At this moment, the fragments of history have reached a critical phase.
The "Father of Puppets," Victor Armord, is in the midst of the conception and creation phase of the Stand-In Puppet.
Ron heard many details.
"Only the souls that die in extreme pain will generate a powerful obsession at the moment of death; this obsession is the key to soul extraction..."
Victor recorded in his notebook as he looked at the alien race woman fixed to the experiment table.
She was still alive, but her eyes held no hope, only a hollowness of despair.
"I’m sorry, I need your pain..."
His voice sounded sincerely apologetic, yet the dissection knife in his hand fell without hesitation.
The woman’s screams echoed in the laboratory but were quickly devoured by various sound insulation arrays.
Through countless experiments, Victor gradually mastered the basic technique of soul extraction.
He found that the souls of beings that die in extreme pain and fear exhibit violent fluctuations at the moment of death, which can be captured by a specially designed rune array.
But new problems arose.
The extracted souls are highly unstable and often dissipate within minutes of leaving their original host.
Even if they can be preserved briefly, they cannot perfectly merge with a new body.
"The problem of soul compatibility..."
Victor gazed at the custom containers holding soul fragments, his eyes showing contemplation.
These containers flickered with faint light; each glimmer represented a broken consciousness.
"If I cannot directly transplant a complete soul, then... what about gradual absorption?"
A crazy idea began to form in his mind.
Rather than attempting to implant a complete soul all at once, why not create a shell that could "grow"?
Let it gradually absorb and assimilate soul fragments from others through contact with living beings.
"Like a parasite, slowly drawing out the essence of the host’s life..."
This idea made Victor nearly tremble with excitement.
He began to design a brand new creation.
Not an artificial life in the traditional sense, but a shell with the ability to "learn."
Victor poured all his energy into this project, integrating his understanding of alchemy, soul studies, and bloodline modulation.
The core was the rune array.
This array’s complexity surpassed any of Victor’s previous works.
Each rune was precisely calculated to capture, analyze, store, and integrate the soul information of the contact.
"You will be my most perfect work..."
Victor lovingly caressed the puppet he had just completed, his eyes filled with sickly affection.
This seemingly harmless doll was actually the culmination of his life’s work:
"You will learn from everyone you touch, absorbing their memories, emotions, habits... Ultimately, you’ll become the perfect imitator, indistinguishable from reality..."
Ron carefully observed the construction of the runes, a chill rising in his heart.
Through the deep analysis of "Extraordinary Recognition," he gradually began to see some signs, even though he could not fully comprehend it with his current level of alchemy.
This array not only stores the soul fragments of the contact but also constructs artificial consciousness using these fragments.
Scarier still, this array has learning abilities, continuously perfecting its disguise techniques.
"This is the truth of your birth..."
Ron muttered to himself, gaining a deeper understanding of Victor’s madness.
The fragments of history continued to flow, jumping to the first transfer after the puppet’s completion.
One day, an Abyssal Explorer stumbled upon the deliberately abandoned laboratory ruins.
He was a burly middle-aged man, his face marked with corrosion scars from the abyss environment.
His name was Tavish, an experienced loner.
"Damn alchemist, died so horribly..."
Tavish cautiously searched through the laboratory wreckage, looking for anything of value:
"However, their collections are usually quite valuable; maybe I’ll find something good..."
When his hand touched the Stand-In Puppet, he immediately sensed an unusual connection.
The puppet’s eyes flickered slightly, and the soul anchoring array inside it began to activate automatically.
"Interesting little gadget..."
Tavish placed the puppet in his backpack, not realizing that this decision would completely change his fate.
In the following three months, Tavish faced deadly attacks from abyssal creatures multiple times.
Each time at the point of life and death, the Stand-In Puppet would automatically activate its substitute ability, allowing him to survive.
But Ron keenly observed that after each substitution, Tavish became increasingly dependent on the puppet.
His behavioral patterns began to subtly change, becoming more impulsive and willing to take risks.
"Amazing ability..."
Tavish stroked the surface of the puppet, his eyes shining with greed:
"With it, I can explore deeper into the abyss and obtain more precious treasures..."
But he did not realize that the puppet was quietly devouring his soul fragments.
Each substitution strengthened the puppet’s learning ability, while also making the user increasingly reliant on this external force.
Three months later, during a deep exploration, Tavish was besieged by a swarm of bloodthirsty bats.
The puppet activated the substitute ability again, but this time the price was extraordinarily heavy.
Tavish felt his consciousness begin to blur, as if something was being extracted from the depths of his soul.