Chapter 1431: Chapter 242: Devil’s Path and the Road to Paradise
The Guiding Star shone brightly.
In Ian’s perception, from the distant reaches of space-time, the ‘Ian of the Swarm’ who had established a link with him transmitted rave reviews and subsequent follow-up reports.
Back when Ian awakened the Guiding Star, he had a data exchange with his self from the Dao Path of the Swarm and the Spirit Disaster Path.
Among them, Ian not only exchanged technological data of the ‘Artificial Soul’ with Ian, but also provided a complete set of developmental recommendations.
Lurk, assimilate, develop covertly… The waters of Terra are deep; don’t think the Swarm can simply bulldoze its way through, as that would only lead to being bulldozed in return.
Hide among Humans, subtly change their thoughts, develop one’s own strength… absorb those despairing among Humans, convert them to one’s side, then select outstanding individuals to spread throughout Human society, increasing one’s influence.
That’s essentially it—Ian was confident that he would heed his own advice, and also believed that another self, after knowing the terror of Terra, would undoubtedly proceed with caution.
Indeed, this was the case.
The reports sent by Ian of the Swarm were mostly victories.
In the past year, Ian of the Swarm had not left Harrison Port, because openly ‘Ian’ was already dead, so none of the events related to Ian had occurred thereafter.
However, Ian of the Swarm reconnected with Elan, and through Elan reestablished contact with Elder Pude.
Then, using the White Folks as a foundation and the Artificial Soul as a starting point, Ian of the Swarm cultivated a large group of foundational members among the White Folks.
These members could connect their souls to the Swarm’s network, trust and help one another, and under the guidance of Ian of the Swarm, quickly locate schools of fish, discover sunken treasure on the seabed, or find undersea mineral veins and island sublimation plants previously hard for Humans to detect.
Taking advantage of Harrison Port’s complete conquest of the Natives and the breeze of trade blowing from all directions, this group of White Folks quickly became wealthy.
And they became the most loyal followers of the Swarm.
They formed a small sect called ‘Sea Spirit Sect’, venerating Ian of the Swarm as the ‘Spirit of the Vast Ocean’. Their doctrine was similar to the Redwood Natives’ sea-worshiping sect, essentially a primitive ocean belief, and no one really regulated such a small sect. Besides, it was spread privately within the tribe.
Meanwhile, with the eyes spreading towards the South Ridge, Ian of the Swarm became aware of the terrifying and intricate situation in Terra today.
If he had stayed cooped up in the South Ridge, just in Harrison Port and the Redwood Base, he would never have imagined how ghostly Terra truly was.
When a White Folks connected to the Swarm network reached the Imperial Capital, Ian of the Swarm was even more shocked than Ian.
Because Ian of the Swarm had seriously pondered how to lead troops in an attack on the Imperial Capital—how could he have imagined he was up against such a super fortress!
——Luckily, there was no attack!
In short, that’s how it was.
Although Ian of the Swarm had lost Ian’s outward identity, he had already laid the foundation of a sect, beginning to spread throughout the South Ridge.
This sect spread with the Artificial Soul at its core, and Ian of the Swarm used a powerful Spirit Energy Network to control the soul of each sect member, supervise each consciousness, and gradually exert influence to ensure the loyalty of each sect member.
He was now beginning to recruit Western Border refugees as the foundation of his force, using these refugees as pawns, inserting them into various small towns and cities, even building a village independently in the mountains.
No need to worry about Magical Beasts… Ian of the Swarm might need some technique to avoid detection by the Four Great Orthodox Churches and The Empire when controlling people, but controlling Magical Beasts was much easier. If things went wrong, just blame it on the biological invasion from Fiery Flame Land—it’s all their doing anyway!
Additionally, because Ian was absent and only the Swarm remained, Fiery Flame Land managed to cause chaos throughout the South Ridge. The Mountain People’s civil war continued, and Ian of the Swarm was planning to use this as a gateway to infiltrate his force into the Mountain People.
Sensing this, Ian couldn’t help but nod slightly, appreciating Ian of the Swarm’s decisiveness.
Using Artificial Souls and the Swarm Network for fundamental thought rewriting, slow indoctrination and establishment of forces, indeed reduces the likelihood of detection by the Four Great Orthodox Churches and The Empire. Even if it were truly discovered, it’s unlikely to be attributed to the Swarm, at most considered a ‘crisis’ fabricated by a powerful Spirit Energy User or an Alien God revival.
Moreover, since it was mostly mental indoctrination, the crisis wasn’t significant. At least under the cover of the ‘Swarm Prophet’, they couldn’t determine the true source of the crisis.
The Swarm had been openly amassing military force in the Southern Sea for six years without detection; now growing covertly, accumulating strength would naturally remain unnoticed.
Ian of the Swarm was thankful to Ian because Ian’s guidance was crucially important, and the technology provided was the foundation of His development.
This technology was far more valuable than the ‘Crystallized Bloodhunter’ biological modification technology and Swarm Network-related technologies previously given by Him.
Hence, He planned to give Ian a ‘return’.
The Guiding Star shone brightly, Ian felt the emergence of new technology in his mind.
And the name of this technology is… ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝘯𝘦𝘵
Sensing this, Ian raised his left eyebrow, his eyes lighting up with crimson and cyan light, pure and emotionless, flowing like blood with no specific malice.
This was the brilliance of the Swarm.
“…Does the Swarm’s version of me really lack humanity? Such a technology could be developed.”