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Bruce couldn't help but think of the Lukes he had met before.
"Yes, that's what you think." Stephen also noticed the change in Bruce's expression, and guessed what he was thinking at the moment, nodding affirmatively at his inquiring gaze.
"Won't there be any hidden dangers? Doing this to your own soul?" Bruce felt that he could not understand these people. How crazy must they be to tamper with their own souls?
This is even crazier than those scientists who simply stopped being human and transformed the human body into metal or other creatures!
"It all depends on the person." Stephen sat upright in the chair, his back leaning against the high backrest, his hands crossed and placed across his chest.
"When it comes to being the most eroded by psionic energy and having more soul growths, I really can't think of anyone who can surpass Luke. He created psionic energy and single-handedly upgraded it to its current level. The reaction and fusion between the two is beyond my imagination.
I even suspect that the research and countermeasures against psychic erosion produced by Heberon were all invented by Luke for his own benefit. Of course, I can't be sure. After all, in my memory, he has always been normal. Not much has changed since I first met him.
This is rare!
But now, I haven't seen his real self in a few years. The one we deal with is just a personality he carved out to handle matters. It's a bit annoying."
"How many pieces of his soul did he cut?" Bruce couldn't help but be curious. He was still experiencing the aftereffects of his emotional fluctuations and sensitivity. It was like a wound that had just begun to heal, and the area around it would become more sensitive.
Stephen was silent for a moment, then spread his hands helplessly: "Honestly, I don't know."
"You don't know either?" Bruce was a little surprised.
"But there are definitely a lot of them. Just the tip of the iceberg I've seen, there are almost a hundred of them." Stephen said this with a hint of shock on his face. Even after all this time, he was still deeply shocked when he thought about the various Lukes he had seen in the laboratories in Silent City.
Stephen's words silenced Bruce. He'd only cut two pieces, and already he felt a bit light and unreal. Cutting nearly a hundred pieces? He probably wouldn't even know who he was. It was hard to say if he'd even be able to think straight by then.
"But I asked my teacher, and she told me that Luke is in great shape, better than ever before." Stephen rubbed his hands, "So I suspect he didn't choose the surgical method I chose, or he has his own better solution.
My initial speculation is that he might have cut himself off from the past timeline, backed up his normal state, and periodically overwritten it. In short, that should be a rigorous and effective plan, allowing Luke to avoid, or even be immune to, the effects of psychic energy.
My teacher never gave me an answer. Neither did Luke. So I can only make inferences based on the information I have, which are not very reliable and may even be completely wrong. So just listen to it."
"Won't his soul be unstable after he cut so much?" Bruce pointed at himself. Although he looked normal now, the heaviness of his body and his mental fatigue could be seen with careful observation.
"Although Luke has always appeared human, it's undeniable that his life form has long since ascended to a higher level. In our land, beings of his level are collectively referred to as Dimensional Demons, powerful beings repelled by the material universe. It's difficult to measure them by human standards.
"They generally reside in their own dimensional universes, with numerous clones active across various dimensions and universes. So it's possible that Luke has borrowed the unique abilities of these dimensional demons." Stephen smiled. Knowing Luke, there were only two possibilities for him to do this: either his technology was so advanced that there were no further consequences, or he was forced to do so out of necessity.
Compared to the latter, Stephen was more willing to believe the former. After all, whether it was the recognition of Luke's talent or the summary of various subtle information, it was obvious that the former had a higher probability.
"Is he already a dimensional demon?" Bruce sighed. Although he didn't fully comprehend Stephen's words, he could roughly understand their meaning.
"Don't say that! I'm still in my human form." A sudden voice startled Stephen and the other man, who were already engaged in a lively conversation. They were so alert that they hadn't noticed someone else had entered the room! This person was sitting in a large chair, as if they had been listening to their conversation for a long time. If he hadn't spoken, they wouldn't even have noticed his presence.
"Luke?" Stephen's eyes widened at the familiar face sitting on the chair.
"How did you get in? Why didn't the alarm program I set up sound an alarm?" Bruce looked at the monitoring room and found that Luke had indeed been there for a certain period of time, but his monitoring seemed to have malfunctioned and did not give him any alarm.
"Maybe it's more obedient?" Luke smiled, not giving Bruce a definitive answer. In reality, both mechanical and mage surveillance methods were of little use to him now. Ancient One and Stephen, master and apprentice, used to visit the homes of demons from various dimensions uninvited, taking things. Stephen was only surprised that he hadn't been noticed despite being so close.
"Is this your true form?" Stephen asked tentatively, looking at Luke, who was dressed in a white coat and unkempt.
"Any version of me you see can be the real body. But seriously speaking, a large part of my expanded spirituality has long been integrated with psychic power. If the main body is determined by the proportion, psychic power is now my real body. But as we all know, thinking determines everything, it is just a [hardware]." Luke stood up and answered.
"What's so captivating here that you'd rush all the way here?" Stephen had a vague feeling something was amiss. He didn't think Luke had finally gotten out of the lab to relax and unwind. There had to be something here that captivated Luke, something so important that it warranted him leaving the lab for a visit.
"Of course, it's something that can help me with a project." Luke gave him a strange look.