Endless Debt

Chapter 1270: Chapter 81: Imperial Envoy

Scholar.

A group of pioneers tirelessly paving the future for humanity. Throughout history, one after another, they dedicated themselves to the noble quest for truth, unearthing the Alchemy Matrix Technology amidst clouds shrouded by the Devil, and creating the Path of Transcendence.

With the birth of Condensers, they did not stop, continuing to research new technologies one after another; Alchemy Armament, Void Realm, and other world-changing novelties emerged incessantly.

As time progressed, the relationship between Condensers and Scholars grew increasingly close. Condensers needed Scholars to optimize and iterate on the new Alchemy Matrices, and Scholars needed Condensers to fight for them, for everyone.

Their relationship was like that of intimate comrades, a great swordsmith and a skilled warrior, their bond tightening until inseparable.

Bologue also harbored such a peculiar affection for the Scholars. He seldom spoke of it, but those emotions had already seeped into his very bloodstream.

He thought such respect would continue, but in recent years, Bologue’s perception of the Scholars had worsened.

Everything has two sides, and Scholars are no exception. They indeed made tremendous contributions in pursuit of truth, but sometimes their obsessive pursuit led to madness, sacrificing themselves without hesitation.

Simply put, Scholars are good people, but when they go mad, it’s downright deadly.

Countless Freyas were slowly approaching Bologue like an advancing wall in this one-way corridor. Bologue had no retreat, waving the Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid to envelop the shattered, little Freya, cautiously retreating with her.

Upon realizing the Void Realm’s intelligence of Freya, Bologue was convinced she would surely fail; individual consciousness could never command such an enormous realm.

Only then did Bologue realize he was somewhat arrogant, for what he could conjecture, Freya, as a scholar, surely surmised too.

Given consciousness can only be replicated, not uploaded, she copied her consciousness multiple times before dying, for backup, trial and error. Perhaps, she designed some program to replicate her consciousness like a virus until it completely filled the Ruins District.

Bologue felt torn between praising Freya as a genius and feeling worried about the current situation.

Freya originally suffered cognitive distortion, and as she merged with the Ruins District, this distortion remained untreated, skewing the entire district’s perception of humanity. Perhaps, this explains the Ruins District’s persistent state of disarray.

To the Ruins District, everyone is an intruder, an enemy. As for the Cultivation Room’s focal body, it’s the real fallen zone. The Ruins District’s invasion of the Cultivation Room’s focal body was merely to reconstruct the Ruins District’s version of a true Cultivation Room before complete isolation.

Bologue knew she couldn’t answer, but still couldn’t help asking the little Freya, "In this case, what exactly are you?"

Little Freya shook her head blankly. If earlier, pursued by the blurred light, she managed some thoughts, now facing countless identical Freyas, she completely froze.

Bologue’s mind raced. Since Freya copied her consciousness to fill and fully control the Ruins District, every Freya assumed a certain function to some extent.

The little Freya before him was no different, her ability to freely open safety gates possibly her assumed function.

"You might be a product of aberration."

Bologue suddenly remarked, "Like in biological evolution, there are bound to be unstable mutations. The replication of consciousness inevitably has errors, and you might be that error."

"If I am the error, then..."

Little Freya struggled to follow Bologue’s logic, looking down at her shattered body, then at the approaching Freyas, and in unison with Bologue, they said.

"Correct the error!"

"Correct the error!"

After Freya copied her consciousness into the Ruins District, she massively self-replicated, fully controlling the Ruins District. This process is akin to cellular division in the body, where some mutated cells inevitably arise, like this little Freya encountered by Bologue.

She possessed completely independent consciousness, quite unlike the cold, mechanical Freyas, making her an anomaly among them, warranting elimination. Yet, little Freya possessed a tendency to seek advantage and avoid harm, allowing her to discreetly survive within the Ruins District, eluding Freya detection.

Until Bologue’s arrival.

"Seeking advantage and avoiding harm..."

Bologue suddenly wondered if his encounter with little Freya was also a facet of seeking advantage and avoiding harm.

Clearly, little Freya couldn’t actively use her permissions, but to a degree, she could instinctively and passively employ this power.

Little Freya might not realize, but instinctively she already knew as Freya’s dominance deepens, hiding places within the Ruins District dwindle. One day, little Freya would inevitably be discovered, and she needed an external force to break the shackles.

That’s why the safety door opened in time for Bologue to step into the Void Lump region, thereby encountering little Freya, attempting to leverage Bologue’s power to break the deadlock.