Chapter 6950: Ves the Fried Egg |
Spiritual energy, or E energy, possessed both active and reactive properties.
Its presence exerted an influence on the thinking of living beings.
At the same time, it experienced changes as a result of being affected by those very same thoughts.
This had many different implications. One of the most important ones was how the thinking patterns of an astronomical amount of intelligent beings could affect the surrounding E energy radiation on a galactic scale.
While there were so many aliens in the Red Ocean that possessed very divergent thoughts from each other, what if they all happened to form a consensus on a number of topics?
For example, what if they all believed from the bottom of their hearts that phase lords were gods?
If that kind of thinking became pervasive enough, all of that collective belief most definitely affected the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean!
To put it simply, Ves posited that since the aliens believed that phase lords and phase whales were literal gods, this widespread assumption gained a power of its own. It essentially turned into a self-fulling prophecy that changed phase leaders forever!
Even if phase lords and phase whales originally did not possess more literal god-like traits, the changes to the environment altered the very reality around them until they fit the expectations of the masses!
Phase leader existed as a completely separate class of beings from the ordinary aliens that struggled to make a living in the Red Ocean.
Their bodies grew to titanic proportions.
They gained the ability to manipulate the fabric of spacetime without relying on technology.
Their lifespans multiplied by at least dozens of times, and they could potentially obtain organic immortality if their bodies evolved further.
The masses all worshiped them as good without needing to put any effort to reinforce this impression.
Without any significant pushback or source of opposition in the Red Ocean, how could these phase leaders possibly deny such a favorable circumstance?
The puelmers were the only natives that did not automatically believe that phase leaders were gods, yet that did not change anything.
They were just one of numerous races that inhabited the Red Ocean. They were just as outnumbered by the god-fearing aliens as the red human immigrants that arrived in the last decade.
The proportion of puelmers and red humans in the Red Ocean was too small to shake the dominant ideology of native godhood!
As Ves thought about the power of collective alien thinking, he realized that this theory may likely be true!
"If your first theory is true, then phase lord body cultivation is a poisoned chalice. Any human who practices it will eventually become affected by the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean. This is a collective will that is representative of the residents of this dwarf galaxy. Since the residents are overwhelmingly aliens with strong belief in the divinity of phase lords, I fear that humans who have chosen to walk down this path risk becoming assimilated by the aliens through this collective will."
The mood between the gathered people grew subdued as they thought about the unfortunate implications of this theory.
If it held any basis of truth, then every human phase lord was compromised one way or another.
At least Ves actively resisted the will of the alien heavens and managed to retain his humanity for the most part. So long as his alternate self could not unilaterally take over his body, he could tolerate his new condition.
What about others?
Were the professional soldiers selected and transformed by the Phase Lord Department able to resist the temptation to embrace godhood that had previously been exclusive to the vaunted high-ranking mech pilots?
Ves did not necessarily think that they were weak-willed, but when the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean dangled godhood in their faces, how numerous humans could cling to their original ideals and insist that gods did not exist?
Perhaps he was looking down on them too much. It may be possible that there were still enough human phase lords that held true to their original values and principles.
Yet that still left open the possibility that a number of them had become corrupted by the nefarious heavenly authority.
While Ves did not think they would be stupid enough to defect to the Red Cabal and actively fight to make humans extinct, their goals had already diverged to an extent.
This was quite dangerous. Red humanity assumed a heavy burden by allocating a share of phasewater and strategic resources to these large, hungry and ambitious human phase lords.
If half or more of them had secretly gone native, then much of those resources may ultimately end up going to waste!
Ves let out a tired breath. "Phase lord body cultivation is too good to be true. Nothing comes for free. The heavenly authority of the Red Ocean was definitely up to no good when it decided to 'bless' me with the physique of a phase lord. The more I develop along this trajectory, the more I conform to the alien standards of a god. That will subsequently empower the alter ego that is hidden within my increasingly more alien physique."
"If this is the case, then it is imperative that you suspend any efforts to strengthen yourself as a phase lord." Maria Abselon spoke. "The power you gain from this is dispensable. We are humans. We already enjoy the protection of our own 'gods', who are much more reliable than the alien variant. Now that we have recognized the dangers of phase lord body cultivation, there is no justification to continue your development along this trajectory."
Formation Master Andrea Vos nodded in agreement. "The Red Collective is grateful to you for exposing the strong indoctrination attempts of our current host galaxy. I fear that it may already be too late to reverse the degeneration of our Phase Lord Department, but it is not too late for you. There is no need for you to make any further personal sacrifices in order to get to the bottom of the strong alien influence on anyone who attempts to become a phase lord. I can already tell you that our department heads and other leaders are considerably alarmed by the latest revelations."
Ves turned his friend from the Transhumanist Faction.
"You have remained quiet for a while. What do you think, Vector?"
The biomech designer did not hurry to respond. He took a moment to compose his thoughts.
"I think that we should not be too hasty to dismiss the merits of phase lord cultivation." He said. "We have come up with three more theories that can provide us with alternate explanations for our discoveries. It is also important to note that you have actively fought to retain your humanity. That gives us hope that there is a way to have your cake and eat it too. So long as we can balance the power of a phase lord with an adherence to fundamental human principles, it is possible to become a powerful phase lord without going native."
"That is too much of a risk to take." Maria Abselon retorted. "Even if he is about to retire from his position as patriarch, he is still an important pillar of our clan. His mech designs are the heart of our armed forces. The Premier Branch is eagerly waiting for him to design a set of first-class living mechs for its eager mech pilots. We risk compromising his ability to design living mechs, Carmine mechs and more impressive miracle works just to make a single phase lord stronger. If we did not have our own expert pilots and ace pilots, then an argument could be made to invest in this dubious initiative. However, we already enjoy more than enough high-level protection."
There was no good justification for Ves to continue to develop as a phase lord.
The best possible solution was to reverse his phase lord body cultivation. That would make him weaker, but would also remove all of the hidden dangers associated with this alien cultivation method.
Unfortunately, there was no known means to reverse this transformation. Trying to undo a phase lord sounded as absurd as trying to restore a fried egg to an uncooked egg. It simply couldn't be done.
The next best solution was to hit the pause button. If Ves no longer made any attempts to advance his phase lord cultivation, then his problem would not grow any worse.
Yet Professor Vector Loban rejected this safe approach!
He essentially encouraged Ves to continue to develop as a phase lord! As long as he took more precautions and reinforced his control over his own body, he may just be able to succeed!
"Why do you think I should continue, Vector?" Ves curiously asked. "Everyone else thinks it is unacceptably risky for me to delve further as a phase lord. Why are you different?"
The Transhumanist smiled. "That is because progress always entails risk. I can tell you that this is not even the most outrageous case of human self-evolution that I have encountered. I believe that we should not blindly cling to our old human solutions when we have entered a brand-new age. We have gained access to many new possibilities of advancement. Phase lord cultivation is admittedly far too intertwined with alien paradigms, but that does not necessarily have to remain this way. The strength of humanity is not just our ability to copy alien solutions, but to break them down and rebuild them better than before. Instead of capitulating to the alien galaxy at the first setback that you have encountered, I advise you to keep fighting for a better future for yourself!"
That was a bold idea!
Although it was much riskier to continue advancing as a phase lord, the entire notion sounded a lot more appealing to Ves.
He was not the sort of person who gave up easily. Ves refused to surrender to the subversive methods of the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean.
He would much rather fight back and attempt to transform his phase lord cultivation into his own form of body cultivation!
Ves had already begun to entertain a few tentative ideas. Now that his thoughts turned in his direction, he felt it was very much possible to derail the plot devised by a nefarious dwarf galaxy and combine body cultivation with his own ingenuity!
One of the craziest proposals in his mind was to merge his phase lord physique with a superdimensional Polymetal mech!
It sounded absolutely crazy, but it might just work!
Of course, this was an exceedingly risky and dangerous idea. Ves could not afford to experiment on himself anymore. He would have to find a human phase lord and persuade him or her to undergo a dangerous experimental operation!
Ves did not think he would be able to find many volunteers. He may have to create his own phase lords among the clansmen before he could safely conduct human experiments without taking any excessive risks.
This was not the time for him to flesh out this proposal. Ves tried to rein in his enthusiasm and set the matter aside. He could always fantasize about it later when he was finally alone again.
"I think that Vector has a point." Ves said before he raised his palm. "Before you object, I do intend to be a lot more careful about this matter going forward. I will not implant any further phasewater organs in my body or proactively seek to raise my phasewater concentration. However, I will not blindly turn away from greater power. There has to be a safer and more human-friendly way to become more powerful in a physical sense. The fact that the native aliens will become much more inclined to surrender to me is a very nice bonus."