What did this mean?
It meant that when Murphy regenerated, he would lose some of his own matter.
Of course, he could absorb more matter to replenish himself.
But the most dangerous loss was the matter that constituted his "self."
Murphy didn't yet fully understand the composition of this "matter."
Once it was lost, he could no longer regenerate perfectly.
Of course, this usually wouldn't be a major issue. Ordinary people, with their limited memories, are constantly losing the matter of their "self" as they grow and change.
The "self" of each day is in a state of constant renewal.
Therefore, for long-lived beings, losing a bit of the matter that made up their "self" was usually trivial. This was especially true since they had backups and could perform network-assisted recoveries.
Even if their bodies were shattered, they could recover by re-aggregating the vast majority of matter still connected by Spiritual Power.
