Chapter 70: An eventful Night

/Mind control is perhaps the vilest thing one can do to another. To take away one's will and sense of self is a crime more grave and more terrible than killing, in my eyes. To kill is to eliminate someone's future, to take away their potential, and to make many people grieve, but mind control goes further than that.

It doesn't just take away some's potential future, but instead twists it, perhaps making the afflicted harm those they would care about, and causing much more pain and suffering than a simple death would. It can be even more horrible if the person who is being controlled eventually breaks free, yet maintains all the memories they have had from when they weren't themselves.

I have witnessed this break people. I have seen a man break down in front of me and fall to his knees, begging me to kill him after he had committed atrocities that are unspeakable and horrifying. I have seen people who use this power, and I have sought them out and hunted them down.

To take someone's sense of self is a vile act. Something that should never be committed, never be done, and something that is unspeakably horrifying. It goes beyond all humanity, and anyone practicing such things should immediately be removed from the face of this world.

However, there is still much debating about abilities with similar effects to mind control. Skills that simply sway someone, and make them look at you in a favourable light, examples being , or . Both of these can be viewed simply as traits of people, ones that are not their fault to have gained, and ones that aren't very harmful.

Yet, I disagree. Skills can be turned off, after all. Certainly, some effects still persist, and I believe people who actually take such Skills, and decide that perhaps it is best not to use them, deserve credit. But they are the minority, by far.

Those who seek to control others, pull them away from their own self, sway them to their cause using methods other than simply talking and actually convincing them? Those are poor people. You should not force someone to bow to you with fear, you should not force someone to follow you with charisma, and you should never take someone's will away, for it is a crime that cannot be understated, and a crime that cannot be forgiven./

A newspaper article written by Dr. Alucard Acula, after a vampire had forced some citizens to commit killing sprees.

- - - - - -

The stew they had on the road wasn't the best meal Mercury ever tasted, but at the very least, it was decent and filling. None of the people spoke much more, only occasionally of small things, and announcing when they were heading to bed, yet Mercury wasn't in the very least tired.

After napping for the whole day of riding, he was feeling refreshed and ready to go. Maybe he should have considered his sleep schedule before deciding on such a long nap. Oh well, too late to worry about now. He had a whole night to pass in front of him.

To be fair, it's not like he didn't have enough to do to fill the space. First of all, maybe it was time to practice again, especially given the rude interruption he had suffered previously. With his mind made up, Mercury laid down on the floor of his tent and slowly sunk into a comforting silence. The buzzing of the bugs outside faded out, the sound of crickets slowly disappeared, and bit by bit, even the howling of the wind, and rushing of the nearby stream began to fizzle into nothingness.

The world around Mercury was still, and with his eyes closed, he found himself in a deep darkness. There was no reason for anything else, no need to visualize his core, or his mana for now. It was just him, surrounded by silence. And after a couple of moments, he realized that unfortunately, this silence still wasn't quiet enough.

It was strange to be perfectly alone with his thoughts. They always accompanied him, most of the time cheery, sometimes curious, and occasionally dark, but now, when it was so quiet, his thoughts seemed to get louder, and more suffocating. He had created a space, where the outside world couldn't bother him, but his own mind was seemingly hellbent on disrupting this peace.

He got distracted by a movie he had seen before, annoyed when he thought back to being called out in school, he felt a flicker of anger, when he remembered being called slurs, and sadness, when he thought back to some days. It wasn't even all bad, he felt happy, remembering the day of his brother's wedding, and remembering the time a good friend of his had sprayed the principal with whipped cream brought a slight smile to him, but it was noise.

Too loud. All of it, all the memories were too loud, he couldn't quite focus. All of that had happened, but it wasn't right now. Right now, he was in a forest and... aaaaand the crickets were back. Fuck!

Mercury fell out of his concentration for a moment and opened his eyes. The tent was still empty, but he was once more keenly aware of his situation. This was bothersome, but there wasn't much he could do except try again. After a deep breath, Mercury closed his eyes and began to drift off. It was a little easier, and the moment he found himself in perfect darkness, he tried to recall the feeling of .

For a moment, it felt almost like he could grasp it, hurriedly trying to pull on the thread with his mind, only to feel it rip. There were no shortcuts here, if he actually wanted to understand, he'd have to take the long way around. With a sigh, Mercury felt his thoughts drift off again, focus really wasn't easy to achieve.

Fine then. Mercury could understand that sometimes things simply needed patience. He couldn't force this, that much he knew, so instead, maybe it was smarter to just try to meditate first, get his focus sharp, and then try to hone in on a goal? With that thought in mind, Mercury took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. This time he wouldn't be forceful about things, deciding to simply enjoy the sound of the crickets, and wind, and the stream.

When his thoughts drifted off, he let them for a moment, before trying to guide them back to himself, listening to his heart beat, his lungs filling with air, and empty out again. He focused on his muscles moving and the stable feeling of the floor under him. He took in another deep breath of air, feeling his hair rise and fall, and the mana course through his veins.

Slowly, steadily, bit by bit, he began to understand a little more. The air rushing in, his heart thumping, his mana coursing, and his stamina resting. Something felt a little out of sync there. His body was pumping with a rhythm, one he only heard now, one that wasn't constant, but still steady. Yet, his stamina seemed removed from it. Resting was good, yes, but wouldn't it be better if it were in sync with the remainder of his body?

The thought itself came as little more than an impulse, but Mercury had essentially committed to the flow, and almost by itself, his stamina began to pulsate. Unlike the mana he had to push around, his stamina was already spread equally all around his body, sitting there, just waiting to be used. But it wasn't ready to be called on, it seemed almost dormant.

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Instead of calling on it, then, Mercury simply extended the rhythm of his body to it. Perhaps that wasn't very self-explanatory, but in the moment, Mercury simply knew. The stamina was a part of him, something he could instinctually utilize and move, so he did so, simply incorporating it more deeply into himself.

And as he did so, the stamina, all of it at once, began to pulsate, palpitating almost like a heart. Not agitated, but slowly, like a wave passing over him, through him. It felt almost complete, like he was floating on a soft mattress in a pool, basking in the warm light of the sun. And on that mattress, a small thought occurred to him, one only at the back of his mind, a casual flicker of an idea.

What was in the pool?

Ah, but he was too lazy to explore it. The drifting was too enjoyable, he didn't want to get off it by himself. No, he knew how deep the pool was, and how wide it was. Perhaps instead, he should check what was at the sides of the pool?

With his eyes still closed, Mercury reached out an arm, casually seeing it grow longer and extend past the limits of the pool, of his self, and reaching outside. Ah, outside of the pool there were vibrations in the air. Almost like a muffled wind, hidden behind a sheet of something. And that... was that a stream? Perhaps his pool was lying in the middle of a stream... No, that was stupid...

His curiosity peaked, but only ever so slightly, Mercury reached out a little further, his hand going beyond the muffled sheet and poking outside. There, he could feel it clearly, there was wind, and the sound of crickets. Right, of course, he was inside a forest after all.

Ah.

With that thought, the soft mattress he had been lying on disappeared, and for a moment, Mercury felt as though he was falling, all of the world around him crumbling, as his eyes ripped open and he found himself panting heavily in the tent.

"What the fuck was that?"

[The individual has acquired the ability through a specific action!]

[The individual has acquired the ability through a specific action!]

[The individual has grasped more of the truth concerning . The ability is being restructured. -> ]

How did he? What just? for the love of god!

[: The ability to apply the user's mana outside of their own body. The feat is possible without this ability, yet previously restricted feats have now become much more possible. Primarily, the mental energy expenditure has been decreased significantly, and the energy now converts into other forms much more easily. Additionally, it has become possible to extend "tendrils of mana" outwards and perceive things through them.]

Whoaaaaa, that was super cool. So his natural curiosity had made him reach out and see things outside his tent? It felt like it was limited to just feeling vibrations, yet somehow, he had still been able to make sense of them. Weird, but definitely pretty cool. This would certainly come in handy.

[: An ability related to stamina usage, which allows the individual to more readily and quickly draw on their stamina. The substance is now pulsing constantly, in tandem with the individual's breath, and must no longer be agitated as much before usage.]

To be fair, this ability seemed just a little less cool than the first, but well, he couldn't expect that much, with his stamina definitely not being developed as far as his mana. According to Avery, stamina also developed differently to mana, making more leaps and bounds if you used it as much as possible, especially in tense situations.

So yeah, it typically developed much more in the middle of combat, or under prolonged physical exertion. Farmers were notorious for their high stamina reserves, and some of them were quite proficient in it, being able to haul more and run faster than some farm animals.

[: A restructured ability after the individual has gained deeper insight into its workings. The system has decided that the level denomination is not suitable for this specific ability, and has instead opted to give grading depending on the individual's proficiency and mastery of the ability. As of now, this has been graded as (low), indicating that the individual is not always able to utilize the ability when they want to, and that even upon utilization of the ability, their usage is considered lackluster. This should not disparage the individual, as growth is always possible.]

Harsh! But fair. He still didn't have much of a grasp on ihn'ar, and he could accept that. It was a state of meditation, he knew that much, but whenever he really got into it, there was so much more to it. Much more than , at the very least. Abilities sometimes seemed quite a bit deeper than Skills...

Actually, what did his previous level 1 in equate to?

[]

Ah. Fair enough, he had just learned it, and really wasn't able to get as much use from it as he would have liked. Still, this little progress in a couple of months... oh well. Not much to do about it. He'd just have to keep getting stronger at his own pace. Sure, faster would be good, but he really didn't want to take too many shortcuts. If he gained power, he wanted it to really be his own, instead of something he borrowed.

Mercury slowly got up from his spot on the tent floor. He felt a little hungry after all this, and decided to step outside, only to be greeted by... a sunrise? Hey, hey, hey, what the hell? How much time had passed?

"Oh, you've awoken already? I believed you may have been speaking in your sleep," Lucia said quietly, greeting him with a very, very slight smile, as she warmed her hands by the fire. Their driver was still asleep it seemed, but she was already up and running.

"What's the time?" Mercury asked incredulously, half ignoring her questions.

"Sunrise, Mercury," the woman replied, the smile on her face vanishing. "I did not bring a clock. Look at the sky and see for yourself. Are you perchance still sleep-drunk?"

"What? No! I- I didn't even sleep!"

"Ah," Lucia gave a slight nod and faced the fire again. "That explains a little of your distress. Perhaps you were too caught up with yourself to notice the passing of time?"

"Man, I guess so," Mercury muttered back. "Dang, I was really out that long... meditation is crazy dude."

"Indeed it is. Can I interest you in some breakfast? I have warmed the stew back up."

"Yeah, I think I really could use some of that..."

- - -

After a couple of hours, their driver was also finally back up. He ate the rest of the stew, then quickly packed up the tents, and after washing their faces in the stream, the travellers were off once more. Mercury still didn't feel tired. Letting his thoughts drift like that didn't take much out of him, and had felt quite peaceful when he got the hang of it.

Lucia on the other hand still seemed a little drained. She had somewhat deep rings under her eyes, and her skin was pale, more so than usual.

"You okay?" Mercury asked carefully, not wanting to offend the priestess.

"I'm fine," she replied curtly, not even lifting her gaze from the window.

"Look, I get it, you don't want to share. That's fine. You don't have to tell me what has you feeling down, or why you're feeling bad, but I don't like being lied to very much."

"Then don't ask questions to whom you already know the answer," Lucia said through gritted teeth, seemingly supressing her anger.

Mercury for a moment thought about talking back, but after just a second he decided against it. Someone he considered something of a friend was feeling bad, he didn't need to worsen it now.

"Sorry," he said instead, "is there anything I can do for you?"

"..." Lucia was silent for a moment, gazing away from the window and at the feline she shared a cart with. "... I'm a little cold," she admitted.

"Alright, I can help with that," Mercury said. He quickly closed his eyes, and visualized his core again, though he tried his best to stay somewhat aware of where Lucia was. Then, he took a bit of his mana, holding it together with a couple ystirs, as he made it evaporate, clinging to the volatile magical energy and clamping down on it with his will.

It truly was easier now, and felt much more like a part of himself, almost as though it had grown less restless, even when he pushed it outside his core and towards Lucia. Of course, applying it directly to her would be stupid, instead, he began to heat up the air around her a little, creating tiny pockets of heat everywhere.

"Hm? You are capable of magic manipulation as such...?" Lucia asked him, and he could almost hear her surprised expression.

"I can," Mercury said as he opened his eyes again, leaving his ystirs and a part of his mind to do more of the heating. "I practiced my multitasking for quite a bit, you see."

For a moment it seemed like the priestess flashed a slight smile again. "Thank you, then. This is a very welcome surprise. I had thought you would simply request a blanket for me."

"Perhaps sometimes there are easier ways to solve a problem."

And a little later, equipped with both a blanket, and a furry, magical heater across from her, perhaps the remainder of the journey was a little more pleasant for Lucia.