Ch.128Social Interaction and Cult (3)

A being that clings to human minds and survives—academically classified as something like a mental parasite—this entity, operating covertly as an investor in the Le Vrac City faction, found the current magical society quite entertaining.

A chaotic social landscape meant an expansion of possibilities for its covert activities.

Long ago, when the Order ruled the world, when the celestial order shone down upon all corners of the earth, it had been sealed away.

The savior of the parasite was the Mage King. During the Mage King’s great undertaking to eradicate the Order, the remote temple where the parasite was imprisoned collapsed, and the seal was damaged.

Thus, little by little, whispering to the fallen priests of the Order as if divine revelations, it slowly increased the number of humans touched by its influence.

Finally now, with chaos returning to the mortal realm, its freedom of movement was greater than ever before. Sacred artifact control? It had been impersonating gods within sacred objects for centuries. It had no choice but to become proficient in the art of concealing its presence.

The mental parasite could also handle magic without difficulty. Having lived by disrupting the order of gods, mimicking magic—similarly a method of disrupting order—was as easy as breathing.

The parasite, stealing divine names to be worshipped, began to move more boldly. For complete resurrection, to fulfill its mission.

The parasite had not yet found a vessel that could fully contain its mind.

This was because the size of its consciousness was too vast. Just inserting a fingertip into human minds would saturate their vessels. The higher the level of attainment an individual human had reached, the greater their capacity to accept it, but to the parasite, distinguished tower masters and common folk on the street were hardly different.

The parasite conceived a different idea. It was a plan completed by reading the minds of various humans. If it could place its will into a magic core and build a massive golem powered by that core…

After examining the magic cores of several towers, the possibility seemed feasible, but the capacity of an ordinary tower’s magic core was insufficient to fully contain the parasite.

A larger and more sophisticated magic core was needed.

The parasite targeted the magic core of the Amimone Tower, disguising itself as a patron of the Le Vrac City branch leader.

At the same time, it was not a being that relied on a single plan. Ordinary magicians had vessels too small to contain its mind.

But wouldn’t magicians who stepped forward to inherit the True Tower be somehow different? While sponsoring the Le Vrac City branch leader, it searched for magicians with the capacity to become its new body.

It didn’t have high expectations. This was merely a contingency plan. A magician with a vessel greater than the True Tower’s magic core would already be a True Tower master, wouldn’t they?

While continuing the search with patience, what caught its eye was a beautiful woman with flowing white hair.

An unknown magician never mentioned in the magical society information the parasite had collected so far. But the parasite could read the immense power she possessed.

It wasn’t simply about magical quantity. Her mind was unfathomably deep and dark. Perhaps she could fully accept its consciousness and be reborn anew.

With such expectations, it approached her.

Then a suspicious squinting man appeared.

***

“How should I put this… That fellow, his way of thinking was peculiar.”

“Do you mean his ideology is disrespectful? More than ours?”

‘Ours’? That’s dangerous talk. Only the boss wants to blow up the Ten Towers, while I’m merely a passive supporter.

…I didn’t voice such thoughts aloud. I pride myself on being quite perceptive. Otherwise, how could I have remained in Carisia’s inner circle for so long?

“I’m not sure about that side. I couldn’t read him properly.”

A strange light flickered in Carisia’s eyes. To say something “couldn’t be read properly” indicated that the level of magical attainment or existence was extraordinary. Though my eyes weren’t fully open, I could still see right through ordinary magicians.

“I could see their surface consciousness. But their deep consciousness was, how should I put it…”

I carefully chose my words. The deep consciousness of the two priests appeared similar to text with noise or corrupted loading—like gibberish.

The problem was…

“The deep consciousness of both people was completely identical. There were differences in the non-verbal and semi-verbal expressions processed by their surface consciousness, but their innermost unconscious thoughts were exactly the same.”

To make a crude analogy, it was like opening two text files with different titles—Priest A and Priest B.

Since identical others at the soul level cannot exist without divine intervention, the contents of the files might be similar but never the same.

However, the contents of Priest A and Priest B files were filled with exactly the same form of noise.

“Mind control magic?”

Carisia questioned. The most common among various methods of damaging human deep consciousness.

I shook my head. There was something strange beyond simple mind control.

“It’s similar in that someone tampered with their minds. But how should I say this…”

It was more like a golem army controlled by a single system. Though such golem armies would also have identical surface consciousness, unlike this case.

“Usually when looking into human minds, even the most broken humans have similar structures. Like how diamonds, rectangles, and squares are all quadrilaterals. But the deep consciousness I saw deviated from human form. In terms of shape, it was more like a star.”

“A non-human will occupying them?”

Carisia’s voice lifted at the end. I felt an instinctive tension. That meant Carisia was interested.

And subjects that interested Carisia rarely fared well.

***

The parasite recalled the man it had encountered. At first, it thought him merely an impertinent servant interfering.

Since obtaining that enormous vessel would require careful cultivation, it would be advantageous to infiltrate the servant’s mind first to learn about his master’s interests.

It would push aside the Le Vrac Tower Master and put forward its two bodies. Normally, humans tend to harbor unconscious goodwill toward attractive strangers.

That’s precisely when the parasite’s invasion begins. The closer the mental distance, the easier the infiltration.

The parasite believed it could seep into the servant’s mind with just light conversation.

But that wasn’t the case.

‘What is that?’

As a being that lives by consuming others’ minds and hiding in the voids it creates, the parasite was adept at detecting mental activity.

Though broadly termed “mental activity,” this encompassed a transcendent sensitivity ranging from physical brain activity involving the five senses to spiritual communion through supernatural abilities.

That’s why it could notice.

That one’s cognitive structure was fundamentally different from humans.

The bizarre, twisted vision that could see behind itself while standing still couldn’t belong to a human. There wasn’t even a retina at that point.

Of course, the parasite knew that civilization had developed various strange products like “enchantware” since the time of its sealing. But the amount of information that being processed couldn’t be matched by such mechanical devices.

In fact, even the parasite itself couldn’t keep up.

It was certain that something was being perceived. But it couldn’t follow exactly what that being was perceiving. The only thing it could roughly grasp was that it seemed to acquire information about “the entire space within a certain range.”

When it tried to peek into the mind, it was swept away by the torrent of information contained within. The stone used to build the banquet hall. The origin of that stone, the humans who quarried it, the life cycle of the fibers composing the carpet…

The parasite intuited.

That’s not human. It cannot be human.

‘A kindred spirit?’

Some kind of entity that, like itself, deals with minds. The reason the parasite sought a physical body was because it was a necessary process for metamorphosing into its complete form. In other words, the body the parasite would inhabit was a kind of chrysalis.

The parasite considered that Ortes might also be a kindred spirit targeting the white-haired woman. A kindred who had been freed from sealing much earlier and had become accustomed to handling powers with a weak body.

In that ancient time, it remembered being sent to this earth by a Creator too fearsome to even imagine. Since it wasn’t the only parasite sown on this earth, it wouldn’t be strange if there were other kindred who had been sealed and released by the Order.

‘What to do.’

Even at a glance, that body called Ortes seemed to contain a mind of considerable size. Perhaps able to use more than 70% of its power.

The parasite itself could project 80% of its mind if it mobilized all its secured bodies, but to overwhelm a concentrated power with power divided among multiple bodies would require various preparations.

Yes, preparation.

If it could prepare, overthrowing him wouldn’t be impossible. The white-haired woman’s brilliant vessel was beautiful enough to consider fratricide…

***

“This is quite suspicious. Let’s check if it’s an Arguirion.”

I wondered if I should stop Carisia, who was fidgeting with her gauntlet.