A being that has survived by clinging to the minds of humans, academically classified as a mental parasite, was quite pleased with the current state of the magical society while acting covertly as an investor in the Lebrac branch.
A chaotic society means an expansion of its own covert opportunities.
Long ago, during the time when the sect ruled the world and the order established by the heavens shone upon all, it had been sealed away.
The savior of the parasite was the Wizard King. In the great work of eradicating the sect, the remote shrine where the parasite was trapped collapsed, and the seal was damaged.
Thus, little by little, it increased the number of humans under its influence by whispering into the ears of the fallen priests of the sect, pretending to be divine revelations.
Finally, now, with the arrival of chaos in the mortal world, its movements were freer than ever. Artifact restrictions? It had been impersonating a deity within artifacts for centuries. It couldn’t help but become adept at deception to hide its presence.
The mental parasite could also handle magic without difficulty. Since it had always lived by disrupting the order of the gods, mimicking magic, another method of disrupting order, was as easy as breathing.
The parasite, stealing the name of a god to receive worship, began to move more boldly, aiming for complete resurrection and the fulfillment of its mission.
However, the parasite had yet to find a vessel capable of fully containing its mind.
This was because its mental magnitude was too vast. Even dipping a finger into the minds of humans brought their vessels to saturation. The higher the level of cultivation each individual human achieved, the greater their capacity to accept it, but to the parasite, there was little difference between a common mage tower master or a random passerby.
The parasite came up with a different idea, one conceived through reading the minds of many humans. If it infused its will into a magic core and constructed a giant golem powered by the magic core…
After examining several magic cores, it determined that while feasible, the capacity of an ordinary tower’s magic core was insufficient to fully contain it.
A larger and more sophisticated magic core was needed.
The parasite targeted the magic core of the Amimone Tower, posing as a patron of the Lebrac branch leader.
At the same time, it wasn’t the kind of entity to rely on just one plan. While most mages’ minds were too small to serve as its vessel…
…wouldn’t those who sought to inherit the proper towers be different? While supporting the leader of the Lebrac branch, it also explored whether there was a mage capable of becoming its new body.
It didn’t have high hopes. This was merely a backup plan. A mage with a vessel surpassing the magic core of a proper tower would already be a tower master, wouldn’t they?
While patiently continuing its search, it caught sight of a beautiful woman with flowing white hair.
An unnamed mage not mentioned in any information the parasite had collected about the magical society so far. However, the parasite could sense the immense power it possessed.
Not just in terms of mana quantity. Her mind was profoundly deep and dark. Perhaps it could fully accept the parasite’s mind, allowing it to be reborn anew.
With such expectations, it approached her.
Then, a suspicious squint-eyed man appeared.
“What should I say… That guy’s way of thinking is unique.”
“Is his ideology rebellious compared to ours?”
“Our what?” That’s dangerous talk. Only the Chairman aims to destroy the Ten Towers, and I’m merely a passive accomplice.
…I didn’t voice these words aloud. I take pride in my perceptiveness. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to stay close to Carisia for so long, would I?
“I don’t know much about him. I couldn’t read him properly.”
Carisia’s eyes sparkled. “Not being able to read someone” indicates an extraordinary level of existence, transcending normal standards. Though I’m not fully focused, even in this state, the depths of mediocre mages are completely transparent to me.
“I can see their surface consciousness, but the deeper layers… How should I put it?”
I chose my words carefully. To the two priests, their subconsciousness appeared like noisy characters or corrupted text.
The problem was…
“Their deep consciousness was identical. There were differences in non-verbal and semi-verbal expressions processed by their surface consciousness, but their innermost thoughts, corresponding to the unconscious, were entirely the same.”
To make a clumsy analogy, it was as if I opened two text files with different titles: PriestA and PriestB.
In principle, no two individuals, even with divine intervention, could exist at the soul level. Their contents might be similar, but they cannot be identical.
However, the contents of PriestA and PriestB were filled with exactly the same form of noise.
“Brainwashing magic?”
Carisia questioned. The most common method of damaging a human’s deep consciousness.
I shook my head. Something seemed off; it wasn’t simple brainwashing.
“It does resemble it in terms of tampering with the mind, but… how should I say it…”
Rather, it felt closer to a system-controlled golem army. Although, unlike this case, the golems’ surface consciousness would also be identical.
“Normally, when you look into a human’s mind, even if they’re broken, the structure remains somewhat similar. Like rhombuses or rectangles—they’re all still quadrilaterals. But the deep consciousness I saw deviated from the human form. If I had to describe the shape, it would be star-like.”
“Does it mean a non-human will has taken over?”
Carisia’s tone rose slightly. I instinctively tensed—it meant she found this intriguing.
And those who piqued Carisia’s interest usually didn’t end well.
The parasite recalled the person it had encountered. Initially, it thought the person was merely an overstepping servant.
To acquire that enormous vessel, it needed to proceed very cautiously, so infiltrating the servant’s mind to learn the master’s interests beforehand seemed advantageous.
Pushing the Lebrac Tower Master aside, it placed its two bodies forward. Humans tend to unconsciously favor attractive strangers.
Right then, the parasite’s infiltration began. The closer the emotional distance, the smoother the intrusion.
The parasite believed it could easily seep into the servant’s mind with just casual conversation.
But it was wrong.
“What is that thing?”
As an entity that feeds on others’ minds while hiding in the voids it consumes, the parasite excelled at detecting mental activity.
Though summarized as mental activity, it encompassed everything from physical brain functions to spiritual exchanges conducted through supernatural abilities—a transcendent detection capability.
Thus, it noticed.
That thing’s cognitive structure was fundamentally different from a human’s.
Its bizarre vision, which perceived things behind itself without retinas, couldn’t possibly belong to a human.
Of course, the parasite knew that civilization, having advanced since its imprisonment in the distant past, had invented strange creations like “enchantware.” But the amount of information that thing processed went beyond what any mechanical device could achieve.
In fact, even the parasite itself couldn’t keep up.
It was certain that it perceived something. But what exactly it perceived was beyond comprehension. The only rough guess was that it gathered information about a certain spatial range.
Attempting to peek into its mind, the parasite was swept away by the torrent of information contained within—details about the stones used to construct the banquet hall, their origin, the people who mined them, the life cycle of the fabric composing the carpet laid down…
The parasite realized instantly.
This isn’t human. It can’t be human.
“Is it kin?”
Some kind of entity, like itself, that interferes with the mind. Its need for a physical body was part of the process to metamorphose into its adult form. Thus, the body it inhabited was akin to a cocoon.
The parasite assumed Ortes was also a kin targeting the white-haired woman. A kin who had escaped the seal long before it and grown accustomed to wielding power through weak flesh.
Back in those ancient times, it remembered being sent to this land by a creator whose form it dared not even imagine. Since the land was seeded with parasites, it wasn’t unusual for other kin to have been sealed and released by the sect.
“What to do.”
Even at first glance, the body of Ortes seemed to contain a considerable mental magnitude—perhaps 70% of its power could be utilized.
The parasite itself could project 80% of its spirit if it mobilized all the bodies it had secured, but subduing a concentrated force divided among multiple bodies would require preparation.
Yes. Preparation.
If preparations could be made, toppling it wouldn’t be impossible. The shining vessel possessed by the white-haired woman was beautiful enough to justify kin-slaughter…
*
“This is highly suspicious. Let’s verify if it’s Argeyirion.”
I hesitated whether to dissuade Carisia as she fiddled with the gauntlet.
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