Edward soon arrived at Chris's lab, which had been waiting for him since he sent prior notification of his arrival.
"Chris, how are things?"
"Very well, Your Majesty."
"It seems married life suits you well. How about? Consider having more than one wife?" joked Edward.
"I don't want to turn into a mental patient that has gone crazy," swiftly replied Chris. Who was his wife? The Chief of the National Bureau of Mental Health, one of the best Tier 8 Spiritual Arcanists in the world–Shenice King.
If he dared step out of line, he was sure the government would soon find him with a shattered psychic with no proof that his wife was involved.
"Haha, it's good she's keeping you in check and not letting the fame and glory get to your head," nodded Edward, who also knew how scary a Spiritual Arcanist like Shenice King was.
"True to that." Although he was a man of exceptional will, it did not mean he could not change and be corrupt by power, wealth, and fame.
"Enough of the chitchat, and let's get to business."
"As we should," nodded Chris as he led Edward to his office. Without wasting time, he began to show his research results.
"As you already knew, my research direction was to create a perfect method that would allow Arcanist to temper their Willpower. My first attempt was the normal stuff, using illusions to create a vivid world that would torment the Arcanists and temper their will.
"Sadly, this method had a variety of results and many side effects, including permanent damage to my subjects. Some people responded to experiencing hardship, while others completely shut down."
Chris showed the data while explaining.
"My second attempt was to use battles to temper the will. I tried this method after learning about the Haki System, but the results also varied. Some people responded positively, but most failed to achieve anything.
"My third attempt was a simple meditation method. By analyzing the correlation between willpower and the soul, spirit, mind, and memories, I created a meditation technique to nurture a person's willpower slowly.
"Sadly, this method was too slow. It could take thousands of years to increase the Willpower by a factor of one, and the higher the number, the longer the time required."
Screen after screen flashed before Edward as he swiftly analyzed these experimental data from the early stages to their conclusion.
"After all these failures, I returned to the board and summarized what I have learned. I wanted to know the source of Willpower. What made someone so determined was that they were willing to suffer unimaginable pain to accomplish them; they were willing to discipline themselves to a level that most people could not fathom.
"And the answer I got was the consciousness. To be specific, subconsciousness–the part most people do not know- is responsible for most of their beings or even existence.
"After finding a direction, everything else came naturally. I created a Meditation Technique that allowed any race or species to delve into their subconscious, find introspection, and control it.
"The result was not a simple improvement of Willpower but a deeper understanding of the mind, the self, and the soul."
Edward squinted his eyes as he saw a new paper Chris had just finished. It was titled–The Link Between the Subconscious and the Soul Flame. He read it briefly before his eyes lit up. He immediately placed it on the top of his reading list before focusing on the other research results.
After finishing reading through everything, Edward felt Chris' research reminded of something. After checking his memory, he realized the latter's research on the subconscious reminded him of the Immortal Cultivators Novel he used to read in Primordial Earth,
One of the core concepts of those words was the idea of the Dao Heart–the desire to pursue the Dao or Path. A cultivator with a strong Dao Heart was someone of immense will who was willing to do anything and experience any hardship to ensure he reached the top of the world.
'Everything is connected, and all paths lead to the same destination,' thought Edward of this famous quote in these novels. He secretly sighed at how true these words were.
He finally focused back on Chris and asked:
"With your method, how much willpower can be increased?"
"Sadly, it only reaches Level 5. I've reached Level 6 myself, but I'm an anomaly."
Edward gave him a look. If nothing unexpected occurs, Chris might be the second person in the Empire to control authority and become a Legendary Arcanist.
'Level 5 is the minimum standard in most worlds to become a Legendary Arcanist. However, it's still not enough for this world,' analyzed Edward.
"Do you have any ideas for future development?"
"Yes, The Collective Consciousness," replied Chris.
"The Planet's Will?"
"Yes, my idea is that Arcanists must confront the planet's will–which is a gathering of the consciousness of everybody–with their own. In the process, they have to protect their consciousness and not be assimilated.
"According to my idea, the Planet Will is not enough. Having a Galaxy Will and even a Universe Will would be better. However, if it does not exist, maybe we can artificially create one."
Edward gave him an odd look, and Chris picked up on it, "I was right? There is a galaxy and a Universe will?"
"Universe Will and the ultimate purpose of increasing Willpower is to overwhelm it and force it to hand over control over the fundamental rules of the universe."
Chris looked at him in shock, "Is that even possible?"
"Yes, I've done, and the requirements are a minimum eight on the Willpower Scale."
"I see. If we, Arcanists, want to be on the same level as the Gods, we must control [Authority]. However, the path of faith is not for us, so we need an alternative method."
"That's correct."
Chris sighed, "I salute, Your Majesty, for your forward thinking."
He could not imagine how long this man had been planning the rise of the Path of Arcane and how willing he was to share such power with so many people. Such a mind deserves his respect.
Edward accepted the salute and continued, "I'm unaware of any Galaxy Will, but we can artificially manufacture one. Your will-tempering method could first involve a planetary will, then a star system will, and a galaxy will before the final confrontation with the universe will.
"However, you should create safety measures to ensure the sanity of our people when using this method."
Confronting a Planet Will was not a simple endeavor despite the fact that a Tier 6 Arcanist can easily destroy a planet. The Planet Will contains the thoughts and memories of billions of people, if not more. If an Arcanist was not careful, their soul could be corrupted after coming into contact with so many people murmuring together.
It's possible for them to suffer a state similar to the Gods' Faith Poisoning, where they suffer personality splits like a schizophrenic patient, or their main personality is forcefully changed into something else.
"I will," nodded Chris, who knew the Empire's motto of pushing the boundary while maintaining a paranoid level of cautiousness in case something happened.
"If you need anything, you know who to contact."
Chris knew he had a lot of work to do, so he did not waste time. He must first access most of the Empire on the Planet Will research before proceeding on the next step to recreate it on a galaxy size.
While this part of the project is going on, he must create a perfect method to temper Willpower using the Planet Will.
"Lots of work to do," he muttered with a smile. He called his wife to tell her he would be late today but promised to return home. Then, he continued his work.