If he could diversify his Martial Art while also learning techniques he had an incredible amount of compatibility with. This would allow him to master higher-quality techniques with much less effort compared to normal techniques of the same amount of power.
Once he reached the mental section, he took a good long look at the techniques. He recalled running into many of the techniques he was seeing. In his previous training stage, he had given all of them a glance, however, dismissed them because he was looking for something very specific. Back then, he was looking for a mental technique that could help him use the pattern adaptation system of the VOID algorithm revolving around the predictive and adaptive evolution models.
Now, he had approached them with a significantly different mindset. He wanted something that give him additional capability rather than augmenting existing capabilities. It was the exact opposite mindset to the one had last time.
He began seeing techniques he didn’t pay much attention to before.
His eyes fell on something interesting.
[Mind Mask]
(‘Interesting…’) He thought to himself.
According to the description, the Mind Mask technique allowed the user to alter the danger that sentient life instinctively perceived from the user by an application of self-hypnosis. This could be used to increase the amount of danger felt or also to decrease the amount of danger felt by the user. It could be used as a strategic deterrence via a bluff of being even stronger than one actually was to lower one’s guard by appearing harmless despite being a Martial Apprentice.
At higher levels, it could be used to hinder an opponent by inducing an immense amount of fear and paranoia, causing one’s opponent to perform sub-optimally. Mastering it to this degree was anywhere between a grade eight or nine as far as difficulty went.
The difficulty the user would experience with this technique was entirely dependent on the prowess of their visual imagination. It was not recommended to those Martial Apprentices with poor visual imagination, for the proficiency likely to be attained would be quite poor.
It was a strange technique where both the potency and difficulty grades of the technique were in flux and were entirely dependent on the mental prowess of the user.
Rui sighed.
The technique was almost calling out to him. How could he possibly toss out a technique of that kind with his circumstances?
“Alright fine.” He picked up the scroll, putting it in his pouch.
He had to admit, he was eager to see how potent the technique would end up being in his hands. If his estimations weren’t wrong, he would get to witness something truly amazing by the time he came around to mastering the technique.
He walked around, looking for something interesting and new. Mental techniques were so compatible with him that he was willing to train another one as long as it was worth it.
“Hm?” His eyes fell on something interesting.
[Mind Switch]
This was a grade-three training technique that would condition the mind and brain to trigger certain mental and neurological phenomena when the user took certain physical stances by creating associations between the targeted neurological phenomena.
This training technique could allow the user to enter into a calm and rational state of mind when the user performed the trigger stance that the desired calm and rational state of mind is strongly associated with the particular stance.
The user could program multiple trigger stances for multiple different states of mind. This would allow the user to operate under a desired state of mind at any point.
“This is association therapy.” His eyes lit up with interest.
Association in the psychology of Earth referred to a mental connection between concepts, events, or mental states that usually stems from specific experiences. Association therapy was a form of treatment that applied this mental trait to treat and often even cure mental disorders.
“To think it could be elevated to an Apprentice-level technique that could be applied in combat.” He murmured, before glancing back at the technique and shaking his head. It was a nice technique with practical utility but he had no real need of it as far as he was concerned. It was a very low-grade technique and something meant to help newbie Martial Apprentices retain their calmness and rationality instead of being hindered and shackled with fear. It wasn’t really something that offered him something new. He had always managed to retain his wits even in despairing scenarios
Just as he walked away, he froze, before slowly turning back to the technique. “Wait… it can trigger any neurological phenomenon?”
He grabbed the technique reading the description again as his eyes lit up in interest. An incredible idea popped into his head.
“If I use this technique correctly… It could help me mitigate some of the constraints of the Squire Realm!” He realized.𝑜𝒱xt.𝐂𝒪𝑀
Triggering neurological phenomena at will was something that could be abused and exploited to produce significant results.
(‘The Kandrian Empire does not know as much about human anatomy as I do.’) He realized. (‘That’s why they didn’t come up with the idea that I just did.’)
He realized he had made a discovery of potentially incredible significance. If he was not wrong, this technique could make his journey to the Squire Realm a lot smoother and beneficial!
He glanced back at the technique. In its current state, it wasn’t useful to him, therefore he didn’t need to waste a slot of his final accelerated training stage on it. It would only be useful at a much later date.
He turned around walking away from the mental techniques section with a wide grin on his face.
He had one more reason to look forward to the day he became a Squire candidate.
But for now, he needed to get some techniques to master in the immediate training stage. He had already chosen the Mindmirror Symbiote as well as the Mind Mask technique. He had already reserved a spot for yet another mental technique in the future.
He intended to purchase some physical techniques for the remaining slots.