MC Creative Mode: Wholesale Perpetual Motion Machine

Chapter 231 The Soul Does Not Exist

"Of course I can't let you fight witches with those easily damaged bodies like ordinary humans."

Kyubey explained, "For you magical girls, your original bodies are like external hardware. In order to allow your essence of existence, that is, your soul, to use magic more effectively, you have been given a smaller and safer shell."

"Don't you humans have many similar imaginings about this? Whether it's the three souls and seven spirits, ghosts, the golden elixir and primordial spirit, the Philosopher's Stone..." Kyubey said, "Don't humans inherently seek to abandon the fragile physical body so that the spirit can endure?"

"But! But..." Mami Tomoe trembled, tears streaming down her face, "Our souls have all turned into this kind of thing!"

“It’s really baffling.” Cupid tilted his head. “Adults are very enthusiastic about this, but when it comes to underage girls, you always react in the same way if I tell you the specifics.”

"I really don't understand why you care so much about where the soul is located."

……

“Yeah, yeah, what he said makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Where the soul is placed doesn’t matter at all,” the young man Fang Zheng chimed in.

“However, having a soul condensed into this thing isn’t exactly the best option.” Fang Zheng grabbed Cupid, held his Soul Gem close to him, and asked, “By the way, do you offer after-sales service? Can you make some changes?”

"Wouldn't it be great to turn your soul into an incredibly sturdy weapon, like in anime and novels?" The boy pointed to his head.

"Although I am still used to the human body, what I want more is to become a Golden Core Primordial Spirit or something like that, which can fly directly into the sky and escape into the earth."

"The human body is still too weak. Aren't you an alien civilization? Your technology should be quite advanced, right? Can you replace it with a cluster of nanobots or an intelligent atom cluster or something?"

The boy became more and more excited as he spoke, "It would be best if we could have a spaceship!"

Kyubey replied, “If we could, we certainly would. Unfortunately, human cognition is often insufficient to control other types of bodies, and it is because of your self-awareness that you can only control human bodies.”

The boy looked somewhat disappointed and continued to ask, "The Soul Gem is made into the shape of a glass ball. Although it can be used for magical defense, it would be troublesome if it were to fall and shatter one day. Since the physical body cannot be replaced, can the Soul Gem be replaced with something else?"

"Shattered?" Kyubey asked, puzzled. "Why do you think the Soul Stone can be physically damaged? Why limit it to the form of a gemstone?"

"Oh!" The boy raised an eyebrow. "You mean, the Soul Gem's defense is very strong?"

Kyubey said leisurely, "Of course. It's precisely so that you don't have to fight witches with those easily damaged bodies that your essence is made into Soul Gems. If Soul Gems are easier to destroy than physical bodies, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?"

"Just like a witch, everything within a witch's barrier—physical attacks as we understand them—cannot have any effect whatsoever, whether it's a nuclear bomb, a supernova explosion, a quasar jet, or even the most powerful physical phenomenon you humans know, the Big Bang..."

"At least as far as humans are concerned, the physical phenomena you perceive are completely unrelated to witches, and the Soul Stone is no exception."

"Huh?" The boy was somewhat surprised, holding the Soul Gem in his hand again to examine it closely. Looking at its glass-like texture, which seemed like it could be destroyed if dropped on the ground, he said, "You mean, even if you threw this thing into the Big Bang, it wouldn't be damaged at all?"

The boy suddenly had an inspiration.

He clutched the Soul Gem, his brow furrowed. Suddenly, the Soul Gem began to change shape, shimmering with light, transforming into a bracelet, a ring, a necklace…

After some changes, it eventually became just a ring with sharp protrusions, which he wore on his hand.

He frowned, gripped Kyubey, and pointed at the two girls beside him, asking, "Wait a minute, didn't you just say that the Soul Gem isn't limited to a gem form? After they transform, the Soul Gem can become an accessory."

"Why can't I turn it into armor? Why can't I? It's just turned into these useless decorations."

Kyubey replied, “Of course. The Soul Stone possesses the same properties as a witch; none of the physical attacks you humans are aware of can cause it any damage.”

"But just as you can attack witches, magic can also attack the Soul Gem."

"If we let you transform it, it can indeed be used to resist physical attacks, but with its increased size, wouldn't it shatter on the spot if attacked by a witch or other magical girls?"

"Um..." The boy frowned in thought, looking troubled, when suddenly he grabbed Kyubey and said excitedly, "Hey! I've got another idea!"

"Aren't you an alien civilization? You should be able to travel faster than light, right? Since the Soul Stone is immune to physical attacks, why don't you throw this thing into an absolutely safe place, like inside the Earth's core, inside the sun, or even just into a void in the universe?"

"In that case, why don't you just build us a faster-than-light wormhole signal base station or something to transfer the magic of the Soul Gem? Then we can fight however we want, and our only weakness will be completely gone."

“What are you thinking?” Cupid replied calmly, “If we could, we would have done it in the first place.”

"But unfortunately, magic itself is not limited by distance, but human cognition is limited. The range at which your Soul Gem can transmit magic and control bodily signals is only about 100 meters."

“So…” Kyubey turned to look at Mami Tomoe and Kyoko Sakura and reminded them, “You two need to be careful not to let the Soul Gem leave your bodies by more than 100 meters, otherwise you will lose control of your bodies.”

"If this goes on for too long, and you lose your sense of your body, you will think you are already dead and will perish on your own."

"Although you always take the Soul Stone for granted, such accidents are generally rare."

“Oh—” The boy raised his hand in sudden realization: “You mean, like in the movies, if a soul leaves the body and can’t return for a long time, it will dissipate?” Kyubey nodded: “Although your description is not entirely accurate, it’s close enough.”

……

“Kyubi!” Mami Tomoe suddenly hissed, “Why didn’t you tell us about this from the beginning!”

Cupid answered in his calm and leisurely tone, as if it were perfectly natural: "Because you didn't ask."

"Besides, Mami, even if I told you in advance, you would still sign the contract, wouldn't you? If you don't sign the contract, you simply won't be able to survive."

Kyubey shook his head. "I really don't understand why you guys always react so strongly to things like this."

"Besides, you humans don't even realize the existence of the so-called soul, do you? The soul in human conception does not actually exist in your physical body."

"Why do you always get so troubled by things that don't exist, just to make them look like gems for the sake of battle? Why do you suffer because of concepts that don't exist?"

"What did you say?" After a long silence, Sakura Kyoko's expression suddenly changed upon hearing Kyubey's words, and she had some bad thoughts.

Kyubey looked at her and said calmly, "I'm saying, the soul as you humans understand it has never existed in the first place."

"That's just a polymer of nerve cells, the center of the circulatory system. Once this life-sustaining system collapses, human consciousness is also destroyed."

"To avoid this situation, we extracted and sealed your entire consciousness system, making it something that can be held in your hands and protected carefully."

"That way we can fight the witch in a relatively safe environment."

The boy next to him instantly understood: wasn't this just consciousness uploading?
There is no soul to begin with; it's just that neural network information is uploaded to a carrier to run, except that the carrier has been replaced by a soul gem.

That's not unacceptable.

After all, if what happened to him was true, then he was nothing more than a copy of the original "Founder" that suddenly appeared yesterday.

However, this kind of thing, which was completely easy for young Fang Zheng to understand and even felt quite efficient, was difficult for the other two people present to accept...

"You! You... Why did you have to meddle in other people's business! You actually did something so unnecessary..." Sakura Kyoko's body trembled violently, she bit her lower lip so hard that the skin was broken and blood flowed out.

"If the soul never existed in the first place..."

Despite not even finishing elementary school, Kyoko Sakura, born into a religious family, genuinely believed in the existence of heaven and in the existence of God.

After becoming a magical girl, she became even more convinced that killing witches was killing demons, and that one day she would be able to see God!
Not long ago, after her father set a fire that burned her family to death, her only hope was that her father had done something bad and might not be able to go to heaven, but her mother and sister were good people and would definitely go to heaven after they were burned to death.

After I die, I will definitely go to heaven and reunite with my mother and sister!
But now...

Sakura Kyoko looked at the Soul Gem in her hand, tears welling up in her eyes. She threw it to the ground with all her might and shouted in a slurred voice, "Then my mom, dad, and sister won't be able to go to heaven!"

Kyubey immediately chimed in, "Of course. In the end, aside from magical girls, humans don't really have something as convenient as a soul. The so-called heaven is just a religious construct you humans use to deceive yourselves..."

“Kyubi!” Mami Tomoe embraced the weeping Kyoko Sakura and gently stroked her back.

"Mami, what's wrong?" Kyubey jumped onto the bench and asked in his clear, leisurely childlike voice.

Mami Tomoe shouted angrily, "Get out of here right now!"

Cupid tilted his head, curled up into a ball, and rolled into the shadows, disappearing from sight in no time.

Only three people remained on the scene. The boy hesitated for a moment, then his gaze finally settled on the soul gems in their hands.

They both seem to be in a bad mood. If they go crazy again, we'll have to fight again.

I just don't know if the remaining Seed of Lamentation has enough capacity.

Seeing the greatsword that had quietly appeared in the boy's hand, Mami Tomoe sighed and said in a low voice, "Please leave here. I'll keep an eye on Kyoko. Let's have some peace and quiet."

Scratching his head, the boy seemed to realize that now was not a good time, so he turned and left.

"Go on."

Mami Tomoe reached out and grabbed the Seed of Lamentation.

The boy waved his hand, and his figure quickly disappeared into the shadows.

(End of this chapter)