Ian focused all his attention on the profound knowledge about Fourth Layer of the Soul Dimension. He spent some time digesting the huge and complex golden information flow in Sea of Consciousness, and then slowly closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank into the depths of his soul with ease.
Without hesitation, he directly crossed the relatively basic defense areas of the first two floors and arrived at the third floor with the most stringent defense measures. This is the absolute restricted area where Ian stores his lifelong knowledge, core memories, and research results. Its defense level is so high that it can be described as an excessive defense that is "armed to the teeth."
The first thing that catches the eye is a huge space army composed of thousands of arcane battleships. These Blink floating fortresses glowing with silver-blue energy patrol back and forth in the soul Void.
Inside each battleship are stationed several legions of arcane Golem. These mechanical soldiers, made of obsidian and engraved with ancient runes on their surfaces, are always ready for battle. This is just the first line of defense set by Ian.
If any intruders are lucky enough to avoid the perception of these battleships, what awaits them will be a huge and suffocating maze. The walls of the maze are composed of Ian's constantly changing memory fragments. Not only are they blessed with countless deadly magic traps, but they are also home to a large number of ferocious soul creatures, enough to cause any consciousness that strays into it to instantly collapse.
The third line of defense is called "Truth Corridor". This is a long corridor that seems to have no end. Void echoes with overlapping echoes similar to Ian's own introspection thousands of times in the past.
Every time the invader takes a step forward, he must answer the extremely tricky academic questions raised by Ian that involve the nature of arcane magic. Only completely correct answers can continue to advance. If they try to force their way through through force or deception, the corridor will instantly transform into a death trap that buries the soul.
Next is the fourth barrier - a huge dark door that stands tall and is extremely resistant to Soul Energy. Ian's original intention of creating it was to induce the intruder to consume their soul power crazily here, causing them to fall into extreme weakness before entering the core area.
The fifth line of defense is even more insidious. It is a grand "Pseudo-Library". There are a large amount of seemingly precious memories and knowledge piled up in the museum, but 90% of the content is discarded data that has been carefully forged by Ian or due to experimental deviations. If the intruder does not have the vision to discern the authenticity, he will only waste time in this endless Sea of Consciousness ocean of knowledge.
The sixth level has a strong color of Technomagic, which is an encryption computer with extremely complex logic. If an intruder wants to bypass this layer, he must crack its internal dynamic verification code - it is a set of encryption sequences based on Ian's own algorithm that will be completely reorganized every 30 seconds.
Even if someone can crack the password at an unprecedented speed, they will eventually have to face the underlying defense program coordinated by Morgana himself.
While the intruder is trying to break through the last barrier, Morgana has an absolute time advantage and can instantly clear all the real data in the computer and transfer it to the Empire's main server, leaving the intruder facing only a pile of meaningless code debris.
Although at the scale of Omniverse, it is not absolutely impossible to steal the memory of Ian, it is undoubtedly a huge project that even the gods find troublesome.
In order to consolidate this spiritual Pure Land, Ian invested Empire's decades of surplus resources and used a variety of different-dimensional technologies to create a large number of soul treasures.
The figures of Overlord and Ian in this space suddenly appeared in Chamber of Secrets where the core computer was located. He looked at the familiar furnishings around him and murmured in a low voice, "The defense protocol here has not been updated for a few days. Now that I have the advanced knowledge about the fourth layer, I should also increase the security system here."
He casually moved, and the space of Chamber of Secrets began to expand crazily around like a tide, eventually evolving into an endless entity the Library. Ian walked among these bookshelves that carried the foundation of the Empire, showing a satisfied smile like a dragon guarding treasure. For him, this knowledge is his most indestructible throne.
After completing the necessary reinforcements, Ian began to perform the core mission of this trip. He breathed a spell, and a streamer ladder leading to a higher dimension rose out of thin air from the center of the Library.
He stepped up. When he finished the last step, the surrounding scene instantly collapsed and was replaced by a vast, deep and pure white Void.
"In some philosophical books in my previous life, I have seen the saying that 'the mortal body is a temple', and the soul is the only key to tapping one's own potential. It was not until I was in the fourth dimension of the soul that I finally understood the scientific meaning of it."
In this space he named "Essence Zone", Ian felt as if he had mastered the Authority owned by Creation. Soul Dimension was vast and full of countless unknown mysteries. Even though he had mastered the cross-dimensional technology, he felt that he was just standing outside the threshold of Truth.
He continued to move forward under the guidance of a special spell. In this pure white space where the speed of time and space was completely out of control, Ian felt as if he had walked for several epochs. Finally, he reached the end of perception.
There, a ball of purple flame the size of a basketball was suspended quietly about 30 centimeters above the ground. There was a hint of flowing silvery white in the core of the flame.
"Is this 'Soulfire'? The true original driving force of the soul." Ian observed the flame obsessively, and the research data compiled by himself in the future constantly appeared in his mind.
Soulfire is not only the ultimate blueprint for individual existence, but also the key factor that determines the upper limit of the Empire's citizen rank.
According to records, the color of Soulfire has a strict classification: the weakest one is pure white, and the flame of this color only exists in clones without Self consciousness evolution potential, low-level Homunculus or ordinary wild animals. The flame of ordinary humans or the so-called "Muggles" is usually green, and the brightness transitions from light green to dark green with the level of talent.
Once a creature awakens magic, chakra or any form of extraordinary energy, Soulfire will transform into blue. Dark blue Soulfire is the upper limit of most mortal creatures and is also a hard prerequisite for reaching Seventh Tier. To break through to the Eighth Tier position, the flame must change to purple.
This is usually only possible for races like High Elves or adult Dragonkind who are naturally in line with the laws of nature. Future research shows that by externally injecting high-purity Divinity energy or directly absorbing World Origin, the deep blue flame can be forcibly catalyzed to purple.
And if we want to break the last shackles of the soul and step into the Ninth Tier position leading to Tenth Tier, Soulfire must show a bright light gold.
As for the highest known color so far - deep gold, it is the advanced Tenth Tier, or even the ultimate Cornerstone that touches the unspeakable Eleventh Tier.
"Divine Power needs to be obtained by hunting gods or advancing 'False God Project', while World Origin involves large-scale plane plunder or cross-universe trade. Both resources are extremely scarce and cannot be industrialized within the Empire." Ian frowned.
If he wants Empire to enter a prosperous age where "Legendary Arcanist" is everywhere, he must find a low-cost technology that can massively upgrade the level of citizens Soulfire.
"It's a pity that even the future me can't come to a conclusion on this topic." Ian shook his head and focused on another attribute that made him feel gratified: conquering death.
Research shows that even if an individual's body and soul are completely Annihilation in the outside world, as long as the Soulfire has not been extinguished, the individual has a theoretical possibility of resurrection.
The survival time of Soulfire after the soul is destroyed depends on its previous level - with Ian's current Eighth Tier's quality, his flame can maintain a burning state for at least seven days after death.
This flame contains all the original codes about the soul. As long as this fire can be located in time and provided with sufficient life energy and corresponding carriers, a soul in its prime can be perfectly "printed".
In addition, Ian also saw an interesting experiment on soul migration from the future records. In the future, Ian once moved the complete soul of a subject into another perfect empty shell body.
The results show that after the new body carries the soul, it will spontaneously evolve a matching Soul Dimension, and produce a new Soulfire in the depths of the dimension that is exactly the same as the original owner. At the same time, the remaining flames in the old body will be extinguished.
"Empire has taken another milestone step on the road to truly overcoming the 'fear of death'." Ian sighed with emotion.
Previously, due to the extremely domineering "Authority of Death" in the hands of Guznader, many of the Empire's elite soldiers could not be awakened even if they retained soul fragments.
Now, Ian has finally found the crux - that's because their Soulfire has been eroded by Necromantic Law. With this set of Soul Reshaping Technology based on the fourth dimension, Empire will be able to withstand higher levels of death suppression, and the death rate will experience an unprecedented plummet.