Me, The Sovereign of the World? [Modern Evolution]

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Chapter 69: The Memory Palace and the Changes Within!

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Zoe Carter lay casually on the sofa, lazily toying with the platinum ornament with her foot, while her thoughts drifted towards the recent changes brought by her deep slumber and evolution.

Instead of recording her thoughts on the old mobile phone as she usually did, she was considering a new approach—something she'd long wanted to try. She wished to use her mind to log every detail of her changes, bidding farewell to that outdated device.

In the past, she hadn’t dared attempt it, as her memory hadn't been sharp enough. Moreover, her old mobile had been in use for so long that it had become part of her habit. But now, things were different.

After this recent transformation, Zoe felt her mind had grown far more organized. Each page of her memory seemed to be at her fingertips, ready to be turned to without any hesitation.

During her time in the mountains, she hadn’t given much thought to this transformation. But now, with the quiet setting in, she decided to delve deeper into her newfound abilities.

As she recalled things in detail, she found herself able to remember even her early years.

Childhood memories are often like old, yellowed photographs—warm, yet vague. But to Zoe, they were vivid.

She could remember the colorful slide in her kindergarten, her mother’s figure picking her up from school every day, and her father’s voice as he read her bedtime stories.

She remembered the joy and pride of learning to ride a bicycle for the first time, as well as the tears shed when she fell, and her parents' gentle hands as they cleaned her scraped knee.

She could clearly see those carefree summer afternoons spent chasing and playing with her friends in tree-lined alleys, waving handmade  paper planes.

A piece of candy, a new toy, or a cartoon on television—all of these memories were so distinct.

These recollections should have been buried somewhere deep in her mind, almost impossible to retrieve. Yet now, all she needed to do was try, and the memories flooded back, as vivid as ever—even down to the vein patterns of a single leaf.

This feeling left Zoe rather quiet.

Very few people, in their twenties, could freely recall every happy day of their childhood.

Yet here she was, reliving those joyful moments—yet also touched by a subtle sense of regret.

But the fortunate thing was that Zoe had the means to pursue that youthful joy once more.

Not just in memory; in reality, too, she had the power to go after it.

Deep in thought, Zoe allowed her memories to spread further, attempting to find memories from before the age of three.

She tried for a long time but couldn't reach them.

Before that age, her memories seemed to be in a haze—nothing useful could be drawn out.

Zoe wasn’t surprised by this.

After her memory ability improved, she found herself capable of recalling all those fragmented, seemingly lost recollections from after the age of three. That was already an astonishing level beyond human comprehension.

The inability to retrieve memories from before three years old was understandable.

Before the age of three, the brain's language system is not fully developed. Without a comprehensive language structure to aid in encoding perceptions into memories, there's nothing to remember—no memory to recall.

Understanding this, Zoe gave up on the idea of searching further back in time.

She pondered over her overwhelming memories.

It occurred to her that she could try building a "Memory Palace," akin to those depicted in fiction. Such a construct would make managing and retrieving her memories far more convenient.

The "Memory Palace," also known as the "Mind Palace," is an advanced mnemonic technique dating back to ancient Greece and Rome.

It takes advantage of incredible spatial memory by linking the information we wish to remember to familiar places—such as our home, school, or a park. In essence, you build an imagined "palace" and place your memories in specific locations within this space. To recall the information, all you need to do is mentally walk through the palace and retrieve what was "placed" along the way.

To construct it, one would first select a well-known location as the palace. Mentally, you then follow a set route through the various parts of that location, placing the things you need to remember at specific spots—be they symbols, fragments of a story, or anything else. When it’s time to recall the information, you simply revisit the palace in your mind and collect what was placed along the way.

This technique is especially useful for memorizing large amounts of seemingly unrelated information, such as speeches, academic knowledge, or word lists, and has been widely applied in education, research, and even competitive memory sports.

When Zoe began trying, what emerged in her mind was an enormous architectural structure.

It was a vast library.

Floating silently amidst an infinite, empty, and dark void of space, it stood alone—the sole tangible entity in the deep abyss.

Upon stepping into this monumental library, the first thing that greeted the eye was an immense, dignified space, like a temple of knowledge.

The ceiling stretched high, embedded with exquisite frescoes and reliefs depicting the evolution of human civilization. Endless rows of bookshelves stood like a forest, all meticulously aligned, crafted from dark, rich wood, their scent telling of the years gone by.

All the memories of Zoe’s twenty-plus years—every detail within those memories—were housed within those shelves. Depending on the type of memory, they were placed on different bookshelves, ranging from ancient parchment scrolls to modern, beautifully bound volumes. Each memory had been given a distinct appearance, reflecting its content.

Gold-embossed lettering on the spines of the books shimmered, summarizing the memory and providing keywords to access it.

The labyrinthine corridors led the way between these shelves—like an endless wall of knowledge stretching into eternity.

When she needed to retrieve a memory, certain books within the library would automatically open.

This was Zoe's Memory Palace.

The moment it was constructed, she felt her mind grow even clearer.

If one had to describe the feeling...

It was like thoroughly cleaning and organizing a cluttered home, like removing all unnecessary files from a computer.

Everything had its place—neatly arranged, categorized.

The redundant, disorganized information was no longer scattered, but systematically sorted, creating a vast new space, and instantly enhancing her information processing speed.

It was exhilarating!

After this, Zoe opened the book containing records of changes in her physical abilities.

From today onwards, she would no longer rely on the old phone to log things or to create a space that's free from any network interferences.

She would find time to destroy it completely.

After a moment of deliberation and a few experiments, Zoe recorded the newly discovered changes following her fourth sleep evolution in the "Memory Palace."

[ Record 21th: March 19, 2024 ]

1. New Training Method: Muscles throughout the body now undergo high-frequency spontaneous tremors, providing dual physical and mental training. Current endurance: 15 seconds.

2. No Change in Body Type or Physique: Body shape still adheres to the standard athletic build of a 175 cm tall female, with a weight of 100 kg. It appears that physical dimensions are locked. Strength is seemingly less tied to muscle mass.

3. Ability Enhancement—Transparent World Upgraded to Version 3.0: Features now include super-vision, super-olfaction, super-hearing, and mental power [covering real-time transmission of information, 3D perception modelling, X-ray vision (excluding living organisms), emotional sensing, telekinesis, light perception, and color sensing].

   • 3.1 Mental Power Upgrade: Coverage range increased from 60 to 80 meters—a 33% boost compared to the previous 20%. New feature: the ability to faintly perceive light, adding color perception to sensed objects.

   • 3.2 Telekinesis Notes: Telekinesis is essentially an extension of mental power, capable of affecting the external world. It operates within the same range as mental power and can penetrate any material except living organisms. Frequent use can increase both its strength and precision. After this evolution, the force has increased to 10 Newtons, with precision unchanged.

4. New Ability—Significant Memory Enhancement, Enabling the Construction of a Memory Palace.

5. Desired Ability—Biological Barrier: During the recent trip into the mountains, clothing and shoes were repeatedly damaged. She needed a way to prevent herself from having to go about naked.

6. Notes—Further Exploration of the Soul: Consider visiting cemeteries or hospitals to further explore spiritual experiences. As for experiments on whether killing intent affects plants, a long-term control experiment with two sets of plants is required.

First Point

The first point hardly requires elaboration; it simply takes a bit of time to test and record the results.

The duration for which she could endure muscle tremors had increased by nearly half compared to what it once was. This was a notable enhancement.

This improvement was largely due to Zoe's fourth evolution through deep sleep, which had not only heightened her mental capabilities but had also significantly bolstered her physical strength. She estimated that her raw physical power now stood at roughly 2.5 tonnes. With enhancements to both her mind and body, it was only natural that the time she could endure exercises requiring a synchronicity of mental and physical exertion, like the muscle tremor drills, would see a marked increase.

Second Point

The second point regarding her physique was equally straightforward. Her mental prowess was akin to a measuring tape—one quick scan was enough to compile all the relevant data.

Third and Fourth Points

The third and fourth points needn't be discussed in detail, as they were simple records of changes in mental strength and memory.

Fifth Point - The Need for a Bio-Field

The fifth point, however, was somewhat more complicated. It centerd around her desire for a biological force field.

Though her current physical resilience had made cold weather and conventional armor obsolete, she still had certain moral considerations and societal standards to uphold. Each time she exerted herself fully, her clothes invariably tore apart, shoes included. This wasn't something that could be remedied simply by mastering control. If she moved fast enough, the friction would almost certainly ignite her attire.

She had tried using telekinesis to protect her clothing, but with only ten newtons of telekinetic strength at present, coupled with her lamentable precision, even holding off a light drizzle was challenging.

Thus, unless she wished to run starkers...

She truly required something akin to Superman's biologically inexplicable force field—something that could protect whatever she wished from harm, something that could grant her rapid movement without concern for momentum or inertia, and allow her to lift an aeroplane without plunging it into the ground.

But, for now, that was simply wishful thinking.

For the time being, she could only hope that her mental strength, through subsequent evolutions, would become potent enough to shape her telekinesis into a semblance of such a biological force field.

Sixth Point - The Upcoming Endeavors

And finally, the sixth point.

This one involved the two tasks that would occupy her for the foreseeable future.

She aimed to delve deep into the mysteries of the soul and the essence of killing intent. In the forest, she had conducted rudimentary experiments concerning these subjects.

Now, she required far more samples to proceed with her controlled trials and expand upon her research.