Chapter 306: Fitting Right In (1/2)

I leaned back while opening my arms wide, ”What? You don't remember me? I guess it's harder with my helmet on.”

Tera's eyes narrowed while he searched his memories, many thousands of people popping up in them. He shook his head, ”You're not like many I've met if anyone.”

”I'm Daniel Hillside. You helped me with getting access back into the system because I was messing around with the cipher.”

Tera's eyes glazed over, and they stayed that way for a few seconds. As I began believing he forgot me entirely, his eyes widened as if someone attacked him,

”You're that Harbinger? No, no way. That's impossible. Absurd. You actually ended up killing Yawm?”

I pointed behind me at Hod, who bragged about his food contest cred. Hod's belly jiggled as I scoffed, ”No, he did. I helped out, though.”

Tera kept peering back and forth, unable to form words for a minute. He gasped, ”You've changed. Excuse me for not recognizing you, but you're so different. Utterly changed...Unbelievable.”

I gave him a light nudge on the shoulder with my fist, ”So have you.”

As we spoke, I found myself using another of my psyches to observe him in tandem. This other mind noted Tera's nature-based motif, all of his goods based on organic means of combat or control. Unfamiliar vials of different poisons strapped onto the front of Tera's chest, along with other potions at his side. He took the teeth and claws from his enemies, making them into his weapons. Those tools covered him.

The observing psyche even passed over its own comparisons. The mind mentioned how Tera was like an experienced handyman, just one that dealt in death instead of construction. All that flowed into my acting consciousness while another inspected Tera's titles and status.

Tera, The World Breaker(lvl 9,000 | Class: Speaker | Race: Skeptiles | Origin: Mowak | Age: 47 |...)

This other mind found a staggering difference in information when compared to my first inspection of Tera. Funneling in like some video feed, the anima gave me a laundry list of every detail I could've ever desired, even more than I wanted. One of the more valuable tidbits was Tera only gained a thousand levels since we last met while I'd gained over ten thousand. This other mind decided that I still looked up to the Speaker anyways.

The curious conscious even reminded me that Tera gave me a vial of eldritch energy that accelerated my evolution. It was pivotal at the time. Now Tera was here, wondering about at a party on Blegara. It seemed odd to me and my other mind. Combine that with all the additional insights, and I swallowed in apprehension.

All of this knowledge assaulted me like the crushing weight of the world on my shoulders. I kept talking despite it all,

”Man...it's great to see you. How have you been?”

I told the other minds to quit sending me so much info as Tera turned, peering around, ”I'm doing well. I can see how you've been just by peering around. You've grown until you're hardly recognizable. I dwarfed you when we first met, and now you do the same to me. Hah, I remember when Schema tasked you with killing Yawm of Flesh. Now you have exceeded him, and you have a nice little slice of this galaxy to yourself.”

He gave me a genuine smile, ”You've done very well for yourself.”

His words uplifted me, but at the same time, my other psyches kept funneling in observations. One mind mused that Tera was like my older brother returning from a visit across continents. Now that Tera came back here, I finally showed him all the progress I made. This anima noted the feeling permeated because Tera knew me before I turned into a ruler of worlds.

It made his compliment more sincere because he didn't assume I spawned from a race outside of Schema-owned space. Tera understood the full extent of my humble origins. That made his current tone of respect feel earned instead of given.

Though I appreciated the insights, having those thoughts flopped into my mind put me on edge. Keeping up with everything proved impossible, and I took a sharp breath. This was too much to take in at once, and it paralyzed me. The Manifold Mind skill carried infinite potential, but its darker showed itself now.

A disparate psyche thought through the reason why - I didn't use it like this, ever. I automated tedious, meh functions that required little thought. That meant organizing the minds was like coordinating menial laborers. Now, this was like speaking for a council of Daniels, each of them shouting in my ear.

The insights washed me away in a veritable sea of helpful info.

I hid my internal struggle as I smiled at Tera, ”Thanks...So, why are you here of all places?”

Tera narrowed his eyes at me, ”You ok? You seem like your in pain.”

I was. Being the head of this council of Daniels exceeded my ability, especially when they expected me to understand their counsel and act accordingly in real-time. It left me fumbling for more mental processing power. Stretching out into my mana reserves, something clicked in my mind as I grasped out.

My mana drained, and I found enormous amounts of processing power at my disposal, all of it left unused. As this acuity flooded in, the mana siphoning into my cipheric runes dampened a bit. I undulated these two ends like a scale, finding my mind's speed correlated with the mana's changing stream. A realization clicked in as that happened; I could turn mana into mental processing power.

Duh.

I never understood that or used it, probably because of how my blood magic operated. It made mana a more physical activity for me. However, this was likely how most people 'made' mana. They sacrificed their mental abilities to generate the tangible forces of mana. Afterward, they tempered the energy into something useful.

I excelled at generating the energy from my own blood, and I tempered it well compared to most. However, since I always sacrificed blood and bone for it, I never made this mental connection. I skipped this step long ago while in BloodHollow. In a moment of desperation to generate mana, I destroyed my own body instead of drawing it from my mind.

I shook my head, stunned at my ignorance. It was a gut punch, one that left me breathless. Tera put a hand on my shoulder, ”Are you sure you're ok?”

”Yes. I'm fine.”

I gulped. If I'd just made this connection earlier, there were many, many issues I could've handled independently. The logistics behind our war, learning quicker than ever, and even just speaking better was all within my grasp. I had never seized this connection or ability, and that left me neutered compared to my potential.

I shook away a wave of guilt, ashamed at how long I'd gone without knowing all of this. Reigning my emotions in, I put this behind me for a second, trying to work with the new ability. Pulling in my mana, my mind responded like a viper's strike. It flourished under the untamed energy's influence.

Using the improvements, my psyche gained a volition I hardly comprehended. Acting out with this bizarre, unwieldy processing, I contemplated all the streams of information at once. Unlike before, the insights soaked in with ease. In that way, I didn't gain any creativity or brilliance from the shifting mana. It was more like memorization and extra time to think.

Still, knowledge was power. Connections snapped into my head as my mind assimilated data. This mental conversion was how Torix operated as he did with so many tasks at once. It was also how the Overseer handled other duties while speaking with me. I could even explain the supernatural observance of the Emperor with it. He noted details and thought about them quickly enough that it seemed simultaneous even if it wasn't.

All those possibilities cropped up in my own mind, but I stared down under strain. My hands shook as the sheer pace of my mind overwhelmed me. Even if I now understood this newfound force, wielding the tool was a different matter altogether. I twitched about, unable to tolerate it all.

Tera gave my arm a light tap, ”I'm about to call for help.”

Snapping back into the moment, I raised a hand,

”I'm fine, I'm fine. I was trying to use a new skill while speaking with you, but it wasn't working out. That's why I was acting weird.”

I'd have to investigate the mana connection some other time.

”You sure? I can have someone check you out. You did just finish a battle, and lingering injuries could be, you know, lingering.”

I shook my head with confidence, ”I'm fine. Better than fine. I can finally breathe for a minute instead of racing headfirst into death every day. I'm just adjusting to that. It's a little surreal.”

”Hm...I'll listen to you for now, but if you start shaking again, I'm going to get someone over here that could actually help you.”

”I'm sure you could give me a potion or something.”

Tera raised an eyebrow, ”And lose the credits when someone else could handle that for me? I'd rather not. I need every credit I can get.”

Another observation came in. Tera was poor. I gave just a pinch of mana into my mental faculties so that I wasn't thrown off in the conversation,

”So, are you struggling to find work?”

Tera sighed, ”Quite the opposite, actually. I've been handling missions for Schema and the Empire. I've been busy this way for years now. That's why I've fallen behind on most recent events. I knew we were going to the Harbinger's party here, but I didn't think the Harbinger also killed Yawm. I neglected to do any research beforehand.”

More observations streamed in. Tera was overwhelmed by his current position and often isolated. I kept talking with those facts in mind,

”With your skills, you might've been able to get a good offer from someone in my position. Why not do the research?”

”Hah, I'd never find the time to capitalize on the opportunity. This war gives me all the work I could ever need, and I'm sure you understand that. I'm also not in the position to be asking anything from someone from your station. I'm just trying to get by, at the moment.”

That was a loaded statement, but I chose not to pry, ”I can relate. Like I mentioned, I'm glad to have finally crawled my way out of the war.” I turned to the display cases, ”And with something to show for it. How about you? Any good loot lately?”

His eyes softened, ”No, not particularly.”

I raised an eyebrow, not that Tera could see it, ”Ah, did Schema not give you a quest either?”

Tera gawked at me, ”Schema didn't even give you a quest? No wonder your guild signed a ceasefire. You're just throwing yourselves against a wall with teeth and for nothing at this point.”

”I know. I couldn't justify it anymore either. Its weird Schema didn't give me a quest, however.”

”That's not like Schema. It wouldn't normally fail to seize an opportunity like this. It doesn't make sense that the crafty AI would miss out when it sees everything either.”

I sighed, ”I'm right there with you, but we're trying to figure it out. I have a meeting with the Overseer planned and everything. Anyways, you're still getting quests. Anything interesting lately?”

His gaze averted mine once more, ”I've got plenty of quests, but they don't amount to much, even when I do complete them. Such is life, sometimes.”

I caught an undertone in his voice. He wasn't looking away to think or ponder. He peered away out of shame, something I was all too familiar with. I'd seen it happen to people who met up after a long absence. One progressed, and the other stagnated. The comparison put one of them in a dim light as if they stood still while everything moved around them.

At least, that's what a mind of mine sent over, and I happened to agree with myself. Weird as all that was, I hated seeing an old friend go through this, especially when it was someone who helped me out. I waved my hands in circles, entering my problem-solving mode,

”Are the quests not balanced or something? I know you're getting a lot done. I mean, you have the title of a world breaker. No way that doesn't mean something impressive.”

He rubbed his shoulder as if I struck him, ”It's not what you're imagining. You're an actual breaker at this point. My past isn't that glorious.”

Sensing a deep pain there, I dropped the issue while pointing at an exit out of the chamber, ”Hey, if you need to talk, I can listen. It sounds like something's eating at you.”

My concern resulted in the opposite reaction I wanted. It only exacerbated Tera's unease, his anxiety growing as he murmured, ”Daniel, I haven't changed much since we last saw each other. As I said, I'm just getting by, so let's not talk about me. Let's talk about you and your stories. I know you have plenty to share. Let's talk about those instead.”

Normally, I'd have let the subject slide and did what he asked, but there was an edge to his voice that I didn't like. Pressing the issue might've been a terrible idea, but I couldn't watch him hide his torment like that. Not when I was in the position to fix it.

And so, my minds shifted into place to accomplish my current goal. One of them inspected his titles further, figuring out he worked under the Empire. I narrowed my eyes at Tera,

”Ok, this is all I'll say about it. You work for the Empire. You're accomplishing plenty but getting very little back. Are they messing with your quest rewards or something like that?”