Haru’s wrath was obvious for all to see. Unlike Mordred who can temporarily strengthen himself with his bloodline ability like boosting his speed, reflex, or endurance, he completely relies on his friends that set up the battlefield so that he could function. Without them, his strategic options are reduced significantly. However, at the same time, he doesn’t have the balls to directly fight with Mordred.
Not only is Mordred a great marksman, he is also equipped with a magic gun. Despite both having rank 0 weapons, there’s a huge gap in the quality. On one side, Haru’s weapon is a rank 0 bow made out of low-grade materials that has revealed traces of wear and tear, slightly lowering its performance the more it is used. On the other side, Mordred’s is a magic machinery artifact, carefully crafted and had its surface engraved with microscopic runes with unknown functionality. It was made out of materials that apprentices like Haru had never seen nor heard before; its quality didn't drop after Mordred’s abuse at all.
After all, it was taken from one of the Great Archmage’s countless minor inheritance.
Seeing Mordred’s quickshot just now, it was clear that he, who had yet to learn bow arts, couldn’t win against Morded. Therefore, the only logical way to solve this predicament is to cave in to his demands, but that wouldn’t sit well with Haru’s ego. The man is not used to following the demands of others. In fact, it was the opposite, he used to impose his desire so that others followed it.
“Satoru, don’t push us too far. Don’t think that you can do as you please just because you have that gun. At some point, you have to sleep and eat, and I refuse to believe that you can always put your guard up for all eternity.” Haru subtly threatened him with sneak attack or poison, but Mordred is never afraid of assassination. Being unable to die through age or biological means he has ample time to further honed his skills in staying alive.
Haru’s threatening words are but a hollow echo that failed to strike fear into Mordred.
Clink! The sound of metalized glass making contact with each other could be heard as Mordred dropped three bullets, like giving alms to the poor. “Two is enough to request a complete heal from Miss Seraphina, the petite elf healer of Twin Helix, so don’t spout crap that I’m not giving you benefits.” Mordred acted like it didn't hurt him at all, but in reality, each bullet that he used is something that he has to pay back to Sakuya at some point. For now, lacking the justification nor resources to refine his own bullets means it is impossible for him to replenish them other than borrowing them.
Sure, rank 0 bullets are cheap for the rank 1 Warmage, she probably has thousands of them since it doesn’t take too much space in her dimensional storage, but it’s still something that is worth a lot to the apprentice. After all, an arcane gunner’s way of fighting is through literally burning money. Actually, most methods related to magic use spell catalysts, so every arcane cultivator must be rich in some way.
“Anyone want to receive their compensation right away?” Mordred’s eyes scanned everyone else, his hands slowly caressing the revolver on his thigh. The youths’ eyes quickly scurry away from his gaze as the message in his action was more than obvious. If he really did a misfire, then one could get hit in a bad spot. Being wounded is fine, but being permanently crippled is no different than torturing them. From this show of power, they quickly acknowledged that Mordred’s hateful overbearingness is something that they have to tolerate for now. Yes, they will have to suffer, but it was either conceding or getting shot.
With nobody expressing denial despite the heavy indignance, Mordred proceeds to the next step of his plan. “Hiroshi, do as I ask.” He told him while tossing a bullet. The small metalized glass case containing red viscous liquid, it is a hard currency that only Mordred have, but it’s a currency nonetheless. Even if he can’t use it, he could trade them with the official Hunters. Radiant Desolation’s techpriest, Klauss, seems to put the bullets on Mordred’s hands in high regard. It’ll fetch good money if sold to the techpriest.
“Very well. I will calculate everyone’s contributions and provide you with the report. Would that suffice?” Hiroshi starts to dislike Mordred for his behavior, but money is money.
While Mordred solves this predicament with violence, threat, and the promise of bountiful compensation, Kumo who’s observing on top of the ice wall smirks. < Sakuya, your boy acted too much like the captain. His overbearing nature is too similar hahah! >
< W- what did he do? > There was a brief delay as the woman in question was busy with her own fight.
Kumo narrated the events starting from the beginning, up to the current situation where the youths are licking their wounds, recuperating. As for the man in question, Mordred has begun experimenting on his own by drinking its blood. No mutation nor meaningful fluctuation could be observed from his body after a while, so Kumo deemed his experiment a failure. ‘Satoru’ shouldn’t develop new abilities, but he began nurturing a relationship with the wyvern in hope to turn it into a mount.
< And the others? >
< With the gun you gave him, how are they able defy him? > Kumo suppressed a chuckle. < You planned this, didn't you? Sumire has been affecting you too much. >
< I’m no way as prudent as Sumire, but as long as it works, I don’t mind. > There was a long pause as she siphon her thoughts for more pressing matters. < You said he tried drinking the Resonarys Wyvern’s blood, can you elaborate further? >
Kumo has no plan to hide anything, she narrated her findings in a more detailed fashion than before so that Sakuya could formulate her own opinion and conclusion.
< I see. I guess sound-path brute wyvern’s bloodline abilities are too much for him. In the first place, sound-path creatures are strange lifeforms. Is it safe to assume that he can only adopt elemental paths wyvern bloodline abilities? >
Kumo lacked arcane cultivation nor scholarly background, she had no intention to deny her conjecture but it felt wrong to confirm it either. < Sakuya, he has yet to try enslavement-path, information-path, wisdom-path, or weapon paths wyvern bloodlines yet. It might be one of those concepts. >
< True… but non-elemental path beasts, especially wyverns, are quite rare, especially in this part of Morgen World. >
Kumo unconsciously nodded despite their communication being purely telepathic. < True. Wisdom-path and information-path is a newly developed path, after all. Wisdom-path beasts in this world are already rare in the first place, and there isn’t a single publicly known information-path lifeform at all, so finding them is harder than ascending heaven. But, what about enslavement-path? >
< Hmm, you’re right. > Sakuya replied as she took a long pause. Since the telepathic connection isn’t terminated, she must have some more things to convey. Kumo waited for a moment until Sakuya sent another message. < It just happened that we are regrouping with Wild Scales and Scorch Talon. I’ll be needing you to assume Katyusha’s appearance by then. >
< Fufu, you want to pressure Scorch Talon’s captain that much, huh? I’ll ask her permission first. > Kumo chuckled.
…
Evening that day, Sumire's tent.
“Although it could be considered as a minor inheritance, it is still wisdom-path in nature.” Sumire crossed her arms in dissatisfaction, her action involuntarily emphasizing her majestic bosom. “Even if you possess the means to pay the price, what deludes you into thinking that I would bestow upon you my cultivation method? The path I have threaded, the secrets I have unraveled, they are not commodities to be bought and sold. The transmission of my profound knowledge requires more than wealth, so what makes you believe you are worthy of my methods?”
Mordred, who was already in a dogeza position, answered her pleadingly, “The brute wyvern that I’ve caught has resisted my Wyverian bloodline influence, either because of my weakness, or our incompatibility. I have asked Miss Sakuya and Katyusha regarding this, and each said that their methods are incompatible as well. This brought me to you, Miss Sumire.”
Sumire merely grants him a questioning gaze, waiting for his continuation.
“From my shallow understanding of wisdom-path, it should be related to intelligence, spirituality or wisdom of lifeforms.” He paused, seemingly choosing his words. “The kobolds that I knew wouldn’t be able to perform as excellent as your army since they are a minor race.”
“You couldn’t be more mistaken.” Sumire countered. “Kobolds are blessed with an innate affinity for refinement-path, bestowed upon them by the dragon race as their slave to unravel a multitude of challenges. Unlike their brethren creations, the wyverns, who rely on their bloodline abilities, the kobolds have honed their skills in plundering, refining, and crafting weapons to ensure their survival. They excel in the arts of mining, metallurgy, and alchemy, with the majority of kobolds and their variants exhibiting exceptional prowess in these fields.”
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“Yes, but isn’t that proof of their wisdom? From what I’ve been seeing, the reason why your army does include human slaves is because races with high intellectual capacity are quite resistant to being enslaved.”
Sumire raised her eyebrows, slightly amazed. “Raise your head. What makes you think so?”
Mordred was physically forced to raise his head by the mage. “The kobolds that I’ve seen are generally as small as human teenagers so I might be wrong, but Miss Sumire’s kobolds are too smart. Their eyes do not reveal the fatigue or despair from resigning to their enslaved fate. Rather, they are filled with intelligence and gratitude as if they had been enlightened. What I’m trying to say is, Miss Sumire’s method to control the kobold army shouldn’t be related to enslavement-path, I think it is related to wisdom-path instead!”
He took a deep bow once more, “Miss Sumire, I am unfamiliar with wisdom-path methods, but you must’ve influenced their spirituality. I implore you, please give me a method to telepathically establish a connection with non-human creatures while uplifting their intelligence to a certain point. I have sacrificed too much to get the sound-path brute wyvern, I am deep in the red yet incapable of taming it. Even if I forced it, I might not be able to use the wyvern as well as how you've used your kobolds since the wyvern harbored extreme hostility and rejection towards me.”
“Oh my, shouldn’t you have sought Sakuya’s aid instead?” Sumire’s voice carried a subtle hint of amusement, yet her raised eyebrows conveyed a mix of curiosity and disapproval. “It’s rather peculiar that you’re now seeking another woman’s assistance, considering you’ve been sponging off her generosity all this time. Perhaps you’re in search of a new source to feed your insatiable appetite?”
Mordred smiled wryly. In the perspective of outsiders, Sumire was absolutely correct as he has been using Sakuya as his personal piggy bank. He doesn’t feel a bit of shame from doing so, but it does limit his action for the time being.
‘Tsk tsk. Such a brilliant mind wasted,’ she mused silently before giving voice to her further thoughts. “I must confess, I had contemplated spoiling you, knowing full well the potential you possessed. However, I must apologize, for my affections lie elsewhere, and men simply fail to ignite that spark within me.”
Mordred was caught off guard by her remarks, he raised his head in confusion of why she suddenly said that. When he unconsciously made contact with her eyes, the inherent defensive method of a rank 1 wisdom-path mage automatically flared to life. All official mage archetypes possess a permanent defensive force field with all sorts of effects, one of hers manifested in the form of mental attack that would leave mortals discombobulated if she’s generous, or completely obliterating their sea of consciousness if she’s having a bad day.
In the case of Mordred, he suffered from a mild wisdom-path attack which rendered his telepathic thoughts still. Thinking process is a state in which telepathic thoughts collide with each other, producing more in the process. When it was stopped in its tracks and unable to collide with each other, it means one's thinking process is hindered.
This caused his brain to freeze.
Sumire wouldn’t want to kill anyone accidentally, and since she mingles with mortals for quite some time, she has set it so that even if anyone were hit by her passive retaliative methods, instinctive actions such as breathing and the beating of the heart wouldn’t be affected. In simple terms, she placed a ‘stun’ debuff on those who got exposed to her radiation instead of killing them.
She blinked her eyes, it began shimmering with purple radiance. "Rank 0 wisdom-path magic spell, [Thoughts Duplication]!"
As purple telepathic thoughts are being produced by Sumire's eyes, it coalesces into a telepathic will. Telepathic will is far stronger than telepathic thoughts, it has more uses as it can independently move according to the creator's intention and is more resistant to corrosion in the environment outside the sea of consciousnesses. The telepathic will refined itself into a needle-like object that went straight towards the spot between Mordred's eyes.
As the inventor of wisdom-path in Morgen world, this level of mental attack is not enough to stop his thoughts from colliding. Sumire's invasive telepathic will is similar to an ice block submerged in boiling water, it took great effort from Mordred's side so that the telepathic will does not melt within his sea of consciousness.
If World's Will cannot infiltrate his sea of consciousness, how can Sumire's achieve it within her lifetime?
Nevertheless, it would raise questions if an official wisdom-path mage's method got resisted by an apprentice. Therefore, Mordred allowed it to do whatever it was supposed to do. He is not worried even if she could read his mind or steal his memories. The existence known as 'Satoru' is merely a Mortal Shell, whatever memories can be stolen from him are original Satoru's.
Mordred's way of storing his memories is completely different compared to other lifeforms. After all, he has to switch bodies at some point, so storing it in the brain or the sea of consciousness is an unreliable approach.
Even then whatever memories stored in his mortal shell are periodically altered to suit his need, evidence of his experience in infiltrating worlds and forging identities.
He calmly observed as Sumire's telepathic will rummage through his sea of consciousness in a non-destructive way. If memories are like money in vaults, then her method is like looking at individual treasure boxes through their keyholes with a small camera. It is not enough to identify his greatest secrets, but it doesn’t leave any traces and is relatively brief.
Seeing her skill in action, Mordred couldn’t help but be surprised. The methodologies of her techniques possessed similar qualities to one of his. Although it can be said that all wisdom-path methods can be traced back to its roots, which is himself, it's been four hundred years since he had invented it. Most Sovereigns, Epics or Paragons have adopted and created a derivation out of it, therefore, seeing the high similarity with his own, he deduced that the method Sumire inherited must be directly related to his minor inheritances.
Her purplish telepathic will retracted into a needle-like object once more, but this time, it was polluted with red hue. The change of color is proof that it has copied memories from ‘Satoru’s sea of consciousness before returning to Sumire’s sea of consciousness. She then blinked her eyes, lifting the ‘stun’ debuff on Mordred.
“In any case, I cannot bestow you my wisdom-path inheritance.” Sumire acted as if her telepathic extraction did not happen. “You’ll learn about Hunter roles in the academy, however, I must caution you against spreading yourself too thin, trying to grasp too many things at once. Your palette is already brimming with the demands of magic, bloodline experiments, and marksmanship training. Each day grants us a finite amount of time, and it is unwise to diverge too far from your areas of expertise and squander such precious time. While effort is paramount, the discernment of where to channel it holds even greater significance. Do not disperse your energy in fruitless pursuit.”
Mordred reveals a difficult expression as if he’s unwilling to concede.
“As for the Resonarys Wyvern, I shall dedicate myself to design spells to uplift its spirituality. The intricacies of living being’s wisdom is a highly profound subject. I require some time to examine its sea of consciousness and formulate an effective approach. ” Sumire added.
“Th- then, you’re going to help me?” Mordred asked with a hopeful expression.
“Do not set your expectations too high.” Sumire warned, neither seeking to underestimate nor overstate her abilities. “I am not well-versed in wisdom granting methods, and there are inherent limitations in enhancing the intellect of a wyvern. If I want to make it on par with a human’s level of intelligence, I would require the assistance of the captain to perform a life-alteration surgery.”
“That’s fine!” Mordred bowed in thankful excitement. “As long as I can communicate with it, it’ll be enough. Thank you, Miss Sumire!”
With a dismissive wave of her hand, Sumire signaled for him to leave. “Leave for now. I’ll formulate the procedure during my free time.”
Mordred bowed once more before leaving her tent.
After making sure nobody can enter her tent without her approval, she sat down in a meditative position. Purple lights similar to light flakes began to appear around her head, an effect produced by a wisdom-path spell. It was clear that she’s not meditating but deducing some matter.
When the purple light flakes returned to her sea of consciousness, the space beside her contorted like a wisp of frost in a looking glass, revealing the emergence of statuesque and generously endowed figure as she unveiled her icy concealment.
“Have you found anything suspicious?” Katyusha spoke quietly like a whisper. “I need to report your findings to the captain as soon as possible.”
“Hmm.” Sumire mused, conjuring a lump of telepathic will and offering it to Katyusha. “I see no compelling reason to undertake this task, but since it’s your request, I cannot simply ignore it. This is the culmination of my observations, though I found nothing particularly noteworthy. However, if you happen to discover anything of significance, do inform me, alright?”
Katyusha accepted the telepathic will. She quickly digested it with her four brains and nodded. “I hope I’m just paranoid, that’s all. If even you, a wisdom-path expert, can’t find something wrong like a planted memory or whatnot, then how can I accomplish it?”
“You’re just being unnecessarily humble now.” Sumire fought back a wry smile, recognizing the unassuming façade Katyusha had adopted. She knew all too well the extent of this woman’s capabilities when she put her mind to it. “Well then, regarding his request.” Sumire began, her voice laced with contemplation, “Should I fulfill his desire or disregard it? What do you think?”
“You’re asking me?” Katyusha raised her eyebrows.
“It’s not a matter of what I can do, but what you desire. Do you want me to uplift the Resonarys Wyvern’s spirituality or simply ignore it?” Sumire replied.
“I don’t have any opinion on this matter. I’m just acting as the captain’s eyes and hands for the time being. I leave any big decision to you.”
Sumire’s expression turned contemplative as she responded, “Well, l suppose I’ll set this matter aside. As for Sakuya’s request, what do you have in mind?
“I’ll help her.” Katyusha declared with a sly smile playing on her lips. “Scorch Talon and Wild Scale captains turned to meek pushovers in my presence. I suppose I can have some fun.”
“You are playing with fire, considering you’ve been squandering the captain’s reputation and all.” Sumire mused with a hint of amusement in her tone.
Katyusha casually dismissed the concern with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Всё в порядке”, she reassured. “She occasionally indulges my whims and lets me have my way.”