Chương 149: Book 3 Chapter 27 - Mind Fortress

She needed to know who Shian Yountal really was. Where did she come from? What was House Yountal's origin? Were there threats there that the Silver Serpent Clan needed to know about and respect? If Elsa found out that Shian was untouchable for social or political reasons, she would back off, satisfying herself by destroying the woman's estates and businesses. A mental attack wasn't pleasant, but Elsa was being careful not to cause any permanent damage, so she wasn't putting the clan in too much danger here.

Once she was inside Shian's mind, she was flooded with thoughts from Shian's current situation. She had been relying on that spherical artifact as a defense, which piqued Elsa's interest in the artifact even more. As she tried to grab ahold of that thought to see what purpose the sphere served, the thought slipped through her fingers like oil through water. That was odd, she hadn't ever seen that form of mental defense before. She shook her head to clear it. She could analyze the artifact later.

Right now, she needed to find out more about Shian's history. She moved backward in time through Shian's memories, just scanning the surface so she could move quickly. She saw the duel with Kane fly by, then hours and hours and days worth of practicing with the sword. It seemed that was all the woman ever did over the past year, as a lot of her memories involved practicing, sparring, or fighting with the sword.

She saw her kill Lord Grivalt, then saw her travelling with a merchant caravan to Portish from down south. Now she was getting somewhere. She watched the girl travel across the war zone, then before that she arrived in a city down south, one Elsa had never been to or seen before. Before that, she had been walking… The memory was ripped from Elsa's grasp, quite violently. She had slowed down the rate that she was looking through Shian's memories, now that she was back to before the girl had moved up north.

She was hoping to see where she had come from previously, hoping to learn something of her origins or her family, but the memories suddenly disappeared. Beyond losing track of the memories, Elsa was ejected from Shian's mind. Forcefully. Shian's mental shell snapped back into place as Elsa's consciousness was evicted. Elsa physically felt herself be thrown backward by how forcefully her consciousness returned to her own mind, and she fell backwards onto the ground, stunned.

Elsa's aura wavered momentarily from the shock of the experience, and Shian gasped for air, breathing deeply and looking around. She noticed Elsa sprawled on the ground, and looked at her in confusion, since she hadn't been aware of much that was happening in the physical world up to that point. Before she could do or say anything, Elsa clamped back down on her with her aura, and the girl slumped forward in her chair again. What the heck was that? Elsa had never experienced anything like that before.

The raw strength of that mental defense was unheard of. The complete totality of it, the way she had been forced to leave like that, was next level. It was as if Elsa's own ability to perform mind magic had temporarily been erased, as she was forced to watch her own eviction from Shian's mind as a helpless passenger. The experience shook her up a bit, honestly, but she steeled her nerves and tried again.

She knew she had been close to discovering something important, in order for Shian's defenses to suddenly kick it up a notch like that. She reached back out, ready for round two, only to find that the shell around Shian's mind was now as smooth as glass and as tough as steel. As she threw her first mind spike at it, the shell also moved slightly, absorbing and distributing the impact flawlessly. The mind spike was completely ineffectual, it didn't even leave a scratch.

Beyond causing no damage to Shian's mental defenses, the mind spike was thrown back at Elsa, almost as hard as she had thrown it. The energy from the attack was completely absorbed then redirected back at her, and she had to block it with her own mental shell. A few more mind spikes confirmed that it wasn't a fluke, and Elsa started to feel the slight mental strain of defending herself against mental attacks. Her own mental attacks. She had never seen anything like it.

She hesitantly dropped the anvil on Shian's mind shell, much more gently than she had previously, in case it bounced back. She was immediately glad she had chosen restraint, as the anvil did indeed fly back at her own mind, bashing into her mind shell forcefully. She defended successfully against the brute force strike, but it hurt. She winced from the sudden, sharp pain in her temple. It was clear this approach was pointless.

Whatever weaknesses had existed earlier were gone now, shored up by whatever mental failsafes Shian had in place. Frustrated, and a little embarrassed, Elsa pulled away from the mental attack, threw Shian over her shoulder, and carried her down to the basement, where some empty cells waited. She locked her behind bars, confident that her mana-inhibiting cuffs would ensure she couldn't escape.

Just in case, she supplemented the usual tier 2 cell guards with a few tier 3s as well, with strict instructions to come get her immediately if Shian tried anything. Elsa needed time to think, rest, and recover from the headache she now had. * You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Kiara sat up in her cell the minute Elsa's aura disappeared. She gasped for breath, looking around frantically. Memories of the last few minutes came flooding back into her mind.

When she'd first felt Elsa's aura, her instincts had screamed at her to run. She had acted without conscious thought, pulling out her [Talisman of Temporal Deceleration], but had sort of lost consciousness before she could activate it. She hadn't gone fully unconscious, but had entered a drugged-like state, where thought was difficult, like the mental equivalent of walking through thick mud while holding an enormous weight. Her previous intentions had been lost to her mind.

She had been unable to move her body, completely helpless. She had assumed Elsa would at least have a conversation with her about things, rather than attack her immediately, but apparently not. Her grudge must be larger than Kiara had realized. After losing complete control of her body and most of the control of her mind, Kiara didn't perceive much of what happened around her. She had, however, instantly recognized the mental attack that began chipping away at her defenses.

In some strange way, she had been fully aware of the mind attack and able to respond appropriately, almost as if that event had happened on a different parallel of reality where her mind wasn't bogged down by sludge. She had felt when Elsa broke through her defenses, unable to stop her from grabbing hold of her memories and sifting through them. The entire ordeal had been quite painful mentally, causing shooting pains throughout Kiara's entire head.

Even pinned down mentally like that though, she had been able to see and understand what Elsa was doing with her mind, and was fairly certain that she hadn't suffered any mental trauma or damage. Elsa seemed to simply have been looking for something in her memories, but Kiara wasn't sure what. Kiara had felt the moment when Elsa had exited her mind, even jolting back to full consciousness physically, only to see Elsa lying on the ground.

Elsa's aura had faltered at the same moment she exited Kiara's mind, giving Kiara control back of her body. If not for what happened next, and the current pull that she felt to check a new message from the World Engine, she would have assumed Elsa had been attacked in the physical world, causing her to lose hold of the footing she'd gained in Kiara's mind. She'd felt when Elsa dove back in to attack her mind again, only this time her attacks felt pitiful and weak.

She'd observed as Elsa's own attacks were thrown back at her, having no effect whatsoever this time on Kiara's mental defenses. Now that she was alert, she looked around to find that she was in some sort of prison cell. Stone walls hemmed her in on three sides, reinforced with runic enchantments. The fourth wall was made of steel bars. A bucket in one corner was all Kiara had for a toilet, and a small, dirty pile of hay on the other wall would give her a place to sleep.

She reached up to gently probe her head, which was still splitting in pain from the mind attacks, only to find that lifting her right hand also pulled on her left hand. She looked down to discover that she was wearing handcuffs. The bracelet Victor had given her was missing. Now that she was moving, she realized she felt weak, slow, and sluggish. Remarkably similar to how she felt when wearing a dueling collar at Handel's sword academy. She realized these handcuffs must have a similar enchantment built into them.

She groaned as she realized that Elsa had taken not only Victor's bracelet, but also the [Talisman of Temporal Deceleration]. Kiara had lost control of her body before she could activate the talisman, and she didn't see it in her soul space, which meant it was either still up in Elsa's office, or the woman had taken it for herself. Kiara found some solace in the fact that the item was soul-bound to herself, and only she could activate it. It would be useless to Elsa.

Kiara could still feel the connection to the item in her soul, meaning she was still the owner of the item, but the connection felt faint. Until she could sense it with [Magic Sense 4], she wouldn't be able to activate it from afar. Working through the sharp pains in both of her temples, she focused her mind back on the waiting message from the World Engine. The entity Elsa Undril attempted to access restricted memories, available only to the host Kiara Dunsun.

Access to those memories would have revealed information about the World Engine that Elsa Undril is not authorized to know at this time. To prevent that, Elsa Undril was forcibly removed from the host's mind. To prevent further occurrences of this situation, your ability has been upgraded automatically to the maximum level. [Mind Fortress 4] => [Mind Fortress 7] (max) After reading the message, everything made more sense.

Elsa's hasty exit from Kiara's mind, the fact that her auric pressure had wavered momentarily, allowing Kiara to regain full lucidity, and the comparatively weak mental attacks that followed. It was all explained by the World Engine's actions. As unpleasant as the ordeal had been, and as much pain as her head was still in, Kiara smiled. She would never say no to a free upgrade to one of her abilities. It also looked like it had jumped to level 7, which was apparently the max.

Assuming she was understanding the World Engine's message correctly, she would likely never have to worry about a mind magic attack again. Next, she looked through her full list of abilities. Abilities: [Personal Spell Negation] Basic magic does not affect you, and dissolves on contact with your body. [Soul Space 3] Your soul can function as a spatial storage device, accessible only by you. The space itself is spherical, with a diameter of 20 feet. Anything placed in the soul space will enter a time stasis.

As a bonus, this space can serve as a coin denomination exchanger for a 0% fee. [Invisibility 2] Renders you undetectable by magical sense, aura, domain, or any other type of ability. You will be truly invisible and undetectable. Any items in direct contact with your skin while you are invisible will also turn invisible. Releasing skin contact will remove invisibility from the item. Touching or directly interacting with another person will remove the invisibility.

[Magical Sense 4] Sense life forms around you, down to the size of insects. You have a general sense of the size and location of each life form, as well as a fairly accurate idea of the danger they present. Can accurately gauge the tier of other people, and distinguish between the signatures of their presence. Can sense the location and size of plants in the area. Range: 100 feet (modified). [Mind Sentinel] Can perfectly perceive mental probes and attacks directed at you.

[Mind Fortress 7] A perfect defense against mental probes and attacks. [Artifact Compass] A perfect sense for where enchanted items are in your vicinity. Range: 20 feet. [Artifact Sage 3] Rudimentary sense for deciphering how magical traps and artifacts work, what their purpose is, and how to avoid them or disarm them. Success will be highly dependent on and directly disproportionate to the skill with which the artifact was made.