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More likely, they were eventually cycled back into the planet in the form of ardor through some as yet unknown process. And then, of course, that ardor would in turn give rise to new souls.

So in a sense, he believed in a kind of reincarnation. Or rather, he thought it was the most logical explanation for the way the world functioned.

Academically, not many agreed with him, though. There was currently no evidence to support the hypothesis that souls returned to Eleg in any form whatsoever or that ardor could transform into a soul. Both of those processes were still so mysterious that most of the credible "scholars" out there regarded them as hardly even worth thinking about.

Which was stupid, quite frankly. But alas, the scientific community had always been that away. Unable to make known their bolder theories. Afraid of destroying their reputations.

And not many of them wanted to be associated with any ideas that the Mad Demon agreed with. Eheheh. Idiots.

So many of them still seemed to believe that he cared even one iota about his own reputation, that they could do anything to seriously impact it. So what if he'd become the poster boy for fringe science and kooks over the last couple centuries? That was where all the fun was. And if anything, that was also the kind of company that he preferred to keep.

Many of his apprentices over the years had gone on to do remarkable work in their own right.

Well.

The ones that survived the apprenticeship, at least. Admittedly, he may have been a bit too hard on some of them.

But hey. Impressionable young minds needed to be met with resistance somehow. He couldn't very well allow them to go on thinking that the world was their oyster, just because they were kinda smart. That wasn't how things worked.

Also, some of them were jerks.