I check my mind. No such luck; there's no memocyte. My mind is warped at a fundamental level. It's become a memocyte.

Have I become part-memocyte? How weird. I don't seem to have the normal faculties of a memocyte. Yet. No, actually? I don't want to find out if I can make them. I do anyway, because I need to know.

...

Sure enough, I can.

It's one thing after another today. Hragh.

I try to retract my mind from the orb of Origin Viroid. Surprisingly, it works. In a manner reminiscent of my freakish physical body, it separates like wet glue. However, it doesn't produce any sound or space-warping.

Now that I've pulled my gooey mind back into my body... Rah, this is all too strange.

I shake my dragon head to focus properly.

Once I've done that, I again try to retract my Origin thread. This time it comes out without any complaints at all.

Rhew!

I examine the huge orb of Origin Viroid.

Dang, it's a solid mass of Viroids. If this was visible to others, they'd think it was a huge ice cream scoop or—

*splotch*

Something wet hits my foot.

Reh?

I wipe my maw because I'm drooling profusely. That weird goo again. What is this stuff? I examine it— roh, no. Now I know what this has been all along. I've been drooling out my Origin itself. This isn't Origin Crystal or Viroid; I'm actually drooling out small glops of my own Will. Like Gluttony, when he used his sin to attack my planet. Except without my intent. Why in the world would I be drooling my own mental faculties?

I try to examine the goo I've just drooled everywhere like a rabid animal. My mind emits a whole bunch of nonsensical emotions and feelings, but despite the fact they make no sense, all of them are entirely positive.

My mind drifts deeper into the goo, spreading out, reaching out. I feel like I'm gaining something.

I suddenly snap back. What the heck? Why is—

I realize that, at some point, several hundred of my Origin Threads have jabbed themselves deep into the Viroid orb.

My mind is outside my body again. Waaaay more than before. It's like a thick and shiny wall of clear goo. Many, many times my current body size, which is about 2.5 meters due to me previously being in the god realm. My mind's glomming onto the Viroid orb and squirming up its sides like an enormous slime monster.

...

Was my physical form already eldritch? This is basically that— except my mind, now, too. Worse, the Origin Viroid isn't visible to any but the most skilled of Will practitioners. My mind? This memocytic mind I've got?

Anyone can see it.

Rokay, I'm honestly not too concerned about appearances. So long as I'mma dragon. Rawr.

But. Did I do this when I lost focus? Did I shove my Will into my memocytic mind for a moment and lose myself?

I try to pull my mind back into my body.

This time... Nope. Won't listen. It doesn't have my memories like Meme, nor even a complex instinct like the Will leeches. It's solely functioning based on the fact food is nearby.

Gluttony must've made it act like this.

I refuse to eat that thing. I don't need a 120km sphere of Origin Viroid even if it is, roh. Delicious.

I feel my mind spreading out; much more than earlier. I feel SO elated that I'm going to eat—

image [https://timjames.net/data/acd/images/158.png]

I snap back again, as the mention of eating has become a sort of mental trigger. Now my memocytic mind is FULLY engulfing the Viroid orb. My ability to make rational decisions is wavering at the edge of my sanity. Rather than my Will controlling my mind, my emotions are controlling my Will instead.

I want to EAT it! My clear gooey Origin pours like a waterfall from my maw, flowing all over the ground under my feet.

After a few moments of mental struggle, I FINALLY get myself back under control. I see that my mental goo has spread all around. There's so much of it. It's like a small pond.

Rugh, disgusting! I need to stop this. I use Void Fate to change the orders of my memocytic mind.

Hrr?

No, I don't.

I've just learned that I can edit my own fate, my own body, but seemingly not my own mind.

Instead, my power went INTO my memocytic mind.

It evolves!

I watch in annoyance as my memocytic mind, rather than retracting, rapidly voids the huge Viroid sphere. All the matter within likewise breaks apart and flows evenly into my body and Will. My body gets half and my Will gets half.

As my Will grows, the goopy memocytic mind outside of my body also grows, but then feeds itself back into my body. It's like a huge wad of transparent goo sliding itself into my form. Whelp, at least it isn't running off with my Will, or something else equally idiotic.

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Further, as the huge Viroid orb breaks down, I feel my emotional self-control returning. The weird feelings and sensations I'm getting lessen as well, bringing my ravenous hunger back under my Will's control.

Hraaah.

I know this is nothing compared to the crisis I faced before. I do. I'm glad for that. I know it's not a big deal since I'm still a dragon, and my Will is still my own. I know this thing is... Mostly listening to my Will.

But why the hell does my OWN MIND have a mind of its own?! That makes no— rah.

So this is why people tell me I make no sense. I'm transparent but make no sense.

I look at the similarly transparent mass of blob dutifully eating its fill. Rauuuugh.

I'm tempted to poke the thing a few more times with Void Fate to see if it evolves again.

I don't, because the idea is incredibly stupid! Curiosity won't kill this dragon: that's impossible. It'll kill everyone else and end all of existence, forever.

...

...

After a few minutes, the blob— my mind— has finished eating a 120km diameter hole into the planet, as well as consuming the space and air above said hole.

Which means I did some pretty severe damage. It's not just the planet's crust, but also the gravitational underpinnings of its place in this solar system. This planet's orbit is going to shift from such a huge loss of mass. And, the crust may begin to crumble worldwide once this hole starts refilling.

I check the planet. Rah, reah. Of course there's people living here. Why didn't I check that first? I may need to evacuate everyone to another planet.

I use mind magic to talk directly with Dracosect.

"Rehm, Dracosect."

"Yes, my god?"

"I need you to keep an eye on this planet I'm on right now. I'll send you the coordinates. I carved a huge hole in the crust and outer mantle. The destruction is moving pretty slowly for the moment, but if things go south, maybe it should be evacuated."

"Do you think we could fill it with space debris?"

"Ruhh, that's not a bad idea. Do you want me to transfer some of the dragons over here?"

"Absolutely, my god! We can conquer your second planet!"

Not what I had in mind, but. You know what? Reah. Dragons must always expand their hoard.

"Dracosect, you know how to cheer a dragon up. I'll ask everyone for volunteers. After you guys repair the planet, please do take it over. I have an announcement I'll be making soon: you'll all likely hear it while working on this planet. Let's just say I won't need to reward you directly this time. I'mma fate dragon. Rawr!"

"Rawr! Being a dragon should indeed be its own reward. Erm, well. The moment you mentioned this planet, I felt an insatiable desire to go conquer it. Is that what you're referring to, my god?"

Hreh, he got me.

The past few days I've been ramping up our instincts, exactly as I'd described to gluttony. A dragon's pride and greed are currently about 7.8 times stronger than they were when I started. I'll push it up to 8x and leave it there for now. I can do more precise tweaking as I observe my hoard.

I've been continuously strengthening these instincts while watching closely for when my dragons start getting restless. With Dracosect's remarks? I think we're at the sweet spot.

This is... A lot.

We dragons were already so pridefully greedy that we liked to sit atop our treasures, admiring ourselves while being worshipped. Something I myself have done.

Now I've multiplied that by 8 times.

In truth, I didn't expect that I'd need to edit our instincts quite so much. But my goal is to make us into perfect dragons. Just sitting atop our treasures, admiring ourselves shouldn't be enough for a proper dragon. Not even close. My goal is to encourage every dragon to gather more admirers and treasure without end.

That's how real dragons should act.

However, I can't allow us to be afflicted by these sins. That's why I've taken the time to figure out how sin transformations happen without so much as a Will leech. It's a lack of mental balance! A desire may become so extreme that the body magically remakes itself to match its own distorted perceptions.

This is where a dragon's new instincts for respect, diligence, justice, and erudition come in. Instead of only two sins, we dragons now represent two very powerful sins balanced by four slightly less powerful virtues. I've likewise had to ramp those up to keep us all in line.

I love my dragons so much. I want each and every one of us to see success and happiness. If a dragon could only feel proud from 8 admirers before, now a single admirer will give us that same feeling of pride. This rule also applies to treasure. We'll feel 8 times more desire to gain admirers and treasure in addition to the gratification we get, but, our new virtues should make us calmly assess the value we already possess. We won't become inexorably driven toward extreme behaviors. We can simply enjoy being amazing dragons.

I've turned what was once a vicious cycle into a draconic feedback loop. Whereas some of us might've previously fallen apart once we gained a lot, now we'll become mentally tougher and more driven each and every time we assess our gains. By the time my dragons and I have established our rightful place as benevolent, uncontested gods, we'll feel nothing but the greatest possible satisfaction.

And then we'll go find something new to conquer. After all, 'good enough' has been written out of our species. Us dragons can only become more powerful and amazing from this point forward! Soon, I expect, this'll become an actual law of physics just as I'd decided a few days ago.

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, time can't go backwards, and dragons must always become stronger.

But as I've said— a hoard cannot be built with mere feelings. My hoard shall, from today, be built with power itself: the most basic and fundamental of all treasures.

When a dragon acts as they should, fate shall intervene to empower them directly. My dragons must be emotionally rewarded by their instincts. This is a matter of course. However, they'll also gain better bodies and minds for following through.

Maybe only Dracosect has figured out what I've done. But, I'll bet a lot of them are still itching to defeat enemies more than at any earlier point in their lives. Am I going overboard?

...

Nraaaah, too many of my dragons were being sated by 'good enough.' They'd only go out to fight when I called for them. With this, even the laziest dragon would have trouble sitting still. No dragon should be lazy when unconquered land or treasure still exists. Anywhere. Anywhere in existence. At all.

Hrr. I think I'll answer Dracosect's question with my announcement. He may be my favorite dragon, but I can't spill the good news early. My favor comes in the form of friendship and my personal attention to his needs— not unfair advantages!

"Dracosect, I've decided you may pick your team. I'm putting down a portal here; you can transfer to this planet using the temple portals."

A portal appears nearby at my whim, like the true god that I am. Jeez, I'm getting scarily good at spellcasting and inscription.

"My god, thank you SO much! We were all starting to run out of construction projects. I was going to try making that hydroelectric dam you told us about, but this is far better."

Roh, that's true. I did mention that.

"Maybe you could manage both projects at the same time. You up for a challenge?"

"Exciting, my god! Wonderful idea!"

He wanted to do both anyway. I can feel it. He just didn't want to ask me. I have another reward to give him, so this should be the perfect lead-in. Hopefully, he can feel more comfortable about taking a leadership role once he's been officially recognized as a leader.

I gaze down at the huge hole. It's slowly filling up with magma and ocean water, which are conflicting and casting off immense amounts of gasses. I note that the constant earthquakes around here are intensifying as well.

My abilities always leave a hole like this, but at the god realm town... The town vanished. Hrah. Hrrh. I hadn't noticed that oddity. Did I cause local metric expansion? A gravity well? I should check the whole area.

Maybe there's survivors. I don't know how, but I can't leave potential survivors in the lurch.

My blorpy blob of a mind finally finishes slithering entirely back into my body. It happily snuggles around my Will.

Rokay, I kinda see why Kaliwot finds this creature cute. Normally the mind is merely a transparent ball covering a smaller transparent ball of Will. It is sort of endearing to see the outer layer hugging the inner one. After all, it's hugging 'me' as close as anything possibly can.

I imagine the thing flooding out of my body like a gargantuan mass of stretchy clear goo and enveloping a planet.

Nope! Nope!

Not cute!