"...So, I don't see a better time to ask, but, can you try your magic on me, Milena?"

Milena looked at Glenn as if the latter was missing common sense or even simple intelligence. She sighed and looked at the ceiling, before heading to the training room. Glenn happily followed behind, now dressed in normal, linen clothes instead of the bathrobe he fought Liara in. Why not study Milena's spells since he had the time?

Hence why they were now standing in the training room, separated by a dozen meters. The woman looked at Glenn with annoyance, her arms crossed under her ample bosom. Glenn stretched and prepared.

'Ready to take whatever that spell is, Diamanes?' He asked the entity living in his left hand. Diamanes grunted.

"Alright, so, I'll just show you the spell, but I can't tell you how it works, okay? That was the deal." Milena warned as visible lines of Mana twirled around her. Glenn nodded slowly.

"Just show me the spell, Milena, so I can try and steal it from you," He said shamelessly, grinning widely. Milena sighed, before pointing at Glenn with her hand. She suddenly clenched her fingers, and Glenn found himself falling into a whole new dimension. He felt something tugging at his brain, telling him that it was very, very fake, but Glenn decided to ignore the warnings for now. He was trying to understand the spell after all, not break through it with brute force.

Everywhere he placed his eyes, he found some gaping abysses giving him vertigo. When he tried to take a step back, he would instead step forward. He listened for sounds, but could only feel something dripping on every part of his body. This illusion spell was disturbing to be in.

"...But..." Glenn muttered as he reached with his hand for a specific point in time and space. It felt that if he grabbed that...that thing, something would maybe happen... He reached for it specifically with his left hand, to try and have Diamanes swallow it. He grabbed the "thing", which he couldn't describe. He couldn't say how it looked, how it felt, it was just...some weird thing floating there in the middle of the illusion.

Glenn's hand closed on the thing and the illusion suddenly collapsed, revealing a confused Milena.

"...Uhm, I think you made a bad spell, Milena," Glenn said slowly, trying to comprehend what he just did. Milena rubbed her forehead, similarly at a loss.

“I'll cast another spell,” she said, frowning. She then slapped her hands together, projecting a shockwave that passed through Glenn and pushed him into another illusion. The young man frowned, but instead of frowning, he wiggled a toe.

Oh, that's the one she used on him last time, right? Glenn looked around, only to feel the nausea rise at record-breaking speed; looking wasn't an option then. He couldn't resort to last-time trick, since he wasn't wearing his Soulbound suit. May it rest in peace. So what could he do, then? He couldn't try and search for the "thing" since any movements would make him want to puke, so what other solutions were there? Channeling Mana for some spell?

'Diamanes, you still can't steal that spell, can't you?' Glenn asked with a disappointed tone. Diamanes sighed.

'It seems like the spell is centered on your brain. If you can somehow reach for your head, maybe I'll be able to take it.'

'I don't like the "maybe", Diamanes.'

'Well, it's all I can give you, alright?' Diamanes replied with a bit of irritation. Glenn wanted to shake his head but couldn't. Instead, he concentrated on the illusion, trying to see what he could see, what he was allowed to see without making him want to puke. And so far, this was a disgusting mess of mashed-up colors that made him feel like he was falling into some drug-addicts wet dreams.

Not a pleasant sensation, truly. Nelg was watching Glenn struggle, laughing from time to time at his thoughts. Glenn first chose to go with the simple, brute force solution; touching the tug in his brain that told him this was an illusion. He concentrated on that feeling, closing his eyes. When he opened them back up, he had returned in reality to an overly staring Milena.

"...How?" She blurted out, "How the hell did you escape the spell? Did—" Milena paled and took a step back, yelling, "—Did you fool me from the start? Are you an enforcer from my family? How much are they paying you!"

Glenn moistened his lips while looking at Milena. He sighed and sat on a nearby bench, reviewing what made him able to escape the illusion.

"I don't know why, but it feels like illusion doesn't have as much of an effect as before," He frowned and corrected himself, "I mean, it still feels like a downhill trip to Hell, but I can just come out if I want." He turned toward Milena, who was heaving with difficulty, frozen in the same defensive position. Glenn sighed and waved at her.

"Milenaaaa, it's still Glenn, I'm just starting to have a weird brain, stop your paranoia and come help me find an explanation," He shouted, startling her. Milena looked at him for a few seconds, before forcing herself to relax and walk up to him.

"...How did you escape then? My family trains people in a specific manner to resist mind alteration spells from their youngest age," She squinted suspiciously, "...so how can you replicate their performances?"

Glenn pursed his lips and shrugged.

"You tell me. I didn't even use any Mana to escape the illusion, just my willpower."

Milena rubbed her chin and looked at the ceiling pensively. She began playing with her raven black hair, wrapping them around her fingers.

"The only way to build defenses against mind alterations is to be affected by them...I don't think I've used my spells on you that many times, though?"

The young man nodded in agreement as he leaned back on the bench.

"If I remember correctly, you only used them twice on me before today, back when I first chased after you, when you burnt that book—" Glenn paused and looked at Milena. Milena looked back at him. A small moment of silence passed, and Milena looked away, blushing in shame.

"...You never told me why you destroyed that book, did you?" Glenn leaned forward curiously. Milena took a step back and pressed her lips together. Glenn waited patiently, staring at her silently. Finally, Milena's muteness broke down.

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"—That's— I can't tell you!" She blurted out, her cheeks puffed out. Glenn smacked his lips, before shrugging. Milena sighed in relief and forced herself to go back to the previous topic.

"So, uhm, when were you affected by mind alterations, then? A mind's defense isn't built in a night, it must have taken either a lot of time or some insanely powerful alterations," She asked, hiding her shame behind her questions. Glenn chose to ask her about the book again at a later time and rubbed the tip of his nose. What could count as mind alterations?

'Torture is a form of mind alteration, meetings with gods too,' began Diamanes, '...Hallucinations from almost dying also counts,' the entity said, recounting most of Glenn's traumatic events. The young man grimaced and pressed his hands together.

"...Milena, does torture and mental traumas also work for strengthening the mind's defense?" Glenn asked through his clenched teeth. Milena paused, before paling.

"It does, but you would need to see...horrible things, to build such a tolerance. Enough things you might go mad from it." She whispered the end of her sentence in disbelief, her eyes widening as she looked at Glenn.

"You..." She shivered as she recalled what she did back in that somber summoning room, killing knights like cattle, and she hid her mouth behind her hand, "You didn't exaggerate when you said you were used to seeing horrible things."

Glenn smirked and waved dismissively.

"Well, you'll eventually get used to it. Shitty things seemed to happen to me every day, so you'll get your share, don't worry."

Milena looked at him silently, before opening her arms.

"...Do you want a hug?"

Glenn looked at her and blinked. She blinked back.

"...No thanks, Milena. But I appreciate it."

Milena looked at him with a little worry, before coughing her embarrassment out. Glenn dusted his pants off and stood back up, prepared.

"Can you try and cast your spell once more? I want to try something," He asked, changing the subject. Milena happily took the opportunity and channeled Mana.

"Y-Yeah, of course." She channeled Mana and cast her spell, wrapping Glenn in illusion. Just before he fell into the spell, Glenn pressed his left hand on his head, hoping it'd be enough. The second the illusion appeared to try and twist his reality, Glenn knew something had changed once more. He didn't feel like puking as much as the two times before, and...

'Ha-ah! I got the spell, you can come out, Glenn!' Diamanes triumphant voice rang in his mind. Glenn grinned and reached for that weird spot in the illusion. Strangely, his movements weren't impeded like they were before, and he could freely grab the weak spot. He crushed it in his hand and broke through the illusion. Milena looked at him like he was some kind of monster, but Glenn could only laugh.

New magic to play with! He glanced at the palm in his left hand, leaving it out of Milena's sight, and saw a mouth lick its lips before disappearing in the purple skin.

"I think I can resist the illusion with just my willpower, or break through the weak point, or even just use a burst of Mana to break through." Glenn frowned and looked at Milena.

"Your spell sucks, actually?"

Milena blinked before hitting him in the shoulder angrily.

"No, it doesn't! You're just weirdly resistant to mind alterations! There has to be barely a thousand people in King's Rise who can resist mind alterations like you do!"

Glenn rubbed his chin, unbothered.

"A thousand is a lot."

"S-Shut up!"

Milena stormed out, leaving Glenn alone in the training room. Not even a second after her departure, two disbelieving voices shouted in his head, outraged.

'You're such an imbecile I can only be speechless, Glenn!' Diamanes yelled, followed by Nelg.

"This...This was THE moment! The opportunity to create a long, interesting, and loving relationship with a beautiful woman! So why, Glenn?" Nelg despaired. Glenn breathed in deeply and sighed.

'You both are the main reason I can't have this kind of relationship. And I already said that. Additionally...' He looked at his fist and clenched it, '...I still want to go back to Earth. I don't want to stay in this damned world.'

Diamanes and Nelg remained silent, giving their host some peace of mind. The young man rubbed his neck, before shaking his head and pushing himself up. He aimed his left hand at a nearby training dummy and channeled Mana to cast the illusion/mind spell. Diamanes didn't say a word as the spell wrapped the dummy, enveloping it in a blurry veil. Glenn approached the dummy but didn't notice much going on with the veil.

"So far, it makes sense...If it's mind-based magic, it should only work on something with a consciousness that can be fooled." Glenn realized, dismissing the spell. It wouldn't be hard to find some targets to try the mind spell on, since he had a full extermination course prepared with Kevin.

If the assistant still wanted to work with him. Glenn doubted it, after what he told the scrawny guy earlier, but that might be for the best. He needed someone to count on, not a mindless puppet of the Cleaners' upper ranks. An assistant that was only here to monitor him and play house was useless. Kevin was useful, but he had too many obligations toward the higher-ups; that was expected of him, but Glenn wanted someone with a little more leeway, like Sir Reginald. There was no doubt in his mind that the polite gentleman was much more important than he let on; hence the freedom with how he acted and helped Glenn with the investigations around Redan.

Anyway, that was a worry he should leave for the next day. What time was it, anyway? Glenn glanced at his Exan-Egg, and his eyelids twitched when he discovered it was already midnight. Time passed way too quickly when playing around with spells. He still had a lot of Mana to spend before going to bed, though, so wouldn't it be a bit of a waste to not use it...?

...Glenn left the training room and headed for his bedroom. Creating spells was dangerous; the training room wasn't prepared for spells on the scope of Solar Flare, for example. What he could do instead, though, was to read the small book on Divinity that Brother Nolan gifted him.

That was something important, and he did need to look into it, to understand more how the Church of Onnea or the Thorn's Cult power worked. Knowing your enemy was the first step to defeat them, after all. The more knowledge he had on these bastards, the easier it'll be to crush them to pulp.

Quite the bloody image, but a pleasant one.

"You did become a little fucked up in the head," Nelg realized, a little scared. Glenn's eyebrows rose and he rolled his eyes.

'No shit, man. Wouldn't it be weirder if I was still normal?' He scoffed sarcastically.

'I agree,' Diamanes added in conjunction with Glenn, 'After fighting so many strange things, you can only become strange yourself.'

Glenn laughed. Wasn't that like this saying...What did it say already? Ah, yes. Stare too long in the abyss, and the abyss will stare back at you. Nice thing to say when you want to scare someone, less nice when it applies to you.

Well, whatever. Adaptation was something he couldn't and shouldn't fight against, for the more he adapted, the more chances he had to survive. And seeing how much dreadful shit happened to him, Glenn knew he was going to need all the adaptation, luck, and wits to continue to survive. There was no chance life would get easier, after all.

...Even his holidays consisted of slaying monsters.

"...Anyway, there's no point in complaining," He muttered through his teeth as he looked for Brother Nolan's notebook in his dimensional pouch. After getting it back from the bottomless pouch, he installed himself comfortably with a floating Lux to light the pages. The small orb of light was a little more practical than Sun's Touch in these situations, he had to admit.

And less likely to make things catch on fire, too.

"Research and Study on Corruption," by Vandorian Di Forte. Glenn opened the book and a small note fell off. He caught it and read it.

"There are also basic notions on Divinity included, to explain the link it has with the Corruption, alongside Mana and Aura. You're free to keep the book if you wish, we have a lot of copies. Brother Nolan."

Glenn smiled. How nice of the priest!

He spent most of the night reading the book, before heading to sleep Meditate around 6 A.M. Milena and Liara were long asleep and had planned to stay this way for a while. Or maybe they were just tired. What could even tire Liara? She wasn't doing anything in the day, did she? Glenn would have to ask if she wanted to do some Fixer work. Maybe Milena already showed her the option? He'll have to ask.

The next day was going to be full of tests and experiences, he was sure of it.

Hopefully, there won't be too many hiccups.