The sensory experience of reading yet another tome seems to fracture my very mind. As the book turns to ash, in my hands, I stumble back to the camp, dizzied by the knowledge flowing through me. As I approach, I see Julius and Ican sleeping soundly. Now is as good a time as ever to review the knowledge I have gained.
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Media is the very essence of thought. All living creatures release a slow trickle of media, and sentient creatures release much more. A trained mind can interpret Media as words, which is commonly known as telepathy. Most telepathy techniques use vis to look into the mind, but the mystic properties of the Psychinomicon have granted me the ability to do this without magic.
Furthermore, the tome conditioned my mind to be able to release much more Media than usually possible. By sending it out in a directed and controlled manner, I can influence the Media of other creatures, which is also commonly known as mind control.
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This will be useful. As I write down this knowledge in my notebook, I begin to make connections. Media must emit from the soul itself and be some sort of residual energy left behind by souls, as inanimate brains don’t seem to emit Media. What does this mean for me, then? My soul isn’t like any other soul in existence. Does it output seven times as much Media due to its fracture?
The sun rises, and our group continues on its way. As we walk, Jack suddenly whispers to us, "Stop moving. Get behind here." He leads us to a bush and we all hide in it, although Winter’s large mechanical body makes it difficult for him.
"What’s this all about?" I ask.
"Shh. Poachers." He points to another bush far away. As I focus, I can see two people wearing clothing the same color as the savanna’s grass. "If they see us, they’ll kill us so we don’t tell the kingdom about them. We have to tread carefully."
"Move over. I’ve been working on something new." The group looks at me, clearly anticipating some new device or spell focus. Here we go. I focus on my own consciousness, concentrating on its energy. I can feel something I’ve never felt before, some sort of festering energy. Looks like that book worked after all. I focus on extending it towards the poachers. However, something isn’t right. My mind’s energy feels twisted somehow. Could the warp be affecting my media? I feel my mind’s power shoot out towards the poachers, and I focus all my might on suppressing their media. As soon as I do, I see them fall over. Everyone in my group jumps in surprise.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"How did you do that?" Julius asks. "You didn’t even move a muscle! They just fell over!"
"Don’t worry, they’re not dead," I say. "I used my mind’s energy to put them to sleep." Thoroughly impressed by myself, I muse what else I could use this new power for.
Eventually, we arrived at the capital Jack was telling us about. Although the walls weren’t nearly as big as the ones around the walled city, they were still thoroughly impressive. Since we arrived at day, there was a line to enter through the gate. I take a moment to observe the peoples that come through here. Unlike the last town, they are all almost exclusively humans.
I do rarely see other races, however, but most of them are bound by chains. I guess it’s foolish to think slavery only existed in my home dimension. As we finally reach the entrance, two guards stop us. "Present your IDs!" They shout in unison. I begin to reach for my Cognitio (Mind) Disruptor spell focus, but I realize I don’t need that anymore. I alter their media with a thought and they let us through.
"So can you, like, read minds now or something?" Ican asks.
"Something like that." The capital is not unlike the walled city. Many marvels of engineering (relative to the supposed time period) can be seen at a glance. In one area, I even see a man in a top hat showing off a steam engine to a crowd of people. "Alright, Ican and Jack. Start checking the Status of everyone in the city." As they go about their work, I decide to test my new abilities. I close my eyes. I notice that when I concentrate, I can see the silhouettes of those around me. They each glow a specific color that tells me what type of soul they have. I also notice that when I focus on a specific person, I can hear their stream of consciousness. I decide not to invade anyone’s privacy and stop testing my limits for the time being.
"I’ve got something!" Yells Ican. "That yellow lizardfolk over there!" I follow where Ican’s nose is pointing with my eyes and see the woman he’s talking about. The woman is about five feet tall and covered in yellow scales. I see. Any humanoid form can house a misplaced soul, not just human bodies or animals. As we speedwalk over to her, I realize that she’s also bound with chains, like the rest of the demihumans I’ve seen come through here. For God’s sake, she’s a slave? Through all the shows I watched in my home dimension, the slavery arcs were always the most boring. Let’s take care of this quickly.
Before I can take action, however, her and the other slaves she’s chained to are dragged away into an alley. Before she slips out of view, I memorize her media’s unique signature and commit it to memory so I don’t lose her location. "Damn it. Looks like we might be here longer than we expected."