After reading Chris's paper on the connection between Soul Flame and the human subconscious, Ian muttered to himself, "That was close." Over the years, he developed several ways to deal with Soul Flame's limitations.
For example, Divine Power. He created an enchantment array that converted magic into Divine Power. However, this method had flaws, it required a medium, mainly divine blood. Although he only needed a few milliliters as a medium.
He had the corpse of Guznader and the remains of Herpo on hand as experimental materials. But Ian did not like this method because it relied too much on Divinity or even external assistance.
The second method he created was to use an excessive amount of Soul Energy to forcefully flush the soul. As long as the soul absorbs a sufficient amount of Soul Energy, Arcanist can break through the restrictions and advance to a higher level. Unfortunately, this method also has several flaws.
The primary flaw is the low success rate. Arcanist needs to have absolute control over their souls to succeed, and their souls also need to have a certain degree of innate resilience. This method requires too much control, making it impossible to promote and use it on a large scale.
As for innate resilience? Many people have special soul gifts, and Ian also created a Potions to assist in this process. Regardless, he eventually eliminated this method.
Another method used was a rare material discovered after the war called Soul Essence Orb. This thing allows any race or species to break the limits of their soul. Unfortunately, this resource is scarce and not enough to supply the entire Empire.
Ian and Empire tried to artificially synthesize and 3D print them, but they failed.
The fourth method he discovered was the result of research by his student Chloe. She discovered a special energy in Dream Plane that could help break through limitations. Unfortunately, the end result was the same.
This energy is rare and cannot be mined in large quantities. Ian tried to use Energy Conversion technology to convert magic and other forms of energy into Dream Nether Energy, but the results were not ideal.
The Soul Limit of 99% of humanity is Sixth Tier. However, in order to create enough Dream Nether Energy for a Arcanist to break the limit and reach Seventh Tier, Ian must convert a total amount of magic equivalent to an entire galaxy (Ninth Tier).
Empire is already dealing with energy shortages and relies heavily on Dark Multiverse to meet demand. Therefore, it's not cost-effective to use Dream Nether Energy to get people to Seventh Tier, let alone higher levels.
Ian's fifth attempt to solve this problem involved Multiverse. He conducted a dark experiment by having a Alchemy soldier transfer his soul to a peer in Multiverse, Fusion.
The experiment intrigued him. At first, subjects developed complications and they went crazy. However, after figuring out there were differences in the mutants' memories and experiences, he changed the experimental protocol.
The souls of the mutants will be purified, erasing their memories, wills and consciousness before being reunited with the main mutant Fusion. At first, this experiment showed positive signs of success.
Unfortunately, Soul Flame would turn dark purple at the last moment, giving off an aura of corruption. To this day, he still doesn't know the reason for this change, but he also understands that this may be the main problem he will face when trying to reach the Eleventh Tier position.
Ian's sixth experiment was to force Soul Apotheosis. He was not referring to Divinity or belief, but more like the soul's leap or evolution to a higher level.
In the immortality novels he had read, Nascent Soul would transform into Deity Transformation and eventually Immortal Soul. Magic could evolve and become Aether. Based on this idea, he tried to do the same thing with his soul, which in turn would affect Soul Flame.
Unfortunately, his method failed. He couldn't purify the soul the same way he could purify magic, so his leap method failed. He tried to nourish the soul with specific laws or the power of [Authority]. Something changed, but he couldn't detect or observe anything substantial.
He concluded that these laws did not belong to him, so he could not properly use them to elevate his soul to a higher state. Ultimately, he had to stop the Soul Apotheosis project and leave it to be studied later.
Ian's seventh attempt was both a success and a failure. After observing Charles's Soul Flame and its unique Time Ring, he came up with an idea: to create something similar, but instead of using the energy of time, use the power of knowledge.
As we all know, knowledge can nourish the soul and enable Arcanist to reach a higher level. Therefore, he figured out a way to condense everyone's knowledge into a ring and supply it as burning fuel to Soul Flame, allowing it to sublimate and break limitations.
Research in this direction is not easy, but what Luck has is is that Ian found that the [Wisdom Authority] he had stolen from Truth in the <Fullmetal Alchemist> universe came in handy.
So, after countless trials and errors, he successfully created Knowledge Ring, and even formulated a set of general methods that could be used by any Alchemy person who reached the Third Tier position. However, he soon became disappointed.
Knowledge Ring does nourish Soul Flame and allows it to evolve to a higher level; in other words, it does break Soul Limitation. Unfortunately, this process proceeds slowly.
After experiencing this failure, Ian was not discouraged because he saw another path to success: the relationship between soul and fire. They are connected, but fire is the main source of life.
Ian attempts to use the connection between them to establish a connection deep enough to allow Arcanist to use Soul Energy from the soul to nourish Knowledge Ring, thereby accelerating the speed of Soul Flame's evolution.
Unfortunately, he always felt that there was one last link missing for this project to be successful. Chris's research gave him another hint, but he still felt that something was missing.
"Morgana, what do you think?"
"I have nothing to say," House-elf shrugged. She performed millions of calculations every day, but to no avail.
"Okay. Send Chris's research to History Committee and see if they can do something. What's next on my calendar?"
"You need to monitor the process of opening the border and do a quick inspection Bones Council. Then we can set off."
"That's no problem."
Ian did not leave immediately because he had one last thing to confirm - whether Chris's Will Tempering Method was effective for him. He walked into a hidden room in the laboratory and then entered a meditative state.
The process of controlling the subconscious is not a pleasant one. Ian is forced to confront and control the innermost parts of himself, his deepest desires, the good, the bad, and the evil and disgusting elements.
He must accept who he is as a person and decide whether he wants to change or even think about whether he can change. His subconscious also reveals many things to him.
For example, some seemingly insignificant and mild experiences shaped some core aspects of his character.
'I definitely had some psychopathic tendencies when I was on Earth. But after coming to this world and gaining power, they were amplified,' he opened his eyes, exhaled, and concluded.
"How do you feel?" Morgana asked.
"It should finally get my willpower to level 9."
"This is good news."