Only to have hope re-ignited as the soldier dropped on its face when X showed up behind him. His head was torn in half, and his right arm dangled uselessly against his side, where thousands of cuts littered his body, X still stood, while a Soul Formation Puppet was laying on the ground. And this was all thanks to the fact that I had X working with five brains instead of one, as even though the gaping hole in his chest that destroyed his spiritual Stone, or the destroyed right arm, X still had three other brains, one in his left shoulder and two more on his legs that acted as secondary brains and kept the puppet from failing his duty in answering my command.
X's multi brain functionality enabled him to fight tooth and nail to the bitter end, as for even if he lost his head, hands, or chest, there will always be a command center guiding him and he would still fight, where the Soul Formation puppet only had a single inscription on his chest which X had destroyed by giving up one of his hands.
X moved towards me, with difficult yet confirmed steps, he struggled to move due to all of the damage he had received, but he was a source of pride and joy to me, as he managed to defeat something that made a Nascent Soul cultivator scurry away in fright.
X was mine! And I'll be damned not to reward him for his efforts.
I struck the last brush against the barrier, and then a formation that wouldn't have been possible to create was now in place, all those strokes I made on the barrier had made a formation on top of this formation. A restriction that overwrites the former restriction and gave me the ability to take command of the barrier in front of me.
"X, bring the soldier over," I called and my puppet heeded my command. Though painful to see, how awkward X moved, and how he couldn't even relay the damage he suffered. It pained me to see X suffering but without pain, and it only confirmed my resolve to give him the best.
X dragged the Puppet Soldier over and I waved my hand causing a hole in the barrier to open up.
The moment the hole in the barrier appeared I was assaulted with powerful waves of Spiritual Qi that were trapped inside the barrier. X, threw the puppet on the other side of the barrier and got inside while I followed suit and closed the barrier from within. I now have control of this barrier and everything that was behind it, all those treasures, Spirit Stones, weapons, and artifacts were now mine. And best of all, they had a lot of materials that I could use to repair X and make him better, stronger, and faster.
Just as I was admiring the treasure trove, the Puppets from the upper floors came down, they had probably sensed the 'death' of their comrades and came after me. They should have done that first, but I suppose they didn't think I'm worth their efforts, and thus… Ay' There's the rub!
I went on my knees and removed the armors that the Puppet Soldier wore. I needed to confirm something and almost immediately I sighed in thanks. The puppet didn't seem to have a self-destruction Inscription or anything that could cause it to stand back up.
I began by removing its parts and saw through the inscriptions making it, figuring out why this thing was a Formation Level Puppet.
The Soldier Puppet also had a single formation on its chest, but it was so exhaustive and had so many inscriptions in it that I made my head hurt trying to figure it all out. But what pulled my attention was the fact that it also had five High-Grade Spirit Stones operating it.
Could it be that a puppet only needed more spirit stones for it to gain a higher cultivation grade? But if so, anyone could make Soul Formation Level Puppets.
Ah no, it's the knowledge behind the setup of the inscriptions, as even if one was able to procure the spirit stones, they'll need a lot of understanding of inscriptions to write a proper formation able to channel all the spirit stones without clashing against each other, something I came to understand only now, but at the same time had known before. This was simply because of my understanding of programming, though I'm not the best in the field, I needed code and computer knowledge in my field of work, also the education quality back on Earth was so far higher than inscriptions were nothing more than codes for me instead of what many of the books called 'Language of the Heaven,' for me they were nothing more than mere commands to do a specific job, I didn't need to understand how they worked or who provided the pamphlet for them to work as they are, I only knew they worked and I used them to the best of my ability and accidentally created a Soul Formation level puppet.
Now there was another factor on how to create Formation Level Puppets besides how to organize the inscriptions not to clash with each other or the spiritual stones and how to organize their wavelengths, stuff like I said before I subconsciously understood thanks to my education, and this was the material.
Powerful material was needed to operate powerful puppets, as showed by X, he had so much power but the material making him was not strong enough to wield all of that power. Not that X was weak, no, he could tear a nascent Soul cultivator apart like he was tearing paper, but for him to show all of his might he'll need a stronger body, and it's already in front of me.
And thus, I began dismantling the Soldier Puppet in front of his peers who looked at me with dead eyes.
Once I dismantled the Puppet fully and removed the spirit stones, I began by deleting the inscription it had, but before I could re-write them, I was stuck in a dilemma. X…
How can I transfer him here? I didn't want to Lose X, nor make a stronger puppet and discard my first Puppet, no, I wanted to wholly transfer X's being into this new body. But how can I do that? How can I harness the Soul of a soulless puppet?
I looked at X and then back at the dismantled puppet in front of me. Then it struck me, overwrite, overwhelm and overtake.
"X, come here," I commanded and X came to me, I opened his chest and wrote a new set of commands into them. Smiling with wicked glee I continued writing until my hands felt tired but kept going, adding more commands over all of X's body.
Then when I stood up, I felt like I was going to pass out from mental exhaustion. I pulled a few leaves from the Spiritual Tea master Yun had given me and munched on them, I didn't have the tools nor did it look alright brewing tea in front of so many hostile puppets looking at me and I had to make with the small semblance of mental relief that the leaves gave me.
But what happened next caused me great joy, as I have just inputted a 'Hijack' command on X.
To which he used to great success, as he dove his still functioning arm on the puppet and the inscription on his hand flooded down the Soldier Puppet's arm. The inscriptions moved like they had a purpose, and I found it amazing how mystifying this was, as solid writings turned to live words. How can one explain this? I have no idea, and like always I do not fret over things I don't fully understand nor have the ability to currently understand.
X finished with 'transferring' his consciousness. Or at least one of his consciousness, into the puppet. The one in his hand.
The puppet's hand didn't move however as it needed the Spiritual Stone, and just as I was about to act, X shone bright, where the runes on his chest moved to his arm, the one that had all its inscriptions melted into the Soldier puppet, and these new inscriptions were now commanding his hand instead of his chest.
And his hand moved once again as it plucked one of the spirit stones on his body and placed it on the Soldier puppet, then he continued, transferring his conscious onto the new puppet.
This was amazing to see, this was intelligence, God damn it, did I make an artificial intelligence? The thought disappeared the moment it came to mind, no, this was probably a reaction to the 'self-preservation' command I created into X, he made sure to survive and transferred his consciousness to a better host. Parasitic, but it suited my purpose.
Soon after X had fully transferred itself into the new Puppet Soldier, I began by adjusting the new X, editing a few runes and correcting ones then finished off by repairing some of the damage on the Soldier Puppet.
Looking away from the Soldier Puppet on the ground, X's older puppet body was left on the ground, lifeless. And I didn't want to lose it, I placed it inside the Poison God's book, and now I was left with a good feeling.
I was nothing more than a first-tier Foundation Establishment Cultivator. But I had a Soul Formation Puppet to guard me. And this felt damn good. But when I remembered the gigantic planet-eating Serpent that was inevitably coming my way, my sense of security dulled. But this only ignited my ambition, I'll become stronger, even if I had to rely on X to secure my safety right now, I'll become powerful in the future that I'll no longer need protection.
I looked at the puppets outside the barrier and sighed because before I become stronger, I'll need to actually defeat these puppets and leave.
The barrier was protecting me, but at the same time, imprisoning me inside it. Damn it. X is strong, and now he is stronger, but sending him out is the same as dooming him to his death, and I need a way out, and I only have my little brain to use and find myself an escape.