Garden of Eden || Apocalypse Paradise #2 [Complete]

177: School of Higher Consciousness

"I can't believe I even had some expectations..." Lin Sanjiu grumbled softly and sat down beside the Transformer figurine.

"I am not responsible for this half-assed decoration," the teacher, who had a strong connection to Lin Sanjiu's subconsciousness, said quickly. "Everything here is created through your Higher Consciousness. Since you only have such a low level of Higher Consciousness—way lesser than your classmates—I have no choice but to make do with this little classroom."

Lin Sanjiu looked at the Transformer figurine sitting beside her, but she didn't feel that his Higher Consciousness could be much higher than hers.

"When you were in kindergarten, we briefly touched on the topic of perception using your Higher Consciousness. Then, the school had to close due to various reasons..." Mrs. Manas said regretfully, "So, you missed the chance to learn quite a lot."

"Why don't you give the lecture from the start?" Anyway, Lin Sanjiu had many questions she wanted to ask. "What did you do when I was at Oasis? How did you help me maintain my ability to that extent?"

Mrs. Manas muttered to herself for a few seconds as though she was considering how she could answer Lin Sanjiu. Just then, Lin Sanjiu heard a scratching sound from the blackboard. A few strokes of white chalk gradually appeared on the blackboard. This scene was simply like a scene of a haunting.

"This involves the essence of what one's Higher Consciousness entails. If we look at one's Higher Consciousness as the maximum potential of a person's ability, we can view a person's Higher Consciousness as a cheat machine. It allows a posthuman to develop his or her ability in various ways and opens up many possibilities. For example, enhanced perception, consciousness mimicry, etc. They are not truly evolved abilities but skills that you gained because [School of Higher Consciousness] opened a new pathway for you."

'Do you think I am really an elementary school student?' Lin Sanjiu thought to herself as she nodded to show that she understood what the teacher said.

"In the future, we will learn about the vast uses of your Higher Consciousness. Even when your body has not reached the right conditions to activate certain abilities, you can use your Higher Consciousness as fuel... Of course, this is a drastic measure, and I won't recommend it."

So, that was the reason why she couldn't enter her [School of Higher Consciousness] after the incident at Oasis. She must have used up too much of her Higher Consciousness. When she recalled how she slept for more than a week after imitating Nüwa's thought process, she felt a slight headache, "So, I would fall into a deep sleep when I used up too much of my Higher Consciousness?"

When Mrs. Manas heard Lin Sanjiu, she sighed, as though she felt that this was a difficult question and her following explanation would be very confusing.

"Right now, your Higher Consciousness is neither high nor low. Normally, you wouldn't get so tired after only using your [Consciousness Mimicry] once. That situation was created for two main reasons. Firstly, I borrowed a little of your Higher Consciousness, but that isn't important, so we will go to the next point."

'Hey, I am more interested in the first reason.' Lin Sanjiu thought.

"The intellect, mental capacity, and psyche of the target you chose to imitate... Putting it gently, her capabilities far exceed yours. You can understand this, right? Your target is stronger, so you have to use up more of your Higher Consciousness. On the other hand, if they're weaker, imitating them would be so easy you wouldn't even drop a sweat.

"That is to say, though I can imitate anyone, I am bound by the upper limits of my Higher Consciousness?" Lin Sanjiu couldn't help confirming what she heard.

The speakers paused, giving the impression that Mrs. Manas hadn't prepared for her lessons. "Theoretically, you are right. But you made a mistake. You can't just imitate anybody you know."

"Huh?" Lin Sanjiu was a little surprised, "There are even conditions to imitate someone?"

"The person has to be someone you understand to some extent. If you tried to imitate Gong Daoyi now, you would find that you would not be able to successfully activate your Consciousness Mimicry. This is because you have zero understanding of the way he thinks, even though both of you fought together before. He is a person who had sealed away his thought process from the outside world."

When Mrs. Manas mentioned that, Lin Sanjiu remembered that dawn when she was together with Nüwa. Even though they only spent a short time together, Nüwa had an open attitude toward her and hid nothing—Lin Sanjiu still had a strong, lasting impression of the woman's personality, tone, and tranquil yet extreme views.

On the other hand, when she thought of Gong Daoyi, she could only remember the faint smile on his beautiful face. Just when Lin Sanjiu was deep in her thoughts, the classroom started to shake violently. She was just about to jump up when she remembered that she was in her own mindscape. She couldn't help blurting out a question, "What's going on?"

She barely uttered those words when the walls of the classroom shifted two meters inward. The room wasn't even that large at the start. The room was now half its size, and she felt that the walls were closing in on her.

"This is bad," Mrs. Manas said and made a soft sound that Lin Sanjiu couldn't understand. "Lin Sanjiu, we will end the lesson here today. Remember, in the end, you might not be able to keep this pathway open... so you definitely have to keep practicing."

"What hap—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes unwittingly. She had returned to reality. In the distance, she could still see her companions were still chatting away. She checked her own body condition and found that there was nothing wrong at all.