[Note: The Recurring Lucid Save-State Dream (RLSSD) mentioned in this chapter is actually a real thing the author has experienced before, although the actual content has been adjusted for the story. Sleep, Dreaming, The Subconscious and Optimal Performance are fascinating topics, so I would love to hear your thoughts regarding them. Either way, hope it could provide some food for thought and enjoy! ✨]
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The Subconscious.
Intuitively, Bob knew that this was the key in order for him to realise his next breakthrough on his path to attaining genetic immortality.
Think of an Iceberg floating in the sea. It is well known that the part of the iceberg we can see floating above the water is only around 10%, a tiny fraction of the Iceberg's true size. In fact, around 90% of the Iceberg lies hidden, below the surface of the water, leading to the saying that when something is described as "just the tip of the iceberg", it means that we are only seeing a small part of a far bigger whole!
It was in the Karaoke room, just as Old Man Li was urging him of the necessity to improve his genetic quality as soon as possible, and as Bob swirled his H₂0 on the rocks... and with his genius but still not OP Intelligence, that all of a sudden... this possibility occurred to him!!!
Bob suddenly realised, as he glanced at the dome of ice bobbing in his frankly bland… 'watered-down' drink (what was Tristen thinking...) that his current State of Mind was also like an Iceberg floating in water.
For general purposes, the Mind could roughly be categorised into three parts, a Conscious Part, which means things we are consciously aware of doing, such as currently reading this (hopefully interesting😛) novel, an Unconscious Part, which is like breathing and other things that we would generally do automatically like laughing in response to 'certain author's' gifs and jokes, and the Subconscious Part, which is like a pool of all the Experiences and Information that you had accumulated over your life.
Moreover, all three of these Conscious, Unconscious, and Subconscious Aspects would be affected or modulated through your [Intention], or an Individual's beliefs and instructions that they would give themselves via their personal thoughts, decisions, actions, and life choices.
[Let us use reading this Webnovel as an Example. Your Conscious Mind is currently Reading the words on the page, your Unconscious Mind is doing automatic things like breathing and making sure you are feeling comfortable, and your Subconscious Mind is the deep pool of Experience and Information that has been - and is continuing to be even at this very moment - absorbed over the course of your human life.
[Intention] is what connects all these things together, like a set of Instructions that tells all the players on a team what to do, and, with the right training and in the right circumstances, this could allow for incredible outcomes and achievements not normally possible through conscious willpower alone!]
For Bob, his Intention was to become a Genetic Success, and accordingly, the Conscious, Unconscious, and Subconscious Aspects of his Mind had all been honed and specifically modulated to best help him achieve this goal.
However, whilst Bob's Conscious Mind was highly developed, leading to his disciplined training routines and focused study of 'The Art of Rizz', his Unconscious and Subconscious Aspects still needed to be improved.
Essentially, to use the Iceberg Analogy, it was as if he were currently using a fraction, or around 10%, of his true power!
As for whether it were possible to completely unlock 100% of his Mind's potential... well this of course has been the topic of countless sci-fi movies, and suffice it to say that as always, you would find out whether it might be possible for Bob in a future chapter... 😛
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So, The Subconscious.
Bob knew that his Conscious Mind could be trained through diligent Study, and the Unconscious Mind could also be trained to some degree through repetition and technical mastery, but how exactly could he access or train the Subconscious part of his Mind?
Bob realised, as he thought back to his encounters with Gigachad, that one way was through his Dreams.
Owing to the sheer amount of data a person was constantly processing in Reality, Bob knew that the Conscious Mind, in order to preserve a person's sanity, was not normally able to access the immense volume of Experiences and Information contained in the Subconscious.
However, his encounters with Gigachad had given him the clue he needed to make a hypothesis. That, Powered with enough determined and focused [Intention], a person could enter a [Dream State], where the Mind could form a temporary link between the Conscious and the Subconscious, allowing for the potential to access incredible insights and achieve breakthroughs not possible with just the limited power of the Conscious Mind alone!
Indeed, it was this very special 'accessing' of the Subconscious through a [Dream State] that had allowed many famous Artists and Masters throughout history to perform incredible feats.
One example was the painter Salador Deli, originally a struggling artist, until he suddenly had a dream and saw visions of himself surrounded by salad and all his favourite foods - and this led to him founding the world's very first delicatessen!!!
Viewed in this way, It had in fact been Bob's sheer determination and resilience, his [Intention] to achieve Genetic Immortality, that had caused him to dream of Gigachad... and with this realisation, the pieces began to click into place.
The dream of Gigachad was in fact Bob accessing a [Dream State], a method by which he could harness the power of his Subconscious to make breakthroughs in his journey to Genetic Greatness that would not be ordinarily possible!
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The method of accessing the Subconscious described by Deli is to enter a half-awake, half-asleep state and to hope that you could try to capture a brief link between the Conscious and Subconscious parts of your Mind.
That said.
Lesser known is that there is an extremely rare and special kind of [Dream State] that allows for extreme, transcendental levels of Subconscious Development, known as:
"The Recurring Lucid Save State Dream".
Very occasionally in life, when all the specific conditions are met, one can enter a "Recurring Lucid Save-State Dream", or RLSSD for short.
A normal lucid dream is when the Dreamer finds themselves in a dream where they are lucid, or seemingly 'awake inside the dream' and able to interact with the Dream world in some way shape or form.
This in itself is not uncommon, but the Special aspect of the Recurring Lucid Save State Dream (RLSSD) is that the Dreamer would continually revisit a specific scenario or setting, and moreover, that depending on the actions the dreamer would undertake during the dream, progress could be 'saved' and the dream reentered from that save point upon waking up and sleeping again.
Following the Karaoke session with Old Man Li, owing to the accumulation of his efforts and his complete [Intention] to achieve genetic success, Bob had begun to experience this phenomenon of Recurring Lucid Save State Dreaming...
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Recurring Lucid Save-State Dream (RLSSD) #1
...Bob was now in the middle of a vast open world complex, kind of a cross between a mall and an open public space.
Cool, energetic music was playing in the background, with random dudes muttering a drone of random rap words over a slow, pulsing dramatic beat punctuated with an electric guitar's ringing notes that created a sense of excitement and gravity.
There were various people in the complex, some in groups, some alone.
Bob was vaguely aware that he was meant to be doing something… but what?!
He could move around.
He could engage with the other people in the complex like in the real world as normal.
And yet, what was he doing here? What was he meant to do?
There was a sense that he was missing something, but what?
Suddenly a rich manly voice rang out. It was Gigachad!
"Bob! Welcome... to The Subconscious."
Bob was now already different from before. Whilst in the past he may have wondered or been disturbed about why Gigachad was appearing in his dreams, now he knew that there was a reason for it, it was likely due to his determined [Intention] to become a genetic success, and it just might hold the key to providing a breakthrough in his genetic quality!
One other good thing to mention was that Gigachad was now back to his usual flawlessly sculpted, clad-in-briefs self, allowing various cultured readers to enjoy some marvellous eye candy 👀🍭🔥✨😛.
Gigachad spoke. "Bob, although I ultimately fell just short in my quest for genetic immortality, I am nevertheless still here to help you as my future successor."
"I understand you have recently experienced the feeling of plateau-ing, of feeling like you have hit your human limits?"
"Well, that is because in some sense, you have. You have now reached the limits of what is possible with just sheer Conscious effort and willpower alone."
Bob listened to his words and felt they made sense. It was truly difficult for him to figure out what else he could do to improve, since with all his Art of Rizz training, he was already giving it 100%, yet he was still stuck at the B++++++ grade!
Gigachad continued speaking whilst exuding his usual virile manliness.
"Don't worry. I have entrusted you with this mantle because I can see your insane genetic potential and know that it is within your capabilities. However, there is still a long way to go."
"You must further expand your Awareness, before you are able to properly continue the legacy that is the legend, the myth-made-man, the true spirit of Gigachad..."
Bob had still had some confusion about what Gigachad was talking about regarding 'the mantle' and 'legacy' of Gigachad, but no matter what, he definitely intended to break through his B+++++ bottleneck in order to become a genetic success. And since Gigachad seemed like he was here to help, why not hear what he had to say?
"GC," Bob spoke with crystal clear focus, and calmly as always, even in his dream. "Thanks… I think. I'm definitely willing to learn. But what do you suggest that I do?"
Gigachad smiled warmly, an affirming smile radiating pure, intoxicating, earthy masculinity.
"Well it's simple. You've already pushed your Conscious Mind to the limits. So in order to breakthrough to the next level... you would now need to Understand and Unlock…
your Subconscious Power…"