Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 123, Part 122: Levels

At Luyeyuan, Exit 16 is located on Level A of the Baoning Skyrail Station. Su Ge passes through the automatic door between the stone lions and enters the bottom of the Baoning Building.

This neighborhood, located below the Chiming Temple, is the largest lay Buddhist community in Yingchuan. The exterior walls of the buildings are decorated with reliefs depicting the six realms of sentient beings, and the honeycomb-like doors house 320,000 devout men and women who recite the Pure Land Dharma day and night.

He came to this sacred Buddhist site to visit a large rat licking a green lamp amidst the fragrant sandalwood smoke.

He entered through the east entrance of the Baoning Building, where the elevator shaft had column bases adorned with honeysuckle vines at each of its four corners. The elevator stopped on the open-air corridor on the sixteenth floor, where candlelight cast a soft glow in the shadows, illuminating the Asura figures sculpted on the exterior wall of the opposite building. The three-dimensional map of the city in his mind told Suger that he was walking on the city's waistline, but the environment here made him feel as if he had fallen into a giant underground cavern.

“These kinds of people don’t do small-scale business,” Chiba Ryoko said. “In the circle of practitioners, you need to have at least a B-level level of consciousness control to be qualified for even the minimum level of respect.”

Level B mental control ability is a sign of minor success in meditation. Su Ge had been practicing the Flying Sand and Glass Visualization Method for some time, but various events kept happening, and his progress was not significant.

"What level is my ability to control my mind?" he asked casually.

“Although you possess supernatural powers, judging solely from your ability to control your mind, you are nothing more than a mortal, and not even worth mentioning,” said Chiya Ryoko.

Suger has become proficient in visualization with the help of sound waves and images. He said, "I think I've entered the door."

“There are still at least two hurdles to overcome.” Chiba Ryoko shook her head. “You have to learn to enter a meditative state first. Once you enter a meditative state, you can perceive some subtle neural activities. You can fully perceive and control them. Only when you reach this stage can you be considered to have entered the door. This is the standard for Level C intentional control ability. At this point, a person can have superficial control over the body. For example, you can fully control the movement of all skeletal muscles, allowing you to efficiently recruit motor neurons when using your muscles. You can also control ear movements at will, control vocal cord contraction, and even shake the already degenerated coccyx.”

"Sounds like a yoga master from the past." The surrounding light and shadows made Suger a little dizzy. He lit a suppressant and muttered, "But prosthetics are all the rage now..."

“The ability to freely control skeletal muscles is merely a byproduct, not the goal. Just like supernatural powers are a bonus of enlightenment,” Ryoko Chiya said. “Ancient yoga masters did indeed reach Level C, but without the necessary techniques, it was impossible to raise their mental control to Level B. Internal conscious control is difficult to compare, but comparing outwardly displayed abilities reveals a clear difference. For example, if you reach Level B, you can freely control your heart rate and adjust blood flow.” She paused deliberately, “It has nothing to do with sex.”

Soger concluded: "Active control of smooth muscle."

“You have great potential.” Chiba Ryoko smiled. “The outward manifestation of Grade B mental control ability is the ability to actively control smooth muscles, but no matter how much a yoga master trains, they can only indirectly affect them.”

“It’s amazing.” Sog blew away the smoke that brushed against his nose.

"And there's something even more amazing. Further on, you can use your consciousness to control your hormone secretion, your growth, your physique, and your gender." Chiba Ryoko raised her hand, examining the elegant lines of the bionic knuckles.

"Based solely on consciousness?"

"That's the theory."

"What about reality?"

“These standards are only for reference. In reality, no one will issue you a rating certificate or welfare allowance.” Chiba Ryoko stopped in her tracks. Su Ge walked past her and turned into a side street. On the gray-blue exterior walls of the Baoning Building on both sides were inlaid with five-colored Mani jewel patterns.

The side passage was cluttered with miscellaneous items: dilapidated, imitation-wood furniture, and dead neon tubes. Amidst the clutter, a security door was embedded at the end of the passage, resembling a warehouse back door. Beneath the door was a shoe cabinet; upon closer inspection, Suger discovered it was a platform with a transparent cover, looking like a small museum display case, its purpose unclear. Only some colored sand was scattered inside the transparent cover, and beneath the sand, a painting of Vairocana Buddha was visible.

“Here we go, the threshold for screening buyers,” Chiba Ryoko said from behind Suger.

“What is this?” Sog asked.

“It’s a game that trains your awareness, allowing you to visualize things in reality,” Ryoko Chiba said. “Try it, focus your attention on the sand.”

Sog stared at the fine sand in the cabinet. The sand rose into the air, and when his attention wavered even slightly, it began to fall. He tried to suspend the sand, and then found that unless he maintained a steady level of concentration, it would simply rise and fall with the fluctuations in his consciousness.

He tried everything he could, but a minute later, the grains of sand were still trembling. He shook his head, and the sand fell.

"and then?"

“It levitates these magnetic sands based on the magnetic field generated by your brainwaves,” Ryoko Chiba explained. “Those who are skilled in this can use these colored sands to construct specific images.”

Suger looked at the images at the bottom of the cabinet. The colored sand was scattered among the Buddha statues, and there were so many of them that they were impossible to count.

He fiddled with the aluminum medicine box in his pocket, hesitated for a moment, and then, in the next instant, he imagined some kind of bond, a bridge, between himself and the visualization cabinet. In a flash, the connection was established. Compared to his sluggish progress in meditation training, his advancement in this area was nothing short of miraculous.

The visualization cabinet transmitted some information, and Suger knew that he had gained control of it. This control was not the administrator's control over electronic devices, but a strange feeling, as if it had become a part of his body. He could use it as if it were an extension of his own limb.

The fine sand rose silently, its mixed colors clearly layered, forming a triple halo of sapphire blue, pure white, and crimson behind the transparent panel. The golden body of Vairocana Buddha sat cross-legged in the void, his hands forming a mudra.

The security door opened silently, and the five-colored banners beneath it swayed gently. Sug broke free from the visualization cabinet, and the colored sand fell in a flurry, returning to chaos.

Ryoko Chiba sighed. If one believed that Suger was a hibernator who had never practiced, then his actions completely negated the meaning of the arduous training of those who practiced asceticism.

“I’ll wait for you here,” she said.

Su Ge nodded and walked past the visualization cabinet. Behind the door, a bronze lotus blooming from the ground was planted in a ceramic pot, and on a half-height partition wall were eight gilded clerical characters: "Stealthily apply, as foolish and dull."

He walked around the partition wall, and behind a low stainless steel coffee table sat a middle-aged man, lean, dark-skinned, and unremarkable in appearance. Suger had expected to see a monk in robes, but this man was simply dressed in a plain black collared jacket and white shirt, somewhat out of place with his surroundings.

(End of this chapter)