The Weight of Knowledge

The special power of a magical artifact originates from the mana it contains.

The stronger the mana, the more powerful its special effects. Since the limit of mana for magical artifacts created by humans is the masterpiece grade, humans can only create masterpiece grade magical artifacts.

A knowledge original, on the other hand, is an object that carries knowledge.

Its power does not stem from mana, but from the weight of knowledge.

Dalun Li had actually already come into contact with one.

The formula copper plate.

It was the original copper plate recording the formula for the Undying Wardrobe.

Dalun Li had previously been quite puzzled by that plate. It clearly possessed no mana and appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary piece of copper, yet it had incredible durability and the power of fusion.

It could assist in the fusion of vessels and even facilitate the fusion of powers.

Dalun Li hadn't understood why the copper plate possessed such special power before, but now the knowledge in Zahra’s mind answered the questions in his heart.

The uniqueness of the formula copper plate stemmed from the weight of knowledge.

As the original piece recording the formula for the Undying Wardrobe, its special nature came from the knowledge inscribed upon it.

Most importantly, it was the original.

Transcribing knowledge does not grant any special effects; it remains merely knowledge itself. Only the original item that carries the knowledge at the moment of its first birth into the world possesses the weight of knowledge and its unique properties.

The Book of Death before him was the same as the formula copper plate.

The knowledge contained within the Book of Death was also an original, and that knowledge possessed weight. This weight granted the Book of Death its special abilities, allowing it to serve as a medium for the descent of Withered Reincarnation and enabling it to kill a fifth-rank mage and turn him into a vessel.

The weight of the knowledge within the Book of Death was likely far greater than that of the formula copper plate.

Magical artifacts can be easily and clearly categorized into ranks based on the amount of mana they contain. Knowledge originals, however, cannot be graded so easily.

There were no terms like lightweight knowledge original, heavyweight knowledge original, or super-heavy knowledge original.

Beyond that, Zahra’s mind held many other fascinating facts regarding knowledge originals.

For instance, the conservation of knowledge weight.

The weight of knowledge is constant; it does not vanish if the original is destroyed.

For example, if Dalun Li were to find a way to destroy the Book of Death now, the weight of its knowledge would not disappear. Instead, it would be transferred equally to every other object that recorded the knowledge within the Book of Death.

If every single object in the world that recorded the knowledge of the Book of Death were destroyed until only one remained, the weight of the knowledge would concentrate entirely on that one object, and a knowledge original would appear once more.

If everything was destroyed and not a single record remained, the weight still wouldn't vanish. It would return to chaos, and once the knowledge was recorded again, the weight of knowledge would reappear, transforming the record into a new knowledge original.

Among nobles, unrecorded knowledge still lingering in chaos could even be sold for money.

Nobles loved to use knowledge imbued with weight to inscribe and decorate their treasures. Even if it was just common knowledge without any powerful effects, they pursued it with tireless enthusiasm.

Although knowledge originals were not categorized into ranks like magical artifacts, their value could still be judged based on the knowledge they contained.

The Book of Death was an extremely valuable knowledge original.

Dalun Li couldn't be bothered to investigate the underhanded schemes behind the Geri Kingdom. After all, the Geri Kingdom was far from the Northern Territory. For now, the Book of Death held much more interest for him.

Only after confirming that the knowledge within was not dangerous did Dalun Li begin his formal research.

Zahra had not fully researched the Book of Death and had only mastered a portion of its contents. His understanding of the knowledge regarding death was not particularly deep.

In Dalun Li’s eyes, the knowledge in the Book of Death was actually quite easy to start with.

Knowledge regarding life went without saying. Undead abilities were also a branch of death power. Since Dalun Li had created so many undead monsters and possessed the skills of all his monsters, his mastery of undead knowledge was actually quite high.

However, while it was easy to start, mastering it would be very difficult. Undead abilities were only a branch of death power, and death power itself was a bit too profound for Dalun Li.

‘If I can master all the knowledge in here, perhaps my ability to create monsters will improve significantly.’

Dalun Li thought of that terrifying giant snake skeleton. Perhaps it could be revived and turned into a monster using the knowledge from the Book of Death. A monster created from an entire giant snake skeleton would provide him with immense power. Even if he only revived a part of it, it would offer him unimaginable assistance.

“The Book of Death records the knowledge of gods. Even an angelic grade mage could not master it.”

“Stop the fire, and I can teach you the knowledge within, as long as you are willing to let me go.”

Withered Reincarnation seemed to have noticed Dalun Li’s interest in the knowledge within the Book of Death and spoke up.

However, Dalun Li ignored him completely.

What good could ever come from believing the words of an evil god? Dalun Li had fabricated stories to scam so many adventurers that he understood the principles of fraud prevention all too well; thus, he would never trust Withered Reincarnation.

But the knowledge recorded in the Book of Death was indeed quite obscure and difficult to understand.

Not even an angel could master it...?

There might be some exaggeration in that claim, but the idea that it was difficult even for an angel was likely true.

In that case, he would just create thousands upon thousands of skeletal apprentices to comprehend it.

However, skeletal apprentices were monsters modified from skeletal shamans. They had no combat ability and were specialized for learning; creating them was quite taxing on his power. Specialized monsters always cost Dalun Li more power to create.

Currently, Dalun Li only had the Well of Eternal Imprisonment Learning Group, consisting of about thirty skeletal apprentices, using the Life Casket to learn simultaneously. He felt it would be difficult to create thousands of them.

But perhaps he could cut costs by only creating the heads of the skeletal apprentices and having them share a single body...

He could link the heads in parallel, create a single eye for them to share a common field of vision for thinking, and eliminate the bodies entirely.

As Dalun Li created more and more monsters, his rich experience allowed him to instantly come up with numerous cost-saving solutions.

A long-dormant idea was pulled from the corners of his memory. He wanted to master the knowledge in the Book of Death far too much.

Why should he be obsessed with the physical form of the monsters? He could simply save on costs and create a massive number of thinking units. Then, he could link those thinking units in parallel and house them within a single vessel.

He would provide the vessel with vision, have it process information and think, and then output the resulting knowledge directly to him. He would create a spare super brain.

Indeed, as more and more adventurers entered the dungeon, even Dalun Li was becoming too busy. Previously, he would learn knowledge and combat techniques from the adventurers, but now he no longer had the energy for that.

Using the opportunity to learn from the Book of Death, he might as well overcome the technical hurdles of creating a super brain monster for the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.

“Don't waste your effort. You cannot possibly learn the knowledge within. Grant me my freedom, and I can teach you everything!”

Withered Reincarnation was still trying to tempt Dalun Li.

However, Dalun Li completely ignored Withered Reincarnation and moved to the 17th floor to begin the creation of the external brain.