Chapter 124 | Taboo Abilities
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Adjusting emotions to reshape a person’s character—this was Zoe’s application of her new mental power.

After becoming somewhat proficient in this manipulation with two individuals, Zoe decided to test it on Rohmund.

She felt like a god, the creator of humanity.

At this moment, the emotions of humans seemed like playthings before her, malleable at her will. Her mental energy could trigger any specific emotion with ease.

It was more convenient, precise, and efficient than any drug.

A single thought was enough.

A little more awe, a bit more loyalty, a touch more relief, and just the slightest increase in gratitude—feelings that seemed to appear for no reason.

She amplified Rohmund’s emotions and made them hypersensitive, setting the stage for a completely new persona.

Zoe did not alter his memories, nor did she forcefully change them.

Yet, at this moment, the look in Rohmund's eyes was filled with reverence and submission.

This was the terrifying aspect of the new feature of her mental power.

It resembled a form of psychological manipulation, akin to techniques where master manipulators use psychological control or emotional abuse to manipulate others.

Such behaviors may involve, but are not limited to: degrading someone's self-esteem, fostering dependency, emotional isolation, applying pressure, or exploiting the insecurities of others to control them. Manipulation often appears in close relationships, including but not limited to romantic ones, and aims to establish and maintain an unequal power dynamic, forcing the manipulated party into submission.

However, this power was far more convenient than that. There were no need for speeches or performances, and the effects were far quicker and more intense.

It was easy to guide and provoke specific emotions.

She could twist another's will as if it were clay, molding and manipulating it with effortless ease.

It was disturbingly simple to strip away someone’s free will.

Free will, typically understood as the ability of a conscious being to make choices and decisions without external coercion, seemed to evaporate in Zoe's presence.

Physically, others couldn’t resist.

Mentally, they were toyed with at will.

Life, at this moment, seemed cheaper and more trivial before Zoe.

Once, Zoe, due to her increasingly heightened senses, had felt increasingly detached from the crowd, as though she were becoming a different species.

But now, with the emergence of this new mental power…

It had diminished the value of life before her to nothing.

She could manipulate both body and mind at will, towering above any individual, much like the vast chasm between humans and ants.

Before her, everyone’s free will held no meaning.

The concept of free will, at this moment, appeared utterly laughable to Zoe.

This new feature of her mental power…

It was like Pandora’s box—once opened, it unleashed an array of unpredictable futures.

But...

Zoe was confident she could control this ability!

As for free will, it was of no concern to her.

She only knew that she had her own set of principles regarding this power, understanding when to use it and when to refrain from doing so.

The world’s opinions were irrelevant to her.

Zoe was confident that she would not lose herself in this realm that bordered on god-like power.

Even though manipulating free will was not something she particularly enjoyed, that did not mean she would foolishly discard the use of such a power.

That would be truly stupid.

Purposely binding her own hands and not using such an ability would be the height of foolishness—undeniably a massive blunder.

Zoe was no fool.

On the contrary, she would use this taboo-like ability diligently.

Not necessarily on those close to her, though.

She didn’t want those she could converse with to turn into mere puppets. After all, speaking to a puppet lacked any real meaning.

However, she would frequently explore and experiment with this ability on various creatures, probing its limits and discovering her own potential.

In truth, there was no such thing as a forbidden ability.

Such powers were simply shrouded in ethics, taboos, and hesitations that prevented people from delving deeper.

From Zoe's current mindset as a seeker of truth…

She only felt curiosity and intrigue. She found this far more fascinating than any of her worldly pursuits in the past.

As she pondered, she looked toward Rohmund, who was now filled with submission and awe. The calmness and indifference in Zoe’s gaze remained unchanged.

“Go on. Handle those two scumbags.”

With these words, Zoe’s mental power once again surged into Rohmund’s emotions.

Rohmund froze in place, as if paused in time.

Taking advantage of this mental suspension, Zoe carefully avoided the cameras and leapt out of the window, disappearing into the night.

As Zoe left, Rohmund, his mind clearing as her mental power receded from the emotional haze, stood alone in the empty private room, lost in confusion and shock.

He was unsure of what had just transpired, but the reverence he felt for Zoe deepened, now laced with a profound awe.

...

Under the cover of night, Zoe moved through the streets with the grace and speed of a comet.

In her mind, her memory palace began cataloging the discoveries she’d made from yesterday all the way through to the present.

 

Thirty-Fifth Entry Record: February 24, 2024

  1. New Exercise Method: The muscles of the body spontaneously tremble at high frequencies, providing both mental and physical training. Current endurance time: 24 seconds. Present strength: approximately 6 tons.

1-1. The physical form has undergone another improvement during this sleep evolution, which is a cause for celebration. However, a peculiar change has emerged: breathing is no longer required. The significance of this change remains unclear.

  1. Physique and build remain unchanged, still approaching the standard 175 cm height and lean, muscular frame. Weight remains at 100 kg, suggesting that body data has been locked, and the correlation between strength and muscle mass seems to have faded.

  2. Ability Upgrade — Transparent World has evolved into Version 4.0. New abilities include: Supervision, Super Smell, Super Hearing, Mental Power (including real-time communication, 3D perception modeling, x-ray vision (unable to penetrate living beings), emotion detection, telekinesis, and electromagnetic wave detection — basic version), and Emotion Induction.

3-1. Mental Power Enhancement: The coverage range has increased from 100 meters to 200 meters, a 100% increase, far surpassing the previous 25% growth. This upgrade appears linked to the new mental power characteristics that evolved, thereby strengthening mental abilities. New feature: Emotion Induction (enables the activation of specific emotions in living beings and permanently enhances their emotional sensitivity).

3-2. Telekinesis Addendum: Telekinesis is a manifestation of mental power — it refers to the ability of mental power to affect the external world. The influence range is the same as that of mental power, and within this range, telekinesis can materialize freely. It can pass through all materials except living organisms, and frequent use can enhance both strength and control. After this evolution, telekinesis strength has increased to 50 Newtons, with precision remaining unchanged.

3-3. Emotion Induction Addendum: This new ability reflects a new aspect of mental power. It allows for reaching and triggering emotional entities in living beings, enhancing their sensitivity to emotions. Experiments revealed that the size of these emotional entities varies by species, with humans possessing the largest and most complex ones. Once triggered, these emotions become permanently more sensitive.

  1. Heat Vision Enhancement: The duration of heat vision has increased from 8 seconds to 15 seconds, an 87.5% improvement. It’s now clear that regular training cannot enhance heat vision strength, but it benefits from the overall increases during each evolution, thereby extending its duration.

  2. Important Notice — Selecting multiple evolution paths allows for early awakening from sleep evolution but comes with drawbacks. Focusing on a single path restores the normal sleep evolution process.

  3. Important Notice — The green light spots in the dream seem to exhibit some degree of subjective initiative, possibly seeking to make contact.

 

Once again, her body’s strength, telekinetic power, and other aspects have been uniformly enhanced during this sleep evolution. There’s no need to dwell on the specifics.

With a strength of 6 tons, she’d nearly doubled her physical power, surpassing nearly every biological creature — at least, all terrestrial animals were likely weaker than her. With her current physical strength, she could charge through a whale, as if it were a nail.

As for her telekinesis, it remained similar.

Although the strength had reached 50 Newtons, the precision hadn’t changed much. In essence, this level of power was still somewhat trivial for her, merely a slight enhancement to her abilities.

The reason she no longer needed to breathe was something she’d speculated about but hadn’t yet been able to verify.

Aside from that, the improvements in heat vision duration and the new mental power characteristics had already been confirmed.

The only notable point was that "Transparent World" could now be classified as Version 4.0. While it hadn’t gained entirely new senses, the increase in range justified the name change. After all, the range had doubled, which was far more significant than a mere doubling in size.

In summary, this was yet another highly satisfying evolution.

The new abilities, in a certain sense, were more extreme and taboo than anything she’d encountered before. However, she was confident in her ability to handle them without letting such powers distort her personality and push her toward extremes.

As for the short-term plans that needed updating after each evolution, her new 6.0 version was largely similar to the previous 5.0 version.

The only addition to the fifth plan was an outline for training the Emotion Induction ability.

 

5: Evening training at 9 p.m. for Transparent World 4.0, including visual, auditory, olfactory, and mental abilities. (Mental training focuses on the perception of biological emotions, telekinesis, and electromagnetic wave detection. The primary focus is on improving telekinetic control. For Emotion Induction, occasional visits to the Magna Paradise Nightclub will serve as experimental training.)

 

Aside from that, no other major changes were necessary.

The arrangements for experiments on inducing killing intent in plants, daily learning of signal modulation and demodulation, and studying baseband signal knowledge remained unchanged.

These were tasks she must complete, though she hadn’t finished them yet.

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