The Ability to Control Balance

"Captain Luo... Huo Lian..."

Sun Lei frowned deeply in his sleep, muttering something over and over.

Moss crouched beside Sun Lei and withdrew her hand from his body, saying softly:

"He really was badly hurt. It took nearly half my magic power."

Still, Moss was very happy that she had been able to save Sun Lei.

After all, it was because of that Flame Marsh Lizard Magic Core that Moss possessed her current strength.

From the very beginning, Moss had been planning to repay those three.

Although she did not know where the other two had gone, she was still happy to have saved him.

Moreover, Moss had not come away empty-handed this time.

She opened her panel and glanced at the text displayed on it, a thoughtful look appearing in her eyes.

Talent Optimization: Minor Injury Recovery IX → Minor Injury Recovery X

Talent Adaptation: Minor Injury Recovery → Healing Spell

"So it really changed from a talent that could only heal myself into one that could heal others, just as I thought."

Moss could not help smiling as she looked at the newly appeared talent.

She had finally begun to grasp a little of the hidden rules behind the Golden Finger talent.

All this time, Moss had used it as a passive talent.

She could only let it develop on its own, at most using it to raise the levels of her other talents through training.

It was not until today that Moss had truly controlled this talent for the first time.

The Golden Finger's first talent effect, Talent Construction and Optimization, was entirely passive!

Moss could not activate this first effect at will—or rather, her own actions were what controlled this effect!

The integration of mind and body was a necessary condition for activating Effect One!

If she only thought about it with her mind while her body took no action, then it would be absolutely impossible to activate Effect One's ability!

However, the Golden Finger's second talent effect, Talent Plunder and Adaptation, was completely different from Effect One!

Through research and deduction, Moss discovered that this was an effect that could be both passive and active!

The reason she had discovered this lay in the Talent Adaptation ability!

The compatibility between all talents and the body will be adjusted to the highest level.

From this brief description of Talent Adaptation, she had spotted a clue!

As the number of talents continued to increase, Moss's body had surely been changing as well!

For instance, her transformation from an ordinary rat into her current form had been caused by her body adapting to the talents within her!

Then, if one day Moss obtained a talent like Physical Immunity from a slime—

What would her body become?

Moss came up with several possibilities!

One was that she would turn into something resembling a slime!

Another was that her body would become extraordinarily tough and possess extremely powerful recovery abilities!

There were many other possibilities besides those, because Talent Optimization added another variable.

But in the end, it was still related to changes in the body!

And Moss came up with an idea!

Did the body have to be the only one adapting to talents? Could talents not adapt to the body instead?

Could talents change along with changes in the body?

It sounded as though it had a similar function to Talent Optimization, but in truth, they were not the same!

If Effect One treated the body and mind as a whole, then Effect Two treated the body and mind as a balance scale!

The weight of the body and mind constantly shifted on that scale. Whichever side carried greater weight would determine which direction the adaptation leaned toward.

In the end, the weights of the two would gradually become balanced as the Golden Finger continued to adapt them!

Until a new talent formed, and the cycle began again!

And this trait gave Moss some room to work with!

What exactly was the balance between body and mind?

And who could define that balance?

Looking across the entire world, there were probably very few who could answer that question.

But Moss had her own answer. She muttered to herself:

"I... am my own balance!"

Who determined the balance between the body and the mind?

Unfortunately, the answer was an extremely unfair one!

The mind determined the weight!

Why had Moss's body changed so drastically at the beginning?

It was because she did not like her current body. As the embodiment of her mind, she had desperately wanted to change!

So when she gained the ability and strength to transform, the weight of her body had fallen almost to its lowest point!

This was precisely because her mind had controlled everything—or rather, her subconscious!

That was what had caused such an enormous change in Moss's body!

And Moss's shock at her own transformation after waking up proved something as well.

At the beginning, she had not actually known any of this!

In other words, her subconscious had controlled the balance between her body and mind!

It could also be said that this was the choice made by her truest self!

Then what would happen once Moss realized this?

It was like breathing. When people did not pay attention to it, breathing was automatic. But once they did, it became manual!

The consequence of Moss noticing the balance was that she gained the ability to control the equilibrium between her body and talents!

Moss could set the limits of that balance herself!

This time, she had reversed and altered her Minor Injury Recovery talent, thereby gaining a new talent: Healing Spell!

The successful confirmation of this speculation would bring Moss an enormous increase in strength!

However, that did not mean Moss would become invincible from now on.

After all, even the universe had boundaries. Naturally, Moss's body had its limits as well!

It was like how, no matter how much Moss hypnotized herself, she could never turn Minor Injury Recovery into Holy Word: Resurrection Technique.

Once a certain threshold was exceeded, the balance Moss had established would completely fail!

"Still, this is already a great result, isn't it?"

Moss smiled to herself, satisfied as she closed the panel. She took out some jerky from her space and began eating again.

Her earlier treatment had consumed quite a bit of magic power, and she needed to replenish it as quickly as possible!

After all, with the surrounding environment being so dangerous, this was no time to save food!

Puyo! Puyo! Puyo!

The sound of water balls bouncing drew closer, and Little Ball's cheerful voice rang out in Moss's mind!

Master, water!

"Ah, thank you!"

Moss smiled and raised a hand to pat Little Ball, who stood much taller than her. Then she put both it and the collected water back into the Pet Space.

As Little Ball grew stronger, the Pet Space had gradually become larger and larger.

Moss had divided the space into several areas, including places for storing food and water.

The water storage area consisted of several water flasks stacked together. After returning to the space, Little Ball poured the water it had collected into those flasks.

Seeing Little Ball obediently and efficiently going about its work inside the space, Moss nodded in satisfaction.

The issues of water and food had been temporarily resolved. Next, she needed to find a way out.

But Moss glanced at the still-unconscious Sun Lei, shook her head slightly, and sighed.

"Sigh... I'll leave after he wakes up."

"Run... run... No!!! Hah... hah..."

Sun Lei cried out repeatedly with his eyes closed. Then, as if startled awake, he suddenly sat upright!

He panted heavily, his eyes darting around in confusion as though he had yet to understand what had happened.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Sun Lei touched his body in surprise.

"My... injuries are healed?"

Sun Lei clenched his fist in disbelief and muttered quietly.

He anxiously raised his head as if searching for someone, still calling out, "Is anyone there?"

Yet there was no one here who could answer him—only a mouse that had once been human!

Whoosh!

A flicker of firelight appeared out of thin air, illuminating everything around it.

The firelight revealed Moss's figure and drew Sun Lei's gaze!

She crouched atop a rock, looking down at the human who was also looking at her, and gave a soft cry!

"Mo!" (You're awake, little bro!)

"Monster!!!"