Chapter 333: Useless?
After spending an entire night inquiring with the Nightmare Butterfly and intermittently reading notes, Saul managed to figure out the current situation of the Nightmare Butterfly.
Haywood's notes stated that each Nightmare Butterfly's egg was not their child, but their new body. If nothing unexpected happened, Nightmare Butterflies could rely on transferring their consciousness into their eggs to gain a new life.
Thus, they could also inherit their previous memories, which were what they referred to as history.
However, this method seemed to have its problems.
Because Haywood had learned from the Tower Master that the transfer process of the Nightmare Butterflies was also their most vulnerable moment.
It was said that some formal wizards—Haywood noted here, "at least second-circle wizards"—would specifically target this process to capture Nightmare Butterflies.
Of course, the dying burst of a Nightmare Butterfly was also terrifying. There were high-level wizards who had died from it.
At the same time, the notes recorded that the transfer of Nightmare Butterflies often required the help of dreams, and the dreams of people with stronger mental bodies were better.
This could greatly shorten their period of weakness.
"So Penny originally wanted to use my dream to be reborn?"
"Yes, and in order to gain power from your history, she also observed you."
Saul: "...No wonder she mistook me at the time."
His history involved traversing between worlds. And not the kind of ordinary great world leading to a small world, but traversing between worlds with many different underlying rules.
Even he himself almost got trapped when trying to observe his own history, so how could he have the spare energy to save someone?
"Do you still remember the content of the observation?"
The little butterfly fluttered its wings, "If I remembered, then I wouldn't exist."
"Alright."
Saul felt a little regretful. If he could take this opportunity to know what happened when he traveled through, would he have a chance to understand if there were any changes in his soul?
However, after experiencing an unclear crisis, Saul still didn't figure out if he had experienced anything special during the crossing.
And the observer Penny only peeked at a little bit and lost part of her own history, turning into a tsundere little butterfly.
"Why do I feel like I've become a bomb?" Saul shook his head, exploring the mysteries of crossing was more dangerous than he imagined.
"So I should still focus the idea of the revival experiment on eliminating the container's rejection of the soul. Studying the uniqueness of my soul may not yield any results. If I let Mentor Golsa study it in the end..."
Saul was too clear about the consequences of becoming someone else's experimental subject. Hayden and Herman were living examples.
Life and death were not up to them, nor was gender.
Thinking of this, Saul looked at the Nightmare Butterfly.
"Do you still have the ability to observe history?"
"Nope!" The little butterfly answered very simply.
"What about the ability to change other people's memories?"
"Nope either!"
Saul crossed his arms. If it were before, he naturally wouldn't want the Nightmare Butterfly to have this kind of ability to change cognition.
But now that it had become a bookmark, Saul naturally hoped that his pet could be stronger.
But thinking about it the other way around, if the Nightmare Butterfly's abilities were still as powerful as before, Saul's current strength might not be able to subdue it.
He simply asked, "Then what abilities do you have now?"
"I don't know!"
Saul sighed. Just as he was about to take the Nightmare Butterfly back, the little butterfly seemed to sense his intention and suddenly flew up, saying pitifully, "Saul, brother, can you not put me back in that dark place?"
"Not going back? Can you stay outside for a long time?"
"Why not? I've always been outside."
Saul pondered for a moment. The Nightmare Butterfly was originally a special life form between a witch body and consciousness.
Perhaps she was different from the souls of wizard apprentices and could act alone outside.
Thinking of this, Saul agreed to the Nightmare Butterfly's request, "Then you can stay outside for now. If you feel anything unusual and want to go back, you can call me at any time."
"Thank you, Saul brother, you're so nice!"
The Nightmare Butterfly circled in the air and then landed on Saul's cheek, its antennae gently touching Saul's face.
Saul only felt a slight chill.
"Nightmare Butterfly… Forget it, I'll call you Penny from now on. Although you've forgotten your history, you should still be her."
"Okay, I like the name Penny!" The Nightmare Butterfly, having lost part of its history, had no resistance to this name and gladly accepted it.
"Penny, why can your consciousness exist independently from your body? A consciousness body should be very fragile. Without a body, it's difficult to resist the pollution and alienation that can happen at any time."
"Because I have history. Knowing history allows me to confirm my existence, and the more history I know, the more stable my power becomes. Even if I get hurt occasionally, I can find myself by reviewing history."
"But you've lost most of your memory now. Won't that be dangerous?"
"Normally, it would be, but my situation is special now."
"Are you saying that your connection with the diary can protect you?"
"So that dark place is called a diary? What a strange name."
Saul didn't explain, and Penny didn't need to understand the diary.
In short, the way the Nightmare Butterfly's independent consciousness body survives is not applicable to wizards.
Saul temporarily stopped studying Penny. He put the notes back in the sealed lead box and returned to the experiment area to clean up the mess.
He hadn't yet discovered why Herman suddenly behaved abnormally when he entered the female corpse.
That afternoon, when Hayden came to find Saul as usual, he found that the tall man who had been following him was gone.
Before he could ask, he saw Herman standing with his eyes closed in the middle of the corpse group outside the outermost part of the Second Warehouse.
He immediately showed a hint of panic, "Lord Saul, Herman she..."
Saul followed Hayden's gaze and looked over, understanding in his heart, but only said lightly, "There was a bit of a problem with the experiment."
Hayden's heart suddenly rose with a trace of fear. He followed Saul uneasily.
Herman's "death" made Hayden nervous. He didn't expect Saul to consume an experimental subject so quickly.
Although Hayden had prepared himself to be researched in various ways when he took the risk to participate in the spirit infusion experiment. Before coming to Saul, he also knew that he would already be researching himself, after all, even normal wizard apprentices would become experimental subjects of their mentors, either willingly or forced.
But when he really saw an experimental subject being consumed, a huge fear rose in his heart.
When Hayden walked to the experimental area at a much slower pace than usual, he was shocked by the equipment that appeared in front of him.
"Electro-induction chair?"
In an instant, the time when he had just become an experimental subject reappeared in Hayden's mind. The dull, insensible feedback of the new body and the painful experiments day and night made his heart palpitate.
Hayden stood in place, unable to take another step forward.
The current in his imagination swept through his body, and he thought that all the hairs on his body were standing on end, but in fact only his eyelashes trembled slightly.
Hayden knew that he had no way to disobey Saul's orders. Even if he was going to die the next second, he could only obediently cooperate.
But knowing was knowing, but her body was very honestly standing in place.
Saul walked over and turned on the electro-induction device. He noticed Hayden's fear, so he explained the content of this experiment in advance to prevent him from being so nervous.
"What we're going to study today is the repulsive force of the corpse on the soul. In a moment, you will sit on it and try to break free from your body with your consciousness, and I will record the reactions on various parts of your body."
Saul adjusted the chair and looked back at Hayden.
See, it won't electrocute you.
But Hayden was still standing there blankly, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
Saul frowned, "What are you worried about?"
Hayden's trembling pupils moved little by little from the electro-induction device to Saul's body. She opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word.
However, just as Saul was about to forcefully order him to begin the experiment, Hayden in front of him suddenly shook all over.
The aura of fear on her body receded like a tide, and when she looked up again, her eyes were already full of firmness and a hint of madness.
"He doesn't dare, I dare, Lord." Hayden's second personality slowly pulled out a stiff smile on his face.
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