pdf-ebookys Chapter 2: "Overclocking" Your Brain?
Chapter 2: "Overclocking" Your Brain?
After an unknown amount of time, Zhuge Yan suddenly opened his eyes.
He was awakened by the smell of blood.
Zhuge Yan opened his eyes and found himself lying on the floor beside the bed, his clothes covered in dried blood.
The sun hadn't completely set yet, so he must not have been unconscious for very long.
My head still hurts.
The pain wasn't a normal headache; it felt like someone was hammering inside my skull, again and again.
But he couldn't care less.
Zhuge Yan struggled to sit up, crawled to the table, and picked up the brush with trembling hands.
He wanted to draw out the information while it was still in his mind.
Spread out the paper, dip it in ink, and begin writing.
The first stroke is in the central palace.
The second stroke represents the eight directions.
The third stroke, the four plates interacting and restraining each other...
His hands were still trembling, and the lines were crooked and twisted.
But with each stroke, a complete diagram gradually emerges on the paper—the Eight Gates, the Nine Palaces, the Five Elements connecting lines, and the arrows of mutual generation and restraint…
That was a perfect Qimen Dunjia formation.
Two years.
What he couldn't do in two years.
Last night, in the few breaths between the breaths that the Qi entered his brain, his consciousness was automatically completed.
Zhuge Yan stared at the Qimen Dunjia chart on the paper, his chest heaving violently.
It wasn't excitement.
It's a more complex emotion—like a drowning person suddenly touching a rock on the shore, but that rock is hot, burning their skin and flesh, yet they can't let go.
Because that was his only shore.
Zhuge Yan slowly closed his five fingers and clenched the paper with the Qimen Dunjia diagram in his palm.
"Yes! It really works!"
Zhuge Yan did not immediately begin a second attempt.
He sat on the floor, leaning against the bed, and spent the full time it takes for an incense stick to burn before his breathing calmed down.
The blood on the lapel had dried completely, turning a dark, rusty color. The fabric was stiff and rubbed against my chin, making it feel a little uncomfortable.
Blood crusts had formed in his nose, and each breath carried a faint metallic smell.
My head still hurts.
But it was no longer the pounding pain I felt when I first woke up; instead, it became a persistent, dull, throbbing pain, as if something was slowly expanding inside my skull, making my eyes sting.
Don't rush.
He said to himself.
In his past life, he at least went to university, although he didn't study anything particularly advanced, but he still had basic logical thinking skills.
After any experiment is completed, the first thing to do is not to repeat it immediately, but to record, analyze, and summarize.
Zhuge Yan supported himself on the ground to stand up, his legs were a little weak, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.
He walked to the table and sat down, then took out a blank booklet from the drawer. It was given to him by his father last year and was originally intended for copying annotations of the Book of Changes. He had only used the first few pages.
He turned to the first blank page, picked up a brush, and dipped it in ink.
The pen tip hovered above the paper for a long time.
It's not that I don't know what to write.
There's so much to write, I don't know where to begin.
He closed his eyes.
From the very beginning.
Put pen to paper.
It is the seventeenth day of the fifth month of the year of Jiwei.
First try.
He stopped writing, thought for a moment, and then added a sentence.
I almost died.
These four characters were written very large, taking up two lines, and the ink had smudged a little.
Zhuge Yan looked at those four words and suddenly felt they were absurd. His lips twitched, but he didn't laugh.
Keep writing.
Cause: My uncle asked me to reread the original text of the Book of Changes. When I read the fourth chapter of the Appended Remarks, it said, "The Book of Changes is without thought, without action, still and silent, yet it responds to all things and understands the reasons of the world."
Suddenly it occurred to me that the reason why Qimen Dunjia is so difficult is because the human brain's computing power is insufficient to process multiple pieces of information such as direction, the five elements, and mutual generation and restraint at the same time.
But my innate ability is to control my body, and the brain is also part of the body.
In theory, I can use Qi to forcibly increase the speed at which the brain functions.
The process: A very fine wisp of Qi, about one-thousandth of the total amount, is separated from the Dantian and travels up the spine, through the brainstem and cerebellum, into the cerebral cortex.
Immediate response:
1. Sensory enhancement is significantly improved. The heartbeat can be clearly heard, suggesting a decrease in the hearing threshold.
The ability to distinguish the rustling sound of bamboo leaves outside the window suggests an improvement in auditory resolution.
The ability to detect the ingredients of medicinal herbs being decocted in the neighboring yard—such as angelica, chuanxiong, and astragalus—indicates an enhanced sense of smell.
The simultaneous perception of all 365 acupoints on the body suggests a significant enhancement of proprioception.
Second, thinking speed increases dramatically. The eight directions, the five elements, and the four cardinal directions are all presented in the mind at the same time, and the connections can be automatically completed without having to deduce them one by one.
The Qimen Dunjia divination, which could not be completed in the past two years, was automatically completed in just a few breaths.
side effect:
1. Bleeding from all seven orifices. Bleeding from the nasal cavity and ear canals. Slight bleeding from the corners of the eyes. Oral examination not performed, but a bloody smell is suspected.
Second, loss of bodily control. The limbs are unable to move, and the Qi in the brain is out of control and cannot be actively withdrawn.
Third, confusion of consciousness. A flood of irrelevant information pours in—past memories, present senses, and intermediate data from the deduction process are all mixed together.
The number of bamboo leaves was calculated automatically. The exact number is forgotten and meaningless.
IV. Coma.
Current condition: Persistent headache, weakness in limbs, residual blood in the nasal cavity and ear canals. Generally conscious, able to think and write.
Zhuge Yan put down his pen and read the entire passage from beginning to end.
That's too wordy.
But it's okay, this is written for myself.
Zhuge Yan put down his pen, closed his eyes, and began the real review.
The previous record was merely a list of phenomena; now he needs to find patterns within these phenomena.
First question: What exactly is his ability?
The phrase "controlling the body" is too general.
Two years of practice made him realize that this ability is essentially about intervening in the body's physiological activities through Qi.
Heart rate, body temperature, and pain intensity—all of these can be controlled by adjusting the flow and speed of Qi in specific areas.
But the brain is different.
The brain is not a muscle, nor is it an organ.
Its operation is not through contraction and relaxation, but through the conduction of electrical signals.
After Qi enters the brain, it does not control any specific physiological indicators, but directly improves the transmission efficiency between neurons.
It's not about control.
It's an increase.
To be precise, his ability is to use Qi to provide the brain with additional "computing power".
It's like giving a light bulb more current than it's rated for—the bulb will become extremely bright, but the filament will burn out much faster.
Zhuge Yan opened his eyes, picked up his pen, and added another paragraph to the paper.
Regarding the essence of ability:
My innate ability should be accurately described as "using Qi to intervene in the functioning of the body's organs".
Previously, it could only affect basic physiological indicators such as heart rate, body temperature, and pain sensation. Today's experiment proves that this ability can also affect the brain.
Unlike organs such as the heartbeat, the brain does not passively respond to the regulation of Qi, but is "stimulated" by Qi—the role of Qi in the brain is similar to providing additional energy support for the transmission of electrical signals in neurons.
The result is a significant increase in thinking speed and sensory sensitivity, rather than "control" over the brain.
A more accurate statement: My ability is not to "control the brain", but to "use Qi to overclock the brain!"
He paused for a moment when he wrote the word "overclocking".
This word doesn't belong to this era.
But it is the only word that can accurately describe this feeling.
In his past life, he replaced his computer's CPU with an overclockable one, but the cooling system couldn't keep up, and the motherboard burned out.
It's exactly the same situation as it is now.
The second thing: the degree of overclocking.
Zhuge Yan continued writing on the paper.
Regarding the extent of overclocking:
Under normal circumstances, the human brain has limited capacity for development.
Although this statement is not found in the classics of the Wuhou School, based on what I learned in my previous life, the average person uses less than 10% of their brain's functions in daily life.
When I tried it today, the intensity of that wisp of Qi was about one-thousandth of the total Qi in my body.
With such a small amount of Qi, the brain's processing power can be enhanced to the point that it can instantly complete the Qimen Dunjia divination.
This increase...
He stopped writing, closed his eyes, and carefully recalled the experience of those brief few breaths.
It's not simply a matter of "thinking faster".
If it's just getting faster, he should be able to realize that his thought process is accelerating.
But the actual experience was not like that—he didn't feel the process, only the result.
The answer is already there the moment the question comes to mind.
Just like he doesn't need to calculate the generating and restraining relationships between the Rest Gate and the Life Gate.
He only needs to "want to know" about this relationship, and all the intermediate steps are skipped, and the answer appears directly.
This is not acceleration.
This is a leap in dimensionality.
Zhuge Yan picked up his pen again, the tip trembling slightly.
It wasn't because he was weak, but because what he was writing was something even he himself found incredible.
...This improvement is not on the multiple level, but on the exponential level.
Under normal circumstances, when I deal with complex numerological problems such as the Eight Gates Deduction, I need to break them down one by one and deduce them step by step, which is extremely time-consuming and prone to errors.
However, in overclocked mode, the deduction process is completely compressed—there are no perceptible intermediate steps between the question and the answer.
If we draw an analogy with theories about the degree of brain development in past lives—
Normal state: Approximately 10%.
The overclocking status just now: estimated to be no less than 15%!
A 5% gap.
With just this 5% difference, the Qimen divination, which had taken two years to master, was completed automatically in a few breaths.
He put down his pen, looked at the words he had written, "15%" and "5% difference," and remained silent for a long time.
Only 5%.
What if it continues to increase? 20%? 30%?
Once you've experienced the feeling of "all answers are readily available," you can never go back to the way ordinary people think.
Just as someone who has seen the light cannot willingly return to the darkness.
But he had to go back.
Until a method of control is found, he must be able to switch freely between the two states.
The third thing: the specific capability limits under overclocking conditions.
Zhuge Yan dissected and pieced together his memories, retracing those brief moments of overclocking bit by bit.
Many details were overlooked at the time—because the amount of information was so overwhelming that his attention was completely occupied by the Qimen Dunjia divination.
But now, looking back calmly, he realizes that what he needed was hidden in those "background noises."
He picked up his pen again.
Ability list at 15% status:
I. Body Perception Level:
It can precisely perceive the state of every muscle and nerve in the whole body. It is not a vague "proprioception", but a precise cognition that is clear down to the level of a single muscle fiber.
Therefore, it can be deduced that in this state, I can achieve 100% control over my body.
Any movement can be performed with zero redundancy, and every bit of force can be precisely distributed to the required position.
II. Sensory Level:
The hearing threshold drops significantly, allowing one to distinguish extremely subtle changes in sound.
The olfactory resolution has been improved to the point that it can distinguish single components in complex odors.
While the visual effect has not been fully verified, the improvement in hearing and smell suggests that it should be able to capture high-speed movements that are invisible to the average person, and that visual sensitivity should also be improved in low-light environments.
Touch...
Zhuge Yan paused for a moment.
He did not consciously try to perceive touch while in overclocked mode.
But looking back now, something seems very wrong—he was able to sense the opening and closing of all 365 acupoints on his body.
Acupoints are not physical organs.
Its opening and closing state is essentially the node state of Qi running in the meridians.
In other words, in overclocked mode, he can not only sense the state of his own body, but also sense Qi.
Zhuge Yan paused on the paper with his pen, then continued writing:
On the tactile level: one can perceive the flow of Qi. This applies not only to one's own Qi but also to the Qi of others.
In battle, this is equivalent to being able to "feel" the trajectory of the opponent's Qi—where his Qi flows and what kind of spell he is preparing to unleash can be sensed before he even begins.
Combined with precise body control, one can predict the opponent's force trajectory and take evasive or counter-measures in advance.
III. Thinking Level:
Learn at lightning speed. Master complex skills quickly in a short period of time.
Qimen Dunjia divination is just one example. In theory, any technique that requires a lot of calculation and memorization can have its learning time significantly reduced in overclocking mode.
However, it should be noted that the capabilities gained in overclocking mode are not retained after reverting to normal operation.
He thought for a moment and then added:
When I woke up this morning, I still clearly remembered the Qimen Dunjia chart that I had calculated last night, and I could draw it completely.
Conclusion: Knowledge and skills gained while overclocked are retained after returning to normal operation.
The purpose of overclocking is to "accelerate the learning process," not to "temporarily grant abilities."
After finishing this paragraph, Zhuge Yan let out a long breath.
He now has a general idea of what he can do in overclocked mode.
If used properly, this ability could allow him to gain a foothold in the Wuhou Sect and even go further.
But there is still one problem.
The fourth and most important thing: the cost!
He put down his pen and looked down at his hands.
The back of his hand was stained with dried blood, and so was under his fingernails.
The blood on the lapel had completely dried, turning into a dark red that was almost black.
Last night he thought he was going to die.
The feeling of his Qi spiraling out of control in his brain, the influx of countless pieces of information, and the tearing apart of his consciousness still sends chills down his spine when he thinks about it now.
That wasn't "uncomfortable"; that was a real near-death experience.
Zhuge Yan picked up his brush again, dipped the tip in ink, and held it on the paper.
This time he wrote for a long time, and his handwriting was much messier than before, because he was thinking as he wrote, and many conclusions only gradually became clear during the writing process.
Regarding the cost:
Last night, the high-frequency stimulation lasted for a very short time, from the moment the Qi entered the cerebral cortex to the moment I lost control of my consciousness, it only lasted about five to seven breaths.
In such a short period of time, the body has already shown obvious signs of collapse.
Specific manifestations of a crash:
1. Bleeding. Bleeding occurs in the nasal cavity, ear canal, and corner of the eye.
The suspected cause of the bleeding is that when the brain is overworked, local blood pressure rises sharply, causing capillaries to rupture.
Second, the loss of control over Qi.
The wisp of Qi that entered the brain completely slipped out of control after the overclocking began and could not be actively retrieved.
It rammed around in the sulci of my brain on its own until the energy was exhausted or my consciousness collapsed.
This is the most dangerous part—once the Qi gets out of control in the brain, I can only passively endure it and cannot stop it.
3. Confusion of consciousness.
A large amount of meaningless information is automatically processed by the brain and mixed with useful information, leading to "overload" at the level of consciousness.
Last night, while my brain was calculating the Qimen Dunjia chart, it was also calculating the number of bamboo leaves, identifying the ingredients of medicinal herbs, and recalling past memories—all of which were meaningless, but they consumed extra Qi and brain resources, accelerating the breakdown.
4. Coma. From the loss of control of Qi to waking up, there is a complete loss of consciousness.
in conclusion:
With my current physical strength, I can only maintain a 15% overclocked state for a maximum of five to seven breaths.
Beyond this time limit, the body will irreversibly collapse.
Last night I was lucky enough to only use one-thousandth of my Qi. If I had used more Qi, or overclocked for a longer period—
Zhuge Yan did not finish writing this sentence.
Because there was no need to write it down, he knew the result very clearly.
dead!
Or worse than death—becoming a cripple whose consciousness is torn apart and can never be pieced back together!
Zhuge Yan put down his pen.
The room was quiet, with the rustling of bamboo leaves outside the window and the distant bells of the training ground having stopped ringing.
As the sun set, light streamed in through the window and fell on the pages of paper filled with writing in front of him.
He looked down at what he had written.
A naturally gifted individual who can use Qi to overclock the brain.
Overclocking grants precise body control down to the muscle fiber level, a tactile sense sufficient to perceive the flow of Qi, and an exponential leap in computing power.
However, each overclock can only last for a few breaths; exceeding the time limit will cause bleeding from all seven orifices and a breakdown of consciousness.
Like a knife.
Extremely sharp, but the handle also has a blade.
Every time you swing your sword, you cut your own hand before you hurt someone else.
Zhuge Yan slowly gathered the few pages of paper in front of him and folded them neatly.
Instead of putting them in the drawer, he opened the Book of Changes and slipped the paper into the fourth chapter of the Commentary on the Book of Changes.
It was the page he read yesterday evening.
It's the page that says, "The Book of Changes is without thought, without action, still and unmoved, yet it responds to all things and understands the reasons of the world."
He closed the book and put it back on the table.
Then he stood up, walked to the window, and opened it.
The bamboo forest on the back hill swayed in the wind, like a green sea, and the sunlight felt warm on my face.
Zhuge Yan could still feel the wisp of Qi within his body.
After it went out of control last night, it eventually dissipated on its own.
But his meridians remembered its trajectory.
From the dantian to the spine, from the spine to the brainstem, from the brainstem to the cerebral cortex—that upward-flowing path, like a burn mark, is clearly imprinted on his qi sensation.
He can go again anytime he wants.
Zhuge Yan spread his palm out and placed it on the windowsill.
Sunlight shone on the four scabs on his palm.
"Five to seven breaths."
He said to himself.
"That's enough."
Outside the window, deep in the bamboo forest, an unidentified bird suddenly took flight, startling a few bamboo leaves that swirled and drifted down.
Zhuge Yan withdrew his gaze, turned around, and walked back to the table.
He sat down cross-legged again.
Close your eyes.
the second time.
He said to himself.
This time, I only need to walk for three breaths.
Then—exit yourself!
He took a deep breath.
Start!