Chapter 155: Chapter 141: The Professor Teaches Everything But Knowledge
Kaimon Comprehensive University, Lecture Theater 107.
“Character deconstruction is a very important research direction for the Spirit Faction.”
“Ordinary people and even Mages who have never explored the knowledge of the mind invariably engage in ‘character preconstruction’ when they first meet strangers—also known as stereotyping. Rich yet gentle, poor yet self-deprecating, strong yet overbearing, weak yet gentle… we extract the most striking traits of others to incorporate into our realm of thinking.”
“Stereotyping is a very normal mental activity, which helps us quickly find the most reasonable way of interaction; to be humble in the face of strong adversaries and incremental only in the face of the weak. It can even be said that stereotyping is an essential survival skill.”
“However, for a Spirit Mage, this kind of stereotyping ‘character preconstruction’ is often the best time for casting. Through character deconstruction, we can silently influence strangers, generally in two ways.”
“The first method is the simplest—complimentary deconstruction. Generally speaking, after experiencing close interaction, people gradually modify their perception of others, from simple stereotyping to complex stereotyping, such as ‘rich yet gentle’ would become ‘rich, stingy to others, gentle, but only to friends’, etc. People deconstruct a complex individual into easily understandable concepts with limited information.”
“Complimentary deconstruction is where the Spirit Mage, after setting a first impression, continuously reveals traits that fit the other person’s ‘expected’ characteristics. For example, if I dress up as a wealthy and witty middle-aged man to chat with someone in a coffee bar, the other person would think I own a luxury car, and then, indeed, I’d pull out a luxury car key; they would think I live in the Upper District, and then, I’d inadvertently reveal that I live in Phoenix Garden… So, what do you think was the outcome of my chat that night?”
“By showing a first impression that the other person likes and continuously revealing details that allow the other person to ‘fill in’ the character, you can quickly gain their trust. Because ‘you’ haven’t actually said anything; everything about ‘you’ has been deduced by the other party—people unconditionally trust their own judgment.”
“Many victims of romantic scams have been deceived by this skill, to the extent that they believe in the existence of true love in this world. Personally, I don’t advise you to use this method; if you must, then don’t scam money, just have a pleasant evening.”
“There are many ways to use complimentary deconstruction which I will not elaborate on here. Interested students can purchase my book ‘108 Practical Character Templates,’ available for download on the Veil.”
“The second method is the most difficult—inverse deconstruction. You don’t need to consider the impression you give to others; you only need to carefully construct the impression others give you. In short, through the use of Technique Spirits, Miracles, and verbal skills, you guide others to ‘fit’ your impression of them.”
“If you believe someone to be kind and generous, then in your presence, they become just that. But you can’t simply stereotype; you have to figure out ‘why they’re kind’, ‘why they’re generous’, and then reinforce their cognition through various details so that they unwittingly conform to your ‘impression’—even if they resist fitting that image.”
“This may sound complicated, but students who have read ‘History of Social Change’ will definitely be able to relate to an ancient social unit—yes, exactly what Fernand was talking about last night: the family system.”
“Within the family system, male and female guardians would often use this form of inverse deconstruction to shape a child into their image of a ‘good child.’ It is said that the simplest way to become a Spirit Mage in ancient times was to raise a perfect child.”
“Here we won’t discuss the accuracy of Fernand’s remarks, but undoubtedly, inverse deconstruction suppresses a child’s personality, depriving them of their human rights and freedom, which is one of the reasons why the family system was swept into the historical dustbin. However, for us Spirit Mages, inverse deconstruction remains a lifelong direction of study and learning.”
“Powerful Spirit Mages are no longer satisfied with inversely deconstructing sentient beings but aim to inversely deconstruct the world itself—’The world revolves around me,’ that is the highest realm for a Spirit Mage!”
“This class is over, thank you.”
As the bell rang, students hurriedly left, and the classroom quickly emptied.
Adela, who sat next to Freyja, slumped onto the table and sighed, “At this rate, when will I ever be able to summon a Spirit Technique Spirit to make money betting—this elective really does teach everything but the knowledge itself.”
Freyja, wearing a breezy spaghetti strap tank top today, nodded in agreement.
Comprehensive universities do not have a Spirit Faction, or to be precise, no university in the Kingdom of Blood Moon has a Spirit Faction—there are only elective courses related to spirit knowledge, such as the ‘Mind Analysis’ they had chosen.
The professor would give lengthy lectures above, but he never talked about how to summon Technique Spirits, always circling back to strategies for social interaction and enticing everyone to buy his book—if Freyja’s perception wasn’t wrong, the professor just used a ‘Suggestion’ Technique Spirit or something similar, leading students to believe that ‘108 Practical Character Templates’ contained methods for summoning Technique Spirits.
Though the quality of the course was low and the professor’s character questionable, the price was anything but cheap. Just for this course, Freyja’s study loan had increased by a full 5%.
Although these days, everyone can find all kinds of knowledge for free on the Veil, knowledge that can make money is never free and always comes with a high barrier to entry and strict confidentiality.
Take the Biological Department, for example; the 17th century is the century of biology, and Biological Prosthetic Masters are currently the profession with the highest salary. But if one wishes to learn related knowledge, they must become an apprentice to a biology professor, virtually locked into an employment Contract that lasts for a decade.
The mainstream Profession for the Spirit Faction is psychologist, but everyone knows that a true Spirit Mage is either a criminal or a politician (actually, they are not much different), which can be described as high risk, high return, so naturally, it’s difficult to gain access to knowledge of the Spirit Faction.
If Freyja weren’t Meiwa, who is highly likely to autonomously summon a Spirit Technique Spirit, she might as well take the money for tuition to enjoy a few days at the muck cafes.
Adela said, “Shall we have dinner at Saleris tonight?”
“I’m broke,” Freyja said languidly. “I just went to Frost Fall last night.”
“Hehe,” Adela flashed a cat-like smug smile: “At last night’s Blood Moon Judgement, I placed a heavy bet on Fernand and made a tidy sum.”
“How much did you make?”
“I can only tell you that if I had lost, I would have to work in the tea cafes for the next few months.”