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Chapter 46: Mental Power
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 15:04:40 +0000 UTCAfter confirming that there was indeed no problem with his body and that he was fully in control, Ethan began to eagerly try out Ghostfreak's abilities. Ghostfreak's first and most obvious skills were invisibility and flight, which allowed him to move freely and unseen through various environments. He first tested this by passing effortlessly through a wall to get outside his apartment building. Using his invisibility, he quietly approached a random passerby on the street, then suddenly materialized right in front of him, giving him a huge scare. That poor man was so frightened he sat down hard on the ground, and a large wet patch even appeared on the front of his pants.
"I... I've seen a ghost!!! Mom!!!" The man was so scared he scrambled to his feet and fled at the speed of Usain Bolt, attracting numerous confused and sidelong glances from the surrounding people.
My sincere apologies, Ethan thought guiltily. He felt that he had probably gone a bit too far with his prank.
Next, Ethan tried another one of Ghostfreak's signature skills—possession. He chose a person who was jogging in a nearby park and, as a spectral form, instantly possessed his body. That person immediately lost control of his own body and could only move according to Ethan's will, his own consciousness a helpless passenger. Ethan, now in control, manipulated this person's body. He had him do a series of perfectly executed exercises: stretches, trunk twists, jumping jacks, and thirty flawless burpees.
"Wow, look at that! This person's form is really, absolutely standard." "He must have been a very diligent student when he was in school." "He could even go to a school and professionally teach students calisthenics with that perfect form!"
The surrounding people, mostly elderly folks doing their morning exercises, praised him one after another. And by then, Ethan had already detached from the jogger’s body. That person, coming back to his senses, didn't understand what had just happened, only thinking that he had been so mesmerized by his own perfect running form that he’d entered a trance.
"Hey, little buddy!" an old woman called out. "Do that routine for us one more time! Your calisthenics form is so standard. A few of us old ladies are planning to add it to our morning plaza dance!"
"Huh???" That young man was a bit stunned. "What calisthenics?"
Ethan didn't know what happened subsequently, because at this moment he had already stealthily returned to his home. When he materialized again in the living room, he saw Lily leisurely sitting on the sofa, sipping tea with one hand and playing on her phone with the other.
Hehehe, should I play a little prank on her? Ethan's lips curled into a sly, mischievous smile. In the next moment, his ghostly body flashed, and he went straight for Lily, intending to successfully possess her body.
However, just as he completed the act of possession, he was shocked to find himself not in control of her body, but in a strange, swirling, green-colored space. A gentle breeze wafted everywhere. "Where on earth is this place?" he wondered.
Just as he was preparing to move, to properly explore this mysterious inner space, the surrounding gentle breeze suddenly intensified, forming a huge, raging storm that almost blew his spectral form away. And in the midst of this fierce wind, a giant, shadowy figure gradually condensed. It looked exactly the same as Lily. That shadow tightly grabbed Ethan's ghostly form, and no matter how he struggled, he couldn't break free.
Smack! Smack! Smack!!!
That shadow mercilessly slapped Ethan dozens of times, making his non-corporeal head see stars. Finally, with a powerful swing of its arm, it ruthlessly threw Ethan out. Ethan crashed heavily back into his own body in the living room and had no choice but to de-transform from his possession form, gasping for breath. Lily stood up from the sofa and walked calmly to Ethan's side. "You little brat," she said, an amused but stern look on her face, "did you really think this form makes you invincible? You think I didn't notice you trying to sneak up on me?"
Ethan rubbed his head, still feeling a bit dazed and rattled. He stood up with difficulty and looked at Lily. "Sis Lily, how did you do that? What was that place?"
"Looks like this new alien form of yours should be biased towards the mental-power-type, right?" Lily observed. "To actually be able to possess my body and try to control me?" Seeing Lily's increasingly dangerous-looking eyes, Ethan hurriedly explained.
"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare! I just wanted to play a little prank on you, Sis Lily, I didn't expect you to find out so easily."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Tch, you little brat, you still want to mess with me? This possession ability of yours is very powerful, I’ll grant you, but it's completely useless against someone with stronger mental power than you."
"Mental power?" Ethan asked, intrigued. "What is that? I hear that psionicists of the 'mental-power-type' seem to rely on this thing, but I don’t know what it is."
Lily's face turned serious as she began to explain. "Mental power is another kind of fundamental force that exists within the human body, separate from our Aura. Its uses are immense! People with high mental power have sharper thinking, stronger willpower, and faster reaction times. Their efficiency in using their psionic skills will also be much higher. At the same innate talent level, a person with high mental power will have a much faster speed of absorbing ambient Aura."
Ethan nodded as if he half-understood. "Oh~ so that's how it is. Then, in that case, mental power is mainly used to assist in training?"
Lily smiled and shook her head, answering, "Of course, it can't be just that. Mental power, when highly developed, can be extremely powerful in its own right. As long as a psionicist is not a dedicated mental-power-type, as long as their own mental power is strong enough, they can achieve feats like telekinesis, and even kill people without leaving a single trace! And for those who have awakened a true mental-power-type ability, if they want to improve the strength of their psionic ability, they must continuously increase the strength of their mental power. In addition, mental power is also of great help in the precise control of one's own abilities. It can allow a psionicist to better grasp and utilize their own powers with greater finesse."
Ethan's eyes lit up, a look of sudden understanding on his face. He said excitedly, "So that's how it is! Then my previous control over that fire tornado… that was actually because of my own mental power?"
"That's right," Lily confirmed. "This is something even more mysterious than psionic energy. If psionic energy is an external force that helps us become stronger from the outside in, then mental power is a person's own innate power, strengthening them from the inside out."
"Then how do you train your mental power?" Ethan asked eagerly.
Lily shook her head. "It's still too early for you to come into contact with these things. You must reach at least Rank Three before you are qualified to even begin to train your mental power. So for now, you should honestly focus on getting into university first. In all of the Global Concord, only the top ten universities even have verified mental power cultivation methods, and Pinnacle University has the best and most comprehensive one."
Very good, Ethan thought. Another compelling reason to go to Pinnacle University.
"Alright," he said with new determination, "looks like I'll have to work even harder than before! But before that..." Ethan looked at Lily and once again revealed a mischievous grin.
Lily narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What are you trying to do now?"
Ethan just grinned. "Hehe, release that Wind Spirit of yours for a little bit. Sylph."
"What do you want to do with her?"
"Just a little experiment," Ethan said. "Relax, I promise I won't hurt her this time."
Lily, looking suspicious but curious, released her Wind Spirit. Sylph came out and happily circled around her body like an affectionate pet. When she saw Ethan nearby, she immediately stopped and stared at him with an angry, puffed-up expression.
Ethan didn't mind her glare but instead took off the Omnitrix, extending it towards Sylph. "Hey, Sylph, lie on this for a bit, would you?"
Sylph looked at Ethan, then at his offered watch, snorted a silent, windy snort, turned around, and pointedly showed him its fluffy little butt.
Ethan: ……
