- Selective Recollection

Zex did not know how long in real-time has passed but to him, he went through years of Drago's life. Everything that Drago recalled, he was made to experience --- the emotions, the thoughts, the things Drago sensed, everything.

However, he did not find this to be much of a problem as in his previous life, his dreams were often vivid enough that they felt like lifetimes for him, despite only sleeping for around 6 hours each time.

Unfortunately, he could not find a similar case from people he knew or those on the internet. After all, how could anyone take statements about dreams as truth? Nobody treated his words seriously, thinking that he was only making that stuff up to get attention. He believed that even if there were others just like him, they might have eventually stopped talking about it for fear of being labeled as weird or crazy. Either that or they simply grew tired of trying, just like he did.

In most of his dreams, he would lead a different life letting him experience the good, and the bad; meeting new people, and losing them; achieving his goals, and failing. They let him make different choices, showing him the consequences that came right after. They let him experience things you could only see in movies, and things you could never see being made public.

He was married to countless women, having countless children, countless grandchildren, only to wake up and finding out they weren't real each time. He dreamt of being in wars, whether they be historical, modern, fantasy, or science fiction. He dreamt of having powers, all kinds of powers. He was sometimes made to experience saving worlds... and destroying them in others. His dreams were as wild as his imagination and as vivid as his grasp of reality and logic. He assumed that these were because of the countless stories he absorbed throughout his life. His brain would then use logic to build bridges stitching the pieces together to make them believable enough that even he would be tricked into thinking they were real.

Undergoing the [Blood Reincarnation] weirdly felt the same as having those dreams. Only that this time, he gained control of himself as the dissonance of thoughts and intended actions were constantly reminding him that these were only memories and that they were not his. It felt like the lucid dreams he had in his previous life, except he could only watch the events play out, unable to influence them with his will.

Resting for a bit, he collected and reviewed the newfound information from Drago's memories and the accounts from Edge and Arissef.

Drago considered these memories as important despite them seeming of no help to him on the surface.

However, Zex did not believe in coincidences or accidents. Everything that he was shown was important or had the potential to be important. This was his mindset in everything that he encountered in his previous life. In so many situations in his previous life, the things that helped him the most were not his education, his training, nor his connections. It was the little bits of information he gathered from various sources at the most unexpected times, whether they be from stories, conversations, texts, images, etc.

When he was curious about this, he did some research on it and found out that it was a combination of different 'Memory Biases' which are 'Cognitive Biases' that enhance the recollection of selected memories. He believed that because he was exposed to many plots in stories that his mind was filtering out the most likely memories that would be useful in the future.

For example: In one story, someone went to a shop and brought some clothes. This resulted in a series of events and consequences. However, in another story, someone did the same thing but resulted in a different series of events and consequences. Repeat that a couple of times with countless versions of succeeding events and when someone who is exposed to all those stories will subconsciously expect the most striking series of events to him, or the most frequent one. He would then be able to deduce what would happen next, and even know what he will probably need to turn the series of events to his favor.

Because he had a vast collection of stories from different situations, different plots, and different consequences, his mind was automatically filtering the useful memories from the less-useful ones, making it easy for him to notice which word, phrase, image, object, or action he would need in future situations, and recall them the moment they are needed.

Of course, he did not know if this was actually what was happening to him or it was simply luck or maybe even divine intervention for that matter.

He developed the skill to pick up the most important words in a textbook that would have a high chance of getting into the test questionnaires. This was how he barely passed the Mechanical Engineering Board Exam on the first try.

During his review, he read the textbooks that were the most probable source material for the tests, thought about which terms the test-makers would most likely include, and kept their core definitions to heart. He didn't memorize statements nor formulae. He familiarized himself with their principles and the theories behind them, making it easy for him to develop his own formulae from the given information. The downside was that he also did not like to memorize coefficients which gave him a lot of trouble. Fortunately, not every solution needed coefficients.

Even if he was busy or lost in thought, he would still capture the most important parts of a conversation and summarize it if asked to. Many people from all walks of life and various age groups approached him for advice as he was known to think about every nook and cranny inside the box and outside of it. He was able to explain the most notable consequences of each action so others always appreciated his perspective on things.

In other words, he had a meticulous mind. If only he did not choose to be lazy, maybe he would have achieved greatness in his life.

He could tell who was putting on a fake smile or who was lying. He could even guess what his bosses were hiding from him or the plans of the higher-ups even before he was told.

Aside from being reliable, responsible, and resourceful, this was why he was an important subordinate. Someone who could almost read their minds, saving them the trouble of going through the uncomfortable explanation process.

While his sensitivity to such things bore down on his personal life and relationships, he was almost always in an important position in any company he was in.

How does all this relate to Drago's situation?

The same sensitivity was currently like a loud alarm telling him that all will be revealed in the next key memory.

'Was the figure Edge and Arissef met, his master? Or was he his master's master?'

'What drove the wedge between the three monsters? What made them become purely work buddies rather than the dear friends they seem to be in Drago's memories?'

'How did Arissef become the Demon Slayer?'

'Why did Edge not use his death energy against me?'

'A lot of questions were filling up his mind and the answers have been kept away from him for too long. He felt like he was going crazy. It was like binge-watching a series and you have to end on a cliffhanger because you need to go to work or school.'

Above all, he wanted to see for himself the power that a demon as strong or stronger than his master possessed. Deep within his heart, the urge to cut off his ties with his master was growing. Noticing this, he wanted to know how Drago and the rest were able to defeat this demon, and why they were confident enough to face his master before despite losing Edge. He wanted to know how much strength he needed to cut free from his bondage.

Hopefully, his gut feeling was right. He also wished that this would be the final key memory as he was itching to go back to the real world and continue his new life.

Throughout the [Blood Reincarnation] technique, Zex was not only simply watching the events unfold. He was absorbing Drago's persona as an alter ego.

He took to heart Drago's personality, reactions, habits, tells, inclinations, preferences, speech patterns, mannerisms, body language, relationships to others, and his thought processes. Of course, he was able to observe all of these because he loved to study psychology above everything else.

The last thing he needed to do was practice them as if they were his own.

When he was ready, he left his Mind Space and continued to the next key memory.