Chapter 98: The Embryo of Philosophy

[The three women who shared intimacy with you were directly elevated by you to become Emanators of the Cycle, completely freed from the constraints of mortality.]

[Script End]

[Now calculating your performance evaluation. Please wait…]

Solon stretched lazily as he gazed at the system screen.

This "Sisters" script had been exceptionally long and challenging. After laying the groundwork for so long, he'd nearly been derailed at the last moment by that wildcard Aha.

But greater difficulty meant greater rewards. Solon was already looking forward to what he'd gain this time.

[Evaluation complete.]

[Host now has two choices:

Double the original rewards.

Forfeit all other rewards and obtain 'Embryo of Philosophy (Red)' (Warning: Choosing this option will preserve the memories of the main female characters in this script.)]

Solon's eyes widened. Red-tier! An S-rank reward!

This was his first time receiving a red-tier reward. Through countless simulations, he'd pieced together some patterns—the system had its own logic when it came to color grading.

White and green were negligible. Blue corresponded to ordinary Pathstriders, purple to planet-busters, gold to Emanators, and red to Aeons.

The quality matched the power level, allowing the wielder to exert strength at that tier.

Of course, having one red-tier trait didn't make one an Aeon. A single trait was far from enough—an Aeon would undoubtedly possess a whole collection of red-tier traits.

Given this, the system's reward options were easy to evaluate.

The first choice, even with doubled rewards, would only turn two purple-tier rewards into four—no qualitative leap.

Any fool would pick the second option. Even if it came with side effects, the gains outweighed them by a mile.

Moreover, the name of this trait felt eerily familiar… Embryo of Philosophy… Foetus of Philosophy… Could it be—?

If his guess was right, he'd hit the jackpot!

Solon immediately pulled up the system notes and scrutinized them.

After reading, he pumped his fist in triumph.

Just as he'd thought. This was the nascent form of an Aeon—a blank slate. All he needed to do was pour enough philosophical concepts into it, and this trait would transform into a brand-new Path, elevating him to Aeonhood!

As for how to obtain philosophical concepts, the system provided two methods:

First, like in this simulation, he could target an existing Aeon and plunder their philosophical concepts. Solon immediately dismissed this option—the damn system was trying to get him killed.

The second method seemed tailor-made for him. By feeding traits into the Embryo, he could extract corresponding philosophical concepts. The higher the trait's tier, the more concepts it provided, speeding up the progress bar.

Of course, he couldn't treat it like a trash bin and dump anything inside. The philosophical concepts he invested would directly shape the resulting Path.

If he ended up with some bizarre abomination, he'd regret it for eternity.

Still, experimentation was necessary.

Solon reviewed his traits and tentatively fed the now-useless Vast Fortune (Blue) into the Embryo of Philosophy.

A blue light flickered, and the system soon displayed: [Embryo of Philosophy] has gained 1% progress in wealth-related philosophical concepts.

Solon sighed with mixed emotions. The progress bar was agonizingly slow. But then again, this was a trait that could steadily ascend him to Aeonhood—it made sense for the conditions to be harsh.

At least he hadn't walked away empty-handed.

The system notified him that Embryo of Philosophy (Red) had slightly boosted his financial luck. The effects included winning small lottery prizes, stumbling upon money on the street, and making modest profits in investments.

This was the Embryo's feedback after being fed philosophical concepts.

As Solon tallied up his gains from this simulation, subtle changes began unfolding elsewhere…

The Xianzhou Luofu, Ten-Lords Commission, Hall of Karma (Annex)

A Soulsteel Golden Guardian stood beside a massive coffin, brush in hand, diligently recording. Across from it, a black-robed judge held a golden chalice filled with an unknown liquor, waiting patiently.

Inside the coffin, a woman with ash-blue hair suddenly snapped her eyes open, her expression one of utter shock.

"Judge Hanyue, is something wrong?"

The Golden Guardian's brush flew across the parchment, documenting everything. The black-robed judge glanced at Hanyue in confusion.

Hanyue's face flickered through a range of emotions before she silently accepted the chalice. "Where's my sister? Why isn't she here?"

"Judge Xueyi had some business. I saw her heading toward the archives."

Hanyue's eyes gleamed. Without hesitation, she downed the chalice's contents in one gulp.

This was no ordinary wine—it was the Ten-Lords Commission's specially brewed River of Forgetfulness liquor.

As a judge of the "Inquiry" division, her duty was to personally extract the karmic sins of prisoners through dream-divination, enabling more precise judgment.

However, the hyper-realistic memories from dream-divination would blur the line between reality and illusion, hastening the onset of Mara. Thus, the River of Forgetfulness liquor was necessary to wash away those memories.

'I hope this wine can erase those extra memories too.'

Hanyue couldn't help but pray inwardly.

Midway through the dream-divination, she'd felt an overwhelming surge of foreign memories flood her mind. At first, she'd assumed it was an operational error—some stray memory stream leaking into her. But soon, she realized something was amiss.

These memories weren't just more vivid than dream-divination; they featured both her and her sister, yet the history was completely inconsistent. Most shockingly, they included a so-called Aeon of the Cycle—someone she'd never heard of.

In her spare time, Hanyue enjoyed writing fiction. Her first thought was that these might be parallel universe memories.

If that were true… perhaps that parallel universe wasn't so bad.

At least her sister hadn't been turned into a flesh-fruit by Shuhu. The two of them wouldn't be bound to the Ten-Lords Commission for life, deprived of even basic vacations. Instead, they'd gained immortality, able to rely on each other forever.

Though that man's… training methods left her blushing. But if it was with her sister, she could accept it.

What a pity…

As these thoughts crossed her mind, Hanyue drained the chalice.

Then, to her horror, she realized that with the dream-divination's chaotic memories washed away, the foreign memories stood out even clearer.

She could now vividly recall every entangled moment with that man—every whispered word, every lingering touch.

So embarrassing!

Hanyue's perpetually stoic face flushed crimson.

She scrambled out of the coffin and went to find her sister.

Soon, guided by the guards, she located Xueyi in the archives.

Xueyi was frantically scrolling through a light screen, muttering under her breath:

"To dare humiliate me like this! I will hunt you down, put ten—no, twenty holes in you, then throw your lecherous corpse into the deepest pits of the Shackling Prison!"