As her will drove it, Cyrene felt a slight buzzing sensation from deep within her mind.
Thoughts that were originally somewhat chaotic seemed to be quickly sorted by an invisible giant hand. The images she had just experienced—from the confusion upon opening her eyes to her current attempts—transformed into countless flowing golden bands of light.
The light bands circled and interlaced in the void of her consciousness, finally condensing into a glowing golden book page that floated quietly within her brain.
"Hmm... is that it?"
Cyrene blinked her azure, diamond-shaped eyes and tilted her head with some hesitation.
Aside from a slight sense of emptiness as her mental strength was momentarily drawn away, the entire process was incredibly smooth. There were no flashy special effects, nor was there any physical burden.
"Since it's in my head, can I take it out to look at it?"
She extended her right hand, palm upward, her fair fingertips curling slightly inward as she attempted to guide the book page existing within her consciousness.
She encountered no resistance.
A slight ripple appeared in the air, followed by a speck of golden light gathering in her palm.
The light quickly spread and solidified. In the blink of an eye, a sheet of paper with a texture as delicate as silk and a faint golden glow fell lightly into her hand.
"So this is a... paper condensed from my memories?"
Cyrene curiously rubbed the surface of the paper with her finger. It felt warm to the touch, carrying a strange sense of heat.
Eagerly, she brought the paper close to her eyes, wanting to see what her memories had turned into.
However, in the next second, her expectant little face instantly collapsed.
"Huh? What kind of ghost scribbles are these?"
The surface of the paper was densely packed with strings of golden symbols. They were complex in structure, twisting and circling; they looked neither like any human script she knew nor like the common language found in games.
Cyrene turned the paper horizontally, then vertically, and even held it up against the light. Finally, she had to admit a tragic fact—
She was illiterate.
"I can't understand it at all... System, is this garbled code? Or was my localization patch not installed correctly?"
Cyrene puffed out her cheeks in frustration, powerlessly poking the script of the heavens.
"If I can't read the words, isn't this ability half-useless?"
Just as she was fretting over this piece of scrap paper, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck her.
A sudden thought appeared in Cyrene's mind.
"This thing... can I just tear it up?"
She remembered that in the plot, when the trailblazer fought Laigus, he had used time retrospection by tearing a book.
"Tearing a book... time retrospection..."
Cyrene muttered to herself, her gaze refocusing on the golden paper in her hand.
Although there wasn't a book here, only a single sheet of paper, maybe the principle was the same?
"It's just a piece of paper copied by spending some mental strength anyway. Even if it breaks, it's no big deal. Let's try it!"
At this thought, the hesitation in Cyrene's eyes vanished.
She pinched the upper edge of the paper with both hands, took a deep breath, and then applied force with her fingertips, gently tearing it apart.
Rip—
A crisp sound of tearing silk echoed in the quiet bedroom.
There were no fluttering paper scraps.
The moment the paper broke, Cyrene felt her vision go dark. A strong sense of weightlessness instantly enveloped her body, as if she had suddenly fallen into a bottomless vortex.
When her vision cleared again, Cyrene found she was no longer in that pink and blue bedroom.
All around her was a pure, boundless darkness.
Directly in front of her floated a massive wide silver screen, making her feel as if she were in a giant IMAX theater all by herself.
At that moment, an image was playing on the silver screen.
A pink and blue glow, a messy large bed, and a pink-haired girl rubbing her eyes as she sat up with a blank expression.
That was... herself.
'Is this the place to browse and experience memories? How miraculous.'
Cyrene floated in the void, watching her self on the silver screen pinching her face in the mirror, her heart filled with novelty.
The feeling was very subtle, like an out-of-body experience, looking at her every move from a viewpoint of god.
'Was my expression really that silly when I first woke up...'
She silently complained to herself.
Soon, Cyrene discovered a problem.
In this space, she seemed to have lost the concept of a physical body. Aside from staring at the silver screen, she couldn't turn her head, couldn't move, and couldn't even feel the existence of her limbs.
'I can only watch and not move? This is too passive.'
Just as the thought arose, the flow of the images on the silver screen suddenly accelerated.
As if a fast-forward button had been pressed, Cyrene's actions in the footage became comical and rapid, like a silent comedy film.
'Eh? I can fast-forward?'
With a thought, Cyrene tried thinking of "pause."
The image froze instantly.
Cyrene was frozen on the silver screen with her mouth wide open, staring blankly at herself in the mirror in a perfectly silly and cute pose.
'Rewind.'
The footage began to reverse.
'Drag the progress bar to the end.'
The image jumped instantly to the moment she summoned the golden paper.
After some experimentation, Cyrene excitedly discovered that in this space, her will was the absolute remote control. She could freely manipulate the playback progress and speed of this memory.
After tossing this short memory back and forth like a movie a few times, Cyrene's sense of novelty passed.
'That's enough, how do I get out?'
The moment that thought emerged, the image on the silver screen paused automatically.
A line of glowing text floated in the darkness.
[Would you like to instill the remaining unviewed memories?]
Cyrene froze for a moment before reacting.
Was it going to put the content she hadn't finished watching back into her head?
'Yes.'
She thought silently.
In an instant, the massive silver screen shattered like bubbles, turning into countless spots of light that surged toward her.
Cyrene felt her mind swell slightly. Following that, the memory from the moment she tore the paper to the present was imprinted clearly in the depths of her mind, as if she had just experienced it personally.
"Ugh..."
In the real world, Cyrene snapped her eyes open.
the sense of weightlessness disappeared, replaced by the grounded feeling of standing on the floor and the sensation of the now-vanished paper in her hands.
She subconsciously shook her head. Other than the impression feeling a bit deeper, there was no discomfort.
"Wait..."
Cyrene suddenly realized something, her azure pupils contracting slightly.
She spun around to look at the electronic alarm clock on the desk.
The numbers were ticking quietly.
"System, how much time has passed since I tore the book page?"
[5 seconds.]
The system's cold voice rang out immediately, providing precise data analysis.
[However, in those 5 seconds, you spent nearly 4.9 seconds from the moment you opened your eyes to when you asked me about the time. According to my observations, from the moment you tore the book page and your consciousness entered that space until your return to reality, only an instant passed in the outside world—approximately less than 0.1 seconds.]
Hearing that exact number, Cyrene's heart skipped a beat.
Less than 0.1 seconds!
What did that mean?
It meant that while she had spent a long time messing around in that "cinema," watching replays several times and even dazing off for a bit, time in the real world was practically still!
Cyrene's breathing became rapid. The gloom she felt earlier from not being able to read the text vanished instantly.
How was this simple "reading"?
This was clearly a disguised "spiritual time chamber"!
"If I encounter a difficult problem, I can just perform a memory imprinting on the current moment, tear it, and go inside to think..."
The more Cyrene thought about it, the more excited she became, even pacing back and forth in the room.
"In that space, I have plenty of time to review, analyze, and find a way to break the deadlock. By the time I figure it out and come out, only an instant will have passed in reality!"
It was like taking an exam where everyone else was racing against the clock, while she could hit a pause button, open a book to slowly look up information, and even take a nap before returning to finish the paper!
Used in combat or a game of wits, this ability was an absolute cheat-level divine skill!
"It seems this ability is far more useful than I expected. It's not just photographic memory; it's an absolute domain of thought!"
Looking at the [Memory Imprinting] icon in her ability column, Cyrene now found it incredibly pleasing to the eye, as if it were literally sparkling.
"With something this useful, should I make one for Phainon to try out?"
Just as Cyrene was pondering whether to pull Phainon in for an experience.
Beep-beep—
Two crisp notification sounds suddenly came from the computer speakers on the desk.
The sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet room, instantly interrupting Cyrene's thoughts.
"Hmm? The forum has news already?"
Cyrene raised an eyebrow and immediately pulled her thoughts back.
She had specifically set this unique notification sound; it only triggered when a reply appeared on the forum that passed the keyword filter and applied for the bounty.
This meant someone had taken the job.
"It seems the efficiency of money power is indeed not to be underestimated."
Cyrene walked quickly to the computer, pulled out the chair, and sat down. Her fingers gripping the mouse were slightly tense with anticipation.
The glow of the screen reflected on her delicate face, casting a curious light into those diamond-shaped pupils.
"Let's see who discovered traces of a suspected xenogeneic..."