The lotus before him was small and exquisite, little more than a bud. Its closed petals looked carved from colored glass, as delicate as a work of art.
Its astral spirit body... was very unusual.
The petals' astral spirit bodies clustered around the central seedpod, and inside that seedpod was a strange sort of magic-or perhaps consciousness.
One thing was certain: it had definitely been modified. Otherwise, there could not have been such strange magic inside it, similar to its own power but not entirely the same.
Kroya tried communicating with the lotus's consciousness. A Level Three magic plant should have developed self-awareness, but unfortunately, this one had none.
It possessed only instinct, with no consciousness of its own.
Even within its astral spirit body, Kroya could sense none of that vibrant vitality. It truly resembled a manufactured implement, utterly devoid of awareness or spiritual intelligence.
That was very strange.
Even the lowest-level magic plants possessed some degree of spiritual intelligence and awareness, yet this one had neither.
In other words... it had no desires, so the Astral Body Inscription Technique could not work on it-the technique was founded on a thing's desires.
A lotus that was truly just a "plant," like this one, naturally had no desires. There was nothing to work with.
"...Well, this really is something."
He sighed softly, recalling the mention of desire in its description.
With his knowledge of the three souls and seven spirits, he knew that Fu Shi restrained desire.
What actually produced desire was Que Yin. Once Que Yin took flight, desire had been set free, and Fu Shi could no longer suppress it.
Could developing self-awareness also count as a desire, causing it to be ruthlessly suppressed?
If his guess was correct, this was an ingenious design. Only something without desire