High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2497: Chapter 718: Ahoge

”Transformation is an ancient and rich magic that can be divided into ’Mental Transfiguration’ and ’Material Transformation’ based on their essence. Mental Transfiguration, also known as ’Cognitive Distortion Transfiguration,’ aims to achieve transformation by distorting others’ cognition.”

”For instance, a stone on the ground is just a stone. You can’t turn it into gold, but you can distort others’ perceptions, making everyone think it’s gold. Thus, although it remains a stone in essence, it can circulate in the market as if it were gold.”

”In traditional magical theory, this type of transformation is more inclined to be classified as ’Illusion Technique.’ However, modern magical theory has a different understanding. For example, the information unification theory suggests that the essence of the world is the collection of information, and both Mental Transfiguration and Material Transformation are results derived through different pathways. Additionally, the Dimensionism perspective regards Mental Transfiguration as a simulation in the Virtual Dimension, while physical transformation is considered a simulation in the Real-Dimensional World—both sides of the same coin, belonging to the same category.”

”The reason for mentioning ’Mental Transfiguration’ here is that the Art of Body Transformation involves an important concept related to it—Cognitive Interference—of course, it should be emphasized that I am not saying the Art of Body Transformation belongs to Mental Transfiguration. On the contrary, it is a very standard material type transformation magic...”

Professor Yao leaned against the lecture desk, arms crossed, holding a pipe with his left hand and a teacup in his right, talking endlessly about content related to the Art of Body Transformation, not even opening the lecture notes on the table.

Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu lay on the table, diligently taking notes—at this point, both had returned to human form—a task not easy, given the lack of written notes, merely relying on memory to transcribe Old Yao’s machine-gun-like lengthy oral dictation. Zheng Qing felt his feather pen was almost burning from writing.

He had to seize the opportunity when Old Yao drank water to raise his hand: ”Professor, what is...”

”Cognitive Interference?”

The professor put down the teacup, nodded understandingly, and spoke the word the warlock hadn’t yet uttered: ”So-called ’Cognitive Interference’ is an active magical attempt that influences individual behavior by altering the individual’s existing cognitive thinking pattern, thereby changing the belief system of the individual... here are several key terms: ’active magical attempt’, ’belief system’, and ’cognitive thinking pattern’...”

Zheng Qing felt as though the professor’s voice carried a strange power, pulling his spirit higher continuously, even though his hand was still diligently taking notes, his mind seemed to leap out and jump to a further place—this feeling wasn’t unfamiliar to him; during high school math classes, when teachers explained exercises, he often drowned in such a daze.

Or put more colloquially, he was absent-minded.

Then, at some point, the lecture voice stopped by his ear, and the warm, cozy sound disappeared, replaced by a chilling breath sweeping from all directions, making the boy shiver and bringing his consciousness back to the classroom.

Old Yao and Jiang Yu were staring at him.

”So, so sorry!”

The young wizard abruptly stood up, stammering with apologies: ”I don’t know why, maybe I’m too tired, but I clearly drank Energy Potion before class—I’ll stand while listening to the lecture, Professor!”

He felt extraordinarily embarrassed.

But unexpectedly, Professor Yao was not angry; on the contrary, he praised him: ”Very good, very good, Zheng Qing, your current state is very suitable for practicing the Art of Body Transformation... what was I saying just now? Cognitive Interference! To interfere with cognition, the first step is to achieve ’Object-Self Separation’ and ’Soul Departure.’ Of course, here ’Soul Departure’ is a figurative term, not actual soul departure, nor is it letting your Soul depart, but a state of pure consciousness existing separated from the physical body.”

The two young wizards stared blankly at the professor, who was full of enthusiasm, for a while not knowing how to respond, and upon regaining composure, could only bury their heads and continue transcribing the lecture notes.

An audible snap of fingers sounded at the ear.

Then a few chalks jumped out of the box, tap dancing across the desk surface, and then fell on the blackboard scribbling noisily. From the sounds, more than one chalk was busy.

When Zheng Qing raised his head after transcribing those words about soul departure, the blackboard was already densely packed with different colored, distinct focal point notes, so comprehensive that he just wanted to break his feather pen.

”A tree can grow countless branches, a river can divide into hundreds of tributaries. But no matter how they divide, a tree is still a tree, a river is still a river. Consciousness is the same.”

At this point, the professor tapped the blackboard, pointed to the top passage, and emphasized: ”You must remember, under no circumstances, should you give up your ’ownership’ of the body transformation, meaning you must maintain your ’uniqueness,’ never doubt or shake your existence. Otherwise, there’s a possibility the transformation will replace the sorcerer, and take over permanently... Of course, compared to true transformation, the negative impact of transformation after mutation is minimal... But this doesn’t mean you can underestimate it... Here, we’ll focus on teaching the ’Integration Method’ to consolidate your scattered consciousness after roaming.”

Perhaps to emphasize the importance of consolidating spirit, this segment ’Integration Method’ was lectured by Professor Yao for over two hours, until nearly the end of class—then he, being somewhat unfinished, moved into the third section:

”...In the next class, we will discuss the two stages of the Art of Body Transformation. Here I will briefly introduce them. The first stage requires you to proficiently grasp an important branch of transformation, the activation transformation, and then use activation technique to turn an appropriate ’Incarnation’ into an identical creature as your transformed biological form, then endow it with Spirituality, which means the mental attachment after departure; the second stage involves reconstructing your and the body’s ’belief system’ through ’Focus’ and ’Cognition’ alteration, correcting errors in cognition for a genuinely meaningful transformed body.”

”...The former stage, during practice, need not be taken too seriously, using stones, puppets, toys, even your nails are permissible—the only requirement is that the activated creature should be as lifelike as possible.”

”...The latter stage requires selecting a suitable ’Incarnation’—so-called ’Incarnation,’ to some extent similar to the divination ’medium’ used in Divination Class, possessing most of your biological and spiritual information, such as...

Old Yao’s gaze hovered between the two students for a few seconds and finally fell on Zheng Qing’s head, nodding in satisfaction: ”For example, Zheng Qing’s hair is quite spirited, making for a very fine ’Incarnation.’ If one day it turns into a Black Cat, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”