence took priority. The bloodline was secondary.

The fragment before them was actually quite large. It was very likely something that Sbasse had left behind before he died. This essence had been buried beneath the throne just like all the other items, causing it to be protected from the passage of time.

Sbasse never mentioned that he was going to leave behind these items and his own essence in this place. It wasn’t clear what his state of mind at that point in time was, but regardless, this benefitted Su Chen and Patelocke.

“We’ve struck it rich this time!” Patelocke guffawed loudly.

“Yes, but it seems like we cannot use it for now,” Su Chen muttered.

When an item was too precious, it often seemed far out of reach.

Of the six treasures that Su Chen had stolen from the Demonic Emperor’s palace, he had never used the Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal, Desolate Beast blood, and Thunder Totem, while the Hourglass of Time, River Source Grass, and Heavenly Truth Songstone were easily put to use. The Hourglass of Time produced Sands of Time, making them useful both as sacrificial items and in combat. The River Source Grass turned the Boundless Sect’s territory into a place of abundant resources. The Heavenly Truth Songstone was incredibly useful for comprehension.

The Origin Beast Essence was even more valuable than the Desolate Beast blood. It would probably take many years before Su Chen could bring himself to use it.

Patelocke chuckled. “Are you worried that you won’t ever be able to use these good items? You just haven’t ever tried to research them is all.

That was true. Su Chen had been focused on researching the bloodline-less cultivation techniques, and on the side he would develop combat Origin Skills that could be used without a bloodline. Both of these things could be transmitted. Su Chen had done these things because distributing these techniques would net him an incredibly large sum of money that he could use to continue his research, and also because of his ambition to bring the human race to preeminence.

The situation he was facing now was completely different.

First of all, his research on breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm had gone surprisingly smoothly. Reaching the Spirit Burning Realm was more related to the consciousness anyways, and Su Chen’s consciousness power was more than sufficient to form the necessary foundation. The task of breaking through wouldn’t be hard for him to accomplish as a result, and it was only a matter of time. As long as he released a technique that focused on cultivating consciousness power, like the True Spirit Scripture, and offered a few additional pointers on how to cultivate, someone would have developed a bloodline-less technique for the Spirit Burning Realm without Su Chen even doing anything. This meant that he suddenly had a lot of free time on his hands.

Even the circumstances surrounding his research were different now. In the past, no one knew who Cloud Bat was, and Su Chen was able to hide behind a mask of anonymity so that trouble had a hard time finding him.

Now that his identity was common knowledge, there were probably many people who would jump at the opportunity to kill him or stop him from doing research. Su Chen desperately needed to increase his own strength. Even though he was already quite powerful, his opponents were stronger than he was. At this point, stockpiling resources was no longer as important as converting the resources he did have into personal strength.

Also, he was not alone anymore.

The Boundless Sect stood behind him.

The Boundless Sect had a vast future ahead of it, but before it reached that point, there were many challenges and hurdle it would need to overcome.

If Su Chen didn’t want it to come to a premature end, then he needed to quickly increase his personal strength so that he could handle the responsibilities of being the Boundless Sect’s Sect Master.

With this understanding, it became clear to Su Chen what he needed to do.

“Well, that is true. All I’m doing right now is waiting for the Harpies, so why not spend some time investigating how to convert these resources into strength while I wait? I won’t repeat the Scarlet Heart’s mistake and leave my treasures somewhere for other people to take,” Su Chen said.

“That’s more like it,” Patelocke laughed as he clapped. “Some things only depend on whether we want to or not. Obtaining resources is much harder than using them. How can you not know how to use a treasure once you have it? You just aren’t quite willing to part with it is all.”

“You’re right. Who doesn’t know how to spend money? The important thing is knowing how to spend money. These resources need to be used to sharpen my blade,” Su Chen said meaningfully.

“I imagine that you will be able to fight against a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator by the time you burn through all of these resources,” Patelocke said.

Fighting a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator at the Light Shaking Realm was a tremendous feat.

However, Su Chen didn’t seem to place much importance on that.

His gaze was never fixed on something like this. Su Chen didn’t even put Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators in his eyes, let alone Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators.

Human life is limited, but knowledge is unlimited.

Pursuing an unlimited goal with a limited body was quite a fascinating endeavor.

The beginning was approaching!