He realized then that his train of thought might have been planned out. It is just like the sage to present a problem to him and also give him a way out. It is so that he will have to do what the sage wants if he wants more law of order. And in this case, for some weird reason, the sage wants him to win this competition. He doesn't know why the sage will care so much about some Unified Skill Index that will be held every 10,000 years.
It is strange that the sage will care about the competition enough to offer Soverick some of his law of order even if this competition is the first of its kind. It was then that he became suspicious of the competition but he has not been able to figure out what is unique about the competition. He is unwilling to be led around by his nose through the promise of more knowledge but he certainly doesn't have a choice.
He was willing to slowly grind down the defense of the core by winning the challenges and acquiring more keys to create vulnerabilities in the defense of the core of the arena. That was until Madame seducer/hypnotist volunteered herself to go to where no man has ever gone before. She volunteered to help him crack the core of the arena.
She attempted to do something impossible like enslaving him. He, in his infinite magnanimity allowed her to do it and will also offer her something difficult but possible to do after the failure of her attempt to enslave him. Succeeding in this difficult mission should bolster her confidence and repair whatever damage her ego took because of her failure. He is generous and magnanimous that way.
Her consciousness is like a piece of data. What's special about this piece of data is that it has the brand of the arena in it and her consciousness does not have her body to protect it from change. So Legion-7 changed her consciousness into a program using the little he knows of the law of order of the first sage. It helped that she has comprehended a law of the matrix before so her consciousness is not a stranger to the law of order. Then he thrusts her into the core.
The core recognized her consciousness to be part of itself so it accepted her. A gap opened in the defenses of the core so that it can accept her consciousness. The modified consciousness slipped into the wall of the core. Then the arena spirit changed its mind after performing an in-depth analysis of the program and tried to push it back out.
Unfortunately for it, there's someone on the other end that is intent on keeping the makeshift program within the core. The world spirit pushed on one end and he did on the other end. He can't make any more progress and the arena spirit can't eject her consciousness. So the intrusive program which is her consciousness became lodged with the defense of the core.
He thought to himself, "This will have to do. I can't complain."
It is not the vulnerability he wanted. A door or window didn't open up for him. It is more of a crack in the wall. It will have to do. It may not be what he wanted, but it is what he got. The crack has improved his intrusion efficiency by 100%. It doubled the results he is getting in trying to break through the defense. It is not so drastic as to mean he can crack the core open immediately. It only means that he has a hope of gaining access without jumping through all of the Sage's hoops. It is better than having no hope at all so he can't complain.
"I wonder if the sage planned for this." He asked out loud.
He shook his head when he didn't receive any answer. He didn't expect an answer anyway. It would have been weird if he received one. He might not even believe the answer if he receives it. He was just asking to get a reaction. Any reaction would do but he didn't get any. So he has to continue to stew on his thoughts.
The advantage that the lady's consciousness gave him seems coincidental. It is not something that can be easily replicated. There has to be someone in the arena with her kind of ability and that person has to willingly enter his consciousness to be sacrificed for the greater good of Legion.
In the case of this lady, she was foolish enough to believe that she could control him. It seems coincidental but he can't trust himself enough to believe that. It might as well be planned by the sage. He has to question everything since it is related to the first sage.
His question set off other suspicious thoughts in his mind. He realized that the core might be a trap. The sage is dangling knowledge in his face and it is predictable that he will try everything to get it. But the sage decided to make acquiring the knowledge difficult so that he will not be suspicious of it at all. After all, people cherish what they have to work hard for.
Then the sage created a lucky break for him in the form of the suicidal hypnotist. He will think it a mere coincidence and not bother much about it. His suspicion is further lowered when the lucky break doesn't immediately grant him access to the core. Then he will manage to gain access to the core only for his consciousness to be trapped within the core. Then the sage can force him to do whatever he wants Soverick to do instead of coercing him with benefits. His suspicions make everything seem like a scheme.
He sighed and said to himself, "There's no use thinking about it. I'll just follow the knowledge. If I die, I die for Legion."
AUTHOR NOTE: WHO CAN GUESS WHAT RACE LEGION-7 IS?