Location: Lil. Red Storm, Seed World, Devil Merchant Code, Inter-Realm City, Sector WS9909, Infinity Library, Study Room
Undergoing a psychological evolution, the primordial spirit's behavior, thoughts, and emotions became more defined. As a result, its individuality developed at a faster pace. Eventually, its thoughts were no longer confined to merely executing the main primordial spirit's orders; instead, it began striving to prove itself to the main primordial spirit.
Interestingly, it chose the means of proving itself: combat training. Unsurprisingly, this focus caused its individuality, which was already accelerating due to psychological stimulation, to evolve further in the direction of combat training. This essentially became its gateway to the Martial Path.
Consequently, the primordial spirit's individuality continued to develop, gradually intertwining with the Martial Path.
However, witnessing Wyatt not only fail to acknowledge its efforts and achievements but also act petty toward it for excelling beyond him, the primordial spirit grew rebellious. Yet, it did not abandon its resolve. Instead, it became more determined, swearing to make Wyatt recognize its existence-not as just another one of his many slave primordial spirits but as a individual. It did not. want to be ignored being lumped with other slave primodial spirits. It can't become the main primordial spirit but it can be better than the rest.
Since Wyatt refused to acknowledge it through conventional means, the primordial spirit decided to adopt a tougher approach. Ultimately, it resolved to demonstrate its absolute superiority over Wyatt in combat training, leaving him no choice but to acknowledge it. Even if Wyatt wouldn't openly admit or show recognition, the primordial spirit would know. After all, they were one and the same. Living through the internal turmoil of his primordial spirit from a first-person perspective, Wyatt began to realize that he had underestimated his primordial spirits. He had seen them as mass-produced, perfect clones of himself, eternally bound to serve him. But they were far more than
Yes, they were perfect clones of him, but they were also capable of developing beyond him. They remained in servitude to him yet evolved into distinct iterations of himself. They resembled "what-if" versions of Wyatt or similar to the parallel versions of him from alternate universes.
They were identical to him at the moment of their creation, but in the very next second, they began developing into unique iterations. For instance, the first few primordial spirits had evolved into docile versions of Wyatt. They were just as intelligent and capable but lacked his assertiveness, were overly submissive, obedient, deferential, and passive.
This suggested that if Wyatt treated them as mere slaves, they would develop as slaves. The stark difference between his older primordial spirits-who had developed limited individuality-and the one who participated in combat training was a prime example of this contrast.
Thinking this far, Wyatt's face grew grim. He realized he had inadvertently become the father of thousands of children. While their physical development was already complete, he now bore the responsibility for their cognitive, emotional, and social development. His expression darkened further as he considered that, with every breakthrough, he would father a few thousand more children in the future.
Yes, he had long deduced that the mutated consciousnesses he created through soul mutation and division were his equals physically and spiritually, but emotionally and socially, they lacked any experience. He hadn't given this much importance, assuming they would grow alongside him. However, witnessing the extraordinary progress of the primordial spirit that trained with him, Wyatt realized he had underestimated his primordial spirits by a wide margin.
To correct his mistake and ensure all his primordial spirits had equal opportunities for growth, he decided to periodically let them enter the VR universe to live individual lives, learn from their surroundings, and develop through interactions with others. Within this controlled environment, he could ensure their safety and monitor their progress. He even planned to create a sect or school in the VR universe, equipped with the best teachers and facilities, exclusively for his primordial spirits. This would become increasingly necessary as he ascended to higher realms and created more primordial spirits. Or perhaps he could leave the task to the Field Marshal-would she make a good nanny?
Finally, Wyatt refocused as the moment of enlightenment drew closer. This was the defining moment of his experiment. It would determine whether he had discovered a shortcut to mastering the Martial Path or if he would spend more time in the study rooms of the Infinity Library's WS9909 sector branch, training rather than studying.
Bracing himself, Wyatt began to relive the memory of his primordial spirit undergoing enlightenment, hoping to emulate its experience and achieve enlightenment himself. As he immersed himself in the memory, Wyatt realized he had been mistaken: his primordial spirit hadn't. gained enlightenment over a simple movement technique. Instead, it had managed to step onto the Martial Path and achieve a milestone that typically took others decades-or even lifetimes-to reach. Now, Wyatt understood why the Field Marshal's card intent seemed more focused on training his primordial spirit than him. The card intent had even altered the entire training regimen for the primordial spirit, encouraging it to attempt the next phase of training independently. The card clearly recognized the primordial spirit's enlightenment and prioritized it over Wyatt. But how was this possible? Wyatt speculated that the Field Marshal's instructions to the card might have been vague, and since the primordial spirit was a perfect clone of him, the card intent might have chosen to prioritize the clone.
Be that as it may, Wyatt, who was experiencing his emulated enlightenment, took his first steps on the Martial Path. However, unlike his primordial spirit, which had already reached a significant milestone, Wyatt had only advanced far enough to recognize the significance of his primordial spirit's achievements. Ile also began to understand why he couldn't replicate those achievements. The reason was simple: the same principle applied as in education. Just as students studying under the same teacher might achieve vastly different results in an exam, Wyatt's circumstances and experience differed from his primordial spirit's. This difference explained why he couldn't fully replicate its accomplishments on the Martial Path, even when emulating its enlightenment through its memories.