After saying his final goodbyes to the "protagonists" of this world, Ian showed no nostalgia. He activated Spacetime Positioning Beacon in his hand and instantly teleported back to World Gate located in Dimensional Interstice.
This is an absolute vacuum realm that does not belong to any universe. It is the last fortress he built to avoid the prying eyes of Truth.
The first time he returned to the base, Ian went straight to the medical laboratory.
"Morgana, start Holographic Scanning Protocol."
Ian took off his clothes and lay down in the sophisticated instrument that looked like a sci-fi coffin. His eyes were terrifyingly calm, "Examine every atom in my body, every genetic sequence, and... my soul, consciousness, and Magic Core. I want to know if the so-called 'god' left any 'gifts' on me."
"As you command, Master."
Following Morgana's instructions, countless blue beams of light swept across Ian's body. The instrument made a low hum, and a massive data stream flashed across the holographic screen like a waterfall.
An hour later, Ian was awakened.
"What was the result?"
"There is good news, but also... strange news." Morgana's avatar was floating in the air, with a confused expression.
"Say."
"First of all, your physical fitness has made a qualitative leap." Morgana called up a human body structure diagram, which was densely marked with strengthening points. "Thanks to the all-weather tempering of 'Battle Aura', your muscle density, bone hardness and nerve reaction speed have exceeded human limits and reached the standard unlocked by 'Second Limiter'."
"As expected." Ian nodded, "Where's the magic power?"
"That's what's weird."
Morgana enlarged the screen, showing the micro-state of Ian Magic Core, "Your total amount of magic power has not increased significantly, but in nature... it is undergoing some kind of mutation."
"Mutation?" Ian frowned, closed his eyes and began to look inside.
Soon, he noticed something unusual.
In the past, the magic power was like a pool of stagnant water that could only flow when driven by spells. But now the magic power seems to have some kind of "activity". They are cheering, jumping for joy, and even actively adapting to the surrounding environment.
"That's it..." Ian opened his eyes, with a sudden smile on his lips.
"This is a kind of environmentally adaptive evolution."
He murmured to himself, "Each universe has its own unique physical laws. In the world of Harry Potter, magic is the darling of the rules; but in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist, there is no such concept of 'magic', replaced by 'Crustal Energy' and 'Dragon Vein'."
"According to common sense, when a wizard enters a world without magic, his magic power should become inert or even completely ineffective due to rule conflicts."
"But my magic doesn't. It's struggling, surviving, evolving."
In order to survive and function in this different world, the magic power in Ian's body was forced to mutate. It began to simulate and assimilate the rules of this world, becoming more aggressive and adaptable.
It's like a virus that iterates Self in order to infect new hosts.
"This is very interesting." Ian's eyes flashed with excitement, "This means that as long as I experience enough worlds, my magic power will continue to evolve and eventually become a kind of 'universal energy' that ignores any suppression of the rules of the universe."
In order to verify this conjecture, Ian immediately called in several prisoner wizards who were also brought to this world for inspection.
The results confirmed his speculation: all the wizards who had stayed here for a period of time showed signs of "activation" of magic in their bodies to varying degrees.
"It seems that traveling across dimensions is a kind of practice in itself."
Ian silently recorded this in his heart. This provides important theoretical support for the Arcane Empire's future "Plane Colonization Plan".
"Are there any other discoveries?" Ian continued to ask.
"Yes."
Morgana's expression became serious, "The strength of your soul has increased by at least ten times."
"Ten times?" Ian raised his eyebrows.
"Yes. This should be a side effect of you stealing and digesting 'Divine Knowledge'." Morgana explained, "In arcane theory, knowledge is power, and the container that carries knowledge is the soul. When massive amounts of high-dimensional information pour in, your soul is forced to undergo high-intensity 'expansion' and 'reorganization', becoming more tenacious and larger."
The increase in soul strength means faster spell casting, more refined magic control, and stronger mental resistance.
For mages who pursue Truth, this is undoubtedly a huge treasure.
But Ian didn't show much joy.
Because he still hasn't found the trace of what he wants to find most - Truth.
"Morgana, is there really nothing abnormal?" Ian stared at the screen, "For example, some kind of hidden curse? Or some kind of undetectable mark?"
"Reporting to the master, after a 360-degree scan with no blind spots, your body and soul are extremely pure, without any trace of external interference."
"Really not..."
Ian sat up from the examination table, put on his robe, and frowned.
This is unreasonable.
He made such a big noise in that world - stealing Divine Knowledge, making nuclear bombs, and changing the fate of supporting characters. How could the "Truth" who claims to be omniscient and omnipotent turn a blind eye to him?
This kind of calmness of "nothing happened" made him feel even more uneasy.
"Master, please forgive me." Morgana sighed, "You are a typical late-stage persecution delusion. Maybe Truth doesn't care about a 'little bug' like you at all?"
"Maybe."
Ian did not refute, but the haze in his eyes did not dissipate.
"Morgana, one last test."
Ian lay back on the chair, his eyes became empty, "Conduct a deep psychological profile and subconscious scan on me. I want to know whether my thinking logic and my emotional feedback have been... modified without knowing it."
Morgana was stunned for a moment, and then understood the owner's worries.
If the genius of Truth lies in the assimilation of "moisturizing things silently", then physical scanning cannot detect it.
"Let's get started."
With the hypnotic instructions given, Ian entered a deep subconscious state. Morgana began to guide him to answer a series of extremely tricky test questions involving ethics, logic and Self's cognition.
Three hours later.
Ian slowly woke up and rubbed his painful temples. "How is it?"
Morgana floated in front of him, his little face that usually had a joking expression on it was full of solemnity at this moment.
"Master... indeed discovered an anomaly."
"What's abnormal?" Ian's heart tightened.
"Your..." Morgana hesitated, seeming to organize his words, "Your 'humanity'... is being lost."