"First create an Aeon, and only then can you create an Emanator?"
Hearing Su Mo's reasoning, Ruan Mei was stunned.
She had been walking this path for so long, taking it for granted. This was the first time she had ever re-examined the steps she had laid out for herself.
"Of course," Su Mo nodded. "In a sense, Aeons and Pathstriders are more similar. They both walk a Path and can grasp its power. They are mastering a power that they themselves can control."
"But Emanators are different. They are beings who have been actively granted the power of a Path by an Aeon and are bound by it. In other words, the Path energy an Emanator possesses is not something they have mastered on their own."
"In fact, an Emanator doesn't even necessarily need to be a Pathstrider of the corresponding Path."
"This leads to the fact that an Emanator themselves doesn't have the ability to fully control their own power."
Aha, the Aeon of Elation, once bestowed all the power of their Path upon an insect, making it possibly the strongest Emanator to date, just to see if the insect could join the Genius Society, all for their own amusement.
When this experiment failed and Aha found that Nous had not accepted the insect, they immediately withdrew their blessing.
And so, the strongest Emanator in history died on the spot.
From this, it was clear that without the blessing of an Aeon, an Emanator cannot control the Path energy bestowed upon them.
"So, that's why the Swarm King replica disintegrated so quickly?"
Ruan Mei blinked, finally understanding the root of her failure.
She had been trying to use the Swarm King's own body to contain the Imaginary Energy within it.
But who would have thought that without an Aeon's blessing, the Swarm King's own body was inherently incapable of containing the Imaginary Energy within it.
Since such a state never existed in the first place, no matter how close she got, her efforts were bound to be futile.
"Correct." Su Mo nodded. "In a way, your experiment was actually a success. You did perfectly replicate the state of the Swarm King as an Emanator of Propagation before its death."
"It's just that, without an Aeon's blessing, the Swarm King was inherently unable to stably maintain its own power and would have collapsed on its own."
Speaking of this, Su Mo looked at Ruan Mei with a hint of admiration.
It had to be said, Ruan Mei's talent was astonishing. She had truly managed to create an Emanator with her mortal hands.
If it weren't for the special nature of an Emanator's existence, which required the power of an Aeon to be maintained, Ruan Mei would have likely already been able to create a complete Emanator and become a renowned figure throughout the sea of stars.
"In other words, what the current replica lacks is an Aeon's blessing, and an Aeon's blessing needs to be bestowed by an Aeon..."
Hearing Su Mo's explanation, Ruan Mei looked up at the Swarm King replica, her jade-green pupils filled with a dawning understanding.
"If that's the case, then an Emanator is a by-product of creating an Aeon. That's why you said, first create an Aeon, then create an Emanator."
She finally understood Su Mo's meaning completely, and she finally understood why he said she had the order wrong.
She wanted to get closer to an Aeon by creating an Emanator, but the prerequisite for creating an Emanator was creating an Aeon.
"So from the very beginning, my research direction was a dead end."
Ruan Mei lowered her eyes, her tone devoid of both sorrow and joy.
"Indeed." Here, Su Mo offered no comfort, but added, "The difficulty of creating an Emanator without an Aeon is even higher than simply creating an Aeon."
With that, he looked at Ruan Mei with a slightly strange expression.
"Actually, with the difficulty of this path, an ordinary researcher would have discovered the problem with their approach within half a year at most, because this level of difficulty is extremely unreasonable."
"However, your talent is simply too high. So much so that the heaven-defying challenges involving the power of a Path were overcome by you one by one through sheer talent. This, in turn, prevented you from doubting your own path."
Could this be called a genius's curse?
Because it was so unconventional, she completely failed to realize the key problem until she reached the final stage and found she had taken the wrong path.
Like a strong-headed fool with immense strength who never considers turning back after hitting a wall, her innate talent had deprived her of her sense of danger.
If the problem of the Aeons wasn't so complex, Su Mo suspected that Ruan Mei would have just kept charging ahead.
"Speaking of which, even the Swarm King's original body couldn't withstand Emanator-level power for more than three seconds, yet your enhanced individual could last for fifty-six seconds... Your attainments in the field of life have even surpassed the offspring personally nurtured by the Aeon of Propagation."
For Ruan Mei, this experiment itself might have been a failure.
But from this failed experiment, one could easily see Ruan Mei's mastery in the field of life. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was unprecedented.
"If this universe were to truly give birth to an Aeon of Life, you would undoubtedly be the most suitable individual... Of course, that's assuming the conditions for the birth of an Aeon of Life actually exist."
Su Mo said. Even from his perspective, Ruan Mei's talent was exceptionally outstanding, a level above Himeko's.
"An Aeon of Life..."
Hearing Su Mo mention this, Ruan Mei finally looked up and quietly met his gaze.
"You have resolved my doubts. As we agreed, I am willing to accept your invitation. You will fulfill my wish, and I will become your retainer."
She had not forgotten her promise.
"No problem. A high-five to seal it?" Su Mo held out a hand.
"Mm!" As a native of the Xianzhou, Ruan Mei naturally understood this gesture.
CLAP!
After they clapped their hands, Ruan Mei paused, noticing a double-helix mark had appeared on her wrist.
From it, she not only felt the power of the contract but also a special kind of authority.
This power seemed to fit perfectly with her field of knowledge and even contained knowledge of life sciences beyond her current understanding.
"The Catalog of Life. A mythological formation constructed with Tiamat, the creator mother goddess of Sumerian mythology, as its core," Su Mo immediately answered her unspoken question.
The powers of the gods in his domain were comprehensive, leaving almost no area uncovered.
And the field of life happened to be the specialty of Sumerian mythology.
Just as he had woven the Victory Sword formation of Zoroastrianism and the Seven Deadly Sins formation of Christianity, Su Mo had woven the Catalog of Life formation from Sumerian mythology, recreating the authority of the creator mother goddess, allowing for the creation of life at will through life factors.
Whether it was mythological species or fantasy species, as long as it was a biological structure Su Mo had come into contact with, he had the ability to replicate it.
"You can think of it as an authority specifically for life editing. With your mastery in the field of life, you should be able to fully utilize the power of this mythological formation."
"In addition, I've also included data on creatures like the Draconia that I've encountered. The templates for these life forms should be useful to you as well."
Su Mo was never stingy with his own people.
Perhaps Ruan Mei's understanding of life surpassed even that of Tiamat, the creator mother goddess. But to cultivate life, she still needed a suitable experimental environment.
With the Catalog of Life formation, not only could she bypass most experimental conditions and greatly accelerate her research progress, but she could also use the life factors she understood to evolve herself and increase her own strength.
Perhaps Ruan Mei didn't lack means of self-defense, but with this formation, given her knowledge base, she could certainly exert Emanator-level combat power.
This was a qualitative leap for her strength.
"Is that so..."
Sensing Su Mo's attitude suddenly become close and without any barriers, and his almost parental care for her, Ruan Mei was slightly stunned. After carefully experiencing this gift she had received, her gaze toward Su Mo trembled slightly.
"Then should I thank you, or should I say, thank you, Master?"
After making her decision, Ruan Mei tilted her head slightly, as if asking Su Mo which form of address to use.
"Although we've signed the contract, your wish has not yet been fulfilled. There's no need to call me Master. Just call me by my name," Su Mo said, shaking his head, not intending to exercise his authority prematurely.
"Mm!" Ruan Mei readily agreed. She wasn't particularly concerned with such things anyway.
After formally confirming their relationship, she immediately asked, "Then, how should we proceed with the experiment to achieve godhood?"
She then added, "I will cooperate fully."
Clearly, in Ruan Mei's mind, they were about to start a project called "Creating an Aeon." Su Mo was the project lead, and she was the test subject and assistant.
That being the case, she wanted to understand Su Mo's experimental approach first so as not to drag him down.
Hearing this, Su Mo shook his head.
"There's no rush. According to what Herta said before, I still need to verify one fact with Nous, to confirm whether this era has entered a period of historical transition as I suspect. Only then can we proceed to the final step."
As mentioned before, there were three steps to verifying a new theory.
The first step was to fit and explain past phenomena. Su Mo had already achieved this.
The second step was to use the new theory to predict future phenomena. This had not yet been achieved.
The final step was to formally conduct the experiment, which was to create an Aeon.
Even though Su Mo was more than ninety percent certain in his heart, out of caution, he still intended to verify his guess first.
"A period of historical transition?"
Hearing this unfamiliar term, Ruan Mei was slightly puzzled.
"It's a period when civilization undergoes drastic changes," Su Mo patiently explained. "Didn't I say before? The birth of an Aeon is closely related to the development of civilization. This means that if civilization itself doesn't undergo a drastic change, no matter how profound your attainments are, you cannot ascend to godhood."
A person's struggle depends not only on their own efforts but also on the course of history.
Clearly, in terms of her own efforts, Ruan Mei was more than qualified. The reason she hadn't become an Aeon was mainly because the previous historical stage had not given birth to any new Aeon seats.
However, the coming era might be different.
"Oh!" Ruan Mei nodded obediently.
She now had complete trust in Su Mo's judgment and no longer had any doubts.
"Let's go back now!"
Looking at the time, Su Mo turned around.
"Screwllum should be arriving soon."
Ruan Mei hummed in agreement and immediately followed Su Mo's steps.
Her pace was still light and elegant, but she now looked a bit like a child following her parents.