The changes brought by the Seed of the Heart were not limited to transforming into a horned demon and manipulating shadow powers.
According to the Creator of Oddities, those abilities were merely the standard configuration of the Seed of the Heart. If the compatibility between the Seed of the Heart and its host was sufficiently high, the host could develop unique abilities of their own.
He also mentioned that the hosts he personally selected weren’t chosen randomly. All of them were people he deemed highly compatible, enough to develop unique abilities. In that regard, I wasn’t particularly special.
Since he called himself the Creator of Oddities, it was only natural that those who bonded with the Seed of the Heart were referred to as Oddities. As the name suggests, they were humans who transformed into monsters.
As for my unique ability as an Oddity, it was Substitute.
I could temporarily transfer the Seed of the Heart out of my body and turn another human into an Oddity. During this period, all the power of the Seed would be transferred to the host, and I would temporarily lose my strength. The urge for souls would also shift to the substitute.
Humans turned into Oddities through this method would become my substitute puppets. I could issue any command to them and even share their senses remotely. When necessary, I could retrieve my powers at any time, and the craving for souls would also return to me. This process was instantaneous, eliminating concerns about being unable to recover my strength in a dangerous situation.
An Oddity could evolve their powers by hunting humans and devouring souls, and a substitute could achieve the same. Moreover, when I retrieved my powers, the progress made by the substitute would also transfer back to me. However, the cost was the death of the substitute.
Even though I had never used this ability before, I instinctively grasped its details. These truths surfaced in my mind as naturally as breathing, leaving no room for misunderstanding the essence of my unique power.
When the Creator of Oddities came to examine me, he inquired about my ability. Since I knew nothing about his true motives, I couldn’t afford to lie or withhold the truth. I could only disclose it honestly. Upon hearing the specifics of my ability, he showed a somewhat surprised expression.
“I didn’t expect it to be this kind of ability,” he remarked. “Among all the Oddities I’ve created so far, your ability might be the closest to the original.”
I immediately asked what the original was, but he seemed to have spoken offhandedly and had no intention of elaborating further.
“More importantly,” he said, “it seems you haven’t devoured a soul yet.” He looked at me meaningfully. “If you continue to resist devouring human souls, you’ll eventually lose control under the compulsion to kill and spiral into madness. When that happens, you’ll become a target for extermination by Mount Luo, and die under the sword of Wu Chang. Is that the ending you’re prepared to accept?”
“...I don’t want to kill anyone,” I said with difficulty. “Is it truly necessary to kill people and devour human souls? Can’t animals work—?”
“No,” he replied. “If you could think of that possibility, you’ve probably already tried it. The Seed of the Heart will only accept human souls.”
“Then... is it possible to remove the Seed of the Heart from my body?” The moment I uttered those words, I regretted it immediately.
“Are you certain? The Seed of the Heart has already fused deeply with you. Unless you die, it cannot leave your body.”
“...” I fell silent.
After a moment of thought, he added, “However, there is one other situation where the Seed of the Heart might leave you.”
“What situation?” I asked.
“To prevent the Seed of the Heart from being captured by Mount Luo, when an Oddity finds themselves in an inescapable predicament, the Seed of the Heart will automatically detach from the Oddity. Of course, in such a case, the Oddity will still die due to the loss of the Seed of the Heart,” he said. “Unfortunately, the Seed of the Heart itself doesn’t possess the ability to assess the situation. That judgment lies entirely with you. Therefore, when you truly despair, when you wholeheartedly resign yourself to the idea that there’s no way out…”
“...I’ll die,” I said.
“Exactly. So, go kill someone already, Kong Da,” he said with a smile. “The moment you stop thinking and accept your fate of being hunted down by Mount Luo, the Seed of the Heart will leave you. You’ll return to being the powerless person you once were, dying without accomplishing anything.”
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After much internal struggle, I ultimately chose the path of killing.
Because I didn’t want to lose my power, and I didn’t want to die.
To avoid being tracked by Mpunt Luo or official forces, the one doing the killing couldn’t be me—it had to be my substitute.
The Substitute’s individual qualities or loyalty weren’t important. My ability would elevate them to a usable level, and they couldn’t disobey any command I gave. I didn’t have grand ambitions or plans to manipulate influential figures in society. Any human would suffice—even a marginalized person on the fringes of society.
However, there was a problem with controlling people in power: those I transformed into Substitute would immediately assume the form of a goat-headed demon, and the transformation would remain even after their death. If I was merely “a human capable of transforming into a goat-headed demon,” then the Substitute was a person whose body had been physiologically altered by the power of the Seed of the Heart to become a goat-headed demon in essence.
So, I found a down-and-out homeless man on the streets. Someone like that, whose disappearance wouldn’t raise any concerns, seemed like the safest option.
But there was a small twist. These days, even homeless people aren’t as simple as they appear. I’d read news stories online about certain vagrants picking through trash on the roadside, only to be recognized by passersby as formerly wealthy millionaires or influential figures who had fallen from grace due to various misfortunes.
I’d always thought of those stories as distant and improbable, but after questioning the homeless man I’d captured, I discovered to my astonishment that he had once been the leader of a feudalistic cult.
He had once lived a life of unchecked power and comfort in the countryside, lording over others with ease. But his fortunes changed drastically when, out of nowhere, a high school folklore enthusiast appeared. This amateur single-handedly exposed all his tricks and even helped the authorities bring him to justice. Stripped of his support, he nearly met his end at the hands of his enraged followers, who came dangerously close to dragging him out to be burned alive. If not for his foresight in preparing a brainwashed scapegoat—someone surgically altered to resemble him—he likely would have perished that day.
But fate has its ironies. The man who escaped death by relying on a double now found himself, years later, transformed into my Substitute.
Under the influence of my ability, his psyche crumbled almost instantly.
My Substitute ability isn’t some absurd, unconditional power that works on everyone—it has its limitations. Not everyone can be converted into a Substitute. When I activate this ability on a target, they’re first imprisoned within an illusionary realm before the transformation takes place.
The Creator of Oddities once told me that a Oddities’s abilities are deeply tied to their past experiences and innermost desires.
The illusion I create is the same dead-end alleyway that once filled me with terror and despair.
The more fear and hopelessness a person experiences while trapped in the illusion, the longer they remain imprisoned. For most people, it takes several days to escape. But for me to convert a target into a Substitute puppet? It only takes one minute.
The "imprisonment" stage could still be resisted with magic power, but the "conversion" stage followed entirely different rules, disregarding any disparity in strength. Once that single minute passed, no matter how powerful the person trapped in the illusion might have been, they would inevitably become a puppet at my command.
After gaining my Substitute, I began ordering him to kill.
While the Substitute could absorb the urge to kill on my behalf, letting that impulse build up unchecked was not an option. When the Seed of the Heart returned to me, I would inherit all of the accumulated killing impulses, which would be disastrous.
Even so, I had no intention of letting him indiscriminately slaughter ordinary people. Since I had already decided to kill, and it was the Substitute acting on my behalf, I resolved to abandon any hesitation or conscience and target demon hunters.
Most demon hunters derive their magical power from their souls, meaning their souls are often of higher quality. Even though the Seed of the Heart wasn’t with me temporarily, I was still a monster, and I could sense whose souls were of superior quality.
By devouring those souls, I could grow even stronger. Moreover, the longer digestion time required for such souls would mean I wouldn’t have to kill as frequently.
To minimize risks, I avoided hunting the demon hunters of Mount Luo and instead targeted independent ones. These so-called "civilian demon hunters" were often more accurately described as superpowered individuals, with little actual experience or intent to hunt demons.
As I moved in the shadows, however, a lingering unease clouded my mind.
"Among all the monsters I’ve created so far, your ability may be the closest to the original form."
Creator of Oddities had said those words to me. I had never dared to ignore or forget them.
The term "original form" seems to refer to the prototype or origin of us monsters.
When a monster succumbs to utter despair, the Seed of the Heart will leave them. But then… where does a departing Seed of the Heart ultimately go?
My ability allows me to transplant the Seed of the Heart into another human and then reclaim it, gaining all the power accumulated by the puppet. So… to an original form possessing a similar ability, do we monsters appear as their stand-in puppets?
Perhaps, at some moment, the original form will activate their power and reclaim all the Seeds of the Heart.
Every monster would return to their powerless self and die a meaningless death.
The thought of such a scenario fills me with dread.
I must investigate—explore the origins of the Seed of the Heart and all related information. I must find a way to prevent that eventuality, or at least ensure that when it comes, I might be spared.
Whenever the Creator of Oddities visits, I subtly probe him for information.
Whether he is genuinely lacking caution or simply believes such information to be inconsequential, he has occasionally mentioned things during casual conversation.
"The technological prototype of the Seed of the Heart originates from a realm that is spatially completely overlapped with the real world."
"Completely overlapped with the real world… Are you referring to another time?" I asked, stunned.
In all the occult knowledge I’ve encountered, there are "nearly overlapping" alternate spaces, but none that are "completely overlapping" with the real world.
If I had to give an example, it could only be the same space in a different time.
That is, the past—or perhaps… the future.