Inside the room, the candlelight was weak and flickering, as if it could be extinguished at any moment.
"Ready."
He took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on the puppet’s dark red gemstone eyes.
Through the ability of [Extraordinary Recognition], he had roughly understood the workings and activation method of this Abyssal Treasure.
Like other rare and ancient items, activation usually required his blood as a medium, and only his blood was effective.
But unlike the previous Transformer skin and Pocket Watch, the Stand-In Puppet also required the user to actively infuse a portion of consciousness or soul to complete the true binding.
This was a more in-depth and dangerous process than a mere blood connection, requiring extreme caution.
Ron took out a small silver dagger and gently made a small cut on his index finger.
Bright red blood oozed along the wound, like a string of tiny pearls.
He gently squeezed the wound, allowing a drop of blood to precisely fall on the center of the puppet’s forehead, where there was an almost indistinguishable shallow indentation.
The blood was absorbed by the runes on the puppet’s surface at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a desert devouring rain, quickly disappearing without a trace.
Once fully absorbed, the puppet seemed to emit a faint buzzing sound, akin to a sigh from afar.
Moments later, those originally dim runes began to flicker with a weak red glow.
On and off, like a heartbeat, bestowing this inanimate object with an almost lifelike quality.
As he infused magic power, the puppet began to inflate rapidly like a balloon.
"Next is the introduction of consciousness..."
Ron watched as the bizarre puppet quickly grew to a size comparable to his own, furrowing his brows as he reached out to touch its forehead.
An icy sensation immediately came over him, a coldness that felt not just physical, but a void existing on a spiritual level.
However, as the contact continued, this cold sensation gradually gave way to a feeling of familiarity, as if touching a long-lost fragment of himself.
Ron closed his eyes and began trying to infuse a portion of consciousness into the puppet through his fingertips.
As the infusion increased, he began to feel a subtle resistance and discomfort, like a cup nearing overflowing, where each additional drop becomes difficult to add.
"Indeed, it’s not an affinity issue but a capacity limitation."
Just as Hayek mentioned, there is indeed a limit to the amount of consciousness that can be infused into the Stand-In Puppet.
Too little infusion will not establish effective control;
Too much infusion will negatively impact the main body, like a piece of paper torn in half, each half unable to fulfill its original function.
This limitation is likely the main reason why even Official Wizards find it challenging to effectively utilize this treasure.
Ron carefully adjusted the amount of infusion, his precision in spiritual control far exceeding that of ordinary individuals.
With a portion of consciousness successfully infused, he suddenly felt a peculiar sense of "splitting," as if an invisible blade had cleaved him into two.
[Stand-In Puppet activated successfully!]
[Current Energy: 0/100%]
[Effect: Creates a duplicate that shares some abilities with the user, current state is ordinary simulation]
[Maximum Distance: 100 meters]
[Trait: Dual Consciousness (the user can simultaneously control both the main body and the duplicate)]
Ron attempted to control the puppet’s movement, concentrating part of his attention to command it to raise its arm.
The puppet did move according to his will but with an extremely mechanical and rigid motion.
It was like a baby learning to walk or a rusty tin man, where every joint movement carried evident stiffness and delay.
"Controlling it is more difficult than I imagined."
A hint of dissatisfaction flashed in Ron’s eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.
He could feel that the portion of consciousness he split off could control the puppet, but the effect was far less flexible and natural than controlling his main body.
"This should be what Hayek referred to as the ’Dual Tasking’ problem."
Ron suddenly realized and understood the vice dean’s warning.
For ordinary apprentices, this kind of split control is truly a daunting challenge to overcome.
Without sufficiently strong spiritual power and consciousness control ability, it’s difficult to manage two bodies simultaneously without encountering severe coordination issues.
Those who attempted this likely mostly ended in failure, possibly even suffering injuries from excessive mental fatigue.
However, thanks to his "Dual Soul" talent, Ron had a significant advantage in this regard over ordinary apprentices.
"The state of the Stand-In Puppet is just a high simulation, not a real body."
Through a series of meticulous experiments, Ron gradually understood the essence and operational mechanism of the puppet.
The puppet doesn’t simply split the user’s consciousness into two but operates under a "transmission-replication" mechanism.
The user must consume a large amount of magic power to transmit their own information to the puppet.
The puppet then undergoes a certain degree of high-level replication, generating movements and abilities similar to the main body.
The problem is that this replication can never be perfect, as there will always be a certain amount of information loss and delay.
This also explains why the puppet, although able to simulate the user’s abilities, always shows a drastically reduced effect as if a damper were in place.
"In this way, my imagined double cultivation effect cannot be achieved for now."
Ron thought with some disappointment.
He originally hoped to cultivate through both his main body and stand-in simultaneously, thereby gaining double the progress.
But it now seems that the puppet’s state is more like a remote-controlled robot, though more flexible than simple remote control, still unable to achieve a true "Dual Body Cultivation" effect.