Chapter 128
Chapter 128: Social Ties and Cult Schemes (3)
The parasite of minds, a being that could be classified as a “mental parasite” in academic terms, and one that was secretly operating as the benefactor of the Lubrak City faction, found the current state of the magical society to be quite amusing.
A world in turmoil meant an expansion of opportunities for its influence.
Long ago, when the Church ruled the world and heavenly orders governed all, the parasite had been sealed away.
The Mage King was the parasite’s savior. During the Mage King’s crusade to destroy the Church, the temple where the parasite had been imprisoned was demolished, and the seal was broken.
From that point on, the parasite slowly began to spread its influence again, whispering to fallen priests as though delivering divine revelations, growing its number of vessels ever so steadily.
And now, when another era of chaos dawned on the mortal world, the parasite moved with unprecedented freedom. Artifact regulations? It had been posing as a god within artifacts for centuries. Mastery of deception was practically in its essence.
The parasite could also wield magic with ease. It had long thrived by disrupting the order of the gods, so imitating the equally disorderly craft of magic was as simple as breathing.
A false god, stealing divine names to garner worship, the parasite had become bolder in its movements as it sought a full rebirth, its true mission.
But as of yet, it had not found a vessel capable of fully containing its vast consciousness.
Its mind was simply too large. Even inserting just a fraction of its presence into a human’s psyche would bring that mind to the brink of collapse. The stronger a person’s mental fortitude, the more they could withstand its influence, but even the most powerful mages—Tower Masters or commonfolk—were not all that different in the parasite’s eyes.
Thus, the parasite devised a new plan, drawing from its observations of human minds. If it could transfer its will into a mana core and build a colossal golem powered by such a core, then perhaps it could achieve its full potential.
After examining the mana cores of several Towers, it concluded that while the idea was feasible, most mana cores lacked the necessary capacity to fully contain it.
It needed something larger, more intricate.
That’s why the mana core of Amimone Tower became its target. The parasite posed as the benefactor of the Lubrak City faction, using them as a front.
But the parasite was never one to trust a single plan. While most human minds were insufficient vessels, could it be that the candidates vying for the legacy of a Pure Tower possessed something different? Something more?
It searched not only for the mana core but also for a mage whose mental fortitude might serve as a new body for its consciousness.
Admittedly, the parasite didn’t hold high expectations for this. After all, if a mage capable of containing its vast mind existed, wouldn’t they already be serving as a Tower Master?
Still, the parasite continued its search, exercising patience—until it laid eyes on a woman with white hair flowing like silk.
This mage was not mentioned in any of the magical society records the parasite had gathered. She was a complete unknown, yet the parasite sensed something immensely powerful within her.
It wasn’t merely the size of her mana reserves. Her consciousness was deep—profound and dark, like an abyss. There was a chance that her mind could fully accept the parasite, allowing it to be reborn anew.
Fueled by anticipation, the parasite had approached.
But then, a suspicious man with narrow eyes had stepped in.
***
“So, how should I put it… That person? He has a strange way of thinking,” Orthes said.
“Do you mean he’s ideologically corrupted? More than we are?” Carisia’s voice was laced with sarcasm.
We? That’s a dangerous thing to say, boss. You’re the one trying to blow up the Ten Towers, and I’m just a passive observer.
I didn’t voice these thoughts aloud, of course. I pride myself on being perceptive. How else could I have lasted this long as Carisia’s right-hand man without getting myself killed?
“I’m not sure about that. I couldn’t get a proper read on him.”
Carisia’s eyes gleamed with interest. If I couldn’t get a proper read on someone, it meant their mastery of magic—or the depth of their existence—was on another level. Even without fully opening my eyes, I could easily see through most magicians’ shallow facades.
“Their surface consciousness was visible. But their deep consciousness… well, that was a different story.”
I carefully chose my words. The deep consciousness of the two women accompanying the suspicious man had appeared as static or corrupted data—glitched, as if something had gone wrong during its processing.
The issue was…
“The deep consciousness of both women was exactly the same. While the surface-level expressions varied due to their individual personalities, their unconscious, inner thoughts were identical.”
To simplify, I had been reading two text files: Priest A and Priest B.
Normally, there’s no way for two human beings to have identical souls unless some divine intervention is at play. So, while their files could be similar, they shouldn’t be exactly the same.
Yet here, Priest A and Priest B had identical contents, down to the corrupted characters.
“A mind-control spell?” Carisia asked. Among the various methods to tamper with human consciousness, this was the most common.
I shook my head. Something about this felt different.
“It’s similar, in that someone tampered with their minds. But… it’s more like…”
It was closer to a golem system governed by a single directive. The difference was that with golems, even the surface consciousness would be uniform, but in this case, only the deep consciousness was.
“Usually, when you peer into a person’s mind, no matter how broken they are, the structure remains consistent. Like whether someone’s mind is a diamond or a rectangle, it’s still part of the same family of shapes. But what I saw was… outside the typical human mold. Like a star shape, maybe.”
“You’re saying there’s something inside them that isn’t human?” Carisia’s tone rose slightly, her curiosity piqued.
I felt a surge of instinctual tension. When Carisia became interested in something, it rarely ended well for the object of her fascination.
***
The parasite recalled its encounter with the man who had blocked its approach. Initially, it thought he was merely an intrusive servant.
To acquire such a powerful vessel as the white-haired woman, it would have to proceed carefully. Gaining access to the servant’s mind first to gauge the woman’s interests seemed like the best approach.
It had made the Lubrak Tower Master step back and brought its two avatars forward. Usually, humans responded favorably to the approach of charming strangers.
From that moment, the parasite’s invasion had begun. As the emotional distance between it and its target narrowed, infiltration became easier.
The parasite expected it would easily slip into the servant’s mind with light conversation.
But it was wrong.
‘What… what is that?’
As a being that survived by consuming minds and living in the gaps left behind, the parasite was highly adept at sensing mental activity.
“Mental activity” encompassed everything from the physical brain’s processes to supernatural perceptions via mystical abilities—a transcendent form of awareness.
That’s why the parasite realized something was off.
This person’s cognitive structure was fundamentally different from that of a human.
His perception was bizarre, as though he could see behind himself without turning. How could a person’s vision extend to a point where there wasn’t even a retina?
The parasite knew that civilization had advanced considerably since its sealing, leading to strange inventions like Enchantware, but the volume of information this man processed was beyond any device’s capability.
In fact, it was beyond the parasite’s capability as well.
The man was perceiving something. That much was clear. But what exactly he was perceiving? The parasite couldn’t grasp it. The only thing it could surmise was that the man had an awareness of the entire space around him.
When the parasite attempted to invade his mind, it found itself drowning in an overwhelming torrent of information. Information about the stone used to build the banquet hall. The origin of that stone. The person who mined it. The life cycle of the fabrics in the carpet…
The parasite quickly realized the truth.
This man was not human. He couldn’t be human.
‘Is he one of my kind?’
Perhaps this was another being like itself—one who meddled in minds. The parasite sought to possess a physical body because that was part of its metamorphosis into its adult form. In a way, its vessel would be its cocoon.
The parasite wondered if Orthes was another of its kind, one who had been unsealed long before it and had already become proficient in wielding divine powers from within a frail human body.
It remembered the distant past, when it had first been sent to this world by a creator so terrifying it dared not even picture the being’s face. The parasite knew it wasn’t the only one planted on this world—others had been sealed away by the Church, only to be released later.
‘What should I do?’
At a glance, the body Orthes inhabited seemed to contain an immense mind. Perhaps it could utilize more than 70% of its power.
The parasite could summon up to 80% of its own consciousness
across its various vessels, but consolidating its power and overwhelming a single, unified opponent would require careful preparation.
Yes. Preparation.
If it could make the right preparations, it wouldn’t be impossible to defeat him. The white-haired woman’s radiant vessel was beautiful enough to warrant fratricide…
***
“This smells fishy. Let’s find out if they’re with Argyrion.”
I hesitated for a moment, considering whether or not to stop Carisia from fiddling with her gauntlet.
TL Note: Rate us on NOVEL UPDATES
