Euphemia pointed at a section of the diary and explained, “Right here. The first time we went to the Mind Research Association, I gave you many protective amulets and only kept a few for myself. But the future me denied this, saying she had lied to you and didn't keep a single one. That's impossible.
“First of all, I would never lie about such a trivial matter. Secondly, giving you the majority and keeping a small portion for myself is the most logical distribution. Even the current me would definitely do the exact same thing. So, it's very obvious that the future me had some sort of problem.
“Most likely, someone used a mind ability on me, which triggered the protective amulets. But because that person's rank was too high and their ability was too strong, I didn't even get a chance to run away before the amulets burned to ash and I was controlled.
“I don't know what they did to me, but it's clear that after doing whatever they wanted, they casually modified my memories regarding the amulets, making me believe I hadn't kept any for myself.”
Listening to Euphy's logical and well-founded analysis, Freya opened her mouth slightly, a look of bewilderment on her face. “Huh?”
Good grief, what in the world? She suddenly felt a strange sense of cognitive dissonance, as if the real-world Euphy and the simulated Euphy were playing a game of chess across dimensions. Wasn't this a bit too ridiculous?
Euphemia continued, “Fortunately, no matter what the person who used mind abilities on me did, it only happened in the false future and can't affect reality. In conclusion, at least before entering the Mind Research Association, ‘I’ was definitely normal.”
Freya thought for a moment and said, “I think the biggest suspect is Branch President Thorne. After all, he's the highest-ranking and most powerful person in the entire Association.”
And thinking about it this way, the rules of the Mind Research Association—not satisfying one's desires externally, and not abusing abilities to influence ordinary people—would normally be enforced by superiors. But as the strongest member of this branch, Thorne had no one above him to supervise or keep him in check.
In that case, it was entirely possible for Thorne to violate the rules for his own benefit. Just like how Euphemia had used an extraordinary item made by a Rank Five Artisan as leverage, and Thorne had agreed to the trade so easily. Since his moral line was so flexible in this matter, who could say how flexible it was at other times?
Euphemia knit her beautiful brows in thought. She didn't reply immediately, but after a moment, she said, “In any case, I think keeping our distance from the Mind Research Association is the best choice for now. At least in reality, we must never give a Mind Pathway extraordinary the chance to read our minds. This secret is simply too important.”
In truth, now that they had the potions in hand, Freya and Euphemia could have directly returned to their kingdom in reality. However, neither of them brought it up because they shared the same thought: they both wanted to investigate this case.
After discussing the strange points in the diary, Euphemia finally looked at Freya with an excited expression, her eyes sparkling. “So, Fufu, you can summon clones now, right? Quick, let me see!”
Freya walked over to an open space in the living room. With a single thought, two clones materialized out of thin air: Life Freya and Mind Freya.
“Wow... Oh my!” Euphemia immediately leaned in close to Life Freya out of curiosity, looking her up and down before she couldn't help but say, “Mm~ you're really so cute! Can I touch you?”
Life Freya said helplessly, “Please don't treat me like a cute little animal you stumbled upon on the street.”
Euphemia acted as if she hadn't heard a word. “And you smell so good, so fragrant!”
Life Freya didn't say anything more. Instead, she began to sense the digestion progress of the potion inside Mind Freya. Just like with the Scholar potion before, there was indeed some advanced digestion, though it wasn't as exaggerated as with the Earth Pathway or the War Pathway.
Drinking the Rank Two and Rank Three potions right now would definitely be fine, but she shouldn't even think about Rank Four and beyond for now.
At that moment, Life Freya glanced at Euphemia and was surprised to find that Euphemia's Scholar potion had been completely digested. She couldn't help but say, “Euphy, you can drink the Rank Three Scholar potion now.”
Euphemia finally diverted her attention from Life Freya. “Eh? So fast?”
Freya's main body then spoke up, “By the way, I've always wanted to know: under normal circumstances, how does an extraordinary determine whether their potion is fully digested and whether they can drink the next rank's potion?”
Euphemia explained calmly, “There is no way. You can only rely on intuition. That's why some people think they've finished digesting when they actually haven't, and forcing themselves to drink the next potion leads to them losing control.
“So, to be safe, people usually wait a bit longer. After all, advancing a bit slower is much better than losing your life, right?”
Mind Freya said, “I see.”
As she spoke, she took out the Rank Two Mind potion and drank it down in one gulp. It had to be said that, from this point of view, the Earth Pathway's Heart Perception ability was truly impressive.
Seeing this, Euphemia's mouth twitched slightly. She continued, “I estimated before that it would take me a few more months to digest the potion. The reason it digested so quickly is most likely because of Jerome's case and me guessing the truth about your miraculous ability just now.”
She wore a thoughtful expression. “Looking at it this way, it seems that the things I do in your false futures can also help digest my potions? I'll ask my grandfather for a Rank Three potion later and advance.”
While the two were talking, Mind Freya beside them had also completed her advancement. The tips of her hair had turned a light gold color. While her Rank One Mind Reading and Hypnosis abilities had received a slight boost, she had also gained a new extraordinary ability.
Mind Freya sensed it. Although there was only one new ability, she found it to be absurdly powerful. It was called 'Psychological Scalpel'. This ability allowed her to freely modify a person's memory, including but not limited to deleting, adding, and altering memories.
Even though it was just a single ability, it could easily be treated as multiple abilities combined.
Upon learning about this ability, Freya herself was stunned. Could the Mind Pathway really manipulate memories at just Rank Two?
However, she quickly realized that this ability had its limitations. Just like its name, 'Psychological Scalpel,' using this ability was like performing surgery on a patient with a scalpel, except she was operating on their memories instead of their flesh.
Therefore, to activate this ability, the patient had to remain in an extremely quiet and calm state. If a person was struggling constantly, she wouldn't be able to use it on them.
Furthermore, even if Freya successfully calmed the patient down, performing surgery on memories was something that heavily relied on proficiency and precise control. If her modifications weren't absolutely perfect, the patient might realize that there was something wrong with their memories.
As such, this ability couldn't be used in actual combat for now. It was the kind of ability meant for catching people off guard from behind or acting as support.
For instance, the ordinary staff members of the Mind Research Association had likely had their negative emotions erased by this very ability while working, allowing them to face customers in their best state.
It was worth mentioning that if someone's memories had been tampered with by someone else, Freya could also use this ability to repair the tampered parts and restore them to their original state.
Of course, the prerequisite was that the surgical skills of the two 'doctors' had to be roughly on par.
Following that, Mind Freya picked up the Rank Three potion and drank it all. A moment later, more of Mind Freya's hair turned golden. While her Rank One and Rank Two abilities were enhanced further, she gained two new abilities at Rank Three.
They were 'Mind Piercing' and 'Psychological Invisibility'. The former could be considered the only direct offensive ability of the Mind Pathway's first three ranks. It allowed her to consume a large amount of spirituality to shock a target's mind. If the target was an ordinary person, this strike could turn them into a drooling idiot on the spot.
Even an extraordinary with strong willpower would feel a splitting headache and fall into a state of daze for a period of time. The exact duration of the control depended on how much spirituality Mind Freya used and the target's willpower.
As for Psychological Invisibility, it was a rather unique type of invisibility. It didn't achieve its purpose by making her physically transparent or making her body disappear, but rather by influencing others' cognition.
Just like how no one would pay attention to an inconspicuous little pebble on the roadside, when she used Psychological Invisibility, others would simply ignore Mind Freya no matter what she did.
After figuring out the basic usage of all her abilities, Mind Freya looked at the main body. Now that her mind abilities had reached a decent level, she naturally planned to test them out and perform a preliminary check on whether the main body's memories had any issues.
Mind Freya sat on the bed with her legs together, while Freya's main body lay on her side, resting her head directly on Mind Freya's lap—a classic lap pillow. Mind Freya then gently placed both hands on the main body's head and began to activate her basic Mind Reading ability.
Of course, this was a Rank Three Mind Reading that had been enhanced multiple times. At this stage, the ability was no longer limited to viewing surface thoughts; she could browse through all memories as easily as flipping through a book.
At the same time, Mind Freya also activated the Psychological Scalpel ability, beginning to check if her own memories had been tampered with.
During this time, Euphemia stood nearby, staring blankly at the two 'Freyas' acting so intimately. She couldn't help but say in surprise, “This... this... is it really okay for you two to be so intimate!?”
However, Life Freya, who was standing to the side, tilted her head slightly and said in confusion, “Is there anything strange about this? We are originally the same person. This is just like using your own hand to touch your own thigh. It has absolutely nothing to do with being intimate, right?”
Euphemia's expression froze slightly. She thought about it and realized it indeed made sense. What was strange about touching yourself?
But even if that was the truth, seeing it in person still felt incredibly bizarre! Especially since Mind Freya's appearance had already undergone some subtle changes, making her look quite different from Freya herself. Right now, it didn't look like two Freyas sharing a lap pillow, but rather... a pair of twin sisters?
Thinking of this, Euphemia couldn't help but glance at Life Freya beside her, who had her eyes closed, bare feet, and long white hair that faded into green. This Fufu looked even more different!
Doesn't this mean that in the future, every high-rank clone Fufu gets will look completely different? And seeing these clones acting so close to each other, why did she feel a tiny bit jealous for some reason?
It was worth mentioning that the Scholar Pathway was different from other pathways. As people of this pathway advanced in rank, their appearance wouldn't undergo any obvious changes. Or rather, all the changes occurred inside their brains.
Sensing Euphemia's envious expression, Life Freya thought for a moment and said, “Euphy, do you want to experience what a lap pillow feels like too?”
Euphemia was stunned for a moment, then said a bit hesitantly, “C-can I?”
Life Freya said in a soft, sweet voice, “Of course you can~”
It was just letting her rest her head on her lap anyway. As she spoke, Life Freya also sat on the bed, bringing her legs together and gently patting her thigh.
But unlike Mind Freya, who was currently wearing black stockings, Life Freya was wearing a short skirt and had bare legs. Euphemia took a deep breath, quickly scrambled onto the bed, and gently lay down on Life Freya's lap. Smelling the faint fragrance drifting to her nose and feeling the soft sensation beneath her head, she couldn't help but show a blissful expression.
“Ah~ is this heaven?”
She took back her previous thought about being 'jealous.' With so many Fufus of different styles and appearances, wasn't this actually much better?
Rate on N.U.
