The Firestarter Spirit could transform and mimic; Shen Cong had no way to make the Great Vajra transform and mimic, and there was no uncovering the reason for it.

Perhaps the fire-spirit heart's functions had degenerated. Perhaps the secret of transformation simply hadn't been worked out yet.

But having developed the Superbrain, Shen Cong believed that sooner or later the Great Vajra would truly evolve into life of the Firestarter Spirit's order — and go beyond it.

The Firestarter Spirit's capacity for change, paired with the technology of human civilization, was enough to evolve a powerful living thing on a par with a Transformer.

That was Shen Cong's ambition.

The Great Vajra evolves into a Transformer, flies clear of the Earth, charges out into the cosmos. My goal is the sea of stars!

...

Developing the Superbrain left Shen Cong delighted — and also left him with no end of questions waiting to be researched.

How to cultivate the Superbrain, the principles behind it, what it could be used for, how it produced consciousness, what its morphological characteristics were: every one of them an unsolved riddle.

One man's energy only goes so far... I can see the direction future evolution takes now. If I really mean to create a Transformer, there's far too much technology involved, far too many secrets to decode. Relying on my own ability alone, there's next to no chance of it.

Shen Cong had imagination and a certain level of scientific competence. But he wasn't a walking encyclopedia.

The future had appeared in front of him in this wholly unguarded way, and it left him full of anticipation — and also generated no end of problems, touching on difficulties of every kind.

Without a powerful organization to assist him, Shen Cong could only follow natural evolution, and become, at the very most, one more Firestarter Spirit.

Was the Firestarter Spirit strong?

Strong!

But strong within limits, and no different from a wild beast — relying on nothing but superior defense and the ability to mimic and change in order to hold off the jin beasts' assault.…