She was tall, poised, and unnaturally elegant. Long black hair cascaded down her back like silk, and her eyes glowed with an unnatural violet hue, far too piercing for a human. Her voice—though soft—carried weight.
"Are you sure about this...?" she said, a worried expression briefly appearing on her face. "The injection will increase your elental capacity, but it cos... with a little pain."
Dani, visibly trembling in the mory, nodded. "I... already gave my answer. I accept."
Suddenly, thick dark tendrils bursted out of the ground beneath Dani’s feet.
They coiled and slithered like serpents, wrapping themselves tightly around his ankles, calves and wrists, keeping him in place with an unnatural strength.
Dani’s eyes widened in horror.
"W-What is this?!" he scread, thrashing against the restraints. "You never said anything about this! What’s the hell are you doing to ?!"
His voice cracked in panic, desperation blooming across his face.
But Veiss simply chuckled. Her eyes shimred with a quiet, rciless amusent.
"Oh, dear Dani," she said softly, "you didn’t think power ca without a price... did you?"
And just like that—she vanished.
Dani blinked, confused—only for a cold breath to brush against the back of his neck.
Veiss reappeared directly behind him.
In her hand was a large syringe. Its barrel was glass, etched with black runes that pulsed faintly. Inside it sloshed a dark red fluid—but it didn’t move like any normal liquid. It writhed. Shifted. Twisted. Like it was alive, reacting to Dani’s fear.
His breath caught in his throat.
He tried to speak. "W-Wait—"
But before the words could fully leave his mouth, Veiss stabbed the syringe straight into his hand.
The long needle sank deep into flesh.
Dani scread.
His body convulsed violently, legs spasming as the black tendrils held him firm. Veins all over his skin darkened as the crimson substance surged through him, igniting his mana circuits like fire.
His screams echoed across the mory, raw and filled with agony.
Veiss rely stood there, watching, eyes alight with fascination.
Ten minutes.
That’s how long it lasted.
Ten whole minutes of relentless, burning pain—of his body being overwritten, his affinity pushed beyond natural limits, his mana twisting into sothing darker, unclean.
And then—silence.
The tendrils withdrew back into the ground, lting into the stone like oil.
Dani collapsed, hitting the floor hard. His body was steaming, breath ragged, clothes soaked in sweat.
Veiss crouched beside him, smiling.
"Well?" she asked. "How do you feel?"
Dani blinked. His eyes, once dull, now glowed faintly red.
He slowly sat up, breathing heavy. "I... I feel amazing," he whispered. "I’ve never... felt so strong."
The mory blurred.
Harry’s mind jumped forward, leaping through fragnts of Dani’s altered life. Quick, sharp flashes.
—Dani delivering enchanted dark crystals into the forests near several minor towns.
—Whispers exchanged in alleyways. Coin pouches passed. Murders arranged.
—Dani standing at the edge of a cliff, watching as mana beasts poured into a city below, tearing through houses and civilians in chaos.
Harry’s breath caught as he recognized that city.
That attack had happened months ago. Hundreds were injured—dozens killed. And Dani?
He had been hailed as a hero. A survivor who helped organize a defense until the AMO arrived.
That was the sa incident that propelled him to fa, and gave him a na within the AMO.
But here—
In the mory—
He was the one who triggered the attack.
He summoned the mana beasts, by triggering the opening of the using a powerful dark crystal.
Harry’s stomach twisted in disgust.
The applause, the dals, the praise—it was all a lie.
Dani had orchestrated the massacre. Then basked in the spotlight for saving people from the very ss he created.
Harry’s expression darkened as the mory began to fade.
He clenched his jaw, fury rising like a tide within his chest.
This wasn’t just about Dani anymore.
This was about how deep the dark guild had infiltrated everything.
The mory suddenly froze in place, with Dani still kneeling on the ground, overwheld with the power coursing through him.
A sudden flicker danced across Harry’s vision.
[Skill level up!]
[mory Manipulation now Level 2!]
Harry blinked, the corners of his mouth twitching upward. ’It levelled up,’ he thought, a flicker of satisfaction sparking in his chest. ’That’s good.’
His gaze lingered on the frozen mory, still swirling with faint echoes of emotion and magic. But sothing tugged at the back of his thoughts—another mory. Not Dani’s... but Leon’s.
There had been a mont during the ti he spent in Leon’s mories, one where he saw the man use a skill far behind just reading mories.
It was like a more advanced version of what Harry was doing now. Not just observing mories... but ’linking’ to them.
By using this thod, he could watch events unfold in real ti, through the eyes of the latter.
’If I could do that...’ Harry mused. ’I wouldn’t need to interrogate Dani further. I could watch everything he experiences from now on. Learn about Veiss. Learn about the dark guild’s next move.’
The possibilities were endless.
And dangerous.
A flicker of doubt crossed his mind.
’It’s probably too soon...’ he thought. ’I only just reached Level 2. Maybe I should wait.’
But then he rembered exactly how Leon had done it. He could still visualize the way the man’s energy coiled and anchored itself into the target’s mind—how it latched onto a focal point, like threading a needle through the fabric of a mory.
Harry took a breath.
He had to try.
Even if the risk was high, the potential reward was too great to ignore.
A voice echoed inside his mind, smooth and amused.
[A mory link...]]
Harry’s breath hitched slightly.
[It’s not easy, kid. But you’ve got talent. Try it. You just might pull it off.]
Harry nodded to himself.
He extended his will into the suspended mory. A swirl of invisible threads reached outward from his consciousness, sliding through the edges of Dani’s ntal landscape.
He moved slowly, gently. Searching for a spot that pulsed with significance—sowhere deep enough to form a lasting connection, but stable enough that it wouldn’t collapse under the strain.
And then... he found it.
A mory junction—where Dani’s thoughts connected repeatedly to Veiss. The place where loyalty, fear, ambition, and dependence overlapped.
A perfect place to insert the link.
Harry’s breath deepened. His palms prickled with heat.
He focused everything—mana, concentration, intent—on that point.
This is it.
And with a final push, he began weaving the link.
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