"As long as I forcibly turn a living creature into a 'humanoid,' I can use that ability?" Angel repeated softly.
Zuniga nodded. "Yes. Back then, I turned a turtle into a human and read some of its experiences."
Angel stroked his chin and sank into thought.
After a moment, Angel looked at Zuniga. "Is the trigger point for this ability me, or it?"
Zuniga froze. "What do you mean?"
Angel said, "I mean, does it have to transform? For example, with the 'turtle' you mentioned just now, is it possible that if my subjective consciousness considers it humanoid, the ability will trigger?"
"Or does it have to objectively become humanoid before the ability can trigger?"
Having put it that way, Angel seemed to have made Zuniga understand what he meant. "You mean to ask whether the humanoid form comes from subjective assumption or objective reality?"
"Exactly." Angel nodded.
Zuniga hesitated. "That, I truly don't know. What I can confirm is that objective reality can definitely trigger 'Person with a Story.' As for whether 'subjective assumption' alone can trigger it, I've never tried. I'm not too sure."
After all, Zuniga's mind had been wholly focused on farming "Echoes of the Past" back then. Though he had tested the ability "Person with a Story," he had not thought that deeply about it.
And even if Zuniga had considered that angle, he did not actually know how to make a "subjective assumption."
"By using something like an eye-deceiving trick," Angel said softly. "For instance, like this."
Angel pointed at the gold-lacquered teapot with vine patterns on the table.
The next second, Zuniga suddenly saw the light around the teapot slowly distort. Then, after he blinked, the teapot had turned into a brown-skinned dancer dressed in a gold-lacquered gown patterned with vines.
The palm-sized