Chapter 418 - I Found You, Little Pest
Still under the disguise formed by Daniel's comprehension of mana, the group reached the middle of the city, where a large castle had been erected.
This castle was not made out of bricks, nor was it created by shaping stone or metal through the use of the elements. Instead, it was made out of solidified mental power, and appeared like a semi-transparent castle covered by a light green hue.
Right above its entrance, was a large sign on which the words 'Traveling Thought' were engraved with a different, and clearly more powerful form of mental power. This auction house was also commonly known as the Mind Castle, or the Jade Palace.
The exterior was surrounded by a tight line of mental warriors which, according to the different insignia present on their identical armor, showed that this auction house was protected not only by their owner, but also by the biggest families and sects of the planet.
"I thought you said the next auction would start hours from now," said Daniel with confusion after seeing the formation of guards. Each with a mental power which, had Daniel been a simple mental warrior, would have matched his own.
For the past hour, Cora had quietly walked behind Edmund and Daniel, wondering whether these people would at some point display the same level of perversion, or at the very least interest, that she had had to avoid during her years as a lone cultivator.
However, the more time she spent in their company, the more she would realize that they were different from the predators that she had met in the past. Daniel's entire focus was directed at reaching the Door to Dream State, Edmund would not stop bragging about his wife whenever a beautiful woman would pass by, and Aeron showed the same type of interest towards her, that a scientist which had found an interesting specimen would show.
"It is to prevent people from tampering with the internal formation." She said in response to Daniel's words.
Contrary to its exterior's appearance, the internal part of the castle was not different from the rest of the auction houses, and in it were different halls, numerous counters, and even a counter made specifically for depositing various kinds of currency.
The most impressive thing, however, was the powerful formation which, right as the three walked into the castle, weighed on their mind power with the pressure of a billion high mental warriors.
This pressure was so powerful that it would negate the powers of any mental warrior beneath a certain level, and if not for Daniel's odd condition, even he would have been affected by it.
The event that took place a few hours later went on without any sort of problem, as the mental warriors present had been suppressed, and were prohibited from using their fame or position to obtain one of the objects that were being auctioned. The only ones who could pose a threat to the event were the very few high immortals present, who are aware of the large number of guards in the surroundings, did not bother to cause any trouble.
The object bought by Daniel's group was an object called 'mat of mental fortitude', and was a cultivation mat which contained the life experiences of a powerful cultivator. When placed in a training room, one would be able to speed their mental cultivation by a percentage which depended on how powerful the creator of the mat was.
Not at all difficult to find, this object was sold for fifty mental stones, which due to the extremely unfair exchange rates given by the auction house to foreign guests, had ended up costing the same amount of much more expensive essence gems. Once purchased, Daniel had sold the object back to one of the other bidders, who after guessing Daniel's necessity of mental stones, purchased it for half the price.
With Cora, the price to use the teleportation platform had increased from five to seven, and after paying it, the four were able to make use of the power of a mental warrior whose gift included a form of teleportation similar to the one Aeron possessed, to reach the core of the territory of the Proponents of Deep Space.
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A few hours after Daniel and the others left Curio, right outside of its atmosphere, a large vessel appeared.
Just like for Daniel's arrival, this vessel was stopped by Curio's protector, who stood in front of its bow, and asked, "State your names, and purpose to wanting to enter Curio."
Not a single person could be seen on the boat's deck, and the only reaction to the protector's question, was a voice which said, "How can a pebble stop the wind from flowing."
Before the protector could even be confused by these words, his body forged out of mental power started to fall apart, and dissipate in open space as if he was a cloud that was being blown away by a powerful gust of wind, never to be joined up again.
After the death of the protector, the ship did not move. Instead, numerous powerful mental warriors appeared right where the late protector was standing before, but instead of being angered by the death of the guard, they bowed deeply.
One of them said, "The protector failed to recognize you.. Please instruct us."
It was only then that exactly a hundred and eleven cultivators floated out of the ship. A hundred of them wore the same military attire and acted in unison, ten of them appeared as lone wolves that could each start a war by themselves, and finally, a pure mental entity on whose face was showed a satisfied grin.
"It wasn't necessary to kill him, Mindhive." Said a middle aged explorer, who had not liked the cruel instincts of the entity which they, along with a platoon of soldiers, had been ordered to escort.
"You should be happy I haven't killed you all as well." Said the Mindhive with a playful tone. He then turned to look back at the mental warriors of Curio, and ordered, "The Proponents of Deep Sleep. Take me to whichever city they are keeping the Door to Dream State."
Amongst the mental factions, unless his opponents were the very leaders of the only two major factions themselves, it was common knowledge that opposing the Mindhive meanth death. His powers were known to revolve around the use and control of mental power, and what was worse, was the fact that he was able to control other people's mental power as much as he controlled his own.
While able to create an army of brainwashed people, his power was still considered to be a single threat, as opposed to that of individuals like the Tamer, the Teacher, or Daniel, who could all create, nurture, and employ armies of above average warriors.
However, while he posed as a singular threat, his individual power was above that of others, as his system's powers were, similarly to the Swordsman's sword intent, beyond what the warriors of this dimension could comprehend.
This form of power had granted him the ability to, as long as he wouldn't cause too much trouble, to move around the mental factions just like a whimsical deity would.
"Are you sure that we need your body to defeat the Brutal? From what I understand, as long as we manage to limit the death to a minimum, he should be manageable." Said the general in command of the ninety-nine soldiers as they were led to the same teleportation platform used by Daniel and his group.
"Spare the nicknames footman. My brother is long dead. Whatever is moving his carcass, is a mind far more dangerous than that idiot ever was." Responded the Mindhive from the mouth of an old lady who he had quickly possessed.
As he finished speaking, he moved out of her body, leaving the old woman full of confusion, and moved on to the body of a newborn baby, who while being carried by his mother, turned to look at the passing by general, and said, "It was wise of you to come to me.. Which leads me to believe it wasn't an idea that came from you." His tone was derisory to both the general and towards the army of the universal government, and lead the unimpressed general to look at the now freed newborn baby with a stern and menacing expression, causing him to start crying.
The bodiless mental body of the mindhive began to laugh soundlessly for a few minutes, then stopped playing around, and turned himself back into a physical representation of his original body.
Not in the mood to play any longer, the Mindhive suddenly became serious, and while walking into the platform, said, "Your documents regarding my brother better have something useful. If I don't get that thorn out of by back soon, I will ha-" His voice was stopped as the random recalling of recent events of one of the mental warriors that was standing outside of the platform, reached him.
He immediately jumped out of the platform, and once in front of this cultivator, he stuck his incorporeal hand into the man's head, and forcibly pulled every bit of mental activity out of it, leaving him in a vegetative state.
He then started to scroll through the many memories, until he found what he was looking for.
This memory depicted three men that, while surrounded by an increasing number of people, were trying to get a young girl out of a mess they appeared to have created.
What had caught the Mindhive's attention, however, was not the girl, the middle aged man, or even the stunningly handsome young man who was slowly creating an oddly colored mental stone.. But the masked man in possession of a mental complexity whose depth only matched his own, and the potential to learn anything the system had granted him, but out of sheer talent instead of being given to him by one of Iewah's systems.
The same man who had erased his mark on the mind of one of his little slaves, and which he had long hoped to encounter.
Aeron, the outcast of the Psionic Dimension.
"What is it?" Asked one of the explorers, after seeing the incorporeal face of the Mindhive beam with excitement.
"I found you, little pest.." Responded the Mindhive before moving back over the teleportation platform, and without even waiting for the operator to teleport them, disappeared, leaving behind the explorers, the general, and his platoon of soldiers.
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Once Daniel and the others reached the territory of the Proponents of Deep Sleep, they found themselves in front of a sight they were not expecting.
The entire city that surrounded them, while extremely populated, was inhabited by mindless bodies which could only complete basic actions, and live the lives of the owner almost as if on auto pilot. Not a single thought went through their brains, except for what was needed for them to complete their tasks.
"What the hell.." muttered Edmund with shock. The sight was extremely eerie, and of all the places he had seen in the past, this was within the oddest ones. "How did this happen?" He then asked to Cora.
"These people have given up living their lives as mortals and low level cultivators. Instead, they chose to live as kings and overlords in the Dream Domain. In here, they left their bodies to sustain their minds through work." Said Cora, clearly uncomfortable with the entire idea.
The only cultivators who did not appear to be empty husks, were the guards, who lazily patrolled the teleportation device, and a planet in which the strongest threat to one's life, was bumping into one of these mindless bodies.
The only moment in which they were shaken awake, was when they noticed the presence of Daniel and the others.
The one that seemed to be in charge, quickly stood up from laying back on his chair with his feet on laying on a table, and while handing over a form to Daniel and the rest of his group, said, "Sign your names and reason for wanting to visit the Dream Domain."