Chapter 58 – Manchurian Candidate

Meca and Trey had also designed plans to increase the security of Adam’s spirit sea. Not just a defense but a veil to avoid anyone discerning the true extent of his powers. It would also stop dead any attempt by Elios to connect to his spirit sea. With that done, they rested.

When Adam was returning to the village, Echo interrupted his musings. Adam thought maybe he’d overdone it with the SP expenditure; shadow-jumping tens of miles at a time did seem a bit extravagant, after all. But no, Echo just wanted to let him know of a few upgrades, as he put it.

They were not upgrades, though; Echo and the team had evidently given him what could only be considered god-like powers and a god-like body. Libby corrected him, saying that his body, though greatly improved upon, could not be considered further than the tempered body 9th layer. This was due to the simple fact that she still did not know how to do this. She could, of course, make him vastly stronger physically, but apparently, the path of cultivation was far more complex than that.

Adam got the basic gist of cultivation by now. After Libby had explained what she knew many times to him, cultivators made their bodies super strong, not to be super strong per se, but so that their bodies could house larger and larger amounts of Chi without exploding or dying. This holding of Chi – energy eventually allowed them to perform and use unique god-like abilities. And become immortal. Unless, of course, another cultivator came along and killed them, which seemed to happen all the time. Especially as all life forms had cores, and a cultivator’s core could be harvested just like any other beast.

Going down this route, of course, would make him just as much of a target as anyone else. But, on the other hand, it would mean he had some actual power of his own if he learned how to use it properly instead of relying too much on his AI team. It still didn’t sit well with him how dependent he had become and how close they had all come to death because of this.

If only he could develop powers of his own.

To do this, he would need a teacher to gain access to the necessary knowledge. Then, he would have to go to town. He also wanted to check out any history that existed about the strange shrine, where he had seen a vision of IakesI.

Echo had heard of Adam’s intentions to enlist the help of Bai Bo-Xue; this was very disturbing to them all. The man humans involved, the more the chance of harm coming to Adam, they reasoned.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Humans were not like AI. Sure, AI could be cunning and manipulative, well-sentient ones, anyway. But AI still needed to change its tune. They had objectives and directives that they held to at all times. Humans changed their minds and allegiances more times than they changed their pants. They could not be trusted, even to stay evil.

Therefore, Echo would not let Adam jeopardize his prime directive by enlisting this idiot onto their team.

He had a rash plan. He knew it was dangerous, but not to Adam, so that was ok. All the others agreed that Bai Bo-Xue dying would be a good outcome anyway. He was already a liability as far as they were concerned.

Echo had puzzled over many spirit sea weeks on how IakesI had managed to absorb Bone’s spiritual form into her own being. He couldn’t work it out, but that did not mean he had given up on the idea. Oh, no. He would use what he had at hand. Versatility was his middle name by now.

So, of course, he constructed yet another teleport. The only question was what they would transfer.

They decided to send a copy of the Trey. Echo had wanted to send a copy of himself, but they took a vote on it, and Trey was chosen. He didn’t really mind much as long as Adam was protected. He did, however, plan to send some of his trusty GTAs to help Trey, of course.

Adam would be protected because if Bai Bo-Xue did anything to threaten Adam, they would hinder, incapacitate, or, if needed, kill him from within his spirit shell, Elios style.

Whether to tell Adam or not, they had yet to decide. So again, they voted on it. They were still undecided as Trey abstained. He didn’t want to make another mistake.

“Adam, wouldn’t it be great if we knew Bai Bo-Xue could be trusted on pain of death,” said Echo subtly.

Adam paused to consider this for a moment. “I would have no problem with that. I was planning for him to swear on his life or some equivalent anyway,” replied Adam. He did not want to have to trust the untrustworthy Bo-Xue either if it could be helped.

“We can implant something into him so that he will not be able to carry out any actions that harm you. Or we can at least be informed of his intentions in advance.” Echo said diplomatically, this time.

“And how would you do that?” Adam said, not sure if he liked the way Echo was talking. He would. Instead, they just came out with it and told him what they were up to, as usual.

“We would put a copy of Trey into his spirit sea. That would watch him and kill him if he tried anything.” Said Echo straight away. Libby groaned inwardly, but Echo was their leader now.

“Will he get any benefits from having Trey in his spirit sea? I feel bad just putting a bomb in his head.” Said Adam, unsure.

“He could have abilities like you. But Trey’s prime directive will not allow him to be harmful towards you in thought or deed.” Said Echo compliantly. He needed to sell this to Adam; if he could, it would make everything easier down the line.