Still under the disguise ford 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 tal through the use of the elents. Instead, it was made out of solidified ntal 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 ntal 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 ntal 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 ntal power which, had Daniel been a simple ntal warrior, would have matched his own.
For the past hour, Cora had quietly walked behind Edmund and Daniel, wondering whether these people would at so point display the sa 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 ti she spent in their company, the more she would realize that they were different from the predators that she had t 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 sa type of interest towards her, that a scientist which had found an interesting specin 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, nurous 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 ntal warriors.
This pressure was so powerful that it would negate the powers of any ntal 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 ntal warriors present had been suppressed, and were prohibited from using their fa 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 ntal 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 ntal 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 ntal stones, which due to the extrely unfair exchange rates given by the auction house to foreign guests, had ended up costing the sa 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 ntal 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 ntal 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.
-----
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 nas, 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 ntal 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, nurous powerful ntal 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 sa 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 ntal 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 ntal warriors of Curio, and ordered, "The Proponents of Deep Sleep. Take to whichever city they are keeping the Door to Dream State."
Amongst the ntal factions, unless his opponents were the very leaders of the only two major factions themselves, it was common knowledge that opposing the Mindhive anth death. His powers were known to revolve around the use and control of ntal power, and what was worse, was the fact that he was able to control other people’s ntal 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 Tar, 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 dinsion 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 ntal 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 sa teleportation platform used by Daniel and his group.
"Spare the nicknas 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 co to .. Which leads to believe it wasn’t an idea that ca from you." His tone was derisory to both the general and towards the army of the universal governnt, and lead the unimpressed general to look at the now freed newborn baby with a stern and nacing expression, causing him to start crying.
The bodiless ntal 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 beca serious, and while walking into the platform, said, "Your docunts regarding my brother better have sothing 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 ntal warriors that was standing outside of the platform, reached him.
He imdiately 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 ntal activity out of it, leaving him in a vegetative state.
He then started to scroll through the many mories, until he found what he was looking for.
This mory depicted three n that, while surrounded by an increasing number of people, were trying to get a young girl out of a ss 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 handso young man who was slowly creating an oddly colored ntal stone.. But the masked man in possession of a ntal 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 sa 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 Dinsion.
"What is it?" Asked one of the explorers, after seeing the incorporeal face of the Mindhive beam with excitent.
"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.
-----
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 extrely 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 extrely 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 mont in which they were shaken awake, was when they noticed the presence of Daniel and the others.
The one that seed 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 nas and reason for wanting to visit the Dream Domain."
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