Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 112 Two Methods

Funes Bachmann and Omid Abbott have been having a very happy time lately.

The director somehow acquired many magical creatures, most of which possessed some basic intelligence, and many of them could even speak. Moreover, their speech wasn't like that of a parrot mimicking speech; they were genuinely expressing their own thoughts.

What's even more amazing is that nobody cares about the life or death of these non-human intelligent beings.

Even their teacher, Selica, who always considered them both to be perverts, didn't say anything about their experiments with goblins.

Excellent experimental materials, an experimental environment free from ethical constraints, and they can even receive magical assistance!

Two scientists in the fields of consciousness and cognition finally had the opportunity to intervene more directly in their research subjects, which excited them greatly. Some experiments that would have been impossible to conduct before were dug out by the two from secret filing cabinets.

For the past six months, the two have been immersed in the joy of discovery and exploration almost every day.

They only realized what was happening when Murphy started banging on the table in front of them.

Ah...right, it seems the boss wanted us to research the Seed of the Mind, not to do basic research on consciousness and the brain!

Oh no, I'm using the client's money to conduct my own little science experiments...

If they get caught, they'll get a beating, won't they?

Funes broke out in a cold sweat, feeling guilty. Fortunately, they hadn't really forgotten the ultimate goal of their research; they had just gone too far in some side missions.

"Director, we have achieved results, quite a lot of results."

"Okay." Murphy nodded, clearly not entirely convinced. "I'll just ask one crucial question: can I safely use the Mind Seed without worrying about its effects unexpectedly expanding?"

"Yes!" Funes replied immediately.

"Hmm?" Murphy questioned.

"That's right," Funes said, noticing Murphy's suspicion, and immediately explained, "We discovered a phenomenon while using Mind Seed on intelligent beings like goblins."

"The seed of the soul actually has two uses."

"In fact, our past understanding of the mind has all belonged to the first usage."

"What do you mean?" Murphy's interest was successfully piqued.

"Our consciousness can be roughly divided into two modes of thinking: emotional and logical."

"The way we perceive things, the way we think, and the way we make decisions about our behavior can all be divided using this dichotomy."

"In the emotional mode, cognition is more direct, thinking is simpler and more subjective, and the driving force for behavior is very strong."

"In the rational mode, cognitive abilities are more analytical, thinking is more complex and objective, and more information can be processed, but behavioral drive is relatively weaker."

"The command form of the Seed of the Mind can also be achieved in these two different ways."

"For example, in the first method, we can command a goblin to dislike drinking water. Although the goblin knows that drinking water is necessary and will force itself to drink water to survive, due to its inner aversion, it may drink less and less water and find various reasons to justify not drinking water. Eventually, the goblin may die of thirst."

"In the second way, we can command the goblin not to drink water. In this case, the goblin's emotional pathways are open, and it still wants to drink water when it is thirsty, but its behavioral logic is blocked. It cannot do the thing of drinking water, and eventually the goblin may go crazy because of this predicament, or even commit suicide."

"The first approach is to implant a high-priority concept that cannot be eliminated or avoided into the emotional pathway."

"This method encounters less resistance, is more likely to succeed, and has very obvious effects, but its drawback is that this indelible concept will gradually become the core of the subject's emotions."

"After countless attempts to resist and digest this core concept, but failing, the recipient will come to regard this implanted concept as their deepest and most primal emotional driving force."

"This core will gradually absorb all other emotions of the subject and imprint them with its own mark, thus becoming the pinnacle of the subject's emotions and controlling all of the subject's emotional experiences."

"Since emotional experience is the most fundamental element of personality and can guide and rewrite the direction of logic, it is almost impossible for the subject to defeat it."

"It's like an incurable mental illness that erodes and assimilates a person's mind, eventually turning them into a fanatic of a certain concept."

This aligns well with Murphy's understanding of the Mind Seed magic.

The reason he dared not use the Seed of the Mind at will was because he saw this trend.

Fanatics are uncontrollable and untrustworthy. For example, if you cast a spell on someone to make them loyal to you, they can easily become a devoted sycophant.

But what if he thinks that his master's friends are not worthy of his great master and kills them all?

Fanatics are devoid of reason, much like gamblers or certain brainless fans whose behavior lacks logic and is therefore unpredictable.

Fans often bring trouble to their idols, and fanatical followers can cause endless problems for their masters.

Murphy really doesn't intend to recruit a bunch of lunatics.

Is it fun to be the director of an asylum?

Hmm...it seems like it really is a lot of fun...

However, this isn't Gotham. If we create an Arkham, what if someone actually goes crazy and presses the nuclear launch button?

Do I really have to retell all the stories I made up in my diary?

"What about the second way?"

"The second method is to set a rule in the subject's logical chain."

"This approach is far less effective than the first one, and because logical and rational decision-making takes a lower priority than emotion and instinct, it is likely to be resisted."

"However, what it has in common with the first method is that the implanted rules are also indelible and cannot be bypassed. Any decision related to the rules must be approved by those rules before it can be implemented."

"Its drawback is obvious: it is likely to cause contradictions in emotional cognition. Wanting to do something but being unable to do it, or not wanting to do something but having to do it, can bring great frustration."

"When people suffer this kind of frustration repeatedly, some people will choose to compromise, record it as something they must get used to, and even gradually internalize it into their emotional core, accepting this rule from the outside in."

"But some people cannot accept this frustration, which can lead to symptoms such as mental or personality splits, severe depression, and even this feeling of not being able to control their own lives may lead to suicide."

"That doesn't sound very good either," Murphy said. "The second method you're talking about for safely using the Mind Seed?"

"Yes, but it requires a little skill to use."

(End of this chapter)