The Lone Wanderer

Chapter 593 – Constellations (1)

“Are you sure you don’t need me to bring my human body here first?” Micky asked.

He was sitting cross-legged inside the small hut. The concrete building only had two rooms, but that was by design. There was a bedroom, as well as what used to be his workshop in the old house, though he’d repurposed the latter into half a living room nowadays, since he didn’t see himself forging steel tools for the townsfolk again.

That was not to say that the technology wasn’t useful – Sengo’s teachings were quite revolutionary despite not using a single drop of mana. However, Micky’s blacksmithing skills and knowledge of concrete had already spread to the entire Camelot province and would permeate the rest of Remior eventually – without any further input from him.

Regardless, the small hut could probably use a bathroom – especially if any humans were going to live here in the future. It would cause the layout of the building to diverge from the old version even more, but sacrificing basic amenities for nostalgia’s sake wasn’t a great idea. However, this hadn’t been a priority because Micky didn’t need to relieve or wash himself due to his elemental body. Nesha and Percy could install a bathroom if they ever decided to settle here.

“No need,” the titaness said, breaking him out of his thoughts. “As far as I can tell, the two of you now share a mind and soul, so physical proximity isn’t important. I should be able to access your mindscape through either body. It’s not much different from how you absorbed the fiend recently, despite your bodies being separated by dozens of kilometres. That said, I do advise you to sit down until this is over, as the process will probably knock you out.”

Micky frowned. “Will it hurt?”

Normally, he didn’t mind a little pain, but recalling the agonizing experience of absorbing the Amorphos made him shudder. Evidently, getting over the mental trauma would take longer than a month or two. At the very least, he wasn’t looking forward to repeating the experience anytime soon.

Phoebe chuckled. “Not at all. Still, are you absolutely sure you want to do this?”

“Yes. I’ve thought about it long and hard. As convenient as my current state is, I want my aspects to recover and maintain a sense of individuality,” Micky replied, before raising an eyebrow. “Why do you ask? Is this going to be irreversible? Or are there any other side-effects I should know about?”

The goddess’s question was quite surprising. She’d previously made this sound like a simple operation – and not even a particularly intrusive one – giving Micky the impression that he could always get rid of the structures she was about to install inside his mindscape if he didn’t like them.

“Not really. You’ll be able to undo this whenever you want,” she confirmed with a shrug. “I just don’t like wasting my time.”

He suppressed the urge to swear, not wanting to piss the ancient deity off right as she was about to help him, though her teasing personality was starting to irritate him. Heaving out a heavy sigh, he heeded Phoebe’s instructions, sitting down with his other body as well and closing his eyes. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he’d be free to return to Twilight City.

He heard the titaness step closer before sitting in front of him. Next, he felt a gentle touch on his temples. Her hands were small and soft, making it easy to mistake their owner for a helpless young woman. However, Micky knew better than that. Phoebe was the opposite of ‘helpless’ or ‘young’. Those tiny palms of hers were strong enough to shatter mountains and whip up terrifying storms.

Trying not to think too much about the fact that the titaness could crush his skull like a grape if she wanted, he concentrated on her actions. A trickle of something cool and soothing seeped into his brain, a familiar sensation rippling through his mind.

Mind mana.

Every single second, Phoebe was pouring more than Micky had ever experienced before – enough to drown him ten times over if left by itself – and it looked like she was only getting started. Thankfully, the potent resource was currently being guided by a firm, unshakeable will. The mana entered his head and melted seamlessly into his thoughts without so much as touching anything that it wasn’t meant to interact with.

“Just relax and try to sink into your mindscape,” the goddess suddenly said, her voice resonating within his very being. “I’ll help you get there sooner.”

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Nodding slightly, he did as he was told. Before long, he felt the floor disappear from under him, finding himself falling through clouds. Floating shards of ice collided with his body as he shielded his eyes with his forearms. Frigid winds howled everywhere around him as a murder of crows cawed in the distance, joined by a chorus of shrieking spectres.

All things considered, the ever-present Symphony was far quieter today than it had been during his fight with Deimos and would likely remain so until he tapped into its full power again.

Ignoring the peculiarities of his Extreme spell, Micky peeked through the gaps between his arms to examine his surroundings. A vast, snowy plain unfolded beneath him like a wrinkled sheet, its slopes and crevices barely perceptible amidst the oppressive darkness.

The sight frightened him for a moment as he thought that he was going to splatter on impact with the ground if he didn’t decelerate somehow, only to remember that this place was effectively just an illusion shaped by his own mind.

A blink later, he found himself standing on the snow, exhaling in relief as he felt solid ground beneath his feet. He was currently in his Huehuan form, finding it strangely fitting. After all, this place was a replica of his home world – not to mention the fact that Phoebe had brought him here through his elemental body.

However, he was made of flesh and blood rather than living ice. It made the frigid environment somewhat unpleasant, though he ultimately welcomed the familiar numbness in his toes, as it reminded him of the family that he had lost.

His parents and sister might be gone, but he wasn’t alone today.

Phoebe stood by his side, though her body wasn’t made of flesh like his. She had manifested inside his mindscape as a monochrome construct of mana, her form poorly defined and constantly leaking crimson motes that danced around her like fireflies.

Clearly noticing his confusion, she smiled. “As I’m sure you know by now, it’s not easy even for gods who have mastered multiple mind concepts to intrude in another’s mindscape. Even with your permission, staying here and affecting this place is difficult – which is why I won’t be the one granting you the new mindset. I’ll merely provide the mana and some guidance.”

Micky nodded, feeling glad about this. While he was convinced that Phoebe didn’t mean him any harm, he still didn’t know her well enough to fully trust her. As much as he wanted to segregate his memories, he certainly preferred being the one in control of the process.

“So… how is this supposed to work?” he asked.

Phoebe glanced around. “First things first. This place is a mess.”

Micky tilted his head, not sure what to say to that.

The goddess chuckled. “Everyone’s mindscape looks different, since it’s built by their mind subconsciously the first time they enter. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to stay that way – it shouldn’t take much effort to reconstruct it into something easier to work with.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What about it needs fixing?”

“Lots of things,” Phoebe replied, before elaborating. “There’s no reason for it to be so dark that you have to squint to see past your nose. There’s also too much empty space between notable locations. Why don’t you try bringing everything closer?”

Micky nodded, scanning the area carefully.

There was no sun directly above him, though he did see a dim, crimson star shining over a different spot in the distance, illuminating the coliseum. Elsewhere, Remior’s yellow sun shone over the Whistling Woods, while many other stars hovered over various other locations from his memories. Just like the land itself was a patchwork of countless worlds, so was the sky.

His mindscape had always looked like this, though light from those distant regions struggled to reach the snowy plain – at least as long as he wasn’t focusing on them – as if his mind was trying hard to preserve the mental image of Huehue’s dark side.

He sighed. ‘I suppose that it is needlessly inconvenient,’ he acknowledged.

Fixing the place proved just as easy as Phoebe had said. It only took a thought for him to turn the brightness up, ushering in a constant stream of daylight over the snowy plain. Golden rays of sunshine emerged from seemingly nowhere, yet arrived pretty much everywhere, banishing even the tiniest shadow from the pale ground.

Finding it a little too unnatural, Micky played with the environment for a few seconds. Eventually, he decided to brush away the clouds and create a proper sun that wasn’t supposed to exist here, forcing the light to radiate from a specific direction.

Next, he willed all the structures in the distance to move closer, shrinking the once-desolate wasteland into something closer to a cheerful hub that would allow him to access the rest of his memories more easily.

At the same time, he noted that everything in his mindscape looked a lot better than it had shortly after the fiend’s absorption. The coliseum had almost finished repairing itself, new trees adorned with even newer leaves having sprouted in the Whistling Woods. The giant mushrooms growing on the steep slopes of the Fungal Spire had largely regenerated, the holes on their caps having patched themselves up with new, glowing tissue.

There were still signs of damage here and there, but this was certainly a promising development.

‘Well… whatever… we’re not here just to assess the condition of my mindscape,’ he thought, turning back to Phoebe. “How about now? Is it any better?”

The titaness nodded. “It’s an improvement, though you’re still restricting yourself to the logic of the physical world. Why don’t you try utilizing all three dimensions? It’ll make navigation easier.”

Micky raised an eyebrow. That was a good idea – one that he was sure he would have eventually thought of, had he spent longer in this place. Examining his mindscape for a couple of minutes, he pondered over various possibilities, eventually settling on one that he liked.

Then, the whole world shattered like cheap glass.