"I have a question, if you are the one who created this universe, then aren't you a god by human standards?" Ray asked, holding his chin with his left hand.
"Even if I was a god back then, it doesn't matter anymore; if I am not at the top, then I am at the bottom. I don't care about my previous status anymore, nor do I have any interest in finding out about it," I replied, shaking off the topic from my mind and focusing on the book I found in the library. "I thought these books would be empty, I never expected them to contain my memories."
"If you don't want to talk about it, I guess I shouldn't bring that up but yes, all these books have your memories in them, there are a lot of bookshelves I haven't taken a look at but starting from that row all books are blank," Ray stated, pointing at a bookshelf far away from us. "From what I can tell, those are the bookshelves which hold the unwritten memories, they will fill up as well as we make new ones. I can't see a visible end to this hallway but, I think some of the foggy areas that we passed through are those we forgot, so as we make new memories, the old ones that we find unnecessary will become foggy and when we need it we can clear that fog at any moment by putting aside the fog, I messed around a bit before you arrived.
"But how do we control our body while staying inside the mental plane?"
"Steering wheels," I answered, closing my book. "We will conjure a steering wheel in our mental plane, make it our control centre and drive our body from here. If our mana is based on wisdom then it will also have the properties of the different forms of wisdom.
"So, since there are technically ten forms of wisdom... We can do stuff like this," I said, snapping my fingers and conjuring up a wooden steering wheel, attached to the floor where I first landed alongside a chair in front of it.
"This is unexpected... I never thought we could use it like that," Ray stated, poking the steering wheels. "The wonders of wisdom amaze me every time."
Every type of mana has its unique colours and properties; for example, black-coloured mana is often the main aim of assassins who prefer to work in the shadows or eliminate their presence or green mana resonates well with natural life forms, is the best suited for biologists and doctors. Each colour of mana has its unique meaning behind it; it is up to the user to find it and use it in whichever way possible.
"So does this mean we can switch whenever we want?" Ray asked, looking in my direction.
"Oh yes, whenever we want but by doing this, the one using the steering wheel will experience everything the vessel feels, I believe," I replied, doubting my words. "Or, it could be the both of us experiencing what our vessel feels equally. Sort of like a halved effect... We should try it out."
"We should... We definitely should..." Ray repeated, heaving a sigh. "Are you not bothered after killing someone? From your memories, I know that we are inside a novel but... It's just that everything feels so... real; I find it hard to accept that we are in a novel. Why did you never ask Ryuk about this?"
"It doesn't matter to me, honestly; I know better than to question an all-powerful entity about something that I shouldn't know. I can be curious, but I am also cautious. Don't you think he should have given us an answer on that topic if he could? We spent five years together, and he considers me his only friend, I don't think he wishes to reveal that information to us. Maybe it will unknowingly harm us in a way we don't expect," I replied, conjuring a kaleidoscope of butterflies above my head. "I know that it can be bothering but we need to keep that thought aside and get stronger. Wisdom always comes at a cost... There is no such thing as free stuff in this world, and power is one of those factors that bestow us the right to know more. As long as we get stronger, we will naturally be able to know more about this topic.
"... And I almost forgot, you should take up a new name; it's quite bothering to call you by my name; I think you feel the same," I continued, waving off the butterflies after they got too annoying. "Too much of anything is bad, I guess."
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
"You created a... Never mind, I have already thought of a name, Moriarty," Ray replied, showing a slight smile on his face.
"Navigator? That was unexpected," I stated, confused at his odd choice of name.
But then again, it does symbolize his role as my guide.
"So... You want to take over the vessel for a while? Give it a test run?" I asked reluctantly, I wanted him to test it out since I had no way of knowing if it would work or not.
"Sure, why not?" Moriarty answered, rubbing his hands together before he sat down on the chair and held the wheels, spinning it around. "... Was that supposed to do anything."
"We don't have any view of the outside world from here; maybe we should do something about that first; let me try something," I replied, trying to conjure a holographic screen that showed us a view of the outside world.
Although I was able to create it, we quickly realised that we couldn't control our vessel with the steering wheels. Every few seconds, the hologram would turn black, and the images reappear quickly after, to not put a strain on the eyes. We weren't able to control this action; it was more like a muscle memory.
"I think we are missing something..." Moriarty stated, conjuring a string of white mana and wrapping it around his fingers like a knot. "Wisdom has ten forms, and we have only been using one of them until recently: creativity. However, when you conjured up that hologram, you used manipulation, another form of wisdom. So what if we use that to attach our consciousness to the body directly from here?
"By combining the two we can do something like this," Moriarty finished his explanation by removing the steering wheel and chair with a pair of modernized chairs and sunglasses. "Would you like to do the honours?"
"Sunglasses? You couldn't think of something else? I imagined that you would make something like a headset and attach those mana strings with it to our vessel," I replied, taken aback by his odd pick once again; I took the sunglasses off of his hand. "You are an odd human, you know that?"
"Sunglasses are cool, I love sunglasses, headsets are old fashioned," Moriarty retorted, putting on his sunglasses.
***
---------
Allen Family's Laboratory
---------
After waking up from his quiet slumber, the first thing Moriarty saw was a crow on his left and a spider-like robot on his right. The sight wasn't surprising to him, but it was uncalled for.
"I would like it if you both moved over a bit, you see I can't move my vessel like this," Moriarty asked hesitantly, although he knew that Ryuk wouldn't harm him in any way, an instinctive fear remained in his heart.
"Which one of the two are you? Let me guess, the original one? I think you should rename yourself, it's quite a bother to call you both by the same name," Ryuk replied, moving away from his vessel.
"Congratulations on becoming a wizard, sire," Wally replied, moving away from his vessel soon after.
"Thank you, and I will go by the name Moriarty from now on; I think it's a good name," Moriarty answered, getting up from the ground and fixing his outerwear before bowing lightly towards Ryuk. "I believe this is the first time we have officially talked with one another, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"The pleasure is mine; you can lower your guard; I don't bear any hostile intention towards you or your vessel, don't take any offence, but to a thing like me, a thing like you is like a bacteria. Think how you would feel if a bacteria were to ask you if you don't want it around or not. To answer to that, if its existence doesn't bother you in any way, you won't simply care enough about eliminating it," Ryuk explained his feelings, examining Moriarty with his left eye.
"When you say it like that... It does make sense," Moriarty replied, feeling at ease after hearing his words.
"Doesn't it? This is why I always say that humans are too paranoid over small matters; why would I even want your life in the first place? It's not like I have a grudge against you, and even if I did, I wouldn't care about something like you," Ryuk commented, shaking his head.
"Right... That aside, can you please clean up the floor, Wally?" Moriarty asked, trying not to delve into that subject any longer, he felt a little uncomfortable being called a bacteria and not being able to do anything about it.
"As you wish, sire," Wally replied, rushing off to complete his task.
All of a sudden, the door to the laboratory opened up, revealing a young man in his twenties with long white hair tied at the top of his head and a charming face, wearing a white shirt and long black pants.
"Dad?" Moriarty murmured under his breath as a tear rolled down from his eyes; without saying another word, he rushed towards Grey at full pace, tackling him with his arms wrapped around his waist.
"I thought I lost you..." Moriarty cried, soaking his father's clothes in his tears.