The Martial Unity

That was why the specimen of a Transcendent who had been born a Transcendent was very important to him. It was the first of many steps he would need to take in order to crack phenomenological uniformity.

He suspected that understanding phenomenological uniformity scientifically would be even more difficult than understanding consciousness scientifically. Phenomenology was conscious experience itself. It was beyond empirical measure, unlike ’integrated information,’ which he could still somewhat quantify, even if abstractly.

It was the only project that could interest him these days, the only project that could pose a worthy challenge to him. Unfortunately, arakai neurology was extremely different from human neurology.

Their brains weren’t made up of neurons; they were made up of a single continuous, but extremely dense web inside their skulls. Since it was frozen in time, he couldn’t understand how it worked. Thankfully, they had captured many arakai alive since the First Battle of Arima III more than a month ago, so he had some reference, but it was still a very difficult hurdle. Just mapping arakai neurology alone was a project that could take a lifetime for many researchers.

BZZZT BZZZT

He turned to his commpad, raising his eyebrow at the caller, before accepting the call.

”Rui.” He nodded informally. ”What can I help you with?”

He could tell that the call was spontaneous, and he could tell, from Rui’s expression of anticipation, that this was not about business. He was proven correct when Rui explained what he wanted from the Psyker.

”Acquired Savant Syndrome.” The Psyker nodded. ”Of course, I’m very familiar with it. I studied it in-depth in my younger days... a lot of people suffered brain damage in order to satisfy my curiosity.”

Those words made Rui pause, but only for a moment. He didn’t seem to care too much about the sordid past of the Psyker.

”Tell me how it works,” Rui insisted. ”What are the fundamental processes responsible for the consciousness reorientation?”

”It’s not too complicated, at least by your standards,” the Psyker replied thoughtfully. ”The fundamental cause for Acquired Savant Syndrome is transcallosal inhibition. The left hemispheres of our brains are constantly suppressing our right hemispheres by sending inhibitory signals. When the left hemisphere is damaged, it can sometimes lead to the inhibition halting, allowing a surge in neuroconnectivity and neural reorganizations. However...”

He shook his head. ”The Martial Soul already leverages this phenomenon. You can’t benefit from a boost by tapping into this, I’m afraid.”

”I’m not interested in the boost,” Rui replied, not losing enthusiasm. ”I’m interested in the reorientation of consciousness.”

The Psyker raised an eyebrow, growing more interested. ”What exactly are you attempting?”

Rui turned towards him, staring at the man for a few seconds before deciding to tell him. The Psyker was trustworthy. He was the only other one who fully understood how special Ria was, but had kept the secret well and hadn’t attempted to leverage it to his own benefit.

As Rui explained, the Psyker’s expression grew more serious.

”You are truly greedy for power.” The Psyker shook his head. ”Only a madman would think about adaptively evolving the essence of his consciousness to such an extent for more power. Then again, I suppose that greed is the reason you have become this powerful.”

Rui was unfazed by the accusation. Hell, he even regarded it as a compliment. It meant that his Martial Drive was still very strong.

”Can it work? Can I use these principles to alter the reorientation of my consciousness for Legislation?” Rui asked impatiently.

The Psyker pondered the question. ”It would not be possible for others, but with your abilities... I suppose it isn’t impossible. The key is to understand which parts of your brain to inhibit and which parts of your brain to hyper-vitalize. The key, however, is not to delete any information. That risks destroying your phenomenological uniformity. You must inhibit, not delete.”

The Psyker went into more detail regarding exactly where the risks lay with the neural connections and how best to reorient net neuroplasticity in a safe manner.

Rui nodded slowly when he was done. ”I’m already familiar with inhibition. I do it with Soul Retcon. I have a good idea on how to proceed. Thanks.”

He cut the call, returning to his own affairs. As he waited for his metaphysical stamina to return, his mind surged to begin piecing together a new ’Legislative Mode’ that he could tap into whenever he needed to alter the laws in his body.

”Neuroplasticity in my brain has been replaced with neuro-optical density. I will have to figure out a way to inhibit or accelerate that.”

The way that it worked was that repeated activation of a neural connection would reduce the optical density of his neurons, allowing light to travel through it faster, thereby strengthening the neural pathway. This was designed to function identically to biochemical plasticity so that his consciousness functioned the same way even after he replaced electrical impulses with light signals.

By increasing neuro-optical density across some connections and reducing it in others, he could reorient his consciousness, thereby reorienting his Martialverse towards Legislation, thereby allowing him to change the laws of his Martial Body, allowing him to harness both Legislation and hyperdimensional physics.

It was a convoluted sequence of solutions solving problems caused by solutions, but he had finally reached the end.

Half a day later, his phenomenological stamina finally recuperated. He inhaled deeply before sitting cross-legged within the training chamber and activating his Gene Realm, his Martial Soul, and his Corporeal Realm.

Although he could have done this instantly with his Martialverse, it was better to solve problems without the Verse, if possible. Reduce the resources wasted, since even if he removed the primordial core from his body during long-training runs, it still amounted to a waste of resources from his body when it disappeared. And he didn’t like the feeling of losing metaphysical stamina.

Besides, these three Realms were more than capable of achieving his goal quite smoothly.