Chapter 10: False Allies.

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— In this world, most relationships are made up of false allies, false friends, false loves and false illusions about oneself.

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“Regardless of whether a person does something to achieve some kind of feeling or advantage, if they feel empathy for it, it is good selfishness. Bad selfishness is the kind that harms others unnecessarily and also harms you in some way. Selfishness is necessary for human survival, but since everything in excess is bad, selfishness is harmful in extreme cases.”

Honestly, this was the most unpredictable and random conversation I've had. Aria was probably just desperate to have her first conversation after years alone in that cave. Aria, who was no longer normal, probably lost some more of her sanity after being alone for 15 years without social contact.

Of course, she could have had other superficial goals for having this conversation with me, such as boosting her own ego by explaining abstract concepts to a species she considers inferior and seeing them having difficulty understanding her, however, it is more likely that she was testing me.

She probably planned this conversation while I was asleep, thinking it could circumvent my mind-reading ability. Basically, she's testing not only my intelligence, but also the limits of my ability. The problem is that this is merely a suspicion on my part, and besides, it's better not to respond directly with a "do you think I don't know you're testing me?" because there's still the possibility that she's just making small talk.

When I don't respond directly, Aria, being an intelligent woman, doesn't immediately conclude that my ability has limits, but rather that "it would be a waste of time to constantly prove that he can read minds, besides, even though he doesn't know my philosophy, he responded to my arguments as if he already knew what I was going to say, it's as if he was playing a guessing game with me."

That’s why I nicknamed her Little Aria; it showed an ironic and playful personality on my part, which often uses indirect messages to make fun of others. Even if I didn’t answer Aria here, she might think that I read her mind and was making fun of her by sending indirect messages, sending the message of “nice try, but good luck next time.” Despite the fact that I hadn’t thought of that at the time and only called her Little Aria because I was annoyed, I can still take advantage of that mistake now.

Normal people learn from their mistakes, while intelligent people learn from them and can even use them to their advantage.

Aria could also interpret this as a kind of test; now that she doesn't know whether my mind-reading abilities have limits or not, she could use this to betray me somehow, giving me false information only to end up getting caught red-handed and dying after I destroy the medallion. And if I avoided the conversation, it would seem suspicious. She might think that I didn't know how to control my ability properly, and that's why I avoided talking to her directly. In my current situation, I need to be cautious.

Sure, in her mind, I can read minds 5 times a day, but if she disregards me, even in some minor way, she might end up losing her fear and questioning more and discovering that my mind-reading ability has more limitations than just the amount of use. So I finished several of her sentences as if I already knew what she was going to say, and camouflaged it in a way that she couldn't tell if I was reading her mind or just reasoning about the concepts she presented to me.

Simply put: either she's trying to find other flaws in my psychic ability, or she's just testing how far she can go.

As much as she needs me more than I need her, I still need her, so I won't throw the amulet away for any mistake she makes; and she knows that.

I reorganized my thoughts, and came to a conclusion: at this very moment, if my hypothesis about her testing the limits of my ability is correct, she probably thought of three possibilities: either I am testing her, or just joking, or my ability really has more limitations than I said previously and that's why I needed to disguise it with irony.

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To lessen the chances of her thinking of other possibilities, I must mask our conversation as a sort of test.

Unfortunately, even after reading her mind, I wasn't able to obtain all the information about this world. However, with the information I did obtain, it's possible that I played with her a bit.

Because I absorbed her memories, I know a lot about the energies of manipulation, however, because of the limited time I had to use the ability, I only got superficial information about it; when I met Aria, I had to prioritize exploring her past memories to make her think that I could read minds without any limitations; if I learned about the complex calculations that involve these energies, there would be no time left to absorb her memories of things that were more relevant at the moment, because the most she could think was that I was either reincarnated, or knew information about the power system of this world, but that due to lack of experience, I needed her.

Also, no matter how much I watch Aria's memories about magical calculations, I still won't be able to understand it.

If I try to get more information, will she suspect that my ability has limits, but if I make it seem like a test of trust…

I will make a masterstroke.

“Anyway, enough philosophy, explain to me more about this world.”

“ok, I’ll explain to you the basis of the manipulative energies that exist in this world.”

“Basically, there are 5 main self-manipulating energies in this world: nectar, qi, mana, and nonsense. Nectar, as you already know and have experience with, is the water that your body produces. It is the most common energy and everyone can use it, except for people who have some disease. It is an energy that can be modeled into various weapons, but of course, there are limits; you cannot make an atomic bomb, but you can model several powerful areas.

“Qi, on the other hand, serves to increase the abilities of your body to the limit and your mind to the limit, that is, not to increase more than your body can handle. Now, about mana… it is a little more complicated; despite being one of the most versatile energies, it is the most difficult to control. You can create almost anything with mana, and unlike nectar, what you can create with magi is limited to your imagination, the natural laws of the universe, the mana itself and your amount of mana, that is, if you want to create a tank, create a war tank and humiliate your enemies!

Aria, you complicate things like that….

“Witchcraft is something… less exotic. It is based on the use of faith in some kind of God. Witchcraft is about borrowing the power of other entities. Finally, finally, nonsense; your ability to read minds is one of them. Unlike the other abilities, nonsense does not follow the rules of reality and each nonsense ability has its own laws…”

I interrupted Aria.

“You passed the test.”

Aria looked at me with a look of mock confusion. I found it comical.

"What…?"

“I'm glad you didn't try to deceive me by providing false information, although if you did… I would destroy the medallion.”

Aria's body trembled.

“Anyway, let’s get straight to the point; I want to establish a relationship of trust with you. These power struggles and ego struggles don’t work well here, and they only harm us. So, instead of playing these childish games, let’s change the terms of the agreement; I’ll help you get a new body, and you’ll help me understand the equations of the main manipulation energies.”

“How about it? Although my ability to read minds is strong, understanding equations requires practicality, and my ability has many limits; I cannot read a person’s entire past, much less learn their experiences; at most, I can read the present and get a summary of how they lived. That’s why I need you.”

Aria looked at me with a neutral expression. Apparently, she understood the weight my words held.

I got what I wanted.

For Aria, the test I put her through consisted of the following actions: first, I purposely gave her a small and harmless chance to cheat on me; second, since she didn't cheat on me, I made it obvious that it was a test and even told her that if she had cheated on me, she would have met a miserable end. Third, I made an egalitarian proposal.

By making an equal proposal, I show her that I am not a dishonest man; on the contrary, I know how to recognize when I need someone and that I do not try to blatantly deceive people. It shows false flaws in my ability, which were not so false after all, it only proves that I want to elevate our relationship to something more than just master (me) and slave (Aria). It shows that I respect her, and that I only humiliated her before because she tried to deceive me.

Since Aria is a proud person who values herself above all else, she could understand me, because she is more proud of herself, and would have the same reaction... even worse.

I made a threat and a bribe; I invented hell and heaven.

Obviously, I didn't reveal all the limitations of my ability; the goddess stated that "at the moment, I can only use the emotion ability once a day, and the mind reading ability is once every 5 days", which is abstract and incorrect, however, it is important to emphasize the "at the moment".

The goddess didn't say that the limitation on my ability is permanent, just that at the moment, I can only use it a few times. In other words, I can improve my ability.

“My name is Riley Yuki, and I would like to be your disciple. What do you say, Professor Aria? Do you accept the deal?”