Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Norrell never expected that she would grasp the relevant technology at such a convenient time. It seemed that connecting with the super artificial intelligence could indeed grant her access to technology, and it was far less dangerous than she had imagined.

"Isn't it supposed to be connected to a super AI? Aren't AIs themselves dangerous? I've seen data records of many AIs experiencing data crashes during the connection process, seemingly due to significant differences in version levels, data formats, and logic between the two sides, leading to a replacement result. Why is it that with me, there seems to be no communication problem? In fact, I feel that the other party's logic is very instructive and suitable for me."

Norrell was somewhat puzzled as to why the other party was so compatible with her, unaware that the Ghost Demon Lord was communicating with her from the background using a split soul. There was no such thing as super artificial intelligence; this virtual world couldn't simulate such a thing. The smooth communication between the two was simply a way of collecting data. If they didn't let him taste the benefits, how could they frequently conduct such deep-level access in the future? How could they directly obtain its core data and core operating methods, thereby promoting the Ghost Demon Lord's technological advancement?

Mo Chengzi didn't realize his world was fake. Even if he had some suspicions, he couldn't find any way to verify them. However, he had already noticed something was wrong with some things, but ultimately, the realism was too high, and he found that the logic of the world he was in was beginning to become self-consistent. Those logical loopholes that he had previously doubted were now, upon closer inspection, actually the result of his oversight.

He even began to doubt that all the feelings of unease he had experienced before were just illusions, caused by his own paranoia after transmigrating.

The truth is, this world is indeed changing, and its realism is increasing. It's not that the Ghostly Demon Lord's abilities have undergone a qualitative leap. As for the ability to shape a single world, let alone the Ghostly Demon Lord, even the Mountain and River Republic at its peak would only reach this level. Because humans themselves are unpredictable. Humanity, with its inherent variables, is itself the world's greatest variable.

Simply creating an extremely realistic virtual world, without enough human variables, will eventually lead to the discovery of subtle clues by mentally strong individuals living within it for an extended period.

The almost only way to increase the realism of the world is to throw more and more people into it, making them NPCs and allowing real human souls to join the world. This would compensate for the lack of variables.

On the Ghostly Demon Lord's side, the importance attached to different people's worlds varies. Some people's time flows quickly, while others' flows slowly. Some rule over low-quality worlds created hastily, yet remain completely oblivious to the flaws in their own. Others, however, are incredibly perceptive, able to instantly discern problems in their worlds.

All these factors combined have resulted in the world Mo Chengzi currently inhabits having a remarkably slow flow of time. A vast number of variables are concentrated within it, requiring significantly greater computational power to operate and drastically increasing the realism of the world. The collisions between these variables exceed the limits that almost any computational system can encompass.

Like Xu Duo, who once reigned supreme in the martial arts world, mastering various martial arts techniques and reincarnating in the human world, he ultimately failed to pass round after round of selection because his personal consciousness strength did not meet the standards required by the Ghostly Demon Lord. In other words, he did not reach the level of a grandmaster or above in a certain field, nor did he develop or master a top-notch technology.

If you don't reach this level, you won't even qualify as a secondary personality of the Ghostly Demon Lord.

The experiment has progressed to this point. The Ghostly Demon Lord's purpose is now crystal clear. He has realized the vast gap between himself and the Mountain and River Republic, and also the vast gap between himself and Lanno. Even when he cooperates with Fang Yuan, he carries his memories back to the distant past, even to a time when Lanno was weaker. The Ghostly Demon Lord knows he cannot defeat them.

This isn't a difference in strength. It's a difference in wisdom, a difference in essence. He has gradually become aware of this difference in the intensity of these variables and has devised a way to catch up. That is to merge the power of countless people to form an ascended being.

He had previously reincarnated within the Gate of Life and Death for tens of thousands of years, absorbing the souls of countless dead and becoming incredibly powerful. However, this only involved merging their knowledge and memories, elevating his various realms to the Grandmaster level. The absorption of individual wisdom remained superficial.

What he needs to do now is to embody civilization itself, to integrate the wisdom of everyone. He wants to make them his alter egos, to merge everyone into one, into an ultimate, powerful soul. This is not just a difference in size, but also a difference in wisdom compared to ordinary people and those who are exploited. Because he alone is equivalent to the combined wisdom of hundreds of millions of people. Faced with any situation, he can switch to the most suitable personality to deal with it, and even lead countless people in discussions to arrive at the optimal solution for the current situation.

Even for Lanno, facing this ascended being alone would be virtually invincible. Even with his vast memories and top-tier intelligence among fourth-order beings, he was still far inferior to this ascended being.

However, achieving ascension is not without its price, the greatest of which is the ego. The memories and consciousness of countless personalities flood in, infinitely diluting the ego. If the ego is someone like Lanno, burdened with billions of years of memories and possessing personal wisdom as brilliant as the stars, then they can barely maintain their ego. But if it's an ordinary person, they'll find it difficult to even become the dominant personality; influenced by countless others, they'll have long since ceased to be themselves.

While the Ghostly Demon Lord also possessed a vast amount of memories, his size was several orders of magnitude smaller than Lanno's. He might be able to maintain his individuality even with tens of thousands of alternate personalities, but if the number increased to millions or tens of millions, his self-awareness would remain unshaken. At that point, he would no longer be himself. He didn't want to truly represent a civilization and become an ascended being; losing himself and death would be no different to him.

This is the reason for the endless cycles of reincarnation and the selection process of each small world. The alternate personalities he needs are the tens of thousands of the strongest among these hundreds of billions of people. These are the people who will truly integrate into the decision-making level of the Ascended Being. Only they can truly influence the decisions of the Ascended Being. The personalities of others are merely passively providing computing power and inspiration, existing in a daze within the Ascended Being.

Xu Duo went through cycle after cycle, only to be eliminated in the end. His performance was already quite good; in some worlds with lower combat strength, he was able to dominate. Relying on the martial arts techniques he initially learned, he deduced many more advanced close-combat techniques.

Even in the world of ninjas, he thrived, becoming a powerhouse comparable to the God of Ninjas. However, his mindset developed a ingrained habit during this process. He treated the martial arts techniques he needed as his foundation, as his cheat code. No matter what world he went to, he always started by practicing martial arts.

This method of utilizing one's accumulated knowledge is indeed a fairly universal way to break through limitations. However, if it becomes a dependency, it might work in worlds with lower combat power, but it won't work in worlds with higher combat power. For example, in the era of interstellar wars, he was still practicing physical training, diligently training for over a decade. The result was that his punch was less powerful than the electromagnetic acceleration rifle wielded by a power supply operator. This was clearly out of touch with the times. In each cycle of reincarnation, if he could step out of his comfort zone, break free from his path dependency, and try to learn more new things, even if he started with an ordinary personality, he could grow into a top genius through repeated trials. But unfortunately, he couldn't step out of his comfort zone. He even wished that the worlds his soul would enter next wouldn't have too much technology or too much combat power.

So he was considered one of the losers, eliminated from the massive selection process involving hundreds of billions of people. On the surface, he was promised that he could live within his comfort zone in the future, and that the reincarnation worlds he would experience would allow him to perfectly utilize his talents.

In reality, his memories were being frozen little by little, while his deepest personality was being backed up and stored as a personality to be used in extreme situations.

It can only be used when one truly encounters a situation where one must rely on pure martial arts to break the deadlock.

His own soul was reshaped. Most of the sealed memories were reconstructed into the original memories and thrown into the worlds of others.

They act as NPCs in other worlds to increase the realism of those worlds. Sometimes they play key roles, and sometimes they are just inconspicuous passersby. This depends on the realism of those worlds. The more realistic the world, the more NPCs are used. Conversely, a less realistic world might only have two or three real people.

Xu Duo is actually a fairly capable ordinary person. As an eliminated person who has achieved some success, he will play a relatively important role after being thrown into the virtual world as an NPC.

Many more were eliminated because they were too mediocre. Some people didn't have much ambition after transmigrating; they just wanted to live their lives peacefully. If they could make a little money using their strengths and live an easy life, that would be good; if not, they could just drift along aimlessly.

People like this are usually sent to be NPCs, playing the most insignificant and unknown roles in society.

There are many different types of personalities that are eliminated, some because their personality models are too unstable. They may be well-behaved most of the time, but once provoked, they will erupt uncontrollably and violently confront the surrounding society.

Encountering such a personality is incredibly unlucky. They're like gas canisters ready to explode at any moment, even if some have decent abilities. The Ghostly Demon Lord wouldn't allow such a self-destructive personality to serve as his primary alternate personality.

Ultimately, it's not a truly ascended being that integrates with an entire civilization, and it doesn't care about how well-rounded its personality is. If it were a true ascended being, it would also retain negative personality traits with self-destructive tendencies, ensuring it's sufficiently well-rounded with no weaknesses. It would accommodate any possible personality type.

The world Mo Chengzi inhabited had actually become one of the worlds being prioritized for development, with tens of thousands of NPCs already deployed to enhance its realism. This was why he had previously sensed a slight unease. However, as time passed, he realized that his previous feelings of wonder and doubts were all illusions. The realism of his world was indeed increasing, to the point where it was now difficult for him to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Tens of thousands of NPCs are already a lot. Don't be fooled by the tens of millions of people in Night City; a person might only encounter a few dozen or a hundred people a day, and in a lifetime, they might only have relatively close contact with tens of thousands. There's a technique to deploying NPCs. It's not about scattering them everywhere. Instead, it's about focusing on the people around the main viewpoint of this world.

Therefore, most of the humans that Mo Chengzi comes into contact with actually have real souls. However, their past memories have been sealed, and the memories of this body have been implanted. So their every move is in line with the character design. And because they have real souls, their every move is almost the same as that of a real person.

Meanwhile, in his world, the Mughal was overjoyed that he actually had the opportunity to exchange for the right to resurrect. The guilt he felt for constantly capturing his own kind these days was even suppressed by the joy deep in his heart.

As for whether he was a real person or just a piece of data in the past, he himself didn't know, nor could he possibly think in that direction. Right now, he was thinking about finally seeing his family. He had accumulated some wealth in the virtual world, which might be able to change his family's miserable living conditions in the future. Even if it didn't improve things much, the prospect of reuniting with his family already filled him with immense excitement.

His heart raced as he discovered that he had indeed been chosen, selected to be one of those eligible to be resurrected in the real world.

[To be continued]

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