"And what I truly want, you are far from achieving."
Below, many people lowered their heads in shame. A man with glasses acting as the temporary department head couldn't help but defend, "Lord Pope, it's not that we are lazy. It's just... the goals you set, such as artificial spirit rings, Spirit Bones, and controlling Martial Soul evolution, are simply... simply beyond our current scope of cognition. We have searched through every classic, note, and even ancient Incomplete Manual we could find, but we cannot find any viable theoretical starting point. It's not a lack of will, it's truly... unattainable."
"Unattainable?" Furina repeated the word softly, the corners of her lips curling into a half-smile. "When the first human discovered fire, and the first Spirit Master absorbed a spirit ring, were they not also outside the'scope of cognition' at that time?"
She set down the report, leaned forward with her hands on the edge of the podium, her eyes burning bright. "Today, I will not discuss specific theories with you. What I am going to do is shatter the shackles in your minds."
"First, please completely discard the word 'impossible'," she said decisively. "From this moment on, your task is not to prove why it is impossible, but to think about how to prove it is possible! Once you pre-set the barrier of 'impossible' in your heart, then even if the possibility appears before your eyes, you will turn a blind eye to it. This is a taboo for explorers!"
She paused for a moment to let these words sink in before moving on to the main topic.
"Artificial Spirit Bones and spirit rings are difficult, so first let us return to the most fundamental question: spirit rings and Spirit Bones."
"What is the fundamental difference between humans and Soul Beasts? Why can Soul Beasts rely on the accumulation of years and Breakthroughs in Cultivation to go from ten years to a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, or even a hundred thousand years, while human Spirit Masters must hunt Soul Beasts and plunder their spirit rings to advance?"
Someone below looked like they wanted to speak, but Furina raised her hand to stop them immediately. "Don't ask me 'why'. This is precisely the riddle you need to solve! I am not a scholar; I am the Pope who raises the questions. You are the ones responsible for finding answers and breaking through barriers!"
She paced down from the podium, walking among the white-robed scholars, her voice ringing clearly in everyone's ears. "I will give you a direction of thought. Perhaps, humans themselves are a special form of 'Soul Beast'."
"People possess all sorts of strange Martial Souls, and some are born with Soul Power. How is this fundamentally different from Soul Beasts having different forms, attributes, and cultivation abilities? Look at Spirit Bones; when a Spirit Bone is absorbed by a Spirit Master, over time, it slowly adapts to the host's Martial Soul characteristics. If passed down as a Legacy through generations, theoretically, it could even evolve to the point of perfect compatibility with the Family Martial Soul. What does this mean? It means the human body has the ability to 'remodel' and 'nourish' Spirit Bones!"
Her tone rose, carrying an inspiring power. "Since our bodies can remodel and adapt to external Spirit Bones, why can't we go a step further and rely on our own strength to condense spirit rings and Spirit Bones that belong exclusively to us?"
She returned to the front of the podium and turned to face the crowd. "Look again at those brilliant ancestors in the long river of history. Ten thousand years ago, the Blazing Academy, one of the four elemental academies, mastered the 'spirit ring fusion' technique, which could merge the power of multiple spirit rings into one, erupting with power beyond the limit."
"The former head of the three great sects, the Clear Sky Sect, even possessed the 'Ring Explosion' Profound Truth. By instantly detonating a spirit ring, they could convert its massive energy into a heaven-shaking strike! Although one falls into a state of weakness and the spirit ring temporarily disappears after exploding a ring, this undoubtedly proves that a spirit ring is not an unchanging, dead object. Its energy can be guided, fused, and even... detonated and reconstructed!"
"Since our predecessors could 'fuse rings' and 'explode rings', why can't we today create methods for 'condensing rings' and 'creating rings'? This is not a fantasy; it is merely taking the ladder of thought one step further! What you need most is not more literature, but the imagination to break shackles and fearless creativity!"
Furina's gaze swept across the room again. This time, she no longer saw only confusion and shame; sparks of thought and a kindled desire for challenge began to flicker in the eyes of some.
"From today on," she finally announced, her voice carrying an unshakeable resolve, "I hope to see that your reports are no longer just piles of data and citations of literature. I want to see bold hypotheses, wild concepts, and experimental designs that, even if they seem absurd, are full of the spirit of exploration! The mission of the Axis Cult's Research Department is to create the future, not to repeat the past. Everyone, do not fail this era, and more importantly, do not fail the heart of an explorer within your own chest."
As her voice fell, silence filled the hall, followed by scattered applause that soon joined into a roar. Although the road ahead was still shrouded in mist, Furina's words were like a powerful light, piercing through the barriers in their minds and pointing toward a direction that, though difficult, was full of infinite possibilities.
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